Coldplay, Led Zeppelin Album Covers Featured On New British Stamps
Album art from Pink Floyd, Blur and David Bowie also included.
By James Montgomery
Coldplay's new British stamps
Photo: Royal Mail
On Thursday (January 7), the U.K.'s Royal Mail unveiled a series of 10 new stamps, honoring the most iconic album covers of the past 40 years.
The albums featured in the new series are the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, Led Zeppelin's IV, David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, The Clash's London Calling, New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies, Primal Scream's Screamadelica, Pink Floyd's The Division Bell, Blur's Parklife and — the most recent album on to make the cut — Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Meant to honor "the most potent graphic images of modern times, many of which have provided a visual soundtrack to people's lives," the series is the end result of a lengthy research process by the Royal Mail, who looked through thousands of album covers by British artists before deciding on the final list. And, during a Wednesday night BBC Radio broadcast, it was revealed that the queen herself actually approved each design.
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page — who helped design the cover for IV — was on hand to celebrate the release of the stamps and recalled the mysterious nature of the album's iconic imagery.
"Almost 40 years after the album came out, nobody knows the old man who featured on the cover, nor the artist who painted him," he said. "That sort of sums up what we wanted to achieve with the album cover, which has remained both anonymous and enigmatic at the same time."
Of course, any great honor is befitting of an equally great contest, so, on the same day the stamps were made available to the general public, Coldplay decided to give one of their Rush of Blood stamps away. In a message on their official site, the band held a contest to send one lucky fan "a letter using a Coldplay stamp, postmarked with today's issue date."
"We visited our local post office earlier today and bought some of the Coldplay stamps," the message read. "Very nice they are too."
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Mary Margaret's First Flight
So I'm at O'Hare right now getting ready to fly back to New York with my babies. Bev and Mary Margaret are in one bag together.

Earlier there was some cuddling, but now I hear a bit of growling. Mary Margaret has a tendency to terrorize poor Beverly...
The big thing I'm afraid of, however, isn't the growling—it's that Mary Margaret will poop in her bag. If she does poop, I've decided that I'm going to poop too, because me shitting myself will totally trump her shitting herself, right?
That's gross... girls shouldn't talk about poop.
Poop, poop, poop.
Anywho... I'll check in later to tell you how it goes. The flight is delayed right now, which just makes the possibility of pooping more likely. For me and her.
(I know, I know... girls shouldn't talk about poop.)
Source: http://www.prettyinthecity.com/blog/2011/4/26/mary-margarets-first-flight.html
The Avatars of Second Life The Pussycat Dolls Thora Birch Tila Tequila Tina Fey
'Dark Knight Rises' Cast Grows By Two
Brett Cullen and Chris Ellis have signed on for roles in the next installment of the Christopher Nolan-directed 'Batman' franchise.
By Eric Ditzian
Brett Cullen
Photo: Getty Images
The population of Gotham City continues to grow, as "The Dark Knight Rises" has added two more actors to its swelling ranks.
Brett Cullen ("Lost") and Chris Ellis ("Catch Me If You Can") have signed on to director Christopher Nolan's third "Batman" film, Variety reports. Cullen is set to play a judge and Ellis will portray a priest. The two men join Matthew Modine, Tom Conti and Joey King, whose castings were announced on Friday.
Cullen is perhaps best known for his small but integral role in "Lost" as Goodwin, a member of the Others. More recently, he played Dakota Fanning's father in "The Runaways" and will be seen in this summer's "Monte Carlo," as well as the forthcoming "Red Dawn." Ellis portrayed a special agent opposite Tom Hanks in "Catch Me If You Can" and took on a short arc on Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Both men also appeared in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13."
These newcomers join Christian Bale, who again plays the lead roles of Bruce Wayne and Batman, plus Michael Caine as Wayne's butler and confidant, Alfred; Gary Oldman as Police Commissioner Gordon; and Morgan Freeman as Wayne's right-hand man, Lucius Fox. Other new faces in the cast include Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (who becomes Catwoman in comic-book lore), Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake and Tom Hardy as Bane. We got our first look at Bane — his freaky head mask, his hulking frame — on Friday, when Warner Bros. kicked off a viral marketing campaign that led to the discovery of a photo of the villain.
"The Dark Knight Rises" is set for release on July 20, 2012.
Check out everything we've got on "The Dark Knight Rises."
