Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct Pays a Cool $Mil

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

So Sharon Stone decides to stand up in front of a bunch of corporate big rats and collect donations for needy people. Just FIVE MINUTES later, she's raised a cool $1 million to pay for mosquito nets to combat malaria in Tanzania. (Let's hope they were Euro dollars, not US dollars!) The impromptu fundraiser occurred after the actress called on the fat rats attending the 5-day World Economic Forum panel in Davos, Switzerland, to follow her lead and pony up. I say we put her in charge of the Treasury Department . . .

So That's Why Trainspotting was subtitled?

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

You loved the lads in Trainspotting, even if you had no clue what they said. Now a BBC online survey has found that favorite Scottish son Sir Sean Connery was the "most pleasant speaker" from Scotland, followed closely by Ewan McGregor (above) and Billy Connolly.

According to the survey, in the UK 54% of the population said they were pleased with the way they spoke, while a whooping 73% of those from Scotland said they were proud of their accent. The poll is part of a BBC project into the English language.

So, do you think you know Scots? Here's a sample translation:

Scottish - "Hinka cumfae cashore canfeh, ahl hityi oar hied 'caw taughtie."

English - "Do you think just because I come from Carronshore I cannot fight? I shall hit you over the head with a cold potato."

Better DEAD than Democratic

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 12:14 AM | Permalink

As if things weren't bad enough in the region, militant Islamic groups with links to gangs are possibly poised to launch attacks on unsuspecting aid workers. As jihadists fret over assistance arriving in Aceh, they are issuing stern warnings to people that the foreign aid pouring in is "just a cover for Christian missionary activity."

Unarmed military personnel from several countries could be targeted by terrorist groups, who fear they will have an undue EVIL influence (such as freedom and liberty?) on the already unfortuate victims of the disaster. Islamic leaders want tsunami aid workers out of Indonesia because they might invade and corrupt the people.

Better dead than democratic? Why not let food, water, emergency shelter and medicine in now, so you can have a few souls left to terrorize later?

Read the story from Australia

Princes Pitch In: Mum Would Have Been Proud

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 3:27 AM | Permalink

They were stunned by the disaster as the rest of us were. Princes William and Harry were at work in a Gloucestershire warehouse on Friday, spending more than 5 hours preparing boxes of emergency supplies and stretchers for shipment to the devastated areas in Southeast Asia that were hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Both royals mentioned that they were moved to tears by the plight of the thousands of children orphaned by the disaster, with Harry saying: "We're not exempt from what everybody else does. We just wanted to be hands on. We didn't want to sit back and just give donations."

Sopranos Soldiers Join USO visit

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 2:58 PM | Permalink

Tony Soprano's soldiers, including Vincent Curatola (pictured with James Gandolfini below), took the time to visit wounded soldiers at a miltary hospital in Maryland.

One soldier asked Curatola, who plays Johnny Sack on the HBO series The Sopranos, how much he'd have to pay for mafia capo Johnny Sack to shoot the terrorist who shot him in the head. And, bada bing, Curatola told the soldier, "I'd do it for free." Curatola was joined by Sopranos cast members Tony Sirico, Aida Turturro, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, Steve Schrippa and John Ventimiglia on a USO visit to Walter Reed Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Open Water Filmmakers Caught in the Tsunami

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 6:04 PM | Permalink

Husband-and-wife filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau escaped being pulled into a real-life version of their shark thriller "Open Water" while vacationing in Thailand.

, Kentis and Lau were among hundreds of foreign tourists on the resort island of Phuket when the tsunami that has killed more than 117,000 people struck Sunday. They recounted their story to The Associated Press on Thursday by telephone from a Singapore hotel.

The family was awakened by the initial magnitude 9.0 earthquake, and Kentis was returning to his hotel after running morning errands when he saw the huge wave headed toward him.

"I heard people yelling, 'Run, run!'" said Kentis, who wrote and directed the 2003 sleeper hit about two scuba divers stranded in shark-infested waters. "I looked behind me and I thought, 'This is what happens in a movie when there's a tidal wave.' You could hear the rumbling and this wave was coming right at us."

Kentis, 41, fled to his upper-story hotel room, but his wife and 7-year-old daughter Sabrina weren't there. At that moment, they were in a second-floor Internet cafe, trapped by a telephone booth lodged in the stairwell. The power went out and electric lines popped all around them.

"I saw the wave come over the street. It just washed away absolutely everything in its path. I just couldn't believe my eyes," said Lau, who produced "Open Water."

Lau, 41, said she pulled about a half-dozen Swedish tourists to safety using a bamboo ladder before using it herself to escape from the cafe's balcony with Sabrina on her back. They reached Kentis by hiking in waist-deep water back to the hotel.

Fearing another massive way, the couple then hiked several miles into the mountains with their luggage. They took two minicabs to Phuket's east coast. "When we got there, it was all people on yachts having a good time. It was just surreal," Kentis said. "Two hours later, our kids were swimming in this beautiful hotel pool and we're ordering food."

