Yes, showing I'm alive. It seems from every couple of months, it's now down to every couple of years. :D
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Yes, my profile badge is SO gay. *lol*
I tried changing it, but the pictures chosen are automatic. Either I upload new pictures (will take a million years) or I announce to the world how gay my friends are. Option B anyone?
In other news, I have a life coach and I'm signing up for the gym later. See? It works. ;D
I just got back from the INXS Manila concert. I am so not a fan but I watched the concert because my brother got two free tickets. I just have to write about it because, click me, it's the best free tickets ever.
We were supposed to be in the upper box but when we got to the gate the guard waved us through and told us to enter the Patron gate. It turns out we got upgraded (like in a plane haha). So now we're on the floor seats, at the back where all the controls for the lights are. Not bad for fee tickets! I think only a selected number of people got upgraded because my brother's friend had tickets in our original area too and she was seated in the upper box.
Best part? When the concert started, we found ourselves right smack dab in front, right in the middle. As in right up to the gate separating the fans from the stage.
We were so near I noticed JD Fortune had a hard-on while performing the third song. *evil laughter*
Of course, I'm not a fan of JD so, wala, kebs. Hahaha. I just noticed because from where I was standing, his crotch was right. there. :P
Kicker? I got the water bottle he drank from and sprayed us from. I know, it's really useless because I'm not a fan, and hello? It's JD Fortune. It's not as if he's a rock god. I don't even think he'll become one. Anyone wanna buy it off of me? Or will it sell on Ebay? Hahaha!
Oh, and I got irritated because he kept on pulling on his belt, trying to tease the audience into thinking he may pull down his pants. If he did only a couple of times, maybe it would be "sexy" but he kept on doing it every frickin song! Ugh. Part of the routine ever.
Sorry, I was rooting for Mig Ayesa all the way last year. Haha. He (Mig) took off his shirt at the end of his set and OH. MY. GOD. The guy is cut! And his body is HOT. I think that's the reason JD din't even unbotton all his shirt buttons. After Mig took off his shirt (and threw it to the fans), JD would look like a skinny little lizard.
Anyway, I just really wanted to post about the best free tickets ever. Pictures to follow.
Sayang lang, it had to be for INXS. I couldn't even sing along because I never followed them as a group and so am not really familiar with their songs.
I was supposed to get free tickets to the Pussycat Dolls concert but I found out late it would be in the nosebleed area pala so I didn't go. Lalo na I came from a shoot that finished late the night of their concert. I was willing to get front row tickets for that, just didn't know anyone who wanted to go to the concert (and willing to get front row tix too). Oh well.
Anyway, there, the best free tickets ever. One million clicks. *bow*
I just got home from a cover shoot for UNO Magazine. I'm quite excited because the model is the LAST person you would think would pose for a men's magazine. We are all hoping her cover creates a buzz. Haha.
I was so excited about the shoot I spent more than the talent fee on props for it. Yes, I'd rather be out money-wise than have a shoot lack props. I'm anal that way. Basta, watch out for the next issue of UNO, which will hopefully come out in two weeks or so. It's for their July-August issue so lusot sila for being late yet again.
Funny thing is, they want me to compete with myself. Seeing that I styled the first cover of Maxim Philippines, they want that what I style for them create the same or even more of a buzz. Challenge. Haha.
The good thing about this is that I was given the head's up weeks ago, including the look they wanted. That's why I had time to actually source the props needed.
I am probably one of the most anal and OC stylists you'll ever meet so if you need props, costumes, what not, make sure to tell me with enough lead time. I promise to source them for you.
