You may have noticed that there have been a lot of models and designers buzzing around St. Louis all week, and if not, you should be reading more ToastedRav! Fashionistas from all over the city and the nation have been converging nightly at the Hotel Lumiere for catwalks and cocktails in celebration of St. Louis Fashion Week Fall 2008.

The always fabulous DSly and I had a chance to talk to some of the models and designers to get their take on what fashion is, St. Louis's fashion scene, and what really happens backstage at Fashion Week. To see our interview with designer Meghan Fabulous, meet some local models, and to join ToastedRav's cameras as we go backstage with the models and designers as they prepare for the show, click on [tab:trav_video].

Fashion Week is still in full effect tonight at Hotel Lumiere and Saturday on Washington Avenue. Tickets for the events are $35/night and that gets you in to see fall collections from Dillards this evening, and the worldwide debuts of two new urban collections on Fashion Week's catwalk.

You can also see our photos, nightly live chat from the shows, and daily wrap-up stories on ToastedRav's special St. Louis Fashion Week page.

Death Cab for Cutie will be rolling through town and playing at the Fox on Monday, October 13th, and there are still tickets available to see what promises to be a great performance in a great venue.

Since my requests for an email interview were unrequited (I know, I was surprised too since "I'm kind of a big deal") I thought I would share with you all what I imagine an interview with the band could have been like. To hear it click on [tab:audio]!

Body Of Lies, much like Don Cheadle’s Traitor, relies on the performance of its stars to elevate it above your run-of-the-mill thriller.  It’s slickly made (it’s directed by Ridley Scott, after all) but not much happens.  Satellite images are shown, intel is discussed, people run, things blow up but nothing really draws you into the story.  Russell Crowe plays Ed Hoffman, a CIA operative stationed safely in the states.  Leonardo DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, the pawn that Hoffman moves across the chess board of the Middle East.  Hoffman makes cold-hearted, end-justifies-the-means decisions from stateside domesticity while Ferris deals with the psychological ramifications of executing (both figuratively and literally) these pronouncements.   Much humor is drawn from the incongruent nature of watching Hoffman perform household chores or care for his children whilst issuing life and death edicts on his cell phone with a casual demeanor usually reserved for ordering take-out.

Why does Hollywood persist in making these kinds of movies?  They’ve clearly forgotten how to make war movies.  Making a war movie during a time of war is always a difficult task.  It was easy during World War II because the sides were so clearly drawn.  Granted, most of these movies were outright propaganda but we were so clearly on the side of right.  Plus, we didn’t concern ourselves with pesky things like racial sensitivity.  If you were an Axis country, we had no problem reducing you to an ethnic stereotype.  It can make for some cringe inducing cinematic moments 60 years on.  But it also spared us a lot of subplots where filmmakers felt required to go out of their way to show a “good” Japanese, Italian or German person like we would get today.

There weren’t near as many movies made about the Korean War.  America was much more ambivalent about that one.  And Vietnam?  Hollywood made a grand total of one film about the Vietnam War during the Vietnam War.  And it took John Wayne to make that happen with his vehemently pro-American The Green Berets.  Obviously there were plenty of movies made post-Vietnam War.  Most of them were anti-war and all of them were anti-that-war.  It seems as if Hollywood, for all of its action movie expertise, has completely forgotten how to make a good war movie.  If people aren’t fighting aliens or robots (or alien robots…now that’s a movie I’d pay to see) then they really don’t know how to handle war movies anymore.  We’ve become paralyzed by our own knowledge of psychology.  All the action and intrigue gets replaced with existential angst.  That, in a nutshell, is the problem with Body Of Lies.

The acting is fine.  DiCaprio and Crowe turn in solid performances, as always.  But having the movie focus on DiCaprio’s character was ultimately a mistake.  For me, the movie was at its most interesting when Crowe was on screen.  There was a fascinating disconnect between his home life and his work life.  He was ruthless and had no qualms ordering someone’s death in order to preserve the mission.  He didn’t seem like a true “bad guy” but he was just this side of amoral. 

It’s all intrigue and espionage but we’re not really sure we’re supposed to be rooting for anyone.  Sure, Ferris is hunting a major terrorist, but the movie seems fairly ambivalent about our presence in the region.  This ambivalence makes it difficult to be emotionally invested in the film.  Regardless of your opinion of the war, it’s difficult to create tension when you’re not sure the heroes should even be there in the first place.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being 24 and 1 being The Specialist, Body Of Lies gets a 6.

