Clothes shopping can be a chore, and even more so if you’re a plus sized woman. No matter what size you are, developing a shopping strategy before you hit the mall is a good idea. If you are looking for clothes that fit well and you’re a plus size, this goes double for you! So take a look at the few tips below and make sure that you’re a best dressed gal this winter.

First, there’s a good chance that you’ve been told to stick to dark colors like black, gray and maroon, but this is not really the case. Cut will always beat color in terms of importance when it comes to looking good, so when it boils down to it, a well-cut outfit in tangerine orange will look just as good as one in charcoal gray. Make sure that the outfits you are wearing aren’t just composed of tubes; look for a taper around the waist and hips, depending on your build and make sure that above all, you clothing is comfortable. Similarly, make sure that no matter what you wear, you feel good in it.

Not all body types look good in the same style of clothes. Oftentimes, “plus-sized” lines of apparel are only oversized versions of their garments for smaller women. The sad reality is that these clothes were designed with the smaller woman in mind, and frequently do not have the same flattering effect on the plus size girl. Stand in front of your mirror and decide what features you’d like to accentuate, rather than what you’d like to disguise. If you have voluptuous curves, pick styles of clothing that enhance them. Wide-hipped women should opt for curvy A-line skirts rather than broomstick skirts. When shopping for skirts, be conscious of hem length. Skirts that fall at your calf will shorten the appearance of your legs, but floor- or knee-length skirts will flatter.

When going out in the winter, remember that layering is your friend. One way to stay warm and look great is to layer several thinner tops on top of one another. Avoid the bulky sweater or pull over and instead layer a long sleeved stretch top under a snappy short sleeved shirt for casual wear. The thinner layers will cling to you to provide better warmth while maintaining an attractive silhouette. Look for clothes that mix and match well, and you’ll have plenty of options all winter.

Remember that shopping for plus sized clothing doesn’t mean that you have to be stuck wearing something that fits you poorly or is unattractive on you.

About The Author
Andrea Dilea writes about Plus Size Clothing. Visit us for plus size deals on Plus Size Lingerie () at http://plus-size.discountsonline.

Zimbabwe Vote Rigging

When I slipped into Zimbabwe a few years ago as a board member of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, I slept restlessly out of fear of being arrested. President Robert Mugabe had shut the door on visas to outside journalists. Since then attacks have increased against the press and anyone else who does not toe Mugabe’s political party line.

And Zimbabweans sleep more fitfully. Some of the reasons are spelled out in a list of the Zimbabwe’s dead, compiled and distributed by Mugabe’s political opposition to international media and reported by Paul Salopek, the Chicago Tribune’s prize-winning Africa correspondent.

There’s a man who was attacked and beaten after sitting down to eat dinner.

There’s another killed while tending his garden.

There’s a woman whose targeted husband was not home, so she was killed as a warning to him.

There’s another woman who was locked in a room at the shopping centre and burned with plastic all over her body and in the mouth.

A man was given rat poison and, when that wasn’t enough to kill him, he was slaughtered with an axe.

More than 80 known victims were killed in the run-up to Mugabe’s June 27 sham of a reelection. The carnage and intimidation have not stopped. The country’s economy is a wreck. It takes millions of Zimbabwean dollars to buy a loaf of bread, and the prices go up every half hour or so. As many as 80 percent of the workers are unemployed. Peaceful sleep is a luxury.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, was poised to win the runoff, despite Mugabe’s best vote-stealing efforts, but withdrew to stop the brutal state-sponsored attacks against thousands of his supporters.

At 84, Mugabe clings to power against all pretense of carrying about the lives or liberty of his country’s people. He cares only for power.

It wasn’t always like this. I remember when Mugabe was viewed as one of Africa’s brightest postcolonial hopes.

Like South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Mugabe was imprisoned for opposing white-minority rule. Freed in 1975 after 11 years in prison under the breakaway British colony of Rhodesia, he led a resistance movement that ended with his election in 1980 as prime minister of the newly named Zimbabwe.

But power corrupted him. In the early 1980s, his special forces, assisted by the North Korean army, massacred an estimated 20,000 members of the Ndebele tribe who supported a rival leader. In 2000 he defended the seizure of land from white farmers by self-proclaimed “war veterans.” The country deteriorated rapidly from food exporter to food beggar.

