Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift in Maine for 'Mine' music video debut

KENNEBUNK, Maine (AP) — Country music star Taylor Swift is back in Maine for a half-hour television special on CMT to introduce her new music video that was shot in Maine.

The cable network show will air Friday night in Kennebunk.

Swift shot the video Mine last month in Maine. The first release from her new album is due out Oct. 25. One of the central sites in the video is a church in Kennebunk, where Swift emerged in a wedding gown.

During Friday's show, the 20-year-old Grammy winner is planning to talk about the music video locations and show behind-the-scenes footage.

John Lennon's toilet.

John Lennon's toilet to be auctioned with Beatles memorabilia.

John Lennon's toilet, one of the items to be auctioned at the The Paul McCartney Auditorium at Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts Photo: PA

A mono-sound copy Two Virgins, which he recorded with Yoko Ono, is expected to fetch at least £2,500.

When the avant-garde LP was released in November 1968 it was notable for being sold in brown paper bags because the sleeve controversially featured a naked picture of the famous couple on the cover.

Although a limited release of 5,000 stereo versions of the album were available in shops, fans had to write to the record label to purchase a mono copy of the record.

The exact number of mono copies sold is not known, but auction organisers say it is likely to be as few as a ''couple of hundred''.

As a result, the sale, part of the 33rd annual Beatles Convention in Liverpool, is attracting record levels of interest.

The auction is also inviting bids for Lennon's toilet from Tittenhurst Park, his Berkshire home between 1969 and 1972.

Lennon told builder John Hancock to keep the porcelain lavatory and ''use it as a plant pot'' after he had installed a new one.

It was stored in a shed at Mr Hancock's home for 40 years until he died recently.

The toilet carries an estimate of £750 to £1,000.

Stephen Bailey, a Beatles expert and organiser of the auction, said: ''The toilet might be worth something, and it might not, but it is certainly one of the more unusual items we've sold.''

Mr Bailey, manager of the Beatles Shop on the famous Mathew Street in Liverpool, added: ''I have only ever come across two other mono copies of Two Virgins before so that will be the one to watch.

''Even at the end of the Sixties, during such a bohemian period, the picture of a naked couple on the album cover still caused a great deal of scandal.

''The stereo version sold relatively few copies at a time when any one of the Beatles could easily have shifted hundreds of thousands of records.

''It must be one of the rarest Beatles solo albums to come up for auction.''

Also from Tittenhurst Park comes a small harmonica that belonged to Lennon's son, Julian.

Again it was given to Mr Hancock by the musician who asked him to take it home as ''Julian was driving him mad with it''.

Lennon told Mr Hancock he would tell Julian it was lost.

The harmonica is expected to fetch between £750 and £1,000.

Fans of Sir Paul McCartney can bid on a black and white photograph taken of the budding star outside his family home, 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool, when he was aged about 21.

The estimate is £375-£400.

Other lots include an early concert ticket from September 28 1962, when the Fab Four played the Royal Iris Mersey Ferry.

It is valued at £2,500.

And a full set of Beatles autographs could go for anything between £1,000-£2,200.

For Beatles collectors on a budget, less expensive lots include a 1966 ticket for Mathew Street's Cavern Club, where the band made their name, which is expected to fetch between £60 and £100.

Mass-produced memorabilia created at the height of the band's fame, such as Irish linen tea towels and China plates, are valued at around £20.

Mr Bailey said interest in the Fab Four is on the rise as fans prepare to mark a series of 50-year milestones, such as their first performance in Hamburg, Germany, which was marked last week.

There are a total of 295 lots being sold in the auction, which will take place next Saturday in the The Paul McCartney Auditorium at Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts from 10am.

'The Expendables'

It's easy to dismiss The Expendables as true to its name. But this is truly a movie that nobody needs — gratuitously savage, implausible and sometimes incoherent.

Clearly, Sylvester Stallone is no Clint Eastwood. Both are rugged action stars turned directors, but that's where the similarities end.

Where the 80-year-old Eastwood has gone on to make some of the best films in decades, the 64-year-old Stallone, who directed and co-wrote this film, seems hellbent on reliving his glory days.

Though he's going for a brawny appeal à la The Wild Bunch or The Dirty Dozen, this boring tale of hired guns is more like Rambo With a Posse.

