One for the Movie

Since I'm being totally honest about being a big nerd today, let's talk books! Yay! Are you guys Stephanie Plum fans? While the Janet Evanovich novels are not Pulitzer Prize winning, they're smart, sexy, and funny, the epitome of a "beach read" and I love them. If you aren't familiar, the premise is this: Stephanie is a bounty hunter whose sidekick is a plus-sized ex-hooker and they get into the craziest situations in Trenton, NJ. The books are VERY Jersey. (Having grown up 15 minutes from NJ, I feel as if I understand it.) Stephanie's family is over the top and crazy (her grandmother carries a gun and goes to funerals for fun) and she has two men in her life: Joseph Morelli and Ranger. Morelli is a cop she has known forever and her sexy on-again off-again boyfriend. Ranger is Latin and gorgeous and dangerous and super protective of her. They have crazy sexual chemistry but Ranger isn't boyfriend material. Sound cheesy? It is. But it's also laugh out loud funny. There are currently 16 books and having read them all, I believe I know who Stephanie is. Who she is not? Katherine Heigl, who will be playing her in the film adaptation of the first book.

Heigl as Plum

They Jersey-fied her here but I still don't think she works. She's not likable enough. If Sandra Bullock would put on maybe 20 pounds, she would be perfect. She's supposed to be goofy and awkward and funny. Heigl's movies have not been funny as of late (see The Ugly Truth, 27 Dresses, Killers.) Disappointing.

Lula is the ex-hooker who favors too small clothing and terrible amounts of fast food. She's supposed to be quite large, not curvy but large. Having just learned that Sherri Shepard will be playing her, I'm not feeling too positive about the movie. Shepard isn't funny OR likable (how stupid she is on The View makes her SO unappealing.) She will try to make the role pretty and girly and cute when Lula is actually a little grotesque. (Not because she's big, but because of her clothes and food choices. Hey, no one said it was PC.) She is also extremely loyal to Stephanie and a favorite character of Plum fans. Disappointing #2.

The casting peeps DID get the men right! Jason O'Mara, I loved him on Life on Mars, was cast as the lovable Morelli. At first I thought he was a little too pretty but now I'm thinking he can pull it off.

so cute.

Now for the pièce de résistance, maybe the hottest guy to ever grace the TV, Daniel Sunjata as Ranger.

YUM.

Are you guys excited for the movie? What do you think of the casting choices? Cloris Leachman should be Grandma, right?

OMG of the Day: Olsens Do Jeans

MKO and Ashley can pretty much do no wrong in my book. I love their personal style, The Row, Elizabeth and James, and Olsenboye. What I'm NOT thrilled about? Their $400 jeans. COME ON. They better be the most amazing feeling, comfortable, make-me-look-like-a-size-zero, jeans. But I doubt it. Want to try them? You can get them at Barney's. And they're Style.com's Item of the Day. While I appreciate the effort and attempt at something different then the tired jegging, I think I'll pass. If you like the look, try these for $35!

Dove's "Real Beauty" isn't Real

DOVE “REAL WOMEN” PRINT CASTING JUNE 28-30, 2010 in NYC
ABSOLUTELY NO ACTRESSES / MODELS OR REALITY SHOW PARTICIPANTS or ANY ONE CARRYING A HEADSHOT!!!!
REAL WOMEN ONLY!
LOOKING FOR 3-4 REAL WOMEN for a DOVE PRINT CAMPAIGN!

AGES 35-45, CAUCASIAN, HISPANIC, AFRICAN AMERICAN, & ASIAN!

SHOOT: SUNDAY, JULY 18 in NYC! MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR THE SHOOT!
RATE: $500 for Shoot date & if selected for Ad Campaign (running 2011) you will be paid $4000!
USAGE: 3 years unlimited print & web usage in N. America Only

YOU WILL BE PHOTOGRAPHED FOR THE CAMPAIGN IN A TOWEL!
BEAUTIFUL ARMS AND LEGS AND FACE WILL BE SHOWN!
MUST HAVE FLAWLESS SKIN, NO TATTOOS OR SCARS!
Well groomed and clean...Nice Bodies..NATURALLY, FIT Not too Curvy Not too Athletic.

