Usain Bolt has become the latest athlete to become the face of a fragrance. In a natural fit for the world's fastest man, sports-centered brand Puma has chosen the Jamaican sprinter as the first celebrity face for its fragrances. He will appear in the ads for Animagical, a new fragrance line for both men and women. Both scents will have zebra-themed packaging and fresh and fruity notes. Puma Animagical Man has notes of African Kei Apple, cardamom oil, rosemary and pineapple with white ironwood. Puma Animagical Woman adds floral notes of Cape Town freesia and water lily to pink grapefruit and Caribbean lime anchored by South African Tamboti Wood. The scent and the ad campaign will launch in June.

Rock stars and clothing lines are nothing new, we've seen everyone from Kings of Leon to Kenny Chesney take a shot at the clothing biz. But Oasis singer Liam Gallagher's line for men, Pretty Green, has been so successful that he's turning to women's clothing. Vogue UK reports that Gallagher is adding womenswear to his Pretty Green collection.

The Pretty Green line is described as an up-front, straight talking, classic clothing range that is owned and designed by Gallagher. All pieces, including scarves, jackets and T-shirts are described as limited edition and all are subject to Liam's final approval. He's made it clear on the website and in a video about the line (after the jump) that his motivation for the clothing was to create something that he himself was looking for in fashion design. The Pretty Green website bears his quote: "Clothes and music are my passion. I'm not here to rip anyone off and I'm not doing it for the money either. I'm doing it cuz there's a lack of stuff out there of the things I would wear." How that will apply to designing for women is yet to be seen.

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We recently looked at Donald Trump's troubles south of the border but he's not doing so well in South Florida either. The Sun-Sentinel has a piece taking a look at Trump's projects in the area and the news isn't good. The Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale beach is facing foreclosure. The South Florida Business Journal reported that the condo-hotel project was hit with a foreclosure action last week. The 298-unit project has already been hit with lawsuits from buyers seeking refunds. Like the Baja project we mentioned last week this is another of Trump's licensing deals and some buyers have said they were misled about Trump's role in the project.

Corus Construction Venture filed a foreclosure action March 11 against developer SB Hotel Associates over a $139 million mortgage issued in 2006 by Corus Bank, which failed in 2009. We heard about Corus Construction Venture in January when we learned that one of Phoenix's tallest towers, 44 Monroe is facing a trustee's sale in April and owes Corus Construction Venture $86.8 million. Last year Corus Bank collapsed and was taken over by the FDIC. It owns a 60 percent stake in Corus Construction Venture and the rest is owned by private equity consortium led by Starwood Capital Group an investment firm run by Barry Sternlicht, the founder of Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Construction started on the Fort Lauderdale project in 2005. The lavish project was designed by architect Michael Graves and was to include a health club, spa, restaurant and more. It was scheduled to open last year. Corus Construction will have the option of either holding onto the project until the market is better or possibly trying to make more immediate money by converting it into a regular hotel and buying out the existing condo unit owners.

Another project in Fort Lauderdale, the 95-unit Trump Las Olas which we wrote about in 2006 never even got off the ground. The only Trump project thriving in South Florida is the Trump Hollywood in Hollywood, Florida. The project opened last year and the 41-story tower includes 200 condos at prices starting at $1.3 million.

If there's one thing that's certain in this crazy world we live in, it's that Ultimate Driving Machines are driven by their rear wheels. Sure, there's an occasional all-wheel drive model thrown in for good measure, but even those revert to the tried-and-true RWD when extra traction from the front two contact patches isn't deemed necessary or desirable. Well, alert the media (oh, wait...): BMW has confirmed the rumors that it will build front-wheel drive automobiles.

At the Annual Accounts Press Conference for 2010, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW, had this to say:

[The small car] segment is expected to grow further. And we will take advantage of this opportunity. We are exploring the possibility of developing a joint architecture for the front and four-wheel drive systems of these cars. In other words: There will be front-wheel drive BMWs in the smaller vehicle classes in the future.

Heresy, BMW fans? We wouldn't worry too much – there seems little chance that BMW will make a wholesale switch from powering the rear wheels to the fronts, especially for its mainstream models like the 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series – but the addition of a FWD chassis will make it easier for the automaker to share platforms with other companies and to "reduce [its] fleet's carbon-emissions worldwide by at least another 25 percent between 2008 and 2020."

