Surgeons say the recession has cut demand in America for cosmetic procedures that are not covered by health insurance

Americans appear to be finally falling out of love with cosmetic surgery after a new report revealed that the number of operations dropped by 18% last year.

The new reluctance to have a facelift, a tummy tuck or a breast enlargement marks a dramatic turn away from procedures that a few years ago seemed almost commonplace.

Figures collated by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that 1.9m operations took place last year, down from 2.1m in 2005. One big factor cited by many plastic surgeons is the recession. The biggest downturn since the Great Depression has hit many high-end consumer industries; plastic surgery certainly qualifies as a luxury commodity for many Americans. Purely cosmetic operations, such as nose-shaping or breast enlargements, often cost thousands of dollars and are not usually covered by health insurance.

"I believe one can credit the downturn of the economy for the decline in surgical procedures that obviously are more costly than non-surgical procedures," said Dr Elliot Jacobs, a leading New York plastic surgeon whose private surgery is on Park Avenue.

But some say there could be something in the zeitgeist, too. Over the past decade, plastic surgery saw a massive boom. Something previously seen as the province of Hollywood royalty and the very rich trickled down to the merely wealthy and then the middle class. It became the subject of numerous TV shows, such as Nip/Tuck, which followed the antics of a pair of Miami plastic surgeons and famously opened its first episode in 2003 with the controversial line: "Tell me what you don't like about yourself."

It was not just soap opera that fell under the surgeons' spell: reality TV shows got in on the act, too. Programmes such as Extreme Makeover and The Swan gave ordinary people a chance of free operations to improve their appearance. The shows were not without controversy, especially The Swan, whose premise was to transform a contestant into a more beautiful person physically. However, both shows have been cancelled, and this year Nip/Tuck also broadcast its last episode.

Nor are celebrities immune from criticism about the plastic surgery they have undergone. Many stars receive frequent sniping in gossip columns for having operations deemed too obvious.

Recently reality-TV star Heidi Montag was on the end of an avalanche of criticism – even from her husband – after she revealed she had had 10 plastic surgery procedures in one year.

Dr Michael Hall, a plastic surgeon in Miami Beach, said that an age of excess in the industry had come to an end, mirroring wider society. "When it comes to plastic surgery, people are now using more common sense. They don't want radical procedures," he said.

But while full-on surgical operations might be falling, the number of non-surgical cosmetic procedures is steady or rising. Many plastic surgeons say there has merely been a shift in taste and treatment. Non-surgical operations, such as Botox, lip injections or lasering, are cheaper and becoming more effective. "Women are looking for non-invasive procedures," said Hall.

There are other changes, too, reflecting both cultural and economic trends. Dr Richard Baxter, a plastic surgeon in Washington state, noticed a marked decrease in the size of breast implants as the economy started to go downhill. Before the recession, fewer than a third of Baxter's clients chose a B cup implant; now about half pick a B. "People have turned to more natural-looking things," he said.

The question concerning the industry now is what the longer-term trend will be. Some predict a permanent shift, while others say there are already signs of a renewed up-tick. One thing most doctors agree on, though, is that there is still no shortage of demand for changing one's body, just a change in preferred methods. "Has the plastic surgery bubble burst? I doubt it. As long as a woman or a man has a mirror available, there will be a continued interest in plastic surgery," said Jacobs. Hall put it another way, pointing out that some human emotions and desires are both recession-proof and fashion-proof: "There is no lack of vanity. There is just a little more hesitation."

• Plastic surgery
• US healthcare
• United States

Paul Harrisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Filed under: Video, Social Software

RandomDorm is a new site that's following in the footsteps of the explosively popular random video chat service Chatroulette, but adding its own twist: it's for college students only. To use RandomDorm, you need a .edu email address or a Facebook account with a .edu address as the primary email. RandomDorm is also limited to the US right now (it's "geotarded," as Lee is fond of saying).

Despite the word "Random" in the name, RandomDorm definitely offers a much smaller variety of characters than Chatroulette. Half the fun of Chatroulette is meeting pranksters and talking to folks in other countries. Randomdorm is definitely about as heavily male as Chatroulette, but so far I've noticed much less full frontal male nudity. I consider this a plus, but tastes may vary.

What might really help RandomDorm take off is the dating angle. Chatroulette has gained unexpected traction as a matchmaking site, with people even posting Chatroulette missed connections all over the web. Well, take that and narrow the pool to college students ... it's bound to be a dating goldmine. No surprise, then, that RandomDorm was developed by the creators of GoodCrush, a matchmaking site.

