Democrats slam Tea Party ties in Oregon special election (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? An Oregon special election in which national Democrats have sought to paint the Republican congressional candidate as a Tea Party radical foreshadows a tactic the party will employ in its quest to take back Congress seats lost in the 2010 election.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent about $1.3 million in the race, half of it opposing Republican businessman Rob Cornilles in Tuesday's election to replace Democratic ex-Representative David Wu.

Television advertising and a website run by the committee, which supports Democrats in House of Representatives races, slam Cornilles for referring to himself as "the original Tea Party candidate" during a previous congressional run.

The race between Cornilles and Democratic state Senator Suzanne Bonamici is a preview of an already heated election year when outside groups are pumping money into opposition advertising, and Democrats plan to attack conservatives who have curried favor with the Tea Party.

"There is no doubt that races across the country will be about a contrast between Tea Party extremism that protects the ultra-wealthy versus defenders of the middle class and Medicare," said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for DCCC.

"But in each district, the message will fit the district, the local values of the community and the candidates running."

The race has attracted an unusual level of interest for a traditionally safe Democratic seat. Obama easily won the Portland-area district in 2008, and Wu beat Cornilles in a 2010 election year that heavily favored Republicans elsewhere in the country.

Wu, who was in his seventh term, in July announced he would resign after a sex scandal. The race to replace him will wrap up on Tuesday, when Oregon's vote-by-mail ballots are due.

The election has drawn almost $2 million in independent expenditures since November despite the fact that early polling showed Bonamici, a former Federal Trade Commission lawyer who has served in the Oregon Senate since 2008, with a considerable lead.

CYBER ATTACKS

Democrats have made Cornilles' Tea Party statement, made at a May 2010 event, a central part of their attack on the Republican, who runs a sports-consulting business.

Teapartycornilles.com, a website paid for by the DCCC, features the quote, raps Cornilles for his "extreme" opposition to abortion and claims he supports ending tax cuts for middle-class families.

A fake Twitter account, @TPartyCornilles, sends out comments such as, "Will Republican Rob Cornilles try to run from his extreme Tea Party anti-choice record in tonight's debate?"

Many Republican candidates attended Tea Party events and sought endorsements from local chapters in 2010 to fend off primary challenges or third-party candidates as support for the Tea Party's small-government mantra swelled.

But public sentiment has since shifted, with Tea Party-sanctioned Republican freshmen in the House of Representatives taking much of the blame for standoffs over the extending debt ceiling, extending payroll taxes and other issues in 2011.

Oregon Republicans say all the Democratic-aligned money is proof Democrats are worried about losing more seats in 2012. Cornilles' campaign recently released an internal poll showing him within four points of Bonamici.

"I think the DCCC has kind of hit the panic button here...the more they've spent, the closer the numbers have gotten," said Greg Leo, chief of staff for the Oregon Republican Party.

"I don't think it's really an accurate referendum on the Tea Party, nor is it an accurate description of Rob Cornilles," Leo said, pointing to the candidate's refusal to sign Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge as evidence Cornilles is not driven by the Tea Party.

The multi-media approach to attacking Tea Party-aligned candidates could be employed in other districts leading up to the November general election when all House seats and a third of the Senate are up for re-election.

"If somebody comes out as a Tea Partier, we're going there," said Trent Lutz, executive director of the Oregon Democratic Party. "If they drape themselves in the Tea Party banner, then absolutely it's something that we will discuss."

Democrats also have run sharp ads in Oregon claiming Cornilles has overstated the number of jobs created by his consulting business. A coalition of women's groups paid for ads and mailers criticizing the Republican for his pro-life views.

The National Republican Congressional Committee pitched in on a coordinated ad buy with the Cornilles campaign, but nearly all of the outside spending reported in the race came from Democratic groups.

Republican ads say Bonamici lacks experience creating private sector jobs and that she has voted to raise taxes while in the state Senate. One Cornilles ad tries to hurt her image by linking her to Wu, also a Democrat.

(Reporting By Emily Stephenson, additional reporting by Alexander Cohen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign_oregon

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SAG Awards Red Carpet Ruled By Pastels, Sexy Details

Emma Stone, Lea Michele and Angelina Jolie flaunt what they've got in couture on Sunday night.
By Jocelyn Vena

Angelina Jolie at the 2012 SAG Awards
Photo: Getty Images

The SAG Awards may honor actors and their hard work, but on the red carpet on Sunday (January 29), it was all about recognizing all of the hard work they put into their looks. At the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the overarching trend seemed to be flaunting what you've got.

For photos of the stars on the SAG Awards red carpet, click here.

Zoe Saldana went light in a sequined white dress with a drop waist and floral detailing. Kristin Wiig's look, though, had a bit of a split personality: Her pale-hued Balenciaga gown was decidedly glam thanks to tailoring that showed off her long, lean body, but her black metal choker was a bit too heavy and goth for the overall look.

Two of the biggest divas on Fox's "Glee," Lea Michele and Naya Rivera, made pale colors look red-hot. Michele's lavender Versace had a body-hugging bodice and thigh-high slit, while Rivera's ice-blue dress was made even sexier thanks to a plunging neckline.

Red also ruled the carpet. "My Week With Marilyn" star Michelle Williams was chic in a bright-red Valentino dress, which was cut right above the ankle. Her ladylike look was capped off with lace detailing along her sleeves and neckline. "Dexter" star Jennifer Carpenter also opted for a red-and-lace red-carpet look.

Using a similar color palette, Sofia Vergara's hot pink, strapless Marchesa gown was super hot. Her "Modern Family" co-star Julie Bowen went Grecian in a purple gown.

Emma Stone, Angelina Jolie, Tina Fey and Ashlee Simpson decided that a little black dress wasn't too simple for Sunday's show. Jolie played up her inner vixen in a Jenny Packham halter gown with a draped neckline. Meanwhile, Stone went quirky in a three-quarter-length strapless black dress with lace details. "The Help" star played up the fun aspect of the Alexander McQueen design with platform shoes.

Simpson, meanwhile, looked like a character right out of boyfriend Vincent Piazza's show "Boardwalk Empire" in a '20s-style Jenny Packham gown with sequins and see-through fabric along the neckline. Fey brought the "va va voom" in her black strapless column dress: It was all party on top — with grey and black shades — and business at the bottom in a plain black fabric.

The guys didn't disappoint, either. Fellas like Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Jonah Hill kept it classic and simple in tuxedos, choosing ties over bowties. One guy, however, had a little fun with it, and that honor went to "Modern Family" star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who wore a blue pinstripe suit with a matching blue-velvet bowtie.

Share your favorite SAG red-carpet looks on our Facebook page.

Stick with MTV News all night for the 2012 SAG Awards winners, and don't miss all the fashion from the red carpet!

Related Photos

• Stars Light Up The SAG Awards Stage
• SAG Awards 2012 Red Carpet

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678103/sag-awards-2012-red-carpet-fashion.jhtml

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Blood found at home where Maine tot was last seen (AP)

PORTLAND, Maine ? Investigators have been analyzing blood found in the basement of a Maine home where a missing toddler was last seen six weeks ago, an official said Saturday.

The blood was found early in the investigation into Ayla Reynolds' disappearance from her father's home in Waterville, state police spokesman Steve McCausland said. The state crime laboratory has been running tests on it since then, but it was unclear when results would be available.

Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro, reported her missing Dec. 17. He had put her to bed the night before and said she wasn't there the next morning.

McCausland called the discovery of the blood "troubling." He declined to discuss how much blood was found in the basement or how long it might have been there.

Ayla was 20 months old when she disappeared. She had been staying with her father at the time in the house where DiPietro lives with his mother. Her mother, Trista Reynolds, lives in Portland.

DiPietro told police she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them and had a soft cast on her broken left arm.

DiPietro, his mother and a third adult were home the night of Dec. 16, and police have questioned all three, McCausland said.

"We believe they have not given us the full story," he said.

Both of Ayla's parents participated in a vigil Saturday on the City Hall steps in downtown Waterville.

It was the first time the two came face to face since their daughter's disappearance, said Bob Vear, a friend of the DiPietro family who organized the vigil. They spoke privately for about 10 minutes before giving each other a hug, Vear said.

DiPietro declined to discuss the discovery of the blood.

"I'm not going to answer any questions about it, but I will say this: If there was something there, I don't think I'd be standing here with you right now," he told the Morning Sentinel newspaper in Waterville.

A woman who answered DiPietro's mother's cellphone hung up after being asked about the blood.

Reynolds could not be reached for comment.

In an interview earlier in the day with the Morning Sentinel, she said she was preparing herself for any outcome.

"As a mother, as a parent, you need to mentally prepare yourself for the good, the bad, the worst," she told the newspaper. "I have been preparing myself for all of it during the last 40 days. I have told myself anything can happen. I could get the greatest news or I could get the worst news ever."

The blood was among hundreds of pieces of potential evidence that were removed from their home as part of a criminal investigation into the girl's disappearance. The discovery of the blood was first reported Saturday by WCVB-TV in Boston.

Ronald Reynolds, who is Trista Reynolds' father, said DiPietro hasn't been forthcoming with his version of what happened or what he knows. DiPietro has said he took a polygraph test, but has declined to say what the results were.

"They haven't given the full story, but this family has gone through so much pain, so much hurt," said Reynolds, who lives in Portland. "We're going into two months now and don't know anything, and all we get is the runaround."

Vear said he was first made aware of the blood sample Dec. 24, but he doesn't think it'll amount to anything.

"I cut myself at home all the time," he said. "It could be Justin's, it could be the baby's. There were five or six people in the house that night."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_toddler

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IAEA team heads to Iran to seek nuclear answers (Reuters)

VIENNA (Reuters) ? Senior United Nations nuclear inspectors headed to Tehran on Saturday to press Iranian officials to address suspicions that the Islamic state is seeking atomic weapons.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency hopes Iran, which has indicated readiness to discuss the issue for the first time since 2008, will end years of stonewalling on intelligence pointing to an intention to develop nuclear arms technology.

"We are trying ... to resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran, in particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on our concerns regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program," IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts told reporters as he prepared to depart from Vienna airport.

But Western diplomats, who have often accused Iran of using such offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with its nuclear program, say they doubt Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.

They say Iran may offer limited concessions and transparency in an attempt to ease intensifying international pressure on the country, a major oil producer, but that this is unlikely to amount to the full cooperation that is required.

The outcome could determine whether Iran will face further international isolation, or whether there are prospects for resuming wider talks between Tehran and the major powers on the nuclear dispute that has sparked fears of war.

The United States and its allies suspect the program has military aims but Tehran says is for peaceful electricity generation.

"The chances of the IAEA's success may depend on how badly Iran wants to avoid harder sanctions," said nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Remarks by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's top adviser on international affairs on Saturday suggested Iran was not in the mood for concessions.

"Iran's stance towards its nuclear issue has not changed in term of fundamentals and principles," Ali Akbar Velayati said, according to the ISNA news agency.

"One important principle is that Iran would not relinquish or withdraw from its peaceful nuclear activities."

The six-member IAEA team of senior officials and experts, headed by Nackaerts, was due to arrive in Tehran early on Sunday.

The three day visit comes at a time of soaring tension between Iran and the West. The IAEA issued a report in November with details of suspected research and development activities in Iran relevant to nuclear weapons.

The West has seized on the report to ratchet up sanctions aimed at Iran's lifeblood oil exports. Iran hit back on Friday warning it may halt oil exports to Europe next week.

"APPEARING TO COOPERATE"

The IAEA team is expected to seek explanations to the issues raised in the report, including information that Iran appears to have worked on a nuclear weapon design, and demand access to sites, officials and documents relevant to the agency's probe.

The IAEA says Iran, which has rejected the allegations as forged and baseless, has not engaged with the agency in a substantive way on these issues since August 2008 and that it keeps receiving intelligence data adding to its concerns.

"There were a huge number of questions raised by the November report. They will be seeking to answer those questions, and it's incumbent on Iran to be supportive," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said this week.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano has called on Iran to show a "constructive spirit" in the meeting and Iran has said it is willing to discuss "any issues" of interest to the U.N. agency, including the military-linked concerns.

Iran's Press TV state television said on its website the IAEA visit was aimed at bolstering cooperation between the two sides "by resolving ambiguities," language Tehran has also used in the past.

The English-language station cited Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, as saying the main objective was to "thwart plots by enemies who are leveling unfounded allegations" against Iran and to prove its nuclear transparency.

Hibbs said Amano would want to see a "significant step" from Iran, for example by agreeing to more intrusive IAEA inspections or by explaining issues related to the weapons suspicions.

"I'm not very optimistic," Hibbs said. "Iran's track record is of appearing to cooperate whenever they are threatened by penalties."

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari in Tehran; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_nuclear_iran_iaea

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Candidate roots don't much matter in diverse Fla. (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192306741?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Apple to offer employees a $500 discount on Macs, $250 off of an iPad

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly said during an Apple Town Hall meeting on Wednesday that Apple employees will receive a generous discount on Apple products in return for their hard work. Employees typically receive a 25% discount off of hardware, but they will soon be able to purchase a new Mac computer at a $500 discount or an iPad with a $250 discount, 9to5Mac?reported. Employees must have worked with the company for a minimum of 30 days and can only take advantage of the deal once every three years, and they should be able to take advantage of the new deals beginning this June.

Source: http://www.wareground.com/articles/apple_to_offer_employees_a_500_discount_on_macs_250_off_of_an_ipad

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Larry Bock: Tinker and Change the World

Tinkering -- that hands-on, garage-based tradition which sparked inventions ranging from the airplane and electric light bulb to the Apple computer -- is making a comeback among average Americans, promising to change our lives for the better on several fronts.

Known by such monikers as DIY (Do It Yourself) and the Maker Movement, its resurrection, fueled by the current economic downturn and the falling cost of high-tech tools and materials, stands not only to boost innovation and change how science is taught in the classroom, but could herald a new industrial revolution, suggest the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and other luminaries.

The potential power of this movement is indeed thought-provoking. It rests on DIYers (who range from young students to everyday adults) believing that the average person has the ability to understand and apply technology in ways like never before, enabling ordinary individuals to build, even invent, meaningful creations of their own that they are passionate about -- from robots and sophisticated LED (light emitting diode) systems for movie film production to energy-smart conveniences for the home.

Through robust support networks that they've developed nationwide, DIYers delight in joining with like-minded friends, mentors and peers (either online or in-person) to tinker, create, hack and re-use materials, while learning to use such tools as computer-controlled table saws, 3-D printers, welding equipment and laser cutters to produce prototypes of their creations.

