Zara's horror as jockey ex-boyfriend takes a tumble from horse at Cheltenham Festival

Zara's horror as jockey ex-boyfriend takes a tumble from horse at Cheltenham Festival - Richard Johnson fell badly on Wishful Thinking during the second day of racing at the famous event - 34-year-old fell as his former girlfriend of four years looked on in horror with the Duchess of Cornwall - Horse and jockey both recovering well - Hand pressed to her mouth in horror, her face is a picture of fear and concern.

And little wonder – this is the moment Zara Phillips saw her jockey ex-boyfriend thrown from his horse at Cheltenham yesterday.

The queen’s granddaughter could only watch aghast from the royal box as Richard Johnson tumbled spectacularly to the ground during his race. His horse crashed through the railings and into the crowd, drawing gasps from thousands of bystanders.

Worrying: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, left, and Zara Phillips, centre, reactin horror as Robert Johnson falls badly on Wishful Thinking on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival

Horrific: The jockey and horse collide into the barrier and photographers leaving Mr Johnson sprawled on the ground

Anxious time: Despite their stormy four-year relationship, Zara is clearly concerned about the condition of ex-boyfriend Robert Johnson

Concerned: The Duchess of Cornwall and Zara Phillips point following the horrific fall

Horrified: The Duchess of Cornwall can't hide her horror after Wishful Thinking fell at the Cheltenham Festival

Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, was standing beside Zara and winced as the horse fell on to Johnson, crushing his left leg.

The injured jockey was lifted into an ambulance on a stretcher, in visible pain. He was taken for emergency treatment and ruled out of the rest of the day’s races.

Last night Johnson was said to be recovering well, having suffered only a soft tissue injury. ‘He had a lucky escape because it looked a terrible fall,’ a racing official said.

‘He is obviously shaken, but physically, he is in remarkably good shape.’

Tumble: Richard Johnson, Zara Phillips' ex boyfriend, begins to go down after Wishful Thinking falls after jumping a fence

Shocking: A photographer dramatically captures the moment Wishful Thinking buckles following a jump

Racecourse horror: This image shows how fortunate Wishful Thinking was not to have been seriously injured

Nasty: Mr Johnson clearly looks concerned as he falls at high speed during the Queen Mother Champion Chase

His horse, Wishful Thinking, was also said to be recovering.

Zara and Johnson had a tumultuous relationship which lasted more than five years. They eventually split in 2003.

Johnson, 34, had been riding in the Queen Mother Champion Chase – a race beloved by the Royals. Camilla backed the winner, Finian’s Rainbow, and was seen cheering in delight when her horse came in first.

Painful: Wishful Thinking and Richard Johnson fly into the inside barrier of the course

Injured: A photographer was left with a facial injury following the fall

Chaotic: Wishful Thinking is caught as Richard Johnson and a photographer lie injured on the floor. Mr Johnson fortunately suffered only minor injuries

The Duchess of Cornwall was also a winner in the fashion stakes, leading the trend for faux fur on what was an unusually chilly Ladies’ Day at the festival.

She wrapped up against the cold in a chocolate brown hat with a broad fur trim and a teal boucle coat with a velvet collar.

Zara, 30, wore a brown pillbox hat trimmed with feathers and a rose corsage. She was joined at the races by her husband, rugby player Mike Tindall.

• The second day of the festival was again marred by tragedy. Abergavenny and Featherbed Lane were both put down after sustaining broken legs in the Coral Hurdle. Three horses died on the opening day.

Past and present: Zara Phillips is seen arriving at the Cheltenham Festival with husband Mike Tindall, left. She can be seen on the right with ex-boyfriend Richard Johnson in 2003 ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Zara's horror as jockey ex-boyfriend takes a tumble from horse at Cheltenham Festival

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - Among the movies that can genuinely be regarded as classics of Indian cinema, Abrar Alvi’s 1962 masterpiece Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam can rightfully take its place in that exclusive pantheon of films.

Based on a novel written by Bimal Mitra, which is set in 19th century Bengal during the days of the British Raj, it tells the tale of a servant, who through his perspective, narrates the story a long suffering wife who is constantly neglected and mistreated by her landlord husband. With such a sad and poetic plot, who better to play the starring roles of the brooding servant and the angst-ridden wife then the enigmatic Guru Dutt and the equally legendary Meena Kumari, whose own real life drama reflected the pain portrayed in the film.

Guru Dutt, who had already made a name for himself as a talented film maker in Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz ke Phool (1959) was the producer of the film and according to some may even have helped in directing some of the sequences in the movie. This time he plays the lead role as Bhootnath, a young man who arrives in colonial-era Calcutta to seek work which he gets at the residence of a family of landlords. He becomes fascinated by the decadent environment of the feudal lifestyle and is slowly drawn towards the beautiful and tragic Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari) who seems to be an almost neglected statue, longing for the love and acceptance of her uncaring husband Chhote Sarkar (Rehman).

