Robert Pattinson thinks he has an ''old-fashioned'' body because the 1930s clothes he wore in 'Water for Elephants' fitted him so well.
Robert Pattinson thinks he has an "old-fashioned" body.
The 24-year-old actor jumped at the chance to play a young vet opposite Reese Witherspoon in 'Water for Elephants' because he has always wanted to star in a 1930s film, and was astonished at how well he suited the costumes.
He told more! magazine: "I always wanted to do a movie that was set in the 1930s as I love the clothes they wore. And then this came along.
I must have an old-fashioned body or something, as the clothes suited me better than regular ones.
"The wardrobe was amazing - all authentic stuff - and everything I tried on fitted perfectly.
"I must have an old-fashioned body or something, as the clothes suited me better than regular ones."
Robert also enjoyed working with Reese - who won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as June Carter in 2005's Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk The Line'- and was delighted by how supportive she was.
He said: "When you meet people who have won an Oscar, you think they're going to be off in their own little world, but Reese was incredibly kind and supportive."
Angelenos will join thousands from around the world on Monday in Poland for the international March of the Living to commemorate the loss of millions of Jews in Nazi death camps during World War II.
The annual event draws an estimated 10,000 people who march from Auschwitz to other Nazi-era concentration camps.
Eight Holocaust survivors and 22 staff people will accompany some 180 area teens to the event. They'll meet up with delegations from more than 30 other nations, then travel on to Jerusalem for Israel's Memorial and Independence Day commemorations.
"It's a very powerful teaching tool because, ultimately, you're touching the past and the future," said Monise Neumann, director of the L.A. March of the Living contingent for Builders of Jewish Education, which organizes the local effort.
"It's not only about honoring the people who were murdered. It's also a celebration of life. We go to Poland to remember not only how 6 million people died, but how they lived as well."
The marchers, who flew to Europe early Wednesday morning, are in the midst of a full week of activities that include meetings with Polish teens and members of that country's Jewish community, righteous Gentiles who helped Jews escape the Nazis, and visits to survivors' hometowns and historical sites in the cities of Krakow and Lodz.
They'll also, of course, be interacting with contemporaries from all over the world, mostly Jewish but also from a
variety of other backgrounds. Hungary and Austria - which supported Germany during Adolf Hitler's genocidal spree - are sending busloads of high school students, and a delegation is even coming from China.
Among the most valuable experiences for those on the march - which is open 10th- thru 12th-graders, but mostly consists of high school seniors - is spending time with the dwindling number of Holocaust survivors who act as guides for the trip.
Sidonia Lax of Sherman Oaks is making her fifth March of the Living this year. Now 84, she was a self-described "rotten spoiled only child" in Eastern Poland when the Germans invaded. Her parents were killed in the Lvov ghetto, and she survived Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and four labor camps in Germany before escaping during an Allied bombing raid days before the war ended.
By 1946, Lax was living in Southern California with an uncle she hadn't known existed before the war. She attended USC and UCLA, and ran a successful garment business with her husband. She has three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and says they all see each other once a week.
Lax embarked on her first March of the Living in 2007 with her grandson Joey Boujo. She wanted to show him the wooden slats that passed for her bed in the concentration camp.
"As much as he heard my story, how I survived but lost my whole family and all that, until I brought him to Auschwitz, it didn't click," Lax noted. "Education, you have to touch before you teach, and the whole march is about touching history."
Lax continued to apply a tactile, personal approach to subsequent journies.
"I wrestle my hands with the kids and I sit on the floor with them and we sing and we talk 'til 12 o'clock at night," she said. "They pay attention."
To prepare for this trip, the petite, firm-gripping Lax worked out with a trainer and hit the treadmill.
"I try very hard to keep my body going because over there we march miles, climb mountains, all kinds of stuff," Lax cheerfully explained. "We're on and off the bus every single day, with a 50-pound bag. The kids always offer to carry it, but many times they forget or they're busy, so you do it yourself. It's not easy at all.
"As long as there's music in my body, though, I will do it because I feel that the children gain so much," she added.
Jordan Grant tried to curb her expectations before she left, but had little doubt she'd gain quite a bit from participating in the march. The New Community Jewish High School senior is in Poland now, and plans to celebrate her 18th birthday in Israel next Sunday.
"I'm very close to my grandmother, who is a survivor," the Northridge teenager said. "I've been hearing stories, more and more detailed, as I've grown up. As long as I've known about the program, it felt like an obligation for both my parents and I to send me on this trip.
"I'm really looking forward to being in the place where my grandma was, especially because her experience has been so impactful on my Judaism," Grant added. "I value my Judaism so much because I realize how rare it is to be able to express it so openly."
Before she was accepted into the program Grant, like all teenage applicants, had to pass a maturity level interview and sign a contract governing the marchers' behavior while overseas.
"It was more of a `this-is-what-you're-getting-yourself-into' conversation than an interview," Grant explained. "The whole process of applying is having an understanding that this is not a vacation, this is not a trip, this is not an excuse to miss five days of school. This is a responsibility, in a sense, and you have a job to fulfill something when you go on this trip.
"You don't get to be a bystander, you have to be an upstander. You have to listen, you have to take it in."
Neumann pointed out that the New York-based March organization provides 24/7 security and medical care during the two weeks abroad, plus all hotels, transportation and kosher meals.
