Saturday, December 20, 2008

Who is Rachel Anne McAdams



Who is Rachel Anne McAdams? The world knows her as Rachel McAdams, a Canadian actress. She was born November 17, 1978)in London, Ontario and grew up in the nearby town of St. Thomas. Her father, Lance, is a truck driver, and her mother, Sandra, is a nurse. She has a younger brother, Daniel, and a younger sister, Kayleen. She took up competitive figure skating at the age of four and acting at the age twelve at a summer theatre camp in St. Thomas, Ontario named Original Kids. When the company extended to a year-round company (and eventually relocated to London, Ontario), she was invited to continue with them. She attended the Myrtle Street Public School and the publicly-funded secondary school Central Elgin Collegiate Institute in St. Thomas from grade nine to OAC and starred in the Award-winning student production I Live in a Little Town. Later she graduated from York University in Toronto with Honours and a BFA degree in Theatre. During her fourth year at York, she played a child in The Piper – a workshop led by a creative team from Toronto's Necessary Angel Theatre Company. She also attended Original Kids Theatre Company in London, Ontario, as well as David Rotenberg's on-camera acting class in Toronto with fellow actors Scott Speedman, Kenneth Mitchell, Polly Shannon and David Sutcliffe.


McAdams played the titular role in the film The Hot Chick alongside Rob Schneider, but her career really took off when she starred as Regina George, the "queen-bee" in 2004's Mean Girls. McAdams was told to partly model the character of Regina George after Alec Baldwin's performance in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). She was much older than the character she played. McAdams had previously appeared in the Canadian television series Slings and Arrows, alongside Paul Gross. She played a main role in the first season, but due to her rising stardom was written out of the second season, appearing in only the first episode. She followed Mean Girls with the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel The Notebook, alongside Ryan Gosling, with whom she would later begin an off-screen romance. They broke up in 2007. McAdams and Gosling were seen embracing each other at a restaurant near her Toronto home.

In 2005, she played Owen Wilson's love interest in Wedding Crashers and then starred in the suspense thriller Red Eye as Lisa Reisert, where she played a young woman held captive aboard a red-eye flight by criminal-for-hire and assassin Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). Rachel was in The Family Stone where she starred in an ensemble cast alongside Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, Brian J. White and Claire Danes. McAdams auditioned for the role of Sue Storm in Fantastic Four, and only just lost the part to Jessica Alba.

McAdam's career slowed down in 2006. She was originally signed on as the female lead in The Last Kiss but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, and the role was given to Jacinda Barrett. She decided to take a year off from acting, to spend time with friends and family. McAdams then signed on to star in the drama Married Life with Pierce Brosnan and Patricia Clarkson. She turned down the role of bond girl "Vesper Lynd" in the James Bond film Casino Royale. McAdams was also in-talks to star in Iron Man and The Dark Knight, but she declined both roles. She stated in an interview in May 2006 that she did not want to star in a big-budget action film because she wanted to pursue other projects.

Despite having appeared nude in The Notebook McAdams opted out of a cover shoot for Vanity Fair—in which she was to appear alongside two other young Hollywood actresses, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley—upon finding out it was to be nude. Tom Ford, artistic director for the cover, instead appeared with them. When McAdams appeared on set and discovered it was nude, she politely declined, according to Knightley.

The latest movie she starred in (as a reporter) is State of Play. Filming was originally scheduled to start in November 2007, but after the film lost its two leading actors, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the movie has been delayed, started in late January and wrapped production in April 2008.

In October 2008, McAdams was announced to be starring in Guy Ritchie's new film Sherlock Holmes - based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic stories. McAdams will play the role of Irene Adler alongside Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Filming began in October for release a year later. Also, she will be starring in David Fincher's next crime movie Ness alongside Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. She also signed on for Morning glory with Harrison Ford.



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Who is Amanda Laura Bynes


Amanda Laura Bynes is an American actress, former show host on Nickelodeon, singer and voice actor. After appearing in several successful television series on Nickelodeon in the mid-to late 1990s and early 2000s, Bynes transitioned to a film career, starring in several films aimed at teenage audiences, including She's the Man (2006) and Hairspray (2007).

Amanda Bynes has been described by The Boston Globe as having an "Everygirl" appeal. In 2006, she was named one of Teen People's "25 Hottest Stars Under 25", and in 2007, was on the Forbes list as the 5th highest paid celebrity under 21, earning $2.5 million.

Bynes was born April 3, 1986 in Thousand Oaks, California. She is the daughter of Lynn (née Organ), a dental assistant and office manager, and Rick Bynes, a dentist who also practiced stand-up comedy. Bynes has two older siblings, Tommy (born 1974), a chiropractor, and Jillian (born 1983), who has a Bachelor of Arts in History from UCLA and has also acted. Her maternal grandparents are from Toronto, Ontario. Bynes's father is Catholic and her mother is Jewish, and Bynes has referred to herself as Jewish though "not that religious".




Bynes graduated from Thousand Oaks High School's independent study program (though she attended La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks for some time) and has expressed a desire to attend New York University in the near future. She briefly moved into an apartment in Hollywood, California, but has since returned to her family home. Bynes is interested in drawing and fashion design, having commented that she is "the girl whose biggest nightmare would be to lose my makeup bag while traveling."
In 2007, she spoke out against becoming another wild Hollywood star. "I think I’ll go out as much as I’ve ever gone out... which is not a lot. I like to dance and stuff, but drinking isn’t good for you in every way. It’s not good for your skin; it makes you feel horrible. So, drinking-wise, no". She reinforced these ideas throughout the summer of 2007, on the talk show circuit, and in many press interviews. She told Access Hollywood, "I like being with my family and friends, and I don't need to be out at the clubs." In an interview in December 2007, Bynes detailed how her parents taught her about alcohol.
Amanda Bynes is currently dating Doug Reinhardt. They have been dating since Thanksgiving (2008). Doug Reinhardt confirmed their dating status, sending a statement to a news channel saying that they are (quote) "...officially dating and are very happy."

