John Tavares

John Tavares is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected first overall by the Islanders in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Tavares then signed a three year entry-level contract in July 2009.

Tavares was born on September 20, 1990 in Mississauga, Ontario, to Barbara and Joe Tavares, who are of Polish and Portuguese descent, respectively. His maternal grandparents Bolesław and Josephine Kowal immigrated from Poland to Sudbury, Ontario, and his paternal grandparents Manuel and Dorotea Tavares immigrated from Portugal to Toronto.
Although he was born five days after the September 15 cutoff date for eligibility in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, there was a significant effort made to allow Tavares into the draft. Following his 72-goal campaign in 2006–07, Tavares' agents asked the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) to make an exception for Tavares similar to the one the OHL had made in 2005. The attempt was unsuccessful, and Tavares was forced to wait until 2009 to participate in the entry draft. However, in October 2007, it was reported that Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson, Jr. had offered the 17-year-old Tavares a spot with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Like the NHL, the AHL declined to amend its by-laws, and Tavares returned to the OHL.
The NHL International Scouting Services ranked Tavares as the top draft prospect in the world, ahead of defenceman Victor Hedman, Swedish forward Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson, and Canadian forward Matt Duchene in its March 2009 update. The 2009 draft class was led by Tavares, who was taken first overall by the New York Islanders.

On July 15, 2009, Tavares signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the New York Islanders. Tavares' first NHL game was in the pre-season, against the Edmonton Oilers. Tavares spent 22 minutes and 50 seconds on the ice with linemates Doug Weight and Sean Bergenheim during the Islanders' 3-2 loss. Weight, a veteran NHLer, said that "John’s going to be a big piece of [an Islander rebuilding effort]." Tavares recorded his first career NHL goal and assist in his first ever professional game, scoring on a backhander against Marc-André Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 3, 2009.

Tavares has led NHL rookies in scoring throughout much of his first season. In December, 2009, Tavares scored five consecutive Islander goals, over a 4-game span, to tie the club record for most consecutive goals by one player. Tavares scored an empty-net goal vs Atlanta on December 3, and both Islander goals on both December 9 in Philadelphia and December 10 in Toronto. The Islanders were shutout on December 5 in Tampa. The record was originally set by Bryan Trottier, when he scored five consecutive goals in a 1982 game against the Flyers, and was equaled by Mariusz Czerkawski over a three-game span in 1998.

References : Wikipedia

Brooke Burke

Brooke Lisa Burke (born September 8, 1971) is an American television personality, model, and occasional dancer, known for hosting Wild On! (1999–2002), Rock Star (2005–2006), for winning the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars and for co-hosting Dancing With the Stars starting in 2010 (Season 10).
Burke is the oldest of nine children born to Donna and George Burke. Her mother is Jewish and she identifies herself as Jewish; She is also of Irish, French, and Portuguese ancestry.

She was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in Tucson, Arizona. She attended both Sahuaro High School and Palo Verde High School in Tucson, and later studied broadcast journalism at the University of Lincoln, UK.
Burke worked as a model for Venus Swimwear and Frederick's of Hollywood. From 1999 to 2002, Burke became known while hosting Wild On!, a travel series on the E! Entertainment Television channel, replacing previous host Jules Asner. As part of the series, she traveled the world extensively, profiling many popular travel destinations. Burke first appeared nude during her early modeling career for the website BlueNudes, and most notably after gaining fame in the May 2001 and November 2004 issues of Playboy. She also appeared in men's magazines such as Maxim, Stuff, and FHM. In 2007, she was listed as one of Blender's hottest women of film and TV.

Burke has fronted infomercials promoting a Swiss ball video home fitness workout named Gunnar Peterson's Core Secrets, and appears in the first video of the series titled 20 Minute Full Body Workout. The infomercials have screened in New Zealand and Australia.

In 2005 and 2006, Burke hosted the CBS summer reality show Rock Star, an American Idol-like series in which aspiring singers competed to become either the frontman or frontwoman for a rock band.

She was the voice and face of "Rachel Teller" in Electronic Arts' video game Need for Speed: Underground 2, and asks the "People and Places" questions in the video game Trivial Pursuit Unhinged. Burke starred as a playable character in the Burger King advergaming title PocketBike Racer and in Big Bumpin'. Burke has also landed roles in several television commercials for Discover Card, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, and M Professional Cosmetics.

In 2007, Burke started a company called Baboosh Baby, which offers wraps for pregnant women. The company's website features a blog from Burke about her children.

In 2009, Burke hosted NBC's pre-show for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards with Tiki Barber and Nancy O'Dell.

Burke, along with Derek Hough as her partner, won Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars. As of March 2010, Brooke is replacing Samantha Harris as co-host of the program. Burke also starred in the TV show host edition of The Weakest Link. In August 2010, Burke will host the third season of the TV Land series She's Got the Look , a modeling competition show for women over 35.

