Top 10 Tourist Attractions In Yogyakarta Must Visit

Yogyakarta (often also called Jogja or Yogya), located in middle of Java Island, Indonesia is a fascinating city, a unique combination of ancient temples, history, traditions, culture, and the natural phenomenon make Yogyakarta worth a visit.



The number of tourist spot in Jogja has attract tourists, both foreign tourists and domestic tourists. Diversity of religious ceremonies, and culture

Lydia Forson Talks Love With American Actor Mehcad Brooks

Mehcad Brooks

There seems to be some love brewing between popular Ghanaian actress, Lydia Forson and American actor and model, Mehcad Brooks.
Born Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks, on October 25, 1980, he is an American actor and former fashion model.
He co-starred as Matthew Applewhite in the season of ABC’s hit series ‘Desperate Housewives’ from 2005 to 2006.

Lydia Forson

The Ghanaian actress who is currently in the USA was last week caught making up with the Mehcad on social network twitter.  The ‘Perfect Picture’ actress openly professed love to the ‘Desperate Housewive’s actor, while Mehcad also interestingly addressed Lydia as ‘love,’ and added that he was a big fan of hers. 
 Lydia tweeted, “I’m in love with @MehcadBrooks, I love to see the birth of a star. Right from desperate housewives, true blood and now necessary roughness,” and ended the tweet with love symbol.
Mehcad replied saying, “@lydiaforson thank you love! Big fan.”
Lydia is currently not married and it is not clearly who she is dating now. She has managed to keep her relationship affairs under the wraps and out of the media. 
Checks on Mehcad also revealed he had a thing with Italian model Elisabetta Canalis. But it is not if they are still dating or he is married.
RadarOnline.com reported in 2011 that, “the relationship between Italian model Elisabetta Canalis and ‘True Blood’ star Mehcad Brooks appears to have skidded to an abrupt halt following a spat in the lobby of her West Hollywood apartment building Thursday night.”
It is yet to be confirmed if indeed there is anything happening between the two stars.

Credit  NEWS-ONE

Eddie Nartey Hides Manhood In Recent Poolside Photos

Eddie Nartey

Zynnell Lydia Zuh and Eddie Nartey

It is normal for actors worldwide to show off for the cameras in their swimsuits and underwear at the poolside or the beach especially during summer.
However, popular Ghanaian actor Eddie Nartey prevented snapshots from NEWS-ONE lenses, whilst he was caught in boxer-shorts at the poolside in Lagos, Nigeria, during the 2013 edition of the African Movie Academy Awards.
Eddie won’t allow the cameras to capture his manhood region in particular as he did everything possible to prevent it.
Minutes after he realized that photographers will not stop filming him, he jumped into the pool and remained in there for awhile.
Finally when he decided to come out of the pool, he requested for a towel with which he wrapped his waist.
Eddie’s manhood region looked very heavy and comfortably endowed. He probably didn’t want any unnecessary attention for it, hence his attempt to stop the cameras.
He covered his manhood in some of the snapshot NEWS-ONE captured.
Eddie was recently in the headlines after reports that his emotionally hurt Nigerian girlfriend, Miss Abali, stabbed him when she found him in their bed with another lady. But she denied stabbing him though confirming she found him with a different lady. The incident took place few weeks after he claimed he was a virgin.

