First New Mary Mary Album In Two Years Available Online & In Stores On
Tuesday, October 21
NEW YORK, Sept. 3 -- Columbia Records is lofty to announce
the forthcoming release of The Sound, the avidly awaited new studio album from
the platinum-selling chart-topping award-winning R&B/gospel duo Mary Mary.
The Sound will be available on-line and in stores on Tuesday, October 21.
The Sound is Mary Mary's first new album since the acquittance of A Mary
Mary Christmas in October 2006 and is the duo's first-class honours degree new full-length
non-seasonal album since discharge of the RIAA gold-certified Top 10
collection Mary Mary in July 2005.
The Sound premieres 11 new Mary Mary performances including the album's
recently released lead single, "Get Up," a pop-infused anthem of kudos and
authorization. "That song embodies what the whole album is about," says Mary
Mary's Erica Campbell. "It asks people, 'Why ar you wait? Why do you
tending what other people call back?' It reminds us that your beginning can be
whenever you want it to be."
Other tracks on The Sound include the R&B-flavored title track "The
Sound," "Superfriend," "God In Me," "Boom," "I'm Running," "Forgiven Me,"
"Dirt," "Seattle," "I Worship You," and "It Will All Be Worth It."
With able assistance from longtime producer and partner in crime Warryn
Campbell, Erica Campbell and Tina Campbell, the real life sisters a/k/a
Mary Mary, weave their love of truth-grounded gospel music into a melodious
blend of R&B, pop, soul, jazz, electronic music, and more than. (Erica's
husband, Warryn Campbell has produced all of Mary Mary's albums including
the RIAA pt certified Thankful as considerably as the RIAA gold-certified
Incredible and RIAA gold-certified Mary Mary.)
As Mary Mary, Erica and Tina Campbell bring a revolutionary combination
of R&B, urban, hip-hop and electronica to the world of contemporary gospel
music.
Growing up in Inglewood, California, Erica and Tina number one sang publicly
in the local church choir and received their first break in 1998 with a
song on the "Prince of Egypt" soundtrack.
In 2000, Mary Mary's pt debut album, Thankful -- featuring the
hit "Shackles (Praise You)" -- earned numerous awards including a Grammy
for Best Contemporary Gospel Album and three Dove Awards, six-spot Stellar
Awards, a Lady of Soul Award, a Soul Train Award. Incredible, their second
album, became the nation's #1 Top Christian Album in 2002 and featured the
Dove Award-winning hits "In The Morning" and "Thank You," featuring Kirk
Franklin.
While Erica and Tina took a break after recording their second album to
embark on -- and spend time with -- their respective families, the platinum-
selling duo constitute the time to impart their exuberant gospel soul sounds down
new avenues, including an appearance in the 2003 musical funniness, "The
Fighting Temptations," and concert performances around the humankind.
In November 2005, Mary Mary took home the coveted American Music Awards
trophy in the Contemporary Inspirational Music family, adding to a
growing collection of critical and popular congratulations that includes a Grammy and
legion other awards.
The Grammy-winning R&B/gospel duet Mary Mary crossed over into Top 10
pop territory when the group's self-titled new album, released in July
2005, debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top two hundred best-selling album chart, the
highest Top 200 chart position in the group's career. (Mary Mary's premature
albums -- 2000's Thankful and 2002's Incredible -- peaked at #59 and #20,
respectively.)
When Mary Mary afterwards debuted at #1 on the Billboard Gospel album
sales chart, it became the best-selling Gospel debut of 2005.
"Heaven," the first single from Mary Mary, made chart story during
its unprecedented 9 week lead as the #1 record on Billboard's Gospel Radio
chart. "Heaven" was also a #1 R&R Gospel Radio Single which hit the #3 slot
on the Billboard Bubbling Under -- Hot R&B Singles graph."
