Outsourcing
Outsourcing is subcontracting a process, such as product design or manufacturing, to a third-party company. The decision to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering firm costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed at the competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient use of land, labor, capital, (information)technology and resources. Outsourcing became part of the business lexicon during the 1980s.
Overview
Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider.The client organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities, real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like telemarketing, cad drafting, customer service, market research, manufacturing, designing, web development, content writing, ghostwriting and engineering.
Outsourcing and offshoring are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of offshoring. Offshoring is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation/company.
With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring will become less clear over time. This is evident in the increasing presence of Indian outsourcing companies in the US and UK. The globalization of outsourcing operating models has resulted in new terms such as nearshoring, noshoring, and rightshoring that reflect the changing mix of locations. This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian companies in the U.S. and UK.
Multisourcing refers to large (predominantly IT) outsourcing agreements. Multisourcing is a framework to enable different parts of the client business to be sourced from different suppliers. This requires a governance model that communicates strategy, clearly defines responsibility and has end-to-end integration.
Process of outsourcing
Deciding to outsource
The decision to outsource is taken at a strategic level and normally requires board approval. Outsourcing is the divestiture of a business function involving the transfer of people and the sale of assets to the supplier. The process begins with the client identifying what is to be outsourced and building a business case to justify the decision. Only once a high level business case has been established for the scope of services will a search begin to choose an outsourcing partner.
Supplier proposals
A Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued to the shortlist suppliers requesting a proposal and a price. The suppliers are usually chosen based on location and at the lowest possible cost to the company.
Supplier competition
A competition is held where the client marks and scores the supplier proposals. This may involve a number of face-to-face meetings to clarify the client requirements and the supplier response. The suppliers will be qualified out until only a few remain. This is known as down select in the industry. It is normal to go into the due diligence stage with two suppliers to maintain the competition. Following due diligence the suppliers submit a "best and final offer" (BAFO) for the client to make the final down select decision to one supplier. It is not unusual for two suppliers to go into competitive negotiations.
Negotiations
The negotiations take the original RFP, the supplier proposals, BAFO submissions and convert these into the contractual agreement between the client and the supplier. This stage finalizes the documentation and the final pricing structure.
Contract finalization
At the heart of every outsourcing deal is a contractual agreement that defines how the client and the supplier will work together. This is a legally binding document and is core to the governance of the relationship. There are three significant dates that each party signs up to the contract signature date, the effective date when the contract terms become active and a service commencement date when the supplier will take over the services.
Transition
The transition will begin from the effective date and normally run until four months after service commencement date. This is the process for the staff transfer and the take-on of services.
Transformation
The transformation is the execution of a set of projects to implement the service level agreement (SLA), to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) or to implement new services. Emphasis is on 'standardisation' and 'centralisation'.
Ongoing service delivery
This is the execution of the agreement and lasts for the term of the contract.
Termination or renewal
Near the end of the contract term a decision will be made to terminate or renew the contract. Termination may involve taking back services (insourcing) or the transfer of services to another supplier.
Reasons for outsourcing
Organizations that outsource are seeking to realize benefits or address the following issues: [9][10][11]
Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.[12]
Cost restructuring. Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from variable to fixed cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.
Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement.
Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.[13]
Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.[14]
Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.
Staffing issues. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills.
Capacity management. An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier.
Catalyst for change. An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process.
Reduce time to market. The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.
Commodification. The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services and application services enabling businesses to intelligently buy at the right price. Allows a wide range of businesses access to services previously only available to large corporations.
Risk management. An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.
Time zone. A sequential task can be done during normal day shift in different time zones - to make it seamlessly available 24x7. Same/similar can be done on a longer term between earth's hemispheres of summer/winter.
Customer Pressure. Customers may see benefits in dealing with your company, but are not happy with the performance of certain elements of the business, which they may not see a solution to except through outsourcing.
Focus and core Competency. - Organization would be free to focus on their core business achieving much required competence, leaving non core responsibilities to the outside party.
Criticisms of outsourcing
[edit] Public opinion
There is a strong public opinion regarding outsourcing (especially when combined with offshoring) that outsourcing damages a local labor market. Outsourcing is the transfer of the delivery of services which affects both jobs and individuals. It is difficult to dispute that outsourcing has a detrimental effect on individuals who face job disruption and employment insecurity; however, its supporters believe that outsourcing should bring down prices, providing greater economic benefit to all. There are legal protections in the European Union regulations called the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). Labor laws in the United States are not as protective as those in the European Union. A study has attempted to show that public controversies about outsourcing in the U.S. have much more to do with class and ethnic tensions within the U.S. itself, than with actual impacts of outsourcing.
Against shareholder views
For a publicly listed company it is the responsibility of the board to run the business for the shareholders. This means taking into consideration the views of the shareholders. Shareholders may be interested in return on investment and/or social responsibility. The board may decide that outsourcing is an appropriate strategy for the business. Shareholders have a responsibility to make their views known to the board of directors if they are against outsourcing.
Failure to realize business value
The main business criticism of outsourcing is that it fails to realize the business value that the outsourcer promised the client.
Language skills
In the area of call centers end-user-experience is deemed to be of lower quality when a service is outsourced. This is exacerbated when outsourcing is combined with off-shoring to regions where the first language and culture are different. The questionable quality is particularly evident when call centers that service the public are outsourced and offshored.
There are a number of the public who find the linguistics features such as accents, word use and phraseology different which may make call center agents difficult to understand. The visual clues that are present in face-to-face encounters are missing from the call center interactions and this also may lead to misunderstandings and difficulties.
Social responsibility
Some argue that the outsourcing of jobs (particularly off-shore) exploits the lower paid workers. A contrary view is that more people are employed and benefit from paid work.
Quality of service
Quality of service is measured through a service level agreement (SLA) in the outsourcing contract. In poorly defined contracts there is no measure of quality or SLA defined. Even when an SLA exists it may not be to the same level as previously enjoyed. This may be due to the process of implementing proper objective measurement and reporting which is being done for the first time. It may also be lower quality through design to match the lower price.
There are a number of stakeholders who are affected and there is no single view of quality. The CEO may view the lower quality acceptable to meet the business needs at the right price. The retained management team may view quality as slipping compared to what they previously achieved. The end consumer of the service may also receive a change in service that is within agreed SLAs but is still perceived as inadequate. The supplier may view quality in purely meeting the defined SLAs regardless of perception or ability to do better.
Quality in terms of end-user-experience is best measured through customer satisfaction questionnaires which are professionally designed to capture an unbiased view of quality. Surveys can be one of research[18]. This allows quality to be tracked over time and also for corrective action to be identified and taken.
Staff turnover
The staff turnover of employee who originally transferred to the outsourcer is a concern for many companies. Turnover is higher under an outsourcer and key company skills may be lost with retention outside of the control of the company.
In outsourcing offshore there is an issue of staff turnover in the outsourcer companies call centers. It is quite normal for such companies to replace its entire workforce each year in a call center.[19] This inhibits the build-up of employee knowledge and keeps quality at a low level.
Company knowledge
Outsourcing could lead to communication problems with transferred employees. For example before transfer staff have access to broadcast company e-mail informing them of new products, procedures etc. Once in the outsourcing organization the same access may not be available. Also to reduce costs, some outsource employees may not have access to e-mail, but any information which is new is delivered in team meetings.
Qualifications of outsourcers
The outsourcer may replace staff with less qualified people or with people with different non-equivalent qualifications.[20]
In the engineering discipline there has been a debate about the number of engineers being produced by the major economies of the United States, India and China. The argument centers around the definition of an engineering graduate and also disputed numbers. The closest comparable numbers of annual gradates of four-year degrees are United States (137,437) India (112,000) and China (351,537).
Work, labour, and economy
Net labour movements
Productivity
Offshore outsourcing for the purpose of saving cost can often have a negative influence on the real productivity of a company. Rather than investing in technology to improve productivity, companies gain non-real productivity by hiring fewer people locally and outsourcing work to less productive facilities offshore that appear to be more productive simply because the workers are paid less. Sometimes, this can lead to strange contradictions where workers in a third world country using hand tools can appear to be more productive than a U.S. worker using advanced computer controlled machine tools, simply because their salary appears to be less in terms of U.S. dollars.
In contrast, increases in real productivity are the result of more productive tools or methods of operating that make it possible for a worker to do more work. Non-real productivity gains are the result of shifting work to lower paid workers, often without regards to real productivity. The net result of choosing non-real over real productivity gain is that the company falls behind and obsoletes itself overtime rather than making real investments in productivity.
