Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including nominations for four Golden Globe Awards and a British Academy Film Award. As of 2018, her films have grossed over $3 billion in the U.S., making her the fifth-highest-grossing actress at the domestic box office.Diaz's roles in comedies and romances cemented her as a sex symbol and a bankable star, and she was named the highest-paid Hollywood actress over 40 in 2013.
“The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you.” John Lennon
Monday, August 29, 2022
Monday, August 22, 2022
Mihai Leu aka Michael Loewe, a former professional boxer that held the WBO welterweight title in 1997
Leu retired after one title defense, against Michael Carruth, becoming the third European boxer to retire as an undefeated world champion, after Jack McAuliffe and Terry Marsh. Due to an injury, he was forced to abandon boxing but unwilling to give up the world of sports, he turned to be a rally driver. He later became a national rally champion.
In 1998 he started his new career at the wheel of a Ford Ka and after only three years, he managed to become Romania's rally vice-champion. He had already participated in rallying before, having made his debut in 1994, at the Banat Rally, in a Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Piero Ferrari, an Italian billionaire businessman and sport personality
Piero Lardi Ferrari (born 22 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire businessman and sport personality. He is the second and only living son of Enzo Ferrari, and a 10.23% owner of the Ferrari automotive company, of which he is the vice chairman. He owns 13.2% of the Ferretti Group. As of August 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$4.6 billion.
In 1998, Ferrari teamed up with José Di Mase and purchased Piaggio Aero Engineering with the idea of bringing Piaggio back to its roots as a designer and producer of business aircraft. Ferrari was nominated president. He resigned in 2015 when he sold the final 1.95% of his shares to Mubadala Development Company. The connection proved fruitful as Ferrari was then able to persuade Mubadala to become a title sponsor of the Ferrari Formula One Team the following year. Ferrari is also the chairman of HPE COXA, a company he founded in 1998 with the aim of providing high end engineering services in the mechanical field. In 2009 HPE acquired COXA, a manufacturing firm founded in 1985 and specialized in the high precision manufacturing of niche volumes and prototypes.
Following Ferrari's IPO on 21 October 2015, his 10% stake was valued at US$1.1 billion. On 28 April 2016, he entered into the Ferretti Group with 13.2% of shares. In May 2019, he was ranked by Forbes at number 838 in the world's billionaires list with a net worth of $3.1 billion. Also in 2019, he acquired the first mega yacht built by Riva that launched the new superyacht division of the Ferretti Group. In April 2020, he was ranked by Forbes at number 680 in the world's billionaires list with a net worth of $3.4 billion.In December 2020, his stake increased in Ferrari up to 10.23%. In June 2021, he was ranked by Forbes at number 705 in the world's billionaires list with a net worth of $4.7 billion.
Monday, August 8, 2022
David Suchet, an actor that played the role of Agatha Christie's Poirot in 70 TV adaptations!
David Suchet stepped into Poirot's shoes in 1989 in the TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, marking the beginning of a 24-year long career playing the famous sleuth. He played the role in a total of 70 TV adaptations!
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Mircea Baniciu, un cântăreț și chitarist român. S-a remarcat în muzica românească la începutul anilor '70 când a devenit solist vocal al formației rock Phoenix
La începutul anilor '70 Mircea Baniciu cânta ca folkist în cluburile din Timișoara. Cu această ocazie este văzut de Nicu Covaci și Günther Reininger, doi dintre membrii grupului Phoenix, care erau în cautarea unui solist vocal, și hotărăsc să-l coopteze în formație. Mircea Baniciu debutează în Phoenix în anul 1971 când susține câteva spectacole în care sunt prezentate piese precum Nunta, Negru Vodă, Iarna. Aceste piese au fost ulterior înregistrate pe albumul Cei ce ne-au dat nume, apărut în 1972, în componența: Nicu Covaci, Mircea Baniciu, Josef Kappl, Costin Petrescu și Valeriu Sepi.
Continuarea vine în 1973 cu EP-ul Meșterul Manole, apoi, în 1974, cu Mugur de fluier, unde apar câteva dintre hiturile absolute ale grupului Phoenix: Mica țiganiadă, Ochii negri, ochi de țigan, Mugur de fluier și Andrii Popa, care a devenit aproape un imn național[necesită citare]. Andrii Popa este singura compoziție de Mircea Baniciu apărută în discografia Phoenix, despre care artistul povestește ca a apărut din întâmplare pe disc, datorită faptului că la „înregistrările din Electrecord trebuia să completăm discul cu 4 minute”.
