Kara DioGuardi and Celine Dion - Taking Chances
Kara DioGuardi and Celine Dion - Taking Chances
youtube.com
Thursday, January 15, 2009
New American Idol Judge Kara Dioguardi Engaged
New American Idol Judge Kara Dioguardi Engaged
New American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi is engaged to marry her teacher-turned-builder boyfriend Mike McCuddy. McCuddy proposed during a romantic winter break in Mexico, 38-year-old DioGuardi's publicist has confirmed.
The rep says, "No wedding date has been planned."
DioGuardi made her first appearance on TV alongside Idol regulars Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson when the new series of the talent show debuted last night.
Source: starpulse.com
Deepika Padukone: Most searched celebrity on Yahoo
Deepika Padukone: Most searched celebrity on Yahoo
Yahoo! India, the pioneering Internet portal providing value added services for web users, announced the most popular searches for its 2008 Year-ender special. Among the top people searches, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone emerged a clear winner.
YAHOO! INDIA, the leading Internet company announced the most popular searches, themes and trends as part of its 2008 Year-ender special, as told through the searches conducted by millions of users. Among the top people searches, Bollywood
actress Deepika Padukone emerged a clear winner.
These most searched words in 2008, not only represents the top ten searches across categories, but also shows that users even search for information that affect their daily life including the economy, government organisations and controversies.
“Extreme proliferation of information and paucity of time is fuelling the human desire to get the right answers faster than ever before, prompting them to look for newer search experiences. People are showing a strong preference for a search
experience, which integrates relevant text, images,and video content information from across the web onto a single search
results page,” said Gopal Krishna, vice president (VP) and head of audience – Emerging Markets, Yahoo!
“These search trends provide greater insight on consumer search behaviour, which in turn helps in making the right information available to people more quickly and easily," Gopal added.
Mobile users continued their online activities even when they were on-the-go. The top searches on Yahoo! oneSearch, the company’s award-winning mobile search product, was ‘cricket’ followed by ‘Katrina Kaif’ and ‘Asin’, the lead actress of popular Bollywood film Ghajini.
“Users are increasingly searching for information on a mobile device. Yahoo! oneSearch is designed for the needs of a mobile user, intuitively returning results grouped around the user’s query intent. For instance, when users search for cricket,
Yahoo! oneSearch returns the latest scores, schedules, team profiles, roster, news, images and links to the cricket teams’ websites,” said Vishal Maheshwari, senior director, Connected Life, Yahoo! India.
Synopsis on “Top 10” searches
Users on Yahoo! India search looked for various people and themes across categories like entertainment, sports, people, news, movies and online sites. India’s entertainment industry and Bollywood icons definitely ruled in 2008, as they were included in almost all of the top categories. The hottest searches this year included Deepika Padukone, Indian Railways and the Sixth Pay Commission. Deepika once again topped the top people searches, along with Shilpa Shetty and Aishwarya Rai. The launch of iphone, the Bhajji-Sreesanth row and the Bangalore blasts were among the top news search for 2008.
Searches in sports category comprised cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian tour of Australia. Films took centre stage as well, with titles like Singh Is Kinng, Dasavatharam and Kuselan being searched heavily by users.
Top 10 most searched words on Yahoo! India Mobile
1. Cricket
2. Katrina Kaif
3. Asin
4. Deepika Padukone
5. Priyanka Chopra
6. Bipasha Basu
7. Kajol
8. Trisha Krishnan
9. Olympics 2008
10. Bihar Flood
About Yahoo! India
Yahoo! India launched in June 2000, has established itself as the pioneering and leading Internet portal providing value added services for web users in India and users abroad with special interest in India. Yahoo! India seeks to provide a
compelling web experience to Internet users. A full range of tools and marketing solutions from Yahoo! India help businesses connect with Internet users and make it a ‘must-buy’ partner of choice for advertisers, globally. Yahoo! India also offers an array of communications, commerce and content services that serve as a starting point for online needs of Internet users.
Source: merinews.com
Sixth Pay Commission: Rs 500 fee hike irks Delhi pvt schools
Sixth Pay Commission: Rs 500 fee hike irks Delhi pvt schools
NEW DELHI: Parents could end up having to pay more than the Rs 500 hike in fees for private schools recommended by the Bansal Committee, which submitted its report to the Delhi government on Tuesday. The schools have unanimously said the proposed hike
is too little and have threatened to move court if the recommendation is implemented.
