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Who Will Be The First In Line To Grab An iPad?

Posted 1/27/10 1:45 pm EST by in Music


Right now, Apple is unveiling their latest gadget that will redefine how we experience technology on the go. For months, the rumors about a tablet computer have been swarming, and now that thing is finally here. It's called the iPad, and it's lovely. Half way between an iPhone and a MacBook, the 10-inch iPad will offer all the mobility of a PDA with the added computing power and versatility of a laptop. (If you want all the salient details, you should check out Multiplayer editor Russ Frushtick's live blog of today's Apple event.)

While the machine will be able to handle all of your business and recreational computing needs, the most exciting aspect of it may be that large touchscreen. Everything is handled via touch (just like the iPhone and iPod Touch), with pinch and flick controls that should make working with photos and design elements on the go a real pleasure.

But who will be among the first adopters of the new iPad? We imagine Lady Gaga will be first in line. She's so forward-thinking and progressive that she probably already has one on pre-order, though it's possible she'll just convert a bunch of them into a shirt (just like she did with those Kermit the Frog dolls a few months ago). So don't be surprised if you see the diva return from the European stretch of her Monster Ball tour wearing something that looks like this.

What do you think? Will you be buying an iPad, or is it just hype? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

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UCLA, The Rolling Stones And Michael Jackson (Again): Six More Untouchable Records

Posted 1/27/10 12:45 pm EST by in Music


Yesterday, when "Avatar" officially became the highest-grossing film of all time (besting "Titanic," which many people thought held a record that could never be broken), we took a look at a handful of other historic numbers that are entirely safe from challengers. Because "Avatar" won't stop making money (and because it keeps putting distance between itself and "Titanic"), here are six more records you can confidently wager on never being broken.

UCLA's Seven Straight NCAA Basketball Championships
The sports world takes records very seriously, and it takes streak-related records even more seriously. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak is always talked about in hushed tones, as is Cal Ripken, Jr.'s consecutive games played streak (that's 2,632 straight for anybody counting). But those records just take a combination of will and luck, whereas UCLA's dominance in basketball from 1967 to 1973 was a remarkable show of skill. In fact, UCLA won a total of 10 titles in 12 seasons, and with the rise of parity in college basketball (along with the trend of players jumping to the NBA draft before their college careers are over), this sort of dominance will never come back around again.

Michael Jackson's Most Expensive Music Video
Michael Jackson never did anything half way, so when he finally collaborated with sister Janet on 1995's "Scream," he (along with director Mark Romanek) put together an effects-heavy sci-fi epic that ran up a $7,000,000 tab. Since video budgets are constantly being cut down, it seems impossible that any superstar would command a check that big moving forward. Madonna has also produced three very expensive videos, but her priciest entry (2002's "Die Another Day") still falls a full million dollars short of Jackson's mark.

The Most Tattooed Man
Circus and sideshow performer Lucky Diamond Rich takes body art very seriously. Read More...

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Lady Gaga Gets Remixed By Passion Pit

Posted 1/27/10 11:35 am EST by in Music


By Joel Hanek

I don't know how the Internet does it, but it always manages to combine some of my favorite things. First it was cats and cheeseburgers. Then it was cats and keyboards. And now Passion Pit and Lady Gaga have emerged from the digital abyss that is YouTube with one of the coolest collaborations I've heard in a long time.

Over the weekend, the YouTube account LadyGagaUK posted a Passion Pit remix of Lady Gaga's "Telephone," the mega-collaboration between Beyoncé and the Clawed One from The Fame Monster. The album version of "Telephone" (a club anthem about, um ... going out to the club) deceptively starts with finger-picking guitars and a passionate plea from Lady Gaga to her lover about the growing distance between them. The ruse is quickly discarded when the song launches into its full synthy swing, driven by a thumping beat and Gaga's electronically-tampered vocals. On top of that, Beyoncé's powerful cameo nearly takes this song from dance track to fight song.

When I first heard about the collaboration between Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, I was skeptical, but it quickly became one of my favorite tracks off of The Fame Monster. Taking that in mind, I was eager to hear the Massachusetts indie-electronic outfit's take on the song.

The Passion Pit remix begins with Lady Gaga's vocals cranked up to The Squeakquel levels over minimal electronic grooves. However, like the original version, it soon transforms into another song completely. While Gaga's vocals return to recognizable, the song becomes completely disparate from the original, ending in a jittery electronic fusion that sounds simultaneously melodic and ominous.

