Kim Kardashian at the 2012 White House Correspondence Dinner

The 98th edition of the Vanity Fair White House Correspondence Dinner was held Saturday April 28th, hosted by the oh so funny Jimmy Kimmel.  There were a few stars in attendance to add glamour (Sofia Vergara, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, George Clooney, Reese Whitherspoon and others) to the event.

Most of the media outlets were represented, and so were a lot of politicians.  The speeches from Barack Obama and Jimmy Kimmel were very funny, sometimes testing the boundaries of what is  appropriate.

Check out the video links here and sound out your thoughts...

Image from LA Times

Jennifer Hudson, Reliving Tragedy

Reliving the horrors of October 2008 when an estranged ex-husband of her sister murdered her mother, nephew and brother, Jennifer Hudson tries to hold it together in court this week at the trial of accuser William Balfour.

Through all these trials Jennifer Hudson continues to hold it together with elegance and grace.  God give her strength through this new chapter of her ordeal.

Jennifer Hudson was discovered based on the depth of her talent on the American Idol 2004, and though she did not win the title (finished 7th place), she went on to deliver multiple albums that sold over a million copies around the world.

In 2007 Jennifer Hudson won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Dream Girls.

Your talent will get you noticed, but it is hard work and perseverance that will win over skeptics and hearts.  And the content of your character is what carries you.  And Jennifer encapsulates all of the above into a story of the highs and lows of the journey called life.
In all of this she shed 80 pounds through Weight watchers, reminiscent of the feat achieved by Kirsten Alley, and here I have put together some pictures that showcase her beauty...

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Christian Louboutin at 20 years

This year legendary French shoe designer Christian Louboutin marks 20 years in pursuit of "all things that celebrate and enhance the female form".

The signature theme that unified his shoes are the red soles that made them so coveted by many but only afforded by few.  But these are more than heels.  They are the platform upon which a woman who knows how to walk in them can elevate their game a few notches.  They set the stage for any woman to announce their presence.

The Capsule shoe collection features 20 pieces of art that represents different milestones of inspiration, creativity and design of the brand.

A master shoemaker, Christian Louboutin says of this collection - "This is a celebration of the first generation of this brand, an anniversary of it's first young adventure".

Troisronds 140mm and Neuron 120mm

Isolde 160mm

Pensee 120mm

Alta Dentelle 120mm

Daf Booty Tag 160mm and Highness Tina 160mm

Unzip Booty 100mm and Loone A Clous 100mm

Bois Dore 140mm and Isabelle 140mm

Mother's Day - Five Gift Ideas

Many a mother will tell you that the best present you can give them is your time. Those phone calls and the visits and the shared memories are priceless. The only way to one up sharing your time with your mom is to find her a gift she will love.

For a lot of moms, you can't go wrong with a bouquet of flowers, gift certificate to the spa or jewelry, depending on budget flexibility.

Here are some ideas:

• Coach Purse At $70 US dollars, this is a steal from the online outlet Coach store

• Lulu Stride Jacket Not exactly a steal at 120 Canadian dollars but will make a nice present for the contemporary mother.  Available online and at the Lulu stores

• Cosmetics Kit from EvelineCharles. An assortment of beauty products valued at over 300 Canadian dollars is being retailed for only 65 Canadian dollars.  EvelineCharles also has gift cards towards salon, spa and beauty services.

• Sony 7" Digital Photo frame available at Future Shop for 80 Canadian dollars.  

• Seenoevil sandals from Nine West.  I had to include shoes in my five item list for mother's day gift ideas to lend it credibility.  But these sandals are hot for the mother with style, and it is 120 Canadian dollars

Panoramic Photography with the iPad

Using two methods, samples of panoramic photos are presented here.  These are pictures which are at least twice as wide as they are high.

The subject was the Calgary Downtown skyline, and the tools are the iPad and an iOS app called Photosynth.

The native iSight camera on the iPad produced decent resolution pictures and all I did was crop to a wider that 2:1 aspect ratio to mimic a wide angle photo.

