Ecole Superieure de Masseurs-Kinésithérapeutes et Pedicures
17 Rue de Liège, 75009
Tel: 4674 6287
http://ecoledanhierdekinesitherapie.fr
Métro: Liège
Will you get a FREE pedicure in Paris?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Haute Paris Beauty Tip!
Ecole Superieure de Masseurs-Kinésithérapeutes et Pedicures
17 Rue de Liège, 75009
Tel: 4674 6287
http://ecoledanhierdekinesitherapie.fr
Métro: Liège
Will you get a FREE pedicure in Paris?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Haute Stuff for Your Travel Bag!
June Jacobs Face and Body Travel Kits
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I love June Jacobs spa inspired face and body products in travel friendly sizes. It’s perfect for travelistas who love fashionable cases for their must-have beauty and spa products on the go!
All of the products included in these beautiful kits are paraben and preservative free and packaged within a deluxe, zip around leather pouch that’s convenient for storing all of your travel essentials. The luxurious, travel-sized products included in the Face Travel Kit and Body Travel Kit cover everything you need to cleanse, exfoliate, treat and moisture your face, body and hair while you’re away.
Price: Face Travel Kit ($100), Body Travel Kit ($95), Available at www.junejacobs.com and luxury spas worldwide.
Biolage Spring Renewal Gift Sets
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You can never go wrong with Biolage’s limited-edition spring gift sets for your hair. Available in hydrathérapie, colorcarethérapie, rejuvathérapie, fortethérapie or colorcarethérapie, the sets include limited-edition size shampoo (10 oz.), conditioner (5 oz.) and free travel size Biolage Body Care products including hand cream and body wash (1 oz. each). And there’s more… the Body Care gift set is also available with a body balm, body wash and hand cream.
Price: $20, Available in fine salons only; for a salon locator please visit www.matrix.com
Concentrated Lash Boosting Serum and Double Extend Lash Boosting Mascara
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I love great looking lashes that are all mine. So I started testing the Concentrated Lash Boosting Serum and Double Extend Lash Boosting Mascara to boost the appearance of my lashes. The formula is designed to condition and protect lashes to make them look thicker. I particularly like the idea that it also helps to keep lashes from falling out. Stay tuned for my results!
What do you think about these products?
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All of the products included in these beautiful kits are paraben and preservative free and packaged within a deluxe, zip around leather pouch that’s convenient for storing all of your travel essentials. The luxurious, travel-sized products included in the Face Travel Kit and Body Travel Kit cover everything you need to cleanse, exfoliate, treat and moisture your face, body and hair while you’re away.
Price: Face Travel Kit ($100), Body Travel Kit ($95), Available at www.junejacobs.com and luxury spas worldwide.
Biolage Spring Renewal Gift Sets
.jpg)
Price: $20, Available in fine salons only; for a salon locator please visit www.matrix.com
Concentrated Lash Boosting Serum and Double Extend Lash Boosting Mascara
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What do you think about these products?
Monday, May 10, 2010
H&H Part 21 - Hollywood Donuts
Back online again.
As usual, I end up at a farewell party at the bar for Dan Cooper, the production designer who's off to do two western movies, and he's not all that unhappy to be leaving our troubled show. He leaves Lauren in charge and when I act surprised she glares at me, I realize that the woman doing a man's job issue has been misunderstood and I attempt an awkward back step. I've never thought that and have always respected women filmmakers and in some instances mentored them.
But later, Lauren and her sister Marilyn pass me little notes, letters from Finbar the stalker that they've written, laughing as I read them. They sit across from each other between men who do their best to impress the two sisters. For awhile I watch the dance that occurs between them and the men, and I realize I'm in writer mode now, studying people and what they do. They laugh at jokes, smile, nod and generally capture the hearts.
For me it's welcomed, not having to deal with Kaplan and Jonathan and Mahon and Hilda the German money.
Erica is there, getting attention from the men that are too far from the sisters. Raoul, one of the actors shouts at me to write a scene for him so I grab crayon and paper on the table and write a simple first-grade level page of a screenplay.