Through Bhootnath’s eyes we see the downward spiral that Chhoti Bahu’s life goes through and how all her attempts to woo her husband’s love fails. The husband is almost a warped mirror of the wife. Whereas, he is indifferent to her love and remains stone cold, she is constantly there and brokenhearted at being neglected. The husband prefers to indulge in the company of dancing girls and alcohol and views his wife as a doormat that he can walkover whenever he wishes. In a desperate act to gain acceptance, Chhoti Bahu takes to casting away her dignity and starts to drink and dance for him. All throughout this tragedy Bhootnath becomes a confidante of Chhoti Bahu and witnesses her self destruction. Slowly he develops an almost platonic love for her and is repelled at the way she is treated.

The cinematography of the film reflects the brooding and sad environment of the story, as does the beautiful dialogue and music. The axis, around which the movie revolves, apart from the superb script and direction, is the performances of the lead actors. Rehman, a longtime favorite of Guru Dutt, gives his finest performance as Chhote Sarkar. The contempt with which he treats his wife and the general cold nature of his character is portrayed to perfection. As for Guru Dutt himself, the part of the brooding and sensitive Bhootnath was tailor-made for him. They say that the eyes are the channel to the soul, and Dutt’s eyes in this film tell the tale for us, with their intense soulfulness.

But the standout performance in the movie is that of Meena Kumari. She more than deserves her title as “The Tragedy Queen” for her work in this film. As one film critic rightly commented, she gives ‘perhaps the greatest performance ever seen on Indian screen’. Its one of performances that stays with you long after the movie has ended, almost as though you were seeing poetry in motion. Chhoti Bahu’s longing for love and craving for sexual satisfaction are played to perfection by Meena Kumari. In one standout scene from the film, she breaks down and lashes out at her husband and tells him that she had virtually prostituted her dignity and self-respect to satisfy him but to no avail. Its one of the most moving and powerful sequences you are ever likely to see in a motion picture and perfectly shows the pain of not having your love for someone reciprocated.

Sadly for Meena Kumari, this movie was also an eerie case of art imitating life. The role of the sad, neglected and eventually alcoholic Chhoti Bahu may have been all too familiar to her. Towards the end of her life, Meena Kumari had endured failed love affairs and ended up never having her feelings reciprocated. As an escape from this torment, she ended up taking the false comforts of the bottle, and in writing poetry which reflected her pathos. In the end she died of liver cirrhosis; brokenhearted and virtually bankrupt.

This film is one classic that is required viewing for any lover of classic movies. It’s also a perfect example of commercial cinema meeting artistic genius. Although, this is not the most spirit lifting movie you are likely to see, it does however serve as a testament to the power of the medium and the brilliance that it has to offer. ( dawn.com )

READ MORE - Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam

Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton split because he didn't want children, says first wife

Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton split because he didn't want children, says first wife - Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton ended their marriage because he didn’t want children, according to his first wife.

The pair were wed for just three years before divorcing in 2003 - and one of the Bad Santa star’s four wives before Jolie claims his marriage to the Lara Croft star fell apart because he had not desire to expand the family.

Melissa deBin-Parish, who was hitched to Thornton between 1978 and 1980 claims Angelina’s longing for little ones killed the bizarre romance.

Bonded by blood? Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton (pictured in 2001 with vials around their necks) are said to have split because he didn't want children

She told this week’s Star magazine: ‘I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he did not want to be around children back then.

‘Look at the timeline: she adopted Maddox and then, [Billy] was gone.’

While Jolie, who is now 36, was eager to expand her brood with her older man, now 56, as soon as they adopted Maddox in March 2002 things apparently went downhill.

Brad Pitt went on to adopt the child when he and the actress began courting.

Growing brood: Brad Pitt went on to adopt Jolie's first son Maddox before adding five more children to their family

His former spouse told the gossip magazine that Billy Bob wanted to remain a free agent and may have even strayed from the beauty during their relationship.

She explained: ‘I think he cheated on his other wives. He had a problem with fidelity. Could you imagine cheating on Angelina?! That would be the dumbest thing in the world. How would he top that?’

In fact the woman – formerly known as Melissa Lee Gatlin – says she was shocked that the beauty even got together with the screenwriter, director and musician.

Despite their penchant for wacky behaviour - which included wearing vials of each other’s blood around their necks – deBin-Parish said she thought with their difference in looks, it was an ‘odd pairing’.

She added: ‘But you just never know with people. I always wondered why they were attracted to each other. Here she is, this stunning woman. The two of them are total opposites. I thought it was baffling.’

‘Maybe it was their creative minds or intelligence. He is very charismatic.'

A different man: Thornton's first wife Melissa deBin-Parish is shocked the pair got together in the first place

This isn’t the first time Billy Bob’s ex has shared her opinions on his future without her.

When he quit his union with his Pushing Tin co-star Jolie, she was very vocal in an interview with Barbara Walters.