Credit: NEWS-ONE

I Can’t Let Go My Lover - Actress Khareema Aguair

Khareema Aguiar

Khareema Aguiar

It is not very certain which man is warming the bed of Ghanaian actress, Khareema Aguiar but it is becoming obvious she is madly in love with someone.
The thick tall actress has been thanking her God for her man’s life and publicly declaring: “Can’t let go,” she posted on social network facebook. 
 “Be careful who you fall in love with because a man worth keeping is a man who finds it hard to hurt you when you haven’t hurt him, that’s when you know a woman raised him. If you end up with a man raised by a man, he will never feel a pinch for you. Thank God for my man. Can’t let go,” she posted.
The ‘Checkmate’ actress on Monday evening took to social network to preach love and through the process she made the revelation about how loving her man was and she couldn’t let go.
Interestingly, she also said, “When a lady checks up on you often and gets little jealous sometimes, you should know she cares and thinks about you more than you may know, but often than not guys see that to be suffocating him or stalking him. Men if she doesn’t do any of these know that she may be busy elsewhere or u ain’t her superman.”
Khareema became very popular after her supporting role in Shirley Frimpong Manso’s ‘Checkmate’, starring alongside Nadia Buari, Ekow Blankson, Naa Ashorkor Mensah Doku and Senanu Gbedawo.
She surfaced on Ghana’s movie scene through the television series ‘All That Glitters’ on TV3 in 2005. Since then, she has appeared in a number of movies including ‘Turn Me On’.
NEWS-ONE once reported that the dreamy-eyed actress was facing one of the toughest decisions in her career as an actress because her rich Nigerian lover promised to marry her if she quits acting.
She was given a raw deal to choose between marriage and her career. But several months after that claim, she is still in Ghana’s movie industry. 

By Francis Addo (NEWS-ONE)

Young Rapper Baffour Brags About Phamous Philms’ Video

Baffour

New Oseikrom rapper Baffour is all set to release his debut music video for his single ‘Chill Up’ featuring Ruff N Smooth. The video was shot by one of Ghana’s finest production houses, Phamous Philms and rapper thinks the video is the best video ever to come out the stable.
Management of the hip life rapper Baffour, Fly High entertainment disclosed that the ‘Chill Up’ video took them months to complete because they did not want to compromise on quality.
“The number of checks we have done on this video is no joke. Even though the artiste is new, we are making sure we leave no little room for errors.”
“We will not like to talk the about total cost of the video but just to give you an idea we will say use the Phamous Philms estimation charge for a music video and double the cost you arrive at,  that should tell you how much the video is worth.
“We have packaged the best of everything a good and mature music video should look like in terms of concept, picture quality, directing and storyline for fans,  hence ‘Chill Up’ video is a must watch,” Baffour indicated.

Massive Turnout at ‘Man of Steel’ Premiere

Crowd at the premiere

Movie goers in Ghana last Friday flooded the Sliverbird Cinemas at the Accra Shopping Mall to watch the premiere of the movie, ‘Man of Steel’.
The movie, which is considered one of Hollywood’s finest, was shown in Ghana for the first time since its release on the international market a couple of weeks ago.
Organisers of the premiere who spoke to NEWS-ONE after the viewing said they did not anticipate such a wonderful and massive crowd, and that they were looking forward to a day when Ghana and the rest of the world would actually premiere all the Hollywood movies around the same time if not on the same day.
“Growing up, everyone heard and watched the traditional Superman story but this version-Man of Steel- is nothing like we know. I’m so glad people came in their numbers to watch the movie being showed in Ghana for the first time,” one of the organisers stated.
Meanwhile, some viewers after the movie told the paper that they were surprised at the twist the movie took.
“We were expecting the normal Superman love story, but this ‘Man of Steel’ movie had some incredible stunts and effects which no one would have expected. The story line was so unique and I think this movie told the Superman story which has not been told in a long time. I appreciate the element of flashbacks that was used by the director of the movie. On the whole, I think the movie has matched up to my expectation,” a viewer who gave his name only as Richmond noted.
The Man of Steel movie talks about the early part of the comic book superhero Superman and how he started his numerous adventures.



By Nii Ogbamey Tetteh (NEWS-ONE)

Yvonne Okoro Tells BBC Why Movie Producers Do Not Do Historic Films

Yvonne Okoro on BBC with Komla Dumor

Yvonne Okoro at BBC

Star actress Yvonne Okoro has said on BBC Focus on Africa that Ghanaian movie producers shy away from historic stories because they do not generate a lot of money in this part of the world.
Komla Dumor, the host, asked her if there was originality in African movies because Hollywood is telling their stories but he does not see Ghana or Africa going that direction. Komla went on to say he would love to see Yvonne play Yaa Asantewaa.
But the ‘Contract’ actress explained that “as much as it is great to tell our histories truthfully, it does not generate a lot of money and any producer would love to do a movie and make his money”.
Earlier, Friday morning, she told BBC Newsday (radio) that the movie industry in Ghana has been contributing to national development.
She said the industry is a source of employment for a lot of young people both in the creative arts industry and beyond.
Yvonne was interviewed on Newsday on Friday morning from 7:30am Ghana time and was broadcast to millions of listeners across the world.  She is the first Ghanaian actress to be on these shows.

