Not long ago, Dogeared was simply one of Robin Kramer’s favorite brands of jewelry. Now, as the company’s new director of sales, it’s her career.

“The whole thing was very serendipitous,” Kramer said. “For my birthday last year I decided to give gifts to my family and closest friends. I came across Dogeared for the first time and was blown away by their Make a Wish necklace. It was simple. It was clean.”

She bought 20 necklaces from Dogeared at retail in March of last year and gave them to friends at her birthday party at the beginning of June. At the end of the month, in a completely unrelated occurrence, a friend e-mailed her about a job opening at Dogeared.She said she was with this wonderful company and how it was ready to grow,” Kranler said. “When she said the company was Dogeared. I called her immediately. After a phone interview, I knew it was the right fit.”

After college in Boston Kramer moved to San Francisco because she fell in love with the city. She stayed for 15 years, working for the Gap, then freelancing for a year. After that, she got a job at an investment banking firm. Then she worked at Williams-Sonoma and Old Navy.

Most recently, Kramer worked as the sales and marketing manager at Molly West Hand-bound Books–a high end store founded by her best friend since fifth grade–which makes memory and keepsake journals, wedding albums, and baby books.

At Dogeared, Kramer is responsible for attending trade shows, overseeing sales, and hiring.

Fashion designers find inspiration in the strangest of places. In art (Yves Saint Laurent’s homages to Picasso, Matisse and Mondrian), commerce (those 1980s Wall Street shoulder pads) and even, bizarrely, the blueprints for a jet aircraft (Hussein Chalayan, naturally). However, more often than not it is simply the place itself that provides the stimulus for a collection: destination dressing. Unlike the rest of us who return from our holidays with a suitcase full of tourist souvenirs and a camera full of Kodak moments, designers see a vacation as a voyage of discovery. They are not about to relax by the pool when they can immerse themselves in the culture, gathering every John Galliano is a renowned global magpie. In the past he has trekked to China, Egypt and Russia. This season, designers the world over took time off to explore new horizons. “I wasn’t even on the beach this summer. I was wishing I was on holiday,” says Stella McCartney, explaining her collection of loose, layers of gauzy cotton, henna prints, Pirelli-girl swimsuits and Edwardian underwear, perfect for chilling out on a deserted beach like the one pictured on her invitation. “When you live in Western Europe, a tropical place with white sand and turquoise water still seems like an ideal place to escape from it all,” adds McCartney. British design duo Clements Ribeiro are also armchair tourists. “We have never been to India,” they admit. Yet their inspiration was an imaginary Edwardian botanist/explorer whose “fascination for pleats and tucks of the sari and the opulent jewellery of the maharajas takes over her interest in shrubs and flowers”.
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The traditional Indian sari and robes of Tibetan monks were influential for designers such as Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, John Galliano and Rifat Ozbek at Pollini. Each offered their own unique interpretation, some more authentic than others. The most relaxed, and thereby modern, version was shown on the Ghost catwalk, the label that has long been a favourite of the supermodels who travel for a living. “Ghost is perfect to go anywhere. You can roll it up into a suitcase and it’s ready to go the other end,” says Tanya Sarne, Ghost’s creator. “It’s also multi-functional - the same slip dress can be worn to the beach, to bed or out for dinner.” A perfect holiday basic.

Some designers are more literal in their journey from check-in to catwalk. “My trip to China last spring has obviously influenced my collections - the surrealist touches and memories of Old Shanghai and the growing possibilities of `new’ China,” says Giorgio Armani, who showed silk pyjama suits with coolie hats, and pagoda-style evening dresses decorated with lotus flower prints. “It’s an eccentric mix.”

“Travelling is an essential element in the world and the spirit of Kenzo,” says Antonio Marras, who took over as creative director of womenswear in 2003. “I adore travelling.”

From the label’s creation in 1970, when Kenzo Takada opened his own store in Paris called Jungle Jap (because the interior was painted like a jungle), travel fuelled the designer’s imagination. Takada melded global influences to create a colourful, hip look that layered peasant blouses and smocks with neo-tribal robes.

