Must love Pups

If you have a canine friend running around your house, you've probably experienced firsthand the research-proven health benefits of dog ownership. And now physicians are making the most of those benefits when prescribing treatments, too...

When you pet a dog, your body is flooded with oxytocin, otherwise known as the "cuddle hormone." The hormone makes you feel lovey and more bonded--and it may even make wounds heal faster.

Petting a dog (and sometimes even just seeing a dog, according to research) results in lowered blood pressure and less stress and anxiety.

So when it comes to treating anxiety and depression, some doctors are forgoing the meds as a first step and prescribing pets, instead. There's even evidence that people who own dogs require fewer trips to the doctor for other ailments--20% fewer, as a matter of fact! Woof to that!

What Do You Eat Before You Work Out? (Here's What Experts Suggest)

Are you particular about what you eat, pre-workout? It's always been a bit of a conundrum for me: I don't want too much in my stomach because it somehow expands to feel like it's the size of a bowling ball in there when I'm bouncing around during a workout, but I don't want to eat nothing, either, because then I'll run out of energy and either faint or give up early. So what's the answer?

Part of the answer, at least, has to do with when you eat. If you're eating a large meal, you should wait 3-4 hours before exercising; a smaller meal needs 2-3 hours to digest; and a snack needs about 30 minutes to an hour to settle in.

But what should you eat? Forget straight-up carbs; they'll burn up quickly and leave you totally energy-less, say experts. Instead, aim for a protein-carb mix: yogurt with fruit, an apple with a handful of almonds, a piece of whole-wheat toast with a smear of peanut butter.

KC Concepcion Rogue Magazine Cover Decoded

KC Concepcion's cover for Rogue Magazine certainly made an impact and as such artist extraordinaire JP Cuison decided to go and decode the different "hidden meanings" behind this cover for the magazine's January-February issue.

Here's the image (lifted from Mr. Cuison's Facebook page, which I hope he doesn't mind since he'll be given due credit)

 

Ansabeeeeehhhhhh?

http://thefanboyseo.blogspot.com/2012/01/jp-cuison-decodes-kc-concepcion-rogue.html

Chinese New Year Customs and Taboos

Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar. In 2012 it begins on January 23 and the next 12 month period is known as the Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year is celebrated in places where there are considerable Chinese populations, especially China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Tibet, Thailand, Philippines, and also in Chinatowns in other parts of the world.

 

 

Traditional red Hongbao envelopes, in which gifts of money is given to the young by the elders

Chinese New Year Taboos and Customs

Custom may be defined as a cluster of practices common to a particular group or class, or a country of people. Long established and time-honored practices and convention are considered as unwritten laws to regulate social life. Taboo, on the other hand, is outright prohibition of social act or behavior and defying taboo is usually considered objectionable or even abhorrent by society. Customs and taboos are continually evolving and thus keep changing and also vary from one society or country to another. The Chinese, as a nation value customs and taboos and these are particularly practiced during New Year celebrations.

These days for many young people, Chinese New Year is just about visiting relatives, collecting hongbao (gifts of money from elders) and eating a lot. Many of my friends admit that they are clueless when asked about the customs and traditions associated with the holiday. Some of them have helped me in compiling this list.

How much of the following are you aware of and practice?

Chinese New Year Traditions

• Before the birth of the New Year, the house has to be completely cleaned. But all cleaning implements like brooms, brushes, dusters etc should be stored away. No cleaning activity is to be undertaken on New Year day as the belief is all good fortune will be swept away.

• After the New Year Day, the floors may be swept clean in the prescribed manner. All dirt and filth must be taken out through the rear door. The Chinese believe in bursting of crackers as an auspicious way of greeting the dawn of the New Year. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, every door and all windows, have to be kept open to facilitate the exit of the old year.

• All debts will have to be settled by the time the New Year is born. No lending activity is permitted on New Year day. Everyone should desist from using foul language and uttering inauspicious words. No reference should be made to death or matters of sorrow and narration of ghost stories is strictly forbidden.

• None is allowed to weep on New Year day and in fact, parents will be exhorted not to beat their children for bad behavior lest they cry. Furthermore, on New Year's Day, none should wash their hair as that would imply washing away all good fortune in the coming year.

