Barbie was my doll of choice when I was a little girl, blithely giving me a false impression of how my body would develop and a lifetime of insecurity. I’ve just discovered I got off lightly though, as were I ten years older I’d of had to contend with Growing Up Skipper. Skipper is commonly (well, in little girl circles) known as Barbie’s younger sister, and if you’re lucky you can have great fun making Barbie babysit her and generally act preachy and grown-uppy.
In 1975 Growing Up Skipper was released, a doll that would change the innocent face of Mattel forever, and give a whole new meaning to those awkward ‘I must, I must, I must increase my bust’ exercises. This is because when Skipper’s arm was rotated her torso would lengthen and breasts would appear on on her chest. Seriously.
The idea was that this was the doll that would ‘mature with you’, and the marketing referred to her as being ‘Two Dolls in One, Twice as Much Fun!’.
There are many, many filesharing sites out there, from the infamous Pirate Bay to the smaller but equally popular BTJunkie and Isohunt. They provide users with a great many options, but sometimes the sheer amount of files they have can be a little overwhelming. This is where Karaoke-World comes in, a dedicated filesharing site that ONLY features Karaoke torrents!
You may wonder whether there is a need for this service, and that is debatable, but considering the continued popularity of games like SingStar on gaming consoles, and public karaoke bars such as Lucky Voice and K-Box, I do think the demand is growing. Shows like Glee and X-Factor put the idea of Karaoke style singing right onto the front page of the newspapers, and if you enjoy this activity you’ll probably want to know more about the recently launched Karaoke-World. Read more…
As a voracious consumer of any type of fiction, I have a particular soft spot for science fiction, the fantasy end to be specific. Sure, I love Ben Bova, Philip K. Dick and Greg Bear, but my heart belongs to the wizarding worlds of Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, Piers Anthony (hey, his puns rule), Pratchett and Anne McAfferty. The list goes on, as I feel that Mercedes Lackey must get a mention, Simon R.Green, Ray Bradbury, Craig Shaw Gardner, Robert Aspirin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, Melanie Rawn-Ok, I’m going to stop now, as I’m getting carried away.
Suffice to say, I really LOVE the genre, and with it, the cover art. A lot of fantasy features the usual dragons, castles, and damsels wearing thin strips of clothing, but the trend for the sexualized fantasy females has changed in the last year. I’m happy to note that a recent survey by Orbit Books showed that the way women are portrayed in cover art has drastically changed over the last year. Forget about the heroine teetering in impossibly high heels whilst wearing next to nothing, now we’re getting kick ass women wearing practical, OK more practical items of clothing.
The research shows that the clothes they are pictured in are now more appropriate to their activities, such as sensible footwear, loose clothes, and a sneer rather than a pout. We also have strong female characters taking center stage in many novels, who aren’t just nymphettes. Read more…
The iPhone has long held the crown as the prettiest Mobile on the market. Its slick curves, glossy screen and its pretty display of apps make it ultra desirable for every style hunter. It tends to be pretty much unrivalled in the style stakes- till now! What you see above you is a real life handset- NOT a concept model and is currently available to buy in Aisa.
It’s called the iida Light Pool phone and is more than just a pretty face. The phone may not be quite smartphone calibre, but it isn’t short of specs. You’re getting an 8 megapixel CMOS camera, a built in USB connector, expandable memory to 16GB, and a 3.2 inch TFT screen. The device has a flip phone design and has the rather rare (for Brits) inclusion of a digital TV receiver, so you can get you fave show on the go. What really intrigues me is the ethereal looking diamond shaped LED’s that coat the outside of the phone. What are they there for- and what do they do? Read on to find out! Read more…
The latest handbags by designer Helen Rochfort take childhood whimsy into the realms of high fashion. The designer has created a limited edition range of handbags that feature three juicy looking pieces of fruit. The silver frame Fruit machine bags will emit the scent of the portrayed fruit by a simple scratch. This means you’ll no longer be accessorizing purely by colour or style, you now have to think about whether strawberry or cherry would complement your wardrobe best. Argh! It’s another step towards coolness such as the scratch and sniff wallpaper, and this is a fun portable way of adding some quirk to your everyday outfits. Get them for £69 each from Helen Rochfort here.
The UK may have a thriving art scene, endless museums, and a monarchy that makes most of us cringe (but draws in the tourists), but when it comes to theatre we’re wofeully behind the USA in terms of output and creativity. We recently acquired the Legally Blonde Musical- a show which has been playing in Broadway for years, and unsurprisingly it was a resounding success. But why did we have to wait so long fro this import? Whyyyyy? I don’t have the answer, but I can share with you some other equally exciting shows that we will be getting.. well, some time this century.
The Addams family Musical
This sounds amazing.. I can just imagine Fester’s rumbling tones as he watches the kids do a ghoulish dance, and watching Wednesday rhyme words with boiled heads in song should truly be something. Currently on Broadway now, with no UK date set.
Shrek the Musical
The jolly green Ogre is coming to our shores, with the pallid faced Amanda Holden taking upon the role of his lovely Princess Fiona. Richard Blackwood will be playing Donkey and this fantastical event is scheduled for May 2011. I’m counting down the days… Read more…
Society today places a hell of a lot of importance on the physical appearance. Airbrushing runs rampant in the media, celebrity bikini pictures are a surefire way of selling magazines, and everywhere the notion that attractiveness equals happiness is forced upon us- perhaps most obviously displayed in the TV show Next Top Model. As well as the ‘slim is pretty’ line, we’re also fed the one that ‘it’s about being healthy and happy with who you are’. This one may seem more responsible, if it weren’t for the fact that this can be interpreted with many shades of grey.
Sure, it’s good to be healthy, eat well and cut down on saturated fats. The problem is that this lifestyle gets confused with the variety of conflicting messages we receive from varying sources. There’s a constant barrage of misinformation from people purporting to advocate this lifestyle, such as ’eat healthy breakfast cereals’ (to lose weight) or snack on high sugar cereal bars to stay trim, so it’s no wonder people are confused and anxious. In the last couple of years we’ve seen a huge rise in eating disorders amongst young people, with kids as young as five years old starting to become obsessed with their appearance and suffer from anorexia and bulimia.
Considering these statistics I think it’s very irresponsible for FitFlop to create footwear targeting the youth market, especially considering all their advertising features leggy looking models with impossibly slender thighs, the kind of images that will have impressionable tweens running to the mirror in tears. Read more…