She shared that she is no longer in contact with the father of her daughter Amanda Brumfield, claiming he is not the same man.

She told Walters: ‘I thought he was amazing. And, now I just feel like I don't know him… We're not friends.’

On the other hand Angelina is reportedly writing the forward to his memoir, The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts, a move which has left Melissa shocked.

Friends: Jolie wrote the introduction for Billy Bob's new book

‘I’m surprised. I just didn’t think that there was any interaction anymore.

That’s a very big thing to do. I’m glad she did it for him.’

While she clearly doesn’t think much Thornton she spoke nothing but adoringly of Jolie.

‘I heard through the family that Angelina was a very kind person and a wonderful humanitarian. The family never said anything negative about her. I think the biggest bond in his life is theirs.’

In the revealing interview also emerged that Thornton refuses to rekindle his relationship with their 32-year-old offspring, who is currently serving 20 years in a Florida prison for aggravated manslaughter of a minor.

She reminded: ‘My daughter was 18 months old when we split up.’

Estranged: Melissa claims that Billy Bob refuses to speak to his daughter, now 32, who was imprisoned for 20 years after a child died in her care ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton split because he didn't want children, says first wife

Footage of a Young Obama ( VIDEO )

Footage of a Young Obama - During Wednesday evening's broadcast of Fox News' The Sean Hannity Show, a more complete (but still edited) video shows a young Barack Obama hugging professor Derrick Bell after he introduced him at the rally. A second video aired during the broadcast shows a 2011 lecture by Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, during which he airs the 1990 rally video and remarks, "What makes this so interesting about it is -- of course, we hid this throughout the whole 2008 campaign -- I don't care if they find it now." Hannity characterizes Ogletree's remark as an attempt to "suppress" the tape in 2008, even though, as Mediaite reports, PBS's Frontline aired footage of Obama's speech back in 2008.

Earlier:

Before Andrew Breitbart died, he promised that he would shortly reveal explosive, racially themed videos of President Obama in college that would "change this election." Buzzfeed, which has obtained footage that editor Ben Smith believes is the source of the threats, explains the context in which a young Obama introduced Harvard Law professor Derrick Bell at a rally in the following clip:

It was perhaps Barack Obama's most intense immersion in the charged campus racial politics of the late 1980s and early 1990s: As President of the Harvard Law Review in the spring of his final year there, 1991, he aligned himself with Professor Derrick Bell's dramatic protest for diversity on the faculty of Harvard Law School.

Bell was the first black tenured professor at the school, and a pioneer of "critical race theory," which insisted, controversially, on reading issues of race and power into legal scholarship. His protest that spring was occasioned by Harvard's denial of tenure to a black woman professor, Regina Austin, at a time when only three of the law school's professors were black and only five women. He told Harvard he would take a leave of absence -- a kind of academic strike -- "until a woman of color is offered and accepted a tenured position on this faculty," and he launched a hunger strike to dramatize his point.

According to Breitbart.com, the video has been "selectively edited," and the game-changing clips that Breitbart talked about will be revealed over the next few days. We can't wait to see the shocking footage, but so far what sticks out most about the video is that the president sounds exactly the same as he does now. Is anyone really looking at him differently after seeing this? ( theroot.com )

READ MORE - Footage of a Young Obama ( VIDEO )

So you don't get on then? Irina Shayk avoids Cristiano Ronaldo's mother by sitting far away from her during football game as they take it in turns to

So you don't get on then? Irina Shayk avoids Cristiano Ronaldo's mother by sitting far away from her during football game as they take it in turns to dote on his son - They're the two leading ladies in his life but if these latest photos are anything to go by it appears Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend Irina Shayk and his mother are avoiding each other.

The ladies both turned out to support the Portuguese sports man as he played for his Real Madrid team against Espanyol in Madrid on Sunday.

But it appears there may be a rift between the pair as they chose to spend the day separately on seats far away from each other.

Far apart: Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend Irina Shayk sparks speculation she doesn't get on with his mother Dolores Aveiro as they sit far apart during football game

Irina showed off her step mother skills as she took care of Ronaldo's son Cristiano Jnr throughout the game.

And his mother Dolores Aveiro also doted on the youngster, but sat seven seats away from the model looking glum as she watched on at the football playing field.

The toddler took it in turns to run between the ladies as Cristiano concentrated on his footballing skills.

Avoiding each other: The Russian model and Dolores had both turned out to watch Cristiano play in the Real Madrid Vs Espanyol match in Madrid, Spain on Sunday

They're the two leading ladies in his life but if these latest photos are anything to go by it appears Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend Irina Shayk and his mother are avoiding each other.

Step mum duties: The catwalk star showed she has a flair for parenting as she played with Cristiano's son throughout the game

Irina looked chic as she turned out in her finest, wearing beige high-waisted trousers with turn-ups and a beige jumper.

And despite it being a sporting affair, the catwalk star ensured she was dressed to the max, stepping out in large wedges to complete the stylish ensemble.

