Obsessed
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For the obsessed, Addicted or simply curious
contents Welcome! PANDORA’S OBSESSION BOX Find out about others’ weird Obsessions or those who gave theirs up because it was destroying them. Meet the people who are concerned about or fuelling our Obsessions. Get fresh ideas for your own Obsession or hobby in cooking, reading or travelling with every new edition. Mirela Pencheva, Editor
A selection of one-of-a-kind stories and our Top 5 Obsessives of the month. p.
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Photo Story of the month This edition: BINGE
SHOPPING pp.5
The Dark side The negative aspects of being obsessed. p
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Obsessive of the month This month:
The Clean Queen
The hard stats
Are you obsessed?
p.
p.
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For those obsessed with... This month: FooD p.13
OBSESSED
Nov 2013
Barmy about Buicks Sandy Carnegie, 73, is obsessed with classic cars. He used to buy them, having collected and sold about 25. “When you see the rusting metal box it brings back old memories of the once beautiful car,” he says. His personal favourite was a Buick Limousine from 1938. But after a while he was satisfied just with taking photos of his obsession. Now he has more than 150 images and he watches old vehicles on Ebay every other night.
Bearfaced
Pandora’s
Meal Maths
Obsessi
Hot Choc Shock Scott Murphy is obsessed with melting Nutella. Yes, that’s right, the chocolate spread.
Pamela Adam has a weird habit, which she also defines as an obsession: to have an even number of pieces when she is eating. For example if she is having meatballs or boiled tatties, sliced apples, that kind of food, there has to be an even number on her plate. “Nothing bad will happen if it’s an odd number. I’ve been like that since I could count. Used to drive my mother to distraction.”
He does that at least three times a week. He just melts it in the microwave and then drinks it with a straw. He also suggests another uses of it which involves late night hours, candles and his boyfriend.
Siobhan O’Neill is crazy about “Me to You” bears. She has 44 of them. Being collected for over three years, they vary in size and nature – the biggest one is male and a metre in height.
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ion Box
Elevated pleas Catarina Casella, 21, also has a dirty secret. She is ashamed to confess but every time she enters a lift she talks to it and begs it not to fall. “I ask it how it is and say: ‘Please, don’t fall.’ This all resulted from an accident she had in her childhood. She was trapped all alone in a lift for a few hours and that was her worst nightmare.
TOP 5 OBSESSED Characters Here are our suggestions of brilliantly portrayed obsessions either in books or films:
5.
Cruella de Vil, 101 Dalmatians
3.
Jean-Baptiste Grenouil e, Perfume: the Story of the Murderer
This homocidal perfumier conjured the perfect scent to die for in the novel by Patrick Süskind.
2. Humbert Humbert, Lolita
This wicked would-be dog skinner stopped at nothing to get her fur coat design spot
The perverted professor embarks on a torred and illicit affair with his 12-year-old stepdaughter in Nabokov’s no-
on.
torious novel.
4. Alex Forrest,
Fatal Attraction
The original bunny boiler, Glenn Close, is maniacal after a one-night-stand.
1.
Birdy
This bird-brained character from William Wharton’s novel wants to take to the skies with his feathered friends.
Nice Ice, Baby Kim, a manager of a wellknown bar in Aberdeen, says she cannot live without ice lollies. She has about three a day. The fruity ones are her favourite. She can have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, in her bed, at work, while driving – anytime, anywhere.
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BINGE SHOPPING
“Being a shopaholic makes me a workaholic.“
Aimee is obsessed with shopping. She works so she can spend her salary in the shopping centres.
Is consumerism a crime?
No?
Well, you still have your shoes... to eat.
OBSESSED
Nov 2013
Want a
100 % DIscount*?
*Only when you buy nothing!
The Dark Side
“Bulimia almost stole my best friend“
Caramel coffee, two friends, just
a normal day. Somewhere within the laughter comes the silence. “I need to tell you something… I need help.” It was four years ago when Maria and Gabi faced the biggest challenge in their lives. Maria was obsessed with the idea of losing weight, she became bulimic. Her hair started falling out and her nails were getting thinner and fragile. She panicked so she sought out a friend to save her. “I didn’t know what to do. I was scared,” says Gabi. “I saw that she
was getting slimmer during the summer, but you know – that’s the season for being sexy, so I didn’t pay attention.” When you are a 15-year-old it is hard to make the right decisions but luckily they turned to Maria’s parents.The girl was taken to a hospital and professionals took care of her. There were months of suffering and IV therapy, along with the lack of her parents’ sleep and the cries of her mother. It was the worst Christmas they’ve ever had.
HELPLINE The first step is to confess. For any eating disorders call: - For adults: 0845 634 1414 - For youths: 0845 634 7650 - or email: help@b-eat. co.uk For any obsessive compulsive disorders call: - 0845 390 6232 For shopping addiction call: - +44 0203 1511488 - 0800 024 1479
THE BAD OBSESSION: Abercrombie & Fitch What is it to set a bad example? Broadly? - A man who thinks sex and sexual attraction are “almost everything” in the “emotional experience” his company creates for their high school customers. Mike Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch says to Benoit Denizet-Lewis (A writer for salon.com): “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. We go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong (in our clothes), and they can’t belong.
Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” His biggest obsession, however, is to look like his ideal teenage customer – dyed hair, flashing-white teeth, masculine “beefcake” and Angelina Jolie lips. He preaches his filthy insanity wearing flip-flops and torn jeans. And the absurdity is that he managed to create an entire world by spreading this ideal all over the USA. Among some of A&F’s most offensive products were t-shirts labelled: “Who Needs a Brain When You Have These” and thongs for middleschool girls emblazoned with: “Wink Wink” and “Eye Candy”.
Obsessions are obsessive. And we all know how easily young children are influenced especially by a “cool” role model.
“Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
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OBSESSED
Nov 2013
Obsessive of
T he
C le an
T
“ ake your shoes off! Take them off! If Ana sees you, she’ll kill ya,” whispers Cate with a reproachful look in her eyes. A giant fluffy hairball claws at her long chiselled legs and barks in an attempt to draw her attention. It is Chuck, Ana’s Pomeranian. He scurries through the deserted hallway turning his snout to make sure he is being followed and passes through the living room down to the clinically white kitchen. Here she is, hunched over the white worktop, chopping onion. Ana Barandela. About five and a half feet tall, with chestnut coloured eyes, dark Portuguese tan and a smile that reveals most of her teeth and gums, she gently kicks the hairball away and reaches forward.
“Hey babes, let me kiss you. Mmm, that looks like an expensive wine. I’m not drinking though. Mum is coming tomorrow and I’m on a diet. I only had milk yesterday and a glass of water today,” she squeaks in annoyance, “Mum is crazy, I’m telling you!” Resembling a surgeon before an operation, Ana scrubs the chopping board ruthlessly covering the entire sink in soap while annihilating the onion smell. She wipes it dry and puts it back on the worktop and she starts slicing a carrot. Her fleshy limbs repeat the procedure with the garlic, tomatoes and peppers neatly ordered in a tray that is exactly 180˚ to the edge of the white surface and 90˚ to the chopping board. She minces into the living room and rearranges the mahogany brown cushions at each corner of the eggshell sofa. The IKEA-like interior resembles a hotel suite that has lain untouched since it was built and they have just checked in. The only sign of habitation is the family photos staged on the single shelf that also contains a full collection of Vogue magazine from 2007 onwards. At dinner Ana serves risotto strictly in line with her diet. The rice is uncooked and still crunchy
Queen with the entire dish having no taste except the intense tingle of black pepper. Cate laughs and sparks up a passionate Latino argument between the two Portuguese cohabitants: “It’s lovely. Ana is an amazing chef. She cooks for me every night. I only have to do the dishes and Ana is in charge of everything else.
“I’m not even joking, she’s mental. She is obsessed with cleaning and if I leave something around she shouts at me.” “That’s not true! If she doesn’t do something the way I like it, I just clean it,” squeals Ana in indignation. “Like yesterday. I left my blanket unfolded on the sofa and she went mental,” Cate retorts using her catchphrase: “I’m not even joking!” A series of fast paced foreign phrases strike through the air and Ana puts an end to the war: “We are not arguing, babes. We love each other, but she moved in recently so now she has to understand that this is the living room and it will look perfect. She can do whatever she likes in her room.”
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f the Month
Ana Barandela comes clean about her obsession with... cleaning. Find out about the fate of her couch, her furry friend and maybe her dirty secret.
“But if you want to know how tidy I can get, I’ll tell ya. I was planning to steal disinfectant from work.” The next evening just before dinner, Ana’s mother Christina Barandela is sitting on the couch with her fine legs crossed, holding a cigarette in one hand and a glass with two fingers of water acting as an ashtray in the other. Suddenly she leaves the room at the beginning of their dinner. The girls gawp and after a minute’s silence Cate decides to go on a quest for her. She opens the door and the search is already complete.
Here she is, changing the bedding just across the hall in Cate’s own room. “I can’t stand that, she is in my bedroom, MY bedroom. She’s not my mum. That’s my stuff there,” whispered Cate testily. “I can’t wait till she leaves.” The dinner is served within half an hour. This time it is blue steak. The mother orders the girls to wash their hands. The three women sit on the sofas without using the dining table and tear the bloody red meat with their teeth. The hairball climbs next to Ana and licks the edge of her plate. “Chuck! Down!” barks Christina and the usually disobedient dog jumps on the floor and hides in the kitchen. Despite the family’s paranoia of bacteria, they do not seem to be disgusted by the dog licking their food. They proceed with the rupture of the raw flesh on their plates. A week later, to celebrate the mother’s disappearance the two girls decided to organise a cocktail night in. Four hours before the house defilement, Ana is cleaning. It is the second time she has hoovered today. Like a combat drone programmed to exterminate dirt, she circles around
the rooms over and over again, bends down and inspects for dog hair. If she accidentally spots any offending fluff, she vacuums again. Then it is the bathroom’s turn: she puts gloves on and abrades every tile as she does every single day. The procedure is repeated until the flat is transformed into a virgin hotel suite again.
