Martha Graham

Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American dancer choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture. Graham was a galvanizing performer, a choreographer of astounding moves. She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.

Early dancers

So many important dancers appeared in Graham's company that any listing omits deserving performers. One list is:

"Graham's original girls were superb - Bessie Schonberg, Evelyn Sabin, Martha Hill, Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow, Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird, Sophie Maslow, May O'Donnell, Jane Dudley, Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang - as were the second group - Yuriko, Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter, Jean Erdman, Patricia Birch, Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney, Mary Hinkson. And the group of men - Erick Hawkins, and after him Merce Cunningham, David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan, Stuart Hodes, Glen Tetley, Bertram Ross, Paul Taylor, Mark Ryder, William Carter."

Graham also taught movement classes to actors including Woody Allen. Madonna was a pupil of Graham's as well in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Later dancers

Pearl Lang, Linda Hodes, Elisa Monte, Takako Asakawa, Phyllis Gutelius Lyndon Branaugh, Christine Dakin, Peggy Lyman, Terese Capucilli, Maxine Sherman, Joyce Herring, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Dudley Williams, Tim Wengerd, Dan Wagoner, Donlin Foreman, Peter Sparling, Eric Newton William Carter Pascal Rioult, Kenneth Topping, Steve Rooks, Dorothea Douglas Douglas Dunn and Larry White.

Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone born October 4, 1976) is an American actress, author, and former fashion model. She first came to widespread attention in music videos for Aerosmith, and is best known for her roles in Hollywood films such as Clueless (1995) and her portrayal of Batgirl in Batman & Robin (1997).

Personal life

Silverstone married her longtime boyfriend, rock musician (for the band S.T.U.N.) and basketball coach Christopher Jarecki, in a beachfront ceremony at Lake Tahoe, on June 11, 2005. After meeting outside a movie theater in 1997, the couple dated for eight years prior to their marriage. They got engaged about a year before their marriage and Jarecki presented Silverstone with an engagement ring that had belonged to his grandmother.

Silverstone and Jarecki live in an eco-friendly Los Angeles house complete with solar panels and an organic vegetable garden. She bought the house, shared with a "menagerie of rescued dogs," in 1996

Early life

Silverstone was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Deirdre "Didi" (née Radford), a Scottish-born former Pan Am flight attendant, and Monty Silverstone, an English-born real-estate investor and part-time actor. Silverstone was raised in a "traditional Jewish household"; her father, a native of east London, is Jewish, and her mother converted to Conservative Judaism before marriage. Silverstone is the youngest of three children and also has a half-sister, London-based rock singer Kezi Silverstone, and a half-brother, David Silverstone, both from her father's previous marriage.[citation needed] Silverstone attended Crocker Middle School and then San Mateo High School, but did not complete her high school studies. When she was six years old, she began modeling and was subsequently cast in television commercials, the first being for Domino's Pizza. She acquired some early modeling and advertising work and was eventually cast as "dream girl" Jessica on the episode "Road Test" of The Wonder Years.

Career

Silverstone won several awards for her film performances, including MTV Movie Awards, National Board of Review, Young Artist Awards, and an American Comedy Award. She has been nominated for an Emmy award and a Golden Globe Award. During her career, she turned down several key roles in films, including Dede Truitt in The Opposite of Sex and a role in Scream 3. She was also considered for roles in Scream 2, Bewitched, Little Women and Heartbreakers. She turned down the role of Valerie Malone on Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1994; Tiffani Thiessen was cast instead.

2010s

She reprised her role in Time Stands Still alongside Laura Linney in the New York production of the play on Broadway, which premiered on January 28, 2010, directed by Daniel Sullivan, who described Silverstone as "a breath of fresh air. The play received good reviews with the New York Times praising Silverstone, saying she "brings warmth, actorly intelligence and delicate humour.

Silverstone will next appear in the teen romance The Art of Getting By, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and also as the adoptive mother of a 12-year old African American girl who enters a local butter sculpture competition in a small Iowa town, alongside Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Wilde and Ashley Greene in Butter. The movie is said to be inspired by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's battle to secure the Democratic nomination for president.

Political convictions

Silverstone is noted for being an animal rights and environmental activist. She became a vegan in 1998 after attending an animal rights meeting. "I realized that I was the problem," she told InStyle Home, in Spring 2007. "I was an animal lover who was eating animals. She has revealed she struggled with childhood vegetarianism stating "There were times when I would get selfish and eat meat—at eight years old it's hard to stick to your guns—and so through the years I was always starting and stopping trying to be a vegetarian. In 2004, Silverstone was voted, "Sexiest Female Vegetarian," by PETA. In 2007, Silverstone appeared nude in a print advertisement and 30-second commercial for PETA championing vegetarianism; the TV spot was subsequently pulled from the Houston, Texas, market by Comcast Cable. Silverstone has set up a sanctuary for rescued pets in Los Angeles.