Anyway, I really am looking forward to this cover. When you find out who, a lot of you will probably die with laughter, but I'm betting more will actually be curious enough to buy a copy to check out her spread. :D
Basta, challenge ito. The model had NO BOOBS. As in NONE. How to fake it so that she looks like she had at least a little? I really couldn't create cleavage, I'm sorry to say. The only way to do that would be to tape the sides of her boobs and make it reach the area where her nipples are, at the very least. I don't think that's physically possible. Plus, she was wearing scraps of cloth (bikinis and swimsuits) so it was hard to hide the tape. I gave up taping after the frst layout. The biggest (smallest?) challenge was the last layout where I made her wear a corset. The said corset top had molded underwire cups. Ok, imagine the brasierre part of the corset supporting AIR. Promise, hangin ang laman dahil wa talaga boobs. Even after I added the gel boobs inside, there was still around an inch of space to fill. How did I do it? Secret. Suffice to say I spent at least an hour trying to be an architect, an engineer and a plastic surgeon all in one. Who said styling bikini babes were easy??? :P
Anyway, off to sleep as I have another early shoot tomorrow. Thank goodness my Saturday shoot got moved. that will be a rest day, hopefully. I got a massage (hilot style) in Camiguin last Friday, I had to have another yesterday as my shoot last Monday killed my back. Damn getting used to massages. Haaay. it's my only reward these days. :P
Whenever i've had a good day, or something funny happened, I always think, "This is blog-worthy." I never get to post anything though because I've been working nonstop since February. I literally don't even have time to sleep anymore, much less post. I also haven't read anyon'es journal so I have no idea what's been going on with you guys. I do hope everyone is well and happy.
I will TRY to post something substantial soon. Hopefully with photos. As it is, I haven't even updated my multiply site yet, and that's the site I tell clients and potential clients to visit. Bother. When I get back from Cagayan de Oro next week (first vacation this year, swear to god), I'll have to buy a wifi router so I can use my laptop to post. That would hopefully free up a bit more time because I can then post before I go to sleep. The desktop is in the library, which is downstairs. The only reason I'm still up is because I just got home from 2 shoots and am still too keyed up to go to sleep. I will log off soon, I still have to recharge all the electronics that got drained. I also may have a cover shoot tomorrow. I'm thinking it's going to be rescheduled as it's past midnight and there has been no confirmation yet.
Oh, have you guys seen the first Maxim Philippines issue? Please grab a copy because I styled the cover and three other articles inside. I saw a copy kanina and I'm underwhelmed. It looks too much like Pump! Aw man! Anyway, please still support the first issue for my sake. Haha!
Gotta log off. Email me! Tell me how you guys have been! :)
To all the F girls out there, come out and support one of our favorite F hosts. Please buy the April edition of UNO to see Daphne in her sexiest shoot ever (and I mean classy sexy, not crass sexy).
I just came home from a shoot with B.U.M and I really am very pleased with the result. I'm so excited for the materials to come out! I've been noticing that that has been happening more and more this year.
I've designated 2006 as my "do everything better" year. I hardly ever set goals for myself so I'm psyched that I'm actually able to follow through with this bit by bit. Of course, the do everything better is on all aspects of my life but right now, it's work that has my concentration (as always). Slowly but surely though, I will make most things (I'm not sure if I can swing all aspects) better before the year ends. And that is a promise.
Anyway, back to BUM.
I'm really pleased with them as clients because they gave me the leeway to style. They had no rules on how edgy the looks were gonna be, no demand that the logos should be prominently displayed (heck, half the time there weren't even any logos on the clothes!), no hard and fast rules on accessories. I LOVE IT. The only guidelines I was given was a main theme for the shoot, with two subplots--which showed already with the clothes that I chose from. One thing the owner reiterated was that it's not the endorsers who were important, it's the clothes and the imagery associated with it.
As a result, I had free reign. I could distress the clothes to my hearts content (and I have the blisters to prove it), I could tear and sew and pin and layer. No one made pakialam with the accessories that I wanted to use, and as a result, the P7k I spent on new accessories were sooo worth it.
All the research I put into it, all the meetings I attended, the days I went to their office (in MALABON!) to pick out the clothes and tweak them were oh so worth the time and effort. I cannot wait for the materials to be released.
I had good control over most aspects, and I loved the fact that my suggestions with what the models were supposed to do were spot on. There is no layout in the series that I would consider weak in the sense that I won't add it to my folio. As it is, I'm rushing them to come out with the materials earlier so I could add them to my folio the soonest possible time.
