Idol Runner-up Says Rumors About Dad "Weird" & other: 2008

Tuesday, 9 September 2008

Picks of the week: Central: Classical & opera

Silesian Quartet
Ewenny Priory, Bridgend, Saturday 6
Bradenstoke Hall, Llantwit Major, Sunday 7 Sept
Two recitals to open the Vale of Glamorgan festival, each featuring a quartet by Gorecki.

Jeroen van Veen
Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Cardiff, Tuesday 9 Sept
A bit of everything minimalist in the Dutch pianist's recital, from Adams and Glass to P�rt and Nyman.

Vox Clamantis
St Augustine's Church, South Penarth, Wednesday 10 Sept
The much-praised Estonian ensemble with an all-Estonian program, including P�rt and Helena Tulve.

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Saturday, 30 August 2008

Wednesday, 20 August 2008

Download Craft mp3

Artist: Craft: mp3 download

   Genre(s):

Metal: Death,Black

Discography:

Terror Propaganda

Year: 2002

Tracks: 8

Total Soul Rape

Year: 2000

Tracks: 9

Originally expiration by the call Nocta, Swedish guitarists/bassists John Doe and Joakim, drummer Daniel, and school term vocaliser BjÃ¶rn Pettersson changed their band bring up to Craft in 1999, departure to prove that they could shower holy terror, blood, horse sense, and be opportunity hate upon human race with as much stiff belief as nigh whatever of their more notorious Norwegian neighbors. In fact, 1999's Total Eclipse demonstration, 2000's Total Soul Rape, 2002's Scourge Propaganda, and 2005's aptly descriptive part injection Ass the Universe all contained enough key, old school grim metallic element misanthropy to fill up many a calling yearner than Craft's. Rest in pieces, guys.

Sunday, 10 August 2008

R ratings might help comedies

Survey suggests people ar drawn to graphic humor

Results of a recent survey by on-line ticketer Fandango suggests that the MPAA should aim a thank you note from filmmakers whenever it slaps an R rating on a comedy.

Conventional wisdom holds that restricted ratings hurt film comedies less than other movies. But the Fandango poll results indicate that R ratings mightiness actually avail them.

August has been a regular launch pad for R-rated comedies in recent geezerhood. Sony open "Superbad" strongly Aug. 17, 2007, with a first-frame haul of $33.1 million, and even five years agone "American Wedding" was able to tintinnabulation up an impressive $33.4 million during the first weekend of summer's final month.

Fandango polled more than 1,000 visitors at its site about their attitudes toward restricted ratings on comedies and the oft-graphic humor contained in such films.

Among the findings:

-- Prospective patrons of Sony's just-opened "Pineapple Express" and the Aug. 20 opener "Tropic Thunder" from DreamWorks/Paramount were asked whether they were more or less interested in the films because of their restricted ratings, and 75% aforementioned "more," with 84% of male respondents saying so and 65% of females.

-- About 81% of those planning to see "Tropic" aforesaid they besides would see "Pineapple," which bowed Wednesday with sellouts of many 12:01 a.m. showtimes.

-- About 83% of respondents said they weren't turned off by gory or graphic humor.

-- A big 94% said they weren't pained by Robert Downey Jr.'s satirical jab at Hollywood method actors by donning blackface for his "Tropic" role.

"'Superbad's' success last year, along with this week's brisk Fandango ticket sales for 'Pineapple Express' and a tide of traffic to 'Tropic Thunder' (land site) content, makes us believe that moviegoers look onward to these adult comedic escapes at this time of year," Fandango vp marketing Ted Hong said.

Fandango said 69% of its ticket sales since Monday were for "Pineapple." About 11% of its online sales were for tickets to the PG-13 sequel drama "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," from Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment.

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Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Australia to lure tourists with film epic

An epic Australian outback movie starring Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman will spearhead a new tourism campaign designed to recapture the country's "mojo" and lure more visitors Down Under.

Titled Australia and directed by flamboyant home-grown director Baz Luhrmann, the $A130 million film follows an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a sprawling property and falls in love with a rugged drover (Jackman).

