Is it too vain to care about your outfit when you're pushing a squeaky shopping cart towering with groceries? Consider this: a polished appearance gives us confidence. And with all the stress of the holidays, an extra five minutes of prep time is a big step towards taking care of yourself this season. For celebrity style inspiration (and what NOT to do), peep the gallery below.
A pop of color (like Gwen Stefani's shirt and lipstick) makes a market outing exponentially more fashionable.
It's that time again. Black Friday has arrived again, and with it the crowds of shoppers, the big promotions, and the analysts who fret that the next several weeks will make or break the year fRetailers have a lot riding on the Holiday Season. And there is a lot that can go wrong, especially this year. The weather in December is always a wild card — blizzards and snow storms can dampen the shopping season if they strike at the wrong time. A global financial crisis that causes markets to tank erodes the confidence of shoppers, particularly high-end spenders that flood into the likes of Saks and Neiman-Marcus. Hannukah can come late in the season, as it does this year — unless it comes to early. And for the last several years, analysts have added a poor job market. With unemployment high, jobs scarce and wages dampened, they wonder whether people will spend? Accordingly, the forecasts are pretty lame for this year. National Retail Federation predicts it will be just an average season, with sales riThat's likely to be too pessimistic.
I've reported through nearly two dozen holiday shopping seasons. And I've learned that if there's one thing the American consumer can do, even in these difficult times, it is rally to purchase stuff for friends and family in the last several weeks of the year. In addition, American retailers are ingenious when it comes to devising ways of convincing people that they absolutely must spend now.
In retail, the trend is your friend. And generally speaking, the NRF has been somewhat behind the trends for the last several years. Like most economic forecasters, NRF has difficulty forecasting around inflection points. In the fall of 2008, NRF pulled in its horns and projected that the turmoil in the economy would take a toll on sales. In September 2008, it projected sales would rise 2.2 percent, which would represent a about half the 4.4 percent annual rate for the previous ten years. But that proved to be wildly optimistic. During the core of the holiday season, the economy was shedding more than 100,000 jobs each week. Shell-shocked consumers pulled back, and sales fell 4.4 percent, according to NRF. (see the chart here). As many forecasters do, the NRF then compensated for excessive optimism with excessive pessimism. In the fall of 2009, it forecast that sales would drop again, by 1.0 percent. That proved to be a little too pessimistic. Sales fell .4 percent in 2009 — a bad year, but slightly better than the forecast. In 2010, even though the economy and retail sales had been growing decently, NRF issued a similarly chastened forecast. Sales would rise, but only by a meager 2.3 percent. Instead, they came in at an extremely healthy 5.2 percent.
The more general trend in retail sales is also positive. The Census Bureau just reported sales for October. They were up .5 percent from September, and have risen steadily throughout the year. Compared with the same period in 2010, retail sales for August through October were up 7.6 percent. This year, as was the case in 2010, consumer spending has been gaining momentum in the months leading up to the holiday season.
Of course, many factors influence spending — the level of consumer confidence, the availability of credit, inflation, the continual clash of fear and optimism. But one factor may be the most important: employment. In 2008 and 2009, the only time in recent when holiday sales fell, the economy was shedding jobs. On this Black Friday, millions of Americans are out of work, unemployment is at 9.0 percent, and the U-6, which takes into account frustrated job seekers and people who work part-time but would prefer to work full-time, stands at 16.2 percent. Those are extremely high levels by historical standards. But compared with a year ago, the labor market has improved somewhat. In October 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.7 percent and the U-6 was at 17 percent. In October 2011, there were 1.5 million more people with payroll jobs than there were in 2010. In the household survey, the means through which the Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles the unemployment report, 1.218 million more Americans said they were working in October 2011 than did in October 2010.
Plenty could still go wrong this holiday shopping season. But if the global economy manages to hold it together for the next several weeks — a big if — recent trends suggest plenty could go right for American retailers.
Daniel Gross is economics editor at Yahoo! Finance
Tyo dan Tami TTATW | Foto: Teresia May / Antara untuk Yahoo!
