Usher Says New 'Rev Pop' Project Is A 'Movement'

Singer teases his new project by pointing to past hits like 'Yeah!' and 'OMG.'
By James Montgomery


Usher
Photo: MTV News

With the success of songs like "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love," "Hot Tottie" and "OMG," Usher had himself a fairly massive 2010. But rather than rest on his laurels, he's looking to build on his big year, not with an album, but with a "movement."

It's something he's calling "Rev Pop" — or, simply, "Rev" — and though he's already teased his idea in a video with David Guetta (Akon is also involved), he has yet to speak in full about it. So when MTV News caught up with Ush before the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles at the (Belvedere) RED launch party, we asked him about his next musical endeavor. And though he didn't reveal much, he did let it be known that "Rev" isn't exactly something new. In fact, he's been doing it for a while now.

"I'll give it to you this way: At a later date, I'll tell you more about Rev Pop, but if I were to give you a flash: I've done it before, I did it with 'Yeah!' " he said, "taking a cultural experience, and also worldwide recognition of a feeling, and putting the soul in the middle of it. Not allowing it to shift heavily to R&B genre, or pop. I did it again with 'OMG,' once again putting the soul in the middle of it, which was an electric-pop experience, with the soul.

"It's bringing those elements together to tell a story, that was born here," he said, gesturing toward his heart, "And that's what Rev Pop is. There's more, I mean, I could really elaborate, but that's just what I'm going to tell you right now. 'Rev' is what it's called ... the movement is called Rev."

Usher wouldn't say just when his fans would be getting their first taste of Rev, but whenever they do, it sounds like they're going to be impressed ... if not a little shocked.

"Stay alive," he smiled, "Because you're definitely going to be in for a surprise."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1658043/usher-rev-pop.jhtml

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'Moneyball': The Reviews Are In!

Critics herald the baseball flick as 'the prime Brad Pitt movie.'
By Kara Warner


Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Photo: Columbia TriStar

On paper, "Moneyball" is a movie that sells itself. It's based on a best-selling book about our national pastime, the screenplay for which was adapted by Oscar winners Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, and it stars Brad Pitt, in all his handsome, charming splendor, as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. Throw in a killer supporting cast that includes Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and several real-life ball players, and you've got the makings of a hit.

With a 94 percent certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "Moneyball" seems to be a solid winner with critics. So take an early seventh-inning stretch and settle in for some sports clichés as we sort through the "Moneyball" reviews!

The Story
"A sports-centric come-from-behind drama that harbors profound truths under its self-effacing grin of an exterior, 'Moneyball' is a movie of such loping, unforced ease and solid entertainment value that it's easy to take its gifts for granted. [Director Bennett] Miller barely puts a foot wrong in bringing to life the tale of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who in 2002 — competing against teams with three times his payroll — sought to rebuild the slumping A's and revolutionize baseball recruiting using 'Sabermetrics,' a system by which players are chosen based on who gets on base most often. That approach sounds so simple as to be self-evident. But in 'Moneyball,' such logic runs afoul of Beane's old-school scouts, who are played in the movie by a colorfully grizzled collection of character actors and some real-life baseball veterans. Their banter, in which they refer to players' jaw lines and girlfriends while they decide whom to hire, lends 'Moneyball' a thoroughly enjoyable through-line of tough, vernacular wit. What's more, that plain-spoken charm couches a far deeper conceptual point: that objective truth not only exists but matters, even at a time when it's continually being trumped by superstition, 'feelings' and irrational belief." — Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post

