Amazing pictures at People of Walmart

Marge Simpson style haircut

"Looks like pants prices have risen much too high, putting decency to a new low"

A simple goat shopping at Walmart, in Page AZ

"Like a bad Western movie but worse"

People of Walmart is a must see site. The site was recently created by 3 roommates "after an inspirational viste to Walmart stores. Simple idea : everyone's is encouraged to submit pics of "outrageously ugly (in style)/ creepy / crazy customers". Everybody is encouraged to submit his own pics...

This is made of...
that !

Junk Food is back ! Here's a new website, Fancy fastfood where you can learn how to transform your classical and boring junk food into hype recipes. The challenge is simple : without adding any ingredient, you have to transform your fast food menu into "culinary masterpieces".

As they write, "it's still bad for you but see how good it can look" !

Post #101 - Closed for summer holidays

It's time to recharge the battery !

RetailArt will be back end of August.

Thank's for visiting and posting.

Customer info in Mexican Supermarket

It's common in Mexico to find at the entrance of the Supermarkets a price comparison between two shopping carts with a sample of products, showing of course, that the store is much cheaper than the competitor. It's also not so obvious to add, like a legal mention "No incluye el carrito" aka "Cart not included".

"Dear clients, you may find the Juices where was the beers and Waters where was the wines"

As Tesco says it : Every little helps...

New eco friendly fashion : recycle your own Pet's fur

Erwan Fichou is a (very) talentuous photographer who made a serie called "Dogwool", portraits of dog owner who knit and wear sweaters and vests made from their own pet fur. That's the absolute (IMHO...) "save the planet" action, the ultimate sustainable growth policy. Shouldn't pet owner obliged to wear these warm sweats ?

For those interested in this new fashion, just read the book by Anne Montgomery and Kendal Crolius, Knitting with dog hair. As they write :

"Better a sweater from a dog you know and love than from a sheep you'll never meet".

As Baudelaire wrote "Ce qu'il y a d'enivrant dans le mauvais goût, c'est le plaisir aristocratique de déplaire" / " What is exhilarating in bad taste is the aristocratic pleasure of giving offense".

Post dedicated to Annick and her 'Tasmanian' bag ;-)

You are what you eat, a fridge insider

3 person household / Journalist / designer / Austin Tx

1 person household / bar tender (goes to sleep at 8 am) / San Antonio Tx

3 person household (including dog) / Teachers eating locally grown vegetables

1 person household / Street Adviser (430 USD fixed monthly income)

Looking inside women bags is a bad habit but may tell you a lot about her personality. Wouldn't be the same with fridge insiders ? Here are some presented in the you are what you eat project from Mark Menjivar. As he writes, "refrigerators are like windows into our souls".

The complete report may be found in the Good Magazine, a "collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward"...

Anti theft Lunch Bags

The Anti Theft Lunch Bag is a brillant and funny idea for those who don't have complete confidence in their neighbourhood, coworkers or roommates. Simple but effective, the bag is printed with strange green spots. The bags are sold here at the. a marketplace managed by Mihoko Ouchi and Sherwood Forlee made of strange and nicely designed wares, 10USD for 25 reusable bags !

Chicken: low art, high calorie is a book by the graphic designer Siaron Hughes, recommended in the New York Times book review. You'll find a great collection of retail signs, ads and eye catching menu photos all around Chicken.

As the project background says : 'Chicken: Low Art, High Calorie' celebrates the varied and visual qualities of fast food signage, and the people involved. On the surface it may all look the same, but the differences reflect a ubiquitous, and humorous vernacular design. It will make you laugh, ponder and hungry for chicken!

Most expensive liquid on earth

Any idea of which is the most expensive liquid sold in supermarket ?

A 100 ml bottle of perfume, let's say Chanel n°5 (for the eau de parfum, not the least expensive indeed !) is currently sold 90€, for a 900 € per liter.

One bottle of Romanée Conti 2003 is sold about 2000 € see here, that makes about 2600€ per liter.

No, these fluids are quite cheap if you compare them with ... ink print ! Have a look at your standard ink cartridge and look at the volume : you get around 3000€ per liter !

Of course, the price is not justified by the rarity of the ink but by the smart business model in which the hardware is sponsored by the consumible. That's also why a cup of coffee costs you at home 0,05cts, a Nespresso 0,3 cts, 2€ in a restaurant and 4€ at Starbucks...

Smart pricing : fix the price for the value you offer taking account the willingness to pay of your customers and not for the cost you deliver...

Yummy, the Junk food magazine

Yummy is an interesting magazine dedicated 100% to junk food made by talentuous designers. Not diet oriented but mainly about the pop culture and graphic icons represented by the Junk food in our modern society.

Yummy costs 30€ and can be found in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo, La Hune or Colette.

Two artistic versions of Great Little red riding hood

Little red riding is a classic fairy tale, rewritten from the oral tradition by Charles Perrault (French version) and the Grimm brothers (German version). B Bettelheim, author of the "Psychanalyse des contes de fées" gave an interpretation of the fairy tale related to sexuality, anthropophagie, or rebirth. Here are two versions of Little red riding hood, one from Tomas Nilson and one from the Mondongo artists Group.

I'm fond of infographics, the art of making simple to understand stuff and facts. Here's a special version of the tale by Tomas Nilson. A must see !

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

The photos are taken from the red series from Mondongo, a collective of 3 promising artists from Argentina. They are using materials such as food (cookies, ham, cheese,..) or plasticine (it's the case in the above picture) for their work. see here or here

Calories per dollar

Interesting thought in The Big Money, the Slate section on economics. Last year, New York city adopted a law that gives restaurants an obligation to publish the calories amount on each meal served. Such initiative is suposed to discourage people to choose non-wealthy meals. In fact, it seems that it gets adverse results as seen on this billboard. With such indicator, fast food lovers gets incentive to choose the best calories per dollar ratio !

Times have changed

Who said that advertisement reflects the mentality of its time ? Looking at these (not so) old ads, we just get an idea of the evolution in minds about the role of the women in society. Macho man is really dead !

Pictures found at Oddee

Uniqlo concept stores and Bratop concept

Uniqlo is a fantastic apparel retail company, owned by the Fast Retailing Group. It's one of the top apparel company in the world with 800 stores and a total turnover close to 3 billion euros (also owner of Comptoir des Cotonniers and Princess Tam Tam, famous brands in France).

After having shot the photo (look at the right !) at the flagship store in Soho, New York, I bought one of my favourite blpull over.

Uniqlo is a very innovative company, they have launched a new T-shirt concept store in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.

Uniqlo has also recently launched the Bratop (have a look at the website, very nicely done), a Top with an integrated bra. A simple top that maintain the bust.

Original, you need to wear it from the bottom up. If any of you have ever tried, commentary welcomed ! Available in 9 styles and 16 colors from 15,5$.

How much sugar in your food ?

Interesting and very pedagogic web site, Sugarstacks shows you how many cube of sugar will you eat with a single portion of classic food. They calculated it as 4 calories per gram of sugar and taking as a basis cube of 4g of sugar (the standard in the US, when the french standard is 5g per cube).

http://www.sugarstacks.com/

Food is becoming a sin

Swine flu pics

The Boston Globe is presenting a selection of pictures around the H1N1 Influenza and its impact on everyday life. Here's a short selection :

Asia is the kingdom of commerce ! As soon as the news spread (as quick as the flu), Supermarkets in China have developed an anti-flu section in their lay out. Here's an example in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo copyright Reuters Pichi Chuang.


Tamiflu stock in the UK (unknown location...). Photo copyright Katie Collins, Reuters