BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Bon Jovi supports Cobain protestBon Jovi supports Cobain protest
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
Bon Jovi have sold more than 120m albums worldwideRocker Jon Bon Jovi says he understands why Nirvana's former members protested over the use of Kurt Cobain's image in video game Guitar Hero 5.
Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl said last week they were "very disappointed" that Cobain's avatar could be used to play songs by other acts in the game.
"I don't know that I would have wanted it either," Jon Bon Jovi told the BBC.
"To hear someone else's voice coming out of a cartoon version of me? I don't know. It sounds a little forced."
Guitar Hero 5 entered the UK games charts at number one last weekend, beating its heavily-promoted rival, The Beatles: Rock Band.
The late Nirvana frontman features as an unlockable character, allowing players to see his image performing a multitude of other tracks, including Bon Jovi's You Give Love A Bad Name.
'Breach of contract'
In a joint statement last week, Grohl and Novoselic said they "didn't know" Cobain's image would be used in this way.
"We are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game".
The pair also urged game makers Activision to "do the right thing in 're-locking' Kurt's character".
Guitar Hero allows players to recreate rock riffs on replica instrumentsActivision said permission to use Cobain's image had been granted by the singer's estate.
The company said Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, had provided a written agreement which allowed the singer's likeness as a fully playable character in the fifth game of the series.
Writing on Twitter, Love claimed she had "never signed" a contract on the game, and threatened legal action against Activision.
"For the record, this... is breach of contract on a bully's part and there will be a proper addressing of this and retraction," she wrote.
Jon Bon Jovi, who is promoting his band's 11th studio album, The Circle, said he had declined the offer to appear as a playable character in Guitar Hero.
"I had the paperwork, they wanted me to be on that game and I just passed," he said.
"But no-one even broached the subject with me that I would be singing other people's stuff. I don't know how I would have reacted to that. I don't know that I would have wanted it either."
September 17, 2009
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Bon Jovi supports Cobain protest
E-Signature Home Page
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5 solar eclipses
1980 Eclipse
Having witnessed 5 solar eclipses, one of which was a totality - over a period of 14 years, and having read about the one from 1980, I am going to try and chronicle how the eclipse viewing has changed over the past 29 years.
The photo at the top shows a normally busy income tax office square in an Indian city bereft of any people during the eclipse of 1980.
1980 1996 2009 TV Showed a movie to keep people indoors Showed a live telecast of the eclipse Let people just watch on their own, nothing special People Stayed indoors mostly. Only the scientists watched the eclipse. It was quite a people event, the educated watched the superstitious didn’t Everyone watched! Right from the bathing sadhus to the city dwellers Advise by the ophthalmologists Don’t watch! Not even with filters. Don’t watch! Not even with filters. Forgotten Media Newspaper Newspaper / TV Newspaper / TV / Web / Flickr Astrologers Spreading doomsday Spreading doomsday Spreading doomsday
In 1980, the eclipse was watched in 15 eclipse camps - it was a first in 82 years. Some interesting news items from that time:
- No let up in rituals. Normally people try to ward off the harmful effects of the eclipse by putting pieces of ‘Durva’ into food items like milk, butter, ghee and drinking water.
- With the repeated warnings of all the mass media still ringing in their ears, the elite class didn’t not date to have a direct look at the eclipsed sun.
- ‘It was simply beautiful’ said an observer in Taita hills, Kenya. ‘We had 3 minutes 50 seconds of totality’. ‘The elders say we should go inside’ said Henry Kazungu 28, a member of the rat eating Giriama tribe. ‘But I want to stay out and see it. I want to be able to say later that this great thing happened in this year and I was there’.
Some news items from the 1995 eclipse:
- The council of astrologers: “The sun signifies the rulers. Thus in the region where the total solar eclipse will be visible the heads of the governments will be adversely affected.”
- With barely three days left for the solar eclipse, a serious controversy among scientists and ophthalmologists has put the West Bengal government in a quandary and the people in a fix.
- One publication showed a photo of an elephant at Yamuna Ghat waiting patiently for the sun to be freed from its lunar embrace so that it could have a holy dip.
