Celebs Out & About
Actress Halle Berry was spotted leaving a friend’s house wearing a colorful tunic with black leggings in sunny California yesterday.
( L to R) Newly signed NY Giants Safety Deon Grant, guest, Slimm (Plush Blue), NFL player Takeo spikes (SF 49ers) and Amerie’s fiance Lenny partied at Vice in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Actor Lance Gross partied at Vice in Atlanta with club promoters Mr. Plush (center) and Slimm of Plush Blue on Tuesday (Mar. 30).
MORE pics after the break!
Celebs Out & About
Tennis superstar Serena Williams showed off her lace gloves and custom painted fingernails at the Sony Ericsson Open yesterday. Serena is a student at the Palm Beach Fingernail School in Florida, which leads to state certification.
Hunky rapper Jeezy was among the Atlanta celebs spotted courtside during the Lakers vs. Hawks game at the Philips Arena on Wednesday (Mar. 31).
Sexy singer Akon showed off his football (soccer) skills at MTV Tr3′s ROCK N’ GOAL event held at The Home Depot Center on Wednesday (Mar. 31) in Carson, California. It’s nice to see him in any other color but basic black.
Rapper Cassidy was spotted in NYC stepping out of his leased Bentley the other day.
Photos: Splash News, Wireimage/Getty, Zimbio.com
Kelly Rowland Seeks Sponsors To Pay For Her Next Video
Product placement in television shows, movies and music videos is nothing new. Normally, the major sponsors query the targeted artists or movie production companies to place their products. But in this case, singer Kelly Rowland’s record label is putting the cart before the horse.
Rowland, who rose to fame as a member of the Grammy-winning group Destiny’s Child, is now bigger overseas than she is here in America. Her albums don’t sell well here at all. So when it came time to create a budget for Kelly’s latest music video, the label came up short on funds.
According to the NY Post’s Page Six, a Universal Motown exec was forced to send out emails seeking product placement to pay for Kelly’s next video.
“We are currently seeking brands who want to partner with us for the upcoming (Grammy-winning, platinum-selling) Kelly Rowland music video for the first single off of her new album,” says the email. “We are primed for an outstanding project. This will be a video that is serviced around the world.”
Last year, Kelly fired Beyonce’s dad Matthew Knowles as her manager. It is assumed that she could no longer afford to pay his six-figure annual salary.
Source: NY PS
Don’t Think You Need An iPad? Think Again *UPDATED*
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I decided pretty early on during the iPad’s overhyped, pre-launch mania that Apple’s shiny new toy would be useless to me since it doesn’t have Flash and most of the websites that I visit requires a Flash player to view properly.
In addition to that, the size of the thing and the fact that it’s not a standalone device such as a laptop, is discouraging.
If there’s no table around to lay it on, Apple’s iPad will be too large and cumbersome to hold with one hand and type with the other when sending texts. And if I need both hands to handle the iPad, how will I answer my phone when it rings since this thing doesn’t have one?
Besides, I already have a Macbook Pro (which I love) and a new touch screen HTC smart phone (which I loath), so as the April 3rd launch date approaches, I ask myself, why do I need an iPad?
Then last night I stumbled upon ThinkGeek.com and this beautiful desktop iCade cabinet built especially for the new iPad.
The majority of you know you’ll be purchasing the iPad just to say you have one. So what better way to show off your new toy than to display it in this cute arcade cabinet?
The neat thing about the iCade is it actually works and you can play hundreds of classic arcade games such as PacMan and Donkey Kong on your iPad without developing a hump in your back from bending over it for hours.
To use the iCade, you slide the iPad down into the cabinet and dock it in a 30-pin cradle that links the iPad to the professional-grade arcade controls. To make the controls work, you’ll need the iCade app which will be available for download free in Apple’s online store by the iPad’s April 3rd launch date.
The cabinet comes equipped with integrated 2.1 dolby speakers and subwoofer and includes a 10w USB power adapter to keep your battery charged.
The iCade will set you back $149. But since you’re already throwing away spending at least $499 for the cheapest iPad model + $30 a month for a data plan from ATT, what’s an extra $150 down the rabbit hole?
