Lindsay Lohan, Samantha Ronson to hit Seminole Hard Rock on Valentine's Day

On-again, off-again, never-together-but-messing-with-us duo Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson are hosting a big Valentine's Day party on Feb. 14 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's appropriately named Passions nightclub.

Mary Murphy from So You Think You Can Dance was sighted at the Martini Tuesdays at the Mondrian, hanging out with all the boys. Says one, ``She was very fun, drinking champagne and taking photos with everyone.''

Filmmaker Susan Seidelman, best known for Desperately Seeking Susan, will speak at the Miami Filmmaker Project Seminar Series at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Art Center/South Florida Gallery. Admission is free.

Television personality Maria Celeste was spotted at Club 50 at the Viceroy Miami at a brunch for Fendi's Spring/Summer line. According to our fashionista, ``She fell in love with several of the items coming down the runway and asked to borrow one for her upcoming People En Español's 50 Most Powerful Women shoot, where she will be reportedly on the cover.''

Iggy Pop was at Gardner's Market in Pinecrest on Sunday with longtime girlfriend Nina Alu. Said our spy, ``He looked good for Iggy. And was very nice, sampling the smoothies I was promoting. He was just like another guy at the farmers market, hanging out eating the food and talking to people.''

Brooke Hogan was recently seen shopping at the newly opened Inca boutique at The Gansevoort, where, according to our spy, she turned heads and even stopped traffic as she undressed down to her underwear in the middle of the store to try on bathing suits. Hogan left with more than $2,000 worth of bikinis and cover-ups, including a matching mother/daughter bikini set.

American Idol runner-up David Archuleta was spotted using the coal burning pizza oven to keep his hands warm before going outside to perform for fans at Palm Beach's Vic and Angelos last week.

Shakira took a break from hip-shaking and celebrated her birthday with lunch at RA Sushi in South Miami with family Monday. The party of five sat in a large booth and dined on RA favorites including the Viva Las Vegas roll, the Crazy Monkey roll and the chicken yakisoba. Our source says that Shakira was very friendly and seemed to be relaxed and enjoying the quality time with her family. She was also naturally beautiful, wearing little makeup, and was casually dressed.

Grammy Award-winning merengue singer Elvis Crespo was at Mango's Tropical Cafe Monday night. According to our source, he drank Johnnie Walker Black and offered drinks to everyone who was around him.

Jackie Mason left his table at Ghirardelli on Wednesday and had lunch at the Chabad House in Miami Beach. Mason spoke for a few minutes, autographed books, and took photos with fans. He also sponsored the food for the event -- eggplant parmesan, salmon, salads, blintzes, quiches, breads and dips, coffee and cake. Mason volunteered to attend the lunch after meeting Chabad rabbinical students on Lincoln Road.

Source:http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment

Shakira Hits The Studio with Calle 13

Colombian pop queen Shakira recently hit the studio with alt-raperos Calle 13 for a very fruitful recording session in the Bahamas. How do we know? One of the producers in the studio session, James Wisner, was kind enough to post a photo of the whole group on his MySpace profile. Thanks, James!

We've already told you that Shakira is exploring different directions for her new album, her first since Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and 2 dropped four years ago. Pharrell Williams and a longtime Shakira collaborator, Gustavo Cerati, both worked on new tracks with the singer in recent months. It all leads to one question: what in the world will Shakira's new album sound like? Will she be rapping with Residente and Visitante? About scatological humor? We can't wait to find out.

Source http://en.terra.com/entertainment

‘Shakira’s hot, but Madonna’s amazing!’

Well, that’s Sandip Soparrkar for you. Candid and cordial. Having grabbed attention for his connection (dance, of course) with Hollywood hotties such as Shakira, Beyonce Knowles, Madonna Britney Spears and even football legend Maradona, Sandip seems quite content with life. “Things are happening and I am happy about how they are moving. Dance takes care of half of your life,” says Sandip.

A single father, who adopted a two-year-old boy, Sandip feels the society is selfish and to some extent racial when it comes to adopting a baby. “It took me four years to be able to adopt a baby. First of all, I am single and a man. That was the major hurdle. A single woman has to undergo three steps, whereas the law of land has laid 42 steps for a man to be able to adopt a child. And that too, a single man can only adopt a male child. Added to this, once I passed this acid test, people used to advise me to adopt a fair child. Why? Because I am fair,” Sandip shares.

Life seems to have taken another good turn after his son Arjun entered his life. “It’s been wonderful to see Arjun grow. He’s one and a half year old and I love him. He is not a dancer. And I don’t want to make him one. I want to give him a good life.” According to Sandip, adopting a child and giving a better life to a child makes more sense than donating money. He seems to be enjoying fatherhood, as he says, “I am going to buy something for my son from Ahmedabad.”

During the economic slowdown, Sandip feels, “dance helps reduce stress levels. And believe me, the number of people who come to dance has increased when I conduct a workshop in these two months.”

Having trained ‘Bootylicious’ Beyonce, hip-shaker Shakira, Sandip has choreographed Britney Spears’ song Womanizer. In his kitty right now is the Hollywood flick Nine starring Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman. So who is the hottest of all these celebrities? “Shakira. No doubt about it. But I really admire Madonna for her appeal and being able to maintain a toned up figure, which is quite difficult a task. When I met her, I was amazed to see how young she looked. At 50 she looked like a 30-year old.

Excerpt from the article in http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Shakira to Shake for Obama's Inauguration

We hope it's true!

Latina magazine reports that Shakira will be performing at the Obama inauguration in January!

The Obama camp won't confirm or deny the report, but we're inclined to believe it!

Latina did break the big news that Mariah Carey married Nick Cannon earlier this year!

