Personal opinion

I have really enjoyed writing English articles about certain topics. It was a very useful task because in the future, as a journalist, we will have to use our writing and language skills a lot. By doing this exercise, we have been able to train these skills and to explore the English media landscape.

In the future, as a journalist working for a newspaper or magazine, we will also be given topics to write about, just like now. In that way it maybe was a restrictive exercise, because we really had to write about a given topic, but we were free to chose the content of the article.
I think it was a challenging exercise, certainly when we had to write about sports. I have never been interested in sports at all, but I found something very interesting to write about, and I learned that writing about sports can also be fun and instructive.

On top of that, it was a good exercise because we had to combine a lot of skills. To write a good article it is necessary to do some research, to understand what you are writing about, to translate your Dutch ideas into English ones, to write in good English and to think like a journalist, which means to be critical.

In my opinion, it was a positive experience, but it was a pity we didn’t receive any feedback.
I think, as a (future) journalist it is very important to receive comments on what you have written.

By Ruth Knaepkens

Critical opinion

I truly enjoyed this assignment. English is my favourite foreign language. This in combination with this assignment’s journalistic touch made it a task that was nice to do.
The topics being fixed certainly was a good idea. As a journalist you also don’t have all the freedom you want. Your bosses will always tell you what to write about. We still had a lot of freedom in the topics, so we were able to go choose our own path.
The only topic that didn’t interest me at all was ‘sports’. Because of that, I started the quest for information rather demotivated. But all of a sudden I discovered that Tia Hellebaut became the new world champion pentathlon indoor. Even I found this interesting.
Now, the negative aspects of the assignment. The most important one is the fact that there barely were any guidelines. ‘Would it be a problem if two student wrote about the same subject?’ was a question we asked ourselves a few times. Kathleen and I came in touch with that problem. I wrote about Tia Hellebaut, and she wanted to do the same which resulted in some panic. In the end she posted the article anyway, which I think was a good decision.
I also think that feedback would have been a good idea. I understand that a teacher doesn’t have the time to give feedback to every single student, but we could have given feedback ourselves, to the students of the other groups, that is.
But seen as a whole, I really enjoyed this!

Jessica Van Sintruyen

Personal opinion assignment

In my opinion this assignment was very useful for students journalism. Because of this assignment we also came in contact with a lot of different media topics and with the news, which is of course a very important issue in this study.

It was a lot of fun, but it is a pity that the subjects we had to talk about in our blogs were fixed and so we couldn’t choose them ourselves. This is a shame, because as a journalist you also have to be creative and come up with new ideas to keep the public interested.

There were also a few misunderstandings, for example: did we have to write our opinion and personal experiences or more something like a real article with real facts? So I found the assignment rather vague.

It’s also too bad that we haven't received any personal feedback. If I write something I like to know what is good and more important what mistakes I have made so I can learn from them to become a better writer.

But still it was a very good exercise to practice my English and of course my writing skills in general. I think it is one of the most useful assignments we have already gotten this year, finally a little closer to the real work!

Kathleen De Roey

Personal opinion

I have thoroughly enjoyed this assignment. It was fun to write about a certain subject in English. I don’t think it was a bad thing that we weren’t able to choose what to write about. In the topics that were given, there was enough freedom to add a personal touch, to write about something in that specific area that interests you. Sometimes that was a bit more difficult with certain topics, like when we had to write about sports. I have little to no interest in sports but after searching the web about sports news I quickly found something that looked interesting enough to me to write an article about. Journalists often get assigned a topic to write about. You can’t be too picky and you have look for something interesting within that subject because I think you can’t write a good article if you have no interest whatsoever in the topic you’re writing about. It would have been nice to have some feedback on the articles. It might be a good idea to let students comment each others blog. Overall it was a fun assignment. It wasn’t a chore writing the blogs, it was enjoyable to find something to write about and do your research.

Hannelore Glibert

Chinese police prevents attack on the Olympics

The Chinese police has been able to prevent an attack on the Beijing Olympic games in August by arresting and killing Islamic terrorists. ‘Materials like guns, homemade bombs, and extremist religious ideological materials that were confiscated during a raid in Urumqi on the 27th of January, have shown that the fifteen persons who were arrested and the two that were killed during this searching prepared an attack on the Olympic games’, said a Chinese official.