For more information:
http://www.columbiarecords.com
http://www.mary-mary.com
More info
Tuesday 9 September 2008
Saturday 30 August 2008
Download Jerry Fielding mp3
 Artist: Jerry Fielding: mp3 download Genre(s): Other Discography:  The Wild Bunch Year: 2001 Tracks: 22  The Outlaw Josey Wales Year: 1976 Tracks: 38 Although best remembered for the bold, redolent pliant film tons he composed for tough guy filmmakers Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood, Jerry Fielding was also a premier transcriber of the swing epoch, by and by headlining a series of space age pop LPs as well. Born Joshua Feldman in Pittsburgh on June 17, 1922, Fielding was a child prognostication wHO claimed among his earlier influences Bernard Herrmann's pioneering gobs for the tuner dramas of Orson Welles. A pupil of theatrical conductor Max Atkins, he was regularly writing arrangements for theatrical pit bands patch smooth in high schoolhouse, and at 18 was hired by guitar capital Alvino Rey. When Rey relocated his musical enterprise from New York City to Los Angeles, he brought Fielding with him and by the mid-'40s he was an coveted free-lance adapter, commitment to writing charts for swing icons including Tommy Dorsey, Kay Kyser, and Charlie Barnet. Fielding besides wrote extensively for receiving set, including programs hosted by Hoagy Carmichael, Kate Smith, and the Andrews Sisters, and was finally named musical director of The Jack Paar Show. By 1952 Fielding helmed his have jazz orchestra, which was the firm striation on Groucho Marx's democratic tV game bear witness You Bet Your Life, exactly as a self-confessed "loudmouthed crusader" wHO received death threats for hiring African-American musicians, it was inevitable that he would escape foul of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist wiccan hunts. Called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Fielding took the Fifth Amendment, and his Hollywood calling crumbled. Fielding sought sanctuary in Las Vegas, where he served as musical film director for acts of the Apostles including Abbott & Costello and Debbie Reynolds. He also gestural a record reduce with Decca, cut a series of jazz-inspired discs including Sweet with a Beat, Swingin' in Hi-Fi, and Fielding's Formula. The emersion of stereoscopic picture applied science galvanized Fielding's efforts, and later LPs including Magnificence in Brass and Near East Brass remain favorites of exotica collectors. With McCarthy's reign of flagellum finally at an terminal, Fielding returned to Hollywood in 1962, and at the recommendation of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo he was hired to write his turn one feature film score for Otto Preminger's political thriller Notify and Consent. A grudge rich in standard atmospheric pressure and melancholy -- deuce emerging signatures of Fielding's influence -- it was followed by a series of lightsome television set efforts including themes for the serial Hogan's Heroes and Play Buddy Run. In 1966, he teamed with two-fisted film shaper Sam Peckinpah for the telefilm Noonday Wine, inaugurating an often contentious originative partnership that won Fielding Academy Award nominations for 1969's The Wild Bunch and 1971's Pale yellow Dogs. Fielding also scored several films for Clint Eastwood, earning a third Oscar nominating speech for his work on 1976's The Outlaw Josey Wales. While in Canada marking the feature Below the Belt, Fielding suffered a disastrous middle attack on February 17, 1980. He was just 57 eld sure-enough. |
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Art classes improve diagnostic skills of medical students
It seems that beholding is a skill that the world of artistic production can lend to the world of medicine.
Doctors-in-training world Health Organization took art classes spell in medical school appear to take better skills of observation than their colleagues wHO have never studied art, according to a research from Harvard Medical School.
'You can buoy look at a face and find certain aspects of it, like lines on a face, the colour of it, the colour of the eyelids, the colour of the lips.'�Dr. Shah Khoshbin
Dr. Joel Katz and Dr. Shah Khoshbin started a program of elective artistry classes for medical students at the Boston-based schooltime in 2005.
They released research last week that shows studying art can help students take up to 38 per cent more accurate observations.
"The assumption in the past tense was that either you know how to look or you don't," Dr. Khoshbin told CBC's Q cultural affairs show on Monday. "This is not true. You can train people to look, educators as good as artists know that."
Dr. Khoshbin, world Health Organization had a background in art analysis himself ahead taking a medical degree, said artistic production classes seem to help train students in what he calls "visual literacy."
"Quite often, when students drop a diagnosing, they say us they didn't appear," Dr. Khoshbin said.
"We trained students to become literate in talking to patients but we didn't have a path to make them be visually literate," until this course was developed, he said.
The course is taught by deuce art educators, who acquaint students to art and use the resources of the nearby Boston Museum of Fine Arts to test their analytical and visual skills.
