lost love connections

When I was living and working full-time in London, I would always grab The London Paper for my dreaded commute.

I would bury my nose in it for most of the trip, just like all the other thousands of people surrounding me in the suffocating tube car. Except everyone around me (and I’m talking cheek-to-cheek crampage here) were all trying to make their way home without even the slightest glimpse of another person.

I, on the other hand, would sometimes sneak a cheeky peak.

The one thing I looked forward to most about that commute (no, it wasn’t the groping by strangers), was TLP’s look at lost love connections.

In every edition, buried near the back past the funny columns and latest celebrity spottings and gossip, was a little section known as ‘Love Struck’. 

I quickly became obsessed with this section and found myself going straight for it the moment the free paper was in my hands. 

People ’struck’ by a fellow commuter were compelled by their instant attraction and subsequent missed opportunity to write or text the paper with a description of the encounter. All based on the sheer hope that their lovely love interest would read it and get in touch.

I would always pick my favourite of the day and imagine I was the recipient of the anonymous love text.

“Saw you on the Jubilee line Thursday evening. You, red hair, snuck a cheeky peak at me. Me, in the bow tie, awe-struck by your beauty couldn’t muster the courage to say ‘hi’ before you changed lines.”

*sigh*

I’d gasp after reading the entry and look up at the packed car. People nearby would hear the gasp but ignore it completely. 

All but one gentleman. A rather handsome Hugh Jackman-type, clad in a bow tie, who had noticed the girl he had been dreaming about since he last saw her on the same line just a few days earlier reading the entry he had sent to the paper.

!!!!

Our eyes would lock. He would grin. I would blush.

When suddenly a man beside the ginger, known only as the masked groper, swoops in to cop a feel. 

Hugh would barrel his way through the crowd and rescue the redhead from the perv in a flash of testosterone-driven heroics.

Later, we’d celebrate our new love with too many pints at Gordon’s.

It’s the fairytale story Disney movies are based on, I know.

Live in London and interested to see who is dreaming about you? Visit Love Struck here 

Good luck!

 

KMS California- Serotonin for hair

So, I had myself a much-needed and much-deserved hair cut the other day.

Although the cut was questionable, the shampoo and conditioning was like icing on my carrot top.

My hair was smoother than Obama. 

And my head smelled so wonderful that I actually considered grabbing the ends and patching them under my nose like a fake mustache so I could continually smell it all day.

Use it:

http://www.kmscalifornia.com/

Diggin’ the earth

When I was a lot shorter than I am now, back in the early ’90s, my primary school used to take all the students out to a park to plant pine trees.

It was, without a doubt, the highlight of the entire school year for me.

The weather was getting warmer and I got to roll around in the mud during class hours. Bliss.

We were planting a sapling to grow into a tree… or so the lyrics of the song we used to sing said (next verse: a tree tall and strong like I know I’ll one day be.) Geeky, but damn catchy, song. I know.

A year later, we would return to the same patch and see how much our saplings had grown. It seemed magical to me then.

Now that I am tall and sort of strong, I want to return to those roots and start rooting again.

I’ve been putting some thought into the upcoming Earth Day (April 22, by the way), and I thought in honour of my beloved mother nature dearest, I would recreate a childhood memory and -yup you guessed it- plant a tree.

I’m not sure what type or where I’ll put the tree exactly, but whatever and wherever it goes I’ll have peace of mind knowing my carbon footprint will look less like a clown shoe and more like a skinny Louboutin stiletto.

Fabulous!

What will you be doing on April 22?

x

Grey Gardens Style

The new television adaptation of Grey Gardens may be getting rave reviews, but it’s the premiere wardrobes that are getting me excited!

Check out the flawless fashion seen at last night’s premiere in New York. Every guest seemed to hit it out of the park.

Drew Barrymore, especially.

She seems to get it really right or really wrong. Now, it appears as though she’s growing into her own.

Always seeming down-to-earth and casual with her style, the actress is now playing up a true classic Hollywood glamour look with this Alberta Ferretti number. Top it off with the crimson stained lips and dramatic ivory veil…A+!

MSNBC teabagging: is this for real?

The double entendres are making my head spin. Naughty naughty writers.

 

French ELLE cover girls go nude

What’s acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to airbrushing has long plagued the magazine world.

Celebrities, already beautiful, are made to look younger, thinner, almost alien-like in their perfection on the covers of fashion magazines.

Now, in a brave move by the mainstream and highly influential fashion mag French ELLE, April cover girls Eva Herzigova, Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau, and Charlotte Rampling will appear not only without their professionally done make-up, but also without the assistance of any photoshopping or retouching whatsoever.

