Goodtimes in Yellowknife

So…a fantastic photographer that I shot with a few weeks ago was kind enough to point out to me that I hadn’t concocted a new blog post since November. Well, I how have the wifi (that’s WHIFF-FHEE) installed at the house so I figured that there’d be no day like today to update. Plus, I’m off.

Recently I flew to Yellowknife for several days to take part in the filming of an upcoming episode of Ice Pilots (www.icepilots.com). I was lucky (crazy??) enough to don snowshoes for the Frostbite 45 Marathon with some amazing folks from the Northwest Territories. Suffice it to say that I was more than a little nervous going into the big race because I had never really snowshoe-d in my life and the cold weather was something that, as a relative “southerner”, I frankly wasn’t used to. 

I’m going to be a jerk and withhold getting into specifics about how the team did and what else went down in the land of the midnight sun, but that’s part of the fun in waiting for the episode to air anyway (date TBA). And hey, if I’m writing this now it’s a pretty good indication that I survived.

         

NWT was absolutely, stunningly, spectacularly beautiful and the people were truly amoung the nicest I have ever met. A special “thank you” to my fabulous host, Mikey McBryan (as well as the whole McBryan clan – you were amazing!), the entire production team and everyone else who I came across in the town of Yellowknife (except for the hecklers who followed me around calling me “Paris” one day).

I will be back.

 

 

Kingston

What do Harlequin romance novels and music videos have in common??

Are you stumped?

They are both shot in beautiful Kingston, ON…as it were.

It was my honour to have to opportunity to work with a couple of talented teams on several shoots recently in the K-Towne area. Now, for those of you who are lucky enough not to know me personally, Kingston is the city that I always tell people who hail from larger cities (ie. Montreal, Toronto, Munich et. al.) I’m from when they first meet me. ***Full disclosure: I kind of am from the K-Dot but way, way, waaaaaay in the outskirts outside of (not even in) a small place that no one has ever heard of.***

Anyhow, back in late summer, I was selected as the “girl” for In the Guestroom‘s new music video “Dead Doves”. The footage was shot and edited by the very talented Daniel McCully. The official launch party was on the 25th of November; I got to roll up in my aunt’s slick 80′s Cadillac, which pretty much sealed the deal of awesomeness for me. You can view the full video here: http://vimeo.com/30772552.

The romantic shoots that I alluded to earlier were with the fantastic Nikki Ormerod of Toronto. They took place on one of my favourite places in Eastern Ontario, Wolfe Island. Yes, you actually have to take a ferry out to said area – it’s even free. I highly recommend it.

"The Captain's Forbidden Miss"

The shoots were both for the covers of two Harlequin novels that have recently hit the shelves of bookstores and assorted gas stations everywhere. I caught someone licking a copy at a Chapters in Montreal but I digress…

"Bespelling Jane Austin"

 

The Gemini Awards

I’m baaaaaack! Sorry about the delayed absence (to those of you who noticed). I have been busier than (insert clever euphemism here) lately and haven’t had much of a chance to update the ol’ blog, despite all of the incredible things that I have wanted to write about. After careful consideration, I have decided to dedicate this post to this year’s Gemini awards, 1.) Because it was ages ago and I don’t want to forget to write about them and 2.) Because it was awesome.

Now to those of you who don’t know me personally, I was very excited to have the opportunity to attend the Awards Gala on August 31 of this year. My date was Mikey McBryan of Ice Pilots NWT fame (www.icepilots.com). I was privileged enough to wear an absolutely incredible gown by Thien Le (www.thienle.com) and have my hair and make-up done by The Hair Spot’s Palma Anshilevich and Fatima Muniz (I will write much more about these two amazing ladies in my next post).

The dress

 

The look

 

The red carpet

 

The table

The company was great, the booze was free and the show ended up getting two awards! An amazing evening.

Hey Blondie…

I feel kind of guilty for doing this; I really, truly, honestly do. My professional life has been absolutely amazing lately – I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by amazing people and great new projects. However, there always seems to be some random ne’er do-well, cropping up out of the woodwork, who seems intent on further eroding my dwindling faith in humanity.

So I was approached by a gem of a gentleman the other day at work. Now I didn’t know this guy from a hole in the ground, but by all accounts, he seemed “professional” and of at least median intelligence. It turns out that he simply felt the need to point out that I was blonde. Yep, sure am; always have been. He then proceeded to tell several of the most offensive ”blonde jokes” that I have ever been subjected to and when I failed to guffaw graciously at his “humour”, huffily walked away. The other girl who was working with me on that particular day insinuated that I was “taking it the wrong way”. This is after we had both been reassured that another, equally charming and totally random gentleman was not “going to make us think”. Apparently he felt that doing so was beyond our realm of capabilities. Hm…

A kind-of random, kind-of funny picture to break up the kind-of angry undertones of this post.

So I ask this question: if one was to approach, say, a random Jewish person and proceed to regale them with anti-Semantic jokes, would it be permissible for them to take offense to this? Or would that just be “too sensitive” of them?

