I’ve dipped into the Kitchenaid of Fortune and here are our two winners of a $50 voucher each to dine at Chocolate Buddha:

Gem (Eat Drink Stagger)
Vivian

Please send your postal address to joyce@melhotornot.com to collect your prize and have a great weekend!

Thanks again to Nuffnang and Chocolate Buddha for sponsoring this giveaway.

I’ve dipped into the Kitchenaid of Fortune and here are our two winners:

• TruffleMe
• Louise

Please send your postal address to joyce@melhotornot.com to collect your prize and have a great weekend!

Thanks again to Lonely Planet for sponsoring this giveaway.

Traditionally the first anniversary gift is paper. So today I have a fabulous giveaway for you thanks to Lonely Planet – one of two copies of Lonely Planet’s beautiful hardback coffee-table book, One Planet (RRP $24.95).

Awesome landscapes, intimate rituals, extreme adventures and moments of connection – One Planet is a celebration of life, curiosity and the experience of travel.

To be in the running, all you have to do is leave a comment by 5pm next Friday 16 April (sorry Australian residents only). I’ll be holding a random draw and will announce the winner on the blog next week. Good luck!

I’ve dipped into the Kitchenaid of Fortune and here are our three winners:

Tahitian Lime  – Jess
Kashmir – Lydia
Wheatgrass – Food lover

Please send your postal address to joyce@melhotornot.com to collect your prize pack, and have a great weekend!

Thanks again to Blondes to Brunettes for sponsoring this giveaway.

If you missed out on the Chai mamma giveaway last week, don’t worry because today I have another giveaway for MEL: HOT OR NOT readers!

Prahran hair and beauty salon Blondes to Brunettes is the first hair salon in Australia to stock uSPA, a botanical haircare range  which harnesses the benefits of organic plants and plant extracts for professional performance hair products.

uSPA will be launching nationally in a few months but you can win a preview of the uSPA range – all you have to do is leave a comment on the blog before 5pm Friday 5 March (sorry, Australian residents only). You’ll then go into a random draw to win one of the three beautifully packaged travel gift packs above (valued at $32):

• uSpa Supernatural Wheatgrass Protection travel gift pack with wheatgrass protective shampoo (30ml), wheatgrass protective conditioner (30ml) and wheatgrass solar energy leave-in serum (30ml);
• uSpa Supernatural Tahitian Lime balance travel gift pack with tahitian lime balancing shampoo (30ml), tahitian lime balance conditioner (30ml) and amplifying gel with sugar protein (30ml); or
• uSpa Supernatural Kashmir moisture travel gift pack with kashmir moisturising shampoo (30ml), kashmir moisturising conditioner (30ml) and marshmallow variable control (30ml).

Thanks to Blondes to Brunettes for sponsoring the giveaway. Good luck!

I’ve dipped into the Kitchenaid of Fortune and here are our seven winners:

• LizB
• Mellie (Tummyrumbles)
• Tom
• pdids
• Emily (it pleases us)
• Jenny
• Amanda

Please send your postal address to joyce@melhotornot.com to collect your prize of 2 x 120g packs of Chai mamma chai, and have a great weekend!

Thanks again to Naomi from Chai mamma for sponsoring this giveaway.

I am a big fan of chai but there’s good chai (fragrant and warming) and there’s bad chai (watery and burnt).

Having tasted some very bad chai over the years, last year East St Kilda resident Naomi decided to take matters into her own hands and to produce her own chai. Chai mamma is an authentic chai tea made using Fair Trade Certified black tea which is blended with spices and packaged by hand.

Naomi now produces five different sorts of chai : original, spice, family, ginger and green tea, which are all available in 120g (see above) or 1kg loose leaf packets.  The chai will soon be available in tea bags.

You can buy the Chai mamma tea by emailing Naomi at sip@chaimamma.com.au and occasionally it’ll pop up in various farmers markets.

