Alas I may not be Richard Yearwood's 'lover', but I do love that this man has no issues with hugging, kissing or telling me he loves me. The feeling is mutual and one of the many reasons I love to both work and play with this man.

These are not simply the ramblings of a gal that is single on Valentine’s Day.  I actually generally prefer my single Valentines, as more people tell me they love me and I am never met with disappointment.  Plus Fuzzywiggle Furrypants Roo makes the best damn Valentine’s cat that there ever was.  She gives even more kisses and hugs than I do (and I’m pretty liberal with mine).

No, this is a philosophy instilled in me thanks to my parents.  And thanks to them, it is the reason that I know where I stand with my family, close friends and many of the people who I work with (who I consider to be family and close friends) ~ they love me and I love them (Hell, at  Ahimsa that seems to be one of the long term prerequisites ~ do they have talent and do we love them ~ necessary after all, when we do long hours, all over the World).  And as I get older and have sadly started to lose some of the people in my life that I love, it is for this reason that I always know the last thing that I said to them ~ I  love you! (and despite saying these words often, every day of my life, they are not hollow words).

And with that, I send all you lovely readers some hugs …

With smooches to Ian MacLatchy for posting this video on our producer, Erica’s, facebook wall, where I spotted it.

Love and Kisses,

Emme xoxo

A moment captured by Jeremy Lim on the train at Burnaby Village Museum.

We are getting set for a series of travel adventures, but even if Burnaby Village Museum is just a short jaunt away, I could see Brie and I having a tremendous number of adventures there, and rather than travel through space, we could travel back in time.  I know that the Village Interpretors dress in period clothing to give visitors a first hand taste of BC history, but would they let Brie and I do the same, for a day at least?  I mean could you imagine what a riot that would be and the stories we could soak in from that!?!

That gives me a nice little day dream for now, to distract me from the fact that the Burnaby Village Museum closes for the winter season on January 2, 2011 and I don’t return to town until after that.  Fiddle Sticks!  If you are in town and luckier than me, then this living history museum is open for exploration daily now until January 2nd, 2011 from noon to 8 pm.

Burnaby Carousel shot through the lens of Carol Browne.

As for me, I guess I will have to stick with my imagination until they either open for a special event, like this past year’s Spring Scavenger Hunt in February and March or until they are open for the summer season in May, 2011.  Good thing I have a wonderfully active imagination to tide me over in the in term.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Bronwyn and Alyzee, with whom I imagine is the British accented drill Sargent barking orders at Alyzee in her head (see Alyzee's latest post for the reference).

I am really going to miss these gals.  Alyzee and her incredible gift with the quill.  Bronwyn, whom was born to have a spotlight shine on her and has an incredible gift for the audiovisual arts that I was only just beginning to grasp.

For all that I tease Erica, I do hope she agrees and we can find a way to keep these two involved, if only on those occasional moments that they have a breather between school deadlines, as I will greatly miss these two creative spirits.

Thanks Alyzee and Bronwyn!

Of course, blenders, incinerators, and steam-rollers are a different story…or, at least, they give the story a different ending. But it seems to me that if you cut up true love, hell, even if you liquefy true love, it’s always possible to put it back together again. Like a starfish. Not like Humpty-Dumpty.

There are certain people, places, and things (I suppose just nouns in general) that I will always be in love with in an alternate universe, or maybe just on masochistic days in this one. There are songs I will always come back to, there are expressions I will always associate with one person, there are foods that I swear, despite alleged taste-bud-evolution (more like degeneration) I will always hate. For the most part, people don’t change much. Only waistlines…and hairlines.

We usually think of ourselves as blank canvases, with no predictable habits or personality traits or discernible accent. We’re just…US. Me. Everyone else is a character, with a name and that particular way of eating grapes. We, the individuals, just react to these grape-peelers.

photo by Jon Chiang

But in reality, I’m Bronwyn. I like music and poetry and owls. I read a lot of serious looking books and a lot of Shitty-Irish-Chick-Lit (a genre all unto itself, in my estimation). I collect albums and I hate boy-short underwear. I am twenty years old, I just got what I’ve always referred to as “Creative Writing Bangs,” and I do a particularly good velociraptor impression. I’m also a lot of things that I will never know that people say about me. Most of them are probably true.

So: this is how I’ve chosen to begin to present myself to you, the masses of faces bathed in blue light from computer screens that I will very likely never meet. This is the character I’m putting forward.

Who are you?

A JK Model takes to the runway during the L2 fashion show

Models, manicures and Grand Marnier, what more could a girl want on a Wednesday night?  Plenty of fun was to be had at JK Models first birthday party and thanks to our little Emme being all booked up myself and Erica Hargreave got to slip in on the fun.  Owner Jennifer Koning put on a wonderful celebration in the heart of Vancouver at Leone’s.

