109mins, Director: Jason Reitman
Ryan Bingham, (George Clooney) is a ‘career transition counsellor’ who delights in his autonomous lifestyle flying around the world 322 days of the year and firing people.
Having already racked up millions of air miles, Ryan is most at ease in a clinical airport setting and delights in the plastic smiles of check-in clerks, prompted by their computers to say ‘pleasure to see you again Mr Bingham.’ He waltzes confidently from boardroom to boardroom, smoothly firing unsuspecting employees whose bosses haven’t got the nerve to do it themselves, before boarding the next plane to do the same all over again.
Between assignments in the corporate setting of a hotel lobby, Ryan encounters the smart and sassy Alex, (Vera Farmiga, The Departed). Sparks fly as they compare frequent flyer and privilege cards, leading to a no-strings attached affair based on coinciding airport layovers.
When his company hires Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), an ambitious and uptight graduate desperate to prove herself, her cost-cutting plan of firing people via a Webcam instead of in person threatens to leave Ryan grounded. Furious, he confronts his boss, which results in him going back on the road, to his horror with the young Natalie in tow, to show her how it is done.
The two women in Clooney’s life are never inferior to him in character nor in performance, and as Natalie’s presence in his travelling world certainly brings viewers plenty of comedy, it is his budding relationship with Alex that begins to challenge Ryan’s life philosophy that being unattached is best.
It is unclear what Reitman is trying to prove with Bingham’s character, but his portrayal of the high-flying lives that he and Alex lead is both clever and incisive. As films go, it certainly won’t change your life, but this is Clooney at his Danny Ocean best: sophisticated, cool and likeable. A gentle, thought-provoking comedy that’s well worth a watch.
Esther Jones
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It is never easy to predict the future, as any politician or stock broker will tell you, and when, domestically at least, the years events will be sculpted by an election outcome it becomes even more difficult.
By June a new government will have been formed but what colour they fly is still up in the air. May 6th is currently being touted as the fateful day by the Conservatives, who would no doubt benefit form it coming sooner rather than later. The longer it drags on, expect Gordon Brown and Labour to start making inroads into the poll deficit, and do not rule out the possibility of a hung parliament.
For the first time the leaders of the main parties will take part in televised debates. Liberal Democrat top-dog Nick Clegg has the most to gain and will carefully position himself in case of a tight race. Prime Minister in waiting, David Cameron, will be confident after regularly upstaging Brown at Prime Ministers Questions. How to reduce the deficit, MP’s expenses, the NHS and Afghanistan are going to be at the top of the agenda during what will be the longest general election campaign the UK has ever seen. MP’s expenses will likely be top story early on with current members having to declare their intensions to run again in the very near future which will certainly lead to some embarrassing headlines for some.
Of cause whoever does not get elected is likely to create as many headlines. If Labour lose, Brown will have no choice but to resign, if the Conservatives lose it could mean the end, for now at least, for Cameron and if the Lib Dem’s underperform Clegg may come under pressure.
With Brown the more likely to go who would take over? David Milliband (Foreign Secretary) was put forward as an alternative when Tony Blair stood down, Alan Johnston (Home Secretary) and Ed Balls (Schools Secretary) would be popular in some circles.
But what about Mandelson? The Prince of Darkness has been instrumental since his return, but a leadership run from the Lords is awkward to say the least and finding him a safe Labour seat as an MP creates its own problems.
So what for the new government?
Brown is to host an Afghanistan conference in London in January with the hope of formulating an exit strategy. However much like Copenhagen 2009 the public will take a lot of convincing it is more than posturing.
President Obama has already made it known he want to see the first stages of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2011. This means serious progress must be made this year. Many high profile experts and military personnel have said the situation may get worse before it gets better and with over 100 British deaths last year the question is how much worse. A lot of this may boil down to President Hamid Karzai’s job performance in the coming months.
Iran clearly is also going to be a major issue this year. President Ahmadinejad is already under pressure while opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi has already said he would be willing to die for the reform movement. With the death of the Grand Ayatollah this may be the window the reform movement needs.
Iraq too is to hold elections this year, most likely in March if security allows with the hope it can confine an unpopular chapter to the history books. North Korea will also be on the agenda with continued rumours of Kim Jong Ill’s health and of cause their feared nuclear capabilities.
In May the 189 signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty congregate in New York to review the plan with some predicting the collapse of the deal leading to the possibility of the nations mentioned above developing Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Security is certainly going to be a watch word for this year, as it has for many years now.