Plus, when philanthropist Shaki endorsed the Prez-Elect back in October, the big B responded, "It's an honor for me to receive support from someone with so much talent, from an artist who has been so generous."

There's mutual love there!

We can't wait to see the Colombiana heat up that wintery DC night!

Source:http://perezhilton.com/2008-12-04-shakira

Shakira takes appeal for Latin America's poor kids to New York

Remember how we reported earlier this year from Mexico on ALAS, a new charity initiative by Colombian superstar Shakira to aid Latin America's millions of poor, malnourished and undereducated children?

Well, she's at it again, this time in New York and accompanied by Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz.

But her companions weren't just other Spanish-speaking pop stars but rather the presidents of Mexico, Argentina, El Salvador, Panama and Paraguay.

The singers asked the presidents to adopt an agreement on combating child poverty during the upcoming Iberoamerican Summit in late October. ''If we win your personal commitment today, we will have opened the future of Latin America,'' said Sanz, a Spaniard.

''I promised Shakira that in the next summit, which is in El Salvador, we will work on the topic,'' Salvadoran President Tony Saca told a crowd of 1,000 at Columbia University in New York, where the presidents are attending the United Nations General Assembly.

The five leaders spoke of child poverty in their countries and expressed interest in the project -- as well as admiration for the artists' work through ALAS.

Source:http://www.miamiherald.com/

First dress rehearsal took place in Limassol

In the Spyros Kyprianou Arena, the first dress rehearsal of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest took place. Giorgos Ioannides, who represented Cyprus in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest last year, is the star of the opening sequence that switches between kids on stage and kids dancing all around Limassol.
Following the opening act with eighty dancers, the presenters of the show appear on stage. Sophia Paraskeva and Alex Michael appear rising from the floor, looking as if appearing through a fountain of water. The participants enter the hall walking down the stairs through the audience, carrying a large sun shaped flag of their country.

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest cooperates with UNICEF and that you will notice throughout the show. UNICEF ambassadors like David Beckham, Shakira, Robbie Williams and Whoopi Goldberg are the first ones to make you aware that not all children in the world live in wealth and peace. When the hosts explained how to vote, it is time to open the televoting and kick off the show with the first participants from Romania.

After the first three countries - Romania, Armenia and Belarus - performed, you can see last year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest Sipke Jan Bousema elaborating on the UNICEF project. Following the performances of Russia and Greece, you can see Sipke Jan in another postcard together with the Junior Eurovision Song Contest participants.

Georgia is next after the short break after which a postcard of the sandy beach introduces Oliver, the Belgian candidate. Bulgaria, Serbia, Malta and the Netherlands. Beckham, Shakira and Robbie promote UNICEF once more and make it possible again for broadcasters to air a commercial break. Sophia Paraskeva and Alex Michael then show up again before the show continues with the last four candidates from Ukraine, Lithuania, Macedonia and Cyprus. With a recap off all songs, the viewers are asked to vote for their favourite participants and to suppurt UNICEF.

Evridiki and Dimitris Korgialas (stand-ins for the moment) take the stage to sing this year's Junior Eurovision theme song Fun In The Sun and dancers form the word FUN on stage. Another recap of the songs is aired for them who couldn't make up their mind yet. Dima Bilan, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest gets introduced.

Following a report on the Lemesos Parade which took place in Limassol last Monday, the candidates all together hand in hand sing the UNICEF song Hand In Hand. Another review on what the candidates did in Cyprus this week, an interview with and performance of Dima Bilan (a stand-in for the moment) later, a video with last years Belarusian winner Alexey and the usual chat with Svante Stockselius, the points can finally be revealed.

Source: http://www.belgovision.com/en/index_f.php?id=4846

Shakira to lobby on child welfare

Shakira to lobby on child welfare

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Latin pop star Shakira, showing she can move more than her hips, will lobby Latin American presidents this week to start a regional project to pump money into children's health and education.

The singer will address a summit in El Salvador of Ibero-American leaders, including the presidents of Brazil and her native Colombia, over the need to feed and educate poor children, especially amid a global economic slowdown.

"There are difficult times coming in Latin America. Thousands and thousands of children will die if governments do not organize ways to distribute food during this crisis," Shakira told Reuters.

"I grew up in the developing world and I have witnessed the lack of opportunities that children have to live with," she added, speaking by telephone from Miami.

"In a country like mine, when a child is born poor, people die poor. But I'm fascinated by the fact that through education you can transform lives, you can end this cycle of poverty."

Some 35 million children live in poverty in Latin America with little or no access to proper food and education, Shakira said. Investing in a year of primary education can increase a person's adult income by up to 20 percent, she added.

Shakira's hip-swivelling dances and catchy ballads have earned her a huge global following and a string of Grammy awards. She began getting into social issues just a few years into her pop career, starting a Colombian children's charity called the Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet) Foundation in 1997, named after her breakthrough hit album released a year before.

While celebrities like Bono and Angelina Jolie have focused on Africa, Shakira uses her fame to make headlines on Latin America, where stubbornly high poverty levels can get overlooked because of healthier overall economic indicators.

Shakira helped launch the Fundacion ALAS (Latin America in Solidarity Action), which is behind the new initiative, and has lobbied British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the U.S. Congress on the need to educate children in poor countries.

"My heart is committed to this cause and it has been there for a long time, since I was 18," said Shakira, now 31, who has sold some 50 million albums around the world.

"I like to think that I can use my public profile to bring attention to more important issues than my own."

Her new project will seek funding from organizations like the World Bank and would monitor governments' efforts closely, although the golden-tressed singer regretted she would not have time to get involved in inspection efforts on the ground.

SOURCE:http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSTRE49S90Z20081030