Barbie you vamp

Barbie sinks her teeth into pop culture phenomenon

by Jenni Gilmer, August 14th, 2009, Friday.

Category: Consumer Products, Media, Trends

Seems like everyone is trying to get a piece of the action when it comes to pop culture juggernaut Twilight, the teen romance vampire movie and its sequel based on Stephanie Meyer’s novels.

The marketing machine is running at fever pitch these days as Summit Entertainment is releasing Twilight’s sequel, New Moon, on Nov. 20. The news this week is that Mattel is putting out Twilight Barbie dolls of heroine Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen. Seriously — vampire Barbies? Yep. Well, at least one of them is. If you didn’t know these dolls were bonny Bella and Edward the Gorgeous, you might not be able to guess. They just look like casually dressed young people. But that doesn’t matter — droves of Twilight fans are sure to purchase them when they hits shelves on Nov. 1 at Wal-Mart and on BarbieCollector.com.

Not that teenage girls (or even pre-teen girls, really) play with Barbies by that age. These aren’t the kind of Barbies you play with anyway. Not when they cost $24.95 each. No, they are collector items and when it comes to Barbies, that’s a big business.

Barbie is no stranger to pop culture makeovers. Mattel has set the blonde icon in various TV shows (I Dream of Jeannie, Wonder Woman, Star Trek, The Addams Family, and Bewitched … I could keep going) as well as movies (Grease, Legally Blonde 2, and King Kong).

Twilight Barbies are a smart move for Mattel considering some Barbie collectors make Yankees fans look calm. Very smart when you consider the frenzy that these dolls will incite among ravenous Twilight fans.

[OMG OMG OMG! Eeeeek! OMG like I like LOOOOOOVVE Twilight!]

in Nigeria

A good hook:

"
Let us call a spade a spade and hit the nail on the head: Islam or Sharia is not the cause of this militancy in the north, or for that matter in the Niger delta or anywhere else it may happen in Nigeria; the fundamental causative agents are failure of political leadership and corruption and underlying issues of poverty, unemployment and education. "Even established leaders of Islam in the north, who condemn Yusuf's preaching, are aware of how government has failed Nigeria's young," Jean Herskovits, Research Professor of History at the State University of New York, wrote in Foreign Affairs. "What has Western education done for them lately? For that matter, what have other Nigerian institutions, all easily seen as Western-inspired, done for them?"
"

A safe place for your kids to shop

On behalf of WeMuv (here):

Nowadays, children are spending so long in front of their computers that parents are worried (and in most cases with good reasons) about the safety of their little ones. This company aims to provide children with a virtual world in which they can immerse themselves, be educated about the things and values that should matter in life and also be encouraged to stay as healthy and active individuals.

Upon signing up, children create and customize their very own avatars. Once they have done that, they can begin travelling to a wide number of animated destinations such as the Grand Canyon or Mt. Everest. Each one of these locations can be explored collectively, with other members of WeMuv. Of course, each destination comes complete with games that can be played and trivia for enhancing the overall knowledge of the children while they have fun. Online shops are likewise included.

At the end of the day, this is an interesting (and cost-effective) way for parents to introduce their children to Internet technology and have them entertained and educated at the very same time.

How's the weather in Armenia?

Experts estimate unusually cold summer as extraordinary phenomenon
13.08.2009 16:15 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Weather conditions in July and August was strictly distinguished by frequent precipitations and low temperature. In that connection, journalists today met with Zaruhi Petrosyan, Deputy Director of ArmHidroMed Operative Hydro-Meteorological Centre and Hamlet Melkonyan, Director of ArmHidroMed.

“Specialists find recent days’ cold and unusual weather an extraordinary phenomenon. Frequent precipitations were also observed in 1937, 1945 and 1955,” Zaruhi Petrosyan said. “Low temperature during the months of July and August was registered in 1960, 1963, 1974, 1982, 1988 and 1992. Closer to present-day weather conditions was the situation observed in July and August, 1992.”

Average temperature in July was below 0.5-1.5°C which resulted in low temperature during the first ten days of July and high water temperature during the subsequent ten days. Maximum temperature in plateaus ranged between 35 and 38°C. On August 1-10, average temperature in Armenia was 1-2 °C lower below the required norm. During the subsequent days, it decreased 5-6 degrees.

On August 20-23, we anticipate stable weather, with temperature in lake Sevan being relatively high - 19-20°C. That will be conditioned by relatively low air temperature, which will decrease evaporation rate on water surface and increase water temperature.

Changes in weather conditions are mainly conditioned by global warming which is mostly caused by anthropogenic factors.

«Since 1860, general air temperature has increased by 0.6°C, which strongly affected the earth's weather conditions. In 1935-2007, average temperature increased by 0.6°C in Armenia and 0.85°C – in Yerevan,» Melkonyan said.

Till August 19, there will be almost no precipitations on RA territory, Zaruhi Petrosyan said. On August 20-23, temperature is expected to decrease by 20-23°C. Such lowering will be followed by normal weather without precipitations, with average temperature being about 35°C.

Underwater life

Underwater volcano

Global Volcanism Program