Cantafabule a apărut în 1975 și este considerat până astăzi cea mai importantă operă rock a României. Trupa Phoenix s-a retras, de toamna până primăvara, în munții Semenic pentru a compune piesele de pe acest album, iar când au ajuns în studio, în locul lui Costin Petrescu, a fost adus de Covaci la baterie Ovidiu Lipan „Țăndărică”.
În primăvara anului 1977, o parte dintre membrii trupei Phoenix, adică Nicu Covaci, Ovidiu Lipan, Josef Kappl și Erlend Krauser, fug din țară, reușind să treacă granița ascunși în boxele Marshall. Mircea Baniciu a rămas în țară, susținând ulterior ca nu a fost anunțat de această plecare. A continuat să cânte piesele Phoenix și după plecarea lui Nicu Covaci, deși a fost, în nenumărate rânduri, anchetat de Securitate.
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Juan Pablo Villalobos, a Mexican writer and entrepreneur. He is the author of Down the Rabbit Hole (And Other Stories, 2011), which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011
Juan Pablo Villalobos is a Mexican writer and entrepreneur. He is the author of Down the Rabbit Hole (And Other Stories, 2011), which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011, and Quesadillas (And Other Stories, 2013).
Villalobos was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1973. He lived in Barcelona, Spain for eight years, before moving to Brazil.
He studied marketing and Spanish literature. He has worked in market research and published travel stories, as well as literary and film criticism. Villalobos has researched the influence of the avant-garde on the work of César Aira, and the flexibility of pipelines for electrical installations.
Villalobos's first book, Fiesta en la madriguera, has been translated into Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Romanian, Dutch and English. Its English translation, Down the Rabbit Hole by Rosalind Harvey, was published in September 2011 by the London publishing house And Other Stories. Down the Rabbit Hole was shortlisted for the 2011 Guardian First Book Award.
His second novel, Quesadillas, is also translated by Rosalind Harvey and is set to be published by And Other Stories in 2013.
Villalobos has said that his first book was inspired by Nellie Campobello's collection of short stories set during the Mexican revolution, titled Cartridge.
In Germany, Villalobos is recognized as an important representative of the so-called 'narco-literature'. His book Fiesta en la madriguera has been called "a disillusioned domestic tale from the dark heartland of Latin American machismo"
Down the Rabbit Hole, by Juan Pablo Villalobos, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011 and the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2012.
Tochtli lives in a palace. He loves hats, samurai, guillotines and dictionaries, and what he wants more than anything right now is a new pet for his private zoo: a pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. But Tochtli is a child whose father is a drug baron on the verge of taking over a powerful cartel, and Tochtli is growing up in a luxury hideout that he shares with hit men, prostitutes, dealers, servants and the odd corrupt politician or two.
Down the Rabbit Hole, a masterful and darkly comic first novel, is the chronicle of a delirious journey to grant a child’s wish.
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Alessandro Del Piero, an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions
A technically gifted[9] and creative supportin[10][11] who was also a free-kick specialist,[12][13] Del Piero is widely regarded by players, pundits, and managers as one of the greatest players of his generation[14][15] and as one of the best Italian players of all time,[16][17] winning the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year award in 1998 and 2008. A prolific goal-scorer, he is currently the second highest all-time Italian top-scorer in all competitions, with 346 goals, behind only Silvio Piola, with 390 goals; he is also the joint ninth highest goalscorer in Serie A history, with 188 goals, alongside Giuseppe Signori and Alberto Gilardino.[18][19][20][21][22][23] After beginning his career with Italian club Padova in Serie B in 1991, he moved to Juventus in 1993, where he played for 19 seasons (11 as captain), and holds the club records for most goals (290) and appearances (705). During his time at the club, he won six Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, four Supercoppa Italiana titles, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and the Intercontinental Cup. After leaving the club in 2012, he also spent two seasons with Australian side Sydney FC; he retired after a season with Delhi Dynamos FC in the Indian Super League, in 2014.
g forward
Del Piero has scored in every competition in which he has participated.[24] In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations.[25] In the same year, he was also voted into the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, a list of the 50 best European players of the past 50 years.[26] Along with six awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct,[27][28] he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality as well as playing ability.
At international level, Del Piero has also represented the Italian national team at three FIFA World Cups and four UEFA European Football Championships, most notably winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and reaching the final of UEFA Euro 2000 with Italy. He is the joint fourth highest scorer for the Italian national team, with 27 goals, alongside Roberto Baggio, and behind only Silvio Piola with 30 goals, Giuseppe Meazza with 33 goals, and Luigi Riva with 35 goals; with 91 appearances for Italy between 1995 and 2008, he is also his nation's eleventh-most capped player of all-time.