A Chinese state newspaper had already mentioned the irruption, writing that suspects wanted to commit bomb attacks at the beginning of February, but nothing was said about an attack on the Olympics.

According to the Chinese official, the group was obeying commands of the separatist movement ETIM, which has its home bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The United Nations and the United States consider the ETIM as a terror organisation.

Chinese forces have been battling the low-intensity separatist movement ETIM among Xinjiang's Uighurs for years. The Uighurs are Turkic Muslim people culturally and ethnically differing from China's Han majority. According to Chinese officials, the ETIM is the most important terror threat for China, although the group is not believed to have more than a few dozen members. By way of precaution, China has intensified the number of anti-terror operations.

By Ruth Knaepkens

Lanzinger loses left leg

The 27-year-old Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger had to have his left foot amputed. Last weekend the unfortunate skier made a horrid crash in the Super-G. Doctors were not able to salvage his foot. Austrians blame the Norwegian medical rescue team for getting Lanzinger to the hospital too late.

Lanzinger had a concussion and broke his left leg in a fall in the World Cup Super-G race in Kvitfjell. He was air-lifted to a hospital in Oslo where he has undergone two operations since Sunday. At the hospital he was placed in an artificial coma to help treat his injuries but developed serious vascular problems.

Lanzinger lost his balance in the high-speed race and was knocked unconscious as his head hit a ski-pole marker. He then crashed to the ground and hurtled down into the safety-netting. "Unfortunately, his injury was very serious because it seems that his foot was twisted several times around its own axis and this really damaged the bone and soft tissue” Doctor Lars Engebretsen said.

On Tuesday the decision was made to amputate his lower left leg. The doctors stated that there was no alternative to the amputation. “Unfortunately we were unable to re-establish the blood circulation to his foot which has obliged us to take the decision to amputate" Engebretsen said.

Austrians scream bloody murder. They say the medical help came too late and the coordination of the rescue went all wrong. At first there wasn’t a helicopter on scene and when it finally came, they took Lanzinger to the wrong hospital. Eventually he was air-lifted to a hospital in Oslo where the first operation took place 6 hours after the crash.

Hannelore Glibert

Hellebaut wins gold

Tia Hellebaut has become the world champion of the pentathlon in Valencia. She is the first woman who won gold on a world level in athletics. Kim Gevaert had the flu and became the firth with the 60 metres.

Although Hellebaut loves the pentathlon, it isn’t amusing. She needed 10 minutes to regain herself. It was very confusing after Tia had won the 800 metres Geveart tried to throw the Belgian flag at her, but Tia had to search for a bucket to puke of exhaustion. After all this Gevaert and Hellebaut could finally hug of happiness. Gevaert congratulated Hellebaut very enthusiastically.

Hellebaut proved herself already in Gent last year. But because of the flu, she choose for high jump and didn’t become European champion. In the beginning Hellebaut wasn’t that lucky, but then she jumped one metre and 99 centimetres high, this is more then she or anyone else had ever done. She also achieved a personally record in shot put.

Hellebaut has achieved not only gold, she has places the best achievement of 2008 and a world record in high jump. In an interview she says that she can’t believe it, Tia will probably not realise it until tomorrow. She’s very happy, but exhausted.

Kathleen De Roey

Tia Hellebaut, the new pentathlon world champion

Tia Hellebaut won the world championship pentathlon indoor last Friday in Valencia, Spain. Pentathlon consists of five parts. Hellebaut won the first four, and became sixth in the last one, the 800 metres. This, however, doesn’t matter. She had a huge lead by winning four out of five. The silver medal went to the British Kelly Sotherton, the Russian Anna Bogdanona won the bronze medal.

Hellebaut is very happy with her achievement. “The first world champion in Belgium, it’s going to take a while before I fully realize it”, she smiled widely. She also said that an entire day of athletics is very demanding. “Fun, yet fatiguing”, she commented. Kelly Sotherton admits Hellebaut deserved the gold medal. “The best contestant won. I secretly hoped she would stumble a bit more at the end, but she totally deserved to win after setting the score in high jump.”

Tia now both is double European champion high jump and world champion pentathlon indoor. This summer she is going to compete both in the Summer League and in the world championship heptatlon indoor. There, she will be testing her contition with an eye on the Olympics. Concerning the Olympic Games, her trainer and partner Wim Van De Ven says she is only going to take part in high jump. This is because she isn’t good at spear throwing, so it wouldn’t be wise to let her participate in the heptatlon.

