The Spice Route - The Spicey Aftermath...

Who: Spice
What: Band Launch - The Spice Route
When: Sunday 19th July 2009
Where: Zen

Touted as the band to watch out for in 2010 all eyes were on Spice on Sunday night.
And I mean all! From the TRIBE crew to the left of the stage to the Island People peeps scattered around Zen and everybody in between, they all came out to see if Spice would bring it. And bring it they did!

This rounds I headed to Spice solo as I only happened by one ticket thanks to my bro (but really thanks to me cause I gave him the answers to the questions which allowed him to win said ticket). On reaching the venue I was honestly taken aback by the number of vehicles on the road for the "upstart of a band", as some in the industry were referring to them (not me eh!).

I did not find a park easily and the only thing dem Zen people on the road was good for was nuttin. While I was parking I got a text from The Sauce asking where I was, I replied to her text and she told me she was saving a space for me stage front. SWEET! After FINALLY getting a park, I made my way to the entrance and inside around 8:55pm. The show was scheduled to begin at 9:00pm.

Taking up my saved position to the front of the stage (thanks Sauce!), I took a look around at the decor with the ladders draped from the upstairs area to the downstairs area (people coming down from there or what?) and the big Spice boat on stage. I later found out those were just props cause nobody came down said ladders, anyhoo...

I eagerly awaited the start of the show, cause last year I know they were on time! This year they weren't. The show started at 9:40pm and were heard a narrative about the origin of the theme. Lovely, but let's see some costumes!

Now I telling allyuh up front I not going into no setta detail and ting eh, the pics of the costumes speak for themselves and I will probably give a further review after visting the mascamp and seeing the costumes up close and personal and examining every little detail.

I liked the majority of the costumes and loved quite a few. Everytime one came out I kept saying "Ohgooooodddd, I like dat! Das meh section!" LOL.

On a closer review of my pics, the sections that are just nice enough but doh really drive me wild are the pink section Gates of Petra, the black section Ratnapurta, and the two green sections Merchants of Venice and China. The last two of which I think have the worst male costumes of the lot.



My list of the sections that I like but I would not necessarily play in starts with the burgundy section Rome. I like the frontline headpiece but that colour is just too dark for my liking and I thought it could have been a bit richer. The curtain on the back of the male costume needs to go.



Rubies of Mumbai, again GORGEOUS, but I wouldn't play in it. But that headpiece is to die for! This is also one of my favorite male costumes and I love that necklace for the men.


Ceylon Pearls is absolutely fan-ta-bu-lous. The model seemed to be having difficulty with the headpiece, something which I hoped is remedied for the road. And it was confirmed that this section has no backline, so just imagine this section on the road!


North Star is an Individual costume that again looked difficult to carry, but I love the sheer arm pieces and the leg pieces as well.


One of the first sections to make my pores raise was the bronze section Adulis. That headpiece is GORGEOUS (reminded me of Chutney from R&C), and the beads have that "whip whap" that I love.

Next was Caspian Sea, LOVE LOVE the frontline, and oh my wow that belt skimpy! Love the varying shades of blue.

A next heart stopper was Thailand. Both the backline and the frontline are beyond fabulous and detailed. The super explosive headpiece is to DIE for!

Right after came the next heartstopper and my personal fave Wings of Isis.
A teal costume with a sexy backline and even sexier frontline...look at those beads!! LOOK AT THAT HEADPIECE!!! (I personally would want to do a lil cut a paste here though, give me the backline bikini with the frontline headpiece please and thanks).


But wait doh stop there...kill meh now cause up next is Greece!!
From backline to frontline to Individual (male AND female eh!). The only thing is, I wanted to be on stage to trip Soowan Bramble...where she feel she going with that ridiculous body moggling my costume? Eh?!


Up next was some Moroccan Heat.
I loved this orange costume...matter of fact I love oragne costumes. This section had a lovely backline and frontline. I really like the headpiece detail on the backline, but I could leave or take the frontline backpack.


