Today in 1775, the U.S. postal system is established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general.

The Forecast

Participation is the new consumption.

The News

Amid death threats, Paul the Octopus retires from the oracle business.

Wisdom

"It's been a prevalent notion. Fallen sparks. Fragments of vessels broken at the Creation. And someday, somehow, before the end, a gathering back to home. A messenger from the Kingdom, arriving at the last moment. But I tell you there is no such message, no such home -- only the millions of last moments . . . nothing more. Our history is an aggregate of last moments." :: Thomas Pynchon

The Monthly Report

...the need for recognition and status is at the heart of every consumer trend.


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Eau de Toilette :: The Austere Strange

Pride :: Gluttony :: Lust :: Greed

Yatagan, a fragrance by the house of Caron in Paris, is a niche fragerence that strikes a balance between the refined & the strange.

Josh Meyer

I'm not opposed to fragrance ad's, to the contrary, what's not to love about peddling the irresistible. The new ad campaign for Azzaro pour Homme featuring Enrique Iglesias being attacked by a woman is brilliant. Here is a socialite pop star giving a new face to what people associate with a balding 45-year-old former prom king. However, Caron unfortunately markets Yatagan as something from the Middle East. Perhaps the marketing is too savy, but the only correlation I see between the fragrance & the Middle East is in the lovely name, which means "Turkish Sword." On their website, Caron gives the fragrance 3 notes: Celery, Patchouli, Musk, & " . . . " - the " . . . " is often associated as a note of gunpowder. Celery is there, but it's dirtied, not fresh and green; actually, the celery note to my nose is as if the celery climbed into the weathered, leather seat of an 80's Mercedes running on diesel.

That being said, Yatagan is a fragrance you'll need to spend time with & learn to understand. It adds to the fun & intrigue that some may recoil at their first taste! It is, next to Eau d'Hermes, the most Austere fragrance I've had the pleasure of using. While Eau d'Hermes wears a pin-stripe suit, Allen Edmonds & carries a briefcase, Yatagan is that guy's best friend who wears Chuck Taylors with his suit & is making a lot more money. Other notes in Yatagan Caron doesn't list are: lavender, wormwood, and leather. When you get to know it the refinement starts to come alive. The leather is there, & the wormwood adds to the strangeness; although titles & classifications are necessary, I'm personally not in favor of classifying it as a "woody oriental." It's far too fun for that. If I had to give it a two-word review it would be: Austere Strange.

For a fragrance that can be had online for under $30, it's exquisite. This is a scent that, if smelled blindly, I'd attribute to a niche perfume house charging at minimum a hundred bones for 50 ml. Also, unlike a lot of other offerings from Caron, it has yet to be reformulated into oblivion since it's inception 34 years ago.

Past Features

Funambules

The Life & Times of E.E. Hale :: She Loves Me Not

The Life & Times of E.E. Hale :: The Finishing Touch

Ask a Layman

Where do my 911 calls go after they've been recorded?


Into a database file of course! However, & keep this close to the chest, sources say that Google stores your frantic & frankly embarrassing 911 call in a maximum security shipping container on a Venezuelan off-shore cargo ship. Watch yourself. Everything you've ever searched for on Google is also stored in said container. Big brother, I mean Google is watching.


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