| The Spa at Personal Choice grabs international honors
The Spa at Personal Choice has once again been recognized for entrepreneurial excellence, nominated for a Global Salon Business Award and a spot in Salon Today's Top 200 Salons and Spas, according to a news release from The Spa at Personal Choice.The Global Salon Business Award is given each year to 50 out of 2,600 nominated businesses in the world that raised the bar for industry business practices in areas of leadership, community service, entrepreneurial pursuits and customer service initiatives, the release stated. The Spa at Personal Choice won the award in 2006 and owner Sue Santsche said she is honored to be a nominee again in 2007 for the 2008 award. In gearing up for this year's event, The Spa at Personal Choice was featured in the international trade magazine Esthetica as an example of a business that has used its award positively.
Column: Santa dislikes toxic surprises
As the holidays approach, time is short and budgets are more stressed. That's why many folks enjoy the ease of gift buying at popular discount chain stores where selection is diverse, shopping is fast and consumer costs stay very low. But a series of high-profile toy recalls in recent months is a wakeup call for us to begin asking a serious question: what are the hidden costs of our easy buys? As one might imagine, shopping with me is no fun. In fact, it can be painful. While I wasn't paying attention, my consumer conscience morphed into a raging, dark alter ego that blatantly tries to sabotage consumer contentment all around me. Notwithstanding, one day recently, I agreed to accompany my mom who was shopping for gifts to fill two Christmas shoeboxes to send to a needy child overseas through a church charity program.
Vanessa vs. the dot-com IPO giants
Days after her 22nd birthday, college senior Vanessa Simmonds last month put her name to 55 lawsuits against the nation's leading investment banks. She is the plaintiff in an audacious new effort to recoup what her attorneys call the ill-gotten gains pocketed by insiders and underwriters in many dot-com-era stock offerings. Her lawyers — among them her dad — say that despite the widespread investigation and litigation of abuses surrounding the IPOs that ballooned in 1999-2001 and then popped, no one has used their line of attack before. Their targets: Goldman Sachs and nine other top-tier Wall Street firms. The suits, filed in federal court in Seattle, name local IPOs by Onvia, Concur Technologies and InterNAP as well as once-sizzling stock deals from such national names as Red Hat, Palm, TiVo, Brocade, Priceline.com and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Barbie lovers dolled up
THE world's first Barbie-themed store and activity centre has opened its doors in Argentina. Barbie Store is a dream come true for lovers of the world's most popular toy. At the centre of the bubblegum-scented shop in Buenos Aires is a beauty salon where girls between the ages of three and 12 can get make-overs, manicures and have their hair styled to turn them into their favourite Barbie. "I am here because I wanted to have my hair done for my mum's birthday," said Pilar Tolosa, 6. And while the kids are occupied, parents can relax in a tearoom with a hand-baked selection of Barbie-themed treats. Barbie Store also offers an activity castle with games, costumes, make-up sets and a fashion catwalk. While some parents may bemoan Barbie's conspicuous consumption and her image of womanhood, she appears to have plenty of adoring fans in the Argentinian capital.
Empire State Building and Sardi's to Honor Disney's Lion King
As Disney's The Lion King approaches its tenth anniversary on Broadway � Sunday, Nov. 11 at the Minskoff Theatre � both the Empire State Building and the Manhattan restaurant Sardi's will honor the Tony-winning musical. On Friday, Nov. 9 the Empire State Building will be lit in Lion King yellow to recognize the show's tenth anniversary. Tshidi Manye, who currently plays Rafiki in the family-friendly musical, will appear in costume to throw the ceremonial switch at the landmark building. She will be joined by several of her cast members as well as Lion King associate producers Aubrey Lynch II and Anne Quart. Manye will also be on hand Nov. 9 when Sardi's unveils a Rafiki caricature, which will hang on the walls of the world-famous restaurant. Rafiki will join Beauty and the Beast's Beast and The Phantom of the Opera's Phantom as the only other Broadway musical characters to be immortalized on the walls of the restaurant.
The End -- Tiny arcs of the unfinished
They left a prescient few with palms upturned, mouths agape, minds bewildered, wondering "Why?" and "What if?" Each forged a legacy. Some flopped famously, or simply skulked away. Others were snakebitten from the start. They may have been rudely disrupted by tragedy, taken from the shelves per marketing executives or left to wither away per the masses who grow bored and abandon a fad's band wagon. These are the people and things from American pop culture that met their doom all too soon, extinguished in some way before the full weight of their glory could be brought to bear. No realm is immune from a too-young-to-die story, be it fashion or fame, books or television, athletics or the automobile. But as it goes, some lives and pop trends are cut off before a lot of people are done enjoying them.
Staples Players’ “Beauty and the Beast” Debuts Tonight
The Staples Players production of "Beauty and the Beast" played to an enthusiatic audience from the Westport Weston Y's Men Thursday night in a dress rehearsal. The production debuts tonight with performances Saturday and next weekend, including matinées on Saturday and Sunday. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com .
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