WELCOME TO POPOOLA'S BLOG : September 2014

30 September 2014

Angelina Jolie forked out £2m for a rare wedding gift for Brad!

Los Angeles - Angelina Jolie has given Brad Pitt a rare £2m watch as a wedding present.

The Maleficent actress has splashed out on the expensive gift - a 1952 Patek Philippe platinum chronometer - which has been inscribed with the words "To Roly from Nessa", a reference to the characters the couple play in By The Sea.

Los Angeles - Elizabeth Banks has joined the cast of Magic Mike XXL.

The Hunger Games star has signed up to appear alongside newly announced cast mates Jada Pinkett Smith and Andie MacDowell in the stripper comedy sequel, though her role in the movie is yet to be announced.

Los Angeles - Taylor Swift is to visit London's The Shard next week for a charity challenge.

The 24-year-old singer will head to the iconic structure next Thursday to challenge Capital radio presenters Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon to raise as much money as possible for disadvantaged children and young people.

Los Angeles - Gwyneth Paltrow celebrated her birthday with her estranged husband Chris Martin over the weekend.

The Iron Man 3 star marked her 42nd milestone with the Coldplay frontman, whom she spit from earlier this year following ten years of marriage, and their two children Apple, ten, and Moses, eight, in the back garden of her home in Brentwood, California.

Kim Kardashian & North West rock Matching Givenchy Gowns at Paris Fashion Week

A little style star on the rise, just like her stylish mother. The Givenchy Spring 2015 Paris Fashion Week presentation took place moments ago, and guests at the occasion were Ciara, Rachel Zoe, Anna Dello Russo, and Kris Jenner.

The Equalizer

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) seems like an ordinary blue-collar worker but when a young prostitute (Chloe Grace-Moretz) he befriended is viciously beaten up, his mysterious past comes to the fore as he finds himself up against a ruthless organized crime ring.

Los Angeles - Iggy Azalea finds her critics "funny".

The Black Widow rapper insists she doesn't care how her music is described as she is just happy to be able to "entertain" people with her work.

A comedy-adventure about second chances, featuring a dynamic crew of elite firefighting aircraft devoted to protecting historic Piston Peak National Park from raging wildfire.

When world-famous air racer Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and that he may never race again, he must shift gears and launch into the world of aerial firefighting.

Venice - George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin are married.

The Ocean's Eleven star and his human rights lawyer bride tied the knot at the Aman Canal Grande luxury resort in Venice, Italy on Saturday.

James Franco chats about his work relationship with Scott Haze

Torronto - As James Franco gets set to open his latest film, The Sound and the Fury, the actor-director likes to think of star Scott Haze as the Robert De Niro or Leonardo DiCaprio to his Martin Scorsese.

"Scott is one of my favourite actors. I would call him my De Niro. Umm, I would call him my Leo. He's more my Leo," Franco joked in a joint interview with Haze at this month's Toronto Film Festival.

When Thomas wakes up in a massive maze, stuck with a group of other boys, his only memory involves strange dreams about a mysterious organisation known as W.C.K.D. Time is of the essence and they must find a way out. By piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze, Thomas is put to the test in the hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape.

Los Angeles - Brad Pitt's first girlfriend has praised him as "every woman's dream".

Kim Bell - whose maiden name was Hubbard before she wed late husband Howard - dated the Moneyball hunk for two years from the ages of 13 and 15 when they were students at Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri, and she couldn't have asked for a nicer first love.

Los Angeles - Paris Hilton and her friends ran up a bar bill of more than $230 000 on Wednesday night.

The hotel heiress - who is said to have earned $2.7m from four nights of work on her recent two-month DJ tour - was partying at the Marquee club in New York with pals who ordered huge bottles of $100 000 Ace of Spades champagne.

Los Angeles - Kristen Stewart is dating Nicholas Hoult.

The pair are reported to be inseparable after spending time together on and off the set of their new movie Equals.

Los Angeles - will.i.am unveiled his custom designed Lexus NX in Paris on Thursdy night.

The 39-year-old singer hosted a special event at the exclusive venue, Pavillion Cambon in the French capital, where he turned up on the stage inside the impressive vehicle, a special edition Lexus NX 200t F SPORT, before getting out of the car and putting on a scintillating DJ set for the 600-strong crowd.

Los Angeles - The cast of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies spent several days learning how to use a sword for their roles in the film.

The star-studded cast - which includes Suki Waterhouse - of the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's parody of Jane Austen's classic novel were all shown the skills needed to kill zombies.

