Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Mr.Bean(Rowan Atkinson)


Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English comedian, actor and writer, famous for his title roles in the British television comedies Blackadder and Mr. Bean.
Atkinson has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.

Early life
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in Consett, County Durham in 1955. His parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and his wife Ella May (née Bambridge), who had married on 29 June 1945. His elder brother, Rodney Atkinson, is a eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the United Kingdom Independence Party leadership election in 2000.
He was educated at Durham Choristers School, followed by St Bees School, and studied electrical engineering at Newcastle University. He continued with an MSc at The Queen's College, Oxford, first achieving notice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1976. At Oxford, he also acted and performed early sketches for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), the Oxford Revue and the Experimental Theatre Club (ETC), meeting writer Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate during his career.

Film career
Atkinson's film career began in 1983 with a supporting part in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again and a leading role in Dead on Time with Nigel Hawthorne. He appeared in former Not the Nine O'Clock News co-star Mel Smith's directorial debut The Tall Guy in 1989. In 1993 he played a part on Hot Shots! Part Deux, a parody of Rambo starring Charlie Sheen.
Atkinson, with his turn as a verbally bumbling vicar, gained further recognition in the 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral. That same year he featured in Walt Disney's The Lion King as Zazu the Hornbill. Atkinson continued to appear in supporting roles in successful comedies, including Rat Race (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), and Love Actually (2003).
In addition to his supporting roles, Atkinson has also had success as a leading man. His television character Mr. Bean debuted on the big screen in 1997 with Bean to international success. A sequel, Mr. Bean's Holiday, was released in March 2007 and may be the last time he plays the character. He has also starred in the James Bond parody Johnny English in 2003. Keeping Mum (2005, released in the U.S. in 2006) was a departure for Atkinson, starring in a straight role.



Comedic style
Atkinson was a stutterer as a child, a condition which sometimes returns when he is in stressful situations. In particular, the "B" sound posed a problem for him. He managed to overcome this through over-articulation; this evolved into one of his better-known trademark comic devices, such as his pronunciation of "Bob" in a Blackadder episode. Another trademark is his Received Pronunciation (RP) English accent.
Because of this condition, Atkinson's style is often visually-based and rigorously rehearsed in part to ensure any stress-induced stutter is minimised. This visual style, which has been compared to Charlie Chaplin, sets Atkinson apart as most modern television and film comedies rely heavily on dialogue, and stand-up comedy is mostly based on monologues. This talent for visual comedy has led to Atkinson being called "the man with the rubber face".


Personal life
Atkinson married Sunetra Sastry in 1990, having met her professionally on the set of Blackadder. They married quietly at the Russian Tea Room in New York City, U.S., with Stephen Fry acting as the best man. The couple have two children, Lily and Benjamin, and live in the Oxfordshire village of Waterperry.
In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the UK's most prominent actors and writers, including Nicholas Hytner and Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill — on the grounds that the Bill would give religious groups a "weapon of disproportionate power" whose threat would engender a culture of self-censorship among artists.


Cars
With an estimated wealth of £100 million, Atkinson is able to indulge in a passion for cars that began with driving his mother's Morris Minor around the family farm. He has written for the British magazines Car and Evo.
Atkinson also holds a UK HGV licence, gained because trucks held a fascination for him, and to ensure employment as a young actor.
A lover of and participant in car racing, he appeared as racing driver Henry Birkin in the television play Full Throttle in 1995. In 1991, he starred in the self-penned "Driven Man", a series of sketches featuring Atkinson driving around London trying to solve his car-fetish, and discussing it with taxi drivers, policemen, used-car salesmen and psychotherapists.
Atkinson's car collection is dominated by Aston Martins, including the Vanquish used in Johnny English. His Aston Martin V8 Zagato, featuring a registration plate "COM1C",[9] was driven by his character Dexter in the film The Tall Guy. Atkinson was cited for speeding in the car, just as his character was in the movie. Atkinson received a driving ban as a result of the incident.[10] He also races in his Aston Martin V8 Zagato, from which he escaped unhurt after crashing it into a barrier at an Aston Martin owners’ club event in Yorkshire in 2001. Atkinson also owns an Aston Martin Virage.

Atkinson has also raced in other cars, including a Renault 5 Turbo for two seasons. He owns two McLaren F1s,[citation needed] one of which was involved in an accident with an Austin Metro. Other cars he owns include an Audi A8, a green Ferrari 456GT with raspberry leather, three Mercedes-Benzes including a silver taxi Mercedes-Benz 500E with over 320hp, and also a Bentley Mulsanne, Honda Civic Hybrid, Lancia Delta Integrale, MG XPower SV, and Subaru Sherpa.

One car he will not own is a Porsche: "I have a problem with Porsches. They're wonderful cars, but I know I could never live with one. Somehow, the typical Porsche people — and I wish them no ill — are not, I feel, my kind of people. I don't go around saying that Porsches are a pile of dung, but I do know that psychologically I couldn't handle owning one." He appeared to relent from this position when reviewing a Porsche 965 for Car magazine in the early-1990s.
-Television career:






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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Da Weasel(Pacman)

Da Weasel is a Portuguese hip-hop band from Almada. They are fronted by MCs Pacman and Virgul. Da Weasel is one of the oldest hip-hop projects in Portugal, having started in 1993. They are notorious for being a full session band, instead of relying on a DJ and samples. Their music uses elements from hard rock, pop and ska.


Da Weasel's first release the EP More Than 30 Motherfuckers, featured only six songs, all in English. The group featured Pacman as the MC, Pedro Quaresma, Jay Jay Neige and Guilherme Silva on live instruments, Yen Sung as backup vocalist and Armando Teixeira as DJ and producer. The following year, in 1994, the band rode the wave of the Rapública compilation, which presented Portuguese hip-hop to the mainstream audience, by releasing their first full album, Dou-lhe Com A Alma. This time, the band wrote all the songs in Portuguese, incorporating influences from Cypress Hill and Public Enemy.

Before production of their third release (3º Capítulo) in 1997, Yen Sung left the band to start a career as an acid jazz producer, as well as DJing. She was replaced by Virgul, a rapper/singer which introduced a few ragga and afro elements to the band's sound, as was seen in the singles "Todagente" and "Duia", with Virgul imposing his personality without outshining main MC Pacman. Da Weasel also went on tour for the first time.

