Despite California being littered with his graffiti, Bansky had no worries about revealing himself at last nights Oscars, as his documentary, Exit through the Gift Shop was beaten by Inside Job. The big winner on the night was Tom Hooper's King's Speech, no real surprise, with the film picking up four oscars, including movie of the year, best actor (Colin Firth) and best director.
Natalie Portman picked up best actress for her role in Black Swan, while The Fighter picked up both supporting male and female oscars for Melissa Leo and Christian Bale's roles in the film. The Social Network picked up three awards on the night including adapted screenplay. Pixar's Toy Story 3 picked up two awards on the night including the award for best animation, having taken more than $1 billion at the box office since its release last summer.
Check out the interactive content below to see all the nominations and winners from last nights Oscars and head to The Oscars site for a full list of the winners and losers.
Tinseltown is all set for tonight's Oscars, with Colin Firth and The King's Speech leading the way for the best actor and best picture. The evening, hosted by 127 Hours actor, James Franco, sees a surprise nomination that has led to a flurry of art around Hollywood, with Banksy's Exit through the Gift Shop up for best documentary feature.
All throughout Hollywood, a number of Banksy paintings have been cropping up. A Sunset Boulevard billboard was taken over by the British artist, with a drunk Mickey and a stoned Minnie Mouse. Charlie Brown also appeared with a gas can, as well as a gun-toting child in a field of flowers. Most recently, a star studded rat appeared in Oceanside, California, on the side of a taco shop wall.
Check out the rest of Banksy's Hollywood takeover below, and catch the Oscars tonight.
Detox must be getting closer and closer as Dr. Dre releases the video for the second single from the album, which has yet to get an official release date. I Need A Doctor, featuring Eminem and Skylar Grey, looks like it takes the same approach as 50 Cent's In Da Club, but with a far greater budget. Coming in at seven and a half minutes, the video sees Dre looking over his past, with clips from his NWA days, Tupac, and Snoop. Eminem's lyrics are powerful, Skylar's vocals are smooth, and Dre is huuuge! Few nice little product placements from G Shock and Gatorade...the Ferrari doesn't count, thats just great taste!
MTV released the video for the US only, but you can check it out below from anywhere in the world.
Kanye West returns with the visuals for All of The Lights from his platinum album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
The video, directed by Hype Williams, features appearances from Rihanna and KiD CuDi. Presumably inspired by the opening credits to Gasper Noe's Enter The Void, the video has been receiving mixed reviews since it was released yesterday. Check out the video below to see what you think, but if you're epileptic, watch with caution because it features a lot of flashing imagery.
A couple of days have passed since the Brit Awards were hosted in the o2 (Millennium Dome) in London. The night was hosted by James Corden and featured performances from a host of stars including double award winner Tinie Tempah, Rihanna, Take That, Adele, Mumford & Sons, Plan B, Arcade Fire and Cee-Lo Green with Paloma Faith.
This year saw a revamped Brits, focused more on the music, alongside a newly restyled Brit Award trophy, created by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, while iTunes partnered up with the event to offer exclusive content to UK and Irish iTunes account holders. Tinie Tempah took centre stage on the night, winning British breakthrough Act and British Single for Pass Out while Arcade Fire were the International winners for the night with awards for International Group and International Album.
Take That opened the show in style with Take That soldiers who ended up in their underwear by the end of the performance, before the band ended a 21 year wait to be crowned British Group. Plan B won the award for British Male, while relatively unknown Laura Marling beat Cheryl Cole to British Female. Mumford & Sons performed their single Timshel before winning the MasterCard Album of The Year for Sigh No More. Do It Like A Dude singer Jessie J took home the the Critics Choice accolade. Following in the footsteps of Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine and Adele, the Critics Choice award showcases the most exciting new talent from across the genres, and with a current number 1 single, Jessie J looks to have an exciting future ahead of her.
Besides Arcade Fire's dominance of the International Awards, individual awards were presented to Cee-Lo Green for International Male Solo Artist, Rihanna for International Female Solo Artist, and there was even a bit of Bieber Fever on the night, as Justin Bieber won the award for International Breakthrough Act. The show ended with the delightful Cee-Lo Green's Forget You, with Paloma Faith joining the soul machine, a match that didn't quite work with the chart topping single. Check out a few of the performances from the night below, hopefully the links stay active for a while.
The nice folks over at The Guardian have releasedthe full album stream of We're New Here. The album is the latest work from Jamie Smith, the man behind the XX, as he remixed Gil Scott-Heron's incredible comeback album I'm New Here.
It's not often you get the chance to listen to music as pure as this for free, so make sure you check out the stream above, along with the original version of Gil's title track, I'm New Here below.