Filmography and credits

Year                                Title                                   Role                           Notes

1993 The Crush Adrian Forrester MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Performance

1995 Le Nouveau monde Trudy Wadd

1995 Hideaway Regina Harrison

1995 Clueless Cher Horowitz

1995 The Babysitter Jennifer

1996 True Crime Mary Giordano direct-to-video

1997 Batman & Robin Batgirl/Barbara Wilson

1997 Excess Baggage Emily Hope also uncredited producer

1998 Junket Whore Herself documentary

1999 Blast from the Past Eve Rustikoff

2000 Love's Labour's Lost The Princess of France

2002 Global Heresy Natalie "Nat" Bevin a.k.a Rock My World

2003 Scorched Sheila Rio

2004 Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Heather Jasper-Howe

2005 Beauty Shop Lynn

2005 Silence Becomes You Violet direct-to-video

2006 Stormbreaker Jack Starbright

2008 Tropic Thunder Herself

2011 The Art of Getting By Ms. Herman

Alicia Silverstone welcomes baby boy‎

Alicia Silverstone has given birth to a bouncing baby boy and in true celebrity fashion her son, with hubby Christopher Jarecki, certainly has a unique name!

It makes sense that Silverstone’s child is named after an animal; Silverstone is a vegan and longtime animal rights activist. Plus, the name "Bear" has some precedent. There was the famed Alabama coach Bear Bryant (whose real name was Paul). And there's Bear Grylls, the tough-as-nails "Man vs. Wild" star. He was born with the name Edward, but he says that his sister nicknamed him Bear when he was just a week old. Mr. Grylls and his wife Shara have three sons, Jesse, Marmaduke, and Huckleberry.

Silverstone reportedly delivered little Bear via waterbirth at a Los Angeles birthing center. "I've been wanting to have a baby since I was 2 years old," she said in April 2010. "I'm destined to be a mother."

Naturally, controversy over Silverstone's name choice has errupted online — with most panning the decision. "Wow," wrote one commenter. "The kid is

Obviously, Silverstone doesn’t stand alone when it comes to crazy Hollywood baby names. Let us not forget Sage Moonblood (Sylvester Stalone), Audio Science (Actress Shannyn Sossamon), and Buddy Bear Maurice (Jamie Oliver and Juliette Norton). For a short while, it seemed like this awful trend was taking a turn for the better. No longer.

Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel (November 4, 1970) is an American natural foods chef, television personality, and author. She was first introduced to television audiences in the 2005 series The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, where she placed second. From 2008 to 2010, she was one of the original five housewives featured on the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of New York City. In 2010, she starred in her own companion series, Bethenny Getting Married?, and again in 2011 with Bethenny Ever After.

Personal life

Frankel's first marriage was to her former best friend, Peter Sussman, in 1996. She says they "...were best friends for five years and he always wanted to be more. I loved him because of how much he loved me. I got married too young. I didn't wait for the great love of my life.

Frankel married Jason Hoppy on March 28, 2010, at The Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City. On May 8, 2010, Frankel gave birth to their first child, Bryn Casey Hoppy, named for Jason's brother Bryan who died in a car accident when he was 19 years old. Just three weeks after giving birth Frankel posed in a size-4 swimsuit for Us Magazine.

Frankel posed nude for animal rights group PETA in September 2009. The photo was featured on a billboard in Times Square as part of PETA's campaign against the wearing of furs.

Early life

Bethenny Frankel is the daughter of the late thoroughbred trainer, Robert Frankel, a National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee and five-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer, and Bernadette Parisella. She is the granddaughter of Gertrude and Merrill Frankel. She was once a "hot walker" in the stable owned by her stepfather, John Parisella, and she spent every summer at Saratoga Springs, New York, with her mother and stepfather. Frankel graduated from Pine Crest School and attended New York University.

Career

Frankel began her career with appearances in the 1994 movie Hollywood Hills 90028 and the 1995 movie Wish Me Luck. She also worked as a production assistant for Saved by the Bell.

She attended the Natural Gourmet Culinary Institute in New York to become a chef. After she graduated, she formed BethennyBakes, a company that provided wheat-, egg-, and dairy-free baked goods, meals for private clients, and a custom-meal delivery service. The company ceased production upon the launch of Frankel's Skinnygirl brand in 2009.

In 2005, Frankel was one of 16 candidates in The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. She made it to the series finale before losing to Dawna Stone. She was a contributor to Bravo TV's coverage of the 2009 Kentucky Oaks.

Bethenny Ever After finale: Bethenny Frankel makes a fortune for her family

Did you watch the Bethenny Ever After finale? Bethenny Frankel promises a third season of her reality series, so that means plenty more inside looks at her life, including her adorable baby Bryn!

Jason described the offer by telling Bethenny, “You’re gonna be a very rich woman.”

