In case you hadn’t heard, Nick Cannon is alive. After suffering mild kidney failure over the holidays, Cannon is back to overseeing his media empire. From his office, which is forty floors above Times Square, Mr. Mariah Carey Cannon made a video to set the record straight about all of the speculation surrounding his hospitalization. Nick alludes to the fact there are a few more procedures he has to undergo to get an absolute clean bill of health. Though he doesn’t go into detail about those procedures, we hope everything goes well for the media mogul. RELATED POSTS: Nick Cannon And Mariah Carey Attend BET Honors [PHOTOS] Nick Cannon Hospitalized After Mild Kidney Failure Mariah Carey Flaunts Her Post Pregnancy Body in Jenny Craig Commercial
‘I love everything that they do and just want to be a part of everything,’ Cannon tells MTV News By Nadeska Alexis Nick Cannon Photo: MTV News During his recent hospital stay for treatment of kidney failure, Nick Cannon got plenty of support from his wife, Mariah Carey — he referred to her as his “angel” during our interview — but his twins Moroccan and Monroe were also a key part of the entertainer’s decision to adapt a healthier lifestyle . During his first day back at the office on Tuesday, Cannon told MTV News that his health scare intensified the way he feels about his family. “Right now my kids are everything — they’re always going to be everything, but when something like this happens to you, everything else is shut out and you’re just focused on them,” he said. “So every second you just notice so many things … it just makes it so much more poignant. I love everything that they do and just want to be a part of everything.” Cannon, who has temporarily adapted a strict renal diet, said that his time in the hospital made all of the important things very clear. “There’s a second where you’re thinking, ‘What if I’m not able to instill the things I want to instill into my children?’ It just makes you think, like, ‘I need to give them everything I could possibly give them right now,’ and obviously it starts with love.” The radio and stand-up comedy host was hospitalized during a vacation with his family in Aspen, Colorado, after experiencing severe pains in his lower back. Doctors initially suspected kidney stones as the culprit, before more tests showed that his kidneys were shutting down due to an overdose of protein, medication he was taking and a lack of proper sustenance. “I always considered myself as someone who was in great shape, but I was doing too much [to my body] so my immune system got confused and just started attacking my kidneys,” Cannon told MTV News. “You look at my Twitter picture and I look like I’m in shape, but I was putting the wrong stuff into my body, speeding all the time, not sleeping and eating properly. It’s all about taking time and really caring about yourself and how you fuel yourself.” Related Artists Nick Cannon
‘I’m in because he brought the troops home,’ read one poster in the Obama campaign office in Manchester. By Gil Kaufman, with reporting by Sway Calloway Obama supporters in New Hampshire Photo: Getty Images MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — “I’m in because we are the change we’ve been waiting for.” “I’m in because I want my grandchildren to know what polar bears are.” “I’m in because the power is in the voice of the youth.” Those are a few of the handwritten signs penned by volunteers for the Obama 2012 re-election as part of a “Why Are You In?” wall aimed at inspiring them to get out the vote during Tuesday’s (January 10) primary. While most of the attention has been focused on the squabbling among the Republican White House hopefuls in the Granite State, as in last week’s Iowa caucus , the Obama team here has been hard at work training volunteers, making calls and reaching out to the state’s legendary independent voters and committed Democrats to remind them to come out on Tuesday. It’s part of an effort to keep the president’s supporters fired up and ready to go for the general election in November, and 19-year-old volunteer Kathieya Odiah said the chance to see how a campaign works has been eye-opening. “The Obama campaign is basically about having volunteers and having a grassroots campaign, so when we have volunteers come in we always have them make posters and notes about why they come here for Obama,” said Odiah, one of a number of Quinnipiac University students who will spend several weeks of their winter break working for Obama 2012. She pointed to one of the signs she wrote, “I’m in because he brought troops home,” explaining that she felt strongly about the president ending the war in Iraq. The Manchester office, the largest of seven such locations around the state, has housed hundreds of volunteers over the past few months, and during a visit from MTV’s Power of 12 team on Tuesday afternoon, young volunteers were sprawled on couches, on the floor