BJP threatens to intensify protests across Karnataka VIDEO

Wide spread protests all over the state by BJP activists erupted on Monday against former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s abuses against chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.



Gowda’s effigies were burnt as BJP leaders demanded that he tender a written apology to the CM, and retire from politics to atone for his shameful outburst.

BJP MLAs in Bangalore, led by Jayanagar MLA MN Vijayakumar, staged a protest at Basaveshwara Circle, while protests in Mysore, near the court complex, turned violent when an advocate objected to it. The BJP activists attacked him and the police had to intervene to rescue the victim.



In Gowda’s backyard of Hassan district, tension prevailed in Arasikere town when JD(S) activists staged a counter protest against the BJP dharna. The situation threatened to turn into a group clash when a miscreant threw a slipper at BJP protesters.

Police immediately swung into action and dispersed the mob.

Protest marches and dharnas were held in Belgaum, Dharwad, Shimoga, Gulbarga and other districts. BJP legislator Prabhakar Kore, condemning Gowda’s diatribe against the CM, said, “Gowdashould be admitted to a mental hospital and banished from politics.”

Labour minister BN Bache Gowda was harsher in his attack against Gowda: “Gowda has lost his mental balance. He should take political sanyas. In the history of the state, no politician has used such derogatory words against a responsible CM. The statewide agitation against him will be intensified.”

HDK threatens to launch retaliatory stir

As the BJP in Karnataka continued its protests against Gowda, JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy threatened to launch a counter agitation against BJP if the protests were not stopped by Tuesday.

Concerned over the protests across the state by BJP, which continued for the second day on Monday, Gowda’s son Kumaraswamy asked the ruling outfit to end the stir against his father or face counter protests by his party. However he disapproved the language his father used against Yeddyurappa on Sunday. “My father has already expressed regrets for it and the party too did so. The issue should end there,” he added.

BJP workers protest Gowdas foul language VIDEO

Straight Talk with Shashi Tharoor (VIDEO)

Devegowda call Yeddyurappa 'bloody bastard' FULL VIDEO

Former prime minister H D Devegowda is at it again. This time around he abused and used filthy language against Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.


IS THIS TRUE?

Vishnuvardhan Died VIDEO

ND Tiwari Scandle Video

ND Tiwari Scandle Video? Is ND Tiwari Scandle true? There are many people who has known about the whole news related to ND Tiwari Scandle. Do you want to watch the whole videos & clips about this very hottest news?

you can read the whole news about ND Tiwari Scandle Video at abn.com






ND Tiwari has caught red handed for sexual acts. In the ND Tiwari Scandle Video the 86-years-old politician having sex with the teenagers in Raj Bhawan has been shown.


Veteran Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari (ND Tiwari) has been forced to step down as Andhra Pradesh Governor post following his alleged involvement in a sex scandal at Hyderabad Raj Bhavan. this act of ND Tiwari is a shame for the nation.

The video clip was aired on very beautiful Christmas morning.

Nd Tiwari Scandal Video

ND TIWARI must be kicked out of Andhra Pradesh but not before he’s being punished.





Earlier, there was another issue which was raised against him. Ujwala Sharma’s son Rohit Shekar had approached the court claiming that he’s the love child of APGovernor ND TIWARI and UJWALA SHARMA. It’s believed that AP Governor ND TIWARI shared an intimate relationship with Ujwala Sharma.

The AP Governor ND Tiwari had accepted the affair between him and Ujwala Sharma but denied Rohit Shekar as his son. Instead N D Tiwari defended himself with a law which strongly supported him. According to the law despite the woman having an extra marital affair, if she’s still leading a family life with her husband has children then they are treated to be the children from her own husband.

ND Tiwari Sex Scandal Video

Governor of Andhra Pradesh Narayan Dutt Tiwari (ND Tiwari) Scandal was rumored today in India.ABN Andhra Jyothi "Telugu News Channel" expose, Andhra Pradesh Governor and Congress veteran N D Tiwari, 85-year-old was found, on Dec 25, 2009, in the middle of an alleged sleazy sex racket whose headquarters are the Raj Bhavan itself.




There are a lot of unfilled gaps in the entire story (e. g. how can Tiwari blackmail them when he himself is in the films), which anyway goes like this. Tiwari, from the channel's story, is allegedly a sex addict who needs nubile young women for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A close friend of Tiwari's from his UP CM days, a certain Radhika, allegedly approached him when he turned AP Governor, for mining licenses at Kadapa.

Andre Agassi on love, hate, life and tennis

In his powerful autobiography, "Open," tennis legend Andre Agassi shows us that the language of tennis is much akin to the language of life -- advantage, service, fault, love. With unflinching honesty, Agassi reveals that his seemingly charmed life as a tennis giant was one he deeply hated. He talks to Oprah.com's Jenn Horton about looking back at his journey, facing his demons and finding empowerment and love through family, philanthropy and even tennis.

