On Day 2 of the leadup to Valentine’s Day.. here is a taste of romantic fashion.

Of course, this is completely hypothetical, and most likely the outfit I would have my ‘character’ wear in a romantic comedy. I wouldn’t leave the house in this! But in my ‘movie’ fantasy (where I’m played by Jennifer Garner) – here is the type of outfit I would wear..

Cutesy Valentine’s Date by popcouturist featuring Forever21 dresses

Wait, wait. Before you take that to be the most unsurprising statement of the year (and that’s calling it early, its only February!) let me tell you – I only started watching Sex & the City a month ago.

I steadfastly tried to ignore it – I’d seen bits and pieces of it on TV but dismissed it as a ‘novelty’ show. Perhaps I was a bit of a snob – whilst I was looking up to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sydney Bristow, or lusting after Fox Mulder – I thought the women in Sex & the City were one dimensional and materialistic.

Obviously on the outside looking in, and from all the risqué trailers (or teasers) shown on tv, I thought Samantha was too over the top, and nymphomaniacal and I’d never relate to someone like her, so how could I like the show? Miranda was too cold, and cynical. Charlotte seemed to be the stereotypical romantic, optimistic and overly perky character, prudish in Samantha’s company. Carrie seemed to be quite the balance and perhaps that was the reason that Sarah Jessica Parker is so adored, and fanatacised about! (Note, I didn’t mean fantasize – I mean FANATICISE!)

I just couldn’t fathom why so many women seemed to gush over the show, the fashion, the women – and the actresses that played these characters.

But now.. I eat my first impressions. I can’t quite put my finger on it. As I came to the final episode, on the last disc of the final season – I bloody cried! I even tried not to; still determined not to be like women en masse who talk about having more than once box set as the first is ‘overused’. (I’m looking at you Tiz)

As I mentioned in my last post, about how it doesn’t take a sad ending to make me cry but a happy one – I think the waterworks welled up as soon as Carrie returned from Paris, surprising her friends in the cafe where they’d spent all those years confiding in each other, and sharing each other’s lives.

The fairytale of the show, and the appeal certainly wasn’t one thing. Surely it wasn’t sex. Certainly it couldn’t be the fashion (though from an outsider’s point of view – that’s all it seemed to be!) and it wasn’t the dating – but it was the importance and value of friendship.

I think this one post will be branched out into a few – crazy outlandish fashions, first date blunders, which of Carrie’s beaux would you choose, and which fabulous New Yorker would you be? Watch this space..

P.S Oh, and just an example of how much I’m already relating – when I finished An American Girl goes to Paris Part Deux – it was 1am and I turned back on the lights, got out my laptop and started writing, ala our Miss Carrie Bradshaw.

On the first day of the week leading up to February 14th aka Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share with you songs, videos, movie & tv clips that spell out romance to me. They spell out fairytales.

You may say this is ultra corny, a bit of ‘fromage’ if you will; but ultimately that’s why romantic comedies, or power ballads are written. That’s why Disney will never not have a fairytale ending. Because we all want the fairytale! We all want to be swept off our feet! I was tempted in doing a daily post of anti-romance, anti-Valentine’s day, because well I’m a single girl and all of this will most likely make me want to yell out ‘GET A ROOM!’ to anyone acting remotely mushy on the train as I go into work. But a leopard can’t change their spots. I’m always going to be a sooky la la that cries not just at the sad endings but happy endings as well!

So I present to you.. one of my favourite boy band ballads – Because of You by 98 Degrees. No, Nick Lachey was not my favourite – its all about Jeff!

I really want to know that I’m not alone – Comment with your guilty pleasure, or unashamed favourite boy band ballad!

Originally written for SassiSam

One may easily dismiss Lauren Conrad, made famous for her ‘roles’ in Laguna Beach, which then led to the Hills. Anyone could easily judge her as just another reality star wanting to extend her 15 minutes of fame and, if not music, why not writing? But that would be a mistake, as with this follow up novel to her first in LA Candy – she proves she’s here to stay (as author, and clothing designer).

Lauren returns with her second book Sweet Little Lies, catching up where we last left off with LA Candy – where scheming Madison has whisked Jane away to Mexico to escape the tabloid scandals of her being caught in a tryst with her boyfriend’s best friend. Only Scarlett, Jane’s best friend knows that Madison is not who she’s pretending to be.

The adventure continues with the scandal still having a ripple effect on the four girls, with the tension between Jane and Scarlett as the show, and all its superficiality drive them apart. As I read this, as well as LA Candy – whilst its classed as teen fiction, and its written in that easy to read style – I couldn’t help but keep thinking of her friends on Laguna Beach and the Hills, and wondering who ‘Madison’ represented, or who Gaby would be(my thoughts are Audrina).

