Andrew Hammond

Filmmaker Makrand Deshpande's new film "Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu" is about a flower girl in Mumbai whose life changes after a chance meeting with actor Shah Rukh Khan who tells her that she is beautiful.

Khan plays himself in a two-minute cameo in the film, which is a sort of tribute to the Bollywood superstar.

Deshpande spoke to Reuters about "Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu" on the sidelines of the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the tourist haven of Goa.

Looking in on our coverage of a big motor show in Germany, I see something called the "Gunbus," described as "the biggest motorcycle in the world."

How big is it?  It's over 11 feet long, which means it would be sort of like enjoying the freedom of the open road in a stretch limo without the body attached.

What sheer marketing genius, to take the most fabled, romantic, iconically independent travel machine in history, and introduce the word "bus" to the name!

It's like running into the dudes from "Easy Rider" waiting for a Greyhound.

Just imagine. When you stop at a biker hangout and the other guys are looking for somebody to beat up, who do you think is going to attract their attention?

They're going to be like, "Hey, look at the dork with low self-esteem whose bike has a guest bedroom attached! Let's beat the crap out of him!"

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A model poses with 'Gunbus', the biggest motorcycle in the world, according to its manufacturer, during a press presentation prior to the Essen Motor Show in Essen, November 27, 2009. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

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Manoi GO's (pronounced Mah-noh-ee Gee-Oh) feet may be mechanical, but that doesn't mean he hasn't got smooth moves.

Decked out in ripped baggy jeans and sweats, this dimunitive 34-centimetre robot has coursed the Internet and the local media and could be the next cyber-star.

GO's creators say he's from an ordinary mold but is an upgraded and improved version of the Manoi robots created by kyosho already on the market.  He may not be dripping jewellery, but he's worth his 147,000 yen plus price tag even before the upgrades, thanks to the moves his creators have taught him.

But these moves come at a cost: Manoi Manager Masayuki Okamoto and his team say they constantly need to repair broken parts and strengthen joints to ensure GO doesn't break down when break dancing.

Video credit: REUTERS/Hiro Muramoto, Olivier Fabre

Well, that was a nice start to Week 12 picking up win number one after the Green Bay Packers stuffed the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day (see Week 12 NFL Picks, Part I).

With the Pick of the Week out of the way, the Lineman is over Black Friday and looking forward to a Sunny Sunday.

Miami Dolphins (5-5) at Buffalo Bills (3-7) (Line Dolphins minus 3 1/2) The Bills were tossing around some big names and big numbers this week, with talk that everyone from Mike Shanahan to Peewee Herman was interested in the head coaching job. Shanahan had a seven-hour interview with the Bills and that could match the number of points they score this week.

Buffalo's offence is averaging just 15 points a game and a leaky defence is second worst in the league against the run - something the Dolphins do very well.

The weather can be nasty this time of year in Buffalo which should be no problem for the wildcatting Dolphins, who are getting along just fine without injured Ronnie Brown.

Ricky Williams is smokin' (No not the weed that earned him an NFL suspension and a brief exile to the Canadian Football League) scoring three touchdowns in a big win over Carolina last week.

The Dolphins have won five of their last seven the Bills have dropped three straight. Buffalo is looking for a new head coach, the Dolphins are looking for a wildcard.

Kansas City Chiefs (3-7) at San Diego Chargers (7-3) (Line Chargers minus 13 1/2) The Chiefs were crushed 37-7 by the Chargers when they met earlier this season at Arrowhead and have gotten better.

But so have the Chargers who have discovered their mojo winning five straight since that meeting to move top the AFC and start Super Bowl chatter again.

Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Brett Favre and Tom Brady may be getting all the headlines but San Diego QB Philip Rivers has the Chargers offence humming. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson is giving the Chargers some tough yards and the San Diego defence has steadily improved.

The Chiefs have won three of last five meetings and have looked solid the last three weeks narrowly losing to Jacksonville then beating the Raiders and shocking the Steelers.

