Pension benefits raised - Oman Daily Observer

14 LIFESTYLE THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011
Keira Knightley prefers masculine fragrances
ACTRESS Keira Knightley
says she preferred wearing
masculine fragrance before
discovering Coco Mademoiselle
from Chanel.
"Before Coco Mademoiselle I
wore men's fragrances. I didn't want
something light and flowery - I'm not
that kind of girl," she said. "One of the
things I love about it is that although
it's extremely feminine, it gives me
this feeling of power."
The 25-year-old actress is the
Google ‘Gaga’ over
face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle
perfume and has shot a raunchy commercial
for it, directed by Joe Wright.
Knightley admits the advertisement
made her feel like a "superwoman",
reports femalefirst.co.uk.
"It's the first perfume I tried and
thought, 'Yes, that fits.' It's the mixture
of strength and subtlety. It doesn't
overpower but it makes you feel you
can stand up straight and that's important
to me," Knightley told Daily
Record newspaper.
pop diva’s visit By Julie Steenhuysen
OP diva Lady Gaga thrilled Google employees during
P a visit to the Internet giant's headquarters in which she
answered questions from tech-savvy fans.
She broke from her Monster Ball tour for an interview
with Google's Marissa Mayer, who asked the singer questions
submitted using Twitter or through a Google Moderator
service at her YouTube channel.
"The superstar wowed a crowd in a venue that was
packed to the rafters with adoring Googlers (Google employees),"
the Mountain View, California-based company
said in a release.
"Googlers went Gaga, channelling their inner little
monsters and donning everything from her signature bowtie
hair buns to Mother Monster costumes."
Gaga, whose birth name is Stefani Germanotta, is
known for daring fashion statements that include once
dressing in an outfit made of meat. She refers to her fans as
"little monsters."
Gaga, who will turn 25 next week, said during the
Google interview that she will make her directing debut in
her next video, which will be titled "Judas."
Gaga was the first artist to top a billion views at the
Google-owned video sharing website YouTube. — AFP
By Chris Michaud
A NEW
widely anticipated six-volume
cookbook with 1,500 recipes and a
$625 price tag has won rave reviews
but also a dose of skepticism.
Many food critics have praised Modernist
Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking by
Nathan Myhrvold, with its scientific principals
and space-age gastronomic tools, as the most
important culinary publication in history.
But others wondered whether the 40 pound
(18 kg), 2,400 plus tome needlessly complicates
the fairly basic concept of cooking and
eating.
In its review the New York Times said it
"was left wondering how a book could be
mind-crushingly boring, eye-bulgingly riveting,
edifying, infuriating, frustrating, fascinating,
all in the same moment."
Myhrvold, a multi-millionaire and onetime
technology officer for Microsoft,
shrugged off critics at an event this week to
Duhamel organises charity run:
Actor Josh Duhamel is organising a
charity run to raise money for quakehit
Japan.
The Transformers star was
shocked by the destruction caused by
the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami
on March 11.
Duhamel is urging his fans to
join him in the relief run along Santa
Monica beach, reports contactmusic.
com.
In a post on his website, Duhamel
writes, "If you're like me, you've seen
the pain and suffering going on in Japan
right now, and really feel the need
to help, to physically help - to actually
Do Something. Well, we can!"
The entrants are asked to pay $10
to take part in the race. Duhamel organised
a similar run to raise funds
for Haiti following an earthquake last
year.
Mel B doesn't care about pregnancy
weight: Former Spice Girl
Mel B, who is expecting her third
baby, says she does not worry about
pregnancy weight because she has
a tendency to lose it soon enough.
The 35-year-old, who already has
two children, 12-year-old Phoenix
Chi and three-year-old Angel Iris
from previous relationships, is now
expecting a child with her current
husband Stephen Belafonte.
"I don't really stress about pregnancy
weight because I take it all off
as soon as I've had the baby," Mel B
has been quoted as saying by femalefirst.co.uk.
"I put on more weight with my
second baby than my first. My first
baby, I was on tour with the Spice
Girls until I was five months pregnant
so that kept me pretty fit, doing
a two-and-a-half hour dance show.