Bethenny immediately began to tear up, as the offer represented the culminating moment of all her work, and she made a promise to go through with it and celebrate along the way — as she “never” allows herself to relax and revel in her good fortune.

“I want Skinnygirls coming out of the faucets,” Bethenny proclaimed. “You will be flushing the toilet bowl with Skinnygirls swirling around it, okay?”

This is the craziest thing in the entire world that has ever happened. I'm like a real business person."

"I went on the show single-handedly and exclusively for business," Frankel told The Hollywood Reporter. "I knew it was a risk and I had the most to lose, because I already had a platform. When I went on the show, no one was going on for business, no one had done anything."

Frankel has certainly turned her reality celebrity into a tidy business. Even before the sale of Skinnygirl she enjoyed a very lucrative book deal that saw 480,000 copies of her two books fly off the shelves.

This newfound fortune should make for an interesting next season of Bethenny Ever After.

Flooding Mississippi submerges Memphis waterfront

Memphis, Tennessee -- The Mississippi River has begun cresting at Memphis, forecasters said Tuesday, as attention began turning to flooding concerns in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The slow passing of the bulge of water working its way from north to south along the Mississippi is only the beginning of the end of the siege for Memphis residents, who could be dealing with high water levels into June.

And the struggle is just getting started for residents of Mississippi and Louisiana, where the river is expected to begin cresting next week at levels unseen since 1927.

The river level hit 48 feet, or about 14 metres on Tuesday, the highest it has been since 1937, said CTV's Joy Malbon, reporting from Memphis.

"It's like watching a slow-motion disaster happen," Malbon told CTV News Channel.

"The water took a long time to rise and it's going to take several weeks for the water to recede before people can go back into their homes.

There was no danger to Memphis' major tourist draws, such as Graceland, which lies far beyond the water's reach, and much of the city appeared normal. Levees built to prevent massive flooding were holding, according to the Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday. Shelby County and four others were declared disaster areas by President Obama late Monday. The designation means that they'll be eligible for federal disaster aid, which local officials say is much-needed.

Cleanup was expected to be massive, and there were fears that farmland and cities further south could yet be devastated. Inmates in Louisiana's largest prison were taken to higher ground, and farmers were building homemade levees to protect their crops. Engineers diverted water into Lake Pontchartrain to ease the pressure on levees around New Orleans, where levee failures after Hurricane Katrina virtually drowned the city.

The flooding is the result of heavy rains recently and unusually heavy snow over the winter further north that began melting and adding to the already swollen Mississippi.

Google I/O

Google I/O is an annual two-day developer-focused conference, held by Google at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, featuring highly technical, in-depth sessions focused on building of web, mobile, and enterprise applications with Google and open web technologies such as Android, Chrome, Chrome OS, Google APIs, Google Web Toolkit, App Engine, and more. It was started in 2008. The "I" and "O" stand for "Innovation in the Open", and input/output. The "I" and "O" resemble "1" and "0" as in binary code, but this is not what it stands for. The format of the event is similar to that of the Google Developer Day.

2010 (May 19-20, 2010)

The major themes were Android, App Engine, Chrome, Enterprise, Geo, Google APIs, Google TV, Google Web Toolkit, Social Web, and Google Wave.

Speakers included Aaron Koblin, Adam Graff, Adam Nash, Adam Powell, Adam Schuck, Alan Green, Albert Cheng, Albert Wenger, Alex Russell, Alfred Fuller, Amit Agarwal, Amit Kulkarni, Amit Manjhi, Amit Weinstein, Anders Sandholm, Angus Logan, Anne Veling, Arne Roomann-Kurrik, Bart Locanthi, Ben Appleton, Ben Cheng, Ben Collins-Sussman, et al.

2011 (May 10-11, 2011)

Music Beta by Google was introduced.

Music Beta by Google

Music Beta by Google is an online music streaming service that was announced on 10 May 2011 at the Google I/O conference. The service supports streaming music to desktop browsers and Android phones and tablets, or any other device that can use the Adobe Flash platform.

Initially, Music Beta will support streaming of up to 20,000 songs through the service for free. However, the Music Beta will only be free "for a limited time. The service does not currently support buying music - it is only for streaming purposes. Music Beta will also allow for automatic caching for offline play on mobile devices.

According to the official Google blog, users "can use a feature called Instant Mix to create a playlist of songs that go well together.

Music Beta was first hinted at at the 2010 I/O Conference, where Google Senior Vice-President of Social Vic Gundotra showed a "Music" section of the Android Market that would allow users to download music through the market. In June 2010, a user discovered a logo that said "Google Music" on Google's server, but it was later deleted.

Regarding the lack of music purchasing features, Jamie Rosenberg, the overseer of digital content and strategy for Google, told All Things Digital that "a couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms, which led Google to make Music Beta a standalone streaming service.