Abstract art helps, tooThe course, taught early in medical school day, seems to make students better at diagnosing patients in their graduating year, according to Dr. Khoshbin's research.
"You bum look at a face and keep certain aspects of it, like lines on a face, the colour of it, the colour of the eyelids, the colour of the lips � these are all things once you are trained to see for it, you do better at it," Khoshbin said.
Even modern art can buoy help students improve their powers of observation.
"Not only how to look at body and face only to look at patterns. The work of Jackson Pollock has no face and no body, so what is important is pattern credit," he said.
Pattern recognition teaches students to observe more than about, for example, a rash, than just the colour of the skin.
The result is a chemical group of doctors who ar more positive in their own powers of observation and so more surefooted in their own skills of diagnosis.
"They have to be able to reckon at the human existence, they have to be able to pick up cues that are not necessarily communicated verbally. So much is not communicated verbally," Khoshbin said.
Results quieted early criticsHe says the program initially had its critics, but they have come around as students trained in nontextual matter proved to be more observant.
"The common factor here, which is the human, is so subjective, the science that we practice is so subjective that you give to train the medico to be good at both. The human brings the science and the art together," he said.
And the side effect is a radical of doctors who have a heightened appreciation of visual artistic production, some of them decent lifelong fans.
"A lot of them pick it up as an avocation," he said.
More information
Sunday 10 August 2008
Elin
Artist: Elin
Genre(s):
Ambient
Discography:
Undertones
Year: 2007
Tracks: 9
Impressions
Year: 2004
Tracks: 5
President Bush Signs PEPFAR Reauthorization Bill
Wednesday 2 July 2008
Sunday 22 June 2008
Saxon say they should be playing the main stage
Saxon played a storming set to a huge crowd at this evening�??s (June 14) Download.
Before the band came on stage the gathered throng, who were spilling out of the small Gibson tent, repeatedly chanted the group�??s name.
Taking to stage a little later than scheduled at 8.10 (BST) the five-piece sauntered on to a sea of �??Saxon�?� cheers and rock claws
Silver haired front man, Biff Byford, whose mane reached down almost to his elbows stalked the stage mike in hand while the rest of the band pummelled through a back catalogue of hits.
Despite their age the black attired quintet were animated throughout the show �?? with Byford often coming to the front of the stage arms raised making the crowd cheer while bassist Nibbs Carter head banged almost constantly.
A few tracks into the set Byford: �??Hello, well it's good to be back Donington! I've been waiting a long time to say that.�?�
He then joked after looking out at the huge crowd: �??I thought this was meant to be a small gig!�?�
Then Byford asked the crowd if they wanted to hear new songs or old songs to which the unanimous reply was new.
He laughed and responded: �??You bastards.�?�
Crowd interaction was on a high for the gig�??s entirety but when the band played �??Wheels Of Steel�??.
Byford got the whole tent to chant back the chorus �?? placing the mike in their direction so he could hear them better.
Just before the end of the set a clearly excited Byford, while looking out at the huge mass of people spilling out of the tiny tent, said: �??Is this the main stage or what? We played with Metallica in Germany last week and this is must better than that.�?�
After their last song the band left the stage to a mass of cheers.
Saxon played:
Attila the hub
Motorcycle man
Let me feel your power
747
Dogs of war
Heavy metal thunder
Wheels of steels
Princess
Jun 14, 2008 at Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh -
Jun 14, 2008 at Faversham, Leeds -
Jun 14, 2008 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff -
More tickets
Before the band came on stage the gathered throng, who were spilling out of the small Gibson tent, repeatedly chanted the group�??s name.
Taking to stage a little later than scheduled at 8.10 (BST) the five-piece sauntered on to a sea of �??Saxon�?� cheers and rock claws
Silver haired front man, Biff Byford, whose mane reached down almost to his elbows stalked the stage mike in hand while the rest of the band pummelled through a back catalogue of hits.
Despite their age the black attired quintet were animated throughout the show �?? with Byford often coming to the front of the stage arms raised making the crowd cheer while bassist Nibbs Carter head banged almost constantly.