When Angel was born I relaxed a little
bit more, my life wasn't as hectic
and I just chilled out," she added.
YET another performer
in the trouble-plagued
Broadway musical
"Spider-man Turn Off the
Dark" has been sidelined by
an injury suffered on stage, a
spokesman for the show said.
Actress T V Carpio, who
replaced Natalie Mendoza
in the role of Arachne when
Mendoza was felled by a
concussion, was injured last
week during an onstage battle
scene, Rick Miramontez said
in a statement.
"On doctor's orders, she
will be out of the show for
the next two weeks. America
Olivo will be performing the
role of 'Arachne' during this
She even says she loves being
pregnant, as she can indulge in all
her cravings.
"I like the feeling of being pregnant.
I like being able to eat something
if I'm craving it."
Hurley dines with Warne: Actress
Elizabeth Hurley was spotted
enjoying dinner with Australian
cricketer Shane Warne in Los
Angeles.
Hurley, who is in Los Angeles to
shoot for "Wonder Woman" TV series,
took some time out to have dinner
with Warne at Boa steakhouse
in Beverly Hills, over the weekend,
reports dailymail.co.uk.
It was reported that Warne and
Hurley's relationship went sour after
rumours started making rounds that
the 41-year-old cricketer cheated on
her with porn star Chloe Conrad.
But the recent meeting suggests all
is well between them.
Bryan Adams gets star on Walk
of Fame: Singer Bryan Adams is exhilarated
after receiving a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 51-year-old's star was unveiled
on Monday in front of the
Musician's Institute on Hollywood
Boulevard in Los Angeles, reports
femalefirst.co.uk.
Adams admitted he would often
admire the Walk of Fame in his
younger days, but he never thought
he would get a star in his own name
someday.
"I remember being in Hollywood
at the age of 16 and marvelling at
the stars. The idea of being part of
it never entered my mind. It was too
far-fetched. Today, I'm humbled at
the induction of my name. It's fantastic,"
said the "Summer of 69"
singer.
Adams has received the 2,435th
star on the Walk of Fame.
The Grammy Award-winning
musician is expecting his first child
with his partner, his personal assistant
Alicia Grimaldi, in May.
Michael Lohan arrested: Pop
singer Lindsay Lohan's father
Michael Lohan has been arrested on
suspicion of domestic violence with
his girlfriend.
Michael was arrested after his
girlfriend filed a report with the Los
Angeles county Sheriff's Department,
on Monday, claiming that the
couple got into an argument that
turned physical, reports contactmusic.com.
It was also said that his girlfriend
had visible marks on her from the alleged
altercation.
According to TMZ.com, the 50year-old
was taken to a hospital for
an unrelated medical condition by
the cops before he was taken to the
Sheriff's office.
Lohan is currently taking part in
TV show 'Dr Drew's Celebrity Rehab'
for control his anger management
issues.
Nicole Scherzinger to host 'The
X-Factor'?: Singer Nicole Scherzinger
has reportedly been offered to
host US version of "The X-Factor".
"Never has there been so much
behind-the-scenes wheeling and
dealing as with 'X Factor' USA.
Having lined up Nicole as a potential
judge, Simon decided to try something
different and unexpected, and
have a non-mainstream presenter
present," mirror.co.uk quoted an insider
as saying.
The 32-year-old beauty originally
tipped to join the judges' panel, but
her natural ability in front of the
camera convinced Simon Cowell,
who is brain behind the talent hunt
show, to make her the host.
Singer Cheryl Cole is likely to
take the judge's seat along with
Cowell on the show. — IANS
Sudden physical activity can kill you
SUDDEN bursts of moderate to intense
physical activity — such as
jogging or making love — significantly
increase the risk of having a heart
attack, especially in people who do not
get regular exercise, US researchers said.
Doctors have long known that physical
activity can cause serious heart problems,
but the new study helps to quantify that
risk, Dr Issa Dahabreh of Tufts Medical
Centre in Boston, whose study appears in
the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The team analysed data from 14 studies
looking at the link between exercise
and the risk of heart attacks or sudden
cardiac death — a lethal heart rhythm that
causes the heart to stop circulating blood.