In fact, take it from Reithofer himself:

BMW will continue to be a sport-inspired brand. We at the BMW Group continue to deliver maximum performance, tackle new challenges and sharpen our competitive edge.

Click past the break for the complete text of Reithofer's speach.

[Source: BMW]

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Plenty of chefs get a show on the Food Network but only one, former Top Chef competitor, Marcel Vigneron, has been tapped by the SyFy channel. The bombastic and entertainingly coiffed chef will star in Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, a reality series that will focus on Vigneron's catering company. Why SyFy? Vigneron's specialty is molecular gastronomy and he has a particular love of breaking foods down into foams and other creative substances. It's not quite sci-fi but it's close enough.

Eater LA also reports that Vigneron has created a menu of small plate specialties for bar 210 and plush, the jewel-toned double threat bar and nightclub that replaced the venerable Trader Vic's in the Beverly Hills Hilton.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is sending a "Blue Period" Picasso canvas under the gavel in June. A painting of an absinthe drinker, the composer has chosen Christie's as the auction house, with the proceeds going to Webber's charity. The Picasso could fetch as much as $60.9 million, a higher estimate than any other piece in Europe so far this year. Last year, Picasso was the top seller at auction, generating $121 million in sales, according to Artprice.

The painting, entitled "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto (The Absinthe Drinker)," is a study of a young Spanish artist sitting at a Barcelona bar. Says Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of Christie's London-based Impressionist and Modern department to Bloomberg News, "A 'Blue Period' Picasso is the sort of painting that could appeal to a new Chinese buyer." She continues, "There is a new breed of Medici-style collectors who want to buy exceptional art from any period."

Lloyd Weber purchased the painting for $29.2 million in 1995 for his foundation using funds he donated. The painting almost went up for sale at Christie's in 2006 but was withdrawn at the last minute due to some concerns over ownership. A German man had claimed that the painting was lost by his family in a "forced sale" by Nazis but with all issues resolved the painting is now finally up for sale again.

Everybody's got a different reason for their choice in automobile. For some it may be the hood ornament that acts as a status symbol. For others it could be something as simple as an iPod connector. And some see their vehicle as just another fashion accessory.

For that last category of buyer, Fiat UK released a special-edition 500 Pink a few months back. Now they're following up with a convertible version, called the 500C Pink. Based on the 500C 1.2 Pop trim level, the Pink edition doesn't cost an arm and a leg at £13,500 (about $20k), representing a £1,200 premium over a conventionally-colored model while carrying £1,870 worth of extra equipment. Which just goes to show that fashion accessories needn't be expensive. Good taste, on the other hand....

On Thursday March 18, 2010 McLaren Automotive will officially launch itself into the realm of road going supercar builders at an event in London. The official launch event will be webcast live at 10:30 am GMT (6:30 am EDT, 3:30am PDT) and you can watch it right here after the jump.

McLaren Automotive chairman Ron Dennis and his team will discuss details of the car including its design and technology as well as provide manufacturing details and more information about the company. Check out the video to hear all about the successor to the legendary F1 right here.



[Source: McLaren Automotive]

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The latest in the Disney Mobile line is the DM005SH, which despite its boringly technical name is actually a very whimsical and fun design. The clamshell-model phone features your choice of 3 bright colors (complete with Disney-esque names like "Sunrise Pink", "Midnight Blue" and "Stardust White") with 22 diamonds in varying sizes scattered randomly across the case like stars. All random except for one little set of three that are arranged in the shape of a tiny Mickey Mouse (find it like Where's Waldo, can you see it in the picture?). Pricing hasn't been announced yet.

Despite an early sign of success with the February 2009 Yves Saint Laurent auction, France wasn't able to knock China from the #3 spot among the world's art markets. According to Artprice, China finished the year behind the usual leaders (New York and London), making considerable progress in a severe year for the art market. Fine art sales in China hit $830 million, taking a 17.33 percent share of the global market. In 2008, China had only a 7.83% share. Nearly half the 2009 fine art result in China came from three auction houses: Poly International, China Guardian and Beijing Council. The Hong Kong branches of Christie's and Sotheby's were good for another $200 million.

Because of the strength the Chinese art market showed last year, 15 Chinese hammer prices, including a contemporary sale, forced their way into the top 100 results worldwide ... and ever.