Sharon Stone

Sharon Yvonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She first achieved international recognition for her performance in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her role in Casino.

Personal life

Stone lives in Beverly Hills, California, and owns a ranch in New Zealand. In March 2006, Stone traveled to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East through a press conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. Stone also has diabetes.
Religion

In the early 1990s, Stone became a member of the Church of Scientology. Stone remained with the religion until recently when she converted to Tibetan Buddhism, after fellow actor Richard Gere introduced her to the Dalai Lama. She is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

Relationships

Stone was first married briefly to George Englund Jr. In 1984, she married television producer Michael Greenburg on the set of The Vegas Strip War, a TV movie he produced and she starred in. The marriage lasted three years. They separated three years later, and their divorce was finalized in 1990.

On February 14, 1998, she married Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner and later San Francisco Chronicle. Stone and Bronstein were divorced in January 2004. They have an adopted son named Roan Joseph Bronstein, born on May 22, 2000. She also adopted her second son, Laird Vonne Stone on May 7, 2005. On June 28, 2006, Stone adopted her third son, Quinn Kelly.

In 2005, during a television interview for her movie Basic Instinct 2, Stone hinted an interest in bisexuality, stating "Middle age is an open-minded period". Stone has said that in the past she's "dated" girls. While filming Basic Instinct, her best girlfriend was there to hold her hand out of camera range during some of the scenes. And in a biography, Naked Instinct, author Frank Sanello details a sexual liaison between Stone and a woman in the bathroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel. In an interview on the Michael Parkinson talk show in England on March 18, 2006, she said she was "straight". However, in January 2008, she was quoted as saying, "Everybody is bisexual to an extent. Now men act like women and it's difficult to have a relationship because I like men in that old-fashioned way. I like masculinity and, in truth, only women do that now".

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Salma Hayek

Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez-Pinault (born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican actress, television director, and television and film producer. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.

Hayek is the first Mexican national to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She is one of the most prominent Mexican figures in Hollywood since silent film actress Dolores del Río. She is also, after Fernanda Montenegro, the second of three Latin American actresses (the other being Catalina Sandino Moreno) to achieve a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Personal life

Hayek is a naturalized United States citizen. She dated actor Edward Norton between 1999 and 2003, and then Josh Lucas in 2003. She is a good friend of Spanish actress Penélope Cruz and co-starred with her in the 2006 film Bandidas. Hayek studied at Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. Her brother, Sami Hayek, is a designer with his own line of products at Target and clients that include Louis Vuitton, Brad Pitt, and the Mexican Government.

On March 9, 2007, Hayek confirmed she was expecting her first child with PPR CEO François-Henri Pinault. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. On July 18, 2008, Hayek and Pinault announced the end of their engagement. They later reconciled and were married on Valentine's Day, 2009 in Paris. On April 25, 2009, they were married a second time in Venice. Salma Hayek is also a practitioner of the martial art Krav Maga.

Advocacy

On July 19, 2005, Hayek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 to Monterrey based anti-domestic violence groups.

Since the birth of her daughter, Hayek has worked to help mothers in developing nations worldwide, teaming up with Pampers and UNICEF to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. She is a global spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine to help raise awareness of the program.

Hayek also advocates breastfeeding, because of its benefits, including building stronger infant immune systems. During a UNICEF fact-finding trip to Sierra Leone, she breastfed a hungry week-old baby whose mother could not produce milk

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Penelope Cruz

Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born April 28, 1974), better known as Penélope Cruz, is a Spanish actress. At 15, she was signed by an agent. She made her acting debut at 16 on television, and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón (1992), to critical acclaim. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included Open Your Eyes (1997), The Hi-Lo Country (1999), The Girl of Your Dreams (2000) and Woman on Top (2000). Cruz achieved recognition for her lead roles in Vanilla Sky and Blow. Both films were released in 2001 and were commercially successful worldwide.

In the 2000s she has appeared in films from a wide range of genres, including the comedy Waking Up in Reno (2002), the thriller Gothika (2003), the Christmas movie Noel (2004), the action adventure Sahara (2005), the animated G-Force and the musical drama Nine. Her most notable films to date are Volver (2006), for which she earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), for which she received a Golden Globe and Academy Award. She was the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award, and the sixth Spanish actor overall. G-Force (2009) is her most commercially successful film.

Cruz has modeled for companies such as Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal. Cruz and her younger sister Mónica Cruz have designed items for Mango. She has donated both her time and money to charities. Cruz has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working for Mother Teresa; she donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to help fund the late nun's mission. In the 2000s Cruz had been in long term relationships with her co-stars Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey.

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Kate Winslet

Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She is the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader (2008). Winslet has been acclaimed for both dramatic and comedic work in projects ranging from period to contemporary films, and from major Hollywood productions to less publicised indie films. She has won awards from the Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association among others, and has been nominated for an Emmy Award for television acting.

Raised in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood, and began her career in British television in 1991. She made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which she received her first notable critical praise. She achieved recognition for her subsequent work in a supporting role in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and for her leading role in Titanic (1997), the highest grossing film for more than 12 years until 2010.

Since 2000, Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics, and she has been nominated for various awards for her work in such films as Quills (2000), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) and Revolutionary Road (2008). Her performance in the latter prompted New York magazine to describe her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation". The romantic comedy The Holiday and the animated film Flushed Away (both 2006) were among the biggest commercial successes of her career.

Winslet was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000. She has been included as a vocalist on some soundtracks of works she has performed in, and the single "What If" from the soundtrack for Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001), was a hit single in several European countries. Winslet has a daughter with her former husband, Jim Threapleton, and a son with her current husband, Sam Mendes, from whom she is separated. She lives in New York City.

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Jessica Alba

Jessica Marie Alba (born April 28, 1981) is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002). Alba later appeared in various films including Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Good Luck Chuck both in 2007.