In 1993, Bynes was trained as an actress by Arsenio Hall and Richard Pryor at a comedy camp, and began professionally acting at the age of seven, appearing in a television advertisement for Buncha Crunch candies During her childhood, she also appeared on stage in versions of Annie, The Secret Garden, The Music Man and The Sound of Music. After taking acting classes, Bynes became a regular cast member of Nickelodeon's Figure It Out and All That (both in 1996). Bynes remained a regular cast member on All That until its presumed cancellation in 2000, though she appeared in the sketches since shooting and preparing as the star of her own sketch show The Amanda Show, also on Nickelodeon. The Amanda Show features a combination of comical skits and sketches, including Amanda Bynes playing Judge Trudy, a judge based on Judge Judy that always rules in kids' favor, and Penelope Taynt, an Amanda-obsessed fan.

Bynes made her film debut in 2002's modest box office success, Big Fat Liar, where she played opposite Frankie Muniz. Her first solo leading role was in 2003's What a Girl Wants, with co-star Oliver James. Subsequently, Bynes starred in The WB Television Network's sitcom What I Like About You and had voice parts in 2003's Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure and 2005's CGI animated comedy, Robots. She also co-starred in an episode of The Nightmare Room as Danielle Warner, and in Arliss as Crystal Dupree. Bynes appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's July 2003 edition with nine of Hollywood's most popular female young stars, including Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Alexis Bledel, Raven-Symoné, Evan Rachel Wood, the Olsen Twins, and Mandy Moore. Although she is often compared with them, Bynes has said that "It's like being the hot girl at the high school party. I was never that girl. I grew up with terrible acne and feeling insecure. I was tall and skinny. I didn't feel pretty at all, and guys didn't even like me. That's why I got into comedy." Bynes has also said that her relatability to teenage audiences may stem from the fact that she is "more similar to them than some... socialite or whatever".

In 2006, Bynes starred in She's the Man, a comedy based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; in the film, Bynes disguises herself as her brother in order to join the boys' soccer team due to the fall of the girls' team. Producers had originally wanted to cast singer Jesse McCartney as Bynes' brother, noting a physical resemblance between McCartney and Bynes disguised as a boy, but McCartney was unavailable. Around the time of the film's release, Bynes commented that she would like to start appearing in more mature roles, and believes that she is still developing her acting skills and maturing as an actress, saying that she is "getting better" with each role. Bynes appeared in another romantic comedy, Lovewrecked, which was shot before She's the Man but released after it, showing in cinemas outside of the United States in 2005 and 2006 and debuting in the U.S. on the ABC Family network on January 21, 2007. She also portrays Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. The movie, which was her first musical role, began filming in Toronto in September 2006 and was released on July 20, 2007. Bynes has stated that she enjoyed appearing in a "fun, quirky part in a big ensemble movie". Bynes next starred in another comedy, Sydney White, released on September 21, 2007. The film is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with Bynes playing a freshman in the college Greek system, co-starring alongside Sara Paxton and Matt Long.

In 2008, Bynes will appear in the Lifetime Television movie Living Proof as the student assistant of Harry Connick Jr.'s character, who creates the Herceptin drug for breast cancer. She is also rumored to appear in her first independent feature Bumped by Blue Crush scribe Lizzy Weiss.

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Who is Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren?

Who is Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren? The world knows her as Elin Nordegren Woods, she is ex-wife of professional golfer Tiger Woods. She was born January 1, 1980, in Stockholm, Sweden. She also used to be a former Swedish model.

Nordegren's mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a politician and former migration and asylum policy minister of Sweden, while her father, Thomas, is a radio journalist who has served as bureau chief in Washington, D.C. for the Swedish Broadcasting media. She has one older brother, Axel, and a twin sister, Josefin.

Nordegren and her twin sister Josefin had been working as au pairs for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik when he introduced her to Woods during the 2001 British Open. In November 2003, Woods and Nordegren attended the Presidents Cup tournament in South Africa and became officially engaged when Woods proposed at the luxury Shamwari Game Reserve. On October 5, 2004, they were married by the 19th hole at the exclusive Sandy Lane resort in Barbados. The ceremony reportedly cost over $1.5 million. Privacy was achieved by buying out the island's sole helicopter charter company and by booking the entire hotel - 200 rooms ranging in price from $700 to $8,000 per night.

On June 18, 2007, Woods announced the birth of their daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, early that morning, just a day after Woods finished second in the 2007 U.S. Open.

On September 2, 2008, Woods announced on his website they were expecting another child in late winter

Shortly after Nordegren's relationship with Woods became public, nude photographs of a woman resembling Nordegren began circulating on the internet, with text claiming it was, in fact, her. Nordegren, whose modeling work did include bikini photo shoots, vehemently denied that she has ever posed nude. The nude photographs claimed to be of Nordegren actually depict Playboy magazine model Kim Hiott, and most are derived from the 2000 edition of Playboy's "Nudes" special edition. Despite this identification and repeated denials from Nordegren and Woods, in September 2006 (immediately prior to the 2006 Ryder Cup) Irish magazine The Dubliner published an article "Ryder Cup Filth for Ireland," which displayed the nude photographs of Hiott and again claimed they were of Nordegren. Woods described the story as "unacceptable," and his agent Mark Steinberg said, "Everyone knew it wasn’t her. It's plain as day." Steinberg also said the couple was considering legal recourse against the magazine. The Dubliner issued an apology for the story, saying that they had printed the photos as a "satire of tabloid publishing."


Nordegren won the lawsuit and as part of the settlement accepted by a Dublin court, The Dubliner must publish its lengthy apology in a variety of venues, including in its next issue. If the magazine fails to meet the conditions the award will be increased to $366,500 and the publishers will have to pay Nordegren Woods' legal costs.