In 1999, after taking part in Mario Caldato Jr.'s Tejo Beat compilation and the Xutos & Pontapés tribute album XX Anos - XX Bandas, Da Weasel went back to the studio to record their fourth album, Iniciação A Uma Vida Banal - O Manual. The critically acclaimed album was the band's first silver record, and helped pull increase their previous release sales enough to grant them a second silver. Da Weasel also served as a warm-up act to Red Hot Chili Peppers' concert at the Atlantic Pavillion in Lisbon.

Armando Teixeira then left the band to pursue a solo career, and experienced pop-rock producer Mário Barreiros helming the recording of Podes Fugir Mas Não Te Podes Esconder in 2001. Da Weasel's work now blended influences from hip-hop, heavy metal, reggae and African music to produce a unique melange that was still undeniably Portuguese. Paris-based Cuban hip-hop trio Orishas was featured on the album. Podes Fugir... soon rose up to gold and later platinum record sales.

In 2004, Mário Barreiros was replaced by João Martins as producer, and DJ Glue joined the band as live DJ, filling a spot vacant for three years. They helped Da Weasel reinvent themselves on their latest album, Re-Definições, a deeply thought-out piece of work which refined the sound heard in the previous album. Music fans responded enthusiastically, with over 80,000 copies sold, making it Da Weasel's best selling album.

In 2005 the band reached its peak with a sold-out concert in the Olympia in Paris, its first ever big international performance.

In 2006 Da Weasel publishes a Track named "Play Up" inspired by the statement of Bob Marley: "Football is Music" which expresses their passion to football.The track is only found on the CD PlayUp – among 15 other football tracks written by various international artist.

On April 2nd, 2007, Da Weasel released their latest album intitled Amor, Escárnio e Maldizer. It reached platinum status on the same day, with over 20, 000 copies sold.

The band sang a song called Nigga on Gato Fedorento's last episode of the season Diz Que É Uma Espécie de Magazine. They were before presented with a Gato Fedorento's audio sketch, "Nigga, Tu És Nigga, Nigga?" ("Nigga, Are You Nigga, Nigga?"), and they quoted part of the sketch.

Awards
After a nomination for Best Breakthrough Act in the "Blitz Music Awards" (organized by the Blitz music newspaper) with their first album in 1993, Da Weasel won the paper's "Band of the Year" award with Dou-lhe Com A Alma in 1994. From their third album, 3º Capítulo, the single "Todagente" yielded a "Best Song" award in 1997.

At the 2004 MTV Europe Music Awards Da Weasel got the award for "Best Portuguese Act".

-Discography;
-External links;






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Diego Armando Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona (born October 30, 1960) is an Argentine former footballer. He played in four World Cups and received the FIFA award of Player of the century (People's choice) after being voted in 2000 in an international internet fan poll as the best football player of all time.
Maradona won many trophies with Boca Juniors, FC Barcelona and SSC Napoli over the course of his career. During an international career that included 91 caps and 34 goals, he played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments, leading the Argentina national team to its victory over West Germany in 1986 World Cup, in which he collected the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player. His second goal against England in the quarter-finals of the '86 tournament -- a spectacular 60-meter weave through six England players -- is commonly referred to as "The Goal of the Century." or, in Argentina, "The Cosmic Kite" (Spanish: El barrilete cósmico).
He is also considered one of the sport's most controversial figures. Maradona was suspended for 15 months in 1991 after a failed doping test for cocaine in Italy, and then again for ephedrine during the 1994 World Cup in USA.
After retirement from professional football on 30 October 1997, he suffered ill health and weight gain, along with ongoing cocaine abuse. However, a stomach-stapling operation helped control his weight gain. Since overcoming his cocaine addiction, he has become a TV host in Argentina.

Early years
Diego Armando Maradona was born in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, to a poor family that had moved from Corrientes Province. He was the first son after three daughters. He has two younger brothers, Hugo (el Turco) and Eduardo (Lalo), both of whom were also professional football players.
At age 11, Maradona was spotted by a talent scout while he was playing in his neighborhood club Estrella Roja. He became a staple of Los Cebollitas (The Little Onions), the junior team of Buenos Aires's Argentinos Juniors. As a 12-year-old ball boy, he amused spectators by showing his wizardry with the ball during the halftime intermissions of first division games.
Playing style
Maradona had a compact physique and could withstand physical pressure well. His strong legs and low center of gravity gave him an advantage in short sprints. His physical strengths were illustrated by his two goals against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup. Maradona was a strategist and a team player, as well as highly technical with the ball. He could manage himself effectively in limited spaces, and would attract defenders only to quickly dash out of the melee (as in the second 1986 goal against England), or give an assist to a free teammate. Being short, but strong, he could hold the ball long enough with a defender on his back to wait for a teammate making a run or to find a gap for a quick shot.
One of Maradona's trademark moves was dribbling full-speed as a left wing, and on reaching the opponent's goal line, delivering lethally accurate passes to his teammates. Another trademark was the Rabona, a reverse-cross pass shot behind the leg that holds all the weight. This maneuver led to several assists, such as the powerful cross for Ramón Díaz's header in the 1980 friendly against Switzerland. He was also a dangerous free kick taker.

Club career
Maradona playing for Boca Juniors during 1981.Maradona made his professional debut on October 20, 1976 ten days before his sixteenth birthday, with Argentinos Juniors. He played there between 1976 and 1981, before his £1m transfer to the club that he supported, Boca Juniors. Joining the squad midway through the 1981 season, Maradona played through 1982, and secured his first league winners' medal. After the 1982 World Cup, in June, Maradona was transferred to FC Barcelona in Spain for a then world record £5m. In 1983, under coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona and Maradona won the Copa del Rey (Spain's annual national cup competition), beating Real Madrid. However, Maradona had a difficult tenure in Barcelona. First a bout with hepatitis, then an ill-timed tackle by Athletic Bilbao's Andoni Goikoetxea jeopardized his career, but Maradona's physical strength and willpower made it possible for him to be back on the pitch after only 14 weeks. It is believed that it was while playing for Barcelona that Maradona was introduced to cocaine, to which he would become addicted

The Napoli era
Maradona got into frequent disputes with Barcelona's directors, especially club president Josep Lluís Nuñez. In 1984, he demanded a transfer out of Nou Camp. He subsequently went to Serie A and SSC Napoli for another record fee, £6.9m, and became an adored star among the club's fans, as he elevated the team to its most successful era. Napoli won their only Italian Championships (1986/87 and 1989/1990), a Coppa Italia (1987), a UEFA Cup (1989) and an Italian Supercup (1990). Napoli were also runners-up in the Italian Championship twice, in 1987/88 and 1988/89.
In Naples, Maradona was present during the transformation of the local club. They had traditionally been overshadowed by the teams from the industrial cities in the north, but Maradona's arrival (along with Careca and others) brought them a first scudetto in 1987. A second followed in 1990, along with cup successes. However, Maradona also faced a scandal there regarding an illegitimate son; he was also the object of some suspicion over an alleged friendship with the Camorra.
Maradona left Napoli in 1992, after serving a 15-month ban for failing a drug test for cocaine. He played for Sevilla FC (1992–93), Newell's Old Boys (1993) and Boca Juniors (1995–97). He also attempted to work as a coach on two short stints, leading Mandiyú of Corrientes (1994) and Racing Club (1995), but without much success. He retired from football on October 30, 1997, his 37th birthday.

