Story About Jet Li

Li Lianjie (born April 26, 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese martial artist, actor, Wushu champion, and international film star. After three years of intensive training with Wu Bin , Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring at age 17, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went on to star in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films, most notably the Once Upon A Time In China series, in which he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei Hung. His first role in a Hollywood film was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), but his first Hollywood film leading role was in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, most recently starring beside Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), and as the titular villain in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008) opposite Brendan Fraser.

Chines Film

The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce. They likened his career to an aircraft, which likewise "takes-off" as quickly, so they placed the name Jet Li on the movie posters. Soon everybody was calling him by this new name, which was also based on the nickname, "Jet," given to him as a young student, due to his speed and grace when training with the Beijing Wushu team. He made his debut with the 1982 film Shaolin Temple. Some of his more famous Chinese films include:

• The Shaolin Temple series (1, 2 and 3), which are considered to be the films which sparked the rebirth of the real Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, China;
• The Once Upon a Time in China series (Chinese title: Wong Fei Hung), about the legendary Chinese folk hero Master Wong Fei Hung.
• Fist of Legend (Chinese title: Jing Wu Ying Xiong), a remake of Bruce Lee's Fist Of Fury.
• The Fong Sai Yuk films about another Chinese folk hero.

Li starred in the 1995 film High Risk, where Jet Li plays a Captain who becomes disillusioned after his wife is murdered by crime lords. Along the way, he pairs up with a wacky sell-out actor, Frankie (played by Jacky Cheung), and proceeds to engage in a series of violent battles in a high-rise building. The setting is similar to that of Die Hard and both their Chinese film titles. This movie is notable in that director Wong Jing had such a terrible experience working with Jackie Chan in Jing's previous film City Hunter that he chose to make Cheung's character a biting satire of Chan. Jet Li would later publicly apologize to Chan for taking part in it.

American films

In 1998, he made his American film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 which also marked the first time he had ever played a villain in a film. He agreed to do Lethal Weapon 4 after the producer Joel Silver promised to give him the leading role in his next film, Romeo Must Die (2000) which was a box office hit launching his career as a leading man in Hollywood.

Li turned down Chow Yun-Fat's role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) because he promised his wife that he would not make any films during her pregnancy.[1] He also turned down the role of Seraph in The Matrix trilogy, based on his belief that the role was not one which required his skills and that the films were iconic and stunning enough without adding his name to the cast list.

In 2001, he appeared in two more Hollywood films: The One and Kiss Of The Dragon opposite Bridget Fonda which did moderately well at the box office. In July 2001, Li agreed to produce and star in an action film with Jackie Chan which was to be released in 2002 or 2003, but no further news of their collaboration surfaced until 2006. In 2002, the period martial arts epic film Hero was released in the Chinese market. This film was both a commercial and critical success. In 2003 he reunited with producer Joel Silver for the action thriller film Cradle 2 The Grave where he starred alongside rapper DMX and fellow martial artist Mark Dacascos. In 2004, Li lent his likeness, voice and provided motion capture work for the video game Jet Li: Rise To Honor.

Li departed from his usual martial arts action films with the 2005 dramatic film, Unleashed (a.k.a. Danny the Dog), where he portrays an adult with the mentality of a child who has been raised like an animal. Although his martial arts skills were utilized extensively, it was a somber film with more depth than had been previously seen in Li's films, and co-starred dramatic actors Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman.

In 2006, the martial arts film epic Fearless, was released worldwide. Although he will continue to make martial arts films, Fearless is his last Wushu epic. In Fearless, he played Huo Yuanjia, the real-life founder of Chin Woo Athletic Association, who reportedly defeated foreign boxers and Japanese martial artists in publicized events at a time when China's power was seen as eroding. Together with the film Fist of Legend, Li has portrayed both Chen Jun, the student and avenger of Huo Yuanjia (aka Fok Yun Gap), as well as Huo Yuanjia himself. Fearless was released on January 26, 2006 in Hong Kong, followed by a September 22, 2006 release in the United States where it reached second place in its first weekend.
“ I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won't make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years. Huo Yuanjia is a conclusion to my life as a martial arts star. ”

Li has stated in an interview with the Shenzhen Daily newspaper that this will be his last martial arts epic, which is also stated in the film's television promotions. However, he plans to continue his film career in other genres. Specifically, he plans to continue acting in action and martial arts films; epic films deal more with religious and philosophical issues.

Li's 2007 Hollywood film, War, was released in August of that year, and re-teamed him with actor Jason Statham, who previously starred with him in The One, and action choreographer Corey Yuen. War raked in a disappointing $23M at the box office, becoming one of Li's lowest grossers in America; however, it was a hit on video, accumulating nearly $52M in rental revenue, more than doubling its box office take. With the exception of Romeo Must Die and the worldwide release of Hero, most of Jet's American films have been only modest hits like Kiss Of The Dragon, The One, Unleashed, Cradle 2 The Grave, and the worldwide release of Fearless.

In late 2007 Li returned again to China to participate in the China/Hong Kong co production of the period war film The Warlords with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. This film with its focus on dramatics rather than martial arts netted Li the Hong Kong Film Award for best actor.

Li and fellow martial arts veteran Jackie Chan appeared together onscreen for the first time in The Forbidden Kingdom, which began filming in May 2007 and was released to critical and commercial success on April 18, 2008. The film was based on the legend of the Monkey King from the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West.Li also starred as the lead villain in the fantasy action film The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor with actors Brendan Fraser, Isabella Leong and Michelle Yeoh.

Personal life

Li's father died when he was 2, therefore leaving the family to struggle on its own, with Li being the youngest of two boys and two girls. His mother didn't let him do anything risky like riding a bicycle; he was nearly 15 when he rode a bike for the first time. In the summer when Li was eight his talent for wushu was noticed at a summer course at school, and he began his practice there. Li is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. His master is Lho Kunsang of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of the Kagyu school.

In 1987, Li married Beijing Wushu Team member and Shaolin Temple series co-star Huang Qiuyan,[9] with whom he had two daughters. They divorced in 1990, Since 1999, he has been married to Nina Li Chi (born Li Zhi), a Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-based actress. He has two daughters with her as well, Jane (born 2000) and Jada (born 2002).

Li was in the Maldives when the tsunami hit during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Although it was widely reported at the time that he had died during the disaster,[10] he only suffered a minor foot injury, caused by a piece of floating furniture, while he was guiding his 4-year-old daughter Jane to safety. The two were by the pool and slightly above the beach when the wave came ashore.

According to Li, once, as a child, when the Chinese National Wushu Team went to perform for President Richard Nixon in the United States, he was asked by Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!" which earned him much respect in his homeland.

