Here I sit.

So I haven't written in awhile. I'm sorry. It's Monday night and I'm at work (tv station) waiting for stupid Monday Night Football to get over. I have to do audio for the 11 o'clock news (or in our case the 1am news). The sad part is I have to be right back in here at 3:30am to do audio for the morning news. I feel at times all I do is push buttons here. Mic the anchors, bring in nats, hit the close music. It's so much like the guy down the street pushing buttons at the factory. People say "Wow you work at a televison station, that's so cool!" At times I think about this, and is this all my life has amount to at 25. There has got to be more. I believeAmore is my escape from reality. It's more of a fantasy. One where I can live out my dreams and desires. It's the one thing I have 100% control over. No higher ups, no suits, just me and a great team of believers that I respect.

Is this a joke?

Please take a look at this website and tell me its not a joke? OMG What is this world coming to? What non-sexual people come up with stuff like this? http://www.wholesomewear.com/ . Why is this country still so repressed?

An Open Thank You Letter for the Amore Lingerie Ball

First of all I want to say as a “party goer” I believe I speak for everybody, I had a blast at the Lingerie Ball. The atmosphere I wanted to create when I first dreamt up the idea for the ball I believe we perfected. It was a fun, classy, sexy, unique themed night. It was also by far one of, if not, the best nights for Portland nightlife.
 
The club was packed, the people came early, and there were plenty of girls in lingerie. I was amazed to see the turnout of “local girls” that did come wearing lingerie. Our core group of girls that Misty did a great job coordinating looked “beautiful and classy”, as commented to me by so many at the party. Misty please pass my many thanks along to all the girls. The club really looked great with the fabric and lights we draped over the columns, and the balloons we put up (not to mention the lingerie outfits we hung throughout the club).
 
There is so many I want to thank. First the sponsors, The Portland Phoenix combined with the radio station plugs was tremendous. Of all the people who attended that I asked, “How did they hear about the ball?” All had mentioned either through seeing the Phoenix ad and/or the radio spots on Q 97.9 and The Bone. It was these advertising sources that really brought the people in the club that night.
 
Both lingerie shops Nomia and Midnight Boutique were very accommodating to the girls in helping them look hot! Gina at Nomia tagged out all her radio ads during The Howard Stern Show promoting the ball. She was also on hand the night of the ball to display and sell some of her products.
 
Jimmy and Shane at Club Bourbon St., you not only have the classiest club in town, but the best staff as well. All the bouncers and bartenders were friendly, funny, and accommodating to all that attended. I was impressed by the professionalism of the staff, and both of you have a lot to be proud of. The lady bartenders also looked great in there lingerie. Please pass the thanks along to your whole staff for me.
 
Thanks to Thomas Hopkins for taking some really great photos of the party (which I’ll post on AmoreMag.com later this week). He also allowed us to raffle off a free four-hour portfolio to one lucky lady.  
 
Also, thanks to my sister Karen for designing the print ad, posters, and flyers that we covered the town with. The two long nights and hours her and I spent putting it all together really paid off. She is one of the best graphic designers.
 
The Day’s Jewelers diamond giveaway was also a big hit. Girls were asking me all night if I was one of the Mr. Diamond guys. Which I wasn’t complaining! (Usually I’m the one having to approach girls at a club! lol) The girls really got into the contest.
 
This party we all threw for the first time in Maine together was one that most would like to be able to build up to, not be able to put on the first time around. The team that was assembled, from the advertisers, lingerie sponsors, the club, and the talented people that put the whole thing together is the best in Maine. No question in my mind. We most certainly have created an annual event for Portland and Bourbon St. If we all work together again I believe we can continue to create unique nightlife events with as great success as we had with the Lingerie Ball. My only doubt is how will we top next year’s ball after this one?
 
At Amore we want to continue to define the “modern couple”. Its sexy & sophisticated events like this that take us there. We hope you all share in our continued success. I'm a dreamer. I hope you are to. If we all work together all our dreams can come true.
 
Cheers!
 
