Sexy comics feed Japan's role play boom

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - At Edelstein boardin

g

school, the schoolboys wear lip-gloss, the headm

istress has a weaknes

s for homoerotic com

ic books

, and there is only one subject: how to serve female visitors.

Welcome to Tokyo's first schoolboy cafe, the latest in a flurry of eateries in Japan where customers and waiters role play themes from manga comics.

In keeping with the schoolboy theme, waiters with manicured hands and soft voices pretend to be teenage students, chatting and flirting with well-dressed Japanese women playing the roles of benefactresses visiting the school.

On a Saturday in January, the cafe, which opened late last year, was packed with giggling customers.

"Most of our customers are office ladies in their twenties and thirties, women who are fashionable but normal," said Emiko Sakamaki, Edelstein's 27-year-old manager, herself dressed in a loose mini-dress over skinny jeans and knee-high boots.

Edelstein is based on one of Sakamaki's favorite comic books, a 1970s cult classic about romance at a German school.

Its visitors are united by a passion for such "boy-love manga", or comics about boy-boy romance for female readers -- a genre that is currently undergoing a huge revival in Japan.

Most boy-love manga feature dreamy, feminine-looking male characters. The same beauty ideal guides Sakamaki when she selects the waiters who talk about their pretend homework and studies at Edelstein.

"I'm in the flower arrangement club," whispers one girlish, long-haired waiter at the cafe, looking up from the book of German poetry he is reading.

RACY BOY-LOVE

Role-play cafes for men have long been popular in Tokyo. Most revolve around waitresses dressed as French maids and target "otaku" -- geeky fans of comics and animation movies.

The otaku market, from animation movies to computer games and accessories, totaled 187 billion yen ($1.73 billion) in 2007, according to entertainment research firm Media Create.

But recently, businesses have discovered another type of free-spending Japanese consumer: the female otaku, who tends to be better-looking, trendier, and more sociable than her male counterpart.

One of the defining feature of the female otaku is their love for manga comic books, especially boy-love manga.

"There are two reasons why this place is so popular. Firstly, this kind of cafe environment for women doesn't exist much in Tokyo," says Sakamaki, who also invented Tokyo's first "butler cafe" for females.

"And secondly," she adds, "there are now a lot of girls who like animation movies and comics."

Around 150 boy-love manga and magazines are published every month in Japan, according to Eureka, a literary magazine.

In the women's section of the Aoyama book shop, around the corner from Edelstein, the latest boy-love titles are stacked between books with saccharine pink covers promising sweet tales of pop stars and athletes.

The easily shocked should avoid taking a closer look.

The new generation of boy-love manga such as "All about J" and "Don't Say Anymore, Darling" features carefully drawn, often violent sex scenes, ranging from anal and oral sex to bondage and male gang rape.

Sakamaki sees the genre as a form of escapism.

"These types of people don't exist in reality, they only exist in comics," she says, referring both to the manga and to the kind of atmosphere she is trying to create at Edelstein.

"In boy-love comics, beautiful, fragile boys are often placed close to death. That gives them a shadow and makes them even more beautiful."

In a recent column in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, Kanta Ishida, a journalist specializing in manga, said the genre also offers an alternative to traditional gender roles in Japan.

The comics reflect "a yearning for relationships with interchangeable roles that are free from fixed ideas about gender," he wrote.

"ROTTEN GIRLS"

Over beer and fried pork at a bar in Tokyo's noisy and neon-lit Shibuya district, three Japanese aged around 30 talk about male and female otaku, or "fujoshi" as these women are also called -- "rotten girls".

All three describe themselves as otaku, yet none of them fits the geeky cliche. Two are male magazine editors. One is a female assistant at a gallery owned by a fashion label.

Kana Satomi, the 28-year-old gallery assistant, recalls a recent visit to the Edelstein cafe.

"I went there with a group of friends, and we were talking to the waiters and to each other, saying -- did you see that, that was cute -- that kind of thing," she says.

Male otaku, on the other hand, tend to avoid communication as best as they can.

Sampling the fried pork, 30-year-old Takashi Kudo shares his own theory about the sudden excitement over female otaku.

"Male otaku became a huge business, and then that kind of marketing reached a limit. So the marketing companies wondered what they could do next," he said. "And then they discovered that fujoshi can also be big business."

Sakamaki, the schoolboy cafe manager who has tapped that market so successfully, is already onto her next idea: a cafe modeled along 1920s Japan. That would match another big trend among Japanese youth -- nostalgia for pre-war Japan.

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Credit crunch fuels thirst for art and wine

By Clara Ferreira-Marques

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Rollercoaster markets may have cooled investor appetites for shares or property, but interest in offbeat investments is booming as a growing number of art and wine funds compete to combine passion with high returns.

Downturns typically mean a slowdown in investments that are seen as discretionary, but industry watchers say the credit crunch has left the appeal of so-called "investments of passion" -- art, wine and collectibles -- largely untarnished.

Instead, they say, it brought home the need for investors to take on uncorrelated assets to offset the ups and downs of the mainstream equity and credit markets.

Investing in a Picasso, a case of Chateau d'Yquem or a Bordeaux from the sought-after 1961 vintage is nothing new: wealthy enthusiasts have been filling their cellars and covering their dining-room walls for centuries.

But the specialised asset managers that have emerged in the past decade have brought sophisticated financial techniques to the pursuit, widening interest to include large institutional investors who are attracted by rising prices, and returns that can reach or exceed 20 to 40 percent a year.

In 2007, for example, the FTSE blue-chip index rose by less than 4 percent. The main index on Liv-ex, an independent trading and settlement platform for the fine wine trade, ended the year up just over 40 percent -- and with excitement still bubbling around the 2005 Bordeaux vintage, now being shipped.

"More and more people are looking at wine as an asset class, discovering it is uncorrelated to bonds and equities, that there are fund managers out there to help them capture those gains," said Andrew della Casa, a director at the Wine Investment Fund, one of the sector's largest players with 35 million pounds ($69 million) of funds under management.

He said the credit crunch had allowed funds to demonstrate how resilient alternative assets were in a real downturn.

"On the institutional side, the credit crunch may have crystallised thoughts that have been around for years, when they've been tracking the wine market," he told Reuters. "Now they have less options elsewhere they might say well, let's give it a go."

Although in a steep downturn, analysts say investment in art and wine will, like luxury goods, behave poorly, Della Casa said the wine market has a resilient core of demand.

"People say prices have gone up tremendously, they can only go down," he said, referring to how demand from emerging middle classes in Russia, China and elsewhere has driven prices.

"That's not the case -- there is static demand from North America and Europe and even if we just go back to that trend, we are still going to outperform every asset class out there. That's even if -- and we don't think we'll get there."

Most investors flocking to wine auctions are regulars stocking up their cellars, but a growing minority is taking a bet on key vintages. One buyer at Christie's earlier this month snapped up a case of Chateau Petrus Vintage 1982 -- one of the greatest vintages in recent decades -- for 32,200 pounds, at one of the auctioneer's most successful sales to date.

