As the glass doors of Hard Candy Fitness, Madonna’s first gym, slide open in Mexico City on Monday, a mural of white, black and violet Warhol-esque images of the Queen of Pop greets each client.

But it’s no disco with exercise machines or Hard Rock Cafe-style temple of Madge memorabilia.

The facilities are not much different from any other high-class gym in Mexico City, and very little screams that this is Madonna’s first fitness venture, apart from the name — the title of her last album — which she says in fitness parlance is the perfect combination of “hard body” and “eye candy.”

“It’s a sexy name that gives you the opportunity to have fun and to build strength as far as the imagination will allow,” the singer, dancer, actress, children’s author and clothing designer said in a Q&A provided by her handlers.

Still, not every gym opens with a Hollywood red carpet appearance by one of the most powerful women in entertainment, who will cut the ribbon as tradition dictates, then teach a dance class for 20 hand-picked members with music by Paul Oakenfold, the DJ who opened her last tour.

The star said she chose Mexico City because it was a stop on last year’s Sticky & Sweet tour, which grossed $408 million, second only to the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour. She said she liked the energy of the people.

“Our plan is to use Mexico as a place to fine-tune our brand and then expand it to other countries and, in the long term, develop a global brand that includes the United States,” she said, noting that Mexico is close enough to home for her to be heavily involved.

Though Madonna’s own hard body may not be plastered everywhere in the gym, the singer of “Like a Virgin” is omnipresent in the 30,000-square-foot (2,800-square-meter) facility in the city’s upscale Bosques de las Lomas neighborhood, much as she has been in pop culture for nearly three decades.

Her touch is in the mosaic design of the bathroom tile and in the yoga salon’s bamboo floor imported from China.

“She chose the graphics, colors, the machines,” said Chris Dedicik, general director of California-based New Evolution Ventures, Madonna’s partner in creating the gym. “She has weighed in on the choreography of all the classes and given them a twist to make them more dynamic, more special and to better reflect her style.”

Members can do cardiovascular exercises on five types of advanced-technology machines chosen by Madonna, many with individual viewing screens and iPod docks.

The yoga instructors are trained in various styles of the ancient Indian art, inspired by the knowledge the singer has accumulated in her travels. The yoga room will also have a special wall used in Iyengar yoga, one of very few in the world according to Dedicik, with ropes and steps to help people with less physical ability. A balcony outside will feature plants and Zen-style decor, all at the singer’s request.

“If any of you have seen my shows, you know that I don’t skimp on them and the same is true for the gym,” she said. “We spend what it takes to make a globally first-class gym.”

At 52, the Material Girl’s own workout regimen is legendary and her physique has been both admired and chided for being overdone. Her famously pumped biceps have been labeled scary by some.

Members who have signed up so far didn’t seem to care about matching Madonna’s workout feats. Those using the gym during a weekend preview said they liked the equipment and features and cited proximity to their home or work as their reason for joining.

Ronen Waiss, businessman and Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Mexico, said his office is two doors away and he registered long before he was told it was a venture by Madonna.

“I think it’s super sexy and motivating of course, but I didn’t know till after I joined,” said Waiss, 32. “But it’s attractive to me because it’s close and has the best computer technology. That’s what caught my attention.”

Clara Ruiz, a 59-year-old housewife, said she, too, chose the gym for location. But she likes the facility and wishes Madonna success in her new venture.

“She has a lot of experience in this,” Ruiz said. “She’s done it all her life. I think she chose what for her is the best.”

Source: AP

Source: All About Madonna

Nitrolicious.com brings you a closer look at the five new models and multiple colour variations composing the new MDG Eyewear Spring 2011 Collection.
The collection manufactured once again by Luxottica features exclusive materials, great colorways and innovative details and will be released starting this February at Sunglass Hut.
The collection includes a '70s-inspired model in metal with generous female shape and an unusual criss-cross pattern on the bridge, a classic aviator style model in metal that we would not be surprised to spot on the nose of Madonna's male fans, too, and three acetate models with different shapes and interesting colourways.