Standpoint of labor
From the standpoint of labor within countries on the negative end of outsourcing this may represent a new threat, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization (see Krugman, Paul (2006). "Feeling No Pain." New York Times, March 6, 2006). While the "outsourcing" process may provide benefits to less developed countries or global society as a whole, in some form and to some degree - include rising wages or increasing standards of living - these benefits are not secure. Further, the term outsourcing is also used to describe a process by which an internal department, equipment as well as personnel, is sold to a service provider, who may retain the workforce on worse conditions or discharge them in the short term. The affected workers thus often feel they are being "sold down the river."
The U.S.
'Outsourcing' became a popular political issue in the United States during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. The political debate centered on outsourcing's consequences for the domestic U.S. workforce. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry criticized U.S. firms that outsource jobs abroad or that incorporate overseas in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes during his 2004 campaign, calling such firms "Benedict Arnold corporations". Criticism of outsourcing, from the perspective of U.S. citizens, by-and-large, revolves around the costs associated with transferring control of the labor process to an external entity in another country. A Zogby International poll conducted in August 2004 found that 71% of American voters believed that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurt the economy while another 62% believed that the U.S. government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas, possibly in the form of increased taxes on companies that outsource.[23] One given rationale is the extremely high corporate income tax rate in the U.S. relative to other OECD nations [24][25][26], and the peculiar practice of taxing revenues earned outside of U.S. jurisdiction, a very uncommon practice. It is argued that lowering the corporate income tax and ending the double-taxation of foreign-derived revenue (taxed once in the nation where the revenue was raised, and once from the U.S.) will alleviate corporate outsourcing and make the U.S. more attractive to foreign companies. Sarbanes-Oxley has also been cited as a factor for corporate flight from U.S. jurisdiction.
Policy solutions to outsourcing are also criticized.
Security
Before outsourcing an organization is responsible for the actions of all their staff and liable for their actions. When these same people are transferred to an outsourcer they may not change desk but their legal status has changed. They no-longer are directly employed or responsible to the organization. This causes legal, security and compliance issues that need to be addressed through the contract between the client and the suppliers. This is one of the most complex areas of outsourcing and requires a specialist third party adviser.
Fraud
Fraud is a specific security issue that is criminal activity whether it is by employees or the supplier staff. However, it can be disputed that the fraud is more likely when outsourcers are involved, for example about the credit card theft when there is scope for fraud by credit card cloning. In April 2005, a high-profile case involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers occurred when call center workers acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank.[27].
Criticisms of outsourcing
Public opinion
There is a strong public opinion regarding outsourcing (especially when combined with offshoring) that outsourcing damages a local labor market. Outsourcing is the transfer of the delivery of services which affects both jobs and individuals. It is difficult to dispute that outsourcing has a detrimental effect on individuals who face job disruption and employment insecurity; however, its supporters believe that outsourcing should bring down prices, providing greater economic benefit to all. There are legal protections in the European Union regulations called the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). Labor laws in the United States are not as protective as those in the European Union. A study has attempted to show that public controversies about outsourcing in the U.S. have much more to do with class and ethnic tensions within the U.S. itself, than with actual impacts of outsourcing. [16]
Against shareholder views
For a publicly listed company it is the responsibility of the board to run the business for the shareholders. This means taking into consideration the views of the shareholders. Shareholders may be interested in return on investment and/or social responsibility. The board may decide that outsourcing is an appropriate strategy for the business. Shareholders have a responsibility to make their views known to the board of directors if they are against outsourcing.
[edit] Failure to realize business value
The main business criticism of outsourcing is that it fails to realize the business value that the outsourcer promised the client.[citation needed]
Language skills
In the area of call centers end-user-experience is deemed to be of lower quality when a service is outsourced. This is exacerbated when outsourcing is combined with off-shoring to regions where the first language and culture are different. The questionable quality is particularly evident when call centers that service the public are outsourced and offshored.
There are a number of the public who find the linguistics features such as accents, word use and phraseology different which may make call center agents difficult to understand. The visual clues that are present in face-to-face encounters are missing from the call center interactions and this also may lead to misunderstandings and difficulties.[17]
Social responsibility
Some argue that the outsourcing of jobs (particularly off-shore) exploits the lower paid workers. A contrary view is that more people are employed and benefit from paid work.
Quality of service
Quality of service is measured through a service level agreement (SLA) in the outsourcing contract. In poorly defined contracts there is no measure of quality or SLA defined. Even when an SLA exists it may not be to the same level as previously enjoyed. This may be due to the process of implementing proper objective measurement and reporting which is being done for the first time. It may also be lower quality through design to match the lower price.
There are a number of stakeholders who are affected and there is no single view of quality. The CEO may view the lower quality acceptable to meet the business needs at the right price. The retained management team may view quality as slipping compared to what they previously achieved. The end consumer of the service may also receive a change in service that is within agreed SLAs but is still perceived as inadequate. The supplier may view quality in purely meeting the defined SLAs regardless of perception or ability to do better.
Quality in terms of end-user-experience is best measured through customer satisfaction questionnaires which are professionally designed to capture an unbiased view of quality. Surveys can be one of research[18]. This allows quality to be tracked over time and also for corrective action to be identified and taken.
Staff turnover
The staff turnover of employee who originally transferred to the outsourcer is a concern for many companies. Turnover is higher under an outsourcer and key company skills may be lost with retention outside of the control of the company.
In outsourcing offshore there is an issue of staff turnover in the outsourcer companies call centers. It is quite normal for such companies to replace its entire workforce each year in a call center.[19] This inhibits the build-up of employee knowledge and keeps quality at a low level.
Company knowledge
Outsourcing could lead to communication problems with transferred employees. For example before transfer staff have access to broadcast company e-mail informing them of new products, procedures etc. Once in the outsourcing organization the same access may not be available. Also to reduce costs, some outsource employees may not have access to e-mail, but any information which is new is delivered in team meetings.
Qualifications of outsourcers
The outsourcer may replace staff with less qualified people or with people with different non-equivalent qualifications.[20]
In the engineering discipline there has been a debate about the number of engineers being produced by the major economies of the United States, India and China. The argument centers around the definition of an engineering graduate and also disputed numbers. The closest comparable numbers of annual gradates of four-year degrees are United States (137,437) India (112,000) and China (351,537). [21][22]
Work, labour, and economy
Net labour movements
Productivity
Offshore outsourcing for the purpose of saving cost can often have a negative influence on the real productivity of a company. Rather than investing in technology to improve productivity, companies gain non-real productivity by hiring fewer people locally and outsourcing work to less productive facilities offshore that appear to be more productive simply because the workers are paid less. Sometimes, this can lead to strange contradictions where workers in a third world country using hand tools can appear to be more productive than a U.S. worker using advanced computer controlled machine tools, simply because their salary appears to be less in terms of U.S. dollars.
In contrast, increases in real productivity are the result of more productive tools or methods of operating that make it possible for a worker to do more work. Non-real productivity gains are the result of shifting work to lower paid workers, often without regards to real productivity. The net result of choosing non-real over real productivity gain is that the company falls behind and obsoletes itself overtime rather than making real investments in productivity.
Standpoint of labor
From the standpoint of labor within countries on the negative end of outsourcing this may represent a new threat, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization (see Krugman, Paul (2006). "Feeling No Pain." New York Times, March 6, 2006). While the "outsourcing" process may provide benefits to less developed countries or global society as a whole, in some form and to some degree - include rising wages or increasing standards of living - these benefits are not secure. Further, the term outsourcing is also used to describe a process by which an internal department, equipment as well as personnel, is sold to a service provider, who may retain the workforce on worse conditions or discharge them in the short term. The affected workers thus often feel they are being "sold down the river."
The U.S.
'Outsourcing' became a popular political issue in the United States during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. The political debate centered on outsourcing's consequences for the domestic U.S. workforce. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry criticized U.S. firms that outsource jobs abroad or that incorporate overseas in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes during his 2004 campaign, calling such firms "Benedict Arnold corporations". Criticism of outsourcing, from the perspective of U.S. citizens, by-and-large, revolves around the costs associated with transferring control of the labor process to an external entity in another country. A Zogby International poll conducted in August 2004 found that 71% of American voters believed that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurt the economy while another 62% believed that the U.S. government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas, possibly in the form of increased taxes on companies that outsource.[23] One given rationale is the extremely high corporate income tax rate in the U.S. relative to other OECD nations [24][25][26], and the peculiar practice of taxing revenues earned outside of U.S. jurisdiction, a very uncommon practice. It is argued that lowering the corporate income tax and ending the double-taxation of foreign-derived revenue (taxed once in the nation where the revenue was raised, and once from the U.S.) will alleviate corporate outsourcing and make the U.S. more attractive to foreign companies. Sarbanes-Oxley has also been cited as a factor for corporate flight from U.S. jurisdiction.
Policy solutions to outsourcing are also criticized.