Musikalitas The Trees And The Wild (TTATW) sudah tidak perlu diragukan lagi. Sejak album perdana mereka “Rasuk” keluar pada Mei 2009, kepiawaian TTATW langsung terdengar hingga ke luar negeri. Majalah Time memberikan pengakuan internasional dengan menganugerahkan gelar “Must See Acts 2011”.
Band indie yang terbentuk pada 2006 ini awalnya hanya diusung oleh tiga orang: Remedy Waloni (vokal/gitar akustik), Andra Kurniawan (gitar akustik dan elektrik), dan Iga Massardi (gitar elektrik). Pada 2011, Tyo Prasetya (bass, gitar), Charita Utami alias Tami (vokal), dan Hertri Nur Pamungkas (drum) melengkapi formasi TTATW menjadi enam orang.
Salah satu lagu TTATW, “Malino”, masuk dalam album kompilasi SEA Absolute Indie. Album ini diprakarsai oleh Music Service Asia yang bermarkas di Singapura, berisikan band-band indie terbaik di se-Asia Tenggara agar kualitas musik mereka dapat didengar hingga ke benua Amerika dan Eropa. Tyo dan Tami, ditemani Diego sang manajer mampir ke kantor Yahoo! Indonesia pada Rabu (9/11) sore. Mereka pernah ditawari masuk label mayor nggak ya?
Kenapa nama band kalian The Trees And The Wild? Tyo: Itu acak saja sih. Tidak ada filosofi khusus. Tami: Hanya karena enak didengar.
Bagaimana latar belakangnya kalian membuat film dokumenter “Dua Tiang Tujuh Layar”? Diego: Film dokumenter itu awalnya sebuah proyek, terinspirasi dari pengalaman pribadi Remedy. Dia sempat ke suatu daerah di Sulawesi. Tyo: Di sana Remedy pernah naik kapal Phinisi dan dia merasa terpukau dengan keindahan kapal itu. Tami: Dan karena kapal Phinisi juga salah satu budaya Indonesia yang agak terlupakan. Selama ini kan orang hanya banyak tahu tentang batik. Diego: Kami mengambil sisi semangat dari kapal Phinisi. Kapal ini kan hanya dibuat satu dalam satu tahun. Proses pembuatannya pun melibatkan banyak orang. Kapal ini kan juga cukup terkenal karena mampu berlayar keliling dunia. Semangat seperti itu sih yang ingin kami tampilkan melalui sebuah film.
Tapi kenapa lewat film? Kenapa tidak melalui lagu? Tyo: Sebuah karya kan tidak harus melalui lagu. Tami: Kami ingin membuat konsep yang berbeda.
Kenapa kalian membawa masuk unsur musik tradisional Indonesia dalam setiap lagu The Trees and The Wild? Tami: Kami kan orang Indonesia. Kami ingin anak muda yang mendengar lagu kami, tidak lupa dengan tradisi dalam negeri sendiri.
Sudah puas dengan perolehan TTATW? Tyo: Manusia kan memang tidak pernah puas. Tapi ya kami hanya ingin berusaha berkarya sebaik mungkin saja.
Saat kalian tahu bahwa band kalian masuk dalam album kompilasi SEA Absolute Indie ini, apa reaksi kalian? Diego: Ini sebuah kehormatan, bisa disandingkan dengan band lain di luar negeri.
Pernah ditawarkan pindah ke label mayor? Tami: Setelah kami berenam sih belum pernah ada yang menawarkan.
Kalau ada yang menawari lagi, tertarikkah? Diego: Kami sih tertarik. Tyo: Sebenarnya sih tidak penting sih label indie atau label mayor. Label apapun, yang terpenting tidak merubah apapun dari The Trees and The Wild.
Apa yang menginspirasi kalian sampai bisa menghasilkan musik TTATW? Tami: Sebenarnya variatif sekali ya selera musik kami berenam. Nah dari banyaknya selera musik itu, kami satukan semua hingga menghasilkan musik yang baik.
Dari mata kalian sebagai pegiat musik, negara mana di Asia Tenggara yang scene indienya paling berkembang? Tyo: Musik indie di Indonesia sih yang paling berkembang. Beberapa kali aku melihat penampilan band indie di Asia Tenggara seperti Malaysia dan Singapura, jenis musik band indie di sana tidak sebanyak di Indonesia sih. Pernah dengar juga kalau di Filipina juga cukup berkembang.
