PELÉ LAUNCHES AUTOBIOGRAPHY WITH VIRGIN MEGASTORES SIGNING
With the World Cup only weeks away and football fever gripping the nation, Virgin Megastores offers you the chance to meet the greatest footballer of all time – Pelé.
Yes the man they also call Edson Arantes do Nascimento will be signing copies of his new book, “Pelé – The Autobiography” at Virgin Megastores Piccadilly on Thursday 18 May at 6.00pm.
So come down to Virgin Megastores Piccadilly and catch a living legend.
NB: This is a ticket only event. You can buy the book and get your ticket,
which is available on a first come first served basis to personal callers only,
from Monday 15 May at Virgin Megastores Piccadilly. 1 ticket per person.
A limited number of tickets will also be held back until just prior to the signing and given to those in Brazilian tops.
“Pelé – The Autobiography” will be available on at Virgin Megastores from Monday 15 May.
PHOTOCALL IS AT 6.00PM ON THURSDAY 18 MAY 2006 AT
VIRGIN MEGASTORES, LONDON, PICCADILLY
MEDIA PLACES ARE STIRCTLY LIMITED
PRESS PLEASE ENTER VIA FRONT ENTRANCE
DOUBLE HELPING OF COOL AS ULTIMATE TEACH-YOURSELF BOOK HITS THE SHELVES
Curious thing, cool. Mention it and you’re not. Try for it and you’ve failed before you start.. Even writing about it , unless you’re Hunter S. Thompson, is probably the uncoolest thing you could do. And selling it? Sorry – cool is NOT for sale...and yet,...THE BOOK OF COOL (always in caps, note) gets mighty close.
Since its release last year the 3-DVD 9-hour tutorial set, developed by father and son film team Fred and Clive Rees, has taken the US by storm and sold over 20,000 units off its website www.bookofcool.com, plus a further 4,000 copies out of one test LA store alone, earning great reviews and even winning a prize at the annual DVD awards. It’s currently nominated for the prestigious Webby Awards too, and it’s even had Oscar-winners George Clooney and Scarlet Johansson checking out its secrets, and how cool is that?
Now – on June 5th - THE BOOK OF COOL is launching in UK stores both as the 3-DVD version and in the UMD format for exclusive use with Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP). This UMD features a handy bite-sized edit to suit the younger PSP crowd containing the tutorials on Frisbee throwing, Football, Street Soccer, Footbag, Scooter and Street Ball.
A second part of the PSP-version will be available for download from www.bookofcool.com, but not in shops until later in the year.. This contains: Casino Skills, Cards & Magic, Skateboard, In-Line Skate, Pen Spinning, Golf and Rugby kicks.
THE BOOK OF COOL is the teach-yourself-manual-with-a-difference which brings you up-close-and-personal with essential and super-cool skills, usually the domain of the West Coat surfing fraternity or the Mountain Men of Montana...let’s just remind ourselves of the full category listing, because knitting, aerobics and beginners’ Spanish this is NOT.
Ropes and Whips (Indiana Jones style), Bar flairing (doing amazing things with cocktail shakers , bottles of gin etc.) pistol spinning, shooting pool, pen spinning (real rugged stuff) breakdancing, casino skills, street soccer, juggling, bike skills, rugby kicks, scooter riding, card and magic tricks...the list goes on...and every skill is explained and taught, its mysteries unravelled on-camera by an absolute World Number One in their respective art.
And with THE BOOK OF COOL now in PSP / UMD format a new generation of fans while remaining ice cool, naturally - can check out and learn the neatest moves in their repertoire.
“In the beginning there were fun things that others seemed to know how to do,” explains Fred. “But we decided to seek enlightenment. From around the world we found some of the best there will ever be. Watch them, wonder at them, learn from them.”