Security
Before outsourcing an organization is responsible for the actions of all their staff and liable for their actions. When these same people are transferred to an outsourcer they may not change desk but their legal status has changed. They no-longer are directly employed or responsible to the organization. This causes legal, security and compliance issues that need to be addressed through the contract between the client and the suppliers. This is one of the most complex areas of outsourcing and requires a specialist third party adviser.
Fraud
Fraud is a specific security issue that is criminal activity whether it is by employees or the supplier staff. However, it can be disputed that the fraud is more likely when outsourcers are involved, for example about the credit card theft when there is scope for fraud by credit card cloning. In April 2005, a high-profile case involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers occurred when call center workers acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank.[27].
Source: wikipedia.org
Monday, July 21, 2008
Kangana strikes a ‘weird dressing Konnection’ with Vidya!
Spicezee BureauMumbai, July 21: For quite sometime now, Bollywood’s girl next door Vidya Balan has been grabbing limelight for her much criticised ‘dressing sense’. And it seems that the lady has some tough competition coming her way from another ‘fashion weirdo’-Kangana Ranaut.
The fashion girl has just hopped on the unfashionnable ‘Bad Dressing Brigade’. At the launch of Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming flick ‘Fashion’, Kangana left tongues tight and mouths open with her obnoxious dressing sense.
At the ‘Fashion’ event, Kangana was seen wearing a strange thing, small in shining yellow. And the icing on the cake is the actress’ claim that she designed the dress all by herself. Well, we hope she did not have any inputs from Vidya there!
But wait, that’s not all. She was also flaunting some red flowers and feathers on her made-up hair, plus a yellow colour strap on her neck And to top it all, Kangana wore shinning red heels, along with a purse in red, accessorising the package. Phew!
However, some respite at the starry night was the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra and Mugdha Godse, who looked stunning and beautiful as always.
Source: http://www.zeenews.com
Miley Cyrus at The 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards
Miley Cyrus at The 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards.Jesse Grant/WireImage.com - Wednesday, January, 10, 2007, 8:10 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Miley Cyrus stars as "Hannah Montana"
Miley Cyrus stars as "Hannah Montana" and "Miley Stewart" in Hannah Montana.ABC/Disney Channel/Bob D'Amico - Friday, July, 6, 2007, 10:6 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato stars as "Mitchie Torres" in Camp Rock
Demi Lovato stars as "Mitchie Torres" in Camp Rock.ABC/Disney/Bob D'Amico - Thursday, June, 12, 2008, 7:12 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato arrives at Chevy Rocks The Future at the Buena Vista Lot
Demi Lovato arrives at Chevy Rocks The Future at the Buena Vista Lot at The Walt Disney Studios on February 19, 2008 in Burbank, California.Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com - Friday, June, 27, 2008, 8:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato attends the premiere of "Camp Rock"
Demi Lovato attends the premiere of "Camp Rock" on June 11, 2008 in New York.Scott Gries/Getty Images - Friday, June, 27, 2008, 8:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato attends the "Camp Rock" premiere
Demi Lovato attends the "Camp Rock" premiere on June 11, 2008 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York.Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com - Friday, June, 27, 2008, 8:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato performs at her Disney Upfront presentation
Demi Lovato performs at her Disney Upfront presentation on April 8, 2008 in New York City.Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images - Friday, June, 27, 2008, 8:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato, of the Jonas Brothers movie Camp Rock
Demi Lovato, of the Jonas Brothers movie Camp Rock, performs at The Crazy Donkey on June 24, 2008 in Farmingdale, New York.Janette Pellegrini/WireImage.com - Friday, June, 27, 2008, 8:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato Biography
Demi Lovato BiographyPhoto Credit: Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Demi Lovato, of the Jonas Brothers movie Camp Rock, performs at The Crazy Donkey on June 24, 2008 in Farmingdale, New York.
Janette Pellegrini/WireImage.com - Friday, June, 27, 2008, 8:27 PM (Source: tv.yahoo.com)
Demi is an actress, singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano player from Dallas, Texas. She began her acting career at 10 when she began playing Angela on Barney & Friends. She has been a guest star on Prison Break, Split Ends and Just Jordan. In January of 2007, Demi landed a series regular role on the new Disney Channel original short series, As the Bell Rings as Charlotte. Demi is the star of the new DCOM Camp Rock, as Mitchie Torres, which was released on June 20, 2008. She is also to be in the movie Princess Protection Program as Rosie Montoya, which is due to premiere September 19, 2008.
Demi has been national Hasbro "Hit Clips" spokesgirl, and voiceovers for both national radio and TV for Denny's, Radica, and Hasbro. Additionally, Demi has won many statewide talent competitions. She has sang in such great venues as the Eismann Center and the Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day Halftime Show with LeAnn Rimes, as well as local place around Texas.
Demi Lovato sang Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" for her Camp Rock audition. (edit) Demi helped console her friend and co-star Joe Jonas when his dog Cocoa died. (edit) "Disney 365" commercials that Demi has appeared in:
Disney Mania 6
Disney Channel Games 2008
Toy Story Mania ride at Disney World in Florida (edit) Demi's most embarrassing moment happened when she was at the beach with the cast of Wizards of Waverly Place. She was in the ocean and wave came and untied her bikini top and while she was tying it back, another wave came and knocked off the bottoms. She says she was lucky cause Selena (Gomez) and Jennifer (Stone) were the only ones to see it. (edit) Demi is close to Camp Rock co-star Meaghan Jette Martin. They text each other all the time and actually spent last [2008] New Years Eve in Texas together. (edit) On April 8th, 2008, Demi was put center stage before advertisers at Disney Channel's upfront presentation at Legacy Recording Studios in New York. The theme was 'the next big thing'. (edit) Demi says that before her kissing scene with Joe Jonas (in 'Camp Rock') she popped a mint in her mouth because she thought she had bad breath and that it would freak Joe out because she had a crush on him. (edit) On Disney Mania: Volume 6, Demi will sing "That's How You Know" from Disney's Enchanted. It will be released on May 20th, 2008. (edit) She was born on the same day as Enchanted's Amy Adams. (edit) She's signed to Hollywood Records. (edit) Demi will be participating in the 2008 Disney Channel Games. She will be on the Blue team. (edit) Demi & Selena Gomez have a V-Log that they frequently update on their Youtube account. (edit) Demi was dating Cody Linley. She says that they had a kissing scene in acting class and they just started talking in the car for hours after that. Their first date was going to The Cheesecake Factory. They broke up because they both were too busy and now they are still really good friends. (edit) Demi's Favorites:
Movie: Donnie Darko
Band: Paramore
Song: 'Born For This'
Jonas Brothers Song: 'Hollywood'
Sport: Surfing
Fruit: Oranges
Color(s) Red and Black
Song she's recorded (so far): 'Stronger' (edit) She has done an introductory video for 'American Heart Association's' "Hoops for Heart" program. (edit) She is learning French. (edit) She loves pickles, cheese, eggs, homemade Rice Krispy treats, and chocolate. (edit) She says its weird seeing herself on TV. (edit) She chooses the computer over TV. (edit) She loved working with the Jonas Brothers, saying they are complete gentlemen and are the coolest guys she'll ever meet. (edit) She says she and Selena Gomez when they were little would make Rice Krispy treats almost every day. (edit) She and Selena Gomez say they would love to do a duet together. (edit) Maria Canals Barrera (who plays Demi's mom in Camp Rock and Selena Gomez's mom in Wizards of Waverly Place) says the girls jokingly bicker over her saying things like "She's my mom", "No, she's my mom". (edit) Philly on December 16th 2007, stated that Demi could be the next Miley (Cyrus). (edit) Jonas Brothers Concerts She Has Attended:
Minneapolis on Thursday, February 21st, 2008
March 2nd, 2008 in Cajun Dome. (edit) She attended her first event which was Chevy Rocks the Future on February 19, 2008. Her friend Selena Gomez was there and her Camp Rock co-stars the Jonas Brothers, Anna Maria Perez De Tagle, and Meaghan Jette Martin were also at the event. (edit) She loves poetry. (edit) She and her close friend Selena Gomez met when Demi asked her if she wanted to color with her while the two were at the audition for Barney. (edit) Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, is one of her idols. (edit) She hates rumors. (edit) She owns a Mac laptop, which she and Selena Gomez use to make their youtube videos. (edit) She said she chooses tacos over pizza. (edit) Her first concert was a Santana concert. (edit) She says her Camp Rock co-stars have become very close friends to her. (edit) She and Selena Gomez have matching guitar pick necklaces. (edit) Her celebrity crush is William Beckett from the band The Academy Is. (edit) She loves the band Paramore. (edit) She loves shopping. (edit) She has a necklace that says 'True Love Waits'. Her friend Selena Gomez has a purity ring that says the exact same thing. (edit) She and her very close friend Selena Gomez have a handshake they have been doing for eight years now. (edit) She is not, nor has not ever, dated a Camp Rock co-star. (edit) Demi is of Hispanic, Irish, and Italian descent. (edit) She says her role model is Kelly Clarkson. (edit) She says she's looking forward to getting to drive in 2008. (edit) She took part in Disney Channel's Happy U Year which was a celebration to kick off 2008. (edit) She was mention in an article on people.com on who will be the next biggest tween stars. (edit) Her song 'Shadow' was performed on As The Bell Rings (episode: TALENT SHOW). She performed it as her character Charlotte and it was a duet with Danny (Tony Oller). (edit) She redid the songs "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "The Christmas Song" which can be heard on her offical myspace. (edit) She likes to buy most of her clothes from Forever 21 and her shoes from Aldo. (edit) She will have an offical website up soon. (edit) Demetria means "Goddess of Fertility" and is of Greek origin.
