mig007-parerea mea mig2009

Audio music

2010-03-25T00:44:00.003+02:00

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GHEORGHE ZAMFIR - Romantic panflute compilation [65'32]
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VIENER PHILARMONIK ORCHESTRA - Vieneses valses compilation [66'24]
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01. Voices Of Spring
02. The Blue Danube
03. Emperor Waltz
04. Vienna Blood
05. Wine, Woman And Song
06. Artist's Life
07. Tales From The Vienna Woods
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RAY CHARLES, "The Genius" sing for You....

2009-11-03T17:57:00.002+02:00

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of the song, an American anthem — a classic, just as the man who sang it". He also appeared in the 1980 hit movie, "The Blues Brothers". Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in the business".
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" and also voted him number two on their November 2008 list of "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time".
Charles was the son of Aretha Williams, a share cropper, and Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, mechanic and handyman. Williams was very religious and the family attended the New Shiloh Baptist Church. When Ray was an infant the family moved from his native Albany, Georgia to the poor black community of Jellyroll on the western side of Greenville, Florida.
In his early years, Charles showed a curiosity for mechanical things and he often watched the neighborhood men working on their cars and farm machinery. His musical curiosity was sparked at Mr. Wiley Pit's Red Wing Cafe when Pit played boogie woogie on an old upright piano. Pit would care for George, Ray's younger brother, to take the burden off Williams. Tragically, George drowned in Williams' wash tub at age four.
Charles started to lose his sight at the age of five. He went completely blind by the age of seven. Charles never knew exactly why he lost his sight. Though there are sources that suggest his blindness was due to glaucoma, most sources suggest that Ray began to lose his sight from an infection caused by soapy water to his eyes which was left untreated. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida from 1937-1945 where he developed his musical gift that he is known and remembered for today. His father died when he was ten, followed by his mother five years later.
In school, Charles was taught only classical music, but he really wanted to play the jazz and blues that he heard on the radio. While at school, he became the school's premier musician. On Fridays, the South Campus Literary Society held assemblies where Charles would play piano and sing popular songs. On Halloween and Washington's birthday, the Colored Department of the school had socials where Charles would play. It was here he established "RC Robinson and the Shop Boys" and sang his own arrangement of Jingle Bell Boogie. He spent his first Christmas at the school, but later the staff pitched in so that Charles could return to Greenville, as he did each summer.
Henry and Alice Johnson, who owned a store not unlike Mr. Pit's store in Greenville, moved to the Frenchtown section of Tallahassee just west of Greenville. The Johnsons, as well as Freddy and Margaret Bryant, took Charles in. Charles worked the register in the Bryants' store under the direction of Lucille Bryant, their daughter. It's said Charles loved Tallahassee and often used the drug store delivery boy's motorbike to run up and down hills using the exhaust sound of a friend's bike to guide him. Charles found Tallahassee musically exciting and sat in with the Florida A&M University student band. He played with Nat Adderley and Julian Cannonball Adderley and began playing gigs with Lawyer Smith and his Band in 1943 at the Red Bird Club and DeLuxe Clubs in Frenchtown and roadhouses around Tallahassee, as well as the Governor's Ball.
After his mother died in 1945, Charles did not return to school. He lived in Jacksonville with a couple who were friends of his mother. For over a year, he played the piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla, earning $4 a night. Charles moved to Orlando, then Tampa, where he played with a southern band called "The Florida Playboys". This is where Charles began his reputation of always wearing sunglasses that were made by designer Billy Stickles.
Charles had always played for other people, but he wanted a band that was his own. He decided to leave Florida for a large city, but Chicago and New York City were too big. He moved to Seattle in 1947[8] and soon started recording, first for the Down Beat label as the Maxin Trio with guitarist G.D. McKee and bassist Milton Garrett, achieving his first hit with "Confession Blues" in 1949. The song soared to #2 on the R&B charts. He joined Swing Time Records and as Ray Charles recorded two more R&B hits, "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (#5) in 1951 and "Kissa Me Baby" (#8) in 1952. The following year, Ahmet Ertegün signed him to Atlantic Records.[8] When he entered show business, his name was shortened to Ray Charles to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.
Almost immediately after signing with Atlantic, Charles scored his first hit singles with the songs,"It Should Have Been Me" and "Don't You Know" both making the charts in 1954. But it was Charles' "I Got A Woman" (composed with band mate Renald Richard) that brought the musician to national prominence.
The song reached the top of Billboard's R&B singles chart in 1955 and from there until 1959, Charles would have a series of R&B successes including "A Fool For You" (#1), This Little Girl of Mine", "Lonely Avenue", "Mary Ann", "Drown in My Own Tears" (#1) and the #5 hit "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)", which were compiled on his Atlantic releases "Hallelujah, I Love Her So", "Yes Indeed !", and "The Genius Sings the Blues". Charles was often cited for using his voice like a saxophone, most notably by the prominent critic Victor Bollo.
During this time of transition, he recruited a young girl group from Philadelphia named 'The Cookies' as his background singing group, recording with them in New York and changing their name to the 'Raelettes' in the process.
In 1959, Charles crossed over to top 30 radio with the release of his impromptu blues number, "What'd I Say", which was initially conceived while Charles was in concert. The song would reach number 1 on the R&B list and would become Charles' first top ten single on the pop charts, peaking at number 6. Charles would also record The Genius of Ray Charles, before leaving Atlantic for a more lucrative deal with ABC Records in 1960.
Hit songs such as "Georgia On My Mind" (US #1 Pop, #3 R&B), "Hit the Road Jack" (US #1 Pop and R&B), "One Mint Julep (#8 Pop, #1 R&B) and "Unchain My Heart" (#9 Pop, #1 R&B) helped his transition to pop success and his landmark 1962 album, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" and its sequel "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music", Vol. 2, helped to bring country into the mainstream of music. His version of the Don Gibson song, "I Can't Stop Loving You" topped the Pop chart for five weeks and stayed at #1 R&B for ten weeks in 1962. It also gave Charles his only number one record in the UK. He also had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US #4) and "Take These Chains From My Heart" (US #8), and also scoring a Top 20 hit four years later, in 1967, with "Here We Go Again" (US #15) (which would later be duetted with Norah Jones in 2004).
In 1965, Charles was arrested for possession of heroin, a drug to which he had been addicted for nearly 20 years. It was his third arrest for the offense, but he avoided jail time after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles. He spent a year on parole in 1966, when his single "Crying Time" reached #6 on the charts.
During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Charles' releases were hit-or-miss, with some big hits and critically acclaimed work. His version of "Georgia On My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia on April 24, 1979, with Charles performing it on the floor of the state legislature. He also had success with his unique version of "America the Beautiful".
In November 1977 Charles appeared as the host of NBC's "Saturday Night Live". In the 1980s a number of other events increased Charles' recognition among young audiences. He made a cameo appearance in the popular 1980 film "The Blues Brothers". In 1985, "The Right Time" was featured in the episode "Happy Anniversary" of The Cosby Show on NBC. The next year in 1986, he sang "America The Beautiful" at "Wrestlemania 2". In a Pepsi Cola commercial of the early 1990s, Charles popularized the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby !" plus he helped in the song "We Are the World" a touching song for 'USA for Africa'.
Despite his support of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s and his support for the American Civil Rights Movement, Charles courted controversy when he toured South Africa in 1981,[8] during an international boycott of the country because of its apartheid policy.
In 1989, Charles recorded a cover version of the Japanese band Southern All Stars' song "Itoshi no Ellie" as "Ellie My Love" for a Suntory TV advertisement, reaching #3 on Japan's Oricon chart. Eventually, it sold more than 400,000 copies, and became that year's best-selling single performed by a Western artist for the Japanese music market.
Charles has also appeared at two Presidential inaugurations in his lifetime. In 1985, he performed for Ronald Reagan's second inauguration, and in 1993 performed for Bill Clinton's first inauguration.
In the late '80s and early '90s, Charles made appearances on 'The Super Dave Osbourne Show', where he performed and appeared in a few vignettes where he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. At the height of his newfound fame in the early nineties, Charles did guest vocals for quite a few projects. He also appeared (with Chaka Khan) on long time friend Quincy Jones' hit "I'll Be Good to You" in 1990, from Jones' album "Back on the Block".
Following Jim Henson's death in 1990, Ray Charles appeared in the one-hour CBS tribute, 'The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson'. He gave a short speech about the deceased, stating that Henson "took a simple song and a piece of felt and turned it into a moment of great power". Charles was referring to the song "It's Not Easy Being Green", which Charles later performed with the rest of the Muppet cast in a tribute to Henson's legacy.
During the sixth season of 'Designing Women', Ray Charles vocally performed "Georgia On My Mind", rather than the song being rendered by other musicians without lyrics as in the previous five seasons. He also appeared in 4 episodes of the popular TV comedy 'The Nanny' in Seasons 4 & 5 (1997 & 1998) as 'Sammy' - in one episode singing "My Yiddish Mamma" to December romance and later fiancee of character [Gramma Yetta] played by veteran actress Ann Guilbert.
In 2000, Charles made a special guest appearance on 'Blue's Clues Big Musical Movie' as a fictional character named G-Clef. The Persuasions also made a guest appearance as his companions. Charles recorded "There It Is" during and after filming with Steve Burns and Traci Paige Johnson. After recording, Charles commented "This has been the most fun I have had since I met President Reagan in '84".
In 2001 Charles played a memorable show in front of a sold out Teatro Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Venezuela.
In 2002 Charles headlined during the Blues Passions Cognac festival in southern France.
Charles, along with the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, paid a visit to Salt Lake City Tuesday night on Oct. 15. 2002 and played a benefit concert for the Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield 10th Annual Caring Foundation for Children Gala.
In 2002, he took part with other musicians in a peace concert in Rome, which was the first event to take place inside the city’s ancient Colosseum since A.D. 404. The event was organized in partnership with the Glocal Forum and the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation. Charles appeared with Travis Tritt on CMT "Crossroads" in December of that year.
In 2003, Ray Charles headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC, at which President and Mrs. Bush, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, were in attendance. He also presented one of his greatest admirers, Van Morrison, with his award upon being inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the two sang Morrison's song from the Moondance album, "Crazy Love". This performance is captured on Morrison's 2007 album, "The Best of Van Morrison" Volume 3.
On Friday, April 11, 2003, Ray Charles sang "America The Beautiful" at Fenway Park in Boston, Friday, prior to the rained out Red Sox home opener against the Baltimore Orioles.
In 2003 Charles performed "Georgia On My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual electronic media journalist banquet held in Washington, D.C., at what may have been his final performance in public. Ray Charles' final public appearance came on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in the city of Los Angeles.
He died on June 10, 2004 at 11:35 a.m. of liver cancer at his home in Beverly Hills, California, surrounded by family and friends. His body was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
Susaye Greene, former member of Charles' "Raelettes", as well as the "Supremes" and "Wonderlove" and currently a solo artist, was noted for being the only "Raelette" to sing at Ray Charles' funeral. After the funeral, the BBC said "it did not go unnoticed that Susaye was the only Raelette to sing at Ray's funeral".
His final album, "Genius Loves Company", released two months after his death, consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including five for Ray Charles for Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again" with Norah Jones, and Best Gospel Performance for "Heaven Help Us All" with Gladys Knight; he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King.
The album included a version of Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow", sung as a duet by Charles and Johnny Mathis; that recording was later played at his memorial service.
Two more posthumous albums, "Genius & Friends" (2005) and "Ray Sings, Basie Swings" (2006), were released. "Genius & Friends" consisted of duets recorded from 1997-2005 with artists who were personally chosen by Ray Charles. "Ray Sings, Basie Swings" consists of archived vocals of Ray Charles from live mid-1970s performances added to new instrumental tracks recorded by the contemporary Count Basie Orchestra and other musicians for this album. Charles' vocals recorded from the concert mixing board were added to new accompaniments to create a "fantasy concert" recording. Gregg Field, who had performed as a drummer with both Charles and Basie, produced this album.
Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children by nine different women. His first marriage to Eileen Williams was brief: July 31, 1951 to 1952. He had three children from his second marriage to Della Beatrice Howard Robinson from April 5, 1955 to 1977. His long term girlfriend and partner at the time of his death was Norma Pinella.
His children:
Born ~ 1950: Evelyn Robinson (to Louise Mitchell)
Born ~ 1955: Ray Charles Robinson, Jr. (to Della Robinson)
Born ~ 1958: David Robinson (to Della Robinson)
Born ~ 1959: Charles Wayne Hendricks (to Margie Hendricks)
Born ~ 1960: Reverend Robert Robinson (to Della Robinson)
Born ~ 1961: Raenee Robinson (to Mae Mosely Lyles)
Born ~ 1963: Sheila Raye Charles Robinson (to Sandra Jean Betts)
Born ~ 196?: Reatha Butler (unknown)
Born ~ 196?: Alexandria Bertrand (to Chantelle Bertrand)
Born ~ 1977: Vincent Kotchounian (to Arlette Kotchounian)
Born ~ 1978: Robyn Moffett (to Gloria Moffett)
Born ~ 1987: Ryan Corey Robinson den Bok (to Mary Anne den Bok)
Charles gave each of his children one million dollars tax free in December 2002 at a family lunch. Ten of his 12 children were given a check for $1,000,000 at the luncheon, while two couldn't make it.
Charles was significantly involved in the biopic "Ray", an October 2004 film which portrays his life and career between 1930 and 1966 and stars Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.
Before shooting could begin, director Taylor Hackford brought Foxx to meet Charles, who insisted that they sit down at two pianos and play together. For two hours, Charles challenged Foxx, who revealed the depth of his talent, and finally, Charles stood up, hugged Foxx, and gave his blessing, proclaiming, "He's the one... he can do it".
Charles was expected to attend a showing of the completed film, but he died before it opened in theaters.
As noted in the film's final credits, Ray is based on true events, but includes some characters, names, locations, events which have been changed and others which have been "fictionalized for dramatization purposes". One example of the film's use of dramatic license are the scenes which refer to Charles as being temporarily banned from performing in Georgia.
The film's credits note that he is survived by 12 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren as of the movie release in Oct. 2004.