A few tracks into the set Byford: �??Hello, well it's good to be back Donington! I've been waiting a long time to say that.�?�
He then joked after looking out at the huge crowd: �??I thought this was meant to be a small gig!�?�
Then Byford asked the crowd if they wanted to hear new songs or old songs to which the unanimous reply was new.
He laughed and responded: �??You bastards.�?�
Crowd interaction was on a high for the gig�??s entirety but when the band played �??Wheels Of Steel�??.
Byford got the whole tent to chant back the chorus �?? placing the mike in their direction so he could hear them better.
Just before the end of the set a clearly excited Byford, while looking out at the huge mass of people spilling out of the tiny tent, said: �??Is this the main stage or what? We played with Metallica in Germany last week and this is must better than that.�?�
After their last song the band left the stage to a mass of cheers.
Saxon played:
Attila the hub
Motorcycle man
Let me feel your power
747
Dogs of war
Heavy metal thunder
Wheels of steels
Princess
Jun 14, 2008 at Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh -
Jun 14, 2008 at Faversham, Leeds -
Jun 14, 2008 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff -
More tickets
Sunday 15 June 2008
Al Green - The Things They Say 8574
"I thought he needed a haircut." AL GREEN on THE ROOTS star AHMIR `?UESTLOVE' THOMPSON, who inspired the soul great on new album LAY IT DOWN.
See Also
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Mariah Carey Told Friends Wedding Was A Video Shoot
Mariah Carey tricked her friends into thinking she was jetting off to the Bahamas to film a video, when in actual fact she secretly got married to Nick Cannon.
The E=MC2 songstress convinced pals she had to shoot extra scenes for her promo Bye Bye, in which Cannon plays Carey’s love interest, but instead she jetted off to her Windermere home with select pals to get hitched.
But the couple had already decided to wed there.
Carey tells People: "We only told people who had to know... If we brought a million people with us, it would've been obvious we weren't shooting a video.
"Only about four people knew we were going down there to get married."
The couple flew boxes of Maine lobster and cases of Dom Perignon champagne over to the island, and Carey reportedly picked up the wedding cake herself and discreetly carried it with her.
Carey's best pal, rapper Da Brat, helped organise a last-minute bachelorette party before the singer became Mrs. Cannon.
Carey and Cannon exchanged vows on the patio of the singer's island retreat on 30 April.
See Mr & Mrs Cannon get down and dirty here.
See Also
Opening statements given in R. Kelly trial
Doubts remain about minor apparently in video
If prosecutors can prove a videotape features R. Kelly and an underage girl, the R&B superstar's child pornography trial could end with him receiving a lengthy prison sentence.
But prosecutors will run into defense challenges at every turn. Kelly, 41, denies he's the man on the tape. The 23-year-old woman prosecutors say was a minor at the time of the taping denies she's the girl on the tape. Defense attorneys may also contend the girl, whoever she was, wasn't a minor at all.
How prosecutors intend to eliminate a reasonable doubt about those challenges may become clearer today as opening statements begin in a trial that has been delayed repeatedly since the tape was mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002. The newspaper turned it over to authorities, and Kelly was indicted later that year.
Prosecutors say the tape was made between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000. Kelly is accused of videotaping himself around 10 years ago having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old. The singer, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted.
Jury selection finished last week with prosecutors and defense attorneys accusing each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines. Eight jurors are white and four are black.
The panel includes a Baptist preacher's wife, a young woman who said she was once raped, and a business executive who said during jury selection he had believed Kelly was guilty.
Despite intense media attention on the case, Judge Vincent Gaughan has vowed not to let the trial sink into a celebrity circus. He has demanded the respect of reporters, even holding up a plastic bag during a hearing Friday and saying it held pieces of chewed gum he had collected under the rows where they sat during jury selection.
"Don't stick gum on the benches," he said. "Actually, it's a crime."
The defense is led by Ed Genson, highly sought by defendants for his persuasive powers with jurors. The gray-bearded Genson suffers from a neurological disorder that can make him walk as if he suffers from a severe hip injury, and he often uses a motorized scooter. He's known to adopt a gasping, stammering air that masks the wiles of a shrewd tactician.
Shauna Boliker is expected to take the lead for the prosecution. The birth of her third child last year was one reason for the delays in the trial -- among others were a case of appendicitis for Kelly and the judge's fall from a ladder.