Alba is considered a sex symbol and often generates media attention for her looks. She appears frequently on the "Hot 100" section of Maxim and was voted number one on AskMen.com's list of "99 Most Desirable Women" in 2006, as well as "Sexiest Woman in the World" by FHM in 2007. The use of her image on the cover of the March 2006 Playboy sparked a lawsuit by her, which was later dropped. She has also won various awards for her acting, including the Choice Actress Teen Choice Award and Saturn Award for Best Actress (TV), and a Golden Globe nomination for her lead role in the television series Dark Angel.

Early life

Alba was born in Pomona, California to Catherine Alba and Mark Alba. Her mother is of Danish and French Canadian descent and her father is Mexican American, though both of his parents were born in California (on the December 1, 2009 episode of Lopez Tonight, George Lopez announced that a DNA test showed Alba to be 87% European and 13% Indigenous American). She has a younger brother, Joshua. Her father's Air Force career took the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Del Rio, Texas before settling back in California when she was nine years old. Alba described her family as being a "very conservative family—a traditional, Catholic, Latin American family" and herself as very liberal; she says she had identified herself as a "feminist" as early as age five.

Alba's early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies. During childhood, she suffered from collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4-5 times a year, as well as a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. Alba became isolated from other children at school, because she was in the hospital so often due to her illnesses that no one knew her well enough to befriend her. Alba has also had asthma since she was a child. Alba has said that her family's frequent moving also contributed to her isolation from her peers. She has also acknowledged that she has suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder during her childhood. Alba graduated from high school at age 16, and she subsequently attended the Atlantic Theater Company.

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Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She gained worldwide recognition in the 1990s for portraying the role of Rachel Green in the television sitcom Friends, which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career after appearing in several Hollywood productions. She gained critical acclaim for her performances in the independent films She's the One (1996), Office Space (1999) and The Good Girl (2002). Her most commercially successful big screen projects have been in the comedies Bruce Almighty (2003) and Marley & Me (2008) as well as romantic comedies that include Along Came Polly (2004) and The Break-Up (2006).

Personal life

She dated her Ferris Bueller TV costar Charlie Schlatter in 1990, and briefly dated musician Adam Duritz in 1995. From 1995 to 1998, she was romantically involved with actor Tate Donovan and the couple were reportedly engaged.

In March 1998, she began dating actor Brad Pitt. They married on July 29, 2000, in a lavish Malibu wedding. For a few years, their marriage was considered the rare Hollywood success. However, the couple announced their separation on January 6, 2005. Pitt and Aniston were seen together publicly after announcing their separation, even at a dinner party for Aniston's 36th birthday, and friends of the couple had declared they were reconciling. Aniston, however, filed for divorce on March 25, 2005. It was finalized on October 2, 2005. Their divorce was seen, and is still noted to be, the most shocking celebrity divorce in history. Pitt was allegedly cheating on Aniston with his Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie.

In the following months, the public's reaction towards the divorce was reported in the press. The story became the headline news of media shows such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood, and made the front-pages of tabloid magazines for years, still continuing till this day. 'Team Aniston' and 'Team Jolie' T-shirts were made, with the 'Team Aniston' shirts out-selling the 'Team Jolie' shirts 4:1.

Aniston revealed that her divorce prompted her to reach out to her mother, Nancy, from whom she was estranged for nearly a decade. They initially became estranged when Nancy talked about her daughter on a television show and later wrote a book entitled, From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir (1999). Aniston has also stated she was devastated by the death of her longtime therapist, whose work helped make her separation from Pitt easier. Aniston said her relationship with Pitt, which she does not regret, was "seven very intense years together" and that "it was a beautiful, complicated relationship."

Following her divorce, Aniston began a relationship with actor Vince Vaughn, with whom she costarred in The Break Up, but relationship troubles were reported in September 2006, followed by a confirmed split in December of that year. She dated model Paul Sculfor for a few months in 2007. In February 2008, she began dating singer John Mayer. The couple broke up in August, but they resumed the relationship in October before splitting again in March 2009.

Aniston has had two septoplasties to correct her deviated septum—one which was incorrectly done in 1994 and the second in January 2007. Septoplasty is a surgical operation that helps alleviate a common condition that can lead to breathing difficulty and trouble sleeping. She is the godmother of Coco Riley Arquette, the daughter of her good friends, actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

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Gemma Atkinson

Gemma Louise Atkinson (born 15 November 1984 in Bury, Greater Manchester) is an English actress, television personality and glamour and lingerie model.

Personal life

Originally from Bury, Lancashire, Atkinson took her GCSEs at Castlebrook High School before becoming a commercial and photographic model.

Atkinson has dated Cristiano Ronaldo and was engaged to Marcus Bent, but they have since split up; She is now dating Liam Richards who was a finalist on last year's Britain's Got Talent TV show with martial arts act Strike.

Acting career

Atkinson rose to fame playing Lisa Hunter on the Channel 4 teenage soap opera Hollyoaks. Atkinson and Marcus Patric (who played the character Ben Davies) subsequently appeared in a "spin-off" series called Hollyoaks: Let Loose for E4, in which their characters started a new life together in Chester. This was followed by Hollyoaks: In the City, also screened on E4.

Other TV roles included appearing as herself in the pilot for Plus One, part of the pilot series Comedy Showcase in October 2009. In early April 2009 she finished filming for an episode of The Bill. She plays Ria Crossley the girlfriend of a drug dealer.

In film, Atkinson has appeared in the British independent film Boogie Woogie, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2009. She has done filming for a forthcoming horror film called 13Hrs in February 2009 and a new UK gangster film called Baseline in March 2009.

In theatre, Atkinson appeared in Peter Pan at the Manchester Opera House in December 2008. She took the title role alongside John Thomson who played Captain Hook. Gemma appeared in the West End production of Tim Firth's Calendar Girls at the Noel Coward Theatre, from July 28 to October 17 where she played the character of Elaine.

