Absolute Madonna

Madonna doesn’t think a wife should withhold sex from a sloppy husband.

But she believes a wife should dispose of her late husband’s prosthetic leg to spare the feelings of the wife’s current mate.

This was some of Madonna’s relationship advice on NBC’s “The Marriage Ref,” where she joined actor-comedians Larry David and Ricky Gervais as a guest panelist on Thursday’s edition.

The show invites its panel of “experts” to help analyze real-life disputes between married couples, mostly for laughs. Host Tom Papa, aka The Marriage Ref, makes the final call.

In one case, Mindy Goldman was offering sexual favors to Alan, her husband of 28 years, if he would clean up their messy basement.

A good idea? “I think it’s weird that she wants him to be clean so that they can be dirty,” cracked Madonna.

Gervais wondered, “Could they combine the sex with the housework?”

Then Susan and David Harper, married for three years, were seen in their house squabbling over possessions left over from their past relationships. Susan wanted her husband to get rid of the sofa where David and his ex-wife might have had hanky-panky, while David complained about Susan hanging on to the ashes and prosthetic leg of Don, her late husband.

Madonna’s swift solution: “He gets rid of the couch, she gets rid of the leg.”

“This is easily the most uncomfortable hour I’ve ever spent in my life,” sighed Larry David in the midst of the debate.

“Why?” Madonna retorted. “Because you’re sitting next to a woman who’s standing up to you?”

“The Marriage Ref,” which premiered last week, has Jerry Seinfeld as a creator and producer.

Source: NBC

From global pop sensation to high fashion model, is there anything Madonna can’t do? Apparently not. Joining forces with Iconix Brand Group, Inc. (the company behind such labels as Candie’s and Badgley Mischka), the Queen of Pop is set to take the fashion world by storm with the launch of her own style empire, called MG Icon. “Joining forces with Iconix to bring my fashion ideas to consumers is very exciting for me,” says Madonna in a press release. First up will be a junior collection, appropriately labeled Material Girl. Launching exclusively at Macy’s stores and Macys.com in August 2010, Material Girl will include apparel, footwear, handbags and jewelry — all retailing from $12-$40. The collection was inspired and designed by both Madonna and her daughter Lourdes along with the in-house fashion team at Iconix Brand Group. And come 2011, Madonna plans to add beauty and fragrance options to her juniors line, so stay tuned for more details on Madonna’s growing fashion brand. For now, we’re counting down the days till we see what cutting-edge designs this quirky mother-daughter team come up with!

Source: http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2010/03/10/madonnas-next-role-fashion-designer/?xid=rss-topheadlines

By TESS STYNES
Iconix Brand Group Inc. and an entity controlled by entertainer Madonna and her manager Guy Oseary are forming a joint venture to develop and acquire brands.

The company, a brand manager whose holdings include Candie’s and Roca Wear, said the MG Icon venture entered into an exclusive license and services agreement that allows the use of Madonna’s name and personality in connection with apparel, footwear and other products. The entertainer agreed to provide creative services related to development and promotion of the venture’s brands.

Iconix said MG Icon will soon announce a direct-to-retail agreement with Macy’s Inc.

Iconix launched five direct-to-retail partnerships in the U.S. last year, while renewing four. It also formed a third international joint venture and acquired stakes in Ecko and Ed Hardy.

Madonna said in a release, “Joining forces with Iconix to bring my fashion ideas to consumers is very exciting for me.” She said she looks forward to working closely with Iconix “to create and translate my vision and ideas for MG Icon.”

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703701004575113343704834562.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Click HERE to see a live clip of 4 Minutes from the upcoming DVD release of Sticky & Sweet!

Exclusive: Madonna’s still got it, and even young’uns like Justin Timberlake jumps at the chance to share a stage with the Material Girl, as you’ll see in this exclusive video premiere of ‘4 Minutes’ off Madonna’s ‘Sticky & Sweet’ tour DVD (available March 30). The tour — which a staggering 2.3 million people saw, making it the most successful tour by a solo artist ever — showcases everything about Madonna’s show that keeps her fans talking for days after seeing it. After the jump watch Madonna, Justin and Timbaland kicking out the jam live.

http://www.popeater.com

By K.C. Baker and Jennifer Garcia

After Sunday’s Academy Awards, everyone flocked to Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary’s L.A. home for a bash hosted by the pop diva and Demi Moore. There was dancing, a late-night Indian food and tons of A-Listers. Here’s what happened inside the party:

• “Madonna danced non-stop for four hours,” says a source. “She and Gabourey [Sidibe] were dancing together at one point. They had a great time.” Other stars on the dance floor: Moore, hubby Ashton Kutcher and Diddy, who commandeered the mic throughout the night. At one point, the music mogul stopped the music and said that unless Anderson Cooper started dancing, he wouldn’t play any more music. Luckily, the CNN anchor quickly hit the dance floor!

• Renée Zellweger and Bradley Cooper were “adorable and super close all night,” a source tells us, adding that the actress and her beau stayed at the bash past 4 a.m. The Hangover star, meanwhile, also hung out in the library, where Jack Nicholson was holding court with fellow revelers like Woody Harrelson and Kate Walsh.

• Penélope Cruz had quite a look at the party: The actress sported a faux-moustache, while Javier Bardem was wearing a feathered boa at the beginning of the party.

• There were 300 guests at the party, including Taylor Lautner, Lady Gaga, Jeremy Renner, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gerard Butler and more. Around 3 a.m., the source says, they served Indian food, which everyone was “inhaling.” There was also a special drink, created for the party by Moore: the Vita Coco Caipirinha. (Moore and Madonna are investors in the company.) “Everyone was drinking it and they gave out versions of it to people on the way out,” says the source. “This was the Oscar party to be at this year,” says the source. “This turned out to be the party that everyone wanted to be at.”

