Author Archives: Catherine Balavage

Win Tickets To The Real Wine Fair 2012!

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The inaugural Real Wine Fair will take place in Holborn, London WC1 on Sunday 20th May between 10.00am and 6.00pm, giving wine and food lovers the opportunity to meet winemakers from 13 countries and taste over 600 organically or biodynamically produced wines. Tickets are now on sale for £20 per ticket at www.therealwinefair.com.

 

Frost Magazine has teamed up with The Real Wine Fair to give away a pair of tickets. One lucky winner and their guest will be able to meet and talk to the growers, whilst tasting a diverse range of honest, terroir-driven wines.

Three leading London restaurants, Ottolenghi, The Modern Pantry and Morito, will provide an array of delicious tapas-style dishes for the Real Wine Café. Coffee will be from renowned roasters Caravan in Exmouth Market whilst Camden Brewery will be dispensing cooling beers.

Spitalfields Market affineur and cheesemonger Androuet will be exhibiting a selection of seasonal cheeses, whilst award-winning north London deli Melrose & Morgan will have an array of tasty nibbles to try. Hansen & Lydersen will be providing small platters of freshly cut salmon from their smokehouse in Stoke Newington. There will also be tables dedicated to artisan bread, charcuterie and chocolate. The great tradition of London distilling will be showcased by Hammersmith’s Sipsmith with their London Dry Gin and English Barley Vodka and Highgate’s Sacred Microdistillery with their wonderful boutique Gin, a London-style dry Vodka and a vermouth.

There will be an exhibition of contemporary paintings and posters from cartoonist Michel Tolmer on wine-related themes. Several real wine ‘heroes’ have been lined up for a series of free seminars and debates. Plus director and producer Jonathan Nossiter will present the UK première of the 10-part series of his critically acclaimed film “Mondovino” in the “wine cinema.”

All of the wines on show at the fair will be available to purchase from an on-site pop-up shop, created specifically for the event.

In conjunction with The Real Wine Fair, restaurants across the UK are being invited to take part in Real Wine Month throughout May, and give their customers the chance to try natural wines by the glass. A (growing) list of restaurants can be found here: http://therealwinefair.com/real-wine-month/.

Terms & Conditions

There is one prize in total: one pair of prize tickets (retailing at £20 per ticket) for one winner.

Travel to and from the venue (B1, 6 Victoria House, Southampton Row, London WC1B 4DA) is not included in the prize.

The event is on Sunday 20th May, from 10am until 6pm.

Winners must be 18 or over and photographic ID may be required.

Little Monsters Warned of fake Lady Gaga Tickets.

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Lady Gaga may be stirring up controversy by tweeting that “pop stars don’t eat” but her fans now have even more to worry about.

Ticket marketplace viagogo predicts ticket fraudsters could make £3m from the upcoming Lady Gaga tour

 

With tickets to Lady Gaga’s tour going on sale today viagogo is estimating that fans could lose £3 million to ticket scams.

 

Brits are collectively conned out of £30 million* a year by illegitimate websites and auction sites, such as eBay who do not offer customers any guarantee that they will receive their tickets according to research by viagogo2.

 

viagogo, Europe’s largest online ticket marketplace, is anticipating that the 75,000 tickets for Gaga’s September Manchester and Twickenham dates will sell out in a matter of minutes and desperate fans may turn to illegitimate sites and other unknown sources in an attempt to get their hands on a ticket.

 

Edward Parkinson, Director of viagogo UK, said: “Lady Gaga is a global superstar and the rush for tickets will be fierce presenting the ideal opportunity for scam artists to take advantage of Gaga mania. Fans need to be extra vigilant when they see a site offering Lady Gaga tickets and should not judge a site by its appearance; they must do their homework before they buy.”

 

Just four hours after Lady Gaga announced her tour on Tuesday 10 April, viagogo found tickets to the concert already listed on eBay – despite not being available to the general public until the end of the week.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lady-Gaga-Tickets-Twickenham-Stadium-London-08-09-2012-/251038139712?pt=UK_Tickets_Tickets_LE&hash=item3a730a0540

 

Parkinson continues: “Based on early site traffic, we predict that up to two million fans won’t get a ticket, presenting scammers with a very large payday opportunity.”

