Even the dating world is being thrown into the 21st century. Onling dating is now the 3rd most popular online service (behind music and games) and approximatly 280,000 marriges in the US are a direct result of online dating. Despite this huge rise, there is still a stigma attached to online dating, particulary in younger people.

This may be as the average age of someone using an online dating site is around 40. This means that there isn’t a large amount of young people on dating sites (although this is increasing) and that dating sites are not actually aimed at the younger audiences. The idea of a dating site is to help those people who get stuck in their 9-5 working routine, work unsocial hours, or simply do not have the time to go about dating the ‘traditional’ way. Younger people are typically more social, not stuck in a routine and more confident to speak to people their own age.

So why is there a rise in younger people joining these sites? Well very little research has been done on this, but it is believed that younger people are under more pressure then before and are finding that they do not have the time to search for a partner, or simply do not have the confidence to do it in person. This trend is likely to continue, despite online dating growth slowing down in recent years.

Most dating sites operate in a similar way to Facebook. You create a profile, upload a picture and type some stuff about yourself. It then generates matches based on your likes and interests, and the more you use the site, the more accurate these matches become. The idea is you then talk to someone through the built in email facilities on the online chat feature, and then once you know them, you can arrange a date. Pretty much from this point on the online dating site isn’t needed. Once you have met the person, the idea is you can take over using your own email, or mobile phone.

The main question here is does it work? Well, that really depends on who you ask. My mum and step-dad met on an online dating site, and have now been together about 10 years. However, I know many people who have not had it work for them, so who do we believe? Well, lucky for you, FAME is here to help.

Being a single guy, I decided to sign up to Match.com after seeing their TV adverts. Luckily, I also saw an advert on the tube which gave me a 3 day free trial. So, how did I get on?

Well, it wasn’t as easy as the advert makes out. I created a profile, uploaded some pictures and filled in all the info I could about what I like. The computer threw 6 matches at me, none of which were suitable (2 of them being over 40!) so I made some adjustments and changed my filtering preferences. The matches I had were much better, and I sent off a few messages. I also searched through the results of all the people near me.

My free trial ran out yesterday, and now I need to pay £78 for 6 months access. In that 3 days, I didn’t recieve a single message. Granted it was only 3 days, but nothing appeared to happen. According to my search, there is only 1 person within 15 miles of me! And this is one of the problems with many of the sites. A lack of young people stops other young people joining.

So, do online dating sites work? I am afraid I am going to have to sit on the fence on this one. While they may work for older people, there seems to be an unwritten age cut-off, where anyone under about 25 will struggle. That added with the cost, which is expensive for most young people, will also put them off. Best the younger ones amongst us stick to the old fashioned way of dating!

After a break of a few weeks and a midseason test at Mugello in Italy the circus of Formula 1 returned to racing this weekend in Spain. After the first four races, with 4 different winning drivers from 4 different teams, this season is shaping up to be one of the most memorable yet.

Saturday’s qualifying failed to disappoint. Lewis Hamilton stormed around the Circuit De Catalunya to set the fastest time to only be disqualified due to not returning to the pits with a large enough fuel sample for the FIA to regulate, meaning his McLaren was to start at the back of the grid on Sunday’s race. However Hamilton’s misfortune meant that the Williams of Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, was promoted to pole position, the first pole for the team in 2 years. Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari lined up alongside him with the Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean notably qualifying 3^rd and 4^th.

As the lights went out for the first European race of the season, Alonso took the lead into the first corner showing his experience truly paid off. A puncture for Sergio Perez caused by contact caused a little havoc with cars taking quick avoiding action but overall the start was well behaved.

By lap 10, Hamilton began to really shine. He climbed from 24^th to 6^th as others around him began to pit for the first time. Varied strategies started to unfold as the critical tyre management came in to play. Lap 11 saw Hamilton in 4^th but even more incredibly that the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen was in 5^th as neither had made a pit stop yet.

The ever controversial Michael Schumacher grabbed the crowd’s attention on lap 13 by driving his Mercedes straight into the back of Bruno Senna’s Williams. Both drivers felt the other was to blame, but with both now out of the race any penalties could be decided post race by the stewards.

