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ECO-FY YOUR LIFE!

Our editorial department scoured the internet and found instructions on how to make your own homemade products; we even tried them out so you don’t have to experiment! Here is our selection of the best DIY projects, all of which are safe for you and the environment. Even better, most of these inexpensive items can be found in your home or from any of the health food/ eco-friendly stores on the Danforth!

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–HAIRSPRAY–

Standard: Alberto Hairspray 213g, $2.49, Loblaws

Natural: Aveda Witch Hazel Light Hold Spray 250 mL, $10.00, Aveda

Homemade:

- 2 organic lemon $0.99 each, Loblaws
- vodka 50mL, $3.25, LCBO
- 1 ¼ cups water

Directions:
1) Boil water in saucepan; while water is boiling, peel and finely chop lemons.
2) Add lemons over boiling water on low heat until lemons are soft.
3) Cool, strain and pour into a spray bottle.
4) Add 1 tbsp. of vodka and shake well.

Verdict:
Although not as strong as store bought sprays, it did hold the hair in place. Be cautious in the summer sun though— lemon causes your hair to lighten!

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–DANDRUFF SHAMPOO–

Standard: Head & Shoulders 200mL, $5.96 Loblaws

Natural: J-A-S-O-N Tea-tree Oil Shampoo 517 mL, $9.99, The Big Carrot

Homemade:

- Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps pure castile soap (in a 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottle): 8 Fl. Oz $7.99, The Big Carrot

- Stash herbal tea 1 box (18 bags) $3.49, The Big Carrot
- Holista Tea-tree Oil, 50 ml, $9.99

Directions:
1) Brew ¼ cup of your favourite herbal tea, then place in small saucepan.
2) Add 8 fl oz. of castile soap to the tea and a few drops of the tea-tree oil; stir on low heat until well blended.
3) Store in a capped bottle.

Verdict:
Our tester claims the shampoo worked great for her flaky scalp; it didn’t lather as much as the store-bought brands, but it left her hair feeling silky smooth. You can also add your own fragrance to the shampoo, as our tester did. She put in a few drops of her favourite peppermint essential oil and her hair smelled fantastic throughout the day.

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–HOUSEHOLD CLEANER–

Standard: Comet with Bleach 400g, $1.49, Loblaws

Natural: Citru-Solv Cleaner & Degreaser (Concentrate) 32 oz., $11.99, Grassroots

Homemade:

- Arm and Hammer Baking Soda 500g, $1.69, Loblaws

- White Vinegar 2.5L, $1.89, Loblaws

Directions:
The great thing about these ingredients is that they work by themselves, no mixing involved! Just grab your sponge, pour whatever product you choose, and scrub away knowing that you’re saving some cash as well as the environment.

Verdict:
Both the vinegar and baking soda worked well for basic kitchen and bathroom cleaning, although the store-bought cleaners fared better in terms of really tough jobs. If you’re concerned with the vinegar producing a smell in your home, try diluting it in a little bit of lemon water to get rid of the strong odor

‘A Wiiiiiire Hannnngerrrrr!!!’

Yet another video clip, but this is too good for words. It’s from ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman’, and this movie introduced me to my obsession with Tyler Perry and all his films.

Wax Simulacra

How hilarious would it be to watch someone who has never seen The Mars Volta, and then have them be hit with THIS?

Nuts.

Miss Hill

This is another of my favourite video clips. It’s from Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, which is again, an amazing film. Anyways, it’s Lauryn Hill with the Fugees and her performance of Killing Me Softly is INSANE. I saw her in concert when I was in grade 10, and this brought me back.

Everytime I watch this performance, her singing makes me want to cry.

C.R.A.Z.Y.

If you haven’t seen the French-Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y., then you need to get out more. If this clip doesn’t make you want to go buy it and watch it over and over, I don’t know what will.

I mean, you have Marc-Andre Grondin in all his hotness singing to Space Oddity with a mural of Dark Side of the Moon on his wall. Um, hello? Go buy it.

WEB 2.0 Analysis

VICE Magazine
http://www.viceland.com/index_int.php?country=ca

The homepage of the magazine features an RSS feed in two locations: the address window and the righthand corner of the Viceland blog. There are no bookmarking widgets on the homepage, but they do have them within the Articles pages. The icons for the bookmarks are found at the end of the article, which is inconvenient for readers, but at least they are visible in coloured icon-form and stand out to the reader.

The homepage also features a running slideshow of images promoting VBS TV as well as an embedded video of a VBS TV segment. These are placed near the top of the page, which is a smart thing to do because they automatically grab the reader’s attention and lead them to investigate the other mediums (TV) that VICE has to offer.

The VICE blog is also placed strategically on the homepage. It is raised using a background shadow and runs from the top all the way to the bottom and lies right in the middle of the page. It stands out as having the most editorial content on the page, even though a bar at the top leads you to the articles featured in the print edition. This shows a website that is focusing on offering their readers more than what they can find in the print edition and also indicates that their web edition is just as current and cutting edge as the print mag.

ESQUIRE Magazine
www.esquire.com

The homepage for Esquire magazine is quite interactive. The top of the page features a running feed of the “Esquire Rules”, and just below that is a slideshow of contents from that month’s online edition. These items are placed front and centre, so when a viewer goes to the page, it’s content that they are able to use easily and it’s easy to see what the webmasters are trying to show them is the important and most entertaining content.

As far as RSS feeds go, there is one on the homepage’s address window and then one on the left hand column of the page; however, the one in the column does not have an icon and is part of a bulleted list and isn’t easy for users to find.

There is a scrolling bar down the right side of the page, but it’s not as obvious to viewers as it could be. For people scanning the homepage, they wouldn’t notice it or the blog featured within it, as it requires a closer look.

One aspect of the site which was very well done is the features pages and the blog pages. These pages feature RSS icons and bookmarking icons at the top and bottom of the articles, which is helpful to readers as they may want to tag it before they read it if they are too busy at that time, or they might want to tag it after they read it for later reference.

TORONTO LIFE Magazine
www.torontolife.com

Unlike the other two sites, Toronto Life’s web magazine is a little less user friendly in it’s homepage design. There are no slideshows or running feeds like the other two sites, and there is also no RSS icon in the address window. The only RSS icon on the homepage is within a text block called ‘Today in Toronto’, but the reader has to scroll down the page to find it and it gets lost amongst the large usage of red on the page.

One good aspect of the page is that the blog is featured at the top of the page, so readers don’t have to scroll down to find it. Once you go into the blog pages, an RSS icon appears in the address window and on the righhand side of the page. There is also a Google and Yahoo icon further down the right side of the page, showing users exactly what sites they can save the feed to. Bookmarking icons only appear on the bottom of individual articles, which makes it harder for users to locate.

There isn’t much originality or user-friendly material on this site. I think it needs a makeover!

I’m Fucking Matt Damon

This is probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a looooong time.

Enjoy.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out

One of my favourite furniture design stores is called EQ3 and they have them worldwide; the one in Toronto is at 222 King St. East.

I am in LOVE with these 3 items. The bed is amazing for sitting up and reading in it because of the padded headboard. The chair is just so friggin cool looking and would be a great accent for a room full of solids. The tealight holders are small, but they are in the shape of artichokes! How awesomely cool!

EQ3.com

 

If you haven’t, then do it already

Check out the Apple Trailers, that is.

You Mac-o-philes out there will already know of this amazing part of the Apple website, but for those of you who haven’t yet converted, Apple Trailers allows you to watch all the movie trailers for current and upcoming films. There’s foreign and indie films mixed in there too.

www.apple.com/trailers