Actress Jessica Alba was spotted going to her office in Santa Monica, California. She was wearing a gray jacket, blue scarf, peach top, blue denim jeans, and carrying a Prada Saffiano Calf Leather and Hemp Tote bag ($1,370) from the Spring/Summer 2012 Collection. See pics below.
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The plight hovering over the crazy, over-the-top antics of any Suda51 title has been the developer’s inability to find a reasonably large audience willing to support his creations wholeheartedly. With last June’s EA-backed Shadows of the Damned, the shooter crowd proved less-than-keen about going to Hell to save the hero’s girlfriend, even if critics claimed it may be the best game the studio ever produced (1UP didn’t, admittedly). Realistically, EA never expected the title to do Call of Duty numbers, but it’s never a good sign when such a hyped-up game sells only 24,000 copies upon its release.
WB Interactive is clearly hoping to cash in on pop culture’s renewed interest in zombies with the release Lollipop Chainsaw this June. The title falls almost a year to the day after 2011′s Shadows of the Damned; and, for better or worse, WB Interactive seems to be taking the same approach in marketing Lollipop as EA did with Shadows last year.
In a way, it’s as if publishers can’t quite trust Suda51 to sell a game on his own, with Shinji Mikami (of Resident Evil fame) being brought in to help with 2011′s Shadows of the Damned and James Gunn (writer of 2004′s Dawn of the Dead) enlisted to help guide the characters and actors (presumably the game’s stars, Juliet and Nick) of Lollipop Chainsaw. But even if they don’t trust Suda’s marquee power, WB is clearly betting on the beat-’em-up antics of Lollipop’s design. But will the game manage to find a larger audience — one more receptive to Suda’s punk rock style — or will Lollipop Chainsaw serve up a repeat of Shadows’ retail failure? Clearly WB thinks it has the answer to the Suda51 conundrum, but we’ll find out for certain next month.
We’ve
seemed to scream ourselves hoarse on how some company should take
the initiative in developing a sort of Criterion Collection for video
games. There’s nothing quite like having a physical object that wholly
celebrates a title, a series, or the artists themselves. Valve has
shown some spark in this area through the spectacular inclusion of
commentaries in games like Half-Life 2
and Portal,
but this idea still deserves to be taken further. It’s going to take a
company with a rich, stories history; a company whose fan-base who its
past and is keen on its preservation. A company like, say, Nintendo.
be perfectly honest, Nintendo completely botched Mario’s 25th
Anniversary. As Jeremy
pointed out in last year’s lamentation,
Super
Mario Bros. deserved better.
Arguably the most influential game of all time, it deserved to have the
vaults opened wide for fans to have access to every bit of content
related to the original title. After consuming the disc, we should’ve
been left utterly full, yet definitively satiated. But that’s not the
route Nintendo decided to take — instead, we got a disc with a rom of Super Mario
All-Stars for the SNES, a flimsy
book sprinkled with pull quotes, and a CD containing a shamefully bare
selection of tracks. In essence, Nintendo celebrated the 25th
anniversary of their iconic mascot by making a quick buck. And while
this left us undeniably disappointed, hope remains.
Kirby is turning 20 this year,
and at the most recent Nintendo Direct press conference, Satoru Iwata
announced that they will be celebrating this milestone by releasing a
retail disc for the Wii that includes undisclosed Kirby goodness.
Outside of promising a variety of “fan-favorite” Kirby titles, Nintendo
has left the rest of the details to our hopes and fears. This could be
Nintendo’s chance at historical preservation redemption. They could
right all of the wrongs from Super Mario
All-Stars Wii by giving us a
fully comprehensive look at Kirby’s past, present, and future.
By Carter Maness, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Earlier this week DJ Khaled revealed a video of his tour bus explosion and during Wednesday’s episode of “RapFix Live” the Cash Money signee tallied up the amount of property he actually lost in the fire, which included more than half a million dollars in jewelry.“In no longer than five minutes, the whole bus was completely on fire,” Khaled told Sway, still dumbfounded by the experience. “I wasn’t scared. I got real stressed at a moment. I had to stop, and my camera man, Daze, was like ‘I’m gonna film this. I gotta capture this.’ “
Losses for Khaled include at least 150 pairs of sneakers and up to $600,000 in jewelry, including two big-faced Rolex watches. Knowing time was limited, he and his crew made sure to grab the most important thing: music for his upcoming album.”I was on my laptop listening to my album. It’s the only thing I grabbed,” he said. “That’s the album. Very important… Everybody sacrificed to make sure we got the laptop and the drive.”
