If you are one of the million Star Wars fanatics who spent all your money playing the Star Wars arcade game by Atari, you’ll want to continue reading this article. If you can remember the game, it was awesome and if I could I would have it in my room. An arcade fan with the handle Le Chuck (for obvious reasons) has found a way to miniaturize the arcade cabinet and set up a working version of the game… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : übergizmo Discovery Date : 26/04/2012 06:23 Number of articles : 2
If you are one of the million Star Wars fanatics who spent all your money playing the Star Wars arcade game by Atari, you’ll want to continue reading this article. If you can remember the game, it was awesome and if I could I would have it in my room. An arcade fan with the handle Le Chuck (for obvious reasons) has found a way to miniaturize the arcade cabinet and set up a working version of the game… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : übergizmo Discovery Date : 26/04/2012 06:23 Number of articles : 2
On Tuesday, April 24 members of the Occupy movement gathered in DC at the Department of Justice to protest “mass incarceration” of black and Latino youth, demand the release of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal , end the “racist death penalty,” and more. Among the celebrities scheduled to address the crowd were actor Danny Glover, rapper Chuck D, activist Angela Davis, and others. Reason.tv asked… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Reason Magazine – Hit & Run Discovery Date : 25/04/2012 01:24 Number of articles : 2
Chuck Colson, the first member of the Nixon administration to serve time in prison for charges relating to the 1972 Watergate scandal, has died of a brain hemorrhage after having surgery roughly two weeks ago. Known by many as the “dirty tricks artist” and “hatchet man” for Nixon, Colson once reportedly said he would “walk over [his] own grandmother” to the president re-elected. Soon after he finished… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Blaze Discovery Date : 21/04/2012 05:15 Number of articles : 2
Clark’s influence endures today with such stars as Ryan Seacrest. By Gil Kaufman Dick Clark on the set of “American Bandstand” Photo: Getty Images Without Dick Clark, there would be no Ryan Seacrest. Hell, without “America’s Oldest Teenager” there would be no “TRL,” and maybe no MTV. Clark, who died at age 82 on Wednesday (April 18) after suffering a heart attack, never sang a note or released an album. He wasn’t the inventor of a dance craze or a label boss or even a particularly hip guy. What he was, though, was a visionary. And as much as any hotshot who played a guitar, figured out how to mix two turntables and a microphone, wiggled his hips or invented the next big sound in music, Clark was instrumental in making pop music pop. Photos: The life and career of Dick Clark He brought rock and roll into America’s living rooms in the 1950s, just as the sound of young America was upsetting parents, confounding the staid radio programmers of the day and encouraging teenagers to shake, rattle and roll. Though he dressed like a martini-swilling ad executive and was adamant about keeping a strict tie-and-jacket dress code on his long-running signature show, “American Bandstand,” Clark lived by one simple credo when it came to judging music: “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.” Most importantly, when he took over “Bandstand” and went national in 1957, Clark put teenagers on TV at a time when the most popular shows were aimed at their parents’ generation, including such popular series as “Gunsmoke,” “I Love Lucy,” “The Danny Thomas Show” and “General Electric Theater.” He let them see themselves on TV, which seems like no big deal to today’s YouTube-ified teens, but was a revelation for the first generation to grow up in front of the tube. An MTV VP recalls his first job in television, working for the late Dick Clark. With one of the longest runs in TV history (1957-1989), “Bandstand” became a crucial stop on any major artist’s promotional rounds. And with good reason: The show drew an audience of more than 20 million at its peak, half of whom were reportedly adults. Among the acts that lip-synced their hits on the program and got their first major exposure over the years: Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, Chuck Berry, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Prince, Kurtis Blow, Cher, Devo, LL Cool J, INXS, Bon Jovi, Run-DMC, Madonna and the Talking Heads. Clark would chat the artists up and, even as the years went on and the styles changed from the buttoned-down 1950s to the freewheeling 1960s, disco-dancing 1970s and