 

Hunger Games Actors Before They Were Famous

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Photographer Tyler Shields worked with the Hunger Games actors before they became famous. We have the photographs and the low-down on what they were like even though super busy Tyler is preparing for the opening of “Mouthful” which takes place at Ace Gallery, LA’s largest private gallery (the size of a City block) just down the street from LACMA. His opening nights are I N S A N E.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh Hutcherson: The first time I shot Josh he was 16, he busted his head open in my bathroom, so our relationship started off on a good foot! We created a real ruckus – full speed running down a street firing a gun. I don’t know anyone who I’ve shot who loved the shoot more than he did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leven: She is a delight to work with and always delivers! I’ve shot her in Wall Mart in New Mexico, we’ve broken into buildings together, she’s smashed cake in my face, I introduced her to her ex-fiance! Our relationship runs deep!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kalia with Tyler Shields

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kalia: the 1st time I met her her mom was there – because she was 15. He mom told me she had a Black Belt in Taekwondo and she could do these amazing high kicks – if you could see those kicks! She was really game for it. To be 15 and able to do things like that and deliver what she can – you’ve got to be amazing.

 

Adele Tops Rich List

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 It is that time of year again, when we found out who has become extraordinarily successful and wealthy. Us next please!

ADELE TOPS YOUNG MUSICIANS WEALTH CHART WITH £20 MILLION FORTUNE IN THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST – OUT ON APRIL 29
 
WOMAN IN BLACK STAR DANIEL RADCLIFFE IS BRITAIN’S RICHEST YOUNG ACTOR – WORTH £54 MILLION
 
JESSIE J, WITH £5 MILLION FORTUNE, JOINS
YOUNG MUSICIANS RICH LIST TOP 20
 
ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY – WORTH £5 MILLION
STRIDES OUT WITH THE CATWALK MILLIONAIRES
 
JLS QUARTET STRIKE GOLD WITH £5 MILLION EACH
 
Actors, models and musicians dominate the Young Rich List of British millionaires aged 30 and under to be included in The Sunday Times Rich List 2012 published on Sunday, April 29. Sixty young millionaires will appear alongside the 1,000 richest people in Britain and the 250 wealthiest in Ireland in the definitive annual guide to wealth to be published in an extra 104-page magazine free with The Sunday Times. The richest young sportsmen will appear in The Sunday Times Sport Rich List 2012 published on May 6. Additional guides to wealth will appear at thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist from April 29, with the Richest 2,000 people in Britain available from May 13.
Outside sport, more than half the wealthiest young people in Britain are entertainers. Actor Daniel Radcliffe, aged 22, who starred in eight Harry Potter films, heads the Young Entertainers Rich List with a £54m fortune. Radcliffe has increased his wealth by £6m in a year, helped by the success of his latest movie, the gothic thriller The Woman in Black. Twilight star Robert Pattinson has added £8m in a year to his fortune and is now worth £40m.
The young entertainer who has made the biggest gain in the last year is pop diva Adele, who has more than trebled her wealth after the phenomenal worldwide success of her second album 21. The 23-year-old songstress, from Tottenham, north London, is now worth £20m, an increase of £14m on her wealth in 2011, which puts her £8m ahead of the fortunes of Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua, who are in equal second place – each worth £12m, in the Young Music Millionaires Top 20 to be published in The Sunday Times Rich List 2012 on April 29.
The five newcomers in The Young Music Millionaires Top 20, each worth £5m, are all four members of JLS and Jessie J, 24, who has sold close to 1m copies of her album Who You Are and is a mentor on the BBC TV talent show The Voice UK. Jessie J, who has an endorsement deal with Pretty Polly tights, is one of a number of young actors and musicians who add to their wealth by modelling.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, worth £5m, is the latest model to join Britain’s Young Rich List. Now 25, Huntington-Whiteley, who grew up on a Devon farm, has been signed to the American lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret since 2006. Based in Los Angles she is branching out into films, with a part in Transformers: Dark of the Moon last year.
 
THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2012 – THE RICHEST YOUNG MUSICIANS
Aged 30 and under

 

Young
music rank
2012
Name
2012 wealth
2011 wealth
1
Adele
£20m
£6m
2=
Cheryl Cole (Girls Aloud)
£12m
£12m
2=
Leona Lewis
£12m
£12m
2=
Katie Melua
£12m
£12m
5
Joss Stone
£10m
£9m
6=
Charlotte Church
£8m
£8m
6=
Craig David
£8m
£8m
6=
Paolo Nutini
£8m
£7m
9
Florence Welch
£7m
£5m
10=
Lily Allen
£6m
£6m
10=
Natasha Bedingfield
£6m
£6m
10=
Duffy
£6m
£6m
10=
James Morrison
£6m
£5m
14=
Nadine Coyle (Girls Aloud)
£5m
£5m
14=
Taio Cruz
£5m
£5m
14=
Jonathan (JB) Gill (JLS)
£5m
New
14=
Sarah Harding (Girls Aloud)
£5m
£5m
14=
Marvin Humes (JLS)
£5m
New
14=
Jessie J
£5m
New
14=
Aston Merrygold (JLS)
£5m
New
14=
Nicola Roberts (Girls Aloud)
£5m
£5m
14=
Kimberley Walsh (Girls Aloud)
£5m
£5m
14=
Oritsé Williams (JLS)
£5m
New
 
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THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2012 – THE RICHEST YOUNG ACTORS
Aged 30 and under

 

Young
actor
rank
2012
Name
2012 wealth
2011 wealth
1
Daniel Radcliffe
£54m
£48m
2
Robert Pattinson
£40m
£32m
3
Keira Knightley
£30m
£30m
4
Kiera Chaplin
£28m
£28m
5
Emma Watson
£26m
£24m
6
Rupert Grint
£24m
£24m
7
8=
Lily Cole
Sarah Harding
£8m
£5m
£6m
£5m
8=
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
£5m
New
8=
Kimberley Walsh
£5m
£5m
 
 
 
THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2012 – THE RICHEST IN MODELLING
Aged 30 and under

 

Modelling rank
2012
Name
2012 wealth
2011 wealth
1
Keira Knightley (Chanel)
£30m
£30m
2
Kiera Chaplin
£28m
£28m
3
Emma Watson
£26m
£24m
4
Natalia Vodianova
£16m
£15m
5
Coleen Rooney (Littlewoods)
£13m
£12m
6
Cheryl Cole (L’Oreal)
£12m
£12m
7
Lily Cole
£8m
£6m
8
9=
Lily Allen (Chanel)
Sarah Harding (Ultimo)
£6m
£5m
£6m
£5m
9=
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
£5m
New
9=
Jessie J (Pretty Polly)
£5m
New
The Sunday Times Rich List 2012 is compiled by Philip Beresford, the leading authority on British wealth, and edited by Ian Coxon.
The Sunday Times Rich List 2012 to be published on April 29

Dear Royal Mail.

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Dear Royal Mail,

 

I would have posted this letter but your prices are getting expensive. Anyway, let’s not quibble. I am writing to you today because I am worried. I am worried that the once great institution that was is the Royal Mail has become a shadow of it’s former self. I am worried about our relationship.

When I post something now I always do it recorded delivery. As you can imagine, your service is already overpriced so the extra security nags at me. Why do I have to do this? Well, the thing is, every-time I post something it is like a leap of faith. I never know if it is going to get to the other end, and in what condition. Actually, scrub that, it is more like gambling or Russian roulette. I have never posted a boxset of DVDs and had it reach the other side if it was not posted recorded delivery. Let’s not blame this all on you, we must be fair, sometimes people on Ebay can be unscrupulous. But it happens even when I post things to my family.

When you started charging by size as well as price I was frustrated with you. It just made things even more difficult.

Then there was the atomiser I posted – wrapped perfectly- that was broken. The CDs that, although the stamp was on the right side, ended up being posted back to me because they were STAMPED on the wrong side further on. What an expensive mistake that was.I wrote to you about these and you replied saying it was my fault and you couldn’t do anything. I must admit, I was a little upset.

It is fair to say that we have had a love/hate relationship, but let’s not kid ourselves, we cannot break up. There is no-one else out there if I want to post a letter. You have a monopoly. If only you used it with more love and care.

Yours faithfully,

Catherine

Are The Good Times Really Over For Good?

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For someone in their twenties it is hard to think of a time which has been harder economically than right now. But I do know that this is not true. There have been many booms and busts before, times much harder than this. Rationing, world wars, the great depression.

But what of the future? My generation seems to have gotten the muddy end of the stick. The OECD, a respected British think tank, said that Britain has slipped into a double dip recession and more pupils than ever are getting free school meals, the governments indicator of a child growing up in poverty. Tube drivers might be raking it in, getting paid £500 just to show up for work each day during the Olympics, but the rest of us are struggling.

