Cancer's not pink

Women are rebelling against the fluffy imagery surrounding breast cancer

Tutu has her head shaved before chemo treatment for her breast cancer.

Kristen Tedder, or Tutu as she is known to friends, was never going to react to breast cancer in a conventional way. This is the performance artist whose Doris Day meets Courtney Love routine had the Gallagher brothers whooping for more at a London club in the late 1990s.

Her latest project is Punk Cancer: a visceral, disrespectful and decidedly un-pink approach to fighting breast cancer. "All the pink, fluffy breast cancer imagery didn't do it for me, so I went down a different road," Tutu explains. "I learned to love breast cancer because it's part of my body and it taught me a lot about my life. But I also wanted to kick its ass."

When we meet, Tutu, 45, is wearing a T-shirt, created with London label Earl of Bedlam. It features a stencil of herself, boldly one-breasted, and, in Never Mind the Bollocks lettering, the phrase: "Cancer Sucks: Fight it, Love it, Live it, Survive it."

The image is taken from an exhibition Tutu collaborated on with photographer Ashley Savage. Tutu was diagnosed in 2009 and the pictures, which date from that time, range from a beaming Tutu posing Bettie Page-style on a radiation table, to an anarchic hair-shaving session pre-chemo. In between, are some starker images taken when she was not feeling quite so strong.

Pink Ribbons, Inc, a Canadian documentary that is released this week in the UK, makes a similar point by taking a look at the industry that has grown around breast cancer. It features interviews with critics of the disease's "pinkification", including veteran activist Barbara Ehrenreich who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer herself. "I wish they could talk to all the women who have been through breast cancer," she says in the film. "And [I] resent the effort to make it pretty and feminine and normal. It's not normal, it's horrible."

Ironically, says the film's producer Ravida Din, breast cancer has become glamorous. "You can attach more cliches about femininity to breast cancer," Din tells me. "Moreover, it can be 'dressed up' by corporations."

In fact, the pink ribbon was originally orange. Conceived in 1990 by Charlotte Haley, a 68-year-old American, it was a grassroots protest against the fact that only 5% of the US National Cancer Institute's budget was going towards cancer prevention.

When Estée Lauder asked to use the logo for a breast-cancer awareness campaign, Haley wanted nothing to do with it, saying she had no wish for them to use the ribbon as she felt it was too commercial. So the company changed the colour to pink, because research identified it as the most non-threatening, soothing colour – everything a cancer diagnosis isn't.

Din believes that anger, used in the right way, is the way forward. "We want to provoke a new conversation around the breast cancer culture we've created," she says. "Don't just raise money and hand it over. Think about where you want to invest it. Are you OK that almost all research money is going to pharmacological research and almost none (still less than 5%) on why we get it in the first place?"

Annie Middleton, 42, believes that breast cancer awareness has reached a crossroads. She was diagnosed with it at the age of 30, when she had two young daughters. Her journey lasted a decade and included a double mastectomy then reconstruction, which was completed last year.

"When I was diagnosed I felt as if I'd already joined the pink club because someone had chosen the colour a long time ago. But it does keep some people out. I think of pink as a flesh colour, which isn't great for black women."

In 2004, Middleton organised a breast cancer awareness exhibition, Modern Amazons, that was shown at Selfridges in London. Notably, it didn't involve celebrities and instead consisted of 30 real women photographed showing their mastectomies and sharing personal stories.The billions spent on research have not been able to help Tutu. The disease has spread to her bones and she doesn't have long to live. (We learn from Pink Ribbons, Inc that metastatic breast cancer is still lamentably under-researched). But Tutu wants to change things before she goes. She thinks other women would benefit from recording the process as she did.

"They don't have to be as out there as me," she says with a chuckle. "But it really helps to let out your emotions about how you feel about it."

Monday, March 26, 2012 | 2 comments | Read More

Sounding out Logitech's Mini Boombox

Play up the sound on your mobile entertainment devices with the Logitech Mini Boombox

Here's a handy tip: To boost the sound on your smartphone, place the phone - speaker side - into a bowl. The bowl will act as a natural amplifier.

But if you want better bass and better clarity, you might want to check out Logitech's Mini Boombox. This compact sound system pairs with smartphones, tablets and other Bluetooth-enabled entertainment devices for entertainment on-the-go.