Jessica Van Sintruyen

Media - The Gutter Press

My favourite type of media is the Gutter Press, also known as the Yellow Press. I really like gossip magazines because they feature scandalous and sensationalistic stories about the personal lives of celebrities. Gossip magazines are popular because of their simplicity, their large amount of (quality) photos, and the fact that they show us that celebrities are people of flesh and blood, like you and I. Celebrities have to cope with tears and pain as well, with relation cracks, deaths, drug and alcohol problems etc… Their life is not always a bed of roses!

One of the greatest disadvantages of the gutter press is the fact that it might have a negative effect on some people's lives, and especially on teenagers’ lives. A lot of teenagers identify themselves with celebrities and want to look like them. The gutter press exerts a lot of pressure on celebrities and consequently they get to contend with al kinds of problems, especially drug and alcohol problems and anorexia.

I think the main question we should try to give an answer to, is: ‘Does the media put too much pressure on celebrities to be thin? Does the media expects too much from celebrities?’
For the gutter press, money makes the world go around. Earning as much money as possible. Even at the cost of celebrities and readers. A lot of readers want to look like celebrities dealing with an eating disorder. Their admiration for stars might even lead to death. I think we have to get rid of that negative standards of gossip magazines.

On top of that, gossip magazines are very untrustworthy. Often the magazines are inconsistent with each other. Readers often believe everything they read, though a lot of the articles and rumours are lain.

Why I do like the gutter press? Because it’s a great challenge for me to find out what’s true and what’s not true and to compare and explore the different types of magazines and media!

By Ruth Knaepkens

Civilians, register criminal facts yourselves!

Political party Vlaams Belang came up with a website on which civilians can report criminal facts themselves. According to the party there is a lot of crime the civilians don’t know anything about. The party finds it very important that everybody is informed concerning all the criminal facts taking place in Flanders. The flaw of the website is that it puts the focus on crime in Antwerp, and not on Flanders as a whole.

The website consists of three different parts. First, there is the ‘meldkamer’, where civilians can register crimes that happened to themselves or to friends. People talk about their cars being damaged, petrol being stolen from their parents or simply about being robbed while getting out of the train.

Second, you have ‘opsporing verzocht’. Here you can consult a description of people who committed criminal facts, but haven’t been arrested yet. Also, you can see which people have gone missing. In both cases, you are requested to give all the information you have about these persons.

The third part of the website is called ‘preventie’. A list of how to prevent certain crimes can be found here. Vlaams Belang gives tips of how to prevent crime, varying from robbery to carjacking. If you know someone who has come into contact with one of the criminal facts listed here, the party recommends you to tell this person/these persons about the site.

Jessica Van Sintruyen

Oscar ratings plummet

Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast on ABC took a tumble in the ratings. Following in the footsteps of both The Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, ratings for Sunday night's 77th Annual Academy Awards were down this year. The weak ratings for Sunday's Oscar broadcast came as no surprise because this year movies such as "There Will Be Blood", "Michael Clayton", "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" generated little enthusiasm among moviegoers. The night's big winner, "No Country For Old Men" which won four awards including best picture and best drama, only made a modest $64 million at the North American box office. Only one movie among the five nominated for best picture, "Juno," crossed the $100 million. That film managed to win just one Oscar for best original screenplay.

This years TV ratings for the Oscars were the lowest in 34 years. On Sunday only 32 million Americans watched the Oscars. In 2007 41 million Americans tuned in to the Academy Awards. By contrast, the most watched Oscar broadcast on record was the 1998 show when the blockbuster "Titanic" won 11 awards. That year 55 million Americans tuned in. Until now, the show’s worst rating dated back to 2003. That year the Academy Awards took place just a day after the invasion of Iraq. The 2003 program was hosted by Steve Martin and featured the musical "Chicago" as best picture. Sunday's broadcast, with comedian Jon Stewart as Oscar host, now ranks as the smallest U.S. TV audience for the Oscars since 1974, when actual viewer totals first became available.

