Chorus

By Daisy Dumas

Last updated at 8:51 PM on 27th January 2012

It may be wise to keep your friends close and your enemies not quite so close, after all.

Relationships may be as vital to good health as a balanced diet and plenty of rest, new research suggests.

Scientists at UCLA’s school of medicine have found that negative social interactions can lead to increased inflammation, which may in turn cause a host of illnesses from cancer to heart disease and high blood pressure.

Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, the study gives solid grounding to the anecdotal evidence that being upbeat and positive – and surrounding one’s self with people with that do not represent competitive or toxic relationships – may be one way to avoid getting sick.

Taking a group of 122 healthy young people, the California-based scientists monitored stressful events and compared them to the body’s production of two inflammation-causing proteins.

Relying on the age-old method of capturing emotions – the diary – scientists recorded the group’s competitive and frictional moments and compared them with the chemicals found in swabs from the inner cheek.

Those who had a negative few days preceding the swab had a higher proportion of the proteins responsible for conditions including high blood pressure, risk of heart disease, cancer and depression, according to Science News.

A similar peak in the pro-inflammatory proteins also occurred after participants were subjected to a stress-inducing numbers quiz and then asked to give a public speech.

The results – which may bring a whole new light to many a bad relationship – are thought to be grounded in evolutionary survival mechanisms.

While the modern link between stress and illness is well-documented, psychologist Nicholas Rohleder from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, told Science News that inflammation fends off infections that may once have been the result of fight or flight encounters.

Without the dangers humans once faced when it came to getting through each and every day, stress may lead to unchecked chronic inflammation, he said.

Michael Jackson’s three children led a celebration that immortalized their late father in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday.

Prince, Paris and Prince ?Blanket? Michael II capped the hour-plus ceremony, which also featured dance tributes, song medleys and video montages, by imprinting the King of Pop?s hand and footprints in concrete.

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson hand and footprint ceremony

The ceremony was held on a massive stage erected in front of Gruman?s under a promotional backdrop for the new Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil show ?Immortal,? which opens at Staples Center on Friday.

Jackson?s brothers Tito and Jackie appeared with their mother, Katherine. They unveiled a 300-pound concrete slab featuring Jackson’s signature and hand and footprints that had been made in 1984 for an unsuccessful, and eventually abandoned, Las Vegas Walk of Fame project. The slab was apparently discovered in the basement of the Riviera Hotel in 2006. His brothers said the slab will be placed next to a new one created Thursday.

?Michael, we miss you. That?s for sure. There?s hardly a day that goes by without him in mind,” Tito said before further anecdotes were shared by the singer?s friends, including Chris Tucker, Smokey Robinson, Debbie Allen and Quincy Jones.

Paris introduced Justin Bieber, who nervously told the crowd of Michael Jackson’s inspiration before singing ?Rockin? Robin,? a song he said he used to sing to himself in the mirror.

Jackson’s children were left with the honor of imprinting the new square of concrete. Paris wrote her father’s name and pressed a sequined glove into the concrete, and Jackson’s two sons pressed a pair of his iconic loafers into the slab.  The three then imprinted their handprints next to their father’s.

The ceremony concluded with a glimpse of the ?Immortal? show, which runs through Sunday.
More than 15,000 viewers tuned in to watch the ceremony, which streamed live on UStream.

RELATED:

Album Review: Michael Jackson’s ‘Immortal’

Michael Jackson’s kids to impress his hand, footprints at Grauman’s

Michael Jackson hits reworked for ‘Immortal’ album, due in November

– Gerrick D. Kennedy
twitter.com/GerrickKennedy

Photo: Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris,  looks on as her brothers, Prince, left, and “Blanket,” imprint their father’s shoes in concrete in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Jan. 26, 2012, in Hollywood. Credit: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images.

Courtesy Yu Tsai for Candie?s

?Watch Lea Michele work the cameras for Candie?s in a behind-the-scenes video [StyleCaster]

?New Bachelorette Emily Maynard shares her best beauty tips [BeautyHigh]

?Get a sneak peek at the Marni for H&M campaign [ELLE]

?A good list of foods to avoid (and indulge in) for those fighting acne [The Beauty Department]

?Advice on how to organize all those makeup and beauty products [BellaSugar]

• Beauty,
• Celebrity Ad Campaigns,
• Lea Michele

» by Alvin aqua Blanco January 27, 2012, 10:17am

A couple of days ago, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer got completely out of pocket and pointed a finger in the face of President Barack Obama. Allegedly, the leader of the free world kept his cool and walked off on Brewer while she was in the middle of sentence, but she made sure to tell reporters that she felt threatened and that Obama was “tense.”

