CELEBRITY HUB: September 2011

Sep 27, 2011

Sep 26, 2011

Lady GaGa Biography and Profile

Born - March 28, 1986 (age 25)
New York City, United States
Birth Name :
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Height
5' 1"
Nationality
American
Genres - Pop, dance
Occupations - Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist
Instruments - Vocals, piano, synthesizer, keytar
Years active - 2005–present
Claim to fame :
Single "Just Dance" (2008)
Education

Attended Convent of the Sacred Heart School, Manhattan, New York
Attended Tisch School of the Arts, NY

Lady GaGa Family
Father
Joseph Germanotta

Mother
Cynthia

Sister
Natali Germanotta (younger)

Relation
Speedy (entrepreneur, 2009), Luc Carl (drummer)

School of the Arts in 2003 and later performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East Side, she signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. During her early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of recording artist Akon who, recognizing her vocal abilities, signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and accomplished positions within the top ten worldwide. Achieving similar worldwide success, The Fame Monster (2009), its follow-up, produced a further three global chart-topping singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro" and allowed her to embark on her second global concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour. Her second studio album Born This Way (2011) topped the charts in all major musical markets after the arrival of its singles "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory" – the first-mentioned achieved the number-one spot in countries worldwide and was the fastest-selling single in the history of iTunes, selling one million copies in five days.

Gaga has been included in the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as being listed in a number of Forbes' annual lists.

Billboard named her the Artist of the Year in 2010, ranking her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade.

Sep 23, 2011

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Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Biography

Sep 22, 2011

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Madhuri Dixit headed for divorce?

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Indian cricket mourns passing of Pataudi

Sep 20, 2011

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Contagion Movie Review

Contagion Movie Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard
Direction: Steven Soderbergh

Story:

Gwyneth Paltrow returns home to Minneapolis from a business meeting in Hong Kong with something as innocuous as a cough and a headache. Within two days she is dead and the doctors tell her grieving husband, Matt Damon, they don't know why she died. Before Damon can come to terms with his loss, the epidemic spreads the world over and nearly millions succumb to it within a short span of time. Panic spreads, governments are thrown into a tizzy, riots break out and the profiteers begin to reap gold. Can a civilised world cope with a deadly virus or are we still as ill-equipped as we were during the plague outbreak?

Movie Review:

Contagion is topical, slick, fast-paced and embellished with a stellar ensemble cast that keeps you engrossed in the drama, despite the fact that most of them don't take much of screen time. The three doctors, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle and Marion Cotillard make brief appearances in the film, but their contribution to the development of the plot is by no means minimal. Laurence Fishburne, as the reputed official representative, torn between principles and a personal transgression for a loved one, is as human as you can get. How many people wouldn't use their clout and break the queue to get a vaccine for somebody they love? Hardly any. Matt Damon as the common man left at the mercy of fumbling officialdom and social anarchy etches a picture perfect role of a man desperate to save his daughter, even if it means locking her up at home and depriving her of all social contact. Then, there is Gwyneth Paltrow, quite unforgettable as the deliciously naughty business woman who doesn't mind hooking up with her ex, while her husband and son wait for her at home: another brief role that last longer than its screen time. And finally, Jude Law as the rogue blogger is mesmerising with his rebellious streak that chooses to question all the players in this high drama and throw light on the nefarious deals between governments and pharmaceutical companies which make the most when death strikes.

The high point of Soderbergh's film is its tone: never sensationalist, always restrained and therefore credible. With the world grappling with sundry new epidemics -- SARS, Mad Cow Disease, Swine Flu -- Contagion has an expediency to it which makes it eminently watchable. Doesn't seem too far-fetched, this threat of a new and deadly disease that originates from a bat and a pig and spreads through something as unavoidable as human touch. Time to be scared. Really scared.

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Kareena turns down Tusshar starrer

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Saif's wedding outfit revealed

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Kara Kennedy dead at 51

Kara Kennedy became teary-eyed when she accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her ailing father at a 2009 White House ceremony, but she also managed to smile as Sen. Ted Kennedy's life was honored. After the senator died two weeks later following a battle with brain cancer, his only daughter read a psalm at his funeral Mass in Boston. It was about peace and justice and caring for poor children.