For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.
Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664456/dark-knight-rises-new-cast.jhtml
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Britney Spears - Radar
- Artist: Britney Spears
- Label: RCA, Jive, Zomba Label Group
- Director: Dave Meyers
- Album: Circus
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=501686&vid=410008
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AGENCY SIGNINGS ROUND-UP: Michael Nyqvist to WME, 'The Governator' Writer Steven Banks to CAA, More
Daniel Miller The week's worth of agency signings.
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Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour Was 'Insanely Magical'
Semi Precious Weapons frontman recalls 18-month odyssey — and night 'Edge of Glory' was born — on MTV's Gaga 'After-Show.'
By James Montgomery
Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
Earlier this month, in front of 55,000 fans in Mexico City, Lady Gaga finally put the Monster Ball to bed. It had been quite the ride — the tour lasted nearly 18 months, kicking off in November 2009, rolling through four continents and inspiring one over-the-top HBO special in the process — and, aside from Gaga herself, perhaps no one could testify to that better than the Semi Precious Weapons, who opened practically every show.
Of course, Semi Precious Weapons' history with Lady Gaga goes back even further; she opened for them back in 2006, and they've remained fast friends ever since. So it was fitting that, at the conclusion of that final Monster Ball show, Gaga brought the band — and longtime friend Lady Starlight — back onstage to bask in the applause and share one final curtain call together.
It was a poignant moment for everyone involved, one that SPW frontman Justin Tranter recalled after the Thursday night premiere of "Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside," during MTV's "After-Show" live stream.
"We played over 200 shows with her, all over the world, and at the end, the very last show, she says [onstage], 'This used to be a really small show that I did in New York City with my friends, when no one was watching, we just did it because we loved it,' " Tranter said. "And then she brought us up onstage in front of 55,000 people, and it was just ... the craziest thing ever.
"A friend of mine was texting me because he saw the interview that Gaga just did where she talks about opening for us at the Knitting Factory, and he was just like, 'I can't believe this is all real,' because he was there for that show and backstage for that show," he continued. "And, you know, it was one of those moments in Mexico City, where I'm standing onstage, opening for her, getting 55,000 people to scream one of my best friend's name over and over, after I'd just played them a bunch of songs. It's surreal. The Monster Ball was ... such an insanely magical experience and it's really depressing that it's over."
And after spending almost 18 months on the road with Gaga, you'd be correct to assume that Tranter has a whole lot of memories like that one (most of which can't be reprinted anywhere), but, recently, there's one that keeps coming back to him: the night Gaga's current single, "The Edge of Glory" was born. Because not only was it rather magical, but it also summed up everything that he loved about being on the Monster Ball in the first place.
"One of the things I keep remembering recently, just because 'The Edge of Glory' is everywhere now, is, I think we were in Sweden, and she was writing that song," Tranter said. "We had just had three weeks off on tour, and ... she had just written that song, and in our dressing room, through the wall, we could hear her singing it. And then she texted me and asked me to come in and listen to it. And then I had to go onstage, and when I came off she asked me to come back again, and we were being music geeks and going over chord-change options, and now the song is everywhere.
"So I think that's an amazing example of the Monster Ball and how things really haven't changed; it's still us playing each other our songs, it's still us hanging out," he continued. "And to think that there's 20,000 people in the audience waiting for us to go on while she's writing this song, waiting for her to go on while she's writing that song, that's a moment I've been thinking of a lot recently."
Related Videos Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664768/lady-gaga-semi-precious-weapons-monster-ball.jhtml
Britney Spears - 2008 Video Of The Year: Britney Spears "Piece of Me
2008 Video Of The Year: Britney Spears "Piece of Me
- Artist: Britney Spears
- Label: Jive/Zomba Label Group
- Director: Wayne Isham
- Album: Blackout
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=501686&vid=421943
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Britney Spears Has Created 'Her Own Genre,' Dr. Luke Says
Femme Fatale producer tells MTV News the pop star defies categorization because she's 'forward-thinking.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias
Britney Spears
Photo: Max Morse/Getty Images
Since Britney Spears emerged on the scene nearly a decade and a half ago, she's run the gamut of pop music: from sugary bubble-gum to dirty, sexy dance tracks. In that respect, her longtime collaborator and Femme Fatale producer Dr. Luke says that the superstar has in many respects become bigger than pop. In fact, he says it's hard to confine her to just one genre.