Someone jokes that it's a Kaplan script who left early after giving a farewell speech to Dan's leaving. I think Kaplan knows how much he's disliked. The crayon script makes its rounds, everybody adding a line and I can't help notice how good everybody feels, made better by knowing that the show is rolling towards the last episodes and soon it will be over.
Then Erica grabs my arm and says she wants to look at the moon over the river. Now you have to remember Erica was one of my fantasy loves as a teenager and now she asks me to go and look at the moon.
Do I need to say how I feel?
Died and gone to heaven.
The moon is indeed over the valley and it's almost like a Hollywood scene. We sit on a bench and talk; the show, the mountains, Germany, the Rocky Mountains, I learn more about her life, how she as a young girl remembered powdered milk after the war ended in Germany and how some Hollywood types referred to her as a Nazi. It was a long hard road to her success and I realize she has earned it.
Then I pitch her my plan. It had come up weeks before and lurked in my mind for days now. I had the perfect business plan.
Hollywood Donuts.
I had noticed that there were no donut shops in Jackson. There was HavaJava but that was closed early. And a donut shop is different anyway. There were truckers passing through the town all night, heading for distant cities.
Erica didn't know what a donut was but influenced by the drinks she had, she came up with a name.
Hollywood Donuts.
And our slogan would be "Hollywood Donuts Are Forever".
I didn't know what it meant, but it sounded good. We now knew enough locals to be able to finance Hollywood Donuts and it would feature the Erica combo, coffee and Black Forest Cake. Not officially a donut but it would be the signature treat.
But the night is just beginning.
At 11:30 Erica wants to dance so we leave the movie scene I created in my mind and head tot the often wild hotel bar downtown. There she succeeds in dragging me onto the dance floor and proceeds to show her stuff. For me, it's totally embarrassing and I do everything I try to get off the floor. She ends the dance by jumping on me and the crowd roars.
What happens next that is both scary and amazing.
I join Gunther, a German actor who was flown here to play the part of the dying man in the script I wrote. Gunther and I get along well and he says, of Erica; "she has a lot of energy".
Then I notice that three mountain types approach us. One is bearded, heavy set, no necks and obviously tough. His two buddies are pretty much the same, less the beards. Beard stands about a foot in front of me and says...
"So that's the movie star."
I nod. Then he throws his cigarette, it hits my chest and bounces off. Gunther steps closer to me. Beard then says "you movie people, you really think you're something". I say "not really". He stares blankly at me.
"They don't like Germans", Gunther says and I add, "And they don't like me." I lean into Gunther and say that if they swing at us we have to hit the one closest to us and then head for the door. It's suddenly become a western cowboy showdown. And Gunther and I are really not fighters.
The big guys move in and just as they step ahead... Erica literally flows in between us and the mountain men and says something that sounds like "you look very strong" at Beard who stops, momentarily dazed. They are completely stunned, and I'm not sure if it was her sudden appearance, or them realizing they are looking face-to-face with a real movie star, but she has them in her hands...
... at least for a few more seconds.
In which she grabs my hand, twirls like a ballerina and drags Gunther and I away as smooth as a good bourbon. The next thing we know, we're outside. Once we get into my SUV and drive away, all three of us laugh. Safe and sound, thanks to a movie star.
Erica nods, says "sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't".
(Wed: My episode is filmed)
As usual, I end up at a farewell party at the bar for Dan Cooper, the production designer who's off to do two western movies, and he's not all that unhappy to be leaving our troubled show. He leaves Lauren in charge and when I act surprised she glares at me, I realize that the woman doing a man's job issue has been misunderstood and I attempt an awkward back step. I've never thought that and have always respected women filmmakers and in some instances mentored them.
But later, Lauren and her sister Marilyn pass me little notes, letters from Finbar the stalker that they've written, laughing as I read them. They sit across from each other between men who do their best to impress the two sisters. For awhile I watch the dance that occurs between them and the men, and I realize I'm in writer mode now, studying people and what they do. They laugh at jokes, smile, nod and generally capture the hearts.