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RandomDorm: Chatroulette goes to college originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook - GoodCrush - Videoconferencing - Download Squad - E-mail address

Let's look back at the week that was in Microsoft news. Here were the top stories:

Microsoft shows off Windows Phone 7 Series dev tools at MIX10: Microsoft's MIX10 Developer Conference kicked off with much ado about Windows Phone 7 Series and Silverlight 4. Ars reports from Las Vegas.

Platform Preview gives Web developers first taste of IE9: Microsoft has released the Windows Internet Explorer Platform Preview for Web developers to start playing around with Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft is promising to update it approximately every eight weeks with the latest IE9 builds.

Read the comments on this post

"it's all about TASTE" restaurant located at the award-winning hotel, ibis Singapore on Bencoolen to bring you the best in local delights. (PRWeb Mar 20, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/ibis-singapore/taste-restuarant/prweb3752524.htm

We are all familiar with buns: Ball of bread, with a somewhat bland taste. Try these chocolate hazelnut buns, a fusion of bread and dessert, bound to impress. Here's how to make them.

Musicians, DJs and authors to reveal their favourite hangouts

Have your say on the Travel blog

HiFi, New York

HiFi is the best rock'n'roll bar in NYC.The room is covered with empty album sleeves and the juke box is hands-down the best in the city – I believe there are about 3,000 albums on it, so you can't complain about them not having your song. There is a fantastically affordable happy hour and a great local crowd. Like the rest of the East Village, it can get a bit much on weekend nights, but most of the time it's my favourite bar in town.
· 169 Avenue A, +1 212 420 8392.
Craig Finn, lead singer of the Hold Steady

Pegu Club, New York

The entrance to the Pegu is an unassuming doorway on the south side of West Houston Street. It's only when you are up the stairs that the glory of this place hits you. It is like going back to the great clubs of the 20s, when the staff were pretty and jazz and cocktails ruled. On a recent visit, two amazing Django Reinhardt-style guitarists were swinging through 30s classics. Cocktails are taken seriously here – the art of proper, classy drinking is almost a motto. At the weekend it can get pretty busy as it is becoming the "in" place.
· 77 West Houston Street, +1 212 473 7348.
James Pearson, artistic director, Ronnie Scott's, London

Po' Monkey's, Mississippi

It was a balmy night in September when I visited Po' Monkey's juke joint. It's a ramshackle hut powered by a single cable in the tiny town of Merigold, deep in the Mississippi delta. A poster on the door warned: "Bring your liquor inside but not your beer." The walls were cluttered with posters and age-old postcards, while toy monkeys swung from the rafters. It was low lit – smoky but inviting, with beer and whiskey flowing freely. Terry "Harmonica" Bean took to the tiny stage, elbow to elbow with the crowd, and delivered a mind-blowing, foot-stamping performance that will stay with me forever. Delicately soulful cries came from his ageing gruff voice, while stupendous bluegrass melodies oozed effortlessly from his antique steel guitar. This was raw blues at its authentic and spine-shivering best.
· +1 662 514 7488, 15km from Cleveland.
Dan Hipgrave, co-founder of Original Music Company (originalmusictravel.com), which launched this month and specialises in music-themed holidays

The Spirit Store, Ireland

The Spirit Store in Dundalk, County Louth, is on the edge of town beside a small harbour. There's a small, friendly bar downstairs which opens around 4pm, but it is the live music upstairs that is the main draw. You would be hard-pressed to find anywhere as welcoming to an artist and more genuinely music-driven in its programming of events. That's why I keep going back there to play, and why many other artists who have outgrown the 120- or so capacity venue keep returning. So many venues and promoters are about the money but Derek Turner, who books the music, is driven by something much more.
· +353 42 9352697.
Duke Special, musician. His DVD box set, The Stage, A Book & the Silver Screen is out now

The Hideout, London

Not exactly a venue, not exactly a bar, entrance to Trishas/The Hideout/that door on Greek St (as it is variously known), is obtained by boldly knocking on what appears to be the entrance to a flat above a shop, striding through a starkly lit corridor and down a flight of stairs, before mumbling an explanation to the owner as to why you don't appear to be in possession of a membership card – having accidentally put it through the washing machine normally does the trick. Inside, you'll find a cupboard-sized, candle-lit cavern which can be hired out for private music showcases. But stumble in unannounced after hours on a weekend and you might also find a doo wop or jazz band sandwiched into the corner between the usual crowd of transvestites, metropolitan hipsters and veteran Italian locals.
57 Greek Street, Soho, London.
Krissi Murison, editor, NME

