Mahershala Ali is steadily becoming one of those faces you can’t really escape.

The Californian-native is a relative newcomer to Hollywood fame, despite a consistent history of celebrated performance on the silver screen. You probably know him as the perpetually-suited political aide Remy Danton from House of Cards.

But his recent presence in social media can be attributed to an acclaimed performance in Moonlight. Ali copped an Academy Award and Oscar for his acting chops in this film, the latter of which is a historic first – he’s the first Muslim to do so.

Besides his acting, he’s no sartorial slouch. Ali attends awards ceremonies in various iterations of casual and formalwear, and never seems particularly fazed by the changes to the dress code. He looks at home in just about anything. This guide will give you a sense of how he pulls it off and whether it’ll work for you, right after you binge watch the first season of Luke Cage.

Hair

Ali doesn’t indulge follicular extravagance. In almost every appearance on the red-carpet, he’s rocking a high-fade buzzcut, or a complete skin buzzcut.

The closely-buzzed look complements his lean, angular features, and cleans up his appearance even if he’s on the more casual end of the spectrum.

This is a great option for men recovering from the psychological wounds of hair loss, and for guys who resent having to sacrifice precious minutes drying their hair every morning.

Hats

Ali has a habit of finishing off casual outfits with a fedora or broad-brimmed hat. Maybe he’s sun-conscious, or just loves hats, but he manages to make it work.

He’ll usually pair one with a shirt-chino combo, in a contrasting colour. Hats are a tricky, controversial notion for guys. It’s easy to become the ‘hat guy’ everyone secretly suspects is hiding a bald spot; the 30-something bloke who thinks an Akubra is a lifeline back to his younger, more vital days.

Ali is effortlessly cool and thus has no such problems, so maybe win an Oscar before you whip out a Fallenbrokenstreet fedora for every single invitation. Or just wear it as on occasion, if your pomade got lost with your luggage.

Granddad Collars

On his casual days, Ali likes to say no to a traditional spread or cutaway and rely on the obscure mandarin collar instead. These shirts are often woven in denim or chambray weaves, and looks mustard with jacket and coat layering.

It’s an uncommon, quirky shirt variation you don’t see everyday, which is precisely why you should give it some thought. Ali normally closes the top button, as is his preference with most collared shirts that he wears without a tie.

Dressing it down with a leather or denim jacket works as easily as a no-tie & jacket look. Not an easy thing to find, but if a movie star has the time to find one, then so do you.

Denim (On Denim)

Ali is a denim devotee. He’s one of the few Hollywood heavyweights that can double-up on denim without looking like he just finished a shift as a cattle-herder.

Ali normally opts for a chambray or denim shirt along with jeans, in muted silver or indigo tones which are simple to combine with other colour choices.

The double-denim look might be a bit risky, but don’t turn your nose up at denim just yet. Denim is a durable, hard-wearing weave that never really drops off the sartorial radar. You might not be a cowboy, but a denim shirt to go with chinos is a solid investment.

Turtlenecks

When his white shirts are at the laundromat, Ali likes to swap buttoned-up business style with the more casual turtleneck. Although once the domain of creepy guys and aspiring secret agents, the turtleneck has returned in recent years as a staple for the cooler months.

Ali likes to pair his with business wear, usually wearing black or grey turtlenecks to break up the monochromatic palette of a two-piece suit. A reliable substitute for a shirt and tie, especially on grey days when the additional insulation of wool is an absolute godsend.

Suiting

If you’ve seen House of Cards (of course you have) you’d probably think Ali sleeps in a white shirt and navy suit. That’s probably not the case, but it says a great deal about his corporate game. Off screen, Ali’s suiting choices aren’t too far off his screen roles.

The actor prefers monochromatic or two-colour outfits; usually a navy or charcoal suit, a white shirt, and a tie to contrast or complement the suit. I’s value is in simplicity, as it’s an uncomplicated combo. Perfect for guys who want to clean up their boardroom look, and avoid having to think too much about what to wear when it’s 6am and a second coffee isn’t going to cut it.

Tuxedo

By now, you’ve probably seen Ali’s acceptance speech at the Academy Awards. Besides the highly-deserved achievement, Ali looked absolutely mustard in a Zegna dinner suit that would freeze Sean Connery cold in his tracks. The Best Supporting Actor winner settled on a clean, monochromatic look with a black shirt, tie, and suit.

Even in formalwear, Ali seems to prefer a tailored cut that eliminates excess room in the jacket and trousers, without overcompensating with the skin-tight look doing the rounds at the moment.