For me it's welcomed, not having to deal with Kaplan and Jonathan and Mahon and Hilda the German money.
Erica is there, getting attention from the men that are too far from the sisters. Raoul, one of the actors shouts at me to write a scene for him so I grab crayon and paper on the table and write a simple first-grade level page of a screenplay.
Someone jokes that it's a Kaplan script who left early after giving a farewell speech to Dan's leaving. I think Kaplan knows how much he's disliked. The crayon script makes its rounds, everybody adding a line and I can't help notice how good everybody feels, made better by knowing that the show is rolling towards the last episodes and soon it will be over.
Then Erica grabs my arm and says she wants to look at the moon over the river. Now you have to remember Erica was one of my fantasy loves as a teenager and now she asks me to go and look at the moon.
Do I need to say how I feel?
Died and gone to heaven.
The moon is indeed over the valley and it's almost like a Hollywood scene. We sit on a bench and talk; the show, the mountains, Germany, the Rocky Mountains, I learn more about her life, how she as a young girl remembered powdered milk after the war ended in Germany and how some Hollywood types referred to her as a Nazi. It was a long hard road to her success and I realize she has earned it.
Then I pitch her my plan. It had come up weeks before and lurked in my mind for days now. I had the perfect business plan.
Hollywood Donuts.
I had noticed that there were no donut shops in Jackson. There was HavaJava but that was closed early. And a donut shop is different anyway. There were truckers passing through the town all night, heading for distant cities.
Erica didn't know what a donut was but influenced by the drinks she had, she came up with a name.
Hollywood Donuts.
And our slogan would be "Hollywood Donuts Are Forever".
I didn't know what it meant, but it sounded good. We now knew enough locals to be able to finance Hollywood Donuts and it would feature the Erica combo, coffee and Black Forest Cake. Not officially a donut but it would be the signature treat.
But the night is just beginning.
At 11:30 Erica wants to dance so we leave the movie scene I created in my mind and head tot the often wild hotel bar downtown. There she succeeds in dragging me onto the dance floor and proceeds to show her stuff. For me, it's totally embarrassing and I do everything I try to get off the floor. She ends the dance by jumping on me and the crowd roars.
What happens next that is both scary and amazing.
I join Gunther, a German actor who was flown here to play the part of the dying man in the script I wrote. Gunther and I get along well and he says, of Erica; "she has a lot of energy".
Then I notice that three mountain types approach us. One is bearded, heavy set, no necks and obviously tough. His two buddies are pretty much the same, less the beards. Beard stands about a foot in front of me and says...
"So that's the movie star."
I nod. Then he throws his cigarette, it hits my chest and bounces off. Gunther steps closer to me. Beard then says "you movie people, you really think you're something". I say "not really". He stares blankly at me.
"They don't like Germans", Gunther says and I add, "And they don't like me." I lean into Gunther and say that if they swing at us we have to hit the one closest to us and then head for the door. It's suddenly become a western cowboy showdown. And Gunther and I are really not fighters.
The big guys move in and just as they step ahead... Erica literally flows in between us and the mountain men and says something that sounds like "you look very strong" at Beard who stops, momentarily dazed. They are completely stunned, and I'm not sure if it was her sudden appearance, or them realizing they are looking face-to-face with a real movie star, but she has them in her hands...
... at least for a few more seconds.
In which she grabs my hand, twirls like a ballerina and drags Gunther and I away as smooth as a good bourbon. The next thing we know, we're outside. Once we get into my SUV and drive away, all three of us laugh. Safe and sound, thanks to a movie star.
Erica nods, says "sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't".
(Wed: My episode is filmed)
Friday, May 7, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Heaven & Hell part 20: Bad to worse
Summer is now just around the corner, more tourists, less parkas. In the writer's room we get a call from the network in the east that the first episode does not look good. Everything I suspected (or knew) was correct. The first few scripts were fixed as much as possible but you can't make a good script out of a bad one. No matter how hard you try.
You can make it better, but not much. At least it wasn't mine. But we also have someone new to deal with.