The program is open to all Jewish teens. It costs about $6,000 to go, and some financial assistance is available for those who cannot afford it. Application deadline for next year's march is in December, 2011. To apply and for more information, go to www.bjela.org.
Bear in mind, too, that this opportunity won't be available in its present form for many more years.
"When I first came to America, nobody wanted to hear our survivor stories," Lax said in her irony-informed, Slavic accent. "`Oh, don't tell me, I don't want to have a heart attack." Today, all of a sudden, we've become heroes - because we are dying out.
"I recently talked to two students who were in the march a couple of years ago," she added. "They said when they have a problem today, they say `What am I complaining about? Sidonia was on a death march with no shoes, no food, nothing.'
"It is traumatic; as many times as I talk about it, it hurts. But it helps the kids psychologically, to improve the way they cope. And that's the most important thing."
If You Go:
What: Community Wide Holocaust Remembrance Day: Diaries from the Holocaust will be part of the ceremony at 2:45 p.m. Sunday at the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument, north end of Pan Pacific Park between Beverly Boulevard and Third Street. Information at 310-821-9919 or 310-280-5010.
Prince William's father, Prince Charles joked about his bald patch at his wedding reception yesterday (29.04.11).
Prince William's father joked about his bald patch at his wedding reception yesterday (29.04.11).
Prince Charles made a speech in which he also paid tribute to William's bride, Kate Middleton �?? now the Duchess of Cambridge �?? welcoming her into the family.
Kate's ex-school headmaster Dr Bob Acheson told The Sun newspaper: "He said he was very lucky to have a daughter-in-law like Kate."
Also as part of the speech, Charles �?? who himself has a prominent bald patch �?? made jokes at his son's expense.
He said he was very lucky to have a daughter-in-law like Kate.
One guest recalled: "He joked about his own bald patch and his son's thinning hair, saying it must be hereditary.
"Everyone found it funny, even William and Kate."
The most eagerly awaited speech of the day, however, was that delivered by the best man, William's brother, Prince Harry, who is well known among the royal family for his sense of humour.
A wedding guest and friend of the 26-year-old royal told website US Weekly: "Harry was brilliant. We all wished he could have just carried on. It was perfect.
"But he was the model brother and said all the things he needed to say. It was perfect. He was a dude."
The reception was held at London's Buckingham Palace after the couple's wedding at nearby Westminster Abbey, and saw some 300 guests enjoy both an eight-tier wedding cake and a chocolate biscuit cake - a favourite of William's prepared at his special request - then party until the early hours of this morning (30.04.11).
In the introduction to Reconsidering Jane Jacobs, a new book from the American Planning Association, co-editor Max Page writes that the book "is less about Jane Jacobs as an individual than about 'Jane Jacobs' as the shorthand for a set of ideas and planning practices that have spread around the world over the past half century, some of which the individual named Jane Jacobs might not have recognized as her own."
It is wise for Page to acknowledge that 50 years after publication of The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs is as much an icon -- and one with a mirrored surface -- as she was a flesh-and-blood writer about cities, but acknowledging this fact begs a big question, a question that lies at the heart of this stimulating book.
If Jacobs might not recognize "ideas and planning practices" that her name has come to symbolize, then what are those ideas and practices, and who decides what they are, and for whom?
For example: in an essay in the book about the impact of Jacobs' work in rapidly urbanizing China, city planner Nathan Cherry writes, after describing several large-scale, convulsive redevelopment projects in China that he has worked on, that "if she came to China with me and saw these projects I described, in all their complexity, I am sure Jane Jacobs would understand that the good in large-scale planning is not necessarily outweighed by the bad."
What Jacobs wrote is fixed on the printed page; but what she "stands for" is in flux.
What's being built in China would make Robert Moses proud -- and for "good" reasons more than bad -- but do any planners spend their time wondering (and hoping) whether he would "understand" their work?
That Jacobs became mythic, or even sacred, an icon who absorbs whatever believers project onto her image, was hardly her fault. That anyone laboring in the urban vineyard must have a "personal relationship" with Jacobs is a tribute not only to the parables she constructed on Hudson Street, but also to the quality of her values. People can believe they serve those values, believe they are Jacobsians, independent of how their actions compare to how she wanted people to act.
A lot has been written about Jacobs, but what in particular makes Reconsidering Jane Jacobs exceptional is that the editors, Page and Timothy Mennel, take a broad view of what Jane Jacobs, icon or individual, was about. This is (mostly) not a book about planning so much as it is a book about culture, and I mean "culture" in both senses of the word.
The book contains six major essays. The first three provide biographical background for and literary analysis of Jacobs' work, while the second three express, in various forms and to varying degrees, criticisms of not so much her work but of the impact the work has had.
The first essay, by Peter Laurence, who teaches architecture at Clemson University, is about Jacobs' education and her work before she wrote Death and Life. Laurence's objective is to show that contrary to legend, Jacobs was not an amateur. Nor was she entirely self-educated, having studied geography at Columbia in the '30s (although not completing a degree). (At Columbia Jacobs read the work of historian Henri Pirenne on the role of cities in the medieval rebirth of Europe, and his work influenced the ideas she developed later.)