Gemma is currently on tour with Calendar Girls, she plays Celia aka Miss September in the production. The January to April 2010 tour of The Calendar Girls stars Lynda Bellingham, Gemma Atkinson, Judith Barker, Debbie Chazen, Letitia Dean and Jan Harvey.

Atkinson made her debut video game appearance in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) in the role of Lt. Eva McKenna, which she reprised in Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising (2009). She also took part in EA's "Be The One" event in Trafalgar Square on 29 October 2008, which forms part of the London Games Festival.

Atkinson has also played Goldie Lookin Chain's love interest in the music video for the single "R'n'B" and featured on the cover of the CD single release.

In 2010 she will appear in the film The Sweet Shop, a romantic comedy about a Hollywood superstar and a small town sweetshop owner. Gemma started work on the film The Sweet Shop on Wednesday 5th May 2010.

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Drew Barrymore

Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, film producer and film director. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actors, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.

Following a turbulent childhood which was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and two stints in rehab, Barrymore wrote the 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. She successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress with a number of films including Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, and Everyone Says I Love You. Subsequently, she established herself in romantic comedies such as The Wedding Singer and Lucky You.

In 1990, she and partner Nancy Juvonen formed the production company Flower Films, with its first production the 1999 Barrymore film Never Been Kissed. Flower Films has gone on to produce the Barrymore vehicle films Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and Music and Lyrics, as well as the cult film Donnie Darko. Barrymore's more recent projects include He's Just Not That into You, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Everybody's Fine. A recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Barrymore appeared on the cover of the 2007 People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful issue.

Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since then, she has donated over $1 million to the program. In 2007, she became both CoverGirl's newest model and spokeswoman for the cosmetic and the face for Gucci's newest jewelry line.

In 2010, she was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her portrayal of Little Edie in Grey Gardens.

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Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American pop singer and songwriter. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan.

In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100—"Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". A Latin pop album, Mi Reflejo (2001), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album, Stripped (2002), The album's second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance. Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics (2006), included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music, and was released to positive critical reception. Aguilera's fourth studio album Bionic will be released in June 2010.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards and a Latin Grammy Award, amongst fifteen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-three on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She has become one of the most successful recording artists of the decade, selling more than 42 million records worldwide.

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Carmen Electra

Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, dancer and sex symbol. She gained fame for her appearances in Playboy magazine, on the MTV game show Singled Out, on the TV series Baywatch, and dancing with the Pussycat Dolls, and has since had roles in the parody films Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and Disaster Movie.

Early life

Electra was born in Sharonville, Ohio, the daughter of Patricia, a singer, and Harry, an entertainer and guitarist. She attended Ann Weigel Elementary School and then studied dance at Dance Artists dance studio under Gloria J. Simpson, in Western Hills, a neighborhood of Cincinnati. Her mother died of a brain tumor in 1998. Her older sister Debbie died from a heart attack, also in 1998. Carmen graduated from Princeton High School in Sharonville. Carmen Electra also attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Cincinnati Public School District. She has Irish, German, and Cherokee ancestry.

Personal life

Electra married basketball star Dennis Rodman in November 1998. Their wedding took place at Little Chapel of the Flowers in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, the marriage did not last long, and Electra filed for divorce in April 1999.

On November 22, 2003, Electra married Dave Navarro, lead guitarist for the rock band Jane's Addiction. The couple documented their courtship and marriage in an MTV reality television show called 'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave. On July 17, 2006, she and Navarro announced their separation, and Electra filed for divorce on August 10. It was finalized on February 20, 2007.

In April 2008, Electra's representative confirmed that she was engaged to Rob Patterson, a member of the nu metal band Otep

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Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American pop singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program. At age 12 she performed as a cast member in Disney Channel's television series The All New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994.[1] In 1997, Spears signed a recording contract with Jive, which would lead to the release of her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The album peaked at number one in Billboard 200 and has since sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Her success continued with the release of her second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again in 2000, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The release of her first two albums established her as a pop icon and is credited for influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s.

In 2001, she released her third studio album Britney and played as the starring role in the film Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone released in 2003, which made her the only female artist of the Nielsen Soundscan era to have her first four albums debut at number one. After the release of her first greatest hits album Greatest Hits: My Prerogative , Spears experienced personal struggles and her career went under hiatus. This was until her fifth studio album, Blackout was released in 2007. Her sixth studio album, Circus was released in 2008, and also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the hit single "Womanizer" which became Spears second single to peaked at number one in Billboard Hot 100 since her debut single, nearly 10 years later. In late 2009, Spears released The Singles Collection which includes her third number one hit single in the United States entitled "3".

As of early 2010, Spears has sold over 85 million albums worldwide. On December 11, 2009, Billboard named Spears as one of the best selling acts of the 2000s, solely based on album sales as well as the 8th overall best act of the decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity. She is ranked as the eight best-selling female recording artist in the U.S., having sold more than 32 million copies of her albums and all certified by the Recording Industry Association of America. Spears is currently the fifth best-selling artist act of the decade in the country, as well as the top-selling female album artist.

2010: Upcoming album and personal and professional relationships

There are plans for Spears to work with Tiësto, Darkchild, Lolita, Rosario and Carmen de Mairena on her seventh studio album. During a Q&A on her Twitter account, Spears only said the release date would be a surprise, giving no other details. Spears's rep confirmed that she and Jason Trawick were in a relationship and that he had decided to end their professional relationship to focus on their personal relationship. On May 25, 2010 Spears became the most followed user on the popular site Twitter.

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Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress and former singer. Her acting career began after she appeared in the Broadway show Annie. Her childhood role as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? made her famous, and an eight-year stint as Phoebe Halliwell on the supernatural series Charmed brought her a new round of fame. She also starred on the ABC series Romantically Challenged as Rebecca Thomas.