Great Sparkling Personalities. Beautiful Smiles! A DOVE GIRL!!!
STYLISH AND COOL!
Beautiful HAIR & SKIN is a MUST!!!

PLEASE SUBMIT SNAPSHOTS of FACE & BODY ASAP & WE WILL CALL YOU IN FOR A CASTING NEXT WEEK 6/28-6/30 in NYC!
urbanproddovecasting@gmail.com

Enough said.

Via The Cut

Please Stop Saying That

I loved this book. Did I mention this before? I don't know if I LOVE Kelly Cutrone but I definitely respect her. She's been through some crazy stuff and has come out of it on top. She seems like an amazing mom and a really great/scary woman to work for. I really recommend reading this.

Kelly was in Bryant Park today talking and signing copies of her book. Obviously I missed it, but trusty Racked has all the scoop. Something she said that really stood out for me was this:

"Editorial, magazine, we are going to say buh-bye to them as we know them. They will still exist but everything is on the internet."

Honestly, I'm so sick of hearing this. I love the internet-I blog, I tweet, Four Square, Facebook, you name it, I'm on it. But what I really love is a magazine, a book, PAPER. Nothing will ever replace the smell of a new, or old, book. Nothing will take the place of going through a huge magazine pulling out your favorite parts and putting them on your wall (I still do that.) There's nothing better than devouring pages and pages of new clothes with amazing layouts. Am I in denial or will print media never go away? Maybe it's happening, but I just don't want it to. If someone offered me a job online tomorrow I would take it, writing is writing, but my passion is in print.

What do you guys think? Will everyone have iPads soon and magazines will cease to exist?!? :(

Little Feet in the Big City

I’m standing at the corner of 5^th Avenue and 16^th Street in a navy blue, silk, Betsey Johnson dress, bought for $40 at a sample sale, with floral Keds on my feet. Its 10 AM and I have to find appropriate shoes for my boss’s fancy Manhattan wedding by 4:00 this afternoon. By now my dress is wrinkled from sweat. I’ve been to 6 shoe stores. I’m upset and frustrated because I decided at the last minute against the black pumps I had picked out, deciding they were too heavy for the summery dress. This is a big night for me; I’ll see people I haven’t seen in years and make first impressions on major Broadway bigwigs. I want to look good and the salespeople of NYC seem to be against that happening. You see, I’m a shoe size 5 at the largest and before you say how cute that is, think about if you’ve ever actually seen them in a store, and if they had Dora the Explorer on them or light up bottoms.

The Huffington Post reported about the size 5 shoe phase out last year and it seems to be getting worse. Blogs such as Glamour.com had heated discussions, with my fellow small feet people expressing outrage! How could they do this to us? Do only size 6 and bigger matter? It’s not as if 5s don’t exist. They do, but they are either very high end and out of my price range or just plain ugly. Don’t get me wrong, I probably have over 50 pairs of shoes but it’s only because I’m afraid to get rid of any of them. I’ve tried everything to make a size 5 ½ or 6 fit, such as insoles or stuffing the toe, but it usually only results in me having bloody feet or tripping down the steps. Embarassing.

There are whole groups of people with whom I feel a connection with. Plus sized woman have a hard time finding cute and actually stylish clothes. Pretty bras are difficult to find for busty girls. Everywhere I look there’s fashion discrimination! For the wedding, I tried Nine West first because they have a million different affordable choices. Before I even look at the shelves, I ask which styles come in a 5. The first thing people do is look at my feet and say, “Well, a 6 is really small here. Why don’t we try it?” Inevitably, I will be talked into trying on dozens that will never fit me and I leave totally embarrassed. After Nine West, I tried Aldo (1 pair of flats,) Payless (1 row of all weather boots and sneakers-no Christian Siriano for me,) and finally Filene’s Basement. I settled on a pair of too high, too expensive, really uncomfortable silver heels. I never wore them again.

