Entertainment Trends | Disney Acquires Marvel Entertainment for About $4 Billion

Entertainment Trends

Looking for an inlet into the hearts of young males, the Walt Disney Co. solidified that place today with the blockbuster acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, which they paid $4 billion for.

Not only will this give them an almost endless number of characters to experiment in movies with, it'll also give them that same number of characters to put into their theme parks and to sell to consumers via action figures and other products.

This should give them a great increase in licensing fees, above and beyond those they generate primarly target young females.

While Marvel shareholders will have to approve the bid, it seems like that shouldn't be a problem for the Mouse, which has just greatly added value to the company.

Entertainment Trends

Political Trends | End the Fed From Ron Paul Could Change America's Economic Future

Political Trends

There is probably no more important book in economic history than the one about to be released from Ron Paul named "End the Fed."

Now that the economic crisis in America has Americans focused on the policies and actions of the Federal Reserve, this hard-hitting book from Ron Paul will help them understand even better the destruction implementing these policies have had and will continue to have if the Fed isn't removed from the economic equation.

Very few Americans have ever really noticed or understood the Federal Reserve until recently, and this book by Ron Paul will help them understand why the Fed has always been a dangerous institution, and the reasons the economy would do much better without it.

This is the reason the Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke are battling to even be audited in a complete way with the introduction of the bill H.R. 1207, which was authored by Ron Paul and co-sponsored by over 280 fellow lawmakers.

You can get this very important and unprecedented book by preordering now, which is scheduled to be available on September 16.

Political Trends

Wedding Trends | Two Couples in Fintstones-themed Double Wedding

Wedding Trends

This was a funny and creative marriage by this pair of couples, as they were evidently inspired by the cartoon The Flintstones.

One couple dressed in wedding attire based on the look of Fred and Wilma Flintstone, while another decked themselves out as Barney and Betty Rubble.

It gets even better though, as their guests got into the spirit of the theme of the wedding and dressed as fellow denizons of the stone age era: Stone Age cavemen and women.

What was the music for the bridal march? You guessed it - the theme song from "The Flintstones."

Wedding Trends

Medical Trends | Concept Chair to Help Those with Cerebral Palsy Walk

Medical Trends

This cerebral palsy concept walking device could be a great help to children with cerebral palsy over the age of five.

Dubbed the CPLEGIA, it offers children to use the unit to work on their walking skills and leg movement at three different stages, giving those performing cerebral palsy occupational therapy another potential tool to use to help aid therapy for cerebral palsy.

The CELEGIA, in what could be called a treatment for cerebral palsy, operates in three different stages, like mentioned above. The first stage allows the young user to simply use their feet to move around while remaining seated.

For the second stage, you can straighted out the in a way that the children can actually walk.

In the third stage there is no support for the back added and users can walk about freely without any aid of the walker for back support, although they still use the walker to help them walk.

There is not a lot of cerebral palsy help, and so this is a welcome addition for those that are victims of the brain damage which causes cerebral palsy.

Medical Trends

Furniture Trends | Mud Furniture Series

Furniture Trends

A new chair collection from Jennifer Anderson is named the "Mud Series," and it takes three classics from an Eames LCW, a Thonet Café Chair, and a Wegner Wishbone and recreates them into mud and steel.

The feel is that you went into an old building and discovered some chairs from an age long gone, giving the feel of wear and damage from cracked earth.

Commenting on why she chose these particular pieces for her inspiration, Anderson said this:

"In addition to admiring the forms of the pieces that I choose to recreate, I look at their recognizability and their social commentary. I thought it would be interesting to make Thonet's Café Chair in mud because it's the most reproduced chair of all time. Taking an iconic form that is the epitome of mass-production and making it a one-of-a-kind piece in a non-traditional material makes people think about that object. The Eames chair falls into the same category, but it was also a technical challenge because the individual elements are so thin. My goal was to make the entire chair fully structural and functional, which it is."

You can order the Mud Series starting off at $2,900 by special order only from Anderson's website.


Furniture Trends

Chris Boardman's Future Concept Bike

Bicycle Trends

British Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman has created a new bike design which he believes will be the wave of the future.

Some of the cool features are the puncture-free tires which can self-inflate, a theft-proof mechanism where only the owner's fingerprint can unlock the bike, calorie monitoring, a carbon fiber body, built-in music player and a backup solar motor.

But let's face it, it's the sleek, cool look of the bike that is attractive, and the rest are accessories to give the stated reason for getting the bike, which is only a concept at this time.

