plus 4, It’s Always the End of the World as We Know It - New York Times

It’s Always the End of the World as We Know It - New York Times
A decade of trends - New York Post
Pop Princess No More: Britney Spears Has Lost Her Spark - Softpedia
Things that changed our lives in the aughts - East Valley Tribune
Psychic's vision of what 2010 will hold for celebs - Newstrack India

It’s Always the End of the World as We Know It - New York Times

Posted: 01 Jan 2010 12:11 AM PST

Christchurch, New Zealand

IT seems so distant, 1999. Bill Clinton had survived impeachment, his popularity hardly dented, Sept. 11 was just another date and music fans were enjoying a young singer named Britney Spears.

But there was a particular unease in the air. The so-called Y2K problem, the inability of computers to read dates beyond 1999 threatened to turn Jan. 1, 2000 into a nightmare. The issue had first been noticed by programmers in the 1950s, but had been ignored. As the turn of the century loomed, though, it seemed that humankind faced a litany of horrors.

Haywire navigation controls might cause aircraft to fall from the skies. Electricity grids, water systems and telephone networks would be knocked out, while nuclear power plants would be subject to meltdown. Savings and pension accounts would be wiped out in a general bank failure. A cascade of breakdowns in communication and commerce would create vast shortages of food and medicine, which would, in turn, produce riots, lawlessness and social collapse. Even worse, ICBMs might rise from their silos unbidden, spreading death across the globe.

Y2K problems would not be limited to mainframe computers that governed the information systems of the modern world, but were going to affect millions of tiny computer chips found everywhere. Thanks to these wonky microprocessors, elevators would die, G.P.S. devices would stop working and dishwashers would dry the food onto the plates before trying to rinse it off. Even ordinary cars might spontaneously accelerate to fatal, uncontrollable speeds, with brakes failing to respond.

The Y2K catastrophe was promoted with increasing shrillness toward century's end: headlines proclaimed a "computer time bomb" or "a date with disaster." Vanity Fair's January 1999 article "The Y2K Nightmare" caught the sensationalist tone, claiming that "folly, greed and denial" had "muffled two decades of warnings from technology experts."

Among the most reviled of the Y2K deniers was Bill Gates, who not only declared that Microsoft's PCs would take the date turnover in stride, but had the audacity to blame those who "love to tell tales of fear" for the worldwide anxiety. Mr. Gates's denialism was ignored as governments and corporations set in place immensely expensive schemes to immunize systems against the Y2K bug.

They weren't the only ones keen to get in on the end-time spirit. The Rev. Jerry Falwell suggested that Y2K would be the confirmation of Christian prophecy, "God's instrument to shake this nation, to humble this nation." The Y2K crisis might incite a worldwide revival that would lead to "the rapture of the church." Along with many survivalists, Mr. Falwell advised stocking up on food and guns.

So the scene was set here in New Zealand for midnight on Dec. 31, 1999. We are just west of the dateline, and thus would be the first to experience not only popping Champagne corks and fireworks, but the Y2K catastrophe, if any. As clocks hit midnight, Champagne and skyrockets were the only explosions of interest, since telephones, ATMs, cars, computers and airplanes worked just fine. The head of the government's Y2K Readiness Commission declared victory: "New Zealand's investment in planning and preparation has paid off."

Confident that our millions were well spent, we waited for news of the calamities sure to hit countries that had ignored Y2K. Asia, a Deutsche Bank official had predicted, was going to be "burnt toast" on New Year's Day — not just the lesser-developed areas of Vietnam and China, but South Korea, which by 1999 was a highly computer-dependent society. South Korea, one computer expert told me, had a national telephone system similar to British Telecom's. But where the British had wisely sunk millions of pounds into Y2K remediation, South Korea had done next to nothing.

Denis Dutton is a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

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A decade of trends - New York Post

Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:57 PM PST

When is a trend a good trend? When it's over. Love 'em or leave 'em behind, the '00s will go down in history as the decade that gave us skinny pants and clunky footwear, scrappy-haired manorexics and bug-eyed stick-insect starlets, overpriced jeans and overdone velour. Here are our 10 biggest fashion trends of the decade — for better or for worse.

THE RACHEL ZOE LOOK

Rachel Zoe, a veteran Hollywood stylist (far left) who built a career on perfect taste, an eye for vintage and a knack for pulling glamorous gowns, finally found her fame by creating one of the decade's most iconic looks. Zoe's signature — dressing super-skinny starlets in boho get-ups, tons of accessories and huge shades — is seen here on Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie (pictured).

