Lady Gaga fights to keep 'Queen of Pop' crown

Multi-platinum selling diva Lady Gaga is fighting to keep her 'Queen of Pop' crown with a hotly-anticipated third album, but early reception in the US and Britain has been lukewarm.

"Artpop" signals a return to the limelight for Stefani Germanotta -- known as Lady Gaga on stage and in video -- after she was forced to tone down her usually ubiquitous media presence to undergo hip surgery.
"For ArtPop, in a symbolic way, I've put myself in front of a mirror, I've taken off my clothes, then the makeup, then the wigs, I've dressed myself with a black jumpsuit and I've told myself: 'Now, you have to prove you can be brilliant without all that'", Lady Gaga told the magazine Grazia.
Even before its official release next week, "Artpop" has been making the headlines.
The 27-year-old New Yorker, who established her reputation on chart-topping songs and surrounded herself with a constant media buzz, streamed the new album this week after it was leaked.
The artist also hinted at an out-of-this-world publicity splash for the album's official launch -- a concert in space.
The US Weekly magazine reported that Lady Gaga plans to undergo a month of special vocal training to perform in early 2015 aboard the Virgin Galactic, the passenger spaceplane being launched by British billionaire Richard Branson to popularise space tourism.
While the third album suggest Lady Gaga's increasing artistic ambitions, critics in Britain and the US are not so convinced.
"The intention of the album was to put art culture into pop music, a reverse of Warhol. Instead of putting pop onto the canvas, we wanted to put the art onto the soup can," Lady Gaga said in an interview in Britain's Daily Mail.

Lady Gaga has collaborated with a number of world famous contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons for the album's artwork, showing her as a post-modern Botticellian Venus.
But on a first hearing "Artpop" returns to familiar themes -- desire, drugs, identity, celebrity, fashion, creativity -- and sounds more like Lady Gaga's previous albums "The Fame" and "Born this way" than it does a totally new musical experiment.
"There's certainly some decent pop on Lady Gaga's new album -- but the 'art' part is rather harder to discern", said the British newspaper The Guardian.
The verdict was echoed across the Atlantic.
"Lady Gaga's latest extravagant exploration of her own fame, fabulousness and fearlessness is undeniably relentless, but that doesn't mean it's consistently entertaining," said USA Today.

Venezuelan crowned Miss Universe in Moscow

MOSCOW: A 25-year-old Venezuelan television presenter, Gabriela Isler, on Saturday was crowned Miss Universe in Moscow in a glittering ceremony.Judges, including rock star Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, picked the winner from a total of 86 contestants at the show, watched by millions of viewers around the world.

Last year's winner Olivia Culpo of the United States placed a diamond crown on the head of Isler, who wore a silver rhine-stone studded evening dress.Isler's triumph was the seventh Miss Universe win for Venezuela, where beauty pageants are a major source of national pride.
After the show, she beamed and waved to journalists, wearing the Miss Universe sash and standing next to the show's owner, US tycoon Donald Trump.
"I feel a lot of emotions," she said. "I'm still in shock. I feel so blessed, so happy to be here." "It's been a lot of fun and a great success," said Trump.
In the decisive interview round that concludes the competition, Tyler asked Isler, who won Miss Venezuela last year, what her greatest fear was.She did not give any details, but said: "I believe we should overcome all our fears and this in turn will make us stronger," speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.
Isler is now set to pose on Sunday in a specially created jewelled swimsuit that the organisers said was worth $1 million.The previous Miss Universe, Culpo, earlier appeared on stage wearing the white cutaway swimsuit studded with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.
"That swimsuit travels with an armed security guard 24/7," commented co-host Thomas Roberts, an American television presenter.Roberts, who co-hosted the final with ex-Spice Girl Melanie Brown, dedicated the show to the people suffering from the typhoon in the Philippines.
"We send our very best, our thoughts. We dedicate tonight's show to you" he said.
The presenters greeted the audience in unison in Russian: "Privet!" or hi.
The show included a performance by Tyler, who sang "Dream on, dream until your dream comes true," while standing on top of a white grand piano.
All 86 contestants initially appeared on stage in red and black cocktail dresses. They then changed into red and black bikinis.
The judges then whittled down the contestants to a final 16, who faced off in a bikini round, carrying white fur stoles.
Then a final 10 women strutted on the stage in elaborate sequinned evening gowns, before the final five answered questions in the interview round.
Host country Russia was eliminated immediately, prompting boos in the audience.
The contest, whose slogan is "confidently beautiful," was first held in 1952 in Palm Beach in the United States. It still requires the women not to be married or pregnant.
Complete with a swimsuit round, the contest remains hugely popular, particularly in Central and South America. (AFP)

Girls Latest Vine Tattoo Designs

Vine tattoo designs look good on almost any portion of the body. They can be implemented in any shape, length, color or size combination based on the positioning that one selects.
The most popular style done for this kind of tat concept is the tribe bracelet kind generally covered around the wrist or arms.

