What is Slow and Steady Wins the Race? “The mission of the label is to push and produce interesting and significant pieces from the simplest and most inexpensive fabrics and materials.” The bags are what immediately caught my eye. “The bags are based on the modern-day iconic handbag and are all executed in plain cotton muslin or canvas twill and then distilled to the sparest details of hardware and shape to identify it with its original. Through this process, the hi- fashion designer bag becomes a lo-fi object sketch and consequently an alternate icon of itself.” They still look cool, if not cooler, in a raw natural state. The bags have an understated - chic feel. It says: “I’m not trying too hard, but I still have an appreciation for design.” I applaud the effort, and would absolutely carry one of these canvas bags. Would you?

Items in this observation:

Learn About Town is a town-themed playset where kids learn through interactive play. Kids can learn ABCs, numbers colors, shapes and more in a unique format that unfolds for all-around play. Start at the doctor and dentist offices with interactive weight scale and dentist chair. Grab a snack at the shape sorting pizza shop with spinning tiles for color and animal matching and an interactive cash register. At the ABC school, kids learn the full alphabet.

Fisher-Price World of Little People Learn About Town :-  Product Description
In this tiny town, kids learn all sorts of lessons through interactive play. Little ones learn ABCs, numbers, colors, shapes and more in a unique format that unfolds for all-around playset play. Start at the doctor and dentist offices with a weight scale and dentist chair. Then grab a snack at the shape-sorting pizza shop with four different shaped pizza disks and a shape identifier. Stop and see the animals at the sort-and-match pet shop with an interactive cash register. At the ABC school, kids learn the full alphabet and practice writing letters on the magnetic drawing board. Push on the tower to hear the entire ABC song. At the numbers treehouse, drop the 10 apple disks through the tree and the playset counts along; then press the lever to release them into the bushel. There's also an open/close door and swing for Little People figures. And at the interactive traffic signal, push down for a learning tune. Fun tunes and sound effects along the way highlight learning in each location. Includes two articulated Little People figures, table, two chairs, easel, tricycle, 10 "apple" disks and four pizza disks. Folds closed for storage with handle. Measures 44"L x 12"W x 15"H. Requires three "AA" batteries, included.

I went to see Twilight today. Surprisingly, I didn’t think it sucked (pun intended) - which is weird, considering that the book series on which the movies is based is execrebly awful. Seriously, don’t read them.

Anyway. Some folks are wondering whether Twilight’s runaway success might push along the long-hoped-for Buffy movie*. And when I say “some folks” I mean “the geeks at io9 who aren’t exactly objective about the whole thing”. But still: Buffy movie, neat! (SMG will never go for it, but it’s not like the role hasn’t been recast before, right?)

*Yes - I realise there has already been a Buffy movie. You know what I mean.

Who can ever say no to delicious-mouth-watering ice cream? I know I can’t, no matter how full I am! What can I say, I have a huge weakness over these sweets! Now, do you remember the ice-cream lamp we posted a while ago? If you love your previous lights, you’d definitely love these New Lamps for sure! Just push the ice cream for the on/off button. Each lamp is priced at US$16, which is totally reasonable, considering they won’t melt in your hands.

Available in vanilla and strawberry, which one is your flavor?

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Who can ever say no to delicious-mouth-watering ice cream? I know I can’t, no matter how full I am! What can I say, I have a huge weakness over these sweets! Now, do you remember the ice-cream lamp we posted a while ago? If you love your previous lights, you’d definitely love these New Lamps for sure! Just push the ice cream for the on/off button. Each lamp is priced at US$16, which is totally reasonable, considering they won’t melt in your hands.

Available in vanilla and strawberry, which one is your flavor?

ShareThis

Director Catherine Hardwicke at the Los Angeles premiere of “Twilight”

“Twilight” took in $70.6 million at the box office in it’s debut weekend, making it the biggest opening ever for a female director.