The second method for panoramic imagery, I used the Microsoft photo stitching app Photosynth. Microsoft developed this software in conjunction with NASA, one of my favourite photo apps available on the iOS platform.  And it is free to download.

Spotting a slick user-interface, you tap the screen to start photographing and pan the camera across the skyline to obtain a mosaic of pictures. Tap finish when you are done and the software stitches the pictures together with satisfactory results.  I find the pictures obtained this way are a little blurry as a consequence of the panning motion during the acquisition phase.  But with a capacity to produce 360 degree images, Photosynth makes a great addition to your photography app collection.

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The peace bridge, Calgary

Architectural beauty is well within the scope of this blog, though not as exciting, is quite impressive to behold.  The pictures I took of The Peace Bridge did not do it justice, but I will let you be the judge.

The location is Calgary, Alberta, Canada, crossing the Bow River and connecting the Sunnyside community and Downtown Calgary. At a cost of 25 million dollars for a pedestrian crossing, I should mention that the walkways are not laced with gold.

Instead,  a helical steel structure with glass roof, adorned in red and  white, the colours of the Canadian and Calgary Flags.  It does stand out and makes a vivid impression. I thought it looked like a giant DNA molecule, missing the base-pairings, of course!

The world-renowned Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava designed the bridge and it was fabricated in Spain, and assembled in Calgary. The tubular bridge accommodates pedestrians and cyclists and marks a feather in the hat of a city struggling to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the heart of the Downtown.

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Earth Day 2012, Sunday April 22

Party for the Planet is going down at a location near you Sunday April 22, 2012.  It will be the 42nd anniversary of recognition of our planet Earth as our home, and the need to protect and reduce our carbon foot print and leave it a better place for the future generation.  Earth day seeks to increase awareness on Climate Change, impact of environmental disasters and the urgency of working towards a sustainable future.


This is the most celebrated environmental event in the world spanning over 170 countries.  In your little way you can reduce your impact on the environment by:

• Traveling smart: Car pooling, walking, biking and using public transit for commute
• Getting Energy smart: Efficient home insulation, powering off electronics when not in use, switching to CFL bulbs
• Going Local: Support local food from the farmer's market, or better yet plant a garden

In Calgary, Alberta, the Deerfoot Mall is hosting the Recycle Round-Up on Saturday April 21st, 2012 0930-1900 hrs.  Calgarians are encouraged to make a difference  by dropping off used electronics (Working or not), clothing and small houseware items for recycling.

And together we can be the change we seek.  Before I sign off let me post some pictures of nature I have from my visit to the Calgary Zoo last summer.

Dry skin, chapped lips? skinny dip in Vitamin E

Not since I studied Sirocco winds in Geography back in the day, have I had to battle dry weather conditions so doggedly.  The scaly skin, ashy elbows, chapped lips, cracked heels are the evidence of the battle wounds.  These are the south pole folks, who are skin-moisture challenged.

And then there are the folks who never owned a bottle of lotion and are doing just fine in these moisture- starved conditions.  These are the folks who don't need invitation to perspire.  They will break into a sweat at the slightest hint of nervousness.  Their skin often glisten with naturally produced body oils. These are the folks who you want to run for the hills when they take their socks off.  The North pole folks.

Between these two extreme poles you find everybody else with varying degrees of skin moisture issues.  I like that I don't sweat a lot.  But that is about all for the pros of dry skin.  The list of the cons is endless.
Dry itchy scalp aka dandruff, the  reason Head and Shoulders shampoo is doing so well. Eczema bringing an assault on beauty, one skin breakout at a time. And of course can't forget the occasional nose bleeds.

Over the years I have amassed an arsenal of remedies to maximize skin moisture retention and minimize exposure to the harsh elements.

The easy one is keeping hydrated. Don't shower with hot water as it strips the skin of moisture, luke warm is better.  And moisturizing body soaps is a must. Paddling the heels once a week is a good tactic as well.  I like the Organic Soft Lips for my chapped lips.  The latest addition to the arsenal is Baby oil on recommendation from a good friend of mine, and though it feels slippery initially, you do get used to it.  I also like the Shea butter from the Body Shop.

