Susan Boyle’s triumph on Britain’s Got Talent has led Elaine Paige to suggest a collaboration.
As global media phenomena go, little could surpass Boyle’s stratospheric rise to superstardom. So, what better high note to end an extraordinary week, one that has seen the 47-year-old Scottish singing spinster win plaudits from around the world, than the prospect of a duet with her heroine, Paige?
It was just before her life-changing performance on Britain’s Got Talent on April 18 that Boyle revealed her dream: to become a professional singer as successful as Paige — with whom she has sung along countless times, alone, in front of her bedroom mirror, equipped with a hairbrush for a microphone.
Now, in a message of support, Paige, the original Evita in London’s West End, has punted the idea of the pair singing together. “Ever since Susan’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent my Radio 2 inbox has been flooded with
e-mails,” she writes on her Web site.
“It seems her performance has captured the hearts of everyone who saw it, me included ... It looks like I have competition! Perhaps we should record a duet?”
But then anything, it seems, could happen now in the incredible brave new world Boyle inhabits. As Paige puts it: “She is a role model for everyone who has a dream.”
Paige is just the latest of a string of celebrity endorsers since Boyle’s jaw-dropping performance of the Les Miserables song I Dreamed a Dream on the ITV talent show, which has so far attracted 25 million YouTube hits, and helped her do what few British A-listers can: crack the US market.
Appearances on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, NBC and CBS, and the prospect of Oprah, have fuelled demand for an album, something of which Britain’s Got Talent supremo Simon Cowell and his record label are no doubt aware.
The father of Slumdog Millionaire child actress Rubina Ali tried to sell his nine-year-old daughter for adoption in a bid to escape the Mumbai slums, a British newspaper said yesterday.
News of the World alleged that Rafiq Qureshi wanted US$400,000 for the girl, who played the young Latika in the British hit film set in India.
Slumdog Millionaire, a rags-to-riches tale of children from the slums of Mumbai, won eight Oscars in February, including the best picture Academy Award.
News of the World said its reporters posed as a wealthy family from Dubai, employing its regular “fake sheikh” sting tactic.
The weekly tabloid said an informant told them that Qureshi was touting for the highest offer, having already been approached by a Middle Eastern family.
The newspaper published pictures of the actress, her father and uncle posing with their undercover reporter, plus video clips of Qureshi and his brother-in-law during their meeting last week.
“Yes, we are considering Rubina’s future,” Qureshi was quoted as saying.
He put the reporter in touch with his brother-in-law Rajan More.
“We are interested in securing our girl’s future,” the star’s uncle was quoted as saying.
“If you wanted to adopt we could discuss this, but her parents would also expect some proper compensation in return.
“Whatever money is agreed by Rajan, I will accept.
“We can discuss everything about this deal when we meet. There’s a lot of interest in Rubina.”
Qureshi, Ali, More and some other relatives met the British reporters in a Mumbai hotel, the newspaper said.
“We need two or three months,” Qureshi allegedly said. More added: “Until then we can negotiate the amount. We’ll come to Dubai, the girl will come and go.”
“It’s 20 million rupees,” the uncle was quoted as saying.
“This discussion will not go beyond the three of us.”
Qureshi proudly carried Ali through the Mumbai slums in February after she returned from the Oscar glory of Hollywood.
Madonna took a tumble while horseback riding in the Hamptons on Saturday when her mount was startled by photographers, and she suffered “minor injuries” and bruises, a spokeswoman said.
Paparazzi had “jumped out of the bushes” to photograph her, spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said.
It’s at least the second fall from a horse in four years for Madonna, who recently turned 50.
The singer was treated at a Southampton hospital and was released, said Rosenberg, who wouldn’t disclose more details on her condition.
Chinese-American actress Bai Ling (白靈) really thinks she is from the moon, and that her grandmother lives there. Really, truly. The actress, who stars in the action movie Crank High Voltage that opened in the US on Friday, has made the admission before, and she insists she is not crazy — just inspired.
Jan 13 to Jan 19 Yang Jen-huang (楊仁煌) recalls being slapped by his father when he asked about their Sakizaya heritage, telling him to never mention it otherwise they’ll be killed. “Only then did I start learning about the Karewan Incident,” he tells Mayaw Kilang in “The social culture and ethnic identification of the Sakizaya” (撒奇萊雅族的社會文化與民族認定). “Many of our elders are reluctant to call themselves Sakizaya, and are accustomed to living in Amis (Pangcah) society. Therefore, it’s up to the younger generation to push for official recognition, because there’s still a taboo with the older people.” Although the Sakizaya became Taiwan’s 13th
Earlier this month, a Hong Kong ship, Shunxin-39, was identified as the ship that had cut telecom cables on the seabed north of Keelung. The ship, owned out of Hong Kong and variously described as registered in Cameroon (as Shunxin-39) and Tanzania (as Xinshun-39), was originally People’s Republic of China (PRC)-flagged, but changed registries in 2024, according to Maritime Executive magazine. The Financial Times published tracking data for the ship showing it crossing a number of undersea cables off northern Taiwan over the course of several days. The intent was clear. Shunxin-39, which according to the Taiwan Coast Guard was crewed
China’s military launched a record number of warplane incursions around Taiwan last year as it builds its ability to launch full-scale invasion, something a former chief of Taiwan’s armed forces said Beijing could be capable of within a decade. Analysts said China’s relentless harassment had taken a toll on Taiwan’s resources, but had failed to convince them to capitulate, largely because the threat of invasion was still an empty one, for now. Xi Jinping’s (習近平) determination to annex Taiwan under what the president terms “reunification” is no secret. He has publicly and stridently promised to bring it under Communist party (CCP) control,
One way people in Taiwan can control how they are represented is through their choice of name. Culturally, it is not uncommon for people to choose their own names and change their identification cards and passports to reflect the change, though only recently was the right to use Indigenous names written using letters allowed. Reasons for changing a person’s name can vary widely, from wanting to sound more literary, to changing a poor choice made by their parents or, as 331 people did in March of 2021, to get free sushi by legally changing their name to include the two characters
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