Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Just signed a new contract !!!!!!!!!!!!



Hello everyone, well I have some exciting news. I just signed my FORD MODELS contract yesterday to be represented by FORD San Francisco. Yes, that means I will be moving to the BAY! and I am still signed to FORD RBA in Scottsdale, AZ. Life is all about stepping stones and taking the next step to better your life and thats what I am doing. So every now and then I will be traveling back and forth from San Francisco to Scottsdale . . . so if you see me on the plane stop and say hi, I am friendly and nice.





Thank you for supporting me


DDLS

Sunday, October 26, 2008

busy . . . busy . . .

Hey everyone no time no talk . . . sorry about that. I have not been able to blog because I been so busy with working and traveling. I promise when I get more time then I will let you in on what's been going on. Thank you so much for being loyal and staying tuned to my blog site....here's a couple of things I've been doing lately



3sixteen










Carolina Herrera CH collection









So stay tuned I have more things coming your way. . . thank you again

DDLS

Thursday, October 9, 2008

LA Fashion Week kicks off this sunday!!!!!!

Wait NO MORE! Los Angeles Fashion Week kicks off this coming SUNDAY! Oct. 12th, 2008. All designers will be showing off their SPRING/SUMMER Collection's for 2009. So if you are in L.A. check out fashion week if you can. Checkout the schedule. To all the models who are working congrats on booking and making that money!

Click on photo to enlarge






DDLS


p.s. stay tuned, I will be back with footage soon from LA fashion week.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Tyra Banks is not retired . . . can you say V Magazine

Ms. Banks you are definitely doing your thing and I love it. I am a fan of yours but most of all as a professional I would like to say thank you for continuing to open up doors for other models in this world. I would most definitely like to work with you one day if it deals with you being behind or in front of the camera it does not matter.


Okay, this blog is very special. I am going to show you the exclusive interview brought to you by "V Magazine." V Magazine asked Tyra to come in and do the remake of Mahogany which is a 1975 film. In the movie a young woman by Tracy, places herself in a fashion school in hopes of becoming a world wide known fashion designer. Mahogany is directed by Berry Gordy. The film was nominated for an Oscar. Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams played in the film just to name a few. I just wanted you to get a idea of the
film so you can check it out . . . I will.





Well, as Tyra and Sessilee shot the remake of Mahogany, V Magazine was not going to let Tyra go without a interview, so Derek Blasberg did the honors. You can find this interview at:

http://www.vmagazine.com/article.php?n=11319&p=1


but I am giving you the chance to read it here, everything is copy and paste straight from the site. I did not change anything. What you are going to read is straight from Tyra's mouth and also Derek's too! so enjoy



"DEREK BLASBERG Tyra Banks, ladies and gentleman! I know you’re a busy lady now, so thanks for chatting.
TYRA BANKS Honey, I’m tired.

DB From this shoot yesterday?
TB It was exhausting, and today I had a big meeting with my staff, a meeting with about 100 people, and I was like, “Y’all, I’m tired.”

DB It’s hard being an African-American supermodel, isn’t it? I guess you would know.
TB There you go. We had to jump and spin and all sorts of stuff. But it was so much fun.

DB Were you familiar with the story of Mahogany before this shoot?
TB Are you kidding me? You cannot be a black model and not know the story of Mahogany.

DB When you watched that story, did you identify with any of it?
TB I saw it when I was really young—not when it came out, cause I was about one at the time—but when I was about 16 or 17. I never, ever thought I would have the opportunity to recreate it, even though when I was younger people would say I should go to film school and remake it. But here we are, I remade it for y’all.





DB The story is about a strong, beautiful, black woman breaking boundaries. You’ve done your share of boundary breaking; were you aware of the walls you knocked down as you barreled through them?
TB I knew the impact of Victoria’s Secret using me, and of being a black woman in that catalog. But here’s the thing: I wasn’t sitting at home waiting by the phone for those clients to call. I had a meeting with my agents while I was still high fashion and told them my body was changing, that I was becoming a woman and getting hips and a butt. I remember Armani used to love me for his fashion shows, but as my breasts developed he would have to bind them. Not him personally, but his team would bind my breasts because he wanted me in the show but I didn’t fit his vision. He would bind Niki Taylor and I. So as I developed, instead of exercising or dieting like crazy, I decided to change the direction of my career and go mass. I looked at Cindy Crawford, who did that so well. We hadn’t had a black girl do that before; it was a very conscious business decision on my part.

DB And then you eased yourself into TV. How did that come about?
TB My modeling agents would talk to television agents all the time, and they would tell me they were getting calls for me to audition for stuff, and asking if I wanted to do it.