The Brad Pitt Factor
"If Pitt's role in 'Moneyball' is more of a conventional star turn than his career-shifting performance as the stern 1950s father in 'The Tree of Life' (for which he emphatically deserves awards but won't win any), it's still terrific. He's on-screen in almost every scene, often filling it up in extreme close-up, and captures the bluff, buff and shrewd Beane, a washed-up jock who embraced an unorthodox statistical philosophy through sheer necessity, with great wit and physicality. (Let me throw in that 'Moneyball' is a delirious study of bad early-2000s guy fashions and haircuts, which may elude some of the audience but is definitely conscious.) Let me hasten to assure you that 'Moneyball' isn't all that much of a baseball movie, although fans of the national pastime will of course rush to see it. It's a prime Brad Pitt movie — arguably the prime Brad Pitt movie — and an American fable about a battered but lovable divorced dad who defies conventional wisdom and beats the odds." — Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

The Book-to-Film Comparison
"The big-screen adaptation of Michael Lewis' engaging 2003 book is also filled with compromises. Someone crammed 'Major League'-style sports clichés into a more nuanced story about baseball and progress — and then tried to fit a Brad Pitt star vehicle inside of that. The result is an interesting but frustrating near-miss. Chronology and context are mucked with liberally. This happens in almost every sports movie based on real events, although A's fans will be blown away that Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder and their combined 57 wins in 2002 are scrubbed from existence here. Of the three, only Hudson gets a cameo, and he blows his start." — Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

The Final Word, Pro-Con Style
"Bennett Miller's' Moneyball' — adapted by Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian from the nonfiction book by Michael Lewis — is a sports movie for people who don't like sports movies. I know this is true because I enjoyed it. ... Cinematographer Wally Pfister's deliberately unglamorous presentation of the A's dilapidated clubhouse is a long way from the gold-and-sepia tones of Barry Levinson's 'The Natural.' 'You can't help but be romantic about baseball,' Billy observes to Peter, even as he's being reviled by his own organization for his supposedly bloodless reliance on the stats. It's to the director's credit, and Pitt's, that 'Moneyball' is anything but bloodless — in its own quiet, unspectacular way, this movie courses with life." — Dana Stevens, Slate.com

"The downside of Pitt's triumph is that it unbalances the movie, throwing more of the focus on Billy than the team. To put 'Moneyball' over the fence, Miller and his writers needed to make something else hit home: the meaning of the on-base percentage. What does it say about a player who can't throw far, can't steal a base, rarely hits a ball over the fence, and yet can be as great an asset as a future Hall of Famer? Instead of answering that question — and dramatizing how wins can be built from unflashy players working in sync under a manager who understands 'small ball' — Miller shifts into montage mode (They won! They won again! They're on a streak!), as if Beane and Brand had written a computer program that was running to its inevitable conclusion. That, of course, leaves the team's manager, Art Howe (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, maybe to pay Miller back for helping him win an Oscar in 'Capote'), a cipher, a nonpresence on and off the field. 'Moneyball' has everything but team spirit." — David Edelstein, New York

Check out everything we've got on "Moneyball."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671276/moneyball-reviews-brad-pitt.jhtml

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Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Nirvana Among O Music Award Nominees

Katy Perry, Odd Future, Demi Lovato will also face off on October 31 in categories like Oops! I Did It Online and Fan Army FTW.
By Gil Kaufman


Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

The list of nominees runs from Justin Bieber to Courtney Love, Britney Spears, Scissor Sisters, Katy Perry, Bjork, Nirvana, Dolly Parton and Snoop Dogg, and that can only mean one thing: It must be time for the O Music Awards again.

When MTV launched its first-annual digital music celebration earlier this year, we promised that it would be like no other awards show, with trophies handed out before, after and during the show, as well as throughout the year.

Sticking to that plan, the O Awards will return for a second round on October 31, with some of the new categories coming courtesy of user suggestions.

Among the five new user-generated categories are "Oops! I Did It Online," in which over-sharing celebs such as Sinead O'Connor and T-Pain will face off against the Game and Courtney Love; and Best Artist with a Cameraphone, which pits Demi Lovato against Bieber, Young the Giant, Katy Perry, the Deftones and Shiny Toy Guns. The other new categories include Best Web Born Artist (MNDR, Odd Future, the Weeknd), Best Vintage Viral Video (Metallica, Nirvana, Notorious B.I.G., O'Connor) and Best Lyrics Video (Perry, Joe Jonas, Lenny Kravitz, Christina Perri).