Personal life
Maradona married long-time fiancée Claudia Villafañe on November 7, 1989 in Buenos Aires, after the birth of their daughters, Dalma Nerea (b. 1987) and Giannina Dinorah (b. 1989). In his autobiography, Maradona admits he was not always faithful to Claudia, even though he refers to her as the love of his life.
Maradona and Villafañe divorced in 2004. Daughter Dalma has since asserted that the divorce was the best solution for all, as her parents remained on friendly terms. They traveled together to Napoli for a series of homages in June 2005[18] and were seen together on many other occasions, including the Argentina matches during 2006 FIFA World Cup.
During the divorce proceedings, Maradona admitted he was the father of Diego Sinagra (b. Naples, 1986), as was claimed by the youth's mother Cristiana Sinagra. (The Italian courts had so ruled in 1993, after Maradona refused to undergo DNA tests for proving or disproving his paternity.) Diego Jr. met Maradona for the first time in May 2003 after tricking his way onto a golf course in Naples where Maradona was playing.

Drug abuse and health situation
Since the 1990s, Maradona has been a cocaine addict, which included spells in Swiss and Cuban detox clinics. Between 2002 and 2005, Maradona spent most of his time in Cuba.
On April 18, 2004, doctors reported that Maradona had suffered a major heart attack following a cocaine overdose; he was admitted to intensive care in a Buenos Aires hospital. Scores of fans gathered around the clinic. Days after the heart attack, a nurse was caught taking photos of Maradona with a mobile phone and was promptly fired by the hospital managers.
Fortunately he showed improvement and was taken off the respirator on April 23 and remained in intensive care for several days before being discharged on April 29. He returned to Cuba in May.
Maradona has always had a tendency to put on weight, and suffered increasingly with obesity from the end of his playing career until undergoing gastric bypass surgery in a clinic in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia on March 6, 2005. When Maradona resumed public appearances shortly thereafter, he displayed a notably thinner figure.

However, on March 29, 2007, Maradona was readmitted to a hospital in Buenos Aires. He was treated for hepatitis and effects of alcohol abuse, and was released on 11 April, but re-admitted two days later. In the following days there were constant rumors on his health, including three false claims of his death within a month. After transfer to a psychiatric clinic specialising in alcohol-related problems, he was discharged on May 7.
On May 8, 2007, Maradona appeared on Argentine television and stated that he has quit drinking and has not used drugs in two and a half years.
After the divorce, Claudia embarked on a career as a theatre producer, and Dalma is seeking an acting career; she has expressed her desire to attend the Actor's Studio in Los Angeles. Maradona has authored an autobiography entitled "Yo Soy El Diego" chronicling his life, both on and off the playing field. His autobiography was translated and published in English as Maradona: The Autobiography of Soccer's Greatest and Most Controversial Star.

Reputation
Ever since 1986, it is common for Argentines abroad to hear Maradona's name as a token of recognition, even in remote places. In Argentina, Maradona is often talked about in terms reserved for legends. In the Argentine film El Hijo de la Novia ("The bride's son"), an actor who plays a fake Catholic priest says to a bar patron: "they idolized him and then crucified him". When scolded by a friend for taking the prank too far, the fake priest retorts: "But I was talking about Maradona".
In Buenos Aires, fans organized the "Church of Maradona." Maradona's 43rd birthday in 2003 marked the start of the Year 43 D.D. - "Después de Diego" or After Diego - for its founding 200 members. Tens of thousands more[29] have become members via the church's official web site.
Hounded for years by the press, Maradona even fired a compressed-air rifle against reporters who, so he claimed, invaded his privacy. This quote from former teammate Jorge Valdano summarizes the feelings of many:

“ He is someone many people want to emulate, a controversial figure, loved, hated, who stirs great upheaval, especially in Argentina... Stressing his personal life is a mistake. Maradona has no peers inside the pitch, but he has turned his life into a show, and is now living a personal ordeal that should not be imitated. ”


A television commercial for Brazilian soft drink Guaraná Antarctica portrayed Maradona as a member of the Brazilian national football team, including wearing the yellow jersey and singing the Brazilian national anthem with Brazilian caps Kaká and Ronaldo. Later on in the commercial he wakes up realizing it was nightmare after having drank too much of the soft drink. This generated some controversy in the Argentine media after its release (although the commercial was not supposed to air on the Argentine market, fans could see it via internet. In May 2006, Maradona agreed to take part in UK's Soccer Aid (a program to raise money for Unicef). Maradona scored a penalty but it was too late to save the match which England won 2-1.



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Evanescence

Evanescence is a Grammy Award-winning American alternative rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1998 by singer Amy Lee and former guitarist Ben Moody. After recording two private EPs, and a demo CD named Origin with the help of Bigwig Enterprises, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on the Wind-up Records label in 2003. Fallen sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and helped the band win two Grammy Awards. After abrupt changes to the band's lineup, Evanescence released their second studio album, The Open Door, in 2006.

Early history
Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody. The two met in 1994 at a youth camp in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Moody heard Lee playing "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf on the piano. Their first songs were "Solitude" and "Give Unto Me", written by Lee, and "Understanding" and "My Immortal", written by Moody. The songs were edited by both artists, and they shared equal credit.

Two of Lee and Moody's songs found playtime on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for a show. The band eventually appeared live, and became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided on Evanescence, which means "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, which means "to disappear"). Lee has stated she loves the name because "it is mysterious and dark, and places a picture in the listeners' mind."

Their first full-length demo CD, Origin (released in 2000), is relatively unknown. The band also released two Extended plays (EPs). First, the self-titled Evanescence EP (1998) of which about 100 copies were made, and second the Sound Asleep EP, also known as the Whisper EP (1999), limited to 50 copies. Origin and the EPs contain demo versions of some of the songs on their debut album, Fallen. For example, the recording of "My Immortal" found on Fallen can also be found on Origin, minus a handful of additional string accompaniments. Only 2500 copies of this record were produced; in response, Lee and Moody encouraged fans to download the band's older songs from the Internet.