Hannelore Glibert

The new magazine of Goedele Liekens & the new editorial office of VTM

September the third Sanoma is presenting a brand new magazine. The name hasn’t been decided yet, but it will be a monthly magazine with a new fresh concept. When the former director of the VRT (Belgian television) Van Hecke started to work at Sanoma, he soon announced a cooperation with Goedele Liekens and the start of her own magazine. He admits that it has taken very long for the magazine to finally come out, but he’s happy with the fact that they have taken all the time they needed to make it good. Everything is slower in the world of magazines than in the world of television.
The compilation of the editorial office is finalized and a few months ago the first specimen copy was made. The editors and the name of the new magazine are presented to the press in about two weeks.
We are also expecting a new TV show from Goedele Liekens, this will probably be in September on VT4 or Vijftv.

After VRT, VTM has made a few changes as well. The news is going to be presented with another setting. This Thursday it was inaugurated by Verhofstadt, Peeters and Bourgois. Dany Verstraeten was the first who presented the news on the new setting. The old setting wasn’t even 4 years old. But the director said it is important not to let the viewers get sick of the setting and surprise them with a brand new one.

Kathleen De Roey

Indoor cycling

Recently I have discovered a new challenge. I had never heard of it before, but because of a promotion I had the chance to experience it and it was amazing! It felt like dying a little bit, but afterwards I felt more alive than ever. It clears your mind like every sport but it’s also very relaxing! Indoor cycling is fun, because you ride your bicycle on the rhythm of music. You do it in group with a trainer who guides you through the entire work-out.

You begin by arranging your bicycle at your individual needs. The bikes are adjustable to your height, the length of your arms and legs so you can exercise in a healthy manner. The training program begins slowly to warm up your muscles guided by gentle music. After the warming up, the music starts to accelerate to take the work-out to a higher level. The resistance of the bicycles are also adjustable and are forced up all the time. But when you think you can’t go any further you can stop adjusting it or even go back to an easier level. This is the most advantageous thing about indoor cycling, it is totally adjustable to your own level and condition!

And when you are about to die of exhaustion it gets worse! The trainer says you have to stand up while riding your bicycle to train your stomach muscles. And then you have to sit down, get up, sit down, get up, … Indoor cycling is also very varied for example after every hard exercise, an easier one follows. After spending an hour on your bicycle the stretching part begins. It’s very important you stretch after a heavy exercise so your muscles don’t turn sour. I had a great time with this exercise, it’s all about going beyond your own limits.

Kathleen De Roey

My spare time...

Actually I haven’t got a lot of spare time. Every Saturday and Sunday evening I work in a restaurant, and usually I spend the rest of the weekend working for school or sleeping in. Every day of the week I commute from Rijkevorsel to Antwerp and back, and when I arrive at home, again, a lot of schoolwork is waiting for me to be done. Currently, acting (I’m in a theatre group) is my only hobby, but it is - to be honest - a very demanding one. We’ve been practising a lot for the last few weeks - 4 times a week, from 18.30 till ± 22.30 – because next week, we’re staging our play. After a while all this practising gets very exhausting, because it asks a lot of time and energy and even sleep; there’s still schoolwork to be done!

As from next week, after performing our play, I will finally have some spare time, which I’ll devote to reading books, listening to music, watching TV and relaxing and of course to friends. But on top of that, I’m also going to try to pick up my writing again. I’ve already written a book, about the dramatic life of Katherine Petersen, and currently I’m working on a second one, but because of school and a lack of time, I haven’t been able to work it out yet. I have always had a very vivacious imagination, which can be stimulated by listening to Queen-music (I’ve been a huge Queen-fan for over 10 years) or watching to series like Prison Break.

I also love reading books, especially horror books and thrillers, and magazines like ‘Prison Break Magazine’ for example or ‘Dag Allemaal’ and ‘Blik’. I also love going out with friends and drinking cocktails.

By Ruth Knaepkens

In my leisure time...

...I mostly go out with friends to a bar or to concerts. I love going out, talking with friends and relaxing with a cocktail. It’s great for unwinding after a busy week. We often go out to the Sals with the whole class. I also enjoy going to De Rots or Pand Demonium because of the music they play there and quite often you can also go to concerts there. The best concerts are at the Biebob or at Hof ter Lo. I also like spending my spare time with my animals. I have a Devon Rex cat called Adonis. He’s very attached to me and he takes up a lot of my time. He demands a lot of attention and affection, but I don’t mind. I love spending time with him when I get back from school. We spend our evenings on the couch. He loves sitting on my lap and watching TV together. Besides a cat, I have mice too. I had six mice but one mouse gave birth to nine babymice last week. In the weekend I clean out the cages and spend some time with my mice. A lot of time in the weekend is also spent on cleaning my room, doing groceries and my laundry.