Ray Charles- 1955
Vezi mai multe video din Muzica
RAY CHARLES - Hallelujah, I Love Her So (1955) [3'10]

Ray Charles-1982
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RAY CHARLES - Busted (1982) [2'09]

ray charles
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RAY CHARLES - Georgia on my mind [5'45]

Ray Charles- My Bonnie
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RAY CHARLES - My Bonnie [3'59]

Ray Charles- What'di Say?
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RAY CHARLES - What'd I Say [4'29]

Ray Charles- In the evening
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RAY CHARLES - In the evening [7'01]

Have a Nice Day

2009-05-09T23:39:00.001+03:00

WWW.PicSpiK.Com | Good Day Scraps, Comments

WILLIE NELSON & RAY CHARLES -Seven Spanish Angels

2009-04-25T17:35:00.001+03:00

Videos for your Profile
Music Videos & Song Lyrics - Willie Nelson - Ray Charles - Seven Spanish Angels

BEYONCE_KNOWLES - Halo

2009-04-25T15:51:00.000+03:00

Videos for your Profile
Music Videos & Song Lyrics - Beyonce Halo

2009-04-21T04:49:00.000+03:00

2009-04-20T02:51:00.001+03:00

2009-04-19T20:25:00.001+03:00

Spicecomments.com - Good Day Comments

justin timberlake

2009-04-13T22:16:00.001+03:00

justin timberlake

2009-04-13T22:10:00.001+03:00

Duminca Floriilor

2009-04-12T01:20:00.002+03:00

Duminca Floriilor

Sărbătoarea Floriilor ne aduce aminte de intrarea triumfală a lui Iisus în orasul Ierusalim. Este sărbătorită în fiecare an cu o săptămână înainte de Paste si se mai numeste Duminica Stâlpărilor.
După învierea minunată a lui Lazăr, căpeteniile iudeilor au luat hotărârea să-l omoare pe Iisus cu primul prilej care li se va ivi. Arhiereii si fariseii „dăduseră poruncă, că dacă va sti cineva unde este, să dea de veste ca să-L prindă”(Ioan 11;57). Această hotărâre nu este surprinzătoare deoarece ei îsi vedeau puterea si influenta subminate ( dacă Îl lăsăm asa toti vor crede în El... Ioan 11;48). Cel care ia hotărârea cum să fie rezolvată această problemă este arhiereul Caiafa: „mai de folos ne este să moară un om pentru popor, decât să piară întreg neamul”.(Ioan 11;50). Pentru că era arhiereu, Caiafa prin cuvintele sale a proorocit scopul jertfei lui Iisus –salvarea neamului omenesc.
După ce Iisus se întoarce din cetatea Efraim la prietenul său Lazăr, ia hotărârea să meargă la Ierusalim. Pe drumul spre Ierusalim, lângă muntele Măslinilor, Mântuitorul îi trimite pe doi dintre ucenicii săi să îi aducă din sat un mânz de asin pe care nu a mai stat nimeni. Acestia l-au găsit, după cum a spus Învătătorul lor: Mergeti în satul dinaintea voastră si, intrând în el, veti găsi un mânz legat pe care nimeni dintre oameni n-a sezut vreodată...(Luca 19;30).
Pentru a-si arăta pretuirea pe care o aveau pentru Iisus, oamenii asterneau în calea lui ramuri, si chiar hainele lor strigând: Osana ! Bine este cuvântat cel ce vine întru numele Domnului !... Osana, Fiul lui David ! Vestea venirii lui Iisus în Ierusalim s-a întins foarte repede, datorită faimei sale si a minunii extraordinare pe care o înfăptuise în urmă cu câteva zile si care îi pusese pe jar pe mai-marii iudeilor: toată cetatea s-a cutremurat (Matei 21;10-11)
Evident această primire i-a întărâtat si mai rău pe sinedristi care, supărati îl apostrofează pe Iisus zicându-I: Învătătorule, ceartă-ti ucenicii. Dar El le răspunde: Dacă vor tăcea acestia, pietrele vor striga! (Luca 20;39-40) Acest episod se repetă în templu când copii îi adresează aceleasi urale, spre disperarea arhiereilor si cărturarilor (Matei 21;15-16).
Următorul lucru inedit pe care îl săvârseste Hristos este alungarea negutătorilor care pângăreau templul lui Dumnezeu: Casa mea, casă de rugăciune se va chema, iar voi o faceti pesteră de tâlhari! (Matei 21;12-13). Înlăturând această cutumă, arhiereii si cărturarii îsi văd amenintate acum, după putere si pozitie, si veniturile (deloc neglijabile).
După alungarea „tâlharilor” din templu, Iisus a săvârsit o serie de minuni vindecând oameni orbi si schiopi. În tot acest timp arhiereii si cărturarii unelteau fără succes să-L prindă pe Iisus: Arhiereii si cărturarii si fruntasii poporului căutau să-L piardă. Si nu găseau ce să-I facă, deoarece tot poporul se tinea după El, ascultându-L (Luca 19;47-48).
Din relatarea evenimentelor de mai sus vedem cum actiunea se desfăsoară pe două planuri: Unul în care sunt prezentati oamenii ce se bucură de prezenta Mântuitorului în mijlocul lor, de cuvintele si de minunile pe care le înfăptuia. Si un altul ocult format din mai-marii evreilor care urmăreau stoparea „furtunii” iscate de Iisus între iudei prin cel mai brutal mod posibil: omorârea lui Iisus.

Tuturor celor care poarta numele de Florin si derivatele sale le doresc sincer: La Multi Ani ! Sanatate ! Prosperitate, Bucurii si Implinirea tuturor Dorintelor !

mig007

Today,... CELINE DION

2009-04-11T13:52:00.009+03:00

Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( /seɪlɪn dɪɒn/ ) (born March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec) is a Canadian pop singer, occasional songwriter and actress. Born to a large, impoverished family, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. In 1990, she released the anglophone album "Unison", establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world. Dion had first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to 'Sony' Records in 1986. During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, becoming one of the most successful artists in pop music history. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retirement from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the music scene in 2002 and signed a three-year (later extended to almost five years) contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel and classical. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals. In 2004, after surpassing 175 million in album sales worldwide, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for becoming the best selling female artist of all time. In April 2007 'Sony BMG' announced that Celine Dion had sold over 200 million albums worldwide.

Mariah Carey Photo Gallery

2009-04-10T11:12:00.003+03:00

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of 'Columbia' Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as 'Columbia''s highest-selling act. According to 'Billboard' magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.
Following her separation from Mottola in 1997, Carey introduced elements of hip hop into her album work, to much initial success, but her popularity was in decline when she left 'Columbia' in 2001, and she was dropped by 'Virgin' Records the following year after a highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, as well as the poor reception given to "Glitter", her film and soundtrack project. In 2002, Carey signed with 'Island' Records, and after a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to the top of pop music in 2005.
Carey was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards. She has the most number-one singles for a solo artist in the United States (eighteen; second artist overall behind The Beatles), where, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is one of the best-selling female artists and sixteenth overall recording artist. In addition to her commercial accomplishments, Carey has earned five Grammy Awards, and is well-known for her vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register. To date, Mariah Carey has sold over 200 million albums worldwide.

Mariah Carey in Chicago, Illinois on February 3, 1992.

Mariah Carey stars in You Don't Mess With the Zohan (June 6th). Here she attends TAO on December 31, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mariah Carey smiles before the beginning of Versace's show during the Milan 2004 Spring/Summer fashion week 04 October 2003

Mariah Carey arrives at the Hotel du Crillon on June 27, 2007 in Paris, France. Mariah Carey is in Paris to perform at the European debut of "One Mighty Party" in the city's Disneyland on June 29.

Mariah Carey performs at an outdoor event to promote her new album 'The Emancipation of MIMI' on March 31, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan

Pop singer Mariah Carey arrives for the Island Def Jam Holiday Party on December 12, 2002 in New York City

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

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Mariah Carey

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Mariah Carey

Mariah: "I'll Be Lovin' [Myself] Long Time"

2008-07-06T05:38:00.004+03:00

Mariah: "I'll Be Lovin' [Myself] Long Time"

In order for this experiment to work, you must read this blog before watching the video.
Here's your chance to see if you have what it takes to be a director for Mariah's new video.
I'm going to give you a couple elements and I want you to come up with an idea that you think Mariah would approve.

1) The title of the song is "I'll Be Lovin' You Long Time".
2) The video will be released in July.
3) The video will feature a cameo from rap superstar T.I.
4) Mariah Carey recently married actor, comedian, rapper, entrepreneur Nick Cannon.

If you really know Mimi well your treatment would be similar to this:
Mariah shoots the video on the beach and changes into no less than a half-a- dozen bikinis. Shots of T.I. rapping are spliced in.
If your idea was on par with the above and you are not working professionally as a video director, you should consider a career change. Had you taken the right career path, you could have just made $25,000, or whatever inflated fee a pop star's video director makes. Don't you feel bad ?
Well, how do you think Nick Cannon feels? He's only been married to Mariah for a month and has already been pushed on the backburner for another rapper.
If you didn't correctly figure out the theme for this video, don't feel bad. Just bookmark this page and try again upon the release of her next video. It will still apply.

KylieX2008, la Bucuresti

2008-05-19T15:18:00.004+03:00

-- Cantareata australiana Kylie Minogue a prezentat, sambata seara, pe stadionul Cotroceni din Bucuresti, cel mai nou show al sau, din turneul KylieX2008, in fata unui public de aproximativ 20.000 de persoane, impresionand prin punerea in scena stralucitoare si extravaganta.

