From Clothes to .....

Anything goes in fashion and style. This creased wool jacket must be the dream of those who don't believe in ironed uncreased clothes. This three-buttoned blazer of rumpled texture is 100% wool which unfortunately may not fit in well with our weather. Think Genting Highlands or Cameron Highlands, then it will be perfect.


With its casual exterior pockets and one-of-a-kind fabric, this slim suit jacket's disheveled charm makes it easy to wear with the old shirt you picked up off the floor this morning.

Talk about fashion and style, I came upon an interesting article the other day about jeans and what cut suits what body-type. Let me see if I can find it in my archives. Look out for it here.


And I wonder if one can buy condoms at the Marc Jacobs store at the Pavilion just like you would be able to at this Marc By Marc Jacobs new store at Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Condoms at the latter are part of the brand's collection of low-priced "special items" of offbeat goodies ranging in price from $1.50 condoms to $7 leather bracelets, $14 cashmere ankle socks to $28 rain boots and everything in between. Prices quoted are in US dollars, of course.


Still on the subject of that rubber(y) product, here's something amusing I read yesterday in relation to the current H1N1 flu scare.


Someone from the USA’s Centre for Disease Control noted:

“20,000 people die from novel 2009-H1N1 and everybody wants to wear a mask. 9 million people die from AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom.”

…and presumably the same people who are worried about H1N1 smoke, eat fried / salty / sugary food and ride motorbikes without helmets.


hmmm..

Armchair Shopping for Men

For guys who find going out shopping a chore, shopping online would be your answer to this mundane activity. Whether you are shopping for yourself or searching for that perfect gift for someone else, here is just the store for you.

GSelect men's boutique features a distinctive array of quality merchandise. You can find products ranging from the essential face, teeth and hair treatment products such as their GESSATO face TREATMENT's cell regeneration serum to shopping bags to home furnishings and decorations to artsy lighting fixtures and fancy storage units.

Check out their finest blankets, cushions and pillows money can buy. These richly-colored items by Thomas Eyck create a true explosion of colors in the interior. These luxurious blankets, cushions and pillows are made of 84% merino wool and 16% cotton.

There are also products for your pet dog, as well as books on various topics including architecture, design, food and wine and books on eco-solutions.

GSelect truly has a collection of high-end merchandise created for today's discriminating man. And at GSelect, you will find that they are passionate about providing you with a memorable online shopping experience.

The World in Pictures

Nice graffiti - artistic artwork indeed. Life is like that. We live among beauty and ugliness side-by-side sometimes.

The children in the picture look like they are in play but in reality, they are not. The caption reads Somali children run across a front-line between Islamist militants and soldiers in the capital, Mogadishu, where clashes have flared. The country has lacked a functioning central government since 1991.

Such is the state of affairs in Somalia which if you recall is the source of all that high-profile piracy off the coast of Africa.

The image above is one of BBC's selected pictures of the week. A few more have been compiled below. You can visit site for more.

Venice - One Cent A Room

People don't stop to pick up one-sen coins anymore. Before the round-off was introduced, one-sen coins were still in circulation and seen in tip-boxes at restaurant and supermarket checkout counters. These days, they are a rare sight. Ten sen won't get you much, let alone one sen. But recently, a hotel room in Venice went for one cent - err...due to an error.

Venice for one cent a room error

A hotel near Venice has accepted that its rooms were mistakenly advertised online at a mere one-hundredth of a euro instead of up to 150 euros (£129).

Nearly 230 people took advantage of the offer, booking on average more than six nights per person at the Crowne Plaza.

It is 20km from central Venice, one of Italy's main tourist destinations.

The hotel is run by the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) which says it will honour bookings made while the mistake was online.

The company say the mistake was made at the offices of IHG in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.

"Although a pricing error, IHG is committed to honouring the 1-cent rate for guests who have a valid confirmation," the hotel group's Monica Smith said.

The wrong pricing for 1,400 room nights could cost the company up to 90,000 euros (£77,800).

Venice depends on tourism, attracting 15 million visitors a year.



Source: BBC

Woodstock - 40th Anniversary

Tomorrow, Aug 15 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Forty years ago - seems like eons away, most of us were not even born yet. Still, it must have been an experience of a lifetime for those who were at that festival of music and peace.

Forty years ago, LIFE's photographers and reporters were on the scene when half a million young people -- "lured by music, the country and some strange kind of magic" -- came together on a dairy farm in upstate New York. From Aug. 15-18 of 1969, they created a colorful, amazingly functional community whose ideals would reverberate for much longer than those three days. To celebrate the anniversary of Woodstock, LIFE.com presents the best photos from the festival -- shots that evoke its spirit of peace, love, music, and mud.

