Archive for January 16th, 2010
Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, gave a “blood diamond” to charm supermodel Naomi Campbell, according to war crimes prosecutors. A “blood diamond” usually refers to a gem mined in an African war zone and sold to pay for weapons or armed rebellion. Taylor is on trial in an international court in the Netherlands on charges that he used murder, rape, amputation and child soldiers to support the rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone, and that he traded weapons to the rebels in return for diamonds.
Buzz up!
In a cross-examination session on Thursday morning, lead prosecutor Brenda Hollis alleged that Taylor had given a blood diamond to Campbell after a dinner in South Africa in 1997 attended by South African president Nelson Mandela, Campbell, musician Quincy Jones, and actress Mia Farrow. The prosecution said that the diamond was among gems given to Taylor before the trip so that he could purchase arms for the Sierra Leone rebels from South African armament manufacturers.
“That diamond that you sent to Naomi Campbell was one of the diamonds that you had been given by the junta in Sierra Leone. Isn’t that correct?” ABC Science quoted Hollis asking Taylor. But Taylor denied the allegation, saying: “Total, total nonsense.” Then, Hollis said that the next morning Campbell had told Mia Farrow that some men had come to her after the dinner and given her the diamond, saying it was from Taylor.
A spokesperson for Campbell said the supermodel has cooperated with the prosecution, but would not confirm or deny the diamond story. Naomi has been assisting the special prosecutor where possible, but beyond that has nothing to add,” said the spokesperson. Meanwhile, Farrow’s rep has said that the actress was in Africa and unavailable for comment.
source: entertainment.oneindia.in
January 16th, 2010
If Tila Tequila’s rapid fire brain droppings are your idea of must-read celebrity Twitterings, then you may want to take a pass on Milla Jovovich. The actress/model/singer — who has been tweeting since last fall — seems to have figured out how to have an easy conversation with her fans while still fiercely guarding her privacy.
Tonight, in honor of reaching 200,000 Twitter followers Jovovich will host a live streaming concert for fans by way of saying thanks. She’ll also ask them to consider a donation to Sophie’s Voice Foundation, a group founded by Jovovich’s “Resident Evil: Afterlife” co-star Boris Kodjoe after his wife gave birth to a baby with Spina Bifida.
But how did Jovovich — a bona fide box office draw who still manages to stay well below the paparazzi radar — start tweeting in the first place? Although she’s long maintained a robust site for fans, she’d pretty much dismissed the idea of tweeting. But the studio asked her to sign on and talk about her experiences filming the next “Resident Evil” movie (due in theaters this fall). And, well, it kind of grew on her.
“I do stuff that for people I know is normal,” said Jovovich in a phone interview. “But for many it isn’t normal and they like to read about it.”
In the beginning, Jovovich confessed that she was a little overzealous — tweeting from her on-set trailer several times throughout the day. “It’s growing pains,” she said. “Soon I realized there was no way I could do this all the time.” And so as the months passed, Jovovich ratcheted back her missives. Between work, a recent belated honeymoon and chasing around two-year-old daughter Ever Gabo, Jovovich just doesn’t have the bandwidth to keep up a real-time dialogue.
“You want to be in touch with your fans,” she said. “But if you’re on Twitter all the time you don’t have time to be the person they liked so much in the first place.”
Jovovich credits the medium with putting her in direct touch with her fans without the intervention of journalists who (she half-jokingly hints) often have an agenda and “print what they want to print.” But she’s aware of the missteps of her peers — like Courtney Love and the above-mentioned Tila Tequila — who use Twitter as a means to “unload” negativity.
“I’m not going to get on and say I just got in a fight with my mom,” says Jovovich. “I use [Twitter] to write things I want people to know about me. I still have some intense discussions with my fans, but it’s all about stuff I believe in.”
source: washingtonpost.com
January 16th, 2010