Laurent Gilbert
AmoreMag.com

We Did It. The Lingerie Ball was a huge success. I will be posting very soon some pictures up on AmoreMag.com. If you were there I hope you had a blast. I know the girls and lady bartenders looked hot in there lingerie. More details of the night when I have more time (hopfully later today). At work doing audio for the morning show right now. I am so tired after partying till the early morning hours of Sunday I took at nap and worked all night last night, and back here at work doing the morning show with no sleep...

A tired but still happy... Cheers!

Amore is Born

Jessica and Zach make a great couple. This picture defines what my magazine, Amore is all about. My dream is to take Amore from an online magazine, to a national glossy publication. Amore has great potential to become a global brand. Each and every American has a chance at the American dream. For many it’s college, marriage, kids, and living in a house with a white picket fence. My American dream is something different. Something I believe to be a bit more complicated. I want to build the Amore brand. One that will be a universally known, “it will happen” I keep telling myself. It will happen. So I press on calling, e-mailing, visiting, writing, plugging, and talking about my dream Amore.

It all started back in high school for me. I remember walking through a book store and seeing the second issue of Maxim ever in the U.S. I still remember the cover with Gina Lee Nolan on it. I picked it up and looked through the pages. I remember thinking what a great men’s magazine. The girls (many) are hot. The articles are funny. This is something I could really start to get addicted to (and look at) every month. And so I did, I read and looked and thought.

Skip ahead two years and I am in college a communications major at the University of Southern Maine. Working part time for a television network affiliate with my passion being media. Study theories in communication really had me interested in this whole interpersonal thing. The theories on males and females and how they differ, then it came to me. I love men’s magazines, I love girls, and I love to go out with girls. Wait, they are so complicated.

“Wow, look at all these books on love and relationships. Look at all these DVD’s on better love, and sex even. I think I’ll watch t.v. Spike TV sounds like a good channel it’s a channel for guys. What’s this Blind Date or Shipmates? I think I’ll change the channel oh no it’s WE, what show is this? Single in the City? Ok I’ll stick with music for now I like music. MTV. Nope it’s Loveline on. Wait, Loveline. Look at that, guys and girls are calling in asking an expert and a regular guy about love, sex, and relationships. It’s a successful radio turned tv show.

I got it, a couple’s magazine about love. It will be for people my age, in there 20’s in and out of relationships, trying to figure out what this game of love is all about. Rather then the girl next door, it could feature a couple next door. Look at all of America’s twenty some things watching people just like them go on dates and commenting on what the guy and girl are doing wrong. Look at all the twenty some things calling these Loveline guys asking all these questions about love and sex.

There are so many magazines for girls: Cosmo, Glamour, Vogue. Look at all these men’s magazines I read, Maxim, FHM, Stuff. Look at all the covers, they all seem to be about the same subjects: love, sex, relationships, health, fashion why isn’t there a magazine for both girls and guys? Even though we are two completely different species, we are so much alike when it comes to love. The same problems I am having when I go out with girls are the same problems my girlfriends are having with guys they date.

I will start that magazine. I will put it together, and it will be great with compelling articles that both guys and girls can read. Sexy pictorials like what I use to see in the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. I just need a name; something says what this magazine is all about, something that says sexy, and something that says sophisticated like the couples that will read it. I got it! Amore. Love is Italian. Amore magazine it is. It will be a lifestyle magazine for the modern couple.

So here it is 2003, one year out of college. A secret I had kept for nearly three years I finally reveal for the first time. I start to tell the world about my magazine concept called Amore. I start to build it out, and over the next year and a half I do. Finally it’s December, and a week before I am suppose to visit New York City I did it my dream AmoreMag.com is born, the same day as my 25th Birthday.

Part of the branding was also creating parties. So we did, our first sponsored event. The Some Like It Hot! swimwear runway show. Now ten months after launch on the eve of our first Amore Lingerie Ball I write this entry. The Amore Lingerie Ball, a concept I dreamt one night last winter. A concept that will become a reality, a party that will be the biggest, best, and might I ad the sexiest party Maine has even seen.

Yup, the future is looking pretty good. I’m just trying to do my part to make this world a better place to live, and of course love!

