Ones to watch: Hannah Rothschild. {Film}

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Hannah Rothschild is exceptionally talented. With a skill at getting to subjects that other people wouldn’t, No doubt helped by her famous last name. Though it’s relevant – her documentary on Peter Mandelson, Mandelson:The Real PM? , was no doubt helped by the fact that her brother, Nat, is good friends with Mandelson – like other directors with famous last names, Sofia Coppola etc, Rothschild makes the most of the proverbial foot in the door. She let’s her talent shine through. Her documentary, The Jazz Baroness, is a triumph. It’s a documentary of contrast in race, class, wealth, and of music and love. Pannonica Rothschild was her great aunt.

Pannonica de Koenigswarter fell in love with the geniuses of jazz. She was born in 1913 into the British branch of the immensely wealthy Rothschild family, brought up in a mansion called Waddesdon, and died in 1988 in a small house in Weehawken, New Jersey, surrounded by 306 cats. Her life changed when she heard Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.” She became friend and champion to some of the greatest jazz musicians of the twentieth century. Twenty songs were named after her, Her love of jazz took over her entire life, it seems she gave up everything to be near it.

Another documentary was on renowned socialite, bon viveur and ridiculously well connected Nicky Haslam. Titled ‘Hi Society: The wonderful world of Nicky Haslam. In Mandelson: The Real PM? she follows Peter Mandelson around in the run up to the election, at one point Mandelson is heard soothing Gordon Brown, at that time still Prime Minister. Rothschild comes across as fearless, she doesn’t seem to be scared of Mandelson, to ask the hard questions, despite his connection and friendship with her family.

In The Jazz Baroness Rothschild gets interviews with Clint Eastwood, who let’s her use footage from ‘Straight No Chaser.’ which her great aunt featured in, As well as the dowager Duchess of Devonshire, Thelonious Monk’s son, her father Jacob Rothschild and her great-aunt Miriam. The documentary is not just about Rothschild’s great-aunt Pannonica , it’s also about her trying to find a place in her famous family. She confesses about pressures ‘real or imagined’ and she chooses to become an artist. Luckily for her, it seems, she has found her place after all. As she says;

“Real glamour isn’t about Bentleys or fur coats or silver dishes; it’s about being able to walk down Fifty-second Street and hear in one night so many great musicians play tunes dedicated to you.”

I look forward to Hannah Rothschild’s next project.

Hannah Rothschild’s website.

NEW RESEARCH ADDS WEIGHT TO EXERCISE HELPING DIETERS. {Health}

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Dieters should add regular exercise to their programmes in a bid to shed those extra pounds – and keep them off.

Latest research reinforces the importance of combining healthy eating and exercise with more than 90 per cent of those opting for this combination reporting it as a successful weight loss formula in the Fitness First study.

The research into the effectiveness of diets alone, and alongside regular exercise, also gives a resounding thumbs up to the sensible approach of steady weight loss and exercise with dieters shunning the more extreme and niche diets as ineffective in the long term.

Exercise three or four times a week was judged to provide the best complement to dieting, a realistic aim for those looking to lose weight.

Fitness First surveyed more than 2,000 people on their diet and fitness habits and the results also reinforce how many more women than men sample different diets with 55 per cent of women dieting and just 23 per cent of men.

However both men and women favour diets such as WeightWatchers, Slimming World and Slim Fast over lesser known options such as the Duken or Maple Syrup diets.

Derek Crawford, UK national fitness manager for Fitness First said “It is good to see so many people taking up exercise to help keep them in shape but they key is to incorporate an enjoyable fitness regime into your lifestyle which is a common sense approach to keeping fit and healthy.’’

He said men were keener to incorporate fitness into the weight loss programme but said that it was important for everyone to exercise regularly.

Five most popular diets

Women
WeightWatchers
Slim Fast
Slimming World
Atkins
Rosemary Conley

Men
WeightWatchers
Atkins
Slim Fast
Slimming World
Rosemary Conley

Eliza Doolittle and www.bitchingandjunkfood.com collaborate.

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Eliza Doolittle and www.bitchingandjunkfood.com

If there is any type of person that would perfectly represent Bitching and Junkfood it has to be young indie British songstress, Eliza Doolittle.

