12-13-2009 Daniel Stowe’s Botanical Garden 132, originally uploaded by Catherine_Holt.

Please don’t take this.

Jay-Z by Adrian Firth
22,500 Swarovski Crystals on Perspex
60*60 cm
Price on Application

source: gemstonecreative.com

The first trailer for Sex and the City 2 has been released. They use Jay-Z’s NYC-loving anthem “Empire State of Mind” for this one. check it out:

www.ladeanamichelle.com. LaDeana Michelle is the GORGEOUS creator, singer, producer, writer, arranger, composer and performer of “Believe”, the song behind this powerful and beautiful video tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She is a prodigy on many levels— there is not much she CANT do. LaDeana Michelle’s beautiful, outstanding voice penetrates straight through to the soul on “Believe”. From start to finish, “Believe” is deep. Meaningful. It is, above all, something that has truly been missing in music for so long.

Known for her positive overtones, distinctive songbird vocals, deep lyrics and music that undoubtedly evokes feeling, LaDeana Michelle truly delivers something powerful with SEVEN. Cleverly interlacing live footage and still images, the mini-movie (if you will) touches on subjects such as genocide, starvation, racism and hatred, while at the same time, delivers the clear message of love and some of the most sensual imagery one can enjoy without crossing the line. Well just leave it at that.More importantly..though we’ve enjoyed both her Keep Your Faith and Believe videos (which are still gaining thousands of daily viewers) honoring Barack Obama, Martin Luther King and more—as notable as both are—many have longed to see more of her..just her.

Well, SEVEN most definitely delivers more of LaDeana Michelle. This young woman is simply beautiful even beyond her stunning outer appearance. Not only does she allow us into more of her..she gives us a clear picture of what she stands for and believes in. Enjoyably so.if one wanted to say that eye candy is also present in this video, one would be absolutely correct—for males and females alike. SEVEN introduces a fraction of insight into the mind of LaDeana Michelle, who is phenomenally limitless with what she can do. Though her music is classified as R&B/Pop/Soul, it effortlessly appeals to all ages and nationalities.

more about “LaDeana Michelle’s “Rare” Michael Jac…“, posted with vodpod

www.ladeanamichelle.com. LaDeana Michelle, stricken like the rest of the world over the untimely passing of Michael Jacksons death, took a break from her own debut album production to offer Rare–the song behind the impressive video tribute early viewers have hailed as “nothing short of phenomenal–in a memorial tribute to the King of Pop.Written, produced, arranged, composed and performed by LaDeana Michelle, Rare is a love song with strong pop appeal—that describes exactly how Michael Jacksons fans felt about him. Laced with outstanding songbird vocals that emotionally grab the listener, excerpts from Michael Jacksons most memorable videos such as Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean (Motown live performance), Smooth Criminal, and heartfelt footage of Michael as a caring, humanitarian that saved the life of a young child in need of a liver, Rare emotionally hits home and delivers in a major way.

ABOUT LADEANA MICHELLE

Multi-octave vocalist, songwriter, producer, arranger, composer, actress, screenwriter, print model, concept designer, poet, musician, author, CEO, humanitarian and so much more….LaDeana Michelle will soon be a household name in the entertainment and business industries. Also a CEO and savvy businesswoman, she will be added as the next female self-made millionaire through her partnership real estate, development, film and project management ventures.A direct relative of the legendary Sam Cooke and Eddie Kendricks (Temptations) LaDeana Michelle, already boasting an extensive entertainment resume, will be released worldwide soon and is rapidly gaining fans all over the world–all who highly anticipate her arrival.With an upcoming worldwide album release slated as “One of the hottest in a long time”, several upcoming films (two are of her own creation–the next female Tyler Perry?) a slew of entertainment projects, multi-million dollar development launches and foundation-based social programs dedicated to cultivate low-income youth and starving children worldwide, she is definitely the next major player to watch in 2010.

12-13-2009 Daniel Stowe’s Botanical Garden 274, originally uploaded by Catherine_Holt.

Please don’t take this.

Author: Adrienne Crowther
Source: ezinearticles.com

Many of us babyboomers can tell you without hesitation where we were upon hearing the news of the assassinations of JFK, RFK,, “Michael Jackson“, MLK,, “Michael Jackson“, the death of Princess Diana, or the shooting of John Lennon. As of June 25th, 2009, our generation and younger generations will forever remember their whereabouts upon hearing the news of Michael Jackson’s untimely passing.

Michael Jackson provided the soundtrack for most of my life. Who didn’t love the Jackson Five, with their upbeat songs and fun, fun, fun choreography? Even for those of us who were swept away by the British Invasion, there’s always a place in our hearts for his genius.