new-wave 1980s and the show’s influence waned, Clark’s enthusiasm for the hits of the day was unwavering. The times changed, but Clark appeared ageless, his full head of hair and boyish smile as much a staple of the show as the enthusiastic dancing of its real stars: the audience. Though controversy would later rise over Clark’s claims that he integrated the show in 1957 (as well as a nearly career-derailing brush with the payola scandals of the 1950s), what is indisputable is that Clark offered a forum for both black and white artists at a time when there were few. The sight of black and white kids dancing together also inspired one of TV’s other enduring music programs, “Soul Train,” whose recently deceased leading light, Don Cornelius , was sometimes referred to as the “black Dick Clark.” Ryan Seacrest, Snoop Dogg and more celebs mourn Dick Clark. Clark didn’t just spin the hits, though. He created the template for the modern multitasking media mogul, a mantle picked up by his heir apparent, the unflappable Ryan Seacrest. He helped produce or executive-produce more than 7,500 hours of programming, from the Golden Globes, American Music Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards, to mind-numbing prime-time fluff like “TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes.” He often boasted that his was not the road less taken, but the cheesy, crowded freeway packed with bored couch potatoes just looking for a fun diversion, which he was happy to provide. Clark taught television execs that teenagers had the power to push the cultural needle and that they were having a huge impact on music, movies, fashion and, yes, even politics. More importantly, “Bandstand” helped pave the way for the Top 40 radio format and helped move rock and roll into the movies and beyond. Clark eventually moved into game shows, TV movies and children’s programming under his Dick Clark Productions banner. And if you want to know why Seacrest seems like he’s everywhere these days — from “American Idol” to “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” numerous awards shows and executive-producing multiple Kardashian shows and other TV — it’s because he studied at the knee of his icon and has patterned his multifaceted career on the man who laid the foundation. With holdings that included everything from themed restaurants to a theater in Branson, Missouri, it’s not a stretch to say that Clark’s influence reached into the modern world of hip-hop and pop, where moguls from Diddy to Jay-Z, Justin Bieber and Rihanna have diversified by dipping their toes into the worlds of perfume, beverages, advertising agencies and cosmetics. Nobody truly stays forever young, but Clark proved that you can stay forever young at heart. Share your condolences for Clark’s family, friends and fans in the comments below.
Behold the powers of peen… Rihanna may have found a new faith in her new boo, she’s reportedly studying Kabbalah with Ashton Kutcher. The ‘We Found Love’ singer is rumored to enjoying a fling with the Two And A Half Men star, after she was spotted leaving his house after a sleepover last month. While their relationship appears to be nothing more than a fling, sources say that Ashton has persuaded her to join his faith, Kabbalah. Star magazine reports that Rihanna is “getting spiritual guidance” from Ashton, who is “encouraging her to study Kabbalah.” “Rihanna is so interested in Ashton’s beliefs that she has arranged sessions with his rabbi,” the source adds. Sounds like Ashton has been chopping the Holy Ghost out of RihRih’s cakes so good it made her want to find Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucious and Chuck Norris. We bet she was speaking in tongues all night when he baptized her in his Holy water. Source More On Bossip! Making It Rain On Them Hoes: A List Of Your Favorite Rapper’s Salary For Performances And Shows YOLO: A Gallery Of People That Hit The Beach And Let It All Hang Out Even If They Aren’t Right And Tight For All The Brothers Who Enjoy Latina Cakes: Jessenia Vice For T.I.T.S. Brand [Pictorial-Video] 808s And Chopdowns: A Gallery Of Women Kanye West Has Shouted Out In Song
