Alice in the wonder room

At Selfridges in London, I saw a fantastic window full of Alice in Wonderland kind of winks. Inside it appeared to be part beautiful decoration, part stuff on sale. Little did I know about this store's habit to launch "pop up shops" inside its own big warehouse. For a short period of time, you are able to visit such a pop up shop (and buy something), and the magic is in it being temporary. You HAVE to go, right? Sorry I didn't bring a camera...

Year of the tiger

Happy new lunar year!

Laziness paying off: bulbs

Most people who are familiar with flowerbulbs obey the instructions and plant before the ground starts freezing, around November. I am too lazy or forget about bulbs every year, and guess what: never mind! Just put them under the soil AFTER the freezing months, say beginning of March, and enjoy the flowers untill the end of May! Anyhow, that's what happened last year in my garden... This was on May 6th.

Apocalypse

I was talking about games to a 21-year old student the other day. He said all of his flatmates played Need for speed, and that it's easy to become totally absorbed by the game, up to getting angry as H***. I told him I had the same when I was playing the Apocalypse game on the Atari when I was a teenager, while it must have been a rather primitive game according to the current standards. How primitive, I couldn't even remember (that's interesting!) but realised when I looked at a screenshot of the play....

As seen on the street: walking in low quality imitations

Isn't it great for a brand when all the imitations are obviously bad choices? A great example that is spoiling our streets in this bad weather are fake uggs. Allthough even the originals will never win the price for elegance, the imitations are so ridiculous that you have to pinch yourself when walking behind them. And the ones in the picture aren't the worst I've seen.

Does a smile fit into a proces? Ibis hotels thinks this can be done with ISO 9001.

In a budget hotel like Ibis, processes have to lean and mean. But hospitality is also very important to the customer. So the process and marketing people teamed up and invented the Smile Process. ISO 9001 certified. And it even fits on a poster. You're welcome.

Travel for free because you have a shopping mission (2)

The second tip in travelling for free is for the specific occasion to get married. First of all, why should people take their honeymoon AFTER they've tied the knot? It is better to take that honeymoon BEFORE, and visit a place where you can have you wedding suits and dresses made in no time, against much less costst then in our parts of the world (US, Europe). I was in Shanghai and came across amazing backalleys, like the Beijing Hutongs, just off the main shopping streets, filled with tiny specialised stores. Many, many full of all possible creations for wedding occasions. Over there, a great dress will set you back 200-400 USD...