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Book Bag: Tinsel Unwraps America's Christmas Craze

TresSugar — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:50:00 -0800

Today's Black Friday, the day Americans put on their traditional crazy hats and go wild for good deals. I'm not sure if you remember, but last year a Wal-Mart worker died under a stampede of 2,000 discount hungry shoppers. There has to be some kind of explanation for this holiday craze.

In the book Tinsel, author Hank Stuever tries to get to the bottom of why so many Americans go over the top for Christmas. To fully understand "mega-Christmas" Stuever moves to Frisco, TX, one of the nation's fastest growing suburbs with lots of churches and one of the highest concentrations of retail square-footage. The book chronicles the author's experience, and of course that begins on the appropriate day: Black Friday.

When asked why he decided to write a book about Christmas, Stuever explained: "Christmas is the largest communal event in American life. Even people who don't celebrate it can't escape it completely. It crosses just about all forms of our culture, faith, and lifestyles. It is born of religion, tradition, commerce, and media, with some ancient roots in winter solstice celebrations that predate the birth of Christ."

Would you be interested in learning more about modern Christmas?

Lil Links: Daddy Ben Is on Pickup Duty

babysugar — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:30:53 -0800

Daddy Ben is on pickup duty - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Sunday Urban is a musical tot - Celebrity Baby Blog
Making the best of the leftovers - Momologie
How young is too young to have a baby? - CafeMom
Shielding your child from pop culture - ParentDish
How to handle the holidays as a single parent - MomLogic
How to clean your house in a hurry - Health
How much stuff is too much stuff? - The Mommy Files
Work those inner thighs - Fit Pregnancy

Wills Parties Like a Prince and Supports Charity and Country

PopSugarUK — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:32:15 -0800

Prince William wore a casual outfit of bodywarmer, jeans and trainers for a night out at Raffles on Saturday, grinning wide as he climbed into his car after leaving the club at 3.25am. It's been a couple of months since we last saw Wills out clubbing, and just last week we spotted Kate Middleton at a film premiere. Wills has arranged his trip to New Zealand and Australia to make sure the couple will be together to celebrate Kate's 28th birthday on 9 January, as he missed her last two birthdays. It looks like Wills is doing a great job balancing his social and personal life with his official duties, and has set up the Charitable Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry, which will give grants to needy young people and wounded service personnel. As FA President, Wills has also given his backing to England's 2018 World Cup bid, saying:

"England's love for the game is world renowned. Football is in our blood. We're proud of our great cultural diversity. We will offer a warm, home-from-home welcome to all the participating teams and their supporters. As a nation, we are united behind the bid. Speaking personally, I am very proud to be supporting it. I believe, with England's great passion for the game, we will stage a World Cup to remember forever. A first-class festival of football. 1966 and football are one in England's psyche and collective memory. It is the stuff of legend. For young people like myself, who were not around to experience the pride and excitement of that time, the opportunity to live it first hand will be an enormous privilege."

To see more pictures of Wills' night out, just read more.

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Celebrities With Beards

TresSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:05:00 -0800

November is National Beard Month, so I thought I'd gather together 15 of the finest celebrities with beards - and a few who might not be so fine. Who do you think looks best with a beard, and who needs to find a straight razor, pronto?

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Link Time! ABC Pulls the Plug on Kelsey Grammer's Hank

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:30:57 -0800

It's just no Frasier: ABC cancels Hank - Ausiello Files
In a quick turn of events, Steven Tyler announces that he is not quitting Aerosmith - E! Online
Did you watch The City last night? Test your knowledge with this tech quiz - GeekSugar
Celebrate Veterans Day with these classic war movies! - MTV Movies Blog
The Tony Awards better get ready: Denzel Washington is coming to Broadway in a revival of August Wilson's Fences - Culture Monster
Winona Ryder signs on as the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie. - Movieline
Check out this list of John Cusack's 10 best movies - Rotten Tomatoes
Get to know the actress behind Anna on TV's V - TV.com

Guess the Celebrity by Her Real Name!

TresSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:10:00 -0700

Celebrities may be born with perfect looks, but they're not always born with perfect names. See if you can spot the celeb and her given name.

Question 1 of 10

This actress changed her name from Demetria Gene Guynes to something more concise.

Do You Celebrate the Day of the Dead?

CasaSugar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

The Day of the Dead, which is also known as El Día de los Muertos or All Souls' Day, occurs on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 (All Souls Day).

During the holiday, people pray for, honor, and remember friends and family members that have died. It is primarily celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans in the US and Canada. Here in the Bay Area, families build beautiful altars, and celebrations take place at local museums and cultural centers. And of course, panaderias are filled with delicious treats, sugar skulls, candied pumpkin, and other baked goods that celebrate the holiday.

Source: Flickr User sfmission.com

Do Tell: If You Could Talk to Any Dead Celeb, Who Would It Be?

TresSugar — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0700

Paranormal activity has just moved into the 21st century! A psychic in the UK is going to conduct the world's first online séance using Twitter. Ghosts + psychic + séance + Twitter = Twéance.

Psychic Jaynce Wallace wants you to tell her – via tweet - which celebrity you'd want her to reach out to. She will post this dead celebrity Q&A on Twitter.com/tweance Oct. 30 - just in time for Halloween! (Be sure to account for the UK time/ghost time differential.)

Although Twitter really only blew up about a year ago, a spokesman for Angels Fancy Dress in London, the folks who came up with the idea for the Tweance, wondered why it took so long to conduct séances on the site: "We were amazed to see no one had used Twitter for a séance before." Seriously, why so long?

If you could talk to any dead celebrity, who would it be? What would you ask?

Source: Flickr User PotatoBenevolence

Pop Picks: Our Top 10 Halloween Loving Celebs

Molly — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:56:41 -0700

Halloween is just a couple days away and while lots of us are gearing up with pop culture, movie-inspired or generally fabulous costumes, we're not the only ones! The stars love to get dressed up spooky, sexy, fun and fantastic for the big day. We're counting down the reasons Halloween is so huge this year and take a look at our top 10 Halloween Loving Celebrities to get us all in the mood for some trick-or-treating! For all of our Halloween coverage click here and watch our PopSugar Rush Special on why the holiday is extra huge this year!

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Ask a Party Planner: Should I Date Outside My Religion?

TresSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Conventional Wisdom is a different kind of advice column. Your questions will be answered by people from all walks of life rather than by advice experts. If you have a question you'd like answered on Conventional Wisdom, you can submit it here.

This week, a party planner offers advice to a woman unsure about a new love interest. After you read her answer, be sure to check out our Group Therapy group where I found this question.

Today's Question:

I'm a single 32-year-old woman and I am under immense pressure to get married from my family and community. I have been single for two years since my last relationship, and four months ago I met this guy and started dating him. We quickly got close and we really care for each other. He wants me to be his girlfriend now, however there a few issues with us - he is only 28 and from another religion. If this goes anywhere, then we are sure to face opposition from both our families. We are from cultures where our families mean a lot to us.

We have talked about this being a long-term relationship, but we have yet to figure out if we will end up married since it's obviously too early. I'm wondering if I should date other guys while we figure this out. I really don't want to, but my friends warn me to not put all my eggs in one basket, especially when he is four years younger than me. I also worry that our religions will come between us in the future.

What should I do? Date other guys, or be his girlfriend and see this through?

Signed, Unsure

To see the party planner's answer, read more.

Dear Unsure,

It seems like there are two issues here: first, his age, and second, your religions. Let's discuss.

I think you should not worry about his age. Twenty-eight is old enough to be in a serious, committed relationship if that's what he wants. Like you said, it's early in the relationship, so you can't predict whether you two are going to get married. But there is only one way to find out - by dating him exclusively.

As for the religion issue: this is something to seriously consider. But I think you need to figure out if you're willing to date someone with a different background - is it worth it to you, not your family, to work through the inevitable obstacles (like choosing how to celebrate holidays, or how to raise kids)? As for your family, I think that they will be more supportive than you think. If you're happy, they should be happy for you too. And you say this guy really values his family, so I think it's great that you found someone who thinks his family is important - just like you do.

If you really like this guy, it's worth giving it a chance. Good luck.

Signed,
A party planner