The Shed North Yorkshire

I first played at this blink-and-you'll-miss-it shed in the tiny village of Brawby back in 1998. It only held 64 people and we scraped our legs on the front row's knees. It has since moved to Hovingham village hall, though it retains its name. The man behind The Shed, Simon Thackray, has presented events from the Fish and Chip Van Tour with a trombonist, to mixed media knitting installations – saxophonist Lol Coxhill playing free jazz in a skip to coach trips for folks in knitted Elvis wigs touring sites of Elvisian interest in Ryedale. My own band, Hank Wangford and the Lost Cowboys, started a tradition of Christmas gigs at The Shed, where we play morose songs and have a riotously miserable time. The Shed was the inspiration for my village hall tour around Britain, which I am currently writing up as a book. And, after 235 villages, The Shed is still the loony best.
· 01653 668494.
Hank Wangford, writer and musician. His CD, Whistling in the Dark, is out now

A38, Budapest

For me, the greatest gig of 2009 was at A38, a huge old ship that used to lug coal up and down the Danube. The lower deck is now a state-of-the-art live music venue, but bits of engine room equipment are still there. Even though the boat is held down in dry dock by 100 tonnes of concrete, the bottles still jingle on the shelves of the bar when the parties get wild. The booking policy is great – they've had cutting-edge electronic artists such as Ikonika, Dorian Concept and Foreign Beggars play recently. And nothing compares with the signature dish of the restaurant on the upper deck: rooster stew, complete with the crest and testicles of the bird.
· +36 1 464 39 40.
Mary Anne Hobbs, Radio 1 DJ. Her show is broadcast on Thursdays 2-4am

Wild At Heart, Berlin

Wild At Heart is a whisky-soaked, no-nonsense rock'n'roll joint in Berlin's old anarchist district, Kreuzberg: a seven-nights-a-week venue painted blood red, crammed with Elvis memorabilia, Hawaiian gods and a lifetime's supply of hard liquor. For 15 years it has presented bands from all over the world – mostly punk, rockabilly, psychobilly, 60s garage and surf. I spent a memorable evening there talking to TV Smith from the Adverts and another with Wreckless Eric, both of whom started out with punk label Stiff Records in 1977, and I've played there with my band, the Flaming Stars. The music's loud, but the welcome is friendly, and the club also runs the Tiki Heart cafe and clothes shop next door, where you can eat, drink and kit yourself out in a spectacular variety of rock'n'roll clobber.
· Wienerstrasse 20, +49 30 610 747 01.
Max Décharné, singer in the Flaming Stars and author of A Rocket in My Pocket: The Hipster's Guide to Rockabilly, to be published by Serpent's Tail in June

Mesa de Frades, Lisbon

Mesa de Frades in Alfama, the oldest district of Lisbon, is the sort of place you dream of hearing fado, the traditional soulful Portuguese music. A tiny converted chapel with tiled walls, it is full of locals and quality performers booked by owner Pedro Castro, a great guitar player. You can come for the music, which starts late – around 11pm – or book a table and come for an excellent dinner beforehand. A couple of years ago I sat here watching Carminho, the amazing young fado singer who is now the talk of Lisbon. When the music starts, the doors are shut to enclose the tiny performing space. It's what fado in Lisbon should be, but so rarely is.
· Rua dos Remedios 139A, +351 91 702 9436, mesadefrades.com. Booking is essential.
Simon Broughton, editor of Songlines magazine (songlines.co.uk/musictravel)

Il Folk Club, Turin

In the heart of Turin, off Piazza Statuto, you'll find the best of all worlds: from Wednesday to Saturday Il Folk Club plays host to Italian and international jazz, folk and world musicians. How this Italian institution – legendary in Turin for over 20 years – has remained generally unknown to travellers and music junkies outside Italy is a mystery. Alongside its regular programme, Il Folk Club is also the launching point for Radio Londra, a monthly mini-festival which fuses British musicians such as Jim Mullen, Kit Downes, Brandon Allen and Quentin Collins Quartet, with local stars such as Mario Pozza, Enzo Zirilli and Dado Moroni. The bar is simple – one central room with space for about 150 people, exposed brick walls, and a stage – so the focus is always on the incredible music.
Via Ettore Perrone 3, Turin.
Sam Sollai, buyer and events coordinator, Ray's Jazz at Foyles

