Reznor unleashes April Fool's joke
Trent Reznor has nailed April Fool's Day.
The Nine Inch Nails frontman -- who has released his last couple of albums online with virtually no notice -- pranked his fans Wednesday when he sent out a Twitter message announcing "Brand new FULL LENGTH NIN record available now."
The gag didn't end there: Anyone going to Reznor's website was treated to a hilarious page detailing the fictional disc Strobe Light, complete with a cover shot of Reznor in Kanye-style horizontal-blind sunglasses and a cheeseball synth-drum soundtrack.
"To download NIN's new full-length album Strobe Light, PRODUCED BY TIMBALAND, enter a valid email address in the fields below," the page reads. "A download link will be sent to you immediately. Your credit card will be charged $18.98 plus a $10 digital delivery convenience fee. Your files will arrive as windows media files playable on quite a few players with your name embedded all over them just in case you lose them. You will also receive an exclusive photo and a free email account with our partner Google's Gmail service.
"Your email will be kept confidential and will not be used for spam, unless we can make some money selling it."
He probably could -- but not as much as he could make if he actually put out an album like this.
Check out the supposed track list:
1. Intro Skit
2. Everybody's Doing It (feat. Chris Martin, Jay-Z AND Bono)
3. Black T-Shirt
4. P-----grinder (feat. Sheryl Crow)
5. Coffin on the Dancefloor
6. This Rhythm is Infected
7. Slide to the Dark Side
8. Even Closer (feat. Justin Timberlake and Maynard James Keenan)
9. On the List (She's Not)
10. Clap Trap Crack Slap
11. L--d, Paid and Played (feat. Fergie of Black Eyed Peas and Al Jourgensen)
12. Feel Like Being Dead Again
13. Still Hurts (feat. Alicia Keys)
14. Outro Skit
Bill Cosby to receive Mark Twain prize
WASHINGTON–Bill Cosby will be awarded the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for humour for his groundbreaking career.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Wednesday that Cosby, 71, will be honoured with what's considered the top U.S. humour prize. Some of the biggest names in comedy will salute Cosby on stage in Washington on Oct. 26.
Cosby said in a statement accepting the award that his mother read Twain's famous stories to him as a child, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
"I would like to apologize to Mr. Twain for falling asleep hundreds of times, but he should understand that I was only four,'' Cosby said.
Still, he said several of Twain's stories inspired his work, including How to Tell a Story and The Mysterious Stranger.
The award honours people who have had an impact on society in ways similar to Twain, a satirist, commentator and storyteller.
"Over the course of his extensive career as a standup comedian, writer, actor, and social activist, Bill Cosby has earned countless accolades for his groundbreaking brand of humour," said Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen Schwarzman.
Perhaps best known as the star and producer of the popular sitcom The Cosby Show during the 1980s, the Philadelphia native started his career as a standup comedian in nightclubs. He caught the eye of TV producers and landed a role in the "I Spy" series in the 1960s, which broke new ground by casting a black man and a white man as equals.
The Cosby Show, portraying an upper middle-class black family and everyday life, ran from 1984 to 1992 as a Thursday night hit for its NBC network. Cosby also produced a second hit sitcom, A Different World, from 1987 to 1993. He brought Cosby back as a sitcom for CBS from 1996 to 2000.
Cosby dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Navy. He earned his diploma while in the service and later enrolled at Temple University with the goal of becoming a physical education teacher. Cosby went on to earn master's and doctorate degrees in education and has been a leading voice on race.
He's proven to be one of the nation's most popular and enduring entertainers. Nine of Cosby's comedy albums have been certified gold, and six went platinum on recording industry charts. He has authored several books, including Fatherhood and Time Flies, that became best sellers.
"Of course we really like that he's a real author of words on paper," which rounds out his profile in the Twain tradition, said Peter Kaminsky, co-executive producer of the Twain prize.
"You don't need to have been a boy who grew up in a small town in Mississippi to understand Mark Twain. That's the particular genius of Bill and the African-American experience," Kaminsky said. "He universalized the African-American experience. Anybody could understand the themes of family, loyalty and obligation – and the human comedy.''
Cosby has homes in Massachusetts, New York and Los Angeles. He married his wife, Camille, in 1964, and they raised four daughters and a son, Ennis, who was shot to death on a Los Angeles freeway in 1997. The Cosbys have three grandchildren.
When Cosby entered the polling booth in his Los Angeles neighbourhood last year to vote for the first black president, he carried with him photographs of his late parents and Jimmy, his brother who died in childhood. Some have argued that Cosby helped pave the way for President Barack Obama by breaking down stereotypes – a credit that Cosby rebuffs.