Having sported Bitching and Junkfoods signature cut of denim shorts at a string of events and in her recent film clip, “Rollerblades” as well as featuring Bitching and Junkfood as one of her “favourite labels” in press, the Bitchy girls have now created a pair of customised fringed shorts for Eliza that appear in her new video, Skinny Genes.

The Bitchy girls and Eliza are now in discussions to develop the relationship with exciting new projects in negotiation, stay tuned.

ROCK AROUND THE WOK FOR LESS. {Food}

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You can rock around the wok for less this festive season thanks to Wing Yip’s great recipe suggestions which will allow you to provide authentic Oriental cuisine for up to 10 people for under £20.

Authentic dishes can be prepared easily with Wing Yip’s Mai Siam Hamper which contains sauces ranging from Thai Green Curry Paste to Thai Sriracha Chilli Sauce. At just £15.00 this hamper pack offers the base for a vast selection of fantastic meals and Oriental feasts.

Complete with a range of sauces, coconut milk, tableware and a wok for preparing these great authentic meals at home. The hamper is ideal for Oriental meal ideas designed to make parties an easy and cheaper option this festive season.

Christmas leftovers can be turned into a tasty Oriental feast, with just a little preparation and a few additional ingredients.

Why not try Thai Red Curry? Quick and easy to prepare, it will provide a great opportunity to put all the leftover turkey meat to good use. Use Mai Siam Thai Red Curry Paste with a dash of Sweet Chilli Sauce and coconut milk – all included in the hamper.

Side dishes are a must at any banquet. To accompany the mouth watering Thai main dish, why not keep it authentic and serve with noodles or fragrant rice.

Everything you need including Oriental beers, wines, fortune cookies, chopsticks and tableware, is available online or from Wing Yip superstores in Birmingham, Manchester, Cricklewood and Croydon.

Customers can access more than 800 Wing Yip products, 100 Oriental recipes and store information by visiting www.wingyipstore.co.uk

Thai Red Curry with Turkey

Red Curry is the most well known Thai curry. The basis of the curry is the dried chillies that are ground to a paste together with lemon grass and galangal. This recipe uses leftover turkey.
Ingredients

* Large turkey pieces cut into bite size pieces
* 4 tsp Mai Siam Red Curry Paste
* 1 tbsp vegetable oil
* 57g fine beans (cut into 3cm lengths)
* 1 tin coconut milk
* Handful Sweet Basil
* 2 tsp fish sauce (to taste
* 1 tsp palm sugar (to taste)

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a wok and gently fry the red curry paste, adding 2 tbsp coconut milk to cook out the curry paste.
2. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the oil separates from the curry paste.
3. This is the best time to add the turkey pieces which should be stir fried in the mixture for about 3 minutes.
4. Next add the coconut milk, palm sugar and the fish sauce.
5. When turkey is cooked add the fine beans and cook further until beans are al dente.
6. Lastly, scatter the sweet basil over the curry and turn off heat.
7. If curry is to be eaten later, allow curry to cool uncovered.

· Serves 2 – 3

The Social Network. {Film Review}

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It is rare that a movie is looked at as a joke, but destroys all predictions and exceeds all expectations. This movie is by far the most (unexpectedly) damn good movies of this year. Who’d thought a movie about the creator of Facebook would be this interesting?

As you can probably tell from the trailers and the poster artwork, it’s a movie about the creation of Facebook. Though that’s only the plot-device for the narrative, and is instead a character study of Mark Zuckerberg (played brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg). The character is beautifully ironic, he creates a website for friends all over the globe to connect with each other and yet he struggles to maintain his friendship to others (as little he has). He’s more of an anti-hero, focusing on his ambitions than his personal relationships. It becomes satirical, and one of the terrific things the character has been portrayed. Supporting cast from Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer Jr. (as identical twins) and Justin Timberlake all deliver terrific performances. Garfield brings much emotional weight to a character that has been deeply trodden on, as he slowly gets involved with deception and betrayal.

