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BUGABOO RUNNING STROLLER REVIEW

Multi-tasking is one of the those things that becomes necessary as a parent. There is very little time to get out and do something for yourself. I have been running with my 2 year old son since he was 9 months old and have been fortunate enough to try a couple different kinds of running strollers.

The Bugaboo Runner is really in a league of it’s own. It’s light weight, smooth roll and aerodynamics allowed me to shed 20 seconds off my stroller mile.

Additionally, I felt confident that my son was well protected. Safety was definitely a top priority in the runner’s design; the hand-break is well positioned to be able to grab it with either hand, and the foot-brake was easily applied.

Important to note that the Bugaboo Runner is a pure running stoller, and as such, it sacrifices versatility for performance. Forget about trying to take this stroller into a shop or grab a coffee at the end of your run. It is a challenge for most pure running strollers, but the Bugaboo’s shape and large wheels makes even more difficult to manage turns. That said, it is really easy to take apart; the signature detachable seat can be easily used with several other Bugaboo bases.

If we are really splitting hairs, the security wrist strap was a bit of a miss in the design (but no running stroller has really solved for this yet). If you are like me, I have one hand on the stroller at all times, but I like to alternate throughout the run. I would like to see a company come out with a retractable leash design which gives a little more leeway to change grip, and can be locked into position when necessary. The Bugaboo’s leash is tough to take off your wrist when running, making it nearly impossible to effectively switch your dominant hand.

For city dwellers where and storage space is tight, the Bugaboo Runner might not be for you. It is large, and the 2 piece design makes it difficult to store. Due to it’s lack of versatility, you will need a second, and potentially third stroller, making storage space an even bigger premium. I even found it difficult to transport. We have an SUV and it solidly monopolized half of the trunk.

The Verdict: The Bugaboo Runner is a fantastic running stroller – but for the price, you need to need to be logging pretty decent miles with your little one to make it worthwhile. The stroller is not easy to store, and even more challenging to transport. I tested the stroller for 4 weeks, and while I loved nearly everything about it, I had trouble figuring out where to keep it in the house most days.

Rating: 4/5

Price: $940 CAD

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Self-Love Is Having a Moment

We live in a world where women are constantly being told they aren’t good enough. The images and messages we are fed suggest we need to look younger, thinner, fitter, curvier, richer, more successful. And all this, effortlessly. Every time I open up Instagram which is often considering my business depends on it and that I’m completely addicted, I’m overwhelmed by images of perfectly bronzed beauties traveling the world with their equally handsome photographer boyfriend visiting exotic locales without a care in the world. If only I were (insert unattainable ideal here), I could have that life too.

So not only are we not good enough but we’re also told we need to give, give, give. Nurture, love, support. We are expected to give all this to everyone around us. Our significant others, friends, parents, children, putting ourselves at the bottom of the list of priorities. Where does that leave us?

So on International Women’s Day this year, it was clear that the message had to be LOVE YOURSELF, LADIES.

But what is self-love? Is it a narcissistic pursuit akin to vanity and self-obsession? Or is it the foundation for the most significant relationship in your life?

Self-love is about knowing your worth, accepting yourself and taking care of yourself on the daily; physically, emotionally, spiritually and yes, sexually. Assume responsibility for our lives and well-being. That might mean redirecting some of the love we give to others towards ourselves. Women have to stop waiting for this elusive savior who will make us feel complete. We cannot give to another, or to the world if we don’t learn to give to ourselves first and in turn, realize we are already whole.

What better way to illustrate the concept of self-love than to take it to the most obvious, explicit, and literal interpretation. After a brainstorming sesh with the WRG crew, we, of course, knew we had to go there. Self-love includes self-pleasuring. A double entendre that for some reason makes people a little uncomfortable. It forced me to contemplate why women’s sexuality is still a taboo topic. A subject rarely discussed in mainstream media.

Why are we so uncomfortable talking about a woman taking pleasure into her own hands? Even the word vagina is rarely said aloud as to not upset society’s delicate sensibilities. Try it out, say vagina in a conversation, watch everyone flinch. Then casually use the word penis or dick. No one bats an eyelash. Everyone comes from a vagina, get over it.

It almost feels like an unspoken rule amongst women even; WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT MASTURBATION. From a young age, you hear about boys jacking off. Seemingly an essential topic in coming of age movies. American Pie’s whole premise was well, boys losing their virginity at prom and practicing with a pie. As a teen, I remember watching this blockbuster with my parents and siblings, a family favourite. Would American Pie have been as embraced if let’s say it was the story of a teenage girl that got caught humping a cucumber, American Pickle?