Lap 15 was the moment Lewis Hamilton came in for his first stop but yet again the McLaren team had misfortune in the pits as he pulled away clipping a tyre adding a few seconds to his overall time in the pit lane.

Uncharacteristically the Red Bull team encountered difficulties. The front wing nose cones on both Sebastian Vettel’s and Mark Webber’s cars incurred failures, which meant that they both needed replacing during the race costing both drivers additional time. That meant they finished in 6^th and 11^th respectively.

In the second stint of the race, Maldonado soon started to hunt down the Ferrari of Alonso using his DRS and KERS to his advantage to create an enticing battle between the two. On lap 24 Maldonado pits, and his fresh tyres and scorching lap times meant that he had leap frogged Alonso once the Spaniard also pitted.

Race stewards had no mercy this weekend, and after handing the penalty to Hamilton on the Saturday, both Vettel and Felipe Massa were handed drive-through penalties in the race for not lifting off during waved yellow flags. Massa finished in a disappointing 15^th position.

Two amazing overtakes of races happened on laps 33 and 39. Firstly Kamui Kobayashi tussled his way past Jenson Button showing that the Sauber team are still on the pace. Secondly Hamilton showed the Toro Rosso’s who’s boss weaving in and out of the two, passing them both. Jean Vergne and Daniel Riccardo ended up in 12^th and 13^th respectively.

Again all the excitement came in the last 10 laps of the race with Alonso at one point less than 1 second behind Maldonado, and Raikkonen driving his Lotus hard enough to be gaining on the two leaders at a pace of over 1 second per lap.

Raikkonen whose pace was brilliant, ran out of laps to improve from a 3^rd place finish, with Alonso also not managing to stop Maldonado from taking the win.

Maldonado’s win meant that we have now had 5 different winning drivers from 5 different teams and the first win for a Williams car since Juan Pablo Montoya in Brazil in 2004.

2012 Santander Spanish Grand Prix Results

Team’s Championship

Driver’s Championship

That’s right guys you read the title perfectly and…It’s true! The best wingman out there is a female friend. Before you start freaking out about the idea of meeting girls with the help of one, let me clarify for you exactly why a female wing aka a ‘pivot’ (as it’s known in the seduction community) really can make all the difference when picking up girls.

The major influence that works in your favour is preselection. This is something I spoke about in a previous article…but let me refresh your memories. Preselection is when women see you hanging out with other women. If they see how much fun these women are having with you, they feel as though they are missing out. When this happens…oh my friends are you in for a treat! Women are COMPETITIVE!  They will want to know more about this guy who hangs out with these women and do what they can to get that same attention. So who do you think is the first person this ‘intrigued’ girl is going to ask about you? You guessed it! Your pivot! This is when your female wing will raise your social value and let the girl know how awesome you are. Remember this…if girls see other girls are comfortable being with or around you, they will be too.

A female wing will also have the sixth sense ability to know which girls are into you! They also have the ability to encourage other girls in their attraction to you. Let’s put it like this…if you were a fisherman, your pivot would be the fishing line and bait. In no time at all she will be reeling in the girls you may have considered out of your league!

Going out with a female wing also expresses a greater confidence to the women you meet. Most guys who go out to clubs and bars tend to go in large packs of mainly…just guys. Women normally see past this and can instantly tell that these groups of guys are out on the pull. If the women in the club see this large swarm of guys, they tend to steer clear, especially on the dance floor. Now, if you’re  on the dance floor with your wing, these girls in the club will see you as a guy who’s out to have fun and knows how to enjoy female company. Women will flock around you, dance near you and give any kind of signal to get your attention. It’s then just up to you to take your pick whilst your wing finds a guy she can flirt with.

And there we go, your answer to why a female wing is better than a male wing. Not saying you’re not allowed to wing with your bros…but the game can become a whole lot easier.

July is the month that the UK shows its cards in the hot hatch game. Gracing your local Vauxhall dealerships, country lanes, office car parks and track days, you should keep an eye out for this extraordinary beast, and it won’t be hard to spot.

The £26,995 family hatchback with sports car performance is anything but subtle – but why would you want it to be? Standard 19 inch alloy wheels and twin-trapezoidal exhausts set the Astra apart, and for £995 more, the “Aero Pack” gives you larger side skirts, a Bi-Plane roof spoiler and enormous 20 inch wheels.