DB What was your first audition?
TB It was for A Bronx Tale, to play Jane, the black girl who Taral Hicks wound up playing. I was told to go in and read, which I had never done before, and I didn’t know what that meant really. I go in there and start reading the script—literally! ‘Jane walks into the room with a confident attitude. She turns towards so and so…’ And the casting director said, ‘Honey, have you ever done this before?’ After that experience I learned what reading meant, and auditioned for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I was 19 years old.

DB That looked like a fun gig.
TB I was really lucky to do The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I started modeling when I was 17 in Paris—I had graduated in June and went to Paris in September—but when I turned 19 that heroin chic thing happened, and all the supermodels weren’t working as much. So I was like, I don’t care ya’ll, I’m doing Fresh Prince. Sorry Calvin Klein isn’t looking at you anymore but I gotta go—Will Smith is on the phone.

DB Now you’re all over the damn TV. When you were 19 and living in Paris, did you ever think that you would one day be on TV every day, all day, in syndication?
TB Yes. I actually did know that.

DB C’mon!
TB It’s true. I did an interview in Milan once and they asked me what I wanted to do after I stopped modeling. I said I was going to have my own talk show, and that I was going to retire at 23, which wasn’t right because I retired at 32.

DB How did you become a producer to boot, instead of just another pretty talking head?
TB I wanted to be behind the camera, producing and writing, since I was nine years old. I got accepted to four colleges to study this seriously before this modeling career happened, so this wasn’t out of the blue. I was looking at UCLA, Loyola, USC.

DB Talk to me about Oprah, who I’m sure was an inspiration. You dedicated your first Emmy to Oprah.
TB Oprah saw something in me in this talk world before I did. I was a news correspondent on her show years ago, and I didn’t know then I was going to develop this type of talk show. I actually didn’t know that I could, that television would have a platform where I could teach girls things like self-esteem. I think she saw that for me before I did.

DB Oprah knows it all, doesn’t she?
TB She does. And I have to say that whenever someone says I’m the next Oprah, I always respond, Child, there’s only one Mahogany, and only one Oprah. There are no others.

DB Now you have a few Emmys. So tell me, when you were backstage at an Isaac Mizrahi show with Kate and Linda, did you ever say to yourself, ‘I want an Emmy.’
TB I never had that dream. That’s beyond. I thought I could have my own little TV show, maybe, but I didn’t know if it was going to be on public access. So the Emmy was shocking. I teared up a little on stage, but when I got off I had a breakdown with my crew.





DB Tyra, you deserve a little breakdown.
TB But it was the ugly cry.

DB Heidi Klum told Time that when she started with Victoria’s Secret you were always friendly and kind. I think it comes through on your show that you like to share your experiences and advice. Were you always like that?
TB I think it is my place on earth. I think I’m here to instill self-esteem in young women. I don’t have the best self esteem; mine wavers month to month, but I know how to pick myself up. My talk show is a place for that. And then on the modeling side, America’s Next Top Model is mentoring these girls and giving them their dreams. That’s why I loved when V called me to do the Mahogany shoot, and that you wanted me to play Carlotta Gavina, who gave Mahogany her dream.

DB You saw a parallel.
TB I was so into it. That’s why I was tired today. It was overwhelming in a beautiful way. With Mahogany being a black woman, it made me think about ANTM because there’s not one token black girl on that show. I’ll have four or five per cycle, which is unheard of in mainstream television. I’m not talking about Flavor of Love or something here. So just being on the Mahogany set I was like, Wow, this is great. This is empowering.

DB You’ve become close with other girls, too. Like Chanel Iman.
TB Yes! I spoke to her the other day. I think it’s important for me, as a black woman who has gone through everything Chanel will go through, to let her know that she can pick up the phone and call me any time.

DB Do you two talk on the phone often?
TB She’ll call when she needs something. I called her the other day just to check up on her.

DB Would you peg her as the next Tyra?
TB Our stories are so similar it’s a little scary. She grew up around the corner from where I did in Los Angeles, and for her to be doing so well in the fashion world, for her to be so close to her mom as she is—her mom has actually spoken to my mom, and I took Chanel and her mom out to lunch to spend time with them—this is important to me. I just sent a note to Jourdan Dunn the other day. I had sent a note to Sessilee, who is in the Mahogany story with me. My office stopped when we were booked together. We black girls have to stick together, and it’s my duty to reach out to them.

DB Did anyone reach out to you?
TB I’ll never forget when Beverly Johnson stopped me backstage at a show—I was probably 18—and gave me her home number, this was before cell phones, and told me I could call her whenever I needed. I ran into her a couple of months later and she offered to let me live in her house. I don’t even know if she remembers that, but I’ll never forget it.

