Kate Upton stars for Vogue. Is high fashion ready to start featuring curvier girls?

Kate Upton has found herself starring in the upcoming November issue of Vogue, making this her second Vogue appearance.

The model famous for flaunting her curves and being celebrated for being anything but the razor thin fashionista that many journals have tended to use is once again depicted in scantily clad attire (because a female has got to always be scantily clad before we take her seriously right?).

Despite being labelled as the archetypal pin up girl blonde next door Ms Upton it seems is adamant about crossing into the high fashion department that she covets, which raises the specter will her latest appearance raise her and similar shaped girl’s chances of crossing into high fashion modeling? Or is this just a situation of Vogue taking advantage of Ms Upton’s reputation by choosing to feature her and are paying lip service to the gesture that they and the fashion industry is now ready to start using curvier girls in its high fashion editorials.

Tags: Stars

Girls Aloud return with new album and tour.

The group – made up of Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding – have confirmed, that after months of speculation, they are getting back together and will release a new single, a greatest hits album and will embark on a tour next year to celebrate their 10-year anniversary as a band.
The five girls are thrilled to be back together and can’t wait to perform together again on tour.
Speaking at a press conference at London’s Corinthia Hotel today (19.10.12), Kimberley said: ”It felt like the right time. It feels comfortable to be back together – like a comfort blanket.”
Cheryl added: ”Touring is the best thing about what we do. And to get to say thank you to the fans is just amazing.”
There will be four new songs on the album, entitled ‘Ten’ – including the new single ‘Something New’ – and fans can vote on the tracklisting for Disc 2 of the record at site from October 19.
The five girls have been secretly working on their single for a few weeks and had their meetings at the same hotel they stayed in when they won reality TV show ‘Popstars: The Rivals’ in 2002.
Nicola said: ”We stayed in the same hotel we stayed in the night we got in the band.”

‘Ten’ will be released on November 26, which will be followed up by a 12-date arena tour which kicks off in Cheryl’s hometown, Newcastle upon Thames, in Northern England, on February 21.
The run of concerts ends in Liverpool on March 20 and tickets go on sale on October 26 via the band’s official website.

Tags: New single

Girls Generation Jessica releases ‘My Lifestyle’ single.

SM Entertainment and car company Hyundai Motor recently teamed up to produce a ‘PYL Yonique Album’ where SM artists will sing songs that will be used as theme songs for Hyundai’s series of car models. On the morning of October 18th, Girls Generation member Jessica Jung released her single ‘My Lifestyle’ which will be used for Hyundai’s i30.

‘My Lifestyle’ will be used as the theme for Hyundai’s i30, where it presented a whole new fresh feeling with the light tempo rhythm coupled with Jessica’s clear vocals.

Besides being busy with Girls’ Generation group activities, Jessica has also sang for drama OSTS like ‘Because Tears are Overflowing’, ‘Heart Road’, which accentuated her vocal ability. Thus, her new single ‘My Lifestyle’ has attracted much attention from fans.

Earlier this week, BoA had revealed her ‘Lookin’ single for Hyundai’s i40 on October 16th, and got much love from fans. Meanwhile, the dance unit team of Girls’ Generation’s Hyoyeon, SHINee‘sTaemin, Super Junior-M‘s Henry, EXO-K‘s Kai, and EXO-M‘s Luhan will release their single ‘Maxstep’ which will be used for Hyundai’s Veloster very soon.

Meanwhile, Jessica’s single ‘My Lifestyle’ was first revealed through ‘PYL Younique Show’ on October 17th where she performed it live and won much cheers from fans.

Tags: My Lifestyle

U.K. girl band Girls Aloud reunite for tour, single.

Girls Aloud are back together and hitting the road.
The British five-part girl group announced at a London news conference Friday they are reuniting for a tour starting in February.
Cheryl Cole, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding and Nadine Coyle were put together 10 years ago on U.K. reality show “Popstars: The Rivals.”
The tour, a greatest hits album called “Ten” and single “Something New”– out Nov. 18 — is to mark their decade in the business.
Recently the stars have worked separately on fashion, stage and screen projects.
Cole says getting back together feels “really normal, like nothing changed, like we didn’t take three years away.”
The “Girls Aloud Ten” tour kicks off in Newcastle Feb. 21.

Tags: Girls Aloud

India.Arie is gearing up to release the first single from her upcoming album for the track “6th Avenue.” Site has learned the song will be released to iTunes on Sunday November 4th, the same day Black Girls Rock airs on BET and she debutes the song. Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Missy Elliott and Brandy also perform for the special that airs at 8PM (eastern). India.Arie‘s new album is rumored to be titled “Open Door” and will be the first release since her 2009 release “Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics.”

Last night at W.I.P in New York, India.Arie was a surprise guest honoring recording artist Brandy at TrueExclusives re-launch party. When India.Arie hit the stage she nearly brought a shocked Brandy to tears, however it was what she said before performing Brandy‘s single “He Is” from her “Full Moon” album that fully brought her to tears.