Kenapa lagu “Malino” yang dimasukkan di album kompilasi SEA Absolute Indie? Tami: Nama Malino itu kan berasal dari nama pegunungan di Sulawesi. Dan menurut kami itu sudah cukup mewakili nama Indonesia.
Jika kalian diminta mendeskripsikan musik The Trees and The Wild, bagaimana kalian menjelaskannya? Tami: Sederhananya sih folk pop. Diego: Pop kreatif.
Premier sekuel terakhir HARRY POTTER harusnya menjadi moment yang membahagiakan sekaligus mengharukan bagi segenap kru dan pemain yang terlibat di dalamnya. Namun hal itu justru tidak berlaku bagi Daniel Radcliffe yang mengaku menyesali satu hal dari premier itu.
Sebagaimana dilansir dari Contactmusic, pemeran tokoh Harry Potter tersebut mengaku sangat menyesal karena dirinya tidak ikut menangis seperti yang dilakukan oleh pemain lain seperti Rupert Grint dan Emma Watson. Dia juga mengakui bahwa saat premier film HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2, dirinya tidak merasakan kepuasan emosional yang tinggi.
Daniel mengatakan pada MTV bahwa saat itu dirinya baru saja terbebas dari tekanan gila-gilaan yang dialaminya setelah syuting HARRY POTTER. Karenanya terbebas dari tekanan tersebut tentunya jadi kemerdekaan tersendiri bagi seorang Daniel yang telah menghabiskan satu dekade bersama HARRY POTTER.
"Aku merasa aneh karena aku terkejut melihat banyak orang yang bertingkah tak seperti biasanya. Aku baru sekali melihat Rupert menangis, ya saat premier itu, aku merasa sangat kaget, tapi aku juga tidak pernah melihat Rupert seemosional itu," ungkapnya.
Namun demikian, bukan berarti Daniel tidak mencintai HARRY POTTER. Hanya saja dia tidak tahu bagaimana menunjukkan rasa bangga dan senangnya terhadap film tersebut. Akhirnya, dia pun hanya bisa menyesali, kenapa dia tidak menangis saat itu
Johan Cruyff mengaku telah yakin siapa pengganti yang layak jika akhirnya pelatih Barcelona Pep Guardiola meninggalkan Camp Nou.
Guardiola memang menyukai kontrak tahunan, dan meskipun ia belum menyatakan komitmennya untuk musim depan, banyak pihak yakin setidaknya Guardiola masih akan bertahan satu musim lagi.
Namun, Cruyff ternyata sudah menyiapkan pengganti yang cocok.
"Saya sudah jelas siapa yang layak menggantikan Guardiola dan saya telah mengatakan sosok orang itu kepada orang-orang terdekat saya," kata Cruyff kepada kantor berita EFE.
"Tapi dia bukan Mourinho," canda Cruyff.
Cruyff memilih Rijkaard dan Guardiola dalam perannya sebagai penasihat mantan presiden klub Joan Laporta, tetapi kini, perselisihannya dengan Sandro Rossell, yang mencabut gelar presiden kehormatan milik Cruyff, membuat saran Cruyff belum tentu didengarkan Barcelona.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Gabungan pemain-pemain timnas U-23 dan timnas senior bakal melayani LA Galaxy AS, yang dimotori David Beckham. Sebanyak 21 pemain dipanggil bergabung. Dari jumlah itu, 11 pemain dipanggil dari tim nasional yang berlaga di ajang SEA Games 26 lalu.
Sedangkan untuk pelatih dipercayakan juga pada Rahmad Darmawan yang menangani timnas di SEA Games 26. Dua pemain naturalisasi asal Pelita Jaya, Greg Nwonkolo dan Victor Igbonefo juga dipanggil bergabung.
Kedatangan Beckham cs dipromotori Mahaka Sports dan Brown Sports. Rencananya, Beckham dan rombongan Galaxy tiba di Jakarta 28 November 2011. Beckham dan rombongan akan melakukan meet and greet dan coaching clinic sebelum bertanding melawan timnas pada 30 November mendatang.