Credit: NEWS-ONE

Yvonne Nelson Wows Lagos School Kids

Yvonne Nelson, Ik and Adoyike

Stunning Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson brought some excitement to the pupils of Courage Primary School, Ikota Village in Lagos State last week Wednesday June 19 when she accompanied Nigerian model and actor Ik Ogbonna and singer Adokiye to donate some items to the school.
They donated writing materials including books, pencils, chalks, eraser and a cash amount.
Yvonne and her friends thrilled the kids who were overwhelmed by their presence. They took snapshots.
Currently, the leggy actress is in the UK and may be returning sometime this week.
Over the weekend, news filtering in from Nigeria indicated that she confirmed dating Nigeria’s music icon Iyanya following rumours that the two were lovebirds. 
Bellanaija.com quoted her as saying, “I think it’s time my fans get to know the whole truth so I’m going to let it all out. I dated one person here, he’s in the industry. There were too many lies in the relationship. I found out a whole lot of things and I just felt like he took advantage of me. I’m human; I’m not like a robot or anything. I just wanted the whole world to know what I was going through and I just wanted them to know that I was done with the relationship.”
Also Yvonne was quoted as saying she was appointed as the Face of Zaron Hair & Makeup.

Credit: NEWS-ONE

I Was Refused Makeup Because I Was Not Star-Nollywood's Uche Joan Iwuanyanwu

Uche Joan Iwuanyanwu

Nigerian actress Uche Joan Iwuanyanwu has told NEWS-ONE that her first experience on set as an aspiring actress was not a pleasant one.
According to her, she was told in the face by a makeup artiste that she was not a star, therefore there was no need making her up for her close-up shots.
However she did not allow that experience to derail her dream of becoming one of Africa’s most celebrated actresses. She overlooked it and did what she was supposed to do in the movie perfectly.
“Hmm, I think I was a bit skeptical on set, because of the way the makeup artist treated me. Not a she, a he. To be sincere, on my close ups he never touched my face, saying to me it did not matter because I was not yet a star. Imagine. It almost affected me but with encouragement from the actors I was with on set, my acting went well,” she said when asked about her first time experience.
Uche hails from Mbano Local Government area of Imo state and is an Economics graduate from the University of Jos, Plateau state.
She has been acting since 2009 and featured in a few Ghana and Nigeria collaboration movies.
She is currently one of the rising hot faces in Nollywood.
She was recently in Ghana for the premiere of “Cheaters” in which she played an amazing role alongside Jackie Appiah, Adjetey Anang, Omar Sherriff Captan, Chichi Neblett, Okawa Shaznay and others.
Below is a chat she had with NEWS-ONE when she came to Ghana.     
 Who is Uche?
Uche is the third of six Children raised in a Godly family. A diploma holder in Mass Communication and a Bsc Economics Graduate.

Where do you come from in Nigeria?
Imo State, Isiala Mbano Local government to be precise.

How long have you been acting?
I have been off and on acting since 2009 because of school. But now I'm done. So I’m going into acting full time.

How did it all start?
Started 2009 in Lagos, through the assistance of my aunt and the first movie I starred in, was titled  “Queen of Passion” produced by Oscar Rondodo.

What role did you play in Queen of Passion?
I played the wife of Sino Anagor, he was Yemi Blaq’s best friend. As his wife, I was to convince Yemi Blaq beyond every reasonable doubt that marriage was important and that he should stop chasing too much money and get a wife (laughs).

How many movies so far?
Fifteen (15) movies thereabout including Queen of Passion, Break Away, Candy Girls, Naked Desire, Real Passion, Cold Passion, Port Harcourt Babes, Daughters of Babylon, Undercover, 4play Reloaded, Pool Party, Somewhere In Africa, God of Shiloh, God of Zion And Cheaters.

Do you still remember your first experience on set? What really happened?
Hmm, I think I was a bit skeptical on set, because of the way the makeup artist treated me.