“I never got the chance to tell you this but the first time I heard you sing, I was 18 and I was like who is this? Who’s singing the way that I like people to sing cause I feel that there are a lot of singers here tonight, and you know how the difference between good singing and great singing are the small things nuances, you had the nuances when you were like 13. And I remember when you were on ‘Thea’, and through the week, on the commercial they were showing that you were going to sing on that episode. I have the tape because I have been keeping a tape recorder and journal since I was like a little kid. So I had my micro cassette ready when you came on and I taped it and played it back and back and back and back. So, I just wanted to tell you that. I know how it feels to be working really hard for something and it doesn’t turn out exactly the way that you want but then you have some stuff that’s turning out cool and you are just like working, trying to figure it out. I don’t think that you really understand how influential you are to singers [Crowd cheers], I don’t think you really get it! There are so many people that we hear and we are like, ‘that’s a Brandy run, Oh that’s a Brandy run’. I don’t think you even know how much people revere you and they don’t realize that they’re doing what you do. So this is for you.”

Tags: Release

There was a slightly hysterical edge to recent coverage of a new book announcing that women are about to replace men as the higher-achieving, higher-earning sex while men continue to spiral downward in an inexorable decline. Though, in fairness, some of the edge seemed to be generated by the author herself.

On the airwaves talking about her book The Richer Sex, author Liza Mundy warned that society is not ready for “the Big Flip” in male-female roles that lies “just around the corner.” She cautioned that in a single generation there had already been a “seismic economic, social and emotional change,” one that would ultimately transform male-female relationships. A revolution, in short.

Mundy, a Washington Post reporter, lays a solid foundation for her thesis when she describes the extraordinary advances made by American women since the 1960s. They now earn the majority of university degrees, including at advanced levels, as do Canadian women. In both countries, women have made such substantial inroads into formerly male-dominated fields as medicine and law that they are expected to form the majority of doctors and lawyers in the foreseeable future.

As a result, in part, of this change, nearly four in 10 married women who work outside the home in the U.S. are the top earners in their family. Married women bring in nearly half of all family income, on average, all income brackets taken into account. The same is roughly true in Canada, where 26 per cent of Canadian women said in a poll this month that they were the sole or primary wage-earner. Another 60 per cent said their income was needed to keep their family afloat.

But if there has been a revolution – and the dismantling of the barriers that kept women uneducated, propertyless and poorly paid is certainly a societal transformation –­ it isn’t only about women choosing to get ahead.

Tags: American women

The economy has played a key role in reconfiguring the North American household. In the U.S., Mundy points out, the economy is in the process of being hollowed out, with once-high-paying industrial jobs vanishing offshore. The men who were once able to support a family with nothing more than a high-school diploma are getting left in the dust of globalization and technological change.

This means women have had to step up and become the chief wage-earners, even if they’re still only earning 81 cents to the male dollar, and with, Mundy says, the glass ceiling “firmly in place.” In this scenario, we are a long way from the vision of an Armani-clad female lawyer that the phrase “the richer sex” conjures up. Especially considering that the financially independent women who make up the richer sex include those who are raising children alone. If they’re richer, it’s more by default than anything else.

What we are really looking at is how families in North America are scrambling to cope with the impact of a fast-changing world economy. Women are better placed because they were already working harder to get ahead in the job market. They knew they had to get a good education and delay marriage and parenthood until their careers were in hand.

Tags: North American

Men, used to the male prerogative kicking in regardless of what education or training they got, should also be trying to adjust to new realities. But some of them aren’t. They’re the ones, according to a 2012 paper by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney of the Hamilton Project, who are getting left behind both in the job market and the marriage stakes: At the bottom 25th percentile of earnings, where wages have fallen 60 per cent since 1970, only half the men are married. Forty years ago, 86 per cent of them were.

If you’re the one getting left behind, it must feel like a brutal world. People would rather tie their fate to someone with good earning potential, and that includes men. For decades, women were warned not to appear too smart or accomplished for fear of damaging their marriage prospects. But it turns out men are not put off by educated women who work. Mundy cites a 2001 study by University of Texas at Austin psychologist David Buss. He found that over the last 50 years, men had switched from valuing domestic skills in a potential mate to looking for partners willing to “pull their own weight economically in marriage.”

Casting these broad societal changes in terms of women becoming wealthier than men seems unhelpful,­ especially to women. It was wrong of society to deny women education or the right to own property or to seek self-fulfillment. Let’s not declare them the victors in a contest they haven’t won and aren’t competing in.

Tags: Men

Time for Japan’s women to demand their due

In the year since Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, the nation’s many deficits have been cast in stark relief.

The budget deficit is widening as the cost of rebuilding the north-east mounts. The growth shortfall is worrying politicians more than ever and making it hard for Mr Yoshihiko Noda, the sixth Prime Minister in five years, to keep his job.

Deflation is a chronic downer. News that the trade gap disappeared last month was, for now at least, a rare hint that better days may lie ahead.

Oddly, Japan’s most obvious shortcoming is being ignored more now than before the March 11, 2011, disaster: Women.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development routinely urges Japan to provide women with more opportunities to boost growth.

In 2010, the country ranked a dismal 94th in a World Economic Forum report on the gap between men and women. By the end of last year, Japan had slid to 98th place, trailing China, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe.

Tags: Japan women

GENDER ATTITUDES

Ms Yukako Uchinaga personifies Japan’s empowerment deficit – and what to do about it – as well as anyone. The chief executive officer of Berlitz recalls a time when she hid in the women’s room. It was back in the 1970s when she worked as a systems engineer at International Business Machines.

At 8pm, an inspector would search the office to make sure all women had gone home. Once the checks were done, Ms Uchinaga would leave the bathroom stall and return to work.