Berdasar rilis yang diterima Republika, inilah skuad timnas yang bakal menjajal kekuatan LA Galaxy;
Pelatih: Rahmat Darmawan
Timnas U-23: Kurnia Meiga, Andritany Adhriyasa, Diego Michiels, Abdul Rahman, Hasim Kipuw, Mahadirga Lasut, Egi Melgiansyah, Okto Maniani, Andik Vermansyah, Patrich Wanggai, Titus Bonai
Timnas Senior: Firman Utina, Ahmad Bustomi, M. Ridwan, Cristian Gonzales, Boaz Salossa, Hamka Hamzah, Bambang Pamungkas, Greg Nwonkolo, Victor Igbonefo, Zulkifl
Chief sports writer in Daegu, South Korea Ennis, Idowu and Farah are all gold medal hopes for Britain in Daegu
The World Athletics Championships in Daegu have begun with Kenyan athlete Edna Kiplagat claiming the first gold medal in the women's marathon.
Policewoman Kiplagat encountered a false start and a fall at a drinks station but recovered to win ahead of compatriots Priscah Jeptoo and Sharon Cherop in a time of two hours, 28 minutes and 43 seconds.
Saturday's morning session began well for Britain, Barbara Parker making it through the 3,000m steeplechase heats and Andrew Osagie qualifying comfortably from his 800m heat, although European silver medalist Michael Rimmer, struggling with injury, went out.
Steve Lewis also qualified for Monday's pole vault final as his training partner, Australia's reigning champion Steve Hooker, crashed out after three failures at 5.50 metres.
Two years ago in Berlin a British team weakened by injury brought home six medals, including two golds and 11 personal bests - the country's best return since 1999.
But this time head coach Charles van Commenee wants at least one more from his 66-strong squad, with the reigning world champions Jess Ennis and Phillips Idowu joined by Mo Farah and Dai Greene as genuine contenders for gold.
Giant posters of Ennis are everywhere in the city of Daegu, dwarfed only by those featuring the biggest star the sport of athletics has ever seen: Usain Bolt.
Bolt begins his title defence at 1425 BST in heat six - where he runs alongside Britain's Dwain Chambers.
Injuries to Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell may have robbed Sunday's 100m final of the rivalry track and field fans so desperately wanted to see, while Bolt's form this year means we are unlikely to witness a repeat of his flabbergasting, record-breaking 9.58 seconds in Berlin.
Click to play
Ennis inspired by British legends
But as the hundreds of Korean girls who greeted his appearance in a city mall with Beatlemania screams demonstrated, the fastest man in history has an impact like no other. For Bolt to fail to repeat his 100m/200m sprint double of the last two major championships would be a shock of global proportions.
In his shadow, better rivalries may come from Liu Xiang, David Oliver and Dayron Robles in the 110m hurdles, as well as Sanya Richards-Ross, Allyson Felix and Amantle Montsho in the women's 400m.
Younger stars may emerge in the shape of Grenada's 18-year-old 400m sensation Kirani James, coming names like David Rudisha and Carmelita Jeter may imprint themselves on the sporting world outside athletics even as old rogues like Justin Gatlin and LaShawn Merrit return from drugs bans to remind the sport of the problems it faces.
For the British team it is all about delivering on form and potential.
If Van Commenee's talk of a 'golden generation' to match that of Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Tessa Sanderson at the 1984 Olympics is a little unfair - the Los Angeles Olympics were a Games denuded by the Eastern Bloc boycott, the athletics world of 2011 far more competitive across all events - the irascible Dutchman's talk reflects a growing sense of optimism about British prospects a year out from the London Olympics.
SELECTED BRITS TO WATCH
Sunday 28 August: Mo Farah in the 10,000m at 1130 BST.
Monday 29 August: Christine Ohuruogu in the 400m at 1305 BST, Jessica Ennis starts in the heptathalon
Thursday 1 September: Dai Greene in the 400m hurdles at 1330 BST.
Sunday 4 September: Phillips Idowu in the triple jump at 1105 BST, Mo Farah in the 5,000m at 1140 BST.
Since taking her first global heptathlon title in Berlin, Ennis has produced an overall personal best in all three of her subsequent big championships, winning them all in style that makes her clear favourite again when her two-day competition begins on Monday.
