Back of the Class

There’s some excitement and buzz downtown Vancouver. The new Apple Store is opening in Pacific Centre soon. Just how soon, I am not sure, but a stroll through the mall last week, showed some hype and mystery behind those big white panels. Any hope of seeing into the store was halted by the security guard.

I won’t have to drive for miles to get to H&M in Coquitlam anymore either once they open their new store in Pacific Centre on May 22. The old Holt Renfrew store is being demolished and 12 new tenants will occupy that space. I won’t miss it. How many of us could afford to shop there anyway? One of the new stores is “Teenflo” - no not a store for teenagers, rather for modern women, already with stores back east. Looks like we have some fun shopping ahead of us!

Camilla Parker-Bowles’ ring from Prince Charles

Jennifer Garner’s ring from Ben Affleck

Jessica Alba’s ring from Cash Warren

Fergie’s ring from Josh Duhamel

Katie Holmes’ ring from Tom Cruise

Nicole Kidman’s ring from Keith Urban

No Country for Old Men was the big winner this past Sunday. Joel and Ethan Coen’s movie lived up to expectations and was awarded Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.

The Oscar for Best Actress went to France’s Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose. Best Actor went to Britain’s Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood. Tilda Swinton took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Michael Clayton.

Other big winners of the night were the Bourne Ultimatum for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, There Will Be Blood picked up an award for Best Cinematography and La Vie en Rose won for Best Makeup. Ratatouille was named Best Animated Film. Oscar for Best Original Song went to “Falling Slowly” from Once.

For a complete list of the nights winners, click here.

Don’t look directly at these rings.

Eva Longoria’s ring from Tony Parker

Christina Aguilera’s ring from Jordan Bratman

Katherine Heigl’s ring from Josh Kelley

Jennifer Love Hewitt’s ring from Ross McCall

Salma Hayek’s ring from François-Henri Pinault

Heidi Klum’s ring from Seal

Jennifer Lopez’s ring from Marc Anthony

Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law will take over Heath Ledger’s last role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parmassus. The three actors will play the role of Tony in the film, done by Ledger before his death.

Terry Gilliam, the director, will keep the original scenes with Heath, the remaining portions of the film will be completed by Depp, Farrell and Law as incarnations of Heath’s character.

It has also been reported that the three actors will donate their salaries in Heath’s memory.

Here are a few pictures of celebrity homes.

Donald Trump

Will Smith

Arnold Schwarzenneger

Larry King

Avril Lavigne

Playboy Mansion

Ashlee Simpson

Amy Winehouse and Kanye West had amazing performances at the Grammy awards lastnight. They both took awards home with with too.

Winehouse, who had visa issues, couldn’t make it to the awards show in LA. She performed live via satellite. Her performance was much improved from her singing a few months back at the European MTV Music Awards. She even paid homage to her husband, who is incarcerated.

Winehouse took home five trophies.

West impressed the Grammy audience with his glow in the dark performance of “Stronger”. Many in the crowd shed tears while the listened to him sing “Hey Mama” - a tribute to his mother who passed away from complications following a cosmetic surgery. He even shaved “Mama” on his head.

West won four trophies.

The underdogs win Super Bowl. The New York Giants were a team many had discounted time and time again this season, go home as victors.

The Giants defeated an undefeated team - the New England Patriots. The Patriots had a 19 game winning streak, unfortunately they fumbled in the game that mattered the most.

Eli Manning was named the Super Bowl MVP.

A victory parade is planned to be held on Tuesday to honour the Giants win. Hundreds of thousands of supporters are expected to attend the event. The parage will begin at Battery Park at 11:00am and proceed northbound in the Financial District - along the “Canyon of Heroes” route - to Chambers Street.

Giants players, team officials and city notables will ride in the parade, culminating at a victory rally at City Hall around 1:00pm.

A spy satellite, from the US, has lost power and could hit the Earth. The satellite is about the size of a small bus and could plummet to Earth in a few weeks, government officials said Saturday.