I think it’s about time we started seeing real women on the covers and start celebrating natural beauty. These women still look amazing. They also, still all look human.

Another recent mag cover has been receiving a storm of photoshop controversy. The latest edition of Harper’s Bazaar features Halle Berry looking ever so slightly re-touched (and by ’slightly re-touched’ i mean almost unrecognizable).

Dubbed the “Age Issue”, the person holding the photoshop mouse on this one kindly left in a slight shadow under the eye, but that doesn’t distract from her near-white skin and perfectly smooth, wrinkle-less face.

The 42-year-old actress looks younger than me!

This sort of thing happens ALL THE TIME. Just look at Britney Spears recent Candie’s ads. Sienna Miller’s September cover of American Vogue was so airbrushed that UK journalists were quoted as saying she was photoshopped “within an inch of her life”.

Don’t get me wrong, I love looking at gorgeous pictures of gorgeous women. But when the standards are set that high, how can any of us normal people ever possibly imagine of living up? It’s crazy and dangerous.

Perhaps the most shocking case of photoshopping came last year when Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign was found to be a farse.

“Real” women, dressed in nothing but their underwear were released to show that true beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes. Females rejoiced!

That was until photo retoucher Pascal Dangin blew the lid off the whole ugly operation, claiming he kept everyone’s face and skin looking fresher, younger and more beautiful. Dove denied the claim, but who are they fooling?

That whole campaign got under my freckled skin a little.

I remember driving down the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto and seeing a larger-than-life digital billboard that had a picture of a gorgeous, curvy woman. The question posed on the board said “Fat or Fabulous?”.

People could log on to a web site and vote whether they thought the model was fierce or just plain fat.

The counted vote would then appear on the billboard much like a score at a baseball game. And, when I saw the shocking ad, it wasn’t looking good for the fabulous vote.

It’s no surprise that those for a little, or a lot, of retouching are those that make their livings selling said magazines and ads. I’m sure Anna Wintour wouldn’t turn her nose up to a little technological nip and tuck if she were featured on the cover of Vogue.

And maybe that’s where the problem lies. Actresses, singers, models demand their photographs be retouched before appearing on the cover of magazines.

We are what we eat. And right about now, we’re consuming unattainable perfection ’till we’re blue in the face.

Although thanks to photoshop, the blue comes off as a youthful pinkish hue.

x

Sunny Fong’s final collection

Hi everyone

I think there is a lot of interest in what Mr. Fong’s final collection actually looked like. Or, maybe people just want/need to relive the magic again.

Any case, watch his final runway show again here:

http://runway.globaltv.com/video/

Sunny Fong crowned Mr. Project Runway Canada

Hooray!

My favourite designer on Project Runway Canada has officially taken the competition. Was there ever any doubt?

I really enjoyed this second season of the reality series (although enough with the blatant ad placements already! We get it - you use L’Oreal products).

I must say, Jessica Biffi sure gave a great performance as well. Bravo to you as well, Ms. B.

But it was Fong, the 32-year-old Torontonian, whose daring final collection (a clever take on Alexander the Great) emerged victorious during Toronto’s Fashion Week. And so it should have.

Absolutely, 100 per cent, perfection.

Along with this huge fashion coo, Fong also claims a $100,000 to start his own fashion line (Vawk), a business mentorship from Winners, a L’Oreal Paris professional portfolio photo shoot and a cover and feature spread in an upcoming issue of ELLE Canada. Not too shabby. Pretty darn chic.

During the judging panel, Fong said he wanted women to look at his collection and say ‘I want that!’. Mission accomplished!

I was salivating over it. Every new design was a step above the rest. I was practically licking the screen. Ok, no, that was my dog. But Fong would have loved her black fur.

I was hunting around the web for a little Fongness and I did happen to stumble upon some interesting things. Does anyone know if Fong tried out writing? Maybe dabbled in some freelance journalism?

Maybe this isn’t him? Regardless, it’s a pretty edgy and interesting read. Check it out:

http://www.koi-magazine.com/archive_summer04/noserockets.html

Check out his official Facebook fan page as well. You’ve made it now Sun!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43932953306

x

Cool song, cool video

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present, Plastic Operator:


 

Oh no she didn’t

It takes a lot for a celebrity to shock the masses these days.

And it definitely takes a lot for a B-list celebrity to cause a stir.

Cassie, the very hot singer known for her hit single Me & U, has changed her look. Not unusual for a celeb to do, right?

Check out her twitter page to see the makeover. Then, let me know what you think. Thousands are weighing in:

Before:

After:

http://twitpic.com/34env