Gerbard, Barcelona

This little neighbourhood bar used to have a green door with panes that rattled when you opened it, but it has now been replaced with something more solid, partly to keep the sound in. It's run by Mar and Nacho, both dyed-in-the-wool culés (Barcelona supporters), and nights there are long and loud. You can hear Sam Lardner, an American resident who plays his own fusion of flamenco and bossa nova, or wonderful classical and flamenco guitarists like Daniel Figueras and Pedro Javier Hermosilla, or the Covers Project, with frontman Philip Stanton. The eating and drinking are delicious too – Galician-style octopus, traditional meatballs, pimientos de padron (small green peppers), and wine for not much more than a euro a glass. A great night out in the Alta Zona.
· C/ Ivorra 24, Sarria, Barcelona, +93 203 4988.
Rupert Thomson, author living in Barcelona. His latest book, This Party's Got to Stop, will be published on 8 April

La Casona del Molino, Salta, Argentina

Salta, in north-west Argentina, is well-known for its folk music heritage. This has given rise to the creation of pena, which roughly translates as a place where musicians and music lovers come together. Seven nights a week you can experience this at La Casona. The venue's five colonial rooms are filled to the brim with musicians, professional and amateur, folk, jazz and others, locals who come down from the Andes bearing pan pipes and drums, and some foreign visitors, all coming together to jam the local tunes. As a musician, I found great comfort in the fact that this kind of place exists in the world. And of course, many people come simply for the music.
· La Casona del Molino, Caseros.
Lizzie Ball, violinist and singer. She will be performing – and launching her album – with Machaca at La Linea Festival in the Purcell Room on London's South Bank on 27 April

Salón Rosado de la Tropical, Havana

The first time I asked a taxi driver to take me to Havana's Salón Rosado de la Tropical back in 1989 he said it was a place for Cubans, not foreign tourists – and certainly not lone women – and I'd better watch out as it could be rough. He'd obviously never been inside this mecca of Cuban dance music, where all the top bands play regularly, testing their latest material in front of the sexiest dancers on the island. In Cuba, most music venues are geared to tourists and too expensive for ordinary Cubans, who are often not allowed in anyway. Not so the Salón Rosado. This is the closest you can get to hanging out with a Cuban clientele. Dedicated to the memory of Beny Moré, Cuba's touchstone band leader of the 1950s, it started out life a Spanish cultural centre at the beginning of the 20th century. These days there's a balcony reserved for tourists overlooking the dance floor where, if you're lucky, you may rub shoulders with the musicians as they gather for the gig. Although today reggaeton and hip-hop dominate street tastes, Salon Rosado continues to offer a window on to the latest music scene and is a dancer's dream.
· Avenida 41 esq. 46, Nicanor del Campo, Marianao, +53 7 203 5322.
Jan Fairley has been travelling to Cuba since 1978 and is writing a book on women and music in Cuba

Liquid Room, Tokyo

Leading Japanese venue Liquid Room has been going for about 15 years and hosts weekly bands and DJs from Japan and around the world. The website may say it closes at 12, but the last time I played there, as The Orb, they didn't let us out till 6am. There's a beautiful cafe upstairs and the friendly enthusiasm of Tokyo clubbers has to be experienced to be believed. The last time I played there I took a bag of Space Dust (the sweet!) which made me very popular.
· Higashi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, +81 3 5464 0800, liquidroom.net.
Alex Paterson, co-founder of The Orb and HFB, his new project. HFB's first three EPs are available from 12 April on Malicious Damage Records

New Africa Shrine, Lagos, Nigeria

Lagos is not your classic tourist destination; it's a prohibitively expensive city of 14 million people and a crime record to frighten even the toughest traveller. But Nigeria's notorious capital does have one musical landmark worth going the extra mile for: the New Africa Shrine. It's named after the legendary club run by the late musical activist Fela Kuti, which was razed by soldiers. Fela's daughter Yeni and her musician brother Femi have built up a nightclub that can hold thousands and has live music throughout the week. It's not for the faint-hearted, but the Shrine is probably the safest place in Lagos: it has its own police force. You'll get a warm welcome, and hear some of the best live music in the region.
· Pepple Street, Ikeja.
Rose Skelton, music and travel journalist specialising in West Africa

• Bars and clubs
• United States
• New York
• Ireland
• World music
• Budapest
• Hungary
• Berlin
• Germany
• Lisbon
• Portugal
• Yorkshire
• Argentina
• Havana
• Cuba

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Filed under: Crossover, Mazda, Diesel

2010 Mzda CX-7 - Click above for high-res image gallery
Two years ago, Mazda introduced an advanced new 2.2-liter four cylinder diesel engine in the European market. Since then, we've asked Mazda officials on several occasions whether they would offer that engine in the U.S. market. The company has never ruled out bringing a diesel here, but it has also never said it would. Instead, Mazda has always said that it's watching the market and if there was demand for a diesel in the U.S., it would look at offering the efficient engines. Perhaps the success of Volkswagen's diesel offerings in the U.S. has convinced Mazda to look more seriously at oil-burners.

