22nd September, 2008
Pharell Inks Deal with Microsoft
This should definitely make for an interesting campaign. I think Pharell has more of a worldwide appeal than Seinfeld anyway.
Hip-Hop star Pharrell joins a cast of celebrities in a new $300 million dollar advertising campaign being launched by technology behemoth, Microsoft.
On September 4, Microsoft debuted two spots featuring comedian and spokesman Jerry Seinfeld and company founder Bill Gates, as part of the biggest ad spend in the company’s history.
One advertisement features Seinfeld and Gates shoe shopping while engaging in idle chatter and the second features Seinfeld and Gates engaged in conversation at a blue collar family’s dinner table. Despite being on the air for less than two weeks, the company is pulling the ads, in favor of a new campaign featuring Williams, Deepak Chopra and actress Eva Longoria.
A Microsoft spokesman said the ad campaign was “completely in accordance” with the company’s plans and denied that a lukewarm response from consumers was to blame for the change.
The “second phase” of Microsoft’s ad campaign featuring Pharrell have the tagline: “Windows. Life without walls.”
Microsoft has tapped Williams’ marketing power in the past, as the hit making rapper/producer helped launch the company’s game Halo 3 in the United Kingdom.
It is not clear if Seinfeld, who was paid $10 million dollars to endorse Microsoft, will be featured in the print version of the advertisements, which are scheduled to debut this Fall. (From Allhiphop.com)
Posted at 12:29 am | Comment (0)
21st September, 2008
Photos: Dj Am and Travis Barker critically injured in Burn unit in Atlanta
UPDATES:
Barker's ex-wife has flown to his side, his kids don't know
DJ AM in medically induced coma, he called his mom from ambulance
Nicole Richie in shock and wishes DJ AM the best
The deceased Chris Baker was Barker's assistant
PREVIOUSLY
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Hours after performing for thousands of South Carolina college students, former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Hollywood star DJ AM were critically injured in a fiery Learjet crash that killed four people, authorities said Saturday.
Officials said the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks. The plane hurtled off the end of a runway and crashed through antennas and a fence. It came to rest on an embankment across a five-lane highway and was engulfed in flames, said Debbie Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Barker and DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, were in critical condition at a burn center in Augusta, Ga., about 75 miles southwest of Columbia, hospital spokeswoman Beth Frits said.
Two other passengers -- Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, Calif., and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles -- died, as did pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills, Calif., and co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, according to the county coroner. Baker was an assistant to Barker and Still was a security guard for the musician.
The plane was headed for Van Nuys, Calif. It is owned by Global Exec Aviation, a California-based charter company, and was certified to operate last year, Hersman said. The company said it had no immediate comment.
At the crash site Saturday, the air was still heavy with the odor of jet fuel. A trail of black soot led off a runway. The nose of the aircraft was gone and the roof was missing from two-thirds of the charred plane.
"It's absolutely terrible and tragic," Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said.
Barker and Goldstein had performed together under the name TRVSDJ-AM at a free concert in Columbia on Friday night. Event sponsor T-Mobile said their hourlong set ended at about 7:15 p.m.
The show, which included performances by former Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell and singer Gavin DeGraw, drew 10,000 people into the streets of Five Points, the neighborhood near the University of South Carolina, Coble said.
Peter Kastis, Farrell's manager, said he and Farrell didn't find out about the crash until they arrived at the airport Saturday morning to find it closed.
"I just hugged them hello less than 24 hours ago. I wish I could hug them now," Kastis said.
One concertgoer said TRVSDJ-AM's performance was unique and different.
"It was literally one of the best shows I've ever seen," said Brett Flashnick, a freelance photographer who works for The Associated Press and attended the concert for a local newspaper.
Barker, 32, was one of the more colorful members of the multiplatinum-selling punk rock band Blink-182, whose biggest album was 1999's CD "Enema of the State," which sold more than five million copies in the United States alone.
After Blink-182 disbanded in 2005, Barker went on to form the rock band (+44) -- pronounced "plus forty-four." He also starred in the MTV reality series "Meet the Barkers" with former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, to whom he was married at the time. The show documented the former couple's lavish wedding and life. Their later split, reconciliation and subsequent break up made them tabloid favorites.
Goldstein is a popular DJ for hire who at one time was engaged to Nicole Richie.
He spun a mix of hip-hop and dance beats for the hottest nightclubs and had a string of dates set up for the next few weeks. He reached the peak of his Hollywood star perhaps during his highly publicized romance with Richie a few years ago.
DJ AM also dated singer/actress Mandy Moore, and while he became a gossip favorite for his romances, he drew respect from music aficionados for his DJ skills.
Barker and Goldstein performed as part of the house band at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month.
Photos and Source Tags: dj, engaged, hollywood, mandy moore, married, music, music awards, nicole richie, photos, rap, style, wife
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15th September, 2008
Jennifer Hudson Engaged to Reality Star Boyfriend
Umm...::cough, cough:: no comment!
Jennifer Hudson and boyfriend, David Otunga, have gotten engaged, her rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.
"I can confirm that Jennifer got engaged to her boyfriend David on Friday night in L.A." says the rep.
