Dallas, U.S.A. — Your choice of travel mate can make or break your ideal vacation experience. One sloppy best friend or chain-smoking cousin could put an immediate damper on the dream trip you’ve been planning forever.

Hotels.com recently conducted a national survey that sought out the top traits Americans look for, and avoid, in a hotel roommate. The poll also investigated additional elements essential to a perfect retreat, including the most popular destinations vacation-goers would choose to spend a free night, which celebrities they most wanted to share a room with, and which ones they would want to give the boot.

“Americans have spoken, and according to our survey findings, travelers are looking for smart, funny, like-minded individuals to enjoy their wanderlust journeys with,” said Taylor L. Cole, director of public relations and social media for Hotels.com in North America. “Hotels.com is perpetually fueled by the idea of ‘what drives you to travel,’ whether it be cuisine, adventure, shopping or art. This survey is an interesting extension of this endeavor because it takes a closer look at the question of ‘who drives you to travel.’”

Make me laugh

The top three characteristics that consumers most look for in someone they are to share a hotel room with are a sense of humor, trustworthiness, and similar lifestyle values. Intelligence, which came in fourth overall, was ranked higher in importance by men than women. Nevertheless, one thing both genders fully agreed on was that hygiene was important enough to round out the top five most sought-out characteristics.

The ultimate deal breaker

When it comes to characteristics travelers least look for in someone that they are to share a hotel room with, being a smoker was the undisputed, least desired trait with a total of 66 percent of respondents ranking it as the most unwelcome trait.

Sharing the presidential suite

Of the over 1,500 hotel-goers who took part in our survey, 18 percent of them voted First Lady Michelle Obama to the top of the list of celebrities, historical, fictional or political figures Americans would most want to room with on their next vacation.

The 18-29 age group was the only faction to set their sights on another potential roomie – Will Ferrell. Ferrell took the number one spot among the youngest group of respondents, followed by Beyonce. Michelle Obama tied for third with Natalie Portman and David Beckham.

The leading lady with the top vote from male respondents was Natalie Portman, who received 19 percent of the vote. Marilyn Monroe was another favorite among the guys, coming in a close second with 18.7 percent of the vote.

Don’t want your poker face

One public figure clearly emerged from the rest as the least preferred travel mate of all. With 24 percent of the overall response count, Lady Gaga was voted an undesirable travel mate by all age groups represented in this survey. Other objectionable figures include Ryan Seacrest and Spiderman.

No place like rome

When asked to identify the perfect place to spend a free hotel stay, the survey participants across genders and age groups almost universally agreed that Rome, Italy was the place to go. Again, the only group that diverged from this conclusion was the 18-29 year-old age sect, who favored the glitz and glam of Las Vegas, before Rome, which they listed as their second favorite.

Rome received 22 percent of the overall vote, while the second most popular choice overall was Paris, receiving 14 percent of the votes. Las Vegas proved to be popular among more than just the twenty-somethings by coming in third overall with 13.5 percent of the total vote count.

To earn free hotel stays, sign up for the Hotels.com loyalty program, Welcome Rewards, which gives members a free hotel night after booking and staying 10 nights. Even better, members have more than 65,000 properties to choose from, with no blackout dates.

Image Courtesy of  Domain Barnyard

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From Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman’s stacked bracelets to Angelina Jolie and Jessica Biel’s diamond stud earrings, Hollywood’s leading actresses chose to celebrate their achievements with platinum jewelry at the 69^th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Platinum is naturally white, so it never changes color or fades, thereby maximizing the brilliance of diamonds and colored gemstones. It is the ideal setting for the red carpet. Following is a list of stars that celebrated the night’s achievements in platinum:

Angelina Jolie

-Platinum and diamond stud earrings (25 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond ring (12 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Reese Witherspoon

-Platinum and European cut diamond drop earrings (9 carats each) by Fred Leighton
-A pair of platinum and diamond bracelets from 1900 by Fred Leighton
-Platinum and diamond bracelet from the 1920s by Fred Leighton

Natalie Portman

-Platinum and diamond drop earrings by Harry Winston
-3 platinum and diamond bracelets by Harry Winston
-Platinum and pear shaped diamond cluster ring by Harry Winston

Jessica Biel

-Platinum and round diamond opera length necklace worn down her back by Tiffany & Co.
-Platinum and round solitaire diamond stud earrings by (6.12 carats) by Tiffany & Co.

