Urban Vancouver

The holidays can make many of us feel lonely. In order to get through it, we all employ a variety of strategies, be it chumming around with other single friends, drowning ourselves in brandy and eggnog, or flying off to warmer climes and away from Christmas carols. Some people though, take bigger action and inventor Le Trung is one of them. The Ontario inventor who lives with his parents, has poured all his savings and the recent years of his life creating Aiko, a female robotic companion. Aiko, which literally translates to "love child" in Japanese, is an oddly realisitic looking robot designed to serve the elderly and help them with tasks such as reading and eating assistance, and can even remind them to wear a sweater when it's cold outside. Although Trung admits that Aiko could potentially be redesigned for more "stimulating" activities, he insists his intentions are strictly benign, but some find his invention more disturbing than helpful. Is this the beginning of a future filled with friendly robot companions, or the heralding of an age where robots replace human affections? Too bad Aiko doesn't have a function to tell the future! More : Project Aiko | (source) AsiaOne Digital | (source) Globe and Mail | See Aiko in action under the cut | Can a human love a robot? Can a robot love a human? Mechanical Love a documentary film by Phie Ambo

Get ready for an early Valentine's, ladies. The MAC Hello Kitty Collection will be released in February 2009 (live online on Jan.7; online to buy Feb.10; in stores Feb.12). Jennifer Balbier, senior VP of product development for MAC states: "To me, MAC Hello Kitty embodies the ultimate beauty icon...she's sweet, and sexy, slightly edgy, and appeals to a wide range of customers." The MAC Hello Kitty Collection offers 2 formats: the Hello Kitty Colour Collection and the high-end Hello Kitty Kouture. The Hello Kitty Colour Collection features 6 lipsticks, six lipglass, 2 tinted lip conditioners, 2 eyeshadow palettes (each contain 4 shades); 2 pigments; 2 Reflects Glitter stockkeeping units (one blue, one pink); 4 Glitter eyeliners, 2 beauty powders; 3 nail polishes; a black mascara; and false lashes. Hello Kitty Kouture features 2 shades of Dazzleglass (with a reusable silver chain pendant with Hello Kitty outlined in Swarovski crystals on black with a pink crystal bow); Sheer Mystery Powder, available in 3 shades, is packaged in a silver powder compact with Hello Kitty outlined in Swarovski crystals with a pink crystal bow on a black background. The MAC Hello Kitty collection will also include makeup bags; a plush doll; purse mirror; 3-brush collection; a mirrored key clip; a beaded bracelet; a tote; and a soft vanity kit. Keep the dates in mind because the MAC Hello Kitty Collection will only stick around for a projected 3 weeks! *gasp* More: (source) MAC Says 'Hello' to Kitty Collection by Julie Naughton @ Women's Wear Daily (WWD)

"Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have f*cked with?" a cool Clint Eastwood says, "That's me." Set to be released in select theatres on January 19, Gran Torino stars venerable Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski, a disgruntled Korean War veteran who is despised by everyone, from his sons to the local parish priest. To top it off, Walt is also racially intolerant towards his Hmong neighbours. Things change after he catches a Hmong boy named Tao attempting to steal his 1972 Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation. As Tao is forced by his tradition-oriented family to work for Kowalski in penance, Walt finds himself eventually welcomed by and drawn to his neighbours. Having been estranged by the world around him, the lonely Walt not only embraces Hmong culture, but becomes the protective saviour of Tao's family. The film features a leading cast made up almost entirely of Hmong actors, the first for a mainstream American film. All but one of the ten Hmong leads are acting for the first time, as were many of the Hmong extras. Clint's taking a huge leap in his movie career, so could this be his final showdown with the establishment? More: Gran Torino official site | Eastwood's Next Film Features Hmong American Cast: Exclusive Interviews From the Set of 'Gran Torino' @ AsiaWeek | Eastwood, Gran Torino and Hmong America @ Hyphen Magazine | Gran Torino and Hmong Gangs in the Midwest by Joanna Eng @ Racialious | Hmong Actors Making History: The Bad Guys Of Eastwood's Gran Torino @ News America Media: Expanding the News Lens Through Ethnic Media | the good, the bad and the ugly: gran torino @ Angry Asian Man

Right before the new millennium dawned on us back in the late 90's, a worldwide systems meltdown was 'supposed' to turn everything upside-down and a spawning of new ideas for the next 100 years fancied our imaginations. Future tee shirts were projected to clean themselves and animals were foreseen to have equal rights in court. Remember that? Well, right on that imaginative wagon was Italian industrial designer Piergiorgio Robino who founded Nucleo International in 1997, a Torino-based design company inspired to look into the millennium with introspective and experimental design concepts that reflect the spirit of future change. One of the company's most recent projects, the PH Limited Edition Couch is no exception to its philosophy. It's a thought-provoking pentagonal seat inspired by molecular structures and crystal lattices that are created when atoms bond together. Just like how pentagonal molecular water structures are able to bond into complex figures, PH couches can be pushed together to form intimate (yet also complex) seating arrangements. In its name the term "PH" is a reminder of measurement, which is what Nucleo is asking consumers to take of the couch's complex structure. Manufactured into 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, or 10-seaters, there's no telling how complex these measurements can be! More: Nucleo International Website | Frame Magazine Feature

