Adam Lambert has made history. The former American Idol runner-up shot past another famous series alumnus this week and claimed the number-one spot on the Billboard 200 for his latest album, “Trespassing.” In doing so, Lambert became the first openly gay man to sit atop the chart. Yes, Clay Aiken achieved the same status with his 2003 CD, but he did not come out of the closet until five years later. Of course, the important thing is not Lambert’s sexuality; it’s his success. The eccentric crooner sold 77,000 units of “Trespassing” in the seven days since its release. Well done, Adam! Here’s a look at the Billboard top five: Adam Lambert, Trespassing: 77,000 Adele, 21: 63,000 Carrie Underwood, Blown Away: 54,000 Norah Jones, Little Broken Hearts: 45,000 Tenacious D, Rise of the Fenix, 44,000
UFC president Dana White decided to use his first – and likely only – video blog for UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier as a chance to discuss television ratings. Many have reported on the recent numbers that were released for UFC on Fox: Diaz vs. Miller . While some have said it was a disappointment, White and UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta have stood firm in the success of the show. In this… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Opposing Views Discovery Date : 15/05/2012 01:57 Number of articles : 2
‘There’s a little chip on my shoulder,’ frontman Aaron Bruno tells MTV News of writing the follow-up to the band’s Megalithic Symphony. By James Montgomery AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno Photo: MTV News AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno already knows how he wants the follow-up to his band’s breakout (and epically titled) Megalithic Symphony album to sound. The key now is finding the time to actually write it. “I think the next record will be a little more raw, and a little more aggro, and a little stranger, but still have the nursery-rhyme feel of melody, because that’s the only way I know how to write,” he told MTV News. “I’m working on it now [while the band is on tour] and, really, it’s the only thing keeping me sane. Every day I wake up, and I’m so excited to first of all find a shower, and then have a coffee, and then do a couple of other things that I probably can’t mention, and then open up the computer and just see what happens. … It’s a nice break from the routine [of] playing the same old songs, meeting the same people, waking up at the same venues, same parking lots across the country.” Yes, such is life for AWOLNATION, who went from relative unknowns to rock-radio monsters based on a relentless tour schedule and the strength of hit singles “Sail” and “Not Your Fault.” Since bursting onto the radar, Bruno has seemingly spent every waking minute on the road, and it doesn’t look like that will change much anytime soon (AWOL are currently touring until the end of July). So needless to say, he’s itching to break the cycle and get into the studio to begin work on the new album. And no, he’s not about to shy away from the expectations that come with following a hit album. “I got a little chip on my shoulder with the songwriting and I’ve got a lot to say about the world, so there’s a little bit of a fist on this new record that I’m excited about,” he said. “I’ve always been the underdog my whole life, and the guys in my band, we all came up in the same situation, so this success is totally new and foreign for us, so I want to maintain the hunger of being the underdog and never feel complacent with the success and always want to reach more ears. Not necessarily to make money, but because I feel the music’s important.” And while Bruno’s relishing the opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong, he’s also trying to stop and appreciate just how far his band has come. Of course, given his nature, that’s proving to be easier said than done. “All of this seems like a joke to me. It doesn’t seem real. I wake up every day and I have to remind myself … this is really happening, it’s OK to enjoy it,” he laughed. “But I’ve had a hard time doing that because I’m constantly focused on the next thing.” Are you looking forward to new music from AWOLNation? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists AWOLNATION
By Susan Duclos Gaffe-alicious So, to recap: Johnson controls got $299 million of taxpayer stimulus and it resulted in 1 factory at half-capacity , outsourced jobs to Hungary , corporate downsizing , and the company is being fined for potential lead poisoning . And this is the success story he is putting in his campaign ads. Links in recap added by me taken from the article linked above. The Obama… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Wake Up America Discovery Date : 10/05/2012 16:51 Number of articles : 2
The Avengers will officially assemble again. Disney announced the obvious today: following a record-shattering opening weekend , the superhero blockbuster will come out with a sequel at an undetermined date in the future. In related, even less obvious news, Kim Kardashian likes money. ” The Avengers isn’t just a film,” said Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger to CNBC. “It’s a franchise from our perspective. Obviously, it was helped a lot by the success of the Iron Man movies and of Tho r and Captain America . From The Avengers we get a chance to make Thor 2 and Captain America 2 and
‘We knew the film would be judged by the success of the Hulk,’ ‘Avengers’ visual-effects supervisor tells MTV News. By Josh Wigler Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in “Avengers” Photo: Marvel/Disney At the end of the day, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is all about character. If the viewer doesn’t feel invested in the conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, the inner-turmoil Bruce Banner feels as he keeps “the other guy” at bay or any other number of relationships, then the movie as a whole simply does not work. Thankfully, all those things work with flying colors due to the winning combination of Joss Whedon’s direction and script and the performances from Earth’s mightiest actors themselves. But while story is a crucial component to the success of “The Avengers,” spectacle cannot be downplayed as another essential ingredient. The film’s visual-effects supervisor Jeff White and his team had their work more than cut out for them when approaching “The Avengers,” a movie filled with no fewer than six superheroes, one particularly nasty supervillain and an entire alien armada to fight for his cause. MTV News spoke with White about his work on the film, what he viewed as the greatest visual-effects challenges, why the Hulk was key to the movie’s success and what it was like working with Whedon. The Biggest Challenge In short? Everything. “At the end of the day, with ‘Avengers,’ there were so many things to get right,” White told MTV News about the biggest difficulties facing his team. “We created a lot of New York City for the film and needed to build flying shots of Iron Man all from photography. We had to build a new Iron Man suit — the Mark VII — and Stark Tower. We had to build the alien race. When you add all of those things up, there are quite a few challenges there.” That’s not even mentioning the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the floating base of operations for