Otunga, who is known as "Punk" from the reality show I Love New York 2, popped the question with a Neil Lane diamond ring on the Dreamgirls Oscar winner's 27th birthday.Hudson, who was voted off of 'American Idol' to the dismay of many, went on to exact her revenge by winning a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in 'Dreamgirls.' Her self-titled debut album is being released on Sept. 30.
Hudson and Otunga, who both grew up in Chicago, have been dating less than a year. (From Popeater/People.com)
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21st August, 2008
Jennifer Love Hewitt: Actress regrets not making the most of her body
Jennifer Love Hewitt wishes she'd stripped off more in her teens.
The actress says she never appreciated her body when it was in its prime.
‘I so wish I had listened to my mom and grandma when I was 18 and would complain about some little tiny bump or feeling bloated,’ she recalls.
‘They’d say, “Sweetheart, appreciate it for all it’s worth because it all changes when you get into your 30s.”
‘I used to scoff and say, “No, I feel plump today!” Now the joke’s on me.
'I wish I had been nude from the time I was 12 until I was 28. I looked great!’
Last year, Jennifer was criticised for putting on weight after she was snapped in her bikini on a beach.
‘I want to tell all young girls to walk around in bikinis all summer — and enjoy it,’ she tells Health magazine.
‘I want to tell them to never, ever feel bad about anything, because there will be that one day in your 20s when you’ll eat a hamburger and actually see the hamburger on the side of your leg.’
Jen, 29, is engaged to Scottish actor Ross McCall, 32, who she met on the set of Ghost Whisperer two years ago.
Photo and Source
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13th August, 2008
Rachel Hunter engaged to Jarret Stoll
Rachel Hunter is to marry for the second time.
The model announced her engagement to toyboy Jarret Stoll yesterday in her homeland of New Zealand.
Rachel was previously wed to Rod Stewart, 63. Their divorce was finalised in November 2006.
According to The Sun, she told pals: 'He's my first true love since Rod, and the age difference isn't an issue.'
Rachel, 38, and Canadian ice hockey star Jarret, 26, are planning to hold the ceremony in the spring.
Photo and Source Tags: divorce, engaged, hollywood, jarret stoll, love, rachel hunter, style
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8th August, 2008
E3 MUSIC NEWS
USHER PUTS MOM BACK ON PAYROLL
Usher has decided to put his mommy back on to her manager game:
“Usher has dissolved his management arrangement with Benny Medina and has re-engaged Jonnetta Patton as his manager,” his rep said in a statement Wednesday. Usher split his mother as his manager in May 2007. He then hired Medina, who was integral in the launch of the artist's recent album, "Here I Stand." In 10 weeks, it has sold 948,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the No. 8 best-selling album of 2008 so far. However, it hasn't come close to matching the gaudy numbers of its predecessor, 2004's "Confessions," which sold 3.77 million copies in its first 10 weeks and is at 9.6 million to date.
MARY J. BLIGE SUED FOR MILLION
The Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul Mary J. Blige has been hit with whopping Million fine over the 'illegal' placement of a track from her most recent LP 'Growing Pains': Mary J. Blige is facing a million federal suit claiming music on her most recent No. 1 album, “Growing Pains,” was stolen. Producer Theron (NEEF-U) Feemster wrote the music for the song “Work That,” but the tune is owned by Dream Family Entertainment Inc., according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court. The court filing claims the New York-based firm never gave Blige, Feemster or Geffen Records, the distributor, rights to use the song. “Mr. Feemster created the music while he was under contract with Dream Family. Dream Family then owned the music, yet the music was used without permission in a Mary J. Blige release recording,” said Dream lawyer Brian Caplan. “It was released as an album, a single and in a commercial,” Caplan said. Rights to the lyrics of the song - which was featured with Blige in an iPod commercial - are not in question. Caplan said it was unclear if Blige knew the music belonged to someone other than Feemster, and said the producer “had no rights to the music he used.”JOE SAYS R. KELLY SABOTAGED HIS CAREER
R&B crooner Joe has taken aim at R. Kelly, claming the singer is the reason why his songs got no play on the radio. out the report via Contact Music below:R&B singer JOE has accused R. KELLY of pressuring radio DJs not to play his records - in a bid to scupper his growing stardom.The Stutter singer released six albums with Jive Records over an 11 year period, but left the label earlier this year (08) after the company pushed back the release of his 2007 LP, Ain't Nothin Like Me, several times. And the Grammy-winning star believes his rival labelmate Kelly was to blame, insisting he would call Jive bosses and radio stations and urge them not to promote the singer too strongly. Joe says, "R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio. "He would make a call to the radio station or to the label and say, 'Hey, this Joe record is too hot right now. Y'all need to pull that back.' And they would oblige. It's incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don't know, maybe pay (R. Kelly) back in some sort of side bar kind of thing." And Joe, who left Jive to release his forthcoming LP New Man through Kedar Entertainment Group, insists he is still a prevalent musician despite R. Kelly's alleged intervention. He says, "I'm still very relevant in the game. But yeah, he did try to make some decisions when it came down to my records being on fire, and climbing up the charts and on the radio stations. He felt like they should pull back because he felt he was more important. And with their loyalty to him, they obliged." Tags: commercial, dj, engaged, music, new york, style
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