Russell Peters - Almost Famous World Tour

January 19th and 20th - Live at Dubai World Trade Centre

Christmas has come early for all Russell Peters fans as tickets for his new ‘Almost Famous World Tour’ on January 19^th and 20^th at the Dubai World Trade Center are available now and selling out fast! 

His previous shows in the UAE in 2012 and 2013 sold out shortly after going on sale, and this edition is no exception, with Bronze and Diamond tickets already sold out.  Limited tickets are still available in remaining categories.

The Russell Peters Almost Famous World Tour” (#RussellPetersDXB), brought to you by du Live! and produced by FLASH Entertainment and Live Nation Middle East, features brand new, hilarious material. 

The ‘Almost Famous World Tour’ will also feature Russell's Official Tour DJ; New York City's DJ Spinbad, as well as video cameras and screens for an up-close and intimate show setting.

Russell Peters’ ‘Almost Famous World Tour’ (#RussellPetersDXB) went on sale Tuesday, December 15^th at 12pm through www.ticketmaster.ae and 800 TM UAE (86 823). 

Ticket Pricing and Categories

VIP Booths inclusive of Beverage Package (max of 6 people)	AED 9,000
Diamond	SOLD OUT
Platinum	AED 695
Gold	AED 495
Silver	AED 395
Bronze	SOLD OUT

Listed on the Forbes List as one of the top ten Highest Earning Comics in the U.S. since 2009, Russell Peters has spent the past 25 years building a career to become one of the biggest comics in the world. Thanks to YouTube and a global following, Peters has sold-out arenas from Madison Square Garden to the Sydney Opera House. Peters has also performed for the troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and on the USS Eisenhower and HMCS Winnipeg, and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Lopez Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and on HBO, CNN, MTV, BBC and Al Jazeera. Peters 2010 memoir, Call Me Russell was a Globe and Mail number one bestseller in Canada.

“The audience left the venue with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes, as Peters managed to nail them with his witty observatory comedic style and jokes about ethnic and cultural stereotypes.” - The Nation

“Peters is constantly thinking up new material. He says his newest bits for the Almost Famous tour are less about lampooning cultural differences and more about "the culture of being Russell." -

“...an exceptional comedian. He’s obviously a natural performer…” The Guardian

DIAMOND & BRONZE TICKETS SOLD OUT. LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE

Tickets available at ticketmaster.ae and 800 TM UAE (86 823)

My Burberry Eau de Toilette

Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne

Great news - My Burberry Eau de Toilette, the latest chapter in the brand’s My Burberry fragrance story has finally hit our stores.  Created by Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bailey, working in collaboration with perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, My Burberry Eau de Toilette for women is a fresh interpretation of the iconic Eau de Parfum.

The bright and uplifting, fragrance is as individual and elegant as its inspiration, the Burberry trench coat.

A bright grand floral, My Burberry Eau de Toilette captures the essence of a spring blossom garden, with its blend of blooming rain-tipped flowers, with sweet pea and lemon flower top notes, heart notes of peonies, peach flower and freesia followed by the rich scents of damask rose, white moss and musk.

The campaign for the fragrance was shot in London by photographer Mario Testino, under the creative direction of Christopher Bailey, British models Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne, front the new My Burberry campaign wearing only the signature Burberry trench  - the epitome of Brit-Girl chic.

As a great present idea, with Eid and other holiday seasons upon us, just as with My Burberry Eau de Parfum, customers will be able to personalise their My Burberry Eau de Toilette bottle with up to three initials through a monogramming service available on Burberry.com and selected Burberry and wholesale stores.

THE COLLECTION

     My Burberry Eau de Toilette 90ml, 50ml –   AED 580, AED 410

     My Burberry Eau de Parfum 90ml, 50ml, 30ml

     My Burberry Collectors Edition Eau de Parfum 900ml

      My Burberry Shower Oil 240ml


      My Burberry Moisturising Body Mist 100ml


      My Burberry Fresh Deodorant 100ml


      My Burberry Bathing Soap

My Burberry Eau de Toilette is now available on Burberry.com, at Areej stores and selected Burberry stores and retailers.           

Jason Derulo headlines Dubai Music Week 2015

DMW 2015 confirms that Jason Derulo will kick off the first night of festival.

Dubai Music Week (DMW) 2015 has announced that award-winning singer, songwriter and dancer Jason Derulo will take to the stage of its opening night on Wednesday, September 23^rd. Ellie Goulding has also been recently confirmed to perform on Thursday, September 24^th and Thirty Seconds to Mars on Friday, September 25^th.

