It was widely speculated that another of Maddy’s planned activities in Brazil was to meet Jesus’s family, including his mother Cristiane Regina Da Silva who is 14 years younger than Madonna. There was a report that Mama Luz was spotted making her way into Madonna & Child’s Brazilian hotel but there hasn’t been much more info about that meeting. One hopes that a meeting of the moms went well … it’d be a shame for Madonna to lose her young lover because she failed to impress his mother.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

I cannot, for the life of me, imagine what it must be like to hop helicopters and private planes in order to jet set around the world. As luxurious as it sounds, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with all that wealth. Considering Madonna has enjoyed this level of riches for many, many years I’m guessing she has no problem living this life. Jesus, on the other hand, is a small time model/wannbe DJ who hit the proverbial jackpot by catching Madonna’s eye. I dunno what Luz has to talk about with a billionaire like Baptist but I’m gonna guess that Madonna takes good care of him to ensure that he doesn’t embarrass her. What must the interaction between Madonna & Child be like? What in the world could they have in common to talk about? Hmmm … they prolly don’t do much talking, to be honest … so I guess that’s what it is that they have in common ;)

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Pop veteran Madonna has paid a visit to a Rio de Janeiro slum as part of an ongoing crusade to establish social projects in the impoverished region. Joined by Rio’s Governor, Madonna toured the favela and also visited social projects run by local NGOs. During her week- long visit, Madonna met with local business people and officials in Brazil to collect donations for her. Local residents admitted visits from celebrities like Madonna helped their cause. ‘Her visit is very special to us, because like Michael Jackson and other artists who have visited the slum, for us it is always a great feeling to see artists here in the favela because many people outside discriminate us, while an artist, a governor, or a mayor don’t discriminate us.’ Michel Luz da Silva, a Dona Marta Favella resident said. Madonna has reportedly agreed to ring in 2010 at Copacabana beach and is considering a possible concert during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games.

HMMM … it would seem that the special children in her life inspire Madonna to extend her philanthropic endeavors to the countries that they come from. First, Madonna adopts a couple of children from Malawi and then she founds an organization that seeks to bring aid to Malawi. Then she starts up a romantic relationship with a young man a few decades her junior and now begins to show interest in his homeland as well. Man, Madonna would do anything for her kids. I hear that the much ballyhooed meeting of Madonna and Mama Luz has already taken place … Cristiane Regina Da Silva (Jesus’s mother) was spotted making her arrival at Madonna & Child’s hotel earlier this week. It really sounds like things are getting serious. Could they really be in it for the long haul?

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

This was the scene Rio this afternoon as Madonna and BF Jesus Luz enjoyed a romantic meal at one of the city’s most famous restaurants.Madonna is believed to be in town to meet the parents as the couple appear to be getting more and more serious.And our photographers told us the couple didn’t mind the attention one bit – check out the smile on Jesus’ face in these pictures.

As you may’ve heard, it is rumored that Madge is in Brazil to meet Jesus’s family, including his mother who is 14 years her junior, which means that things may be getting quite serious for Madonna & Child. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we got to see a photo of Maddy with the Luz family at some point?

[Source]

HMMM … I wonder what’s up with all the shyness all of the sudden. We know that Madonna & Child are doing the deed (and have been for the better part of this year) and we know that they are spending a lot of personal time together in Brazil (as I mentioned yesterday, rumor has it that Jesus is ready to introduce her Madgesty to his family … including his mother … who is 14 years YOUNGER than Madonna is) so what’s with all the secrecy? Mebbe they just like playing coy with the photogs from time to time … mebbe it adds spice to their relationship. Whatever the heck is going on, they look foolish. Madonna is prolly THE most attention hungry person on the planet. When she feigns the spotlight like this she only makes herself look silly.

[Photo credit: INFdaily]

Who knew Madonna did non-stop flights? She landed in São Paulo on a commercial flight this morning, and hopped on a private jet to Rio right after. She is already at the Fasano in Ipanema, and you bet the Brazilian press is going to be following her every move this week.

Wow … Madonna is flying commercial flights to be with her young lover in his homeland? Damn, mebbe it really is true love. Madonna & Child are coming up on the one year anniversary … the couple met in Brazil last December on the set of her photoshoot for W magazine. Could these two be in for the long haul? It’s not entirely clear if Jesus has introduced Madonna to his family yet … tho, it’s entirely possible that something of that nature might take place on this very trip. Did you know that Mama Luz is 14 years YOUNGER than Madonna is? HMMMM.