More than any material loss, Khaled was thankful that everyone got through the experience unscathed. “We all go through pains and stress. We here,” he said. “It is what it is, but we got life.”
Khaled also has some friends in high places to make life easier. Upon hearing the news, Cash Money honcho Birdman stepped up and immediately gave him a new bus from his fleet. “He called me when his bus blew, and it wasn’t too far from where we stash our buses at,” Birdman told Sway. “I was fortunate enough to send a bus to him and make sure he could continue his journey.”
DJ Khaled’s sixth album, Kiss The Ring, is expected later this year.
Diddy stopped by New York City’s Hot 97 radio station a on Wednesday (May 2) where he chatted with Funkmaster Flex about two of his former Bad Boy signees G. Dep and Mase. G. Dep was recently convicted of second degree murder, while Mase seems primed and ready for (another) comeback.
According to Diddy, G. Dep, who was recently convicted of second-degree murder on a 1993 shooting charge stemming from a botched robbery in Harlem, became a different person when severe substance-abuse issues took hold of his life.
“None of that was in G. Dep’s nature. When there were certain things that he was going through with the substance-abuse situation, he would be a different person. But on an everyday [basis], he was probably one of the nicest, most quiet, shyest, most humble cats that was out there,” he told Flex. “I was like, OK, maybe he was under the influence when he confessed. And then out of nowhere, they said he was convicted, which was such a shame, because he’s such a great talent. And it all stemmed from substance abuse.”
Diddy also recently got a surprise when recording for the remix to Wale’s“Slight Work.” He was paired with his former right-hand man Mase, a platinum-selling rapper who was rumored to be a new signee of Ross’ Maybach Music Group earlier this week.
“Me and Mase are cool. We’ve kept in touch over the years. I love Mase,” he told Flex of the MC who once retired to become a preacher. “If it wasn’t for Mase, I wouldn’t be where I was at today. Me and him were like Batman and Robin. So it felt good to get back on a record with him, and it’s one of the hottest, most intense records in the club. That’s what I specialize in. And then talking that talk.”
Last week Mase addressed a rumor that he might be signing with Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group. “[Rico Love] just called and asked me to take a ride with him — I didn’t know who was gonna be in the studio,” Mase explained. “I got there and everybody was there, and they just said, ‘Take a flick.’ The next thing I know I got a Maybach chain, I got 20 beats from Kanye. The stories just keep getting crazier.”
Only Robert Rodriguez would be able to bring together the eclectic cast required for “Machete Kills.”
The latest trio to join the upcoming “Machete” sequel‘s line-up are Amber Heard, Demian Bichir and Michelle Rodriguez, Variety reports. Rodriguez appeared in “Machete” as well, while Bichir and Heard are new additions to the franchise. Heard will play a femme fatale who is a “manipulative assassin code-named Miss San Antonio,” according to the report, while Bichir’s role is being kept under wraps.
Ever since “Machete Kills” was officially announced last month, actors have been flocking to the project. After the jump, check out the scoop on other big part in the flick.
We were excited enough (and, honestly, a bit perplexed) when we learned that Mel Gibson, Hollywood’s pariah-in-residence, was in talks for a supporting role in the movie, but now it’s becoming clear that he’ll be playing its villain. Variety reports that Machete (Danny Trejo) has been hired by the U.S. government to “stop an arms dealer (Gibson) from launching a deadly missile.” While there could be other baddies going up against Machete as well, it seems like Gibson is going to be at the center of the conflict in this film. Art, indeed, imitates life.
“Machete Kills” also stars Jessica Alba and, potentially, Antonio Banderas. It’s set to begin production (far from Tinseltown) in Austin later this month. Rodriguez will once again step into the director’s chair.
“It’s such a fun movie, and it just came out even more fun than I could have imagined,” he said about the script in an interview last month. “I feel like I really need to do it. It’s so subjective I feel like I really need to get in there and do it. It’s just a lot of fun; it’s a really cool concept, and I think it takes it to another level in a way that’s compelling for me to go and do it myself.”
Are you impressed by the cast in “Machete Kills”? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
It appears Salvatore Ferragamo has made its foray into the woven leather game with these Bario lace-up shoes ($850). The front half features brown woven leather over contrasting white leather and the back half showcases brown leather with brogue stitch detail. It also has white laces and a leather sole. See more pics below.