The eldest of the senator's three children, Kara Kennedy died Friday at age 51 after collapsing following her daily workout at a Washington health club. The cause of death wasn't immediately released.

Although she never sought elected office like many in her family, she helped with her father's presidential and Senate campaigns and heeded his call to give back. She worked as a filmmaker and in television and was active in an array of causes from the arts to battling fetal alcohol syndrome.

She herself had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002, but underwent surgery the following year that doctors had said was successful.

But her brother, Patrick Kennedy, said her cancer treatment — surgery and grueling chemotherapy and radiation — left her physically weakened.

"Her heart gave out," said Patrick Kennedy, a former Democratic congressman from Rhode Island.

"She's with dad."

In a telephone interview from her Boston home on Saturday, Joan Bennett Kennedy said she and her daughter were "best friends" who liked to take long swims together and walks on the beach. She said her daughter had fully recovered from cancer and didn't have any lingering health issues.

"She was very healthy. That's why this is such a shock," Joan Kennedy said.

Kara Kennedy was a member of the Sport & Health fitness center, though spokeswoman Nancy Terry declined to release further details about the incident, citing member privacy. A spokeswoman for the District of Columbia medical examiner said in an email that the cause of death was pending.

Kennedy's ex-husband, Michael Allen, said she frequently visited the club and went swimming every day if she could. He said details about her death would be released by The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. He said funeral arrangements are being made.

"Insofar as I'm concerned her legacy is one of courage and grit and determination in the face of her own illness and in the face of many family tragedies and limitless, absolutely limitless, devotion to our children," he said.

Kara Kennedy was born in 1960 to Edward and Joan Kennedy, just as her father was on the campaign trail for his brother John F. Kennedy during the presidential primaries.

The late senator wrote of his oldest child in his 2009 memoir, "True Compass," that "I had never seen a more beautiful baby, nor been happier in my life."

Later, she appeared with her father during his unsuccessful 1980 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and she and her brother Edward Kennedy Jr. helped run the senator's 1988 re-election campaign.

Her lung cancer diagnosis came in 2002, and the prognosis was grim. But the family refused to accept that, the senator wrote. She had an operation in 2003, and Edward Kennedy accompanied his daughter to chemotherapy treatments.

"Kara responded to my exhortations to have faith in herself," he wrote. "Today, nearly seven years later as I write this, Kara is a healthy, vibrant, active mother of two who is flourishing."

Her children, Grace and Max, are now teenagers.

Kara Kennedy's two brothers have dealt with health issues of their own: Edward Kennedy Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer as a child, and Patrick Kennedy had surgery in 1988 to remove a non-cancerous tumor that was pressing against his spine.

"Her magnificent strength in her successful battle with lung cancer was a quiet inspiration to all of us and provided her family and fellow patients with hope," the Edward M. Kennedy Institute said in a news release.

Five months before her death, Kara Kennedy wrote of her father and the institute named in his honor in an article published in The Boston Globe Magazine. She described Christmas 1984, when her father insisted on spending the night helping relief workers feed hungry people in the Ethiopian desert. And how each summer, Ted Kennedy loaded the family into a Winnebago for road trips to hike through historic battlefields and buildings.

"What mattered to my father was not the scale of an accomplishment, but that we did our share to make the world better," she wrote. "That we learned we were part of something larger than ourselves."

In August 2009 Kara Kennedy accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, on behalf of her father. She teared up as the senator's accomplishments were read aloud. She smiled when President Barack Obama, whom Ted Kennedy had endorsed in 2008, put his arm around her shoulder in a comforting way.

Kara Kennedy, a graduate of Tufts University, also helped produce several videos for Very Special Arts, an organization founded by her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith. She also served as a board member for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute; director emerita and national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; and as a national advisory board member for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Terry Lierman, the co-founder of NOFAS who knew Kara Kennedy for more than two decades, said she was always positive, even when she was ill, and always available when the organization needed her.