Thanks to Naomi I have two x 120g packets of loose leaf chai tea to give away to seven lucky readers (sorry Australian residents only) so you can try it for yourself. All you have to do is leave a comment below before midnight Friday 19 February. I’ll be holding a random draw and will announce the winner on Saturday 20 February on the blog. Good luck!

Hope you had an exciting, fun, restful, relaxing weekend.

I have a couple of free double passes to give away for the controversial new film Antichrist. The passes are valid from Thursday 26 November until the end of the film’s theatrical season (excluding public holidays and discount days) and the film is showing exclusively at Cinema Nova, 380 Lygon St, Carlton.

Directed by Lars von Trier and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Dafoe, Antichrist is a story of a grieving couple who retreat to ’Eden’, their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse…

If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and address and I’ll post a pass out to you. Good luck!

Update: Thanks peeps, the passes are all gone!

Getting ready for the weekend?

I have a couple more double passes to give away for preview screenings of the new Clive Owen film The Boys are Back. The passes are valid for all major cinemas this Friday 6th, Saturday 7th or Sunday 8th November.

I reviewed the film recently and gave it a NOT, but that’s not to say that you’ll feel the same way. Previous giveaway winners Stickifingers and RippingYan both loved the film, as did my movie date buddy Lena and the Toronto Film Festival. Why not judge for yourself – I’d really like to hear whether you agree or disagree with my views.

If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and phone number. Pickup is from the CBD tomorrow (Friday). Good luck!

Update: That was quick! Thanks to everyone who emailed me – the tickets have now all gone. Keep an eye out for other giveaways…

Happy Friday morning! Here’s a Friday giveaway for you today.

I  have a couple of double passes to give away for an exclusive advance film screening of The Boys are Back at 6:45pm on Thursday 29 October at Palace Cinema Como, 299 Toorak Rd, South Yarra.

“Academy Award nominated Scott Hicks (Shine) returns to Australia to direct this poignant drama of fatherhood, starring the talented Clive Owen. It follows Joe, a wise-cracking British sports journalist, living family life in regional South Australia. In the wake of his wife’s tragic death, he finds himself in a sudden state of single parenthood with six-year old Artie. With turbulent emotions swirling, and Joe’s elder teenage son coming to stay, he’s faced with raising two boys in a household devoid of feminine influence and an unabashed lack of rules. United by unspoken love and in search of a road forward, the three multi-generational boys – father and sons alike – must each find their own way to grow up.”

If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and address and the tickets will be posted out to you. Good luck!

Update: Thanks to everyone who emailed me – the tickets have now all gone. Keep an eye out for other giveaways…

Good golly Miss Molly! Melbourne has suddenly discovered me and keeps throwing free stuff my way…

This time, a ticket to the Decoder Ring gig at The Hifi (one of my favourite Melbourne live music venues) tomorrow, Saturday 5 September. Doors open at 8pm and supporting acts are Bridezilla and Seekae.

If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and phone number.  Ticket pickup will be from The Hifi, 125 Swanston Street. Good luck!

The giveaways keep coming!

I  have a double pass to give away for a special preview screening of 500 Days of Summer at Melbourne Central. The film is an offbeat romantic comedy about a woman (gorgeous Zooey Deschanel) who doesn’t believe true love exists, and the young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls for her.

Screening is on 630pm on Wednesday 9 September. If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and phone number.  Ticket pickup will be from the CBD. Good luck!

Here’s a great Melbourne Spring Fashion Week event for fashionistas – a film and fashion event at Lygon Court with fashion parades and a preview screening of the new fashion documentary Valentino The Last Emperor at Cinema Nova.

I  have 3 tickets to give away for this great event at 6:30pm on Wednesday 2 September. The ticket includes a fashion parade, movie, a light meal and beverage (sorry no Lygon Court voucher). If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and phone number.  Winners will be drawn at midday tomorrow and ticket pickup will be from the CBD. Good luck!

