We did a little math… From moment of conception to birth takes anywhere from 38 to 40 weeks, in case any of you were wondering. And we all know that Valentine’s Day is a special day for lovers to get their loooooove on. So we crunched some numbers and looked at celebrities born between the last week in November to the middle of December and figured there was a chance their parents came together during the love season and maybe even on Valentine’s itself! Hopefully YOU will only be popping out December babies if you plan on it! Continue reading →
Another day, another magazine cover for Nicki Minaj ! Young Money’s other big breadwinner covers the March issue of VIBE Magazine talks about readying Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and discusses how things done changed since Pink Friday came out. Peep a few quotes from the issue below: VIBE: You’ve said before that you didn’t really have fun recording Pink Friday. Nicki Minaj: I felt like I had something to prove to everyone who said a female rapper could not make an album unless she was talking about her pu$$y. And so I went above and beyond to prove that I could not talk about sex and not talk about my genitalia and still have a successful album. And I proved that. And now my time for proving things to my critics is over. I don’t really need to prove anything to anyone else anymore. Is it still hard to get your way as a woman in this industry? It’s not hard to get your way when it’s your way or the highway. People either follow suit or they’re not around. I don’t really like the sound of that, ‘cause that sounds like a temper tantrum. I’m just very black and white when it comes to my business. There’s really no gray area. I really don’t have a lot of small talk with people I work with. It’s pretty much let’s get the job done. In the beginning, if people didn’t know me they’d probably assume I wasn’t smart or wasn’t business savvy. But once you sit and talk to me, it’s a different story. You were heavy on the fashion scene last year around Fashion Week with Anna Wintour. Do you feel like you’ve been accepted by the fashion world? Yeah, I realized more recently that even if it’s for a fashion magazine, I’m not gonna change who I am. When I was doing photo shoots last year, I kept on being told, “This is what we want your hair to look like and this is what we want you to look like,” and it really, really stifled my creativity. So the other day I was talking to a photographer, and he said, “You know what, I like your everyday looks so much better than when you do photo shoots for magazines.” And I was like, “So do I, you’re absolutely right.” I’d been getting more and more frustrated for a while. But I’ve made up my mind that when you see a Nicki Minaj magazine cover from now on, it’s really going to reflect me and it’s going to be something that I creatively had a hand in, because I don’t have to do it anymore. I don’t have to do things just to please people. It’s okay to do what I love because what I love, my fans love. And they’re really the only ones that should matter. The fashion world will have to come to Nicki Minaj, as opposed to Nicki Minaj trying to go to the fashion world. Source Continue reading →
‘She was the ultimate legend. The ultimate woman,’ Beyonce says in a statement to MTV News about Houston, who died Saturday in L.A. By Jocelyn Vena Beyoncé, Jewel, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston perform on “Vh1 Divas” in 2003 Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images One day after pop music lost one of its icons and greatest voices, Whitney Houston , Beyonc
‘She was the ultimate legend. The ultimate woman,’ Beyonce says in a statement to MTV News about Houston, who died Saturday in L.A. By Jocelyn Vena Beyoncé, Jewel, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston perform on “Vh1 Divas” in 2003 Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images One day after pop music lost one of its icons and greatest voices, Whitney Houston , Beyonc
‘She was the ultimate legend. The ultimate woman,’ Beyonce says in a statement to MTV News about Houston, who died Saturday in L.A. By Jocelyn Vena Beyoncé, Jewel, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston perform on “Vh1 Divas” in 2003 Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images One day after pop music lost one of its icons and greatest voices, Whitney Houston , Beyonc
