Tag Archives: Documentary

Is Britney Spears Still An Underdog?

As ‘Hold It Against Me’ tops charts, is this the year she drops the label? By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Christina Garibaldi Britney Spears Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage Despite selling out stadiums and having her singles, including her newest one, “Hold It Against Me,” shoot to the top of the charts , Britney Spears always seems to have an air of underdog about her. After rising to the top of the pop ranks, Spears suffered some personal setbacks that she can’t seem to shake even in the wake of professional triumph. So, is 2011 the year Spears finally loses the stigma? MTV News asked a few experts to weigh in. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton compared the Britney of today to the Britney of her pop heyday in the early part of the millennium. “I think Britney is still an underdog in comparison to her former self,” he said. The last big sit-down interview Spears did was in 2008 for her documentary “For the Record.” And aside from smaller magazine write-ups, Spears has managed to stay out of the usual rounds of doing press, an aspect of her public persona that may contribute to the idea that she is an underdog. “Britney’s been an underdog for, like, four years. There’s gonna come a point where we’re gonna have to stop considering her an underdog,” MTV News’ Jim Cantiello said. “I still think people do. She’s recluse for all intents and purposes. I mean, she doesn’t do any press, so I think as long as that mystery surrounds her, people will think of her as an underdog.” But, Entertainment Weekly ‘s Leah Greenblatt notes that being somewhat of a recluse does not make Spears a pop underdog. “I don’t know if she’ll ever be an underdog on the pop charts,” Greenblatt said. “No matter what goes on with her personally … if she brings them something and it’s good enough, people take it and put it at the top of the Billboard chart.” Do you consider Britney Spears an underdog? Sound off in the comments below! Related Videos Reactions To Britney’s ‘Hold It Against Me’ Related Photos The Evolution Of: Britney Spears

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Is Britney Spears Still An Underdog?

Justin Bieber Returns to ‘CSI’ in February

Beliebers and unsuspecting ‘CSI’ fans alike, get ready for Justin Bieber’s triumphant return to primetime! VIDEO ! TV Line reports that the pint-sized pop star is set to reprise his role as Jason, a troubled teen whose brother was eventually killed by the CSIs. Smart move, CBS. This stunt casting is just in time (or should I say, Justin time) for February sweeps! This news comes shortly after rumors that ‘Glee’ plans to do a Biebs-themed episode in February as well. Unfortunately, Gossip Cop reported, this isn’t quite the case. wasn’t quite true. Creator Ryan Murphy does confirm, however, that an episode of ‘Glee’ will feature a Bieber track, and in Sam, played by Chord Overstreet, will fashion his hair into a Bieber swoop in an effort to win back Quinn, played by Dianna Argon. WIth the scheduled February release of ‘Never Say Never’, the documentary-style film about Bieber’s concert tour, we can all forget Valentine’s day. February looks like it’s going to be all about the Biebs. Tweens, closet fans any everyone with Bieber Fever, go ahead and set your DVR’s and clear your schedules for February. In the meantime, check out Bieber’s acting chops after the break. Source: Popeater

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Justin Bieber Returns to ‘CSI’ in February

Justin Bieber Returns to ‘CSI’ in February

Beliebers and unsuspecting ‘CSI’ fans alike, get ready for Justin Bieber’s triumphant return to primetime! VIDEO ! TV Line reports that the pint-sized pop star is set to reprise his role as Jason, a troubled teen whose brother was eventually killed by the CSIs. Smart move, CBS. This stunt casting is just in time (or should I say, Justin time) for February sweeps! This news comes shortly after rumors that ‘Glee’ plans to do a Biebs-themed episode in February as well. Unfortunately, Gossip Cop reported, this isn’t quite the case. wasn’t quite true. Creator Ryan Murphy does confirm, however, that an episode of ‘Glee’ will feature a Bieber track, and in Sam, played by Chord Overstreet, will fashion his hair into a Bieber swoop in an effort to win back Quinn, played by Dianna Argon. WIth the scheduled February release of ‘Never Say Never’, the documentary-style film about Bieber’s concert tour, we can all forget Valentine’s day. February looks like it’s going to be all about the Biebs. Tweens, closet fans any everyone with Bieber Fever, go ahead and set your DVR’s and clear your schedules for February. In the meantime, check out Bieber’s acting chops after the break. Source: Popeater