LA Candy, and now Sweet Little Lies brings reality TV and all that glitters is faux into the spotlight. There’s always been criticism – which is arguably fair, because of the fact that how ‘real’ can it be when there are cameras around during the most mundane times of the day, or on a date, or at work? On the flipside, of course when cameras are around conversations will be a bit forced, or scripted in order to promote a certain image.

It reads light, and has the appropriate amount of fluff with a liberal dose of very descriptive brand names, labels and hot L.A hangouts which surely will entice anyone to again want what Jane or the author (Lauren) prefers to wear, as America’s sweetheart. I can say the stories within the first two novels definitely will leave me hanging waiting around for the third one, recently officially named as Sugar and Spice.

Available now at Harper Collins RRP $19.99

Law Abiding Citizen is one of those movies that is a great bundle of fun, but you have to preface it with “now all of this is completely ridiculous, but watch it, its fun!”

In a movie of any genre really, there are ridiculous events and circumstances which rely on the viewer having a reasonable suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy the ride. The responsibility is on the writer and/or director to create such a plausible world to immerse the viewer in – that any time something completely unrealistic happens, it would seem natural in this world, and thus – suspension of disbelief is achieved.

This is more than a vengeance film. This is a ‘if it takes me ten years to think of how to get revenge on you, by GOD that’s what I’m gonna do!’. Ten years, it takes Clyde Shelton to perfect a brutal, vicious rampage on not just the killers of his wife and daughter, but anyone, heck even the valet that had any involvement with court trial. The kicker? The biggest stretch of the imagination is that like Michael Scofield (Prison Break for those unblissfully ignorant) he perpetrates the crimes with full willingness to be taken to jail. Oh, only because he will carry on the crimes from behind bars!

I see you rolling your eyes, I know. But it plays out so.. comically, and you can see Gerard Butler relishes every moment of it. He’s deliciously evil. You’re not meant to have sympathy for him at this point. This brand of vengeance is something else.
Jamie Foxx as DA Nick Rice should have more to do, and more to offer. While he has the right amount of swagger for the role – the chemistry between he and Butler just isn’t quite right. There is no real tension there, and so its hard to really be entertained by the confrontational talks they have as Clyde unravels his plans.

To be brutally honest (pardon the impending pun) is that the kills are creatively gory, and swift. Its the moments in the film where you turn to your friend and say, watch this.. watch this, squealing and gasping at the blood splatter, the horrific squelching sounds from a stabbing, or unexpected (and creative) bomb explosions. This movie would fall into the so bad that its good category – such as Snakes on a Plane. SO bad that its a fun ‘watch with friends’ movie!

Whoa. I surprised myself just now. I have always said I can be a Google nerd, and if I need to find anything, research anything, the powers of Google would always point me in the right direction. But when they are bed linens I saw on a TV show? Even I was skeptical!

Cougar Town. I am loving this show. I can rewatch it already, and still giggle at Courteney Cox’s fabulous characterization of Jules Cobb with an equally sassy and goofy supporting cast. And eye candy. Oh I know I already mentioned them here..

But in episode three, as Jules is thoroughly, exhaustingly (and painfully!) preparing for a hot date, I was transfixed by the bed sheets. I’m not one that is into interior decorating too much, I don’t have a colour scheme, nothing is coordinated so don’t think I’m always looking at furniture and Manchester – but these. Were.. GORGEOUS!

I don’t know why I ever thought I could find them – but I had to try! Turns out I’m not alone in coveting fashions and furniture from TV.

After googling ‘cougar town bed linens’ – I found this via Entertainment Weekly Style Hunter page a mini post on fashions featured on the show and where ordinary fans could purchase them from. Then in comments, I found someone had asked where the linens were from, and a response was given. Crate & Barrel.

Then, after Googling ‘crate & barrel cougar town linens’ – et voila. They are the Lucia Bed Linens. Super expensive and swish, but WOW. I found them! I don’t have to own them – I’m comforted by the fact that if I spy other items perhaps in another show – I may have a chance of owning it. And being more of a fangirl already.

Maybe it can come with a bonus? (See picture below…)

Swishy, bouncy, light as a feather glossy hair. I wish I had it. Any character in a TV show or movie apparently goes to bed, and wakes up with such glossy hair, maybe a few fly-aways, but essentially *awesome* hair all day. Mine? Well, for the most part after it air dries post shower, I could be a relative of Don King. No greys, but just as high and out there in all different directions!

