Polaroid – The Iconic Brand is Back

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Polaroid has launched its first UK website

Polaroid has launched a brand new UK website for the first time since the brand was revitalised in 2010, showcasing its range of new and innovative products at www.polaroid.co.uk

The website launch coincides with the launch of the Polaroid Z340 instant digital camera, which is has just gone on sale and delivers a new twist on the instant photo. The Polaroid Z340 instant digital camera marries the convenience of a digital camera with the classic Polaroid instant printing experience.

Loved by many worldwide for its creativity and innovation, the Polaroid brand constantly strives to push artistic boundaries; creating new products which combine the old with the new.
The website enables Polaroid fans based in the UK to keep up to date with the latest news, browse the array of products, download fantastic Polaroid apps and even buy products online including the much sought after Lady Gaga GREY Label range.

In just two clicks you can purchase limited Polaroid products, from the latest cameras and printers to tripods, filters and flashes.

Graeme Chapman, Managing Director for the Polaroid Licence in Europe commented: “We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Polaroid website designed specifically for the UK. The website is an outlet for old and new fans of the original instant camera brand, and Polaroid.co.uk reaffirms that the iconic brand is very much back.”

A pen and stylus in one – STABILO SMARTball

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STABILO’s brand new SMARTball pen isn’t called ‘smart’ for no reason. As well as being a silky smooth ballpoint pen, it is also a stylus to use with touchscreen technology saving your screen from mucky fingerprints and reducing bacteria.

STABILO’s latest ingenious invention has a cutting-edge ergonomic design to aid comfort and neat handwriting and doubles up as a stylus to operate touchscreens. Its technology allows the current to travel through the pen from your fingertips and gives you a greater degree of accuracy. The SMARTball is a must-have for anyone who owns a smart phone, iPad or kindle and gives protection from germs when pressing on screens to buy tube tickets or checking in at the airport or doctors surgery.

Available for both left and right handed writers and with the advantage of being refillable, the SMARTball is a clever investment which will polish up your writing, help avoid those greasy marks on your screen and simultaneously make things easier in this rapidly advancing technological age.

Marni to Design Spring Collection For H&M

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MARNI TO DESIGN A SPRING COLLECTION FULL OF SIGNATURE PRINT AND PATTERN FOR H&M

H&M is proud to announce a spring designer collaboration with the Italian brand Marni. Famed for its original prints and inventive spirit, Marni is one of fashion’s most-loved labels, and its Founder and Creative Director Consuelo Castiglioni has created for H&M a spring collection for both women and men which capture the essence of Marni. Available from March 8, 2012 in around 260 stores worldwide and online, the collection features both clothing and accessories all at H&M’s prices, meaning everyone will have the chance to enter Marni’s world.

“I wanted to create a true Marni wardrobe by revisiting all our favorite pieces in signature fabrics and prints. As always, I love juxtaposing prints and colours, mixing modern tribal with Bauhaus graphic adding sporty utilitarian elements”. Consuelo Castiglioni, Founder and Creative Director.

“We all love the collection here at H&M and we believe that our customers will do the same. Marni has such a modern touch with everything they do, mixing prints and accessories in a playful but chic way. It’s fantastic to see how Consuelo Castiglioni coordinates her designs, matching new combinations of print and colour, with such incredible craftsmanship behind every piece. The collection will arrive in stores at just the perfect time, as a lovely statement for spring“. Margareta van den Bosch, Creative Advisor H&M.

Marni is a label that sticks to its own path, setting its own trends for print, cut and silhouette that are always playful and elegant. Marni has remained a family owned-business as it has grown to become an international luxury brand with stores around the world.

Marni’s collection for H&M has all the freedom and experimentation for which the label is renowned, with all-over prints in strong colours all intended to be worn together in layers that both match and clash. For women, the colours are vivid and the prints are bold, be they African inspired or simpler colour blocks. The silhouettes are all Marni staples, with full pleated skirts, dresses, cropped trousers and jacquard knit, and fabrics range from silk to crisp cotton poplin. To finish the complete look the collection also includes jewellery, shoes, bags and scarves.

