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Bride pans her own gold for wedding rings

A Leeds student has told how she turned gold panned from British rivers into wedding rings for herself and her new husband.

Daisy Thurkettle-Roper, 25, has been panning for gold in Britain since she was a toddler, reports the Daily Telegraph.

"I've kept all the gold I have ever found and there seemed to be nothing more perfect and romantic than using it for our wedding rings."

Mrs Thurkettle-Roper, a student at Leeds University, has spent years exploring the rivers of Scotland and Wales with her dad Vince Thurkettle.

"There is a point I always remember when your back is aching and you have been in the river for five hours and you are covered in mosquito bites," she said.

"Then you get to the bottom of the pan and see a flake of gold and it gleams and sparkles and you soon forget you are cold and wet."

She collected the final flakes for the wedding bands together with her husband, Martyn Roper, 28, during a trip to Wales.

"My husband had never prospected before and it was really romantic to be able to spend the weekend looking for the gold for our wedding rings together," she said.

Daisy's gold collection was then taken to a jeweller, who crafted it into two special wedding rings worth £600 each.

"It's absolutely amazing to think we found the tiny flakes of gold in bits of dirt and now they have all been put together into rings which fit our fingers perfectly. It was a wonderful idea and will make our wedding day special for us forever

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Women spend a year deciding what to wear

Women spend almost a year of their lives deciding what to wear, according to a new study.

Choosing outfits for work, nights out, dinner parties, holidays and other activities means the average female will spend 287 days rifling through their wardrobe.

Clothes retailer Matalan compiled the results after polling 2,491 women, reports the Daily Telegraph.

A spokesman said: "What you wear has a direct impact on how you feel about yourself and it is important a woman feels exceptional in her outfit.

"Whatever the occasion your clothes portray an image and we understand this is fundamentally important to women."

The study, which was based on the adult years from the age of 16 to 60, found most women spend around 20 minutes deciding what to wear before hitting the town on a weekend night.

Week nights out can take up to 20 minutes a time too. Deciding on what clothes to take on holiday uses up to 52 minutes each time.

While on holiday, ten minutes a morning will be taken up trying to find an acceptable outfit with another ten minutes spent picking evening clothes.

On top of that dinner parties, Christmas parties and black tie events - at around 36 minutes a time six times a year - adds up to three and a half days.

The study also found on average women will try on two outfits each morning before coming to a final decision. And one in two women spend 15 minutes the night before work working out what to wear

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Rollerskating babies

A mineral water advert featuring roller-skating babies has become an internet sensation.

The special effects video of infants in nappies performing skating stunts has notched up four million hits on YouTube in a week.

The daredevil 'roller-babies' leap over park fences and railings as well as each other in a city park, reports the Daily Mail.

After pressing play on a giant ghetto blaster, they execute all manner of flips and somersaults.

The troupe of 96 special-effects roller-babies groove to a remix of the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight in a city park.

The 60-second film was shot at London's Pinewood Studios as part of Evian's Live Young international TV and web video campaign.

The Evian babies were last screened 11 years ago performing an underwater ballet.

Evian's worldwide director of brand Michael Aidan said that the firm was trying to sell drinkers a 'dream'.

He said: "In the majority of countries in recent years, our communication has been very fact-based.

"But consumers expect more from a big brand emotion, dream. This is what we want to achieve - hence this breakaway and back to roots campaign."

traxxfm wake up show has roller babies

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Spears Critics Silenced By Untouched Candie's Photo

Representatives for Britney Spears have hit back at criticisms of the superstar's seemingly airbrushed ad campaign for Candie's by releasing an original "untouched" snap.

The Barbie-style photo shoot for the clothing company's latest collection, which shows the "Toxic" hitmaker looking impossibly perfect and coiffed, stunned fans.

Internet gossip Perez Hilton lashed out at the images, insisting the photos were "practically paintings."

But a representative for Spears has tried to quash rumors the pictures were completely overhauled by sending out a very similar snap to Hilton's Web site insisting Spears looked almost identical pre-airbrushing. (See the 'untouched' photo here)

The re-touched version shows the only differences in the two images are that the singer's tan has been deepened and her dark roots have been lightened.

PerezHilton.com says :

We eat our own words!

A rep for Britney Spears has told us that the pop star's new Candie's campaign is not as heavily Photoshopped as we previously speculated.

To prove the point, an exclusive image of the singer was released to PerezHilton.com (top pic).

We're told the picture is "raw" and unretouched.

