Tag Archives: christmas

British Comedy Awards

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The British Comedy Awards will be starting soon so we brought you a quick clip to whet your appetite.

@ComedyOn4 will be live tweeting from the British #ComedyAwards tonight.

They have a AAA rating (the French can’t interfere here) and will be announcing winners, taking backstage pictures and dishing out gossip along the way. Please follow and RT. They will be retweeting the best tweets from people there on the night as well as the funniest comments from people at home using the #ComedyAwards hashtag.

Join Comedyon4 now…. http://www.twitter.com/ComedyOn4

To whet your appetites here’s a compilation of some of the best bits from the Comedy Awards. Check out @Wossy’s hair! Link to view and embed code attached – http://bcove.me/2r9rkwiu

 

 

 

 


 

The British #ComedyAwards 2011. Tonight, 9pm, Channel 4. @ComedyOn4 will be live tweeting from the awards. Join them.

Frost's Winter Health Challenge

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Winter can be hard on health and beauty. Skin tends to dry out and constant flues and colds are abound.

Frost has tested some health products to help you survive winter as well as possible.

Moa – The Green Balm is a wonder balm that you can use for anything from dry or chapped hands, to bites and bruises, lip salve, blemishes and can mixed with hot water as a sore throat-soothing drink. It smells good and has a good consistency. It works very well as a moisturiser and is a great thing to have around the house. It really is a do-it-all balm, and it is completely natural. I really liked it and I used it as a lip balm and on my hands. (£4.99 from all good health stores or www.thegreenbalm.co.uk)

Eating well in winter can be hard. The temptation to eat stodgy food and hibernate can be strong, and, lack of sun means that you won’t be getting enough Vitamin D. I started taking 5 Lifestream Chorella tablets a day and felt that I had a lot more energy. My skin looks nice and bright and my hair looks good. I go up to 10 a day and I even lose a few pounds. I feel like I’m been given a good health boost. Chlorella is filled with the immune-boosting vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy. Lifestream Chlorella (£15.29 for 300 tablets from all good health stores or www.grumpygorilla.co.uk). Renowned as nature’s won multivitamin, chlorella is packed with more than 20 vitamins, minerals and amino acids and vitamin D.

Those suffering with seasonal joint pain or arthritis could benefit from a daily dose of apple cider vinegar and honey such as Honegar (£4.69 for 500ml from Holland & Barrett and all good health food stores) mixed with warm or cold water. Ranulph Fiennes is a fan. I start drinking it and although I don’t have arthritis I find I feel more cleansed and have more energy. I also have not had a cold or any flu. It doesn’t taste bad either.

I also try out Plj Lemon Juice. It is nice as a refreshing drink, as an ingredient when cooking or mixed with Manuka honey and warm water to soothe and calm an inflamed throat. It is a good thing to drink if you are trying to detox, not only does it cleanse but it is quite sweet so can take the edge off any cravings.

PLj Lemon Juice (£2.29 from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and all good health food stores)

All of the products I decided to try are natural and as green as possible.

What do you do to help you get through the winter?

Christmas Wine Review

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Banrock Station Shiraz Rosé

 The complaint I have from people who don’t like Rosé is that it is too sweet. This Rosé solves that problem. It is good, refreshing and crisp Rosé . Although it has a touch of sweetness it is not overbearing. It’s a good bright colour too.
This Rosé has delicious flavours of strawberry and cherry. It has a lot of flavour and is sparkling. Top Notch.

 Waitrose £8.99        

   
 
Stone’s Ginger Wine Special Reserve is a blend of the finest quality raisins and pure ground ginger which produces a delicious, mellow warming flavour that pairs perfectly with Christmas pudding and mince pies.
 
 Stone’s Ginger Wine is not for lightweights. It is 18%, but it really is beautiful. A delicious, full-bodied ginger wine. It’s strong, a bit like a brandy. You can feel it going down. It tastes delicious alone or as a cocktail ingredient. One of my friends I tried it out on now drinks it with cola. It would also be brilliant as an ingredient in a hot toddy.

It tastes expensive but it is reasonably priced. Try it, it is one of my favourite wines. Good quality and original. Perfect for winter as it’s warming and perfect for Christmas too.
 