For me, as founder and chief organizer of the U.S.A. Science & Engineering Festival (the nation's largest celebration of science and engineering), the merging of DIY with technology represents a vibrant breath of fresh air across America, particularly what it means for inspiring the next generation of innovators. And I am not alone: Educators are realizing that hands-on experiences represented by such activities as tinkering and building may be one of the most powerful keys to improving STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics education) in this country. That's because students learn best by doing, especially when done in an engaging environment with peers and mentors.

Not surprisingly, engineering schools across the country, for example, report that undergrad students are showing an enthusiasm for hands-on work in DIY technology activities that hasn't been seen in years.

DIY also cannot help but to have a positive impact on the human spirit itself, says Naomi Lamoreaux, an economic historian at the University of California, Los Angeles. "The really dynamic times in our history are times when you have lots of ordinary people who think they have a chance to make a difference," she opines.

Yes, the chance to make a difference is indeed a powerful motivator, especially for young students. That is why the U.S.A. Science & Engineering Festival hosted by Lockheed Martin this April is devoting a significant portion of the event to exciting, hands-on DIY encounters -- all designed to inspire budding inventors and entrepreneurs with ideas, tools and resources to help them make their dreams a reality. From robotic technology to amazing desktop manufacturing technology that makes prototype development easy and cost-effective, future innovators will find it all during the Festival's finale Expo (as well as in the Robot Fest and DIY Expo pavilion) in Washington, D.C. on April 28-29.

The Festival is also a fantastic place for technical experts of all kinds to learn about the amazing advances that have been made in technology to help them make product prototypes find designs online for parts and components, and meet an array of experts to help them bring their product ideas to life.

Participants and activities such as the following will make the Festival an unforgettable one-stop experience in DIY:

--Organizations like MakerBot Industries, Fab Lab DC and Fab@Home by Cornell University and Dassault Syst?mes Americas will demonstrate how to develop product prototypes via digital fabrication and 3D printers, while Sparkfun Electronics will show how to develop new product ideas more easily and inexpensively through electronics and microcontroller kits. The Festival will also feature an array of robotic technology ranging from military, manufacturing and surgical robots to more entertaining robots like R2DC's Star Wars droids and other exhibits that allow attendees to build their own robots.

--At the DIY Expo, budding entrepreneurs will be able to network with members of various "hackerspace" groups, such as the Baltimore Node, Unallocated Space and HacDC, who work collaboratively to network, socialize and develop technical solutions and new innovative products in their spare time, simply because they love to tinker with new ideas, create something from nothing, and solve problems!

--In addition, the Festival also features a Book Fair that includes some of the leading authors and experts in the DIY world, including William Gurstelle, author of The Practical Pyromaniac. Gurstelle, a professional engineer, has been researching and building model catapults, ballistic devices and flamethrowers for more than 30 years. Dustyn Roberts, author of Making Things Move: DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists and Artists, will also appear at the Festival. Roberts, also an engineer, started her career at Honeybee Robotics working on a project for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The late Steve Jobs (who was perhaps the ultimate modern-day DIYer), was right when he said individuals who invent, build and make things have the power to change the
world -- or at least a part of it.

?

Follow Larry Bock on Twitter: www.twitter.com/usasciencefest

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-bock/hands-on-learning_b_1232091.html

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In original Internet shows, hints of coming change

In this image released by Hulu.com, from left, Lindsey Payne, Jordan T. Maxwell and Ben Samuel portray campaign workers in "Battleground," a mock documentary about a third-place political candidate in Wisconsin. After years of drips and drabs of experimentation, the top video destinations on the Web are flush with original projects and teaming with a new wave of niche-oriented content creators. (AP Photo/Hulu.com)

In this image released by Hulu.com, from left, Lindsey Payne, Jordan T. Maxwell and Ben Samuel portray campaign workers in "Battleground," a mock documentary about a third-place political candidate in Wisconsin. After years of drips and drabs of experimentation, the top video destinations on the Web are flush with original projects and teaming with a new wave of niche-oriented content creators. (AP Photo/Hulu.com)

In this image released by Yahoo!, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock is shown in "The Failure Club," a series about people trying to do the things they've always feared, for Yahoo! After years of drips and drabs of experimentation, the top video destinations on the Web are flush with original projects and teaming with a new wave of niche-oriented content creators. (AP Photo/Yahoo!)

NEW YORK (AP) ? After years of experimenting, the top video destinations on the Web are suddenly flush with original programming: documentaries, reality shows and scripted series.

Over the next few months, YouTube, Netflix and Hulu will roll out their most ambitious original programming yet ? a digital push into a traditional television business that has money, a bevy of stars and a bold attitude of reinvention.

The long-predicted collision between Internet video and broadcast television is finally under way.

No one is suggesting that the quality on the Internet is close to that of broadcast TV, but it's becoming easy to imagine a day when it will be.

And even though critics question whether new media can rival a business that's been around for about 70 years, the video sites have sought partnerships with seasoned professionals. And they benefit from the different economics of global Web-based entertainment.

Either way, what's happening now is just the first wave.

"This convergence is now," says documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who created "The Failure Club," a series about people trying to do the things they've always feared, for Yahoo, and "A Day in the Life," a series documenting 24 hours of someone's life, for Hulu.

He says the quality still varies, but viewers will soon see talent and production values begin to change.

On Feb. 6, Netflix will premiere its first scripted show, "Lilyhammer," in which Steve Van Zandt ("The Sopranos") plays a New York mobster in witness protection in Norway. Later this year, it will release "House of Cards," a highly anticipated adaptation of the British miniseries produced by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey. Next year, it will debut new episodes of the cultish comedy "Arrested Development," which originally aired on Fox.

Hulu plans a Feb. 14 premiere for "Battleground," a mock political documentary. The site will later release "Up to Speed," a six-part documentary by Richard Linklater about "monumentally ignored monuments of American cities."

Hulu, which has some 30 million monthly users and 1.5 million for its monthly subscription service Hulu Plus, is co-owned by the parent companies of NBC, Fox and ABC.

Yahoo has sought to capitalize on its enormous search audience of nearly 180 million unique monthly visitors by drawing viewers to its original programming, including a slate of women-focused shows launched last fall and comedy programming planned for February. Its first scripted entry will be "Electric City," a futuristic animated series produced by Tom Hanks, who will also voice a character.

YouTube recently launched an entire catalog of original programming, spending $100 million on the gradual rollout of more than 100 niche-oriented channels.

The channels don't have the pressures of a 24-hour schedule and instead focus on short-form, on-demand programming. Partners vary from the Wall Street Journal to World Wrestling Entertainment to Madonna.

At the recent consumer electronics trade show CES, YouTube's global head of content predicted that by 2020 about 75 percent of channels will be transmitted by the Internet. And video will soon be 90 percent of all traffic.

"Over time, you will see more and more television properties, television channels distributed over the Internet," Robert Kyncl said. "Everything in its due time."

Internet delivery allows programming that is "much harder to fulfill through traditional distribution means...because we have a global scale," Kyncl added.

And online systems can serve niche audiences that would be difficult to sustain any other way, and do so at lower cost.

YouTube plans to expand to hundreds of Internet channels, just as television went from a few networks to dozens of cable channels. In the next few years, "most of your interests will have channels on YouTube," Kyncl predicts.