What's your take on the song? Does it satisfy both Passion Pit and Lady Gaga fans, or does it leave something to be desired? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Is 'Pants On The Ground' Not As Original As We Thought?

Posted 1/27/10 10:30 am EST by in Music


Even after Katy Perry's impressive smackdown of Kara DioGuardi on Tuesday night's episode of "American Idol," the best moment of this season's run of audition episodes remains "Pants on the Ground," the hilarious and oft-remixed song delivered last week by General Larry Platt during the stop in Atlanta last week. Since Platt unleashed his original tune, he has received interest from record labels, inspired Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings and got a performance spot on "The View."

But is Platt's "original" song all that original? A pair of brothers from Detroit got in touch with a local news station and revealed to them that they cut a track called "Back Pockets on the Ground" that has a similar theme and beat. The twist? They recorded "Back Pockets on the Ground" way back in 1996. Gerald Green, one half of the pair, says they don't harbor any ill will towards Platt, but they do want their version of the song heard.

You can compare and contrast yourself. Here's "Back Pockets on the Floor." Now compare that to "Pants on the Ground." The similarities are definitely there, though "Pants on the Ground" remains the superior track.

All of this talk about low-slung pants just makes us recall Sway's conversation with Barack Obama about pants-related legislation. In the wake of a handful of states passing anti-sagging laws, the then-Senator weighed in on the idea. "Here's my attitude: I think passing a law about people wearing sagging pants is a waste of time," Obama replied. "Having said that, brothers should pull up their pants. There are some issues that we face that you don't have to pass a law [against], but that doesn't mean folks can't have some sense and some respect for other people. And, you know, some people might not want to see your underwear. I'm one of them."

With the "Pants on the Ground" issue back in the zeitgeist, could Obama address it at his first State of the Union tonight? Probably not, but you never know.

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Monica Seles Battles Back: Wake-Up Video

Posted 1/27/10 9:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


You'd never know it based on media coverage, but one of the most exciting tennis tournaments in ages is currently happening right now in Melbourne, Australia. The Australian Open is typically difficult for Americans to follow because it's happening on the opposite side of the Earth, but so far, there have been a handful of upsets and some excellent performances from Justine Henin and top seed Serena Williams.

Back in 1996, the Australian Open served as the stage for an emotional comeback for Monica Seles, who was crowned champion of the tournament on this day 14 years ago. Not only was it the ninth Grand Slam win for the 22-year-old Seles, but it was her first since getting stabbed in the middle of a match in one of the most harrowing incidents in the history of organized sports. Back in 1993, Seles was squaring off against Magdalena Maleeva in a tournament in Hamburg, Germany. In the middle of the match, a man named Gunther Parche stormed the court and stabbed Seles in the back with a 10-inch blade. (The psychologically unstable Parche said he did it so Seles wouldn't take the top ranking away from Steffi Graf, Parche's favorite player.)

Seles took two years off from professional tennis, derailing what could have been a record-breaking career (she was on her way to becoming the most successful teenage pro in history). Still, she fought her way back, winning the first tournament she entered upon her return and getting to the finals of the U.S. Open in 1995. Her victory in Australia capped off an incredible comeback that the members of Shout Out Louds can certainly get behind.

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'American Idol' Recap: Katy Perry To The Rescue In Los Angeles

Posted 1/27/10 8:30 am EST by in Music, Television


It was Los Angeles' turn to strut its stuff in front of Randy, Simon, Kara and Paula's Seat Filler on Tuesday night's "American Idol," and as expected, a lot of out of work actors showed up to get some primetime shine from Fox. (Shockingly, Lindsay Lohan stayed home.)

The fame-whoring from the army of untalented made for frustrating lows throughout Tuesday's broadcast, but luckily there were a handful of auditions that made me sit up in my seat and start brainstorming ways to bedazzle names with terrible puns on giant poster-board.

Mary Powers (future sign will have black roses on it with the caption "Flowers For Powers") was my fave of the entire season so far. I have a thing for the rough-and-tumble rocker chicks that sound like they sucked down three packs of Virginia Slims before their audition. (The visible ink helps, too.) Powers wasn't all piss and vinegar, though. There was a warm vulnerability to her aching "Love is a Battlefield" that suggests she could do great things on the "Idol" stage.

