JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

While broiling in the heat of the Melbourne summer I realized I was wearing the wrong shoes. My thick-soled tennis shoes might have been useful for chasing a down-the-line forehand by Nadal, except that there is a zero probability of me chasing a down-the-line forehand by Nadal. They were too heavy in the heat; at every step I felt like I was lifting an anvil.

On my return to Manila I proceeded to the mall to look for shoes. I am happy with my topsiders but I can’t be wearing boat shoes all the time: I feel like asking myself where my boat is parked. I needed lightweight shoes such as canvas sneakers, with efficient rubber soles because I walk a lot (Walking being the only thing I do that qualifies as physical exercise).

Read The Politics of Shopping, our column this week in InterAksyon.com.

Crocodile, meet shirt. Chris Banks, Melbourne Zoo’s director for international conservation partnerships, introduces a baby crocodile to David Celdran, Philippine endorser of the Lacoste Save Your Logo project.

Unless you are cut off from civilization you have probably heard about biodiversity loss and its impact on the environment. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List reports that 1 in 8 birds, 1 in 4 mammals, and 1 in 3 amphibians are endangered species. An estimated 15 to 37 percent of all species will be extinct in 40 years unless we do something more than rattle off alarming statistics or claim to be environmentalists in order to look cool.

Some species have advantages over others. We’ll donate to campaigns to protect whales and dolphins because they’re cute and in the event of an ocean disaster we imagine they would be our aquatic Leonardo DiCaprios. We’ll buy T-shirts with pictures of lions and stuffed toy tigers because big cats are beautiful, majestic creatures. We’ll visit tarsier reservations because they’re cute, although we really need to weigh the nocturnal beasties’ interests against the entertainment of loud tourists with their blinding flash cameras.

But crocodiles? Not an easy species to love. They’re hideous, they’re scary, and in countless movies we’ve seen them eat people (hence their bad reputation, which is unfair). But if crocodiles cease to exist, the complex balance in wetland ecosystems would be upset. We would lose one of the last survivors of the prehistoric age, a creature that has not changed in the last 100 million years. Crocodiles lived through the rise and extinction of the dinosaurs and the evolution of our own ancestors; it would be terrible if they don’t survive human encroachment into their natural habitats.

Read our column Emotional Weather Report today in the Philippine Star.

VF illustration by James Taylor

The only thing that has changed fundamentally and dramatically about stylish objects (computerized gadgets aside) during the last 20 years is the same thing that’s changed fundamentally and dramatically about movies and books and music—how they’re produced and distributed, not how they look and feel and sound, not what they are.

You Say You Want A Devolution by Kurt Andersen in VF.

Skulls and kitties from Annie and BenCab’s trip to Mexico. Thank you! They’re almost as fab as a BenCab painting of earrings. Hint haha.

Our feline masters.

Koosi answers to the name “Mighty Goddess Bubastis”.

Saffron Poopypants will not answer when called by her various names, but will come running when anyone else is summoned because she doesn’t like competition.

Mat-Mat will respond sometimes, but most quickly when he hears the word “treat”. However he has figured out that sometimes he is being fooled, so he requires corroboration. The word “treat” must be accompanied by the rattling of dishes.

Jeffrey was in Poland, then Japan, and he got these earrings for us. Thanks, Jeffrey!

Four weeks ago we put out a call for volunteers to test a new product. The product, Rexona Crystal, claims a “revolutionary anti-white mark technology” that prevents white deodorant stains from getting on dark-colored clothes. Here are the volunteers in black, post-product test.

Leah

Ara

Diana

Eka

Keishia

Ria

Conclusion: Rexona Crystal makes good on its promise.

Thank you, volunteers! For participating in this product test you will receive gift packs from Rexona.