GeekSugar

Website Of The Day: I'm In Like With You

GeekSugar — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:53:54 PDT

If Jim Halpert and Pam Beesley, aka the cute "couple that should be" from The Office, went on a dating website it would probably be I'm in like with you. The site is a free flirting game, which you can play on the web and your phone, and it's unlike any other dating site I've ever seen because it caters to a very simple truth: Everyone likes to flirt. The rest (as in the meeting, having a drink, having your first kiss) is all up to you. Created by two young guys, it caters to the 18-35 crowd and allows you to electronically tease and tempt people across the web and in your area. Personally, I'm shocked by how attractive, hip and fun everyone in the community seems.

The idea is based on the fact that "guys act badly in real life, and even worse on the web - think about all the creeps on myspace, match.com, and of course craigslist," says Dan, one of the creators. You play by initiating a game with a question (such as "drinks after work?") then users bid to win your affection with points, winks and little messages. When the set game time is over, you select a winner from the top 5 bidders and can communicate freely through email, sms, and even call that person without revealing his or her email addresses or phone numbers. In essence it's a safe way to flirt with someone online before committing to the actual drink date.

Not sure what you think of internet dating? Our resident charmer PartySugar was skeptical about it too. In fact, when she was introduced to the site she said - in her sassy and quick-witted voice - "I go out to meet guys!" Little did she know, two weeks later she would be stepping into the online dating pond. For instructions on how to use the site - including a special Sugar code that will get you in for free- and details from PartySugar's date,

read more Following her date last night, PartySugar sent me this message:

Last night I got to John Collins thinking that my date started at 8 only to realize a half an hour later when he showed up that it actually started at 830. Besides that things went very smoothly. Good conversation: his favorite color blue and his favorite drink is a screwdriver and apparently he's really into wine. He's quite cute. I'm totally in like!

Okay, so maybe we won't all be so lucky, but it's worth a try! The site is currently in beta, but you can test it out by clicking here. If you get stuck, just go to the homepage and put in the code: SUGAR. How exactly does it work?

Each person starts with points - You can earn points in many different ways. First, you get a bunch just for signing up. Then you can get points for adding to your profiles, uploading photos and videos, and checking out the site each day.
A game is a short competition where the competitors submit their profiles and bid a certain number of points to get the game host's attention. Each person must bid higher than the current bid. This means that after a little while, only the people who are most interested in the game host will rise to the top.
When your game's time is up, you can choose one of the top 5 bidders as the winner, and the winner's points are deducted. If you don't like them, you can dump them all.

After the game, the host and the winner can communicate freely through email, sms, and even call each other without revealing his or her email addresses or phone numbers.

In Her Shoes: April Beyer, Matchmaker and Relationship Coach

Anna Monette Roberts — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:05:36 PST

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, April Beyer, expert relationship coach and matchmaker, gives SavvySugar an insider's look into her unique career. Helping men and women find lasting relationships for almost 14 years, she is the founder and president of Beyer & Company, a matchmaking and relationship consulting firm. She's frequently interviewed and has been seen on Dr. Phil, 20/20, and Good Morning America. Beyond her weekly clients, April writes on her blog, conducts seminars, and is working on a book to help women prepare for love and romance. April tells us what it's like to assist other people on their journey to finding love and happiness.

SavvySugar: Can you tell me about your career path and how your business has grown throughout the years?

April Beyer: I started out in the high-end matchmaking industry nearly 14 years ago. I had worked with a matchmaking company and was there for about six or seven years. I was responsible for many marriages there. In 2003, I decided to venture out on my own and start a relationship coaching and consulting business. Now, I still have my matchmaking company. I work with a handful of highly successful marriage-minded men. I am also a coach and a writer.

Now my passion is to help women better understand themselves first so then they can naturally attract the man of their dreams. I am a little bit more of a holistic dating and relationship coach, but I think of myself more as is a communication and authenticity coach. For me, it's not about teaching people dating skills, it is teaching them relationship skills.

Click here to read more about April.

Home Improvement: Why Don't Men Notice Decorating Changes?

Stylelist Home — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:00:58 PST

I'm happy to present a post from Stylelist Home!

Turns out there's a slight difference when it comes to how women and men approach home improvements and decorating at home. According to a recent study by retailer TK Maxx - not to be confused with TJ Maxx - a poll of 2,000 women reported that men don't notice the decorating changes they make to the household more than 50 percent of the time. Worse yet, two-thirds of the women also said that they had to literally let their partners know what the actual changes in the home were.

While it may be said that this depends on the scale of decorating change that has been made, it appears that this is besides the point. The same group of women claim to have done projects as big as "painted a room and got no reaction from their husband at all" to switching out "curtains to wallpaper and even moved furniture without their partner noticing." On the contrary, mother-in-laws and friends are quick to pick up on home additions such as new cushions and color palettes.

