Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

MASSACRE AT KIDS' CAMP: More than 30 feared dead as terrorist opens fire at Norwegian summer camp and car bomb devastates Oslo

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE

Escape: This footage apparently shows three people swimming away from the island of Utoya which was targeted by a gunman


Teenagers on the Norwegian holiday island of Utoya had to 'swim for their lives' and hide in trees when a gunman fired indiscriminately at them.

Around 700 had gathered on the island for a meeting of the youth wing of the ruling Labour party.

Witnesses said the man in police uniform who opened fire beckoned several young people over before shooting at them. He told them to 'come here'.


Crime scene: The white van was believed to have been driven onto the island of Utoya by the gunman who then opened fire on groups of children attending a summer camp


Other witnesses said they heard him saying: 'This is just the beginning.'

It came as Norway succumbed to a double attack in what is being described as the worst atrocity it has faced since the Second World War.

Terrorists are believed to be responsible for a massive car blast at a government office block in the capital Oslo which took place earlier on in the day.


Camp: A number of children were gunned down in the attack on Utoya island


One teenager who was caught up in the island attack said: 'Suddenly, we heard lots of shooting. People had to run and hide. We have been told to get off the island.'

A party official said: 'There has been a shootout. Many people are shot. Based on what I have seen, at least four people are shot and killed. Now it’s complete panic and we swim off to get to safety.'

Bjorn Jarle Røberg-Larsen, of the Labour party, spoke to young people on Utoya by phone.

'They say that at least one person wearing a police-like uniform was firing shots with a handgun,' he said.

He said the people he spoke to were hiding and dared not speak on the phone any more for fear of being discovered.

'Young people have to swim in panic, and it is far to the mainland from Utoya,' he said. 'Others are hiding. Those I spoke with were terrified.'


Targeted: Hundreds of children were at a summer camp, which is held every year (as pictured here) on the island of Utoya


A Twitter user going by the name zhalli1 posted a message on the website saying: 'I'm safe. We've hidden in a tree. One of us is shot twice in the foot.'

Police stormtroopers landed on the island by helicopter as the shooting continued and sealed off the area but ambulances were unable to reach the scene immediately.

Fredrik Walløe, a London-based Norwegian journalist, tweeted: 'A Sea King helicopter carrying medics has reached the island, but can't land because of continued gunfire.'

Locals were urged to help those fleeing the island.


Trick: A man dressed as a policeman opened fire on children at a summer camp (pictured) on the island of Utoya


An aerial view of Utoya Island where the second attack took place today


Devastating: Paramedics and civilians help the injured in nearby shops after the Oslo bomb blast


Utter devastation in the centre of the Norwegian capital Oslo as victims are treated in the streets strewn with debris


Wrecked: The blast in Oslo was outside a government office


Smoke billows from a 17-storey government building after a powerful explosion rocked central Oslo


The wreckage of a car lies outside government buildings in the centre of Oslo. Police have confirmed the blast was caused by a bomb


Devastation: More rescue workers pick their way through the wreckage to rescue victims


Fortunately, it is a public holiday in Norway and the offices are less busy than a normal weekday


source: dailymail

True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard sets pulses racing as he bares his muscular body in racy scenes

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Sexy: In stills from hit HBO series True Blood, Alexander Skarsgard is seen emerging from a lake nearly naked


It is know as one of the sexiest series on television with its racy plot lines and sultry scenes.

And a recent episode of cult vampire series True Blood certainly didn't disappoint.

In stills for the show, 34-year-actor Alexander Skarsgard is seen emerging from the water near naked, his fangs in full effect.


Fit: With water merely covering his lower body, the 36-year-old shows off his toned torso and biceps


With water merely covering his lower body, the actor, who plays lead character Eric Northman, shows off his toned torso and abdominal muscles.

The sexy snap is from an episode titled 'I'm Alive And On Fire', which aired over on Sunday night in the U.S.

In one of the scenes, Skarsgard is seen emerging from the lake with help from the show's female protagonist Sookie Stakehouse, played by Anna Paquin.


Bloodsucker: The actor, who plays Eric Northman in the series, is seen with his fangs in full effect


Even more muscles are seen in the form of two of the show's other male stars, Australian actor Ryan Kwanten who plays the role of Jason Stackhouse, and Joe Manganiello who plays werewolf, Alcide.

Sookie (Paquin) is seen enlisting the help of Alcide (Manganiello), who is also seen naked, his ripping abdominal muscles on show.

Meanwhile Jason (Kwanten) kills the Felton Norris, the front-man in the Norris family drug business, after he escapes from HotShot where he had been taken captive.



Ripped: Actor Joe Manganiello, who plays werewolf Alcide, also puts his impressive abdominal muscles on show as he shares a scene with Anna Paquin, who plays the show's female protagonist Sookie Stackhouse


Built: Manganiello also flaunts his toned chest in the scenes from the show


Twice as nice: Barely clothed Manganiello and Skarsgard are seen in a scene together


In trouble: Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie's brother Jason Stackhouse, is seen tied to a bed with wounds covering his bare body


Lucky break: He is later seen covered in blood after making an escape


'I like the way that in America you walk into a coffee shop and the girl asks how your day is,' he told GQ in a recent interview.

'When I first moved here I loved that. I know it's shallow and superficial and she doesn't give a f**k about my day, but I still like it,' he said.

'Sweden is a lot more reserved,' he added.

It's difficult to get to know a Swede but once you do you're in.'

The 6,4' tall actor said he thinks Swedish people have a stronger sense of privacy and boundaries


Hunk: Later in the episode, Skarsgard is once again seen shirtless once he has been rescued and dried off


His father Stellan Skarsgard, 59, is one of the most famous actors in Sweden and has starred in Pirates of the Caribbean, Hunt for Red October, Mamma Mia! and Thor.

It looks like Alexander is also headed for the big time - but he says he'll never put his personal life on show.

'You're never going to see a TV show called The Skarsgards,' he said.


source: dailymail