She showed how well she has bonded with her partner's son as he happily played with her as he cuddled and giggled up to the star.

Occupied: She was happy to watch the 5-0 win and take care of the youngster far away from Dolores

When she wasn't keeping her eyes firmly on the youngster, Irina was seen tentatively watching as her beau's team triumphed with a 5-0 win.

While the Russian beauty was taking care of Cristiano Jnr, Dolores had her arms crossed as she watched the action on the pitch, appearing glum.

But she was also seen cuddling the tot as he sat on her lap, while she failed to communicate with Irina, who looked on at her.

Eye on the game: Irina has previously watched her boyfriend play while sitting next to his mother, but not this time

Fashion forward: Even at sporting events the dark haired beauty ensures she looks her best

Irina and Dolores have, however, previously been seen sharing each other's company during other football games they've attended on seats next to each other.

But their latest outing suggests problems have brewed more recently.

Cristiano shocked Irina when it was revealed he'd fathered the child through a surrogate in 2010.

Announcing the news on his Facebook page at the time, he wrote: 'It is with great joy and emotion that I inform I have recently become a father to a baby boy.

'As agreed with the baby's mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship.'

But she has stuck by him and the pair have constantly been dogged by engagement rumours.

In action: While a rift appeared to be brewing off the pitch, Ronaldo ensured his team walked away winners in Madrid ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - So you don't get on then? Irina Shayk avoids Cristiano Ronaldo's mother by sitting far away from her during football game as they take it in turns to

On your marks, get set, go! Prince Harry takes on sprint king Bolt in Jamaica

On your marks, get set, go! Prince Harry takes on sprint king Bolt in Jamaica - At last, we have a Great British rival for sprint king Usain Bolt. And what's more, he'll be at the London 2012 Olympics. His name? Prince Harry!

His Royal Highness challenged the world record 100m holder to a showdown in Jamaica on the latest leg of his whistlestop tour around the Carribbean to celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.Bolt is expected to sweep the board with gold at the Games this summer in Stratford.

Out of the blocks: Prince Harry gets off to a great start in his sprint showdown with world record holder Usain Bolt

Getting away: Prince Harry makes a run for it and leaves Bolt trailing behind

And Bolt was forced to bow down in front of royalty as Prince Harry - sporting a Jamaica athletics kit - was fastest out of the blocks and pipped him to the finishing line with held aloft as the Jamaican looked on bemused and with his hands on his hips.

But the historic win owed more to the royal jumping the gun and starting when the Olympic 100-metre champion was not looking than raw speed.

Bolt, 25, immediately called for a rematch against the third-in-line to the throne who side-stepped the issue.

False start: Bolt protests as Prince Harry crosses the line

Trademark celebration: Prince Harry and Usain Bolt play up to the crowd in Kingston

The Jamaican sprinter, who lined up against the prince when the pair met at the athlete's training track in Kingston, said: 'He cheated, I said we would have a rematch in London 2012 and Harry said "I'm busy".'

Bolt went on to praise the Queen's grandson, visiting Jamaica to mark her Diamond Jubilee: "He's cool, very down to earth.

'When you meet dignitaries you think it will be difficult but he just wanted to laugh - it was an honour and a pleasure to meet him.

Racing away: Bolt signed a poster of Prince Harry's part-owned horse Usain Colt

'I'm still the fastest man in the world so he has a long way to go.'

The pair struck Bolt's famous pointing pose as they larked around during the visit at the University of West Indies in Kingston.

Indeed, the popular pair certainly seemed to be lapping up all the attention from their admirers ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - On your marks, get set, go! Prince Harry takes on sprint king Bolt in Jamaica

Obama's transgender ex-nanny outcast

Obama's transgender ex-nanny outcast — Once, long ago, Evie looked after "Barry" Obama, the kid who would grow up to become the world's most powerful man. Now, his transgender former nanny has given up her tight, flowery dresses, her brocade vest and her bras, and is living in fear on Indonesia's streets.

Evie, who was born a man but believes she is really a woman, has endured a lifetime of taunts and beatings because of her identity. She describes how soldiers once shaved her long, black hair to the scalp and smashed out glowing cigarettes onto her hands and arms.

The turning point came when she found a transgender friend's bloated body floating in a backed-up sewage canal two decades ago. She grabbed all her girlie clothes in her arms and stuffed them into two big boxes. Half-used lipstick, powder, eye makeup — she gave them all away.

"I knew in my heart I was a woman, but I didn't want to die like that," says Evie, now 66, her lips trembling slightly as the memories flood back. "So I decided to just accept it. ... I've been living like this, a man, ever since."