• People are encouraged to wear red color clothing as red is a bright color and symbolizes happiness and cheer. Children and unmarried friends and relatives are gifted with red envelopes containing crisp one dollar bills.

• Black and white colors are scrupulously avoided as these colors signify death, misfortune and ill-luck. In fact, many houses are splashed with crimson and red color is widely used in decorations, flowers and all articles of general use.

• Use of all sharp instruments including knives and scissors is strictly prohibited on New Year Day as they will cut off good fortune. All fragile items like cups, crockery, glasses and mirrors must be handled with utmost care as any broken utensils could mean separation or death in the family. Moreover, articles like clocks, green hats, pears, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scissors or any sharp objects are not to be given as gifts on New Year day.

• The first meal on Chinese New Year has to be vegetarian food. Consuming meat is forbidden as slaughtering animals on this day is considered evil. Besides, it said that the Gods generally arrive in the morning of the New Year festival and most of them are vegetarians.

• Consuming frugal meal like rice porridge on the New Year morning is not permitted as it is believed that only poor people eat rice porridge. Eating cheap food will be an invitation to poverty. The food to be served on New Year's Day is prepared in abundant quantities the day before. Consuming the excess food cooked on the eve of New Year, in the following days mean uninterrupted flow of material wealth.

We are living in the age of computers, internet and mobile phones and the youth of the present generation may be disinclined to observe these New Year customs and taboos. But, the fact remains that there is an element of fear and superstition even in most advanced societies and nobody wants to risk defying customs or disregarding taboos.

Wishing You All A Very Happy and Prosperous Chinese Lunar New Year 2012 - Gong Xi Fa Cai:)

I want one: The “Cadillac” of headphones

Ferrari automakers just unveiled their first-ever line of Ferrari Headphones, metallic noise-canceling headphones that currently retail for £299 (approx $459 USD):

Pricy, sure, but they truly are the “Cadillac” of headphones.

Also, if you like one very expensive thing that a company is super famous for, why wouldn’t you also like another very expensive thing that the same company just started making and completely isn’t known for? If you have a problem with that logic, you can speak to my $900 Rolex three-hole punch. :P

20 Still-Working Foreign Language Wikipedias To Keep Wasting Your Time

Who cares if English-language Wikipedia was down for 24 hours? Don’t let that stop you from your daily procrastination – everything you’d ever need to look up on Wikipedia is still there, it’s just written in foreign languages that you probably can’t read, which makes them EVEN BETTER FOR PROCRASTINATION.

To keep your workday random and unproductive, here’s everything you need from Wikipedia on 20 Non English Wikipedias That Are Still Working.

 

1. Spanish

2. Slovak

3. Hebrew

4. Portuguese

5. Russian

6. Lithuanian

7. French

8. Hungarian

9. Finnish

10. Hindi

11. Finnish

12. Turkish

13. Indonesian

14. Malay

15. Croatian

16. Persian

17. Polish

18. Chinese

19. Bulgarian

20. Vietnamese / Universal Internet

WHOA! It’s Grown-Up Haley Joel Osment!

Here’s the trailer for Sassy Pants (in 3D haha), some indie movie or something co-starring Ashley Rickards, Anna Gunn (Skyler from Breaking Bad) and Diedrich Bader (Oswald from The Drew Carey Show), but which mostly grabbed our attention because of the surprise big-screen return of a now 23-year-old Haley Joel Osment:

It’s himmmmmm!!! “I see dead ADULTS…”

So what’s Mr. Joel Osment been up to since the big Pay It Forward / A.I. double-Oscar-snub? (Can’t you win TWO Oscars by the time you’re 15?) According to this Google prompt, people REALLY want to know if he got fat:

Oh, you can watch the 3D trailer for Sassy Pants. It’s alright. The biggest highlight has already been screencapped above (the Google thing):

Finally – Haley Joel Osment and Diedrich Bader back together for the first time since The Country Bears, when Osment played a character named Beary Bearrington. Everything in this sentence is true.

The stage is set for the big Shyamalan / Osment “Fast And Furious”-style reunion in 2015′s Sense Seven…

Katy Perry Has Already Found Herself A New Man

The corpse of Katy Perry’s marriage to Russell Brand isn’t even cold yet, and it looks like blue-haired homegirl has already got herself a new man. In Indonesia of all places. As these photos will show you, Katy picked a lucky fan out of the audience whose shirt is made out of Jakartan air. 