DB Sisterhood.
TB I think it’s more motherhood now that I’m a little older, to be honest.

DB Do you ever miss the high fashion? The thrill of booking a big campaign or that backstage energy?
TB Yes and no. I have ANTM, so twice a year we come up with all these outlandish, crazy photo shoots. But what I do miss is a connection to high fashion, the people, the makeup artists and the designers, people who I had relationships with. So now I’m traveling backwards to the people who made me.

DB You’ve managed to straddle things too. You did Coors Light ads and became a Victoria’s Secret angel and did Cover Girl, but you also walked for Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint Laurent, and Michael Kors. It’s something few girls can do.
TB Look at Gisele. I think she’s one of the most amazing supermodels cause she does both. She will put on a swimsuit and look so hot and sexy and make every man want her—but women still want to buy the swimsuit she’s wearing. It’s rare. It comes around only every so often. Claudia Schiffer did a good job of that, Cindy Crawford did, I did.

DB Where did the pitch for America’s Next Top Model come from? Did someone come to you, or did you develop it?
TB I created America’s Next Top Model one-hundred percent. I was in my kitchen making tea one morning and I looked out the window and the idea popped into my head. I wanted it to be American Idol meets Ford Supermodel of the Year meets The Real World. When I told my agent he was like, “No one is going to watch that.” So I said, Screw you to the agent and went to a writer friend who connected me with some producers.

DB And then got a new agent.
TB Exactly. I got a new agent and I started working with a man called Ken Mok, who is the executive producer of Top Model.

DB But that one idea has spawned an empire. There’s Germany’s Next Topmodel, and Australia’s Next Top Model.
TB We’re in over 120 countries now, with my voice dubbed into different languages. Then we have over two-dozen format rights, where the show can go to another country and select its own winner. So we

DB And you own it all? All that dosh is coming to Tyra Banks?
TB Well, not one-hundred percent of it, but yes. That’s why when I see Heidi doing it I’m like, Yeah, Get it girl! Work it out!

DB The American version of the show has created some stars, but never a high fashion model. Are you okay with that?
TB That was a conscious decision. As we grow we’re going more high fashion, but when I created the show I knew the fashion industry had a certain intimidation factor. I wanted to show more normal-looking girls who we could transform into models. Were those the same girls who could walk into a modeling agency and get signed? No. But were those girls able to make another girl who’s 14 years old watching the show say, “Wow, I look like her, I can be a glamour girl too?” Yes. Now, as we move into cycle 10, the majority of our girls can walk into the industry and get signed, but they don’t know how. Like I said, I’m coming back to my roots and high fashion, but I need to keep that casting balance. I can’t make it high fashion all the way.

DB You’ve mentioned few tidbits of your personal life—I know you discussed your relationship with Chris Webber on your talk show—but you’ve been pretty good at keeping the good stuff private. For a lady who talks about anything, you haven’t aired too much dirty laundry.
TB What’s funny is that I probably air more laundry than most people in this business, on my talk show, on a daily basis, personal stories about pain and teenage sex—I reveal a lot. Sometimes I wonder if I’m revealing too much. But there are certain things that I don’t talk about, like my personal relationships.

DB You’re fairly scandal free too. I haven’t read about you hitting somebody with a cell phone.
TB I would say boring, but it’s probably a bad message to say if you’re scandal-free you’re boring, so I won’t say that. I just don’t go out, I don’t drink, my interests are just a little more normal. I like going to the movies, I love a movie marathon, and staying in the theater all day long.

DB Do you buy one ticket and sneak into all the other theaters? Or are you good and go out and get a new one for each film?
TB I’ll be honest. I used to buy one ticket and stay in that theater all day—until I started producing. Now I don’t steal music, and I don’t sneak into movies because I understand how it works. Before that though, child, I’d sneak in all day long.

DB Naomi Campbell was on your show not long ago, and y’all made up and became girlfriends. Was that just for the show? Do you two still keep in touch?
TB I had dinner with her maybe a few months ago, and it’s actually really refreshing to have that type of relationship with her. Before I was kind of scared of her. But after she came on my show it’s been great. I see her on the street in New York and I yell her name and she calls me over. I really do think it’s genuine.