Ian Smith, white Rhodesia’s last prime minister, observed poignantly before his death last October, “I was wrong about Mandela, but right about Mugabe.” Indeed, Mugabe’s always been on his best behavior only as long as his own power is not threatened. Subject him to something so humbling as an honest election and, as far as he’s concerned, everybody gets hurt.

He paints himself as Africa’s champion. That’s a mockery of the Pan-African dream for which he once stood. Instead he’s a retro-throwback to the old Big Man system of kleptocracy and pseudo-democracy: “One person, one vote, one time.”

So Nelson Mandela, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen. Barack Obama have condemned his violence? So, the United Nations Security Council have joined the condemnations? So, the Queen of England has revoked his knighthood? So, you think Mugabe cares?

Mugabe cares only for power and, perhaps, keeping himself and his cronies for having to answer for war crimes at The Hague. Instead, he’s coddled by bodies like the African Union.

At last week’s AU meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik, the presidents of Kenya and Senegal were most prominent among the few who sharply rebuked Mugabe for embarrassing the continent. Most of the African Union urged a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. But, like resolutions the UN and others have passed, it had no enforcement teeth.

Zimbabweans still wait in vain for what they really need to hear, a strong rebuke of Mugabe’s arrogance from their neighbor, South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki. As the region’s designated negotiator in the Zimbabwe crisis – and president of the region’s biggest economic and political powerhouse – Mbeki could almost single-handedly persuade Mugabe to retire to a comfortable villa somewhere.

Through carrot-and-stick threats of international sanctions against the landlocked Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s cronies, Mbeki could save his legacy and Africa’s future. Instead, Mbeki behaves, in the words of an old African fable, like a mouse in the pocket of Mugabe’s elephant while the grass suffers – and does not sleep.

(Source)

I was on the Loot side recently looking through the comedy stuff to see if there was any good SA comedy other than the annual Darren Simpson “Whackhead” CD…. Lo and Behold - “The Best Of John Berks Fun Calls” - November 2000…

The original radio prankster who set the scene for the likes of Whackhead!

John Berks is a name I haven’t heard in years and to see his CD pop up reminds me of drives in the car being forced to listen to 702. They were classics in their time. Anyway - check it out - a true classic of the genre

For many years, the United States taxpayer has helped sustain the corrupt, bureaucratic organization known as the United Nations. In fact, the United States continues to fund more than $5 billion of the United Nation‘s $20 billion dollar annual budget. The question every United States taxpayer should ask their elected officials is why America is still paying its annual U.N. dues?

The scandal in which U.N. Security Council members Russia, France, and China were found to be swimming in Saddam’s Oil-for-Food money highlighted a system that lacks any reasonable process of checks, balances, and accountability. The United States certainly had the monetary leverage to shape dramatic U.N reform in 2006. Unfortunately it paid its annual dues and did nothing.

So, today we have the same troubled organization that produces an endless stream of reports, proposals, and strategies. Then uses them to institute new programs, projects, and initiatives which result in new U.N. demands for money. New money makes available new opportunities for the corrupt in a system built for propaganda, patronage, and abuse.

As far as the original robust goals and objectives of the United Nations Charter are concerned, they have long since become disengaged from any coherent political reality. Consider that in 2003, the United Nations Human Rights Commission was chaired by Libya. How about the 2006 election of Iran as a vice chair of the U.N. Disarmament Commission even while the country was avoiding U.N. scrutiny for the procurement of nuclear weapons? Meanwhile, North Korea and its less than benevolent regime, currently serves on the executive boards of both UNICEF and the U.N. flagship agency, the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP.

So, last year’s outrageous election of Zimbabwe to chair the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development is really not surprising, even in light of what is happening in the country today. Indeed, this 53 member U.N. Commission includes a collection of the world’s worst regimes such Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Belarus, Sudan, Iran, North Korea, and, of course, Zimbabwe. There is certainly not much “sustainable development”, economic or otherwise, in any of these countries.

Therefore, “sustainable development” must really be terminology that in the real world is used to describe greed, repression, and even genocide by incompetent and corrupt dictatorships. In fact, the President of Zimbabwe, eighty four year old Robert Mugabe, could even be a role model for the corrupt, incompetent dictator of today.

Consider that during his 28 year reign of terror, the President of the country who was the 2007 chair to the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, has turned what was once a country of economic prosperity into one spiraling into the economic abyss. Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is a country that features 80 percent unemployment and by far the world’s highest inflation rate. It is a country that is starving and in desperate poverty.