Most generally seen vine tattoo designs are of the ivy plant. Most of the ivy tattoo designs are done in a coiling design up an arm or leg. Provided that ivy is an infamously excellent cultivator, you could consider something a little unusual, like wrap it around a statue, legs, arms and hips of a pin up girl.

Popular Star Tattoo Designs

Star tattoo designs are one of the most popular styles throughout the world of tattoo. Actually star tattoo designs are preferred more than any other type of style. Star tattoos are often very bold. The solid shapes create a bold tattoo design that really is unique and can be observed from a distance.

Star tattoo designs can look very stylish on a woman and many women have the tattoo styles on their waist, some of them coming down to their hip area. Stars on the reduced abdomen also look good, and going up previous the navel is a well-known style too. Some star tattoos may appear to have detail and be in three measurements.

Military Tattoo Designs

Military tattoo designs have been very typical among those in the soldiers. Many individuals who have also lost family members that were in the military also respect them through a tattoo with a military style.
Military tattoos give former military a continuous indication of the battles of fights. They are a icon of brotherhood including comrades.

Some of the most exciting military tattoo designs can be discovered on veterans of the World War II. This was one of the times when this kind of needling experienced a revival in reputation. Many of the styles these experts keep are from models whose artwork has long since modified and which may no more are availabl.

Veena Malik And Sheikh Rasheed

Famous actress Veena Malik has called on Pakistani politician Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad not to issue any statements against her or she reserves the rights to reply in equal measure.During an interaction with Pakistani media in London the actress, who shot to fame through Geo’s programme
Hum Sub Umeed Say Hain, said she stood by her statement that the Rawalpindi politician, who heads Awami Muslim League, had called her and requested for a meeting over tea.

“I was naïve at that time, I didn’t know who he was when admired me but I refused to entertain his request. He is furious because I rejected him. He told me that he had seen me on Hum Sub Umeed say Hain and liked my work. I was maybe unpleasant to him. He shouldn’t be but his fury is understandable because he had always been anti women, he was anti Benazair Bhutto and he is also anti Veena Malik. It will be only good for him if he stops and doesn’t define patriotism for others.”
The actress, who has raised the temperature high with her controversial performances, said it was sad that the so-called patriots in Pakistan had taken upon themselves to define morality and patriotism. She rejected such elements and said that Pakistani was a multi-cultural and multidimensional society and it’s impossible to define the country in simple terms.
“Pakistan has both the burka and jeans wearing sides and both are right to do whatever they want to do with their lives. My father was an army officer who loved Pakistan and served it. I love Pakistan and have the blood of a military officer in my veins. I carry Pakistani passport and will always be proud of it. I am hero to some people in Pakistan and villain to others and I accept that,” she said.
On being asked why she is a controversial figure and whether she creates controversies to remain in the limelight, Veena Malik said, “I have always been media's darling, I love it for being the first choice of media. Magazines love to put me on glossy covers. Television wants me there. I have a strong relationship with media everywhere.”
Veena Malik became thoughtful when asked about her return to Pakistan. She has not set foot in the country in a long time and faces threats from extremist group. “There is not a single moment when I don’t miss Pakistan. I love my country, its people and its culture and I do want to come back. I will soon be back but I cannot tell when.”
She also announced that she would soon be going to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. “I have a deep spiritual side. People have only seen me as a showbiz personality but I observe my religion although I do believe that religion is a matter between the individual and Creator. I very much look forward to take this spiritual journey.”
She said that heroes from every walk of life in Pakistan were leaving this world. “Pakistan needs a new breed of heroes, we have very few left. Instead of attacking them we need to create heroes. I want to be treated like a hero in Pakistan, like an artist with an aesthetic side.”

New Charismatic Men Chest Tattoos

Being aware that the first impression lasts forever, men go with the realistic tattoos. Besides being attractive, some men believe that tattoos open up their certainty too. Among the many different varieties in tattooing, people go crazy in plus with the chest tattooing.

Sportsmen, more active teen boys and the body builders love this fashion. An exposure and a special gesture is added to your look with the trendy chest tattooing. Tattooing doesn’t need a travel to the interiors of deep dark forests.The perfect composition of a tattoo cannot be known completely. But then, it is safe to analyze if the solution is free from anti freeze, detergents, alcohols and other toxic substances.

or to the more crowded malls across the city. Just like the most easily available commodity, tattooing is offered in every location these days.In a wrong motivation, a few teens end up in tattooing with the wrong chemicals that end up toxic. This may cause skin infections and even more risky health abnormalities.Long before, the tribal people extracted natural dyes from the plants.

 These extracts were then processed for their use in tattooing. Such tattoos are mostly permanent and are not easily removable. However, with advanced techniques, many temporary tattoos are being introduced which of course have built-in risk factors. Even the permanent ones can be removed with the help of enhanced technologies. Ultra violet radiation and laser radiation give hands in that process.