Archives for November 2008

Teenaged superstar Miley Cyrus was inspired to give up her acting-singing career to study photography following her controversial shoot with legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz.The “Hannah Montana” star sparked outrage by posing in just a bed sheet for a spread Leibovitz shot for Vanity Fair magazine earlier this year.

But Cyrus confessed that she was so fascinated watching the artist at work that she was now determined to gain a degree in photography herself by enrolling at a university in Britain, reports contactmusic.com.“I want to come to London to study photography.

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President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani have "strongly" deplored the attacks in India's financial capital Mumbai that killed 82 people and left over 900 injured."Today's attacks in Mumbai which have claimed many innocent victims remind us, yet again.

Of the threat we face from violent extremists," they said in a statement and added that India together with Pakistan has now seriously fell victim to global terrorism."I condemn these attacks strongly”, Gilani said."Our grieves are with the families and friends of those killed and injured.

Pakistan and India will continue their joint struggles to counter the actions of terrorists."Indian media said that as many as 900 people had been injured in the attacks, which saw heavily armed men with automatic weapons and grenades target luxury hotels in the south of the city and the main railway station.

This time, with the one-dayers at the start, Andrew Flintoff says it is because the team do not play enough Twenty20 a claim that could be seen as a thinly disguised ultimatum to the England and Wales Cricket Board to allow him and a few team mates to play a major part in the Indian Premier League.

"In playing the shorter form of the game, which most of them have in IPL, I think India's players developed a lot of new skills with bat and ball," Flintoff said after the team arrived in Bhubaneshwar for Wednesday's fifth one-day international.

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The British Music Experience will open at the O2 in London in March, and is intended to be a major new attraction.  It will mix costumes and instruments used by top artists, with cutting edge displays designed to bring the last 60 years of British music to life.

Other acts behind the idea include The Who, Oasis, Blur and Paul Weller.  The Who singer Roger Daltrey has loaned the tassled outfit he wore on stage at Woodstock, while Sir Mick Jagger has given an Ossie Clark-designed 1970s jumpsuit.

David Bowie has handed over his Ashes To Ashes clown suit and a classic Ziggy Stardust costume. A vintage dress worn by Amy Winehouse in her Tears Dry On Her Own video and a live DVD will also be seen.

Noel Gallagher's iconic Union Jack guitar will be on show, along with guitars played by Paul Weller, Marc Bolan and Blur. As well as the memorabilia, curators are promising a fully interactive experience. The memorabilia will be accompanied by footage of the objects in action, while fans will be able to explore the history of pop and rock in a series of hi-tech zones.

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Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding has revealed she would love to land a role in BBC soap EastEnders. The singer, who turned 27 yesterday (November 17), tells the Daily Star that she feels she'd be perfect for the part: "I think I could easily play a right feisty cow."

And Harding also has plans for who her character should be: "It would be great if she was a faded pop star too." Harding and Girls Aloud recently topped the UK album charts with their new LP 'Out Of Control'. There are also some tickets left for their 2009 arena tour.

Brisbane's weather looks set to rain on spinner Jason Krejza's parade, a week of showers threatening to "take him out of the equation" at the Gabba.

A heavy storm on Sunday night and showers and overcast skies forecast for the rest of the week increases Australia's chances of picking two all-rounders, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson, for the first Test against New Zealand, starting Thursday.

 The weather has left the traditionally pace-friendly Gabba wicket looking even more inviting, something the hosts could exploit with a fast bowling quintet. That is almost certain to be spearheaded by Brett Lee who appeared to shrug off the ill-effects of a virus to train strongly on a wet Monday, as did vice-captain Michael Clarke.

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The big dog in the music pound, Universal Music Group, says rather than feeling sorry for itself as the music industry’s woes spiral out of control, it has managed to have a good 2008 so far.

Universal’s parent, Vivendi, the French telecoms and media conglomerate, said on Thursday that the world’s largest music company had actually grown revenue by 3.5 percent in the first nine months of 2008 on a constant currency basis to 3.14 billion euros. Though this is a 3.8 percent decline in actual currency.

The company was boosted by growth in music publishing and merchandising following the acquisitions of BMG Music Publishing and Sanctuary in 2007. The company also highlighted a 33 percent increase at constant currency in digital sales and higher license income.  These all helped offset tumbling CD sales, says Universal.

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Some kind of radical change at the very top of American politics was guaranteed last week - either the first African-American President or the first female Vice President. While there's been much talk and analysis of Barack Obama's victory and its impact on the politics of race in the US, much less has been said about the change that didn't happen and the issue of gender and representation of women in politics.

Women fared badly in the election as a whole, aside from the headline defeats for both Clinton and Palin. Even outside of the presidential election, women candidates made only the smallest of gains: one extra seat in the Senate, bringing the proportion to 17 out of 100 senators; and three gains in the House of Representatives, meaning 74 of 435 representatives are female. That brings the total number of women in the US Congress to 91 out of 535 or just 17 per cent.

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Australian captain Ricky Ponting has received strong backing from his boss James Sutherland over the over rate debacle in the fourth Test against India.

Speaking at the launch of Ponting's Captain's Diary 2008, Sutherland backed Ponting's decision to bowl spinners and part-timers in a bid to reel back a slow over rate when wickets were needed to salvage the series, ultimately lost 2-0.His batting speaks for itself, but given the events of this week perhaps some need reminding that he is already a cricketing great," Sutherland said.

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In the three years since Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston ended their Hollywood marriage, Aniston has barely said a word about the break-up and the woman who stole Pitt's heart, Angelina Jolie.But in an interview for the December issue of Vogue magazine, Aniston finally talks about the split and the Oscar-winning actress who is now Pitt's companion, saying the way Jolie revealed details of her relationship with "Ocean's Eleven" star was "really uncool."

Aniston, 39, told Vogue Jolie should not have given a detailed account of how her relationship with Pitt developed on the set of the 2005 movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," when Aniston and Pitt were still together. Those details were revealed in Jolie's 2007 interview with Vogue.

"There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening," Aniston said."That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool," said Aniston.Aniston and Pitt finalized their divorce in August 2005 after announcing their separation in January that year.Pitt and Jolie now have three biological children and three adopted children, and are involved in humanitarian causes. They have emerged as one of Hollywood's most influential couples.

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