Author Archives: Catherine Balavage

Roz Savage and Zac Goldsmith launch anti-plastic campaign.

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When: 4th of November, 2010. 7pm

Where: American University, Richmond.

I was already anti-plastic before I went to hear this talk by Roz Savage and Zac Goldsmith. The event is by Greener Upon Thame’s, and Michael Glazebrook was on brilliant form. The videos I saw and the talks that I heard my anti plastic stance  tenfold. It is not a small issue. As well as bringing news of the launch of an anti-plastic campaign by Greener Upon Thames, with the help of  Zac Goldsmith and Roz Savage, Frost will be doing a series of articles of how you can be more environmentally conscious.

MP and  Pacific rower launch campaign to make Olympics plastic bag-free
Zac Goldsmith, MP, and ocean rower/ environmental campaigner Roz Savage have launched a campaign to make the Olympics 2012 plastic bag-free.
 
The duo are backing Greener Upon Thames and will unveil banners and bags, soon to be seen across London, declaring “London – shouldn’t we be plastic bag free?” The group fear that the Olympics could prompt the production of hundreds of thousands of promotional bags, which would be carried around the world, creating a global problem, and shaming the British capital.

The campaign, backed by politicians,  schools, more than 500 shops and thousands of London  residents, will call on the Government to rid the Olympic Park and the capital of  the polluting bags for the duration of the games to break the habits of millions of Londoners, and as a symbol  to the world.  
 
The move follows Roz’s latest – 8,000 mile – Pacific row, where she skirted the North Pacific Garbage Patch. This is an area of marine plastic pollution roughly twice the size of Texas, containing around 3.5 million tons of rubbish, including millions of plastic bags that kill animals and contaminate our food supply. 

Roz Savage has now rowed solo across much of the planet: she is the first woman to have rowed across  the  Pacific, adding to her 2005 solo crossing of the Atlantic. In 2011 she will be setting off to row the Indian Ocean before rowing the North Atlantic to return to the UK.

Roz   combines her epic adventures (she is one of the Top 20 Great British Adventurers) with raising  awareness of  the top environmental challenges facing the world today:  marine plastic  pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction. She is a United Nations  Climate Hero, a trained presenter for the Climate  Project, and an Athlete  Ambassador for 350.org.

Her Pacific row was a project of the Blue Frontier Campaign and she is an Ambassador for the BLUE Project. Her inspirational book, Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean, came out in   2009.

Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith is a former editor  of  The Ecologist  magazine and author of The Constant  Economy  (2009), which looks at some key environmental problems and  provides a  programme for action.
 
In 2005 he was invited  to oversee the Conservative Party’s Quality of Life Policy Group,  which helped develop the  party’s policies on issues ranging from  transport, housing and energy to food,  farming and the countryside. 
 
Zac supports Greener Upon Thames, the Richmond and Kingston anti-plastic-bag campaign which is organising these  two  events, with help from the American International University and Kingston University’s Sustainability Hub.

Zac and Roz will also address an audience at Kingston University at 7.00pm on Thursday 11th November.

Misfits – They're back! Thu 11 Nov, 10pm, E4

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One of my favourite shows is back. And I only had to wait for a year! The BAFTA winning Misfits are back. Nathan (Robert Sheehan), Kelly (Lauren Socha), Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Alisha (Antonia Thomas) and Simon (Iwan Rheon) have returned to wreak havoc and entertain. Channel 4 held an exclusive preview at the BFI and let me tell you, you are in for a treat. Catch the trailer below.

Misfits. Thursday 11 November, 10pm, E4. For exclusive content visit www.e4.com/misfits

The characters are on twitter as well @simonmisfits @kellymisfits @nathanmisfits – and www.facebook.com/e4Misfits

Misfits S2 Trailer

The X Factor: The aftermath.

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The X Factor proved as tense as ever on Sunday, The two acts who received the fewest votes and had to sing for survival were Katie Waissel and Treyc Cohen.

All ten acts opened the show with a performance of So What by Pink.

Shayne Ward (winner of The X Factor 2005) took to the stage to perform his new single, Gotta Be Somebody and Kylie Minogue performed Better Than Today.