Boliker has prosecuted several high-profile cases, including that of a Catholic priest who pleaded guilty last year to abusing five boys.
If prosecutors can prove a videotape features R. Kelly and an underage girl, the R&B superstar's child pornography trial could end with him receiving a lengthy prison sentence.
But prosecutors will run into defense challenges at every turn. Kelly, 41, denies he's the man on the tape. The 23-year-old woman prosecutors say was a minor at the time of the taping denies she's the girl on the tape. Defense attorneys may also contend the girl, whoever she was, wasn't a minor at all.
How prosecutors intend to eliminate a reasonable doubt about those challenges may become clearer today as opening statements begin in a trial that has been delayed repeatedly since the tape was mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002. The newspaper turned it over to authorities, and Kelly was indicted later that year.
Prosecutors say the tape was made between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000. Kelly is accused of videotaping himself around 10 years ago having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old. The singer, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted.
Jury selection finished last week with prosecutors and defense attorneys accusing each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines. Eight jurors are white and four are black.
The panel includes a Baptist preacher's wife, a young woman who said she was once raped, and a business executive who said during jury selection he had believed Kelly was guilty.
Despite intense media attention on the case, Judge Vincent Gaughan has vowed not to let the trial sink into a celebrity circus. He has demanded the respect of reporters, even holding up a plastic bag during a hearing Friday and saying it held pieces of chewed gum he had collected under the rows where they sat during jury selection.
"Don't stick gum on the benches," he said. "Actually, it's a crime."
The defense is led by Ed Genson, highly sought by defendants for his persuasive powers with jurors. The gray-bearded Genson suffers from a neurological disorder that can make him walk as if he suffers from a severe hip injury, and he often uses a motorized scooter. He's known to adopt a gasping, stammering air that masks the wiles of a shrewd tactician.
Shauna Boliker is expected to take the lead for the prosecution. The birth of her third child last year was one reason for the delays in the trial -- among others were a case of appendicitis for Kelly and the judge's fall from a ladder.
Boliker has prosecuted several high-profile cases, including that of a Catholic priest who pleaded guilty last year to abusing five boys.
Salma Hayek Slams Paparazzi For Baby Attacks
Actress Salma Hayek has hit out at aggressive photographers - because they continue to jeopardise the health of her baby.
The 41-year-old star gave birth to daughter Valentina last year
with partner Francois-Henri Pinault - and she's shocked by the lengths snappers will go to to get photos of the star with her family to sell to the press.
She says, "I was hounded when I was pregnant. And even more since I've had the baby. They are parked outside of your house and they will not move for months. I didn't leave my house for nearly three months... I've gotten hit with a camera before."
And Hayek has grown increasingly concerned since a February clash with photographers nearly sent her daughter flying to the pavement from her caretaker's arms.
She recalls, "First I see them attacking me with the camera and the flashes. Now she starts screaming, the baby. Then they push the nanny, she was going to the floor.
"It was so disturbing. I didn't know if they wanted to get the picture or they wanted to push the baby and get me crazy. I'm not sure because it was almost - it was really deliberate. It's a baby."
The 41-year-old star gave birth to daughter Valentina last year
with partner Francois-Henri Pinault - and she's shocked by the lengths snappers will go to to get photos of the star with her family to sell to the press.
She says, "I was hounded when I was pregnant. And even more since I've had the baby. They are parked outside of your house and they will not move for months. I didn't leave my house for nearly three months... I've gotten hit with a camera before."
And Hayek has grown increasingly concerned since a February clash with photographers nearly sent her daughter flying to the pavement from her caretaker's arms.
She recalls, "First I see them attacking me with the camera and the flashes. Now she starts screaming, the baby. Then they push the nanny, she was going to the floor.
"It was so disturbing. I didn't know if they wanted to get the picture or they wanted to push the baby and get me crazy. I'm not sure because it was almost - it was really deliberate. It's a baby."
