Best Leisure Time Blog

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 29

Jessica Simpson will join rock act Disturbed and comedian Carlos Mencia in Kuwait during a concert for U.S troops next month.

The event, to be held March 10, is set to be broadcast live on the social networking site MySpace.com.

“It’s truly an honor to perform for the troops,” Simpson said in a statement. “Through Operation MySpace, I get to serve my country by doing what I love to do in front of thousands of brave men in uniform. It’s every girl’s dream!”

Other acts are expected to be added to the bill, which also includes Filter and DJ Z-Trip.

“For years troops stationed all over the world have utilized MySpace as a lifeline to communicate with their loved ones back home,” said MySpace’s co-founder, Tom Anderson. “Many of them have been generous enough to share their unique experiences with me through messages on MySpace. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to thank them in person and bring along the entire MySpace community.”

An abbreviated version of the concert is set to air April 12 on the cable network FX.

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 26

So you’re not into skiing? There’s still plenty to do atop the mountain.

When Calum Clark, vice president of events for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, selects locations for Olympic-caliber competitions, he might consider Tamarack, Idaho, where he says a 22-foot half-pipe allows snowboarders to go “higher, bigger and more aggressive.”

Or he might think of Beaver Creek, Colo., where elite racing hill Birds of Prey is a favorite of competitive skiers.

“Part of [our] strategy is to go to the places with the very best terrain for the competition,” says Clark. He also looks for passionate resort staff and advanced snow-making technology. “That converts into a great skiing or snowboarding experience … which carries from the competitive to the recreational skier.”

Good news for avid winter athletes: These areas are open to the public and frequently offer more than just skiing and snowboarding; snowshoeing, hiking, tubing and even dog-sledding are all alternatives to spending a day on the slopes. Top spots include Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, Holmenkollen in Norway and Petite-Riviere-Saint-Francois in Quebec, Canada. With this winter’s U.S. snowfall already much better than 2007’s, and European slopes seeing snow in January, now is the best time to venture into the white.

By the numbers

Vacations or day trips to snowy areas can range from moderately priced to quite expensive. A two-hour drive to a nearby national or state park for tubing or hiking might involve only the cost of gas, an entrance fee and meals, whereas a weekend trip to a ski resort can quickly add up from ski rental to lift tickets to hotels to airfare. Two adults, for example, can expect to pay between $894 and $1,719 for a weekend stay at the Tamarack Resort, not including airfare and other expenses.

Still, the costliness of such resorts failed to deter the 55.1 million people who visited U.S. ski areas during the 2006-2007 season. Though there were fewer visits than in previous years, improved snow conditions in the U.S. this season may reverse that trend. The national daily average snow depth over a four-week period between January and February in 2007 was 3.8 inches; so far this year it’s been 6.3 inches, according to data from the National Weather Service.

To prepare for all that powder, travelers are stocking up on gear, says Alicia Allen, a spokeswoman for SnowSports Industries America, a trade association, including snowshoes and twin-tip skis, which allow a greater range of movement. Since 2006, specialty store sales of each increased by 21 percent and 32 percent, respectively, and may reflect a growing trend toward diversifying snow sports largely dominated by alpine skiing and snowboarding.

“People feel trapped [indoors], especially if they’re not a skier or snowboarder,” says Bobbi Sankey, marketing and outreach coordinator for the American Hiking Society. “But winter activities like hikes, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing can be just as enjoyable as fall activities.”

Winter hiking does not require a lot of gear — just sweat-wicking, non-cotton clothes, which keep a hiker warm and dry, and proper footwear to provide traction. Hikers should also pack high-quality snacks and water.

Top trails

A few of Sankey’s favorite winter hikes are on trails in Hollowell Park in the Rocky Mountain National Park and in the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City. These areas are also home to premier slopes like Park City in Utah and Beaver Creek, where resorts offer an array of sporting activities like ice skating, bobsledding and snowmobiling.