Spectacolul de aproape doua ore al celebrei cantarete a impresionat publicul nu doar cu hiturile cunoscute pe care ea le-a interpretat, ci si datorita show-ului grandios, atent regizat in acte - fiecaruia dintre acestea revenindu-i cate o tema diferita. Diva a schimbat in timpul concertului sapte costumatii semnate Jean Paul Gaultier. "Buna seara. Cum te simti, Bucuresti ?", si-a salutat ea publicul, in limba engleza, inainte de a incinge atmosfera cu a doua piesa din setlist-ul concertului, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", la care publicul "a pus umarul", fredonand alaturi de Kylie refrenul. Prima melodie a fost "Speakerphone". "Cum va simtiti ? Avem un cantec nou pentru voi - se numeste “Ruffle My Feathers", a anuntat ea urmatorul cantec. Dupa piesa "Spinning Around", intr-o varianta usor remixata, artista s-a retras in culise pentru a-si schimba rochia cu un tricou, pantaloni scurti, dar si cotiere si genunchiere - un costum ce amintea de echipamentul jucatorilor de fotbal american. De asemenea, dansatorii lui Kylie au fost "asortati" acestui stil, fetele purtand costume sclipitoare de majorete. Dupa inca vreo cateva piese, a venit momentul pentru o noua schimbare de look, Kylie aparand pe scena intr-o alta extravaganta Gaultier - o rochie rosie, cu trena si chipiu asortat, prezentand astfel publicului piese precum "Slow", de pe albumul "Body Language" (2003) si "Two Hearts" - "X" (2007). Pe final de concert, dupa ce si-a prezentat formatia si a multumit publicului prezent, Kylie s-a retras cateva momente in culise, revenind insa pentru un bis. La final, din concert nu a lipsit hitul pop-dance "I Should Be So Lucky" (1988), precum si o ploaie aurie de confetti. Spectacolul pus in scena de artista australiana, chiar daca nu a avut o "greutate muzicala" considerabila, a cantarit mult la capitolul vizual. Impecabil coordonat, o imensa desfasurare de forte, show-ul i-a tinut pe cei prezenti cu ochii atintiti spre scena. Urmatoarea oprire in turneul artistei va fi in Bulgaria, la Sofia.

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Coens 'Country' wins Best Picture Oscar

2008-02-25T13:38:00.009+02:00

Coens 'Country' wins Best Picture Oscar

LOS ANGELES - The Coen brothers completed their journey from the fringes to Hollywood's mainstream on Sunday, their crime saga "No Country for Old Men" winning four Academy Awards, including best picture, in a ceremony that also featured a strong international flavor.

Javier Bardem won for supporting actor in "No Country", which earned Joel and Ethan Coen best director, best adapted screenplay and the best-picture honor as producers.

Accepting the directing honor alongside his brother, Joel Coen recalled how they got their start in a career that has seen them advance from oddballs with a devoted cult following to broader audiences. He noted they have been making films since childhood, including one at the Minneapolis airport called "Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go".

"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then", Joel Coen said. "We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox".

Daniel Day-Lewis won his second best-actor Oscar for the oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood", while "La Vie En Rose" star Marion Cotillard was a surprise winner for best actress, riding the spirit of Edith Piaf to Oscar triumph over Julie Christie, who had been expected to win for "Away From Her".

All four acting prizes went to Europeans: Frenchwoman Cotillard, Spaniard Bardem, and Brits Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton, the supporting-actress winner for "Michael Clayton".

The only other time in the Oscars' 80-year history that all four acting winners were foreign born was 1964, when the recipients were Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Lila Kedrova.

As a raging, conniving, acquisitive petroleum pioneer caught up in California's oil boom of the early 20th century, Day-Lewis won for a part that could scarcely have been more different than his understated role as a writer with severe cerebral palsy in 1989's "My Left Foot".

"My deepest thanks to the academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town", Day-Lewis said.

The Coens missed out on a chance to make Oscar history -- four wins for a single film -- when they lost the editing prize, for which they were nominated under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.

"The Bourne Ultimatum" won the editing Oscar and swept all three categories in which it was nominated, including sound editing and sound mixing.

Past winners for their screenplay to 1996's "Fargo", the Coens joined an elite list of filmmakers to win three Oscars in a single night, including Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather Part II"), James Cameron ("Titanic") and Billy Wilder ("The Apartment").

With $64 million domestically, "No Country" is the biggest box-office hit for the Coens, whose tales often are an acquired taste appealing to narrow crowds. Their films include the modest hits "Fargo" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou ?" and such lesser-known yarns as "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "The Man Who Wasn't There".

Cotillard, the first winner ever for a French-language performance, tearfully thanked her director, Olivier Dahan.

"Maestro Olivier, you rocked my life. You have truly rocked my life", said Cotillard, a French beauty who is a dynamo as Piaf, playing the warbling chanteuse through three decades, from raw late teens as a singer rising from the gutter through international stardom and her final days in her frail 40s.

"Thank you, life; thank you, love. And it is true there (are) some angels in this city".

A relatively fresh face in Hollywood, Cotillard has U.S. credits that include "Big Fish", "A Good Year" and the upcoming "Public Enemies", featuring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

With a heartbreaking turn as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in "Away From Her", Christie had been expected to win her second Oscar. She won best actress 42 years ago for "Darling".

Heavies ruled the acting prizes. Along with Day-Lewis' greedy oilman, Bardem played an unshakable executioner in "No Country" and Swinton played a malevolent attorney in "Michael Clayton". Bardem, referring to the sinister variation of a page-boy bob his character sported, said: "Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think I could do that and for putting one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head".

Host Jon Stewart joked that Bardem's haircut in the film combined "Hannibal Lecter's murderousness with Dorothy Hamill's wedge-cut".

Mickey Mouse gained a rival as Hollywood's favorite rodent as the rat tale "Ratatouille" was named best animated film, the second Oscar win in the category for director Brad Bird.

Bird thanked his junior-high guidance counselor, who expressed repeated skepticism over his desire to become a filmmaker.

"It went on like this until we were sick of each other", said Bird, who also won the animation Oscar for 2004's "The Incredibles" and shared a nomination for original screenplay for "Ratatouille", a $200 million blockbuster. "I only realized just recently that he gave me the perfect training for the movie business".

The ceremony's montage of photos and film clips of stars, filmmakers and others in cinema who died in the past year ended with a scene from "Brokeback Mountain" featuring Heath Ledger, who died of a prescription drug overdose last month.

Glen Hansard of the Irish band the Frames and Marketa Irglova, both non-actors who starred in the musical romance "Once", won the best-song Oscar for "Falling Slowly", one of several tunes they wrote for the film.

"What are we doing here ? This is mad", Hansard said, recounting the low-budget history of "Once". "It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred-grand. We never thought we'd come into a room like this and be in front of all you people".

The song won over three nominated tunes from "Enchanted" written by composer Alan Menken, an eight-time Oscar winner, and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, a three-time winner, whose previous academy prizes included their song and score collaborations for "Pocahontas".

The sound-mixing win for "The Bourne Ultimatum" extended the years of Oscar futility for Kevin O'Connell, a nominee for "Transformers", who holds an academy record: 20 nominations, no wins.

Michael Moore, who assailed President Bush over the Iraq War in his Oscar speech for documentary winner "Bowling for Columbine" five years ago, missed out on a chance to take the podium again. His health-care study "Sicko" lost the documentary prize to "Taxi to the Dark Side", a war-on-terror chronicle that centers on an innocent Afghan cab driver killed while in detention.

Box-office dud "The Golden Compass" scored an upset for visual effects over the blockbusters "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End".

Other winners included "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" for costume design, "La Vie En Rose" for makeup and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" for art direction.

The Oscar broadcast began with a fanfare and an effects-laden opening segment showing key characters and creatures from past films lining Hollywood Boulevard.

Stewart started his opening monologue with a wisecrack about the 100-day writers strike that ended just in time for the Oscars to come off as usual.

"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writer's strike, but I'm happy to say that the fight is over", Stewart said. "So tonight, welcome to the makeup sex".

By Associated Press

More about 40th edition of Academy Awards 2008 - here -

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War epic tops all-time favorite film survey

2008-02-24T13:08:00.026+02:00

They may be largely missing from this year's roster of best-film Oscar contenders, but a new U.S. survey shows war and sci-fi epics top the list of all-time favorite movies.

Nearly 70 years after it was made, the Civil War classic "Gone with the Wind" ranked No. 1, just ahead of science-fiction space adventure "Star Wars", in the Harris poll of people's favorite films that stand the test of time.

Coming in third was the sweeping Oscar-winning World War II romance "Casablanca", followed by fantasy film "The Lord of the Rings" in the online January poll of 2,279 U.S. adults.

Harris noted the gender and generational differences among the results with men and younger people such as Generation X favoring "Star Wars" and women and older baby boomers preferring "Gone With the Wind".

"Gone With The Wind" won eight Oscars in 1939, including best picture and best actress for Vivien Leigh. In 1977 "Star Wars" failed to win a best picture Oscar, losing out to Woody Allen's "Annie Hall".

Rounding out the top ten in the survey were musicals "The Sound of Music" and "The Wizard of Oz" at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively, followed by "The Notebook" at No. 7 and "Forrest Gump" in eighth place. Tied for No. 9 was "The Princess Bride" and "The Godfather" starring Al Pacino.

One wartime epic film, "Atonement", did make it into the nominees circle of this year's Oscar race for best picture. It will be competing with the gritty chase movie "No Country For Old Men", teen pregnancy comedy "Juno", the period oil drama "There Will Be Blood" and legal thriller "Michael Clayton".

by Nielsen/ Reuters

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Britney Spears – The Rise and Fall of a Pop Star

2008-02-08T20:54:00.000+02:00

Britney Spears – The Rise and Fall of a Pop Star

The tragical saga of Britney becomes almost two years ago after her divorce of Kevin Federline. Britney Spears' behavior became increasingly bizarre during the past year after she filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in late 2006. She has since lost visitation rights to their sons, Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2. The Court decision to left the childrens custody to Federline had an unpredicted psychological effect on Britney. She has battled her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, in court for custody of their two sons, spent a brief stint in rehab, been photographed in public wearing no underwear and exhibited bizarre behavior such as wearing pink wings and talking in a British accent despite being a native of Louisiana. The singer was taken to a psychiatric hospital at UCLA Medical Center on Jan. 31 2007, under police escort, for the first time after an crisis of hystreria suffered as her home but was discharged over the recommendation of her treating psychiatrist and against the wishes of both her parents. But Britney’s trobles continued and she was taken again, for the second time, under police escort, to the psychiatric hospital for a six-day stay for psychiatric evaluation being pursued through the city by paparazzi. Reading about her entire story a question came into our minds: Is Britney a victim of her lifestyle or the entire system of showbiz is responsible for her tragical destiny ? The following last news about her evolution maybe could help us to understand and judge more clearly what really happened with this young girl converted almost by night into a Pop Star.

Court has mystery hearing in Spears case

LOS ANGELES - The court commissioner who placed Britney Spears under conservatorship held a closed-door hearing on an unspecified emergency motion Thursday, a day after the troubled pop star was suddenly released from a psychiatric hospital and ended up being pursued through the city by paparazzi.
The motion was brought before Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz by the singer's father, James Spears, and lawyer Andrew Wallet, who is part of the conservatorship, court spokesman Allan Parachini said.

Parachini said that the motion was unopposed but that he could release no details.

"Everything about this matter is sealed", Parachini said after the hearing.

Present in court were attorneys for James Spears, along with Wallet and a court-appointed attorney for Britney Spears.

The singer was taken to a psychiatric hospital at UCLA Medical Center on Jan. 31 under police escort but was discharged Wednesday over the recommendation of her treating psychiatrist and against the wishes of both her parents.

"We are deeply concerned about our daughter's safety and vulnerability and we believe her life is presently at risk", the statement from James and Lynne Spears said. "We ask only that the court's orders be enforced so that a tragedy may be averted".

Goetz last week named James Spears as conservator of his 26-year-old daughter and named him and Wallet conservators of her estate. The commissioner has ordered the conservatorship to last until at least Feb. 14.

Courts place people under conservatorships when it is determined they can no longer care for themselves or their affairs.

Britney Spears' behavior became increasingly bizarre during the past year after she filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in late 2006. She has since lost visitation rights to their sons, Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2.

She was briefly hospitalized earlier in January after a custody dispute drew police to her home.

After being released from the hospital Wednesday, she was spotted driving her Mercedes-Benz and followed by paparazzi who zoomed around her in their vehicles. She eventually got out and turned the driving over to an unidentified man.

Each time the car stopped, photographers swarmed it, shooting photos and video. The singer ultimately went into the Beverly Hills Hotel.

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

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Britney Spears' parents say her life is "at risk"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The parents of pop star Britney Spears returned to a court on Thursday to deal with the troubled singer's affairs one day after saying they believed her life was at risk.

The hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court was closed to the public, and a court spokesman said the proceedings were sealed. But several media reports said Spears' father, Jamie Spears, and a court-appointed co-conservator were hoping to strengthen control over her affairs.

Neither Spears nor her parents attended the hearing.

A day earlier, the parents said their daughter is in the middle of a mental crisis, and they believe her life is at risk since she left a hospital where she was under psychiatric care.