However it might surprise you that this VXR is not just skin-deep. Months of development has seen “Smokin’ Jo” Winkelhock behind the wheel of the renowned Nürburgring circuit developing this Astra to be the best handling Vauxhall has ever sold. If you haven’t heard of Winkelhock, he has multiple touring car championship titles amongst plenty of others. The previous generation Astra VXR had great criticism from the press for under steering (this is when you turn into a corner while applying the power, but the front wheels lose their grip and the car does not steer as you want it to). To overcome this, a mechanical LSD (Limited Slip Differential) has been fitted increasing the lateral grip and traction through corners.

Let’s get down to the numbers. Now you know what the VXR can handle, you must want to know the performance this 2.0 litre turbocharged pocket rocket has. A ludicrous 276horsepower and 400Nm of torque. In real world terms that means a 5.9 second 0-60mph time. For comparison: VW Golf GTi: 6.4 seconds, Renault Megane Coupe RS265: 6.0 and even the forthcoming Ford Focus ST won’t get a figure under 6 seconds. This VXR is nipping at the heels of the latest Porsche Boxster, forget the other hot hatches.

Brembo brakes, ZF Sachs dampers, and the turbocharger building its 1.5 bar of charge from a brilliantly low 1400rpm means this is very much a performance car but one capable of 34.9mpg. So we may be in a recession (again), and to buy a new car this summer might be mad, but so is this car. And I wouldn’t have to think twice if someone was to ask me what hot hatch to buy – it would definitely be the hooligan from Luton.

The leading talent and lifestyle magazine for young people has recently lost its Founder and Managing Director, Deji Osobukola, who sadly passed away on the 10th April 2012.

This month’s edition of FAME magazine will move to an online platform that can be viewed on computers, mobile phones and tablets. This will allow for unlimited growth of its readership and will bring the different media platforms of the magazine closer together. It will be released on schedule and will continue to feature the same high quality advice from reputable professionals while showcasing top talents from within the county of Hertfordshire.

The internal team structure will remain the same.

For marketing enquiries email:
marketing@fameonline.co.uk

For any further information, please contact our Editors:
Calum Di Lieto – calum@fameonline.co.uk
Kat Ramsingh – kat@fameonline.co.uk

The American Pie series has been the trend setter for American teen movies for the last two decades. Paving the way for this genre since 1999, with a hilarious story around one teen and a baked pie and his quest to lose his virginity, it’s no wonder why this series has been a hit! Even with three spin-offs, the originals have always been the best. This time the main cast is back again celebrating 13 years after their graduation; you can feel the excitement as they can’t wait to get back together. The whole cast is back; Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch and everybody’s favourite… Stifler! You can’t wait to see what madness happens.

Right, let’s get this straight; it will never top the original but it still up there with the rest of them! The film contains the same stuff from the previous ones: toilet humour, swearing, boobs, booze and Stifler. There’s always a laugh in this film, and you definitely feel that Stifler keeps this film afloat. There is one thing though. Even though it’s American Pie, the cast are adults now and tend to have not stuck to what they worried about in high school, like losing their virginity and looked to more adult things like their jobs. That puts a slight downer on the film, but nonetheless, that’s shaken up with a pair of boobs. It’s nice to see they made a film for the people who watched the original American Pie rather than aiming it at the same age group of today.

Every one of your favourite characters is back, from the ex-girlfriends to the legendary Sherminator! (cue T2:Judgement Day theme tune). If you’re a “teen” at heart and you’re into American Pie then this is for you. However if your more mature, then stay well clear, this isn’t the film for you.

To get all your film reviews follow @FameHerts on Twitter.

Going into the final round of Premier League fixtures, plenty was still to play for. Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle were aiming to secure a place in next season’s Champions League, while Bolton had to beat Stoke, and Manchester City needed to defeat QPR in order to avoid relegation. At the top end, both Manchester clubs were level on points, with United hoping City would slip up against QPR to claim the title for a record breaking 20^th time. However, this was not the case as City scored two late goals to beat QPR and win their first League title for 44years. Though this is only a snip of the story which unfolded.