Wiz Khalifa, Ne-Yo, LL Cool J and ‘Sparkle’ co-star Tika Sumpter all pay tribute to the late icon. By Kelley L. Carter Clive Davis and Diddy onstage at the pre-Grammy Gala and Salute to Industry Icons Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Saturday night (February 11) before the Grammys is supposed to be a celebration. Instead, on the red carpet at LL Cool J ‘s pre-Grammy dinner party and Clive Davis’ annual soiree, tribute was paid and tears were shed after the news that Whitney Houston was found dead earlier that day. With the news so fresh in their minds, Houston’s celebrity friends were feeling the loss immensely. “I remember hearing her voice and thinking it was the most amazing and powerful voice I’d heard in my life. To this day, it can’t even be matched,” rapper Wiz Khalifa told MTV News on the Clive Davis red carpet. ” … We’re going to celebrate her life and the great things that she’s done. This is her night.” Inside the Clive Davis party, Houston’s mentor took a moment to share some words about his most famous discovery. “Whitney loved music and loved this night that celebrates music,” he told the crowd of celebrities and industry insiders. “Whitney was a beautiful person with talent beyond compare. She gave so many memorable performances here over the years. Her family asked that we carry on.” Diddy shared his memories of Houston onstage: “If you sat next to Whitney anywhere, you knew she was in for a good time. … She gave you a grandma hug that shook your body.” When Alicia Keys performed at Davis’ party, she spoke of her “kindred sisterhood” with Houston, whom she has collaborated with in the past. “The same man who helped her dreams come true helped my dreams come true,” Keys’ said of sharing mentor Davis with the late singer. Tony Bennett also toasted Whitney, singing in her honor Frank Sinatra’s “Music Never Ends,” which he said “Frank asked me to sing. … Dedicated to Whitney, the greatest singer I ever heard in my life.” “There was nothing she couldn’t do except conquer that demon that we all were aware of,” former late-night talk-show host Arsenio Hall told MTV News at the LL party. “Whitney could sing. Whitney could act. Whitney was incredibly funny. I remember nights hanging out with Whitney and just laughing until your stomach hurts.” LL, who had just come from his final rehearsal before hosting Sunday’s Grammys , said the show will be changed to honor Houston. He didn’t want to divulge specifics, except to say “of course it affects it. How could it not affect it? But we’ll, as a team … everybody involved with the Grammys, we want to give her respect. We’ll do something.” The rapper and actor also talked about Houston’s rich legacy, saying, “She was the pop queen. All the little girls wanted to sing like her. She was just like a member of a lot of people’s families. It’s devastating. … A great artist, great person. We go through so many ups and downs in life, but you just remember that voice.” At the Clive Davis event, singer/songwriter Ne-Yo echoed LL, saying, “Any little girl that wanted … to be a real singer — not a pop star, but a singer — there’s no way that that little girl can say that she wasn’t influenced by Whitney Houston. No possible way.” NBA legend Magic Johnson said he was longtime friends with Houston. He smiled when thinking about her and said he rarely missed a show when she performed in Los Angeles. Johnson said Houston had recently performed “Happy Birthday” for his wife, Cookie. “That’s who she was. She had a good heart. We shared so many moments with her. She thrilled us with being onscreen with her movies and everything. She always wanted to know how my theaters were doing, especially when she had a movie. She’d check and be like, ‘How’d it do at the box office?’ She was a great woman. It’s sad that this had to happen. This is tough for everybody,” Johnson said. Actress Tika Sumpter, who recently worked with Houston in the forthcoming “Sparkle,” was crying and said it was hard to smile on the red carpet. She plays one of Houston’s daughters in the film, alongside Jordin Sparks and Carmen Egojo. Sumpter said she hadn’t spoken with any of her castmembers since learning of Houston’s death earlier that day. “It’s so hard to talk about this right now. I got to work with her. And she’s an awesome woman. I thought of her as a second mom, and she thought of us as her daughters,” she said. “I’m excited for people to see how brilliant she is in it. I’m just happy that I was able to play her daughter.” Join us for a tribute to Whitney Houston with non-stop music videos on MTV Hits and MTV Jams, all day Sunday. Share your condolences with Whitney’s family and friends on our Facebook page. Related Videos Whitney Houston: Life And Music Of An Icon Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties Whitney Houston: A Life In Photos Related Artists Whitney Houston Diddy
