ee _Cake pops By Jenn Markham first heard of the cake pop phenomenon from Starbucks, where cake on a stick is sold in a variety of flavours for under two dollars; they taste delicious of course, though the calorie count for one of these tiny treats is roughly two hundred— much like eating a small piece of cake! With the scope of decorated cake- balls-on-a-stick sweeping the industry, I picked myself up the book Cake Pops by Bakerella from Costco for $13.99. The book shows pictures of cake pops in the form of cupcakes, ducks, sheep, pandas, twinkiés, frogs, pirates, grad caps, soccer balls, and more. There are cake pops for every, and any, occasion. The instructions make each cake pop recipe and decorations appear super easy, but if you’re going to take on any cake pop task, give yourself plenty of time. The introduction of the book warns that not giving yourself enough time to decorate could leave you feeling frustrated and rushed. (Ikea furniture should take on warnings like this). If you’re pressed for time, the Costco cashier I purchased the book from suggested taking a trip to Tim Horton’s and picking.up some Timbits as : your cake, which literally cuts the time in | half so all you’d have to do is decorate. Because cakes and cupcakes are so last year! If that isn’t an option for you, but you still love the idea, the front cover of the October issue of Today's Parent offers another idea: sprinkly marshmallow pops. This style of cake pops is marshmallows on a stick that are dipped in chocolate and decorated with Halloween-coloured sprinkles. I’m thinking that a similar technique could work for plenty of other - occasions by purchasing coloured chocolate and festive sprinkles. So if you’re like me and all your family and friends tease you about being “culinarily challenged,” cake pops are a great opportunity to impress! Lot-us discuss this: A man’s take on yoga pants fashion By Tim Ryckman n article from MSN Travel claims that Vancouver is the third least ashionable city in the world, stating that “yoga pants are a ruse worn by lazy pseudo-fashionistas.” Perhaps MSN Travel doesn’t have a method to its madness (since the specific criteria for rating is unknown to anyone interested in such things). However, one cannot deny that a quick walk down the streets of a Vancouver-area city like New Westminster — or even through the concourse of our own beloved college — would reveal that a high percentage of the female populace (some males too) seem to be sporting this yoga-type gear. First off, before I delve into this hot topic, let me be honest with you: when it comes to fashion (and, being a guy), jeans, hoodies, and skater shoes suit me just fine as everyday attire. So as far as yoga pants go, I’ve never worn any of that butt-hugging workout wear. Maybe they’re comfortable, I don’t know from experience, but if they are, I do find them slightly more fashionable then a pair of sweatpants on girls. Still, maybe MSN Travel has a point when they note that, “unless you plan to do a downward dog within the hour, spare us the yoga pants and put on some real trousers.” Yoga pants were created for a specific purpose, (surprise surprise), just like track pants, speedos or capes. So what can you do if you can’t stand to part with your yoga clothes? The first option is to keep your yoga pants to the mat, that is, if you’re one of those people who actually does yoga. ree Or, you could take the second option, and just screw fashion and wear whatever you want. I personally endorse wearing whatever you feel like, but be warned: you may get glares from the condemning button-and-zipper-pants wearing fashion lovers intent on making Vancouver a “better place.” I will certainly not be among them, but my advice is this: as a guy, avoid wearing yoga pants to interviews, or on romantic dates to French restaurants with fancy names, or to your college graduation, or to meet your spouse’s parents, or just every day of every week everywhere. Spice it up a little and don’t get stuck in the yoga-rut. And if you want to’pull out your yoga pants for a date to the Dougout then do it — just don’t be surprised when I show up to your class wearing my leopard print speedo and cape ensemble. After all, if I’m lucky I might just start the next international fashion craze. _ Star Trek style: . Stephanie Trembath a Life and Style Editor t *m not a sci-fi fan, so when I mistook lightsabers as part of Star Trek (believing that Star Wars and Star Trek were one and the same thing and therefore interchangeable), I was forced to do a bit of background research in order to redeem myself of further embarrassment. When I think of outer space, everything blends and blurs. From little green aliens, weird hand signals, and cyber fights between warriors in super-tight jumpsuits — space culture is all slotted into the same category for me, one of which I don’t pay much attention to unless otherwise required. In any case, after wasting a four-hour seminar researching Star Trek (turns out I have seen all the Star Wars movies a la Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen), I found a few striking similarities between the Trekkie films and our modern technologies 8 eyes 3 em nt a en RT Did our futuristic. predecessors dictate our 21* century style guide? today. While the 1960’s and 80’s are idolized and admired for fashion and avant- garde ideals, the original Star Trek TV series continues to influence and predict all sorts of new gadgets and get-ups. The most obvious comparison is between the latest Apple tech-toy, the iPad, and the Star Trek PADD. For those of you who, like myself, have no idea what a PADD is, I will enlighten you. The Personal ft “The super-stretchy, skin-tight jumpsuits worn by Deep Space Nine characters are likened to the luon pants and long-sleeved shirts many young women wear everyday.” Access Display Device (PADD) was a small tablet used by crew members, circa 2151, featured on Star Trek. Thirty years later, Apple has developed the iPad: a small tablet ‘device which looks almost identical (if not more modern and light) than the PADD shown on TV in'the 1970’s, Consequently, there is an app that allows you to transform the appearance of your iPad into a PADD (if you desire to do so). The Starfleet Tricorder is another device that influenced our present-day technologies. A small handheld device, the standard tricorder was used to scout unfamiliar areas, examine living things, and record and review technical data. If you haven’t already guessed it, the standard tricorder is sold today as a smartphone — any Blackberry, iPhone, or Android. Similarly, the medical tricorder, which was used by Starfleet doctors to diagnose diseases and collect bodily information, is under close scrutiny by the USA army and Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). With a wave of his medical tricorder, Dr. Leondard McCoy was able to locate and heal injuries, which is the current goal of DARPA’s research team as they attained a $30 million research contract over four years. The research team aims to solve problems of blood-loss on the battlefield; hoping to develop a portable device which will immediately locate and treat the blood vessels in the injured extremity. The system will use ultrasound technologies to locate deadly bleeding and deliver High Intensity Focused Ultrasound energy to the wounded area to still the bleeding. as A final comparison I found was with Lululemon Athletica, as the company ° seems to have.adopted the signature Star Trek style. The super-stretchy, skin-tight jumpsuits worn by Deep Space Nine characters are likened to the luon pants and long-sleeved shirts many young women wear everyday. Instead of jumpsuits (because who wants to walk around in a nylon one-piece) Lulu clothes range in colors and styles, and yet the stretchy skin- tight material has somehow become the fashion fad of the 21st century.