Devonne is of English origin and means "Divine". (edit) She is very good friends with her As The Bell Rings co-stars. (edit) She currently lives in California. (edit) She has brown hair and brown eyes. (edit) She has covered the song "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me. (edit) She is homeschooled. (edit) Her Chinese Zodiac sign is the Sheep. (edit) Her zodiac sign is Leo. (edit) She has an older sister, Dallas who is 20 and a younger sister Madison who is five. (edit) She can play the drums, as well as the guitar and piano. (edit) According to her myspace profile, her influence is love. (edit) Her agent's name is Mitchell Gossett. (edit) Her height is 5'2" and she weighs 100 pounds. (edit) Her song 'Moves Me' is featured on the dance instructional video 'Off Da Hook: Hip-Hop F-Troop Style'. (edit) She's written songs titled 'Ride', 'Mirror, Mirror', 'Not Yet', and 'Moves Me'. (edit) Demi has performed in Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nevada on October 16, 2004. (edit) Demi has studied piano, voice, guitar, songwriting, and hip hop dancing. (edit) She is best friends with her Barney co-star Selena Gomez and Jennifer Stone. (edit) Demi has worked with Ashlee Simpson, Ricky Ullman, Christina Millian, Bubba Sparxxx, T-Bad, Selena Gomez, Abercrombie Models and Billy the Kidd.
(edit) She has been performing since age 5. (edit) Demi has a myspace.com profile. (edit) Her mom is Dianna Lovato. She was a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader during the 1983-84 season, and was once a country recording artist. (edit)
Source: http://www.tv.com/
Ashley (roommate), Brooke Hogan and Glen (roommate) in Brooke Knows Best
,+Brooke+Hogan+and+Glen+(roommate).jpg)
Ashley (roommate), Brooke Hogan and Glen (roommate) in Brooke Knows Best.VH1 - Wednesday, July, 2, 2008, 11:2 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Brooke Hogan MTV Video Music Awards
Brooke Hogan MTV Video Music Awards - 8/29/2004Steve Granitz, Wireimage.com - Wednesday, September, 27, 2006, 5:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Brooke Hogan and Hulk Hogan MTV Video Music Awards
Brooke Hogan and Hulk Hogan MTV Video Music Awards - 8/29/2004Dimitrios Kambouris, Wireimage.com - Wednesday, September, 27, 2006, 5:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Brooke Hogan and father Hulk Hogan
Brooke Hogan and father Hulk Hogan MTV Video Music Awards - 8/29/2004Steve Granitz, Wireimage.com - Wednesday, September, 27, 2006, 5:27 PM
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Linda Hogan, Nick Hogan, Brooke Hogan and Hulk Hogan
Linda Hogan, Nick Hogan, Brooke Hogan and Hulk Hogan MTV Video Music Awards 2005 - Arrivals - 8/28/05Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage.com - Wednesday, September, 27, 2006, 5:27 PM
Brooke Knows Best
America's Prom Queen
Brooke Knows Best
Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Hulk Hogan and Brooke Hogan
Premiere: Hulk Hogan and Brooke Hogan at the New York premiere of Paramount Pictures' War of the Worlds - 6/23/2005Source: http://tv.yahoo.com
Brooke Hogan Biography
Photo Credit: http://tv.yahoo.comBrooke Hogan stars in Brooke Knows Best.
Name : Brooke Hogan
Date of birth : 2 May 1988
Place of birth : Tampa, Florida, USA
Birth name : Brooke Bollea
Nickname : Brookie
Height : 5' 10
Brooke Hogan Trivia
Daughter of Hulk Hogan.
Brooke Hogan Detailed Biography
Brooke is the natural daughter of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. Her real name is Brooke Bollea, but she goes by the last name of Hogan for publicity reasons. She stands at 5'11", but at the age of 17 years is likely still growing. Because of her father's connection with the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, they let her sing the national anthem for them. Her first hit song in the United States singles charts is Everything to Me.
She also has a brother named Nick, born in 1990.
Courtesy: netglimse.com
Junk food diet fuelling obesity epidemic in Brit pets
London, July 21 : Pet owners in Britain are fuelling pet obesity epidemic by feeding their animals with unhealthy junk food, warns a charity.
The pet owners have been feeding their animals with pizza,
chips, cheese, scones and even curry, thereby increasing the number of overweight animals by 10 per cent.
Around 500,000 pets are affected, ranging from cats and dogs to rabbits, rats and even budgerigars.
Like humans, their pets have also been suffering from obesity symptoms
such as low energy levels, breathing problems, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, liver and heart disease and poor fertility.
The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) senior veterinary surgeon Sean Wensley said the pets' weight gain could be down to their owners giving them fatty and sugary snacks with little knowledge of what harm they were doing.
"Others that have been mentioned are crisps, curry, pizza, ice-cream, cake, and sweets," Telegraph quoted him as saying.
He said that a single biscuit or crisp for a pet could be equal to an entire packet for a human.
Moreover, the Guinness Book of Records has withdrawn its listings for heaviest animals over worries that some owners may be overfeeding their pets to gain recognition.
--- ANI
Source: http://www.newkerala.com
The pet owners have been feeding their animals with pizza,
chips, cheese, scones and even curry, thereby increasing the number of overweight animals by 10 per cent.
Around 500,000 pets are affected, ranging from cats and dogs to rabbits, rats and even budgerigars.
Like humans, their pets have also been suffering from obesity symptoms
such as low energy levels, breathing problems, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, liver and heart disease and poor fertility.
The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) senior veterinary surgeon Sean Wensley said the pets' weight gain could be down to their owners giving them fatty and sugary snacks with little knowledge of what harm they were doing.
"Others that have been mentioned are crisps, curry, pizza, ice-cream, cake, and sweets," Telegraph quoted him as saying.
He said that a single biscuit or crisp for a pet could be equal to an entire packet for a human.
Moreover, the Guinness Book of Records has withdrawn its listings for heaviest animals over worries that some owners may be overfeeding their pets to gain recognition.
--- ANI
Source: http://www.newkerala.com
Skin cancer worries may make your bones brittle
London, July 21 : Avoiding sun over the fears of developing skin cancer might be making your bones brittle, suggests a new survey.
According to National Osteoporosis Society (NOS), lack of vitamin D might put people at an increased risk of developing brittle bone disease.
It advised having lunch outside, gardening or hanging out the washing.
Skin cancer rates have experienced a significant increase in recent years and health campaigners have been urging people to limit their exposure to sun without sunscreen protection or clothing.
NOS said that exposure to sun for at least 15 to 20 minutes could benefit bones.
Sunlight produces vitamin D, which is essential for bone strength and low levels could raise the risk of osteoporosis.
"We are not advocating spending lengthy periods in the sun, as too much sun causes skin ageing and melanoma," BBC quoted Professor Roger Francis, from the NOS Medical Board, as saying.
"Furthermore, staying in the sun too long means that the body breaks down surplus vitamin D shortly after it is produced.
"Lying on the beach for two weeks will not top up levels for the rest of the year," he added.
Moreover, simply sitting by a closed window or in a conservatory was not enough, as this did not produce vitamin D.
Caroline Cerny, from Cancer Research UK, which runs its SunSmart campaign to warn people about skin cancer, said the key was a sensible approach.
"The amount of time in the sun required to make enough vitamin D changes from person to person and depends on things like skin type, time of day, time of year, and where you are in the world," she said.
"We all need a bit of sunshine in our lives, but it's important to remember that the amount of sun needed to make enough vitamin D is always less than the amounts that cause reddening of the skin or sunburn," she added.
--- ANI
Source: http://www.newkerala.com
According to National Osteoporosis Society (NOS), lack of vitamin D might put people at an increased risk of developing brittle bone disease.
It advised having lunch outside, gardening or hanging out the washing.
Skin cancer rates have experienced a significant increase in recent years and health campaigners have been urging people to limit their exposure to sun without sunscreen protection or clothing.
