Category: Music

Here’s one self-help book that I’d like to read

Cold Cream 'n' Roses1 Comment

I always enjoy Ondo Lady’s reviews on her blog. From her review, here’s a self-help book I’d like to read: Beautiful Within: Finding Happiness and Confidence in Your Own Skin. Ondo Lady indicates that it’s more down to earth than other self-help books on the market.

The book is by Mica (pronounced mee-sha) Paris, who is now a presenter on BBC UK’s What Not to Wear (the new What Not to Wear sans Trinny and Susannah doesn’t seem to be available on BBC America). Unfortunately, this book has not been marketed in the U.S.

Some twenty years ago, Glamour singled out Mica as one to watch as a singer. The video of her song “My One Temptation” received play on VH1, but she never broke out as an artist in the U.S.

Check out Mica channeling Dionne Warwick in the video My One Tempation on YouTube. Enjoy!

I am Starbucks

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Every Saturday and Sunday, I go to Starbucks for coffee (double tall latte) and breakfast breads. Starbucks very cleverly places the CD stand near the cashier as a point-of-purchase (POP). Starbucks CD compilations such as Jazz Impressionists, Prestige Jazz, and Blistering Licks! has exposed me to music I might otherwise not hear. The cashiers say that the CDs don’t sell particularly well, which was surprising, given that Starbucks has become a force in the music industry.

Starbucks’ current campaign has features about their coffee suppliers and artists from the Americas, whose items are available for purchase at Starbucks stores. For stationery lovers (like myself), there are notepads and notebooks featuring the bright and bold designs of self-taught artist Yamileth “Yami” Luna Arias. There are also coffee drinks flavored with dulce de leche, banana coffee cake with dulce de leche swirl, and mango and pineapple empanada.

However, the slogan I am Starbucks for this campaign is maladroit, especially for a company as marketing-savvy as Starbucks. It sound more like one of those damage control campaigns where a company bring out its employees to say what a great company it is (think Wal-Mart), when the company is facing a lot of bad press.