After dropping “REVOFEV” and “Erase Me” on his blog it turns out rapper Kid Cudi has decided to make the less edgy but more rocker track the official first single off his upcoming album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager. “Erase Me” (Featuring Kanye West) is now available to download at iTunes. MOTM2 is due out October 26. (And don’t forget another track outted by Cudder called “Mojo So Dope.”)
[Via DatNewCudi]
The second single off Sara Bareilles’ sophomore studio record Kaleidoscope Heart has leaked onto the ‘Net. “Uncharted” shares a similar vibe to the first single “King of Anything” and her 2007 smash hit “Love Song” with a piano-infused, pop-tastic rhythm. Preview and download the new single below, and get ready for Kaleidoscope Heart; it hits physical and digital stores September 7.
Download: Sara Bareilles – “Uncharted”
[audio: Sara Bareilles – Uncharted.mp3]
Jimmy Fallon hosted the 62nd Primetime Emmys Sunday night. Overall the awards show proved to be underwhelming. Fallon brought his ecclectic musical abilities to the table; the opening Glee-inspired number and the tribute to shows that ended last season (24, Lost, Law & Order) were the most entertaining parts of the show. There was also a humorous Modern Family segment that coughed up plenty of laughs. Despite the lack of exciting bits and jokes, 13.5 million viewers tuned into the telecast; that’s the largest audience for any non-sports telecast this year since American Idol‘s season finale in May. The awards show also saw the highest adults 18-49 rating (4.1) for any telecast since the Glee season finale in June.
But let’s move on to the winners and losers, shall we? Modern Family and Mad Men took home the top prizes for outstanding comedy and drama series, respectively. It was certainly a nail-biter between Modern Family and Glee, but the voters made it known that the more grounded sitcom was worthy of the Emmy. This is the third win in a row for Mad Men in the top category; they beat out the fantastic final season of the beloved Lost. Speaking of Lost, the show was completely shut out. Dexter‘s Steve Shill beat out Lost‘s Jack Bender for best directing; Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) topped Matthew Fox for best actor; Terry O’ Quinn (Lost) and Michael Emerson (Lost) likely split the vote and lost against Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) for outstanding supporting actor; and Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse did not win for writing the final episode “The End”–that award went to Matthew Weiner & Erin Levy for Mad Men‘s “Shut the door. Have a Seat.”
Let’s look back at the comedy categories. Modern Family continued to impress when Eric Stonestreet (he plays Cameron) won outstanding supporting actor against costars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ty Burrell. Showrunners Steven Levitan & Christopher Lloyd won outstanding writing for the pilot episode. Though it did not win best comedy, Glee did have its time to shine. Jane Lynch won outstanding supporting actress for her awesome portrayal as the snarky Sue Sylvester, beating out Modern Family‘s Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara in the process. Glee creator Ryan Murphy won for his direction of the captivating pilot episode. Moving on… Jim Parsons finally won best actor for playing the nerdtastic Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory and Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) surprised us all by claiming the best actress award.
Other honorable mentions include: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) beat out Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) for best actress in a drama; Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) beat out Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss for best supporting actress in a drama; the HBO movie Temple Grandin took home outstanding movie, directing for a movie, lead actress in a movie (Claire Danes), and supporting actor (David Strathairn) and actress (Julia Ormond) in a movie; another HBO movie You Don’t Know Jack won for outstanding lead actor (Al Pachino) and outstanding writing; The Pacific was crowned outstanding miniseries; Top Chef won best reality show over The Amazing Race; and finally, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart won the outstanding variety, comedy, or music series award for the seventh year in a row unfortunately beating out the favorite The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
That’s a wrap for this year’s Emmys. Lost lost. Modern Family, Mad Men, and Glee proved to be worthy contenders. And Jimmy Fallon sang. Look after the break for the full list of winners.
[Via EW-HollywoodInsider, here & here] Continue reading 2010 Emmys results: Modern Family, Mad Men win; Lost emerges empty-handed
Walter. Walternate. Olivia. Bolivia. Our world. Their world. Whose side are we on? Are we the good guys or the bad guys? What is Walternate going to do with our Olivia? How exactly is their Bolivia going to infiltrate our world without getting caught by Walter, Peter, and Astrid? And what of that doomsday device? So many questions linger from the amazing alternate world-traveling Fringe season 2 finale it’s hard to wrap your brain around all of it. But fear not because the season 3 premiere is just around the corner and answers will come. Check out these cast and season premiere stills (organized in the two galleries below) and let the anticipation and theorizing begin.
