Live Life Fully with Eyes Wide Open – by Gary Smolker

I’ve been living in a rut.

I got out of that rut on the weekend of January 13, 2017.

My Creative Weekend

During the weekend of January 13 through January 15, 2017, I discovered many treasures, including a double-Decker-merry-go-round-carousel in the Westfield Topanga Mall in front of the Target store.

My goal/project for Saturday (January 14, 2017) was to hang a plate on a wall in my kitchen.

However, I didn’t have any nails.

I decided to go get some nails at Home Depot.

In the process of going to get some nails at Home Depot, along the way, I ended up at the Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park …. where I discovered the double-Decker-merry-go-round-carousel pictured above.

Art

My housekeeper had given me a plate the day before, on Friday (January 13, 2017) early in the morning before I went to my office in Encino.

Below is a picture of the plate she gave me sitting on a granite counter-top in my kitchen.

On Saturday (January 14, 2017), I decided I would hang that plate on a wall in my kitchen.

However, I didn’t/don’t know how to hammer a nail in a wall and (at the time) I didn’t have any nails.

Luckily I know a woman (Christy Rusk) who knows how to hang a plate on a wall and how to hammer nails into a wall.

My Nine Hour Hanging A Picture on A Wall Project

It took me nine hours from the time I left my home to buy nails to when I got home, hammered nails in a kitchen wall and hung the plate.

To get my project done, I picked up Christy (a young lady who knows how to hammer nails in walls) to help me with the task at hand.

I picked up Christy at Christy’s home near the Grove in West Hollywood, at 11:15 a.m.

After picking Christy up, Christy and I meandered over to the Home Depot store in Woodland Hills, located at 7345 Variel Avenue, Woodland Hills, CA. 91367.

The Lost City of Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a lost city.

I say that because Los Angles is spread over so much territory that hardly anyone living in Los Angeles has seen (or been to) every part of it.

On our way to Home Depot, Christy and I stopped at the Westfield Topanga Mall to look for a store that would replace a dead battery in Christy’s watch or would sell Christy a new battery to replace the dead battery in Christy’s watch.

None of the jewelry stores or watch repair stores we visited in the mall would do so for a reasonable price.

That is how we ended up in the Target store at the Westfield Topanga Mall, where I discovered a most amazing book.

The Most Amazing Book

See photograph below.

I didn’t know that book existed.

I found it by “chance” in a Target Store while looking for a new watch battery with Christy.

Fashion As Fine Art

Before Christy and I got to the Target Store, Christy and I meandered through the Nordstrom in the Westfield Topanga Shopping Mall.

While meandering, we walked into the “Chanel Store” and the “Gucci Store” located in the Nordstrom Department Store.

What an eye opening experience that was.

Chanel

Below is a picture I took of a “Clutch” I saw in the Chanel Store.

That clutch is a recycled used cigar box.

It sells for $14,000.00.

Gucci

I also saw amazing purses and clutches at the Gucci store.

See photograph below of a $2,800.00 clutch.

Look at the attention to detail.

Isn’t the attention to detail amazing?

I think so.

Next, I looked at and took a photograph in the Gucci store of a $3,800 Gucci Purse.

See photograph below.

I think the attention to detail in that Gucci purse and the design of that Gucci purse are amazing.

But wait, next I saw and took a picture of, another astounding and even more expensiive Gucci purse.

See picture below.

Don’t you agree that Gucci purse has priceless style, intricate stitching and fabulous design?

 

        

The sales price of that Gucci purse is $5,800.00.

Lush Cosmetics

While we were in the shopping mall, Christy wanted to purchase some soap.

She loves Lush Cosmetics Soap.

We meandered over to the Lush Cosmetics Store.

It was an amazingly creative fun experience to be in that store.

Below are three photos of  signs I saw above three of the different types of soap.

TAKE AWAY:  Signage counts.

Lush Cosmetics knows how to merchandise their products.

See photos below.

In my imagination, prompted by being in that store, I could see myself bathing by candlelight in my bath with a girl friend …. to add a sense of calm, magic and seduction to taking a bath.

I have enchanting candle holders on the side of my oversized bathtub.

The Ultimate Decadent Bathing Experience

I have a wine glass holder on the side of my bath tub.

I was missing the right kind of bubble bath.

Now, thanks to my trip on Saturday (January 14, 2017) to Lush Cosmetics store in the Westfield Topanga Shopping Mall,  I have everything I need for the ultimate decadent bathing experience except a woman to take a bath with me.

How sublime.

I am taking one tiny step at a time.