For men, the colours and fabrics are softened for a relaxed take on menswear staples that is truly Marni. The use of print is subtle, often as a lining or as a contrast detail for shirts, the silhouette a modern and relaxed take on masculine classics. The Marni collection is the latest designer collaboration for H&M, which has previously collaborated with brands such as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Comme des Garçons, Jimmy Choo, Lanvin, and most recently Versace.

‘Do Good, Get Good’.

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Coldplay and Noel Gallagher have already signed up to the new currency at www.bluedotworld.com, which gives fans access to live shows and exclusive material by artists, authors and movie stars in return for donations, volunteer work and media sharing.

Blue Dot is the new social currency given to people who do good things for their favourite charities by sharing on social media websites, volunteering and donating to any one of the 100k non-profit organisations globally. The idea also influences young people to get involved with charities, as a recent survey conducted by SAGA showed that people over the age of 75 are the most likely generation to give to charity… yet Blue Dot is hoping to overturn these figures by rewarding youngsters with amazing prizes for ‘doing good’.

Within moments of the site going live, Noel Gallagher offered last chance tickets to his debut UK dates exclusively to Blue Dot citizens. Within 48hrs, thousands of positive actions had been taken for causes, including cash donations to over 70 UK different charities. Coldplay also used Blue Dot in the UK and US, to offer the chance to see them live exclusively to fans of Blue Dot.

Blue Dot is rapidly claiming recognition and credibility… founder of Blue Dot, Chris Ward, filmed exclusive backstage footage for Blue Dot with artists at BBC’s Children in Need, including with Ed Sheeran, Rizzle Kicks, Coldplay, JLS, One Direction, Snow Patrol, The Saturdays, Elbow and James Morrison.

One Direction have commented: “We’re thrilled to be part of Blue Dot; It’s a brilliant concept and a great cause. We really hope that our exclusive dressing room acoustic performance of ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ encourages people to donate.”

Nichole Scherzinger, Professor Green, Katherine Jenkins, Rebecca Ferguson, Anton Du Beke and Joe McElderry are amongst others that have donated singed albums and tour tickets.

Blue Dot Founder, Chris Ward said: “I was previously Creative Director of the UK’s Comic Relief, where we work first hand with major stars and brands to create attention-grabbing moments that engage millions of people in volunteering and charitable giving.

I created Blue Dot, as a genuinely new & innovative way to enable every single Cause to create that same impact, every single day of the year.”

Get Marilyn Monroe Sexy.

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When people think of what makes a women sexy they often think of a fragile young actress who died in 1962. Marilyn Monroe is often though of as curvy due to her hour glass figure, but her measurements, according to her dressmaker, were:

Height: 5 feet, 5½ inches
Weight: 118-140 pounds
Bust: 35-37 inches
Waist: 22-23 inches
Hips: 35-36 inches
Bra size: 36D

This article also puts her at a size 8/10, slim, but with ample breasts and hips. If you are lacking in the curves department, or just want to enhance what you have got, Frost has located the underwear that Michelle Williams wore in her star turn as Marilyn in My Week With Marilyn.

Time to drop some hints to your boyfriend….

Padded Plunge Bra: £84.95

St Tropez Briefs: £62.95

www.rigbyandpeller.com

Lionel Blair Charades on Twitter This Christmas

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LIONEL BLAIR CHA, CHA, CHA-RADES ONTO TWITTER THIS CHRISTMAS

National treasure, dance legend and charade champion Lionel Blair is the face of the first live-streamed twitter charades game show on 8th December!

· Former ‘Give Us a Clue’ captain Lionel Blair is the face of the first live-streamed, Twitter-led Christmas charades.

· “Lionel Blair’s Twitter Christmas Charades” live streaming on 8th December

· Join in and guess via Twitter in real-time to win Lionel prizes

· Embed i-frame on your website so viewers can play along

Former ‘Give Us a Clue’ captain Lionel Blair is the face of the first live twitter-led homage of the popular family game show in a Christmas special created by digital agency Collective.

“Lionel Blair’s Twitter Christmas Charades” is the 21st century update on the popular family game and Blair, along with help from everyone playing along on Twitter and a panel, will be appearing live in London, ready to respond to the real-time guesses made via Twitter.

Tune in to www.collectivelondon.com on the 8th December and play along with Lionel via the live video stream for the chance to win some signed Lionel merchandise, and be hailed as a charade champion. Add your guess in real-time via Twitter, using hashtag #Lionelscharades.