ART OF INVESTING

Interest in art has also remained buoyant -- Christie's also sold a Francis Bacon triptych for 26.3 million pounds ($52 million) this month: the highest price ever paid for a post-war work of art sold in Europe.

"The art market did not suffer repercussions when the Internet bubble burst and it is doing extremely well today, even after the credit crunch," Robert Tomei, CEO of Italian fund manager Advanced Capital, who is launching his third art fund.

Tomei's 150 million euro Advanced Capital Art fund, run with art dealer Simon de Pury of Phillips de Pury, will focus on contemporary art, photography and design and hopes to replicate the 20 percent annual returns he achieved with past funds.

But neither art nor wine -- nor other investments in the broad "alternative" category which includes private equity or hedge funds -- can be totally immune to a downturn.

"Investing in fine wine is no panacea," said James Miles, a director at Liv-ex. "You have to go in with your eyes open. In a period of lengthy dislocation, wine prices tend to fall, but the fall is nothing like what the debt, equity and property markets have seen and the outlook seems strong."

Like other alternative investments, both art and wine remain riskier and, by and large, less liquid markets -- although fund managers say they are working to strip out the risk, for instance by focusing on established artists or wines.

"If you look at our portfolio, losses have never exceeded 10 percent including costs, and this is because of the intrinsic value of art. Art doesn't burn cash, it isn't an Internet company," Advanced Capital's Tomei said in an interview.

"If you buy artists that have an established career, it's a real asset and that acts as downside protection, assuming you have not bought at a speculative price."

The Wine Investment Fund takes a similar low-risk approach, investing only in already bottled wine -- as opposed to the more traditional route of wine "en primeur", before it has been bottled -- and only in top Bordeaux, the most liquid of wine investments.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; editing by Sara Ledwith)

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Boy matador flirts with death

LIMA (Reuters Life!) - Battle scars from being gorged by bulls ten times his size line the face and right leg of the matador Michelito, a pint-sized 10-year-old from Spain who is one of the world's youngest bullfighters.

Armed with just a cloak and a sword, he has fought 56 bulls, slicing off 106 ears and seven tails as trophies. The bulls weigh upwards of 500 pounds (256 kg).

A graceful entertainer since age five, Michelito, whose full name is Michael Lagravere Peniche, works mostly in Mexico because he says he is too young to perform in Spain.

"Ever since I was young, lots of bullfighters visited my house and I went with my dad to the fights," he told reporters. "That's how I developed a taste for bullfighting."

Over the weekend, Michelito defeated four bulls at Lima's bullring, considered the oldest in the Americas, after a young Peruvian matador he was supposed to compete against pulled out because of an illness.

The crowd cheered loudly as the Spaniard prepared to kill, drawing the bulls within inches of his body.

"When I'm facing a bull, I don't think about anything else. I'm focused on what I have to do," he explained.

Animal rights groups have protested in Lima recently to halt bloody bullfights, which supporters say is an artistic cultural tradition.

Victor Leyton Diaz, the mayor of the El Rimac slum district that surrounds Lima's bullring, said he helped put on the event to draw visitors.

"Cultural festivals like this attract tourists. We are doing everything we can to improve the image of El Rimac," he said.

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Teams put a price on Beijing Games medals

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS (Reuters) - A simple wreath of wild olive leaves and a promise of immortality were enough for champions at the ancient Olympics in Greece.

At the modern Games, professional athletes who bring home medals are offered rather more worldly rewards.

Greece dropped the idea of presenting the winner with a wreath and an amphora of precious olive oil long ago and instead will offer about 190,000 euros ($277,000) for gold medalists at August's Beijing Olympics, 130,000 for silver and 70,000 for bronze.

Medalists will also get a comfortable civil service job, usually as an officer in the military, and several advertising contracts worth hundreds of thousands of euros in total.

Games newcomers Montenegro, who joined the Olympic family last year, will offer $60,000 but the chances of anyone collecting the bonus are slim for the tiny Balkan nation with a population of about 700,000.

Olympic powerhouse Russia offers $50,000 for gold, $30,000 for silver and $20,000 for bronze.

Russian Olympic medalists can also expect big bonuses from various sports funds and private businesses such as energy giant Gazprom, as well as free housing, cash and cars from their local city or regional authorities, driving up their potential revenues to about $500,000.

BIGGER SPENDERS

Other European nations are less eager to shower winners with rewards for fear of running up a considerable bill.

Germany, sixth in the 2004 Games medals table with a total of 48 medals, offers only 15,000 euros for a top-place finish.

Asian nations are bigger spenders. China is particularly eager to be among the top countries in the medals count at its home Games.

For the Athens 2004 Games, Beijing offered about 20,000 euros for gold, 11,500 for silver and 7,500 for bronze.

The Chinese General Administration of Sport has not made the amounts for this year's Games public but winners can count on additional bonuses from sports administrations, cities and provinces. The Fok Ying-Tung Foundation has also been rewarding Chinese gold medalists since 1984 with one kilo of gold and $80,000.

Singapore, which has won only one medal -- silver in weightlifting at the 1960 Games in Rome -- hopes to end the drought in Beijing by offering close to half a million euros to any gold medalist.

Malaysia said it would also increase its reward for medalists and would pump in private money as well, saying Singapore's and Indonesia's lucrative offers far surpassed their own Olympic rewards scheme.

Malaysia has collected three Olympic medals, all in badminton, and has won nothing since the Atlanta 1996 Games.

STATE JOBS

Japan is more restrained, dishing out 19,000 euros for gold, 12,500 for silver and 6,300 for bronze.

Figures for secretive North Korea are not available but medalists from the communist state are celebrated as heroes, receiving perks such as apartments and state jobs with the Workers' Party.

Canada has broken with a long tradition, offering for the first time a purse of about 14,000 euros for gold, 10,000 for silver and 7,000 for bronze, similar to the bonuses paid by the United States.

The Canadians failed to win any gold medals at their own Games in 1976 in Montreal and 1988 in Calgary and, with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in western Canada in sight, the country wants to test a new system of motivating athletes. "This is the first time in its history that the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is providing performance awards to athletes who win Olympic medals," COC chief Michael Chambers said late last year.

((Additional reporting by Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Gennady Fyodorov in Moscow, Ellie Tzortzi in Belgrade, Nick Mulvenney in Beijing, Jon Herskovitz in Seoul and Alastair Himmer in Tokyo))

Hot Chick: Downtown store flourishing through online sales

Danielle Myers, 22, left, interviews with store manager Richard Bryan and assistant manager Maggie Malenock at Chick Downtown. Myers recently graduated from Bowling Green University in Ohio with a fashion major.

One of an occasional series.

Danielle Myers arrived for a recent job interview at Chick Downtown looking the part: stylish tiger-print dress, makeup done to perfection and long raven locks without a strand out of place.

Unlike so many people her age who leave the region to begin a career, Myers, 22, wanted to use her recently earned fashion degree from Bowling Green University in Pittsburgh. The native of Belmont, Ohio -- an hour's drive away -- was searching the Internet for a Pennsylvania store that sells Betsey Johnson fashions and ended up submitting a resume to chickdowntown.com, which carries that and 140 other contemporary fashion brands.