 Waitrose £6.99
 

Surviving Christmas as a Single

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The Christmas period is a time of mixed emotions for single people; Christmas parties give us lots of opportunities for meeting new people and securing a kiss under the mistletoe, but the elated party mood can fade quickly when we’re back home with family and being relentlessly quizzed about our single status.

An eHarmony.co.uk study (2009) found that 47% of singles cited loneliness as the reason they feel a sense of trepidation about going home for Christmas. Additionally, the unmarried men we surveyed said they found Christmas a more stressful time than Valentine’s Day.

We‘re not saying it’s easy, but if you try to approach being single from a positive perspective, there are a lot of good points about being single at this time of year – from evenings out at German Christmas markets to office parties and mince pie gatherings, there are so many added opportunities to socialize and get into the Christmas spirit. Here are a few tips on tackling December with confidence.

Top tips to avoid feeling left out if you’re not coupled-up this festive season, from Dr Gian Gonzaga, Senior Director of Research at online match-making website eharmony.co.uk

Fill your time
If you’ve been single for a while, you’ll probably be a dab hand at planning and filling your time. And that’s no bad thing – how often do you hear coupled friends moaning they can’t go out because ‘Rachel has promised to cook me dinner this evening’?  Whereas, you have no one else’s calendar to worry about. Grab the festive season with both hands; attend parties, see old friends, visit Christmas markets and invite other single friends round for dinner.

Feel good about yourself
So, you’ve got some spare time on your hands. Why not volunteer for a charity such as Crisis, over Christmas. Amazingly, some charities get over subscribed for volunteers on Christmas Day and Boxing Day but there’ll always be someone in need at some point over the festive season.

Don’t wallow
This is the cardinal rule of being single at Christmas – and in fact the whole year round. If you wallow in your feelings of sadness, you’ll enter into a downward spiral. Misery breeds misery, and it pushes people away. How often have you walked into a party and thought, ‘Ooh, I’ll talk to that miserable person over there’? We’re guessing never.

We know that it’s often easier said than done to banish those feelings of sadness – especially if you find yourself remembering last Christmas when things were better for you – but do try. As soon as you feel your mind wandering, distract yourself. Volunteer to do some cooking, call up a friend:  just get your mind off that subject.

Gather round, one and all

The Christmas holidays are about all the relationships you have, and you have a lot! Revel in these relationships because you probably don’t get to see them that often. After all, what’s funnier than Aunt Margaret after a few too many sherries? If you really can’t face it, coerce a friend into going with you – but take care, if you think all your attention will be spent making sure they’re ok rather than socialising, it’s a pointless exercise.

Don’t be the only single person at the party
Whilst you should stay social, try to avoid being the only single person at a party if you think it will bother you. Take a friend, or arrange to do something else. Of course, if you’re happy to be around just couples then party away.

Come up with a good comeback for nosy relatives
If there’s one thing to guarantee you regressing to being a sulky child, it’s a nosy relative inquiring about your love life. Yes it’s petty, but the fact is that when your smug distant cousin and his new wife are bearing down on you at a family gathering you’ll do well to have some stock answers to their potentially prying questions. This can range from the genuine (I just haven’t found the right person yet) to the flippant (I didn’t fancy buying so many presents this year) – whatever you’re comfortable with, just be prepared. And remember your relationships come and go on your terms and no one else’s.

Look on the bright side
There are actually lots of bonuses to being single at Christmas – no agonizing over presents for your partner, no stress over whose house to eat Christmas dinner at, being able to go to any party you want…the list goes on. Still feeling miserable? Remember that Christmas puts huge pressure on couples too, with 1.8million considering divorce over the period, according to Family Mediation Helpline. Also remember that there is life after Christmas – after all, it is just a week and it’ll soon be January. (And if the prospect of a cold and grey January doesn’t persuade you to enjoy the moment, nothing will)

Get away from it all
And, if you honestly can’t face Christmas at home, take the chance to be completely selfish and have a winter break. Relish your lack of responsibilities and spend a week lying on a beach, not sparing a thought for overeating and enforced jollity.

 

 

January's Magazines: Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani Cover Stars.