Mazda also offers a higher revving, more powerful 2.3-liter diesel which would be better suited to U.S. tastes. Mazda already offers the CX-7 with an SCR after-treatment system that would go a long way to meeting American emissions standards. However, at last fall's Tokyo Motor Show, the company also showed a next-generation diesel dubbed Sky-D, which is 20 percent more efficient. According to Road & Track, Mazda has acknowledged that the Sky-D diesel could be part of the lineup for the next generation CX-7 and CX-9, but the obvious question is: When?

Gallery: 2010 Mazda CX-7

[Source: Road & Track]

Rumormill: Mazda considers offering diesel CX-7 in the States originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you watch Stupid for Movies, an independently-produced movie chat show live-streaming weekly on Ustream at 8 PM PST, you see Los Angeles-based film critics Mark Keizer and Wade Major sitting side by side on a red-curtained set that invokes the golden days of Siskel and Ebert at the Movies, reacting to an enthusiastic audience’s applause. Keizer and Major banter back and forth about the week’s new releases and films the audience should “Buy, Burn or Rent,” while director Mike Rotman chimes in occasionally on the banter.

With five cameras, a small crew and live-streaming technology provided by NewTek, Stupid For Movies has been running for two months now, with the live episodes archived on Blip the following day. Last night’s episode’s stream received a total of 5,799 views, with 300 live viewers tuned in around 8:40 PM PST — a viewership number that is only built upon once the episode is archived and spread around to its distribution partners.

The magic all happens in a converted garage up in the San Fernando Valley — one of Los Angeles’ most suburban sectors, where most of the houses look the same. Inside that garage, though, is a surprisingly professional operation crammed into a space that would barely be able to fit two Volvos.

The exterior of the studio/garage.

The production behind-the-scenes was a mix of laid-back and professional, with the breaks provided by short clips from films used to adjust camera angles and touch up makeup. On screen, that attitude carried through: Both hosts were confident and relaxed on camera, with only the occasional moment of hamming on the part of Major. (Mocking Major’s shirt appears to be a running theme.)

I consider myself a movie nerd, but watching Keizer and Major identify random obscure films from the last 40 years made me feel ignorant — their film knowledge is wide and all-encompassing, to the point where it seemed that many of the films suggested by viewers for the Buy/Rent/Burn segment were submitted just in the hopes of stumping them (which only sort of happened once with the old Wes Craven film Deadly Friend, though they quickly recalled it once given a hint).

Major and Keiser get ready for their close-ups.

The key to Siskel and Ebert’s dynamic was always that they weren’t prone to agreeing with each other, but while Keizer and Major (who also host IGN’s Digigods podcast) do demonstrate some distinctively different taste in films, Major estimated in a post-shoot conversation that they agree with each other about 65 or 70 percent of the time. What that contributes to, though, is a very distinctive point-of-view about the film world, one that has no patience for video game movies and dismisses the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films out of hand — but does genuinely love film. The audience attracted to such a perspective is thus pretty specific, but with real potential for loyalty.

Rotman, who’s known Keizer and Major for years, has been working in web video for some time and currently directs The Kevin Pollak Chat Show on Sundays. When he came up with the idea for Stupid For Movies, he shopped it around to a few different parties but wasn’t happy with any of the deals he got — hence deciding to produce the show on his own, a decision made easier when he found a house for rent that had a soundproofed garage, thanks to its former tenant, a musician.

Chad Vader waits to chime in via Skype.

Currently on Stupid for Movies, online video legend Chad Vader does a weekly news rundown and at least once so far, Kevin Pollak has Skyped in to give the guys grief. Future plans for the next few weeks include bringing in celebrities to discuss their favorite movies ever, more giveaways, and possibly a sponsorship by one of the obvious movie-related brands online, leaving Stupid poised to become a much bigger player in the live-streaming world — especially for those who love movies.

Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required): Case Study: 1 vs. 100 Live’s Glimpse of the Future