Alicia Keys Launches App for Kids
Two years ago, Alicia Keys gave birth to her son, Egypt, and declared
that she wanted to create tools for children. The singer has finally brought
that dream to reality with a new storytelling app called The Journals of Mama
Mae and LeeLee for children.
"I was just getting introduced to
the kind of the TV shows and the DVDs and all of the things you start off
introducing your kids to, and I thought how cool would it be to be part of
something that really allows them to hear music from different places, different
cultures, different sounds," gushed the Grammy Award winner. "That's what
we're able to do with this."
Based loosely on her childhood, the interactive app tells the story of a
young New York City girl's relationship with her wise grandmother, and includes
music produced by Keys. It was released today for $3.99 through her company, AK
Worldwide, and Bento Box Interactive. The celeb cites raising her son as part of
the app's inspiration.
Keys will soon be raising her
young prince in a spacious Englewood, New Jersey, mansion. The singer recently purchased Eddie Murphy's ten-acre
home, which comes equip with a bowling alley, indoor pool and private recording
studio, for $12 million dollars.
Rocsi Diaz Lands New TV Correspondent Gig
Congrats are in order for Rocsi Diaz!
The former 106 &
Park host has landed a new gig as a correspondent of newsmagazine show
Entertainment Tonight. Diaz dropped the news via Twitter on Wednesday,
revealing plans to begin her duties alongside host Nancy O'Dell that same
night.
Rocsi's 106 & Park co-host Terrence J will also
soon make his return to the small screen as co-host of E! News.
Terrence and Rocsi both got
their start on 106 & Park seven years ago, and tearfully announced
their departure from the long-running countdown show in May. We wish them both
huge success in their new endeavors!
Lil Wayne Says He's Recorded 90 Songs With Dr. Dre
Though they've never appeared on
a song together that's been released, Dr. Dre and Lil Wayne have been
collaborating behind the scenes for years. So says Weezy himself, who in a
recent interview with MTV News revealed that he's recorded dozens upon
dozens of songs for the legendary producer that have never seen the light of
day.
"I've always worked with Dre," Wayne said. "I'm not sure if you guys
know how Dre works, Dre always send you a song, so I done probably did like 90
songs for Dre. You just never know which one he gonna put out."
The
unreleased tracks are presumably a part of the Detox vault and may or may
not be included on the project if and when it is released. One collaboration
between Weezy and Dre that will be released, however, is the upcoming new edition of Beats by Dre Pro headphones.
Limited edition fire red and red and black versions of the headphones go on sale
this month.
"I'll always be up to work with Dre, it's always cool with
him," Wayne said. "As far as the headphones, I'm super excited about that
collaboration, I couldn't be more excited."
Magic Johnson Sued by His Former Flight Attendant
It appears Magic
Johnson has completely lost his mystique for one former
employee.
TMZ is reporting that a former private jet flight
stewardess for Johnson has hit the NBA legend with a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Lanita Thomas worked for Johnson since 2004 on his jet until she
was fired in September 2012. In her suit, Thomas claims the official reason for
her dismissal — being 15 minutes late for work — was bogus. The 45-year-old
believes the real reason she was let go was because Johnson wanted a
“substantially younger woman” to serve him in the air.
In court papers filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Thomas admits
being tardy for work the day in question. She says it was because the
entrepreuneur king insists on two types of turkey meat on his sandwiches and she
was held up at the deli counter.
Thomas also included other details of her job in the suit including how
Johnson demanded that she “regularly squeeze his red vines” liquorice candy to
ensure their freshness.
In addition to wrongful termination, Thomas is also claiming that Johnson did
not pay her overtime and failed to provide her with legal work breaks during
shifts. She is asking for unspecified damages.
Johnson has yet to reply on the
matter.
Michael Strahan: “I’m Not an Adulterer, I’m Not Gay”
In his first interview since replacing Regis Philbin on Kelly Ripa’s
morning show, Michael Strahan tackled, among other things, the issue of
his 2006 divorce from then wife Jean Muggli.
The former New York Giant sat down with Bryant Gumbel for a piece on the
sports magazine show Real Sports.
In discussing the nasty (and very public) split, Strahan addressed all the accusations —
many made by his wife — aimed at him during the divorce. “I’m not an adulterer.
I’m not gay. I mean, I didn’t beat anybody.”
After Gumbel said that it was surprising that, after the bitter break-up,
that the former NFL’s public image didn’t “take a hit,” Strahan replied: “People
don’t care. Everybody has their own problems... I just kept going on being
myself and it worked.”
When the subject turned to Strahan landing his current daytime gig —
beating out a number of celebrity contenders — the football titan said he wasn’t
that surprise he came out on top.
“When I did watch everybody,” laughed Strahan. “I felt that I was the
best one.”
Gumbel, jokingly taking a jab at Strahan’s confidence (since he too had
guest hosted the Kelly Ripa show), asked, “Better than me?”
“You were good,” answered Strahan. “But I know you don’t want to wake up
every day, so I knew I was safe with you.”