By the mid-'50s Jacobs was considered one of the more knowledgeable and important writers on urban issues. It was no surprise that she was a participant at the inaugural urban design conference at Harvard in 1956, and her stature enabled her to receive funding from the Rockefeller Foundation to write Death and Life. According to Laurence, when Jacobs started writing about cities in the '50s she was "with the program" when it came to urban renewal, and that one motivation for writing Death and Life was her personal sense of guilt for having believed the logic of planning theory without comparing it to the logic of real life.
In another essay, this one about Jacobs' literary craft, Jamin Creed Rowan, who teaches English at BYU, makes a wonderful argument that the power of Jacobs' prose comes from her connection to the tradition of hard-boiled urban writing, epitomized by tabloid newspapers and detective fiction. In Rowan's view, Jacobs plays "the part of the hard-boiled detective, [uncovering] the sprawling network of urban renewal's corrupt order ... In Jacobs's telling, urban planners exert the same type of menacing influence over city dwellers as Eddie Mars exercises over the Los Angelenos that populate Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep."
In the third essay, Richard Harris, a professor of geography at McMaster University, examines Jacobs' work and her methods as they relate to traditional scholarship.
Interspersed in the book among the six major essays are accounts of the impact of Jacobs' thought internationally, with reports from Australia, Argentina, Holland, Abu Dhabi, and China. For me, the cumulative impact of these pieces is a realization that "Jane Jacobs" does not travel well. The more I read about the transmission and transmutation of Jacobs' thinking to foreign climes the more it became apparent that the postwar challenges to the great American cities, about which Jacobs wrote so evocatively, were quite specific.
I will write about the three critical essays in a subsequent post.
Reconsidering Jane Jacobs, edited by Max Page and Timothy Mennel, published by American Planning Association/Planners Press.
Frank Gruber writes a weekly column on local politics, which often involve land use issues, for the Santa Monica Lookout News, a news website. His first book, Urban Worrier: Making Politics Personal, was published by City Image Press.
Hip-hop and screen star Ice-T has just published a memoir, 'Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption - from South Central to Hollywood.' In it he writes honestly about his time as a successful thief and hustler to controversial rapper to beloved actor as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola on 'Law & Order: SVU.' It's a fascinating tale of redemption and quite unexpectedly romantic as the real-life Tracy Morrow waxes about his wife of ten years, Coco. The two will soon be starring in their own reality show, 'Ice Loves Coco,' that starts in July. Ice talked to PopEater about that and the book in a lighthearted interview that turns sugar-sweet when talking about why he's got such a solid marriage.
"Oh no, she's out of her mind. She looks like a superhero. She's a doll," he says, later adding, "I really admire my wife. I think she's the best and I love everything she does and we admire each other."
First of all tell me about the reality show. Ha! That's where you want to start? It's a little show we've been working on. We kind of went against reality shows. They've been after us for a long time, they begged us, they pleaded with us. We said that we'd do something on our terms. It's called 'Ice Loves Coco.' It's a fun show. It's a show about our life and how Coco runs my life. It's done in good taste and nobody's fighting. It comes out June 12 on E! after the Kardashians.
So there's no deep dark secret that will be revealed on the show? None of that. I'm kind of goofy and so is Coco. That's the only secret.
How is Ice-T goofy? People listen to my music and in my music I'm always serious. It's kind of like if you met Clint Eastwood you wouldn't think he jokes because all his movies are so hard and the guy I play on 'Law & Order' is pretty hard but I can have fun. My wife is crazy so you're going to see how we get along.
Your wife does look like she could be a cartoon character. Oh no, she's out of her mind. She looks like a superhero. She's a doll. We've been married ten great years. If you watch reality TV you'd believe there's not a happy woman on earth. That's a lie. You don't necessarily have to show all that negativity to keep people watching. I believe there's an audience out there that just wants to see people have fun.
So you're here to tell me that Ice-T likes a good fart joke? I love a good fart joke. If you go to Twitter, you'll see I talk about farts and all kinds of good stuff.
What is the secret to a happy marriage? First you've got to marry the right person. There's a saying when a woman finds a man it's the right time, when a man hits the right time he'll find the right woman. I think with men it's more about us sowing our wild oats, getting to that point, another thing they say is a woman marries a man hoping to change him and we marry you hoping you'll stay the same. So you've got to get around those two things. Also admiration. I really admire my wife. I think she's the best and I love everything she does and we admire each other. Admiration is way different than love. You can love somebody and still think they're beneath you.
Your entire career was inspired by a sergeant in the army calling you a loser. Absolutely. I had gotten my girlfriend pregnant and my daughter was a baby and I was trying to do the right thing and get off the streets and the sergeant said to me one day, 'You're here because you cannot make it in civilian life.' Sometimes things like that cut so close and I was dead set on a mission to prove him wrong. I didn't want to stay in there forever and when I would have bad moments I would hear him say that. Sometimes a little negative comment might trigger you so that's what triggered me.
Does it bug you hearing nerdy white people use rap terms? It doesn't really bother me. It bothers me when people use it incorrectly. I think the one that bothers me the most is when people use the word wack but they spell it with an h.
