Wimbledon ‘grunting’ controversy as record decibels achieved!

There is good news for online shoppers thanks to the recent deal on Balance Transfers available from Barclaycard. The UK credit card provider is currently offering 0% on balance transfers for 20 months, and until 3rd May 25% off additional balance transfer fees. 20 months is a considerable period time and it is apparently Britain’s longest ever transfer deal making Barclaycard the first and only UK credit card provider to offer this deal in the market today.

This offer is currently available on Barclaycard Platinum card and effectively gives shoppers some good breathing space on previous balances. You can additionally take advantage of 0% interest on purchases for 3 months from account opening. This is a welcome deal if you are still catching up with purchases from Christmas or if you are planning on splashing out a bit over the Summer.

The Platinum Credit Card is ideal for people looking to take some time out from paying interest on their balance transfer. It is particularly aimed at people over the age of 21, that have a good credit rating and have a regular income of more than £20,000 per year. If this sounds like you, it could be well worth looking into the Barclaycard Platinum card available today.

In addition to reducing the cost of borrowing money, there is an additional reward scheme known as Barclaycard Freedom that allows you to save Reward Money that can be used when shopping online. You could even put it toward an iPhone 4 from Apple, or start saving for the iPhone 5 when it comes out.

So if you have been thinking about signing up for a Barclaycard or switching your balance transfer, this might be the right deal for you. Terms and conditions apply to this offer, so take a closer look if you are thinking of applying for a Barclaycard Platinum in the near future.

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Bond production gets green light

Turns out it was the right move for Daniel Craig to pledge his loyalty to another Bond film as MGM has finally been able to give the latest Bond film in the franchise the green light after a year of uncertainty over whether the project would ever see the light of day.

Producers for the film, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson announced along with MGM that the newest flick starring Daniel Craig as Bond for his third time will start production at the end of this year.

Sam Mendes will be directing the film which will ideally be finished by 2012 leaving a four year gap in the time frame since the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace, hit theatres.

After MGM was forced to file for bankruptcy in November work on the newest film, which is the 23^rd in the franchise, was suspended indefinitely as MGM and Spyglass Entertainment, which took control over the fledgling film company, was unsure if they would have the capital to ever pick the project up again.

Hopefully the presence of Craig in yet another Bond flick will be helpful given his debut in Casino Royale made it the highest earning Bong film at the box office in the almost five decade history of the franchise.

It’s that time of the year again where we all make those half hearted plans to drink less, eat better and do more sport. Thankfully though FHM are this month providing their biannual FHM Bionic fitness magazine free of charge with their latest issue to help us kick start those New Year’s resolutions.

In their latest Bionic magazine issue, four big sporting personalities give us their practical fitness tips on getting in shape this year and overcoming those psychological hurdles to leading a healthier lifestyle. I’m sure you’ll agree this is a welcome time to try and kick those bad habits and lose those extra pounds put on over Christmas. It’s good to have a few tips to work with too instead of starting from scratch without any kind of guidance or plan. There is even a £1 off FHM when you order online, meaning this double issue only comes to £2.90 (not a bad deal if you ask me).

Jessica Ennis is one of those four sporting celebrities providing an insight on fitness tips and overcoming mental hurdles. She is a World Heptathlon Champion with a number of gold medals from various competitions to her name. In this issue she becomes sort of your own personal trainer, providing 9 practical and simple steps on how to develop a champion’s mentality. Jess makes a lot of sense by making the point that “pressure is a good thing…pressure focuses you”. The same can be said for many areas in life up to a certain extent, but I think this is particularly true in sport.

When I was 19 after my first semester in university, I put on about an extra stone and a half thanks to a very unhealthy lifestyle and decided something had to be done. But to keep motivated I decided that I really needed a bit of a pressure to stay on track. This pressure came in the form of the Sheffield Half Marathon. I registered as soon as possible, then the pressure pushed me to keep training to compete over a 3 month period. Thanks to the preparation for the half marathon, I lost about a stone over 3/4 months and got in good shape. So I’d advise anyone to have a clear goal such as running a race to have that bit of pressure to keep you on track.

