West Coast Cooler are giving away a ten-day holiday to Thailand, worth (wait for it) an incredible €10,000. The best part? You’ll get to bring your three best mates too.
West Coast Cooler are looking for imaginative, creative and original entries. You’ll find out more information here. All we can say is: wowsers! #WCCsummer
We all know that people who spend the majority of their day sitting at a desk are likely to face some interesting health issues as result.
Sore necks, backs and poor posture in general are often associated with those who are desk-bound.
Now it has been found that prolonged sitting can be just as bad for your health as smoking. According to researchers at Queens University Belfast, sitting for long periods of time has is linked to increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and even early death.
Dr. Mark Tully from the UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health at the university said that people can spend up to 80 per cent of their waking hours sitting down.
“Public health scientists have recognised the need to develop effective interventions to address the high levels of inactivity across ages, with sitting regarded as the new smoking,” he said.
Dr Tully is a regular user of a treadmill desk and said his office also has standing desks in place.
“Those of us who stand while we work are more creative and productive in our working lives too. So it may well be that sitting is reducing productivity in our workplaces,” he said.
He also said in a previous study people who spent most of their time sitting were 50 per cent more likely to die than the people who spent the least amount of time sitting.
So what can we do to help break the unhealthy cycle?
“Break up your sitting with a little bit of standing. What my colleagues do is drink lots of water because that encourages breaks to go and relieve yourself,” he said.
We will more than willing to deal with a queue for the bathroom at the office if it means we can live longer and healthier lives.
The 42-year old Mysterious Girl singer, and newlywed Peter Andre has always prided himself on being very hands-on when it comes to his kids.
In his latest column for new! magazine, the pop star has confessed that of late his eldest child Junior,10, has been asking him some awkward questions.
Junior would like to know what the word ‘virgin’ means.
“One of the questions I’m getting asked a lot is, "What's a virgin?" Oh my God!” Peter writes that he’s not exactly the best at lying, and telling the truth apparently wasn’t an option.
So what did he do instead?
“I got round it by telling him, "In a drink, virgin means no alcohol and that’s all you need to know right now."
Peter’s diversion tactics didn’t seem to be enough to distract Junior however as he kept pressing on, much to Peter’s discomfort. Junior wanted to know where babies come from.
Asking his dad for some clarification on the matter, Junior also informed him: “Dad, I’m not stupid, I know.”
Peter, who also has 2 daughters, 8-year old Princess from his marriage to Katie Price and one-year old Amelia with his wife of over a month Emily McDonagh, 26, has recently announced his musical comeback.
He has signed a record deal with East West Records despite his being drawn into a bitter legal battle with his former TV producer Neville Hendricks and ITV2.
Escaping the interrogation from Junior, and his legal woes, the pop star has recently been enjoying the sights in Venice with wife Emily as they make up for lost time. They were forced to postpone their time away together due to Peter’s High Court row.
Friends may have ended over a decade (!) ago, but we can still recite just about every major quote from the entire ten series. Plus, thanks to E4, box sets and the joys of YouTube, even if you weren't a diehard fan you've no doubt been subjected to repeated viewings of every episode since the show finished in 2004.
As self-confessed Friends addicts, now and forever, we were delighted to discover that there was on scene in particular we had yet to see.
Back in 2001, the crew behind Friends wrote and filmed a scene in which Monica and Chandler are apprehended at the airport and accused of being terrorists as they head off on their long-awaited honeymoon to Cancun. The reason? Chandler starts joking about bombs within earshot of security, of course.
The episode was due to air in late September of that year but had to be completely rewritten after the tragic events of 9/11 two weeks before the scheduled air date.
Although the full deleted scene first leaked a few years back, it's been popping up on social media again over the last 24 hours. We're not sure why but we aren't going to question it… anything for more of Chandler's antics, please.
If Kanye gets his way, and he tends to if we’re being honest, then North West could be hitting the list of highest paid celebrities before she’s out of the terrible twos.
