Daily Front Row

2012 December 7

Anja Rubik's Weirdest Pick-Up Spot, Formidable Shopper Streak, and Most-Loathed Read

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Anja Rubik
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(NEW YORK) Earlier this week, The Daily checked out from reality for a few hours to take in Playing For Keeps, the starry-casted rom com featuring Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, and Judy Greer, at a screening hosted by The Cinema Society and Chrysler. After some popcorn-addled quality time in the dark at the Lincoln Center 'plex, the crowd migrated south to the Dream Downtown's rooftop spread, PH-D, to afterparty it up, armed with cocktails spiked with Vikingfjord (try saying that a few times fast!), amid a crowd including Justin Timberlake, Padma Lakshmi, Rachel Roy, Ferm Mallis, and Girls' Zosia Mamet. The flick is a romp in the 'burbs where Butler's washed-up former pro soccer player character proves positively magnetic to the mostly married soccer moms on the sidelines of the kids' matches—so naturally, when your Daily chatted up mod Anja Rubik before the screening, we had to find out the oddest place she's been approached. Plus! Sage, and uncensored, holiday shopping pearls of wisdom courtesy of Rubik, and the book she simply can't stand...
BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV

The flick is mostly set at a somewhat unlikely pick-up spot. Where's the oddest place you've gotten cruised on?
Topshop in London! I've been picked up there by guys, and by modeling scouts. So if anyone wants to become a model, that's a good store to go to. 

Any particular departments?
When I'm in my shopping mode, I don't really see anyone else. But they just come out of nowhere. It's really strange. 

What do you look like in shopping mode?
I get really focused; I'm like The Terminator! I scan everything, and I'm really targeted. Especially when I'm Christmas shopping and am buying things for other people. It's not aggressive; I wouldn't beat anyone up for a T-shirt. 

Sounds like you're a pro holiday shopper!
I'm not the best, but I definitely try really hard. The trick is to really think about the person you're buying for. Don't buy stupid gifts! It's better not to buy anything than to buy something completely stupid. 

What are the dumbest gifts you've ever received?
I hate when people give me things for the kitchen. I do cook, but...ugh! Get someone something they would want, not something they would need. Christmas is the time to spoil other people. 

Which kinds of gifts spoil you the most?
I do love jewelry. And books. I always have a hard time picking out books, so my mom usually gets ones for me.  

What's the last book you read? 
I'm reading a Polish book right now, but before that I read that Diane Keaton biography. Before that, I read Fifty Shades of Grey. 

Did you like it? 
I'm very embarrassed I even said that! I thought [Fifty Shades] was terrible. I don't understand the whole fuss about it. I'm definitely not a fan! These books have existed forever; they're called Harlequins.