With Brown in full conference mode following the G20, Copenhagen and the upcoming Afghanistan talks he also wants to add another to discuss terrorism in the Yemen following the alleged failed bomb plot on Christmas Day.
A major question for many is can the western world go another year without a successful attack on our shores?
President Obama’s self imposed deadline for closing Guantanamo Bay will not be met, by his own admission.
The plans are still active with the possibility of a maximum security prison in Illinois being the next host of allegedly the most dangerous terrorists on the planet. Globally the economic situation will dominate for another twelve months. The eyes of the world will focus on Dubai as the western world keeps its fingers crossed the blip seen there in November and December will no become a long term trend.
There are of cause several issues at home we need to attack.
Feelings are split over what will happen to unemployment figures this year while the election result will determine exactly how the deficit is to be addressed. Unemployment is currently at 2.5million with many claiming it could top 2.8million before it starts to get better. The £820billion deficit will be a more difficult problem to tackle especially when you consider it must be done while jeopardising the recovery both in terms of growth and unemployment.
When and how we go about this is another one of these issues which will only be known after the election.
Will the renewed British economy be based on finance as in the naughties or will a new industry brake forth and dominate the teenies?
Will French President Sarkozy’s railing against the ‘freewheeling Anglo Saxon model’ have its desired effect?
Will the New EU President Herman Van Rompuy bare any teeth at all? The problem with a new industry dominating is manufacturing in this country was devastated in the 1980s and will struggle to return while financial industries are unpopular and will be heavily regulated in the coming years.
A banking presence in London is inevitable but with a greater chance of international banks heading to Europe dumping us freewheeling Anglo Saxons. Although even as the New Year begins the London Stock Exchange is being boosted by improved performance in the manufacturing sector.
As for Mr Van Rompuy, it is unlikely the force of his particular role will be known until a few EU Presidents down the line.
There are other troubling international problems.
The results of Copenhagen will become more apparent this year and its critics and supporters will have something to either laugh or cry about sooner rather than later.
Environmental issues are a major part of all politicians’ manifestos and some action will no doubt be taken but whether it can have any serious effect is debatable and in even bigger doubt is the $100bn promised to help developing nations. The environmental lobby must get past the ‘climategate’ affair if their beliefs are to hold any legitimacy and its supporters need to learn the violence which dogged Copenhagen and London needs to stop if progress is to be made.
In the UK, after two years with major flooding, can we expect the same or will our particular brand of climate change now bring a major drought? Although it was only a few years ago meteorologists were talking of a monsoon style season in this country.
But as we all know there is only going to be one story any of us truly care about this year and it is taking place in South Africa this summer. Football fever will hit our shores once again with wall-to-wall international games on the television prompting complaints from those who care little for the beautiful game.
Once again Andy Murray will raise our hopes of a British champion at Wimbledon while our athletes head to India in November for the Commonwealth Games. There will be no doubt which team British F1 fans will be cheering for this year with the McLaren world champion dream team of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton set to battle the returning Michael Schumacher.
Whatever happens, 2010 will be a huge year both in the UK and across the world with many major issues coming to the fore.
Can progress be made in Afghanistan, will David Cameron be the next resident of number 10 and can Fabio Capello lead us to victory?
Only time will tell.
Colin Rowe
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Twelve months ago there was a shop called Woolworths, Michael Jackson was planning 40 nights at the O2 Arena and taxpayers were unaware they had bought a duck house and adult movies.
Yes, 2009 has been a busy year. It has been dominated by MPs expenses and the credit crunch but the last year of the noughties was also the year of swine flu, Somali pirates, the end of the Tamil Tigers and 104 British deaths in Afghanistan.
The expenses scandal, unearthed by The Daily Telegraph in May, has cast a shadow over UK politics from which it seems it may not recover. Numerous current members have been forced to either resign or not seek re-election and Sir Thomas Legg has made no friends asking several of them to pay back expenses retrospectively.
The big name resignation was Speaker of the House Michael Martin, the first speaker to be forced out in 300 years. However, his successor was not without controversy. John Bercow began his career as a staunch right winger but won the election for speaker thanks to support from Labour who favour his maturing moderate tendencies.
However this years Lazareth Award goes to Peter Mandleson.