Marras has brought back some of that magic by immersing himself in the riches of the Kenzo archives. Like Takada, he knows the difference between ethnic fashion and costume. “Everything has to be blended and mixed,” says Marras. “I believe that the real modernity stands in this; something coming from Azerbaijan and jeans, a fitted jacket with the floral print of a Japanese kimono and some cargo trousers.”

This season he found inspiration in Africa. “Going to Africa is an experience that takes your breath away. This sensation of freedom.”

It is this pursuit of freedom that keeps the romance of travel alive. Whether you’re riding through the American Wild West attired by Anna Sui; wandering white-washed backstreets of a Greek island in Michael Kors or Chanel; or having a wild time in Hawaii wearing D&G or Moschino Cheap & Chic, it is the journey into the unknown that excites.

Marras has a very long list of places he intends to explore that includes India, Cambodia, Argentina, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Ireland, Iceland and New Zealand. “Will I ever be able to see them all?” he says wistfully. “In the meanwhile the simple idea of going there one day fills up my head and heart.” And catwalk. kind of artefact that will help in their pursuit of a new silhouette or shade.

The article by Ruth Greenspan Bell, Kuldeep Mathur, Urvashi Narain, and David Simpson, “Clearing the Air: How Delhi Broke the Logjam on Air Quality Reforms” (April 2004 issue), offers an in-depth and insightful view of the Indian Supreme Court’s actions to move air quality reforms forward in the city of Delhi. (1) From the perspective of a state attorney general in the United States, the policy questions raised in the article were particularly intriguing. My views reflect recent experience in state-inspired clean air initiatives that provide some interesting parallels to the Delhi case.

By all appearances, laminate countertops–so ubiquitous in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s–have fallen prey to the fickle whims of fashion, shelter magazines, and the consumer.

“Granite, stones, and high-end tiles are all things that have been jumping into the marketplace–over the past five years in particular,” says Nevamar group brand manager Todd Vogelsanger. “That’s where the buzz is.”

This proclivity for natural materials is especially true at the top of the market. According to Mt. Pleasant, S.C.-based custom builder Kevin Kalman, whose homes typically start at $1 million, “My clients are really resistant to laminate.”

Even in middle-range developments, where homes frequently top out at half that price, granite has become the surface to aim for. “When a buyer can afford a $300,000 to $400,000 home, even though it’s a production home, they want the luxury of granite,” says Ginny Watts, manager of the Design Center at Centex Homes’ Orlando, Fla., division.

Additionally, the proliferation of other stones, quartz composites, and solid surfacing has had an impact on homeowner preference.

Nevertheless, while costs for more luxurious materials are down due to improved distribution and fabrication channels, they still add a premium of anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 or more. Which is why laminates continue to flourish. “I’d say 80 percent of our buyers pick a standard laminate,” says Watts.

TitleMatch Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Protocall Technologies Incorporated (OTCBB: PCLI), ( www.protocall.com ), a leading provider of DVD on-demand systems for retailers and etailers, today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with the Bollywood Group Inc., which produces the Bollywood Movie, Music and Fashion Awards annually, to establish licensing agreements with top movie companies in the booming Bollywood film industry.

Movies from India are the number one grossing foreign film category in the U.S., with annual revenue estimated at $1.5 billion. The category, which is commonly referred to as Bollywood, is expected to grow 16% annually over the next five years — bringing the market to over $3 billion.We see TitleMatch Entertainment and their on-demand systems as the future of film distribution and are thrilled to be associated with the company. As we expand the Bollywood Awards, we know that TitleMatch will be uniquely positioned to bring an ever-increasing number of these films to market around the world,” stated Kamal Dandona, CEO & Chairman of the Bollywood Group.

Now in its ninth year, the Bollywood Group is often described around the world as the United Nations of entertainment. The company’s prestigious annual Bollywood Awards ceremony is widely regarded as the Indian Oscars. Each year, the awards attract some of the biggest names in showbiz among them: Sharon Stone, Richard Gere and Tyra Banks. TitleMatch Entertainment will work with the Bollywood Group to make a wide range of Bollywood movies available through the TitleMatch DVD On-Demand system.
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“We are excited to be working with Kamal Dandona. With his extensive knowledge and deep passion for the Bollywood industry, we look forward to learning from him and growing along with what we see as an incredibly dynamic market,” said Syd Dufton, President of TitleMatch Entertainment. “We believe our TitleMatch system will enhance Bollywood films distribution reach both in the U.S. and around the world.”