VELOUR TRACK SUITS

Juicy Couture started as a maternity jeans company in the late 1990s, but it wasn't until the Juicy Couture tracksuit made its debut in 2001 that the company became a household name — and a retail success, earning more than $45 million that year. The low-slung, flared sweatpants and slim-fit hoodie have since become ubiquitous — gracing the backs of nearly every celeb in Tinseltown. The Juicies reached a fashion high in 2003, when Vogue flew designers Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor to Couture Week in Paris, and Dior designer John Galliano told them he wears his Juicy Couture sweatpants to work every day.

TRUCKER HATS

Popularized by celebs such as Pharrell Williams and Ashton Kutcher, trucker hats were the trademark of too-cool-for-conventional glitterati. The rapid rise and fall of Von Dutch — helmed from 2002 to 2004 by Christian Audigier, the same evil genius behind Ed Hardy! — left the trend dead and long forgotten by 2005.

UGGS: The Uggi-fication of America reached a high point this decade. The ubiquitous Ugg boots — sheep for your feet — are one of Australia's hottest exports, with up to four-month waiting lists every winter. No surprise, since they go with everything, from mini-dresses to jeans. Well, kind of.

EMO: This decade's teen angst was best measured in guyliner. The mainstream emo scene (mainstreamo?), born from heartstring-tugging emotional rock surrounding bands such as Dashboard Confessional, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz (above right) and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, created a generation of smudgy-eyed, flat-ironed, skinny-jeaned, androgynous kids — a demographic that single-handedly keeps Hot Topic in business.

CROCS: Whatever you do, don't call them plastic! Crocs were born in 2002 to a Colorado-based manufacturer that acquired the design from Canadian company Foam Creations. By 2007, Crocs were selling more than 30 million pairs a year worldwide — to everyone from outdoorsmen to soccer moms. The footwear trend may wind up a relic of this decade, though — the company reported a loss of $22.4 million at the end of its first quarter this year.

HIPSTERS: With the publication of "The Hipster Handbook" in 2003, hipsters became cemented in pop culture — a disaffected generation of upper-middle-class young adults sharing interests including but not limited to indie rock, thrift-stores, creative haircuts, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Converse. They can be found in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or at a Misshapes party.

$$$ SHOES: Thanks to Carrie Bradshaw's impossibly expensive (Seriously? She's a writer!) shoe collection, American women were seized by designer-shoe mania this decade. Manolos and Louboutins and Jimmy Choos, oh my. $1,000 footwear fetishes also contributed to the birth of high-low dressing — designer shoes with H&M? Yes, please.

LEGGINGS: The most flagrant fashion faux pas of the late '00s? Hands down, the leggings-as-pants phenomenon. While the '80s had shiny stirrups, the noughties relished spandex of the footless variety. Celebs such as Lindsay Lohan and the Olsen twins loved leggings so much, they even started selling their own. But while the garment's stretchiness is democratic, its fit is not.

SEAN JOHN: By far, one of the greatest retail successes of the decade that doesn't make us want to barf is Sean John — the label launched in the late '90s by music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. An early entry in the celebrity clothing-line genre — with staying power, that is — the label hosted the first nationally televised New York Fashion Week show in February 2001 and has expanded to produce all categories of sportswear, accessories and fragrances.

LOW-RISERS: Denim reached a new low this decade — in terms of rise, that is. Stars such as Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera shamelessly dared to bare their hipbones and more, spurring a nationwide, um, crack epidemic. As waistbands got lower, G-strings got higher (as well as fancier and more bejeweled) — until 2006, when Paris and Britney Spears decided to dispense with underwear altogether.

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Pop Princess No More: Britney Spears Has Lost Her Spark - Softpedia

Posted: 01 Jan 2010 12:04 AM PST

Britney Spears remains, for 2009 as well, the most sought after celebrity, making more headlines even when out shopping than other artists for putting on a spectacular show. She has had one of the most mediated and brilliant comebacks in music history, yet competition on the scene is so tight that she seems very close to losing her hard-earned crown of the ultimate Princess of Pop, e-zine ThatGrapeJuice argues.

Fans will always love Britney, that much is certain, just as also is the fact that critics will give credit where it's due. That happened with her latest releases, and it also occurred back in the day when the troubles in her personal life seemed to present more interest for the general public than a new single or video she put out. Still, after her publicized meltdowns, something seems to have been irremediably lost. That, combined with the fact that other pop artists are coming strong from behind, seems to tear at the very foundation of Britney's claim to the title of Princess of Pop.

