FabSugar

Trend Alert: Cool Leather Jackets

FabSugar — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:00:22 PDT

Lindsay Lohan loves them. Not impressed? Kate Moss loves them. Not convinced. Madonna loves them. There. They were hot last Fall and it looks like cool leather jackets are here to stay. Some may argue they are a classic, the aforementioned ladies and maybe Slash, but for some the leather jacket is dicey. To prevent from looking too rocker babe or too aggressive, twin one with a feminine slip dress or a ruffled blouse. There, cool babe perfected.

Sword Leather Bomber Jacket, $630	Valentino Red Leather Bomber Jacket, $850
D&G Dolce & Gabbana Quilted Leather Bomber Jacket, $1,195	Kenneth Cole Leather Motorcycle Jacket, $398
bebe Zip-Sleeve Motorcycle Jacket, $198	Halogen Leather Bomber Jacket, $268	Rock & Republic Marley Leather Zip-Up, $475

Two Lonely Dudes, One Weird Night

GiggleSugar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:00:00 PDT

This crazy story kills me. One night one guy was doing what lots of guys do: watching porn. It must've been extremely noisy and uh, dramatic, because his downstairs neighbor was convinced he was hurting a woman. What does he do? Call police? Knock on the door? Nope. Downstairs dude grabs his SWORD (who the hell owns a sword?!), breaks the door down, and takes the bewildered porn-watcher at sword-point and forces him to open all the doors to prove there was no woman inside. Oops. Sword guy's in trouble now, and hoping not to get jail time. Advice, guys: please get out more often. Staying inside is addling your brains.

We're Talking Croquembouches!

YumSugar — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:35:20 PST

Lately, I've been seeing towers of cream puffs, or croquembouches, appearing all over the place, particularly in bridal magazines or on wedding blogs. The croquembouche is most certainly a delicious trend – we had one at our wedding and it was quite a hit! - but these magnificent sweet sculptures are more complicated than they may appear. To get an inside look at how these profiterole towers are made, I reached out to Gerhard and Mary Michler, the driving force behind Gerhard Michler Fine European Pastries and Creative International Pastries, in San Francisco.

Gerhard first started baking at age 17 in his native Austria, so it's safe to say he knows a bit about French pastry. Michler chalks the growing cream puff tower trend up to the fact that people seem to want to see new things these days, and that a croquembouche (also known as a pièce montée) is an exciting conversational piece. For more on this amazing French dessert sculpture, keep reading.

Immortals: One Divine 3D Experience

Lizzie Fuhr — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:30:42 PST

Everyone may be jumping on the 3D bandwagon these days, but Tarsem Singh's sword-and-sandals epic Immortals is a movie perfectly fit for the 3D screen. The opening scene foreshadows the predictable plot to come, but that doesn't make this film any less of a bloody-good visual masterpiece. And while it's impossible to ignore the obvious comparison to 300 (it has the same producers, after all), Immortals has a few tricks up its sleeve, allowing it to stand apart. The brutal and psychotic King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his Heraklion legions are on a quest for the invincible Bow of Epirus. Once it's in his possession, he will be able to unleash the Titans and overthrow the gods on Mt. Olympus. On a seemingly insignificant pillaging spree, he comes across Theseus (Henry Cavill), a lowly stonemason at the very bottom of the social food chain.

Little does Hyperion know, Theseus has been trained by Zeus in disguise on Earth and is one hell of a fierce warrior (not to mention a generally gorgeous creature). After Theseus's mother is murdered by Hyperion, Theseus goes on a quest to take the king down. But as the movie progresses, Theseus's mission evolves when he realizes this crusade has a far larger reach than a personal vendetta. Once a nonbeliever in the gods, he comes to understand that they are on his side. Keep reading to learn where Immortals is truly visionary and where it needs divine intervention.

Joseph Morgan on Immortals and Why He's Pushing For Klaus to Get a Love Interest on The Vampire Diaries

Shannon Vestal — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:35:35 PST

Joseph Morgan has been terrorizing this season of The Vampire Diaries as Klaus, a vampire/werewolf hybrid with many decades of scheming and torture in his past. He's been a delight to watch on TV, but he's also making an appearance on the big screen this week in the 3D epic Immortals, alongside Henry Cavill (aka the next Superman) and Kellan Lutz. I chatted with Morgan this week to talk about his new film and how he feels about playing Klaus - and why he thinks it's time for his big bad villain to fall in love.

BuzzSugar: How has it been being the big villain of the season?
Joseph Morgan: It's been very, very fun; I enjoy my job immensely. I've been asked a few times, "what other character would you like to play?", and I just think I get the best stuff to do, or the most fun stuff at least. It's been great, but I feel like I've always wanted to play a character like this. When I read for the part, I got through the pages I had to read, and I looked at them like "Oh yeah, I know exactly how I want to do this." I guess because I'm a fan of the genre, [I was] subconsciously preparing for a role like this for a while, you know? It's an immense amount of fun and I get to push a lot of buttons with the other characters on set, which is always fun. And to play someone who really isn't worried about anything - there isn't any real threat to him most of the time - it's really an interesting challenge.

