Anyway, it’s a successful biz. I’m probably in the minority as far a women go… because if birthday and Christmas presents are anything to go by, it’s generally understood that ladies luuuuurve candles.

Well, judging by Yankee Candle’s latest scents they are moving in on the male demographic too!

Yep candles that have “macho scents”:

“Although candles will help freshen up the home we absolutely hate feeling emasculated as we walk through the aisles of the candle shop with all of the other housewives sniffing their favorite scents. Apparently someone felt the same way we did, and thus the Yankee Man Candles were born, because let’s face it candles do smell great regardless of the ‘Citrus Passion’ label on the jar. These man candles really connect with us with scents like ‘Riding Mower,’ ‘First Down,’ and even ’2×4′. These will definitely help mask your manly odors permeating through the house.”

There is even a candle called Man Town. The label has a remote pointed at sports playing on a flat screen TV.  My question is: if the candle is supposed to smell like a man cave, shouldn’t it smell like beer, B.O, old pizza, nacho cheese and farts? Can’t wait to smell that candle!!

The Guys and Dolls™ wave embraces the differences between the sexes. It’s about the stereotypes of macho and feminine. The Human Truth™ is: “Give me my power tools” “Give me my power frills.”™ Yankee Candle has cleverly branched out to find a new market. Maybe you think your product, brand or service is very specifically targeted, but perhaps you are overlooking a fresh way to expand.

In the online dating realm, we have dating as per your religion: jDate, ChristianMingle.com. Then we have BlackPeopleMeet.com, or if it’s purely a “hook up” then AdultFriendFinder.com. If you are a crazy Apple fan boy or gurl… you might find your Apple loving soul mate on Cupidtino. Now there’s even a “facebook for kinksters” which is for people who want to explore their fetishes, called FetLife.

As a music lover (some may say “snob”) this particular concept piqued my interest. It’s a way to connect with others through your Spotify music playlist.

“Two new apps have been launched on Spotify that aim to match you with potential dates based on what music you like. Fellody and Tastebuds.fm both integrate seamlessly with the popular music streaming service, scanning your music library to find your favorite artists, the songs you listen to the most, and your collection of playlists, to find other users with similar picks. You are then shown the profiles of the people who share the same taste, so you can see what you have in common.”

The We Are Family™ wave is all about commonalities and making connections based on things we care about. The Human Truth™ of this wave is “When I’m here it feels like home.”™

Modern love seems like a whole new playing field these days. As a thirty-something in LA, I watch my friends and I go through all sorts of things that are are out of our comfort zone in the pursuit of love. Yet, these sites are aiming to put you in your comfort zone… at the very least you have something to banter about -and that might cut out some of the awkwardness of first dates!

It’s Facebook based, and teach.com uploaded several types of teachers that we have seen on the silver screen, and you simply choose one that personifies the teacher/s that haven impacted your life and tag them.

“Some businesses celebrate by offering teachers deals on supplies, books and meals. Others celebrate with public events to recognize the teachers in their community. But sometimes the best way to celebrate is to just reach out to one of your favorite teachers and offer a simple thank you.

Is there a special teacher who you’d like to thank, but you’re not sure how? This year, Teach.com has made it easy to reach out to your favorite teachers on Facebook. All you have to do is upload one of these images and tag your teacher on the photo that you think best describes them. It’s a simple way to let your past and current teachers know that you are thinking about them and appreciate all of the effort they put into their job.”

I definitely had a “Sebastian” from The Little Mermaid, in middle school. And my favorite college tutor was definitely a “Dewey Finn” from School Of Rock. These teachers were so encouraging and engaged that I can truly attribute them (along with my awesome parents) to helping me follow my dreams and find out what my passions and talents are.

The Inner Balance™ wave is a bout finding a deeper meaning. These unsung heroes of the education system have taken their role as educators to another level. They are mentors, they inspire greatness, and anyone who has seen the movie Precious knows that they can change the course of people’s lives forever. The Human Truth™ of this wave is: “Without meaning, what’s the point?”™

You can be as book smart as you like, but it’s those teachers that get to know our kids and help them discover something special about themselves that are changing the world with every class. Did you say “Thank You” to a great teacher this week?

