Making of Vanessa Paradis for Chanel

Making-Of: Vanessa Paradis for Chanel Coco Cocoon from LesMads on Vimeo.

I am a huge fan of Vanessa Paradis. She is gorgeous, oozes sex appeal, has that French thing going on... but the best thing I like about her is quite possibly her boyfriend, Johnny Depp. Either way, Vanessa is looking stunning in the new Chanel Cocoon collection ads, and I'm loving the video of their making. Karl Lagerfeld, who has shot these ads, is truly a genius, and I love the way he hugs and smiles at her at the end of the video... don't think I've ever seen him smile before!

When bling meets technology...

Yesterday Kim Kardashian was complaining on Twitter about how Sarah Gold from NYC Peach had taken her camera to "bedazzle" and was yet to return it almost 6 months later. NYC Peach was a New York based company that were the pioneers of the bling-gizmo era that started a few years back, most notably when Carrie in Sex and the City (when it was still a TV show) carried a pink crystal-studded phone. NYC Peach was known for their designs that were done using smaller crystals and glued on the device itself, they disappeared one day, not coincidentally along with the disappearance of Lehman Brothers and a lot of other businesses. While I never used them, I have in the past gotten my phone studded from Crystal Icing, an online company that I discovered while browsing one day, and loved the final outcome.

You can either have Crystal Icing (found at www.crystalicing.com) send you a cover for your phone, or you can send in your device (like I did) to them, and they will ship it back, looking perfectly blinged out and stunning. In Dubai you can go to Karama or some mall to get crystals stuck on your phone, but really, it is a case of quality vs moolah. They have a wide variety of designs you can pick from (I had the "Marilyn" studded on my old imate) or you can send in your own for a custom design. A whole list of celebrities including Paris Hilton, Mariah Carey (whose custom iPad is shown below), Kimberly Stewart, Eva Longoria and many more, have gotten their bling on with Crystal Icing. I'm sure Kim Kardashian wishes she had done the same!

I am in love with this Paul Frank iPhone case as shown below. As I know the new iPhone that will be announced soon has a different form factor, I'm holding off my purchase to get the new shape.

 Crystal Icing ships internationally, are very prompt and have amazing craftsmanship. 
Aside from gadgets they do a variety of products including Mason Pearson hairbrushes, zippo lighters, sharpie pens, etc.

All images shown here are directly from the Crystal Icing website and are their property.

Fave structured bags of the moment

A few weeks back I'd posted pics of my sister's Celine box bag (pictured above), and had remarked it was a little too boxy for me. Well, that has changed! The more I looked at it, the more it grew on me, and recently I went to the Celine store in Bur Juman, and saw it in a red colour (below). It was love at first sight!! I still haven't bought it, as I wanted to go have a look at all the other brands out there, and see if any of them may have a boxy-looking, structured shoulder bag, that is so popular this season.

 (As shown in the US Vogue, May edition. Photographed at Paris Fashion Week)

Being a HUGE Hermes fan, I really wanted to hold out and buy the Hermes Constance, as I've been in love with it for a very, very long time. They haven't had it in stock in their stores in Dubai for a while, so when my sister was in NY last week, I emailed my contact at the NY store on Madisson and asked if they had a piece there. How gorgeous is this bag??
Of course I wanted the one in the regular leather (and not the Croc as seen on the arm of one of the Olsen twins) and preferably in a bright colour. I'd seen pictures of the Constance in a light pink lizard skin and really loved the look of that, but thought I'd get an orange or red instead. The lady wrote back saying she had one in an Orange.. and just before I started to celebrate, she told me it cost $7650!  Now while I'm all for buying beautiful bags that last a lifetime, I'm just not sure the Constance would be in style a couple of seasons from now, even though it's been around forever. The Hermes store in Dubai Mall had a Mirco Constance, which was a tiny, tiny version (yes, even tinier than the one in the pic) last week, which was a LOT more affordable. It came to around the same price as the Celine box- but in effect would fit a lipstick and my credit cards. But the red colour on it was gorgeous! Hope it's sold out by now so I'm not tempted!