"Open Water" was released Tuesday on DVD. The film is based on the true story of a couple who are accidently left behind 25 miles off shore when their chartered scuba diving tour boat screws up the head count. Director Kentis, shot the majority of the film himself including the being constantly bumped and surrounded by sharks.

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Jet Li survives in the Maldives

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 3:47 PM | Permalink

Martial arts superstar Jet Li survived the recent tsumani wave while vacationing in the Maldives over the weekend. The "Hero" star (below with actress Zhang Ziyi)and his daughter dashed to safety when a wall of water surged into the hotel where they were staying, according to family friends. The pair ran to higher ground, where Li called his agent to assure him they were all right.

Unfortunately, Victoria's Secret model Petra Nemcova, was not as fortunate as Li. The Czech Republic beauty, who is now recovering in a hospital in Thailand, was on vacation in Phuket with her photographer boyfriend Simon Atlee when waves overwhelmed their beach hut. Nemcova reported hung on to a palm tree for eight hours, and suffered several broken bones, including a broken pelvis. From her hospital bed, Nemcova recalled her recent hell to the New York Post. She said, "Kids were screaming all over the place, screaming, 'Help, help.' And after a few minutes, you didn't hear the kids anymore." Atlee, who shot the photographs for his girlfriend's new 2005 calendar, is still missing.

U.N. Official Takes It Back

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Let's see -- A now red-faced "senior" United Nations official beat a hasty retreat yesterday after accusing the United States and other well-off Western nations of a "stingy" response to the devastation in south Asia.

Jan Egeland, a Norwegian who holds the lofty title of Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, now claims he was “misinterpreted? when he charged Monday that "there are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy."

"It is beyond me why we are so stingy, really," he told reporters.

Misinterpreted? I think not. . . , Egeland knew exactly what he was saying —and he meant every word of it. Of course, it was about as truthful as the rest of the slime that oozes from that corrupt cesspool called the United Nations on New York's First Avenue. Granted, the aid response was seemingly low - but the death toll was 4,000 by Sunday night. No one at the time knew it would reach a toll of 100,000+ four days later when officials began receiving news from remote areas.

Speaking of coughing up millions: If those high-living diplomats would donate a portion of the millions of dollars they stole in the Oil-for-Food program — which was designed as humanitarian aid for starving Iraqis but instead became an under-the-table cash cow for top U.N. officials and their families — Egeland might find some serious cash for the needy in Asia.

While I'm ranting on the subject: Let's add to this sordid mess called the U.N. the recent reports of rape and child molestation committed by U.N. peacekeepers in Africa, allegations of sexual harassment involving the heads of both the U.N. refugee agency and the internal audit division, a revolt against “senior management? by the U.N. staff union, the findings of an internal U.N. integrity survey that a lot of U.N. employees fear retaliation if they speak out, and the statements of a few brave whistle-blowers, fighting for their jobs, to precisely that effect. Plus, if you like, there’s the expanding saga of how the secretary-general Kofi Annan until confronted by the press allegedly failed to notice that his son in Switzerland had allegedly been doing lucrative business deals with a major U.N. contractor under the Oil-for-Food program. All of which has been subject to the marvelously circular argument that the press should shut up until the U.N., in between firing off hush letters to its contractors and employing Mr. Annan’s U.S.-taxpayer-funded staff to lambaste the U.N.’s critics, can carry out allegedly full and independent investigations of all these troublesome matters.

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If you're crying over Kerry (still)

Posted by Fara Kearnes at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

And are still asking why John Kerry lost the election, you can mull over the cultural and lifestyle differences separated Kerry from the average American. An article by John Ellis discusses 5 reasons why Kerry lost the election.

As for lifestyle, the author nailed it by pointing out, "Pick your poison: wind-surfing and windsurfing outfits, snow-boarding outfits, $8000 bicycles, the daughter's (see-through) dress at Cannes, Teresa, Nantucket." In short, it's a life of privilege few Americans can relate to. Even the Kennedys did a better job at trying to look average.

, Americans don't want a representative who has an eight-figure bank account, has a perfectly bleached smile, botoxed and tan-from-a-bottle orange skin, with a pound and a half of gel combed into his scalp and a shiny black Rolls Royce parked in the garage of one of his multi-million dollar summer houses. They didn't want a leader who says he sympathizes with the plight of the middle and lower class. What they want is a leader from the middle or lower class.

John Kerry tried to attract everyone by pretending to be everyone. Did voters see through the staged goose hunt? ("Can I get me a huntin' license here?" Nice diction, Yale man.) Of course they did. Same with his sports fan pretense. He misnamed Red Sox star players and mispronounced Lambeau Field. The "Lambert" Field gaff will be talked about in Wisconsin for years.

But Kerry didn't lose it all on his own. The Democratic Party did Kerry no favors by giving Michael Moore celebrity status at the Convention in Boston. Michael Moore, PiDiddy, billionaire George Soros and similar detractors were like anchors weighing Kerry down.

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