Milano has a female sports apparel line, Touch.

Recent roles

Her performance in Fear led to a starring role in Hugo Pool (1997), her first film released through cinemas since Commando. Despite the milestone, Milano was soon out of work and after a period of six months, she decided to return to television. She portrayed bad girl Jennifer Mancini on Melrose Place (1997–1998), Meg Winston in Spin City, and most notably as Phoebe Halliwell on the eight-year run of the popular hit tv series Charmed (1998–2006). Her role on Melrose Place was offered to the actress by Aaron Spelling himself. The stint garned her new fame and she was named the most successful and popular actress on the primetime soap, alongside Heather Locklear. Milano and close friend Holly Marie Combs became producers for Charmed during the show's fifth season.

She played the role of Eva Savealot in MCI's 1-800-COLLECT commercials. In 2007, Milano filmed a pilot for ABC entitled Reinventing the Wheelers. The series was not picked up for the 2007–2008 season, but instead, Milano appeared in ten episodes of the show My Name Is Earl. This reunited her with Jaime Pressly, who guest-starred in the two-part Season 5 premiere of Charmed, "A Witch's Tail".

Milano's commercial work includes appearing in the "Josie" music video by Blink-182, as well as 2007 television ads for Veet and Sheer Cover.

Milano was part of TBS's special coverage installment Hot Corner for the 2007 Major League Baseball playoffs. She reported at Fenway Park during the ALDS between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. She also reported at Chase Field during the NLCS between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

Milano starred in the 2008 film Pathology alongside Milo Ventimiglia and was then cast in a television sitcom, Single with Parents, which was pulled prior to production.

On March 20, 2009, it was announced that Milano would provide a voice for the Ghostbusters: The Video Game. In a 2010 interview, she told the press that she had 'a blast' working on the game, although she recalled it being 'odd' having to grunt in a room alone. It was speculated that following the voice over in the video game, she was set to star in Ghostbusters III, although Milano claimed she was never approached.

On March 24, 2009, her book on her baseball fandom, Safe At Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic, was released. Milano has signed on to star in and produce My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, a romantic comedy in which she plays a woman with a relationship dilemma.

Milano starred in the sitcom Romantically Challenged as Rebecca Thomas, a recently divorced single mom attorney in Pittsburgh who has not dated "since Bill Clinton was president". The series premiered on ABC on April 19, 2010. On why she accepted the role, Milano commented:

"I was so attracted to the writing. Our creative showrunner is Ricky Blitt from Family Guy and I was struck at how funny the female characters were written. Usually the female characters are written pretty straightforward, like the straight-man but with Ricky’s writing, the women get to be equally as funny. That was what hooked me. James Burrows, who’s our director, is another major part of what attracted me to the show. It just seemed like a really good package and something that I could commit to in the long-term."

On May 16, 2010, the series was cancelled after four episodes had aired. On the show's cancellation, Milano wrote on her website:

"It would be so very, very, easy for me to be upset and bitter about [it]. But… I'm not upset or bitter. [..] I am well aware that I'm in a business that sometimes makes decisions that are inexplicable. Dealing with those decisions is almost just as much a part of the job as memorizing my dialogue. My only true sadness comes from not being able to see Ricky, Mr. Burrows, Josh, Kelly and Kyle's face every day."

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Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American recording artist, musician and actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began to play classical music on the piano. She attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at 16 as valedictorian. She later attended Columbia University before dropping out to pursue her music career. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records.

Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.

Keys made guest appearances on several television series in the following years, beginning with Charmed. She made her film debut in Smokin' Aces and went on to appear in The Nanny Diaries in 2007. Her third studio album, As I Am, was released in the same year and sold six million copies worldwide, earning Keys an additional three Grammy Awards. The following year, she appeared in The Secret Life of Bees, which earned her a nomination at the NAACP Image Awards. She released her fourth album, The Element of Freedom, in December 2009, which became Keys' first chart-topping album in the United Kingdom. Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Billboard magazine named her the top R&B artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

Musical style

An accomplished pianist, Keys incorporates piano into a majority of her songs and often writes about love, heartbreak and female empowerment. She has cited several musicians as her inspirations, including Prince, Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, Marvin Gaye, Quincy Jones, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Keys' style is rooted in gospel and vintage soul music, supplemented by bass and programmed drumbeats. She heavily incorporated classical piano with R&B, soul and jazz into her music. She began experimenting with other genres, including pop and rock, in her third studio album, As I Am, transitioning from neo soul to a 1980s and 1990s R&B sound with her fourth album, The Element of Freedom. Patrick Huguenin of the New York Daily News stated that her incorporation of classical piano riffs contributed to her breakout success. Jet magazine states she "thrives" by touching her fans with "piano mastery, words and melodious voice". The Independent described her style as consisting of "crawling blues coupled with a hip-hop backbeat", noting that her lyrics "rarely stray from matters of the heart". Blender magazine referred to her as "the first new pop artist of the millennium who was capable of changing music."

Keys has a vocal range of a contralto, which spans three octaves. Often referred to as the "Princess of Soul", Keys has been commended as having a strong, raw and impassioned voice; others feel that her voice is "emotionally manufactured" at times and that she pushes her voice out of its natural range. Keys' songwriting is often criticized for lack of depth, which has led to her writing abilities being called limited. Her lyrics have been called generic, clichéd and that her songs revolve around generalities. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune feels that she "[pokes] around for multi-format hits rather than trying to project any sort of artistic vision". Diversely, Jon Pareles of Blender magazine stated that the musical composition of her songs makes up for their lyrical weakness,while Gregory Stephen Tate of The Village Voice compared Keys' writing and production to 1970s music.

