Carla Gugino

Carla Gugino (born August 29, 1971 in Sarasota, Florida, USA) is an American actress.

As Gugino was five years old, she moved with her mother to Paradise, to California. During her childhood she had to move several times within the state, however, was during their high school a good student, and held the closing speech. A modeling agency discovered her in San Diego and sent her with barely 15 years after New York. Gugino but returned back to Los Angeles, modeled on the Council there, and visited her aunt, the actress Carol Merrill, through an acting class.

Gugino made her debut as an actress with appearances in television series such as in an episode of Who’s the Boss? from the year 1988. Her first role in a movie they had on the side of Shelley Long and Craig T. Nelson in the adventure comedy Troop Beverly Hills in 1989. Between 1989 and 1990 she appeared in eleven episodes of the TV series Falcon Crest. In the comedy Miami Rhapsody (1995) she played the sister of the protagonist Gwyn Marcus (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get their marriage problems to Gwyn hesitation, their wedding also. A year later she starred in the film drama young, female, merciless the main role of a woman who was raped by two other women.

The supporting role alongside Nicolas Cage in the thriller Snake Eyes (1998) brought Gugino in 1999 was nominated for a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. In the action comedy Spy Kids (2001) and Spy Kids 2 – Island of Lost Dreams (2002) she played the wife of Gregorio Cortez (Antonio Banderas) and both the parent of the minor super spies. For her role in the thriller American Gangster (2007) she was nominated in 2008 along with several other actors for the Screen Actors Guild Award. They also played in the music video “Always” with the band Bon Jovi.

Maria Aragon

She is the little girl from West Central Winnipeg with the voice of a superstar and the demeanour of a pro.

She became an instant worldwide sensation in February when her cover version of Lady Gaga's track, Born This Way, appeared on YouTube.

Megan Fox Strips For Armani

Armani may not even need to release the actual advertisements.

Megan Fox is the new face -- and body -- of Armani jeans and underwear, and they're making sure to get their money's worth. The fashion house just released their newest ad featuring Fox in all her clothes-less glory.

Fox gets her hair brushed, for those interested; she also lounges around in just a bra and underwear, for viewers that may have interest in that part of the video.

To watch the first ad, click to previous coverage. For photos, click here.

When it comes to Fox's career on the big screen, she's recently been cast by director Judd Apatow in his spinoff of the hit comedy, "Knocked Up."

What Ryan Phillippe Did While Reese Witherspoon Got Married

While ex-wife Reese Witherspoon tied the knot across town in an extravagant ceremony, Ryan Phillippe spent a casual day with girlfriendAmanda Seyfried, PEOPLE reports.

As Witherspoon and talent agent Jim Toth exchanged vows in Ojai, Calif., Phillippe and Seyfried were spotted at the famed San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, Calif. going for a jog with their dogs. The couple then dined at the Italian restaurant Piati and did some shopping in the gift section of the store Upstairs at Pierre LaFond.

Witherspoon's intimate wedding nuptials included her daughter and son with ex-husband Phillippe -- Ava, 11, and Deacon, 7 -- but Phillippe wasn't invited to the star-studded affair.

After their seven-year marriage ended in 2006, Witherspoon dated Jake Gyllenhaal for a couple of years. She began dating Toth in January of 2010 and the pair got engaged in December.

Phillippe and Seyfried met last year at Kate Hudson's annual Halloween party at her Pacific Palisades home. "They're really into each other," a source said about the 'MacGruber' actor and 'Letters to Juliet' actress to PEOPLE in January. "They're a really good match and just enjoying it all right now."

cricket world cup 2011

Pakistan are considering playing their controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against India after his international career appeared to be over.

Shoaib, 35, will retire after the tournament but has not played since Pakistan’s loss to New Zealand in the group stages.

Akhtar fell out of favour after an argument with wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who dropped Ross Taylor twice in one over. Taylor went on to score a match-winning century.

In the thick of it: Akhtar could still have a role to play for Pakistan at the World Cup

‘I would like to see him play but we just want to make sure he is match fit and ready for such a big game. We will test him out in the final nets,’ said captain Shahid Afridi.