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Life Is Beautiful

Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella) is a 1997 Italian language film which tells the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice (played by Roberto Benigni, who also directed and co-wrote the film), who must learn how to use his fertile imagination to help his son survive their internment in a Nazi concentration camp.

The first half of the movie is a whimsical, romantic comedy and often slapstick. Guido (Roberto Benigni), a young Italian Jew, arrives in Arezzo where he sets up a bookstore. Guido is both funny and charismatic, especially when he romances Dora (Italian, but not Jewish; portrayed by Benigni's actual wife Nicoletta Braschi), whom he steals – at her engagement – from her rude and loud fiancé. Several years pass, in which Guido and Dora have a son, Joshua (written Giosué in the Italian version; portrayed by Giorgio Cantarini). In the film, Joshua is around five years old. However, both the beginning and ending of the film is narrated by an older Joshua.

In the second half, Guido, Guido's uncle Eliseo, and Joshua are taken to a concentration camp on Joshua's birthday. Dora demands to join her family and is permitted to do so. Guido hides Joshua from the Nazi guards and sneaks him food. In an attempt to keep up Joshua's spirits, Guido convinces him that the camp is just a game – a game in which the first person to get 1,000 points wins a tank. He tells Joshua that if you cry, complain that you want your mother, or complain that you are hungry, you lose points, while quiet boys who hide from the camp guards earn points. He convinces Joshua that the camp guards are mean because they want the tank for themselves and that all the other children are hiding in order to win the game. He puts off every attempt of Joshua ending the game and returning home by convincing him that they are in the lead for the tank. Despite being surrounded by rampant death and people and all their sicknesses, Joshua does not question this fiction both because of his father's convincing performance and his own innocence.

Guido maintains this story right until the end, when – in the chaos caused by the American advance drawing near – he tells his son to stay in a sweatbox until everybody has left, this being the final test before the tank is his. After trying to find Dora, Guido is caught, taken away, and is shot to death by a Nazi guard, but not before making his son laugh one last time by imitating the Nazi guard as if the two of them are marching around the camp together. Joshua manages to survive, and thinks he has won the game when an American tank arrives to liberate the camp, and he is reunited with his mother.
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The Dark Night

The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role. The film follows Bruce Wayne/Batman (Bale), District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and their struggles and journey in combating the new threat of the Joker (Heath Ledger). The Joker's identity is left a mystery in the film, while Dent's transformation from heroic district attorney to disfigured killer Two-Face is presented entirely. Nolan's inspiration for the film was the Joker's comic book debut in 1940, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, which retold Two-Face's origin. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. Nolan used an IMAX camera to film some sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film.

On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, leading to intense attention from the press and moviegoing public. Warner Bros. had initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screen shots of Ledger as the Joker, but after Ledger's death, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.[2][3] The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom. Before its box office debut in North America, record numbers of advanced tickets were sold for The Dark Knight. It was greeted with positive reviews upon release,[4] and became only the second film to earn more than $500 million at the North American box office, setting numerous other records in the process. It is also the fourth highest grossing film worldwide, and only the fourth film to earn more than $1 billion. Following its critical and commercial success, The Dark Knight has gone to garner multiple awards ranging from Best Picture to Best Special Effects.

In Gotham City, the Joker robs a mob bank with his accomplices, whom he tricks into killing one another, ultimately killing the last one himself. That night, Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to eradicate the mob. However, Batman wonders if Dent can be trusted. Bruce runs into Rachel Dawes and Dent, who are dating, and after talking to Dent, he realizes Dent's sincerity and decides to host a fundraiser for him.

Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol and the Chechen meet with other underworld gangsters to discuss both Batman and Dent, who have been cracking down on the mobster's operations. Lau, a Chinese mafia accountant, informs them that he has hidden their money and fled to Hong Kong in an attempt to pre-empt Gordon's plan to seize the mobsters' funds. In Hong Kong, Batman captures Lau and delivers him to the Gotham City police, where Lau agrees to testify against the mob. In retaliation, the mobsters hire the Joker to kill Batman and Lau. The Joker issues an ultimatum to Gotham, stating that if Batman does not reveal his identity to the public, people will die each day. When Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Judge Surillo and Gordon are murdered by corrupt police, the public's increasing pressure prompts Bruce to decide to reveal his identity. Before Bruce can turn himself in, Dent announces at a press conference that he is Batman and is arrested as part of a plan to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker attempts to ambush the police convoy carrying Dent, but Batman and Gordon, who had feigned death at Loeb's memorial to protect his family's safety, intervene and capture him. In recognition of his actions, Gordon is appointed the new police commissioner, succeeding the assassinated Loeb.

Later that night, Dent and Rachel disappear. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Dent and Rachel are in warehouses rigged with explosives on opposite sides of the city — far enough apart so that Batman cannot save them both. Batman leaves to save Rachel, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. With the aid of a smuggled bomb, the Joker escapes police custody with Lau. Batman arrives to save Rachel but instead finds Dent. Batman, furious with himself, successfully saves Dent, but the ensuing explosion disfigures Dent's face. Gordon arrives at Rachel's location too late, and she perishes when the bomb detonates.

Aboard a cargo ship, the Joker burns Lau to death atop a pile of the mob's money and has the Chechen killed, before taking control of his men. The Joker goes to the hospital and frees Dent from his restraints, convincing him to exact revenge on the people responsible for Rachel's death, as well as Batman and Gordon for not saving her. The Joker destroys the hospital on his way out, and then escapes with a hijacked bus full of hospital patients.

Out of the hospital, Dent goes on a personal vendetta, confronting Maroni and the corrupt cops one by one. The Joker announces to the public that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. With the bridges and tunnels out of the city closed due to a bomb threat by the Joker, authorities begin evacuating people by ferry. The Joker places explosives on two of the ferries—one ferry with convicts, who were evacuated in an effort to keep the Joker from freeing them, and the other with civilians—telling the passengers the only way to save themselves is to trigger the explosives on the other ferry; otherwise, he will destroy both at midnight. Batman locates the Joker and the hostages he has taken. Realizing the Joker has disguised the hostages as his own men, Batman is forced to attack both Gordon's SWAT team and the Joker's henchmen in order to save the real hostages.

The Joker's plan to destroy the ferries fails after the passengers on both decide not to destroy each other. Batman locates and subdues the Joker, preventing him from destroying both ferries. The Joker acknowledges that Batman is truly incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and that he has unleashed Dent upon the city. Leaving the Joker for the SWAT team, Batman leaves in search of Dent.

