GeekSugar

High-Heel Phone: Love It or Leave It?

GeekSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:45:26 PDT

Despite the fact that most of us have ditched our landlines, I can't help but be amused by this High-Heel Phone ($22).

I could make an excuse, like I love it in an ultra-ironic, so bad it's good kind of way, but really it's just that it's totally the kind of "big-girl" thing I would have loved as a kid and I've never really gotten over any of that stuff.

What do you think - retro-cute or '80s in the worst way?

Marriage Rates at Record Low: Bad News For Economy

LearnVest — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:15:56 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Bride Wars. Bridezillas. Bridalplasty. Shedding for the Wedding. Platinum Weddings. Say Yes to the Dress.

If you flip through the channels, it looks like all of America is altar-bound.

But in fact, the Pew Research Center found that American marriage rates are at an all-time low: Only 51% of Americans over age 18 are married. Marriage rates have declined by 5% between 2009 and 2010 and 21 percentage points since 1960, when 72% of adults were married.

Are We Aging Out of Marriage?

It’s no surprise that things are very different today from only a few short years ago - see cell phones, laptops, tablets and the Facebook timeline. The big things are changing, too.

Half of men getting married for the first time are 29 years or older and half of women marrying for the first time are 27 or older, which means that many Americans are tying the knot well past age 30. Of course, the big 3-0 is getting younger and younger, so the news isn’t revelatory, but for reference, remember that Marie Antoinette married at age 14. In more recent history, Elizabeth Taylor’s first marriage took place when she was only 18.

Marriage and Money

So, what does all this have to do with money? A lot, it turns out.

First, married people tend to accumulate money. As Pew researcher and senior writer D’Vera Cohn explains in The Huffington Post, "Some of that might have to do with who chooses to get married, that is, people who are educated have less of a decline in their marriage rates than people who are less educated. We also know that the kind of partnership marriage encourages is one in which you plan for the future, share your assets, build wealth together. There isn’t that evidence yet for people who live together."

Second, beyond the married couple’s individual finances, their marriage affects the wider economy. Married people wait to make big purchases and investments until they’ve "settled down." Those purchases include houses, children, property . . . the big things that keep our economy spinning in a way that rent checks and vodka sodas can’t manage.

We're not saying that marriage will make you rich, or that opting out of the contract keeps you from being so. But research shows that marriage is good for our finances and good for the economy at large, so it follows that a decline in marriage rates isn’t exactly helping us climb out of the recession crater.

There goes the bride.

More From LearnVest
There’s a way to get $1,600 in free food, but it involves online dating and spreadsheets.
When it comes to getting what you want, are wish lists practical or tacky?
We know they’re wobbly, but how do high heels indicate economic instability?

Lil Links: Suri Cruise Is Kicking Up Her Heels Again!

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:32:43 PST

Suri Cruise is back to wearing high heels - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Mom's voice leads blind 11-year-old to finish marathon - The Stir
Ludacris launches kids website with his daughter - Celebrity Baby Blog
Best places in America to experience the Polar Express - Child Mode
Safe, alternative therapies for the littlest patients - FitPregnancy
Are kids' tech gifts worth the money? - Parenting
5 maternity leave tips from a mom who's about to go back to work - Momformation
10 ways to keep your kids safe on their cell phones - Tecca.com
Is crying it out dangerous for tots?? - Yahoo! Shine

An Uplifting Antidote to Disparaging Products for Lil Girls

Natasha Dantzig — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:21:03 PST

What year is this again? Last we checked, it's nearing the end of 2011, we have a female secretary of state, and women are holding more positions of power than ever before. So why are little girls still presented with lame activity sheets, which seem to think little girls are only interested in shopping, cell phones, and high heels? JCPenney and Forever 21 met with a lot of criticism earlier this year over their shirts purporting that girls are "Allergic to Algebra" and that "School Is Fun - When It's Over."

Thankfully, there's an encouraging new antidote: Just in time for the holidays, a new children's apparel brand is launching, featuring supersoft T-shirts that say things like, "When I Grow Up I Want To Be Me" and "Not Photo Shopped." Ahhh, that's better. Created by very pro-self-esteem, pro-girl, former CAA executive Seth Matlins,the line is available everywhere at Off Our Chests. Quite a nice change from those other graphic T's, right?