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has been urging Afridi and coach Waqar Younis to take a chance with Shoaib.

Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam went one step further by hinting that Akhtar is available to play and could start in hotly anticipated semi.

Last hurrah: Akhtar is to retire from international cricket after the tournament

‘Shoaib has been fully involved in match practice and is available for selection. He’s very much part of the squad and there is no question about his motivation or enthusiasm to play in this important game. Akhtar is ready for the semi-final.’

Meanwhile Pakistan’s interior minister has apologized to the country’s cricket team after saying he was keeping a ‘close watch’ on them ahead of Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against India.

Rehman Malik was quoted on Monday as saying he had warned the team ‘there should be no match fixing’ and that the players were being closely monitored.

Team captain Shahid Afridi confirmed that Malik had telephoned him to apologise for his comments, which came just two days before the crunch clash with India.

Malik said Monday he was ‘sure the team has very clean members’ but that he couldn’t take any risks after the spot-fixing scandal last year which led to long-term bans for Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

The three players were found guilty of accepting bribes in return for making sure no-balls were bowled at certain times during a test match in England last August.

Afridi said he did not want to comment further on the matter.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-1371079/CRICKET-WORLD-CUP-2011-India-v-Pakistan--Akhtar-set-shock-return.html#ixzz1Hz53Wjo6

Jackie Chan, HK stars to raise funds for Japan

HONG KONG — Action hero Jackie Chan and other Hong Kong celebrities will hold a charity concert on April 1 to raise funds for disaster-stricken Japan, where more than 27,000 are dead or missing.

"We as members of the entertainment industry wish to bring hope and support to the people of Japan," said Chan, one of the initiators of the concert, in a statement.

The veteran movie star will be joined by performers from Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia for the concert at Hong Kong's Victoria Park.

The event will feature a theme song called "Succumb not to sorrow", which is based on a popular Japanese poem that praises the tenacity of Japanese people in the face of hardship.

The organising committee, which comprises 19 art and film groups, said they aimed to raise funds for relief packs -- that include food, drinking water, personal care products and blanket -- for up to 80,000 disaster victims.

More than 27,000 people are dead or missing since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit northeast Japan on March 11, also crippling a nuclear plant.

132-Pound Toddler In China

A toddler that weighs 132 pounds? It's true. Lu Hao, a 3-year-old boy from China, weighs five times the size of a normal child his age, Britain's The Sun reports.

Incidentally, Lu Hao was born underweight, at 5.7 pounds. And while doctors are baffled by the toddler's insatiable hunger and rapid weight gain, they suspect his low birthweight might have something to do with it.

Lu Hao's parents have attempted to curb their child's diet and encourage physical activity. But such attempts have been rebuked by the 3-year-old, who prefers to ride on his mother's motorcycle rather than walk to kindergarten and throws temper tantrums when his parents attempt to lighten his food intake.

Lu Hao's father, Lu Yuncheng, told The Sun that the toddler can eat three big bowls of rice at a sitting and "cries nonstop" if denied what he wants.

This hasn't stopped his parents from seeking further information about their son's inexplicable weight gain (in the past year Hao gained 22 pounds). According to ABC News, Hao's parents have taken him to specialists in China. Doctors suspected the child's weight gain might be caused by a hormone disorder, but tests revealed his hormones were normal, further deepening what some doctors believe to be a medical mystery.

For now, Lu Hao's parents continue to monitor their son's diet and hope that his hunger settles down.

While Lu Hao is an extreme case, many parents are faced with the obstacle of protecting their children from obesity. In the U.S., childhood obesity rates continue to rise -- more than tripling in the last 30 years, with an estimated 17 percent of children (ages 2 to 19) considered obese, according to the CDC.

www.smiletrain.org

Warning to Wal-Mart: stay away from NYC

In recent months, Wal-Mart has renewed its push to build stores within New York City. Focusing on the outer boroughs and promising to bring smaller stores than their usual 180,000 square foot monsters, Wal-Mart's proposal at first looks reasonable — who wouldn't want to add jobs in this recession and bring in more consumer options? But a closer look reveals that Wal-Mart would do irreparable damage to New York City's neighborhoods, workers and economy.