"I'm going to pursue what I want to do in Pittsburgh," she said. "Fashion majors typically want to go to Los Angeles or New York, but I'm close to my family, and Pittsburgh isn't too fast. It's a happy medium. And it's moving in a fashion-forward direction. New York, L.A. and Chicago aren't the only places people want stylish clothes."

While many independent fashion specialty stores across the nation have closed in recent years or are struggling to survive in this weakening economy, the fledgling Chick Downtown is prospering -- and hiring. Deep pockets and a smart business strategy are helping to balance the odds.

Amy Reed opened the womenswear store last May in the Clark Building at 717 Liberty Ave., a historic site in the Cultural District purchased in 2006 for $22.5 million by her husband, New York real-estate developer Ira Gorman. At $40 per square foot, the 2,500-square-foot space would rent for $100,000 a year, he said.

Nine months after opening, the store is exceeding sales goals, growing through online sales fueled by hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising.

Web sales now outstrip in-store sales 10 to 1, Ms. Reed said. Traffic to the online destination rose from about 10,000 hits in mid-August to nearly 70,000 hits in mid-January.

Purchases are shipped regularly to buyers in New York, Los Angeles, London, Australia and Russia.

"The way they have integrated the Internet and their store has really allowed them to be very successful," said Michael Edwards, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy group. "While it's not a new retail model, it's necessary for stores to be successful wherever they are located. In retailing today, you need to have a big audience that's not just walk-by traffic. I think they're really brilliant in how they've done that."

The boutique's sales volume over the recent Presidents Day weekend was higher than the first two months the store was in business, Ms. Reed said.

At the same time, the store's payroll has increased from three to 30.

All aspects of the business -- from modeling, photography and Web design to sales, shipping and accounting -- are covered by people working in Pittsburgh.

An aggressive advertising campaign seems to be paying off. Full-page ads for chickdowntown.com have appeared in local magazines and high-readership national publications such as People and US Weekly.

The March issues of InStyle and regional magazines such as New York's Gotham and Florida's Ocean Drive will have full-page ads, as will April issues of Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and InStyle -- three of the largest national fashion publications.

It doesn't come cheap: A full-page ad in Cosmopolitan exceeds $300,000. But it's also giving national exposure to area models such as 16-year-old Alexa Hunter.

Then there are high-visibility mentions in magazine features, such as the "boutique of the week" designation on Lucky.com two weeks ago and the Madison Marcus floral silk dress from the store that appeared in the fashion "trend report" in February's People Style Watch.

Chick Downtown -- which added the "Downtown" part to its name in part because national magazines did it -- is open every day and busiest on weekends. Although Liberty Avenue has not been a major fashion destination, it remains a busy pedestrian and motorist corridor. And the Clark Building, with its numerous jewelers and other tenants, is a destination spot for shoppers from all over the region.

Timing also may be on the boutique's side. There are about 28,000 more people working Downtown than in 1996, Mr. Edwards said, and those 139,000 workers have higher incomes than in the past.

Ms. Reed, who gave birth to a son in November and continues her involvement in the business, said she hopes more fashion retail stores will open Downtown.

She's checking out other job applicants from Pittsburgh, including a young woman in Chicago who has worked for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus and wants to return here.

"A lot of people e-mail the Web site and say they left Pittsburgh for lack of job opportunities," said Ms. Reed. "They want to move back to Pittsburgh and work for us. They're really surprised we're a Pittsburgh-based company."

Post-Gazette fashion editor LaMont Jones can be reached at ljones@post-gazette.com or at 412-263-1469.

First published on March 3, 2008 at 12:00 am

A Fresh Look: Heinz Hall dazzles during his 'audition'

Heinz Hall was built in 1927 as the Loew's Penn Theatre. Seven years after it closed in 1964, it became the new home for the symphony after a $10 million renovation.

I'm ready for my close-up.

I'm waiting in the wings of Heinz Hall, about to be cheered (and perhaps jeered) by the murmuring mass of 2,769 people who have come to witness my stage debut. I close my eyes and hear the voice: "Alan? Are you ready?"

I make my entrance, standing where Liza stood when she played the hall in 1986, where Joshua Bell wowed the sold-out crowd just a few weeks ago. I open my eyes and am about to take my first bow when reality hits: Just one person has shown up for my debut. He is Carl A. Mancuso, the hall's manager, and he's taking me on a backstage, behind-the-scenes tour.

As a newbie to town and someone who loves live entertainment and the grandeur of old movie palaces, a visit to Heinz Hall was just the ticket. Built in 1927 as the Loew's Penn Theatre, it was known as Pittsburgh's "Temple of the Cinema" and regarded as the most magnificent theater between New York and Chicago. The theater closed in 1964; four years later, Henry J. Heinz II and Charles Denby, president of the Pittsburgh Symphony Society, were out looking for a new home for the symphony. They saw past the seedy and stale and launched a $10 million face-lift to bring the old gal back to life. The dedication was held on Sept. 10, 1971. Since then, the hall has had various nips and tucks, the most prominent in 1995 when it underwent a four-month, $6.5 million restoration.

The Grand Lobby is awfully grand, with its 50-foot vaulted Venetian ceilings, 24-karat gold leaf, plush ketchup-red velvet, Italian marble and one-ton Viennese crystal chandeliers -- I am smack-dab in the middle of a French Court without needing a passport.

Standing on the stage, Carl tells me the proscenium was widened (by 4 feet) and raised (by 6 feet) to "create a better concert hall." Another sound investment was made when the heating and air conditioning units were better sound-proofed so that people sitting in certain seats could no longer hear the low roar during shows. Carl shares an illuminating bit of trivia: It takes nearly 1,600 light bulbs to light the lobbies and inside of the theater -- not counting stage lighting instruments -- and they use 64,000 watts of electricity.

He leads me into various dressing rooms (yes, the conductor's room Manfred Honeck will inhabit when he becomes music director in September is much nicer than the one used by principal pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch) and into the green room (no, it's not green but tan). This is the area the public generally doesn't see, and I can't help but think of the famous faces who roamed these halls.

I ask for gossip.

Carl tells me some juicy stuff. But like the professional he is, he asks me not to mention names. So I won't name the temperamental opera diva who refused to use the rehearsal room because she felt the fiberglass would hurt her voice or the comedian whose huge ego earned him the nickname of "ass----."

I can mention one name Carl has on his wish list of performers he yearns will one day play Heinz -- Barbra.

We're at the stage door. The show is over. I remind Carl that people who need people are the luckiest people in Pittsburgh and that he can always count on me. I'll show up on time and I come cheap.

And I already know "I'm the Greatest Star."

To commemorate Pittsburgh's 250th birthday this year, the Post-Gazette has asked newcomer and longtime writer/editor Alan W. Petrucelli to share his insights with us weekly. He lives in Churchill and can be reached at entrpt@aol.com.

