“I have strictly been designing couture for dogs,” Rubio told me. “This is only the third time that I also designed women’s wear.”

And design he did! The women and dogs wowed the crowd.

Rubio had just returned from vacationing in Italy. “It’s non-stop,” he said. “I’ve been invited to so many shows. I’m getting to be known as the designer with the dogs, and I’m breaking the mold. In the past, you might’ve seen dogs used as fashion accessories, but in my shows, it’s the humans that are the accessories.”

There were people streaming in, hurrying to get seats. Socialite Eric Andrew stopped for a moment to say he loves attending New York City fashion events. “I feel very fortunate that I can go to so many. I love Anthony Rubio’s fashions, and I’m looking forward to the show! Excuse me, I have to go grab my spot.”

Rubio said, “I’ve done shows before, but this was a crunch. I was receiving e-mails while I was still in Italy. It was at the end of my trip. I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this in so little time.’ They said, ‘Of course you can!’ [Laughs] Sometimes I amaze myself. I don’t know how I get it all done especially because I’m a perfectionist and my own worst critic. But it all came together for the show, and I feel happy.”

Rubio’s inspirations for this Spring 2016 line came from his vacation in Italy and “a lot of movies.” He described his fashion line as “affordable luxury.” The show included couture gowns and cocktail dresses with lace.

Of course, I have the doggie moms come along,” said Rubio. “After all, the dogs are their babies. I have the moms come backstage because I don’t want anybody else dressing their furbabies. And it brings the doggie moms into the experience, too, so everybody is having fun.”

Morgan Avila owns four Leonbergers. Magneto (above) was a winner at Westminster. She is teaching him rat hunting. “It is finding rats in barns and being able to chase and corner them so that they can be collected and given to the proper authorities who like taking rats,” she said, adding that another of her Leonbergers, Mr. America, “does a lot of movies. He did ‘The Equalizer’ with Denzel Washington. He’s also done plenty of theater work, ‘Annie,’ ‘Peter Pan,’ ‘Oliver Twist,’ ‘The Miracle Worker,’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’” Her dog Hollywood, a dock diver, travels with Avila to many states where he wins AKC titles. “All of my dogs are champions in the AKC.”

Avila said that Rubio made a special outfit for Magneto to walk down the runway tonight, “but I didn’t get to see it yet. I have to get to wardrobe.” She smiled and waved goodbye as she and Magneto hurried into the already-canine-crowded elevator.

“My Boston Terrier Rita had been kept in a crate for five months in a hoarding situation until I I rescued her, and now Rita is modeling,” Patrice Scalera shared. “I trained her and desensitized her so she’d be comfortable around people, and now she is, and she’s signed up with a talent agency, All Creatures Great and Small. She’s obedience trained, and we do trick training now. I also just rescued a Frenchton named Francis.”

I learned that a Frenchton is half “Frenchie” [French Bulldog] and half “Boston” [Boston Terrier]. “Dog fashion designer Ada Nieves always laughs when we have them both in the show,” Scalera said. “She sees Francis and Rita playing, and it’s like a comedy routine. You can’t tell who is cuter.”

Scalera runs a small home-based business. “It’s called PAWfect Dog Beds,” she said. “If I get $35 dollars on a bed, I then give $5 dollars towards animal rescue.”

Ilene Zeins said she and her ZZ will be attending the upcoming “Strut Your Mutt” walk and the Ronald McDonald House “Family Fun Dog Walk.” In June, they went to the “Fabulous Fur-Baby Cotillion” in Florida. “We had a lot of fun,” Zeins said. “ZZ was a debutante and introduced to society; something I never had the opportunity to do [Laughs].”

Summer Strand goes to as many charity events as she can. She said the doggie community here in New York City is growing. “We’ve been a tightly knit group for years, but always welcome new, warm, friendly souls — two-legged and four-legged,” she explained. When I asked about her favorite rescues she said, “I think all rescues are awesome” before adding, “We love to helpWaggin’ Tails Dog Rescue, Sean Casey Animal Rescue and Soi Dog Foundation.” Strand is a personal trainer. She goes to her clients’ homes and teaches them fitness moves they can do with their pet.

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My chest constricts at the state of the world. It’s so full of evil I can’t even watch the news most days. Yesterday’s upset came when I saw the cruelty in the comments made by Zellweger bashers.