The EU Trade Commissioner rejoined UK politics after two resignations as a Lord and has been instrumental in keeping Labour in with a shot at next year’s election.As he said at the Labour party conference ‘Tony said our project would only be complete when the Labour Party learned to love Peter Mandelson.’
Although Mandleson has certainly stopped the free-fall in Labour’s polling numbers this year certainly belongs to Conservative leader David Cameron.The Prime Minister elect has been on great form both inside and out of the House of Commons, despite his communications director being implicated in tapping phone calls from members of the royal family while editor of The News of the World.
BNP leader Nick Griffin was a regular fixture this year winning a seat in the European Parliament and contentiously appearing on BBC flagship Question Time where he struggled against some tough interrogation.
Outside of Westminster it has also been a busy political year.
The EU appointed its first President and Foreign Minister in Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton respectively, a decision heavily criticised for lacking public involvement and ignoring diplomatic heavy weights like Tony Blair.
This was not the first time Europe had caused controversy in 2009.
In August Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, otherwise known as the Lockerbie bomber, was released on companionate grounds from a Scottish prison cell and returned to a heroes welcome in Libya.
This caused a huge stir across the world but most notably in America, where most of the victims had come from. The Secretary of State and heads of the FBI and CIA objected to his transfer despite al-Magrahi suffering from terminal cancer.
Later in the year another trial halfway across the globe caused a stir in the United States when American student Amanda Knox was convicted in Italy of the brutal murder of British student Meredith Kercher. The effects of the American complaints, which are heavily critical of the Italian police and legal system, are not likely to be known soon and Miss Knox will spend a significant amount of time behind bars in Italy.
In America the infamous Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad, who shot and killed ten people over three weeks in 2002, was put to death in Virginia after failing in his appeal to the US Supreme Court.
There has however been some good across the pond. In January the first black President was inaugurated (Twice), but President Obama has since seen his approval ratings crumble. He did controversially win the Nobel Peace Prize for his ‘aspirations’ towards world peace beating Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Recently Obama was forced to deal with substantial backlash from proposed health care reforms which, in a diluted form, now look set to take effect in 2010,
However, he did fail in his attempt to close Guantanamo Bay detention centre by the end of this year, although it may now move to Illinois.
2009 did see one detainee return to England. Binyam Mohammed had been held at the Cuban army base and is now searching to prosecute his captors for prolonged torture over his four year stay.
This his year it was an act of domestic terrorism which shook America to its core. In November at Fort Hood, Texas, 13 were left dead after an American Army psychiatrist went on the rampage. This was followed on Christmas Day with the attempted attack on a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit where a British educated Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up the plane. In 2006 the liquid bomb plot caused a similar security scare and the men responsible for the attempted attack were found guilty in the UK this year and were all given hefty prison sentences.
According to Bush, Blair, Brown and Obama a large reason for our presence in Afghanistan is to stop terrorists like this. However it has come at a terrible price this year. 310 Americans and 104 British troops have lots their lives battling the Taliban and al Qaeda this year alone. Their sacrifice was unable to provide a democratic election with widespread rumours of fraud in President Hamid Karzai’s win which eventually were declared after Dr Abdulla Abdulla withdrew. Apparently there is light at the end of the Afghan tunnel with President Obama hoping the latest troop surge from both sides of the Atlantic will see soldiers returning home as soon as 2011.
Iran also struggled to hold elections this year with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad apparent election victory triggering protests in Tehran in which several people were killed. In December Ayatollah Montazeri died casting doubt over the reform movement in this strictly Muslim country.
One conflict did end with the British handing over power in Basra in June and the Americans withdrawing from Iraq in September.
The world was however nearly brought to its knees by the H1N1 Swine Flu virus. Cases started in Mexico during March and spread rapidly across the world. Although the feared global pandemic has not yet come to fruition people still hold reservations it may make a return in 2010.
There were also attempts to curb larger global problems. The G20 in London, marred by violence from protesters and heavy handed conduct by police led the way to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, and also global solutions to the economic crisis. Unfortunately for environmental activists the infamous Climategate e-mails dominated the news in the run up to Copenhagen with revelations of results tampering and selective publishing.
The summit, marred by protesters, police and poor organisation, may not have led to the deal which many campaigners wanted, but may have set the ground work for legally binding deals including financing for developing nations to develop green energy.