[Source via Source]

This week, my family and I are in Malawi to attend the ground breaking ceremony for Raising Malawi Academy for Girls. I am making a straightforward request. I’m writing to urge you to join me in saving the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children. And I’m asking you to do it right away. Raising Malawi, the organization I co-founded in 2006, is dedicated to ending the poverty and hardship endured by Malawi’s one million orphans. By donating to Raising Malawi, you can literally transform the future for an entire generation. To encourage your involvement, I’ve pledged $100,000 to match your contributions dollar-for-dollar. Why Malawi? Seven years ago I might have asked myself this very same question. Why not Afghanistan, or India? There are impoverished children, desperate for health care and education, everywhere in the world. Something about Malawi’s children connected with me and their hardships were too much for me to ignore. So I started learning more about Malawi, and, little by little, I began working with Malawians to improve their communities. Visiting Malawi can be a very humbling experience. In the face of such overwhelming challenges, it’s easy to feel helpless. At the same time, it is impossible not to recognize how much we can do to improve the lives of vulnerable children. Right now, I am particularly concerned about Malawian girls whose lives are made even more difficult simply because of their gender. In 2008 Raising Malawi announced the creation of an all-girls boarding school, the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls. Architects have drawn up plans. We’ve identified a plot of land. And some of Malawi’s poorest girls are eager for the opportunities that a comprehensive secondary education will bring them. But we’re still in need of additional funds to complete this project, and there’s no time to lose. My own daughters will each have a solid secondary education. They have a family that assures them that they can be anything they want to be, that they are not limited in any way. I believe that the same should be true for girls in every part of the world, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. The girls of Malawi are bright and resourceful. They are eager to learn and grow. When I look at my girls and see them thriving, it is my greatest wish that the girls in Malawi will have the same chance for happiness. This is where you come in. Please join me in supporting the work of Raising Malawi. Every dollar we collect will make a huge difference in a child’s life. By matching your donation, dollar for dollar, I will personally ensure that your contribution has an even greater impact. That’s a promise. This is my call to you: Give an opportunity to a child who would otherwise have none. Support the work of Raising Malawi. Will you join me? Please visit www.raisingmalawi.org/madonnamatch to contribute and learn more.

As I mentioned above, this blogpost comes complete with a video message from Madonna about her Raising Malawi charity. After the jump, check out that video in full …

Madonna marked the start of construction of her school for girls in Malawi on Monday by planting a tree at the planned site of the $15 million school. The 51-year-old celebrity arrived in the impoverished southern African country on Sunday accompanied by her four children — daughters Lourdes and Mercy, and sons Rocco and David. Madonna adopted Mercy from Malawi earlier this year and adopted David from the country in 2008. The singer was dressed in a dark summer dress and a colorful shawl during Monday’s ceremony in the town of Chinkhota, some six miles (10 kilometers) from the capital, Lilongwe. Together with eldest daughter Lourdes she planted a Moringa tree, a hardy tree with edible leaves. “If this school is a success — with God-willing it will be — we will replicate it not only in Malawi but in other parts of the world as well,” she said. The new school will be called the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls and will open by 2011 and educate 500 students, said its future principal, Anjimile Mtila-Opponyo. It will be similar to the school built by talk show host Oprah Winfrey in South Africa. Mtila-Opponyo said the curriculum will emphasize science and mathematics. “Madonna did not accept that Malawian women would not study science to become doctors,” she said. The singer told some 1,000 gathered villagers she was inspired by the strength of Malawian girls and women. “In all my travels, investigations and conversations the most recurring thing is how amazing Malawian women are, both young and old, how industrious they are and how much they deserve to be educated,” she said. Madonna’s Raising Malawi, a charity founded in 2006 when she first visited the country, helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi’s orphans. Malawi, a nation of 12 million, is one of the poorest countries in the world. About 500,000 children have lost a parent to AIDS. Madonna will also meet with President Bingu wa Mutharika on Tuesday and visit some of the orphanages her charity supports.

Clearly Madonna has big plans to make good on her promise to give back to the country that has given so much to her. It’s very clear that she loves her adopted children very, very much and is working as hard as she can to enrich the region as best she can. It would’ve been very easy for Madonna to adopt her children, throw some money towards Malawi and never look back. I have every confidence that her commitment to the people of Malawi is genuine and true. It is my sincere hope that The Raising Malwai Academy for Girls is a huge success … and will help educate a new generation of girls so that they can forge their own successful futures. This is so great!! If you would like to donate to Raising Malawi and help Madonna in her endeavors, you can find out how to do so HERE. Madonna will MATCH whatever amount you choose to donate!

[Photo credit: INFdaily]