The cast never really jells. And the story, superficially ripped from the headlines, feels cobbled together. But it does seem tailored to translate overseas, with a cast of such foreign stars as Jet Li, Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren.

Intended as a character piece about an unruly corps of mercenaries, it appears that Stallone forgot to develop the characters. Though he looks terminally groggy throughout the movie, he gives himself the meatiest role. The rest of the cast might as well be cardboard cutouts. British actor Statham is the only one who shows any charisma.

Some of Stallone's directorial choices are inexplicable, almost unforgivable. In shooting an elaborate fight between Lundgren and Li, he doesn't show us the actual fight. Why cast Jet Li if you're not going to offer a good look at his fighting skills? Instead, we see a poorly staged, skimmed-over and frenetic affair.

It's all about the violent payoff — the knife through the gullet, the freakishly accurate beheading, the bright red blood spurting stylistically. If these graphic scenes were judiciously interspersed, they might make a greater impact. Instead they're used over and over, and consequently defanged.

One of the worst scenes — which nearly stops the movie cold — is an interminable, blue-lit monologue by Tool, a mercenary turned tattoo artist played by Mickey Rourke in black-and-white-striped hair. He prattles on balefully about redemption while Stallone keeps the camera on his face in an ultra-tight close-up. Occasionally Stallone cuts back to himself reacting dully, shot as if in a gauzy haze.

The best moments come during a pair of jokey Planet Hollywood-inspired cameos — one from Bruce Willis and the other from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the Los Angeles premiere, a band of pickets marched to protest California Gov. Schwarzenegger's political policies. Maybe they also should have urged audiences to boycott this sadistic mess of a movie.

Playboy’s iPad App.

One of the old jokes people used to make about buying Playboymagazine was that they “just read it for the articles.” Well, when someone buys its new $4.99 iPad app in the iTunes Store, they just might be serious when they say that. Like the earlier Playboy (NYSE: PLA) iPhone app, the magazine has to adhere to Apple’s strict no-nudity policy, so that means no pictorials that bare anything less than what you’d see at the beach. So even though you’re paying the same price as you would at the newsstand, there’s no centerfold. While that wasn’t much of an issue with the iPhone, that was probably because that app only costs $0.99.

In a review of the iPad app, MinOnline finds more to dislike besides the lack of full pictorials and enforced prudery. For one thing, there appears to be little interactivity. “We heard a rumor there was a video in here, and after a lot of digging we found one 30-second clip of the month’s playmate being interviewed. Really?” writes Steve Smith.

Still, Playboy Enterprises, which is currently mulling an offer from founder Hugh Hefner to take the company private, is trying to drive more digital revenues and this is a start. It recently unveiled a “safe-for-work” site called TheSmokingJacket late last month. That site was designed to boost traffic and ad revenues, but it will likely take some time until it achieves any measurable success.

A SYMPHONY OF GENES

ROLL over Beethoven! The great German composer's genetic code has been turned into a classical composition to be premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this week.

The 15-minute piece, written for piano and cello, has been produced by Scottish composer Stuart Mitchell, who used software that he claims translates amino acid DNA sequences into melodic tones.

"Every one expected to here it in the style of Beethovan but the melody is almost tragic," said 45-year-old Mitchell. "To me it sounds like somebody fighting, struggling, a really sympathetic melody with a great deal of soul." Mitchell's reputation as a composer is growing. His Seven Wonders Suite was recorded by The Prague Symphony Orchestra, while he and his father and fellow musician Thomas Mitchell once claimed to have deciphered a musical code hidden in the Freemasons-inspired ceiling design of Rosslyn Chapel. 

But boasting the kind of outlandish claim that matches the mood of the Edinburgh Fringe, the work will premiere as part of the Festival of Spirituality and Peace. 

Mitchell's company, Your DNA Song, offers the service of translating amino acid sequences into "musical poems". "You are a beautiful song waiting to be heard," the website advertises. "Your DNA carries the expression of who you are." About two clients a month, he said, pay about £800 to have their DNA sequenced and turned into music in its programme.

The DNA sequence for Beethoven comes from the generation of families in and around Bonn in northwest Germany, where Beethoven was born, a region that prides itself on its musical culture and history.