On June 18, 2007, Woods announced the birth of the couple's daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, a day after finishing second in the U.S. Open.[14] On September 2, 2008, Woods announced they were expecting another child in late winter.[15] Five months later it was announced that Elin had given birth to a boy, Charlie Axel, on February 8, 2009.[16]

In December 2009, her marriage to Woods was the subject of extensive media coverage after Woods admitted to infidelity, which had been revealed following his single-vehicle accident near the family's Florida home.[17] Woods subsequently announced he would take an "indefinite break" from golf to work on his marriage.[17] These efforts were unsuccessful, however, as Nordegren and Woods finalized their divorce in the Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Florida, on August 23, 2010.[18] Nordegren's legal team included her sister, Josefin (who is licensed to practice law in England and Sweden) and several of Josefin's U.S. colleagues at international law firm McGuireWoods.[19]




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Friday, December 19, 2008

Who is 7 pounds?


Seven Pounds is a drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino. Will Smith stars as a man who will change the lives of seven strangers.

The movie starts out with the main character, Ben Thomas, making a 911 call to report a suicide. When dispatch asks the identity of the victim Ben responds, "I am."

Early in the story, Ben is shown on the phone trying to start a fight with a blind telemarketer and pianist named Ezra Turner (Woody Harrelson). Despite attempts by Ben to infuriate him, Ezra does not fight back while taking some of Ben's stinging abuse and then hangs up the phone. Ben then recites the names of seven people from a list that was shown before his call to Ezra.

The movie then flashes back to the start of Ben's journey. He is an IRS agent who uses his position of power to get close to people and learn more about them. First, he meets Stewart Goodman (Tim Kelleher), a man who needs a bone marrow transplant. Goodman runs a nursing home, and upon his trip there, Ben realizes that Goodman is very cruel to his patients. He forced an old lady to take a drug against her will, and punished her by not letting her take a bath or shower. Ben angrily confronts Goodman about this and storms out. Goodman thinks all he is losing is time to pay his medical bills.

Ben then visits his friend Holly and with her help, he finds Connie, who is being abused by her boyfriend. He tells her he can drastically change her and her children's lives, but she refuses his help. Ben seeks out another friend of his, to whom he apparently donates blood.

Ben also seeks out Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), a woman whose heart is failing. He finds Emily at the hospital and follows her to her room. He observes her and another young patient named Nicholas, who also needs a bone marrow transplant. After Emily confronts Ben, he tells her he is from the IRS and that she hasn't paid her taxes because of her mounting medical bills. With time, Emily and Ben become lovers. Ben asks the hospital staff about her survival chances and is told that, given her blood type, Emily only has a 3-5% chance of finding a matching donor.

One rainy night, Ben is confronted by his brother, who is actually the real Ben Thomas. Will Smith's character's name is really Tim. Tim stole his brother's identification in order to use the IRS badge to find the people he's been looking for. After learning Emily's prognosis, he goes back to his apartment and makes the very same 911 call seen at the beginning of the movie. He fills the tub with ice water, climbs in and then drops in a deadly jellyfish. As the jellyfish stings him, the events in his life that prompted his suicide are shown. While riding in a car with his fiancée, he gets an email/text from work. While looking at his cell phone, he drifts into another lane and into oncoming traffic. The ensuing wreck kills his fiancée, as well as six other people who were riding in the bus his car hit. Because of Tim, seven people died. This is the list that Ben was reciting after his heated conversation with Ezra. There are also constant flashes to newspaper clippings he's collected of these seven innocent lives.

With the reason for Ben's sacrifice explained, the paramedics arrive and take 'Ben' to the hospital, where he dies. Emily receives his heart via a transplant.

At the end of the movie, it is revealed that Tim's brother, the real Ben Thomas, also needed a double lung transplant and that's what got 'Ben' started in donating his organs. He also donated part of his liver to an ailing woman, Holly, who is shown earlier in the movie. Emily cries hearing this news. She decides to seek out Ezra. When she finds Ezra, he is playing the piano at a big event with a children's choir performing behind him. He is no longer blind. Ben gave him his eyes. Gone are Ezra's blank blue eyes; now he has 'Ben's dark brown eyes. Ezra realizes who Emily is and as tears roll down her face, they embrace and the movie ends.

Tim Thomas had decided long ago to commit suicide and decided to donate his organs, but only to 'good' people who were deserving of such a gift. Hence, Tim tempted Ezra to get angry and discovered he was a good man. Tim refuses to help and did not donate his bone marrow to the caretaker Stewart Goodman, because he was a 'bad' man.

The seven people Tim helps are Emily Posa (whom he gives his heart to), Ezra Turner (whom he gives his eyes), Ben Thomas (whom he gives his lung), Holly (whom he gives his liver), Connie (whom he gives his house), Nicholas (whom he donates bone marrow) and George (whom he donates a kidney to in order to get off dialysis). Hence the title of the movie is finally revealed: 'Ben' Thomas donates seven pounds of flesh in order to seek redemption for the seven innocent lives he took that rainy night.

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Who is Alexandra Stevenson?


Who is Alexandra Stevenson? She is a professional tennis player from the United States. She was born December 15, 1980 in La Jolla, California.

In 1999, Stevenson, in her first appearance at Wimbledon, became the first woman qualifier in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals, and the second woman qualifier after Christine Matison in the 1978 Australian Open to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament.[2] In the fourth round, she saved one match point against Lisa Raymond in a 2–6, 7–6, 6–1 win. She then beat Jelena Dokić in three sets in the quarter-finals, before finally being knocked out in straight sets by the eventual champion, Lindsay Davenport. Stevenson joined Chris Evert and Anna Kournikova as the only women in recent times to reach the semi-finals on their Wimbledon debut.



As a junior player, Stevenson won the US Open girls' doubles title in 1997. She was ranked the No. 5 junior in the US in 1996.

Stevenson has been coached by her mother, Samantha Stevenson. The identity of her father was not publicly known at the time she became professional in 1999. But it was soon revealed that her father was the former NBA star Julius Erving, who had a relationship with Samantha Stevenson in 1980, when Stevenson was a sports writer in Philadelphia and Erving was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.



