PoP! Goes My Heart - Music and Lyrics

The Friday VicPick video: "You are gold and silvah-ah-ah!"

The above video is from the movie Music and Lyrics with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. The basic storyline is that Hugh is a former 80s pop star who pairs up to write a song for a modern star in order to revive his career. THe fictional 80s band he was in is called "Pop" and is very much inspired by Wham as one singer from Pop went on to be a household name (George Michael) and the other one didn't (the other guy from Wham). Hugh plays the other guy. As you can see, the video is very 80s-like, with a mixture of bad performance elements, and really bad over-acting. Hugh does all of his own singing, impressively enough, and the soundtrack is currently outselling the likes of Fergie, Gwen Stefani, and Justin Timberlake on iTunes. I saw the movie myself, and it was quite hilarious, Hugh's sardonic humor and 80s style singing/dancing performances are reason enough to check it out!

News!

Yes, if you're keeping track, sorry, I missed a post yesterday--but with good reason! I am getting ready to move into a great apartment out of state on the 17th! So, please bare with me as my posts become irregular over the next week or so--but I have a lot going on! Rest assured though, I will have lots of great posts to come about things like shopping at Ikea, using Craigslist for free furniture, tag sales, creative projects to turn junk into useful things for your home, and lots more!

Tips for your Finances

~Keeping Your Cool in a Shaky Market by Ben Stein: How to keep a good head when the financial waters aren't so sound.


~Five Ways to Grow Your Income by 20 Percent by David Bach: Some simple ideas on how to raise your income in a relatively short period of time.


~Why Women Need a Healthy Relationship with Money by Suze Orman: Millionaire and financial whiz Orman speaks specifically on issues women have with how they treat money, and how they can circumvent those problems.

Silly Snails

I couldn't help but laugh when I read this article, and I thought I would just share it with all of you. If you have ever thought that bargains were just for the big folks, then you obviously have never stopped to think about what snails can do to save. Well, according to this article, Snails Save Energy by Re-Using Mucus Trails, carefully re-tracing the paths left by previous snails in order to save on the tremendous amount of energy that they must expend in order to produce the mucus that they use to get around. Sure, to us its not a major concern to conserve on mucus, but I guess the point is that the quality and quantity of what you save is directly proportional to your size!

Celebrity Looks for Less: Oscar-worthy

Just like after the the Golden Globes, commercial fashion designers scrambled to create dresses similar to some of those worn by the lovely ladies at the Oscars last week. Just in time for the upcoming prom-season, these ultra-affordable replicas are definitely red-carpet worthy.



One of my picks for best-dressed at the Academy Awards, Helen Mirren's Christian Lacroix gown was specially designed just for her, and probably cost thousands. You can get edressme New York's version for only $325.


Jessica Biel's fuschia belted number was so popular, it was copied not only by edressme New York and Faviana. Edressme New York's version can be pre-ordered for $320 to be shipped starting April 10.


As seen on Access Hollywood, Faviana also created replicas of Kate Winslet's and Rachel Weisz's dresses, as well as Reese Witherspoon's dress, another one of my picks. Edressme New York also created two replicas of Jennifer Hudson's dress, in both regular and plus-sizes.

No cure for Mondays?

While everyone knows that Mondays can be a pain, it is also universally accepted that afternoons, any day of the week can be a struggle as well. It usually comes right after lunch, when your body is digesting food, it tends to make you sleepy, and not apt to move around. Little did we know, however, that the cure for these "afternoon slumps" is in what you eat. It seems just by adding a few specific items to your lunch or snack, you can help to fight off that tiredness, and stay the naturally perky and sweet self we all know you are!

Beyonce feat Shakira - Beautiful Liar

Friday VicPick video: Shakira, Shakira, Beyonce, Beyonce

Marking her second collaborative effort where the other person she is singing with opens the song by repeating her name, Shakira is being featured in a new duet with Beyonce. The song is called "Beautiful Liar" and the video for it was just released this week, after receiving a lot of preliminary buzz. The song is originally from Beyonce's album, B Day, and the re-recorded duet version with Shakira will be on the re-released version, as initial sales for the record were sluggish. The video marks a rarity in that not only are there two women singing the duet, but their characters actually team up as opposed to fight over a man. I also believe it is the first time there has been so much booty shaking crammed into 3 and a half minutes. I'm a big Shakira fan, so I think adding her to this song and the video are great, and kudos to Beyonce for coming up with the idea for the two to pair up. I had always thought that they shared things in common, both in dancing style as well as looks. For me, Beyonce had always particularly evoked Shakira in the "Baby Boy" music video with Sean Paul. The "Beautiful Liar" video purposely plays on these similarities, as you will find it is often hard to tell the two apart!

Celebrity Looks for Less: Madonna's Hair

This past weekend, we saw a lot of fabulous dresses, hair, and make-up for the Academy Awards, and likewise at the after parties. Madonna for one, looked stunning at the popular Vanity Fair party, and vamped it up old-style in a floor length clingy black Versace, and softly curled hair reminiscent of the Golden era of Hollywood. Now, I can't say for certain how she got her hair to look like that--odds are it took a team of people, with lots of special tools and products, or it might have even been specially grown in a magical land that only celebrities know about. In any case, I can tell you how to get your hair to look very similar to her's, and it won't cost you nearly as much as having a Hollywood hair stylist do it for you.

Me doing pin-curls on a friend (They're not as painful as they look.)

Pin curls are an old-fashioned way of curling your hair, and was a technique used often back in the day before we had curling irons and hot rollers. In order to do them, all you need is a bunch of bobby pins (approximately 2 per curl, the total number will vary greatly according to how many curls you want and how think your hair is). After washing and towel-drying your hair, carefully comb through it and simply take small, 1 inch sections of hair between your two fingers and wind them (not too tightly) around your fingers starting at the bottom and winding up towards your scalp. Use the two bobby pins to form an X as you pin them in place against your head. Repeat this all over your head until you have all your hair pinned up, then tie a scarf or wear a knit cap to hold everything in place. The best bet to do this style is to do it the night before you want your hair curled, or if you have all day to get ready, shower in the morning then spend the rest of the day with your hair pinned.

The picture to the right shows myself at a college ball where I used pin curls to curl my hair.

The point is that the pins should be left for several hours, allowing your hair to dry completely. When you are ready, take all the pins out and use your fingers to pull apart the curls and comb through them with your fingers. Turn your head upside to lightly spray the curls, but believe me when I say that they will stay very well on their own without any product. Just make sure you have your hair parted and arranged the way you want before you do spray them with anything.