While Wal-Mart claims it will create 500 jobs by locating its first store in East Brooklyn's Gateway II Center, estimates by community small businesses (based on case studies of what has happened when Wal-Mart moves into similar retail markets) show that it will in fact kill 2,000 jobs by destroying the network of small bodegas that make New York vibrant. These independent corner stores are a key part of New York City's economic fabric, and their independent nature adds variety to our streets and neighborhoods.

Owner-operated small businesses, especially when the owners live in the community, are key to ensuring that neighborhood businesses actually have an investment in their community. Wal-Mart, by offering lower prices than any independent retailer can because of economies of scale and labor policies that seem lifted from the fantasies of a gilded-age robber baron, will put hundreds of these bodegas out of business — eliminating jobs, emptying storefronts and robbing our streets and neighborhoods of their character.

Additionally, Wal-Mart is currently involved in the largest sex-discrimination case in history — a class-action lawsuit before the Supreme Court brought on behalf of 1.5 million female Wal-Mart employees who allegedly suffered systematic employment discrimination in pay and promotions during their tenure. The claims of bias are grave. The suit contends that the retailer's corporate culture is "rife with gender stereotypes demeaning to female employees ... women comprise over 80 percent of hourly supervisors, they hold only one-third of store management jobs, and their ranks steadily diminish at each successive step in the management hierarchy." Even without the economic disadvantages outlined above, no corporation with this record of gross labor violations should be welcomed into the New York City community.

Wal-Mart is bad for workers, bad for small business and bad for the New York City community. It should be kept out, even in the face of intense lobbying and political pressure. Allowing Wal-Mart into the city will sound a death toll for the thousands of small stores that help make this city great.

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 print edition. Ben Miller is a columnist. Email him at opinion@nyunews.com.

Amazon launches cloud-based music storage

The world's largest etailer Amazon has stolen a jump on Google and Apple by launching an online service called Cloud Drive which can also stream the user's music files via the Cloud Player.

The Amazon Cloud Drive service provides 5GB of online storage for free but if customers buy an album from Amazon MP3 then the storage limit will be increased to a generous 20GB. 

Google and Apple are reportedly also set to launch cloud-based music streaming storage solutions which will enable their customers to store entire music tracks online, regardless of whether purchased through the commercial store of iTunes or the upcoming Google Music.

Curiously while Amazon Cloud Drive may be used by Amazon customers worldwide, simply by visiting the link to the Cloud Drive and clicking past a capcha-type verification, visiting the Cloud Player itself results in a message that the service is US only.

Even more strangely, after signing up to the Amazon Cloud Drive, visiting the Cloud Player link results in no such message, offers up the AmazonMP3Upload utility and streams music without issue.

It's not clear if the US-only restriction is a mistake or if a technical hitch is allowing the Cloud Drive and Cloud Player to work outside of the US.

Uploading files that are not MP3 files needs to be performed in the web interface for Cloud Drive while the Amazon MP3 Uploading utility is an Adobe AIR application that scans local drives and offers to upload music in MP3, WMV and AAC formats.

Music stored on the Amazon Cloud Drive can not only be streamed from the Cloud Player web application but also from Cloud Player application for Android smartphones.

Amazon

Amazon is getting better and better with their AppStore. Now you can actually Test Drive a few AndroidApplications before you purchased them from the Amazon AppStore for Android. The actual test drive lasts for 30 minutes and allows you to virtually interact in the application, almost as if you were on your Android device. Here’s how Amazon states it:

Clicking the “Test drive now” button launches a copy of this app on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a web service that provides on-demand compute capacity in the cloud for developers. When you click on the simulated phone using your mouse, we send those inputs over the Internet to the app running on Amazon EC2 – just like your mobile device would send a finger tap to the app. Our servers then send the video and audio output from the app back to your computer. All this happens in real time, allowing you to explore the features of the app as if it were running on your mobile device.