Farah will line up for Sunday's 10,000m as the best distance runner in the world this year, and while Greene will have to beat four closely-matched rivals to claim the 400m hurdles crown, Idowu's already excellent prospects - he set personal bests in winning triple jump gold at both the 2009 Worlds and 2010 Europeans - are boosted by the absence through injury of his main threat, Frenchman Teddy Tamgho.
"This is a World Championships, and they're all in this to be the best in the world," says Van Commenee simply.
"I expect from Jess to be the same old Jess, who is a very stable and consistent performer. She is in very good shape, and she is the type of person who can handle the expectations.
"For Mo, concerned is not the right word, but being in that position for perhaps the first time is quite a challenge for him.
"No British athlete in history has won a 5,000m or 10,000m at a global level, so it's not easy, but he knows that. If he wins that would be massive.
"I consider Dai to be one of the five athletes who can win the 400m hurdles, and he's similar to Jessica - a very stable personality, and that's very helpful in an arena when it's man on man and head to head.
Click to play
Athletics boss targets seven World Championships medals
"And for Phillips, we have seen that often in the past he hasn't had a great last rehearsal. But he is an awesome competitor when it really counts, and he is in great shape. I'm sure he can do this."
The mood in the camp is buoyant, the atmosphere stoked by a rousing speech given by team captain Christian Malcolm.
"I spoke about the time I was ill before competing in Athens [in 2004[ and I spoke of the Olympics in 2000 when John Capel was the favourite in the 200m," said Malcolm, whose words were given a standing ovation by his team-mates.
"In the final he was in lane four, I was in lane three and I was just going to track him, only he stumbled at the beginning. I went past him in the first two steps and hesitated, which I shouldn't have done, and finished fifth and missed out on a medal by 0.02 seconds.
"I said to the guys, 'Don't go in there giving your competitors too much respect. Because you go in there ranked maybe 20th or 30th in the world doesn't mean you can't be ranked top eight, top five, top three.
"You have to go out there and perform, have a plan and stick to it. Don't let anyone take you off it'.
"Anything can happen, the favourites don't always win and we don't always have to put the number one ranked competitor on a platform and say they are the best in the world.
"We have to go out there and be competitive against these guys."
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse is best known for his
Author PG Wodehouse was worried about how much the Nazis would pay him for his radio broadcasts from wartime Germany, MI5 files have shown.
He always maintained his humorous 1941 broadcasts of life in a German internment camp were to thank his fellow US prisoners for their support.
But files declassified by the National Archives show MI5 had serious doubts about the British writer's account.
They said he was not always as "frank and ingenious [sic] as he pretends". 'Hollywood friend' The author had been interned in Berlin in 1941 after the Germans overran France, where he had been living in a villa in Le Touquet.
Some in Britain saw the Wodehouse broadcasts as evidence he was a Nazi collaborator. Files released by the National Archives in 1999 showed the Director of Public Prosecutions considered whether he should face a treason charge.
The newly-released documents are on Werner Plack, a former Hollywood film extra turned Nazi propaganda official.
In them, Wodehouse said he was asked, while in the camp, to make the recordings by Plack.
“Start Quote
I never had any intention of assisting the enemy and that I have suffered a great deal of mental pain as a result of my action”
End QuotePG Wodehouse
The author, best known for his Jeeves and Wooster stories, had previously lived in the US.
He referred to Plack as "my Hollywood friend" in one letter, while seeming to appear uncertain of his surname to another acquaintance, the files revealed.
"This incident suggests that Wodehouse is not always quite as frank and ingenious [sic] as he pretends," the MI5 report says.
"It also reveals that Wodehouse had had an interview with a Nazi propaganda official prior to his release from internment."
Wodehouse defended his broadcasts to a journalist, saying he thought of himself as American and pointing out that the US was not at war with Germany at the time.
The file adds: "He was worried that they had not told him how much he would be paid for his broadcasts."
Wodehouse was interrogated by MI5 officer Major Edward Cussed in September 1944 after the fall of Paris to the Allies, and said he remembered Mr Plack from Hollywood, where they had occasionally met at parties.
He said he was upset when he heard about the response in Britain to the broadcasts.