- Unlike in 1980, millions of people watched the event last fortnight, turning it into a mass science festival.
From 2006:
- Schoolchildren clapped and cheered as the first total eclipse in years plunged Ghana into daytime darkness, a solar show sweeping northeast from Barzil to Mangolia.
In 2009, the clincher was a photo in one of the national dailies showing the bathing sadhus wearing solar goggles and watching the eclipse. Flickr also made a world of difference: we could see various cultures in various countries trying to watch the eclipse, and interpreting it in their own ways.
Koi Bole Raam Raam | Digital Wealth
Koi Bole Raam Raam | Digital WealthThe hymn and its translation to English:
ਰਾਮਕਲੀ ਮਹਲਾ ੫ ॥
Raamkalee, Fifth Mehl:ਕੋਈ ਬੋਲੈ ਰਾਮ ਰਾਮ ਕੋਈ ਖੁਦਾਇ ॥
Some call Him, ‘Raam, Raam’, and some call Him, ‘Khudaa-i’.ਕੋਈ ਸੇਵੈ ਗੁਸਈਆ ਕੋਈ ਅਲਾਹਿ ॥੧॥
Some serve Him as ‘Gusain’, others as ‘Allaah’. ||1||ਕਾਰਣ ਕਰਣ ਕਰੀਮ ॥
He is the Cause of causes, the Generous Lord.ਕਿਰਪਾ ਧਾਰਿ ਰਹੀਮ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ॥
He showers His Grace and Mercy upon us. ||1||Pause||ਕੋਈ ਨਾਵੈ ਤੀਰਥਿ ਕੋਈ ਹਜ ਜਾਇ ॥
Some bathe at sacred shrines of pilgrimage, and some make the pilgrimage to Mecca.ਕੋਈ ਕਰੈ ਪੂਜਾ ਕੋਈ ਸਿਰੁ ਨਿਵਾਇ ॥੨॥
Some perform devotional worship services, and some bow their heads in prayer. ||2||ਕੋਈ ਪੜੈ ਬੇਦ ਕੋਈ ਕਤੇਬ ॥
Some read the Vedas, and some the Koran.ਕੋਈ ਓਢੈ ਨੀਲ ਕੋਈ ਸੁਪੇਦ ॥੩॥
Some wear blue robes, and some wear white. ||3||ਕੋਈ ਕਹੈ ਤੁਰਕੁ ਕੋਈ ਕਹੈ ਹਿੰਦੂ ॥
Some call themselves Muslim, and some call themselves Hindu.ਕੋਈ ਬਾਛੈ ਭਿਸਤੁ ਕੋਈ ਸੁਰਗਿੰਦੂ ॥੪॥
Some yearn for paradise, and others long for heaven. ||4||ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਜਿਨਿ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਪਛਾਤਾ ॥
Says Nanak, one who realizes the Hukam of God’s Will,ਪ੍ਰਭ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਕਾ ਤਿਨਿ ਭੇਦੁ ਜਾਤਾ ॥੫॥੯॥
knows the secrets of his Lord and Master. ||5||9||
People's Daily Online -- Miss World contestants in swimsuits
People's Daily Online -- Miss World contestants in swimsuits
Miss World contestants in swimsuits 
Swimsuit contest winners Miss Russia (C), Miss Moldova (R) and Miss Mexico pose for photos at the 55th Miss World Contest in Sanya, south China's sub-tropical island province of Hainan December 6, 2005. The finals of the pageant will be held on December 10.
Miss World contestants parade in swimsuits in Sanya, Hainan December 6, 2005.Miss Russia, Miss Moldova and Miss Mexico won the swimsuit contest. The finals of the 55th Miss World Contest will be held on December 10.
Miss World contestants parade in swimsuits in Sanya, Hainan December 6, 2005.Miss Russia, Miss Moldova and Miss Mexico won the swimsuit contest. The finals of the 55th Miss World Contest will be held on December 10.
Miss China parades in swimsuits at the 55th Miss World Contest in Sanya, Hainan Province December 6, 2005.
Miss Norway parades in swimsuits at the 55th Miss World Contest in Sanya, Hainan Province December 6, 2005.