Joanna Hunkin of The New Zealand Herald reviewed one of Keys' performances, where Kylie Minogue also attended. She described Minogue's reaction to Keys' performance, saying "it was obvious she was just as much of a fan as the 10,000 other people at Vector Arena". She went on to say that Minogue was "the original pop princess bowing down to the modern-day queen of soul". Hunkin characterized Keys' opening performance as a "headbanging, hip-gyrating performance" and her energy as "high-octane energy most bands save for their closing finale". At the end of her two-hour performance, fans "screamed, stomped and begged for a second encore". Hillary Crosley and Mariel Concepcion of Billboard magazine noted that her shows are "extremely coordinated" with the audience's attention span "consistently maintained". The show ended with a standing ovation and Keys "proved that a dynamic performance mixed with superior musicianship always wins". Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and is listed on the Recording Industry Association of America's best-selling artists in the United States, with 15 million certified albums.She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has established herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

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Pic of the Day - 31st May

E.J. Viso, of Venezuela, hits the wall in the first turn during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. (Photo: AP)

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Pic of the Day - 30th May

Employee Kevin Wilson works behind the counter at a Panera Bread Co. restaurant, on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in Clayton, Mo. The national bakery and restaurant chain launched the new nonprofit store this week that has the same menu as its other locations. But customers are told to donate what they want for a meal, whether it's the full suggested price, a penny, or $100. (Photo: AP)

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Pic of the Day - 29th May

French matador Sebastien Castella performs a muleta on a Nunez del Cuvillo bull, on May 20, 2010, during the Nimes Feria Bullfighting Festival (Feria de la Pentecote). (Photo: AFP)

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Kristen Stewart compares celebdom to being raped

Twilight star Kristen Stewart hates being pursued by paparazzi so much that she has compared the experience to being "raped".

The 20-year-old actress, who plays Bella Swan in the vampire franchise, said that being photographed and falsely reported by paparazzi makes her feel like someone being raped, reported Aceshowbiz online.

"It's so... The photos are so.. I feel like I'm looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can't
handle it. I never expected that this would be my life," said Stewart.

"What you don't see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked, or the people falling over themselves, screaming and taunting to get a reaction. All you see is an actor or a celebrity lit up but a flash," she added.

The actress, who is rumoured to be dating her co-star Robert Pattinson, hates being judged by the things people say about her.

"Your little persona is made up of all the places that people have seen you and what has been said about you. And usually the places that I am are so overwhelming in the moment and fleeting for me - like one second where I've said something stupid, that's me, forever," said Stewart.

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Pic of the Day - 28th May

Location : Situated in the Bahadurpura area on the way to the N G Ranga Agricultural University in Rajendranagar, the zoo is ahead of Afzalgunj, the Osmania General Hospital and the High Court of AP.

A lion yawns at a zoological park in Hyderabad, on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. (Photo: AP)

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David Beckham seeks advice from Tom Cruise

Footballer David Beckham's relationship seems to be getting stronger with actor friend Tom Cruise as he often seeks advice from him.

"For someone who has been in the public eye for so long, David is still not the most confident when it comes to speaking out. He's very shy," femalefirst.co.uk quoted a source as saying.

"He has spoken to Tom among others about how to motivate people. Tom is a confident guy and always gives him great advice. David wants to be able to do the same, whatever the circumstances are," the source added.

This is not the first time David has sought advice from the actor. Last year, Tom and his actress wife Katie Holmes advised the Beckhams - David and his wife Victoria - on how to maintain a healthy balance between work and married life.

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Pic of the Day - 27th May

Workers set up the installation 'Oasis 7' by the Austrian artist group Haus-Rucker-Co on the frontage of the 'Museum fuer Kunst und Gewerbe' (Museum for Art and Industry) in Hamburg, northern Germany on May 17, 2010. The synthetic bubble with a diameter of seven metres can be explored during the exhibition 'Climate capsule. Survival Conditions during the disaster', taking place from May 28 to August 8, 2010. (Photo: AFP)

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Pic of the Day - 26th May

Imtiaz Zainule, right, of New York, looks up as he poses for a picture with Nicole Dhillon, of New York, under the sculpture 'Unconditional Surrender', on Friday, May 21, 2010 in San Diego. The sculpture, by J. Seward Johnson, commemorates the iconic image by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945, during the celebration to mark V-J Day, the end of World War II. (Photo: AP)

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50 Amazing Blogger Tricks & Hacks

Well in this article, I’ve post an amazing collection of 50 Amazing Blogger Tricks Hacks which are useful to bloggers using the Blogger platform.




1. Expandable Posts or Read More Hack

2. Recent Posts Widget

3. Recent Comment Widget

4. Top Commentators Widget

5. Remove Label Post Count

6. Add Page Element to Header and Blog Posts

7. Sticky Posts in Blogger

8. Add Images or Icons to Sidebar Links

9. Remove NavBar in Blogger

10. Add Scrollbars to Blog Widgets

11. Add Favicon to Blogger URL

12. Simple Search Widget

13. Wrap Adsense Ads in Post Body

14. Special Effects for Peekaboo Posts

15. Page Navigation Hack for Blogger

16. Uploading Animated .gif Image to Blogger

17. Making Pull Down Menu

18. Add “Print this” Option in your Blog

19. Speed up your Blogger Page Load Time

20. Random Background Image

21. Ratings for Posts

22. TabView Widget

23. Adding a Front Page to your Blog

24. Creating Thumbnail Pictures

25. Adding a BreadCrumb Trail to your Blog Post

26. Showing your Blogger Labels as Vertical Tabs

27. Navigation Bar

28. Add Digg Button to Blogger Post

29. Social Bookmarking Widget

30. Add Signature to your Posts

31. Add Background Music

32. Embed Comment Box Below Blogger Post

33. Remove Word Verification from Blogger Comments

34. Show Blog Post Headers In Archive

35. Disable Right Click on Blog

36. Label Cloud in your Blog

37. E-mail Icon Generator

38. Podcast in Blogger

39. Transparent Background

40. Rounded Corner Headers

41. Insert Powerpoint and PDF Files

42. Flash for Blogger

43. Author Comment Highlighting

44. Control Number of Posts in Label Pages

45. Sidebar Comments Display

46. Show Recent Referrers

47. Language Translation Widget

48. Postpone or Delay your Blog Posts Via E-mail

49. Add Clickable Pictures to your Blog

50. “Email Me” Link

51. Make your Blog DoFollow

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Researcher analyzes dreams through Twitter

Starting today, Twitter users can send synopses of their dreams (in 140 characters or less, of course) to the Twitter handle @dreamshrink. Researcher Jennifer Parker, with the University of West England in Bristol, will choose 10 of the most interesting dreams and will parse out their meaning through the micro-blogging service by the end of this week.

The dream analysis will be posted on Friday.

The project is intended to help Parker expand her research on dreams worldwide, according to the BBC. The dream posts are also tied to the release of James Cameron's "Avatar" for purchase on the Internet in the UK. Cameron is said to have thought up the idea for that blockbuster movie in a dream in the 1990s.

The British video site blinkbox.com is behind the promotion.

The film is also available elsewhere for download, according to CNET:

Vudu and Sony's PlayStation Network are the only major streaming/download services to carry the HD version at launch (sorry, Amazon VOD and QRIOCITY), so if you want to watch "Avatar" in HD at home, you'll have to buy one of those two futuristic files or risk being branded a Luddite to actually get the physical Blu-ray.

Parker told the website bristol247.com that dream analysis on Twitter is a "ground breaking opportunity."

“I am already planning to use data as the basis for a future book that will analyze the efficacy of Twitter as a means for data collection and hopefully present this information in a peer reviewed journal," she told the site. "This type of media is going to be essential in moving dream research forwards using state of the art technologies.”

Can you fit a dream in 140 characters? Do you feel comfortable writing about your subconscious in public on the Internet? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Does Facebook know who you'll date next?

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg genuinely cares about your relationship status. Well, maybe not genuinely, but he may look into it if he’s bored.

One of Zuckerberg’s favorite pastimes is determining Facebook users’ relationship patterns, according to David Kilpatrick’s upcoming book, “The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World.”

Are you constantly chatting with your girlfriend’s best friend? Do you spend more time on your crush’s Facebook page than your boyfriend’s?

You don’t have to be honest with us, but don’t bother lying to Zuckerberg.

A handful of tech blogs have published an excerpt from the book that says Zuckerberg uses certain factors to determine whether your relationship is on the outs and who you’ll likely be dating next.

All Facebook, a blog about the social-networking site, posted this passage:

“By examining friend relationships and communications patterns (Zuckerberg) could determine with about 33 percent accuracy who a user was going to be in a relationship with a week from now. To deduce this he studied who was looking which profiles, who your friends were friends with, and who was newly single, among other indicators.”

So what's your take on Zuckerberg as Cupid? Is his theory on this credible, or just creepy? If he offered you an insider's prediction on your significant other’s romantic future, would you take it?

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Google unveils 'replay' search feature

It's already easy to find relevant Twitter updates in Google real-time search results. Now, thanks to a new Google feature, you can see what people were tweeting about a topic last week or last month.

Google on Wednesday introduced a “replay” feature that allows users to search tweets posted at any given point in time - down to the minute.

Let’s say you're curious to see what people were tweeting about Kathryn Bigelow the night of the Academy Awards on March 7. After you type her name into Google's search field, select “Show Options” on the results page and then click “Updates.”

A timeline will appear above the results, allowing you to zero in on tweets by the hour or minute. They spiked late in the Oscars telecast, when excited viewers began tweeting about Bigelow becoming the first woman to win Best Director.

Here's a preview of what the new feature looks like.

“By replaying tweets, you can explore any topic that people have discussed on Twitter,” wrote Dylan Casey, Google product manager for real-time search, in a post on Google's blog.

For now, users can explore tweets going back about two months - to February 11 - although Google promises that you’ll soon be able to search as far back as the very first tweet on March 21, 2006.

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Facebook to simplify privacy controls Wednesday

Heeding widespread concerns about how much of its users' personal data it shares on the web, Facebook said it will begin implementing simpler privacy settings on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that our new, simpler user controls will begin rolling out tomorrow. I can't say more yet," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told CNN in an e-mail Tuesday.

Currently, users of the popular social-networking site must navigate through some 170 privacy options. Some Facebook members have said they're confused by the settings, while others have threatened to delete or deactivate their Facebook accounts until the site gives them more control over their info.

Tuesday's announcement suggests Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making good on a recent promise.

"There needs to be a simpler way to control your information," he wrote in an op-ed piece published Monday in the Washington Post. "In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services."

The recent backlash against Facebook came after the site, which has more than 450 million members, introduced a new tool last month to spread Facebook users' preferences and data to partner sites around the web.

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Twitter claims 105 million registered users

Twitter has more than 105 million registered users, co-founder Biz Stone said Wednesday.

The announcement, at the micro-blogging site's Chirp conference for developers, marked the first time Twitter has announced it number of accounts. The tally - 105,779,710, to be exact - is significantly more than outside analysts had estimated.

The company also says it's adding 300,000 accounts per day, with much of its growth coming outside the United States.

The number, of course, doesn't address how many of those accounts are active. It comes after months of outside speculation that the number of monthly visitor to Twitter's main page had peaked – after astronomical growth in early 2009.

Web analytics company Compete estimates that Twitter's number of unique monthly visitors has stayed roughly the same since June 2009.

But on Wednesday, Stone said most of Twitter's daily traffic comes from third-party applications, which often don't require a stop by the site's main page (which nevertheless got a makeover last week).