Director Catherine Hardwicke is thrilled about the success of the film and hopes it will inspire other women and young girls to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Twilight’s opening beat the previous record for a female director by a whopping $29.5 million.  In 1998 Mimi Leder’s “Deep Inpact” took in $41.1 million.

According to Sunday morning estimates, “Twilight,” based on Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance novel of the same name, made $20,636 per theater, putting independent film studio Summit Entertainment on the map.

“Twilight” starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together…even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires.

Summit Entertainment announced over the weekend that the studio is officially moving forward with production of “New Moon,” the second installment in Meyer’s modern day vampire series.

photo: Wenn

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Not quite.

Based on the flurry of quiet directives coming from the White House as the end of the term nears, it looks like the Bush goose (or is it turducken?) isn't quite cooked yet.

In what has become a kind of presidential right-of-passage, the president (or really, the federal agencies that answer to him) has been pushing through a series of last-minute regulations that have the force of law. Everything from pollution controls to family-leave standards can be set by these rules.

And you thought your high school government teacher said that Congress made all the laws.

These de-facto laws are called "midnight rules" or "midnight regulations" because they happen at the end -- or midnight period -- of an administration. If the rules are published in the Federal Register by Friday, Nov. 21, they'll be very hard for President-elect Obama to reverse when he gets into office.

And that's the point. Sure, the administration had eight years to get a lot of this stuff accomplished. But according to senior research fellow at George Mason University, Veronique de Rugy, most midnight regulations "cater to special interests" and "that is why they are hurried into effect without the usual checks and balances."

George Bush isn't the first president to push through rules before the next guy can get in. Jimmy Carter gets that award. In fact, the New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert says Carter's whirlwind of last-minute activity before Ronald Reagan took office is when the practice got named. "They became known as 'midnight regulations,' after the 'midnight judges' appointed by John Adams in the final hours of his presidency."

George Bush doesn't get the award for the most rules shoved through after the two-minute warning either. That goes to Bill Clinton who, according to de Rugy, set the record for number of last-minute pages published in the Federal Register at "more than 26,000."

So, what rules are the White House and all its federal agencies trying to get through this season?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new rules, "open the way for commercial development of oil shale on federal land, allow truckers to drive for longer periods, and add certain restrictions on employee time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act."

Those run the gamut, but the ones getting the most press are environmentally focused. The Los Angeles Times says environmentalists are angry by a host of loosened safeguards:

In recent days, the Bush administration announced new rules to speed oil shale development across 2 million rocky acres in the West. It scheduled an auction for drilling rights alongside three national parks. It has also set in motion processes to finalize major changes in endangered species protection, allow more mining waste to flow into rivers and streams, and exempt factory farms from air pollution reporting.

The Chicago Tribune did a special report saying the administration undercut a clean-air rule aimed at curbing childhood lead poisoning:

...the EPA had planned to require lead monitors next to any factory emitting at least a half-ton of lead a year. But after the White House intervened, the agency raised the threshold to a ton of lead or more, according to e-mails and other documents exchanged between the EPA and the Office of Management and Budget.

In an Oct. 31 press briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto was asked about environmental groups saying the White House was easing limits on pollution. First Fratto responded that the White House is "constrained" about discussing regulations under review, but then said, "I would be highly doubtful that there's any specific increase in environmental-related regulations."

Navigating the rule-making process can be laborious for the non-wonk type, but the non-profit, investigative journalism group ProPublica has tried to make it easy for people who want to investigate for themselves. ProPublica has a master list of Bush's midnight regulations here, and the group posted a guide on "How to Ferret Out Midnight Regs Yourself." If you've got the time and inclination, a lot of this process is public record and online.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20081121/pl_ynews/ynews_pl158

The Armageddon star is concerned that Rumer - his daughter with ex-wife Demi Moore - seems to be attracted to cheeky men like her dad.

He says, "I worry about her being in show business. It is full of people like me.

"She has turned out so well. We did not push her into acting. She just sat me and Demi down and said 'Look, I know you both think you're big shots but I don't want any help. I want to do this by myself.'

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