But the Chargers are getting their act together at just the right time and will be motivated after watching the Broncos beat the Giants on Thanksgiving Day to grab a share of top spot in the AFC West.

After three impressive outings the Chiefs are in for some shock treatment by the Chargers. Take the Chargers and give up the 13 1/3).

Cleveland Browns (1-9) at Cincinnati Bengals (7-3) (Line Bengals minus 13 1/2) You get the feeling the Browns are running into a buzz saw this Sunday as the embarrassed Bengals atone for a shock loss to the Oakland Raiders last week.

Cleveland showed some life last Sunday in a 38-37 shootout loss to Detroit and went down fighting 23-20 to Cincinnati in first installment of the Battle of Ohio in October.

But in the five games in-between the Browns scored 6, 14, 3, 6 and 0 points.

Cincinnati 's defence is among the NFL's best allowing just over 16 points a game while Cleveland's is among the worst yielding an average of 26 points.

Even counting last week's offensive fireworks against the Lions the Browns attack is averaging just 11 points a game.

You don't have to be an accountant to crunch those numbers.

This time the Battle of Ohio ends in surrender.

Take the Bengals and give up the 13 1/2.

Chicago Bears (4-6) at Minnesota Vikings (1-9) (Line Bears plus 10 1/2) Brett Favre is gaining MVP consideration and Bears QB Jay Cutler is shooting for biggest disappointment of the year honours.

Cutler has thrown an NFL high 18 interceptions and his confidence appeared shattered last week missing wide open receivers at least three times.

Favre's Hall of Fame resume includes the most interceptions all time but the 40 year-old QB has been picked off just three times this season while firing 21 touchdown strikes.

He has also been a Bear killer racking up a 22-10 record against Chicago .

Despite three consecutive defeats the Bears playoff hopes remain alive -- if on life support.

The Bears need a win Sunday otherwise it is time to pull the plug.

If Cutler can get his mojo back and if he can get enough protection to test Minnesota's 21st ranked pass defence and if running back Matt Forte can get it going and if Chicago can win the 2016 Olympics - oh wait, they lost that one.

Oh well, you get the picture.

I suspect the Bears are headed towards early hibernation but they are downright nasty when cornered.

Take the Bears and the 10 1/2.

Jacksonville Jaguars (6-4) at San Francisco 49ers (4-6) (Line 49ers minus 3 1/2) The Jaguars are on a roll winning four of their last five while the 49ers have been in tailspin losing five or their last six.

But I have been unimpressed with the Jags run and it seems the odds makers agree making Jacksonville 3 1/2 point dogs.

The 49ers continue to play tough there last four defeats coming by seven points or less.

Jacksonville has benefited from a soft schedule, their last four wins coming against the league's weak sisters St. Louis, Kansas City, the Jets and Bills.

This contest is likely to be decided on the ground, with Jags' bruising running back Maurice Jones-Drew going against the 49ers' Frank Gore.

More importantly the 49ers are 7-2-1 against the spread this season and get the Jags at home.

The 49ers will likely need to run the table to make the playoffs but they keep their hopes alive with win here.

Take the 49ers and give up the 3 1/2.

PHOTO: San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers points at a fan on the sideline just before the Chargers defeated the Denver Broncos in their NFL game in Denver November 22, 2009. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

How important is it for top executives to know what their customers think of the businesses that they run? Most agree that it helps, but on Black Friday, chief executives of two of the country's most popular venues for frenzied, over-caffeinated shoppers said they don't shop at their stores at that time of year.

We could think of plenty of good reasons not to hit the chaos scenes known as big-box retailers on Black Friday. For one thing, it's crowded and you have to wait in line all day while you're holding boxes of stuff. Add a couple of cranky toddlers, and you could envision hundreds of reasons to stay home.

The CEOs of Best Buy and Toys "R" Us have different explanations.

"This is my 25th year in a row I am working on Black Friday… so I don’t get the chance to shop," Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn told Reuters in an interview. "I work it, they shop.”

Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch prefers the old, reliable punching bag: He blames the media. "Mostly on Black Friday, I talk to you!" Storch said.

(Photo: Reuters)

You can spend millions of dollars on an advertising campaign if you have something to sell. Alternately, you can try some cheaper experiments and hope that downmarket charm trumps slickness.

Somebody liked the latter idea at the Chase bank branch on Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, as this picture, taken by one of our editors, Leslie Gevirtz, shows.

We can't decide if this is a Black Friday coup of marketing genius or if one of the tellers was forced to use only materials in the branch's broom closet. After all, this is the heart of Times Square, a place where every square millimeter is available for your ad, and at very high prices. Major corporations rarely spare expenses -- or electricity -- in presenting their best advertising campaigns in the heart of the U.S. financial capital. On the other hand, Chase *is* handing out $100 to everyone who starts an account. Maybe that's the ad budget, already spent.

Though many New Yorkers complain that tourists are underfoot and in their way, retailers across the city see them, and their strong euros, pounds and Canadian dollars, as a blessing.

Tourists helped Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store last quarter perform in line with the chain's other stores, and Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren told Reuters on Friday that lately he was hearing more languages besides English than ever on the store floor.

Judging by some of the shoppers Reuters interviewed this week, visitors from abroad plan to spend plenty in New York:

- "Stuff is always cheaper here anyway and even more so with the dollar," said Katy Moore, a visitor from Ireland, who was shopping at Foot Locker on Thanksgiving day.

-  Laurence Moran, a 30 year-old actor visiting from London, was waiting in line with a couple hundred people outside the Abercrombie & Fitch in Manhattan to splurge... on himself. Weak pound or not, Moran said he could not resist the Black Friday sales.

- Deb Curley, a British tourist in her 60s, said , “The toy stores here are crazy. We have nothing like this in England.”

In addition to these shoppers, Reuters encountered tourists from Israel, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Venezuela, Vietnam and many other countries intent on shopping til they drop.

(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan)

(Photo: Reuters)

The Spanish Catholic Church will deny communion to members of parliament who have voted in favour of a bill to make abortion more readily available, the spokesman of Spain's Bishops' Conference said on Friday.

"This is a warning to Catholics, that they can't vote in favour of this and that they won't be able to receive communion unless they ask forgiveness," Rev. Juan Antonio Martinez Camino told a news conference in Madrid. "They are in an objective state of sin."

The government-sponsored bill, which passed the first of a series of votes in parliament on Thursday, will allow abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy and, in cases of extreme foetal deformity, at any time in the pregnancy. The bill will also allow girls to obtain abortions from the age of 16 without parental consent, a clause that has generated dissent even within the governing Socialist Party.

In the United States, Congressman Patrick Kennedy has said his bishop has slapped a communion ban on him for his support for abortion rights.

Read our full story from Madrid here. See also Reuters in Spanish --Votar a favor del aborto es pecado, según los obispos.

(Photo: Rev. Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, 18 June 2009/Sergio Pérez)

Follow FaithWorld on Twitter at RTRFaithWorld

-- Bryant Simon is professor of history and director of American Studies at Temple University. He is the author of “Everything but the Coffee:  Learning about America from Starbucks”. The views expressed are his own. --

Last week, Roy Street Coffee and Tea, located at the corners of Roy Street and Broadway in Seattle, opened.  This is another one of those stealth Starbucks – Starbucks stores without the Starbucks name over the front door – the coffee giant has been opening in its hometown and in London as of late.  Like the other shops of this new vintage, this one is appointed with antique-style furniture, retro lighting, and a distressed looking table top salvaged from an old ship.

The rough-hewed interiors of these not Starbucks Starbucks haven’t really mattered to the journalists and bloggers who have been writing about them.  They talk only about the naming patterns in Starbucks’ most recent branding strategy.

