11-11-11 brings hopes of good luck

Place your bets! Tie the knot! Make a wish! Friday is the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011, and around the country, many people are planning to mark the triple convergence of 11s with a splash, hoping it will bring them good fortune or at least amuse them for a day.

Marjaneh Peyrovan, who just moved to New York, plans to buy 11 lottery tickets (each, of course, including the number 11). She will check out apartments she has been eyeing. And precisely at 11:11 am, she will walk into the office of Diane von Furstenberg, the fashion designer for whom she has long dreamed of working.

"People say on 11/11 things happen, things will come true," she said. "You never know."

Twins Betsy and Katie Overman of Madison, Wis, will celebrate their 11th birthdays with sweet bread topped with a buttercream number 11. Their mother, Julie Overman, plans to put 11 candles in their meals and snacks. And the twins will wear socks festooned with 11s.

"They also found the 11 date is supposed to be lucky for relationships, but they still think boys are gross," their mother said.

In Atlantic City, NJ, some restaurants are advertising $11.11 meals and the Trump Taj Mahal is planning drawings every 11 minutes for up to $1,111. The Riverwind Casino is Norman, Okla., prepared for an onslaught of gamblers eager to roll the dice or double-down in blackjack.

"Gamblers are a superstitious bunch," said Jack Parkinson, the casino's general manager.

In Las Vegas, Clark County Clerk Diana Alba got ready for an onslaught of weddings, with some 3,200 applications already filled out, more than three times the normal number. She is expecting the number of couples to surpass the crowd on 08/08/08 and equal the throng on 10/10/10. It may not, however, reach the turnout seen on July 7, 2007 — a date that consists of three lucky sevens.

"That was like the granddaddy of all dates," Alba said.

Bryan Savage of Oklahoma City is among those tying the knot on 11-11. He said the number 11 is meaningful to him and his fiancée, Tara Melton, because his birthday is in November and they met in November.

"It's just kind of cool and we didn't really want Valentine's Day or a holiday, but we just wanted something memorable," he said.

Plus, he added, it will be easier to remember his anniversary.

Fans of the movie "This Is Spinal Tap" plan celebrations honoring Nigel Tufnel, the heavy-metal guitarist whose amp's volume knob went up to 11, while lovers of corduroy planned a smattering of events on the theory that the fabric's ridges resemble lines of ones.

But some also planned to put the quirkiness of the date aside to observe Veterans Day, which grew out of the World War I armistice that took effect at 11 am on Nov 11, 1918.

"We as Americans, we like doing things like that with the numbers. I just hope that people do realize, if they can, just thank a veteran," said Genaro Alvarado of Los Angeles, who served in the Marines.

Vikki MacKinnon, a numerologist in Calgary, Ontario, said she expects the day to be a "cosmic wake-up call."

"Eleven is a number of illumination and enlightenment, a number of insight, blinding flashes of the obvious, and a number of transformation," she said Thursday. "I think really good things will come out of tomorrow."

‘Sonia, Manmohan among 20 most powerful’ figured among Forbes

India's Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh figured among Forbes' list of world's 70 most powerful people in 2011 as US Barack Obama regained his position at the top.

Obama bumped Chinese President Hu Jintao from the No. 1 spot on the magazine's annual rankings to the third place with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin taking the second position.

Gandhi, 64, described as "India's most powerful politician (who) has twice refused to serve as prime minister, delegating that job to Manmohan Singh" dropped two notches from her ninth position last year to be ranked the 11th most powerful person and 7th powerful woman.

Manmohan Singh, 79, "the incorruptible Cambridge- and Oxford-educated economist (is) widely respected as the man behind India's economic reforms, which have led to the subcontinent's blistering growth over the last decade," too dropped a notch to be rated the 19th most powerful.

Other Indians on the list included Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani ranked 35th, India's top billionaire ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal in the 47th spot and Wipro chairman Azim Premji at the 61st spot.

D-Company leader Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, "organized crime figure (is) suspected of involvement in both the 1993 and 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai" was ranked 57th, a notch behind Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence chief, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, while Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was ranked 34th.

Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, 76, living in exile in India was ranked 51st, a notch behind former US President Bill Clinton.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained the most powerful woman at No. 4 on the list, as Europe's largest economy continued to wield its influence over the troubled European Union.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is at No. 5 on the list while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has skyrocketed from No. 40 to No. 9, sandwiched between US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (No. 8) and British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10.

The king of the world's largest oil producer Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, came in at No. 6 and Pope Benedict XVI was No. 7.

New Apple CEO Tim Cook (58th), Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (14th), and new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde are among 14 newcomers.

Ten people dropped off the list, among them Oprah Winfrey, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bin Laden, the late Steve Jobs and Julian Assange.

2011: Invasion of the South Indian Hotties

South India, which gave us faces like Aishwarya Rai, Asin, Tabu, Vidya Balan has opened it's bountiful coffers of beauty once again.

Taapsee Pannu recently scored a two-film deal with Viacom Entertainment. Her first, 'Chashme Baddoor', a David Dhawan film will hit theaters in November.

In the let one-one-and-a-half years, Taapsee has starred in 8 films. “All the films that I’ve worked on gave me a lot of scope to perform. There were days when I felt exhausted and worn out, but I guess it’s the love of movies that made me push all my boundaries. I hope to be part of more such films in the future,”

Taapsee once even refused a film with Amitabh Bachchan due to date issues.

Nidhi is rumored to have been approached for the female lead role in Jazz, making her Bollywood debut, along with another Sandalwood (Karnataka film industry) actor, Diganth Manchale.

She got this role after Prachi Desai, originally finalized for the role walked out of the project.

She stated: "It's true that I've been approached for the project. The makers have asked me to block my dates till November and are to send me the script soon. I haven't signed a contract yet, but I can confirm that serious discussions have taken place and it does look like I might do the film," says Nidhi.

She has received other offers as well, many of which she has refused."...I wanted the perfect Bollywood launchpad. This film with Diganth seems just right. The producers had seen Pancharangi, in which Diganth and I co-starred, and noticed that we share a great onscreen chemistry. We'd recently done a look test and the producers found our pairing interesting," says Nidhi.

Piaa Bajpai isn't speaking about her Bollywood debut. "Yes, it's true that I am doing a Bollywood movie. But I am not allowed to talk about it until the announcement is made by the producers…all I can say is it involves one of the big production houses in Bollywood."