NOS said that exposure to sun for at least 15 to 20 minutes could benefit bones.
Sunlight produces vitamin D, which is essential for bone strength and low levels could raise the risk of osteoporosis.
"We are not advocating spending lengthy periods in the sun, as too much sun causes skin ageing and melanoma," BBC quoted Professor Roger Francis, from the NOS Medical Board, as saying.
"Furthermore, staying in the sun too long means that the body breaks down surplus vitamin D shortly after it is produced.
"Lying on the beach for two weeks will not top up levels for the rest of the year," he added.
Moreover, simply sitting by a closed window or in a conservatory was not enough, as this did not produce vitamin D.
Caroline Cerny, from Cancer Research UK, which runs its SunSmart campaign to warn people about skin cancer, said the key was a sensible approach.
"The amount of time in the sun required to make enough vitamin D changes from person to person and depends on things like skin type, time of day, time of year, and where you are in the world," she said.
"We all need a bit of sunshine in our lives, but it's important to remember that the amount of sun needed to make enough vitamin D is always less than the amounts that cause reddening of the skin or sunburn," she added.
--- ANI
Source: http://www.newkerala.com
New inventions may make dentists' drill and toothbrush obsolete
London, July 21 : Get ready to bid adieu to the dreaded dentist's drill and the floss-creating toothbrush, thanks to two radical new inventions by dental researchers that could change the way we take care of our teeth.
Leeds Dental Institute scientists have come up with a solution that can mimic the way the body forms new teeth, and would do away with drilling and filling by making it possible for the teeth to repair themselves.
Along with this discovery, these researchers have also formulated a mouthwash that kills the plaque causing bacteria when a light is shone into the mouth.
While the researchers hope that this mouthwash would hit the market within the next 3 years, it is believed that the alternative to drilling could be ready for use within five years.
With the drilling alternative, which is derived from a new protein, it is possible to repair holes in the enamel on the surface of the tooth naturally. It works by creating a scaffold which attracts the minerals that form enamel just like the body creates new teeth.
This substance can be painted on teeth in the early stages of tooth decay for filling up tiny holes before they become large holes full of decay.
"I can't bear the noise of the drill and it is surprising how many people say just the sound is enough to instil fear. We looked at a way to treat early decay and avoid drilling," The Telegraph quoted Prof Jennifer Kirkham, Research Director at the institute, as saying.
In fact, this treatment could also be used for filling tiny holes in the teeth's dentine that is responsible for intense sensitivity to hot and cold food or drinks.
However, safety checks are already under way for the protein used in the treatment, as it is absolutely new. And Prof Kirkham hopes that it can enter trials early next year aiming to gain a licence within five years.
"We feel confident that this is a major step change for the future," she added.
Their other invention is a mouthwash using a molecule that is absorbed by bacteria in the mouth, which destroys the bug from within after being activated by a bright light- a method, called photo dynamic therapy. It was first looked at as a way of helping disabled patients to look after their teeth if they cannot use a normal toothbrush.
However, it promises that there's no risk to the patient in case the mouthwash is swallowed, as the molecule is completely safe and is already in use in the food industry.
Prof Kirkham said: "It is a safe alternative way of improving oral hygiene for those patients for whom brushing is not feasible or as an adjunct to brushing.
"At the moment we are not saying it is going to take over from brushing because the trials have not been done yet. We have to look at how much it is going to cost, at the moment is it is very cheap. We would wish to explore its full potential across the whole patient community and look at all the potential benefits over and above what is already out there."
She further said that the method could also be used to treat gum disease which is a major cause of tooth loss. It could be inserted below the gum line, by a hygienist during a routine scale and polish, with a tiny fibre optic light source to destroy the bacteria. -- ANI
Source: newkerala.com
Leeds Dental Institute scientists have come up with a solution that can mimic the way the body forms new teeth, and would do away with drilling and filling by making it possible for the teeth to repair themselves.
Along with this discovery, these researchers have also formulated a mouthwash that kills the plaque causing bacteria when a light is shone into the mouth.
While the researchers hope that this mouthwash would hit the market within the next 3 years, it is believed that the alternative to drilling could be ready for use within five years.
With the drilling alternative, which is derived from a new protein, it is possible to repair holes in the enamel on the surface of the tooth naturally. It works by creating a scaffold which attracts the minerals that form enamel just like the body creates new teeth.
This substance can be painted on teeth in the early stages of tooth decay for filling up tiny holes before they become large holes full of decay.
"I can't bear the noise of the drill and it is surprising how many people say just the sound is enough to instil fear. We looked at a way to treat early decay and avoid drilling," The Telegraph quoted Prof Jennifer Kirkham, Research Director at the institute, as saying.
In fact, this treatment could also be used for filling tiny holes in the teeth's dentine that is responsible for intense sensitivity to hot and cold food or drinks.
However, safety checks are already under way for the protein used in the treatment, as it is absolutely new. And Prof Kirkham hopes that it can enter trials early next year aiming to gain a licence within five years.
"We feel confident that this is a major step change for the future," she added.
Their other invention is a mouthwash using a molecule that is absorbed by bacteria in the mouth, which destroys the bug from within after being activated by a bright light- a method, called photo dynamic therapy. It was first looked at as a way of helping disabled patients to look after their teeth if they cannot use a normal toothbrush.
However, it promises that there's no risk to the patient in case the mouthwash is swallowed, as the molecule is completely safe and is already in use in the food industry.
Prof Kirkham said: "It is a safe alternative way of improving oral hygiene for those patients for whom brushing is not feasible or as an adjunct to brushing.
"At the moment we are not saying it is going to take over from brushing because the trials have not been done yet. We have to look at how much it is going to cost, at the moment is it is very cheap. We would wish to explore its full potential across the whole patient community and look at all the potential benefits over and above what is already out there."
She further said that the method could also be used to treat gum disease which is a major cause of tooth loss. It could be inserted below the gum line, by a hygienist during a routine scale and polish, with a tiny fibre optic light source to destroy the bacteria. -- ANI
Source: newkerala.com
Olympic 2008: China to create history
Only 20 days are left for the Olympics 2008 to start in China for the first time in its history. The entire country is overwhelmed by the essence of the Games. Chinese media are updating citizens with latest news of the Olympics.YOU CAN refer it as a passion or the notion of excitement, even if you refer the same as patriotism, it will not be considered as an extravaganza. This is what has been flourishing throughout China – the enthusiasm for Beijing Olympics-2008, while there are only 20 days left to ring the final bell. The Olympic torch has been greeted with warm welcome in every nook and corners of China and other countries by the Olympic lovers except some scattered incidents in some places, under the banner of ‘one world, one dream,’ China endeavours its best to connect the entire globe with a single string of international brotherhood.
If you visit China just now, you’ll realise the essence of such a grand sport event everywhere. Each village, town and city is bedecked with Olympic insignia ie flags, hoardings, pennants, emblems, mascots, torch and obviously the Olympic slogan.
For this mega event, China spreads out the welcome message throughout the world by using the images of five Olympic mascots – Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. Read them together, the Chinese meaning is ‘Beijing welcomes you’. As tourists and sports lovers from various countries have already started to gather in Beijing, the concerned authority is completing all the necessary tasks on a war-like momentum. Every arrangement to provide the best comfort to its visitors is being performed in a proper way. Visit the central Honqiao market in Beijing. You’ll certainly find imitated goods of every reputed international company at very minimum price. For the sports lovers, T-Shirts, key chains and varied memorabilia are available at a reasonable price. That is why tourists gather here in large numbers everyday. But the concerned authority allows the selling of Olympic souvenirs only through some selected licenced outlets.
Olympics has increased the value of patriotism amongst the Chinese nationals a lot. The concerned authority has received more than a million of applications from the Chinese people for the posts of volunteer army. Amidst them, only 80,000 right candidates have been selected, who are presently undergoing rigorous training to serve the best genre of security during the days of Olympics. Entire Chinese media irrespective of print, broadcast and audio-visual houses are constantly updating its citizens regarding the latest news of Olympic.
Like each year, China is also expecting the high rate of success in some events like judo, basketball, swimming and gymnastics. The red people are very much optimistic about the basket ball event as their renowned player – Yao Ming is fit enough to start with. His dexterity in this field has helped him to earn the title of the ‘Great Wall of China’.
The Chinese government has also taken some strict steps to let the Olympics-2008 take place in such an atmosphere that will be considered as the best till date. For that reason, carbon emission from vehicles as well as industries has been attenuated to 70 per cent. Industries, which will emit sound amount of CO2, SO2 and CO, have been already shifted far from the main Beijing city. The Beijing municipal planning museum is currently organising a show upon the planning and architectural grandeur of the Olympic centre.
Having the label of largest population of the world, China has advanced in each field – technology, education, economy, agriculture, etc though years. The black days are over while this East Asian country was struggling against poverty, imbecility and superstition.
