2011 gave us some great stuff. Here, Audrey Magazine’s Florence share her picks of the year’s Best Blogs.
I have pretty horrible fashion sense and not much creativity when it comes to putting an outfit together. This makes it easy for me to appreciate those with their own unique sense of style. Rumi Neely has just that. Neely is able to put together the grunge and glamour of high-end, commercial and vintage pieces with ease. Not only are her fashion choices inspiring to look at, but Neely, who is of Japanese, Dutch, and Scottish is gorgeous as well. Since its’ birth in 2008, FashionToast has become an influential digital montage of high-res photos of Neely modeling her effortlessly chic style, while letting readers in on her purchases, travels, and adventures. Continue Reading »
“I’m very blessed. “I think that’s what people’s goals in life should be. Do what you love and get paid for it.” — Jared Eng
ISSUE: Summer 2011
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Janice Jann
The face and brains behind the beloved Hollywood gossip blog is anything but Just Jared.
Jared Eng doesn’t sleep much. “Hollywood is 24/7. There’s always something going on,” says the 28-year-old Chinese American. “So I go with the flow.” It’s that mentality that earned Eng’s popular celebrity gossip blog, Just Jared, millions of devoted readers, top- ping Yahoo!’s Blogger List.
What sets Just Jared apart is that, in an increasingly mean-spirited Internet age where every celebrity humiliation is documented, Eng refuses to say anything but exuberantly positive things about his site’s subjects. “I don’t really diss people,” says Eng. “I’m just presenting news.” The news may be light fare like Cameron Diaz grabbing Starbucks or Zac Efron’s mustache, but the site is influential enough for shows like Entourage to reference and for publications like The New York Times to profile.
Eng’s ascent as the blogosphere’s King of Nice took time. “Growing up, there weren’t any aspirations to be a blogger,” he says. His strict upbringing didn’t help — he wasn’t exposed to pop culture until he entered Columbia University. “I fell in love with stars,” Eng remembers. “Jennifer Garner from Alias. Britney Spears. I would watch her video frame by frame so I could learn her choreography.” Eng started Just Jared simply to share his interests. The blog didn’t have the same initial take-off as some of Just Jared’s more sardonic counterparts, but that didn’t bother Eng. “Personally, I have a very apathetic personality,” Eng laughs. “I don’t really get mad at things. I liked what I was putting out. In the long run, it’s paying off.”
It sure is. Just Jared is now developing a younger sister site, Just Jared Jr., and with more than five full-time staff, including Eng’s older brother who runs the business side, Eng is working on expanding the JJ brand. Though that means even less sleep, you won’t find Eng complaining. “I’m very blessed,” he says. “I think that’s what people’s goals in life should be. Do what you love and get paid for it.”
— Janice Jann
More stories from Audrey Magazine’s Archives here. Jared also posted about Audrey Magazine at JustJared.com!
From cult status as co-host of G4’s Attack of the Show, to prime-time star on NBC’s Perfect Couples and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, modern day Wonder Woman Olivia Munn has transformed from geek goddess to the new thinking man’s woman.
ISSUE: Spring 2011
DEPT: Cover Feature
Photographer Emily Shur
Wardrobe Monica Schweiger, monicaschweiger.com
Styling assistant Victoria Collins
Hair Jonathan Hanousek for Exclusive Artists/Kerastase
Makeup Amy Oresman
Location Pete’s Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Story Janice Jann
Since I will probably never be famous enough to incur his wrath of pink nose squiggles and vengeful name-callings, I’ll just go ahead and say it: I have never been a fan of Perez Hilton. With a successful gossip site built solely on meanness, I realized a couple years ago that I can at least do my part to not spreading his nastiness around the world by not reading the site. So I didn’t touch it from then on.
Instead, I grew increasingly attracted to another site also making its money from celebrity news but told from a perspective of compliments and celebrity reveries, Justjared.com. It was the anti-Perez Hilton, if you will.
Because I am also a true teenybopper at heart, I was equally as delighted to find that Just Jared had a sister site for the Hannah Montana set called JustJaredJr.com. Squeal!
It was great to read the The New York Times finally shed some light to this star-studded celeb site in their recent article, “Nice-Guy Bloggers Needn’t Finish Last with a profile of the site and its founder, Chinese-American Jared Eng. The article discusses how the 28-year old Mr. Eng came along way from studying computer science at Columbia University to a mini-blogpire which includes five full-time employees and a company which “easily going to gross seven figures” this year.
Take that, Perez!
-Just Janice