At the remains of the building where Rachel died, Batman finds Dent holding Gordon and his family at gunpoint. Dent judges the innocence of Batman, himself, and Gordon's son through three coin tosses. Because of the first two flips, he shoots Batman in the abdomen and spares himself. Before Dent can determine the boy's fate, Batman, who was wearing body armor, tackles him over the side of the building. Gordon's son is saved, but Dent and Batman fall to the ground below resulting in Dent's death.[5] Batman and Gordon realize that the morale of the city will suffer if Dent's murders become known, so Batman persuades Gordon to preserve Dent's image by holding Batman responsible for the murders. Gordon smashes the Bat-Signal, and a manhunt for Batman begins.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an Academy Award-winning 2008 American drama film, inspired by the 1921 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was directed by David Fincher, written by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2008.

The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Pitt, and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson. It won three Oscars for Art Direction, Makeup, and Visual Effects, and has tied the record for the most nominated film not to win the Academy Award for Best Picture with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

The elderly Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is on her deathbed with her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina approaches in August 2005. Daisy tells the story of a blind clockmaker named Gateau (Elias Koteas), who was commissioned to create a clock to hang in the New Orleans train station. After receiving news of his son's death in World War I, he continued work on his clock, but intentionally designed it to run backward, in the hope that it would bring back those who died in the war. After her cryptic story, Daisy asks Caroline to read aloud from a diary containing photographs and postcards written by Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). Caroline begins to read as the story transitions to Benjamin's narration.

On November 11, 1918, just as the people of New Orleans are celebrating the end of World War I, a baby boy is born with the appearance and physical maladies of an elderly man. The mother of the baby dies shortly after giving birth, and the father, Thomas Button (Jason Flemyng), takes the baby and abandons him on the porch of a nursing home. Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) and Tizzy (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a couple who work at the nursing home, find the baby. Queenie, who is unable to conceive, decides to take the baby in as her own, against Tizzy's wishes. She names the baby Benjamin.

Over the course of the story, Benjamin begins to biologically grow younger. In 1930, while still appearing to be in his seventies, he meets a young girl named Daisy (Elle Fanning), whose grandmother lives in the nursing home. The children play together and listen to Daisy's grandmother read from a storybook.

A few years later, Benjamin goes to work on a tugboat on the docks of New Orleans for Captain Mike (Jared Harris). In their free time, the captain takes him to brothels and bars. For the first time, Benjamin meets Thomas Button, who does not reveal that he is Benjamin's father. Later, Benjamin leaves New Orleans with the tugboat crew for a long-term work engagement; Daisy asks him to send her postcards from his travels, which Benjamin does.

During a stay in Russia, Benjamin meets a British woman named Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) and falls in love with her; Daisy is visibly hurt to receive this news via postcard. Elizabeth is already married, but she has an affair with Benjamin. The fling ends the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, when Elizabeth abruptly departs.

Benjamin gets caught up in World War II when Captain Mike's boat and crew are enlisted by the United States Navy. After engaging a German U-boat in battle, Captain Mike and most of the sailors perish. After this, Benjamin, after seeing a hummingbird, sees death in a different way, as opposed to the retirement home where death seemed more natural.

Benjamin again meets Thomas Button, who is dying. Thomas reveals to Benjamin that he is his father and bequeaths all of his assets to Benjamin, including the house and the family button-making business. Benjamin eventually makes peace with his father before the elder Button dies.

In 1945, Benjamin returns to New Orleans, and learns that Daisy has become a successful dancer in New York City. When he travels there to meet Daisy at a performance, he finds Daisy has fallen in love with a fellow dancer, and tries to accept that their lives have separated.

Daisy's dance career is ended by a car accident in Paris. When Benjamin goes to see her, Daisy is amazed at his youthful appearance, but frustrated at her own injuries, she turns him away by telling Benjamin to stay out of her life.

In 1962, Daisy returns to New Orleans and meets Benjamin again. Now the same physical age, they fall in love and move in together. They experience the 1960s together, in large part blissfully but increasingly aware of Benjamin growing younger while Daisy grows older.

Daisy gives birth to a girl, Caroline. Benjamin, believing he cannot be a father to his daughter due to his reverse aging, and not wanting to burden Daisy with having to raise two children, sells his belongings, and leaves the proceeds to Daisy and Caroline. He leaves them both and travels the world.

Reading this account in the hospital room of 2005, Caroline learns that Benjamin is her father. She is upset that Daisy took such a long time to inform her of this, but finds that Benjamin sent her a postcard from everywhere for each of her birthdays expressing his love for his daughter.

In 1980, Benjamin, now looking like a young man, returns to meet Daisy in her dance studio. The aging Daisy is now married to Robert Williams, a kind man who supports her well, to Benjamin's relief. Daisy introduces Benjamin to Robert and the 12-year-old Caroline as a long-time family friend. Daisy and Benjamin then meet privately in Benjamin's hotel where they share their passion for each other, but they mutually realize that Daisy has become too old for Benjamin.

Benjamin departs again and continues to grow younger. One day Daisy receives a phone call from social workers. They inform her that they found Benjamin - now a young pre-teen just hitting puberty - living in a condemned building, and that they called her because they saw her name all over his diary. The social workers believe that he has dementia as he sometimes forgets that he had just eaten and cannot remember Daisy or much of his past. Daisy moves into the nursing home where Benjamin grew up and takes care of him as he becomes a confused 5-year-old boy with a growing temper.

In 2002, Mr. Gateau's old clock is removed from the train station. Shortly afterward, in the spring of 2003, the now-physically infant, 85-year-old Benjamin dies in Daisy's arms. At the moment before Benjamin dies, Daisy claims to have seen in his eyes that he still remembered her.

In the 2005 hospital room, the hurricane raging outside downs the electrical system. As Caroline briefly leaves the room, Daisy passes away, her wish of seeing Benjamin again seemingly answered by a hummingbird hovering outside the storm-drenched windows. Against the sounds of the city's emergency sirens and reports of breached levees, the backwards clock is shown in a basement, still working, as floodwaters envelope the storage room where it is kept.

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Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan.[2] It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup.

Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, mentioned in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.

After screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on November 12, 2008 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, to critical acclaim and awards success. It later had a nationwide release in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2009 and in the United States on January 23, 2009.[3] It premiered in Mumbai on January 22, 2009.

Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten 2008 Academy Awards and won eight, the most for any film that year, including Best Picture and Best Director. It also won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film. Despite the film's success, it is the subject of controversy concerning its portrayals of Indians and Hinduism as well as the welfare of its child actors.
Set in 2006, the film opens with a police inspector (Irrfan Khan) in Mumbai, India, interrogating and torturing Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child from the Dharavi slums. In the opening scene, a title card is presented: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A) He cheated, B) He's lucky, C) He's a genius, D) It is written." At the end of the film, the answer is given. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati) hosted by Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). Jamal has made it to the final question, scheduled for the next day, but the police are now accusing him of cheating, because the other possibilities, that he has a vast knowledge, or that he is very lucky, both seem unlikely.