"She was always there, but she was there for the cause and not for her own visibility," Lierman said Saturday. "I always found it so refreshing."

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Mr. Olympia 2011 Finals in HD

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Irom Chanu Sharmila Biography

Irom Chanu Sharmila Biography (Profile)

Irom Sharmila Chanu (born March 14, 1972), also known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur" or "Menghoubi" ("the fair one") is a civil rights activist, political activist, and poet from the Indian state of Manipur. Since 2 November 2000, she has been on hunger strike to demand that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA), which she blames for violence in Manipur and other parts of India's northeast. Having refused food and water for more than 500 weeks, she has been called "the world's longest hunger striker".

Decision to fast

On November 2, 2000, in Malom, a town in the Imphal Valley of Manipur, ten civilians were allegedly shot and killed by the Assam Rifles, one of the Indian Paramilitary forces operating in the state, while waiting at a bus stop. The incident later came to be known to activists as the "Malom Massacre". The next day's local newspapers published graphic pictures of the dead bodies, including one of a 62-year old woman, Leisangbam Ibetomi, and 18-year old Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Child Bravery Award winner.

Sharmila, the 28-year-old daughter of a Grade IV veterinary worker, began to fast in protest of the killings, taking neither food nor water. As her brother Irom Singhajit Singh recalled, "The killings took place on 2 November 2000. It was a Thursday. Sharmila used to fast on Thursdays since she was a child. That day she was fasting too. She has just continued with her fast". 4 November is also given as the start day of her fast. On the Friday third of November she has a last supper of pastries and sweet things then she touches her mother's feet and asks permission to fulfill her bounden duty. Her primary demand to the Indian government was the repeal of the AFSPA, which allowed soldiers to indefinitely detain any citizen on suspicion of being a rebel. The act has been blamed by opposition and human rights groups for permitting torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions.

Three days after she began her strike, she was arrested by the police and charged with an "attempt to commit suicide", which is unlawful under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, and was later transferred to judicial custody. Her health deteriorated rapidly, and the police then forcibly had to use nasogastric intubation in order to keep her alive while under arrest. Since then, Irom Sharmila has been regularly released and re-arrested every year since under IPC section 309, a person who "attempts to commit suicide" is punishable "with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year [or with fine, or with both]".

Continued activism

By 2004, Sharmila had become an "icon of public resistance". Following her procedural release On October 2, 2006, for around four months, Irom Sharmila Chanu went to Raj Ghat, New Delhi, which she said was "to pay floral tribute to my idol, Mahatma Gandhi." Later that evening, Sharmila headed for Jantar Mantar for a protest demonstration where she was joined by students, human rights activists and other concerned citizens. On 6 October, she was re-arrested by the Delhi police for attempting suicide and was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where she wrote letters to the Prime Minister, President, and Home Minister. At this time, she met and won the support of Nobel-laureate Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Laureate and human rights activist, who promised to take up Sharmila's cause at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

On August 23, 2011, Sharmila was involved in the wave of Anti-corruption movement on invitation by Anna Hazare via letter.

International attention

Sharmila was nominated to the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by a Guwahati-based woman's organization, the North East Network.

She was awarded the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is given for "an outstanding person or group, active in the promotion and advocacy of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights". She shared the award with Lenin Raghuvanshi of People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, a northeastern Indian human rights organization. In Addition the largest monetary prize the first Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize was given to her in 2010 by the New Delhi IIPM. She was awarded the Sarva Gunah Sampannah ‘“ Award for Peace and Harmony" aka the 12th Signature Women of Substance award (Assam) also in 2010. 2009 she was awarded the first Mayillama Award (Kerala). And in 2010 in the presence of the Law Minister Sri V Moilly in Bangalore she was awarded in absentia a lifetime achievement award. She was most recently awarded an Adivasi Ratna award accepted by her brother.