“My boss used to say: ‘I don’t want to be put in jail’,” Ms Uchinaga told Bloomberg News recently. “I complained it was unfair, like being in a 100m race with my hands and feet tied while all my male colleagues ran freely.”

That law is no longer on the books and in the decades that followed, discrimination was formally banned.

Yet, this year, women occupy only one in 70 management jobs at Japanese companies. Not one Nikkei 225 Stock Average company is run by a woman. Mr Noda’s Cabinet contains only one woman: Health Minister Yoko Komiyama.

The numbers have long spoken for themselves. Ms Kathy Matsui, a Tokyo-based strategist at Goldman Sachs Group, estimates that if Japan’s female employment rate matched that of males – one of the highest anywhere at about 80 per cent – gross domestic product would get a boost of as much as 15 per cent.

For a deflation-plagued economy that is contracting at a rate of 0.6 per cent, even a small portion of that jolt would be a godsend.

Tags: Women occupy

WOMEN POWER

Why Japan’s leaders would rather limp than charge ahead in the age of China is beyond me.

What would it take to change gender attitudes? I felt certain that last year’s disaster that killed almost 20,000 people would be the turning point.

A shrinking and rapidly ageing society suspicious of mass immigration must recognise its hidden strengths.

Japan has two. One is millions of highly skilled retirees whose talents could be tapped. The other is a vast and educated female workforce.

Don’t count on the grey-haired men who run Japan paying much mind to the latter.

For all its talk of fresh thinking and empowering households, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has done nothing to realise that goal. A Cabinet paper in June last year urging Japan to raise the proportion of women in leadership to 30 per cent by 2020 was more lip service than substance.

The answer is for women to demand their due.

Japan’s history is replete with flashes of feminist energy but few caught on in a cohesive, sustained and formidable way. A little Gloria Steinem-style agitation, or even taking a page from Lysistrata, might go a long way in a nation badly in need of an economic shake-up.

After all, those in power don’t tend to yield it easily, least of all Japan’s old-boys club.

Tags: Women power

A CORRECTABLE PROBLEM

That gets us back to Ms Uchinaga, 65, who became the first woman board member at IBM Japan in 1995. Today, she is the chairman of the Japan Women’s Innovative Network, a non-profit group that researches and advises on diversity. It is helping members like Nissan Motor to advance women’s roles.

Japan needs more success stories like Ms Uchinaga to step forward and draw attention to this most-correctable of problems.

Count long-time gender-equality activist Kimie Iwata, 64, among them. The vice-president at Shiseido, Japan’s top cosmetics maker, is championing her own effort to tap the under-utilised female masses. Who knows, maybe Japan needs a woman Prime Minister. It couldn’t hurt.

Sexism exacerbates Japan’s falling-birthrate dilemma. Women hoping for better opportunities are delaying childbirth. More enlightened policies to empower women and help them manage work and family would serve the third-largest economy well. It wouldn’t just conjure up more growth but babies, too.

Instead, all too many university graduates remain relegated to the dead-end role of “office lady”, serving tea when they could be offering fresh ideas and drafting business proposals. That’s no way to run a democracy and women need to make their.

Tags: Woman

Access to pill boosts women’s earnings – study.

A new study may add tinder to the debate over whether the federal government ought to require health insurance plans to pay for  contraception. New research shows that access to birth control pills over the past 50 years has translated into higher pay and better careers for women.

After scrutinizing data from a multidecade survey, University of Michigan researchers determined that women who had access to birth control pills when they were in their late teens and early 20s tended to be better educated and better paid 20 years later compared to women who couldn’t get oral contraceptives. Women who had early access to the pill were making 8 percent more than those who didn’t.

“Arguably the pill had some pretty big benefits for these women,” said the study’s lead author Martha J. Bailey, an assistant professor of economics at the university. “I certainly would like an 8 percent pay raise.”

The new study, published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, used data from two long-term surveys: one that looked at health and another that looked at labor force outcomes. Both tracked women for decades.

The labor force study was started in 1968 and included 4,300 women who were between 14 and 24 at the time of their first interview. The women were reinterviewed every year until 2003.

Bailey and her colleagues were able to disentangle the impact of the pill from other factors, such as the women’s movement and equal opportunity laws, because many states in the 1960s and ’70s only allowed women to get the pill on their own after their 21st birthday. Other states allowed women to get the pill when they turned 18.

So the researchers were able to compare the career trajectories and salaries of women who could get the pill at 18 versus those who had to wait until they were 21.

Data from the health study backed up the assumption that women between the ages of 18 and 21 were far more likely to get a prescription for the pill if they came from a state where they could legally get it on their own.
Early access to the pill changed many women’s life plans.
“Instead of deciding between dating russian lady and pursuing a career they could do both,” Bailey said.

The women who benefited the most from early access to the pill were those who came from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

“One thing I think is important to point out is that we didn’t see a change in the number of children these women had, but we did see changes in when they decided to have them,” Bailey said. “That slight delay in the birth of their first child translated into some pretty big gains in terms of lifetime earnings.”

Tags: Access

Older Women Struggle to Make Ends Meet.

Tags: Women Struggle

Indonesian women slam miniskirt comment.

Indonesia’s commission for women’s rights has condemned a minister’s suggestion that miniskirts be banned under the controversial anti-pornography law.

Religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali said on Wednesday that skirts “above the knee” should be defined as pornographic, amid a wider debate about freedom of expression and religion in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

“This country keeps taking steps backward,” Masruchah, deputy head of the national commission on violence against women, told AFP on Thursday.

