BuzzSugar

How-To: Continue Saving Travel Dollars After You've Booked and Paid

Emily Co — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:03:26 PDT

Scouring for deals before you make your purchase is always smart, but you can save even more if you go the extra mile and get some money back after you've booked. Here are some savvy tips to get you more savings after you've forked up cash:

Air Travel: You can save more money on air tickets if the price of the flight goes down. Get refunded the difference when you buy your ticket from airlines like JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, and Southwest. Some airlines will charge an extra fee because they will consider it to be changing reservations. AirTran and Virgin, for example, charge $75, while United charges $150. An easy way to keep track of the changing airline prices is to use online price tracker Yapta.com, which will do the work for you and send you refund alerts when your fare has gone down. Be sure to also check out Yapta's other cool feature that keeps track of the flights that you're interested in buying and sends you alerts when the price drops.
Rental Car: Although Yapta tracks rental-car fares, there is an even better site that will do most of the work for you. It's called autoslash.com; it basically books the car for you, checks around for a cheaper price, then emails you when it finds a lower rate. If you want to go with the lower rate, it will rebook it for you.
Hotels: Pick a hotel with a good refund policy or one that allows you to cancel without any penalties if you want to get your money back when you spot a lower rate on a hotel.Then use Yapta as a price-tracking system for hotels, which alerts you when the price of a hotel drops. If the rate does decrease, you can just cancel your reservation and make a new one. You can generally cancel your hotel booking if you don't pay up front for your reservation, but be sure to read the fine print because every hotel has different policy.
Bonus: Alternatively, if you book through travel sites, you can get some sort of price guarantee for your flight, hotel room, and rental car. Keep in mind that every site has different requirements. For hotel stays, Orbitz will refund you the difference if you find the same room at the same hotel and dates at a cheaper price elsewhere. However, the claim has to be submitted before the hotel applies cancellation fees (which requires paying attention to hotel policies) and only works with rates that have the "Low Price Guarantee" or “Price Assurance.” Travelocity, Expedia, and Priceline all have some sort of price guarantee with some differences, so don't assume that the same policy will apply to the other sites.

The Garner-Afflecks Stop by the Farmers Market and Stock Up on Healthy Treats

Katie Henry — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:20:22 PDT

Jennifer Garner packed up the car and headed out to Pasadena on Saturday with Violet and Seraphina Affleck to visit with friends. Yesterday, Jen and the girls stopped off at the Pacific Palisades farmers market before meeting up with Ben later in the day to watch a school play. Even though weekends are filled with activities with the kids, the busy parents of three recently snuck away from their nightly duties for a romantic low-key date night. Jen and Ben sipped cocktails at Hollywood's Whiskey Blue and were spotted looking very affectionate. The two have been all smiles since the birth of their first son, Samuel, in February, and Ben even paid a special tribute to Jen on Mother's Day, calling Jen a "world-class" mom.

Lil Links: A Mother's Day Ad For 50 Shades of Grey Fans

Rebecca M Gruber — Mon, 07 May 2012 05:33:07 PDT

50 Shades of Grey fans will love this faux Mother's Day ad - The Stir
Jay-Z says lil Blue will be the "worst spoiled" tot - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Mira Sorvino welcomed a baby girl - Celebrity Baby Blog
The latest middle name trends for girls - FitPregnancy
The most shocking parts of motherhood - Parenting
Fun art projects for babies - The Bump
Overdue babies may be at twice the risk for ADHD - BabyCenter Blog
5 ways to stop baby from crying in the car - Circle of Moms
How to buy the best bike for your kid - LearnVest
Things to know about special needs parents - HuffPost Parents
5 tips for encouraging independence in toddlers? - Momtastic

The Office, "Turf War": Best Lines of the Night

Lizzie Fuhr — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:55:21 PDT

In this week's episode of The Office, Robert California is hung over and trying to put together the events of the evening - namely, that he closed the Syracuse branch of Dunder-Mifflin while blacked out. And of course, Andy is still being awkward and hanging out around the office, hoping that it's all just been a bad dream. I was happy to see Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur!) from True Blood make an appearance as the Syracuse branch manager who is upset that Scranton is stealing his clients.

