Video from my styling shoot over sea

This past few months, I had a chance to visit home, Vietnam, and checked out the lifestyle and visited family. It was really an eyes opening experience; living conditions, social norms, social conducts etc.
Anyways, while I was in Vietnam I met some people and just by coincident I was asked to do styling for a newly-born company; The Mike Style. Needless to say I jumped at the chance, it was fun and I almost forgot what it was like to be working on a fashion photo-shoot set. The etiquettes were a little different from what I was used to but I quickly adapted and I think we finished the shoot without a hitch.
The shoot was for a catalogue and some poster images; and I've never done catalogue before so the first 30 minutes or so I felt so out of place. But I made myself useful and jumped around, fiddled with clothes and sure enough I picked up the pace and was right back at home with it. Im glad I got a chance to do it, the experience and the great people I got to meet along the way.
Here's a video behind the scene for their shoot. Make sure to check it out and head over to https://www.facebook.com/TheMikeStyle to check out their products


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVlyqzTR-vY

Disney Princesses are bad role models

Just like any kids from the '90s, I grew up with Disney (well I should clarified; the Classic Disney). I love all the hand-drawn cartoon, the lovable and charming characters like Bambi, Simba, Timon and Pumbaa, Mickey and the gang etc.. Though I never really did care about the Princesses and I didn't really know why until much later;
They were really bad examples for girls growing up; sure they all had the "love conquers all" kinda theme but surely that cant be enough. Let's take some examples of some of those fine ladies..

How about Cinderella?? sure, she had a really compelling and sob-worthy background story; with her dad re-married and then passed away shortly after leaving her with an evil step-mother and two equally evil step-sisters that kept on picking on her. Most kids (and maybe some naïve adults) wouldn't really catch it from watching it for the first time and what not. But think about it; what is the message she's teaching young girls (and gays)?? MATERIALS matters. She couldn't have attracted the prince without the magical, and beautiful makeover.  Of course that has imprinted on the young generation that you need to look beautiful and exquisite in order to get people's attention. tsk tsk Disney, bad on you.

Moving on from a poor, sad, and tragic backstory to one with a royal, happier and perhaps wetter backstory (can you guess who?).......it's Ariel; she was a mermaid with a beautiful voice, she rescued a prince from a shipwreck and fell in love with him. She then wanted to trade in her mermaid-ness AND her voice to become human and be with the prince. Surely she is cute, charming and has the most enchanting voice in the world. You must be wondering why is she a bad example?!
Well, she was willing to give up on who she was AND her family to be with a guy whom she just met (mind you too, she was fifteen at the time)...WWWHHHAAT!!! if any girl was to do that today/in real life, they would be locked up and teased by friends. Think about it, why would you want young girls growing up thinking that it's ok to compromise, pretty much giving up completely, who they are and their family just for a guy??

Like a popular green witch once sang "Love comes at much too high a cost". I surely do agree on most of the love stories from the Classic Disney movies.

So those are just a couple of Disney princesses examples. For argument's sake, there's always two sides to them, but these are my findings/opinions. Before you decide to go all angry and hateful on me, please keep in mind that this read is just for fun and I am entitled to my own opinions; you don't need to agree or disagree. They're merely another aspect and point of view of those beloved stories. I still love all Classic Disney (shame I cant say the same about all their new shows now) and when/if I have children I would love to show them those movies, but I will have to make sure to explain things to them; children they are so impressionable.

Detours Travel

This is for all you gay folks out there;
have you got that adventurous side that's just irking and begging to be pleased? and havent you always wanted to travel to a new and exciting place with a bunch of your own kind (let's be honest, straight people are fun but when it comes to partying, leave it to the homos. We rock it out and take it like a champ - *hmm, there's a joke in there somewhere*.
Well, here's an amazing opportunity for y'all. http://www.detourstravel.com/ is an up and coming travel company, started out right here in our own Vancouver backyard. The concept is quite simple; having fun exploring countries while connecting with your own people; because really, "Life shouldnt be a straight line" and so should your traveling.


Miles Mitchinson, Founder and Adventure Director, is a charismatic and knowledgable young man. Has has an in depth knowledge in both traveling and as a tour guide over the years. Driven by his passion for adventures and new possibilities, Miles has decided to launch Detours Travel.

Detours Travel is unveiling very very shortly and trust me, you wouldnt want to miss out on any of their trips (or the bois on those trips either). Make sure you follow them on Twitter and Facebook for updates and exciting news.

www.twitter.com/detourstravel // https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/detourstravel

- FCD

Lush - the under dog of the bath and body works industry

So we're all familiar with "Lush" Cosmetic. We've all been to the store - or at least smelled it when walking by; whether it be their newly renovated store on Robson or the small ones in your local malls. I must admit that I wasnt a fan of Lush before; I found it a bit too pricey and the packing is too cheap and ugly (really?! I pay $10 for a bath bomb and you're putting it in a paper bag??! and all your other cosmetic bottles and cases are black.)
Maybe I'm easily distracted and a bit shallow, or maybe marketing and packaging have molded us to be way too choosey. Look around you, we are overly-stimulated by the technology and products; everything is brightly coloured or packed with prints and glitters. Needless to say, I wasnt quite satisfied with the packaging at Lush. So I did what most snobby Vancourites would do; sneered and scoffed at the mention of Lush and went to their competitors instead; with prettier packaging and colourful decorated stores.
Not until recently I did a research paper on Lush Cosmetic, and I was blown away by the company's mission statement and work ethics:

"We believe in making effective products from fresh, organic* fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.
We invent our own products and fragrances. We make them fresh by hand using little or no preservative or packaging, using only vegetarian ingredients, and tell you when they were made.
We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission tests on animals and in testing our products on humans.
We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.
We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.
We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.

* We also believe words like fresh and organic have honest meaning beyond marketing."

Lush is a vertically intergrated company, meaning they buy, source, and produce products and ship it to their stores. They have factories/labs in cities where their stores are; so they have total control of what's going in the products. And let me tell you, they are great stuff; fresh organic products.
And the reason for their less fancy packaging? simple; to reduce our carbon footprints. After reading about the company, I thought back on how many empty bottles and cases have I thrown out from other companies, and let me tell ya; I lost count.

So after a long week of school and hard work, what did I do? went straight to Lush and bought myself some of their new spring products. I cant wait to try them out but I know this time around, I'll have a better appreciation for them.

- FCD

New Macs

Yay,
after our home room was shut down for weeks due to installation of new computers, we are finally back in our room...well just for the day anyways. we're supposed to be working on our portfolio but mine is somewhat close to being finished so Im just bored.

Dom and I played around with the new Mac and took picture of ourselves, yay. I am pretty.

Chromasia Fashion Show

John Casablancas Fashion group is hard at work putting together "Chromasia"; it tells a story of bright, colourful and eclectic youth. The show is also supporting a good charity cause. All net proceeds from the show goes to support "The Covenant House".
The show is at Performance Works on Granville Island, July 10th at 7.30pm.
I hope y'all can come out to see the show and support a good charity case.
.FCD

Brad Pitt is the first....

The 'net has been buzzing about this exciting news; just in case you havent heard we'll tell ya. It's official that Brad Pitt is going to be the new face of Chanel No 5 perfume.

Years and years ago, actresses took over the jobs of supermodels as the front cover faces for high fashion magazines.. and now it seems like the men are taking over those as well; recently super hot DILF David Beckham landed the gig for the first ever male to pose solo for the cover of Elle magazine, and now it's Mr Pitt. It's reported that he will be flying to London to start filming for the TV commercial.
Are you excited?? I know Im at least a tad bit curious to see the commercial.

FCD