We're New Here by Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX will be available on the 21st February.
Last night saw the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards take place at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, a night filled with more than a few surprises. The biggest winner of the night was country group Lady Antebellum, who took home five awards including record and song of the year for Need You Now. The top award, album of the year, was won by Arcade Fire for their album The Suburbs, beating Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Eminem, and Lady Atebellum. Eminem was nominated for the most awards, 10 in total, yet only took home two: best rap album and best solo rap performance. The biggest surprise of the night came when Esperanza Spalding won best new artist ahead of Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & The Machine, and Mumford & Sons.
The awards raised a few doubts with industry experts, particularly surrounding the underachievement of Eminem and Lady Gaga. With more than 4 million copies of Recovery sold, compared to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs which sold 484,000, the night was more a commentary on what the recording industry has become. With a new generation of people working in the music industry, the majority coming from the 1980s and 90s indie-rock revolution, Arcade Fire are seen to inspire these insiders, as they represent a look to the future, rather than the Grammy's more familiar tendency to reward older career artists. Eminem's relatively disappointing night could be put down to his controversial lyrics and behaviour, the same could be said for Lady Gaga, who despite her creativity, takes a lot of risks and is seen as offensive to some.
Despite the numerous shocks from the night, there were a number of stellar performances from the likes of Bruno Mars, B.O.B, Janelle Monae, Rihanna, Eminem, Cee-Lo Green, Usher, Justin Bieber, as well as Lady Gaga hatching out of her egg. Bruno Mars, B.O.B and Janelle Monae all took to the stage together to perform a rendition of their songs whilst the others took turns on percussion, in what was an incredible set. Cee-Lo Green took to the stage with Gwyneth Paltrow and some of Jim Henson's muppets to perform Forget You in his exuberant style. Dre returned to the big stage last night as he performed with Skylar Grey, Eminem and Rihanna. You can check out some of the performances below, and you can see the full list of winners on The Grammys site.
I even included the Bieber, but don't worry, I've not got the Bieber Fever!
I've been away from the blog for almost a week now and returning I hit a stumbling block, not knowing what to post. Should I look back and post content from during the week or should I post something new. There are a few things out there I wanted to post but with a tired mind I can't think of a story to put behind the post...but there was a video I saw last week on the Billionaire Boys Club Blog that inspired me and I knew it would act as a return.
The video comes from Kristian Ulrich Larsen and features the Flip Phone, a concept conceived during a six week long workshop. The concept came to light with Kristian, Ewa Sendecka, Jeppe Vetergård and Victoria Kusk, the concept was then developed further as part of Kristian's MA program in Denmark. The concept is very clever, of course it has its flaws, but what we see is a glimpse into the future.
It's not the gadget that makes the video for me though, it is the reflection on what it means to be creative. With music from Palmer Taylor, the narrator beautifully discusses the creative process and the fact that creativity is inside everyone. The video is directed to highlight the storytelling that takes place during the video, alongside promoting the concept Flip Phone. Watching the video inspires me and makes me realise that everyone has something out there to offer, and by being yourself, your creativity will flow.
Watch the video below, it is especially great if you need some daily inspiration.
"What's common for creativity, is that it comes from inspiration. Inspiration found from the world we live in, and then the people we live with. It's found when we share with them, building on what's given from the diversity of peoples thoughts and perspectives. So try and drop the assumptions that you know how to do things, and already know the solution. Stray away from the direct path, take risks, don't be afraid to make mistakes because it's only from the mistakes we learn, and it's from the mistakes the really interesting things happen. We may not always create or invent, but we always learn when we try."
It's Superbowl time!!! Tonight sees the 45th Superbowl take place in the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with the Green Bay Packers taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Six time champions, The Steelers go in to the match as the underdog. The image above, from the Billionaire Boys Club Blog, shows the Packers have scored more points this season, along with a better offensive record, than the Steelers. The Steelers however have one of the best defensive records this season.
The end of season showdown is a glitzy affair with the national anthem being sung this year by Christina Aguilera, and with half time entertainment from the Black Eyed Peas. Advertisers interested in capitalising on the massive viewing figures have forked out $3 million for a 30 second advertising slot, with Volkswagen's 'The Force' advert leading the way with over 12 million views on YouTube before the advert has even aired on TV.
MyCheapAppartments.com put together a great infographic for anyone needing some extra insight in to the final tonight.
Where to watch the game?
In the US, Fox Sports will be showing the Superbowl, with Joe Buck as the play-by-play announcer and Troy Aikman, three-time Super Bowl winner, as the colour analyst.