I can't help but compare it with my shoot for another client. To think that I earned much more there but I'm a lot less happier with the results. I felt too constrained. I KNOW I didn't do my best. I found a lot of the set-ups too normal looking. Maybe that's the curse of John Lloyd? I've worked with him on two ad projects and both times the results were so-so.
I think it was because the clients were the ones who presented the pegs they wanted, and yet the clothes didn't much match the pegs? Or maybe because there were too many rules on showing the logo and not doing anything to the clothes that the masa audience would look for (read: literal translation of clothing)? Or maybe because they had a designer, who, while being a nice person, had specific ideas about the shoot? As a result, I felt lost because I didn't have much say over anything. Truth be told, of all the layouts we did, I wouldn't even pick half for my folio. I had issues even with the mix and match of the accesories used for certain layouts.
With BUM though, almost complete freedom. As long as I followed the ideas the boss liked (motion, emotion etc), I could do what I wanted. They're the first masa (mass market) clothing brand I've worked for where I can TEAR the clothes. I kept on matching green with red and it was fine with them! (No, the clothes didn't look like Christmas, thank you very much). The designers were very supportive and I think they liked the results. Plus, the image models, while not very well known actors, were sooooo easy to direct! They gave me the poses I wanted, the reactions I wanted.
Don't get me wrong, these ads aren't high-faluting. Remember, the target audience is mid-B to broad C. The materials have to be relatable BUT edgy, different.
This brings me to what I'm realizing is my forte as a stylist. I think it's really making normal better. Let me explain.
There are some stylists who are good at couture and avant garde fashion. While I love looking at and studying that type styling, that's really not what I enjoy doing. What I love to do is to show how you can make normal clothing look better. I feel that with couture and avant garde, only a miniscule segment of the population can actually pull off those looks, if at all. With making normal fashion better, everyone can do it. Lets face it, almost everyone can stand to dress better, look better. More often than not, a little tweaking can work wonders.
One of my pet peeves is seeing work that you don't get anything from: looks that are so normal it's a wonder they even used a stylist. My point is, if you style, someone should "learn" something from it on how to wear/use at least one of the objects. Of course, it can go the other way wherein it's so styled, no one can ever carry off the look. The latter is much more forgivable though as long as it's good eye candy.
I kinda get a complex at times because I see a lot of stylists whose work aren't that great but who have more connections and so get better projects. I hardly ever do editorials so my name isn't out there. For someone who's been in the business as long as I have, I know I haven't really made a name for myself. On one hand, I enjoy the anonymity. I know there's a good side to being under the radar, so to speak, BUT, there it is negative in the sense that I'm not top of mind, and wala akong "pang-sindak". It's not my goal to be one of the stylists who are "in", I just want it known that I'm a reliable one who does good work.
I just hope that happens with BUM. My wish is that when people see the new materials, they would say "so much better than the last one." I heard some negative reactions to that, which I totally agree with. I really hope that this won't be the case with my work.
I shall post photos as soon as I'm given go-signal to do so. I can't wait.
And knowing me, once I'm given go-signal, I won't be excited na coz I waited too long. Hehe.
Yes, yes, I know, I have really been remiss with posting. I haven't posted in two months, which is a record for me.
Used to be, I could basically follow what I was doing from day to day by rereading my entries. Now, I don't have an idea because I hardly update and I also hardly talk about what I've been up to.
So.
I know a lot of you appreciate the photos I post on here. Please check out my site on Multiply: http://stylefile.multiply.com/photos for sample work. I've been updating like crazy on there and I have several folders of my fashion and food styling work.
As for what's up with me, nothing much, still focused on work.
I've been calling 2006 my "do better" year. I want to be able to do everything better. In that regard, I'm planning on taking cooking lessons to brush up on my culinary skills and fashion design courses to learn about clothes construction and to network with new designers. Of course, I'm also signing up again at the gym. I'm just deciding whether it's gonna be spinning classes or dance classes.
I've started already with the Delores Custer one day food styling seminar. That was fun. I actually did learn a lot, the main thing being that I really am happiuer a prop stylist than a food stylist. Haha! Of course, good luck finding clients who have budget for both a food stylist and a prop stylist. I always end up doing both.