References : Wikipedia

Sam Mendes

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English stage and film director. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards for his London stage productions The Glass Menagerie and Company in 1996, and Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya in 2003. He also received a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical for the Broadway revival of Cabaret in 1998. His debut film American Beauty (1999) earned him an Academy Award for Best Director. He is married to British Actress Kate Winslet. In March 2010, the couple announced that they have separated.

Mendes was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Jameson Peter Mendes, a university professor, and Valerie Helene Barnett, an author of children's books. His father is from Trinidad's ethnic Portuguese community and his mother an English Jew. His grandfather is the Trinidadian writer Alfred Mendes. He attended Magdalen College School, Oxford and graduated from Peterhouse, Cambridge, with a BA in 1987.

Mendes made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed and box-office success American Beauty, starring Kevin Spacey. The film grossed US$356.3 million worldwide and had a 2373% ROI. The film won the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for

Best Picture. Mendes won a Directors Guild of America Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for directing American Beauty.

Mendes's second film, in 2002, was Road to Perdition, which grossed US$181 million. The aggregate review score on Rotten Tomatoes was 82%; critics praised Paul Newman for his performance. The film was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor, and won one for Best Cinematography.

In 2005, Mendes directed the war film Jarhead. The film received mixed reviews, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes aggregate of 60%, and a gross revenue of US$96.9 million worldwide. The film focused on the boredom and other psychological challenges of wartime, instead of being a traditional combat-action film.

In 2008, Mendes directed Revolutionary Road, starring his wife, Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet, along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates.

Mendes most recently completed work on a comedy-drama called Away We Go, which opened the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film follows a couple searching across North America for the perfect community in which to settle down and start a family. The film stars John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Catherine O'Hara, and Melanie Lynskey. Mendes is also starting pre-production on a film adaptation of the acclaimed 1971 Tony-winning Broadway musical Follies and has announced his intentions to film an adaptation of the novel Middlemarch in the near future.

On January 5, 2010, news broke that Mendes is currently in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise. Plans for the production are underway and filming could begin as early as June, with an eye toward a 2011 release. Previous Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are set to write the screenplay, along with Frost/Nixon screenwriter Peter Morgan. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producing, and Daniel Craig will continue his run as 007.


References : Wikipedia

Peter Francisco

Peter Francisco (c. 1760 – January 16, 1831), known variously as the "Virginia Giant" or the "Giant of the Revolution" (and occasionally as the "Virginia Hercules" or some variant thereof), was an American patriot and soldier in the American Revolution. The cover page of a 2006 issue of Military History asked a rhetorical question which suggested he may have been the greatest soldier in American History. George Washington once said that Francisco's prowess directly enabled American victories in two battles, and went on to state the war might have even been lost without Francisco's participation.

Francisco's origins are shrouded in mystery. According to the traditional version of his biography, he was found, crying, on the docks at City Point, Virginia, one afternoon in 1765. When he had calmed down enough to talk, it was discovered that he spoke a language that sounded like Spanish, but was not. It was Portuguese. His clothing was a good quality and he called himself Pedro Francisco. It is believed he was either born in what is now Brazil or Terceira in the Portuguese Azores, sometime around 1760. Eventually, he was able to tell his story; he told of being in a "beautiful place with palm trees," playing with his little sister, when two large men seized them both. The sister was able to break free, but Peter was not, and he was put on a large ship that eventually brought him to City Point. It is possible that the children were intended to be held for ransom.

Peter was soon taken in by Judge Anthony Winston of Buckingham County, Virginia, an uncle of Patrick Henry. He remained with Winston and his family until the beginning of the American Revolution. When he was old enough to work, he was trained as a blacksmith, a profession chosen for him because of his massive size and strength (he grew to be well over six feet six inches tall, or 198 centimeters, and weigh some 260 pounds, or 118 kilograms). Francisco became embroiled in the movement for American independence; he was present outside St. John's Church in Richmond when Patrick Henry made his famous "Liberty or Death" speech.

Francisco joined the militia in 1777, and soon gained notoriety for his size and strength. He was unable to fight with a regular broadsword; George Washington (at Lafayette's request) soon had a special sword, measuring some five feet long, forged for him. Peter fought with distinction at numerous engagements of the Revolution. He was wounded at Brandywine, and recuperated (at Valley Forge) in the same room as Lafayette, with whom he became great friends. He also fought at Monmouth (where he was again wounded), Cowpens, and Stony Point (where legend has it he was bayoneted, and was the second to enter the fort. While Francisco may well have been at Stony Point, much of his role appears to be myth as no contemporary account of the battle mentions Francisco and the first men who entered the fort are mentioned in dispatches as Lieutenant Colonel Fleury, Lieutenant Knox and Sergeants Baker, Spencer and Donlop). He then fought a few skirmishes under Colonel Morgan, before transferring to the regiment of one Colonel Mayo of Powhatan. Francisco was present at General Gates' defeat at the battle of Camden, where he pulled a small cannon back to the retreating revolutionaries. Hearing that Colonel Watkins was headed on a march through the Carolinas, Francisco joined him, seeing action at Guilford Courthouse. His actions here are legendary; he killed eleven men on the field of battle, including one who wounded him severely with a bayonet. The feat is commemorated with a monument on the field of battle. Francisco was rescued and nursed back to health by a Quaker family. {Note: in a petition Francisco wrote 11 November 1820 to the Virginia Legislature in his own words he said that at Camden he had shot a grenadier who had tried to shoot his Colonel {Mayo}; he then escaped by bayoneting one of Tarleton's cavalrymen and fled on the horse making cries to make the British think he was a Loyalist, and gave the horse to Mayo; at Guilford Courthouse he wrote that he killed two men of the enemy-including one who bayoneted him in the leg-and mentions striking "panes" to others.

