Succes 2012: Lepa Brena, famous bosniak pop-folk singer

Fahreta Jahić Živojinović (born 20 October 1960) is a Bosniak pop-folk singer, better known by her stage name Lepa Brena.

Lepa Brena was born as Fahreta Jahić to a Bosniak family in Tuzla in 1960, but grew up in Brčko. She was the third-born child of Abid Jahić (1928-2010) and Ifeta Jahić. She has a sister Faketa and an older brother named Faruk
In 1980, she started singing with the band Slatki Greh. She subsequently moved to Novi Sad and then to Belgrade. Brena started to sing in hotel TURIST in Backa Palanka. She released her first album Čačak, Čačak in 1982. She is arguably the most popular singer of the former Yugoslavia, and a top-selling female record artist with more than thirty million records sold.

Beside her career as a singer, Lepa Brena is one of the founders of Grand Slam Group and Grand Production.

Fahreta's nickname "Brena" was given to her by her gym teacher. Later on, Serbian showman Minimax added "Lepa" (beautiful), creating the stage name "Lepa Brena".

Lepa Brena's career can be divided into two main periods:

* Performance with the band Slatki Greh ("sweet sin")
* Solo career

Lepa Brena joined Slatki Greh in 1981 when the group's original singer Spasa left the band because of her marriage. Saša Popović, the band's frontman, was initially opposed to the idea that Lepa Brena should be the band's new singer, but later changed his opinion. Their first performance was in Bačka Palanka on 6 May 1980.

Her first album Čačak, Čačak was written mostly by Milutin Popović-Zahar, and the career-manager was Vladimir Cvetković. That same year Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh appeared in the first part of Yugoslavian classic comedy Tesna koža (translation: Tight Skin), which raised their profile and brought them almost instant popularity.

The second album Mile voli disko, was released in 1983. Best known songs from that album were "Mile voli disko", "Duge noge" and "Dama iz Londona". The album's main writer was Milutin Popović-Zahar.
In 1983, Lepa Brena ended her collaboration with Milutin Popović-Zahar and Vladimir Cvetković. That year Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh participated in Jugovizija (Yugoslav selection for the Eurovision Song Contest) with the song "Sitnije, Cile, sitnije". Her appearance caused confusion among the audience, since Jugovizija was considered exclusively reserved for pop singers. Although they did not qualify for the prestigious European competition, Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh won the contest, gaining even more popularity.

The following year, Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh started a cooperation with a new manager Raka Đokić. "Bato, bato", her third album, was released the same year. A new provocative image was accompanied by a new musical style, different from the one fostered by Popović. Popular pub called "dvojka" has been replaced by pop melodies and more provocative lyrics. The same year, Lepa Brena held a concert in neighboring Romania, at the stadium in Timisoara to an audience of 65,000. It was the first successful concert of a Yugoslav singer outside their home country.

Lepa Brena's next three albums, Pile moje in 1985 and Voli me, voli and Uske pantalone in 1986 would propel her to the throne of the Yugoslav music scene.

Along with these albums, Lepa Brena established a cooperation with Yugoslav folk star Miroslav Ilić and recorded a romantic duet "Jedan dan života", and the song "Živela Jugoslavija", which was received with a mixed response. The latter song was in line with Lepa Brena's only official political stance: an uncompromising support of a united Yugoslavia, with her becoming a symbol of this view.

By the end of 1986, Lepa Brena has already become the most popular public figure in Yugoslavia and strengthened the position of undisputed sex symbol. Later that year, her manager Raka Đokić came up with the idea that her next studio album should be followed by a movie in which would Lepa Brena should play a major role. This idea was successfully implemented in 1987 when the motion picture Hajde da se volimo was filmed. Many then-popular Yugoslav actors co-starred in the film, including Dragomir Gidra Bojanić, Milutin Karadžić, Velimir Bata Živojinović, Milan Štrljić etc.

Based on the success of the original, two sequels were produced for Hajde da se volimo. Hajde da se volimo 2 (1989) was followed by the studio album Četiri godine, and Hajde da se volimo 3 (1991) followed by album Boli me uvo za sve in 1990.

In the turbulent years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lepa Brena held more than three-hundred and fifty concerts yearly, and would often hold two concerts in one day. Lepa Brena set a record by holding thirty-one concerts day after day at Dom Sindikata, and seventeen concerts day after day at the Sava Center. In the late 1990s Brena held a concert at Levski stadium in Sofia (Bulgaria), in front of one hundred thousand people.

Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh recorded their second-to-last album together: Zaljubiška, in 1991.
In 1994, after a three-year break, Lepa Brena recorded her first solo album Ja nemam drugi dom, and held a famous "Concert in the Rain" at Tašmajdan stadium which was attended by 35,000 people. The next year, she recorded a couple more solo albums: Kazna Božija (1995) and Luda za tobom (1996).
[edit] Return to music

After eight years of absence from making music, Lepa Brena returned in 2008 with a studio album, "Uđi slobodno". The album contained 10 new songs, nine of which were written by Brena's old song-writer Marina Tucaković and Aleksandar Milić Mili. She then released her sixteenth album, "Zacarani Krug", in 2011. Both albums were major successes

Succes 2011: Campioni mondiali la fotbal. Sepp Maier, "Die Katze von Anzing"

Josef Dieter "Sepp" Maier (born 28 February 1944) is a German former professional football goalkeeper.His nickname was "Die Katze von Anzing" ("the cat from Anzing") for his fast reflexes.