I really love the look of this Chloe Elsie bag in a Metallic tweed sort of fabric. I'd spotted it at the Chloe store in Emirates Towers, and thought it was so stylish and beautiful, but the metallic strap bothered me. The bag actually looks a lot better in real life than it does in the picture (it really is stunning) and the best part about it was the price! While the price of the Celine is around half the price of the Hermes one (the Celine cost approximately Dhs 13,000), I remember this Chloe one costing around Dhs. 5,000! While it's not cheap by any means, it is still a lot more reasonable, and more "now" than a Chanel 2.55.

I still haven't decided which one I'm getting. Will keep you posted when I do.

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Have you caught a glimpse of Google TV?

Even though iTunes Videos are not legally supported here, a lot of people find ways to download them and use them in the UAE. A couple of days back I was advising my sister to go over to the Apple store and buy a couple of 100 Dollars worth of iTunes gift cards to be able to do just that. Because most Apple lovers have figured out this work around, quite few people I know use the Apple TV here to watch their shows on the big screen. While I actually have no TV in my room now (I watch all my shows on my computer) while doing up the TV room in my new apartment, I opted to have a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV connected to my big screen. Having read all the reviews of the Apple TV, and realizing how restricted a product it was, it made me want something with a bit more flexibility, where I could also download shows from other providers, or watch shows directly off the network's website (most networks like ABC and NBC air the shows online which you can watch if you have a VPN and a fast enough internet connection).

Yesterday Google announced their Google TV, which made me wish I hadn't bought my still-to-be-used Mac Mini. The idea behind the product is amazing, and dare I say it, leaps and bounds ahead of Apple. Watch this YouTube video to understand what I'm talking about:


Somewhere out there, Steve Jobs is hoping he'd paid more attention to his Apple TV product line!

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Unboxing of the Xperia X10 mini!

Check out the unboxing of the cute Xperia X10 mini as posted on the Sony Ericsson blog.
Better yet, win it by entering this competition and unbox it yourself. ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

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Take a look at the "Versace Unique"

If there ever was a phone made for "Kiran's Corner," this would be a contender. It mixes high fashion and high geek-ness and even comes in the (somewhat) colour of my blog. Versace announced this phone yesterday, and it comes with a 3 inch screen, a built in 5 megapixel camera and for the first time, Dolby mobile surround sound technology, whatever that is. Not much else is known about the device apart from the fact that it will be priced higher than the current Dior offering, which sits pretty with a $5,000 tag attached to it!
Will I be getting one? No way in hell! Hey, I said it would be a contender- never mentioned it being a good one!

Sheikh Zayed Road nutty drivers!!

I saw this video on my friend's Facebook yesterday, and it made my blood curdle. I tracked it down to the original owner, a guy by the name of Rami Aaf, and asked if I could post it up on my blog. Little did I realize that the little clip had already gone viral and was going to be reported on by 7 Days and The National today.

The drivers are CRAZY and should be locked up in jail for life. Not only does it tell of a worrying culture of people with little or no regard for the law, but these people have little or no regard for money, their own safety or lives of other passengers on the road. Some of the comments on the YouTube video praise the stunts shown, and call the viewers condemning their actions, "jealous." Somebody else who sent in the video to The National said the drivers were "venting." Venting?? I want to vent my frustration after watching this video by smashing the drivers heads against the wall! Just because I think it, still doesn't make it ok!!
(Or does it?)

Loving the Fendi Peekaboo

One of the new hottest bags this season is the Fendi Peekaboo. I've seen them around in all different colours and materials, and I think it's so fun that you can buy them with different looks on the inside as well as the out!

I saw this particular salmon colour in their store in Dubai Mall and immediately fell in love. Not only is it a fun colour to wear in the summer, but the leather on these bags is much softer and more supple and has to be custom ordered with Fendi. And since you're supposed to carry the bag "open," the customized one will have your name engraved onto the metal tag attached inside.

I love the detailing on the bag, and am SO tempted to get one. Just don't know if I have the patience to wait the 3 months till it comes in. It's so pretty though!

House MD finale shot on a Canon dSLR!