“As a democratic nation, the government must ensure that everybody has the right to express themselves freely, as guaranteed by the constitution,” said Masruchah, who goes by one name.

“This country must stop criminalising women’s bodies and blaming women’s clothing for inviting sexual assault.”

The commission is officially independent but gets funding from the government.

Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo last year blamed a spate of rapes on public minivans on the victims’ miniskirts.

In 2008, Indonesia passed an anti-pornography law that criminalises all works and bodily movements that could be deemed obscene and capable of violating public morality, including art, dancing, music and poetry.

The law was met with widespread criticism for being draconian and discriminatory against women.

Ali was appointed chair of the anti-pornography taskforce, established this month to implement the controversial law that has seen dancers, strippers and pop stars arrested.

“There must be a set of universal criteria to define something as pornographic, one of which will be when a woman wears a skirt above the knee,” Ali was quoted by the Jakarta Post newspaper as saying.

His comments came just three weeks after several parliamentarians suggested banning female lawmakers from wearing miniskirts to work, claiming provocative clothing makes men “do things” they cannot help.

The law faced more scrutiny last year, when local pop sensation Nazriel “Ariel” Irham was jailed for making two sex videos that were leaked to the public on the internet and through mobile phones.

Tags: Indonesian women

U.S. women disappoint in short program.

Wagner and Czisny must do much better in free skate if only for World’s next year.

The best thing one can say about the U.S. performances in the women’s short program Thursday at the World Figure Skating Championships in Nice, France, is reigning national champion Ashley Wagner didn’t fall apart after botching her opening jump. She finished eighth, still within reach of a medal — however unlikely.

There is simply nothing good to say about two-time U.S. champion Alissa Czisny after she fell on her first two jumps and wound up 16th.

The two U.S. women had hoped to have their final placements total 13 or fewer to regain the third worlds place their nation has not earned since 2007. The odds of that happening now are about the same as those of buying one ticket and having it win the MegaMillions.

Can someone get dazzling U.S. junior champion Gracie Gold to Nice to put on a disguise and sub for Czisny in Saturday’s free skate? After all, unless the U.S. finishes total 28 or fewer, they will have just one spot next year.

Russia’sAlena Leonova, who could have won a speedskating competition as she flew willy-nilly around the ice, is first with a personal-best 64.61 points. Underscored Kanako Murakami of Japan is second at 62.67, with Carolina Kostner of Italy at 61.

Two-time world champion Mao Asada of Japan is fourth at 59.49 after falling on her opening triple axel. Wagner’s tentative performance earned 56.42. Czisny had 48.31, with a technical score ranked 25th of the 30 competitors and negative grades on all three jumping passes.

This was not the Czisny who finished a solid fifth last year. This was the Czisny who finished 11th and 15th in her other two world meet appearances, 2009 and 2007, with equally disastrous short programs (14th and 18th). She actually had a better score in that 18th-place performance (49.43).

“I don’t really know what happened,” Czisny said. “The jumps weren’t there.”

Wagner rallied after stepping out of the landing of her first jump and omitting the second planned jump of a triple-triple combination. She did the required combination by tacking a second jump onto her next triple.

“Today wasn’t my strongest performance, but I was thinking on my feet and skated smart,” Wagner said. “That’s the most important thing to be able to do.”

She attributed the mistake on the opening jump to the 33-minute wait between the warmup and the time she took the ice as the last skater in the penultimate group.

“I came back extremely strong considering the level of pressure and competition,” she said.

The so-called competition in ice dance Thursday ended as anyone could have predicted — and the judges may have decided — a month ago.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada regained the title they won in 2010. Last year’s winners, U.S. couple Meryl Davis and Charlie White, were second. To keep the home crowd happy, Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France took third.

Tags: U.S. women

Women with access to birth control make more money over their lifetime: new study.

Access to the Pill means better education and 8% higher income.

Tags: Women access

Irina Shayk flashes thong in see-through knit dress; Sports Illustrated swimsuit model recently bared bum on the beach.

She was recently snapped frolicking in a leopard-print bikini and booty-baring thong.

odel Irina Shayk attends Jeffrey Fashion Cares 2012 at the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier on March 26, 2012 in New York City.

Tags: Irina Shayk

Alicia Silverstone chews her baby’s food; Premastication is an ancient practice.

Tags: Alicia Silverstone

Kardashian sisters flaunt their kurves! Kim, Khloe and Kourtney show off their bikini bodies in new Kardashian Kollection Swimwear ad.

Khloe stays mildly covered up, while a pregnant Kourtney doesn’t show much of a baby bump.

There’s no stopping the Kardashian clan.

Shortly after younger sister Kendall posted a provocative photo of herself in a revealing two-piece on Twitter Monday, an ad for the Kardashian Kollection’s latest swimwear line for Sears was released, showcasing the three older Kardashian gals’ figures.

“First look at our new Kardashian Kollection Swimwear campaign! The girls look incredible!!!!!” the line’s co-creator, Bruno Schiavi, posted on his Facebook page Wednesday.

In the ad, sultry Kim gazes into the camera as she wears a ruffled two-piece bikini, showing off her famous curves. Khloe, to her right, dons a printed bikini covered by a slightly more modest sheer coverup.