Living Legends
Artist: Living Legends
Genre(s):
Rap: Hip-Hop
Blues
Discography:
Living Legends-Legendary Music Volume 1
Year: 2006
Tracks: 11
UHB5 - Legacy 2099
Year: 2002
Tracks: 18
The Underworld
Year: 2000
Tracks: 13
Revenge Fall Sampler 1999 (Take it Back to the Field)
Year: 1999
Tracks: 16
Foxhole
Year:
Tracks: 9
Angels With Dirty Faces
Year:
Tracks: 21
The Living Legends, a loose collective of MCs and DJs from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Japan, and Europe, are unique for both their down-to-earth songs and approach to the music business concern. Following in the footsteps of California artists like Too Short world Health Organization made a name marketing tapes out of cable car short pants, the Legends as well chose to stay put independent from record labels. They took the street hustling wit even further with Destiny" ring very straight. Living Legends served as an breathing in for other Bay Area titan crews like Hieroglyphics and Hobo Junction, world Health Organization along with hip-hoppers nationwide in the tardy '90s decided they could alive off without major labels.
Mystik Journeymen, a duet composed of BFAP (later rechristened Sunspot Jonz) and PSC (later Luckyiam), formed in 1992 and became legendary for their underground tapes and parties in East Oakland. The institution nucleus of the Living Legends, the deuce met the Grouch in 1995 and soon after embarked on the first of a retentive serial of self-funded tours abroad, this time only to Europe. Upon their return, they met up with a triple called 3MG or Three Melancholy Gypsies (MURS, Eligh, and Scarub) world Health Organization had broken cancelled from their Los Angeles-based group Log Cabin and reunited in Oakland. The sextet officially formed Living Legends in 1996 (along with Aesop, Elusive, and Bizarro) and gained national fame with appearances on 1997's Beats and Lyrics digest and 1998's Rules of the Game. As the net and their internet site world Wide Web.LLcrew.com developed, the Legends were able to strive a immense new audience worldwide.
As their renown grew, the Legends tirelessly visited Europe, Asia, and Australia, a come of eight-spot earthly concern tours in two age. Their rank as well grew to international proportions afterward they joined up with Japan's Arata and DJ Quietstorm and Belgium's Krewcial. While place in California, they released a uninterrupted current of albums and tapes through their imprints Outhouse Records and Revenge Entertainment, produced their have clip, Unsigned and Hella Broke, and set annual Broke Ass Summer Jams. In 1999, Living Legends affected their base of trading operations to Los Angeles and added Basik as some other penis.
Heather Mills - Mills Photographer Has Conviction Quashed
R. Kelly trial: Prosecution's star witness will not testify Thursday, judge says
The carrot has dangled before us all week, taunting and teasing us like an aquatic mirage in the desert.
We sat patiently as the state called witness after witness to say what the others had already said before. We struggled through testimony about evidence collection that was drier than the sandwich we ate for lunch. All because we thought that, finally, now we would get the fireworks we were promised.
But the day has turned out to be a dud.
Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan informed the jury a short while ago that Grant Fredericks, a forensic video analyst, will be the last witness of the day, thus dashing our hopes of hearing from the prosecution's star witness who was set to testify that she had a three-way sexual encounter with R. Kelly and the alleged victim.
A wave of disappointment washed through the courthouse as word got around that the woman's bombshell testimony was not happening Thursday. The spectators in the gallery thinned out. Court personnel in the hallway walked away shaking their heads upon learning that they broke away from their own cases for nothing.
We're sorry we got your hopes up, loyal blog readers. Trust us, we're disappointed too. We're now left trying to figure out how to make video analysis seem sexy.
Kayce T. Ataiyero
May 29, 2008 3:01 PM: Tale of the tape: Video expert testifies
If you ever wanted proof that forensic investigative techniques are just not as interesting as they appear on TV dramas, this last witness is your guy.
George Skaluba, a video analyst with the forensic unit of the FBI, spent the better part of an hour and a half Thursday discussing the various ways that videotapes are produced, reproduced, analyzed, morphed, doctored and damaged.
We call it the "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Videotapes Plus An Hour More" testimony.
He used more technical terms than helpful in a blog, and ultimately concluded the following:
1) The tape is not an original, and he doesn't know what generation tape it is.
2) The more you copy a tape, the more the quality and clarity of the video deteriorates.
3) It was not a good-quality tape.