Mugabe’s incredible record of economic mismanagement has led to a recent rise in political opposition in the country. Amid widespread unrest and trailing in an upcoming election against a popular opposition leader, Mugabe has become desperate to maintain his grip on power. Of course, the method to maintain control of power for corrupt dictators in these situations has become all to predictable. Mugabe has ordered a government crackdown that has led to recent world headlines concerning the sad state of affairs in Zimbabwe.

In fact, international headline after headline describe the bloody situation; a vicious government campaign of intimidation and violence, led opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai into hiding as brutal assaults continued on his supporters, one headline reads. In another report, Unicef said that 10,000 children have been driven from their homes by the violence. A further report indicates that elementary schools were being used as government torture chambers to “re-educate” people who were thought to be Mugabe’s opposition.

As a result, scores are dead and millions of refugees are reportedly fleeing across the borders for assistance in surrounding countries. Meanwhile, Mugabe’s government has shut down all humanitarian aid into Zimbabwe, effectively starving his own population. Of course, calls for U.N. action against Mugabe are now being made from the international community.

The events to come are only to familiar and predictable. Soon, there will be a statement from the U.N. Security Council condemning the government of Zimbabwe for the crackdown followed by the observation that the country’s subsequent “election” will not be credible. However, the election will be held and Mugabe will declare himself the overwhelming winner. Then, all of his political opposition will either flee the country or be killed. Mugabe’s reign of terror against human rights and his economic destruction of Zimbabwe will continue to go on in the future as usual.

As for the United Nations, it should be remembered that in 2005, Zimbabwe was elected to serve on the Human Rights Commission. So, in the last three years, the country with the worst record in the world on economic development and a horrible record on basic human rights has been elected to be the “chair” of the U.N Commission on Sustainable Development and to serve as a member of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

Sadly, this is the current state of the organization known as the United Nations. An organization that is oblivious to economic reality and the protection of basic human rights. An organization manipulated by the agenda of corrupt dictators and greedy despots. An organization devoid of accountability and in violation of its own charter. An organization not judged by tangible results. A organization that is dysfunctional and in desperate need of dramatic reform.

James William Smith has worked in senior management positions for some of the largest financial services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. Mr. Smith has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston College. He enjoys writing articles on political, national, and world events. Visit his website at http://www.eworldvu.com

Article Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com

What many people do not know is that there is a wonderful new attraction just on the outskirts of Kimberley on Kamfers Dam i.e. flamingos.

Two brothers who owns a mining company called Ekapa Mining heard about the plight of the Lesser Flamingo. They used their own finance and resources to build an island in the middle of Kamfers Dam in an S-shape to attract the flamingos in order to establish a safe breeding place for them. This venture worked wonderfully and the flamingos loved the pristine environment and up to 60000 came to breed there and 9000 chicks where born.

Now due to GREED this habitat is in peril and we need every-ones help to save it from being destroyed. The mismanagement of the municipality of Kimberley has allowed raw sewage to overflow into the Kamfers Dam causing some of the flamingos legs to have sores on them.

Secondly, although this site is declared a National Heritage site, the mayor of Kimberley and his team have agreed to re-zone part of the area to allow a huge development by Group One to be built. This permission was granted without an impact study being done about the effect it will have on the flamingos  or input being asked for from the conservationists or the people of Kimberley.

Please go to the following website and sign the petition so that we can stop the development and force the municipality to sort out the sewage problem:

http://www.savetheflamingo.co.za/index.php

Please share this story with as many people as you can and I ask all my entrecard readers to help us by carrying a link of this on their blogs!

Thanks to each and everyone who responds to this call for help.

Have you ever seen a woman with a hair color you absolutely loved ? you asked her what color it was, she told you and you went right out and bought the same color. You applied it according to directions - and your hair looked completely wrong. I’ve learned the hard way that unless I have similar skin tone to the woman wearing the color I love, I will save myself a lot of grief if I just complement her on her great color, and let it go.

It is not just a matter of finding a color that looks great on the box. Your skin tone, your eye color, and your natural hair color must be considered when you look for a hair color for you.

First, and most important, you need to determine whether your skin tone is warm or cool. The best way to determine this is to stand by a window and hold your inner arm next to a sheet of white paper.

Is your skin primarily tan, peachy or gold ? Or does your medium skin have a greenish undertone? If you are brown-skinned, is there a gold or cinnamon undertone? If so, then your skin tone is warm.