Many private schools are demanding that they be allowed to hike fees by 50% to meet the increase of 40%-50% in the salary of teachers as per the Sixth Pay Commission. The schools are also seeking the government's approval to charge Rs 8,000 per
student for arrears to teachers, which is far more than the limit of Rs 4,500 set the committee which went into the issue.
"Putting a cap of Rs 500 on the fee hike has no rationale. Thankfully, it is only a recommendation as of now. But if the government ends up considering it, we may even move the court. We cannot implement the provisions of the Sixth Pay Commission
unless we hike the school fees enough," said S K Bhattacharya, president, School Action Committee (SAC) ^ a body of all the school organizations in the capital.
The seven-member Bansal Committee was constituted by the city government to recommend a suitable fee hike in private schools which would enable them to bring the salaries of their staff on a par with the Sixth Pay Commission bands. Bhattacharya said SAC had worked out the required fee hike to be 50% as the increase in teachers' salaries, with effect from September 1, 2008, might be to the tune of 70%. The hike in salary will also be applicable to the non-teaching staff in the school.
The Bansal Committee has recommended slabs for different schools, which amounts to less hikes for bigger schools like DPS.
Vinay Kumar, principal, DPS, Vasant Kunj said, "We are a big school but that doesn't mean we don't require to hike the fees.
We have 200 regular teachers and 4,000 students. The minimum fee hike we require is between Rs 800 and Rs 1000. The arrear per child works out to be Rs 16,000."
Kumar said the government can't have it both ways. "They cannot ask us to not hike the fees suitably while telling us to increase the salary of teachers."
Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road said that her school will be run in a deficit if the fee-hike is capped at Rs 500. "If this hike is approved, we will have to stop all building development programmes, community
programmes over the next two years. We may also pay staggered amount to our teachers as arrears over a longer period of time," said Wattal.
Though the government has now appointed a sub-committee to work out the technical aspects of the Bansal Committee report, schools say the move will only waste time. "Arrears are mounting. How will we afford it? The government should take a decision fast," said S L Jain, chairperson, National Progressive Schools' Conference.
Wattal agreed, "Besides arrears, Class XII is soon going to move out and the new nursery class will be coming in. A decision has to be taken this session itself. If the government had to go about the entire matter again by a making a sub-committee
now, what good was the Bansal Committee?" Wattal said.
Schools say classifying schools into different categories doesn't seem feasible as this would take a long time to accomplish.
Bansal Committee itself had taken two extra months to decide on the recommendations after talking to the representatives of several schools and also parents. "Now the sub-committee will probably have to do a survey or receive a proforma from schools
to fix the hike for every school. It will be a lengthy process," said L V Sehgal, principal, Bal Bharti School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
NEW DELHI: Parents could end up having to pay more than the Rs 500 hike in fees for private schools recommended by the Bansal Committee, which submitted its report to the Delhi government on Tuesday. The schools have unanimously said the proposed hike
is too little and have threatened to move court if the recommendation is implemented.
Many private schools are demanding that they be allowed to hike fees by 50% to meet the increase of 40%-50% in the salary of teachers as per the Sixth Pay Commission. The schools are also seeking the government's approval to charge Rs 8,000 per
student for arrears to teachers, which is far more than the limit of Rs 4,500 set the committee which went into the issue.
"Putting a cap of Rs 500 on the fee hike has no rationale. Thankfully, it is only a recommendation as of now. But if the government ends up considering it, we may even move the court. We cannot implement the provisions of the Sixth Pay Commission
unless we hike the school fees enough," said S K Bhattacharya, president, School Action Committee (SAC) ^ a body of all the school organizations in the capital.
The seven-member Bansal Committee was constituted by the city government to recommend a suitable fee hike in private schools which would enable them to bring the salaries of their staff on a par with the Sixth Pay Commission bands. Bhattacharya said SAC had worked out the required fee hike to be 50% as the increase in teachers' salaries, with effect from September 1, 2008, might be to the tune of 70%. The hike in salary will also be applicable to the non-teaching staff in the school.