First published on March 3, 2008 at 12:00 am

Start-ups go back to school to get to work

By Deborah L. Cohen

CHICAGO (Reuters.com) -- At many of the nation's top technology universities, school is not just for the students.
That's the case at the Illinois Institute of Technology, known for its culturally-diverse population, modern architecture by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and proximity to downtown Chicago. There, more than 20 start-ups in industries ranging from software to biotech have set up shop at the university's technology park.
The park's facilities are benefiting from a major expansion. Workmen are busy painting and putting up drywall, building out sophisticated lab space and finishing offices in the newly renovated business center, which features a four-story, open-air atrium.
The physical changes to the park are impressive, but entrepreneurs say one of the biggest draws is direct access to a qualified labor pool - students with the enthusiasm needed to work in start-up environments at a time when skilled applicants are increasingly difficult to find.
There are other advantages: access to the university's entrepreneurship center, its research, library and lab facilities, as well as important relationships with movers and investors in the tech arena that can help early-stage companies take their ideas from concept to fruition.

Going to the workforce

"I wanted a pretty high content of engineering talent right out of university," says Chris Gladwin, chairman and chief executive of Cleversafe, which has developed a method to safeguard large amounts of content-rich information using a secure method called dispersed storage. Using Internet technology, the process slices data and stores it at multiple sites.
Cleversafe moved to IIT's technology park in mid-2005 with just three employees. Gladwin, an MIT grad who had led other successful tech startups, put out word he was hiring. The response - more than 1,000 student resumes - was so overwhelming that the company had to devise a 10-hour test to winnow down candidates.
Fifteen of the some 60 original interns are now full-time staffers at the company; Cleversafe, whose ranks have grown to 37 employees, moved its offices to Chicago's downtown last month and expects to commercialize its technology in March.
The start-up also benefited from the university's relationships. Denis Robertson, a vice-provost and former senior executive at cell phone maker Motorola, introduced Cleversafe to former Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin. Galvin now sits on the company's board and spearheaded its most recent round of investment financing.
"We are likely to collaborate with the university in the future," Gladwin says.

Moving up from Miami

Comarch, a developer of software that helps small-tier telecommunications networks manage customer service and other operations, already had a relationship with IIT through a university in Krakow, Poland, where it is headquartered. Last summer, determined to beef up its U.S. operations, Comarch sponsored an overseas summer internship for IIT students.
"We were looking for people," says Jerry Filipiak, who heads U.S. operations. "In the meantime, we came across the IIT technology park community."
Today six of Comarch's 25 U.S. staffers hail from the original pool of 11 interns. Since last May, the company has been relocating its U.S. operations from Miami to the IIT tech park, where it's taking over some 6,000 square feet.
It recruits at the university's career fairs, uses shared facilities for client presentations and is in early discussions to start an enterprise program with IIT's business school.
For All Cell Technologies, which has developed a process to make lithium-ion batteries safer and longer-lasting by controlling their temperature, residing at the tech park was a natural: the venture was started by two IIT professors.
Founded in 2001, All Cell was the first resident in the park. Its technology, initially designed to help the military, is now shifting to civilian transportation applications ranging from the automobiles to electric bikes.
"You have a lot of needs at a startup company of other expertise," says Said Al-Hallaj, an associate professor of chemical engineering who splits his time between the venture and his university teaching responsibilities, adding that the university affiliation lends credibility to his business.
The founders say having access to university resources gives them a leg up on the competition. "We're still losing money," says Al-Hallaj, who hopes to break even this year. "But that's how these things work."

Deborah Cohen covers small business for Reuters.com. She can be reached at smallbusinessbigissues@yahoo.com

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Top 10 romantic hotels for couples

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - For romantics looking for an intimate hideaway this Valentine's Day that stretches beyond chocolate, champagne and dinner for two, luxury travel site globorati.com has come up with the top 10 hotels for couples.

The list was prepared by globorati.com and is not endorsed by Reuters.

1. Las Ventanas al Paraiso: Los Cabos, Mexico

Cabo's celebrated beach retreat takes its loving so seriously it's hired a director of romance. Pick from a menu of amorous experiences, including "cinema on the beach for two," "sea & stars massage for two," and the "men in white" program - where male guests learn how to prepare a meal.

2. L'Hotel: Paris, France

A "Pavillion d'Amour" in the early 1800s, L'Hotel is now among the most seductive Small Luxury Hotels in Paris. Its six-story atrium leads off to 20 lavishly designed bedrooms, while the original cellar is home to a private steam room and Roman bath that can be booked for couples' private use.

3. Nam Hai: Hoi An, Vietnam

Nam Hai's private villas are set on a secluded stretch of the famed China Beach. If a private butler, outdoor shower and ocean-view vistas aren't enough, couples can slip into the spa and have a specially prepared Love Bath, laced with "love potion" (a blend of essential oils) and flowers, topped off with champagne and canapes.

4. Maxim Bungalows: Cofresi, Dominican Republic

The magazine that gave us "Secret Sex" and "Celebrity Bastards" has, improbably, opened one of the hottest resorts in the Caribbean. To get your blood pumping, Maxim marries high luxe with high adrenaline (think kiteboarding and couples yoga). Alternatively, you can charter their 55-foot yacht for a private sunset cruise.

5. Tides Zihuatanejo: Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Terracotta-tiled suites with personal plunge pools kiss this exclusive patch of Pacific shoreline. But it's the resort's private isle in an azure lagoon that sets the scene for a romantic candlelit dinner. After reaching your table by canoe, dinner begins with champagne and a menu delivered in a bottle.

6. Mykonos Grand: Mykonos, Greece

Perched above the beach where "Shirley Valentine" was filmed, the white sugar-cube boxes of Mykonos Grand offers a romantic package: Book a suite with a private pool and the hotel will throw in a personal chef, a rose petal turndown service and a Kamasutra Seduction box -- which includes naughty delights like vanilla creme body souffle and sweet honeysuckle dust.

7. The Fairmont Orchid: Big Island, Hawaii

After a massage in Fairmont's waterfall gardens, retire to your oceanview suite for a special "Make Room for Romance" turndown. Then follow a trail of orchids leading to a floral heart on the bed. Champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries prep you for a steamy bath laced with salts, bubbles and floating candles.

8. Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire: Hampshire, England

Reenact Darcy's love for Elizabeth at this Georgian manor presiding over gorgeous heritage gardens. Couples can tour the estate by horse-drawn carriage or drift down wooded canals in the hotel's own cruiser. Pause for a picnic lunch, or better yet, learn to make "a romantic meal for two" from the executive chef in a private demo.

9. The Rania Experience: Maldives

The ultimate fantasy-island experience where couples stay on their own private atoll in a three-bedroom villa serviced by 30 hosts (including chefs, butlers, spa therapists and scuba instructors.) The $12,000-per-night package also features exclusive use of an 86-foot yacht with a jacuzzi and cinema.

10. Jade Mountain: St. Lucia

Only 24 three-walled "sanctuaries" compose this exclusive hillside resort. With open floor plans, you can slip straight out of bed and into your couple-sized chromotherapy tub -- or into your glass-tiled infinity pool with views of St. Lucia's green-peaked Pitons.