So, after discovering a couple new products from Aveda last year – I wanted to try other new products with a local touch, not just Australian but made in Melbourne. I figured local products that took into account our crazy weather conditions (four seasons in one day isn’t as far-fetched as you may think here) would be great for me – and I would really like for people to realize a pony tail is not always permanently attached to the back of my head!

Via the always heavenly and tempting Adore Beauty I discovered Unico. I have been using the Sensitive Shampoo, best for temperamental scalps like mine, as well as unruly curls (if let natural I’m either a 60s refugee, or sometimes a 28 year old Shirley Temple try-hard) It smells divine, including essential oils good for anybody – clary sage, lavender and lemon. It feels extra soothing with the scent of these essential oils as I massage it in, I must say. I’m definitely won over!

Because I can never stop at just one product when shopping for anything (my sisters call it Noah’s Ark shopping) I had to get the Leave in Conditioner spray as well. To be honest I’ve never tried a leave in conditioner as I never trusted that my hair would be appealing enough to leave the house. So whilst I’ve been on holiday, I’ve braved public scrutiny by wearing it down, spritzing on the conditioning spray whilst its damp, and braving the Melbourne climate. It smells delicious, with an apricot scent and noticeably once my hair has dried, my hair has been softer and shinier. If I can only figure out how to blow dry my hair.. watch out, I may be hair swishing to work soon!

Check out more from Unico here or purchase the range here at Adore Beauty.

There hasn’t been anything on TV which has had me cheering, or yelling out at it too much lately. Except for a 5 set match between Roddick and anyone else he’s playing. Because he just inspires that passion in me.  But anyway, I digress.

After the introductory episodes to this season, oh my WORD, I have been hollering* and bouncing up and down on the couch because Jack is back, bebe. Kiefer Sutherland is back (after a short time in prison) as Jack Bauer on Day 8 of another international security crisis and there’s a new team at CTU. Chloe is more sulky and eye-rolling than ever, and Jack’s a grandpa!

I must admit, I found Season 6 and 7 to be a bit stale and not quite as ‘omg, I cannot go to bed until I see the whole day!’ as previous seasons – but I’m thinking this day is going to be as riveting as ever.

Amongst the new cast – Freddie Prinze Jr (yes, teen movie maestro from the late 90s and Mr Sarah Michelle Gellar) as well as Katee Sackhoff, known for being the bombshell from Battlestar Galactica, and playing a data analyst with a few secrets sure to make the day just that little more complicated.

There’s no point in me trying to explain what happens on day 8 – because we all know that in every real time hour of the show (well, 40+ minutes approx.) there are twists and turns, and betrayals, and car chases, and well I could go on, but this is the absolute fun of it.

It started in mid January for the lucky Americans – and begins next week for us Aussies after the Australian Open tennis. Watch it. Turn the lights off, turn the sound up – its brilliant action TV.

Originally written for X & Y Magazine

To kick off the award season for film and tv, Golden Globes is said to be the first real sign of what the Oscars may be like. Its less pompous, a bit more silly, though not as juvenile as the MTV Movie Awards. No bronzed popcorn buckets handed out here!

However with any awards event where alcohol is given, and a cross section of music (soundtrack and score) film and tv stars present, there are bound to be scenarios, that we the little people can learn from.

1. Beware of wayward umbrellas
Not that anyone would have reacted differently, but sweetie pie Drew Barrymore nearly had her chignon bumped off as a wayward umbrella caught the back of her head– to which after I closely investigated, and read her lips, she was sure to have said ‘Watch. The. Hair’ between gritted teeth.

2. Rain aids the groupies
As an addendum to the first warning about avoiding large umbrellas, rain can be a great thing at the red carpet. For fans. As notably, many stars were seen carrying umbrellas labelled with the hotel brand/logo. Score! Now we know where Mickey Rourke is staying! Oh wait, I reaaaally don’t want to be near that hotel.

3. Frou frou and frills are not always a good girly thing

Diane Kruger should really know better, she comes from a modelling background! But that puffy-meringue like dress of pink fluffy raspberry toulle is just not a great look. It could almost have been worn by Drew Barrymore’s character in Never Been Kissed! I’m on the fence with Jennifer Morrison’s contribution – it’s a little too busy? But what saves it is that Sucre, *ahem* I mean, Amaury Nolasco (from Prison Break) bought it for her as a Christmas gift! So romantic! Therefore, this star wore her own dress. Props. Be given to her.

