The current Miss Universe from Venezuela will end her year-long reign later this month with a topless appearance in Maxim, reports Perez Hilton.
The photos of Dayana Mendzoa, 23, will be featured in the September issue of the magazine and have already been posted on their web site. But no actual nudity can be seen as she uses her arms and jewellery to cover the necessary parts.
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O.J. Simpson, who walked away a free man after one of the so-called murder trials of the century has been sentenced to 15 years in jail, with further conditions that may extend his imprisonment by 2 ½ years.
On October 3rd, the 61-year-old former football star was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping by a Las Vegas jury.
The incident leading to his conviction and then his later sentence on December 5th took place in 2007 inside the four walls of a Las Vegas hotel room, where Simpson provoked a raid to recover sports memorabilia items that he claimed were his.
Simpson’s lawyer, Yale Galanter stressed that the trial unfairly cornered Simpson during its investigations and that the results were ‘overblown charges’.
According to People’s Magazine, Nevada judge Jackie Glass who delivered the sentence made it clear that she was only sentencing Simpson for the actions for which he was currently on trial and not those of his past (referring to the 1994 murders of Simpsons ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman). “The problem is that I can’t ignore that the behavior at the time…was reckless…A gun was used…property was stolen…and now I will sentence you,” she said.
While Simpson remained calm during this delivery he did not hesitate to make an attempted apology to the court for his actions, adding that he denied knowing they were illegal to begin with.
The statement was disregarded and he was then denied bail before being escorted from the courtroom in a navy prison jumpsuit.
The Diana inquest was finished yesterday when jurors found that the Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed “were unlawfully killed by the reckless driving of their chauffeur, Henri Paul, and the paparazzi who chased them,” the UK Guardian reports.
Paul was revealed during the inquest to have been three times over the French blood alcohol limit, with blood tests and other samples.
Princes William and Harry were present to hear the verdict, and later thanked the jury for the “thorough way in which they have considered the evidence”.
“We agree with their verdicts,” the Princes stated, “and are both hugely grateful to each and every one of them for the forbearance they have shown in accepting such significant disruption to their lives over the past six months.”
The Princes said they were also grateful to the people who came forward with evidence, and to “all those who fought so desperately to save our mother’s life on that tragic night.”
Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi’s father, said he was “disappointed” by the verdict. He believed that his son and the Princess had been killed deliberately, as part of a conspiracy involving the royal family and MI6.
During the six-month inquest, more than 240 witness testified. It is estimated to have cost upwards of £10m.
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle has died in the New York City plane crash, according to ESPN.
A small plane that crashed into a New York City high-rise building belonged to Lidle, according to multiple reports.
ESPN has reported at 4:50 p.m. that Lidle was the pilot of the plane and died in the crash.
Lidle is one of two confirmed dead, New York police said, reports ESPN.
Nobody on board the flight survived, according to reports.
The crash comes less than a week after the Yankees were eliminated from the Major League Baseball playoffs.
Lidle pitched for seven teams including the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies. He was 12-10 this year with a 4.85 ERA.
The crash is not believed to be a terrorist attack.
More to come.
Frank Gehry, prolific Canadian architect, has designed a new museum in Paris that will be called the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation.
CBC.com reports that the new museum will give a home to art that has influenced fashion over the years (hence, the name).
The museum is founded by Bernard Arnault who is the chairman od luxury goods retailer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
“As I experienced the world, Paris became my favourite city,” said the Toronto-raised Gehry to reporters.
The building will be glass-clad and situated near the Bois de Boulogne park on the western edge of Paris.
Gehry will be receiving a 100 million euro ($142 million Canadian) paycheque for this commission.
Gehry’s addition to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto is currently under construction.
The museum in France will start construction next year is expected to be completed by 2010.
On Tuesday, a collection of watercolours and sketches attributed to late fascist dictator Adolf Hitler sold at an auction for $245,500, reports CBC.ca.
More than 50 onlookers and at least two comedians aiming to disrupt the proceedings attended the auction, held in Lostwithiel, England. The comedians, Peter Cunningham and Aaron Barschakalso, shouted things like “Third Reich” and “Mussolini” before being escorted out by security.
