Day: May 26, 2014

Music

I look forward to hearing that!! Bring it on!!

Post author By Dan
Post date May 26, 2014

Queen to Release New Album, Unreleased Freddie Mercury Songs

In an interview Friday with BBC Wales, Queen guitarist Brian May revealed the iconic rock band would be releasing a new collection of music later this year that will include previously unreleased songs sung by Freddie Mercury.

“We found a few more tracks with Freddie singing and all of us playing and they are quite beautiful,” May said, speaking with radio host Wynne Evans. “It is a compilation but will have this material that nobody in the world has ever heard. I think people will really enjoy it.”

May said the album’s title will probably be “Queen Forever” and should see release towards the end of the year.

“Most of it comes from the ’80s when we were in full flight,” May continued. “It is quite emotional. It is the big, big ballads and the big, big epic sound. It wouldn’t have been if we hadn’t have done this restoration job. We had to start from scratch because we only had scraps. But knowing how it would have happened if we had finished it, I can sit there and make it happen with modern technology.”

Last year, May revealed news on released Mercury and Michael Jackson collaborations that would see the light of day. No word whether that material will make it on this “Queen Forever” collection.

Queen will hit the road for its first full North American tour in nearly a decade, fronted by singer Adam Lambert. The tour starts June 19 in Chicago and ends July 28 in Toronto before the band heads to Australia for dates there.

Beastie Boys

As they should!!

Post author By Dan
Post date May 26, 2014

Beastie Boys take Monster Energy Drink to court

The legal battle between Beastie Boys and Monster Energy Drink will finally come to a head this week. On Tuesday, Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz is set to appear at Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City, where he’ll represent the hip-hop group in their copyright infringement case against Monster.

Beastie Boys originally filed a lawsuit in August 2012, alleging that Monster “willfully, maliciously, and oppressively” used portions of the group’s songs in a promos video for an event called Ruckus in the Rockies. The advertisements also suggested that Beastie Boys were personally involved in the event.

The suit sought a permanent injunction, as well as statutory damages of $150,000 for each infringement of the group’s works. Horovitz is set to take the stand at 1:00pm ET Tuesday, and the trial is open to the public.

In his will, Beastie Boys’ Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch banned usage of his music in advertisements. His bandmates have abided by those wishes; in addition to their suit against Monster, the group took legal action against Feminist toy company GoldieBlox after they used a parody of their song “Girls” in a commercial.

Movies

I Saw ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and really enjoyed it!!

Post author By Dan
Post date May 26, 2014

Box office report: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ still leads Memorial Day movies with $90.7 million

X-Men: Days of Future Past is easily cementing its spot as the top earner this Memorial Day weekend, bringing in $90.7 million by Sunday and proving that nothing kicks off the unofficial start of summer quite like the time-honored tradition of seeing superheroes and villains duke it out for the good of the country.

The time-travel film — directed by Bryan Singer and starring Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellan, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence — is now on track to make at least $110 million over the long weekend, making it the second-largest holiday opening for the Fox franchise. (X-Men: The Last Stand took in $1o2.7 million in its first three days of release during Memorial Day weekend 2006). As expected, X-Men: Days of Future Past did well among international moviegoers, opening in 119 countries and territories for a global revenue of $261.78 million.

Other top earners this weekend included Godzilla. The movie made an estimated $31.43 million during the holiday weekend, making its domestic gross $148.77 million. Blended (Cinema Score: A-) — starring 50 First Dates and The Wedding Singer duo Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler — opened to an estimated $14.25 million, a laugh-out-loud film for families seeking an alternative to mega monster/mutant movies. And family vs. frat comedy Neighbors (Cinema Score: B) crossed the $100 million mark in its third weekend of release, taking in an estimated $13.9 million for a domestic total of $113.58 million.

Rounding out the top five is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 — directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, and Dane DeHaan — which made an estimated $7.8 million over the three-day weekend, bringing its domestic gross to $184.90 million during its fourth weekend of release.

Here’s the top five:

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past– $90.7 million
2. Godzilla – $31.43 million
3. Blended – $ 14.35 million
4. Neighbors – $ 13.9 million
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – $7.8 million

Outside the top earners, Disney’s sports drama Million Dollar Arm earned an estimated $7.09 million, making for a domestic gross of $20.63 million.

In limited release, 18th century British drama Belle (Cinema Score: A) — starring English actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the title character — earned an estimated $1.70 million from 453 theaters nationwide, making for a grand domestic total of $3.89 million after four weeks. And for those who are craving fare more exotic than the usual Memorial Day burgers and dogs, Chef proved an appetizing alternative, taking in an estimated $2.26 million from 498 locations nationwide (bringing its domestic gross to $3.55 million).