Archive for February, 2011

Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Monday, February 28th, 2011

‘King’s Speech’ dominates Oscars

Monday, February 28th, 2011
A still from the movie 'The King's Speech'

The King’s Speech and Inception have dominated the 2011 Academy Awards, taking home four Oscars apiece at the Hollywood ceremony.

The British-produced royal drama, about King George VI’s attempts to overcome a crippling stammer with the aid of speech therapist Lionel Logue, took home ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actor’ for star Colin Firth, ‘Best Director’ for Tom Hooper and ‘Best Original Screenplay’ for David Seidler.

Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending science fiction thriller Inception ruled in the technical categories, scooping awards for ‘Cinematography’, ‘Sound Editing’, ‘Sound Mixing’ and ‘Visual Effects’.

The Social Network emerged with three Oscars (‘Adapted Screenplay’, ‘Editing’, ‘Original Score’), while True Grit, which notched up ten nominations, walked away empty-handed.

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Adele continues singles chart reign

Sunday, February 27th, 2011
Adele, singer
Adele has continued to hold strong atop the UK singles chart with Brit Award show-stopper ‘Someone Like You’.

Sales of the 21 track ran into six figures for a second consecutive week, eventually clocking in at an impressive total of more than 110,000 copies.

Martin Talbot of the Official Chart Company said: “Adele is proving to truly be the star of 2011. Her album has already become the must-have release of the year and for ‘Someone Like You’ to top 100,000 sales for two successive weeks demonstrates what a huge hit it is.”

Former chart-topper ‘Price Tag’ by Jessie J is unmoved from the runner up spot, while Rihanna’s S&M achieves a new peak of three after advancing from last week’s six. Adele’s first – and so far only – official single of 2011, ‘Rolling In The Deep’, is just behind them at four.

The top 10 in full:

1. (1) Adele: ‘Someone Like You’ (Brit Awards live version)
10. (13) Pink: ‘F**kin’ Perfect’

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‘Kick-Ass’ leads Empire Award nominations

Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Aaron Johnson in Kick-Ass

Superhero movie Kick-Ass has picked up six nominations at the 2011 Jameson Empire Awards.

Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s ultra-violent comic series secured nominations for ‘Best Film’, ‘Best British Film’, ‘Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy’ and ‘Best Director’, along with ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Newcomer’ nods for stars Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz, respectively.

The King’s Speech, Inception, The Social Network and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World are also nominated in the ‘Best Film’ category.

Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, The King’s Speech, Four Lions and Monsters will compete with Kick-Ass for the ‘Best British Film’ accolade.

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Eminem casts porn star in music video

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Eminem

Eminem has cast a former porn star in his upcoming music video.

The rapper, whose next single to be lifted from his Recovery LP is ‘Space Bound’, is said to have hired actress Sasha Grey to feature in the accompanying clip.

The Sun reports that Eminem and Grey will play “star-crossed lovers” in the promo, which is directed by ‘Love The Way You Lie’ filmmaker Joseph Kahn.

Grey’s previous credits include Homo Erectus, The Girlfriend Experience and hit US comedy Entourage.

The ‘We Made You’ star previously hired porn star Gina Lynn for his ‘Superman’ video in 2003.

Alexis Jordan – Good Girl

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

‘Paul’ claims UK box office No. 1

Monday, February 21st, 2011
'Paul' still

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s Paul has topped the box office on its first week in UK cinemas.

The sci-fi road comedy, boosted by an early release on Valentine’s Day, racked up £5.5 million in ticket sales to send last week’s chart topper Gnomeo & Juliet into second place.

Colin Firth’s Oscar-tipped royal drama The King’s Speech is at number three, having taken in more than £37 million in the UK since its release in January.

True Grit charts at number four, while Martin Lawrence comedy sequel Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son is a new entry at number five.

The UK box office top ten in full:
1. (-) Paul – £5,517,121
2. (1) Gnomeo & Juliet – £2,223,978
3. (2) The King’s Speech – £1,685,180
4. (4) True Grit – £1,466,979
5. (-) Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son – £1,433,778
6. (5) Yogi Bear – £1,370,585
7. (3) Tangled – £1,295,709
8. (6) Just Go With It – £984,355
9. (-) Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – £820,592
10. (7) Black Swan – £696,332

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Adele rides Brits acclaim to singles No. 1

Sunday, February 20th, 2011
Adele, singer

Adele has snatched the UK singles chart top spot away from Jessie J with Brit Award crowd-pleaser ‘Someone Like You’.

The London-born singer soared to pole position with the 21 track following her tearful performance at Tuesday night’s ceremony, which sparked a mass of downloads significant enough to knock last week’s number one ‘Price Tag’ and midweek ruler Lady GaGa down the rankings. The rendition also helped pull her comeback single ‘Rolling In The Deep’ up a spot to four.

As well as Adele’s Brits-inspired success, several of the night’s biggest winners have experienced significant surges in popularity on this week’s chart. Reaping the biggest reward is Rihanna, whose ‘S&M’ is launched into the top ten for the first time at six following her ‘International Female’ win, while Tinie Tempah, who took home two prizes at the event, sees his JLS collaboration ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ reach a new peak of eight, seven weeks after its debut.

Over 90,000 downloads of the ceremony’s live performances – such as Take That’s ‘Kidz’ and Plan B’s ‘She Said/Praying’ mash-up – have been purchased in the four days since their release.

The top ten in full:
1. (-) Adele: ‘Someone Like You’ (Brit Awards live version)
2. (1) Jessie J ft. B.o.B: ‘Price Tag’
3. (3) Lady GaGa: ‘Born This Way’ (Grammy Awards live version)
4. (5) Adele: ‘Rolling In The Deep’
5. (2) Chipmunk ft. Chris Brown: ‘Champion’
6. (11) Rihanna: ‘S&M’
7. (4) Bruno Mars: ‘Grenade’
8. (17) JLS ft. Tinie Tempah: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’
9. (6) Chris Brown: ‘Yeah 3x’
10. (8) Taio Cruz ft. Kylie Minogue: ‘Higher’

Source: Official Charts Company

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Britney Spears – Hold It Against Me

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Spears’s manager explains music video

Saturday, February 19th, 2011
Britney Spears

Britney Spears’s manager Larry Rudolph has explained the meaning behind the fight scene in her new music video.

The singer, who unveiled the highly-anticipated clip for ‘Hold It Against Me’ last night, is seen punching and kicking a double of herself in the promo.

“There are really two different Britneys,” he explained to MTV. “There’s a public Britney and there’s a private Britney, and they’re very different.

“Maybe the world doesn’t really know that – maybe those of us who do know her really well understand that, but there really are two different Britneys. Maybe at some times the two Britneys are at odds with each other; most of the time they’re not.”

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