Your eye color is probably green, hazel, golden brown, or red-brown. You might have gold or brown fleck in your eyes. Your natural hair color as a child could have ranged from a natural golden blonde, strawberry blonde to red, golden brown or a deep brown with gold or red highlights. As you gray, your hair probably has a yellow cast. These are attributes of warm skin people.

If your skin has a cool tone, your arm will appear bluish next to the white paper. Your skin will have a pink undertone. If your skin is brown it will be a deep brown or a black brown. Your eyes will be blue, gray, hazel with white or blue flecks, or very dark brown. As a child, your hair color could have been very pale blonde, or a darker blonde, or a medium to dark brown that did not look gold in the sun; or your hair would have been coffee-colored, or blue-black. Your hair, as it grays, turns white. These are all cool tones.

The trick to getting a hair color that looks good on you, is to stay with the skin tone God gave you. People with warm skin tones look best in warm colors. Cool skin tones look best with cool colors. Choosing a hair that does not complement your natural coloring will result in an unpleasant disharmony, no matter how pretty the color is on the box. If the natural undertone of your hair is warm, and you try putting a cool blue or violet-based hair color on it, it is somewhat like mixing yellow and blue. Your hair will probably have a greenish cast.

If you read the labels on the hair coloring boxes, most will give you a clue as to whether they are warm or cool colors. The word “ash” on a label means cool. As discussed in the previous paragraph, if your coloring is warm, don’t use an “ash”, or you may wind up getting green looking hair.

You can color your hair any color you would like. Blonde, red, brown, gray and black all come in warm or in cool tones. The safest way is to follow your skin tone and choose a color that goes with that tone. You can go lighter, darker, or intensify-just stay with the same tone.

The same goes for highlighting your hair. Warm-toned people lighten with pale gold, bright gold, russet, warm brown. Cool-toned people lighten with white, platinum, cocoa.

Even the exciting crayon-color accents that you see on young people can coordinate with skin tone. There are yellows, oranges, lime-greens, and rusts for the warm-toned, and fuchsia, electric blue, purple and black for the cool-toned.

About The Author
Pat McGuire is the staff writer for http://www.secrethomeshopping.com and http://www.terrierdogs.biz and http://www.cruise–travel.com

So what’s happened that has left our nation, even our ruling party, so divided and with so much hatred alive in this beautiful country? I received an email today, through SAFREA our freelance writers association asking ‘what can we, as journalists, do to help heal our country?’ My answer was quite simple – we can write about it and try and reach as many people as possible. So this is my contribution – hoping to remind people of those halcyon days after 1994 when anything seemed possible. When for the first time in a long time in this country, people were free to go where they liked, talk to and marry who they wanted to, send their children to the school of their choice. Our government tried hard to provide services such as water and electricity where none had previously been available. Plans were made to build thousands of houses and hope was high. But gradually many of these dreams have died along with the hope of many for a better life. Mistrust, jealousy and greed has bitten into the fabric of our nation. We need to look back perhaps, rather than forwards to regain a little of that Madiba magic.

Marion Scher
Media Mentors
www.mediamentors.co.za

Source: www.sanepr.com

In recent weeks, two issues underlining a dangerous culture of withholding
information were revealed, with possible disastrous consequences for
our democracy.

First,reading that the opposition parties attended a secret meeting at the
Office of the Prime Minister at which constitutional amendments were
discussed is enough to make one feel as if your liver is being removed
without anaesthesia.

The opposition is the custodian of transparent governance, in particular
when it relates to issues that have no security implications.

Amending the Constitution in a democracy does not fit that definition.

So, the question that props up is why such a debate, or even why the initiative itself, is withheld from the broader public eye.

Second, the discussion about splitting the functions of the Attorney General
from those of the Minister of Justice was revealed in a newspaper exposé as having gone on for a while as a top secret in the form of a letter within the Office of the President.

Ordinarily,such a discussion is about creating the best possible institutional fit
to effect good governance and not about Pendukeni Ithana per se.

If it relates to the individual, the Swapo party has a common sense congress resolution of last year that calls for the Secretary General of the Party to commit full-time to party affairs.

Additionally,common sense would dictate that even if an individual had super-human abilities, it is difficult to occupy these three positions and excel at
them in equal measure.

It begs then the question as to what purpose such a discussion has if it does not involve Pendukeni Ithana as the incumbent regarding the changes.