After Guilford Courthouse, Francisco was sent home to Buckingham to recuperate. It was on this journey that he performed his best-known action, Francisco's Fight. In it, he singlehandedly defeated a band of Tarleton's Raiders, escaping with their horses. Legend has it that he killed/mortally wounded 3 out of 11 raiders. However in Francisco's own petition of 1820 to the Virginia Legislature he reports that out of 9 raiders, he killed 1 and wounded 8 and likewise captured 8 of 9 horses. Peter was ordered by his commanding officer to join the army at Yorktown, where he was present at the British surrender (though he did not fight.)

After the Revolution, Francisco went home to Buckingham and led a quiet life. He married three times, fathering many children. He was appointed sergeant-at-arms of the Virginia Senate. In 1824 he accompanied Lafayette on part of his tour of the United States, showing him portions of eastern Virginia. Francisco died, most likely of appendicitis, in January, 1831; he was buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Richmond, Va.. A good portion of the state Senate turned out for the funeral.


Postage stamp depicting Francisco's feat of strength at CamdenLegends of Francisco's strength abound. He singlehandedly pulled an 1,100 pound American cannon free from its gun carriage during the retreat from Camden, a feat which was commemorated in 1975 on an American postage stamp in the Contributors to the Cause Bicentennial series; a team of six mules is said to have been unable to dislodge the weapon. He is also said to have thrown two men, along with their horses, over a fence near his farm when they attempted to annoy him.

Francisco also has a park named after him in the Ironbound section of Newark, where most of the population is Portuguese. It is a small park located just east of Newark Penn Station. A small monument was also erected and dedicated in Francisco's name by the Amigos da Terceira Clube in Pawtucket, R.I.

Peter Francisco's farmhouse, Locust Grove, still stands outside of the town of Buckingham. One of his swords (though not that ordered for him by General Washington) is on display in the Buckingham County Historical Museum in Buckingham.

Peter Francisco Square is located on the corner of Hill Street and Mill Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The square includes a monument that honors his life and service. The monument includes an SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) medallion of Honor.

There is a fiddle tune named for Peter Francisco.

Virginia has named March 15 as Peter Francisco day to honor him

References : Wikipedia

James Franco

James Edward Franco was born April 19, 1978 in Palo Alto, California, the son of Betsy, a poet, author and editor, and Doug Franco. His maternal grandmother, Mitzi Levine Verne, runs the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Ohio. Franco's father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco's mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia. Franco grew up in California with his two younger brothers, Tom and Dave, and graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he was elected by his senior class as the student with the "best smile". He then enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an English major. He dropped out after his freshman year and chose to pursue a professional career as an actor, taking acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West.

Franco is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, and painter. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. In 2001 he played the title role in Mark Rydell's television biographical film James Dean, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film.

Franco achieved international fame as a result of his portrayal of Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then, his films have included the war film The Great Raid (2005), the 2006 romantic drama Tristan & Isolde, and Justin Lin's drama Annapolis (2006). In 2008, Franco starred in the comedy stoner film Pineapple Express and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He played a prominent role in the 2008 biographical film Milk.

References : Wikipedia

Katy Perry

Katy Perry is Portuguese on her mother side, if you don’t believe it see the YOUTUBE clip.



Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Perry rose to fame in 2007 with her internet hit "Ur So Gay", and later scored in 2008 her breakthrough single "I Kissed a Girl".

Perry was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California by Christian pastor parents and grew up listening only to gospel music. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a music career.

As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001. In 2004, she recorded an album with production team The Matrix, but it was never released. After signing on with Capitol Music Group in 2007, she took on stage name Katy Perry and released her first mainstream album, One of the Boys.

References : Wikipedia

Dustin Pedroia

Dustin Pedroia is of Portuguese heritage. Pedroia is the nephew of Detroit Lions linebacker coach Phil Snow.

Dustin Luis Pedroia (born August 17, 1983, in Woodland, California) is a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Boston Red Sox. During his brief career in the majors, Pedroia has won several awards, including the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year award and the 2008 AL MVP. He also won a Silver Slugger as a second baseman, and was second overall in the AL in batting average in 2008.

References : Wikipedia