But most of my free time is spent surfing the internet and chatting with friends. I also like listening to music on the internet. Sites like My Space are great for that! I think that overall I have a good balance between active and passive activities in my leisure.

Hannelore Glibert

Where should alternative people go out?

In my spare time, I usually go to rock bar De Rots, in the heart of Antwerp. The bar is situated on the Melkmarkt. De Rots is a rather new bar. It has been opened because there were lots of pop music bars, but no rock bars in the city. The Rots is also unique. It consists of three different parts. There’s the bar, the store (selling LPs, CDs, DVDs and memorabilia) and a place where local bands can rehearse.

When I want to see a good metal band perform, the place to be is the Biebob. The Biebob is a rather small venue in Vosselaar, nearby Turnhout. Because the room is so small, it’s a very cosy venue. Also, there is no barrier between the stage and the crowd. This way you truly feel connected to the band performing. Concert tickets at the Biebob almost never exceed the price of 20 euros, which is a good thing for young people who don’t have much money. The bands playing at the Biebob are not as big as those who perform at Hof ter Lo, though they attract a pretty big crowd as well.

Hof ter Lo is quite a big venue situated on the Noordersingel in Borgerhout. Hof ter Lo attracts bands with a huge international fan base. The most recent example is Megadeth. Ticket prices at Hof ter Lo are higher. They sometimes reach 30 to 35 euros. Since 2002, Hof ter Lo also offers local bands the opportunity to rehearse in the same conditions as professional bands. This complex, consisting of four rooms, can be found in the basement of Hof ter Lo.

Jessica Van Sintruyen

The ancient Egyptian culture - Painting of 'The Afterlife'

I’ve always been fascinated by Egypt, and especially by the Egyptian beliefs about the Afterlife and the mummies and paintings. The Egyptians believed that each human consisted of the physical body, the ‘ka’, the ‘ba’ and the ‘ankh’. They believed that death was simply a temporary interruption of life and that mummification was the key to eternal life.

The scene above shows what occurs when a person has died, according to the ancient Egyptians. The upper left-hand corner shows a deceased appearing before a panel of 14 judges, who will make an accounting for his acts during life. Some of the judges have the key of life, the ‘ankh’, in their hands.

Then Anubis, god of the underworld, who holds the ‘ankh’ in his hand, leads the deceased before the scale. He weights the heart of the deceased against the feather of Ma’at, goddess of truth and justice. If the heart outweighs the feather, the deceased has a heart which has been made heavy with evil deeds. In this case, the heart will be devoured by Ammit, the god with the crocodile head. If the feather outweighs the heart, the deceased has led a righteous life and will be presented before Osiris, Lord of the underworld, by Horus, the God with the falcon head who is now holding the ankh in his head.

Osiris, who is sitting on his throne, represented as a mummy and who is surrounded by his wife Isis and her sister Nepthys, will welcome the deceased to the underworld.
Everything required in the Afterlife was packed in the tomb along with the body, for example clothing, writing materials, wigs and hairdressing supplies.

By Ruth Knaepkens

Salvador Dali - The Face of War

The Face of War, a surrealistic painting, was made by Salvador Dali in 1940. It is an oil on canvas work, measuring 25.2 by 31.1 inches. This work was painted between the end of the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of the Second World War, during a brief period of Dali living in Calfornia. Dali, born in 1904, was thirty-six years old when he painted The Face of War.

Dali is best known for his bizarre images contributing to the heritage of surrealistic art. I find Dali’s paintings very interesting. I can look at them for hours and try to figure out what he wanted to tell the world by painting such things. Dali was often inspired by the trauma of war. This painting is a good example of that matter.

We can see a disembodied head, floating around in a barren landscape. The landscape symbolizes the destruction and collective feeling of loneliness during a war. The head is decayed, the eyes have been eaten out by time. The facial expression is very moving. It breathes desperation, fear and terror. Inside the mouth and eye sockets of the head are more heads with the same facial expression and also with more heads in their eye sockets and mouth. This process goes on an on, seemingly infinite. Aggressive snakes can be found around the head, trying to bite and hurt it. This symbolizes the constant attacks people suffer during a time of war.

