Grand Theft Auto IV

May 8, 2008

NEW YORK - "Grand Theft Auto IV" raked in more than $500 million in its first week in stores, selling more than 6 million units worldwide, the video game’s publisher said Wednesday.

The highly anticipated title from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. has received stellar ratings along with criticism for its violent content. The game follows Eastern European immigrant-turned gangster Niko Bellic on crime missions around a fictional Liberty City.

The title sold about 3.6 million units on April 29, its opening day, bringing in roughly $310 million. This is $10 million more than what Microsoft Corp.’s "Halo 3," another blockbuster game, took in during its first week last fall.

New York-based Take-Two is the subject of a $2 billion hostile buyout from larger rival Electronic Arts Inc., which Take-Two has repeatedly rebuffed as too low.

Take-Two’s shares were recently trading at $26.39, above EA’s tender offer of $25.74 per share, which expires May 16. Unless EA is willing to offer more, it seems "increasingly possible" the acquisition attempt could unravel, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said in a note to investors.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter disagrees, however, saying the game’s sales were well within his expectations.

"I don’t think it changes the value of the company," he said. "I think we are going to end up with a Microsoft-Yahoo situation," with Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick believing the company is worth more and EA chief John Riccitiello disagreeing.

Three months after it first made an offer, Microsoft dropped its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo Inc. over the weekend after the companies couldn’t agree on a price.

Pachter said he expects the game to sell 12 million copies by the end of 2008. GTA’s previous versions have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide.

Already, the game seems to be living up to its juicy past, which includes controversy over hidden sex scenes, sharp criticism from Hillary Rodham Clinton and a 2006 lawsuit that blames the game for three New Mexico murders committed by a 14-year-old.

For one, Take-Two sued the Chicago Transit Authority on Monday for removing ads for the game because of its "Mature" rating, which means it is not suitable for people under 17. And the game also caught the ire of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which seeks an adults-only rating because it lets players drive after imbibing in virtual liquor.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, How True?

NEW YORK - Nick Cannon is cast as Mariah Carey’s lover in her new video — but has the superstar diva given the young actor a considerably bigger role in real life? According to several published reports, Carey, 38, married Cannon, 27, on Wednesday. Neither Carey’s publicist nor Cannon’s manager returned requests from The Associated Press for comment.

 

If the pair did indeed wed, it would be a whirlwind romance. Word that the two were seeing each other first surfaced in the last few weeks. Last Saturday, Carey was seen sporting a huge diamond ring on her finger at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her movie, “Tennessee,” in which she plays a waitress. Cannon was at her side at the party. Speculation swirled that the couple were engaged.

 

Latina.com was first to report that the two got married, at Carey’s home in the Bahamas. Friday’s New York Post also had the pair wed and E! Online quoted a relative of Cannon’s as saying that he called his family and confirmed the news.

 

“He called us and told us all about it. We are happy for him. If that is what he wants then we are happy for him,” Linda Cannon, identified simply as a family member, was quoted telling E!

 

People magazine’s Web site reported Friday that Carey had obtained a marriage license in the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas, where she has an estate.

 

Cannon has put out a rap album, but is best known for his role in the movie “Drumline” and a Nickelodeon TV series (yes, Nickelodeon — Cannon is 11 years Carey’s junior). He’s featured in Carey’s upcoming video for “Bye Bye.”

 

While Carey and Cannon (or is it the Cannons?) were playing coy, the famed jeweler Jacob & Co. was quick to publicize its apparent role in the reputed union with a press release touting the ring Cannon reportedly gave her.

 

The release described it as “crafted from platinum and features a square emerald cut fancy light pink diamond as the center stone surrounded by 58 intense pink diamonds and two half moon diamonds on each side.

 

“The total carat weight of the ring — center stone is 10 carats — is a jaw-dropping 17 carats with a value of $2.5 million.”

 

Cannon does have experience with engagement rings. The actor, who has previously romanced singer Christina Milian and voluptuous reality star Kim Kardashian, last year gave a 15-carat stone to Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks as he proposed in grand fashion — on the Jumbotron in New York’s Times Square. Cameras were flashing as she said yes. They split just a few months later.

 

The Carey-Cannon match is already getting considerably more ink, leaving some to wonder whether it’s a publicity stunt: After all, she’s just released a No. 1 album (“EMC2” is on the top of the charts), and he has at least four movies due out this year.

 

But then again, Carey is one of the most successful artists in music, and hardly needs a marriage to get her attention: She’s already scored a No. 1 hit off the album with “Touch My Body.”

 

This would be Cannon’s first marriage but Carey’s second. She famously wed top music executive Tommy Mottola in an extravagant wedding in 1993. They had a bitter divorce in 1998.

Should Disney replace Miley Cyrus?

What a difference a day – and a scandalous picture in Vanity Fair – can make to a young star’s career! Miley Cyrus launched a global firestorm with the Annie Leibovitz pics that showed her looking like Brooke Shields’ replacement in the remake of “Pretty Baby.”

