19th November 2000
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The Goss
Demi goes dowdyStriptease sizzler Demi Moore has amazed fans by slipping into the role of home-town mom. She slops around in dowdy clothes, shopping and baking - without a breast implant in sight.
Demi, once Hollywood's highest paid woman, is happily devoting her life to her three children - Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle - and her hunky boyfriend, Oliver Whitcomb. A new look Demi, often shunning make-up, is a familiar figure at Parent Teacher Association meetings in the tiny town of Hailey, Idaho.
The 37-year-old actress drives the kids to school, does her own shopping and spends a lot of time helping Oliver - ten years her junior - with his local karate studio.
They both live at the sprawling Flying Heart Ranch, which Demi once shared with estranged husband, Bruce Willis. Oliver has been her constant companion for nearly two years, and the children regard him as a second father. And the laid-back country life has been good for Demi's relationship with Bruce. The couple take the kids on holiday and make all their major decisions together.
An insider revealed: "Demi has turned into a real country mom, baking her own bread and putting up her own preserves." It is only when she is called in to make a movie or glamour shoot that Demi reverts to her old, sex bomb image. Then she comes home, sheds her designer clothes and blissfully gets back to being a small-town nobody. Another Hailey insider explained: "Oliver is a small-town guy. He hates the plastic image of Hollywood, and this attitude has rubbed off on Demi. When she goes to the market, she shuffles in wearing no make-up.
"Sometimes, she even bags her own groceries. Demi spends her days caring for the children on the ranch and taking a particular interest in their education. She even requests private meetings with the teachers. "She is still making movies, and has done a magazine glamour shoot. But Demi doesn't give a hoot about being 'camera ready' on a day-to-day basis. "In fact, the last movie role she accepted, she didn't even appear on-screen. She did the voice of a character in the cartoon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, due out next year. She loves every minute of her new life."
Watch out Liz!
Storm warning for Liz "The Scab" Hurley: Top Hollywood stars have made a pact to punish her for imperiously ignoring the five-month-old actors' strike against advertisers and crossing picket lines to film your Estee Lauder commercial! "We're all bringing her to trial after this is over.... Liz Hurley WON'T get away with it," pledged Tim Robbins angrily at a New York SAG-AFTER rally attended by Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Bacon, Richard Dreyfuss, Harry Belafonte, Marisa Tomei, etc. In heated discussions, disgusted stars raged at how Haughty Hurley had betrayed her fellow actors - 80 percent of whom earn less than $5,000 per year. The stars vow they'll revoke her union membership - meaning she'll NEVER work in front of a camera in America again and also be fined severely!
Hollywood's hottest couple
Jim Carrey unwinds from making hit flicks - and millions of dollars by taking "Nurse Betty" star Renee Zellweger on a pre-wedding honeymoon in paradise. Hollywood's hottest couple recently jetted to Hawaii for two weeks of premarital bliss. The lovebirds nested in their $3,000-a-night oceanside presidential Suite at the Four Seasons Resort. Jim's about to embark on a gruelling world publicity tour for his latest film, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" - and word is he and Renee plan to get 'hitched' at the end of the year.
Too much leg, Mel
Even when she was just a schoolgirl, Melanie Griffith had it ... so she liked to flaunt it. But the nuns at the Catholic school she attended punished her for showing too much leg. Melanie ended up in detention. She hit back by showing even more of her glamorous pins when she got back on to the street, says an old schoolpal. But the nuns never seemed to get to hear their rebellious pupil was the envy of the school because she had an actor boyfriend, Don Johnson, eight years her senior. Melanie, now 43, married Don twice before ending up with hunky star Antonio Banderas as a husband. Melanie's classmate at Our Lady Of Corvallis, an all-girl school in Los Angeles, Jeannie Cromie, said: "The principal of our high school had a strict rule: skirts could be no shorter than the top of the knee. "Melanie was very proud of her legs. So she would roll up her skirt at the waist to show them off. Sometimes, she would forget to roll it down again when the nuns were looking. If you were caught with your skirt above your kneecaps, it was detention hall for sure."
Jeannie and the other girls were green with envy when handsome cradle-snatcher Don Johnson came calling. She said: "Don would often meet Melanie at school. He was such a hunk but Melanie never flaunted him or the fact that her mother, Tippi Hedren, was a movie star."
Jeannie said the movie-actress-to-be was kind and considerate. "She was a sweetheart when she easily could have been a prima donna. That's why I am Melanie's biggest fan."