Stevenson suffered an extensive labral tear in her right shoulder in January 2003. She had surgery on September 21, 2004.

In 2006, following 18 months of shoulder strengthening, Stevenson began a baseball pitcher-type rehabilitation to gain muscle endurance in her shoulder. This required a similar baseball rehab program of innings in and innings out which resulted in retirements during tournaments.

Stevenson played in the qualifying round at the 2006 Wimbledon, but after defeating Jelena Dokić, a player that she had played in 1999 in the Wimbledon quarters, when they were both qualifiers, she suffered a pectoral strain and fell in the second round of qualifiers. At the 2006 Cincinnati Women's Open, she also had a successful run in the qualifying round, but continued shoulder pain caused her to fall in the 4th and final round to Chin-Wei Chen 3–6, 6–3, 7–5. Shoulder issues stayed with Stevenson through the first half of 2007.

Stevenson has announced that her shoulder is strong and she plans to play the second half of 2007. Stevenson intends to play a full schedule on the WTA Tour in 2008.



Stevenson is thought to the be the first player at Wimbledon to curtsy to the crowds in all directions after successfully completing her 1999 match against Jelena Dokić, claiming she was copying Andre Agassi, who had bowed to the crowd at the end of his matches. After this match, she regularly followed this procedure at the end of her matches.

Lisa Rinna

Who is Lisa Deanna Rinna? She is an American actress known as Lisa Rinna. The brown-haired, hazel-eyed actress Lisa Rinna was born July 11, 1963, in Medford, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon she moved to Los Angeles and got a job modeling for the Wilhemina Agency. From 1992 to 1995 (and 2002-03) she worked on Days of Our Lives before landing a part on Aaron Spelling's Melrose Place in 1996. She has appeared in several made-for television movies, including Night Sins; Winter Heat; Vanished; Close to Danger; Sex, Lies, and Obsession; and Another Woman's Husband.She most recently the host of SoapNet's Soap Talk. She competed in the second season of Dancing with the Stars and was eliminated in Round Seven based on audience voting, despite having had higher marks from the judges than fellow celebrity dancer Jerry Rice. Lisa Rinna also hosts the tv makeover program "Merge" on Lifetime. "Merge" takes viewers where no home decorating show has gone before by merging roommates with totally different styles. With a behind-the-scenes look at the actual design process, this new season will show the dilemmas leading up to a successful home makeover and the drama that ensues when abodes are transformed.


Rinna received national recognition when she first starred on NBC's Days of our Lives in the role of Billie Reed. She starred on said show from 1992 to 1995. She later switched from daytime TV to primetime playing Taylor McBride on Aaron Spelling's Melrose Place from 1996 to 1998. In 2002, Rinna was named co-host of Soap Talk, the daily lifestyle show that airs on SOAPnet, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination. In addition, she reprised the role of Billie Reed on Days of our Lives for a brief stint in 2002 and is now hosting the series Merge on Lifetime. Rinna starred in the Lifetime movie Sex, Lies & Obsession opposite husband Harry Hamlin. Her previous Lifetime movie, Another Woman With FAT Lips, boasted one of the highest ratings for a movie on Lifetime since 1999. She also guest-starred on an episode of Movie Stars for the WB, the first ever on-screen appearance she shared opposite her husband. Rinna nabbed her first role in the feature film Good Advice, starring Charlie Sheen and Jon Lovitz, and recently appeared in an episode of HBO's Entourage.


In 1998, Rinna created a stir when she posed for a nude pictorial while six months pregnant in the September issue of Playboy magazine.























Rinna married actor Harry Hamlin in 1997. They have two daughters, Delilah Belle (born 1998) and Amelia Gray (born 2001). They have performed together in a number of television and film productions. Rinna and Hamlin had recurring roles as a married couple on the first season of the television series Veronica Mars.

She performed on stage in 2007, including on Broadway, in the musical Chicago. Rinna has recently guest-hosted Live with Regis and Kelly.

In June 2006, SoapNet announced that it was canceling Soap Talk after four seasons due to low ratings.

In August 2007, Rinna replaced Joan Rivers as the host of TV Guide Network's red carpet coverage.

On December 4. 2008, TV Guide reported that Rinna and Hamlin have signed a deal to create a reality TV series based around their family life. The series is being developed by TV Land. more

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Rachel Weisz

Who is Rachel Hannah Weisz? She is an Academy Award-winning English actress.Her stage name is Rachel Weisz. She gained wide public recognition after her portrayal of Evelyn "Evy" Carnahan-O'Connell in the Hollywood films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. In 2001, she starred opposite Hugh Grant in the hit About a Boy and continued to garner leading roles in Hollywood productions. Her performance in The Constant Gardener (2006) won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with other major motion picture awards.

Weisz was born 7 March 1970 in Westminster, England, and grew up in the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Her mother, Edith Ruth (née Teich), is a Vienna-born Austrian teacher turned psychotherapist. Her father, George Weisz, is a Hungarian-born inventor whose family fled to England to escape Nazi persecution. Weisz's father is Ashkenazi Jewish and her mother has been referred to as either Catholic, Jewish,having Jewish ancestry, and being of part Italian descent. Weisz was raised in a cerebral Jewish household and refers to herself as Jewish. Weisz has a sister, Minnie Weisz, who is an artist.

Weisz was educated at North London Collegiate School. She was then sent to Benenden School and eventually settled in St Paul's Girls' School. She then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she graduated with a 2:1 in English. During her university years she appeared in various student productions, co-founding a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues, which went on to win a Guardian Student Drama Award at the Edinburgh Festival for an improvised piece called Slight Possession.