The post How To Get Mahershala Ali's Style appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Though it’s been off the air for nearly 2 years, fans still can’t stop talking about Mad Men.

Some of those fans, it turns out, are the folks at Heinz, who just turned Don Draper’s ketchup pitch into a real-life ad.

In the show’s sixth season, Don makes the case for a campaign that’s “clean, simple, and tantalisingly incomplete.” The fictional Heinz execs aren’t wowed by the presentation, as you can see in the clip below, but fortunately for Don and co. the real-deal were more impressed by its minimalistic stylings.

Heinz announced the new campaign in partnership with the (fictional) agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and the (actual) ad agency David on Monday.

“Heinz, a name that is synonymous with ketchup, and more recently mustard and BBQ sauce, selected the ‘Pass the Heinz’ campaign after an agency review because it is clever, modern and doesn’t require paragraphs of copy to convey what Heinz brings to the table,” the company said in a statement.

The release goes on to call the campaign “as timeless today as it was when it was first presented.” Close to timeless, anyway – the David agency was forced to recreate the images because they weren’t preserved from the original production of the television show.

Anselmo Ramos, chief creative officer of David, joked with Adweek about meeting with Draper during the creation of the ads. “We had a couple of Old Fashioneds,” Ramos said, “and he gave me the mechanicals from the original campaign.”

Ramos also praised Draper’s ahead-of-its-time approach to advertising. “Don did a great job,” he said. “This is just 100 percent on-brand positioning. It is about never settling. You look at these beautiful shots of empty fries, or a burger, and there’s something missing. And when you say ‘Pass the Heinz,’ that’s all you need to say. You don’t need to show the product.”

The post Heinz Turned Don Draper's Campaign Pitch Into A Real-Life Ad appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

You’ve been showering your entire life, so odds are you think you’re pretty good at it by now – so good you’d consider going pro if pro-bathing was a thing.

But before you plan a life of medals and trophy wives and lucrative shower gel endorsement deals, there’s something you need to know.

You’ve been showering wrong this whole time.

Yes gentlemen, though you’ve sunk countless hours into perfecting your bathing technique over the years, it turns out there’s a lot of misinformation about getting clean. Your bathing habits may secretly be hurting your skin (or just plain gross).

These are the showering mistakes to cut from your routine immediately.

Failing To Keep Your Equipment Clean

It’s not rocket science. If your shower or tub isn’t clean, how can it get you clean? All that moisture creates prime conditions for grime to grow, so it’s extra important to scrub the tub regularly. Make sure you do it right: spray the cleaning product of your choice, then walk away for 10 minutes. Have a beer or knock out some pushups while you wait. Once the product has had time to penetrate the scum, you can start the scrubbing. Doing it any earlier is a waste of elbow grease.

Blaming Bar Soap

Bar soap used to be everyone’s go-to – then, somewhere down the line, people started thinking it was covered in germs, and suddenly we were all horrified at the thought of letting a bacteria-riddled block touch our precious skin.

Getting Too Steamy

Your long, hot showers are not so hot for your skin. Hot water can wash off your skin’s natural oils, which are essential for staying moisturised. Showers and baths that are too long also strip those vital natural hydrators. Instead, dermatologists recommend shorter showers in lukewarm water.

Aggressive Ablutions

Shed all your tough guy illusions when it comes to bath time. Your skin is a delicate organ and deserves to be treated with TLC. Buffing too hard with a loofah or other scrubbing tool shreds the skin’s natural protective barrier. Likewise, scrubbing your scalp with your fingernails can scratch the skin and cause flaking. Post-rinse, try to avoid rubbing your skin with your towel. Pat it dry to minimise friction and irritation.

Showering In The Morning

A morning dip can put pep in your sleepy step, but it may not be the best option for your overall health. Doctors advise showering in the evening to remove the dirt, allergens, chemicals, toxins, and other ickies that accumulate on your skin and hair throughout the day. In addition to keeping you clean, an evening shower regimen also prevents you from transferring those contaminants to a partner or your bedding.

Showering Too Often

A daily shower isn’t always necessary, especially in the winter months when your skin is naturally drier and you don’t sweat as much. Showering too often, like showering too long, strips your skin and hair of essential oils that keep them hydrated. Only the dirtiest bits (armpits, feet, etc) need to be cleaned on the daily, and if you find yourself showering more than once in a single day, only soap up during one.

Skimping On The Rinse

Cleanse your skin and hair thoroughly before towelling off. Any lingering products can cause skin irritation and clogged pores, which in turn lead to acne. If ‘bacne’ is a particular problem for you, rinse your hair with your head tilted to the side, so the product runs directly into the drain instead of down your back.

