How Rappers Get Rich

 The BBC has an interesting article up about money and the hiphop industry today. Rap as a genre seems to attract a lot of very savvy businessmen, seems like. It reminded me of this Richest Royals in the World piece (incidentally my original post on that is one of this blog's most read: I guess people like hearing about the wealthy). The amounts of money talked about in both articles are just inconceivable to me! I can't imagine having that much. Heck when I find an extra $10 in my wallet that's good enough for me... :)

Goodbye Sarah Jane

 It was reported yesterday that Elisabeth Sladen, who portrayed the Doctor's companion Sarah Jane in both Doctor Who and later her spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, has passed away at the age of 63. After Nicola Bryant broke the news to Twitter, it was quickly confirmed by the Doctor Who Magazine and Mark Gatiss, then by BBC News shortly after.

 Elisabeth's name, of course, has been trending on Twitter ever since as people pay their respects. I want to add my voice to theirs: she was an amazing woman and actress, and will be sorely missed by friends, family and Whovians alike. Rest in peace.

The Royal Wedding

 Like any other American I'm more interested in Britain's monarchy than the actual British are. :P So I'm excited about April 29th! But I also noticed that a republican street party was banned, so that kind of sucks. So long as they're not interfering with the wedding why should it matter...?

 Still, I will be watching on the 29th. :) I want to see the dress!

Do Survey Sites Really Pay? The Truth

 I've always wondered how exactly survey sites can afford to pay their users, despite the money they themselves make on surveys and market research. Of course, as this article on paid survey scams shows, not all survey sites do pay, but what about the legit ones that do? 

 Someone clearly had the same question, going by How on Earth do Survey Sites Pay? It's a pretty thorough look at how survey sites get your money to you, and the different kinds of payment systems. As I'm not the most experienced in this area it was pretty interesting for me. I haven't joined many survey sites. Still, a good read!

Five Questions

...to ask yourself before taking a free paid survey. What can I say? The article makes good points. I think, like with lots of stuff like this, people go in expecting to amass a fortune within a week and fall prey to all sorts of nasty scams and email harvesting and before you know it you've got dozens of spam emails cluttering your inbox and you're not even a cent richer! :( This is one of my favorite articles on paid survey scams, for how thorough it is. Unfortunately people really do like to prey on those who work at home, so it gets tricky to find the real stuff. I've fallen prey to some scams in my time. :/ Thankfully none of those scams that actually try to take money from you though, like some of the ones mentioned in that article. I've been lucky in that respect.

 My weekend was fabulous. :D I went to the local park and since it's spring everything was in bloom! Maybe I'll take some pictures for this blog next time I visit.

LOL OMG: Is the English language dying?

 After the inclusion of "LOL" and "OMG" in the Oxford English dictionary it was suggested that Shakespeare would be rolling his grave, and that the English language is slowly dying.

 Has anyone making this claim ever read Shakespeare? Shakespeare would have adored this! The man made up new words all the time, and is in fact responsible for some of the words we use today: "critic", "generous", "lonely", "obscene", "sanctimonious" and countless others. If Shakespeare were alive today he'd probably be writing plays entirely in textspeak. 

 The fact is, the English language is constantly evolving and changing. David Crystal's excellent book The Fight for English documents the long history of the language, and do you know what the most interesting thing about it is? Throughout history people have been claiming that the English language is dying, that great writers of the past would be rolling in their graves, and that everything should just go back to how it was. But if everything did go back to how it was, I wouldn't even have been able to write the majority of this post. I wouldn't have the words.

Woman gets 52 plastic surgeries done

 This link was emailed to me, about a middle-aged woman who has had 52 plastic surgery procedures done! I opened the link expecting some kind of horror story like Jocelyn Wildestein or something in The Five Weirdest Plastic Surgery Procedures but what do you know, I was pleasantly surprised. She looks good. She even shows off her hands, which are usually a dead giveaway when it comes to age, but she's had surgery on those too and even those look young. I just don't know how she could stand the pain of so many procedures, but I guess the end result justifies the means for her? I'd certainly love to look like that when I'm her age.

The Great Work-at-Home Scam

 What's wrong with work-at-home scams? asks this article. Maybe a better question would be what's right with work-at-home scams? I know the banner ads the article references very well, and I'm sick of them too. But what really galls me about those adverts is they don't even try to be convincing. Who would believe you can make $77 an hour from home? Even proper work-at-home sites like the one linked will admit upfront that you're not going to become a millionaire using them. 

 Don't even get me started on those "flat belly" adverts. I am sick of the sight of them.

The French and the Dutch collide over the Caribbean

 St Maarten has just climbed to the top of my "must visit" list after the beautiful pictures of it I've been looking at. How many beaches can one island have? But what I'm really taken by is the part of the island called Anse Marcel. Look at those green hills! Imagine living there. I currently live in a big smoggy city where the only green area is the tiny local park, and even then the grass there is not so much green as kind of off yellow, lol. So I'm always jealous of beautiful places like that.