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not an unreasonable person. I can joke around with the best of them. I can put up with jibes from people I know in regards to my job, hair colour, etc. However, when random people start assuming that they are welcome to take jabs at some stranger just because it makes them feel a little bit better about themselves…well, that’s an issue. At least I reckon so.

What is even more troubling is the fact that the “other girl” was genuinely apathetic to these events. I’m not asking for her to be outraged or to chase these guys down and give them the beats - just reassurance that I’m not entirely insane for being mildly insulted. Ya know?

Where Do I Start?

Can’t believe it’s been so long since I last wrote here…time flies; you know how it goes…

So I went to Europe. It was a bit of a last-minute affair. Left on July 4 for three glorious weeks. What can I say? Drank a little (well…), walked A LOT and saw some amazing things. As usual, can’t wait to go back.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

So when I got home I eventually decided to make the way to the magazine racks to check for…ahem…*picture of myself*. It was a good month for hair, it seems. I have posted some findings below:

Celebrity Hairstyles, November 2011. Photo: Babak.

 

Celebrity Hairstyles, August 2011. Photo: Babak.

 

 

 

Hair Winners Magazine, Summer 2011. Photo: Babak.

     Haircut and Style, November 2011. Photo: Babak.

 

HairStyle Showcase Magazine, Fall 2011 & Haircut and Style Magazine, November 2011. Photo: Babak.

 

 

I apologize for the wonky captions and haphazard layout…after the twelfth time uploading those photos onto the post (yes, twelve) on DIAL-UP!!! I began to lose my marbles.

 

I will cap off this post with one last image: it is a banner that was unveiled at the NAHA’s this past July to celebrate the newly appointed Editorial Stylist of the Year, Amy Freudenberg. It is still one of my favourite photo shoots to date (with the fabulous Babak and Amy’s team). So congrats, all!!!

 

 

Next up: Poster/promo material shoot for Artex Clothing.

 

‘Til next time.

 

 

 

    

***RANT*** “If I Had Broken Legs I’d Strut Better Than You”

Greetings all! Happy friday I woke up today with the grand intention of generating a new blog post to address some common misconceptions that folks have regarding this CAR-AZZZY industry. I’m still gonna do that, but I do feel the need to rant/snicker about an e-mail that I just received. Hang on to your hats…it’s brimming with ignorance.

Backstory: I have been exchanging e-mails with a “director” for a couple of weeks now regarding auditioning for a film. Ultimately, he provided a date for said audition that worked for me, so I agreed to attend and requested an address for the casting session. Instead, this “professional director” chose to inform me that I sucked. Well, what he actually said (and I quote) is this:

“I checked out your link and frankly, I would have preferred comments like: “you suck”, “if I had broken legs I’d strut better than you” etc. All the — “you’re the cat’s meow” international-model-world stuff” is a bit of a put-off for me. You’re more at home in your world than on a gritty film set, slugging away in the jungle or creeping through a muddy copper mine.”

This “link” he speaks of is automatically attached to every one of my e-mails and could have easily been checked out in the ten or so prior messages I had sent him, but hey, that’s 100% beside the point. The point is…

the point is…

wow…

where do you even start with this one?

The kicker: the last movie I co-wrote, directed and starred in took place in a dirty old mine. Yessir. It was dirty and old and there was moonshine, marshwiggles and tomfoolery involved, to say the least (and I am going to say the least, lest I give away the plot too much before I get a chance to post the completed edit!)

What can I say? Haters gonna hate.

I am currently filming a movie that involves being covered head to toe in corn syrup, chocolate sauce and red food colo — erm, I mean blood. Yeah, blood. But you know what? I don’t need to defend myself or prove things to anyone. As any and all of my friends will readily admit: I’m kind of an oxymoron. People generally garner that information within thirty (30) seconds of meeting me. I thought that’s what castings were for?

Oh and the icing on this rather proverbial cake: last week I did have a “broken leg”. Ripped it open while out on my dirtbug. And yes, I can say with absolute certainty: “I would strut better than you, Mr. Awesome Director, even with blood pouring out of my knee at an alarming rate and the most oil-flecked, paint-covered clothes known to man adorning my beautiful, oft-photographed back”. Guess that confirms that I am just a snobby, holier-than-thou model after all.

Winning.

So I Legit Lost a Day…

Has this ever happened to you? Like you really, truly believe that it’s Tuesday, June 14 when it’s actually nothing of the sort and you would be willing to bet upwards of $1000 that the voices of reason around you (a.k.a. naysayers) were all incorrect in their assertions that you are a day behind? This happened to me on Wednesday and it threw me for a loop. I suppose working 12 – 14 hour days with 3.5 hour drives tacked onto each end may or may not have contributed. All I know is that my deductive reasoning (thanks, Professor Clarabut!) told me that it might be apt to take one (1) unadulterated day off. So I did.

How embarrassing.

I totally missed a casting that I had fully intended on attending too. Guess I didn’t get the job?

In other news, castor oil and fake tiger-fur seat covers do not mix.

Casino shoot with David Hou

I will be updating my blog with new work soon – so many recent great shoots as well as exciting projects coming up that I can’t wait to write about (insert very smily face here). In the meantime, I have a dirt bike to fix.

Happy friday!! (It is friday, right?)