American Idol on iTunes
The biggest American reality show on TV has finally joined the iTunes platform. Fox Broadcasting, Fox Interactive Media and FremantleMedia signed an exclusive deal with Apple to bring American Idol audio and video performances to iTunes as single song-sized snippets available the day after they premiere on air.
Audio performances of the top 24 contenders run 99¢ per song, and videos of the top 12 finalists performances will be priced $1.99/each from March 11.
Apple will also become one of the show’s premiere sponsors and maintain a branded presence on AmericanIdol.com, where some free streaming performances can be seen.
Frozen New York Stunt Confuses Grand Central Station
On a cold Saturday morning in January, a flash mob of Improv Everywhere Agents descended on New York City’s Grand Central train station and left the entire concourse in a state of complete confusion.
Flash Mob - a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief period of time, then quickly disperse.
What did they do that had everyone so confused? This flash mob of 200+ people suddenly froze in place at the exact same second for 5 minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. The frozen poses ranged from people tying their shoes and eating to someone who just dropped a stack of papers. Everyone from tourists to cops stopped in amazement to try to figure out what was happening around them.
My favorite part is the guy trying to drive his garbage cart. He sounds like such a baby when he gets on his radio to call for help.
{Beep} {Beep} {Beep}
“My cart is stuck. People are standing still.
{Sob}
“I need help.”
If the video above doesn’t load, you can view it here.
MySpace’s Tila Tequila Gets MTV Show
MTV’s latest reality show - A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila - is built around the dishy, scantily clad singer/model who is reputed to have the most friends in the history of MySpace (2,009,335 at last count).
Tila’s career began at the age of 18 when she was discovered at a shopping mall by a Playboy scout and was offered a chance to model nude for the magazine and did a test shoot. Tila was featured as Playboy’s Cyber Girl of the week on April 22, 2002, and a couple weeks later became Playboy’s first Asian Cyber Girl of the Month.
Besides MySpace and Playboy, Tila is also known for her photo spreads in Stuff, Maxim, and her role as host of the popular Fuse TV show Pants-Off Dance-Off.
MTV ordered 10-episodes of Tila’s elimination-format dating show. It’s slated to premiere on October 9th on MTV (USA).
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Largest Hand in the World
Lui Hua can’t play video games or the guitar… at least not yet. Why? He suffers from a rare condition known as macrodactyly. When he was hospitalized in Shanghai last month, his left thumb measured 10.2 inches and his index finger measured close to 12.
From The Shanghai Daily:
“It was the biggest hand in the world,” said Chen Zuliang, a hospital official. “Liu’s fingers stopped growing in recent years so plastic surgery was at last possible to correct the malformation.”
On July 20 surgeons undertook a seven-hour operation to reduce the size of Liu’s fingers and thumb. Doctors removed 11 pounds of flesh and bone in the procedure. A second surgery is scheduled to take place. Enlarged limbs can be caused by a number of medical conditions. Lymphedema is perhaps the most common cause and results in some extraordinarily enlarged limbs.
If Lui Hua had a reality TV show, I’d watch.
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Internet Video Contest Gives American Idol Hopeful an Edge
Can an Asian-American ever hold the American Idol title? Paul Ethan Hahn says a resounding “yes” and Internet video might be his Ace in the Hole.
Paul grew up in Murray Hill, New Jersey and has always been a big country fan. He also loves the hit FOX-TV program American Idol. And if Paul has his way, he’ll be the first Asian country singer on American Idol.
“I wanna make Paula Abdul cry and show that jerk off Simon how to sing. I want to be the next American Idol!” Paul quips.
This week, Paul Hahn entered an online FOX 29 Philly Idol contest and hopes that a hi-tech edge will help him bypass the massive lines outside the first round of judges.
FOX 29 posted an open American Idol audition on their website. The winner gets to perform live on Fox’s morning show, Good Day Philadelphia, and gets to bypass the first round of judges at the open American Idol Philadelphia auditions later this month. To enter, all you had to do was upload a video of you singing.
Paul recorded his American Idol demo using his Apple MacBook Pro laptop, with a built in iSight camera, and the video editing program iMovie.
“It was so easy,” says Paul. “I just opened iMovie, recorded about a minute sample of my singing, burned a DVD and threw it into the mail. The whole process only took about 10 minutes.”