"I feel like Britney kind of has her own genre: If you look at songs like 'Toxic' and 'Piece of Me' and 'Oops! ... I Did It Again,' they all were sort of influential and led the way," he told MTV News on Thursday (April 28) at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards.
So when the pair sat down to work on her latest release, Dr. Luke said her pop-music shape-shifting was very much on his mind. "She wanted to keep on with that and do stuff that was forward-thinking," he continued. "So we put some dubstep stuff in there, in bridges; snuck it in different places and I hope it ended up good. I hope you like it."
It seems every time Spears drops a new album, it's declared her comeback record. But Dr. Luke noted that Brit has really never gone anywhere. "Where'd she go? I don't know. I didn't know she ever disappeared, really," he said. "She's always been selling out concerts and records, so I don't know that she ever disappeared."
So what do Spears and Luke have up their sleeve now? "Not yet ... give me a second to breathe, come up for air!" he told us.
Plus, even with Femme Fatale already in stores, it seems like the pair are always finding ways to update the songs. Take, for example, the recent remix of "Till the World Ends," which features Ke$ha (the track's songwriter) and Nicki Minaj.
"Well, we already had Ke$ha on the song 'cause she co-wrote the song ... and she sounded really good on it," Dr. Luke explained. "And then Nicki got on the Femme Fatale Tour so we put Nicki on it and it just sounded amazing. She killed it."
Which version of "Till the World Ends" do you prefer? Tell us in the comments!
Related Videos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662892/britney-spears-dr-luke.jhtml
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Cali Swag District 'Remember M-Bone's Energy'
'We remember the fun M-Bone always wanted to have,' C-Smoove tells MTV News of his CSD bandmate, whose funeral takes place Friday (May 27).
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Vanessa Whitewolf
Mante "M-Bone" Talbert
Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
As tragic as the shooting death of Mante "M-Bone" Talbert has been, his Cali Swag District bandmates continue to reflect on the positive when it comes to their fallen friend.
"We remember M-Bone's energy. We remember the fun M-Bone always wanted to have. We remember the spark that he lit onstage," C-Smoove told MTV News. "Onstage, Bone was like, 'Where is he goin'? Look at him, where'd he go?' He was everywhere. Sometimes he went so far, his mic started delayin'. We'd be like, 'Where's he at?' He'd be way at the top, at the nosebleed seats, dancin' with everybody."
On Friday (May 27), Cali Swag and M-Bone's family, friends and fans will bid farewell to the 22-year-old, who was murdered in a drive-by shooting on May 15. A public memorial service is set to take place at the Faithful Center in Inglewood, California. Inglewood Police Department's homicide division told MTV News that, while they have spoken to several witnesses, as of now they have made no arrests and have no suspects in the murder.
Despite the grim circumstances surrounding M-Bone's death, Cali Swag District's surviving members remain upbeat, laughing and even poking fun, choosing to remember the good times that they shared with the rapper/dancer. "We remember he couldn't pronounce a lot of words right," recalled Yung. "When he said 'phone,' he used to say 'foam.' Like, 'Pass me my foam.' "
CSD, who are most famous for their 2010 platinum single "Teach Me How to Dougie," remember Bone as a pretty calm guy ... that is, until it was time to dance, of course. "If you noticed, he's always quiet until it's his time to shine," Yung explained. "When it's time for anything that has to do with any craziness or hype-ness, that's his time to shine. If it's about dancin', that's when he go in. Other than that, he be chillin'."
M-Bone was so laidback when it came to talking with the press, in fact, that Yung said his crew should have changed his moniker in hindsight. "Chill Bone, that's what we should've called him when it comes to interview time, Chill Bone," he maintained.
The Inglewood Police Department is asking anyone with information surrounding the death of M-Bone to come forward and call its homicide division at (310) 412-5246 or its 24-hour anonymous hotline number, (888) 41 CRIME, or (888) 412-7463.
Do you have any condolence messages to send out to M-Bone's friends, family and bandmates? Share them in the comments.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664738/cali-swag-district-remember-m-bone.jhtml
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Britney Spears - Till the World Ends
- Artist: Britney Spears
- Label: Jive
- Director: Ray Kay
- Album: Femme Fatale [Deluxe Edition]
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=501686&vid=639722
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