Music Friday With Avril Lavigne, Chad Kroeger and a 14-Carat Stunner (That's Carat With a 'C')

Welcome to Music Friday, when we bring you songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or theme. Today, we bend the rules just a bit to congratulate a music-industry power couple, who recently announced their engagement.

On August 8, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger proposed to Avril Lavigne with a spectacular vintage-style platinum engagement ring, featuring a 10-carat pear-shaped center stone accented on each side with specially cut half-moon-shaped diamonds totaling an additional 4 carats. Jewelry expert Michael O'Connor told Us Weekly that the ring was worth approximately $350,000.

In an article to be published in a September edition of Hello! Canada, Kroeger beams that he feels "like the luckiest person alive because I get to be with my best friend every day!" Lavigne counters that Kroeger makes her laugh "every day." The couple had been dating for six months before announcing their engagement.

Today's music selection is called "Things I'll Never Say" from Lavigne's 2002 debut album, Let Go. The album sold more than 16 million copies and was voted as the fourth-best album of the 2000s by the readers of Rolling Stone. It remains Lavigne's best-selling album to date.

In the video, a teenage, tomboyish Lavigne is yearning to marry the love of her life, but is too nervous to express her true feelings. A key line from the song is "I want to see you go down on one knee. Marry me today." Looks like the more mature, accomplished and confident 27-year-old Lavigne has seen her wishes come true. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Things I'll Never Say"

Written by Lauren Christy, Scott Spock, Graham Edwards and Avril Lavigne. Performed by Avril Lavigne.

I'm tugging at my hair
I'm pulling at my clothes
I'm trying to keep my cool
I know it shows
I'm staring at my feet
My cheeks are turning red
I'm searching for the words inside my head

Cause I'm feeling nervous
Trying to be so perfect
Cause I know you're worth it
You're worth it
Yeah

[Chorus]
If I could say what I want to say
I'd say I want to blow you away
Be with you every night
Am I squeezing you too tight
If I could say what I want to see
I want to see you go down
On one knee
Marry me today
Guess, I'm wishing my life away
With these things I'll never say

It don't do me any good
It's just a waste of time
What use is it to you
What's on my mind
If ain't coming out
We're not going anywhere
So why can't I just tell you that I care

Cause I'm feeling nervous
Trying to be so perfect
Cause I know you're worth it
You're worth it
Yeah

[Chorus]

What's wrong with my tongue
These words keep slipping away
I stutter, I stumble
Like I've got nothing to say

Cause I'm feeling nervous
Trying to be so perfect
Cause I know you're worth it
You're worth it
Yeah

Guess I'm wishing my life away with these things I'll never say
If I could say what I want to say
I'd say I want to blow you away
Be with you every night

Am I squeezing you too tight
If I could say what I want to see
I want to see you go down
On one knee

Marry me today
Guess I'm wishing my life away
With these things I'll never say
These things I'll never say

Jeweler-Turned-Psychologist Proposes to Actress Cybill Shepherd With Paperclip Ring

Well, at least she has a good sense of humor... Actress Cybill Shepherd, who is best known for her starring roles as Jacy in The Last Picture Show and Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, revealed on Access Hollywood Live that her boyfriend proposed to her on bended knee – with a paperclip twisted into the shape of a ring.

Some women may have been riled by the silly gesture, but the 62-year-old Shepherd took it all in stride. She joked to hosts Billy Bush and Kit Hoover that her fiancé, Serbian-born jeweler-turned-psychologist Andrei Nikolajevic, was testing her true love when he asked for her hand with a twisted wire on July 12 in New York City.

“First he gave me a paperclip, that he had twisted into a ring," she said. "And then he got me this beautiful ring… It’s an heirloom… It was a very romantic moment. He makes me laugh and he’s fantastic.”

The Memphis-born actress and former model explained that although she's been married twice before, this was the first time she's been able to experience a proper engagement. We hope the third time's the charm for Ms. Shepherd.

Angola Mine Yields 131.5-Carat Rough Diamond; Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas Lets You Get in on the Fun

Lonrho Mining made news this week when it revealed a 131.5-carat white rough diamond recovered from a bulk sample at its Lulo concession in Angola. The impressive gem-quality diamond, which is the width of a softball, is the largest find since the company started prospecting in Lulo in 2008.

The company has yet to estimate how the gemstone would be cut, but managing director Miles Kennedy called the stone's size "incredible" and noted that there is strong indication that the kimberlite pipe that produced the mammoth stone is very close by.

This is significant because kimberlite pipes are the source of most of the world's commercial diamond production. Geologically, these pipes of volcanic rock act as vertical superhighways from deep within the earth to the surface. Among the elements being pushed to the surface are precious gemstones, including diamonds, amethyst, banded agate, jasper, peridot, garnet, quartz, calcite, barite, lamproite and hematite.