Earth’s mightiest heroes. “That was a massive undertaking,” White said. “The challenge was not only building the Helicarrier, but then having to build the atrium underneath that you fly into. Then we had to build all of the set dressing to make it feel like it was a populated vehicle: the flight crew, digital doubles, the vehicles pulling objects around, planes on the deck … all of that stuff, if it’s not there, makes everything feel very CG, because it’d be so empty.” We Have a Hulk … Still, if there was one particular ingredient White had to get right, the answer is easy: the Hulk. Already a big fan of Bruce Banner’s monstrous alter-ego going into the project, White said so much of “Avengers” leans on the existence of a compelling Jade Giant. “It was important to deliver on the performance that Joss was looking for. He knew exactly the Hulk he wanted to bring to the big screen. All of the great moments Hulk has in the film was Joss really guiding us there,” White said of creating the latest take on Hulk. “We wanted this guy to be as photo-real as we could make him. He’s not in a solo film; he’s part of an ensemble team. We wanted it to feel very natural when he’s sitting in that circle of Avengers. We didn’t want him to pop off or seem separate from the rest of them. So in that vein, we spent a lot of time working on his skin and his hair and his teeth, just to make sure that all of that was believable.” … But They Have an Army Just as important are the enemies Hulk goes up against — namely the Chitauri, the alien warriors Loki recruits to help him take over Earth. As they’re not the most iconic creatures in Marvel Comics lore, the “Avengers” design team had some freedom in bringing the heroes’ enemies to the big screen. “They’d done some initial designs at Marvel, as far as getting their overall forms in place. They came up with this idea of a mixture of metals and leather and skin, and then we ran with that as far as what the textural details were, making sure that the chariots had enough variety in them, making sure that when we initially started, we wouldn’t see the aliens with their helmets off — and then through the course of production, we do see them that way,” White said. “That was a whole round of design processes: What do they look like? What do their heads look like under that armor? I think one of the great parts of them is they’re wearing all of that armor — it’s worn, they’ve clearly been through several battles — but you can still see their eyes in there. That’s an important part of connecting them as a threat to the Avengers.” Release the Leviathan The Chitauri foot soldiers aren’t the only threats the Avengers have to worry about in the film. There are also the massive Leviathans, giant sky serpents hell-bent on destroying Manhattan. “That’s all about scale,” White said of those creatures. “It was such a great opportunity to have these massive creatures ambling around New York. Part of their design was to put these wings on them, which made them too wide to fit down a New York street, which in turn led us to have them tearing through buildings and causing mayhem everywhere they go.” Some fans have likened the Leviathans to something out of a Michael Bay “Transformers” movie — an observation that’s all the more interesting when considering White’s previous visual-effects work on those very same films. “You can see where the ‘Transformers’ comparisons come from as far as the trailers go. But when you see how the Leviathans operate in the film, and the role they fill and what drives them forward, there’s a pretty big difference,” White said. “Driller from ‘Transformers’ was all metal and all machine, digging through the ground to take down a building. These guys are actually organic beneath all of that armor. They have these worn gold plates and energy signatures that ripple down the side. We really tried to make sure that they felt unique. But I agree, when the first trailer came out, that [‘Transformers’ similarity] was a component of it, but when you see them in the entire film, they really serve a very different purpose.” The Geek God’s Influence Creating aerial bases, giant green rage-monsters, chariot-riding aliens and massive flying serpents is all well and good, but for White, the real thrill of working on “Avengers” was collaborating with Whedon, a storyteller who White was already very fond of going into the project. “It was fantastic,” White said of working with Whedon. “He’s involved in the [visual-effects] process every step of the way. Joss is so good at working with actors, and that extended right through working with animation and trying to get that same performance, really coaching us along. ‘Here’s what we want to see, here’s where you really want that look to get the emotion across his face.’ Everything he does so well with writing and actors really translated into his direction for working with the Hulk. He was involved in the entire effects process and every review. It was great working with him.” Tell us what you thought of the visual effects in “The Avengers” in the comments section or on Twitter ! Check out everything we’ve got on “Marvel’s The Avengers.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Avengers’ Related Photos ‘Avengers’ Assemble At Los Angeles Premiere
‘Hunger Games’ star may land a lead role in the film adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ best-selling memoir. By Fallon Prinzivalli Jennifer Lawrence Photo: Getty Images With the success of “The Hunger Games,” it’s no surprise Jennifer Lawrence is a sought-after leading lady. With three films hitting theaters this fall — including “House at the End of the Street” and “The Silver Linings Playbook” — she has a busy schedule, but it looks like Lawrence might add another project to her repertoire. Deadline Hollywood reports that Lionsgate’s production president, Erik Feig, has acquired the rights to gossip columnist Jeanette Walls’ best-seller “The Glass Castle: A Memoir.” Gil Netter (“The Blind Side”) is set to produce and Marti Noxon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “I Am Number Four”) is attached to pen the script. Walls’ book follows her nomadic childhood as she grew up moving around the Southwest desert with her parents and three siblings. When he was sober, her father Rex nurtured his children’s imagination and taught them to embrace life. Her mother Rose Mary was an artist who would rather paint and write than be responsible for her family. When their money was finally gone, they returned to West Virginia where her father drank and stole and Walls and her siblings were forced to support each other. While her tale seems grim, she paints her parents in a loving light because, despite her family’s flaws, they played a huge role in her success. Upon its release in 2005, the book spent more than 250 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list, which was a first for any memoir. The story is a departure from the male-centered movies Lionsgate usually releases. They’re known for films such as “Warrior,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Abduction” and “Conan the Barbarian.” But perhaps with the overwhelming success of “Hunger Games” and its strong heroine, the company will focus on more female-lead narratives. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Photos ‘Hunger Games’ World Premiere Red Carpet