Available funds have been an issue now for nearly two years with both businesses and governments alike struggling to find liquid capital. Brown, Cameron and Clegg, along with every other party leader across the world have clashed over the issue of public spending cuts to cure the £820bn deficit. The right argues for rapid deficit reduction while the left believes it should be a more gradual process. Both claim theirs will avoid the dreaded double dip.
Bankers dominated the news with repeated calls for government bailouts and with the full extent of their involvement in the global economic collapse becoming clear. Sir Fred Goodwin, the head of Royal Bank of Scotland at the start of the crisis, retired with a £16million pension pot while unemployment rates rocketed to nearly 2.5million. As Christmas approached the some banks announced they were going to pay bonuses this year despite their taxpayer owned status.
Other countries have made progress with their problems.
In May Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was found dead after bloody fighting in North Eastern Sri Lanka effectively ending 26 years of civil conflict.
Nigeria also saw tentative steps towards peace with the surrender of militant leaders in May. It is hoped this may release valuable oil in the Delta region and encourage tourism in what many see as a failed state.
In other parts of Africa the problems keep mounting. Somali pirates have been a constant challenge regularly hijacking ship off their cost and holding the vessel and crew ransom. They are still holding a British couple snatched from their yacht in October.
Globally the biggest story of the year was the sudden death of the King of Pop Michael Jackson. The often controversial icon passed away in June.
More recently Tiger Woods drove into the headlines after a car crash led to revelations about extra marital affairs which have left his personal and professional life in the rough.
It has been a year of surprises and disappointments, the end of the first decade of the new millennium.
So what will dominate 2010?
Read the New Years instalment to find out.
Colin Rowe
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Golf is what you would call a gentleman’s pursuit. The players have never really reached the levels of celebrity of premiership footballers and you would not expect to see pictures of them falling out of nightclubs. Their clean-cut image has allowed them to maintain a certain persona unlike any other in professional sport.
This was true until the early hours of November 27.
When the news broke of Tiger Woods’ car crash nobody could have expected the repercussions of it not only for him, but for his sport as well. Tiger’s image has been especially important to him since becoming the youngest ever winner of The Master in 1997.
This carefully crafted appearance combined with talent, resulted in him becoming the best paid man in sport with major sponsorship deals from Nike and Gillette. A man who on the face of it really did have everything, including a Swedish model for a wife.
Now after these revelations about his private life he may end up with nothing. Gillette have already said they are scaling back his involvement with the brand and his hiatus from golf may dent his chances of reaching Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major victories which the 33-year-old trails by just four.
Tiger’s status does belong to one of those who outgrew his sport. Like Ali or the Williams’ sisters Tiger had unintentionally become a statesman for the coloured community. However is it the tackiness of his departure that is likely to be the lasting legacy?He’s tried in the last two weeks to shield himself and his family from the looming catastrophe. In the days following the crash he pleaded for personal space with his family and even his “confession” was candid apologising for his ‘personal sins’ in a statement not lacking in poetic flair.
An injunction in the UK has also tried to halt his character erosion in Europe, although many have pointed out we are perfectly capable of logging-on to CNN who are not covered by the injunction.
Golfers have been especially quick to jump to the sporting defence of a modern legend. Peter Allis, Steve Stricker and rising star Anthony Kim all praised him as an ambassador of the sport and even more realise how damaging a permanent departure could be both in terms of the sport and financially.
But is it possible for this disgraced legend to tee-off again?
Premiership footballers Ashley Cole and David Beckham have made successful returns after similar disgraces, but the golfing fraternity are likely to be less forgiving. Footballers can have affairs with cocktail waitresses without really raising an eyebrow. In golf clubhouses across the world it is more likely to be rumour mongering behind the persons back.
You cannot deny his effect on a sport seen by many as stuffy and old fashioned and it would be impossible to calculate how many young people have taken up the sport because of Tiger’s influence. His caddy, Steve Williams, has said ‘everyone makes mistakes’, a sentiment many onlookers sympathise with and has been used by many over the years, including President Bill Clinton, to explain away infidelities.
The major change is likely to be the face of the sport. Tiger has not appeared in public since the accident demonstrating he is capable of living away from the limelight. But a return to golf cannot be shrouded in secrecy and a quick high profile return cannot be conducive to saving his marriage or his reputation.
Colin Rowe
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Tiger Woods has placed an injunction on the British media to prevent new details about his private life from surfacing.
The move has been described as “unbelievable”, especially as the information is widely available in the US media.
Woods’ personal life has been intensely reported since he crashed his car two weeks ago.