The post Bad Bathing Habits That Are Ruining Your Showers appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Right then. Bitcoins, wallets, cryptocurrencies, blocks, chains; it’s clear that they’re the next big thing.

As Blockchain themselves say, the whole thing is “Loved by Users. Praised by Geeks. Recognised by the press.”

Which just about sums it up really. Bitcoins are now worth over $1,000 a piece with millions of dollars in assets transferred each day, yet ask the average person what they know about it and you’re most likely to be met with a blank stare and a solid backhand to the face.

That little thing called Blockchain is at the forefront of all this and here’s how it works. 

How Blockchain Works

For those of you who are still yet to get properly up to speed with how online currency works, you’ve probably heard the name Bitcoin at least once in the last few years.

Bitcoin is an online cryptocurrency, free of any regulation or centralised banking, which is purchased, stored, and spent exclusively electronically in the form of data. The way bitcoin is transferred and encrypted is complex enough to write an entire article on itself, so we’ll let the video below explain.

Blockchain is one of these “wallet” systems that you can see in the video above. It’s a system of storing and distributing not just Bitcoin, but also all kinds of digital assets like contracts and other valuable data.

This operates in the same way that a Google Doc does, meaning documents and transactions that initially would have to be revised, approved, and sent back-and forth between parties are now able to be viewed, altered, and updated in real-time from multiple places at once.

It’s entirely peer-to-peer, meaning that no transactions or transfers are processed in a central location, and each transaction is combined with other transactions to create a “block” of data, which is then added to a huge online ledger known as the blockchain.

Every piece of information shared and stored on Blockchain is hosted simultaneously by the network of millions of computers that makes Blockchain’s customer base, and once finalised, all transactions and dealings, publicly accessible from any computer.

They are unalterable unless you go back through every individual block of data in the chain and change the computations in each one. Therefore, it’s basically impossible to game the system.

This system trickles down to the consumer in the form of free wallets. While online profiteers use blockchain to transfer millions of dollars’ worth of online currency, documents, and digital assets each day, every day people can also sign up for free Bitcoin wallets which provide an entry platform into online trading.

Why You Should Know About It

As baffling as it is at first glance, Blockchain is taking off and becoming a genuine monetary asset in the trading of online commodities.

The UK-based company received over $30 million in investment when it first started, and now it manages over 12 million wallets for users across the world, processing roughly 100 million transactions in that time.

Sir Richard Branson is an investor, and venture capitalists have all invested from Silicon Valley, Wall St and New York alike.

Why Is It So Successful

Why the staggering success? The answer is relatively simple. They were the first to really refine the way to do what they were intended.

They turned Bitcoin trading and the transfer of high-profile digital assets, something that was originally done in the dingiest corners of the internet, into a legitimate, systemised practice that’s incredibly secure and free of any intermediaries.

This last bit is significantly important, because it takes the transfer of assets away from centralised powers (banks for example), a key reason Bitcoin became so popular in the first place.

The underlying question we had after doing a bunch of research on Blockchain (and Cryptocurrency in general), was simply: How is this going to end up impacting people’s day to day lives?

People are clearly starting to take note of the online revolution in the millions, but it’s yet to permeate how people do business and plan their finances on a day to day basis.

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You make hundreds of choices each day. What to eat. What to wear. Whether to hit snooze. Whether to ignore a phone call. Whether to have one more beer at happy hour. Whether to swipe left or right.

Sometimes those choices are big, but the vast majority are small – so small, in fact, that they hardly feel like choices at all. They’re more like unconscious habits, the mental equivalent of muscle memory, executed with minimal effort and little thought for what they might mean.

And yes, they do mean something.

Researchers have discovered meaningful insights buried deep within these small, seemingly insignificant behaviours. If you’re curious to know what your mindless daily habits say about your emotions, motivations, and personality traits, check out the science below.

Your Shopping Habits

Imagine you need a new deodorant. How do you choose from so many options? Do you look up online reviews and read the ingredients on each package? Or do you grab the first one that catches your eye and assume they’re all roughly the same?

How you answer that question may reveal your preference for detail. A series of experiments published in 2012 dubbed the first kind of person an “explanation fiend.” The second is an “explanation foe.”

Explanation fiends score high on measures of cognitive reflection, meaning they tend to analyse information thoroughly and prefer lots of detail about products. Explanation foes, on the other hand, score low on measures of cognitive reflection, meaning they prefer more general information and get overwhelmed by too many details.