 What's your number one "must visit" place?

Great Disney Pick-up Lines

 #disneypickuplines is the latest top trend on Twitter, and reading through some of the tweets is pretty funny. The funniest thing is in reality when have you ever heard a Disney prince even use a pick-up line? Half the time their princess isn't even awake to hear it! 

 Part of the reason I'm talking about this is because I saw Tangled recently, at last. I'm loving this new Disney trend of having the princess and her prince actually interact. Back in the days of Snow White and Aurora we had about two minutes tops of interaction between them, and we were just meant to take it for granted that they were meant to be. It got slightly better as the years went on, but even Ariel knew barely anything about Eric (she just liked that he was human) and though Belle and the Beast talked plenty, theirs wasn't the healthiest relationship. Since Pocahontas and Mulan Disney princesses seem to be getting to know their guys a bit better before they declare undying love.

 Seems like we're back to Disney princesses who actually are princesses too, with Tiana and Rapunzel. As much as I love Mulan, she's not a princess. She's not even the equivalent of a princess like Pocahontas is! (On the subject of royalty, check out one of my favorite articles: The Richest Royals in the World)

 So to get to the point of the matter, what's a good Disney pick-up line? Why, a mushy, sentimental song with vague lyrics about love and dreams of course!

RIP Jackie Chan

 One of Twitter's trending topics right now is RIP Jackie Chan. He's just died from a heart attack, or so a few Twitter accounts are claiming. So what's the truth?

 In times like this, I go straight to Google News, type in the "dead" celebrity's name and hit "Past hour". Sure, if a celebrity's just died then a lot of major news sources won't have typed up their article yet, but you can be sure there'll be a short breaking news piece from most of the major players. For Jackie Chan, the most recent piece of news is from one hour ago, and it's talking about how Jackie Chan attended a charity event for Japan. I think it's safe to say that the man is alive and kicking.

 

 In other news, one of the sites I follow just posted up a new article: Will you qualify for surveys? It's quite comprehensive, so if you're into free paid surveys or that kind of thing, it's worth checking out. Meanwhile, I'm going to go and watch a Jackie "Still Alive" Chan movie. :)

My favorite places to vacation

 Five Places to See in Saint Martin makes me really want to visit there. I've never been to any part of the Caribbean before, though I've always wanted to. If you're considering a trip, then that article makes me say you should think about Saint Martin. :D

 Places I have visited are Paris (very nice! But almost too big to explore in a single vacation), Rome (so much history and amazing architecture) and Australia. My favorite part of visiting Australia was actually the zoos. Their zoos are out of this world, probably because there are so many weird animals in the Australian wilderness anyway that the zoos have to get really weird animals in to be worth visiting.

 And now I want to see the Caribbean.

How to stay safe online

 The topic of this article, Staying Safe with Free Paid Surveys, got me thinking. How safe am I online? Usually I use avast!, Spybot and Windows Defender to protect myself as I go about my daily business online, but unfortunately I'm no stranger to viruses. Actually I'm in the process of getting rid of one right now, which is probably why that article caught my eye. There's probably at least a better firewall I could be using that stupid old Windows Defender, so I thought I'd come and just ask the internet: what do you use to keep yourself safe online? Got any recommendations?

The Most Expensive Plastic Surgery Procedure

 Cosmetic Surgery Costs is a pretty useful little resource. The source is dated from 2009, so maybe the information is a little out-dated (although I don't know, it might not be), but it's an interesting read all the same. I don't know about you, but when I saw the title the first question that came to mind was "which procedure costs the most?"

 So I had a look. Non-surgically the most expensive procedure is ablative laser skin resurfacing. But I was more interested in the actual surgical stuff. The most expensive procedure there is easily a lower body lift, which I guess makes sense as that's a lot of work. The second most expensive is actually a facelift, which surprised me but I guess working on the face requires a lot more finesse.

I'm suing Walmart for sexual discrimination

 The BBC has an article on what may become the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in history. I read it with interest, and I have to say I'm on the side of the women here. Walmart is a nasty company anyway, and I've heard plenty of times that they treat their employees badly, so this doesn't surprise me at all. But what's interesting is the statistics the BBC included:

Women comprise 92% of Walmart's cashiers, but only 14% of Walmart's store managers
Female hourly workers earned up to 37 cents less per hour than their male counterparts
The average female Walmart manager earned $14,500 less than their male counterpart in 2001

 Hey, statistics like that don't lie. Of course there's always bound to be some inequalities, I'm not expecting women to be 50% of the store managers, but 92% are cashiers while 14% are managers? That's ridiculous. I hope they win this.

 

For International Women's Day, Let's Stop Following @charliesheen

 Okay, for real the last time I talk about this, but I was linked to this fantastic article: The Problem with Charlie Sheen's One Million Twitter Followers

 It's International Women's Day. Just for today, let's celebrate women instead of the men who hit them.