Buzz: The characters are trying to kill Klaus, so do you get panicked that the next script may have your death in it?
JM: Yeah, there's a little bit of that going on! Certainly, at the end of last season when I read the penultimate episode, all the way through they're talking about this plot to kill me, and I thought, what if I turn this page and that is what happens? But I trust them; if it's the end of the line, they're going to do it epically and it's going to be in keeping with the quality and the style they already put out. So I'm really not worried. I feel like if Klaus is going to die it's going to be the biggest dramatic death we've seen so far. There's some merit in that as well. But I do worry a little bit. I'm very, very happy to be a part of the show and I do feel like there's more that could be explored with this character.

Buzz: Would you ever want Klaus to get a love interest?
JM: Oh, man I hope so. I've been pushing them for ages. There's a certain amount of humanity they're bringing to the character now, which is really great, because people are starting to empathize with him, and really understand the dysfunctional background he comes from. But there's a side of a person that you only get to see when they're with someone they care about. And I think that's the side we're missing with Klaus. I think it would be wonderful if they were to introduce some sort of love interest for him. I'm confident if they think that's where we need to go, that's what will happen. I certainly keep nagging Julie Plec [The Vampire Diaries executive producer] about it.

Get more of my interview with Morgan, which includes his thoughts on who Elena should be with (hint: it's him) and what he thinks of his Immortals costar Henry Cavill, after the jump.

Box Office: Puss in Boots Keeps Its Claws in First Place

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:05:00 PST

New comedy releases weren't enough to knock Puss in Boots out of the first spot at the box office - the animated comedy starring Antonio Banderas's voice as a sword-wielding cat dominated the weekend with $33 million. The Ben Stiller-led Tower Heist came in second with $25.1 million, while a fellow new comedy release, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, followed in third place with $13.1 million. The horror sequel Paranormal Activity 3 landed in the No. 4 spot with $8.5 million. Justin Timberlake's sci-fi drama In Time rounded out the top five with $7.7 million.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Sarah Jessica Parker Heads Down Under as Matthew Broderick Trick-or-Treats With the Kids

Allie Merriam — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:35:00 PDT

Matthew Broderick was able to take his kids James Wilkie, Loretta, and Tabitha out trick-or-treating in NYC yesterday. James was armed with a toy sword during his adventures while Tabitha was too cute as a strawberry and Loretta was a sheep. Sarah Jessica Parker wasn't able to join in on the fun since she's Down Under doing promotional work. This morning, she rose early for a photo call on behalf of I Don't Know How She Does It at the Crown hotel in Melbourne. Matthew has been busy doing his own interview circuit ahead of Tower Heist's opening this Friday. Last week, he swung by Live With Regis and Kelly and is due on Conan Wednesday.

Alex Guarnaschelli on Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs

Susannah Chen — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:01:24 PDT

Between Alex's Day Off, her two restaurants, and a column on Food Network, star chef and restaurateur Alex Guarnaschelli has her hands pretty full. Still, she's somehow made room to compete in the forthcoming star-studded season of Next Iron Chef, which premieres this Sunday, Oct. 30.

We caught up with her at the New York City Wine & Food Festival to get her thoughts on competing under pressure, making new celebrity chef friends, and the show's most emotional moments.

YumSugar: What was it like competing in Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs?
Alex Guarnaschelli: It was like going to sleep-away camp and being 18 again, in a way. You're removed from your normal life, in an abyss, with a knife and chunks of meat. It was an interesting experience. I made some friends that I didn't expect to make, like this one. [Michael Chiarello walks up].

Michael Chiarello: We had a love child on the series. [Winks.]
AG: I'd never met Michael Chiarello, as an example. I thought, "Wow, he's a tough cookie - I don't know about that one," but then we wound up in tears, laughing so hard, so many times. He would just give me that little look and a little flick of the eye, that little Clint Eastwood facial expression and it just kind of reboots you. It reminded me how alive we are. I don't know if that's good. It's kind of like being whipped with a thunderbolt.

Read on to hear more of Alex's takeaways from Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs.

5 Steps to Feng Shui Your Office

Emily Co — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:34:16 PDT

There is a growing trend of businesses seeking feng shui consult and home buyers seriously taking feng shui factors like the unit number of the residence into consideration before purchasing. The New York Times reports an increasing number of real estate brokers who are coming to realize the importance of feng shui to their clients. I found this so fascinating that I decided to ask Marina Lighthouse, a successful feng shui consultant, to see what SavvySugar readers can do to improve their feng shui on a smaller scale.

Add a plant: “Having a plant around you will promote and support life force or chi, just as long as it’s not spiky. Spiky plants look like swords so when you subconsciously walk by them, our natural reaction as human beings is to step back.”
Evaluate past energy: “The predecessor chi or the energy of the environment is very important. For example, if you're going to take the desk of someone that just got fired, you definitely need to adjust the feng shui of that area or you could get fired because that’s the energy of the spot."
See what's behind you: "To put your mind or psyche at ease, put a mirror [in front of you] so you can see whatever is going on behind you." For example, if your desk is facing the wall, consider hanging a small mirror on the wall to be able to see what's happening in the background.

For more tips, read after the jump.

Movie Sneak Peek: The Three Musketeers and Margin Call

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:55:26 PDT

Luke Evans, Logan Lerman, and Matthew Macfadyen swing swords in an effort to prevent the seizure of the French throne in this week's The Three Musketeers, while Zachary Quinto and Penn Badgley face more modern day problems in Margin Call, which chronicles a firm's reaction to the first few hours of the 2008 financial crisis. Both films deal with corrupt characters, but if you can't decide whether you'd rather hit Europe or Wall Street at the box office, perhaps these photos from each film can help you choose.
Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment and Roadside Attractions