Much-hyped band, opening for Jack White, releases debut, Boys & Girls . By James Montgomery Alabama Shakes Photo: MTV News It’s not exactly a stretch to say the Alabama Shakes have come out of nowhere — it would, however, be incorrect. After all, they hail from the town of Athens, Alabama (pop. 21,897), and, since forming in 2009, they’ve logged thousands of hours playing sweaty, soulful gigs throughout the Southeast — though Egan’s Bar in nearby Tuscaloosa remains their spiritual home. Since January 2011, they’ve been working on their debut album, paying for recording sessions themselves using money from their various day jobs (painting houses, delivering mail), and slowly but surely building a bit of buzz, namely on blogs like Aquarium Drunkard , which posted an MP3 of the band last summer and inadvertently got them a deal with ATO Records. In November 2011, they finished that debut disc, and in March 2012, the Shakes tore through the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. On Tuesday, their journey finally came to a head with the release of Boys & Girls, a crackling, creaky collection of ringing, downright retro guitars, pealing organs and, of course, frontwoman Brittany Howard’s voluminous, velvety voice. Not surprisingly — given the Shakes’ Southern roots and the laundry list of adjectives their music inspires — long-suffering rock critics have already embraced both the band and their sound, dubbing them everything from the genre’s next great saviors to the new kings and queens of retro soul. But, as Howard explains, she prefers to call it one thing, and one thing only: “It’s rock and roll. Think about Chuck Berry … rock and roll. AC/DC, rock and roll. Little Richard. James Brown was doing some rock and roll. That’s what it is,” she told MTV News. “R&B and rock and roll go more hand in hand than I think a lot of people want to admit.” MTV News caught up with the Shakes, MTV PUSH Artist of the Week , on Tuesday at New York’s Studio at Webster Hall before they took the stage for Live in NYC, MTV Hive’s concert series . Their performance will be available on-demand next week. Howard and bandmates Steve Johnson and Heath Fogg told us they are proud of everything that’s lead them to this point and that they did everything their way. “We’d go up to Nashville once a month, at most, to make the album,” Fogg shared. “We’d get up there Friday night, work all day Saturday, head back home Saturday night … It was a long process. “We’ve been wanting this record to come out for a long time,” he continued. “To get the opportunities we’ve gotten, we were all pretty shocked. We’d get taken out to dinner by all these big labels, and the whole time I kept thinking I’d have to pay for these meals, like, I’d stand up and kinda grab for my wallet, and they’d be like, ‘No no no.’ ” Johnson added: “When we were making [ Boys & Girls ], there were certain recordings where it felt like you were almost in the room with the band while they were being recorded. Just background voices, the stir of the room; it felt like there were other people in there, and we were all fans of that kind of stuff, so we decided to leave little things in. “The songs have a feel to ’em: There’s kind of a sway of the rhythm, it picks up and slows down. We weren’t sitting there on a metronome, playing to a click track or something like that, and I think that was the overall goal: to make a good-sounding, good-feeling album. And if there was a mistake, but it didn’t mess with the groove of the song: leave it in.” Of course, the Shakes are trying very hard to come to terms with their newfound fame, which includes a sold-out North American tour, dates in Europe and the U.K. and an opening slot for avowed-admirer Jack White on his solo trek. Mixed in with all of this is the very real struggle to remain attached to their roots, which are as far-reaching as they are humble. After all, they’re not a “retro soul” band, they’re a rock and roll band. One whose time has finally come. “A lot of people listened to James Brown and Elvis Presley when I was growing up,” Howard explained. “We had a station called Solid Golden Oldies, and I would spend a lot of time with my grandmother, and that’s what we would listen to. We’d be in the kitchen cooking or cleaning, listening to Solid Golden Oldies, and she’d tell me about Dion and Elvis Presley, how her and her friends would go dance to Elvis records. “I just grew up loving it and understanding it and just the sound and the honesty of the music was something I’ll never forget,” she explained. “And I ran into these guys, and they all get it too. But, we also listen to a lot of other stuff — it doesn’t stop there. That’s why we don’t say we’re retro soul, because I also love MMJ [My Morning Jacket], the White Stripes, Kings of Leon … I’m not stuck under a rock or anything. I don’t think any of us are.” Related Videos PUSH: Alabama Shakes Related Artists Alabama Shakes