"She was once the most powerful force in Pop music; the heir apparent to the Pop dynasty. It seemed that at the turn of the century, there was no bigger star than Britney Spears. From show-stopping performances to worldwide #1 successes, she exploded onto the charts, toppling the long held reign of more established artists. However, the 'fire' that once made Spears the most sought after entertainer of her time appears to have been lost," the e-zine says.

From one of the best performers on the scene, Spears is now reduced to only running through the motions, as if there is nothing behind the glitzy, well-synchronized façade, the report goes on to argue. She still has her millions of fans from around the world, some of whom would fight tooth and nail to prove that she remains the best artist pop music has to offer, but the problem is that she's not earning new followers. To make matters even more potentially worse, other singers, like Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce are putting in 100% to have their music reach as many fans as possible and to make their appearances, no matter how few, truly memorable. On the other hand, Spears seems to no longer care about any of that.

"Regardless of the position that her music is now arguably at its best, the energy that Spears exudes in the studio no longer translates on stage. In fact, some critics assert that it is this decline in potency that allowed Beyonce to rise to the helm of the Pop charts. This begs the question: has Spears permanently lost the 'glint' in her eye? Or does she stand a chance of returning to fine form? In any case, with mounting competition from her younger contemporaries including Lady GaGa and Rihanna, many contend that unless she is able to recapture that 'magic,' her days as the Princess of Pop are surely numbered," the e-zine goes on to say.

Sadly, many happen to be of the same opinion as the one stated above. The end of the decade finds Britney Spears as a mere shadow of the performer she promised to be a few years ago. In time, her routine will wear out and people will find replacements for her from the many options available. Of course, fans – true fans – are free to disagree.

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Things that changed our lives in the aughts - East Valley Tribune

Posted: 01 Jan 2010 12:18 AM PST

Was it only a decade ago that a blackberry was a mere summer fruit? That green was, well, a color, and reality TV was that one show sandwiched between music videos on MTV?

There were, of course, huge political and social upheavals that roiled our world in the past decade. But there were also the gradual lifestyle changes that you don't always notice when they're happening — kind of like watching a child grow older. Here's an alphabetical look at 50 things that changed our lives since the beginning of the millennium:

AIRPORTS: Remember when you didn't have to take your shoes off before getting on a plane? Remember when you could bring a bottled drink on board? Terrorism changed all that.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: From acupuncture to herbal supplements to alternative ways of treating cancer, alternative medicine became more mainstream than ever.

APPS: There's an app for that! The phrase comes from Apple iPhone advertising, but could apply to the entire decade's gadget explosion, from laptops to GPS systems (want your car to give you directions to Mom's house in Chinese, or by a Frenchwoman named Virginie? There was an app for that.)

AARP cards ... for boomers! Some prominent Americans turned 50 this decade: Madonna. Prince. Ellen DeGeneres. The Smurfs. Michael Jackson — who also died at 50. And some prominent "early boomers" turned 60: Bruce Springsteen and Meryl Streep, for example.

AGING: Nobody seemed to look their age anymore: Clothes for 50-year-old women started looking more like clothes for 18-year-olds, tweens looked more like teens, long hair was popular for all ages, and in many ways women's fashion seemed to morph into one single age group.

BLOG: I blog, you blog, he blogs ... How did we spend our time before blogging? There are more than 100 million of these Web logs out there in cyberspace.

BLACKBERRIES: Considered essential by corporate CEOs and moms planning playdates. Introduced in 2002, the smartphone version is now used by more than 28 million people, according to its maker, Research In Motion Ltd.

BOOK CLUBS: Thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey, the decade saw not only a profusion in book discussion clubs but a growing reliance on them by publishers.

CABLE: Cable 24-hour news made the evening network news seem quaint, cable dramas reaped Emmys ... and at decade's end, even Oprah was making the move to cable.

CAMERAS: Remember those trips to get film developed? Nope? Even your grandmother has a digital camera, and she's probably e-mailing you photos right now or uploading them to a photo-sharing site.

CELEBRITY CULTURE: Celebrity magazines fed a growing obsession with celebrities and the everyday minutiae of their lives. By decade's end, we were still obsessed, though Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie had ceded many covers to reality stars like Jon and Kate Gosselin. Celebrity Web sites like TMZ took hold mid-decade.