You were part of a robbery crew but you hated stealing. It's not that I didn't like it, it's that I hated the risk. So therefore during it I wanted to take it all. It was like, I don't like doing this so if we gotta do this let's just rob them blind. (Laughs). Every time I did something I was trying to retire, now some people like it, they're there for the fun and excitement of it. I knew that when you did it your days were numbered in the low digits. At the end of this story all my friends went to prison, a lot of them are still in for life. I was very fortunate because I detoured off that road and went into rap. I think in the book I don't make it seem like I was smarter, opportunities just happened and something in my mind said, 'Go this way.' My plan was never to go be on network television. I mean come on, how far fetched is that?
Don't you think it's ironic the guy who wrote 'Cop Killer' plays a cop on TV? It bothers more people that it bothers me. (Laughs). The thing of it was, 'Cop Killer' was a character too. I was singing as somebody. That wasn't me, that was a character I created. It is kind of ironic at the end of the day. I tell people I have no allegiance to crime. When I was breaking the law the cops were the opponent, they weren't somebody I hated. I just thought I could outsmart them. If there's anything I hate it's racist people, that's just a a piece of shit human being.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 09: Model Coco and rapper/actor Iced T attend the Richie Rich Spring 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Studio at Lincoln Center on September 9, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for IMG) *** Local Caption *** Iced T;Coco
Getty Images for IMG
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NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 28: Coco and Ice-T attend the TFI Special Legacy Celebration Quincy Jones Tribute At The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival at Hiro Ballroom at The Maritime Hotel on April 28, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 28: Coco and Ice-T attend the TFI Special Legacy Celebration Quincy Jones Tribute At The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival at Hiro Ballroom at The Maritime Hotel on April 28, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Dario Cantatore/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 01: Ice-T and Coco attend Coco's Birthday Bash at Nikki Beach on April 1, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Mack/WireImage)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 01: Musician Ice-T attends Coco's Birthday Bash at Nikki Beach on April 1, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Marc Stamas/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 01: Musician Ice-T and Coco attend Coco's Birthday Bash at Nikki Beach on April 1, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Marc Stamas/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
Ice-T, right, and Nicole "CoCo" Austin arrive to the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in New York, Wednesday, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Katy Perry shows fans what she’s really about in a new behind-the-scenes video from her California Dreams Arena Tour 2011. The five-minute clip incorporates footage from several UK dates, as well as interviews with her dancers and DJ. The video gives fans an all-access pass to Perry’s touring life, including glimpses of her meet-and-greets, wardrobe [...]
LOS ANGELES � Defense attorneys for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death have asked a judge to delay the trial so they can prepare for newly named prosecution witnesses.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor did not immediately rule on the oral motion made Friday but instructed attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray to file a formal motion by Sunday afternoon.
Pastor set a hearing for Monday to decide whether to delay the case just two days before jury selection was scheduled to resume and a week before opening statements were expected.
Murray's defense attorney Ed Chernoff told Pastor the Houston-based cardiologist had agreed to a delay.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
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Charlie Sheen has blasted ?Two and a Half Men? creator Chuck Lorre in a letter after hearing of plans to relaunch the show without him.
Chuck Lorre plans on taking the ?Two and a Half Men? television show in a new direction, one that does not include troubled actor Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen has lashed out at Lorre in a letter.
The letter reads:
?My fans may tune in for a minute, but at the end of the day, no one cares about your feeble show without me. Shame on you? A narcissist. A coward. A loser. A spineless rat. I?m out here with my fans every night (on my tour). The message is crystal clear; no Charlie Sheen. No show.
And that?s exactly what it will be for you? every Monday night, a no-show.
The ratings right now are not a fluke. It?s a big fat mess. A 2.0 demo? That sucks. Almost as bad as you. You?ve been warned ? no one cares about your feeble show without me. Shame on you. Not even a phone call to the man that put you on the map. The man that put 500 million dollars in your pockets.?
You?ve been warned. Reap the whirl-wind you cockroach, reap it.?
Whoah! Now don?t hold back Charlie!� What do you think of Charlie?s letter?
Singer/actress Jennifer Hudson poses at the amfAR Inspiration Gala Sao Paulo on Thursday night (April 28) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She also performed at the charity event. ( Photos: GETTY IMAGES )
Cy Waits, Paris Hilton's boyfriend, was attacked by stalker James Rainford outside of court.
Maybe next time, he'll keep his hands to himself.
The man who smacked Paris Hilton's boyfriend, Cy Waits, in the back of the head pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery Thursday and will spend 227 days in jail.
With reporters and paparazzi watching on Wednesday, James Rainford appeared to try to grab Waits when he walked past.
The couple's security team immediately intervened.
Hilton was headed to court with Waits to testify against Nathan Parada -- a man who Waits pulled a gun on after he threatened Hilton last August.
Rainford has had previous run-ins with the socialite's security.
Last year, he pleaded no contest to civil assault after he tried to enter Hilton's home in October 2010. He was sentenced to 20 days of community service and three years' probation.
Once he's released from the slammer, Rainford will still be on three years' informal probation and ordered to stay away from Waits.
Hilton's bodyguard restrained Rainford until his arrest. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
It has been a busy 24 hours for Rihanna. It all began last night when she was honored for her continued support of charities fighting leukemia at a gala event in New York City. The singer was feted at the fifth annual DKMS Linked Against Leukemia event, which took place at Cipriani Wall Street on April 28.
