Beverly Hills Chihuahua – J!-ENT Special Feature part 1: Piper Perabo and Manolo Cardona

With the release of “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” on Blu-ray Disc and DVD (courtesy of Walt Disney Home Entertainment) on March 3rd, here is our special feature article on the film featuring interviews with Piper Perabo and Manolo Cardona in regards to their experiences working with the star talent involved in the film and more.

This special feature article is written by J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith.

Click here to read the feature article

 

J!-ENT spotlight feature article: moumoon

Read our J!-ENT spotlight article on the Japanese rock duo moumoon which includes photos from their concert (opening act for the return concert of the band DO AS INFINITY). The article was written by J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith.   Images courtesy of Avex Entertainment, Inc.

Click here to download the article

 

Vivica A. Fox at the NV Magazines 10th Anniversary Celebration

NV Magazine’s 10th Anniversary Celebration at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Pictured: Vivica A. Fox Picture by: Demis Maryannakis/ Splash News
Content © 2009 Splash News . All rights reserved.

 

My Little Lover – Otono no Sekai / Toki no Bell (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

“Beautiful, enchanting and as always, Akko’s vocals are unique and her own.  Also, a live release of the classic MLL hit ‘Hello Again’ is included.  Simply another solid CD single from My Little Lover.”

BAND: My Little Lover

CD SINGLE: 音のない世界 (Otono no Sekai) / 時のベル (Toki no Bell)

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-36003/B

DURATION: 32:42

RELEASE DATE: February 4, 2009

BUY THIS CD SINGLE

1. 音のない世界
2. 時のベル
3. Hello, Again ～昔からある場所～ (acoakko Live ver.)
4. 愛と平和 (acoakko Live ver.)
5. 音のない世界 (Instrumental)
6. 時のベル (Instrumental)

DVD INFORMATION: Region 2, Duration: 6 minutes, 4:3

1. 音のない世界 (Music Video)

Beautiful, enchanting and as always, Akko’s vocals are unique and her own.  Simply another solid CD single from My Little Lover.

“Otono no Sekai/Toki no Bell” is the 22nd CD single from My Little Lover and the sixth CD single feature Akko as a solo artist.

There has been quite a shakeup with My Little Lover as the core team that formed the group are no more and Akko and MLL composer and musician, Takeshi Kobayashi (famous producer and former husband) have since went their separate ways.

But I have to say that since going solo, Akko still has managed to keep the My Little Lover sound alive.  Teamed up with talented musicians, her music is still as beautiful now as it was back then.

“Otono no Sekai” is a ballad that was used for Japanese TV network TBS and a theme for the drama “Love Letter” and was the #1 downloaded ringtone on recochoku (note: In Japan, the majority of music sold in Japan are mobile based digital files and ringtones).    The song was written by Akko with music by Tomoya Matsuura and arrangement by Makoto Minagawa.

The track showcases acoustic guitar, strings and overall, reminiscent of popular, classic My Little Lover ballads from the past.

The second double A-sided track “Toki no Bell” is a commercial theme song used for Daihatsu’s “Mira” and an upbeat track written by Akko, music by etsuhiko and arrangement by Makoto Minagawa.

The third and fourth tracks are songs from Akko’s “My Little Lover Live#5 acoakko” live concert back in Dec. 2008.  The songs featured is their classic hit “Hello, Again ~Mukashi kara aru Basho~ (acoakko Live ver.)” which features acoustic guitar, keyboards and strings.  A beautiful live version of a true classic.

The fourth live track is “Ai to Heiwa” which means “Love and Peace”, a track that was featured on My Little Lover’s seventh album “Identity”.  Another beautiful live track featuring Akko on vocals, Masayoshi Fukukawa on guitar and Toshiyuki Mori on keyboards.

The remaining two tracks are the instrumentals for the first two songs.

As for the DVD, the music video for “Otono no Sekai” is included and features Akko walking along the shoreline, as with another woman and reflecting the song’s title “Otono no Sekai” which means a “World with no Sound”.

As for the CD insert, the insert contains the lyrics and production credits.

I may be a bit biased towards My Little Lover.  I’ve always enjoyed the group because of their sound, their willingness to experiment and just doing the kind of music that they want.  And although the trio that I knew back in the 90′s are no more, the core soul of My Little Lover, being the vocalist Akko, is still a major part of the group and showcasing her amazing skills as a songwriter but she’s also a talented musician.

The CD single is another solid release by the My Little Lover and if you are a fan of Akko or MLL’s music, then definitely pick this CD single up!

BUY THIS CD SINGLE

 

A.R. Rahman, the Pussycat Dolls feat. Nicole Scherzinger – Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) (a J!-ENT World Groove Digital Single Review)

“A unique collaboration between Pussycat Dolls lead vocalist Nicole Scherzinger with award winning Indian composer and record producer A.R. Rahman for the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.”