With sweeping Outback scenery and set in northern Australia on the eve of World War II, Australia will see Kidman and Jackman take 2000 cattle overland and caught in the wartime bombing of Darwin by the Japanese.

"This movie will potentially be seen by tens of millions of people and it will bring to life little-known aspects of Australia's extraordinary natural environment, history, and indigenous culture," Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said at the weekend.

Tourism Australia will kick off an international marketing campaign to coincide with the film's planned release in November, Ferguson said. The epic was tipped to bring the biggest boost to tourism since Crocodile Dundee in 1986.

Some cinema critics have predicted the film will be an amalgam of Australian cliches.

But tourism industry officials are hopeful the movie epic will kickstart the country's tourist arrivals which have stagnated since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The film, Luhrmann's first film since Moulin Rouge in 2001, has been shot on location in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, the Northern Territory capital Darwin and the tropical city of Bowen.

Australia's government recently dumped the controversial $A180 million "Where the bloody hell are you?" tourism campaign featuring a bikini model, which was banned in Britain and Canada.

Ferguson has flagged a new international campaign presenting Australia for the next three years as a "mature, inviting country", while riding on the expected popularity of "Australia" with international audiences.

Tourism numbers have fallen off recently in the face of a Australian dollar approaching parity with the U.S. greenback and with rising fuel and airline ticket prices keeping many potential visitors away.

Tourism industry spokesman Christopher Brown this month lamented that Australians had "lost our mojo" for tourists.

Tourism data in April showed signs of weakness from key markets including Japan, Hong Kong and Britain. Overseas arrivals were down 1.2 per cent in February and 0.7 per cent in January.

Holidaymakers injected $A85 billion into the $A1 trillion economy in 2006 to 2007, with overseas visitors accounting for $A22 billion of that, according to the latest Australia Bureau of Statistics data.

Tourism accounted for 3.7 pct of the Australian economy, but overseas arrivals were down 1.2 per cent in February.

A Tourism Australia official this week told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that Australia would be "basically a two and a half hour ad" for the country.

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Thursday, 26 June 2008

Jean Racine

Artist: Jean Racine

   Genre(s):
Other

Discography:

Ivre du Son

Year: 2007
Tracks: 12

Monday, 16 June 2008

Blink 182 - Delonge Says No To Blink 182 Reunion

Former BLINK 182 frontman TOM DeLONGE has ruled out ever reforming the punk band - because he couldn't bear to perform the songs he wrote in his youth.

The singer - who now fronts Angels + Airways - enjoyed huge success with his rock trio, but he has disappointed fans by insisting it's impossible to reunite a band who sang about "first dates".

DeLonge feels he'd be cheating himself and the band's followers if he were to impersonate the man he used to be.

He says, "I really cannot see any possible way that Blink would get back together, nor do I have any desire for it. It was a really amazing, magical time for me when I was young but, now I'm older, I'm doing things that reflect my life now.

"It would be a lie to myself to go and sing about first dates and girls at the rock show. That's not really what I'm about right now."

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Saturday, 14 June 2008

Fujiya and Miyagi

Artist: Fujiya and Miyagi

   Genre(s):
Indie

Discography:

Transparent Things

Year: 2007
Tracks: 9

Friday, 13 June 2008

Tiesto - Elements of Life concert

Superstar DJ Tiesto returned to Australia this year after a 4 year hiatus for his ELEMENTS OF LIFE tour.
The tour graced Melbourne�s best-sounding indoor venue, Festival Hall to support the release of Tiesto�s newly released album called �Elements of Life�. The venue was selected perfectly as it provided clear quality sound and access to a large open area, yet still had that intimate feel as Tiesto and his fans like.
The sound quality was flawless, with little echo and no distortions noticed. Then again, I was smack band in the middle of the dance floor, and we just got lifted from the ground then onwards. I felt like I was floating!

The visual affects were subliminal, featuring the four elements of life: Air, Water, Earth and Fire."

