It all began with a girl who had nothing to wear. Liza Goncalves was hosting MADD Sports on BET, and she had resorted to cutting up old jerseys to create dresses for her onscreen wardrobe.‚ 

“It was out of necessity because there was no fashionable sportswear for women,” Goncalves said. “I thought there must be something cute and fashionable for women to wear.”‚ 

Today Goncalves is creating those cute and fashionable pieces with her eco-friendly, Philadelphia-based clothing line, Vintage Blue, which has been popping up in boutiques across the country from Boston to Texas.‚ ‚ 

But shoppers will not find any deconstructed jerseys here. Right now Goncalves’ pieces consist of vintage-inspired T-shirts and tote bags featuring the All-American Girls Professional Baseball Team portrayed in the 1992 feature film “A League of Their Own.” Goncalves said the decision to feature the women’s baseball team was all about finding female inspiration. She did not want to market a clothing line for women that featured men’s sports teams.‚ 

Goncalves ‚ and her partner, Michelle D’Avella, plan to expand the line to include dresses, bags and several other items as soon as they have the means to make them all eco-friendly. While D’Avella was enthusiastic about making the line eco-friendly, it took her a while to be convinced. Finally she saw a television program that tested a mother’s breast milk for chemicals, many of which had come from the mother’s clothing. “I didn’t want to be a part of that,” Goncalves said.‚ 

From that day on the Vintage Blue mission was “Let’s make sure we’re organic. Let’s make sure we don’t waste,” Goncalves said. “We wanted to give our customers quality, fashionable affordable eco-friendly garments.”‚ 

Dismissing the concept that eco-friendly clothes had to be made from hemp or one-color materials, Goncalves created a line of distressed graphic T-shirts and totes ranging in price from $18 to $28.‚ ‚ 

Although the line has been picked up by boutique stores across the country, Vintage Blue sales remain predominantly online on their interactive Web site.‚ Vintage Blue also donates five percent of online sales to Kiva, an organization that provides micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.‚ 

With a look inspired by vintage paper and scrapbooks, the ‚ site features not only the clothing line, but also Vintage Blue Magazine and a blog to feature Goncalves’ and D’Avella’s work and meetings with celebrities. Also providing customers with an inside scoop on everything from their preliminary ideas to finished products.‚ 

Boston shoppers interested in seeing Goncalves’ ‚ line can visit Bodega on Clearway Street or place their orders online. In‚ approximately‚ seven days you will be rocking in fashionable sport spirit.

Have you ever dreamed of dressing up the Olsen twins to your heart’s desire? If so, your dream may come true. Although, the items you use to dress the tiny moguls may not be what is expected. A new dress-up game involving a “mauled mink messenger bag,” a “hanged hamster headband” and an “electrocuted ermine evening dress,” are just some of the things visitors to PETA’s, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, new site can fool around with when dressing “Hairy-Kate and Trashley Trollsen.”

“Meet the Trollsen Twins” is a new campaign run by peta2, PETA’s youth division. The campaign’s web site, which can be found at peta2.com, criticizes Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for continuing to wear fur and sell fur in their clothing line The Row, renamed “Death Row,” by site creators.

Aside from having a dress up game for the twins the site also includes a well-crafted Full House spoof episode titled “Full House of Horrors.” In it, Jack Shepherd, author of PETA’s blog The PETA Files, stars as “Futureman” who comes to tell the Tanner family about Michelle’s fashion crimes in the future.

“It’s not just that these little Michelles are going to end up as a pair of fashion casualties who hide their shrunken bodies in entire families of dead animals,” says Futureman in the video. “The worst part is what happens to the animals who die for the Olsens’ sick, sick fur habit.”The reworked episode gets the Tanner family to kick Michelle out of the house for her future crimes as an animal killer. But, these are only two features of PETA’s newest web site.

“We create these sort of controversial, sort of funny campaigns,” said Dan Shannon, assistant director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. “People get to learn a serious lesson while poking fun at celebrities.”

