Eat, Pray, Movie Love....OMFG

Eat, Pray, Love, the memoir written by Elizabeth Gilbert finally came out in movie form last weekend. I've read the book, and while wildly popular, Gilbert received a lot of criticism for basically being a privileged, wealthy writer with no substantial problems (relatively speaking) who whines her way through Italy, India and Bali looking for whatever she thought was missing in her life and marriage before. As one critic lovingly put it: #whitepeopleproblems. Well said, but let's face it, if you're reading this from the comfort of your living room in the Western World, chances are you've been through some white people problems yourself. With social privileges acknowledged, I actually really enjoyed the novel! With no formal training in writing, Gilbert's style is simple, clear and lengthy...it's as if she's just written the streaming thoughts that run through her head. She is at times self-loathing, narcissistic, ridiculously observant and over-the-top...her words are the extent of how we all feel some times but won't admit. I could relate with her feeling out of place and desperately unhappy in a world where everything is seemingly fine and gladly read of her finding herself on her own in three very different countries. Yes, it may seem self-indulgent to leave a high-paying job in the most ambitious city in the world (New York) and take year to simply live in beautiful locations across the globe, but it was nice to take the journey with Gilbert who was selfish and fortunate enough to live it.
The movie was light and breezy as expected, and just as light and breezy in safely resolving itself. While Gilbert may have found real love in Bali, it just seemed a little too easy that a man who wanted to devote himself to her was waiting in the final destination of her trip. Sure, it can be argued that Gilbert herself was finally ready to love again and opened herself up to the opportunity after months of soul-searching, but I just didn't buy it. Attribute it to the bitter state I'm in right now, but just think of how many divorced women are going to travel to these three places only to find no Javier Bardem waiting for them at sunset ready to sail into a new life together...plenty. Sexy Brazilian men there may not be in real life, but it's the opening of oneself up to opportunity, and seeing her potential in the world again that brings the real lesson in life after losing a lover.
Easy, breezy fluff aside, there were two distracting factors in the movie that left me puzzled. One, and the most noticeable: Robert's lips. Seriously girls, if you're even considering getting injections done to your lips, take one look at this movie and see it as a warning not to. Being the biggest movie star in the world can't cover up the fact that Roberts, although radiant in appearance and lovely in her role, has a big ole trout upper lip that I could. not. stop. staring. at. Especially during scenes in Italy where there are literally close-ups of her lips in each scene. Unnatural, unnecessary and just plain silly looking...stick to what your Mama's gave you ladies, and if not, at least go the Megan Fox circa Transformers route where no one can tell. (Any further and you'll look like the Robo-Megan that's out there today -- terrifying.)
The other question mark of the movie was James Franco. Once a James Dean-esque moody heartthrob, Franco now more resembles a college kid who's kind of high and kind of scraggly and kind of stumbled onto camera with some lines to spit out. His performance was so strange, I almost expected to see him post it on Funny or Die along with the rest of his weirdly nonsensical videos on acting. Even unkempt he's still a handsome man, but the eyes-half-closed, dopey-smiled expression he had on his face the entire movie left me thinking that maybe he should stick to General Hospital for a little bit. His eccentricities are strangely attractive, but I'm just not sure they belong in a chick-lit movie.
Romanticized travel, spectacular food, and easy love are all emphasized in Eat, Pray, Love and while none-too-realistic, it was nonetheless a pleasant journey through a woman's mind and a world where every whim of an unhappy woman could be fulfilled simply because she wanted it.

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OMFG -- Just a thought.