How did she treat you?
Not a ‘she’, a ‘he’. To be sincere, on my close ups he never touched my face, saying to me it did not matter because I was not yet a star. Imagine it.

Did that affect your performance on the set or in that film?
Almost! But with encouragement from the actors I was with on set, my acting went well.

 At what point in life did you realize you could act and wanted to be an actor?
I would say acting for me was something I loved and wanted to do from a tender age, taking examples from my church drama participation.


By Francis Addo (NEWS-ONE)

First Feminine Mag Launches In Accra

Cover of Awe Magazine

AWE Magazine, Ghana’s first ever feminine magazine was, over the weekend, launched at a special ceremony at the African Regent Hotel in Accra.
The AWE (Awesome Women Entrepreneurs) magazine promises to add a new dimension to the magazine industry in Ghana.
The launching ceremony attracted a number of important personalities including Matilda Amissah-Arthur, Second Lady of Ghana.
Launching the magazine Mrs. Amissah-Arthur reiterated the fact that, “AWE Magazine is just not a magazine but a gift which a mother should buy and give to her daughter, niece and females in general instead of that piece of fabric, jewellery and other material items.”

Her reason was that, the rich content which centred on how to start one’s business, legal affairs, business plan guide, fashion/lifestyle, and a lot more interesting articles and interviews, would serve as a benchmark for young businesses to achieve productivity.
She also said “this magazine could serve as a pointer for reference when the going gets tougher in your quest for excellence in doing business.”
AWE Magazine is an annual magazine which aims at empowering young and energetic females with the mission and vision of entrepreneurship.
The magazine has interesting articles about some accomplished entrepreneurs, young jet-getters and other interesting articles from well informed experts and contributors.
Franka-Maria Andoh is C.E.O/Editor-In-Chief of the first ever feminine magazine in Ghana.
She has been drumming the cause of female business owners since childhood due to attributes she picked from her mother who's 91 years old. No wonder the idea of a first female magazine has come to fruition.

Credit: NEWS-ONE

I Will Continue To Support Reggae and Dancehall -Proxzy

Proxzy

Proxzy is an emerging radio sensation from the Central Region of Ghana. Described as very talented, he is a presenter with Radio Windybay, a Winneba based radio station. Though he has no formal training in the profession, he has managed to win for himself a large fan base in Winneba and beyond.
He is now called ‘Fyah (fire) General’ due to his exploits on air, exhibiting so much creativity in what he does.
Born Anthony Kofi Hiengo, he is a graduate of the University of Education, Winneba and had his breakthrough in broadcasting while in school. He successfully hosted the most listened to programme on air in the Central Region, “
Top Ryda”, a reggae show which ran from 6:00pm till 10:00pm on Saturdays.
 Proxzy blends reggae and dance hall with a fuse of a commanding voice which drives the show. His flair in the Jamaican lingual has left many wondering about the nationality of the versatile presenter but he is fully Ghanaian and has never traveled to Jamaica despite his fluency in the patois language.
Through dedication and hard work, Proxzy who is also an event coordinator with 1:01am Entertainment, has carved a niche for himself in the highly competitive broadcasting arena.
 He has always wished for a reggae and dancehall awards and is solidly supporting the maiden edition of the BASS awards, he said. “I will support reggae and dance hall till it rises to the top in Ghana,” he stated in an interview.


Credit:  NEWS-ONE

Why I Premiered My Movie In Lagos- Kafui Danku

John Dumelo & Kafui Danku

Actress-turned-producer Kafui Danku has been explaining why she premiered her first movie as a producer, titled ‘Letters To My Mother’ in Lagos, Nigeria. According to her, “it’s not always supposed to be Ghanaian movie being premiered in Ghana, but rather all over Africa, because if we are able to get a few returns from every country, it will support productions. So apart from the movie premiere here in Nigeria, the movie is also going to tour other countries, while the showing continues in 10 ci

nemas in Nigeria.”

The Ghanaian actress had great support from some of her friends who were cast in the movie when it was premiered in Lagos last week at the Silverbird Cinemas Galleria, Victoria Island, Nigeria.