"It is the group of the family that he came from, less than a 1,000 people," Mitchell said. 

The company has considered trying to secure access to a lock of Beethoven's hair - one was famously sold at Sotheby's in 1994 - but it has so far proved impossible. The software relies on DNA to produce "beautiful melodic chains", he said. 

"Something in the genetic makeup from certain areas of the world have produced Mozarts, Beethovens, Ravels, even Jimi Hendrix. There's some interaction between the soul and DNA that brings out some genius."

Just-in-Gay Land.

Justin Timberlake's Hollywood career is taken off, but he still takes time to lend his voice to some of his favorite animated television shows. 20th Century Fox has now announced that the actor/singer will do just that for "The Cleveland Show."

And while Timberlake is more than happy to be part of the show, it has been revealed that he will first voice a gay character Paul, who will be the boyfriend of Terry (Jason Sudeikis). He will then star as a "singing booger," named Booger, who belongs to Cleveland's stepson Rallo.

Timberlake's first episode is set to air in February of 2011.

This is starting to look similar to how "South Park" handles celebrities. George Clooney wanted to voice a character on the popular show, but all he was offered was the role of a gay dog, which required Clooney to just bark. Later, Jerry Seinfeld asked to be on the show as well. He later changed his mind, when he was offered to voice turkey #3, which would have required him to make turkey noises among many other turkeys.

Visions of a golden god.

As a voice over the telephone, Sahil Makhija sounds like the gentlest, sweetest person to have uncomplainingly travelled the Mumbai suburban railway.
Put him on stage and he will transform into a frighteningly different avatar; that of the `Demonstealer'. "All the big metal musicians have a stage name to differentiate their real and metal lives," explains Sahil whose independent record label bears the same name.

"I guess Demonslayer would have been too stupid, so this worked. I was 16 then," he says in his defence.It's ironic that for a person with no interest in mythology or the classics, Sahil and his band have a profound `demon fixation'.
"From stuff we play to the food I cook, everything has a `demonic' twist to it. My `demonic' omelettes are legendary," he boasts. Beyond the quirkiness, it has proven to be an excellent marketing strategy for his band, Demonic Resurrection.

Unofficially India's top extreme metal act, Demonic Resurrection (DR for short) recently received official gratification from Metal Hammer, one of the top metal magazines in the UK and Europe. DR received the Golden God Award 2010 for Global Metal, the first time an Indian band, metal or otherwise, (Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Anthrax are previous recipients) has won an international award without a recognised record label. "Are you kidding us?" was their first reaction, after which the disbelief subsided on a flight to the awards ceremony in London, "The British Council helped us fly to London when they heard of the award and our financial situation."

Perhaps the only thing that might have lifted their spirits higher was Metal Hammer's statement, calling them the international act they `scoured the entire globe and think that you need to hear.' This year is significant, not just because DR started a decade ago when a 17-yearold commerce drop-out decided to convince his parents that "music is viable as a full time career in 2000." It is significant because DR has been signed on by Candlelight Records (UK), reputed as being amongst the top five labels for metal globally. "I released Behemoth's album in India through my label for Candlelight Records. I sent them a demo of our third album, Return to Darkness, and they called back.

Now it's available in music stores everywhere!" he gushes. Favourable reviews are tumbling in everyday on metal forums across the Net. Incidentally this is the first time an indie Indian band has been signed on by an international record label not based in India.
Armed with a golden statue of Stonehenge with a skull being pierced by a sword, and a record label, DR returned to India. Did the awards fetch any money? "I don't think you get money with a Filmfare award either!" retorts Sahil, "It's now up to us to capitalise on this and make it financially viable, as a band and as extreme metal pioneers in India."

Whether they pioneered extreme metal (a conglomerate of death, symphonic, black and any other type of metal you find is heavier) is debatable. That they strongly stuck to playing only originals from when they were "an amateur band who really didn't sound great" to this day is commendable. "After 2006 crowds wanted to hear our own music and stopped screaming for covers. Now unless you're a cover band at Hard Rock Café, nobody will listen to you," he says.
All of DR's albums are tinged with the theme of `Darkness.' "After the band split in 2002, it was like we had to make it back from a dark void. And we found the dark theme fit us perfectly with our demonic tag," explained the man who is the sole survivor of the original DR line-up. survivor of the original DR line-up.

