Mamma Mia!

What's the story?

Swedish songsters ABBA inspire a musical feast that's both sweet and surprisingly spicy. Sophie Sheridan is about to be married to her true love, Sky, but has no father to give her away. What's a bride to do but go poking through Mom's past for answers? In the pages of an old diary she finds a shocking secret: any of three men could be her father. She sends a letter to each one, hoping to discover who has the right to escort her down the aisle... and throwing a big fat Greek monkey wrench into Mom's life.

Three Good Reasons

• 1 The legendary, luminous Meryl Streep scores points for 50+ women everywhere by stealing the show from her equally gorgeous onscreen daughter (Amanda Seyfried of Mean Girls).


• 2 Fans of the stage show may have thought there was no way to improve on it, but the Greek scenery (including Pelion and Skopelos) provides a breathtaking backdrop for the tale.


• 3 This is the type of musical where you go into the theater humming the songs. So grab your friends and go prove to the world that disco never died.

Bet You Didn't Know

The region of Mt. Pelion, where parts of this movie were filmed, has also been graced by another legendary wedding. Tradition names it as the site of the marriage of Thetis and Peleus, parents of the mythical hero Achilles.

Gay marriage is not bull shit!

Gay marriage is not bull shit! I'm not gay i'm happily married to a wonderful man... but you can not judge someone just because they are gay.. that's just idioc! Each person is different and what ever makes them happy should go for it.. If they want to get married then that's great for them... Why in the hell should you care that just goes to show that you have no life and all you care about are gay people getting married.... Do gay people a favor and leave them alone! Oh and another thing get yourself a live!

Be prepared to start seeing a lot more horrid video's posted up by me to help you all understand how cruel human beings can be at times and what we can do to STOP THEM! Just know that this is just a little "teaser" of what I am about to bring upon you all very soon! I am about to become very pro-active against animal cruelty as well as being a part of charities to help people in need out there as well as animals. Sometimes I hate humans so much, but I can't start thinking like that because I have to live with humans everyday, and I want to believe that not everyone out there is bad! That is why I will soon be helping those that are in need. First and foremost though, my homage to the animals. Please be aware that this is reality of what is really happening out there! Stay tuned as I will start to post more info about the charities I will soon be involved with and what you can do to help!!!!! ALSO IF YOU CAN'T EVEN MAKE IT WATCHING PAST THE FIRST 10 SECONDS, THAT MEANS THIS HAPPENS MORE EVERYDAY AND NO ANIMALS ARE RECIEVING HELP BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE IN DENIAL AND THEY DON'T LIKE TO SEE THESE TYPE OF THINGS! BUT IT IS REAL AND PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW AND STOP IT!! I WARN YOU NOT TO WATCH IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH!

Parents call on Confucius for exam good fortune

The Temple of Confucius in the center of Shanghai's old town was unusually full Wednesday morning.

Crowds of people, most of them in their 40s and 50s, burned incense, lit candles and prayed in and around Dacheng Hall where there is a sculpture of Confucius and also where national exams were held during the times of the imperial dynasties.

The good luck notes they hung on the trellises and trees outside the hall gave away their reasons for being there. Most read something like, "Dear Confucius, please help my son/daughter in the college entrance exam".

With the national examinations starting on Saturday, a growing number of parents have turned to Confucius, as a way to ease the pressure.

A cleaner at the temple, surnamed Xu, told China Daily that local people hardly ever visit the temple, but in the past week, hundreds of them had been.

"There are so many visitors coming these days, all the oil and incense burners keep filling up and I have to empty them several times a day," Xu said.

Visitors pay 12 yuan ($1.75) for a piece of notepaper, incense sticks, two candles and a length of red ribbon.

At the Temple of Confucius in Beijing, visitors have to pay 188 yuan for a wooden tablet on which to write their wishes, although the shelf on which these are then placed is now full, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

One of the visitors at the Shanghai temple Wednesday was 47-year-old Ye Qing. She said she was making a wish for her son who is hoping to study telecommunication engineering at East China Normal University.

"It will work if I am sincere enough," she said.

About 100,000 Shanghai students will sit the college entrance exam between Saturday and Monday, and their parents are doubtless all hoping for the same good fortune.

Many, like Ye, have booked hotel rooms close to the test venues.

Staff at several hotels in the city's Minhang district said they have been taking bookings since the beginning of last month, and many are now full, the Xinmin Evening News reported.