Jamal then explains that, while at least the question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was very simple, he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life. This is conveyed in a series of flashbacks documenting the particulars of his childhood. This includes scenes of him obtaining Bachchan's autograph, the death of his mother during Hindu-Muslim riots in the slums, and how he and his brother Salim (he refers to Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as the third Musketeer.)

The children are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur Vikal) while they live in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster (a fact they do not actually know at the time they meet him) who "collects" street children so that he can ultimately train them to beg for money. Salim is groomed to become a part of Maman’s operation and is asked to bring Jamal to Maman in order to be blinded (which would improve his income potential as a singing beggar). Salim rebels against Maman to protect his brother, and the three children try to escape, but only Salim and Jamal are successful as Salim purposely lets go of Latika's hand as she tries to board a train they are hopping while trying to escape. Latika is re-captured by Maman's organization and raised as a culturally talented prostitute whose virginity will fetch a high price.

The brothers eke out a living, traveling on top of trains, selling goods, pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, and picking pockets. Jamal eventually insists that they return to Mumbai since he wishes to locate Latika. When he finds her working as a dancer in a brothel, the brothers attempt to rescue her, but Maman intrudes, and in the resulting conflict Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then uses the fact that he killed Maman to obtain a job with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar), a rival crime lord. Salim claims Latika as his own and when Jamal protests, Salim threatens to kill him and Latika intervenes, accepting her fate with Salim and breaking Jamal's heart.

Years later, Jamal has a position as a "chai-wallah" (a boy or young man who serves tea) at a call centre. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker for a couple of minutes, he searches the database for Salim and Latika. He gets in touch with Salim, who has become a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed’s organization and confronts a regretful Salim on tense terms. Salim invites Jamal to live with him and, after following Salim to Javed's house, he sees Latika living there. He talks his way in as the new dishwasher and tries to convince Latika to leave. She rebuffs his advances, but he promises to be at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station every day at five p.m. for her. She tries to discourage him, but on the first day that Jamal waits there, Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but is recaptured by Salim and Javed's men. One of the men then slashes her cheek with a knife, scarring her as Salim drives off, leaving Jamal with the onlooking crowd.

Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house. In another attempt to find Latika, Jamal tries out for the popular game show because he knows that she will be watching. He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the host who feeds Jamal a wrong answer during a break. At the end of the show, Jamal has one question left to win two crore, or 20 million rupees (about $411,000 U.S.) and is taken into police custody, where he is tortured as the police attempt to learn how Jamal, a simple "slumdog," could know the answers to so many questions. After Jamal tells his whole story, explaining how his life experiences coincidentally enabled him to know the answer to each question, the police inspector calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible" and, knowing he's not in it for the money, allows him to return to the show for the final question. At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim gives Latika his phone, and the keys to his car, and urges her to run away. When Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim, Latika answers his phone and they reconnect. She does not know the answer to the final question either, but believing that "it is written," Jamal guesses the correct answer (Aramis) to the question of the one Musketeer whose name they never learned, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Salim is discovered to have helped Latika escape and allows himself to be killed in a bathtub full of money after shooting and killing Javed. Salim's last words are "God is great." Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and they share a kiss. It is then revealed that the correct answer to the opening question is: D) it is written. In a scene reminiscent of many Bollywood musicals, they then dance, along with dozens of bystanders and even the juvenile versions of themselves, in the train station during the end credits.

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Pure

UK, 2002. Rated R. 96 minutes.

Cast: Harry Eden, Molly Parker, Kiera Knightley, David Wenham, Geraldine McEwan, Kate Ashfield, Gary Lewis, Karl Johnson, Nitin Ganatra, Marsha Thomason
Writer: Alison Hume
Original Music: Nitin Sawhney
Cinematography: John de Borman
Producer: Howard Burch
Director: Gillies MacKinnon

Pure is another entry in a peculiarly British/Irish film genre—the genre of movies about urchins (usually with incomprehensible accents that US audiences are somehow expected to understand) fighting to hold their impoverished families together. Usually the parents are alcoholics, or otherwise struggling with some demon or other. Usually the child is the wisest person in the film. Usually I can't understand a damn thing he or anyone else says. Why doesn't someone subtitle these things?

This particular film has been sitting on the shelf since 2002, waiting for supporting player Kiera Knightley to become a mega star. Now that she's obliged, Pure gets a U.S. release and you get Knightley's mug all over the movie poster even though her role in the film is not large.

The film opens tenderly, with 10-year Paul (Harry Eden) thoughtfully preparing his ill mother's daily injection and bringing it to her in bed. Except the medicine isn't medicine; it's “gear.” What is gear? From “A Dictionary of English Slang”: Gear. Noun. Illicit drugs. Specifically, smack. The big H. Heroin. So much for the tender moment. Having your child prepare your daily fix is not something you'll find in Dr. Spock. In fairness, the mother Mel (Molly Parker) does appear disturbed by Paul's initiative. On the other hand, she flakes on Paul's birthday. Mel is a junkie and everyone knows it—everyone except Paul.

A father figure is present in the form of Lenny (David Wenham), the ubiquitous local drug dealer who appears to be getting more sex from his clients than money. At the local diner, teenaged Louise (Kiera Knightley) provides another positive influence. In consideration of her second pregnancy, she has cut back on her drug habit—she only smokes the heroin. Louise gives Paul four cigarettes for his birthday.

When a close friend of Mel's overdoses and Paul finds out what a “junkie” is, Paul's happy family arrangement crumbles. Paul confronts his Mum, and Mum promises to give it up. She barricades herself in her room, making Paul swear not to give her a fix no matter how much she begs for it. This is not a good plan. Mel exits the picture temporarily, leaving Paul mostly on his own or spending a lot of time with Louise, who at least shows Paul a good time with bowling and bumper cars.

Where Pure deviates from more typical coming-of-age stories is that it delves where shier films do not. When Paul decides he wants to know how Mum feels, the film follows through. Director Gillies MacKinnon (Hideous Kinky) gives us the shocking sight of a ten-year-old on a heroin high. Eden nails this scene, despite his acting inexperience.

MacKinnon's directorial choices really help here. Rather than exhorting his actors to histrionics, as many addiction dramas will do, he delivers a rather quiet film that tells its story more through its visual elements. The scenes of Paul's escapades with Louise possess a giddy quality that convey the essence of Paul's experience more than his lines or his laughter do.

Not that the acting isn't outstanding all around. It is, and in addition Pure offers a fascinating contrast between acting talent and star quality. Molly Parker is an outstanding actor with a host of perfect accents at her command, able to credibly portray a wide range of characters from radically different walks of life. She has starred in Wonderland (1999), The Center of the World, Waking the Dead, Sunshine, Marion Bridge, and of course, HBO's “Deadwood.” But despite talent and good looks, Parker will never be a star.