Netflix, which streamed 2 billion hours of video in the fourth quarter of 2011, is already operating under the assumption that video networks ? whether streaming or televised ? are converging. Just as Web video is undertaking original programming, TV networks are experimenting with systems such as TV Everywhere, which allows viewers to watch channels on the Web and on mobile devices.

"You can think of us as a cable-TV network, but we like to think we are at the center," says Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix. "We are an Internet TV network, and then they are going to become like us. But it's the same thing, really."

Hastings offers a comparison between Netflix and HBO: "We are becoming more like them in doing some originals, starting that journey, and they are becoming more like us in creating an on-demand interface like HBO Go," which allows viewers to watch channels on the Web and on mobile and tabulate devices.

HBO declined to comment.

Production schedules will vary widely at the sites, but Netflix plans one notable difference: All its episodes will be released at once.

James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, says the fact that Hanks is making a series for the Internet shows how the traditional TV system is "ready to unravel.

McQuivey says the disruption in video will "unfold in front of us like a slow-mo replay of an accident."

"The new content won't be as good as what you watch Thursday nights from 9 to 10 p.m., but it's going to get closer to that quality," he adds. "And it's certainly as good as what you watch on Thursday from 3 to 4 in the afternoon or Saturday morning from 10 to 11."

Hulu and Netflix both want to use original content to entice viewers to their much larger libraries of older content. For Netflix, that's movies and old TV; for Hulu, that's last night's TV and older series. Hulu executives say any new original series has to be match up to traditional content.

"If you're ever going to do anything original, it's got to stand up to that," says Andy Forssell, senior vice president of content at Hulu. "That can't be 'Web video,' it's got to be TV quality."

Original content remains a small percentage of the budget for Hulu, which plans to spend $500 million on content in 2012.

Erin McPherson, head of original programming at Yahoo, likes to call Yahoo "the fifth network." Its Yahoo Studios production house in Los Angeles produces as many as 30 originals a month, often partnering with production companies such as Reveille (NBC's "The Office"). Its original programming attracted more than 26 million unique visitors in November, according to comScore.

"The time is right," says McPherson. "We're finally here."

___

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-26-US-Original-Online-Programming/id-64e7934052e148d5a63af03fb471219c

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Demi Moore Kisses Young 'General Hospital' Co-Star Philip Tanzini In Early Interview

ETonline:

Demi Moore may be experiencing a mid-life crisis following her split with Ashton Kutcher, but at just 19 years old she was living life to the fullest at a birthday celebration with her "General Hospital" co-stars back in 1982. Watch her wild, tipsy behavior in her first-ever ET interview!

Read the whole story: ETonline

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/demi-moore-general-hospital-interview-kiss_n_1235351.html

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How Effective Are Sanctions on Iran? (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Oil prices have risen to as much as $110 a barrel as the European Union agreed on an embargo to Iranian oil imports. Much has been written of what new sanctions -- which are seen as the strongest signals by the West against Iran's nuclear program -- will mean for Iran. But the big question is -- can the world do without Iranian oil?

According to the EIA, "Iran is OPEC's second-largest oil producer and the third-largest crude oil exporter in the world. " Crippling Iran via oil sanctions may require more than European embargoes, especially since China is the largest consumer of Iranian oil, as Al Jazeera reports. While the BRICS do not encourage Iran's nuclear ambitions, their domestic growths are heavily dependent on a secure supply of oil, making them unlikely participants in further sanctions imposed on Iran.

Reuters reported that India was looking at "alternative" methods to pay for Iranian oil noting that it (India) abides only by UN sanctions and not sanctions imposed by "groups of countries." According to the Times of India, Israeli intelligence websites claim that India will pay for oil with gold, a claim that Indian authorities have neither denied nor confirmed. As the fourth largest importer of Iranian oil, India's reaction is far from hostile to Iranian oil producers.

China has reduced its imports of Iranian oil but has not embargoed it. Indeed it will not, as the world's largest consumer of energy it cannot afford to. It is widely believed that China will cover the gap in demand once the EU embargo sets it. While Saudi Arabia has promised to cover the short fall should Iran stop supply -- the Kingdom's assurance has not stemmed geopolitical tensions heightened by Iran's claim that it will block the Strait of Hormuz through which a sixth of global oil production is shipped.

Though Iran's nuclear program does not have support from the global community, the current 'carrots and sticks' method of negotiation is not working. If anything, it is providing greater incentive to continue and accelerate the nuclear program equating it with Persian pride and national security. On an economic level the uncertainty in the oil markets and war rhetoric is causing the price of oil to escalate -- something that will severely hamper the fragile global economic recovery.

The solution to the nuclear program is on the negotiation table and the path to the table isn't via sanctions and the threat of war. If this continues, one might soon see a situation where "macho sense" takes over "common sense."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120126/wl_ac/10886231_how_effective_are_sanctions_on_iran

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Criminal Minds' Paget Brewster: Prentiss and Hotch Will Have a "Nice Little Moment" (omg!)

Paget Brewster is already bracing for the fan reaction.

"There's a nice little moment between Prentiss and Hotch in the episode," she tells TVGuide.com of Criminal Minds' 150th installment airing Wednesday. "I know the fans who want Hotch and Prentiss together are going to go nuts! They're totally gonna lose it. I can already picture it. People really want them to date for some reason and I think this will just add to that."

Check out photos from Criminal Minds

Unfortunately for Hotch (Thomas Gibson) and Prentiss (Brewster) 'shippers, a romance is unlikely ? for now at least, especially with his budding relationship with Beth (Bellamy Young) ? but that doesn't make the duo's moment any less significant. In fact, it's a major turning point in Prentiss' life as she finally processes coming back from the "dead" after Hotch and JJ (A.J. Cook) faked her death to evade her IRA nemesis Ian Doyle (Timothy V. Murphy) last season.

"When she returned this year, she just got right back into working, and Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Morgan (Shemar Moore) were angry about being lied to [about her death], so that was a concern for her," Brewster says. "She hasn't had time to really address Doyle stabbing her and being 'dead.'" Until now. When Hotch receives her final report from her mandated therapist, who cleared Prentiss, he knows not all is well. "He sees the inconsistencies and lies in them. He's like, 'You're not dealing it, but someday you will, so let me know.'"

That day comes when the BAU heads to Houston to pursue "The Piano Man," a rapist who is attacking his previous victims. One of those victims, Regina Lampert (Dina Meyer), tries to turn the tables on him. "She ends up defending herself to Prentiss and Prentiss is sort of faced with [Regina saying], 'Oh, you've been attacked?'" Brewster says. "And it comes from a stranger. I think that's sort of how things work. You ever notice that when you're upset about something or you break up with someone, you keep it inside and someone you don't even know says, 'Hey, are you OK?' and you completely lose it? You try to stay on top of it and keep it hidden. That's the dynamic here. Then Prentiss opens up to Hotch that she's not OK. That's a big deal for her. It did profoundly affect her and she was trying to not deal with it."
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Watch clips from Criminal Minds

How Hotch will help Prentiss come to terms with her trauma ? lest we forget, he was attacked by The Reaper in the Season 4 finale ? will play out for the rest of the season. But it will be strictly on professional and platonic levels. And Brewster hopes it remains that way.

