Official Poster and Trailer for “Pacific Rim”

Just yesterday we unleashed the first official poster for Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming flick Pacific Rim, and now today, courtesy of IMP Awards, we have scored both the U.S. and International posters for the film. Head on down below and check out the chaos.

Pacific Rim

Release Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2013
Directed By: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman

“When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.”

(review by death banger for horror-movies.ca)

Rock Hall of Fame 2013 Inductees: Rush, Public Enemy, Heart & More

Randy Newman‘s glad he didn’t have to do anything drastic to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The members of Rush are choosing to let bygones be bygones. And Quincy Jones, well, he’s still mad.

For most of this year’s inductees, inclusion was a long time coming.

“I’m very happy,” the 69-year-old Newman said Monday from his home in Los Angeles. “I thought I’d have to die first, but I’m glad I’m around to see it.”

Newman is joined in the 2013 class by the eclectic group of rockers Rush and Heart, rap group Public Enemy, “Queen of Disco” Donna Summer and bluesman Albert King. Jones and his friend Lou Adler will enter the hall as Ahmet Ertegun Award winners for their contributions to rock beyond performance.

They will be inducted into the hall of fame April 18 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the end of a long wait for fans of five of those six acts, who’ve been eligible for entry for some time. Public Enemy was inducted on i ts first ballot appearance, swelling the ranks of hip-hop entries.

In many ways, the 2013 class balances the scales, though not nearly soon enough for some new members.

“Well, it’s about time, man,” Jones said late Monday night in an interview from his home in Los Angeles. “But I promise you I’m not sitting around worrying about it.”

Summer, who passed away at age 63 in May, gains entry after six years as a nominee. King, a deep influence on Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn who died in 1992, now takes his place along all the other legendary blues guitarists in the hall.

Rush, one of the most-played staples of classic rock radio, gained entry following its first appearance on the ballot. But the Canadian trio became eligible in 1998 and was repeatedly left off the list, to the great consternation of its legion of fans who cried bias against prog rock. Heart also waited a decade to make it on the ballot, gaining entry during its second appearance.

After years of disappointment, then disinterest, Rush’s Alex Lifeson said the band now feels “wonderful” about its entry into the hall and is especially happy for its followers.

“First of all it’s all water under the bridge and it was a very tiny bridge,” the 59-year-old guitarist said in a phone interview from his home in Toronto. “I think our fans are more upset than we were because they feel a real bond to this band and it’s been an important part of their lives in some form, and to be snubbed was snubbing them at the same time. … Perhaps there were times when I thought if this ever happens I’m not going to bother going, or who cares or whatever, but at the end of the day positive karma is an important thing and this is an important thing to a lot of our fans and people we know.”

Jones was less forgiving of the long wait he had. The 79-year-old entertainment icon’s fingerprints are all over the hall of fame. He pops up often at key moments in rock ‘n’ roll history and was even Ray Charles‘ presenter during the soul singer’s induction at the inaugural 1986 ceremony. He never expected to wait so long for his own entry.

“I was pissed off about it at first because I saw how it was going down and who was going in and who wasn’t,” Jones said with a deep laugh. “But I’m used to it, man. I’ve been around a long time, and I know how it works, you know. It’s still an honor, man.”

The 2013 class also continues the process of opening the hall of fame’s doors a little bit wider.

In many cases, the delayed entry of this year’s inductees had to do with a debate among its membership over the hall of fame’s direction. The rock ‘n’ roll family sits under a big tent, but just how big it should be has been a matter of debate for the Cleveland, Ohio, institution.

The class may signal a new direction.

“That is an eclectic group,” Newman said. “Well that’s nice. It seems like they’re broadening what they think rock ‘n’ roll is. That’s good. There’s no point being doctrinaire about music. … People get awful strict. It’s a hell of a thing to get strict about, isn’t it?”

There was clearly no debate among the hall’s membership about Public Enemy, which gained membership on its 25th anniversary.

The openly militant, always angry group helped elevate and define nascent rap in the 1980s and ’90s. MC Chuck D said the group’s induction is about more than simple membership.

“It’s a great piece of news for the genre and our intention was to spread the light that our music is as legitimate as any other music,” Chuck D said as the group traveled through Wyoming on tour Monday. ” … So this is significant to be alongside Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys and just to be able to say this accomplishment, we don’t think it’s solely due to us.”

