VIMBAI, KIM AND MILLICENT LEAVE THE BIG BROTHER HOUSE

VIMBAI

KIM

MILLICENT

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are into the last week of the Big Brother Africa Amplified and these people won’t be coming with us. Zimbabwe’s Vimbai, Kim from Zambia and Kenya’s Millicent.

Remaining in the house for the final week alongside Nigeria’s Karen and Vina and Sharon O of Uganda are South Africa’s Luclay, Malawi’s Lomwe, Ethiopia’s Hanni and Zimbabwe’s Wendall.

Vimbai went out first after losing the standoff with Lomwe. Kim didn’t survive her faceoff with Wendall and Millicent was the victim when she, Hanni and Luclay stood up.

There will be no nominations tomorrow as next Sunday is the final day of the show. You are now voting for the winners. This year’s Big Brother Africa will have two winners who will each walk away with $200 000.

THE TROUBLED LIFE OF AMY WINEHOUSE

AMY WINEHOUSE

I somehow expected this particular artiste not to last long and I believe many other music lovers also did.  But it's a tragedy nonetheless and it's a fact that the music world has lost one of its most passionately soulful voices. Winehouse's struggles with drugs and alcohol were often in the public eye and even addressed in her own music, like her best-known hit "Rehab."

Throughout her colorful, troubled life, Winehouse fought many demons: addiction, an eating disorder, and a particularly tumultuous love life.

Read how Yahoo News is reporting after the cut...

FOTOSPEAK: ASHIONYE'S CUTE BABY

Singer Ashionye made an appearance a few weeks back with this bouncing baby dude – the first offspring of her union with Carl Raccah. He is christened Ashioma. Isn’t he cute?

2011 MTV VMA NOMINEES

KATY PERRY

MTV has just announced the nominees for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. Katy Perry leads the pack with an impressive nine nods, including Best Female Video and Video of the Year for "Firework." Adele and Kanye West tied with seven nominations, while Bruno Mars managed to grab four nods including Best Male Video for "Grenade." In addition, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Beastie Boys, Chris Brown, 30 Seconds to Mars, Pitbull, Tyler, The Creator; Foster the People; and Manchester Orchestra all received at least two nods each. Be sure to tune in to the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards when they air live from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 28th at 9 PM (Live Eastern/Tape delayed Pacific).

AND THE NOMINEES ARE…

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Asa performs at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival!

ASA

Last week, Nigeria’s premier jazz and soul export Asa joined an exclusive league of musical greats, as she performed at the 44th edition of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival. Since renowned Swiss Claude Nobs founded the event, it has become an annual gathering place for lovers of jazz from all over the world.

more after the cut..

MBGN 2011: My Report

BEHOLD OUR QUEEN!

THE FINALISTS

It's happened for sometime now and I did this report then but forgot to put it up until now. Sorry about the lateness, but still read through and drop a comment.

The 24th edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN) beauty pageant held at the Expo Hall of the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday, June 25, 2011. It was contested between 34 beauties from 33 states of the country and the Federal Capital, Territory, Abuja. More than 20 of them, including the FCT delegate, were of Igbo extraction and there are just five core Igbo states in the country.

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IDOL, ERIC ARUBAYI DROPS DEBUT ALBUM

ERIC

It was an evening of celebration at SS Lounge Victoria Island, Lagos on the 14th of July, 2011 at the much anticipated debut album launch of Eric Arubayi of West African Idols.

More down here...

NAIJA GIRLS INTO FINAL STRETCH AS BERNADINA, ZEUS AND MUMBA LEAVE BIG BROTHER'S HOUSE

DEM NAIJA GALS!

BERNADINA

ZEUS

MUMBA

ZEUS GRABS THE BOOBS!

Our girls Karen and Vina made it into the final weeks as the stays of Namibia’s, Bernadina, Botswana’s Zeus and Zambia’s Mumba in the Big Brother Africa Amplified house came to an end. They were evicted yesterday leaving behind ten housemates into the stretch of the show.

