Emmy Awards' Benefits

Those Emmy Awards' presenters, who read out nominees' names and presented trophies to the winners have tons of good benefits awaiting them for just being a presenter.

Following are their benefits (which are taxable anyway):-
* Five-day stay at Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama Island, plus access to all water sports
* One-year bicoastal membership to the Sports Club/LA (which, contrary to its name, has locations in San Francisco, Miami, New York and various other hotspots)
* Sprint Fusic mobile phone, retails for $329
* Two nights at the US Grant in San Diego, including spa treatments
* One-year bicoastal membership to YogaWorks
* Five-day golf or ski getaway at the Adara Hotel in Whistler
* Six days at the Wharekauhau Country Estate in Featherston, New Zealand
* Four days at the Dolphin Bay Hotel & Residences in Pismo Beach, California
* Six days at The Lodge at Molokai Ranch on Molokai, Hawaii
* Babystyle gift card, Lulu the Lamb original stuffed kids' chair and personal shopping consult
* Gift certificate for two-day "Emmy Crush Camp" wine appreciation at the Napa Valley Hotel
* Food & wine pairing for six people from the Crustacean Restaurant in Beverly Hills
* Spa gift certificate and products from Fresh
* Gingi skincare products
* Ike Behar silk tie, button-down shirt and lapis cufflinks
* Morton's Steakhouse gift certificate (last year's was for $1,500)
* String of pearls from Pearl Paradise
* Prive and Ona Spa gift certificate
* Dooney & Bourke leather roller luggage
* "365 Days of Dove" chocolate assortment
* Gift certificate for linens from DreamSleep Studio

Who wouldn't volunteer just to crack a few jokes, read out the nominees' names and then wait for the drum roll to announce the winner. Now, if the presenter has gotten this, what do you think the winner would have gotten???
Tags: Emmy Awards, Benefits, Lifestyle, Entertainment

What Is Boxing Day?

Despite its name, Boxing Day, which is celebrated on 26 December in Great Britain, has nothing to do with pugilistic competition. Nor is it a day for people to return unwanted Christmas presents. While the exact origins of the holiday are obscure, it is likely that Boxing Day began in England during the Middle Ages.

Some historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with gift boxes.

Church Alms Boxes
Another theory is that the boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited coins for the poor were opened and the contents distributed on 26 December, which is also the Feast of St. Stephen.

As time went by, Boxing Day gift giving expanded to include those who had rendered a service during the previous year. This tradition survives today as people give presents to tradesmen, mail carriers, doormen, porters, and others who have helped them.

The Day after Christmas
Boxing Day is 26 December, the day after Christmas, and is celebrated in Great Britain and in most areas settled by the English (the U.S. is the major exception), including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Bank Holidays
Boxing Day is just one of the British bank holidays recognized since 1871 that are observed by banks, government offices, and the post office. The others include Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Whitmonday (the day after Pentecost), and the banking holiday on the first Monday in August.

St. Stephen's Martyrdom
The Feast of St. Stephen also takes place on 26 December. St. Stephen was one of the seven original deacons of the Christian Church who were ordained by the Apostles to care for widows and the poor. For the success of his preaching and his devotion to Christ, St. Stephen was stoned to death by a mob. As he died, he begged God not to punish his killers. (source: Fact Monster)

Tags: Boxing Day, Christmas, 26 December, Church Alms Boxes, Bank Holidays, St Stephen Martyrdom, Fact Monster

World's Most Expensive Jeans

Forbes has the scoop on the most expensive jeans. They cite trends towards custom-fitted denim and lots of added detailing, including embroidery and crystals, as major reasons that prices were driven upwards, but not every pair on their list has these features. The single most expensive pair was 115-year old Vintage Levis sold on eBay for US$60,000, followed by the significantly newer Ernest Sewn custom jeans, which cost up to US$1,000 per pair.
Other pairs of jeans which made their names were Levis iPod Jeans, Denim for Immortality Jeans or design your own jeans at Denim Design Lab.