M-Pow just needs to figure out her personal style first. Her getup reeked of "Oh Dear, I Just Caught Mom In The Attic Reliving Her Glory Days From 1984." Love may be a battlefield, Mary, but so is high-definition television. And I haven't seen a sadder display of pleather halter tops and raccoon eye makeup since I bumped into a gaggle of Glamberts in the MTV lobby last November. (You know who you are, ladies.)

I also dug Andrew Garcia's "Idol" debut. (His sign will read "Andy Is Sweeter Than Candy!") He turned Maroon 5's nasal "Sunday Morning" into an effortless, soulful croon. It's a bummer that it was likely his back story (and not his vocal chops) that secured him screen time. Andrew's life reads like an "Idol" producer's checklist: His parents used to be gang bangers before escaping Compton and morphing into a cuddly (and weepy) support system. Now Andrew is a well-adjusted young man with a funky-haired wife and an impossibly adorable baby boy. The only thing that would complete this fairytale is an "Idol" trophy. (For people who missed the eighth season, "Idol" gives an actual trophy now.)

Andrew's talent outshined his human interest story angle (a rare feat on "Idol"), but I can't say the same for show closer Chris Golightly (future sign: "Golightly Goes Big"), a survivor of the foster care system who was filmed walking along train tracks like some sort of 1890s vagrant. (I'm shocked producers didn't ask him to curl up on a stranger's doorstep in a giant bassinet.) Golightly's "Stand By Me" featured some wonderful runs and closed-eyes emoting, but Kara showed her hand by saying, "You’re the kind of kid with just enough talent and just enough of a story." Sigh.

I wasn't the only one who noticed Kara's revealing admission. Read More...

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David Archuleta Sings For Haiti, Superfans Raise Big Bucks

Posted 1/26/10 5:10 pm EST by in Music


Last Friday's "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon was a smashing success. Not only did it raise a stupendous amount of money for earthquake survivors in Haiti, but it also spread the word that the generosity needs to continue through the coming months. The fans of "American Idol" alum David Archuleta took that message to heart and spent their weekend raising even more money for Haiti in the form of a "virtual cupcake drive," partially in my honor. Seriously!

Here's the story: MTV News correspondent Sway chatted with several of the participants of the telethon Friday night, including Archuleta (or as I call him, Archupuppy or Archadorable — depending on my mood). Sway noticed that David was humming to himself before their interview began, so when it came time to roll tape, he asked the "Idol" star if he wanted to share a song with the world.

This should come as no surprise to Archie's fans, but David happily obliged and treated MTV News to an impromptu (and heart-stoppingly gorgeous) rendition of Kurt Bestor's "Prayer of the Children."

I casually tweeted that we had witnessed a spur-of-the-moment mini-concert from Archuleta, and within seconds my Twitter was inundated with pleas from David diehards desperate to see the video footage that I had just bragged about. What started as half-joking bribes of cupcakes snowballed into a virtual cupcake drive. To donate to the Haiti relief effor, send a TwitPic of a cupcake to @jambajim! (You can see this ingenious idea develop by checking out the timeline on Peace Love Cupcakes.)

By Tuesday afternoon, a generous group of fans had raised $3,850 in mine and David Archuleta's names! As David would say, "Oh my gosh, Ashley!!"

So to @janey79, @karenkid, @momJulee, @BeckyFOD, @snowangelzz, all the David Archuleta fan sites and blogs who helped spread the word (as well as the dozens of fans who donated money), I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my "Idol"-addicted heart. Your dedication and ingenuity is an inspiration to us all. They don't call you guys "Arch Angels" for nothing.

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The 'Titanic' Record Was Touchable, But Michael Jackson's Isn't

Posted 1/26/10 4:50 pm EST by in Music


It's official: "Avatar" is now the biggest money-making movie of all time. James Cameron's massive, technological envelope-pushing 3-D depiction of the planet of Pandora and the struggle of the race known as the Na'vi has been helped out a bit by inflation and the high cost of an IMAX ticket, but it's still a remarkable feat. It stands on top of the mountain once topped by "Titanic" (another James Cameron epic).

When the "Titanic" phenomenon happened back in 1997, most movie industry professionals thought that no film would ever touch the film's box office record. But "Avatar" managed to eclipse it, and it did it relatively effortlessly. Records are obviously made to be broken, and though it'll probably take years (or whenever Cameron gets around to making another movie), there will be another film that will come along and take the number one place in the line. But there are a handful of numbers that will, without a doubt, never be touched again. Here are six number-based records that will be safe forever.

