After Cambodia, Anglina Jolie took a trip to Sierra Leone and Tanzania in 2001, and it was there that she first became actively involved in humanitarium causes. The purpose of that fateful trip was to discover first hand the conditions that refugees must suffer. Angelina was so shocked that shortly after, in August 2001, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, otherwise known as UNHCR.

The UNHCR assists over 20 million refugees in 120 countries around the world. They were created to protect and safeguard the well-being and rights of refugees. They believe that refugees have a right to seek asylum in another country and will actively seek to engage nations to integrate and support those refugees. Thus far, in only 5 decades, they have helped over 50 million people in the world.

Angelina?s contribution has greatly assisted in generating more widespread attention to this worthy cause. As a goodwill ambassador, her role is to communicate to, and provide a focus on refugees by generating mass-media attention. Though in Jolie?s case this is not merely superficial. She actually spends much of her own time and is genuinely affected by their misery. On her trip to Ecuador, Jolie wrote of the suffering, ?People's lives are truly in danger ? not just in the sense that you feel your town is unsafe ? their lives are actually being threatened and their houses are being burnt down.?

To further increase public awareness, Jolie has released several personal journals of her experiences during field visits. More information can be found at unhcr.org.

As well as the physical effort that Jolie contributes, her foundation with partner Brad Pitt, called the Jolie-Pitt Foundation recently donated USD$1 million to groups working in Darfur. Darfur is a region in war ravaged Sudan, which Jolie has visited three times already.

Jolie now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, revealing that she splits her actress her salary three ways; a third for savings, a third for living expenses and a third for charity. Considering she commands a high pay packet for movies, as well as product endorsements, that equates to a considerable amount donated.

Jolie has two adopted children, and is currently thinking of a third. Maddox, a cambodian refugee boy she adopted in 2002, and Zahara, an ethiopian refugee girl. She also has a child with Brad Pitt, named Shiloh.

Together with Pitt, Jolie has stated that she will continue to promote and actively engage in humanitarian causes, as well as pursuing her acting ambitions.

What is happiness? Happiness means a sense of deep contentment. A cheerful outlook. An attitude of positive thoughts. A person who has these qualities is happy during all the times of the day.

How about celebrities then? They have name, fame and wealth. They can, not only buy whatever they desire, but they can also buy a loved one. They can buy anything. Their name is splashed around in the media most of the times. Every news about them is awaited by the general population. Celebrities may not have been born with a silver spoon in the mouth, but the current spoon is mostly that of gold. So they must be happy!

But sadly, happiness is away from most of them. Speaking of contentment, most of them are not only not feeling any contentment, but are frustrated. They are jealous at times. And they have no deep sense of peace in them. Rather their life and minds are full of turbulence most of the times. They are at times so dissatisfied with their own life that they wish to run away from themselves. This they cannot do, and therefore substances that take them away from their own realities are so often used by them.

Happiness has something to do with money, but only to an extent. Happiness has nothing to do with fame, if you are not satisfied with yourself. Whatever the world may say, unless one has self-esteem, one can never be happy. All of us sail in the same boat. Most of us are living unhappy lives most of the time. Let us get happiness that will give us a satisfied sense of living. Let us strive for happiness in our own inner world.

Early Life

Barry Alan Pincus was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 17, 1943. His father was of Russian and Jewish descent, and his mother was Irish. His parents split up when Barry was only two, and he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents. He was introduced to music when he was seven, when he began to learn the piano and accordion.

Prior to his Bar Mitzvah at age 13, Barry began to sing. It was also at this time that he changed his name to match that of his mother?s maiden name – Manilow. In several ways, 1956 was the year Barry Manilow was ?born?.

Budding Career

He continued singing through high school, and upon graduation, he was accepted to the prestigious Julliard School of Music. He paid his tuition by working in the CBS mail room. This proved to be a fortuitous school-time job. Manilow advanced at CBS, and wound up serving as the musical director for the CBS show Callback.

For the next few years, Manilow made his way by writing and performing advertising jingles, including the now-famous song for State Farm Insurance. His work got him noticed, and in 1971 he was hired by Bette Midler as her pianist and music director. He accompanied her on several bath house performances in New York City before Midler herself gained fame and fortune. His work with Midler helped her rise to the top, and as a result, Manilow landed his first record deal in 1973.