The two acts with the lowest public vote and singing for survival this week were Treyc Cohen and Katie Waissel. When asked how she felt, Katie said: “I’m nervous and it’s Treyc…we’re all in this together I’m going to sing from my heart.” Treyc added: “I’ve been here before but I’m here to sing and I’m just going to do the best that I can.”

Katie sang Please Don’t Give Up On Me whilst Treyc sang Unbreak My Heart (Toni Braxton).

Simon: ‘Here’s the dilemma – Treyc you are the better singer, Katie you are the more interesting performer. I’m going to base this on as a viewer who I’d like to see next week. The person Im going to send home is Treyc.’

Cheryl: ‘I just want to say to both of you, you’re both very talented women. Thank you for being so gracious and strong up there. But Im refusing point blank to send anyone home.’

Dannii: ‘Firstly if I could just say these girls are brilliant singers and I know Ive given a lot of comments but I hope they’ve been constructive and there’s no cause to boo anyone on this stage. You both sing better under pressure, The person Im sending home tonight is Katie.’

Louis: ‘I’ve got to know both girls really well and I love both of them..its so, so difficult. I don’t know whether to go with my head or my heart. My head says save Treyc my heart says, save Katie. It’s really, really difficult, Simon. I’m going to go with my heart, I’m sending home Treyc.’

Treyc said: ‘I’ve had the best time I’ve met some great people. I’ve made some good lifelong friends. I’m so, so grateful. I want to thank everyone from the researchers to the people in the canteen. Thank you.’

This meant Treyc Cohen became the seventh act to leave The X Factor.

On The Xtra Factor, ITV2, Katie commented: “Treyc should be here. I just really want to be here, in this competition. I really thought I was going home. Its not my time. I want to continue I want to show everyone that I am me.”

Dannii Minogue was wearing Dolce & Gabanna dress, Cheryl Cole wore a BodyAmr.

Performing next week on The X Factor – Westlife, JLS and Take That.

Joe McElderry records title track for, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

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Joe McElderry records title track for new feature film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The most anticipated 3D film of the year is opening in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on December 9th 2010.

X Factor winner Joe McElderry was approached by Twentieth Century Fox to record the specially written track, ‘There’s a place for us’, written by American songstress Carrie Underwood, which will feature in the film released later in the year.

Joe will also attend The Royal Film Performance™ and World Premiere of the film in Leicester Square on November 30th and also switch on the regents street lights on November 9th

Directed by Michael Apted, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is the latest installment of the Narnia saga. Filmed in digital 3D, the exciting new chapter is set to be the biggest blockbuster of 2010.

Joe recently returned to the charts with his debut single ‘Ambitions’ since winning the UK hit show, The X Factor ,in 2009. His album, ‘Wide awake’, is out now.

Where goes the Sisterhood?

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Every Wednesday, for a few weeks now, I have been in pain. Not through an exercise class, but through watching those awful, bitchyl ‘women’ on the Apprentice. It’s excruciating TV at it’s most excruciating. The embarrassment, the disappointment I have in them; it’s actually almost too much to bear. The women I know do not act like this. The vast majority of them anyway.

Which leads me into the million dollar question: Where goes the sisterhood? I am an actor (They don’t like it when you use actress, I really don’t care), I am also a business women, a writer, a daughter, a friend. I do not have an actual sister. I am over expecting women to give me a hand up in my acting career. In business, maybe. In writing, very probably. I have had advice from other female writers. But the acting? No, there is far too few roles. They put so much pressure on us to be young and thin that it feels like we end up hating each other. The patriarchal society wins again – but only because we let it.

Which is a shame, as I think one of the reasons that I have the luck to be a working actor is because of how I relate to other people. I have given advice to a lot of women wanting to be actors. Both younger and older. Some of them do not even know what Spotlight is. For the non theatrical amongst you, Spotlight is an online directory of actors. Most castings come through it. If you are an actor who is not on Spotlight, success is about nil.