Companies to Complain About

 How to Tell if a Free Paid Survey Site is Reliable gave me a handy tip today: the Better Business Bureau apparently records complaints against companies and grades them. I instantly hopped over to the BBB site and started looking for the companies people complain about the most (just for curiosity's sake!). Apparently in 2009 the businesses that received the most complaints were cell phone businesses, followed by television businesses and then auto car dealers (and nobody was surprised).

 Anyone want to compare the number of complaints Apple got versus Microsoft?

Why I'm Not Following @charliesheen

 Domestic abuse, drug abuse, anti-semitic remarks, assault. These are all things Charlie Sheen has done. None of this was enough to get him off our tv screens; instead he was the highest paid actor on American television until just a month ago. Finally he's been sacked, after demanding $3 million per episode of Two and a Half Men. This was the same interview in which he described the drug binges that have caused him to violently lash out at former wives as "epic".

 And now he's on Twitter, with over a million followers.

 Okay, let's be real. Probably less than 1% of the people following him actually like the guy. After the claims of having "tiger blood" and being able to make your face explode, most people are just following him to see what other crazy stuff he comes out with. But do you think Charlie Sheen knows that?

 Actually, Charlie Sheen has said this:

In all sincerity... Thank you Twitter community for the warm reception & the followers that helped get me to 1M in 24 hours!!!#teamsheen

 As far as he's concerned, one million followers is a gesture of support. Every time another person follows him, this guy takes it as proof that what he does to the people around him is okay, because his Twitter followers are on #teamsheen. 

 Why do we continue to give this louse attention? Sure, watching him melt down is entertaining, but the more attention we give him the more encouragement we give him, and the more people (his ex-wives, his children, his current girlfriends) he will hurt. I'm not going to follow @charliesheen, and if you care about anything other than quick entertainment, you won't either.

Charlie Sheen Joins Twitter

 Hot on the heels of my post about him yesterday, Charlie Sheen has joined joined Twitter with the imaginative name of @charliesheen (hope you guys understand why I'm not linking to that). Much as I dislike the guy, I still can't help but look forward to his inevitable meltdown 2.0 all over Twitter. :D

 In other news, the hot new thing in spa treatments and pampering yourself is getting tiny fish to bite your feet. They're nicknamed "doctor fish" and nibble away the dead skin on your feet. Don't think I would try it.

Charlie Sheen has finally cracked

 If this article proves anything, it's that wealth can make you just a bit eccentric. But Charlie Sheen has officially been past "eccentric" and into the valley of "totally nuts" for some time now, and it's finally coming back to bite him. There's been so many articles about it, but this one is my favorite just for all the juicy details.

Rossen appeared startled when Charlie said he wanted to be paid $3 million an episode to return to "Men," a reported $1.2 million per episode raise.

"You want a raise?" Rossen asked.

"Yeah, look what they put me through," Charlie replied.

 This is just hilarious, especially if you're like me and have watched in surprise and annoyance as Two and a Half men kept Sheen on even after he was arrested for domestic violence and assault. What they put him through? 

 And now his publicist has resigned. Well, wouldn't you?

Is plastic surgery dangerous?

 At least, that's what this article asks. I'm kinda interested in stuff like this, as you guys can probably tell, so I had a read. Pretty informative! I guess when I think about the dangers of plastic surgery I always think about boob implants exploding in planes and stupid stuff like that, so I was interested to read about the actual medical risks too. Necrosis is seriously scary, but apparently rare. (Plus I don't smoke, which apparently lessens my chances of getting it. Phew!)

Oscars Best and Worst Dressed

 This is always my favorite part of the Oscars! In fact, forget the whole movies thing, why can't we just give the awards out to the people wearing the best outfits?

 There was a lot of red being worn this year. Not being a fan of red, I wasn't too thrilled with this. I loved Halle Berry's Marchesa off-white tulle gown, and Mila Kunis's floaty pale lilac dress (in fact, hers was my favorite all night!). Also loved Annette Bening, Mandy Moore and Hilary Swank. 

 Now the fun part: who I didn't like. I adore Sandra Bullock but the red lipstick and bare neckline did her no favors. She looked so harsh! Cate Blanchett's pale Givenchy dress looked like something my grandmother would wear. And she usually looks so lovely, too. 

 

The King's Speech versus The Social Network: Oscars 2011

 Okay, it's pretty obvious it's a two horse race for Best Picture this year. The Social Network has taken most of the Best Picture awards for 2010 so far, but that was before The King's Speech actually came out. The King's Speech has twelve Oscars nominations in all while The Social Network has eight. Films featuring royalty have a history of doing well at the Oscars (remember Shakespeare in Love and The Queen?) - however, The King's Speech is also a British movie, and the Oscars is pretty well known for being just a little bit snobby about non-American films.