Secrecy in this case would make it appear as if the process is aimed at annoying the individual, while in essence it shouldn’t.

As consequences of these events (among others), it is hard to form an
idea about the intended finalities of our current efforts at consolidating democracy.

It is equally difficult to discern as to which countries or models inspire our democratic process.

Africa does not have many success stories for our young democracy, nor does it
have strong continental democratic institutions that could serve as a guidepost for the process of democratisation in respective countries as is the case with the European Union and its conditionalities for membership.

Therefore, as a young country, it is important that we have a certain vision or a model of democracy.

To do so, would demand, not just improvising dangerously, but also studying the democratic success stories elsewhere.

It would mean, observing - like a student doing an internship - with the world, notably its success stories as the place for that internship.

In Robert Dahl’s classification of democracy as “participation and contestation”, we exist as a realistic democracy.

But I believe that our discussion must be replaced by efforts aimed at understanding the nature of democratic institutions, how they function,
and the reasons why they develop and collapse.

We need to note that at some point Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe met the
definition advanced by Joseph Schumpeter in his path-breaking study,
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy: democracy as a process of fair,
honest and periodic elections through institutional arrangements.

But this didn’t stop Mugabe’s Zimbabwe from descending into despotism.

Thus, the demand for thinking and leading like democrats is urgent.

I have bemoaned the lack of political communication on the part of
government, even if I am not too sure if it is a failure of the media
to probe government effectively.

But the reality is that we have internalised a dodgy political culture
(largely perfected in liberation politics), which shrouds everything in
secrecy, even the most mundane of issues.

The process of amending the Constitution is not the business of the
executive and opposition MPs invited for secret meetings, it should be
the people’s choice to debate the pros and cons of such amendments.

Even if we don’t raise objections, the right to that information is a
cardinal principle of democratic governance.Progressive governance
would imply throwing the idea out for public consumption, even if a
draft amendment does not exist.

It could be a presidential statement or a press conference selling the thought or the reasons for the amendments.

With regard to the split of the AG and Minister of Justice position, we need
to place the public good above individual interests or settling scores
through tinkering with public offices.

We have personalised offices to the point where we can’t even discuss the
nature of offices or their relevance in changing governance conditions.

If separating these offices is not aimed at settling political scores, and
I assume and hope it is not, why keep it a secret from the individual
concerned? In fact, Ithana must be part of the process from the very
beginning.

Confident and inclusive regimes are transparent and they don’t fear public opinion, nor do they personalise office.

If government goes about its business in secret, the consequences for our democracy are too ghastly to contemplate.

To avoid this, we may have to start distributing Samuel Huntington’s work
“The Third Wave: Democratization in the late Twentieth Century” to our
elected officials for practical advice on how to succeed in the process
of democratisation.

* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris- Panthéon Sorbonne, France

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Namibia, politics, democracy, regime, PG, AG, PM, Ithana, Namibian newspaper

What
a joy Firefox 2 and now 3 is. It is quick and efficient. What I like
most about Firefox is their extensions or add-ons. Delicious, digg,
Clipmarks all have easy, one click extensions, to install on your
toolbar and thus saves you a lot of effort, time and clicking. My
favorite extension is of course the Stumble Upon toolbar. It has made
surfing the web a joy again.
Blogger, Gmail and Google can also
easily be incorporated into Firefox which thus makes Firefox the one
stop browser of all time.

2. Opera 9.5

I have been
using Opera mini on my mobile phone for some time and was impressed, so
I decided to download their latest desktop version. Opera 9.5 is
sleekly designed and has good speed. The extensions come in the form of
widgets that I don’t quite like. But its minimalist look really looks
trendy and pages look better visually. Some sites can only work at a
minimum with Opera. I found that myspace doesn’t fully support Opera.

3. Flock

Flock
is based in Firefox technology. What makes Flock stand out and the
reason why I use it is for its orientation towards social networking
and blogging. Flock contains easy links to Xanga, Facebook, Youtube,
digg and many other social networking and blogging sites. Flock makes
blogging simple and easy. Sometimes I find it a bit slow and with the
lack of extensions to quickly bookmark stuff it can some times be
irritating. No Stumble Upon functionality yet though I anticipate it to
be fully integrated with their new version which is currently in beta.