Some other very effective solutions that people can consider to help manage the dry conditions include the following:

• A humidifier in the home
• Eating foods rich in vitamins A, D and E.  Fish oil supplements are good to nourish the skin from the inside out
• Glycerin oil for hands and feet 
• Vitamin E oil for nails and cuticles
• Exfoliation to remove dead skin

Oh and the best remedy of all issues dry skin related will be to live on an ocean front property.  Sipping coconut milk and wondering if coastal residents think xeroderma is real!

May your heels be soft always.....

iPad 2012, My Thoughts After One Month Hands-on

For two years I waited patiently. Because for me, jumping into the tablet market was a question really of when not why.  Once I took the plunge, the iPad has proven to be as powerful a productivity tool, as it is for consuming media, playing games and taking photos. The third generation iPad makes a strong showing and seeks to continue its domination of the tablet market.

The tablet, a portable computer device sized between a smartphone and a laptop, typically has a touchscreen/stylus user interface.  So basically it is hardly a necessity, especially if you already own a smartphone and/or a computer.  Something you don't need, but you won't mind owning one if you overcame the psychological barrier of need versus want.

First impressions? It's got lots of grace. Now work with me on this.  Grace is effortless beauty and elegance of form, manner, motion or action.  And I did not make this definition up, it just happens to really capture the touch and feel of the 3rd iteration of the iPad.

Why did I get one now? I caved under the weight of the triple threat. That retina display, all told, over 3 million pixels, working hard to put the resolution in Hi-Res. And second, the A5X dual core processor which powers the beast.  It is kind of like a Hemi engine, very responsive. Third, the back facing camera rendering 5- megapixel isight camera that outperformed my 8-megapixel  panasonic lumix in daylight conditions.

I find that increasingly, it has become my device of choice for browsing, reading emails, books etc. The games optimized for the iPad are excellent time-killers. The Airplay feature that allows you to transmit media from the iPad over Wi-Fi to your TV is one of my favourites.

Myths? The iPad over heats. It gets warm over prolonged use (a few hours) but never in my experience, hot enough to be uncomfortable to hold, as is commonly the case with laptops. Second,  the ipad is a stand alone computer.  The iPad is not about to stand in for all your computer needs. The platform is built for apps only so if you can't find an app for the task you have to accomplish, I can see how one will be quickly frustrated.  I should quickly add that  with the over half a million apps available in the apps store, there is not much work out there you can not find an app for- many of them at a little cost.

Are there any negatives or stuff I don't like about the iPad? Umm yeah.  There is no flash support, and lousy Facebook integration seems to bug me the most. And a tonne of proprietary barriers, and if you are no computer gymnast you may not find jumping all those extra hoops amusing. I am thinking if Apple is going to have seamless  integration for the much less popular Twitter, they should be doing same if not more for Facebook integration into the iOS platform.

And then there is typing on the keyboard. That is opening a can of worms, because it reduces the user to a hunt-and-poke typing technique. The lack of tactile cues and haptic feedback makes the experience quite onerous to say the least.  I will rather type on the Macbook pro any time.  But Apple has gone to lengths to offset the challenges posed by the virtual keyboard.  You can split the keyboard into a more ergonomic format reducing wrist strain and repetitive stress complications.

The Apple solution to typing on the keyboard that I really like is the voice dictation feature, that once enabled in settings, will transcribe quite accurately on your behalf. While this is no Siri, it works well if you enunciate well and your accent is not too strong. Of course the auto correct feature offers a half-hearted help to the typing efforts as well.

My overall impressions of the product is a positive one.  I think it is a keeper for me.  I am hoping to wow my little nieces and nephew when I go to Edmonton sometime this spring, and it would have paid for itself right there!!

There are very appealing tablet alternatives in the Samsung Galaxy Tab which is based on the Android platform, and there is also the Blackberry Playbook.

I will do subsequent posts on some of the tricks, tips and fun/productivity apps soon, so visit again...