Reign - Seize the Throne Clip
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New Child Sex Abuse Claims Filed Against Michael Jackson
Five years after his sudden passing, Michael Jackson is being accused of sexual abuse by a man who claims he was molested as a child by the superstar.
In court papers filed Monday, James Safechuck, 36, alleges he was abused by the singer when he was 10 years old after appearing in a Pepsi commercial with him.
After multiple visits to Jackson's home (some of which were chaperoned by his parents) and several all-expense-paid cross-country trips, Safechuck joined the pop star on his "Bad" tour, which is when he alleges the first incident of sexual abuse occurred.
Though specifics of the abuse claims are redacted in the papers, Safechuck says it first happened at the Hotel de Crillon during the Paris portion of Jackson's tour.
The papers allege Jackson gave Safechuck jewelry as a "reward" for sexual favors and taught him code words so others wouldn't learn about their sexual activities.
The Jackson estate slammed the allegations Wednesday in a statement to E! News.
"Mr. Safechuck's request to file a late claim against the Jackson Estate so he can recover money from Michael's beneficiary will hopefully be rejected," says the statement. "This is a person that made his claim five years after Michael died, more than 20 years after the incidents supposedly happened and has given sworn testimony that Michael never did anything inappropriate to him."
Claiming he was the first to stay at Jackson's famed Neverland Ranch after it was built, Safechuck states in the papers that the pop star "installed chimes in the hallway to his bedroom" so he could be warned of people approaching and had a "secret closet" in his bedroom where he engaged in sexual activities with Safechuck.
During the four years that Safechuck claims the abuse took place, Jackson engaged in sexual acts with him "hundreds of times – on tour, at Plaintiff's home, at DECEDENT's apartment/condominium … at DECEDENT's … Condominium … and at Neverland," the papers say.
When Safechuck hit puberty at 12 years old, Jackson began "grooming him for separation [that] spanned several months" and focusing his attention on a younger boy named Brett, Safechuck claims. Eventually, Jackson stopped sexually abusing Safechuck but continued supporting him financially and put him in touch with industry people to guide his career, he adds.
In 1993, Safechuck allegedly testified at the Jordan Chandler childhood sexual abuse trial, where Jackson said those claims "were a complete extortion on the part of the Chandler family," the papers say.
Eventually, Safechuck claims, his relationship with Jackson "tapered off" when he turned 17, enrolled at Moorpark Community College and began having panic attacks.
When he was around 25 years old, Safechuck was contacted by Jackson, who asked him to testify on his behalf in another criminal sexual abuse case. Safechuck alleges Jackson "got angry and threatened him" after he refused to help.
After seeing Wade Robson, whom he had met in 1993, file a lawsuit against Jackson for claims of childhood sexual abuse, Safechuck – who by then had a wife and newborn daughter – began meeting with a psychiatrist to deal with his anxiety.
In 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all 10 counts in his child-molestation case. A hearing has been set for early September in this latest case.
source
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nicki minaj slays another feature + shares stunning 'secret' photoshoot
Juicy J has been hard at work on his new album, Pure THC: The Hustle Continues, and today, he releases the first single from the project titled "Low" featuring Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, and Lil Bibby. The track is an easy contender to be the next song that takes over the club scene, as Juicy and Thug link for an addicting hook that of course encourages the ladies to get low. Nicki once again brings her A-game on a feature verse, as she combines a nasty double-time flow with standout lyrics like, "You be on that Bull, you be on Scott Pippen, I be pimp walking, I'm limpin, C's on my bag so they think I'm crippin."
source
HERE IS THE LINK FOR THE HQ PHOTOS. I'll post vlog between tonight and the am 😘 http://t.co/sidpI3OtsB
— Anaconda (@NICKIMINAJ) August 6, 2014
hq at source
source
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Terry Gilliam Says Don Quixote Will Now Shoot After Christmas
It’s been a long, frustrating ride for Terry Gilliam and his efforts to make a film inspired by Miguel De Cervantes' 17th Century Spanish classic Don Quixote. The one time he actually managed to get it on its feet, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote stumbled quickly thanks to a quagmire of issues. He’s announced several start dates in the years since, but talked up an early 2015 kick-off in May. Now he’s saying just after Christmas, and details to The Wrap how the film has changed.