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Lady Gaga takes the cover of Vanity Fair. She tells Vanity Fair: ‘I can’t commit to being an adult- I’m not ready.’

One of the main reasons I subscribe to Vanity Fair is the intelligent articles. I get my monthly dose of politics and economics. This month is no exception, there are brilliant articles to help you understand the economical crisis and a brilliant article on George F. Kennedy.

I really enjoyed Henry Aldord’s article on manners. It’s a sample from his book, Would it kill you to stop doing that?

  • Vanity Fair take Celine Dion out to lunch and she tells them she has over 3000 pair of shoes.
  • There is a brilliant article on Rick Perry, can he comeback?
  • Salman Rushdie on Lewis Carroll’s struggle to write his second book. ‘Follow that syndrome’ and how it helped him. Great piece.
  • The Japanese workers cleaning up Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
  • Rebecca Eaton, who has put her stamp on Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs amongst others.
  • Michael Ovitz and his (alleged) failed takeover of IMG from the late Teddy Forstmann.
  • The wonderful Christopher Hitchens debates whether the phrase ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ has merit.
  • The Queen and Prince Phillip in love. 16 pages on the blossoming of their love.
  • And P.D. James answers the Proust Questionnaire.

Marie Claire has Kelly Rowland on the cover. She talks Beyonce, men, music and admits she has cellulite.

There is a lot of clothes and shoes that will help you plan your wardrobe for next year, and lots of sparkly stuff for Christmas.

There is also a 2011 in review. Most magazines do this in December, watch out for Frosts.

  • Why famous men cheat, and does it sound like your man? Good article, and Lizzie Cundy tells Marie Claire how it felt when her husband cheated on her. Forgive and forget?
  • Four style savvy women share the party prepping secrets.
  • Janine di Giovanni goes in search of the truth about Aisha Gaddafi.
  • Should you tell your boss if your pregnant?
  • Matt Smith interview.
  • Who finds you the perfect date?
  • Jean Shrimpton’s Life story.
  • Amy Manson on the things she loves.
  • Future proof your looks.
  • Dakota Fanning’s beauty rules.
  • There is a very informative article on hormone problems, their symptoms and treatments.

Florence Welch take the cover of British Vogue and is interviewed inside. She tells Vogue: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be polished. I’m integrally slightly scruffy. You know, you meet those women who are so cool? I’m striving for that so much!”.

  • In Vogue’s scrapbook there is a guide to flowers and their seasons and lots of floral dresses.
  • Sarah Lund from The Killing is interviews and asked about THAT jumper.
  • Women under siege, stories from women in Libya.
  • The new generation of female drummers.
  • Designing Duos.
  • Michael Kors
  • The Frieze Art; pictures and interviews from the art world’s fashion week.
  • Nomi Rapace interview.
  • Steven Spielberg and the cast for Warhorse.
  • Vogue’s great escapes. A brief history of Vogue shoots in foreign countries.
  • Three beauty hotshots show you how to par-down your make up bag.
  • Fast track your workout.

 

Glamour has X Factor’s Tulisa on the cover. She says ‘I don’t think I am anything like Cheryl, except we can both put a bit of volume in our hair’. She also says that she likes to ‘stick up for other women’. Which makes Frost like her. A lot.

  • Dermont O’Leary interview.
  • Don’t fear your fashion ghosts.
  • Get your dream job in 2012.
  • How to get blogged about.
  • The truth about food intolerance.
  • 3 Health problems you can fix yourself.
  • Can dating pro Matthew Hussey find you a man?
  • Tamara and Petra Ecclestone.
  • There is a good article on the rise of those awful pay day loan companies, beware of them at all costs!
  • Hollywood female stereotypes, a funny article by Mindy Kaling, writer of the US Office.
  • The truth about Hollywood stars selling their bodies when times get tough.
  • Give your closet a January detox with Danni Minogue.
  • Nicki Minaj interview and photo shoot.
  • How to get your s**t together. Sort out your wardrobe, make up bag, and everything else in your life.
  • Josh Duhamel interview.
  • The stars of 2012.
  • Your everything guide to skin.
  • Nicole Scherzinger on health and beauty.
  • The Devil in your diet: The low-down on sugar. Did you know that sugar has 4kcal per gram? There is also no difference between brown and white sugar.
  • 12 dinners for £50.

