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Tsunami & After

Warne could land in a 10 mln dlr divorce tab (Go To Top)

     Sydney: The seemingly soon-to-take place divorce between arguably the world's greatest leggie, Shane Warne and his wife Simone, could turn out to be the most expensive in history, as the Australian cricket star may have to cough up nearly one crore dollars to reach the divorce settlement with his ex-model wife. Simone has already declared that their marriage had finished and divorce was "imminent", and the alleged serial adultery by Warne could result in a ten million dollar divorce settlement. "It's over and there's no going back. I've worked out what I'm going to do and how I'll cope. I don't think Shane had really thought about it. I am sure he thought we'd try again when he got back from the UK," the AAP quoted Simone as saying in an interview with the New Idea. The couple parted last year after a British paper reported Warne's role in a series of sex scandals both in England and Australia. The 35-year-old former model said that the couple had reached an "amicable" agreement over the settlement in order to keep private details out of court. "Neither of us wanted it to turn nasty. We've spent so much time together and we have many happy memories ... I don't want to turn against him," she said. She added that she "tried to be an adult" while negotiating the division of assets. According to her, the duo would remain living in their bayside Melbourne home with their three children until Warne stopped playing cricket, she said. "The house is big enough to cope and it's good for the kids to have him around. It's almost like we're flatmates," she added Meanwhile, according to the paper, the cricketer's brother and manager Jason Warne said that speculation of a 10 million dollar settlement was "far from correct".

'Narnia' snatches box office crown from 'King Kong'  (Go To Top)

     Washington: "The Chronicles of Narnia" has snatched the box office crown from the big ape, to claim the top spot during the New Year's weekend. Narnia grabbed an estimated 32.8 million dollars during the four- day holiday, while King Kong, starring Naomi Watts came in second with 31.6 million dollars. "Fun with Dick and Jane" with 21 million dollars took the third place, beating "Cheaper by the Dozen", the PG-rated comedy starring Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt , Hilary Duff and Tom Welling, which held on to the fourth place with an estimated 19.3 million dollars. "Rumor Has It" grossed 15.6 million dollars, and rounded off the top-five grossing films over the four-day New Year's period, reports E!Online. The top-grossing films over the four-day weekend, per estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations are: 1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, $32.8 million ($25.7 million) 2. King Kong, $31.6 million ($24.6 million) 3. Fun with Dick and Jane, $21 million ($16.4 million) 4. Cheaper by the Dozen 2, $19.3 million ($14.2 million) 5. Rumor Has It ..., $11.6 million ($9.2 million) 6. The Family Stone, $10.2 million ($8 million) 7. Memoirs of a Geisha, $10 million ($7.8 million) 8. The Ringer, $8 million ($6.1 million) 9. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, $7.4 million ($5.7 million) 10. Munich, $6.1 million ($4.8 million).

Mozart's clarinet concerto voted his 'Greatest Work' (Go To Top)

     London: On the occasion marking the 250th birth of Mozart, one of the greatest composers of all times, a new poll has found that most people consider his 'Clarinet concerto in A Major' to be his greatest ever composition. Mozart composed the piece two months before his death for Anton Stadler, his friend and clarinettist in Vienna's court orchestra. On the day he completed the concerto, the composer famously wrote to his wife that he had played two games of billiards, "smoked a marvellous pipe of tobacco", ordered a black coffee and then "orchestrated almost the whole rondo for Stadler". The survey of 103,000 Classic FM listeners voted the 'Requiem' and the 'Ave Verum Corpus' to be the next best work of the composer after the 'Concerto'. They were closely followed by 'the piano concerto No 21' and then The Marriage of Figaro. Darren Henley, Classic FM manager, said the reason why Mozart's music was so popular even today was because he had managed to connect with people in a way that no other composer ever had. "Mozart's music has connected with more people through the years than any other composer before or since," the BBC quoted him, as saying.

    The list for the top five Mozart compositions is 1. Clarinet concerto in A Major 2. Requiem 3. Ave Verum Corpus 4. The piano concerto No 21 5. The Marriage of Figaro

Lennon's 'Imagine' voted UK's favourite song (Go To Top)

    Washington: John Lennon's iconic track "Imagine" has been crowned as UK's favourite song in a poll conducted by Virgin Radio. "His writing, especially with Paul McCartney, is possibly the country's greatest ever musical export and he clearly still holds a special place in the nation's heart," Ratethemusic quoted Virgin Radio's Ben Jones, as saying of Lennon. The classic song fought off competetion with The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be", which came in second and third respectively, to claim the top spot in the poll carried out on 7,000 radio listeners. Irish band U2's One took the fourth position, followed by Robbie Williams' Angels.

    The Top 10 favourite songs, per Virgin Radio are: 1. Imagine - John Lennon 2. Hey Jude - The Beatles 3. Let It Be - The Beatles 4. One - U2 5. Angels - Robbie Williams 6. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen 7. Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin 8. Every Breath You Take - The Police 9. Hotel California - The Eagles 10. You're Beautiful - James Blunt.