The Dark Knight Rises also looks an epic finale to the Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. The latest trailer teases us with glimpses of The Catwoman played by Anne Hathaway. I’m sure it will be another summer smash.

So what if you “want in” on this super hero action? What if you loved a certain super hero so much that you’d love to see yourself in their costume but don’t want to wait for Halloween? Yes, cosplay seems to be growing more accepted in society with each passing Comicon, but what if that’s never going to be your scene? Or if you want a super unusual gift for your fanboy/girl loved one?

I’ve found the service for you!

“With the help of gadget site firebox.com, you can now be immortalized as an action figure.
Your pictures will be turned into a 3D version of your head, including eye color, skin tone and hairstyle.”
The Deity Complex™ wave is filled with products and services that make things “all about you”.
The Human Truth™ of this wave is: “It’s my world, my way.”™ For many people day to day life is challenging, and as we watch our heroes overcome insurmountable odds on the screen, who doesn’t want to embrace a bit of that super hero mojo?

She calmed me down and said with a naughty grin that “yeh we probably went a bit too far last night, but I didn’t want him to stop.” With my mouth agape, I said: “Woah… This is a sex thing??!”

She giggled as she touched up her make up and told me the salacious details – which I’ll leave to your imagination.

When I relayed the story to some other mutual girlfriends, one of them said: “Ohhh, I bet she’s been reading Fifty Shades of Grey!” She then went on to admit she was reading it too.

The book is a best seller that is the first installment in a trilogy that traces the “deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.”

This rough sex fiction has been banned in 17 Florida libraries after being deemed too ‘pornographic.’

Apparently, the librarians were alerted to it’s scandalous content after people started to refer to it as “Mommy Porn”.

The notion that “Mommies” can’t indulge in regular porn, and have to get titillated by “naughty novels” is a little sexist to me, but I’m not exactly a soccer mom I guess. The Barely Legal™ wave is about stretching boundaries without going too over the top. The Human Truth™ of this wave is: “I like to step over the line, but only in short bursts.”™ To me that sums up the appeal and success of this book. Many women are curious about these sex acts, but most of them are content to only read about them.

Unless your a complete weirdo, there is nothing about using a Port-a-Potty that is enjoyable to ANY of the senses. It’s one of my least favorite things to endure at a summer concert festival for instance. The fact that you usually have to wait in a long line to use those stinking isolation chambers only adds salt to the wound. Erk… I’m almost dry retching at the memory of the horrors I’ve seen and smelled.

That’s why this stunt by IKEA worked so damn well.

“In a bid to introduce their bathroom collection to the Italian market, IKEA disguised a fully furnished, luxury bathroom as a free porta-potty, complete with hardwood floors and a shower.

Watch the stunned reactions as these style loving Italians sheepishly open the Port-a-Potty door to discover a beautiful welcoming bathroom within.

Sensory Appeal™ is about the element of surprise. When a brand, product or service upgrades an experience to this extent, you know it will make a lasting impression.

However this crazy thing is something that I could see my friends and I having fun with.

It’s called the Human Slingshot. Apparently it gives you quite the work out while you and three other friends flail around like crazy people. As someone who was well acquainted with the mosh pits in the 90′s -this is a workout I can get behind. AND it’s skips the whole part where sweaty, stinky strangers slam into you from all angles.

It’s also said to be a great team and trust-building exercise. Somehow I can’t picture a corporate office being down with it, but maybe that’s the fun part… Getting out of your comfort zone and doing something a little weird and fun.

The promo video is well shot and some how makes adults playing with a giant rubber band seem cool. Check it out… Not a single bloody nose!!

The Body Warranty™ wave is about pushing your body beyond it’s limits. I think this is a product that does that in a fun, silly and light hearted way. Not many people describe their workouts that way.

My friend, who knows I love 60′s and 70′s film culture, linked me a site that has cool retro music and film imagery (nsfw). There, among the images of Jack Nicholson and and shlock movie posters, I came across a post of several stamp bags.