Tatler has Florence Brudenell-Bruce is on the cover. The girl that got away, Prince Harry’s ex tells Tatler that ‘one day everything will drop and I won’t be able to earn a living in my bikini’.

 

  • Free travel guide.
  • Rigby and Peller give Tatler their Mood Board.
  • What the recent overhaul of the royal succession means for the aristocracy.
  • Santa Sebag Montefiore launches a new skiing clothes line.
  • The Posh Commune.
  • Ella Hughes goes to an orgy.

  • Charles Gilkes and Duncan Stirling launch yet another party venue.
  • Quentin Letts sketchbook: Yvette Cooper.
  • Russian Billionaires at the High Court. Abramovich and Berezovsky go head to head.
  • Emma Freud reviews toasters.
  • Dafydd Jones on 30 years of chronicling the art crowd.
  • Writers on manners.
  • Joanne Lumley on her beauty routine.
  • Jo Malone on what she loves.

Gwen Stefani is on the cover of Instyle and is interviewed. Did you know she is friends with Angelina Jolie?

  • Where style starts: statement earrings.
  • Josephine de la Baume on her style.
  • Actors at the Toronto Film Festival.
  • Fashion insiders reveal what they cannot live without.
  • Tom Ford and Kate Bosworth. Tom has just launched a new make up range and Kate models
  • Instyle Shopping rules; jeans, vintage, lingerie, jewellery.
  • Instyle meets Jenna Lyons from J Crew.
  • Beyonce’s body rules.
  • Christmas Prep.
  • Megan Fox Up Close. Her beauty secrets.
  • Gizzi Erskine is In Style’s new columnist.

Christmas Ideas For The Men In Your Life

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Two great jackets you could buy for the man in your life for Christmas. They will keep him warm in January.

Duffers new men’s Alberta stadium jacket, Originally designed and produced
For Alberta college students in the 1930’s and adopted for various clubs and
gangs around that time.

The big D felt patch originates from lettermen who participated in sports
and received badges and medals for there achievements which where also
applied to their jackets.

This updated version has snap front studs and is insulated for cold-weather
wear and comes with a brushed cotton shell.

RRP £79.99 www.jdsports.co.uk

Duffer’s Skate Park Snorkel coat,

Although named with respect to the purpose built recreational environment
for skateboarders to ride and develop their skills, “Snorkel” is so called
because the hood can be zipped right up leaving only a small tunnel ( or snorkel )
for the wearer to look out of which is particularly effective in cold windy weather.
This knee length version has a fully detachable fur lined hood to protect the face.
It is lovingly stuffed with warm fiber wadding making the coat both lighter and
warmer. The outer shell is made of lightweight nylon and you will find extra warmth
from the polar fleece cuff lining.

rrp £109 www.jdsports.co.uk

Tim Austin On Kindle Publishing Christmas Tails.

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Frost: You’ve written a book of short stories for Christmas – tell us a little about them.

Tim: I actually wrote the stories a few years back, as presents for friends and family. There are four stories and each has a different feel and genre. One is a children’s adventure in the style of Enid Blyton, one is a comic farce told in “net speak”, another is a Victorian ghost story.

Frost: But they’re all linked in some way?

Tim: They all contain Dogs, hence the Title; “Christmas Tails”.

Frost: What made you think of publishing them?

Tim: I was encouraged to share them by the people who I’d written them for and people who they had shown them to. The positive reaction took me by surprise, to be honest; I’ve written a few scripts here and there but nothing like this. It was quite flattering so I thought “why not?”
I initially did a short print run of one of the stories, “Dreams”, for local people in Yorkshire. It sold out. I was later told that it had been used in a high school assembly somewhere in Birmingham!

Frost: And now you’ve put the collection on the Kindle Bookstore?

Tim: Yes. It’s also available as a PDF from my website.

Frost: What made you go down the direct publishing route?

Tim: Time and cost, mainly. As an actor chasing work, I’ve little time to be running around after publishers – it’s a bit of a chore, frankly. I thought that publishing online would be the simplest and quickest way of getting the book out there.

Frost: And how have you found self-publishing? Successful? Tricky?

