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Invitations should be a reflection of your thoughts and personality. A well chosen wording for an invitation card can get the message across to the guests. Invitations are meant to be personalized messages sent to your loved ones requesting them to join you in the joyous occasion, be it your birthday or your kid’s, or your graduation day or anniversary. Internet is full of sites with plenty of designs to choose from for invitation cards for any occasion.

Birthday invitations should be planned according to the theme of the party, if there is. The design should be selected keeping in mind the sex and age of the child, kid, and adult. For an elderly person, a birthday invitation card can not be childish! Like ways, for a child a birthday invite can not be dull and lifeless. Even the wording should be chosen keeping these things in mind. You can get cool and fun wording ideas from the internet to make your card exciting and unique. The wording should be to the point and precise otherwise it can get boring. It can be funny, witty and can have the age or the name of the celebrant. You can even personalize birthday invitations by putting your child’s photo on the card. That way people will remember it for many years.

Whenever you are giving something as gift to someone the first thing that comes to your mind is permanency. By this I mean that whatever you are giving as a gift should be the prized possession of the person to whom you are gifting it. One of the best ideas for giving this permanent gift is engraved gifts which engrave a photograph or the name of the person in the object which you are giving. It is also important for you to choose the correct thing which the person will like. Engraved classes engrave pictures or by message which you like to give to that person.

In this case the least that you need to do is get a soft copy of the picture or the message which you want to engrave and then go to the shops which has the expertise of engraving on objects. In most of the cases it is the pictures which are in high demand with most of the people. It’s a good option for organizations to give engraved gifts as employee awards. You can give the picture of one of those special moments in your life to the person which will make the gift even more special for him. So, go ahead and start searching for the perfect picture which can be engraved and make the gift more special than you have ever made it before in your life.

Makers of vintage wine from France’s Beaujolais region have launched a campaign to improve their image and step out of the shadow of Beaujolais Nouveau for which the area is best known.

The hilly winegrowing area in eastern France is famous around the world for its Beaujolais Nouveau, a young red wine of varying quality which goes on sale in the third week of November and is meant to be consumed by the following May.

But a handful of winemakers producing top-of-the-range wine want to shake off the region’s reputation for poor quality.

“Our problem is that we have 10 quality vintages which are unheard of. We are the only appellation in the world known for plonk and not for its top quality,” said Jean Bourjade, president of the local trade body.

“We have the image of an industrial wine, but actually it’s the other way round, everything is made by hand here.”

He was speaking on Friday at the Chateau de la Chaize which is owned by the Marquise de Roussy de Sales who produces one of the most refined Beaujolais wines.

The 17th century chateau, which hosted former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary in 1996, was where the winemakers launched their “Expressions of Origin” to raise their vintages’ profiles.

They will organise three top-end wine tastings a year, in France, Europe and one big export market. In 2009 this will be in the eastern United States with stops in New York, Philadelphia and Florida.

The region, which extends from Lyon to the edge of the Burgundy wine area, has been in crisis for around 10 years.

Many French winemakers are struggling with plummeting domestic consumption and fierce competition from new world producers such as Australia and Chile.

The Beaujolais region is no exception and is undertaking a restructuring, reducing the number of vines, to improve quality and make winemakers more competitive.

The region’s image has also been hurt by scandals over production methods. Police launched an investigation in December into whether winegrowers had illegally tipped extra sugar into their wine to raise alcohol levels to within official limits.

The winemakers were persuaded to launch their campaign after a recent visit from the American wine journalist Matt Kramer, a contributor to the influential Wine Spectator magazine.

“He usually comes to Bordeaux and Burgundy, but never to Beaujolais,” said Guillaume de Castelnau, who manages the Chateau des Jacques a Romaneche-Thorins.

“I showed him a selection of my favourite wines. He didn’t say anything but I could see he was very surprised.

“Finally, we got a really good mark in the Wine Spectator which had up until now had a negative mark on the region.”

Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned on Monday.

The scientists’ study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of “leisure noise”, saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels — with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.

“There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality,” the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement.

“Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time,” it said. More and more young people were exposed to the significant threat that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.

Commission experts estimate that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.