I Googled “the cause of cruelty.” A Psychology Today article popped up that explained “the spirit of abstraction.” It’s a mental trick that allows some people to see others as objects. Slave owners thought of their slaves as possessions. Hitler manipulated the Germans until killing Jews seemed fine. And the Internet runs amok with a viciousness that still shocks me.

Hello! Renee Zellweger is human. Humans have feelings. Mocking her publicly is bullying. Yes, I’m sure she’ll be fine — she has a lot of money and can go to therapy or use a plethora of human vices to cope. But many A-listers I interview say they don’t read the comments about themselves because it would be debilitating.

At the base of the cruelty lurks jealousy and self-hatred. “Stars have all that money, they are so lucky. I have a shit job.” The average citizen is far from beautiful and will never have fans. Oh, boo hoo. Grow up, will ya?

There’s plenty of proof that nobody’s life is easy. You know why? Because nobody is immune to reality, not even stars.

Why do people even care whether Zellweger had surgery or not? A lot of the tweets about her were laughable. Posts compared her looks to 10-year-old photos. Yo! I bet your face and your skin looks a lot different than it did 10 years ago. And, there were multiple posts mocking her wrinkle-free forehead. I have news for you, I’m older than Ms. Zellweger, and I don’t have forehead wrinkles yet. Not every face ages the same.

Now let’s get back to not caring whether she did or didn’t have plastic surgery. I’m not good at math, but I can see a problem here. Look at the salary differences between genders. If you were in Hollywood, you’d probably be having plastic surgery, too, with so much at stake.

According to Forbes, the highest paid actors in 2014 were:

1. Robert Downey Jr. $75 million
2. Dwayne Johnson $52 million
3. Bradley Cooper $42 million
4. Leonardo DiCaprio $39 million
5. Chris Hemsworth $37 million
6. Liam Neeson $36 million
7. Ben Affleck $35 million
8. Christian Bale $35 million
9. Will Smith $32 million
10. Mark Wahlberg $32 million

And here’s Forbes’ list of the highest paid actresses in 2014:

1. Angelina Jolie $30 million
2. Sarah Jessica Parker $30 million
3. Jennifer Aniston $28 million
4. Reese Witherspoon $28 million
5. Julia Roberts $20 million
6. Kristen Stewart $20 million
7. Katherine Heigl $19 million
8. Cameron Diaz $18 million
9. Sandra Bullock $15 million
10. Meryl Streep $10 million

Wait, there’s more. Here are some stats about gender inequality in Hollywood from Indiewire:

Women directed 4.7% of studio films from 2009–2013

Women represent a total of 30% of characters, 29% of speaking parts 15% of protagonists/leads.

Women are younger than men onscreen. The majority of women on screen are in their 20s and 30s, while men are in their 30s and 40s.
Males over 40 make up 55% of all male characters, while females over 40 make up 30% of all characters.

Look at these dismal facts from USA Today Network:

As female movie stars get older, their compensation dips rapidly on average, unlike their male counterparts, a study says.
Female movie stars make the most money per film when they are 34 years old, but their earnings quickly decline after that age.

Male movie stars peak in their earnings per film at age 51, and their compensation steadily increases over time.

 “We are such an appearance-based society,” Timothy Judge, a management professor at the University of Notre Dame and leader of the aforementioned study, told USA Today.

Researchers suggest roles for older female actors are limited, creating more pressure on female stars to maintain a youthful appearance.

“Men’s well-worn faces are thought to convey maturity, character and experience,” the study went on to say. ” A woman’s face, on the other hand, is valued for appearing young.”

BOTTOM LINE

It would help if they didn’t pair actors with actresses who are at least 20 years younger. For women to have a long-term career, plastic surgery should not be pooh-poohed. For goodness sake, don’t people have better things to worry about?

Here’s a great video that says it all:

The post Enough Already! Shut the Hell Up About Renee Zellweger’s Face appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

I had expected a comedy. My usual fare of choice is dark, dark, thrillers so I figured lighthearted would be novel but the glumness of this poor woman’s life gave me an unexpected emotional investment. Comedy is a constant thread but so are despair and disappointments.

The first half of the movie is a throw-your-head-back laugher with sad undertones but the second half is a tragedy with comedic undertones.

Young Adult is a great date movie or go with pals but if you’re feeling low about life and pining a long lost love, go with somebody, don’t go alone—not now, around the holidays. The ending isn’t tied up with a bow, but you won’t want to kill yourself either.

So go, and tell me what you think.

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