Amber Chia, Roslan Aziz & da'Prodigal Son- wednesday, 4th June 2008

Covenant Artists Management (CAM) are delighted to announce that we are representing some of Malaysia's biggest and hottest talents on a non-exclusive, promotional & marketing agreement. We sincerely and fervently believe that they deserve wider recognition in the global market place.

Amber Chia and Roslan Aziz are already living legends and household names and CAM are truly excited to be the vehicle for their journey towards becoming global brands.

And....da'Prodigal son, a gifted songwriter, whose songs come almost perfect, with the key ingredients of great melodies, great melodies & great melodies,( repetitions are intentional ) & great Rhythm, Groove & Soul, all it needs now are the other elements to come together and.....a possible Grammy nomination????? for Song of the Year.......????? deo volente.....

Amber Chia

This Sabahan lass comes from a humble family and for all of us who have been blessed to know her and have had the privilege to work with her will agree and readily attest that Amber is very very humble too, "a tree is known by it's fruit"...." & GOD gives grace to the humble....." and we believe those are some of the reasons why, Amber's stars continue to shine brighter & brighter.....

At the tender age of 17, she moved to Kuala Lumpur to pursue her modeling dream and quickly won the "GUESS Watches International Search 2004/2005" in Switzerland, being personally chosen by Paul Marciano.

This earned her an acknowledgement in the Malaysian Book Of Records as the first Asian to become the face of Guess International Watches. She was the best female model Malaysia and the Sexiest Female Model Malaysia, .and In 2006/2007, she clinched "FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in Singapore and Malaysia" title.

Amber’s skyrocketing modeling career has empowered her to carry out charity work and she continually strives to improve her skills to better her career.

+++++++

ROSLAN AZIZ

nathan east, bassist & composer, "easy lover"...etc with philip bailey & phil collins......once remarked....Roslan,.....you are like Quincy Jones,...

Roslan, man, you are for the WORLD......

Roslan also comes from a humble background.

His talent was discovered by his grandfather who bought him his first drumset at the age of five.

The prodigy was a regular member of his uncle's band The Dukes.

He accepted an engineering job from the legendary Booty Boys in 1982, and has since recorded hundreds of songs and later produced Sheila Majid's ground breaking albums Dimensi Baru and Emosi.

He then formed Roslan Aziz Productions in 1988 signing Zubir Ali as his first artiste.

Can we forget the ground breaking "Hijau"....all in the know would readily attest that zainal,

ex headwind was merely a vehicle, it was Roslan's album, a noted music industry source who chooses to remain anonymous exclaimed....that's how it is with Roslan.....

"some Producers produce the same way for all the singers, but producers like Roslan Aziz & Quincy Jones, their productions accompany the singers..." they have that stamp, their own stamp....their own standards....UNLIKE many others.......

Over the years, Roslan Aziz Productions has developed into Malaysia's strongest independent music company through a shrewd understanding of the local market.

RAP’s strategy attracted the attention of Warner Music International, which acquired a 49% stake in the firm (Billboard, June 11) as the latter looks at overseas opportunities for local artists.

Among the numerous awards garnered by Roslan were Best Album for “Gamal” from AIM 1995, best album AIM awards “Ratu” (1996) Best Album award for “Emosi” at BASF, Indonesia in 1987 and in 2002 he won the Most Promising Producer at the Music Producers Awards in the United States.

Roslan Aziz was also one of the judges in the Malaysian Idol seasons 1 and 2.

Roslan directed and produced the historical Siti Nurhaliza concert at the Royal Albert hall in London in 2005 and later was appointed the musical director for the phenomenal sell-out Puteri Gunung Ledang the musical in 2006.

He was appointed the coveted post of Principal at Akademi Fantasia Season 5 which concluded in May 2007.

aLi is the latest project by Roslan and his long time friend, Mukhlis Nor, a song writer and the man behind many succesful albums by Zainal Abidin and Sheila Majid.

In this exciting endeavour they have decided to be the frontline as the singers of their own creative songs.

This is a tough challenge for this duo as the music that they are bringing in is something transcendental, bravely crossing racial boundaries to wider appeal from all Malaysians.

+++++++

da’ Prodigal Son


da’ Prodigal Son is a talented young man destined for stardom. This former DJ currently plays in a band and has amassed over 300 original songs.

“We sincerely believe that the perfect combination of the “ Rhythm, Groove & Soul and sweet melody songs of da’Prodigal Son have the potential to go where no other Malaysian song has gone before, possibly Grammy Award Winning Quality…

all it needs now is the other elements to come together, the right singer, the right producer, the right platform and the right time….for the songs of da’prodigal son to become classics……

Watch this space for more breaking news on this amazing local songwriter.