So much water has flown though the Hwang-ho and Yangtze-kiang; now it is the time for the East to show the West that they have progressed a lot and are not confined within the boundaries of poverty and superstitious beliefs. Now, they are powerful enough to pose a challenge to the West in any field- that is what China is going to demonstrate.
Source: merinews.com
Penelope Cruz is planing to start a family
Photo Credit: fresnobeehive.comWashington (ANI): Spanish actress Penelope Cruz is giving some serious thought to starting a family like pal Salma Hayek. The Vanilla Sky actress, currently dating fellow Spaniard Javier Bardem, however, insists that she still feels that time is on her side as far as her baby plans are concerned.
"It's something I've thought about a lot... I feel like I still have a lot of time," Contactmusic quoted Cruz as telling W Magazine. For now, Cruz, 34, is planning to tour the world like ex-lover Mathew McConaughey. "I've never done that. I've travelled to so many countries for work, and I realise when I leave that I haven't seen anything," the actress said.
Source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in
Salma Hayek, Billy Joel, Angelina Jolie
Photo Credit: img2.timeinc.netBilly Joel bade a stirring farewell to Shea Stadium in New York during a sold-out final show at the same ballpark where the Beatles famously ushered in a new era in rock 'n' roll four decades ago. "They're gonna be tearing this place down, but I wanna thank you ... for letting me do the best job in the world," Joel told the crowd at the New York Mets' home field, which is to be razed after the baseball season to make way for a new stadium across the street. Other high-wattage guests also performed. Tony Bennett sang "New York State of Mind" with Joel, and Garth Brooks appeared on stage wearing a Mets jersey. In the audience, one of Joel's famous fans - his ex-wife Christie Brinkley - sang along, word for word, to the chorus of "She's Always a Woman."
Angelina Jolie and her newborn twins left the French Riviera hospital where she gave birth, the hospital said in a statement. "The mother and her babies are doing very well," reported Lenval hospital in Nice. Jolie slipped out at 4 a.m. on Saturday with the twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt , evading most of the paparazzi who have followed the family for months in southern France. It was not immediately clear if the twins' father, the actor Brad Pitt , was with them. Television cameras outside the hospital filmed a large white van with tinted windows leaving one of the hospital's back entrances at that time. Jolie, 33, checked into the hospital on July 2 and delivered the babies by Cesarean section 10 days later.
Salma Hayek has called off her engagement to the French businessman François-Henri Pinault , her representative said. The couple announced their plans to wed in March 2007, and welcomed a daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault , several months later. The Mexican-born Hayek, 41, has starred in films such as "Frida" and "After the Sunset." She is one of the executive producers of ABC's "Ugly Betty" and the chief executive of Ventanazul, a production company she formed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Pinault is the chief executive officer of the luxury goods company PPR, which owns high-end labels such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Puma.
Less than eight months after an epic meltdown that led to a court taking away her children, Britney Spears is reclaiming her role as a mother. Attorneys for the pop singer and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline , reached an agreement that allows Spears three visits a week from Sean Preston , 2, and Jayden James , 1, including two overnights with the potential for more. If all goes well, she could have the boys roughly 40 percent of the time, said her attorney, Laura Wasser.
Paul Simon has sued a Japanese clockmaker, Rhythm Watch Company, and its U.S. subsidiary for $5 million for copyright infringement, claiming the company used "Bridge Over Troubled Water" as a composition on 40,000 of its clocks. A license fee for using the song would have cost more than $1 million and the lawsuit estimated Rhythm had profited more than $5 million from the sale of clocks that use the song.
The rapper DMX was arrested at a Phoenix shopping mall on suspicion of giving a false name and Social Security number to a hospital to avoid paying for medical expenses, The Associated Press reported. A local sheriff said that when DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, in April, he used the name Troy Jones and failed to pay a $7,500 bill. The sheriff said his office had been investigating the case before DMX, 37, was arrested in May on drug possession and animal cruelty charges.
Paul McCartney churned out a Beatles-laden song list to a crowd gathered last weekend for a free concert as part of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebration. McCartney opened the show with the Wings song "Jet," after which he greeted the crowd in French. The show, McCartney's only scheduled performance in North America this year, drew ire from some in the province who have questioned his participation in the celebrations of French-speaking Quebec City because of his British roots, claiming his presence evokes painful memories of Britain's conquest of New France in 1760. In a radio interview last week, McCartney told nationalists to "smoke the pipes of peace."
(AP)
Source: iht.com
Star Couplings: Salma Hayek Is Suddenly Single
Salma Hayek broke off her engagement to her French billionaire baby daddy. [Us Weekly]Source: thefrisky.com
Actress Hayek calls off engagement
Actress Salma Hayek has called off her engagement to French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, the father of her daughter.In a statement, Hayek's spokesperson, Cari Ross, said: "We are sad to announce the engagement of Salma Hayek and Francois-Henri Pinault has been cancelled. There will be no further comment."
Forty-one-year-old Hayek and 46-year-old Pinault became the parents of a baby girl in September.
They had announced their engagement several months earlier.
Source: rte.ie
Salma Hayek Biography
Name : Salma HayekReal Name : Salma Hayek Jimenez
Date Of Birth : September 2, 1966
Place of Birth : Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico
Height : 5'2''
Weight : 115 lbs
Eyes : Dark brown
Hair : Black
Occupation : Actress
Education : College dropout
Companion : Edward Norton
Fan Mail : C/O William Morris Agency
151 El Camino Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA
Salma Hayek Trivia
Salma is the new face of the 118-year-old cosmetic firm Avon. Avon signed the Oscar-nominated actress February 2003 as its spokesperson, in an effort to overhaul its image. The Hollywood leading lady has also committed herself to be the spokesperson for Avon�s anti-domestic violence initiative, which aims to champion the health and wellbeing of women around the world.
Had to miss the inauguration ceremony of the 17,000-seat theatre in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico because of delays of LAS BANDIDAS filming. (November 23, 2004)
Split from her boyfriend of a year, actor Josh Lucas. (2004)
Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek are poised to team up as a pair of bank robbers in new movie set in Mexico -- The project is currently untitled and a director has yet to be recruited. (November 5, 2003)
Named one of the Best-Dressed Celebrities by America's People magazine. (September 15, 2003)
Hayek yearns for a simple country life, and insists the bright lights of Hollywood have failed to dim her agricultural ambition, which is having a chicken farm. (September 12, 2003)
Hayek has found a new man after splitting from Edward Norton, in the shape of actor Josh Lucas -- The couple have been seen out and about in Hollywood in recent weeks, and friends are convinced they're set to become Tinseltown's next big couple. (August 14, 2003)
Edward Norton and Salma Hayek's suspected break-up has been confirmed -- While promoting his new movie SPY KIDS 3-D: GAME OVER, in which Hayek co-stars, child actor Daryl Sabara revealed on Monday, I was showing off (to Hayek), you know? She isn't with Ed Norton anymore. (July 23, 2003)
Initially turned down the offer to direct the upcoming cable television movie THE MALDONADO MIRACLE that stars Ruben Blades, Peter Fonda and Mare Winningham.
Hayek said on Monday that while her controversial film portrayal of artist Frida Kahlo was a high point in her career, financially it was a losing proposition for her. (March 18, 2003)
Hayek was terrified after bumping into the niece of the real-life character she plays in new movie FRIDA, and even more shocked to find the relative loved her role. (February 22, 2003)
Hayek shivered in the cold at the premiere of her film FRIDA on Thursday � she waved to fans and signed autographs outside the Odeon Cinema in London's Leicester Square, declined to remove her red velvet coat to reveal the glamorous cream gown underneath, declaring herself freezing. (February 14, 2003)
Has the most-desired jawline and chin, according to an annual survey conducted by the Beverly Hills Institute For Aesthetic And Reconstructive Surgery in Los Angeles. (February 6, 2003)
Hayek is having fun at the Sundance Film Festival. The actress, who is known for her seriousness, lightened up after the standing ovation she received for her directorial debut, THE MALDONADO MIRACLE, which debuted on Monday night. (January 23, 2003)
Hayek has turned her back on Catholicism because she disagrees with the church's stance on homosexuals -- the Mexican actress, who plays bisexual artist Frida Kahlo in new movie Frida, admits she has always had problems with sexism and homophobia in the church. (January 4, 2003)
FRIDA, the Hollywood film about the bohemian cult painter Frida Kahlo starring Mexican heartthrob and former soap star Salma Hayek in the title role, got a broad thumbs up on its debut in her Mexican homeland, although the fact it was in English ruffled some nationalists. (November 22, 2002)
Hayek has come home to promote her latest film, FRIDA, before it opens nationally in Mexico on Nov. 20, but the few local critics who have seen the Miramax film have bristled at what they termed superficial portrayals of some of Mexico's most revered artists by foreigners speaking accented English. (November 11, 2002)
Hayek became living art in the new movie FRIDA -- director Julie Taymor created living versions of some of Frida Kahlo's paintings with Hayek. (November 2, 2002)
Hayek has told how she was kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom - and loved it; she says: They put a gun to my head and I said, kill me. I believe in reincarnation. I'll just come back.