If they listened for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels, they would already exceed EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, they said. But if they listened for longer periods, they risked permanent hearing loss after five years.

The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.

Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.

Commission experts estimate unit sales between 184 and 246 million for all portable audio devices just over the last four years, of which MP3 players range between 124 and 165 million.

Mobile phones used at excessive volume also came under fire from Meglena Kuneva, the EU’s consumer affairs commissioner.

“I am concerned that so many young people … who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably,” she said in the statement.

Ogaan - ‘wave’ in Sanskrit literally pioneered the wave of fashion boutiques in 1989. Almost two decades later, with the launch of their illustrious boutique at Emporio, Ogaan is now a chain of seven stores.

So when the lady behind it all modestly queried, “Tell me what should I do to take Ogaan further”, all just had one reply - the going is great Kavita. The launch saw many designers, established and aspiring, paying obeisance to Ogaan for thrusting their career.

There was Sonam Dubal, Anupama Dayal, Meera and Muzaffar Ali with young jewellery designers - Ritika Sachdeva and Ruchika Ohri. The outlet has a perfect mix of merchandise - Kavita Bhartia’s vibrant collection, which this time is enlivened by tribal prints, Nakul Sen’s beaded and sequined cocktail dresses, Vivek Narang’s minimalistic styles and debutant - Gaba’s impressive avant-garde look.

We also spotted a pretty girl alongside Kavita and discovered she’s her daughter Aasthi. Also present were Harmeet Bajaj, Naveen and Raseel Gujral and another new face - Sama, daughter of Meera and Muzaffar Ali.

The second day of the Bridal Asia event in New Delhi saw Pakistani models setting the ramp afire with their moves and attires on Sunday.

Bridal Asia- a typical fashion extravaganza has provided a platform to budding and well established designers across the subcontinent to showcase their talent and showcase the South Asian culture.

Ace designers like Raghvendera Rathore, Bahiravi Jaikishan, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Meera and Muzaffar Ali showcased their collections on the second day.

Maintaining the universal appeal of fashion, the show conquered the myriad moods of a bride with deftly defined cross- border fashion and eloquent cross-border culture.

Pakistani models shared their catwalk with the renowned Indian models.

The models believe that the fashion communication is sure to create history between the two countries as they share a common culture.

“I think fashion has been a huge platform on which the two countries have taken steps in the same direction. Because fashion is something, which really doesn’t have borders, doesn’t have boundaries,” said Nadia Hussain, Pakistani Model.

Mehreen Syed, another Pakistani model swayed down the fashion runway with aope in her heart that the borders would blur someday reuniting the two countries.

“It is from the core of my heart that I want India and Pakistan should become one. The way Pakistani fashion industry is heading and by God’s grace fashion weeks are now being organized in Pakistan also. And designers from India are even coming there and we hope more response in future,” said Syed.

10 years of devotion to niche craft, highlighting the facets of the proud heritage of South Asia has made Bridal Asia the Mecca of Bridal wear.

Earlier, many renowned designers and gorgeous models from Pakistan had made heads turn.

The Vermont-bred jam band, which disbanded in 2004, is planning three dates next March in Hampton, Virginia. A notice posted on the band’s Web site says Phish will play March 6, March 7 and March 8, 2009, at the Hampton Coliseum. The Web site says more 2009 dates will be announced later.

A spokesman for the Coliseum, who wouldn’t give his name, confirmed the booking.

Phish was among the nation’s top touring acts when it called it quits in 2004. The band received a lifetime achievement award at the Jammy Awards last May.

Bollywood’s greatest lover boy Shah Rukh Khan, who makes the hearts go thump with his romantic antics and has epitomised love on the 70 mm thinks that usually the most boring guys make the best lovers.

In an interview given to a website, the actor exclaimed “The most boring, normal guys are the best lovers.” The King Khan said this while elaborating more on the character he is portraying in Aditya Chopra’s ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’. According to SRK “I play this normal, regular guy. He is that sort of character whom people meet in everyday life; there is nothing fancy, attractive or interesting about him. This role therefore required me to keep things simple, whether it was the look, make up and even my demeanour.”

