Category Archives: Image cache

Kanye West & Jay-Z’s collab album ‘Watch the Throne’ available for preorder

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After months of rumors today we finally get some solid information coming directly from rap overlords Kanye West and Kay-Z concerning their upcoming collab album. If you head over to Kanye and Jay’s blogs you’ll be presented with the album artwork for Watch the Throne; the gold metallic cover is designed by Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci and it’s pasted above. Clicking the album art at either site brings you to www.WatchTheThrone.com, a site designed by label Island Def Jam. There you can preorder the album in a variety of formats: Deluxe CD ($16.99), Standard CD ($13.99), Deluxe MP3 ($14.99), and Standard MP3 ($11.99). After completing your order an email receipt lists an August 2 drop date, but this information has not been confirmed. Sources say that the standard version will pack ten tracks, and the deluxe will add four bonus songs on top of that. West, Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, No ID, and Lex Luger are all expected to receive production credits. And finally, it’s rumored that Beyonce and Bruno Mars will lend their voices to a track called “Lift Off.” Expect the followup to H.A.M. to drop within the next few weeks. According to fellow G.O.O.D. Music artist Cyhi Da Prynce the album is near completion–the songs are recorded, and ‘Ye is adding his final touches before the final master ships. Happy fourth of July!

Google+ …what comes after Facebook? A comprehensive tour of Google’s attempt at social.

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Google is the king of search. But when it comes to social networking…well, we only have to look at Wave (an experiment that failed) and Buzz (a Twitter competitor that never caught on) for that answer. With Google+, the search giant takes aim at Facebook and it wants to become the destination for socializing with the people you know and the ones you’ll make down the road. The Google+ Project is currently in “Field Test” mode meaning that the company is still working out the kinks and tweaking and adding features to the service while a small selection of users try it out. The project is by invitation-only, and I was able to snag an invite earlier today. Read on after the break as I take you on a tour through the interface and the handful of features the service currently offers.

Continue reading Google+ …what comes after Facebook? A comprehensive tour of Google’s attempt at social. →

The Ron Swanson Mosaic

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Nick Offerman is Parks and Rec’s meat and breakfast foods aficionado Ron Swanson. Here is a mosaic made entirely of images of his favorite meals. Get the full-res image at NBC.

You’re welcome.

Update: There’s a video sitting after the break called “Swanson vs. Food.” ‘Nuff said. And again, you’re welcome. Continue reading The Ron Swanson Mosaic →

Pixar ventures into new territory with upcoming fairy tale ‘Brave’ [Update: teaser trailer]

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Oh, isn’t it beautiful? Take some time to scan the official movie poster for Pixar’s Brave above.

Pixar’s thirteenth animated film Brave is going to shake things up on more than one level. Firstly, go girls: Brenda Chapman is helming the film alongside Mark Andrews; she is the Pixar’s first female director. In addition, the movie stars Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), the first female protagonist in a Pixar film. Second, Brave plans to go where no Pixar film has ventured before. “What we want to get across [with the teaser] is that this story has some darker elements,” co-director Mark Andrews spills to EW. “Not to frighten off our Pixar fans — we’ll still have all the comedy and the great characters. But we get a little bit more intense here.”

The animation is spectacular, and the first official poster really does an impressive job getting that idea across. The detail is incredible. See those stones looming behind the letters? “[They] are actually a pretty important set in the film,” producer Katherine Sarafian tells EW. “We can’t say what happens there, but they were inspired by an actual location in Scotland that we visited multiple times during our research. It was a very powerful setting for the kind of things we want to have happen in the story.”

Here’s a brief synopsis of the story: Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave is slated to release in 3D on June 22, 2012. After a look at this grand poster, anticipation is high. A teaser trailer is expected to play before Cars 2 (which hits theatres tomorrow, June 24). Once it hits the ‘Net I’ll make sure to embed it after the break.

Update: The teaser trailer has arrived. And it’s just as gorgeous and thrilling as you probably expected it to be. Watch it after the break.

[Via EW-InsideMovies] Continue reading Pixar ventures into new territory with upcoming fairy tale ‘Brave’ [Update: teaser trailer] →

Listen to Death Cab For Cutie’s ‘Codes and Keys’ in its entirety today

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Ben Gibbard and his Death Cab have teamed up with NPR to stream their seventh studio album in its entirety for free online. If you enjoyed the first two singles off the record “You Are a Tourist” and “Home is a Fire” head over to NPR’s music portal to taste all of what Codes and Keys has to offer. It releases later this month on May 31; it’s already up for preorder at iTunes.

Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ out now

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After dropping four singles–count ’em “Born This Way,” “Judas,” “The Edge of Glory,” and “Hair“–Lady Gaga’s second studio album is finally in stores now. Two versions exist. The standard version contains 14 tracks, while the bonus track version tacks on an additional eight. On the whole Born This Way is receiving positive reviews. RapUp’s put together a nice review roundup, if you’re so inclined.

Update: Amazon is selling the album for 99 cents. What are you waiting for? This is a steal!

Update 2 (5/30): And just like that the special offer is gone. Still, Amazon is selling the album for less than iTunes at a low $6.99.

First look: Nolan’s Bane revealed

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The third and final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise is set to bow in July 2012, and today we have our first look at the villainous Bane. Actor Tom Hardy certainly beefed up for the role–just look at those protruding back muscles! Add that muzzle contraption into the mix and we’ve got ourselves one formidable baddie to face off against the Dark Knight. Interestingly Warner Bros. released this image as part of a grander viral campaign for the film. If you direct your browser to the movie’s official site you’ll hear a brief sound byte; the chant was analyzed and found to contain the phrase “The Fire Rises.” Those that tweeted out the hashtag #TheFireRises contributed their Twitter profile picture to a user-generated mosaic that makes up the Bane image. Eventually the image was uploaded to Facebook and then everywhere else. The studio created the Twitter handle @thefirerises, so if you’re hotly anticipating the film I’d advise you to follow that for more updates surrounding the viral campaign. Don’t be surprised if a similar game is played to reveal another character, next time perhaps one Selina Kyle?

The Dark Knight Rises hits theatres July 20, 2012.

Mii sprouts to life on man’s arm…but how?

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Wow neat is this? A man known only by his Internet handle “cranberryzero” has integrated an augmented reality experience into his arm! If you’ve purchased Nintendo latest handheld the 3DS, you’d know that the system comes bundled with a pack of AR Cards. When you point the 3DS’ outer cameras at the cards an augmented reality game or a bunch of classic Nintendo characters come to life. Here, cranberryzero apparently walked into a tattoo parlor and came out with one of the AR Cards imprinted on his wrist. Now when he points his 3DS at his arm his personalized Mii grows out of it. A little bizarre, but still super cool right? Head over to the source link to watch a video of the magic in action.

[Via IHeartChaos]

Production begins on The Avengers

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Here is the very first image from the set of the upcoming super hero epic The Avengers, released by Marvel. Not that exciting, I know; but when you really think about it, it kinda is. Director Joss Whedon has broken ground on the movie that will bring together Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and oh so many more Marvel favorites.

On April 24, the day before principal photography for the film began, Whedon marked the occasion with a short but sweet blog post on the fansite Whedonesque. Here’s an excerpt:

Hi Pumpkins, joss here. Tomorrow we start shooting (I THINK I’m legally permitted to say that). Day one. That’s right. We’ll be shooting the pivotal death/betrayal/product placement/setting up the sequel/coming out scene, at the following address: [Marvel Lawyers rush in, take Joss’s keyboard, blowtorch a picture of his family like in “Stormy Monday”, drink his milkshake, leave the seat up, fluff his pillows, violently unfluff his pillows, leave]

Oh, Joss. You’re going to want to read the rest here. Right! The Avengers assemble in theatres May 4, 2012.

‘The Cape’ is dead and gone

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And here is your proof. TVShowsOnDVD has managed to get their hands on this image of the DVD packaging for NBC’s failed series The Cape. Notice the branding: The Cape: The Complete Series. Typically networks release DVDs with the marking “The Complete First (or second or third) Season,” and as you can see that is not the case here. Nail, meet coffin. We all saw this coming, didn’t we? First the network decreased the show’s episode count by three, and then it refused to broadcast the series finale and put it online. I never want to even think about this show ever again. Yes, it was that bad.

[Via IGN]

Poster: X-Men: First Class (plus new international trailer)

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Meet the cast of X-Men: First Class. From L-R: Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), Emma Frost (January Jones), Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), Havok (Lucas Till), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), and Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon).

And as promised in the post title, jump after the break to find the new international trailer. The X-Men story taking us to the beginning of it all hits theatres June 3, 2011. Continue reading Poster: X-Men: First Class (plus new international trailer) →

Poster: The Hangover Part II

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Ah ha, the Wolfpack is back alright. We’ve been teased before, but this time it’s in picture form. Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and that vicious-looking monkey find themselves in a bind here, this time in Bangkok. But where’s their best friend Doug (Justin Bartha)? That, my friends, still remains a mystery; but we can guesstimate that his absence will once again catapult the band of brothers into a memorable heap of laugh-out-loud trouble.

The Hangover Part II hits theatres May 26.