And Katy knows how to get what she wants. As the following photos will prove, they each score, and he even mentally wills her tit to pop out of her dress. It’s all very magical.


THE DATE BEGINS WITH AN OLD INDONESIAN CUSTOM:
MAKING MOUTH LOVE TO THE HAND 
 IT WORKS 
 KATY CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MANY TEETH THIS GUY STILL HAS LEFT IN HIS MOUTH AFTER BEING MARRIED TO RUSSELL BRAND 
 WAIT TIL HIS PALS ON INDONESIAN FRIENDSTER SEE THIS… 
 AAAAAND HER TIT POPS OUT 
 

Meanwhile, Katy Perry is coming back to the Philippines! The "Fireworks" singer is set to stage another one-night concert in the Manila tomorrow!!  January 22, 2012 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, according to music-video products retailer Odyssey.

Katy Perry Live In Manila Concert 2012

She is currently touring the world for her California Dreams Tour which has the setlist below:

Encore: "California Gurls"
"Teenage Dream"
"Hummingbird Heartbeat"
"Waking Up in Vegas"
"Ur So Gay"
"Peacock"
"I Kissed a Girl"
"Circle the Drain"
"E.T."
"Who Am I Living For?"
"Pearl"
"Not Like the Movies"
"The One That Got Away" (Performed in replacement of a medley)
Medley: "Only Girl (In the World)" / Big Pimpin'" / "Whip My Hair"
"Thinking of You"
"Hot n Cold" (contains elements of "I Want Candy")
"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (contains elements of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun")
"Firework"

Most probably, they will be the same songs that Perry will perform in Manila. Also hoping Katy would find her prince charming here in Manila ;) winks
 

Woman Turns Down $1 Million Offer To Do Porn

Hazel Jones, a U.K. woman diagnosed with ‘uterus didelphys’ – a condition where she has two wombs and two cervixes – has turned down a $1 million offer from Vivid Entertainment to star in her own porn movie. Or to put it another way, the only remaining porn movie that hasn’t already been made 7 trillion times will continue to not be made, at least for a little while.

According to Ms. Jones, don’t print up those Double Indemnity porn parody posters just yet:

According to This Morning, she said: ‘I have never received any offers of this kind of work nor would I never consider doing it in a million years.
‘I just want to be left alone.’

Hear hear! A very admirable stance, especially because now we won’t have to come across a link to that porn and spend forty-five minutes pre-justifying to ourselves why we have to click on it, then we watch it and realize nothing affects us anymore and the internet has hollowed us out indefinitely and there’s no reason to go on living then we watch a Parks & Rec and go back to normal.

The best part of the article, though, is this comment from CEO of Vivid Entertainment Steven Hirsch:
Via TMZ:

Hirsch also promised to cover travel and accommodation expenses, as the film would be shot in Los Angeles.
Hirsch wrote: ‘We would fly you out to L.A. as soon as you are available and provide you with first class accommodations’

That changes everything! Jones wasn’t nervous because her specific medical condition would be sexually exploited and splattered all over the internet, she was nervous because she didn’t want to pay her own travel expenses. Now that they’re covered, FILM AWAY!

“What should we start with? The Mirror Has Two Vaginas?”

The 10 Cutest Players From The 2012 Puppy Bowl

Animal Planet just announced the official starting lineup for Puppy Bowl VIII – we’re still more than two weeks away from the biggest sporting event of the year, but that won’t stop us from LETTING THE CUTE DEBATES BEGIN!

Here’s a sneak peek of my 10 Favorite Players From The 2012 Puppy Bowl, ranked in order of cuteness. It’s not an exact science, we know – it’s more of a puppularity contest:

10. Eurika, Chihuahua / Terrier Mix

9. Calvin, Dachshund

8. Abilene, Australian Shepherd Mix

7. Baskin, Jack Russel / Pug Mix

6. Brandy, Pit Bull / Collie Mix

5. Delilah, Terrier

4. Fonzie, Rat Terrier

3. Fumble, Chihuahua / Terrier Mix

2. Friday, Maltese / Poodle Mix

1. Aberdeen, Australian Shepherd Mix

Check out the rest of the dogs at Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl website!