Count Dracula makes film makers go hungry (Go To Top)

    Washington: Movie-maker Uwe Boll found filming his new vampire movie 'Bloodrayne' a particularly hungry experience, for the locations in Romania were so remote the cast and crew ran out of food. When Boll decided that the fabled Bran Castle in Transylvania, more popularly known as Count Dracula's home, he didn't realize that the castle had never before been used while filming past vampire movies. Boll said that he quickly realized what a trying experience the decision was going to be when the cast and crew ran out of food and had to survive on apples and chocolate till the time resources arrived by horse wagons. "We shot 80 per cent of the film in the mountains at night, in small towns that rely on horse wagons for transportation. This made it very difficult for the cast and crew. There were days that I relied on apples and chocolate as a main source of food," Contactmusic quoted him, as saying.

Big bottoms are back with a bang (Go To Top)

     Sydney: If you worry a lot about your big bottom just relax, for big butts are definitely in, with beauties like Jenifer Lopez and Beyonce flaunting their curves. And now reports have revealed that the svelte Jessica Simpson too wore gel inserts to get a fuller figure in the movie, The Dukes of Hazzards. The latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine says "big butts are back". Cosmopolitan editor Sarah Wilson says the return to curves reflects the opulence of the 1950s and '80s. "Today's young women are feeling comfortable exploring so-called traditional notions of femininity,meaning etiquette books, ladylike looks, make-up and more voluptuous curves," she was quoted by The Advertiser, as saying. Inspired by trends such as Roland Mouret's hourglass Galaxy dress and rapper Nelly's Apple Bottoms label, Adelaide chain Whistles Clothing has launched its own style guide to body love in place of the usual catalogue of must-wear dictates. "Clothing size and weight are not related. No amount of dieting will shrink your pelvis or our shoulders," it says.

Paltrow calls in ghost busters on Madge's advice (Go To Top)

     London: Pop diva Madonna may not look like a regular ghostbuster but she sure knows how to get rid of evil spirits. The actress has reportedly advised her pal Gwyneth Paltrow to seek the help of the London Kabbalah centre in exorcising ghosts from her house. Ten male followers are expected to read a series of psalms and blow a ram's Horn as part of the exorcism. Pregnant Gwyneth and Coldplay singer husband Chris Martin fear there is "bad energy" at the 3.5 million pound mansion in Belsize Park, North West London. They are reported to have blamed the place for Gwyneth's less than easy second pregnancy.

Jackie Chan and DeVito to 'Bend It' for Iqbal Rizvi (Go To Top)

    Washington: Mallika Sherawat seems to have impressed Jackie Chan with Bollywood to such a great extent that the actor- producer is now considering teaming up with Danny DeVito for Indian filmmaker Iqbal Rizvi's action-comedy '90 Mins'. The story of the film is about two football teams striving to win some major loot for their schools, and the filmmakers are planning to release it in the time of the World Cup in July. According to Moviehole.net, '90 Mins', the first film to feature Chan and DeVito together, is earmarked for a February start in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Genting Highlands. While Chan is currently filming Benny Chan's 'Baby', DeVito is doing a role in Jake Paltrow's 'The Good Room', and is also attached to star in Brian Hecker's 'Bart Got a Room'.

Judge orders priest to prove Christ's existence (Go To Top)

    London: Luigi Cascioli, a man who once studied for priesthood but became so disillusioned that he became a militant atheist instead, could end up causing a stir in the entire Christian community if a Catholic priest he is suing fails to prove in court that Jesus Christ did in fact exist. Cascioli, the author of a book called 'The Fable of Christ', began legal proceedings against Father Righi three years ago in retaliation to the priest's denouncement of him in the parish newsletter for questioning Christ's historical existence. And he has now got a judge in Viterbo, Italy, to set a preliminary hearing for the end of the month. Though the judge had earlier refused to take up the case, he was overruled by the Court of Appeal, which agreed that Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was 'abusing popular credulity'. Cascioli's contention is that the Church is misleading people, and that as there is no reliable evidence that proves that Jesus lived and died in 1st-century Palestine apart from the Gospel accounts, there is no real basis of the Christian faith. He also argues that all the claims for the existence of Christ, other than the Bible, stem from authors who lived 'after the time of the hypothetical Jesus' and were therefore not reliable witnesses. Though the Vatican has refused to comment on the case, Father Righi, however, is confident that he will be able to prove Christ's existence beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Boffins devise formula for perfect glass of bubbly (Go To Top)

     London: Dr Steve Smith, Principal Lecturer in Wine Studies at Coventry University, has come up with the formula that will help champagne drinkers all over the world enjoy the perfect glass of bubbly. According to Smith, who devised the formula for Marks & Spencer, people simply have to remember his law P = T/4.5 + 1, where P is pressure and T is temperature, while opening a bottle of champagne. The equation says when the temperature is at 5 to 7 degrees the pressure will be 2 to 2.5 atmospheres - a third less than normal. Smith said that opening a bottle of champagne at the lower temperature not only made it safer but also affected the taste of the drink. "There are four reasons why we should open it at the optimum temperature: When the temperature is lower the pressure will be lower, making it safer. Secondly, champagne tastes better when chilled as acidity is emphasised. Thirdly, theres more fizz and more enjoyment. Lastly, the colder the champagne, the slower the bubbles are released which means you can enjoy them for longer," the Mirror quoted him, as saying.