SRK, who has effectively romanticized infinite actresses on the silver screen, feels that to win love one needs to keep it simple and not go overboard. The actor, who has always maintained his simplicity in spite of the stupendous popularity, calls himself a ‘regular’ guy who still finds it difficult to understand what makes girls fall for him all the time. Guess, the superstar has taken cue from his undying fanfare and reached a conclusion about ‘true love’.

Well, as for his fans, they can be rest assured that their ‘love god’ is again going to sweep them off their feet with his romantic portrayal of a loveable guy next door in ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’.

Veteran Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli’s ‘Gulabi Talkies’, which won the best Indian film award at the 10th Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival this year, was released in only one multiplex with one show a day, but he is not complaining.’Gulabi Talkies’ is the screen adaptation of Kannada writer Vaidehi’s book ‘Gulabi Talkies and Other Stories’. It is about an expert midwife Gulabi, who is neglected by a number of people for being a Muslim. The film was released Sep 5 and is now running in Bangalore alone and has just one show a day.

‘It’s not that we had no takers, but we didn’t approach any other multiplex for the film. We asked PVR in Bangalore to screen our film and they agreed. My last film ‘Naayi Narelu’ was also released in PVR only,’ Kasaravalli told IANS on phone from Bangalore.

Kasaravalli denied rumours that the multiplex has threatened to remove the film from the theatre if it fails to pull the crowd, saying: ‘We have not got any such information. In fact, they are very happy and they told us it should run in the second week as well.’

‘We didn’t want the film in a lot of theatres. Actually, all single-screen cinema halls now have four shows. It was not wise to have four shows for the movie every day since the office-goers could watch the film only in the evening,’ the director explained.

‘For this, we have placed the film at a time slot of 7:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. in Bangalore. It is beneficial for the cinema hall this way also,’ he added.

The fact that just one show will not be able to garner enough profits does not bother the director.

‘Our strategy is different, you see,’ is all he said.

According to Kasaravalli, ‘the film is doing good business’ as of now. Though he did not reveal the budget of the film, he said it was ‘medium budget’.

‘In the first week, we have got a lot of office-going crowd and those interested in media and arts, but now in the coming weekend, we are expecting a lot of college students,’ he said.

Popular actress Umashree plays the lead in ‘Gulabi Talkies’. She bagged the best actress award for it at the 10th Osian’s Cinefan festival. The cast also has K.G. Krishnamurthy and M.D. Pallavi.

When asked whether the film will be released in other parts of India, Kasarvalli said: ‘We will approach PVR in Mumbai and Delhi, but I still have to talk to my producer about it. Even in Bangalore, the film has been released with subtitles.’

Kasarvalli is known for making socially and politically relevant films and his ‘In the Shadow of the Dog’ too won a special jury award at the Osian’s film festival in 2006.

Currently he is talking to Big Motion Pictures for a Kannada film.

He did not divulge any details about that project as he felt it was too early to talk about it.

Previously unreleased footage of screen legend Marilyn Monroe taken on the set of her 1959 movie, ‘Some Like It Hot’, is due to be auctioned.

The two-and-a-half-minute amateur clip, featuring the legendary star Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, was taken by a US naval officer in San Diego.

The officer shot the film when Monroe visited his base.

Later that day, he was invited by the actress to visit the nearby movie set at the Hotel Del Coronado.

The sailor’’s daughter migrated to Australia and brought the 8mm film with her.

The footage is to go under the hammer in Melbourne later this month.

Charles Leski, of Leski Auctions, said that the footage shows Monroe surrounded by sailors.

It then cuts to scenes on the movie shoot, which shows Monroe rehearsing for an upcoming scene with Curtis, with crewmembers and extras watching her.

The sailor’’s daughter discovered the film, which is still in its original Kodak box, by chance among her late father’’s possessions.

“Marilyn Monroe memorabilia is always in demand, but rarely do we get one-off material like this,” News.com.au quoted Leskie, as saying.

“It is also extremely rare for such important archival footage to be auctioned outside of the US before its domestic release, and for that we are extremely proud,” Leskie added.

The footage has a pre-sale estimate of 20,000 pounds to 30,000 pounds and the lot includes a CD copy and a DVD copy together with the original 8mm film.

The purchaser of the film also acquires full commercial rights worldwide