Victoria Beckham 's attempts to woo the US media since arriving in Los Angeles soccer star husband David appear to have backfired, with critics savaging a reality show to be broadcast Monday.
"Victoria Beckham: Coming to America," was originally intended as a mini-series, but trimmed to a one hour special by the NBC network.
Billed as a revealing special that "delves into Victoria's larger-than-life world to reveal, among other things, her wicked sense of humor and style," the show failed to impress the mainstream media.
The New York Post gave the show a damning zero-star review, slamming the pop-star turned fashion figure as "relentlessly self-promoting" with "vapid, condescending behavior" in a show described as "an orgy of self-indulgence."
"You'll sit there slack-jawed at the gall of these people who think we are that stupid," the Post's reviewer wrote in a scathing broadside, also laying into the couple's "nightmarishly overdone rococo mansion" in Beverly Hills .
"The 'special' which NBC calls an 'exclusive' inside look at Victoria's larger-than-life life smacks of too much fame, too much money and too much time spent believing the hype for all concerned," the paper wrote.
The New York Times was no more forgiving in its write-up, describing Victoria Beckham as being "somewhat famous for being sort of famous, and is photographed a lot in Britain ."
"She does appear to be pleasant and not without a sense of humor. But that isn't quite enough to carry viewers through an hour of house hunting, sunbathing and applying for a driver's license," the paper's reviewer said.
"There has to be something going on behind the scenes because there is no other way to explain so much time and videotape spent on the moving arrangements of Mr. Beckham's wife.
"If she can retain viewers past the first commercial break, then the results will be conclusive: either there is a vast, media-controlling conspiracy afoot, or there is no such thing as celebrity ditz-fatigue," the paper said.
The US media has been having a field day since the couple arrived in Los Angeles last week, when David began a new chapter at the LA Galaxy soccer club, with the pair appearing on magazine covers, chat shows and television specials.
What Ever Happened to Momma Rose?
Marriages made in heaven don’t always translate to earth. If any actress of her generation seemed fated to play Momma Rose, the juggernaut of a stage mother in the musical “Gypsy,” it was Patti LuPone, the juggernaut of a Broadway star.
After all, Ms. LuPone became famous for her no-holds-barred portrayal of an actress of ravenous and ravening ambition in the title role of “Evita” three decades ago, and ambition is Momma Rose’s oxygen. What’s more, Ms. LuPone has lungs and larynx of brass to rival those of Ethel Merman, the rafter-shaking star of the original “Gypsy” in 1959, to whom Ms. LuPone has often been compared.
Yet in the enjoyable but unenthralling production of “Gypsy” that opened Saturday at City Center and runs through July 29, part of the new Encores! Summer Stars series, Ms. LuPone does not, for once, feel like an unstoppable force. As Rose, the child-flattening maternal steamroller with Broadway dreams, she seems to be still fiddling with the gears and looking over her shoulder when she needs to be plowing full speed ahead with blinders on.
There’s a lot to recommend in Ms. LuPone’s performance and even more in the production itself, directed by Arthur Laurents, who wrote the show’s book. Ms. LuPone has endowed the thwarted Rose with charm, sensuality, a sense of humor, a startling lack of diva vanity and even a spark of bona fide mother love.
Contrary to what you might have anticipated, Ms. LuPone is less a Rose of billboard-size flair and ego than the sort of pushy but likable woman you might compete with at the supermarket for that last perfect sole fillet. (You’d lose, but you wouldn’t hate her.) Ms. LuPone has given us a human Rose, with doubts and a nagging tug of self-awareness. But once you introduce such traits into Momma Rose, the air starts to leak out of her.
I do believe there’s more than one way to make Rose flower. Though I didn’t see Merman, I did catch Angela Lansbury (1974), Tyne Daly (1989) and Bernadette Peters (2003), and could happily defend the wildly different approaches of each.
What they all projected, though, was Rose’s ferocious, unswerving single-mindedness. Ms. LuPone, in contrast, seems to slide in her purposeful focus, the way her voice — more trombone than trumpet — famously slides around on notes.