and across several rooms as they clutched their call sheets and reached out to remind voters to make it to the polls before they closed at 8 p.m. Her friend and fellow volunteer, Long Island, New York’s Morgan Farra, 20, said she’s in because the president has helped make college affordable for students like her by increasing the number of Pell grant recipients by 3 million so far. “It’s really important to me because if you don’t have an education, you’re missing out on one of the greatest experiences of your life,” she said. Inspired by the unprecedented grassroots campaign run by Obama in 2008, 19-year-old Natalie Deduck said she has been putting in the 10 to 12-hour days at the Manchester office because she knows the importance of starting early and strong in order to rally the troops again. Jameson Cherilus, 22, is typical of the office’s volunteers. He started his day around 8 a.m. outside an elementary school, where he held up signs for the president and reminded primary voters that Obama was on the ballot before hitting the office for a long day of phone calls. “I’m here because President Obama supports small business,” read another sign that shouted out Flanders Fish Market in East Lyme, Connecticut. “It’s been pretty hard getting my … friends involved in the campaign [because] they honestly don’t understand how important it is to start now even though it’s only January,” said Odiah about the challenges she’s faced while making calls in Manchester and speaking to her peers about what she’s doing. “We have to explain to people that we need to start now. [Once] Republicans choose who they’re going to have for their candidate, they’re already going to have half of the votes. … Yeah, [Obama’s] going to win the primary, but this is a dry run. This is our way of knowing this is what it’s going to look like in November. It’s hard.” MTV is on the scene in New Hampshire! Check back here around the clock for up-to-the-minute coverage on the primary caucuses, and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the presidential election season. Related Videos New Hampshire Primary Sparks Youth Conversation
There was good news and bad news at the movies over the weekend, where the first big box office frame of the new year showed a nice bounce from the sluggishness afflicting the end of 2011. The bad news? The comeback was led by the film equivalent of a dirty diaper. Let’s have a look. 1. The Devil Inside Gross: $34,500,000 (new) Screens: 2,285 (PSA $15,098) Weeks: 1 Paramount’s microbudget Insurge label scored big again with its found-footage horror goods — well, maybe not “goods,” as the demonic-possession flick nabbed an ultra-rare CinemaScore of “F.” Wow! People hated this movie! So for those of you keeping track at home: $34.5 million worth of viewers went home nursing the aftertaste of battery acid, while Paramount now has the highest-grossing R-rated January opener ever. It’s nice to see 2012 off to such a mutually rewarding start at the multiplex. 2. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Gross: $20,500,000 ($170,201,000) Screens: 3,555 (PSA $5,767) Weeks: 4 (Change: -30.3%) At least there’s this as well from the ‘Mount. Put it on a parade float and let’s just move on. 3. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Gross: $14,055,000 ($157,415,000) Screens: 3,603 (PSA $3,901) Weeks: 4 (Change: -32.7%) While no slouch, Holmes 2 looks decreasingly likely to match Iron Man 2 ‘s fest of besting the original at the box office, which I guess means Paramount (along with Marvel) can take even more consolation in having the superior Robert Downey Jr. franchise. To which Warners is all, “Oh yeah? Well, we have the best Jude Law franchise!” To which Paramount is all, “Jude who?” To which Warners is all, “Nice CinemaScore!” To which Paramount is all, “[Stony-faced fuming silence].” 4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Gross: $11,300,000 ($76,836,000) Screens: 2,950 (PSA: $3,831) Weeks: 3 (Change: -23.8%) Let’s hope this silences once and for all the critics who’ve called out Dragon Tattoo ‘s performance as underwhelming or soft: It’s doing pretty freaking well for a 150-minute R-rated rapey miserablist romp. $100 million is less than two weeks away at this rate, and $200 million is hardly out of the question if and when Oscar’s grace shines upon it. 5. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked Gross: $9,500,000 ($111,588,000) Screens: 3,425 (PSA $2,774) Weeks: 4 (Change: -42%) Against all odds, Chipwrecked continues to demonstrate its appeal among the naked crackhead demographic sturdy legs heading into its second month. High-five! [Figures via Box Office Mojo ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Post-yuletide holiday crowds flocked to the same trio of sequels that dominated the Christmas box office — Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol , Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows , and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked — while Summit newcomer The Darkest Hour limped into theaters waaaay under the radar. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise will be ringing in the new year with a number 1 box office finish, made all the sweeter by projections that Ghost Protocol will overtake the $134 million domestic take of the series’ last installment by Monday. Dive into your Friday Box Office! 1. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL : $10,700,000 ($113,589,000) 2. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS : $7,650,000 ($117,654,000) 3. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED : $7,125,000 ($83,484,000) 4. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO : $5,350,000 ($46,161,000) 5. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN : $4,900,000 ($32,387,000) 9. THE DARKEST HOUR : $1,700,000 (new) [Figures via Box Office Mojo ]
Heavy D died from a pulmonary embolism caused by deep leg vein thrombosis, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. TMZ is reporting that a pulmonary embolism — which is a blockage of one or more arteries in the lungs, most often caused by blood clots which travel from other parts of the body — was formed in Heavy’s legs. Heavy D also suffered from heart disease, which could have been a contributing factor in his death. The Coroner’s Office has classified the death as “natural.” RELATED: Hip-Hop Royalty Honors Heavy D At Soul Train Music Awards [VIDEO] Heavy D Funeral: President Obama Sends Letter Of Condolence Jay-Z, Will Smith & More Attend Heavy D Funeral Service [PHOTOS] Rap Legend Heavy D Dead At 44
The autopsy results for Heavy D are in. The iconic rapper reportedly passed away in November from a pulmonary embolism – a blockage in one of his arteries, initiated by a blood clot in his leg – which may have been exacerbated by a long flight to the Michael Jackson memorial concert. Heavy D – Now That We Found Love The L.A. County Coroner’s Office has listed Heavy D’s death as “natural” and added that the artist suffered from heart disease. Relating his passing to the long flight he took to Europe a few days prior is speculation, but such extended inactivity is a common cause of death for those with deep leg vein thrombosis.
Experts explain to MTV News why the best-selling book didn’t translate to a box-office #1. By Eric Ditzian Rooney Mara in “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy of crime thrillers has sold about 17 million copies in the United States alone. The first novel in the series, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” is the first book ever to sell a million digital copies. The books have become nothing short of cultural touchstones, the collective response of devoted fans to the uninitiated being something along the lines of “You haven’t read ‘Dragon Tattoo’? What’s wrong with you?” That’s the entertainment scene onto which David Fincher’s American adaptation of “Dragon Tattoo” came last week. What’s more, the movie received strong critical reviews , Sony’s marketing campaign was lauded by industry insiders and MTV named it the Best Movie of 2011 . Yet “Dragon Tattoo” wound up with a six-day gross of just $27.8 million — the highest total of any new release but good for just fourth place overall and undoubtedly disappointing given its lofty pedigree. So what happened? “Maybe fans of the Stieg Larsson novel were satisfied by last year’s Swedish film and weren’t feeling David Fincher’s Hollywood version,” writes Deadline editor in chief Nikki Finke, who notes the weak opening is especially surprising given the film was the only rated-R wide-release over the Christmas season and that “adults are flocking to specialty box-office hits like Fox Searchlight’s ‘The Descendants’ and the Weinstein Co’s ‘The Artist.’ ” The release date could also have been a factor, even as Sony positioned “Dragon Tattoo” as the “feel-bad movie of Christmas.” “The dark and violent subject matter coupled with intense competition for the attention of mature adults led to an underwhelming result over the happy and cheery yuletide holiday,” says Gitesh Pandya, editor of Box Office Guru . With no wide releases slated for the upcoming weekend, however, “Dragon Tattoo” could see its box-office haul grow significantly. Sony’s distribution chief, Rory Bruer, told TheWrap that the film “is off to a good start and it’s just going to get better with every day through the rest of the holiday season and well into the new year.” Finke, too, expects the film’s B.O. numbers to pick up this week, and Pandya suggests “a domestic final of $100 million cannot be ruled out this early in the run as moviegoers continue to catch up on films they are interested in.” That’s good news for fans of the series and of Fincher’s film, who have their fingers crossed that the Oscar-nominated director gets the go-ahead to