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It’s no surprise that talented writer/producer extraordinaire Damon Lindelof has been a very busy bee since the end of his mega hit TV show “Lost.” The man wrote “Cowboys and Aliens,” the very buzzworthy upcoming “Alien”-esque blockbuster “Prometheus,” and the untitled “Star Trek” sequel.
Like we said, he’s a busy man, and today brings us more news on yet another Lindelof-related project, the mysterious feature “1952,” of which we first caught wind last June.
According to Deadline, Disney has asked “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” director Brad Bird to helm the large-scale adventure, which the studio has hopes to make a tent pole film with multi-platform possibilities.
As with many of Lindelof’s projects past, present and future, the plot details are being kept under lock and key, but the studio reportedly hopes to get the film into production next year. It’s not much of a stretch to say that a Lindelof/Bird collaboration on a feature film could be great for everyone, particularly moviegoers. Both men have plenty of clout with the fanboy communites, as well as genuine box office success with summer blockbusters.
Let’s just say that we’re very intrigued and cautiously optimistic about this pairing. Again, not that we know anything about the plot or subject matter, but this news has some similarities to the early mumblings about J.J. Abrams’ nostalgic sci-fi gem, “Super 8.” If Disney wants a “multi-platform” project, they’ve definitely enlisted two of the industry’s most credible craftsmen in that regard.
But in a final twist, there is the strong “Lost” connection that shouldn’t be ignore. Lindelof co-wrote the script with Entertainment Weekly‘s Jeff Jensen, the most notable “Lost” scholar. (Cue the episode ending horns.)
What kind of movie do you think 1952 will be? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!
Mobb Deep fans had reason to worry back in April when a series of negative tweets from Havoc’s account, directed at Prodigy, seemed to confirm that trouble was brewing between the two rappers, but on his recent visit to “RapFix Live,” Prodigy guaranteed that another group album was coming. “If [Havoc] had a problem, he would’ve told me that, he wouldn’t put it on Twitter,” Prodigy told MTV News’ Sway Calloway, addressing the tweets, which sent rumors swirling that the legendary Queens group was headed for a breakup. “We’re veterans. We been doing this for years, that’s just something we wouldn’t do.”
Prodigy sounded pretty confident as he explained that things were all gravy between the two. “The Mobb is good, we’re working on the next album still, steadily, making it hot,” he said. “But in the meantime we’re gonna put out some product for right now. The Mobb Deep album is not where we want it to be yet, so we’ve just gotta do something in the meantime.”
Prodigy plans to drop his new solo project, H.N.I.C. 3, on July 3, before the group rolls out their next album, revealing that Mobb Deep‘s label situation allows them to be flexible with their release dates. “We’ve got a distribution deal over at Sony RED, so basically we run our own label, we run the company, we’ve gotta do everything ourselves,” he explained. “We make the release schedule, it’s up to us what comes out first and if we want to change something, we change it. We’ve got a lot of control with this situation — it’s like the best situation that you could ever be in, as far as [being] an artist and making music, this is great for us.”
Even though Prodigy has confirmed that there is no real beef between him and Havoc — “Only time there’s friction is if we might be on the road and we might have our eye on the same chick after the show” — some fans are still left wondering how a group album will turn out after the small scandal that surrounded the tweets.
“To tell you the truth, it really don’t matter to me what people believe,” Prodigy said. “My job is to come here and make our mark with the music. People are gonna talk all the time, we’ve been dealing with that since we’ve been 15.”
What do you hope to hear on Mobb Deep’s next album? Le
By Miranda Johnson
On Wednesday night Jay-Z stunned the audience at YouTube’s Brandcast 2012 event, by hopping on stage and delivering a few verses for the crowd. Presented by the head of YouTube sales, the Brooklyn rapper-turned-mogul took the stage after a video introduction of “On to the Next One.” Hov performed his mega hit “Empire State of Mind,” which was a great fit since the event was held at the Beacon Theater in New York City.
Other performers of the night included Pharrell Williams, Flo Rida and Neon Trees. At the event YouTube also announced the unveiling of “three new channels dedicated to original content about the lives of women, a spotlight on U.S. Olympians and one that comes from the organizers of the Tribeca Film Festival.”
As part owner, Jay-Z recently helped to unveil the Brooklyn Nets’ new logo. The team released a new video earlier this week as promotion for their first season at the Barclays Center this fall. The video, titled “Hello Brooklyn” ( a tribute to Hov’s single (“Hello Brooklyn 2.0″) features Nets players throughout the years, including the likes of Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, Julius “Dr. J” Irving, and current star, Deron Williams.