Excuse my current occupation with the subject, but love has been the topic on my mind for the past little while. For obvious reasons, I've been thinking through the notion, concept, and idea of love and how it's affected my life thus far. My dear friend Lizzy in London sent me this quote today from the book she's reading:
"If you believe yourself unfortunate, because you have 'loved and lost,' perish the thought. One who has loved truly, can never lose entirely. Love is whimsical and temperamental. Its nature is ephemeral, and transitory. It comes when it pleases, and goes away without warning. Accept and enjoy it while it remains, but spend no time worrying about its departure. Worry will never bring it back.
Dismiss, also, the thought that love never comes but once. Love may come and go, times without number, but there are no two love experiences which affect one in just the same way. There may be, and there usually is, one love experience which leaves a deeper imprint on the heart than all the others, but all love experiences are beneficial, except to the person who becomes resentful and cynical when love makes its departure.
 There should be no disappointment over love, and there would be none if people understood the difference between the emotions of love and sex. The major difference is that love is spiritual, while sex is biological. No experience, which touches the human heart with a spiritual force, can possibly be harmful, except through ignorance, or jealousy.
 Love is, without question, life's greatest experience."
I couldn't help but let out an "oh crap" after reading this. It's a little scary for an absolute romantic to try and grasp the fact that love is ephemeral and we should just accept that it waltzes in and out of our lives whenever it feels like it, leaving little lessons we're supposed to take away and be happy with. I don't buy it. Love is not just for show, not just a ritzy little visitor who pops by for a chat then leaves just because....and it's certainly not temporary. I feel like the author needed to justify what was going on in their love life by writing this nonsense! Honestly, if I could feel this way about it, I would. But in my core, I feel as though love is absolute, a feeling that once you truly feel it, does not go away. It's  not affected by time, distance, or temperament. It's there to handle whatever hardships come its way, and come out on top in the end. 
I've already eaten these words once in my young life, and I'm sure I'll face dive into them again...but it's when I'm living them that it will all make sense. Can't blame a girl for dreaming, can you?
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Another (young) one bites the dust....OMFG.

So little Lizzy McGuire aka 22 year old Hilary Duff tied the knot with her 29 year old hockey player fiancée over the weekend. If you read my previous post when Megan Fox and BAG did the same in Hawaii, you'll know that I think having established careers and thus your financial life entirely secure as a result from young Hollywood fame allows relationships to get serious much sooner that they would in the "normal" world, per say.
The Duffster, at only 22 is even younger than Fox was when she married...and is younger than me by a year for crying out loud! I wouldn't get married this year even if Brad Pitt dropped Angie and the two hundred kids they have and proposed to me. I don't remotely have myself figured out, professionally or personally....and it continues to astonish me that everyone in young Hollywood already does (Or seems to at least. Only time will tell who falls off the wagon...Miley, I'm looking at you!) Maybe with one comes the other: if you have your career secure and millions upon millions in the bank, does that allow you to "find" yourself faster, or at least with more ease?
The answer is never as simple as yes or no, but I can say with absolute confidence that if I had a fulfilling and successful career in Hollywood (let's humor ourselves and imagine as an Asian pop star as my sister and I used to pretend when we were little...bad Canto-pop and pink hair extensions included!) and enough security to take care of myself and my loved ones without worry, I would definitely be more relaxed and able to make decisions not based on work, but on what I truly wanted to do. Money means security and freedom which allows us to do what we enjoy with who we enjoy being with.
Work and love....the two great competitors of our modern time. For a romantic such as myself, the answer is clear, and I can pretty safely say that it always will be. Maybe the Duffster is a romantic just like myself; only her romance gets the fast-forward treatment from her success.
Whatever the reason, another young Hollywood couple has tied the knot leaving the rest of us to wonder, is anything in LalaLand ever really real? I guess I'll never know for sure unless the Asian pop start gig miraculously works out (I'd even be willing to learn how to dance..!) but until then, I can't help but wonder what life must be like for those so fortunate enough to be true romantics.
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OMFG BFF!