The Bansal Committee has recommended slabs for different schools, which amounts to less hikes for bigger schools like DPS.
Vinay Kumar, principal, DPS, Vasant Kunj said, "We are a big school but that doesn't mean we don't require to hike the fees.
We have 200 regular teachers and 4,000 students. The minimum fee hike we require is between Rs 800 and Rs 1000. The arrear per child works out to be Rs 16,000."
Kumar said the government can't have it both ways. "They cannot ask us to not hike the fees suitably while telling us to increase the salary of teachers."
Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road said that her school will be run in a deficit if the fee-hike is capped at Rs 500. "If this hike is approved, we will have to stop all building development programmes, community
programmes over the next two years. We may also pay staggered amount to our teachers as arrears over a longer period of time," said Wattal.
Though the government has now appointed a sub-committee to work out the technical aspects of the Bansal Committee report, schools say the move will only waste time. "Arrears are mounting. How will we afford it? The government should take a decision fast," said S L Jain, chairperson, National Progressive Schools' Conference.
Wattal agreed, "Besides arrears, Class XII is soon going to move out and the new nursery class will be coming in. A decision has to be taken this session itself. If the government had to go about the entire matter again by a making a sub-committee
now, what good was the Bansal Committee?" Wattal said.
Schools say classifying schools into different categories doesn't seem feasible as this would take a long time to accomplish.
Bansal Committee itself had taken two extra months to decide on the recommendations after talking to the representatives of several schools and also parents. "Now the sub-committee will probably have to do a survey or receive a proforma from schools
to fix the hike for every school. It will be a lengthy process," said L V Sehgal, principal, Bal Bharti School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Deepika Padukone Biography
Deepika Padukone Photo
Deepika Padukone Biography
Deepika Padukone (born January 5, 1986) is an Indian supermodel turned actress who appears in Bollywood movies.
Born: January 5, 1986 (1986-01-05) (age 23)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation : Model, Actor
Years active : 2004–present
Padukone was born to Ujjala and Prakash Padukone on January 5, 1986, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her family moved to Bangalore, India, when she was only eleven months old. Her parents hail from Padukone village in Kundapura Taluk of Udupi District, Karnataka, India. Her father, Prakash Padukone, was a badminton player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Deepika has a younger sister, Anisha, born in 1991.
Padukone attended Sophia High School in Bangalore. She completed her Pre-university studies at Mount Carmel College in Bangalore, India. While in high school she played badminton at the state level like her father and was a member of her father's badminton club. However, she wasn't keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player and abandoned it to concentrate on her ICSE exams.
Career
Modeling
While pursuing her studies in college, she decided to pursue a career in modeling. Over the years, she has modeled for well-known Indian brand names such as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca. She received many prestigious modeling offers, which included brand ambassador for the Jewels of India retail jewellery show. Padukone hit the international scene when Maybelline made her their international spokesperson.
At the 5th annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title "Model of the Year". Shortly afterward, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: "Female Model of the Year - (Commercial Assignments)" and "Fresh Face of the Year" later that year. Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and later Levi Strauss and Tissot SA.
Acting
After pursuing a successful career in modeling, Padukone branched out into acting. She started by starring in the music video for the song Naam Hai Tera from the independent pop album Aap Kaa Surroor by Himesh Reshammiya.
In 2006, Padukone made her cinematic debut in the Kannada film Aishwarya starring opposite actor Upendra. She later made a successful Bollywood debut in 2007 with Farah Khan's international hit Om Shanti Om opposite Shahrukh Khan.[9][10] The film featured her portraying 1970s star Shantipriya and later as Sandhya, a young woman who looks exactly like Shantipriya. Her performance was well received, earning the actress a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award as well as her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Taran Adarsh from indiaFM noted, "Deepika has all it takes to be a top star — the personality, the looks and yes, she's supremely talented too. Standing in the same frame as SRK and getting it right is no small achievement. She comes as a whiff of fresh air!"
Padukone next appeared in Siddharth Anand's Bachna Ae Haseeno, which released on August 15, 2008. As of January 2009, Padukone is currently working on Imtiaz Ali's Production No.1 opposite Saif Ali Khan. She will also be seen in the Warner Bros.-Bollywood collaboration Chandni Chowk To China, scheduled for release on January 16, 2009.
