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When it comes to new-product perkiness, most beauty editors I know sit up straight and pay attention when Viktor & Rolf decide to release a new perfume.

The quirky, charming duo are fashion designers from Amsterdam that have a great way of infusing fun and sophistication into their completely surreal style.

Their very successful 2005 perfume, Flowerbomb, came in a grenade shaped bottle that “exploded” into a thousand flowers. Sounds cheese ball, but everyone loved it.

I’ve got their newest fragrance, Eau Mega, on my desk right now - it’s a big, bold, statement of a perfume (and a bottle), and it’s made to inspire the same in the woman who wears it.

One squeeze of the “megamizer” (yup, “megamizer), and you’re greeted with a fresh, green hit of violet leaf, green basil and pear. It settles onto the skin with a floral mix of sambac jasmine and peony. It’s editorially incorrect to use a cliche for originals such as V&R, but this perfume truly is a modern twist on a classic floral theme.

The pair describe the woman that wears Eau Mega as someone with “the allure, charm, beauty and confidence of those who have nothing to prove.”

I like the sound of that.

www.viktorandrolf.com

Controversy over 47-year-old Demi Moore’s hips! David Graham at the Toronto Star reports on the ongoing discussion regarding whether Demi’s Moore’s hips were Photoshopped to be smaller on the cover of W magazine. The Daily Mail even published superimposed photos online, with the Demi Moore cover over a shot of catwalk model Anja Rubik. Moore herself has asserted the hips are hers, posted the original picture on her Twitter feed.

Whether or not this is a tempest in a teapot, the best part of the whole kerfuffle for me has been discovering Demi Moore’s UR Wanted project on YouTube. If you decide to enter, be sure to send us the link to your video. Oh, and - what do you think about those hips?

This week one of my best friends experienced a “cardiac event” - fortunately more of a scare than anything life-threatening, but it was a real wake-up call. (Although actually, it was a wake-up text.)

First, that women should know the symptoms of heart attack, and take them seriously.

Second, that friends are pretty important. Unless, of course, they dump you (well okay, even then they’re important to someone).

And third, that maybe a big part of midlife friendship is learning to go through some of life’s biggest milestones together.

I know my friend and I have resolved to support each other in making sure our lifestyles are more heart-healthy: watch our diets, especially salt and fat (even though it may not be the killer we’ve thought it is), exercise more together, and laugh more often.

What’s changed in your relationships lately?

Under “pieces we’d love to run” comes Angela Wright’s “Facts and Arguments” essay for the Globe and Mail, on being an older parent of elementary-school aged children. Quote to remember: “But look at me - thanks to the miracle of Spanx and the proliferation of hair dye, I look like I did when I was 30, except older. ”

Speaking of Spanx, the National Post says corsets and heels are getting worse.

Other pieces you won’t want to miss:
- The nice thing about U.S. Thanksgiving is that we can treat it philosophically, our own carving dilemmas behind us (at least for another month): Duck, it’s the holidays - The New York Times
- New Moon, same old sexist story (Huffington Post); conversely Could New Moon be a feminist triumph? (Salon)
- Reminder: Facebook is not private. (from CBC.ca)

What are you reading?

So this week Amazon announced that its wireless reading device, the Kindle, is now available in Canada, joining the Sony Reader. Despite being an avid “ink on dead trees” reader, I’m thinking about investing in one of these things so that I can carry more books with me on trips and on public transit.

The release got me thinking about technology that’s rocked my world. The GPS is probably the latest one that’s really made me feel like the future is now: I realized road atlases in print format are pretty much over and that it’s unlikely my son will ever navigate a family vacation by searching out square D4. In fact, he may never actually get lost. As his mother I think I’m glad, although some of my best moments have been when I was completely, utterly lost - like the time in Rome that I accidentally ended up in St. Peter’s Square.

But other moments were the first time I tried a web browser, the first time I saw a Roomba at work (robot cleaning! Not that we have one yet.), and the first time I used Abebooks.com to track down an out-of-print book rather than go ask at the local used bookstore.

I remember when I first got my own record player in my own room, and promptly went about wearing the tracks out of Grease. Since then, the list of technology I’ve owned includes a hand-me-down 8-track player, a cassette recorder, an AM-only portable radio, a boom box (with two tape decks, the envy of my friends), a Sony Walkman, a VCR, a CD player, a DVD player, and an iPod. I’m starting to feel the guilt about landfill about now. But out of all of these I think it’s the iPod that’s most changed my relationship to music, divorcing it from albums and moving towards playlists for every mood and occasion.

Which technology’s rocked your world lately?

So it’s official: The queen of daytime talk is hanging up her crown - at least when it comes to her show. I think the most memorable or significant part of the show for me in recent years has been the book club. What will you miss, if anything, when Oprah’s show is off the air?

Winter isn’t even here yet, and already we are getting dire warnings about cold and flu season. While I would rather not get sick this year, I am really dreading my boyfriend coming down with something. While my boyfriend is not as bad as some men I have heard stories about, it seems there is nothing in this world that brings a man to his knees quite like a cold.

I have heard it all: The husband who goes to bed for two days and is so sick he can’t even turn off a light, the boyfriend who refuses to leave the couch, the man who rings a bell as if his wife was a servant.

For every woman out there who has ever been saddled with an afflicted male in the house, this video is for you.

You may remember Sandra Tsing Loh’s previous piece on the end of her marriage. Now she’s written an essay sparked by a read of Ayelet Waldman’s book Bad Mother that not only continues her saga but is almost gut-wrenching to read.

Other things we’re reading today:
- a very cool home that houses three generations (New York Times’s T Magazine)
- Sarah Hampson’s interview of Jeannette Walls (author of The Glass Castle) at the Globe and Mail
- Maybe I will get the Nintendo Wii (National Post article on the gaming system’s workouts)
- Also at the National Post: Custody battles in the age of the Internet chat
- Also an update on one of the women who’ve graced our cover lately: Robin Wright (Penn) - note the brackets; she’s also changed her hair.

Found something we should be reading? Link to it in the comments below!

I’m very sad to pass on the news that Cheryl Irving, featured in Lisa Fitterman’s piece Cheryl goes to the bank passed away on November 11, after a long battle with cancer. Donations are welcome to the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation, in lieu of flowers.

Allow me a bit of hometown pride here for a moment: Sometimes living in Toronto is just a lot of fun. Fortunately, thanks to the Royal Ontario Museum’s podcasting, I get to share a recent Toronto-based event with you all online: Celebrated American writer and publishing magnate Lewis Lapham recently presented “Celebrity in Contemporary Culture” as a part of the Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture, and you can listen to it right here.

It’s a smart and entertaining examination of the question of celebrity in our culture (along with great anecdotes), so grab a cup of tea and have a listen.

If this is your thing, and you’re in the Toronto area, absolutely do not miss the ROM’s Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913 - 2008 (until January 3, 2010). I was privileged to attend the media preview and have actually gone back myself since to take another look. The pictures are beautiful, of course, but seeing them carefully curated and collected really brought home for me how photographers and media create iconic images. If you take my advice and head over, leave time to visit Canadian Content: Portraits by Nigel Dickson (until March 21, 2010) as well.

And just to completely blow your mind, the Art Gallery of Ontario is exhibiting Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years 1923–1937 as a sort of sister exhibition to the Vanity Fair portraits. I recommend it too!

Let us know what you think, either of the podcast or the exhibits. Also, if you want to share what’s going on in your hometown, please do post in the comments or get in touch with me.