Adjetey Anang, John Dumelo, Pascal Amanfo and Paulina Oduro were all in Nigeria to support the premiering ceremony, which reportedly attracted encouraging numbers.

“As part of efforts to reach our global audience, movie viewers and cinemas, ABC Pictures Limited is poised to churn out great movies, great content, great story lines and spectacular display of talents and artistry, so we decided to come out with our first product titled, ‘Letters To My Mother’ with a storyline that is not common in our movie industry and can meet the cinema standards in the world,” Kafui said after the premiere.

John Dumelo and Adjetey Anang

She added that she was happy with the turnout which showed that there was an avenue for Ghanaian film makers to also make use of their counterparts.

“It’s not always supposed to be Ghanaian movie being premiered in Ghana,” she emphasized.
John Dumelo also told the media that although he had starred in many Ghana-Nigeria films, ‘Letters To My Mother’ was the first movie premiere he had attended in Nigeria and he was very happy about the response from movie fans.

On his part, Adjetey Annan said the attendance was encouraging and that movie makers should not give up, but rather open more market avenues in order for Ghanaian movies to go places through premieres.

 Credit: NEWS-ONE

“MTN Hitmaker” Demo Collections Ends This Week

Naterial

The collection of music demos across the country from up and coming musicians for the season two of the “MTN Hitmaker” reality show would come to an end this week.
There has been a lot of enthusiasm from young wannabe artistes as they made use of the opportunity to enter this mouthwatering competition.
Over the last four weeks MTN together with th
e producers of the show Farmhouse Productions and in partnership with radio stations across the country have been collecting demos from the potential contestants in this season’s show.  Apart from dropping their demos at MTN service centres across the country, the young musicians also had the opportunity of taking part in a nationwide radio selection process.
As part of the recruitment for this season’s show, wannabe musicians in all the ten regions of the country had the opportunity of going on some selected radio stations to sing their songs. Listeners were then entreated to call or text to vote their favorites.
In some of the regions, the finalists were then invited back to the stations to sing on their instrumentals for the public to vote again to choose the winner to go through the next process of selection into the main reality show.
According to Richard Acheampong, General Manager Marketing at MTN says they are so far happy with the participation from young people who desire to take music as their career. “The response has been overwhelming and we are certain that by the time we get to the real show the best from the various regions would have been chosen.”
He said those who won in the various regional competitions “would be invited to Accra to vie for a place in the final 10, together with the other contestants selected through demo drops at the radio stations and MTN customer care centres across the country.”
According to Ivan Quashigah Farmhouse Productions says the next stage of the season two of the "MTN Hitmaker" reality show is for the series judges Bessa Simons, Ofie Kudjoe and Zapp Mallet to go through all the demos that had been presented to select the ten finalists for the television show.
“After the judges have gone through the load of demos we have received to select the ten finalists they would then be housed and taken through rigorous training sessions and music production processes,” Ivan Quashigah commented.
The ten contestants will then take part in the weekly television shows where the contestant with least public votes would be evicted till only four remain. A grand final showdown would be held for the last four to perform alongside established artistes to determine who wins season two of "MTN Hitmaker".
The "MTN Hitmaker" Season Two has a prize package of a recording and artiste management deal worth GH¢100,000 for the winner, and GH¢50,000 for the first runner-up. The winner of the maiden "MTN Hitmaker" reality show was Naterial with Miriam as the runner up.

Ghana's Movie Industry Is Contributing To The Country's National Development- Actress Yvonne Okoro Tells BBC Newsday

Yvonne Okoro and Adams Apples crew

Celebrated Ghanaian actress Yvonne Okoro was interviewed on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Newsday on Friday June 21, morning from 7:30am Ghana Time.

Newsday is BBC World service’s flagship breakfast news and current affairs programme, the world’s biggest radio breakfast show. It broadcasts all around the world. Over 43 million listen to the English-language output and the majority is in Africa. 

Yvonne spoke about how movie production is contributing to development in Ghana. She said  the movie industry is a source of employment people both in the creative arts industry and beyond. 

The beautiful Ghanaian actress will also be on BBC Focus on Africa with Komla Dumor as well as the biggest African and international stories from the BBC with Komla Dumor.

