Detailed Information about Arts And Humanities, Beauty And Style And More

People of all ages love to take presents from their family and relatives. Gifts of all sizes are available in the market. Gifts are hidden inside special boxes called gift boxes. These gift boxes cover gifts and increase anxiety in people. Gift box suppliers also provide packing facilities. These people pack gifts in special boxes and deliver them to a concerned person. Most of these gift boxes are made of natural materials, which are biodegradable. Materials like corrugated cardboard, paper board, steel; marble, etc are used for making gift boxes. Large and small sized gift boxes are available in the market; depending on the size of a gift, a required gift box can be selected.

Cellophane bags are purely biodegradable. They can be used for storing gifts or plants. In order to save the ecosystem, cellophane bags made of natural materials came into existence. Milk and other natural products are packed in these bags so that their freshness remains same. Cellophane is a natural polymer extracted from cellulose. This polymer is collected from cellulose, found in leaves, roots of plants and trees. Cellophane can be broken down by micro-organisms present in the soil. Cellophane is not taken from trees present in rain forests. Only harvested natural plants are used for removing cellophane. With green environment becoming more important cellophane bags are gathering more attention. They are being used as alternative for petroleum based plastic bags.

Hawaii is an island where nature can be seen in its vigor and flamboyance. The island has its own ethnic culture, customs and rituals that give its wholesome identity. Hula skirt is one of the most happening dresses amongst the Hawaiian girls. The dress is hand designed in multiple colors in cotton or thick raffia. The traditional Hula skirt was however, designed in thick raffia, and is worn by the girls during dance party and beachside parties. It also forms an ideal summer wear dress. Just like Hawaiian skirts, Hawaiian accessories also form an integral part of the Hawaii culture.

The accessories truly represent Hawaii culture in it. The most admired of the accessories include Hawaii jewelry items such as necklaces, earrings, pendants, and much more. You can also make Hawaiian accessories custom made as per your demand. Hawaiian gifts are again a nice tryst the remarkably shows multi colored and vibrant Hawaii culture. The gifts are specially designed for different occasions, themes and festivity. You can feel the sensibility of Hawaiian gifts, after you have them in your possession. The gifts form a perfect piece of memorabilia for children as well as adults. Try your tryst with the grandeur and richness of Hawaiian culture, and see what you feel like!

Does power diminishes an individual’s tendency to help others? Well, according to researchers from University of Amsterdam and University of California, Berkeley, the answer is “yes”.

The study led by psychologist Gerben A. van Kleef from University of Amsterdam has found that power has a significant impact on an individual’s emotional reactions to people in distress.

During the research, a group of undergraduates completed questionnaires about their personal sense of power, which identified them to the researchers as either being high-power or low-power.

The students were then randomly paired up and had to tell their partner about an event which had caused them emotional suffering and pain. Their partners then rated their emotions after hearing the story.

The researchers were interested in seeing if there were physical differences in the way high-power people and low-power people responded to others’ suffering; specifically they wanted to test if high-powered individuals would exhibit greater autonomic emotion regulation [or respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity].

When we are faced with psychological stress, our RSA reactivity increases, resulting in a lower heart rate and a calmed, relaxed feeling.

They found that individuals with a higher sense of power experienced less compassion and distress when confronted with another’s suffering, compared to low-power individuals.

Moreover, high-power individuals’ RSA reactivity increased (indicated by lower heart rate) as they listened to the painful stories; that is, high power participants showed more autonomic emotion regulation, which buffered against their partner’s distress.

The study also found that high-power individuals reported a weaker desire to get to know and establish a friendship with their partner.

In other words, powerful people were not motivated to establish a relationship with distressed individuals.

The authors suggest that powerful people’s tendency to show less compassion and distress towards others reinforces their social power.

Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan will officially receive his Datukship on December 6.

The Bollywood hunk will be conferred the Malaysian title of ‘Datuk’, akin to the British knighthood, state secretary Datuk Omar Kaseh, in a statement, has confirmed.

And he’s expected to receive the honour in traditional Malaysian attire.