Having already worked for television, with parts in major UK series such as Inspector Morse (1993), Weisz started her cinema career in 1995 with Chain Reaction and then appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty. She followed this work with more English films including My Summer with Des, Swept from the Sea, The Land Girls, and Michael Winterbottom's I Want You. Although she received favourable critical recognition for her work to this point, her breakout into wide audience recognition came from a popular serio-comic horror movie The Mummy, in which she played the lead female role alongside Brendan Fraser. She followed this up with two hits, The Mummy Returns (2001), which grossed higher than the original, and About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant. Since then, her other film work has included Runaway Jury (2003) and Constantine (2005).

In 2005, Weisz starred in Fernando Meirelles's The Constant Gardener, a film adaptation of a John le Carré thriller of the same title set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. For this performance, Weisz won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. In her home country, she was recognised as a leading role for the film according to the nomination from the BAFTA awards and winnings from the London Critics Circle Film Awards and British Independent Film Awards.

The same year, she starred in The Fountain and also provided the voice for Saphira in the much-criticized film Eragon. Her 2008 films include the Wong Kar-wai-directed drama My Blueberry Nights (in which she played an "anti-Southern belle")and director Rian Johnson's upcoming The Brothers Bloom, in which she plays a wealthy American woman targeted by two con man brothers (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo). She will also play the lead in the multi-million motion picture Agora, which is currently set to be released in 2009. She is aslo rumoured to be playing Catwoman in the upcoming Batman Film.

Her breakthrough role was that of Gilda in Welsh director Sean Mathias's 1995 West End revival of Noel Coward's 1933 play Design for Living at the Gielgud Theatre. Her other stage work includes the role of Catherine in a London production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer and Evelyn in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things at the Almeida Theatre (also film) at its, then, temporary location in London's Kings Cross. In 2009 she will play Blanche du Bois in a Donmar revival of A Streecar Named Desire.


Weisz is engaged to American film-maker Darren Aronofsky. They have been dating since 2002. They have a son, Henry Chance, born on 31 May 2006 in New York City. The couple reside in the East Village in Manhattan. They are considering getting married in a traditional wedding ceremony at the oldest synagogue in New York. more
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Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Undertaker


Who is Mark William Calaway? He is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name The Undertaker. He was born March 24, 1965. Calaway made his debut in 1984 in the Dallas, Texas based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) under the ring name "Texas Red". He wrestled and lost his first match against Bruiser Brody. In 1988, after four years in the promotion, he left. After leaving WCCW, Mark joined the CWA (which became the USWA after Jerry Jarrett merged CWA with WCCW) and wrestled under several gimmicks. On April 1, 1989, he was booked to win his first professional wrestling title, the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Jerry "The King" Lawler, under the stage name "The Master of Pain". While performing as the "The Punisher", Calaway won the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship on October 5, 1989 when Eric Embry forfeited the title.[12]

His first mainstream exposure was in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). While there, he was known as "Mean" Mark Callous and wrestled as part of the Skyscrapers tag team along with "Dangerous" Dan Spivey managed by Teddy Long.[13] During his time in the Skyscrapers, he and Spivey were involved in a feud with the Road Warriors,[14] but Spivey left before the feud came to an end. Calaway then took on the guidance of Paul E. Dangerously and muscled his way through Brian Pillman and Johnny Ace. His most famous match in WCW was against Lex Luger for the NWA United States Championship at The Great American Bash, which he lost when Luger pinned him after a clothesline. WCW declined to renew Calaway's contract, after losing his last match to Sting on September 1, 1990 at a house show. Calaway then briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling as Punisher Dice Morgan and in October 1990, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

After leaving WCW, he briefly returned to the USWA to participate in a tournament to determine the new USWA Unified World Heavyweight champion; he defeated Bill Dundee in the first round, but lost to Jerry Lawler in the quarterfinals.
He is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), wrestling on its SmackDown brand.

Calaway began his wrestling career with World Class Championship Wrestling in 1984. He joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1989. When WCW did not renew Calaway's contract in 1990, in November of that year he joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, which later became the WWE in 2002). Having remained with that company ever since, Calaway is currently one of the senior performers in WWE. He is one of only two wrestlers, the other being Shawn Michaels, to have appeared on the very first episode of Raw who are still with the company today.[7]

He is undefeated at WrestleMania with a 16-0 record (sometimes referred to as simply The Streak) and is a six-time world champion (four-time WWE Champion and two-time World Heavyweight Champion). He was also the winner of the 2007 Royal Rumble in which he became the first man to have ever won the rumble starting at number 30.


Calaway is the son of Frank and Catherine Calaway, and is one of five brothers with David, Michael, Paul and Timothy. He graduated from Waltrip High School in 1983, where he was a member of the basketball team. Calaway first married Jodi Lynn in 1989, and they had a son, Gunner, born in 1993, before the marriage ended in 1999. Calaway met his second wife, Sara, at a WWF autograph signing in San Diego, California.[90] He eventually married her in a ceremony in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 21, 2000. Mark and Sara have two daughters together: Chasey, born in 2002, and Gracie, born in 2005.[1] The two have since divorced and Calaway is currently dating WWE Diva Michelle McCool.

As a wedding gift to Sara, Calaway had his wife's name tattooed onto his throat and has said this is the most painful tattoo he has ever had. In 2007, the tattoo was removed from all WWE photos showing Undertaker's throat, most notably on the cover of the November issue of WWE Magazine and in pictures throughout. Undertaker has several other tattoos: a gravedigger, which he refers to as "Original Deadman", skulls, a castle, and a wizard. When talking about his body art, he has said that there is kind of a medieval thing going-on on his arms. He also has a dancing skeleton on the back of his neck. He also has a tattoo on his stomach that says BSK Pride, which means Bone Street Krewe.

Aside from wrestling, Calaway has many hobbies and interests. He collects Harley-Davidson and West Coast Choppers motorcycles and purchased his first brand new motorcycle after defeating Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship at the 1991 Survivor Series. Calaway has also had a custom motorcycle built for him by Jesse James, the founder of West Coast Choppers. He is a massive fan of Nick Cave and all his musical endeavors (The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds). He also enjoys listening to bands like ZZ Top, AC/DC, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Black Label Society. Calaway also enjoys country music and blues music.
As an avid boxing fan, Calaway was also the person who carried the Flag of the United States while leading Team Pacquiao to the ring during the Pacquiao vs. Velázquez fight in 2005.[93] This was also confirmed by fellow wrestler Batista in a televised interview for the Philippine news program TV Patrol World. Calaway is also an avid Mixed Martial Arts fan and has attended several Ultimate Fighting Championship shows.

