What do Elvis, Kim Kardashian, the Jonas Brothers, Dilbert and teen vampires have in common?
Calendars like this one featuring the movie “Twilight” are big sellers.
They are all subjects of hot calendars.
Be it pinned to the wall, tucked in a pocket or lounging on a desk, calendars have maintained popularity even as they face stiff competition from technology.
While just about every cell phone or PDA allows users to keep track of those ever important events and appointments, calendars still seem to hold an allure for users day by day.
“We do not see technology-based calendars as the competition,” said Robert Gilbreath, director of marketing for Calendars.com, one of the largest e-commerce sites for calendars on the Web. “They do not evoke memories of past occurrences, experiences, and pleasures.”
A cell phone calendar also can’t give fans the opportunity to gaze upon 12 images of their favorite celebrity or object of desire in the comfort of their own home or office.
Some of Calendars.com’s most popular sellers include classic movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne as well as today’s hottest fan favorites like the cast of the movie “Twilight.”
Calendars featuring beautiful women who also happen to be celebrities are also always in demand such as those featuring “Transformers” actress Megan Fox, Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriends, known as The Girls Next Door, and a perennial favorite — the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar.
If sales are any indication, print calendars are still holding their own.
“We’ve seen double-digit annual growth in our e-commerce channel every year until the last one,” said Paul Hoffman, chief operating officer of Calendar Holdings LLC, parent company of Calendars.com and Calendar Club retail stores. “We are very optimistic about the future growth online.”
Calendars have a long history as a part of American culture.
Larry Krug, one of the founders of the Calendar Collectors Society, said calendars used to be must have collectors items when they were produced using the works of famous photographers and artists such as Norman Rockwell.
Calendars still have their enthusiasts, Krug said, especially among those who are able to tie in calendars to an already existing passion, such as collecting Coca-Cola memorabilia.
“People collect different kinds of calendars,” he said. “There are wall calendars, desk calendars, pocket calendars, towel calendars and calendar plates. It’s really a very broad and interesting area.”
And while there are a multitude of calendars that can be found — often in a kiosk at the mall where a savvy shopper knows the prices will drop after the first of the year — there are some that start out as collectors’ items even before they are produced.
The Pirelli calendar, with its limited availability and artistic nude photos of some of the world’s most beautiful models, has become a sought-after item known for its exclusivity.
Gruppo Campari, the makers of spirits, wines and soft drinks, also produces a limited-edition calendar every year which is not for sale and has featured various starlets including Eva Mendes, Jessica Alba and Salma Hayek.
Since 2000, the company has employed world-famous and emerging photographers to capture the images, which are designed to tell a story within the calendar.
Chiara Bressani, head of Gruppo Campari’s Communication, said the calendars are marketing works of art.
“The calendar is always trying to convey seduction and passion,” Bressani said. “It’s a creative way of showing what Campari is.”
She said the women chosen to appear in the calendars are selected because they convey the Campari values.
The calendars have become very popular in Europe and the United States, Bressani said, despite the fact –or maybe because — they are not easy to obtain.
“[The popularity] is growing every year,” said Bressani, whose company has chosen Bond girl Olga Kurylenko to appear in the upcoming 2010 calendar. “You can enjoy the pictures on the Web, but it’s a different feeling when you have the calendar in your hands.”
Bond girl Olga Kurylenko recently posed for Bebe’s new advertising campaign. The Ukrainian actress, who won admirers all over the world with her curves in Quantum of Solace, faced the camera to promote the brand’s spring collection, reports the Sun.
The supermodel previously stripped for the men’s magazine Maxim’s Ukraine issue. She had once revealed that her poverty-stricken upbringing had made her very cash conscious.
MORE possibilities have emerged in the search for a director to take on the new Conan movie.
Brett Ratner parted ways with the project and it was rumoured that James McTeigue was in talks to replace him.
But, as I reported later, McTeigue is also in talks to helm Fox’s X-Men Origins: Magneto movie.
Movie site CHUD claims that while producers Nu-Image/Millennium want McTeigue, the distributors Lionsgate are interested in Christophe Gans and Neil Marshall, while Marcus Nispel is also in the running.
Gans directed 1983 anthology horror film Necronomicon, 2001’s atmospheric historical fantasy Brotherhood of the Wolf and video game adaptation Silent Hill.