Old scandal shadows Dolly
An old sex scandal, accusing country queen Dolly Parton of having an affair with a schoolboy, has come back to haunt her. And it is putting the final nail in the coffin of her weird "open" marriage, say insiders.
The strong rumours say Dolly "in the most shocking scandal of her life", had a sizzling affair with Blaise Tosti when he was just 15 and she 25. Gossip about the 15-year romance has been the cause recently, of bitter arguments between Dolly and her husband of 34 years, Carl Dean.
But Nashville insiders say 54-year-old Dolly and Carl's marriage has been nothing but a sham for years, with both partners having affairs on the side. Now things have come to the crunch.
A source said: "Dolly and Carl have been fighting tooth and nail over the scandal that happened way back in 1970. He has told her he is sick and tired of being made a fool of- and it's time they split.
"Dolly has replied that she has had it with living a lie. She, too, wants out. She has been on the verge of ending it several times, but it's never quite got this close to a bust-up before."
The singer's biographer, Alanna Nash, said: "Dolly was really passionate about this kid. When it ended, it was a major heartbreak.
"Dolly certainly acts and talks at times as though her marriage is an open one. She is a love junkie and needs constant comforting and approval."
Dolly says "My husband doesn't let me date much any more since the story that I dated a 15-year- old boy way back when. The good thing about age, is you do forget those things. So, if it ever happened, I've no memory of it."
Sources say the affair had painful consequences for the young lover.
An insider explained: "Poor Blaise is a talented songwriter and musician.
But since the breakup, his career has not progressed.
The Beatles - a living legend
Early last week there was a major splash that The Beatles were to launch their own website. Officials from EMI gave their views about the positive side of such a website. Any fan of the fab four or anyone wanting to get to know The Beatles would only have to log on and then hey presto! The information about The Beatles would be before one's eyes. As a new week dawned fans of The Beatles were still waiting for the launch of the group's first ever official website. It was said all 3 surviving members of the band had contributed, including John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.Meanwhile as we await the official Beatles website, news is out that another Beatles album of their No: 1 hits is due out very shortly.
It's another change at the No: 1 position on the UK singles chart. The UK act A1 have taken the top spot with their new release 'Same old brand new you'. The song brought to an end Westlife's reign of the singles chart as 'My love' dropped a notch after a week at the summit. For A1 'Same old brand new you' is the outfit's second consecutive No: 1 UK hit. Their last single 'Take on me', topped the chart in early September.
Taking a look at the UK singles Top 20 this week, 3 songs have managed to be certified 'Silver' by the BPI. The songs are 'Who let the dogs out' by the Baha Men at No: 3 with a stay of 6 weeks on the chart. The Spice Girls follow at No: 10 with 'Holler/Let love lead the way' within 3 weeks on the chart and at No: 13 'Silence (Remixes)' by Delerium feat: Sarah Mclachlan following a 6 week chart presence. All these songs have sold over 200,000 copies to qualify for 'Silver' status. Furthermore, of these songs only 'Holler/Let love....' topped the chart
When the Backstreet Boys single 'Shape of my heart' was released last week it was widely tipped to take over the No: 1 spot. Well it was not to be as the home act A1 out sold the Backstreet Boys despite the latter's wider global appeal.
The stories about the Backstreet Boys are increasing as a kind of build up to the singles and albums release. The new single 'Shape of my heart' is a forerunner to the group's 3rd album 'Black and blue'. So in the end the Backstreet Boys ' Shape of my heart' had to settle for the No: 4 spot this week.
It has taken Sade 8 years to release new material. Just as we thought that the former designer of menswear had quit music to return to her old profession or retire from the scene news rang out that the 41-year-old Nigerian- born singer was to make a comeback. Sade while retaining her easy paced style has moved in the rhythm region to a new area. Her new song 'By your side' checks into the chart at No: 17. The single is taken from Sade's new album 'Lovers rock'. Sade's last single in the top 20 'No ordinary love' peaked at No: 14 in June 1993.
The All Saints have a new album out 'Saints & Sinners'. This week - reports over last weekend speak of Melanie Blatt walking out of the group while the girls were performing to an audience in London. The rest of the girls put on a brave face, grinned and kept the crowds happy. By the next weekend things could be normal once again with Melanie back in the fold.
As there is still no sign of new material in the pipeline for the group
Boyzone although their split up has been denied. Ronan Keating is continuing
with new material for an album. The former Pogues singer Shane MacGowan
is penning songs for Keating.