Arsenal beat West Brom 3-2 to finish in third place above Tottenham. This ensured they would go straight to the group stage of the Champions league next season, and with their end of season form, may just be enough to keep talisman Robin van Persie at the club. Tottenham meanwhile will have a nervous wait until the Champions League final. If Chelsea win, they will dispense Tottenham in the Champions league qualify stages – a new rule brought in since five English clubs featured in 2005/6 season. Stoke played out a 2 all draw with Bolton, meaning QPR kept their Premier League status, making the result against Manchester City irrelevant to their survival.

With all this unfolding, the game of the day was City versus QPR. City were nervous whilst dominating the game until the 39^th minute, when Zabaleta scored. After half-time Lescott made an error which allowed Djibril Cisse to hit past Joe Hart and level the scores. The game turned sour when Joey Barton was sent off in the 55^th minute for an off the ball incident with Carlos Tevez. Barton, upon receiving his red card then kneed Aguero, tried to head butt Kompany and became involved in an altercation with Mario Balotelli, who was not even on the pitch! At the time, most would be forgiven for thinking it would be a walkover for City, but it was not to be. Ten minutes later, Jamie Mackie pulled QPR ahead from six yards out, sending stunned City fans into silence.

From then on, QPR did their best to ‘park the bus’ and had done so successfully until the 91^st minute when Dzeko equalised from a David Silva corner. This gave City fans hope. By the time City scored their next goal, the red side of Manchester were ready to celebrate as they had won their game 1 nil. However in a split second, smiles turned to frowns as news of Aguero’s 94^th minute winner got around the grounds. City had won the title with a minute to spare! Better late than never and it proved to be an emotional, glorious day for Manchester City fans and players.

A thrilling end to an amazing season. City claimed the title by just 8 goals. This is because both Manchester sides were level on points (89), which means it is decided on goal difference – where City were superior. City’s investment has proved to be wise and the gauntlet has now been laid for the rest of the Premier League clubs to stop them achieving the same success next season.

Acting and Screen performance students at the University of Hertfordshire put a twist on the play and made it their own, basing it in the present 2012. It was a real-life play that was realistic and set virtue in its own amiable way. The actors were excellent and many had well rounded Liverpool accents and to say the least, I was impressed. The audience seemed to be in tears by the time the show was over as the jokes kept rolling in.

The play was set in Liverpool with a group of girls and guys celebrating a Hen night and Stag do. As the play went on, the bride and groom later discover that they’d come to the same venue. Stephanie Helm, who played Linda (bride to be), was in a dilemma of choosing to run off with her ex boyfriend (who happened to be at the club too) or stay engaged with her fiancé, Dave, who was played by Ben Pickering. Dave was on the floor and had his head in a toilet bowl most of the night whilst his friends tried to look after him and sort Linda out.

The play took place in the girl’s and boy’s toilets which were designed and created by the Acting and Screen performance students. The conversations were hilarious and something many students and young people can relate to. One scene I recall was Kav (Paul Amantidis) walking in from the club looking a bit hot and bothered with his suspenders down. Scenes like this caused an uproar of laughter from the audience. Overall, a hilariously funny performance all round.

Credit to http://forssmusic.com/img/forss_intro.png

The first thing to do before listening to Forss is to turn your speakers up. This chamber landscape requires more than a mediocre 5w-a-side sound system. Rarely does volume affect an artist’s work as much as it does with Forss.

Forthcoming album Ecclesia is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. So often do I complain about the lack of originality within the current music industry, but it is positively refreshing to hear something that delves into such unchartered areas.

Presenting a dichotomy of genre and media, Forss gives me an illustration and one that supports an already strong predisposition of mind. What is the sense in contributing to the world, something that already exists? Swede Eric Wahlforss has glued together church music with electric percussion that spans a horizon without leaving the six surfaces of your room.

Alongside Viennese digital artist Leo Lass and German CGI designer Marcel Schobel, Forss are offering a way to please two senses rather than one. Visually, Ecclesia will tame the ever wondering human mind as well as audibly, for roughly three and a half minutes a track. Taking advantage of the iPad and the ever dwindling physical format, Forss have had the initiative to visually provide to the masses what the LP or even Compact Disc now sadly, cannot reach. Launching an app to visually capture project Ecclesia and to correlate with the album’s release on the 12^th of June, Forss have pioneered a new way of consuming music.