Marshall directed Dog Soldiers, The Descent, the post-apocalyptic Doomsday and the upcoming historical project Centurion starring Quantum of Solace Bond girl Olga Kurylenko.
Nispel’s directing credits including 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 2004 TV movie Frankenstein, 2007’s Viking adventure Pathfinder, this year’s remake of Friday the 13th and the planned Dracula-inspired film The Last Voyage of Demeter about the ship that brought the vampiric count to England.
There has not been any official confirmation of the above names being on a studio wishlist.
This is hardly big news, but Andrew Niccol’s The Cross interests me merely on the cast he has lined up alone, and with that in mind any opportunity to mention it is seen as a good thing. This time around it is a small bit of casting news from Variety telling us John Goodman is in advanced talks to join the cast of the sci-fi film which will begin shooting in mid-September in Australia and is scheduled for a May 2010 theatrical release. Goodman joins a cast made up of Orlando Bloom, Vincent Cassel and Olga Kurylenko.
The Cross is set in a border town the film is set in the near future. Bloom plays a man seeking to cross a mysterious border, something no one else has achieved; Cassel will play the sentry who wants to stop him.
Unfortunately details on Goodman’s role are not mentioned.
Socialite Kim Kardashian is desperate to become a Bond babe, giving tough competition to Olga Kurylenko. She insists that the role is the dream of her life.
After doing reality show ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’, the 28-year- old is keen to crack Hollywood.
Kardashian, who landed a minor role in 2008 film ‘Deep in the Valley, has set her sights on a big budget blockbuster.
“I would love to be a Bond girl, that would be my dream of life,” Contactmusic quoted her as telling PopEater.com.
Kardashian also admitted that she’s a huge fan of ‘Twilight’, and would love to play a sexy vampire in a sequel to the teen hit.
“I would, like, die to be in Twilight… being around all those hot guys. I want to be a vampire. I kind of want to be evil,” she added.
Sitting at the head of a long table, Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko resembles some sort of queen, blessing her subjects with moments of her valuable time.
The start of her conversation doesn’t sound like something you’d hear in a royal court, however.
“Basically, your body has to be like this — your hips must go forward,” she says, arching her back.
It’s not often you get within a couple of feet of a Bond girl, and should you accomplish it, it’s even less likely she’ll spend the first five minutes of your meeting sticking her chest out at you while gyrating in a chair.
Realising the assembled all-male group of journalists is getting a little flustered, 29-year-old Olga ends her impromptu sky-diving lesson and returns to talking about Quantum Of Solace, in which she stars as James Bond’s Bolivian sidekick Camille.
The film — the second movie in the rebooted 007 franchise and the 22nd in the Bond series — was released in cinemas last October and is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
To promote the release, Olga has come down to Bodyflight, an indoor skydiving centre just outside London where she and Quantum co- star Daniel Craig trained for the film’s death-defying aerial action set pieces.
“I practiced skydiving every day for a month. I’ve not done it since then and I miss it,” she says.
… Read the full story »
ond girls Olga Kurylenko has been nominated in this year’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World competition at FHM Magazine.
Voting is currently taking place to determine who will end up in the top 100 overall for 2009, to be announced on Thursday, 23 April.
To cast your votes for the Quantum of Solace leading lady, visit her profile pages at Olga Kurylenko and vote!
Olga Kurylenko has said she is ready to pass on her Bond Girl title to the next actress.
The 29-year-old, who played Camille in the latest Bond outing Quantum Of Solace, said she loved her time as a Bond babe and is excited for the next girl who gets to star opposite OO7 Daniel Craig.
“I had my time and last year was the most exciting year of my life, or one of them. I enjoyed my time, you have to live in the present, and it was great,” she said.
Olga added that she doesn’t mind always being remembered as a Bond Girl.
She said: “It was a really wonderful part, it was a wonderful Bond Girl role compared to the others. If I had to choose I would’ve chosen the part of Camille.
“I really don’t mind, it was a wonderful experience, it’s a great film and I am really excited for the next Bond girl, she is gonna have a great time.”
Quantum of Solace star Olga Kurylenko has revealed her impoverished upbringing has taught her not to be extravagant with money.
The former model grew up in Ukraine but after being spotted by a modelling scout while on holiday in Moscow, she graced the covers of Vogue and Elle magazine, before making the transition into films.
She explained recently that despite a steady acting career, she’s not wasteful with her money: “[I remember once] I refused to go to school because my shoes had no soles.
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