Kiera Knightley doesn't have half of Parker's ability. She's overwhelmed in most period roles (boding ill for the new Pride and Prejudice, whose release looms later this year). Her thin frame cut a ridiculous figure as a Celtic warrior maiden in King Arthur. However, she has spunk and grit, as well as a pretty face, which makes up for a lot of shortcomings in this business. She's got undeniable screen presence, too (at least when she's not sharing the screen with Johnny Depp), and shines brightly in Pure. Her performance is punctuated by Louise's comments about the kicking “Baby Beckham” in her stomach, which remind us of Knightley's breakout role. For Knightley fans, Pure will be well worth seeing for this early performance. And for Parker fans, if there any out there, Pure will be well worth seeing, too.

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Friends with Money

USA, 2006. Rated R. 88 minutes.

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack, Jason Isaacs, Simon McBurney, Scott Caan, Ty Burrell, Bob Stephenson, Greg Germann, Romy Rosemond, Timm Sharp, Hailey Noelle Johnson
Writer: Nicole Holofcener
Original Music: Rickie Lee Jones, Craig Richey, Deb Talan, Steve Tannen
Cinematography: Terry Stacey
Producer: Anthony Bregman
Director: Nicole Holofcener

Friends with Money is, in the words of Frances McDormand's fashion designer on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a movie about people with people problems. These people are people who could just as easily be any of us—any of us who have lots of money, that is, or whose friends all have lots of money. ‘Cause those people—they definitely have people problems. People without money—they're too busy having other problems to have people problems, or at least the kind of people problems these people have.

The friends with money are three couples: Jane (McDormand) and Aaron (Simon McBurney), whom everyone except Jane believes is gay; screenwriting duo Christine (Catherine Keener) and David (Jason Isaacs), whose efforts to expand their house brings out hidden tensions; and Franny (Joan Cusack) and Matt (Greg Germann), who have even more money than the others.

Olivia is the lone friend without money, and she's also the lone friend without a Significant Other. This makes her the recipient of frequent unsolicited advice and offers to set her up with men. Sympathy may falter a bit at this point, because this Olivia looks exactly like Jennifer Aniston, so obviously being man-free is a choice. And, as we soon discover, being penniless is also a choice. Olivia doesn't have to work in other people's homes as a maid and furtively borrow their vibrators; she could easily return to teaching at a fancy private school and date the students' rich single dads.

That's okay, because writer/director Holofcener (Lovely and Amazing, Walking and Talking) doesn't require your sympathy for Olivia or anyone else. Holofcener has a gift for wonderfully oblivious and in-denial characters, the subtly ridiculous situations that such characters get themselves into, and acerbic dialogue. That's plenty, but you can sympathize a little if you want. After all, these people are human beings. Their problems are recognizable, even though Holofcener has transplanted them into a milieu we may not recognize—the jaded, privileged, superficial world of Los Angeles high society.

It's a light touch Holofcener uses, and her actors are her allies, particularly the women. McDormand always creates memorable, meticulously realized characters. Keener, who has worked in all of Holofcener's previous features—all two of them—specializes in this kind of matter-of-fact, play-it-straight comedy/satire. And Aniston is actually better suited to these indie films than to the glamorous big-star vehicles. Her star wattage doesn't translate to the big screen, as box office results have repeatedly proven, so despite her fame she's actually not bad at smaller, more ordinary characters, like in The Good Girl, Office Space, and here.

There's not much analysis, not much resolution, and not much rumination about What It All Means, but if you saw Lovely and Amazing you know to expect that. Holofcener just offers up a slice of these people's lives, in the hopes that you'll see something you recognize in this exaggerated context, and or at least laugh a bit at their hopelessly distorted perceptions of the world.

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District B13

French language. France, 2005. Rated R. 85 minutes.

Cast: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Tony D'Amario, Bib Naceri (as Larbi Naceri), Dany Verissimo, François Chattot, Nicolas Woirion, Patrick Olivier, Samir Guesmi
Writers: Luc Besson (screenplay & story) and Bibi Naceri (screenplay)
Original Music: Bastinde Donny, Da Octopuss, Damien Rogues
Cinematography: Manuel Teran
Producer: Luc Besson
Director: Pierre Morel

Once a real auteur, or almost, Luc Besson has settled for becoming a second-rate action movie factory who can't be bothered to actually direct any of the formulaic scripts he spews from his printer. The erstwhile director of La Femme Nikita and Leon (aka The Professional) has become the writer/producer of The Transporter and The Transporter 2.

That's not to say Besson isn't sometimes effective. In fact, the more ambitious his films are, the worse they tend to be. The Big Blue—pretty turgid and pretentious. The Fifth Element—even more turgid and not nearly as fun as La Femme Nikita. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc—the Hindenburg was less turgid than this movie. And less miscast as a flying object than Milla Jovovich was as a crusading warrior/saint.When Besson keeps it simple, he can still deliver the goods. Last year, Unleashed was no less ridiculous than The Fifth Element, but thanks to its gritty tone, back-to-basics story elements, and a kick-ass Jet Li, it was a hell of a lot more fun. The same is true of District B13.

It's no mystery what's on offer here. With Transporter and Unleashed cinematographer Pierre Morel directing, District B13 is just a good martial arts action movie propelled by an electronic/hip-hop soundtrack. The story is set in the near future, in which all society's undesirables are quarantined in a walled-off portion of the city, and it involves a girl, a bomb, and an unlikely partnership between a cop and a criminal.

More than that is unnecessary, because what District B13 is really about is jaw-dropping stunts. Taking a page from Ong-Bak (for which Besson was an uncredited executive producer), District B13 avoids harnesses and special effects, and the two stars are as much acrobats as they are martial artists.

Cyril Raffaelli, who plays the cop (Damien), is a circus-trained boxing champion and veteran stuntman. David Belle, who plays the criminal (Leïto), is also a veteran stuntman, and specializes in jumping and climbing. Belle has developed his own martial arts discipline he calls “Parkour,” which focuses on movement. Combining agility with quick reactions, participants aim to move over, under, and around obstacles without altering or interrupting their forward motion. In District B13, he shows it off. You can't believe he's pulling the moves he's pulling, except he is.

Thanks to the two stars and their innovative choreography, District B13 works. Besson's script may be formulaic crap, but he obviously still has an eye for fresh action talent, and an instinct for how to show it off.

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Cake

Stridently from California's fertile Central Valley, this Sacramento band has attracted the kind of ecstatic response most newcomers only dream of and seasoned veterans justifiably envy. Based almost entirely on the strength of their live performances and on word of mouth, CAKE has built up a sizable following that is fast billowing out of the northern California region in a sort of reckless eastward expansion.