In the lower right corner we see a handprint, left in the oil. Dali kept on insisting that this handprint had been left by his own hand. The painting now resides in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the main art museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Jessica Van Sintruyen

Memento Mori

Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas
Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless

One of my favourite kind of paintings are Vanitas-paintings. Vanitas is Latin and means ‘emptiness’ or ‘vanity’. Vanitas are symbolic still life paintings who want to remind us of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death. In the paintings we often find skulls symbolizing death. Besides skulls we can find other symbolic elements such as rotten fruit and withering flowers which symbolize decay like ageing, bubbles and extinguished candles, smoke, watches, musical instruments and hourglasses which symbolize the brevity of life and suddenness of death. I love these paintings because of their serenity and symbolism. I can look at them for hours, looking at the items that are portrayed and giving meaning to them. They fascinate me.

This theme is not only found in paintings but also in poetry, literature and even music. Memento mori -remember that you are mortal- was a popular theme among Christian artists and writers. They wanted to make sure people were aware of inevitability of death and wanted to advise them strongly to be prepared all times for death. Why? In the 14th century there were recurring famines, the Hundred Years’ War took place in France and, most important of all, the Black Death raged through Europe. Many people lost their lives and death seemed to be just around the corner. People wanted amusement while it was still possible. The ‘danse macabre’ combined both. The earliest examples of such songs, which consisted of short dialogs between Death and each of its victims, can be found in the direct aftermath of the Black Death in Germany where it was known as the ‘Totentanz’ but also in Spain as ‘la Danza de la Muerte’ and in France as ‘la Danse Macabre’. Even today we have modern versions of these kind of songs like “Ad Mortem Festinamus” by Qntal.

Vita brevis breviter in brevi finietur,
Mors venit velociter quae neminem veretur,
Omnia mors perimit et nulli miseretur.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

Life is short, and shortly it will end;
Death comes quickly and respects no one,
It destroys everything and takes pity on no one.
To death we are hastening, let us refrain from sinning.

Ni conversus fueris et sicut puer factus
Et vitam mutaveris in meliores actus,
Intrare non poteris regnum Dei beatus.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

If you don't turn back and become like a child,
And change your life for the better,
You will not be able to enter, blessed, the Kingdom of God.
To death we are hastening, let us refrain from sinning.

Hannelore Glibert

Atlantic Civilization - Andre Fougeron

Three years ago I went to London with my best friend and we visited the museum Tate Modern. As the name already shows, it’s a museum of modern art. Normally I’m not really a fan of modern art, because I find it al little too abstract. But when I saw Atlantic Civilization made by Andre Fougeron, I found it amazing. The painting has something to say and I think the meaning behind a painting defines it as real art. I thought it was a very interesting painting because there were a lot of bad things in the world but the sky was beautiful blue. It intrigued me and I looked up more information about it.

The painting presents the Atlantic civilization, it’s Fougeron’s key work of social criticism. It shows us the increasing Americanisation of Europe and the Cold War. You also see things like guns and even an electric chair. This apparently refers to the execution of the Rosenbergs in June 1953 for spying for the USSR. It is said that Fougeron painted it in such a simplistic way, because he wanted to refers to the comic-strip of America, it’s an attack on the American culture. He makes fun of capitalism too with the business man doffing his hat to the American car. The painting also refers to the French colonial wars in Indo-China and in North Africa.

I know this painting is a little eccentric , but I like it and I hope you do too.

Kathleen De Roey

Jewelry collection to celebrate Freddie Mercury

Jewelry designer Udi Behr has created a new jewelry collection to celebrate rock legend Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991 at the age of 45 of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia.
Love - Made In Heaven: The Freddie Mercury Collection was introduced Monday by online jewelry Love & Pride.

The ingredients used to create The Freddie Mercury Collection are 18k gold, silver, leather, diamonds and semi-precious stones. Each piece in this fabulous new high-end jewelry collection of rings, bracelets and necklaces for both men and women, is emblazoned with the word 'Love', the 'O' executed in a stunning, patented double trillion (triangle) with semi-precious stones or diamonds. Moreover alle pieces have the exclusive 'Made in Heaven' signature, a tribute to one of Freddie's most memorable solo tracks which later became the title of Queen's album with Freddie, released in 1995.

Udi Behr says the universal message of love in Freddie's life and work inspired him to create this beautiful ironic jewelry. 'As I searched for inspiration to capture Freddie's spirit in this collection, it became clear to me that love was the core of his life and work. In fact, this collection is both a personal tribute to Freddie and a way for all touched by his talents to continue the love affair'.