Lifeson hopes the hall’s membership keeps up with the trend.

“Maybe it should be the Music Hall of Fame and not so much the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Lifeson said. “But maybe it all is rock ‘n’ roll. It started as a little seed and grew into this great big tree with a lot of branches. That’s why it’s so sad the whole progressive movement, bands like Yes and King Crimson, are not included in this. And I hope one day that they are because they deserve to be in there way before we do. They were huge influences on us and so many other bands that have done fantastic work over the years. I know Deep Purple were up for this as well. It’s a little unfortunate that they didn’t make it in because they were extremely influential. I hope there comes a time when these other artists and bands are included because they were equally as influential as any of the ones that are being inducted today.”

Posted on Dec 11th 2012 2:30PM by The Associated Press

 

Which Movie Was Googled The Most In 2012?

“The Hunger Games” might not have been the top grossing or most acclaimed movie of the year, but it was the film that people cared about the most.

Google has released a list of its top trends for 2012, and “The Hunger Games” came out on top of the movies category. It makes sense, too: There was plenty of hype leading up to the March release of “The Hunger Games,” with many positing that it could be the next “Twilight.” It remains to be seen if the film series will have the same sort of staying power that “The Twilight Saga” did, but we’d argue that it has lived up to its expectations thus far.

We would have assumed that “The Avengers” would have placed higher on the list, but it actually was “Skyfall” that came in second in the top movie trends. Considering how successful that movie has been, it shouldn’t come as much of a shock. Another movie that generated a lot of hype and discussion, “Prometheus,” placed third on the list, and then “The Avengers” came in at number four.

The rest of the movies read off somewhat predictably — “Magic Mike,” “John Carter” — but the seventh highest trending movie of 2012 caught us off guard. Taking that spot is “Ek Tha Tiger,” an Indian action movie directed by Kabir Khan and starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. It’s nice to see that this list wasn’t just dominated by Hollywood blockbusters, though the films “Paranormal Activity 4,” “Taken 2” and “Dark Shadows” did round it out.

The trends lists include other subjects like airlines, TV shows and images. Interestingly enough, it was two of the saddest celebrity deaths this year that led off the trending performing artists. Whitney Houston and Michael Clarke Duncan passed away in 2012, and they got a lot of Internet love after their deaths. It should come as no surprise, though, that One Direction placed third on the list, followed by Lana Del Ray at number five, Carly Rae Jepsen and number eight and LMFAO at number 10.

(by: Terri Schwartz for moviesblog.mtv.com)

 

Album Review: Bruno Mars ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’

Bruno Mars doesn’t do low stakes. He is a drama king, a man who thrives on grand statements, soap-opera plotlines and actual-opera melodrama. On his second album, Mars sings endlessly about sex – wild, wind-swept, Wagner­ian sex. The smuttiest song here, “Gorilla,” has a backbeat that would make Mutt Lange quake in his boots and a lyric that R. Kelly would kill to have written: “You’re bangin’ on my chest/Bang, bang/Gorilla . . . you and me, making love like gorillas.”

From another performer, the bombast might be a deal-breaker, but from Mars – a master song-crafter and a nimble, soulful vocalist – it is the stuff of great pop. As on his 2010 debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, he infuses his songs with old-fashioned crooning as classily antique as his wide-brimmed fedora. But there’s lots more: creamy Michael Jackson/Prince-schooled disco soul (“Treasure”), frazzled Police-style rock reggae (“Locked Out of Heaven”), Elton John-like balladry, Def Leppard grandiosity, dub reggae, all couched in beat-savvy modern production (Diplo, Jeff Bhasker, Mark Ronson). The result is a record that makes the competition sound sad and idea-starved by comparison.

Bruno Mars doesn’t do low stakes. He is a drama king, a man who thrives on grand statements, soap-opera plotlines and actual-opera melodrama. On his second album, Mars sings endlessly about sex – wild, wind-swept, Wagner­ian sex. The smuttiest song here, “Gorilla,” has a backbeat that would make Mutt Lange quake in his boots and a lyric that R. Kelly would kill to have written: “You’re bangin’ on my chest/Bang, bang/Gorilla . . . you and me, making love like gorillas.”