With the release of their new CD, MOTORCADE OF GENEROSITY, there is emerging a sound of non-negotiable high quality (not necessarily high fidelity); a juggernaut of true musical enjoyment, virtually unfettered by the uptight and unyieldingly narrow confines of genre and fad which make most music so disposable and landfills so plentiful. Yet this does not make CAKE "quirky" or "eclectic"--the band is dead-serious and is likely to inflict grave personal injury upon those who must lazily define anything not huge and lumberingly monolithic as such. CAKE is bored with "alternative" rock and prefers a sound more decorous and economical. "CAKE doesn't ask you to suck its angst," writes Donnel Alexander of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Since CAKE views genre as essentially wasteful and divisive, the group has shared the bill with a wide variety of well-known entertainers including the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphopricy, Jonathan Richman, the Monks of Doom, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and Vomit Launch. CAKE is all-purpose and can bring stern exuberance if not serious enjoyment to even the most discriminating and/or self-conscious audience. Read More..

Guns N' Roses

FORMED: 1985

At a time when pop was dominated by dance music and pop metal, Guns N' Roses brought raw, ugly rock & roll crashing back into the charts. They were not nice boys; nice boys don't play rock & roll. They were ugly, misogynist, violent; they were also funny, vulnerable, and occasionally sensitive, as their breakthrough hit "Sweet Child O' Mine" showed. While Slash and Izzy Stradlin ferociously spit out dueling guitar riffs worthy of Aerosmith or the Stones, Axl Rose screeched out his tales of sex, drugs, and apathy in the big city; bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler were a limber rhythm section that kept the music loose and powerful. Guns N' Roses' music was basic and gritty, with a solid hard, bluesy base; they were dark, sleazy, dirty, and honest -- everything that good hard rock and heavy metal should be.

Guns N' Roses released their first EP in in 1986, which led to a contract with Geffen; the following year, the band released their debut album, Appetite for Destruction. They started to build a following with their numerous live shows, but the album didn't start selling until almost a year later, when MTV started playing "Sweet Child o' Mine." Soon, the album shot to number one and Guns N' Roses became one of the biggest bands in the world. By the end of 1988, they released G N' R Lies, which paired four new, acoustic-based songs with their first EP.

Guns N' Roses began to work on the follow-up to Appetite at the end of 1990. In October of that year, the band fired Adler, claiming that his drug dependency caused him to play poorly; he was replaced by Matt Sorum from the Cult. During recording, the band added Dizzy Reed on keyboards. By the time the sessions were finished, the new album had become two new albums. After being delayed for nearly a year, the albums, Use Your Illusion I and II, were released in the fall of 1991. The Illusions showcased a more ambitious band; while there were still a fair number of full-throttle guitar rockers, there were stabs at Elton John-style balladry, acoustic blues, horn sections, female backup singers, ten-minute songs with several different sections, and a good number of introspective, soul-searching lyrics. In short, they were now making art; amazingly, they were successful at it.

While the albums sold very well initially, the band soon fell out of favor. Stradlin left the band by the end of 1991 and with his departure the band lost their best songwriter. Once Nirvana's Nevermind hit the top of the charts in early 1992, there was a distinct division between what was cool in hard rock and what wasn't; Guns N' Roses -- with all of their pretensions, impressionistic videos, models, and rock star excesses -- were very uncool. The band didn't fully grasp the change until 1993, when they released their album of punk songs, The Spaghetti Incident?; it received some good reviews, but the band failed to capture the reckless spirit of not only the original versions, but their own Appetite for Destruction. By the middle of 1994, there were rumors flying that the band was about to break up, since Rose wanted to pursue a new, more industrial direction and Slash wanted to stick with their blues-inflected hard rock.

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The Bee Gees

A lone guitar and an unforgettable melody begin, then three voices join in harmony - it's the start of This Is Where I Came In. With that title-track and the album that follows, you're connecting again with what is best about the Bee Gees, the essence of their four decades of writing and performing pop hits, new music that's fresh and inspiring, and those incredible vocals. "Yes, it's the harmonies," Maurice Gibb says, "they're what keep people coming back to us." Harmonies, melodies, heartbeat rhythms - that's what makes the Bee Gees' songs constant in the soundtrack of our lives. We've fallen in love to the accompaniment of "How Deep Is Your Love" and "To Love Somebody," hit the dancefloor to "You Should Be Dancin'" and "Stayin' Alive," sought hope with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." With This Is Where I Came In, the magic continues.

Keeping the faith with their legendary past while continuing to explore new ground, the Bee Gees once more reinvent themselves. "This album is us, " Barry says, "it's very honest, and it reflects our feelings about everything that's happened to us in the past 30 years."

"With some of the songs, we go back to our roots," Maurice says of the creative process here. "We also tried something different," adds Robin Gibb. "Each of us worked on our own songs and then on songs together." It's the best of both worlds, individual talent and unified strength ("When the three of us get together, it's like we become one," the brothers say). The range of This Is Where I Came In is dazzling - from the guitar-driven "She Keeps on Coming" to the gospel-tinged "The Extra Mile" to the downright rocking "Voices in the Wilderness." Note the assurance of Maurice's singing on "Man in the Middle" and Robin's and Barry's interplay on "Wedding Day." Listen to the ensemble singing on "Walking On Air," a fond nod to the Beach Boys, and the Noel Coward-like panache of "Technicolor Dreams."

Working out of their own Middle Ear Studio in Miami, the Bee Gees produced themselves this time around. "Working that way has always been good for us," Maurice says, "ever since we began making records in a studio that was a converted butcher shop back in Australia. And we like the freshness of early takes - because they really capture the emotion."

Raised on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, the brothers Gibb were born into music - their father, Hugh, a bandleader, their mother, Barbara, a singer. By nine years old, Barry was already singing and practicing on a guitar his dad had given him, accompanied (on plastic banjos at first) by six year old twins Robin and Maurice. Robin's and Barry's unique vocals would become group trademarks, and Maurice would go on to distinguish himself on guitar, bass and keyboards. The late '50s saw the boys' professional debut, miming the day's hits at Saturday morning shows in local cinemas in Manchester England. Still pre-teens, they moved with their parents to Australia, where, billed as the Rattlesnakes, they performed at racetrack gigs in Brisbane. After achieving their first number one hit Down Under, "Spicks & Specks" released in 1966, the
trio now known as the Bee Gees hit Swinging London in 1967.

Managed by Robert Stigwood, a partner of Beatles' impresario Brian Epstein, the Bee Gees took England - and the '60s - by storm. Debuting with 1967's Bee Gees 1st, they became masters of the hit single, creating three-minute gems that, in the tradition of Roy Orbison and Phil Spector, remain mini-dramas of sweep and intensity. Lyrically evocative ("We were painting pictures with words," they now say) and melodically irresistible, classics like "1941 New York Mining Disaster," "I Started A Joke," "Massachusetts," "Holiday" and "Words" still stand among the greatest of that decade's songs. They balance The Bee Gees' gift for both craft and emotive.

