Kids today have a million things to do. Most parents offer them a huge array of activities to take part in. The latest craze is for bendaroos: a super strong, brightly colored string which can be used to decorate pretty much anything that comes to mind. Is it worth buying bendaroos for a few weeks peace and quiet? How many other activities have they given up on? And why do kids with so much stimulation get bored so easily? Read the rest of this entry »

Sierra Hellemans is the five year old hula hooping diva. It’s embarrassing to be worse than a five year old at anything, so were all going to have to break out our hoops, oil up our hips and put these tips into action so we can be the next Sierra Hellemans. Read the rest of this entry »

If you were watching Lost last night, you might have come across an ad for Octagon Global Recruiting. It turns out that Octagon Global Recruiting doesn’t actually exist and it’s a clever hoax advert for San Diego’s Comic-Con. But where does it rank against other internet hoaxes? Read the rest of this entry »

Earthfest 2008 kicks off today in Boston.

Earthfest offers two days of entertainment in the name of saving the environment. This year’s attendance is expected to top 100,00 with this year being the biggest ever in Earthfest’s history.

As well as spreading the environmentally friendly message, the event will be giving exposure to the latest eco-friendly products and the good work of non-profit organizations that are working towards the protection of the environment and the world. There is no doubt that this message needs to be spread more now than it ever has before.

Of course, an extensive recycling scheme is in place at Earthfest. All vendors are asked to use fully recyclable materials for the food and drink packaging. The vendors are also encouraged to have their booths made out of environmentally friendly materials. Earthfest will even have ‘bike valets’ on hand to encourage people to cycle to Earthfest rather than taking the car.

Who is playing Earthfest 2008?

The big draws for this year’s Earthfest will be headliners CAKE and Cracker. Other acts performing are KT Tunstall, Guster, Mat Kearney, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Away from the main stage, they will have local bands playing on the Boston music stage and family oriented acts appearing on the kid’s planet stage.

All in all, it looks to be a great day out at Earthfest 2008

The Winner of Eurovision 2008 will be decided tonight in Belgrade, Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

This year sees the 53rd Song for Europe contest and the competition is heating up with this year set to be one of the closest contests yet. The bookmakers have released odds for the entries and the contest is extremely tight. There’s no telling who will walk away with the prize and win the honour of hosting next year’s competition. You’ll have to sit tight and watch and enjoy the competition yourself.

Who Won Eurovision 2008?

That’ll be the question on the lips of everyone this time tomorrow. This year’s Eurovision looks set to be one of the most hotly contested yet. Here are a few of the contestants and favourites:

Russia - Dima Bilan: Russia’s Dima Bilan is one of the favourites to win uerovision 2008. With the usual Balkan region block vote going to Russia, they stand every chance of walking away with a victory. There has been much criticism of former Russian countries all voting for each other. This has led to a string of victories for countries in the region. Russia’s entry in this year’s Eurovision is a song called Believe. Although it certainly isn’t the best song in the contest, the smart money is on Russia to become Eurovision champions or to at least finish strongly and take it up to the wire.

Ukraine - Annie Lorak: Ukraine, another Eastern block country, are also expected to do well. Their entry is Shady Lady. A dance track with plenty of strings, a big chorus and a catchy melody. The song was very popular in the semi-finals of Eurovision and looks set to repeat that popularity in the next stage.

Latvia - Pirates of the Sea: Latvia’s entry in the contest is a bunch of Eurovision pirates. The band will take to the stage dressed in full pirate costumes. The song itself is very poor but that hardly matters, the main attraction is such a hilarious spectacle of a bunch of pirates singing a low quality techno-pop song in broken English. And if they don’t win, they’re pirates, they will, as they say, “Steal the Show”.

Greece - Kalomira: Greece’s entry Secret Combination, is also expected to do well. It’s an excellent song with an Eastern influence, a great melody, a hot dance routine and a Beyonce style singer. This is my favourite in the contest and, if the best song wins, then Greece will be the Eurovision 2008 winner. However, they will be facing an uphill battle. With the current Balkan hegemony of the contest, it will be very difficult for them to break through into the top spot and take the competition no matter how good their entry is.

Serbia - Jelena Tomasevic: The Serbian entry for Eurovision will not doubt pick up plenty of goodwill as the host nation and will most likely pick up a large percentage of the pionts from their fellow Balkan region countries. However, this song is no where near as strong as their Eurovision winning song of last year.

UK - Andy Abraham: The UK have performed very poorly in Eurvision in recent years. and this year looks like it will not be an exception. Great Britain’s odds of winning Eurovision 2008 are currently 66 - 1. It will be a huge upset if he was able to overcome such long odds and take the championship back home to the United Kingdom next year. It’s much more likely that he will fighting to keep himself off the bottom of the table as the results are phoned in from around Europe. With Ireland not having made it past the semi-final stage, Britain’s best friend in the competition is gone and there is a good chance that the UK will be at the foot of the table for Eurovision 2008. Andy Abraham was chosen phone poll and this is not his first on TV phone poll victory. He also performed well in the X-Factor (the UK’s version of American Idol) which won him a place in the heart of UK song fans. He will be hoping that he can also charm the whole of Europe with his songs and win the song contest for the UK.

Sweden - Charlotte Perrelli: Sweden’s hopes to be Eurovision 2008 winners rest on the shoulders of Charlotte Perrelli. The bookmakers have Sweden as one of the favourites to win and it is a good song. There is also a Pirelli is somewhat surgically enhanced. Whether this will do her any favours in the contest is yet to be seen.

There are, of course, plenty more entries. But those are the ones most likely to walk away from the contest as the Eurovision 2008 Winner.