Update 1 September 2009: Thanks for everyone’s responses! If you missed out this time, you may want to get your hands on a ticket to Fashion at Altitude S/S 09/10 12:15pm runway parade at Melbourne’s GPO tomorrow, Wednesday 2 September. There are no tickets left and they’re in high demand! If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and phone number.  The winner will be notified at 10am tomorrow and ticket pickup will be from the steps of the GPO. Good luck!

• Fashion at Altitude S/S 09/10 runway parade at Melbourne’s GPO on Wednesday 2 September;
• returning to Melbourne’s GPO on the same night for the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week VIP fashion parade;
• The Spirit of the Black Dress exhibition at Georges; and
• Marc Jacobs on Film at ACMI.

There are many more events on during Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, two of of which I’m going to mention:

• A shout out to my beautiful and ever-stylish friend Alex, who is the brains behind Eco Fashionista, a new online boutique for luxury eco fashion from Australia and around the world. She’s a fashionista who likes to live green, so she’ll be at Eco Luxe Fashion Expose (ELFE) on Wednesday 2 September, one of the people bringing eco, sustainable fashion beyond dreadlocks and tie-dyed hemp.  During ELFE there will a special prize draw to win a beautiful Cylk dress from her boutique (valued $500) and the first 250 visitors will receive an Eco Fashionista discount voucher in their goodie bag. Tickets for ELFE are available via 0421 411 114, info@vintagesoul.com.au and elfeevents.blogspot.com. Eco Fashionista opens it doors on Wednesday! For MEL: HOT OR NOT readers, you can receive 15% off your first order if you enter the discount code ELFE at checkout before 14 October 2009.

ELFE Melbourne Spring Fashion Week –

• You’ve heard me rave about Thread Den before and on Friday 4 September and Saturday 5 September, the Thread Den ladies are hosting the Killer Queen catwalk parade. Tickets are $12 (plus booking fee) at the Thread Den shop plus you go into the draw to win a pre-show makeover and dinner at Sosta Cucina, bar tab at the after party and accommodation for two. I hope they’re showing a new range from Oh Bluebird, as lots of people have been admiring my Lucy in the Sky dress.

Killer Queen Thread Den Melbourne Spring Fashion Week –

Cedar Boys ‘is an authentic, compelling and adrenaline charged ride into the lives of young men of Middle Eastern decent today in Sydney, Australia. It’s the real world – a side we haven’t seen’. You can expect a review of this new Australian film in the coming weeks on MEL: HOT OR NOT, but in the meantime I have one in-season pass double pass to give away.

If you’d like to go, just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your name and postal address and I’ll send it to you!

The Indonesian Film Festival is coming to Melbourne 11-20 August. If you’d like to go, I have a free ticket to Kambing Jantan for Saturday 15 August at 5:30pm at the Capitol Theatre, Swanston St. Just pop me an email at jetsettingjoyce@gmail.com with your details before midday this Wednesday and I’ll express post it to you!

The film will start as young Dika, who also has a nick name: Kambing (Goat), ‘forced’ to continue his study in Adelaide Australia, taking Finance as his major. A direction of life he has never imagined before. The beginning of the journey to find his real existence in this world, his self identity.

The main plot of this film will generally unfold the real life events that took place during his academic life in Adelaide, as well as his problematic long distance relationship with his girl, Kebo, which leads him to having some financial issues. Issues which Dika tries to take care of, but in ways that put him more in to troubles.

Movement creates music in Mayumana, a pulsating mix of beat, music and movement, intertwined with humour and joy. Direct from Israel, Mayumana is a dynamic and emotionally charged theatre experience for all to enjoy!

Touring successfully around the world in over 24 countries, Mayumana comes exclusively to the Arts Centre in July. Performing for the first time in Australia, the production draws on the skills of 10 performers from different nationalities, with each performer bringing a unique flavour to the show.  A non-stop entertainment experience that embraces a mix of performance styles such as music, percussion, physical theatre, comedy and dance, Mayumana is fun for the whole family.

If you want to join me to check out whether this production is HOT or NOT, send me an email before midday tomorrow (Wednesday 22 July) and then I’ll draw the winning name out of my Kitchenaid mixing bowl. Good luck!