David Beckham Motorola training day
David Beckham hosts a training day at the David Beckham Academy for winners of a Motorola contest
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Duration : 0:2:40
What Beckham needs to know about LA
After a six-month build-up, David and Victoria Beckham this week finally touch down in Los Angeles and make the city their home, rather than a fleeting holiday destination or promotional stopover.
By now they have probably had enough snapshots of life in the City of Angels to think they know what they are getting into. But Los Angeles is about as different to life in Manchester, or Buckinghamshire, as can be imagined, and not just in terms of annual rainfall: it is also culturally a universe away from Madrid.
Just when you think you’ve mastered the clichéd oddities of Los Angeles, the city throws you another curveball, be it cultural, linguistic or meteorological.
For starters, as everyone knows, nobody walks in LA - they drive (buses and the few Metro lines that operate are used only by the immigrant workers who keep the city running).
And what you drive speaks volumes. So the “ride” Beckham chooses for his daily commute and the vehicle(s) his wife selects for ferrying the kids to school or popping to the shops will be scrutinised for clues about their personalities and attitude.
If they want to join Hollywood’s hip crowd, the family will opt for an Al Gore-pleasing hybrid, probably the Toyota Prius, though I suspect they will choose a more traditional SUV for family outings, a hulking Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade, like the one Paris Hilton prefers to be driven around in.
At some point, presuming the couple do at least some of their own driving, they will have to take the newcomer’s rite of passage - the California driving test. The California driving licence is the must-have ID you need to prove you exist and are legal, whether you’re a celebrity or not. Try to buy alcohol or cigarettes when you look the young side of 40 and paranoid shop staff will “card” you. When the police pull you over, they’ll want to see your licence before they take the flashlight out of your face. Try to do anything here that involves proving who you say you are - buying a mobile phone, renting a DVD or even using your credit card - and you’ll need it.
When I moved here, I thought the test would be a doddle. Little did I realise there would be a multiple-choice exam on such arcane details as how long you have to wait at a stop sign or what to do when the school bus lights flash. Some homework is advised.
Then there’s the actual driving. Under the ground rules section on driving in my Not For Tourists Guide to Los Angeles, it helpfully says: “There are no rules.” True enough. LA driving usually involves a lot of multi-tasking - talking on the phone, eating breakfast, tweezing eyebrows - but not a lot of signalling or paying attention to other cars.
Much of LA driving, of course, involves sitting still, as David Beckham will immediately discover with his daily commute to the LA Galaxy’s ground in Carson.
From San Ysidro Drive, Beverly Hills, to the Home Depot Centre is not actually that far, probably 25 or so miles. But it involves taking the 405 Freeway, possibly the most congested road in the universe, a great leveller and an immediate introduction to life as lived by everyone who drives to work in LA.
LA has a huge Hispanic population, so Beckham’s Spanish will come in handy, especially if he wants to woo the Galaxy’s Latino-dominated fan base or communicate with his children’s nanny. But although the former England captain has already proved he is willing to try some homegrown activities, the couple shouldn’t worry too much about going native with surfboards or Rollerblades.
This can be left to the beach set. LA is extremely tribal and Posh is likely to be more at home in a Pilates class while Beckham will surely get his ab work at work.
The family’s new £11 million home is in the so-called Platinum Triangle of Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and the Holmby Hills. Their new neighbours are good friends Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
The 90210 address is old Hollywood’s stomping ground, home over the years to many a celebrity. But it’s probably not really been cool since Clark Gable moved there in 1931. Today, the young and hip gravitate towards the Hollywood Hills or Malibu. Perhaps this is why Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes live here.
Will the chic small print matter to the Beckhams? Maybe not. The constant presence of an army of paparazzi tracking every move is often a sign of the over-exposed - Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan - of whom even gossip mag readers tire. And with the Beckhams always so camera-ready, maybe they weren’t ever going to qualify for the cool set, who are the ones in rumpled T-shirts and flip flops who usually manage to avoid the cameras and, when they don’t, “flip the bird”.
David Beckham Interview
David Beckham talks about his off-season plans on David Beckham Soccer USA (UK) 13
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Duration : 0:2:36
Victoria Beckham vs. Angelina Jolie?