She can’t resist playing jokes for jokes’ sake, giving lines a Mae West-style spin that, however amusing, puts a distance between star and character. And in singing Jule Styne’s adrenaline-stirring melodies, she never pursues a straight line, so that the great Act 1 finale, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” has a feeling of distracting, internalized restlessness.
Without a tidal wave of a Momma Rose, this production lacks the emotional momentum to be a transporting “Gypsy.” Nonetheless, anyone seeing “Gypsy” for the first time should have no difficulty understanding why this adaptation of the memoirs of the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee is the great American musical.
Like two hit revivals currently on Broadway, “Chicago” and “A Chorus Line,” “Gypsy” is an anatomy of the obsessions that draw people into show business and keep them there, even when they’re drowning. Neither as cynical as “Chicago” nor as touchy-feely as “A Chorus Line,” “Gypsy,” set in the dying days of vaudeville, is both clear-eyed and celebratory about the energy and egotism that feed even marginal forms of theater.
This exciting, double-edged quality is evident in every aspect of the show, to which a young man named Stephen Sondheim contributed the lyrics. Mr. Styne’s score melds razzle-dazzle audacity with a breath of wistfulness for the unobtainable. And as might be expected from an Encores! production, the orchestra (overseen by Patrick Vaccariello) gives life to that score with a fullness that itself justifies the price of a ticket.
Unlike previous Encores! fare, this one is presented not as a concert but as a full-dress production, with cheerfully seedy sets (by James Youmans) and costumes (by Martin Pakledinaz) that emphasize the quality of showbiz fable. The ingenious, plot-propelling choreography by Jerome Robbins, who also directed the original, has been appealingly recreated here (by Bonnie Walker). And Mr. Laurents, who directed the Broadway revivals of 1974 and 1989, obviously knows the show’s impeccably assembled mechanics better than anyone alive.
Which is not to say this production is mechanical. As brilliantly structured and paced as it inherently is, “Gypsy” doesn’t play itself. There’s enough complexity for wide variation in character and emphasis. And Mr. Laurents, while occasionally overdoing the comic broad strokes, also elicits refreshing insights from the supporting performances.
True, the strippers who initiate Gypsy into their art are the usual set of endearing cartoons (with Marilyn Caskey’s nearly comatose Electra the most endearing of all).
But Boyd Gaines, as Rose’s long-suffering beau and business partner, Herbie, is affectingly credible, and he and Ms. LuPone generate a relaxed sexual chemistry that explains why he stays with her. And Rose’s younger daughter, June, has never been more completely drawn, both as a child (Sami Gayle) and a young woman (Leigh Ann Larkin). There’s steel beneath the frills of this June from the beginning, and a shrewd ambition that eclipses her mother’s.
I have never been more conscious of the ambivalence between June and her sister, Louise, the hang-dog tomboy who grows up to be Gypsy Rose Lee. Laura Benanti, late of “The Wedding Singer,” is delicious in the title role. (The appealingly watchful-faced Emma Rowley plays her younger self.) Ms. Benanti invests even her early scenes with a tincture of latent ambition that makes her apotheosis as burlesque queen seem inevitable.
But the show’s surprising high point is when Louise and June finally sit down to talk — or this being a musical, sing — about the problems of life with Mother, in a version of “If Momma Was Married” that becomes an eye-opening moment of rival sisters discovering what they have in common, too late.
This “Gypsy” is especially good on shining a light on family frictions, and Ms. LuPone contributes beautifully to this dynamic. The early scene in which she sends both her young daughters to bed, focusing the beam of her affection exclusively on June, tells you everything you need to know about this prickly parent-child triangle and the problems it’s bound to generate.
Ms. LuPone has other such moments throughout. Her scenes with Mr. Gaines are uniformly excellent. (I’ll never forget her Rose, suggesting an abandoned army tank, standing in a dressing room after Herbie walks out on her.) And she brings a harrowing psychological nakedness to the big nervous-breakdown number, “Rose’s Turn.”