The main issue also has a lot of decent articles and lovely shots of Nicole Sherzinge, click this link to find out more http://www.fhm.com/nicole.

Good luck with those New Year’s resolutions!

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Shopping for presents

Presents should be a thoughtful, poignant idea. They should somehow articulate the relationship that you share with the person, and the stories that you have created together.

Don’t you hate when you receive presents that don’t have any meaning or back story? Or that look like they are brought straight off the shelf at H and M because they had a sale on?

The biggest tip in buying presents, to remember this Christmas is plan ahead. You need to begin to evaluate a story that you have shared, and buy something that can reflect that story.

Did you go somewhere that had a beautiful garden that you both commented on? Well buy her a plant for their garden. Did you hear him speak of wanting to have some ‘him’ time. Well get him a voucher to a day spa. Think outside the square. Think of creating new experiences together. Tickets for a concert, plane tickets to a new city, gift vouchers for a luxury lingerie company, presents for his/ her pet. What’s the best present you have ever received? Write a detailed list. Why were they so meaningful? Do you still have them?

I will never forget two years ago when I made a photo book for my mum, featuring photos of her and her family from when she was born. It still sits on the same spot on the coffee table as the day I gave it to her. Nothing can ever replace the feeling she gets when she opens it to show her friends when they come around and ask how I am. It is both a mixture of short messages and photos of the family- the perfect present!

The more thought and planning, the more it will be cherished. The second biggest tip is to always supply the present with a well written card. This should detail ‘why’ the present is special, why it made you think of them. A little background on the gift will never go astray. It gives you something to talk about after they have opened it too.

So think carefully and join a couple close friends on the “mission to organise the most thoughtful Christmas presents”. Start now, and you may find next year’s presents to you are a scale above the previous years.

The Radisson hotel group are running yet another online competition with a range of prizes for those winners who take part in their quiz. In terms of prize possibilities there is a weekly draw for a weekend stay for two people at one of their Radisson Blu hotels across Hamburg, Madrid, Berlin, Milan and Helsinki. In addition to this, there are also on the spot gift cards that can be used around the world. The quiz is not the most challenging, so I imagine most of you will be in with a good chance.

Here is a lovely scenic shot below of the Christmas themed quiz.

To enter the competition you have to take part in the Radisson Blue Quiz and answer three questions correctly on travel, Christmas or Radisson Blu hotels and you are then in with a chance of winning the prize draw or a Radisson Blu gift voucher. You are free to keep testing your trivia knowledge even if you are not successful after the first initial tries. In addition to the draw, you get to spin the wheel of luck for an on the spot prize of a gift voucher up to the value of 100 Euros. There are a couple of conditions to keep in mind though. The two main ones are that in order to enter you must be at least 18 years of age and living in the European Union.

Hamburg is a place that I have been wanting to revisit for quite a while now. If I could pick a city to visit out of the ones available in the prize, it would have to be the hip city in the north of Germany. Hamburg is really a beautiful city surrounded by water and a number of parks spread everywhere. It also has beautiful architecture, a vibrant coffee culture and a growing alternative scene. I have been there twice now over the last couple of years in hostels, so I wouldn’t mind staying in a bit of luxury next time if I win the prize draw. Whilst Hamburg is getting more and more affluent over the years, I think now is still a good time whilst it is still accessible to most  people. The city also has a growing film festival known as the Hamburg International Short Film Festival (IKFF) which I would love to catch in 2011.

Has anyone been to this festival before?

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Harry Potter Poster

The latest Harry Potter film has achieved new heights, breaking five different UK box office records including the title of biggest opening ticket sales and the largest single day of ticket sales.  In addition, the film holds the title of the largest opening on Friday, Sunday, and Saturday respectively in the UK.