Riri joined an all-star cast of celebrity guests at the event including Pharrell, Mary J. Blige, Eva Mendes and Leighton Meester.
PHOTOS: Rihanna, Chord Overstreet, Joe Jonas & More Party At Coachella
DKMS is the world?s largest bone marrow transplant center. ?Anyone can be affected by leukemia. It is the number one disease children in the U.S. die of and we can change that. I encourage people to become bone marrow donors with DKMS. If we have more donors, we can save more lives,? Rihanna said in a statement.
Then today the singer was spotted running a few errands in New York City, then it was off to Macy?s Herald Square for her Reb?l Fleur fragrance launch.
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Websites around the world worked themselves into various states of digital frenzy over Kate and William's jumping the broom Friday.
British tabloid The Sun had a little fun with their headline online this morning.
British tabloid The Sun had a little fun with their headline online this morning.
Not that it's any surprise, but the U.K. media sites shone brightest. A bit more surprising was which end of that media spectrum: Just as no one throws a royal wedding better than the British upper-class, nobody mixes dishy gossip with sentimental hokum better than the lowbrow British tabloids. Their exploitation of Princess Di? who many believe was chased to her death by the paparazzi ? was all forgotten in the day's glow.
At least for today, her Wills and Harry were the kingdom's beloved hometown boys. The Mirror (mirror.co.uk), The Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk) and The Sun (thesun.co.uk) made you tear up looking at Di's little sons, all grown-up and so handsome. Then they made you laugh with headlines like "Weddy, steady, go!" a couple hours before the ceremony.
Again less than surprisingly, The Irish Times (irishtimes.com) took a more restrained and disapproving tone, discussing the "display of monarchist pomp and pageantry." Its focus wasn't hats but history: "A series of scandals involving senior royals, Britain's economic difficulties and Diana's death in 1997 aged 36 in a car crash after her divorce from Prince Charles led many to question the future of an institution rooted in the imperial past."
Many readers' posts on The Times of India website (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) made it crystal-clear that the Irish are not alone in recalling the glory days of the British Empire far less fondly than the folks back home. And down under, Australian Geoffrey Robertson in TheSydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) begins a piece with "It's incredible that this mediaeval nonsense still applies in Australia" ? referring to the British monarchy. Then he starts quoting American revolutionary Thomas Paine.
Back in the USA, Kate 'n' Will coverage ranged from fawning to moderate to entertainingly snarky. Major American media, including NYTimes.com and CNN.com, trod the middle ground as if they were wearing the Queen's sensible shoes. They covered the royal nuptials completely, but without going gaga or posting banner headlines. Their coverage was meat and potatoes (or, more appropriately, shepherd's pie). For People.com, however, it looked more like its bread-and-butter, taking its slogan " Everything Royals" seriously. While lots of sites posted photos of the wedding (and annoying video clips that took forever to load), People went into total royal image overload.
The Huffington Post played both sides. On one hand, they posted such factoids as "85 percent of more than 15,000 respondents to a Huff Post Facebook poll said they don't care about the royal wedding," followed by breathless breaking-news alerts like "Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress & Designer REVEALED!"
And for the hard-hearted cynics left behind by TV commentators caught up in the royal rapture ("Your passport, Ms. Walters!"), snarky blogs such as Gawker.com offered a change of pace by pointing out that Prince William might be charming ? but why no Rogaine for his bald spot?
In the end, the British tabloid Sun put it best: "What a Kate Day!"
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Prince William and his wife have left Buckingham Palace for a short break at Clarence House before returning for the evening reception tonight (29.04.11).
Prince William and his new bride left Buckingham Palace in a vintage Aston Martin after their wedding reception.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge thrilled onlookers as they departed the palace for a short break at Clarence House before they will return for their evening reception hosted by William's father Prince Charles later today (29.04.11).
William drove the low key couple the short distance to Charles' residence at Clarence House, in a car decorated with balloons and a license place reading 'Just Wed'.
Prince Harry, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall have also left Buckingham Palace for Clarence House.
After the bride and groom shared two kisses on the balcony of Buckingham Palace earlier today -where excited revellers shouted "We want Kate. We want Kate" - they attended a reception thrown by Queen Elizabeth for 650 guests.
However, the day has not gone entirely smoothly as a nervous William appeared to have trouble slipping the wedding ring on to Kate's finger as they exchanged vows in Westminster Abbey earlier today, although the bride -stunning in Alexander McQueen - didn't appear to mind.
Over one million people have lined the streets of London today to help celebrate the nuptials of the royal couple.
Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen has finally been revealed as the designer of Kate Middleton's wedding dress.
Kate Middleton's wedding dress was designed by Sarah Burton.
The Alexander McQueen designer created the ivory gown with lace applique floral detailing and a 2.7 metre train, as well as Kate's ivory duchesse satin and lace shoes.
The skirt was handmade by the royal school of needlework at Hampton Court.
The lace design was hand-engineered using Carickmacross lace making techniques developed in Ireland in the 1820s.
The individual flowers - thistles, roses, daffodils and shamrocks - were hand-cut from Chantilly lace and engineered onto ivory silk tulle.
Kate wore a diamond Cartier tiara - loaned by Queen Elizabeth - and long veil with her hair pinned up at the front, flowing into soft curls at the back.
Her earrings, diamond-set stylised oak leaves designed by Robinson Pelham, were a gift from parents Michael and Carole.