About Protocall Technologies

Protocall Technologies ( www.protocall.com ) Incorporated is the innovator of CD and DVD on-demand content distribution. Its flagship TitleMatch(TM) system allows retailers to burn brand name CD and DVD products at their stores and website distribution centers. The company’s proprietary systems enable retailers to reduce their reliance on costly physical inventory, expand their selection of products, eliminate shrinkage and out-of-stock situations, speed time to market for new products and improve their operating margins with minimal space requirements.

This news release along with other investor information about Protocall Technologies is available at http://www.agoracom.com/IR/Protocall . To receive future news releases or request further information about Protocall Technologies, please email PCLI@agoracom.com .

The information contained in this news release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these statements. Forward-looking statements regarding the timing of developing, testing and releasing existing and new products, of marketing and selling them, of deriving revenues and profits from them, as well as the effects of those revenues and profits on the company’s margins and financial position, are uncertain because many of the factors affecting the timing of those items are beyond the company’s control.

This press release has been submitted to http://www.TOP10PressReleases.com for investors to vote on and help move into the TOP 10 of the day. Investors can locate the release by using the industry filter or searching by company name and/or stock symbol.

The urge to demarcate the land of the Brazilian indigenous peoples and to give them property rights became one of the most pressing and vociferous campaigns of the last two decades. This campaign has won the support of corporates such as Body Shop, rock stars such as Sting, as well as of multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the European Union. Although the campaign obtained an enormous success in raising public awareness about the indigenous peoples of Brazil and of the American continents, its success inside Brazil has been hindered by its bias against other Brazilians and by its failure in forming partnerships with the Brazilian government.

Call it the romance of lost objects. A young woman’s purse was stolen one day in the 1940s and turned up earlier this year, stuck behind a loose wall panel in a men’s room in a diner. Evidently the thief had swiped the purse, extracted the money, then hidden the purse inside the wall. Workers doing renovations found it, identified the owner — who was still alive, in her 80s — and a reporter recently covered the reunion of the lady and her long-lost property. Though it included nothing more notable than a dry-cleaning ticket, a receipt for taxes paid, a note from a girlfriend — that sort of thing — the returned purse nevertheless made for a strangely compelling newspaper story.

Among new releases from PHOENIX is the highly praised Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore ([pounds sterling]9.99) which exposes not just the horrors of Stalin the dictator but those of the ruling elite under him. A second expose of the glories of life under Communism, this time in East Germany, is the final volume of The Lesser Evil: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1945-1959 ([pounds sterling]10.99) translated and abridged by Martin Chalmers. The third expose of life under dictators is Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary ([pounds sterling]7.99) by Traudl Junge, here edited by Melissa Mueller and translated by Anthea Bell, a remarkably balanced account of life in Hitler’s bizarre inner circle. Finally Phoenix has republished Anne de Courcy’s Society’s Queen: The Life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry ([pounds sterling]8.99), first published in 1992. It describes the world created by the wife of the seventh Marquess of Londonderry who combined in true Palliser fashion the worlds of high society and politics in the inter-war period.JOHN MURRAY has republished Robin Neillands’ The Bomber War: Arthur Harris and the Allied Bomber Offensive 1939-1945 ([pounds sterling]9.99), an objective and fair account of one of the most controversial aspects of the British war effort. A second military title is Spitfire into Battle ([pounds sterling]7.99) by Group CaptainW.G.G. Duncan Smith with a preface by his son, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader. This was originally published in 1981 and its first-hand account of the RAF’s role remains as exciting as when first published. Also from Murray we have the reissue of Tarquin Hall’s To the Elephant Graveyard: A True Story of the Hunt for a Man-Killing Indian Elephant ([pounds sterling]8.99) and of Alan Palmer’s The East End: Four Centuries of London Life ([pounds sterling]7.99) which was first published in 1989 and last issued in 2000. It remains one of the best accounts of a world now vanished.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS has brought out a paperback edition of Prof. Chris Baldick’s The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms ([pounds sterling]8.99), published in hardback in 2001. For this edition Prof. Baldick has expanded the book’s range of topics by adding some new entries and updating others including the advice on further reading. O.U.P. has also brought out a new addition to its World’s Classics’ series, Thomas Hardy’s famous novel. The Mayor of Casterbridge ([pounds sterling]4.99) edited and annotated by Prof. Dale Kramer and introduced by Prof. Pamela Dalziel.