As an early indication of their soulful direction, something that would emerge in full in the decade that followed, "To Love Somebody" was written expressly for Otis Redding, the R&B giant whom Robin cites as his chief vocal influence. As album artists, too, the trio were groundbreakers - 1969's Odessa, for instance, ranks alongside the Who's Tommy as a vanguard concept album.

With "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" topping charts at the start of the decade, the Bee Gees soared in the '70s. By the middle of that decade, the Bee Gees had moved firmly in the direction they called "blue-eyed soul" and their falsetto vocals, rhythmic assurance and surging bass-lines signified a new R&B power. For the brothers, bringing on the funk meant reviving the passion for rhythm and blues they'd had from the beginning. Main Course , produced by Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding), electrified clubs and ballrooms in 1977 with "Jive Talkin'"and "Nights on Broadway." It was only the preamble, however, to Saturday Night Fever, which became the most popular album of the decade and went on to sell 40 million copies.

Spirits Having Flown ("Tragedy," "Too Much Heaven," "Love You Inside Out") then solidified their status as the biggest band in the world, and during this time they became the only artists in history to write and produce six consecutive number one hits and the only ones to have five songs in the U.S. Top 10 at the same time.

It was in the late '70s that another Gibb stepped forward. Taken under Barry's wing, 19 year-old Andy Gibb triumphed in 1978 with three #1 singles ("I Just Want to Be Your Everything," "(Love Is) Thicker than Water" and "Shadow Dancing."

In the '80s, the Bee Gees branched out, working on solo projects and writing. Barry and his production team of Alby Galuten and Karl Richardson spent the early part of the decade collaborating with titans: Barbra Streisand (the entire Guilty album which produced three Top 10 hits: "Guilty," "Woman in Love," "What Kind of Fool"), Diana Ross ("Chain Reaction"), Dionne Warwick ("Heartbreaker") and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers ("Islands in the Stream"). Bee Gees songs, Barry's productions, these partnerships resulted in some of the most successful music of the artists' careers. The cornerstone partnership - the alliance of the brothers themselves - revived spectacularly with the #1 U.K. success of "You Win Again," and with the global success of the title-track of One.

The Bee Gees headed into the '90s by returning to concert stages for the first time in a decade with a stadium tour de force on five continents. Following closely on incredible worldwide success of their "One Night Only" television special, memorialized in the platinum-selling One Night Only album and Top 10 DVD, the sold-out stadium concerts, and on the fascination for the Bee Gees generated by the broadcast of a VH1 "Legends" and A&E "Biography," This Is Where I Came In builds on one of the most enduring legacies in contemporary music, and is the first all-new studio album for the Bee Gees since the release of their platinum Still Waters album in May 1997.

With worldwide sales well in excess of 100 million albums, the Bee Gees are not just the only artists to have scored #1 hits in each decade from the '60s to the '90s, but the most successful trio in history. Saturday Night Fever remains the world's best-selling soundtrack and the template for song-driven film soundtracks to this day.

The seven-time Grammy Award winners have been honored by induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Crazy In Love-Beyonce

Yes! so crazy right now
Most incredibly
It's your girl b
It's your boy young
History in the makin
[part 2]

I look and stare so deep in your eyes
I touch on you more and more every time
When you leave i'm beggin you not to go
Call your name two, three times in a row
Such a funny thing for me to try to explain
How i'm feeling and my pride is the one to blame
Yeah, cause i know i don't understand
Just how your love can do what no on else can

Got me lookin so crazy right now
Your love's got me lookin so crazy right now
(your love)
Got me lookin so crazy right now your touch's
Got me lookin so crazy right now
(your touch)
Got me hoping you page me right now your kiss's
Got me hoping you save me right now
Lookin so crazy your love's got me lookin
Got me lookin so crazy your love

When i talk to my friends so quietly
"who he think he is?" look at what you've done to me
Tennis shoes don't even need to buy a new dress
You ain't there, ain't nobody else to impress
It's the way that you know what i thought i knew
It's the beat that my heart skips when i'm with you
Yeah, but i still don't understand
Just how your love can do what no one else can

Got me lookin so crazy right now
Your love's got me lookin so crazy right now
(your love)
Got me lookin so crazy right now your touch's
Got me lookin so crazy right now
(your touch)
Got me hoping you page me right now your kiss's
Got me hoping you save me right now
Lookin so crazy your love's got me lookin
Got me lookin so crazy your love

I'm warmed up now
Let's go

Young hova
Ya'll know when the flow is loco
Young b and the r-o-c uh oh
O-G, big homie
The one and only
Stick boney but the pockets are fat like tony

Soprano the roc handle
Like van Exel
I shake phonies man, you can't get next to
A genuine article, i do not sing tho
I sling though , if anything i bling yo

Star like ringo
War like a green berret
You're crazy bring your whole set
Jay-z in the range
Crazy and deranged
They can't figure him out
They're like ãhey is he insane?ä

Yes sir i'm cut from a different cloth
My texture is the best fur, im chinchilla

I've been ill of the chain smokers
How you think i go the name hova
I've been reala'
The game's over

Fall back young ever since
I made you change over to platinum
The game's been a wrap
One

Got me looking so crazy, my baby
I'm not myself lately
I'm foolish, i don't do this
I've been playing myself
Baby i don't care
Cuz your love got the best of me
And baby you're making a fool of me
You got me sprung and i don't care who sees
Cuz baby you got me so crazy

Got me lookin so crazy right now
Your love's got me lookin so crazy right now
(your love)
Got me lookin so crazy right now your touch's
Got me lookin so crazy right now
(your touch)
Got me hoping you page me right now your kiss's
Got me hoping you save me right now
Lookin so crazy your love's got me lookin
Got me lookin so crazy your love
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Chris Brown

Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is a Grammy Award-nominated American R&B and pop singer, dancer, and occasional actor who rose to fame in mid 2005 with his Billboard Hot 100 number-one, Scott Storch-produced debut single "Run It!", featuring Juelz Santana. His self-titled debut album spawned four successful Top 10 and Top 20 hits in the United States.