Bayern Munich

Born in Metten, Bavaria, Maier has spent his entire professional career at Bayern Munich. He began playing for Bayern's youth sides in 1958.[2] During the 1970s, he was part of the legendary Bayern team which included the likes of Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller and won three European Cups in a row, a German record. Between 1966 and 1979 he played in 442 consecutive Bundesliga matches, still a German national record. His playing career came to an abrupt end in 1979 when he sustained serious injuries in a car accident (caused by DWI).

International

Maier was selected in the West Germany squad for four consecutive World Cups. In 1966 in England, he was a non-playing deputy to Hans Tilkowski. At the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, he was the undisputed starter and played all games (including the legendary 3–4 semifinal loss to Italy after extra time) except the third-place match.

In the 1974 FIFA World Cup on home soil, at the top of his footballing abilities, he reached the peak of his international career as the Germans went all the way to the final with a legendary team that included the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Berti Vogts and Gerd Müller. The greatest triumph came when the hosts defeated a Johan Cruyff-inspired Netherlands team 2–1 in the final in Maier's own hometown Munich.

Four years later at the World Cup in Argentina, slightly past his peak but still formidable, Maier delivered a strong performance but could not prevent his side's failing to advance past the second round. Maier also won the 1972 European Championship with West Germany and reached the final in 1976, losing to Czechoslovakia on penalty kicks. In all, he earned 95 caps for his country.

Succes 2011: Juliette Lewis, Natural Born Actress

Juliette Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she received an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This followed with major roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Natural Born Killers, The Evening Star, and From Dusk Till Dawn. Her work in television has resulted in two Emmy nominations.

Juliette Lewis was born in Los Angeles, California to Geoffrey Lewis, an actor, and Glenis Duggan Batley, a graphic designer. She has four siblings – brothers Lightfield and Peter, and sisters Deirdre and Brandy.

She appeared in The Wonder Years as Wayne's girlfriend in Episodes 24, 34 and 36. Lewis first garnered international attention and acclaim in 1991 with her turn as Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991.

Over the next few years, she won further critical support in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives," Peter Medak's Romeo Is Bleeding, and opposite Brad Pitt in Kalifornia. In 1993, she acted alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp in the drama film What's Eating Gilbert Grape. She played Mallory Knox in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. She played a rock singer in the film Strange Days, doing her own singing on covers of two songs written by PJ Harvey, revealing her musical ability.

She received an Emmy nomination for her performance in Hysterical Blindness in 2003. She also appeared in the HIM music video for "Buried Alive By Love" in 2003.

Lewis appeared in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, providing the voice of "Juliette," the host of fictional radio station "Radio Broker." She starred in the video for the Melissa Etheridge song "Come To My Window," and has also appeared in a GAP commercial in which she was dancing with Daft Punk to the tune of the song "Digital Love." She also hosted the UK pop quiz show "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" in 2010.

Lewis launched a career as a solo singer and musician, leading American rock band Juliette and the Licks until 2009. After splitting with the Licks, she has formed a new band The New Romantiques, with whom she has recorded an album entitled Terra Incognita.

Lewis features on the track "Bad Brother" by the band The Infidels, from The Crow: Salvation Soundtrack album, which was released on April 2000. She is working with rock songwriter Linda Perry, among others. Lewis has also appeared on three tracks by Electronic Music group The Prodigy's 2004 CD Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned ("Spitfire", "Get Up Get Off", and "Hot Ride"). In 2006, Blender magazine included her in their hottest women of rock music list while saying, " she delivered sonically varnished melodic punk replete with purring vocals and lyrics that bash porn, pharmaceutical companies and rotten lovers. (in no particular order)".

Lewis says of her acting and music, "I was always using music in my acting to prepare for roles. To me, cinema and music go hand in hand. Now I’m just giving attention to the other side of my art.”

In 2009, Juliette played at Przystanek Woodstock in Poland.

Succes 2011: Victor Wooten, american bass player, composer, author, and producer. Owner of five Grammy Awards

Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards.

Wooten has won the "Bass Player of the Year" award from Bass Player magazine three times in a row, and was the first person to win the award more than once. In addition to a solo career and collaborations with various artists, Wooten has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988.

In 2008, Wooten joined Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller to record an album. The trio of bassists, under the name SMV, released Thunder in August 2008 and began a supporting tour the same month.

Wooten was also a judge for the 4th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Wooten is most often seen playing Fodera basses, of which he has a signature model. His most famous Fodera, a 1983 Monarch Deluxe which he refers to as "number 1", sports a Kahler Tremolo System model 2400 bridge. Fodera's "Yin Yang" basses (designed/created for Wooten) incorporate the Yin Yang symbol - which Wooten often uses in various media - as a main focal point of the top's design and construction. It is often mistakenly thought that the Yin Yang symbol is painted onto the bass, but in reality, the symbol is created from two pieces of naturally finished wood (Ebony and Holly, for example), fitted together to create the Yin-Yang pattern.

