DOOM

Just after Anders Behring Breivik, the man responsible for the recent Norway killings, reportedly used computer games to train, "Doom" Creator John Carmack has reiterated his belief that violent computer games grant players an outlet for their aggression -- thus reducing their propensity for violence.
Speaking to IndustryGamers, Carmack commented on the correlation between violent computer games and real-world violence: "I really think, if anything, there is more evidence to show that the violent games reduce aggression and violence. There have actually been some studies about that, that it's cathartic.
"If you go to QuakeCon and you walk by and you see the people there [and compare that to] a random cross-section of a college campus, you're probably going to find a more peaceful crowd of people at the gaming convention. I think it's at worst neutral and potentially positive."
Carmack's statement follows the recent re-emergence of debate regarding the effect playing violent games has on players. Though never truly resolved, the debate returned to the public forefront after it was revealed that the man responsible for the recent killings in Norway allegedly used games such as "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" to "train."
The man in question, Anders Behring Breivik, made the revelation in his 1,500 page manifesto writing: "I just bought [Call of Duty] Modern Warfare 2, the game. It is probably the best military simulator out there and it's one of the hottest. I see MW2 more as part of my training-simulation than anything else."

While not specifically mentioning the correlation with the Norway killings, Carmack went on to argue that the topic always came up in the same cyclical fashion whenever such a tragedy occurred. "People just play games now, and I never took seriously the 'violence in video games' debate. It was basically talking points for people to get on CNN and espouse their stuff on there," he said.
Carmack previously came under fire after Jerald Block, a U.S. psychiatrist, argued that the killers responsible for the 1999 Columbine High School massacre were influenced by their love of games like "Doom."
When asked about whether such claims trouble him, Carmack commented: "There was an E3 where all that was going on where I was giving interviews and the reporters would start going into their questions, and I wasn't supposed to talk about any of that.
"My wife was there and she'd start kicking me when I was about to go, 'Well, I think...' And in the end it didn't matter, it didn't make any impact on things. I never felt threatened by it, and it turned out not to matter."

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Barbados

Rihanna brought her show on the road yesterday, quite literally.

The 23-year-old singer, who just completed the North American leg of her "LOUD" tour, managed to spend some time at home in Barbados for the annual Kadooment Day celebration, which commemorates the end of the harvest season.

Sporting a jewel-encrusted bikini, fishnets, elaborate red garter belts and plenty of flashy jewelry, Rihanna, who serves as an official tourism ambassador for Barbados, danced on a float and with members of the crowd.
The superstar was willing to let fans get up close and personal, even allowing one male onlooker to come up behind her and dance closely.

Despite the rain that started during the parade, Rihanna seemed to have a fantastic time. The singer tweeted, "My home, my country, my people....BARBADOS!!!"

While in her home country, Rihanna also managed to get in a little shopping.

The day after the Kadooment Day celebration, the singer -- dressed down in a maxi dress and oversized sunglasses --was spotted with an entourage of family and friends trying on jewelry at Crown of Light.

Rihanna (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty) was raised in Saint Michael, Barbados, where she grew up poor -- but with big dreams to become a singer.

While in primary school, she formed a singing group with two of her classmates.

In 2005, she left high school and signed with Def Jam Records. In August of that year, she released her first single, "Pon de Replay," which shot to No. 2 on the Billboard charts.

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Good Morning America

It was an exciting season finale on “The Bachelorette” last night, and this morning (August 2) Ashley Hebert was in the house at “Good Morning America.”
The 26-year-old babe was joined by her fiancé J.P. Rosenbaum at the ABC Studios in Times Square, and they both looked blissful as they posed for the paparazzi.

And it’s been a busy time for Ashley, as she made an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last night (August 1).
Considering that Kimmel films in Los Angeles, Ms. Hebert must have caught an early flight to get to the Big Apple this morning.
Enjoy the pictures of "The Bachelorette" Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum at "GMA" (August 2) and Ashley at "Jimmy Kimmel Live" the night before.

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Kings Of Leon

When Kings of Leon’s Caleb Followill walked off stage in Dallas, Texas on Friday, muttering darkly of “heat exhaustion and dehydration”, he was certainly not the first rock star to burn out mid-tour. The band have subsequently cancelled all their remaining dates in the US, issuing a statement saying they need to take a break for two months.
Ever since Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones undertook the first truly mammoth, modern-era jaunts around North America in the early 1970s, “the road” has always been peppered with pitfalls for the top-flight rocker.
The fundamental lifestyle is gruelling: endless travel, patchy sleep, irregular food, perpetual disorientation – all for an hour or two’s fun onstage every evening, and - often - the party afterwards.
In the intervening years, a major artist’s global itinerary has extended way beyond just the US and Europe, to include regular stops in the Far East, Australasia, numerous former Eastern Bloc countries, and South America. In the future India and China beckon. Along the way, a band these days has practically no down time: in today’s corporate culture, there are umpteen meet-and-greets and local radio interviews in the run-up to showtime in every town or city.