The writing for the film is absolutely fantastic. Aaron Sorkin (known for creating The West Wing) writes one of the most exciting screenplays I’ve heard in 2010. It delivers with so much wit and charm, that it’s hard not to find this compelling and absorbing. The delivery from the actors is electric. It can be hard to take all in with such a quick pace, but it adds to the character traits each person has. It also should get enormous recognition to director David Fincher. After the very well made but slightly shallow Benjamin Button, you can tell Fincher is in familiar territory. The way he inter-cuts the court cases with the story of Facebook’s creation, it makes you wanting to know what happens next. It’s something that made Zodiac so exciting and intense to watch, also a film about obsession and achieving success.

Overall; One of the top best films of 2010. A solid piece of filmmaking that drags you in from the very start. A case-study on how to produce drama in an exciting and interesting way. Predicting a strong award contender, even should get nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director. Extremely recommended in the highest order!

5 stars!

By Owun Birkett

Tron: Legacy {Film Review}

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It has been nearly 30 years since Tron hit the screens, which turned out to be a box-office flop (along with The Thing and Blade Runner that year) but then has become a cult-classic and has been cherished by its fans. Now we have a mega budget sequel, having to please the fans of the first film but also intriguing new fans. It is, unfortunately, not a masterpiece or anything more than just your average sci-fi/adventure movie.

The good points to this film are the visual effects. The Grid feels familiar but up-to-date with our current technology (unfortunately, Tron feels incredibly dated with its visual effects). The suits and light-cycles have been given a 2.0 upgrade, and all look relatively cool and flashy. The action sequences are well done, wide enough to see and intense without being chaotic (again, Michael Bay should take notes). The music by Daft Punk is undeniably awesome. It is atmospheric and makes the film a lot better for it. It feels retro, but being contemporary. The 3D in this movie is very well done, not poorly rendered (Clash of the Titans) or hard to watch (Alice in Wonderland) but it’s more atmospheric 3D (Avatar) and works incredibly to its advantage. The 3D only happens as soon Sam enters The Grid, with the scenes in the real world are filmed in traditional 2D format. Yet all that is far and between to what I have to bring up the bad points.

I don’t want to go into detail about the story, but it is predictable and stupid basically. There’s the Disney cliché’s of Sam growing up to be a rebel, even one night hacks into Encom and escapes by parachuting off from the roof (errrr why? wouldn’t it been better if you gone out the same way you came and not attract yourself even more?). The first film had a simple and easy to follow structure to know what was the purpose of Clu, Tron etc. In this film, however, they mention things but they don’t give enough detail exactly how or what happened (like how did the new ISOs actually exist?). If Clu and Tron are given tasks to do, then what tasks the programs in the crowd do? Olivia Wilde plays the token hot girl, given nothing to do but deliver exposition. Garrett Hedlund is not a particularly interesting protagonist, he’s just a one-dimensional character and not very developed. Michael Sheen as Castor is really wasted in this film, he absolutely chews the scenery and acts like a gay David Bowie/Billy Idol and his character is pointless (same problem I asked earlier; if he’s a program, what is his function?). The only good performance is Jeff Bridges, though he plays him like The Dude in The Big Lebowski. The CGI effects for the young Jeff Bridges/Clu is really off-putting. It’s the definition of uncanny valley; it looks rubbery or plastic and I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief. I won’t say much, but the story is full of plot-holes.

Overall; a hugely disappointing film. Whilst partially entertaining at times, and an amazing score by Daft Punk; I couldn’t help but say to myself “is this the best they could come up with after 30 years?”. It feels more suitable than as a theme park ride than a movie.

3 stars!

By Owun Birkett

JCB LAUNCH ULTIMATE BIG BOYS TOY IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS .

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JCB has spent over £20m on the design and development of its new range of diggers and has created the ultimate boys toy for Christmas.

With snow having covered parts of the country and forecasters predicting the coldest winter Britain has seen in the last 100 years, design chiefs and engineers working on the new range at JCB have come up with a novel idea – the world’s first digger with an in-cab hot water dispenser to make the perfect brew!

The new backhoe loader, JCB’s flagship 3CX Eco model, which costs from around £47,500 is also equipped with a cool box, heated front windscreen and power brakes as well as a new EcoDig hydraulic system and promises to be the ultimate gift for the man who has everything.

In addition to multi million pound investments, JCB employed innovative design to offer a 16 per cent increase in fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.