AT the Press Club- I renewed my acquaintance with .....a malaysian football great...uncle bernard khoo...

they say" what a small world...."

uncle bernard khoo, most of you know him as "zorro-masked & unmasked".... but i bumped into uncle bernard in 1978 while he was the MAIN MAN of Malaysian Schools Soccer

some things in life you will never ever forget, especially, the moments when people don't have to, but they still do, because they are GRACIOUS......

Uncle Bernard khoo...is one such person,...very very GRACIOUS....( undeserved or unmerited favour )....to me at least....

You see, uncle Bernard, with Gerard Rozells were THE coaches who, unflinchingly gave their all for Malaysian Schools Football, back in the 70's

Going back for those in the know, uncle Bernard was the man who gave many legendary names in Malaysian soccer, Santokh Singh, R.Arumugam & Mokhtar Dahari, the breaks they deserved even when they were in their teens, to become the great legends that they are today....

but for me, i remember him as a very stern, no nonsense coach( even though i did get to trials for the Selangor Schools & did not succeed, but it was an experience that i'd never forget)

The year was the 1978. I was a reserve in ACS Klang soccer team, and we had a few good players in our team.

I knew i had no chance at all whatso ever, but the 3 other players who wanted to get to the Selangor Schools Trials at the Victoria Institution school, were adamant that they deserve a chance at least... Kok chye, Azlan Johar & Azman...they were all good.....born to play soccer......

the trials at the V.I was 8am on the Saturday, but as coincidence would have it, Maxwell School, with the GIANT of a striker, underaged Zainal Abidin Hassan, 15 yrs young but already playing for the under 18 team and younger brother to Hanafiah & Khalid Ali,....malaysian internationals both....

....well maxwell was playing some other school at the Kota Raja Stadium in Klang and on the Wednesday before the trials on Saturday at VI and so all four of us, Kok Chye, Azlan, Azman and myself, went to Kota Raja Stadium in Klang, our hometown, to watch the match....

Maxwell ended up beating the other school and Zainal was on fire, scoring a hattrick.... but after the game...as everyone was going back, kok chye and azman plodded me to go up to Uncle Bernard, who was head coach of Selangor Schools, and ask him if we too could attend trials on Saturday....

I ended up mumbling something, the words would not come out, i froze ,....and as cold as cold can be uncle bernard gave us that look like"do u kids know what you are doing" and he just said 6 words, ok, be there, sharp 8am

So all four of us went, none of us made the Selangor Schools team BUT that did not matter, did it?

what mattered is that this giant of a man, who just gave his all, to contribute his part, and who did it at the grassroots, at the schools, where no credit or glory is ever given BUT where the talents are really nurtured and found, cos' what we learn in schools will determine what we will do later in life.....still no title or recognition whatso ever, but to all of us who know and will remember, we fondly remember....

Uncle Bernard, and now as a fellow blogger and meeting up frequently with you and all the common causes that we are standing for together, please allow me to say this SIR,

you are a TOWERING MALAYSIAN sir !!!! with utmost respect....

thank you for being so gracious to the 4 kids from Klang and giving them a chance even though you had already selected your team and the trials were merely a formality, we will never forget that.....30 years down the road....

thank you uncle Bernard & may GOD bless you

MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS 2ND JUNE 2008

SARAH JESSICA PARKER LIMBERING UP AT THE GYMNASIUM

The show must go on as MTV Movie Awards aired from Uni while Lot still smolders

By Brian Frederick

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)

6/1/08.

Against a backdrop of smoke and fire in the back lot of Universal Studios, the MTV Awards went on the air as scheduled.

Stars like Johnny Depp, Will Smith and Mark Wahlberg, still shinned bright on the red carpet as fire firefighters battled the ongoing blaze.

There was nothing make believe about the fire, burning down parts of the King Kong exhibit and one storage vault for films and media material.

Fortunately, most of Universal’s movie magic landmarks survived and Universal keeps duplicates of their films in a second vault.

The lot was closed to tourist for the day but not for the 2008 MTV Awards.

Host Mike Myers - no stranger to hosting the event back in 1997 used this second opportunity to plug his latest comic venture, ‘The Love Guru.’

Other big name stars at the event such as Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, Steve Carell and hottie Megan Fox brought the star power movie fans flock to see on the silver screen and Hollywood’s studio executives love to cash in on.

The 2008 MTV Award winners –

Best Movie – Transformers

Best Male Performance – Will Smith, ‘I Am Legend’

Best Female Performance – Ellen Page, ‘Juno’

Breakthrough Performance – Zac Efron, ‘Hairspray’

Best Comedic Performance – Johnny Depp, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’

Best Kiss – Briana Evigan & Robert Hoffman, ‘Step Up To The Streets’

Best Villain – Johnny Depp, ‘Sweeny Todd:

Best Fight – Sean Faris & Cam Gigandet, ‘Never Back Down’

Best Summer Movie So Far – ‘Iron Man’

MTV Achievement Award – Adam Sandler

The MTV Achievement Award is the highest award honor for the show. Sandler sang the song, ‘No Body Does it Better’ after his acceptance.