Michael Jackson's Thriller As The Best-Selling Album Of All Time
When you consider the state of the music industry, and how even albums that are super-successful can only be considered modest victories when taken in historical context, it seems impossible that there will ever be an album with the sort of worldwide sales clout, universal appeal and staggering longevity as Michael Jackson's legendary opus Thriller. Though sales figures are rough, some estimates put the record as having sold 110 million copies worldwide — a staggering, completely untouchable number.

202,000,000 Tickets To "Gone With The Wind"
Though "Avatar" takes the raw money title, "Gone With the Wind" remains the sales leader after numbers are adjusted for inflation. According to Box Office Mojo, the numbers become even more dramatic when you take into account the number of tickets sold. Though the statistics are loose, "Gone With the Wind" sold over 202,000,000 tickets during its various theatrical runs, which is 24,000,000 more seats than its nearest competitor moved (that would be the original "Star Wars"). For all its economic success, "Avatar" checks in way down the list with a respectable but not-even-close-to-threatening 76,000,000.

Cy Young's 511 Career Wins
Baseball has a handful of records that seem relatively untouchable (like Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak), but the one number in America's pastime that will never be equaled is 511. Read More...

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Joe Jonas Was Nice But Honest, Says Brother Nick: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 1/26/10 4:05 pm EST by in Music


"He had a great time. He said that he was nice, but he also was honest, and that's important. He said he found some really great people that he's looking forward to see what their journeys are going to be like, and I'm happy that he was able to do that."

-Jonas Brother and Administration frontman Nick Jonas on his brother Joe's job as a guest judge on "American Idol," which airs Tuesday night (January 26) at 8 p.m. on Fox. Joe shares the episode with "How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris. The show focuses on the auditions from Dallas, and according to brother and bandmate Nick, Joe's approach to adjudicating talent borrows a little bit from everybody on "American Idol." "I think he's a mixture of [Simon, Randy and Kara]," Nick said. "And I think that having that balance of giving your honest opinion but giving some constructive criticism is important."

This week's audition episodes of "American Idol" bring in some of the highest-profile guests of the season. In addition to Jonas and Harris on Tuesday night, Wednesday night's episode will feature opinions care of Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne. The show has already seen the likes of Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, Victoria Beckham and Kristin Chenoweth, and this week's judges promise to be the most entertaining in the show's history. Will this week produce another "Pants on the Ground"? How many contestants will freak out because Joe Jonas is in the room? Stay tuned to MTV News for all the results and insight.

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Lady Gaga Fans Are Latest To Adopt Musical Gang Signs

Posted 1/26/10 3:15 pm EST by in Music


If you were in New York last week and saw a bunch of glammed-up superfreaks wandering the streets around Radio City Music Hall with lightning bolts painted across their eyes and ridiculously complicated shoes, you might have guessed that Lady Gaga was in town. But in addition to their sartorial tips of the lace mask to their disco duchess, Gaga's "Monsters" have a secret signifier that allows fellow beasties to recognize each other no matter where they are. It's called the "Monster Claw."

The gnarled, palsied hand sign is the international symbol of the Gaga Nation, featured prominently in the singer's "Bad Romance" video and sprinkled liberally throughout the current Monster Ball tour. Gaga took every opportunity during the show to flash the sign and her fans eagerly whipped their twisted digits up in solidarity.

The five-finger salute is just the latest hand signal to be adopted by fans as a means of entry into an artist's secret club, though. From the Roc Nation "Diamond Cutter" favored by Jay-Z devotees to N*E*R*D's "Star Trek"-inspired split-finger Star Trak symbol, Ronnie James Dio fans' (or any metal band, for that matter) devil horns and the two-handed W shot up by Weezer's people, secret hand jives are the lingua franca of the superfan.

Whether it's the bird-like W shot up by Wu-Tang warriors or Tupac's omnipresent finger-twisting West Side pose, throwing your hands up has long been the ultimate way to show you really care. So, the next time some kid in a disco ball-themed unitard flashes his teeth at you and bares his claws, don.t reach for a Taser. Be proud. You're in the club.

(Click here for more photos of music-related hand signals from Lady Gaga, Cobra Starship and Jay-Z!)

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