Labeling controversy
Originally promoted in Christian stores, the band eventually made it clear they did not want to be considered as part of the Christian rock genre. Wind-up Records chairman Alan Meltzer issued a press release in April 2003 asking for the band's music to be removed from Christian retail outlets.
During a 2003 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ben Moody stated, "We're actually high on the Christian charts, and I'm like, What the f--k are we even doing there?" This seemed to go against earlier sentiments by Moody that "We hope to express in our music that Christianity is not a rigid list of rules to follow..." and also "The message we as a band want to convey more than anything is simple—God is Love." This has led to criticism of the band within the Christian community, even more so given that the band themselves approved of the plan to distribute Fallen to the Christian market. Terry Hemmings, CEO of Christian music distributor Provident, expressed puzzlement at the band's about-face, saying "They clearly understood the album would be sold in these [Christian music] channels." In the wake of the controversy, "Bring Me To Life" was dropped by many Christian radio stations; the song was Top 5 on Radio & Records' Christian Rock Top 30 one week, and completely gone the next. Ex-vocalist and keyboardist David Hodges eventually left the band over the controversy, with other members stating that he had been pulling them in more of a Christian direction than Lee and Moody were comfortable with.
When asked by Billboard in 2006 if Evanescence was a "Christian band," Amy Lee responded, "Can we please skip the Christian thing? I'm so over it. It's the lamest thing. I fought that from the beginning; I never wanted to be associated with it. It was a Ben thing. It's over."
-History;
-References in other media;
-Band members;



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My opinion is that they are one of the best bands of all world! Yeah they are!
Amy Lee have a great voice and a great style too!

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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Mariza

Mariza Reis Nunes (born December 16, 1973 in Mozambique) (then a Portuguese colony) is a Latin Grammy-nominated fado singer. She moved to Portugal when she was three, and was raised in one of the most traditional quarters of Lisbon, Mouraria and Alfama, where she learned how to sing fado. She has a Portuguese father but her mother hails from Mozambique (the song "Transparente" is a tribute to her African grandmother).

Growing up, and until she became a fado singer, Mariza sang in a wide variety of styles, including gospel, soul and jazz.

Released in 2001, Mariza's first album, Fado em Mim, was an instant success in Portugal, selling more than 30,000 copies. This led to her recording company launching the disc internationally and taking advantage of the good reception that Portuguese music was enjoying at the time in Europe and in other countries, such as Mexico and Japan.

At the 2002 FIFA World Cup she performed the Portuguese national anthem at the game which pitted the home team (South Korea) against Portugal.

When Mariza's second album, Fado Curvo, was released in 2003, she was already considered as one of the best singers of what some call the New Fado movement. Mariza's voice, which harks back to the grand divas of the musical form, like Amália Rodrigues, and her interpretations of fado standards brought her great international recognition in a short amount of time, leading to her being the recipient, in March 2003, of BBC Radio 3's award for Best European Artist in World Music. For the Olympic Games of Athens 2004 she sang "A Thousand Years," as a duet with Sting. It was released on the official pop album of the Athens Olympics, Unity, on which fado is sung in English and Portuguese.

Her third album, Transparente, was recorded in Brazil and released in 2005. Mariza was also one of the artists who performed at Live 8; she sang at the Eden Project in Cornwall. Since that time, Mariza has been invited to a large number of concerts and events to promote Portuguese culture around the whole world, from Australia to Finland, the United States and Argentina. That album eventually reached top ten in countries like Holland, Spain and Finland.

She had sold out concerts in many famous places like New York's Carnegie Hall, Central Park, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Barbican, Hollywood Bowl, London's Royal Albert Hall, Union Chapel, Royal Festival Hall, Lisbon's Centro Cultural de Belém, Frankfurt's Alte Oper, Paris' Théâtre de La Ville, Madrid's Teatro Albeniz, Barcelona's Teatro Grec, X Cairo International Song Festival 2004, Centro Cultural de Macau, Moscow International House of Music, Toronto's Massey Hall and Sydney Opera House.

Mariza has received many awards from countries such as Denmark, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK, USA and many others.

In 2007 she came in 61st in Portugal's election of Os Grandes Portugueses (The Greatest Portuguese).

Her album Concerto em Lisboa received in 2007 a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album.

-Discography
-External links



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I think is a good fado singer portuguese!! Go PORTUGAL!!!
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Dominic Purcell(Prison Break, Blade and John Doe)

Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt Purcell(born February 17, 1970) is a British-born Australian actor, of Norwegian-Irish parentage, most active in the United States. He is best known for his roles as the title character on John Doe and as Lincoln Burrows on Prison Break.

Biography

Purcell was born in Wallasey, Merseyside, England in 1970, the eldest of five children. He moved to Sydney, Australia with his family when he was four, where he was raised by his father and Irish mother, Maureen, in the Western Suburbs. Purcell attended St Dominic's College, Penrith. Purcell's father, who had previously served in the Norwegian Merchant Navy, installed air-conditioning ducts for a living, but later separated from the family. Purcell's paternal grandfather was from Bergen, and his paternal grandmother a New York-born Irish-American. His middle name Haakon and his other surname Myrtvedt are both Norwegian.

After quitting his high school education, Purcell was employed as a landscaper. Although he never contemplated being an actor, and thought that "people in the arts — actors, ballet dancers, musicians, whatever — were weird", he decided to try "that acting thing" on impulse. He applied and was accepted to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) where Purcell studied alongside fellow actors, Hugh Jackman and Frances O'Connor. After graduating in 1996, Purcell obtained his first acting role as Granger Hutton, a leading role in the Australian television series Raw FM.

In 2000, he won a green card lottery, and now resides in Laguna Beach, California with his wife, Rebecca, and their four children: Joseph (b. 1999), Audrey (b. 2001), and twins Lily and Augustus (b. 2003). After relocating to the United States, Purcell debuted on American television as the title character in John Doe in 2002. He got his first big break into mainstream stardom when he played the character of Drake in Blade: Trinity. Purcell's theatre credits include Antony and Cleopatra, Angels in America, Romeo and Juliet and The Pillars of Society.

Purcell currently has a starring role as Lincoln Burrows in the Fox network television drama series, Prison Break. He also guest starred in a first season episode of House, Fidelity.