Sometime last month I had written about my latest purchase, the Canon 5d Mark II. While I love the camera and the way it captures still images, I'd been reading a lot about it's video functions and the way it captured full HD video that was sending the film world into a tizzy. Last night I watched the season finale of House MD off iTunes, and was AMAZED at the video quality of the episode, shot completely with the 5d. That's right, a full episode shot with a digital camera!! It caused David Pogue of the NY Times to tweet, "Ok, tonight's episode of "House" was shot with a STILL CAMERA! Ok, an expensive Canon pro model, but still...what's the world coming to?" Isn't it great what technology can do?!

Here are the first 3 minutes of the episode for you to gauge the quality for yourself:

Electronics Mania @ Jumbo!

It's promotion time! We have a really great promotion going on in the Jumbo stores now, aptly called "Electronics Mania" and it's raining great products!! Over the next 25 days (till June 12th) you have the chance to win 32" Bravia LCD TV's, Playstation2's, Digital Still Cameras, MP4 players or DVD players, by only spending Dhs 300 to enter the raffle! Moreover, we will have 11 winners per day, which makes 275 customers in total who will walk away with one of these fantastic prizes. All customers also receive free FIFA branded merchandise to sweeten the deal. Great stuff! 

Want to communicate from a BB to an iPhone and vice versa? Here's how!

I've mentioned quite often in this blog, that I carry around 2 phones all day- my Blackberry and my iPhone. I tried to side with either device and OS, and in the end just realized I was fighting a losing battle. My inner Geek was always going to mourn the loss of whichever device it was that didn't get picked, and I'd constantly be looking over at the fence, thinking fondly of the grass I was missing on the other side. One of the things I love best about my Blackberry has got to me my BB Messenger. It allows me to chat with my friends whenever I want, without having a tedious software I have to log into before I can receive messages, or send them. That was one of the things I missed most when I had first abandoned my BB for the iPhone.

A few days back my friends introduced me to the wonders of an application called "WhatsApp." I had it on my iPhone already and knew it supported iPhone to iPhone chat, but had no clue it let me communicate with a Blackberry too! All users need to do is have WhatsApp downloaded on their devices (Blackberry users have to download it too) and it automatically goes through your existing phone book and shows up all the users who have the app (across platforms) and instantly adds them on your list of "Favourites." If you choose to not have people on your list, you can then go ahead and block them, but the way it recognizes new additions is pretty neat. One by one everyone on the table went around adding WhatsApp, and it individually kept popping up automatically on my list. Also, thanks to push notification on the iPhone, you don't need to be logged in to the software to get new messages either, and just like the BB, it allows you to put up status messages. The only advantage that BBM still has over this is that with my global unlimited plan, I can keep in touch with my friends anywhere in the world and not have to worry about exorbitant roaming rates. Due to this unfortunately, I can expect my status to be "Travelling.. Unreachable!" for quite a big chunk out of the year.

Learn more about WhatsApp on their website here
They also have an Android and Nokia Symbian version coming out soon, so be on the lookout for that!

I ♥ Sweet Stuff

Started by two very sweet and very stylish sisters, Farah and Aaliyah Gokal, Sweet Stuff cupcakes have managed to take Dubai by storm. Their store, located near The One on Beach Road, is as tasty a visual treat as their cupcakes are to taste buds! They posted a few pics of their new cake offerings yesterday, and I just HAD to post them up here. They look divine, and am sure taste just as good! 

Leica X1 out and about at Dubai Mall

I absolutely LOVE my Leica X1!! A few days back I ran over to Salaam Studios in Wafi, the dealers of the Leica, and bought myself the fabulous camera that I'd been trying to get my hands on for a few months now. They've been pretty much sold out everywhere,  and ever since I'd read the reviews late last year, I knew I HAD to have one! They finally called me and told me they had one piece in, and that I had to come pick it up within a f ew hours. Of course I dropped everything and ran! It's a very expensive camera, but looking at the image quality, I feel it's SO worth it.  I actually own the top of the line Leica M8.2 (which has now been replaced by the M9) and the D Lux 4, which is in my opinion, one of the best cameras ever. I was hence skeptical about where the fixed 35 mm lens (that means no zoom!) would fit into the picture, but I was pleasantly surprised with it's performance. I took it to Dubai Mall with me and am posting a few of the pictures here to give you guys a general feeling of what the colours and clarity from this camera looks like.

