Sightful: May 2012

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Caroline Flack

Caroline Flack got her first television break on the sketch show Bo' Selecta! in 2002. She then went on to present the International Pepsi Chart Show, before moving to Channel 4 where, in 2005, she presented links between videos on E4 Music and co-presented The Games: Live At Trackside on E4 alongside Justin Lee Collins. She also had a regular segment in the video games show When Games Attack in 2005. A year later, she was a co-presenter on the Saturday morning show TMi alongside Sam and Mark which aired on BBC Two and the CBBC Channel. Subsequently she hosted CBBC show Escape from Scorpion Island together with Reggie Yates.

In March 2007, Flack hosted the CBBC coverage of Comic Relief does Fame Academy. She commentated on the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with Paddy O' Connell. Flack also hosted Big Brother's Big Mouth for Week 5 of the 2008 series. Daily Mirror journalist Rob Leigh noted that "her sharp delivery makes her the best presenter they’ve had on this series". However, this was not the first time that she was linked to Big Brother. Before the series started, it had been reported that Caroline was Dermot O'Leary's replacement on Big Brother's Little Brother.

In November 2008, it was announced that Flack would be replacing Kirsty Gallacher as the co-host of Gladiators alongside Ian Wright for the new second series which broadcast on Sky1 in 2009. In July 2009, Flack began providing maternity cover for Amanda Hamilton on the BBC's Sunday morning show Something for the Weekend. Four months later, she began hosting the ITV2 reality TV show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here Now!. Filming clashes with I'm a Celebrity meant that Flack could not film the next series of TMi, leading to her bowing out after three series. She returned to the Australian jungle to once again host I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here Now! for ITV2 in November 2010.

In 2009 she competed in and subsequently won the BBC3 series Dancing on Wheels with disabled partner James O'Shea and together the pair represented Great Britain in the 2009 Wheelchair Dancing European Championships in Tel Aviv, finishing 16th in their category.

Most recently, she has presented backstage at the 2010 BRIT Awards for ITV2 on 16 February 2010, appeared in Scream! If You Know The Answer on Watch, and currently presents Saturday night show The Whole 19 Yards with Vernon Kay on ITV1. She has also modelled for the lads' mag Maxim. She presented the 2011 series of The Xtra Factor with Olly Murs. She was also a team captain on the ITV2 show Minute To Win It.

Caroline Flack

Fernando Torres

Fernando José Torres Sanz (born 20 March 1984), nicknamed El Niño (The Kid in Spanish), is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker.

Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División for Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. He joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007 after signing for a club record transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to score more than 20 league goals in a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50 league goals after scoring against Aston Villa in December 2009. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record British transfer fee of £50 million, which also made him the most expensive Spanish player in history.

Torres is a Spanish international and made his debut for the country against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in four major tournaments, UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Torres did not score at Euro 2004, but netted three at the 2006 World Cup. He scored twice at UEFA Euro 2008, including the winning goal for Spain in their 1–0 win over Germany in the Final. He won the 2010 World Cup with Spain, but did not score any goals during the tournament.

Fernando Torres

The Avengers

The Avengers is a 2012 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was scripted and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Samuel L. Jackson. In The Avengers, Nick Fury, director of the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., recruits Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America to form a team. The group must stop Thor's brother Loki from destroying Earth.

Development of The Avengers began when Merrill Lynch invested in Marvel Studios in April 2005. After the success of the film Iron Man in May 2008, Marvel announced that The Avengers would be released in July 2011. With the signing of Scarlett Johansson in March 2009, the film was pushed back for a 2012 release. Whedon was brought on board in April 2010 and rewrote the screenplay that was originally written by Zak Penn. Production began in April 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in August 2011 and New York City in September 2011. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

The Avengers

Scarlett Johansson career

Scarlett Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American actress, model and singer. Johansson made her film debut in North (1994) and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo (1996). She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Ghost World (2001). She transitioned to adult roles with her performances in Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) and Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), for which she won a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Both films earned her Golden Globe Award nominations.

A role in A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) earned Johannson a third Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination. Johansson garnered another Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress with her role in Woody Allen's Match Point (2005). She went on to star in two further Allen movies: Scoop (2006) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Johansson has appeared in other successful films, such as Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006). Johansson plays popular Marvel comic book character Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff in the films Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Avengers (2012)

The 2010 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge gave Johannson some of her best reviews for her acting, and she received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. On May 20, 2008, Johansson debuted as a vocalist on her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, which comprises mostly cover versions of Tom Waits songs. Her second album, Break Up, with Pete Yorn, was released in September 2009.

Scarlett Johansson

Captain America

Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover-dated March 1941), from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. As of 2007, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books had been sold in 75 countries. For nearly all of the character's publication history, Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a frail young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, and is armed with an indestructible shield that can be thrown as a weapon.

An intentionally patriotic creation who was often depicted fighting the Axis powers of World War II, Captain America was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. After the war ended, the character's popularity waned and he disappeared by the 1950s aside from an ill-fated revival in 1953. Captain America was reintroduced during the Silver Age of comics when he was revived from suspended animation by the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4 (March 1964). Since then, Captain America has often led the team, as well as starring in his own series.

Steve Rogers was purportedly assassinated in Captain America vol. 5, #25 (March 2007), although he was later revealed to be alive. The comic-book series Captain America continued to be published, with Rogers' former sidekick, James "Bucky" Barnes, having taken up the mantle, and keeping it at the insistence of Rogers, who upon his return began operating as an intelligence agent in the Secret Avengers title, and in the limited series Steve Rogers: Super Soldier, before resuming the identity after Bucky was killed in the line of duty.

Captain America was the first Marvel Comics character adapted into another medium with the release of the 1944 movie serial Captain America. Since then, the character has been featured in several other films and television series, including Chris Evans' portrayal in Captain America: The First Avenger, released on July 22, 2011, and The Avengers, to be released May 4, 2012. Captain America was ranked sixth on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011.

Captain America