Though Sahil plays for several bands, he still holds fort with a job at Furtados, which retails music gear. Guitarist Daniel is a student at St Xaviers', while Viru (drums), Hussain (bass) and Jitesh `Mephisto' Menon (keyboard) work in Menon (keyboard) work in advertising and media-related concerns. "We're hoping that in three years we can all quit our day jobs and make music full-time," he says looking back at the band's decade long journey, "From having a different member for every show the first year we performed, to opening for Opeth and Cannibal Corpse, it's been a dream."

With a stint at the Norwegian Inferno festival behind them and a slot playing alongside Children of Bodom and Fear Factory at the Czech Republic's Brutal Assault Festival in August, DR are hoping to play at the legendary Wacken Fest next year.
However far their dreams may extend, their heart lies closer home, apparently "We started the Resurrec tion Fest in 2004 and we're planning to make it the biggest metal fest in India promoting only local METAL talent," stresses Sahil. Only metal? "Well there's plenty of support for the rock and jazz and blues bands so I'm happy to do my bit for Indian metal, so there!" -daniel.thimmayya@gmail.com

KILLER PILL Quit-smoking drug linked to suicides

Many smokers who take pills to quit the habit have developed suicidal tendencies and at least 15 have committed suicide while on medication since 2008, Australian drug-control authority has said.

Hundreds of people have considered killing themselves while taking the popular quit-smoking pill Champix and 15 have in fact committed suicide, the statistics show.

In an update sent to doctors, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said 206 "suicide-related events" and 15 suicides had been linked to the drug, which has been prescribed more than a million times since becoming available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme two and a half years ago, The Agereported.

The TGA has also received 1,025 reports of suspected adverse reactions to the drug, 67 per cent of which describe psychiatric symptoms such as depression, agitation, anxiety, altered mood and aggression.

A spokeswoman for the TGA said that of the 15 suicides, 13 people were taking Champix and no other medication at the time of their death.

"Stopping smoking – with or without medication – may be associated with various psychiatric symptoms such as depressed mood (including suicidal ideation), irritability, anxiety and frustration, or anger; stopping smoking may also exacerbate any underlying psychiatric condition," the spokeswoman said.

She said a written warning added to the medication for consumers about the potential side effects was sufficient.

"All medicines have potential risks. The TGA, as a regulator, has to consider the balance between the benefits offered by any medicine and the potential risks associated with its use. These risks and benefits also need to be considered when the medicine is prescribed," she added.

Male Brothel House for Kiwis.

New Zealand to have its First Male Brothel for Female Clients.

A male brothel where women could "come and either just drink and be titillated,or go the whole nine yards" is in the process of being set up in New Zealand.Former politician Pam Corkery has been linked to plans for NewZealand's first brothel for women,New Zealand Herald reported on Tuesday.corkery is currently looking for a property to house the brothel.The concept involved a Spa,bar,and bordello,it was reported.Publicist Paul Ellis said he had met corkery in the past week to discuss the plan.Corkery wanted the brothel plan "to be shot as a TV project,"Ellissaid.

Bone Age

Human remains 67,000 years old found in the phillipines
Archaeologists have found a foot bone that could prove the phillipines was first settled by humans 67,000 years ago,thousands of years earlier than previously thought,the national Museum said on tuesday.The bone,found in an extensive cave network,predates the 47,000-yr-old TabonMan that is previously known as the first human to have lived in the country,said Taj Vitales a researcher. "This would make it the oldest human remains ever found in the phillipines,"he said.The report on "Callao Man"was released in the Journal of Human Evolution after tests in France established the Fossil's age.

We Love Aliens.

A Britain Poll Says ET is the most popular family film:

 Allien movie ET has been voted the most popular family film of all time in a new poll.The film topped a poll by Britain's radio,Times magazine to find the most beloved film to hit the big screen contactmusic reported. The Extra-Terrestrial tells the story of Elliott played by Hentry Thomas a lonely boy who befriends a friendly alien stranded on Earth.Elliot and his siblings help the extra terrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.The 1982 American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Mellissa Mathison.