"As parents of an adult child in the throes of a mental health crisis, we were extremely disappointed... to learn that over the recommendation of her treating psychiatrist, our daughter Britney was released from the hospital that could best care for her and keep her safe", said the joint statement released late on Wednesday on behalf of the singer's father and her mother, Lynne Spears.

"We are deeply concerned about our daughter's safety and vulnerability and we believe her life is presently at risk", the statement said.

Spears, 26, was released from the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon after a six-day stay for psychiatric evaluation. Almost immediately, the paparazzi that have followed her every move in recent months began tracking the singer again.

AVERTING 'A TRAGEDY'

Various reports had Spears meeting lawyers and friends in Beverly Hills, and her parents' statement suggested that those meetings could be violating a court ruling earlier this week that gave Jamie Spears control of the singer's affairs.

The parents last Friday were appointed temporary co-conservators.

"There are conservatorship orders in place created to protect our daughter that are being blatantly disregarded. We ask only that the court's orders be enforced so that a tragedy may be averted", concluded the joint statement.

Spears, who rose to fame in the late 1990s and built a huge following among young audiences as a pop singer and performer, has in recent months seen her life spin out of control.

She has battled her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, in court for custody of their two sons, spent a brief stint in rehab, been photographed in public wearing no underwear and exhibited bizarre behavior such as wearing pink wings and talking in a British accent despite being a native of Louisiana.

In early January, she was taken to a Los Angeles hospital and placed under mental observation for a few days before walking out. Last week she was again hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation.

Her father then went to a Los Angeles court and received "temporary conservatorship" over her affairs. The court commissioner also issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the singer's self-styled manager, Sam Lutfi, who has been a near-constant presence in her life in recent months.

A spokesman for Lutfi told Reuters that since the order was put in place, he has not seen Britney, and respects the TRO.

"He is not the bad guy people think he is", said spokesman Michael Sands.

By Bernie Woodall and Xavier Briand, Reuters

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Spears sidekick: Svengali or savior ?

LOS ANGELES - He's been seen squiring around a dazed looking Britney Spears, at times acting as her spokesman, referring to himself as her manager and friend, and insisting all the while that her best interest is his only concern.

All the same, Sam Lutfi, the 33-year-old man in the baseball cap who's been behind the scenes throughout Britney's public downfall, has not been easy to define.

Then on Tuesday, accusations in a restraining order cutting him off from the troubled pop star would seem to support at least one theory: that he was a Svengali figure in her life, a shady hanger-on who controlled everything — from doling out her pills to holding the paparazzi's leash.

The day before the court documents were released, Lutfi told The Associated Press in a text message: "I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is". Lutfi did not immediately respond to further inquiry.

The restraining order, based on a statement from Spears' mother Lynne, was not the first against Lutfi, who is listed in legal documents as Osama Lutfi. Accusations in at least three prior orders range from obscene messages following a business deal to a neighbor who said he was hounded incessantly and threatened with bodily harm.

Spears remained hospitalized Monday for psychiatric evaluation after being committed last week. The order, which bars Lutfi from contacting her in any way, was granted the same day a court turned control of her affairs over to her father and a lawyer.

Though Lutfi had recently reached out to various magazines and media personalities with information on Spears' condition and state of mind, details on him have proved elusive.

Public records show he was born August 16, 1974 in Los Angeles. Music magazine Blender, in a March cover story on Spears, states that Lutfi grew up in Woodland Hills, where his mother reportedly owns several gas stations.

According to the movie database IMDb.com, Lutfi served as associate producer of 1998 film "Circles" (also known as "Crossing Paths") and 2001's "Crossing Cords". And a profile titled "Sam Lutfi" on the networking Web site LinkedIn lists him as an "Independent Media Production Professional" with education from the University of Southern California. The school's alumni Web site does not list Lutfi as a past student.

How Lutfi connected with Spears in the first place isn't clear.

Brandy Navarre, co-owner of celebrity photo agency and Web site X17, told the AP that Lutfi contacted the agency about nine or 10 months ago — after her head-shaving incident and others — about telling Spears' side of the story.

Since then, X17 photographers have cultivated a close relationship with both Spears and Lutfi, whom they have photographed together numerous times. Lutfi communicates with X17 by text messages, instant messages and e-mail regularly, and has had long conversations with Navarre, she said.

Navarre said she never asked him how he and Spears met. Still, "I think I've always had a positive feeling of him", Navarre said. "He seems to have Britney's best interest in mind".

In the order against Lutfi, Lynne Spears says her daughter met him in October 2007, and that he "essentially moved into Britney's home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances". She describes witnessing a situation of tight control and manipulation, with Lutfi calling the shots on her medications, cutting her phone lines, and deciding who's let in to see the pop star.

A court commissioner on Monday extended temporary conservatorship of Spears to her father, from whom she's been estranged, through Feb 14. Adam Streisand, an attorney who said he believed he had been authorized to represent Spears, argued Monday that James Spears should be removed because his role "is causing her more agitation and more distress".

"Her family hasn't been around", Navarre said. "(Lutfi) has kind of been filling that void. ... He's done everything from being a default manager and publicist to being a brother, a dad".

Navarre denied rumors that the agency was paying Lutfi for access.

"We have paid people for information, for pictures, but we've never paid Sam Lutfi and have never paid Britney Spears", Navarre said. "And he's never asked us for any money".

Last month, Barbara Walters said on ABC's "The View" that Lutfi had contacted her, telling her Spears "is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable". She also said Lutfi "seems to be enormously supportive" of Spears.

Court documents from previous cohorts of Lutfi present a darker picture.

In October 2005, businesswoman Jumana Issa filed a complaint in Los Angeles against Lutfi; it was dismissed in March 2006 because she failed to appear for a preliminary hearing. When contacted by phone, Issa refused to comment.

In court papers, the Westside Escrow Corporation owner claimed Lutfi started harassing her from the day of closing an escrow account for him after he demanded canceling an escrow check which she said she was unable to stop payment on.

Issa said Lutfi antagonized her repeatedly with obscene e-mails, offensive faxes and late-night voice mails, hanging up on her around 15-20 times a day, according to court documents. Issa described the ordeal as "an overwhelming nightmare".

Lutfi allegedly wrote in one fax provided by Issa, "Come on big lady, I know you are capable of responding. Put down the donuts and call me".

In October 2004, a restraining order was issued demanding Lutfi stay at least 100 yards away from Mark Douglas Snoland, a neighbor in Lutfi's condominium building, for three years. Snoland's attorney Ronald Ziff referred questions to Snoland, who did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

According to Snoland's petition for a restraining order, Lutfi began "pounding" on Snoland's front door on the night of Sept. 6, 2004 and tried to kick the door in while also pounding on a kitchen window and "yelling verbal threats of bodily harm" against Snoland and his mother, who lived in the unit.

Snoland claimed Lutfi returned 15 minutes later to continue to kick the door and yell threats. Snoland also alleged Lutfi buzzed him on an intercom "non stop" and, hours later, called his home phone number and hung up every few minutes.

Lutfi claimed in a response to the petition that Snoland only "knocked" on the door, and that Snoland "was never threatened", but actually "angry he was removed from the board of the condo complex".

In April 2007, an Orange County Superior Court granted a restraining order against Lutfi for 29-year-old Danny Haines, who told Blender he had been a close friend of Lutfi for two years and that Lutfi once told him he should kill himself. Attempts by the AP to reach Haines for comment were unsuccessful.

According to Blender, Haines said he and Lutfi met on Myspace.com in 2005 when Haines was struggling with relationships with his relatives and friends. The two became tight pals, Haines told the magazine, and Lutfi emphasized that he could be a mediator between Haines and his family.

Haines claims Lutfi showed a jealous side, leaving voicemails calling Haines "worthless", and then divulging, "I love you, man. I love you to death". Haines alleges Lutfi later suggested Haines take sleeping pills, "lots of them", following a dispute over money Lutfi allegedly borrowed from Haines, according to the magazine.

Haines claims when he stopped communicating with Lutfi, Lutfi retaliated by e-mailing naked photographs of Haines to his family, friends, colleagues and employer, and text messaged and called repeatedly.

By SOLVEJ SCHOU, Associated Press

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Spears 'lacks mental capacity' to understand court fight over control

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears does not want her father in charge of her welfare, a lawyer told a court commissioner today, but another attorney who interviewed her in a hospital psychiatric ward said the pop star cannot even grasp what is going on in court.

"She has expressed a very strong desire that her father not be appointed conservator", attorney Adam Streisand, who said he was hired by Spears, claimed.

"He has been estranged from her and this is causing her even more stress".

However, a court-appointed lawyer told Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz he visited Britney in hospital for about 10 minutes yesterday. The lawyer stated it was his belief Britney 'lacks capacity' to retain a lawyer and "does not understand the nature of these proceedings".

The Commissioner eventually ruled Spear's father, Jamie Spears, and attorney, Andrew Wallete, would remain in temporary control of her affairs, including her health care and assets, until February 14.

The Commissioner also ordered Britney was to have no contact with Sam Lutfi, her self-styled manager and confidant, after it was claimed in court Lutfi had been in contact with Britney over the weekend by telephone. Lutfi had been told by a judge last week to stay away from Spears after her parents won a restraining order against him. Lutfi has been seen with Spears almost constantly in recent months as her personal life has spun out of control.

Additionally, a hearing in the child custody battle between Britney Spears and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, was postponed because the troubled pop star remains hospitalized, media reports said.

The hearing was scheduled after lawyers for Spears, who has lost custody of her two young sons to Federline, sought visitation rights with the boys.

The celebrity website TMZ.com reported the hearing was postponed because Spears, who on Thursday was taken to UCLA Medical Center for a 72-hour mental evaluation, had been ordered to remain there another two weeks.

Los Angeles police are investigating a theft report filed on Friday by Spears' father, a police spokeswoman said. She said several personal items were reported taken from her home.

Spears' antics have drawn nearly constant attention from paparazzi. Two weeks ago, four photographers were arrested on suspicion of reckless driving while trailing her.

It cost local authorities US$25,000 to keep photographers at bay during her trip to the hospital last week, police said. On Friday, one Los Angeles city councilman proposed a municipal ordinance to restrict the paparazzi's movements when photographing stars in public.

By The New Zealand Herald

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Lawyers Meet for Britney Spears Hearing

Attorneys for Britney Spears and her father attended a closed-door emergency hearing Thursday, a day after the singer's early release from a psychiatric hospital.

The attorneys met before Commissioner Reva Goetz, who recently extended temporary control of Spears's affairs to her father Jamie and a lawyer. The session lasted about a half hour, and the lawyers left without commenting.

Apearing in Goetz's downtown L.A. court were Jeryll S. Cohen and Vivian Thoreen, who represent Jamie; Samuel Ingham, a court-appointed lawyer for Britney; and Andrew Wallet who, along with Jamie, is co-temporary conservator of the pop star's estate.

Adam Streisand, an attorney (and relative of Barbra Streisand) who had once claimed to represent Spears – and who met with her Wednesday night – was not there; his firm announced he was off the case.

By Howard Breuer, PEOPLE Magazine

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Source: Relations 'Civilized' with Britney, Parents & Adnan Ghalib

After getting out of the hospital, Britney Spears spent her first night at home with her mom, dad and paparazzo pal Adnan Ghalib. But how did everyone get along ?

"From what I was told, everything was very civilized", a source close to the photographer tells PEOPLE.

After Spears's unexpected release from UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday, "Britney called Adnan to meet her at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He had been talking with Lynne and Jamie for the past few days", says the source.

Spears and Ghalib had a brief meeting with lawyer Adam Streisand, who announced Thursday that he is off the case. The pair then met up with mom Lynne and dad Jamie.

Ghalib also confirmed in a posting on his photo agency's Web site that he "has been in contact with her parents".

"As the day unraveled, they have all agreed to get Britney safely back to her home so she can get the medical care and love that she deserves", says the posting on the FinalPixx site. "After spending most of the evening with The Spears [family] at The Summit, Adnan left and went back home at 2:30 a.m.... to give the family some alone time".

Lynne Spears left her daughter's home just after midnight Thursday , while dad Jamie remained there through Thursday morning.

By Mary Margaret, PEOPLE Magazine

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Britney's 'Lawyer' Off the Case

The attorney who claimed he was hired by Britney Spears – and who had argued that the singer opposed her father's supervision of her and her $40-million estate – is no longer attached to the singer, his firm announced in a statement.