Around the world, the Super Bowl will be shown live on the following channels:
Asia: All Sports Network
China: DragonTV, G-Sports, CNTC 5+ (online)
Australia: One HD and Network Ten
Brazil: BandSports
Canada: CTV and RDS
Europe: ESPN America
Austria: Puls 4
Belgium: Prime Sport
Denmark: TV3+
Finland: Nelonen Pro 1
France: W9
Germany: ARD, Sport1+
Hungary & Romania: Sport 1
Italy: La7, Dahlia TV
Norway: NRK
Poland: Polsat Sport
Portugal: Sport TV
Russia: NTV Plus
Spain: Canal+ HD
Sweden: TV10
UK & Ireland: BBC One, Sky Sports
Latin America: ESPN Latin America, Fox Sports Latin America
Mexico: Azteca 7 and Canal
Finally if you need to get yourself in the mood for the match, here's a couple of team anthems ahead of tonight's clash.
Wiz Khalifa reps his Steelers with the 'official' Super Bowl anthem for the Steelers. While below, Lil Wayne mashes up the track for the Packers, naming it Green & Yellow.
Originally penned as a weekly topic, Tuesday Tunes would show the latest releases in music from the week before. The idea was taken from Twitter's long running 'Music Monday' trend, with the exception that it was a day late and had a different name. With my current lifestyle not allowing a complete blog focus, the idea has stalled, instead I plan to focus on music when I get the chance. This first post showed the best music from the week previous...it won't be the last, I'm just not set on a post schedule to make this a weekly occurrence as planned.
Check out the best of last weeks music below anyway...
First up is the new video for Rihanna's S&M, the third single from her fifth studio album, Loud. For the video, Rihanna reunited with director Melina Matsoukas, who also worked on her Rockstar 101, Rude Boy and Hard. I'm not sure how she gets away with it, not that I'm complaining, but the end result is another sexy video...even if the Perez Hilton cameo is a bit disturbing.
Next up is the forthcoming track Words I Never Said from Lupe Fiasco's upcoming album, Lasers. A teaser video for the track, featuring Skylar Grey, was released a few weeks ago with a Feb 1st date at the end of it, true to his word, Lupe dropped the track first thing this morning. I'm hopeful the full video will surface soon, rest assured I'll post it when it appears.
Lupe Fiasco's Lasers is due for release on 8th March.
Jessie J, British pop/soul singer appears next with the release of Price Tag, a Dr. Luke produced track featuring B.O.B. Following on from the success of her debut single Do It Like A Dude, Jessie releases the second track from her upcoming debut album Who You Are, due for release March 28th. The song focuses on the dependance many of us have on money, while the accompanying video supports the song lyrics with Jessie's playful nature.
Tired of waiting for Kanye West to release a video for Devil In A New Dress? Rick Ross has given us his visual representation of his portion of the track. The video, shot in Toronto a few weeks ago, sees Ross taking in the streets from the comfort of his Maybach. Check it out below.
Excuse the stupid adverts, click the close button to get rid of the annoyance.
The last video for the week features Rihanna again...why not?! Despite David Guetta's club smash Who's That Chick? appearing as a digital download last November, the 'official' video only surfaced last week. The video is pretty much the colour side of the Doritos Late Night campaign video, but it's still worth checking out.
On to the music now, no videos for any of these yet so I'll quick fire through these with the audio included for your listening pleasure.
First up is the mastered version of Dr. Dre's I Need A Doctor, featuring Eminem and Skylar Grey. Still no official release date for Detox, but with each new release it brings hope that it will soon see the light.
Next up is a radio rip which I had to post after hearing it live late last year, especially as the clip was only released to the blogosphere last week. The original track is Cassius' I Love You So, but this version here is the remixed version from Skream and it is absolutely incredible.
Another remix, this time from Brooklyn based producer Hype Jones, as he mixes up Mike Posner's Please Don't Go. Listen below and enjoy the free download too.
Who's House? RUN'S HOUSE! The DMC front man has passed some of his mic skills down to his son, Diggy Simmons. Signed to Atlantic, and featured previously on this blog (Diggy Mixtape), Diggy dropped Everybody Late last week. As for Run's House, apparently it will resume filming "when Diggy slows down". Another free download included with this, so if you like it, download it.
Finally finishing up with the smooth vocals of Theophilus London with his latest track Why Even Try, featuring Sara Q.
As I mentioned at the start (edited since the initial post) the plan was to keep this running on a weekly basis but due to all sorts of demands I've decided to musically blog when relevant...mainly because I never have the time set aside just to blog on a set day. If you enjoy the concept, let me know and I'll try to make it happen on a regular basis.