"I think [the show] would jump the shark [if they got together]," she says. "In the real world, where you have 24 hours in a day and not 44 minutes to tell a story, I think people at work hook up. Thomas and I joke about it all the time, but if you have to capture serial killers, when are you making out? And how is that appropriate? ... I think the writers and producers and the actors are so aware of the real Behavioral Analysis Unit that we wouldn't want to be untrue to them. I love people hooking up in, like, a hospital drama, but it doesn't really work for our tone. I do love the little moments we get though where you see us all bonding or doing something other than work and get a peek into our lives."

Prentiss' moment with Hotch, of course, wouldn't be possible if not for the Doyle arc, which was only concocted after CBS demoted Brewster before Season 6. The network also let Cook go, but rehired both full time for this year. Brewster asked the writers to kill her off then, which they did but amended last-minute.

Criminal Minds: Top 8 Prentiss moments

"My last scene where I was in Paris was a surprise to me. They were like, 'We might want you to come back.' I said, 'All right, I'll shoot it, but I'm not showing my face.' I felt like if you want me off the show, kill me, but if you want a cliff-hanger, OK, I'll do that. I shot a pilot and it didn't go, and then they said, 'You're back!' I had another year on my contract that I didn't know about, so I had to come back! I said, 'Hey, I kinda want an apology and maybe a raise.' And they were like, 'No, we'll sue you!'" Brewster says with a laugh. "The whole thing was, unfortunately, a mess. It was dumb. They thought they would save money by getting rid of us ... and in the end got both of us back. But I loved the Doyle story line. Timothy Murphy is such a great actor and so much fun. The writers got to do something different, and I got to do something different."

Though her contract dictated her return, Brewster wants to make it clear that she's happy to be back with her work family of the past six years, and she's forever grateful to the fans who petitioned for her and Cook's rehirings. "It wasn't like they cut my arm off making me come back," she says. "I get to go to work every day with people I really like. That crew is so funny. It is genuinely a family there, which is good and bad. Sometimes you want to f---ing kill them! But in a great way. And the nicest thing was the fans coming up to me the whole time. That was the best."

With her contract up this year, would she consider coming back for Season 8? "If it works out, yeah," Brewster says. "I love everyone here and it's just nice to have a job. The only reason we have [season finale] cliff-hangers is because of our contracts, so maybe [Prentiss will be in jeopardy this year]. I just kind of have to wait and see. They already fired me once!"

Besides, if she doesn't come back, "the Hotch and Prentiss dream would die ? I can't let that happen again!"

Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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Mike Ragogna: "Crazy Crazy": Introducing Guinevere, Plus Chatting With Four Year Strong's Alan Day and Gregory Rogove

A Conversation with Guinevere

Mike Ragogna: Guinevere, you're a native of Toronto, right?

Guinevere: That's right.

MR: But you've recently branched out and started releasing your music here in the US.

G: Yes, that's true, and in Djibouti. The horn of Africa is pretty big on pop music. I'm kind of a big deal over there. (laughs) No, but for real, I've released a single called "Crazy Crazy" in Canada and the US, and I'm opening for Nick Carter and doing some headlining shows starting at the end of this month. All the dates are up on my website: http://www.thisisguinevere.com/

MR: So, I hear you're kind of a gamer, ain't ya.

G: Well, I guess you could classify me as a tomboy. I love video games, specifically Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3. Any game involving guns and zombies, it's a sure way to my heart. Boys, you should be writing this down.

MR: Is it true that you go online anonymously and play with other people?

G: Oh yeah, all the time. I have a little headset so that I can talk smack to people while I kill them off. Sometimes, I'll stay silent until the end of the game after I've buried everyone, and I tell them that I'm a girl. (laughs)

MR: Nice. (laughs) Nuketown Records is the name of your record label, right?

G: That's right. The name comes from a map on the game Call Of Duty, so gamers will get the inside joke.

MR: You're also pretty big into sci-fi. I heard you met a certain Captain Jean-Luc Picard or something like that?

G: Yes, ever since I was a little kid, I watched Star Trek - specifically, Star Trek: The Next Generation. And, no, I didn't actually get to meet him, my manager and his family did. He even took a photo with him and his son, and sent it to me. I almost cried because I was with my manager in LA at the time and only missed Patrick Stewart by a few minutes. I also love Star Wars. I'm a huge fan of those movies.

MR: Okay, let's talk about your new song "Crazy, Crazy," which was produced by Cirkut, who is super hot right now, working with Ke$ha, Britney, Rihanna, Flo Rida, and Taio Cruz. How did you get hooked up with him?

G: He was in Toronto when we met - this was seconds before he really blew up as a producer. We went to his really small studio downtown and he played these crazy massive beats and we knew he was incredibly talented. "Crazy Crazy" was one of the first songs we wrote and we worked on that and it all clicked so well in the studio that we ended up doing a bunch more. By the time we finished all of the songs for the record, Cirkut had been discovered by Dr. Luke and now he's working side by side with him creating these massive records for the biggest superstars. I'm grateful we found him first.

MR: Can you tell us a little bit about where the song "Crazy Crazy" came from?

G: The song came to me in the form of seven separate fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant late one night. Nah, I'm kidding. We wrote a song about having fun with the person you're in a relationship with. It's kind of highlighting the "lady in the street, but a freak in the bed" mentality. (laughs) Being able to just have fun and being a total slut with your boyfriend or husband and freely expressing yourself, getting uncensored and crazy with the one you love.

MR: Your other single, "I Don't Believe In Love," is another collaboration with Ari Levine from The Smeezingtons who is nominated for the second year in a row for a Producer of The Year Grammy. Plus he produces and co-writes Bruno Mars songs.

G: Yeah, I am so fortunate to be able to work with him. He's so down to earth and cool. After the session, he took me to LA Gun Club and he taught me how to shoot a shotgun. I accidentally shot him in the liver. He's fine now. That was cool.
MR: (laughs) Wow. Can you ever go back to playing video games once you've had a real gun in your hands?

G: There are no zombies wandering the earth yet, so I guess the video games will have to suffice. (laughs) But the next time I'm in LA, I'm definitely going to The Gun Club to fire off a couple rounds.

MR: As I understand it, you started performing at a very young age. Is that right?

G: I think I was in grade one when I performed a Beach Boys song called, "Surfer Girl." That was kind of when I knew that this was something that I wanted to do.

MR: And legend has it some of your musical inspiration comes from your parent's classic rock tastes.

G: Yeah, actually. When I was about 13, I was listening to The Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears when my dad put on "Stairway To Heaven," and by the end of the song, I was blown away. I was like, "What is this? This is amazing!" From then on, I started exploring music from '60 to '79. I sat there and listened to a million different records and fell in love with the music of that era.

MR: Who were some of your influences?

G: Well, I'm a big Black Sabbath fan. I love Fleetwood Mac, The Doors and Stevie Nicks. I love her vocals, her presence. She's incredible.

MR: Can you tell us a little bit about where your stage name "Guinevere" came from?

G: My real name is Gwen, but I decided to go with Guinevere because I am into Arthurian legend, and in the King Arthur stories, she's so badass. She's strong, she followed her heart. She was the rock star of the castle. I like what the name represents.

MR: Nice. Has it ever been determined whether or not those stories have any basis in truth?

G: I would like to think that there's some truth to it.

MR: Can you discuss what went into creating your new album?