The bride-to-be kept her flowing gown virtually hidden as she made her way to Westminster Abbey, with only parts of her flowing train visible as she and her father Michael Middleton got into their car to travel to her wedding.
William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth wore an Angela Kelly primrose dress with hand-sewn beading and matching hait, accessorised with Queen Mary's true lovers knot brooch.
Kate's mother Carole Middleton was a hit in the fashion stakes, wearing a Catherine Walker-designed sky blue wool crepe coat dress with satin piping and Jane Corbett hat.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall teamed her Anne Valentine champagne blue silk dress and hand-embroidered coat with an eye-catching Philip Treacy hat and bronze Jimmy Choo shoes.
In total, the milliner designed hats for 35 members of the royal families, including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Queen Anna-Marie of Greece and Princess Mathilde of Belgium.
With all of the gossip sites and rag mags it seems that there is an epidemic of mis-information all in the sake of having a cover story. Katie Holmes went after Star magazine regarding a story where they claimed she was addicted to drugs. She sued for $50 million dollars, and she’s not the only [...]
Holding aloft a sign that could also be read scandalously (ask your local Anglophile, folks), London electrician Danny Wilson, 23, insists he made the banner as a tribute and not a joke.
"OK, yes, I'll admit me and me mate painted it while we were drunk, but our sentiments were true," Wilson says with a chuckle. "Kate really does love Willy, and that's a beautiful thing."
As apparently is the sign; Wilson was literally hounded by partiers wanting to be photographed with him as he made his rounds of the Hyde Park post-wedding party. When he finally put the sign down, he groaned and rubbed his sore biceps.
W hy bother?
"For me there will never be another royal like Diana," says Wilson. "She was so beautiful, so generous to charities, always with a smile. But at least with Kate and Will you have a new fresh face for the royals, just the way Diana was when she married into the family. Maybe this couple will have that same magic. I can only hope."
See photos of: Royal Wedding
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Richie Sambora is planning to check into a rehab facility to deal with his drinking problem.
Bon Jovi rocker Richie Sambora, 52, has decided to seek treatment for his drinking problems as well as exhaustion.
The band has been touring and the stress has taken its toll on the rocker.
Sambora spent a month in the Cirque Lodge rehab center in 2007 after his divorce from actress Heather Locklear.
?Richie recently has been drinking too much and wants to get his life together,? a source revealed to RadarOnline.
Sambora?s pal said, ?I think this was a culmination of all the things that overloaded his life, and finally he realized he needed to take care of himself.?
Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester looked radiant in a beige sleeveless top and a floral-print, calf-length skirt, both by Vera Wang.
The actress joined the designer today at the Empire State Building, which was illuminated in red and white to raise awareness for DKMS, the world?s largest bone marrow donor center.
PHOTOS: Leighton Meester Working Up A Sweat
?I am glad to join Katharina (Harf, COO of DKMS), Bernd (Beetz, CEO of Coty Inc. and the Gala?s Honorary Chairman), and Vera in their fight against leukemia and to celebrate the 5th Annual DKMS Gala,? said Leighton Meester. ?The Empire State Building will shine red and white tonight to honor the thousands of patients awaiting life-saving bone marrow transplants and inspire anyone eligible to get swabbed with DKMS and save a life!?
Such a great cause! If you enjoyed these photos, make sure to share them by using the social bookmarking buttons below! Please follow us on Facebook on Twitter and Tumblr.
Beyonce has partnered up with Michelle Obama?s initiative to fight childhood obesity with a new music video ?Move Your Body.?� B gets kids in a school cafeteria off their tushies to do a series of moves to the tune,� a revamp of ?Get Me Bodied,? off her 2006 album, B?Day.
PHOTOS: Stars Come Out For The White House Easter Egg Roll
The video will be showcased in schools around the country on May 3rd and features Beyonce in a somewhat inappropriate ensemble-denim hotpants, lime green knee socks and stilettos.� Really, B?� This is supposed to be a family video.
According to the Daily Mail, Beyonce said, ?It?s all about the benefits of healthy eating and exercise and what we want to do is make it fun by doing something we all like to do and that?s dance.?
Beyonce spent some time last week in Paris to celebrate her third wedding anniversary with hubby Jay-Z.
Check out the video after the jump.� Did it get you moving?
They're two of the hottest young celebs, which makes it hard for Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to ever find moment for each other. However, the teens recently found just long enough of a break to sneak away on a romantic getaway!
Justin is currently globe-trotting on his world-wide tour, but that didn't stop Selena from hopping a plane to Malaysia to meet her beau as soon as her scheduled allowed for it.
The 18-year-old finally reunited with her pop star boyfriend after more than a month of strictly Skype and text communication with one another.
The pair made the most of what little time they had together, staying in Indonesia for a few days before jetting off to the island Bali where they could dodge the ever-present paparazzi.
Treating himself to a little weekday relaxation, Alexander Skarsgard was spotted out at Joan's On Third in Los Angeles on Thursday (April 28).
The "True Blood" stud showed off his toned physique in a tight black t-shirt and jeans as he chatted on his phone prior to the midday chowdown.
Meanwhile, Alex is gearing up to premiere his new movie "Melancholia" at the Cannes Film Festival in just a few short weeks.