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Your hips don't lie." Wait, that was Shakira.

 

Good Morning America recently sent two ladies out on the town to flirt with guys in a New York bar and had a body language expert examine the hidden camera footage. Here are the findings--some obvious, others even more obvious--all lightly Smittenized for your enjoyment: 

 Do:

• Smile (but not like a serial killer).
• Whip your hair! Back and forth!
• Be open and engaged. Not the "ring" kind. The "friendly" kind.
• Touch nonsexual areas often... although the elbow or something could be mad sexual to some people, right?
• Expose your wrists--they are an erogenous zone. See?
• Tilt your head to the left. Apparently that says "I like you." I guess tilting your head to the right says "I wish I was watching Intervention on my couch right now instead of pretending to care about your hometown."
• Turn your body towards his and nod when he is speaking.

Don't:

• Text too much.
• Sit on your hands or hunch your shoulders. #derp #Quasimodo?
• Dart your eyes.
• Cross your arms. Which makes sense in a poetic way, because that is kind of like a chastity belt over your heart.
• Stand with your legs crossed. Which makes sense in a literal way, because that is kind of like a chastity belt over your girl equipment.
• Get all up in his space. Freak.
• Rub your nose or slouch.

Or just do all of these at once! Because maybe he will write a blog post about how weird you are, and you'll get a reality show deal. Holla! 

 And he is interested if...

• His eyebrows go up, Groucho-style.
• His pupils dilate (and he's not on drugs).
• His lips part slightly and he looks you up and down.
• You are his sole focus of attention.
• He touches himself while looking at you (not like that--just a simple shirt-tug or hair-smooth.)
• Posturing, e.g. straightening up and leaning his chest toward you. Like a peacock that uses Old Spice.

And just from me, some ways you can tell he's not interested...

• If he looks at you and says anything along the lines of "Oh my God, what is that?"
• Screaming.
• Flailing.
• Sudden feigned interest in something in another state, followed by hasty dash to door.
• Repeated reminders that he is, in fact, a gay man. A long shot, but he just might be trying to tell you something.

How awesome is Ursula, in retrospect? Really.

Want to See Zac Efron's Diary?

You know how there are things in life that are so funny that no matter how hard you try to explain the joke—it just never comes off the same as actually experiencing it for yourself? Well, this web series (and my new obsession) is just that. 

Diary of Zac Efron is a hilarious tribute to the High School Musical star from the creators of the Real Housewives of South Boston. The series begins after a near death experience for Zac—and so he decides to document everything that happens in his life. This includes the moment he realizes he needs to keep more baby oil in his car to exploring the fine art (AKA his own wax figure) at Madame Tussauds. I don’t want to say much more—you just have to see for yourself! We have the first five installments (they’re all about a minute each but you’ll wish they were longer) for your viewing pleasure. You’ll know Zac on a whole other level when you’re done!

Entry 1: Near Death Experience

Entry 2: Paparazzi

Entry 3: Life's Great Mysteries
 

Entry 4: Art

Entry 5: Dance Hoops
 

What did you think? Was it over the top or dead on? Will you be checking back for the next entry?

This just TOTALLY put a big smile on my face so I'm spreading it around

And for the record, I usually hate squirrels..

 

I don't even...I can't...I have no...

Vajazzling is over, folks. The next thing in hooha decor is a bright fluffly wig (or, really, a merkin). I swear I'm not making this up! (Headsup: I've cut out anything scandalous but, still, sort-of NSFW.) 

Yup, Completely Bare (which some of you might remember is the hair removal spa Cindy Barshop from the Real Housewives of New York owns) now has two new services.


 
The Foxy Bikini ($225) features actual real fox fur which is applied to the bikini line by a specialist following the Completely Bare wax. The decadent treatment lasts a minimum of 3 days; products are all natural. 


 
And the Carnivale Bikini ($195) takes the look beyond the standard Brazilian by utilizing uber trendy feathers in a variety of hot colors. The Carnivale includes a Completely Bare wax, lasts a minimum of three days.

That's all.
 
I'm speechless here, so I'm just going to open up the floor to you all.