Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson, the luminous British actress from one of the world's great acting families, whose performances ranged from the high-brow drama "The Handmaid's Tale" to the lightweight comedy "The Parent Trap" and the Tony-winning Broadway production of "Cabaret," died Wednesday. She was 45.

The wife of "Schindler's List" actor Liam Neeson and daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late film director Tony Richardson died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. The cause of death was not announced, but she had been hospitalized after suffering a devastating brain injury while skiing Monday.

"Liam Neeson, his sons and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha," said a statement released by publicist Alan Nierob. "They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time." unsecured loans

Richardson was injured at Mont Tremblant, a luxury resort in Canada. The actress was taking a lesson on a beginner's run near the bottom of the ski area and was not wearing a helmet when she had what first appeared to be a minor accident.

She initially reported that she was well, but soon started to complain of a headache. Hours after the fall, the star of a number of acclaimed stage plays -- including "Anna Christie," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Closer" -- slipped into unconsciousness, and she was transported Tuesday from a Montreal hospital back to New York, where she was surrounded by family and friends.

The actress' most recent film credits came in last year's "Wild Child" opposite Emma Roberts and 2007's "Evening" with Meryl Streep, Claire Danes and Redgrave. The "Evening" part was one of a number of recent roles Richardson had had in productions with her closest relatives. On television, she appeared as a guest judge on the just-concluded season of the cooking show "Top Chef."

Richardson was born in London on May 11, 1963. In addition to Redgrave, other actors in her family include sister Joely Richardson, a star of the television series "Nip/Tuck," and aunt Lynn Redgrave, whose film credits include "Georgy Girl" and "Gods and Monsters." Richardson's grandfather was legendary Shakespearean actor Michael Redgrave.

Her father was an acclaimed writer, director and producer who won the directing and best picture Oscar for 1963's "Tom Jones." Tony Richardson, who died in 1991 at age 63, also directed "Look Back in Anger" and "A Taste of Honey."

The actress' 72-year-old mother, who won the supporting actress Academy Award for 1977's "Julia," still acts in theater and film.

Just before the skiing accident, Richardson was considering a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" with her mother, after a highly praised one-night January staging at New York's Studio 54.

Although Richardson may have come from royal show business blood, she did not try to use her ancestry to advance her career, but rather saw her family's creative business as something of a classroom.

"I know the pressures of being the daughter of a great actress," Richardson said in a 2005 interview with London's Independent newspaper. "But it's inspiring. You learn so much that other people don't get to learn until later on. My father being a director, I [learned] a real work ethic. You think: 'One day, I'd like to be as good as that.' But when I was starting out professionally, I had a level of attention put on me that I didn't deserve or wasn't ready for. And it was hard, particularly in England, to make my way."

Richardson trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, hiding her family connections, and subsequently picked up minor parts in little-known theater and television productions. In 1985, she made her West End debut, playing the troubled young actress Nina in Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull." A year later, Richardson was cast in her first prominent movie role, starring in director Ken Russell's "Gothic" as "Frankenstein" author Mary Shelley.

A variety of more prominent movie and stage roles followed, but Richardson often gravitated toward artier film productions, with mainstream movies more exception than rule. Despite her British roots, she often played iconic American characters -- including Patty Hearst (in a movie of the same name), Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" and the title role in Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie."

With a gravelly, seductive voice (once compared to a combination of honey and iron filings), Richardson was frequently willing to play emotionally vulnerable roles. "I just feel for her," she told the Times in 1993 about Anna Christie. "Her anger and her loneliness and her pain." bad credit loans

Richardson's movie choices in 1990 exemplified her creative taste. That year, she starred in "The Comfort of Strangers," a drama about a couple (Richardson and Rupert Everett) trying to repair a failing relationship, and "The Handmaid's Tale," an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel about a future theocracy. Hinting at her growing interest in theater, the screenplays for both movies were written by the playwright Harold Pinter.

Richardson made her Broadway debut in 1993, playing opposite Neeson in "Anna Christie." She was married to producer Robert Fox at the time; they divorced that year, and she married Neeson in 1994. The couple had two sons together, Micheal and Daniel, and Richardson left acting for three years when they were born.

"I have a famous mother, and it took me years to get over that," she once told London's Mirror. "Now I have this really famous husband. I definitely feel a loss of confidence. Perhaps that's partly why I love living in New York, being free of all that family baggage, being open to all sorts of possibilities."

Richardson continued to appear in movies, with the highest-profile roles coming in the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap" opposite Lindsay Lohan and Dennis Quaid, and 2002's romantic comedy "Maid in Manhattan" with Jennifer Lopez.

damian lewis interview

The British actor discusses his Golden Globe-nominated role in psychological thriller Homeland, which is screening on TV3.