From another performer, the bombast might be a deal-breaker, but from Mars – a master song-crafter and a nimble, soulful vocalist – it is the stuff of great pop. As on his 2010 debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, he infuses his songs with old-fashioned crooning as classily antique as his wide-brimmed fedora. But there’s lots more: creamy Michael Jackson/Prince-schooled disco soul (“Treasure”), frazzled Police-style rock reggae (“Locked Out of Heaven”), Elton John-like balladry, Def Leppard grandiosity, dub reggae, all couched in beat-savvy modern production (Diplo, Jeff Bhasker, Mark Ronson). The result is a record that makes the competition sound sad and idea-starved by comparison.

(review by Jody Rosen for rollingstone.com)

British man dies after dancing ‘Gangnam Style’

Death leads to warning against vigorous dancing for middle-aged men

Middle-aged men have been warned not to attempt the ‘Gangnam Style’ dance too vigorously after a father of three collapsed and died while copying the moves from the hit video.

Eamonn Kilbride, 46, collapsed with chest pains at his office party in Blackburn last weekend. He had been performing the dance moves made famous by South Korean rapper Psy, who mimics riding a horse.

Professor Bernard Keavney, a consultant cardiologist at Newcastle University, told The Daily Telegraph that older men should not “stray outside your comfort zone” at Christmas parties this year. “The chance that you’ll come to grief is very small. But as with any form of untypical exercise… be somewhat measured. Let the lady dance around you,” he added.
Mr Kilbride, an IT manager, had been with his wife, Julie, who was celebrating her birthday. She paid tribute to her “loving husband” of 23 years, calling him “the life of the party”. He had three children – Laurajade, 22, Jack, 21, and Conor, 18 – all of whom are at university.

Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ recently became the most-watched video ever on YouTube. The K-Pop star‘s hit has racked up a record-breaking 815million views since it was posted on July 15, 2012. Justin Bieber‘s track ‘Baby’, posted in February 2010, has 803million views. Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang, has had worldwide success with ‘Gangnam Style’ and has sold more than four million copies around the globe. He also bagged the first UK Number One by a Korean artist. ‘Gangnam Style’ attracts around 11million viewers a day.

 

(article taken from NME.com)

Grizzly Bear Perform “Yet Again” on “Letterman”

Grizzly Bear‘s Ed Droste seemed genuinely bummed by his band’s recent Grammy nomination snub — and rightfully so, considering all the praise their ‘Sheilds’ album has garnered — but he’s not letting it keep him down. Droste and the Bear boys hit the stage of ‘The Late Show With David Letterman’ last night (Dec. 12) to bust out ‘Shields’ single ‘Yet Again,’ and the tight performance may have given the Grammy noms committee pause. (Watch it below.)

 

 

The Bear are no strangers to ‘Letterman,’ having appeared on the show at least two other times to perform ‘Two Weeks’ and ‘Ready, Able,’ both from 2009′s ‘Veckatimest.’ They have one more 2012 gig on their itinerary — a hometown New York show Friday night with Sleigh Bells — and a slew of overseas dates lined up in 2013, starting off Jan. 31 in Mexico City. Check out their full schedule here.

(article made by Joe Robinson from diffuser.fm)

WATCH: @BiffyClyro premiere new video ‘Black Chandelier’

Biffy Clyro premiere new video ‘Black Chandelier’ – watch

New track taken from forthcoming sixth album “Opposites”. The video was directed by Big TV, and is the second clip the band have released ahead of their forthcoming record ‘Opposites’, following ‘Stingin’ Belle’ earlier this year. ‘Black Chandelier’ will be released on January 14 with the digital format featuring two new, non-album songs: ‘The Rain’ and ‘Thundermonster’.

‘Opposites’ is due for release on January 28th, 2013 and will feature two discs, subtitled ‘The Sand At The Core Of Our Bones’ and ‘The Land At The End Of Our Toes’. The album will be available on CD/DVD and digital download, as well in a limited edition boxset. The follow-up to the Scottish trio’s 2009 platinum selling LP ‘Only Revolutions’ will comprise 20 tracks as listed below.

The DVD will contain a ‘making of’ documentary which sees the band recording the LP in Los Angeles. The boxset includes a 12-inch heavyweight double vinyl, A5 songbook, guitar tab sheets, ‘Play Along’ CD and Super 8 film cells.