Among new titles from PAN BOOKS are Anne Perkins’ Red Queen: The Authorized Biography of Barbara Castle ([pounds sterling]8.99), an affectionate, not to say committed biography of perhaps the last socialist in the Labour party. A second title is Prof. Clive Bloom’s Violent London: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts ([pounds sterling]9.99), a healthy reminder to modern pessimists that violence in some form or other has always been part of London life. A final new title is Lord Deedes’ At War with Waugh: The Real Story of Scoop ([pounds sterling]6.99) in which the former journalist describes his experiences in Ethiopia in the 1930s, experiences that were used by Evelyn Waugh for his famous novel.

MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS has recently brought out a new paperback edition of Luther’s Lives: Two Contemporary Accounts of Martin Luther. Translated and edited by Elizabeth Vandiver, Ralph Keen and Thomas D. Frazel ([pounds sterling]15.99). The two biographies are Philip Melanchton’s, published in 1548, and Johannes Cochlaeus’s, published in 1549. The text of Melanchton’s memoir has been freshly translated and corrected whilst that of Cochlaeus’s is here translated into English for the first time. The volume makes a valuable contribution to English language resources for Reformation studies.

GILL & MACMILLAN, Dublin’s leading publisher, have released paperback editions of Michael Hopkinson’s The Irish War of Independence ([pounds sterling]9.99), a balanced account which separates out myths from realities. A second newly released title is Dr Hopkinson’s earlier work, Green Against Green: The Irish Civil War ([pounds sterling]16.99) which was first published in 1988.

From GRANTA BOOKS we have Peter Singer’s The President of Good and Evil: Taking George W. Bush Seriously ([pounds sterling]8.99). Mr Singer, who when not writing devotes his time to obtaining basic rights for gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans, gives readers a polemically hostile view of President Bush and his administration. A second new title is Words to Outlive Us: Eyewitness Accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto ([pounds sterling]9.99), a valuable, if chilling, addition to sources on World War II. Finally, Granta have brought over from America the New York Review Books edition of Henry James’ The Ivory Tower ([pounds sterling]7.99) with an introduction by the novelist, Alan Hollinghurst.

PENGUIN BOOKS have recently marked the centenary of Chekhov’s death with the issue of plays, short stories and novels in four titles: The Shooting Party ([pounds sterling]7.99), Plays ([pounds sterling]5.99), Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895 ([pounds sterling]8.99) and The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 ([pounds sterling]8.99). Penguin have also published Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters ([pounds sterling]12.99), the first complete and uncensored edition of the writer’s letters in any language. It is edited by Rosamund Bartlett who, along with Anthony Phillips, has done the translation. Altogether the five titles make a fitting tribute to one of the most popular of Russian writers. In addition, Penguin has brought out the extremely helpful reference work, Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion ([pounds sterling]14.99) edited by David and Ben Crystal. This collection of some 14,000 words will become invaluable for any student of Shakespeare or, for that matter, any student of the period.

ONE NIGHT seven years ago, Michael Ward went home to his wife and told her he needed to find the next big commercial idea for a new West End musical. He had no experience of working in theatre, no money to invest of his own and virtually no idea of how to go about it. Yet John Whitney, the former chairman of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company the Really Useful Group, had challenged him over dinner to come up with the next Cats. When The Far Pavilions opens later this week, Ward will finally know whether his efforts to meet that challenge have been a success. The Far Pavilions is the 1978 blockbuster written by M M Kaye: an epic melodrama full of adventure, passion and politics, spanning 25 years of the British Raj, from the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-8 to the second Afghan war. The story, written by an Englishwoman in love with India, is dominated by the torrid, dangerous relationship between Ashton Pelham-Martyn ” born to English parents but brought up in India among Muslims ” and Anjuli, an Indian princess.