Hilda.
Hilda is representing the German partners in this series, that's why we have Erica here and also a few other German actors. All of whom are very good and easy to work with.
Hilda is a different story.
True to stereotype, Hilda is a tough, stocky woman who orders rather than asks or requests. She is Littman's opposite and is here to exercise power for the European partner. I am introduced and then leave for lunch.
On the way to the Java place that Louise runs, I meet Mindy, the young actress who's a regular on the show. While no Meryl Streep, she does okay for the role. She walks up to me, holding a script, which, as it turns out was my episode, the one that I wrote about the German tourist who was dying and came to the mountains to end his life.
There are two subplots; one deals with Mindy's romantic dinner with the police chief and another subplot involving a stripper, which Kaplan insisted I put into the story against my objections.
Mindy had read the script and was all smiles. Then she gave me probably one of the best compliments I've ever had on a script.
"It's so Jim."
That was all. But coming from her it made me feel that my efforts to write good, solid drama and some comedy was working. And no matter what anyone else said, it didn't really matter.
And others would say not so kind things.
Hilda questioned the entire series, she wants more "family entertainment." Then she adds "why do all the characters have so many problems, why can't they just be happy and ride on horses and lets not have so many people in bed, my goodness (yes she did say that).
I do agree with the bed-hopping the characters do, not because it's racy, but because it's poorly done. Like most of the scripts we're forced to redo. It's clear now that Rino and I are the best writers here. Jonathan, who rarely leaves his condo can do good work, but he seems disillusioned now. And Kaplan, who initiated the sexy scenes, now looks uncomfortable.
Then we get to my script. The one Mindy likes and the other actors like.
"Ah, yes, Mark's (Littman the network guy) favorite script."
Kaplan bites his lip and Jonathan looks angry. But before they can say anything Hilda launches into my script full ahead. She rips almost every scene saying she wants happier characters.
And she doesn't like the stripper story, which I didn't like either. Kaplan forced it on me. But to Hilda it's even worse as she says about the stripper; "It's disgustiing, I mean, I know they have to feed their children but let's cut most of that character out."
Well at least she didn't want us to kill the stripper off.
Kaplan turns traitor again and goes along with Hilda's comments, which Rino and I know are mostly incompetent and useless. They both insist I make some major changes and I have 24 hours to do it as the episode begins shooting in one day.
This has put me between four sides; Kaplan, Hilda, Jonathan and Littman a thousand miles away.
Ah, the writer's life.
(Fri: Hollywood Donuts)
You can make it better, but not much. At least it wasn't mine. But we also have someone new to deal with.
Hilda.
Hilda is representing the German partners in this series, that's why we have Erica here and also a few other German actors. All of whom are very good and easy to work with.
Hilda is a different story.
True to stereotype, Hilda is a tough, stocky woman who orders rather than asks or requests. She is Littman's opposite and is here to exercise power for the European partner. I am introduced and then leave for lunch.
On the way to the Java place that Louise runs, I meet Mindy, the young actress who's a regular on the show. While no Meryl Streep, she does okay for the role. She walks up to me, holding a script, which, as it turns out was my episode, the one that I wrote about the German tourist who was dying and came to the mountains to end his life.
There are two subplots; one deals with Mindy's romantic dinner with the police chief and another subplot involving a stripper, which Kaplan insisted I put into the story against my objections.
Mindy had read the script and was all smiles. Then she gave me probably one of the best compliments I've ever had on a script.
"It's so Jim."
That was all. But coming from her it made me feel that my efforts to write good, solid drama and some comedy was working. And no matter what anyone else said, it didn't really matter.
And others would say not so kind things.
Hilda questioned the entire series, she wants more "family entertainment." Then she adds "why do all the characters have so many problems, why can't they just be happy and ride on horses and lets not have so many people in bed, my goodness (yes she did say that).
I do agree with the bed-hopping the characters do, not because it's racy, but because it's poorly done. Like most of the scripts we're forced to redo. It's clear now that Rino and I are the best writers here. Jonathan, who rarely leaves his condo can do good work, but he seems disillusioned now. And Kaplan, who initiated the sexy scenes, now looks uncomfortable.