Given such moments, combined with Ms. LuPone’s dazzling performance in Mr. Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” two seasons ago, I suspect there’s still a first-rate Momma Rose waiting to emerge. For the moment we only have the preliminary sketch. Any halfway decent “Gypsy” — and this one is more than that — is a fine summer night’s diversion. But it needs a Momma Rose in full control to carry its audiences away.
Zeta-Jones uses $400 shampoo
Catherine Zeta-Jones has a unique way to stay beautiful - she spends $400 (€290)-a-time on caviar shampoo.
The Beluga caviar treatment may carry a hair-raising price but it has been credited with giving the actress' hair an unbeatable shine. It is flown from Iran five days before her visit to a beauty salon in London, UK.
A source at the salon tells British newspaper the Daily Mail: "Catherine discovered the caviar treatment last summer and was astounded by the difference it made to her hair."
The Beluga caviar treatment may carry a hair-raising price but it has been credited with giving the actress' hair an unbeatable shine. It is flown from Iran five days before her visit to a beauty salon in London, UK.
A source at the salon tells British newspaper the Daily Mail: "Catherine discovered the caviar treatment last summer and was astounded by the difference it made to her hair."
CLIMATE CHANGE: Pop Stars Belt Out Global Wake-Up Call
One person may not be able to save the world, but former U.S. Vice President Al Gore won't give up his quest to do so without a fight -- make that a green revolution.
Saturday's 24-hour Live Earth concert series spanning seven continents and predicted to reach 2 billion people marked the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection to drive public action toward solving the climate crisis.
Hailed by organisers as the largest concert ever, the event stemmed from Gore's famed slideshow detailing the dangers and realities of "an inconvenient truth" otherwise known as global warming.
"Al Gore's slideshow reached thousands, [the subsequent documentary] 'An Inconvenient Truth' reached a few million, and Live Earth is all about engaging billions of people," Live Earth spokesperson Yusef Robb told IPS.
Precise figures regarding the concert's overall reach will take weeks to tabulate, according to Robb, but MSN has already reported that, with well over 10 million viewers in cyberspace tuning in for one of the 21 different languages broadcasted, Live Earth has become the most simultaneously viewed online concert ever.
With Live Earth founder and producer Kevin Wall working behind the scenes, the concert's success should come as no surprise to those familiar with his previous mega endeavours, which included Live 8 in 2005 and Live Aid in 1985.
Saturday's concert, with venues in New York, Washington DC, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Hamburg, drew a wide array of performers who volunteered their vocal cords to make a difference.
Performers around the world included Madonna, The Police, Shakira, Bon Jovi and 2007 Academy Award winning songstress Melissa Etheridge who wrote and performed "I Need to Wake Up" for "An Inconvenient Truth."
Nunatak, a band of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, even performed to a handful of employees on the frozen tundra.
"We really wanted to convey the global nature of the crisis," explained Robb referring to Nunatak's performance. "Not only do our actions here at home affect Antarctica, but the melting ice and climate shifts there will have profound effects thousands of miles away."
Awareness about the event was recently bolstered by several Live Earth partnerships ranging in scope from conservation organisations like the World Wildlife Fund to corporate sponsors including Philips Electronics.
"Live Earth was set up to make people more aware of energy solutions," Harry Verhaar, senior director for Energy and Climate Change at Philips, told IPS. "We want to improve people's lives and to show them how simple it is to make the switch to more energy efficient solutions."
Organisers at Live Earth did just that, incorporating as many innovative energy-saving devices and recyclable materials into the concert's framework as feasibly possible.
Several earth-friendly measures included using energy efficient LED lights, powering generators with bio-fuel, serving up snacks with biodegradable cutlery, installing organic soap pumps in the restrooms and constructing stages from recycled materials. Several venues, including Hamburg and Sydney, even provided public transportation to the concert upon ticket purchase.
Despite the successful implementation of these environmental considerations to cut down on waste and consumption, critics of Live Earth, including Roger Daltrey of the Who, have ostracised the event for using excess energy to promote conservation.
Live Earth organisers responded to cries of hypocrisy by pledging to purchase carbon credits to offset the concert's environmental impacts, essentially creating a carbon neutral event.