In short, the mega-touring life is now every bit as monotonous and depressing as commuting, minus the creature comforts of home every evening. Your schedule for the next eighteen months can start to resemble a lengthy sentence. The band members are imprisoned together for months on end, incubating all their mutual dislikes and petty jealousies. The whole dynamic can be particularly explosive when you throw family issues into the mix – remember Oasis?

So, when Caleb Followill talked of “heat exhaustion and dehydration”, it was a highly plausible excuse in Texas at the height of summer, where temperature and humidity far exceeds anything we’re used to in Blighty. Those, however, were doubtless his issues near the surface. There was almost certainly some kind of hangover involved – Kings of Leon have confessed to partying ways in the past.

Deeper down, there’s the relentless sparring of a mega-successful band formed by three brothers and a cousin, who have by their own admission never seen eye to eye. Following 2008’s multi-platinum-selling crossover album, “Only By the Night”, they reputedly disagreed vehemently about whether to return to their bluesy roots, or continue in a more mainstream direction. The result, last October’s “Come Around Sundown”, rather fell between the two stools, and didn’t match its predecessor’s sales.

After Friday’s blow-out, Caleb’s bass-playing brother Jared Tweeted rather ominously of the band’s “internal sicknesses.” He added: “I can’t lie, there are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade”.

Although having cancelled such a major US tour will have sent their insurance premiums through the roof – and that’s one of the biggest pressures surrounding a world-touring combo’s business operation in 2011 – taking a breather forthwith was doubtless the right decision. Twenty-four hours on from the cancellation, they have stated emphatically that they’re not splitting up. A few decent nights’ kip and several hefty rows further down the line, they’ll surely all kiss, make up, and be back chasing the highway dream once again.

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Josh Groban

Somewhere between wandering the Mohegan Sun Arena floor to chat with the audience, pouring wine for a couple marking their 30th wedding anniversary, drumming a solo after his band played “Live and Let Die,” dancing (poorly), and ribbing his fans, Josh Groban found time to sing 19 songs and perform an instrumental on piano he composed at the age of 12.
Before a sold-out crowd of 10,000 Grobanites, the affable prince of operatic pop with the boyish good looks and self-deprecating humor turned out an amazing performance.
As his 13-piece band played an instrumental version of “Straight to You” on the main stage, Groban entered from the rear of the arena and seated himself at a nearby piano. He kicked off the nearly two-hour set with “Changing Colours” – a concert favorite he has not recorded in the studio. The 30-year-old California native followed with “February Song” and "You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up)” from 2006’s “Awake” album before wading through the crowd and onto the main stage.
“You guys are polite, the other row was grabby,” Groban told one fan, before adding to another, “You smell great (like) a combination of Chanel No. 5 and Bubba’s BBQ.”
On the main stage, Groban sang “Oceano” in Italian and “Alejate” in Spanish before performing “Bells of New York City,” a tribute to his adopted hometown of New York. It was the first of seven tracks from his latest album, “Illuminations.” He returned to “Illuminations” throughout the night for “Higher Window,” “War at Home,” “Voce Existe Em Mim,” “Galileo (Someone Like You)”, “If I Walk Away” and the piano-led instrumental “The Wandering Kind.”
The new material worked well alongside familiar concert favorites like “Machine” (originally recorded with Herbie Hancock) and “Weeping” (a collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo).
Prior the start of the concert, Groban’s camp sought text message questions from audience members.

Groban fielded a few half-way through the night. “Let’s open up this box of chocolates and see where the nuts are,” he joked.
One not-so-nutty question led Groban to a duet on “The Prayer” with a fan who identified herself as Amy, a former opera student. What Groban billed as “Mohegan Sun Idol” turned out to be one of the more memorable moments of the night.
While the evening was full of song and good humor, Groban paused to discuss social causes important to him. He asked fans to support musical educational programs for youngsters and better care for returning veterans. The singer recently visited Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
Groban brought the set to a close with the bittersweet “Broke Vow” and the moving “Per Te” before returning for a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Play Me” and his signature hit “You Raise Me Up.”

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Bobby Flay

“Well if it isn't the balding Kentucky Fried Chicken.” With that line, Andrew Dice Clay announced his presence on the second episode of Entourage's final season. The biggest question is, how long will he stay?
When we left the boys last week, the crew finally built up enough confidence to tell Vince that his rehab-inspired idea for a fluff film just wouldn't work on the big screen. The only problem was, seconds before that revelation, Turtle hastily tossed a lit joint into a closed window. The drapes caught fire, and then the house did too. But hey, this is Entourage, so not only were there zero repercussions about drug use and immense property damage, but the boys simply relocated to a gigantic suite at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; (Though strangely it wasn't mentioned, this is the same hotel where Vince had his cocaine-fueled meltdown at the end of last season. Because that's a minor detail, right?)