Hmmm….inneresting.

If you compare the two photos (untouched above, retouched below), we're pretty sure you can spot at least a couple differences.

Can ya???

What are they???

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Reports: Madonna And Guy Reconnect?

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are heading for a romantic reconciliation, according to astonishing new U.S. tabloid reports.

The pair confirmed months of speculation by splitting late in 2008 after almost eight years of marriage. Since their quickie divorce, Madonna has enjoyed reported romances with baseball star Alex Rodriguez and model Jesus Luz.

However, Star magazine alleges the former couple has reconnected after Ritchie publicly praised his ex during her bid to adopt Malawian baby Mercy and that they have been meeting in secret to establish if they want to reunite.

A source tells Star, "She was touched by Guy's gesture. It made her start to fall for him all over again.

"For now they are seeing what happens. She's just really happy to have him back in her life."

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Jackson Asked Shields To Marry Him

Brooke Shields turned down countless marriage proposals from late pal Michael Jackson, the actress has revealed in a new magazine tribute.

Shields fought back tears as she honored her "little prince" at the King of Pop's memorial in Los Angeles on Tuesday, recalling how much fun the pair had as teenage friends, and now she's revealing more about her relationship with the late pop superstar.

She tells the upcoming Jackson tribute issue of Rolling Stone, "There were times when he would ask me to marry him, and I would say, 'You have me for the rest of your life, you don't need to marry me, I'm going to go on and do my own life and have my own marriage and my own kids, and you'll always have me.'

"I think it made him relax. He didn't want to lose things that meant something to him."

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Theron Hospitalized After Health Scare?

Hollywood actress Charlize Theron spent four nights in a Los Angeles hospital last week after contracting a painful stomach virus, according to a tabloid report.

The star is alleged to have suffered severe abdominal pains, which she attributed to food poisoning.

But when the sharp stomach pangs failed to go away, her boyfriend Stuart Townsend took her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to seek treatment.

According to the National Enquirer, doctors ran a series of tests on Theron and diagnosed her with a serious virus, which may have been contracted during her travels overseas.

And Townsend was left shaken by Theron's health scare, reportedly telling pals, "I was scared to death. I had no idea what was happening to her, but this is a woman who never complains, so I knew it had to be serious."

The publication claims the actress was discharged from hospital after being given a series of antibiotics and is now back to full health.

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Watson Flashes Underwear At Potter Premiere

Actress Emma Watson suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction at the latest "Harry Potter" movie premiere on Tuesday when the daring split in her designer dress opened to reveal her underwear.

The 19-year -old braved the heavy rain to hit the red carpet in London with her co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for the world premiere of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

But, as Watson gathered up the flowing skirt of her long dress to avoid stepping on the hem, she was snapped accidentally flashing her panties to the throng of fans and paparazzi.

ooooooopppppppsssssssss.....................................

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'No rush' for new Jackson songs

New music recorded by Michael Jackson before his death is likely to be released - but not yet, the president of his record label Epic has said.

"We just want to pay our respects to Michael," Amanda Ghost said: "We don't want to be seen to be jumping on any bandwagon associated with his death."

Jackson had been working on new music for several years with hip-hop and R&B stars like Will.i.am, Ne-Yo and Akon.

"The appetite is definitely there" for new material, Ghost told BBC 6 Music.

"If we do release anything of unreleased material, it has to be fantastic and it can't damage in any way his legacy or his legend and I won't let that happen at Epic.

"I have no idea when it's coming out, but it will come out on Sony/Epic. We haven't made any decisions because we just want to be respectful for his memory and not be seen in any way as trying to cash in."

The release of new music is also likely to be delayed as legal negotiations over his estate.

Earlier this week, a Los Angeles judge gave control to his lawyer John Branca and music executive John McClain, rejecting a claim by Jackson's mother Katherine.

Instrumental album

Bruce Swedien, a producer and engineer who worked on Off The Wall and Thriller, has said he believed Jackson was working on instrumental music as well as a pop album.

Ghost, best known for her work as a producer and writer with the likes of Beyonce, Shakira and James Blunt, is the first recording artist to be appointed head of a major label.

She first met Jackson in February this year when presenting him with an award for being the label's biggest selling artist.

"I walked up to him and said 'Hi, I'm the president of Epic,' and he said 'Wow, things have changed since I was there,'" Ghost said.

"He knew my work and he thought it was fantastic that a creative had been put in charge."