The Kennedy Center board chooses the prize winner with recommendations from a committee that includes former Twain honourees, the show's producers and others.
Tickets for the award show go on sale to the public Aug. 12. Proceeds benefit the center's education programs.
Last year the Kennedy Center honoured the late George Carlin with the Mark Twain prize. Past honourees have also included Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg. The first honouree was Richard Pryor in 1998.
Carlos Santana sets up Las Vegas residency
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana has signed a multi-year deal with AEG Live to bring his specially designed stage show to Las Vegas.
The residency, dubbed "Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits," debuts May 27 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel, and will run off and on over the next two years. The Vegas show will be "the only place west of the Mississippi" to see Santana play live through 2010, according to a press release.
Onstage, Santana will be joined by his regular crew of musicians--Chester Thompson (keyboards), Karl Perazzo (timbales), Benny Rietveld (bass), Dennis Chambers (drums), Raul Rekow (congas), Andy Vargas (vocals), Tony Lindsay (vocals), Tommy Anthony (rhythm guitar), Jeff Cressman (trombone) and Bill Ortiz (trumpet)--and will perform on a set designed by the same production team that recently designed Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour set.
The shows will feature a broad selection of tracks from throughout the legendary performer's career, reaching back to Santana's first charting single, 1969's "Jingo." Tickets for the Vegas performances will range in price from $79 to $299, and the first batch of dates are currently on sale. Visit Santana's website for more information.
"Because I still live the principles of the 1960s, and because I'm a hippie at heart, 'A Trip Through The Hits' is designed to bring everyone in the audience together as one," Santana said in a statement. "I invite you to join our experience--we'll mix up a little practical spirituality with a rebel-from-the-street vibe, and with lots of incredible music. My wish is for it to be a night that will move you to dance, to cry, to laugh and to feel the totality and fullness of being alive."
Santana's most recent studio release, "All That I Am," surfaced in 2005. The album debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart, moving more than 140,000 copies in its first week on store shelves.
May 2009
27, 28, 30, 31 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel
June 2009
3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel
August 2009
26, 27, 29, 30 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel
September 2009
2, 4, 5, 6 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel
'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' leaks to the Web
This is not an April Fool's Day joke: A full print of the upcoming superhero flick "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has appeared online.
Worse, we're not talking the sort of blurry, cellphone-quality bootleg normally associated with leaked movies. Drew McWeeny over at HitFix describes it as "a near-finished DVD quality rip, marred only by a few unfinished FX shots." Other commenters who viewed the leaked movie said the CGI was either unfinished or totally absent.
That's bad news for 20th Century Fox, which is hoping "Wolverine" can resurrect its "X-Men" franchise after a relatively disappointing showing by "X-Men: The Last Stand." No matter how unfinished, leaked films hurt box office both directly (obviously, someone who's seen the movie for free may not pay ten bucks for a ticket at the theater) and indirectly (those who see it aren't seeing a theatrical cut, so their word of mouth may prevent others from buying tickets).
Don't expect Fox's lawyers to win this round, either. It's one thing to ask a site to take down leaked clips; it's another to try and fight against the evolving slipperiness of the torrent communities. Just ask all those video-game developers whose pirated products have been played free for years.
Before you go rushing off to HitFix (or Ain't It Cool News or CinemaBlend or the movie news site of your choice), be warned: While the sites themselves are taking a strong stance against leaking details, commenters in several places aren't being nearly as restrained. Spoilers do abound.
After 72 years, TV's `Guiding Light' switching off
NEW YORK – CBS is pulling the plug on the soap opera "Guiding Light" after a 72-year run that predates television, the show a victim of the economy and changed viewing habits.
The drama's final episode will air on Sept. 18.
The Guinness Book of World Records has cited it as the longest-running television drama. It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio on Jan. 25, 1937, and debuted on CBS TV in 1952, focusing on the fictional town of Springfield and the Spaulding, Lewis and Cooper families.
"For many of us, it was the first show we ever watched," said Lynn Leahey, editorial director of Soap Opera Digest. Unlike prime-time shows that came and went, it was a constant in people's lives. "It really is heartbreaking to see something like this go away."
Procter & Gamble Productions, which makes the show, informed cast and crew Wednesday at separate sets in New York and New Jersey. The company isn't giving up on the story, and will explore different ways to keep it going after September, a spokeswoman said.
Soap operas have been in a long, slow decline in popularity, primarily because many of the women who made up their loyal audiences are no longer at home at that hour. They're working, and can find the communal experience that their favorite soaps once gave them elsewhere.