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Justin Bieber Returns to ‘CSI’ in February

Former WikiLeaks Staffer to Launch Alternative OpenLeaks Today

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A former staff member of WikiLeaks said he will launch a new alternative website that he promises will be more transparent than WikiLeaks. Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the former deputy to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will launch Openleaks ( www.openleaks.org ) Monday in an effort to aid anonymous sources expose sensitive information to the public eye. As of this morning, the website displays nothing more than the Openleaks logo with the message “Coming soon!” The new website will be launched on Monday from its Germany headquarters as part of a board of directors-run, undisclosed foundation, said reporter Jesper Huor in a documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT that will be aired on Sunday. “Openleaks is a technology project that is aiming to be a service provider for third parties that want to be able to accept material from anonymous sources,” Domscheit-Berg said in interviews conducted in Berlin. Domscheit-Berg said he left WikiLeaks after a falling out with Assange over the lack of transparency in the organization's decision-making process. In an interview with OWNI technology website, Domscheit-Berg declined to further elaborate on his dispute with Wikileaks but said that “in these last months, the organization has not been open any more, it lost its open-source promise.” He added that Openleaks intends on providing a vehicle to publish leaked materials without taking on a publisher role itself. “If you preach transparency to everyone else you have to be transparent yourself. You have to fulfill the same standards you expect from others, and I think that's where we've not been heading in the same direction philosophically anymore,” said Domscheit-Berg in the documentary. Domscheit-Berg said he had issues with the way WikiLeaks handled larger leaks, including the 400,000 classified US war files from Iraq and 76,000 from Afghanistan from earlier this year. He said that it would have been wiser for WikiLeaks to publish these documents “slowly, step by step, to grow the project.” The launch of Openleaks comes after mounting speculation about the existence of copycat sites of the controversial site. Meanwhile, both WikiLeaks and Assange continue to face pressure after the site published 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables last month. Financial institutions such as Swiss Postfinance, Mastercard, Visa and Pay Pal have cut off the means for people to send donations to WikiLeaks, while Assange has been imprisoned in the UK and faces extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations. added by: ras_menelik

Fans Irate Over Michael Jackson Autopsy Special

Michael Jackson fans are not pleased with the idea of the late King of Pop’s autopsy being reenacted on TV, calling the concept an “affront to human dignity.” No arguments from THG there. The Discovery Channel is planning on broadcasting a gruesome reenactment of MJ’s autopsy in the UK next month, sending many Jackson fans into a tizzy. Fans have already gotten nearly 1,500 signatures demanding that the network nix the special , entitled simply and gruesomely Michael Jackson’s Autopsy . The fans behind the petition call the documentary offensive and add that “This type of sensational and unscrupulous reporting can only cause harm.” They conclude: “We ask the directors of the Discovery Channel programming to proceed with the outright cancellation of this indecent documentary.” Hopefully they succeed. In much more uplifting Michael news, watch his new music video – a duet with Akon on ” Hold My Hand ” after the jump! Hold My Hand Full Video: Akon & Michael Jackson

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Fans Irate Over Michael Jackson Autopsy Special

The Vanishing Of The Bees

Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables. Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees. Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss. Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery. added by: JanforGore

Michael Jackson Documentary Sparks Legal War

A legal fight has broken out over the Michael Jackson documentary Gone Too Soon , and it all stems from the fact that Canada got screwed out of seeing it. The owners of the film, which was released earlier this year and chronicles the King of Pop’s demise, are going after the distributor for depriving the nation. Objective Films claims they agreed to sell French and Canadian distribution rights, but a dude named Pierre Turgeon (not the NHL star) flaked on the deal. Here’s a sneak peek of the Gone Too Soon documentary … Gone Too Soon: MJ Documentary Sneak Peek