CELL PHONES: Cell phones are now used by more than 85 percent of the U.S. population and for some have replaced land lines entirely. On the downside, they've made cheating on a spouse more difficult — just ask Tiger Woods.

CHEFS: Chefs are hot! The Food Network, whose viewership tripled this decade, reeled in viewers with high-voltage personalities like Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse and Giada De Laurentis. Meryl Streep starred in a cinematic pean to the late Julia Child.

CONNECTIVITY: As in, we're all expected to be connected, wirelessly, all the time. Boss e-mails you on a Sunday? Better answer, unless you're off in Antarctica — you have no excuse.

COUGARS: A new TV series called "Cougar Town" focuses on a phenomenon that gained its name this decade: women dating younger men.

CROCS: Those ubiquitous plastic clogs debuted in 2002 and became the shoes you loved to hate. Kids love 'em, but there are Web groups dedicated to their destruction. Not to be deterred: First lady Michelle Obama, who wore them on vacation in 2009.

DANCING: Dancing never went out of style, but this decade saw the huge popularity of dancing contests like "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing With the Stars."

DATING: Dating was transformed like everything else by Internet sites, rendering other ways of meeting people obsolete. And it wasn't just the territory of the relatively young: Seniors found love online, too.

DVRs: Suddenly, DVR-ing is a verb, and what it means is this: There's no reason to know anymore what channel your program is on, and what time.

EMBARRASSMENT ENTERTAINMENT: Embarrassment has always been part of comedy — you need only think of Don Rickles — but this is the decade of cringe-worthy Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Ricky Gervais, and of course Sacha Baron Cohen, who as Borat and Bruno shamed perhaps the entire country.

FACEBOOK: Can you believe this social networking site was once limited only to Harvard students? Now it's a time-sucking obsession for more than 300 million users globally and a whole new form of social etiquette: Who to friend on Facebook?

FAT: This was the decade that fat became the enemy of the state. New York City banned trans fats, and Alabama — second in national obesity rankings — introduced a tax on overweight state workers.

FOODIE: It's not just that guy in the White House who liked arugula — this was the decade of the foodie, when we all developed gourmet palates. Even a burger became a gourmet item — as in Daniel Boulud's truffle burger, stuffed with foie gras and short ribs.

GOING GREEN: From the kind of light bulbs we use to the kind of shopping bags we carry to the cars we drive, "going green" took hold this decade. Now, it's not strange to hear a schoolkid tell a parent to use a cloth grocery bag.

GOOGLE: This was the decade that Google became a part of our brain function. You know that guy who was in that movie — when was it? Just Google it.

GPS: We can't get lost anymore — or at least it's pretty hard, with the ubiquitous GPS systems. But you'd better type in your location carefully: One couple made a 400-mile mistake this year by typing "Carpi" rather than "Capri."

HELICOPTER PARENTING: Translation: helicopters hover, and so do many parents. After years of obsessive attention to safety and achievement of the youngest children, some said a backlash was under way.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD: An explosion in Internet use led to an overload of information about practically everything. It's at our fingertips, but is it accurate? Some call it part of a larger phenomenon, namely ...

INSTANT GRATIFICATION: Otherwise known as being able to get anything you want within an instant. Often referred to as a theme of the decade.

IPODS: An icon of the digital age, it's hard to believe this portable media player was first launched in 2001. Six years later the 100 millionth iPod was sold.

LIFE COACHES: In the aughts, there's a coach for everything! So why not life itself? Some say life coaches are merely therapists without the license or regulations.

MUSICALS: They've been around forever, but this decade musicals came back to film, starting with "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago." But for kids, it was Disney's extremely successful "High School Musical" franchise — three movies and counting — that brought back the musical magic.

NETFLIX: The DVD by mail service, established in 1997, announced its two-billionth DVD delivery this year. For many, those discs on top of the TV are just one more thing to procrastinate over.

ORGANIC: Americans rushed to fill their grocery carts with organic food, making it big business — now a $21 billion industry, up from $3.6 billion in 1997. At decade's end, Michelle Obama planted the first White House organic vegetable garden.

PREGNANCY CHIC: If you've got it, flaunt it: That was the new ethos of the pregnancy experience, with chic clothes that emphasized the bulging belly, personal pregnancy photos, and endless coverage of celebrity pregnancies.