The international traveler is not without options, either. Tourists can experience a piece of ski history in Holmenkollen, Norway, where the world’s oldest ski museum is located alongside a famous 330-foot jump. Kitzbühel, Austria tempts countless skiers with hills that feature 85-degree angles in some places and opportunities for adventure hiking.

Those who prefer to keep it simple should try tubing. According to the National Ski Areas Association, 51 percent of 175 American ski areas surveyed last year offered visitors the chance to hurtle down a snowy embankment on an inner tube.

“Tubing is very easy,” says Troy Hawks, a spokesman for the NSAA. “A lot of resorts consider that a gateway sport to the outdoors.”

Information is taken from: Forbes

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 20

Want to know if you’ll get seasick, or gain weight? Answers for newbies.

1. What should be my first cruise?

There are two ways to go here. Most first-time cruisers choose a short cruise with lots of port calls; they do this because they’re afraid they’ll go crazy if they’re stuck aboard ship. While this is a good strategy if you just want to get your feet wet, I recommend looking for a longer itinerary with some “sea days.” That way you can relax and enjoy the ship’s facilities. It’s really the only way to find out what “cruising” is all about. So, look for a cruise with some balance between sea days and port days.

2. What about seasickness?

It may have all the amenities of a shoreside resort, but a cruise ship does travel on open water. Your body will register that motion no matter how big the ship is or how well it is stabilized. Therefore, if you experience severe motion sickness on land or on airplanes then cruising may not be for you.

Ordinary motion sickness can be relieved by remedies like Dramamine and acupressure bands. (If you forget to pack them, don’t worry; they are always available in the ship’s store.) If you’re susceptible to motion sickness, book a cabin on a lower deck in the middle of the ship where motion is minimized. Even better is a balcony cabin in the middle of the ship; fresh air really does help with motion sickness. If the going gets rough, you can get a motion sickness shot in the ship’s medical center, but understand you’ll be charged a fee ($75 on up).

3. Do I have to get dressed up every night?

If you love dressing up, then by all means do so. But cruising has become less formal in recent years, so fancy dress is optional. In fact, many new ships offer several informal dining venues (e.g., sushi bars, pizzerias, buffets and snack bars) where you needn’t dress up at all. Still, most ships continue to offer two formal nights in the main dining rooms: the Captain’s Welcome and the Farewell Dinner. Formal-night attire ranges from tuxedos to dark suits for men; for women, formal dress ranges from long gowns to dressy pantsuits. More casual dress is appropriate in the dining rooms on other occasions, but most ships do not allow jeans, shorts or sleeveless men’s tops in any dining venue.

4. Do I have to sit with strangers at dinner?

One of the best parts of cruising is getting to meet people from all walks of life. But if you are uncomfortable sitting with people you don’t know, you can arrange a table change with the maitre d’ - but you must do so as soon as you get on board. If you wait too long, the staff may not be able to accommodate you. Understand that tables for two are scarce aboard ship except on luxury cruise lines like Silversea.

5. What about tipping?

Except on a few luxury cruise ships that have “no tipping required” policies, passengers are expected to tip their cabin steward, dining room waiter and assistant waiter. Many lines recommend that each passenger tip about $10 per day, as follows: cabin steward, $3.50; dining room waiter and assistant waiter, $5.50 (shared); and bistro service waiter and cooks, $1. Bar bills are automatically charged a 15 percent gratuity for the bartender. Special service personnel such as the maitre d’, deck stewards and bellmen should be tipped as service is rendered.

Some cruise lines offer to add the suggested gratuities to your shipboard account; the accounting office then distributes the tips at the end of the cruise. On other ships, you leave cash in an envelope on the last evening of your cruise. Understand that ships’ crews work very hard to make your cruise top-notch. Unless the service has actually been poor, tip the recommended amount. For outstanding service, add a little more. To get an idea of how much to tip, visit Cruise Tip Calculator, a nifty Web site that lists tipping amounts for each crew member on most cruise lines.