As The Undertaker had been absent from the WWE due to his 2007 arm injury, Calaway began getting into real estate with his partner Scott Everhart. Calaway and Everhart finished construction on a $2.7m building in Loveland, Colorado. The building, filled with upscale office space, is named the "The Calahart", a portmanteau of their last names. Calaway has said that being a TV star certainly helps him in the real estate business, and he was quoted saying "by no means does it seal the deal, but people do want to sit down and talk with you. It helps us get to meet a lot of people and know what we’re trying to get accomplished."

Calaway has also established The Zeus Compton Calaway Save the Animals fund at the Texas A&M's Veterinary Teaching Hospital to help pay for lifesaving treatments for large-breed dogs.[95] The fund was established as a memorial to his beloved Mastiff Zeus, who died in 2004. more To see more who is click here

Who is Cheryl Bautista Burke?



Who is Cheryl Bautista Burke? The world knows her has Cheryl Burke. She was born May 3, 1984 and Burke grew up in Atherton, California. She is a two time Emmy nominated professional dancer. As the professional dancer partner, she won the competition in the second and third seasons of ABC's American version of Dancing with the Stars with celebrity dance partners Drew Lachey (February 2006) and Emmitt Smith (November 2006). She was the first professional dancer to win two Dancing with the Stars championships and in any competition. In season 4 went to week 9 with Beverly Hills 90210 star Ian Ziering. Season 5 she was partnered with Las Vegas Legend Wayne Newton, they were emliminated week 3. Season 6 she made it to the finals and placed 3rd with actor Cristian De Le Fuente. Season 7 she was eliminated week 9 with partner Maurice Green, the former Worlds Fastest man. Cheryl says a Girl named Kelsey is her biggest fan, and she loves that she can inspire her.

She is of Filipino, Russian, Irish descent. Her family dances recreationally and have a dance floor at home. At 4 years of age she began taking ballet lessons and performing locally. She then began ballroom dancing and decided to change her focus. She trained in both standard ballroom and Latin dances. She began competing at age 13. Cheryl has two sisters, Mandy and Nicole. Burke is a 2002 graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School.

Burke won her first championship with 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey in the second season. She won her second championship with retired football star Emmitt Smith in the third season.

Burke returned to the ballroom on March 19, 2007 for Season 4, partnered with actor Ian Ziering. Cheryl and Ian were eliminated in the semi-finals on May 15, 2007.

She participated in a 38-city Dancing with the Stars Tour from December 19, 2006 to February 11, 2007. She joined the second summer tour which visited 24 cities between June 20, 2007 in Austin, Texas and July 24, 2007 in Vancouver, Canada. Her celebrity partner for both tours was Drew Lachey.

Cheryl competed on Season 5. Her partner was Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. They were the third couple eliminated from the competition on October 9, 2007.

Cheryl recently participated with both Lachey & Newton in the Dancing with the Stars winter tour that kicked off December 18, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. The tour wrapped in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 10, 2008.

Cheryl competed on Season 6 and was partnered with actor Cristián de la Fuente. They made it to the finals and on May 20, 2008, Cheryl and Cristián placed 3rd in the season 6 competition.

Cheryl returned to the show for Season 7 with partner Maurice Greene. They were eliminated in Week 8 on November 11, 2008 and came in 5th place.


2005 World Cup Professional Rising Star Latin Champion
2005 San Francisco Latin Champion
2005 Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Latin Champion
UK Championships
4th in U.S. in the "Under 21s."
Dancing with the Stars champion season 2 with Drew Lachey
Dancing with the Stars champion season 3 with Emmitt Smith Burke is the youngest nominee to ever receive nominations in that category.


Cheryl lives in Los Angeles, and has recently returned to her childhood home in the Bay Area to support local schools. In March 2006, she helped the International School of the Peninsula (ISTP) in Palo Alto, CA, raise $250,000 for its educational programs. The following weekend, along with DWTS runner-up Jerry Rice, she helped Menlo School raise funds for their school. Her sister and his son both attend that school. A one-hour dance lesson in her house ballroom sold for $31,000.

Cheryl, along with Louis van Amstel and Ashly DelGrosso, appeared on the September 22, 2006 episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, titled Loosely Ballroom.

Burke appeared in the May 2007 issue of Stuff Magazine and the October 2007 issue of Maxim.

Cheryl, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Drew Lachey appeared on the October 14, 2007 episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

On October 20, 2007, Cheryl won the Role Model Award at the 7th Annual Filipino/American Library Gala.

The "Cheryl Burke Dance" studio opened April 4th, 2008 in San Francisco, CA with assistance from Burke's mother Sherri, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, retired San Francisco 49er Jerry Rice and several other dance professionals.

Cheryl dated Matthew Lawrence but they broke up in early 2008. Cheryl stated on DWTS subsequent 2008 season 6 that she is "happily single".

Cheryl appears the The Game's music video for Camera Phone. She is the woman in black dancing with Ne-Yo.

Who is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.


Who is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.? The world knows him by his stage name of Lil Wayne. Formerly a member of the rap group the Hot Boys, he joined the Cash Money Records collective as a teenager. He worked with B.G. on the album True Story and eventually recorded for the label. Get It How U Live, released in 1997, was Lil Wayne's first album with Hot Boys, and Tha Block is Hot, his solo debut, came out 1999. Block debuted in the top ten on the American Billboard 200 chart and Lil Wayne was nominated for "Best New Artist" from The Source magazine the same year. Following this success, Wayne soon featured on other rappers' singles, including "Bling Bling" by B.G. and "#1 Stunna" by the Big Tymers in 2000.

