This time lapse covers more than 1000 years and shows the shifting national borders of Europe. There’s also a slowed-down version that shows the year and some annotation of events. (via ★interesting ) Tags: maps time lapse video Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : kottke Discovery Date : 15/05/2012 15:31 Number of articles : 2
As Europe rebuilt itself after WWII, the Raleigh Bicycle Company’s popularity exploded—in large part because their bikes were faster, stronger, and lighter than anything else on the market. Heck, by 1946, Raleigh and other English bicycle makers were responsible for 95 percent of the bikes on American roadways. This short film explains how Raleighs were designed and built. [ Vimeo via Kottke ] More… Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Gizmodo Discovery Date : 12/05/2012 04:19 Number of articles : 2
See the live blog Telegraph UK , ” Hollande defeats Sarkozy to win French presidential election .” And at Los Angeles Times , ” Hollande wins French presidential race: Victory could change how Europe tackles debt crisis “: PARIS — Socialist Francois Hollande was elected president of France on Sunday, defeating conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in a race that focused heavily on the country’s economic… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : American Power Discovery Date : 06/05/2012 19:16 Number of articles : 2
Things might get a bit awkward in a few weeks. With Kanye West and Jay-Z scheduled to go on tour, sources tell Great Britain’s The Sun that the latter’s better half is not a fan of the former’s new girlfriend, a certain giant-breasted reality star. “Beyonce’s not happy about Kanye’s relationship with Kim ,” an insider claims to the publication. “She had a conservative upbringing which was very different to Kim’s.” What, exactly, is it about Kim Kardashian that bugs Beyonce so much? Says the source: “Bey’s never been impressed by her record with men.” Well, yeah. “And the sex tape that leaked a few years ago.” Good point. “Her 72-day marriage doesn’t exactly inspire her with confidence that she wants the relationship with Kanye to last either.” Hard to argue with that. Still, the women will need to make nice. West and Jay-Z will be touring Europe in May and June, with sources telling the newspaper that Kardashian has already lined up product launches around the same time in the area. She’ll be there. So will Beyonce, it stands to reason. Let’s hope these two get it on because, let’s face it: if they do, we all know who will be the survivor. [Photo: WENN.com]
This past week, Movieline has spotlighted a number of Tribeca Film Festival filmmakers and trailers of their fest premieres. This weekend, we’re sharing more. If you’re in New York and want to see some films at the festival (or if you are looking for a taste of Tribeca from afar), here is a sneak glimpse of more of this year’s offerings from the festival’s World Narrative Competition and World Documentary Competition . Today’s spotlights include two features from Tribeca’s World Narrative Competition, Jack and Diane as well as Yossi . And from the World Documentary Competition, Movieline is featuring Downeast , Wavumba and The World Before Her . Be in the know and check them out — and share your thoughts on these and other Tribeca films. Jack and Diane by director Bradley Rust Gray – U.S. [World Narrative Competition] Synopsis : Tomboy Jack and bubbly Diane fall head over heels in love one hot summer in New York City. But neither Jack’s tough exterior nor Diane’s demure innocence prepare them for the intensity of their feelings. When Diane reveals she must leave the city for school in Europe at the end of the summer, Jack pushes her away. As Diane struggles to maintain their budding romance, she must also try to conceal from Jack the increasingly dark and violent visions that have begun to plague her. [Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival] Comments by Bradley Rust Gray… Jack and Diane quick pitch : Girl eats girl. Girl feels sorry about eating girl. Girl misses girl. There’s some gum chewing in the middle. …and why it’s worth seeing at Tribeca : It’s quite likely the only film playing in New York next week which has an animated vagina in it. Thoughts about the trailer : We were trying to capture that awkward budding moment when two people have just exposed their hearts to each other; they feel vulnerable, sensitive, and excited – all feelings which the film re-engages with in different ways. [Read Movieline’s review of Jack and Diane here .] Yossi by director Eytan Fox – Israel [World Narrative Competition] Synopsis : Returning to the role that won him TFF’s Best Actor award in Eytan Fox’s Yossi & Jagger in 2003, Ohad Knoller gives another extraordinary performance as Yossi, a closeted gay man living a solitary existence in Tel Aviv. A perennially sad, workaholic doctor, Yossi has his quiet world shaken when a middle-aged woman walks out of his past and into his examination room. Their brief but emotionally charged reunion unnerves Yossi enough to make him spontaneously leave Tel Aviv. On the desolate roads of southern Israel, a chance encounter with a group of lively soldiers ignites Yossi’s desire to awaken from his emotional slumber. [Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival] Comments by Eytan Fox… Yossi quick pitch : Yossi is a follow up to a film I made 10 years ago. It’s a character study of Yossi, of his psyche and soul. As the film starts, he is still suffering from post-traumatic stress due to the death of his lover during the war. He remains in the closet, so he is also at war with himself. As a cardiologist, he has essentially exchanged one army for another, because being a doctor also involves consistently dealing with crises and difficult issues. You even have a uniform! Ultimately, the