We can definitely understand the argument posed by this study. But while it's often suggested that men are less likely to turn their attention to small details in the home as women do, is it really an indication that they don't care about their domestic environment? We're curious to know what you think. Let us know in comments below.

To read the full article, click here.

Source

12 Things You Should Never Buy Full-Price

Business Insider — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:15:25 PST

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

With the Internet, helpful mobile phone apps, and retailers scrambling to keep consumers in their shops, there's no need to pay full-price for much of anything these days.

To give you a boost, we tapped a few savvy shoppers for their tips on all the ways you can save.

Theater tickets

"One of the greatest savings areas recently has been the theater ticket business," says Anna Aronovich, CEO of GovernmentAuctions.org.

Even if you're not going to be around NYC to score discount Broadway tickets this month, there are opportunities in nearly all cities to see shows on the cheap.

Some rewards programs like Optimum Rewards cost nothing to join and offer discounts on shows.

Beer

If you're looking to stock the fridge for your next poker night, don't hit the liquor store until you've checked out www.saveonbrew.com.

The company's been featured on a host of deals sites lately as one of the best ways to find discounts on brewski, says Jennifer Davidson, director of operations. (See some incredible uses for beer.)

Read on for more.

Donna Karan Fall 2012

FabSugar — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:37:06 PST

Somewhere, Marlene Dietrich is smiling. Donna Karan's Fall 2012 collection gave menswear a seductive turn, somehow making the double-breasted suit look just as sexy as the fitted dresses. Whereas past collections felt loose and languid as a yoga pose, this latest collection was all about sharp tailoring and even sharper edges. Blazers had pointed shoulders, tops had extra wide, stiff cuffs, skirts and dresses were folded and gathered like the face of a Frank Gehry building. There was lots of structure, and it seemed that Karan is making a strong argument for the 90s power suit. That models were adorned with miniature fedoras - thank you, Stephen Jones - giving the show a slightly playful and sexy undertone, as if they were Vegas dancers playing businesswomen. That said, Donna Karan does have a good sense of humor, and the show closed with a Whitney Houston song - "I'm Every Woman." No one knows that better than Karan. Side note: the show opened with a preview of her Casual Luxe line, which could be summed up as tartan-loving biker chick. Those looks follow at the end of the collection photos.

Trends: power suits, menswear, architectural details, sculptural
Colors: Red, black, gray, olive.
Key Piece: The fitted menswear blazers, a sexy red cocktail dress
Accessories:The miniature hats were amazing.
Who Would Wear It: Women who can pull off the menswear look - think Evan Rachel Wood.

Whitney's Chris D'Elia Has Funny Answers For Your V-Day Questions

Annie Scudder — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:37:26 PST

You asked, and Whitney's Chris D'Elia answered your Valentine's Day and relationship questions. The standup comedian, who says he's seeing a special someone ("she's super"), took our reader questions on the topic of love and dating in time for Feb. 14. So if you're looking for a guy's perspective before Valentine's Day, take some advice from Chris, who plays Whitney Cummings's hot boyfriend on the NBC Wednesday-night comedy.

What can I get my boyfriend for Valentine's Day that he will actually like?

Chris: I mean, I don't know many guys who like the romantic stuff. So I honestly think Valentine's Day is mostly for girls. I don't expect anything if I have a girlfriend, but I think a nice card with something sweet in it usually makes me feel good and important.

If you're in a new relationship on Valentine's Day, what can you suggest that won't freak out the guy?

Chris: I think if it's a new relationship, you have to let the dude handle it. Even if you're like, "Oh my God I didn't get you anything because I didn't want to freak you out," then that's so cute. It's like she respects you to not want to blow it, but she also wants you to be the man.

What is the most romantic breakfast item you can think of?

Chris: I don't even know what's romantic about any breakfast item? When I think about eggs, like that's so unromantic. I think there's just no romantic breakfast items. I guess if it's in bed, that's romantic. I used to do breakfast in bed for a girl on Valentine's Day, and she liked that. She ate it up. Literally.

I'm single and I hate Valentine's Day. Any advice for getting through it as a single girl?

Chris: Yeah, you don't hate Valentine's Day. I think you're not being honest with yourself. There's no way you don't like Valentine's Day. There's no way! You secretly like it. You just have to realize that. You need to come to terms with it.

In light of it being Valentine's Day, if a girl likes a guy and he hasn't picked up on her hints, can she ask him out?

Chris: For me, I have to be the aggressor. I don't like it when girls ask me out. But I know that there are guys who are very shy who would like that. I think that it's a case-by-case basis. But I would say, normally if the guy's not asking you out or hovering around you, he's not interested. Like if a guy's talking to you, he's interested. If he's looking at you and you're not even talking to him, that's a huge thing.

