Friday, 14 August 2009

58th Miss Universe Pageant contestants

 
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Miss Bahamas, Kiara Sherman, leads a group of contestants from the 58th Miss Universe Pageant on a visit to Abaco, Bahamas. (Click image to enlarge) PRNewsFoto/Bahamas Ministry of Tourism

Vapour Organic Beauty

 
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Discover Vapour Organic Beauty www.VapourBeauty.com. (PRNewsFoto/Vapour Organic Beauty)

GAP PREMIUM JEANS

 
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Born to Fit: Gap Introduces America's Best-Fitting Premium Jeans. (PRNewsFoto/Gap Inc.)

Thursday, 13 August 2009

Join the Literati Movement

 
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Join the Literati Movement - www.iamliterati.com
Literati Clothing

Literati Clothing Launches New Line of Pop Culture Inspired T-Shirts

Literati Clothing, a new clothing line based out of Boston, Massachusetts, has launched a unique t-shirt line, which draws inspiration from popular culture, for both men and women. The new line artistically interprets lyrics through thought-provoking images. Literati's initial product launch features designs inspired by such artists as Ryan Leslie, Jay-Z, Gym Class Heroes, Nas, Fabolous and Whitney Houston.

(PRWEB) August 13, 2009 -- Literati Clothing, a new clothing line based out of Boston, Massachusetts, has launched a unique t-shirt line, which draws inspiration from popular culture, for both men and women. The new line artistically interprets lyrics through thought-provoking images.

Literati's initial product launch features designs inspired by such artists as Ryan Leslie, Jay-Z, Gym Class Heroes, Nas, Fabolous and Whitney Houston.

We are proud of Literati's recent success with its t-shirt line generating worldwide interest in such a short time. In the future, Literati will be expanding its inspirations to include, not only music, but poetry, comedy, movies and much more. "We are not a clothing company, but rather a brand that is inspired by words," said Literati Clothing's Head of Design Patrick Rhodes-Vivour. "We are proud of Literati's recent success with its t-shirt line generating worldwide interest in such a short time. In the future, Literati will be expanding its inspirations to include, not only music, but poetry, comedy, movies and much more."
One of the most popular designs in the women's line is the "Literati: Diamond Girl" t-shirt, which is modeled around the concept of Ryan Leslie's "Diamond Girl."

The t-shirt showcases a crest that incorporates two peacocks bowed gracefully in the presence of a peahen, which is represented by a diamond. The peahen and a diamond share a simple, yet brilliant elegance. The relatively simple colored peahen is desired by the brightly colored peacock. To win her affection, he displays his bright feathers. The display makes him susceptible to attack. Poetically, by displaying himself to attract her, he puts his all on the line.

The men's "Literati: Nookie Monster" t-shirt has become increasingly popular as well.. The t-shirt draws inspiration from Gym Class Hereos' song, "Cookie Jar." The front of the shirt depicts a person's inner "Nookie Monster," exposed by the female touch with the tagline "I am a cookie-holic." The back shows how one earns the name cookie-holic…always dipping hands in the cookie jar. The image depicts a creative twist - instead of cookies, seductive, female silhouettes are present.

All of the clothing is created, manufactured and printed in the U.S.A. Literati does not mass produce its clothing, thus making them limited edition and collectible. Literati produces high quality clothing to reflect the refined tastes of their customers.

Literati is a brand that describes itself as an elite group of people with a status acquired not by riches and material possessions, but rather a wealth of knowledge combined with a curiosity to attain, understand and appreciate all things inspired by words.

To learn more about Literati Clothing, please visit www.iamliterati.com.

Keri Hilson

 
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Keri Hilson performs as BET's next "Rising Icon". (PRNewsFoto/BET Networks, Fernando Leon)

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Gabonese model Gloria Mika starts a watch-group for transparency in Gabon elections

Gabonese model Gloria Mika talks about a watch network she has started for transparency in the Gabon elections.

PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 11, 2009)REUTERS - Gloria Mika, a Greco-Gabonese model living in Paris, put her modelling career on hold and is focusing her attention on the forthcoming elections in Gabon, expected sometime between the end of August and September 6, 2009.
Mika is campaigning for more transparency in the electoral process and is one of the founders of a watch-group called ''Guardian Angels of Gabon,'' she said on Tuesday (August 11).

The group is being actively promoted on internet forums like Facebook and Myspace for Gabonese citizens to come forward and express their views.

Mika also launched a petition through her page on Myspace.

The group demands that the forthcoming elections be postponed. They feel they were organised in a hurry, with some citizens not being able to register to caste their ballots.

"Apparently there are Gabonese people in Gabon who demonstrated and are complaining because they didn't have time to register. I think that we must not confuse speed with haste. We all want a President pretty quickly so that the country doesn't stay in this period of transition for too long. But I think we should also reflect and make sure that things are done in the best conditions," Mika said.

"Why are they bent upon this fixed date of the end of August, when everybody is on holiday? Maybe they think that the West won't necessarily have their eyes on Gabon and that they could do as they please and perhaps give way to a fraud? Why should there be a feeling of doubt in the air and sully the credibility and legitimacy of this election, if we are capable of doing better and really prove that we can organise a democratic election in Gabon," the model added.

The elections were called after Omar Bongo, Africa's longest-serving leader, died in June 2009.

The ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) nominated Bongo's son, Ali Ben Bongo, to run for presidency and opposition figures have expressed concern the elections will be neither free nor fair. They fear the elections will guarantee the succession of Ali Ben Bongo to the position his father held for more than four decades, during which he became one of Africa's richest men.

Mika echoes those concerns.

"I can understand that he is a little offended by the fact that he is being judged for being biased in these elections. I mean in terms of neutrality, one can do better. I absolutely understand that this bothers certain candidates. And not only the candidates, but the citizens of Gabon are also revolting and asking for the resignation of this candidate, even if he hasn't broken the law as such. If he presents himself as the candidate of a national consensus and aspires to listen to the people tomorrow, perhaps it would be better if starts listening to them today" Mika said.

So these days, Mika attends more political meetings than fashion shows.

On Tuesday, Ali Ben Bongo was expected in Paris and a political meeting had been organised by the Gabonese embassy in Paris. But Bongo cancelled at the last minute and was replaced by his spokesperson.

Mika, who is also studying communication in Greece, admits it's unusual to find models fighting for political justice. For the cosmopolitan young woman who lived in Gabon, Senegal, South Africa, the United States, Greece and France, her political commitment is also a way to keep in touch with one of her homes.

Wine-making flourishes in land of the Bible

Wineries, both large and small, are cropping up in Israel and are keen to raise their profile internationally.

ELLA VALLEY, OUTSKIRTS OF JERUSALEM REUTERS - The drink of biblical kings is being revived in Israel, with wineries keen to raise their profile internationally.
Wineries, both large and small, have cropped up throughout Israel, many of them on the sites of ancient vineyards, helped by modern techniques from the world's top wine-making countries.

"Two thousand years ago the eastern Mediterranean was the France and Italy of ancient times. Now in the last few years, the world of wine has learned that again the eastern Mediterranean, meaning Israel, is starting to make wines, world class wine," said Adam Montefiore, marketing director for Carmel

Winery, at a wine-tasting festival in Jerusalem this month.

Robert Parker, a well-known wine critic, heaped praise and points on some 40 Israeli wineries. Fourteen of them took more than 90 out of a maximum 100 points in Parker's rating system.

Weighing in with 93 points was the red 2003 Yatir Forest label from a Carmel subsidiary.

Founded by the Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, an early 20th-century Jewish philanthropist, Carmel is Israel's first and largest winery, owning about 40 percent of the country's wine market.

Along with 200-odd rival wineries in Israel, Carmel has been applying methods learned from France, Australia and California, to locally grown grapes.