Your Eating Habits

You aren’t just what you eat, you’re how you eat. If you eat slowly, according to behavioural food expert Juliet Boghossian, you like to be in control and know how to appreciate life. You’re also more likely to be confident and even-keeled.

If you’re a fast eater, you have a tendency to be impatient, but you’re also ambitious, goal-oriented, and open to new experiences.

Where you fall on the adventurous vs. picky eating scale also hints at your personality type. Adventurous eaters are natural thrill-seekers and risk-takers who enjoy stepping out of their comfort zone. Picking eating – also known as ‘food neophobia’ – has been associated with anxiety and neuroticism in scientific studies.

Your Walking Habits

Humans naturally make judgements about each other based on body language. They aren’t always right, but according to a 2013 study, some of us can accurately assess a person’s vulnerability based on the way they walk.

Researchers asked inmates in a maximum security penitentiary in Canada to watch video clips of different people walking. The inmates were then asked to judge which subjects were most vulnerable to victimisation.

Results showed that inmates who scored higher on measures of psychopathy were more likely to identify walkers who had been victimised in the past. When asked for their reasoning, many said they could tell by the way the person walked.

Time to start practising your John Wayne.

Your Email Habits

Are you an Inbox Zero zealot? If you read and delete your emails ASAP, science says you have a strong need for control and order in your life.

Those who read their emails in a timely manner, but save them instead of deleting them, may be perfectionists who think they’ll get around to addressing those messages later.

Those who leave emails unread, without filing or deleting them, may be suffering from serious overwhelm or simply be disengaged. But there’s good news, too: ignored emails could make you more organised and productive, says Ron Friedman, Ph.D., author of The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace.

“It can also mean that you recognize that [monitoring and organising those emails] isn’t helping you achieve progress. And that’s a sign of intelligence,” he told Business Insider.

Your Selfie Habits

Your selfie style has a lot to say about the man behind the screen. A 2015 study found specific cues in selfies related to agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness – four of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits studied in psychology.

Friendlier (“more agreeable”) people tended to take pictures from below. More conscientious people were less likely to reveal a private space in the background. People who were more open to new experiences were more likely to display positive emotions. Neurotic people were more likely to pose with ‘duck face’ in their photos.

Interestingly, though the research team identified consistent relationships between selfie styles and personality traits, impartial observers were only able to correctly recognise one trait from looking at photos. The only accurate observation they made was that positive emotion generally predicted openness to experience.

The post What Your Mindless Daily Habits Secretly Say About You appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

A spacious loft? A handsome cabin? That’s the easy side of real estate. Designers who truly want to knock socks off take on more challenging spaces – churches, caves, factories – and transform them into dream homes for the daring.

Attic apartments come with a unique set of obstacles. They may lack space or have low ceilings. They can be dark or drafty. They can feel utilitarian rather than cosy. But with thoughtful functionality and the right décor, these unusual top floor spaces can be converted into stylish residences worthy of the most sophisticated city mouse.

A few things to consider before moving in:

Light

Low, slanted ceilings can contribute to the cosy effect of attic apartments, but they’ll feel stifling if the space doesn’t get enough light. Be sure there are sufficient windows and skylights to maximise the apartment’s openness. Neutral styling and minimal furnishing can also keep the space from feeling constricted.

Comfort

Your attic dwelling should not look like it was meant to store broken furniture and out of season holiday decorations. It should be comfortable, inviting – like it was meant to be a home all along. Add warmth with plush and textured furnishings, and add personality with artwork and accessories.

Smart Styling

If you’re not blessed with a vast, loft-like space, you’ll need to get creative. Find ways to incorporate all the essentials – especially sufficient storage space – that are both functional and attractive. Any home, but especially a small one, should serve both your aesthetic and your practical needs simultaneously.

Featured Features

Don’t fight the natural features of attic living. Embrace oddly shaped corners, slanted ceilings, and visible beams. They’re not inconveniences – they’re character.

The post Stylish Attic Apartments That Will Make You Rethink Top Floor Living appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Not long ago, Swiss researcher Oliver Bendel warned that having sex with robots could mean the death of the human race. Westworld fans were dismayed; the rest of us were a mix of alarmed and confused.

What Bendel didn’t mention, however, was doing the deed with sex dolls… which is great news for patrons of a new establishment in Barcelona called LumiDolls, Europe’s very first sex doll brothel.

Clients of the “agency” will pony up between 80 and 120 euros for the service, which can last an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours. Custom prices can also be arranged for special services like whole nights and couples.