As I would have expected after watching his Elements of Life DVD, the introduction is no different and Tiesto did his �out-of-nowhere� trademark appearance with fireworks. The first hour seemed a little average but Tiesto made up for it throughout the remainder of the night as he literally dropped the cluster bomb on the crowd with sick tunes and amazing visual effects!!
The visual affects were subliminal, featuring the four elements of life: Air, Water, Earth and Fire.
However, I have got to say the best part of the evening was Tiesto�s closing set. It was just out of this world.
All in all, Tiesto In Concert: Elements of Life was great, an experience not to be forgotten! Something I will one day tell my future grand children about!

Stevie Ray Vaughn, Grand Funk Railroad, Cat Steven

Artist: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Grand Funk Railroad, Cat Steven

   Genre(s):
Rock

Discography:

Little Wing

Year: 2002
Tracks: 2

Mariah Carey Launches New Perfume

Mariah Carey has launched her new perfume called 'Lucious Pink', offering the description that it "truly reflects where I am in my life now," following her whirlwind marriage to Nick Cannon.

Released through Elizabeth Arden, this is Carey's second foray into the perfume market following the success of her first fragrance called 'M'.

After a year that has seen her release the new album 'E=MC2' and got married in a secret ceremony in the Bahama's Carey told WWD, "This scent is feminine, flirtatious and fun, and truly reflects where I am in my life now, after an incredible year."

Described by the creators as "a floral melody that is as enveloping as Mariah's voice," the new perfume will be topped with Carey's signature butterfly and will be in stores soon.

NEXT: The Daily Trailer: The Incredible Hulk

Photo courtesy of Def Jam.

Lemon Jelly

Artist: Lemon Jelly

   Genre(s):
Electronic

Discography:

Somerset House Mix

Year: 2004
Tracks: 1

Lost Horizons

Year: 2002
Tracks: 8

The duo Lemon Jelly's chilled forbidden grooves and breaks are produced by Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin. Deakin is a DJ and clothes designer whose example exploit has been highlighted in the culture cartridge the Face. Franglen has produced with the talents of Primal Scream, BjÃ¶rk, and even the Spice Girls. Their get-go full-length, LemonJelly.KY, was a collection of tercet limited edition U.K. EPs that the duo released over two geezerhood. Their official full length debut, Lost Horizons, arrived in the fall of 2002 and delivered a turbo-paced miscellany of styles. The title for the band's third full-length, 2005's '64-'95, came from the age from which the album's samples were generated.

Neil Diamond grabs first chart-topper

'Home Before Dark' propelled by 'Idol' appearance

NEW YORK -- In another busy week in the top tier of the Billboard 200, Neil Diamond's "Home Before Dark" zooms in at No. 1, becoming his first chart-topping album. The Columbia set got a big plug when Diamond appeared on "American Idol" two weeks ago, bolstering its 146,000 first-week U.S. sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The Rick Rubin-produced "Home" is Diamond's biggest debut sales week since SoundScan began tracking in 1991. He first appeared on Billboard's charts in 1966 with "The Feel of Neil Diamond"; the closest he ever got to No. 1 was with the 1973 soundtrack to "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," which reached No. 2.
With 103,000 units, Toby Keith's double-disc collection "35 Biggest Hits" (Show Dog Nashville) bows at No. 2. The country star has scored three prior No. 1 albums and two No. 2s.
Meanwhile, Madonna's "Hard Candy" (Warner Bros.) falls from the top slot to No. 3, moving 94,000 with a 66% slip. "American Idol" star Clay Aiken debuts at No. 4 with "On My Way Here" (RCA), with a slightly less total than "Hard Candy." Aiken's last studio album, 2006's "A Thousand Different Ways," started at No. 2 with the much larger sum of 211,000.
Mariah Carey's Island Def Jam album "E=MC2" continues its decline from No. 2 to No. 5 with 87,000 (-9%), and Leona Lewis' "Spirit" (Syco/J) slips from No. 3 to No. 6 with 76,000 (a 10% drop).
Gavin DeGraw's self-titled sophomore effort from J Records climbs on board at No. 7 with 66,000. Interest was spurred by the single "In Love with a Girl," which has peaked at No. 34 thus far on the Hot 100. "Gavin DeGraw" easily trumps the No. 103 peak of 2004's "Chariot" and the subsequent entry of "Chariot -- Stripped" at No. 56.
Josh Groban's concert CD/DVD "Awake Live" (Reprise) starts at No. 8 with 58,000, his seventh album to chart on The Billboard 200. Another country mainstay scores a top 10 spot with a hits collection, as Dierks Bentley's "Greatest Hits: Every Mile a Memory" (Capitol Nashville) opens at No. 9 with 43,000. His most recent studio album, "Long Trip Home," peaked at No. 5 in 2006.
Latin superstar Luis Miguel claims his highest charting album ever, as "Complices" takes a bow at No. 10 with 32,000. "Complices" (Warner Music Latina) also gives Miguel his eighth No. 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart -- the most of any artist in the history of the list.
Back on the 200, Tye Tribbett & G.A.'s "Stand Out" (Columbia) stands out with a No. 16 debut (26,000), and German rock troupe Tokio Hotel's "Scream" (Interscope) enters at No. 39 with 16,000.
Album sales this week are up 6.9% from last week's sum with 8.12 million units and down 4.6% from the same week last year.