In full, the law firm's message issued on Thursday read, "At the request of Britney Spears, Adam Streisand, a Partner at Loeb & Loeb LLP, met with her yesterday to discuss her legal rights in connection with the conservatorship over her person and estate.

"Following that meeting, Mr. Streisand learned that the court had issued orders that prevent Ms. Spears from retaining counsel of her own choosing, and on that basis, Mr. Streisand has decided he will not represent her at this time".

Spears, who left a UCLA psychiatric ward on Wednesday, still has court-appointed counsel, attorney Samuel Ingham.

It remains to be seen how long the court will uphold Jamie Spears's power over his daughter. By law, her father was also required to apply for permanent control, which, if granted, could last until Britney is able to prove to the court that she is capable of managing her own affairs.

By Stephen M. Silverman and Ken Lee, PEOPLE Magazine

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Britney Interrupted

As the singer struggles with life in a psych ward, her parents accuse her pal Sam Lutfi of cruelty and abuse.

On the bright, sunny wing of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital that has been home to Britney Spears since she was admitted on Jan. 31, the singer is allowed to wear her own clothes – and, like others at the 136-bed unit on the UCLA campus – make use of a common kitchen to fix a snack and an open-air deck to grab a smoke. She is not permitted to use her cell phone...

PEOPLE Magazine

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Britney's First Night Home from the Hospital

Britney Spears spent her first night out of the hospital at home with her family, after what was a dramatic day with the pop star driving around L.A.

After her surprise early release from the UCLA Medical Center's psych ward, Spears spent much of Wednesday bouncing around the city – speeding off with one paparazzi pal, getting a room at the Beverly Hills Hotel and visiting with lawyer Adam Streisand.

But the singer's first night of freedom was uneventful (at least from the outside). After sneaking out of the law office in Century City, the 26-year-old singer and her paparazzo-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib reportedly stopped at a restaurant in the Valley. The two were then driven back to Spears's Summit Circle house in Studio City by a photographer from the X17 photo agency.

The singer's father, Jamie – who has been named co-conservator of her $40-million fortune – was spotted at the Beverly Hills Hotel Wednesday evening and was "tired looking", says one witness. He was briefly escorted to a room, but later returned to the Summit house, where Spears, Ghalib, and the singer's mother, Lynne, were all gathered.

After midnight, Lynne drove away from the house in her Range Rover. Mobbed by photographers, she ducked behind the steering wheel to shield herself from the snappers.

As night turned into morning, Spears and Jamie remained inside the house.

Spears's confidante, Sam Lutfi – who has been accused of drugging Britney and has been ordered to keep his distance from the singer – has yet to resurface.

By Mary Margaret, PEOPLE Magazine

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In my opinion Britney is a victim of "showbiz Industry". Being to young when he was "made" a Pop Star and unfortunately abandoned by her family she becomes quickly an easy to profit puppet entered under the hands of "star makers" as Lufti &Co. Her lifestyle was quickly invaded by the drugs, alcoohol abuse and medicines. The Glory and the easy money contribute too. We must remember a lot of previously samples as: Whitney Houston, Kurt Cobain and more others... Her marriage was a mess and contribute to Spears decline too. I clearly remember that one of the reasons invocked at her divorce was the "unapropiate habits and friends" of Federline... Today, many people has forget this reality and the bad sample who Federline offer to his wife... Not at least, Britney have in present days a lot of "rivals" in the showbiz Industry world. Many new names fight for the Glory: Shakira, Beyonce, Rihanna, Fergie or Nellie Furtado being only few of them. The divorce and trials for children custody are only the backround of the tragical end of the Pop Star Britney Spears.

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2008-02-04T04:39:00.001+02:00

15 Nominees for Worst Movie Dialogue Ever

2008-02-04T03:28:00.000+02:00

15 Nominees for Worst Movie Dialogue Ever

Some of the most regrettable lines in Hollywood history come from the mouths of babes (Drew Barrymore), Oscar nominees (Tom Cruise), or superheroes as (Halle Berry). Here are 15 of the all-time silliest.

THE MOVIE: Notting Hill (1999)

THE SCENE: Famous Hollywood actress Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) is attempting to convince bookish William (Hugh Grant) to give her another chance.
THE LINE: ''I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her''.

THE MOVIE: Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005)

THE SCENE: Natalie Portman's Amidala tries to get her hubby, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), to give up his megalomaniacal Dark Side ways.
THE LINE: ''Hold me, like you did by the lake on Naboo''.

THE MOVIE: Jerry Maguire (1996)

THE SCENE: The hard-hearted sports agent (Tom Cruise) drops his emotional armor and declares his love for Dorothy (Renée Zellweger) in front of all of her friends.
THE LINE: ''You complete me''.

THE MOVIE: Ever After (1998)

THE SCENE: Danielle (Drew Barrymore) — the purported inspiration for Cinderella — is trying to explain to, of all people, Leonardo da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey) why her romance is impossible.
THE LINE: ''A bird may love a fish, signore, but where will they live ?''

THE MOVIE: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)

THE SCENE: Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) tearfully breaks up with her boyfriend and heads to her death.
THE LINE: ''I'm gone, like a turkey in the corn. Gobble gobble !''

THE MOVIE: X-Men (2000)

THE SCENE: Weather-mistress Storm (Halle Berry) finally gets the upper hand during a fight with fellow mutant Toad (Ray Park) and delivers this très witty bon mot.
THE LINE: ''You know what happens when a toad gets struck by lightning ? The same thing that happens to everything else''.

THE MOVIE: Sin City (2005)

THE SCENE: Gutter avenger Dwight (Clive Owen) is watching lovingly as the woman of his dreams (Rosario Dawson) guns down a bevy of prostitute-hating baddies.
THE LINE: ''My warrior woman. My valkyrie. You'll always be mine, always and never. Never. The Fire, baby. It'll burn us both. It'll kill us both. There's no place in this world for our kind of fire''.

THE MOVIE: Pretty Woman (1990)

THE SCENE: Hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Vivian (Julia Roberts) looks down her fire escape to see her favorite ''John'' Edward (Richard Gere) climbing up to ''rescue her'' from her crappy life.
THE LINE: ''And she rescues him right back''.

THE MOVIE: She's All That (1999)

THE SCENE: Laney (Rachael Leigh Cook) is on the receiving end of the makeover of a lifetime, transforming her from meek geek to high-school hottie.
THE LINE: ''I feel just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. You know, except for the whole hooker thing''.

THE MOVIE: Love Story (1970)

THE SCENE: After Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) spends all day searching the Harvard campus to apologize to his doomed lover (Ali MacGraw), she delivers the most lunkheadedly inaccurate romantic proclamation ever.
THE LINE: ''Love means never having to say you're sorry''.

THE MOVIE: A Cry in the Dark (1988)

THE SCENE: Aussie mom Lindy (Meryl Streep) is on the witness stand, giving testimony about the disappearance of her infant daughter during a camping trip.
THE LINE: ''A dingo ate my baby !''

THE MOVIE: As Good as It Gets (1997)

THE SCENE: Simon (Greg Kinnear) gets his groove back as an artist by sketching the nude form of hopeful waitress Carol (Helen Hunt).
THE LINE: ''You're why cavemen chiseled on walls''.

THE MOVIE: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

THE SCENE: After a whole movie of romantic comedy-related obstacles, Carrie (Andie MacDowell) ignores the weather as she finally hooks up with Charles (Hugh Grant).
THE LINE: ''Is it still raining ? I hadn't noticed''.

THE MOVIE: Dirty Dancing (1986)

THE SCENE: Finally invited to the ''big kids'' dance party, Frances ''Baby'' Houseman arrives with an awkward present.
THE LINE: ''I carried a watermelon''.

THE MOVIE: City of Angels (1998)

THE SCENE: Maggie (Meg Ryan) waxes philosophically as she's in bed with Seth (Nicholas Cage), an angel who's become human.
THE LINE: ''We were made to fit together''.

For more about this subject – check here -

Despite I disagree with some of the movies selected for this Top, as being worse ones, I posted here this classment only to prove the taste of American critics. If You agree or not with them that’s only Your business.

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* Movie News *

2008-01-08T15:29:00.000+02:00

Ukraine's Olga Kurlyenko picked as new "Bond girl"

Reuters Monday January 7 6:21 PM ET

In the secretive world of movie spy James Bond, the "Bond girl" for the new installment in the movie series had been top secret, but on Monday Bond's backers said Ukrainian bombshell Olga Kurylenko is the actress.
Columbia Pictures, the film studio behind the popular movies about the British secret agent, said the 28 year-old Kurylenko has been cast in one of the most coveted roles in the movies -- 007's sidekick for the still untitled Bond flick.
The film, which is the 22nd in the series that dates back to 1962's "Dr. No", is due in theaters in November and stars Daniel Craig as the dashing British spy who regularly saves the world from a destructive evil villain.
Early reports had actress Gemma Arterton as the new Bond girl, but even though Arterton has a role in the new film it is not as large as Kurylenko's, said a source close to the film.
The Ukrainian actress joins a long list of leading ladies to be cast alongside the super spy including Ursula Andress in "Dr No," Halle Berry, Kim Basinger and most recently Eva Green in "Casino Royale", which grossed nearly $600 million in worldwide ticket sales.
In the past, being a "Bond girl" has given actresses massive exposure and launched lucrative careers.
A former model, Kurylenko was most recently seen alongside Timothy Olyphant in last November's "Hitman".
British actor Craig made his first appearance as the secret agent in "Casino Royale" and returns for this newest movie directed by Marc Foster, better known for his widely acclaimed dramas like "Finding Neverland" and "The Kite Runner".
Also returning from "Royale" are Judi Dench as Bond's boss M, Jeffery Wright as CIA agent Felix Leiter and Mathieu Amarilic, currently playing French film "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", as the new Bond villain.
Columbia Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp.

Source – here -

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* HELLO ! everybody *

2008-01-03T02:10:00.000+02:00

* Is THURSDAY ! *

2008-01-03T02:08:00.000+02:00

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Celebrity Gossips (2008)

2008-01-03T00:08:00.000+02:00

Eddie Murphy Headed To The Altar Before Year's End

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (October 18, 2007) - Eddie Murphy may be married by the end of the year according to a new report.
Tracey Edmonds, fiance of the "Dreamgirls" star told People, the couple is moving toward their nuptials.
"We're coming close", Edmonds said. "It'll be before the end of the year.... And some place far away and fun".
Though Murphy's reportedly made some hefty paychecks thanks to movies like "Norbit", don't expect a gigantic affair.
"It's just going to be very close friends and family, but very romantic", Edmonds said. We'll have a good time".
Edmonds and Murphy got together not long after the actor split with Spice Girl Melanie Brown, in 2006.
Both were previously married and both have children.
"There will be some adjusting", Edmonds said of bringing their families together, "but I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
Eddie's got some fantastic, beautiful, fun kids and I've got two wonderful boys, so it'll be nice to get everybody together".

source: - here -

Eddie Murphy marries Tracey Edmonds

LOS ANGELES (January 02, 2008) - Eddie Murphy celebrated New Year's Day by tying the knot with film producer Tracey Edmonds.
The pair exchanged vows Tuesday on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia in front of a small group of family and friends, their representatives told People magazine.
A call to Murphy's publicist, Arnold Robinson, wasn't immediately returned early Wednesday.
Murphy and Edmonds began dating last fall and were engaged in July.
Murphy, 46, has five children from his marriage to Nicole Mitchell Murphy, who filed for divorce in 2005. He also has a daughter with Spice Girls singer Melanie Brown.
Edmonds, 40, has two sons from her 13-year marriage to singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. As head of Edmonds Entertainment Group Inc., she has produced the film and television series "Soul Food".
Murphy's film credits include "Dreamgirls", and the "Beverly Hills Cop", "The Nutty Professor", "Shrek" and "Dr. Doolittle" movies.