The version that was to have starred Johnny Depp– chronicled in its misfortune via documentary Lost In La Mancha– followed an ad man who meets Quixote. Now? It’s more about the character himself, and just a smidge of the director... “I keep incorporating my own life into it and shifting it,” Gilliam says. “The basic underlying premise of that the version Johnny was involved in was that he actually was going to be transported back to the 17th century, and now it all takes place now, it's contemporary. It's more about how movies can damage people.”
And he knows whereof he speaks. “I've done it so many times — or not done it so many times — I'll believe it when I see it,” he laughs. “However, I'm behaving as if it's all going to happen as planned.” Just don’t tell God, or he’ll come down with the biggest fit of the giggles. So Gilliam’s going Meta – “Our main character actually made a Don Quixote movie a lot earlier in his history, and the effect it had on many people wasn't very nice. Some people go mad, some people turn to drink, some people become whores”– and he has the financing in place to crank the cameras in January. John Hurt has been mentioned as a potential new Quixote, but with cast discussions in that fraught negotiation stage, Gilliam can’t confirm anything. Meanwhile, we go on keeping our fingers, toes and eyes crossed that it finally happens.
More info about this mess at source.
Gillian pls
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Avengers: Age of Ultron Villain Josh Brolin Takes A None-Too-Subtle Jab At Zack Snyder
Avengers: Age of Ultron star Josh Brolin has said in the past that he was contacted for the role of Batman which eventually went to Ben Affleck, but hasn't really commented beyond that.
The closest he came was acknowledging in a March interview with Total Film magazine that he and director Zack Snyder didn't see eye-to-eye on how Batman should be approached.
“Me and Zack had a conversation about it,” Brolin explained at the time, “and there were several reasons why we said it wasn’t the best idea on both sides. I had mine and Zack had his.”
He seemed to suggest that Snyder's take on the character was a bit too "cool" for him, valuing big moments and clever lines. That wouldn't be too far off-target, given the fact that Snyder has repeatedly cited Frank Miller's Batman, who enjoyed a little of that style depiction, as his muse.
In a new interview with IGN, though, Brolin takes what's pretty transparently a pot shot at Snyder's past as a music video director, suggesting that Marvel's movies are better because their filmmakers are more focused on substance than style.
"First and foremost, I have a really good friend who I've known for years who's the co-president of Marvel, Louis D'Esposito. I knew Louis as a first AD, and he's the one who initially called me, and then [producer] Jeremy Latcham. Then I talked to Kevin Feige, ultimately," Brolin explained. "But there's something about them that's so insular and so geeky and so real. I loved it -- because I've turned down a lot of those types of movies. Not Marvel, but I've turned down a lot of those types of movies. When they started telling me the story about them getting together in Palm Springs, nine of them flipping burgers and talking about what Thanos was going to do and going, 'What do you think?' like, 'Captain America's going to show up here!' Then, 'Oh my God, what if the Hulk came in at that point?' and all that -- .I love that s--t. I love it, because those guys are absolutely saturated with that world, and they love story Another thing that I really loved is, they said that they didn't use directors that did music videos and all that in the past. They would always look for people who had done stories. If you look at James Gunn's oeuvre, he's done even web series, but they're all stories."
Zack Snyder, of course, got his start doing music videos for Soul Asylum, Morrissey and others. He hasn't done them regularly since he got his feature film break in Dawn of the Dead (written by Gunn, ironically enough), but he returned to the form in 2009 to direct My Chemical Romance's "Desolation Row" music video for Watchmen.
While top Marvel management has typically remained respectful of the competition, both at Warner/DC and otherwise, actors seem to have a bit looser rein to take their shots. During the Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice/Captain America 3 release date kerfuffle that finally wrapped up yesterday, Anthony Mackie repeatedly took pot shots [lol bless] at the other film, although his seemed mostly to be in the spirit of good-natured carnival barking, where Brolin's comments here seem to indicate a real frustration with Warners' approach.
[Source]
ONTD, is Batman serious business or VERY serious business?
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Batman <3 Superman: Yawn At Justice v. Cap 3: Up All Night To Get Bucky: More On Averted Showdown!