"Guiding Light" had the lowest ratings of the eight daytime dramas on the air. When it leaves, CBS and ABC will have three weekday soap operas, with NBC having one.
"The numbers are really tough for all of these old dramas," said Ron Raines, the actor who portrayed the villain Alan Spaulding in "Guiding Light."
"I don't think any of the other shows want any of us to go off. We're all in this together," he said.
Many successful actors got their start on "Guiding Light," including James Earl Jones, Calista Flockhart, Hayden Panettiere, Kevin Bacon and Taye Diggs.
Faced with extinction a year ago, "Guiding Light" significantly revamped its operations. It ditched its fixed, three-camera set in favor of portable cameras that enabled producers to shoot in different locations. The move saved money and changed the show's look to make it seem more like the reality shows younger viewers are accustomed to.
It didn't work, at least enough for CBS. The network hasn't said what will replace "Guiding Light" on the schedule, but it will almost certainly be a talk or game show, which are much cheaper to make than dramas with a large cast.
The changes also made many of the fans and cast members unhappy, said Carolyn Hinsey, Soap Opera Digest columnist. Two of its biggest stars, Beth Ehlers and Ricky Paull Goldin, quit and now work on ABC's "All My Children."
For fans of the genre, Wednesday's move could be a peek into the future.
Ten years from now, "I absolutely think (daytime dramas) will still be around," Leahey said. "I don't know if you'll be able to watch them from noon to three o'clock on network television."
In fact, the cancellation could be an opportunity for "Guiding Light," she said. Perhaps there's a way to keep the show alive on cable or online; Procter & Gamble says it will have to evaluate whether there's a cost-effective way to do that.
For now, its cast and crew are in mourning.
"What is it? 72 years continuous?" Raines said. "That will never be touched. It's a very sad thing, but these are the times we live in. It's very tough out there."
THE GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARDS
Athens, Ga. – Thirty-six recipients of the 68th Annual Peabody Awards were announced today by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The winners, chosen by the Peabody board as the best in electronic media for 2008, were named in a ceremony in the Peabody Gallery on the University of Georgia campus.
“The works recognized by the Peabody Board this year not only reflect great diversity of content and genre, but also true technical innovation and the varied roles of new distribution systems,” said Peabody Director Horace Newcomb. “The list of winners this year clearly indicates a changing media environment that will continue to require judgment and evaluation through the Peabody Awards process.”
The recipients included Lost, ABC’s innovative, mind-bending adventure serial; “The Giant Pool of Money,”a remarkably comprehensible explanation of the current financial crisis from public radio’s This American Life; and YouTube, the video-sharing Web site that puts a boundless array of video artifacts, from historic political speeches to cell phone videos, at every Internet user’s fingertips. Black Magic, ESPN’s fascinating examination of the integration of basketball and its impact on the programs of historical black colleges and universities, received a Peabody, as did Saturday Night Live’s campaign-season political satire.
A Peabody went to Sichuan Television for its immediate coverage of the deadly earthquake that struck its Chinese province. For several days, SCTV was the only source of video for television news organizations around the world. National Public Radio was also recognized for its exhaustive and sensitive daily reporting on the quake. Peabodys went to CNN’s coverage of the Presidential primaries and debates, and to the election-year broadcasts of Washington Week with Gwen Ifill. The Hearst-Argyle television-station group was awarded for its extensive Commitment 2008 coverage of local and regional political contests.
In the realm of the arts, Peabodys went to The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series; The Gates, an HBO documentary tracking the 24-year making of a now-celebrated installation in New York’s Central Park; and to NBC’s dazzling telecast of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony and the ceremony director, Zhang Yimou. An institutional Peabody was awarded to Turner Classic Movies, the cable channel devoted to showing, preserving and fostering a critical appreciation of vintage films.
The entertainment series selected included Breaking Bad, AMC’s thorny drama about a terminally ill science teacher who turns to making and selling methamphetamine to build an estate for his wife and disabled son. John Adams, HBO’s richly detailed miniseries about the lawyerly founding father, his wife, Abigail, and the times in which they lived, received the award. Also cited was HBO’s comedy Entourage, a wicked take on Hollywood and the joys and sorrows of minor stardom. Avatar: The Last Air Bender, an animated, Asian-influenced mythological epic shown on Nickelodeon, received a Peabody, as did Jungle Fish, a handsomely stylized slice of South Korean teen life from the Korean Broadcasting System.
In addition to YouTube, a Peabody was awarded to The New York Times’ Web site (www.nytimes.com). Another went to Onion News Network (www.theonion.com/content/video), where video parodies of newscasts and newsmakers are so shrewdly conceived and produced that they’re often hard to distinguish from the real thing.