Every media outlet has played footage of countless hours of people around the world who are mourning the death of Michael Jackson. Makeshift altars seem to grow organically on sidewalks in every city. What is it about the passing of beloved icons that compels us to come together as a human race?

Grieving and mourning are not easy feelings to carry. They are, however, universal feelings, that are inherent to the human condition. The beautiful outcome of global outpourings of grief, is that they strip the usual barriers of race, class, age, and religion. They bring us together as living, feeling beings with universal emotions.

We feel compelled to honor our beloved icons, friends, and families with memorials. Photos, flowers, memorabilia are all familiar objects on the altars formed around the world. They are personal, they celebrate that person, they remind us of the essence of everything represented by that person.

A beautiful, heartfelt memorial is healing. It’s not a mass-produced object that has no reference to the person being honored. It wouldn’t make sense to add a generic container, a random photo, or a meaningless object to the altar offerings. The same is true when we honor our families and friends who may not have known this kind of fame. We want to honor them for who they were, for their unique spirits and personalities.

We baby boomers are said to be revolutionizing the way we approach the end of life. We carefully celebrate the personality, quirks, physicality, and essence of our deceased. And doesn’t it make sense? We now have so many wonderful options available to us. The mass-produced memorial object may serve in functionality, but does it really honor the person? A homemade pie tastes so much better than the store bought version. Besides the fact that it probably has more natural ingredients, it’s made with love, by a human.

I’m thankful to be part of this generation. To thoughtfully consider the uniqueness of a loved one includes carefully choosing the way in which we remember that person. So, here’s to you, Michael Jackson. Thank you for all that you were to us.

Adrienne Crowther

Corn Country Merry Christmas

I do apologize for being absent for long. Life got in the way.

First and most important:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ok, that is not politically correct. It is supposed to be Happy Holidays or some such nonsense as that. Like it or not, we are celebrating the fact that Jesus was born. I will NOT take our Lord out of the holiday! Ok, ‘nuff said.

What is this holiday all about? To answer that, let’s look at what it is not. We’ll start with insurance companies. It must have something to do with the new cars for next year. This is quite obvious to anyone that has been on the road this season. A driver pulls alongside another to assess the possibilities. Once a good candidate is found then a rear end accident is arranged, thus a new car is in the offing.

For those not interested in testing their insurance policies, there is the great mall invasion. These are the folks that believe they show true friendship and love by proving they really can over-max a credit card.

Our last group is the thrifty, yet dangerous bargain hunter. These folks jam the parking lots of K ame A part, otherwise known as Kmart and also the concrete bumper car zone of Wal-Mart. Once their SUV’s are crammed into a motorcycle sized parking place, they march like a company of Army ants. Their goal is to get, at any cost, a five-dollar watch that should last at least two weeks into the New Year. As soon as they have all their junk, er, merchandise, stuffed into their vehicle, they join the mad frenzy and road rage maniacs in the dizzying rush home. After their arrival, they throw cheap paper around each item and throw it under the fake tree. Oh, they also take off the price tags to pretend the items were purchased at a more expensive store. Right!

That is not Christmas!!!

Christmas is love of self and everyone. It is the desire for peace and harmony. It is, simply, what Jesus taught. With that in mind…

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all, love from us to you.

Robin Thicke on working with Jay-Z on the song ‘Meiplé’

 ”Jay-Z has actually been great to me over my career, even before I had a hit record. He was always very supportive, always believed in me, and so I always wanted him to do a record with me. “But you’ve gotta be careful. You don’t want to just send Jay-Z any song. So I just decided to let him come and hear the whole album and if he wants to pick a song then it’ll be his choice. So he listened to the whole album and he picked this song ‘Meiplé’ where I’m taking my woman to France on a vacation and spending all my money on her and living lavishly.

via cnn.com

12-13-2009 Daniel Stowe’s Botanical Garden 362, originally uploaded by Catherine_Holt.

Please don’t take this.

A LOVING daughter brought forward her wedding day and held the ceremony in her dying mother’s hospital ward so that she could witness it. 

Cancer patient Liz Hay saw daughter Carol marry her fiancé Ian Murdoch in Ward Two at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. Just hours later she fell asleep and never woke again. 

The couple’s wedding date was moved forward by a month to 24 November when Mrs Hay fell seriously ill so that she could be there for the happy occasion. 

The 50-year-old from Muirhouse, who was the co-ordinator of the North West Carers’ Centre, was told in July that after beating breast cancer seven years ago the disease had returned, this time in her liver. 

Her family were told she could survive for years but by the start of November she was taken into hospital with just weeks to live.

Carol Murdoch at her wedding with husband Ian and (L-R) her brother, nephew, dad Charlie Hay and mum Liz

Carol Murdoch, a 27-year-old trainee teacher, said: “Just at the start of November, she was taken in and told she didn’t have a lot of time. We thought it was weeks, but a scan came back and suddenly we realised she had days. 

