The goddess Chía (from the chibcha language "the one who is like the moon"), is according to Precolumbian Colombian mythology a triple goddess who received worship as one of the most important deities in that culture.

Chia was the head deity of the Zipa ruler, who governed the territory of what is now Bogotá, and her ceremonial center was located in the area of the actual city of Chía, Cundinamarca, which is named after the goddess.

The Chyquys, or priests of the sacred calendar, were in charge of the ceremonies dedicated to the goddess, which included offerings of gold and ceramic artwork.

References[link]

• http://www.cundinamarca.gov.co/cundinamarca/municipios/frm_municipio.asp?codigo=17
• http://www.chia.gov.co/portal/archivos/documentos/educacion/secretaria.de.educacion.de.chia.pdf

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Fala Chen
Chinese name	陳法拉 (Traditional)
Chinese name	陈法拉 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Chén Fǎlā (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Can3 Faat3 Laai1 (Cantonese)
Ancestry	Zhejiang, China
Born	(1982-02-24) 24 February 1982 (age 30) Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Occupation	Actress, Beauty pageant titleholder
Awards TVB Anniversary Awards Best Supporting Actress 2007 Steps 2010 No Regrets Asian Television Awards Best Supporting Actress 2011 No Regrets

Fala Chen' (simplified Chinese: 陈法拉; traditional Chinese: 陳法拉; pinyin: Chén Fǎlā, born 24 February 1982) is a Hong Kong actress currently under contract with TVB, and a singer under Stars Shine International Ltd. Previously a Chinese-American beauty pageant titleholder, Chen has also held the titles of Miss Asian America 2002 and Miss NY Chinese 2004, and placed as runner-up in Miss Chinatown USA 2003 (Miss Chinese Chamber of Commerce) and Miss Chinese International 2005.

Biography[link]

Education[link]

Chen was born and raised in Chengdu, People's Republic of China. She migrated to the United States with her parents at the age of 14. Graduating with Top 10 in high school, she then moved on to attend Emory University in Georgia, where she majored in Marketing and International business and minored in Japanese. During her first year in college, she started entering beauty pageants which helped kick start her path to stardom. She eventually graduated from Goizueta Business School of Emory University with a BBA degree in May, 2005.

The Road to TVB[link]

Representing Georgia, Chen entered the Miss Asian America 2002 pageant. At the young age of 19, she took the crown on August 2002, with her traditional peacock dance performance that was taught by her mother. ^[1]

After taking the Miss Asian America crown in 2002, she entered the Miss Chinatown USA 2003 pageant. Traveling to San Francisco to compete, she took the Miss Chinese Chamber of Commerce 2003 title (as 1st runner-up). The winner was Miss Honolulu, Hawaii, Darah Dung.

After participating in two Chinese pageants, she moved on to participate in the Miss Chinese International pageant, and that was when she took part in the Miss NY Chinese 2004 pageant. She joined the pageant on 13 August 2004, and took the crown and three awards (Best in Costume, Best in MTV, and Miss Photogenic.) After winning, she was able to represent New York at the 2005 Miss Chinese International pageant even though she was from Georgia.

In January 2005, Chen traveled to Hong Kong to compete for the Miss Chinese International 2005 crown. On 29 January 2005, she competed at TVB City for the crown. She earned a place as first runner-up for the city of New York. The eventual winner was Leanne Li from Vancouver.

Career[link]

After Graduating from Emory University in May, 2005, Chen decided to venture to Hong Kong to sign a contract with TVB. She first started out in her career as a host on tvb8's mandarin channel variety shows, before moving on to television dramas a year after. Her acting debut was TVB series Forensic Heroes, where she started as an accidental murderess.

For a time, Chen was unfavored by some audiences due to the dislike many people held towards the antagonists she played in series such as Steps.^{[citation needed]} However, Chen has succeeded in her TVB career with her appearances in 2008 production Moonlight Resonancewhere played a mute character using all sign language in the 40-episode drama, earning her audiences' favor once again in the latter TV show.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, Chen won the first award in her acting career - TVB Best Supporting Actress, for her role as Carmen in Steps.

In 2008, Chen's acting career started to take off where she starred in more than 100 episodes of TV drama. Her first female lead character is Mimi Hong in Catch Me Now. Her portrayal of both female character as a fox spirit Ling Hu Xiao Cui and male character Ling Hu Da Deng in the Chinese period drama Ghost Writer has well received as well.

In 2009, Chen took her first leading female character in movie Turning Point as Michael Tse's girlfriend and Francis Ng's sister. she was nominated as Best New Performer at the 29th Hong Kong Film Award]] for this movie.

In 2010, Fala Chen won Best Supporting Actress for her role Lau Ching in No Regrets. This role has also brought her recognition at the 16th Asian Television Award in Singapore as The Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

In 2011, Chen reunited with Michael Tse in Lives of Omission, the drama received highest TV rating at 48 points.