Bicycle Trends

Furniture Trends | Modi Sofa Design Allows Numerous Customized Furniture Looks

Furniture Trends

This piece of Italian furniture, or should I say 'pieces' of Italian furniture called a Modi Sofa, comes in a design style which allows it to be shaped in formed into the need or desire of the moment which you want.

It comes with modules which can be dissembled and reassembled in a fun way that gets your creative juices flowing.

Whether it's a corner end table with glass, a flat bench, arm rest chair or whatever creative thought comes into your head.

what's really cool, as you can see, it's made to look great no matter which shape you decide to create with the pieces. Lot's of enjoyment and fun.

Furniture Trends

Sports Trends | Dueling with Cardboard Tubes

Sports Trends

Talk about the ultimate in recession fun, the Cardboard Tube Fighting League gives enthusiasts the opportunity to square off with opponents to duel with with the cardboard tubes we used to do battle with with our siblings when special occasions demanded the use of wrapping paper.

The fighting league, amazingly, has reached global proportions, and attracts crowds of people to watch the events. A lot of fun.

But the ultimate cool to me is when the combatants also make their own cardboard armor for the duels and show up in cool suits; include head armor.

Sports Trends

Trends | Personal Rapid Transport Vehicles

Tech Trends

Heathrow Airport has been the recipient of Personal Rapid Transport or PRT vehicles, which are essentially four-person battery-run taxis running on rails, which through a touchscreen system, a rider can direct which parking lot in the airport they want the taxi to take them.

Designed by Mark Lowson, who also was part of the design team for the Saturn Rocket used to launch the Apollo missions, shows you why it has such an interesting, futuristic look.

The initial number of PRTs will be 18, which will cost $41 million, and if as successful as hoped, will be expanded by the BBA with another $331 million which will allow passengers to embark to hotels located near Heathrow terminal.

At such high costs it's doubtful the pods can be used in anything other than a than a smaller, controlled environment. Still, the idea of zooming around in one of these little pods with a couple of friends is pretty exciting.

Tech Trends

Advertising Trends | Unique Business Card

Advertising Trends

All you've got to do is look at this very compelling, but simple business card to know it's a winner, as far as getting someone to take a look at least at the name on the card.

Agrie Paint Services is the recipients of this interesting tear-off business card from advertising agency Extreme Group.

Why do I know this is a winner? Simple. You know you want to tear off that little tab when you look at it. It begs to be done, and that doesn't even include the paint-looking addition to it, which pre-advertises what the business located under the tab will be, although it may be doubtful the one tearing the tab will connect that until they look at the name.

But that's part of the success of this unique business card; it not only taps into your curiosity and propensity for taking an action the majority of human beings would do, but it then ties that into the paint-looking colored tab, which reinforces the company. So it gives at minimum a double chance at the person interacting with the card to connect to the company and its message. Very well done.

Advertising Trends

Universe Beach House Rooftop Pool

Design Trends

This rooftop swimming pool from Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao is the showpiece of the Universal Beach House in Mexico.

Add the ocean-side rocky landscape to the home and it's a brilliant place to play and enjoy.

As far as the house goes, the design was more minimalist to accentuate and celebrate the rooftop swimming pool, so was made mostly of concrete and included large, open spaces with little decor added.

The pool included beautiful underwater lighting which is extraordinary, especially at night.

A very unique home and rooftop swimming pool.

Design Trends

Travel Trends | Butlins’ Ocean Hotel

Travel Trends

Everything retro, nostalgic and vintage seems to be in, and that's true of hotels as well, as the latest one to emerge with a retro-chic look is Butlins Ocean Hotel with spa in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

Along with the usual luxurious spa treatments, guests at Butlins Ocean Hotel also enjoy a lot of fun and unusal places to engage and interact with.

For example, there's a snow cave where you can enter in and freeze while having a snowball fight, or you can enjoy taking a disco shower with flashing lights and the rest. There are other showers that reproduce the sense of your skin being hit with raindrops.

Of course other places like a Kaleidoscope Bar have the mirror balls so widely used in the disco era, along with galaxies on the ceiling that slowly move.

You can't escape it in the elevators either, as disco music continue to emerse guests in the overall experience.

But that relaxation pod really appeals to me, which you can see in the photo below. Now that's a way to relax after disco fever wears you out.

Travel Trends

Bicycle with Surfboard Carrier

Bicycle Trends

This new concept bicycle could be a great match for those weekend surfers who prefer to enjoy a ride to the beach on their way to riding the waves.

With this new idea the bicyicle includes a small console built to hold a full-sized surfboard which still allows you to ride the bike with two hands.