 

Wrapped in nothing but a bed sheet (but an expensive one, says shoot stylist Michael Roberts), all-American Hannah Montana looked about as far away from 15-year-old innocence as Dorothy was from Kansas.

 

Now, Cyrus might lose her job as a result of the controversy.

 

According to E! Online, Disney execs are reportedly plotting to push her aside in favour of Selena Gomez, who stars in her own Disney Channel show, “Wizards of Waverly Place.” Gomez is 15, has dark hair, can sing okay and, here’s the deal-cincher, has “innocent” good looks.

 

Should Cyrus get the boot?

 

Some people like Madonna would say no. She’s imploring people to move on. The kid apologized. Her handlers and parents should have known better. But apparently they, and Cyrus herself, loved the photos when they saw them on set. As stylist Roberts says, “She looked at the screen and loved the picture.”

 

Child stars face a huge challenge when they leave their cuddly cuteness behind them and start growing up in Hollywood. It’s a make-or-break moment – one that Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Scarlett Johansson and Daniel Radcliffe have faced. Unfortunately not everyone can transition from kiddie fame to adult bankability at the box office.

 

It’s inevitable that Cyrus and her handlers would start looking for opportunities to facilitate this career move. But to cry “I’m 15, I’m so sorry” after the fact seems rather insincere. Questionable shots of Cyrus and her boyfriend had hit the Internet before this furor. Obviously that goof-up didn’t twig this teen’s headlights.

 

Miley Cyrus is a young starlet living the good life. But she is also a Disney creation. Unlike 14-year-old Dakota Fanning, Cyrus owes the Manolo Blahniks she walks on to Disney, to “Hannah Montana” and to the brand image she’s professionally bound to uphold. Disney is right to consider their alternatives. If 15-year-olds can understand the price of Prada handbags these days, surely Cyrus and her “people” can understand that.

What is emo?

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music which describes several independent variations of music with common stylistic roots. As such, use of the term has been the subject of much debate. In the mid-1980s, the term emo described a subgenre of hardcore punk which originated in the Washington, D.C. music scene. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the emotional performances of bands in the Washington, D.C. scene and some of the offshoot regional scenes such as Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and later, Moss Icon. (In more recent years, the term "emotive hardcore" entered the lexicon to describe the period.)

Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to refer to the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason had a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles. As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the mainstream style. As a result, the term "emo" became a vaguely defined identifier rather than a specific genre of music.

Miley Cyrus - Vanity Fair

 

Photographer Annie Leibovitz says she’s sorry her photos of teen idol Miley Cyrus, star of Disney’s Hannah Montana TV series, have been ‘misinterpreted.’

 

Leibovitz’s remarks come in light of a public apology issued late Sunday by the 15-year-old performer saying she is “embarrassed” by two sets of sexy photos, including ones taken by Leibovitz for Vanity Fair magazine.

 

Teen star Miley Cyrus apologized to her fans for this and other photos from her Vanity Fair shoot, which famed photographer Annie Leibovitz defended as ‘beautiful.’ (Annie Leibovitz, exclusively for Vanity Fair)
The singer and actress has made a name for herself as a clean-living performer who often talks about her Christian faith.

 

“I have let myself down. I will learn from my mistakes.… My family and my faith will guide me through my life’s journey,” said the 15-year-old sensation in a statement released to People magazine late Sunday.

 

Cyrus, the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, goes on to thank her fans and hopes they will “understand that along the way I am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect.”

 

Only a couple of a weeks ago, photos surfaced on the internet showing the star lying across a boy’s lap and flashing her green bra in a provocative way. Now, the stakes are raised with a Vanity Fair shoot in which Cyrus appears topless, wrapped in what looks to be a satin bedsheet, looking over her shoulder with her back exposed.

 

The Leibovitz photos are due out in the June issue of the magazine.

 

“I was so honoured and thrilled to work with Annie,” said Cyrus, whose show is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. among six to 14-year-olds.

 

“I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed.”

 

Photog says she discussed picture with singer
Leibovitz, whose well-known photos include a Vanity Fair cover of a naked and pregnant Demi Moore, says she consulted with Cyrus before the blanket shot.

 

“We discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful,” said Leibovitz in a comment released through Vanity Fair.

 

The young singer’s remarks are in stark contrast to a caption released by Vanity Fair with the photo in which the teen star expressed her comfort the photo in question:

 

“I think it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way…. I thought that was really cool.”

 

The Disney Channel also released its own statement that “a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”

 

Vanity Fair has told celebrity TV show Entertainment Tonight that it stands behind the photos.

 

“Miley’s parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley.”

 

Leibovitz has spent her career photographing celebrities. One of her famous shots is of a naked John Lennon wrapped around a clothed Yoko Ono, taken the day he was shot and killed.