The West End is a tricky place to launch a new business venture, let alone float an all-consuming passion, but Ward is banking on the story’s central theme resonating with a similar intensity among its target audience: Britain’s Anglo-Asian community who have settled in the UK, but who feel part of an entirely different culture.
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The Far Pavilions could well be the West End’s first truly Anglo- Asian musical ” one that attempts to tell a story that sprung directly from the strong cultural and economic relationship between India and England in the 19th century, yet which also speaks directly to today’s generation. ‘Every 25 years or so, a new generation rediscovers the stories spawned by the Indo-British historical era,’ says Ward. ‘The film Lagaan, set in the same period, proved really popular with the diaspora.’

The Far Pavilions follows Lloyd Webber’s Bollywood musical Bombay Dreams into the West End by a few years; Ward agrees that the timing should prove an advantage, rather than suggest that the show might have missed the boat. When the latter opened, it came on the cusp of a small but significant wave of Anglo-Asian cultural assimilations into the mainstream that included the TV comedy Goodness Gracious Me, and the film Monsoon Wedding. The flip-side was that anything remotely Bollywood springing up at around that time risked being accused of jumping on the bandwagon; of being seen as merely a sort of cultural fashion-accessory.

Theatre companies such as Tamasha may have been promoting Asian theatre in Britain for years, but they have always existed on the margins. Undoubtedly, the popularity of Bombay Dreams paved the way for The Far Pavilions to happen; the hope now is that the idea of an Asian musical can now stand alone in the mainstream on its own terms.

got off lightly when I joined The Bill, because I don’t have to wear a dull police uniform for my role as Rochelle Barratt. I play a former drug addict who’s married to a copper, so I get to wear lovely clothes from places like Zara and Coast. I went straight to the wardrobe department when I arrived on set. I don’t get a clothes allowance, but I did go shopping with the costume designer, which was good fun.I’m not a brilliant shopper - I do a lot of browsing and occasionally pick things up. I can only do one-hour stints - any longer and I go mad. There’s nothing worse than shopping for a certain dress or outfit, it’s just too much pressure - I can’t bear it. I can get quite moody, then I’m off to the pub for a glass of wine - although, it’s not really a good idea for me to shop when I’m drunk as I end up buying things I wouldn’t buy if I was sober.  spend quite a bit on clothes now, but I never did before. I love Whistles, Kookai, H&M and Topshop for tops or skirts. But I’ll dress cheaper clothes up with the odd designer thing. I don’t mind spending the extra money on something that’s going to last. One splurge was a beautiful dress by Diane Von Furstenberg. It’s a brown shift dress with three-quarter-length sleeves which will look great with a pair of boots or a slinky pair of heels. It cost pounds 215 - when my mother reads this she’ll kill me. But I promise mum, it will never date! I’ve got a bit of a thing about bracelets. I didn’t realise it until I moved house recently and was packing things up. I found bracelets all over the place. I’ve probably got a collection of about 50 - a mix of charms, beads, bangles. I’m never without a bracelet.
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I love rings too - I recently bought a massive garnet off my mum. She wouldn’t let me have it at first - she said she’d leave me all her jewellery when she dies. But I really liked it and offered her pounds 50, but got her down to pounds 20. She always taught me to haggle.

I buy jewellery from anywhere and everywhere, I wore a cheap ring from Accessorize for the Soap Awards, but it matched my dress perfectly. I get a bit scared about choosing what to wear for those big dos. This year, though, it was made easy. I went to see designer Sharon Cunningham who dressed Kim Tiddy in her gorgeous yellow dress for the BAFTAs. Sharon lent me the most beautiful dress I’ve ever worn in my life. I also bought some Jimmy Choo shoes which you couldn’t actually see because the dress was so long, but I knew what I was wearing and that’s what counts…’

THE DENIM GYPSY SKIRT, pounds 25, MISS SELFRIDGE

‘A great basic summer skirt for every girl’s wardrobe - it’s really easy to wear and would work well with most of my tops and vests’

Bustier top, pounds 45, Firetrap; belt, pounds 20, Sonetti

THE RA-RA SKIRT, pounds 25, TOPSHOP

‘This is really sweet and I’d definitely wear it - you can get your legs out without it looking tarty’

Top, pounds 25, and waistcoat, pounds 30, both Topshop; necklace, pounds 12, Diva at Miss Selfridge; bangles, from pounds 4 each, Freedom at Topshop