Awards and nominations
Filmfare Awards
Winner
* 2008: Filmfare Best Female Debut Award; Om Shanti Om
* 2008: Sony Head N Shoulders Fresh Face of the Year Award; Om Shanti Om
Nominated
* 2008: Filmfare Best Actress Award; Om Shanti Om
Star Screen Awards
Winner
* 2008: Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female; Om Shanti Om
* 2008: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Shahrukh Khan; Om Shanti Om
Zee Cine Awards
Winner
* 2008: Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut; Om Shanti Om
Nominated
* 2008: Zee Cine Award for Best Actor - Female; Om Shanti Om
IIFA Awards
Winner
* 2008: IIFA Awards' Best Debutant (Female); Om Shanti Om
Nominated
* 2008: IIFA Best Actress Award; Om Shanti Om
Stardust Awards
Nominated
* 2008: Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female; Om Shanti Om[19]
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards
Winner
* 2008: Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards' Best Female Debut; Om Shanti Om
Other Awards
* 2007: Star's Sabsey Favourite Kaun Awards, Sabsey Favourite Nayi Heroine; Om Shanti Om
* 2007: HT Café Film Awards, Best Newcomer Award (Female); Om Shanti Om
* 2008: Reebok Zoom Glam Awards, Glam Debutant (Female); Om Shanti Om
* 2008: Annual Central European Bollywood Awards, Breakthrough Role (Female); Om Shanti Om
(wikipedia)
Katrina Darrell, "American Idol" Bikini Girl, Gets "Noticed"
Katrina Darrell, "American Idol" Bikini Girl, Gets "Noticed"
Katrina Darrell Being Nearly Nude Causes Scene
"American Idol" is sending Katrina Darrell to Hollywood. Season 8 of the number one rated show (for the past four years) got off to a memorable start with auditions in Phoenix, Arizona. As with past years, "American Idol" kicked off its season with auditions of the thousands of hopefuls, some amazingly talented, some not so much.
Katrina Darrell would fit somewhere in between the two categories. Slim, beautiful, and clad only in a mini - bikini, Katrina Darrell defiantly performed in front of a visibly surprised panel of "American Idol" judges. Performing a mediocre rendition of "Vision of Love," Darrell got passes from both slack-jawed male judges, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. New judge Kara DioGuardi offered a very vociferous negative. Paula Abdul, never one to hurt anyone's feelings, said nothing about the performance until after Darrell was told she was going to Hollywood.
But you knew the moment bikini girl Katrina Darrell was singled out on "American Idol" that at least her audition would be memorable. In a segment leading up to the audition, Ryan Seacrest, the host of "American Idol," approached the near-nothing wearing Darrell and, taking her hand, said, "I didn't even see your hands." Then there was a brief flirting scene, with Katrina Darrell telling Seacrest that she was going to make out with him and Seacrest, eyes noticeably averted to the point of strain, hesitatingly saying that he thought it was against the rules.
Katrina said she wanted to be "noticed." And she was, to the point of distraction. Being nude has that affect on people.
Walking into the audition room, eyes were raised all around. Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson could not decide whether to smile, laugh, or simply gawk. There were a couple "Wows" from the two female judges. Randy Jackson asked the contestant, "Do you go out to all auditions dressed like this?"
Katrina Darrell: "No, just this one."
Simon Cowell said, "Let me tell you: It's smart." Randy laughed.
Kara DioGuardi, not impressed, asked the contestant to do a turnaround "for the guys," then pointedly asked Simon if there was anything else he'd like to see. He said, "I'm fine."
Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com
Katrina Darrell Being Nearly Nude Causes Scene
"American Idol" is sending Katrina Darrell to Hollywood. Season 8 of the number one rated show (for the past four years) got off to a memorable start with auditions in Phoenix, Arizona. As with past years, "American Idol" kicked off its season with auditions of the thousands of hopefuls, some amazingly talented, some not so much.
