Forget Dinner - Let's go to bed!

What will the average urbanite subject themselves to in order to find love? This is a question that is not easily answered since finding love in this day and age is a quest not meant for the faint of heart.

Whether you live in New York, London or even Tokyo, 21st Century urban living has not been kind to the art of attraction for many reasons. People have become detached and individualism reigns supreme.

On any given day one can walk on to a packed train or bus and find people busily texting away their time on their mobile phones, barely taking any notice of the person sitting right next to them. It seems somewhat strange that these same people will check their email the minute they get home, hoping that someone has either emailed them or checked out their profile on sites such as myspace.com, datetheuk.com or datingdirect.com.

Yes it is true, this is the rather paradoxical age in which we live and for or better worse we had better get used to it. That is unless we are willing to take advantage of some of the opportunities being offered to remedy this situation by what can only be called 'love entrepreneurs'. We have all witnessed the phenomena of blind dating, speed dating, or dating in the dark; well, now comes the introduction of a brand new type of dating called, believe it or not, 'Bed Dating'.

Silentnight Beds will be holding the first ever Bed Dating events that will take place in London, Cardiff and Manchester. These events will see hundreds of single people basically jumping into beds in the quest to find true love. So what does this rather bizarre event comprise of?

Bed Dating involves interviewing potential suitors for three minutes only, which is similar to speed dating, while attempting to find out their interests and hoping for a connection; the only difference is that the interview takes place on a bed.

Tracey Cox, the UK's leading relationships expert says: "Bed dating might sound bizarre but meeting a potential partner in bed can be incredibly revealing. It puts you both in an unusual, highly provocative situation and being put on the spot can reveal a lot about someone. How they react to it can reveal a lot more about their personality than what you'll see revealed sitting across from someone at a speed dating event."

If this sounds interesting then why not pop down, get cozy and see if Silentnight can find you a dreamy match made in duvet heaven!

Venues: Pangaea, London, Wednesday 29 Nov 2006 / Tiger Tiger, Cardiff, Tuesday 28 Nov 2006 / Tiger Tiger, Manchester, Thursday 30 Nov 2006. 7pm (6.30pm London) - 10pm. Entrance is FREE, but to secure your place email beddating@brazenpr.com

By Tarek E Virani

UK UNSIGNED Finalists at The Grand

Fed up of shouting at your TV from the comfort of your armchair whilst watching X Factor? Do you wish that your voice and hands could have influence over the judges?

If so this could be right up your street. SABA (the Society for the Advancement of British Arts) has created a platform for Unsigned acts and designers to perform and showcase their talents to the general public and to representatives from the industry such as Sony BMG, Universal and Choice FM.

The event promises to be a veritable feast of visual and musical entertainment in a live environment. Categories include Singer Songwriter Live (performing whilst playing an instrument) and Pop (singing to pre-recorded tracks), Cover Vocals, Dance, MC's, Poets, RnB, Reggae and three people will be competing in the category of Fashion Designer. They will all be competing for £10,000's worth of prize money and appropriate recognition to launch their performing careers.

The winners of the Reggae category will win a trip to Jamaica to perform at Tastees in Kingston in December 2007. Heats have been taking place all over the country throughout the year and this event will showcase the very best that the British Isles has to offer.

Past Winners have been Katie Melua, the street dance group Flawless (who went on to win The Street Dance Champion Cup at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2005) and Natalie Chua who is a member of Simon Cowell's Angelis, who released their debut album on this month (November) and went straight into the album chart at No. 2. Leona Lewis, who is currently on X Factor and being mentored by Cowell, was a past contestant in the competition too.

Come and show your support for Stars of the future and bring your voices and hands ready to cheer and clap the groups and individuals that capture your appreciation.

The UK Unsigned Grand Final will be held on Sunday 26th November at the Clapham Grand, 21-25 St Johns Hill, London, SW11. There are two events, the first is from 2pm - 5pm and will feature the under 12's and Teens (13-19) performing. The evening event is from 7pm- 11pm for the 20's and over 30's age groups. Advance tickets are £12 for the afternoon show, £15 for the evening show and £22 to see both shows. Tickets will be available at the door, if the event is not sold out. Info: 0208 776 6776 or visit www.ukunsigned.net for future events.

By Ferdinand Kuyper