It’s been a good year for Marvel. Correction: It’s been a great year for Marvel. First, Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened huge in April and remains the biggest blockbuster of the year so far, outgrossing its 2011 franchise-starter around the world by 92 percent! Then, last week, Guardians of the Galaxy delivered a giant weekend, vindicating Marvel’s long-range plans for deep-cut superheros. The outside-the-box space epic is even ahead of Winter Soldier‘s box-office pace after five days. And if that wasn’t enough to celebrate, yesterday, Marvel received perhaps its most enjoyable gift of all: Warner Bros. announced that it was moving Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice off its May 6, 2016 release date, avoiding a potential opening-weekend showdown with the next Captain America sequel.
The news was met with hoots of derision: Warner Bros. and DC Comics had blinked. “Bawk bawk bawk!!!! WB is chicken!!!!” screamed the always eloquent internet. “Notice that they waited until one week after Comic-Con to make this announcement so they could avoid the mocking Marvel fanboy laughter,” sneered another EW commenter.
That Warner Bros. then immediately unveiled release dates for nine untitled DC superhero movies through 2020 didn’t exactly help matters. “There was a collective eye roll,” says an industry source familiar with Marvel’s thinking. “It’s almost like DC’s trying to create this fictitious PR war or this fictitious date war, but they’re coming to a gun fight with a knife. Guardians was Marvel’s 10th No. 1 movie, and it broke the mold. It’s a raccoon and a bunch of misfits. So Monday, of course, Sony comes out with their female superhero message, and then DC comes out with untitled dates until 2020—on the heels of Time Warner kicking Fox out of bed and announcing their earnings this week. Don’t think that’s all a coincidence.”
That might all be true, but here’s the thing: moving Dawn of Justice up to March 25—a month traditionally considered a box-office dead zone—might just be a brilliant maneuver. “There’s that perception [that Warner Bros. retreated], but I think at the end of the day, he who wins is just the one who’s smart,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for Rentrak. “They’re going to have an incredible amount of playing time before the Marvel movie kicks off. Putting this movie on a non-conventional date is going to pay big benefits for Warner Bros., for the theater owners—who love films that have legs—and for the audience. [Customers] will have a really cool movie to go out and see in March.”
It’s a strategy that is unusual, but hardly unprecedented. In March 2012, the first Hunger Games opened to $152 million and ultimately grossed more than $408 million—proving to the industry that “summer movies” don’t need to play in the summer or holiday season. Adding fuel to the argument was the recent performances of Warner Bros. films like Gravity and The LEGO Movie, two hits that soared within unconventional corridors (October and February, respectively). Throw in the proven advantage of being the year’s first “summer movie” (see: Iron Man 3; Winter Soldier), and the short-term shame in backing down might be drowned out by a loud chorus of cha-chings in March 2016.
“The reality now is there really isn’t a bad week to open a movie,” says Dan Fellman, Warner Bros.’ president of domestic distribution. “If you look at the summer box office this year, you can see that there were so many movies, one after the other. You can start with Spider-Man, two weeks later Godzilla, and then Maleficent, and then Edge of Tomorrow, and then Jump Street and Transformers. And the one thing they all had in common, not one of them did over $250 million. We’ll be the first one up [in 2016], which is very important, and we’ll have six weeks before Captain America comes in.”
Warner Bros. could’ve saved themselves from the game of chicken in the first place by not being so confrontational. Marvel had announced May 6 first, but initially it was reserved for an untitled superhero film. Warner Bros., armed with its two biggest comic-book characters meeting for the first time on-screen, didn’t hesitate to trespass when it pushed back Dawn of Justice‘s original release date from July 2015. “In terms of going back and reviewing the situation, it looked to us—and maybe our reconnaissance wasn’t great—that they were not going to have a movie [ready] on that date,” says Fellman. “Just that they held onto it and they might not be able to deliver. But they took another position.”
That other position was solidified when Winter Soldier opened to critical accolades and more than $713 million globally, surpassing the total take for Man of Steel. Once Marvel announced that Cap 3 was the MCU film set for May 6, the showdown got serious—and potentially very costly for both sides. “Nobody wins in that scenario,” says Dergarabedian, and in fact, Warner Bros.’ recent date change might realistically make both camps richer by $100 million or more than if they stubbornly had stuck to their guns and fought it out in May.
