What is important to consider when shopping around for a high definition flat screen TV? Watch the video above produced by our partners at FLN to learn what is important to keep in mind. For example, the only reason to pay top dollar for the highest flat screen resolution television (1080p), is if you have a 1080p DVD player or gaming system. Otherwise, you can just invest in a television with 1080i or 780p. Also, don't skimp on cables. To get the best picture possible, you should buy HDMI or DVI cables. The shorter the cables, the better, as the longer cables degrades the signal. Be sure to check out our related story on how to clean your flat screen television, once you buy it.

Where does cashmere come from? Why is it so expensive? Is all cashmere created equally?
Not all cashmere is of equal quality, says Sharon Haver, fashion guru and founder of FocusOnStyle.com (see video above).

"Fine cashmere comes from a longer fiber," she says. "What you want to look for in better cashmere is that it has a longer fiber. It will be more sturdy and will have a better drape to it. Cheaper cashmere usually has a shorter fiber and can break or pill and won't last as long."

Check out the Sharon Haver's related video on how to care for and store your cashmere.

If you haven't yet met the StyleList Network, a group of first-rate fashion bloggers, please do. And then introduce them to your friends! http://aol.it/g7SCdC

In the video above, wine expert Neil Smith explains
why special attention needs to be paid to the acidity and sweetness in wines when pairing wines with food.

"Sauvignon blanc has a high level of acidity, so you need to think about the food and whether it has the equal amount of acidity," he says. "Acidity in food can tame the wine and they can work well together."

Likewise, sweetness can make a highly acidic wine taste even sharper and even unpleasant. "A sweet wine, like a German reisling, can work well with spicy foods," he says. "The sweetness in the wines can tame the spicyness of the food." Watch the video above to learn what types of foods work well with sweet wines.

See our review of The Best Wine Clubs offered directly from wineries here.

Celebrity Weddings and Event Planner, Robert C. Smith
of Laurel Events, recommends to his clients that they look at platinum when looking at wedding bands (see above video).

"It is so durable, it is heavy, it has a weight to it, it is not something that is too feminine, so it is an obvious choice for grooms," he says. "I really recommend that the bride and groom wear the same material."

Smith also urges couples to take the time to go to a good jeweler well in advance of their wedding date. "Look ahead of time, don't rush, and choose platinum and you will be great every time," he says. "Don't wait until the last minute to pick your ring. It is one of the most important decisions you are going to make. So get out there, educate yourself and find out what platinum is all about."

If you haven't yet met the StyleList Network, a group of first-rate fashion bloggers, please do. And then introduce them to your friends! http://aol.it/g7SCdC

What are the best ways to open a bottle of wine? In the video above, wine expert Brandon Walsh, president of Reston, Va.-based Hosted Wine Tasting will show you how to operate the most common wine opening techniques, including a waiter's corkscrew, a winged corkscrew (also affectionately referred to as the two-armed bandit) and a lever corkscrew. See our related post on how to use a wine key.

See our review of The Best Wine Clubs offered directly from wineries here.

To find out if the three resorts in the Park City, Utah area really do represent "The Greatest Snow on Earth", we skied and apres-skied and learned first-hand how fabulous the town and it's amenities have become. Indeed, the area has come a long way from the area's poor, silver mining history.

During the recent Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah was teeming with glittery Hollywood types littering local restaurants and bars, meanwhile abandoning the perfectly powdered slopes. Over the ten-day stretch, those idyllic resort town slopes– located less than an hour's drive from the Salt Lake City airport, stand virtually empty. It's an insider secret that the week and a half is ideal for powder junkies hungry for crowd-free runs during high season.

(Good luck finding a hotel room though!) As it turns out Hollywood isn't so into that kind of snow.

Fortunately out west ski and snowboard season run long. A good year means soft, fluffy snow starts falling just after Thanksgiving until -- if you're really, really lucky -- as late as Cinco de Mayo. Utah doesn't claim "Greatest Snow on Earth" for nothing -- the trademarked white stuff maintains a unique blend of "consistency, abundance and quality," says Ski Utah's Director of Communications Jessica Kunzer, "Anyone who skis dreams of skiing out west. You might like skiing wherever you're from originally -- if it's Minnesota, or, out east in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, [but] the general wish is to experience our soft, ice-free slopes."

The fleeting effects of Sundance come and go, but the snow steadily falls and the apres ski scene never dies. Here are three stellar spots to kick back and relax between smooth runs and story-worthy wipe-outs.

How to pair wine with food? The old adage that white wine pairs well with fish while red wine works with meat, serves as a good basis to start from, according to wine expert Brandon Walsh, president of Reston, Va.-based Hosted Wine Tasting (see video below).