It's considered "fact" by the masses that better looking people are happier, get better jobs, have advantages in education and even get out of more tickets when they're caught by the police, but that isn't completely true. It's essentially folklore that advertisers and the editor of Vogue have created.

These days, those of us in Western Civilization are striving more and more to look like Ken and Barbie. So much so that even Ken and Barbie can't keep up. He keeps getting more muscular and enhanced in "certain areas," while she gets blonder, skinier, and...you know. In actuality, it's almost physically impossible to hold your body to these standards. One in every 100,000 women is naturally proportional to the plastic bimbo, so where does that leave the other 99,999 of us? Victims of the media.

Five seconds after flipping open a fashion magazine, you're bombarded with ads promoting plastic surgery. Rumsey pointed out that they make it seem like Botox will help you land a sexy, smart significant other in a tuxedo/short cocktail dress, all because you got your face stabbed with this age-freezing elixir. Maybe that's why there has been a 465-percent increase in plastic surgery in the past decade. But it just aint so; Botox doesn't equal a happy ending.

Click on [tab:video] to see an example of what Rumsey and Persson were talking about. It really, really surprised me.

It's become a phenomenon that's known as the cult of the celebrity. Kids, teens and adults of all ages are using actors, models and athletes as role models, and with such unrealistic ideals to begin with, it's no wonder that everyone's self esteem is going downhill.

In another example that the presenters used, they created a series of avatars (realistic computer generated images of people) and submitted their head shots to a modeling agency. Of the 16 models that the agency invited back for the job, 14 of them were avatars. What this means is hugely significant; modeling agencies are trying too hard to present a perfect body image to American culture. So perfect in fact, that this perfect body doesn't even exist.

Beauty isn't in the eye of the beholder, it's in the eye of what the media tells the beholder it should be. So have a cookie, drink a non-diet soda, hold your head a little higher and stop trying to look like Kate Moss.

Humanity

• My favorite line from fashion week so far, Humanity, takes the Ed Hardy style, edgy t-shirt to a whole new level. Humanity is a socially conscious line that aims to make a difference in the world through their clothing line. Each piece is designed around a story and theme about making a difference and falls into one of three categories: people (such as Martin Luther King Jr or Princess Diana), social issues (such as the second amendment or eating disorders), and the environment.
• Locally you can snag Humanity at Dillards.

  

Miacro

• Based out of Springfield, MO designers Jenn McKelvie and Tina Davis Noble took inspiration for the organic, hand-dyed pieces in their line Miacro from extensive research on mining and caving - and in the process fell in love with slugs. They call their line "urban, odd, and organic." I call it fun and fresh.
• Unfortunately you can't get Miacro locally, but you can check out their line on the internets.

  

Wrath Arcane

• The name of this menswear line means "secret anger" but by no means is Wrath Arkane's anger towards big labels hush-hush. The line's mission is to bring men high quality, classic looks that buck the trends that larger labels pedal. The line, created by Brian O'Neill and Sean Bilovecky, was inspired after O'Neill grew tired of the products he was receiving from the "big labels" to sell at his Cleveland boutique. The two joined forces after deciding to make better menswear for the world - and thus Wrath Arkane was born.

• Locally you can get Wrath Arcane at Splash in the St. Louis Galleria.

Tonight's show - Liquid Style - will feature six lines being carried as a part of Dillards' Fall 2008 line. Pieces being shown tonight come from collections by Betsey Johnson, DKNY, and BCBGMAXAZRIA. The show stats at 8pm tonight at the Hotel Lumiere and costs $35.

Saturday wraps up Fashion Week and urban style will take over Washington Ave with the final show, Flow. The show will feature the premiere of Murphy Lee's line U.C. ME and the premiere of Nelly's Red Label for Apple Bottoms.

My family's typical plan of action at this point is raking them all onto a huge tarp and hauling them down to our creek. Although this could be different from how you deal with your autumn litter, almost everyone will end up with a mountain of crunchy, dead leaves. Instead of just shoving them in the street for pick-up, or in a corner of your yard to be forgotten about, be proactive this season; do something fun with your leaf pile.