 What do you think? I'm placing my bets on The Social Network, despite all the hype for The King's Speech. 

Which racial groups get the most plastic surgery?

 I've talked a little on this sort of thing before, after seeing an article on which countries have the most plastic surgery. But if we just look at America, which races and immigrant groups have the most plastic surgery, and what kind of procedures are popular with who?

 Funnily enough, Irish immigrants are apparently big fans of ear pin-backs to look "more American". Jewish people are big fans of nose jobs and Koreans opt to have their jawlines slimmed, says Irish Central, quoting professor of sociology at Queens College Victoria Pitt-Taylor. Apparently it's mostly about trying to assimilate into American culture - everyone wants to look "more American" (read: more like white Americans, or even more specifically, the white standard of beauty popular in American media). 

 The numbers aren't as different as you'd expect though. Four percent of American Caucasians went under the knife in 2009, compared to five percent of American Asians and three percent of American Latinos.

Untitled

 The other day someone told me about a time they'd vacationed in Italy. They were thirsty, so they bought a can of Fanta. It wasn't even recognizable as Fanta on first glance - the can was pitch black. But curiosity (and thirst) took over, and they had a sip... and immediately spat it back out.

 It turns out Fanta has more flavors worldwide than any of us are aware of. You think Fanta is pushing the line when you see a can marked "Red Tangerine"? You don't know the half of it. Let's take a look at the weird and wacky world of stupid Fanta flavors.

 

 

 

 Germany: Herbs

 Yes, Germany drinks Fanta that tastes like herbs. Over there they call it Kräuter, which doesn't actually make it sound any less disgusting. This flavor dates back to 1984, when everyone was a little bit loopy anyway, and has since been discontinued, so maybe we can forgive them this one.

 

 Thailand: Love

 How mysterious. Could any Thai people please let the rest of know exactly what love tastes like? I'm thinking copious morning breath with a dash of disappointment. Interestingly, the King of Thailand's favorite Fanta flavor is apparently Red Soda. Hey, if it's good enough for the King it's good enough for you.

 

 Taiwan: Vanilla Ice-cream

 Don't get me wrong. I like Fanta and I like vanilla ice-cream, but I can't say I've ever had the thought "you know, this ice-cream would taste a whole lot better if it was fizzy". Taiwan, cutting into the lead for Stupid Fanta Flavors, also offers Toffee and Lactic White Grape.

 

 Japan: Hip Hop

 Hey, it wouldn't be a list of weird things if Japan didn't make an appearance. Even more perplexing than Thailand's entry, Japan leaves the rest of the world to wonder what hip hop actually tastes like with this.

What are America's favorite cosmetic surgery procedures?

 The most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in America last year was apparently a breast augmentation, says US News. Coming second is nose re-shaping, followed by eyelid surgery, liposuction and tummy tucks. 

 Apparently plastic surgery is going through something of a boost in popularity thanks to the recovering economy. It's up 5% from 2009.

 Place your bets: what will the most popular procedure be this year?

The Corruption of the Word "Marketing" (Or, The Tale of My First MLM)

 I've had some bad experiences with MLMs (that is, multi-level marketing, the new polite term for pyramid schemes). As a teenager I applied for a marketing job I saw advertised online. I didn't expect to get it, because I had no experience and I was only 19. But to my amazement I got a phone call the very next day, inviting me to an interview.

 So I bought a suit and went to the office address they'd given me, and waited. Strangely, dozens of other candidates began to pour in too, until there were so many of us waiting that some people didn't even have a chair to sit in. Then we were told that since there were so many of us, the interviewer had decided on the spur of the moment to make it a group interview.

 It was a strange interview. It obviously wasn't spur of the moment like they'd said, because the interviewer had a PowerPoint presentation for us explaining why their company was so great and pulled in so much money. He was very vague about what we'd actually be doing. Some people got up and left halfway through the interview. I should have left too, but I was a stupid naive teenager.

 We were given little forms to fill out describing ourselves and why we thought we were a match for the job, though none of us actually knew what it was. I wrote down something about being a team player, etc etc. 

 Again to my amazement, I was again called the very next day and invited to a second interview. "You'll be shadowing one of our most forefront managers!" the receptionist gushed. "It's a chance to see what the job's all about." Then, perplexingly, "Wear flat shoes."

 I trotted back to the office in my flat shoes and met this "forefront manager", who informed me we were hitching a bus to a nearby suburb to do some "field work". Now, I was naive but I wasn't so naive that I didn't ask what he meant by "field work". "Oh, getting the brand name out there," he replied, and shepherded me on to the bus.

 On the way there he regaled me with stories of how much money he made, and I privately wondered why he didn't make enough to buy a car. I actually get very intense motion sickness so for 98% of this bus ride I was just leant back, head against the seat, eyes closed tight while this guy nattered on at me about how fabulously rich he was.

