CASIE STEWART
THIS IS MY LIFE • BLOG EST. 2005
LIFE

The 7 Vices of Highly Creative People

The 7 Vices of Highly Creative People

An oldie but  goodie, came across this again while cleaning up old bookmarks. The article blog post was originally published on Salon in February, 2000. THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND. I was born a creative person and at times I’ve wondered if my vices are helping or hindering. It gives me comfort that many of the greats were open about their vices too. This list is a pretty good one, you’d enjoy the whole article on Salon too I’m sure. The 7 Vices of Highly Creative People Drinking – For [Winston] Churchill, like many other great drinkers, alcohol was a tool used to feed creativity and social discourse.  Smoking – Smoking has often been linked with creative genius. Gabling – The world is full of stories of highly creative people whose success was based on the big gamble. Oysters – Certain foods are frequently associated with highly creative people. None more so than the oyster. Fashion – The highly creative always choose their wardrobes with a more consistent flair. Sex – The sexual appetite and prowess of those possessed by creativity can’t be argued. Abuse the Card – The highly creative travel an expensive road, and the best way to stay between the yellow lines, or at the very least keep food on your table, is to Abuse the Card. Here’s to the crazy creative ones! Love to know if you have any to add to the list below? LMK in the comments or Twitta. <4 CRAZIE CASIE

View Post

Related Posts

LIFE

You Never Know What The Day Will Bring

You Never Know What The Day Will Bring

I don’t really know what has me so angry today. On this day last year I was in Boston and we stayed at the Lenox Hotel right by the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I stared at the ceiling in bed last night thinking about how I always stay in Boston till Monday when I go. Last year I missed the race and would have probably been there at the finish line. I think that’s the closest I’ve ever been to a terror attack. Except the time there was a bomb on my plane in New Zealand and I was 12. Friends I knew who were in the race are ok. I’m a pretty positive person and always remind people to look at the bright side but man, I’m really thankful today. More than usual. The saddest thing for me yesterday was a text from Dad asking if I was in Canada. It brought a tear to my eye, imagine his thought hearing the news and not knowing where I was? Heartbreaking. The whole thing is so crazy. I saw that there was a suspicious package at JFK today too. Freaks me out. I love travelling. You can’t be scared but it’s hard not to let it get in your thoughts. I got myself some daffodils for my desk and took me out for a nice pasta lunch at One of a Kind. I think I just needed a moment to give my brain a break. The rain doesn’t help but I love this yellow jacket from Gap Kids. I’ll call Mum in a minute, she always makes me smile. Tell your friends and family you love them. You never know what the day will bring. <3 CASIE

View Post

Related Posts

LIFE

‘Survival of the Fittest’: My TechVibes Interview on Blogging

‘Survival of the Fittest’: My TechVibes Interview on Blogging

This week TechVibes, Canada’s leading online tech publication posted an interview I did during NXNE. Some quotes below, read the whole interview on TechVibes. ‘Survival of the Fittest’: Casie Stewart on Blogging ht.ly/bVl5t @casiestewart by @herbertlui — Techvibes (@techvibes) June 29, 2012 Thanks to Herbert Lui for a well written piece. His previous articles are with the Creative Director of TAXI, Harley from Epic Meal Time, and renowned speaker Stephen Shapiro. So, I’m in good company! IT’S NOT A WALK IN THE PARK “I think the toughest things are when you have no money; essentially, I am an entrepreneur, and I’ve built up my business around my life,” she admits, briefly alluding to her time on TV show Maxed Out. “I’m really super online, so people always think that I always have all these people around me, and we’re all like best friends. But when you’re a blogger, or you’re starting your own business by yourself, you spend a lot of time alone and at the computer,” she explains. “My life – yeah, a lot of times it is pretty glamorous and really fun, but – you spend a lot of time by yourself.” HOW DO ASPIRING VLOGGERS/BLOGGERS WIN ONLINE? “You need to do something every day that brings you closer to your goals,” Stewart advises. “When it comes to the internet, it is survival of the fittest. You gotta be the best, most consistent, you gotta stick at it…When I got home from the airport in Banff this morning, it was 4:30 and I published something on my blog about my panel today so I knew I could just get up and come here.” I mentally calculate that she’d gotten probably four hours of sleep, and marvel at the fact she just did a panel. On four hours, I would have been passed out by this hour…

View Post

Related Posts

Some things I learned at Strombo from David Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson, and Paul Giamatti. #Cosmopolis

Some things I learned at Strombo from David Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson, and Paul Giamatti. #Cosmopolis