“The Box”, the Fringe season premiere episode, airs Thursday, September 23 at 9PM on FOX.
[Via IGN]
We shall find out when House premieres Monday, September 20 at 8PM on FOX. Check out two more promo shots in the gallery below.
Update: New House group shot is sitting in the gallery now. Look at the way Cuddy is looking at House. Huddy rules.
[Via EW, here & here; Aceshowbiz]
“After eight great seasons, Will [Forte] has made the decision to move on from SNL to pursue new opportunities. He is eternally grateful to [executive producer] Lorne [Michaels] and all of the incredible people he worked with over the years.”
That statement was released last Thursday when it was made official that one of Saturday Night Live‘s brightest cast members is leaving the show prior to the upcoming 36th season. Forte is best known for his laugh-out-loud characters like MacGruber, The Falconer, Mr. Dillon (in the Gilly sketches), politician Tim Calhoun, and his collaborations with Jason Sudekis as Greg Stink (in the ESPN Classic sketches) and a member of the reverse Bon Jovi band, Jon Bovi. He was even lucky enough to star in the very first SNL Digital Short, “Lettuce“, alongside Andy Samberg. Out of all his fantastic performances, there are three that stick out in memory. They are “Close Talkers” with Steve Martin and “Grapes” with Ashton Kutcher and Andy Samberg, and his rendition of George W. Bush. They are all embedded after the break.
I am glad that Forte is leaving the show on his own terms to go out and pursue other opportunities. We all know he star in an action-packed movie (MacGruber) and he has the comedic acting chops to continue to make us laugh no matter where he ends up. I have no doubt he’ll make his way back to SNL in a guest spot at some point. And if you’re a Parks and Recreation fan, you can look forward to an upcoming season 3 episode featuring Forte! Happy trails, Will, and thanks for the laughs.
The media has been invited to attend a “special event” hosted by Apple on September 1 in San Fransisco. Every September in recent memory sees a refresh to Apple’s iPod line and sometimes an update to iTunes. The upcoming music-centric event might tackle Apple rumors that have been swirling in the mill lately. These include iPod touches with back and front-facing cameras with FaceTime capability; smaller iPod shuffles with multitouch screens; a redesigned Apple TV box at a cheaper price point ($99?) with 1080p playback, app support, and cloud storage; 99 cent TV show rentals; iTunes content-in-the-cloud support. It would also makes sense for Apple to update their music programs like GarageBand and Logic. Whatever is going to go down you can expect excitement to be in the air when Steve Jobs takes the stage. The “one more thing” being a CDMA iPhone heading to Verizon? Don’t hold your breath. The death of iPod classic? That may very well be imminent.
Check back here after the event is completed to catch a full rundown of all the new/updated products and services that are revealed.
Update: An Apple press release states that Apple will be providing live video streaming of the event. However there are requirements to access the HTTP Live Streaming-based video: “Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad.” No love for Windows and Android users, huh?
[Via Engadget]
Netflix on the iPhone and iPod touch is no surprise; the free app was demoed at WWDC back in June and the iPad has been enjoying its company since launch. On August 26 the Netflix app was updated (to version 1.1.0) to support all iOS4 devices. The app will stream movies and TV shows over WiFi and 3G. Within the app you have access to your personal Instant Queue (which is managable right on the device) and you can search and add new content to your queue using a standard search method or viewing content by genre. You also have the ability to resume watching a show or movie right where you left off on your TV or computer. The app itself is free, but remember you must be signed up for a Netflix membership (which starts at $8.99/month) to login and start streaming. Download the app here and happy streaming! Look after the break for a brief video preview of the app in action.