Kanye, 38, has apparently told wife Kim that he doesn’t mind of North appears on her family’s reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians. He just wants her to be paid.
Actually, he wants her to be paid more than her grown-up co-stars.
Hollywood Life reports that according to an insider on the E! reality series, “He wants North to be famous.”
He’s already informed Kim that if North’s going to be a regular on the show, then she needs to be paid more than all of Kim’s sisters and Kris, 59! If not, it isn’t happening.”
While there has yet to be any sightings of the youngest Kardashian- West making her way to the bank with a deposit, she has been spotted filming scenes for the series more often.
Another insider has confirmed that “North is being filmed with Kim.” They continued that Kim is extremely protective over the scenes in which Nori will be a part of for the show.
“All decisions for North are made jointly [between Kim and Kanye].”
So if North appears on the show, and the rumours about her salary negotiations with Kanye are true, how much does she earn?
In March, Ok! magazine reported that the family had signed a deal with E! for another four years of the series worth almost €100 million.
Of this Kim was expected to receive 30 percent, after this Kris was the highest earner of the series reportedly taking home €15 million.
So, does this mean North could be getting pay checks of €16 million? That’s an awful lot tutus.
If you've ever had a pet go missing, you'll know the awful feeling of anxiety it causes. For some of us, it's as bad as losing a family member.
So we're guessing whoever decided to plaster their town with these "Cat Found" posters has certainly never had to deal with such a situation. An Irish Reddit user spotted this seriously tactless sign pinned up in the town of Killincarrig, Co Wicklow, earlier this week, and had to share it with the world.
"MARMALADE CAT FOUND," it begins.
So far, so good. But wait, there's more…
"Sadly, the cat had been knocked down and killed by the time we found it," the poster continues. "We wanted to let the owners know."
We seriously hope the cat's owners heard the news from another source first. That's certainly not a sign you want to stumble upon without warning…
Just last month it seemed romance could be blossoming for Selena Gomez and Niall Horan, but now it turns out she has her eyes on another 1D member. Well, a former 1D member to be exact.
Speaking on Manchester radio station Key 102 FM yesterday, Selena couldn't help but gush a little about Zayn Malik. "I love him, he's awesome," she said excitedly, adding that she would be there for him if he needed support.
"I know Zayn, so it's almost like if he would ever want to reach out, he knows that he could," Selena told the station.
And while Zayn's 1D departure has seen him burn quite a few bridges in the music industry, Selena reckons he's made a good choice by going it alone. "I think that's so exciting for him to go and figure out what he wants to do [in his solo career], but I don't know what that is. I think it'll be pretty exciting," she said.
Earlier this week the One Direction star raised a few eyebrows when he suddenly started following Selena on Twitter, making her his latest celeb social media prey. The follow came days after Zayn was caught slyly favouriting an old photo of Kylie Jenner… a rookie mistake, as any social media stalker knows.
ZAYLENA THE POWER COUPLE WILL NOW RISE @zaynmalik @selenagomez pic.twitter.com/RjtwUsFkVg
— #1 Jimin Stan (@godIyjimin) August 4, 2015
Speaking about the unexpected addition to her 32m Twitter followers, Selena admitted she hadn't even noticed. "I had no idea what that was until somebody else asked me," she told BBC's Chris Stark and Scott Mills.
"Obviously I know Zayn, though, so it’s not like a weird thing. I just didn’t know who followed me,"
Justin better watch out all the same…
“Will it ever end?” We hear your cries as yet another contouring development is brought before us all.
The answer seems to be, for now anyway, a resounding no. Contouring is the way of the future, people have been saying this for a quite a while now so we might as well all just climb on board. Teen Vogue are the latest to praise the trend, and they only trust Cocoa Brown with their contour.
The next phase in the contouring cycle is: ‘tontouring’.
Developed by none other than Marissa Carter of Cocoa Brown, tontouring is “the opportunity to wake up looking naturally, perfectly contoured,” the beauty mogul explains to Teen Vogue.
