Apple and its iPad REVOLUTION

Technologies are constantly evolving to the point that it is easy to find oneself a bit outdated. Yes, in 2010, Apple wowed the entire world with the iPad. In only 9 months, the revolutionary product generated "10 billions dollars in revenue" to the company. Since the iPad was launched, it seems that nothing can stop Apple from innovating.

Early this year, Apple introduced the iPad 2, a similar product that offers improved technological characteristics of the iPad 1 and a thinner design. Innovative ideas seem to bounce around in the minds of Apple's engineers. But this post is not meant to discuss the technological breakthrough Apple is introducing with its products, especially the iPad.

Since the iPad 2 was launched, I have been watching French parodies related to the new iPad. This video is in French, but it says the same as the original video above. Moreover, a note of irony is added in the parody and "explains" how Apple managed to keep the price of the iPad 2 down. Enjoy some French humor!

The 2011 Tiguan Piñata

What would come to your mind, if I ever told you “Wolkswagen?”

For me, the brand Volkswagen (VW) is a synonym of turtle. Not that the car is slow, but the association is due to the turtle-shape of its former cars. Regardless of the good intents behind the name of the brand (the German name Volkswagen means “people’s car”) and the design and creation of its cars, aesthetics quickly became the most visible characteristics of VW cars. In fact, the car was meant to be affordable, fuel efficient, reliable, and easy to use.

The commercial of the 2011 Tiguan Piñata is very efficient in that it reminds people, I included, one of the main characteristics of Volkswagen cars: robustness or reliability. The narrative of the story stresses that aspect with first a young boy and then a male adult unable to break a “SUV-shape VW Piñata.”

The commercial is effective on another aspect. For people who like me turn down the volume of their TV when commercials start, that commercial is the right response of advertisers. There is no talking. The narrative, that lasts 31 seconds, is made of sequences punctuated with the war cry of the young boy, the sound of the baseball bat on the car, some other background noise, and the text “Built like a Volkswagen. The 2011 Tiguan.”

This commercial is one of the rare commercials I enjoy watching.

My hair is my medium and my message!

Me with relaxed hair (2008)

I started relaxing my beautiful African hair when I was around 18. Although my father knew how coarse my hair was and how much I suffered to comb or style them, he never wanted my mom to ruin my hair with hair relaxer. So, she would used the hot iron, but that solution would worked just for a while because as soon as my hair was let loose or I would remove my braids, my mom would have to start all over again. Yes, my hair was very long, grew very fast, but was extremely coarse.

Why do I say my hair is my medium and my message? Simply because it says all about me, my real identity. I am African. Hence, why alter this message of authenticity with hair relaxer? Why convey a message that does not reflect the reality? Why convey contradictory messages?

Initially, I did not relax my hair because it was the trend. I used hair relaxer to better manage my hair, be able to easily style them, and because I did not want to cut them short or have the Bob Marley or Whoopi Goldberg style, dread locks.

All hair relaxer contain chemicals that burn the scalp. I say all, because so far I have not come across a single hair relaxer that did not burn my scalp and I have tried a bunch of them, from the non famous to the most famous brands. Almost every year, I had to change my hair relaxer because once my hair gets used to it, it just adapts and makes the hair relaxer ineffective.

Me with braids (2008)

Two months after my arrival in Hawaii, I relaxed my hair after I removed my braids. This is what I usually do since the new hair is naturally coarse. But something happened to my hair, something that had never happened neither in Africa nor in Europe. Soon, my hair turned red. That was enough! I started question myself: why harm myself with products that destroy the natural texture of my hair? Why spend all my money on hair relaxer, hair conditioner, and what have you? But above all, why send contradictory messages? Africans have all types of natural hair: straight, curled, and coarse. Mine are coarse.

Me with natural healthy coarse hair (2011)

Last year (2010) in May, I decided to cut my hair short and start all over again. This time, I would grow my beautiful, original, and natural African hair. My goal is to keep it this way as long as I can, I mean as long as my hair will allow me to. All my efforts now are to convey and maintain a message that is coherent with my identity. For this purpose, I need to keep my hair, the medium, unaltered. It does not matter anymore if every day I have to spend at least 30 minutes to work and comb my hair.

Desperate Housewives Season 7 finale

Yesterday, Sunday May 15 2011, was Desperate Housewives’ season 7 finale. I have been watching this TV episode since its first season and will probably watch season 8. Why? I just like this group of women, four close friends, who rhythm the life on ‘Wisteria Lane’.

After I watched episodes 19 and 20, I was expecting a miracle to occur. A miracle that would preserve the friendship tie between Bree and Gabi (Gabrielle). In fact, after Gabi’s husband (Carlos) discovered the identity of the person who killed his mother in an accident, Carlos told his wife to end her friendship with the one who claimed she was her friend, Bree. For those who never watched Desperate Housewives or missed some episodes, Bree’s son was the culprit. Because he was a teenager at the time of the accident, Bree covered her son but told Gabi what happened. To sum up, Bree covered her son and Gabi covered her friend. Since Bree did not want her friend to chose her over her husband and family, she asked Gabi to sacrifice their friendship and save her marriage.

Carlos could not and did not want to forgive Bree. Thus, only a miracle was the solution. That miracle occurred in the last episode of season 7, during a dinner party organized to celebrate Susan’s return to Wisteria Lane. This episode ends with Carlos killing Gabi’s stepfather who was thought to be dead. That man raped Gabi when she was around 15. To emphasize the significance and inevitable event, Carlos confessed to Gabi that killing that man was the kind of thing he was able to do to protect her from the stepfather.

Carlos said it, so it happened! Carlos involuntarily kills Gabi’s stepfather who broke into their house and was threatening Gabi. Gabi’s friends, including Bree, discover the murder when they walk into the house. In this sequence, Bree is presented as the first friend to enter the room wondering when Gabi would call them and the other guests.

Now comes the best part. In tears, Gabi relates to her friends what happened and complains that her husband will be sent to jail, because he was “trying to protect” her. In this sequence, Gabi goes toward her friends and stands next to Bree. Carlos is on the opposite side of the room, the corpse separating him from his wife. When Carlos claims he is willing to go to jail  Bree, the ‘banned’ friend, is the only one to talk, thus making the others take action. She says “That’s not gonna happen!”

In the last sequence, while the narrator is listing the “many things that bind friends together,” Bree brings a piece of cake to a pensive Carlos and sits next to him. Carlos, who found in his heart to finally forgive Bree, takes his hand as a sign of gratitude. The narrator ends the episode saying “the thing that binds friend together the most is a secret that changes everything.”

Although the episode ends on a happy note, more suspense is to come.