“We recognize the great transformations affecting dissemination of news and information,” Newcomb said. “The variety of choices available to citizens does in fact range from the best traditional journalism expanded for the Web, to sharp critiques in the form of parody and satire. Both can achieve a level of excellence that reaches the Peabody standard and both require citizens to respond with careful analysis of their own.”
A Peabody went to NOAH Housing Program Investigation, a series of more than 50 reports by New Orleans’ WWL-TV exposing problems and possible fraud in a multi-million dollar program designed to help homeowners rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. Awards also went to Failing the Children: Deadly Mistakes, Denver TV station KMGH’s multi-part expose of tragic incompetence in the city’s Department of Human Services. National Public Radio’s 36 Years of Solitary: Murder, Death and Justice on Angola received a Peabody for a gripping investigative report questioning the guilt of two inmates at Louisiana’s notorious prison farm. The two have been kept in solitary confinement for more than three decades.
Newcomb commented on a “stunning array of notable documentaries,” saying “This year the Peabody Board was faced with what can only be described as a renaissance in the form. Our decisions came after difficult, but thorough reviews of one of the best pools of docs ever submitted.”
Among the documentary winners, Shanghai Television Group’s The Red Race provided a shockingly intimate portrait of the rigorous—some would say sadistic—training that Chinese child gymnasts undergo. Campaign, a quirky P.O.V. film, illuminated Japan’s political system by following one guileless candidate’s run for a city-council seat. Hear and Now, shown on HBO, poignantly chronicled the process and consequences of a middle-aged deaf couple who undergo cochlear implant operations. One splendid Independent Lens documentary, Mapping Stem Cell Research, followed a neurologist obsessed with discovering a way to reverse the effects of his beloved daughter’s spinal injury, while another, King Corn, is a deceptively whimsical exploration of what our corn-syrup saturated diet means to our health and the environment.
Peabodys also went to Ape Genius, a NOVA documentary examining the latest research on how the intellectual capacity of gorillas, chimps, bonobos and orangutans compares to ours. Cinemax’s Nankingoffered a wrenching remembrance of a small group of Westerners who tried to save Chinese civilians from the horrors of the 1937 Japanese invasion. Crossfire: Water, Power and Politics, a documentary from Las Vegas’ KLAS-TV that achieved network quality, dared to look hard at a plan to pump massive amounts of water from rural Nevada to its booming, major city and at what this will mean to ranches, farms, Native Americans and the environment.
Depression: Out of the Shadows, a multi-dimensional, ultimately hopeful examination of the devastating disorder that affects millions of Americans, received a Peabody, as did Hopkins, ABC News’ compelling verite series filmed in the halls and operating rooms of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
A Peabody also was awarded to Richard Engel Reports: Tip of the Spear, a series of reports under-fire by the NBC News correspondent from the deadliest zone in Afghanistan. Lifeline, a CBS News 60 Minutes report, received a Peabody. It memorably encapsulated the plight of America’s 47 million uninsured by showing some of the 18,000 people who showed up when a free-clinic mission, designed for Third World charity, set up shop for a weekend in Tennessee.
The Peabody Awards, the oldest honor in electronic media, do not recognize categories nor are there a set number of awards given each year. Today the Peabody recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by TV and radio stations, networks, cablecasters, Webcasters, producing organizations and individuals.
The Peabody Board is a 16-member group, comprised of television critics, broadcast and cable industry executives, academics and experts in culture and the arts. They make their annual selections with input from special screening committees of UGA faculty, students and staff.
All entries become a permanent part of the Peabody Archive in the University of Georgia Libraries. The collection is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most respected moving-image archives. For more information about the Peabody Archive or the Peabody Awards, see www.peabody.uga.edu.
Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to WNEG-TV, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu.
Legendary British rocker Elvis Costello launches new TV show
TORONTO - Elvis Costello has never seemed a likely host for a television talk show.
Though as an artist he's been stubbornly impossible to pin down through his 30-plus years in the industry, on a personal level he has always seemed intense, nervy and fiercely intelligent - not necessarily the formula for a successful talk show host.
As he first began putting together his new show "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..." - a Costello-hosted mixture of interviews with musicians and performances - he admits there was an adjustment period.
"Nobody's born to be a television presenter, you have to gather some skills and confidence about it over a matter of weeks," the legendary musician said over the phone from his Vancouver home. "If you went back and looked at the first appearances of the most practised and confident of TV performers now, you'd find the same thing. You'd find them being more hesitant.
"Little by little the process kind of educates you."