The Olsen twins were chosen as targets for this campaign because they wear fur frequently; and according to Shannon, they seem to make a statement in doing so. PETA members have written to the twins many times to no avail since they have never received a response from the sisters.

In comparison, PETA members wrote to Eva Mendes after seeing her out wearing fur and received a letter sharing her horrified, apologetic, reaction. Mendes even went on to participate in PETA’s “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign.

“[The site has] gotten almost half a million hits so far so it’s been really successful for us,” said Shannon.

PETA tends to have ardent opposition as well as support, but Shannon said there is no concern about lawsuits. “Everything we’re saying on the web site is true,” he said. “People make their own decisions.”

PETA members are often criticized for using shock value and sensationalism to get the public’s attention. When trying to find responses form the fashion labels criticized in the website, Blast only received “no response” comments in return, though.

“The issues are shocking in and of themselves,” said Shannon. “All you have to do is tell people the truth.”

The peta2 web site also features links allowing visitors to write letters to the twins, asking them to stop wearing fur. A pre-written letter is available, but PETA encourages visitors to write their own letters, for maximum impact and influence.

Another link leads visitors to a page for peta2′s latest clothing designs, which vary from sweatshirts to messenger bags. In addition to a cartoon design of the Trollsen Twins, there are designs that read “Fur is Dead” and “Mean People Wear Fur.”

PETA maintains a list of fur-free retailers available on their Internet sites. Some include The Gap, Eddie Bauer and H&M. Polo Ralph Lauren, Betsey Johnson and Calvin Klein are some of the latest designers who have decided not to use fur in their collections too. Consumers can use this list to make informed decisions about the products they purchase and ask other fashion labels to stop using fur.

“Every purchase that you make sends a message,” said Shannon. “Most people deep down care about animals and don’t want to see them suffer.”

What do you think of this? Do you agree with PETA specifically targeting children with these kinds of advertisements? Do you agree with Futureman? Sound off in our comments section!

Every New Year, the promises about being a better student, a better dieter, lover even a better taxpayer are made around the world. But by the end of January, the promises are forgotten, and the problems continue.

It doesn’t have to be this way. “Living With A Phenomenal Memory: How an Ordinary Man Developed Amazing Memorization Skills” uses simple tricks to help people keep their memory — and their sanity — straight. For the author the techniques explained began as a simple way to keep busy.

While away from school and sick at home, 5-year-old Frank Healy memorized a calendar his uncle Bill gave him to keep himself occupied. Looking at the days of the week, Healy visualized the prime time shows that fell on each night and sang the theme songs in his head. (The year was 1966, so Sunday was The Wonderful World of Disney. Wednesdays and Thursdays were Batman.) Healy had been staring at the pages for a week when he realized he remembered what day of the week his birthday was that year and what day Christmas fell on. Before he knew it, he had memorized the entire calendar.

"I know that’s not typical behavior for a 5-year-old," said Healy.

In his book, Healy shares his memorization techniques and ends his chapters with exercises to help readers practice the skills he taught himself.

His study of the calendar was the only time Healy ever sat down to memorize anything. He now uses techniques involving association and mind relaxation to help him memorize. Throughout his school years, Healy found uses for his techniques, memorizing facts for his lessons in biology and government.

"I even created a story for habeas corpus and bills of attainder," said Healy.

Healy also used his memorization skills for his own entertainment. Weather, dates, Beatles trivia and the Asian zodiac are all subjects Healy has memorized.

"When I am interested enough in something, I’ll memorize everything about it," said Healy.

Healy now spends his time acting as a life coach and helping people improve their memories. He works with everyone from people who want to memorize information for their jobs to people who have recently suffered head injuries.

"It’s teaching people to have the right attitude," said Healy. "If you just change your beliefs about what you can achieve, you will be more motivated to work toward your goals."

The techniques Healy shares with readers in "Living With A Phenomenal Memory" are simple and straightforward. He advises readers to simply relax and concentrate. The reason we forget people’s names when we first meet them, he says, is because we are not concentrating on that information. Instead, we are thinking about the impression we are making and what we are going to say next.

