Natasha


Switchfoot

L–R: Jerome Fontamillas, Chad Butler, Drew Shirley, Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman
Background information
OriginSan Diego, California, United States
GenresAlternative rock, hard rock, power pop,[3] post-grunge, Christian rock
Years active1996–present
LabelsRethink, Columbia, Sony BMG, lowercase people, Atlantic
Websiteswitchfoot.com
Members
Jon Foreman
Tim Foreman
Chad Butler
Jerome Fontamillas
Drew Shirley

Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), and Drew Shirley (guitar, backing vocals).
They are known for their energetic live shows, where the three guitarists in the line-up often operate simultaneously.
After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream recognition with the inclusion of four of their songs in the 2002 movie A Walk to Remember. This recognition led to their major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown, which was released in 2003. It went on to sell over 2.6 million copies and produced the band's best-known singles, "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." Their seventh studio album Hello Hurricane received a Grammy award in 2011 for Best Rock Gospel Album.
According to Jon Foreman, the name "Switchfoot" is a surfing term. "We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It's about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music."

History

Formation and early years (1996–2002)

Switchfoot was founded in 1996 as Chin Up, consisting of Jon Foreman and his brother Tim, along with Chad Butler on drums. After playing only a few shows, the band was contacted by music industry veteran Charlie Peacock and eventually signed to his indie label Re:think Records under the current moniker, Switchfoot. Re:think went on to distribute the first three Switchfoot albums, The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, and Learning to Breathe. Because Re:think was bought out by Christian giant Sparrow Records before Switchfoot's first release, however, the band's and Peacock's intentions of being marketed outside of the Contemporary Christian music scene and reaching a wider audience were put on hold. Consequently, the band was mostly marketed exclusively to Christian radio and retail outlets early in their careers, a time Jon Foreman has described as when "half of who we were was lost."
Of Switchfoot's first three albums, Learning to Breathe was the most successful, being certified gold by the RIAA, and receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album.
Later on in 2002, Switchfoot's music was featured prominently in the movie A Walk to Remember, starring singer and actress Mandy Moore, who sang Switchfoot's song "Only Hope" during a scene in the movie. In addition to Moore's cover of "Only Hope", Switchfoot’s songs “You”, “Learning to Breathe”, and “I Dare You to Move” were showcased in the film.



Discography

Awards

Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards
  • 2001: Les Paul Horizon Award for the most promising up-and-coming guitarist — Jon Foreman
ASCAP Awards
  • 1997: Best New Artist
  • 2006: Impact Award awarded "to celebrate the success and influence of his songs in mainstream rock music"— Jon Foreman
  • 2006: Top 50 list of Most Performed Song of 2005 — "Dare You to Move"
GMA Dove Awards
  • 2004: Rock Recorded Song of the Year — "Ammunition"
  • 2004: Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year — The Beautiful Letdown
  • 2004: Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year — "Meant to Live"
  • 2005: Artist of the Year
  • 2005: Short Form Music Video of the Year — "Dare You to Move"
  • 2005: Long Form Music Video of the Year — Live In San Diego
  • 2005: Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year — "Dare You to Move"
  • 2006: Short Form Music Video of the Year — "Stars"
  • 2010: Rock Recorded Song of the Year – "Mess of Me"
Grammy Awards
  • 2011: Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album - Hello Hurricane
San Diego Music Awards
  • 1997: Best New Artist
  • 2001: Best Pop Artist
  • 2001: Best Pop Album — Learning to Breathe
  • 2002: Best Adult Alternative Artist
  • 2003: Best Pop Album — The Beautiful Letdown
  • 2003: Album of the Year — The Beautiful Letdown
  • 2004: Song of the Year — "Dare You to Move"
  • 2006: Artist of the Year
  • 2007: Album of the Year — Oh! Gravity
  • 2010: Album of the Year – Hello Hurricane
Top In Rock Awards
  • 2009: Best Christian Artist
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Natasha

Published: 2008
ISBN-13: 0446579939
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

The Lucky One

Description

When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.
Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.
Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.
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Natasha

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards

This stunning and heart-rending novel begins on a winter’s night in 1964.  David and Norah, married barely a year and very deeply in love are expecting their first child.  Because of a blizzard, David is forced to take charge of the delivery, and immediately after the birth of a baby boy, he is shocked to see a twin sister.  On seeing her, he tells his wife that the twin was very tiny and was dead at birth.

