'Pitchy' Sanjaya New Nationwide Pitchman

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Former "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya (san-JY'-yah) has gone from "pitchy" to pitchman.

Sanjaya Malakar is merchandising Nationwide Insurance in a new ad that's part of the Columbus, Ohio-based company's political campaign, "Life Comes at You Fast."

Malakar says that's something he knows from personal experience. In a command, he points out that he went from an unknown isaac M. Singer to appearing before of millions of people on "Idol."

In the commercial, Malakar visits a wise man who tells him he needs a retirement plan � and a haircut. He sports a "ponyhawk" hairstyle similar to the one he made famed while competing on the Fox network show, where the judges often take for off-key singing "pitchy."

Other celebrities who have poked playfulness at themselves for Nationwide include Kevin Federline, Fabio and MC Hammer.

http://www.nationwide.com/about-us/featured-ads.jsp

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Download Technohead

Artist: Technohead: mp3 download    Genre(s):  Hardcore     Discography:      Technohead    Year: 2000    Tracks: 6 Although husband-and-wife team Michael Wells and Lee Newman recorded under many different names (including Tommy Yamaha, Tricky Disco and GTO) for labels such as XL, R&S, Mute and React, they gained most of their success as Technohead. "I Wanna Be a Hippy" stayed at number i on the Dutch charts for four weeks in mid-1995, just on August 4, but trinity long time afterwards the duet released their debut album Headsex, Lee Newman died of cancer.

Personal Growth: ‘Heirloom,’ a Tomato Farmer’s Tale

This sometime management consultant's memoir is part ecofoodie tract and part bid fulfillment for any urbanite who's gazed enviously at the enlightened produce purveyors in the city's Greenmarkets. One day Stark

Report: Amy Winehouse has emphysema

Amy Winehouse has early stage emphysema and her lungs have been damaged by smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes, her father said in an interview published Sunday.

The Sunday Mirror quoted Mitch Winehouse as saying that Amy has an irregular heartbeat, and has been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs.

"The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her," Mitch Winehouse was quoted as saying. "There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She has 70 percent lung capacity."





The 24-year-old soul diva collapsed at her north London home Monday after signing autographs for a group of fans and was taken to a London hospital for tests. She remained there all week.

She is still scheduled to sing at a concert in London on Friday celebrating the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela, the South African Nobel Prize-winner, and plans to take part in the Glastonbury music festival the following day.

Mitch Winehouse said it would be good for his daughter to perform.

"When she's been inactive work-wise then that's when the problems really start. The doctors have said that medically there isn't any reason why she can't do Glastonbury," the paper quoted him as saying.

He also pleaded with her drug-taking friends to stay away from her.

"What hope does she have if people are taking drugs around her," he said.

Chris Goodman, spokesman for Amy Winehouse, said "If that's what Mitch says, that's what he says. It sounds right."

Mitch Winehouse could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jennifer Aniston Denies Feud With Actress

A rep for Jennifer Aniston has come forward to deny reports that she is feuding with fellow ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ co-star Jennifer Connelly, calling the rumors “absolutely absurd.”
The story about the former ‘Friends’ actress excluding Connelly from a group cover shoot with marie claire magazine came about after U.S. tabloid Life & Style printed the claims.
However, “there is no drama whatsover,” Aniston’s rep explained to Us magazine.
“marie claire wanted Jennifer alone. It was our idea to make it a group cover as Jennifer has a smaller supporting role in the film.”
Aniston’s rep also stated that there was no feud between the stars, saying, “Jennifer got along great with Jennifer Connelly.”
Watch the trailer for ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ below.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Former screen siren Bardot convicted in race case

PARIS —

A Paris court on Tuesday convicted Brigitte Bardot of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France.

The court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner.

A leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP filed a lawsuit last year over a letter she sent to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The remarks were published in her foundation's quarterly journal.

In the December 2006 letter to Sarkozy, now the president, Bardot said France is "tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts."

She was referring to the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir, celebrated by slaughtering sheep.

French anti-racism laws prevent inciting hatred and discrimination on racial or religious or racial grounds. Bardot had been convicted four times previously for inciting racial hatred.