4. Safari

I
didn’t even know I had Safari on my computer until I noticed it was
automatically downloaded during one of my iPod updates. Anyway, I have
not fully tried it out but the little bit I have has impressed me. The
design is as with everything Apples sleek and minimalist. Widgets are
also available but I still have to try hem out. Overall I find safari
useful when watching videos and pictures on the net. Somehow it looks
better and more elegant. Gmail Talk is not yet supported as well as certian sites.

5. Internet Explorer

When
the internet started out I used Netscape Navigator but was forced to
use IE after Netscape couldn’t keep up. Well IE has everything that
Firefox has except that I find it slow….very slow. To load pages, to
start and I just don’t know just cannot like it. One thing though that
IE has to its credit is that is the only browser to fully incorporate
design and editing of pages, CSS etc

So, what’s your fav browser and did I miss any new ones?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: firefox, safari, internet browsers, flock, opera, internet explorer

Our heartfelt gratitude to National Parks who mobilized very quickly this morning, together with the police, the army and the Central Intelligence Organization. They are all spending the night at Imire tonight and if the war veterans attempt to carry out their threats, we are confident that they will come off second best.

John Travers received phone calls from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Francis Nhema, the Minister of Defence, Sidney Sekeramai and the Governor of Mashonaland East, assuring him that Imire will be protected.

On behalf of all Zimbabweans, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to Minister Nhema, Minister Sekeremai, the Governor of Mashonaland East, National Parks, the Zimbabwean Republican Police, the Zimbabwean Defence Forces and the Central Intelligence Organization for using their powers of authority to prevent a tragedy from happening at Imire Safari Ranch. 

Johnny Rodrigues

Chairman for ZimbabweConservation Task Force

(Source: via email)

The first ever gay personal lubricant ad to appear on television in the USA.

This movie was great, no nonsense fabulous humor - you would laugh your head off. At least I did.

When you’ve got a good job and a world-famous girlfriend, you’ve got it all, right?!? Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a Coming of Age story told well and acted better. Peter Bretter (played by Jason Segal and also the movies writer) is a man too comfortable, sitting on his couch-world, to grasp that everyone must grow up and in the process, change or people will leave him behind.

Peter writes/performs the musical score to a successful TV drama in which his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall, is the lead actress. Sarah leaves Peter, and thus starts Peters journey with the help of friends, to realize that he didnt really like the life he was living. They help him forget Sarah Marshall to grow and change his life for the better.

Peter’s half-brother (Bill Hader as Brian Bretter) is the reflection Peter sees in the mirror and is reluctant to embrace –in a relationship with responsibilities to a partner that goes beyond physical presence. [Interesting to note the evolution of Mr. Segal from his supporting role as Jason in 2007s Knocked Up another coming of age movie for 20-somethings…the movie is filled with internal compare/contrasts to itself and the Actor’s other works and real-life asperations. How much is intentional and how much is coincident is left to the viewer, but this is a smartly written adult comedy.]

Kristen Bell as the title’s “Sarah Marshall” does well with the material — her character is mult-dimensional as she is both the villain and the victim. While her character emotionally hurts Peter, she has cause as revealed in a fairly depicted series of flashbacks. [It is interesting to note, Sarah’s desire to break out from being a successful TV actress to movies is an interesting simile to Peter’s desire to break out from being a successful TV mood musician to aspiration to become a Rock Opera composer and Ms. Bell plays it well from the heart as if she also longs break out of the Veronica Mars role to her first leading actress role.]

But it is not just Peter that Sarah is running from; she has run into the arms of Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), a famous lead singing rock star. Snow almost steals the movie, with his philosophical musings and ability to play the guy you want to hate but wish was my best friend despite stealing my girlfriend role perfectly. In some ways Peter sees Snow as the worldly guy he wishes he was, but Peter realizes that he cannot be like Snow and force the world to take him as he is and be successful, but rather adapt to the world in his own terms to succeed. [Of course there are parallels when Snow plays to the crowd and to his girl and when Peter plays to another crowd and his girl…the men are more similar on stage than they realize, which may be why Peter likes Snow.] At the critical point, it is Snow’s unwillingness to grow that has him to move on and gives the opportunity he thought he sought — the chance to reunite with Sarah.

However, prior to getting to that point in the story, Peter gets off his real and proverbial couch to meet a series of people whom help him “forget” Sarah. Pride, self-worth and compromise are explored well without bogging down nor being too serious. Central to Peter’s growth are Chuck (Paul Rudd) and Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis). Chuck is the surfing instructor who sees the hurt behind Peters eyes and teaches him to stand on a surf board (another analogy for standing up for himself/getting back up when one is knocked down). While played at times for laughs, there are real life-lessons in what Chuck, Rachel and the other characters offer Peter. Ultimately, Peter stands up and realizes that his affection for Rachel is real and worth the risks to help out a friend. Through them, Peter breaks out and becomes the man he learns he wants to be and achieves the personal satisfaction and professional success he seeks.