Why are we so uncomfortable or even embarrassed to talk about female masturbation? Why is a woman’s sexuality still stigmatized?

The point here was definitely to make people wonder. Is she or isn’t she? Whether she is pleasuring herself or working out, the message is the same, take care of yourself, it’s ok. A woman’s body is her own, and she should be able to take pleasure in not only how it looks but also in what it is capable of doing. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of exertion, pleasure, and accomplishment that comes from fitness or sex or whatever else you choose to do with your body. Feminism is about choice.

This video is also of symbolic of how multifaceted women are. It asserts that women can be strong AND sexual. These are not mutually exclusive qualities; one does not trump the other.

To check out the other videos in the series be sure to subscribe to our Youtube Channel.

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Genesis Motors is Redefining Luxury

What does luxury mean to you?

In the automotive world, we think of the big players that have staked out their marketplace by creating a world of exclusivity and privilege. Long waiting lists, high prices and logos as status symbols the world of automotive luxury is pretentious.

Enter Genesis Motors, the latest chapter in the Hyundai brand and a luxury car company that is redefining the meaning of the word. Gone are the days of exclusivity, instead Genesis Motors has decided to focus on the customer experience. The brand’s director Michael Ricciuto explains this as “we’re the luxury car company that comes to you. We’re trying to redefine the whole purchasing process of buying luxury cars.“

Currently, the brand has carved out a niche market for itself with two models, the G80 and the G90. Both of them sedans and both of them on the larger side but that isn’t a resting place for Genesis Motors Riccuito confirms, “We’ve announced that there will be six new models by 2021. That includes our small sedan, two SUVs, and a sports car. So by 2021, we’ll have more models, and especially for our market in Canada, the SUVs are going to be paramount.”

The traditional way of buying cars is about 75 years old.”

-Michael Ricciuto

So what does the Genesis Motors experience look like? Well for starters you can fully test drive, purchase, change over your lease, and everything in between through their online portal. Included in your relationship with the brand is a full Genesis at Home experience, including five years of brand, handled servicing. No interruptions are necessary. Ricciuto explains, “Can you imagine just saying, ‘Ya, okay, I need maintenance on my car and Tuesday at 9 am would work best,’ and someone just shows up at your house with a loaner car? And you don’t have to worry about picking it up, and getting ready or getting your kids off to school, or whatever. It’s all done. It’s your convenience.”

“The traditional way of buying cars is about 75 years old. 75 years ago, you’d go down to a dealership, pick the vehicle out of their inventory, negotiate with some guy, choose the tires, and take delivery of it, and have to bring it back every time you needed to service it,” he continues. Instead, Genesis Motor’s pride’s itself on bringing everything to you, alleviating headaches and inconveniences. It’s the boutique hotel of car brands. “Let us cater to your needs so that you can focus on what’s important, your life beyond the vehicle” feel to it. Their target demographic can obviously appreciate, in this “time-is-money” age that there’s nothing better than being proficient in service. In Ricciuto own words, “We’re defining new luxury as it’s enjoying the best experience in life for any given product or service. It’s all about the experience.”

So how does one go about buying a car directly from the brand and fully online? “Our online sales portal is one of a kind. Nowhere can you go today and purchase a car entirely online, including putting online your trade-in vehicle, applying and getting instant approval for credit, and select the vehicle you want,” explains the brand director, “we’re pretty proud of that tool.” This tool, as you can imagine, has taken a while to perfect as there are so many variables to input but Genesis has constantly been tweaking this innovation to ensure ease of use. “The challenges that we found, probably the biggest one, is more of an administrative one, when you go to buy a car, you’d think it’s straightforward, but every deal is so different. One person has a trade, someone owes money on their car, someone else it’s not in their name it’s in their wife’s name, so our online portal had to adapt quickly to make it easy to understand yet flexible enough to adjust to all these unique conditions.”

If experience is at the forefront of this luxury car brand than having a purchasing tool that is innovative, sleek and easy to navigate is of utmost priority. You can count this as one of the many success in the brand’s initiatives developed specifically by the Canadian team. Chad Heard Senior Manager, Public Relations chimes in, “this business model is unique to Canada. This approach to the market is a Canadian idea and Canadian execution. So we’re pretty proud of that opportunity to have autonomy to develop a Canadian solution for Canadian customers.”

Not a fan of the interwebs? Well, don’t fret because Genesis Motors is opening up eight boutique sales centers, in convenient locations (think malls and main streets), that will allow you to work directly with their team to find the right fit for you.