After his hit debut album Tha Block Is Hot and two more albums released with little promotion, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity with 2004's Tha Carter and its two subsequent albums Tha Carter II (2005) and Tha Carter III (2008). He appears on several mixtapes and singles of other artists.


He was born September 27, 1982, he grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School. At age eleven, he met Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne recorded freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine; Williams would eventually mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs. When he was 12, he played the part of the Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of The Wiz. He dropped out of school at age 14 but later earned his GED.

1997, Lil Wayne formed the group Hot Boys along with rappers Juvenile, Turk, and B.G.; at age 15, Wayne was the youngest member at that time. Hot Boys' debut album Get It How U Live! was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare, which reached #1 on the Billboard magazine Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #5 on the Billboard 200. During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We On Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare. Lil Wayne was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.[8] Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded during 1999 and 2000, came out in 2003, several years after the group disbanded. It reached #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #14 on the Billboard 200.

Lil Wayne's debut solo album Tha Block Is Hot at age 17 featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys and went double platinum, climbing to #3 on the Billboard album charts. The album earned him a 1999 Source magazine award nomination for "Best New Artist", and also became a Top Ten hit. The lead single was "Tha Block Is Hot". After the release of Tha Block is Hot, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "Bling Bling", with B.G., Juvenile, Turk, and Big Tymers.

Wayne has a daughter named Reginae Carter with Antonia "Toya" Johnson, his high school sweetheart. The two were married on Valentines Day of 2004; they divorced in 2006. During his acceptance speech for "Lyricist of the Year" at the 2008 BET Awards, Lil Wayne announced that he is expecting a son. His newborn son is, Dwayne Carter III, was born Oct. 22 at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. The child's mother is still unknown. In an interview with Blender, Lil Wayne revealed one of his favorite bands from childhood to be rock group Nirvana, and cites them as a major influence in his music.

He has announced several possible projects following Tha Carter III, including a collaboration album I Can't Feel My Face with rapper Juelz Santana that has been in production for several years. On the website HipHopDX.com, he has discussed a possible R&B album titled Luv Sawngz, for which he will heavily rely on a vocoder. He has also talked with singer Lloyd about doing a collaboration album in the future. DJ Drama stated that there would be a third installation of the Dedication mixtape series with Lil Wayne, who has instead stated that he will do an full album under the title. In interviews, Wayne has asserted that he might make an album titled Tha Carter IV. On June 19, 2008, Lil Wayne and T-Pain formed a supergroup called T-Wayne and planned to release an album.

The lineup for New Orleans' 2008 Voodoo Experience concert, to be held in October, will feature Lil Wayne. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard magazine reported that the event will mark his biggest hometown headlining set of his career. Lil Wayne will be reuniting with Hot Boys alongside Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. They plan to release an album after B.G.'s solo album Too Hood to Be Hollywood is completed. Wayne also performed as the 2008 Virgin Mobile Music Fest with Kanye West, performing his "Lollipop (remix)" featuring West and also lip-syncing to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". Lil Wayne also performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards with Kid Rock ("All Summer Long"), Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and T-Pain ("Got Money"). Lil Wayne was also featured on the 34th season premiere episode of Saturday Night Live as the musical guest and is also set to perform at Vanderbilt University's homecoming on October 23. Wayne was then revealed to be performing at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Ludacris, T-Pain, The Game, and Young Jeezy among others, where he leads all nominations with 12 total. He won 6 of them, and one with Dj Khaled for the song "Out Here Grindin'." He is expected to start a nationwide tour, practising with a live band and working on logistics. It was revealed that M.I.A. dropped out of performing on the tour due to her pregnancy, however Jay Z is expected to perform with Wayne on the song "Mr. Carter" at select shows.

In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Wayne stated that Tha Carter IV is "nice" but fans should be looking for Dedication 3 with DJ Drama. Following Tha Carter III's achievement of selling over 2 million copies, becoming 2008's best record, Wayne re-signed with Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal. On September 24, Lil Wayne published his first blog for ESPN in their issue, ESPN The Magazine. Wayne revealed he was a tennis fan, a Green Bay Packers fan, a Boston Bruins fan, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, and a Boston Red Sox fan.

On November 11, 2008, Wayne became the first hip-hop act to ever perform at the Country Music Awards. He played alongside Kid Rock for the song, "All Summer Long", in which Wayne did not rap but instead played guitar along Kid Rock's band. Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys - the most for an artist nominated.


On January 23, 2008, Lil Wayne was arrested alongside two others. His tour bus was stopped by Border Patrol agents near Yuma, Arizona. A K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams of marijuana (3.7 ounces), almost 29 grams of cocaine (1.02 ounces), 41 grams of MDMA (1.4 ounces) and $22,000 dollars in cash. Lil Wayne was charged with four felonies: possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was granted permission to travel outside of the state and remain out of custody on the $10,185 bond he posted. On May 6, 2008 Wayne returned to court in Arizona to plead not guilty to the charges.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Who is Madonna Louise Ciccone?


Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone, the world knows her as Madonna. She was born in Bay City, Michigan in 1958. Her mother, Madonna Louise (née Fortin), was of French Canadian descent, and her father, Silvio "Tony" P. Ciccone, was a first-generation Italian American Chrysler/General Motors design engineer whose parents originated from Pacentro, Abruzzo, ItalyMadonna is the third of six children; her siblings are Martin, Anthony, Paula Mae, Christopher, and Melanie.

Madonna was raised in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Her mother died of breast cancer at age 30 on December 1, 1963. Her father married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children; Jennifer and Mario Ciccone. "I didn't accept my stepmother when I was growing up," Madonna said, "in retrospect I think I was really hard on her." Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet classes. Madonna attended St. Frederick's Elementary School and St. Andrew's Elementary School (present day Holy Family Regional) and West Middle School. She attended Rochester Adams High School, becoming a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad. Madonna received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan after graduating from high school. After performing as member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album in 1983, and then produced three consecutive number-one studio albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1980s and four more since year 2000.

