'Begin Again' Music Video Shows Off Taylor Swift's Magic and Charm, Paris Style

With the recent release of her Red album that proved to be a million-dollar gold mine, Taylor Swift is in for another surge of fans and bucks with the release of the music video of Begin Again, which is the last track of said album. It premiered over her official Vevo channel and for two days it already gained more than 150,000 viewers. What can you say about that?

If the high sales for her latest album goes on, Taylor Swift will more likely become the very first female artist in the last two decades (starting around 1991) to have two albums that sell more than a million copy in just the first week of release. To add more hype to this, Taylor Swift's said album  is currently #1 in iTunes US charts, but we're not yet sure until when it's gonna retain the spot.

Please don't tear up watching Taylor Swift's Begin Again music video, because it's supposed to have a happy ending:

I know Paris is one of the most romantic places in the world, but what is it in that place that recent music videos were shot there -- take Adele's Someone Like You, for example. Whatever's that attractive factor Taylor Swift seemed to discover as she decided to shoot Begin Again in this romantic place.

I wanna have an impression of Paris as a nice place to find love and not as a place to look for some heartbreaks, which Adele has unfortunately imposed on me. Thankfully, Taylor Swift has reinstated the magic that Paris could offer to any hopefuls in this fashion or haute coutre style music video.

The music video shoot started last September 30, 2012. You can peruse some behind-the-scene photos here.

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The Voice: MarissaAnn And Chevonne Are The Last Ones To Be Stolen And A Preview To The Knockout Round

Two lucky artists were once again back on the game after losing in the Battle Rounds -- and they're both ladies. Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton have one Steal power each that they used up to these ladies to complete their team of ten. Now that every coach has completed its members, the inevitable Knockout Round is about to come -- with a new twist.

How will this upcoming round feel and look? We still don't know because this round is only introduced this season. All we know is this is much like the Battle Rounds, but this time the competing artists will sing a similar song individually. What's more exciting about this is they will not know their opponent until their performance day.

But before that, let's take a look at the two remaining artists that were stolen from their original coaches.

MarissAnn

Christina certainly knows how to choose the beautiful ones among the aspirants despite having her back turned away. She snagged two of the most loveliest contestants in the show that deserve to move on to the next rounds. But when the Battle Round came to pass it was inevitable that one of them should go... until Blake decided to save the loser. MarissaAnn, being the youngest in the group, may have been stronger during rehearsals, but Devyn DeLoera has proven that who ever had more voice control would certainly own the spotlight. In the end, its not one's performance during the rehearsals that matters most, but the final one during the Battle. Just like what Christina said, it's gonna come down to "putting the right ad-libs at the right time so it doesn't turn to overkill."

Chevonne

No offence to Chevonne, but I find this pairing a little too incompatible. I wondered why Cee Lo moved on with this biased pairing. Devyn is simply one of the powerhouse performers and I immediately felt Chevonne may have been shaken a little bit. Lucky for her, Christina is there to save her despite all these. She may have a pitch issue during the final performance, but it was all maybe due to nerves. To hear all the other judges favor Devyn more could have broken any lesser artists, but Devonne kept her head high and maintained a cool image to it all. She may have lost Cee Lo, but she gained another coach with Christina.

A Recap on Steals

Team Adam: Stolen, Amanda Brown, Joselyn Rivera; zero (0) steal power left
Team Christina: Stolen, Alessandra Guercio, Chevonne; zero (0) steal powers left
Team Cee Lo: Stolen, Caitlin Michele, Terisa Griffin; zero (0) steal power left
Team Blake: Stolen, Collin McLoughlin, MarissaAnn; zero (0) steal power left

Prepare for the Knockout Round

The eight lucky artists have been chosen to complete the ranks of the stolen. Other hopefuls have no more chances to move on to the Knockout Round after losing in the Battle. This lucky 8 will join the other 32 that originally won in the Battle Rounds. After this the members of each coach will be reduced to half again, leaving 5 artists per coach and an overall of 20 remaining finalists who will move on to the live shows.

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Paolo Coelho To Release 'Manuscript Found In Accra' For English Readers In Spring 2013

Updated: Read a sample chapter of Manuscript Found In Accra.

It's been two years since we last heard from Paolo Coelho. He last published a book in 2010 known to most English readers as Aleph. He used to publish one book every year and as time went by he could now only manage a book every other year. That's a good thing actually for us to be able to enjoy a good read. His latest works were not of fiction, suffice it if I say the next one to be publish this year will follow the same rule.

Lucky for the Latin speaking countries they will have to enjoy reading Paolo Coelho's latest book called Manuscript Found In Accra in 2012 at the earliest. For us unfortunate English readers we'll have to wait for another year to do it. To be a little specific, it will be in spring of 2013 as revealed by the latest trailer of the book.

To make all English readers jealous, here is the cover art of Manuscript Found In Accra (or Manuscrito Encontrado em Accra in Portuguese) to be released this 2012:

Manuscript Found In Accra will once again touch one of the most sensitive topics Paolo Coelho has delved into with Eleven Minutes. Can you take a guess? It is sex, of course, but not the kind solely intended for pleasure. A few conservative readers were already shocked by the slight reference on Eleven Minutes, let's wait what they'll have to say when this manuscript comes out. For the meantime watch the following video to discover what the book has in store for us:

The Synopsis:

A novel of philosophical reflection set in Jerusalem during the time of the Crusades. Here a community of Christians, Arabs, and Jews who have long lived together harmoniously have been warned of an imminent attack and certain destruction. Contemplating their demise, the community assembles to seek the wise counsel of a Greek Copt, who imparts comforting and guiding wisdom on the enduring attributes of human character. The novel unfolds as a sequence of parables on love, faith, sex, friendship, beauty, bravery, loyalty, and success.

This 22nd book of the author will mix a little of fiction and reality. It tells the story of a Greek sage named Copta, whose story is chronicled in the manuscript discovered centuries later. The writer also added that the story "is based on values, and values are never fiction. They pass through time." It is much a retelling of the meeting between the said sage and the people of Jerusalem, just before the Crusaders arrived in the late 11th century.

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