film is about Yossi eventually processing the horrible things that have happened to him, things he has long repressed, and finding ways to escape the very difficult places that he has been in for years. He finally discovers a new way to define himself and create a new life. …and why it’s worth seeing at Tribeca : This is our world premiere for Yossi . I would say people should see it for Ohad Knoller’s performance. I’m just so impressed and moved by what he did with the character of Yossi again, ten years later. I don’t want to insult any other actors of mine or characters of mine, but I don’t think I’ve ever loved a character as much as Yossi as played by Ohad. Thoughts about the trailer : I think most American films are big on taglines, so I have some for Yossi . “It’s never too late to start your life” or “It’s never to too late to start again.” These might seem like clichés, but it takes a lot of hard work to change your life. You have to understand what you need to change, be brave and work to love yourself. Downeast by directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin – U.S. [World Documentary Competition] Synopsis : The slogan on the ‘Welcome to Maine’ sign leading into Gouldsboro reads “Open for Business,” but the recent closure of the sardine canning factory has brought this small coastal town to a total standstill. Its laid-off residents — mostly 70-year-olds — just want to get back to work, so when Italian immigrant Antonio Bussone arrives from Boston aiming to open a new lobster processing plant, most of the local labor welcomes him with open arms. After all, they’re sick of sending their lobsters to Canada when there’s a ready-and-willing workforce to process them at home. So why is tapping into federal relief funds to finance the plant turning into the biggest struggle of Antonio’s life? [Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival] Comments provided by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin… Downeast quick pitch : Downeast is a poetic exploration of Antonio Bussone’s tireless efforts to build a factory amidst conflict, navigate a faceless banking system, and employ a stagnant workforce that resides on the coast of Maine. …and why it’s worth seeing at Tribeca : The economic crises played out in the streets and suites of New York City. Downeast shows its impact on the lives of every day workers and those who press forward against the odds. Thoughts about the trailer : The trailer shows the tensions involved in opening a factory when multiple interests are involved. Wavumba by director Jeroen van Velzen – The Neterhalnds [World Documentary Competition] Synopsis : Mysticism and color reign in this stunning documentary, steeped in the fishermen lore of Kenya. Dutch filmmaker Jeroen van Velzen explores his visceral memories of an early youth spent in coastal Kenya, where a reverence for the sea reigns high. Via the locals’ enigmatic recitation of a well known folktale, we are introduced to a spirit-filled island, to which a fisherman’s visit has the magic to alternately bless or curse his bounty. [Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival] Comments by Jeroen van Velzen… Wavumba quick pitch : Wavumba is a film about an old fisherman, Mashoud, who wants to catch a big shark as he did in the old days. Mashoud brings me into a world where fantasy, belief and reality cannot be differentiated from one another. …and why it’s worth seeing at Tribeca : Not everyone has a childhood like mine, but every child grows up with amazing stories or myths he believes in. That makes this film more than just my personal discovery. By bringing you into the Kenyan reality, which is bound to other laws than ours, I want to wake up that feeling of magic you had as a child. Thoughts about the trailer : In the trailer I want convey the main story lines of the film. The reasons for heading back to Kenya and making the film are personal, but by following Mashoud on his quest to catch a big shark and by listening to myths told by an old Kenyan story teller I want to take people on a journey with me back to the world which inspired me. The World Before Her by director Nisha Pahuja – Canada [World Documentary Competition] Synopsis : Young, beautiful, and ambitious, Ankita and Ruhi compete in the Miss India pageant for the chance at a career in the beauty industry, one of the few opportunities for women to find success and empowerment in contemporary India. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Miss India is Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the Hindu fundamentalist movement. Filming for the first time within a Durga Vahini camp, director Nisha Pahuja offsets the pageant narrative with that of camp leader Prachi, a fiery and compelling figure expressing a very different voice in the debate over women’s issues. [Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival] Comments by Nisha Pahuja… The World Before Her quick pitc h: The World Before Her looks at The Miss India beauty contest and a Hindu fundamentalist camp for girls — two competing ideas of India playing themselves out on the bodies of young women. …and why it’s worth seeing at Tribeca : There’s a lot more to the film than women in bikinis and women with guns – what’s happening in India really is a mirror that shows the West back to itself. We deal with two of the most critical and defining issues of the day – fundamentalism and capitalism. We also look at the struggles that women in India continue to face. Thoughts about the clip : In this clip you will meet Prachi our key fundamentalist character. She has a very complex relationship with her father and in this clip she expands on that relationship. In so doing Prachi points to the larger reality of female infanticide – still practiced in India. Read all of Movieline’s Tribeca 2012 coverage here .