Eric Wahlforss’ 2003 release, ‘Soulhack’ was equally as intuitive. Combining an almost hip-hop feel with a glitchy panoramic. The fact that this man has managed to create the massively popular SoundCloud in his spare time yells that he is a magician of sorts.

The first track I was exposed to by Forss was ‘Voca Nomen Tuum’. Religious connotations aside, one must appreciate the simple power of the human voice and then multiply it by a church’s worth. Eric’s manipulation of this wonderful ingredient, alongside his evidently vast knowledge of electronica provides the listener with a treat to the ear/s.

Though at the time of writing this article I could hear properly out of only one ear and was somewhat under the influence of Gin and lemon, I remain convinced that Forss will be a name in our immediate list of artists to preach to others over a drink and heated discussion concerning what music means right now.

Pioneers are people to be celebrated. Without them we would flurry around like a flock of sheep, waiting for the next feed that would never come. Eric is one of these people. It is only fair that he is celebrated as a wolf alongside Leo Lass and Marcel Schobel.

To come up with something that is not only a history lesson, a mockery of the present and a portrait of the future, is remarkable. A smart person would take note of quaintness when he or she sees it.

Way back in 2008, when Iron Man was first released, Marvel Studios began a now long-standing tradition of the post credits scene. After watching Tony Stark reveal himself as Earth’s newest super-hero, rumours were flying around that you should wait until the credits are over for an ‘extra surprise’, and sure enough, up popped Nick Fury to tell us all about the ‘Avengers Initiative’. Four years later, and it’s become more than just an initiative, as it finally gets its release in cinemas nationwide. After teasing us with movies specific to single characters, like Thor and Captain America, Marvel have been building up to their first team up movie with gusto, and it is certainly worth the wait.

As far as plots go, it’s not the most adventurous; Thor’s half-brother Loki, played again by Tom Hiddlestone, has teamed up with an evil alien race in order to take over Earth in return for locating the Teseract, the all-powerful energy cube we last saw at the end of Thor. Bringing them all together isn’t the easiest of tasks.

With a fairly safe plot, the biggest worry with the film was whether director Joss Whedon, director of sci-fi classics Buffy and Firefly, would be able to manage all the heroes on screen at once. Thankfully, he manages them perfectly. After two previous films growing into the character, Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark with frightful confidence and accuracy, in both his looks and personae, and bounces off Chris Evans’ Captain America perfectly. Evans however is just as strong; playing the man adrift from his own time, his wariness comes through excellently in his old fashioned attitude of a soldier’s duty.

Mark Ruffalo works the timid and calm personae of Bruce Banner perfectly, in order to emphasise the change into his green alter-ego the Hulk, and after changing the actor charged with playing the big guy in each of the last three films, it feels like Marvel have finally settled on their best choice yet. However, the stars of the show are again the Asgardian gods Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, and Hiddlestone’s Loki. After growing so much throughout his own film, Thor comes into the film as knowledgeable and mature, but the way that Loki still manages to manipulate him and the rest of the team gets the best out of Thor and his still boisterous personae.

As well as just creating great characters, Whedon manages to engineer the set pieces in the film brilliantly. The final half of the film, although mainly action based, feels intelligent thanks to the different abilities of each of the characters. As you might expect though, as with any popcorn-flick like this, there are cliched moments that, although don’t feel forced, can come across as slightly unnecessary. The same could be argued for the comedy side of the film. During my showing, a lot of people found some moments very amusing, but I couldn’t help but think some of the lines felt out of character and again, unnecessary.

Other parts of the plot, such as the relationship between Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, and the discovery of a ‘darker’ side of shield, bind together seamlessly, and none feel as though they’ve been added in just to flesh out the film.

Overall, Avengers Assemble is a solid action romp. Great characters, a solid plot, and a high-profile cast help make a thoroughly enjoyable film, and firmly puts Marvels premier super-hero team into the limelight. Oh, and as a final note, as per usual, make sure you wait until after the credits!