Heat Is the New Black

According to an article I recently read,

• “Hyperthermic conditioning (calculated heat exposure) can help you increase growth hormone (GH) levels and substantially improve endurance.”
• Hot baths can significantly increase GH over baseline, and have been shown to cause a massive release in prolactin, which plays a role in wound healing.
• If nothing else, they seem to dramatically decrease DOMS (delayed on-set muscle soreness).

Supporting Good Causes

While at Lush Cosmetics I purchased:

• A Twilight Bath Bomb, price $$6.95
• A Yoga Bomb Bath Bomb, price $7.95
• A Tisty Tosty Bath Bomb, price $6.75
• A Frozen Bath Bomb, price $8.95
• A Avobath Bath Bomb, price $6.75 and
• A container of Charity Pot hand and body lotion, price $7.95.

The purchase of these products supports good causes and good groups like ….  the “International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council” which provides education and resources on wildlife rehabilitation to promote conservation and welfare worldwide.

According to their literature, Lush Cosmetics funds grassroots groups working on environmental, human rights and animal protection issues.

By the Way

There are beautiful things to be seen all around us.

On Saturday (January 21, 2017) I went to Glendale with Christy Rusk to eat Dim Sum at Din Tai Fung.

While waiting to be seated we walked outside and saw a little girl who had one hand holding her mother’s hand and her other hand holding a string connected to an elephant balloon.

I also saw many young women wearing sweat shirts broadcasting the printed message: “The Future is Female.”

Copyright © 2017 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved

By the way,

• I am a fashion blogger for Dude’s Guide to Women’s Shoes.
• Check out my posts on Dude’s Guide to Women’s Shoes at http://www.dudesguidetowomensshoes.com
• I am also on Instagram.
• Check out my posts on Instagram @garyspassion

 

 

 

 

CREATING DESIRE – by Gary S. Smolker

The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival

I just returned from watching 18 films about fascinating people (in 5 days) at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Canada.

The City of Toronto is known world wide, in the movie making business, as the city that has the most film literate audience.

Most Motivating Movie I Saw at the Festival

The most motivating movie I saw at the festival was “Paris Can Wait.”

“Paris Can Wait” teaches us that even the most seductive Frenchman can not seduce a well grounded morally straight all American girl.

I say “Paris Can Wait” is the most motivating movie I saw at the festival because after seeing “Paris Can Wait” the woman I was with wanted a glass of wine and assured me that all women in the audience wanted a glass of wine also.

She told me that was the main topic of conversation in the woman’s washroom after the movie concluded.

My Scientific Experiment

At the festival I was able to test my theory that I can tell all I need to know about a woman instantaneously, in less than a minute by looking at the shoes she is wearing.

Below is my report on the experiment I carried out at the festival.

Sophistication Unplugged

Experimental Result and Conclusion

I could tell by looking at the shoes and clothes women attending the festival were wearing and the hand bag they were holding/carrying [while going to see films and standing in line to see films and in the theatres showing the films] how hip, knowledgeable, self-confident, full of self-esteem, energetic, brave, courageous, sophisticated, and full of energy they are/were and whether they welcome new adventure.

Benefit to Mankind of Discovery

COMPELLING SALES PROPOSITION – WHY YOU SHOULD CONTINUE READING

(You Need to Understand Women in Order to Know How to Please Them)

If you know how to do it,  you can tell what kind of woman a woman is in less than one minute [instantaneously] by looking at the shoes she is wearing.

For detailed information on this topic, check out my blog posts on Dudes Guide to Women’s Shoes at http://www.dudesguidetowomensshoes.com.

Theory Proven

(Summary: The Shoes A Woman Wears Is Much More Revealing than the Palm of Her Hand.)

The scholarly “in-the-field-enterprise” described below and scientific experimental data set forth in visual form below conclusively proves that the shoes a woman is wearing is much more revealing than the palms of her hands.

If a woman wears “sexy shoes”, and if the man she is with looks at her shoes, the vision of her in her shoes will close around the man looking at her shoes, that image will reach inside him, controlling his every thought as he is looking at her shoes.

The image he sees of her at that moment, in her sexy shoes, will be impossible for him to forget.

It is not complicated:

• Women know how to parameterize.
• Women know that after seeing her in her sexy shoes, a weak man might get drunk and say something poetic and romantic to her, then wake up with her besides him the next morning, with a terrible hangover, kneading his forehead and consumed with guilt because of the sweet possessive looks she is giving him.
• Women have no trouble putting any man in a box, and tying it with a ribbon and giving herself to him as a wedding gift … by wearing sexy shoes, then getting the man she is with drunk.

