Romania Girl

Daniel Radcliffe’s naked photos have caused quite a stir. The play he will be starring in, entitled Equus, requires him to be naked on stage. The still shots for the promotion show Radcliffe naked with a horse. Many parents are disappointed because their children idolize Radcliffe in the Harry Potter series. I have to disagree with a lot of people who have commented on the photos, because I find them tastefully done. All the photos are artistic, not at all pornographic at all.

You’d probably remember Radcliffe as the small, lanky boy playing 11 year old Harry Potter. But if you haven’t seen 17 year old Danial Radcliffe today, I would suggest you look at him. He’s worked out, a lot! Though the six packs are not as magnificent as it should be; for his age and physique, it’s quite remarkable. He’s also grown a goatee and some moustache; something that is required for Equus. His publicist has been complimenting Radcliffe on his hard work, and this new play will show how versatile an actor he is. Already one of the highest paid actors in the world, Radcliffe is yet to make a movie of a different genre. I hope to see him in more love stories, as he has the looks of a Matinee Idol.

You’ve probably heard that the fashion moguls of Madrid and Milan have stopped using anorexic models and good for them, too. They’ve set a minimum body mass index for their models, in an effort to stop these beautiful girls from starving themselves to death. Eating disorders are thought to be the biggest professional disease that attacks models. Anorexia often leads to depression and serious health problems. More often than not, Anorexia is fatal. You’ve all probably heard of the Eliana and Luisel Ramos, who both died from starving themselves because of pressure from the modeling industry. These sisters were fast becoming the “it” girls from an Argentine agency, Dotto Models.

But the growing number of deaths caused by anorexia hasn’t stopped fashion designers from New York, London and Asia from using these anorexic models. Turn on your TV and watch Fashion Channel; there you will see how many stick thin models are still walking the catwalk. These models will soon feel more pressured to lose weight to get to size zero. How many more young, beautiful women have to die because these fashion icons are stubborn and don’t want to put pressure on modeling agencies to help their girls battle eating disorders.

Popular brands like Cover Girl, L’Oreal and Christian Dior have been found to contain lead. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, environmental and women’s groups, stated that tests done on 33 brand name red lipsticks done by Bodycote Testing Group showed that 61% had evident levels of lead, 0.03 to 0.06 parts per million (ppm). A third of the tested lipsticks contained lead that exceeded the FDA limit of 0.01 in candy. As you know, lipstick like candy can be ingested, thus the cause for alarm. Those most at risk to exposure are children and pregnant women. The manufacturers however countered that the amount of lead from a lip product a woman can get exposed to “is hundreds of times less than the amount that she would get from eating, breathing and drinking water.” This did not appease the growing number of concerned citizens as lipstick is used several times daily and lead can build up in the body over time. This significantly increases the risk of lead exposure, and there is actually no safe level of exposure when it comes to lead. Of note, the more expensive popular brands had higher levels of lead than the less expensive brands.

For a great way to meet up with girlfriends every week, we decided to have Thursday as Poker Night. Movie night was already getting boring and we’ve already ran out of chick flicks to watch. When we first started out, we were only playing for fun as there was only an average of four girls attending the weekly get together. After some time, the number increased and we had to set up two more tables. Now, we play for money and it’s even better than going to a casino. At least, I know who’ll bring home my money.

What makes Poker Night special for us is the fact that we’ve all grown closer and more open about our lives. We are now able to talk about how our lives have been, because in the past we barely had time to spend as a group. There are also no men to distract us from really listening and talking to each about everything under the sun. We don’t have to fear being awkward and silly or wild and crazy; and just be ourselves. Besides we don’t have to worry about being dateless single women on Friday nights because there’s always good company and unlimited food and drinks waiting for us somewhere.