The Tree of Life's Jessica Chastain on Her Breakout Year, First Cannes, and "Normal" Brad Pitt

Lindsay Miller — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:22:00 PDT

Jessica Chastain is a fresh face in Hollywood, but she's already worked with the likes of Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, and, in The Tree of Life, Brad Pitt. Her and Brad's film, which opens Friday, just won the Palm d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. We chatted with Jessica just before The Tree of Life's LA premiere yesterday. Jessica clearly likes to take risks in her life and work - in fact, she arrived for our interview with a leg cast, which she said was the result of a motocross accident! During our interview, she reflected on her first time at Cannes, emotional and unexpected scenes with Brad, and her take on the movie's message. Here are highlights:

PopSugar: So, obviously, the first question is what happened [to your leg]?
Jessica Chastain: This sounds so idiotic. I got in a motocross accident yesterday. I thought it would be fun, and I really liked it, and I went way too fast. I shouldn’t have done it, especially having a premiere today. I spent the afternoon in the emergency room yesterday, because the bike fell on me and twisted my leg. Those things are heavy! It’s funny, because I was lying there, and my knee snapped. I heard this popping noise. . . so the wheels kept going and I’m pinned underneath it, and I thought, oh someone will come get me. It just felt like forever, so finally I just went, "Help! Help!" It was really, really silly.

PS: So now you'll have crutches down the red carpet tonight?
JC: Yes, but not for photos. . . I balance really well, so I’m going to stand still in very high heels and pass off my crutches, and I’ll take my pictures. There won’t be any of that walking, talking, fancy red carpet stuff, or they will have pictures of me on the carpet, lying on it. I hope I don’t fall! Oh god. I was worried about falling down the stairs at Cannes.

PS: Can you talk about what the Cannes experience was like?
JC: Yeah, it was great. I realize it’s never going to be matched. Realistically, I mean . . . it’s not really a good example of a typical time at Cannes, because I’ve got two films that both won the top prize in their category. Tree of Life won the Palm d’Or and Take Shelter won the grand prize in critics’ week. And then I also had a film there, The Wettest County, which there was a bidding war [over] and Harvey Weinstein bought it. So it was like all of this great stuff was happening, and I don’t think that’s a typical Cannes. But it’s OK, because I’m enjoying every second, knowing it will never repeated again.

View 5 Photos ›

To read more from Jessica on getting emotional with Brad Pitt and her hopes for the movie, just

PS: You character is seen almost exclusively from the perspective of her boys. When you were acting, did you think of yourself [from that perspective]?
JC: When I read the script, I realized that she basically is the embodiment of grace and the spirit world. And then I thought, OK, I also have make her a real person. I had to ground her, and the only way I could think of grounding her was her love for her children. And this bond she has with her children is very important, so I had to make that incredibly real. And it actually was very real. The boys and I, to this day, we’re actually still very close. I got a Mother’s Day gift from Hunter last year, I get phone calls. . . . When the film ended, I was more heartbroken than anything that the kids went back to their mothers. I was like, 'I love the kids!'

PS: How was it different with Brad? What kind of conversations did you have about building that familial closeness with your characters?
JC: We didn’t really have those conversations a lot, because the one thing about Brad and my character is that there is this distance, where she’s constantly trying to reach out to him to have him open up to the family and to love. And he’s [like], "No, I’ve gotta always stay on guard, and it's survival of the fittest, and I’ve got to be the strong one." So in a way, if we’d had these bonding experiences like we had with the children, it would have made our jobs harder. But on set, the great thing about him is he could play that character and then soon as the roll was out, he was fun, nice, sweet Brad, throwing the football with the boys out in the yard, and asking me, "What kind of music do you like? That’s one thing I’m out of touch with right now is music." He’s a normal guy.

PS: What about the emotional tussle you have in the house? Did you prepare for that at all?
JC:We didn’t even know that was going to happen, to be honest. It was after we filmed the scene were he attacks the boy. I know for my character, she had to clean up the house, but she’s still vibrating from what happened and trying to contain it. We shot for four minutes, going back and forth, cleaning dishes, doing all this stuff. And at one point, I don’t know why or what on earth possessed me, but I grabbed the pepper and rubbed it in his face and said, "How do you like it?" And then he grabbed me, and all of a sudden, we’re fighting and struggling. So working with Brad, an actor who is open to being spontaneous and emotional and inventive and really listens to the other person, you can have moments like that. When someone comes in and they plan what they’re going to do, you don’t get those accidents.

PS: What do you think the audience reaction will be like to this film?
JC:You know, I think there probably will be a lot of mixed reaction, and I hope that it's going to create a lot of discussion, because a lot of my favorite films are the kind that I go, "Oh, I love that film," and someone else goes, "Really!?" I love those movies and I really hope that's the case. I feel like this film asks more questions than it answers. And a lot of us are used to being given answers and we just want to be entertained. This film really isn't that. It really isn't "I just want to turn off. I've had a hard day at work, I'm just going to go turn off and watch The Tree of Life." [Laughs.] It's not that. So I think you absolutely have to be in the mindset to be open and then to examine your life.