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Tragic Despoiling of McLovin Continues

Photo illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images, iStockphoto
Just days after the world witnessed his shocking loss at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night, McLovin's seemingly bottomless downward spiral continues apace with this "Rush & Molloy" report on the debauched soirée following Saturday's Spike TV Guy's Choice Awards (at which McLovin also left without a trophy):

At the after-party at the Playboy Mansion, Christopher Mintz-Plasse seemed to have the most fun — albeit reluctantly. The 18-year-old star of Superbad was standing by the bar when a group of thirtysomethings recognized him.

"Dude, you're doing a shot," one said, handing him what looked to be whisky.

"I can't!" the underage actor pleaded. But after a moment, Mintz-Plasse obliged — then headed toward the Playmates cavorting in the pool.

We can only pray that his mom does not read our blog.

In awards, Carell hits the mother lode [NYDN]

Earlier: McLovin's Genius Overlooked Again at MTV Movie Awards
Is Matchbox Twenty Contributing to the Delinquency of McLovin?

Cannes Film Festival - The Class Wins Palme Dor At Cannes

French film The Class, about life in a Paris school, has won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Using real students and teachers the film follows the lives of the school's inhabitants for a year in the French capital.

During his acceptance speech, the film's director Laurent Cantet claimed he had aimed to make a movie that was "a reflection of French society – multiple, many-faceted, complex".

Other awards presented by the panel of judges, led to Sean Penn, included best first feature film for Hunger, a movie about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.

Benicio Del Toro was declared best actor for his portrayal of Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's Che.

"I'd like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara," De Toro said during his acceptance speech.

The best actress award went to Brazilian actress Sandra Corveloni for her performance in Line of Passage.

Clint Eastwood and Catherine Deneuve were also both presented with lifetime achievement awards at the prestigious French film festival.


26/05/2008 09:10:01

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Peter Gabriel

   
Artist: Peter Gabriel

   Genre(s): 
Rock: Pop-Rock
   Soundtrack
   Rock
   

---

Discography:


   
 Hit (CD 2)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 14


   
 Hit (CD 1)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 15


   
 Up

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 11


   
 Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 15


   
 Long Walk Home (The Rabbit-Proof Fence OST)

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 15


   
 Long Walk Home

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 15


   
 Birdy

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 12


   
 OVO: The Millenium Show

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 12


   
 OVO: Millennium Show

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 12


   
 Ovo: Millennium +1 (Ltd Edition)

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 12


   
 OVO

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 12


   
 Secret World Live (CD 2)

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 5


   
 Secret World Live (CD 1)

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 10


   
 Secret World Live

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 10


   
 Us

   Year: 1992   
Tracks: 10


   
 [1989] Passion Music for The Last Temptation Of Christ

   Year: 1989   
Tracks: 21


   
 Passion - Music for the Last Temptation of Christ

   Year: 1989   
Tracks: 21


   
 Passion

   Year: 1989   
Tracks: 21


   
 SO (Remastered 2002)

   Year: 1986   
Tracks: 9


   
 So

   Year: 1986   
Tracks: 9


   
 Plays Live (CD 2)

   Year: 1983   
Tracks: 8


   
 Plays Live (CD 1)

   Year: 1983   
Tracks: 8


   
 Plays Live

   Year: 1983   
Tracks: 8


   
 Security

   Year: 1982   
Tracks: 8


   
 Peter Gabriel IV Security

   Year: 1982   
Tracks: 8


   
 Peter Gabriel 4

   Year: 1982   
Tracks: 8


   
 Deutsches Album

   Year: 1982   
Tracks: 8


   
 The 3rd Studio Album

   Year: 1980   
Tracks: 10


   
 Peter Gabriel III

   Year: 1980   
Tracks: 10


   
 Ein Deutsches Album

   Year: 1980   
Tracks: 9


   
 The 2nd Studio Album

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 11


   
 Peter Gabriel II

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 11


   
 Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 11


   
 Peter Gabriel - Ii - Scratch

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 11


   
 Peter Gabriel 1: Car

   Year: 1977   
Tracks: 9


   
 Peter Gabriel 1

   Year: 1977   
Tracks: 9

---

As the drawing card of Genesis in the early '70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock candy to new levels of theatricality. In his solo career, Gabriel was no less ambitious, merely he was more subtle in his methods. With his first eponymous solo album in 1977, he began exploring darker, more than cerebral soil, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music. The track record, as well as its deuce similarly highborn successors, accomplished Gabriel as a critically acclaimed cult artist, and with 1982's Security, he began to go into the mainstream; "Seismic disturbance the Monkey" became his first Top 40 strike, pavement the way for his multi-platinum breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the act peerless single "Maul," So became a multi-platinum hit, and Gabriel became an external star. Instead of capitalizing on his sudden success, he began to explore other interests, including transcription soundtracks and operative his society Real World. By the prison term he returned to pop with 1992's Us, his mass audience had washy aside and he spent the residuum of the '90s working on multimedia system projects for Real World.