I can’t say I have felt the same back. I mostly feel that the more successful I become, the more other women hate me. Not just jealousy, I hate jealousy but it’s forgivable- No, actual hate. They hate me for being younger than them, thinner or for having a better agent. I did a bit part in a very popular show recently and one of the main actors, a female, incredibly famous, some might say an institution, was so horrendous to me I questioned my life choices. Why spend your life on a film set with assholes? I could be travelling around America, doing aid work, writing a book. But, no, I am having lunch when a millionaire, far more powerful than me, who is trying to get me to move from the seat I am on because she wants to sit there, and then huffs off with her cronies when I refuse. It’s Mean Girls – with middle aged women.

Then there is the younger women, or the ones my age. I went an audition only to see a (now ex) friend. It was the third or fourth time I had seen her at an audition in a few months. She looked horrified as I walked in the door. Loudly exclaimed: ‘Oh, YOU’RE here. You’re at EVERYTHING. ‘ and then stalked off. She then preceded to bitch about me to every other women there. I had no idea what she was saying, but none of them would talk to me. There is a bitter sweet end: I got the part.

All of this reminded of me of a quote that I recently read: ‘With men it’s their enemies that tear them apart, with women it’s their friends.’ It’s depressing because it is largely true. I have a young playing age. I still get cast as teenagers. And nothing is more cruel than a teenage girl. Except maybe an ageing actress.

I was recently told on a film set that: ‘You will not be beautiful forever, you will lose your beauty, everything will leave you, you will have nothing left. You will become just like me.’ by a mad foreign actor. I doubt I will end up like you love, as I am not bitter and full of hate. Thanks anyway.

This is not to bring all women down. I got my start in writing through females. I have had advice and friendship. I have an amazing circle of female friends. But it took until my 20’s for that to happen. And sometimes I learn the worst of them. I grow up amongst men. The women I tend to not get along with are sensitive. The male ego is more fragile, but sometimes it seems that you can’t say anything to a women without her taking it the wrong way. All my female friends are laid back, down to earth, genuine people. I love them dearly. My life would be grey without them. I am aware of my luck.

So what do the women of The Apprentice have to learn? That they are holding themselves back. Melissa Cohen blamed the two men on the boardroom who were ‘picking on her’ for her swift exit. Her lack of self awareness was astounding. She was fired because she deserved to be. Unless women stop fighting with each other, stop being competitive and bringing each other down, this will always be a man’s world. Because, after all, should we really be fighting against sexism and each other?

Catherine Balavage

Where is the Best Site to Play Online Poker?

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 A Review of All the Major Online Poker Sites.

I’ve now been playing online poker for many years and I’ve played at all the major sites at some point or another. For many years I’ve been trying to find the perfect site to play at. There are so many now that it can be very difficult to find the right one. The problem with the current poker site review sites is that they are rarely independent, even if they give the facade that they are, most of them are paid some sort of fee when they get people to sign up to a certain site. So here is a genuinely independent guide from someone who knows what you really want.

The first point to start with is that wherever you play you should be looking for rakeback. What is rakeback? Poker sites take a small amount of money usually 5% out of every pot you play online. This is known as rake. If you sign up to a poker site through a rakeback scheme you will receive some of the rake you pay to the poker site back. If you go direct to a poker sites own site and download the software you won’t get rakeback. It may not sound like much but rakeback adds up very quickly, even a casual player should look to take advantage of it. You should also note that if you have signed up to a poker site before you will not be able to receive rakeback from them.

Unfortunately some of the main poker sites don’t offer rakeback. Most notably the ipoker network and pokerstars do not. Pokerstars does however offer a very good VIP system which if you play enough comes to a similar amount to rakeback. In most cases it is not quite as good as other sites rakeback schemes but some players may feel the other benefits of the site outweigh this. One very large site which does offer rakeback is FullTilt. See the table at the bottom of the article for details on other poker rooms.

So what else do you want from your pokersite. Well I would put my priorities in this order.

  1. Safety and Security
  2. Player Traffic
  3. Good Software
  4. A Good Bonus Scheme
  5. Good player support and withdrawals
  6. Weaker Players

Safety and Security

You will find most safety with a large respected site. There is almost no chance they will go bust. Moreover the larger sites invest a fortune on security. For this reason I would not recommend putting money on one of the smaller sites. Very secure sites are Pokerstars, FullTilt, the Ipoker network and party poker. Avoid the Cereus network comprising Absolute and Ultimate Bet poker. Both sites have been involved in major scandals in the past. They are both owned by the same company.