The Logitech Mini Boombox boasts a specially-designed acoustic chamber that enhances the sound quality of your movies, music and phone calls with greater bass, and pristine clarity. With the Mini Boombox, portable gaming consoles and mobile entertainment devices can be heard the way its meant to be - loud.

Measuring 115.6mm by 71.2mm by 58mm, and weighing only 229 grams, the Logitech Mini Boombox, as its name suggests, is very portable. Its internal battery, charged via USB, lasts up to ten hours (depending on how you use and set it) so you can rest assured it will last a day at the beach. The gadget also acts as a speakerphone, so when you have your smartphone paired you won't miss out on any important calls whether you're at the park or in the car.

The Logitech Mini Boombox is expected to launch sometime soon For more information on where to get it, visit www.logitech.com.

Monday, February 13, 2012 | 1 comments | Read More

How valuable is Facebook?

Social networking site's IPO may be announced this week; its worth could match McDonald's

SAN FRANCISCO - When Facebook makes its long-expected debut as a public company this spring, the social-networking giant will likely vault into the ranks of the largest public companies in the world, alongside McDonald's, Amazon.com and Bank of America.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as US$10 billion (S$12.5 billion) and value the company at between US$75 billion and US$100 billion.

The filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as tomorrow, with an initial public offering (IPO) in three or four months.

The targeted amount would slot it among the world's 25 largest IPOs.

The IPOs of 14 companies would rank higher than Facebook's, according to investment adviser Renaissance Capital. Among them were Visa's US$17.9 billion IPO in March 2008, the largest for a US company, and world-topper Agricultural Bank of China, which raised US$19.3 billion in July 2010, not including extra shares issued to meet demand.

A Facebook spokesman said the company would not comment on IPO-related speculation. The WSJ had cited unnamed sources, who said that Facebook was close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter.

The buzz surrounding an outsized haul for Facebook's founders, employees and early investors remains a hopeful sign for capital markets after a deep recession. At the reported price, Facebook's IPO would be the biggest for an Internet company in the US - topping the debut of one of its main rivals, Google.

"We are expecting 2012 to be a year of recovery for the IPO market, led by the Facebook IPO," said Ms Kathy Smith, Renaissance Capital's principal.

The event will follow a string of tepid debuts by technology start-ups, including social game maker Zynga and discount advertiser Groupon.

Facebook's will be the most anticipated tech IPO since Google went public in August 2004. Not including shares sold by early investors, the Internet search giant raised US$1.2 billion and grabbed a market value of US$23 billion, the biggest so far for a US Internet company.

The IPO raised US$1.9 billion, including shares sold by early investors and extra stock issued to meet the heavy demand. It is not known whether Facebook's US$10 billion target includes shares owned by early investors.

Facebook's reported valuation of US$75 billion to US$100 billion compares with about US$100 billion for McDonald's, US$90 billion for Citigroup and Amazon.com and US$75 billion for Bank of America. It would exceed the market cap of US$55 billion for Hewlett-Packard, one of the world's largest technology companies by revenue.

Both Facebook and Google earn most of their money from advertising and are now competing to gain as much information as possible about their users to help advertisers target niche audiences.

According to eMarketer, Facebook is expected to increase its share of the US display ad market to about 20 per cent this year from 16 per cent last year, above second-ranked Yahoo!'s expected share of about 13 per cent. AP

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | 1 comments | Read More

ABBA To Relaunch Final Album With New Track

STOCKHOLM - Swedish pop group ABBA are to release a new version of their last album, featuring a previously unreleased track for the first time since 1994, the group's website said on Wednesday.

ABBA remain one of the world's most popular bands and their music got a new lease of life with the Mamma Mia stage show and film. The band's website said a deluxe edition of their final album, The Visitors, would be released in April.

"For ABBA fans, the most sensational inclusion in the package will be the previously unreleased track, From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel (demos)," a statement said.

"This is the first time since the Thank You For The Music box set in 1994 that ABBA have opened the doors to the tape vaults to release previously unheard music from the group's heyday," it added.

The release will also feature bonus selections along with a DVD of rare and previously unreleased material from the archives.