In this Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 photo, Evie, also known as Turdi, the former nanny of U.S. President Barack Obama, shows a picture of herself, left, dressed as a woman with an unidentified friend in a pageant, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Evie, who was born a man but believes she is really a woman, has endured a lifetime of taunts and beatings because of her identity. Nobody knows how many transgenders live in the sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million, but activists estimate 7 million. However, societal disdain still runs deep - when transgenders act in TV comedies, they are invariably the brunt of the joke. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesia's attitude toward transgenders is complex.

Nobody knows how many of them live in the sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million, but activists estimate 7 million. Because Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other country in the world, the pervasiveness of men who live as women and vice versa often catches newcomers by surprise. They hold the occasional pageant, work as singers or at salons and include well-known celebrity talk show host Dorce Gamalama.

This photo provided by the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., shows Obama with his mother Ann Dunham in an undated photo from the 1960's. Dunham met Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. from Kenya, when both were students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; they married in 1960. (AP Photo/Obama Presidential Campaign)

However, societal disdain still runs deep — when transgenders act in TV comedies, they are invariably the brunt of the joke. They have taken a much lower profile in recent years, following a series of attacks by Muslim hard-liners. And the country's highest Islamic body has decreed that they are required to live as they were born because each gender has obligations to fulfill, such as reproduction.

"They must learn to accept their nature," says Ichwan Syam, a prominent Muslim cleric at the influential Indonesian Ulema Council. "If they are not willing to cure themselves medically and religiously" they have "to accept their fate to be ridiculed and harassed."

Many transgenders turn to prostitution because jobs are hard to find and because they want to live according to what they believe is their true gender. In doing so, they put themselves at risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Some, like Evie, have decided it's better to hide their feelings. Others are pushing back. Last month, a 50-year-old Indonesian transvestite applied to be the next leader of the national human rights commission, showing up in a borrowed luxury vehicle with paparazzi cameras flashing as she stepped out.

"I'm too ugly to be a prostitute," Yuli Retoblaut said, chuckling. "But I can be their bodyguard."

The threat of violence is very real: Indonesia's National Commission for Human Rights receives about 1,000 reports of abuses per year, ranging from murder and rape to the disruption to group activities. Worldwide, at least one person is killed every other day, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, which collects homicide reports.

Evie says she chose her current name because she thought it sounded sweet. But she adds, as she pulls out her national identification card, her official name is Turdi and gender male. Several longtime residents of Obama's old Menteng neighborhood confirmed that Turdi had worked there as his nanny for two years, also caring for his baby sister Maya. When asked about the nanny, the White House had no comment.

Evie, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, now lives in a closet-sized hovel in a tightly packed slum in an eastern corner of Jakarta, collecting and scrubbing dirty laundry to pay for food. She wears baggy blue jeans and a white T-shirt advertising a tranquil beach resort far away in a place she's never been. She speaks softly, politely, and a deep worry line is etched between her eyes.

As a child, Evie was often beaten by a father who couldn't stand having such a "sissy" for a son.

"He wanted me to act like a boy, even though I didn't feel it in my soul," she says.

Teased and bullied, she dropped out of school after the third grade and decided to learn how to cook.

As it turned out, she was pretty good at it, making her way into the kitchens of several high-ranking officials by the time she was a teenager, she recalls with a smile and a wink. And so it was, at a cocktail party in 1969, that she met Ann Dunham, Barack Obama's mother, who had arrived in the country two years earlier after marrying her second husband, Indonesian Lolo Soetoro.

Dunham was so impressed by Evie's beef steak and fried rice that she offered her a job in the family home. It didn't take long before Evie also was 8-year-old Barry's caretaker, playing with him and bringing him to and from school.

Neighbors recalled that they often saw Evie leave the house in the evening fully made up and dressed in drag. But she says it's doubtful Barry ever knew.

"He was so young," says Evie. "And I never let him see me wearing women's clothes. But he did see me trying on his mother's lipstick, sometimes. That used to really crack him up."

When the family left in the early 1970s, things started going downhill. She moved in with a boyfriend. That relationship ended three years later, and she became a sex worker.

"I tried to get a job as a maid, but no one would hire me," says Evie. "I needed money to buy food, get a place to stay."

It was a cat-and-mouse game with security guards and — because the country was still under the dictatorship of Gen. Suharto — soldiers. They often rounded up "banshees" or "warias," as they are known locally, loaded them into trucks, and brought them to a field where they were kicked, hit and otherwise abused.

The raid that changed everything came in 1985. She and her friends scattered into dark alleys to escape the swinging batons. One particularly beautiful girl, Susi, jumped into a canal strewn with garbage.

When things quieted, those who ran went back to look for her.

"We searched all night," says Evie, who is still haunted by the memory of her friend's face. "Finally ... we found her. It was horrible. Her body swollen, face bashed in."

Today Evie seeks solace in religion, going regularly to the mosque and praying five times a day. She says she's just waiting to die.

"I don't have a future anymore."

She says she didn't know the boy she helped raise won the 2008 U.S. presidential election until she saw a picture of the family in local newspapers and on TV. She blurted out that she knew him.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," she says, breaking into a huge grin.