The second episode hit on all cylinders, pushing the story along, and giving shape to a road map to the conclusion. Drama's cartoon show "Johnny Goes Bananas" has all the makings of a hit, including casting Andrew Dice Clay as Drama's co-star. One of the biggest stand-up comics of the 1980s, the Diceman was famous for his foul-mouthed take on Mother Goose nursery rhymes delivered wearing head-to-toe-leather and holding a burning cigarette. He disappeared for a few years (actually the better part of a decade), so Diceman wasted no time in trying to join the entourage for more than just a guest appearance. Diceman signed with E's management company and spent the rest of the episode tagging along for the ride.
Speaking of E, we were treated last night to a small rekindling of E's on again, off again, engagement, then flameout with Sloan. This author, and pretty much all if his friends, have always thought that Sloan was way too good for E. She's too smart, too gorgeous, too good a person, and E should have put a ring on it years ago at his first opportunity. E did propose in the final episode of season 6, but the engagement imploded late last season as E was trying his best to save Vince. So far this final season, E and Sloan's relationship has been confined to a series of angry phone messages because he refused to get his crap out of Sloan's house. When he finally did return for his things, ta-da! E and Sloan slept together and there was an awkward "what the hell just happened?" look before Sloan bolted from the bed. When they finally talked about it on the phone, Sloan told E that she's moving to New York, and she hopes they can talk sometime.
Here's our prediction: At the end of the season, E will leave L.A. and follow Sloan to New York. He may keep managing Vince's career from the Big Apple, but as I said, Sloan is way too good for E, and he'll have to give something up if he wants her.
Our parallel plot this week was Ari's attempt to find out who his estranged wife has been seeing. Ari's former assistant, Lloyd, who's now become his smartest agent, revealed to Ari that he spotted Mrs. Ari at Bobby Flay's restaurant. The only problem: Mrs. Ari despises Flay's. Ari is so incensed at the prospect of his wife dating a waiter/wannabe actor that he tracks the suspect down and effectively ruins his career. Ari, in addition to being a jerk, is very smart and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. When Ari found out that Mrs. Ari wasn't seeing a waiter, but rather celebrity chef Bobby Flay himself, he turned his sights on the culinary king.
There are plenty of questions to ponder this week: Will Turtle lose Alex to her new found fame as model? Will the Diceman blow "Johnny Goes Bananas" by asking for more money? Will Lloyd finally get to run the agency's T.V. department? Will we see a guest appearance by the star of "Boy Meets Grill?" Only six and a half days to wait.

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Kings Of Leon

Kings of Leon admit they have "internal sicknesses and problems".

The 'Sex on Fire' rockers cut short a concert inDallas, Texas, on Friday (19.07.11) and cancelled a show scheduled for the next day near Houston, with frontman Caleb Followill claiming he couldn't sing properly because of the heat.

He left the stage on Friday night (29.07.11) after telling the crowd: "I'm gonna go backstage and I'm gonna vomit, I'm gonna drink a beer and I'm gonna come back out and play three more songs. For the record I'm not drunk, I'm just f****ing hot."

When he failed to reappear, however, the other band members - Caleb's brothers Jared and Nathan and cousin Matthew - reappeared and apologised to the crowd.

Bassist Nathan also expressed his disappointment over twitter, hinting the group's problems extend beyond the heat.

He tweeted: "Dallas, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. There are internal sicknesses and problems that have needed to be addressed. No words (sic)."

"I love our fans so much. I know you guys aren't stupid. I can't lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade (sic)."

Drummer Nathan Followill added he was "ashamed and embarrassed" about having to cancel the show.

He wrote on Saturday (30.07.11): "Not so good morning 4 me today. Ashamed & embarrassed by last nights fiasco. Can't apologize enough, utterly gutted. A million I'm sorry's (sic)."

The band have rescheduled two shows in Texas to make up for concert cut short and the missed date, and are next set to play tomorrow (02.08.11) in Florida.

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Paul Mccartney Wrigley Field

Paul McCartney strode out to play music on a Chicago baseball field. The White Sox were desperately trying to stay in contention in the American League, while the Cubs were playing out the string in yet another miserable losing season.
Sunday night at Wrigley Field? No, that describes perfectly the situation on August 20, 1965, when Paul and the Beatles played their only Chicago baseball stadium concert date, at the old Comiskey Park on the South Side of Chicago. In fact, they played two shows that day, at 3:30 and 8 p.m.; here's some rare black and white newsreel footage from that day.
Sunday night at Wrigley Field, the crowd was a bit older, grayer and paunchier (this writer included) when the lights came up on the massive stage that took up most of center field and dwarfed the scoreboard to reveal a 69-year-old McCartney and the band that's backed him up for the last several tours. The band, which includes Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboards, guitar, percussion, harmonica, backing vocals), Rusty Anderson (guitar, backing vocals), Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums, backing vocals) and Brian Ray (guitar, bass, backing vocals) isn't the Beatles... but during Beatles tunes, close your eyes for a moment and you can almost feel yourself transported to that 1965 Beatles concert (minus the  screaming, of course).
McCartney, you can tell from the moment he begins his set, just loves to play music and engage with people who love music. He may be approaching 70, but the youthful glint that captivated screaming teenagers in the 1960s is still in his eyes and he can still hit the high notes on songs like "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Let It Be". The best single word to describe a Paul show is "fun". He clearly enjoys every moment, and that makes the experience memorable.
Paul's "On The Run" tour is, at least so far, a fairly exclusive one, playing just four baseball stadiums in the USA, none of which he had ever played before: the new Yankee Stadium (where he quipped, "Who's this Derek Jeter guy? I hear he has more hits than me."), the Comerica Park in Detroit, two shows at Wrigley Field (a place he reportedly had been wanting to play for many years), and Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park, home of the Reds. He may not have that many tour years left, though he did leave Wrigley Sunday night saying, "We'll see you next time!", so if you get a chance to see this living legend live, don't hesitate. The show is high-energy and rocks for almost three hours.