Though Wooten's basses receive much attention, his most frequent and consistent response when asked by his fans about his equipment (or equipment in general) is that "the instrument doesn't make the music ... you do". He'll often go on to state that the most important features to look for in a bass are comfort and playability. During a question and answer session at a 1998 concert, Wooten stated that "If you take a newborn baby and put them on the instrument, they're going to get sounds out of it that I can't get out of it, so we're all the best." This philosophy seems closely related to Wooten's approach to music in general, which is that music is a language. According to Wooten, while speaking or listening, one doesn't focus on the mouth as it is forming words; similarly, when a musician is playing or performing the focus shouldn't be on the instrument.

As well as playing electric bass (both fretted and fretless) and the double bass, Victor also played the cello in high school. He still plays cello occasionally with the Flecktones. This is the instrument to which he attributes his musical training.

Succes 2011: Gheorghe Hagi - perioada Real Madrid

Gheorghe Hagi (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe ˈhad͡ʒi]; born February 5, 1965 in Săcele) is a former Romanian footballer. He was famous for his passing, close control, long shots and was regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. Galatasaray fans called him 'Commandante' (The Commander).

Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he is considered a hero in his homeland as well as in Turkey. He has won his country's "Player of the Year" award six times, and is regarded as one of the best football players of the 20th century.

He played for the Romanian national team in three World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, as well as in three European Football Championships in 1984, 1996 and 2000. He won a total of 125 caps for Romania, being ranked second after Dorinel Munteanu, and scored 35 goals, being ranked first.

After the 1990 World Cup, he was signed by Real Madrid. The La Liga side paid $4.3 million to Steaua Bucureşti for him. Hagi played two seasons with Real Madrid and then was sold to Brescia Calcio.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Romania by the Romanian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. Hagi is one of the few footballers to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

In March 2004, he was named among the top 125 living footballers by Pelé.

Real Madrid

* Supercopa de España: 1990
* La Liga: Runner-up 1991–92
* Spanish Cup: Runner-up 1991–92

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Gheorghe Hagi (n. 5 februarie 1965, Săcele, Constanța, jud. Constanța) este un fost fotbalist român, de origine aromână, supranumit Regele fotbalului românesc și Maradona din Carpați. Este cel mai bun marcator din istoria naționalei României cu 35 de goluri înscrise.
Gheorghe Hagi a început să joace fotbal la vârsta de 10 ani, la Farul Constanța, echipă la care a și debutat în Divizia A, la 17 ani[1]. În cariera sa, Hagi a mai evoluat la Sportul Studențesc, Steaua București (cu care a câștigat trei titluri de campion al României, două Cupe și Supercupa Europei, în perioada 1987-1990), Real Madrid, Brescia, Barcelona și Galatasaray (patru titluri de campion al Turciei, o Cupă UEFA și o Supercupă a Europei). La echipa națională, Hagi a reușit să bifeze 125 de prezențe, cu 35 de goluri marcate.

Ca jucător, Hagi a fost un purtător clasic de număr 10 (conducător de joc) care se remarca în teren prin claritatea paselor trimise către atacanți și șuturile nimicitoare la poartă, atunci când se afla el însuși în poziție de finalizare. Câteva din golurile sale au intrat în istoria fotbalului. Hagi își depășea ușor adversarii prin dribling și găsea deseori de unul singur soluția de rezolvare a unui meci. Deși nu excela la capitolul viteză, se orienta excelent în teren și reușea să fie prezent în cele mai bune poziții, care îi permiteau fie să paseze decisiv, fie să șuteze de la distanță.

Hagi era și un excelent executant de lovituri libere, înscriind numeroase goluri din poziții fixe.

Cariera lui Hagi ca jucător profesionist (sau semi-profesionist - în cazul regimului comunist) poate fi împărțită în mai multe perioade:

1. 1982-1983: debutul. Hagi este remarcat la nivel de juniori, debutează în Divizia A și la echipa Națională.
2. 1983-1988: consacrarea la nivel național, jucând la 2 echipe bucureștene de top. Mai ales la Sportul Studențesc, unde juca rol de "copil teribil", Hagi face câteva meciuri de-a dreptul senzaționale, contribuind decisiv în 1985 la câștigarea titlului de vicecampioni (cea mai bună performanță de până azi a clubului din Regie).
3. 1988-1990: consacrarea la nivel internațional. Hagi joacă o semifinală (în 1988) și o finală de Cupa Campionilor în 1989 (fiind desemnat al doilea jucător ca valoare din competiție, după Marco van Basten) și participă cu România la Cupa Mondială din 1990 - Italia.
4. 1990-1998: anii de maturitate. Hagi este liderul incontestabil al echipei României și contribuie decisiv la cele mai mari succese din istoria Naționalei.
5. 1998-2001: perioada târzie, marcată de o anumită labilitate psihică rezultată, probabil, și din stresul acumulat de-a lungul timpului. Din evenimentele "ciudate" ale acestei perioade putem aminti prima retragere din echipa națională din 1998), decizie asupra căreia Hagi va reveni în 1999 și conflictele tot mai dese cu arbitrii. Hagi a fost eliminat în 2 meciuri foarte importante, finala UEFA din 2000 (câștigată de Galatasaray) și sfertul de finală de la Campionatul European 2000 (pierdut de România, 0-2 cu Italia) și a provocat un scandal imens în Turcia, în 2001, când a fost pe punctul de a bate un arbitru, fiind suspendat 6 etape pentru acest lucru.

