LIMITED RANGE OF MOTION
Most airlines charge $4 a pop for a headset that
allows you to hear in-flight movies (of their choosing) displayed on small,
often inconveniently located screens. So airport-to-airport DVD player
rental seems like an idea that would fly. For the past month, PDX
has served as a test market for InMotion Pictures, a new company offering
a high-tech alternative to airline entertainment. The notion is sensible:
Before boarding, you stop by the InMotion kiosk and pick up a DVD player,
headset and movie, all for $10. You enjoy the blockbuster while riding
the skies (a cohort can rent a companion headset for $2.50), then return
the kit at the InMotion kiosk at your final destination. The only problem
is, your final destination better be Minneapolis/St. Paul, the only other
trial port. You can pay for a round-trip rental, but the luxury will cost
$10 per day. InMotion's goal is to spread like wildfire around the country's
airports, but for now this service receives a thumbs down. (CM)
POWDER HEIST
Loose powder made by drugstore brands such as Cornsilk and Cover
Girl costs about $6 per 20-gram container, but now there's a stylized
$45 version of loose powder from the haute cosmetic line Chanel.
The selling points of the 25-gram Powderlights--which come in
translucent, sunlight, rose dusk and peach dawn--are the streamlined
packaging and the built-in brush. But what was meant to be a simpler
applicator turns out to be more complicated than using a separate brush
or puff. The idea is to remove the little brush, sprinkle powder onto
a tissue, snap the brush back into place and apply the powder. Not only
is it unnecessarily involved, it's messy. The original, possibly better,
brush design was ditched because of clogging troubles. While Chanel
does produce high-quality make-up (the lip gloss quartets, for example),
there's no justifying the exorbitant cost of this unremarkable product.
(CM)
EYE STYLE
Whether you shop at Saturday Market or Saks Fifth Avenue, it's
easy to come by eclectic eyeglass cases. Contact lens wearers, on the
other hand, have to put up with the same ugly Bausch & Lomb cases
they've been carting around since they ditched their glasses. Manufactured
in muddy white, pink or blue, the lens receptacles have always been
universally bland. Finally, ID Studio has come up with hourglass-shaped
contact cases with sexy sliding lids in charcoal, silver or gold
($19.95). Less expensive ($12.95) pod-shaped cases with flip-up caps
are sold in a variety of neons, as well as newsprint and daisy prints.
Like Michael
Graves' housewares, ID Studio cases show that even the most mundane
objects benefit from a dose of style. Call (888) 431-1116 for a free
catalog. (BD)
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Willamette Week | originally
published March 17,
1999
|