“The ceremony was supposed to be at six o’clock but we brought it forward to three. She was that poorly. 

“As soon as it was done, the nurses took her to another room. She went to sleep and didn’t wake up again.” 

Mrs Hay died two days later. 

The couple had originally planned to hold their Humanist wedding beside Loch Morlich last Saturday. 

The hospital ceremony was attended by Mrs Hay’s two sons, two daughters and three grandchildren – the youngest only two months old. 

Her husband Charlie, 55, praised the hospital staff who helped with the wedding arrangements. 

“The nurses did it all so nicely. It was great. Liz was up the whole time and she did a wonderful reading,” he said. 

Mrs Hay lived in Edinburgh nearly all her life. She was born in 1959 in Dreghorn Barracks and met her husband at the Edinburgh City Mission in 1979 while she was working at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. 

In 1994 Mr Hay, a woodwork teacher, had to retire early when he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Moving around was painful and he needed constant support. 

His wife not only started caring for him but became involved with founding the North West Carers’ Centre, a charity which runs projects to support and train carers in Edinburgh. 

Despite having to devote so much time to her own caring duties she was the charity’s chairwoman for more than ten years.

Liz Hay

She also commanded Loanhead Air Cadet Squadron, was chairwoman of the Silverknowes Primary School board, a leader in the Boys’ Brigade and a keen Aberdeen fan. 

She had started building five doll’s houses before her death and youngest son Andrew, 20, a trainee technology teacher at Edinburgh University, has pledged to finish the project. 

“She didn’t have a lot of time for hobbies,” said Mrs Murdoch. “But her and dad used to love going for drives all around Scotland. She loved it here.” 

One of Mrs Hay’s last wishes was to raise money for good causes and instead of leaving flowers at her funeral on 3 December, guests donated to the staff who helped organise the wedding so they could have a Christmas night out. 

The £1,000 they have already raised will also go to the Maggie’s cancer centre at the Western General Hospital. 

Mrs Murdoch said: “Mum was always putting others first. That was mum. When she got told she had the cancer that wasn’t going to stop her.”

‘Empire State of Mind’

MTV caught up with Rihanna on the set of her just-released “Hard” video and she let them in  her world, revealing the song that served as the soundtrack for her year, and the artist who she idolized the most in ‘09.

Song of the year according to Rihanna:

” ‘Empire State of Mind’ was definitely one of my favorite records of 2009 … one of the biggest records of 2009, also. It’s timeless. It’s epic, and it makes me want to be from New York every time I hear it. I’m like, ‘Wow, I wish I was in New York, or I wish I was from New York.’ It’s just that great feeling when you hear it.”

via MTV.COM

Image courtesy of brittanymurphys.com

Being a twaddict means the first thing I do when I wake up and shut off my alarm is to open up PockeTwit on my phone. I don’t check the time, I don’t chuck my blanket aside, I don’t rub my eyes, I don’t yawn or grumble, I don’t even think — I check Twitter. And suddenly, I was jerked awake by this tweet I saw from TweetMeme:





Brittany Murphy had died of a cardiac arrest (of which the cause is still unknown) on the morning of 20 December 2009 (Sunday) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It was a really tragic piece of news; my most heartfelt condolences goes out to her family, friends and fans.

Admittedly, I’ve only watched her in Clueless, Girl, Interrupted, Just Married, Uptown Girls, Little Black Book and Sin City but anyone who has ever watched her work can tell what a bright personality she was; her smile and laughter were contagious. However, what I remember most about her are her covers of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland” from Happy Feet as well as her performance of “Nobody Does It Better” in Little Black Book. She had such a sweet, sweet voice.

I feel weird writing about her in past tense. Rest in peace, Brittany — say hi to Heath, Farrah and Michael.






On another note, I’d like to ask all of you to send well wishes to a good friend’s dad, who’s in the hospital right now after falling, fracturing his head and bleeding internally. The doctors suspected that a mild stroke had caused his initial fall. He’s in a stable condition and conscious, and I wish him a speedy recovery. Hang in there, Erica.

Jay-Z at All Points West

via:  nymag.com

Hot!

2. Jay-Z
With his 11th #1 album and first #1 single, Hov proved he isn’t going anywhere.

Jay-Z talked about his “Takeover” way back in 2001 on the very first Blueprint album. Eight years later, Young Hov is still taking charge, running the Billboard charts with a #1 song and album, running circles around other hip-hop lyricists with his wordplay and running whatever town his tour hits that night.