For "Spectacle," which premieres in Canada on Friday (CTV, 10 p.m. ET), Costello interviewed such heavyweights as the Police, Elton John, Tony Bennett and even former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
The show features laid-back interview segments peppered with performances, which often feature Costello himself.
Costello, who was warm, friendly and sharp-witted even when reached early in the morning for an interview, says his participation is important, because it reminds the guests that he too is a performer, not strictly an interviewer.
He opens each show by performing one of his guest's songs. In John's case, Costello performed "Bordertown," while he played a medley of "Please Stay" and "Every Breath You Take" for the Police.
Costello, however, said he ran into trouble when he had a certain Montreal-raised singer on the show.
"Rufus Wainwright's songs are all so difficult, I couldn't possibly sing any of them, you'd need to be as gifted as he is as a vocalist," he said.
Instead, Costello made reference to Wainwright's recreation of a Judy Garland concert by singing "If I Only Had a Brain" from "The Wizard of Oz."
"I thought (it) would amuse him," he said.
Costello has been on the other side of thousands of interviews over his career, and he also had a bit of experience on television, filling in for David Letterman in 2003 when the talk show host fell ill.
Still, it was a skill that Costello honed over the course of the first season.
So how does he describe his interview technique now?
"Like a lion tamer - it's a chair and a whip," he replied.
Costello said that his status as an artist has helped him draw his guests into some surprisingly candid conversations - "They shared a side of themselves where, in some cases, people were quite surprised about it," he said.
Specifically, Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed might have caught viewers off guard, Costello said.
"I think people were surprised that he was as enthusiastic about other people's music as he was," he said. "I think maybe because they have just one image of him, instead of thinking of him as a human being with different moods, you know?"
Costello, meanwhile, hasn't actually had the chance to sit down to a broadcast of the show. Since finishing production of the first season in New York, he's either been in Canada or the U.K., where the show wasn't available yet.
He says he's looking forward to getting to watch it.
"It'll all be new to me," he said. "I'll be sitting there with my cup of tea when it airs on CTV."
Costello also has a new album coming out in June called "Secret, Profane and Sugarcane."
T-Bone Burnett produced the record and co-wrote two songs with Costello, who also collaborated with Loretta Lynn on a track.
Costello said they recorded the album in three days in Nashville.
"People say it's live - of course, everything you do is live," he said. "But it wasn't an overdub record, it was a recording of performances. That's the best way to play the music we were playing.
"It's a really beautiful sounding record, I'm really happy with the way it sounds."
He says he plans to head out on the road between June and August to play some shows in conjunction with the album.
Of course, scheduling such trips isn't easy.
Costello is married to Vancouver singer Diana Krall, and the couple has twin two-year-old sons. He says that he and his wife are so busy, they need to be firm in trying to schedule time together.
"We've spent a lot of time heading in different directions, and there's a master plan of how we retain a sense of family life by grabbing all the available days that we have together, no matter how far flung they are on the map," he said. "We're pretty tenacious about finding the days that we can carve out of a very busy year."
It doesn't help that both need to travel so much, though Costello does note: "I regard Vancouver as close to a hometown as I can have as a travelling musician."
But he implies that they may need to put down roots more firmly in the coming years.
"It is a travelling life, you know," he said. "There might be some decisions to be made about our family in the next year or so because of having twin boys.
Postal Service launching "Simpsons" stamps
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – "The Simpsons" will be immortalized on stamps to be issued by the U.S. Postal Service this year.
The 44-cent first-class mail stamps, designed by Simpsons creator and executive producer Matt Groening, will feature Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson, the nuclear family at the center of the animated Fox series.
The stamps, a sneak peek of which will be unveiled April 9, also will help celebrate the longest-running primetime comedy's 20th anniversary this year.
Of the 50,000 stamp suggestions the Postal Service receives each year, only about 20 ideas make the cut.
Patrick To Return For Terminator 5?
Terminator 2: Judgement Day actor Robert Patrick is set to thrill sci-fi fans - he is in talks to make a return to his evil robot role in the franchise's next instalment.
Filmmaker McG is taking the helm of the fourth movie, Terminator Salvation, and is lined up to direct the fifth movie in the action series.
And the director is eyeing Patrick for the forthcoming project - who shot to fame for his part as evil metal shapeshifter T-1000 in the first Terminator sequel.
Patrick reveals, "Yeah, he talked to me about it. I’m interested. I was listening to him tell me about it. I had no idea that he thought about that.
"I love McG. He’s a great guy... we saw each other and he talked to me about it, so we'll see what happens. The sci-fi genre, and specifically that character, is something I'm very proud of. It's what broke me out big to the world."