MTV News sought out experts (and the slightly uninformed) to get predictions for Sunday’s Grammy Awards. By James Montgomery Photo: Getty Images/ MTV News Ever since the nominees for the 54th Grammy Awards were announced late last year, we’ve asked everyone from Vegas-tested professionals to cubicle-dwelling amateurs to predict just who will take home the golden gramophones during Sunday’s big show. And basically, they keep telling us the same thing: Adele is just going to win everything. And they’re probably right. After all, her 21 album is an unstoppable juggernaut, selling more than 6 million copies in less than a year, spawning two massive singles and almost singlehandedly keeping the industry afloat during dour times. So, yeah, we feel pretty comfortable referring to her as “the favorite.” Still, it’s not as if Adele’s Grammy-night triumph is a sure thing (not entirely anyway): In three of the so-called “Big Four” categories — Album, Record and Song of the Year — she’ll face stiff challenges from the likes of Mumford & Sons, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kanye West, to name just a few. In the other “Big Four” category (Best New Artist), she’s not nominated — mostly because she won it in 2009. So with music’s biggest night just around the corner, here’s a refresher on just who our expert oddsmakers — and resident awards-show expert (uh, me ) picked to win at the 54th Grammys: Record of the Year Not surprisingly, the U.K.-based oddsmakers at Ladbrokes like Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” here, installing it as the favorite at 2/1 odds. Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave” was next, at 9/4 odds, followed by Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” at 4/1. I decided to go out on a limb and predict Bon Iver’s “Holocene” would build on Arcade Fire’s unlikely Album of the Year win at last year’s Grammys and shock everyone by winning ROTY. Who’s right? Well, probably the pros, but we’ll just have to wait until Sunday to know for sure. Song of the Year Ladbrokes once again goes for Adele, giving “Rolling in the Deep” 1/1 odds to win. Kanye West’s “All of the Lights” is next at 2/1, followed by Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave” at 5/1. Me? I’m taking “Deep” too — mostly because it was the year’s biggest track, and one look back at previous SOTY winners (“Rehab,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” etc.) shows you which way this category tends to go. Album of the Year Ladbrokes has Adele’s 21 as the slight favorite here, giving the disc 11/8 odds. Close behind are Bruno Mars’ Doo Wops & Hooligans and the Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light, each of whom got 3/1 odds. I also picked 21 to win, but unlike the betting Brits, I didn’t think this one would even be close. Best New Artist Absent of Adele, BNA may very well be the night’s most-competitive category. Ladbrokes certainly seems to agree with that sentiment, as they’ve installed Nicki Minaj as the slight favorite (6/4 odds), but also kept the Band Perry (9/4), Bon Iver (4/1) and J. Cole (5/1) within striking distance. As for me, I took Minaj too, though I’m not sure how confident I feel about it now. I could certainly see the Band Perry winning instead, though my gut tells me that perhaps it’ll be Bon Iver who takes this one home — we’ll just have to wait until Sunday to see. Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties 2012 Grammy Performers 2012 Grammy Nominees Related Artists Adele Katy Perry Nicki Minaj
How did the film do so much with so little? Simon Hansen tells MTV News. By Kevin P. Sullivan Alex Russell in “Chronicle” Photo: 20th Century Fox This weekend, the teenage superheroes of “Chronicle” edged out Harry Potter himself at the box office with their amazing abilities. Made on a relatively tight budget of $12 million, the found-footage superhero movie made almost twice its budget back in domestic ticket sales alone. Part of the reason for the success, no doubt, was due to the work of visual-effects supervisor Simon Hansen and his team in South Africa. They created all the usual sights of a superhero flick but with a fraction of the budget. MTV News spoke with Hansen to find out how he did so much with so little. ( There are minor spoilers ahead. ) MTV : Where does work begin when trying to tackle something like “Chronicle” on such a low budget? Simon Hansen : That was obviously the challenge of the film and one of the reasons that I was keen to get involved with the project from the beginning. I get to play with commercially viable films that are also cost-effective to make. Having read the script, it was a small film. It’s supposed to be low-budget, relatively. I started making notes when we read the script, noting down all the effects. By the time I got to the third act, I put my pen down because it got so hectic that