This morning I took myself off into the big city Taunton. This was not, sadly, to sit and watch Somerset all day, though the boys are doing remarkably well against Kent, having just established a first innings lead of 219. I had shopping to do, and I needed to be back here in the afternoon to do some work. But I am able to report on a notable success for the Cheryl Shopping Method.
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Girly
The Magic of Photography
Jennifer Ouellette reports on the great female fantasy: a camera that can make you look slimmer. Sadly the urban myth that normal cameras make you look fatter than you are does not appear to be true. Meanwhile I shall continue my quest for a camera that automatically places a brown paper bag over my head when anyone takes a picture of me.
Covered in Sin
One of the interesting things about language is that, while we humans have lots of different ones, they all have to use pretty much the same sounds. As a result, words in one language can sound very much like (or be spelled very much like) very different words in other languages. Most of you probably know the story of the car manufacturers who couldn’t understand why a car called a Nova didn’t sell well in Latin America. Well, here’s something similar.
So, there I was, idly scanning the small print on a bottle of toner as I went through my morning facial routine. The manufacturer is obviously playing up the the “natural” and “allergy free” markets because it says on the bottle that the toner is “100% Fragrance Free”. It also says it in French, which I knew: “100% san parfum”. Then I looked at the Spanish and it said, “100% sin perfume”.
Sin perfume, eh? I kind of like the idea that my face is covered in sin.
(Of course there is always the old Sumerian moon god whose followers could legitimately call themselves worshipers of Sin, but that’s another story, and The Goddess might not like me making jokes about her pop.)
Update: silly mistake correct thanks to intervention from the world’s best proof reader whose talents I sorely miss.
Shopping
I’ve spent much of the day in San Francisco. This was not really a sales expedition. I can’t be bothered with the crowds. But I have been buying books. I have got Amberlight, which I’m very much looking forward to after Cynthia’s enthusiastic recommendation here (scroll down). I’ve also got Water Logic, the third book in Laurie J Marks’ Elemental Logic series. I’ve been really enjoying these, and I’m so pleased that Small Beer Press have allowed Laurie to keep publishing the series. Finally I picked up Felix Gilman’s Thunderer because Jeff VanderMeer has been enthusing about it.
But I haven’t spent all of my time in bookstores. After all, Lush has a sale. What more can you ask for? Get on out there girls, and stock up now.