May 13, (PRINTWORDS NEWS) The 63rd Cannes film Festival is underway presently and the for the next couple of weeks, the fashion on the red carpet at Cannes is the only topic that will remain in discussion in most quarters. For, nowhere else can be witnessed such a large congregation of stars making a collective appearance simultaneously. Like the movies making it to the esteemed festival, the stars who add glamor to the film festival, will also be making news. And where the stars are concerned, fashion can’t be far away. Till now, from what has been made apparent, it is the gowns once again that come back to make a statement on the red carpet.

“Underworld” star Kate Beckingsale, who is also a member of the jury for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was seen posing for the lenses at the photocall, donning a classic Christian Dior number that was coupled with Brian Atwood nude patent “Maniac” pumps. Accompanied by the other members of the jury like Tim Burton (who is the head juror this year), Benicio Del Toro, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Russell Crowe and others, the ace Hollywood actress was the embodiment of grace and style. Walking down the red carpet at the premiere ceremony of Sir Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” for the opening night, Beckingsale chose opted for a blue draped tulle gown fitted with a embroidered ruffle skirt by Marchesa and teamed it up with statement earrings. The shutter bugs therefore cannot be blamed solely for tripping over each other in their effort to catch the stunner on the lens. Going by the opening day, it can be well imagined that the presence of the 36 year old stunner is going to up the glam quotient of the event this year by the degrees!

Speaking at the party,the stunning Beckinsale was rendered speechless when asked by MailOnline how she kept her youthful look. She said, ‘I don’t know why, I’ve just got off the plane from LA and I’ve had four hours sleep. I’m exhausted.’ She also went on to say, ‘I’m on the jury this year which means I have to go and watch two films a day. Then I’m flying back to LA to start work on my next film.’

To add to the glitz and glamour of the opening night, the cast and crew of the movie “Robin Hood” were present by the dozen, with the sole but the most dismal, absence of the celebrated director of the movie! Known for immensely contribution towards cinema, Sir Ridley Scott was genuinely missed at the event of the premiere of his own movie, given that Cannes celebrates directors more than “stars”.

The maker of such blockbuster movies as “Gladiator” couldn’t make it to the event in oder to stand beside his lead cast comprising of Russell Crowe (his associate since the days of the “Gladiator”) and Cate Blanchett as he is reportedly recovering from a knee surgery that he has recently undergone. He said in a statement, ‘It is with the most sincere regret that I am required to miss the opening night…I recently underwent knee replacement surgery and my recovery has been slower than I’d hoped. Truly, doctor’s orders are the only thing that could keep me from being there.”

The other most talked about ladies on the red carpet were “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria Parker, “Desperado” star Salma Hayek, the ever green Dame Helen Mirren. Dame Mirren having just come down to the festival after having inaugurated her wax doppleganger at Madame Tussuads, was her usual elegant best, making an appearance at the event in a simple sleek black Elie Saab dress. Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is the brand ambassador for L’Oreal was also spotted on the carpet, accompanying fellow brand endorser Longoria. As is any body’s guess, the presence of these ladies added the necessary dose of entertainment on the red carpet.

The Mexican actress was clicked in a burgundy colored Gucci Premiere gown and looked every bit her usual sizzling self. The shimmering broach that helped clasp her gown together at the waist was a brilliant display of stone-work, and added a dash of shine to her otherwise simple and elegant attire.

Giving the “Frida” beauty a healthy competition on the red carpet was L’Oreal brand ambassador and Bollywood sensation Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who looked resplendent in a lilac hued Elie Saab number. As for Eva Longoria Parker, the fashionista that she is known to be, she chose to make her appearance in nothing besides one of the most talked about gowns of the night. Her ivory colored, ruffled Pucci wedding-style train stole a quite a bit of the applause. Even the dress that chose to slip in to in the later part of the day, a shimmering sequinned asymmetrical number, was a show stealer!

Cate Blanchett, who plays Maid Marian in the film Robin Hood, went for an edgy, silver eagle-adorned design by the late Alexander McQueen.