So DC and Marvel will live to fight another day. Marvel is sitting pretty, with a string of blockbusters that has reshaped the industry. DC has a lot riding on Dawn of Justice, obviously, with the pressure to establish a super-superfranchise on par with The Avengers (or even Guardians of the Galaxy). Fellman says that some of those untitled DC movies should begin to be announced later this month—Shazam?—and that the first real Justice League adventure might be closer than you think. Might they build on the momentum of Dawn of Justice in 2016 with a quick sequel incorporating more classic characters, rather than waiting the traditional two or three years? “While it hasn’t been officially announced,” teases Fellman. “I think it’s a pretty good bet.”
SOURCE
Thank you
tracerbullitt for the title!
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You Will Get a Chance to See 'Eleanor Rigby' The Way It Was Intended To Be Seen
Ned Benson's "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" was a sensation with audiences at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival when it screened as it was intended -- as two films (one titled "Him," the other "Her") played back to back. "Him" takes on the perspective of the James McAvoy's character, who's dealing with a rough breakup, while "Her" centers on that of his ex, played by Jessica Chastain.
Well, our prayers have been answered. Today comes news that they will open "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him/Her" on October 10 in select theaters.
Which version do you plan on checking out?
Src.
The Weinsteins doing the most.
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Que Cagada Es Esto? MTV Latino To Be Blessed With Jersey Shore Version Called Acapulco Shore!!!!!
Cuidado, Acapulco! The Mexican versions of Snooki, JWoww and The Situation are coming to town.
Acapulco Shore, based upon popular U.S. reality show Jersey Shore, will highlight eight young Mexicanos living in and around the beach resort town. MTV Latin America and bilingual U.S. network Tr3s will debut the show simultaneously in September 2014.
The latino version follows the other adaptations made in the U.K. (Geordie Shore), Poland (Warsaw Shore) and Spain (Gandia Shore).
"Drama, friendship, and partying -- the hallmarks of the MTV franchise are all encapsulated in Acapulco Shore," said Maria Iregui, Brand Manager of MTV Latin America. In other words, fans can expect a lot of boozing and fighting.
The good news doesn't end there, MTV fans. A planned Mexican re-version of MTV’s comedy clip show Ridiculousness is not in production yet but Catfish Colombia is currently in production and slated for a September premiere across MTV Latin America.
source: Latina
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New Tom Hardy stills from Mad Max:Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road has certainly started to rev its marketing engine. Earlier we saw the first trailer for the George Miller directed Mad Max reboot and now we've got some more images to show you.
With director George Miller
Source
TYFYT
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All (5) the Butts of Dating Naked So Far
VH1 blurs out breasts and genitals, but butts they can (and do) show by galore. What a treat!
Keegan:
Dan:
Dar:
Joe:
Justice:
See the other butts at theSource
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Gossip Girl Reunion — Dan and Blair Hang Out In NYC!
@itsmeleighton with fans and @pennbadgley - after #OfMiceandMenpic.twitter.com/LZImdpm2Ii
— Chuck and Blair (@parisinthe1920s) August 5, 2014@itsmeleighton holding your own w/ some heavyweights on Broadway, I see you. You killed it last night! Got me all inspired&callin my agents
— Penn Badgley (@PennBadgley) July 24, 2014
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What's your favorite Gossip Girl cast friendship, ONTD?
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Uncensored version of the final scene of Walking Dead's season finale
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Soon, the band returns! + The return of THTV
Bill Kaulitz at the Hairdresser
© instagram/billkaulitz
In January, Tokio Hotel announced that there would appear a new album by the band this year. Now it could not last much longer, because via Instagram announces singer Bill Kaulitz, 24, even a new video!
"Hair day - get ready for the first video shoot," he writes to a snapshot that shows him at the barber and Bill also reveals the same in the hashtags that he can bleach fresh!
Approach treatment?
Still can not marvel at the result. Maybe Bill wanted to re-dyeing only the approach? Three weeks ago saw the Leipzig-born namely still so*:
It is not known when you can hear the first single. We'll keep you posted!
Also and not part of the article, THTV official season announcement video is released on the Tokio Hotel youtube channel:
Source: Google Translate, Article, the tokio hotel youtube channel
*Idk if the translation is off, but Bill was posting a #TBT picture of himself from 2013 there with the long hair, it's not a new picture.
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Survey Finds YouTube Stars More Popular Than Mainstream Celebs Among U.S. Teens
Natalie did not make the (flop) list so I shall honor her by making her the queen of this post.