Filmography[link]

TV series[link]

Film[link]

Awards[link]

• 2002: Miss Asian America 2002
• 2003: Miss Chinatown USA 2003 1st runner up (officially known as Miss Chinese Chamber of Commerce 2003)
• 2004: Miss NY Chinese 2004, (Best in MTV, Best Costume, and Miss Photogenic)
• 2005: Miss Chinese International 2005 1st runner up
• 2007: TVB Best Supporting Actress (Steps as Karman)
• 2007: Next TV Awards: Hekura Most Self-confident New Actress
• 2008: Next TV Awards: Hekura Acting Improvement Award
• 2008: Next TV Awards: Most Promising Female Artist
• 2009: Next TV Awards: Hekura Stylish Female Artist
• 2009: Starhub My Favorite TVB Female Character (Gum Wing Hing)
• 2010: Starhub Next TV Awards: Top 10 Artist (No. 10)
• 2010: TVB Best Supporting Actress (No Regrets as Lau Ching)
• 2010: MY AOD Best Supporting Actress (No Regrets as Lau Ching)
• 2011: 16th Asian Television Award - Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• 2011: Starthub My Favorite TVB Female Character (Lau Ching)
• 2011: MY AOD My Favorite Television Character
• 2011: Next TV Awards: Top 10 Artist (No. 9)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official TVB Blog of Fala Chen
• Fala Chen on Sina Twitter
• Fala Chen at the Internet Movie Database
• Fala Chen Fa-La at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fala Chen

The-Dream
The-Dream performing on September 10, 2008 in New York City.
Background information
Birth name	Terius Youngdell Nash
Born	(1977-09-20) September 20, 1977 (age 34) Rockingham, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop
Occupations	singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1998–Present
Labels	Def Jam, Radio Killa
Associated acts	Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Los Da Mystro, Jennifer Lopez, Electrik Red, Rihanna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Drake Fabolous, Jamie Foxx
Website	the-dreammusic.com

Terius Youngdell Nash (Born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing chart topping hits such as "Baby" for Justin Bieber, "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs. Money, and Love King.

Early life[link]

Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina and moved with his mother, Reva Nash, to Atlanta at the age of 3. He played trumpet, drums, and guitar as a child.^[1] His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs.^[2] He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, which he credits to his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella".^[2] He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I’ve always had a different outlook on life. There’s nothing I can’t do."^[3]

Music career[link]

Background[link]

Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001; Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after writing "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!.^[1] Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for many popular artists. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 smash hit "Umbrella". The success of "Umbrella" boosted Dream's music career, and in 2007, he signed a deal with Def Jam Records.^[4]

Solo[link]

Following the deal with Def Jam Records, The-Dream began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.^[4] The album was produced by The-Dream's production partner Tricky Stewart, and Carlos "LOS Da Maestro" McKinney, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna.^[5] The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Some of the tracks were written in regards to The-Dream's personal life, most notably "Nikki," written about his ex-wife Nivea and how he has moved on since their divorce.^[6] The-Dream explained the title, Love Hate, as short for, "Love me all summer, hate me all winter, because they love you when you hot and when you're cold they don't... I'm hot right now and they love me, but I was cold and they wasn't fuckin' with me."^[6] Released December 11, 2007 on The-Dream's Def Jam-imprint Radio Killa Records,^[7] Love Hate moved 59,000 copies and debuted at number 30 on the Billboard 200.^[8] Love Hate also peaked at #5 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[9] The album received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer has "hit a home run."^[10]

On March 10, 2009 The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.^[11] He re-teamed with his production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Maestro.^[12] He also enlisted the help of Lil Jon for the song "Let Me See the Booty".^[8] Love vs. Money debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 151,000 copies in its first week.^[13] It also entered at number one on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number three on its Top Digital Albums chart in March 2009.^[14][15] Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic.^[16]

During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future.^[17] In January 2010, The-Dream officially stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums.^[18] The first single, "Love King", was released on March 16, 2010 for digital download. The album was released on June 29, 2010.^[19]

Before the album's release, the-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album.^[8][20] When Love King was released, the lyrics to the song "Sex Intelligent Remix" announced plans to release a new solo album called Love Affair and even gave the specific release date of June 7, 2011. In February 2011, The-Dream announced that the album is not titled "Love Affair" anymore, he stated that it is now titled "The Love, IV" and that he scrapped the June 7, 2011 release date and has set a new release date of August 2011.^[21] One week after anouncing that August release date, he said the he is pushing the album up and is hoping to release it on June 7 as promised.^[22] In June 2011, the album's title was changed yet again, this time to "Love IV: Diary of a Madman", it was also announced that it will released on September 20, 2011.^[23] On June 7, 2011; he released double promotional singles titled "Body Work" and "Fuck My Brains Out" to the internet.^[24] The Dream was not able to release "The Love, IV (Diary of a Mad Man)" on September 20, 2011 as planned and it was announced that the album got pushed back indefinitely due to "contract talks" with Def Jam Records.^[25] The-Dream then released a free 10-track album to the internet entitled 1977 on August 31, 2011.^[26][27] The-Dream also plans to release a 13-track studio album entitled Nikki: The Chronicles, which will follow his infatuation with the woman he sang about on 2007’s Love Hate and 2010’s Love King.^[28] In October 2011, Dream announced that he is personally pushing back the release of The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman) and that it will now be released in 2012. Dream also announced his plans to release his first international album, titled 1984: Persona of Love, it is set for release sometime in 2012, the album is a "persona album" and is inspired by his recent trip overseas.^[29] In February 2012, it was announced that the "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" will be released on April 17, 2012.^[30] In March 2012, it was announced that "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" has been re-titled "Love IV MMXII" and that its release date been pushed back to Summer 2012.^[31] In May 2012, it was announced that the album will be released on August 14, 2012.^[32]