To them, the names of the stores represent a brand crisis.  Quite rightly, they point out, when a brand hides its own identity, it is in some ways admitting defeat, saying that its name – a central part of any brand – has lost value.  When it comes to Starbucks, all of this is true, but the question is why?  Why has the Starbucks brand lost so much value that it has to hide from customers and act like a small business?  The answer to these questions rests with communities and consumers, what they care about and desire the most these days.
Over the last several years, a quiet but decided shift in buying patterns has taken place.  Really, there is something of a velvet revolt or a quiet rejection of brands going on.

In the early years of this century, the then mayor of Baltimore Michael O’Malley begged Starbucks to come to his city.  He thought these big name stores would lend his de-industrializing hometown a much needed upper-middle-class sheen.  Same with the residents of Landsdowne, Pennsylvania.  In 2004, the town had several mom and pops diners and coffee shops.  One day, though, a team of local residents lined up in three rows of forty in an empty lot where a 7-11 used to be.  When the photographer gave them the sign, they turned over the letters.  Their message read: “Got Location! Need Starbucks!” Afterwards, the Greater Lansdowne Civic Association sent this “visual petition” to Starbucks headquarters. Landsdowne never got a Starbucks, but Benicia, California and a lot of other towns got plenty of Starbucks.

By 2007, Benicia didn’t want them anymore.  When Starbucks tried to open a fifth store in the northern California coastal town some residents balked. “It’s a serious problem,” former city councilor Danielle Samaniego, and owner of an independent coffee house, told the Contra Costa Times. “People need to wake up to it,” she proclaimed, “When you drive through a town and everything is so homogenized that you can’t tell where you are anymore, that’s a problem.”  She had an idea.  Limit the number of chains.  Ban them even.  Encourage, instead, small, one-of-a-kind businesses.  Soon her idea gained the support of local officials looking for ways to curtail the opening of more chain stores without violating state and federal laws.  When the city council started to debate a ban on all “formula” businesses, city manager Rachel Raskin-Zrihen told the Contra Costa Times, “it’s about protecting the unique character of the commercial areas of Benicia, and there’s nothing unique about a store that has the same look and style, not just here, but everywhere.”

BRAND AVOIDANCE

This wasn’t just about Starbucks.  This was about a growing resistance to brands, and their dominance of the landscape, symbolized by Starbucks. With their feet and their purchases, individual consumers are revolting as well.  Scholars have started to call this trend, “brand avoidance,” as consumers worried about the larger social and economic impact of brands on society look for other options, even if those options cost a bit more.  In growing numbers, buyers are choosing the local over the brand, the farmers market over the supermarket, the Main Street strip over the mall.  Same with coffee.

While Starbucks closed down outlets in 2008, citing the New Recession as the cause, independent coffee houses, the Seattle Times noted, brought in new customers and they didn’t cut prices.  Over the last few years, in fact, the number of independent coffee houses in the U.S. has jumped past the number of chain store outlets, and now represent 54 percent of the coffee market.

How can we explain these consumer choices and the growth of these smaller business sectors?  Consumers, just like the towns they live in, are starting to think that going to the branded store – to Starbucks or Cosi or Chipotle – costs too much.  It makes them look too ordinary and too much like everyone else.
This is what those not Starbucks Starbucks stores tacitly acknowledge. By hiding their logos, they speak to the growing appeal of the locally owned small businesses.  (Remember the stealth Starbucks stores are individually designed and named after the streets they are on – the places themselves.)

Apparently the experiment isn’t working.  A former Starbucks insider said that Seattle’s 15th Ave. Coffee and Tea – the first of the new not Starbucks stores (its website, by the way, is called www.streetlevelcoffee.com) – is doing only a third of the business of the regular green-logoed Starbucks store that used be at that site.

Perhaps consumer really do want something more than branded artifice; they want something genuinely local.

The revolt against sameness may actually be real, too real for a fake Starbucks.  And certainly this growing rejection of brands presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs and small business owners to create something authentically local for their customers.