And a barely visibly-pregnant Kourtney, in a beaded bandeau top, shows a slim side profile with her two sisters.

Kourtney, 32, is expecting her second child with longtime beau Scott Disick, she announced in late November.

“I think motherhood is just about instinct,” the eldest Kardashian sister once told Parenting.com about being a mother. “I remember coming home from the hospital and having no idea what we were doing.

“Scott and I changed his diaper together, but after a day, it was like ‘Oh! I got it.’”

Kourtney and Disick are already parents to 2-year-old son Mason.

Tags: Kardashian sisters

Mega Millions mania! Record-breaking jackpot jumps from $476 to $540M in one day.

Even celebrities are getting in on the Mega Millions madness.

As the lottery hit a record $540 million Thursday, people around the country lined up at convenience stores for their chance to win the biggest jackpot in the world — including a few famous faces.

Rob Dyrdek, star of MTV reality show “Rob & Big,” dropped $700 on tickets , TMZ.com reported Wednesday, when the jackpot had swollen to just $476 million.

Meanwhile, Washington Wizards rookie Chris Singleton upped the ante when he posted on Twitter, “I’m about to drop 10000 on the lottery and cross my fingers #halfwaytoabillionaireifiwin.”

Joshua Gates, the host of Syfy’s “Destination Truth,” solicited Twitter followers to help choose the winning numbers on Thursday afternoon, promising to share the jackpot if he wins.

Supermodel Christine Teigen and soon-to-be-wife of John Legend also joined the Mega Millions mania online, where the hashtag #ifiwin was trending on Twitter.

“Definitely getting my first lottery ticket this week,” she tweeted.

Teigen should expect a long wait — the Las Vegas Sun reported that ticket-buyers stood in line for four hours on Thursday morning.

If the winner chooses the cash payout option, taxes whittle the jackpot down to $389 million, according to the Mega Millions website. Winners can also opt to receive annual payments for 26 years.

Still, the lump sum tops the net worth of many of today’s highest-paid A-listers, including Madonna and Justin Bieber. The winner also would be worth more than President Obama, whose comparatively paltry net worth is just $5 million, according to a January report from Reuters.

The jackpot could increase as more tickets are sold before the drawing, scheduled for 11 p.m. on Friday. Tickets will be on sale for $1 each up until 15 minutes before the drawing.

According to Forbes, the odds of winning are 175.7 million to one.

So far, the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won was $390 million in March 2007, split by two people in separate states who each picked the same winning set of six numbers.

Tags: Madonna

Katy Perry plays coy with Baptiste Giabiconi dating rumors, tweets she’s ‘single and satisfied’.

Katy Perry seems to be having fun feeding the rumor mill.

The “Part of Me” singer threw fans for a loop Wednesday by tweeting an ambiguous message about her current relationship status.

“Just ate a ton of garlic, heard it’s an immune booster #hopeitwerks #mandeflecter #singleandsatisfied,” she wrote, sneaking in the last phrase as a subtle jab at rumors she’s currently dating French model Baptiste Giabiconi.

Perry, 27, and Giabiconi, 22, reportedly the world’s highest-paid male model, were first spotted gallavanting together throughout Paris during fashion week.

And on Sunday, Giabiconi fueled rumors that the two are currently dating by tweeting a shot of the two of them looking cozy with the caption “hey my #littlekats u look So amazing in this pics !”

According to Us Weekly, the two are currently enjoying their time together but aren’t looking for anything serious.

“This is purely a fling,” a friend of Perry told the magazine. “She feels set free, and she loves having fun with a hot guy!”

And the sentiments are mutual.

“She’s hot,” Giabiconi once said of his rumored girlfriend in a 2011 interview.

Perry’s ex-husband, comedian Russell Brand, hasn’t wasted any time moving on himself.

The 36-year-old actor reportedly had his matching tattoo with Perry removed earlier this month, and is said to be dating model Nikolett Barabas.

“He’s amazing, so funny; he’s beautiful,” Barabas told Life & Style. “I like being with him. He’s amazing, so amazing. He’s a good person.”

Tags: Katy Perry

Beware the online dating scams: Love-sick Britons cheated out of £37bn by fraudsters.

Hundreds of thousands of love-sick Britons looking for romance have been scammed out of an estimated £37 billion through dating sites by online fraudsters, according to research.

An estimated 230,000 emotionally vulnerable Brits have been groomed by conmen on dating sites in methods similar to paedophiles grooming children.

And with the rise in the number of sites, the numbers a likely to go up, according to researchers.

Scammers pretend to initiate a romantic relationship then swindle large sums of money out of their besotted victims over a period of a few months.

Professor Monica Whitty of Leicester University said: ‘Scammers create a fake profile on dating sites and build up an intense relationship with their victim, grooming them before testing the waters to see of they can make some money out of the “relationship”.

‘It’s almost paedophilic. They get into a close relationship, getting emotionally close to them and, like paedophiles do when grooming their victims, gain their trust before pouncing. The victims become reliant on this closeness and are often infatuated by scammers who create attractive profiles.

‘The criminals tell them they love them and victims often haven’t had that experience before so they rely on them for happiness entirely.

Professor Whitty said they test to see of the victim is willing to give money to them, maybe suggesting they would like a small gift, or even sending the victim a gift to get them hooked on the relationship.

‘This small gesture grows, with some asking for more expensive gifts like airplane tickets, with victims agreeing because online relationships are more intense and online daters often more strategic in what they say.