Norah, although pleased with their first-born son and loves and trusts her husband, somehow suspects that he has not told her the truth, as she was not allowed to see the tiny twin..  She lavishes all her love and attention on their son, but throughout the years she is haunted and saddened by the thought of the missing daughter and of a possible deception. Her trust in the husband she still loves has been badly shaken.

Gradually both Norah and David become totally absorbed in their own careers and hobbies and friends, and they slowly drift apart.  Their family secrets and mutual coldness also affects their son, who shares in their pain.  The story has a bitter-sweet ending, with a touch of redemptive love.  It is masterfully written, and I know you would enjoy it.
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Natasha
Pretty Little Liars
PrettyLittleLiarsSeries.jpg
Author Sara Shepard
Country United States
Language English
Genre Young-adult fiction
Publisher HarperTeen
Media type Print (paperback)
Pretty Little Liars is a series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard. The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer, Hanna, Aria, n Emily  — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison. The year later, they begin receiving various messages from someone using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. Originally developed as a television series by book packaging company Alloy Entertainment, the idea was described as "Desperate Housewives for teens." Alloy met author Shepard and gave her the property to develop into a book series. The first novel, Pretty Little Liars, was released in October 2006. It was followed by Flawless and Perfect in March and August 2007, Unbelievable and Wicked in May and November 2008, Killer in June 2009, and Heartless in January 2010. Wanted, announced as the eighth and final installment, was released on June 8, 2010. In December 2010 Shepard announced that she would write four more novels in the series, beginning with Twisted, to be released on July 5, 2011.
A television series based on the novels premiered on ABC Family on June 8, 2010. The series stars Troian Bellisario as Spencer, Ashley Benson as Hanna, Lucy Hale as Aria, and Shay Mitchell as Emily.



Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1)

Pretty Little Liars

by Sara Shepard (Goodreads Author)
4.07 of 5 stars4.07 of 5 stars4.07 of 5 stars4.07 of 5 stars4.07 of 5 stars 4.07  ·  rating details  ·  8,768 ratings  ·  1,715 reviews
Three years ago, Alison disappeared after a slumber party, not to be seen since. Her friends at the elite Pennsylvania school mourned her, but they also breathed secret sighs of relief. Each of them guarded a secret that only Alison had known. Now they have other dirty little secrets, secrets that could sink them in their gossip-hungry world. 
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Natasha
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Synopsis: A group of girls band together to seek revenge on the school's resident stud, who has broken their hearts. More
Rated: PG-13 See Full Rating
Running Time: 1 hr. 29 min.
In Theaters: Jul 28, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Nov 14, 2006
US Box Office:$40.9M
Distributor:20th Century Fox
Directed By: Betty Thomas
Written By: Jeff Lowell

John Tucker Must Die is a 2006 American high school comedy romance film, directed by Betty Thomas. The film is about a trio of girls (played by Ashanti, Sophia Bush, and Arielle Kebbel) who plot to break the heart of manipulative basketball star John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) after they learn he has been secretly dating all three and pledging each is "the one". They recruit cute wallflower Kate (Brittany Snow) in their scheme to publicly humiliate the cad. Released in North America on July 28, 2006. The film reached number 3 in the US and number 1 in Australia.[clarification needed]