U.S. teenagers are more enamored with YouTube stars than they are the biggest celebrities in film, TV and music.
That’s the surprising result of a survey Variety commissioned in July that found the five most influential figures among Americans ages 13-18 are all YouTube faves, eclipsing mainstream celebs including Jennifer Lawrence and Seth Rogen. The highest-ranking figures were Smosh, the online comedy team of Ian Andrew Hecox and Anthony Padilla, both 26.
Despite having minimal exposure in the mainstream media, another comedy duo, known as the Fine Bros., Benny and Rafi, finished a close second, followed by the Swedish videogamer who has the most subscribers on all of YouTube, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg — otherwise known as PewDiePie. Interestingly, the highest-ranking non-YouTuber is Paul Walker, who tragically died in a car accident late in 2013.
The survey, conducted for Variety by celebrity brand strategist Jeetendr Sehdev, asked 1,500 respondents a battery of questions assessing how 20 well-known personalities stacked up in terms of approachability, authenticity and other criteria considered aspects of their overall influence. Half the 20 were drawn from the English-language personalities with the most subscribers and video views on YouTube, the other half were represented by the celebrities with the highest Q scores among U.S. teens aged 13-17, as of March.
A score was then assigned to each YouTube and mainstream star based on how they fared in respondents’ answers to the questions, and the resulting number was translated to a 100-point scale. The top five — and six of the top 10 — were YouTube stars.
Drilling deeper into the survey, Sehdev found that YouTube stars scored significantly higher than traditional celebrities across a range of characteristics considered to have the highest correlation to influencing purchases among teens. YouTubers were judged to be more engaging, extraordinary and relatable than mainstream stars, who were rated as being smarter and more reliable. In terms of sex appeal, the two types of celebs finished just about even.
Looking at survey comments and feedback, teens enjoy an intimate and authentic experience with YouTube celebrities, who aren’t subject to image strategies carefully orchestrated by PR pros. Teens also say they appreciate YouTube stars’ more candid sense of humor, lack of filter and risk-taking spirit, behaviors often curbed by Hollywood handlers.
That should sound a warning to YouTube celebs looking to cash in on their fame via the traditional Tinseltown infrastructure, Sehdev notes.
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Top five: 1.) Smosh, 2.) Fine Bros., 3.) PewDiePie, 4.) KSI, 5.) Ryan Higa.
Neat graphic/Top 20 at the source/Variety.
I'm not against new media but someone enlighten me on the top five. Obligatory q: how do you feel about "regular" people gaining fame by talking about nothing, ONTD?
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More Agents joining S.H.I.E.L.D.
It seams that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding even more today. According to TV Line, Henry Simmons (NYPD Blue) has signed on to appear in the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as agent Alphonso “Mac” Mackenzie, "a mechanic in his early 30s." In the Marvel comics Al Mackenzie is a veteran agent who found himself at odds with Nick Fury, and also had dealings with Jessica Jones so there's some crossover potential there when the Netflix series kicks off. Simmons joins other cast newbies Kyle MacLachlan as Skye’s father, Reed Diamond Daniel Whitehall, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter, Simon Kassianides as Bakshi and Lucy Lawless as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Isabel Hartly. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns for its sophomore season on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 9/8c.
SOURCE
So ONTD if you could cast your Marvel Universe faves who would you cast as who?
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The Biggest Flop Albums of 2014... So Far
As the calendar flips to August, the music industry is officially in the dog days of summer, when sales traditionally slow. But quite a few 2014 albums have already rolled over and played dead. Here are 15 prime cases. Who let these dogs out? - Paul Grein
Robin Thicke's Paula
There are peaks and valleys in every career, but rarely has an artist gone from career-high to butt-of-jokes so quickly. Thicke's seventh studio album spent just one week in the top 40. His best hope is it was such a bomb that his wife will feel sorry for him and take him back.
Jennifer Lopez's A.K.A.
J.Lo's eighth studio album sold 33K copies in its first week. That's the lowest first-week tally for a Lopez studio album to date. It's even lower than her 2007 Spanish-language album, Como Ama Una Mujer. This was J.Lo's first English-language studio set not to spawn at least one top 40 hit.