BAND:  A.R. Rahman, the Pussycat Dolls feat. Nicole Scherzinger

SINGLE: Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) (Digital Version)

LABEL: Interscope/Pussycat Dolls

DURATION: 3:43

RELEASE DATE: Feb. 25, 2009

1. Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)

The film “Slumdog Millionaire” has won countless awards including five Academy Awards in which two of them (“Best Original Song” and “Best Original Music Score) went to music producer, musician and singer A.R. Rahman.

And the film is known for its memorable music which caught the attention of music producer and chairman of Geffen Records, Ron Fair.  Excited after watching the film, Fair contacted Rahman and Interscope chairman Jimmy Lovine about creating a pop track based on the original melody and having the English version sung by Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls.

According to an article on from the Times of India, Scherzinger recorded the song in London and corresponded with Rahman via webcam.

The song features A.R. Rahman singing “Jai Ho!”, Scherzinger’s smooth pop vocals and cool beats.   A beautiful and catchy pop arrangement that is faithful interpretation to the original but utilizing English lyrics and energetic dance grooves.

Overall, an enjoyable track that brings Bollywood and Western music as one.  Overall, an enjoyable pop track and hopefully this will be a start of more collaborations between Western and Indian music artists and producers.

 

The One about the Rocky Mountain News

Like many people who were familiar with the Rocky Mountain News newspaper, it was a surprise to hear that this publication had become a victim of today’s economy and changes in advertising spending and decline in classified advertisements. (Read the article by John Temple of why Denver couldn’t support two papers)

I know there are some of you who feel that with today’s technology and easy access to news via cnn.com, msnbc.com, Google, Yahoo! , etc. , newspapers are dead and that only the strong and profitable newspaper publications will survive.

And with the Rocky Mountain News closing down, I think we are going to see more of these situations happen across the country. And I’m not talking about small town weeklies or dailies, I’m talking about top tier papers in major metropolitan areas.

My first knowledge of the Rocky Mountain News was back in 1999 or probably before that, I recall the site being one of the first newspapers to utilize the web and at the time, around 2000, I was responsible for bringing several daily and weekly newspapers (owned by Pulitzer) to the Web.

The Rocky Mountain News website was one of the sites that were strong at that time and I had an admiration for the way their site was then and they way it was now. I felt that this newspaper not in New York, not in Boston, not in Los Angeles or San Francisco but in Colorado, was ahead of the curve.

Unfortunately, I was one of the casualties of the dot com burst and due to budget cuts, my job was among the newspaper managers to lose their job. In my nearly two years of working for a newspaper corporation, behind-the-scenes, it was frustrating to see good people. Publishers, editorial, advertising and circulation managers fired from their jobs.

The corporation I worked for ending up selling all their newspaper properties and the newspapers that I help create websites for, every other year, one would be a casualty in today’s economic climate.

You read about the situation with the big newspapers in New York and San Francisco and many losing a tremendous amount of money, it’s rather unfortunate but it’s a reality that newspapers are losing readers and I really feel for those in circulation who are really doing what they can to make things happen.

But this news about the Rocky Mountain News, I can’t help but think that similar to what we seen with Wall Street last year, it’s going to be a domino effect for other newspaper corporations to shut down even more newspapers.

But the Rocky Mountain News… I didn’t have to live there. As an observer and peruser of their website since the late 90′s and inspired by them in giving me the ideas necessary to get other newspaper site rolling, I will definitely be appreciative to that publication.

Today is the final day of the Rocky Mountain News newspaper and all I can do is say “goodbye” and “thank you”.

 

Actor Robert Pattinson and Actress Kristen Stewart attend a press conference for the film Twilight in Tokyo, Japan

Actor Robert Pattinson (R) and Actress Kristen Stewart (L) attend a press conference for the film Twilight in Tokyo, Japan, on February, 27, 2009. (UPI Photo/Keizo Mori) Photo via Newscom Photo via Newscom. Content © 2009 Newscom . All rights reserved.

 

THE OUTRAGE (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

“A film based on a story from ‘Rashomon’ and had a lot of potential but somehow misses it.  But this is a film that many fans have been wanting on DVD for a long time and now fans of ‘THE OUTRAGE’ can watch it, in its original B&W form.”

DVD TITLE: THE OUTRAGE

DURATION: 96 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: B&W, English, Mono

COMPANY: Warner Bros, Entertainment Inc.