The Visitors album was originally released in 1981.

ABBA, made up of Agnetha Faltskog, Anna-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, racked up a string of hits in the 1970s and '80s, and their cult following has transformed them into some of Sweden's most recognisable figures. REUTERS

Monday, January 30, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Nintendo Chief Promises To Do Wii U Launch Right

TOKYO- Nintendo's chief is determined to get right the launch of its next game machine, Wii U, set for this year's holiday shopping season, and acknowledged today some mistakes with selling its 3DS handheld.

But Nintendo President Satoru Iwata warned earnings for the fiscal year set to begin April will be the toughest ever for the Japanese manufacturer behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games.

Iwata's remarks come a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a ¥65 billion (S$1.06 billion) loss, much larger than the ¥20 billion loss projected earlier. It posted a ¥77.62 billion profit the previous fiscal year.

Iwata blamed the strong yen, which erases overseas earnings, as well as the arrival of smartphones and other devices that offer gaming.

The higher yen slashed nearly ¥54 billion yen from the company's operating profit for the April-December period.

"I can see how the red ink may be perceived as abnormal," Iwata told analysts and reporters at a Tokyo hotel. "The environment has changed."

The failure of the 3DS handheld, which offers three-dimensional imagery, to take off with enough momentum during the last quarter of last year was one of the main reasons for the dismal results, according to Iwata.

The 3DS has gradually started to sell better, but it took a price cut in August. It still lacks a strong lineup of attractive software games, a key factor for a machine to succeed in a big way.

Iwata vowed the company will be better prepared when it introduces the Wii U home console during this year's year-end shopping season for a strong comeback.

He declined to give details such as pricing or what the software games available at that time might be.

But he said the Wii U will come with a strong game lineup at the launch as well as secure and safe Internet services that will offer players individual accounts.

The Wii U will come with new ways of playing that will almost make the term "home console" obsolete, Iwata said. It will also offer mobile gaming. The machine has a touch-panel controller.

Nintendo has long competed against rival game makers, such as Sony and Microsoft. These days, all face the threat from hit devices like the iPad and iPhone from Apple that also offer games.

Iwata's comments also showed Nintendo is growing less cautious about the Internet, which in the past it had brushed off as mainly for hard-core gamers.

Kyoto-based Nintendo has built its reputation on making games fun to play for casual and newcomer players.

"We are going to put to use our bitter experience with the 3DS," said Iwata. AP

Monday, January 30, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Beauty is Skin Deep

When it comes to the VW CC four-door coupe, anyway - which marries practicality with beauty

THE original recipe was simple - take a very worthy car fraught with a frumpy image, give it major cosmetic surgery and see if punters would take to the equivalent of clothing a utilitarian sedan in a slinky black dress.

Four years later, the Passat CC is a success story that has surprised even Volkswagen itself. Now in its second generation and set for a local launch in April, it's pretty much the same story, although VW is claiming this is a new model (it's really more of a heavy facelift). It's changed cosmetically within and without, but mechanically, it's virtually identical to its predecessor. So basically, the CC is nearly identical to the regular Passat sedan - but without that frumpy "Passat" moniker.

However, that's not to say it doesn't pass muster. The CC will hustle more than convincingly, and for the most part, available tarmac and/or driver talent will run out long before it does. Likewise, with its 160bhp 1.8-litre turbocharged engine mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, it has more than enough grunt for either the daily commute or recreational cruising.

What's lacking is that crucial spark - it's hard to imagine the CC having as much of a blast as you.

But just to prove our earlier point, the CC feels a more special object right off the bat, despite lacking in ultimate liveliness. It's not all sleight of hand (or eye), however. Wider tyres and a marked decrease in overall height over the regular Passat give the CC far more poise when driven hard.

The CC's other tricks are a little more subtle - a low-slung driving position, semi-bucket seats and a lower roofline all contribute to a feeling of being snugly enclosed in its cabin, like all the best sports cars do. Crucially, it represents very little trade-off when it comes to practicality - there's 532 litres' worth of boot space, ample rear bench legroom and an additional heaping of sound-deadening material, so it's even quieter than before.

Drive it thinking it's a sports car and you'll be wildly disappointed, but think of it as a Passat given a charm school makeover and it makes a great deal of sense.