"You do better when you’re in a relaxed state," said Healy.

Another tip Healy gives to readers in his book is to incorporate multiple mnemonic techniques when they need to memorize something.

"The more techniques you use, the more likely you are to remember any given thing," said Healy.

Healy includes a calendar of celebrity birthdays in the back of his book as a tool for remembering dates. For example, if readers need to remember the date for a dentist appointment, Healy recommends they look at the calendar to see which celebrity was born on that day. Then, Healy says readers should imagine that celebrity as their dentist. These are the kinds of simple associations Healy believes will help readers improve memorization.

Healy plans to tour the places where his techniques are surely needed, college campuses. Bookstores and libraries where he could reach a population of people who would benefit from his memorization techniques are also on is tour list.

"People can do a lot more than they think if they believe they can," said Healy.

The book is available online and bookstores for $13.95.

Lulu Vilapati, a translator at the Baylor pediatric AIDS clinic in Swaziland in southern Africa, tested positive for HIV in 2003. At the time she was pregnant with her daughter, Simethemba. Fortunately, because of her early diagnosis, Vilapati was able to avoid passing the virus to her daughter, and Simethemba was born HIV-negative.

This holiday season, the profits of consumers’ shopping can help people like Vilapati. When holiday shoppers purchase (RED) products at participating stores, they can help give money to people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Shoppers who visit gap.com, for example, can read Vilapati’s story as well as the stories of other people who have benefited from the profits of the (RED) brand.

"Since its launch in October of 2006, contributions from the sale of (RED) products have contributed more than $50 million to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa," said Julie Cordua, vice president of marketing for (RED).

According to (RED) brand publicity materials, 2,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV every day. Around the world 40 million people live with HIV/AIDS. Africa is home to 60 percent of people living with HIV although the continent only contains 10 percent of the world population. Portions of the profits from (RED) brand products are donated to help treat and prevent HIV in African countries and the products available appeal to those who like fashion, technology or even scrapbooking.

"Each of our partners have a line of (RED) products including clothing, accessories, phones, iPods, greeting cards, wrapping paper, totes and more," said Cordua.

(RED) was started by Bobby Shriver, chairman of Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa, or DATA, and U2′s lead-singer, Bono. The brand was funded in an effort to get the world’s biggest brands to collaborate with making RED-branded products and raise funds for its cause. So far, the (RED) brand partners include the Gap, Hallmark, Emporio Armani, Converse, Motorola and Apple.

"All of the partners have success with their lines, including the (RED) Gap shirts, Motorola phones, iPods and the Converse shoes," Cordua added.

Celebrities have been getting involved with the (RED) campaign too. Julia Roberts worked with Emporio Armani to create a bracelet that will be available to shoppers in December. While Mary J. Blige, Penelope Cruz and Jennifer Garner have all modeled Gap (RED) shirts bearing logos such as INSPI(RED) or DESI(RED).

The portion of the profits that companies donate is sent to the Global Fund. Then the money is sent to African countries where it can be used to buy medicines, fund clinics or help people infected with HIV.

"The Global Fund has earmarked (RED) dollars to be used specifically for AIDS programs in Africa with a focus on women and children," said Cordua. "100 percent of the money is put to work on the ground in Africa. (RED) grants represent the best-performing and neediest programs within the Global Fund’s extensive portfolio of AIDS grants in Africa, thus ensuring that every dollar raised is effectively and immediately translated into lives saved."

During this shopping season many of the companies involved with (RED) will have new items available. The most popular are Gap’s burgundy-red T-shirts but everyone in the holiday list can receive one of these conscious gifts. For the chatty, Motorola’s MotoRAZR V3m is on sale only in North America and has its own a Bluetooth accessories. If fragrance is on someone’s wish list, Armani’s (PRODUCT) Red white eau du toilet for men and women offers fresh, woody scents. The social awareness can be spread worldwide too with holiday cards and E-cards specially designed by Hallmark.