Make sure and get a FABULOUS pair of shades for the road because these costumes have enough sparkle and bling to blind you.
I enjoyed the varying variations of the liked the variations of the monokini/bonokini/chronokini/whateverkinis.

Some (not the majority) of the models looked very uncomfortable in their costumes especially with the oversized souped up headpieces which hinted at possible issues on the road, or maybe they were just a bit uncomfortable in the high heeled boots. I loved that they modelled the costume in boots and not the usual high heels, I thought this added to the overall costume presentation.

I enjoyed the launch for the most part, but I did not enjoy some of those models. Half of the models did not spend enough time posing and the end of the runway for photographers to take pics and the next half like they were not feeling the Carnival vibe. Put me in a costume in the middle of July and I would throw waist like the world was ending tomorrow. Smile nah man moggles...is Carnival!!

Overall, until I see the costumes up close and personal at the mas camp, I give Spice’s costumes an 8 out of 10.

TIC 2009 - The Aftermath...

So I know I previously mentioned volunteering at TIC this week...being idle has never really been my thing, (even though I could spend all day playing Sims, after a while my mouse hand gets cramp and I am forced to take a break or stop) so after seeing the advert for TIC in the newspapers I decided to call and find out if they needed any volunteers.
It so happens that they did need just a couple more people and asked me to send in my resume and come in for some training.

Photo taken from TIC group on Facebook

FYI...TIC=Trade and Industry Convention and it's a business trade show that brings buyers, importers, exporters together and provides business opportunities to them. So let's say you have a small Carnival Boot Decorating business (I'm just saying) and you're looking for suppliers of bags or printing people or the best method to ship your boots to your very valued customers overseas, you could attend the TIC and speak with Ad Bags, Eniath's Printing and Fedex. (Again this is just a random example).

Anyhoo, I worked from Monday to Saturday from 7:30am to 7:00pm and even though the hours were long, the work wasn't boring and the people who I worked with were pretty cool.

I didn't get to macco or take pics during the show, because like I said we were kept pretty busy, but late last night I did get the opportunity to buy a lovely pearl ring and necklace and got a steal of a deal on a FAB! necklace from the Chinese contingent!

Overall I think it was a pretty cool experience and it definitely filled that boring gap.

This coming week I am dedicating to resume and application sending...if only my life was like Sims and I could just open the newspapers or log on to my computer and automatically get a job! LOL.

Got A Man...

No...not me...a book.

So this is the review on Amazon.com

Kim is a young mother and has been involved with Malik for several years when she discovers that she is pregnant. She asks Malik to get married. Just as they are beginning to plan for their future, Malik meets Shonda, a single mother who left Philadelphia to start a new life in Atlanta. After six disappointing months she returns home. On her first temporary assignment at a law firm, she meets Malik. He is a paralegal well liked by his peers and the attorneys at the firm. Immediately Malik begins showering Shonda with compliments on her appearance and work. Slowly, they separate themselves from the office group outings and began to go out alone and date after work. Soon their office romance is no longer a secret and Kim gives him an ultimatum. After Kim gives birth to their son alone, he begins to feel guilty and misses the family life they shared. Malik finally makes a choice, but is it the right one? Three very interesting characters whose fate ends with a twist. Lillian Lewis

Probably one of the WORST books I have ever read.
I thought the book was crap. And to be honest I couldn't tell you too much about the story line because after a while the typos just had me too distracted from the stroy line. I thought that it was not a well written book overall.

I thought books are supposed to have editors and the like? If this book was allowed to be published with the number of typos and grammatical erros I saw, here what, sign me up let me put my blog posts in book format yes.

It got good reviews on Amazon though, so maybe is just me *shrug*. This book is available at the National Library (thank heaven I did not buy this book I woulda want a refund!). Take a read and let me know what you think.

Unemployed...

I would have never in a million years think that word would apply to me, but yet it does. For the first time since I started working (right out of school) at age 17, I now find myself unemployed.