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Philippines strives to control boom on Boracay

By Raju Gopalakrishnan

BORACAY, Philippines (Reuters) - It's getting crowded in paradise.

About 600,000 tourists came last year to Boracay in the central Philippines, regarded as one of the world's best holiday destinations, and swam, ate and slept on an island that has only about 18,000 full-time residents.

Arrivals should rise to about 670,000 this year, and pressure is mounting on the island's infrastructure as more and more hotels and resorts are built to cater for the boom.

The single narrow road that runs the length of Boracay is jam-packed, drain pipes bring floodwater to the beach and hotel taps can suddenly run dry. About 10 tonnes of garbage need to be treated and disposed of each day.

"It's really taken off (in terms of) congestion, overgrowth," said David Light, a retired American actor who has been visiting Boracay for its windsurfing since 1991.

"It was a pristine natural environment and I hated to see it change, but it did."

Three decades ago, Boracay was the legendary secret destination for a generation of backpackers, pretty much deserted, with stunning beaches, a few huts and only basic facilities.

Now, over 150 hotels and restaurants are crowded along the 3-mile White Beach, renowned for its soft, powdery sand and the clear blue water that it gently descends into. Other parts of the island are less crowded but may be getting there.

The government, concerned that the crown jewel of its tourism brochures is getting shopworn, is trying to step in but with limited success.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza announced a ban on construction on Boracay in August, but it was not implemented until January, and then only for new projects. The moratorium will stay in place at least until July. A master plan for developing the island will be in place by then.

FRAGILE

"I feel that the island is very fragile," said Loubelle Cann, president of the Boracay Foundation, a local business association.

"I don't really know how much the island can carry in terms of physical capacity so we are pushing that we should at least study these things because you cannot just build and build and build."

Despite the moratorium, about 100 unfinished shops, hotels and restaurants have been allowed to be completed and the noise of jackhammers, excavators and power saws can be heard across the island.

These include a huge 183-room deluxe resort being built by Shangri-La north of White Beach. The hotel will cost $100 million and will offer rooms starting at $500 per night. It is expected to open by November this year.

Nearby, a hillside is being excavated to build the Alta Vista resort while the Shangri-La's staff quarters are being constructed across the street.

But still, there's no let up on the boatloads of tourists who cross from the main Panay island through the day.

White Beach, despite the crowds, is clean, and all buildings are a maximum two storeys high, lower than the coconut palms that fringe the sands. Unlike beaches elsewhere in the world, it remains safe at night and there are no overt signs of sleaze or drugs.

"It's nice," said Roger Mestric, a Frenchman from Nantes who was on the island with his wife after visits to China and Cambodia.

"It's not particularly crowded. From an ecologist's point of view, Martinique (in the Caribbean) is better, but you can live here easily."

The government and the resort-owners, residents say, have to find the balance between controlling expansion, providing infrastructure, offering facilities and retaining some mystique.

It's not the big resorts like the Shangri-La or the Alta Vista that are the problem, they say, it's the smaller buildings which sometimes block natural waterways or do not have proper sewage or waste disposal.

And there is never an easy answer for those who hanker for the good old days.

"Some people moan that it was much better 20 years ago," said Victor Ocskai, a German who owns a resort on the beach. "And then they want cold beer, running hot water and air-conditioning.

"Twenty years ago, it was quiet, but there was no cold beer."

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

48 hours in Philadelphia

by Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Got 48 hours to explore Philadelphia? Reuters correspondents with local knowledge give tips on how to make the most out of a short stay in one of America's most historic cities.


FRIDAY
6 p.m. - For a pre-dinner beer or two, check out the Nodding Head Brewery and Restaurant in Center City. It's one of a number of independent local breweries that is helping to restore Philadelphia's reputation as a center for craft beer making.
8 p.m. - The Tin Angel, a cozy second-floor live-music venue near the busy corner of Second and Market Streets, regularly hosts nationally known artists. Past acts have included Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and Richie Havens. It's joined with the Serrano restaurant.

SATURDAY
10 a.m. - Time to see the sights. The Liberty Bell is Philadelphia's most famous historic landmark. The cracked bell was rung on July 8, 1776 to summon the people of Philadelphia to a reading of the newly written Declaration of Independence. It's in a special pavilion on Independence Mall, the center of Philadelphia's historic area.
11 a.m. - Independence Hall. Within walking distance of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall was where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776 and the U.S. Constitution drafted in 1787. The National Park Service provides free tours on a first-come-first-served basis. At the other end of Independence Mall is the National Constitution Center, housing a permanent exhibition on the U.S. Constitution.
1 p.m. - Reading Terminal Market. It is a bustling city-center food emporium where you can buy anything from bagels to brisket to bananas, as well as prepared food from many nations. Grab lunch in the no-frills food court and watch the world go by.
2 p.m. - South Street. A potpourri of some 300 shops and around 60 restaurants, cafes and bars, this street between Front and Seventh claims to have something for everyone, and is lively day and night. It also has fringe theater and live music venues.
4 p.m. - Time to try a cheesesteak. Philadelphia's most famous culinary offering consists of a torpedo roll filled with shredded beef and melted cheese and is served by many long-established restaurants that all claim to make the authentic steak. They include Geno's in South Philadelphia which has drawn national attention, and some criticism, for its sign instructing customers to speak English when ordering.
6 p.m. - Make room for dinner and take a walking tour of the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia's main classical music concert hall beneath its distinctive glass roof. A few blocks away, on one side of the elegant Rittenhouse Square, it's worth looking into the ornate lobby of the Curtis Institute of Music where some of the world's most talented young musicians are trained. Students sometimes give free concerts.
7 p.m. - Dinner time. Choices in a famously foody city include -- Pod: a futuristic restaurant on University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia. You may be able to choose your own "pod" (alcove) or eat in the main restaurant serving "contemporary pan-Asian cuisine"
-- Le Bec Fin: venerable, elaborate, expensive French restaurant that is consistently near the top of the ratings in Philadelphia restaurant guides.
-- Maggiano's Little Italy: a chain that produces high-quality Italian family cooking in prodigious quantities for large groups in bustling restaurants. You're guaranteed a good feed.
9 p.m. - Head to Warmdaddy's, a renowned blues club and restaurant that has recently moved from its Front Street location to a new space on Columbus Boulevard at Reed Street. Taste the southern cooking while listening to a selection of blues and soul.

SUNDAY
10 a.m. - For brunch try the Marathon Grill, a popular deli/coffee shop chain with five locations in central and west Philadelphia. It serves eggs, sandwiches, salads and a range of brunch fare.
11:30 a.m. - Fairmount Park's Japanese House. Amid one of America's largest urban park systems, the house is a replica of a dwelling that would have been occupied by an aristocrat or senior official in the 16th century. If the weather permits, take a walk around the nearby gardens.
12:30 p.m. - Visit the boat houses, the homes for the city's many rowing crews, which are lined up on the east bank of the Schuylkill River a short way north of the Art Museum. Stroll past and take in sweeping views of the river and its rowers that inspired the 19th-century painter Thomas Eakins.
2 p.m. - Take a tour of City Hall. This national historic landmark is the world's tallest masonry building, and with almost 700 rooms, the largest municipal building in America.
Its ornate style, dating from 1871, stands out from the bland modern office buildings and hotels that surround it at the very heart of the city. With its statue of William Penn on top, it was the tallest building in Philadelphia until 1985 when a nearby skyscraper broke a gentleman's agreement that no building in the city should be higher than Billy Penn's hat.
4 p.m. - Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of America's largest art museums, it contains some 225,000 works of art including paintings, sculpture, textiles and metalwork. From the top of the front steps you can look out over Benjamin Franklin Parkway with City Hall at the other end.