With over 50 million singles sold worldwide, two billion views on YouTube and one billion plays on Spotify, fans could be forgiven for thinking that Derulo has been a long-time fixture of the music industry. Yet after only six years since the hit debut single “Whatcha Say”, Jason Derulo has taken the worldwide music industry by storm.

Early in his career, Derulo sealed a reputation as a talented wordsmith; showcased by his extensive songwriting for artists like P. Diddy, Sean Kingston and Lil Wayne. This skill was later cemented in 2011, when Derulo was honoured as 'Songwriter of the Year' at the BMI Pop Awards. Derulo's status as a true industry powerhouse can also be found in his commanding on-stage presence, which often sees the star engaging in incredible feats of dance. This has culminated in extensive world tours and sold out shows.

Showing no signs of slowing down, Derulo's fourth and latest studio album “Everything is 4” merges the pop, dance and urban sensibilities which have seen him recognised as a truly genre defying artist. The album includes the global hit “Want To Want Me”, which quickly became the most added track in the history of Top 40 Radio, shattering the previous record held by Justin Timberlake. Dubai audiences can look forward to an exciting and energetic live performance, punctuated by hit singles like “Whatcha Say”, “In My Head” and “Ridin’ Solo”. Follow Jason Derulo on @jasonderulo, #jasonderulo for all his latest updates.

DMW 2015, launched in partnership with Live Nation Middle East and Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), and supported by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), is the premier international music festival in the Middle East and is an official event under this year’s Eid in Dubai. It features four main segments including concerts with an award-winning line-up of A-list performers, celebrity speaker sessions, master classes and an interactive entertainment village. The event at DWTC is expected to attract local and international music fans on its four nights from Wednesday, September 23^rd through Saturday, September 26^th.

The festival, which provides a platform for music fans to interact with local and international celebrities and musicians, will announce its final act for the Arabic night, celebrity speaker sessions and master classes soon. Tickets for all concerts are priced at 295 AED for general admission, fan pit access at 395 AED, and 550 AED for VIP admission. Please visit Dubai Music Week or ticketmaster to buy tickets now.

My First Office Meltdown…

So today I had my first hormonal meltdown in the office.  I am mortified.  It was my entire fault and my (male) colleague didn’t have a clue what to do… 

All he had done was asked some questions that I was willingly answering.  I am an open book and maybe some things I shouldn’t share as they are painful, but I just wanted him to understand my prospective – And sadly instead, I was unable to answer and just ended up more frustrated.

The thing is, I am very open.  Especially when it is about adoption as I am passionate for people to understand that my baby girl is MY baby girl.  My colleague, who I will call S, hit a nerve that is a constant worry to me.  He said that I would feel differently towards my DD then I would towards my biological daughter because it is a  “scientifically proven fact” that biology accounts for more than nurture.  This I vehemently disagree with.  I mean, if that were the case, why are there so many babies and children placed for adoption?  Why are children around the world being abused?  Why are mothers happy to go on vacation, leaving their children to fend for themselves?  This I could answer, but then when he asked, “Aren’t you worried that you will love your biological child more?”

I just broke down.   It is sad really as the easy answer is, “No.  Not at all!” But it is this type of questioning that I fear my DD will have.  It petrifies me to think that one day she will think this too – even if it is for a hormone filled millisecond - at some point she will feel that pain, and I just have absolutely no idea what I can possibly do about it.

It frustrates me even more that I was so emotionally upset and beside myself with trying to speak these fears out loud that I just broke down sobbing.  In a room full of men.  In a room full of men, who don’t have children and could never possibly understand the fears that a mother has and the all encompassing urge to constantly protect her children. 

It frustrates me that people don’t have the empathy to understand this.  that they don’t expect the response that I give; especially as I am 7.5 months pregnant (to be fair, S was expecting it to a degree and felt horrific afterwards). 

I was kind of blindsided by the line of questioning really.  I knew people would think that as most people I meet have no idea of the emotional turmoil you go through in your dream to adopt.  That you experience the exact same emotions at various stages of the adoption that you do with your own personal pregnancy.  The only difference is that the stress of adoption is far far greater than having your own pregnancy; in our case, we were at the mercy of three governments, yet we had the bond with our DD the second we were sent her photo.  She was thousands of miles away.  We could see her only at weekends and had no idea what was happening the rest of the time.  When we were told she had pneumonia at four months old, panic set in.  Could she get the right treatment?  Would the treatment be as good there as in Dubai?  Would the orphanage administer the treatment correctly in our absence?  What will be the long-term implications of it?  Is there anything we can do from thousands of miles away apart from keep in constant contact with them?  What happens when she is crying and just needs a cuddle?  We weren’t there to be with her through all this and that thought is so painful you just couldn’t understand…

When you are pregnant, you know that your actions are directly affecting your own baby.  You know that if jump out of building you will hurt your baby.  Ultimately though, the decision to jump is yours and yours alone.  When you have a baby in another country, being looked after by amazing people (but they are ultimately strangers), that decision could be taken away from you.  OK.  This is a tad extreme, but you get the drift.  Everything is out of your control and the stress that this brings is huge.