We learn that Nellie has been having a hard time and actually has a heart; when Pam warms up to her, she's elated. Andy scores a big deal under the alias Big Red Paper Company to get his job back, but when Robert doesn't bite, he heads over to our old friend David Wallace, who seems interested. While I was happy to see Andy get his groove back, to be honest, the high point of the episode is the cold open, where Jim sets up a thigh curl contest between Gabe and Dwight. There are a few funny lines that held things together, so to see my favorites, just keep reading.

Top 10 Thrilling 3D Moments in The Avengers

Anna Monette Roberts — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:00:46 PDT

Avengers fans, rest assured, you have every reason to be excited for the film's release on Friday. The visual effects in The Avengers are absolutely stunning, and the 3D rendering draws you straight into the action.

With six superheroes to follow, the action scenes are diverse and gripping, with just the right amount of near-death drama to keep you on the edge of your seat. Explosions galore, flying contraptions, rad weaponry, and battles by air and by sea, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments thanks to the mastery of Industrial Light & Magic's visual effects. Without giving away any pertinent plot details, here are 10 scenes that 3D and effects fans can look forward to.

The massive security center that secures the tesseract cube implodes during a car chase. As tons of concrete rubble is sucked into the earth, its force nearly drags the cars down too.
The whopping 1,500-foot fleet carrier S.H.I.E.L.D. base transforms into a flying space ship. Just when you think it can't get any cooler, its reflective panels engage, making it disappear.
Thor and Iron Man (arguably the best-looking men on the team) duke it out in the woods, destroying a lot of trees in the meantime. I don't know what's more awesome: seeing Thor's thunderous strength match up against Iron Man's tech-savvy smarts, or the hilarious banter between the two.
It's the moment everyone is anticipating: when will Hulk emerge from Dr. Banner? When Dr. Banner's anger hits a climax, it only takes a few heavy, unnerving breaths before the Hulk roars his way into his monstrous size.
Trapped in a glass capsule, Thor clatters around violently as he plunges 30,000 feet into the Earth. The impact decimates the wilderness around him, yet Thor's quick recovery is glorious.

Click here to read about five more awesome scenes.

Beyoncé and Baby Blue Return to Their NYC Routine

Lauren Turner — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:42:41 PDT

Beyoncé Knowles wrapped Blue in a colorful blanket as they headed into a building in NYC this afternoon. They're fresh off a trip to St. Barts, where Beyoncé, Blue, and Jay-Z vacationed as a family. The trio were spotted hanging on a yacht with friends and relaxing on the beach, though Blue didn't join her parents to lounge in the sand. Beyoncé wore a sexy swimsuit for the sunny outing while Jay-Z went shirtless and snapped pictures of his wife. Jay-Z and Beyoncé took even more photos on Tuesday when they pulled their car over to the side of the road and posed together. The getaway coincided with Jay-Z and Beyoncé's fourth wedding anniversary, which they celebrated by sharing cute personal pics on Beyoncé's new Tumblr.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé Stop to Snap Pictures on Their St. Barts Vacation

Lauren Turner — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:20:21 PDT

Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles hopped out of their car on the side of the road in St. Barts yesterday. Beyoncé had her camera in hand to take a snap of Jay-Z before passing it off to her bodyguard and posing alongside her husband. Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been in the Caribbean since the weekend, when they were spotted boarding a boat with their daughter Blue. The 3-month-old didn't join them for a trip to the beach on Monday, though, giving Jay-Z and Beyoncé a chance to lounge in the sand and dip in the water. Beyoncé wore a swimsuit for the afternoon, but covered up with a top to go for a ride on a jet ski.

Lindsay Price and Curtis Stone Bring Baby Hudson Down Under

Lauren Turner — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:50:31 PDT

Lindsay Price carried her son Hudson out of the Blue Hotel in Sydney this afternoon. Her boyfriend Curtis Stone was by her side as they headed into a waiting car. The family is in Curtis's native Australia, where he's promoting sustainable seafood and chatted about the benefits of fish on the Today show Sydney and The Morning Show. Lindsay and Curtis welcomed their first child in November last year, and we got our first glimpse at the little guy in March.