Katrina Darrell would fit somewhere in between the two categories. Slim, beautiful, and clad only in a mini - bikini, Katrina Darrell defiantly performed in front of a visibly surprised panel of "American Idol" judges. Performing a mediocre rendition of "Vision of Love," Darrell got passes from both slack-jawed male judges, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. New judge Kara DioGuardi offered a very vociferous negative. Paula Abdul, never one to hurt anyone's feelings, said nothing about the performance until after Darrell was told she was going to Hollywood.
But you knew the moment bikini girl Katrina Darrell was singled out on "American Idol" that at least her audition would be memorable. In a segment leading up to the audition, Ryan Seacrest, the host of "American Idol," approached the near-nothing wearing Darrell and, taking her hand, said, "I didn't even see your hands." Then there was a brief flirting scene, with Katrina Darrell telling Seacrest that she was going to make out with him and Seacrest, eyes noticeably averted to the point of strain, hesitatingly saying that he thought it was against the rules.
Katrina said she wanted to be "noticed." And she was, to the point of distraction. Being nude has that affect on people.
Walking into the audition room, eyes were raised all around. Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson could not decide whether to smile, laugh, or simply gawk. There were a couple "Wows" from the two female judges. Randy Jackson asked the contestant, "Do you go out to all auditions dressed like this?"
Katrina Darrell: "No, just this one."
Simon Cowell said, "Let me tell you: It's smart." Randy laughed.
Kara DioGuardi, not impressed, asked the contestant to do a turnaround "for the guys," then pointedly asked Simon if there was anything else he'd like to see. He said, "I'm fine."
Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com
Deepika, Railways, 6th Pay Commission-- most searched words
Deepika, Railways, 6th Pay Commission-- most searched words
Bangalore (PTI): Bollywood's Deepika Padukone, Indian Railways and the sixth pay commission seemed to dominate the minds of Indians in 2008 with the three being among the most searched words on the internet.
Bollywood icons ruled the roost in 2008 among users of Yahoo India Search as they were included in almost all the categories, according to Yahoo India, a leading internet company which announced its most popular searches, themes and trends of the year gone by.
Deepika Padukone topped the top personality searches by users along with Shilpa Shetty and Aishwarya Rai. Users also looked for information on issues affecting their daily life: the sixth pay commission, bomb blasts and the UPA trust vote were the most searched key words in the news category.
The launch of iphone, the Harbhajan Singh-Sreenath row and Bangalore blasts were also among the top news searches for 2008.
Searches in the sports category comprised cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Tour of Australia.
Films, including 'Singh is King,' 'Dasavatharam' and 'Kuselan' were searched heavily by users.
Cricket, Katrina Kaif and Asin (of Ghajini fame) were among the top searched words on Yahoo India Mobile.
"Extreme proliferation of information and paucity of time is fuelling the human desire to get the right answers faster than ever before, prompting them to look for newer search experience which integrates relevant text, images and video content
information from across the web onto a single search results page," said Gopal Krishna, VP, Head of Audience, Emerging Markets, Yahoo.
- PTI
Bangalore (PTI): Bollywood's Deepika Padukone, Indian Railways and the sixth pay commission seemed to dominate the minds of Indians in 2008 with the three being among the most searched words on the internet.
Bollywood icons ruled the roost in 2008 among users of Yahoo India Search as they were included in almost all the categories, according to Yahoo India, a leading internet company which announced its most popular searches, themes and trends of the year gone by.
Deepika Padukone topped the top personality searches by users along with Shilpa Shetty and Aishwarya Rai. Users also looked for information on issues affecting their daily life: the sixth pay commission, bomb blasts and the UPA trust vote were the most searched key words in the news category.
The launch of iphone, the Harbhajan Singh-Sreenath row and Bangalore blasts were also among the top news searches for 2008.
Searches in the sports category comprised cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Tour of Australia.
Films, including 'Singh is King,' 'Dasavatharam' and 'Kuselan' were searched heavily by users.
Cricket, Katrina Kaif and Asin (of Ghajini fame) were among the top searched words on Yahoo India Mobile.
"Extreme proliferation of information and paucity of time is fuelling the human desire to get the right answers faster than ever before, prompting them to look for newer search experience which integrates relevant text, images and video content
information from across the web onto a single search results page," said Gopal Krishna, VP, Head of Audience, Emerging Markets, Yahoo.
- PTI
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