Can girls and guys be friends? Keep reading for Chris's answer!

8 Surprising Things That Can Swell During Pregnancy

Kate Stahl — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:41:54 PST

We've all heard of swollen feet during pregnancy - a not-so-surprising side effect considering they're supporting all that extra weight - but your feet are not the only body parts that can retain fluid while you're expecting. We've all seen a pregnant woman who looked so fluid-filled you kind of wanted to stick a pin in her to see if she'd pop (or maybe you were one of those women?), but water retention can hit less obvious places as well.

Jessica Simpson recently went to Twitter to talk about her swollen lips, saying it might be the first stage of "pregnancy face," a side effect that Bethenny Frankel dealt with by massage and putting bags of frozen veggies on her face. "I’m a swollen beast. My face exploded . . . I look like a chipmunk,” she tweeted while expecting daughter Bryn. Keep reading for 10 less talked-about body parts that can make for an often uncomfortable, and sometimes unsightly, pregnancy and postpartum experience.

Honest Abe Is a Badass in the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Trailer

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:03:53 PST

If you thought that author Seth Grahame-Smith's genre mashup novels like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies would make for cheesy films, then you may be surprised by the electrifying Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailer. In the adaptation of Grahame-Smith's novel, our 16th president is re-imagined as a man with a passion for more than politics - he's a vampire-killing machine. This version of Lincoln (played by newcomer Benjamin Walker) has been motivated to kill the vampires who haunt America because his grandfather and mother were victims of the supernatural monsters. Politics comes into it when Lincoln learns that the slave trade is perpetuated by vampires, who are using the people for food, so Lincoln sets to end slavery and thus cut off the vampire food supply.

While I'm still pretty skeptical that this film could come out still feeling gimmicky, the trailer is actually pretty intense. Walker plays Lincoln like we've never seen him before: fierce, agile, and seemingly unstoppable. I'm far more curious about this movie now than I was before, so to see if you feel the same, watch the trailer after the jump.

Adele Strikes a Pose For Vogue's March Issue

Chi Diem Chau — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:08:21 PST

Last night, Adele raked in six amazing Grammy awards including the win for best album of the year for 21. With millions of fans behind her back, the golden girl, recently recovered from throat surgery, shows no signs of slowing down. Vogue just added more fuel to the fire with the unveiling of Adele as its March cover girl, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. With perfect wing-tipped eyes and sexy, voluminous waves, Adele emoted superstar status wearing a gorgeous citron and black lace dress from Oscar de la Renta, leather opera-length gloves, and strapped sandals. Read below to hear what Adele has to say about her love for Beyoncé, making red-carpet appearances, and her loud personality. Then, visit Vogue.com to see the whole story unfold.

On Beyoncé: "She's been a huge and constant part of my life as an artist since I was about ten or eleven. I love how all of her songs are about empowerment. Even when she's married and Jay-Z put a ring on it, she releases 'Single Ladies.' Go get yours. Go get what you deserve. I think she's really inspiring. She's beautiful. She's ridiculously talented, and she is one of the kindest people I've ever met."

On making red-carpet appearances:: "I hate the red carpet. I don't feel insecure, I just feel like, Oh, I don't want to do this. I literally get a stomach cramp."

On her personality: "I am quite loud and bolshie. I'm a big personality. I walk into a room, big and tall and loud."

Photos courtesy of Vogue

Kristen Stewart Talks Badass Fairy Tales, Bella Swan, and Her New Leading Man on Snow White Set Visit

Molly Goodson — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:01:00 PST

Last October, we were so excited to pay a visit to the set of Snow White and the Huntsman outside London. We got a sneak peek into the amazing world Kristen Stewart and her costars, including Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Charlize Theron, and more, inhabited while shooting the action-packed fairy-tale movie. We have tons to come from our day poking around the remarkable set and learning about everything from the costumes to the fight scenes. While we were there, we even got to see the aftermath of Kristen accidentally actually punching Chris Hemsworth in the face filming a scene. Check out our chat with Kristen and stay tuned for lots from the set:

Is there something you admire about Snow White?

Yes. It’s strange playing a character that you actually could never truly embody. Her spirit affects people. . . I can’t have Snow White’s effect on people. I can’t actually be completely selfless because nobody is. You can only really play a character like that in a fairy tale and play it with an awful load of integrity. She’s very fully formed, but very farfetched-from-the-reality-that-we-live-in type of person. She also is strong in a very different way than you’d expect. Strength, yeah, but also gusto. I mean, she’s strong. She can kick ass. It hurts very much to do so and so it’s not like you’re watching her go take down a kingdom. You’re not watching going, "Yeah! Kill him!" Really it’s more like you’re watching someone having to do something that doesn’t just go against your sensibilities or that you agree with. It’s gutting. It’s physically gutting, literally. A million reasons, but she’s special.

