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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Rihanna's "Talk The Talk" release tops iTunes (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Grammy-winning singer Rihanna may soon be headed to the top of the album charts after her latest record, "Talk That Talk" reached No. 1 on iTunes on Tuesday, one day after its release.
The singer released early teasers online as much as a week in advance, helping push the album into the top 10 on iTunes. Fans took to Twitter and Facebook to call the album Rihanna's best yet. Critical reviews, however, were mixed.
"Talk That Talk" is the sixth studio album from the 23-year-old Barbadian singer, following CDs like "Rated R" and "Loud," which have seen her steadily evolve from teen pop star to adult performer since her 2005 debut. She has earned international success over the years with singles like "Umbrella," "Rude Boy" and "What's My Name."
The 11-track "Talk That Talk" features themes of love and sexuality with a mixture of up-tempo dance tracks and reggae beats on "Where Have You Been," "Birthday Cake" and "You Da One," along with ballads "We All Want Love" and "Farewell."
Rihanna also collaborated with rapper Jay-Z -- whose Roc Nation label manages her -- on the single "Talk That Talk" and Scottish producer Calvin Harris on chart-topping dance anthem "We Found Love." The record also features a sample of British indie rock group The xx's "Intro" on single "Drunk On Love."
The singer's fans were upbeat on Twitter.
@OhMy_Kayla said, "This TALK THAT TALK album by @rihanna is by far the best one yet!!!!,, I FREAKING LOVE HER," and @gabixballa tweeted, "I've only been listening to Talk That Talk since yesterday. Lowkey @rihanna's best album ever."
Despite the positive fan reception, critics delivered mostly mixed reviews, acknowledging the singer's move toward dance music but criticizing the lyrics.
New York Times' Jon Caramanica called the record "the blithest Rihanna album" and criticized the singer's voice for being "certifiably blank." Randall Roberts at the Los Angeles Times gave the album two out of four stars, saying it "contains little sweat, slobber or fluids and a lot of plasticized, inflatable insinuation."
British music magazine NME scored the album a five out of ten, and called it "annoyingly safe with just glimpses of what it might have been."
But not all critics were put off. TheWrap.com's Chris Willman called the record "less dark and more high-spirited" than her last two records, adding "the album is at its musical best when it sticks to dance music."
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Motorola XT615 Android phone arriving in Taiwan: slim, but not RAZR-thin
Side-stepping the moody design tones of its RAZR brethren, Motorola has announced a new Android-powered smartphone for Taiwan. Measuring in at 9.8mm thin, this Gingerbread-powered slab sports the outfit's MotoBlur-derived Moto Switch UI, with an eight megapixel camera on the back and a VGA shooter on the front. The XT615 packs quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), WCDMA (900/2100) and HSPA (7.2Mbps) radios, while processing power comes from a slightly underwhelming 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227A-0, possibly explaining the NTD$10,900 ($360) price tag. The pearly-toned phone hasn't revealed any plans to leave the island nation of Taiwan just yet, but that doesn't mean you can't familiarize yourself with the full specifications in the PR below.
Continue reading Motorola XT615 Android phone arriving in Taiwan: slim, but not RAZR-thin
Motorola XT615 Android phone arriving in Taiwan: slim, but not RAZR-thin originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Libya vows to work with ICC in case of Gadhafi son (AP)
TRIPOLI, Libya ? A prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says that Libya's transitional leaders have vowed to work with his institution and with the United Nations in investigating alleged crimes committed by Moammar Gadhafi's recently captured son and one-time heir apparent.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press on Thursday that he received the pledge in a letter from National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil.
Moreno-Ocampo said he was satisfied with that move, despite Libya's continued refusal of the court's request to surrender Seif al-Islam Gadhafi.
In the letter, Abdul-Jalil writes that the Libyan judiciary has "primary responsibility" to try Seif al-Islam, the only Gadhafi family member in Libyan custody.
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Review: An ode to silents, the mute 'Artist' sings (AP)
NEW YORK ? The best validation for the nostalgia of "The Artist" is the film, itself.
A silent movie in tribute to silent movies, "The Artist" puts its money where its mouth is, so to speak. Or not to, rather.
Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white, near-wordless film is a loving, irresistibly charming ode to a long-ago movie era that not only summons the dormant conventions of silent moviemaking, but makes them dance again.
The film opens with old-style titles and the first bursts of Ludovic Bource's spirited, nimble score, which (as in most silents) plays a starring role throughout. The camera pulls back on a man being electrocuted by captors.
"I won't talk," he says ? or so reads a title card. "I won't say a word."
It's the first of many puns, but it's also Hazanavicius' promise, too. To make a silent film nowadays, he's suggesting, is to subject oneself to torment. But the French filmmaker's boldness has already been much rewarded: The film was feted at the Cannes Film Festival, snapped up by Harvey Weinstein and is now considered a favorite horse in the Oscar race.
The opening scene is merely a fiction within "The Artist." The man is silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) ? a kind of Douglas Fairbanks, swashbuckling matinee idol ? and this is the premiere of his latest hit: "A Russian Affair." The year is 1927, and the packed auditorium greets the movie with a standing ovation and raucous cheers that we can only infer.
The grinning, mustachioed Valentin glides across the stage in a tuxedo, basking in the adulation. A born entertainer, he casually and eagerly keeps the audience in his thrall, pantomiming tricks with his faithful sidekick, on screen and off, his Jack Russell terrier.