In January 1984 Madonna had just one album under her belt when she told American Bandstand’s Dick Clark she had lofty plans: “To rule the world.” Over the past three decades, she has provoked, innovated and inspired; she’s set and broken her own records, most recently wrapping the highest-grossing tour ever by a solo artist with her Sticky & Sweet show. And now that she’s released the two-disc retrospective Celebration, the pop superstar who rarely looks back sat down with Rolling Stone’s Austin Scaggs for a revealing trip through her early days in New York, some of her biggest scandals, and of course, her most massive hits in our new issue, on stands today. Even as a seventh grader in Michigan, Madonna reveals she knew how to push her audience’s buttons. For her first ever performance, “I had my girlfriends paint my body with fluorescent hearts and flowers,” she recalls of a rendition of the Who’s “Baba O’Riley” that left her fellow students speechless. “I wore a pair of shorts and a midriff top, and I just went mad. … I’m sure everyone thought I was insane. That was the beginning of my provocative performances, I guess.” But having innate stage savvy didn’t mean Madonna grew up a wild child. Though she tells Scaggs about her days as a graffiti artist when she was running with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York City (her tag: Boy Toy), life was tamer before that. “I was a geek in high school. I didn’t really have a drink until I got divorced for the first time [from Sean Penn] when I was 30,” she admits. ” ‘Geek’ is not a word anyone uses to describe me, except perhaps [Confessions on a Dance Floor producer] Stuart Price, who once said, ‘You know, you’re a nerd at heart, nobody knows it.’ I took it as a compliment.” She credits her first major shift in style — from punky brunette club kid to blonde wedding wonder — to getting dressed and styled for more photo shoots and videos as her career progressed. “I think people put a lot of emphasis on the whole reinvention of my image, and it’s always been a lot less calculated than people think,” she says. ” I think it’s boring to stay the same. A girl likes to change her look.” But if she had to pick her worst fashion moment: “It was the purple lipstick, fluorescent-green sweater combo. … It’s OK, it was the Eighties. It was a bad-hairstyle era. Let’s face it.” But Madonna doesn’t have many musical regrets. She tells Scaggs about writing “Live to Tell” and “Vogue,” returning with a head full of brand-new ideas on Ray of Light and teaming with some of the industry’s biggest hitmakers on Hard Candy. But after all these years, she admits she still can’t sniff out a Number One. “I’ve never been a good judge of what things are going to be huge or not. The songs that I think are the most retarded songs I’ve written, like ‘Cherish’ and ‘Sorry,’ a pretty big hit off my last album, end up being the biggest hits,” she tells RS. ” ‘Into the Groove’ is another song I feel retarded singing, but everybody seems to like it.”

You know, say what you will about Madonna — whether you love her or hate her — you cannot deny that the woman knows what she wants and gets what she wants … no matter what it is that she wants. From the start of her career, her hunger to conquer the world has kept her on point and allowed her to carve out a legendary career. Because she now has everything that she wants, she’s not as hungry anymore and, therefore, isn’t as innovative as she used to be. While I would love for Madonna to be the iconic trendsetter that she is known to be for years to come, I just don’t know that she can really do that anymore … which is why, I think, she is looking to the next generation to take up the reins. After the jump, read some of Madonna’s comments about Lady Gaga and find out what she thinks of the singer …

“I can see myself in Lady Gaga. In the early part of my career, for sure,” she told the mag. “When I saw her, she didn’t have a lot of money for her production, she’s got holes in her fishnets, and there’s mistakes everywhere. It was kind of a mess, but I can see that she’s got that It factor. It’s nice to see that at a raw stage.” And she appreciated the “Just Dance” singer live, as did Madonna’s oldest child, Lourdes. “I think Lady Gaga is great. When [she and daughter Lourdes] saw her, I actually felt a kind of recognition. I thought, ‘She’s got something,’” the pop star said. “There’s something quirky about her. She’s fearless and funny, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded intelligent and clever. She’s unique.”

And a few more excerpted quotes from this Rolling Stone interview:

“What can you say? It was a challenging year. I think work saved me, and I’m very grateful that I had work to do. I may have thrown myself off a building,” she told the mag. “Life is an adjustment. It’s different. My sons aren’t with me right now, they’re with their father, and I’m not very comfortable with the idea of my children not living together. There are pros and cons, but I feel good now” … “I wanted to work with Eminem,” she revealed. “I don’t think he wanted to work with me. Maybe he’s shy” … “I was a geek in high school. I didn’t really have a drink until I got divorced for the first time [from Sean Penn] when I was 30,” she said. “‘Geek’ is not a word anyone uses to describe me, except perhaps [‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ producer] Stuart Price, who once said, ‘You know, you’re a nerd at heart, nobody knows it.’ I took it as a compliment.”

That is some compliment that she paid Lady Gaga … as I’ve said many times, I’m not the biggest Gaga fan primarily because I find her over-the-top “shocking” tactics extremely contrived and banal. I do believe she is a very talented musician and I have HUGE respect for her work to advance equal rights in this country. For me, the jury is still out on Lady Gaga but the fact that Madonna has given her her stamp of approval says a lot. I cannot wait to read the rest of this interview. I’m still solidly on Team Madonna … even if she isn’t the inspirational innovator that she once was, her contributions to pop culture cannot be denied.

[Source, Source]

While the skit wasn’t all that funny, particularly because it looked as if neither Gaga or Madonna were properly prepared to deliver their lines (it was clear that Madonna messed up a few times), I’m impressed that Madge deigned to participate in the skit. While it’s true that it’s not difficult for Madonna to want to be included in all the fun at all times, it was nice of her to play along with Lady Gaga and the rest of the SNL kids on last night’s ep. After the jump, check out the skit in full …