MEET THE TEACHERS (and you’d better pay attention)
Among the awesome array of talent assembled for THE BOOK OF COOL are:
‘MAD’ CHAD TAYLOR – - World Record Holder, Chainsaw Juggling
BILL DE BOISBLANC –- three times World Champion and one of only four Yo-Yo Grand Masters
MIKE MASSEY – eight times World Pool Trick Shot Champion,
CARLOS SPENCER –- New Zealand All Black rugby superstar
CHRISTIAN DELPECH –- 10 times World Bar Flairing Champion
HOWARD DARBY –- six times World Gun Spinning Champion and seven times World Fast Draw Champion
ALADIN -- one of only two Golden Turban members of the Magic Academy of Bangalore, India
MARTTI KUOPPA –- World Record Holder and World Champion, Flatland Bikes
MR. WOO –- World Freestyle Football Champion and World Record Holder
VINCE BRUCE –- World Record Holder for Texas Skips and Biggest Lasso Hoop
THORETSEN HOHMANN –- 2003 World Pool Champion
SANDRO DIAS –- Skateboard Vert Ramp World Champion
VASEK ‘THE GOLDEN ONE’ KLOUDA –- three times World Footbag Champion
VICENTE BALLESTEROS – brother of Seve and world class golf tricks expert
THE BOOK OF COOL is distributed through HMV, Amazon, Play, Music Zone and Game Station – and the Cool sales team will also be presenting to Game and to independent music and games retailers.
COOL CATS MIX IT WITH THE BIG BOYS AT WEBBY AWARDS
As if winning the 8th Annual DVD awards, selling over 20,000 units online, shifting 4,000 copies in a LA test store, and winning the acclaim of well known celebrities from George Clooney to Scarlett Johanassen wasn’t enough, Fred and Clive Rees, creators of the Book of Cool have out-done themselves yet again.
Nominated for the prestigious Webby Awards, the online version of The Oscars, one could have forgiven the Rees family for sitting on their laurels. And yet there were further arrows to their quill. At last weeks Webby’s, www.bookofcool.com won more awards, in different categories, than any other website AND lies only joint 2nd behind Google for the most awards won all over!
A David & Goliath story if there ever was one, it’s a testament to the creators for a relatively miniscule UK based company to be competing for 1st place with the likes of innovative websites such as giants Google Map and Google Earth. The Book of Cool also won the layman’s vote too, clinching more People’s Voice Awards than any other website in the Retail, Best use of Video and Best Navigation/Structure sectors.
Full Results:
1. Google Earth: Win 4 Awards - 2 Panel Awards and 2 People's Voice.
2. Google Maps : Win 3 Awards - 1 Panel Awards and 2 People's Voice.
Therefore Google win 7 Awards for two sites.
3. Book of Cool : Wins 3 People's webby awards.
4. BBC : Wins 2 panel and 1 People's Voice award ( with two different websites)
5. Epicurus: Wins 2 Panel Awards and 1 people's webby.
6. Flickr: Win 2 Panel Awards.
7. NPR org. Win 1 Panel and 2 People Awards. ( 3 Websites)
The 10th Annual Webby Awards ceremony takes place in New York’s Cipriani Hotel on June 12th with a roll call invite list of Hollywood names to attend. Webby founder Tiffany Shlain said of the event: “We’re proud to salute the people and the organisations whose ground- breaking ideas are re-shaping how we experience our world. The winner’s reflect the web’s diversity.”
On June 5th - THE BOOK OF COOL is launching in UK stores both as the 3-DVD version and in the UMD format for exclusive use with Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP). This UMD features a handy bite-sized edit to suit the younger PSP crowd containing the tutorials on Frisbee throwing, Football, Street Soccer, Footbag, Scooter and Street Ball.
A second part of the PSP-version will be available for download from www.bookofcool.com, but not in shops until later in the year.. This contains: Casino Skills, Cards & Magic, Skateboard, In-Line Skate, Pen Spinning, Golf and Rugby kicks.
THE BOOK OF COOL is the teach-yourself-manual-with-a-difference which brings you up-close-and-personal with essential and super-cool skills, usually the domain of the West Coat surfing fraternity or the Mountain Men of Montana...let’s just remind ourselves of the full category listing, because knitting, aerobics and beginners’ Spanish this is NOT.
Ropes and Whips (Indiana Jones style), Bar flairing (doing amazing things with cocktail shakers , bottles of gin etc.) pistol spinning, shooting pool, pen spinning (real rugged stuff) breakdancing, casino skills, street soccer, juggling, bike skills, rugby kicks, scooter riding, card and magic tricks...the list goes on...and every skill is explained and taught, its mysteries unravelled on-camera by an absolute World Number One in their respective art.