 Once we arrived at our destination this millionaire manager hopped off the bus and motioned for me to follow. We went up the pathway of a nearby house. He knocked on the door, and a tired-looking woman in cleaning gloves opened.

 "Hi!" the manager chirped. "I'm just wondering if you know how much you're paying for your gas and electric!"

 And I suddenly felt like I was still on that bus, about to throw up. Door-to-door marketing? Okay, I'd kind of suspected it, but really? I didn't know where to look as he vomited up sales spiel at this poor woman. She just shook her head, mumbled something about being happy with her current provider, and tried to close the door - and he stuck his foot in the gap. 

 "Just look at the numbers!" he gushed, shoving a piece of paper in her face. "All your neighbors have been outraged!"

 Eventually she got the door shut, to both her relief and mine.

 We did this all day, from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon. I couldn't get back to the safety of my own flat without the bus, and I hadn't brought money to pay for a ticket with me. I was stuck with the manager. 

 "Of course, a normal work-day is a bit longer than this," he said to me as we traipsed down yet another driveway. "I usually work from 9AM to about 10PM at night."

 "10PM?"

 "That's what you gotta do, if you want the money."

 It went on forever. The manager managed to make one sale, to a confused elderly man who wasn't even sure what he was buying. "You lied when you said you weren't selling anything," his wife said to the manager, with a defeated look on her face and a plea in her voice. 

 Once we were finally on the bus heading back to the city, the manager turned to me, forcing me to open my eyes and look at him. He didn't seem to realize what a serious danger there was of me throwing up on him.

 "I want to offer you the job," he said.

 "Um," I replied. "Well, I've got another interview this week on Thursday, so I think I'll see how that goes and... let you know after?"

 "Great!" he said. "I'll see you Monday."

 I realized this was how he sold to people: by simply ignoring their excuses and pressuring them into a yes. 

 "No," I said. "I will let you know on Thursday."

 And on Thursday, I let the receptionist know: "Too many bus rides. Can't do it."

The Truth Behind the "Mommy Makeover"

 Just what is the "mommy makeover" I keep hearing about? On plastic surgery websites it's advertised as the latest hot new thing, the successor to boob jobs and liposuction, so I assumed it was just a breast augmentation and a tummy tuck re-packaged.

 Not so, says this article. What is it? I'll let them tell you:

"The mommy makeover" involves labiaplasty (trimming the labia) and vaginoplasty (tightening of the vaginal canal). These procedures are dangerous because they can lead to a lifelong loss of sexual sensation or pain during intercourse. Many medical groups have warned against the surgery.

 For real? This is a thing now?

Paris Hilton's new muscular figure

 Paris Hilton's reportedly dating a bodybuilder, Cy Waits, and he's introduced her to bodybuilding. Now she's putting on the muscle big time. Honestly, the pics aren't that flattering, but she sounds very happy, and this is healthier than dieting all the time, so hey, good for her.

 

 

Bridalplasty

 I caught a re-run of Bridalplasty, a reality show, yesterday. Basically, a bunch of women compete to win their dream wedding, which involves a ton of plastic surgery (with liposuction, boob jobs and rhinoplasty being the most common). I guess with everything you hear about women buying a wedding dress several sizes too small and then going on crash diets to fit into it, this was the next logical step.

 It kind of makes me wonder though: what if the plastic surgery you got transformed you so completely that the guy you're marrying didn't even recognize you anymore? Or worse, didn't even like the new you? Most of the time I'm totally against factoring "but what if he doesn't think you're pretty anymore" into any decision I make about my own appearance, but since these women are apparently doing it to look good for their wedding... well I don't know anymore. What do you think?

Enemas

 Yeah, kind of a blunt title today I guess, but I can't think of a pretty way to put it. Apparently the hot new trend in the weird world of cosmetic surgery is enemas. Or "colon therapy" or whichever prettier term we're using right now. I guess I just think... why? Unless you're about to go for a colonoscopy in which case yeah, an enema is probably polite, but otherwise... why?

The New KKK

 I've talked about models and stars being obsessed with plastic surgery before, especially with boob jobs, so I guess it's no surprise this caught my attention:

Once I reclaim my identity as the World's Biggest Boobs I can be a better role model for my daughter.

That second link, incidentally? Probably not safe for work. I actually gasped when I saw the picture in the article. Anyway, she had MMM cup implants removed during an operation and tried to kill herself because she was so miserable without them. Then today she was due to get an operation for KKK cup implants. I didn't even know those were actual sizes. Does she even wear bras? I have friends who are DD and F cups and they have trouble finding bras to fit, so imagine how bad she must struggle with MMM/KKK cups. My back aches just thinking about it.

Mainly I feel sorry for her daughter. Having your mom try to kill herself twice because her boobs aren't big enough will mess you up in the head.