Plot

Kate (Brittany Snow) talks about her mother Lori (Jenny McCarthy) and the series of bad relationships she has with men who leave the next day (Kate refers to them all as 'Skip', supposedly in relation to the way they 'skip' the relationship). She describes herself as always being "invisible." She and her mother move to a new town and Kate gets a job as a waitress. While at work, she sees popular local boy John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) on dates with three different girls: Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), a chronic overachiever, Heather (Ashanti), who is a sassy, aggressive head cheerleader, and Beth (Sophia Bush) a promiscuous vegan activist. Kate learns from a co-worker that he dates girls from different cliques at his school so that they never interact and convinces the girls who he dates to keep their relationships secret by telling them that his father does not allow him to date during basketball season.
One day in gym class, Kate, Carrie, Heather and Beth end up on the same team for a volleyball game. During the game, Carrie brags about being with John Tucker, and the girls learn about his scheme. Carrie, Heather and Beth begin fighting and Kate tries to break up the fight, landing them all in detention. While in detention, Kate is enlisted to help in the retaliation against John Tucker. In the meantime Kate becomes friends with John's brother Scott (Penn Badgley), better known as "The Other Tucker". The girls initial attempts to undo John (making people believe he has genital herpes and undermining his confidence by giving him estrogen) are used to his advantage and he remains as popular as ever. After he breaks up with all three girls, they agree that breaking his heart is the ideal revenge.
Kate joins the cheerleading team in order to get John's attention. He sees her after the practice and compliments her. When Kate meets up with the girls and tells them what happened, she is forced to admit she's never dated anyone; however, the girls still agree to try. Kate and John go on a series of dates, the first of which at a bonfire at the beach, the other girls watching with surveillance equipment. Kate is unprepared after John asks to take her home and Beth intervenes. However, John arrives, forcing Beth to hide in the back of his Jeep. At her house, Kate manages to buy Beth time to escape by kissing John, Beth's skirt being ruined in the process.
The next date is a romantic boat ride, and Kate and John have a good time together. Beth later notices that Kate is starting to fall for John. Carrie tapes John bragging to his friends in the locker room, saying he'll be scoring "more than baskets" at the away game, and shows the tape to Kate. The girls try another plan to embarrass John Tucker at a hotel on the night of the away game. Kate seduces John on a video-chat and tells him to put on a woman's thong and climb out of his room and into hers. He accidentally climbs into a teacher's room and becomes the laughingstock of the school. John again uses this to his advantage, starting a fashion trend.
Meanwhile, Kate's mother and Scott both discover the plan and lament the change in Kate's behavior. Afterward, Kate tells John that she heard about what he said in the locker room about her. John makes amends by giving her his watch and asking her to be his girlfriend. Kate tells Heather, Carrie and Beth that she wants out of the plan, as whether they are dating or plotting to destroy John Tucker, it is still all about him. At John's birthday party, the tape the girls made of John's destruction is played, and Kate reveals the entire plot. Heather, Beth and Carrie defend her after a guest throws his drink at her. Still, John Tucker is unfazed, and the party devolves into a cake fight.
A few days later, John and Kate agree to be friends, and John resolves to be honest, telling his new girlfriend about his other girlfriend. Scott, happy that Kate confessed, becomes her lab partner again, and it is hinted the two will begin dating. Kate is now good friends with Beth, Carrie, and Heather. Kate finishes saying, "as for the girl who made John Tucker fall in love, well, she's a legend."
After the credits, Kate warns viewers at home wanting to try this that destroying a man has consequences, and the camera pans to several male teachers bending over to grab some papers, all wearing thongs.

Natasha
 
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Synopsis: Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) had her own good reasons for disguising herself as her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) and enrolling in his place at his new boarding school, Illyria Prep. She was counting on Sebastian being AWOL from school as he... More
Rated: PG-13 See Full Rating
Running Time: 1 hr. 45 min.
In Theaters: Mar 17, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Jul 18, 2006
US Box Office:$33.7M
Distributor:DreamWorks SKG
Directed By: Andy Fickman
Written By: Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz, Kristen Smith


She's the Man is a 2006 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Fickman, based on Twelfth Night, a play by William Shakespeare. The film centers around teenage girl, Viola Hastings, who enters her brother's school in his place (pretending to be male) in order to play with the boy's soccer team. The film stars Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum, among others.