You can read more on it here
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We live in a world where news flows 24 hours a day. A world where you can find out anything that your heart desires without even leaving the comfort of your own home. In such a world rather than having to trust that sources like the BBC, tabloids or textbooks supply and interpret news and information accurately, we can merely seek a second, third, fourth or in fact any number of other opinions and sources.
The irony is, that this can have a negative effect in portraying a clear message, especially for those groups trying to get the climate change message out there. Countless reports and statistics begin to confuse the scientific arguments about climate change. When differing sources tell us that temperatures may rise by anywhere between 1 degree Celsius and 6.4 degrees Celsius and with some reputable sources still predicting global cooling, trying to make a judgement becomes difficult. Indeed, sea level rise predictions from the IPCC alone spread anywhere between 90mm and almost a metre. This means people don’t know what they are really facing in the future. Our obsession as a society for statistics just confuses the whole thing further. While scientists may debate the effect thermal expansion has on sea levels and how much extra carbon dioxide can be absorbed by plant life, the wider issue is surely more important.
The Copenhagen Summit is seen by many as crucial to future policy on climate change
The real inconvenient truth is that we don’t know. We know so little about our complex world and the workings of our atmospheric systems. With Climate being one of the most complex areas of science it is obvious why we do not have a complete picture. Add to this the scale of what we are trying to predict in both space, the entire globe, and time, predictions running ahead a century, then it is no wonder that certainty is hard to come by. Unfortunately for the well intentioned Green lobby, this uncertainty plays perfectly into the hands of the groups with a huge interest in the outcome of the climate debate. Groups such as the energy sector, oil industry and car industry. Their ability and motive to spread counter-intelligence thanks to their considerable influence in the worlds of science, the media and politics means it is not surprising people start to doubt reputable sources like the IPCC when these groups stoop to any means to protect the ‘business as usual’ mantra. This leads to the defenceless individual, just looking for direction, to get lost in a sea of incomprehensible and conflicting statistics.
The 10:10 Campaign, backed by The Guardian newspaper, binds those who sign up to reduce emissions by 10% by the end of 2010
However, for those who decide to sit on the fence. Those who reason that the science is not sure, the science is not perfect. The inconvenient truth is we know enough to be sure that messing with a complex and finely balanced system will have global and irreversible consequences. The question is, will we act as individuals and as a society now, to save the world of tomorrow from the consequences of climate change? Whilst the default setting for many well educated people is just to ignore the science and the logic, to believe the whole thing a myth, whilst others hide behind statistical uncertainty, our climate will steadily change as we fail to act. Our uncertainty will no longer be whether climate change is real but whether it will destroy the security of the way we live.
Anthony Barron
For more info about the Copenhagen summit, click here
For more info on 10:10, click here
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Amanda Knox and on-off boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have both received guilty verdicts for the murder of English student Meredith Kercher.
The Leeds University student had been spending a year at Perugia’s university for foreigners where she was found murdered on 2nd November 2007.
Knox has received 26 years for murder and several other offences while Sollecito has received 25 years after two years of trials.
You can read more on the verdict here
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Night #18 – We hear it. Whatever it is, ghost or demon or malevolent energy, Paranormal Activity has one hell of an antagonist. The cause of the bumps in the night in the latest hand held horror film has a way of slowly saturating you with a cold dread that will make you curse bedtime for weeks. Oren Peli’s no budget debut as writer/director, truly, is extra-ordinarily terrifying.
Odd, then, that the first thing you think when watching Paranormal Activity is that for supposedly the most horrifying film of recent years, it doesn’t seem very scary. Katie and Micha who are the couple at the centre of the plot are bubbly, believable and endearing, joking about the creaking floorboards they put up with on a nightly basis. “This’ll be fine” you tell yourself, “I’ve seen Poltergeist”. How naive.
The anxiety begins slowly, Night #1. The film is structured around the unusual occurrences after dark that escalate very, very gradually.
This continues as a prominent theme throughout, and before long audible sighs of relief issue from the audience whenever a scene contains natural light.
However the relentless night scenes are labelled and numbered, each one slightly more ominous than the last. Each one uses the same unnerving wide-angle shot of the bed next to the open bedroom door. This creates a neat, slow boiling trepidation that keeps the audience hooked without that much really happening.