Hannah Montana's Miley Cyrus In Online Dance Battle (Video)

Miley Cyrus, star of 'Hannah Montana', has announced she is "ending the battle" with movie producer Jon M. Chu and actor Adam Sevani, following several weeks of online dance videos that have attracted millions of views on YouTube. The Disney actress and her friend, Many Jiroux - going by the name of The M&M Cru - have been battling it out with The Adam/Chu Dance Crew, aka The ACDC, for the past two months via video posts. With combined viewings of their productions standing at close to 10 million, each clip has upped the ante in the online battle - however, Cyrus is attempting to launch the final knockout blow. Watch the video for The M&M Cru below and check out all of the battle videos by clicking here.Photo courtesy of Disney.

Theater review | Absurdist "Circus Tracks" has whimsy, lacks cohesion

Theater Review |

Circuses offer multiple diversions — music, animals, jugglers, clowns and trapeze artists. Sarah Hammond's absurdist play "Circus Tracks" has all that and much more. Unfortunately, what works under the big top doesn't work to create a coherent drama.

Hammond suggests her play is a fairy tale centered in a circus — but even fairy tales are focused. Her substories and their themes haven't achieved connection.

An abandoned infant floats down river to suburbia. She takes a picaresque journey to find her birth mother. A villainous circus manager steals the talents of his players. A heartbroken and guilty trapeze artist seeks his identity and redemption. In the end everything's destroyed.

God places his handprint on these happenings, and through it all the audience is asked to consider the relationship between reality and illusion, normalcy and freakishness, and the flow of life. Despite director Meghan Arnette's efforts to juggle the themes, stories and comic and tragic components, she never finds the balance.

Yet there are good elements to this production. The imaginative set and lighting by Arnette with Brian Stricklan, Grant Laine and Chrystian Shepperd work well. Entering the theater, the audience walks through the red and white tent flaps into the big top, where strings of glittering lights circle the ring; wall murals depict a growling lion, bulbous-nosed clown and other circus icons. The trapeze is mounted at waist level so the daring high flyer never gets off the ground. It's a clever device that works effectively as an image and a symbol.

Overall the cast is good and provides some notable performances. Christine Longé as Dewey, the abandoned child, manages to be destructive in a charmingly innocent fashion. Colin W. Connors as Lester, the tormented and abused trapeze artist, and Adam Davis as Soundbite, who is defined by his noises, both wring pathos from their roles.

Luigi Pirandello, the great absurdist playwright, famously told the tale of six characters in search of an author. In "Circus Tracks" we have seven characters in search of a well-structured play.

Nancy Worssam: nworssam@earthlink.net

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