Kim Jong Un and Dennis Rodman bonded over basketball yesterday, with the former NBA star telling the North Korean dictator “you have a friend for life.” Seriously, this happened. Rodman, 51, who is filming a documentary with U.S. media company VICE, is in Pyongyang along with members of the famed Harlem Globetrotters. “The Worm” spent quality time with the reclusive North Korean leader – a big fan of his as a kid – dining on sushi and drinking with him at his palace. It’s still unclear what exactly will result from this “basketball diplomacy” mission in terms of media (or diplomacy), but whatever it is should be something. The unlikely encounter makes Rodman the most high-profile American to meet Kim Jong Un since the young North Korean leader took power in 2011. Yes. Dennis Rodman in North Korea . His trip also takes place against a backdrop of tension between Washington and Pyongyang, which conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago. Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told the former Chicago Bulls star he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea. Kim laughed and slapped his hands on the table before him during the game as he sat nearly knee to knee with Rodman, who chatted with him in English. “They bonded during the game,” VICE’s Shane Smith said by phone from New York after speaking to the crew. “They were both enjoying the crazy shots.” “The Harlem Globetrotters were putting on quite a show.” Oh to be a fly on the wall during those conversations. No word if Dennis, who may or may not know South Korea is a different place , plans to tell Kim to hand over the keys to the nukes at the end of the trip.
The semifinalists are on American Idol Season 12 are finally set. Last night, the final quintet of men were named, as the 10 remaining contestants with penises squared off in a Las Vegas-based Sudden Death round. Who would be joining the previously-revealed 15? And take to the live stage next week to sing for your vote? Nick Boddington – “Say Something Now” Burnell Taylor – “This Time” Lazaro Arbos – “Tonight I Wanna Cry” Scroll down for a list of the final five, along with the tracks they belted out last night, and sound off on their inclusion in the Top 20: Vincent Powell – “Cause I Love You” Lazaro Arbos – “Tonight I Wanna Cry” Cortez Shaw – “Titanium” Burnell Taylor – “This Time” Nick Boddington – “Say Something Now” Vincent Powell – “Cause I Love You” Cortez Shaw – “Titanium”
Justin Bieber celebrates his 19th birthday today. We’ll wait for the squealing to calm down before we continue… The opening two months of 2013 haven’t been ideal for this young artist, who officially split from Selena Gomez to start the year; got embroiled in a pot smoking scandal ; feuded with Patrick Carney. And, oh, right: he wore this hat . Patrick Carney. But Justin’s legion of Beliebers remain loyal and the leg of his current European tour remains the hottest ticket on the planet. He recently hosted Saturday Night Live and released an acoustic album and will no doubt dominated the rest of the year just like he dominated the one that came before. What else needs to be said? Send in your very best wishes to the Biebs now and help us pay homage to this cutie by clicking through the following photo montage:
TeamBreezy came out in droves on Friday for star’s New York stop at Nassau Coliseum. By Rebecca Thomas Chris Brown performs during his F.A.M.E. Tour (file) Photo: Getty Images UNIONDALE, New York — If there’s one place where Chris Brown escapes the nimbus cloud of unfortunate headlines that often threatens to rain down on him, it’s the stage. He proved that emphatically when he touched down Friday night at New York’s Nassau Coliseum (capacity 18,000), the midway mark on his F.A.M.E. Tour. Away from his Twitter account, even the hidden dangers of his iPhone , Breezy cleared the brush of his personal distractions, and was simply sublime onstage. Rather than calling to mind his pop&B peers, Brown conjured a late Pop King who also battled bad press during his lifetime. Such is Brown’s command that, four albums to his credit, now even the songs on which he’s only featured seem to become his own. Suited up in a jacket and tuxedo pants embellished with spangly trim, Chris laid into the hook that turns Ace Hood’s “Body 2 Body” from sexy to downright sensual, and had the moves to match. The Coliseum performance space was expansive and divided into three tiers, connected by a series of steps and ladders, with a series of five oversize cylinders at the base, and overhead, a large screen that projected CB music videos as well as a running concert skit that had fans peeking at suggestive messages sent from the star’s phone to the squealing girls amassed in the crowd. “Can I see you tonight?” one of them read). He rinsed off and repeated the same feat for his song-stealing chorus on Big Sean’s bottle-clinking “My Last,” stalking the stage like an MC. By the time Chris got to the slightly aggressive bedroom ballad “No BS,” the white dress shirt and jacket were off, and the squealing had reached fever-pitch. What is it about C.Breezy? Maybe it’s that he’s right at that moment where he’s balancing late-adolescent energy (Brown seemed to bounce on the balls of his feet, his Jordans never quite touching ground) with budding manhood, but he managed to find the perfect dose of sweetness for the down-on-bended-knee songs like “All Back,” “She Ain’t You” and “Next to You,” and then just the right amount of swagger for hard-hitting, dance-heavy hits like “Yeah 3X” and “Forever.” Chris’ tenor is increasingly rich, and on songs from early in his catalog like “With You,” he sounded as heartbreakingly sincere (maybe more so) as he does on the 2007 recording. For his Jordin Sparks-assisted “No Air,” CB asked the ladies to step in for the onetime “American Idol” winner; they were so good with the lyrics, he paused several times, beaming and cocking his head appreciatively. “Y’all tired?” he asked the howling fans after tourmate and frequent collaborator Tyga re-emerged for “Deuces” and a thunderous take on the Young Money up-and-comer’s “Snapbacks Back” (itself a takeoff of Meek Mill and Rick Ross’ spine-tingling “Tupac Back”). “I’m just asking,” Breezy laughed in his Virginia drawl, “Y’all want some water?” Far from tired, the TeamBreezy-devoted, which had basically given up sitting, were fully dancing in the aisles as Brown’s troupe of pros — donning a variety of costumes, from Jabbawockeez-style masks to yearbook-worthy Varsity jackets — for nearly 90-minutes’ worth of straight street dancing. But they truly elevated the art form during the show-closing “Beautiful People,” a transcendent (seriously, listen to it) electro-flavored Benny Benassi production. With the audience bathed in lasers, Chris’ floor team, clad in Martian-meets-mummy-style L.E.D. suits, lit up alternately in florescent light patterns. Brown, illuminated himself, descended the multilevel stage and joined them for one of the finest breakdowns in recent memory. If the F.A.M.E. singer isn’t the finest R&B performer of our generation, he’s certainly gunning for the title. Think MJ would be proud. Apart from getting super assists from Tyga and fellow opener T-Pain, who rolled out his radio smashes on Friday, Kelly Rowland made it a co-ed affair. The former Destiny’s Child princess was on one Friday night: Flanked by a gang of muscled male dancers, she powered through DC smashes, her hip-hop features (“Dilemma”) and solo smashes. Motivation, indeed. What did you think of the F.A.M.E. Tour? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists Chris Brown
This morning while making my morning coffee and browsing through my email, I came across the most amazing announcement I’ve seen come out of Sega since the Dreamcast. (Yes, I realize Sega has made other, potentially better announcements since then, but still.) Sonic CD is coming to the App Store. If this doesn’t have you Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Touch Arcade Discovery Date : 25/08/2011 18:30 Number of articles : 2