Player Traffic

Having enough players, tournaments and games of the type you want is vital for any poker room. You don’t want to be waiting around for an hour for the tournament you want to play in to begin or for a cash game place to become available. Once again bigger is better. The larger the poker site the more different types of poker and tournaments are available. In my experience both poker stars and full tilt are excellent in this regard. You will find more games and players on poker stars than anywhere else. Full Tilt is also very good and experienced players may want to play on their new rush poker games which allows players to play very quickly. For all information on poker traffic see this excellent website. http://www.pokerscout.com/

Good Software

Sorry to sound repetitive but once again I would argue that both Full Tilt and Poker Stars have the best software of all the poker sites. Poker Stars is very clean and easy to navigate, the layout of the tables is simple and effective. Personally however I rate the Full Tilt software far above any other site. You can tell the site was designed by poker players. Everything has been thought of from the position of the button to the way you drag in the chips when you win a pot. I also really enjoy the fun and numerous avatars available. Casual players may enjoy the unique PKR site. Players take control of a Sims style 3d character whilst they play. You can perform chip tricks, customize your character and display various attitudes towards the other players. It won’t be for everyone, particularly those players who wish to play multiple tables at once. Personally I do not particularly enjoy the ipoker or party poker software (although party poker is much better since it was updated a while ago). I would still argue it is the consensus amongst most players that these sites and other sites lag behind the main two when it comes to software.

Bonuses   

Unfortunately bonuses can be very complicated. Whilst the headline figure may look good one often has to be careful of the small print. Things to be aware of are the number of days you have available to work off the bonus. Casual players need to be careful of this or you may end up losing your bonus if you don’t play for a month or so. The other thing to be aware of is how quickly your bonus gets paid back. You can’t go wrong with the Full Tilt 100% bonus up to $600. I have done this successfully in the past. I see poker stars have now brought in a similar bonus scheme. If you look a little further out you will tend to find some better deals but again be careful of the small print. There are some good deals to be had on the boss media network through the likes of poker heaven and paradise poker (200% up to €1000). I see PKR also has an attractive bonus on at the moment (up to 100% on $2000).

Good Support and Withdrawals

Without any doubt the best support amongst all the poker sites is to be found with pokerstars. In the few times I have needed to contact them they have been phenomenally quick and helpful. Friends of mine have had very similar experiences. With all the sites I have dealt with I have never had any problems with withdrawals. I have usually used moneybookers to withdraw which I have always found fairly easy. It can sometimes be difficult to withdraw large amounts. However this tends to be the same across every site. In most case you can come to an agreement with a site or just withdraw in stages.

Weaker Players

In my experience the most difficult site to play on is Full Tilt. It tends to play a level above other sites. The very best players tend to end up on Full Tilt and this tends to ultimately filter down to the lower levels. Poker Stars also tends to be a much harder site than the average particularly for cash games, although I have always found tournaments to be reasonably soft. For some reason the European sites (ongamenet and party poker have always tended to be softer in my and others experience.) PKR is also especially soft since it is made up of mostly casual players.

Conclusion

Which poker site is right for you will depend very much on what you rank as your priorities. As I mentioned at the start you should be looking for rakeback and good bonus to start with whatever you want.

Remember: US Players can only play on pokerstars, full tilt, cereus, cake and some smaller sites I wouldn’t recommend.

For the casual player perhaps just starting a bit of online poker I would recommend FullTilt you can get a decent rakeback and bonus as well as their great software, strong support and a wide range of different games to play. The slight downside is the tougher players, but if you’re playing casually at the lower limits this won’t be very noticeable. Moreover casual players are probably more likely to play more tournaments in which case I wouldn’t worry too much about player skill levels as they will always be reasonably weak. Some casual players may prefer PKR which also has decent rakeback and bonus schemes. You will struggle to play multiple tables but the players will be weaker.

If safety and support are your top priorities the best site is definitely pokerstars. The only real problem I have with poker stars is that you lose out a bit on the rakeback.