Also, spotted at this year’s Cannes were a variety of sequined, fabulous looking shoes, though some also bordered on the bizarre!

Pery beat tough (beyond imaginable!) competition from quite a few of her Hollywood contemporaries and emerged a clear winner, coveting the top spot. In the race to the top, she the managed to beat out other likely contenders like Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie. No doubt it has been a considerable fall from grace for the Lara Croft star, as the list saw Angelina Jolie crash-land at the 38th spot straight. One surprise dropout this year has been the “Mean Girls” star Lindsay Lohan, who was not make it to the list at all. She was accompanied in this feat by Jennifer Aniston, who too, surprising is missing.

And why suddenly is Katy Perry heading the list of the 100 most sizzling women in the world, inspite of the strong presence of such celebrated beauties as Scarlett Johansson and Jolie? The reason is supplied by the Maxim editor in chief Joe Levy, who says,”"It’s that feeling you get when you suddenly realize that the smartest, funniest, coolest girl you know also happens to the best looking and a pretty good skateboarder too…. of a sudden, your crush goes supernova, and this is Katy’s supernova moment.”

Also seen in the list is “Transformers” star Megan Fox, who covets the 5th spot on the list. Which is again, quite a common thing, going by the fact that she is considered to be one of the sexiest actresses around and the most probable successor to Jolie’s oomph quotient in the Hollywood hierarchy! However, this is a prominent fall from grace for the “Jennifer’s Body” stunner, as she had taken up the second spot last year.

At the second position, it is lingerie model Brooklyn Decker and following her closely is the zingy actress Zoe Saldana of “Avatar” fame. “Sisterhood of Traveling Pants” star Blake Lively came in fourth. R&B diva Rihana usurped the 6th place and Elisabetta Canalis came in after that, at seventh!

To fit her rebellious image, Miley Cyrus is seen in a rather unusual costume, that is all accompanied with smoky eyes and the femme fatale package intact. She is seen dressed in the garb of a bird and that too, a caged bird!

The video of the title track named “Can’t Be Tamed” of the third album of the star premiered on Tuesday night, May 4 and since then it has already gained a lot of impetus among the ardent fans of the young songstress. Going in to the details of her attire, Miley is seen donning a skimpy black outfit that is adorned with feather wings. She is trapped in a giant cage and is surrounded by a troupe of scantily clad dancers. In the video, she is portrayed as the rare Avis Cyrus on display at a museum!

Clearing her stand though, the teen sensation has revealed that the song and the entire make-up wasn’t in keeping with a new her in any way but was in sync with the theme of the song. Speaking to Ryan Seacrest in interview, the teen idol said, “The video isn’t about being sexy or about who can wear less clothes. It’s about explaining the song and living the lyrics… I don’t want to be in a cage. I want to be free and do what I love.”

Well, that sums it up all too well. Way to go Miley!

The leading ladies of the sequel to the blockbuster Iron Man based on the comic book character of Tony Stark a.k.a the Iron Man, graced the red carpet and caused a thousand shutterbugs to fall over each other in frenzied anticipation. Looking ever so gorgeous in a white sculptured asymmetrical short dress accompanied with glittery heels, Scarlett Johansson, who assays the character of a Russian secret agent Natalia Romanova (or the Black Widow), stole the evening.

The other leading lady of the movie, Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t one to be left behind in making a fashion statement any less! She turned up donning a pair of Armani shorts teamed up with a blazer in white. However, she was far from looking tomboyish on any account, chiefly owing to her dainty, feminine looks. Speaking on getting back to working with the Iron Man team she said, “I love Robert. We had a natural rhythm when we did the first movie together. We’re lucky, it’s not always like that with actors. It was easy to fall back in to that the second time.”

The man of the evening, namely Robert Downey Jr. was not to outdone by the leading ladies of his film in the glam quotient and looked every bit the star that fans had flocked to see at the premiere. The event was initially scheduled to be held in London but plans had to be changed the last minute owing to the prevalence of the volcanic ashes over Europe.