We were really excited to see a modeling agency like JK hitting their first big milestone.  They represent a range of shapes, sizes and ethnicities opening up the world of modeling in Vancouver.  In a cut throat industry like fashion it can be tough to push for diversity and I was proud to meet someone like Jennifer who has taken on such a challenge and is succeeding.

The night gave us all a peek at some of her models during two runway shows, both which wowed the crowd, and of course this little photographer at the end of the catwalk. The first showcased clothes from L2 Leone, Leone’s edgy, contemporary boutique, and the second gave us a flavour of luxury with some designer garments from Leone.

Agency owner Jennifer Koning watches her models take to the runway

The visitors were fully entertained between fashion shows with an array of enticing treats on offer that we fitted in alongside the mingling.  They included Pixstar‘s fun photo booth, where everyone could get four snaps with friends.  This was a stroke of genius on the organisers part, as many people mingled and chatted whilst awaiting their turn at a hilarious photo.  We had a few issues in the booth on first attempt, heads chopped off in the pics, people looking the wrong way.  But we soon got the hang of it and loved it.

She to Shic Boutique Beauty Lounge were also on hand to give mini manicures.  This was one of those rare moments that I wished I wasn’t a photographer as I knew my nails would never dry in time for shooting the next runway shoot, so had to pass on the treat.  And Grand Marnier kept the drinks flowing to a very happy crowd on a great occasion.

Naturally I’m all about the pictures so I’ll let my images do the talking for the event:

The audience takes photos of a JK Model on the runway

An audience member holds her Pixstar booth pictures whilst watching the second runway show

JK Model Hayley is photographed as she walks in the L2 show

Raul Pacheco gets his first ever manicure from April W from She to Shic

A JK Model poses at the end of the runway during the designer clothing show

Alisha Mann applauds the models and designs.

Photo by Florence

1) I feel like doing a bit of Spring Cleaning and getting a fresh new look, so will be playing around with the blog look. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Colour, font …etc.

2) Back to planning my Travel Adventures and as such am toying with the idea of bringing a few other storytellers along for the ride. So hopefully, we might hear from a few old friends like Sid and Brie (and maybe even Sir Von Ritter), and I’ve invited a UK artist, Lainie, that I quite like, to play around in the space a bit, as I think her imagery and travel experience might be a good fit for the adventures.

3) Ahimsa is getting a new set of interns, including a dancer and musician – Alyzee and Bronwyn – and I truly believe that it would be criminal to leave their whole education in the hands of the bright eyed and flower field frolicking Erica. Really someones got to introduce them to the ghetto (not really sure that this is the ghetto, but lets pretend it is for a second or two at least). Might even try to occasionally steal Liz from time to time, purely for the selfish reason as I can’t believe Ahimsa now has a professional photographer on staff and no one has thought to organize a photo shoot for me. Scandalous!! Well two can play at that game. Time to pull out the shiny objects, in the form of colourful summer drinks to lure the interns away with.

Here’s Bronwyn playing at The Cellar:

Wish me luck!

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

You See Ladies I Can't Be All That Bad - Cats Like Me

My next job was at a kitchen. Here is a recommendation for everyone planning on working at a kitchen: don’t go with a hangover. I cut my fingers 5 times that day, and I eventually had to go home because my blood was ruining the chicken. I also disliked that job, but it wasn’t because the pay was crap and the cooking standards were awful, no, it was because I had to wake at 5:00 AM to go to that job. Let me put it this way: I am the epitome of a night owl. It’s 4:40 AM right now and I feel as awake as a clam chowder. I know that’s not the right saying, but the only other thing I could imagine as being as awake as I am right now is a caffeinated dog. I get weird ideas this time of day/night. Anyway, I hate waking up early, so I ended up cutting my hours to a minimum. I learned to cook some things though, although that job also gave me a tad of knife phobia, I have my roommate or girlfriend do all the cutting for me.  They like it

My next job was at McDonalds, and I don’t care what people say, it was the best job out of the three. Yes, the food is disgusting, and I felt bad serving to some very unhealthy looking individuals as they were eating nothing but saturated fat and empty calories, but McDonalds provides a good opportunity for students as it adapts to your schedule and for single mothers who want a part-time job. It was relaxed, and the people were really fun to work with (I actually miss them a bit) so I have some fond memories of that place. I don’t eat there even if you pay me though, seeing how they prepare their meals is gross and should probably be illegal. But fun place to work at.