Hayek said she misses the days when she had one eyebrow because it would have come in handy for the movie in which she plays the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, notorious for her thick, connecting eyebrow. (September 2002)
Finally she glowed with satisfaction on Friday after the world premiere of FRIDA, the film she fought for seven years to make -- The movie tells the story of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and her troubled love affair with muralist Diego Rivera in the politically-charged 1930s and 1940s. (September 3, 2002)
She is a former soap opera star in Mexico
Had to see off competition from Jennifer Lopez and Madonna who were eying Frida Kahlo scripts.
For the Frida role she had to shed her sultry image, donning fake eyebrows and shaving her upper lip to get a bit of stubble that would make her look more like the Bohemian Kahlo.
Hayek tackled what she called the role of her lifetime as the controversial painter whose marriage to world-renowned muralist Rivera, and affair with Leon Trotsky, captivated the politically charged art world of the 1930s and '40s.
A former soap opera star in Mexico, she arrived in Hollywood as a virtual unknown and had to fight for years to see her dream come to life.
Though she spoke no English, she jumped into the fray and eventually scored a role in DESPERADO, Robert Rodriguez's 1995 sequel to his much-touted EL MARIACHI.
Was never going to have a middle name
Just weeks after being attacked by a monkey, she has been brutalized by another member of the animal kingdom.
Has stunned Hollywood by romping with a Saudi tycoon in the Mediterranean.
Is boosting the Latin arts
Went to extreme lengths to get the right look for her new film - she grew a moustache.
Does very little exercise and never goes to a gym.
Plays the dancing woman on the TV screen in THE MISBEHAVIORS, directed by Robert Rodriguez. She has appeared in numerous films by the director.
In FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996) she plays a stripper from hell. Later in Dogma she plays a stripper from heaven.
Was considered for a role in DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002)
Salma Hayek Detailed Biography
A bona fide celebrity goddess in her native Mexico, Hayek emigrated in 1991 to Los Angeles, where she willingly plunged to the bottom of the heap in order to take a shot at conquering Hollywood. Intensive lessons, both in English and acting, paid handsome dividends in 1995, when the diminutive dynamo lit a fire under Antonio Banderas in wunderkind director Robert Rodriguez's balletic bullet ballad Desperado. Continuing to collect hunky co-stars, Hayek struck sparks with a Baldwin brother in both Fair Game and Fled, and made an undead love slave out of George Clooney in From Dusk 'Til Dawn. Salma Hayek Internet shrines cropped up like weeds, and in 1997 the sultry spitfire landed her first lead role in the States, playing opposite Friends fave Matthew Perry in the cross-cultural romantic comedy Fools Rush In.
The daughter of a Lebanese-descended father and a Spanish-descended mother, Hayek was born and raised in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. Determined to see that her grandchild develop into a ravishing beauty, her grandmother frequently shaved young Salma's head and clipped her eyebrows, in the belief that such treatments would add body and sheen to her granddaughter's thick dark locks. Equally determined to see that she became well-educated, Hayek's staunchly Catholic parents shipped her off to a boarding school in Louisiana when she was 12. While the beguiling youngster proved both attentively studious and properly religious, she also displayed a bent for mischief that she chiefly directed against the long-suffering nuns who ran the school: among other infamies, she once slipped into the faculty dormitory and set all of the alarm clocks back three hours. The end result of such she-nun-igans was that Hayek ended up suspended and carted back home after just two years. It only took her two more years to finish high school, and her mother, fearful of the effects ''college boys'' might have on her impressionable young daughter, sent Hayek to Houston, where she lived with an aunt until her 17th birthday.
Returning to Mexico once more, Hayek relocated to Mexico City to attend college, where she commenced international relations studies. Though she had harbored acting ambitions since childhood, Hayek had for years been reluctant to seriously pursue such a chancy vocation for fear of alienating her parents. Ultimately, she decided the path of the dutiful daughter and stable career girl was one she could not bear to walk and frankly confronted her parents about her aspiration. As she later told one interviewer, ''One day I took my dad to lunch. I asked him if he believed in destiny and he said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'Well, I believe it's my destiny to become an actress.''' In spite of voluble objections from her family and the derision and disbelief of her friends, Hayek quit college and determinedly embarked on an acting career. She first found work in plays at neighborhood theaters, including one assignment as the heroine of Aladdin and His Marvelous Lamp. Several months of tireless stage work led to jobs making television commercials, which in turn yielded a casting in Nuevo Amanecer, a popular daytime TV serial. With no more experience than that to her credit, Hayek got herself cast as the title character of a second serial, Teresa, the phenomenal popularity of which almost immediately made its fetching young star the most fanatically revered actress in Mexico.
Not content to settle for the comparatively meager rewards of superstardom, Mexican-style, Hayek set her confident sights on Hollywood, and moved north in 1991. What followed thereafter was a taxing period of adjustment, beginning with an 18-month hiatus from acting that was primarily occupied with English lessons. Also during that period, Hayek studied acting under famed dramatician Stella Adler, and taught herself to drive a car: two days of stick-shift driving convinced her to switch to automatic, and she slowly acquainted herself with the tangled maze of L.A.'s freeways by continually requesting directions from her more streetwise friends via her trusty cellular phone. Hayek's first big break came in 1993, when she spent four months auditioning for a headlining role in Allison Anders's girlz-'n'-the-hood drama Mi Vida Loca. Anders eventually cast another actress in the desired-for lead assignment, but Hayek's tenacity so impressed the director that she gave her a smaller part in the film for the express purpose of enabling the promising young actress to qualify for membership in the Screen Actors Guild.
Other small roles followed, mostly on television, but it was an appearance on a Spanish-language cable-access talk show that led to Hayek's big breakthrough. While in the process of planning a sequel to his wildly successful debut film, El Mariachi, Mexican-American director Robert Rodriguez happened to tune in to Hayek's talk show appearance during a fit of late-night channel surfing. Mesmerized by the lovely and engaging actress, Rodriguez wasted no time tracking her down, and soon secured her interest in tackling the female lead in his soon-to-be-produced big-studio debut, Desperado. Rodriguez's financial backers initially resisted his choice of Hayek, but the director won them over by showcasing her in his made-for-cable installment of Showtime's Rebel Highway series, Roadracers. A solid commercial success, Desperado also garnered Hayek rave reviews for her show-stopping, saliva-inducing performance. Despite the fact she was disappointingly underrepresented in her next two outings, in the limp thrillers Fair Game and Fled, Hayek's performances nevertheless provided much-needed zip for both projects, and 1997 found her nicely romantically matched in both Fools Rush In and TNT's adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which she portrayed Esmerelda to Mandy Patinkin's Quasimodo.
Hayek's film agenda continues to offer a steady diet of roles: She followed her turn in the disco redux 54 with an appearance alongside Will Smith and Kevin Kline in Wild Wild West, and co-starred with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Linda Fiorentino, and Alan Rickman in Kevin Smith's Dogma. Through her Ventanarosa production company, she co-produced The Velocity of Gary, an offbeat romantic comedy which teamed her with Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio, and another of her co-productions, the Mexican feature No One Writes to the Colonel, was recently in competition at Cannes. Hayek is currently filming the biopic Frida, in which she tackles a much-coveted portrayal of painter Frida Kahlo.
On a more personal note, Hayek is romantically attached to actor Ed Norton.
Source: netglimse.com
Wii overtakes Xbox as US best seller
Nintendo's Wii is now outselling Microsoft's Xbox 360 in the USNintendo sales figures reach 10.9 million
Nintendo's Wii has overtaken Microsoft's Xbox 360 to become the best selling games console in the US.
Market research firm NPD Group said that some 666,000 Wii consoles were sold in North America in June, bringing total US sales figures to 10.9 million since its release in November 2006.
The latest figures mean that the Nintendo console is now outselling Microsoft's Xbox 360, which has been on sale a year longer.
Nintendo also appears to be winning on the handheld console front, reporting sales of more than 783,000 units of its DS portable device in the US during June amounting to total sales of 20.8 million units.
The video games industry continues to defy the credit crunch, generating $8.3bn in sales in the US alone for the first half of 2008, up 36 per cent on the same period in 2007.
Meanwhile a new study from research firm GfK NOP suggests that 83 per cent of respondents to a survey believe that the Wii improves family cohesion.