The actor will be arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 7.30am before making his way to the state.

Kaseh said that the actor will receive his Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka award at a ceremony at 10 a.m. at Dewan Seri Negri, Ayer Keroh, in the presence of 1,000 invited guests.

“He will be conferred the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM), which carries the title ‘Datuk’, by Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob in conjunction with his 70th birthday. Shahrukh will be wearing a black Baju Melayu for the ceremony. We will be inviting about 1,000 guests to the investiture,” the New Straits Times Online quoted him, as saying.

The actor is being awarded the DMSM for indirectly promoting the state to the world through six movies.

The actor is immensely popular among Malaysians and had shot the film “One 2 Ka 4″ and a song sequence from his blockbuster “Don” in Malacca.

Movies are increasingly creeping online, as video sites like YouTube and Hulu are adding feature films to their extensive libraries.

At the Google-owned YouTube, there is the YouTube Screening Room, which every two weeks, adds four new films — mostly independent works — to the site. Hulu, the joint creation of NBC Universal and News Corp., has hundreds of films available for stream, from “Basic Instinct” to “Wuthering Heights.”

Of course, many people download films illegally on BitTorrent sites, but movies are nevertheless becoming more populated — legally — online.

Hulu recently added 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” which begs the question: Should anyone watch a nearly four-hour-long epic of sweeping grandeur on their laptop? Or, heaven forbid, their cell phone?

Here are the top ten films that should never be brought down to size:

1. “Lawrence of Arabia“: David Lean’s film, which won seven Oscars including best picture, was made for the big screen — particularly as projected in all of its 70 millimeter glory. Though Hulu (like YouTube) streams films in high quality, the enormity of the Arabian desert loses something when dwarfed to a 4-inch by 6-inch screen.

2. “Last of the Mohicans“: Michael Mann’s 1992 adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel pulses with the raw nature of early America so much that film critic David Thomson has written that he expects William Wordsworth to pop up at any moment. You won’t get that rugged feeling on a computer.

3. “Jaws“: Really, how scary can that shark be if he’s two inches tall?

4. “North By Northwest”: Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic is just too big for your computer. It’s almost too big for a movie screen. The film, after all, includes a chase seen with an airplane, Bernard Herrmann’s robust score, Mount Rushmore and, well, Cary Grant in sunglasses.

5. “Star Wars“: It’s true, a hologram of Princess Leia on your computer is just about as fitting as one of Will.i.am on CNN. But do you really want to see (spoiler alert!) the Death Star explode next to your e-mail?

6. “WarGames”: There isn’t anything so cinematic about this 1983 thriller starring Matthew Broderick. But watching a movie about Cold War-era paranoia in which a computer threatens to bomb the world might cause you to panic out of distrust for all things computerized and throw your laptop out the window.

7. “Barry Lyndon“: The same computer rebellion of “WarGames” might also apply to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but the Kubrick film that deserves the absolute best presentation is his 1975 period piece. The cinematography by John Alcott — including a candlelit scene shot with NASA-developed camera lenses — is best seen projected in the dark.

8. “Raiders of the Lost Ark“: You have to worry that a story about an adverture-seeking archaeologist with a whip fetish who gets chased by boulders might seem a tad unrealistic when shrunk down from the big screen. (But feel free to be disappointed by the latest “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” on whatever platform you like.)

9. “The Third Man“: Carol Reed’s 1949 film is one of the most exquisitely shot films ever and meant for the movie theater. Also, a Web junky might take the wrong lesson from “The Third Man.” The Internet has a way of depersonalizing people, much in the way Orson Welles famously looks down at far below humans from atop a Ferris wheel in “The Third Man,” caring nothing if the “little dots” stopped moving.

10. “You’ve Got Mail“: It’s just a little too cutesy to watch this romantic comedy on your computer, don’t you think?

Fergie, who is set to star alongside Nicole Kidman in the musical film ‘Nine’, has put on 13lbs for her role as a prostitute.