Bernadina left first. On stage, they showed her the highlights of her stay in the house and those who nominated her. Initially she thought Vimbai was one of those who had nominated her but in the end it was Hanni and Luclay. She threw her fuse at Luclay which was not to communicate with his relatives for the next week.

Zeus followed. Zeus had broken down after yesterday's Saturday dance wondering how those close to him will interpret his relationship with Nigeria's Karen in the house. IK called him the most faithfull man in Botwana as they showed him his highlights in the house which included the popular photo scene of him holding the firm boobs of Ghana's Confidence. He was very surprised to see Wendall and Luclay nominate him, but took the nominations of Vina and Vimbai familiarly. His fuse for a Housemate to wear a floral swimming hat for the week went to Wendall for his betrayal.

Mumba was the last housemate to leave the house on Sunday. Her fuse was one housemate to walk backwards for one week and this unfortunately went to Luclay who already had the one of not talking to his relatives.

Karen and Kim cried rivers as events unfolded. Today, the housemates will again be nominating each other and the housemates who poll the highest will be up for possible eviction. Nigeria's Vina is the current Head of House and this practically guarantees a spot into the final week of the competition. She is also guaranteed $10 000 which every Housemate would get apart from $200 000 each for two winners.

How Africa voted:

• Bernadina: 1 Vote – Namibia - Her country

• Zeus: 2 Votes – Botswana and South Africa.

• Mumba: 3 Votes – Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola.

• Vina: 4 Votes – Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rest of Africa and Ghana.

• Lomwe: 5 Votes – Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique

(Note that the votes are from the countries in support of the housemate; the nominated housemates with the least number of supporting country leaves.)



LAMI ADOPTS ORPHANAGE

LAMI AND ORPHANAGE OFFICIALS

One of the highest expressions of social responsibility and love for humanity is in the adoption of another human being who maybe in no way related to you as your own child, sibling or parent. Soul singer, Lami Philips, definitely took things to a different level when in a spontaneous act of kindness, she adopted an entire orphanage.

Located in Makoko, just off the ever busy Adekunle road in the university town of Akoka, Lagos, the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Motherless Babies’ Home has existed for more than 25 years and grown to become one of the most prominent orphanages in Lagos. But just like all other similar institutions, it has had to cope with numerous challenges and survive on the goodwill of the public and help from a few other quarters. Thus, after visiting the home and seeing the situation on ground, Lami was so touched that she decided to adopt the entire orphanage as her pet project.

Lami, who was appointed a UN ambassador in 2010, spoke briefly on the development. “I have been seeking to support a specific cause in the society and have considered a number of institutions. But when I visited the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Motherless Babies’ Home, Makoko and shared experiences with the kids, my heart settled on them.”

The adoption is done through her NGO BeTheChange and she intends to use her large circle of friends to raise the much-needed funds to ensure that the children get a better life than the one they are presently forced to. Her activities would include monthly gigs whose proceeds would go towards the upkeep of the place and she also hopes that other celebrities, especially those with NGOs would come on board or take up similar causes in the society.

2FACE AND THE RISE OF THE PHOENIX

2BABA

The more recent life of Nigeria’s most celebrated contemporary artiste is about to be released in a documentary. Entitled, THE RISE OF THE PHOENIX, it basically chronicles the last two years in 2face’s career. The reissue of the UNSTOPPABLE album; his experience at the 2010 World Cup; the One8 project; 2face Live at Eko Hotel; the 2face and Mario concert in London; the various causes he is involved in and the various awards he has won in that period.

The production dwells on the triumph and rejuvenation of 2baba after the various scandals and controversies that trailed him after his initial success as a solo artiste. It looks at what is arguably the second part of his career so far; his recent successes and metamorphosis to become one of the biggest names in African music at the moment. This is akin to the legend of the Greek mythical Phoenix bird which initially lived for 500 years then burnt itself to ashes and from those ashes arose another phoenix.

It would be produced by BUCKWILD Media and would be available for commercial release within the next month. There would also be a syndicated broadcast of the documentary as a TV special on selected TV channels just before the full release on CDs.