Potential Reached

Although Manilow?s first album, Barry Manilow, was not a huge success, his follow-up, Barry Manilow II, contained what became his first smash hit, the single, Mandy, which climbed to number one in both the US and UK. From there, an incredible run of commercial success ensued. Manilow?s next six albums all reached the Top 10 on the US Album charts, and some of the singles he produced during this time have remained popular to this day, including I Write The Songs in 1975 and Looks Like We Made It in 1977.

In all, Manilow has released over 30 albums, and 13 of them have risen to number one on the US Album charts, which is an unbelievable rate of success. Manilow?s style has transformed over the years as well. His early works were almost exclusively love songs and ballads. However, in the early 1980?s, Manilow began to focus more on smooth jazz and worked with such legends of the genre as Mel Torme and Sarah Vaughan.

Overall, though, Manilow is best known for his romantic singing and sometimes crooning ways on stage, and his shows have been sold out in nearly every venue for decades. His fans number in the millions and his act is imitated by many.

Manilow has won two Grammy Awards during his career for his singing performances, and in 2002, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone Magazine called him the best performer of his generation. His charitable works are too numerous to list in one volume.

Generally, there are many reasons to take in a Barry Manilow show. We?ve listed a few, but a trip to Las Vegas would be well worth your time to see one of the true icons of musical performance.

Housemate Sam was a marketing student from Cheam, Surrey and 23-years-old when she entered the Big Brother house. She missed her final exam to participate on the TV show but gained a 2:2 degree anyway.

Sam dreamt of being famous and saw Big Brother as a stepping stone to bigger things. She had a boob job but never told her family and once stripped naked on a podium on holiday in Tenerife in exchange for tickets to an event. Her idol is Christina Aguilera and although she loves both men and women, she relieves herself of boredom by thinking and talking about men.

Before going into Big Brother, Sam believed the housemates would be annoyed at her prettiness. An issue that Sam raised in her continuous slanging match with "Lesleh".

She may have been pretty but also described herself as "original, funny and fun". However, there wasn't much evidence of that during her brief stint in the house.

By the second week of the show, Zoo magazine announced they would offer Sam a job as a sex columnist when she left the house – a role previously occupied by tabloid regular Jodie Marsh.

She lasted just another week when she was put up for eviction alongside Derek and Roberto, receiving 59% of the public and duly being evicted from the Big Brother house.

Sam had escaped being evicted at the second eviction on Friday 10 June (Day 15) when up against all her fellow housemates Anthony, Craig, Derek, Kemal, Lesley, Maxwell, Makosi, Roberto, Saskia, Science and Vanessa. If Big Brother had decided use the normal nomination procedure to choose possible evictees, Sam would have been up against Derek.

This is Sam?s nomination history during her stint in the house:

1st (Day 5) – Sam was nominated by Derek, Kemal, Lesley and Vanessa.

2nd (Day 11) – Sam was nominated by Craig, Derek, Lesley, Makosi, Roberto and Vanessa.

3rd (Day 18) – Sam was nominated by Anthony, Maxwell and Vanessa and was evicted by the public vote.

Since being evicted, Sam has beaten her obligatory battle against depression, had a short fling with Blue lothario Duncan James and dyed her hair blonde.

She has been an almost permanent fixture in the lads mags, been offered TV presenter roles and a sex columnist. She also appeared on an episode of the Italian version of Big Brother as an audience member.

With Big Brother 7 now well underway, Sam will have to come up with a new angle is she is to remain in the spotlight. A second appearance in reality TV, say Celebrity Love Island perhaps?

In the first couple of weeks, Saskia proved to be popular with housemates and viewers alike. This was evident in week two when all of the housemates were put up for eviction via a public vote due to rule breaking because when Saskia's name was announced, the live studio audience cheered her.

However, events took a turn for the worse things took a wrong turn when a divide in the house occurred and two members of her group, Anthony and Maxwell were banned from nominations – leaving Saskia in the vulnerable position of being nominated by the other group who sided with Makosi Musambasi after a heated confrontation between the pair.

