The Man Saver

This clever app makes sure you (yes, boys!) don't forget any relationship milestone, and gives you advance warning so you can make romantic plans.

There may be nothing worse a man can do in a relationship than forget his anniversary. If such forgetfulness happens, one of two scenarios will likely ensue: a rushed panic to make a dinner reservation, find a gift, and locate an open flower shop before it’s too late, or forgetting altogether and get hounded for years (or until you break up) about that one time you forgot your anniversary. Trust me with this one, you will pay a price for this blunder of all blunders. While I am a fan of iindividuals who can remember by themselves or have the smarts to write that special date down, the MANsaver app (free) could be the lifesaver of those who tend to forget.

The clever app asks you to enter whether you are dating or married and the start date of your relationship. From that simple information, the MANsaver app generates reminders for every possible anniversary, holiday, and milestone that could possibly occur. It has all the important dates covered, but even reminds you about absurdities like “100 days of dating” that only the crazy girls would pull on you, so you’re safe no matter what. Push notifications give you a generous five-day notice on important dates as well as a day-of reminder in case you still haven’t made that reservation. To get even more ambitious, the app gives you creative date ideas, gift options, and sentimental drafts of text messages. I'm not so sure that plagiarising an overly-sweet text message will put you in your girl’s good graces, but remember that big one-year anniversary definitely will. If possible, I suggest also plugging in her/my birthday. Wouldn’t want to miss that one.

What...you think that I only get the ladies because I'm the most re-dunk-u-lous-ly good looking news anchor in town? Stay classy Man Saver.

- R. Burgandy

Lick It...

It's interactive. It has a cat. It makes you uncomfortable. It's so Skittles and it's so good.

A Screen Legend

Dubbed 'the last of the Hollywood greats', the much-loved actress's life had held the public imagination from the moment she first appeared on screen in 1942, not only for her beauty and glamour, but also for her turbulent personal life, her many marriages and her tireless charity work.

Born to American parents in London in 1932, Dame Elizabeth starred in her first film, There’s One Born Every Minute, at just 10 years old. She then skyrocketed in to fame at the age of 12 after her role as Velvet Brown in National Velvet but, like many childhood stars, she struggled for the public to accept her in more mature roles and for MGM, the production company to which she was signed, to give her more serious parts.

However, in 1960 Taylor went on to land one of her most famous roles as Cleopatra, complete with a million dollar pay cheque - a first for any Hollywood actress. Taylor starred opposite Richard Burton, whom Taylor went on to marry twice, marking the start of an iconic Hollywood relationship.

It was no secret that as captivating she was on screen, and it was Taylor’s glamorous, provocative personal life that lead to the most interest. She married a total of eight times in her life (she was divorced seven times and widowed once), although it is thought she never got over Burton and was inconsolable following his death in 1984, saying "perhaps we loved each other too much".

Taylor was always ahead of the times, from her controversial movie roles, to her personal life, and in 2009 she managed to break the mould again by joining - and becoming an active user of - Twitter. She used the medium to both promote the various good causes she was a supporter of (including many AIDS charities) and to share inspirational words of wisdom. One of her final tweets, referring to rumours of a film about her and Richard Burton's life together, read "No one is going to play Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor herself.. Not at least until I'm dead, and at the moment I'm having too much fun being alive...and I plan on staying that way. Happiness to all."

Dame Elizabeth Taylor passed away today (23 March 2011) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in LA. She will endure as one of Hollywood’s greatest and most glamorous icons, and she will be greatly missed.

Bizarre foods: European "delicacies," by country

What constitutes "food" is relative, depending upon what part of the world you call home. In Asia, pretty much anything on no (snakes), two, four, six, or eight legs is up for grabs. Europe, however, has its own culinary oddities, as detailed below. Got maggots?

Iceland
Hákarl: Fermented, dried Greenland or basking shark. This tasty treat is prepared by burying the beheaded and gutted shark in a shallow hole in the ground for six to 12 weeks. Unsurprisingly, the end result is considered noxious to pretty much everyone on the planet aside from Icelanders.

Norway
Smalahove: Boiled lamb's head, traditionally served at Christmas. The brain is removed, and the head salted and dried before boiling. Because they're the fattiest bits, the ear and eye are eaten first. More fun than a wishbone.

Sardinia (yes, it's in Italy, but this one deserved its own listing)
Casu marzu: This sheep's milk cheese has maggots added to it during ripening, because their digestive action creates an "advanced level" of fermentation (also known as "decomposition"). Some people prefer to eat the soupy results sans critters, while the stout of heart go for the whole package. Be forewarned: according to Wikipedia, irate maggots can propel themselves for distances up to six inches. Here's fly in your eye.

