Matt Shepherd’s Man-Man: The Blog

…and it will magically make sense!

Has this ever happened before?

Quebec clothing chain Simons has pulled its newest catalogue after getting hundreds of complaints that the models in it were too thin. The genesis of the complaints may have been a story about the catalogue (and complaints) on Radio-Canada (Canada’s French-language national broadcaster) about a week ago.

“Models are too thin!” is not an uncommon refrain in the media; in Spain, models with a BMI under 18 are banned from modelling. The death of models from Uruguay and Brazil in 2006 seems to have sparked the general growing awareness of models as unhealthy (and unhealthy influences); this is, however, possibly the first time that a major retailer has recalled a catalogue due to public outcry over its models being too thin.

If you opened a large music store and just shelved everything alphabetically, then installed a large number of computer workstations with live links to music-map, AllMusic, Wikipedia and large review sites like Pitchfork, how would it do?

Personal anecdote: I spent ten minutes in an HMV last month looking for Bonnie Prince Billy’s “Lie Down In The Light.” I started in “Alternative,” then went to “Rock,” then looked in “Country” and finally “Folk.” No dice; I ran out of time and had to leave, and wound up buying the thing on Amazon.

Impersonal anecdote: an interesting blog entry from last year from Soweto Kinch. As you’ll read in the entry, he’s a jazz/hip-hop musician — although he’d just prefer “musician,” I think — that puts out brilliant material. But he’s been damaged profoundly by having his music misfiled, or so he believes.

On a related note, why do I love Soweto Kinch? Because he’s great. But the path that led me to Soweto Kinch, which would never have happened normally, was looking up Dälek on Music-Map and seeing Kinch in close proximity.

Convenience is one clear reason that a lot of music purchasing has shifted online, but the intellectually organic shopping experience of moving from favourite to favourite, and “fans of X recommend Y” lists, is a lot more rewarding than plodding through “Electronica,” looking at album covers and wondering if I’ll like what’s inside. I don’t see how this could be a worse approach to music retailing — then again, maybe I’m underestimating the conservative shopping habits of John Q. Public.

One of the things I love about my fiancée is that together, we form a pretty cohesive “cheap entertainment” unit, as we can pretty much just walk around and look at stuff and have a good time doing it. And when you’re with somebody who has a compatible sense of humour, Bed Bath & Beyond is a laugh riot: especially the Scents section. Good god, the candles. The romantic varieties in particular.

That being said, I wish I had thought of Manly Man Candles. With scents ranging from Hunting Lodge to Yardwork, and a Manly Blog to keep me in the manly loop, this is — and I’m being serious — a brilliant intersection between a funny tongue-in-cheek idea and a product people can actually use.

It’s not often that you see something that can function as both gag gift and, well, real gift. “Manilla” might not be a bad scent for my (currently bachelor) pad, actually. We’ll see.

I don’t have time to read any long books. Other than that: help me out!