Following his departure from Genesis in 1976, Peter Gabriel began work on the first of trey back-to-back eponymously highborn albums; each record was named Saint Peter the Apostle Gabriel, he aforesaid, as if they were editions of the same magazine. In 1977, his first solo album appeared and became a soften success due to the single "Solsbury Hill." Another self-titled track record followed in 1978, so far received relatively weaker reviews. Gabriel's third eponymous album was his artistic breakthrough. Produced by Steve Lillywhite and released in 1980, the album established Gabriel as one of rock's most ambitious, innovational musicians, as good as one of its well-nigh political -- "Biko," a vocal around a murdered antiapartheid militant, became one of the biggest protest anthems of the '80s. "Games Without Frontiers," with its eery chorus, intimately reached the Top 40.


In 1982, Gabriel released Surety, which was an even bigger success, earning positive reviews and sledding gold on the forcefulness of the startling video for "Shock the Monkey." Just as his solo career was pickings off, Gabriel participated in a round Genesis reunification in order to finance his WOMAD -- World of Music, Arts and Dance -- Festival. WOMAD was intentional to bring versatile world musics and impost to a Western consultation, and it presently sour into an yearly event, and a live forked album was released that yr to record the outcome. As Gabriel worked on his fifth album, he contributed the soundtrack to Alan Parker's 1984 plastic film Birdy. His score was highly praised and it north Korean won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes that year. After innovation Real World, Inc. -- a tummy devoted to development bridges betwixt engineering science and multi-ethnic humanistic discipline -- in 1985, he realised his twenty percent album, So.


Released in 1986, So became Gabriel's commercial breakthrough, largely because his Stax court "Sledge" was blessed with an innovative video that combined stop-action vitality with live military action. So climbed to figure 2 as "Maul" make number one, with "Braggy Time" -- featuring a video very alike to "Maul" -- stretch the Top Ten and "In Your Eyes" hitting the Top 30. As So was horseback riding high on the American and British charts, Gabriel co-headlined the showtime benefit tour for Amnesty International in 1986 with Sting and U2. Another Amnesty International Tour followed in 1988, and the following year, Gabriel released Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, a solicitation of instrumentals used in Martin Scorsese's cinema. Passion was the furthest Gabriel delved into worldbeat, and the album was widely acclaimed, victorious the Grammy Award in 1989 for Best New Age Performance. In 1990, he released the hits compilation Shaking the Tree.


Gabriel laboured long on the pop music follow-up to So, finally releasing Us in the saltation of 1992. During the recording of Us, Gabriel went through a number of personal upheavals, including a afflictive disunite, and those tensions manifested themselves on Us, a much darker record than So. For diverse reasons, non the least of which was the fact that it was released half a dozen years after its forerunner, Us wasn't as commercially successful as So, disdain cocksure reviews. Only one single, the "Maul" knockoff "Steam," reached the Top 40, and the album stalled at pt gross sales. In 1993, Gabriel embarked on the near ambitious WOMAD duty tour to appointment, touring the United States with a roll including Crowded House, James, and Sinéad O'Connor, with whom he had an on-off romantic relationship. The following year, he released the double-disc Mysterious World Live, which went amber. Later in 1994, he released the CD-ROM Xplora, one of many projects he developed with Real World. For the next 3 age, Gabriel concentrated on developing more multimedia projects for the company.

New U2 movie premieres at Sundance

U2's new concert film 'U2 3D' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Saturday night.
Speaking to the Associated Press before the screening, U2 guitarist The Edge said: "I was really hoping we weren't crap after all these years. Luckily we weren't."
He was joined at the screening by singer Bono, drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton.
Commenting on seeing himself in 3D on a cinema screen, Bono said: "It's kind of horrific. It's bad enough on a small screen. Now you get to see the lard arse 40-foot tall."
The film, which is the first digital 3D, multi-camera, real-time production, will be shown at Cineworld, Movies at Dundrum and Movies at Swords - all in Dublin - from 22 February. It will also be screened at SGC Dungarvan in Co Waterford. 