G: Most of the songs were written by myself and my manager, Amir Epstein. A lot of the work was done in the car. Driving to the studio on the highway, we'd go over the melodies over and over again and write the lyrics while sitting in Toronto traffic.

MR: Your style of music spans pop, dance and rock. So, how would you define it?

G: I like to call it "dark pop." It has pop sensibility, but the lyrics are very sarcastic and dark. Every single one of my songs conveys a truth - saying things that most people would be afraid to say in most situations. My goal was to send that message out there with aggressive lyrics.

MR: From your new album, let's talk about the song, "Beautiful."

G: (laughs) Ya, that's a good one. It's kind of payback for misogynists. Guys can be pretty cruel to girls in clubs. I have a lot of guy friends who will hook up with a girl in a club and they'll dance all night, and at the end of the night, all the lights turn on and they are like, "DAMN, you UGLY." I decided to write about that same idea, but in reverse. The song is about finding a guy at the bar and as soon as the lights hit his face, you realize that he is fugly!! (laughs) The chorus goes, "Oh my God, just go, now that I can see you, don't follow me home, really nice to meet you!" It's fun, silly and sarcastic.

MR: (laughs) It seems to be the same theme for the song "Liar."

G: Oh, yeah. It kind of pays homage to Alanis Morissette (a fellow Canadian). She's very aggressive with her lyrics. The song's attitude is a lot like "You Oughta Know." It's actually inspired by a situation one of my friends had with her boyfriend. I watched her go through being cheated on and lied to and how pissed I'd be if I were in her shoes. The lyrics are a raw, honest reaction to finding out you were cheated on.

MR: And there's your song "Go."

G: Yeah, a lot of people seem to connect to that song. It's bittersweet because it's talking about a better time. It's saying, "I thought it was love at first, but now that I realize it isn't, we need to move on, and although we will both hurt, we will both be ok. You need to enjoy your life." It's hard breaking up with somebody, especially somebody you love, but sometimes, love isn't enough. It's a dark kind of beautiful.

MR: Absolutely. You also bravely covered Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer."

G: Yes. That was so much fun. The verses and pre-choruses of the song were rewritten to make it my own. What I wanted to do was change the perspective and speak from the girl's point of view - what it must be like to be with someone who is away from home or on the road following their dream. Still, with the killer chorus, but now it's from the perspective of Bon Jovi's wife. It's her struggle in supporting her man and how strong their relationship must be to get through such a difficult lifestyle. Besides, it's fun to role-play being Bon Jovi's hot New Jersey wife in the '80s. I should have been born earlier!

MR: (laughs) Do you have any advice that you'd like to share with new artists?

G: Learn to knit and how to speak Nadsat. Seriously, I would advise to write from the heart. I know that sounds really cheesy, but that's how fans connect. If there's truth behind the songs you record, fans connect to that. Also, it's very important to surround yourself with people you can trust.

MR: And that is exactly what you've done, right? You take a DIY approach to your own promotion, don't you?

G: Yes, I do. I don't mind asking my amazing fans to help where they can. For example, I always ask my fans if they like my single, PLEASE request it repeatedly on every pop station in their town or city. How else will those stations know if their listeners like my single? It really means a lot to me.

MR: What do you feel are the best benefits using a DIY approach?

G: Complete creative control, for one. We get to release any single that we want, we get complete control over the videos we shoot, the producers we work with, the photographers we use etc. I think it's a risky thing to do, but at the same time having the power and freedom to express yourself is the best part of this. I really enjoy that.

MR: How do artists these days fund themselves without a record label?

G: It's different for everyone and it is tricky getting quality work for little money. But Canada has certain grants that the artists and bands can apply for to help fund a record, touring, websites, publicity etc. That's a leg up that Canadians have over people from the US. Also, sometimes, you can get people to do good work for less. Don't be afraid to ask. Try not to screw the starving musicians in your band, but if you can get a deal on unused studio space or a producer to work on spec, do it. A pleading look and a "pretty please?" helps. "Eyelash batting" is good to get musical funding or to simply get someone to buy you a beer. (laughs)

MR: So, how can your fans connect with you? Are you on all of the social networking sites?

G: Yes, for sure. I'm on Twitter and Facebook all the time. (laughs) Whenever someone tweets me, I will most definitely tweet them back. My Twitter account name is @thisisguinevere, and my facebook is www.facebook.com/thisisguinevere. I post things on a regular basis and respond to fans all the time. Check out my video on YouTube. Just search "Guinevere crazy crazy." I enjoy social networking because it's great to receive immediate feedback from fans.

MR: Do you have any more "singles" coming out soon that we should be looking out for?

G: Yeah. We just finished another song called, "Liberated." It's definitely a possible new single. It's a feel good song and I'm hoping to go nuts with the next video. Maybe more PVC and some light sabers or a gorilla in a gorilla suit. (laughs)

MR: (laughs) If there was one thing you would want from your fans, what would it be?

G: I would ask everyone to PLEASE request my song "Crazy Crazy" on their local radio station. Bombard them with requests. It's the #1 support a fan can give me.

MR: (laughs) One more question. As a gamer, have you come up with any video game ideas that you think people need to start working on?

G: How about "Maria Sisters"? Two Italian girls that have to search castles for their kidnapped prince. They can look the same, except one sister will be dressed in red, and the other in green. And one will have a fuller mustache. Feels familiar, doesn't it? How about an interactive reality gun game, where the player can turn on any reality show they hate and kill off any "real" characters they really dislike.

MR: Oh my. (laughs) Guinevere, thanks so much for spending some time with us, and all the best in the future and with your upcoming album.

G: Thanks so much, Mike. It was a lot of fun.

Transcribed by Evan Martin

Guinevere - "Crazy Crazy" Remix by FTR3

A Conversation with Four Year Strong's Alan Day

Mike Ragogna: Alan, I would describe Four Year Strong's sound as power-punk-pop...what do you think?

Alan Day: Yeah, that's pretty accurate.

MR: And maybe a little bit indie?

AD: Yeah, there may be a little bit of that mixed in there.

MR: Four Year Strong's In Some Way Shape Or Form is the band's fourth album. How did this one come together?

AD: We came out with the first record in 2007 and then we waited so long - almost three years - to put our next record out. So, we knew from that experience that we didn't want to wait that long. We were just dying to get this record out. We knew we wanted to do something a little bit different from stuff we've done in the past. We took a new approach to writing songs and that went better than ever. This record was a product of that.

MR: How did you guys write the music for this one?

AD: Well, in the past, we would concentrate mostly on the music - the chord progression, what the drums were doing, what the bass was doing - then write vocals on top of that. This time around, we realized that that approach really didn't make much sense. (laughs) We thought we should start to write the songs as songs - with vocals, melody and lyrics hand-in-hand, so that they actually work together instead of just feeling thrown together. That's what we did this time around and we loved it.

MR: So over the course of four albums - your first album counts as your first album, right?

AD: It's Our Time is actually just a really old recording we did when I was about sixteen or seventeen. (laughs)

MR: Okay, from then until now, besides the songwriting, how have things changed for you guys over the span of these projects?

AD: We've changed just as much as anyone else would as long as we've been together. We've been a band for about ten years and I think people have gotten to see a lot of different sides of the band. So many things can change us, whether we're listening to pop music a lot at the time or the experiences we've gone through as a band from touring to being in the studio. That just shows in our music. We weren't trying to be a different band when we were making this record, we are just starting to evolve into newer people and a newer band.