In 2006 Purcell spent the Christmas period in Louth Village, Co. Louth, in Ireland, the home area of his mother and drew considerable attention in the local press

Filmography
Year' Title Role Notes
2007 Town Creek Victor Marshall
2007 Level Seven Millar
2007 Primeval Tim Freeman
2005 - present Prison Break Lincoln Burrows TV series
2005 The Gravedancers Harris McKay
2005 North Shore Tommy Ravetto TV episodes: 1x16-1x20
2004 House Ed Snow TV episode: Fidelity (1x7)
2004 Blade: Trinity Drake
2003 3-way Lew
2003 Visitors Luke
2002 - 2003 John Doe John Doe TV series
2002 Equilibrium Seamus
2001 Invincible Keith Grady TV movie
2001 BeastMaster Kelb TV episodes: 3x01-3x04, 3x06
2001 The Lost World Condillac TV episode: 3x02
2000 Mission: Impossible II Ulrich
1999 Heartbreak High Todd Gillespie TV episodes: 7x38-7x40
1999 First Daughter Troy Nelson TV movie
1999 Silent Predator Truck Driver TV movie
1998 Water Rats Alex TV episodes: 3x12-3x13
1998 Moby Dick Bulkington TV mini-series
1997 -1998 Raw FM Granger Hutton TV series


-Notes;
-References;
-External links;


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Monday, October 15, 2007

Marilyn Manson

Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician and artist known for his outrageous stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band. His stage name was formed from the names Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson, showing what he considered the ultimate and most disturbing dualism of American culture.

Early life
Manson was born in Canton, Ohio to Barb Wyer and Hugh Warner. His father was a Catholic and his mother Episcopalian. Manson was raised in his mother's religion, attending Heritage Christian School, though he later transferred out, graduating from GlenOak High School in 1987. In 1990, Warner was a college student attending Broward Community College working toward a journalism degree, and gaining experience in the field by writing music articles for a South Florida lifestyle magazine, 25th Parallel when he was able to meet several of the musicians to whom his own band would later be compared, including My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.



Personal life
Manson was given the title of "Reverend Manson" by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey.

Manson and Dita Von Teese, a popular American burlesque artist, model and actress, started dating on Manson's 32nd birthday (January 5, 2001), and Manson proposed three years later on 22 March 2004. On 3 December 2005 (court documents say 28 November), the couple were married in a non-denominational ceremony at Gurteen Castle in Kilsheelan, County Tipperary, Ireland, the home of artist, Gottfried Helnwein. The wedding was officiated by surrealist film director and comic book writer Alejandro Jodorowsky.[13] They reportedly exchanged vows in front of approximately 60 guests, including Catherine D'lish, Lisa Marie Presley, Eric Szmanda, Jessicka of Jack Off Jill and Christian Hejnal of Scarling. Guests were invited to participate in skeet shooting, archery and falconry in the days following the wedding. The wedding pictures appeared in the March 2006 edition of Vogue under the heading "The Bride Wore Purple".

On December 30, 2006 Manson and Von Teese split after her filing for divorce due to "irreconcilable differences". ET.com and People claimed that Manson was having an extramarital affair with 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood, who is to co-star in his upcoming horror film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, and features in the video for his 2007 single, Heart-Shaped Glasses, as well as inspiring the record. The relationship was confirmed by Von Teese in an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, "I get the impression he thinks I was unsupportive. But the truth is I wasn't supportive of his lifestyle, and someone else came along who was." Manson's alcohol abuse and distant behavior were also cited as cause for the split. Manson is reportedly fighting for custody of the couple's three cats. Manson is also linked to Michele Greenberg who is portrayed as "Rachelle" in his book "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell". Prior to his seven-year relationship to von Teese, he was engaged to actress Rose McGowan.
Manson is currently dating actress Evan Rachel Wood.

Video games
Manson made an appearance in the video game Area 51 as an ancient and powerful Grey Alien, named Edgar. His likeness is also featured on the Celebrity Deathmatch video game for which he recorded a song for the soundtrack (2003).

-Biography;
-Marilyn Manson discography;
-Filmography;
-Books;



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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Justin Timberlake

Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American pop and R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. He came to fame as one of the lead singers of pop boy band 'N Sync and has won four Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award. In 2002, he released his debut solo album, Justified, which sold over seven million copies worldwide. Timberlake's second solo release, FutureSex/LoveSounds, was released in 2006 with the U.S. number-one hit singles "SexyBack", "My Love", and "What Goes Around... Comes Around". With his first two albums, Timberlake has sold over 15 million albums worldwide. He has started a record label called Tennman Records and a fashion label, William Rast.
Timberlake was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Randall Timberlake and Lynn (née Bomar). He has British ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, was a Baptist minister, and Timberlake was raised in the Baptist religion, although he considers himself more "spiritual than religious", though still a Christian. His parents divorced about 1985 and both have remarried; his mother, who now runs an entertainment company called Just-in Time Entertainment, remarried to Paul Harless, a banker, when Justin was aged 5; while his father, a choir director at a Baptist church, has two children, Jonathan (born c. 1993) and Stephen (born c. 1998), from his second marriage to Lisa. A half-sister, Laura Chwieseni, died shortly after birth in 1997 and is mentioned on one of Timberlake's record acknowledgments as "My Angel in Heaven". Timberlake grew up in Millington, a small town just north of Memphis. His first attempts at a singing career saw him singing country music songs on Star Search as "Justin Randall".

In 1993, he got a real taste of fame when he joined the ranks of The Mickey Mouse Club. There he met future girlfriend and pop superstar Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, and future bandmate JC Chasez. When the show ended in 1995, Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in a new all-male singing group Lou Pearlman (an Orlando swindler, now indicted on criminal charges of investment fraud) was forming with Chris Kirkpatrick. The group would come to be known as *NSYNC. In 1999 Justin acted as Jason Sharpe in the made-for-TV movie Model Behavior.