Are the good times really over?We have become generation rent, unemployment is high, we not only have a harder time getting our dream job, but getting any job at all. I have friends that are moving out of West London where I live because they cannot afford it, struggling to find jobs and even if they have one, struggling to survive the squeeze.

Not getting to the nitty gritty. Tuition fees are up to a staggering amount, 9K a year for an education, transport costs go up above inflation every year; the Oyster caps at £10 per day in London. Then there is the fact that if you get an unpaid internship these days you are one of the lucky ones. It seems everyone is taking everything from the young. I am luckier than most. My education days are behind me and so are my internships: but if the children really are the future, then what of it? Are the good times really over for good? Everything from stamps and food is going up. Petrol is so expensive people cannot even get to work and the government is looking shifty after the cash-for-access scandal. Never mind the fact we don’t have any privacy anymore and they are trying to bring in web-monitoring.

Government debt is at a £988.7 billion. And who is going to have to pay that off? The decent, hard working people of Britain. Oh well. We can always print some more money.

What good will come from this? Lessons maybe. We lived in a society that saw the word ‘credit’ and did not take in the fact that actually means ‘debt’. Above all we will do what the British do: keep calm and carry on. You may want to cross your fingers too.

 

The New Wave of Female Bloggers

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I have done an article for the Huffington Post on the rise of female bloggers. There really is a wealth of female bloggers out there making the web more democratic. The post has advice and tips from the leading female bloggers in the UK, www.thelife-edit.blogspot.com, http://www.digitalbungalow.co.uk/, www.shimelle.com , http://thebottomoftheironingbasket.blogspot.co.uk , asensibleheart.blogspot.com, www.bdpworld.blogspot.com , fashion-mommy.com, http://www.reallyree.com/ , http://www.fash-ling.com and http://lenkasilhanova.blogspot.com. among them.

Phew! Frost is now on the look-out for more blogs, and we are looking for the male kind too. If you want featured in our hot blog column, get in touch.

 

Nioxin: The Cure For Thinning Hair?

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Did you know that thinning hair affects about 50% of people? Not just men, but women too? That is one in two people globally. A number of factors cause this: anemia, having a baby (after two months the hair that had not fallen out does so and results in thinning hair and, sometimes, baldness), lack or iron, stress, medication, trauma, health problems, UV damage (though in moderation the sun helps, hair always looks better at the end of summer, because we used to need our hair to be thicker in winter to keep us warm), being a vegetarian, using straighteners or curling irons and pattern baldness, which is inherited. Hair has no function anymore, as it is a luxury it is the first thing to go or look worse when you are ill or run down. It is the first thing the body will shut off.

 

There are things you can do. Wayne Rooney recently had a hair transplant, but those are costly and with differing results. It is a long operation. 9-5 and if someone explains what happens to you, you will feel ill; trust me.

 

There are three factors in hair thinning

1) Fewer hair strands

2) Finer hair strands

3) Unhealthy scalp environment for hair to grow from.

 

Nioxin is a product that says it can manage the condition to give you thicker and fuller hair through a holistic approach.  Most other products are drug-based or camouflage. It is the No.1 stylist recommended thinning-hair brand in the USA, it has won the Stylist Choice Award every year for 10 years, and has millions of loyal customers in America. Phew, but does it work?

Nioxin is based on scalp health, like a facial for hair. Over 70% of users notice thicker- fuller hair in 30 days. Cosmetics products do not grow hair, they take care of scalp health and your hair. Nioxin is tailored to your specific hair type and it is best to use all of the products together, apparently you will be able to measure the hair thickness.

Hair grows at one-half inch each month or 6 inches in a year.

 

The lovely people at Nioxin have given me one of their hair system kits to review. The kit carries a money back guarantee and has a 100ml cleanser, 100ml scalp revitalizer and a 50ml scalp treatment. It costs £27.99. I have fine hair so we will see if it makes a difference. I love my hair but would love more oomph. So far I am loving the tingling, waking up feeling it has on my scalp. It feels like my scalp is getting massaged thanks to the ingredients that include white tea extract, peppermint oil, antioxidants and botanical extracts.

Update: After the 30 days I definitely had more oomph to my hair. It made it look thicker and it felt that it also increased blood flow to the scalp. I would definitely buy it.