Obama denies these claims in an interview ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. ?What I’ve discovered is I think it’s always good publicity for a Republican if they’re in an argument with me,? Obama said of his tiff with Brewer. When asked if he was tense, Obama added, ?I’m usually accused of not being intense enough, right? Too relaxed.” When Sawyer asked, “So you weren’t?” he simple responded, “No.”

Hey Governor Brewer, have a seat.

American Idol in Texas, y’all! I wonder if they told that guy behind Ryan’s left shoulder to quit making that face, but he just kept making it anyway so they used the take where he made it the least. So, Houston. Would you spend that much time outside in Houston by choice? I don’t know that I would. Even the judges didn’t; they are in Galveston!

So, Houston, do we have a problem? A couple, but also a few solutions!

The Good

Skylar Laine, the cute little girl with the accent and the struggling family store. She’s adorable, and her voice is so great for country! Her friend is obsessed with Steven Tyler, apparently, which makes me wonder if anyone’s friend is obsessed with Randy? Come on, just someone be a huge Randy fan.

Baylie Brown was turned down 5 years ago and SOMEONE grew up. She looked like Denise Richards then, and looks like Denise Richards now. She forgot the words in Hollywood when she was 16, but now she can go to all the karaoke bars to practice. To Hollywood with Baylie, after Randy pretended to remember her.

Kristina Osorio is 28. It’s her first and last opportunity to make it, which would make things sad enough but she’s about to be a single mom of 3! She’s struggling to find work, so shouldn’t she be sending resumes out? Instead of paying her divorce lawyer, she bought a plane ticket to audition. OH GOD. I mean, I like her and she’s a great singer, but someone who shirks their financial responsibilities to be on TV can never have my full respect.

Sometimes-homeless product of a single-parent household (back when single parents couldn’t audition for American Idol), Cortez Shaw, sped up an Adele song. It was an “interesting” choice, but he sounded great. And he loves Randy! Jennifer didn’t believe it, and neither did Randy, but it was a good angle. I was genuinely happy for him when he got sent to Hollywood.

The Bad

Phong Vu is an instant classic. He loves all the camera action in his face! Is he really 25, though? There’s no way! He described the experience, emotionally, as “so phenomenon.” He loves female pop artists, like “Selena Dion.” He sang “Unbreak My Heart,” and in the process, re-broke ours. Still, I love him and his “iconic moves.” “Is he for real?” Randy and I wonder.

The Confusing

The guy who sang “My Prerogative.” He kicked off a montage of Texas’s “wacky” auditions, all of which I just loved. There were a bunch of terrible guys trying to imitate Scotty McCreery, which prompted Jennifer to say, “OK this is at the point where I’m like, what is going on?” More of this, please!

Baby, lock them doors and DON’T LET THIS GUY SELL YOU ANY ENCYCLOPEDIAS.

Gossip Girl is going all out for its big 100th episode on Monday, January 30 with a royal wedding. Blair’s nuptials to Prince Louis are here, but there are plenty of landmines that could derail her fairy tale day.

100th Episode Photos: Blair’s Royal Wedding>>

We know that Dan secretly wrote Louis’ very touching vows for Blair, which could come back to haunt him, but there’s also a very troubling team whose goal is to stop the wedding. Father Cavalia and Chuck Bass have joined forces, and with the return of Georgina Sparks (dressed as an altar boy), it’s safe to assume they’ve created an Unholy Trinity.

100th Episode Photos: Musical Dream Sequence>>

In this first clip from the episode, Nate calls up Chuck to find out what, if anything, he’s up to on Blair’s wedding day. Of course the idea of Nate being able to outsmart Chuck is completely laughable.

In this second clip, Nate reflects on his terrible track record with women while getting an earful from a sassy caterer. Is Nate headed down another “rich boy, poor girl” relationship? At least she’s age appropriate, unlike many of Nate’s cougar conquests.

Also, check out a preview of the episode and a look at the fashion of the royal wedding.

The 100th episode of Gossip Girl airs Monday, January 30 at 8pm on the CW.

