At 36,  some models look to be a bit more discreet but Heidi is holding nothing back.  Here are a few pictures from Allure magazine’s April edition.  Enjoy….

Whipped Cream

Heidi wears something "light".

Heidi goes for something snug.

Heidi's not afraid to throw her weight around.

American Apparel wants you to buy this....

There is no mistaking American Apparel advertising with anyone else. (Unless of course impersonation is the goal). It  creates and prints its own advertisements with an obvious provocative edge.  Their image  is inspired by the company CEO Dov Charney.

Their print campaign is  considered to be some of the best in the retail industry and also the most  sexually charged.  The models often go without make-up and a minimal amount of clothes except for the item being sold. …like panties or a workout leotard.  Their blemishes, imperfections and often waife-like body types are what distinguish American Apparels ads from the rest.  Concern that the company is “sexualizing” under age models have led to a few bans.

Many of the models in American Apparel’s overtly sexual advertising are recruited by Charney and his marketing department.  Plucked from the street, the adult film industry or literally working in the company’s stores, the models are immortalized in grainy, poorly lit photo spreads  Some critics have labeled their models as “cocaine-chic”, and “pre-pubescent” (though Charney and American Apparel confirm that all their models are consenting adults just looking to sell a few tee-shirts).

The Daily Helping would like to provide a closer look at American Apparel’s ad style and offer two venues. One is the year old compilation put together by the website StyleCrave.com. They offer up what was at that point, the 50 Sluttiest American Apparel ads to have graced magazine, billboards or bus kiosks.

American Apparel has also provided an online archive for their models, both male and female and so if you’re a true fan of the company, you may have found yourself a personal favorite.  Valaria, for example may have wowed you with her “printed tank thong bodysuit” but her photo spread with the “Oversized Raglan cycle shorts” may come as a wonderful surprise.

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, & Thomas McCarthy, Up

Adapted Screenplay
Neil Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci, & Tony Roche, In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Foreign Language Film
Ajami (Israel)
El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Before the film opens, there is an unabashed effort to educate those non-science fiction oriented movie goer. Going beyond Star-Wars-like technology, Avatar is an ambitious foray into fantasy, and could very well alienate those who are not nerds.

That’s why you can find a lot of information about the film online. Ordinarily a film like this might be cloaked in secrecy in order to provide a powerful visual punch. Cameron and his team believe that the punch will not only be there…but that the entire film experience will set an entirely new standard for special effects and storytelling.

With such a confident attitude ahead of the film’s release, Avatar’s PR machine is providing background on the movie. Using one the few familiar faces in the film, Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Ghostbusters), they provide this revealing little introduction without fear of “giving away the good parts”.

The New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has a very exciting retrospective underway.  It’s the comprehensive film and artwork collection of the brilliant director,  Tim Burton. The show opened on November 22.

Burton’s bizarrely imagined films have an instantly recognizable style and feature characters that are more folklore.  He is an artist first…and it shows in everything that he does. MoMA’s exhibition “Tim Burton” shares never- seen before pieces of artwork that date back to the artist’s childhood.

Sketches, paintings, maquettes, storyboards, moving-image works, puppets, costumes, and cinematic ephemera comprise the more than 700 works that will be on display at MoMA.

A retrospective of key films directed and produced by Burton will be shown during the exhibition include The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Sweeney Todd. A comprehensive list of film works that inspired and influenced the director will also be on show.

Highlights and popular items from the exhibition will be featured on a dedicated website along with an interactive presentation of many of Burton’s works. The website, located at MoMA.org/timburton.

Tim Burton will run from November 22, 2009 until April 26, 2010 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art before travelling to the Australian Center for the Moving Image in Melbourne, Australia  (June 24 to October 10, 2010) and The Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Canada (November 22, 2010 to April 17, 2011).

It's ok to use your fingers.

Check out this wonderful portfolio at Coed Magazine Online. Just click here.

Apparently the American farmer isn’t the only one who plays with his food.  A visit to Japan and it’s remarkable rice fields now sets the bar pretty high.  Every year some ambitious Japanese farmers plant rice in spectacular patterns, utilizing different kinds of rice for color.  Apparently it’s only in September when the rice is due to be harvested that the pictures achieve their true beauty.  Check out these fields and the close up pictures of the shifting rows of color.

The DailyHelping hopes you enjoy it.

Jill has written a lot of songs over the past ten years and has put out five albums, but this one is her first on her own label, Pinko Records. It’s produced by the great Don Was. The recording, promotion and publicity for this album came directly from contributions by her fans to the tune of $86 thousand dollars.

This is not a music video for the faint of heart, but then this isn’t about Tony Bennett’s ” San Francisco.