celebrity treatment

week w/ victoria secret girls auctioned off

a week vacation with victoria secret models. 25,000 to the man at the back. fair warning. going once. going twice. sold—and so did the other pieces of art. one of the notable ones, a chuck close polaroid going for 50 grand, a bargain for a chuck close, i must say. by the time the benefit auction/party was done, a total of 555 grand was raised for free arts. an organization im involved with dedicated to bringing the healing power of art to abused and at-risk children.

eva mendez at the auction

it was the annual organization fundraiser—that time of the year when i get to be less than a meter away from celebs and models and socialites. same as last year, i was again head volunteer photographer for free arts. armed with my slr and polaroid cam, i had the license to shoot away at the celebs present. some of those spotted—the olsen twins, liv tyler, eva mendez, and a handful of stunning models whose names i miss.

olsen twins posing for the press

it was a fun event. however, i notice i no longer have as much of that star-struckness as i had four years ago when i posed right next to giuliani for a polaroid. i guess ive realized how ordinary these people are anyway, especially having bumped into kate winslet and her kid several times already. and somehow as a crowd of photographers and people tailed them all over at the event, more of a pity feeling reigned. the twins for example, flanked by their 2 bodyguards, had this ever-present paranoid wide-eyed look to them—always on the lookout for photographers as though they were snipers out to suck the life and whatever fat that's left of them. craziness. and somehow, you wonder if that 8-figure status is really worth all that exagerrated attention and pressure.

i am not knocking it though for i must admit it feels kinda good getting some attention, as the week for myself was living like a celeb as well. except maybe toned down 13 times or so. yesterday for example was spent mostly at the editing studio for the video we're doing. being the clients there, it felt as though we were treated like a king. i got my sushi lunch, fresh-baked cookies and chai latte for snack, wine for aperitif and a filling indian dinner. and since we were there really to just direct and approve the editor and graphic artist's work, we were mostly chilling on the couch, feet up, watching the telly. and at times watching the creative director play board games with the copywriter, or check his russian babes online. granted we had to stay till 10 and that the doing nothing but wait for work to get done was tiring for the most part, but somehow as i was riding my cab ride home, a feeling of wow im actually living the life of an art director sinks in. except minus the cocaine and 3 o'clock martinis as they used to back in the 80s. but nevertheless, feels great getting the attention once in a while.

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summer fridays in the agency started today. what that means is that we get to leave at 1 every fridays for the next few months. had a good chinatown dimsum lunch today with colleagues to kickoff the friday treat. interesting group actually. half asian mafia. and half whites. funny mix. next week the plan is to conquer k-town (aka korea town). or maybe little italy for some balance. in the meantime, tomorrow, i head to suburban delaware. no stretched limo to take me there though. i get grounded and go back to my cheapskate reality of taking the cheap@ss chinatown bus.