Six degrees

Today is the eve of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. A solstice is a semi-annual astronomical event that occurs when the tilt of the earth's axis is most inclined towards or away from the sun. The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the sun comes to a halt before reversing direction. The degree of the tilt dictates the length of time skylight occurs when the sun is below the horizon, otherwise known as twilight ...

Box-office hit Twilight is a film adaptation of a novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. The tale of a dark and brooding teenage girl who risks everything when she falls for a dark and brooding vampire, it has been called a 'modern, visual and visceral' Romeo and Juliet. Meyer lists among her inspirations for the work the rock bands Muse and Linkin Park and the writer Jane Austen ...

Austen was born in southern England in 1775. Critic Gary Kelly describes her as 'one of the few novelists in world literature who is regarded as a 'classic' and yet is widely read'. She wrote six novels, of which only four were published during her lifetime. One of the most endearing is Emma, which got a big-screen outing in 1996, with the title role going to Hollywood heavyweight Gwyneth Paltrow ...

Paltrow was the target of ridicule earlier this year when she launched lifestyle website Goop. Deriding the site's tagline, 'nourish the inner aspect', one critic said, 'If you're not reading it for laughs, there's not really a point'. Despite the mockery, the actress carries much commercial currency, as noted by Estee Lauder when it made her the face of its Pleasures line of fragrances ...

Celebrity-endorsed perfumes are a multimillion-dollar industry, there being a vast market of wealthy but identity-conflicted youngsters eager to pay homage to role models such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Among the more obscure scents is 'Cumming: The Fragrance', released by Scottish actor Alan Cumming ...

Cumming is a bisexual-identified gay-rights campaigner. In March 2005, he was honoured with the Vito Russo Award for outstanding contributions to eliminating homophobia. Due to the efforts of Cumming and those like him, Scotland celebrated its first same-sex civil unions later in 2005, on December 20, the eve of that year's winter solstice.