Mariah Carey's Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse
Carey's 11th studio album sold 58K copies in its first week. That's Carey's lowest first-week tally since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. (Between J.Lo and Mariah, it's starting to look like that Idol chair is jinxed.)
Lea Michele's Louder
The Glee star's debut album spent just two weeks in the top 40. It probably would have done better if it had been released a few years ago, when Glee was at its peak. The first single, "Cannonball," stalled at No. 75. (The song's co-writer, Sia, would fare much better with her own single, "Chandelier.")
Hunter Hayes's Storyline
The country star's sophomore album spent its first two weeks in the top 10, but it hasn't shown the staying power of his eponymous debut album. The singles "Invisible" and "Tattoo" couldn't match the first album's hits, "Wanted" and "I Want Crazy."
50 Cent's Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire to Win
Now there's an ironic title for you. The rapper's fifth studio album sold just 37K copies in its first week. That's a big drop not only from his smash early albums, but even from his previous studio album, Before I Self-Destruct (which sold 160K in its first week).
Foster the People's Supermodel
The group's sophomore album failed to generate a single as catchy as its 2011 earworm "Pumped Up Kicks." None of the album's singles even cracked the Hot 100. As a result, this album spent just two weeks in the top 40.
Candice Glover's Music Speaks
This album by American Idol's Season 12 winner spent just two weeks in the top 40. The aptly-titled single, "Cried," failed to crack the Hot 100. (This probably reflects more on Idol's fading fortunes than on Glover.)
Phillip Phillips's Behind the Light
Sophomore albums by American Idol winners are tricky, but Phillips seemed likely to overcome the odds. Alas, no. The album spent just two weeks in the top 20. The single, "Raging Fire," stalled at No. 58. That may qualify as a fire, but it's hardly raging.
Santana's Corazon
The veteran band's 22nd studio album marks a return to the collabo-heavy format of its most successful albums of the past 15 years. Even so, Corazon spent just four weeks in the top 40. Time for another comeback!
Tessanne Chin's Count on My Love
Chin's first album after winning The Voice in December debuted at No. 41 and plummeted to No. 197 in its second week. The first albums by two other recent winners of The Voice, Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery, fared much better.
Linkin Park's The Hunting Party
The band's sixth studio album sold 110K copies in its first week. That's less than half of what the band's previous studio album, Living Things, sold in its first week. The Hunting Party debuted and peaked at No. 3, breaking a string of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums by the band.
The Fray's Helios
The fourth album by the once-potent group spent just one week in the top 40. The first single, "Love Don't Die," stalled at No. 60.
Jennifer Nettles's That Girl
This was Nettles's first solo album after four hit studio albums with the country duo Sugarland. This should have propelled her to the top tier of female country solo stars (along with Taylor, Carrie, and Miranda), but it didn't. It wasn't a flop, just a disappointment.
Marsha Ambrosius's Friends & Lovers
The R&B star's sophomore album debuted and peaked at No. 12 and plunged to No. 45 in its second week. That's a big drop from her 2011 album Late Nights & Early Mornings, which reached No. 2.
Source.
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TRAILER: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
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Ray Rice cheered by fans in preseason game
Ravens running back Ray Rice got off to a good start in Thursday night's preseason-opening 23-3 win over the San Francisco 49ers and received some loud applause for it.
In his first game since his alleged domestic violence incident, Rice ran for 17 yards on three carries in what was a sharp first drive.
Fans cheered for Rice when he was announced during pregame introductions, and they clapped again for him after his first run, a 6-yard gain. No boos were audible during either instance.
"That means the world to me," Rice said after the game. "Everything I went through, I don't take anything for granted anymore, especially going out there and playing in front of our fans. It's a lot of respect that I have to go out there and earn because of the position that I put myself in."
Rice also issued a statement through the Ravens at halftime, part of which said: "I owe my best to these fans for giving me that kind of ovation. I'm looking forward to giving them the best effort that I can every week throughout the season."
Rice, who lost 15 pounds coming off a career-worst 2013, had more acceleration and showed more decisiveness on his runs.
"I do feel different," he said of his slimmer frame. "I guess it's safe to say I feel like back when I was a rookie. That's the weight I'm continuing to try to play at. Obviously, when I went through when I added a little bit of extra weight, you can't make the cuts like you want to do.