For now, all eyes are fixed on the May 7th date when the movie hits the theater.

No matter how people dote upon the looks and functionality in a phone, the first thing which is impressive about Sagem Puma is its comfy grip within your palms. In other words it’s good looks offered in a compact frame. The mobile sports a 2.8″ QVGA display which at the very first look can be a real turnoff if you aren’t into too much exploring a gadget. We will deal with the front later on, lets flip it and take a look at the back side. Wow! Now, that’s even better than the frontal portion. (Except for the the fact the three stylized buttons on the front is the only thing that actually stops you from keeping it back on the shelf). This is where the camera is. A 3.2MP decked up with a LED flash and the solar panel which is the USP of Sagem Puma that won’t let your phone battery run out of its juice.

But hey wait up !! Are we taking about sun in UK? Ah!! You must have Houdini as your best pal. “Eco-friendly” is one vague term which finds it hard to gain grounds with only a a negligible amount of sunshine witnessed in UK. So, as it seems we have to rely on normal battery back up and let it go its own way to pick up and store as much amount of energy its able to trap in. The front of the phone – Yeah its stylized, minus the black plastic feel , the phone has one VGA camera for video conferencing. So what’s selling the phone if not the solar panel? The answer is its firmware along with the Interface which is a delightful experience. The main menu is a simple one which is divided into two ways ; one that leads to shortcuts defined by the user itself and the other one is the sportier style that is decked up with features like “Run tracking”. On the extreme right you shall find your browser and your multimedia kit.

The User Interface as mentioned earlier happens to be one of the decent and the frst ever thing in the mobile which is unique. Apart from the minor glitches that every other touch phone suffers in terms of resistivity, Sagem Puma has done a splendid job with the interface. Icons are well placd and are good to touch but this is one place where you shall have to strain your fingers a little to make sure you hit the right icon.

The tiny little triangle located at the bottom right-hand corner is a pull up and pull back option which takes you to context menus and lets you choose your own option. Neatly crafted out this is one great feature in the mobile that when you actually pull down the screen top you shall be able  to shift it to memory card and then to bluetooth all  in one go.  All major social networkingplatforms like Facebook and Twitter are all preloaded and offers a vast and unique expirence while one uses the Sagem Puma browser to access it. Solar Power which is the biggest hype factor of the phone  lets the users see how much energy has been trapped in and how much has been used already.  Sagem Puma is a Java Based handset which is understadable and acceptable from the point of view that this happens to be the very first handset produced by the company.

As of a whole we never recommend you to buy the phone that too at a price  of £300. Samsung SGH-F110 miCoach is defintly a better one than this but if you don’t want to lose your sleep over buying it then you might just go over the words of Jérôme Nadel; the vice president of Puma Sagem told the media how he had envisioned Sagem Puma Solar Mobile as the “First Layer’ in their innovations as he feels that the best is yet to come.

AC Cobra (1962-1967)

A car that gave a fig for looks but reeled on sheer performance. In spite of the fact that looks weren’t that a major concern for the makers, the car got huge attention from one &all. Any driver who ever drove it was more than impressed. This car even got its name recorded in the automobile history. Carroll Shelby’s idea about making this car was only to win on the tracks but it did grew out to be much better than that. The car was decked up with 260 cubic-inches; mini V8 that surely roars power and perseverance that no other car in its match could have done in those times.

Hummer H1 (1992-2006)

If Arnie had been your favorite hero, then this is one that would make the best ride for the muscle man. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself is said to have been credited to offer the car its sheer ergonomics and design which says it loud that this machine is all for the rough and tough guys and no fashion icons. The Hummer H1 happens to be a civilian “off-road vehicle” takes a heavy drift from M998 HUMVEE. It had a long era of dominance in the automobile industry where the vehicle had its production kicking off in the year 1992  and was known as the ”Hummer” only during its inception phase.