source: - here -

EDDIE MURPHY BIOGRAPHY
Born: 3 April 1961
Where: New York, New York, USA
Awards: 1 Oscar, 1 BAFTA, 5 Golden Globe nominations
Height: 5' 10"
Funny, they say, is hard. Funny floats in the ether and only the chosen can snatch it down. So, to be the funniest of them all is a challenge few can rise to. Steve Martin did it, Robin Williams too. On a more underground tip, there were the late greats Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks. And, of course, there was Eddie Murphy. His breakthrough on Saturday Night Live and a series of killer stand-up videos would make him the king of early-Eighties comedy. 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Dr Dolittle, The Nutty Professor and their sequels would make him a cinematic star. Then Bowfinger and, more importantly, Dreamgirls, would have him seen as a serious thespian contender. Along the way, there were many hiccups, even a few out-and-out disasters. But, amazingly, a quarter of a century in, he's still a major contender today.
Edward Regan Murphy was born in the Bushwick projects of Brooklyn, New York, on the 3rd of April, 1961. His father was a policeman. His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator. Sadly, they divorced when Eddie was 3 and, even more sadly, his father was killed by a new girlfriend when the boy was just 8. Living with Lillian and his brother Charles Q Murphy (now an actor and screenwriter), Eddie stayed in Brooklyn till he was ten. Then Lillian, along with her new husband Vernon Lynch (a former boxer then employed as a foreman at Breyers Ice Cream plant) took the boys, plus Lynch's son (also named Vernon), to Roosevelt, Long Island. This was a predominantly white, middle-class area thats black population increased sharply throughout the Sixties and Seventies. It also spawned Howard Stern, Julius Erving and Public Enemy rapper Chuck D.
So Eddie, a natural mimic schooled in the streets and now the suburbs, expanded his repertoire of characters. Starting with Bullwinkle and Sylvester The Cat, he began to impersonate the stars of the day, as well as invent new characters of his own. At Roosevelt High School he'd carry a briefcase full of joke-books with him, and was often voted Most Popular Student, even winning over the teachers, who'd laugh as they sent him to the Principal's office for his hilarious insubordination. As well as singing in a local R&B band (they'd steal supermarket trollies to transport their equipment), Eddie was damn funny, and he knew it. Heavily influenced by his hero, Richard Pryor, he worked on his monologues and impersonations - quickly mastering Lionel Richie, Bill Cosby, Al Green and Elvis Presley - and made his stage debut at the Roosevelt Youth Centre on the 9th of July, 1976.
As Murphy himself says, once he started, he couldn't stop. He began performing regularly in youth centres and bars, taking $25-$50 a time, money he used to finance his enrolment at Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York. Very quickly, he made his name, soon staging a showcase at New York's Comic Strip, where co-owners Robert Wachs and Richard Tienkin were so impressed they agreed to manage him.
Yet it was Murphy's own persistence that would win him his first major break. Neil Levy, talent co-ordinator on Saturday Night Live would later recall how, in 1980, he received a call from Murphy, sounding like he was on a pay phone, asking for an audition. Levy turned him down, saying that the show was no longer auditioning for their next season. But Murphy called back the next day, this time claiming he had 18 brothers and sisters and was desperate for the job. Every day he called, until Levy agreed to give him a try. So, Murphy arrived at SNL HQ at 30, Rockefeller Centre and delivered a 4-minute sketch where he played three different guys from Harlem, one of them trying to start a fight between the others. Levy was so impressed he demanded that Murphy be hired, but new producer Jean Doumanian was not so sure as she was already planning to have Robert Townsend replace Garrett Morris as the show's lone black performer. Eventually, she would relent, bringing Murphy in as a featured performer rather than a regular.
This was a very difficult period for SNL. Now five seasons old, it had hit vertiginous heights of popularity due to the contributions of such comic heavyweights as Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and Bill Murray. Now producer Lorne Michaels, burned out by his efforts, had left and the remaining stars - Murray, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner - were gone, too, as well as most of the writing staff. Doumanian, a close collaborator with Woody Allen throughout his career, was brought in and had just two and a half months to replace everyone on a budget that had been slashed. She was not popular and the knives were out.
As the new season started in late 1980 it quickly became apparent that the show's quality had plummeted. Charles Rocket, Denny Dillon, Ann Risley and Gail Matthews, unfairly expected to immediately match the exploits of the outgoing stars, were hammered in the press. The show was fast losing viewers, and consequently the good will of the corporation. Doumanian had help on hand, having hired both Murphy and Joe Piscopo, but didn't realise it, both of the show's future stars being limited to supporting roles, when they appeared at all. Then, one night, when Doumanian had not gathered enough material to fill the show's 90 minutes and faced a terrifying final five minutes of absolutely nothing, it was decided in desperation to fill the time with Murphy's audition routine. Keen and ready, he went down a storm.
Yet even this was not enough to give Murphy centre stage. What he needed was a big shake-up, and he got it when, in February, 1981, Charles Rocket did the unthinkable and said "Fuck" on live TV. The producers used this as an excuse to fire the unpopular Doumanian and brought in Dick Ebersol, who'd helped create the show back in 1974. Ebersol took SNL off the air for some six weeks, instead showing classic episodes to remind audiences what the show was all about. Then, in April, they were ready to go live again.
Throughout the ten months of Doumanian's reign, the under-utilized Murphy had shown an impressive attitude. He kept working with the writers, kept coming up with new characters, kept entertaining the troops on the 17th floor. Everyone believed him to be the funniest guy there, he just wasn't getting the chance to shine on air. Now, with Ebersol in charge, a stroke of luck came his way. Writer David Sheffield's father would often phone his son with ideas for sketches, ideas that were uniformly poor. But now he mentioned a news story he'd read about a Cleveland high school basketball team forced by law to include white players in the side. Sheffield and his writing partner Barry Blaustein cooked something up for Murphy and he enthusiastically worked with them, improvising wildly. And the sketch made it into the next show, at last launching Murphy on his way. "You could tell", said Sheffield "the first minute he was on the air that whatever 'it' is, he had it. He completely connected with the audience. He just jumped off the screen". Quickly, Murphy became SNL's undisputed star, with Sheffield and Blaustein providing many of his best moments. Murphy was easy to work with, said Sheffield: "Basically, we would sit in a room and Eddie would start talking".
Though such talents as Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Belushi would be added to the cast during Murphy's four years on SNL, Murphy would remain the stand-out performer. He was the street-smart hustler Velvet Jones, with his book I Wanna Be A Ho: he was the enraged militant film critic Raheem Abdul Muhammad: the jailbird poet Tyrone Green: Buckwheat from the old Our Gang comedies: and, most famous of all, he was the sour-mouthed showbiz vet cartoon character Gumby. Beyond this, there was his recording career outside the show. In 1982, there was Eddie Murphy, an album recorded live at the Comic Strip. The next year there was another, Eddie Murphy, Comedian, that won a Grammy as Best Comedy LP. He'd already been nominated for the hit single Boogie In Your Butt - he was, after all, a musician too. In 1985, he'd release the How Could It Be album, produced by Rick James and Stevie Wonder (Murphy also did a spectacular Stevie). This delivered a million-selling single in Party All The Time, and was followed by 1989's So Happy, helmed by Nile Rogers and Cameo's Larry Blackmon. 1993 would bring Love's Alright, featuring collaborations with both Michael Jackson and Shabba Ranks.
Already a big name through SNL and his stand-up shows, in late 1982 Murphy's star went truly into the ascendant. Director Walter Hill, famed for The Warriors and Southern Comfort, had been casting for a partner for tough-guy Nick Nolte in his latest thriller, 48 Hours. Murphy was taken on, becoming the first actor to be paid $1 million on debut, and the script was rewritten to suit his sharp and often foul-mouthed patter. But one thing was missing. Having been mellowed by life in Roosevelt and his speedy success, it was thought that Murphy lacked the rage necessary to play the touchy convict given a two-day release to help bust an escaped killer. Fortunately, he was taught the requisite tricks by acting coach David Proval (later to star as the extremely angry Richie Aprile in The Sopranos).
One sight of Murphy on the big screen and you knew he'd make it. Wrapped in shades and headphones and shrieking out a wince-making version of Roxanne, he was immediately in your face. Then, wisecracking like crazy, going head-to-head with Nolte, and subduing and taunting a bar full of disapproving whites, he proceeded to steal the show, as he and his rough-cut partner proceeded to track down malevolent Hill regular James Remar. A Golden Globe nomination was the least he deserved. Now, aside from two brilliant comedy videos - Delirious and Raw - he would concentrate heavily on his film career having signed a long-term deal with Paramount that would make him a millionaire many times over. SNL staff would be amazed when Jeffrey Katzenberg himself came to the writers' room on the 9th floor just after the release of 48 Hrs and handed Murphy his cheque for $1 million.
A second Golden Globe nomination would come with the smart comedy Trading Places, directed by John Landis. Here, for a bet, two swinish millionaires reverse the positions of street hustler Murphy and snobby stock dealer Dan Aykroyd (one of the SNL stars Murphy had earlier replaced). Murphy would have a ball, first on the street pretending to be a legless war vet, then quickly adapting to his newfound fortune and power. The movie was a big hit, unlike Best Defense, where Dudley Moore was a useless military engineer drawn into industrial espionage and coming up against murderous Russian spies. Meanwhile, Murphy's out in the Middle East testing Moore's crazy new super-tank in combat and it's all going haywire. Really, it was something of a mess and made to look even weaker by Murphy's other filmic efforts.
By now he was finished with SNL. In fact, he'd been leaving for some time. In order to guarantee their star's participation in the 1983-4 season the producers had contracted Murphy to appear in ten of the twenty shows scheduled and also taped some fifteen Murphy spots to insert in the others. This annoyed many staff as it went against the "live" ethos, and many thought no one was bigger than the show. However, at the time Murphy WAS bigger than the show and the producers rightly recognised it. As far as Murphy himself was concerned, such petty quibbles were the least of his problems. He wasn't dealing too well with his newfound fame and wealth. He was receiving death threats and no longer knew who his real friends were. Harry Belafonte gave him advice, but to no real avail. And, on top of it all, there was still the "black" problem. John Landis would recall how, when meeting Murphy in New York to discuss Trading Places, Murphy had asked him to hail a cab for him as no cabbie would stop for a young black man. Indeed, whenever Murphy wanted a taxi at SNL he'd have to ask a white staff member to come down to hail one for him. Even when he was famous, even when he was a star.
Following Best Defense, Murphy's second release of 1984 proved he was right to leave SNL. This was Beverly Hills Cop, originally intended as a gritty vehicle for Sylvester Stallone but, as with 48 Hours, heavily rewritten to accommodate Murphy's humour and punchy ad libs. Here Murphy would star as Axel Foley, a maverick Detroit cop who takes it upon himself to travel to LA to hunt for the killers of his partner. Once there, he causes chaos for local policemen John Ashton and Judge Reinhold, rampaging across their sleepy beat and pulling all manner of inappropriate stunts as he tracks down bug-eyed coke dealer Steven Berkoff. And, of course, it was a huge hit, the movie becoming one of the Top 10 grossers of all time. As well as many millions of dollars, Murphy would receive his third Golden Globe nomination.
For five years, Murphy would enjoy an extraordinary run of success. The silly but entertaining The Golden Child would see him as a sleuth specialising in finding missing kids. Called into action when demons from Hell kidnap a sacred sprog from Tibet, he takes on a series of supernatural tests as well as a supremely evil Charles Dance. This would be followed by the first Beverly Hills Cop sequel, a predictable Eighties crime thriller where Murphy came up against a sinister Jurgen Prochnow and bitch queen Brigitte Nielsen, occasionally pausing to shout sarcastically at people. It wasn't a patch on the original yet still grossed over $150 million. Murphy remained red-hot.
Coming To America, a reunion with his Trading Places director John Landis, would see Murphy as a spoilt African prince arriving in New York to find a bride. Deciding that he wants a girl to love him for himself rather than his position, he becomes a janitor and endeavours to win the heart of Shari Headley. Murphy himself would be credited as writing the story, and this would become the subject of a long-running law-suit when columnist Art Buchwald took producers Paramount to court. As it turned out, several years earlier Paramount were attempting to turn a Buchwald script into a movie, with Murphy to star. That fell apart and, in 1986, Warners optioned Buchwald's script, only to dump the project when Paramount began to make a similar movie, starring Murphy. Given that Coming To America pulled in some $350 million worldwide, Buchwald wanted his share of Paramount's profits, as stated in his original contract. But, claimed Paramount, after all expenses were deducted, there was no net profit at all, therefore they owed Buchwald nothing. That's a lot of expenses, no ? The court agreed with Buchwald that Paramount's accounting was "unconscionable" and - after seven years - Paramount coughed up. The terms, of course, were undisclosed, Paramount fearing further revelations about their practices, but the case was vital in that it finally cast some light on decades of financial abuse. Murphy himself would escape without censure. Indeed, the court even went so far as to commend his comic "genius".
Was it bad karma ? Overexposure ? Megalomania ? Murphy's fortunes would certainly now change and he'd not hit big for another eight years. His first and perhaps most painful failure came with Harlem Nights. Keen to build his own entertainment empire, here he acted as writer, director and star, putting together a black ensemble piece co-starring his early hero Richard Pryor. The period movie would see Prior as the owner of a speakeasy coming under pressure when a major white gangster demands protection money. Aided by his adopted son Murphy, he attempts to save himself and his fortune by pulling off an outrageous boxing scam. Some found the movie - anarchic, cruel, fast and often sidesplittingly funny - to be Murphy's best so far. But the critics caned it, citing its violence, misogyny and relentless foul language, and a reasonable box office take could not cover the film's huge expense. Next he'd pop up as James Brown in a kid's daydreams in the failed pilot What's Alan Watching ? Another 48 Hours, where Murphy reteamed with Nick Nolte and Walter Hill to chase down drug lord The Iceman, was a middling hit but could not place Murphy back at the top. Suddenly, after a decade of glaring success, the golden boy had lost his sheen.