Production[link]

In addition to working with Nivea and Rihanna, The-Dream also began writing for numerous artists, most notably J. Holiday's "Bed", Usher's "Moving Mountains", Yung Joc's "Coffee Shop" and Jesse McCartney's "Leavin'". He also co-wrote Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body", Ciara's "High Price," and took part in co-writing a majority of Mary J. Blige's 2007 Growing Pains album, including the smash hit "Just Fine". Recently^[when?] he featured in Drake (entertainer)'s album Thank Me Later the song "Shut It Down".

In December 2007, The-Dream was nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Umbrella", but lost to Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". However, in June 2008, The-Dream won the award for Best New Artist at the 2008 BET Awards. Throughout 2008, The-Dream appeared on a number of records including Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands" with Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J's "Baby", Gym Class Heroes' "Cookie Jar" and Kardinal Offishall's "Gimme Some". In addition, The-Dream signed female R&B girl-group Electrik Red to Radio Killa Records and they released their debut album, How to Be a Lady: Volume 1, under the label.^[33] The-Dream and production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart produced "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" off Beyoncé's album I Am… Sasha Fierce, co-produced two tracks ("Just Like Me" & "Digital Girl") and was featured on Jamie Foxx's album Intuition, and worked with Mario and Lionel Richie.^[8] He will also be featured on a number of upcoming albums from; Phyzikal, Ciara, Sterling Simms, Young Chris, Dear Jayne, Brandy and Cassie.

In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope,^[34] which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records.^[35] The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer.^[36] The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic".^[37]

Throughout 2009, The-Dream has also been working on new material for Mariah Carey, Brandy, and Diddy. Diddy's song "Change" is described by The-Dream as, "probably one of the best male records I've ever written...the best record I've written besides 'Umbrella'. The-Dream also worked on Jennifer Lopez's single Louboutins from her 7th album Love? by Sony Music. The song did not chart at the Billboard Hot 100 but charted at number 1 on the Hot/Dance Club Chart. He keep working on more tracks for her album which was released in Spring 2011 by Def Jam.^{[dated info][8][dated info]} He also collaborated on, produced and wrote Snoop Dogg's "Gangsta Luv", which is on the 2009 album Malice n Wonderland.

The-Dream and Tricky Stewart have worked on Ciara's fourth studio album titled "Basic Instinct", which was released on December 14, 2010, and was executive produced by the trio. He co-wrote her lead single titled "Ride", which was released in April 2010, and went on to become a R&B smash hit and her twelfth top ten hit on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[38]

The-Dream received a fair amount of backlash for his cover of singer Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah bombarded radio shows and blog sites with distaste for The-Dream's rendition.^[39]

He also worked alongside Tricky Stewart on Jessica Simpson's Christmas album titled Happy Christmas, released on November 22, 2010, and also working on Simpson's upcoming pop album, to be released in 2011.^{[dated info]}

The-Dream produced a music single for Kim Kardashian, "Jam (Turn It Up)", released in March 2, 2011 and then worked on Beyoncé's album titled 4, released on June 28, 2011.

On March 16, 2012, Billboard posted an interview with The-Dream, where he talked about having been given the opportunity to go in to the studio in a few weeks to work with Shakira, and how excited he is for the track.^[40]

Personal life[link]

The-Dream married girlfriend Nivea in 2004, whom he had been dating for one year. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia (on May 10, 2005); and twin sons London and Christian (April 2006). They had been married for three years when Nivea filed for legal separation in December 2007. The-Dream said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love does it take to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way".^[41]

The-Dream began dating Christina Milian in early 2009; she became pregnant. The Daily Mail reported that "the pregnancy was a surprise, but they were getting married regardless".^[42] They then became engaged in June 2009.^[43] In August, it was reported that they had applied for a marriage license in Los Angeles. On September 4, 2009, The-Dream married Christina Milian at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas.^[44] The-Dream said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian.^[45] Milian gave birth to their daughter Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010.^[46] Milian and The-Dream announced their separation on July 12, 2010 ^[47] after photos surfaced of The-Dream vacationing with his assistant.^[48]

In addition to music, The-Dream revealed he is currently working on a TV reality series for MTV where he will scout aspiring singers,^[8] and plans to release a clothing line called Millionaire Love Affair.^[33]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Love Hate (2007)
• Love vs. Money (2009)
• Love King (2010)
• Love IV MMXII (2012)

Free album

• 1977 (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website