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

"Guerrilla tourists" wanted in Aceh

By Sara Webb

LHOONG, Indonesia (Reuters Life!) - As a rebel fighter, Marjuni Ibrahim hid out in Aceh's jungle. These days he leads "guerrilla tours" taking visitors with a taste for extreme hiking and an interest in Aceh's turbulent past over the same terrain.

The treks in the northwestern tip of Indonesia are an attempt to lift Aceh out of poverty by developing local tourism projects and reviving the crippled economy after a 30-year conflict and a devastating tsunami in 2004. So just as tourists in Vietnam can scramble through the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Vietcong in the Vietnam war, visitors to Aceh can see where the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) hid from or fought against the Indonesian army (TNI) until as recently as 2005 when the two sides signed a peace agreement.

Marjuni takes tourists on a scramble over sharp rocky trails, past teak trees cloaked in creepers, and alongside pristine waterfalls and sparkling rock pools.

This part of Aceh is home to the endangered Sumatran tiger, deer, and hornbills, as well as rather less appealing leeches.

"The area is very beautiful. I like trekking and I was interested to see what life was like during the conflict," said Hugo Lamers, a Dutch aid worker who went on one of the guerrilla tours last year.

"It's difficult to imagine but three or more years ago they were running around here with guns and fighting the TNI. When I went, they took us to a place where they had lost some of their friends. And then you realize that we are there for fun, but for them this was really serious."

Some of the hikes cover terrain where fighting took place or where visitors can see reminders of the conflict such as leftover army foodpacks and army graffiti. But a few of GAM's former hiding places still remain secret, perhaps for fear that they might one day be needed again.

ABUNDANT RESOURCES

Marjuni, now 28, joined GAM when he was 20, driven by "injustices, such as the murders of civilians by the TNI just because they were suspected GAM."

An estimated 15,000 people died during nearly three decades of fighting for Aceh's independence. Many others were tortured by the Indonesian military, or traumatized by the conflict.

This part of Sumatra island, once a separate kingdom, was an important center for trade thanks in part to its strategic position at the northern end of the Malacca Strait, the sea lanes linking Asia to the Middle East and Europe.

But post-colonial Indonesia had no interest in allowing a separate Aceh. The region's abundant natural resources, including oil, gas, and timber, provided revenues for the government. The army moved in to crush opposition among the 4 million Acehnese, with as many as 50,000 troops operating in the area by 2003.

Marjuni said his group of about 20 GAM fighters used to hide in the jungle for several days at a time because they knew that if they returned home, they were likely to be picked up by the army and either tortured or, like Marjuni's brother, jailed.

But every week or so, his unit had to come out of the jungle to pick up rice and other provisions at an agreed location.

"I was most scared coming down from the jungle in case the TNI was there," he said.

They drank water from the waterfalls, and if they missed their food drop, they were forced to live off a fern-like plant or whatever else they could find to eat in the jungle.

DECOMMISSIONED

It was from high up on the jungle-clad hill that Marjuni and his unit saw the tsunami hit Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004. The noise was so loud they thought it was an aerial bombing.

First the hill shuddered, dislodging rocks. Then in the distance they saw the sea turn black and rush inland.

"We saw it come in and we were very scared" said Marjuni, whose sister and parents were among the 170,000 who died or disappeared in the tsunami in Aceh.

While much of Aceh's coastline was destroyed, the disaster provided an impetus for both sides to pursue peace. Indonesia withdrew troops and police, while GAM fighters came out of the jungle and gave up their weapons in exchange for an amnesty.

Marjuni found work rebuilding homes and infrastructure for a couple of dollars a day. Then one day, he was approached by Mendel Pols, a Dutch citizen who had founded a small adventure tours firm called Aceh Explorer and who was looking for former GAM fighters to take groups of tourists trekking in the jungle.

"When I told GAM my idea they looked at me like I was from Mars," said Pols, who is married to an Acehnese and lives in the capital Banda Aceh.

So far, most of his customers have been foreign aid workers who are based in Aceh for the post-tsunami reconstruction. As business takes off, he plans to invest in better hiking boots for the guides, and provide first aid training.

"I want to make the Acehnese aware of the potential for community-based tourism, and put Aceh on the map as a friendly tourism destination," he said.

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Top 10 places to fly solo

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - No one to go on vacation with or escaping a broken heart? That's no reason not to travel, according to travel Web site IgoUgo which has come up with the world's top 10 places to fly solo.

This list was compiled by IgoUgo which is owned by Travelocity with comments by the site's readers and is not endorsed by Reuters:

1. Vienna

"Each spring for the past few years, I've indulged in a solo trip to Europe, usually prompted by some long-standing fantasy I've had. One year I tramped around Dartmoor; another found me footloose in London. But this year's trip was one I'd dreamt about for decades: to Vienna, to sample its mind-boggling array of concerts and operas."

2. Rio de Janeiro

"Somente mim: Just me in Rio. Although not the obvious way to visit this city, Rio rewards those who travel solo."

3. Florence

"This was one of the most crazy/exciting things I have ever done. I felt like I could conquer anything after that trip. Everything was very intense, and I have so many incredible memories of the places and people. I'm glad I chose Florence for my first solo experience, because it was the perfect size city for a solo woman to conquer."

4. Parque Nacional Volcan Baru, Panama

"For me, this hike was more mental than physical. Alone in a foreign country, hiking at night, up a volcano, after an earthquake - that was what made this hike tough (and extremely rewarding)."

5. Marseille, France

"A young, multicultural population gives Marseille a unique flavor. Marseille had a rough reputation in the past, but the city is now about as safe as most major cities. As in any other city, it's wise to stay alert and pay attention to your pockets and your possessions, but even as a woman traveling solo, I never felt threatened."

6. Ayampe, Ecuador

"This tiny fishing village is not the most common place to visit the beach in Ecuador, but it was perfect for me, isolated and lovely, with the chance to mingle with locals and really relax."

7. Malta

"Every year, I like to go someplace for a few days to celebrate my birthday, and I often head to a spot in Western Europe. This year, though, I wanted to do something a bit different. My criteria? Someplace I'd never been before, someplace I could spend only a week yet still feel like I'd gotten a good flavor of the place, and someplace warmer than Chicago in winter (okay, the last part is admittedly pretty easy!). I also wanted a place where there was culture in the form of museums, historic sites, and the like, and a place where I'd feel comfortable going solo."

8. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

"Traveling solo to a resort on the tail end of a breakup sounded crazy to me too, until I tried it. If you are looking for an adventure, or a little "me" time, consider Puerto Vallarta, a little gem on the Pacific that's very good for the soul. There seemed to be more students and single people there, as opposed to the ever present army of honeymooners you find in places like Cancun. Everywhere I went I found myself in conversation with people from around the world. The day-long excursions from the marina are a great way to meet people. As a solo traveler, I felt quite at home and quickly got acquainted with fellow travelers."

9. Angkor, Cambodia

"I had a good time talking to the locals, even monks. They are so friendly and surprisingly they speak good English! It was wonderful to learn about the Cambodian way of life and their scarred history from the mouths of the locals; some even related their own experience to me. I made friends with a local who took me for a night tour around the villages."

10. Maldives

"Equipped with the book Swahili for the Broken-Hearted, and with my own broken heart, I set off for my holiday. The beauty of the island touched my soul and it probably happens to everyone, as locals were just giving me shy smiles and nodding toward me, "Your first time here?""

© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

Just A Minute with Algerian singer Souad Mass

By Raissa Kasolowsky

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Algerian singer and guitarist Souad Massi has won critical acclaim for her extraordinary voice and her songs that tell of love, exile and nostalgia, blending influences from American-style folk, Flamenco and pop with the classical Arabo-Andalusian music of North Africa.

Massi, 35, grew up in the working-class Bab El Oued neighborhood of Algiers and took up singing and playing the guitar at an early age. But the civil war in Algeria in the 1990s and the targeting of musicians and artists during the Islamist insurrection threatened to stop her fledgling musical career in its tracks.

In 1999, she was invited to perform at a small festival for Algerian women in Paris, which led to a record deal. Massi left Algeria and now lives in France with her husband and small daughter, where she enjoys huge success.

She spoke to Reuters after playing a special acoustic set at a film festival for women directors from North Africa and the Middle East in London.

Q: You come across as someone who is very friendly and open, who smiles and laughs a lot - but there is a lot of sadness in your songs.

A: Yes, but the majority of people who are sad - it's not that they hide behind a smile or a laugh - one isn't always sad. When we're sad, this marks us. I'm a singer and I sing it. A painter would paint it. Sometimes I worry that people think it's an act - but it's true that I adore talking to people. Sometimes I find that when I go into a shop or I'm on a train, people in Europe have lost the habit of talking to people they don't know.

Q: Do you think this is a trait from Bab El Oued?

A: Yes, this is something from where I come from. Now I go back and I don't know anyone, but children, adults, everyone says hello, good evening to you. You might even meet someone and they say: I have a headache, do you have any pills?

The latest models, elegant designs, an enticing range

- Lifestyle's Footwear section houses an extensive variety of brands to choose from. Rooted in the belief that 'feet have feeling', our range of footwear is in step with what's happening in the fashion capitals of the world. Apt for making a fashion statement, the collection in this section will sweep anybody off his or her feet. Equally alluring is Lifestyle's fine selection of travel accessories. Housing a diverse range of stylish hand bags and classy luggage, this section of Lifestyle is a dream come true for the modern, trendy traveller.

Lifestyle's Kids

section offers a complete range of products for all children up to the age of 14 with leading international brands that are exclusive to Lifestyle. Discover your child's favourite cartoon characters or get hold of Lifestyle's own brand called 'Juniors', which offers an extensive range of merchandise across all categories. Find the complete kids’ range at Lifestyle.

Barbie Cartoon Network Disney Bossini Benetton Orchestra Juniors Teeny Tiny Artex Bob The Builder Character Merchandise from Disney & Cartoon Network

Anakku Avent Chicco Disney Johnson & Johnson Juniors Himalaya Koochees Munchkin NUBY Pampers Pigeon Safety 1st Tommee Tippee First Years

Barbie Fisherprice Hot Wheels Juniors Little Tykes Maisto Goldgem Dragon Chicco Playgro First Years Real Toy Excel Home Videos Microsoft X Box, Computer & Console Games Hasbro Games Disney Soft Toys New Boy

Home Centre

Home Centre by Lifestyle is a one-stop destination for furniture, home ware and home furnishings that epitomises elegance, luxury and individuality. Home Centre houses a wide range of contemporary and classic furniture, linen as well as other home accessories, thus providing customers affordable complete home solutions.

Home Sweet Home is a truism proven true by Lifestyle’s Home section. Accommodated with

end-to-end solutions in home ware, gifts, furniture and furnishings from across the world, our Home range includes everything you'll need to furnish your dream home. Step inside and discover a whole new world of lamps, carpets, curtains, rugs, table linen, bed linen, glassware, crockery, cutlery, cookware, furniture and even artificial plants, trees and flowers.

Up Front

Crossover vehicles are hot sellers right now. So why is one of the hottest models in the segment—Mazda's curvaceous CX-7—suddenly not doing so well? The answer seems to be that there are now so many excellent crossovers crowding onto the market that shoppers can afford to be far more finicky than they were even six months ago.

For all of last year, North American sales of the CX-7 were up 86.6%, to 41,659. But the model peaked late last summer. Sales fell by 23.2% in October, 21% in November, rose a meager 1.9% in December, and fell again by 7.6%, to 2,555, in January.

What pulled the rug out? Shoppers have a lot more crossover vehicles to choose from than before, for one thing. These include Honda's (HMC) wildly popular CR-V and Toyota's (TM) Rav4, as well as such new models as the Nissan (NSANY) Rogue, the redesigned Saturn Vue, and the redesigned Ford Escape. Mazda also may be competing with itself. My guess is that the company's new CX-9 crossover vehicle is luring customers away from the smaller, less expensive CX-7. The CX-9 costs about $10,000 more on average, but it got rave reviews when it came out early last year and it's roomier and has a bigger engine.

The CX-7 has several shortcomings. One is that—like the CR-V, Rogue, and Saturn Vue—it lacks a third row of seats, meaning it can hold a maximum of only five passengers. Both the Toyota Rav4 and the CX-9 can carry up to seven, which gives them a big advantage if you do a lot of car-pooling.

Not Up to Speed

Another downside for the CX-7 is that it only comes with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. That powerplant generates a respectable 244 horsepower and is coupled with a six-speed automatic transmission with a manual shifting function. But both the Rav4 and CX-9 are available with powerful V6 engines that make them a lot quicker.

Fuel economy also doesn't improve much by going with the smaller engine. The CX-7 is only rated to get 17 miles per gallon in the city and 23 mpg on the highway with front-wheel drive, dropping to 16/22 with all-wheel drive. In 310 miles of heavy-duty winter driving, I got 19 mpg in an all-wheel drive CX-7.

The Mazda's main competitors get better mileage. For instance, the rating is 20/26 for an all-wheel-drive Honda CR-V, and 21/26 for an all-wheel-drive Nissan Rogue. Even with a V6 engine, a four-wheel-drive Toyota Rav4 is rated at 19/26. The Mazda also requires expensive premium gasoline, while its competitors use regular.