MR: By the way, the last album has one of my favorite song titles, "It Must Suck To Be Four Years Strong Right Now."

AD: (laughs) That was just a joke, really.

MR: And your fans are an integral part of the way you guys function as a band, isn't that right?

AD: Absolutely.

MR: For instance, you guys offered the free download of the song "Fair Weather Fan," which, I thought, was a great thing to do.

AD: Yeah. I mean, we've always thought that the fans were the most important thing about the band because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here. We're not in an age now where we could just sit back and have a record label sell millions of copies of records and make money for us. We do this for the fans first. We tour all over the country and world all year so that we can give people our music. That's what this is all about.

MR: You guys had a sort of mini-tour recently to back up the release of your single.

AD: We just finished up on the AP Tour around the States about a month ago. Our new record came out about halfway through the tour, so of course the tour was definitely in support of that new release, and we started playing, "Just Drive" and a few other new songs. It was going really well.

MR: You guys even had a few pre-album releases of songs such as "Stuck In The Middle" and "Falling For You," though they weren't released as singles, right?

AD: That's right.

MR: Can you discuss the general theme behind this batch of songs?

AD: Sure. One of the things that we did on this record that we haven't really done on previous records is that we touch on darker subjects. We always like to keep our songs pretty open to interpretation because what people latch onto in songs and lyrics is the fact that that they can relate them to their own lives and experiences, not just learning about a story that Dan O'Connor or I wrote, but being able to really latch onto it.

MR: Dan being the other vocalist and guitarist, and you also have Joe Weiss and Jake Massucco in the band. How do all of you interact with each other as a band?

AD: Oh, it's a blast. We're just a bunch of kids on the road having fun and playing music. It doesn't get much better than that, right? (laughs)

MR: Right. (laughs) You mentioned before that some of these songs are a little darker, proof of that being "Security Of The Familiar, The Tranquility Of Repetition," which is a quote from V For Vendetta. Was it someone's favorite movie?

AD: I don't know that it's any of our favorite movies, we just sometimes name songs from movie quotes. It's a thing we do.

MR: So was the song title, "Unbreakable" inspired by the movie?

AD: (laughs) No, that one was more lyrically inspired. That's actually one of my favorites on the album.

MR: Did you guys intend for that to be a sort of sporting event anthem? It does kind of come off like that.

AD: Not really. I'm not even really that much of a sports fan. Joe is crazy about the Bruins, and Dan loves the Red Sox and the Patriots, Jake loves the Celtics, and I'm the odd man out. And I do like sports, I just grew up in a house that listened to music and didn't watch sports. I kind of feel left out all the time.

MR: Are you just saying you're not into sports because you're secretly a Yankees fan?

AD: No. (laughs) I wish that I could be that ironic, but I'm not.

MR: You guys all grew up together in Worcester, Massachusetts. How did you first get together as a band?

AD: Well, the drummer Jake and I grew up together. We went to elementary school together and played in bands every year since the third grade or something. Then, when I was a freshman in High School, we started this band with Dan. We went through a couple of lineup changes at the beginning, but here we are.

MR: A small portion of the proceeds from your "It's A Wonderful Gig Life Tour" are going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, right? How did that come about?

AD: That's right. We've always wanted to do something with a charity organization and Dan's brother passed away of Leukemia in 2004, I believe. He's always wanted to do something for that charity specifically, so we figured this would be a great opportunity to do that.

MR: There was the photo contest that you guys put together with the "Just Drive" video. Can you tell us about that?

AD: We had this thing on Instagram, which is an iPhone app and another form of social networking. It's kind of like Twitter, only Twitter gives you 140 characters to say what you want to say and Instagram lets you post a picture instead, and a picture is worth a thousand words, so they say. We thought it was a cool way to get this cool, new social networking site and the band to work together in a new cool way. People like taking pictures and sharing them with the world and we figured that this was a cool way to do it.

MR: You guys also have a limited edition t-shirt designed in conjunction with Johnny Cupcakes Clothing.

AD: Yes, we do. We've known people that work there for quite a while now because they're from Boston and we're from Worcester. SJC Drums is from Massachusetts as well, so we all just kind of got together recently where we got an event together and all of Johnny Cupcakes, and SJC Drums people were there. So, we did a shirt with Johnny Cupcakes and SJC Drums did a kickdrum head with all of the logos on it. We just thought it was a cool way for these small town kids who actually had ideas and made them realities through time celebrate that.

MR: Where did the name "Four Years Strong" come from?

AD: Well, the actual story is not cool at all. I wish I could make something up to make it sound really interesting, but there isn't. (laughs) There was a band called the Get Up Kids that we all really liked when we were freshman in High School, and one of their lyrics was "five years strong." So, we thought we would be cool and just change it to Four Years Strong and make that the band's name. That's it. (laughs) Not an exciting story.

MR: What's with those beards with you guys. Some kind of statement?

AD: No, we all just really like beards and we've had them a long time. We also all hate razors. I haven't used a razor and shaving cream and shaved my face clean in maybe seven years?

MR: Do you have any advice that you would give to newer artists?

AD: My advice has always been to just get out there and show the world what you've got, you know? It's so easy these days to create a website and record a record in Garage Band and just do it all from home. You can go on the Internet and get so many hits online and people will actually see you and hear your music. The best way, though, is to physically get out there and loose some money. Take money out of your pocket, invest in a tank of gas and go play a gig a couple of States away, even if it's to nobody. Everyone I know that is huge and successful kind of started like that. That's the nature of this business at the start. Eventually, once you've established yourself as an artist, you appreciate all of that so much more.

Tracks:
1. The Infected
2. The Security Of The Familiar, The Tranquility Of Repetition
3. Stuck In The Middle
4. Just Drive
5. Fairweather Fan
6. Sweet Kerosene
7. Falling On You
8. Heaven Wasn't Built To Hold Me
9. Unbreakable
10. Bring On The World
11. Fight The Future
12. Only The Meek Get Pinched. The Bold Survive

Transcribed By Evan Martin

A Conversation with Gregory Rogove

Mike Ragogna: Gregory, let's start with a little background for everyone. You grew up in Pennsylvanian Amish Country, born to Jewish parents, right?

Gregory Rogove: Yes. Well, my father is of Ukrainian-Jewish origins and my mother's side is a mix of English and French. But my mom converted to Judaism when I was born.

MR: And you also spent a year in India on a year-long scholarship?

GR: Right. When I was 18, I went there to study the North Indian classical drum, or the tabla.

MR: And from there, you also went to Singapore, Mali, Mexico and China where you visited the Peking Opera, right?

GR: Yeah. I was mesmerized by those gongs that can be simultaneously beautiful and nauseating when they're repetitively banged in your brain. (laughs)

MR: Later, you graduated from Wesleyan University in 2002 and was a recipient of the Pecora Award, correct?

GR: Yeah. That was more of a surprise than anything. That award wasn't something I was thinking about or planning for, it was something I got in the mail. I didn't think anything of it, really. I thought it had something to do with Indian food. (laughs) I thought maybe it was some kind of joke until I did a little research on the award. I was so pleased and my friends who identified themselves as actual composers were a little upset at that. I'm not sure how it happened, but I was very happy to get it.