"Even though Israel has been making wine for 5,000 years, we feel in the last 10, 15 years, Israeli wines are really making world class wines," Montefiore says with pride.

The vast majority of Israeli wines are kosher, a rabbinical seal that can stir up associations with the syrupy libations of religious rituals.

Yet Israeli wine critic Daniel Rogov says that kosher wines can be excellent.

"Today, you'll find that people are looking for Israeli wines that meet international standards and the good thing is we are actually producing wines like that," he says in an interview at a bustling wine store in Tel Aviv, Israel's business capital.

Montefiore says Carmel produces a range of wines both for those who want to "drink wine without tasting it" and for experts. Prices range from $10 to $100 a bottle. Half of his annual production of 15 million bottles is exported to the United States, Europe and Asia.

Founded in 2002, the family-owned Pelter winery in the Golan Heights benefits from the cool climate and water-rich terrain of the plateau, which Israel took from Syria in the 1967 war.

Sam Pelter, whose son Tal founded the winery after extensive wine-making studies in Australia, says he combines Australian techniques and technology with Golan grapes to produce his award-winning wines. They sell for between $18 and $50 a bottle, and are exported to the United States and Europe.

Pelter's best-known wine is Trio 2007, which took a double gold award at Finger Lakes competition in New York. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc grapes aged 14 months in French oak barrels, it has hints of fruit and cocoa.

Chris, a visitor from the United States attending the Jerusalem festival, described Trio 2007 as a "different and surprising" wine.

Other tourists also expressed surprise over the lightness of Carmel's red wines, and the sweetness of their whites.

"For my taste, (the red wine is) a little on the light side. I'm looking for a red wine that has the kind of body that I would find in, say, a good robust Australian red wine," said Malcolm Kessin of Atlanta, Georgia.

"All the sauvignon blancs I tasted are all sweet and in other countries, they don't tend to be sweet, they tend to be very dry," said Monica Letero, another foreigner.

But while Israel's wine industry is blossoming, Rogov says vintners have yet to sort out the best of Israel's 42 grape varietals.

"We have to find out which grapes are most suited to our particular sub-climates, different regions of Israel, et cetera, which is no sin," Rogov said. "Remember -- we're still young."

Tuesday, 11 August 2009

Never Judge Dancers by Their Dance Wear

It seems that barely a day goes by without a new club, bar or
restaurant opening in central London. A friend of mine who gets
invited to lots of these events because of his job as a reviewer
told me that he could easily attend up to 10 events a night if
he wanted to, such is the deluge of invites and press releases
that arrive on his desk on a daily basis. The fierce competition
for valuable press coverage and publicity means that the people
who organize these events have to constantly come up with new
and innovative ways to make their venue stand out from the
crowd. Often this equates to ever more lavish supplies of free
food and drink, but my friend reckons that the thing that
critics such as him always remember is good entertainment. In
fact, he attended an event recently where the quality of the
entrees paled into insignificance next to the impression caused
by the dancers and their dance wear.

The event in question took place at a new bar in the Covent
Garden area of England's capital city. Having received the usual
invites, he nearly went to another opening around the corner
before deciding he would rather go to a bar than a restaurant
that evening. When he first arrived at the venue it seemed like
there would be little to distinguish it from any other bar in
the city. There was the usual free food and drink, as well as
the inevitable – and somewhat tiresome – sprinkling of minor
celebrities (who add nothing to these events, according to my
friend): certainly nothing out of the ordinary, anyway. Until
the dancers took to the stage in their amazing dance wear, that
is.

Indeed, until this point in proceedings my friend was skeptical
that this bar would even make it until Christmas. In the
previous 12 months he had been to five launch events on this
same street and only one of those places was still up and
running. In fact, the building that played home to this new bar
had also played host to at least three different restaurants and
bars in the last five years. Just as my friend was about to
write it off as another soulless, generic bar, the dancers took
to the stage and changed everything. What immediately grabbed my
friend's attention was their dance wear.