For the regular player looking to make a decent profit I’m going to recommend a site on the boss media network. The combination of weak players, decent traffic and good rakeback and bonuses make it a great place to rack up the profits. The only problem for me is the software. A similarly decent option is the entraction network where you may achieve slightly higher rakeback. If software is really crucial for you then stars or full tilt are still excellent options. Whilst you won’t be as profitable on these sites you will learn faster against tougher opponents.

Thanks for reading the article and I hope you found it helpful. Please note that the scores in the table below don’t include a rakeback score and I have played on all the sites in the table below. Please leave any of your own experiences in the comments below.

This site is one of the best for rakeback and bonuses but don’t be afraid to look around.

http://www.raketherake.com

Boss Media – Paradise Poker, Poker Heaven, InterPoker, Fortune Poker, Virgin Poker, Parabet, OPoker

Cake Poker Network- Cake, Doyles Room, Juicy Stakes, Victory Poker, Power, Red Star

Cereus Poker Network – Absolute, Ultimate Bet

Entraction Network – NoiQ Poker, Devilfish Poker, PokerMambo

OnGame Network – Betfair, EuroBet, Betsafe, Hollywood, Tower Gaming, Red Kings

Ipoker Network – WilliamHill, Titan, VC

Column1 Rakeback Software Support Traffic Safety Weaker Players Bonuses Total
Poker Stars VIP 9 10 10 10 5 8 52
FullTiltPoker 27% 10 8 9 10 4 8 49
PKR 33% 7 7 6 8 10 9 47
Boss Media Network 30% 5 6 6 9 9 10 45
Party Poker VIP 6 7 8 9 8 7 45
OnGameNetwork 30% 6 7 7 8 8 8 44
Ipoker network VIP 5 7 8 9 6 8 43
Entraction Network 30-45% 6 7 5 8 7 9 42
Cake Network 30% 4 6 4 7 7 6 34
Cereus Network VIP N/A N/A N/A 0 N/A N/A 0

SPOOKS, SPIRITS AND SMARTPHONES, Top 5 Paranormal sightings.

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Phone-paparazzi boosts ghostly sightings

With Halloween approaching, research has shown that having the latest technology at our fingertips has caused a surge in the number of paranormal images that have been recorded.

Tesco Telecoms has found that one in three people have noticed spooky goings-on in photos and video clips taken on their mobiles.

This spine-chillingly high figure is driven by the growing popularity of Smartphones which have high quality cameras and the internet and email at the touch of a button.

‘Digging-up’ some consumer research into Smartphone technology and consumer behaviour, Tesco Telecoms found that 78% of people felt that their phones made it easier for them to capture those weird, unexpected moments on the cuff.

Taking their findings to Paranormal Research UK, leading investigator Phil Hayes confirmed that they had seen a 70% increase in paranormal evidence captured by Smartphone cameras or videos.

The research group attributed this rise with the fact that people carry their phones with them everywhere they go, making it easier to record those eerie moments. They also confirmed that submitting evidence has become faster, as the email and social network function on internet-enabled Smartphones, allows material to be shared easily.

Further results from Tesco Telecoms’ spooky research showed that Brits are in fact a nation open to paranormal activity with more than half of the population believing in ghosts and poltergeists.

And despite one in five admitting that if faced with a ghost they would run away, over half of Brits said they would bravely stay put and try and capture the sighting with whatever technology they have to hand.

Frighteningly, almost 60% of those questioned had or knew someone else who had experienced paranormal activity, with one in two saying that they had experienced a shiver down the spine upon entering into a room.

Some of the scariest incidences reported included objects moving by themselves, transparent figures floating across the room and ghostly cackling coming from nowhere.

Some of the male respondents even cheekily cited their wives first thing in the morning as the scariest thing they’d ever seen!

Lance Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Telecoms and Tesco Mobile commented: “Halloween is the perfect time of year to keep an eye out for the ghostly and ghoulish.

“We’d recommend those brave enough to capture any spooky sightings should MMS or email their pics to Paranormal Research UK for investigation.

“Keep your camera phone on the highest quality resolution setting and use the recorder to capture the noise of any spectral sounds.”

Top five most believed-in paranormals

1. Ghosts

2. Aliens

3. UFOs

4. Past lives

5. Out of body experiences

By Catherine Balavage