The ‘Opposites’ tracklisting is:

‘The Sand At The Core Of Our Bones’:
‘Stingin’ Belle’
‘Sounds Like Balloons’
‘Biblical’
‘The Joke’s On Us’
‘Black Chandelier’
‘A Girl And His Cat’
‘Opposite’
‘The Fog’
‘Little Hospitals’
‘The Thaw’

‘The Land At The End Of Our Toes’:
‘Different People’
‘Modern Magic Formula’
‘Spanish Radio’
‘Victory Over The Sun’
‘Pocket’
‘Trumpet Or Tap’
‘Skylight’
‘Accident Without Emergency’
‘Woo Woo’
‘Picture A Knife Fight’

(article taken from NME.com)

Tributes pour in for Ravi Shankar

The death of the musician, described as a ‘national treasure’ by the Indian PM, is seen as a huge loss to the music world

Musicians, actors, artists and politicians across the world paid tribute toRavi Shankar, described as “a national treasure” by the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, as news spread of the musician’s death in hospital near his home in California, aged 92.

Shankar, classically trained as an Indian musician but fascinated by other traditions, became as famous in the west as any rock star when he worked with groups such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and played to vast audiences at legendary festivals like Monterey in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969.

Tributes came from classical and contemporary musicians, and from the Indian film industry for which he wrote many scores.

Manmohan Singh called him “a global ambassador of India‘s cultural heritage”, and said an era had passed away with him. “The nation joins me to pay tributes to his unsurpassable genius, his art, and his humility.”

The Bollywood actor Anupam Kher said: “Ravi Shankar’s sitar played for all our souls”, and the British Indian composer Nitin Sawhney described him as “my greatest childhood inspiration … I feel honoured to have worked with him.” The composer AR Rahman said: “Indian classical music has lost its chief ambassador … May God bless his soul.”

Film-maker Terry Gilliam, former member of the Monty Python team, wrote: “Ravi Shankar has left the building. 92 … a wonderful life”, andtweeted a photograph taken at Monterey, commenting “he shines, as always”.

Shankar’s wife, Sukanya, and daughter and fellow musician Anoushka, who were by his side, announced his death “with heavy hearts” on his website. He had suffered breathing and heart problems over the past year, and underwent heart valve-replacement surgery last Thursday. The family said the surgery “could have given him a new lease of life”, but added “though the surgery was successful, recovery proved too difficult”.

His last live concert was only a few weeks ago, with Anoushka, on 4 November in Long Beach, California. His daughter Norah Jones is also an acclaimed singer.

One of his most famous collaborations was with the Beatles, through George Harrison’s passion for the eastern musical tradition and determination to fuse it with western pop. When they first met, Shankar told Harrison his sitar playing on the track Norwegian Wood was “horrible”, but they became close friends.

One of the first to tweet a tribute to him was Giles Martin, son of Sir George Martin, the record producer for the Beatles. “I bet George is happy to see him again,” Martin said. “I’m very sad to hear of the death of Ravi Shankar,” he said, “a beautiful, worldly man with warmth and talent.”

The Canadian singer-songwriter KD Lang also called him a musical ambassador, and tweeted “May you have a swift and positive rebirth”.

Shankar’s Desert Island Discs selection, for BBC Radio 4 in 1971, was a shop window for his eclectic taste: his choices included Strauss, Scarlatti, Mozart, BB King, Simon & Garfunkel, the flamenco guitarist Paco Peña and Harrison’s My Sweet Lord.

He was born in 1920, brought up in Benares, India and moved with his dancer brother to Paris. He first performed as a dancer, but then spent years studying the sitar. He won an Oscar nomination for his score for the film Gandhi, and was described by the late violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who also made several recordings with him, as a genius comparable to Mozart.

“He was legend of legends,” Shivkumar Sharma, a santoor player who performed with Shankar, said in India, adding that before he took his country’s music to the world, Indian classical music was not at all well known in the west.

“It’s one of the biggest losses for the music world,” said Kartik Seshadri, sitar player and music professor at the University of California. “There’s nothing more to be said.”