DB I wish I could have been that tourist, walking down the street and seeing Tyra Banks yelling to Naomi Campbell.
TB It’s true! And then we went for dinner at a Brazilian restaurant. What’s it called? It’s really mass. I could not believe that Naomi Campbell wanted to take me to… Fogo de Chão! It’s that place that serves family style, and you tell them what meat you want and when you have enough meat you flip a sticker on your table over to red, which means don’t bring me any more meat. And flip it back to green for more meat. Yes, Ms. Campbell brought me to that place. “You’ve got to try it Tyra, you’ve got to come, you’re going to love it,” she told me in her British accent. I’m thinking she’s going to take me to the Waverly Inn, or something like that. But no.

DB You thought she was going to take you to Cipriani’s, didn’t you? And she takes you to the Brazilian McDonald’s.
TB Exactly. But you know what? It was good.

DB Are you planning on expanding the Tyra empire? More movies, shows, more behind the
camera? A magazine?
TB I’ve been approached to do a magazine—we’ve turned that down a lot, actually. I think things are more web-oriented now, especially for my demographic of young kids. It’s not like I’m going to give them fash-ion! V Magazine can give them that, darling; like those Mahogany pictures, you want to touch that, you want to hold that, you want to put that next to your bed and you want to pull that out and look at it. It’s a keepsake. It’s like art. And I feel like the things that people want from me won’t be that artistic. They want something that’s a quicker pace and more newsy. Something digestible.

DB What else are you working on?
TB Well, we have Bankable Productions on the west coast, which is housed on the Warner Bros. lot. And then we have Bankable Enterprises in New York City, which you’ll probably hear more about in a year. That company is more corporate, dealing with things that are not television or film-based.

DB But you do have things coming up. I read that you’re doing a show with Ashton Kutcher.
TB I’m so excited about that! I can say it’s a show dealing with looks, and I’m not the only model working on the show. Ashton was a model too. People forget that. In meetings you can see the beauty in his face. Those cheekbones! His skin is like a 2-year-old baby’s butt! It’s crazy. I’m like, Do you have a pore? Cause I don’t see them. He’s absolutely beautiful, but so unassuming, and sort of awkward in a cool way.

DB How were you two producing together?
TB He’s a real producer—not a vanity producer; a lot of people in the beginning thought I was a vanity producer, so when I first met him I asked, Are you a vanity producer? Cause you’re really pretty. And you’re an actor and you’re funny, so maybe you don’t know what a producer does. But he does. He just called a meeting the other day to lock down the look and feel of the show we’re doing, like the type of film. He’s very detail-oriented, the real deal.

DB But Ms. Tyra, we’re worried about your personal life.
TB Why!

DB You were recently named the hardest working celebrity in show business, beating Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Seacrest and Puff Daddy. Aren’t you a tad too busy?
TB I am busy as heck, man. No, I’m busy as hell! You can put that.

DB Say it, Tyra!
TB I’m busy as H. E. double L. But it is so important to take time for you and I don’t think enough busy women do that. I go to the spa; I love reflexology. I love body scrubs and when they throw water on me like I’m a wild animal in the field. I don’t work on the weekends; I go to the movies on the weekends.

DB Last question: while it looks like you’re doing it all, what’s left on Tyra’s to-do list?
TB I look up to Martha Stewart, and I love that she has product lines that are true extensions of her brand. Bankable Enterprises is definitely looking into launching into different types of products, but products that don’t insult the audience. I want to make sure it’s real stuff that girls can really appreciate, and that will make their lives better, easier, and more fierce!

DB So will I be trading my Martha Stewart pillow for a Tyra Banks pillow?
TB Nah, I don’t think you want to sleep on a Tyra Banks pillow.

DB Will I use a Tyra body wash then? A Tyra Banks protein pack on my hair,?
TB I don’t know if you want my body wash either, child. I have some ideas though, I just can’t tell you what they are. Yet.

DB Okay, keep your secrets, Tyra.
TB You’ll find out soon enough.
"


must I say again, I did not edit or alter this interview by Derek, with Tyra. I copied and pasted it from www.vmagazine.com I wanted you to read how much game Tyra is giving about her success and everything so make sure you read everything.



DDLS

Friday, October 3, 2008

John Legend wow come on kid!!!!!!!! how u get hard on stage . . .

Wow, this video I had to put on here for the women and for you men who like men! but anyways.... I had to blog this . . . this is mad funny.










ps... I feel you though she is kind of thick!


DDLS

Why is people tripping on USHER!?!

Okay, I had to blog about Ushers' new music video called "Trading Places." A lot of people are already calling him disrespectful! saying that the video disrespects his wife. Well, Usher I got your back on this! I feel that the video is fresh. What you do in music video is all work and business. A lot of people need to understand that, Usher makes his money from singing and being in front of a camera, and what he does on set is his JOB! So let the man breath and work!





DDLS