Archive | Entertainment

Tags: , , , , , , ,

30+ Awesome Sites for Streaming Music

Posted on 11 July 2008 by Alex

Recently we brought you a list of free & legal music downloads, but we understand that not everyone wants to eat up space on their hard drive or MP3 player.  So we’ve compiled a list of 30+ awesome streaming music sites we know you’ll enjoy.

Whether you’re interested in general streaming music, mixtapes, music discovery, or more, the Internet offers a plethora of streaming music services. Tell us which are your favorites.

General Streaming

musicmesh-screen

AH.fm - Streaming techno and dance music, as well as a forum for you to discuss with other fans.

AmazingTunes.com - Search for artists you want to hear or choose from a list of stations. Has a pop out player so you can listen as you browse other sites on the Web.

AOL Radio - Powered by CBS Radio, AOL Radio brings you talk, streaming music and actual radio stations.

Deezer.com - Part social network, all music.  The site allows you to listen to free streaming music, build your own playlists, share them with friends and even embed music on other sites.
DI.fm - Digitally Imported specializes in streaming electronic and dance music from all around the globe.  Also offers premium upgrades for higher bit rates.

Free.Napster.com - Free streaming music from Napster that includes full albums.

Grooveshark.com - Build your own playlist, as you go along, save it, and you can listen to it again in the future.  Also suggests similar songs and more.

iLike.com - Features a mixture of full songs and samples that you can listen to. An extremely popular app on many social networks.

iTunes - While not a Web application, the vast majority of us have it already installed on our systems.  Just click on the “Radio” link and listen to different Internet radio stations from all over the world.

Last.fm - Last.fm follows what you listen to and then makes suggestions of what else you may like, or you can also just dive right in, listening to whatever you feel like.

Live365.com - A mixture of free stations and ones only available to VIP subscribers, it covers just about every genre of music you can think of.

Magnatune.com - A home for independent artists where you can either stream their albums, or buy them by naming your price, starting at $5.00.

MikesRadioWorld.com - A guide to over 5,000 streaming radio stations from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

MP3.com - Stream the music, or download it free.  Lets you jump around choosing the tunes you want to hear.

MusicMesh.net - Start with one album, listen to it in its entirety or just one track, and then check out other artists and albums that are of a similar vein.

RadioTime.com - Collects streams from radio stations from all over, putting them in one easy to use directory.

Real Player - Download Real Player and then play free music via their Rhapsody service.

SHOUTcast.com - Using a program such as Winamp, choose the radio station of your choice from around the world, and “Tune In”.

Slacker.com - Listen to their pre-built stations, or start building one of your own.

Streampad.com - Search for music to listen to, or point it directly to a page you want to listen to, including podcasts.

TheSixtyOne.com - Streams music and then allows you to purchase the tracks via Amazon.com’s MP3 store.  Site also has social aspects allowing users to “bump” songs up playlists as well as make leaderboards by building their own playlists.

Yahoo Music - Only works with Internet Explorer (still), but streams music from artists or by station.

Mix Tapes

mixwit-screen
MeeMix.com - Start exploring your favorite music and similar artists, create your own station and then share it with your friends.

Mixwit.com - Like Muxtape, you can create and listen to “mix tapes” and then share them with friends.

Muxtape.com - Not your typical streaming site as users make up their own “mix tapes” of up to 12 songs, and then share them with anyone.

Spinjay.com - Create playlists and have people vote on them to make you a popular “DJ”, or simply browse through the existing ones and listen.

Music Discovery

    musicovery

Blip.fm -A “Twitter” for music that lets you tell others what you are listening to and embeds the music in your post, making an ever growing playlist by following the main timeline of the site.  Check out the Mashable Conversations interview with Gavin Hayes, lead singer of Dredg, we did a while back about the site.

Finetune.com - As you find music you like, you can add it to a playlist which you can then embed in your site.

Musicovery.com - Name your “mood” and Musicovery starts playing music based on that.  It then follows a progression based on your votes for the song, or you can jump around on the other suggestions on the screen.

Pandora.com - Many people were depressed when Pandora had to shut down its non-U.S. streams, but the site lives on.  Enter the name of a song or artist you like, the site analyzes it, and builds a channel on that style of music.

Soundpedia.com - Similar to Pandora in that you start with artist and then it builds a station based on that style/genre of music.

Music Search

    dizzler

webdivx.com - Search for  music, video ,image,file,wallpaper and more.

Dizzler.com - Search for streaming music, radio stations, video and more.

Jiwa.fm - Search for music you like and Jiwa will search for streams of it.

SeeqPod.com - Even though its legality has been called into question, Seeqpod allows you to search the Internet for publicly available MP3s for you to listen to.

Skreemr.com - Like SeeqPod, Skreemr allows you to search for all of those allusive tracks you’d rather just listen to then admit you have them on your iPod.

Comments (0)

Tags: , , , ,

Discover New Music with Muxtape Stumbler

Posted on 11 July 2008 by Alex

picture-41.png

Remember Muxtape, that painfully simple yet really effective way of creating online mixtapes, err…muxtapes? I thought it would only appeal for us melancholy types who still can’t get over the wonderful era of cassette tapes, but it caught on; there are many thousands of muxtapes available right now, and a couple of interesting applications grew from the concept.

One of these is Muxtape Stumbler, which allows you to find muxtapes according to artist or track. The former, unlike the latter, will yield results which don’t necessary contain the artist you’ve searched for. It doesn’t seem like much, but try it out: I swear it’s the best way to discover new music right now.

Besides the search function, Muxtape Stumber also maintains a list of top artists, top tracks and top artist searches featured on the service. It’s fun; the only problem, unfortunately, is that RIAA will probably eventually find out about it.

For alternative ways to search Muxtape see MuxFind, a straightforward but also effective search engine.

Comments (0)

Tags: , ,

Exclusive: MeeMix Gives Customization and Widgets to Musicians

Posted on 26 June 2008 by Alex

meemix logo

MeeMix, internet radio site somewhat similar to Pandora, lets you quickly find new music you like. It goes one step further than Pandora, though, and lets you create custom stations which can be shared with other users within the MeeMix network. Also, unlike Pandora, it currently works outside of the US, which might turn out to be a killer feature as many Pandora fans have been left high and dry because of licensing issues.

MeeMix will also start giving artists a chance to customize their personal MeeMix page. They will be able upload their music to the site themselves, create their own profile as well as widgets (which will work on social networking sites such as MySpace) with various stats on their music. In turn, they get notified of new fans and comments, as well as new stations based on their music; they also get statistics about their fanbase.

Obviously, these features are aimed at upcoming artists that’ll probably welcome the possibility to customize their own profile pages and get stats about their listeners.

Here’s how all this sounds in marketingese, courtesy of CEO Gilad Shlang: “We offer a unique opportunity for musicians to connect more broadly with their fan base. Since discovery is a great part of the MeeMix experience, we want artists to reach brand new audiences based on their musical style and sound. Let the music come to potential fans rather than having fans search for music.

*Update: the artist registration just went live and can be accessed here.

meemix player

Comments (0)

Tags: ,

Disney XD Introduces Weekly Movie Streams

Posted on 12 June 2008 by Alex

Disney, the media and theme park giant responsible for franchising all manner of things real and animated, announced today an expansion of its media offerings on its Xtreme Digital (XD) online network. In conjunction with its 2008 summer movie broadcast schedule for its ABC television network, Disney has introduced a staged rollout of full-length movie streams to Web viewers following their original showing on the Wonderful World of Disney on Saturday nights.

The company is currently displaying “Finding Nemo,” with “Monsters Inc.,” “Haunted Mansion,” “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,” “Princess Diaries 2,” “Freaky Friday,” and “Peter Pan” to follow on successive weeks. While ABC networks are said to only show movies on Saturday nights, visitors to the XD website will be given the opportunity to view the abovementioned weekly picks on demand the full week after they’re aired, Monday through Friday.

Disney XD, part of the Disney Online division, has, since its debut last May, been conditioned rather well to provide a sizable amount of entertainment for its users. It hosts everything from video clips to games to kid-friendly networking. And this week’s debut of free film streams will likely only add to its allure for the increasingly Web-connected Disney fan club.(The company is also well invested in Club Penguin, a child-oriented virtual networking environment which it purchased in 2007 to the tune of $700 million.)

With young children up to teen age spending more and more time online, building digital characters, playing virtual house, and spending a good amount of parental dollars, there’s definite reason to build greater value into its website. And with movies making up a substantial segment of Disney’s annual revenue stream, it seems only sensible that the company introduce its catalogue to Web viewers, particularly in an environment which packs so many additional functions and services as XD. Movies are just one more piece of the puzzle to get and maintain hold of visitors’ attention.

Of course, Disney isn’t making available with one-click access all of its DVD lineup. It’s only presenting a single movie per week, which is replaced by another as each Monday of the season-specific Wonderful World of Disney event rolls around. But the company’s attempt to fix its release of content to the Web to a schedule may allow XD to maintain a sort of consistency throughout the summer that it can keep long past the departure of WWD broadcasts.

Comments (0)

Tags: ,

Tom Cruise launches Web site

Posted on 01 June 2008 by Alex

Tom Cruise has launched a Web site devoted to himself: http://www.TomCruise.com.

Many stars have their own sites for fans, but Cruise’s belated entry to the Internet is of particular interest.

Few stars have seen themselves pilloried more on the Web than Cruise, who has watched numerous embarrassing moments ricochet around the Internet at warp speed. Who can forget watching the clips of Cruise appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” way back in June 2005, in the early days of Web 2.0?

The event _ the beginning of Cruise’s publicity crisis _ is alluded to on the new site, which links to his recent interview with Winfrey. Sitting at his Telluride, Colo., home, the talk show host refers to it as “the sofa incident.”

More than that, though, videos of Cruise speaking passionately about Scientology became viral hits earlier this year, prompting many parodies, including one by actor Jerry O’Connell.

So it makes sense that Cruise might want to protect his brand a little bit by using the great powers of the Internet. The site is in many ways standard for a celebrity. Among the features are a “message from Tom,” a glowing biography and handsome photographs.

The actor explains: “I created this site as a thank you, to you, for sharing the journey with me and to invite you to continue to explore what the future will bring.”

The occasion for his reflection is the 25th anniversary of “Risky Business,” his first starring role and the one that immediately made him a star. Posted for streaming is a video edited by the Museum of the Moving Image looking back on Cruise’s career.

“My hope with this site is to bring you in and share with you the fun I experience every day during the filmmaking process, from working with the script, to the making of the film through to what we finally see when we settle in our seats and the lights go down,” writes Cruise.

If Cruise really does this _ if he uses his Web site like a filmmaking journal _ it could be a delightful and illuminating perspective on what it’s like for a true megastar to make a movie. More likely, though, is infrequent postings and a less intimate perspective.

After all, even Cruise himself says he’s now more guarded after so much criticism over his religion and personal beliefs.

“When I’m dealing with my humanitarian issues, I’ll talk about my humanitarian issues,” Cruise told Winfrey. “And when I’m promoting a film, I’m just going to promote the film. And that’s just the way it’s going to be.”

His next starring role is as a World War II German officer in “Valkyrie.” Its release was recently pushed back four months until Feb. 13, 2009, which many read as a bad sign for the film. The buzz has been much better for a cameo he makes in the upcoming Ben Stiller comedy “Tropic Thunder.”

___

Comments (0)

Tags: ,

Beijing Welcomes You 北京欢迎你

Posted on 13 May 2008 by Alex

Beijing Welcomes You 北京欢迎你

 

JJ林俊傑 [ 相信愛 ] MV 群星合唱 (奧運歌曲)

JJ 林俊傑 范冰冰 合唱 [ 萬山之巔 ] @ 奧運倒計時100天

奧運倒數100天主題曲 - 北京歡迎你(孫燕姿超低音惡搞)

 

Comments (0)

Tags: , , , , ,

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (2008)

Posted on 13 May 2008 by Alex

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL FACTS

Harrison Ford returns as the iconic adventurer who picks up a new sidekick (Shia La Beouf) and an old flame (Karen Allen) for this ride.

Status Upcoming (wide)

Genre(s) Action/Adventure

Release Date May 22, 2008

Comments (0)

Tags: , , ,

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

Posted on 13 May 2008 by Alex

THE DARK KNIGHT FACTS

Gotham City is under siege once again and it’s time for Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) to put on his bat-costume and do battle with two evil enemies: the nefarious Joker (Heath Ledger) and district-attorney-turned-villain Two Face (Aaron Eckhart).

Status Upcoming (wide)

Genre(s) Action/Adventure

Release Date July 18, 2008

Comments (0)

Tags: , ,

IRON MAN (2008)

Posted on 13 May 2008 by Alex

IRON MAN FACTS

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a billionaire industrialist whose forte is building weapons of mass destruction. When he’s severely injured while testing one of those weapons in Afghanistan, he’s kidnapped by insurgents and has to build a suit of iron armor to escape his captors. After returning to the U.S., Stark refines his iron creation and transforms himself into a flying metallic repulsor-ray-firing superhero. When his biggest business rival, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), gets his hands on Stark’s original plans, he creates an even bigger iron adversary to defeat Stark once and for all.

Status In theaters (wide)

Genre(s) Action/Adventure

Release Date May 2, 2008

Running Time 126 minutes

MPAA Rating PG-13 - for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content

OUR REVIEW

by Dave White

Who’s in It: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard

The Basics: A conscience-free war profiteer (Mr. Downey Jr. — think a younger, hornier, more quick-witted Dick Cheney) realizes the error of his ways after getting a taste of his own brutality and develops a supersuit that will restore justice and peace to the world. Of course, there are people who want to stop him …

What’s the Deal? You probably know that, last summer, I was really into Transformers and how post-talented Michael Bay was and that it didn’t matter that nothing made sense and who cared anyway because it was about giant fighting robots. And I still feel that way. But this film, about a giant fighting guy dressed up in a superpowered robot suit, is better, faster and stronger than that other one because he’s someone you’re genuinely pulling for instead of just cheering on the destruction of it all. That probably marks me as sentimental and weak, but whatever.

Walking the Line: Superhero movies often seem to take place in eras that are out of their time or too much in their time. Some things will appear modern, some things won’t, Tobey Maguire will speak in this odd, gee-whiz manner, Jack Nicholson’s Joker will be very self-consciously ’80s-cool and wind up looking dated. This one’s modern and funny — “now” but not frozen-in-2008 hip. It gets its tone just right.

Casting Wins: Well first, the great news is that Downey Jr. is perfect and seems to be playing a version of himself (talented smartass gets his life pulverized only to rise from the ashes), and Bridges has the perfect shaved head for a bad guy. Only Paltrow continues to annoy. At first, she seems more steel-spined than you’ve ever seen her. And then she wilts. I want about 15 pounds more Barbara Stanwyck in that woman and soon.

CRITICS’ REVIEWS
SOURCE RATING THE GIST
POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR IRON MAN
Chicago Tribune 3½ stars/4 “As big-budget comic book adaptations go, this one’s a gratifying freak …”
Hollywood Reporter N/A “… should catch boxoffice lightning in a bottle, thanks to hiring longtime Marvel Comics reader Jon Favreau as director …”
MSNBC N/A “… a very human heart beats within this souped-up action machine.”
Premiere 3 stars/4 “… a Marvel Comics superhero movie that doesn’t suck.”
Rolling Stone 3½ stars/4 “There’s no rust on this baby.”
USA Today 3 stars/4 “… entertaining and fun …”
Variety N/A “… expansively entertaining special effects extravaganza.”
Village Voice N/A “There’s plenty of CGI to go around, but Favreau uses it, for the most part, to enhance rather than supplant the movie’s physical dimension.”
MIXED REVIEWS FOR IRON MAN
Los Angeles Times N/A “… diverting enough in the comic-book-movie mode, there is one thing it doesn’t have, and that is dramatic unity.”
Washington Post N/A “… the film finally collapses under its own weight.”

Comments (0)

Tags: , , ,

SPEED RACER (2008)

Posted on 13 May 2008 by Alex

SPEED RACER FACTS

Based on the classic children’s cartoon, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a young hotshot race-car driver who has a good support team behind him, including his mom (Susan Sarandon), dad (John Goodman) and girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci). With his powerful race-winning Mach 5 vehicle, Speed angers a ruthless mogul (Roger Allam) who is out to control the world of professional racing by “fixing” the competitions. Teaming up with the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed attempts to win the Crucible cross-country rally and keep the sport he loves honest.

OUR REVIEW

by Dave White

Who’s in It: Emile Hirsh, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox

The Basics: Speed Racer battles capitalism and a huge gang of race-car-driving total cheaters when he takes on the meanest, richest racing tycoon alive and defends the honor of his father, his dead older brother, Rex Racer, and all of the sport of racing by vrooming to the finish line first in the world’s biggest vroom-fest. There’s also a chimp.

What’s the Deal? You know what’s great about being assigned a review of this movie? I could just write “OOGA-BOOGA, OOGA-BOOGA, YOW-YOW-YOW, TRIXIE!” over and over and people would go see this anyway. The other great thing about writing “OOGA-BOOGA, OOGA-BOOGA, YOW-YOW-YOW, TRIXIE!” over and over again is that it would actually be a meaningful analysis of the movie, which is brilliantly, manically, brain-meltingly bizarre, the coolest nonsense you’ll see all year. It’s a win-win for the critic and the audience.

Favorite Part: There’s a big fight scene — and I mean, this is the big fight scene of the whole movie — and the entire thing is accomplished with people leaping into the air and freezing that way in action poses. Seriously. It’s like being art-pranked by someone saying, “OK, this is the idea of fighting. I’m commenting on fighting.” And even though you kind of admire the prank player for his nerve, you still want to punch him in the face.

Other Favorite Parts, Besides All the Scenes With the Chimp, Which Are Usually Automatically My Favorite Part of Any Movie Awesome Enough to Include a Chimp: When the characters are allowed to bend time, leaping from one subplot to another. At other moments, they experience the future in fast-forwardy sequences before returning to the “real” action. Or maybe that future action is really happening in some other dimension? I don’t know.

Net Effect on Your Consciousness: As though you had just drowned in a huge tilt-a-whirling bowl of psychedelic pudding.

CRITICS’ REVIEWS
SOURCE RATING THE GIST
POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR SPEED RACER
Chicago Tribune 3 stars/4 “… as big, blaring blockbusters go, it’s a bit of a hypocrite. It is also self-congratulatory.”
Premiere 3 stars/4 “… if viewed from one angle, the most headache inducing kid’s movie of them all; if viewed from another, it’s the most expensive avant-garde film ever made.”
NEGATIVE REVIEWS FOR SPEED RACER
New York Times N/A “… this movie sets out to honor and refresh a youthful enthusiasm from the past and winds up smothering the fun in self-conscious grandiosity.”
USA Today 1½ stars/4 “… too long for kids to sit still and too frenetic for their parents.”
Village Voice N/A “… a self-consciously tawdry trifle …”
MIXED REVIEWS FOR SPEED RACER
Entertainment Weekly C “Young boys are the only suitable audience …”
Hollywood Reporter N/A “… causes the sensation of being trapped inside a 3-D video game.”
MSNBC N/A “… an ice-cream headache of a movie that just keeps piling on the unnatural colors …”
TV Guide 2 stars/4 “… more irritating because it looks like a Hot Wheels video game or because the brothers seem to think that there’s a powerful family drama humming away beneath the flashing lights and spinning wheels.”
Variety N/A “… a blur of video action painting and very loud sounds notable solely for its technical wizardry. Otherwise, it’s pure cotton candy …”

Comments (0)

Tags: , , , ,

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS (2008)

Posted on 13 May 2008 by Alex


Comments (0)

Advertise Here
Advertise Here

AD