Some of the comments Saskia made in her argument with Makosi sparked a debate about racism being a factor in the house and both Maxwell and Saskia were put up for the public vote. Saskia was evicted by a majority 71% of the vote and greeted the crowd to a mixed reception on Day 36. She received the highest percentage of any eviction vote during the whole series.

In her post-eviction interview, she later denied the matter by stating she was a quarter-Sri Lankan, a statement that did not justify or alter the opinions of many viewers.

This was Saskia?s nomination history during her stay in the Big Brother house:

1st (Day 5) – Saskia was nominated by Derek and Mary.

2nd (Day 11) – Saskia was nominated by Craig, Derek, Lesley and Vanessa.

3rd (Day 18) – Saskia was nominated by Science only.

4th (Day 25) – Saskia received no nominations.

5th (Day 32) ? Saskia was nominated by Derek, Kemal, Makosi and Vanessa and was evicted via the public vote.

During her time in the Big Brother house Saskia coined phrases such as "end of" and "it's dog eat dog" although she didn't last too long and was evicted fifth when she and the oafish Maxwell were both nominated.

Even before her stint on Big Brother, Saskia enjoyed dating "famous" people and past boyfriends have included an Olympic swimmer, a Premiership footballer and she also dropped down a few divisions to hook up with Nottingham Forest striker Adam Nowland.

Saskia claims to go to the gym five times a week, she gets her nails done every month and is obsessed by fake tans.

Since leaving the house Saskia has been busy touring grotty nightclubs in a double act with Maxwell while also posing for glamour shots in lads mags to ensure she remains in the public eye.

Bonnie was actually the third housemate in a week to leave the Big Brother house following Shabaz?s decision to walk and Dawn?s ejection for receiving messages from the outside world. She had the dubious honour of being the first housemate to go in and was also the first to leave via the traditional public voting method of eviction.

Bonnie was a disappointing housemate and didn't offer much in the way of entertainment. She was originally chosen for "chatterbox personality" but that was not at all evident as she hardly spoke during her seven days incarceration. She wasn't a bad housemate – just a boring one.

Her original audition tape promised much in the way of wild times, with her claiming she was "sexy" and prepared to "blaze it up", but the reality was nothing like it. The only airtime she received on the show was when she was whinging in the Diary Room about her suitcase and her accent made her speech barely comprehensible ("me names Bonn-eh"). She failed to bond with the majority of the housemates, with the exception of Lea Walker and won't really be missed by the rest of the Big Brother housemates.

Shrewd punters will have spotted that Bonnie wasn?t really ?fitting in? to life in the house and was even after 24 hours a few of her housemates were complaining they couldn?t understand a word she said and she was becoming withdrawn from the rest of the group while they all got to know eachother. At this stage Bonnie was around 6/1 to be the first housemate to face eviction.

She briefly drifted to almost 9/1 on the betting exchanges but by Saturday (two days into the show) had dropped to 5/2. By this time she was seen as a loner who had distanced herself from the group bar the odd exchange with Lea.

First impressions count for a lot on Big Brother and while she wasn?t generating any hatred from the other housemates, she became a bit of a non-entity and wasn?t giving the rest of the group any reason to keep her in.

By the time Wednesday came she was odds-on favourite to leave at 1/3, with the remaining housemates not deemed worthy of the ?Big Brotherhood? Glyn and Dawn both available at 5/1.

Of course, Dawn was ejected before the final eviction day and Friday saw Bonnie become the overall favourite for eviction while Welsh sixth form head boy could have been backed art 12/1.

Being a girl against a boy never helps when it comes to survival in the house and Bonnie was evicted after receiving over 80% of the public vote.

During her post eviction interview, Bonnie tipped Nikki to win although hopes Lea will come out victorious at the end.

It was such a no-contest that host Davina McCall didn?t even bother with her usual customary pause and instead immediately announced that Grace was evicted.

Both Grace and Nikki were put up for eviction by newcomer Suzie Verrico as the model was the only contestant able to nominate during week four. Grace had take offence to being nominated by Suzie and threw a glass of water over her before she left the house.

With one final hug for Mikey, Grace left the house to a chorus of boos from the eviction night crowd but took it on the chin, laughing and even encouraging the pantomime-esque booing.