Every object whether it be tape, notebook or plate, has its specific place. Even in the cupboards. Her underwear is ordered by colour from the light blue satin bra to the lace black one. Her shoes have their own small room and are placed by height and colour from the pink summer flats to the 4.7 inch brown boots from her father’s new collection. There is nothing on the shelves in her room except big wicker boxes that erase the trace of her and her belongings.
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But there it is. Between the bathroom and the living room, the wanton evidence of Ana’s beastliness. The storeroom. Scattered shopping bags, accumulated detergents, old ripped shoes, Santa Claus figurine, Christmas garlands, toilet paper rolls, everything that clashes with the hotel environment was congested there.
“No, no, babes, I’m not a freak. I just… didn’t have enough time to clean the mess here,” cries out Ana and feeling diminished, covers her eyes with her hands. She slumps on the sofa, swipes her fingers through her hair and sighs. “It just… cleaning is just my thing. I guess I do it ‘cause it reminds me of home. I do it the way my mum would. Back in Portugal we have a maid so I never have to do that shit, but here… I need to keep it as if my mum is watching me. It makes me feel at home.” The doorbell rings and interrupts
her confession. The hairball darts to the entrance followed by its owner. It is Leon, a bartender and a colleague of Ana’s. He carries two massive bags of rum, Malibu, whisky and ingredients for the evening cocktails. “Aw, babes, I love you so so much,” sings out Ana and shoots into his arms. An hour passes as well as a few pitchers of cocktails and Cate is in the middle of the narrative about how Ana and her met: “We were in the same posh school. I’m from a rich family, but not like Ana. She is from the poshest posh. You should see her houses. They look like palaces. I’m not even joking.” She builds a tower with her hands in the air, catches her wine glass and spills it on the sofa.
A sudden scream from the kitchen cleaves the conversation. Cate rushes into the room and shouts hysterically: “Fire! Someone left the table cloth over a candle.” Leon runs to the sink, pours a glass of water and quickly extinguishes the flames. “Calm down, Cate. Nothing happened,” says the owner of the flat without even moving from her throne. “Ah, alcohol makes life so good, doesn’t it, babes?”
The End
The liquid taints the soft eggshell hued material and with a panicked expression she looks at Ana and courses to the kitchen for a cloth. But the princess looks indifferent about the affront to her furniture. “Don’t worry. I’ll clean it tomorrow. I’m too drunk to care now, Cate,” she slurred. Her voice is languid as well as her movements.
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Our survey involved 50 people from around the world, aged between 19 and 73
CLEANING
7%
MUSIC
WORK
10%
19%
79% Obsessed! Guilty as charged
SHOPPING
5%
SEX
7%
SPORT MISCELLANEOUS
17%
7% FOOD
7% No, nothing to see here! 21%
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Are you obsessed?
OBSESSED
Nov 2013
All of us have a thing for a
delicious meal that just melts in your mouth. In this section we will offer you something for those obsessed with brilliant food and healthy eating.
Ratatouille If you are craving something healthy, vegan and with fewer calories, but at the same time tasty and fresh, ratatouille is exactly the dish for you… Even if you just want to find out what the Pixar movie is about. Ratatouille is the perfect recipe for rainy days when you need to add some colour to your mood.
For those ob
Ingredients
Method
Cooking must come from the heart and suit your own tastes. You don’t need to follow precise measurements. Use as much spice as you like. The same is true for the olive oil or even the other ingredients.
Pour the olive oil in a small pan so it can form a thin layer. After the oil is hot enough, add the chopped onion and stir fry for a few minutes until golden. Add the garlic and all spices. Stir well for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and leave for another 5 minutes. Then remove from 1 courgette, sliced on a man- the stove. dolin slicer* Place the sliced onion at 1 small squash, sliced on a the bottom of a baking tray then start building your ramandolin slicer 1 small aubergine, sliced on a tatouille by placing a courmandolin slicer gette slice and cover it with 1 cup tomatoes, chopped a squash slice so you can still 1 onion, sliced see the courgette rind. Put ½ onion, chopped an aubergine slice on the top 5 cloves garlic, sliced and repeat until you fill the black pepper entire tray. If you are using a oregano round tray or pan, start from fresh basil the centre and form a spiral fresh parsley shape. If you your dish is rectextra virgin olive oil angular, just form separate rolls. Once you have finished, add *If you don’t have a mando- the content of the pan on the lin slicer, just chop as finely top of the arranged fresh veg. as you can. Cover the tray with cooking foil and place in the oven for 40-45 minutes at 220 ˚C. Serve on its own or with feta cheese.
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bsessed with...
Ratatouille Have you seen it? Disney produced a film with the same name. The main character is a rat that becomes the best chef in Paris. If a rodent can do it, you sure can!
Did you know? The word ratatouille comes from the French ratouiller, to disturb or shake, and tatouiller, to stir.
Worldwide There are equivalents of the dish all over the world: Italy - caponata Spain - pisto Bulgaria - guivech Malta - kapunata Philippines - pinakbet
and dinengdeng
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