[Via Engadget] Continue reading Netflix finds a home in iPhone & iPod touch
From the beginning of time the great battle between ATI and NVIDIA computer graphics cards maintained strength as both sides of the competition continually upped one another with new, advanced graphics technologies. There certainly were times when one company would surpass the other for extended periods of time, but there’s no denying that the graphics arms race between ATI and NVIDIA still remains hotted debate to this day. But on this day, things are about to change ever so slightly. When computer processor manufacturer AMD bought ATI Technologies in 2006, AMD thought it was appropriate to keep the ATI brand alive alongside the AMD name, likely because so many consumers and business partners were so aware of that brand leading up to that point. Today AMD decided to cut ties with the ATI brand, and starting “later this year” all new graphics chips will be branded with the letters AMD only. AMD Radion and FirePro (see images above) will become the new logos plastered on new graphics chips. Exisiting products will not see a name change (ie. “ATI Radeon” chips, such as the Radeon HD 5000 series, will not be renamed). What led to this decision, you ask? AMD market research findings has an answer for you:
1) AMD brand preference triples when the person surveyed is aware of the ATI-AMD merger.
2) The AMD brand is viewed as stronger than ATI when compared to graphics competitors.
3) The Radeon and Fire Pro brands themselves (without ATI being attached to them) are very high as is.
It has also been reported that the death of ATI branding comes at a time when AMD is readying their hybrid CPU and GPU chips, and Engadget logically points out that would be beneficial to have a “unified branding strategy” during this sensitive transition period from one technology to another. Long live ATI!
[Via TechReport; Engadget; Gizmodo]
For the first time since its inception back in 2002, the cost to become an Xbox Live Gold member is about to become a bit steeper. In the US, Canada, UK & Mexico only the Xbox Live pricing scheme will jump on November 1. See the chart above to see how the change will affect you. In the U.S., the yearly subscription will increase from $59.99 to $49.99; the three month sunscription from $19.99 to $24.99; and the one month subscription from $7.99 to $9.99. Super lame, I know. Industry analyst Jesse Divnich tries to cushion the news of the price increase: “When originally launched in 2002, a Gold subscription cost the same as an AAA video game, $49.99. When taking into account for inflation ($50 in 2002 is roughly $60 in 2010) and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010, such as ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Video Kinect, a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers.” Alright, I guess that makes sense. But for those of you who may still be fuming over this news Xbox’s Major Nelson has a special incentive for you. Microsoft is offering a limited-time savings deal to “lock in” Xbox Live gamers before the price increase becomes effective. You can upgrade or renew your account today for an additional year for $39.99. That’s $10 cheaper than the current one year subscription, and $20 cheaper than the new price coming in November. Head over to the Xbox price lock site to secure an addional year of Live Gold membership at the cheaper before before it’s too late.
[Via MajorNelson; Engadget]
On September 12, Nintendo will drop the prices of their two DSi handhelds by $20. The DSi will be $149.99 and DSi XL will be $169.99. The DS Lite model will remain at $129.99. Says Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway: “We know shoppers want to get the maximum value out of every dollar they spend. Our new Nintendo DSi prices make it easier than ever for consumers to access the tremendous variety of games, applications and social tools on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL systems.” The press release announcing the price drop also shared this tremendous stat: According to the NDP Group, “through the end of July, total Nintendo DS family hardware sales are more than 42.3 million in the United States alone.” Wowzers. With the DSi lineup at a lower entry price and the 3DS readying for a launch (a release date is expected to be named soon), there really is no stopping the killer incentive to purchase a Nintendo handheld.
With an October 19 release date lingering just around the corner, Activision deemed it appropriate to unveil the DJ Hero 2 tracklist. The list includes 105 songs in total, and these will be stratigically mashed together to create 85 unique playable mixes. Says Dan Neil of FreeStyleGames: “The individual songs that have been mixed into the DJ Hero 2 soundtrack have been viewed online more than 1.5 billion times, which really speaks volumes to both the size and scope of our music. Working with some of the best DJs in the world, we were able to take this amazing collection of the biggest pop, hip-hop and dance hits, and with some turntable magic, craft the best soundtrack in entertainment.” The tracklist includes songs from 2Pac, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, A-Trak, B.o.B., Daft Punk, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Eminem, Justice, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Tiesto, Timbaland, Young Jeezy, and oh-so-much more. Jump after the break to view the full tracklist.
[Via Activision; Joystiq] Continue reading DJ Hero 2 tracklist outted by Activision