‘We’ve heard a lot from people at airports saying they see these victims waiting for their lover to turn up, only to realise they are not coming.

‘They will then make up an excuse for why they didn’t show up – car trouble getting to the airport for example – then still continue asking for money so they can try and visit again.’

And it is not just money that the scammers want – some of the victims are sexually abused and forced into stripping off on webcams because they are so terrified they will lose their lover.

Tags: Online dating scams

The figures are extrapolated from a YouGov survey of 2,028 Britons who were questioned over a fortnight about their experiences with online dating frauds.

The results showed that men were just as vulnerable as women and fraudsters were also happy to target gays and lesbians.

Professor Whitty says that men, often living abroad, are usually behind the cons and they are happy to target any type of victim.

She added that the crimes are frequently not reported to police because of the shame of victims.

She said:‘The victims often feel ashamed and do not know where to turn as police are sometimes not helpful and have never heard of crimes like these before.

‘Police officers just dismiss people experiencing these crimes. They can deal with it but nothing seems to happen and victims give up.

‘There are some organisations that specialise in these cases though – Action Fraud and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) – that are better at helping these victims as they know more about it.’

The victims often become attached to their online partners as well – meaning they get scammed again and again as they do not realise they are victims.

Professor Whitty explained: ‘One woman had been a victim three times – all on different occasions – and lost between £50,0000 and £60,000.

‘When she was told what had happened to her, she couldn’t understand why she was being called a victim.

‘The victims are told they’ve been scammed, but found it very hard to break off the relationship. Even if the criminal admits to what he’s done, the victim still keeps in contact.’

Tags: Online dating frauds

Eva Longoria Turns Matchmaker For New Dating Show.

Following her messy break-up from basketball star Tony Parker, Eva Longoria is turning matchmaker and developing her own dating show. With plenty of spare-time following the axing of Desperate Housewives, Longoria has come up with a prime-time dating show for single women around the country, tentatively titled ‘All About Love’.

A source close to the show told US Weekly magazine, “It’s designed to help real women get back into the dating pool.They’ve chosen single women and single mothers – women who have been through a series of heartaches and battles in life and have all but given up on finding one true love”. Though dating shows are nothing new, Longoria’s program is likely to focus on the contestant’s back stories and their search for the “right person”. The actress has reportedly created the concept herself and is looking to enlist the expertise of celebrity matchmakers Steve Ward from Vh1′s Tough Love and Amber Kelleher, who heads the Elite Dating Company.

Eva is certainly keeping busy following her divorce from Parker – she is also due to release her new fragrance later this year. Speaking to Health magazine in January, the actress said, “Even after my divorce, everybody was like, ‘Wow, you bounced back so quick.’ I was like, ‘I am not letting this take over. Something great is around the corner — I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen”.

Tags: Eva Longoria

Internet dating safety bill passes Illinois House.

Legislation aiming to make online dating safer for Illinois residents passed the Illinois House Thursday by a large margin.

The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, requires all Internet dating services operating in Illinois to provide a disclaimer on their websites saying whether or not they conduct background checks on their members.

Mussman said the purpose of the bill is to help users “become more savvy and take better steps to protect yourselves” from sophisticated online predators.

“A lot of them aren’t just another nice guy looking to meet a nice girl. This is a predator looking for prey,” Mussman said. “They’re going to look for somebody who’s vulnerable and they’re going to trick you into revealing information about yourself that they can use to their advantage.”

Opponents of the bill say it overreaches legislative responsibility. State Rep. Jim Durkin, R-LaGrange, said adults should be responsible for their own safety when using online dating services.

“If they’re going to participate in this type of social networking, they have responsibilities to perform their own due diligence. This is overstepping what is necessary,” Durkin said.

State Rep. Dennis Reboletti agreed that the protective disclaimer is unnecessary. “People go on dates all the time without the aid of Match.com or True.com and we don’t have any requirements for those individuals,” Reboletti said.

Reboletti also argued that websites providing disclaimers revealing that they conduct background checks could do more harm than help.

“What if people lie? Now we have the situation where we think there’s a background check and all the information is validated but in reality it isn’t. Arent we actually giving people a false sense of security?” Reboletti asked.

Mussman countered that under her legislation, the disclaimer would include the potential for some people to slip past background checks.

“Any sort of background check is never a full proof method, Mussman said. “We’re not going to catch every single person, but not being able to catch everybody is not a reason to not take any step forward.”

Tags: Internet dating

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Ginnifer Goodwin Is Dating Costar Josh Dallas!

Ginnifer Goodwin has found her prince charming!

The actress, 33, has been secretly dating her Once Upon a Time costar Josh Dallas, 30, since last fall, multiple insiders confirm in the new issue of Us Weekly (out Friday). When the actors began filming their ABC series in Vancouver last summer, “they really hit it off,” one insider explains. “She and Josh have a blast together and had instant chemistry.”That sweetness was on display March 18 when the two ducked into the Naam, a Vancouver vegetarian eatery. Says an onlooker, “He pushed her chair and paid the bill, so I guess chivalry isn’t dead!”

Though he hasn’t spoken publicly about his relationship with Goodwin, Dallas knows what he wants in a partner. “I look for fun and smarts — a witty, strong sexy woman,” he tells Us.

Dallas would also like to see their characters on Once Upon a Time overcome the odds and end up together before the first season ends this spring.”I would love them to find each other and have that happy ever after,” he told Us during Paleyfest in early March. “I’d love for them to get together and live in bliss.”