Set list:
Hello, Goodbye
Junior's Farm
All My Loving
Jet
Drive My Car
Sing The Changes
The Night Before
Let Me Roll It
Paperback Writer
The Long And Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Let 'Em In
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen a Face
I Will
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the USSR
I've Got A Feeling
A Day In The Life/Give Peace a Chance
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore #1
Lady Madonna
Day Tripper
Get Back
Encore #2
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight

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Diablo 3 Release Date

Diablo 3  Beta

Blizzard Entertainment released a beta update for Diablo 3 this weekend, suggesting that the final release date of the full fledged system is nearing. The last Diablo game was released on the year 2000, building up a huge user base till date. This makes the current update the most anticipated game title of the year. Blizzard Entertainment has a different focus on World of Warcraft but the game play on Diablo makes it unique and addictive. The company earlier gave an official statement regarding the target dates for the release, hinting it to be on the third quarter, between July and September. Now that the Beta version is released, its expected that the Official Release will happen some time soon, mostly to be around the fourth quarter. Reports also suggest its most likely to be released on January 2012.
However reports in reliable websites suggested that, a localized version for Brazil will come out in a month. Of course, the company made a press release saying that they are not willing to compromise on quality for hitting the release timeline.
Diablo 3 is all about customization. There are no skill points or talent trees, which is a considerable turnaround in the update. More about the game play will be updated soon!

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Diablo 3 Beta

While all the Diablo 3 talk this week will probably center around Blizzard's announcement of the player-to-player auction system, there's plenty to say about the game itself. It's the most polished it has ever been, and while the mechanics were in and working at the last BlizzCon, this beta build featured all of the classes with both sexes, the early questlines and story in the beginning of Act 1, co-op play, and the latest implementation of the full skill and crafting systems. We didn't get to play with the skill-tweaking Runes, but we were shown them being slotted and used in a hands-off demo.

Regardless of how you feel about real-money transactions and third-party payment providers,Diablo 3 is still turning out to be one hell of a videogame.
"Diablo 3 is a game about customization," says Wyatt Cheng, technical game designer at Blizzard. "It's about making interesting choices about the hero you want to be." It's that philosophy that's really shining in these polish stages -- not only is Blizzard figuring out ways to get you new loot, XP, and new skills and character tweaks as you move through the game itself, but the team is then focusing on getting you to make informed choices about which ones you want to use.

"We don't want every Barbarian to be the same," says Cheng. "Just because I picked to play a Barbarian, that doesn't define me. I can be an aggressive Barbarian, I can be a dual-wielder, I can put on my shield and take less damage. And even among the tanks, am I more focused around stuns, or focused around damage reduction or healing myself or reducing the damage that enemies do and disabling them?" Playing the Barbarian is the premiere hack-and-slash experience, whether dual-wielding or waving around a giant axe. The class is governed by Fury and, as you might imagine, the more damage you do, the more damage you'll get to do next.

All of the classes are still hosting roughly the same skills we've seen in the past, but the class resources have been tweaked and balanced out. Wizards now run on Arcane Power, and have a few spammy damage spells counterweighed with more costly status spells like Slow Time and an Arkon form that transforms both the character and her skills. Monks have Spirit, which slowly fills as you carry out his quick attacks and is then used up with big skills like a group heal, or a wall-creating skill called "Inner Sanctuary." Demon Hunters use two resources, Hatred and Discipline, and they play off of each other, pushing you to balance ranged attacks with traps and prep skills.

Skills themselves are given to players every level or so (which means every class has plenty to play with), and then they're simply chosen from a list to fit into up to six slots, slowly opened up through the progression. At level 5, for example, you might have four skills, but only two slots in which to put those. The Trait system we've seen at past BlizzCons has been simplified, and is now just called "Passives" -- three different passive abilities that you can choose for your character. Skills can be switched out at any time, which makes for a lot of experimentation, letting you try one skill at a time or see how it combines with others.

There are no skill points or talent trees at all, which marks an interesting diversion in the series. Cheng says Blizzard did a lot of testing, and found that the number of choices players made wasn't as important as which choices those were. "Would you rather have one percent bonus crit that you choose five times, which is a system that we could have gone with, or would you rather just pick one passive and say I'm good at critical hits?" asks Cheng. "Would you rather make 20 small decisions or three big ones? What we find, especially when it comes to defining your character, is that three big ones is more interesting and compelling."

Polish also means that Blizzard is smoothing out the flow of gameplay, and one new choice that they've made is that players will no longer have to return to town to sell items. Early in the game, you'll get a "Cauldron of Jordan" that sits in a permanent inventory slot and will pay out vendor price for anything you don't want. There's also a "Nephalim Cube" that will grind unwanted items into the game's raw crafting materials, so any time you need to clear your inventory you can do it right where you stand, instantly.