Tags: Jeans, Fashion, Forbes, Vintage Levis, Ernest Sewn, Levis iPod Jeans, Denim for Immortality, Denim Design Lab, Lifestyle

Godsend / Man On Fire - movie review

Godsend - starring Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Robert De Niro & Cameron Bright. While shopping with his mom one day, the little boy was killed in an unfortunate road accident. A stem cell research doctor approach the boy's parents at the funeral to obtain their permission to 'create' a similar boy through scientific technology. Reluctantly and hesitantly they agreed as the love for their son was too much to bear.

Time passes by and a baby boy was born and as he grew up, his facial similarity could be seen. Only weird thing is that the young boy seems to has nightmare day in day out (yeah even during day time). He sees weird things and eerie sounds. Bringing him back to the doctor, he was declared sound and fit. But things didn't go well the moment the boy passes the age of his 'previous'. He reacts violently and was revengefull towards people.

He almost killed his mother and his dad reprimanded the doctor for the botched job. In the end, they found out that the stem cell placed was a stem cell that belonged to the doctor's dead son. Complication arose and things went awry. Suspense thriller movie which could be classified as horror due to the director's brilliant ways of playing with the nightmares and sound integrated into the movie. It's more of a conspiracy cooked up by the doctor.

Man On Fire - starring Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning & Marc Anthony. A middle age couple has hired a tough guy to be their only young daugther's bodyguard. The bodyguard has to monitor her movements, ensuring her safety, bringing her to school and back home, following her to the piano classes & standing by her side in school sports.

Day by day, a feeling of closeness has developed between Denzel and Dakota. He became her swimming coach and managed to help her to win a particular swimming race. One day, while she was having her piano class, a group of known gangsters wanted to kidnap Dakota and Denzel has to be at his best to deny that opportunity. Unfortunately, he was hurt badly and the gangsters wanted him killed as he has killed a few of their guys. Moved out of hospital by a clean cop to ensure his safety, Denzel later teamed up with this cop and a brave lady reporter to expose the corrupted police force and find out who kidnapped the young girl.

One by one was hunted down to catch the big fish. News got around and his mission was getting more dangerous. Eventually, the hunting/investigation led him to one person that Denzel himself couldn't have expected. It was Dakota's own dad. Even finding out the answer, he has yet to find Dakota. Sacrificing his life, he made sure that the little girl was out of danger. A final hug of good bye between them was the most touching moment. He finished job and did his job well. He surrendered himself to the kidnappers to ensure her safety.

Marvellous story line and such incident could happen in the life of such gangster bosses.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Godsend, Man On Fire, Greg Kinnear, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Marc Anthony

Ethiopia - Somalia War

New have been coming on the Ethiopia - Somalia conflict where Ethiopia has launched strategic airstrikes against Somalia. It's sad to see that news has to link the conflict to religions. Terrible news agencies as such news sells. It mentioned that Ethiopia, a predominant Christian majority country, is waging war against Somalia's Islamic force under the Union of Islamic Courts ("UIC"), an Islamic party. The UIC does not want to work with the interim government and has seized major cities in order to take control of the country where there is still no government since 2004. What a mess!

The next thing that came to my mind is that the conflict is exactly at the south-east of Sudan only. Not far away.

Tags: Ethiopia, Somalia, Conflict, Dispute, War, Union of Islamic Courts, Africa

Santa & His Reindeers

Tags: Christmas, Santa Claus, Reindeer, Humour, Funny

Christmas in India

Students join sand sculpture artists to create a 30-meter-long (100-foot-long) Santa Claus sculpture on the Puri golden beach, in the Indian state of Orissa on Christmas Eve, Sunday. Though Hindus and Muslims comprise the majority of the population in India, Christmas is celebrated with much fanfare. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)
Tags: Christmas, India, Puri, Orissa, Santa Claus, Sand Sculpture