More information can be found by following Collective London on Twitter @collectiveldn or on the agency’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/collectivelondon

Coming soon…. Host on the day Joe Fry will introduce the Christmas game show and explain the rules on a special videocast ahead of the big day!

Win Umberto Giannini Products For a Glamorous Christmas

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Visit the Umberto Giannini ADVENT CALENDAR every day from now until the 25th to see if you have won a GORGEOUS GLAM GIRLY GIFT.

Click to unlock a door each day and you will find out instantly if you have won one of the FIVE GORGEOUS GIFTS that are being given away that
day.

Gifts range from the fabulous Glam Hair Marcella Wavers to a Luxury Hair Makeover session (including travel) by award winning hairdressers at the flagship Umberto Giannini salon in Selfridges,Birmingham.

CLICK NOW to have…A very glamorous Christmas!www.umbertogianninichristmas.com

Hugo {Film Review}

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Martin Scorsese doesn’t shy away on his love and passion for film history and filmmaking itself. He makes subtle homages to silent era films through-out his films (especially the shot of Joe Pesci shooting a gun at the camera in the end of GoodFellas is referencing to The Great Train Robbery (1903). So viewing this film, it doesn’t come as a surprise why Scorsese wanted to make this film. It is based on a children’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

It tells of an orphan named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who lives in a train station in Paris in 1930s, he encounters George Méliès (Ben Kingsley) at a toy shop. Whilst living in the train station, Hugo is busy fixing an automaton. A mechanical man that was found by his father (Jude Law), determined to get it fixed since his father died from a fire at the museum where he worked. Constantly avoiding the station’s inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), he also meets George’s goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz). Hugo notices a heart shaped key on Isabelle’s necklace, being a vital piece of the puzzle on fixing the automaton.

The story is a fantastical adventure and it is as exciting and magical as Pixar would make it if this was an animated film. The production design by Dante Ferreti (previous credits; Interview With The Vampire, Gangs of New York and The Aviator) continues to make some wonderful sets, especially the clock tower that Hugo often visits from time to time. It all feels authentic but also keeping with the fantasy story. Robert Richardson’s cinematography is gorgeous, making the setting of Paris as bright and glorious (which helps with the 3D). The writing from John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) is very well written, brilliant direction from Scorsese on starting the film with little to no dialogue. There was no need of an opening narration, a case and point on the meaning ‘show don’t tell’. The leading child actor, Butterfield, does hold the film on his own and makes a convincing and likable hero (“we’ll get into trouble” says Isabelle as Hugo pick locks a door “that’s how you know it’s an adventure!”) Moretz has already established from Kick-Ass how talented of an actress she already is and does the English accent spot-on! Sacha Baron Cohen (well-known as Ali G, Borat and Bruno in The Ali G Show) plays the Inspector as a comical villain and does comedy very well as he doesn’t play the character with any French stereotypical traits. His only purpose to uphold the law and capture any orphans in the station (being just as heartless as any mechanical object) but slowly showing feelings for the Lisette (Emily Mortimer)Ben Kingsley as the famous George Méliès makes one of his best performances. You feel for his sadness, that time can be a gift but also a curse. A magician on-stage and behind the camera, where he tells a young boy that this is where dreams get made! Believing there is no such thing as a happy ending. Though Hugo, as he fixes his automaton, attempts to fix George’s life. Which the film asks a question; what is our purpose in life? What happens when we’re made redundant? That’s a question Hugo constantly wants to find out and believing the automaton is the key to the memory of his father.

The thing that amazes me from this film is Scorsese’s eye on historical accuracy, not just from the setting or costumes but of film history itself. Featuring classic silent films; L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat/The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station and La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon/Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon by Lumière brothers (who invented the cinematograph). Seeing a reconstruction of George Méliès’ films being made honestly brought a tear to my eye, it really is a film lover’s dream. This, without a doubt, will be used as a case-study for Film Studies courses in the future.

Overall; a phenomenal piece of filmmaking! Scorsese really does delve into the fantasy of the story but also celebrating film itself. As George Méliès says at the end of the film; “let us all dream!” You have certainly delivered a wonderful dream, Mr. Scorsese!

5 out of 5!