Her friends at first laughed and thought she was crazy, but those who live in the family's old neighborhood say it's true.

"Many neighbors would remember Turdi ... she was popular here at that time," says Rudy Yara, who still lives across the street from Obama's former house. "She was a nice person and was always patient and caring in keeping young Barry."

Evie hopes her former charge will use his power to fight for people like her. Obama named Amanda Simpson, the first openly transgender appointee, as a senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department in 2010.

For Evie, who's now just trying to earn enough to survive each day on Jakarta's streets, the election victory itself was enough to give her a reason — for the first time in a long time — to feel proud.

"Now when people call me scum," she says, "I can just say: 'But I was the nanny for the President of the United States!'" ( Associated Press )

READ MORE - Obama's transgender ex-nanny outcast

How a ditty from a soft-core Italian movie became the Muppets’ catchiest tune

How a ditty from a soft-core Italian movie became the Muppets’ catchiest tune - With guest vocalists ranging from Joanna Newsom to Mickey Rooney, the soundtrack to The Muppets reboot leaves no demographic unserved. But the song audiences are likely to be humming on the way out of the theater wasn’t composed, or even recorded, for the new film. Jim Henson’s immortal creations have lent their distinctive voices to plenty of great songs—“Bein’ Green,” written by Henson standby Joe Raposo, or Paul Williams’ “Rainbow Connection”—but none quite have the nagging persistence of “Mahna Mahna,” which helps bring The Muppets to a rousing finish.

The story behind the Muppets' most popular song Snowths & Mahna Mahna photograph by John E. Barrett. © The Muppets Studio, LLC. © Disney Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.

“Mahna Mahna” is as catchy as a song can be, like a fishing hook stuck in your tympanum. Most people know the tune from a classic sketch that aired during The Muppet Show’s 1976 premiere, in which an orange-haired hepcat unsuccessfully tries to persuade two hot-pink creatures with long, disapproving snouts to get into the “Mahna Mahna” groove. But the bit goes back further, and the song further still, originating in, of all places, an Italian soft-core movie called Sweden: Heaven and Hell.

In the tradition of the shocking, factually questionable Mondo Cane, Heaven and Hell was styled as a documentary about Scandinavian sexuality, which provided a thin veneer of respectability for its leering exploration of lesbian nightclubs and meter maids who moonlight as nude models. In the scene where “Viva la Sauna Svedese”—as the song was originally titled—makes its appearance, the camera follows a bevy of statuesque, fur-swaddled blondes as they make their way through the snow to a sauna, then cuts to the same women clad only in carelessly draped towels, giggling as they soak up the heat.

Composer Piero Umiliani’s C.V. includes the 1958 classic Big Deal on Madonna Street, but by 1968, he seems to have been more concerned with quantity than quality; Heaven and Hell was one of 11 credits for him that year; he’d had a dozen the year before that.* But he was onto something with this brief, catchy snippet, which, when released as a single under the title “Mah Nà Mah Nà,” made it to No. 55 on the U.S. charts. The nasal, kazoo-like vocals by Alessandro Alessandrini have the hallmarks of an instant novelty hit, which is to say they’re at once annoying and unforgettable.

As “Mah Nà Mah Nà” climbed the charts, the fledgling Children’s Television Workshop was struggling to settle on a format for their educational TV program, Sesame Street. CTW co-founder Joan Ganz Cooney had recently given the OK to bring in Jim Henson, whose Muppet characters had at that point been seen only in commercials and on variety programs like The Ed Sullivan Show. Henson, a bearded bohemian with no experience in children’s programming, was something of an odd choice, but that was just why Cooney wanted him.

Mahna Mahna, as the character would come to be known, made his televised debut on Nov. 30, 1969, on the Ed Sullivan Show. The setup is identical to the more familiar Muppet Show version, with Mahna Mahna’s hoarse scat pitted against the dulcet “doo dee doo” of the twin Snouths (a portmanteau of “snout” and “mouth”), who shake their heads and purse their lips in disapproval when their irrepressible colleague strays from the script. In Street Gang, Michael Davis’ history of Sesame Street, several of Henson’s colleagues describe his artistic style as “affectionate anarchy,” and it doesn’t take much in the way of exegesis to see an anti-conformist message at work here. As Mahna Mahna’s antics grow wilder, the Snouths grow more uneasy and eventually counterattack, smother him with their bodies. But Mahna Mahna eventually breaks free and runs right at the camera, making contact to the sound of shattering glass.

A rough draft of the Sullivan version appeared a few days earlier, during the first season of Sesame Street. Here the performers were not the familiar characters, but three of what Henson and his colleagues called “Anything Muppets,” generic characters who could be fitted into any scenario. Taking the place of Mahna Mahna is a scrawny Muppet whose face is shrouded in scraggly black hair, his slim body encased in a striped shirt, suggesting either a stereotypical beatnik or a recent prison escapee. He was later given the name Bip Bipadotta.