Personal life
Timberlake golfing in 2006.Two early teen romances, first to a school sweetheart and then to aspiring pop singer Veronica Finn predated intense media interest, but both ended unhappily. Timberlake then entered a high-profile celebrity relationship with fellow pop singer Britney Spears, with whom he had worked on the New Mickey Mouse Club. This ended abruptly in March 2002, amidst allegations of Spears' infidelity with choreographer Wade Robson, a mutual friend of Spears and Timberlake. Lynn Harless says as a mother she too was devastated regarding the break-up, but to this day speaks warmly of Spears, "Britney grew up on my living room floor. I still love her to death. They (Justin and Britney) were together 10 or 11 years and had, from day one, instant chemistry between them. She's a sweet girl. I just hate what she's going through now." The breakup influenced the lyrics and theme of Timberlake's hit "Cry Me A River", one of the most popular singles from Justified.
Timberlake later dated actress-dancer Jenna Dewan (in mid-2002) and actress-singer Alyssa Milano (between September and October of 2002). Timberlake began dating actress Cameron Diaz soon after they met at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in April 2003. Regular rumours of break-ups reported in the tabloid press were invariably denied.[22][23] On the December 16, 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, Diaz introduced Timberlake as the night's musical guest, and the couple actually did split up shortly afterwards. They issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007:

“ It has always been our preference not to comment on the status of our relationship, but, out of respect for the time we've spent together, we feel compelled to do so now, in light of recent speculation and the number of inaccurate stories that are being reported by the media. We have, in fact, ended our romantic relationship and have done so mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another. ”

In January 2007, Timberlake was linked to Jessica Biel when pictures surfaced of the two snowboarding in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival. On May 12, 2007, the gossip was refueled with the release of romantic pictures of Timberlake and Biel on multiple dates, specifically caught kissing while dining in the UK accompanied by producer/mogul Timbaland and then Newcastle United footballer Alan Smith. Timberlake was given sexiest Man titles by Teen People and Cosmopolitan magazines.
-Life and music career;



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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Che Guevara




Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, El Che or just Che was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, political figure, and leader of Cuban and internationalist guerrillas.
As a young man studying medicine, Guevara travelled
throughout South America, bringing him into direct contact with the impoverished conditions in which many people lived. His experiences and observations during these trips led him to the conclusion that the region's socio-economic inequalities could only be remedied by socialism through revolution, prompting him to intensify his study of Marxism and travel to Guatemala to learn about the reforms being implemented there by President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.

While in Mexico in 1956, Guevara joined Fidel Castro's revolutionary 26th of July Movement, which seized power from the regime of the dictator General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba in 1959. In the months after the success of the revolution, Guevara was assigned the role of "supreme prosecutor", overseeing the trials and executions of hundreds of suspected war criminals from the previous regime. After serving in various important posts in the new government and writing a number of articles and books on the theory and practice of guerrilla warfare, Guevara left Cuba in 1965 with the intention of fomenting revolutions first in Congo-Kinshasa, and then in Bolivia, where he was captured in a military operation supported by the CIA and the U.S. Army Special Forces. Guevara was summarily executed by the Bolivian Army in the town of La Higuera near Vallegrande on October 9, 1967.

After his death, Guevara became an icon of socialist revolutionary movements and a cultural icon worldwide. An Alberto Korda photo of him has received wide distribution and modification, appearing on t-shirts, protest banners, and in many other formats. The Maryland Institute College of Art called this picture "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century."

Family heritage and early life
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, the eldest of five children in a family of Spanish and Irish descent; both his father and mother were of Basque ancestry.Basque[›] One of Guevara's forebears, Patrick Lynch, was born in Galway, Ireland, in 1715.Galway[›] He left for Bilbao, Spain, and traveled from there to Argentina. Francisco Lynch (Guevara's great-grandfather) was born in 1817, and Ana Lynch (his grandmother) in 1868. Her son, Ernesto Guevara Lynch (Guevara's father) was born in 1900. Guevara Lynch married Celia de la Serna y Llosa in 1927 (one of her non-lineal ancestors was José de la Serna e Hinojosa, Spanish viceroy of Peru), and they had three sons and two daughters.
Birthplace of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Rosario. The building was erected by Enrique Ferrarese and designed by Arq. Bustillo. Another view.Growing up in this leftist-leaning déclassé family of aristocratic lineage, Ernesto Guevara became known for his dynamic personality and radical perspective even as a boy. He idolized Francisco Pizarro and yearned to have been one of his soldiers. Though suffering from the crippling bouts of asthma that were to afflict him throughout his life, he excelled as an athlete. He was an avid rugby union player despite his handicap and earned himself the nickname "Fuser" — a contraction of "El Furibundo" ("The Raging") and his mother's surname, "Serna" — for his aggressive style of play. Ernesto was nicknamed "Chancho" ("pig") by his schoolmates because he rarely bathed, something he was rather proud of.
Guevara on a burro at the age of 3Guevara learned chess from his father and began participating in local tournaments by the age of 12.[9] During his adolescence, he became passionate about poetry, especially that of Pablo Neruda. Guevara, as is common practice among Latin Americans of his class, also wrote poems throughout his life. He was an enthusiastic and eclectic reader, with interests ranging from adventure classics by Jack London, Emilio Salgari and Jules Verne to essays on sexuality by Sigmund Freud and treatises on social philosophy by Bertrand Russell. In his late teens, he developed a keen interest in photography and spent many hours photographing people, places and, during later travels, archaeological sites.
In 1948 Guevara entered the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. As a student, he spent long periods traveling around Latin America. In 1951 his older friend, Alberto Granado, a biochemist, suggested that Guevara take a year off from his medical studies to embark on a trip they had talked of making for years, traversing South America. Guevara and the 29-year-old Granado soon set off from their hometown of Alta Gracia astride a 1939 Norton 500 cc motorcycle they named La Poderosa II ("The Mighty One, the Second") with the idea of spending a few weeks volunteering at the San Pablo Leper colony in Peru on the banks of the Amazon River. Guevara narrated this journey in The Motorcycle Diaries, which was translated into English in 1996 and used in 2004 as the basis for a motion picture of the same name, directed by Walter Salles.

Witnessing the widespread poverty, oppression and disenfranchisement throughout Latin America, and influenced by his readings of Marxist literature, Guevara decided that the only solution for the region’s inequalities was armed revolution. His travels and readings also led him to view Latin America not as a group of separate nations but as a single entity requiring a continent-wide strategy for liberation. His conception of a borderless, united Ibero-America sharing a common 'mestizo' cultureIbero-America[›] was a theme that would prominently recur during his later revolutionary activities. Upon returning to Argentina, he expedited the completion of his medical studies, completing his education as a medic in order to resume his travels in Central and South America and received his diploma on 12 June 1953.



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Saturday, October 6, 2007

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American pop singer and songwriter. She was signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan. She came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera (1999), which was a critical and commercial success. A Latin pop album Mi Reflejo, and a Christmas album, My Kind of Christmas, followed during this period and also sold very well.
Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album Stripped (2002), which received mixed reviews and yet produced substantial sales. During the album's promotion, her overtly sexual image became the subject of intense criticism and ridicule, although in recent times it has given her respect for promoting independence and female empowerment. Her third studio album Back to Basics (2006) included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music. It was released to good sales and positive critical reception. Aguilera's works have earned her numerous awards including five Grammy Awards amongst sixteen nominations. She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
In early 2002, Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman. Their engagement was announced in February 2005, and they married on November 19, 2005, in the Napa Valley. The couple celebrated their one year anniversary in Dublin, Ireland where she was on tour at the time. E! News reported that they are expecting their first child together.