Then we get to my script. The one Mindy likes and the other actors like.
"Ah, yes, Mark's (Littman the network guy) favorite script."
Kaplan bites his lip and Jonathan looks angry. But before they can say anything Hilda launches into my script full ahead. She rips almost every scene saying she wants happier characters.
And she doesn't like the stripper story, which I didn't like either. Kaplan forced it on me. But to Hilda it's even worse as she says about the stripper; "It's disgustiing, I mean, I know they have to feed their children but let's cut most of that character out."
Well at least she didn't want us to kill the stripper off.
Kaplan turns traitor again and goes along with Hilda's comments, which Rino and I know are mostly incompetent and useless. They both insist I make some major changes and I have 24 hours to do it as the episode begins shooting in one day.
This has put me between four sides; Kaplan, Hilda, Jonathan and Littman a thousand miles away.
Ah, the writer's life.
(Fri: Hollywood Donuts)
Monday, May 3, 2010
Secret Lives of Jackson
Okay, so I'm being a little dramatic but nothing much in the writing and fighting department so I'm going to catch up on the local gossip in Jackson.
I've mentioned Louise, the coffee house owner previously. Louise had invited me to a house party, one of 2 of our film crew to be invited, so I felt obligated to go. She has one of those houses built in the 1940's and now made more open and modern. The crowd is locals, mostly store owners like her and a few others.
Louise slides through the large living room, making sure everyone is happy. I sit at a wet bar across from a man who is mostly silent. Louise hugs me, gives me a drink and the man glares at me. Ray, the location manager of the series and the other one invited, tells me that the staring man is Louise's ex-husband, another Greek restaurant owner.
It turns out this is/was his house and Louise got it as a settlement. And to make it more interesting, Ray thinks Louise is flirting with me to push her ex's buttons. Not really what I need at this point, being worried enough about my stalker and even my job.
Ray adds that Louise has had plenty of affairs in town, which she later confirms, saying "yeah, they like to talk about me in town". I stay for another hour and then leave, walking back to my hotel. Spring is here now and the evenings are cool but bearable without a parka.
At the hotel the night clerk talks to me a little and I mention Ari the Greek. The night clerk is a tall, gangly man who has dark eyes that seem to be watching you. He says he knows lots about Ari and the other Greeks in town and tells me that Ari's restaurants have burned down three times under mysterious circumstances and that everyone in town knows and someday the "authorities" will know.
I see myself entering conspiracy world so I attempt to leave when night clerk asks if I'd like to see the video tapes he has of the fires. I politely decline, and go to my room. I hear the night clerk laughing and talking to himself. I make sure my door is double locked.
A few days later I learn that the night clerk was fired from Ari's restaurant and ordered by the court to keep away from the place. I also learn that Ari beat his wife some time ago and spent some time in jail.
Then we learn that Ari recently fired a waitress we all liked because she refused to serve liquor to customers after hours, which would be illegal. The TV crew is quite upset and draft a letter to Ari saying we won't frequent his place unless she's hired back.
The town is full of characters; one of them, Big Ed writes the horoscope for a local free paper and admits he makes them up. He says he even created a new sign, Saturn, whose predictions are always good. "Makes people happier," he adds.
Many of us find a new bar after the waitress firing incident and Ari's place is less busy, although now more tourists are beginning to come back to Jackson after the long, hard winter.
(Wed: The first completed episode is awful)
I've mentioned Louise, the coffee house owner previously. Louise had invited me to a house party, one of 2 of our film crew to be invited, so I felt obligated to go. She has one of those houses built in the 1940's and now made more open and modern. The crowd is locals, mostly store owners like her and a few others.
Louise slides through the large living room, making sure everyone is happy. I sit at a wet bar across from a man who is mostly silent. Louise hugs me, gives me a drink and the man glares at me. Ray, the location manager of the series and the other one invited, tells me that the staring man is Louise's ex-husband, another Greek restaurant owner.
