Browsing Tag

New York

Gilmore Girls Cast Meet & Greets

To kickstart this summer break, I returned to New York looking forward to seeing a couple more of my favourite celebrities: author Jennifer Weiner (In Her Shoes, Good in Bed) and actress Lauren Graham (Parenthood).

Lauren Graham

Jennifer Weiner

Though my chats with the famous women were short, the trip was a great way to celebrate graduating from Western! Between shopping at Uniqlo and touring the Big Apple Sex and the City style with On Location tours, I started liking the city much more. Too bad we weren’t one of the lucky groups to run into Sarah Jessica Parker in her ‘hood. Regardless, I’ll definitely consider buying another tour from them, especially because they just launched a new TMZ-themed itinerary – my kind of vacation activity!

HBO

Since then, I’ve been organizing everything I moved home from London and waiting until I could attend another celebrity meet and greet during the Victoria Day long weekend. To date, I’ve met the actors who play Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, watched Jared Paledecki from afar at a Live @ Much event and now I can finally say I’ve met Rory’s dad too! David Sutcliffe, who once played Christopher, now stars in CBC’s Cracked, for which he made the transition from rom-com actor to a stern cop.

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98 Degrees is Back!

 

Image Source: MTV

Image Source: MTV

Millennials, rejoice: brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, as well as Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons from 98 Degrees are making a comeback!

During their spring/summer tour, the boy band will be joined by New Kids on the Block and Boys II Men. With 12 musicians scheduled to perform, they’ve named the tour The Package, and what a good choice! Looks like it’s time to create another 90s playlist and play it on repeat.

According to Ticketmaster, seats are selling fast for the following Canadian tour dates:

June 4 – Ottawa: Scotiabank Place

June 6 – Montreal: Bell Centre

June 7 – Toronto: Air Canada Centre

July 10 – Vancouver: Rogers Arena

July 28 – Toronto: Air Canada Centre

If you live in Toronto and can’t get tickets to see them at the ACC, perhaps you should make a road trip to Buffalo! They’re playing at the First Niagara Center on August 2, conveniently on a Friday night – perfect for a fun-filled weekend of live music and shopping.

98 Degrees’ first album in over a decade will be released on May 7 – get excited for 2.0!

In the meantime, let’s go back to 2000:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYb2IdrN-ns&feature=share&list=UUi6lEAeZjgyVkg7XgFUZfUg’]

Urban Outfitters’ Grand Opening in London

After Blockbuster closed its doors, Urban Outfitters seized the opportunity to open its first London, Ontario location. Transforming the former video rental store into an urban shopping paradise required over eight months of construction followed by final touches done by the chain’s visual display team.

Their extensive preparations certainly paid off and district manager Sarah Leising is more than pleased with how the 8,000 square foot space looks now. Eager to see London’s students visit and shop with friends and family, she’s confident that the store’s uniquely “eccentric” environment will make it a hot spot on Richmond Row.

Although Urban Outfitters has grown to become an international chain, Sarah emphasized that they make an ongoing effort to be “culturally relevant,” such as through collaborations with local designers and organizations.

To connect with London’s music lovers, the store is hosting a grand opening party on Thursday February 7. The Elwins, Eternal Summers and Richie Blackz will perform on the second level from 6-8 PM. Get there early!

Sales associate and MIT classmate Stephanie Edwards is excited to work there, knowing that she can be herself and have fun on the job. Her co-worker Monique told me she’s equally jazzed about her part-time job because she likes the store’s alternative vibe and the flexible dress code for employees.

I’ve shopped at Urban Outfitters in Washington, Las Vegas, New York, Montreal and Toronto, so I can attest that Urban Outfitters has a great selection and I’m excited to monitor new arrivals at their London store.

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Eat, Read and Discuss: Amor Towles Tweet Up

As I’ve said before, what’s a Toronto visit without an Indigo event? This time my trip home coincided with another Indigo tweet up at the classy downtown French restaurant Biff’s Bistro. I was one of four winners selected to have dinner with the bestselling author Amor Towles, who was in town for the International Festival of Authors.

Amor Towles’ debut novel Rules of Civility (2011) has been well received by critics whose praise matches my impression of him. Rules of Civility‘s 1930s New York setting led the tweet up attendees to discuss history, including commentary about how students learn about previous decades through textbook summaries, often leading us to generalize how people lived in the past.

Grey nails for dinner in Biff’s Grey Room

The tweet up was organized by Indigo’s events team and Penguin Group (Canada), Amor’s publisher. Amor sat in the middle of the table, making it easier for everyone to ask him questions. Amor primarily works in investments in New York, so his stories about writing the manuscript and approving the final content while juggling a full-time job on Wall Street was interesting to hear about.

Although the earlier topics of conversation were directly linked to books, such as Kobos, reviews and book clubs, I enjoyed when the discussion shifted to marketing. It was nice to talk about word of mouth marketing as it relates to publishing and learn about how often the avid readers at the table make decisions based on friends’ recommendations.

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Uncertainty

I re-watched Up In The Air for the first time since it inspired my debut blog post for Hot On The Street and picked up on different elements. Keeping in mind the themes of (un)happiness and uncertainty that it shares with Take This Waltz, I realized that those must be two of the defining social issues of this era.

When Up In The Air was released, America was in the middle of the recession. Now the economy is in recovery mode and people are still feeling uneasy and lonely. Magazines, movies and the like promote romance, offering tips to help you acquire it if you’re single, but ultimately leave people unsatisfied enough to make them continue subscribing and buying, hoping for that one life-changing tip.

Despite all the critics’ rave reviews, I walked out of Take This Waltz wishing that I hadn’t over-hyped it in my mind since its premiere at TIFF, which I missed because I was too busy needed to be in London for school. Then it had another special showing in New York at Tribeca Film Festival, which coincided with my first-ever trip to the Big Apple, but I couldn’t attend because it was sold out. It wasn’t a matter of being in the same place at the wrong time; sometimes there are circumstances beyond your control. Anyway, I was frustrated because I had such high expectations for a single film, and then walked out feeling disappointed.

Did I laugh when Lena Dunham tweeted praise for Take This Waltz? Absolutely. I tweeted her right back, with my fingers crossed that she would respond. She’s the girl who a lot of my peers look up to, waiting for her to put on HBO exactly what’s on their minds, yet they’re shy about expressing out loud. Part of the reason I’m drawn to her is that she’s got spunk. She doesn’t pretend like she rolls out of bed looking like a Hollywood diva; she allows herself to be seen by millions with somewhat messy hair and she just appears to be someone who goes with the flow. But as seen on TV with her character Hannah, we all have bad days. Girls feel miserable when they don’t have their periods. Just ask Dove. Those are the times when companionship matters most.

It’s not just about having someone to lean on when you get fired. People sweat the small stuff too – it happens. That’s when you need to recruit your personal support team – family, friends, professional mentors, even trustworthy acquaintances who may not call you a ‘friend’ per se, but you think the world of and respect.

If you have time to casually surf the web and read my blog right now, take a few extra minutes to compile a list of people to whom you can turn when times are rough and you can’t sleep peacefully anymore. Make the list and store it somewhere. Don’t publish it on Facebook and tag them all in it. Keep it in your nightstand drawer for easy access. If you never have to use it, consider yourself lucky.