Since Idol’s first season, we’ve seen Kelly Clarkson belt out high notes, a plethora of Sanjaya hairstyles, and even a contestant who went on to win an Oscar. But we haven’t seen any serious Asian-American contestants get a real shot at the Idol crown (sorry but William Hung doesn’t count).
Will Paul’s dream of telling off Simon and getting to sing a country song on American Idol come true? Can Internet video voting give this American Idol hopeful a back door to stardom? That’s in the hands of you, the voters.
You can watch and vote for all the top 10 Philadelphia contestants, including Paul Hahn, on FOX 29’s web site: http://media.myfoxphilly.com/idol/idolvote.html. The top 5 get to perform live on FOX 29’s morning show Good Day Philadelphia and the winner gets to bypass the massive lines at the Philadelphia open auditions for season 7.
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Criss Angel Escapes from Cement Box
If you walked through Times Square this past Tuesday, then you probably noticed American magician Criss Angel suspended in midair. Angel was enclosed for 24 hours in a clear box that was encased in cement as fans and reporters watched. The box was then hoisted 40 feet above the ground in a parking lot just off Times Square.
Hundreds gathered to watch his escape, and a big screen showed Angel inside the box, kicking at the walls and dejectedly holding his head in his hands. When a countdown clock hit zero, the box was sent plunging to the ground.
As organizers called for paramedics and fans went quiet, Angel appeared atop the screen’s nearby scaffolding, waving to the crowd and with his hand across his heart.
While much of the crowd cheered, several people were heard asking: “Was he actually in the box?”
“Well, I was in it when I fell — that’s the truth,” Angel told Reuters, adding that people should be asking how he got from the fallen box to the scaffolding.
The stunt was meant to draw attention to the third season of his show “Mindfreak,” which started airing on A&E this week. Angel said the first episode would reveal how he escaped.
[Source: Hollywood Reporter]
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Age of Love - Details Announced
American broadcast network, NBC, has removed the shroud of secrecy around their new controversial reality dating series called Age of Love.
The series centers on Melbourne tennis champion Mark Philippoussis (age 31) as he’s wooed by a group of 13 special ladies. What Philippoussis doesn’t know is that these women range in age from 21 to 48. Will he go for one of the younger gals (Kittens), or will he become smitten by someone more mature (Cougars)?
Age of Love’s “Kittens” will feature six young, enthusiastic women in their 20’s who could probably better keep-up with Philippoussis’ fast-paced lifestyle, while the “Cougars” will consist of seven women in their 40’s who are more sophisticated and thus probably better equipped to deal with his fame as a tennis pro.
Similar to the manner in which the “geek versus hunks” twists on NBC’s Average Joe reality dating shows played out, Philippoussis will initially be introduced to his older “Cougars” suitors. Later, he will learn that the younger “Kittens” — who will also initially be unaware of the “Cougars” and vice versa — will also be attempting to vie for his affection.
Once the “Cougars” meet the “Kittens,” the claws come out and all the bachelorettes will try to win him over. From there, the field of suitors will be narrowed until Philippoussis picks his final bachelorette.
I guess “Age of Love” just sounds better than “Primetime Catfight,” though I would argue the latter is a more fitting title.
Age of Love premieres on Monday, June 18 at 10PM ET. You can see a preview clip of Age of Love on Vmix.com or get more info about the show at nbc.com.
[Via TV Squad]
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The Real Wedding Crashers
Like pulling pranks on your friends? What about at your own wedding? American broadcast network, NBC, has a new reality TV series called The Real Wedding Crashers.
Inspired by the feature film Wedding Crashers (Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken), the premise of the show is simple. Wedding couples team up with five crashers to create the most awkward and uncomfortable wedding weekend possible.
The crash team consists of five improvisational performers who pretend to be various people in the wedding such as the pastor, the wedding planner, a waiter, a long lost friend, a tailor, and even an exterminator. The bride and groom are in on the fun as they assist the crashers in pulling pranks on their guests. Why would they do such a thing? Attended enough weddings in your lifetime and they all will start to blend together. Hopefully a “crashed” wedding will be one you will always remember.
I’m actually pretty excited to see this show. It premieres sometime in April (2007) on NBC.
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