| Lenny Kravitz talks about holding out for love
Since that day Kravitz has been true to his word, only recently revealing his chaste new lifestyle to a rather shocked and sceptical public. A lot of people "don't really get it'', he concedes. Probably with good reason, because for most of his career the charismatic rocker has been linked to a stream of gorgeous women. He married former Cosby Show star Lisa Bonet in 1987, but they split four years later amid rumours (denied by Kravitz) that he had strayed with Madonna after co-writing Justify My Love. He has since been linked to Penelope Cruz, Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia and Nicole Kidman (to whom many speculate he was once engaged). But for now, Kravitz is saving himself for marriage -- "believe it or not'', he says. "And a lot of folks don't believe it, but that's just the way it is.'' Is it a tough pledge to keep? "At this point, no,'' he says.
Great news! House prices are down
Existing owners build up equity in their home, giving them a feeling of growing prosperity. Stable or steadily rising house prices also generate certainty in the market. As a result, we have come to regard housing as a sound investment and better than pensions or the stock market. There are two problems with this rose-tinted view. First, house prices do not rise in a straight line. We have had four price booms, followed by slumps, since 1970. The first three were relatively benign but in the 1989-95 slump prices fell by more than a third in London and the South. The second problem occurs when prices rise so fast that the house price/earnings ratio goes ballistic. This is what has happened in the past decade and the result is a massive affordability problem.
The Broadcasters’ Big Payday
It's like money in the bank for broadcasters, as the first billion-dollar presidential campaign continues. While the world's oldest democracy, the United States, spends trillions of dollars claiming to bring democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq (through the barrel of a gun), what have we got here? A process driven by major donors shoveling huge sums of cash into the troughs of television broadcasters, who are holding the electoral process hostage through their control of the public airwaves. The same broadcasters arbitrarily exclude viable candidates from their so-called debates, elevating themselves to kingmaker. According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, a group that tracks political advertising, overall spending by the presidential candidates in Iowa topped $50 million.
Torv, Brown, Nicole make "Fringe" cut
Abrams' latest discovery. The newcomer to the U.S. has been tapped as the lead in "Fringe," Fox's high-profile sci-fi drama from Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Veteran TV and stage actress Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole also have joined the cast. The two-hour pilot centers on Olivia Warren (Torv), a young, tough FBI agent who is forced to confront the spread of unexplained phenomena and work with Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), an institutionalized scientist whose work might be at the center of a coming storm. Brown will play the brilliant Nina Cord, a 16-year veteran at Prometheus Corp., a cutting-edge research facility. Nicole will play the recurring role of Astrid, a federal assistant. The three join the previously cast Noble, Lance Reddick and Kirk Acevedo.
|