Lingerie Ball countdown

Only 2 days left until my Amore Lingerie Ball, so much to do and so little time. Last night we promoted the heck out of it at ladies night at Bourbon St. If anybody wants to be a part of the biggest, best party Portland, Maine has ever had then you will want to be there on Saturday night. I look forward to seeing all you party people at the ball, and oh yeah, stop by and say Hello!

Cheers!

Nobody Likes Jealousy, Just Like Nobody Likes to Degrade.

One of the fun things I enjoy about being the founder of Amore is I get to go out and promote the magazine. Today, I was a guest on D.J. Shades Presents on Bates College radio WRBC 91.5 FM in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine. One of the subjects he and I brought up while the tunes were spinning was the fact that so many relationships contain jealousy. I have asked several, what I consider “fashionable couples” to pose for Amore Lovers’ Lounge section. Often times the guy in the relationship will not let his girlfriend pose in a skimpy bikini and sexy lingerie, even if it’s with him. It’s too bad that a.) A girl will let their guy control them as much as they do, and B.) That there relationship is based on jealousy. I warn all the couples out there and I speak from observation. If you fit into either of the two points I made then your relationship will not last. Don’t believe me? You will when he trades up to a better-looking girl that will give him the time of day. For the fellas, eventually she will realize that your control over her is holding her back from doing what she really wants and will dump you for a guy that will let her do what she wants. If she is still with you, then she is lying about what you ask her. She knows you won’t like it and when women know the guy won’t like it, they lie.

Sure we are all jealous at one time or another. I have been very jealous of guys giving a girl attention when I am out on a date with a girl, but I don’t let that bother me. I use it as a test. You should to. If the girl is easily persuaded by another guy and ends up giving him more attention then you while you two are out, then obviously she really isn’t that into you

The healthiest and longest lasting relationships I have found were those built on trust. The couples that have posed for the Lovers’ Lounge are still going strong. As a matter of fact they fall more in love with each other each day.

Mackenzie & Jayson of the Amore Lovers’ Lounge section are a classic example. The same month they posed for our pictorial Amore cosponsored a swimwear runway show. Mackenzie being a seasoned model was one of the models walking the runway in a bikini. She was proud to be a part of an event that doesn’t degrade women, and celebrates the beauty of the female form.

One a related note.

My goal is not to attack religion because I believe in freedom of religion, but it just baffles me as to how some will make women cover from head to toe. Why? What purpose does that serve? It is repression similar to that, which I consider to be more degrading to women, then women wearing bikinis. The same people and organizations that repress are the same people and organizations that believe a woman wearing a bikini on the cover of a magazine is degrading.

I believe our creator put us on earth to appreciate all that was created. From the beautiful mountains and lakes, to rivers and oceans. That is why so many of us like to spend our vacations enjoying what the creator has given us. I respect nature. I don’t liter because I respect it. I do like to look at the beautiful mountains and lakes and oceans that we have. I like to take pictures of a sunrise over a mountain, so I can remember and appreciate its beauty. I like to appreciate the beauty of women as well. They should not feel ashamed to wear swimsuits or lingerie. I respect woman I would never degrade them. Wait! I do share a common belief with some religions. We both don’t like to degrade women. It’s just I don’t actually degrade them.

Looking for Ms. Wrong

It has been said by several theorists that every person comes with a love map. A love map refers to specific moments in your life in childhood that affect the type of person that you will become attracted to later on in life. Though, I have never been in a relationship in my life (I know, I know. I’m the founder of a relationship magazine) but one thing I am sure of is my love map. I am attracted to wild and crazy girls. You know the type I’m talking about, the girls you see late at night on the Girls Gone Wild infomercials. The girls that like to dress sexy and don’t care who look at them, the girls that don’t want a boyfriend, but several. That’s just the way it is. That’s what I like. It’s like a disease. You can’t help it.

Which leads me to a time last summer when I met a relationship/sex therapist for my magazine. Over lunch we talked about love and relationships and a bit about why we do the things we do when we fall in love, and also what makes us fall in love with a particular type of person. I told him my type and right after I told him he said, “I can tell you now if you follow along that path you will be guaranteed a divorce or two.”