Emma Stone

­-Blackened platinum and ruby stud earrings (19 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Lea Michele

-Blackened platinum and diamond earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum and emerald ring (29 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Claire Danes

-Platinum earrings with princess cut diamonds by Bulgari

Jessica Alba

-Platinum earrings with diamonds (37.14 carats) by Bulgari

Kate Beckinsale

-Platinum and diamond mesh bowtie earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond braided cuffs by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond geometric cuff by Lorraine Schwartz
*Total is 300 carats of diamonds

Jodie Foster

-Platinum and diamond earrings (8 carats) by Bulgari
-Platinum bracelet with 84 diamonds (42.61 carats) by Bulgari
-Platinum and diamond ring by Bulgari

Stacey Keibler

-Platinum and diamond cluster earrings by Chopard (9 carats)

Sofia Vergara

-Platinum and diamond earrings by Harry Winston
-2 Platinum and diamond bracelets by Harry Winston
-Platinum and diamond ring by Harry Winston

Jessica Chastain

-Platinum cluster earrings with pearl and diamonds by Harry Winston
-Platinum and diamond feather ring by Harry Winston
-Vintage platinum and diamond bracelet by Harry Winston

Emma Roberts (Warner Bros./InStyle party)

-Platinum and diamond cluster earrings (15 carats) by Chopard
-2 platinum and diamond cuffs (107 total carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and rose cut diamond ring (15 carats) by Chopard

Diane Lane

-Platinum chandelier earrings with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane
-Platinum cocktail ring with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane
-Platinum bangle bracelets with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane

Zooey Deschanel

-Platinum Estate ring from 1970 featuring pearl and diamonds by Van Cleef & Arpels

Dianna Agron

-Platinum bow bracelet with onyx and diamonds from the 1920s by Fred Leighton
-Platinum line bracelet with diamonds and onyx from the 1920s by Fred Leighton

Sarah Hyland

-Blackened platinum and multicolored diamond flower earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond ring by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond cuff by Lorraine Schwartz

Piper Perabo

-Platinum and diamond cuff by Tiffany & Co.
-Platinum and diamond stud earrings by Tiffany & Co.

Debra Messing

-Blackened platinum, amethyst and emerald drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and emerald ring by Lorraine Schwartz

Julianne Moore

-Platinum earrings with diamonds and emerald bead tassels by Fred Leighton

Julianna Margulies

-Blackened platinum, green jade and diamond drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

Paula Patton

-Platinum and diamond “Firecracker” earrings by Kwiat
-Platinum and diamond bracelets by Kwiat

Madonna

-5 platinum and diamond bracelets by Neil Lane
-Platinum and diamond cocktail ring by Neil Lane

Helen Mirren

-Platinum pendant earrings with sapphire and diamonds from the 1950s by Fred Leighton
-Platinum barrel link bracelet with sapphire and diamonds from the 1930s by Fred Leighton

Queen Latifah

-Platinum and diamond chandelier earrings (30 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and asscher cut diamond bracelet (40 carats) by Chopard

Andrea Riseborough

-Platinum and diamond necklace (25 carats) by Neil Lane

Jane Lynch

-Blackened platinum, black diamond and blue sapphire earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum ring by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum bracelet by Lorraine Schwartz

Jane Fonda

-Platinum and diamond drop necklace (38 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and diamond bracelet (43 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and cushion cut diamond drop earrings (7 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and diamond heart shaped rings featuring 390 diamonds (14 carats) by Chopard

Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

The article Stars Don Platinum Jewelry for the Golden Globe Awards appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Hear that creak? That’s the old trend wheel cycling around, slow, steady, and predictable? Much like the oddly similar collections from opposing designers in fashion week, we often see parallel trends in film.

In 2005, we saw the Wedding trend: Wedding Crashers and The Wedding Date premier within weeks of each other. Wedding Crashers follows the adventures of two young bachelors (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn) as the crash weddings to meet women.  In The Wedding Date, Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) takes a male escort (Delmot Mulroney) to her sister’s wedding to pretend she is not single. Both revolve around weddings and treachery, and, with the ringing of church bells so loud, it would be of little surprise if the number of engagement rings sold that year skyrocketed.