To help you out, here are a few suggestions:

As corny and traditional as this sounds, jump in it. Sure, you might have to re-rake a little bit once your done, but it's a fun way to have cheap fun with your kiddos. I don't have kids, and it's still fun for me and the friends that I force to jump in with me. Come on now, you can do it.

If you have a neighbor or friend that is just asking to be punked, a leaf pile makes it easy to pull a fast one on them. If you have a large puddle or muddy spot in your yard, place the leaf pile over it. If you don't a large tub of water will work just as well. Tell your "friend" that you're going to be nice and let them have first jumping honors because they're the guest, but then get ready to run. They might not find this prank as funny as you do.

This one is also pretty basic, but put your leaves in decorative bags. Pumpkin ones are great to add some Halloween decor to your house's exterior, and the funny faces on these bags are more fun than most.

Use the pile as a cushy reading spot. A good hammock is my favorite place to curl up with a good book, but why should this outdoor reading be reserved for summer? Take a couple of hours on a Saturday morning, make a leaf nest for yourself, and read a good book in the crisp fall air. Bundle up, and make sure you don't have any sticks in the pile, because that could get, well, a little uncomfortable.

A good money saving way to put your leaves to good use is to turn them into fertilizer. All you do is stuff as many of them as you can into a trashcan, weigh them down with bricks or something heavy, put a lid on it and wait a few weeks. It's much better than paying big bucks for some fancy smancy compost at a garden center.

This one is pretty random, but I've heard about it from a couple of people, so I'll pass it along anyway. Turn the leaves into a play fort for your children or grandchildren. You'll have to use a few big branches and sticks for an igloo-like frame, and throw the whole pile of leaves on top.

What do you do with your pile of fall's finest waste?

Developments like "New Town," way out in the nether regions of the metro-area might suggest that we may still be in our fresh air phase but when people come to town I doubt they would ever say, "Take me to New Town, friend!" But are visitors thinking about the great neighborhoods that continue to grow like the Central West End, The Loop, and The Grove when they are coming through town either?  Times Square is the heart of New York to the outsider.  Do we have an equivalent?  Is there a neighborhood, attraction, or location is the one spot that people need to go before they leave to really experience St. Louis, or are we really more fresh air?  No fair saying the Arch - that has nothin' to do with the culture in our city.

Tube Talk

Hugh Heffner's now one blond short of a harem. Holly Madison of Girls Next Door dropped him, but he already has a replacement or two.

Ellen went off on Paris Hilton during her recent appearance on her show and we have the clip!...plus a lil bonus for you.

Jamie Lynn Spears ain't got no baby in her belly after all...which is good, because one baby is enough to not take care of.

Reel World

Russell Crowe and Leo Di Crappy-O star in a new flick that critics are digging, we have a preview.

A bunch of b-listers star on Quarantine, a movie about an old lady with rabies...awesome!

Star Gazing

Britney Spears is off to court over an incident that happened a while back, and she's apparently looking for a fight.

Taylor Swift dropped the pop star she was dating 'cuz...why the heck not?...She's Taylor Swift!

People Magazine has found a way to profit off of death...way to go People.

That, and so much more awaits you. Just click [tab:trav_video] to watch.

Why not? Couldn't I do an adequate job of controlling the United States, despite my lack of political knowledge? It's certainly been done before. Just to prove to you how right I am, I've prepared a compilation of the changes that I propose to make once I get elected.

• Male speedos would be forever banned from public beaches.
• Every office in corporate America will come equipped with an unlimited supply of Starbucks and popsicles.
• All major sports events, especially March Madness, will be declared national holidays. No work allowed.
• A college education and health care would be free, if only to stop all the guys in D.C. from arguing so much.
• Gas would have a cap of $1.99 per gallon, no matter what.
• Every time you entered a movie theater, church, meeting, library or airplane, your cell phone would automatically be put on silent.
• Half birthdays would be official, resulting in birthday presents twice a year.
• People over the age of 70 would have to pass a driving test every six months, including a test about when to turn off their blinkers.
• Macaroni and cheese would be the official food of our country.
• Everyone would get a summer and winter vacation.
• Stores and restaurants would only be able to make a 100% profit by selling a good or service, rather than the 500% that some are currently gouging Americans with.
• Everyone would have a genie in a bottle.
• Britney Spears would be locked up for good. While we're at it, why not throw Paris Hilton behind bars too.
• Every written word would be automatically spell-checked.
• The Arch would be declared the eighth wonder of the world.
• It would be physically impossible for sleazy guys in bars to write their number on the back of a bar napkin.
• Bars wouldn't be allowed to have cover charges.
• Bands and musicians would be restricted to holding only one "farewell tour."
• Stop signs would be 8 ft. x 8 ft. It's hard to run one if it's as big as your car, so no excuses for flying by one.
• Twinkies would be banned from grade school and replaced with carrot sticks.