(Image and videos courtesy of the CW)

By Mandy Appleyard

Last updated at 12:55 PM on 26th January 2012

The boy-thief sprang from the shadows as we dawdled back to our hotel after dinner on a summer?s night in Havana.

He tried to wrestle my bag off my shoulder. I resisted, but he yanked hard at my bag, kicked me fiercely in the shins and spat something at me in Spanish.

But I felt reassured that my boyfriend at the time ? an amateur athlete who was three times the size of this scrawny Cuban street kid and a one-time Doncaster karate champion ? was beside me. 

?Leave this to me,? Alex said, stepping manfully forward. ?Give me the bag.?Alex must have a cunning plan, I thought, before watching incredulously as he blithely handed my bag to the thief, who then ran off.

Shaking and looking as if he was about to cry, Alex said sheepishly: ?Well, it would have been stupid to put up a fight.?

?Why?? I asked. ?He wasn?t armed. You could have swatted him away like a fly.?

Suddenly, I recognised the unpalatable truth about my strapping, pentathlete boyfriend: he was a cowardy-custard and we had no future.

I was reminded of this when I read about the captain of the Costa Concordia abandoning ship ? after it ran aground off Italy ? long before his passengers had been evacuated, then claiming that he had tripped and fallen into a lifeboat.

And I thought how disgusted I would be if I was the wife of Captain Coward (as Francesco Schettino is now known).  Women have never given cowards an easy ride, and psychologist Dr Michael Mantell thinks he knows why.

?Courage ? which can include assurance, certainty and risk-taking in the face of real danger ? is attractive because it suggests the man can express his emotions without fear, leading to honesty in the relationship,? he says.

?It also suggests he can offer her physical and emotional protection. It?s the courageous one who will succeed in the jungle, and women find that reassuring.?

My former boyfriend Vernon was never someone I thought of as particularly brave until, sailing towards Catalina Island, off Southern California, in a 30ft boat across one of the world?s busiest shipping lanes, we ran into thick fog.

Four hours later, I was almost hysterical. But Vernon was cool-headed courage in motion. He kept the helm, spoke to the coastguard on the radio, checked the Global Positioning System (GPS), calmed me down and instructed me in putting together grab-bags (flares, torches, bottled water, a portable GPS) in case we ended up in the water.

That evening, I looked at him in awe. That, in extremis, he had demonstrated such cool-headed, focused bravery filled me with pride and love.

I had felt the same pride when, on a childhood family holiday, my father rushed into the sea, risking his own life, to save an old man who was drowning off a beach in North Wales.

Cowardice, on the other hand, diminishes us. Captain Coward must realise that now. He has survived a catastrophe that has so far claimed 16 lives, but can take little solace from Shakespeare?s words that ?Cowards die many times before their deaths?.

When Wilco’s ace guitarist Nels Cline told The Times recently that his band leader, Jeff Tweedy, was a “collage artist,” one who would resurrect ”treasured items,” Cline was talking pop structures. Yet he apparently could have been discussing an appreciation for vintage cartoons. In what’s a rare proper music video from Wilco, which is in the midst of a three-night stand in Los Angeles this week, the band’s “Dawned on Me” has been re-fashioned as a tale of love and jealously centered on Popeye the Sailor Man and his familiar cast of characters. 

The cartoon, a collaboration between Wilco’s label dBpm Records and Blow Me Down! King Features, was directed by designer-branding guru Darren Romanelli. Said to be the first hand-drawn Popeye cartoon since 1987, the clip sees the popular spinach-eating sailor trying to distract the love of his life, Olive Oyl, from failling for Wilco’s Tweedy. The girl, of course, chooses the musician (sigh).

“Dawned on Me” is one of the more lighthearted songs on Wilco’s new album, “The Whole Love,” although lyrically it has a slightly dark undercurrent in its midsection. Amid brightly colored guitar and keyboard textures, what at first appears to be a bouncy number about calling a loved one is revealed to be something a little more sinister when it’s made clear that the couple are no longer together. 

But never mind all of that. There’s a cartoon to watch:

RELATED:

Wilco is maturing, but it is not growing soft

Wilco’s Nels Cline: ’L.A. gets no respect as far as culture’

Wilco at the Palladium: A review of night one of three in Los Angeles

– Todd Martens

Image: Screenshot from Wilco’s “Dawned on Me” video featuring Popeye and Wilco-branded spinach.