From Oprah Winfrey (she had Jay as a guest on her show, even heading to the projects to interview him) to Ellen DeGeneres to Rihanna to the kids in the ‘hood — everyone sang Jay-Z’s praises for Blueprint 3, Jay’s 11th #1 album. He had a string of hit songs, including “Run This Town,” “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” and “Empire State of Mind” — his first #1 single. BP3 (released in September) was deemed an instant classic for its harmonic soundscapes and varying subject matter, which Jay articulated with his patented swagger and nimble flow.

TOP 9 MEN OF THE YEAR

9. Eminem
8. Drake
7. Kanye West
6. Robert Pattinson
5. Lil Wayne
4. Taylor Lautner
3. Adam Lambert
2. Jay-Z
1. stay tuned …

2009 Highlights: Hov was hot in 2009 — the Hottest MC in the Game, in fact. He started the first half of the year growing out his “Blueprint ‘fro” as a symbol of how long the recording process for his album was taking. With no record label to negotiate a deadline for the opus, Hov took his time making music with Kanye West and Timbaland. In February, he told MTV News that he liked having a concrete timetable of when to record and release an album. He jokingly made comparisons between himself and Axl Rose, who kept Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy off shelves for more than a decade.

Of course, the Jiggaman doesn’t always need an album to stay on people’s minds. Jay focused on music to start off the year, dropping original songs like “History” and “Brooklyn Go Hard,” which appeared on the “Notorious” soundtrack, and jumping on remixes such as DJ Khaled’s “Go Hard” and Young Jeezy’s “My President”.

 Still, Hov couldn’t avoid some controversy in 2009. Jim Jones turned himself in to police in early January after getting involved in a physical altercation with one of Jay-Z’s associates at the New York Louis Vuitton store. Meanwhile, during Grammy weekend about a month later, Jay’s good friend and collaborator Rihanna was assaulted by Chris Brown. Jay spoke out publicly in support of his friend.

Grammy night turned out to be huge for Jay. He stole the show with a performance of “Swagga Like Us” with T.I., Kanye West, Lil Wayne and M.I.A. The song won for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Jay also supported President Barack Obama, performing a concert in Washington, D.C., the night before Obama’s inauguration. Hov performed at the inaugural Neighborhood Ball as well.

Tearing up the stage was a Hova hallmark in 2009. He did special one-off shows with artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Eminem and Coldplay and toured over the summer with openers Ciara, Lupe Fiasco, and Fabolous. In the fall, he hit the road with N.E.R.D., Lupe Fiasco, J. Cole and Wale. Jay used the grand stage of New York’s Summer Jam for the first performance of “D.O.A.” On the track, which premiered on New York radio two days prior to the show, ignited some controversy, Jay voiced his disdain for hip-hop artists (not named Lil Wayne, Kanye West or T-Pain) saturating the market with their computer-enhanced vocals. The day before that, Jay announced a September 11 due date for Blueprint 3 (the LP would actually have to be released three days earlier to combat an early leak) and that he was partnering with Atlantic Records and the Warner Music Group for the venture.

Speaking of group ventures, Hov had the concert of the year, bringing Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, John Mayer, Diddy, Pharrell, Kid Cudi, Swizz Beatz, Kanye West and Beyoncé out for his “Answer the Call” concert at Madison Square Garden. The show benefited the families of firemen and police officers who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Days later, Jay and Alicia Keys had their first performance of the chart-topping “Empire State of Mind” at the Video Music Awards. Their set was elegant and ‘hood at the same time, and it was such a powerful moment, even Lil Mama couldn’t ruin it when she jumped onstage uninvited to pose with the two superstars.

Someone else who couldn’t ruin Jay-Z’s stride was Beanie Sigel. The former staple of the Roc-A-Fella family said Hov threw some sneak disses at him on Blueprint 3 and lashed out in interviews and dis records like “How I Could Just Kill Jigga Man.” 50 Cent jumped into the fray, calling out Jay. 50 foe the Game called out Hov earlier in the year as well. Jay ignored everyone for the most part, choosing not to respond in song.

Hov and Alicia Keys performed “Empire State of Mind” again during the World Series, and Jay closed out the New York Yankees’ World Series victory parade with the song. Jay and Keys would also perform the track at the American Music Awards.

Jay and his wife, Beyoncé, closed out the year on a very high note, partying and celebrating life at Hov’s 40th birthday celebration in the Dominican Republic.

Tributes are paid to a Tyneside teacher who died after falling down a mountain in the Scottish Highlands…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: educate. The blog is also related to: training.

I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Hell yea” to this.

Thanks to Ads of the World.

I’ve been meaning to write several tribute blogs to say thanks, to show my appreciation, and to talk about some of the things in my life that have made a strong impact on me… One of course will be Belle. My sweet sweet Belle who’s been with me through so much- and has been through so much herself.