A BIT OF ADVICE TO MEN:  You don’t have to be a big thinker, it is a transcendent universal, the ultimate reality, beware of women wearing “sexy shoes.”

My Analysis of the Following Scientific Experimental Data

A WOMAN’S SHOES REFLECT WHETHER SHE IS HIGH ENERGY

Below is a series of pictures of the shoes worn by a woman I met Friday night (September 16, 2016)  in the waiting area for Air Canada flight AC793 to Los Angeles at the Pearson International Airport, Toronto – on way back home after I had been in Toronto for seven days.

I met her while I was waiting to board an Air Canada plane to take me back to Los Angeles from Toronto.

Can’t you tell what kind of person that woman is just by looking at the shoes she is wearing, pictured above?

I can/I could.

Coincidentally, the name of the “young woman” whose shoes are shown above is Nirvana.

I could tell instantaneously by looking at Nirvana’s gold Gucci shoes that Nirvana has money spending power; she is fashion conscious; she is a cutting edge person.

Nirvana can buy or has someone in her life who will buy her shoes that cost $500 or more; Nirvana knows what is going on in the world of fashion; Nirvana makes up her own mind; Nirvana is comfortable in her own skin, and is (a) smart, (b) fun, and (c) energetic in every sense of those three words.

In summary, by looking at the gold shoes Nirvana was wearing, I knew in less than one minute [instantaneously] that Nirvana is SMART, FUN and ENERGETIC.

After I introduced myself to Nirvana and asked for permission to take pictures of her shoes and of her to post on my blog, and after Nirvana told me it was/is okay to do so, Nirvana told me Nirvana’s hobbies are napping (two 10 minute naps a day) and dancing.

While we were waiting to catch our plane back to Los Angeles, Nirvana and I talked about how Gucci recently made a “comeback” in the world of fashion.

By the way the shoes Nirvana is wearing are Gucci shoes.

SHOES REFLECT WHETHER A WOMAN IS AN ASPIRING ACTRESS OR MODEL

Below is a series of photographs I took of a woman I saw sitting at a table at the Canteen where I was having my breakfast on morning Sunday (September 11, 2016).

Upon looking at that woman’s poise and “pose”, I immediately knew she is a woman who has great flare and great acting ability.

I immediately knew that I wanted to take a picture of her wearing her over the knee boots shown in the photographs below.

Look at the boots she is/was wearing.

Immediately after seeing her, I walked up to her to ask if I could take photographs of the books she was/is wearing.

She told me I could take a picture of her and the shoes she is/was wearing to post on my blog.

She then gave me a business card.

She did not pose for the photo shoots (the photos below) I took of her boots.

What you see in the photograph below is what I saw when I first looked at her.

She told me her name is Helena-Alexis and that she is an Actress/Model.

Her business card states:

• She (Helena-Alexis) is a two time winner of the Best Actress award of FACES MAGAZINE,
• She has twice been nominated Best Actress by BLACK CANADIAN ARTISTS, and
• She has twice been nominated Best Model by FACES MAGAZINE.

A WOMAN’S SHOES REFLECT WHETHER SHE LIKES LIVING A LIFE OF HIGH ADVENTURE ON STEROIDS

The minute I saw Robin (aka as Bronwen Hughes) come at stage at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto at 10:15 p.m. on September 15, 2016, to introduce the “World Premier” screening of her film “The Journey Is The Destination”, I knew I was about to see an exciting movie because I could tell by looking at her that she is an exciting woman.

I instantaneously recognized that Robin is an exciting woman by merely looking at Robin’s shoes as well as the rest of her ensemble.

Below are photographs I took of Robin at the Isabel Bader Theater immediately after the showing of her film “The Journey Is the Destination.”

The photographs below show what Robin looked like when Robin came on the stage at the Isabel Bader Theatre to introduce her movie.

The screenplay for “the Journey is the Destination” was written jointly by Robin with Jan Sardi.

By the way, Jan Sardi also wrote the screenplay for Shine and also wrote the screenplay for The Notebook.

Look at Robin’s outfit, in the photo below which I took of Robin while she was on the stage at the Isabel Bader Theatre.

Look at Robin’s shoes.

Look again at Robin’s shoes.

Before the screening of her film began, Robin said to the audience: “How can you be good at something you are not passionate about?

Robin said:

• It takes guts and vision to make a visionary film
• When you have a vision [of a film you want to make] you need visionaries to get on board with you to move your project/train down the track.
• You are about to see a visionary film made by a team of visionaries.
• This film is about a photojournalist [Dan Eldon] who lived the steroid version of the life I want(ed) to live.