"Bottom line, we're an action RPG," says Cheng. "And we want to keep the action flowing. Obviously there are objections, like shouldn't there be some reason to go back to town?" And there still will be, at points. Quests return you to town, your (account-wide!) stash is there, and the vendors, repair, and crafting NPCs are all there. "But at the end of the day we want to do what plays best and what played best was the ability to decide at any time, do I want to make this item into gold or do I want to make this item into crafting materials."
Those crafting materials can be brought back to NPCs, who will, for a price of gold and mats, help you produce weapons, armor and jewelry. But rather than World of Warcraft's crafting system, which essentially serves as yet another way to get equal gear, Diablo 3's crafting is more like a second chance. "In Diablo, the crafting philosophy is take something that you don't want, and make more random items," Cheng says. "So when you ask what's better, a crafted item or a random monster item, the answer is, they're both generated from the same base materials, so it's luck."

The idea is that if you go into a dungeon and get 30 items, odds are that you may only use or need three. "The other 27 are garbage," says Cheng. "In Diablo 2, you vendor them. In Diablo 3, you salvage the materials, give them to your crafter, and you get two, three, four more chances at getting a good item again." That's not to say that there won't be rare crafting materials, but the actual produced items are meant to be random, not substitutes for dropped gear.

Quests are in, and very clean. The system quickly guides you around the game's randomized dungeons to what you're supposed to kill next, while also offering a few sidequests and even "localized events." At one point, I came across a tomb on top of a mound, and when I reached the peak, enemies appeared around the hill, making me and my party defend the top until a named NPC showed up. Those quests will always fit the context of where you are, but they're random on the map -- yet another reward.

The main storyline is in as well. Early on, you meet Deckard Cain's daughter, Leah, in "New Tristram," a gold-rush town where a meteor has fallen on the old Tristram, causing the dead to rise. Each class has their own reasons for investigating the meteor, and Leah, the NPCs, and your first follower (a Templar warrior you save from being sacrificed in a blood ritual) are quite chatty, feeding you story as you play. There are also small diary scraps to find that will play out voiceovers and lore as you fight along. I didn't find all of these in one run, but more and more appeared on subsequent runs, filling in the blanks of the characters I came across.

The UI is cleaner and simpler, and it too is full of rewards -- everything you click on supplies a satisfying sound and helps build up that character you're customizing. It's not completely done yet, as there are still a few temporary items floating around, but you can tell Blizzard has what it wants in the game, and is now trying to figure out how to make it work as best they can.

While all of the classes are solid, it's worth mentioning that playing as the Monk specifically is just an incredible experience. His combination of quick three-stage combos (whether using simple hand wraps or two enchanted short swords as I did) and Dashing Strike is just a wonder to behold, and lets you bring down a crowd of zombies with lightning speed (and actual lightning, if you're also using his elemental attack). You could spend all day just plowing through dungeons with that combo. And let's face it: when this game comes out, you probably will.

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Selena

Sixteen minutes before the gates of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre opened Sunday night, a young and colorful revival hit the crowd.
"The '80s is coming back," said Annie Conrad, she and sister, fellow 11-year-old Skylar Lovelady, each wearing one of the other's socks and tennis shoes.
The girls were part of the crowd at a packed Amphitheatre to hear a musical concert by Disney Channel star and pop icon Justin Bieber's girlfriend, Selena Gomez.
Near the sisters wearing their pink, peace-symbol socks, a group of young girls stood in the parking lot on tiptoes.
The girls, all 13-year-old cousins from Macclenny, have a two-thirds majority in their excitment over Gomez or Bieber.
"If he comes, I will pass out," Bailey Tyson said of Bieber as she stood in a small sea of purple T-shirts and makeup. Tyson said everyone knows purple is Bieber's favorite color.
Cousin Taylor Carrington is a Bieber Wikipedia. She explains two 11-year-old boys in full-body spandex suits are dressed in honor of a social network page's password. The boys say they just don't want anyone to recognize them.
Taylor likes Gomez, and though not as much as cousin Abigail Carpenter -- there is near unity on liking both Bieber and Gomez.
An exception is 9-year-old Allie Smith, walking a pace ahead of her mother and smirking over a blue rock candy stick.
"I don't like his songs," she said. "No interest."
Darlene Sunnerlyn came with two daughters from Fleming Island to see Gomez, popular singer and star of The Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place." She said her two daughters both like the show's star.
"It's hard to find a concert that they both will go to," Sunnerlyn said.
Rachel, 17, and 12-year-old Sydney are split on Bieber and Gomez.
Rachel said older girls usually prefer Bieber over Gomez, who she said is liked more for her singing.
Sitting on the steps leading to the box office were mother and daughter Tara and Zara Casey.