Wines should always be served at their optimal serving temperatures, as well.

Another consideration, he suggests is the concept of matching weights of the wine with the food.

Lighter-bodied white wines include reisling and pinot grigio. Medium-bodied wines include sauvignon blanc while chardonnay is a fuller, heavier-bodied wine, he says.

Lighter-bodied wines go well with salads, as well as light fish, such as sushi. Medium-bodied wines works well with light and flakey fish as well as poultry. Heavier-bodied whites, such as chardonnay, pair very well with salmon or swordfish.

Red wines also range from light to heavier, fuller-bodied wines. A lighter-bodied red wine is a pinot noir or beaujolais. A medium-bodied red is a merlot, syrah (shiraz). Heavier, fuller-bodied wines include cabernet sauvignon. Pinot noir pairs well with salmon as well as some poultry. Syrah and merlot pairs well beef or pork. A cabernet sauvignon pairs well with beef, lamb and game.

See our review of The Best Wine Clubs offered directly from wineries here.

Even a small amount of grease or oil can dramatically dull the brilliance of your diamonds. This is why it is important to clean your diamond jewelry regularly, advises Philip Press, president and chief executive officer of Renaissance Platinum (see video below).

"I find the easiest way is to either use a specialized jewerly cleaner or a straight clear, ammonia," says Press. "Let the piece of jewelry soak in the solution for an hour or more. Use an old toothbrush and clean the sides and bottom of the diamond and then rinse it very well under hot water. Don't be afraid of over cleaning your diamonds." Be sure to be gentle with the brush, however, as diamonds can become loose from their settings if they are treated roughly.

A few words of warning: Jewelry should not be cleaned in or near the sink. If there is no better location for the cleaning, be sure the plug is in, to avoid the jewelry going down the drain.

Also, it is very important that you to store your diamond jewelry separately, such as in individual compartments or pouches so they do not touch other gemstones. "Because a diamond can scratch another diamond," advises Press. "It is even more important to keep your diamond jewelry separated from your other gemstone jewelry because diamonds will certainly scratch other gemstones."

If you haven't yet met the StyleList Network, a group of first-rate fashion bloggers, please do. And then introduce them to your friends! http://aol.it/g7SCdC

The last time I drove a car with this level of performance I couldn't hear myself think. The people at Tesla would probably have frowned at my driving style on off-highway roads during this specific part of my ride – but it isn't my fault they decided to design a sports car to house their all electric engine.

I'm zipping to over 60 mph in what feels like an instant. The Roadster Sport I am guiding doesn't feel phased by its rapid acceleration as many combustion engines do. The quick little car does 0 to 60 in under four seconds (3.7 seconds for the Roadster sport), but getting there is made more pleasurable by what it has under all the carbon fiber. Electric motors have some interesting benefits, it seems. Press down on the "Go" pedal (no gas here), and you'll get 100% of the horsepower and torque right away. There is no lag or waiting to gain RPMs. Going forward fast is only a matter of waiting for the actual mass of the car to gain speed. I suddenly feel like I am driving a life size electric toy car. In a sense, that is exactly what it is. And this toy is fun.

Dunhill launched its Day 8 platform for curated content just a couple of months ago, and now the British maker of fineries has undertaken another digital foray: this one is called Voice. Alfred Dunhill's Global Marketing Director, Jason Beckley describes Day 8 as "a communication device [that] exists to express our point of view. Day 8 is our creative research, the things that inspire us."

Voice, on the other hand, is the collected tales of inspiring men attired in Dunhill. Sir David Frost - yes, he of Frost/Nixon - artist Harland Miller, and violinist Charlie Siem take a solitary seat in front of the camera and explain some of the whats, whys, and wherefores of their lives and passions. And the stark lighting and desaturated colors help the viewer focus on what Dunhill hopes is revealed: "culture, intelligence, creativity, travel and elegance."

There are nine videos now, with more to follow, including the back stories of some of the "cast" of Voice. If nothing else, they are already intriguing snapshots of The Lives of Famous Men and great ads for Dunhill, but who knows - Voice could help you "see Dunhill as a vehicle for [your] own individuality and self expression." At the very least, it could give you some excellent wardrobe ideas.

You may not think of tequila as a traditional holiday tipple, but in fact more of it is consumed over the holidays than at any other time of the year. It certainly fits the bill when you're looking for a party crowd-pleaser, for one thing. Hornitos Premium Tequila, the 100% puro agave tequila from Beam Global Spirits & Wine, named after the small agave ovens which played a central part in the great Don Francisco Javier Sauza's revolution of the tequila industry 50 years ago, has created some unexpected holiday drinks designed to "instigate a night of endless celebratory possibilities" using their acclaimed Plata, Reposado and Anejo expressions. They've also come up with an extra-special concoction for New Year's Eve which will be served at the Official Times Square New Year's Eve Party at the Hard Rock Cafe, while debuting a cool new commercial (above) set to run from December 27th – January 2 tied to the occasion. Read on for recipes and bottoms up.