Damian Lewis in Homeland

In Britain, Damian Lewis is known as a stage actor and star of low-key television treasures such as The Forsyte Saga and Friends and Crocodiles. But over in the US, he shot to fame in the Steven Spielberg-produced Band of Brothers. After starring in cop show Life, he was nominated for a Golden Globe this year for his role in Homeland, a psychological thriller in which he plays Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody who, after eight years in captivity, may be a sleeper agent for al Qaeda.

This is a tough role: Brody is tortured during captivity and may be a security threat to America. Did the producers let you know what you were getting yourself in for? They were very open that they were offering me a controversial role in an ambitious project and about the fact that he was more than likely going to be a threat – in fact, the danger had to come from him; otherwise the series falls apart.

detective in Life who had been in prison for 10 years. Did that help when you were preparing for the role of Brody? Band of Brothers much less so, actually, because they have such different psychological makeups, Brody and [Major Richard] Winters. Band of Brothers was all about the art of leadership and soldiering and the extraordinary accomplishments of Easy Company, who helped liberate Europe. There are more similarities with Charlie Crews in Life – these two men are both released from prison after a long time and are rebirthed, if you like, and given a second chance at life. There the similarity really ends, because Crews was given a $50 million settlement, nice cars, nice suits and women if he wanted them. Brody is left in an altogether darker place – it’s not fantasy.

Yeah, you’re not playing Brody for laughs. No, not this time, although I’m looking forward to Homeland the Musical.


Do you think the series made Americans think about their foreign policy? There’s a much greater introspection in America. I’ve worked there a lot in the past five years, and I see a more self-analytical side to America, and Obama as the president embodies that. There’s been a massive sea change – for the good, I would argue –  and the politics of the show tap into unsecured loans that. I think politically, if you wanted to use labels, it’s a liberal show, it poses these questions – what defines terrorism? There’s terror perpetrated by military groups and then there’s state terrorism.


More than 10 years after 9/11 was it the right time to explore these issues? [Producers] Alex [Gansa] and Howard [Gordon] have said publicly that they weren’t sure if there was an appetite still for this kind of thing, but even though it doesn’t dominate the papers in quite the same way, everyone knows there are different rogue elements that have sprung up everywhere now. It’s created almost more uncertainty and I think that’s what the show taps into. And it taps into bad credit loans uncertainty of our own governments and the way in which Western governments went about advocating the war on terror. It’s massively symbolic that a US marine might be enraged enough by what he sees and what he’s being asked to do that he finds cause to switch sides. It’s real and particularly alarming and I think that’s arresting for people.

Tulisa sexiest woman, what. a. joke.

Tulisa has usurped Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Cheryl Cole to be named the world’s sexiest woman.

The X Factor judge, 23, who recently hit the headlines when a sex tape appeared online showing her sharing an “intimate moment” with a former boyfriend, tops the annual FHM list.

Two-time winner Cheryl takes second place, followed by pop star Rihanna and glamour model Rosie Jones.
Model and Transformers star Rosie drops down to 18th place from top of the list in 2011. unsecured loans

Irish model and Celebrity Big Brother contestant Georgia Salpa is fifth, followed by US pop star and Russell Brand’s ex Katy Perry. Actress Megan Fox, glamour model Keeley Hazell, Friends With Benefits star Mila Kunis and Inbetweeners actress Emily Atack complete the top 10.

Pippa Middleton makes FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women In The World list at 11, while her sister the Duchess of Cambridge is 32nd.

Singer Pixie Lott is 12th, followed by model Daisy Lowe (13), and The Saturdays singer Mollie King (14). Her bandmate Frankie Sandford is 19. bad credit loans

The top 20 is completed by Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh (15), The Voice judge Jessie J (16), actress Zooey Deschanel (17), and model Kelly Brook (20).

“I’m proud of me and I am who I am. I know that I’m Marmite and I wouldn’t want to be anything less or anything more, I’m just myself,” Tulisa said. “This is an award that will stay on the mantelpiece probably for the rest of my life.”

The full list, voted for by FHM readers, comes with the June edition of FHM, on sale now.

Hidden Talent

A diving instructor from Peasedown St John will be putting 900 members of the public to the test when she appears on a new prime-time Channel 4 show.

Emma Farrell, 38, will be on Hidden Talent, hunting for someone with no prior experience to train to become an expert diver in just a matter of weeks.

1. ​
   UNDERWATER EXPERT: Emma Farrell exploring the deep

Across the series nine participants will go from total novice to top performer in a variety of skills including freediving, opera singing, lie detecting and speaking foreign languages.

