Grammy-award winning singer Christina Aguilera was named an ambassador against hunger on Friday by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and said that having a child of her own had pushed her into action.
“A child dies every six seconds of hunger, which is a huge statistic for me,” Aguilera told Oprah Winfrey, announcing her appointment on Winfrey’s popular TV talk show.
“After having my own child, I just had to be a part of it and do something about it and help change that situation,” she said.
Aguilera, 29, whose hit songs include Beautiful and Genie in a Bottle, has a two-year-old son with her music executive husband Jordan Bratman.
Last year, she traveled to Guatemala to see WFP’s programs for maternal and child health programs, and in January she took part in the “Hope for Haiti” celebrity telethon that raised more than US$60 million for earthquake disaster relief.
Aguilera described her work with WFP as a life-changing experience and said she plans to go to Haiti soon: “I want to check on the situation there and help to deliver food. I want to visit orphanages and schools there and try to do my part in helping.”
After uniting Jackie Chan (成龍) and Jet Li (李連杰) in The Forbidden Kingdom, The Lion King director Rob Minkoff is planning another fantasy epic set in China.
Publicists said in a statement last week that Minkoff will direct the 3-D English-language action adventure Chinese Odyssey with financial backing from two Chinese studios, including the state-owned China Film Group.
Minkoff was quoted in the statement as describing the movie as a “supernatural high-seas adventure that pits our hero against an onslaught of deadly foes.” The cast of the US$75 million to US$100 million production hasn’t been decided.
The Forbidden Kingdom, about an American teenager who tries to free the mythical Monkey King with fellow fighters, brought together Chan and Li for their first on-screen collaboration.
The Venice Film Festival says Quentin Tarantino will head the jury that will award the coveted Golden Lion at this year’s festival.
The festival called the director “one of the major creative figures in contemporary cinema” in an announcement of his appointment on Thursday. It runs from Sept. 1 to Sept. 10.
The festival cited Tarantino’s highly original filmmaking style, work as a character actor in such moves as Sukiyaki Western Django, films that have launched and relaunched acting careers and his dedication to young filmmakers in his work as a producer.
Tarantino has directed such films as Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. The festival says Tarantino is “perhaps the only American auteur to be adored worldwide like a rock star.”
A judge last week heard that R ’n’ B singer Chris Brown has made progress on his sentence for assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna last year on the eve of the Grammy awards.
An attorney for Brown told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg the singer had completed more than 290 hours of hard labor and attended all but one of his mandatory 52 counseling sessions for domestic violence.
Schnegg said it appeared Brown was making progress and she set a future status hearing for Aug. 26.
Brown, 21, whose hits include Run It! and Kiss Kiss, was sentenced in August last year to five years probation, ordered to perform 180 days of community service and attend domestic abuse counseling.
He attacked pop star Rihanna in the early morning hours of Feb. 8, 2009, after the couple left a music industry party in Los Angeles. The assault left Rihanna bloody and bruised and caused both a firestorm of media coverage.
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