Below is a close up photograph I took of Robin’s face.

I see determination, strength, and and will to succeed (a) radiating out from Robin’s face, (b) radiating out from Robin’s over one shoulder black blouse, (c) radiating out from Robin’s sandals/shoes, (d) radiating out from Robin’s contagious smile and (e) radiating out from Robin’s silver shorts.

Below is a picture I took of Robin sitting down at the edge of the stage while answering questions directed to her by people in the audience.

 

I could instantaneously tell, by looking at Robin, that Robin is a woman who robustly lives life.

I could instantaneously tell by looking at Robin’s shoes, silver shorts, black over the shoulder blouse, and by looking at the earnest/contagious gleam in her eyes and smile that Robin is a fiercely creative artist.

I knew nothing about Robin and had never seen Robin before I took the above photos of Robin.

Mathematical Certainty

Although I have given my analysis of the type of woman a women is by merely looking at her shoes, and although what I say in the material above sounds scientific, BEWARE I do not claim mathematical certainty.

I may have misjudged one or more of the women whose shoes I have analyzed.

Perhaps I have completely mistaken who and what kind of women those women are by merely looking at the shoes they were wearing at the time I first saw them, which was the first time I met each one of them.

Perhaps I have over-stated the power sexy shoes, and the power a woman wearing sexy shoes, can/does have over a man.

Certainly becoming “drunk”/inebriated with a man while wearing “sexy shoes” is far more than an ingenious set of tools women use for facilitating uninhibited communication.

The story told in “Paris Can Wait” demonstrates that the combination of good food and good wine are a veritable nuclear weapon.

The Most Motivating Movie I Saw at the 2016 TIFF

Watching “Paris Can Wait” made everyone hungry and crazy with desire to have a glass of wine.

“Paris Can Wait” was/is written and directed by a 78 year old beginner – Eleanor Coppola, the wife of Francis Coppola for over five decades.

It is an intoxicating tour from Cannes to Paris – heavenly vistas, art and architecture and visions of cuisine regionales to die for.

Add a seductive bon vivant to the mix who tells the woman he is with (while taking two days to drive her to Paris from Cannes – normally a two hour car drive) that all women before her had been mere souffle and she is Creme Brulee.

When I described this movie – the food and wine and scenery – to two sophisticated women I know, one replied:

“I wish we were in Toronto, with Femme Fatale on Gary’s right and me on the left and wine in-between movies.”

The other woman (Femme Fatale) replied:

“Gary the the best exotic.

“Yes we may plan that for next year.”

After watching “Paris can wait, I took the woman I was with to my favorite restaurant in Toronto, Terroni at 57 Adelaide St. E., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she and I had a glass of wine before dinner, she had Amatrice as her entree and I had Spaghetti Canna Mare, after dinner drinks and wonderful deserts.

Below is a photograph I took of the woman who saw “Paris Can Wait” with me and of a glass containing the wonderful wine served to her before her dinner entree arrived.

Below is a picture of Amatrice – the wonderful entree served to her which she enjoyed immensely.

Below is a photograph I took of the entree served to me (Spaghetti Canna Mare) – which I enjoyed immensely.

We shared tow wonderful desserts – a Torta Calda and a Budino di Caramello, and both drank a different wonderful after dinner wine.

Below is a photograph I took of the deserts we shared.

She is looking at her smart phone to figure out how we are going to get to the next movie we were going to see right after dinner.

By the way, we saw 18 movies in 5 days together.

In between movies, we often had something to drink and a snack.

Below is a picture of one of those snacks we enjoyed on September 14 in between leaving one movie theatre and rushing off to another movie theater.

The picture below is a photograph I took of the strawberry shortcake we enjoyed together – shared with each other – while each of us were sipping our own coffee cup containing a generous shot of Baileys in a cup of coffee.

The ingredients of Strawberry Shortcake Dish shown above are rosewood honeycomb, lemon poppy seed cake, and burnt honeycomb ice cream.

We enjoyed that snack at the LUMA Restaurant located at 350 King St. W. Floor 2, Toronto, Ontario.

Takeaway

Sophisticated people know foreplay does not begin in the bedroom.

Gary S. Smolker, publisher, movie reviewer, social commentator
Gary S. Smolker Idea Exchange Blog 
www.garysmolker.wordpress.com

Gary S. Smolker, fashion blogger
Dudes Guide to Women's Shoes
www.dudesguidetowomensshoes.com

 

 

Copyright © 2016 Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2016 by Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved