PopSugar

Front Page: Carrie Prejean Is Offered Millions For Sex Tapes

TresSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:00:50 -0800

Porn distributor Vivid Entertainment is offering Carrie Prejean millions of dollars to distribute her sex tapes. - Gawker
Speaking to students in Shanghai, President Obama said it's better for society when everyone can use Twitter freely. - CNN
The UK version of the marketing poster for Couples Retreat doesn't include the movie's black couple. - Huffington Post
Courteney Cox has signed on for Scream 4. - AP
2012 came in number one at the box office this weekend. - BuzzSugar

Movie Preview: The Slammin' Salmon

BuzzSugar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Good news for fans of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, famous for their cult comedy classic Super Troopers: their latest film, The Slammin' Salmon, which languished on a shelf waiting for a distributor, got picked up by a studio this week for a release in December. And that's not all; there's a new trailer for the film, featuring not just the group's faces, but one very welcome one: How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders! Jim Gaffigan and Will Forte also have parts.

The movie is set in a high-end restaurant, and Smulders and the others play servers challenged to make the most money in one night for a shot at $10,000. The humor looks like the same that made Super Troopers so beloved, so I really hope that Salmon is just as funny. To see the trailer, just read more.

Corona Introducing 24-Ounce Cans

YumSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:04:23 -0700

This news might come as a surprise to Anheuser-Busch, but Bud Light lovers aren't the only ones who like to get it in the can. So do Corona drinkers. Crown Imports, the importer and distributor for the popular Mexican beer, plans to roll out 24-ounce, single-serving cans of Corona and Corona Light. The cans - which contain twice the amount of beer as a typical bottle - make their debut in 26 initial markets this month, with Corona Light following soon. Considering Coca-Cola recently publicized plans to offer soft drinks in smaller can sizes, I'm surprised Corona has decided to venture in the opposite direction by scaling its sizes up. Even though Corona's one of my go-to beer brands, I wonder if a 24-ounce can will fall flat before I finish it. Would you buy Corona in a 24-ounce can?

Source: User dotbenjamin

Ask Savvy: Help! My Friend Is Involved in a Pyramid Scheme

SavvySugar — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:30:56 -0700

Dear Savvy,

I have a friend who just "invested" into this MTM (like Amway) business. He's been posting about it all over Facebook and trying to convince his friends and family to join. He claims that it's legit and "it's early on, so you're guaranteed to make money." I am pretty disgusted by it, and I am afraid he's going to lose a bunch of money, not to mention the respect of his friends! What do I say when he asks me to join? How do I explain to him that it's not a good idea? Should I even say anything at all?

Savvy says: The so-called business opportunity your friend has signed up for is a multilevel marketing set up, otherwise known as a pyramid scheme. You're right to be concerned about where his involvement may lead him. To see the rest of my answer, just read more.

These schemes loop people in by presenting a too-good-to-be-true scenario in which you're "guaranteed to make money." Of course, nothing is that simple. In the pursuit of money, people like your friend are roped into thinking they'll strike gold by putting in very little time and effort. They're told the more friends and family members they can recruit into the business, the more money they'll make because they are to receive a percentage of whatever sales are made by their personal pyramid.

Dateline investigated a company called Quixtar, which they compare to Amway and mention the latter came under government scrutiny for making false promises to its distributors. The exposé breaks the scam down like this: High-level distributors claim they've struck it rich by selling the company's products, but their income is really coming from the books, tapes, and seminars they sell as requirements to succeeding in the business. The rest of the distributors, like your friend, don't have access to selling those materials but shell out a lot of money to buy them.

When your friend approaches you, politely decline and say you don't feel comfortable with the idea. Do some research on the company - you may discover with a simple Internet search that formal complaints have been made against the business. Gently notify your friend of the allegations made against the company or companies like it, express your concern for the losses he could experience, and hope that he listens.

Source

Link Time!

PopSugarUK — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:22:22 -0700

Cannes 2009 - Festival of romance - Ayyyy
Simon Cowell's ex, Terri Seymour, choked at American Idol event - Hecklerspray
Is Jack Tweed to become a TV presenter? - Holy Moly
What to expect from the new album from The Freemasons - PopJustice
The controversial Antichrist has found a distributor - Movie Overdose
Is Tila Tequila pregnant? - theFABlife
Britney smells the best, Jordan smells the worst - Juicy UK

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Go Inside the Secret World of Hair Extensions

BellaSugar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:00:00 -0800

We see them on the heads of celebrities. We may even have them ourselves. But, when it comes down to it, do we really know where that hair comes from?

The March issue of Allure offers a story behind some of the most prized extensions, and it's not a pretty picture. More than 500 tons - yes, tons - of human hair come from Tirumala, a temple of the Vaishnava sect of Hinduism in southern India. Women grow their hair to their waists, then have their heads shaven as a symbol of religious devotion. After processing, that hair becomes extensions sold in posh salons in the United States.

Why do they have the hair? Since the ninth century, devout Hindus have visited the temple to pay respects to the resident deity through a procedure called tonsuring. This ritual head shaving is a gesture of devotion. By giving up their hair, they believe the god will then grant them any wish. Quite often, this is the first time that the hair, which has never been treated with anything harsher than coconut oil and herbal Ayurvedic soap, has been cut.