To date, the album has sold 2.1 million copies in the U.S. and 3 million worldwide. Chris Brown was born and raised in the small town of Tappahannock, Virginia by Clinton Brown and Joyce Hawkins. He is one of two children. He gained his love of music when he was sent to stay with his Aunt in Arkansas, he and his younger cousins would perform in local talent shows. He was influenced by the artists his parents played on the home radio, such as Michael Jackson and Sam Cooke. Before becoming a vocalist, Brown was interested in becoming a rapper, but began to notice his singing talent by age 11. By 13, Brown was discovered by a local production team who visted his father's gas station searching for new talent. Brown began his recording career and moved to New York, staying there for two years. Brown's local production team organized an audition before Def Jam Vice President Tina Davis, who currently works as his manager. At the age of 15, Brown was then sent to perform for L.A. Reid and was subsequently signed in 2004 to Jive Records. By early 2005, Brown began work for his debut album, working with the likes of Scott Storch, The Underdogs, Dre, Vidal, Bryan Cox, Bow Wow, and Jermaine Dupri "Run It!" was a hit, peaking at #1 in the U.S. (5 weeks) and abroad. Chris Brown was released on November 29, 2005 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 200 selling over 155,000 copies in first week of sales. Five weeks later, became certified platinum, and within a year, went double platinum. Following "Run It!", "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" became Brown's second top 10 hit in the U.S, peaking at #7 and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. "Gimme That" was released in April 2006 which featured Lil' Wayne for a remix that was not featured on his album. The single peaked at #15, making it Brown's first single to miss Top 10 in the US. Brown also co-directed his videos for "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" and "Gimme That". Brown's third top 10 hit in the U.S. and second single to top the R&B charts was "Say Goodbye", which debuted at #79 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #10. The fifth and final single off his debut album, "Poppin'", has already debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #82 and has since risen to #48. The album scored Brown three Billboard Awards in 2006, one of them being the most prestigious, Artist of the Year. The album has also received a nomination for a Grammy, in the Best Contemporary R&B Album category. To further promote the album, Brown kicked off his major co-headlining tour, The Up Close and Personal Tour, in the late summer of 2006. Due to the tour, production for his next album was pushed back two months a second summer tour is in the works once the album is completed the tour may include artists: Pretty Ricky, Bowwow, Lil Wayne, Juelz, Neyo, Ciara, and Cherish. No official dates, and peformances, finalized. Brown has begun production for his sophomore release, tentatively titled Exclusive. such as: Ciara, Pharell, Bowwow, and more to come. Six of which Brown co-wrote. Producers on the album so far include Kanye West, Pharrell, will.i.am, Timbaland, Scott Storch and Bryan Michael Cox to create a bit more mature album than his first, thus giving the album its name. The album is scheduled to release by fall 2007. Other than his singing career, Brown has branched into some acting. He made short appearances on UPN's One on One and The-N's The Brandon T. Jackson Show on its pilot episode. In addition, Brown landed a small role as a band geek in the fourth season of FOX's The O.C. in January 2007. Originally scheduled to guest in eight episodes, it was cut to only three, so that Brown could work on his second studio album. Brown made his big screen debut in Stomp The Yard (originally titled Steppin') alongside Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Columbus Short in January 2007. According to TRL, Brown began filming for his second film, and first true leading role in This Christmas.
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Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star on the television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994.After a brief membership with the pop musical group Innosense, Spears signed a recording contract with Jive Records, releasing her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The album established her as a pop icon and "bona fide pop phenomenon", credited for influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s.[1] The music video for "...Baby One More Time" and Spears's appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine also established her as an international sex symbol, garnering controversy over the influence of her public image on teenage girls.[1] Spears's personal life began to gain substantial media attention after her marriage to Kevin Federline in 2004. Their marriage ended two years later, resulting in an ongoing custody battle over their two children, born in 2005 and 2006.[2][3] Spears released her fifth studio album Blackout in 2007. The following year Spears began recording her sixth studio album Circus. Spears is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America with 31 million certified albums and one of the world's best-selling music artists having sold an estimated 83 million records worldwide.[4][5] Spears also holds the title to multiple Guinness World Records.

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Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American recording artist and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following hermarriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. According to Billboard magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.[4] Following her separation from Mottola in 1997, Carey introduced elements of hip hop into her album work, to much initial success, but her popularity was in decline when she left Columbia in 2001, and she was dropped by Virgin Records the following year after a highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, as well as the poor reception given to Glitter, her film and soundtrack project. In 2002, Carey signed with Island Records, and after a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to pop music in 2005.[5][6] Carey was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards.[7] She has had the most number-one singles for a solo artist in the United States (eighteen; second artist overall behind The Beatles),[8] where, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the third best-selling female and sixteenth overall recording artist.[9]. In addition to her commercial accomplishments, Carey has earned five Grammy Awards, and is well-known for her large vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register.

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Rihanna

Rihanna (pronounced /riːˈɑːnə/; born Robyn Rihanna Fenty; February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian/Guyanese singer, model and fashion designer. She is the second artist, and first female, from Barbados to have received a Grammy Award (the first being Jimmy Senya Haynes). Rihanna is currently signed to the Def Jam Recordings label.…

She has attained four Billboard Hot 100 number ones thus far ("SOS", "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia"), tying her with Mariah Carey and Beyoncé as the female solo artist with the most number ones this decade. She has sold over 11 million albums and nearly 40 million singles worldwide.

Rihanna came to fame in 2005 with the release of her debut album Music of the Sun, which featured her breakthrough single "Pon de Replay". Less than a year later, Rihanna released A Girl Like Me and gave her first number one single, "SOS". In 2007, Rihanna released her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad. The album has yielded six hit singles including three worldwide number one singles including "Umbrella", "Don't Stop the Music" and "Take A Bow". Since the release of her debut album, Rihanna has amassed twelve top 40 hit singles in the U.S.

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Beyonce

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981), commonly known as Beyoncé (pronounced /biːˈɑn.seɪ/), is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools, and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child. Knowles rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of girl group Destiny's Child, the best-selling girl group of all time.

After a series of commercial successes with the group, Knowles released her debut solo album, Dangerously In Love, in June 2003. The album became one of the most-successful albums of that year, spawning the number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy". It earned Knowles five Grammy Awards in a single night in 2004, and its reception signaled her viability as a solo artist. The disbandment of Destiny's Child in 2005 facilitated her continued success; she released her second album, B'Day, in 2006, which spawned the UK number-one singles "Déjà Vu" and "Beautiful Liar", and the worldwide hit "Irreplaceable". Knowles has sold 15 million albums and singles worldwide.

The success of her solo albums has established Knowles as one of the most marketable artists in the industry. She has added acting and endorsement deals to her repertoire. In 2006, she starred in the comedy film The Pink Panther, and, in the same year, scored the main role in the film adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical Dreamgirls, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Knowles launched in 2004 her family's fashion line, House of Deréon, and among her many lucrative commercial deals are Pepsi, Tommy Hilfiger, and L'Oréal. Knowles has been with boyfriend Jay-Z since 2002, though they have been discreet about their relationship. After much speculation, they married on April 4, 2008.
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