Being something of a traditionalist, my friend was more used to
seeing dancers in ballet shoes and tutus. This was his first
experience of urban dance and, in-keeping with the rest of the
evening's events, he was immediately skeptical when the saw the
12-strong dance troupe take to the stage in their dance wear: an
array of baggy trousers, hooded tops and baseball caps, all
outrageously decorated with vibrant colours and graffiti logos.
His first thought was that in desperation, the event organizers
must have gone out onto the street and found a bunch of kids to
come in and liven up proceedings. But his prejudices were about
to be completely turned on their head.

What he saw on that stage was one of the most entertaining
performances he had ever seen. It was lively, engaging,
innovative and, most importantly, brilliantly choreographed. It
just goes to show that you should never judge a book by its
cover or, in this case, never judge a group of dancers by their
dance wear.


About The Author: For further information regarding our range
of leotards, please visit our website at
http://www.dancedirect.com

A new scent for women

 
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a scent by issey miyake. a new scent for women. (PRNewsFoto/Beaute Prestige International USA)

Pretty Wedding Champagne Flutes

One of the most honored and valued traditions at your wedding
will be the toast that your guests give to your health and
happiness in your new life with your spouse. This is a very
symbolic start to a wonderful life together and you should pick
out some great wedding champagne flutes that represent your
personalities, your bond together, and the things you want to
always remember during the rest of your life. You can pick
flutes that show off your decorative abilities and that will
really impress your guests when they see them displayed at the
head table. Champagne flutes can be a wonderfully elegant
addition to any decorations that you have picked out. Try using
some of these great items that you can buy very easily online at
discounted prices

Open Loop Heart Flutes:

These champagne flutes are exquisite in their simplicity of the
frosted glass top and the silver stem of the flute. Each flute
can be personalized with the initials of the couple to make them
even more memorable and symbolic of your bond. In the transition
area between the stem and the glass there is a silver heart
flourish that adds an air of romance and passion to the flutes
to remind you of what it's all about and to add some deeper
meaning to the toast and drinking of the champagne.

Crystal Ring Flutes:

These flutes are very stunning and sophisticated. The shining
glass stem offers a wonderful contrast to the clear glass at the
top. Between the stem and the glass is a ring of rhinestone
crystals to add that extra touch of beauty and decorative
flexibility. These can definitely be given as gifts to the
parents of the bride and groom or from anyone to the new couple
to commemorate this bonding experience between the whole of the
family, friends, and loved ones.

Diamond Ring Champagne Flutes:

These flutes are made of purely crystalline glass so that they
capture the light and give off a luminescent shimmer. These
glasses can also be personalized with names and dates. The
center between the glass and the stem is embellished with a
diamond engagement ring shape. If you want to represent your
bond fully and completely, it is quintessential that you use
these beautiful champagne flutes to impress your guest and add
levels of meaning to your good luck toast.

Dove and Bell Flutes:

Flutes always remind us of celebration, laughter and happiness.
These also describe a momentous occasion – a wedding! Celebrate
your wedding with your loved ones with our cheerful Dove & Bell
Flutes.

Standing 8 3/4" tall, these classic flutes are imprinted with a
wonderful design and text. A set of two, one flute reads `bride'
and the other `groom' in cursive calligraphy. The Dove & Bell
Flutes also have a design of doves and bells in white, imprinted
above the writing.

With a capacity of 6 oz, the Dove & Bell Flutes are elegant and
cheerful. These are bound to make the happy couple feel super
special on their wonderful day!

When choosing wedding toasting flutes for your reception, if
you go with a flute that reflects your personal style, it will
add that much more character to your special day.


About The Author: Joe owns an online wedding store offering
wonderful wedding gifts such as http://www.herweddingfavors.com
wedding favors and bridal shower favors to assist you in your
wedding planning needs.