În ciuda finalului de carieră, în general Hagi a fost totuși un jucător fair-play, care era penalizat foarte rar de arbitri.

Succes 2011: Mario Batali, american chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. Co-owner of restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Singapore

Mario Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality.

In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Singapore. Batali's signature style includes shorts and orange Crocs.

Batali was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Marilyn and Armandino Batali, owner of the restaurant Salumi in Seattle. His family moved to Yakima, Washington shortly thereafter. When Batali was about 8, his family moved back to Seattle when his father got a job as an engineer for Boeing. His father worked for Boeing for thirty years, then, after retirement, opened a meat-curing shop in Seattle.

He is of Italian ancestry on his father's side, and English and French Canadian ancestry on his mother's side.

According to research done by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (of Harvard University, in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America), his maternal great-great grandparents opened an Italian foods store in 1903. Batali's family roots are found almost entirely in the Western United States. Mario’s great-great-grandfather left Italy in 1899, going to Butte, Montana to work in the copper mines, but later moved west to settle in Seattle.

Mario moved to Spain with his family in 1975 and returned to the U.S. in 1978 to attend Rutgers University, where he majored in Spanish Language, Theatre and Economics, and graduated in 1982. He later went to attend Le Cordon Bleu, though he left because he found the pace too slow and that the best way for him to learn was in a professional kitchen. Mario currently lives in New York City with his wife Susi Cahn (of Coach Dairy Goat Farm) and two sons, Leo and Benno. He also owns homes in Northport, Michigan, and Red Hook, New York.

Batali is one of the principal subjects of Bill Buford's 2006 book, Heat.

During college Batali worked as a dishwasher at "Stuff Yer Face" restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey, quickly moving up to pizzaman.[citation needed] Batali went on to serve as an assistant in the kitchens at the "Six Bells" public house in the Kings Road, Chelsea, under Marco Pierre White, La Tour d'Argent in Paris, Moulin de Mougins in Provence, and the Waterside Inn, outside London. In 1985 he worked as a sous chef at the Four Seasons Clift in San Francisco before being promoted to helm the Four Seasons Biltmore Hotel's La Marina restaurant in Santa Barbara. At twenty-seven, Batali was the highest paid young chef in the company. In 1989 he resigned and moved to the northern Italian village of Borgo Capanne to apprentice in the kitchen at La Volta, where he sought to master a traditional style of Italian cooking inspired by his grandmother, Leonetta Merlino.
In 1993 Batali opened "Po". In 1998, with business partner Joseph Bastianich (son of Lidia Bastianich), he went on to start "Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca".

The pair have since opened seven additional restaurants, Lupa (1999), Esca (2000), Otto Enoteca Pizzeria (2003), Casa Mono (2004), Bar Jamon (2004), Bistro Du Vent (2004, closed in 2006), Del Posto (2005), Enoteca San Marco (2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada), B&B Ristorante (2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada), Tarry Lodge in Port Chester, NY, CarneVino (2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada) and a shop named Italian Wine Merchants (1999) which is no longer under Batali's ownership.

The New York Post reported in September 2007 that Batali’s contract with the Food Network would not be renewed, and that he would no longer be featured on its Iron Chef America series. The article further reported that although Batali had not initially been dismissed from Iron Chef America, he decided not to make any further appearances on the show after the network made the decision to cancel his cooking show, Molto Mario, which had been airing on Food Network since 1997. A Food Network spokesperson confirmed to ABC News that Molto Mario would no longer be aired, but said that "Mario Batali is still part of the Food Network family. Sometimes family members go off and do other things. We completely blessed his decision to go to PBS ... He is still going to appear on Iron Chef America." No new episodes of Molto Mario have been filmed since 2004, but the network continued airing re-runs, with reruns currently airing first on Fine Living and currently on Fine Living's replacement channel Cooking. Batali was absent on the season finalé of The Next Iron Chef, but he appeared twice during Iron Chef America's 2008 season, and his likeness has been licensed to appear in the Nintendo game Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine. As of episodes airing in 2010, Batali's name and likeness do not appear in the show's opening credits.

Batali is featured in PBS’s show Spain... on the road Again with Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Bittman (of The New York Times) and Claudia Bassols (a Spanish actress) featuring Spanish cuisine. The 13-episode series was filmed from October 2007 into early 2008. This will be the first of a series of shows that will be developed for PBS over the next several years. Batali is also in negotiations with Travel Channel to develop a series on Italian cuisine and culture with Anthony Bourdain that reportedly will be an "exhaustive, definitive Italy series with the kind of production values that Planet Earth had".
Batali teamed up with premium drum stick producer Vic Firth to create custom kitchen tools. Together they designed a line of wooden rolling pins, pepper grinders and salt grinders.

In 2009, Batali announced the creation of the Mario Batali Foundation "to educate, empower and encourage children". The foundation is an event-driven fundraiser for children’s disease research, children’s hunger relief, and literacy programs.

Batali has been critical of fellow international chef Gordon Ramsay, calling his cooking styles dated and boring. Although the New York Post reported, in 2009, of a feud between Ramsay and Batali, Batali has stated, "We really don't even know each other.... I'd love to hang out with him."