Winehouse gives instant fame to god-daughter, 12

When you are 12 years old and your godmother asks you to take part in a sing-a-long session at a friend's house, you might be forgiven for not seeing it as a passport to instant stardom and a transatlantic musical career.

Unless, that is, your godmother is Amy Winehouse, her friend Pete Doherty – and the four-minute clip is broadcast on YouTube and subsequently watched by tens of thousands.

Until recently, Dionne Bromfield was just another shy schoolgirl from Kent, whose only claim to fame was that she occasionally had to battle through the paparazzi when the Ivor Novello award-winning star came to pick her up at the school gates.

But after a brief recording of her singing with Winehouse accompanying on guitar was viewed by an army of adoring fans, Dionne has become an overnight hit – and the Back to Black star believes she could be the next big thing to hit the British music scene.

"Dionne is the one – I love her to bits," said Winehouse, who is personally sponsoring her god-daughter on a 10-day intensive singing programme in Los Angeles this summer. "Dionne really is special, she's better than I was at her age," she added.

Taking a break from her hectic recording schedule, the singer admitted it was a risk putting the schoolgirl in the spotlight at such an early age, but denied she was being unfair to other young hopefuls.

"Dionne is young but she has more potential than any girl I've ever seen," she said. "I know she's got an advantage by knowing me but I'd put her in a room against anyone and she'd do the business."

As of yesterday more than 80,000 people had clicked on to watch Dionne's performance of Alicia Keyes's If I Ain't Got You. The footage from Doherty's home, which shows an attentive Winehouse, 24, in her trademark beehive strumming away as her prot�g� sings powerfully into a microphone, was described as "mesmerising" by some fans. "Wow, that's lovely. I like it better than the original!" said one, while another remarked: "Talent! Amy is a great mentor!"

Dionne is grateful to Winehouse for giving her the chance to make her voice heard in the music industry. "She's really good – she just wants me to do as well as I can," she said. "She's really supportive and thinks I've got a great voice. She's helping me to go to America in the summer – so I can learn more about singing. I'm really excited about it, and a bit nervous."

Asked how she feels when her mentor is featured in the press for her drug problems and tumultuous love life, she said: "It's not very nice. We do nice things together, though. She does my hair. She likes straightening it."

Dionne, who attends the prestigious Voxbox singing school in Camden, north London, will fly to the US in July where she will come under the strict tutelage of Seth Riggs, whose alumni include the likes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.

Lucy Phillips, Dionne's music teacher, said her pupil's age was no barrier to future success. "Dionne is talented enough to have a very long career. Of course I am concerned that she is so young, but she has a great support network around her and, despite what people think of Amy, she is absolutely great with children."

Winehouse has had a very positive effect on Dionne's career, she added. "She even bought her a guitar and is teaching her the chords. Amy is Dionne's biggest fan. I think that is why she was willing to take the risk of putting her out there. She knows what talent she has."

Dionne, who cannot sing this week because of a throat infection, is circumspect about the fanfare around her online exposure. She knows she must concentrate on her education at Beaverwood School in Chislehurst.

"I know I've got to take things slowly," she said, adding: "Not many of my friends at school have seen the video. One of them saw it and said it was good."

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Room

   
Artist: Room

   Genre(s): 
Industrial
   

---

Discography:


   
 Forms Elastic

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 10

---

 

Stars to boycott Golden Globes

Hollywood actors are to boycott this month's Golden Globe Awards to show support for striking writers.
Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg said in a statement there was "unanimous agreement" among actors not to cross picket lines set up by the Writers Guild of America who are locked in a bitter dispute with film and television producers.
Rosenberg said the boycott would cover all nominees up for  acting awards in the event on 13 January.
The Golden Globes is regarded as the second most important awards show in Hollywood after the Oscars.
The ban would also cover stars acting as presenters.
The decision means that nominated A-listers such as Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and George Clooney are all likely to steer clear of the Globes, greatly diminishing one of the highlights of Hollywood's awards season.
Hollywood screenwriters have been on strike since 5 November after the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television  Producers failed to agree terms for a new contract.
Negotiations failed over the writers' demands for an increased share of profits from Internet and new media sales.
The two-month strike has forced the suspension of numerous television series as well as the postponement of work on several Hollywood films.
The WGA confirmed this week that it would mount pickets around the Golden Globes venue at the Beverly Hilton hotel.
It had already announced last month that it would not allow guild members to take part at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

Orchestra extends music director's contract

CLEVELAND —

The Cleveland Orchestra has extended the contract of music director Franz Welser-Moest through the 2017-2018 season.