The National Taiwan University of Science and Technology has created a robot that can move its limbs, blink its eyes, and move its mouth, all the while preventing all small children from sleeping at night. At the Taipei International Invention Show & Technomart, this creepy version of WALL-E was introduced to President Ma who looks less than thrilled with the peel-away face on the robot (look on the left side of featured picture). Although Ma seemingly had flashes of vicious Terminator scenes running through his mind, the robot was a definite hit and was marveled at by the visitors. More: (source) NTUST | Check out another picture of your latest nightmare under the cut

A white teacher from Rockland County made a bad decision recently when she decided on her method to teach a class of black middle schoolers about slavery. Eileen Bernstein, a social studies teacher at Haverstraw Middle School, chose two victims girls to demonstrate conditions on ships that carried slaves out of Africa. Gabrielle Shand, a descendant of Jamaican slaves, had not volunteered to be a part of this experiment lesson, yet she was chosen above other students who had actually volunteered. The simulation process resulted in two things: the two students crawling under their desks with their hands and feet taped together, and later, a terrified and bawling Gabrielle when she returned home. Her mother, Christine, was none too pleased:

"[Gabrielle] was horrified...There are other ways to demonstrate slavery. There are movies, you don't actually have to grab two kids and like put shackles on them"

In a meeting, Eileen Bernstein argued she was trying to inspire her students (after watching Dead Poet's Society for the 18th time) and kind-of apologized for any trauma she may have induced on the child, but refused to apologize for her method of teaching. This didn't satisfy the infuriated mother, and she is currently mulling over whether or not she should file a lawsuit. More: (sources) MSNBC WCBSTV

Thought Singapore was the home of the serious buttoned-down types...yet one of the most cheekiest ad campaigns ever has come outta this tiny nation. Will wonders never cease? Strip, a Brazilian-wax salon in Singapore, has taken advantage of current affairs with a play-on-words in an ad-campaign that proclaims: "Farewell Bush". The salon invites newbies to "celebrate change" by offering a 20% discount on their first Brazilian wax. DDB Singapore ad agency created the Strip ads, which include posters that say: "Bye Bye Bush" and "Boy, Are We Glad to See Bush Go" and "No More Bush" and "Life Will be Better Without Bush". Hee. Strip's public relations manager Janet Lim stated that Strip has always been cheeky, fun and forward: "America is known to be liberal and we hope Singaporeans will be, too. The ads are not meant to insult any politician or country. Hopefully, people here will get the joke." More: (source) Strip's farewell to Bush by Rayana Pandey | (photo credit) TouchMyBase Blog | Strip official site

One of the world's most popular dramatic, comedic, and action movie stars. One of the highest paid actors in film. His films earn over one billion dollars worldwide. He's won Grammy's, been nominated for Oscars. Yet David Walker's article asks: "SO, HOW COME WILL SMITH NEVER GETS THE GIRL?" Walker wonders why Will Smith never "gets the girl" -- as in a romantic or sexual connection between the hero and the girl "as a means to propel the story, develop character or establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist." Will Smith has been known to get the girl in some of his action films, such as "Bad Boys II" (with Gabrielle Union) and "Enemy of the State" (with Lisa Bonet and Regina King) and "Hitch" (with Eva Mendes), but there's no real sexual chemistry with his female co-stars. David Walker suggests the other possible reason is the role of racial politics surrounding Will Smith's inability to get the girl. As Walker explains: "In the films where Smith does have some sort of romantic/sexual relationship with a woman -- be it an action film or a comedy -- she is always played by a black or Hispanic actress. But Smith's characters have never had a relationship with the white women he has been cast opposite of. This signals a definite step backwards from the days of films like "Shaft" and "Slaughter," where black action heroes like Richard Roundtree and Jim Brown got white girls all the time." More: Read full article: How Come Will Smith Never Gets the Girl? Despite being an A-List celebrity, Will Smith curiously lacks on-screen chemistry by David Walker | Photo credit: EW

At this year's Vancouver Asian Film Festival, the film screening of Ping Pong Playa showed a scene where the film's father-figure is frying spam for breakfast in a wok, while loudly singing Chinese opera. Supposedly the scene was straight out of Jessica Yu's own family life, and it would have been perfect material for the hilarious website, My Mom is a FOB (MMIAF). MMIAF is the love project of social media masters Teresa Wu and Serena Wu. Both operate their own successful blogs, but began this one as a sort of "support group" for all those with hilarious and exasperating FOB (Fresh Off the Boat = recent immigrant, for you nobs out there) mothers. Visitors are welcome to submit their own amusing stories as well, and there is even a site for Dad's too (My Dad is a FOB)! More: Official site | My Dad is a FOB | By Teresa Wu | Serenarena | Photo credit: World of Stock