Update:
Apparently this was an April Fool’s joke. Thanks to everyone who emailed me about this being a dumb joke.
Anti-Obama Billboards Pop Up in Atlanta
3 billboards bearing anti-Obama messages have sprang up alongside interstate highways 85 and 75 in Atlanta. The mystery is not the billboards, but who paid for them.
The signs are in a series of four digital billboards ranging in price from $2,500 to $3,500 a month. A website — BillboardsAgainstObama.com — has been set up to collect donations to purchase more billboards in Atlanta.
The unidentified head of the group behind the website says the site has received more than 1800 hits and financial contributions.
The anti-Obama billboards contain the usual scare tactics and stop just short of a call to arms. The billboards are also protected by the First amendment of the Constitution of the United States — a Constitution that is already being chipped away bit by bit by Barack Obama and his Democratic party.
The Supreme court will soon weigh in on the Constitutional aspect of the individual mandate within Obama’s health insurance bill that calls for every American to purchase insurance or face stiff fines by the IRS.
Attorneys general of 13 states have filed lawsuits against the bill. And 25 more states are lining up to file. Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II argues in his lawsuit that forcing Americans to purchase goods or services is a historical first and violates the Constitution that controls abuse of power by the federal government and protects Americans against the formation of a single party police state.
Usher 2.0: Justin Bieber’s REAL Girlfriend *UPDATED*
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Remember when I posted pics of teen heartthrob Justin Bieber with his black girlfriend last week and it created a mini stir amongst his fans?
Well, it turns out that wasn’t the Bieb’s girlfriend at all (we regret the error). She was his publicist, Leslie something. Well, my guess is the label got tired of all the inquiries from his heartbroken fans (those kids can be very persistent) so they sent him to the Black Eyed Peas concert in L.A. last night with his real girlfriend (this was verified by the label reps who went to great pains to make sure the paps got pics of her).
Now if you thought Leslie looked a little long in the tooth, this chick has got to be about his mother’s age. Remember that it was R&B singer Usher who supposedly “discovered” Justin. And Usher was dating Ben Vereen’s comely looking daughter when he was only 15. Vereen’s mini me daughter had to be a good 10 years older than him at the time.
I’m not surprised that Bieb is dating a woman old enough to be his homeroom teacher, considering he has Usher to look up to and there doesn’t seem to be a father around to give him any guidance. Let’s just hope young Bieb doesn’t marry an old hag who ends up destroying his stellar career like Tameka Foster did to Usher’s.
Update:
Here at Sandrarose.com, we strive to maintain our integrity and accuracy when bringing you celebrity news and gossip. It seems the young lady in the photo with Bieb is not his girlfriend. She’s the girlfriend of his manager, Atlanta’s own Scooter Braun. She also appears on the Kenny Burns Show on Ustream.
We regret the error.
Loyal reader Mike Jason writes:
Sandra,
I have a correction for you. The woman in the pic w/Bieber is Scooter Brauns’s girlfriend Carin Morris. Scooter is Justin Bieber’s manager (google him). Carin works on the Bieber team as well. She has been w/Scooter for a few years now and she about 26/27 yrs old. She is not with justin bieber lol her twitter name is @CarinMB
More after the break!
Janet Jackson Reads Sandrarose.com?
It seems pop icon Janet Jackson reads our blog. Remember that post I wrote last week titled Janet Jackson Says No More Albums, in which she was quoted saying she was hanging up her headphones and calling it quits? Well, she denies ever saying such a thing.
In an interview with USA Today, Janet said:
“I read somewhere that I’m not planning to make more albums; that’s not true. I love singing and performing too much to give them up. Right now I’ve got a couple more films I may do, and the festival. Then I’ll figure out whether to go with a major or do something more independent.”
Janet and director Tyler Perry will appear on Oprah’s show tomorrow and she also signed up to star in another Tyler Perry flick with singer Mariah Carey. As you know, Mariah did a decent job in the critically acclaimed movie ‘Precious’. Additionally, Miss Jackson will be the headline act at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana from July 2 to July 4 in New Orleans.