 

written by: Maev Kennedy from guardian.co.uk

Courtney Love Slams Surviving Nirvana Members’ “12-12-12” Performance With Paul McCartney

Last night at the ’12-12-12′ Hurricane Sandy benefit concert, Paul McCartney performed an original song with the three surviving members of Nirvana. The musical collective wrote the song ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ during an impromptu jam session for Dave Grohl‘s upcoming ‘Sound City Studios’ documentary, later debuting the track live at the televised benefit. Although the song proved to be impressive to say the least, Courtney Lovewent public beforehand to say that she was against the idea. After learning that McCartney and Nirvana would be collaborating for the benefit, Love told TMZ that she was “not amused” by Paul McCartney’s involvement, although she added, “Look, if John [Lennon] were alive it would be cool.” Shortly after the performance of ‘Cut Me Some Slack,’ Courtney Love posted a long, scattered and nonsensical series of comments on the Facebook page for ‘Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge,’ which had just posted about the aforementioned TMZ article. Below is a compilation of her comments:

“funny we got asked to tour with alice in chains no disprespect to jerry as hes a n absolute gent but wasnt that,,, i mean isnt layne DEAD? sorry i had to pass maybe im old or pure or somes–t but wow. anyone ever read the former strangers dana giachetta book”youw ill make money in yourr sleep” its so beyond full of small numbers and she misses the grander point it sold about 8 copies, 4 to me and 4 to a famed hotelier out here i dated and am dear friends with. hmmm whats in that 2030 kimit sub pop nirvana package jonathan i was with you the night before you went to see mr geffen to acquire that 5% of kurts pub but its apparently inc llc and partnership too , cmon show me, fine get a supeona. glad i coudl help refinance the soho hotel in nov 94 not july emily ever been on property shark? its called research! i was playing cheap tricks first album in chrinocologal order to get my sib oop single of the month anyone says othrwise is disguting, is that richard lee still at it, i talked to chris cornell and he hates seattle too, i cant deal, the only time i felt anything was when i had a spitirtuL ephihany singing “jeremy” at bumbershoot i hope you liked it cos i saw ghosts for the first time, accuracy is my middle name. watch homeland when clare danes is right, trust me i have cried on the occasions the lawyers have promised theyd go for it and the fbi this time is different its federal. but i wont cry this time, i only care about his familty and bean and thats the f–king fgids truth any penny i get back is going inti a charity that prevents mortaage fraud and this happpening to anyone again, taking down the a=gates llp empire would be nice but im not stupid it wont happen n this life, not from me im not the messenger there some day though. yall got good copy now ill leave it up a few then ill delete.”

Although Courtney Love’s last line promises that she would delete the posts, they still remain in the comments section as of this posting.

A few hours later, Love posted some more odd comments, focused on her and Kurt Cobain arguing John Lennon vs. Paul McCartney, and ultimately saying the performance didn’t bother her since they ended up not playing a Nirvana song:

“yes we did get into paul and john fights- im a paul person (helter skelter) if they dont do songs they didnt write (nirvana songs they dont own) i dont care.”

However, Love trashed the bass playing of Krist Novoselic when she responded to a Facebook user named Scott, who posted that he enjoyed the performance:

“scott really? i will repeat, with krists bass playing? lets be clear hes not exactly known for its brilliance.”

Well, there you go. If you were wondering what Courtney Love thought of the performance, now you sort of have an idea. If you don’t care about what she thinks, we owe you five minutes of your life back.

article written by Graham ‘Gruhamed’ Hartmann from loudwire.com

Arcade Fire, Fiona Apple, The Black Keys shortlisted for Academy Award

The 2013 Academy Awards has revealed the shortlist for its Best Original Song category, and some familiar faces are among the 75 possible nominees, specifically:

Arcade Fire’s “Abraham’s Daughter” from The Hunter Games (the song is alsonominated for a Grammy); Fiona Apple’s “Dull Tool” from This Is 40; The Black Keys’“The Baddest Man Alive” from The Man With the Iron Fists; Karen O’s “Strange Love”from Frankenweenie; Mumford and Sons’ “Learn Me Right” from Brave; Rick Ross’“100 Black Coffins” from Django Unchained; and Liz Phair’s “Dotted Line” from People Like Us. And, of course, Adele’s theme for the James Bond film Skyfall made the cut.

The final nominees will be revealed on January 20th, before Seth MacFarlane hosts the 85th Annual Academy Awards on February 24th.

(taken from COS)