Yes, Cocoa Brown is not just for us and a certain Kardashian-Jenner sister, Teen Vogue are huge fans too.
This approach to contouring uses make up brushes and different shades of tan (Marissa suggests the mousse formula to avoid clogged pores) to create “dimension.”
Using a foundation brush and tan to create a base glow, she then uses a darker shade and a contour brush under the cheek bones to make them appear higher and more defined.
According to Marissa the biggest perk of using fake tan as a contouring tool is that you only need to do it once a week, the tan lasts longer than your usual make up.
As the magazine points out though, if you are going to try the tontouring approach you should probably take some time and do it right for the first application:
“Self-tanner is not always the easiest formula to work with.”
Indeed, nobody enjoys having streaky fake tan anywhere, especially not on your face. We do love our Cocoa Brown though. We really want to trust that it would never let us down.
Following two of the nation's most talked about televised competition, the 2015 Rose of Tralee was finally crowned in The Dome to much applause and sparkle. That crown though… amazing.
Congratulations are in order for Elysha Brennan from Bettystown in Co. Meath.
The 22-year old managed to scoop the title from the 31 other roses gathered in Tralee to become the first ever Meath rose to have claimed the crown.
An avid Late Late Show fan, Elysha told the audience on Monday night that her friends know by now not to try and invite her to any social events on a Friday evening because she will be otherwise engaged. Such dedication.
Not only does she make sure she has her television watching down to a fine art, Elysha has also made plenty of time to get some studying in. She is currently a medical student at the Royal College of Surgeons. While being interviewed by Daithí on Monday, Elysha spoke candidly about her journey to medical school.
A huge congrats to Elysha Brennan @MeathRose1 – 2015 Rose of Tralee@RoseofTralee_ #MeathRose #roseoftralee #Meath pic.twitter.com/8DksgYpmmW
— Gary O'Meara #Meath (@GaryOMeara_) August 19, 2015
When she was just weeks away from sitting her Leaving Cert exams, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She opted to continue with her exams and following that underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Thankfully she has been in remission for two years. She said upon winning, "I suppose I’ve experienced the lowest of lows and this is just the highest of highs." She also thanked her fellow roses saying she had never before been surrounded by such "spectacular" women.
Meath Rose beat cancer, scored 525 in her Leaving, is nearly a fully trained doctor & she can sing a tune. Cynicism pause #roseoftralee
— Eoghan McDermott (@eoghanmcdermo) August 17, 2015
Oh yes, and we couldn't forget about that talent. For her party piece the student opted to give us a fabulous rendition of Mary Black's The Bright Blue Rose.
There were hardly any dry eyes left in The Dome, or around the country for that matter.
Congratulations Elysha!
At this stage we've come to expect surprises at Taylor Swift's 1989 gigs, but we definitely didn't see this one coming.
The singer was performing in Glendale, Arizona on Monday night when she sang a song in honour of some very special people in her life. Taylor's single Ronan was released back in 2012 to raise money for children's cancer research, and she has only performed it live on one other occasion.
The song was written in honour of Ronan Thompson, an Arizona boy who died from neuroblastoma in 2011 aged just four years old.
Ronan's diagnosis, treatment and his cancer's tragic outcome were all documented on a blog, Rockstar Ronan, beautifully written by his mother Maya.
Taylor's only previous live performance of Ronan was back in 2012 at a Stand Up For Cancer fundraiser. However as Maya and her other children were in the audience as special guests on Monday night, the singer performed the charity single in their honour… and in honour of others affected by serious illnesses, including her own mother Andrea.
Andrea was diagnosed with cancer in January of this year, after agreeing to undergo a full health screening as her Christmas present to Taylor.
"In my opinion, one of the bravest things that a human being could ever do is to go through something absolutely unbearable and then share their experience with the world. And I think the braver you are, the more brutally honest you are," Taylor told the crowd.
"There's a woman here tonight named Maya Thompson… And I wouldn't know half as much as I know about childhood cancer and childhood cancer research if she hadn't shared her story about her son Ronan… I would read it every night."