As Mashable's Adam Ostrow notes in a blog post from the conference, the number still pales in comparison to social-networking giant Facebook's more than 400 million registered accounts.

But it's closer than most observers would have guessed, which bodes well for Twitter a day after it rolled out an advertising plan that it hopes will turn the much-talked-about site into an actual moneymaker.

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MySpace unveils new event calendar

MySpace, which has long been an online hangout for musicians and music fans, is now making it easier for users to keep up with musical happenings.

The social-networking site unveiled its new global events calendar Thursday. Called MySpace Events, the feature is a “global platform that supplies artists and users with tools to create, discover and share events including an easy-to-use calendar,” said Marcus Womack, director of events and ticketing, in a MySpace blog post.

Users also will have the opportunity to sync their MySpace Events with Facebook and Twitter, making it easier for people to manage their “entire social calendar and share events across the Web,” Womack said.

MySpace will add different types of events - sports, nightlife and arts happenings - in addition to the “concerts and pop culture events” already featured on the site, Womack said.

The site also will allow users to receive alerts about future shows of their choice and purchase tickets through MySpace, a service made possible by the site’s partnership with Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

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4 tools to help reclaim Facebook privacy

To some users and tech writers, it appears Facebook won’t let anything stand in the way of its quest for World Wide Web domination. Maybe not even its users’ privacy.

As most Facebook users already know, the social networking site has yet again updated its privacy settings. And the “guide to privacy on Facebook” can seem more like an encyclopedia than a guide. Some users have become so confused that they've chosen to leave the site entirely.

But, thanks to a few independent tools floating around in cyberspace, it's gotten a bit easier to navigate the maze of Facebook settings. Here are a few tools and websites that caught our attention:

ReclaimPrivacy, a donation-based project, recently launched a tool that scans your Facebook page’s privacy settings. It alerts users when their privacy settings have defaulted to public.

SaveFace, which is free to install, automatically sets users’ settings - contact information, search settings, friends, tags, connections, personal information and posts - to “friends only.”

TinEye is not specifically for privacy conscious Facebook users. However, the reverse image search engine can be useful when looking to see if an image posted on Facebook has made its way across the Web. Simply upload a photo and let TineEye search the Web to see if the image has been used elsewhere.

Finally, there's OpenBook (warning: potentially offensive language), a site that doesn't exactly help you manage your Facebook privacy settings, but it might scare you into wanting to keep your info private. The site lets you search through public status updates. Some really embarrassing stuff shows up.

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Britney passes Ashton atop Twitter

Alas, poor Ashton

You may have beaten us to 1 million followers on Twitter, but that's so last year. Now, Twitter is Britney's world.

Over the weekend, the official Britney Spears Twitter account passed actor Ashton Kutcher's feed as the most popular on the microblogging site.

Both are closing in on a whopping 5 million followers - Britney had about 4,946,000 as of late Monday morning, compared to Kutcher's 4,942,000.

Her new place in the top spot comes despite the fact that Britney's feed, in contrast to Kutcher's ultra-personal musings, is largely filled by posts from her manager, Adam Leber, and other staffers.

She does chime in from time to time, though, with posts like "Happy mamas day ya'll!! -Brit," on May 9. The most recent Britney post on Twitter - where many popular users are always updating their status - is from last Wednesday.

There was no acknowledgement of the milestone on the feed.

On Kutcher's Twitter feed , he addressed the seismic shift in the Twitterverse by dismissing it.

He's been doing promotional interviews for his upcoming movie "Killers" and said that - behind "Are you having a baby?" - the most popular question from reporters has been about being passed by Britney.

"Answer 'I don't care. Aren't u suppose 2B a movie reporter?' " he wrote Sunday night.

Aside from the mind-boggling realization that Britney has at least 5 million fans, the most interesting aspect of the news may be what the numbers say about Twitter's growth - or at least the growth of its most popular users.

Just over a year ago, Kutcher and CNN's breaking news account, @CNNbrk, were publicly racing to become the first Twitter account with 1 million followers (that CNN account now has just over 3 million).

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Pic of the Day - 25th May

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, a Buddhist monk prays at Kyeikhtiyoe Pagoda in Kyeikhto, about 200 kilometers northeast of Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo: AP)

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Leaf Phone Bendable Mobile Concept With Eco Charging Ability

This is another mobile phone concept named as Leaf that has been especially designed with eco charging ability. It is an inspiration of Photosynthesis and it is one of the bendable cell phones. At the same time, it can be easily wearable by the user and it can be charged through solar cells that have been placed in front of it.

Moreover, other than solar charging facility, you can charge this mobile via electricity if you want the mobile to be charged during nighttime or cloudy day.

In addition, the key objective of this concept is to bring an awareness about their contribution to energy efficient while using an innovative, at the same time more with a smart look. The names of the designer of the Leaf mobile phone concept are Seungkyun Woo and Junyi Heo.

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Install 59 Essential Software For Windows With Just A Click

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7? Well, it’s going to take you years if you were to download dozens of essential software like Firefox, Windows Live Messenger and WinRAR to your fresh Windows build. This is when Ninite comes in really handy.

Dubbed as “the easiest way to get apps”, this simple but very useful tool allows Windows users to bulk download and install up to 59 popular PC applications with just one double-click.

To start, simply head to Ninite and select the apps you want by checking the boxes, download the Ninite installer, then enjoy a cup of espresso while it does all the work for you. The service installs apps with default settings and say “no” to browser toolbars and other junk. It frequently updates the list with the latest versions of the apps to ensure what you get is not outdated.

Currently, there are 59 apps listed on Ninite. Basically, I can find all the essential software I need on the site, be it web browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera), messaging clients (Skype, Windows Messenger), media players (iTunes, VLC, Spotify), imaging software (Picasa, GIMP), document readers (Office, OpenOffice, Adobe Reader), anti-virus software (AVG), and many more.