Sun Yu, a teacher at the Shanghai Foreign Language School, said parents are prepared to do whatever they can to help their children succeed, including enrolling them in expensive, extracurricular classes.

High school student Vicky Yang said all her classmates spend at least 500 yuan a month on exam-related books and extra lessons.

"Some pay up to 20,000 yuan a semester for classes that promise to help students secure a university place," she said.

Apart from books and classes, parents also buy their children special tonics to drink, Yang said.

"If you collected up all the empty bottles of tonic my classmates have drunk, you could make a small hill."

Safest 2008 luxury cars

Mercedes M class (Photo/cardomain.com)

Luxury automakers are quick to install the latest gadgets in their newest models. Most, like parking assist and advanced climate-control systems, are expensive gizmos there for the enjoyment of the passenger.

Others, like electronic stability control (ESC), can save lives.

That's what drivers of the Audi A6 will find in the 2008 model. Equipped with a remote-control trunk and Bose sound system as standard features, the $46,006 A6 also comes standard with ESC.

That's a good thing, since some are calling ESC the most revolutionary automotive safety device since the seat belt.

"We've seen ESC reduce fatalities by as much as half in some instances," says Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "ESC is especially great at reducing the fatalities for single-car crashes."

ESC immediately found favor with insurance companies and regulatory agencies when it was first introduced to the mass market in 2004. It works by monitoring and comparing a driver's intended course with a vehicle's actual direction. Hit an icy patch or a spot of gravel on a turn and ESC will brake tires individually to control skidding.

Rader calls ESC "the most important safety feature people have never heard of."

Behind The Numbers

To be a 2008 IIHS "Top Safety Pick," a vehicle must have ESC as an available feature. This year's list is made up of 34 vehicles, most of them SUVs.

Vehicles also must have received the top rating of "good" in each of the IIHS's three crash tests--the 40-mph front impact, 31-mph side impact and 20-mph rear impact tests are designed to mimic real-world conditions.

Luxury autos (those over $30,000) making the grade include the $34,995 Subaru Impreza WRX STi and the $31,935 Totota Tundra.

Unfortunately for the penny-pinching worrier, many Top Safety Picks don't come cheap, and additional safety features raise sticker prices.

What auto features are you most attracted to? Weigh in. Add your thoughts to the Readers Comments section below.

The Mercedes M class SUV, for example, offers ESC as a standard feature, but also comes with a tire-pressure warning system and automatic crash notification, which instantly alerts emergency services if the car is in a collision. With an MSRP of $52,750, the M class is the most expensive car on the list.

While the Audi A6 retails for less, adding optional rearview cameras, cornering lights and Xenon headlamps can cost an additional $6,050 when the premium and technology packages are added.

Still, if safety is what you seek, money should be no object.

(Andrew Egan, Forbes.com)

Helping to heal through music

The celebrated German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter (pictured) will donate the fees from her Sunday concert in Shanghai to Sichuan earthquake disaster relief efforts through the German Red Cross.

"My heart goes out to the families and friends who have suffered so much personal loss in the Sichuan earthquake. I believe in a world, in which all people are bound together by the spirit of humanity," said Mutter, in a release issued by the German Red Cross. "I hope my donation and my music brings both help and solace to the thousands in grief and I hope musicians around the world join me in assisting the relief efforts."

Today and tomorrow, Mutter and the Trondheim Soloists from Norway will give two concerts at the National Center for The Performing Arts in Beijing. The program includes Bartok's Divertimento for Strings, Bach's Violin Concerto No 2 and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.

"The sad news of the earthquake has cast a cloud over my tour to China. I believe the whole world is praying for the victims and their families," the violinist said.

"I hope my concert will be a prayer in church. The orchestra and I will pray for the victims and their families and wish them to recover from the disaster soon," she added. "People can find solace in music when they suffer disaster or lose beloved ones. This inspires me to make good music."

Mutter also emphasized that musicians have a social responsibility in addition to making music. She is committed to donating to charity events directed at helping the old, young, disabled along with others in need of help.

(Source: China Daily)

Lebanon elects president after months of turmoil

Lebanon's new president Michel Sleiman appealed for unity after his election on Sunday, a move hailed as the start of a new era after a bitter political feud threatened to plunge the nation into civil war.