REALITY TV: As a nation, we became addicted to reality TV, from the feuding Gosselins of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" to "American Idol" to "Project Runway." At decade's end, the Heenes of Balloon Boy fame and the Salahis of gatecrashing fame give reality TV some unwanted attention.

RECESSION CHIC: Fashion skewed to more severe styles — and much black — as so-called "recession chic" took hold in the latter part of the decade.

RETRO CHIC: Once you forget the smoking, the racism, the sexism and the homophobia, the early '60s depicted by the AMC series "Mad Men" sure looked good. The swinging Madison Avenue ad men make neckties cool again.

SEXTING: Combine texting with a cell phone's camera function and you get this parental nightmare. A survey from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 15 percent of teens ages 12-17 with a cell phone had received sexually suggestive images or videos.

STARBUCKS: It's a cliche that there's one on every block, but sometimes it seemed like it — and millions now consider it normal to spend $4 or so on a coffee drink in the morning, perhaps a venti half-caf half-decaf vanilla latte with an extra shot.

TATTOOS: It started innocently enough — maybe a butterfly on the shoulder or a tribal symbol on the bicep. A few characters from the Chinese alphabet later it seemed any hipster who really meant it had a full sleeve of tattoos. The trend extended to middle-aged moms and even tween idol Miley Cyrus.

TEXTING: R u still rding this sty? Hope u r. This is the decade we start communicating in the shorthand of text messages. Get used to it: E-mail is so '00s.

TV SCREENS: Television screens became bigger and flatter, making some ordinary living rooms and dens the equivalent of big-studio screening rooms. At the same time, though, people were watching movies and videos on the tiniest screens imaginable — on their iPods other mobile devices.

TWEEN CULTURE: Tweens, especially girls, became an economic force to be reckoned with, buying everything from clothes to electronic devices to music to concert tickets.

TWITTER: The new social network introduced tweets, retweets, follows and trending topics — as long as it fit in 140 characters.

UGGS: Not since the Croc (see above) has functional footwear created such a frenzy. The fur-lined snowboots were everywhere, no matter the climate. Los Angelenos insisted on wearing them with shorts.

WII: In a sea of ever-more-sophisticated video games, this simple console became the decade's breakout hit by appealing to the non-gaming masses. Wiis became a center of family gaming, home fitness and even senior socializing.

WIKIPEDIA: A boon to lazy students everywhere, the open-source encyclopedia used the masses to police its entries and keep them (mostly) (sometimes) accurate.

YOGA: Madonna, Gwyneth and other bendy celebrities brought the eastern practice mainstream. By the end of the decade, even Grandma could do downward-facing dogs on her Wii Fit.

YOUTUBE: Let's end this list and go kill some time by watching ... YouTube videos! The video-sharing site was born in 2005. Political candidates in 2008 even had their on YouTube channels. The most popular video yet: "Charlie Bit My Finger," in which baby Charlie bites the finger of his brother Harry.

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Psychic's vision of what 2010 will hold for celebs - Newstrack India

Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:28 PM PST

Melbourne, Jan 1 (ANI): Wondering what would 2010 unfold for Tiger Woods, or if Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom will get engaged in the new year? Well, Brisbane psychic Julianna Suranyi claims to have the answers to these questions.

She has studied the stars and gazed into her crystal ball to come up with her celebrity predictions for the year ahead, and they are:

Tiger Woods

In Suranyi's opinion, Woods' list of affaires wouldn't be fatal to his marriage - yet.

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"I don't feel his wife is going to leave him because there'll be a financial agreement on it. 2010 will be about how he salvaged the marriage. He'll go into counselling and he'll come back as a born-again. I actually feel 2011 and 2012 will be the two years where he takes out everything consistently, but in 2013, it will finally go belly-up. He's not getting treated for the problem, so then he and his wife will quietly separate," News.com.au quoted her as saying.

Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom

Julianna has suggested that the couple is not thinking of marriage as of now and in the future as well.

"I don't feel that they're engaged and I don't feel that they'll marry. Nor do I feel they care about it," she said.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

And in her opinion, one should not expect to hear wedding bells for Brangelina as well, and the couple won't be separating either.

"Marriage has no bearing to them. I feel that they'll stay together. They have a deep sexual and soul connection. I don't see that separating easily," said Julianna.

Britney Spears

"She hasn't hit her strength. I feel that 2011 will be the year that she will go stellar," she said of Britney.

Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon

"They will be nominated for Oscars," added Julianna. (ANI)

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