They found people are 3.5 times more
likely to get a heart attack or have sudden
cardiac death when they are exercising
compared to when they are not.
And they are 2.7 times more likely to
get a heart attack when they are making
love or immediately afterward compared
with when they are not. (These findings
do not apply to sudden cardiac death because
there were no studies looking at the
link between love-making and cardiac
death.)
Jessica Paulus, another Tufts researcher
who worked on the study, said the risk
Another ‘Spider-man’ actress sidelined by injury
promote the book.
Myhrvold left Microsoft Research in 1999
to explore his lifelong interest in cooking and
food science. He spent about five years working
with co-authors Chris Young and Maxime
Bilet, along with a team of 36 cooks, editors,
photographers and technicians on the cookbook,
which sold out its first printing before it
could even be shipped.
Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat guidebook
empire, described "Modernist Cuisine"
as "the most amazing cookbook I've ever seen
in my life."
Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart agreed.
"Every recipe I've tried so far is just fantastic,"
she said, adding that she went out
and bought a centrifuge, a necessary piece of
equipment for some of the recipes.
"It was just an eye-opener," Stewart added.
But an executive chef from one of Manhattan's
most renowned restaurants said the
style of cooking espoused in the book seems
to move the diner away, in both time and us-
is fairly high as such studies go. But the
period of increased risk is brief.
"These elevated risks are only for a
short period of time (1 to 2 hours) during
and after the physical activity," Paulus
said in a telephone interview.
Because of that, the risk to individuals
over the course of a year is still quite
small, she said.
"If you take 10,000 people, each individual
session of physical activity per
week can be associated with an increase
of 1 to 2 cases of heart attack or sudden
cardiac death per year," Paulus said.
She said it is important to balance the
findings with other studies showing that
regular physical activity reduces the risk
of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death
by 30 per cent.
"What we really don't want to do is
for the public to walk away from this and
think exercise is bad," she said.
What it does mean is that people who
do not exercise regularly need to start any
exercise programme slowly, gradually increasing
the intensity of the workout over
time. — Reuters
time," he said.
The much-delayed musical,
the most expensive in
Broadway history, was hit
last month by the US Department
of Labour with three
serious violations of workplace
safety rules for a string
of cast member injuries late
last year.
Its most recent opening
date of March 15 was again
put off until June, after director
Julie Taymor was relieved
of day-to-day duties and a
new team was brought in to
help with restaging the show,
whose troubled history has
already achieved legendary
status. — Reuters
Hefty new cookbook stirs up food world passions
age, from the food and ingredients, instead of
closer.
Alain Sailhac, executive vice-president and
dean emeritus at The French Culinary Institute,
was also skeptical of its approach.
"The less you manipulate the food, the better
it is," he said.
But most agree that the book will help young
chefs and aspiring home cooks understand the
fundamentals and principles of cooking.
"It's possible to have quality ingredients
and do nothing to them, but it's also possible
to have quality ingredients and do something
to them," said Myhrvold.
Ultimately the book is "for people who
really love food and are curious about it," he
added.
And despite the book's high-tech approach
Myhrvold had fulsome praise for a very nontech
item — the pressure cooker.
"We just love them," he said, adding it is
"probably the most underrated thing in the
conventional kitchen today." — Reuters
AROUND THE WORLD
Indian television child actors Richa Mukharjee and
Shweta Bhist pose during the Channel Zee Chhoti Si
Zindagi press meet in Mumbai. — AFP
Actress Vanessa Hudgens (left) takes a photo with
her sister Stella on her iPhone as they watch the Los
Angeles Lakers play the Phoenix Suns during their
NBA game in Los Angeles, California. — Reuters
A dancer in theatrical costume performs during
an event to celebrate local artists in the southern
Russian city of Stavropol. — Reuters
US actress Anne Hathaway poses before the premiere
of Rio, the movie in Rio de Janeiro. — Reuters
Hungarian designer Barbara Leber arrives on the
catwalk, welcomed by her models in the Cupola Hall of
Gellert bath in Budapest during her fashion show