Acting
Unlike her contemporaries, Aguilera has never appeared in movies, although she has done numerous television appearances and guest appearances. She made a cameo appearance performing on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, and hosted a Saturday Night Live episode in 2004. She's mentioned in an interview that she intended to pursue acting roles similar to Angelina Jolie. She included herself in soundtracks for several Hollywood films including Mulan, and the musical Moulin Rouge!. More recently, she is reported to co-star as Amneris in Disney's upcoming live-action film Aida, as well as play the notorious burlesque stripper Tempest Storm in a new film biopic.

Charity work
Throughout her career, Aguilera has been involved with certain charities. She signed a letter from PETA to the South Korean government asking that the country stop its alleged killing of dogs for food. Her involvement in supporting the Defenders of Wildlife have also added to her donations with charities.
Aguilera is still a major contributor in her hometown of Pittsburgh contributing regularly to the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. According to her official website, she toured the center and donated $200,000 to the shelter. She also has auctioned off front row seats and back stage passes for the Pittsburgh-based charity. She has continued her donations and visits to the shelter, and plans to open an additional one. She also supports the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Refuge UK. Since then she has worked with Lifetime Television's 'End violence against women' campaign. Her work there included a public service announcement which aired on the network and during her 2007 tour.
Aguilera contributes in the fight against AIDS, by participating in AIDS Project Los Angeles' Artists Against AIDS "What's Going On?" cover project. In 2004, Aguilera became the new face for cosmetic company M·A·C and spokesperson for M·A·C AIDS Fund. Aguilera appeared in advertisements of the M·A·C's Viva Glam V lipstick and lipgloss. In addition, Aguilera contributed to YouthAIDS by posing for a joint YouthAIDS and Aldo Shoes campaign for "Empowerment Tags" in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. She was featured with one of three ubiquitous slogans, "Speak No Evil?" and stated, "HIV is something that people don’t want to talk about, hear about, or face."Singer Elton John hand-picked Aguilera, among others, for his Fashion Rocks concert benefiting his AIDS foundation.The show, which accompanies music and fashion to benefit the fight against AIDS/HIV, is televised annually and aired in September.
In November 2005, all of her wedding gifts were submitted to various charities around the nation in support of Hurricane Katrina victims. In March 2007 it was announced that Aguilera will take part in a charity album (remaking Lennon's "Mother"), proceeds will benefit Amnesty International's efforts to end genocide in Darfur. The album titled, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur", has been released June 12, 2007, featuring John Lennon covers sung by several artists.


Personal life
In 2000, Aguilera was rumored to have dated MTV VJ Carson Daly. The relationship was the subject of much discussion after the release of Eminem's song "The Real Slim Shady", in which Eminem satirically suggests that Aguilera had performed fellatio on both Daly and Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, and had given the rapper himself a venereal disease. Aguilera called the song's innuendo "disgusting" and "untrue." Aguilera and Eminem reportedly resolved the issue three years later backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards.
She dated Puerto Rican-born dancer Jorge Santos for two years until the relationship ended in September 2001.
In early 2002, Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman. Their engagement was announced in February 2005, and they married on November 19, 2005, in the Napa Valley. The couple celebrated their one year anniversary in Dublin, Ireland where she was on tour at the time. E! News reported that they are expecting their first child together.
In March 2007, producer Dallas Austin alleged in a video interview with SOHO Magazine that Aguilera had sex with him and several of his friends. He also alleged details about Bratman, who Dallas referred to as his old best friend. Several days following the incident Dallas issued an apology stating, "My statement about Christina Aguilera was a reaction to an incident I care not to discuss in any forum - I do owe an apology to Christina." Aguilera's rep responded with, "She's not commenting on such ridiculous statements, and we are consulting a lawyer to explore her options."
On September 9, 2007, Paris Hilton confirmed that the singer is currently pregnant, saying, "Congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world." Aguilera, however, has not yet publicly confirmed her pregnancy.

Vocal ability
Aguilera, a Dramatic Soprano, known for her strong vocals and powerful voice, has rivaled many of her other contemporaries and has been referred to as the "voice of her generation." In the MTV special All Eyes on Christina, John Norris said that Aguilera "has a four-octave vocal range." Aguilera also topped COVE's list of the 100 Best Pop Vocalists with a score of 50, and came fifth in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. A review in an Entertainment Weekly article mentions her "tackling that dog-whistle high note" at the 3:20 mark in the song "Soar" from her album Stripped.



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Sean Combs(Diddy)

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969) is an American record producer, mogul, CEO, clothing designer, and a rapper. He was brought into the hip hop industry by life long friend Sami Al-Hakkak.
As of October 2006, his nickname and recording name is Diddy (adopted in August 2005). Previously, he had been known as Puff Daddy and later as P. Diddy (Puff and Puffy being often used as a nickname, but never as recording names). He is still called P. Diddy in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the latter after a legal battle with another artist, Richard "Diddy" Dearlove.
His business interests include Bad Boy Records, the clothing lines Sean John and Sean by Sean Combs, a movie production company, and two restaurants. He has taken the roles of recording executive, back up singer, performer, producer of MTV's Making the Band, writer, arranger, clothing designer, and Broadway actor. Diddy is the second richest hip-hop entertainer, having a net worth estimate of US$358 Million.


Ventures
Combs has opened his own clothing range named 'Sean John'. Combs is one of the wealthiest people in the American entertainment industry. In 2002, he was featured on Fortune magazine's "40 Richest People Under 40" list and was placed number one in the list of the top ten richest people in hip-hop. He has donated undisclosed amounts to the Patricia Kirby Foundation, an organization that battles teenage bulimia and other eating disorders.
In addition to his work as a performer and producer, Combs entered the fashion industry. His clothing line, Sean John, has been nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year every year since 2000. Sean John received criticism, however, for using fur in his designs. Controversy also followed when it was discovered that factories producing the clothing in Honduras were violating Honduran labor law.[19] Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee, who first exposed the factory, is quoted in the New York Times as saying, "Sean Combs obviously has a lot of clout, he can literally do a lot overnight to help these workers." He did and conditions at the factory improved dramatically. The case is often cited as an example of how concerned celebrities can contribute to ending sweatshop abuses.
In 2006, mayor Richard M. Daley awarded Combs with a pair of cufflinks to commemorate the inauguration of an annual October 13 "Diddy Day" in the city of Chicago. Combs received the honor as reward for certain "charitable work" at the Chicago City Hall. This has been seen by some to be an election-month stunt by the mayor.
Combs also owns two upscale restaurants called "Justin's" (named after his son) with locations in New York and in Atlanta. He is the designer of the green Dallas Mavericks alternate jersey.
He appeared as a drug dealer in the film Made, and he played the role of Walter Lee Younger in the critically acclaimed 2004 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Combs says he loved appearing in the show and being given the opportunity to perform at the theater. He attracted huge crowds for his performance in the New York production, received mixed reviews, and admits he is desperate to pursue an acting career. He also starred with Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in the film Monster's Ball.
He also starred in Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. Diddy has mentioned that he would be interested in playing the black-version of James Bond.


