For those of you who fancy a movie every now and then, there is good news &mdash; and some bad. While the list of films running at the cinemas this weekend is long, so are the queues! We suggest, instead, a no-fuss alternative: curl up at home with a mug of hot chocolate (or a can of beer), microwaved popcorn, and catch up on a few offbeat films, all new arrivals at your nearest DVD store.

Now showing

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Hats may not be the accessory of choice in India, but Gargi Gupta finds a few milliners who are testing the market with their designs.

Hats off!

These compact camcorders allow you to shoot videos on the go and upload them on the Internet. Priyanka Joshi picks five that are easy on the pocket.

Shoot it, record it, upload it

It&rsquo;s not enough to have a good-looking car. What your vehicle also needs are snazzy accessories and the best in-car entertainment systems. Simply put, your machine should be a head turner. Going by the accessories that were on display at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2010, it was evident that the market for car accessories, thanks to enthusiastic motorists, will grow at a healthy pace.

Couture for your car

Rrishi Raote tells you how to go about it.

Buying a piano?

For most guitar enthusiasts &mdash; budding or professional &mdash; their instrument is much more than, well, just an instrument &mdash; it&rsquo;s a friend, a companion, or a piece of art that needs care and attention. With the penchant for jazzing up guitars growing among aficionados, the market for guitar accessories is growing too.

How to jazz up your guitar

Most large cities and towns offer multiple options for Western music students. Here are a few.

Music schools

Even alighting at the railway station is kind of quiet. A few people get off, monkeys snatch some apples from a bemused passenger and run away, and there are no sadhus to be seen. Okay, maybe one. And he&rsquo;s wearing clothes. Outside, on the way to the hotel, it&rsquo;s the same story. Haridwar is quiet, almost sleepy, especially after Delhi.

Postcards from Haridwar

Four legs, a slat of metal or wood, bare or upholstered, a seat to sit on, and another to rest your back against &mdash; the chair might seem the very epitome of design simplicity. But, we discover, it&rsquo;s anything but. In the last century the chair has been the subject of numerous design interventions; the Museum of Modern Art in New York has over 400 &ldquo;designer&rdquo; chairs &mdash; some simple, some interesting, some impossible and many that just make you stop and think. In a conventional sense, ergonomics is, of course, key, and a good design should also spell comfort. But &ldquo;chairs should be stylish too,&rdquo; says Geetanjali Kasliwal, a Jaipur-based furniture designer. Abhilasha Ojha picks some new designs that are quirky and funky, using different materials in unusual combinations.

We rest our case

These designs are among those still acknowledged as iconic.

Classic chairs

A kitchen for Rs 1 crore? House-proud Indians can now choose from a host of modular kitchen brands that cost that much, or more.

Stir it up in style

The market is, today, flooded with smart phones. These phones, mind you, are &ldquo;smart&rdquo;, and are not named so just because they look &ldquo;smart&rdquo;, or because they have a few unique features. But even a smart phone becomes truly &ldquo;smart&rdquo;, that is, the ultimate device for information, communication and entertainment, only when you actually load the applications created especially for them.

Fully loaded

The tunnel stank, yet I could scarcely keep from leaping into it after my guide said, &ldquo;You are now standing on the ruins of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.&rdquo; We were in ancient Mesopotamia&rsquo;s greatest city, on the grounds of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The gardens are long gone, and I was looking at a reconstruction of their foundation. Animals, and possibly their caretakers, had moved in, one example of the chaos visited upon Iraq&rsquo;s archaeological treasures since the US-led invasion.

Cash from the cradle

These timepieces spell elegance, luxury and class. They come dazzlingly studded with precious stones, and in designs which merge the classic with the trendy. Abhilasha Ojha on what your wrist should wear this festive season.

Must watch

Copenhagen deserves more than climate summiteers. The Danish capital has a lot to offer, from &ldquo;open sandwiches&rdquo; to a dose of the arts.

Not just hot air

Bookends are hard to find. You can scout all the bookstores and lifestyle stores in town but all you&rsquo;re likely to find are a jaded pair covered in dust at the back of some long-forgotten shelf. The Internet, surprisingly, is more helpful in the search for good bookends, with a wide array available in a range of prices.

Book keepers

Somehow, sports bars have never taken off in New Delhi. Quite a few opened in the last few years but either shut shop or became something other than a sports bar. Whatever might be your opinion of sports bars, they are great fun, especially when a football or cricket match is on. The Sports Bar in Mumbai&rsquo;s Phoenix Mills compound is one such place. So when a branch opened in Noida, I thought that finally there would be a place to go and catch some sporting action with friends.

Nothing sporty about it

Miami: the breeze tells you that you have arrived. Florida is about as far south you can go in North America.

Miami breeze

The shop shelves are starting to fill up with fine waters, each claiming to be better and &ldquo;purer&rdquo; than the other. Gargi Gupta dips into what&rsquo;s available.

Taste the waters

Faiza Seth of Casa Forma, a UK-based luxury interior design firm, is a brands buff. She recently launched her own jewellery line, called Soham. Now Seth has gone a step further with Soham for Kids, an orphanage in Hyderabad which will look after the needs of homeless, abandoned children.

Brand value

Lifestyle News: Get latest art and culture news, travel news, books news, food news, fitness news, fashion news, fine arts news at Business Standard.

Lifestyle News: Art & Culture News, Travel News, Books News, Food & Fitness News

Get latest art and culture news, travel news, books news, food news, fitness news, fashion news, fine arts news at Business Standard.

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