Miss Indonesia parades in swimsuits at the 55th Miss World Contest in Sanya, Hainan Province December 6, 2005.
Miss Bolivia parades in swimsuits at the 55th Miss World Contest in Sanya, Hainan Province December 6, 2005.
Chinese art students parlay lip synching act into international fame
Chinese art students parlay lip synching act into international fame 2006-09-30 01:28:30 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this undated handout picture released by Taihe Rye Music Company, Huang Yixin, right, and Wei Wei attend a news conference in China. (AP Photo)
HONG KONG, Sep. 30 (AP) -- After Yao Ming and Zhang Ziyi, one of China's biggest celebrity exports isn't a towering basketball star or a kung fu fighter. It's two Chinese art students who don NBA jerseys and head gear and lip synch to Backstreet Boys songs.
Thanks to the wide reach of the Internet, Huang Yixin and Wei Wei's goofy homemade cover music videos to songs like "As Long As You Love Me" and "I Want It That Way" have become immensely popular in the West, winning fans from as far as Norway and Lithuania.
On the Web, they're known simply as "Two Chinese boys," as their English fan site is called. But as Wei and Huang told The Associated Press, they were two bored Chinese boys who turned to lip-synching videos for entertainment -- and spawned a pop culture phenomenon.
It all started with the relocation of their alma mater, the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, from downtown to the outskirts of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, once known as Canton.
"There wasn't much in the way of facilities or entertainment. Our only connection to the outside world was the Internet and computers. When we have free time outside of classes, we'd play around with this kind of stuff," Wei said in a phone interview.
He said the pair, secondary school friends who ended up both as sculpturing majors and roommates at the Guangzhou arts academy, saw a video of foreigners lip synching to a rock song on the Internet and decided to follow suit. They mouthed along to "As Long As You Love Me" in early March last year and uploaded it onto an internal Web site at their school.
Soon fans uploaded the video onto the Internet and their lives haven't been the same since.
"When we went to the cafeteria for meals, many people gave us weird looks. Later, when we took part in joint school events, people also gave us weird looks," Huang said.
Internet users outside China also took notice.
Their "I Want It That Way" cover has been watched more than 1 million times on the video sharing Web site Youtube.com. On their English fan site, their work has received acclaim from fans from distant places such as Norway, Lithuania, Chile and Argentina.
In a major celebrity nod, U.S. pop star Jessica Simpson posted a link to their cover of her new song "A Public Affair" on her official Web site.
Part of their appeal is the sheer mismatch of two Chinese men wearing basketball jerseys swaying their heads while mouthing the lyrics to English pop songs. Wei and Huang also make for a good physical contrast. The shorter, slender Huang's moves are more subtle while the tall, athletic Wei is more animated.
In their cover of "A Public Affair," while Huang offers a silly smile and holds up his hands like a rabbit, Wei, who wears goggle-like movie star sunglasses and holds his hair up with a blue headband, does the robot dance and performs exaggerated lip movements close to the camera.
Huang described their creative process.
"We hear songs from different sources. We'll pick songs and play them for the other person. If we get the right feeling, we'll keep listening. If we like a song after listening to it for a while, we'll start learning it," he said.
Wei said most of their dance moves are spontaneous.
"We will synchronize our moves during the climaxes of each song, but most of it is improvisational," he said.
They've demonstrated impressive range, tackling both Chinese and English songs. Their English work also includes a cover of the Black Eyed Peas' "Don't Lie." "I think all their songs are fun," Huang said.
Backstreet Boys are a mainstay. That's because the duo are fans. Huang said the group was "super popular" in China in the mid-1990s, so much so that his junior secondary school played its songs on the school's public announcement system every day.
Wei and Huang's extracurricular video making has won them not only international fame, but a career. The pair, who graduated from university recently, signed with the Chinese record company Taihe Rye in February.
Now they're known as "Hou She Nan Sheng," or Back Dorm Boys, a tribute to their beloved U.S. group.
They said they'll continue to make lip-synching videos, but singing with their real voices is a possibility too.
Alexander McQueen's darkly beautiful show in Paris (II) - Lifestyle News
A model presents a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model displays a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model wears a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model displays a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model presents a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009.