4) The copy he reviewed didn't appear to be altered, but the original may have been.
5) To morph the faces and images in the 27-minute video (think "Little Man") was possible, but it would take "years" and would be "very, very difficult because of the length" of the tape. On top of that, he said, it would likely be easily identifiable.
Azam Ahmed
May 29, 2008 12:43 PM: Still no star witness
This morning's testimony has been the equivalent of your mom making you eat your Brussels sprouts before you can have dessert.
For the first time since the trial began, all six rows designated for spectators were filled in anticipation of the prosecution's bombshell witness, who is expected to testify that she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the alleged victim.
We sat patiently as the state called witness after witness to say what the others had already said before. We struggled through testimony about evidence collection that was drier than the sandwich we ate for lunch. All because we thought that, finally, now we would get the fireworks we were promised.
But the day has turned out to be a dud.
Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan informed the jury a short while ago that Grant Fredericks, a forensic video analyst, will be the last witness of the day, thus dashing our hopes of hearing from the prosecution's star witness who was set to testify that she had a three-way sexual encounter with R. Kelly and the alleged victim.
A wave of disappointment washed through the courthouse as word got around that the woman's bombshell testimony was not happening Thursday. The spectators in the gallery thinned out. Court personnel in the hallway walked away shaking their heads upon learning that they broke away from their own cases for nothing.
We're sorry we got your hopes up, loyal blog readers. Trust us, we're disappointed too. We're now left trying to figure out how to make video analysis seem sexy.
Kayce T. Ataiyero
May 29, 2008 3:01 PM: Tale of the tape: Video expert testifies
If you ever wanted proof that forensic investigative techniques are just not as interesting as they appear on TV dramas, this last witness is your guy.
George Skaluba, a video analyst with the forensic unit of the FBI, spent the better part of an hour and a half Thursday discussing the various ways that videotapes are produced, reproduced, analyzed, morphed, doctored and damaged.
We call it the "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Videotapes Plus An Hour More" testimony.
He used more technical terms than helpful in a blog, and ultimately concluded the following:
1) The tape is not an original, and he doesn't know what generation tape it is.
2) The more you copy a tape, the more the quality and clarity of the video deteriorates.
3) It was not a good-quality tape.
4) The copy he reviewed didn't appear to be altered, but the original may have been.
5) To morph the faces and images in the 27-minute video (think "Little Man") was possible, but it would take "years" and would be "very, very difficult because of the length" of the tape. On top of that, he said, it would likely be easily identifiable.
Azam Ahmed
May 29, 2008 12:43 PM: Still no star witness
This morning's testimony has been the equivalent of your mom making you eat your Brussels sprouts before you can have dessert.
For the first time since the trial began, all six rows designated for spectators were filled in anticipation of the prosecution's bombshell witness, who is expected to testify that she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the alleged victim.
Guests for Sunday TV news shows include Sen. Kerry
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
---
ABC's "This Week" - Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
---
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.; Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.; Howard Wolfson, campaign adviser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
---
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Journalists round table.
---
CNN's "Late Edition" - Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Feinstein; Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S.; Wolfson.
---
"Fox News Sunday" - Govs. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.
See Also
Christensen says Ledger was 'enigmatic'
Model Helena Christensen has spoken about the loss her friend Heath Ledger, who was found dead at his New York apartment on 22 January.
Speaking at the Y-3 fashion show in New York, the model told People magazine that she has "only good memories" of Ledger.
Christensen said that she had been travelling to visit Ledger when news of his death broke.
Speaking about how she is coping since his death, she said: "Time passes. It's doesn't make it easier, but you try to do the best you can. When you have a child, they kind of bring you back to the moment in a really comforting way."
"Losing any friend is horrific, but he just has this thing about him - this special, enigmatic thing that I have never met in anyone before."
She also said: "That's what all of his friends are saying. They are totally devastated by losing someone who gave them so much. He gave everyone so much."
Speaking at the Y-3 fashion show in New York, the model told People magazine that she has "only good memories" of Ledger.
Christensen said that she had been travelling to visit Ledger when news of his death broke.
Speaking about how she is coping since his death, she said: "Time passes. It's doesn't make it easier, but you try to do the best you can. When you have a child, they kind of bring you back to the moment in a really comforting way."