Performing career
Diddy has recently finished recording his latest LP, entitled Press Play, featuring collaborations with, among others, Christina Aguilera, Nas, Big Boi, Twista, Just Blaze, Pharrell, Brandy, Mary J. Blige and Keyshia Cole which was released on October 17th, 2006.
It was reported that Diddy would be singing on all the tracks of this album, but that was proven false as, on the album's first single, "Come To Me" (featuring Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls), he did not sing at all, but rather did his traditional rapping. He does sing on the third single, "Last Night" (featuring Keyshia Cole). "Tell Me" (featuring Christina Aguilera) was released as the second single. An interesting fact about this song is that it was a demo song for his Making the Band 3 girl group, Danity Kane, as seen in the second season of the MTV show. He was asking fans on his MySpace page to help him choose the fourth single. "Through the Pain (She Told Me)" (featuring Mario Winans) was chosen as the fourth single.
-Biography ;



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Amalia Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues, (July 1920 – October 6, 1999) was a Portuguese singer and actress. Born in Lisbon, official documents give her date of birth as July 23, but Rodrigues always said her birthday was July 1, 1920. She was born in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), freguesia of Pena, Lisbon. Her father was a trumpet player and cobbler from Fundão who returned there when Amália was just over a year old, leaving her to live in Lisbon with her maternal grandmother in a deeply Catholic environment until she was 14, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.

She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado") and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was unquestionably the most important figure in the genre’s development[citation needed], by virtue of an innate interpretive talent carefully nurtured throughout a 40-year recording and stage career. Rodrigues' performances and choice of repertoire pushed Fado’s boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Rodrigues wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female singer—or Fadista—should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards. Rodrigues also remains the sole truly international star to have ever come out of Portugal[citation needed], with an extensive international career between the 1950s and the 1970s, although in an era where such efforts were not as easily quantified as today. Other well-known international artists such as Madredeus, Dulce Pontes, Mariza and Cristina Branco have come close, however.

Family
Rodrigues' parents had nine children: Vicente and Filipe, José and António (who both died in childhood), Amália, Celeste, Aninhas (who died at sixteen), Maria da Glória (who died shortly after birth), and Maria Odete. In 1940 she married Francisco Cruz, a lathe worker and amateur guitar player from whom she separated in 1943 and whom she divorced in 1946. In 1961, in Rio de Janeiro, she married César Seabra, a Brazilian engineer; they remained married until his death in 1997. She had no children.

The later years
During the 1970s, Rodrigues concentrated on live work, and embarked upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. During the frenetic post-April 25, 1974 period she was falsely accused of being a covert agent of the PIDE, causing some trauma to her public life and career. (In fact, during the Salazar years, Rodrigues had been an occasional financial supporter of some communists in need.) Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with Cantigas numa Língua Antiga was received as a triumph. The 1980s and 1990s brought her enthronement as a living legend. Her last all-new studio recording, Lágrima, was released in 1983. It was followed by a series of previously lost or unreleased recordings, and the smash success of two greatest hits collections that sold over 200,000 copies combined.

Despite a series of illnesses involving her voice, Rodrigues continued recording as late as 1990. She eventually retreated from public performance, although her career gained in stature with an official biography by historian and journalist Vítor Pavão dos Santos, and a five-hour TV series documenting her fifty-year career featuring rare archival footage (later distilled into the 90-minute film documentary, The Art of Amália). Its director, Bruno de Almeida, has also produced Amália, Live in New York City (a concert film of her 1990 performance at New York City Town Hall).

On October 6, 1999, Amália Rodrigues died at the age of 79 in her home in Lisbon. Portugal's government promptly declared a period of national mourning. Her house (in Rua de São Bento) is now a museum. She is now buried at the National Pantheon alongside other Portuguese notables.



Trivia
In 2007 she came in 14th in Portugal's election of Os Grandes Portugueses (The Greatest Portuguese).

-The early years;
-The middle years;




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She was a good fado singer, interessant, important, rich...?
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Friday, October 5, 2007

Kate Winslet

Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born October 5, 1975) is a five-time Academy Award-nominated, Emmy Award-nominated, BAFTA, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning English actress.

She is noted for having played a wide range of diverse characters over her career, but is probably best-known for her critically acclaimed performances as Juliet Hulme in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Rose DeWitt Bukater in the highest-grossing film of all time, Titanic (1997), and Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

She is the winner of a BAFTA and SAG Award, and a five-time Oscar nominee. At the age of 22, she broke the record for the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations, and each of her subsequent nominations has broken a further record: the youngest person to receive three, four, and five nominations.

Personal life
On November 22, 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton. The two have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on October 12, 2000. After a divorce in 2001, Winslet was reported to have been dating playwright Jeff Smeenge before a relationship with Sam Mendes, whom she married on May 24, 2003, on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Their son, Joe Alfie, was born on December 22, 2003.

The media, particularly in England, have enthusiastically documented her weight fluctuations over the years. Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to lose weight in order to conform to the Hollywood ideal. In February 2003, the British edition of Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine published photographs of Winslet which had been digitally enhanced to make her look dramatically thinner than she really was; Winslet issued a statement saying that the alterations were made without her consent. GQ subsequently issued an apology in the subsequent issue.

Winslet and her husband Mendes currently reside in New York City. They also own a manor house in the tiny village of Church Westcote near Stow-on-the-Wold. Kate and Sam spent £3 million on the secluded Westcote Manor, a rambling Grade II-listed house with eight bedrooms, set in 22 acres. They've reportedly spent more than £1 million on interior renovations as well as restoring the original water garden, mulberry garden and orchard, which all fell into disrepair when the former owner, equestrian artist Raoul Millais, died in 1999. As of 2006, it is reported Winslet and Mendes have a large lake house near Canandaigua lake, in Canandaigua, New York.
-Biography:


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