Here’s a tip from me to you: Get your cash tips in order before your cruise and have them organized in separate envelopes for each crew member. Believe me, there’s nothing worse than waiting in a long line at the cruise desk on the last night of the cruise to get all your cash tips in order.

6. Will I gain weight?

Cruising is the ultimate “see food” diet — you see food, you eat it. Yes, most passengers end up with more to love after a cruise. But you don’t have to become a sloth in a deck chair; there are plenty of active pursuits to enjoy aboard ship. Most ships have exercise rooms, pools, jogging tracks and fitness classes covering everything from aerobics to yoga. Newer cruise ships like Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas offer boxing, rock climbing and surfing classes, while traditional ships like the Queen Mary 2 offer walk-a-mile deck-lapping sessions and aerobics.

7. Can I do my laundry on board?

Most ships have self-service laundry rooms with ironing boards. On most mainstream and premium cruise lines, you’ll have to pay to use the washers and dryers. On luxury lines like Crystal, Regent, Seabourn, Silversea and Regent, the self-serve laundry is complimentary. Don’t want to waste valuable vacation time doing laundry? Then send your clothes to the ship’s laundry or dry cleaner; there will be a per-item charge. During the cruise, many ships offer a “laundry bag special”: For a set fee (usually $10-$20), laundry crew will wash everything you can cram into the laundry bag.

Cruising is a vacation like no other. It offers vast open seas, and the scenery changes every day. The food and service are better than in a resort hotel, all food and entertainment is included in the price, and you have to unpack only once. Believe me, once you try cruising, you will be hooked for life.

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 15

While some winter vacationers are happy to nurse cocktails on a beach, others — the few, the hardcore — take trips specifically to dive. In the middle, of course, are plenty of us who like to switch it up: dive for a few days, enjoy the beach, soak up the electric green of a rainforest and the incandescent blue of tropical skies. And maybe nurse a few of those cocktails, too.

The quest to determine the world’s best scuba sites is practically its own cottage industry. Considering that only about a third of this planet exists above sea level, there’s a surfeit of good options just below the surface. Ours is not a competing line-up of the top diving spots around the world; rather, it’s a look at the best winter diving escapes. When it’s cold outside and the sky is gray, these places beckon with not only world-class diving, but sunny shores, remarkable vistas and luxurious accommodations.

To make this list, each of these diving destinations offers premium underwater visibility and, of course, a high probability of seeing magnificent sea life and vibrant reefs. But that’s not all. They must also feature plush accommodations, exotic locales or unparalleled above-water scenery. And while it would be easy to populate this list by focusing solely on the Caribbean, we’ve instead assembled a global panel of experts to assess the best winter scuba escapes —from Costa Rica to Queensland. Think of these places as rehab for the winter doldrums.

There’s quite a range to these sites. Cocos Island off of Costa Rica requires divers to pony up for live-aboard ships; and the Lakshadweep Islands, offshore from India, have few established accommodations. The Maldives, on the other hand, are stacked with all-inclusive luxury resorts. But that doesn’t mean the first two destinations are anything less than spectacular; most visitors will spend part of their vacation on the mainland Pacific Coast of Costa Rica or tropical Kerala in South India, respectively — the diving is just part of the overall trip.

For North Americans, Central America is a surprisingly quick three- to four-hour flight from the southern states. An emerging winter scuba escape is Panama’s Coiba Island, the largest island in Central America. A penal colony for most of the 20th century, it remains underdeveloped and is one of the last places in Central America where the scarlet macaw still thrives in the wild. Matthew Firestone, who has covered Panama and Costa Rica for Lonely Planet Guidebooks, explains, “Fed by the warm Indo-Pacific current through the Gulf of Chiriqui, Coiba is home to a unique underwater ecosystem atypical of this region, and attracts large populations of pelagics including sharks, whales, dolphins and manta rays as well as enormous schools of fish.”