In 2009 Batali made his film debut in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Batali recently lost 45 pounds, hoping to shed about 80 pounds total. Batali said he decided to lose weight after he saw a picture of himself. He counts on light exercise and portion control to lose the weight. Batali said, "It’s really about calorie intake and calorie outtake. You just have to eat enough to get you to the next meal."

Mario is featured also in the MMORPG World of Warcraft: Cataclysm: in Stormwind City there is the NPC Bario Matalli (almost Mario Batali with the initial letters swapped) which is regarded as "Sous Chef" and feature the highest-level cooking recipes available.

Succes 2011: Ulrich Walter, astronaut german

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hans Walter is a German physicist/engineer and a former DFVLR astronaut.

Walter was born in Iserlohn, Germany. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundeswehr, he studied physics at the University of Cologne. In 1980, he was awarded a diploma degree, and five years later a doctorate, both in the field of solid state physics.

After two post-doc positions at the Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, Illinois, and the University of California at Berkeley, California, he was selected in 1987 to join the German astronaut team. From 1988 to 1990, he completed basic training at the German German Aerospace Center, and was then nominated to be in the prime crew for the second German Spacelab mission.

In 1993, he flew on board the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-55 (Spacelab D-2) as a Payload Specialist. He spent 9 days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes in space.

After his spaceflight. he worked for another four years at DLR, managing a space imaging database project. When the German astronaut team was merged into a European Space Agency, he did not transfer, but resigned to work at IBM Germany.

Since 2003, he has been a full professor at the Technische Universität München (Munich, Germany), holding the chair for spacefare technology at the University's faculty of mechanical engineering.

He is author of several books, and also does work as presenter of a popular science magazine show on Bavarian TV.

Succes 2011: Marco Lazzara, contratenor italian

Marco Lazzara (born 1962) is an Italian countertenor who sings a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque composers to those of the 20th century and has performed in a number of notable premieres and revivals of rarely performed operas.He has recorded widely on the Bongiovanni, Ricordi, Nuova Era, Forlane, Opera Rara and Dynamic labels.

Lazzara received diplomas in piano, organ, harpsichord and singing, followed by studies at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and made his professional debut in 1989. In the field of baroque music, Lazzara has sung as a leading soloist with the Alessandro Stradella Consort in a series of performances and world premiere recordings, including, Stradella's Il barcheggio, Moro per amore, and Esule dalle sfere and Nicola Porpora's Dorindo dormi ancor? on the Bongiovanni label. He also appears in the world premiere recording of Niccolò Piccinni's Salve Regina and Dixit Dominus on Bongiovanni. Lazzara was the first countertenor to sing the role of Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in Italy with a series of 1996 performances in Mantua, Pisa and Ravenna. In 2001, he sang the title role of Antonio Cesti's Il Tito in its first modern revival since 1983. The production at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants premiered a newly edited score by music scholar Alan Curtis.

In the bel canto repertoire, Lazzara sang the role of Lurcanio in Simone Mayr's Ginevra di Scozia in a series of performances (and world premiere recording) in April 2001 at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste to mark the bicentenary of the opera's premiere and its first performance in modern times. Lazzara has also recorded an album of arias and duets by Rossini with Annick Massis (Duo d'amore) on the Forlane label, and a solo album of arias and songs by Bellini on the Dynamic label. The latter contains the first recording of Francesco Florimo's "Tu che al pianger" based on a theme from Bellini's La straniera.

Lazzara's performances in 20th century works include the role of Edgar in the Italian premiere of Aribert Reimann's Lear at the Teatro Regio di Torino in October 2001; Manichino di Donna in the world premiere of Azio Corghi's Il Dissoluto Assolto at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon in March 2006 (reprised for its Italian premiere at La Scala the following September); Il delegato in the world premiere of Bruno de Franceschi's Il paradiso degli esuli (Pisa, 27 October 1994);[10] and Sesto Simbolo in the world premiere of Adriano Guarnieri's Pietra di diaspro at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma on 10 June 2007 (reprised for the Ravenna Festival later that year). Lazzara has also performed as a soloist in Giacomo Manzoni's Trame d'Ombre (Webs of Shadows) at Carnegie Hall (April 2000)and in the first Italian performance of Alfred Schnittke's cantata based on the Faust legend, Seid nüchtern und wachet. The latter performance was broadcast live by RAI Radio 3 on 22 April 2007.

Succes 2011: Niki Lauda, a living Formula 1 legend

Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (n. 22 februarie 1949) este un om de afaceri austriac și fost pilot de Formula 1, campion mondial în anii 1975, 1977 și 1984.

Dupa prima sa retragere din Formula 1 a fondat linia aeriana Lauda Air, care a devenit in timp una din cele mai mari linii aeriene din lume. Lauda a fost unul din primii piloti ale propriilor avioane.

În anul 1982 când s-a reîntors în Formula 1 după o absență de două sezoane a devenit primul pilot din lume plătit cu peste 1 milion de dolari pe sezon de către echipa sa.
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (born February 22, 1949 in Vienna) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years.

Born in Vienna, Austria, to a wealthy family. Although it is often reported in Spain that his paternal grandfather was Juan Lauda Crespo, from Galicia, according to Austrian sources his paternal grandfather was the Viennese-born businessman Hans Lauda.