So head on over to Amazon and check out the few applications that are presently available. Maybe this will entice you into getting an app you never would have purchased.

Amazon AppStore For Android Test Drive

French Spiderman

DUBAI: Alain Robert, who is popularly known as the 'French Spiderman', scaled the 2,716 feet-tall Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower here in a record-clinching feat. 












The climb was held yesterday as part of the 'Education Without Borders 2011' international student conference organised by the UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology. 

Unlike on many previous climbs, the 48-year-old daredevil is using a rope and harness to comply with organisers' requirements. 

"All safety precautions were taken with the cooperation of various governmental authorities," a statement from the developer said. 

Thousands of spectators watched him in action from Burj Park and Downtown Dubai. 

"Alain Robert's scaling of Burj Khalifa is indeed momentous, and we are honoured to host the climb as part of the prestigious 'Education Without Borders' conference that brought the world's leading educationalists and thought-leaders to witness the unprecedented feat," Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Khalifa, said: 

Robert saw the attempt to climb Burj Khalifa as a true challenge. Robert has climbed more than 70 skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building, Chicago's Willis Tower and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. 

Towering high at a height of 828 metres (2,716.5 ft), Burj Khalifa is now a full-fledged community featuring homes, offices, hotel suites and restaurants.

Lorraine Nicholson

Look who's all grown up! Twenty-year-old Lorraine Nicholson, daughter of Academy award-winning actor, Jack Nicholson, is following in her famous dad's footsteps with a leading role in the new flick, Soul Surfer (in theaters April 8).

In an interview with Access Hollywood, the actress opened up about growing up with the last name of "Nicholson," the helpful advice her father gave her, and how she's spending her spring break.

"I think it opens up a lot of doors, but it's up to me to go through them," Lorraine told Kit Hoover and guest co-host Dean McDermott about having such a well-known father.

But when it came to the role of Alana Blanchard, the best friend of young surfer, Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm during a shark attack, it was Nicholson's acting chops, and not her name, that helped her land the part.

"I'm really happy that they gave me this opportunity to show that I can act," said the co-ed.

Of course, her dad did have some words of advice for the budding actress to use not only in her career, but in life in general.

Well, he always tells me to look people in the eye and tell the truth and that's what I sort of tried to bring to this role," said Lorraine.

And acting isn't the only thing that Nicholson picked up from her father...

"I'm definitely a Lakers fan," Lorraine said with a smile. "I sort of grew up courtside, if you will. There's like all these pictures of me as a kid, like on the court confused."

When she's not acting, Lorraine is a student at Brown University, but is spending her spring break promoting her new movie. While she's home, Nicholson enjoys keeping up with her usual family rituals, like breakfast with dad. And their food of choice?

Fried eggs and bacon.

Photos: Bauer Griffin

Dancing With the Stars' Kirstie Alley

After last week's breakout performance on Dancing With the Stars, Kirstie Alley was hoping to build on her success with even high scores this week, but it didn't happen, and the always quotable actress wasn't shy about admitting that she struggled some this week: "I feel mediocre. I'm telling you the truth. I know what steps I missed, I know what I screwed up on, so…that's all. I wasn't as tired [as I was last week], the stamina's gone up a bit, but this dance is hard! Who the hell walks around like this? Nobody walks like this!" (It's true: The quickstep has tripped up greater dancers than Alley!)

Meanwhile, which dancer has all but given up hope of success, and which dancer is living the fairy tale?

Is Mike Catherwood being too hard on himself, or is he just being realistic when he says, "I'm starting to realize something: I may want to rethink this dancing thing. Even if I make it through next week, I might want to find some other way to entertain the people. I'm not very good...It's hard to feel confidence. Let me put it this way: I know that I don't have the biggest fanbase, in fact I probably have the lowest fanbase of anybody here on the show, and I now know that I have the collectively lowest score. Lowest score and the lowest fanbase—what is there to be confident about, my friend? I gave it all I got and I think people can respect that." Aww, we sure can. Cheers to you, Psycho Mike!