Techno page
Check out the AudioCatalystIn a previous issue the Techno Page listed some fun audio software. Here's another cool piece of software to help you boost your sound station. AudioCatalyst, developed by Xing. The Xing encoder and Audiograbber combind, bring to you a very fast and versatile CD grabber. (For the laymen, a piece of software that allows you to convert CD tracks into MP3 files.) AudioCatalyst features a variable bit-rate encoder, minimizing file size whilst maintaining audio fidelity. Just adjust the encoder options to low, medium or high, select your tracks and...let it rip! AudioCatalyst is much faster at encoding than Audiograbber and most of the other rippers out there. You can download a trial version at www.xingtech.com/mp3/audiocatalyst.
Choosing a new PC?
The chip-wars have just escalated to a massive slog fest. When building a new computer system, the option of the processor that one purchases, affects the mainboard you buy as well. This is due to the fact that Intel chips require Intel compatible boards, and AMD chips need AMD compatible boards. This depends on the chipset, which is soldered onto the mainboard, and the chipset sets the layout of the board. Two months ago, Intel was king of the megahertz war, having released their 1.1.13Ghz processor, but due to major problems re-called all of the 1.13 chips. This month AMD has launched their 1.1Ghz Thunderbird processor and therefore AMD is in the lead for the moment.
Processor speeds are increased by reducing the distance between adjacent components on the silicon wafer. This is known as the die size, and most PIII's are of 0.18 microns. A limiting factor of increasing speed is the heat produced when increasing the processor's multiplier-factor. (NOTE: Chip speeds are defined as Multiplier Factor*FSB). To reduce heat build up, AMD and Intel have both reverted to the ZIF (zero insertion force) sockets, compared to slots. As well as increasing the Multiplier factor, increasing the FSB (front side bus - the speed at which the memory interacts with the chip) will result in greater speeds, but this will result in the system needing faster memory.
Presently AMD is offering the Duron and Thunderbird, where the Duron is the threat to the Celeron and Thunderbird the competitor for the PIII.
AMD chips are cheaper and faster when compared to Intel chips with identical speeds. Cheaper due to AMD being more competitive than Intel, and faster because the AMD Thunderbird has 128Kb of L1 cache (four times more than the PIII and Celeron) and 256kb L2 cache running at full-speed. The Duron also has 128Kb L1, but has 64kb of L2 at full-speed. Intel's PIII has 32Kb L1, and 256Kb of L2, whereas the Celeron has 32Kb L1, but 128Kb L2 cache. Intel has special CPU instructions known as SSE+MMX, and AMD has their own Enhanced 3dNow! technology.
What all the above jargon means, is that when purchasing your next PC, remember than AMD is cheaper than Intel, and faster. To get the most of your system, you will need a special power supply for AMD systems due to its specialized power requirements.
As for mainboards, AMD boards have a VIA chipset, and the Intel boards have Bx-440/i815/i820 chipsets, where the i815 has integrated video and sound on board.
Mainboard brands recommended are Abit (impossible to get in Sri Lanka, but The Gigabyte does supply them - Tel: 575693/577981) and Asus boards are available at EAP, but are very expensive due to EAP's high profit margins.
Sent in by Michael de Silva
The hunger site
This site is based on a neat idea that has harnessed the power of the Internet to donate food to hungry people all over the world.
This site affords advertising space for its sponsors who are in turn obligated to fund the donation of a specific amount of food for every person who logs onto the site and clicks the "Donate free food" button.
The site claims over 220,000 hits per day and over 3.5 million unique visitor hits each month, making it one of the most trafficked sites on the net. Founded in June 1999, The Hunger Site has had over 101 million visitors and has donated over 198 million units of food.
For more details about the parts of the world this site reaches and statistics on its activities, log on to www.thehungersite.com.
This site has won multiple awards for its concepts and its activism worldwide.
It allows a user to make one donation per day. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to make this site your home page so that you won't forget to lend a helping hand each and everyday.
The Hunger Site is associated with the United Nations World Food Programme,
Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest in its humanitarian work.
Sri Lanka online www.omnibis.com
This is another free email site based in Sri Lanka. Apart from the standard message in/out facilities, this site affords a few more goodies. The neatest innovation is that it can notify you on your cellular phone when you get new mail.A site dedicated to hosting information about the Interact activities in Sri Lanka. It contains a message board plus listings of Interact clubs in Sri Lanka. It does not have a great deal of content or functionality at the moment, but the web master promises free email and facilities for chatting online with other Interactors world- wide in the future.A good idea which would work only if the Interact community recognises its potential, utilizes and popularizes the site.
An astrologysite, where you can contact the astrologer and get your horoscopes via email.
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