Chevrolet Corvette (1953-Till date)

The longest in the production and still going great guns this car is one dandy that has been a winner no matter what the odds or the enemy. The models of 1953-’54 corvettes were definitely some turn off color options that was provided by the company. But the thing  really picked up with the coming of  C2 Sting Ray in the era of  ’63-’67 which was perhaps in all arguments the most manliest cars of al time. Admirers even called the sting ray to be a “phallic symbol on four wheels.” Following the performance level which that car offer on the streets the makers were keen to offer a new look to the car with a revamped ergonomics and engine .Thus was born the sting ray 68 which even went ahead to attend some serious revamp lasses to appear as the reincarnated  Sting ray ’69.

Dodge Ram (1981-Till Date)

Full throttle drives and excellent acceleration made this car reached the extreme heights that surpassed one and all. This car was not only manly but also huge in terms of space. This car was a reincarnated version that was all broad bases with the front ends-these differences were glaring if you had both the 93’ and 94’ iteration of the model standing side by side. And that is exactly what made the manly factor in the car receive new heights. The popularity meter of the Ram was astounding and never went off levels although the buyers of the car witnessed a mixed blessing. In the year 2009 Dodge Ram had one more update being offered to the car which made this boy shout manly in the most radical manner that is possible.

Nokia has learnt the lesson from its first generation of Xpressmusic phones and the 5530 model tries to address the issues. While the Xpressmusic 5530 is slimmer and better looking than the 5800 it has plenty of buttons all over its body, which does not give it a fashionable look.

Nowadays, most of the high end or even mid range phones do not have separate keys for locking the keypad and switching the phone off. The good thing is that you can access the microSD card from the side of the phone and do not need to open the back cover. Having said that, the back cover is not very sturdy. Nokia should have made the screen surface resistant to scratch and smudges considering it is a touch screen phone. Rival touchscreen phones offer better surfaces. Nokia still continues with its fondness of resistive touchscreen which makes typing on the screen a slow affair.

However, the screen has a resolution of 640×480 and hence viewing web pages on it is a pleasant experience. The viewing angles are generous too. The presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack means you can plug in your own headsets and enjoy better sound quality if you desire so. The phone comes with a 4GB memory card and you can put in cards up to 16GB capacity. The 3.2 MP camera takes good quality picture in daylight and for nocturnal  shooting it has a LED flash. Video recording at 640 x 480 resolution is also possible.

Nokia needs to polish up its ageing S60 user Interface and implement something faster. The Android OS based phones offer better speed and response. However, the bundled web browser is quite competent. The call quality is loud and clear in this model. It supports EDGE but misses out on HSPA. However, the inclusion of Wi-Fi means accessing wireless networks is easier. The battery is pretty good but tends to drain fast if Wi-Fi is used a lot and the LED flash is kept on while shooting. Overall, Nokia Xpressmusic 5530 scores well in the audio quality and improves on its predecessor on some aspects. It still misses out on some important features and its dated UI may give the competing music oriented phones an edge over it.

The craze for slim laptops started with the Apple Macbook. Dell was quick to follow suit with its Adamo and other companies also felt the need to make laptops look jazzier and svelte. However, these efforts did not succeed due to factors like exorbitant pricing and lack of upgradability. Sony seems to have hit the sweet spot with its VAIO X series of laptops. It suits the jet set lifestyle of corporate users who are tired of the drab looking notebooks and want a lighter alternative that does not suffer on performance front.

The moment you pop the VAIO X out of your bag it is sure to turn some heads. It is barely 0.55 inch thick and the brushed-aluminum body screams style from every square inch. As an alternative, you can opt for the black model that looks equally cool. At 1.6 pounds it is lighter than many netbooks. The 11.1 inch screen is sharp and bright. Sony offers an additional battery with the model along with the standard battery. It gives marginally better performance than regular netbooks. The Intel Atom Z550 CPU gets a speed boost from 128GB SSD and 2 GB memory. However, do not expect it to run latest 3D games and it is not meant for gaming either.