To get more of the story, read more.

Where does the money go? After being cleaned and processed, the hair is sold at auction and the temple funds schools and medical centers with their portion of the profits . . after part of the proceeds go to the various parties involved from the extension makers to the distributors. This makes Tirumala one of the richest religious pilgrimage sites in the world, earning about $20.6 million annually. Their chief accounts officer says, "Our deity is now the richest deity in the world."

Do the women know? When asked by the reporter, many of the women did not know what happened to their sacrifice at Tirumala, and they certainly did not know of the high price their locks can fetch. (After all, $3,000 is more than triple the average yearly per capita income in India.) While most of the profits do go to the temple, it doesn't sit right with me that the devotees are kept in the dark about this multimillion-dollar industry.

As the article concludes, I'm still pondering the final questions: Would it matter to them? Should it matter to us? Check out the story when you have a chance, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Super Bowl Fans' Feathers Ruffled Over Buffalo Wing Shortage

YumSugar — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:15:47 -0800

Super Bowl XLIII is less than a week away, but this year, lovers of the chicken wing - game day's unofficial snack - will be enjoying their poultry on a wing and a prayer. Since few Super Bowl parties are without chicken wings, consumer demand, as it generally is during football season, is sky-high. Unfortunately, the supply for chicken wings is way down. Major wing supplier Pilgrim's Pride of Pittsburgh, TX, recently filed Chapter 11 company reorganization. As a result, the price of wings is soaring nationwide, and in some cases, up to 30 percent in the past three months.

Consumers, restaurants, and distributors are handling the crisis in different ways. Some are setting aside vast quantities of wings for the big game. Other restaurants, feeling the pinch, have doubled the prices of wings on their menu.

In turn, customers, like the wing lovers of Buffalo, NY, the birthplace of the spicy chicken wing, are so fed up with astronomical prices that they've called for a wing boycott. This year I'll be serving buffalo chicken fingers or buffalo chicken cheese dip instead of wings.

Have you noticed an increase in price? Would you be willing to pay more simply to have chicken wings at your Super Bowl celebration?

Source

Organics Industry Plagued by Recession and Scandal

YumSugar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:30:45 -0800

It's only January, and the organic industry is already having a bad year. Not only have producers been losing consumers due to the hefty price tag of organic food, but the industry has struggled to maintain its integrity.

With organic feed prices at an all-time high, farmers in the UK are lobbying the government to temporarily relax organic feed standards to assist livestock producers who are currently paying twice as much for organic feed as they would conventional. In California, state investigators have discovered that California Liquid Fertilizer, an organic farming treatment, had been spiking its fertilizer with a synthetic product banned from organic farms. The tainted fertilizer infiltrated up to a third of the organic market, including produce giants such as Earthbound Farms, for up to seven years. Following the incident, investigations have begun into other organic fertilizer distributors in different states.

With these issues now in the spotlight, it's my feeling that consumers will be left confused about organic standards of quality, and distrustful of industry practices. Does this affect your preferences about shopping organic?

Source

Humane Society Investigation Links Petland to Puppy Mills

PetSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:54:59 -0800

According to the results of a recent investigation, it turns out that the largest chain of pet-selling stores in the US is also the nation's largest retail supporter of puppy mills.

An eight-month evaluation by the Humane Society of the United States uncovered that Petland stores are purchasing and selling puppies from horrific conditions despite promises that the dogs come from known breeders with only "the highest standards of pet care." Many hail from massive commercial facilities or are purchased from large scale "pet distributors" (read: puppy brokers) . . . and the company itself may not even know what the standards of care were like in the first place.

See some shocking statistics and learn what you can do when you read more.

By the numbers:

Number of Petland stores across the country: 140
Number of puppies linked to Petland stores: 17,000
Number of stores visited by the HSUS: 21
Number of breeders and brokers visited by the HSUS: 35
Number of additional USDA inspection reports from Petland breeders evaluated by HSUS: more than 100
Number of those with "serious violations of basic animal care regulations": 60 percent

If this shocks you too, take action and sign a petition letting the company know this is unacceptable to us pet lovers!

Nice and New: Bubble Lamp Shade

CasaSugar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:00:34 -0700

In 1947, George Nelson decided to create his own collection of lamps, when the silk-covered Swedish hanging lamp he coveted was out of reach financially. The resulting collection, known as the "bubble lamps," became an iconic one, still used prolifically by interior designers today (in fact, Vern Yip is using them in his reno of a community center). The lamps, made by coating a steel-wire skeleton with a plastic coating, were first produced by the Howard Miller Company in 1950. The collection includes a range of pendants in various shapes and sizes, as well as several sconces. Unfortunately, the most demanded type of shade - a table lamp shade - was never produced by Nelson. Thankfully, though, Modernica, the official manufacturer and distributor of the collection for the last 12 years, has recently released a table and floor lamp shade based on Nelson's original designs. The Bubble Lamp Shade ($225 and up) is available in three sizes, and will fit most traditional bases. At long last!