Lindsay Lohan, you're an idiot

 Dear Lindsay Lohan,

 Do you ever leave the courtroom nowadays? What is it now, stealing? You've obviously got a lot of problems so at first I was sympathetic and hoped you'd get help and get better but this is beyond a joke now. What's also beyond a joke is the last line of that article. Three years in prison? Maybe for a normal woman. You'll be out in three days and getting more lip implants.

 Let me know when you're behaving like an actual human being again.

 Sincerely,

 Emma

Lose weight, get your ribs removed

 So says this article, anyway.

 Actually, it's debunking the myth that every thin starlet (Cher, Liz Taylor, Britney Spears, and of course Marilyn Manson) has had her - or his - bottom ribs removed for a slimmer figure. A completely ridiculous rumor, of course, but I remember hearing people whisper it about Britney when I was a kid. What I didn't know was that rib removal surgery is actually possible, if rare. Why anyone would want to do that though, I have no idea.

Why Have We Forgiven Chris "Woman Beater" Brown?

 Chris Brown was trending constantly on Twitter this weekend, with the "top trending" menu on my sidebar constantly coming up with #GoodLuckChrisBrown, #teambreezy and many sentiments wishing him well for and during his SNL performance.

 Why?

 Why have we forgotten that this man beats women?

 Of course, it's not the first time a man has been forgiven for committing acts of violence and injustice against a woman (hello, Mr Polanski) - but Rihanna is not some faceless stranger we can easily forget about. She is an extremely popular, beloved, ubiquitous pop icon. We have seen the chilling evidence of what Brown did to her. And yet so many on Twitter have either forgotten or simply don't care. 

 Fine, sometimes terrible people produce great works of art. That's nothing new (although I would hesitate to call Brown's music "art" but whatever). And it's possible to enjoy the things they've made without condoning the things they've done. But that's not the same as wishing someone who punches women "good luck on SNL!" is it?

 If you tweeted in support of Chris Brown's SNL performance, shame on you. Go and take a look at the pictures of Rihanna's scarred, swollen face and then see if you can still enjoy his SNL performance.

Is there such a thing as a reality show "curse"?

 Perhaps, says PopEater. Honestly, I don't think there's some mystical force at work here. People who go on reality shows usually aren't famous before the show, so when all of a sudden fame and fortune hits (usually for no reason other than they were on tv) they go a little bit crazy. It's a bit like the whole child star "curse": they're not used to the attention and the pressure.

 And in other news, a teacher insulted her own students on a public blog. Honestly, the stupid thing here is the word "public". That's just reckless.

The Richest King in the World

...is the King of Thailand, apparently. I expected the Middle Eastern monarchs on that list but Thailand?! I'm honestly shocked, seeing as how Thailand is not what I would consider a wealthy country.

 I actually went to Wikipedia to check if it was true and it is. :O Apparently the King of Swaziland is not too badly off either. What on earth.

Got a Headache? Get Botox!

 Or at least, that's what in the news today. Now, I'm no doctor but I'm not seeing how botox would help with a migraine. And neither are many doctors, according to this BBC News (yes I'm still mad at them) article.

 Having said that, I've had migraines before, really persistent ones, and there's a point where you'll just do and have anything to get them to go away. :(

How much do you hate Justin Bieber?

 A lady never admits her age, but I'm comfortable telling you I'm old enough to be one of the many adults blinking in bemusement as the Justin Bieber craze takes hold of every girl under 15 in America. To be honest, I feel like I know too much about this kid and that's mostly thanks to Twitter.

 Today #1day is trending and as usual, I clicked expecting to see some important world news. No, just Justin Bieber. Again. Apparently a movie or a concert DVD or something has come out. I don't know, to be honest I'm the Twitter equivalent of an old man on his porch holding a shotgun. You kids seriously need to get off my lawn.

 Whatever it was he released today, the reviews are good! If it's all the same to you I'm going to pretend it's a thoughtful documentary on world events so I can rest easy knowing it's been trending on Twitter all day.

BBC News Makes Up False News To Scaremonger Readers

 In the news today is this, the story of a British woman who travelled to America to get a silicone injection into her butt. That's liquid silicone (unlike in, say, a breast augmentation where you have bags of silicone). She got off the plane and travelled to a hotel (!), where the procedure took place. Sadly, she died as a result, proving once again that plastic surgery can be seriously dangerous if you don't do it right. Further Googling told me that she's not the only woman who's died from having liquid silicone injected into her butt either.

 But what really caught my interest was the mention of "pump-up parties" in the sidebar. Apparently these parties held by women "and members of the transgender community" (so... more women who happen to be transgender, in other words - you kind of fail, BBC News) where they all inject liquid silicone into each other and have a great time. Can that actually be a real thing? I wondered.

 So I Googled that too. Actually, all that came up was similar news reports on this very incident, all whispering conspiratorially about these terrible parties. I couldn't find anything on actual parties themselves. To be honest, this sounds like a silly urban myth to me. If the BBC wants to provide actual proof of these parties ever really happening outside some silly reporter's imagination, then I'll link to that proof and apologize. 