Tim: More difficult than I had expected, to be honest. The trouble with self-publishing is that you’re suddenly responsible for formatting and type-facing the book for use with e-readers (which is a steep learning curve!) as well as marketing the book itself. And the market for e-books is a little different to the market for paperbacks.

Frost: How so?

Tim: It seems to me, having now been poking around the forums and the dozens of e-book related sites on the net, that there is a new culture developing around e-books. The audience is pretty open to new works and new authors but they’re also pretty demanding – pricing is tricky, for example, and they’re not scared of telling you if something doesn’t work!
That said, I’ve found the publishers forum on Amazon very helpful and wonderfully supportive.

Frost: And what about your decision to give 50p per book to Children in Need?

Tim: Well, as much as the money would come in very handy, the important thing to me is having the book in people’s hands and enjoyed. I always feel the tiniest bit guilty that I’ve not been able to give as much as I’d like to the charity over the years and I want to make up for that. It’s a great charity and, with government support ebbing away from many of the causes that Children in Need supports, it just seems like the right thing to do.

Frost: Any future publishing plans?

Tim:
Not immediately. But who knows? If it sells well enough, there may – just may – be a sequel.

Frost: You read it here first.

To buy Christmas Tails, please visit Tim’s main site at www.tim-austin.co.uk or buy it from the Amazon Kindle Bookstore here; Christmas Tails

A Very Grim Fairy tale

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“Is it a good song? Well of course it is- don’t be stupid!”

That was me and me having our annual Christmas argument about a song that is both rousing and poetically written, and that takes a different look at a holiday that’s normally so delicious, wobbly and sugar-coated it could pass for an M&S crème brulee.

I realize that the story of the less fortunate is one we all love at this time of year and it’s been wrung dry by every Christmas movie from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ to ‘Groundhog Day’ but I don’t want it in my Christmas playlist and I certainly don’t want it voted the best festive song of all time.

Firstly, I’m English. It’s no big deal and I’m not going to shave my head about it but I really don’t want a song by an Irish group about two dossers living in New York to dominate my cozy little English Crimbletime.

Why should I care what the hell the boys in the NYPD Choir are singing about? The fact is that most ‘Irish-Americans’, in spite of dropping the word ‘Irish’ into half of all sentences, couldn’t find Europe on an atlas, let alone Ireland. They probably couldn’t find Galway Bay on a map of fucking Galway but they carry on, Peter Griffins to a man, and the Pogues expect me, thousands of miles away in England, to give a shit.

“Well at least the Pogues are genuinely Irish!” I hear me say… Yeah, great. I’ve only seen Shane Mcgowan perform twice- both on TV, and both times he was wasted, but that’s punk for you. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of punk in the right place but I don’t want to have the ‘Vs’ flicked at me by a man with a henge for a mouth when I’m tucking into my third kilo of dinner and preparing for Morecombe and Wise. Besides which, I didn’t ask for anything ‘Irish’ in the first place. If I want an Irish Christmas I’ll just go there- same applies to New Bloody York.

My Christmas is here, in England, with Cliff singing ‘follow the Mazda’ and Slade doing what they do best.

And let’s not forget the carols. The only time I even entertain the tiniest element of religion is for Christmas carols. Admittedly I have to blur the religious references when I catch myself singing them, but I’d still rather sit around the table singing, ‘Oh come grab a face full’ and ‘Born is the kid from Dingly Dell’ than turning to my wife’s gran and calling her ‘an old slut on junk’.

It’s bad enough being conned into singing an anti-war message by John Lennon when you think you’re just wishing everyone a merry Christmas. You lean over to plant a hopeful wet one on the cheek of Andrea from accounts as she passes below the mistletoe and find yourself whispering, ‘the war is over’ in her ear like an extra from ‘Allo Allo’!

The whole song just depresses me. I know it’s romantic and I get the sentiment- I really do, but I don’t want to marvel at how the spirit of Christmas can flicker even in the harshest of lives- not now, not at Christmas.

I appreciate that this makes me a soulless, shallow buffoon but hey, I’m on holiday so bah humbug and pass me the iPod. I’ve a hankering for Bing and just enough room left for a little crème brulee.

Merry Christmas.