While no one past the age of twelve says BFF in any seriousness, the value of friendship is definitely something of priority and importance in my life. My girlfriends always used to say it was a red flag if you were dating a guy who had no friends because it usually means homeboy doesn't, and won't ever, give a tiny rat's ass about anyone other than himself. [Just to note: I could write a novel -- no, an entire encyclopedia library on that specific subject, but we'll get around to that another day!]
Friends are essential in every twenty something's life and if you look around at who you're friends with, it's probably a pretty good indicator of who you are. Our twenties are when we live out all those cliches you saw in movies growing up; you know the ones I'm referring to: 'Who am I? What is love? Will I ever get over this?' and we inevitably go through the phases of all these cliches with friends by our side. A growing period, the decade also results in the loss of a lot of friends for reasons as simple as you outgrew them. We all know those buddies who haven't changes a bit since high school and are still doing not a whole lot, smoking joints and drinking all in their parent's basement. While they come and go, I've come to find that everyone who is in my life at whatever given moment is in my life for a reason; and the others, well our friendship simply ran its course.
The other night while out with my best friend since I was young and a couple who are both friends of mine, I realized how amazing it is to just have that network of people you love. Over too-strong vodka tonics, hazy lights and surrounded by Affliction wearing cheeseballs, I was having a great time! (Allow me to note that I attempted to climb into the DJ booth only to wipe-out and still not care; lack of embarrassment is the ultimate indicator of awesomeness on the fun scale -- well that or you know, I was too hammered to process what was going on. We'll go with the former.) I was having a great time simply because we were all at this terrible club, listening to terrible music, watching some truly terrible dancing...together. And because of that....well it wasn't terrible at all. Of course all the drinks we had pounded down earlier probably helped, but when it comes down to it, you should be able to have the time of your life with your true friends anywhere: whether it be at some insanely chic club, or in the back of a divey bar.
An emotional network is essentially what your buds are there for, people you can lean on when you need to and who lean on you when they need to. Such a network, based on care, connection and a ridiculous amount of inside jokes is one I'll always understand much more easily than a business network. Call it my downfall or my strength, but matters of the heart are the ones I give the most attention.
As sappy as this post is, I guess I just needed a little outlet to say I freakin' love my close pals in my life...the trouble we get into (lots), the nights we have out (scandalous), the fights we get over (immature) and the times we have (priceless) well, I wouldn't trade them for the entire Fall/Winter 2010 Stella McCartney ready-to-wear collection. So drink up, laugh up, live it up...and get by with a little help from your friends.
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OMFG Sneak Peak..

The one thing I've never been very good at is waiting. For anything. At the doctor's office, in line at Starbucks, for an answer...you get the picture. I've been with Elmer Olsen Models in Toronto for a little over a month now and they've been amazing! I've shot more in the last two weeks than I have in a long while, and it feels great to gain some momentum again. However, I've accumulated a total of five shoots that I'm waiting on images from. Five. You can tell how thrilling that must be for some one who, in their last post, admitted to be ticking to move forward in all areas and in this post, admitted to being the most impatient person ever! It's all worth it in the end since they'll add to my book and hopefully book me jobs in the near future. I'll be in the October issue of Chatelaine, the Fall/Winter issue of Zink! Magazine and two online magazine publications whose names I'll post as soon as I know for sure. In the mean time, I did receive a couple shots from a creative I did with Tavis Gordon and make-up artist Sherlyn Torres. We did a casual look, then more artistic futuristic looks as well. The two, a longtime couple, were lovely to work with; it was a chill, flowing vibe to the shoot which is always nice! Anyways here are the a couple of the casual looks. More to come!
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New York --OMFG.

I've always been one of those people who loves to sleep. Maybe it's because I'm the ultimate dreamer and getting lost in my dreams was something I looked forward to even as a child, but for whatever reason, sleeping soundly has never been a problem for me. Up until recently that is.
So lately I've been waking up in slight panics with my heart beating faster than normal. My heartbeat has always been a good indicator of changes or events that are going to unfold in my life; being some one who thinks with nothing but their heart, I guess this is fitting. Whenever my heartbeat starts to pick up, I know it's because there's something I need to resolve or because something, either good or bad, is about to happen. Seriously.
Anyways, as hokey as it all sounds, I know better than to go against my heart because well, it's been my guide in life so far and minus one devastating heartbreak (and let's face it, it happens to everyone once) it's never steered me wrong. I thought I was waking up out of sadness over not being with my ex anymore, panicking that I didn't have him in my life in the way I wanted anymore. But it turns out it had nothing to do with him at all, and everything to do with me.
My panicking, my internal tick tick ticking of my heart was, and is, my ultimate wake-up call! It's time for me to get the hell out of here.
'Here' for me is and has been for the last 23 years, Toronto. I was born and raised here and love this city to death but I feel like I've exhausted it. I've been clubbing since I was 15 (thank you fake New Brunswick ID!), wining and dining just as long, know everyone I feel I need to, and heck, I remember when Ossington was actually grimy, not all hipster grimy that way it is now. When you've been in a city long enough to see a neighborhood experience gentrification...well that's when you know it's time to go!
Travel has always been a passion of mine and my quest to conquer has gotten the best of me...I need out and I need it ASAP. I've known so many people with this intense drive to get out there and want more, more, more. I've never really felt that push until recently. Toronto doesn't feel big enough anymore, it doesn't feel like where opportunities are and where the magic is happening. It's lost its mystic appeal to me and is just a place I have to reside until I can make my way to where I belong: New York.
New York is where I need to be right now; it's energy, it's industry, it's worldwide title of being the place where IT happens -- IT being whatever, and whoever you are seeking in life. I'm going for my career, I'm going to meet people, I'm going for too many things to name specifically right now just because for the most part, I have no idea what I'm looking for. But one thing is certain: I'm going to find IT in New York.
The allure of big cities is undeniable to me. I studied Urban Geography in university for goodness sake because I just can't seem to get enough of cities! Where and why commercial, industrial, social, administrative, pretty much all activity and action occurs is what I wanted to get to the root of and where I need to be. The center of all the action! While Toronto was a nice mid-size city to start with, it's time for me to crack the top-tier cities of the world: the big three are New York, London and Tokyo. Screw vacations. Vacations imply that I have to go home after visiting. I want a life that includes living in one, two, or all three of these cosmopolitans. The reason for my panic attacks is as clear as the Van Cleef and Arpels rock that will inevitably grace my left hand in the future: I need to move out of Toronto and finally live in a place where I feel my outside matches my inside.
Seems like my days of being a laissez-faire sleeper will be over once I go to New York...who needs dreams in sleep when you're living them?
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Love, schmove. OMFG.