"Let us unite... and work towards a solid reconciliation," the 59-year-old former army chief said after being sworn in following his election by parliament. "We have paid dearly for our national unity. Let us preserve it hand-in-hand."

Celebratory shots were fired into the air and fireworks lit up the sky as crowds of people, cheering and waving Lebanese flags, poured into the streets across Lebanon, including Beirut and Sleiman's hometown of Amsheet.

The election was welcomed by the international community led by US President George W. Bush who gave his staunch backing to the Sunni-led government in its 18-month standoff with the mainly Shiite Muslim Hezbollah-led opposition.

Sleiman was elected by 118 votes in a much-delayed parliament session attended by Arab and Western dignitaries that followed a deal hammered out Wednesday in Qatar between the rival Lebanese politicians.

"This is a historic moment," said parliament speaker and opposition stalwart Nabih Berri. "I ask God to help you succeed in steering the Lebanese ship to a safe haven... today no-one in the world can turn Lebanon into a killing field."

Sleiman's main challenge will be to impose himself as a neutral figure and reconcile the Western-backed ruling coalition and the opposition, which is supported by Iran and Syria.

After Sleiman was sworn in, the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora resigned in line with the constitution but will stay on in a caretaker role.

Bickering between the two camps had left the presidency vacant since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term ended in November. Nineteen previous attempts to get lawmakers together to elect a successor failed.

On Wednesday, the rivals finally agreed to elect Sleiman, form a national unity government in which the opposition has veto power and draft a new electoral law for a parliamentary election due next year.

The accord came after 65 people were killed in street battles this month between Hezbollah and their allies and pro-government forces.

It was the deadliest sectarian violence since the 1975-1990 civil war and which threatened to spiral into all-out conflict after Hezbollah, the most powerful armed group in Lebanon, seized control of mainly Sunni west Beirut.

Sleiman said he would seek friendly relations with Syria, Lebanon's former powerbroker which has been accused by Washington of stoking the crisis.

As president -- a position reserved for a Maronite Christian under Lebanon's multi-confessional system -- Sleiman will have to tread a fine line to keep the neutrality he maintained during 10 years as army chief.

He is the third army leader to become president after Fouad Chehab in 1958-1964 and Lahoud, who was elected in 1998 but whose term was controversially extended by three years under a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in 2004.

Bush said he looked forward to "an era of political reconciliation".

"I am confident that Lebanon has chosen a leader committed to protecting its sovereignty, extending the government's authority over all of Lebanon, and upholding Lebanon's international obligations under UN Security Council resolutions."

UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed hope the vote will lead to the "revitalisation of all of Lebanon's constitutional institutions and a return to political dialogue."

Syrian state television said it was a "historic occasion," noting that it coincided with the eighth anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

"The new Lebanese president enters Baabda palace (the presidential headquarters) with the green light of all Lebanese and enormous Arab and international support," a presenter said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, whose government is also blamed by Washington for fometing the political deadlock, said: "Attaining calm and security in this country is attaining calm and security on the level of the region as a whole."

Of the 127 MPs who voted, six cast blank ballots and several voted for other politicians, including slain Rafiq Hariri and other MPs killed since 2005.

Many Lebanese voiced cautious hope the vote will restore stability.

"I have a lot of hope in this election," said Aida Aoun. "But then again we have seen so many others get elected and then deceive us."

Sex symbol Jessica Alba quitely weds long-time beau

"Fantastic Four" star Jessica Alba has quietly wed long-time boyfriend and producer Cash Warren in a private ceremony, media reported Thursday.

The 27-year-old actress, who is pregnant with Warren's child, exchanged vows at the Beverly Hills Courthouse Monday, her publicist Brad Cafarelli confirmed to People, but giving no further details.

Alba and Warren, 31, met on the set of the "Fantastic Four" in 2004. The couple announced their engagement shortly after Abla confirmed her pregnancy in December last year.

Her wedding was such a quiet affair that even her brother, Josh Alba, was apparently kept from it.

When reached by Us Weekly magazine with the news, he responded: "My sister!? I'm going to have to call her!"

When asked if Warren suited his sister, Alba said: "Well, he's my brother-in-law now!"

The sex symbol shot to fame as an action star on TV's "Dark Angel," then in films including "Fantastic Four" and "Sin City."

Alba charts high in men's magazines' lists of the "sexiest" women in the world. She was No. 1 to FHM readers last year, and dropped to No. 3 this year.