The ‘Black Eyed Peas’ vocalist, who will be playing Saraghina, said that she deliberately replaced her habitual eating routine with greasy treats to gain those extra pounds, reports China Daily.

She said: “I’ve actually gained 10lbs! No, really - for the film, ‘Nine’. Actually, 13 to be exact. I ate everything! Fish and chips. Everything fried - things I don’t normally eat.”

However, singer-actress added that she had to shed it off before she tied the knot with fiance Josh Duhamel.

She said: “I have to give the bad food up now! So, yeah - I’m in that phase! Back to diet designs - my food delivery service!

“You can do creative things with food though. You know, turkey isn’t fattening - you can do that. A little bit of gravy. Or have a nice big salad!”

When four popular designers - Rohit Gandhi, Rohit Bal, Varun Bahl and Rahul Khanna - host a fashion week party, it’s not just bound to be ‘The Party’ but also to have loads of fashionistas wanting to be a part of it. The foursome’s party was a madhouse, with people spilling out from every nook and corner, and in that milieu, there was still the most enviable crowd.

There was Vittorio Radice of La Rinascente, with Sunil Sethi, Michael Hadida of Tranoi, Tamara of Liberty, London, Vivienne Tam and almost the entire fashion fraternity. The surprise was former supermodel Madhu Sapre, who flew in from Italy to be at WIFW. And the biggest surprise was the presence of India’s most eligible and powerful bachelor -Rahul Gandhi.

The so very down-to-earth Gandhi scion walked up to our photographer and politely requested not to be clicked and we humbly obliged. The best bit of this party was the camaraderie among designers that is unfortunately embroiled in faction fracas.

Malini Ramani, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Raghavendra Rathore, Varun Sardana and Manish Arora partied together.

Film: ‘Shoot On Sight’; Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Greta Scacchi, Gulshan Grover, Mikaal Zulfikar; Director: Jagmohan Mundhra; Rating: ***

‘Shoot On Sight’ works as a wake-up call for those slumbering in their bourgeois belief that terrorism is as far away from home as Osama Bin Laden is from the US.

It’s a frightening piece of fiction laced with a fair amount of warmth and affection that lulls us into a false sense of wellbeing. In essence, the plot takes us back to the domesticated terrorism of Alan Pakula’s ‘The Devil’s Own’ or more recently Subhash Ghai’s ‘Black And White’ where a young wide-eyed seemingly-unspoilt guest in the house turns out to be a closet-terrorist.

Where ‘Shoot On Sight’ scores is in laying out the blueprint for global terrorism through characters who appear real in words, body language and political ideology.

Jagmohan Mundhra has earlier balanced a social cause with a message in ‘Provoked’. Here the ‘thrill’ element emanates far more effortlessly from the characters and their predicament, partly because the theme of terrorism renders itself far dramatically to a cinematic treatment than domestic violence.

London is shot by cinematographer Madhu Ambat with all its inherent buzz and blemishes without fuss or rush. The flow of adrenaline as the British cops zero in on their distinguished Pakistani colleague’s nephew as a terrorist is rather reined in than rushed.

This isn’t a film that’s in a hurry to get there. But it knows how to value the audiences’ time.

And this is where ‘Shoot On Sight’ scores the optimum impact. Mundhra revels in generous levels of understatement most of the time. Whether showing the fanaticism in the mosque (Om Puri, aptly extravagant) or the dilemma of the cop’s Pakistan-British daughter - Mundhra packs it all into the simmering cultural cauldron with dexterity and dignity.

While on the whole the characters in the cop-protagonist Tariq Ali’s home and workplace come to life with vigorous fluency, some portions of the storytelling fall flat. Naseer’s assistant, played by Laila Rouass, comes to a soggy end in a river with the suddenness of a video-game with its socket pulled out. The hastily-executed climax in a shopping mall where Tariq Ali’s nephew is shot down with a sweeping-under-the-carpet haste, is a screaming shame.

Mostly, Mundhra uses economy of expression to great effect. Sometimes just one or two scenes are enough to establish the camaraderie between characters creating a crisscross of inter-relations with disconcerting deftness.

There’s just one intimate interlude in the kitchen at the start between the Pakistani cop Naseer and his British wife played Greta Scacchi. It’s enough to show the enduring empathy between the couple. The rift that seeps into their marriage because of the closet-terrorist nephew’s presence in their house is again represented in a flash of anger and indignation where Naseer accuses Scacchi of discrimination.

A culturally-defining moment that stays with you after the last bang-bang.

A major part of the film’s success goes to the the actors. Om Puri as a radical clergy, Gulshan Grover as Naseer’s butcher-friend, and the British actors, who play Naseer’s colleagues at the precinct, they all add a wealth of credibility to Mundhra’s tale of malevolence in a city that’s outwardly a haven for healing.

Debutant Mikaal Zulfikar as Naseer’s nephew gives a comfortably-defined performance. Mikaal gets the point early in the narrative when on arrival from Pakistan in London, driving from the airport he gets to know his English aunt has not converted to Islam.

Watch the young actor’s subtle shift of expression from easy grace to disgust and disapproval — it’s frightening to see because it reflects the reality about how young people all over the world are converted to extremist causes.

What finally gives ‘Shoot On Sight’ a compelling edge beyond the expected, making it more than just a pantomime of post-terrorism mores, is Naseer.

As always Naseer merges into the character pitching the emotions at a level where they appear to be thought of on the-the-spot and certainly not for the sake of a camera. Domestic scenes and details served up in delicious vignettes provide a back projection to Naseer’s complex character. Naseer glides effortlessly with his character as it goes from cultural comfort to fundamentalist isolation. The actor and the character become one.

Lindsay Lohan looked stunning when she arrived for the Diesel xXx party in New York, but her sun-kissed goddess went horribly wrong when she was struck by fake tan disaster.

The actress” legs were a shade of orange, the look made worse by the fact her ankles and feet were blinding white.

The faux pas didn”t go unnoticed and Lindsay eventually changed outfits, slipping on a pair of garish ripped leggings in an apparent attempt to cover up.

Lohan’s much hyped relationship with lesbian lover Samantha Ronson is also said to have hit a rough patch, as the DJ intends keep away from the limelight.

“Sam needs her space away from Lindsay and really needs to take a long look at what the future of this relationship can be,” The Sun quoted a source, as saying.

It has also been reported that Lohan acts obsessive and follows around Ronson all around.

“Clearly, they were spending a little too much time together, and Samantha was the one who said Lindsay was getting in the way, and even acting obsessive at times,” a source said.

“Samantha DJ”ed three big parties around the Emmy weekend in Los Angeles, and Lindsay was practically on top of her for every minute of those gigs. Lindsay was behaving in a very smothering way,” the source added

Global finance ministers and central bankers meet in Washington at the G7 and the International Monetary Fund this weekend to discuss a response to the global financial crisis.

A coordinated approach by the world’s major economies to strengthen the banking sector is urgently needed to stop the financial market carnage, analysts say.

Restoring confidence is the top priority. But the complexity and global nature of financial interlinkages make solutions difficult to agree upon or even to implement.

Ad-hoc packages of national measures have so far failed. Analysts say individual country efforts must be globally coherent and internationally reinforcing.

Here are some of the ways that could be achieved:

MONEY MARKET/INTERBANK GUARANTEE SCHEMES

Getting short-term money markets working again is critical to keeping the gears of the financial system greased. Momentum appears to be building toward guaranteeing these borrowings.

The UK government’s promise to guarantee short-term lending between banks, known as the interbank borrowing market, could be a template for Europe and other G7 countries to follow. It would help unlock frozen money markets because it would give ailing banks a top credit rating and other banks would be ready to extend credit to them again on a daily basis.

The International Monetary Fund said on Friday guaranteeing bank deposits and interbank operations was “unavoidable”.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written to leaders of the world’s major economies for concerted action to guarantee lending among banks, according to a G7 source.

Britain offered to guarantee up to eight UK banks’ new short and medium-term debt, estimated to cover up to 250 billion pounds ($428.85 billion) of new borrowing.