4. Classic elegance in the nude is back

Whilst in previous years, bold colours have been the easy way to ensure a flurry of camera flashes on the red carpet; this year, regal purple was the runner up of the rainy evening with pale, almost bleak nudes turning the most heads. Making it work for them – Drew Barrymore, Emily Blunt, and Christina Aguilera. Giving it a bad name? Chloe Sevigny. Could she look any more disinterested?

5. Age and experience equates to loss of coherence
It seems that there is a direct proportion (proven in the labs of never) that states clearly that the more movies you have been in, and the older you are, I’m looking at you Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges and to some extent the remains of that carcass known as Mickey Rourke – the longer you can incoherently attempt to say thanks to the people that get them in the public eye. I honestly lost track and even possibly blacked out at the time Jeff Bridges was giving a speech. Was that dementia, or alcohol alone?

6. Be yourself – be Australian
Some of the TV hosts, reporters are expected to be quick-witted, and sassy in order to engage the celebrities on the way to their alcohol-laden tables inside. In the case of when they met Sam Worthington and Ryan Kwanten, both proudly Aussie and succesful on TV and the silver screen – the cable hosts (as I was watching it on an internet stream, they were just cable randoms) seemed to be so star struck by them, I heard them tell Ryan “Well, you’ve got that Aussie thing going for you!” and to Sam “Oh! I love the accent!” Really? That’s all you have to say? Next thing you’ll be saying, so do you know Hugh Jackman?!

7. Classic movie oldies are inspiring

Example: James Cameron seemed to be paying a hair tribute to Christopher Lloyd circa Back to the Future.

8. Stronger female comics required

How can the same actress be nominated twice in the same category? Please writers; be creative and write plots for funny females. It is possible! And erm, I don’t start laughing uproariously when I think of Meryl Streep. Do you?

9. Be funnier than the host
An uproarious laugh was not heard before Robert Downey Jr won for Sherlock Holmes, who backhandedly thanked the people that got him where he was. “Avatar was going to take us to the cleaners! If they didn’t have me, we didn’t have a shot, buddy!” Nope, not even Ricky Gervais’ penis jokes, or convenient jabs at Jay Leno and NBC had anyone giving more than a perfunctory polite smile. My prediction? No Ricky Gervais next year.

10. Marriage has not tamed Mariah Carey

Oh Mariah. All ass, no class. All boobs, and no bodice to speak of on that dress! Herve Leger would be wanting to sponsor her in order to reverse all the damage she’s done to his name! Husband Nick Cannon was adoringly her umbrella holder, and whether she was thrusting her shoulders out, or poking her butt out the other way, who knows! You could be a few feet away and still be entirely too close to her. She needs to know that clothes need not be skin tight.

There you have it, be nude (in clothes), be glamorous in the rain, be impressively cheeky, and most of all, wear a dress with a bodice. You heard it here first.

Australian networks have a habit of teasing us with extended sneak peeks of all the hot new shows just starting in the U.S or perhaps have been around for at least half a season. From all the sneak peeks we have seen of Cougar Town, premiering on Channel 7 after the Australian Open tennis – I am sure to have a crush on anyone that Cougar Courteney Cox goes after. Because we have seen more than teasers of the show, I feared that for a half hour sitcom, we were going to be seeing all the best parts, and be left with the dregs and it’d all be for nothing.

Now having seen the pilot, I can tell you – Courteney is no longer Monica Geller. She is far less wooden as Jules, a newly divorced mother of a teenage boy, and more self deprecating, self loathing and quite goofily-feisty (sassy combination!) which more than makes up for her depiction of Monica in 10 seasons of Friends. I am quite excited with all the eye candy on the show (though that’s not hard) but at this point, I’m not thrilled with her girly sidekicks. I’m certain that Busy Phillipps is always going to be the trashy sidekick, and I don’t think its a good thing. I think its overkill and.. eh. Maybe she’ll grow on me. Rounding out the gossiping gal pals in the show is Christa Miller, most known for being the botoxed wife of Dr Cox in Scrubs, which I severely hope she does a better job and has a bit more depth on this. Time will tell..

If you haven’t been introduced to Josh Hopkins before, well.. let this be a lesson. I for one have loved Josh Hopkins (playing her womanising neighbour Grayson) ever since he was on Jack & Jill (remember that show with Amanda Peet and Ivan Sergei?) and now he’s sprung up again on Private Practice as a lustful but married Dr, and now as a sparring across the cul-de-sac neighbour? LOVE IT!

I’m looking forward to this sassy rom-com sitcom, because at least it doesn’t feature David Spade. A big plus!