I'll think more about the logistics later, but let me know if you have any other bills that you'd like me to run by Congress once I'm elected. Vote AudreyH for president!

Good God!  What has this world come to when a short, fat dude can’t Circus Animal Cookies.  These were the only animals you could eat without Peta kicking in your door.  How’s a guy supposed to get diabetes now?

Won’t someone think of the children?  How do you explain this to a 5-year old?

“Well Bobby, the housing bubble combined with Sub Prime mortgage abuse has caused money markets to break a buck.  And I don’t have to tell you that money markets fund commercial paper.  Once commercial paper stopped flowing, business-to-business transactions came to a screeching halt.”

See how easy that is?  Sheesh!  It’d be easier to tell a kid that Santa Claus has AIDS.  I think I’m just going to tell my kids they can’t have Circus Animal Cookies because we don’t love them anymore. 

Maybe the lazy kids should just make their own cookies.

RIP Circus Animal Cookies.  You will be missed.

Tickets still remain for The Playhouse at Westport Plaza's show "She Loves You! A Celebration of the Beatles." There are 12 performance for which free tickets are still available between the 16th and 31st of October. The show will include 30 original Beatles songs and clips from vintage television footage. I was just a twinkle in my Momma's eye when the 60's were in full swing, but I love the movie Across the Universe and I am still bummed about missing Cirque Du Soliel's performance of "Love" when I was in Vegas last.  To make up for it (kind of), I snatched up some tickets for a Sunday evening performance.  The maximum number of tickets you can reserve for these free performances is two, so it is an ideal date night.

To make it an evening there are a few restaurants in Westport to grab a bite to eat at before the performance. Though I have never been to the Wesport location I am a fan of The Drunken Fish in the CWE.  The hubby was excited about finding a coupon for Drunken Fish among the many treasures in his newest prized possession (The Entertainment Book), so I have high hopes for a nice dinner at their Wesport location and a cool show at The Playhouse that night.

Besides The Playhouse at Westport, seven other St. Louis theater companies are participating with free performances - including The Repertory Theater of St. Louis and Piwacket Theater for Children. Tickets for many of the performances in the area were snatched up quickly, but you can check out what is being offered to theater goers new and old, and reserve tickets for remaining performance, by visiting the Free Night of Theater website and searching the St. Louis region for show dates and times.

Archibald J. Fobbes Jr., who works for Neuroanatomical Collections in Washington D.C. (See how technical that sounds? He must really know what he's talking about.), had a lot to say about alcohol's affect on the brain. To see firsthand what I'm talking about, click [tab:video] to see two teenagers do a demonstration with "beer goggles."

These weren't the type of beer goggles that enable you to hit on potential significant others while feeling (ahem) slightly less inhibited. These were the kind of beer goggles that showed you what you'd feel right before the cop cuffed and ticketed you for trying to drive.

To prove just how much alcohol affects your balance and your body, he first demonstrated via hula hoops that the body needs to be unaffected by alcohol in order to be able to respond to normal activities, without having to think about it.

According to Fobbs' knowledge about the world's oldest known drug, alcohol kills brain cells - plain and simple. When people start to abuse their intake of alcohol, it actually physically alters the receptors in the brain, causing irreversible brain damage. Who, like, wants to be more stupider, like, right?

All kidding aside, it was a learning experience for all of the teens and adults who attended. Things like liver failure, vomiting, breathing difficulties and going into a coma generally don't sound very appealing. It's one thing to have a drink or two at happy hour or while out at night with friends. But you should know your limits to avoid causing harm to yourself and others. To see how alcohol will specifically affect your blood alcohol content after a certain number of drinks, click here.