The out-of-control satellite could contain hazardous materials, what is known is that it contains rocket fuel - hydrazine, a colourless liquid which is toxic and can cause harm to anyone who comes into contact with it. Officials are unsure of where the satellite may come down. The officials revealed this information on a condition of anonymity as this information is classified as secret.

Experts believe that this satellite does not pose a threat to people.

If the re-entry of the satellite isn’t controlled, the US runs a risk of exposing its secrets.

It is still unknown when the satellite lost power or how.

For information, visit CBC or BBC.

A few more mansions to gawk at……

John Travolta
Oprah

Eddie Murphy

Rod Stewart

Brad Pit

Jerry Seinfeld

Did you know that some of your favourite celebrities may also blog? Some like Donald Trump write about how hard they work and how great they are, and some like Rosie O’Donnell add video, often made by her, and Canadian born actress Elisha Cuthbert blogs about hockey!

Here are some celebrities who might give you some entertaining reading.

Alec Baldwin
David Beckham

Barbra Streisand
Rosie O’Donnell
William Shatner
Donald Trump

Elisha Cuthbert
Meredith Viera
Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen

Michael Moore
Tori Spelling

The following takes place between 1am and 2am….

“24″ star, Kiefer Sutherland was arrested in Los Angeles early Tuesday on drunken driving charges after failing a sobriety test. The actor was pulled over at about 1:10 a.m. after officers spotted him making an illegal U-turn. He tested over the state’s legal blood alcohol limit of .08 percent, and after posting $25,000 bail, he was released, and is scheduled to appear in court October 16.

Problem is this arrest violates a five-year probation from a previous DUI incident in 2004. Do the math and you will realize he is in a tight spot that even Jack Bauer may not be able to get out of! This might send him to jail for up to a year. Perhaps if he had called Chloe first and got her to send the realtime satellite images to his PDA of the cops waiting at the side of the road, he could have avoided this little mess.

Top Five
Oprah Winfrey (‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’): $260m
Simon Cowell (‘American Idol’): $45m
Judge Sheindlin (‘Judge Judy’): $30m
Katie Couric (‘CBS Evening News Anchor’): $15m
Zach Braff (‘Scrubs’): $6.3m

Network Prime Time
William Petersen (‘CSI’): $5m
Charlie Sheen (‘Two and a Half Men’): $3.5m
Mariska Hargitay (‘Law & Order: SVU’): $3.5m
Chris Meloni (‘Law & Order: SVU’): $3.5m
Hugh Laurie (‘House’): $3m
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (‘New Adventures of Old Christine’): $2m
Ellen Pompeo (‘Grey’s Anatomy’): $2m
Eva Longoria (‘Desperate Housewives’): $2m

Daytime
Judge Judy: $30m
Bob Barker: $10m
Maury Povich: $7m
Ellen DeGeneres: $5m
Jerry Springer: $3 - 4m
Tyra Banks: $3.5m

News Anchors
Katie Couric (‘CBS Evening News’ anchor): $15m
Matt Lauer (NBC ‘Today’ co-anchor): $12m
Meredith Vieira (NBC ‘Today’ co-anchor): $10m

So, New York matchmaker, Janis Spindel was in town to find a wife for Vancouver’s mystery millionaire bachelor, Mr “X”.

Apparently hundreds of wanna-be wives showed up for the screening at the Sutton Place hotel, to see if they would be a match to the tall, dark, handsome and wealthy widower, and father to an 8 year old daughter.

if Spindel does her job right, she will make $250 000 out of this. Hmmm… maybe I am in the wrong business.

There’s been quite a bit happening down in Hollywood lately and I was determined not to write about Paris Hilton, but after today’s news, I felt I must comment on it.

The woman is out of jail after just 3 days!

Latest reports are that she was released due to a medical condition and will now serve her full 45 day term under house arrest with an ankle bracelet. I say she should rather do community service and see what the Simple Life is really like.