Tags: Ginnifer Goodwin Dating Costar Josh Dallas

Co-worker blushes at dating message.

Dear Abby: I’m a 27-year-old professional who works long hours at a hospital. Dating isn’t easy for me, so I decided to try an online service. My first time online I recognized a co-worker I see on a regular basis and have always exchanged smiles with, but don’t know personally. I wrote him a message just to say hi. I didn’t say I was interested in him. I never heard back from him.

Since I sent that message he has checked my profile several times. But when he sees me in the hallways, he turns red and now just gives me half-smiles. I was waiting at the elevator with him the other day, but he was so embarrassed by the silence I bailed and took the stairs.

He continues to smile, but I’m not sure what to say to him the next time I see him. I think it’s rude that he didn’t reply to my message. Help! — On My Shift In Ohio

Dear On Your Shift: Your co-worker may not be particularly adept socially, or he may be reluctant to become involved with someone where he works. Please don’t take his not responding to your email so personally.

The next time you run into him in the hall, just say hello. If he has any manners at all, he’ll return your greeting and it may melt the ice.

Dear Abby: I work for a national tax preparation business, and I have some advice for customers to make the experience better and more efficient:

■ If at all possible, leave the children at home. At the very least, don’t allow them to run around the office. We have sensitive equipment and paperwork that is not there to keep your children entertained.

■ This is our busiest time of year. Lines can be long and clients are impatient, so please don’t hand us a bag of receipts to add up. Plan ahead and do the addition yourself.

■ Before your appointment, ask what’s needed to make the process as efficient as possible. There are many resources online to help you get organized.

■ If you have business expenses and mileage, have that information organized and ready.

■ Be certain you have received ALL your tax-
related paperwork (W-2s, 1099s, etc.) before coming in. Being in a hurry will result in your owing the IRS or the state because the income wasn’t completely reported. This small step can avoid many problems. — Julie in Kearns, Utah

Dear Julie: I hope readers will pay attention to your suggestions. Tax season is stressful for everyone involved, but particularly for tax preparation professionals.

Being courteous, considerate and as organized as possible will relieve some of the strain not only for the person crunching the numbers, but also for the customer.

Tags: Dating

Sex In The Cities: The 10 U.S. Locales Where Women Value Sex Most.

How much do single women value sex? According to a new survey, it depends where you live.

Online dating site, YanikaDate.com, asked over 10 million singles across the country whether they strongly believed that sex was an essential part of a relationship. The question was part of a larger personality test, overseen by the website’s chief scientific adviser, biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher and addressed both men and women. After breaking down the data, YanikaDate.com looked at the 10 cities that held the largest concentration of women who “strongly agreed” that sex was essential.

While not new, the idea that women are into sex has received particular attention from researchers and the media in the last year. A July 2011 study found that sexual satisfaction was more important to women in long-term relationships than frequent kissing or cuddling. And contrary to popular myth, women rated sexual satisfaction as more key to a lasting relationship than their male counterparts did. When it comes to singles, YanikaDate.com survey of 6,000 men and women from February indicated the single women were significantly less likely to settle for a partner that they didn’t find sexually attractive than men were. And in her new book “The Richer Sex,” journalist Liza Mundy predicts that in the near future, women will want sex more than men.

Scroll down to see YanikaDate.com top 10 cities where women value sex. While California women overwhelmingly said that sex was very important in a relationship, Southern cities are glaringly absent from the top 10.

Did your hometown make it into the top 10? Do you agree with the survey’s findings?

Tags: Women

To destroy this man’s opinion of women would never be anyone, sorry, beautiful ladies, and you a lot to do. But smooth the rough edges in the direction of relations between the sexes can and should. The notion that all Russian women single on free dating online are useless drivers, you need to send to landfill. Ibid, neighborhood, place, and the idea that all men are natural-born drivers and virtually racing driver, and that all their laurels Schumacher did not receive just a misunderstanding. Each of us is certainly not only be able to give an example of the apparent inability to drive a male, seen just todayRussian women single , but also be able to recall the unimportant rider among their friends, relatives or acquaintances. Russian women single and free hot girls are good drivers, as there are bad men drivers, the latter being much more than the first. But there is one nuance. By making an amendment to an insignificant percentage of completely hopeless men and those who cannot drive for health reasons (problems with eyesight and the like), note that virtually any member of the strong half of mankind is able to adequately control the car. For this he needs to just go through the full course of the study. And the question arises – what, then, a considerable proportion of men who have been behind the wheel, behaves on the road is not adequate? And here we must remember the wisdom of Russia – now driving instruction begins after receipt of rights.

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Friendship renewed on common views, common tastes, common purpose (husband and wife – one of Satan). At what, exactly as between a man and a hot girl single on free dating online, by sexual attraction, friendship can reach their maximum heights. This love reaches friendship intimacy – a sense of unity in which all the private becomes public, and the total personnel. The man is happy and sad joy of another, from the fact that, another sad. This is manifested in a normal friendship between the same or different sexes, but it is in love, it reaches such a force. Loving gets pleasure from the fact that, sees another, hears his voice, he inhales the smell, touch and feel touch your hot girl single . In the friendly relations between same-sex with your hot girl single intimacy is not reached such a development; it becomes possible thanks to the presence, besides common interests, and even sexual attraction. But the touch is no longer serving as part of sexual play – a way of communication. They replace the words that have become partly redundant transmit feelings, usually hidden from others, intelligible only two.