By contrast only 52 per cent think that the PlayStation 3 fosters family interaction, while 49 per cent said that the Xbox 360 improved family togetherness.
Source: vnunet.com
The Dark Knight's smashing record
The new Batman movie The Dark Knight smashed a lot of box office records, what with an earning of 155.3 million dollars in its opening weekend.The new movie, starring Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhall, Michael Caine and the late Heath Ledger, has already made more money in its biggest day (66.4 m dollars on Friday) than Hancock, WALL-E and Kung-Fu Panda, to name three recent supersize hits, made in their respective opening weekends.
The movie's performance on Friday also set new records as Hollywood's biggest-ever opening day and biggest-ever single day.
Second highest grosser over the weekend was Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan starrer Mamma Mia! which took in 27.6 million dollars.
Will Smith's superhero movie Hancock came in third on the list by Exhibitor Relations, with an earning of 14 million dollars.
The movie adaptation of Jules Verne's classic Journey to the Centre of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser was the fourth highest grossing, raking in 11.9 million dollars.
The top five was rounded off by Hellboy II: The Golden Army which took in 10 million dollars over the weekend.
Source: inhome.rediff.com
BO: Kismat Konnection grosses Rs 270 million worldwide
Photo Credit: masala.comMUMBAI: Shahid Kapur - Vidya Balan starrer Kismat Konnection has grossed Rs 270+ million worldwide in its opening weekend.
The movie has been produced by Tips Films and released by UTV Motion Pictures. Kismat Konnection was released in more than 900 screens worldwide, including the US, UK, Australia, Pakistan and the Middle East amongst other countries.
As per figures provided by UTV, this is the highest opening ever for a Shahid Kapur film. The movie grossed Rs 20.76 crores with an average per print of Rs 3.75 lakhs in India.
In the Middle East, the film did a total of $ 260,310 (Rs 1.12 crores). In the US, the film collected $ 213,112 (Rs. 91.63 lacs) upto Saturday night. Australia saw a weekend collection of $ 42,952 (Rs 18.46 lakhs).
In Australia, the film had the third highest screen average in 2008 behind The Dark Knight (Batman) and Mamma Mia. In the UK, Kismat Konnection had a cumulative weekend collection of $ 223,641 (Rs 95.51 lakhs). In Pakistan, it grossed $ 22,418 (Rs 9.6 lakhs) on the opening day (Friday).
UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said, "We are thrilled with the opening weekend collections of Kismat Konnection around the world. This demonstrates the value of backing strong content with aggressive marketing and distribution. This is the second consecutive blockbuster in our association with TIPS, with both movies that we have collaborated on - Race and Kismat Konnection - notching up the Top 2 opening weekends of the year so far!"
Kismat Konnection is directed by Aziz Mirza and stars Shahid Kapur, Juhi Chawla and Vidya Balan.
Source: businessofcinema.com
No More Elgin Lumpkin Or Georgios Panayioutous: Celebrities Who Changed Their Names
Marilyn Monroe was originally christened Norma Jean. Archibald Leach opted for the more debonair nom de guerre Cary Grant. At the age of 10, musical prodigy Steveland Morris was dubbed (by Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr.) "Little Stevie Wonder." These aren't the only celebrities who bid farewell to the names bestowed upon them in infancy; among those in the public eye, adopting a more star-worthy moniker seems to be the rule, not the exception.Stage Names
Where stage names are concerned, some stars keep it succinct. Musicians Cher and Seal shortened their names from Cherilyn and Sealhenry, respectively. Prince and Madonna boast their own actual first names, simply dropping their surname. Gordon Sumner wore a yellow and black jersey so often when he played with his jazz band in England, the other blokes said he looked like a bumblebee and took to calling him "Sting."
More One-Named Wonders
Growing up, young Marvin Aday was called "Meat" by his father for his husky size; his classmates added the name "Loaf". Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong was reduced to the more manageable Dido. 60's model-du-jour Twiggy (aka Leslie Hornby) earned her famous tag for her svelte looks while rebellious singer Pink (Alicia Moore) took her cue from the Steve Buscemi character in the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Other one-named wonders: U2 frontman/activist/philanthropist Bono (Paul Hewson), comedian Sinbad (David Adkins) and Richard Melville Hall (Moby) who famously feuded with another single-named star rapper: Eminem (Marshall Mathers).
Spiritual Influence
Sometimes revamping a name is a natural consequence of significant changes in the bearer's own life. Both Cassius Marcellus Clay (who became the world-famous boxer Muhammad Ali) and football star-turned-broadcaster Ahmad Rashad (who began life as Robert Moore) converted to Islam, and adopted names to reflect their new spiritual beliefs.
Spicing It Up
When vocalist Erica Wright was told by her father (who was studying the Islamic faith) that her favorite scatt riff meant "to exist in light, to manifest, come with gifts" she was reborn Erykah Badu. Singer Me'Shell NdegeOcello was plain old Michelle Johnson once, while Grammy-winner Yvette Marie Stevens proceeded to set the music industry on "fire" (the meaning of the African name she adopted) as Chaka Khan. "Delicate" isn't the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Oscar-nominated actress, singer and rapper Queen Latifah (born Dana Owens), yet that's what her stage name means in Arabic.
Too Ethnic?
"I have never felt any ethnic connection between the Greeks and me other than how hairy I am," wryly commented the former Georgios Panayioutous. Perhaps that's why he took a leap of Faith and became singer George Michael, instead? Whether it was due to a disassociation to the ethnic tone of their names, or a desire to have stage names more accessible to the public, many other celebrities have followed suit: Krishna Banji became Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley; CNN talk show host Larry switched to King from Zeigler; Martin and Charlie Sheen mainstreamed their monikers from Ramon and Carlos Estevez and the tongue-tastic lead singer of KISS overhauled Chaim Witz into Gene Simmons.
Rocking' It Up
Guitar riffs and Gold fronts all around for these rockin' re-christens: William Broad ascended to 80's greatness when he emerged as Billy Idol; Curtis Jackson has raked in far more than his name - 50 Cent - would imply; Ohio-born Brian Warner transformed into controversial musician/artist Marilyn Manson; Another one bit the dust when Farrokh Bulsara rocked the stage as Freddie Mercury.
The Beatles might have been the fab four had a drummer named Richard Starkley (alias Ringo Starr) never walked across Abbey Road. Would Karma Chameleon Boy George have been barred entry into the US back when he was just androgynous George O'Dowd of Eltham, England? Would David Robert Jones been the father of glam rock had he not been enamored with the Bowie knife? Would Robert Van Winkle ever have had the one huge hit he managed had he never rapped as Vanilla Ice? Could a man named Calvin Broadus ever ask "What's my mother-f***ing name?" and get as big a response as he did as Snoop Dogg? Let's not forget U2's The Edge (David Evans), folk god Elvis Costello (Declan McManus) and Dante Terrell Smith, whose star continues to rise as rapper/actor Mos Def.
What do you think of stealing your new first name from the title of your first band, then taking the last name of the biological father you claim abused you? It didn't hurt William Bailey, who became Axl Rose and fronted Guns N' Roses, one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Theft and dysfunction? What's more rock n roll than that?
Random Renames
The top prizes for random renames go to Jodie Foster (what was wrong with the name Alicia?), Reginald Dwight who somehow felt Elton John was soooo much hipper, the actor/comedian/musician who traded in the designation Eric Bishop for Jamie Foxx and a young musical wunderkind by the name of Hendrix who selected the appellation Jimi over - drum roll please - Johnny. Huh?
It doesn't matter why these next few celebs discarded the names on the birth certificate - the new handles are definite upgrades! Cheers to Kirstie Alley, who wisely ditched the dud Gladys Leeman; Lovely ladies like supermodel Elle MacPherson and actress Jane Seymour shouldn't go through life burdened with names like Eleanor Gow and Joyce Frankenberg; A name like Ginuwine is silly for sure, but a definite upgrade from Elgin Lumpkin. Best known as Alfie, British thespian Michael Caine went by Maurice Micklewhite once upon a time.
Better Ring To It
It would have been an Indecent Proposal to suggest Demi Moore remain Demetria Guynes and would anyone ever have taken the most famous celluloid cowboy John Wayne seriously with a first name like Marion? "Lady Fagan" just doesn't have the same ring as "Lady Day": Good thing Eleanora Fagan picked a name as sweet as her voice - Billie Holiday. The best thing Ike Turner ever gave Anna Mae Bullock was her name: Tina Turner. Golfer Eldrick Woods needed a nickname like Tiger for the history books; The name Columcille Gibson could have been a Lethal Weapon to any good career: No wonder he changed his name to Mel.
Unfortunately, the lauded praise ends here; not all celeb renames are successful. Lounge singer extraordinaire Engelbert Humperdinck should have stuck with Arnold Dorsey… Downgrade.
Source: starpulse.com
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