Brand Neutral, a company devoted to helping clients reduce costs and maximise energy efficiency, lent its support and sustainability expertise to Saturday's event to ensure carbon neutrality.
"We deeply respect Al Gore and Kevin Wall and wanted very badly to roll up our sleeves, get to work and make a difference," Brand Neutral founder Tom Feegel told IPS.
As part of the Live Earth Call to Action, a series of commitments that concert organisers and the Alliance for Climate Protection are pushing on the public, the seven-point pledge was repeated several times by celebrities and activists at every major venue around the world.
In New Jersey, Al Gore urged concert goers to sign the pledge, committing themselves to becoming carbon neutral, increasing the energy efficiency of their homes and fighting for a moratorium on new coal-burning facilities that do not engage in carbon sequestration, among other environmentally progressive actions.
"The massive outpouring from the seven-point pledge will certainly be conveyed to leaders all over the world," Robb told IPS.
Although Saturday went smoothly for concertgoers and organisers, the weeks and months leading up to Live Earth were marked by scepticism and a great deal of the unknown at several venues.
A scheduled concert in Istanbul was recently cancelled due to general lack of interest, and one at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro nearly suffered a similar fate last week due to security concerns before a last-minute court order saved the free venue that would go on to draw the largest crowd of all, estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go toward the Alliance for Climate Protection, but organisers prefer not to think of the event as a benefit concert.
"We want to stress that the fund-raising aspect of Live Earth is just the cherry on top," Robb told IPS. "What this is really about is engaging the global audience. This is about getting people to take action and to join the movement."
Millions of people joined the movement in their own ways by sponsoring or attending one of the more than 10,000 Friends of Live Earth events in 130 countries on Saturday.
Friends of Live Earth is an official Live Earth programme designed to build a worldwide community-level movement to combat the climate crisis. Robb told IPS that events ranged in scope from watching the concert at home with friends, to parties and smaller concerts attracting thousands of people.
Tom Lalley, director of media relations at the World Wildlife Fund, referred to his organisation's mascot when he told IPS, "The panda doesn't back down from a party."
"A lot of times, environmental issues are wrapped in gloom and doom. This is a way for us to come together, have a big party, enjoy ourselves, and hopefully something will come out of it in terms of substance," he added.
Saturday's 24-hour Live Earth concert series spanning seven continents and predicted to reach 2 billion people marked the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection to drive public action toward solving the climate crisis.
Hailed by organisers as the largest concert ever, the event stemmed from Gore's famed slideshow detailing the dangers and realities of "an inconvenient truth" otherwise known as global warming.
"Al Gore's slideshow reached thousands, [the subsequent documentary] 'An Inconvenient Truth' reached a few million, and Live Earth is all about engaging billions of people," Live Earth spokesperson Yusef Robb told IPS.
Precise figures regarding the concert's overall reach will take weeks to tabulate, according to Robb, but MSN has already reported that, with well over 10 million viewers in cyberspace tuning in for one of the 21 different languages broadcasted, Live Earth has become the most simultaneously viewed online concert ever.
With Live Earth founder and producer Kevin Wall working behind the scenes, the concert's success should come as no surprise to those familiar with his previous mega endeavours, which included Live 8 in 2005 and Live Aid in 1985.
Saturday's concert, with venues in New York, Washington DC, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Hamburg, drew a wide array of performers who volunteered their vocal cords to make a difference.
Performers around the world included Madonna, The Police, Shakira, Bon Jovi and 2007 Academy Award winning songstress Melissa Etheridge who wrote and performed "I Need to Wake Up" for "An Inconvenient Truth."
Nunatak, a band of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, even performed to a handful of employees on the frozen tundra.
"We really wanted to convey the global nature of the crisis," explained Robb referring to Nunatak's performance. "Not only do our actions here at home affect Antarctica, but the melting ice and climate shifts there will have profound effects thousands of miles away."
Awareness about the event was recently bolstered by several Live Earth partnerships ranging in scope from conservation organisations like the World Wildlife Fund to corporate sponsors including Philips Electronics.