Click on the photographs to get the full size picture

PS: I paid full price for the camera, as I have done for all my Leica products! The mention of the store I bought it from is simply to save you from trying to figure out where Leica was available in Dubai. Unfortunately, Jumbo does not carry them :)

Sing Talk- So funny!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

iPad 3G and Etisalat- FINALLY!!

A few weeks back (here) I promised to give you an update of the iPad 3G working with my Etisalat Micro Sim. After a bit of pain and venting on my Facebook page I finally got the two working and playing happily together! Here's what you need to know to do the same:
- Go to an Etisalat counter and have them issue you a Micro Sim for your iPad. The service is called the Al Tawam Service, which allows you to use two Sim cards for the same and existing phone number. The Sim cards are regular sized ones, with Micro Sim's built into them, which you can pop out and then use with ease in your iPad or other devices.
- To use the second Sim, you need to have a 3G data package already existing on your phone. I, for example, was paying Dhs 395 for a 10 GB data package on my iPhone already, so that data limit can now be split between the two devices.
- If you do NOT have a 3G data plan existing already, you can apply for one for Dhs 99 for unlimited data for 3 months
- This does NOT work with Blackberry. Once again, I have tested it with a Micro Sim for my Blackberry (as I was getting mixed reviews as to whether it would work or not). It DOES NOT. What it DOES do is give you the option of applying for 3G on your Sim (which has the BB package) for the additional Dhs 99 per month.
- If you didn't quite let that sink in, the Dhs 99 promotion is for 3 months only. That could mean that after the 3 months the price goes back to 395, in which case you have your Blackberry package that you are already paying for PLUS the additional Dhs 395
- If you are intending on buying an iPad, work on getting your Micro Sim today. They are sold out almost everywhere, despite what @EtisalatUAE on Twitter says.
- Do NOT listen to the guys at the Etisalat Counter. If they try to convince you that your existing Blackberry service will work, they don't know what the hell they're on about. And if they tell you that your current 3G package WONT work and you have to spend an extra Dhs 99- well- they don't know what the hell they're on about. Remember the pain I talked about earlier? I'm trying to save you some of it!
- When you finally do manage to get your iPad 3G (Stocks available at Jumbo by the way!) and your Micro Sim in the same room, insert the Sim into the device and wait for the 3G signal to show up.
- When you try opening a website, it will say "cellular data not configured" or something to that effect. Don't panic. Go into settings, click on Cellular Data and then change your "APN settings". Your APN is "etisalat.ae." Try using your iPad to browse now- it should work! Reboot your device if it does not, and it should work now!
- Although my WiFi only iPad worked flawlessly, I noticed my 3G iPad froze my Safari screen when I first inserted my Micro Sim. This only required me to reset my device again and it worked fine from then on, and I haven't had any problems yet.
- I can't remember whether I had any problems charging my previous iPad via USB, but this one just isn't charging. This seems to be normal too I think. Will go home and check whether I have any such problems with my iPad and my Mac. My WiFi one charged flawlessly with it.
- On this forum here there seemed to be a frustrated User complaining about having a faulty Sim. I don't think it is faulty as much as him not having entered the APN settings, or ordering the correct data package on his Sim card. Follow the instructions, and you should be fine.
Good luck and let me know how you guys get on!

Jumbo Electronics now has availability of the 3G iPads- Get yours before they sell out!

DIY Couture??

Over the weekend I'd gone shopping over to Dubai Mall to get some much needed retail therapy. I found this top and sneaked in a pic on my iPhone to email out to my best friend in New York. She's going to kill me for narrating this, but this "safety pin top" brings back quite a few old memories for us. While we went to college in Boston, the conservative New England culture dictated the way kids dressed, and we all wore clothes that were quite preppy and J Crew'ish. After graduation, I moved to Dubai, and Payal got herself a job and moved to the fashion capital that is New York. I visited her a few months later, and found my otherwise plain Jane bestie had gotten herself quite an NY makeover. Her dressed down all-black wardrobe was suddenly replaced with leather pants and these trendy geometrical tops that I didn't quite understand.
One evening while going out, I found Payal wearing a ripped t-shirt with a few safety pins decorating the front of it. "It looks like your t-shirt ripped and your pins are holding it together," I'd said. "That's PRECISELY what I got it to do!" she'd responded. She'd seen a designer version of a top with safety pins all over it, balked at the price, and decided to instead do a DIY version at home. I'm glad in time she moved past her weird clothing phase, and we could still be friends.
And here, ten years later, is yet another safety pin top in a designer store (with a balk-worthy price-tag), that might lead to a young, innocent and very clueless girl somewhere, trying to copy at home... Who of course, will have a very cynical and unforgiving BFF who'll make fun of her for it a decade after the deed is done. If she's very, very unlucky, said BFF might decide to start a blog. Aah... Memories.