Tara said they drove from Jacksonville to turn a lesson into a gift.
She said they bought their tickets from a man on Craigslist. Zara, who is 9, washed dishes and raked leaves around their Jacksonville house to earn half the money. The tickets were fake.
"My husband lost his job," Tara said. "She worked hard for the money."
Amphitheatre box office Manager David Iafrate, who had to turn the two away, said it's not uncommon to see fake tickets many showgoers say they bought from someone on Craigslist.
"That is not a fun thing to do," he said of telling the two about their tickets.
Ben Brown, a Jacksonville man buying and selling tickets down the sidewalk, said the incident is a sad tale in an economy he said went sour 11 years ago.
"You have to be careful," Brown said. "There are things worse than that. They are blessed nothing worse happenned."
A man yelled at Brown, "Why do you need tickets?" as Brown held his small yellow sign.
"He just wants to know what's going on," Brown said.
Brown and others sell tickets legally outside events, an industry that was widened when it became legal to sell tickets over face value.
Chiefly, he said, they are bought from patrons with extra tickets -- patrons looking for him.
"If you think about it, it helps the Amphitheatre," Brown said. "If those tickets that have gone unsold until this point don't get used, maybe you don't sell a T-shirt, a Coke, parking. That is revenue for the city. The most important thing is to respect that city. If they say stay 100 feet away from a certain point -- 1,000 feet -- stay away 100 or 1,000 feet."
Amphitheatre General Manager Ryan Murphy said the Gomez concert was one in a series of recent sellouts.
In the Amphitheatre's dirt parking lot, Zara looks serious, then smiles slightly, saying she isn't angry.
"Because I know that mistakes happen," she said.
Her expression is sterner talking about four years of foster life before meeting her mother.

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Beauty And The Beast

DISNEY fans take note, this year's MATA summer show at Minehead's Regal Theatre, Beauty and the Beast, will be performed from August 12 to August 27.
Disney's acclaimed modern classic is brilliantly transformed to a new level of entertainment through the magic of theatre, bringing the unforgettable music, colourful characters and magical adventure to life.
Performances take place daily at 7.30pm except on Sundays and Monday, August 22. There will be 2.30pm performances on Saturday, August 13 and Wednesday, August 24.

Tickets cost up to £10.00, available on 01643-706430.

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Justin Bieber Songs

There's a rumor going around that Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber have broken up over a text to his ex.
The ex in question is another pop star who hasn't quite reached the celeb status of Selena, although Jasmine Villegas looks an awful lot like the Bieb's current ladylove. Jasmine was the opening act for the second leg of Justin's tour last year.
The internet rumor is that Selena caught Justin sending a text to his ex, so the two have called it quits. Of course this could just be one of the many Bieber-related rumors floating around on the web (he dies every other weekend), but it's also not all that hard to imagine it being true

After all, Justin Bieber was dating Jasmine Villegas before he met Selena Gomez, and since Selena and Jasmine look so much alike, it's possible that Justin has been using Selena as a rebound to try and get over Jasmine this whole time. Or maybe the biggest male pop star in the world has taken a page from Selena and decided that he's not ready to settle down -- she recently said she doesn't want to marry Justin, so what better way for him to get back at her than texting an ex?
Jasmine Villegas better watch out coming after her doppelganger's man, and she better not have any songs similar to Selena's -- after all, Kim Kardashian has gotten all litigious over her Old Navy lookalike that's dating her ex Reggie Bush.
So what do you think -- did Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber really break up, or is this just wishful thinking on the part of Beliebers and guys that have a thing for Gomez?
Check out Jasmine Villegas singing "Jealous" below -- wonder if it's aimed at a certain someone?

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Pottermore Clues

J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore website has announced its first challenge to fans.
The website, launched by the bestselling author of the Harry Potter series of books, is meant to extend the brand to the web by offering online challenges, franchise backstories, e-book sales, and social networking.
The site recently posted this message: “Can you find The Magical Quill? Day 1 clue How many breeds of owl are featured on the Eeylops Owl Emporium sign? Multiply this number by 49.”

New clues will be posted through Aug. 6. Winners will get the opportunity to gain early access to Pottermore.
Others authors are no doubt watching to see whether Rowling can continue to retain and build interest in the world of Harry Potter through her new website. The Harry Potter book series has concluded and the movie franchise finished up its run with the eighth and final installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” currently in theaters.

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Slutwalk

Dozens of young women and men, flanked by scores of curious onlookers, marched for 20 minutes in the heart of the Indian capital Sunday as part of the SlutWalk, a global drive against sexual violence.
Even as older Indians and the right-wing Hindu groups condemned the march, more than 100 protesters shouted angry slogans, enacted street plays and carried placards saying “I Have Nothing To Be Ashamed of,” “Stop Staring” and “Walk of No Shame.” In India, protesters were not skimpily clad as many were in walks in other cities.
“We are different from the international SlutWalk. Unfortunately, the whole debate has been dragged down to miniskirts the world over. This has prompted the conservative Hindu groups here to frown upon us, too. But only 1 percent of our focus is on women’s clothes,” said Mallika Trehan, an 18-year-old marcher wearing a long Indian tunic and pants.
Several men and women came to the march Sunday because they said they disapproved of the campaign.
“I am worried. Where is India going? Now our women are fighting for their right to wear less? Women cannot wear tiny clothes and go out at night and expect men to worship them. They cannot then blame the police and the government,” said Anil Ruhila, 50, who came with his wife. “Our culture does not allow such vulgar debates. Women have to be modest. My wife is fully clothed, nobody stares at her.”
A spokesperson for the Hindu right-wing group the Vishwa hindu Parishad, Vinod Bansal, had earlier warned the marchers not to “cross the limits of decency and shame, or they will have to face the consequences.”