making notes at that point was a bit of a waste of time. There was clearly a hell of a lot more work that needed to be done. From that point of view, it was a really big film for a low budget, and that was what excited me and what excited everyone on the project. This was the little film that we were going to push further than smaller films normally go. MTV : What’s your approach for doing what the big-budget movies do but with a fraction of the money? Hansen : My background was actually pursuing that as a goal from a very early age in the industry, trying to make things that looked great but didn’t cost a lot. It wasn’t a new idea from that point of view. It wasn’t daunting or hindering; it was actually the most exhilarating part of the process. The superhero genre is a good comparison, which I think has too much money. Having these large budgets is removing the innovation from the project. Capping the budget is a way to force that ingenuity and innovation into the project, which I think does come across. I think “Chronicle” has that feel of being a higher-budget film than it is, but it always has a kind of edginess to it at the same time. MTV : Was there a question of “Can we do everything that’s in the script?” Hansen : Yes, the first question is, “Read the script and tell us how much of it we can do and what you think we can’t do.” My pitch that [producer] Adam [Schroeder] and [director] Josh [Trank] bought on “Chronicle” was that the first thing I was going to try to do was reduce the number of visual-effects shots in the film, because even though my background is visual effects, I like to think of myself as a filmmaker first. I’m not in love with CGI for its own sake. I’d rather do things in camera, and I think most directors would. I think audiences really appreciate the grittiness and edginess of stuff that’s real. If you’re forced to do CGI, try to do it in a way that’s really minimalist, where most of what you’re doing is real. MTV : What was the most challenging shot on the film? Hansen : The most important and the one I considered the biggest challenge was any kind of flying. What ended up happening was we ended up designing brand-new rigs to actually make people fly that worked out really well. It’s probably my favorite part of the process. It’s weird in effects how some shots start out one way and they don’t seem that difficult, and they end up being really difficult. The most difficult sequence was where Andrew beats up the thugs and tosses them around the street because we had to shoot that all in one day and all those different people were on wires and rigs. We had to do it in different parts and put it all together. You get tripped up by the sun moving during the day when you have to shoot it all in one day. The light’s changing all the time, and you’re shooting different elements together. For the level of complexity of that shot and the time we had to do it, that was definitely the most difficult. MTV : How did you come up with the solution for making the characters fly? Hansen : I’d been very frustrated, even with big-budget films and how they’ve done flying. Some of the bad examples, not to knock anyone, “Armageddon” ‘s weightless sequence, for example, was a movie that had a lot of money and didn’t get it right. Lots of films don’t get it right. I knew it wasn’t necessarily about the budget. It was about the technique to get flying to work. I spent a lot of time analyzing footage of sky diving and looking how bodies move in free motion. As a result, I ended up designing a big hamster-wheel rig that the subject would be strapped to in the center and he could be spun within this rig, which could turn itself. You’d get two axes out of it. The actors called it the Wheel of Death because you actually get strapped into this thing and a motor spins you around while the wheel is actually turning. You can do full-on McTwist-type movements. What I tried to get away from was a situation where you pick someone up on wires and move them from one side of a soundstage to another in front of a green screen. MTV : Was there anything you simply couldn’t accomplish with the budget? Hansen : I think we pretty much did just about everything that we wanted to in the script. There were some shots that didn’t work out the way that we wanted them to, where we had to reshoot them or come up with another way to do them. The closest we came to cutting things — we didn’t in the end — but the closest we came was not the kind of effect that you’d even be aware of. When Andrew films himself in the mirror and we’re using a considerably larger camera than the one he’s using, we needed to shoot with one camera and replace it and Andrew in the mirror with the smaller camera. Those turned out to be really difficult shots to plan and get right. No one will really pay them any attention. It’s amazing how that always happens. Check out everything we’ve got on “Chronicle.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos Talk Nerdy