Brazil is represented twice on this list. The Fernando de Noronha archipelago off the northeastern coast is generally recognized as one of the best places to dive in South America. The islands also present a cornucopia of other water sports, on-land adventures and idyllic beaches. Adriana Schmidt, owner of the innovative Noronha-based travel agency Your Way, lives on the archipelago and is a certified PADI Dive Master. When not enjoying Noronha’s ideal diving conditions, she likes to travel south to Abrolhos Marine National Park in the state of Bahia. Just 45 miles off shore, the group of five volcanic islands claims some 80 million square feet of coral reefs. The area is known for its unique coral pinnacles called chapeirão, which look like enormous mushrooms topped with domes of brain coral and fans of colorful fire coral. Back on land, it’s a short trip to blissed-out beach towns such as Trancoso and Morro de São Paulo, or up the coast to the animated state capital, Salvador.

Sri Lanka-based Gaya Sriskanthan, senior program officer for Marine and Coastal Ecosystems for IUCN (The World Conservation Union), suggests that the Lakshadweep Islands off of India “have the lovely, off-the-beaten track dive sites … while the best commercial sites are bound to be in the Maldives.” Adrift in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives are more than 1,000 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls. (The English word “atoll” actually comes from the local term “atholhu”). Here, you will find some of the planet’s best underwater visibility and access to large open water marine species. Luxury and seclusion are not hard to come by either — more than 80 of the islands have resorts. Many are single resort islands, so it’s more difficult to find crowds than it is to discover your own private stretch of sand.

When it comes to reef diving, it doesn’t get any more tremendous than Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The world’s largest single structure made by living organisms lies off the coast of Queensland, Australia’s “Sunshine State.” The state capital, Brisbane, is worth its own trip. Between the street festivals, the Queensland Ballet and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) — the largest modern art gallery in Australia — there’s plenty to help you decompress from winter gloom.

Information is taken from: Forbes Traveler

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 10

Star rapper is working on a book titled, ‘The Way I Am,’ due out this fall.

Eminem is working on a book that’s “every bit as raw and uncensored as the man himself,” according to his publisher.

Dutton Books, an imprint of The Penguin Group, announced Wednesday that it would be publishing the best-selling rapper’s “The Way I Am” this fall.

“It will be illustrated with never-before-seen photographs of Eminem’s home and life along with original drawings,” Dutton said in a statement.

The rapper’s spokesman, Dennis Dennehy, said the memoir “is still in the process of being written and edited.”

The book was described as an intimate look inside the life of Eminem, who has sold tens of millions of records since he made his provocative debut in 1999.

“Offering a window on the star’s private thoughts on everything from his music and the trials of fame to his love for his daughter, Hailie, this title is every bit as raw and uncensored as the man himself,” Dutton said.

The Grammy and Academy Award-winning rapper has published one other book, “Angry Blonde.” The 2002 work detailed his lyrics.

Eminem has not released a new album since 2004’s “Encore,” and his representative said there’s no CD scheduled to be released from the rapper at this time.

Source: The Associated Press

posted by Adam Johns on Feb 4

Album will be singer’s last release for Warner Bros.

Madonna has dubbed her final album of new material for her longtime Warner Bros. label “Hard Candy,” and will release it on April 29, her publicist confirmed on Tuesday.

The album, which features such songs as “Candy Store” and the first single “Four Minutes,” is the follow-up to ”Confessions on a Dance Floor,” which debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart in November 2005.

The title and release date were first reported by Entertainment Weekly’s Web site, and the details were confirmed by Madonna’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg. Entertainment Weekly quoted Rosenberg as saying the 49-year-old singer “loves candy.”

“Hard Candy” will be Madonna’s last studio release for Warner Bros. before she begins a wide-ranging 10-year recording, touring and merchandising deal with Artist Nation, a new initiative launched by concert promoter Live Nation. Warner Bros., a unit of Warner Music Group Corp will also release a hits collection.