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have fought the paparazzi at every turn unless they need them for publicity for a film. They are a rock star couple and they are indeed hounded by photographers. Victoria and David Beckham are also “major” stars and also must deal with paparazzi around the world and that has increased even more since they have made their way to America, and David signed on with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
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| Victoria Beckham vs. Angelina Jolie: The Kids are Alright? |
Both have really young children that they would surely like to shield from the press as much as possible. For the Angie and Brad, they have been hammered with criticism for selling photos of their baby for what was reported as millions of dollars and then demanding privacy.
It is surely tough for both sets of parents. But one can’t help but notice that Brad and Angelina carry their kids around nearly everywhere they go while Posh was recently spotted in France with her and Becks young son Cruz. I’m going to have to give Posh and David points here. The photos showing Cruz are adorable as Just Jared writes here with the photos “(He) looks so cute pulling his own rolling luggage. And he seems completely unfazed by the paparazzi, keeping a straight face the entire time. A true professional!”
I believe it may be time for Angelina and Brad to try this approach. While one can feel a bit for their children, Jolie and Pitt have placed them in this position with their relationship and let’s face it; they’ve used the kids to ratchet up their fame. Instead of whining about it, as Pitt does in a recent interview with Parade magazine, it may be time to teach them that as long as mommy and daddy beg for attention, they will be the subject of the camera lens.
All About Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham (née Adams; born 17 April 1974) is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and occasional actress turned fashion designer and businesswoman. During her rise to fame with 1990s pop sensation the Spice Girls, she was dubbed Posh Spice. Since the Spice Girls followed separate careers, Beckham has dabbled with a career in pop music, though has found more
success as an internationally recognised and photographed style icon and entrepreneur. Universally known as “Posh”, a Moniker first used by the British Tabloid Press she is married to English football Icon David Beckham with whom she has three sons. Victoria Beckham (then Adams) joined the all-girl group Spice Girls, first called “Touch,” in 1994, together with Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm. The group’s first single, “Wannabe,” went to number one in the UK and the U.S., and would be followed by eight other hugely successful number one singles from their albums Spice and Spiceworld. Also means Showbizzradio. She is a singer and has many Cd Album. Also she is a actress. And she likes pop and rock. Each member of the group received a nickname from the media: Victoria became “Posh Spice”. The group was one of the most successful pop acts of the 1990s, selling over fifty-five million records worldwide. After the release of their third album, Forever (UK#2), which was much less successful than their previous two albums, the Spice Girls stopped recording, and Victoria tried to build a solo career.
David Beckham blames self for dad’s heart-attack
David Beckham reportedly blames himself for his dad Ted’s heart attack this week.
David returned London from Los Angeles on Wednesday night after Ted was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery.
A source told the News of the World that when he finally reached Ted’s hospital bedside on Thursday, he was consumed with regret: “David feels he is somehow to blame for Ted’s heart attack - even though it’s nobody’s fault.”
“David didn’t ring Ted back a few times when he called. And he cancelled at the last minute when Ted planned to fly to the States and visit David and his family.”
The source added that David told friends: “I cancelled on him so many times. I feel so guilty - I don’t know what to do.”
“He’s drifted away from Ted over the years, but he still loves his dad desperately.”
Victoria Beckham cut short a promotional tour of Japan to fly to London to be with husband David on Thursday: “She’s been a rock for David. She keeps telling him, ‘Don’t blame yourself for this, stop having a guilt trip - it’s not your fault.’”
“The two of them have been sitting in the corridor together and she clasps his hand in hers. David’s like a little lost lamb at the moment.”
Ted is currently being treated at the London Chest Hospital and a source told the People newspaper: “He is getting better and better. He has been eating and getting stronger.”
But David is keen to make sure his dad is definitely on the mend and well looked after before he returns to the US. An additional source told the People: “David wants Ted to have the help of a full-time carer for as long as he wants one.”
“He’s told Ted he will be constantly worried if he thinks his dad isn’t getting the support he needs.”
“The hope is that Ted will be back to full fitness in a couple of months. But David has made a pledge to Ted, offering to pay for full-time care for as long as he needs it.”
David and Ted fell out two years ago after Ted wrote an unauthorised biography about his son but they reconciled again in April this year.
Beckham and Victoria
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