I loved seeing the human side of these people. It was inspiring. Attending the show was great. I know George socially but I’ve never actually been to a live taping. This was the final show of his 8th season. Yesterday was a special friends & family presentation with the cast of Cosmopolis before they walked the red carpet at the Canadian première. I should have taken a pen & paper because I forgot I wasn’t allowed to use my phone. NOTE TO SELF. These actors made me think about myself, my career, my life. It’s really quite magnificent to be in the same room and hear them candidly speak about their lives, insecurities, and work. All photos by JJ Thompson. Thanks to the lovely Erin & CBC for sending right away. He was watching a clip of himself from a movie with Reese Witherspoon where he played a very small part. Despite making millions, five twilight movies and dating K.Stew (who is on the cover of Vanity Fair July 2012), he’s lacks confidence, security.  He was modest and slightly soft spoken. He said he avoids the media because he doesn’t really know what to say and he isn’t that smart anyways.  I imagined him to be more, more strong. He was undoubtly charming and his accent had my eyes light up with hearts like an old Loony Toons character. Tempted to rush the stage, I held back. Safe to saw, I was swooning. The way Rob sat in his chair vs. David Cronenberg showed a lot about their characters. Cronenberg, a seasoned and incredible film maker, sat back in his chair, open body language, head held high while R.Patts was the opposite. George asked David Cronenberg if anyone ever tells him “it should be done this way” or “do it like this”, he paused before answering…

View Post
Fashion

Picking the Right Glasses, for Your Face!

Picking the Right Glasses, for Your Face!

I’m a huge fan of wearing glasses. They’re a statement piece for your face and can change a somewhat boring outfit into something with a lot more style. I’ve had glasses since my first eye checkup in high school. They were my first ever high end designer item too. I saw a pair of Gucci frames before I went in to get my eyes checked, as we were wrapping up my appointment the doctor told my my eyes were near perfect. You think a girl would be happy about that, no, I wanted those GUCCI GLASSES! Fortunate for fashion, I was able to get them in the weakest possible prescription and Mum & I went home happy after placing the order. Now that I’m grown up (sounds so weird to say that, but anyways) I have to get my own glasses. A good price and easy shopping experience are important. Yesterday I chatted with Derek Derek Desierto’s about his top picks top picks for the spring and summer. Derek is a Canadian celebrity eyeglass stylist and the in-house designer for Clearlycontacts.ca. Listen here: Derek styled my face with the handy Virtual Mirror I told you about in January.  In our short talk I learned that you should pick glasses that are the opposite shape of your face ex. square face, round glasses etc. These are a few of his latest designs w/ Clearly Contacts. Any guesses which ones I picked before looking two inches down the page? (Worst guessing game ever, I know) I went for the fashionable & feminine Birch: They should arrive next week and I will do an unboxing & try them on for you style like I did last time. Follow Derek & I on Twitter at @mrdesierto & @casiestewart.  Check out this TOTALLY rad commercial for HTC that…

View Post
Music

YOU ARE ONLY OLD IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT.

YOU ARE ONLY OLD IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT.

Remember how I always tell you “you’ll never again be younger than you are today, so do something awesome”? Last night I experienced that in full force and I am going to tell you about it. I was feeling meh and tired sitting on the couch writing about how I didn’t feel like blogging when Sean asked me to come to a music video shoot.  It was over at midnight so I got dressed, put on some makeup and went. Being in videos is fun and I’m s sucker for being on camera. These guys are the band. They’re called Shit From Hell, they’re all successful lawyers/businessmen and around 50. Yes, 50. The crazy thing about one of them “Ritalin Boy” (second from left) was having open heart surgery in the morning. Like, NOW, while you are reading this he is on an operating table with doctors in his chest. He had to be at the hospital for 6am. OPEN HEART SURGERY. They rolled him out in a wheelchair with hot nurses and a drip bottle of Jaegermeister. So badass. I was surprised at how entertained I was by their performance, I’m not a punk music junkie but I love a good live show. They exuded a comedic confidence you don’t see in younger bands. Some of their songs are “Horny Single Mom, F*ck Buddy, Super Poke, Onterrible dedicated to MP Tim Hudak (whom they detest), and Double Bubble Trouble inspired by the bubble girl at the G20 last year. They had a full on industrial bubble machine too. They made me think about getting older, we’re always getting older. Now. Now. Now. Oop, there slips another moment of your precious life. Don’t waste it people.  You never know what is going to happen from one day to the next. So, why waste time feeling like crap, being lazy, grumpy or old? If these guys can rock a…

View Post

Related Posts

LIFE

Start Something Big: RogersTV @ 8:30pm CH 10 & 63

Start Something Big: RogersTV @ 8:30pm CH 10 & 63

I asked the team at RogersTV to give me a screen shot from my episode of Start Something Big that airs tonight on CH10 and CH63 at 8:30pm EST. Pretty cool eh? Looks so complicated. There are heaps of components when putting together a show for TV. I sat down with the Start Something Big team about a month ago and the reason I think you will like this segment is that I talk about how I got here, before internet. I was really involved in my community, social and media in high school which was the foundation I built my current career on after university. I had lots of inspiration from my parents and family who always encouraged me to be myself, no matter how different I was from other kids or what outfit I was determined to leave the house in. (This happened often!) They also filmed part of a panel I spoke on during Social Media Week (Building Valuable Social Features into your Web and Mobile Applications) in The Burroughes building and talked to a few friend who’ve known me for a while. I have no idea what they said and have not seen the episode.  I hope you can tune tonight and if not, the episode will be online eventually.  There’s a short one minute interview with the producer Neresse on the ol’ YouTube here. Enjoy the day. Remember, you are younger today than you WILL BE AGAIN. Make the most of it. Do something. I’m going to attempt to clean beautify my room and have a productive work day. TONIGHT on Start Something Big! we have Raia Carey and Casie Stewart on @RogersTVToronto at 8:30pm CH 10 and 63!! @Rai_Raii @casiestewart — StartSomethingBig! (@start_big) March 27, 2012  