"Live Earth was set up to make people more aware of energy solutions," Harry Verhaar, senior director for Energy and Climate Change at Philips, told IPS. "We want to improve people's lives and to show them how simple it is to make the switch to more energy efficient solutions."
Organisers at Live Earth did just that, incorporating as many innovative energy-saving devices and recyclable materials into the concert's framework as feasibly possible.
Several earth-friendly measures included using energy efficient LED lights, powering generators with bio-fuel, serving up snacks with biodegradable cutlery, installing organic soap pumps in the restrooms and constructing stages from recycled materials. Several venues, including Hamburg and Sydney, even provided public transportation to the concert upon ticket purchase.
Despite the successful implementation of these environmental considerations to cut down on waste and consumption, critics of Live Earth, including Roger Daltrey of the Who, have ostracised the event for using excess energy to promote conservation.
Live Earth organisers responded to cries of hypocrisy by pledging to purchase carbon credits to offset the concert's environmental impacts, essentially creating a carbon neutral event.
Brand Neutral, a company devoted to helping clients reduce costs and maximise energy efficiency, lent its support and sustainability expertise to Saturday's event to ensure carbon neutrality.
"We deeply respect Al Gore and Kevin Wall and wanted very badly to roll up our sleeves, get to work and make a difference," Brand Neutral founder Tom Feegel told IPS.
As part of the Live Earth Call to Action, a series of commitments that concert organisers and the Alliance for Climate Protection are pushing on the public, the seven-point pledge was repeated several times by celebrities and activists at every major venue around the world.
In New Jersey, Al Gore urged concert goers to sign the pledge, committing themselves to becoming carbon neutral, increasing the energy efficiency of their homes and fighting for a moratorium on new coal-burning facilities that do not engage in carbon sequestration, among other environmentally progressive actions.
"The massive outpouring from the seven-point pledge will certainly be conveyed to leaders all over the world," Robb told IPS.
Although Saturday went smoothly for concertgoers and organisers, the weeks and months leading up to Live Earth were marked by scepticism and a great deal of the unknown at several venues.
A scheduled concert in Istanbul was recently cancelled due to general lack of interest, and one at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro nearly suffered a similar fate last week due to security concerns before a last-minute court order saved the free venue that would go on to draw the largest crowd of all, estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go toward the Alliance for Climate Protection, but organisers prefer not to think of the event as a benefit concert.
"We want to stress that the fund-raising aspect of Live Earth is just the cherry on top," Robb told IPS. "What this is really about is engaging the global audience. This is about getting people to take action and to join the movement."
Millions of people joined the movement in their own ways by sponsoring or attending one of the more than 10,000 Friends of Live Earth events in 130 countries on Saturday.
Friends of Live Earth is an official Live Earth programme designed to build a worldwide community-level movement to combat the climate crisis. Robb told IPS that events ranged in scope from watching the concert at home with friends, to parties and smaller concerts attracting thousands of people.
Tom Lalley, director of media relations at the World Wildlife Fund, referred to his organisation's mascot when he told IPS, "The panda doesn't back down from a party."
"A lot of times, environmental issues are wrapped in gloom and doom. This is a way for us to come together, have a big party, enjoy ourselves, and hopefully something will come out of it in terms of substance," he added.
10 jobs you missed out on
1. Filibuster
Long before the term "filibuster" came to be associated with elected officials, it was actually associated with violence and trickery. (Wait a second ...)
In the 1600s, pirates known to the Dutch as vrijbuiters pillaged the West Indies, and eventually, the word was assimilated into the English language as "filibusters."
Between 1850 and 1860, the name was used to refer to the American mercenaries who attempted to revolutionize Central America and the Spanish West Indies. The most famous of these filibusters was William Walker, a U.S. citizen who succeeded in gaining control of Nicaragua in 1856 by overthrowing the nation's administration. Walker became president of Nicaragua, but only until May 1, 1857, when a coalition of Central American states ousted him.
Because filibusters of previous centuries strove to interfere with foreign regimes, the term evolved to refer to anyone who attempted to obstruct the government, as our legislators occasionally see fit to do when a particularly troublesome bill comes before them.