Northern Sweden or Finland
Lappkok: This charmingly-named concoction consists of blodpalt--a dumpling made with reindeer blood and wheat or rye flour--served with reindeer bone marrow. Well, Santa's herd had to retire sometime.

Sweden
Lutefisk: This dried whitefish treated with lye is beloved by Scandinavians and their American Midwestern ancestors (let's just say it's an acquired taste). It's traditionally served with potatoes or other root vegetables, gravy or white sauce, and akvavit.

Scotland
Haggis: Who doesn't love a cooked sheep's stomach stuffed with its lungs, heart, and liver, combined with oatmeal?

Poland
Nozki: Literally "cold feet," this dish of jellied pig's trotters isn't as repulsive as it sounds. The meat is simmered with herbs and spices until falling off the bone, and set in gelatin. Think of how much fun this would be as a Jello shot.

Ukraine
Salo: The cured fatback of pork is actually quite delicious, and similar to Italian lardo when seasoned. It's chopped and used as a condiment, or eaten straight-up on bread. Plan your angioplasty accordingly.

England/Ireland
Black (or blood) pudding: Technically a sausage, this mixture of animal blood (usually pork), spices, fat, and oatmeal or other grains is surprisingly good. It's served uncooked, fried, grilled, or boiled. Sound bad? At least it's not called Spotted Dick.

Italy
Stracotto d'asino: A northern Italian donkey stew, often served as a pasta sauce. Donkey and horse are eaten throughout Italy, but this particular dish is a specialty of Veneto, and Mantua, in Lombardy.

France
Tête de veau: You have to love that the venerable French culinary bible, Larousse Gastronomique, describes this dish of boiled calf's head as, "a gelatinous variety of white offal." Mmm. While there are many different preparations for the classical dish, it was traditionally served with cocks' combs and kidneys, calves sweetbreads, and mushrooms.

Eastern Europe
P'tcha: A calves' foot jelly enjoyed by Ashkenazi Jews throughout this part of Europe. It's uh, high in protein.

Germany
Zungenwurst: This sausage is made of pork blood and rind; pickled ox tongue, and a grain filler, such as barley. It's available dried, or can be browned in butter or bacon fat before eating. And bacon makes everything better.


Netherlands
Paardenrookvlees: Culinarily-speaking, the Dutch usually cop grief for their proclivity for pickled herring and eating mayonnaise on their french fries. That's because most Americans don't know this smoked horse meat is a popular sandwich filling. Trust me: Seabiscuit tastes pretty good.

Greece
Kokoretsi: Lamb or goat intestines wrapped around seasoned offal (lungs, hearts, sweetbreads, kidneys), threaded onto a skewer, and cooked on a spit. You know what's good with grilled meat? Meat.

The Augmented Effect

There has been a huge rise in the amount of augmented reality advertising billboards that are creating dynamic experiences around the world, and this one by Lynx brings sexy angels to Victoria station. As you can see from the video commuters are encouraged to interact with the ads and this draws attention from around the station and creates a level of engagement that a normal billboard could only really ever dream of getting.

See the clip above to find out how they wowed people.

Word spread fast as travelers found they could interact with the angels in virtual reality on a big screen, after stepping on a special floormat. We're wondering how many people missed their trains as a result.....

The campaign was created by BBH, London.

EDIBLE PEN

Do you chew on your pen when concentrating?

Me too!!! ...and so does young Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, who has recently come up with a pen which you can chew on and entirely eat.

"When looking at the pen I noticed that you only use the ink, the other stuff is just there to hold filling more comfortably. Isn’t it possible to eat the whole cover?" He says of the starting point for his idea.

Hakkens gathered a number of pens and looked closely at which ones were the best ones to chew on.

Armed with that information, he then made three different molds and started testing out different types of candy; investigating crucial pen chewing considerations such as the breaking points, flavours and which designs and textures 'chew' the best.

"When I found the shape and candy, I made a final model in peppermint flavour. The candy which is used doesn’t stick on anything and doesn't feel dirty when you hold it in your hands or when eating it afterwards" he says.

Dave's edible pen contains twenty pieces of candy and is filled with edible ink - the only thing which isn't edible is the small point which you write with - and when it's finished you throw this nib away or put it in a new re-fill pen.

Tasty.