A portion of the net proceeds from Love - Made in Heaven will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which is dedicated to raising money and awareness about AIDS in Mercury's memory and which was established by the three remaining Queen members after Freddie's death on November 24, 1991.


By Ruth Knaepkens

Johnny Depp says he is scared of karaoke

The actor Johnny Depp, who sings in new movie musical “Sweeney Todd” by director Tim Burton, said he has never tried karaoke. And he admitted he would need to be seriously drunk before having a go. When he was asked what his favourite karaoke song is, Depp replied: “Honestly, I’ve always been frightened of it. I’ve never tried it. It scares the hell out of me. I’ve never been that drunk. I’ve been drunk, but not that drunk.”

Depp plays the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in the Tim Burton film. But he said he was terrified when he got the part because he had never sung before. Depp added: “I was probably more frightened than anyone. I had never sung before in my life. So I thought it was important that I kept it very low-key.” Initially he did demos in his friend’s garage studio because he didn’t know if he’d be able to hit a note. “I sent the demo to Tim, crossed my fingers and waited for the outcome.” He told a US magazine: “I really went through some angst.”

Hollywood hunk Johnny Depp has warned his fans he won’t be singing again anytime soon. So he said on the red carpet of the London premiere of the new Tim Burton film. Depp who stars as the singing demon barber told screaming fans: “It took me a while to get used to singing but because I had so much of it I had to get used to it. I’ve never done it before and I’ll never do it again!”. Depp also dismissed reports that he would have used a quilted padding to enhance his manhood in the movie.

Hannelore Glibert

Heath Ledger died

On January 22^nd Heath Ledger, mostly known as Sir William Thatcher in ‘A Knight’s Tale’, was found dead in his apartment. When the news got public, people immediately speculated he committed suicide by taking an overdose of drugs. This turned out to be not the case.

Heath Ledger’s dead body was discovered by his housekeeper in his apartment in Manhattan on January 22^nd. He was found naked on the floor. An amount of sleeping pills was found on his night table. The link between his death and suicide can be easily made. Though his close family said it is impossible Heath took his own life. “He was a very lively and high-spirited person who figured as a source of inspiration for everyone,” they say. He died at the age of twenty-eight.

After having analysed the circumstances of his death, the police stated Heath did not commit suicide. His death was an accident. He died, not on purpose, by mixing anti-depressant drugs and the sleeping pills found in his apartment. Combining these two caused an acute poisoning. Both the anti-depressant drugs and the sleeping pills have been prescribed by his doctor.

Police spokesman Paul Brown stressed that the police is not going to try and find out the true cause of Ledger’s death. The ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) is currently investigating his death.

Jessica Van Sintruyen

Julia Roberts is back!!!

Julia Roberts has survived her crisis of being pregnant and frustrated. She fought with the whole world, even with her husband. But luckily also her marriage with Danny Moder survived. And as a proof of her comeback she’s now starring in the film: “Charlie Wilson’s War”.

She defends the fact that she’s not very open in interviews with the argument that the only reason she survived as an actress in Hollywood is because she kept her private life personal. And just because she tries to stay out of the spotlights she stays interesting. But with her new film coming, she is giving more open interviews than ever. Being a mother, she says, has made her more indulgent.

When she became 40 she felt really bad and insecure. And also her pregnancy made her sensitive and vulnerable. She calls it a miracle that her marriage has overcome this period of fighting and is very grateful of her husband’s patience. Not only her husband became a victim of her search for fights, also colleagues like Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie became a prey to Julia’s hostility. Critics blamed it on jealousy. These actresses are making it in Hollywood and she became 40 and was scared of making room for this new talent. Roberts says this is true, everyone says that Hollywood-actresses above 38 will have a hard time in Showbiz. She even admits that she is scared of missing out on big roles. She is sorry and has even sent sweet e-mails to Halle saying she’s looking great and congratulating her with her pregnancy. Julia Roberts missed such messages while she was pregnant.

She almost had a depression, but her new film saved her. She’s very grateful to the producer Mike Nichols that she could participate in such a great film. He gave her al lot of compliments and respected her as an actress. She’s al better now. Julia Roberts is back being a happy woman full of confidence. So if you see someone being sad today, just give them a compliment, ‘cause they can do miracles!

Kathleen De Roey