Olympic boycott over Darfur would be 'excessive': George Clooney 

MADRID (AFP) — Boycotting the Beijing Olympic Games to try to pressure China into taking action to stop the violence in Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur would be "excessive", said US actor George Clooney in an interview published Saturday in Spain.

"It seems excessive to boycott the Games because China does business in Darfur. It's always more important to keep a line of communication open," the Oscar-winning thespian told the El Pais newspaper.

Clooney, 46, has become a leading advocate for action to end the conflict in Darfur and for more humanitarian aid for the millions caught up in the conflict, after filming a documentary on the ongoing violence there last year.

He set up Not on Our Watch, a humanitarian group that focuses global attention on Darfur and has raised over nine million dollars (five million euros) for the region, with his "Ocean's Thirteen" castmates Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle.

Some Western activists have proposed shunning the Beijing Olympic Games in August in a bid to pressure China, the top arms supplier to Sudan and a major investor, particularly in its oil industry.

The Darfur conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed the lives of about 200,000 people and displaced 2.2 million, has raged since 2003 when rebel groups demanded a greater share of the country's resources.

Arab militias aligned to the government in Khartoum have been accused of horrendous violence against civilians as well as soldiers in quelling the rebellion.

Clooney, who won the Oscar as best supporting actor in 2006 for his role as a CIA agent in the political thriller "Syriana", was named an official UN peace envoy in January.

The star, who owns a villa on Italy's Lake Como, also said in the El Pais interview that he though Europe was more ecologically friendly than the United States.

"What is certain is that there is less consumption (in Europe) than in the United States and people recycle more. Things work in a much more intelligent way," he said.

The actor, who suffered a broken rib in a motorcyle accident in the United States last year, said he tries to do his part to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions when in Italy by always travelling by motorcyle.

Source 

Half say celebrities don't aid causes they promote: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifty-one percent of Americans say celebrities make little or no positive difference to the issues they promote while 45 percent say they have a large or some positive influence, according to a new survey.

Oprah Winfrey was seen as the best champion of causes with 49 percent of those surveyed in the Harris Poll saying she was very effective at raising awareness. The others in the top five were Bono (32 percent), Angelina Jolie (31 percent), Brad Pitt (23 percent) and George Clooney (22 percent).

Harris surveyed 2,513 U.S. adults online between March 11 and 18.

Younger people were more likely than older people to believe celebrities make a positive difference, and Democrats (55 percent) more likely than Republicans (36 percent) to feel the same, Harris said in a statement.

Fifteen percent of those surveyed said they have supported a cause because of what they heard an actor, singer or other celebrity say or do.
Forty-seven percent said it was bad for celebrities to endorse political candidates.


Fan Art: 
I've added some great Wallpapers made by some great Clooney Fans!

Walls by Gabylicious (Thanks Gaby for posting these in the CNCP Forum!)

Walls by Deesign

Walls by JohnX


Secrets of the stars
21 April 2008
The Courier-Mail

What GEORGE CLOONEY can't live without
The guys: ``There are seven men. We've all been together for many, many years. We're really close and really supportive of one another.''
Loyalty: ``Probably the one thing I'm most proud of in my life is how hard I've worked at keeping everybody around. It can get tricky because when you start to get famous, people surround you and tell you how great you are.''
Immediacy: ``Anyone who knows me knows I actually live for the moment. I have to make every day count.''
Making work fun: ``I started out in television and I was in shows that didn't allow so much fun or I wasn't in a position where I could do that. I made a decision to have a really good time doing my work. You know, it isn't brain surgery.''
Coffee: ``I live on the stuff.''
Basketball: ``That's my exercise.''
Prenuptial agreements: ``They're very important. I have one with anyone that I go to dinner with.''
Good manners: ``Being polite is important. I hold doors open for people. Not just girls, but people. And when filming of Oceans 12 disturbed my neighbours in Laglio (in northern Italy), I wrote a letter of apology to them.''
Drinking: ``Drinking is imperative. If you lived my life, you'd drink, too.''

Candid Updates:
Added some more pics from George's arrival in Rome (Airport) 2008-04-08



A few words from Clooney's ex Lisa Snowdon 
Pulled from the Recent Daily Mail Interview "Lisa Snowdon's life through a lens".

People always ask me what George Clooney was like in bed. It's usually after a few drinks have made them brave. I never tell. We finished three years ago, but I still get asked about it a lot. The media attention when we were together was unbelievable. I'm not sure how I survived it. The hardest thing to deal with was the perception that I was going out with George to further my career. In fact, it did me no favours at all. Work almost totally dried up. People saw me living a new life and thought I wouldn't be interested in modelling again. And TV people didn't know where to place me. They'd see me in Hollywood with George and think, "She's not going to be interested in doing a show for the BBC."

I miss George's castrated pot-bellied pig. Max was really the cutest pet and I got along with him famously. That surprised a few people, because he wasn't keen on women, as it was a woman who castrated him. But I never had any problems with him. When I was staying at George's house in LA, I'd always know it was time to wake up because Max would start squealing, asking to be let in. So I'd go downstairs and give him some fruit for breakfast. Often he'd happily wander around the house. I'd come out of the bathroom and meet him on the landing. A pot-bellied pig might not sound like an ideal pet, but once you get to know them it's just like having a dog around.


Personally speaking George reached out and squeezed me by the arm ...
By Justine Picardie
20 April 2008
The Sunday Telegraph

When the invitation arrived to have dinner with George last week, I was delighted. You see, me and George, we go a long way back. We're the same age - 46 - but I only got to know him in the mid-1990s, when I saw him every week. And though I'm happily married to another man, there have been times in the past, I confess, when I've spent Saturday nights on the sofa ogling George.

As it turned out, dinner wasn't quite as intimate as I'd hoped: it was with 65 others, in a Covent Garden restaurant. George was sitting with his friend Mariella Frostrup, who was hosting the evening with Lucy Yeomans, the editor of Harper's Bazaar, to celebrate the premiere of his latest film, Leatherheads; I was some distance away, on another table, with a good view of the back of his head.


Magazines
Thanks to Marta for these great scans

04-23-08 Hola

041608 Semana and 04108 Hola

2008-04-16 OK (SP)

2008-04-09 OK (SP)

2008-03-05 Hola


More Mags
Thanks to Reve for sending us some more wonderful scans.

2008-04-14 Tele Cable Sat

2008-04-00 Studio

2008-04-00 Paris Match

Madame (Fr)


Adverts
Thanks to Marta for sending this Martini Advert

I've updated the Fan Art Gallery with the following

Avatars

George Clooney (+14),  Julia Roberts (+3),  Keanu Reeves (+5), Johnny Depp (+3) , Animals (+5) , Flowers (+2) , TV Shows (+6) , Stock (+4), Landscapes(+3)

And

Wallpaper

George (+1)