The movie is rated R for (strong male and some female) nudity, sex scenes, language and alcohol use discussion about drugs. It is not recommended for young children.

I wasnt really scared in this movie. It was really not that great, it was suspenseful but not scary.  Glad I never watched it in the cinema, perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The cynical and skeptical writer Mike Enslin writes books evaluating supernatural phenomena in hotels, graveyards and other haunted places, usually debunking the mystery. While writing his last book, he travels from Los Angeles to New York to spend one night in the evil room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, which is permanently unavailable for guests. The reluctant manager Mr. Gerald Olin objects to his request and offers an upgrade, expensive booze and finally the reports relating the death of more than fifty guests along decades in the cursed room. However, Mike threatens Mr. Oiln, promising to sue the hotel, and finally checks in the room. Along the night, he finds that guests of room 1408 can check out when they like, but they can never leave the room alive. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Based on the short Stephen King horror story of the same name, 1408 is about supernatural writer Mike Enslin, an author of two successful books on supernatural phenomena. As research for his latest book, Enslin is determined to check out the notorious room 1408 in a New York City hotel by personally staying as a guest in the fabled room. He believes that 1408 is just a myth perpetuated by stories and rumors that Enslin has collected for his past works. However, hotel manager Mr. Olin has strong objections to Enslin’s stay and only warns him of possible danger to come. Enslin is determined to go anyway. But what Mike Enslin is about to experience is no myth, as 1408 truly is a room where the guests don’t check out by noon. Written by mystic80

I absolutely loved this movie and it made me appreciate my life and health so much more. It was truly heartbreaking but their perfect love for each other made up for the heart sore and pain. Their characters where beautifully written and the two created magic on the big screen.

This is a story about living! The chemistry of the stars is fantastic, the music throughout the film is fantastic. Two people who fulfill each other’s dreams in ways that most couples never experience. Total honesty, is part of living life fully. This couple shows you how to create a a life worth living.
Griffin is divorced, living in a flat in Manhattan while his sons and ex live in the family home in Westchester. He gets bad news from his oncologist: cancerous lesions have spread through his chest, and he has only a year or so to live. He audits a psychology class on death and dying at a nearby college where he chats up a woman who turns out to be an assistant dean. She’s Phoenix; she smiles but keeps her distance, warming to him slowly. He tells her nothing of his situation. At his apartment a few days later, she finds a stash of books on death, dying, and terminal illness: will she put two and two together, and what will she do about it?  Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

There is however another venue with an Ala Cart menu right at the entrance of the farm. Wonderful for kids as they can run around entertaining themselves in the open air on the play gym and a fountain to keep them interested. There is always live entertainment and a sushi chef too. Winetasting can also be enjoyed here and although the food is truly amazing the service was not great when we were there. I would go again because of the great setting and wonderful food but I will be weary to go there with friends that I want to impress. For a lazy sunday afternoon lunch its perfect but you have to book in advance! Also if you are a dry champagne lover, their Brut is really great!

Directions

Traveling on the N1: Take the turn-off for Route R302 (Willie van Schoor Avenue/Durban Road). If you are traveling north towards Paarl, turn left from the off-ramp onto the R302. If you traveling south towards Cape Town, turn right from the off-ramp onto the R302. Travel up Durban Road (R302) until you reach the intersection. Immediately before the Tygervalley Centre (ie. Tygervalley Centre is in front of you, on the left-hand side of Durban Road). At this intersection, turn left into Bill Bezuidenhot Avenue and travel down to the T-junction/traffic lights. Turn right into Carl Cronje Drive (T/V Centre on your right-hand side). Travel for approximately 3.5km’s until you reach a second T-junction/traffic lights. Turn left onto the M13 - Racecourse Road.

We are seeking:

- A young black entrepreneur with financial services exposure / experience to head up this incubator project in Gauteng

- Must be research and equity oriented

- Must be prepared to own and run the business as part of the project

This is an incubator so should enjoy some good remuneration and equity stake. If you’re interested please drop me a brief CV and intro letter to marc@rival.co.za .

Thanks!