On 28 November 2010, UK Green Party leader and European Parliament member Keith Taylor wrote to the Indian government seeking the release of Sharmila and the repeal of the AFSPA. Her main supporter in the European Union is Sir Graham Watson KB MEP chair of the India/EU delegation of MEPs. He has consistently made interventions on her behalf most recently to Dr J Bhagwati Indian Ambassador to the EU who responded on 1 July 2011 to his request to respond to the death threats made against Irom Sharmila. Indian Ambassadors reference BRU/AMB/48/2011 Embassy of India, 1050 Brussels. He responds only that he understands that Irom Sharmila is a hunger striker and that the modification of AF(SP)A is under consideration. Previously in April 2011 Sri Graham Watson and the EU delegation had tried to visit Manipur but were not allowed to do so by the Indian Authorities. They visit each year this year they were allowed to visit, Delhi, Patna and Mumbai. Although Keith Taylor did write three letters on one occasion he has never responded to further input. Sri Graham Watson and other members of the EU delegation do always respond to further requests for help. For example a Dutch member of the India EU delegation Peter Van Dalen whose special interest group is Dalit and subaltern groups released this press statement for publication at the gathering at her tenth anniversary of fasting in November 2010 Smt Sharon Bowles MEP sent Sharmila a personal letter of support which is now with Sharmila. She had added her personal regret that Sharmila was not nominated for the Sakharov last year due to insufficient support from other MEPs a nomination requires at least 40 MEP signatories. This year's nominations close on 13 September 2010. Another MEP member of the EU/India Delegation has stated that he does not believe Sharmila will be nominated this year either as very few MEPs know of her or Manipur.

The European MEPs were initially brought in by one of her Western campaigners Nicholas Crawford a philosophy student at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He also chairs a small student think tank. The Wilberforce Society. At the annual garden party Mr Crawford gave a speech about Irom Sharmila and the AFSPA in attendance was their patron Lord Wilson, a former head of the civil service, and Sir Christopher Hum, former UK ambassador to China. Before Xmas they hope to have a seminar on India and Human Rights. And plan to visit Manipur and Sharmila next summer. Sharmila has many letters from offices of Western Dignatories including those of HM Queen Elizabeth II, The Duchess of Cornwall, The President of Eire, Tony Blair and most recently the Scottish First Minister and the Mayor of London all stating that they are sorry about her circumstances but are unable to offer her any assistance. But she has always cared more about genuine letters seeking to make connections. The only campaign that has the endorsement of her office is http://kanglaonline.com/2011/06/facebook-event-write-to-irom-sharmila-chanu/ the one asking inviduals to write emails, letters, postcards etc and provide her with some support in her lonely campaign.

In Turkey 8–11 December 2010 The Which Human Rights Festival organized by the Turkish Human Rights Group the Documentarist was dedicated to Irom Sharmila

She has written a lot of poetry most recently a 12 poem bilingual anthology (Meiteilol and English), "Fragrance of Peace" (Nungsigi Leinam), was released by Zubaan books to coincide with the tenth year of her detention, with profits used to support her cause. This appears to have been a project first suggested by Norwegian designer Mr Lars Muller, who was appointed in December 2007 by the World Organization against Torture OMCT as her 'Defending the Defenders' sponsor.

Works on her life

Deepti Priya Mehrotra's Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur details Sharmila's life and the political background of her fast.

Kavita Joshi's short documentary My Body My Weapon (released by Why Democracy? in 2007) alleges violations by security forces that fuel Sharmila's resolve to keep fasting until AFSPA is repealed. Tales from the Margins, a twin project of the above film, also focuses on Sharmila, locating her resistance in the larger context of women's protests against the AFSPA in Manipur.

Ojas S V, a theatre artist from Pune has been performing a mono-play titled Le Mashale (Take the torch), based on Irom Sharmila's life and struggle at several places in India. It is an adaptation of Meira Paibi (Women bearing torches), a drama written by Malayalam playwright Civic Chandran.