Plot

Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) is a high school soccer player at Cornwall, which has just cut its girls' soccer team. After her request to join the boys' team is refused, she finds a way to play for Cornwall's rival, Illyria. Viola's twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), is supposed to enter Illyria as a new student, and since he is instead going to a contest in London with his fledgling band, Sebastian asks Viola to cover for him by telling the school that he is sick and each of their parents (who are divorced) thinks that he is staying with the other.
Viola instead decides to pass herself off as Sebastian and join the boys' soccer team at Illyria. She hopes to beat the Cornwall team and humiliate her cocky and sexist goalie ex-boyfriend, Justin (Robert Hoffman). With the help of her friends, Viola becomes the quirky "Sebastian".
At Illyria, Viola's roommate is Duke Orsino (Channing Tatum), a good-looking striker on the soccer team. Tryouts see Viola assigned to second string, much to her disappointment. Meanwhile, "Sebastian"'s lab partner, Olivia, develops a crush on him, which frustrates Duke, who is interested in Olivia. In exchange for "Sebastian's" help in getting Olivia's attention, Duke agrees to put in extra soccer practice time with him. Coach Dinklage eventually moves "Sebastian" up to first string. Elsewhere, Olivia goes on a date with Duke to make "Sebastian" jealous, remaining far more interested in him than in Duke. Encouraged by Viola, she decides to go directly to Sebastian and tell him how she feels.
The plot becomes complicated when the real Sebastian returns from London a day early. When he arrives at Illyria, Olivia runs up and kisses him. Duke, seeing this, believes his roommate has betrayed him and after arguing with "Sebastian" kicks him out. Viola stays in Eunice's room and oversleeps, causing the real Sebastian to wind up on the field playing in what should be his sister's spot in the next day's much-anticipated game against Cornwall. Principal Gold (David Cross), who has been told of Viola's impersonating Sebastian by Monique and Malcolm, halts the game and informs the crowd that Sebastian is a girl. The real Sebastian being present instead, he proves himself to be male by pulling down his shorts and exposing his genitals off-screen. At half-time, Viola explains the situation to Sebastian and they switch places again.
Later on in the game Viola explains that she has been impersonating her brother, finally convincing Duke and everyone else by showing them her breasts (again, off screen). The coach agrees to let Viola keep playing anyway, sternly informing the Cornwall coach that Illyria doesn't discriminate based on gender. Illyria wins the game on a penalty kick when Viola scores a goal (after a save and then pass from Duke) past her ex-boyfriend Justin.
Everyone at Illyria celebrates their victory over Cornwall, except for Duke who is hurt at Viola's deception. She invites Duke to her debutante ball. They meet in a garden and head to the Debutante ball, where they are introduced, come on stage, and kiss. At the end of the film, Viola and Duke are shown playing on the soccer team of Illyria, both on the first string.

Natasha

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007. Narrated by the omniscient yet unseen blogger "Gossip Girl", voiced by Kristen Bell, the series revolves around the lives of privileged young adults on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City.
The series begins with the return of Upper East Side "It" girl, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) from a mysterious stay at a boarding school in Cornwall, Connecticut. Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), whom creators describe as the queen at the center of their chess game, is a longtime friend and occasional rival of Serena's, and the Queen Bee of Constance Billard School's social scene. The story also follows Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), the bad boy of the Upper East Side; "Golden boy" Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), Chuck's best friend and Blair's ex; and other characters of the turbulent Manhattan scene: Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), Nate's friend and Serena's on-again, off-again ex; Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), Dan's best friend; and Dan's sister, Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen).



Production

Executive producers

The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz and fellow writer Stephanie Savage have served as the show's executive producers throughout the series' run, followed by Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein of Alloy Entertainment, who were assigned in aiding the adaptation of the novels into the series.Following the success of Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls co-producer, John Stephens was approached by Schwartz and Savage, having previously worked with him in The O.C, and hired him as an executive producer.

Casting

Featuring nine regular speaking roles, the majority of the ensemble cast was assembled from February to April 2007. Blake Lively and Leighton Meester were the first two actresses to be chosen in February for the lead roles of Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, respectively. Penn Badgley, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford Kelly Rutherford, Connor Paolo and Florencia Lozano (appeared in pilot only; replaced by Margaret Colin) also auditioned successfully and landed roles in the series in March. Actors for the roles of Chuck Bass and Rufus Humphrey were found in April when English actor Ed Westwick and Matthew Settle were cast. As rumors swirled about the impending cancellation of Veronica Mars, it was revealed at The CW's 2007 Upfronts on May 17, 2007 that Kristen Bell had narrated the pilot, thus making her the title character of another show on the network. Jessica Szohr was signed on to portray the recurring role of Vanessa Abrams and received regular status during the fourteenth episode of the first season. Throughout the series' run, Connor Paolo consistently declined to elevate his recurring role of Eric van der Woodsen to regular status, citing personal reasons for his decision. Jenny Humphrey, portrayed by Taylor Momsen, went on an indefinite hiatus during the series' fourth season but retained regular billing.