If successful and followed across Europe and beyond, many analysts reckon money market tensions might start to ease.

There is no single Treasury authority serving the 15-nation euro zone or 27-nation EU. But analysts say the European Investment Bank (EIB), the policy lending arm of the EU, could step into that space.

CAPITAL INJECTIONS/NATIONALISE BANKS

Stronger capital could encourage banks to lend to each other. Pumping taxpayer money into crumbling banks could be the key to giving them the capital they need to begin lending again. Governments around the world could take equity stakes or nationalise institutions.

Injecting capital into several banks at the same time could remove the current stigma that an individual institution is in need of funds. This could help prevent a run on the banking system.

Taxpayer wrath at bailing out failing bankers means governments will look for ways to benefit from any subsequent recovery in share prices. By buying preference shares that pay an annual dividend, governments would allow taxpayers to benefit. Other mechanisms could include offering warrants or convertible shares for government cash pledges.

GLOBAL DOLLAR RESERVES ARE MOBILISED

The scale of the crisis may justify wholesale use of the $4.5 trillion of U.S. currency stashed in global central bank vaults — the foreign exchange reserves traditionally held for use in times of national economic emergencies.

Policymakers could agree to sell dollars from these reserves to meet the extraordinary demand for the U.S. currency.

A dollar shortage around the world has become the crux of the 15-month-old financial crunch because the near collapse of many U.S. mortgage-related assets has sent banks in Europe and elsewhere scrambling to find dollars to repair balance sheets.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that major global banks will need about $675 billion in additional capital over the next few years and says recapitalisation using the public sector balance sheet should now be considered.

A simple explanation for why reserves might need to be used in this way is because when a European bank takes a 50 percent writedown on a $2 billion asset, it still has to roll over $2 billion of short-term dollar financing all the way to maturity, even though the asset is then only worth $1 billion.

The writedowns themselves fuel counterparty distrust on interbank lending markets and make rollover beyond overnight loans extremely difficult. A big problem is that the writedowns create a currency mismatch on banks’ books.

In the simplified example of a 50 percent writedown of a $2 billion asset, the notional European bank will end up with a $1 billion dollar net short position — one its auditors will require it to cover by buying dollars to avoid the exposure.

Significant net redemptions of dollar debt are expected in Europe through the final quarter of 2009 and must be met with dollar cash.

Central bank intervention to sell dollars cannot be ruled out, in the event that the rush to hedge net dollar liabilities creates an increasingly disorderly FX market, analysts say.

NEW REGULATORY STRUCTURE FOR BANKING

International banks operate branches in multiple countries with many different regulatory structures. This makes it far more difficult for a single government to solve the crisis by buying assets directly off bank balance sheets, recapitalising domestic banks, or laying down new national operating rules.

In the United States, for instance, there are five different types of bank regulators. In the European Union, each of its 27 members has a separate national regulatory regime.

An international agreement on a harmonised regulatory structure would bring common standards for cross-border banks and speed up the process for resolving failures in the global banking system.

It also could address whether changes in capital standards are needed to replace the Basel II regime, which currently is being rolled out and tiers different types of risk.

NEW REGULATION FOR CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS

The $55 trillion credit derivatives market has fended off regulation so far, but as the chorus blaming it for the current global financial crisis grows, some form of regulation seems inevitable. Critics say the lack of regulation makes the CDS market ripe for fraud and manipulation.

In one approach, New York state authorities intend to regulate from January 2009 those credit default swaps that it regards as insurance contracts. Analysts say classifying some CDS as insurance would reduce the speculative bubble by helping to identify the investors with real credit exposures to hedge.

Another approach could be to move credit derivative trading onto exchanges to provide price transparency and offer simpler, standardised contract settlement in the event of default.

The exchanges initiative has failed to catch on with banks so far. They have preferred to protect the income they collect from trading credit derivatives privately.

Clearing Corp, a dealer-owned clearing house, is expected to launch in early 2009 a central system for matching CDS trades which is now done by individual banks.