Recently Save Sharmila Campaign has been launched by a joint network of civil societies (NAPM, Gandhi Global Family, Asha Parivar, Jagriti Mahila Samiti, Yuva Koshish, Asian Centre of Social Studies and Mission Bhartiyam. They all are raising voice for Irom Sharmila. Save Sharmila Campaign has organised a candle light solidarity prayer on 25th JUNE 2011 at Rajghat New Delhi. Approximately 200 people participated in it from all walks of life. Later on Volunteer of Save Sharmila Campaign met with Irom Sharmila on 5th JULY 2011. Volunteer Md Tanveer Iqbal Editor Situationsasia fortnightly e-mag shared the campaign strategy with Irom and received her message for the campaign. Well he met her briefly during one of her habeas corpus hearings at Lamphel. A Srinagar to Imphal jouney and National Signature Campaign also planned by Save Sharmila Campaign volunteers in the month of October. Save Sharmila Campaign Volunteers demand with government To take positive steps of talks To send all party delegation to meet Irom To send special team of doctors for health check up of Irom. Other activites also planned and campaign is still running.

Politically the Janata Dal minority opposition party has publicly agreed to campaign for AF(SP)A repeal during the monsoon session of the Indian Parliament. Within Cabinet Dr Singh the PM has publicly asked for a reform of AF(SP)A to make it more humane. Sr V Moilly who also chaired the second adminstrative reforms committee one of whose recommendations was the repeal of AF(SP)A also supports change. As do the Home Secretary Sri Pillai and the Home Union Minister Sri Chidambaram. Though Sri Pillai has asked for local CMs not to apply for disturbed area status and therefore AF(SP)A whether on the books or not would cease to apply. Mr A K Antony the defence minister and General Singh commander in chief of the Indian Armed Forces lead the opposition to change or repeal of AF(SP)A

On August 21, 2011, Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy, in her The Hindu editorial on Anna Hazare, contrasted Anna's media-publicized fast with the decade-long fast of Irom, including the motivations for both.

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Bollywood Movie 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' Review

Cast: Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Despite its over-familiar premise, 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' packs a light tone and some easy laughs, before the weight from all its clichés causes it to topple over like a house of cards.

Kush (played by Imran Khan) is an assistant director in Bollywood films, whose London-based brother Luv (played by Tere Bin Laden's Ali Zafar) assigns him the job of finding him a suitable bride when he breaks up with his long-term girlfriend. With his mother by his side, Kush visits the homes of a half-dozen prospective brides – each a worse stereotype than the last – before they zero in on Katrina Kaif's character Dimple, the seemingly perfect daughter of a Delhi diplomat.

Kush, who had met Dimple five years ago while in college, remembers her as the rebellious rocker who was taken away by the cops when she staged an impromptu concert for thousands. Still a free-spirited livewire, Dimple is looking to settle down now, and Kush and his family thinks she'll be perfect for Luv.

Directed by first-timer Ali Abbas Zafar, 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' starts off breezily, with enough comic moments to keep you engaged. There's an amusing scene in which Dimple subjects Luv to a Koffee With Karan-style rapidfire interview on Skype, and another sequence in which she distracts Kush while riding pillion on his scooter. But it's when the film introduces its conflict at intermission point that everything begins to go downhill.

The tiring and predictable second half is basically a string of elaborate set-ups to call off the marriage. Given that it's a Yash Raj Films' production, you shouldn't be surprised by all the self-referencing to previous in-house hits. Say hello also to every wedding-movie cliché like best friends and mentally challenged siblings who help the hero win his girl, extended families who bond over jalebis and bhaang, and the jealous ex who shows up just in time to stake her claim.

'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' is redeemed to a large extent by the charismatic presence of Katrina Kaif, who is easily the star of this show. Offering an uninhibited and winning performance as the mad but endearing Dimple, she makes you forget many of the film's flaws. Imran Khan brings that boyish charm to his part, playing your next-door nice-guy with unmistakable sincerity; he makes Kush a hero to root for. Now if only they could muster up some sizzling chemistry! Ali Zafar, on the other hand, hams it up like there's no tomorrow, and fails on account of trying too hard.

The film doesn't always work because it relies too heavily on silly stereotypes and clichés, and because you can see exactly where it's going from the moment you settle into your seat. I'm going with two out of five for director Ali Abbas Zafar's 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'. Aside from a few enjoyable moments, this film recycles so much that you've already seen before.

Rating: 2 / 5