Madonna is known for her works that explore religious symbolism and sexual themes which also drew criticism from the Vatican in the late 1980s.[2] In 1992, she founded an entertainment company, Maverick, which published a book of photographs (Sex). She also released a studio album (Erotica) and starred in a film (Body of Evidence) with erotic themes. These works generated negative publicity and coincided with a fall in commercial sales in the 1990s.Madonna's career was revived in 1998, when the release of her album Ray of Light garnered critical acclaim.

Madonna has acted in 22 films. Although many failed critically and commercially, she earned a Golden Globe Award for her role in the 1996 film Evita. In 1996 Madonna conceived a daughter, Lourdes Maria (also known as Lola) by personal trainer Carlos Leon before marrying film director Guy Ritchie in 2000. She and Ritchie have two sons, Rocco and David Banda, a Malawian boy they adopted in 2006, which caused media allegations they violated that country's adoption laws.

Madonna has been regarded as "one of the greatest pop acts of all time" and dubbed the "Queen of Pop" by various sources. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the twentieth century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States with 63 million certified albums. Guinness World Records list her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and the top-earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of US$490 million, having sold over 200 million records worldwide. On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Madonna's ballet teacher persuaded her to pursue a career in dance, so she left the college at the end of 1977 and relocated to New York City. Madonna had little money and for some time lived in squalor, working at Dunkin' Donuts and with modern dance troupes. Speaking of her move to New York, Madonna said, "It was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi cab. I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done." While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist Patrick Hernandez on his 1979 world tour, Madonna became romantically involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club, in New York. In it, she sang and played drums and guitar before forming the band Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray. She and Bray wrote and produced dance songs that brought her local attention in New York dance clubs. Disc jockey and record producer Mark Kamins was impressed by her demo recordings, so he brought her to the attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.


In the late 1970s, Madonna dated Dan Gilroy, with whom she formed the band Breakfast Club. In the early 1980s, she dated her collaborator Stephen Bray, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, DJ and record producer Mark Kamins, and musician Jellybean Benitez. While filming the music video for "Material Girl" in 1985, Madonna dated actor Sean Penn and married him later that year. After filing and withdrawing divorce papers in December 1987, they separated on New Year's Eve 1988 and divorced in January 1989. Of her marriage to Penn, Madonna said, "I was completely obsessed with my career and not ready to be generous in any shape or form." Madonna then began a relationship with Warren Beatty while working on the film Dick Tracy. The couple broke up in the fall of 1990, after a year and a half together.


Madonna with husband Guy RitchieIn late 1990, Madonna dated Tony Ward, a bisexual model and porn star who starred in her music videos for "Cherish" and "Justify My Love" (1990). Their relationship ended by early 1991, and Madonna began an eight-month relationship with rapper Vanilla Ice, who appeared in her Sex book.[180] Madonna dated basketball player Dennis Rodman in the mid 1990s. In September 1994, in Central Park, Madonna met fitness trainer Carlos Leon who became her trainer and lover. On October 14, 1996, Madonna gave birth to Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon in Los Angeles, California. Madonna dated Andy Bird, who sold his story about their eighteen-month relationship in late 2000. Madonna became involved with Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999 through mutual friends Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler. On August 11, 2000, she gave birth to their son, Rocco in Los Angeles. On December 22, 2000, Madonna and Ritchie were married in Scotland. As of 2008, Madonna resides in Marylebone, London and her country estate in Berwick St. John, Wiltshire, with Ritchie, their two sons, and her daughter. On October 15, 2008, a spokeswoman confirmed that Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have filed for divorce in October 2008. A preliminary decree of divorce was granted Friday, November 21, 2008, and will become final on Friday, January 2, 2009. On November 21, 2008, TV Guide reported that Madonna and Ritchie were granted a preliminary “quickie divorce.” The document released by the court states that Madonna, said in a sworn statement that the reason for filing for her divorce is due to Ritchie's "unreasonable behavior."By December 15, 2008, the couple had agreed a divorce settlement, the terms of which grant Richie between £50million and £60million, a figure that includes the value of the couple's country house in England. Custody of the couple's children has yet to be finalised.



Her Confessions Tour is the highest grossing concert tour by a female artist. In the United Kingdom, she is the most successful female in the singles chart history and has more number one singles than any other female solo artist. In 2008, she surpassed Elvis Presley as the artist with most top ten hits in the history of Billboard Hot 100. In 2007, Madonna was listed by VH1 as eighth in the Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

There has been speculation about her relationships with other women, including Naomi Campbell and Sandra Bernhard. The book Sex depicts her in sexual situations with men and women, and she has been credited with educating people about bisexuality. Madonna has been criticized by the Roman Catholic Church, particularly during her "Who's That Girl", "Blond Ambition" and "Confessions" tours. The New York Times journalist and author Gay Talese relates this to her Italian ancestry – people from Pacentro have been in a long tradition of rebellion against Catholics. Madonna had her son Rocco baptized in a Presbyterian Church.

Madonna has generated academic interest. Interdisciplinary research and publications address her relationship to and place within commodity culture, the mass-media spectacles she creates, and the iconography of minority groups such as gay and lesbian people, which she uses in videos such as those for "Vogue", "Like a Prayer", "La Isla Bonita" and "Borderline". These publications were so extensive that in the 1990s, academics would refer to "Madonna Studies" as a sub-field of media studies.

In 2006 a new water bear species (Latin: Tardigrada), Echiniscus madonnae, was named after Madonna. The paper with the description of E. madonnae was published in the international journal of animal taxonomy Zootaxa in March 2006 (Vol. 1154, pages: 1–36). The authors' justification for the name of the new species was: "We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times, Madonna Louise Veronica Ritchie." The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) number of the species is 711164. more

Who is Luigi "Geno" Auriemma?

W ho is  Luigi   " Geno "   Auriemma? The college basketball world recognizes him as the most successfull division 1  college bas...