Hornitos Holiday Smash

1 ½ parts Hornitos™ Añejo Tequila
2 slices fresh pear
1 wedge of fresh lemon
1 half moon slice of orange
½ part simple syrup
3 whole cloves

In a sturdy double Old Fashioned glass muddle the cloves. Add to the glass the orange, lemon, and pear and muddle with simple syrup. Fill glass with ice, add Hornitos and stir. Serves One. [cont'd]

Legendary luxe New York department store Bergdorf Goodman, founded in 1901, is famous for its amazing, elaborate holiday windows which dazzle shoppers and passersby alike. This year is no exception, with the added attraction of some high-tech features debuting for the very first time. The 2010 windows, entitled "Wish You Were Here," take their inspiration from fantasy travel to far-flung places involving some rather unusual ways of getting there. The displays feature an array of "wild mash-ups of unexpected arrivals and departures", each with visual influences as diverse as Roman mythology, 1940s Hollywood musicals, the city's original Penn Station, and the very first science fiction film.

This year, for the first time, QR codes on several of the windows enable people to view an online Bergdorf Holiday Gift Finder and a video depicting the making of the holiday displays (above) simply by scanning the codes with their smartphone or handheld digital device. Produced entirely in-house by Bergdorf, the video features the song "Follow Me" by 17-year old emerging Sony artist Audrianna Cole. "We are in the surprise business," notes David Hoey, Bergdorf Goodman's Senior Director of Visual Presentation and Window Design. "This job is part architect and part cake decorator." Each of the landmark store's five main Fifth Avenue windows represents a different destination and a special method of conveyance:

Yes, it's true: if you drive a Bugatti Veyron women will literally throw themselves at you even if you look like Barry Diller on a bad hair day. We're not merely speculating, either - this is an actual video clip of just such an occurrence. The episode in question features an elderly fellow in a $2 million Veyron Grand Sport cruising one of London's poshest shopping districts. The senior citizen, who is obviously as flush with cash as he is follicularly challenged, attracts the notice of a lithesome twentysomething blonde in very short shorts who approaches the vehicle as a taxi idles behind. Less than a minute later she has asked for the driver's phone number which he happily inputs into her cell phone. His somewhat blasé expression during the transaction, which doesn't even require him to pull over, suggests this sort of thing happens to him all the time. Maybe she just liked the way the all-white Grand Sport matches her all-white outfit, but more likely it was the seductive roar of its 1,001 hp quad-turbocharged DOHC 64-valve W-16 engine – and the man who can afford it.

[via JamesList]

On November 10 Ralph Lauren used advanced video mapping technology projected onto the façade of the designer's flagships in New York and London to create an enormous "four dimensional" display celebrating the 10th anniversary of RalphLauren.com. The groundbreaking Ralph Lauren 4D extravaganza, which mesmerized thousands of onlookers, combined technology, art, fashion, music and fragrance into a truly innovative experience, and also celebrated the launch of Ralph Lauren e-commerce in the UK. Fifteen vignettes unfolded into a seven minute visual journey through the world of Ralph Lauren.

Viewers experienced a montage of flashing larger-than-life sized images including four-story tall models and polo players, and iconic Ralph Lauren fashion accessories such as the Ricky Bag, ties and belts that wrapped the length of the new women's flagship on Madison Avenue. The projection gave the illusion that images were extending beyond the building and floating out into space toward the audience. Music, illusions of blowing breezes, and even light mists of the new Big Pony Collection Fragrances were infused into the night's air creating a truly extra-sensory adventure.

There's a right and a wrong way to test drive a Bugatti Veyron. The right way: crank it up past 200 mph on the Autobahn with a coked-out supermodel riding shotgun. The wrong way: back it into a Corolla two minutes after taking the wheel. Here we have a demonstration of the wrong way, courtesy of some hapless schmuck in Chicago with good credit but lousy driving skills. It seems the unfortunate fellow was test driving a $1.25 million 2008 black-and-white Veyron 16.4 with a brown leather interior at Chicago's Bentley Gold Coast when he clipped an idling Toyota for no apparent reason while backing out of the dealership. He then proceeded to scrape up the Veyron's front bumper on the pavement while pulling forward to extricate himself. All in all he caused an estimated $30,000 worth of damage, or enough for a couple of brand new Corollas. Adding insult to injury he didn't even buy the Bugatti.

[via JamesList]