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Michael Jackson Documentary Sparks Legal War

Nicki Minaj Vents About Being A Female MC In ‘My Time Now’ Preview

Documentary premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. By Mawuse Ziegbe Nicki Minaj Photo: MTV If there’s one thing Nicki Minaj does not do in her MTV documentary “My Time Now,” it’s hold back. The Pink Friday MC has skyrocketed to the upper echelons of the hip-hop game with a flow that swings from beastly to baby-voiced and a boldly wacky-yet-vampy persona. In the doc, the pink-wigged spitter reveals that her growing success is not just the result of her stacks of scene-stealing features, but also her insistence on being regarded as a musical force to be reckoned with. “I put quality in what I do. I spend time and I spend energy and I spend effort and I spend everything I have, every fiber of my being, to give people quality,” Minaj says in a teaser clip from the forthcoming film, hanging out in a semi-casual outfit, sporting a pale-blue T-shirt and towering Pepto-Bismol-hued wig. “So if I turn up to a photo shoot and you got a $50 clothes budget and some sliced pickles on a mother—-in’ board, you know what? No. I am gonna leave. “Is that wrong? For wanting more for myself, wanting people to treat me with respect?” she continues. “But you know what? Next time, they know better. But had I accepted the pickle juice, I would be drinking pickle juice right now.” Minaj also analyzes the double standards she says plague the entertainment industry, explaining that a confident behind-the-scenes manner will often land women unfavorable and dismissive labels. “When I am assertive, I’m a bitch. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss. He bossed up. No negative connotation behind ‘bossed up.’ But lots of negative connotation behind being a bitch. Donald Trump can say, ‘You’re fired.’ Let Martha Stewart run her company the same way and be the same way. [People will say] ‘F—ing old evil bitch!’ But Donald Trump, he gets to hang out with young bitches and have 50 different wives and just be cool. ‘Oh, Donald, we love you, Donald Trump!’ ” Minaj quips theatrically. The “Roman’s Revenge” spitter further maintains that, to make it as a superstar, aspiring female artists are expected to juggle a superhuman amount of multitasking. “When you’re a girl, you have to be everything. You have to be dope at what you do but you have to be super sweet and you have to be sexy and you have to be this, you have to be that, and you have to be nice,” she says. “It’s like, ‘I can’t be all those things at once. I’m a human being.’ ” The soliloquy is another moment in which the MC candidly provides insight, not only into her experience as a lyricist careening toward fame, but her personal views and perspectives as well. In addition to trailing the lyricist as she lays down her debut album, cameras follow the hitmaker on an emotional visit to her native Trinidad and catch Minaj as she opens up about her late grandmother . “They’re gonna meet Onika,” she recently told MTV News about the doc. “Everybody sees Nicki Minaj; they’re gonna meet Onika. They’re gonna hear my story, and it’s such an inspirational story, which I never really wanted to tell. ‘Cause everyone always feels like you don’t want people to know too much. But when I saw what [MTV and production company @radical.media] did, I thought, ‘People need to see this.’ It reminds you that everyone always feels like this is it, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel like that’s what the doc says at the end.” Don’t miss the documentary “Nicki Minaj: My Time Now,” premiering Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV! Related Videos ‘Nicki Minaj: My Time Now’ Sneak Peek Related Artists Nicki Minaj

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Nicki Minaj Vents About Being A Female MC In ‘My Time Now’ Preview

Help Make Better TV: An Introduction to Bar Karma

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Help Make Better TV: An Introduction to Bar Karma

Nick Broomfield Looks Back At Kurt and Courtney

Nick Broomfield looks back on a less-than-reputable source for his documentary. KURT AND COURTNEY TONIGHT 12 am ET/ 9 pm PT

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Nick Broomfield Looks Back At Kurt and Courtney