RATED: NOT RATED

Released on February 17, 2009

Directed by Martin Ritt

Produced by A. Ronald Lubin

Screenplay by Michael Kann

Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short stories Rashomon and In a Grove

Starring:

Paul Newman – Juan Carrasco

Laurence Harvey – Col. Wakefield

Claire Bloom – Nina Wakefield

Edward G. Robinson – Con Man

William Shatner – Preacher

Howard Da Silva – Prospector

Albert Salmi – Sheriff

Thomas Chalmers – Judge

Paul Fix – Indian

A notorious bandit confesses to rape and murder, and justice is sure to be swift.  But wait, witnesses to the outrage come forward, each offering different versions of the events.  Does truth lies in the eyes of the beholder?

A year after Hud, star Paul Newman and director Martin Ritt teamed again and gave the Japanese classic Rashomon an Old West setting, crafting “a brisk and challenging drama far removed from the norm in film fare” (A.H. Weller, The New York Times).  Newman, drawing deep into his talent reservoir, portrays the brazen desperado at the center of conflicting events. Laurence Hervey, Clair Bloom, Edward G. Robinson and William Shatner offer luminous support in this tale of a quest for truth.  And of the humanity or inhumanity behind it.

With the success of the remake of popular 1954 Akira Kurosawa film “Seven Samurai” to the Western known as “The Magnificent Seven” in 1960, “THE OUTRAGE” was a 1964 western remake of another Kurosawa classic “Rashomon” from 1950.

The takes place in a western town known as the Silver Gulch.  The preacher (William Shatner) awaits the train during a storm at the train stop.  Arriving at the stop is  the prospector  (Howard Da Silva) who wants to know why the preacher is leaving town and tries his best to have him stay.

The preacher came to the town to change the lives of people for good but he’s disgusted after a trial which he and the prospector have been discussing.  It appears the preacher feels that the town has become a town full of sin and the murder trial has brought the worst in people.  And thus, he wants to leave feeling he failed.

But in comes the con man (Edward G. Robinson) who learns the story of what transpired at the murder trial frmom the two men.

You start to learn that on the day of the murder, the preacher was coming into town and saw the Col. Wakefield (Laurence Harvey) and his wife Nina (Claire Bloom) riding in their carriage.  That was the last time he saw of them.

As for the prospector, he was the man who discovered the dead body of Col. Wakefield and went to report it to the sheriff which lead to a manhunt.  During the manhunt, an outlaw Juan Carrasco is found near the murder and he is handcuffed outside the sheriff’s office while the whole town watches the trial about the murder and alleged rape of his Col. Wakefield’s wife.

The sheriff (Albert Salmi) gives his story of how they came to capture Carrasco.   Then Carrasco gives his story about what happened.  In his story, he was resting and while resting, he sees the Wakefields coming by.  He goes to them and tries to sell them an ancient Aztec object with a green stone.  And in his story, he robs the Wakefields, ties up the husband and rapes his wife.  But then his wife says that Carrasco should give him the right to fight for his pride since she lost everything and thus the fight ensues between Carassco and Col. Wakefield and Carassco grabs his knife and kills him.

Sounds like a believable story since Carassco is a feared desperado but just when everything looked as if Carassco was guilty.  Col. Wakefield’s wife Nina has her turn during the trial to explain what happened and her story is completely different from the story Carassco gave.

Then an Indian medicine man (Paul Fix) who came across the body gives his account of what happened to Col. Wakefield during the trial.

With three entirely different stories of how Col. Wakefield died, who is telling the truth?  But during the discussion between the preacher, the prospector and con man, it is learned that one of them knows the real truth of what truly happened that day.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“THE OUTRAGE” makes its first appearance on DVD and is presented in black and white.  The picture quality is good for a film released back in 1964 but I did notice a few scratches and dust.  But overall, people who have waited for a DVD release for so long will enjoy the quality of this film.

If there was one thing that fans should be happy is that “THE OUTRAGE” is presented in black and white and not in it’s colorized version.

As for audio, the film is presented in mono.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are no special features.  I wished there was a trailer or something included.

“THE OUTRAGE” is part of the Paul Newman Film Series and Warner releasing Newman films that have yet to be released on DVD (or on video).  So, reading on the Internet and seeing how many people have awaited for a DVD release, finally fans of this film will get their wish.

What one will have to remember is that this film was released in theaters back in 1964.  Despite being based on “Rashomon”, it’s probably best not to think of “Rashomon” at all and think of this film as its own film and respect what Martin Ritt brought to this film, a screenplay by Michael Kanin that definitely has its twist and turns,  and a performance of Paul Newman playing an ethnic role.

It’s quite unusual to see how humorous this film turned out to be and to find out the truth of what happened that day between Carassco and the Wakefields.  Unfortunately where Rashomon was a film that was dramatic and deadly, “THE OUTRAGE” just showed the worst in human motivations.  As much as I hoped for a fantastic reveal, unfortunately the film falls flat.