Board chairman Richard Bogomolny announced the extension Friday.

Welser-Moest, 47, was named the orchestra's seventh music director in 2002. In 2003 his initial five-year contract was extended to 2012.

"Cleveland is my symphonic home and I look forward to at least another decade of working with this wonderful orchestra and serving this extraordinary community," the Austrian conductor said in a statement.

"It is with heartfelt gratitude that I thank the trustees and supporters of this institution for your commitment to excellence and devotion to the art of orchestral music."

In September 2010, Welser-Moest will become general music director of the Vienna State Opera with an initial five-year term.

The orchestra also said it received a $5 million anonymous gift to expand its education programs, including a plan by the city's school district to bring every fifth grader to Severance Hall.

---

On the Net:

http://www.clevelandorchestra.com

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Dreams with Sharp Teeth - 6/4/2008

Let's take a ride in the Wayback Machine to the 1970s, a fantasy time where people wore moods rings, collected pet rocks, and paid out 62 cents a gallon at the OPEC-regulated gas pumps. It was also a time when there were only 12 TV channels but always something on. There were plenty of talk shows on public television and local stations featuring interviews lasting longer than five minutes. And back then people read books, a conclusion drawn from the glut of authors that appeared on those talk shows. From S. J. Perelman to Norman Mailer and everybody in between, writers were talk show regulars (John Kenneth Galbraith got as much airtime in 1978 as Richard Simmons does today). But there was one particular talk show positioned at the proper hour to greet drunken and debauched college students staggering to bed after the booze ran out -- the late night/early morning Tom Snyder talkfest The Tomorrow Show, which frequently featured writers pontificating for an entire hour through Snyder's cigarette smoke. One of Snyder's favorite crank writers was science fiction (excuse me, "speculative fiction") writer Harlan Ellison, whose jeremiads on the show succeeded in sobering up many a college bum, particularly when Ellison sucker-punched the psyche with head-banging aphorisms like, "I think revenge is a very good thing for everybody."



This particular clip and many more from The Tomorrow Show figure prominently in Erik Nelson's Dreams with Sharp Teeth, an ebullient and celebratory bouquet to Ellison, the Last Angry Author. Ellison's writing output since he began writing for pay in 1955 makes the output of, say, Agatha Christie, look like peanuts -- 75 books and 1,700 stories, screenplays, teleplays, essays, and still counting (a clip from The Today Show features Ellison in a store window with a typewriter, banging out a story from scratch in under five hours). With such a massive, high-quality literary yield, Ellison rightly deserves the adulation of Nelson.



Ellison figures prominently in the film himself, in choker close-ups with Ellison inveighing against the crimes and misdemeanors of modern life. Ellison is a man who doesn't suffer fools gladly, attributing his rage to his punching bag childhood of being one of the few Jewish kids in Ohio ("When you've been made an outsider, you are always angry"). Ellison's eyes dart around like jabs or sink their gaze into the camera lens, as he spouts out his hilariously on-the-money bon mots with the viewers as seekers of wisdom and truth gazing upon the aged prophet of doom. Ellison's cranky outrage makes for some pithy monologues of angst, including a tale of Ellison screaming at an ABC executive on the set of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea causing the executive to break his pelvis and a broadside about the idiocy of a contestant on The Weakest Link who answers a question about the identity of the actor in Lawrence of Arabia with the initials "O.S." as "Naomi Campbell." And Nelson doesn't beat around the bush. You know how this movie's going to go when the first thing you hear out of Ellison's mouth is "Just shoot the fucking thing so I can get on with my life." In Dreams with Sharp Teeth, Ellison comes across as a raving, gospel-spewing lunatic in the Paddy Chayevsky manner who's got you by the balls for 96 minutes.



Nelson layers Ellison's musing with friends, writers, and Robin Williams (who calls Ellison "a combination of Borscht Belt and Berkeley"). Ellison reads extracts from a number of his stories in front of nutty backgrounds as important biographical benchmarks fold into the mix. While including clips of Ellison's life achievement awards, Nelson also doesn't avert his eyes from Ellison's failures (excremental The Oscar is given prominent display).



The exhilarating Dreams with Sharp Teeth is that rare documentary profile -- it not only makes you want to rush out and reread Ellison but, if you are a writer yourself, makes you feel good again about putting words together in a sentence.

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