Professionally, I've been having very good reviews of my current work. I've had a celebrity tell me that her two best ever shoots were with me. That was great.
I'm busy trying to land campaigns. Since I'm usually booked by direct clients, I earn less than when it's under an agency. Of course, I'm stressed less and sometimes it feels like no amount of money can compensate for stress.
I've also gone on a "practice" date recently. I haven't dated in more than a year as I've felt really pessimistic about my lovelife after coming out of a really bad non-relationship (don't ask). Since this is the do better year, I've decided to try dating again. But just that, dating. I only need to feel that at least I'm putting a minimum effort on my personal life. That's enough. I'm actually happy being single. Happy enough that it's starting to scare me. *toink* Really, I have a feeling I'd end up an old maid. :P
Ok, gotta log off. I'm actually at a clients office. Ambait ko, blogging here. They're cool with it so it's okay. Yes, I asked for permission.
Please do check out my multiply site and please, please leave comments. If you guys want more kwento, just leave me a note. Or call me, I'm always game to dish. ;)
I just dropped by to say that yes, I am alive and kicking. I haven't been on lj for a while tho, so here's one of my favorite new bikini photos. I wonder if I should post the original? Is it a feat if I made her eyes close? ;)
So, how has everyone been? See you at tonight's party...
Ok, who else in here manages to catch Harry Potter on the first day of showing? Now, I’ve never been a fan of the movie franchise (it has always been the books for me) but I’ve managed to do so all four movies. I dunno why. I started it that way, now it has become a tradition of sorts. This year, I even got to watch for free because Accenture provided their employees with free first night tix, and my brother managed to get extra.
This year’s Harry movie, I can truthfully say is the best one yet. Yes, all the actors still can’t act to save their lives but the sets are gorgeous, and the movie adaptation is the most cohesive, albeit with a few gaping holes—which we think will be solved with a dvd edition including the cut scenes. The editing is choppy, with some scenes having no transition whatsoever but can be forgiven as we await the dvd. Heh. More on this later.
What I like about the new director is that he made this movie the funniest one, even though it’s supposedly the darkest to date (if he can do the same with book 6’s adaptation, assuming he lasts that far, then hats off to him). Even Snape had a scene which was a bit funny, and this is Snape. The audience was giggling every five minutes or so, it seemed.
It may have come 23 days late of my October 1 deadline, but that doesn't matter. I am one happy mamasan (kahit si E ang nag-mamasan, not me, ako lang nangulit. Haha.)
I don't know, all plans are falling into place so I'm kinda aiming really, really high right now. Who knows, if things go well, I may yet achieve that particular goal. Sasaya ang Pilipinas pag nagkataon. *giggle*
First thing's first: yes, I am well again. Or as well as I usually am, which basically means perpetual cough and colds but otherwise fine. I'm still not sure what I got as I never got to see my doctor again after the first check up. Yes, I did get a blood test but my doctor wasn't in when I went back the next day with the results. I never did get to go back because as usual, I'm gearing up to be overbooked again.
It was a week's worth of being sick, from Monday last week 'til Sunday. Of course, being the "workaholic" (I'm doing my darndest to be one) that I am, I went to a shoot Friday. That was probably the best day in a very crappy week.
Rundown of all my symptoms: on and off fever; severe sore throat; enlarged tonsils and lymph nodes (so bad I couldn't bend my neck to look up--it hurt too much); cough and colds; joint pains; a face rash that's peeling off--it wasn't a rash per se where there are bumps, I was just really, really RED--also the same rash on my hands, so now the skin on my palms is starting to peel off and I feel like a leper. I also had behind the eye pain and headaches galore. Fun, huh?
One good thing that came out of this is that everyone who's seen me recently have told me I lost weight. Yay. That and the enforced bed rest means I am raring to go and work again. I did go on a shoot Wednesday this week and it went well. It's for my crappy men's mag so as usual, I'm not quite sure if there will be something to put in the portfolio. They pay cash though, so all's well, :D
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