‘I know I’m always gonna be street, because I can’t pretend to be street,’ Nicki tells MTV News. By Rob Markman Nicki Minaj Photo: MTV News Nicki Minaj has come a long way since her mixtape days in Queens, New York, but the Young Money star hasn’t forgotten where she came from. In her “Beez in the Trap” video , Nicki the Ninja ditched male alter ego Roman and proved she was all woman as she danced on the video’s strip-club set. “I love my ‘Beez in the Trap’ video. This is my ‘hood video, obviously,” she told MTV News last week after she threw a surprise performance in Times Square . Since her pop success, Nicki has heard all the whispers and criticisms that she may have forgotten her Queens roots. It’s all pretty laughable to rap’s reigning queen. On “Moment 4 Life,” she vowed to never forget her humble beginnings when she spit: ” ‘Cause I’m still hood, Hollywood couldn’t change me.” “What can I say? I don’t know what I gotta do anymore. I don’t know what I can possibly do. What I gotta do? Go and rob a bank?” Nicki asked with a chuckle. No matter her success on the pop charts, Nicki still considers herself hip-hop. On her recently released Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Ms. Minaj mixed her creative raps with crossover sounds on songs like the RedOne-produced “Starships” and the kinetic “Pound the Alarm.” She’ll never forget her roots, though. “I’m still me, hip-hop culture is still in my heart,” she said. “That can never leave me. “I know I’m always gonna be street, because I can’t pretend to be street. It’s a lot of people walking around here pretending to be that, but I ain’t gonna call nobody out right now.” What’s your favorite track from Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded ? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos The Evolution Of Nicki Minaj Related Artists Nicki Minaj
Producer talks to MTV News about ‘Come on a Cone’ and ‘I Am Your Leader,’ the two songs he did for Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. By Rob Markman Hit-Boy Photo: MTV News Make no mistake: Nicki Minaj is an MC through and through. For as many chart-toppers as the femme fatale has in her catalog, she has the rap bars to match it. On her latest LP, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, the Queens, New York, spitter balances pop tunes with some gritty-sounding tracks, thanks to producers like G.O.O.D. Music’s in-house weapon Hit-Boy. By contributing both “Come on a Cone” and the Rick Ross and Cam’ron-assisted “I Am Your Leader,” Hit-Boy provided the perfect sound beds for Nicki to spew her venom. Without ever having a conversation with Nick about a specific vibe, somehow Hit-Boy knew just what she needed for her bipolar Roman Reloaded. Landing the kinetic “Come on a Cone” on the LP was pretty simple, if you let the West Coast hitmaker tell it. “I kind of did these records [and] just blindly sent her some beats. It was out of the first batch of beats that I sent,” Hit-Boy told MTV News on Thursday of “Cone.” Initially, the bass-heavy, space-age track didn’t suit Nicki’s needs, but it was an easy fix. “The tempo was a bit slower so she was like, ‘Can you speed this up?’ I sped it up, and she hit me back like, ‘Yo, this is crazy, I’m writing to it,’ and [she] just kept having me send beats,” he said. It’s been an eventful week for Hit-Boy, who saw both Roman Reloaded and his and Kanye West’s “Theraflu” released this week. On the new Pink Friday, both Hit-Boy-produced tracks land in sequential order, so right after “Come On a Cone” comes “I Am Your Leader.” Rapping alongside Ross and Cam’ron, Nicki once again proves she can go toe-to-toe with hip-hop’s big boys. She would not be outdone. “Nunchuck her, no time to duck her/ Sign of the cross ’cause this is her last supper,” she spits to an unnamed competitor. The “N—as in Paris” producer wasn’t in the studio when the reigning rap queen recorded to his selections, but after hearing the finished product, he was impressed with her performance. “I just went in blindly, I just sent beats, which is like the stars aligning,” he said. “She picked the right joints and blacked out on them.” To celebrate the release of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, we’re examining the “Evolution of Nicki Minaj” throughout the week. Check MTV News every day to see how the Southside Jamaica, Queens, Barbie went from a promising mixtape standout to rap’s reigning queen. Related Videos The Evolution Of Nicki Minaj Related Artists Nicki Minaj
Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope plants a sloppy, moist kiss on the sweaty brow of geek culture’s premiere event. Where it stops short from also getting on its knees and offering a different sort of sloppy, moist service to the four-day San Diego affair is in the sight of one of the film’s subjects weeping in the audience of a panel entitled “Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way.” Comic-Con Episode IV is indulgent to a fault about everything that happens on the convention floor, but Spurlock makes the smart decision to shape the film primarily around subjects who have an economic stake in the goings-on. The doc makes sure to peek into the many different corners of the con, from the studio previews in massive Hall H to the cosplayers’ Masquerade to the toy collector sales to the portfolio reviews of would-be artists to the comic book dealers fretting over their fading profile, but the tangible goals being pursued by the main characters add a needed sense of urgency. Comic-Con may be heaven on Earth for fanboys and fangirls (“I want to die and go to Comic-Con,” insists one man), but that doesn’t mean everyone’s going to be able to make a living there. The concept of fandom gets a tough workout in Comic-Con Episode IV , which breaks up its exploration of the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con with interviews against a white backdrop with attendees both famous and not. Some of those interviewees were also involved in the making of the movie — the always charming Joss Whedon co-wrote the film, and also produced it alongside Stan Lee and Ain’t It Cool News’s Harry Knowles, ensuring its geek bona fides. While the love of all things convention-related gets directly addressed, with Seth Rogen confessing to toy collecting and Eli Roth addressing how it’s become acceptable to continue to treasure your favorite childhood franchises into adulthood, the time the film spends with subjects who are there solely as fans — James Darling, who intends to propose to his girlfriend Se Young Hang during the Q&A at the Kevin Smith panel — is actually its most grating. The codependent couple spend their entire days in Hall H, as the guy tries unsuccessfully to get a few minutes to himself to surreptitiously go pick up the ring he had made by a jeweler who’s also in attendance. (The proposal, when it does happen, is admittedly sweet.) It’s through Chuck Rozanski, the owner of Mile High Comics, that Comic-Con Episode IV gets at one of the major changes to the event, which is that its shifted away from its comic book foundations to a become a major marketing tent-pole for blockbusters and video games. Chuck’s been coming for 38 years (the comic book panel-inspired interstitial graphics designate him “The Survivor”) and has watched the crowds slowly drift away from his booth. This year, he’s brought along his prized copy of “Red Raven #1,” an incredibly rare comic that he hopes (and may need) to sell for $500,000. (“There’s three billion women on the planet and not a lot of good comics,” he explains to his protege about how romance should never come between a man and his collection.) The quiet distress with which Chuck acknowledges his initial low sales is palpable — there are downsides to having your business and your passion been one and the same. The same goes for Skip Harvey and Eric Henson, who tote portfolios of their art to different publishers hoping to be contracted for work — the two have very different expectations of what will happen, and one is pleasantly surprised while the other is heartbroken. Spurlock knows his way around a pop doc, and Comic-Con Episode IV moves limberly between subjects and areas of the convention and its history, an entertaining watch even as it feels a little unnecessary in documenting one of the year’s most photographed, liveblogged, tweeted about and videotaped cultural gatherings. It’s the urge to create that ends up proving more interesting than the one to collect or to observe — seen not just in Skip and Eric’s stories, but in the work of Holly Conrad, who with her friends has designed insanely intricate costumes based on Mass Effect 2 , hoping that the attention they’ll get will lead to paid work. They’ve constructed in their basement an animatronic head for the person dressed as the alien Urdnot Wrex that could be professional quality, and the crowd is adoringly appreciative of their efforts. It’s not until the credits are rolling that Comic-Con Episode IV touches on any real negatives of the convention, and even that’s done in the most genial way (“It’s real, the stink is real!”). While the film deserves credit for not taking the fond freak-show route of many docs about subcultures — though can Comic-Con really be seen as such anymore? — it’s really a slow softball pitch. There’s little delving into the rise of the Twilight fandom and none into the hostility they’ve faced, or into the other competitive and regressive aspects that are part of the dark side of geek culture. No, Comic-Con Episode IV is a valentine to an event and a group of people so in ascension they don’t really need it, but it’s still a pleasant thing to watch. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . 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