It scares me to no end that someone with no brains will think that it is OK to ask these questions when my DD is around.  As I said to S today, I would not have been responsible for my actions had he have asked these questions in front of my daughter.  The poor man… how does he know that this is something that has kept me awake at night more often than anything else – that at least twice a week I lie in bed worrying about this from 2am and give up at 5am trying to get back to sleep?

Realistically, I should have stopped the questions before they began but I don’t really have that stop button.  I need to grow one though I have now realized.  What good will I do for my daughter if I can’t field these questions in the future?  How on earth is that going to remotely protect her?

What is ironic, is that literally 10 minutes before this all happened, I had posted a viral thread on Facebook from Sandra Bullock who is also frustrated at people saying she isn’t a real mum to her son.  She is an “Adoptive Mum”.

Take it from me, love from a real mum isn’t the love from someone that produces a child biologically - As amazing as the human body is, most women can do this in one form or another.  Love from a real mum is someone who sits watching her child sleep at night and feels the most overwhelming sense of love.  Love from a real mum is someone who holds her child tight when they fall, and worries about them when she sees them testing the boundaries.  Love from a real mum is someone who petrified, jumps in the car at 2am racing to their child to hospital only to be told by a Dr that it is only a temperature and there is no need to worry.  Love from a real mum is an overwhelming unconditional love. 

You do not have to give birth to love like a “real” mum.

Madagascar Live

This weekend, Ian and I had the pleasure of taking our very excited two year old to see Madagascar.  All the kids were loving it,  dancing in the aisles, clapping and having a great time, whilst Alex, Gloria, Julien and Melman were rocking it on the stage.

I had read reviews where it said the show was nearly identical to the film, and on that I beg to differ.  There were differences, especially with the music.  I know this as we were watching the animation (for the 1000 time) immediately before we left for the World trade Centre, so my DD was shouting the entire journey, "I like to move it, move it." and again as we waited for the auditorium to fill.  That was the only dissapointment.  That song, made infamous in the movie with Julien (a.k.a. Sacha Baron Cohen) singing about how he likes to dance, was cut to the first few cords.  My DD and none of the other kids noticed though, and that is all that matters.

Here are just a few shots of the show.

TUMI TO TRAVEL IN STYLE WITH MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS

Being An F1 lover and a lover of fashion, I was interested to learn about TUMI announcing today its new sponsorship of The MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team.

TUMI, which provides its customers with beautiful and world-class business and travel products designed to uncomplicate and upgrade all aspects of their life on the move, will become an Official Supplier to MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS, providing the team exclusively with TUMI premium Tegra-Lite® and Alpha 2 products among other exceptional TUMI travel collections. MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS and TUMI share a strong passion of being founded upon the same key principles of design excellence, outstanding technological innovation and superior functionality.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport stated, “We are very pleased to announce our new partnership with TUMI and welcome them to the team as an Official Supplier just as the Formula One track action begins again with the first pre-season test taking place in Spain next week. The demands of travelling around the globe to 20 Grands Prix locations require a premium travel product, and we are delighted that the team will benefit from TUMI’s expertise in design excellence, innovation and functionality.”

Nico Rosberg

Chief Executive Officer and President of TUMI, Jerome Griffith, added: “TUMI is delighted and proud to be a partner of the MERCEDES PETRONAS Formula One Team and look forward to evolving our relationship over the coming years.  The unity between our two companies embodies the sophistication, creativity and innovative design which characterizes both brands.  As leaders in our respective fields, MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS and TUMI create a powerful synergy that expresses our shared dedication for outstanding performance. We anticipate with enthusiasm the team’s continued success and a rewarding experience together.”

Even better though were the photos that came with it... Got to love Nico Rosberg!

The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep - Get your Toddler Sleeping in Minutes

I thought I would share this.  I have friends in the UK who swear by this book - apparently it has cut down one toddlers bed time from two hours to 10 minutes over the course of a week.

The science behind the book can be found here.

Alternatively, the book can be purchased on Amazon.