PARIS (AFP) ― John Galliano ― the label, not the man ― presented its fall-winter collection on Sunday in the intimate surroundings of a Parisian salon, and in a far more relaxed atmosphere, after a week that saw the spectacular fall from grace of the iconic British couturier.Eschewing Galliano’s signature passion for bigger-than-life theatrics, the lower-key presentation saw some of the world’s to

Arts & Design March 7, 2011

CHICAGO ― Blame it on Starbucks. Consumers seem to be looking for ways to personalize everything they buy. It’s not just picking apps for their phones, special touches for their shoes or music for their iPods, but down to customizing everything from mashed potatoes to the water they drink.Alexander Chernev, an associate professor of marketing at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, said co

Food March 7, 2011

WATERFORD, Ireland (AP) ― Waterford Crystal is renowned for its sparkle, and lately the city it is named for lives up to that description.Still, Waterford, in Ireland’s sunny southeast (sunny being a relative concept in Ireland), has not always had it easy. The city often is passed over by tourists in favor of Dublin’s nightlife or the emerald-green seaside hills of Kerry. And two years ago, the c

Travel March 4, 2011

VIENNA (AP) ― The TV cameras were told to ignore her, and Austria’s rich and powerful sought to avoid her. But amid all the bling on display at the Vienna Opera Ball, most eyes were still on one particular jewel ― Ruby.With Ruby, a.k.a. Karima el-Mahroug, at the center of the scandal plaguing Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, her scheduled appearance at Austria’s ball of balls on Thursday was a s

People March 4, 2011

Was there a St. Louis woman who could resist Ernest Hemingway?He married and divorced three of them, prompting Gertrude Stein to quip: “Anyone who’s married three girls from St. Louis hasn’t learned much.”One might argue it was the “girls” who didn’t learn.Yet we’ll forgive Hemingway’s first wife, who fell in love when he was only 21.Handsome and magnetic, Hemingway had little (although some) bagg

Books March 4, 2011

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― When Charlie Sheen threatened and maligned his bosses over “Two and a Half Men,” it was business and, to some people at least, bizarrely comic. When his estranged wife alleged that she and their twin toddlers were in peril from the TV star, the saga turned ugly.Sheen’s 23-month-old sons were removed from his home Tuesday night after Brooke Mueller Sheen claimed that he threatene

Television March 4, 2011

Work to build a grand scale taekwondo theme park in Muju, North Jeolla Province, is well underway, according to the head of the sport’s promotional body.The construction of Taekwondo Park, covering a total area of around 2 million square meters with $540 million in investment began last year and is expected to be completed in 2013, said Lee Dai-soon, head of Taekwondo Promotion Foundation. Lee, wh

More Sports March 3, 2011

Humans, perhaps Americans in particular, tend to share a certain creed that goes something like this: If one is good, two are better.That’s fine when it comes to dollars in the collection plate or hours spent volunteering, but not so with certain research-has-shown items consumed in the name of health. Think nuts, red wine, dark chocolate, coffee.Nuts, for instance, once thought to be merely delic

Technology March 3, 2011

TOKYO (AFP) ― Sony Music apologized on Wednesday for the Nazi-style uniforms worn by a Japanese pop band under its management in an MTV broadcast that triggered a protest from a U.S.-based Jewish rights group.The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles had voiced its “shock and dismay” at the appearance of the six-member J-Pop band Kishidan in SS-style uniforms with Nazi insignia such as the Iron C

Performance March 3, 2011

PALO ALTO, California ― Over hundreds of years, and thousands of miles, a collection of rare historic books now on display at America’s Stanford University bristles with an excitement as fresh as yesterday.The collection, “The American Enlightenment: Treasures from the Stanford University Libraries,” offers a glimpse of trans-Atlantic intellectual debates triggered by the discovery of the New Worl

Books March 3, 2011

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― The world’s richest man, telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, gave a sneak peak Tuesday at the new museum where he plans to show his vast collection of art and collectibles, including priceless pieces by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, French sculptor Auguste Rodin and Italian master Leonardo da Vinci.The Soumaya museum ― named after the tycoon’s late wife ― opens to the public on March 2

Performance March 2, 2011