Choking back tears, Taylor mentioned her own family's experience with the disease, saying, "And since then, I've had cancer hit really close to me in my family."
Before beginning the song, Taylor warned fans she might not make it through to the end. "I just wanted to take a moment to try and play this song," she said. "I can't promise that I will sing it well or not get really emotional, but I'm gonna try…I think because Maya's here tonight, I think she deserves it."
Maya herself took to Instagram after the emotional gig, posting a picture of herself and her family posing with the singer. "I love you. @taylorswift You have my heart for the rest of my life and beyond," she wrote.
What a beautiful moment.
Over the weekend rugby payer Keegan Hirst came out as the first openly gay player.
In an interview with The Sunday Mirror, he spoke openly about coming out to his teammates and how he found it challenging to come to terms with his own sexuality at times.
Keegan, 27, who plays for Batley Bulldogs and is a father of two children said that it was as if he was “letting out a long breath that I’ve held in for a long time.”
He raised by a single mother in a council estate in Batley and Keegan says that he struggled as a young man to come to terms with his sexuality:
“I had a wife and kids. I’ve been a builder, doorman, worked in factories, I play rugby. I tick every macho box. How could I be gay? I’m from Batley for goodness sake. No one is gay in Batley.”
Finally back to a bit of normality. Training with this mob. Getting ready for @BatleyRLFC v @Doncaster_RLFC. pic.twitter.com/dGnoIeBYTn
— Keegan Hirst (@KeeganHirst) August 18, 2015
Only a few weeks ago he split up with his wife who he says blamed herself but Keegan says he couldn’t bear the guilt of it all, “of her not knowing.”
Since the news broke, many people have been sharing messages of support with the sports star. One of those being human rights activist and Harry Potter star Emma Watson.
Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation.
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) August 18, 2015
In a series of tweets about courage, Emma proved to one of many A-list stars to show their support for Keegan’s decision to speak publicly about his personal life.
…. Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death,
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) August 18, 2015
while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal or discouragement. @KeeganHirst #gotboth
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) August 18, 2015
Another was Stephen Fry.
Massive thanks to @stephenfry and @EmWatson for the follow. Surreal or what
— Keegan Hirst (@KeeganHirst) August 18, 2015
In 2013 Emma, a UN Goodwill Ambassador with the HeForShe campaign made headlines for her speech inviting men to join the fight for gender equality.
As a #HeForShe, I'm committed to #genderequality. I invite you to stand with me. @HeForShe http://t.co/sqXFqIhxtW
— Keegan Hirst (@KeeganHirst) August 18, 2015
She continues to speak on issues of equality regularly, something which Keegan himself has recognised for a while now it seems!
She's certainly lost a significant amount of weight since the beginning of the year – something she attributes to being busy and the death of her father-in-law.
And while she's previously expressed her annoyance at the 'body-shamers' who declare her too thin, it's clear that some fans remain worried about Cheryl Fernandez Versini's appearance.
Tonight, The X Factor judge was launching her third fragrance, StormFlower Noir, at Aqua in London.
For the occasion, the 32-year-old wore an elegant Narciso Rodriguez black jumpsuit (priced at €2,950) which she accessorised with an OTT gold collar.
However, numerous commentators declared that her choice of outfit merely accentuated her incredibly slim physique.
"Have a nice and big big lunch!!" said one alongside a picture that Cheryl shared this evening on Instagram.
"You look so skinny," said another bluntly. "U are amazing but very skinny," declared a further individual, while one account holder stated: "You Need to eat some food baby girl too slim… beautiful pic tho."
Recently, the singer told the Daily Mirror: "No, I’m not anorexic. I work 12 to 14 hours a day. I don’t even have time at the moment to exercise – and I don’t need to either."
She had previously taken to her social media accounts to angrily declare: "I am so sick and tired of it being OK to call somebody too thin or a bag of bones.
"I would never dream of calling somebody too fat and that they should maybe cut down on their food intake?
"What is the difference?'