It turns out this is/was his house and Louise got it as a settlement. And to make it more interesting, Ray thinks Louise is flirting with me to push her ex's buttons. Not really what I need at this point, being worried enough about my stalker and even my job.
Ray adds that Louise has had plenty of affairs in town, which she later confirms, saying "yeah, they like to talk about me in town". I stay for another hour and then leave, walking back to my hotel. Spring is here now and the evenings are cool but bearable without a parka.
At the hotel the night clerk talks to me a little and I mention Ari the Greek. The night clerk is a tall, gangly man who has dark eyes that seem to be watching you. He says he knows lots about Ari and the other Greeks in town and tells me that Ari's restaurants have burned down three times under mysterious circumstances and that everyone in town knows and someday the "authorities" will know.
I see myself entering conspiracy world so I attempt to leave when night clerk asks if I'd like to see the video tapes he has of the fires. I politely decline, and go to my room. I hear the night clerk laughing and talking to himself. I make sure my door is double locked.
A few days later I learn that the night clerk was fired from Ari's restaurant and ordered by the court to keep away from the place. I also learn that Ari beat his wife some time ago and spent some time in jail.
Then we learn that Ari recently fired a waitress we all liked because she refused to serve liquor to customers after hours, which would be illegal. The TV crew is quite upset and draft a letter to Ari saying we won't frequent his place unless she's hired back.
The town is full of characters; one of them, Big Ed writes the horoscope for a local free paper and admits he makes them up. He says he even created a new sign, Saturn, whose predictions are always good. "Makes people happier," he adds.
Many of us find a new bar after the waitress firing incident and Ari's place is less busy, although now more tourists are beginning to come back to Jackson after the long, hard winter.
(Wed: The first completed episode is awful)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Haute Summer Travel Hair!
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I visited Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Spa in Chicago where hair stylist Charles Campbell counseled me on the pros and cons of the treatment. After determining that my hair was chemical-free, he agreed the Coppola Keratin Treatment was safe to tame my unruly curls.
“If you’re considering the keratin treatment, you must consult a professional to get the facts before you move forward with the therapy,” advises Campbell. Although, many professionals agree the keratin treatment can be used over chemically treated hair, it’s all about the individual’s hair type.
There are many versions of the keratin treatment… Coppola and Global Keratin are two of the most popular. Both smooth and straighten hair by infusing natural keratin deep into the hair cuticle, eliminating up to 95% of frizz and curl, leaving the hair smooth, shiny and luxurious.
Once the treatment is applied to the hair, a flat iron heated to 430-450 degrees seals the keratin product. Once bonded to the hair, the keratin promotes healing and blocks the effects of humidity leaving the hair silky and straight.
Although keratin treatments in professional salons are relatively safe… many other types contain harmful chemicals like formaldehyde, a known carcinogen that’s not safe to inhale. Neither the Coppola nor Global Keratin Treatments contain harmful chemicals as stated by the brands. Still, others argue the chemical straightening process is not healthy for your hair and scalp. But so far it’s been three weeks and I have not experienced any problems.
The treatment lasts for about three to five months depending on the hair type and after-care maintenance. Once you get the treatment you cannot get the hair wet for 72 hours. You also have to abstain from pulling the hair back or clipping it for three days. Further, you can only use shampoo and conditioner that’s free of sodium chloride and sulfate or else you run the risk of washing the treatment out.
After two weeks, I tested my hair and spent the weekend in 80 degree heat at Walt Disney World in Florida. My hair held up and not a frizzy strand in sight! I love the fact that my hair is easier to manage when I wash and style it at home. My only issue, my hair is a little too straight so I have to curl it to add volume and bounce.
The Coppola Keratin Treatment starts at $350.00 (prices vary depending on length of hair) at Elizabeth Arden Spa in Chicago.
Haute Tip: Keratin Treatment after-care… I love The Global Keratin's Juvexin moisturizing shampoo and conditioner containing organic, bioactive keratin. It keeps my hair haute!
Will you try the keratin treatment this summer?
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