lifestyle

Wine Bar: 6 things everyone's talking about today.

1. The 50-cm waist

Yes, that’s right. 50 centimetres. The image of a Romanian “hourglass” model who weighs just 38  kilograms is circling the internet. Ioana Spangenberg says she eats three meals a day snack on chocolate and crisps “all the time.” This from the Daily Telegraph:

“I just have a small stomach. It’s a bit like having a natural gastric band – if I eat too much, I feel sick.”

Meanwhile, here’s a question… Are models contractually obliged to be beautiful? or thin?

That’s the intriguing question thrown up by a court case out of the Netherlands where model Ananda Marchildon is suing her agency for sacking her two years into a three year contract. Ananda was a contestant on Holland’s Next Top Model where she won the 75,000 Euro prize money and a contract with Elite Model Management.

Ananda Marchildon

But then  the agency discovered Ananda’s hips exceeded the 90cm maximum, which was an agency standard (that’s a good 13cm less than the European average). So they let her go! Whoa. Ananda claims she was told she ‘had a nice face, but a fat arse’ and wants the remaining 65,000 Euro in prize money paid out to her.  So, leaving aside the very obvious point that the MODELLING INDUSTRY IS WARPED, this introduces a more dubious moral area. The agency is a business with clear requirements which the model did not fulfill. Who is in the right?

2. The divorce hotel

Hanging out for a weekend break? What about a weekend break-up? A concept called the “Divorce Hotel” is the latest thing to hit the Netherlands – it helps husbands and wives to arrange all the necessary legal documentation to end their marriage over the course of just two days.

The couple have to apply to use the process and are rigorously screened by the hotel’s legal team. Once approved, they check in and meet a mediator and series of lawyers behind closed doors who will split assets, agree alimony payments and arrange visitation rights – all for a fixed fee.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mmmm, interesting?

3. Madonna at the Super Bowl.

Everybody’s talking about Madonna’s performance at the Super Bowl. Checkit.

From Material Girl to now, take a look through our gallery of Madonna’s many incarnations:

For more info on that performance, you can go here to see it now.

We’ve also put up the 5 best Super Bowl ads which you can find here – take a look and tell us your favourite.

4. What would you do with one more hour?

If you had an extra hour in the day, how would you spend it? Sleeping? Working? Watching Gossip Girl?

Researchers from the University of South Australia are asking those question as part of a study into the psychology of time use and how it relates to exercise.  Overwhelmingly people responded they would sleep more, watch less TV, and spend more time with family if there were 25 hour in the day. And if there were just 23 hours in the day? They’d cut down on their sleep.

What about you?

5. Video of the day..

Say any common word to Alyssa and she will pronounce it correctly backwards within 3 seconds. Check it out.

6. Mamamia gets social!

Mia will be doing half an hour of ‘Ask Mia’ tonight on our Facebook page, which you can find (and like!) here. At 8:30pm AEST tonight we’ll post a status where you can comment and ask Mia anything that tickles your fancy. She’ll l be commenting in reply to answer your questions. Keep in mind that not all questions will be answered (unless she grows a few extra hands in the next couple of hours) but Mia will endeavour to get around to as many as she can.

ADVERTISEMENT

Also Mamamia has a Pinterest page! Over the weekend, Mia and Lana dived into Pinterest. Not just dipped their toes into the water to try it but dove right in and didn’t come up for ages.  In fact, they may want to publicly apologise to their families for ignoring them the entire weekend.

Pinterest is basically a virtual pinboard. It’s also the new up and comer in the world of social media. People use it to share images and thoughts that have found on the web. If Tumblr is a short version of the a blog then Pinterest is a short version of the Tumblr. And it’s stunning.

Follow our boards here and get pinning.

Our boards today. But keep watching because they change all the time

 

And in case you missed anything else on Mamamia…

We started the day by reading Mia’s News Limited column about the music videos that contain strippers turned popstars and how it’s become public wallpaper; then Meshel Laurie took us through some of the reasons why she needs a wife.

You can find a brilliant cheatsheet on Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, here and read all about her mysterious life. Plus check out today’s week in style post – where we take you through the magnificent invention that is the camel toe cup.

And finally, have a read of this post by Mamamia’s Digital Marketing Manager Matt Norton about what happened when his friend was called a “faggot”.

What’s caught your eye in the news today?