Lauda became a racing driver despite his family's disapproval. After starting out with a Mini, Lauda moved on into Formula Vee, as was normal in Central Europe, but rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports cars. His career seemed to be going nowhere in particular until he took out a large bank loan, secured by a life insurance policy, to buy his way into the fledgling March team as a Formula 2 (F2) driver in 1971. He was quickly promoted to the F1 team and drove for March in both F1 and F2 in 1972. Although the F2 cars were good (and Lauda's test-driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd), March's 1972 F1 season was catastrophic and Lauda, in despair and deep debt, briefly contemplated suicide but finally took out yet another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973. Lauda was instantly quick but the team was in decline; his big break came when his BRM team-mate Clay Regazzoni rejoined Ferrari in 1974 and team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda. Regazzoni spoke favourably of Lauda, so Ferrari promptly went and signed him, paying Niki enough to clear his debts.
After an unsuccessful start to the 1970s culminating in a disastrous start to the 1973 season, Ferrari regrouped completely under Luca di Montezemolo and were resurgent in 1974. The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a second-place finish in his début race for the team, the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. His first Grand Prix (GP) victory – and the first for Ferrari since 1972 – followed only three races later in Spain. Although Lauda became the season's pacesetter, achieving six consecutive pole positions, a mixture of inexperience and mechanical unreliability meant Lauda won only one more race that year, the Dutch GP. He finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship and demonstrated immense commitment to testing and improving the car.

The 1975 F1 season started slowly for Lauda, but after nothing better than a fifth-place finish in the first four races he then won four out of the next five races in the new Ferrari 312T. His first World Championship was confirmed with a fifth win at the last race of the year, the United States GP. He also became the first and only driver to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under 7 minutes, which was considered a huge feat as the Nordschleife section of the Nürburgring was 2 miles longer than it is today.

Unlike 1975, Lauda dominated the start of the 1976 F1 season, winning four of the first six races and finishing second in the other two. By the time of his fifth win of the year at the British GP, he had more than double the points of his closest challengers Jody Scheckter and James Hunt, and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a formality. It would be a feat not achieved since Jack Brabham's victories in 1959 and 1960. He also looked set to win the most races in a season, a record held by the late Jim Clark since 1963.

A week before the 1976 German Grand Prix at the fearsome Nürburgring, (even though he was the fastest driver on the circuit at that time) Lauda tried to boycott the circuit, largely due to the safety arrangements. Most of the other drivers voted against it and the race went ahead. On the second lap at the very fast left kink before Bergwerk, Lauda's Ferrari swerved off the track, due to a suspected rear suspension failure, hit an embankment and rolled back into the path of Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford car. Lauda's Ferrari burst into flames, but, unlike Lunger, he was trapped in the wreckage. Drivers Arturo Merzario, Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl arrived at the scene a few moments later, but before they and Lunger were able to pull Lauda from his car, he suffered severe burns to his head and inhaled hot toxic gases that damaged his lungs and blood. Although Lauda was conscious and able to stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma.

Lauda suffered extensive scarring from the burns, which became possibly his most famous attribute in the eyes of the public. He only had enough reconstructive surgery to get his eyelids to work properly, but never felt a need to do any more. His right ear is mostly gone. Since the accident he has always worn a cap to cover the scars on his head. He has arranged for sponsors to use the cap for advertising.

With Lauda out of the contest, Ferrari boycotted the Austrian GP in protest at what they saw a preferential treatment shown towards McLaren driver James Hunt at the Spanish and British GPs. Carlos Reutemann was even taken on as a potential replacement.

Lauda returned to race only six weeks (two races) later, finishing fourth in the Italian GP. In Lauda's absence, Hunt had reduced his lead in the World Championship standings. Following wins in the Canadian and United States GPs, Hunt stood only three points behind Lauda before the final race of the season, the Japanese GP.

Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day there was torrential rain and Lauda retired after 2 laps, stating that he felt it was unsafe to continue under these conditions. Hunt led much of the race before a late puncture dropped him down the order. He recovered to 3rd, thus winning the title by a single point. In spite of this, Lauda's move is seen as one of the bravest examples in motor racing.

Lauda's previously good relationship with Ferrari was severely affected by his decision to withdraw from the race, and he endured a difficult 1977 season, despite easily winning the championship through consistency rather than outright pace. Having announced his decision to quit Ferrari at season's end, Lauda left early due to the team's decision to run the then unknown Gilles Villeneuve in a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Having joined Brabham in 1978 for a $1 million salary, Lauda endured two unsuccessful seasons, notable mainly for his one race in the Brabham BT46B, a radical design known as the Fan Car: it won its first race, but Brabham did not use the car in F1 again, not wanting the car to be banned outright. At the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda informed B

rabham owner Bernie Ecclestone that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to "drive around in circles". Lauda, who had founded a charter airline, returned to Austria to run the company full-time.

Needing money to shore up his new business, in 1982 Lauda returned to racing, feeling that he still had a career in Formula One. After a successful test with McLaren, the only problem was in convincing then team sponsor Marlboro that he was still capable of winning. Lauda proved he was still quite capable when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix. Lauda won a third world championship in 1984 by half a point over teammate Alain Prost, due to only half points being awarded for the shortened 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. His Austrian Grand Prix victory that year is the most recent time an Austrian has won his home Grand Prix.