Bloggees! Sorry it's been a month since I last wrote...I've been an admitted emotional wreck lately (sigh that damn break-up bomb just keeps exploding) and pretty busy with modeling so between posing and crying, I haven't found the time to update! Is there some sort of cosmic rule out there that one's professional and personal lives can't be on the same wavelength? My professional life has been going well only to see the exact opposite happen to me personally.
In all this break-up kufuffle, I've been sharing my woes with my friends, and to a certain extent people in the industry when I'm on the job. I've been told over and over again: focus on you. The consensus, within the go-getter community anyways, is overwhelmingly that love is weakness and those that are independent, unchained, almost unemotional are the ones who are the most successful. With plenty of travel, chic parties and illusions of availability being the norm in the lifestyles of movers and shakers, having to take a second to consider a some one else is....unheard of. It's survival of the fittest where being fit means being available at a moment's notice, dressed to the nines, ready to network and conveying an air of ridiculous positivity regardless of personal issues. I've met these people, you've met these people; but no one really knows these people because to get past that carefully crafted veneer of polish and shine usually takes knowing them on an unprofessional level.
To go-go-go is to be successful and to acquire things the fastest, to land the most covers, to know the most people, to rise in the fame game is all what measures success...or so it's been drilled into my brain lately.
This begs the question: where did all the romantics go? I feel as though I'm the last one some times. No, I'm not advocating being lost in fairy tale drivel and getting nothing done due to weeping and pining for true love, but I am wondering what the hell ever happened to being able to make it out there as a twosome? That's right people, pick your jaws up off the floor. I actually believe it's possible to live the jetset life, be successful and have the respect of those in the industry while being -- gasp -- in a relationship! Of course, this only works within a secure relationship that's pretty serious. Otherwise, well let's face it, some one ends up getting their heart stamped by 4-inch spikey-heeled Sam Edelman's or leather-embossed Gucci loafers. I guess where my romantic notions come into play is that I find something so appealing in being together and trying to make it. The pursuit of something more with the one you love seems like a great adventure....what could be more thrilling than picking up your belongings, moving to the big city and starting from nothing with only love to get you started? This is the stuff songs are made of people, the stuff of the greatest love stories.
I guess what it comes down to is people simply aren't looking to write great love stories anymore -- they're looking to write the next great American novel, the rags to riches story where their stance in life in unchallengeable because it's airtight in the ultimate lifestyle as dictated by the best clothes, homes and activities.
While material things are of definite importance to me (see previous post where I drool over designer goods and you'll get the picture), and power is a nice bonus when it comes to getting shit you want done, I guess I'm just a sucker for romance. I've never seen it, and never will see it, as a downfall, but instead something that enhances my life. It's love that makes me feel motivated to do the most.
I'm confident in my career as well and I'll keep you all updated on how modeling progresses now that my safety-net job at the university has ended (after four years!) but it's my belief, or possibly my naiveté, in romantic absolutes that keeps me going...and in this great love story, I've just ended Chapter One. It's only the beginning...
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