Athlete & other: June 2008

Friday, 27 June 2008

Sigourney Weaver - Hollywood Mourns Special-effects Star Winston

Stars including SIGOURNEY WEAVER, JON FAVREAU, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER and STEVEN SPIELBERG gathered at the funeral of special effects guru STAN WINSTON, following his death from cancer.

The Oscar-winning visual effects artist died at his home in Malibu, California on 15 June (08), aged 62.

Winston won Oscars for his work in Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park.

He also created notable visual effects for hit films including Predator, Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns.

His most recent work can be seen in summer (08) blockbusters Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Friends, relatives and showbusiness associates all gathered to pay their respects to Winston at a memorial service on Sunday (22Jun08) in Los Angeles.

Legendary director Spielberg led the afternoon's tributes, telling the gathering, "What Stan did is that he took our dreams - he took all of our dreams - and he blended them with his own dreams.

"He then workshopped those dreams with pencil, clay and later years on the computer. He would basically give life to all of our ideas. He would make them come to life."

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Thursday, 19 June 2008

Two Davids to do battle on "American Idol" finale

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A baby-faced high school student likened to an old-fashioned crooner and a scruffy bartender who sings alternative rock music will compete in next week's season finale of U.S. television's "American Idol."

Guitar-playing rocker David Cook, 25, and 17-year-old piano balladeer David Archuleta beat out the final female contestant, Syesha Mercado, 21, after voting was revealed on Wednesday's broadcast of the most popular U.S. television show.

"After 56 million votes, America has decided that the two people going head-to-head in our finale next week are David Archuleta and ... David Cook," the show's host Ryan Seacrest said during the live broadcast, sending Mercado home.

On Tuesday, each contestant had to perform three songs -- one picked by a judge, one chosen by the performer and one selected by the show's producers.

Throughout the seventh season, the two Davids have been favorites among the show's judges and pundits, while Mercado came close to elimination on several occasions.

More than once, judges suggested she was more likely to make it big singing on Broadway than as a pop star. Still, her performances impressed them increasingly in recent weeks until Tuesday, when they said she struggled.

Her rendition of Peggy Lee's "Fever" on Tuesday was drubbed by no nonsense "Idol" judge Simon Cowell as "a lame cabaret performance."

But as she was voted off the hit show on Wednesday Mercado remained gracious, saying to her fans, "I just want to say thank you" before singing on "Idol" for the last time -- performing the Alicia Keys hit "If I Ain't Got You."

Thursday, 12 June 2008

Maximo Park Help Launch 'Rock Band' Competition

Maximo Park have joined Microsoft in a search for the best European rock band.

The competition, which will be judged by Maximo Park and MTV, began this weekend in Ibiza and will travel to the UK, Germany and France in it's search for a winner.

Singer Paul Smith said of the competition, "All the best rock bands have got amazing star quality and whilst they've got to play their instruments well, they've also got to have the showmanship to excite a crowd."

"From outrageous outfits and haircuts, to amazing postural performances, we are looking for a group who give us all of this and more on top!"

Entrants in the tournament, named Xbox 360 Presents Rock Band Live, will be required to perform tracks by artists such as Radiohead, The Clash and David Bowie, amongst others.

The winners will recieve a weeks holiday at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel with a full VIP lifestyle.

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