Friday 27 June 2008
Zero 7
Artist: Zero 7
Genre(s):
Easy Listening
Electronic
Trip-Hop
Techno
Discography:
When It Falls
Year: 2004
Tracks: 11
Distractions
Year: 2002
Tracks: 6
AnotherLateNight
Year: 2002
Tracks: 16
Simple Things
Year: 2001
Tracks: 12
In The Waiting Line
Year: 2001
Tracks: 6
The manpower behind U.K. soulfulness turnout Zero 7 -- producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker -- launched their careers in the music manufacture as tea boys at a London recording studio. Soon later on, notwithstanding, both were in the fatheaded of action, working alongside a string of well-known British musicians such as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. They spent the topper character of the nineties honing their production skills behind the scenes. Then, later on taking on the identify of a nightspot in Honduras, the distich step by step began unleashing their possess ideas onto an unsuspecting populace. First came a couple of remixes; Radiohead's "Mounting Up the Walls" and Terry Callier's "Dearest Theme from Spartacus." In 1999, Zero 7 released their starting time EP, the fittingly titled EP 1. Only a smattering of copies were made and they sold out in a matter of years. A similar fate hoped-for their second gear release, EP 2. Their starting time record album, Simple Things, came out amid practically salivating from the media in mid-2001. A aggregation of mellow soul, acidulent jazz, and funk tracks, the album carried collaborations with well-thought-of vocalists Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker. Their soph endeavour, When It Falls, appeared in March 2004, and it was followed 2 years afterwards by Garden, which included contributions from longtime favourite Sia as substantially as Swedish star José González.
Thursday 19 June 2008
Pierce on Losing Bond: "I Didn't See That Coming"
Actresses aren't the only ones dealing with ageism in Hollywood. Pierce Brosnan is feeling its effects as well -- and it hurts.
While Sean Connery and Roger Moore played James Bond well into their 50s (58 and 53, respectively), Pierce was revoked of his license to kill at age 51 for the then-37-year-old Daniel Craig, which definitely took him by surprise.
"I didn't see that coming," the actor tells Parade magazine. "I never thought of myself as being too old. It was startling to hear such things said about oneself, especially when you thought you were going down that particular avenue and then the door gets slammed in your face."
The Irish stud knew his days as 007 were numbered, but figured producers would give him one last hurrah before passing the torch.
"I thought we were going to do a fifth film," he says. "And I was going to take a gracious bow off the stage. Instead of that you're just told, 'Goodbye.'"
Now 55, Pierce has since traded in tuxes for t-shirts, living with wife Keely and their sons Dylan, 11, and Paris, 7, in Hawaii. His next flick, a big-screen production of Mamma Mia! hits theaters July 18, and he has made peace with his Bond axing.
"That's the way it goes down in life," he says. "It's as hard and as fast as that."
See Also
Saturday 14 June 2008
Less Gold For 'Prince'
The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,
See Also
Sunday 8 June 2008
Steroids film examines obsession with winning
"Bigger, Stronger, Faster*," which opened in the United States on Friday, features interviews with gym junkies, medical experts, U.S. lawmakers and athletes such as former sprinters Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson and cyclist Floyd Landis.
But the documentary from the producers of Michael Moore's hits "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine" also includes comical and touching first-person accounts by director Chris Bell and his confessed steroid-using weightlifting and bodybuilding brothers.
"I am basically looking at all the hypocrisy surrounding steroids," said Bell, 35, who chronicles growing up idolizing and emulating "winners" such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Seeing all these larger-than-life heroes, I wanted to be like them and I did not know they were using steroids," he said. "Nobody wants to talk about steroids and I knew my brothers would tell me the truth so I started with them."
The film broadens its scope when it explores why steroids have a bad name -- they have legitimate medical purposes but it is illegal to use them without a prescription in the United States -- and why America obsesses over body image.
"More scrupulously reported than your average Michael Moore film but every bit as entertaining, 'Bigger, Stronger, Faster*' is as commercial as documentaries come," said Variety magazine.
The film suggests that part of the problem is a penchant for making scapegoats out of athletes like former Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson when in fact steroids can be traced back to American Olympic teams in the 1950s and 1960s.