The HD video buffs will like it a lot. Playing 720p HD content is a breeze on this laptop. You will not see any frame drop and stutter at all. The multi gesture touhpad is a welcome addition and so is the webcam. It is amazing that in its tiny figure Sony has managed to pack in the regular ports. As expected, no optical drive is provided. Overall, it gives the Windows users a suitable alternative to Macbook Air, though performance seekers will be a tad disappointed.

The meteorologists have predicted that it would indeed be a terribly white new year. Whether it would be at all suitable for some new year revelry is becoming seriously questionable, what with most of the roads blocked due to heavy snowfall. Moreover, the water supply too is facing serious problems due to the extreme fall in temperatures.

There are various incidents hitting the airwaves every day, of motorists being stranded in the roads and highways, their path blocked by the snow. The worst affected areas are probably Blackford and Auchterarder in Perthshire. The black ice that lines the roads have made the conditions even more treacherous.

Similar conditions prevail everywhere in the British Isles. Scotland has received official police warnings about the road conditions. People have been urged not to avail of those areas which are the most treacherous, particularly after some lorries got stuck in the heavy snow. It was only with the employment of considerable time and effort that the vehicles were removed. Northern Ireland is probably going to be the worst hit area, with forecasts that temperatures will fall six degrees below zero.

The picture gets even bleaker from here. Looks like it has become a matter of life and death, something that no longer concerns only the transport system. As temperatures dipped below freezing point, there were reports of accident, with the death of at least one being reported so far. A car skid on the icy road in the Borders. One man died on the spot. The other five were taken to the nearby hospital. There was also a child among them.

The freezing cold is affecting the water supply badly. As is expected, the below zero degree temperatures led to ruptured pipes, with some areas being forced to go without water for more than a day. The water supply departments are being asked to take on more staff to attend to the calls from the affected households.

The weather department has not been able to shine any warm ray of hope on the matter. On the contrary, they have forecast that the weather is likely to take a turn for the worst, with the snow changing to rain and sleet, obliterating any chance whatever of even venturing out of you home.

It is difficult to understand whether one should be happy about this freezing winter at a time when the world is melting under the threats of global warming and a climate change. Guess they should be, a bit pleased at least, but the thought of snow covered driveways and blocked roads somehow take away a lot of the joy. For although the picture looks pretty, the prospect is bleak.

All in all, it is not going to be a particularly comfortable new year. If the cold wave continues, that is.

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The USP of the Pavilion dv7-2215SA is its huge 17.3 inch screen. The native 1600×900 resolution is good enough for watching HD videos though it can not be termed Full HD. It is ideal for those users who want to surf the web and do other stuff at the same time side by side. The model scores full marks for offering an intuitive keyboard with a numeric keypad. The glossy finish track pad makes controlling the functions easier. HP offers Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit edition with this laptop and the 2.1GHz dual-core Intel CPU and 4GB of RAM are adequate for taming the OS.

Do not think the Pavilion dv7-2215SA is a slouch in gaming or HD video playback. The discrete ATI Radeon HD 4530 GPU is powerful enough to tackle latest 3D games as long as you do not crank up the in game settings too high. You will get good performance in games like Crysis or Batman: Arkham Asylum. The 500GB 7,200rpm hard disk is a welcome addition. You may think that with such a wide screen and power hungry components the laptop may not last long on battery. However, the Pavilion dv7-2215SA manages to run over 4hours under regular usage. While small laptops offer longer battery life they can not offer you the screen real estate like this model.

The laptop gets some brownie points in the connectivity departments as well. The inclusion of eSATA port is ideal for the users who need to transfer lots of data and hate waiting. There is also a mini firewire port and HDMI port. Since the laptop is shipped with a 64 bit OS you can upgrade the memory to 8GB and obtain the benefits. The on board Altec lansing speakers too sound surprisingly loud and crisp. Overall, there is very little to say against this laptop. If you want great value for money and adequate upgradability in a laptop, this model is suitable for you.