This slow pace doesn’t last forever, It isn’t long before the couple start to commune with the spirit. Micha, seeing the whole ordeal as an option to document some first grade ghostly happenings, starts toying with the spirit in the hope of catching something on tape, whereas Katie has a far more pressing need to see it come to its end.
The change in dynamic between the two as the days and weeks progress is expertly done. What begins as a persistently happy couple gradually becomes embroiled in a downwards spiral of fear and apprehension that leads to one of the most uncomfortable endings in any recent horror.
Nonetheless, it’s the cause of the terror who’s the real star. Peli does magnificently well to keep all but the slimmest facts about what in fact it is, tight to his chest. The result of this is some of the most uncomfortable viewing you will find in the cinema, and brilliantly entertaining for it. Just don’t go alone.
Chris Hamer
]]>A refreshingly gooey, horror fan’s horror movie, Drag Me To Hell has one hand in camp eighties super gore while the other tugs at the heartstrings.
The film follows Chris, a young female loans officer played by Alison Lohman, who in an effort to throw off her nice girl image refuses a loan renewal to an elderly lady. As you might expect, this elderly lady is not the type who takes bad news well, resulting in possibly the most undeserved three days of terror in the history of unlucky females in horror films. However, the film gets all of the plot points out of the way early, making an expositional first act that is neat but obvious, and leaves more time to focus on the scary parts. Raimi also makes the attempt to have us like his heroine a little too forcefully; she’s a farm girl in the big city, she used to be fat, she’s too nice to be promoted – this grates to begin with, but adds reams of comedy value when the pus starts to fly. Oh yes, there’s pus.
The boyfriend, played by up and coming nerdy heart throb, Justin long, is a brilliant character who remains the voice of reason in a terrifying world of demons and back talking goats that only Chris can see. The result is a priceless few scenes in which the logical boyfriend can’t keep his scepticism to himself – his reaction to being charged sixty dollars for a palm reading is particularly well timed.
The plot is simple really, and effective, and not a backwards walking Japanese ghost girl in sight. Drag Me To Hell really does bare all of the hallmarks of the Evil Dead series, with the addition of some superb acting and story telling skills, fans of Raimi’s earlier work will feel at home.
Be warned though, any punches left pulled from Evil Dead are delivered with force in the first few minutes of Drag Me To Hell. The opening scene sees a young gardening boy succumbing to the same unknown force of evil in front of a young medium. But attacks on helpless Mexican minors are really just a prelude to the atrocities that occur during the next ninety minutes. Luckily, Raimi has made the more gruesome scenes with an undertone of hilarity. No one’s eyes could pop out at that speed, that often, and that accurately, could they? A question you may find yourself asking.
Raimi also makes the most of the cinema space, he uses sound effects with the skill of a horror auteur, and knows how to reel the audience in for the big frights. For this reason, Drag Me To Hell is first and foremost an entertaining horror flick, with emphasis on the fun. Compared to the now formulaic descendants of psychological-horrors such as The Ring that peaked in originality a few years back, it’s an interesting niche. The fact that Raimi isn’t taking himself too seriously is incredibly refreshing and oddly innocent – especially for a film that shocks visually.
Well worth the time, Drag Me To Hell is diet Evil Dead with a far more accessible plot that will entertain you as much as it disgusts you. People fond of cakes and kittens, however, would do well to avoid it.
Chris Hamer
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Well, choosing the fashionista in this case, becomes a bit tricky…We’ve seen both first ladies smiling all over the place and wearing the RIGHT thing for the RIGHT occasion. But who deserves the fashionista award?
Michelle Obama is a mother of two who cooks shrimp linguini for her hubby (who happens to be the president of United States) and is next to him whenever he needs her. However, until recently she was earning a bigger salary than him and this great combination of a strong woman and a supportive wife is SO obvious in her dress code. Lawyer and power dressing looks and dresses inspired by princesses’ fairytales are probably her most remarkable fashion statements!
Carla Bruni Sarkozy is an Italian/French model-singer-actress-poet, who knows by heart the number of her pizza delivery man. Her wardrobe is a rainbow of ballet shoes with an exclusive range of gorgeous suits and evening dresses a-la Jacky Kennedy (well, almost..). She has the IT body and her own website! She hangs out with Karen Mulder, meets Sara Brown for some chat and stands proudly next to the Queen wearing a très chic coat to get some nice shoots. And guess what: Next to the REAL Queen.
Well, which one should get the FFL Award? (FiX’s First Lady Award).
You decide!
Donna Kaparti