Over the three day weekend the film raked in £18.3m taking in £2.8m on Friday, £5.7m on Sunday, and a whopping £6.6m on Saturday.  Previously Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the last release in the franchise) and Quantum of Solace previously held the records.

Quantum of Solace held the record for Friday sales and for overall three day opening at £4.m for Friday and a total opening weekend of £15.3m.  Goblet of Fire held the records for both largest single day of sales at £5.6m and for the largest Sunday box office sales at £5.2m.

Managing director of Warner Bros Entertainment UK , Josh Berger, stated that the repeated high box office performances of the franchise is a testament to the amazing talent and expertise of the cast, the strength of the JK Rowling novels, and the film-makers.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows also broke opening records in both Canada and the US as the top performing film in theatres in both countries.

The film is only part one of the novel it is named after but we will have to wait until next summer for part 2.  One of the unique aspects of the films is that the cast and characters are aging with the audience, making it still highly relevant to its fans even through the passing years.

Angelina Jolie in Bosnia film row

Angelina Jolie has been forced to quit filming her latest production in Bosnia-Herzegovnia after officials and victims from the Serbian war expressed distress over the storyline of the film.  The plot of the film centres on the story of a Muslim woman from Bosnia that falls in love with a Serbian soldier whom attacked her during the violent Serbian war.

Women’s groups and politicians across Bosnia have been outraged about the film given the fact that thousands of women were assaulted throughout the course of the brutal three year war that spanned from 1992-1995.  In response, the Federal Ministry of Culture banned Jolie from continuing to film in Bosnia.

Being banned will not affect the course of the movie too much as most of the scenes are scheduled to be shot in Hungary, but there are a few scenes that Jolie wanted to exclusively shoot in Zenica, Bosnia.

Authorities in Bosnia are concerned that the scenes will bring back hate and grievances against Serbia and an official even went as far as to say that Jolie could propel the countries back into war with just the one film.  Attack victim Bakira Hasecic stated that she does not want to see sexual assault scenes played out again because it is painful and not something that should be recreated into a movie romance on the big screen.

In response, Jolie has taken the time to write to the Women Victims of War group to enlighten them about the point of the film and has sent the script to the Bosnia Culture Ministry in an attempt to get the movie green lighted for shooting again.  In the meantime, Jolie has been spending time on the film set in Budapest with Brad Pitt and the film’s stars Rade Serbedzija and Zana Marjanovic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The latest trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been released.

The seventh and final chapter of the Harry Potter franchise has released it’s first trailer recently for fans.

View the trailer here.

Kate Moss autumn style

Latest warm autumn celebrity trends for women to keep stylish during the cold season.

With the refreshing colours of autumn leaves often comes a bit less refreshing wind, which means that this autumn you may want to look closer into warmer trends over every other consideration.  It is no secret that fashion trends do not always take the weather into account, but if you want to stay healthy as the weather changes without sacrificing your sense of style check out the following warm autumn trends for women.

First up are tweed jackets; no longer for your grandfather, the new tailored fresh fitted tweed jackets on the autumn catwalks are a great way to compliment any dress shirt, dress, or any other piece of solid clothing.  Be careful to stick to solids under any tweed jacket however, as too many patterns at once can ruin the effect although choosing a duller brown or gray tweed jacket with a bright lining is a great way to stay fresh.

Silk dresses are also big this autumn, which are great to fit under the tweed jackets for a warm casually sexy look.  While silk is not always thought of as the warmest material, when paired with a stylish pair of knee high or thigh high boots and the organic tweed jackets they can keep you warm and dry and at the top of the urban street fashions of today.

Finally, the best way to finish off the entire look is to toss in a bowling bag satchel as they are extremely fashionable this autumn as spotted I believe on kate Moss.  Leather is the best choice for a bowling bag because the finish is a great choice for the slouching look of the bag.  Plus, bowling bag satchels allow you the option of tossing them over the body in a messenger bag fashion or carrying them by the handles allowing you to create two looks with just one bag.