“In the beginning there were fun things that others seemed to know how to do,” explains Fred. “But we decided to seek enlightenment. From around the world we found some of the best there will ever be. Watch them, wonder at them, learn from them.”
THE BOOK OF COOL is distributed through HMV, Amazon, Play, Music Zone and Game Station – and the Cool sales team will also be presenting to Game and to independent music and games retailers.
For more information, or if you would like to request a copy of The Book of Cool, please contact:
UK PREMIER OF U.S. HIT
LONDON MORPHS INTO BEVERLY HILLS
...EVERYBODY HAS THEIR PRICE. WHAT’S YOURS?
ROAD TO NIRVANA
OPENING AT THE KING’S HEAD ON MAY 2ND
Smell something strange and very American on Upper Street, Islington over the next few weeks and it’s probably the outrageous bullsh*t the characters are spouting, prior to the opening of ROAD TO NIRVANA, Arthur Kopit’s brilliant satirical comedy set in the hiatus of late ‘80s Los Angeles.
This is a play which triumphed in the USA, touching a popular nerve about hype and Hollywood, and quickly entered the national repertoire. Serious movie actors virtually queued to get back into live theatre just to act in it... Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore have all appeared in its fierce, fast-paced and very funny tangle of truth and hysteria.
Now COLIN MCFARLANE (National Theatre, Batman Begins, Judge John Deed, The Fast Show) directs a brilliant cast in Kopit’s telling fable of Al, a failed movie producer-turned dope-dealer and his moll Lou, who find a major star to latch onto...the one and only Nirvana herself, a celebrity (not a million miles from Tina Turner, J Lo or even the wife of Guy Ritchie) of such wealth and worldwide fame that she just might carry them all the way to the top...but only if they can persuade Jerry, a former colleague they shafted a decade ago, to join the plot.
ROAD TO NIRVANA reflects the surreal insanity of the LA drug culture as it explores the degree to which any individual is prepared to go to realise their ultimate dream, in this case the Hollywood fantasy of fame, money, power, and even more money.
The British cast includes the comic genius of SHAUN WILLIAMSON (‘Barry’ from Eastenders), WENDY MORGAN (National Theatre, Jewel In the Crown), MAREM HERNANDEZ (Dream Team), ALAN TURNER (Our Friends In The North, An Ungentlemanly Act) and IAN PORTER (Hotel Babylon, Saving Private Ryan). Behind the scenes as Associate Producers are KATE PLANTIN, the writer and broadcaster BONNIE GREER and comedy star and Comic Relief champion LENNY HENRY.
Road To Nirvana is produced by 4th Wall Entertainment in association with theatreshare plc.
“I just loved this play the moment I read it” said Lenny. “Arthur has a fabulous ear, and his writing is extremely funny. The insane notion that anybody would willingly slash their wrists, eat excrement and undergo surgical mutilation in order to land a movie deal is made to feel entirely plausible.”
“Arthur is a theatrical giant...what a coup” said Bonnie. “I've grown up with his plays and I'm very excited about premiering this piece of work in London.”
Director COLIN MACFARLANE set up 4th Wall Entertainment 7 years ago and his first productions were Jean Paul Sartre's 'Huis Clos' also known as,'No Exit', No Way Out', and 'In Camera’. starring Frederic Forrest (Apocalypse Now), Daniella Nardini (This Life BBC) and Les Dennis, which Colin produced and directed at the Criterion theatre in London's West End.
In “ROAD TO NIRVANA” he believes he has found a rare gem
“This play is like nothing on the London stage at the moment. Tarantino-esque, dark, funny and jaw-dropping, it really packs a punch. It’s been described as like watching a car crash in slow-motion. The inexorable slide of the character Jerry down into the hinterlands of morality, where it becomes clear he will do ANYTHING, literally ANYTHING to get back the glamorous, optimistic lifestyle he lost, is both horrifying and a comic treat. I’m really chuffed to have such a topnotch cast.”
SHAUN WILLIAMSON, (‘Al’) plays the brashest, most absurd big mouth movie producer you’ve ever seen.
“I’m a sort of monster in a Hawaiian shirt” he admits. “Al has lost touch with every form of reality except the notion that he can still pull a con and his ability to talk garbage is unsurpassed in the history of Anglo-American literature. It’s a hell of a role,”
A 4thwall Entertainment Company production in association with theatreshare plc.