In the CC's case, beauty may only be skin deep, but given it's already got a (Passat) heart of gold underneath it, perhaps that's all the boost it really needs.



Volkswagen CC 1.8

Engine: 1,798cc, 16V turbocharged i4

Power: 160bhp at 4,500rpm

Torque: 250Nm at 1,500rpm

Gearbox: 7-speed dual-clutch

Performance: 223kmh, 0-100kmh in 8.5 seconds, 7.2L/100km

Saturday, January 28, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Kristen Bell happy to build House Of Lies

NEW YORK - Kristen Bell is such a fan of Homeland that she just had to tell the cast of the hit Showtime drama at a recent party.

"I felt at one point one of them kind of take a step back like, 'She's a little intense,' and then I got insecure like, 'Oh, no, you're THAT person,'" she relates.

Now Bell is sharing a network with her favorite show with her new series, House Of Lies, about a management consulting firm that specialises in damage control.

The 31-year-old Bell first wowed critics playing a teen private investigator on the smart series Veronica Mars, which debuted in 2004 and aired for three seasons. The film industry took notice and began casting her in such movies as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Couples Retreat. She also narrates Gossip Girl as the show's title characte.

Bell realised she missed TV but wanted to do something edgier than anything she had done before. She also liked the idea of being part of an ensemble cast. She found what she was looking in House Of Lies.

The blistering comedy stars Don Cheadle as a slick, ruthless management consultant. Bell plays the ambitious Jeannie, who loves the high life but can flirt with the low life.

"If he's a great actor he's an even cooler person and I don't think there's a ton of people you can say that about," Bell says about Cheadle. "But he's a really genuine, grounded, nice, funny guy."

Bell, who grew up in suburban Detroit, trained in opera and performed in community theater. She went on to study at New York University where she won a role her senior year in the 2001 Broadway musical The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, which ran less than a month.

Bell says she misses musical theater but doesn't feel comfortable leaving her family and friends in California for a long stretch of time in New York. She is engaged to Dax Shepard, who co-stars on the drama Parenthood on NBC. The two recently produced and starred in a film together called Outrun which is expected to hit theaters next summer. Shepard also directed.

"We actually grew closer by spending every single minute together for about nine weeks," she says. "We drove to work together and we came home together. It's very organic for us to spend every moment together. We're severely co-dependent. It's a disease!" AP

Friday, January 27, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Working 11 hours or more a day doubles depression risk

LONDON - Researchers found that the odds of a major depressive episode are more than double for those
working 11 or more hours a day compared to those working seven to eight hours a day.

The authors, led by Dr Marianna Virtanen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and University College London, followed about 2,000 middle-aged British civil servants and found a "robust" association between overtime work and depression.

The correlation was not affected when the analysis was adjusted for various possible confounders, including socio-demographics, lifestyle, and work-related factors.

There have been a number of previous studies on the subject, with varying results, but the researchers emphasise that it is hard to compare results across these studies because the cut-off for "overtime" work has not been standardised.

Dr Virtanen said: "Although occasionally working overtime may have benefits for the individual and society, it is important to recognise that working excessive hours is also associated with an increased risk of major depression."

Friday, January 27, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Ducks replace paddy-field pesticides

Japanese farmers rediscover ancient rice-growing technique that boosts production without the need for chemicals

A farmer sprays pesticide over rice paddy at a farm in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. 

On his six-hectare farm in the village of Keisen, on Japan's Kyushu island, Takao Furuno, 61, grows rice and wheat without chemicals.

He rediscovered an ancient rice-growing practice involving the use of ducks. Dozens of these birds, raised on the farm, patrol the paddy fields. They feed on insects and weeds, without touching the plants. Their wading oxygenates the water and stirs up the soil. Their droppings are a natural fertiliser.

Furuno has cut production costs and boosted output by about a third compared with his neighbours, who use chemical fertilisers. He sells the ducks too.

Some 10,000 Japanese farmers have purchased The Power of Duck [sic], the book he published in 2000. In 2011 the technique was successfully tried out in Camargue, southern France.

The trend in rice cultivation in Japan, which provides a livelihood for 1.4 million families, is, however, towards larger farms and more intensive production.

Thursday, January 26, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More