Co-starring Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland, the Lars von Trier directed picture is about "two sisters who find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth."
Meredith Vieira will be leaving her position as co-host of NBC's 'The Today Show,' according to the Hollywood Reporter. The news veteran will step down in June--almost three months before the end of her contract.
Ann Curry will take Vieira's place as co-host and Natalie Morales will replace Curry as newsreader. An official announcement could come as early as next week.
Vieira is apparently "beloved" by the 'Today' cast and crew, but a combination of long, tiring hours and personal struggles (her husband is battling multiple sclerosis and cancer) are likely the reason she's leaving. Vieira would only sign a one-year deal when her contract expired last year, and has been open about her husband's health problems.
Vieira joined Matt Lauer as co-host of 'Today' in 2006. After her arrival, the duo helped the show stay the top-rated morning news show for more than 800 weeks. The show is one of NBC's most important, pulling in more than half a billion dollars in ad revenue last year.
What could possibly compliment the very special engagement ring that Prince William has already given Kate Middleton?
A wedding band of Welsh gold, of course. Kate's wedding band was created by Wartski from a piece of such gold that was given to Prince William by Queen Elizabeth shortly after his engagement, according to a palace spokesperson.�
Wartski, a family jewelry business, have a history of creating rings for the royal family. They made wedding bands ? also of Welsh gold ? for The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles for their wedding in 2005.
Best Man Prince Harry will be entrusted with carrying the precious ring to Westminster Abbey on Friday.
There will only be one ring as�Prince William has decided to forgo wearing a wedding band.
It's a werewolf! It's a man! It's...Taylor Lautner running in the rain!
Tanned, toned and barefoot, Taylor gives us his best Jacob in this new pic from Breaking Dawn.
Rack your Twi-hard brains and see if you know which part of the new flick this scene could be from...
PHOTOS: Before They Were Vampires
There are a few theories floating around!
The most likely of which being that this is Jacob's reaction after being invited to Edward and Bella's wedding. The pic definitely looks like it could be Jacob running in the rain heartbroken while clutching Bella and Edward's wedding invitation.
Even the sky is crying for him!
Another possibility is this could be when Bella drops off the paperwork for Jacob and Renesmee explaining what would happen if something were to occur to her and Edward. And evidently he is not too happy about it.
Why do you think Jacob is willing to get that perfectly gelled hair of his wet in this still from the flick?
And this is just one of many new Breaking Dawn photos in Entertainment Weekly out tomorrow! Which pic do you think is hotter of Lautner: the rain action shot or this cover keeper?
Next time, Taylor, let's get this same pic but with your shirt off!
WATCH: Taylor Lautner at the Eclipse premiere
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Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage; Jon Furniss/WireImage
She's been engaged to Matthew Bellamy for a week already, but Kate Hudson is still brimming with joy.
"They're so happy and excited," a pal of Hudson's tells PEOPLE. "She's ecstatic!"
Hudson and Bellamy, who are expecting a child together this summer, are in no rush to head down the aisle. For now, they're relishing in their engagement bliss.
"They're madly in love," says her pal.
The pair, both 32, began dating in April 2010 shortly after Hudson met the Muse singer at the Coachella Music Festival.
So what does Hudson, who is also mom to her son with Chris Robinson, 7-year-old Ryder, adore so much about her new fianc�?
"I love that Matthew knows how to express himself," she told InStyle recently. "He shows his love. He communicates."
When you work for the TSA, you know that danger lurks around every corner, and the enemy could be literally anyone. So when they saw international superstar Rihanna at LAX yesterday, in line with a coven of witches, an unattended pit bull with blood around it?s mouth, a skinhead wearing this shirt, a guy from Pakistan in a dirty robe and knit cap sweating profusely and muttering prayers in Arabic, they knew they were all equally suspicious. So they stopped Rihanna, pulled her aside and gave her a body scan.
She didn?t have any throwing stars under her bra or a shotgun taped to her leg this time, but fear never sleeps, and neither will the TSA.
Posted by ILookFlyChick�-�Tuesday April 26, 2011 23:44
Rob Pattinson; Reach Out
hey loves! this is my new vid about ROB! (L) Gosh, what can i say about him? He?s ALL Is soooo awesome in all the ways, and i love him! I can?t wait until watch Remember Me cuz i think Tyler is the best character that Rob did ever.. Well, i hope you like the video guys, i really like it. Also, i want dedicate it to my Tylerobssesed: Ido (L) and to my Dominicobssesed: Bel�n! haha! Love ya sweeties!! enjoy! Luu. ~VIDEO: CELEBRITY: Rob Pattinson SONG: Reach Out by Hilary Duff TIMETAKEN: 3 hours 32 minutes TIME RENDER: 23 minutes EDITED BY: Luci (LuCiiJB) ~ INTRO: CELEBRITY: Rob Pattinson SONG: Pump It by Black Eyed Peas Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com Backup Account: www.youtube.com Collabs Accounts: www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com Got Dynamite Series Account: www.youtube.com What do you think? Rate and comment PLEASE! I need opinions nn Do you like ALL my videos? Subscribe! � 2010 LuCiiJB Productions , LLC ?Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for ?fair use? for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.? Honors for this video (20) Honors for this video (20) #30 ? Most Discussed (Today)) ? Spain #92 ? Most Discussed (Today)) ? Film & Animation #2 ? Most Discussed (Today)) ? Film & Animation ? Spain #12 ?