Among Gaga's two nominations are Fan Army FTW — in which she'll square off with the followers of Bieber, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Lovato, ICP, Adam Lambert and Tokio Hotel — and Must Follow Artist on Twitter, in which she faces Cher, Snoop Dogg, Blink-182's Mark Hoppus and Blake Shelton.

The O Music Awards will also honor a number of artists who are really good at this whole online thing, with Bjork, Chris Milk, Girl Talk and the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne vying for the Digital Genius Award.

The other categories include: Best Fan Cover, Hottest Music NILF (think about it), WTF I Love This Award (online craziness), the self-explanatory Too Much Ass for TV award, Most Outrageous Tweet and Best Music Forum. There are also awards coming for Most Innovative Festival, Best Music App, Best Music Hack, Beyond the Blog and Most Addictive Social Music Service, which includes such faves as Spotify, Turntable.fm and Rdio.

The first edition of the awards featured performances by Mumford & Sons, Foster the People, Lupe Fiasco, Matt & Kim and a world record freestyle by Chiddy Bang's Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege

The O Music Award's first-time winners included Gaga (Most Innovative Artist and Must Follow Artist on Twitter), Kanye West (Best Tweet), Tokio Hotel's Aliens (Fan Army FTW), Thirty Seconds to Mars (NSFW Music Video), Aquarium Drunkard (Best Independent Music Blog) and MJJ Fan Community (Best Fan Forum).

The O Music Awards 2 will unfold on Halloween on OMUsicAwards.com, as well as MTV.com, VH1.com, CMT.com, LogoTV.com and MTVHive.com. Fans can vote for their favorites at OMUsicAwards.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671546/o-music-awards-nominees.jhtml

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The ?Vanilla Gorilla? Can?t Be Caged Ladies!

Can You Name Real-Life Change Agents?

In Moneyball, Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, who didn’t let a little thing like not having enough cash keep him from creating a team on par will well-moneyed franchises. It was Beane’s hyper-focus on an entirely different set of player stats (on-base percentage and slugging percentage) [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pinkisthenewblog/~3/YsCJem3izaU/

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Ke$ha Wants 'Till The World Ends' Remix To 'Take Over Airwaves'

Singer says her collaboration with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj made a 'supergroup of three hot, strong women.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Ke$ha
Photo: MTV News

Earlier this week, Britney Spears, Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj dropped their femme-fatale-friendly remix of the Spears club track "Till the World Ends." The already fun song got super-charged thanks to Minaj's cutting verses and Ke$ha's recognizable vocals.

"I'm a massive fan of both the ladies I share the track with," K told MTV News on Wednesday at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. "I wrote 'TTWE' for Britney with [producers] Dr. Luke and Max [Martin] and she killed it and I loved it, but I just thought a supergroup of three hot, strong women could just take over the airwaves."

Ke$ha went on to give props to both the ladies. "I'm such a massive fan of Britney and I'm such a massive supporter of Nicki and a fan, and chicks sometimes don't team up. I don't know why, but I'm, like, huge on the girl power, so I just wanted to make a power girl track take over."



The remix quickly won praise from fans who seem to think the new features step up the song's game. "You know, with the three of us, I wasn't necessarily surprised [people like it] because I'm such a massive fan of Nicki Minaj and obviously with Britney I'm a fan of it, [taking] myself out of the equation," she said. "I'm just happy people like it."



So did Ke$ha (who once sang backup for Spears) feel any pressure writing a song for Britney? "There was no pressure. Writing for somebody else is really fun 'cause I consider myself a songwriter first and foremost," she explained. "So it was so much fun to put my brain in the sexy Britney Spears brain and express myself almost as if I were possessed by her."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662875/kesha-britney-spears-til-the-world-ends-remix.jhtml

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Ed Helms Is New 'Office' Boss: Do You Like Scranton's New Branch Manager?