The Google Job Experiment- Very innovative!

Steve Jobs wants products "Free from Porn"- My response is, "And what's wrong with that?!"

An idiot in the Gawker office got into an email argument with Steve Jobs two nights back. Apple has been taking a lot of heat from critics over the past few months, over their App approval process, their battles with Adobe, rumoured battles with Google, and most recently, their response to Gawker posting pics of the lost (stolen?) iPhone 4G prototype.
Read what went down here

I can understand that some people are getting frustrated with some of Apple's decisions. Some I agree with, and some (mostly the ones that affect me as a consumer) are just plain annoying. Yet, I think as a company (and not a Government body) Apple has the right to uphold a certain sense of morality and not have porn Apps available on their devices. Are they blocking porn sites on their devices that are freely available to people? No they're not (a moot point if you live in the UAE). Should they have the right to control what goes on the device, that may be offensive to people with kids or with different cultural backgrounds? Hell yeah!

I think it's amazing that somebody of Steve Jobs' status and profile actually gets into a discussion with anybody who randomly emails him, much less emails him at 2 AM in the morning. Ryan Tate's language is rude and offensive, and considering he is a Writer, one would think he'd get his point across without the need to throw in the F word all that much. I realized when I was around 12, using it doesn't make you look cool... a lesson Mr Tate is obviously yet to learn.

I REALLY want to know what his response to Jobs' closing question was, "By the way, what have you done that's so great? Do you create anything or just criticize others works and belittle their motivations?" From the looks of it, he was unable to respond to that. He did get a juicy story to post on Gawker though, although it makes him look like a real chump more than anything else. Thoughts?

The girl that inspires

There are a lot of things that I want to learn how to do- some are attainable, some I'm working on, and some, I don't think possible. I look at kids these days, and am so jealous of the interesting degrees they are taking in college like visual communications or fashion journalism- they sound so much more fun than the Marketing major I chose for myself. Another "would love to, but think it's too late for me" activity is riding a Harley. I know I don't look like the typical Harley girl (no tattoos and piercings!) but I'd absolutely love to own one, or even settle for knowing how to ride one. Unfortunately, I never learnt how to ride a cycle when I was younger, so think that might never happen for me either. And the final "definitely too late"one (or so I thought) is the ability to play the piano. I LOVE the piano, adore the elegance of it, love the sound of it, and have "piano in the forest" or "piano with rhythms of the sea"CD's that I listen to while going to sleep.
A couple of days back my friend Piyali posted a video of her daughter Oona playing the lovely instrument. I was mesmerized by the young girls fingers gliding over the keys and was hooked to the hypnotic melody that she played. I asked Piyali how long she had played for, and told her about my longing (and inability) to play. She told me Oona had been learning for three years, and with commitment and dedication had come a long way in this short period of time. Three years!! The girl sounded like a child prodigy to me! So I figured, in three years if I can play something this difficult and sound so good, I will be the happiest piano player on earth, and so I went and signed up with her teacher. I start Tuesday.. I can't wait!

Here is the video of the very talented 12 year old Oona playing the tune "Morning has Broken," which she has very kindly agreed for me to post. Isn't she just incredible? Thanks Oona for being my inspiration :)

Gold-ATM machines! Err.. whaa??

The Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi was the first place in the world to have a Gold-ATM machine. The "Gold to Go" machine has 5 and 10 gram gold bars as well as various types of gold coins, and apparently has an in built mechanism that allows it to check the price of gold every 10 minutes and update the system. Two people bought one of each item and the gold-plated vending machine ATM, that stocked a 100 pieces, was sold out by the end of the day. Of course it would! This is so much better than Vegas slot machines.. Odds are completely on your side!