The bicycle concept comes from industrial designers Gegi Primanata and Rinda Setiawan, who have named the idea the 'Wave,' and offer the bike in a number of color, depending on what the customer prefers.

Bicycle Trends

OCC Builds Electric Motorcycle

Motorcycle Trends

Don't tell me Orange County Choppers have sold out by building this no-noise electric motorcycle for Siemens. Said it ain't so Paul Sr.

Picture driving down the street on a bunch of noiseless moving wheels. Yawn!

While you can see the quality of the bike design itself, as that's surety with Orange County Choppers, the idea of building it for Siemens is disgusting.

As far as the bike, it allegedly can travel 60 miles on a charge, while hitting speeds up to 100 mph. You have to charge the trinket in a 110-volt socket for five hours to be able to ride it. It includes a 27-hp electric motor.

Motorcycle Trends

Disney to Offer Their Version of 'The Diary of Anne Frank'

Entertainment Trends

The Diary of Anne Frank continues to be a valuable story to the creative community, and Disney is the latest in the entertainment industry to take a crack at recreating the tragic story of Anne Frank and her family's struggle during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam during World War II.

For a little over two years the family hid from potential capture, but finally they were discovered, arrested, and taken to the concentration camps, where they, along with Anne, perished.

Playwright David Mamet has been enlisted by Disney to write and direct the production, who says he'll take parts from the original story, the stage adaptation of Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, along with his own interpretation of events to tell his version of the story.

Mamet is already scripting the story at this time, which took producer Andrew Braunsberg a year to acquire the rights to the story from the estate of the Franks, and also from Hackett and Goodrich.

A Disney version of the Diary of Anne Frank should be done very well. I'm looking forward to it.

Entertainment Trends

Cocoon Escape House Called 'Hibernate'

Design Trends

In a similar way you may make a paper mache object, Aimee Pegram has created what she calles "Hiberante," which is supposed to represent your own little cocoon to dwell in when you need a relaxed environment to escape to.

How it is made is a large five-foot inflatable balloon is wrapped with a weave of rope, which when set, the balloon is popped and the weave design remains to create the 'nest.'

As you can see, you can put down what you prefer to relax on while being able to see what's going on outside the hibernation pad.

While I'm not sure this works in the way described, just the unique design itself is interesting, and would look good in the right environment and scenario. And if it works for you as the stated purpose - all the better.

Design Trends

Fashion Trends | Goth Punk Comes Back for Men at Copenhagen Fashion Week

Fashion Trends

When photographers took shots at the Copenhagen Fashion Week show, it was shown that goth punk for men is making a comeback; not only with clothing, but hairstyles as well.

As far as goth fashion for men, it included the usual footwear worn by goths, along with black trench coats, black layered chains, and a lot of torn denim.

But the inclusion of punk style hair cuts was somewhat surprising, and shows that every fashion trend from the past always comes around again. So keep those black shoes, chains and coats, and you can always do anything with the current flavor of hair you want.

Fashion Trends

Wedding | World Record Dress Train

Wedding Trends

Earlier this year a bride got married in Bucharest in a wedding dress with a train mile long. Not to be outdone for his bride, Zhao Peng was determined to break that record and had a wedding dress made for his bride that included a 1.2 mile long train.

He submitted the video footage of the dress to Guinness World Records in London to confirm if he indeed has the record or not. Another record could be the 9,999 red silk roses that adorned the dress.

If this was done in America or another western country, it would have cost a fortune for the groom. But in China it only cost him $5,800.
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As far as the mother of the groom, she wasn't as impressed with the effort, as she said, "It is a waste of money in my opinion. Though I understand that he wants to show his love on the big day."

It took three hours alone just to role out the train.

Wedding Trends

Tattoos | Nice Tree Tattoos

Tattoos

These tattoos are sure on two opposite ends of the spectrum, even though they are both of trees.

The top one of the woman hanging from a tree while the crows or ravens are circling around her corpse is amazing. While the content isn't something that is attractive to me, the tattoo quality was astounding, and very well done.

In contrast, the cherry blossom tattoo on the side of the woman below is also very good, and shows two completely different ways you can ink a tattoo on your skin.

You see how color can look with a tree tattoo, as well as the dark ink and lines associated with the top one. Trees as tattoos do offer the unique opportunity to get great images on you, as they can be shaped and formed, and even tell stories, and work in a number of ways.

Majority Twitter Users Over 25

Internet Trends

In what is consistent with social networking numbers but relatively unknown by the general public, the majority of users continue to be over the age of 25, even though the perception and media reports usually refer to it as young people's networks.