The dog (Uggie) deserves credit here. Obviously raised on "The Awful Truth" and "The Thin Man," he puts shame to the digital Snowy of the upcoming "The Adventures of Tintin."
But the good times are soon to end: The Talkies are coming. When sound movies arrive, Valentin finds himself squeezed out of the business that so recently championed him. (The particular reason for Valentin's inadaptability is revealed later.)
Kinograph Studios head Al Zimmer (John Goodman, robbed of his booming voice but not of his character-filled face) is quickly transitioning to talkies and a new bevy of stars. Among them is Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), an upstart whose rise Valentin aided.
Valentin's fall is greased not just by irrelevancy but by the stock market crash and ego, (he self-finances an extravagant, belated silent film). Nearly destitute, he has little left besides his dog and his loyal chauffer (James Cromwell).
Miller, always quietly enamored with Valentin, ascends to stardom. Her "Beauty Spot," released on the same day as Valentin's "Tears of Love," draws lines around the block. That their paths will finally align is of little surprise in Hazanavicius' smart if predictable script.
Naturally, the image is the supreme element in a silent film (and a talkie, too, but that's another story). But "The Artist" is disappointing staid visually. Though it's remarkably true in style and production (design by Laurence Bennett), it doesn't bear the visual flare that perhaps it should.
Instead, "The Artist" is propelled by its performances, particularly Dujardin's. He has an exquisite elegance, and builds a whole movie with only his gestures. It's impossible to imagine "The Artist" without him, the wellspring of its charm.
But it doesn't take a masterpiece to remind us of the power of silent films. It most succeeds in this mission, an altogether welcome whisper of "Don't forget."
The most moving shots in "The Artist" are of audiences in the grip of a movie, whether silent or not. Hazanavicius captures moviegoers collectively on their edge of their seats, reacting in worry or laughter. It's this romance for the movies ? and the melancholy wistfulness for the silent era ? that makes "The Artist" affecting, urging us to remember the simple, captivating beauty of moving images in a theater.
"The Artist," a Weinstein Company release, is rated PG-13 for a disturbing image and a crude gesture. Running time: 100 minutes. Three stars out of four.
___
Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:
G ? General audiences. All ages admitted.
PG ? Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG-13 ? Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
R ? Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
NC-17 ? No one under 17 admitted.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
US general warns of al-Qaida as troops exit Iraq (AP)
BAGHDAD ? The top American general in Iraq said Monday that al-Qaida and other insurgent groups might seek to step up operations after U.S. forces leave at the end of the year.
Gen. Lloyd Austin also told reporters in Baghdad that while he expected "turbulence," he did not see the situation completely disintegrating. He noted that security did not collapse after U.S. forces pulled out of Iraqi cities in 2009.
"As we leave, you can expect to see some turbulence in security initially, and that's because you'll see various elements try to increase their freedom of movement and freedom of action. Al-Qaida will be one of those elements," Austin said.
The capabilities of al-Qaida in Iraq have deteriorated greatly since the height of the insurgency in 2004-2007 when the organization essentially controlled cities such as Fallujah and regularly carried out large-scale suicide attacks with seeming impunity.
But the organization is still able to carry out deadly, sometimes sophisticated attacks. While they originally targeted American troops, now their focus is mainly the Iraqi government and security forces, along with Shiite mosques or Shiite neighborhoods.
Austin also highlighted the risk that Shiite militias, which have so far mostly attacked American forces, will pose to the Iraqi government once U.S. forces have left. He warned that they could become the equivalent of Lebanon's powerful, Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement.
"I think the Iraqi government has to treat them based upon what they really are. These are elements that are really focused on creating a Lebanese Hezbollah kind of organization in this country. A government within a government, and those elements would have their own militia," he said.
The U.S. says that Shiite-majority Iran has cultivated ties with many Iraqi Shiite militias, as it has with Hezbollah. Austin nonetheless played down concerns that Iraq would fall under Iran's sphere of influence.
"I think at the end of the day, the Iraqis will do what's best for Iraq, and I think they will make their own decisions," said Austin.
He acknowledged he is concerned about the threat Shiite militias, supported by Iran, will pose to American diplomats who will remain in the country. Even after American forces leave Iraq, the U.S. will have a massive American diplomatic presence in the country.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be the largest in the world, and the State Department will have offices in the northern cities of Irbil and Kirkuk and in the southern oil city of Basra.
Austin highlighted other problems that Iraq's military faces, saying it does not yet have the ability to protect the country's borders.
Iraq's top general has also said his forces will not be able to protect their own borders until at least 2020.
"I don't think they have very much of a capability at all to address an external threat," Austin said.
The Iraqis have been bolstering their capability for conventional warfare with purchases of American tanks, howitzers and other armaments, and Baghdad has said that it would like to purchase as many as 36 F-16 fighter jets. But for the most part, the Iraqi security forces have been focused on fighting the insurgency that has raged inside the country almost since Saddam Hussein was ousted.
All American forces must be out of Iraq by the end of this year according to a security agreement signed by the U.S. and Iraq in 2008. Austin said there are just under 20,000 troops and eight American bases left in the country as the military rapidly packs up its equipment and people, down from 170,000 at the height of the deployment.
The U.S. and Iraq negotiated for months this year about extending the American troop presence in Iraq. They were never able to come to an agreement over what type of legal protections to give those forces, however, and the Americans had to stick to their original withdrawal deadline.
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