Los Angeles - Kylie Minogue thinks Rita Ora will be "great" as her replacement on The Voice.

The pop superstar has given the Black Widow singer her blessing to take her chair on the judging panel and thinks she will bring a great energy to the BBC One talent show.

Los Angeles - Lady Gaga asked for her jacket back when audience members fought over it during a concert this week.

The Poker Face hitmaker had tossed the neon garment into the crowd during her ArtRave: The ArtPop Ball show in Antwerp, Belgium but was unhappy when two fans began fighting over the item of clothing in an attempt to take home a special memento of the gig.

Los Angeles - Britney Spears is "pretty damn happy" being single.

The Piece of Me hitmaker split from boyfriend David Lucado last month after 18 months of dating but she isn't feeling too upset and is instead focusing on her goals.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play Edward Snowden

Los Angeles - Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to play Edward Snowden in The Snowden Files.

The 33-year-old actor is believed to be in negotiations to play the role of the asylum-seeking CIA leaker, who fled to Russia after revealing disturbing information about the NSA's global surveillance tactics to the press, in Oliver Stone's biopic, according to Deadline.

Los Angeles - Bryan Singer will direct X-Men: Apocalypse.

The 49-year-old - who has worked on three previous instalments of the Marvel franchise - will return as the director of the next movie, Deadline reports.

Los Angeles - 2014 has seen a lot of films being released, many of these pieces of art have already had critics calling them one of the best films of all time.

However, in the movie industry there is no greater accolade than a good old Oscar. We have seen actors careers take off after simply being nominated for an Academy Award.

George Clooney is an apparent hit with his future father-in-law

Los Angeles - George Clooney's future father-in-law couldn't be "more delighted" about his marriage to Amal Alamuddin.

The 53-year-old actor will tie the knot with the human rights lawyer in Venice, Italy, later this month and her dad Ramzi is thrilled with his daughter's choice of husband.

Los Angeles - Joe Jonas is reportedly dating his brother's ex-girlfriend.

The 25-year-old singer has been spending a lot of time with 19-year-old Gigi Hadid, a model who Nick Jonas romanced before embarking on a relationship with Olivia Culpo.

Los Angeles - Bow Wow has got engaged.

The 27-year-old rapper - whose real name is Shad Moss - popped the question to his fiancée Erica Mena after six months of dating, and she has confirmed the pair are set to marry.

Los Angeles - Jessica Chastain has slammed hackers for the latest spate of nude celebrity photographs leaked online, insisting it is a "violation".

Los Angeles - Matt Damon is keen to secure the lead role in Legendary Pictures, The Great Wall.

The film, which will explore the mysterious origins of China's historic structure, is to be directed by Zhang Yimou, who made his directorial debut with Red Sorghum, in 1987.

Las Vegas — Retired boxer Mike Tyson may be famous for his aggressiveness, but he showed his compassionate side last week when he came to the rescue of an injured motorcyclist who had crashed on a Las Vegas interstate.

Cape Town - It’s almost time for us to go frolic in the daisies at the annual Rocking The Daisies (RTD) music fest.

We cornered some of our favourite bands from the line-up for a quickie.

We go behind-the-scenes at the Expresso show

Cape Town – It's Monday morning 4:40am and I’m driving down the N1, even for this early riser it’s a bit too early.

I arrive at my destination, take the lift to the 7th floor and it’s like its 10:00am instead of 05:00am.

The smell of coffee, the murmur of voices, the chirpy ‘good mornings’ ringing out are all very different from the quiet office I walk into most mornings.

Cape Town – We’ve always wanted to have a quickie with legendary Afrikaans singer and songwriter Valiant Swart, and our dream has finally come true!

New York - Here's something the folks at Disney can take real pride in: The Lion King is the top ticket of all time.

With a worldwide gross of over $6.2bn, The Lion King stage musical has now achieved the most successful box office total of any work in any media in entertainment history, The Associated Press has learned.

Johannesburg – Game of Thrones fans, you too can now sit on the Iron Throne.

Thanks to M-Net and Outsurance the real Iron Throne arrived in South Africa last week.

It made its first appearance at the Loeries this weekend and the queen of Cape Town, premier Helen Zille, wasted no time taking her seat on the throne.

Los Angeles - A woman has spent $20 000 on a third breast.

Jasmine Tridevil is so desperate to get a job in television that she splashed out thousands of dollars on a unique boob job in order to get noticed.

Los Angeles – Emma Watson has become the latest target of the shocking celebrity photo leak scandal.