Things weren't any better in his personal life, Murphy later admitting fame when straight to his head. Having in the early Eighties been briefly engaged to biology student Lisa Figueroa, he'd since suffered paternity suits from Nicolle Radar, Paulette McNeely and Tamara Hood (with the last of whom he has son, Christian). Though in 1988 he'd met Nicole Mitchell and had a daughter, Bria, with her, followed by four further children - Miles, Shayne, Zola and Bella - he did not settle down with the family till some years later, in the meantime being linked with such beauties as Robin Givens, Halle Berry and Whitney Houston. Eventually, in 1993, he'd marry Mitchell and the ever-expanding family would live in a 22-room colonial mansion called Bubble Hill (Bubble being slang for Party) in Englewood, New Jersey. Murphy has said he never knew whether the many women who pursued him really wanted him, or his money and status. Mitchell, a rich model from the age of 10, had a social position and jam-packed bank account of her own.
After Another 48 Hrs would come Boomerang where Murphy played an executive at a cosmetics firm who's always chasing, catching and dumping tottie. However, when Robin Givens becomes his boss and treats him in exactly the same callous manner, he's confused and depressed, his situation worsened when he's pursued by a 70-year-old Eartha Kitt and then falls for decent co-worker Halle Berry. Also on the bill would be Martin Lawrence and a young Chris Rock, who'd earlier appeared as a valet in Beverly Hills Cop 2 and had just hit big on SNL. Boomerang saw Murphy in gentler mode and, based on a story by Murphy himself, was seen by some as an apology for the misogynist excesses of Harlem Nights. But it was only moderately successful at the box office, not up to Murphy's earlier blockbusting standards.
Worse was to come with The Distinguished Gentleman where Murphy was a Florida con man, running sex lines and blackmailing his clients, a true sleazeball. When congressman James Garner dies in mid-election campaign, Murphy, who shares Garner's name, slips his name onto the ballot papers and, mistaken for a good guy, wins a thoroughly undeserved place in Washington. Once in power, he immediately seeks out money-making opportunities, selling his vote to the highest bidder, then falls for Victoria Rowell. Will love redeem him ? Not too many cared.
Now seriously needing a hit to reclaim his Hollywood top spot, Murphy would return to Beverly Hills Cop, further upping his chances by bringing onboard director John Landis, with whom he'd hit paydirt in Trading Places and Coming to America. This time his boss in Detroit would be killed, a vengeful Murphy returning to LA to find trouble in an apparently family-friendly theme park. Unfortunately, the formula had outlived its welcome and the film would lose money. With both the Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs franchises dead, Murphy was desperate to find something new.
His next release was the low-budget (or rather LOWER-budget) Vampire In Brooklyn, which he'd written in collaboration with his own brothers Charles and Vernon. This was a comedy horror effort directed by Wes Craven, legendary helmsman of A Nightmare On Elm Street and The Hills Have Eyes, and saw Murphy as the last of a vampire race, seeking a mate and pursuing cop Angela Bassett. Sadly, it didn't work, being neither good comedy nor good horror. Happily, though, both director and star would refind their form the very next year. 1996 would see Craven successfully meld comedy and horror in Scream, while Murphy would strike back with The Nutty Professor.
Proven on SNL, Murphy's gift for characterisation was well known. On film he'd occasionally played multiple characters, as in Coming To America and Vampire In Brooklyn, but The Nutty Professor, based on the 1963 Jerry Lewis vehicle, used advanced make-up techniques to make the absolute most of his abilities. Murphy would play the painfully obese Professor Sherman Klump with aplomb and no little pathos. He also played Klump's sleazy love-god alter-ego Buddy Love, and the whole of Klump's family: his lecherous granny: his longsuffering mum: his crude dad: his thin-skinned brother, all of them. He spent 80 days in heavy make-up, famously not complaining once. The film was genuinely superb and a deserved hit, Murphy finding himself Golden Globe-nominated for the fourth time, and the first in twelve years.
The Nutty Professor proved beyond doubt that Murphy still had "it". But there was also a sneaking suspicion that he only enjoyed big success when he played multiple characters; that is, when he brought SNL-style shenanigans to the Silver Screen. His next film, Metro, seemed to bear this out. Here he'd play a hostage negotiator whose friend is murdered by diamond thief Michael Wincott. Murphy's off the case but pursues Wincott anyway, through wild car chases and major action set-pieces. The dialogue was crisp, the performances fine, yet still the public didn't bite. Worse was to come when at 4.45 one morning in May, 1997, Murphy - who couldn't sleep and was on his way to the newstand - saw a woman in distress on Santa Monica Boulevard and offered her a lift. Or so his story went. The policemen who stopped him said the woman was a transvestite prostitute with a warrant out on her. There were no charges for Murphy, but the transvestite, Samoan 20-year-old Atisone Seiuli (known as Shalomar), told a reporter that Murphy had placed $200 on her leg and asked her what kind of sex she liked. Worse, other transvestites came out of the woodwork, claiming they'd had sex with Murphy. He sued both the Globe and the National Enquirer for $5 million, for slander, libel and invasion of privacy, then pulled out. The story ended sadly one year later when Seiuli was found dead on the street, dressed only in bra, panties and towel. Apparently, she was locked out of her apartment, attempted to use the towel to swing from the roof into an open window, and fell.
Murphy's onscreen efforts would now bring him some measure of succour. It would now come to him that his voice might be ideally suited to big-budget cartoon capers. Disney's Mulan would be his first, a Chinese folk story where a girl dresses as a boy to fight off evil invaders. On her journey she'd be joined by Murphy, playing a skinny, street-smart dragon who detests being called a lizard. Murphy would, of course, be the stand-out performer, his dragon working much as Robin Williams' genie had in Aladdin six years earlier. Mulan was a big hit.
So too was Dr Dolittle, a loose adaptation of Hugh Lofting's classic, where Murphy would play a famous doctor who, suffering a blow to the head, would discover an ability to communicate with animals. In a way, Murphy was a strange choice for the part in that he was asked to play it relatively straight, the crude gags and crazy voices being provided by his furry friends, but kids worldwide loved it. Along with The Nutty Professor, it would provide Murphy with yet more sure-fire sequels.
Murphy's other film of 1998, Holy Man, would be slightly more sophisticated fare. A satire on the media, this would see Murphy as a guru discovered by shopping channel executives Jeff Goldblum and Kelly Preston. Put on air he becomes a huge star, his angle being that he tells the truth, and love follows wherever he goes. It was weak stuff, and bombed. His next movie, Life, would also lose money, but was a far more accomplished piece. Set in the 1930s, this would see Murphy re-team with his Boomerang co-star Martin Lawrence, the pair of them getting into trouble with a hard-nosed club owner and being forced to drive down to Mississippi to pick up a cargo of moonshine. Once down there, they're framed and jailed for life, the rest of the movie concerning the growing friendship between the realist Murphy and hot-headed Lawrence as they dream forever of escape. It was warm, nostalgic and thoroughly watchable.
After these two relative failures, Murphy would cross into the new millennium with a real bang. Now came Bowfinger, written by Steve Martin and directed by Frank Oz, where Martin would play a low-grade producer trying to sign Murphy's neurotic, race-obsessed film star for his new production. Murphy, though, is more interested in his weird New Age cult so, in desperation, Martin employs a cluelessly naive Murphy lookalike (also played by Murphy) and, using stolen footage of the real thing, attempts to make his movie without the star Murphy's knowledge. In terms of comedy, it was mild but effective, mild not being an accurate description of Murphy's next outing, a manic sequel to The Nutty Professor that saw him play eight characters as Buddy Love and the family Klump become involved in Sherman's wooing of research assistant Janet Jackson. Aided by superb make-up work from Rick Baker, who'd earlier aged Murphy so brilliantly in Life, it was another superb Murphy performance.
While The Nutty Professor 2 was pulling them in at the box-office, Murphy was also scoring a hit on TV with The PJs. Created by Murphy himself, this was a foamation series, with models brought to life by stop-motion photography courtesy of the Will Vinton studios. Murphy would lend his voice to the lead puppet, Thurgoode Stubbs, chief superintendant of the building in which he lives with wife Loretta Devine. Thurgoode would be a big-haired, chicken-fried-steak-loving caricature and the humour was crude, but great animation brought it 22 million viewers, amongst the Fox network's best-ever ratings. And Murphy would again score big with animation in 2001 when he starred alongside Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz in Dreamworks' Shrek. This would see Myers' ogre sent to rescue Diaz's princess from a dragon, added comedy being provided by Murphy's loudmouthed donkey. Murphy's part, reluctantly accompanying the hero on a dangerous journey, was not unlike the role he'd played in Mulan, but Shrek's success far outweighed that of its predecessor, raking in an enormous $267 million at the US box-office alone. Amazingly, the same year would bring another big hit when Murphy released Dr Dolittle 2, Murphy's titular medic now running an animal therapy centre and battling to save a bear's home forest from destruction.
Having enjoyed such a raging comeback, Murphy could not have expected the crashing failure of 2002. Indeed, few actors have faced such misery in recent times. First would come Showtime, a spoof of cop buddy movies where Robert De Niro played a tough policeman forced to partner maverick Murphy and take part in Rene Russo's reality TV show. At the same time, the odd couple must search the streets for an enormous new gun that must not fall into the wrong hands. Though Murphy and De Niro would play well together, it was really predictable action all the way.
Next would come the big one, The Adventures Of Pluto Nash. Filmed back in 2000, this one had its sci-fi thunder stolen by Speilberg's AI and lost over $100 million. In it, Murphy played an ex-con running a successful club on a lunar colony whose livelihood and then life are threatened by an evil crime lord. Cue bombings, shootouts and chase sequences, actually all the things we'd seen in Beverly Hills Cop but this time set in extremely expensive scenarios. Another loser would be I Spy, directed by Dr Dolittle helsmwomen Betty Thomas and based on the hit TV show starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. Here Murphy would play a prize fighter recruited by spy Owen Wilson and helping to steal a spy plane back from a wicked Malcolm McDowell. As with Showtime, Murphy worked well with his co-star but the human interest was lost amidst the pyrotechnic action.
2003 would be a mixed year. First he'd successfully return to dumb comedy with Daddy Day Care where he and pal Jeff Garlin, sacked from an ad agency, decide to run a kindergarten - a particularly chaotic kindergarten - thus coming into conflict with a rival carer, a hilariously strict Anjelica Huston. Directed by Steve Carr, who'd earlier worked on Murphy's Dr Dolittle 2, it was another $100 million hit. This was followed by the far superior The Haunted Mansion, based on a Disney theme park ride. Here Murphy acted the straight man once more, playing a workaholic estate agent who's pulled away from a family holiday by the chance to flog a big country house. His efforts are complicated, though, by a ghost who believes Murphy's wife to be the reincarnation of his dead lover. With excellent support turns from Marsha Thomason, Jennifer Tilly and Terence Stamp (earlier a co-star in Bowfinger) and more fine effects work from Rick Baker, the movie was excellent fun but sadly suffered at the box-office.
After another huge hit with 2004's Shrek 2, Murphy would not be seen again for two years. And then he was seen everywhere. First he hit the headlines when his divorce from Nicole Mitchell was announced and he entered a highly-publicized relationship with former Spice Girl Melanie Brown. Then the tabloids went barmy as he split from a pregnant Brown and demanded a DNA test to see if the child was his, at the same time dating one Tracey Edmonds.
However, just as he appeared to have become mere tabloid fodder, Murphy came up with his first "serious" artistic success. This was in Dreamgirls, based on the hit Broadway musical and more or less telling the story of Sixties girl group The Supremes. Joining Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover, Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson in a stellar black cast, Murphy would star as James "Thunder" Early, a self-destructive soul sensation mixing scorching musical performances with cutting wit to brilliant effect. With the film tackling racism, social unrest and familial betrayal, it was a critical smash and a financial winner, too. And at last Murphy received the respect of his peers, being Oscar-nominated alongside Hudson.
Murphy wouldn't win the Oscar and it was often suggested that he lost because of his next production, Norbit. Here Murphy would play the titular hero, a weakling abused by his huge, mad wife (also played by Murphy). Teaming up with first love Thandie Newton, he must try to save Mr Wong's orphanage (Wong being Murphy again) from being turned into a titty bar by rapacious Cuba Gooding Jr, who'd made an early appearance as a kid getting his hair cut in Coming To America. Written by Murphy and his brother Charles, it was packed with fat-jokes and crude caricatures that many found offensive - perhaps the reason for the Oscar defeat - but the public lapped it up, and it was yet another mighty smash. The third installment of Shrek would then continue his run.
Having received $20 million each for Pluto Nash and the sequels to The Nutty Professor and Dr Dolittle, Murphy can perhaps try again for the empire he threatened to build when younger. He does give money away - to the AIDS Foundation, the Martin Luther King Jr Centre, various cancer charities, he donated $100,000 to the Screen Actors' Guild's strike relief fund - but he reinvests heavily in his own organisations. Having been burned so badly in his earlier career, he likes to surround himself with people he can trust too. His cousin Ray looks after him, his childhood friend Clint Smith is VP of his TV company, while Lillian and Vernon help out with Panda Merchandising, which controls the rights to Eddie's products. What he needs most, though, is a screenwriter he can trust and a director to control his excesses. After all, despite the billions of dollars he's generated for Hollywood, the only major film prize he has ever won is a Golden Raspberry for Harlem Nights. This situation needs to be addressed, and soon.