Meanwhile her friend Lindsay Lohan is in drug rehab and Nicole Richie told David Letterman this week that she hope she doesn’t go to jail, after Richie, the 25-year-old daughter of pop singer Lionel Richie, pleaded not guilty in February to driving under the influence. Her fate is still to be determined.

Rosie left The View after a major fight with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. At the recent launch for her new book “Celebrity Detox,” she told the audience her publicist “orchestrated that whole publicity thing just to get more attention for the book … brazenly calling up the other hosts, telling them to incite me.”

For those “24″ addicts, its going to be a long summer until Jack Bauer returns…..

After last nights 6th season finale, I thought I should post about “24″. Believe it or not, I am one of the few people who have not gotten addicted to this hit TV series, starring Kiefer Sutherland, son of famed actor, Donald Sutherland and stage actress Shirley Douglas. Interestingly, he is the grandson of Tommy Douglas - the former Premier of Saskatchewan. I did catch a few minutes of one episode, but not one who enjoys violent, tense shows, I did not stick around long. I must admit that Kiefer Sutherland has come a long way since he gave great performances in movies such as The Lost Boys, and Stand by Me.

24 is presented in real time, with each gripping season depicting a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the U.S. Government as it fights terrorist threats. Each episode is nail-biting, with Jack the hero, trying to save the world and his loved ones. Sutherland’s powerful portrayal of the Federal Counter Terrorism Agent, has earned him recognition as the Best Actor in a TV Drama at the 2001 Golden Globe Awards and the 2004 & 2006 SAG Awards.

After the 5th season, Kiefer signed a $40 million deal with 20th Century Fox and will appear in additional seasons of 24 till 2008, making him the highest paid actor in a TV drama. He was also promoted from Co-Executive Producer to Executive Producer of 24.

** There are three leading causes of death among terrorists. The first two are Jack Bauer, and the third one is heart attack from hearing Jack Bauer is coming for them.

** When a convicted terrorist was sentenced to face Jack Bauer, he appealed to have the sentence reduced to death.

** Most people would need months to recover from 20 months of Chinese interrogation. Jack Bauer needs a shower, a shave and a change of clothes.

** Chained to a chair, tortured, and with the threat of death hanging over him, Jack just wanted something to eat.

Hollywood gossip is that a movie has been written, and is scheduled to be filmed this year, for release in 2008.

It didn’t take Oprah too long to join the reality series TV bandwagon. Two new reality competition series, one tentatively called Oprah’s Big Give will debut, marking her first forey into prime-time TV as a producer. Details are sketchy at the moment. Apparently 10 people will be presented with large sums of money and other resources and will be challenged to find the most powerful, sensational, emotional and dramatic ways to give to others.

Gradually the contestants will be narrowed as the group confronts a “big catch” each week, with the winner getting his or her “wildest dream come true.” Oprah will be appearing in one of the two series, but her role has not yet been decided.

Thought it would be interesting to look up a few celebrity homes….

Oprah’s 40 acre, $50 million dollar estate in Santa Barbara, California

Vicroria & David Beckhams Beverley Hills pad

Tom Cruise bought this place for Katie and Suri

For a man who did not fly, he needed a comfy abode.
The late Aaron Spelling’s 50 000 sq ft mansion

California coast is where Barbara Streisand lives with her handsome hubby, James Brolin.

Lake Washington is where Bill Gates calls home

Britney’s Spears Malibu home when she is not in rehab.

This would not be complete without showing Donald Trumps’ famous Mar-a Lago in Florida

Yesterday Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh arrrived by limo for their official welcome to the White House.
This included a 21-gun salute and trumpet fanfares. The day ended with a state dinner hosted by President George Bush, and his wife Laura.
Apparently Laura had to convince George to do the dinner as a white-tie event. A few etiquette lessons were needed for this Texan who enjoys putting his feet up on the coffee table and drinking water straight from the bottle. Texas swagger meets British prim.

Seems like he came through ok.