"I realised what a hideous mistake I had made and I have been longing for an opportunity ever since of putting myself right," he said.
"I never had any intention of assisting the enemy and I have suffered a great deal of mental pain as a result of my action."
Wodehouse moved to the US in 1945 and later became a citizen, living there until his death in 1975, aged 93.
Russ Abbot has also appeared on stage in Oliver! and The producers
Comic and Last of the Summer Wine actor Russ Abbot is to play Tommy Cooper in a new BBC Radio 3 drama, it has been confirmed.
Glass Chair Chair Glass imagines what would have happened if the comedian and magician had met absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco.
Dame Harriet Walter will also star in the drama, while Vera Drake actor Allan Corduner will play Ionesco.
The 90-minute play will be broadcast on 18 September at 20:30BST.
The story has been written by Annie Caulfield, whose credits include the radio drama The Von Trapps and Me, which told the story of The Sound of Music from the point of view of the baroness.
Caulfield told The Stage there was a "showbusiness rumour" that Cooper and Ionesco had once met, and that her drama imagines this took place in 1975 in Paris.
Abbot starred in BBC One comedy Last of the Summer Wine from 2008 until it ended last year.
He has also recently appeared on stage in Oliver! and The Producers.
The star is best remembered for his self-titled comedy series which ran during the 1980s and 90s.
Abbot also scored a number of chart hits, including Atmosphere, which made the UK top 10 in 1984.
An Edinburgh Fringe award given to an outstanding play carrying a human rights message has joint winners for the first time.
The Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award was given to Sold, directed by Catherine Alexander and The Wheel, directed by Vicky Featherstone.
The judges of the award, which has been running for 10 years, considered a record 92 entries.
Losing finalist Mark Thomas was the first comedian ever to be shortlisted.
Neil Cooper, one of the judging panel, said all the works were nominated "not because they were saying something that mattered but because they were producing a work of art about something that mattered".
The judges described The Wheel as "a complex and epic story of how children can be corrupted by the ravages of war".
Accepting the award, the play's writer Zinnie Harris said: "As a playwright I am interested in how we in the West reconcile our comfy lives when it is so grim for so many people around the world."
Mark Thomas was the first comedian to be nominated for the award
She joked that her friends had begged her to write a comedy.
But Ms Harris said: "Too many people are in too much distress. I feel a responsibility to keep looking at that."
Sold was said by the judges to be an "ambitious, fast-moving show which combines a strong overview of the issue of slavery in human society".
It was described as a "memorable piece of agitprop drama which leaves us in no doubt that despite the increasing exposure of human trafficking in recent years, and widespread political debate on the issue, it is a problem that is not going away".
Mark Thomas's Extreme Rambling (Walking the Wall) and Release, a piece of physical theatre about prisoners in the months after they are let out of jail, missed out on the award.
Amnesty International Scotland director John Watson said the Edinburgh Fringe was a "riotous celebration of freedom of expression".
He said he was heartened to see that the "consideration of human rights and what is right and wrong is alive and well at the Fringe"
Jenkin's Drop The Dead Donkey scooped major TV awards
Drop The Dead Donkey creator Guy Jenkin is to write a comedy based on the newspaper phone-hacking scandal for Channel 4.
Hacks is set in a fictional paper where journalists use methods such as hacking, using private investigators and "pinging" - when a phone signal is used to track someone.
The one-off special is due to be broadcast later this year.
Jenkin said: "We hope to be faster and funnier than all the inquiries so far."
The scandal has so far brought about the close of British newspaper News of the World and has led to the arrest and questioning of former journalists and senior News International executives.
Channel 4's head of comedy Shane Allen said: "We are very excited about Hacks and it's great that Channel 4 can be so quick off the mark to shine a satirical light on what's been happening in the media over the last few months."
Drop The Dead Donkey, which Jenkin created with long-time collaborator Andy Hamilton, ran from 1990 to 1998 and was set in the offices of the fictional TV news company GlobeLink News.
The ensemble cast of the Bafta-winning show included Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Pearson.
A pop of color (like Gwen Stefani's shirt and lipstick) makes a market outing exponentially more fashionable.
A pop of color (like Gwen Stefani's shirt and lipstick) makes a market outing exponentially more fashionable.