1985 was a poor season for Lauda, with thirteen retirements from the sixteen races. He did manage 4th at the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, 5th at the 1985 German Grand Prix, and a single race win at the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix. This proved to be his last Grand Prix victory and also the last Formula One Grand Prix held in the Netherlands. He retired for good at the end of that season.

Lauda returned to running his airline, Lauda Air, on his second Formula One retirement in 1985. During his time as airline manager, he was appointed consultant at Ferrari as part of an effort by Montezemolo to rejuvenate the team.[8] Ousted from his airline by boardroom politics after a sale to majority partner Austrian Airlines in 1999, he managed the Jaguar Formula One racing team from 2001 to 2002. In late 2003, he started a new airline, Niki. Lauda holds a commercial pilot's license and from time to time acts as a captain on the flights of his airline.

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993 and since 1996 has provided commentary on Grands Prix for Austrian and German television on RTL. He was, however, rapped for calling Robert Kubica a "polack" on air in May 2010 at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Niki Lauda has written five books: The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving (titled Formula 1: The Art and Technicalities of Grand Prix Driving in some markets) (1975); My Years With Ferrari (1978); The New Formula One: A Turbo Age (1984); Meine Story (titled To Hell and Back in some markets) (1986); Das dritte Leben (1996). Lauda credits Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing the books.

Lauda is sometimes known by the nickname "the rat" or "SuperRat" because of his prominent bucked teeth. He has been associated with both Parmalat and Viessmann, sponsoring his ever faithful 'cappy' from 1976 onwards, used to hide the severe burns he sustained in his 1976 accident. Lauda admitted in a 2009 interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit that an advertiser currently pays €1.2m for the space on his famous red cap.

In 2008, American sports television network ESPN ranked him 22nd on their top drivers of all-time. In 2005 the Austrian post office issued a stamp honouring him.

Lauda had two sons with his first wife, Marlene: Mathias, a racing driver himself, and Lukas, his brother's manager. They divorced in 1991. He also has an illegitimate son, Christoph. In 2008 he married Birgit, who was 30 years his junior and was formerly a stewardess for his airline. She had also donated a kidney to Lauda when the kidney he received in a transplant from his brother years earlier failed. In September 2009 Birgit gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

Julia Roberts, America's Sweetheart. Eat Pray Love - and win an Oscar from time to time

Julia Roberts (n. 28 octombrie 1967) este o actriță americană de film, mătușa Emmei Roberts, câștigătoare a premiului Oscar, pentru cel mai bun rol feminin din filmul inspirat de realitate, Erin Brockovich.

În Rețeaua Miraculoasă, ea este vocea personajului Charlotte.

Pe numele său adevărat Julia Fiona Roberts s-a născut în Atlanta, Georgia, fiica lui Betty Lou și Walter Grandy Roberts. Părinții săi au fost baptiști și catolici și ea a crescut în religia romano-catolică. Fratele său mai mare, cu care a fost certată o perioadă, Eric Roberts și sora sa Lisa Roberts Gillan sunt amândoi actori. Părinții săi au fost actori și ei, dar și scenariști, au fondat Școala de Actorie din Atlanta. În cadrul grupei de copii, ei au lucrat inclusiv cu micuțul lui Martin Luther King. În semn de mulțumire, acesta i-a plătit acesteia spitalizarea atunci când a născut-o pe micușa Julia. Pentru că părinții au divorțat în 1971, Julia Roberts s-a mutat într-o suburbie a Atlantei. Tatăl ei însă a decedat când ea avea doar zece ani. În acest timp, mama ei se recăsătorise deja cu Michael Motes, cu care au avut încă o fiică, Nancy Motes.

În școală, Julia Roberts a cântat la clarinet într-o formație. Visul ei de copil a fost sa devină veterinar, dar după terminarea liceului, frații săi au convins-o să urmeze o carieră în actorie. Mai întâi s-a înscris la o agenție de modele, iar în curând avea să devină actrița celebră din Pretty Woman.

Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the 1990's romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which grossed $464 million worldwide. After receiving Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias in 1990 and Pretty Woman in 1991, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Erin Brockovich. Her films My Best Friend's Wedding, Mystic Pizza, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, The Pelican Brief, Ocean's Eleven and Twelve have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.4 billion, making her one of the most successful actors in terms of box office receipts.

Roberts had become one of the highest-paid actresses in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual "power list" of top-earning female stars from 2005 to 2006. Her fee for 1990's Pretty Woman was $300,000;[citation needed] in 2003, she was paid an unprecedented $25 million for her role in Mona Lisa Smile. As of 2010, Roberts's net worth was estimated to be $140 million.

Roberts has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, ahead of then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and former first lady Laura Bush. Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films, formerly Shoelace Productions, whose name is "Moder" (her husband's last name) spelled backwards, as well as a reference to the sacred Om symbol in Hinduism, which Roberts practices. Her brother Eric Roberts, sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and niece Emma Roberts, are also actors.