To appeal to the traditional Indian psyche and make it more inclusive, the organizers softened the word “slut” by adding the Hindi word “shamelessness” to the title of the march. SlutWalk, a campus campaign against the social perception that women provoke sexual violence by the way they dress, began in Toronto. The protest mobilized scores of young women online and spread to the United States, Europe, Australia, South Korea and South Africa. The walk began in April after a Toronto police officer said that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”
About half of India’s 1.2 billion population are under age 25, and the country is urbanizing rapidly and embracing global cultures. More and more young women are entering the workforce and living away from their families. But social attitudes towards women continue to remain somewhat conservative.
Many placards and banners spoke against staring, a ubiquitous phenomenon faced by women in India.
“Indian men feel it is their right to stare at women. Our parents tell us to ignore it. But staring is where it all begins,” said Saanvri Kapoor, a 19-year old economics student. “How many of us know that the law says staring for more than 30 seconds is a punishable offence?”
The marchers walked past a church, the Bible society and an 18th-century observatory called the Jantar Mantar under the watchful eyes of scores of police officers who walked alongside.
A 26-year-old mother, Nishta Gautam, walked with her 2-year-old daughter in her arms, and a bag of diapers, milk and water bottles on her shoulder.
“I want to make sure that my girl does not grow up to face harassment the way my generation does,” she said.

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Soulja Boy

For our 21st birthday, we bought ourselves a 40. For Soulja Boy’s 21st birthday, he decided to treat himself to a $55 million dollar jet. Why? Because he’s worth it. To be honest, we’re seriously surprised that Soulja has that kinda cash, but then again, he did write ‘Donk’. His management team, who for some reason didn’t stop him, told TMZ that the young rapper purchased a G5 jet earlier in the week.

The jet itself cost a paltry $35 million (chump change!). But then he spent a further $20 million to trick it out with ridicu-swank accouterments like flat screen TVs, four liquor bars, Brazilian hardwood cabinets, custom tiled floor and 12 Italian leather chairs. Apparently displeased by the claustrophobic inflight potties, Soulja had them replaced with what we hear is a massive bathroom. Oh, and naturally he had his logo painted on the side of the plane (of COURSE he has a logo, don’t you know anything!?). But that isn’t the end of his birthday splurge. He’s ALSO shelling out $300,000 to hold a bash at a Miami nightclub. Dude, you just dropped $55 million on a tricked out jet…who needs a nightclub!

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Today Show

Journey became the latest band to perform as part of the Today Show's free series of concerts on Friday (29th July 2011), playing hits including 'Don't Stop Believin' at the Rockefeller Centre in New York City. The group currently perform as a revamped version of the original 70's line-up, with Arnel Pineda taking on vocal duties.

Introduced by Anne Curry, the rockers took to the stage in Manhattan to perform for a select group of fans, some of whom held aloft 'I Love Journey' banners. The band still features original bassist Ross Valory and guitarist Neal Schon but Filipino singer Pineda joined in 2007 after uploading 'Journey' covers to YouTube. Billboard writer Phil Gallo explained the decision, saying, "I think they found a singer who is an exciting person to watch onstage, which they haven't had in a very, very, very long time.I think they went out and recorded a collection of new songs that connected with the Steve Perry era better than anything they've done in a long time". Perry left the band in the late 1990's after relations with Valory and Schon became strained.
The group are set to head out on a U.S. tour with Foreigner and Night Ranger kicking off on Saturday (30th July 2011) at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Illinois.

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Dino D Day

Dino D Day

What, you missed the episode of "Hitler's Helpers," in which the leaders to revive the species of dinosaurs did?Well, history is not everyone's cup of tea. Fortunately, there's the game "Dino D-Day", which is happening around 1942 times more authentic for those who reflect that are only interested in something, if they can shoot it at something. In multiplayer matches to come against Nazi allies, each group has six classes to choose from, only that there are three classes of the Nazis armed dinosaurs. One aspect of the self-neglecting the "Call of Duty" series has long, instead introducing nonsense like zombies. Via Steam you can already published in April, playing tracks from today through Sunday for free and in full. In the course of this, the price of "Dino D-Day" reduced by half. Gives the shooter on Valve's platform over the weekend for € 4.99 nurmehr. The ratings for this fall in the trade press, however, somewhat restrainedfrom. But just one of the burdens this is serious games have to bear.

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Journey

Popular music often sets the tone to the scenes we watch on the small screen. Songs punctuate the sad moments, highlight the good times and sometimes they just fill the void when there’s nothing to be said. And it seems one band — heck, one song — gets the chance to do that more than any other.
From dramas to sitcoms, from talent shows to boardroom battles, TV favors Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” time and time again.
Not a believer? Just check out this selection of shows that “goes on and on and on and on ...”:

“The Sopranos” final bow may have left some fans less than satisfied, but the music certainly wasn’t a problem.