Again, the team has focused on how it’s consumer would want to purchase a vehicle, gone are the days of having to drive out to a remote area where the dealership is, haggle with the dealer and leave knowing you’ll have to come back to pick up your vehicle. Genesis Motors are cutting out the middleman and bringing its service to you. In the process they pride themselves on never leaving you without a car, giving you the ability to make appointments around your schedule, allowing you to purchase a vehicle from the comfort of your home or nearby sales location and never upselling you because their basics check off your dream wishlist.

If that doesn’t sound like luxury, well we need to go back to my initial question of, “what does luxury mean to you?”

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Toronto’s DJ Starting From Scratch explains why he didn’t play Drake tracks in 2006

Shortly after we re-released our 2006 interview with Drake Toronto’s most iconic DJ, Starting From Scratch took to instagram to elaborate on an answer Drake gave a decade ago. When we had originally interviewed Drake and even earlier today, we interpreted his response as a tongue-in-cheek reply, a friendly knock to the city’s most respected […]

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This is the perfect race because it has no finish line

Have you ever wanted to run a race? Maybe a 5k or a half-marathon but find the whole idea of running with hundreds of strangers more intimidating than being chased by the bulls in Pamplona? As Michael Jackson would say, you are not alone, there is the perfect race for you. What is WFL? Wings […]

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Nikelab reissues the Zoom Air Talaria

ineteen years after its original release, Nikelab reissues the Zoom Air Talaria. The Talaria is one of the few under-appreciated footwear releases. More recent sneaker lovers may not recognize the tennis-ball-textured runner but seasoned collectors will rank the Talaria at the top of their most prized pieces in their collection. Celebrating the re-release, we chatted […]

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Nike Innovation Summit 2016 Recap

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Stutterheim for Hudson’s Bay Company

hat’s more Canadiana than the Hudson’s Bay Company stripes? The iconic green, red, yellow and blue are recognized worldwide, from blankets to coffee mugs. Swedish brand, Stutterheim Raincoats, is known for using the finest craftsmanship and materials. The brand is no stranger to partnerships, having a couple of well known exclusives in their closet, including […]

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How to dress for the Gentlemen’s Hockey Classic

The WRG Classic is more than just an outdoor game, it’s a distinguished fashion statement. The twenty-two players will take to the ice dressed in their most dapper attire inspired by the menswear revolution of the roaring twenties, but the dress code doesn’t end there. The atmosphere extends beyond the rink and into the stands […]

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It Was All A Dream

etween 1989 and 2002, hip hop underwent a meteoric rise. From a misunderstood outcast, hip hop started to mature and expand into mainstream youth culture – from a single two-hour daily program, it grew into an entire TV network, series of Hollywood films and television sitcoms, video games and entire clothing lines. The culture shared […]

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2016 WRG Gentlemen’s Hockey Classic

About he WRG Gentlemen’s Hockey Classic is an invitational game paying homage to the roots of the sport, set on an outdoor rink with players and fans take inspiration from 1920s and 30s era suits and tailored clothing. Built on pillars of style and sportsmanship, everything down to the classic wooden sticks is reminiscent of […]

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How to add friends on the Nike+ Running app

Whether you prefer to run alone or in groups, having friends on your running apps is a great way to give yourself a bit of motivation when you’re not feeling up to the task. Seeing your friends head out for runs can give you a bit of motivation to also get out on the streets […]

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IAMSAM EP – The Dream covers Sam Cooke

Atlanta born singer-songwriter The Dream, born Terius Youngdell Nash, released his latest project, IAMSAM, an eight-song EP featuring covers of American born Soul and R&B pioneer and music legend, Sam Cooke. Cooke helped pave the way for other Soul legends including Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, and many more. Arguably Cooke’s most […]

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Kodak Comeback?

Film manufacturing heavyweight Kodak announced this week that for the first time in nearly a decade- it’s breaking even. And thanks to directors like Quentin Tarantino, JJ Abrams and other well-known analog advocates who shoot primarily in film, the last ever motion picture film manufacturer will likely be profitable in the new year. New technology […]

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The Great Instagram Purge: where are we now?

It’s been a year since the great Instagram purge, but have we actually learned anything from it? Although you may not have personally lost a great deal of followers, and your favourite celebrities losing valueless “fans” most likely didn’t affect your life, the purge showed us that it’s very easy to get kicked out of […]

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Adopt an Emoji

Last week we spoke about the direction our visual language was taking on the web, and the potential it has to homogenize and revert our language. This week, Unicode Consortium, the folks responsible for the regulation of text foundations for computers, launched a fundraising campaign that allows you to adopt over 120,000 different symbols, characters […]

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