On Thursday night, "The Office" fans finally learned who would be heading up the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin. James Spader's creepy, kooky Robert California would act as CEO and Ed Helms' bumbling, well-meaning Andy is now the new Michael Scott. Fans learned that after Robert staged a coup and pushed out Kathy Bates' Jo Bennett [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/09/23/ed-helms-the-office/

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First Look: ?The Iron Lady? Releases A First Movie Poster

Back in February we got our first look at actress Meryl Streep in costume as Margaret Thatcher in the upcoming new film The Iron Lady. In July, we got our first look at a teaser trailer for the film. Today we get to check out the just-released first movie poster … which you can see [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pinkisthenewblog/~3/NHMtV8hGhp0/

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Justin Bieber Rents Staples Center For Date With Selena Gomez

Couple ate a steak dinner and watched 'Titanic' alone in the L.A. arena.
By Gil Kaufman


Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez (file)
Photo: Getty Images

Justin Bieber may only be 17, but the kid has crazy mature boyfriend skills when it comes to doing special things for his girl Selena Gomez. Case in point: The dynamic duo went out for a decent-enough date on Friday night to see Gomez's pal Demi Lovato play a show at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Then, according to TMZ, he surprised Gomez after the concert with an even bigger show right next door at the Staples Center, the 20,000-seat home of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Check out photos of Justin and Selena.

After 11 p.m., Bieber told Gomez, "follow me," and the pair walked through an underground tunnel that connects the two arenas. As they walked into the empty building, all Gomez saw was a table for two set up on the floor with a steak and pasta dinner from the venue's fancy restaurant, the Lexus Club.

How much would a private Staples Center date set Justin Bieber back? We crunched the numbers!

The major date was inspired by a scene in the Adam Sandler flick "Mr. Deeds," in which Sandler's character surprises his love interest, Winona Ryder, with a date for two at Madison Square Garden. After the superstar couple's meal, things got even more romantic when "Titanic" began playing on a screen in the arena.

According to reports, Bieber got the venue for free as a thank-you from the bosses at Staples for his string of three previous sell-outs there. After making things way harder for his fellow man with his big-balling gesture, Biebs had a message for all the dudes out there who aren't pulling their weight when it comes to the chivalry department. "Romance isn't dead," he tweeted after his date. "Treat your lady right fellas."

Easy for you to say, dude.

What do you think of Justin's date idea for Selena? Tell us in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671462/justin-bieber-selena-gomez-staples-center.jhtml

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Britney Spears Reveals Next Single At VMAs

Singer confirms to MTV News that 'Criminal' is next up from Femme Fatale.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by James Montgomery


Britney Spears at the 2011 VMAs
Photo: MTV News

Britney Spears may have been looking back on her impressive career during a Jo Calderone-helmed tribute at Sunday night's VMAs, but there's still so much for fans to look forward to. The singer has a lot up her sleeve after taking home the Moonman for Best Pop Video for her "Till the World Ends" clip and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award -- and she revealed all to MTV News.

There's been some hot debate about what the singer's next Femme Fatale single is going to be, and finally her loyal fans are getting the confirmation they've been waiting for.

"I don't if I'm at liberty to tell," she teased MTV News backstage at the VMAs. "But I will anyways: It's 'Criminal.' "

The slow jam should make for some interesting visual fodder, and Spears told us she knows what the video will look like, but she's going to keep everyone waiting a little longer. "Actually the song, when I first heard it, it's really different and it's not anything I've heard like this before. So I really wanted to deliver this song. I was thinking of a really cool concept for the video just to make it interesting," she said, teasing, "You'll have to see."

She's also set to hit the road again when the Femme Fatale Tour heads to Europe. She'll be joined by Joe Jonas for select dates.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669925/britney-spears-next-single-criminal.jhtml

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