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Cowboys And Aliens Review

Daniel Craig wakes up in a small American cowboy town with a strange, mechanical bracelet around his wrist and no memory of who he is. It turns out that he is a wanted criminal, who had stolen bullion from Harrison Ford, the richest man in town. But before Ford can extract revenge, mysterious aliens attack the town. Craig’s bracelet is the only thing that can protect the humans. What happens next? Find out more in the review of Cowboys & Aliens.

Business rating: 1.5/5 stars
Star cast: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde.
What’s Good: Daniel Craig’s performance; the cinematography.
What’s Bad: The hackneyed and boring script; the lack of any emotional connect with the audience; the indigestible premise of the film.
Verdict: Cowboys & Aliens is a disappointing fare. Even Daniel Craig’s name will not be able to do much for the film at the Indian box-office.
Loo break: Several.
Watch or Not?: Watch only if you want to know what a film with cowboys and aliens put together can have.
User Rating:

2 Votes

Imagine Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, Fairview Entertainment and Platinum Studios’ Cowboys & Aliens is a mix of the American Western and science-fiction genres.
In 1875, a person (Daniel Craig) with no memory of his past wakes up in the middle of New Mexico desert, with a strange metal bracelet around his wrist. As he is nursing an injury, he finds his way to the nearest town, a dirt-heap called Absolution, where he gets embroiled in a fight with the local rich man’s son, Percy (Paul Dano). He is soon arrested as the local sheriff discovers that although he has lost his memory, he is a wanted criminal by the name of Jake Lonegran. There is a mysterious girl, Ella (Olivia Wilde), who helps the local sheriff capture Jake. Percy is also arrested by the sheriff. Soon, Percy’s father, Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), arrives with his men, ready to take on the sheriff (for arresting his son) and Jake, whom he wants to kill for having stolen his (Dolarhyde’s) bullion a few days earlier. However, their confrontation is nipped in the bud as strange alien crafts arrive and start bombing the town, and snatch several people to take them away to an undisclosed location. But not before Jake’s metal bracelet comes to life and he shoots down an alien aircraft. The alien from the aircraft manages to escape.
Next morning, when Dolarhyde and other townspeople leave in search of the alien and their loved ones, Jake goes on his own path. Ella, who follows Jake, pleads with him to remember his past so that he can reveal the location of the aliens. Jake cannot remember anything and he asks Ella not to follow him.

But slowly, as Jake later joins Dolarhyde and team, his memory starts to return in flashes. It finally is restored when native Indians, who are also threatened by the alien attack, nurse Jake’s mental wounds. He reveals the location of the alien spacecraft. Ella, who also turns out to be a non-human form, tells Jake and Dolarhyde that they must defeat the aliens or they (aliens) would kill all humans. Now Jake and his men, Dolarhyde and his men and the native Indians must all come together and attack the fortified alien spacecraft and the dangerous aliens. Are they able to win the battle?
The story of Cowboys & Aliens, based on Platinum Studios’ eponymous comic book by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, has a germ of an idea that might appeal to a few viewers. However, the manner in which the story (by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby and Steve Oedekerk) has been written makes the film an extremely boring and unentertaining fare. The screenplay (by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby) starts off well with the mystery surrounding the real identity of Jake. But the audience is given no reason to sympathise with Jake, as he turns out to be a murderer and a wanted criminal. Moreover, the fact that Jake had lost his wife, whom he dearly loved, and also his memory because of the aliens, is revealed so late in the movie that it makes no difference to the viewer.
Colonel Dolarhyde’s character, of a war-rugged man who rules his town with an iron fist, but has a soft corner for a native Indian servant (Adam Beach), is clichéd. Moreover, scenes of Dolarhyde’s confrontation with the native Indian chief do not work at all and they seem fabricated.
In spite of the many fast-paced action sequences, which are fairly well-executed, the narrative moves at a very slow pace. The part where the cowboys (humans) look for the missing alien is extremely long-drawn. The long interactions between the cowboys, in their peculiar accent, are too stretched and do not add any entertainment value. Till the last few reels of the film, the viewer is provided with no clues about what the aliens are doing, who they really are, etc. And when the reason for their attack on earth is revealed in the end, it only amuses the audience, rather than horrifying or exciting them. The alien creatures themselves are very strange-looking and also of an unknown provenance, another detail that is inexplicably left out.
The presence of an alluring and mysterious female character, Ella, with whom Jake only starts to develop a bonding, does not add any value as Ella turns out to be a non-human. Ella’s ultimate sacrifice in the climax also makes no difference to the audience as it is too bored to care for anything.
The basic premise (putting aliens and cowboys together), which could have been an asset if dealt with well, ends up being the film’s millstone. All in all, in spite of half a dozen writers flexing their mental muscles, the script turns out to be a damp squib.
Daniel Craig (as Jake Lonegran) does well as the stoic and poker-faced protagonist. His performance is the only redeeming feature in the whole film. Harrison Ford (Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde) has been relegated to the second lead character and even that is rather under-developed. But Ford does an okay job of what he has been given. Olivia Wilde (as Ella) looks beautiful but has little else to do. Sam Rockwell (as Doc), Adam Beach (as native Indian), Paul Dano (as Dolarhyde’s son, Percy) and Noah Ringer (as kid) provide fair support.

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