So what am I to do? Try to fight my love map? I don’t think you can fight it. So far I haven’t and maybe that’s why I am still single. It’s not that I want a relationship right now, I am having too much fun and freedom by not being in one. I like being able to casually date as many girls as I want at the same time.

But wait! I like being able to do the same things that the girls I fall for like doing. How can I be the one to blame them? From the girls that I have liked, there average time with what they consider a “boyfriend” is a couple of months. Then it goes bad. How do I know this, you ask? Cause it’s about the same time every few months I start to see these girls out at bars again looking for their next “two month-er”.

I guess that’s all I was to them at the time I was with them. A “two month-er” I don’t know if it was they or myself that made things go badly. There they are, unhappy at the bar looking for “Mr. Right”, and then he comes. He’s Mr. Right for sixty-one days, and then he becomes Mr. Wrong.

I still feel young, and I don’t plan on getting married anytime soon. Not because I haven’t found the right girl, because I don’t want to get married. I’m not going to fight my love map and try looking for Ms. Right. I don’t want to meet her yet. I am having too much fun meeting Ms. Wrong(s), and that is just fine for me for now.

The thing is, is that these girls tell people they are “looking for Mr. Right”. Maybe these girls are kidding themselves by looking for Mr. Right. Maybe they should be looking for Mr. Wrong to find Mr. Right.

An anonymous person once said to me “You can’t help who you fall in love with, it just happens.” Boy, were they right! Why should I get married to Ms. Wrong? I just want to casually date her for a few months then move on to the next Ms. Wrong I fall for. Maybe that is how my love map is laid out for me. Is that so wrong?

My good friend (Dennis) from elementary and high school got married last weekend on Sept. 11th. I guess it was only fitting that they wed on that day. They both met in Italy where he was stationed in the Air Force, and she (Michelle) from Germany. I have known them as a couple over the past two years when he moved back to our hometown. They make a great couple. The nice thing is that they live the lifestyle that my magazine promotes. They like to go out (especially drink) and have a great time together. I have had the pleasure of going out drinking with them on several occasions. They are much in love! Seeing them last Sunday really made me feel that there can be 'true love' for some it just comes quicker then others.

I am not sure if any of you have heard about this new complaint, but appartently this old lady likes to walk inside a mall in her home state of Wisconsin for exercise. She saw what she considered an indecent display infront of Victoria's Secret. So she went back the next day took photos and then went into other stores such as Spenser's Gifts, and Sam Goody. She saw inside the shops what she considered objectional mataertial. Read the article ... http://www.onmilwaukee.com/family/articles/zurawski.html

Here is what gets me about this story. First of all the woman is walking inside the mall (a private property). The display was of a mannequin wearing a thong. A MANNEQUIN I said! A piece of plastic with a piece of cloth on it. Wow the world is going to hell now!!!

Then she walks into the back of other stores in the mall might as well attack every store since she's at it, and discovers that a place like Spenser's carry sex games and aids or what they considered "vulger!" Was this woman born yesterday? Hello? That's like saying, "I didn't know Playboy has pictures of nude girls in it!"

This lady needs to worry about herself, and if she thinks something in "vulger" in the mall then don't go there. Walk outside, or don't be so cheap and go to a gym.

P.S. The ironic thing about this whole story is that the lady is 69 years old! I find that vulger!

Hello and welcome to my first blog. This is a long time coming, and I know I'm behind the trend, but here it is. Here is a picture of me. I look happy don't I? I wanted to create a blog where I can praise the good people and things in life, and vent about that bad people and things. One of my passions is politics. So I will have pleanty to vent about on that subject. Just don't hold my ideas against me.

As many of you may know I founded an online magazine about love. I have a lot of theories on love. From time to time I will write about them. I encourage you all to chime in let me know that you think about them.

Also with working on the magazine comes a lot of "it it can go wrong it does". I work through it, and it all comes together great in the end. I have a lot of craziness in my life. I also work for WMTW-TV (ABC affiliate) here in Portland, Maine. Don't ask what I do there either. I do about five different jobs. Maybe I'll tell you about my life in tv land. There is always plenty on that subject.

Stay Safe

Smile

Cheers!