Twitter is not different, as Nielsen numbers show not only is Twitter not a young user network, but it isn't even close.

An amazing 84 percent of Twitter users are over the age of 25, with 20 percent of those over the age of 55. Only 16 percent of Twitter users account for the under 25 demographic.

This has been the pattern for social networks for some time. Early adopters skew younger, and once their prolific use brings it to the attention of the media, reports attract older users who become the majority rather quickly. That has also been the pattern with MySpace and Facebook.

Even with all the Twitter hype though, very few people follow others, whether they sign up to or not. And many don't do much with it once they have an account.

Internet Trends

Tech Trends | Wall Mounted Speakers

Tech Trends

These cool speakers look like they've come from the sea, and they would look great on any wall, although at this time they only come in pink or white.

Included in the speaker design are six speakers and two touch screens, which you can see toward the center.

You can play an MP3 or a CD with it.

The real question to me is how does it sound, as the design will either make you like how it looks immediately, and so make a buying decision based on the sound, which in the end, matters more than anything else.

Tech Trends

Fashion Trends | Black Leather Back

Fashion Trends
It looks like it's time for a black leather fashion revival, and numerous fashion designer agree as they put out a lot of biker babe clothing for the fall of 2009.

This year fashion has been all over the place and emphasizing women and men being able to take stuff they have and use it again, which seems to be the theme in these difficult times.

One constant in this years biker black leather fashion is tight, as almost all the designers have offered up some curvy leather biker clothes for the ladies, which doesn't look bad at all.

Fashion Trends

Tattoos | Salvador Dali Tattoos

Tattoos

Salvador Dali's art has inspired many people to put his creations on all sort of objectss, and one favorite is not only having one of his works tattooed on someone, but having Salvador Dali's image tattooed as well.

Either way they're done well, and are a testament to the work of the man, which remains highly popular to this day.

The couple tattoo photos included here show the quality of the work and how compelling and interesting Salvador Dali and his work remains.

Although it's simple, the musical note and mouth are fascinating, and while a lot of other tattoos of Dali are out there, I like the surrealism of this tattoo, and it is a good example of the work Dali did.

Tattoos

Tech Trends | Retro Nintendo Classics

Tech Trends

These licensed gadgets from past Nintendo classic games should be a hit among fans, who never seem to tire of some of the old, addictive games, which remain so after all these years.

Add a game being able to be played on a keychain device and you can see how easily it would be to go to it immediately in a moment of boredom and end up being a hour later when you find out that much time has passed.

The new keychain gadgets will include three classic Nintendo games in the beginning: Super Mario Brothers, Mario's Cement Factory and Donkey Kong Junior.

No matter the quality can't compare with current offerings, I know the addictive nature of the past games will provide hours of fun and frustration as we attempt to be our old scores as in times past.

Tech Trends

Tech Trends | Digital 'In Newspaper'

Tech Trends

While the idea of an e-newspaper is nothing new, the concept 'In Newspaper is interesting in giving a glimpse at what some are imagining that world to be, and I could say that while looking interesting, it's pretty underwhelming.

You hook up a thin screen device to an outlet which charges up the device so you can access the news in the morning. My first thought is: so what? It adds absolutely nothing to what we do now except to be able to read from a thin screen held in our hand in the house.

We can do that on a regular computer, laptop, or thin laptop now, and get all the news updated on a continuous basis as well.

This would be a possibility if it were offered on public transit of some sore where people could read it from a comfortable and relevant position, but other than that, I can't see this adding any value to the home or workplace.

Tech Trends

$70 Million for Beckham Legs

Celebrity Trends

While it may seem like a lot, the $70 million David Beckham insures his legs from isn't near what one major celebrity insures hers for, which comes in at a huge $1 billion. We'll reveal who she is in a minute.

Some of the interesting body parts insured by celebrities today include smiles, taste buds, breasts, nose, chest hair, voice, sperm, mustache and hands.

Other legs, or rather in this case - feet - insured for a lot are the feet of Michael Flatley, which he insures for $39 million.

while it is understandable in the cases of Beckham and Flatley, many other celebrities do it primarily as marketing stunts to keep their names in the news.

For example, Dolly Parton insures her boobs for $600,000. Now with all the money Dolly has, we know this is just a fun thing she does to draw attention, although just being Dolly and looking at her figure is enough to do that.

So who is the female celebrity that insures her legs for $1 billion? The answer may surprise you: it's Mariah Carey. I wonder what that policy costs?

Celebrity Trends