‘If you’re in love, you’re in love to the fullest,’ singer/actress tells Cosmopolitan. By Jocelyn Vena Photo: Cosmopolitan Selena Gomez turns the big 2-0 later this year, and she seems to be leaving her tween image behind. The 19-year-old is the latest teen star to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan, following last month’s issue of the women’s magazine, featuring 17-year-old Dakota Fanning. For her first cover for the magazine, Gomez dons a low-cut, floral-print dress as she looks rather seductively into the camera. She’s sitting with her one leg perched in front of her body, displaying a saucier side of herself than fans might be used to seeing. Inside the issue, she’s talking all about love, opening up about her longtime boyfriend, Justin Bieber. “I’m just like every 19-year-old girl,” she said. “If you’re in love, you’re in love to the fullest, and you just want to go to the movies, hang out, and be as normal as possible. I’m fortunate that I’ve found someone who has that philosophy.” In another Cosmo quote floating around online, Gomez dishes on a past boyfriend (Taylor Lautner? Nick Jonas?) who didn’t make things as easy on her. “I was in a relationship previously where I had to hide everything and it wasn’t my choice. I had to go through different exits and take separate cars and do the craziest things, and it just really wasn’t worth it,” she explained. “It was like a year of my life completely wasted.” The more mature magazine cover comes as Gomez prepares for the next phase of her career . In the coming weeks, she’ll hit the set for her next film, the more adult-themed “Spring Breakers,” which follows a group of college girls who rob a restaurant to pay for their spring break. When they land in jail, a drug and arms dealer bails them out, and they quickly become entangled with him and his business. “It’s a different character than I have ever played before,” she told MTV News about the film, which will be directed by “Kids” mastermind Harmony Korine. “It’s a different kind of vibe I think than people are used to seeing me in. What you’re going to see is more raw, I think. It’s going to be raw and more about acting.” What do you think about Selena’s grown-up image? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos Selena Gomez: 2011 In Review Related Photos The Evolution Of Selena Gomez Related Artists Justin Bieber Selena Gomez
Abdul confirms news in statement and says ‘business decisions often times override personal considerations.’ By Kara Warner Paula Abdul Photo: Mark Davis/ Gety Images We’ve only had a few hours to digest the three very surprising exits from “X Factor” that were announced Monday, and we’re still scratching our heads at what happened over at Fox to make such drastic changes to the singing competition . For many fans, the biggest shock was Simon Cowell and company’s letting go of original “American Idol” diva and delightfully unpredictable judge Paula Abdul, who has since released a statement about her departure. “Yes, it’s true; I won’t be returning to The X Factor next season,” Abdul said in a statement. “I’ve learned through my longevity in this industry that business decisions often times override personal considerations. Simon and I, along with Fox and Fremantle, have been communicating about this for a while now, and I have absolute understanding of the situation. Simon is, and will remain a dear friend of mine and I’ve treasured my experience working this past season with my extended family at Fox and Fremantle. I want nothing more than for The X Factor to exceed ALL of their wildest dreams. This truly has been a blessing and I am most grateful.” Although they have not released official statements as of yet, we expect to hear from the other two ousted “X Factor” folks, Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones , sometime soon. The former Pussycat Doll and “Dancing With the Stars” champ will reportedly turn her attention back to her music career, while Abdul and Jones will be looking for their next big things. As far as we know, L.A. Reid will continue to work alongside Cowell on the judging panel. There has been no word yet from Fox on who might replace Abdul, Scherzinger and Jones, or when season two will premiere. What do you think Paula Abdul should do after “X Factor”? Leave your comment below. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: ‘X Factor’ Judges Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid
Breaking Sports Video