Hunger Games Set Decorator Larry Dias Shares Stories and Decor Details From the Film

Elka Karl — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:17:42 PDT

Watching The Hunger Games at a press preview, both Angela and I were scrambling to jot down notes on the fantastic set design showcased in the film. Now, we have the answers to all of our set design questions. Set decorator for The Hunger Games Larry Dias was integral in making the film come to life, from the Appalachia-inspired homes seen in District 12 to the opulent palace of President Snow. Dias was nominated for an Oscar for his production design work on Inception, and he's worked on the set design for films including The Village, The Last Airbender, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Keep reading to find out more about the process of designing the look of The Hunger Games. CasaSugar: I read that much of the decor for District 12 was sourced from local antique shops in North Carolina. How were you inspired by these antiques, and how did the look for this district develop?
Larry Dias: When [production designer] Phil Messina discovered the North Carolina location that serves as District 12 in the film, it just made sense to utilize the local antiques sources. In the book, District 12 lies within what is formerly known as the Appalachians. It could not have been more perfect. We found a number of dealers that had an abundance of unfinished "as is" antiques with rotting wood, peeled finishes, broken drawers, and rusty hardware, and they were items from the region. It was a perfect fit.

CS: The train car seems to have an art deco feel. Was this an influence for the look? How did you decide on the color palette and wood choices? What items did you include that seemed particularly important for these scenes?
LD: Phil came up with the design of the train cars, and the palette was an early idea that we toyed with changing a number of times but we always went back to the blue. The velvet I used in the upholstery was from Dedar, and at first we were having some trouble having it fit within our time frame. It was milled in Belgium, if I remember correctly, and we tried numerous times to find a replacement close to our original choice and just could not find a suitable one, so we played the odds and got it at the last minute. I'm glad we did because it had such amazing depth and was a really regal-looking hue that ended up being the perfect complement/contrast to the muted blue dress that Judianna Makovsky had designed for Katniss.

Of course we compared our swatches, but I think it really told a story when she entered that train car. The wood tones were chosen by Phil. As my team and I were sourcing the furniture for the train it became apparent that we would need to do part antique and part reproduction mainly because of quantities and also because Katniss drives a knife into the dining table! A lot of deco furniture is veneered, and we found a lot of great pieces that had irreparable finish issues or pieces that were too diminutive in scale, so we ended up finding some good reproductions that we could get quantities of. Because it was really difficult to get the woods to work well together on pieces coming from all over the US, we had our lead scenic Rick Riggs and his amazing crew faux finish the furniture to tie it all together.

A funny thing is the barrel chairs that play prominently were pieces that my buyer Sara Gardner-Gail found online, and they were really inexpensive but had the perfect shape. I had the legs cut off and added a swivel platform base, had them painted and upholstered, and they looked like the finest antiques. One of the things about set decoration is that you have to be ready to improvise as well as accommodate change. Unlike the design of, say, a hotel lobby where everything has been drawn in will not change, a film set is quite the opposite. Once the actors, camera, and crew are in the set, furniture starts flying, literally.

First, just to accommodate the cast and crew, usually at least one half of the set will be cleared of furniture, then as the shots and camera angles are being set up, the director may decide he needs things to rearrange a bit to accommodate a scene. It can be a little improvisational so having a few extra chairs, lamps, or occasional pieces hanging around is a good thing.

Keep reading for more of our interview with Hunger Games set decorator Larry Dias!

VW Rolls Out New All-Electric Golf at Geneva Auto Show

Kristy Korcz — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:21:17 PDT

I'm all for the idea of more electric cars on the road, and the upcoming Volkswagen EV Golf Blue-E-Motion could be the sporty car city dwellers dream of. The size of the VW Golf is one that allows for easy parking in small spaces, but the interior is roomy enough to comfortably fit four for longer road trips. The new ride is scheduled to hit stateside in "late 2013," and while we can likely look forward to a higher price tag, with the cost savings on gas and diesel, the Blue-E-Motion might be worth the investment. Start pinching your pennies now.