Box Office Details
Tickets available now: Booking from 2nd May to 28 May 2006
Box Office
020 7226 1916 or www.kingsheadtheatre.org
Performance Times
8pm Tuesday to Saturday
3.30pm Thursday, Saturday & Sunday
Tickets £22.50 (concessions and standbys available)
Press Night is Thursday 4th May @ 7pm
Warning: contains nudity, foul language and appalling behaviour
HOVIS ‘BOY ON THE BIKE’ COMES TOP AS THE NATION’S ALL TIME FAVOURITE ADVERT
· 32% choose Hovis’ Boy on the Bike TV advert as favourite · 61% can hum the ‘Hovis music’ · 45% of people believe they hear classical music most often on adverts
In an independent survey by 72 Point of over 1,000 people, the Hovis ‘Boy on the Bike’ advert has been named as the nation’s favourite commercial. 32% chose the boy pushing the bread-laden bike up the cobbled streets, which was directed by Ridley Scott in 1973. In second place was the Milk Tray advert, with 18%, and Ferrero Rocher finished in third with 12%. The Bisto Kids adverts came fourth with 11%. The Boy on the Bike advert will be re-aired for 10 days from the 10th May, to celebrate 120 years of Hovis.
Dvorak’s New World Symphony was used as the evocative music for the Hovis advert, making it one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music around. The same survey revealed that 61% of people can hum the ‘Hovis music’ with no prompting - 34% more than the British Airway’s advert (Flower Duet by Leo Delibes) and 34% more than the Stella Artois advert music (Jean de Florette Theme by Jean Claude Petit).
But whilst adverts can increase the popularity of classical music, it seems that the knowledge doesn’t extend to composers or symphonies. Whilst 61% of people can hum ‘The Hovis music’ only 23% can hum ‘The New World Symphony’ – the same piece of music! And only 19% knew it was Dvorak that composed the music from the advert.
Despite recent news that classical music is enjoying a renewed level of popularity, it seems that most of us get our fix from the media. 45% of people believe they hear classical music most often on adverts, 34% from the radio and 16% from CDs. Only 2% download classical music onto an mp3 player, despite recent reports that digital music is driving the classical music revolution.
63% of people listen to classical music less than once a month, and 26% of those say they never listen to it.
To celebrate its 120th birthday, Hovis are re-airing the classic ‘Boy on the Bike’ advert for 10 days from the 10th May.
The Hovis Exhibition is also open: 11th – 13th May
10am-4pm
United Grand Lodge, London (near Covent Garden)
Free entry to the public
For more information about Hovis and the 120 year celebrations, please visit the dedicated website at www.hovis120.com
The website will launch on the 1st May.
For information about the Hovis 120 year celebrations please contact:
RHM is one of the largest food companies in the UK and Ireland and the home of famous brands such as Hovis, Mr Kipling, Sharwood’s and Bisto. With annual sales of over £1,500m, the Group employs around 16,000 employees at over 50 locations and is organised into three divisions: Bread Bakeries, Culinary Brands and Cakes & Customer Partnerships. RHM’s purpose is to make better foods for a better life. This recognises that food is an important part of the fabric of life and that RHM will constantly seek to improve its products, making them better to eat, more convenient, healthier and more enjoyable for its consumers. For more information about RHM, please visit www.rhm.com
Posted by Melody on May 3
HOVIS CELEBRATES 120 YEARS - PRESS LISTINGS INFORMATION
Hovis celebrates 120 years
Hovis, one of Britain’s most loved brands, celebrates its 120th birthday this year. To commemorate this milestone, The Hovis Exhibition is being hosted at the United Grand Lodge, London, with free admission to the public between 11th-13th May.
This fascinating exhibition gives people the chance to see Hovis over the past 120 years, charting everything from the iconic marketing campaigns (Who remembers ‘Don’t say brown, say Hovis’ or Ridley Scott’s ‘Boy on the Bike’ advert?) to the health benefits of this household staple. The exhibition offers an insight into the evolution of society, advertising and design over the years, through this one iconic brand.
· The exhibition will be open from 10am-5pm, 11th-13th May. · It is being held in the Hovis Exhibition Room at the United Grand Lodge, 60 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AZ.