The folks there plan to to offer business accounts with premium features like local download caching, network share download caching, and a silent mode.

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10 Tips and Tricks to Make Your Computer Faster

Is your computer not running at the same speed that it used to run when you first had it? It's probably way slower now that when you first used it and it takes a while to start which tests your patience. There are a lot of reasons for this to occur, so lets try fixing some of these up on your slow computer.

Here are 10 tips and tricks to make your computer faster:

Slow Start Up
There can be a number of reasons to Windows loading very slowly when starting up. What you want to do is to go to Run, type "msconfig" and hit enter. A new window should appear and under the ‘Start Up’ tab, you need to uncheck the unwanted programs and press OK. Once you've rebooted Windows you should notice things will run a bit smoother.

Oh yeah, another program I thought will be very useful to speed up your computer is StartUp Delayer which will help in setting after how much time programs should be loaded after Windows boots. For example, you could set your instant messenger program to load 50 seconds after Windows starts up so that not all the programs try to start at the same time.

Slow Loading Start Menu
If the Start Menu items are loading slowly, which it normally is when everything else it slow, you can open the Registry Editor by typing in the Run menu ‘regedit.exe’ and pressing Enter. Next, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Find "MenuShowDelay", and double click to edit the value. The lower the number specified, the faster the Start Menu will load - the faster your computer will perform.

Slow Right Click Context Menu
Your Right Click menu on your computer is probably loading slow because too many programs have added unwanted entries there. What you need to do is just download this program called Mmm, install it and then modify your context menu to remove unwanted items which will speed it up.

Slow Send To Menu
When the Send To menu loads slowly, you can type ’sendto’ in the Run Dialog, and remove any unwanted items in the Explorer Window that appears. This should add some speed to it and speed up your computer.

Slow loading My Computer Window
If the My Computer Window loads slowly, in the Explorer Window, go to Tools > Folder Options > View. A new window should appear and you want to uncheck ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers” This should speed it up.

Slow loading Add or Remove Programs Applet
This really is one of the most ANNOYING piece of programs present in Windows, it takes ages to load when you have a considerable number of programs installed on your computer. You can either use the all-in-one CCleaner for this purpose, or get MyUninstaller that comes as a speedy replacement for Add or Remove Programs. If you download any of those two programs, you won't really need to go to Add or Remove Programs as it can all be done with CCleaner and MyUninstaller. This should speed up the process.

Slow Defragmentation
The Windows Defragmenter can’t get any slower, can it? You want to have an alternative to the Windows Defragmenter, and Defraggler is just one of the best ones available in the market. It’s free, and works like a charm which can speed up defragmentation manifold.

Slow Ending of Unresponsive Programs
If you’ve clicked on ‘End Task’ if any program is running unresponsive, you might have noticed that the program is not shut down straightaway, rather it takes time. You can change this by going to Run > regedit.exe > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ and change this value to 1000 which means it will shut it down faster, thus speeding your computer up.

Disable Animations and Appearance Overhauls to maximize performance
If you don't really mind that your Windows isn't very eye catching then this is great for you. Go to System Properties in the Control Panel. Click on ‘Advanced’, then ‘Performance’ and click ‘Adjust for best performance’. This will boost your PC’s performance up a bit - depending on your current settings of course.

Tips:
- Don’t keep installing software. Install a program only if it really serves you a purpose.
- Keep as less programs as possible running on the System Tray. This essentially means reducing the number of programs that start during Windows start up.
- If your computer boots slow, i suggest using Bootvis to speed it up.

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Monica Bellucci gives birth to baby girl

Italian actress Monica Belluci has become a mother again after giving birth to a baby girl named Leonie.

The 45-year-old Matrix star and her French actor husband Vincent Cassel, already have a five-year-old daughter Deva, reported Daily Star online.

Leonie was born in Rome on Friday, Belluci announced on the Italian edition of Vanity Fair website. "She has arrived, a pretty little brunette. It was a natural birth and the labour lasted two and a half hours," said Belucci.

Leonie weighed 3.2 kilogrammes, said the new mother who has been married to Cassel, 43, since 1999. In a recent issue of Vanity Fair Italy, which included a photograph of the glamorous actress during her pregnancy, Bellucci commented on giving birth in her forties.

She said it took "courage to have children late because of the risks for yourself and for the child".
But she added that she considered herself "very lucky" to have had a healthy first child "by natural birth like a peasant woman from Umbria", the region of Italy where the actress was born.

Bellucci, a former model, has appeared in Hollywood films such as The Matrix, The Brothers Grimm and Don't Look Back.

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Orlando Bloom to play villain in The Three Musketeers

Pirates of the Caribbean star Orlando Bloom is all set to play the main villain, the Duke of Buckingham, in The Three Musketeers.

The British star, who shot to global fame playing fantasy characters in Lord of the Ring and Caribbean franchise, will play a villain "so cool that you can chop him into cubes and serve with vodka", Ace Showbiz reported.

The 33-year-old star will play the arch-nemesis to the Musketeers in the film, which is basedon Alexandre Dumas' novel of the same name. The film is being directed by Paul W S Anderson.

Other names who have been previously reported among the cast ensemble are Christoph Waltz as Cardinal Richelieu, Logan Lerman as D'Artagnan, Matthew MacFadyen as Athos, Ray Stevenson as Porthos, Luke Evans as Aramis, Milla Jovovich as M'lady De Winter and Mads Mikkelsen as Rochefort. As for the depicter of Queen Anne, Empire Online claims Juno Temple is in talks to take the role.

The 3-D action adventure movie is scheduled to start shooting later this summer for a summer 2011 release.

"We are definitely modernising The Three Musketeers without compromising the fun of shooting a period piece. But in our film, corsets and feathered hats don't take center stage. Our version is rich in eye-popping action, romance and adventure," the director had said about the project.

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