US music sales tracker Nielsen SoundScan has revealed that 800,000 copies of Jackson's albums were bought last week - almost double sales for the previous week.

"Certainly, as I have seen with my kids, it is a way to get kids passionate and involved in music," Ulrich said about why the band wanted to be involved in the game. "In between arguing with them about homework and vegetables and whatever else, I can say, 'Hey, look, maybe you are thinking Dad is a complete dork, but he's got his own video game.' And at least that's worth something."

December 15, 2008

U2 have filmed the video for the first single from their upcoming studio record. A post on U2.com reveals that the band was in London last week shooting the clip with director Alex Courtes. The posting says that, "We are sworn to secrecy on the finer details of the shoot... but there may have been some marching girls involved. With their boots on." This could be a coy reference to the title of the track, as the first single from the new record has long been rumored to be titled "Sexy Boots."

Ex-Papa Roach drummer David Buckner has sued the band, as well as Universal Music Group and Cherry Lane Music Publishing, for unpaid royalties. The suit, which has surfaced on TMZ, says that Buckner's relationship with the members of the band is now "strained and antagonistic" since he was fired from the Rock group on Christmas Eve 2007.

Depeche Mode has completed work on their 2009 studio album. Singer Dave Gahan told The Los Angeles Times, "We’ve been spoiled for choice with this one because we recorded more songs for this record than we ever had for any [other] record. Maybe I’m old school or whatever but once you start going over 12 songs, I think it becomes a little weird." The new album is due out in the spring, with a U.S. leg of their 2009 tour set to be announced in the near future as well.

Madonna has paid former husband Guy Ritchie around £50m as part of their divorce settlement.

The pop star's US spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg told The Associated Press (AP) the figure included the value of the couple's Ashcombe home in England.

She said the financial part of the settlement had been worked out but custody of the couple's children had yet to be finalised.

"I'd assume it's one of the largest payouts ever in a divorce," she said.

The payout is much larger than the £24.3m Heather Mills received from Sir Paul McCartney earlier this year.

CELEBRITY DIVORCE DEALS

• Basketball star Michael Jordan: paid an estimated $168m (£110m) to his wife of nearly 18 years in November 2007
• Neil Diamond: gave an estimated $150m (£98m) to Marcia Murphey, whom in 1996
• Steven Spielberg: first wife Amy Irving was awarded an estimated $100m (£65m) in 1989
• Harrison Ford: paid an estimated $85m (£56m) to his second wife, Melissa Mathison
• Sir Paul McCartney: was told to pay Heather Mills £24.3m ($37m) by a judge in March

Ms Rosenberg told AP that Ritchie had been given £50-£60m ($76m-$92m).

In an e-mail to BBC News, she said she was confirming a story in London's Evening Standard newspaper, which said he would get $60m-$70m (£39-£46m). She declined to give further details and was unavailable to clarify the discrepancy.

When the divorce was made official last month, Ritchie told the Daily Mirror the split was "never, ever about money".

The couple, who wed at Skibo Castle in Scotland in December 2000, were granted their divorce at the High Court in London.

A sworn statement released by the court showed the pop star petitioned for divorce on the grounds of the film director's unreasonable behaviour.

Madonna also said in the statement that they had not been living at the same address for the six months before the date of the petition.

At the time, the couple had reportedly agreed to share custody of their two boys, Rocco, eight, and three-year-old adopted David Banda, while it was reported that Madonna's daughter from an earlier relationship, 12-year-old Lourdes, would stay with her.

Dark Knight makes best film list

Batman film The Dark Knight has been named as one of the Top 10 movies of 2008 by the American Film Institute.

Others include political biopic Milk, animated fantasy Wall-E and Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and comic book blockbuster Iron Man also feature alongside the independent dramas Frozen River and Wendy and Lucy.

Frost/Nixon and The Wrestler complete the list, compiled by a panel of filmmakers, reviewers and academics.

Unlike other awards bodies, the institute does not rank films or pick one as the year's best.

The filmmakers behind the AFI's Top 10 choices will be honoured at a luncheon on 9 January.

Longlist

Meanwhile, The Dark Knight has also been named as one of the 15 semi-finalists for the best visual effects Oscar.

Others include the second Chronicles of Narnia film, Prince Caspian, and the latest James Bond adventure, Quantum of Solace.

Cloverfield, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the fourth Indiana Jones film also feature on the longlist, to be whittled down to seven in early January.

Three will then be nominated for the Visual Effects prize, to be handed out at the Oscar ceremony on 22 February.