This will telecast on DSTV Channel 400 live from 6:30 pm (UK Time) and 5:30pm (Ghana Time)

Yvonne Okoro will become the first Ghanaian actress to be on these shows.

The talented actress cum producer is currently shooting in the UK.  High expectations currently await her interviews as she takes the world through what happens in Africa’s cinema, especially Ghana.

Yvonne is presently a sensation on Africa movie scene. She has managed to stay off the corridors of controversies. She is one of the few actresses with heterogeneous fan base. With great movie credits and awards, Yvonne Okoro is often described as a pretty-faced iconic actress.

She is a co-winner of Best Actress at 2010 Ghana Movie awards and privileged to be the only Ghanaian actress to receive nominations at 2013 edition of African Movie Academy Awards with her first produced movie, ‘Contract’ which had six nominations in all.

Prior to that, she was nominated two years in a row for the Best Actress in Leading Role and Best Actress in Supporting Role slots for the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs).
She has also received the Distinguished Achievement Award at 2012 Nigeria Excellence Awards in Ghana and adjudged the Pan African Best Actress at 2012 Nigeria Entertainment in the USA. With many other award nominations to her credit, she is a face of BO-16 hair relaxer.

She has, over the years, impacted positively on the lives of many young African women. The reason: they look up to her as their mentor. Yvonne is not just an actress but an entrepreneur. She owns a multi-purpose company called Desamour Company Limited which offers diverse services including real estates and production.

She is also into charity and she is currently in the process of building a playground for the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra, Ghana. She is also involved in writing a children's book, both in English and French to inspire kids at a very tender age. Yvonne was part of the Mayor of Accra's sanitation tour, encouraging indigenes to have toilet facilities in various municipalities to prevent diseases and promote healthy and clean living in rural areas. A proud graduate, she wields a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Ghana and has studied Press Civilization, Drama and Marketing at the Université De Nantes in France.  She made her screen debut in 2002 in ‘Sticking to the Promise’ produced by Nigeria’s Theo Akatugba and then starred in some of the best movies in contemporary times.

Credit: NEWS-ONE 

Paapa Yankson Returns At Hilife Parade

Paapa

Ghanaian high life legend Paapa Yankson is expected to make a comeback on the performing stage, several years after he appeared to have been missing in action.

He will be performing at a programme dubbed, Hilife Parade, scheduled for Saturday August 10, at the plush Marjorie Y Hotel in Tema. Paapa Yankson will share stage with youngsters Kwabena Kwabena and Kwesi Pee.

 Paapa Kofi Yankson is one of Ghana’s celebrated high life musicians. Coming Saturday will be his birthday, as he was born on June 22, 1944, at Winneba.  

His latent music flair was discovered at the funeral of a neighbour. He landed his first music contract during his mother's funeral. And for more than 30 years, Paapa Yankson has produced music that has brought life to many dead souls.

Even though both of his parents were musicians, they didn’t want him to take up singing. Instead they wanted him to have a white collar job.

After he left the Takoradi Methodist School he enrolled in the Ahantaman Secondary Commercial School where he studied and obtained a Certificate In Stenography. He got a job at the Kingsway Chemists Limited where he worked as a stenographer for five years. He later landed a job at the African Timber and Plywood Company, a subsidiary of the United African Company (UAC), at Samreboi. The company, UAC had a band, the Big Sound Band, so he played as the lead singer while he worked as a stenographer for the company for four years. There, his musical journey started.

He has composed many hit songs some of which have attracted national awards and nomination for awards. In 1997 his composition, ‘Yaaba’ won an award for Best Composition during the Komkomba Awards. His works, ‘Wiase Mu Nsem’, ‘Show Your Love’, ‘Wo Yere Anaa Wo Maame’, and ‘Tena Menkyen’ are among his hit songs.

Paapa Yankson has more than 15 albums to his credit and it is not surprising that some young hiplife artistes keep knocking at his door to feature him on their albums. He has taught and performed in many countries around the world including the US, Canada, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Holland, Nigeria, Benin and Cote D’Ivoire.

 Credit: NEWS-ONE