EDDIE MURPHY FILMOGRAPHY

There's not many comedians who transform themselves into film stars, then maintain their position at the top. But Eddie Murphy has somehow managed it, despite slipping for years into relative obscurity. Having broken through on Saturday Night Live, he then stormed the box-office with 48 Hrs and Beverly Hills Cop, lost it all, then charged back again with the barnstorming The Nutty Professor. Below we track his path from fame, to failure, to fame once more.

Shrek the Third (Voice) (2007)

Norbit (2007)

Dreamgirls (2006)

Far Far Away Idol (video, voice) (2004)

Father Of The Pride (TV, voice) (2004)

Shrek 2 (voice) (2004)

The Haunted Mansion (2003)

Shrek 4-D (short, voice) (2003)

Daddy Day Care (2003)

I Spy (2002)

The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)

Showtime (2002)

Dr Dolittle 2 (2001)

Shrek (voice) (2001)

Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (2000)

Bowfinger (1999)

Life (1999)

The PJs (voice, TV) (1999)

Dr Dolittle (1998)

Holy Man (1998)

Mulan (voice) (1998)

Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Eddie Murphy (video) (1998)

Metro (1996)

The Nutty Professor (1996)

Vampire In Brooklyn (1995)

Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994)

Dangerous: The Short Films (video) (1993)

Boomerang (1992)

The Distinguished Gentleman (1992)

Another 48 Hrs (1990)

What's Alan Watching ? (TV) (1989)

Harlem Nights (1989)

Coming To America (1988)

Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987)

Eddie Murphy Raw (video) (1987)

The Golden Child (1986)

The Joe Piscopo Video (1985)

Best Defence (1984)

Beverly Hills Cop (1984

Trading Places (1983)

Eddie Murphy Delirious (video) (1983)

48 Hrs (1982)

Saturday Night Live (TV series) (1980-84)

source: - here -

Tere is a weird world where inappropriateness is ok oh it is called Hollywood. Everyone wonders why their star children are all wacked out on designer drugs & are delinquents. If stupidity is their bliss then have at it idiots. Didn't that education do anything for you Tracey ? Your new loves alternative lifestyle will be your own wakeup reality check and then you'll think OMG… What was I think'n...
Eddie Murphy is a creep. He's refusing to have anything to do with his new daughter. But it's okay because she'll probably be the child that will be there for his ass when he's old and need somebody. The child is innocent. He should have but a hat on his stick. Dummy who wouldn’t have got pregnant by his ass for some more million $$$ ?
Anyway, I continue like Murphy as actor, screenplayer, producer and director, the worse side of his private life counting less for me.

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2008-01-02T02:38:00.001+02:00

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2008-01-02T02:36:00.000+02:00

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2008-01-02T02:35:00.000+02:00

Celebrity Gossips

2008-01-02T02:20:00.000+02:00

Jamie Lynn Spears: Sixteen and Pregnant
Yes, it's confirmed! Britney Spears' 16-year-old little sister, Jamie Lynn, is pregnant. The culprit ? Her 19-year-old live-in boyfriend, Casey Aldridge.
So what does big sis Brit think of all this ? She learned about it on Tuesday along with the rest of the world, and promptly went late-night shopping at Lisa Kline on Robertson and then checked into L'Ermitage hotel. When asked by the paparazzi about her sister's pregnancy, Britney responded, "My sister's not pregnant. Whatever".
And what about Jamie Lynn's employer, tween-friendly Nickelodeon ? They've released the following statement: “We respect Jamie Lynn’s decision to take responsibility in this sensitive and personal situation. We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family, and our primary concern right now is for Jamie Lynn’s well-being”.
Whatever. You know they're freaking out over there.
For what it's worth Jamie Lynn, good luck with this.
Read more - here -

So Where the Heck is Jamie-Lynn Spears' Baby Daddy ?
It doesn't appear that Casey Aldridge is quite prepared yet to become the next Kevin Federline.
I mean, what the hell would we call him ? C-Ald ? Case-dridge ? No, no, no. None of it works.
The media have descended on his tiny hometown of Gloster, Mississippi, but Casey has been nowhere to be found.
"I don't think they are ready yet to sit down and talk to the media", his uncle, a pastor in Gloster, Miss., told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday. "They haven't gotten their heads together yet ... He doesn't want to say the wrong thing to the media. At the right time he will speak ... He is a quiet guy. That is why it is going to be very difficult to corner him until everybody is ready to talk together on the same page. He doesn't like the limelight. He is going to hide as much as he can".
The uncle said Casey has gone into hiding for now, and denied reports that his nephew and JLS, who was a guest at Jackson's home this past Thanksgiving, were no longer together.
"I think they are going to try to stay together", he said. "They certainly don't want to part".
As for marriage ?
Jackson said Casey has told family members that "he wants to go ahead and get married as soon as possible".
He told reporters his nephew briefly attended a junior college in Mississippi but now works for a pipe-laying company in Baton Rouge, La. He attended school at Amite School Center in nearby Liberty, Miss., where he played football and baseball, principal Dan Brewer said.
Awwww.
Hiding from the media ? How quaint.
More read - here -

Dupa mine, "Ce naste din pisica, soareci mananca !"....

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2008-01-01T00:31:00.001+02:00

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Romanii ortodocsi sarbatoresc azi pe Sfantul Vasile cel Mare

2008-01-01T00:29:00.000+02:00

Un aparator al asistentei sociale: Sf. Vasile cel Mare

Un popas duhovnicesc asupra acestui sfant, chiar in vremurile noastre, cand se vorbeste asa de mult de asistenta sociala, nu ne poate fi decat folositor. Obstea crestinilor din tara noastra are ce invata din viata Sfantului Vasile cel Mare.
Luptator neinfricat pentru credinta cea adevarata si traitor al vietii neprihanite, Sfantul Vasile a fost, mai presus de orice, aparatorul saracilor, lipsitilor si bolnavilor.
Pregatit exceptional si impodobit cu alese insusiri, Sfantul Vasile a fost luat de Episcopul Eusebiu al Cesareei si asezat in treburile Bisericii ca preot si predicator al Mitropoliei Cesareei Capadociei. Cuvantarile sale au atras pe bogati, saraci si muncitori.
Dar Sfantul Vasile s-a facut cunoscut printr-o latura care tuturor trebuie sa ne fie la inima: asistenta sociala. Saracii, bolnavii, lipsitii au fost obiectivele si preocuparile acestui sfant.
In vremea lui s-a intamplat in Capadocia un mare cutremur, o indelungata seceta si o mare foamete. Cuvantarile rostite de el, in acel timp, sunt nemuritoare pana astazi. Si atunci erau saraci si bogati, suflete miloase si impietrite. Pe acestia cauta sa-i castige Sfantul Vasile, prin intelegerea evangheliei pacii, a iubirii, prin dezlegarea pungii, prin milostenie si ajutorare, fara ingenunchere si umilinta. "Foametea este cea mai grozava dintre toate nenorocirile omenesti, glasuieste Sfantul, cea mai infricosata dintre toate boalele si cea mai cruda dintre toate mortile. Ea sleieste sangele, stinge caldura naturala, consuma sanatatea, imputineaza fortele"... Foametea este un flagel social care trebuie remediat pe calea ajutorarii celui gasit in suferinta.
Mostenind de la parintii sai o mare avere, Sfantul Vasile a folosit-o numai in scopurile caritatii, a milosteniei crestine. El a ajutat pe bolnavi, pe saraci si pe lipsiti - crestini, pagani sau evrei - cu aceeasi dragoste si bunatate ca pe fiii Bisericii. Bunatatea sufleteasca si trairea milosteniei l-au ridicat pe Sfantul Vasile pe scaunul Mitropoliei Cesareei Capadociei, la anul 370, dupa moartea batranului Eusebiu. Ajuns in acel loc bisericesc, el a desavarsit opera sa de ajutorare prin infiintarea de asezaminte pentru saraci, calatori, batrani, bolnavi, orfani si leprosi, la marginea Cesareei. Chiar resedinta sa episcopala si-a mutat-o in cuprinsul asezamintelor sale de caritate sociala. Cu dreptate s-a spus ca Cesareea, in timpul Sfantului Vasile, ajunsese mai degraba un oras al asistentei sociale. Acolo, in acele asezaminte botezate "Vasiliade", fiecare boala, fiecare durere si fiecare nenorocire isi avea apartamentele sale si ingrijitorii sai speciali. Oamenii valizi de munca erau repartizati la diferite ateliere, muncind dupa puterile si priceperea lor. In fruntea fiecarei ramuri de munca era pus cate un reprezentant al Bisericii.
Intretinerea asezamintelor acestora de asistenta sociala, Sf. Vasile a facut-o din averile sale si ale Bisericii. Dar, la aceasta lucrare uriasa Sfantul a cautat sa trezeasca sentimentele alese, crestinesti ale bogatilor, prin aratarea ca, bogatiile sunt de la Dumnezeu, iar oamenii sunt numai administratorii lor intru ajutorarea semenilor lor. Bogatiile sunt in masura sa descuie portile Cerurilor cand, oamenii, dezbracati de egoism, de lux si de robia patimilor, inteleg sa traiasca Evanghelia iubirii si nesiliti de nimeni sa le imparta saracilor si suferinzilor. Cine nu face asa, este, dupa Sfantul Vasile, un om nedrept si lacom, un talhar public, care face nedreptate tuturor acelora a caror saracie ar putea-o alina.
Nimeni sa nu uite pe cei saraci, bolnavi si lipsiti. Asa dupa cum Sf. Vasile a infaptuit trairea caritatii crestine, sa ne silim, fiecare dintre noi, dezbracati de egoism, de patimi si lacomie sa venim in ajutorul fratilor lipsiti si nemangaiati, in masura puterilor noastre.

Mai multe despre Sf. Vasile cel Mare puteti afla de – aici -

Tuturor celor ce poarta prenumele de Vasile si derivatele sale le urez un sincer, LA MULTI ANI !!!

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2007-12-08T20:33:00.001+02:00

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Acest blog este deocamdata IN CONSTRUCTIE !

El va deveni complect functioal incepand din 1 Ianuarie 2008 !

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