The hyper-lifelike dolls come in four models: blonde Katy, Asian-featured Lily, dark-skinned Leiza, and Japanese anime character Aki. The website promises they are “totally realistic dolls, both in the movement of their joints and in their feel, that will allow you to fulfill your fantasies without any limit.”

Should you be worried that the experience of shacking up with a sex doll would be cold and unfulfilling, LumiDolls promises every effort is made to ensure comfort. Each room boasts candlelight, a large plasma TV, and a collection of films to set the mood. Guests can request how they want their doll to be dressed and positioned, and share any other details that will help the agency create the perfect experience.

Broadly was quick to point out that the brothel’s debut comes just in time for Mobile World Congress, a major European tech festival currently being held in Barcelona. Could it be that LumiDolls scheduled its launch to coincide with the city’s influx of rich, socially awkward tech bros? And could this be the birth of a new kind of tourism?

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“It’s not you, it’s me.” Everyone knows the classic breakup line, and almost everyone has written it off as a cowardly excuse.

But what if, in some situations, you really are the reason for your breakups?

A 2016 study from psychologists at the University of Tennessee identified a toxic combination of characteristics that predict an unhappy fate for your relationships: sensitivity to rejection and the tendency to cut off your partner emotionally.

Researchers Jerika Norona and Deborah Welsh asked 217 undergraduates – all of whom had been in exclusive relationships for at least three weeks, and most of whom were freshmen and female – to fill out surveys.

One measured rejection anxiety with queries such as, “You ask your boyfriend/girlfriend if he/she really loves you. How concerned would you be over whether your boyfriend/girlfriend would say yes?”

Another measured a characteristic called “differentiation of self,” which refers to your ability to maintain a healthy balance between dependence and independence with your partner. Emotional cutoff, or your tendency to distance yourself from others to appear independent, is a component of self-differentiation.

Lastly, participants indicated their satisfaction with their current relationships by marking their agreement with statements like, “My relationship with my partner makes me happy.”

The study found that high rejection sensitivity predicted low relationship satisfaction. Previous research reported similar findings – individuals who are more sensitive to rejection are less satisfied in their relationships.

Norona and Welsh took things one step further. The University of Tennessee researchers examined the role self-differentiation played in the link between rejection sensitivity and relationship satisfaction. Their experiments revealed that high rejection sensitivity predicted low relationship satisfaction specifically through low self-differentiation, and more specifically through emotional cutoff.

In other words, if you’re afraid of getting hurt by your partner, and distance yourself from them emotionally as a result, you reduce the potential for fulfilling, accepting, and intimate behaviours and ultimately make the relationship less satisfying in the long run. You essentially sabotage your own chance at happiness. How’s that for irony?

It’s important to note that this was a correlational study, which means it’s not possible to know for sure if high rejection sensitivity and emotional cutoff directly cause relationship dissatisfaction. It might work the other way around, and there might be factors at play the study didn’t account for.

The post These Two Common Fears Could Doom Your Relationship appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Qatar Airways is upping the stakes for business class travellers with an experience they’re calling “revolutionary”. Meet QSuite, a customisable private suite that promises to bring a host of firsts to premium travel.

The new seat design was just unveiled in Berlin during ITB, the world’s largest travel trade show. QSuite features the industry’s first-ever ‘party of four’ seating configuration and first double bed available in business class. The privacy panels between adjoining seats can be stowed away to create a private room, enabling families, business associates, and other travel companions to socialise or have a meeting.

To complement the customised seating experience, Qatar Airways is also launching a new food and beverage concept that adds a selection of snack ‘sharing dishes’ available throughout the flight to the existing ‘dine on demand’ service. A wake-up Express Breakfast will also be available for those who choose to sleep in using the ‘Do Not Disturb’ option available on the door of their private QSuite.

Business class entertainment is also getting an upgrade. The airline announced a completely new, next-generation user interface for Oryx One, its award-winning inflight entertainment platform. The system’s interface has been redesigned to make it easier to surf through Qatar Airways’ 3,000 entertainment options – the most of any airline.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said:

“Today I am proud to unveil the future of Premium travel with our new QSuite Business Class. Our unique and patented design is a world first in many ways and challenges industry norms by offering passengers more privacy, more choice and more personalization. With these innovations, Qatar Airways has revolutionized the way we serve our Business Class travelers enabling our passengers to enjoy a First Class experience in Business Class.”

The QSuite launch makes Qatar Airways the second airline to introduce a business class product with a door. The first, Delta One, was announced by Delta Air Lines last year.

Get acquainted with QSuite in the video below:

You can also take a 360-degree tour of the new Qatar Airways business class here:

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