28.8.12

Pretty Little Liar

Pretty Little Liars is a series of young-adult novels by American author Sara Shepard, beginning with 2006's inaugural entry of the same name. The series follows the lives of four girls – Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields – whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. Three years later, when the girls are juniors in high school, Alison's body is found, and they begin receiving various messages from someone using the alias "A" who threatens to expose their secrets and get revenge. The novels explore several serious issues such as bullying, murder, drug addiction, underage drinking, eating disorders, homosexuality, peer-pressure, infidelity, and mental illness. Moral ambiguity and the consequences of lying are featured prominently in the series; the girls constantly create their own problems through their unwillingness to tell the truth about certain events and misdeeds they have done. The novels have frequently appeared on the The New York Times Best Seller list.In 2010, a television series based off the novels began airing. Stunning, the eleventh book in the series, was released on June 5, 2012. A twelfth book, Burned, is scheduled to be released on December 4, 2012. In addition, a second companion book, Ali's Pretty Little Lies, is set to be released on January 2, 2013 The series is loosely divided into three arcs of four books each, chronicling the introduction and reveal of each "A". The series follows the lives of four teenage girls — Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, and Spencer Hastings — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. Years later, after the discovery of Ali's body, they begin receiving text messages from an anonymous source, "A," who threatens to expose their secrets — including long-hidden ones they thought only their close friend Alison knew. The first arc covers Mona Vanderwaal's reign as "A" and the second arc focuses on solving the mystery of Alison DiLaurentis' murder, as well as Alison DiLaurentis' run as "A". The third and current arc features an "A" whose identity is currently unknown. The companion novel, Pretty Little Secrets, is set between the first and second arcs.

Karlie Redd

Karlie Redd (born in New York, NY) is a Trinidadian, hip-hop artist, dancer, model and actress.Redd has worked with Grammy nominated producer, Sean Kingston, Claudette Ortiz of City High, Hot Dollar, KRS-One, and major record producer, Stevie J. In 2012 she was cast in the spin off VH1 reality show, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. In the summer of 2012, Karlie launched the Redd Hairline by Karlie Redd. In July 2012, Karlie released her debut single, "A Girl Has Needs" on iTunes. Karlie is a single mother. Television 2010 Scream Queens Herself Contestant, credited as Karlie Lewis 2012 Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta Herself Alias Karlie Redd Birth name Karlie Lewis Also known as Karlie Redd Born New York, NY Genres Hip hop Occupations Television personality, singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress Website karlieredd.com New York is the most populous city in the United States of America and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. A global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world. Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km2), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km2), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census. New York traces its roots to its 1624 founding as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic, and was named New Amsterdam in 1626.[34] The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the country's largest city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a globally recognized symbol of the United States and its democracy. Many districts and landmarks in New York City have become well known to its approximately 50 million annual visitors. Times Square, iconified as "The Crossroads of the World", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway theater district, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections,and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. The city hosts many world renowned bridges, skyscrapers, and parks. New York City's financial district, anchored by Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, functions as the financial capital of the world and is home to the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by total market capitalization of its listed companies. Manhattan's real estate market is among the most expensive in the world. Manhattan's Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive rapid transit systems in the world. Numerous colleges and universities are located in New York,including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, which are ranked among the top 50 in the world

21.8.12

Rihanna


Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( /riˈɑːnə/ ree-AH-nə or /riˈænə/ ree-AN-ə; born February 20, 1988), known mononymously as Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist and actress. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at age 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers. She subsequently signed a contract with Def Jam Recordings. In 2005, Rihanna released her debut studio album, Music of the Sun, which peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart and features the Billboard Hot 100 top five hit single "Pon de Replay". In less than a year, she released her second studio album, A Girl Like Me (2006), which peaked within the top-five in the United States, and produced her first Hot 100 number one single, "SOS". Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad released in May 2007, spawned the international hit singles "Umbrella", "Don't Stop the Music", "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia", with an additional four singles being released. The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella". Her fourth studio album Rated R (2009), produced the top-ten singles "Russian Roulette", "Hard" and "Rude Boy", with the latter achieving the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Loud (2010), Rihanna's fifth studio album, spawned the number-one hits "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?" and "S&M". "We Found Love" served as the lead single from Rihanna's sixth studio album, Talk That Talk (2011). The song was an international success, topping the charts in more than twenty countries. Rihanna's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including five American Music Awards, eighteen Billboard Music Awards, two BRIT Awards and five Grammy Awards. She has achieved a total of eleven number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the youngest solo artist to achieve the feat.Billboard named Rihanna the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade, and ranked her as the seventeenth artist of the same decade.She is the highest-selling digital artist in US history, having sold 47,571,000 singles as of 2012.Furthermore, she has also shipped 7.3 million album units in the United States as of September 2011. Some of her singles have earned their place on the list of best-selling singles worldwide. Rihanna has sold more than 25 million albums and 60 million singles worldwide since the beginning of her career in 2005, which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time.In June 2011, Forbes reported that Rihanna had earned $29 million between May 2010 and May 2011.In 2012, American magazine Time named Rihanna one of the most influential people in the world.Rihanna was also ranked the fourth most powerful celebrity in 2012 with earnings of $53 million between May 2011 and May 2012, according to Forbes. 1988–2004: Early life and career beginnings Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. Her mother is Monica Braithwaite, a retired Afro-Guyanese accountant, and her father is Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor of Barbadian and Irish descent. Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's side, each born by different mothers from his previous relationships. Growing up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and selling clothes with her father on a street stall, Rihanna's childhood was deeply affected by her father's addiction to crack cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana, and her parents' turbulent marriage ended when she was 14.Rihanna grew up listening to reggae music and began singing at around the age of seven.She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and then the Combermere High School, where she formed a musical trio with two of her classmates.Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme; the singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant.[19] Although she initially wanted to graduate from high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead. Rihanna's career began through her association with American record producer Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers; she met Rogers through mutual friends in Barbados in December 2003.[21] Rogers soon asked Rihanna to come to his hotel room, where she performed renditions of the songs "Emotion" and "Hero" This impressed Rogers, who then took her on various trips to New York, where she was accompanied by her mother, Monica, to record some demo tapes which could be sent to record labels. Rihanna was signed to Rogers' and Sturken's production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions, who assigned her a lawyer and manager before the completed demo tape was distributed to various record labels around the world in late 2004.In February 2005, the president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings Jay-Z requested to meet Rihanna and she auditioned for him and industry executive L.A. Reid, performing Whitney Houston's version of "For the Love of You" as well as the original songs "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time".On the same day of the audition, Rihanna signed a six-album record deal with Def Jam Recordings, later relocating from Barbados to New York to live with Rogers and his wife more...