Stamp bags are used by collectors to keep collectable stamps in. They are waxed, glassine packets which have been appropriated by heroin dealers because the heroin powder does not stick to the bag. Users can get every last bit of power out. It’s not unusual for drugs to have particular names in an attempt to brand a certain strain or source.  Heroin addicts usually want the strongest stuff they can find, so this often leads to some pretty scary names like “D.O.A”, “Trainwreck” or “Game Over”.

The NYTimes ran a piece on an art show called show called “Heroin Stamp Project” which featured 150 packets picked off city streets, as well as 12 blown-up prints made from them. It was “meant to examine the intersection of advertising and addiction and provoke questions about how society addresses dependence and disease.”

Anyway, as I scrolled through this “art work”, I was stuck by how many brand names were used. There was Starbucks, Best Buy, Nike, Obama, Dr. Pepper, Louis Vuitton, even Target and the aptly used: Arm and Hammer.

So we have a classic case of Brandalizm™. The Human Truth™ of the wave is: “You don’t own your brand, I do.”™  Often times we see appropriation as a way to celebrate and willingly market something -because someone has a great love for a product or service. It’s not always classy but it does signify loyalty, which is a good thing.  In this case however, it’s more about a drug dealer branding and marketing a certain kind of drug. Definitely, not what these companies had in mind for their logos, I’m sure.

In a post on the site, Facebook points out that there are 114,000 people currently awaiting transplants in the U.S., and millions around the world.

I’m sure Donate Life had high hopes, but just 24 hours after Facebook launched its organ donor drive, reported a 5,105% increase in registrations in California alone. “Thank you Facebook and every single one of you that said yes!” Donate Life posted a thank you to its Facebook wall along with this infograph showing the spike in donors.

“Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” this video of Kate Upton dancing in her underwear—this is the kind of thing we expect to go viral and, when they do, roll our eyes at the predictability of it all. But this organ donor drive—like Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which takes 90 seconds to get to the chorus—is a surprise.

Perhaps the immediacy of Facebook is allowing people to ponder what their legacy will be. Not everyone can leave behind a huge fortune or fame, but you can choose to help save someone’s life, and in a way, live on through them. The Human Truth™ of the Giving Back™ wave is: “When we give, we also receive.”™

The vast majority of us want to do good, want to be good. Sometimes people feel they lack too much to be a “giver”. They could be “time poor” or well… Actually poor. I guess Mr. Zuckerberg has made available a way for people to donate -where neither of those things are an excuse.

“When Streeter called me to ask if I would ever fly to Dubai just to eat the Crown Crust, I said sure, sounds like fun. When he called an hour later and said, can you go this weekend, we are going to book tickets. Thats when I realized what I was getting myself into.”

So the intrepid Wanderlunch fad food correspondent, Jon Gabrus arrives in Dubai and asks an incredulous cabbie to take him straight to Pizza Hut.  The moment had arrived.  So what was it like?

“If I wanted veggies, I probably would have ordered something else. The pizza was thin-crust, which I was not expecting. I thought it would be a deep-dish filled with goodness like the Stuffed Crust Pizzas of yore. Also, as you can expect, the pizza looked nothing like the pizza I saw in the commercial. It was smaller, thinner, and all around greyer.  I hammered down slices and it was definitely good, in an over-indulging type way. The beef was sweet which gave it a sausage-y vibe (something I am told I have as well).   I couldn’t finish the pie, my body was going into lack of sleep/ODing on sodium mode. All I could think about was how tired and how thirsty I was and how ridiculous this whole thing was. I tried so desperately to get the waitress to do an interview about the pizza or even just to get someone besides me and my three chins on camera.”

To sum up the pizza and the trip he says: “In the end I left my house for about 72 hours and I will be on a plane for about 26 of those hours. I have only 2 words left to say: Worth It.”

Wow. This guy has a true commitment to pizza!

The Power Play’s ™wave is where people tend to go above and beyond the norm to make an impact. The Human Truth™ of this wave is: “Not many people know what I know and do what I do.”™ The Crown Crust Pizzas are a Power Play™ in their own right. I mean cheese burgers, cream cheese and chicken fingers baked into the crust?  Really?? Now, when it comes to traveling half way around the world just to try one? The College Humor guys just successfully pulled off a pretty funny Power Play™.