make the final two pictures in Larsson’s series. As Fincher told us recently , he hopes that the first film is received well enough that he’s able to revisit, in journalist Mikael Blomkvist and hacker Lisbeth Salander, “two fascinating characters who I have really come to care about.” In the end, though, the chance to see Fincher’s adaptations of “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” might be entirely out of the hands — or, rather, the wallets — of American moviegoers. “Ironically, the biggest factor in this sequelizing or not will come down to how well it does in foreign market — a place where the Swedish version of the film already made nearly $100 million just a couple years ago,” said Jeff Bock, box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “Do overseas audiences really want to see the Hollywood version after the original is so fresh in their minds and was equally well-received?” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ Clips
Yeah, I can’t get over Rooney Mara’s Dragon Tattoo getup. It’s so… dated? Swedish? Remarkably cliche? And yet entrancing? Anyway, it has alternative connotations, and that brings me to Movieline’s Christmas indulgence of the day: alternative women covers of yuletide classics. I couldn’t find an embed of Liz Phair’s recent “Baby It’s Cold Outside” cover with the band Wheat, please consider that the unofficial sixth entry on this list. Take us to the Grinch, Aimee Mann! The glorious and still-somehow-underrated Aimee Mann’s superior Christmas disc One More Drifter in the Snow contains a bunch of amazing covers, but the gnarliest one has got to be “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” Super droll, winking, and cool. As always for the Oscar-nominated Mann. Sinead O’Connor, perhaps the single most poignant voice of the past 25 years, has covered “Ode to Billie Joe,””Chiquitita,” and “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” with great success, but I’m particularly partial to her version of “Silent Night.” It’s the perfect forum for her childlike, yet commanding tone. Kate Bush. There is no other Kate Bush. In this ’79 Christmas special, she woos you with that ethereal voice that trilled about the plight of Cathy and Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights.” Now that every hipster in sight waits eagerly for her new releases, acquaint yourself with the kooky wraith we first met on The Kick Inside . Tori Amos is an obvious heir to Kate Bush’s legacy of cooing vulnerability and mystical lyrics, but her cover skills are pretty singular. Check out her live versions of “Father Figure” and “Like a Prayer” for maximum intimacy, but this Christmas jam is also sufficient. Patti Smith’s brief cover of “White Christmas” is lovely. Since you presumably already know her covers of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Rolling in the Deep,” you’ll be refreshed to find tiny version of Irving Berlin’s classic.
Yeah, I can’t get over Rooney Mara’s Dragon Tattoo getup. It’s so… dated? Swedish? Remarkably cliche? And yet entrancing? Anyway, it has alternative connotations, and that brings me to Movieline’s Christmas indulgence of the day: alternative women covers of yuletide classics. I couldn’t find an embed of Liz Phair’s recent “Baby It’s Cold Outside” cover with the band Wheat, please consider that the unofficial sixth entry on this list. Take us to the Grinch, Aimee Mann! The glorious and still-somehow-underrated Aimee Mann’s superior Christmas disc One More Drifter in the Snow contains a bunch of amazing covers, but the gnarliest one has got to be “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” Super droll, winking, and cool. As always for the Oscar-nominated Mann. Sinead O’Connor, perhaps the single most poignant voice of the past 25 years, has covered “Ode to Billie Joe,””Chiquitita,” and “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” with great success, but I’m particularly partial to her version of “Silent Night.” It’s the perfect forum for her childlike, yet commanding tone. Kate Bush. There is no other Kate Bush. In this ’79 Christmas special, she woos you with that ethereal voice that trilled about the plight of Cathy and Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights.” Now that every hipster in sight waits eagerly for her new releases, acquaint yourself with the kooky wraith we first met on The Kick Inside . Tori Amos is an obvious heir to Kate Bush’s legacy of cooing vulnerability and mystical lyrics, but her cover skills are pretty singular. Check out her live versions of “Father Figure” and “Like a Prayer” for maximum intimacy, but this Christmas jam is also sufficient. Patti Smith’s brief cover of “White Christmas” is lovely. Since you presumably already know her covers of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Rolling in the Deep,” you’ll be refreshed to find tiny version of Irving Berlin’s classic.