If anything, I felt that William Shatner did quite well playing the preacher and to see his interaction with the prospector and the con man captured the drama, while watching the different fight scenes between Newman’s Carassco and Harvey’s Wakefield was quite enjoyable as their characters have a gunfight, go over a waterfall, and eventually their battle to the death.

Overall, “THE OUTRAGE” is not a bad film, it’s just a film that seems a bit farfetched at times and I just felt that the excitement of the film slowly started to lose its luster.

 

Britney Spears – Circus – Remix EP (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

“For fans of Britney Spears club music, there is no doubt that her remix albums are well done.  With her last remix EP for ‘Womanizer’ being well-played in the club circuit, her second track from the album ‘Circus’ is easily as addictive!  Worth checking out!”

BUY THIS ALBUM:

ARTIST: Britney Spears

ALBUM: Circus – Remix EP

LABEL: JIVE

DURATION: 31:13

RELEASE DATE: February 24, 2009

1. Circus (Diplo Circus Remix)
2. Circus (Tom Neville’s Ringleader Remix)
3. Circus (Villains Remix)
4. Circus (Linus Loves Remix)
5. Circus (Junior Vasquez Electric Circus)

Addictive, cool beats and top notch remix collaborations, Britney Spears remix tracks are the de facto creme de la creme of club music tracks worldwide.

For those who go to a club, Britney Spears remixes are always part of the rotation and it’s no surprise.  With each of these remix EP’s, you’re treated with among the best out there and the same could be said about Britney Spears’s latest remix EP for “Circus” (her second CD single from her sixth album “Circus”).

The first “Circus” track is remixed by Philadelphia’s own, Thomas Wesley Pentz aka Diplo with his “Diplo Circus Remix”.   This schoolteacher/DJ and producer from Philly has collaborated with artists such as M.I.A. and Kanye West and has done two “Circus” remixes for Britney.  This version is catchy with it’s addictive groove and beats.  Simply awesome!

The second “Circus” track is by the London’s Tom Neville titled “Tom Neville’s Ringleader Remix”.  A well-known electro DJ, this remixer gives a retro synth treatment for “Circus” that transitions to a modern disco dance track.

The third “Circus” remix track is by Los Angeles duo Villains (MAD V and KONCEPT) who give an upbeat, club dance remix.

The fourth track is remixed by Glasgow’s Linus Loves with a remix titled “Linus Loves Remix” which utilizes hard synth that transitions from retro to modern with deep beats.

The fifth “Circus” remix is by popular NYC remixer/DJ/producer, Junior Vasquez.   A quick, upbeat dance track.

Another solid Britney Spears remix release.  Each track has it’s own identity and good thing is that all tracks are very much different from each other and they are all well-done.

For me personally, there are several tracks on “Circus” that I would love to see released as a CD single and have its own remix treatment but overall “Circus” is a enjoyable track and for me, a track made much more enjoyable via a remix.

From a energetic dance remix courtesy of Junior Vasquez to the synth-based remix of Tom Neville, digital remix fans will definitely find a track (or all tracks) suited for their playlist.

BUY THIS ALBUM:

 

CONGOROCK’S DEBUT SINGLE “RUNARK” OUT NOW ON FOOL’S GOLD!

- Latest and greatest from the new Italian club scene (Crookers, Bloody Beetroots)
- More heat from Fool’s Gold to follow all spring and summer!

We don’t know who’s been spiking the San Pellegrino but we hope they never, ever stop, because Italy has been producing a slew of interesting new electronic producers as of late. The latest and greatest of these rave exports is Rocco Rampino, better known to partygoers around the globe as Congorock, and Fool’s Gold is proud to introduce his bleeped-out, bass-heavy brand of club sonics to the world at large.

Congorock’s debut single “Runark” is a buzzing four-and-a-half minutes of heart-attack breakbeats, ghetto house thump, and Sega Genesis synthesizer madness. The chunky anthem serves as a perfect calling card for this young producer, who in the space of a few months went from drumming in a hardcore band, to chopping up beats with his mentor Bob Rifo of the Bloody Beetroots, to producing hyperactive remixes for the likes of Rex The Dog and Boys Noize Records’ DJ Edotronic while touring the globe off the strength of his sweaty and imaginative DJ sets.

“Runark” comes backed with an awesomely proggy remix by FG labelmates Jokers Of The Scene, as well as the jacking Congorock originals “Exodus” and “Hybro,” all wrapped up in psychomystical sleeve art from Dust La Rock. The digital release also features an exclusive new “Runark” mix by His Majesty Andre (Cheap Thrills). More new Congorockers coming soon, so stay tuned!

Buy full single at TTLab digital http://www.turntablelab.com/digital/447/1776/64953.html

 

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