Mario the Intern

For a while I also worked editing wedding videos (which was pretty boring and I got to see some really unhappy couples getting married…), helping with some HIV patients in a clinic, and as a hobby I write and sometimes produce short films. I also write about film awards and have fun blogging for Ahimsa. Oh yeah, I’m Ahimsa’s intern, and it’s a sweet job. I get to make the sly comments that got me in trouble as a telemarketer, I can stay up late since I work mostly from home, and I get to work with wonderful people who I am going to miss once the internship ends: it’s the best of both worlds. Don’t think I’m a suck-up. I actually do enjoy working with Ahimsa a lot. And on that note I will end with some cheerful spirit: Go Vancouver 2010!

Sorry about being a few days late on posting our Reading is Sexy 2010 Calendar Contest. Exhausting week. At any rate, here it is!!

Photo by Robert Shaer

So here are the deets, I am giving away a 2010 Reading is Sexy Calendar to the first person that answers all the salacious shoot questions below correctly, or in lieu of that, to the person that gets the most correct answers.  AND I am giving a second calendar away to the person whose answers make me laugh the hardest – causing laughing is sexy too. And don’t worry a donation on both of these calendars will still be going to The International Dyslexia Association, as our friends at Ahimsa Media are chipping in all the donations on the contest and promotional calendars.

The contest is open until our Launch Party and Literary Celebration on Thursday December 3rd.

To enter, just submit a comment below with your guesses.

Now what you’ve all being waiting for, the Salacious Shoot Questions:

1. Who bore it all for the camera?
2. In whose home did we discover a penis piggy (that’s a piggy bank – get your minds out of the gutter)?
3. Who took their pants off, in secret, during shooting, and laughed as the rest of us were oblivious?
4. Who asked ‘where they should put their FILTHY hands’?
5. Who wormed their way into my shot?
6. Who did I crawl into bed with (on a shoot)?
7. Whose bed did I crawl into on the aforementioned shoot?
8. On whose shoot, did we have joggers hooting and hollering at us?
9. Whose shoot went all through the night?
10. Who flashed me on their doorstep in broad daylight?
11. Whose phrase of ‘God Bless their cotton socks’ still has Rob and I smirking?
12. What was polished off whilst shooting Mr. May in the Playboy Mansion?
13. What tied up Ms October on a shoot?
14. Who else wore a frilly apron, whilst shooting, aside from yours truly?
15. Who became a voyeuristic attraction for tourists on their shoot?

Oh and I little hint, most of the answers to the aforementioned questions can be found in our various social media feeds tagged with #ReadingisSexy.  I also fully encourage the harassment of the various models, using twitter, for answers – @somisguided, @iheartgudrun, @hummingbird604, @IanAMartin, @raincoaster, @greenpieces and @monicahamburg.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Rumor has it that Van City’s sexy and savvy tech women are at it again – this time Bridging Media! In essence, they are aiming to break down any barriers of communication between the broadcast world and the technology community, get them to speak the same language by exploring each others processes, and finally to play nicely in the sand box, building the future of media together. These women certainly have balls, and I for one, don’t think they can be accused of not knowing how to use them!

According to my sources, this ballsy scheme was set into action from a series of conversations between Megan Cole, Boris Mann and Kris Krug of Raincity Studios, Erica Hargreave of Ahimsa Media, and Brian Schecter of Puddleduck Productions in the fall. As these cats were talking, it became apparent that there was an obvious disconnect in the understanding of broadcast process verses that of the digital world and to truly embrace the future the two communities needed to be working together.

Megan Cole and Erica Hargreave have run with this initiating Van City’s first ever Bridging Media event on March 29th of this year. Boris Mann, Kris Krug, and Brian Schecter have been joined by Mark Greenspan on the gals advisory team. And as beautiful, sexy and smart women often do several other of Vancouver’s sexiest and savviest tech women have been drawn into the organizing mix, including Cinci Csere, Monique Trottier, Carol Sill and Monica Hamburg. Rumor even has it that the sultry Miss 604 will be live blogging the day.

From this gals perspective, the day is shaping up quite nicely with a panel of speakers that are none too sore on the eyes, including Ravi Singh of The Knowledge Network, Gary Marcuse of the CBC, Canadian Screenwriter Mark Leiren-Young and many of our lovely tech boys and sexy tech gals, who promise to be sharing secrets on industry, success, funds, and broadcast future! And you do know how I like secrets! It would also seem as though I am not the only one that feels that these women are up to something special. It appears that they have attracted in nextMEDIA, The Centre for Digital Media, The Knowledge Network, BC Film, OneDegree, Finale Editworks, and Now Public as sponsors. These companies know a good thing when they see it.

Oh and one final rumor from the event (probably shouldn’t divulge this one, as I’d personally like to win it) – I’ve heard they’re giving away a free pass to nextMEDIA to one lucky participant!

So shall we make it a date for March 29!?!

Emme