The event saw the auctioning off of 21 watercolours and two sketches, each selling in prices ranging from $6,800 to $22,300.
Various Jewish groups and others have protested the sale of these paintings before, as they object to any profit being made off anything Nazi related.
However, the paintings may not even be Hitler’s own. Although the pieces were found in a farmhouse in Belgium near where the Nazi leader was stationed in Flanders, and hold a signature similar to that of Hitler’s, according to the auction house, Jefferys, it is impossible to authenticate them.
The names of both the buyers and the sellers will be kept anonymous.
Oprah is already the queen of TV and magazines, and now she wants to conquer our radios.
Oprah Winfrey’s new satellite radio channel debuted yesterday morning on XM Satellite Radio, reports CBC.ca. The new channel, titled “Oprah and Friends,” will extend her reach beyond her syndicated talk show and “O” magazine, the publication that features Oprah on the cover every month.
The channel will feature a news and gossip show hosted by Winfrey and friend, Gayle King, entitled “The Oprah and Gayle Show,” as well as some feature shows hosted by other frequent guests on Winfrey’s television show. Poet and writer Maya Angelou will contribute, as well as fitness expert Bob Greene, and King will have her own solo program as well.
Although the first guest to appear on the channel is Winfrey’s long-time partner, Stedman Graham, there is also a line-up of high-profile celebrities who will lend their voices to Winfrey. Actress Annette Bening, jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, rock star Jon Bon Jovi and fellow multi-millionaire Donald Trump.
This channel may be an attempt to rival XM’s competitor, Sirius Satellite Radio, who has signed on shock jock Howard Stern and the crafty Martha Stewart to their own respective shows. XM’s other celebrity channels include Bob Dylan and Quincy Jones.
Winfrey signed a three-year $55 million U.S. deal with XM last February.
For the first time ever, the reclusive “representative” behind the mysterious musical project Jandek will perform in Canada.
Though the musician (it is believed his real name is Sterling Smith) has released 46 records since 1978, he has only been performing live since 2004. Since then, just 16 performances have taken place.
But on September 17, Jandek will play before an audience in Toronto, according to local promoter Gary Topp. The show will take place at The Centre of Gravity, a local clown and circus school, complete with trapeze wires.
Tickets for the show are $27, and are currently on sale in Toronto through Rotate This, Sam the Record Man, and Circus Books & Music. They can also be purchased online through www.ticketweb.ca.
Jandek, whose albums are self-released through the Corwood Industries label. He exposed to wider audience through the 2004 documentary, “Jandek on Corwood.”
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter have announced plans to write a science book for children.
The two aim to explain theoretical physics in a way that young children could understand, according to the BBC.
Lucy Hawking said the book would be aimed at an audience that could include her own 8-year-old son.
“It is a story for children, which explains the wonders of the universe,” she said.
No other details, including a possible publication date, were released.
The elder Hawking’s bestseller, “A Brief History of Time,” has sold more than 10 million copies since it was first published in 1988.
Influential Austrian composer Gy?rgy Ligeti, known for his contributions to several Stanley Kubrick films, has died at age 83. He passed away Monday in Vienna, Austria, according to the BBC.
Ligeti was born in Romania in 1923, but later took Austrian citizenship. He first began studying music in Romania in 1941, and continued in Budapest. In 1943, he arrested as a Jew under the Nazi regime and sent to a labour camp. Ligeti survived, but several members of his family ? including his brother and father ? did not.
He returned to Romania at the end of the war and began teaching music at the Liszt Academy.
Ligeti’s boundary-pushing musical ambitions were constrained by the communist government in Hungary. After the 1956 uprising, Ligeti fled to Vienna and began creating the avant garde work he is best known for.
Excerpts from his pieces “Atmospheres” and “Lux Aeterna” were used by Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Ligeti’s compositions were also used by Kubrick in 1980’s “The Shining” and 1999’s “Eyes Wide Shut.”
Ligeti is survived by his wife, Vera, and son, Lukas.