Shabby Chic

By now, it’s probably no secret: One of my passions is for the country. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ‘City’, but the country oozes quintessentially British-ness in abundance.

I also definitely have a thing for old houses. I have relationships with them, I will build entire trips around them, I study their crevices and crown moldings and broken floor tiles, making up stories about the people who spent lifetimes living and dreaming in the rooms.

The Lodge, my Devonshire residence, is a pretty 4 bed cottage positioned deep in a tree-filled cleft on the fringe of Dartmoor. Encompassed by fields filled with calves, lambs and miniature ponies, it’s a farmers heaven, and it’s my haven.

The Lodge itself is a 16th-century stone building (originally a 2 up, 2 down, now with a few extensions here and there), located at the foot of the long, windy driveway which takes you to the impressive, yet slightly imposing, Hall. Both the Hall, which is a candidate for the ficticious Baskerville Hall featured in Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, and the Lodge are totally isolated, accessible only by a narrow lane edged by overgrown hedges and not so strategically placed blind bends, followed by a dirt track. It’s edge of your seat stuff, so generally a rambling old pick-up truck is needed!

As a family we’ve fixed up, furnished and decorated the space (but not too much), turning the historical stone house into the most amazingly simple and pared-down retreat–for the inner artists and writer, anyone else who appreciates scaling back, and you know, channeling their inner Laura Ingalls Wilder (is that just me?).

Inside, there’s open fires, well-worn vintage furniture, ancient books scattered across window ledges and a collections of paraffin lamps. Outside you’ll see a ‘wild garden’, a self-made pond (oh yes, we hired a digger and a dumper and got our hands dirty!), rolling hills, moor and a compostable barn with stables and sheep/cow pens). It’s a boon for those who agree that the ultimate luxury these days is peace, solitude and a dreamy old house on a big swath of pretty land.

This is where I shall be hiding out during the long 11 day Easter break. Go forth!

Sheenism: Comedy or tragedy?

Like any good Internet meme, there comes a point of saturation where sheer delight turns to absolute disgust and overload. Take that sheer disgust and multiply it by three and there you have it: Charlie Sheen.

So, putting it simply, I’ve totally bought into the, freshly freed of the burden of making a television show, Charlie Sheen hype.

I have to admit that I’m loathe to pay any attention to celebrity meltdowns, but it would seem that Sheen has been sweeping our nation, invading our homes and businesses, spreading like a fog via seemingly innocuous sites.

In the latest sign of the coming apocalypse, the “unemployed” actor has announced via Twitter that he is “looking to hire a “#winning social media intern with #TigerBlood.” That lucky someone will help him keep his more than 2 million new followers up-to-date — and likely be asked to assist Sheen in a plethora of illegal and incriminating activities.

Unlike Sheen, if you weren’t born with Adonis DNA, and don’t really have tiger blood coursing through your veins, then this Tiger Blood image will allow you to compensate….

So to all you brave men and certifiably insane women who want to get in on the hell-train that is Charlie Sheen — and obviously there will be a staggering number of you — feel free to apply here. The deadline is March 11. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

As a member of the Internet community, all I know is that as long as Sheen keeps cranking out amazing quotes like, “I’m so tired of pretending my life isn’t perfect and bitching and just winning every second and I’m not perfect and bitchin,” he will have a home in my Twitter feed.

#FAIL

Misery Bear needs YOU.

Comic Relief is just around the corner (18 March), and supermodel and former Stylist cover star Kate Moss has become the latest celebrity to 'do something funny for money', starring in the hilarious video above in which she meets Misery Bear.

The notoriously private supermodel is currently planning the year's (second) most spectacular wedding - however, if this vid is to be believed, fiancé Jamie Hince isn't the only man in her life...

Watch the video here

Lest we forget...

The new Serpo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery has opened this week.

Nancy Serpo, a leading pioneer of feminist art, made her mark on paper with pen and pencil, ink and gouache, stencil and collage, and while one might argue that many men have done so too, Spero is unequivocal.

To describe her creations as simply as works on paper, for instance, is to ignore a central point. Spero made no other kind of work. She did not paint with oil on canvas, the typical medium for the typical artist (principally male), and she did not sculpt.

The works on display explore issues of subjugation, brutality and the abuse of power and uses a broad range of visual sources, including Etruscan and Roman frescos, mythology, fashion magazines and feminist history.

War, torture, violence against women: These prominent words speak for themselves and are clearly a form of political expression, no matter that they offer no opinions and propose no solutions.