Roberts made her first big screen appearance in the film Satisfaction, released on February 12, 1988. She had previously performed a small role opposite her brother, Eric, in Blood Red (she has two words of dialogue), filmed in 1987 and released in 1989. Her first television appearance was as a juvenile rape victim in the initial season of the series Crime Story with Dennis Farina, in the episode titled "The Survivor", broadcast on February 13, 1987. Her first critical success with moviegoers was her performance in the independent film Mystic Pizza in 1988; that same year, she had a role in the fourth season finale of Miami Vice. The following year, she was featured in Steel Magnolias as a young bride with diabetes and got her first Academy Award nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) for her performance.

Roberts became known to worldwide audiences when she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella/Pygmalionesque story Pretty Woman in 1990. Roberts won the role after the first three choices for the part, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan and Daryl Hannah (her co-star in Steel Magnolias), all turned it down.The role also earned her a second Oscar nomination, this time as Best Actress. Her next box office success was the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, playing a battered wife who escapes her demented husband, played by Patrick Bergin, and begins a new life in Iowa. She played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, and also played a nurse in the 1991 film Dying Young. This work was followed by a two-year hiatus, during which she made no films other than a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). In early 1993, she was the subject of a People magazine cover story asking, "What Happened to Julia Roberts?" She was offered the role of Annie Reed in the 1993 Sleepless in Seattle but turned it down.

In 1993, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. She also starred alongside Liam Neeson in the 1996 film Michael Collins. In 1995, she appeared in season 2 of Friends (episode 13 "The One After the Superbowl"). She was offered the role of Lucy Eleanor Moderatz in the 1995 While You Were Sleeping but also turned it down.

Over the next few years, she starred in a series of films that were critical and commercial failures, such as Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly (1996). Roberts overcame these failures with the commercial and critical success of My Best Friend's Wedding in 1997. In 1998, she appeared on Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, demonstrating her ability to change emotions. She was offered the role of Viola de Lesseps in the 1998 Shakespeare in Love but turned it down.[14] She starred with Hugh Grant in the 1999 film Notting Hill. That same year, she also starred in Runaway Bride, her second film with Richard Gere. Roberts was a guest star on the Law & Order television series episode "Empire" with series regular Benjamin Bratt (at that time her boyfriend). Also in 1999, she starred in the critically panned film Stepmom alongside Susan Sarandon.
In 2001, Roberts received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. While presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year, she made a gaffe, saying she was glad that Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor Bill Conti, who had tried to hasten the conclusion of her Oscar speech the previous year, but instead named the Scottish actor.[citation needed] Roberts would team up with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and Ocean's Twelve (2004). Later in 2001, she starred in the road gangster comedy The Mexican giving her a chance to work with longtime friend Brad Pitt. In 2005, she was featured in the music video for the hit single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band.

Roberts had two films released in 2006, The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web. Both films were animated features for which she provided voice acting. Her next film was Charlie Wilson's War, with Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols and based on the book by former CBS journalist George Crile; it was released on December 21, 2007. Fireflies in the Garden, also starring Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe, was released at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2008.

Roberts made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006 as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly US$1 million dollars in ticket sales during its first week[16] and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. New York Times' critic Ben Brantly described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Brantley also criticized the production of "Greenberg's slender, elegant play," writing that “it's almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation, directed by Joe Mantello." Three Days of Rain received two Tony Award nominations in stage design categories. In 2009, Lancôme announced that Julia Roberts will become their global ambassador for their company. Roberts starred with Clive Owen in the comedy-thriller Duplicity for which she received her seventh Golden Globe nomination. In 2010, she appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day, with Bradley Cooper, and starred in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love.

Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America's Sweethearts.

Succes 2011: Thomas Reiter, astronaut & Brigadier General in the Luftwaffe. One of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space

Thomas Arthur Reiter (born May 23, 1958 in Frankfurt, Germany) is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the Luftwaffe currently working as Director of Human Spaceflight at the European Space Agency (ESA).

As of 2008[update], he was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space. With his wife and two sons he lives in Wahnbek (near Oldenburg) in Lower Saxony.

In 1982, Reiter received his diploma in aerospace engineering from the Bundeswehr University of Munich. In 2010 the university awarded him a honorary doctoral degree. He completed his training as a pilot in Germany and Texas.

He served as an onboard engineer for the Euromir 95/Soyuz TM-22 mission to the Mir space station. During his 179 days aboard Mir, he carried out two EVAs and became the first German astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

Between 1996 and 1997, he underwent additional training on the Soyuz spacecraft and was awarded a "Soyuz Return Commander" certificate, qualifying him to command a three-person Soyuz crew during its return from space.

He trained for a six-month mission to the International Space Station and was launched on the Discovery STS-121 mission to join Expedition 13. The launch date was set for 1 July 2006, but was moved to 2 July, and finally launched on 4 July 2006 due to weather delays. Discovery departed 15 July, leaving Reiter behind with Expedition 13. He later became part of Expedition 14 before returning to Earth aboard Discovery during the STS-116 mission.

His ISS mission was designated Astrolab by the European Space Agency.

Reiter has logged just over 350 days in space, the most by any non-American or non-Russian.

On August 8, 2007 Thomas Reiter was named a member of DLR's executive board. On March 17, 2011 he was appointed Director, now being responsible for training of astronauts, microgravity research, operations of space-based infrastructure and ESA satellite missions.