MR: From there, you immediately formed the band Tarantula A.D, which later became Priestbird, right?

GR: That's right.

MR: Plus you've even had the opportunity to play with Beck and tons of other hugely talented musicians, and you even bonded with Paul McCartney, right?

GR: Well, to be honest, that's a bit of a stretch. I met Paul McCartney for a second, which was a lifelong dream for me. my mom was a huge Beatlemaniac. When she found out I met him, she cried tears of joy. (laughs) But that was only a brief, really embarrassing meeting. That's another story entirely, though. As for Beck, I played a show with Devendra Banhart in Reno in a God-awful casino. We did one Devendra song together and the Beck's drummer said that he thought I should do the song, so I played the drums with Beck's band as he sang with Devnndra.

MR: And let's not forget Megapuss.

GR: Good ol' Megapuss. (laughs) Before we even made any music, Megapuss was a band that Devendra and I put together while on tour. The name came from a bunch of confusing texts that I got from a very sweet Swedish girl. She was very innocent, but she ended all of her texts with phrases like, "...puss, puss, puss." Well, one of them was, "Megapuss," and I had no idea what she was talking about. I told Devendra and he thought it was awesome, so we had a band name. Turns out that the word means "kiss," so she was just sending me a mega-kiss via text. (laughs) We started writing titles of songs before we even had music, and we had a rule that we quickly write a song before a show so that by the end of the tour we had about 20 song sketches. When we got home I crashed at his place for about two months and we finished and recorded a record. We invited Fab Moretti from The Strokes to come in and sing a song. He's a great friend and a beautiful artist.

MR: Your new album Piana album focuses on John Medeski as the featured musician. Can you tell us about how that came together?

GR: Well, I spent a little time in Mexico writing these pieces. I wrote and recorded a version of all of the songs myself. When I got home I was working on some of the mixes and thought that I was extremely happy with the songs, but I'm not a trained pianist. I feel comfortable writing for the instrument, but I don't have the touch of someone who has an intimate relationship with the instrument. At that point, I had known John Medeski for a few years, though not very well. The drummer in his band was a very close friend of mine and my teacher's for a while. So, I reached out to John and asked him if he'd be interested in playing all of the pieces and he said, "Sure." I was so excited because he's such a master. I also thought it would be very interesting to have him do it because he's a virtuosic improviser and these are short, simple composed pieces. I thought it would be very interesting to have the tension of someone who wants to just paint with notes ad hoc and have that be restrained. He did an amazing job, but you could tell that the whole time, he just wanted to burst out of the strict composition structure, though we had one semi-improvised piece where you can really hear him shine. It's called, "Young Mountain."

MR: It's a beautiful song. So, you're on the Knitting Factory label.

GR: Yes, that's right. The label started in New York and they have a history of putting out a lot of the downtown, avant-garde musicians. Then the label changed hands, I believe. I don't know the whole history behind it. Anyway, they're back on the scene and putting out a really fantastic array of music. They have the entire catalog of Fela Kuti, who is a huge hero of mine. That was actually one of the selling points to me for the label. (laughs)

MR: Right. They also allowed you to do a companion DVD with distinct images that go along with this album. What's behind the concept?

GR: After I had all of the pieces in the can from Medeski's performance, I thought it would be really interesting to pass each one of the pieces on to artists that don't usually work with this material and try to rearrange it. The piano music stands alone, but it's so often a springboard for other music. So, I thought it would be interesting to send something with more of a classical lean to a folk artist or whatever. I started passing it out to musicians, but I also have a lot of friends who are visual artists who thought it would be interesting to do a multimedia project along with it. What if I gave it to painters or visual artists or sculptors to link sounds to these compositions? So, that's what I did. Everything kept rolling and rolling and eventually, I had each piece remixed and rearranged musically and reinterpreted visually. So, the DVD comes with a visual and musical reinterpretation of each song.

MR: And personally, I think the presentation was very unique.

GR: Thank you. The whole concept seemed so simple at first. Of course, it's always more complicated than you may think. But in the end, I'm very happy with the way that it turned out.

MR: Now, you drew inspiration for these pieces from French impressionists?

GR: Yeah. I've been playing the drums since I was 10 years old. It's kind of where I feel most natural. But I always loved writing songs and all kinds of music, so when I was 17 or 18, I came across Erik Satie's music and was completely taken with it. Of course, that led to Ravel and Debussy. But Erik's pieces in particular are so simple. I thought to myself that I could probably play those pieces if I just sat down at a piano long enough. I started teaching myself the pieces and just kind of kept hanging around the piano with those pieces and writing my own. All of that left an indelible mark on my perspective of music and writing. Over the years, I had a bunch of sketches like the ones on this album, but it didn't make sense for Megapuss or Priestbird or any of those bands. I really wanted to have a solo piano record because that's some of my favorite music to listen to as you're going about your day. It enlivens the world and I wanted to make an album like that.

MR: Right. Where was this album recorded?

GR: I wrote the songs in Mexico, but when the stars kind of aligned for us to record it with John Medeski, the plans changed. I had a kind of busy Fall when I needed to record, as did John, and we both happened to have the same two days off when we were both in New York. So, I shot up to Woodstock where John was incidentally starting to make sketches for his own solo piano record. We recorded in one day in this little wooden shack where John used to live in Woodstock, NY.

MR: Who's idea was it to put the apes in tighty-whities?

GR: That was a stop motion animation experiment that my girlfriend, Diana Garcia, and I did. We came across a studio that was allowing people to rent a bunch of studio equipment for free. It was sponsored by Levi's and when we saw all of the equipment, we knew we had to write something to produce. So, I wrote a little something and when I showed her she was a little crestfallen. She thought it would take our entire lives to film. She wanted to take an afternoon to film it and it ended up being about three weeks straight of animating. The story, I think, came from an idea I had while reading Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close. It's an image of our ancestors walking arm-in-arm through the savanah. It's kind of romantic - these Australopithecus creatures enjoying love the same way we know it now, back then. Then the sun burns out and there's a bit of chaos and they lose their clothes and are forced to leave the city and enter back into the wild. They no longer had the tools to live in that environment.

MR: Gregory, what advice do you have for new artists?

GR: I hear this from my heroes all the time, and I think it's so true: Do something original. Do something that stretches your boundaries and makes you uncomfortable, but that excites you.

Tracks:

CD:
1. Khadi
2. Carolyn
3. Jackyl
4. Castle Garden
5. Vines
6. Love Cherries
7. Casa Azul
8. Sunken Ships
9. White Room
10. Young Mountain

DVD:
1. Carolyn - The Bees
2. Jackyl - Violens
3. Sunken Sh-illy (Sunken Ships) - Billy Martin
4. Vines - Natalia Lafourcade
5. Young Mountain - Devendra Banhart
6. White Room - The Storms
7. Khadi - Hecuba
8. Castle Garden - Carly Margolis
9. Love Cherries - Adam Green
10. Casa Azul - Lucky Dragons

Transcribed by Evan Martin

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Follow Mike Ragogna on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ragz2008

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/crazy-crazy-introducing-g_b_1222692.html

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?Pretty Wild? Star Tess Taylor Arlington Busted For Felony Possession

“Pretty Wild” Star Tess Taylor Arlington Busted For Felony Possession

Model Tess Taylor, 22, who starred on the reality show “Pretty Wild” on E!, was taken into custody by police earlier this month for felony [...]

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