"Losing any friend is horrific, but he just has this thing about him - this special, enigmatic thing that I have never met in anyone before."
She also said: "That's what all of his friends are saying. They are totally devastated by losing someone who gave them so much. He gave everyone so much."
Mike Myers, Anna Faris, Will Ferrell, Christian Bale Want Your Vote At The Summer Box Office
The heated presidential race may be hogging the headlines, but Hollywood anxiously awaits your vote in a different contest.
Another summer-movie season is upon us, and the film industry has sunk billions of dollars into what it thinks you want to see. Decisions like whether a blockbuster will receive another sequel, whether a comedian will get the green light or whether a TV show will be adapted into a movie will all be made based on ticket sales in the coming weeks. And in this election, not voting is a vote in itself.
Below is a breakdown of summer 2008's biggest Hollywood initiatives. Every Friday night, when you look at those 20 titles on the theater marquee, choose carefully. Because ultimately, the most powerful person in Hollywood is you, and the world will be watching the results of your box-office ballot.
Will Girls Be Allowed to Have Fun?
Quick: How many comedies can you name in which a woman single-handedly headlines? "Legally Blonde"? "Miss Congeniality"? "Private Benjamin"? They're few and far between, and at least one studio has reportedly decided that women simply don't sell movie tickets. August 22 brings us "The House Bunny," an Anna Faris vehicle that hopes to make a household name out of the silly, sexy "Just Friends" scene-stealer. Starring, produced by and partially written by Faris, this flick about a Playboy Bunny who becomes a sorority house mother looks promising, and the star will have help from Katharine McPhee and Emma Stone. Sure, the summer got off to a good start with the two-woman comedy "Baby Mama," and the "Sex and the City" foursome definitely raked in the box-office bucks, but make no mistake about it: If the target audience for "House Bunny" decides to stay home, the only solo-female comedies we'll be seeing in the next several years will involve Martin Lawrence in a dress.
Will You Shell Out $10 for a TV Show?
Want to see that proposed "Arrested Development" movie? Do you hope "24" badass Jack Bauer will make his jump to the big screen? Well, you'd better buy yourself tickets for the "X Files" and "Sex and the City" movies. From "Star Trek" to "Twin Peaks," studio execs have long argued over whether a series' supposedly loyal fanbase will pay money for something it has been accustomed to watching at home for free. This summer marks a major battle in the ongoing war.
How Do You Like Your Superheroes?
On movie sites like this one, fanboys love to scream that every comic-book-based film needs to be darker than Venom itself. But the studios want to sell toys and tickets, and they've been arguing with filmmakers for decades that the way to do that is by making comic adaptations family-friendly. It's no secret that Batman came thisclose to being recast and dropped into a more lighthearted "Justice League" movie, so purchasing a ticket for "The Dark Knight" will give Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan a mandate to maintain their badass Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, actor Edward Norton reportedly fought a losing battle to make "The Incredible Hulk" more brainy than brawny, so if you prefer Ang Lee-like angst, you might want to stay home.
Which Comedians Have Jumped the Shark?
Even if they're your favorite stars, you probably wouldn't argue that "Evan Almighty," "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," "Semi-Pro," "The Heartbreak Kid" and "Be Kind Rewind" are the best films in the canons of Steve Carell, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller and Jack Black, respectively. In Hollywood, you're only as good as your last movie, which means that these comedians (as well as Mike Myers, whose "The Love Guru" is his first proper vehicle in a half-decade) need to remind us why we came to love them in the first place. Buying tickets to "Guru," Carell's "Get Smart," Sandler's "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," Ferrell's "Step Brothers" and Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" gives the stars more power to get their next projects off the ground. Avoiding their films, on the other hand, could send any of them to Chevy Chase Boulevard.
Which Old Friends Do You Want to Revisit?
Unlike groundswell franchises like "The Matrix" and "Austin Powers," chances are good that you don't know anyone who has been obsessively demanding a sequel for "Hellboy," "The Mummy" or "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." Still, this summer will bring us follow-up installments to all three, giving each fence-riding franchise another shot to hook viewers. Producers for all of them have indicated that they'd like to make at least one more movie. Will you give them the power to get that green light?
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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