Offering a massive 440 nM of Torque, a bucket volume of 1.3 cubic metres and a lift capacity of 4638 kg the new 4CX Eco delivers incredible performance, power and productivity.

“Driver comfort is paramount and we are always looking at new, innovative ways to improve things,” explains Tim Burnhope, JCB’s group managing director for product development and commercial operations. “We have a proud tradition of product innovation and being first to introduce the latest technology and this is just another example. In fact, we believe it’s a world first!”

He continues: “We continually challenge our engineers to raise the bar when it comes to improving the operators’ working environment and our team has excelled itself this time. Digger drivers often spend a considerable amount of time in their cabs and the fact that they will now be able to enjoy more cups of tea and coffee is bound to be a real winner!”

The idea for the digger with the in-cab hot water dispenser came about after JCB conducted research with customers and operators across the UK and found having the ability to make hot drinks easily on freezing cold days was very important.

Tim added: “We all know that a happy operator is a more productive operator and so we felt everyone wins with our new innovation.”

All JCB 3CX and 4CX Eco backhoe loader models are now available with an optional hot water dispenser, capable of producing tea, coffee or soup, which locks securely into an area at the side of the cab. The machine uses the 12V supply directly from the machine and has been designed to fit into the existing cab layout.

However, in addition to the hot water dispenser, the new backhoe range also features a whole host of environmental and performance-enhancing benefits.

The new JCB EcoDig hydraulic system, which utilises three hydraulic pumps, can help cut fuel costs by up to 16 per cent, saving customers up to £3,536 over three years, and also boasts enhanced performance to further boost productivity. The models also come with JCB EcoRoad options of Smooth Ride System (SRS) and TorqueLock which can reduce fuel consumption by up to 25 per cent whilst increasing speed by up to ten per cent. Power brakes provide proportional braking, resulting in reduced effort, and the redesigned pedal box, with improved ergonomics, helps operators maintain roading speeds, contributing to a further one per cent saving in fuel consumption.

Tim concludes: “The new JCB backhoe loader range is our most efficient. It has been designed with the environment and productivity in mind and ultimately the machines work harder, yet require less fuel and driver effort.”

Celebrity wildlife hero Brian May supports BUAV's call for an end to the UK's role in cruel monkey trade.

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Rock guitarist Brian May and TV wildlife expert Bill Oddie have joined the BUAV in its call on the UK Government to stop supporting the cruel trade in wild-caught monkeys. Brian May and Bill Oddie joined a host of MPs, primatologists and other scientists who attended an event at the House of Commons for the BUAV’s Stop the Baby Trade campaign to end the cruel trade in monkeys for research. The event was hosted by Leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MP, with guest speaker, field biologist and conservationist Ian Redmond OBE.

Brian May and Bill Oddie were shocked to learn about the cruelty and suffering involved in the capture of wild primates. Despite a UK ban on the import of wild-caught primates since 1997, there is not a similar ban on their offspring. Since 2009, over 2,000 monkeys born to wild-caught parents have been imported into the UK. The majority of these came from Mauritius which is the UK’s main supplier of primates.

Dr Brian May CBE said:

“The imprisonment and abuse of wild animals must stop. BUAV has uncovered evidence of monkeys ripped from their jungle homes and families, and forced to produce babies who will be shipped to laboratories around the world. The UK plays a major part in allowing this cruel trade to continue by importing monkeys from countries such as Mauritius for British laboratories. On behalf of the Save-Me foundation, I call on the Government to cut all ties with this cruel trade immediately, and fully support the BUAV’s campaign to Stop the Baby Trade.”

Bill Oddie OBE said:

“To me this issue is not whether or not animals should ever be used in medical research, it is about the utterly unacceptable and blatantly cruel conditions in which monkeys are trapped, transported and kept. I fully support the BUAV’s campaign to Stop the Baby Trade.”

Caroline Lucas MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM 957) calling on the Government to completely disassociate the UK from the cruel trade by banning the use of primates born to wild-caught parents, as well as those from facilities which trap wild primates for breeding purposes. The EDM has to date been signed by 80 MPs.

Other famous supporters of the campaign include comedian Ricky Gervais and celebrity designer Meg Mathews.

http://www.stopthebabytrade.org

EDM:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41946&SESSION=905