Young people lie in the shade under an umbrella, the crowd behind them endless. From LIFE's Special Issue: "As singer Janis Joplin flew in, the chopper pilot turned to her and pointed: 'See that hill over there -- the one that's not green. That's all people.' 'Far out,' she murmured. 'Even Billy Graham doesn't draw that many people.'"

And after three whole days of peace, love, music, rain, mud, (some nudity) a couple twists a blanket between them, probably trying to squeeze out the water. Scattered around them: evidence of the acres of trash that were left behind by the crowd. Nearly 500 people stayed behind to help in the daunting cleanup.




Must-see LIFE's best photos of Woodstock..



While over in Europe, another music festival anniversary is being celebrated - The Polish Woodstock, organized by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, a non-profit foundation dedicated to raising money for children's health. The festival kicked off in 1995, free of charge, as a way to thank the group's volunteers.

The three-day summer concert evokes the spirit of the Woodstock Festival that took place in 1969. Its motto is: "Love, Friendship and Music."


I didn't know the man but would still like to pay tribute to a music legend, Les Paul. Paul passed away on Aug 12, aged 94.


He was an inventor and an inspiration. He pioneered recording on tape, creating dozens of layers of sound with an early reel-to-reel tape machine. He designed (though he did not construct) one of the first synthesizers. He devised the first eight-track tape recording system, which would not become generally accepted until 15 years later, when the Beatles made their White Album. And he invented the Gibson Les Paul, an instrument used in various models by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and loads of other Guitar-zans. - Time


Death of the Guitar Man: Les Paul (1915-2009)

Friday Frolics - What Aphrodisiac Are You?

I don't know if I want to be anyone's aphrodisiac but oh well, let's just do this quiz for the heck of it..

You Are Vanilla

You are incredibly sexy and sensual - yet still sweet and innocent. You have an exotic, mysterious vibe. You leave people wanting to know more. You know how to make lovers relax, calm down, and be vulnerable. You draw people in and make them addicted to you. You're a lot more potent than people think.

What Aphrodisiac Are You?

Other Fun Quizzes

The Lesson of the 38 Candy Bars

Many lessons in the corporate world can be applied to everyday living and vice versa.

Here's an interesting article, an interview actually, on management, i.e., some management tips, if you will, which I read on the New York Times. I'm borrowing a part of it verbatim and if you find it interesting, here is where you can read the entire interview with Gary E. McCullough, president and chief executive of the Career Education Corporation.

Q. What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

A. The biggest one I learned, and I learned it early on in my tenure in the Army, is the importance of small gestures. As you become more senior, those small gestures and little things become sometimes more important than the grand ones. Little things like saying “please” and “thank you” — just the basic respect that people are due, or sending personal notes. I spend a lot of time sending personal notes.

I’ll never forget one of the interactions we had with my commanding general of the division in which I was a platoon leader. We were at Fort Bragg, N.C. We had miserable weather. It was February and not as warm as you would think it would be in North Carolina. It had been raining for about a week, and the commanding general came around to review some of the platoons in the field. He went to one of my vehicle drivers and he asked him what he thought of the exercise we were on. To which the young private said, “Sir, it stinks.” I saw my short career flash before my eyes at that point.

He asked why, and the private said: “There are people who think this is great weather for doing infantry operations. I personally think 75 and partly cloudy is better.”

And so the commanding general said, “What can I do to make it better for you?” And the private said, “Sir, I sure could use a Snickers bar.” So a couple days later we were still moving through some really lousy weather, and a box showed up for the private. And that box was filled with 38 Snickers bars, which is the number of people in my platoon. And there was a handwritten note from the commanding general of our division that said, “I can’t do anything about the weather, but I hope this makes your day a bit brighter, and please share these with your buddies.”

And on that day, at that time, we would’ve followed that general anywhere. It was a very small thing, and he didn’t need to do it, but it impressed upon me that small gestures are hugely important.

Source: New York Times

H1N1 Update - India & Malaysia

India is struggling to cope with the spread of swine flu, with at least 17 deaths confirmed from the virus and nearly 1,200 diagnosed cases. The outbreak has caused panic in much of the country, with schools, theaters and shopping malls closing in many places.

That is the scenario in India. Over here in Malaysia, there have been 44 deaths and close to 2000 people infected. Even the Regent of Pahang’s consort and five children are down with H1N1.

Be well..