 I won't hold my breath.

Man Killed By Exploding Lava Lamp

 Yes yes, I'm on Snopes again. But sometimes the true tales on there are worse than the urban legends. Like this one: Man Killed By Exploding Lava Lamp

 At first I freaked out, because like most people who grew up in the nineties I had a lava lamp when I was a kid. It sat on my bedside dresser and I'd watch it as I fell asleep. It was very relaxing. It never even occurred to me it might explode.

 Okay, to be fair it's not as if this man's lava lamp was just sitting there innocently and then exploded for no reason. The man was heating it on his stove (why??) and standing in front of it when it exploded. Still, what a way to go. I'm guessing they didn't put the cause of death on his tombstone.

Five outrageous lies we believe about plastic surgery

 While doing my now daily (I'm addicted, it seems! :( ) browse of Hubpages, I found this article: "Five outrageous lies we believe about plastic surgery". Interesting. So I had a look. The number one "lie" is quite controversial, don't you think? I can't decide if I agree or disagree. I guess I don't think someone who really hates, say, their nose, should have to just live with it if they have the chance and the money to change it, but I would exhaust other options (like therapy) first.

 

 What do you think? Getting surgery just for aesthetic reasons: good or bad?

The secret to getting your CV read by employers

 I'm lucky enough to be gainfully employed, but I have a lot of friends who aren't, and I know how hard it is for them to get noticed. Even if you have an incredible CV, how do you know the employer will even look at it?

 I think the key is impressing people enough with your cover letter that they just have to read your CV too. And that's where the T-Letter comes in. I actually heard about it a few months ago, and I've been thinking about it since then. It's a risk, definitely, but from what I hear people have had good experiences with it. At the very least, I think if I were an employer receiving a T-Letter I'd be intrigued enough to read the CV that came with it too.

Which countries have the most plastic surgery?

 I've been hanging out on Hubpages a lot recently, thanks to just how much reading material there is there. Anyway, I've been writing a lot about plastic surgery lately, so I checked out their Cosmetic Surgery section to see what people there were writing about, and came across this article: Which Countries Have the Most Plastic Surgery?

 Before you read it, take a guess at the top three and see how many you get right. :D

 (I guessed America, Canada and Brazil - 1 out of 3's not bad!)

 Some of the countries included in there honestly surprised me though. Obviously America was no surprise, but Saudi Arabia? Apparently they get a lot of breast augmentations. Who knew. Actually, I was surprised Thailand didn't come higher, because I hear about Westerners going over there for cheap plastic surgery a lot.

 What did you guys guess would be the top three?

The Disasters of the Super Bowl

 Who else watched the Super Bowl last night? I don't even like sports but you have to watch the Super Bowl, it's such a tradition at this stage. :) It was decent his year actually, but there were some disasters this year.

 

 First of all, what was with that Black Eyed Peas performance? Mic trouble, lights trouble, and Fergie tries to sing Sweet Child O' Mine. I admit, I like Fergie's voice but... don't do that again, Fergie. Please.

 

 And then Christina Aguilera forgot the words to the national anthem. Okay, hands up, who didn't notice? (I didn't.) But I guess she must be feeling real embarrassed right now. 

 

 Oh well. We all watch Super Bowl for the commercials anyway.

The Real Housewives of Miami

"Are you ready for more drama, Louboutins, diamonds and botox because Bravo is bringing the HEAT! The latest edition of the hit Real Housewives franchise brings us to Miami!"

 

Anyone going to watch this? I admit trashy reality shows like this are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. You should all feel privileged I'm even letting you in on my dirty little secret. :D

How do you marry a millionaire?

 While browsing my blogs of choice today I stumbled across this, the story of one woman's quest to marry a millionaire. She spends fortunes on elocution lessons to lose her accent, buys designer stuff, and takes etiquette lessons. I guess with the news that Prince William is marrying his girlfriend, a lot of women are fantasizing about marrying a rich guy. (Though where does this chick get the money for all these lessons and designer brands? Sounds like she's already a millionaire! I couldn't afford all that stuff.)

 

 Anyway, she met and married a rich man called David and apparently does little but shop all the time. But the Jezebel article basically says what I was thinking myself while reading the article: what's David getting out of this? She doesn't really say anything about his personality or the time they spend together, she just gushes about how rich he is and how much money he spends on her. I guess if it works for them then fine, but it doesn't sound like a happy marriage to me.

Would you have a boob job for your career?

 And no, I'm not just talking about porn stars.

 

 "50.6 per cent of men and 54 per cent of women would happily consider cosmetic procedures to help them move up the career ladder."

 

 Do these numbers seem high or low to you? Yesterday I've have said that I think fifty percent of men is shockingly high, but today I'm less sure. I'd consider something like veneers but I'd like to think I don't work in a place where how nice my teeth look is a significant factor. What about you? Would you have anything done if it would help your career?