Where Serpo really finds form is in the imagination, in the delicate but horrifying figments formed using gouache (which is so diluted, it lies pale on the page.) She produced these year after year, all through the Vietnam war, her rage and despair ceases to diminish.

These images on display are unforgettable and this is the way Serpo intended them. They represent her at her strongest: a conscience making art to an absolute and unmistaken purpose.

The exhibition is the first major presentation of the American artists work since she died in 2009.

Lest we ever forget the horrors of war.

Follow the link to Aesthetica Magazine's blog to read a memoir of Nancy Spero by fellow American feminist artist, Kiki Smith.

A Spotify Milestone - Cracking the US

When Spotify launched in the autumn of 2008, it was greeted with delight by music fans. The idea of a comprehensive, free and legal digital jukebox seemed almost too good to be true.

It’s been a strange old ride over here in the UK for Spotify.

Everyone's had it.

Everyone's felt a little bit of anger at the adverts (...mainly because they didn’t want to pay for it...and if you pay for it it's not free music right?)

Spotify now has 10 million users, and this web of premium, unlimited (15% are now paying customers)and open users is thickening. This on-line music service is officially the largest of its kind in the world.

Shortly the co-founded Swedish company will move to the US and is currently on the verge of a deal with Universal Music Group. Pretty cool for a recent start-up eh?!

The Wonderman

Tinie Tempah, the wonderman who can apparently do anything, has done something else. He's only gone and launched an online game. What next!?!

The Brit Award winner and man that charms everyones hearts stars within the game as a super hero and uses all sounds created by the man himself. Make Tinie run, jump and blast through 7 levels to get your name on a leader board of players. Other highlights of the game include Tinie Tempah being given the option to ‘risk it for a chocolate biscuit’, become invincible when he puts on his crazy sun protectors and running past collaborators Ellie Goulding and Kelly Rowland.

The game is free and can be found here.

Is there nothing this boy won’t turn his hand to, and turn it well?

What if cats had thumbs?

Why do cats stare when you are pouring milk?

This is the incredibly captivating, yet slightly bizarre new Cravendale cat advert which has got everyone asking: What if cats had thumbs?

The lead cat in the advert, Bertrum, a shrewd and wiley creature intent on world domination, has been an active user of social networks for some time…apparently.

Follow him on Twitter at @bertrumthumbcat

Jog on kitties.

Dior Furore: They tried to make me go to rehab.....

Don't worry Galliano, Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen will no doubt take you under their (right) wing.

Replacing the fired John Galliano at Dior is arguably the biggest decision Bernard Arnault will ever make. (Mostly because there was less riding on the position when he first hired Galliano in the Nineties.)

Since Galliano’s reign at the storied Paris fashion house was a time of major financial growth, Arnault needs to choose someone who can continue on that commercial path without compromising design. It’s a tough one, mostly because many of the designers proven capable of this are already stationed in plum creative director roles. Will Arnault look outside LVMH to replace Galliano, or will he make some swaps within the empire? I’ve crafted some educated guesses.

Marc Jacobs?

Alber Elbaz?

Kate and Laura Mulleavy?

Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig?

Riccardo Tisci?

Hedi Slimane?

Erdem Moralioglu?

Dries Van Noten?

I can guarantee that the new employee won’t be an American. Dior, after all, couldn’t be more French if it tried, and there’s something about American design that just doesn’t quite approximate France’s way of doing things. The replacement will also have to be capable of turning out a couple of couture collections a year. With that in mind, any one of the above 8 candidates would make a splendid addition to the stable of designers at LVMH.

Oh Lord won't you buy me....

This high impact ad is a set of three: Passion, Music and Paint

Left brain: I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.

Right brain: I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

Advertising agency Shalmor Avnon Amichay / Y&R Interactive (Tel Aviv, Israel) created these three print advertisements for Mercedes Benz. The left and the right side of the brain are used to describe what the car manufacturer stands for.

In the late 1960s Roger Sperry discovered that the human brain has two different ways of thinking. The left brain is verbal and processes information in an analytical (led by logic) and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole. The right brain - on the other hand - is visual and processes information in an intuitive (led by feelings) and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the details.

Personally I own an abundance of marker pens, sticky notes and take control of numerous whiteboards in the office usually means one thing - it's time to brainstorm, to "think outside the box", let one's creative juices flow, join an "ideas shower".

Finding the right balance between the left brain and right brain is not about congruence and co-existence. It's about collaboration and cohesion. Finding the sweet spot that brings all that’s quantitative and data-driven in harmony with the magic and poetry of ideas.