WhyIs Botox Overhyped?

I don’t understand why Botox has become such a household term. We hear about so and so who gets Botox treatments. And who among us  is not familiar  the waxy, expressionless face of the Botox look?

Because of our clients, I  have been learning about all the different types of cosmetic procedures available, it seems like Botox is soooo passe.

Maybe I’m the only one who thinks it is passe. In her blog, 40 and Bitter,  Justine Bateman wrote a post called My Top 5 Anti Botox Heroes in Hollywood. Basically she despises the widespread use of Botox in the entertainment industry.  Now that she is off Botox, she claims that more men are flirting with her.

I am really confused about why people act like Botox is the only anti aging solution next to facelifts? There are so many alternatives that are much better

There are other dermal fillers that do not affect your facial muscles.  They simply fill in wrinkles. And some (like Fascian) even promote collagen synthesis.

But really,the quest to look  younger is not about choosing one injection over a another.  And it is certainly not about numbing your face muscles!

There are doctors out there who can make customized recommendations based on individual differences. I mean they didn’t get their medical degrees for nothing. They take into account your ethnic background, allergies, and a whole constellation of factors to come up with the best solution.

Some doctors will treat you like a work of art and bring out your natural  God given beauty. And others might resort to cookie cutter techniques and dry logic in trying to make you look younger.  Thanks to the later, we have a lot of funny photos of cosmetic surgery gone bad.

I hope this blog sheds some light on the fact that medical science has come up with many other alternatives besides Botox.

But more importantly, there are doctors out there who have the skill to create the best solution for you.

If you have not already done so, check out the sites (especially the videos) of

http://www.drpersky.com

http://www.maryleeamerian.com

http://www.foreveryoung.net

So keep smiling!

Times Square Dog Day in New York City

Sunday October 18 was the fifth annual Times Square Dog Day in New York City. We are all familiar with Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in NYC, but Dog Day?

I found out about this on Yahoo’s ever so engaging homepage.

Well, I’m sure that most of you are familiar with regular pet adoption fairs, right? There’s usually some tents or balloons if anything and dogs/cats hoping to find their new homes.

Dog Day in Times Square is just a more eccentric, Halloweenish version of these adoption fairs. Dogs get dressed up in their wonderful little costumes  to raise awareness so that these other dogs can get adopted. How cute is that!

A big thank you to  all the creative folks who come up with far out canine costume ideas like hotdogs, dinosaurs, Obi-Wan Kanobe and Spiderman.

This image is courtesy of nydailynews.com

According to the caption of this image (from 2008) these dogs are Bebe and Chico.  I think this is the same Bebe and Chico that I wrote my first Dogasaur blog post on!

Their mom is Nikki, whose blog is http://www.obsessivechihuahuadisorder.com

I will ask her and find out for sure.

But this week, I wrote another blog for Dogasaur about the 2009 Times Square Dog Day in New York City. I do hope that a lot of dogs found homes through this event. To see my post, click here.

Going from “Frumpy” to “Knock Out”

Our client, Dr. Mary Lee Amerian is one of the doctors featured on the show, Ten Years Younger.  One of my favorite episodes is about Michelle. She is only 26 years old, but people thought she looked 35. She has acne scars and skin pigmentation which she was not happy with.

Dr. Amerian treated her with a glycolic acid peel, botox and juvederm.  It’s a little hard to say how much of Michelle’s transformation was due to this dermatological treatment, since she obviously had her hair and makeup done.

But the results are very natural.  And this really shows how these minimally invasive procedures can produce very positive outcomes.

Most of us think of overprocessed, overdone flamboyant women when we hear about these treatments.  But Michelle illustrates an average person who had these procedures done as subtle  and effective enhancements.

Getting these treatments done starting at an early age prevents the need for drastic procedures in later years.

If you are interested in seeing this clip, you can watch it here

Changing Your Opinion of Facelifts

Before I saw this video of Dr. Rahimi and his patented Tuliplift, this is what I thought of facelifts in general.

• Make people look fake & artificial, not to mention a bit shiny
• Chosen by the stereotypical, aging  socialite type

To me, the obvious answer to a face lift was a flat no.

But Dr. Rahimi has developed the Tuliplift procedure  that has actually made me think twice about my original opinion.

The Tuliplift is a mini face lift. This treatment addresses not only the face, but also the sagging skin in the jowl and neck area. Overall,  the results seem to be much better than a traditional face lift.

There is a logical reason for this.  Dr. Rahimi pulls three flaps of skin on both sides of the face along three different directions.

• horizontal
• downwards along the jaw area
• and upwards where the eye level is

The results are quite natural. Also whenever I look at videos of Dr. Rahimi’s patients, I’ve realized that they are just regular women who simply want to look younger. The woman in this video just wants to look younger for her kids.

This procedure is done with local anesthesia so that you are able to speak afterwards.  And the recovery time is only 7-10 days.

Illeana Stole Cookies.Is this Unacceptable?

In episode 3 of Easy to Assemble, Illeana Douglas was caught stealing cookies from the IKEA showroom. She was just hungry and decided to munch on some KEX (Swedish chocolate wafer). Unfortunately she was caught.

Big deal, right? Well think of it this way. If you had a job at Noah’s Bagels you probably wouldn’t just grab a bagel and  start eating it, just because you were hungry

So in a way Illeana should not have eaten those cookies! Maybe it is because she is an actress. They say that actresses do have a strong sense of entitlement.

If  it were up to the show’s producers, Illeana may have just lost her chance to be Co-Worker of the Year.  But luckily the viewing audience can vote for her.