"Training this offseason and focusing on the stuff that I needed to focus on -- diet, exercise, all the stuff I needed to do -- finally I got down to the weight I was comfortable at and went out there and executed."
Rice only played one series, which ended in a touchdown by Bernard Pierce, before being removed. There were several women and children at M&T Bank Stadium wearing Rice's No. 27 jersey.
Rice was arrested Feb. 15, after he allegedly struck then-fiancée Janay Palmer, leaving her unconscious during an altercation at an Atlantic City hotel. Video surfaced online showing Rice dragging an apparently unconscious Palmer out of an elevator. The couple since has married.
Rice pleaded not guilty to a third-degree charge of aggravated assault and avoided trial by being accepted into a pretrial intervention program in May. The NFL announced that Rice would be suspended for the first two games of the upcoming regular season and fined three game checks.
Source
Wow. Pathetic fanbase and organization. FYI, Rice was one of five Ravens players arrested during the offseason. And I thought the Niners were an embarrassment.
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According To Media Take Out, Frank Ocean Is Getting Married To a Transgender-American!
MediaTakeOut.com just received some BLOCKBUSTER news - R&B singing sensation FRANK OCEAN is no longer a SINGLE MAN. A top Los Angeles insider tell us that Frank is ENGAGED - to a TRANSGENDER LATINO AMERICAN.
The insider, who is the former roommate to Frank's new fiance told MediaTakeOut.com EXCLUSIVELY that Frank is engaged to a woman named Bonita A, a college student at UCLA. While Bonita is a very CURVY female NOW - she was born a male. And she still has all her "male parts." She was described to us as having "big t*ts, a big azz, and a big d*ck."
How can we be so sure that he's engaged? Well we received the report from Bonita's ex-roommate nearly three weeks ago. The snitch told us that Bonita MOVED IN with Frank, and that they exchanged ENGAGEMENT RINGS. We were also told that they were going to get LEGALLY MARRIED as part of the promo to the album. We took it as just a rumor until YESTERDAY!!
Yesterday Frank popped up in London - wearing a gold and diamond ring on his WEDDING FINGER and his camp told us to expect a "major" announcement from him soon. So yeah - we BELIEVE IT!!!
Pics of the soon-to-be new Mrs Frank Ocean coming soon.
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Smiling Young White People Make App for Avoiding Black Neighborhoods
Almost every New Yorker has had that moment: finding oneself on a strange block in an unfamiliar neighborhood late in the evening and wondering, "am I in a bad situation?"
Well, now there's an app to answer that question.
SketchFactor, the brainchild of co-founders Allison McGuire and Daniel Herrington, is a Manhattan-based navigation app that crowdsources user experiences along with publicly available data to rate the relative "sketchiness" of certain areas in major cities. The app will launch on iTunes on Friday, capping off a big week for the startup, which was named as a finalist in NYC BigApps, a city-sponsored competition that promotes technologies designed to improve quality of life issues in New York City and government transparency.
According to Ms. McGuire, a Los Angeles native who lives in the West Village, the impetus behind SketchFactor was her experience as a young woman navigating the streets of Washington, D.C., where she worked at a nonprofit.
"How can we take large amounts of data and crowdsource opinions on certain areas?" she wondered to herself. "I brought that idea to a Lean Startup event in D.C., it got a huge reception and suddenly I was on my way."
After meeting Mr. Herrington, an electrical engineer who was taken with the SketchFactor idea, the two quit their Washington D.C.-based jobs and decamped to New York City with funding from family and friends.
As one of the finalists in the BigApps competition, SketchFactor is poised to receive more attention when it launches. The founders are also bracing for potential complications from an app that asks anonymous users to judge a neighborhood's sketchiness. After all, fear can be subjective. And the site could be vulnerable to criticisms regarding the degree to which race is used to profile a neighborhood.
"We understand that people will see this issue," Ms. McGuire said. "And even though Dan and I are admittedly both young, white people, the app is not built for us as young, white people. As far as we're concerned, racial profiling is 'sketchy' and we are trying to empower users to report incidents of racism against them and define their own experience of the streets."
Ms. McGuire and Mr. Herrington are confident that the app has widespread appeal to cities nationwide, especially beyond the New York market.
"I live in New York now," said Ms. McGuire with a laugh. "So almost nothing's sketchy to me anymore."
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