Source: http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/package/article/0,,20332759_20349779,00.html

Madonna’s episode of ‘The Marriage Ref’ will air on NBC this coming Thursday, at 10/9C.

Other guests include Ricky Gervais and Larry David.

Ready for a good laugh? Make sure to watch!

For more info about ‘The Marriage Ref’,
please visit http://www.nbc.com/the-marriage-ref/

Source: http://www.madonna.com/news/

Designer Jean Paul Gaultier talked to the Times UK about the creation of Madonna’s now-famous cone bra, revealing that he was a fan of the songstress in the late ’80s.

“She made her first concert in Paris in 1987 or 1988, and there was a party after. I was intimide, but she was first to arrive, waiting for everybody. She was like this always for 10 years, always on time but now… boof, finished! She is the last one,” he said.

He offered to make a “super-special” outfit for her but she didn’t exactly take him up on his offer.

Then, two days before my show, I receive a phone call. They tell me it’s Madonna, but I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, okay, whatever.’ I don’t believe it’s possible. But the next day I ask if it’s true, and there is a number and I call and she answers and tells me to come to New York and we prepare for the tour.”

However, being part of Madonna’s sartorial crew also meant knowing a bit about her ex-husband Guy Ritchie’s ensembles. At the couple’s 2000 wedding, Ritchie donned a kilt…with nothing under it, Gaultier said.

“I ask him, ‘It’s true?’ He say, ‘You see!’” he says, miming Ritchie whipping up his skirt. And was it…? “Well, I understood Madonna! Hahaha!” he cackles.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/jean-paul-gaultier-dishes_n_490283.html

From RaisingMalawi.org Newsletter:

In my life, I’ve had the opportunity to meet strong, smart, independent women from every walk of life. They’ve inspired me in many ways, and continue to remind me that women around the world are connected by many common threads.

Sharing stories of women’s achievements on International Women’s Day is an amazing way to honor and pay tribute to the incredible women who have inspired us to be the people we are today. My dear friend and the CEO of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, Anjimile Oponyo, recently shared a story with me that I will never forget.

Please take just a few minutes to read a story from Anjimile that brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes.

Shared by Anjimile Oponyo:

Sometimes, if we’re very fortunate, we meet the one person who will forever change the course of our lives. Working in the Planning Unit of the Ministry of Education in Malawi I met mine.

I met Nwanganga Shields, a Nigerian woman who was heading the World Bank team that was working on the Education and Health programmes in Malawi. I could not believe that this African woman had so much power; every time she sent a message that she was bringing her team to Malawi everybody in the Ministry was running around preparing for her visit.

She requested that I work for her, and with every meeting she gave me more challenging work — including me in the studies and giving me more responsibilities on the ground.

One day she said to me, “If you are doing this work without training then you need to go to graduate school.” She found a place for me at the George Washington University at the School of Education. The battle now was to convince the men in the Ministry to let me go.

She noticed that when we had meetings, I was always sent to go and inform the kitchen to bring the tea. One day as I stood up in the meeting she asked me why I was going to call for the tea when I needed to contribute to the meeting. She said this is the last time you are doing tea duty, you have a degree and you are going to graduate school. She asked the meeting if anybody had an objection, everybody was quiet. She said she would take it as agreement since nobody had objected. Nwanganga is an African woman and she knew that there was no agreement, the men around the table were just shocked and stunned.

After she left, I was called and informed that I would not be going to graduate school at the George Washington University — I was devastated. I believed I wanted an American education because I wanted to be like Nwanganga Shields, fearless, confident, knowledgeable and proud to be African. In all the time I knew Nwanganga, and even though she was married to an Irishman, I had never seen her put on western clothes! She was so proud to be African, even though her views and attitude were completely western.

I was so crushed to be calling Nwanganga to tell her that I would not be taking my place at George Washington as planned. I should have known this fearless, determined woman would not be stopped. Nwanganga immediately sent me to the British Airways office where she had a ticket to America waiting for me.

It took a month after I arrived, but she managed to convince the Ministry to allow me to start school. She helped me find a place to stay, she got me a tutor to learn even basic skills like keyboarding, and she got me a job at the World Bank so that I could continue to work on research projects.

Every time I was homesick or discouraged she would invite me to her house and cook me African food and remind me that it was important that I succeed for the sake of other Malawian women who had never been given the same opportunity because of the assumption that they couldn’t do it.

She not only inspired me to strive to be like her, she inspired me to fight to open doors for other women.

If this one woman had not made that decision to fight so that I could go to graduate school I would have never left Malawi. I owe that one woman my education. Because of her I have educated my own children, and because of her my daughters do not think they might go to graduate school, they know they will. And because of this woman, every time a woman tells me that she wants to do something and there is a stumbling block in front of her, I start looking for solutions right away.

Nwanganga showed me that you should stop at nothing to open a door for a fellow woman. My way of saying thank you to her is helping other women the way she helped me. I took the job as Head of Raising Malawi Academy for Girls because it gives me the opportunity to do for hundreds of girls what Nwanganga did for me. What an opportunity, to be able to say thank you to Nwanganga over and over again.

I hope that one day, when Raising Malawi Academy for Girls is open she will come to Malawi and speak to the girls in the school and give them the same inspirational talks she gave to me.

Please honor a woman in your life, by sharing your story with us now.

Madonna

Source: http://www.raisingmalawi.org/

Madonna in Los Angeles at Tom Munro’s Exhibition Last Night.

Madonna arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday night for the Oscar Parties. She attended Elton John’s party last night in West Hollywood