If those deficiencies aren't deal-breakers, the CX-7 is a sweet little vehicle. One of its biggest appeals, at least for me, is its distinctive-looking exterior. The CX-7 has the prominent fender arches typical of Mazdas, and its windshield is sharply raked. The roofline reaches its peak height just behind the driver, and then curves sharply downward as it moves toward the rear. This gives the vehicle a stylish profile without squeezing down headspace in the second row

A Lacoste

A Lacoste runway model accessorizes with round sunglasses during Fashion Week in New York this month.

(Mark Mainz/Getty Images for IMG)

Mary Kate Olsen

Mary Kate Olsen dons the round look at the Sundance Film Festival last month.

(AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

Hotels try funky ideas to help guests sleep tight

Sunday, February 24, 2008

By Sally Kalson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

These "sleep suits" have been developed by Travelodge UK to help their guests get a better night's sleep.

Of all the things hotels are doing to help their guests get a good night's sleep, Travelodge UK has come up with one of the more novel. The budget hotel chain is testing a head-to-toe "sleep suit" in five of its British hotels.

The close-fitting pajamas are made of knitted silk and come with optional hood, gloves and socks (to stop heat loss through the extremities, they say). When modeled, the outfits summon nothing so much as Woody Allen 28 years ago, playing a sperm in the movie "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex • But Were Afraid to Ask."

Presumably, if the wearers can stop laughing, they will be able to settle down for a night of blissful shut-eye. And at least for the time being, they can take the suits home at no charge.

The company's Web site, which calls Travelodge a "retailer of sleep," says the suits are "customised therapeutic pj's" that allow the skin to breathe, maintain its moisture balance, regulate body temperature and reduce itching, scratching and body odor.

The chain's "sleep director," Leigh McCarron, was unavailable for comment, but spokeswoman Shakila Ahmed said the product was launched in early February; the hotel asks guests in advance if they'd like to try a suit and gets their sizes.

Only a few sets have been tried, she said, and those drew positive feedback. If they're a hit, she said, the company eventually would like to sell them (she wouldn't venture on a price). But don't look for them in the United States anytime soon. Travelodge UK is a separate company, unrelated to Travelodge in the United States.

The pj's are just one of many tactics hotels are trying to improve the sleep of their clients. Increasingly, guests find welcome packages on their beds containing ear plugs, eyeshades, lavender aroma spritzers for their pillows and/or printed suggestions for optimal shut-eye. The more upscale establishments provide luxury sheets and bedding, and some offer a choice of mattress types.

The Benjamin, a boutique hotel in midtown Manhattan, has had a "sleep concierge" on staff to help guests overcome impediments to a restful night. Its guest rooms begin on the fifth floor to minimize street noise, and its clients may choose from a "pillow menu" with 13 entries, including buckwheat, magnetic, water-filled, "snore-no-more," and a wedge to support a pregnant woman's belly.

These offerings reflect a growing concern over troubled sleep in a stress-filled world where job responsibilities and electronic input have expanded to fill every hour around the clock.

Experts say sleep deprivation can affect memory and disease resistance, not to mention alertness.

Dr. Charles W. Atwood, associate director of the sleep lab at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said that while insomnia isn't necessarily becoming more common, some of the things that contribute to it are increasingly pronounced.

"Stress in the workplace and in life are a factor," he said. "We're in a 24-hour world, and unfortunately there's still this sense that if you're sleeping, you're not being productive. Sleep is seen as something you can sacrifice in order to get ahead."

In reality, Dr. Atwood said, "You're actually less productive because lack of sleep makes you tired and run down. You're more susceptible to colds and viral infections, and there's growing evidence associating sleep deprivation with hormonal changes that contribute to insulin resistance, which is a step on the pathway toward diabetes."

As for the tactics hotels are trying, he said, a dark, quiet room at a comfortable temperature and with a comfortable bed will cover many of the bases. The sleep suit doesn't strike him as anything that would make a big difference.

"It might be comfortable, but mostly it sounds like a good gimmick," he said.

It's not the first time Travelodge UK has captured attention on the sleep front. The chain likes to publicize the results of sleep surveys and then announce what it's doing in response.

When 57 percent of solo travelers surveyed said they felt lonely sleeping away from their partners, the chain started making available the "Cuddillow," a 2 1/2-foot-long pillow with extended arms. (How do you design a pillow case for that?)

The company also began offering guests goldfish for their rooms after 58 percent of respondents said watching fish swim helped them nod off. (The goldfish also are signatures of the Hotel Monaco, the trendy boutique hotels in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., and other cities. "Watching fish gracefully swim to and fro actually calms nerves, reduces anxiety and lowers blood pressure," according to a description of the Hotel Monaco's Guppy Love program, which is designed to keep guests company.)

Travelodge UK also commissioned a "neurolinguistic programming therapist" to record a series of "nodcasts" to help people with what it calls "motivational sleeping." Users can listen as they're falling asleep, allegedly to reduce stress or improve their assertiveness, confidence and communication skills.

But nothing caused as big a stir as the hotel's announcement in October 2007, contending that sleepwalking was on the rise throughout the United Kingdom -- and that "an astounding 95 percent" of the chain's sleepwalkers have been naked men.

No report on whether this attracted visitors to Travelodge or repelled them.

Sally Kalson can be reached at skalson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1610.

First published on February 24, 2008 at 12:00 am

The Top Dogs of the Automotive Pack

In the constant jockeying of the auto industry, leaders and laggards come and go. Who's on top now and who's coming up fast?

The U.S. auto industry is the ultimate dog-eat-dog world.

This Darwinism only gets tougher when the industry enters a downturn. Forecasts for 2008 predict the worst sales in a decade, at just below 16 million light vehicles—that is, passenger cars and light trucks such as pickups, minivans, SUVs, and crossovers, not counting medium and heavy trucks including 18-wheelers.

Even the top brands—BMW (BMWG), Mercedes-Benz (DAI), Honda (HMC), and Toyota (TM)—are constantly jockeying for position, coveting each other's turf.

BMW had record sales in 2007, but still wishes its flagship 7 Series commanded as much prestige as the Mercedes-Benz flagship S-Class. Mercedes-Benz had record sales, too, but wishes its entry-level C-Class had the fun-to-drive factor—not to mention the sales volume—of BMW's dominant 3 Series.

Italian cook

Italian cooks are masters at transforming simple, everyday ingredients into dishes that are quick, healthy and satisfying. In Everyday Italian, chef Giada De Laurentiis shares updated versions of the home style recipes she grew up with in her Italian family. She'll show you easy dishes that are perfect for every occasion: a weeknight meal, entertaining a crowd, or a cosy dinner for two.

Summer Camps

Summer Camps

There’s no excuse for your kids to be bored this summer. The Pittsburgh area hosts a wide array of day and overnight summer camps for all ages, abilities and interests—and the opportunities are expanding every year.

Below are camps—with description, dates, ages served and contact information—that have been submitted to the Post-Gazette. Also included are camps located in Canada and other regions of the United States that draw youths from Pittsburgh. Costs were not included because they vary based on when applications are submitted (sometimes discounts are available for early submissions). Check also to see if scholarships are available to help cover the costs.

Organizations that have not yet submitted information can still do so by e-mailing it to vlinn@post-gazette.com.