The staging is more constrained—Bip doesn’t duck below the frame only to zip back in from a different direction, nor does he throw himself around the stage with the same abandon as he had on Sesame Street—but it’s the far less inventive voice Henson uses for the character that makes the bit feel substantially less inspired. The conflict between Bip and the female Anything Muppets is more subdued, the spirit of anarchy substantially diluted. Rather than smashing the camera, Bip simply walks off, alone, into the background, more like a lonely playmate who’s failed to fit in with his friends than an avatar of wanton chaos.

Given that Sullivan was a ratings powerhouse and Sesame Street a mere children’s show, it’s not surprising that the former version was the one to catch on. In subsequent years, the number turned up in prime-time specials by Tom Jones and Goldie Hawn, and was even replicated on stage in Las Vegas as part of Nancy Sinatra’s show. So it wasn’t surprising that when it came time for Henson to launch his own show in 1976, a new version, honed by years of practice, turned up on the first episode.

Mahna Mahna and the Snowths, whose name had mutated in the intervening years, look the same, but the pacing is now more precise. The two Snowths now interact with each other rather than moving in perfect lockstep, and for a fleeting moment (1:21 in the clip below), one of them seems to consider giving in to Mahna Mahna’s joyful chaos, giving him an absent half-nod before returning to a dismissive shake of the head. Rather than the bland soprano of previous incarnations, the Snowths’ voices are now clearly those of Henson’s inseparable partner Frank Oz, best known as the voice of Miss Piggy. What’s more, the backing band swings as never before, culminating in the machine-gun blast of a snare drum as a disheartened Mahna Mahna gets a second wind, sprinting toward the camera from the distant background.

“Mahna Mahna” has been reworked and restaged endless times since, but each version owes a debt to that Muppet Show debut, a miniature masterpiece that can be watched and rewatched dozens of times without losing its shine. (As the father of a 2-year-old, I speak from first-hand knowledge.) It also made Umiliani’s original a belated top-10 hit in the U.K. and helped push the Muppet Show soundtrack album to No. 1 in the United States. And it laid the groundwork for yet another sublime comic bit, which illustrates just how enduring the Muppets’ version has proved to be: ( slate.com )

READ MORE - How a ditty from a soft-core Italian movie became the Muppets’ catchiest tune

You stick your right leg out! Angelina Jolie's attention-seeking Oscar pose goes viral

You stick your right leg out! Angelina Jolie's attention-seeking Oscar pose goes viral - It was the star of the Oscars, stealing the show with its attention-seeking antics.

But Angelina's lithe leg was kept covered up yesterday as the actress snapped right back to motherly duties.

But while the 36-year-old actress may be keen to move on from her overexposed limb, the rest of the world isn't quite as ready to forget.

Seeing double: A mirror-image mock-up was one of the first parodies to hit the net poking fun at Angelina's leggy pose, while partner Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire was given the photoshop treatment

As Angelina was busy shopping with her twins Vivienne and Knox in Beverly Hills, hilarious spoof images of the star were going viral across the net.

Bloggers and artists were having some fun with photoshop last night, circulating pictures of Jolie's now-infamous right leg slotted into well known photographs and artwork and onto unlikely candidates.

Just 24 hours after the ceremony Angelina 'legbombing' was a viral term with that very skinny leg appearing next to Darth Vadar, on the Statue of Liberty and countless others... with side-splitting results.

Makeover: Whistler's Mother from the 1971 artwork by James McNeill Whistler has been given a saucy new look

Keeping THAT leg covered: Angelina put THAT very slim pin into a pair of trousers and a knee-high boot today after it's attention-seeking turn on the red-carpet at the Oscars last night

Look again: Even the famous Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli is treated to an extra leg

Even her other-half Brad Pitt was given the photoshop treatment. His character from Interview with the Vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac, getting a leggy makeover.

The limb also makes a stealth appearance on the cover art of The Beatles Abbey Road album.

Angelina is yet to comment on the attention her awkward red carpet pose has attracted, instead keeping her head down during her shopping trip with the twins and Brad's mother Jane.

But countless other A-listers have chucked in their two pennies worth on Angelina's now famous pose.

Iconic: Darth Maul from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (left) and the Statue Of Liberty mimic Ange's awkward pose

Peekaboo! The leg makes a stealth appearance in The Beatles Abbey Road cover art

Bet they wish they had thought of this! Bloggers have given Melissa McCarthy and Meryl Streep a bit more leg on the Oscars red carpet

The Creation of Adam: Michelangelo's masterpiece may adorn the Sistine Chapel but it isn't sacred to internet legbombers

A-lister Joan Rivers branded her a 'fool' while others remarked on the scrawniness of her leg.

Comedian Adam Pally seethed: 'Angelina Jolie has become of the children she adopts.'

'Angelina Jolie looked like a fool the way she posed,' Rivers told RadarOnline. 'She took herself right out of that super star category because you now realise she stands in front of a mirror to figure out [what she looks like].'