Source: MadonnaTribe

Time surveys the women who have most influenced our world.

Here's their list of The 25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century in alphabetical order:
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Corazon Aquino (1933-2009)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
Coco Chanel (1883-1971)
Julia Child (1912-2004)
Hillary Clinton (1947-Present)
Marie Curie (1867-1934)
Aretha Franlkin (1942-Present)
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)
Estée Lauder (1908-2004)
Madonna (1958-Present)
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
Golda Meir (1898-1978)
Angela Merkel (1954-Present)
Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-Present)
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
Jiang Qing (1914-1991)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)
Gloria Steinem (1934-Present)
Martha Stewart (1941-Present)
Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
Margaret Thatcher (1925-Present)
Oprah Winfrey (1954-Present)
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Every pop star of the last two to three decades has Madonna to thank in some part for his or her success. The triple threat who does it all - chart-topping singer, energetic dancer and all-around provocateur - left her home state of Michigan with $35 in her pocket and a dream to make it in New York City, and far exceeded that goal with hit singles like “Vogue,” “Like a Virgin” and “Ray of Light.” The one-named wonder’s memorable music videos and live performances, which almost always include extravagant dance numbers, over-the-top outfits and eyebrow-raising concepts, made her one of MTV’s most popular artists. After causing no shortage of controversy with her unabashed sexuality and outspokenness, Madonna has since turned some of her efforts toward being a mother and humanitarian - but not before cementing her place in pop culture as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century.

Sources: Time.com, MadonnaTribe

As announced Madonna was one of the guest on Today's Ellen's show. She discussed a series of themes, some of them quite important as teen being bullied and teen suicides.

She said: "I'm incredibly disturbed and saddened by the overwhelming number of teen suicides that have been reported lately because of bullying. Suicide in general is disturbing. Teenagers committing suicide is extremely disturbing but to hear that teenagers are taking their lives because they are being bullied in schools and dormitories, what have you, is kind of unfathomable. I know a number of people have spoken out about it but I feel like I need to say something. The gay community has been incredibly supportive of me. I wouldn't have a career if it weren't for the gay community. I have a teenage daughter and I have ongoing discussions with her about this topic so I feel like I need to say a few words."

Madonna also confessed she was bullied as a kid: "I can totally relate to the idea of feeling isolated and alienated. I was incredibly lonely as a child, as a teenager. I have to say I never felt like I fit in in school. I wasn't a jock. I wasn't an intellectual. There was no group that I felt a part of. I just felt like a weirdo".

She took the time to remember her mentor Christopher Flynn when she said: "It wasn't until my ballet teacher who was also gay took me under his wing and introduced me to a community of artists of other unique individuals who told me it was good and okay to be different and brought me to my first gay disco and ironically made me feel I was part of the world and it was okay to be different."

Madonna says she talk to her children about respecting other people and about the importance of not judging people who are different. "The concept that we are torturing teenagers because they are gay. It's kind of like I said earlier. It's unfathomable. It's like lynching black people or Hitler exterminating Jews. Sorry if I'm going on a rampage right now but this is America. The land of the free and the home of the brave", she said.

But is there a solution to bullying for Madonna? "I think it would be interesting for everybody to try one simple experiment. Try to get through the day each and everyone of us without gossiping about anybody. Not even listening to gossip. Walking away from it. Can you imagine what your day would be like? How much more free time you'd have? I also feel like you'd feel better about yourself" . Going back to her work, the Queen of Pop announced that she's in the process of editing her film right now and as soon as she's done with it she'll literally " got to get my butt in the studio and make some more music".

Source: MadonnaTribe

She’s the biggest-selling female artist of all time, and she only needs to go by one name — MADONNA — is talking to Ellen today! She’ll tell Ellen what she’s been up to, and she has some important things she’d like to share with everyone.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Source: Ellen.Warnerbros.com

Madonna presented an award to Neil Cole at the Fashion Delivers Gala at The Waldorf Astoria in New York (November 03)

Source: All About Madonna