Upon accepting the first award of two, Johnny Depp said “I am not very funny, really I am not.”

A funny line for one of Hollywood’s highest paid an actor, who gets paid millions for being funny.

Copyright issue unclear as fans continue to repost Coachella performance of famed tune

By Matthew B. Zeidman

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)

6/2/08 –

Prince may have succeeded in convincing YouTube administrators to remove fan videos of his rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” from their servers, but footage of the performance has already been reposted by users of the popular site who dispute the “Purple Rain” singer’s right to do so.

The controversy stems from Prince’s appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. in April.

There, he performed the well known Radiohead hit for the audience, but had his label, NPG Records, file copyright complaints with YouTube when video began showing up online

Latest Entertainment & Social news Today- 2nd June 2008

LBN READERSHIP TOPS 295,000 PER DAY:

The LBN E-Lert readership has now topped over 295,000 per day, its highest total ever.

"This new readership number places us within immediate striking distance of passing 300,000 readers per day" said LBN E-Lert Editor, Dave B. Goodman.

"The readership trends show a tremendous demand for the LBN E-Lert both in the United States and throughout the world," continued Goodman.

LBN-SNAP:.....Sandra Bernhard......

The LBN E-Lert now ranks as one of the top ten news e-zines on the web, which it achieved in less than six (6) years.

LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER:

***Former Yahoo! and Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Terry Semel plans to make a run at acquiring private-equity investor Teddy Forstmann's IMG marketing and talent agency.

According to sevral sources with direct knowledge of the situation, Semel has been meeting with private-equity firms and the sovereign wealth funds of the United Arab Emirates, and has raised enough money to do a significant transaction.

TATUM O'NEAL ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES;

ACTRESS ACCUSED OF POSSESSING CRACK COCAINE:

Police arrested Academy Award-winning actress Tatum O'Neal from her luxury high-rise apartment on drug charges Sunday night.

O'Neal was arrested around 7:30 p.m. at her Clinton Street home where police said they found bags of cocaine and crack in her possession.

Arrested with her was 33-year-old Alan Garcia, who is believed to be the possible dealer.

*Published reports said the 44-year-old actress initially told police she was doing research for an upcoming role, and that she pleaded to be let off the hook when the drugs were discovered.

LBN-NOTICED:

***A group of prominent political activists gathered last night at Hamburger Hamlet on the Sunset Strip for the quarterly "Politically Incorrect" dinner moderated by media expert and author, Michael Levine.

Guests included feminist attorney Gloria Allred, news radio talk show host John Phillips, father rights advocate Glenn Sacks, L.A. councilman Dennis Zine, broadcaster Rob Nelson, producer and manager Mike Flint, and internet entrepreneur Claude Dauman.

***It looks like George Clooney's ex-GF isn't wasting much time moving on from her year-plus-long relationship with Georgie boy.

Sarah Larson was red-hot on the town, "dancing seductively" as Vegas Confidential reports, for an ex-boyfriend (not George) at grand opening of Palms Place Hotel and Spa Saturday night.

It was the first time she'd been out in public since splitting from Clooney.

***BE AN LBN CORRESPONDENT - send your celeb sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.

ROCK PIONEER BO DIDDLEY DIES AT AGE 79:

Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health.

He was 79.

LBN-BOOK NEWS:

***Markus Dohle's promotion to chief executive of Random House, the world's largest consumer book publisher, is just one part of a broader cultural makeover at Bertelsmann.

***Is the electronic book approaching the tipping point? That topic both energized and unnerved people attending BookExpo America in Los Angeles.

WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa along with approximately 295,000 other "influencers" in all 50 of the United States and 23 foreign countries.

LBN-COMMENTARY By ALLISON HOPE WEINER:

M. Night Shyamalan's career illustrates one of the paradoxes of Hollywood:

the industry loves the myth of the auteur -- until faced with the realities of the box office.

SEX AND THE CITY' LEADS WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:

"Sex and the City" and its legion of female fans over the weekend gave Hollywood exactly what it needs to survive an uncertain summer movie season:

an unconventional hit.

The romantic comedy, based on HBO's long-running television series of the same name, unexpectedly overtook the latest "Indiana Jones" movie at the domestic box office, bringing in an estimated $55.7 million since opening with midnight shows on Thursday, according to Warner Brothers., which released the film.

LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:

***Unhampered by the adjacent fire on the Universal Studios backlot, the MTV Movie Awards took place on Sunday night.

"Transformers" took best movie honors at the Mike Meyers-hosted event while Johnny Depp won two awards: best comedic performance and best villain.

Tom Cruise presented Adam Sandler with the Generation Award, the show's highest honor.

***Can the environment make for entertaining TV?

Discovery Communications is about to find out with its launch of Planet Green.

***Rob Marshall has signed with CAA.

Marshall, who built his career at ICM, leaves as he is preparing to direct "Nine" for the Weinstein Co.

Daniel Day-Lewis will star with Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench in the musical, inspired by the Fellini film "8½," which is scheduled to shoot this fall.

LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:

***As of early Sunday, 80,000 people signed up on Facebook as a fan of "Sex and the City," the weekend's unexpected No. 1 film in North America.

Also: A new study from BlogHer and Compass Partners suggests that traditional media are losing female mindshare to the Web.

***Wal-Mart is adding free classified advertising to its Web site, Walmart.com.

Silicon Valley startup Oodle is powering the new service.

The U.S. retail giant now competes with both Craigslist and eBay-owned Kijiji.

Walmart.com attracts 26 million U.S. visitors per month.

LBN READERS GET THE NEWS -

FAST! FAST! FAST!:

French fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent poses with his models after a Christian Dior collection show in 1959.

Yves Saint Laurent, one the top French designers of the 20th century, died Sunday evening in Paris, a source in the fashion icon's foundation said.

Yesterday, all 294,000 of the LBN E-Lert readers in 11 time zones through the world got the news delivered to them BEFORE......ABC News, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Fox News News, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune.

LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: There's no sign this time around of the wage-price spiral that, in the 1970s, turned a temporary shock from higher oil prices into a persistently high rate of inflation.

AHMADINEJAD SAYS ISRAEL WILL SOON DISAPPEAR: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday............

AHMADINEJAD SAYS ISRAEL WILL SOON DISAPPEAR:


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear, the Mehr news agency reported.


"I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene," he said.


"Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started."

Yossi Vardi’s billion dollar suggestion

Yossi Vardi’s billion dollar suggestion

General
Technology

— Harry @ 10:01 am

Yossi Vardi is the most public face of Israel’s internet industry.

Vardi has been a player in the Israeli hi-tech sector for years but solidified his status as the godfather of Israel’s internet scene when he sold ICQ for over 400 million dollars.

He is a doer, a connector and by many accounts incredibly generous with his money, so he is also a dream fulfiller - giving seed money to a myriad of young Israelis with big ideas.

He’s put his money behind successful startups such as Answers.com, Speedbit and FoxyTunes, which was recently acquired by Yahoo.

Vardi doesn’t lack his own ideas, that’s for sure.

Case in point:

The revelation by Google founder, Sergey Brin, that Vardi helped inspired Google.

“Yossi invented for us the magic formula,” he said with a smile.

“He told us to devote two thirds of the [internet] page to original results, and a third to advertisements, and that is what we did.”

As quoted by Ha’aretz in an event at GarageGeeks, a venture capital funded space for techies to get their geek on.

Well isn’t that the cherry on top of the malabi:

On top of all of Israel’s contributions to hi-tech, we’ve also invented Google.

Kind of.

....& WE WALKED FOR "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION".....

(photos, thanks and many thanks to a wonderful person who I have the deepest of respects and also who is a great influence to my blogging, TV Smith,.... used without his permission )

we all walked

for

F R E E D O M

of


speech & expression


Got the Badge, the cap but no tee shirt.......


.....but with respect to those who are more learned and seasoned than myself,


it was a great build up........now we got to keep pushing......get more people involved.....


and , we did get our point across to V. Gayathry, executive director of the Centre for Independent Journalism, one of the groups who are also behind this initiative,


that they should in future engage ALL practioners of Expression and that should include, not just people who write, but also who dance, act, sing, paint, talk...etc.etc.etc


and anyone else who express themselves through artistic means and communicate that form to some one else, to get all of these people in Media & Communications to be totally involved....to come together,....


..... perhaps then.....only then.....


we can light a candle......


..... BUT before we can prosper as a nation....

.....ALL MALAYSIANS must have an equal opportunity to prosper........


To quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt....


In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms :


1. the first is....


Freedom of speech & expression, everywhere in the world


2. the second is....


Freedom of every person to worship GOD in his own way, everywhere in the world.


3. the third is...


Freedom from want, everywhere in the world.


4. the fourth is...


Freedom from fear, anywhere in the world.


till then......we remain & pray.......a free Malaysia....







Zooming In on Minister Zaid Ibrahim


Photography Note:


The zoom effect is created by setting the flash to FP shutter mode and doing a flick zoom at very slow shutter speed. ( again credit to TV SMITH....used without permission )