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Valentine’s Day In Seventeen Countries

No matter where in the world, love exists. Some celebrations are low-key while others are full-fledged fetes. Let’s look at some of these festivities. Continue reading ›

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2008 02 02 Art of Seduction
Culture Shock
Girlfriends
Japan
Love and Dating
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Italy’s Nude Models Strike

Doing nothing for a living is not as easy as it looks. That was the militant message from Italy yesterday where artists’ nude models climbed back into their clothes and went on strike for better pay and conditions.

The protesters — male and female — said that they wanted “professional recognition” and full-time contracts. Only 50 of about 300 models at Italian art schools are on fixed annual contracts, with the rest hired by the hour.

Antonella Migliorini, 42, said that it was “a tough, cold job” posing in the nude, often for eight hours a day. “We are not porn stars,” she said. “If you’re lucky enough to have a full-time job you might make 25 an hour. Continue reading ›

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2008 01 21 Activism
Arts and Animation
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Mischa Barton Nude In Virgin Territory?

Mischa Barton is best known for playing bad-girl Marissa from The O.C.. But it’s been easy to move on from that character, she says – they were never much alike anyway.

“Even if I was a precocious teenager, it’s a New York vs. L.A. thing. I never experienced the ‘anything goes’ chaos we sold on The O.C.,” the 21-year-old actress says in an interview with January’s Maxim.

“Marissa was a nut case. I didn’t have much in common with her. In New York I’d want to go out at 15 or 16, but I got it out of my system.”

Barton has since moved on to movies, including parts in three upcoming films: St. Trinian’s, Virgin Territory, and Closing the Ring. And while she is clearly a candidate for sultry roles, she’s ambivalent about nude scenes.

“I don’t mind nudity. I just don’t do it that often,” she says. “It depends on the film and if I trust the director and if the context is emotional or just sexual.”

In any case, it seems she needn’t worry about being typecast as a bad girl – she’s reportedly been linked to the title role in none other than Supergirl. “It would be pretty awesome,” she admits. “But everybody in Hollywood goes up for those films. I haven’t been offered anything.”

Virgin Territory is a 2007 romantic comedy film based upon Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. It has also been known under the working titles “The Decameron,” “Angels and Virgins”, “Guilty Pleasures” and “Chasing Temptation”.

The film is set in Italy during the Black Death. A group of young Florentines are in the countryside as they wait for the plague to end in the city. In order to pass the time, they tell one another a series of stories about love and adventure. Rated R for sexual content, nudity and some language.

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2007 12 23 Celebrity Epiphany
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Mafia Boss Arrested While Watching Mafia TV Show

Italian police burst into the room of a suspected Mafia mobster in Sicily and arrested him as he watched a television show about the arrest of a Mafia boss, investigators said Friday.

Police said Michele Catalano was watching the concluding chapter late Thursday of the TV mini-series “The Boss of Bosses,” recounting the arrest in 1993 of real-life Cosa Nostra leader Salvatore “Toto” Riina, when he was detained.They Catalano, 48, was suspected of being a senior commander serving under the latest “boss of bosses” Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who was arrested this month after nearly 25 years on the run.
Catalano faces charges of drug trafficking and extortion.Lo Piccolo had taken over the reins of the Sicilian crime syndicate from Riina’s successor Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested last year after 40 years on the run. The arrests have seriously weakened the Mafia, police say.Politicians and cultural figures criticized Channel 5’s mini-series for portraying Riina as a hero and lobbied its owner Mediaset, belonging to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, to take the final episode off the air. Mediaset declined.

Nicknamed “the Beast” for his brutality, Riina has been convicted on more than 100 counts of murder. – AFP


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2007 11 30 Funny
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Venice – Charming City of Eternal Love

Venice! Oh, Venice! Perhaps, you want to ask me what interesting or new things can I tell you about this city? Of course, nothing! Hope you know much about Venice. Certainly I can’t tell you something interesting. However I want to tell you about my trip to this charming city.