Another dancer who's taking the experience personally is Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett. Hef's former lady (who was also cheered on tonight by fellow Mansion alum Holly Madison) says, "I am going through this stage in my life where I'm going to blossom into a lady—not just a hot girl, but a lady, an elegant lady. [This is] not only for dancing but for my husband and my son, and just me. And it's emotional." 

As evidence of her success becoming an "elegant lady," Kendra got some kind words from judge Carrie Ann Inaba about her look, to which the E! star responded, "That made me feel really good, and I know they know how I feel, they know I'm just coming out here and being real. I'm not fake. I'm not coming out here with some big ego. And they know that. They know how to talk to me, and I appreciate that."

Also appreciating notes from the judges was adorkable charmer Ralph Macchio, who said of this week's lower scores from the judges, "I think the notes were constructive, and I'll take the notes that were positive, [as well as] the notes that there was room for improvement. I think there's places to build from on that. And this number was high-energy, high-intensity, the choreography was not simple—we challenged ourselves—and we delivered all the hard work that we had put in. The crowd seemed behind us and I had fun. The main thing is to have fun."

Personal enjoyment, of course, does seem to be the pinnacle of the DWTS experience, and two other celebs who struggled on the floor didn't let their footwork failures get them down. Talk-show host Wendy Williams told us, "I felt great last week and I feel great this week. You will never see me cop to last week's 14 score, regardless of what the judges said. This week I felt equally as great and equally as present." And kind-hearted supermodel Petra Nemcova said, "I messed up, I must say, so I was disappointed in myself, but I had amazing time. It was lots of lots of fun."

Read more: http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b233375_dancing_with_stars_kirstie_alley_i_feel.html#ixzz1HyeORcMf

AUTISTIC BOY,12, WITH HIGHER IQ THAN EINSTEIN DEVELOPS HIS OWN THEORY OF RELATIVITY

DAILY MAIL: “A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.

Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 – higher than Albert Einstein – and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role. The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.

And now Jake has embarked on his most ambitious project yet – his own ‘expanded version of Einstein’s theory of relativity’. His mother, not sure if her child was talking nonsense or genius, sent a video of his theory to the renowned Institute for Advanced Study near Princeton University. According to the Indiana Star, Institute astrophysics professor Scott Tremaine -himself a world renowned expert – confirmed the authenticity of Jake’s theory.

In an email to the family, Tremaine wrote: ‘I’m impressed by his interest in physics and the amount that he has learned so far. ‘The theory that he’s working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics. ‘Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize.’”

Read more at The Daily Mail (Thanks Rob)

"Snoop Dogg, The Game and Warren G all showed up today for the funeral of Nate Dogg, held at the Queen Mary Dome in Long Beach, CA."

Geraldine Ferraro, US Political Pioneer, Dies at 75

Geraldine Ferraro, the first American woman to run for national office on a major political party's ticket, died Saturday at 75.

Ferraro was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984.  Her family said she died at Massachusetts General Hospital in the eastern city of Boston of complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that she had battled for 12 years. 

Ferraro was the running mate of presidential nominee Walter Mondale on the Democratic Party's ticket in 1984, when former president Ronald Reagan was running for a second term in the White House. 

Mondale, who was former president Jimmy Carter's running mate four years earlier, said he was determined to set a precedent with his selection of Ferraro for national office.  However, the general election resulted in a big victory for Reagan and his vice president, George H.W. Bush. 

No woman has ever been elected to one of the top two positions in the American government. Ferraro was a New York congresswoman at the time of her selection for the national ticket.  

In tribute, President Barack Obama called Ferraro "a trailblazer who broke down barriers for women." He said she "fought to uphold America's founding ideals of equality, justice and opportunity for all."

In 2008, when Obama won election, the Republican Party's losing ticket included former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, as Senator John McCain's choice for vice president. 

Family members said Ferraro was surrounded by close relatives at the time of her death.  A family statement said she was known as "a fighter for justice and a tireless advocate for those without a voice."  The family also said her "courage and generosity of spirit throughout her life ... will never be forgotten and will be sorely missed."

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.