Do you like that she’s not like your prissy fairy tale?

Yeah, because that’s just a very surface, though she is prissy sometimes. That’s the other thing. It takes her the whole movie basically to become who I’m talking about now. I’m really sort of talking in retrospect. It’s strange. It’s a total identity movie. It’s all about not finding yourself, but actually just being OK with who you always have been and not being ashamed of being the only one who sees the light. It’s an enormous burden and she’s so stunted. She was put away when she was 7 years old and your mother and your father were killed basically right in front of you. We’re not doing the version of a fairy tale that wouldn’t deal with all of those things, where you just sort of skim over all those things, and it's like all of these things are actually really important to the characters. She literally bleeds for her land and her people, and that’s just such a cool concept for me because it’s other people caring about people. It’s very simple, but it’s so common. Every day all the time you see people not caring about each other, and this is just about that.

She learns to be a leader or she’s born a leader inside, do you think?

She’s definitely a born leader. I mean, it’s literally pumping through those veins, but it’s been taken from her. She’s been so stolen from.

To read the rest of the interview, including her thoughts on Bella vs. Snow White and what it was like to punch Chris just

read more. Is it helping you get into the character's mindset to wear those cool costumes? Absolutely. If you look down and something doesn’t feel like you would definitely be wearing it, or if you go to grab your knife and it flops around or - basically [Colleen Atwood] thinks about every detail. It’s so wearable. I also have puffy sleeves. Somehow she manages to make puffy sleeves look butch. I was always expecting to personally wind up in a - basically what I’m wearing underneath it, like that little blue dress, which is just thin and wispy. I was really happy that she’s got something heavy on - a bit of armor before she actually finds her own armor. How did you feel the first time you put on the armor? Did you feel more badass? Yeah. That’s the first thing you want to [pound your chest]. Also, my armor doesn’t have a huge top on it. All the guys, unfortunately, they [raise their arms] and they hit themselves in the head. I can run around in mine. Somehow the armor on the men - unless they’re on horseback and they look amazing, but there’s also something kind of dainty about it, too, like pointy toes. It fits a woman’s body better, I feel. I don’t know, the guys running around suddenly look like little toys - slightly feminine little toys. Both Snow White and Bella had traumatizing experiences in the woods - being led out to die or have her heart broken - compare those two experiences? Well, it’s funny. I think [Snow White] genuinely lacks that innate fear of death that we all have. She’s got a serious, fierce survival - not skills, but insights. But she isn’t afraid of anything. What’s harder is to have dreams and hopes that you lived your whole life sort of be just shattered in front of you. So I think probably it’s totally impossible to compare the two. And I know that doesn’t make sense, but I kind of can’t compare. Can you compare the movies in general? Are there similarities at all? Bella and Snow White both come to find that they’re leaders. I mean, that’s definitely a similarity. They’re different. They’re very, very, very, different people. Also, I guess in a very sort of righteous way as well it’s all very like - everyone’s telling them “no” and both of them I guess see the light. Both of them are sort of a little more intuitive and spiritually, for whatever reason, connected and their gut is always sort of dead right. What about working with Chris surprised you? Did you have any preconceptions of him? Before I met him, I was like, "gosh, so charming." You know what I mean? Like he’s so ridiculously, seemingly nice. Movie-star caliber nice. But he really actually just is. But then again, it’s strange working - cause I mean it’s not a secret. It was completely different part before. It was totally like a rethought. So when he came in it was like "Wow! This is f*cking interesting!" I mean, it was like they really elevated it. Chris is an amazing, nice guy and also [has] great instincts and he can roll with everything on set. He’s really relaxed, whereas I’m always like, "oh my god!" I use my anxiety to do this and he’s always sort of like - he’s a good energy for me. I really like working with him. You actually punched Chris filming a scene and gave him a black eye? It’s actually a very confidence building experience. I don’t like punching anyone. So, you know, when you dream and your hand just slides right down their face, it doesn’t do that in real life. It really works. God, that really made me feel horrible, though. I mean, like instantly hot tears and I was like "oops!" We were watching it. It looks - it’ll be in the movie. Favorite fairy tale as a kid? I honestly don’t - somebody asked this the other day. I wasn’t here til the end of fairy tales. I really liked The Jungle Book. I was obsessed with The Jungle Book. Chris said Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and he was always like humming Enya as we were trudging up the mountain. I was saying basically, "You should make a remake of Lord of the Rings. Why are you doing this? . . . We’re doing Snow White and the Huntsman, Chris!" Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures