84389 items (0 unread) in 24 feeds
Related tags: auto [+], Theft [+], Old [+], dames [+], opry [+], opening [+], ole [+], mgm [+], bombay [+], Stone [+], Simpson [+], Rose [+], Patridge [+], Party [+], Kim [+], Jessica [+], Central [+], Audrina [+]
Earning some extra cash to help fund her new house, Audrina Patridge worked her stuff while hosting a Bombay Sapphire event at the Wet Republic pool at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday (September 27).
The MTV reality starlet strapped on her sexy black swimsuit, having fun at the 53,000-square-foot ultra pool while hanging with her sister, Casey, as DJ Shift worked the turntables.
Sure, she’s no stranger to bad reviews and negative performance press, but that’s not stopping Jessica Simpson from having a go at the world of country music.
And over the weekend, the “Come On Over” songstress was in Nashville, Tennessee for a well-received performance at country music Mecca the Grand Ole Opry.
A campaign official for Virginia's Lieutenant Governor cancelled an order for 150 tourist guides on Minneapolis-St. Paul when she discovered they included a section on gay and lesbian nightclubs. "'Having a section dedicated solely to GLBT will be a BIG problem for many of our folks. We simply can't hand them out,' wrote the aide, Melissa Busse, in an email to the guidebook publisher, Rake Publishing." However, all those God-fearing Republicans stumbling into town had Twin City's gay clubs overflowing with out-of-towners.
"'We've had quite a spike, mostly people who are curious come down and they wind up leaving and having a good time,' said Robert Parker, the manager of the Gay 90's club in downtown Minneapolis which features a popular 'drag queen' show. 'Mississippi, Alabama, California, Arizona, I've seen people from all over,' said Parker."
As for the Virginians and the tourist guides they refused to collect, Parker says, "Shame on them. [The club] is all about inclusiveness, including everybody no matter who and what you are, and I think if perhaps Republicans come and see that and they would come in and see that the world could be that way, and they may learn something."
"In a statement, Virginia Lt. Gov Bolling said he was sorry the cancellation occurred 'and wish it had not happened.' He said the delegation would reimburse the publisher for his costs." [ABC News]
This is an absolute nightmare scenario for video game manufacturers, who must now be thanking their Pagan gods that it didn't happen in the US: a teenager in Bangkok murdered a taxi cab driver in an attempt to reenact a scene from Grand Theft Auto. As a result, the distributor has halted sales of the game throughout all of Thailand, which is a wise PR move despite being (objectively) an overreaction. The details of the crime seem to confirm the worst fears of all anti-video game crusaders: a good kid led astray, and willing to do anything to get his fix of violence:
Polwat Chino, described by his parents as polite and diligent, was arrested late on Saturday after he was found trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the severely wounded driver in the back seat, according to local newspaper reports.
He had paid to play the game at a local shop in Bangkok, and said he had needed more cash to continue playing it and that the taxi driver looked like an easy target.
Not only was the killer inspired by the game's violence; he committed murder in order to get more money to play the game. The incident makes GTA look like a mix of the worst elements of trashy media and crack cocaine. Rockstar, which makes the game, hasn't commented, but they'll have to do something serious. The day this happens in America is the day video game content regulation becomes a reality.
[Times UK]
If you didn't have the 500 or so free hours necessary to explore the virtual architecture of the NYC doppelganger "Liberty City" in the latest version of Grand Theft Auto, here's the quickest way to do it: by helicopter. After the jump, a video of a virtual helicopter tour of the artfully rendered version of Manhattan—you can see the Chrysler's building spire from above. At the end, the chopper's passenger ends up in the river:
Freefall (GTA IV) from VIP3Rz on Vimeo.
[Vimeo via Digital Urban]
The latest list up at McSweeney's: "Good Advice From a Grand Theft Auto Dating FAQ." I'd tell you if it was funny or not, but I haven't played the game! [McSweeney's]
In the harbor of Grand Theft Auto's Liberty City, there's a statue. It differs from the Statue of Liberty in New York in two respects: the landmark's name is the Statue of Happiness; and it contains at its heart... a beating heart, chained to the exterior walls. The makers of Rockstar's hit game are twisted—and brilliant. (More pictures at Games Radar.)
I wish Stomp disappeared a few years ago so we could be ironically nostalgic about it by now, like the Spice Girls, Ninja Turtles, and Taft. But instead it's still around so everyone knows it kinda sucks but everyone also likes it as a guilty pleasure (right guys? right?). Because then I could just link to the Stomp-like animation "Play" by Cookie Dough Records. But because I need to cut that with some irony, here's Grand Theft Auto IV's version of Stomp, "Banging Trash Can Lids For An Hour." The animated ad is embedded below.
By the way, the whole promotional site for GTA4 is a fun little world parodying New York, much like the game, which Slate credits for its "narrative richness."
"A... thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun. It... sets a new standard for what is possible in interactive arts... I will happily spend untold hours cruising Liberty City’s bridges and byways, hitting the clubs, grooving to the radio and running from the cops. Even when the real New York City is right outside." [Times]
A gamer with an early copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, the videogame set in a hyper-realistic version of New York City, has already tried out the one new feature we were most intrigued by. Niko Belic, the hot Serbian immigrant at the center of Rockstar's videogame, can now stumble around intoxicated, and make drunken booty calls. View a clip by clicking the thumb; the longer gameplay is at Gametrailers.com. And here, if you missed them, are screenshots of Liberty City, the alternate New York City in which the fifth borough is not Staten Island but an industrial wasteland loosely based on New Jersey.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The Liberty City of Rockstar's crime-celebrating Playstation game, Grand Theft Auto, was always based on New York. In the videogame's fourth outing next week, the city is much more fully realized—but intriguingly off-kilter. For example, Liberty City (like the metropolis upon which it is modelled) has five boroughs. Broker is the equivalent of Brooklyn, Queens is Dukes, the Bronx is Bohan and Manhattan is Algonquin. And the fifth? Staten Island was too dull, so the makers of Grand Theft Auto have annexed New Jersey, renamed Alderney. (Both Jersey and Alderney are islands in the English Channel.) As you can see from these screenshots from the game below, Liberty City is recognizable, but altered, disturbingly. Of course, the screenshots we want are from the live gameplay. The central character of Grand Theft Auto, a tough immigrant called Niko Belic, has in this latest version of the game the ability to perform new actions, such as calling women for dates. He can also become intoxicated, causing him "to stumble and the camera to blur and bounce about". Any GTA fans: please send video of a drunk Niko on the equivalent of the Lower East Side. After the jump, spot the differences between the real New York, and Grand Theft Auto's vision of the city.
Scottsdale, Arizona is the place to be this weekend. The Super Bowl being played there tomorrow, and there has been a massive influx of celebrity presence as a result. The new nightclub Stone Rose opened last night at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, and it looks to be top-notch across the board.
Stars like Kim Kardashian were on hand to welcome Rande Gerber’s latest creation into existence. The “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star was looking fine in a blue satin dress as she flirted with her boy Reggie Bush.
A strange sight at Grand Central. A couple of hundred people, indistinguishable from the 500,000 commuters who pass through the midtown station each day, suddenly freeze. They were part of an improv group which has put on this public event before, but never in such a theatrical space. A cop was asked what was going on: "I have no idea! That is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life, and I'm a cop!" (Click play to start the clip.)