I want to describe my impressions and feelings. Before my journey I knew that Venice is the city that stands on water and it is very popular for its romantic spirit. But I wonder how can the constant smell of dampness create that romantic spirit? Is it possible? Yes, it is possible. During my trip to Venice I understood that I don’t feel that smell at all. I didn’t even notice it.

Everybody knows that Venice is a city of love and for love. The spirit of love doesn’t leave you. You can feel it everywhere. The romantic spirit pursues you when you walk down the San Marco square. When you pass between the left wing of the San Marco Cathedral and the gallery you find yourself in a lagoon.

I was surprised much when I found out that the square is situated in the lowest place of the city. So when the flood starts we can watch the transformation. The square turns into a lake and the people’s movement consists in crossing the wooden floorings.

I fell in love with the Venice coffee and those small cafes. I was impressed by the peaceful conditions and the architecture of the “Florian” and “Quardi” cafes. I enjoyed not only the coffee, but also the felling of peace in my mind and soul.

I sat on the ancient chairs, drank tasty hot coffee and listened to the sounds of the live music. I thought about that amazing thing how many great and famous writers, poets; artists have been here, in Venice.

And, may be, they sat in the same café, on the same chairs drinking the hot coffee and discussing a new play or poem or picture or just talking about their lives or simple sat silent listening to the music. Just like me!

The most popular and classical Venetian boat is gondola, although now gondolas are widely used for tourists or for some ceremonies. It is certainly a very expensive pleasure (you should pay approximately 70 euro for an hour), but it’s worth it. One of the most beautiful Venetian traditions dictates that couples must kiss under every bridge. It looks like a prove for eternal love.

The other amazing and interesting things are the pigeons. They seemed to be domesticated. You have to feed them and they will sit on your shoulders or head and you will feel the heat of their bodies and their heartbeat.

Venetian carnival is one of the most magnetic features of Venice. It is like a miracle. The carnival takes place on the San Marco square. The eternal holiday and magic reigns here during the carnival.

You can participate in different competitions, the lights shine everywhere. You meet people in masks during the carnival. Masks are everywhere. Masks have always been the central feature of the Venetian carnival and the most popular and spread masks are Pierott and Arlekino.

Everything looks so colorful and bright. But even then when there is no carnival the city looks shiny and colorful at night. The Venetian nights are charming. Though the night fires cover everything the mystics and secret are felt in the air.

I had in impression that the lights fall down into the water, mixes and I could imagine different pictures and figures. I was sorry for those things that I’m not an artist because that beauty can’t be rendered only with the help of words. You have to feel everything, to see it with your own eyes and to fall in love with this charming city.

The city on the water! That charming city on the water! I didn’t want to leave it at all. But as you know the time is not an endless thing. I have to return home. And what a strange thing! The smell of the dampness disappears at once. You don’t feel it at all. So, you don’t have to be afraid of it.

I had a great grief in my soul that I have to leave that charming city, the city of eternal love…

Iuri Tarabanov writes about interesting travel experiences. His Discount Travel site is http://www.travelime.com
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2007 08 15 Beautiful
Fun and Games
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The Birth Of Venus

Alessandro Botticelli (Florentine, 1444/5-1510)

THE BIRTH OF VENUS


Original (after 1482) in the Uffizi, Florence Tempera on canvas

The original of this work was probably painted for Lorenzo Pierfrancesco de’ Medici’s villa at Castello near Florence. The use of a canvas makes it stand out from the more common panel and fresco paintings of the time. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus is among the first large-scale paintings of mythological subjects since Antiquity.

It shows the myth of Venus’ birth, as told by Hesiod and later by Poliziano. Venus, who sprang full-grown from the sea foam, was blown by the winds to land on Cythera (present day Cyprus). Here, a figure identified as Spring or Flora welcomes her on land. Venus generally represents earthly love, yet here identification with heavenly love is suggested by her modesty and by the roses around her, which were symbols of pure love and of the Virgin Mary.

Text by Robert Gerwing.Copyright 2004.
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2006 11 20 Animals and Nature
Arts and Animation
Beautiful
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