The rigorous large-scale testing of hundreds of people around the country is undertaken, overseen by scientists and academics, to find out if people have special physical, mental, sensory or creative talents that they were totally unaware of.

Emma, who is the author of the book One Breath, a Reflection unsecured loans on Freediving, is the series expert on freediving. She devised unique tests to find out if 900 members of the public had a hidden talent and then trained the winning participant.

She said: "The first issue was that I had to get through up to 300 people a day, none of whom were allowed to know they were being tested for freediving and in a room with no water.

"I had to invent a test for equalisation that could be done anywhere and then use specific medical questions to determine if a person might be any good.

"When I asked people to hum and move their jaw forward to see if it gets louder in one or both ears many people thought they were being tested for singing.

"I looked for healthy ears, sinuses and equalisation ability and then took one or two people each hour to perform a breath-hold walking test with a heart rate monitor to see if they had a strong mammalian dive reflex. bad credit loans

"It was so exciting to see people with no knowledge of their hidden ability shine."
Twelve candidates were then selected to join Emma for in-water tests at Crystal Palace before six joined her for two days at Vobster Quay for final in-water physical and psychological tests.
Emma then chose one individual to train .

She said: "Although I can't say who they are and what they did, I can say that I was incredibly proud of what they achieved in such a short space of time.

"The project represented the first time ever that so many people have been tested for a latent ability to freedive and shows what amazing hidden talents are out there."

During the programme the winner also takes part in yoga classes at Universal Yoga, where Emma is a teacher, to help improve their breathing, strength and flexibility.

Emma will appear Hidden Talent on May 1 at 9pm and again on May 29 with the winning candidate. She is also taking part in a live web-chat immediately after the episode on May 1.

Emma, who teaches freedving at Vobster Quay, has also taught TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to dive for River Cottage and has appeared on Britain's Secret Seas.

She hopes to dispel the myth that freediving is only suitable for very fit people.

Emma, who first began diving 12 years ago, said: "I first got involved because it looked really relaxing and peaceful. There is a common misconception that it is only for fit or young people.

 Anyone can give it a go; in fact there is a world free diving record holder who did not learn to dive till she was in her 50s."

Zac Efron new film

The new romance "The Lucky One," starring Zac Efron as a weary Marine and Taylor Schilling as a beautiful stranger, is the latest in a line of film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks' weepy novels. (In case you've forgotten, the list includes "Dear John," "The Last Song" and most famously "The Notebook.") As is often the case with Sparks' movies and their imitators (including "The Vow" earlier this year), critics agree that "The Lucky One" is a tear-jerker best left to hard-core romance fans. unsecured loans

In one of the more positive reviews, the Los Angeles Times' Betsy Sharkey calls "The Lucky One" a "sweet but not too syrupy romance" and "the best Sparks-inspired film to come along since 'The Notebook.' " It's certainly not perfect: "Without much tension, the film becomes more of an extended music video of Logan and Beth's [Efron and Schilling's characters] rocky road to love," Sharkey writes. But the film is "beautifully captured by director of photography Alar Kivilo," she says, while Efron is "in his wheelhouse," Schilling is "moving," and director Scott Hicks "keeps 'The Lucky One' from turning into complete mush."

The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday is less impressed and describes the film as a "tepid, inert enterprise." "The Lucky One," she continues, is "devoid of genuine tension, conflict or combustible chemistry between its two stars," and "just prettily sits there." So does Efron, for that matter: "The role of a stoic, expressionless philosopher-soldier requires that he tamp down his natural exuberance and physical grace, a regrettable misuse of his native talents." Invoking "The Notebook," Hornaday concludes that "'The Lucky One' tries hard to re-bottle that lightning, to no avail."

Hearst film critic Amy Biancolli echoes Hornaday, writing that "there isn't much of anything going on in 'The Lucky One,' a lazy (in all ways) Nicholas Sparks romance that's as pretty and vacant as its hero." Efron's problem, Biancolli says, isn't one of ability but of execution: "I'm not saying the boy can't act (I've seen him do it). I'm saying he doesn't." Meanwhile, "Where Efron under-emotes, Schilling over-emotes, giving their scenes together an out-of-whack thespian asymmetry." The result, Biancholli says, is "all very pretty, and all very dull."

A.O. Scott, of New York Times, offers less a review of "The Lucky One" than an anatomization of the genre he refers to as "the Nicholas Sparks movie": "The setting is the coastal South … A young man and a young woman will fall in love, but there will be complications. … Desperate yearning will erupt into urgent kissing." Check, check and check. The film is directed "gracefully enough," Scott says, and Efron is "reasonably credible," but "if realism is what you’re after, you’ll do better at 'The Three Stooges.' 'The Lucky One' is where you will find death, redemption and kisses in the rain."