So if you think she should still be Co-Worker of the Year and everyone else is just being anal, you can vote for her here. Keep in mind that the rest of the story line has not been produced yet!

http://www.easytoassemble.com

Illeana Douglas in Grace of My Heart (1996)

On Facebook, I noticed that someone started a fan group for Illeana Douglas. The person who created it said that membership for this group was growing at an exponential rate.  He said this shows that Illeana is a “force to be reckoned with even though nobody knows who she is.”

I realize that Illeana has played numerous roles throughout her career. And I often find comments of people who think that she is a wonderful, but underrated actress.

I’m the kind of person who loves finding cool things that most people don’t really know of.  You would think that if something is genuinely cool, the majority of people in this world would know about it.

But maybe this is not always the case.  I found the trailer for Grace of My Heart (1996), which starred Illeana Douglas. It was directed by Martin Scorsese on a very small budget of $5 million dollars.  It looks like a really good film.  And after watching the trailer, I can genuinely say that I am interested in seeing the movie.  To tell you the truth, it’s been a long time since I made a statement like that!



I’m not the only one who feels this way. On the IMDB page for this movie, porterkelly (user) wrote:

I rented this movie a couple years ago because I like Illeana Douglas. I ended up buying 20 copies of it to give to friends as gifts for Christmas that year. The story is compelling, the cast is amazing…I can’t believe more people don’t know about this movie. The original music is great, too. The film moves seamlessly from the fifties through the seventies due in part to the talent of the actors, but also due to the impressive costume and makeup work and the wonderful original music written for each period. Y’know how people often say of good movies, “You’ll laugh/You’ll cry”? Well this is one of those.

A lot of people are just interested in watching the latest movies. But Grace of My Heart seems like it would gain immense popularity at present. There a renewed interest in all things vintage and nostalgic from eras past. But most of all, it seems to have been done very well. So there is very little excuse for people to not like it.

The Beauty of Web Entertainment

They say that TV is dead. Webisodes are in.  Should we be happy? I think so.

The internet has given immense power to individuals who don’t have a lot of resources. Many of these people have talent. And thus the web serves as a great medium to share their creativity with the world.

This is pretty cool for the rest of us. Through the internet, we have fresh, original and innovative entertainment right at our fingertips.

You have to keep in mind that television networks and big entertainment companies will invest money into projects that will reap profits.  Many times, they will consider what has done well in the past. And this is why there are  shows, movies etc. that are similar to what has already been done.

Examples

• The success of Twilight has yielded a new vampire show, The Vampire Diaries
• The Golden Compass was dubbed “the new Lord of the Rings”
• The glory of  80s nostalgia like GI Joe, Transformers, Menudo, Land of the Lost etc.  has experienced recent reincarnations of these pop culture icons.

Sometimes these comparative projects are cool. And sometimes they seem really contrived. But on the level of numbers, logic and projections, they make sense for producers.

I was really surprised that IKEA sponsored the Easy to Assemble series. It’s quite original and unlike anything that has been done before.  But as I had mentioned in my other post, IKEA is successful because they do so much that is outside the box.

After watching Easy to Assemble and its spinoff,  Sparhussen I discovered  some hot spots for discovering other cool web shows.

• Tubefilter
• Funnyordie.com
• Mydamnchannel
• Koldcast
• Offbeatenough.com
• Zug.com
• Eguiders
• Tilzy
• Webcastr
• Mishmashmag.com
• Blissfulidiots
• Webseriesmagazine.com
• Failblog.org
• Strike.tv
• Crackle.com
• Newteevee

So little time, but so much to see! Hooray for new frontiers! With that said, here is a funny clip of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

A Big Kudos to IKEA

Whether or not you like the look of IKEA furniture,  we can’t deny that it is probably one of the best brands in the land of consumerism. This is not an over exaggeration.

The people behind IKEA will do just about anything to make their market happy.

1. Their furniture is clean, stylish and affordable.

2. When you take it home, it is easy to assemble.

3. When you take your little ones to IKEA, they have a place to play and have a blast while mommy and daddy shop

4. Trips to IKEA entail Swedish meatballs

5. They make hilarious commercials

6. Their catalogs have the same freshness and appeal of fun magazines. We love flipping through the colorful glossy pages, which inspire us to create and evolve our own living spaces.

7. They have their own creative comedy web series called Easy to Assemble

IKEA has become a brand that has something for pretty much anyone.  Within the list above, it’s pretty darn near impossible to not be able to find something that you like.  Such is the genius of IKEA.

Keanu Reeves on Sparhussen

Sparhussen is the Swedish band behind the music of the Easy to Assemble series. Bah-ba-Bah-BAaa. Well now they have their very own spin off show. Keanu Reeves plays their producer. Normally we think that extremely funny means it has to be in your face and LOUD: circus clowns, Tom and Jerry, Will Ferrel etc.

The genius of this show is that it is the complete opposite. Not sure why Keanu is making those funny noises at the end of this trailer. But nonetheless, it is hilarious!

Can’t wait for the episodes to start airing October 8.

Justine Bateman-Where Is She Now?

Justine Bateman is probably best known for her role as Mallory Keaton on Family Ties.  She was a style icon then. And because the fashion of the 80′s is back, she is a style icon now. Check this out.  It’s called the Mallory Keaton sweater.

Paired with the Mallory Keaton clutch, you’ve got yourself one hot look!

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Aside from her character as Mallory Keaton on Family Ties, she has also made other television appearances such as

• Men Behaving Badly
• Rugrats
• Arrested Development
• Lois and Clark- The New Adventures of Superman
• Men In Trees
• Desperate Housewives
• Californication

You can read more about her film credits on her wiki page.

So what is she doing now? Why she plays herself on a new web series called Easy To Assemble.