2. Ratoner
Ain't it grand to live in a world where the Black Death isn't a daily concern? Fortunately, when it was an issue, a ratoner was there to lend a helping hand. A ratoner was a rat catcher, who served a vital role in maintaining the health of the villagers.
Those of us accustomed to modern pest control techniques might be a bit surprised to learn about the disposal method employed by a typical Victorian-era ratoner, though. After capturing the rodents, he would set out for the town pub, where dogs made a sport of devouring the day's catch. This earned extra cash for the ratoner and was considered great entertainment by saloon regulars.
The most famous ratoner, Jack Black, was appointed Royal Rat Catcher in the mid-19th century and bred some of his more interesting and colorful finds as household pets. In fact, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter is said to be dedicated to her personal rat, one of Jack Black's progeny.
3. Alnager
In merry olde England, an alnager was a sworn officer of the court who garnered much esteem. He was responsible for ensuring that woolen goods were of the highest quality and that no one was being cheated on the amount of fabric ordered. The job was important not only because the king earned taxes from wool sales, but also because goods approved by the alnager carried the town's seal of approval.
But, as the textile trade grew, it became nearly impossible to hold all wool to the same standards of size and density, so the king abolished the position. Today, you might know the alnager's modern incarnation best in sticker form, a.k.a., "Number 6."
4. Knocker-Up
In British towns of yore, particularly those with a mine or mill as the center of commercial activity, knocker-ups were responsible for going from house to house to wake workers in the mornings. The title, not surprisingly, came from the sound they made rapping on windows.
As for the evolution of the term "knocking," it also denoted a collision of sorts, and in the 17th century, it was used in reference to childbirth. Even poet John Keats wrote of "knocking out" children in some of his odes. It wasn't until the 19th century, however, that Americans began using the phrase as slang for getting a woman pregnant.
5. Lungs
Perhaps the cruelest case of naming irony in history, anyone employed to fan the fire in an alchemist's workshop was known as a "lungs." And because most alchemists were constantly trying to make gold out of lead and other such base metals, you can only imagine what kinds of dangerous materials were floating about in the labs. As a result, the actual lungs on a lungs gave out relatively quickly, leading to a profession with widespread early retirement.
6. Sin-Eater
No matter how much you loved Grandma and Grandpa, you can probably admit your forebears weren't perfect. So, if you ever had a loved one that passed on before his or her last chance at absolution, it makes sense that you might want to call in reinforcements. Fortunately for the fretful and grieving of yore, there was the town sin-eater.
For a small fee, the sin-eater would gladly scarf down a meal (usually bread and ale) that had been placed on the deceased's chest. By letting the food lie atop the dearly departed for a while, it was believed the vittles would absorb the last transgressions. And, once the food was gobbled up by the sin-eater, Grandma or Grandpa could get into heaven without any major roadblocks.
7. Badger
Odd as it may sound, badgers were part of the rat race in prior centuries, serving as intermediaries between the producers of goods and the consumer. Most often, they traded in corn and other foodstuffs, buying from farmers and reselling the goods at markets in town.
And if you think the salespeople at Macy's are tough, some historians think badgers were so persistent in pushing their products that the term came to be associated with an often annoying and forceful adamance -- i.e., "badgering" anyone in sight to buy from you instead of another vendor.
8. Gong Farmer
Not unlike "The Gong Show," a gong farmer was far from being the cream of the crop -- and even that might be the understatement of the year.
In Tudor England, a gong farmer's job was to empty the town toilets. But the job did have its perks. Typically, a gong farmer would "mine" the waste for any items of value that might be found amongst the city's excrement -- a penny here, a button there before it was used as manure or thrown into the river.
For a while, it was falsely believed that gong farmers were immune to the plague, but you can't help wonder if that was more of a pity belief, like the whole idea that being hit by bird droppings is good luck.
9. Fuller
Making textiles hasn't always been such a streamlined process. Once upon a time, there were spinners to spin the thread, weavers to weave the cloth, and fullers to finish the goods once they came off the loom.
