Thursday 29 May 2008

Cablevision Pays 650 Million For Newsday




New York-based Cablevision announced today (Monday) that it has acquired the Long
Island newspaper Newsday and related properties for $650 million. The announcement
came just two days after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp pulled out of the bidding, sayin
g that the price was unrealistic. While analysts had expected shareholders to react
negatively to Cablevision's expensive acquisition, shares in the company appeared
to be unaffected by the deal. Cablevision CEO James Dolan said that he saw numerous
synergies. "Both Cablevision and Newsday are in the content, customer relationship and
advertising business, and we see this as a wonderful fit," he said in a statement.
The announcement of the Newsday acquisition comes just one week after the
company said that it had agreed to buy the Sundance Channel for $496 million.






12/05/2008




See Also

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Jo O'Meara reveals she is pregnant

Former S Club 7 and 'Celebrity Big Brother' star Jo O'Meara has announced that she is pregnant.
The pop singer, who was accused of bullying while in the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house last year, told The Sun that her first baby is due in April.
O'Meara said: "It wasn't planned, but it was a very nice surprise."
She continued: "I'm nervous at the thought of a little person calling me mum, but it's a very happy way to begin 2008."
She added: "This feels like a fresh start to me - new year, new baby, new purpose. I'm grateful for that."

Celebrity Hijack nominations announced

Emilia, Jeremy, Victor and Liam have all been chosen to face the 'Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack' public eviction vote this week.
Two of the four will be evicted tomorrow night in a surprise double-eviction on the live show.
Celebrity hijacker Joan Rivers chose who would face the public vote after listening to the housemates' reasons for wanting other people out.
Anthony and Amy were guaranteed immunity from the public vote after they won a task earlier in the week, while John previously won a place in the final of the show.
For more on 'Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack' read our blog here.

Same Moore time, new Moore Channel


Michael Moore is making a sequel to "Fahrenheit 9/11" but isn't turning to Harvey Weinstein for distribution this time.



See Also

Grant, Hurley win damages over tabloid pics

Actor Hugh Grant, his ex girlfriend Liz Hurley and her new husband won thousands of dollars in damages after paparazzi pictures taken while they were on holiday were published in tabloid newspapers.

The pictures of Grant, Hurley and her businessman husband Arun Nayar at a private resort in the Maldives, were distressing and an invasion of their privacy, London's High Court was told.

They were taken by photographers from agencies Big Pictures (UK) Ltd and the French-based Eliot Press.

The pictures were published in the News of the World (NoW) newspaper and its rival the Mail on Sunday (MoS) last October.

The court was told the MoS article was headlined "Hugh's that gooseberry?" while the NoW published the pictures under the banner "Liz does the blokey-cokey".

Hurley, Grant and Nayar accepted a total of £58,000 in damages for invasion of privacy and a public apology from the agencies.

Publishers Associated Newspapers and News Group Newspapers will also contribute to the settlement, the court was told .

Laura Tyler for the trio - who were not in court - said the articles had been distressing.

"It has been most upsetting for (them) to have their privacy invaded by these (organisations)," she told Mr Justice David Eady.

The agencies had accepted the photographs should not have been taken and that their actions invaded the trio's privacy, she added.

Grant, 47, best known for his appearance in the romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, split from Hurley, 42, in 2000 - ending a 13-year relationship that survived Grant's well-publicized encounter with a prostitute.

Hurley, a model who appeared in films such as Bedazzled and Austin Powers, married Nayar, a jet-set businessman and a friend of Bollywood film stars, in March last year.

The traditional Hindu ceremony in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan followed a week of lavish wedding celebrations after their civil marriage the previous week at a castle in England.





See Also

The Shortwave Set, Replica Sun Machine Album Review

The Shortwave Set

Replica Sun Machine

Wall Of Sound

Album Review




Timeless, classic pop music - you can't beat it, at least when it's done right. Abba, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Duran Duran, Adam And The Ants, Blondie, Prince, Madonna, The Beatles, the list is endless, but one thing that links each and every one of them is that their careers have seen more peaks than troughs, and pretty much every household in the country, maybe even the planet, must shamelessly own at least one recorded artefact per artist.



Of course there's the other side of the coin, if you dare to flip it; the times when so-called pop acts - or in many cases Johnny-come-lately revivalists - get the whole concept horribly wrong. Just one look through both the current singles and albums chart reveals a who's who of atrocities designed and manufactured to fill such a void, all of whom possess the subtlety of a greasy quarter-pounder with cheese from Dodgy Dave's burger van at 4am on a Sunday morning after a 12 hour binge on Belgian lager and sambuca shots. The Feeling, Scouting For Girls and The Hoosiers, we're looking at you.



With so many negatives polluting the airwaves, the need to find someone out there doing something positively constructive is an absolute must, if only to nullify the mediocrity beforehand. Sadly, The Shortwave Set fall somewhere safely between the two.



Five years after their formation, the London-based trio still haven't quite found their true identities, and ultimately pay the price for slipping in and out of several guises across 'Replica Sun Machine', their somewhat disorientating, "difficult" second album.



Sure, they've a healthy collection of endorsements (Danger Mouse, Moby, and ahem, Vane Lowe to name but three) while the guestlist here is pretty impressive too, with both John Cale and one-time Beach Boys aficionado Van Dyke Parks both collaborating towards the odd track here and there.



When they get it right, such as on current single 'No Social', The Shortwave Set offer a refreshing blend of atmospheric pop that wouldn't sound out of place on any radio station you care to mention, which is surely the whole point of a cross-genre, mixed demographic sound designed to unite minds and ears of every era.



Unfortunately, there are other times where the whole thing sounds messy, occasionally drifting into aimless pastiche such as with 'House Of Lies' or the cringeworthy 'Now 'Til 69', which sounds like a poor man's Beach Boys trying to come to terms with the loss of their only creative outlet, something they themselves had to endure around the time of Brian Wilson's departure all those years ago.



Refreshingly, The Shortwave Set have at least lost the trip-hop tag that seemed to haunt them on the back of 2005's debut 'The Debt Collection', and even though 'Replica Sun Machine' does feel like a step back in time too far, their journey in reverse may herald a brighter future in the long-run. The question is, will anyone still be listening long enough to care?



5/10



Dom Gourlay




See Also

Chris Liberator

Chris Liberator   
Artist: Chris Liberator

   Genre(s): 
Trance
   



Discography:


Set Fire   
 Set Fire

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 10




 





Singer Gareth Gates to marry dancer

Ashlee Simpson Slams 'Trashy' Britney Spears

Ashlee Simpson has labeled her fellow pop tart and lip-syncher Britney Spears ‘trashy.’

The singer made the offhand comment during her appearance on UK Channel 4 show, the Nokia Green Room.

"In an interview the other day, they asked me what I thought, 'You've had one too many Britney Spears' means," Ashlee said.

"I was like, 'What?' And they said it means you've had one too many beers."

"I was like, 'Oh, you've had one too many trashy girls!"

To be fair, the possibly-pregnant star did express some remorse for her flippant remark.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe I just said that!" said Ashlee. "It was really bad. I felt horrible."


See Also