View Post

Related Posts

FREE AND HAPPY AND ALWAYS IN LOVE

FREE AND HAPPY AND ALWAYS IN LOVE

It’s warm enough to work fromt he patio today. I’m catching up on emails and business etc. It’s crazy how I missed home near the end of SXSW and now that I’ve been back for all of two days, I can’ty wait to travel again. I’m off to Windsor for a press tour Thursday and Friday and might be in Montreal for a few days next week. I love that the weather here is warm already, I might go to the island this week and work on my tan. Caught a beauty sunrise this weekend. Now that we’re into spring I’m trying to get up earlier, exercise more and get off the computer and GO OUTSIDE. Even if it’s just for a little jaunt each day. This weekend I brought out my ta[ shoes and put on a little show. It’a amazing how those skills never leave! I danced for 10 years as a kid going to competitions across Ontario and in New York & Myrtle Beach. I loved it so MUCH. This week I start rehearsals for a cabaret I’m in at the end of May. Think I’m gonna go see Grimes tonight at Horseshoe. She’s a young, punky, hipster babe from Montreal. This vid is rad cause she’s surrounded by all these jocks. I’m into it. Show is $10 and doors are at 8pm. If you wanna join me, you’re totally welcome. Have an awesome day! Remember… YOU ARE YOUNGER TODAY THAN YOU WILL EVER BE AGAIN, DO SOMETHING FUN!

View Post
Writing

DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH

DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH

Morning! I’ve been added as a speaker to a second panel during Social Media Week and this one is probably the most personal talk I’ve even agreed to take part in. It’s about to get deep, we’re talking ANXIETY. One of the things that gives me the most anxiety and possibly you too, is not having money. I’ve gone through lots of ups & downs in my life and I don’t come from money so all I have, is all I’ve earned. When I returned from Australia I was so skinny from living on next to nothing I looked like Nicole in her anorexic days, not by choice. It’s hard to carve out a way to get paid for what you love doing. Especially as a creative person. Last summer I wrote a post about how you can’t pay me in chips or chocolate bars. I got sick and tired of people asking me to do work for them in return for things I don’t need. What would I do with a bunch of chips & chocolate? I go to the gym for a reason! Helloooooo. If they (whoever is asking) are getting a paycheque and are asking me to do work, I should get paid too. You wouldn’t believe some of the extreme things I get asked to to in return for ‘publicity’. I turn down way more than I accept. (That’s not to say I don’t love getting a few freebie’s along the way!) Lauren posted this video that’s an excerpt from an upcoming documentary on Harlan Ellison, “DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH“. He’s an excellent writer and inspiring man. I’m sure you will enjoy it. My startup disk is full so I’ll be spending the afternoon moving TO THE CLOUD. Have a spectacular day. It’s lovely & sunny in Toronto 🙂

View Post

Related Posts

You can’t fly with the eagles if you’re with the seagulls.

You can’t fly with the eagles if you’re with the seagulls.

Title is advice from Mum. She said that to me a few years ago when I was trying to sort out where I wanted to go with my life. I always thought I wanted to work in fashion, then I did. After that, I thought wearing a suit, working long hours and being part of the downtown financial district was my dream. I stayed in that job as an IT recruiter having meetings at 8am (yeah omg, it was hell) and 2pm every single day. I hated it so much (job not the people!). One day my boss said “Casie, it doesn’t seem like you are having fun?” I replied “No, I’m not having fun at all. I badly want to quit but I need two weeks pay”. I left at the end of that very day, cheque on the way and started a job at Toronto’s most famous Kiwi restaurant shortly after. I knew the owner (HI MARTIN) and that because of my Kiwi citizenship I had a bloody good chance of getting hired. Working in the bar gave me the freedom (and same money TBH) to do what I wanted with my time. It was stress free and I loved chatting to the regulars and new customers. I worked at Hemingways for a few months and met some really rad people, it was like a family there. One of my recruiter friends sent me on an interview and moved into a job in IT. I worked for an online casino (it was cool, we had catered lunches) for two years and despite almost getting fired for doing it, worked on my blog A LOT. If my old boss reads this he will totally be shaking his head. Thanks Mike! When they caught on to all my blog activity, I decided…

View Post