While shoes may not seem an important thing to stress over, when you’re 25 years old and trying to make an impression in the post-college world, everything feels important. Alexandra Robbins, who wrote Quarter-Life Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties, says, “The quest to define ourselves begins during childhood, but when twentysomethings enter the ‘real’ world, the process can seem to start all over again..." Am I fun and funky enough to be different and wear my Keds to the wedding? Am I a sophisticated and stylish New Yorker who wears a sensible heel with arch support? Or should I pick the highest heel I can find to make my legs look super long? Maybe I don’t know exactly who I am yet, but a choice in footwear doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

According to BBC News, the average woman’s shoe size was a 5 in 1951. For whatever reason, extra weight makes the feet wider, or we are wearing more sensible footwear, the average is now an 8. Hunting through vintage stores, like Tokio7 in the East Village, I can sometimes find 4 ½ sized gems. I used to be too embarrassed to talk to shop owners about my foot size, thinking that they will look at me with those big eyes and make me try on a 6. As I’ve gotten older, I’m starting to get more comfortable and outspoken. I have realized that if you become friendly with the owners, they will hold the small shoes for you, or give you a call when they come in. I’ve also started bragging to my size 7 friends that I’m usually incredibly jealous of, that my new Nike running shoes were $35 since they are for kids. Not that I’m not still disappointed when my friends get together for a Louboutin sample sale, and the one size 5 is gone in the first 5 minutes. I’ve actually waited outside of Marc Jacobs for 3 hours to be the first to snatch the 35s. I had to elbow and push a few tiny girls but I left with 3 pairs.

My goal as I enter my late twenties and early thirties is to except my small feet for what they are. I’m going to become one of those classically dressed woman, who own 3 pairs of shoes that look great with everything. I’m going to laugh with people when I trip and they say, “Your feet are too small to hold you up.” Maybe I’ll become a handbag girl. Have fun at the 10022, so big it needs its own zip code, shoe floor at Saks. I’ll be downstairs checking out the new “It” bag. Because with bags, one size fits all and in fashion, that’s a beautiful thing.

Out of the Loop

Having no internet or cable for 3 days drove me crazy. Is that sad? Of course I read a lot but I love my bad TV shows. I think what it really did was throw off my routine. No blogging. No Vampire Diaries. Here are a few other things I missed this week:

Plus sized models protested Australian Fashion Week when they didn't use any in the shows, but booked 18 last year. Lame.

On a positive note, Polish Elle used plus-sized girls beautifully. Gorg.

OMG. Glamour used favorite size 10 model Crystal Renn on their June cover and they STILL can't win. Yes, I admit she DOES look a lot smaller than she usually does (2nd from left) but seriously, people. They're models. NOT real people. And they aren't supposed to be.

Opening Ceremony's Fall 2010 Lookbook is so drool-worthy that I might start "dancing" to afford some of it. OK, not really but I really, really, love the whole thing.


The 2010 Tony Nominations came out and I'm half excited and half disappointed. (FYI: I know I'm biased.) From Come Fly Away, I'm really happy to see Karine Plantadit nominated but sad they over looked Charlie Hodges (above.) My other complaint? WAY too many celebs. I'm sorry but Liev Schreiber? Not so much. It's awesome that The Royal Family, Memphis, Red, and Finian's Rainbow got some love since they are some of my favorites. And 11 for Fela! including Lillias White. So exciting. Kevin Chamberlain in The Addams Family? Great. Best Score? Um, no way.

I'm a New York woman in my 20s. I LOVE fashion and all things style. I'm a big SJP fan. I have zero interest in seeing Sex and the City 2. Am I the only one who's not excited? It feels so tired and lame to me. No one acts this way, at least not anymore. Every time I see the preview with them on camels, I grown. I know it's supposed to be a fantasy, I get it. I'm just not buying it. I'd rather go to the Pat Fields store and learn about her and the fashion of the show at the bookstore.

What else is going on?

Photos from Cocoperez.com, jezebel.com, refinery29.com, comeflyaway.com, Glamour.com, filmofilia.com

I'm Obsessed/Eh, Not So Great

Obsessed: Alexander Wang

Disappointing: Madonna for Dolce and Gabbana