Construction crews broke ground Wednesday on another segment of the carpool lane on the Golden State Freeway, this time in Burbank.
The $57.8 million project will create a high-occupancy vehicle lane along the 5 Freeway between the Ventura Freeway and Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, a segment of 2.7 miles in each direction, according to county Supervisor Michael Antonovich.
He added the project should be completed by late 2014, and should include soundwalls.
The plan is to eventually have the I-5 carpool lane stretch from the 14 to the 134 freeways, according to Antonovich transportation deputy Michael Cano.
To date, the segment between the 14 and 118 freeways is already complete, but the segment between the 118 and 170 freeways has yet to begin construction, Cano said.
He added that work on the carpool lane between the 170 freeway to Buena Vista Street began last month. Wednesday's ceremony was for a project to extend the carpool lane from Magnolia to the 134 freeway.
A "direct connector" between the 5 and 14 freeways should be completed this summer, Cano said. Antonovich intends to propose creating another direct connector between the 5 and 134 freeways.
Posted by ILookFlyChick�-�Tuesday April 26, 2011 07:49
Comedy Show Jay Hind! Episode 12 : New Goddess Mayawati
This episode is dedicated to Mayawati or rather her new stature as Devi Mayawati as painted by a UP painter. But that?s just the beginning! we have an expose of the Swiss Bank modus operandi , Chetan Bhagat and his quote on Ekta Kapoor and in Boothnath ? People?s reaction to Soniaji?s Austerity measures. Segment 1: Jay Devi Mayawati Painter Mahesh Tripathi has painted awesome new stuff which show Mayawati?s various Divine Avatars. Fantastic says, Sumeet ? thank you for giving us this God sent opportunity to sing Mayawati?s praises. Ah sorry ? the praises are in our own Jay Hind! Style ? is that a problem? hahahah:) Segment 2 : Beware of Swiss Banks How do swiss banks con you? As usual Sumeet has the answers plus an investigation into the world of Wrestle Mania! Hilarious! Segment 3 : Ekta Kapoor, Chetan Bhagat and Shakespeare Chetan Bhagat has called Shakespeare the Ekta Kapoor of his time. Sumeet tries to find that really obvious similarity between the two. Can you see it coming? We bet you can?t ))) Bloody Funny! plus Rani Mukherjee on the Hadippa controversy. Segment 4: Boothnath on Austerity Measures People go ballistic on our ministers? fake austerity drive. Are you listening Soniaji? Video Rating: 4 / 5
Tyler Perry is adding another series to his TBS belt with ‘For Better or Worse‘. The show will follow the ups-and-downs of married life for Marcus and Angela, two characters who originated in the feature films ‘Why Did I Get … Continue
Sarah Shahi (l.) may have misidentified Paris Hilton as a reckless driver last week.
It was a close call that might not have been so close after all.
Though actress Sarah Shahi strongly accused Paris Hilton of nearly causing a serious car accident last week, the socialite's rep has provided an alibi.
"Paris had just flown in from Las Vegas and was at home with her boyfriend, Cy, at that time," Hilton's spokesperson told the Daily News. "It is a simple case of mistaken identity."
Shahi, 31, had alleged on Twitter that 30-year-old Hilton was the "worst driver ever, "almost hit me, then ran a stop sign."
The "Fairy Legal" star, who also called Hilton a "horrible excuse for a human being" and an "irresponsible person" with "a lame existence," said she was particularly "pissed" because she's a mom.
"what if there was a kid around that corner, you dumb b---h," Shahi tweeted.
"One more thing blonde piece of sh-t," she added in another tweet. "you're not an elitist just because you have money. You should apologize... To humanity."
But it seems Shahi might be the one who should apologize.
Hilton told "Extra" host Mario Lopez on Tuesday that she was "so shocked" when she saw Shahi's comments, adding that she has "never met this person in my life."
LOOK BACK AT THE BIGGEST CELEBRITY FEUDS
"I wasn't even driving that day. I had just came back from Vegas with my boyfriend and we were at home relaxing," she said, echoing her rep's comments.
"I literally came with a driver from the airport [and] went to my house," she recalled. "Then later on, I read that."
"Maybe it was some other blond girl who looks like me," Hilton suggested.
She pointed out that there are a lot of women in Los Angeles who have made a career out of being "Paris Hilton look-alikes."
"They are always doing things and I'm getting blamed for it," she said. "So this could be another incident like that."
A rep for Shahi has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Pemo Theodore, a Startup Coach & Australian origin online entrepreneur, video interviews venture capitalists & women entrepreneurs on the shortfall in funding for women @EZebis: Winning theVenture Game for Women.
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland. Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience.�
She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.�
In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next Facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to even get to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.�
But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.�
Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
Elaine: That's a very good point.� I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato'
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland http://www.abven.com/team/elaine_coughlan.html Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience. She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
�
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.� In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
�
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to evenget to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.� But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
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Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
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Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.� Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
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Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
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Elaine: That's a very good point.�
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland http://www.abven.com/team/elaine_coughlan.html Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience. She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.� In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to evenget to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.� But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.� Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
Elaine: That's a very good point.� I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato' http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/718
I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato' http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/718
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