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Phil Collins, an English drummer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor, best known as the drummer/singer of the rock band Genesis and for his solo career. Between 1982 and 1989, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career
Born and raised in west London, Collins played drums from the age of five and completed drama school training, which secured him various roles as a child actor. He then pursued a music career, joining Genesis in 1970 as their drummer and becoming lead singer in 1975 following the departure of Peter Gabriel. Collins began a solo career in the 1980s, initially inspired by his marital breakdown and love of soul music, releasing a series of successful albums, including Face Value (1No Jacket Required (1985), and ...But Seriously (1989). Collins became "one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond".[9][10] He also became known for a distinctive gated reverb drum sound on many of his recordings.[11] In 1996, Collins left Genesis to focus on solo work; this included writing songs for Disney’s Tarzan (1999) for which he received an Oscar for Best Original Song for “You'll Be in My Heart”. He rejoined Genesis for their Turn It On Again Tour in 2007. Following a five-year retirement to focus on his family life,[12][13] Collins released an autobiography in 2016 and completed his Not Dead Yet Tour in 2019.
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Collins's discography includes eight studio albums that have sold 33.5 million certified units in the US and an estimated 150 million worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists.[14] He is one of only three recording artists, along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, who have sold over 100 million records worldwide both as solo artists and separately as principal members of a band.[15][16] He has received eight Grammy Awards, six Brit Awards (winning Best British Male Artist three times), two Golden Globe Awards, one Academy Award, and a Disney Legend Award.[17] He was awarded six Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the International Achievement Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999, and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. He has also been recognised by music publications with induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2012, and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013
Saturday, July 2, 2022
David Piper, a British former Formula One and sports car racing driver from England
Early career and Formula One
Piper was born in Edgware, Middlesex[1] and began his career in the mid-1950s by competing in sprints and hill-climbs, before beginning circuit racing with a Lotus Eleven.[2] He then moved up to a Lotus 16 which he used in 1959 and 1960 to compete in both Formula One and Formula Two,[2] by means of changing engines as appropriate.[2] His best result with the car was a second place in the Lady Wigram Trophy, in 1960, behind Jack Brabham in a Cooper.[2]Between 1962 and 1970, Piper raced frequently in many locations worldwide using his personally owned Ferraris and, later, Porsches. He was moderately successful and gained a reputation for reliability and consistency.[2]
Piper crashed a Porsche 917 during the 1970 shooting of the film Le Mans and lost part of one leg.[3]
Piper later raced his personal, green, Porsche 917 and other cars in historic events.
Monday, June 27, 2022
Dumitru Prunariu, a Romanian cosmonaut. He flew in space aboard Soyuz 40 spacecraft and Salyut 6 space laboratory
Also Disney Romania chooses the cosmonaut to dubbed BURN-E in the Disney Pixar short.
Early life and career
Born on 27 September 1952 in Braşov, Romania, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu graduated in 1971 from the Physics and Mathematics high school in Braşov and in 1976 from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, obtaining a degree in Aerospace Engineering.Prunariu worked as a Diploma Engineer at Industria Aeronautică Română, an aircraft industry facility, prior to enrolling in the Romanian Air Force Officers Training School in 1977.
Intercosmos program
He was selected for spaceflight training in 1978 as a part of the Intercosmos Program. Having obtained the highest marks during three years of preparation, he was then selected for a joint space flight with the Russian cosmonaut Leonid Popov. In May 1981 they completed an eight-day space mission on board Soyuz 40 and the Salyut 6 space laboratory where they completed scientific experiments in the fields of astrophysics, space radiation, space technology, space medicine and biology.Prunariu is the 103rd human being to fly into space.
Career after Intercosmos
Since 1978 Prunariu was an active officer of the Romanian Air Force. For different periods of time Prunariu was detached within other ministries to perform civil functions. In 2007 he completely retired from the Air Force with the military rank of major general, continuing his professional activity as a civil servant. At the end of 2015, by a decree of the President of Romania, Prunariu received the 3rd star, becoming a lieutenant-general (ret.).
In January 1990 Prunariu was assigned the position of Deputy Minister to the Ministry of Transportation and Chief of the Romanian Civil Aviation Department, exercising this position for 1.5 years. In 1991 Prunariu graduated from the International Aviation Management Training Institute (IAMTI/IIFGA) located in Montreal, Canada – being after 1989 the first Romanian accomplishing a two-month training for higher managers of civil aviation institutions.
Between 1992 and 1993 Prunariu was a Co-leader of the World Bank Project on reorganization of the higher education and research system in Romania.