Get in on the fun here at home...

Did you know that a kimberlite pipe and its treasure is accessible to the public at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. For a $7 fee ($4 for children), amateur diamond hunters can seek their fortunes as they scour a 37 1/2-acre plowed field, which is actually the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater. It's the only place in the world where the public can search for diamonds and keep what they find.

More than 500 diamonds were found at the park in 2011, according to Park Superintendent Justin Dorsey. "We registered 30 diamonds over one carat," he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The 8.66-carat "Illusion Diamond" (third) and the 6.67-carat "Teamwork Diamond" (ninth) rate among the 10 top diamond finds at the park in the past 40 years.

In the early years of the mine, between 1907 and 1932, the equipment used to sift soil were screens with mesh larger than 1/16 inch. Due to this large dimension, thousands of smaller diamonds were allowed to pass through. In recent decades, the small diamonds have become a mother lode for recreational diamond diggers.

Dorsey said that he expected the 30,000th diamond to be found at the park this year. The three most common diamond colors found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro are white, brown and yellow. 

Park staff is available to assist in identifying the various gemstones, including diamonds. Every diamond discovered is certified and listed on the Crater of Diamonds State Park official website. See this link for the latest finds...

French Artist and Caddisfly Larvae Collaborate on Intricately Designed Jewelry

French artist Hubert Duprat collaborates with common caddisfly larvae to create intricately designed, one-of-a-kind jewelry masterpieces. Yes, really.

The bizarre working relationship is based on the moth-like creature's natural tendency to construct elaborate armors for itself from tiny items it scavenges from its habitat – freshwater stream beds. These items typically include gravel, twigs, plant material, rocks and sand.

The larvae glue the elements into intricate tubes using excreted silk and enter their new fortresses prior to pupation (the transformation stage between larva and adult). When secured in the structure, they are less likely to be consumed by fish and other predators.

Duprat surmised that if he deprived the caddisfly larvae of their natural materials and replaced them with elaborate and more ornate items, such as gold flakes, opal, pearls, turquoise and ruby, the caddisfly larvae might adapt to the elements on hand. He was correct and the results are beautifully intricate, tube-shaped structures that can be strung like beads on a necklace.

Duprat recruits his crawling collaborators from their normal environments and takes them to his studio, where he removes their own natural cases and puts the larvae in tanks filled with his own materials.

“I am playing a bad trick on them,” Duprat told the Independent. “I feel as if I am exploiting my workers. It is their work as much as it is mine.”

The video below shows the caddisfly larvae at work in Duprat's studio.

Amazing Proposal: Fake Movie Trailer Mirrors This Couple's Love Story

Last Wednesday, New York Times technology writer David Pogue pulled off an awe-inspiring marriage proposal that touched all our emotions. It had us chuckling, teary eyed, shaking our heads in wonder and mumbling to ourselves, "Wow."

Pogue produced a Hollywood-quality, five-minute fake movie trailer – complete with beautiful cinematography, a cast of professional actors, set changes and musical score – that capsulized the blossoming bi-coastal, Skype-supported love story of David and Nicki.

On August 15, Pogue convinced the movie theater at a summer resort to play the fake trailer before the movie Pogue, his girlfriend and their families went to see. He hid a video camera in a ficus plant at the front of the theater so he could capture the real Nicki's reaction.

The trailer tells the story of a man and woman, each divorced with young children, who meet and fall in love despite living on opposite sides of the country. Through the magic of Skype and instant messaging they are able to keep their blossoming romance alive.

As the story plays out, we see the real Nicki in the lower-right of the frame as she slowly realizes that the actors in the trailer are telling her story.

As the trailer transitions to the ultimate scene, where the fictional David is kneeling down, ring in hand, to propose to the fictional Nicki, the REAL David calls, "cut," and enters the scene as the director.

"This is the real deal," Pogue, the director, says. "It has to be done in person. It has to be done by me. Live!"

Then the real David leads Nicki in front of the small theater, while the fictional characters on the screen seem to be watching the live action from behind.

"Nicki, I've never met a soul as selfless, as beautiful, as wise and funny as you and I am not going to let you slip through my fingers," the real David says. "My dream is to be with you every day of my life. Nicki, will you marry me?" The real Nicki screams, "Yes," and reaches both hands in the air in celebration. Amazingly, the fictional cast on the screen reacts as if on cue.

At the Vimeo video site, a reader asked Pogue how he got the recorded video of the cast's reaction to align with the live action. "It was too perfect," the reader wrote.

Pogue's answer: Great question! First, I wrote out what I was going to say, and recorded my speech on my phone. Then when we filmed, the actors were all listening to my recording, so that THEIR timing was right. Then I just rehearsed with the video over and over again before the big day!

Enjoy this amazing piece of work.