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert also tackles the Sparks formula: "They usually involve the triumph of love over adversity, are usually set in beautiful natural settings, usually involve such coincidences as finding a message in a bottle, and usually make me stir restlessly, because such escapism is shameless." Shameless or not, Ebert concedes, "credit must be given to a film that delivers the goods, and if you've ever liked a Nicholas Sparks movie, you're likely to enjoy this one." bad credit loans

For those averse to sudsy romances, however, expecting to enjoy this one might be pushing your luck.

Russell Brand speaks to UK MPs on drug addiction

Comedian and actor Russell Brand told the British government on Tuesday that it needs to adopt a pragmatic approach to address the social issues that lead young people to take drugs.

Dressed in a flamboyant ensemble of black, Brand struck a contrast against the formally attired politicians with his long coat, vest, hat and leather wristbands.

Brand, a former heroin addict who has been arrested 12 times, appeared before politicians to give his views on the government's drug policies and his battle with drug addiction. unsecured loans

The comedian answered questions from the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee on his experiences and stressed the importance addressing addiction as an illness rather than a criminal or judicial matter.

"It's more important that we regard people's suffering from addiction with compassion, and that there is a pragmatic rather than symbolic approach to treating it," he said.

The committee is looking at the government's drug policy, existing sanctions and the case for decriminalizing some substances.

"The status of a drug is irrelevant to a drug addict. If you're a drug addict, you're getting drugs. That's it. So in way, it's probably best to make it simple," bad credit loans he said.

Brand told the committee he became addicted to drugs because of emotional and psychological difficulties as well as spiritual malady.

"I was sad, lonely, unhappy, detached and drugs and alcohol for me seemed like a solution to that problem," he said.

Brand called for more awareness and research into abstinence-based recovery, which he underwent to treat his addiction at rehabilitation charity Focus12, of which he is a patron.

"If you have the illness or disease of addiction or alcoholism, the best way to tackle it is not use drugs in any form whether it's state-sponsored opus like methadone or illegal street drugs," Brand said.

"There is some confusion and ignorance around addiction and it's quite understandable because a lot of drug addicts...are a strain on society, they necessarily engage in criminal activity, they're a public nuisance in many ways.

"It wasn't until I had access to abstinence-based recovery that I was able to change my behavior and significantly reduce, all but obliterate my criminal activity, apart from the occasional skirmish," he joked lightly.

The comedian has written about his struggle with drug addiction in his autobiography "My Booky Wook" in 2007 and wrote a touching obituary about singer Amy Winehouse when she died last year after battling alcohol and drug abuse for years.

"We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care," Brand wrote on his website.

"We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalization doesn't even make economic sense."

Gideon Sundback zipper

Gideon Sundback invented the zip, a product that has been holding together much of the parts of our lives for about a century now. And Google has paid a tribute to the man with a an unzippable doodle on this 132nd birthday.
Google Gideon Sundback's 132nd birthday doodle gives the appearance of a jacket front that has the Google logo embroidered on it and a zip runs through the middle of the Google logo, separating the second 'o'. To get to know what the doodle is all about users can either click on the logo or better, unzip to reveal what lies within.
We all use zips, but few may have pondered about how they actually work. Sundback's design, that he finalised in 1913, had a zipper with interlocking oval scoops (earlier designs made use of hooks) that could be easily interlocked by moving a slider. The patent application for the new invention was filed in 1914 and issued in 1917.

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Excerpts from Gideon Sundback's patent for the 'separable fastener' detailing how his invention actually works:
This invention relates to separable fasteners, and has particular reference to that type of fastener for garments and other purposes, where two flexible stringers are locked and unlocked by a sliding cam device mounted on both members, the locking being effected by an movement in one direction and unlocking by an opposite movement.
The objects of the present invention are to decrease the weight and bulk, to increase the flexibility and security of locking, and to provide one form of locking member for both stringers, so constructed and arranged that when properly positioned unsecured loans relatively to each other on the stringers they lock and unlock upon proper movement of the cam sliding device.
A further object of the invention is to simplify the cam sliding device, which is possible owing to the reduction of locking members to one form for both stringers, instead of the different forms heretofore employed on the respective stringers.
According to the present invention, the stringers are alike, as in some prior types of this fastener, preferably consisting as herein shown of a fabric tape provided with a beaded or corded edge, upon which the locking members, are clamped. bad credit loans
The locking members are all alike, and therefore interchangeable, and in general form consist of contractible jaw portions which are clamped upon the tape and projecting locking portions of elongated cup shape, so that the outside of one member nests within the recess of an adjoining member when in locked relation.