This year, we see a similar, yet opposing trend as two new films explore the concept of ‘friends with benefits’. In the soon-to-be-released like-named film, Friends with Benefits, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis’ relationship quickly goes from friendly to complicated when they add sex to the mix. Similarly, in No Strings Attached, two childhood friends, Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, decide to take things to the next level but promise to keep emotions out of it. However, they soon find themselves falling in love, and their arrangement unravels.

What does this mean for 2011? It looks like popular culture is finally catching up with the downward marriage trend of the last few decades, embracing the disassociation with marriage that may be related to the high divorce rates of our parents’ generation. According to the Pew Research Center’s Decennial Census and American Community Survey, 72% of Americas aged 18 and over were married in 1960, compared with just 52% in 2008. On the contrary, the upward trend of those who never married increased from 15% in 1960 to 27% in 2008.

Thankfully this can be seen to mean a loosing in a cultural ideology bound in centuries of tradition where young people do not need to follow the straight in narrow, but in fact have many choices in life. After all, the French translation of the title No Strings Attached is Sex Friends, which, althoug that culture is known to be more open sexually, is a case point. Alas, vive la vie, and have fun kids! There is so much more to life than the American dream.

Please find more information about this subject below:

http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/11/18/five-decades-of-marriage-trends/

Wedding Crashers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeUSo8voIXM

The Wedding Date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97EPy5Ky448

Friends with Benefits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34xfcoRceeU

No Strings Attached: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubfcfs98MBw

The article Movie Trend Reflects Societal Shift appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

This is a concept that would be any guys dream. Sex with one of your closets friends with no emotional attachment. It’s a good idea in your head, but in reality something happens and you’re the ones responsible for taking care of it. That’s what this romantic comedy is centered around two good longtime friends Adam, Ashton Kutcher,and Emma,Natalie Portman,deciding to be sex buddies.

In this movie we follow Adam who is living in his father’s shadow,Kevin Kline,working for a ‘Glee’ type show. He wants to get the respect he deserves but all anyone ever does is repeat his father catch phrase ’Great Scot!’ It’s when he finds out that his father is now sleeping with his ditzy ex-girlfriend he jumps into the arms of his best-friend.

Kutcher delivers a pretty nice performance in this movie; it’s been refreshing to not see him play that idiot he has played numerous times before. It’s roles like these that is really making him shine in the romantic comedy world. Kutcher getting better at playing guys who are more real and we can empathize with more. Emma is kind of the opposite. She’s a doctor who works long, long hours and likes to be alone. She feels that she doesn’t want to be emotionally attached because she would never have to time to give someone all of her attention.

Portman who is mainly known for her more serious roles and can better be seen in a Toto, really shows her stuff in this movie. Portman just always known for being such a serious type of actress and along comes this comedy and she delivers it as if she had been doing it for years. Portman is a true talent and another congratulations on her big win.

Not only does this movie have a stellar main cast but supporting cats as well. There The Office’s Mindy Kaling and Ludacris aka Chris Bridges as Adam’s bar fiend who actually shows off some comedy in the film. It was nice to him play a character where there wasn’t a gun in his hand. A good supporting cast is necessary in a film like this and this ne sure did it’s job. They’re witty yet kind of awkward sense of humor really made the movie stand out. One of the most interesting choices in the supporting cast was by far Kevin Kline. It doesn’t seem like the kind of movie he would do.  But the character he delivered was quite delightful and very fitting to his comedic ability. He and Kutcher had an interesting father/son chemistry that is unexpected but adorable to watch.

This is for sure one of the better romantic comedies directed by the legendary Ivan Rietman. He brought over his classic humor but mixed it up to appeal to a more modern audience. This film was very lucky to have such a legendary comedic director on board. But unfortunately this film has some competition this year with another movie coming out with the same concept starring Justin Timberlake and Milia Kunis entitled Friends with Benefits. Only after viewing the trailer for that movie did I know that this would be a better version than what is about to come out.

This was overall a delightful film with some enjoyable people. Portman has always been known as a dramatic actress but after seeing this she should do some more romantic comedies because I think she shines even brighter in roles like these.

The article Blu-ray: Portman and Kutcher Heat Things Up In No Strings Attached appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.