When later asked why she performed such a childish act she replied: ?Sorry guys, I just couldn't help myself. She was just sat there like Lady Muck?.

Grace had been favourite to leave all week and had been odds-on well before her nomination was confirmed. One of the reasons she was trading so low was due to the Big Brother twist that only Suzie would be eligible to nominate and she had made her dislike of Grace known publicly before she entered the house.

Grace was as short as 1/2 on Friday 9 June following the chants of ?Get Grace Out!? heard clearly during Sam?s eviction, although she had risen to as large as 5/6 by the morning of Monday 11.

Big Brother even gave Grace a chance to earn immunity from nominations when a task was set early in the week. The housemates had to stand still on a podium for as long as possible, with a ?mystery prize? awaiting the last person standing. During the task, Grace?s price had reached 2/1 to be evicted fourth as she appeared determined to see the task through.

After nine hours, Glyn and Mikey gave up, leaving Lisa and Grace to draw straws to determine the winner as boredom set in. Lisa drew the longest straw and was rewarded with a prize of being immune from nominations. Grace?s failure to win the immunity saw her price plummet to 1/2 even though nominations were yet to be announced.

When the nominations were announced on Tuesday 13 June, Grace was a short as 1.05 on the betting exchanges, then 1.03 and even as low as 1.02 by Wednesday in what appeared to be a certain eviction. Nikki was available at 33/1 and even 50/1 by comparison.

The bookmakers were also not keen on opening a ?How much percentage of the vote will Grace receive? market as at least 85% also looked likely and could even beat the record 86% two-way vote record held by Stuart from Big Brother II and Vanessa from Big Brother V.

Pete
Current Odds: 1/2

Pete has remained the undisputed favourite to win Big Brother ever since he fell down the stairs to mark his entrance. His odds-on status is justified since he appears to be the nicest and most genuine person incarcerated in the house and he has proved there is more to him than his Tourette?s outbusts and nervous ticks. Pete is the unlikely romeo of the house, with Lea, Lisa and Nikki all falling for his unique charms although he claims not to be interested in any of them. At the halfway point, it is difficult to see past Pete as the winner of Big Brother, since the producers love a ?journey? and a slushy story about Pete ?being accepted for who he is? is being played out right now. It?s all predictable and contrived, but it?s what mainstream television is all about, right?

Nikki
Current Odds: 11/2

Even though Pete is the likely winner, Nikki has been the best ever contestant on Big Brother bar none. Do people like her really exist and if so, how on earth do they survive in the wider world? Nikki is 24, but behaves like someone well short of hitting even their teenage years. Everything upsets her. She cries when she?s nominated, she cried when her fellow housemates had to wash her for a task and she cried when she couldn?t get her MP3 player to work. However, her constant grizzling is amusing rather than annoying and her Diary Room monologues have become compulsive viewing. Remarkably, she?s knocking out these TV gems seven nights a week on the highlights show. Nikki survived three successive eviction nights which will give the other housemates reason not to nominate her so often. Nikki and Pete in the final two ? no question.

Glyn
Current Odds: 9/1

After a few weeks lurking in the background, Glyn has emerged as a strong contender to win the show. He?s awkward, lacks social skills, can?t take his drink and fancies the pants off any woman in the same room as him. Much the same as any other teenage boy, then. Glyn is seen as harmless by the other housemates and is funny without meaning to be, which is why he has received just one nomination in five weeks. Glyn?s lusting after ?older women? Lea and Suzie is quite entertaining, while he also said there weren?t women like Aisleyne in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Lucky boy.

Mikey
Current Odds: 14/1

Mikey has done very little in almost 50 days in the Big Brother house apart from talk about ?biiiiiiirds? and who fancies who. There is very little to his character apart from looking a bit like Vernon Kay and trying to get off with Imogen now Grace has been evicted. However, he was the only housemate that tried to help paralytic Glyn after one drink too many. Mikey doesn?t really do anything to offend anyone else so he could well make it until the final day.

