John Belushi once who lobbied successfully to get the punk band Fear a spot as a musical guest on the 1981 Halloween episode of his former show Saturday Night Live. Belushi had originally offered Fear the soundtrack for his major motion picture Neighbors. The film’s producers eventually forced Fear off the project, and Belushi got them the infamous SNL gig as compensation. The band’s appearance included a group of slamdancers, among them Belushi, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat (and later Fugazi), Tesco Vee of The Meatmen, Harley Flanagan and John Joseph of the Cro-Mags, and John Brannon of Negative Approach. The show’s director originally wanted to prevent the dancers from participating, so Belushi offered to be in the episode if the dancers were allowed to stay. The end result was the shortening of Fear’s appearance on TV. They started their second song by saying, “It’s great to be in New Jersey”, drawing boos from SNL’s New York live audience. Fear played “I Don’t Care About You”, “Beef Bologna”, “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones”, and started to play “Let’s Have a War” when the telecast faded into commercial.
It wasn’t too long before the slamdancers started treading the boards, the floor, and the set. Cameras, a piano and other property were damaged.
Koka’s beat machines are electromechanical musical instruments, which are programmable and produce different kinds of rhythmic and melodic patterns. It looks like something out of an old sci-fi movie, but could now find itself on a Drake album. Maybe.
Smartphone users can now put a virtual White House on a dollar bill with the new 1600 app.
“As you experience a year at the White House – from the Easter Egg Roll to a State Arrival Ceremony – you’ll see that even as seasons and people change, the White House endures as an institution of American democracy. That’s why we teamed up with the White House Historical Association and Nexus Studios to create this augmented reality experience – to educate and inspire Americans to learn all about what the People’s House stands for. “
DJ Earworm has released his annual “United State of Pop” mashup for 2016 titled “Into Pieces,” using 25 of the most popular songs of the year.
Featuring:
Bruno Mars – 24K Magic
Calvin Harris and Rihanna – This Is What You Came For
D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty – Broccoli
Desiigner – Panda
DJ Snake and Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You
DNCE – Cake By The Ocean
Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla – One Dance
Fifth Harmony and Ty Dolla $ign – Work From Home
Flo Rida – My House
Justin Bieber – Love Yourself
Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling!
Lukas Graham – 7 Years
Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ – Cold Water
Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza
Rae Sremmurd – Black Beatles
Rihanna – Needed Me
Rihanna and Drake – Work
Sia – Cheap Thrills
The Chainsmokers and Daya – Don’t Let Me Down
The Chainsmokers and Halsey – Closer
The Weeknd and Daft Punk – Starboy
Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out
Twenty One Pilots – Heathens
Twenty One Pilots – Ride
Zayn – Pillowtalk
In one of the largest global campaigns, Spotify has revealed some of the more amusing pieces of data from its system, including user playlist names, listening counts and specific dates. The tagline, “Thanks 2016. It’s been weird.” might just be the slogan for us all.
For example, one UK billboard reads, “Dear 3,749 people who streamed ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ the day of the Brexit Vote. Hang in There.”
James Veitch, a London-based comedian who enjoys nothing more than trolling pesky internet scammers is my new hero. His book, Dot Con: The Art of Scamming A Scammer is packed full of Nigerian princes, can’t-miss investment opportunities and eligible Russian brides, and his correspondence leads to surprising, bizarre and hilarious results. See below for one such hilarious instance.
See below for one of the many funny conversations he’s had with various unsuspecting scammers. This one involves somebody called “Solomon” who wants to sell him 25kgs of gold. But the only thing gold about this particular exchange is the way that James strings the foolish fraudster along before the conversation reaches its hilarious conclusion. He’s even compiled his funny exchanges into a book called “Dot Con,” which is available on Amazon.
The 2017 Pirelli calendar “conveys personality, sensitivity and the guts to be yourself””, Peter Lindbergh explained at the international press launch of the new calendar in Paris. The German photographer has called the creation “Emotional”, emphasizing how his aim was “not shoot a calendar about perfect bodies but to capture sensitivity and emotion, laying bare the souls of the women in the images, rendering them more naked that a nude.”
The 44th edition of Pirelli’s legendary creation is further testament to Lindbergh’s love of the big screen, which he celebrates with his star-studded 2017 Pirelli Calendar cast: Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlotte Rampling, Lea Seydoux, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Kate Winslet, Robin Wright, and Zhang Ziyi. The line-up also features Anastasia Ignatova, a Political Theory professor at Moscow State University, as special guest. In shots from the behind-the-scenes video, traditionally used to reveal the hidden workings of the Pirelli Calendar, the actresses themselves explain what it felt like to be behind Lindbergh’s lens. Uma Thurman, for example, said if felt “like an interview, but with a camera” while for Penelope Cruz it was “almost like seeing into your soul.” “I wanted to show women in a different way: I did this by asking actresses who have always played an important role in my life and to try and get as close to them as possible through my photos. As an artist, I feel I have a responsibility to free women from the idea of eternal youth and perfection. Society’s ideal of perfection is impossible to achieve”, Lindbergh explained. As the photographer behind the 2017 Pirelli Calendar, Lindbergh is the first in the industry to have shot three editions of The Cal™. His first partnership was in 1996 when he set the shots in the El Mirage desert in California; this was followed by the 2002 edition, when the images were taken in Paramount Pictures studios, Los Angeles. Lindbergh also worked with Patrick Demarchielier to shoot Pirelli’s 50th anniversary calendar in 2014.
For the 2017 edition, the shots were taken between May and June in five locations: Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, London and the French beach of Le Touquet. This produced a calendar featuring forty images, both portrait and ambient shots, taken in the studio or outside on location around the city, from the street scenes, fast food joints and run-down hotels of downtown Los Angeles to Time Square in New York, the Sophiensaele theatre in Berlin, the roofs of New York and London studios, and on the beach in Le Touquet, France.
The Pirelli 2017 Calendar is about to be go live .. get a sneak peak in this fascinating behind-the-scenes video.