Tags: hot girl single

The ritual of Bride ransom.

The rite of Russian ukrainian brides ransom is a traditional Russian wedding ritual. Traditionally this ritual was held as a spectacular performance and was prepared beforehand by best man and Russian ukrainian brides friends.

The first step was before the entrance of Russian ukrainian brides house or village. The villagers would ask for a pay from groom for the bride, in order the groom could go farther for his bride. In most cases it was a best man who payed the price, but sometimes a groom had to do it himself. So the groom had to show his strength in different ways, in order the neigh burs of the bride could see that he will be a good and strong husband. As he was doing the given exercises ( for example to saw a log), he was appraised or criticized.

The second step of the ritual can be a carried out in the house of his bride. First the groom had to overcome all relatives and neighbors of his bride near the gates to the house and then near the doors. And he never forgot to give sweets to the kids who were surrounding the house of the bride. On this case groom’s intellect was tested. He would be asked different questions and puzzles. If he couldn’t manage, his best man would help or pay back. When the groom could finally enter the house, he would need to find a place where his bride is hiding, or choose a right bride among several offered. And he shouldn’t forget to treat the bridesmaids with sweets and other different things.

After the tests according to the custom , groom was invited to the table, where the bride was sitting. But the seat beside her was already occupied by a man. And he had to pay. Then have the guests invited to the table.

Tags: Russian ukrainian brides

And so, we have some idea about the properties of love (love of the opposite sex, love between a man and girl single ): * Love depends on the object, but it must possess certain qualities, without which man can not truly love. Love is due to sexual needs with girl single .* Love involves sincerity.* It remains only to determine from which it is, or rather, without which it does not happen.* because the love due to sexual needs, it does not happen without passion with your girl single . Passion, as the highest manifestation of sexual desire is a necessary component of love. Moreover, in order to qualify for the element of love, passion should reach such proportions that loved one becomes the only source of full sexual satisfaction – one of the reasons that truly loving person does not change. Sex with others is tasteless and has no appeal. Favorite person becomes the most beautiful girl single, sexiest, the only-desirable. People are unable to experience passion and love cannot, if only due to the fact that it is not available as a very human sense of Sexuality: Sexual they do not exist either him, or “not very”. Frigid women, women who suppress the sexual impulses and pretentious that, so they climbed over the animal instincts, but, in fact, only by destroying his psyche, is not capable of love.* Love does not exist without friendship.

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Single Russian women abroad – smart and beautiful – very often were the happiness of foreigners. Including – the world’s celebrities. Suffice it to recall the fate of the artist Nadia Khodasevich-Leger (wife of the French artist Fernand Léger), Elsa Triolet (muse of Louis Aragon), Olga Smirnitskii (beloved of Johann Strauss), Lydia Delektorskaya (mistress of Henri Matisse). Or Helena Diakonova (Gala), which initially was the wife of French poet Paul Eluard, and then – “Castalian key” Salvador Dali. It was in the first half of the XIX and XX century. In the second half of the twentieth and the last few years that izmenilos. She is marriage a Bulgarian citizen has been a famous actress hot women Irina Alferova. Single Russian women Mary Poppins – actress Natalie Andreichanka – won the heart of the famous actor and director Maximillian Shella. Actress Elena Safonova (it is known to viewers of the film “Winter cherry “) was married to a foreigner – a French actor. Single Russian women are the best wife for you!

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Single girls – how to meet this lady? Very simple and primitive way of dating, which cannot be neglected an acquaintance through the Internet. This method allows you to find a girl sitting at work. How to get acquainted with the single girls on the Internet? First, hesitate at the expense of the unnaturalness of this method. You also need the result? Then forward. This is a very simple way, which, moreover, has many advantages. So, start with the usual dating sites. Register and put the photo. Photo necessarily better is two or three .In forms fill in all sections and do not put a hackneyed phrases that you have seen in other people’s questionnaires, they have seen everything and you should not just show your primitivism. Put your photo and only his! It is desirable that it is most consistent with your actual your appearance. Fill in the following sections of the questionnaire:

* Growth
* Weight
* Marital status
* the presence of children
* Car
* Housing

other sections on request. Be sure to specify the purpose dating. V our case, we write the friendship and fellowship, love, marriage.
Search single girls: Now begin the search for girls by age. Choose a profile that you like, do not choose a lot. Select those in which girls like you to visually and then read her profile. Also, avoid contact with persons of arrogant, because, most likely, so the hot girls only need money. Meet: There Buttons “Smile” and you can use them, so you will manifest sympathy for that girl which you liked. Always be interesting and you know that cute girl gets thousands of winks, and not the fact that she would pay attention to yours. Even if it will draw attention to your wink, you will still be for it merely one of many.
What to write? Use imagination. Do not write platitudes. Remember that any triviality can be converted into originality. We communicate. If the girl you said, it means half the work already done. Very important the right to communicate with single girls. Here, remember one simple rule. Each message should your girl intriguing and contains a question or at least, the need to respond. It is important to be able to maintain a conversation. If you have nothing to say, say compliments, but without vulgarity. And the compliments are not talking to herself, and her data, written in the questionnaire and photos. This will cause a girl’s desire to continue communication with you outside of the Internet.

Tags: single girls