Rivers' daughter Melissa, who is executive producer of the E! fashion show also agreed.

'She was demystified!' Melissa said. 'She demystified herself and it's unfortunate because it always looks so effortless, and you think how can one person be so glamorous? It's because she practices!'

Leg's off my Oscar! Angelina's leg is after Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie while another suited celebrity looks suitably disgusted

Leg of the rings: By Tuesday hundreds of images had flooded the internet featuring that right leg

Showing off: Hitler gets an Angelina leg as bloggers continue to legbomb Jolie's most famous asset all over photos

Kung Fu shoe: Never has Bruce Lee's leg been so scrawny

Yet the day after that pose The Land Of Blood And Honey director kept her slim pin undercover in a pair of fitted black trousers, which she paired with a matching blazer and a white blouse.

She also had her limbs firmly tucked into a pair of knee-high leather boots - which her skinny pins did not event fill - and she carried a matching leather bowling bag.

The actress lifted fair-haired Vivienne, who looked girly in a white dress, pink sandals and beige trenchcoat, out of the family's SUV.

I want a Pisa the action: Ange kicks over the tower as her pin also becomes part of the Vitruvian Man

Gender confused: Darth Vadar may need to rethink his famous quote

Toe to tip: Adam and the finger of God in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is given a side splitting make-over

Getting his leg over: Poor Mr Bean has also been given the leggy treatment

Do the can-can: Jolie's leg has taken on a life of its own

It's everywhere: Christ the Redeemer in Brazil gets an extra leg and the pin also appears on the famous moon landing shot

Meanwhile Knox was the splitting image of his father Brad, dressed in a little black leather motorcycle jacket and black denim jeans.

The night before, most of the Oscars headlines had been dominated not by the winners, but by Angelina's leg-baring antics.

It's her divine right: Bloggers get creative, even given the most religious of public figures an added leg

Even international relations are not immune to the Jolie 'legbombing' treatment with German Chancellor Angela Merkel being given a Hollywood asset

Winging it: From Turkey's to royalty, nothing is escaping Ange's scrawny right leg

Legs akimbo: Perhaps Angelina Jolie might be slightly embarrassed to find out one of her pins is kicking President Barack Obama

While she sashayed down the red carpet before the ceremony, stealing the spotlight from Best Actor nominee Pitt with her leg-baring antics, social networking sites were quickly heating up with thousands of comments about 'Angie's right leg'.

As she posed at different points along the red carpet the actress was captured continuously adjusting her Atelier Versace gown to ensure the cameras caught the leg from every angle.

Back to mother duties: Angelina took her adorable twins Vivienne and Knox to Auntie Barbara's children's boutique in Beverly Hills today along with Brad's mother Jane

The limb in question quickly became a trending topic on Twitter, with users debating over her enviably trim thigh, the slightly awkward and over-enthusiastic pose, and joking about the emphasis on her right leg in particular.

Rainman would have no problem counting Angelia Jolie's leg,' one Twitter user joked, while another added: 'Fun fact: Angelina Jolie only shaved her right leg tonight.'

It wasn't long before a parody Twitter account called 'Angie's Right Leg' had been set up, declaring, 'I'm a leg, get a load of me!' and 'You have to admit I'm one hell of a leg!'

So far the account has attracted over 28,000 followers.

The original: Angelina's overexposed leg on Oscars night has been the cause of much ridicule

Mocking: The fun started early, with screenwriter Jim Rash copying the hilarious pose shortly after the actress presented him with an award onstage

And if fans thought they had seen the last of the limb when the awards ceremony commenced, they were certainly wrong.

Perhaps already informed of the hoopla by her people, or simply enjoying the attention, the actress continued to pose up a storm when she took to the stage to present an award.

Walking onstage to present the gong for Best Adapted Screenplay, Angelina stopped at the microphone for several seconds with her hand on her hip and THAT leg on full display again.

With wolf whistles and cheering from the audience, Jolie giggled at the reaction before continuing with the presentation.

But not everybody was as taken with Angelina. The screenwriters for The Descendants, who won the award, were quick to mock her as they accepted the award.

'I'm one hell of a leg': A parody Twitter account quickly surfaced and at this point had attracted 10,000 followers

While Alexander Payne, who also directed and produced the film, made his speech, fellow screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash mimicked Jolie's pose in an exaggerated fashion, drawing laughs from the audience.

And yesterday, Angelina's father Jon Voight defended her antics during an appearance on Daybreak in the UK.

Asked what he thought of her posing, the actor said: 'She comes out and does this pose and waits until people get it, it was so great. The audience responded so wonderfully too, with whistles and everything.

'And then she laughed and took it in and went on with her speech. So who knows? You can never tell about these moments that pop up out of a show like this.' ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - You stick your right leg out! Angelina Jolie's attention-seeking Oscar pose goes viral