Since 1995 Prunariu is the Vice-President of the International Institute for Risk, Security and Communication Management (EURISC), Bucharest. Between 1998 and 2004 Prunariu was the President of the Romanian Space Agency, and since 2000 an Associate Professor on Geopolitics within the Faculty of International Business and Economics, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania. For almost two years, starting with May 2004, he was the itinerary Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the Russian Federation.
In 2002 Prunariu was elected as the Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN COPUOS for the period February 2004 – February 2006, and in 2009 he was elected the Chairman of the UN COPUOS for the period of June 2010 – June 2012, accomplishing successfully his duties. Between 2006 and 2008 Prunariu accomplished the duties of the Director of the Romanian Office for Science and Technology to the European Commission (ROST) in Brussels.
Currently, Prunariu is working for the Romanian Space Agency as an expert within the Romanian Association for Space Technology and Industry – ROMSPACE.
In 2012 Prunariu was appointed as one of the 15 experts of the Group of Governmental Experts on outer space transparency and confidence-building measures, established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 65/68. Since 1992 Prunariu is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, being one of the trustees of the Academy, and since 1994 a member of the Romanian National COSPAR Committee. Since 1992 he has represented the Government of Romania to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) sessions. In 2014 Prunariu was elected for a three years term as the vice-chairman of the International Relations Committee of ESA.
Prunariu was also a member of the task force elaborating a report on Space Security for Europe in the framework of the European Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), issued in 2016.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Sir Roderick David Stewart, a British rock singer and songwriter
With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and the early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group, and then with Faces, though his music career had begun in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In October 1963, he joined The Dimensions as a harmonica player and part-time vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars, and in August, Stewart signed a solo contract, releasing his first single, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", in October. He maintained a solo career alongside a group career, releasing his debut solo album, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down in 1969. Stewart's early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[5][6]
From the late 1970s through the 1990s, Stewart's music often took on a new wave or soft rock/middle-of-the-road quality, and in the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook. In 1994, Stewart staged the largest free rock concert in history when he performed in front of 3.5 million people in Rio de Janeiro.[7]
In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists".[8] A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time,[9] and #59 on Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Singers of all time.[10] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Bajaga i Instruktori, a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band
The band's history begins in 1983. At the time Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" was the guitarist for the hard rock band Riblja Čorba. During his work with Riblja Čorba, Bajagić wrote music and both music and lyrics for several Riblja Čorba hits, but also wrote a large number of humorous pop-oriented songs that did not fit into Riblja Čorba's sound. He decided to release these songs on a solo album, and he started working on the album with a group of Belgrade musicians: vocalist Dejan Cukić (a former Dizel, Tilt, and Bulevar member, and at the time a journalist working in the magazine Rock), bass guitarist Miroslav Cvetković "Cvele" (a former Tilt, Pop Mašina, and Papatra member), guitarist Nenad Stamatović (a former Tilt, Zebra, Suncokret, and Bulevar member), and drummer Vladimir Golubović (a former Tilt and Suncokret member, at the time temporarily replacing Vicko Milatović in Riblja Čorba).
The success of Bajagić's solo album caused conflicts inside Riblja Čorba, and on July 19, 1984, he was excluded from the band. During that summer Bajaga i Instruktori went on a tour, with Rade Radivojević on keyboards, playing mostly at youth work actions. At the end of the year, in the Rock magazine, Bajagić was proclaimed the Rock Musician of the Year, and Pozitivna geografija was voted the Album of the Year by musicians. At the beginning of 1985, the band recorded the album Sa druge strane jastuka (On the Other Side of the Pillow), produced by Kornelije Kovač and Saša Habić. The album featured a large number of guests: Branko Mačić on jazz guitar, Stjepko Gut on trumpet and flugelhorn, Sava Medan on double bass, Jovan Maljoković on saxophone, Mića Marković on saxophone, Nenad Stefanović "Japanac" on bass guitar, Dragan "Krle" Jovanović on guitar, and others.[5] The album brought hits "220 u voltima" ("220 Volt"), "Vidi šta mi je uradio od pesme, mama" (a Serbian language cover of the Melanie Safka song "Look What They've Done to My Song Ma"), "Ti se ljubiš (Na tako dobar način)" ("You Kiss (In a great Manner)"), "Dvadeseti vek" ("Twentieth Century"), and ballads "Dobro jutro, džezeri" ("Good Morning, Jazzers"), "Sa druge strane jastuka" and "Zažmuri" ("Close Your Eyes"). For the first time Milenković was an author of a song, co-writing the song "Francuska ljubavna revolucija" ("French Love Revolution") with Bajagić. At this time the band's manager became a former U Škripcu manager Saša Dragić.