The Daily star reports that the Harry Potter actress is being threatened by iCloud hackers who claim it is only a matter of time before steamy naked pics of her are released.

Los Angeles - Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith prefer to have date nights at home.

The couple, who got married in 1997, believe it's important to spend some time alone with one another in order to keep their romance alive, but they would rather bond at their house than sit in a luxury restaurant surrounded by people watching them.

Johannesburg - This spring and summer offers a guide to filling your weekends. From 20 September 2014 at 19:00, SABC3 gives you a new Afrikaans programme loaded with ideas and plans for weekends full of fun, adventure and new memories. NAweek – your guide to weekend entertainment!

Barack Obama sends tribute letter to Melissa Rivers

Melissa and Joan Rivers

Los Angeles - Barack Obama sent a message of condolence to Joan Rivers' daughter.

The US president wrote a hand-written message to Melissa Rivers following the passing of the 81-year-old star - who died earlier this month after suffering a cardiac arrest while undergoing throat surgery - in which he praised her thought-provoking humour.

Jon Hamm in Million Dollar Arm

In a last-ditch effort to save his career as a sports agent, JB Bernstein concocts a scheme to find baseball’s next great pitching ace. Hoping to find a young cricket pitcher he can turn into a Major League Baseball star, JB travels to India to produce a reality show competition called Million Dollar Arm.

Julian Fellowes: George Clooney in Downton was great privilege

Los Angeles - Julian Fellowes admits it was a "great privilege" to have George Clooney star in a Downton Abbey special.

The creator of the ITV period drama heaped praise on the Hollywood actor for filming a cameo in an upcoming mini-episode of the programme for ITV's Text Santa charity, insisting it was "very sweet" of him to agree to be in the Christmas show.

New York - A familiar face is taking over for a familiar voice at Saturday Night Live.

The show announced on Thursday that Darrell Hammond, who spent 14 years on SNL, will replace longtime announcer Don Pardo for the 27 September season opener.

Los Angeles - Gwyneth Paltrow was "reprimanded" for taking her children to school on a scooter.

The Iron Man 3 actress and estranged husband Chris Martin had been using Vespas to take Apple, 10, and Moses, eight, to the Los Angeles building but after TMZ revealed the blonde beauty had a near-miss with a bus while riding one of the vehicles with one of her kids, the couple were reportedly advised to find a new mode of transport.

Johannesburg – After weeks of gruelling hard work, twists and controversy the grand finale of Strictly Come Dancing SA season 7 was a glitzy TV spectacular.

Hunky Top Billing presenter Jonathan-Boynton Lee and partner Hayley Bennett-Freidin won the coveted mirror ball trophy, the title and bragging rights from fellow finalists LeAnne Dlamini and Johannes Radebe and Leandi Du Randt and Brandon Eilers Le Riche.

Los Angeles - Even if you don't like them you have to admit that The Kardashians are very entertaining.

In the latest episode set to air this Sunday, Kim Kardashian goes in on Kendall Jenner after she nags about her mom.

Kate Hudson

Los Angeles - Kate Hudson has claimed she can see ghosts.

The 35-year-old actress believes she and her mother Goldie Hawn, 68, have the ability to feel the presence of people who have passed away.

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher at an LA Clippers Game.

Los Angeles - Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis visited the set of Downton Abbey.

The showbiz couple - who are expecting their first child together - took a trip to the set of the ITV period drama during the making of the upcoming fifth series, which will kicks off this weekend.

Matt Damon set to return as Jason Bourne

Los Angeles - Matt Damon is being lined up to reprise the role of Jason Bourne.

Deadline reports that the 43-year-old actor and director Paul Greengrass have entered into discussions with Universal Pictures to reunite for their third movie together in the Bourne franchise.

Los Angeles - Robert Downey Jr, Hugh Jackman and Samuel L Jackson are set for Star Wars Episode VII cameos.

The superstar trio are rumoured to have landed secret roles in the latest instalment of the George Lucas-penned franchise after being invited to the set at the Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, along with Paul actor Nick Frost.

Los Angeles - Katie Price has named her daughter Bunny.

The 36-year-old star has finally given her and Kieran Hayler's second child together a name, six weeks after she gave birth to the little one.

Los Angeles - Hollywood megastar George Clooney will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes for his work on screen and off, the organisation said Monday.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which decides the awards, said Clooney was chosen in large part for his humanitarian work, in particular for speaking out against the genocide in Darfur.

The prize honors a celebrity who had a substantial impact on the entertainment industry and will be presented to Clooney at this year's Globes ceremony on 11 January.

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