As Fobbs' presentation wrapped up, he invited everyone there to try on the beer goggles and walk through a very simple maze. And although watching several people fall on their faces was incredibly funny, it was nice to know that this little experiment might be the reason someone calls for a taxi instead of sliding in behind the wheel of their car this weekend.

Winter brings the opportunity to read, watch my favorite shows, and get lost in all the movies I missed over the summer. Needless to say, I grab for something to munch on as I try to escape the drearies. This combined with all the rich holiday food can be detrimental to my waist line, so I am looking for healthier alternatives when reading or enjoying a flick.

One alternative I often enjoy: Instead of microwave popcorn, I grab a bowl of my favorite cereal and eat it dry, piece by piece just as I would a bowl of popcorn. It satisfies my munchies and I feel healthier having not ingested butter, salt, and oily residues.

I love my movie cereals, however, I would like to change it up a little. Got any suggestions? What is your favorite movie snack? Is it healthier than micropop?

Day two showcased collections from California, St. Louis, and Florida designers. You can check out a few of the pictures I snapped from the shows on [tab:gallery]. Here's a quick rundown of the who and what from last night:

Skif International

• St. Louis based designer Nina Ganci's collections took the runway first. Ganci's looks, which inspired the sweaters for The Matrix, are produced right here in the Hill neighborhood and last night they inspired an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
• Locally you can check out her line of sweaters at Nella's Boutique in Kirkwood.

  

Silver Dagger

• In Boca Raton, FL, Serge and Natalie Abecassis and Gabriel Revah started a fashion storm that has spread to the star's (faces like Timbaland, Slash, and Busta Rhymes have been sporting their gear), and hit St. Louis in the number two slot on kast night's runway. I personally love the edgy looks - I felt all rock and roll just seeing the show - imagine my actually wearing it. Watch out Slash, here comes... Melody? I think I will need a better rock and roll name first.
• Locally you can get Silver Dagger gear at Jecca in Clayton.

  

Meghan by Meghan Fabulous

• L.A. designer Meghan Fabulous (she had her last name legally changed to "Fabulous") took the top spot in last night's show. Her flirty and eclectic line was designed to offer you and me (you know, people who eat hamburgers and cheese) a grab at flattering high fashion.  Her fun and fresh looks have reeled in quite the list of celebrity clientèle with the likes of Mary-Kate Olson and Angelina Jolie wearing her pieces. Keep your eyes on ToastedRav.com - we got a chance to chat with her last night and Miss Fabulous was a super cool chick.
• Locally you can pick up Meghan Fabulous's line at Perchelle in downtown St. Louis.

Even if these looks give your pocketbook some pain they are beautiful to look at, and it doesn't cost much to do that. Tonight's catwalk will feature socially conscious fashions starting at 8pm at the Lumiere Hotel.

If you have to miss the action you can keep up by visiting out our ToastedRav.com Fashion Week page. You can see messages via Twitter, stories from DSly and me, and photos on the page.

Having worked on the internets for a while, I am ashamed to say that I just recently (as in yesterday) discovered the wonders of Firefox as a web browser and I am now going to have one of those difficult break-up conversations with you. I wasn't intentionally looking for another browser, you just were acting really buggy and I had to find an alternate browser to do my work in. That's when I found Firefox. You see, the reason I am so enamored with Firefox can be summed up in two words: spell check. It had me at correcting my butchered spelling of their.

See, Internet Explorer, I misspell most words in the English language and with you I was lucky if I corrected them. After meeting Firefox I realized that you are like a friend who doesn't say anything when you are walking around with toilet paper hanging off your shoe. My spelling is so horrendous that I am sure you have left me hanging so many times without my even knowing. Even during my first date with my husband one of our "bonding moments" was over a conversation about our mutual inability to spell the word banana. See, I just spelled it wrong and Firefox corrected it for me - would you have? By leaving you and moving onto to Firefox and it's oh so charming built in spell check feature, my days of submitting web forms, emails, and messages that look like I completely flunked the first grade are behind me. How did I never know the wonders of Firefox before?

I am sure there are some other very cool features about Firefox that I am yet to discover, we are in that honeymoon phase right now. I am just so excited about this spell check thing that I can't see the browser forest for the spell check trees. Maybe we can give it a couple of years and talk again? We'll see if become more secure and have more to offer, but until then farewell Internet Explorer - the last ten years have been a blast.

Sincerely,

Melody Meiners