Almost Lucy-and-Ethel style, fullers walked on the back side of the cloth to bind the fibers together and give cohesion to the newly woven fabric. But stomping alone wouldn't accomplish this feat. Instead, fullers soaked the cloth in a mixture of clay ("fuller's earth") and urine while it was being trampled.
In fact, medieval housewives often earned extra cash by saving the family's urine and selling it to the fuller, and some schools even had children use one bucket as a toilet for the same purpose.
10. Bullocky
It sounds like Lewis Carroll came up with this word around the same time he was writing "Jabberwocky", but a bullocky was actually a person who drove cattle to market. Yet, the bullocky and the Jabberwock might share something in common -- nonsense.
According to some historians, to say bullocks swore like sailors would be an insult to sailors. In fact, it was the bullocks' foul mouths that led the term to be associated with bastardized speech. That, combined with the fact that they worked with "bull" (which had the same connotations we know today), could have helped bullocky evolve into a term for ridiculous or dispensable speech.Spice Girls to Debut Two New Songs
Before launching their reunion tour, Spice Girls will have two new songs debuted at BBC documentary about their comeback. Not only that, the British troupe is also reported writing a charity song that will be performed for this year's Children In Need Campaign.
"We've got full involvement from all of them," BBC One's Peter Fincham said. "They are all keen to get involved with Children In Need. They are recording two new songs and one of them might be a single."
Meanwhile, Melanie C's statement on the possibility that the group extends their reunion tour is made true. A new show in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro is added to the schedule.
A source said, "The girls will make a big announcement next week. Everybody in the Spice camp has been bombarded by Brazilian fans demanding the band bring Girl Power to Brazil. Doing Buenos Aires and not Rio would be a massive faux pas. One of the dates is definitely going to be Brazil."
"We've got full involvement from all of them," BBC One's Peter Fincham said. "They are all keen to get involved with Children In Need. They are recording two new songs and one of them might be a single."
Meanwhile, Melanie C's statement on the possibility that the group extends their reunion tour is made true. A new show in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro is added to the schedule.
A source said, "The girls will make a big announcement next week. Everybody in the Spice camp has been bombarded by Brazilian fans demanding the band bring Girl Power to Brazil. Doing Buenos Aires and not Rio would be a massive faux pas. One of the dates is definitely going to be Brazil."
Potter's Grint a certifiable heartthrob
It's official: Rupert Grint is a certifiable heartthrob in the eyes of Canada's teenage girls.
The 18-year-old British actor was in Toronto Wednesday to walk the red carpet for the Canadian launch of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and he was greeted by dozens of screaming – and mostly female – fans who bounced about the excitable crowd trying to catch a glimpse of the young star.
There were a few Harry Potter costumes and a few people who were there to be able say they were first into the movie, but mostly it was all about the spectacle of seeing the real-life Ron Weasley.
“It's really crazy,” Grint said in between excited shrieks and screams coming from the boisterous crowd around him.
“It is really sort of hard to get used to, I don't know if I'll ever get used to it,” he admitted.
“But, it's really good…Everybody is really nice.”
Grint brought a shy smile and teenage charm for his legions of fans all of whom had their own personal reasons to see him.
Becca Ferguson, 16, and her friend Emily Wilken, 16, waited since 7 a.m. to catch get a front-of-the-line spot in hopes of getting a good look at Grint.
“It's Harry Potter and it's Rupert Grint,” Ferguson said of her reasons for staking out the first spot in line. “He's just such a good actor and such a good Ron.”
The two 16-year-olds were holding a sign proclaiming themselves as “Groupies for Rupie.”
And their hopes for when he made it down the red carpet?
“We want his autograph,” Ferguson said.
“We want him to smile at us,” Wilken added.
Forty-five minutes later when Grint finally made in through the throng of media along to where the two girls stood, he obliged the two with a photo and autographs.
“I don't know, oh my goodness,” Wilken said when asked to describe the meeting, moments after receiving an official Rupert Grint autograph. “He signed it!.”
Like a lot of the other fans at the premiere, who had screamed all the way through Grint's brief Canadian appearance, Ferguson was simply speechless.
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