It's been just about a month now and after taking a breather one week, a mini vacation to Tobago the next, scratching while playing Sims 3 (it REAL BAD! btw), I am now volunteering at the Trade and Investment Convention at Center of Excellence Macoya. I've also been keeping busy doing a small graphic design course which I had signed up to do while I was still employed.

I've only sent out one job application (had an interview out of that one) and forwarded my resume to a friend, I've been taking a real laid back approach to looking for a new job. I don't think I can scratch for very much longer though and I definitely need to be looking for something (so I can pay my mortgage) soon.

(Unless someone can tell me ow to get paid while playing Sims!)

So after this week I think I'm definitely going to get a bit more aggressive in my job search. Wish me luck!...better yet, if you hear of any jobs you think I would be perfect for...you can drop me a line!

Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago 2009 - The Aftermath...

Date: Sunday 31st May 2009

Place: Hyatt Regency - The Waterfront

(Click on the pic to visit the Fashion Week website)
Pic from Fashion Week FB group

Last year for Fashion Week I spent my entire evening standing up despite having a ticket in hand. At the time I was told by one of the organisers that "You paid to see the show and not for a seat".

Despite that I was eagerly looking forward to this year's Fashion Week since I heard that this year it was being held at the swanky Hyatt Regency.

I made sure to tell my crew who were going that:
1. We were to reach early to get seats and not have a repeat of last year and;
2. we were to be dressed to kill, after all...is Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago!

With those two items covered we arrived at the Hyatt just about 6:15pm and made our way inside.
What a change from last year!

UTT students work on display

Instead of being under a hot tent and fighting up for a seat, we were in an air conditioned venue, offered cocktails on entry and there was even a "green carpet" area for you to be photographed by the photographers on duty (if they found you worthy of course!)

B-mobile's setup at Fashion Week 2009

After doing a bit of socialising, I made my way inside and was showed to my seat and waited for the show to start.

The schedule for the night was: Peter Elias, Pilar, Chiz*l Menswear, M Squared, Kimya Glasgow, Christian Boucaud Designs and Zadd and Eastman. You can read up on the designers here.

Unfortunately because of where I was seated (and because my camera is a basic lil ole camera) most of my pics came out like this:

First up was my boy Peter Elias.
We saw some lovely vibrant colours in his collection, and one of my favorite models Latoya Woods in this lovely orange number.


Up next was Pilar by Anya Ayoung-Chee.
Anya's designs consisted mainly of lots and lots of African print (Jimmy Aboud anyone?). If you've seen Anya out and about, you've seen this collection as it is very much her style, with shirts masquerading as dresses and cords masquerading as belts.


Next we have Chiz*l Menswear.
Wow. The crowd went from silence (probably wondering WTF? Rubber slippers is style now?) to lusty applause at the end of his presentation.
Lots of half naked chiseled men in next to nothing.

Next on the list is well known designer Meiling.
*yawn*
If you've seen M Squared in Micles, just picture it in pastel colours. Meiling didn't even come out on the runway after her designs were shown.



Who's next? Let's see...Kimya Glasgow.

Kimya's line was nice and simple.
Mainly white with some green and purple accents, this line was simplicity at its best. One of her models (chick in the green top and white skirt) stumbled a bit on the runway and very admirably carried on.


Next designer was Christian Boucaud Designs (and don't get fooled by the name, this is a woman designer).
Made up mainly of swimsuits I think these designs may have been better received if different models were used.
Some of the models had less than perfect skin and the crowd remained quiet for the majority of her presentation as if in shock.
FUSE Agency needs to come better with their model next time man.



Zadd and Eastman ended the show in beautiful greens and blues.
Another designer that was well received.



The show ended just around 8:00pm and afterwards I got to meet and take some pics with America's Next Top Model-Season 11 , Mc Key Sullivan.

Mc Key laughs after showing how she learnt to wine

There was a bit of a bottle neck to leave the venue afterwards, but overall I enjoyed the show, and the ambience was definitely better than last year's event.

Definitely a must attend next year!