Singer ventures into dance-music realm for the power track, which was created for Converse’s 3 Artists 1 Song series. By Jocelyn Vena Kimbra Photo: MTV News Before Kimbra hooked up with Foster the People leading man Mark Foster and well A-Trak for “Warrior,” she had just “dabbled” in the dance music realm. But on the new track, she plants all four firmly on the floor for the track. “It’s refreshing to kind of go into different genres, sometimes when you’ve been working on your own stuff for so long,” Kimbra told MTV News recently. Currently riding high off the success of her Gotye collaboration, “Somebody That I Used To Know,” the singer will release her album, Vows, Stateside in May. She ended up with Foster and A-Trak at the request of Converse for their 3 Artists, 1 Song series, which brings together artists to work on music and a coinciding music video to help launch the brand’s latest shoe line. And it’s not just the song that’s big, but also the message of the song. Kimbra offers up a girl-power battle cry on the chorus, singing, “You’re just pushing me down, pushing me down, pushing me down/(They tell you, ‘Trust your head, be like men’ but never feel like you’re good enough)/You’re just crushing me down, crushing me down, crushing me down/(They wanna take our light, make us fight, but never cry for the ones you love!)/(I’ll be your warrior, warrior).” That in-your-face feeling was actually made with very little face-to-face contact between the three artists, as they were all on separate continents when they mad the song. “I think that was fun for us all to have boundaries in that sense and not be able to be in the same room,” she told MTV News. “But it was kind of fun and we did get the chance to sit down together at one point and that was really great after talking on the phone for so long to finally be in the same room together.” The power of the song’s lyrics is mirrored in the video, which features the trio as luchadores battling it out for supremacy. And, despite several shots where the trio is all together, Kimbra let us in on a big secret. “So the video shoot was challenging because I couldn’t be in L.A. for the time of the shoot,” she said. “So I think I was in Europe at the time, so we organized for my shoot to be done to a green screen. There’s a little bit of face replacement in there as well. I’m telling you all the secrets! “But it’s fun. It’s cool that it all looked continuous enough,” she added. “I’m a bit bummed I didn’t get to do the round-house kicks. That was a stunt double. It was really fun. I always say to them, I could have done [the kicks]. They jumped to conclusions there.” Related Artists Kimbra
In the past three years Barack Obama has blamed the sputtering economy on weather… Europe… an earthquake… bad luck… the tea party… the internet and Congress. You get the picture – It’s not his fault… ever. This week the GOP … Continue reading → Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Gateway Pundit Discovery Date : 15/04/2012 20:47 Number of articles : 2
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
“If life is really a video game, then who has the controller?,” asks David Banner . The Mississippi rapper is dropping a new, self-funded album, S-x, Drugs & Video Games, on May 22nd, and hopes to flip the music business paradigm via his 2M1 movement. According to Banner, part of the album’s inspiration was being “embarrassed” by the world’s perception of African-American men after a trip to Europe a few years ago… Continue
‘If you die tomorrow, at least you won today,’ Kev Nish says, making a reference to Far East’s collaboration with TH frontman Bill Kaulitz. By James Montgomery Far East Movement Photo: MTV News Tokio Hotel ‘s first 24 hours as Musical March Madness champions has already included some spirited back-and-forth between their Aliens and Green Day’s rabid fanbase (check the comments of our title game recap for proof), a rather gracious acceptance speech from the Brothers Kaulitz, and now, a special shout-out from their pals in the Far East Movement. Yes, when MTV News caught up with the fast-rising hitmakers on Wednesday, they were quick to praise Tokio Hotel for their MMM win … and pimp their upcoming collaboration with Bill Kaulitz, too. “Big congrats to Tokio Hotel, Bill Kaulitz and crew!” Far East’s Kev Nish said. “If you die tomorrow, at least you won today.” See what he did there? For the uninitiated, “If I Die Tomorrow” is a song on Far East’s upcoming Dirty Bass album, which features collabos with the likes of Justin Bieber, LMFAO’s Redfoo and, of course, Kaulitz. And if featuring a member of TH on a track seems a bit off, well, let’s let Nish explain how the whole thing came to be. “When we first signed to Cherrytree [Records], we went on the website and see who’s on the roster … how do you pick what label to go to, you know?” he said. “And we saw Tokio Hotel, and we were like ‘Yo, this band is wild.’ We were on a bus watching them on the MTV Europe Awards, winning, and we were like, ‘We need to do a song with those dudes.’ “So we got in with Bill Kaulitz and we just wanted to do a song about losing yourself, about possibly losing your mind, because you might die the next day,” he continued. “It’s called ‘If I Die Tomorrow,’ and it’s Bill Kaulitz and his incredible tone in our dirty bass world … and that’s kind of where dirty bass is going: unexpected collaborations.” And given Tokio Hotel’s big MMM win, we think this may be the first of many Kaulitz collaborations. After all, when you’re on top, everyone wants a piece of you. Related Videos Musical March Madness 2012: Video Highlights Related Photos MTV’s Musical March Madness 2012 Related Artists Far East Movement Tokio Hotel