Two Men Pull Each Other's Arms off in Tug of War

 So I was having a look through Snopes today and I took a look at their Horror section, which is where all the really disgusting or nasty urban myths you hear get debunked. And I came upon a story about two men pulling each other's arms off during a game of Tug of War. At first I was just glad it wasn't true - then I saw the little green button next to the title. That means it's true.

 And the page has a picture! (And it's graphic, so don't click if you're eating. Eww.) Apparently their arms were re-attached, so that's good, but imagine seeing that happen. :( Worse still, imagine being one of the guys it happened to. I'm never playing Tug of War again.

Breasts Don't Look Good

 ...if they belong to a man, anyway. A friend in the UK linked me to this video after reading my posts about plastic surgery. It's a news story abut a British man who got surgery to fix his "moobs". I don't know if the picture in the background is him or not (I'm guessing not) but if they looked anything like that then I can understand why he wanted them fixed. :/

 But it got me thinking. The news story says a third more of men in Britain are getting this (that is, breast augmentations) done, and I've heard American men are getting plastic surgery more often too. Something they didn't talk about in the video was why this guy went for surgery instead of hitting the gym. At first I thought maybe he didn't have the money for a gym membership, but he said he spent £15,000 on plastic surgery. I know gym memberships can be expensive but they don't cost that much, lol.

 But maybe he didn't have time? You have to really put the hours into exercise if you want results, and when you've got a full-time job it's pretty hard to find those hours. There was something else he said that interested me though, and that was that he and his wife went abroad for plastic surgery. Where did they go? Time for more research, I think.

Egypt's problems

 I admit, I wasn't very clued up on Egypt (I'm still not) before the protests that are happening right now, so I wasn't aware there was so much political strife and discord over there. But I'm paying attention now, and the things the Egyptian government is doing to stifle people is shocking. I heard today that the government has not just banned Twitter, Facebook and sites like that, but they've banned the entire internet completely!

 

 Then I read this. It's a letter from an Egyptian person to Anon, asking for people's help. It says Vodafone, LinkDSL, TEData and other ISPs and Mobile Providers are colluding with the government to keep people from communicating. I don't know what I can do to help other than pass the message on and make sure as many people as possible hear it, so I'm doing that via this blog post. Please pass it on too.

Movie Sign

It's been a long time since I went to the movies, but there's a whole bunch just come out that I want to see! In order of how much I want to see them:

Black Swan
I love Mila Kunis and the costumes and make-up for this movie look really gorgeous! It also looks a bit like Single White Female, which is a movie I really love.

The King's Speech
Everyone's been telling me it's really good and I think English history is kind of interesting anyway so I definitely want to see this.

Tron: Legacy
lol Well, I'm an 80s child so I grew up with the original movie. I really want to see what they've done with the franchise. I've heard good things!

I don't have the money to spend seeing all three of these, sadly. :( So it's just going to have to be one, and I think it will probably be Black Swan. If I manage to see it I'll review it here. :D

How much is too much?

 Over the weekend it was all over the news that this German porn star, Carolin Berger, died after going into surgery for her sixth boob job. She wanted to go from a 34F to a 34G and died during the operation. 

 It got me thinking, after my last post about plastic surgery. I guess if you're a porn star then plastic surgery probably is the norm, but six boob jobs? That's just crazy. I don't know much about her so I don't know if she was just going for bigger boobs every time or if she was doing the other things you can have done, like a lift. But I guess we forget that plastic surgery's still an operation, and there's always a risk of dying. 

 I don't think there's some set number of plastic surgery ops you can safely have or anything like that, but even if this had been her first operation, 34G? The article I linked to says Carolin Berger was only 106lbs, and any fellow girls reading this will know that if that operation had worked out she'd have been like a hunchback or something with the weight of those things. :(

 I guess what I think is that her plastic surgeon should have known there was a risk and have not done the surgery. :/ They're the ones who went to school for this. R.I.P Carolin Berger.

Animal in You

This Animal in You test is scarily accurate!

Is plastic surgery becoming the norm?

I've got this Korean-American friend who I was chatting with the other day, and she was saying that something like half of Korean (not Korean-American) women get plastic surgery done. At first I was suprised but then I thought, is it really so different here in the U.S? Obviously it's not as commonplace as half the population yet but even a decade ago, plastic surgery was something only the super rich had done. These days if someone told me they'd had a face lift or a boob job I wouldn't really think anything of it.

And apparently it's getting more common with men too. Stuff like body sculpting is getting more and more popular with American men, or even nose re-shaping and surgery you can get done on your face. I guess if you really hate part of your face it does make sense, but with that body sculpting thing and liposuction for women I'm less sure what I think. Couldn't you go to the gym to lose weight and get a better body instead? Having said that, I just joined a gym and it really is just like this:





Maybe it is a better use of your money to just get liposuction instead. :/