Aisleyne
Current Odds: 20/1

Aisleyne was voted into the house next door but will return to the main compound which will shock the other housemates as they thought they had got rid of her and her constant singing of hip hop songs that nobody has heard of. Aisleyne is the strongest female character but her fake ghetto speak and snapping at the other housemates will see her up for eviction more often than not. The ?House Next Door? twist will see Aisleyne ?vote out? four of the five new housemates, although they will actually be moved into the main house and face her when she returns herself. There could be a tricky few weeks in store for the promotions girl and aspiring pop star.

Imogen
Current Odds: 50/1

Imogen has been a disappointment and her character in the house is just a female version of Mikey. Dull, boring and nothing like the real-life serial footballer dater the tabloids would have us believe. Until recently, the only screen time she enjoyed was when she had tedious conversations in Welsh with fellow compatriot Glyn. For someone proud to be university educated, Imogen didn?t know what ?malice? meant nor ?saboteur? before she was chosen to wreck the milk task in order for the housemates to win a luxury food budget. She passed the task, although all that was required was to let milk pour out of a giant vat without any of the other housemates noticing what she was up to. Yawn.

Richard
Current Odds: 66/1

The self-proclaimed ?sexual terrorist? is another dullard who thinks he has a chance of winning. Since arguing with Imogen several weeks ago he has done very little since which unfortunately also seen his nominations by other housemates cease. Come on people, vote him out!

Susie
Current Odds: 80/1

Boring. Boring. Boring. Big Brother made a huge fuss about their ?Golden Ticket? campaign in which a ?lucky member of the public? would get the chance to enter the house. Instead, Susie, an ageing glamour model who had applied for Big Brother several times in the past was apparently chosen at random to join the rest of the housemates. Susie has found a role in the house as surrogate mother to little Nikki and lust object for granny fancier Glyn. Oh yes and she likes to drink tea. Lots and lots of tea.

Lea
Current Odds: 80/1

Surgically enhanced Lea has found life difficult in the house thus far and is now giving Nikki a run for her money on who can shed the most tears. Lea has the hots for Pete, although she denies it and has found herself a prime target for Aisleyne who established herself as the alpha female of the house. Lea?s almost unhealthy interest in Pete and constant crying will see her fellow housemates put her up for eviction soon. And not before time, either.

As soon as Grace was given the boot last week, Lisa was odds-on favourite at 4/5 to be next person out of the door with the bookmakers expecting nominations from Aisleyne, Richard, Susie and Pete for the foul mouthed unemployed upholsterer from Manchester.

Big Brother introduced a twist this week for nomination-discussing rule breakers Glyn, Imogen, Lea, Lisa and Nikki who were not be allowed to nominate in the normal fashion. Instead, they each had to nominate one member of their group, on the spot, in front of everyone else. They were not allowed to discuss their choices or nominate themselves and the housemate with the most nominations would automatically face eviction via the public vote. The voting went as follows:

Glyn and Lisa nominated Nikki, Imogen voted for Lea who returned the favour and Nikki voted for Lisa. With two nominations Nikki faced eviction for the third successive week.

The rest of the housemates ? Aisleyne, Mikey, Pete, Richard and Susie were allowed to nominate as usual in the privacy of the Diary Room. As Nikki was already put up for the public vote, the remaining housemates were not allowed to nominate her, which saw Imogen, Lisa and Mikey thrown into the eviction mix.

By Monday night, Lisa was 1/4 favourite for eviction, despite the remainder of the nominated housemates not being revealed officially until Tuesday evening.

Lisa?s price shortened considerably as the day?s neared Friday?s eviction night until she was trading at 1/100 so it was no surprise when host Davina McCall announced she was evicted.

Lisa appeared to be expecting to leave as she reacted well with a typical mix of smiles and good natured profanity, hugging each of her housemates in turn and repeating select phrases including ?sorted mate?, ?mint?, ?take it easy? and ?have fun?.

Following a few weeks where housemates have received landslide eviction percentages ? Grace polling 87.9% and of course Sezer?s 91.6%, Lisa received a more respectable 60.3% of the vote considering she wasn?t trading at odds-against once during eviction week.

Big Brother?s latest twist will see five new contestants entering a secret ?second? house next Friday. The new house, accessible via the diary room, features its own bedroom, kitchen, lounge, bathroom and garden area.

Instead of voting to evict a housemate next week, the public will instead choose one housemate to ?save? but live with the five newcomers in the new house.