Jenn Horton: Tell me a little bit about why you wanted to do the autobiography now and how that choice came to be. Why now? Why at all?

Andre Agassi: I've lived a public life, and I feel like things were said about me, things I said about myself, both good and bad, that were just not accurate.

You can't communicate yourself when you don't know yourself. I spent a lot of my life not knowing myself as a result of the whirlwind that I lived. So when I retired and I started this sort of new life, I really wanted to understand my story. I think if we all looked at ourselves, we would find a lot of contradictions that ultimately haven't been reconciled.

I wanted to understand that narrative. In looking at it, I believed there was real power in it. I really believe that my story will impact so many people I'll never meet and give them the tools to take ownership of their life -- the tools to figure out how to avoid or get through some of the pitfalls I've been through.

I think there are millions of people in marriages they don't want to be in and millions of people that hate what they do [Andre was married to actress Brooke Shields from 1997 to 1999]. I think that if they found inspiration from me going from the number 141 [tennis ranking] in the world to number one and really knew my story, it would be that much more inspirational.

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JH: How did you prepare yourself to be okay with putting it all out there? Were you worried about anyone's reaction?

AA: I worry about reaction, but I'm more interested in people's response. It took me a long time to process my life; I don't expect anyone else to do it through headlines.

Ultimately, I think calmer heads rule the day, and people will read my book in the context of the body of work that it is -- which is my life. Assuming I've done this book the way I hoped to do it, I think this will live a lot longer than me. I think if the downside is a few [negative] reactions, that is a price I'm willing to pay.

JH: The first breaking story out of the book was your use of crystal meth in 1997. But to many fans, the biggest shock was hearing that you hated tennis so deeply, that this life wasn't your choice.

AA: That's why I hated it. Tennis interfered with my relationship with my father, and it interfered with the relationship with myself. I think when somebody doesn't have a choice, they never feel connected to their life. It doesn't matter if they're good at it or not.

As a little boy, I internalized and did what I needed to do because that's what Pops wanted. I got sent away to a tennis academy when I was 13 years old. I called it a glorified prison camp and refer to it as Lord of the Flies with forehands.

It was a bunch of these teenagers raising themselves, deciding the pecking order. It was primal and primitive. I found myself having to play and succeed to get out of there. I was conducting a normal teenage rebellion, and suddenly I'm doing it on the world stage, being labeled and told who I was. I finally was doing what I was supposed to be doing my whole life [playing professional tennis], even though what I was doing, I didn't want to do.

Oprah.com: 11 ways to find your calling

JH: You worked with Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer, author of "The Tender Bar," on Open. The tennis match writing in the book is so engaging, and it also sets the stage for one of the biggest themes of your journey -- contradiction. Explain the pull of how you can hate something so much but yet still crave winning so desperately?

AA: A lot of times I felt like I was craving not losing. The pain of losing was always worse than the joy of winning for me. Winning felt meaningless; it felt like I had dodged a bullet for the day.

Losing made me feel less about myself. That's why many times you could always see so much fear in my eyes. My eyes so often betrayed me on the court. Internally, I'm playing scared and in fear of losing. You're so exposed out there, so you discover parts of yourself that are pretty shocking. You realize where you're fallible, where you're capable, and also can understand the strength you have just to put yourself through it.

JH: You call a time in 1995 as your "Summer of Revenge" against Boris Becker. [At Wimbledon that year, Becker accused Agassi of getting special treatment and being reclusive]. You succeeded by beating him in the semis at the U.S. Open. You're on this emotional high, but then you lose in the final to Pete Sampras and feel devastated. Was that the event that triggered the start of the serious depression?

AA: That summer, I tried to use all this energy and emotion, channel it into anger and tried to use that. I actually resented that feeling even though it was successful. It just wasn't me; it wasn't my spirit.

Then I get to the final of the U.S. Open, I'm 26-0, I lose to Pete. I kind of conclude you can win 26 matches, lose one and still feel like a loser. It just heightens the point of pointlessness. It made me think: "I've never liked this, now I like it less. Why am I doing this? I'm miserable for it."

That started my disengagement. I kind of sleepwalked through the next year. I won some titles. I got up for the Olympics in 1996 because I needed some inspiration, and inspiration was easy there. I felt like I was doing it for my father, a bigger team being from the United States. But I really sleepwalked through the rest of that year. Then when I hit 1997, everything just started to spiral quickly.

JH: How did you reconcile with crossing that line into the drug use? Did you believe you had an addiction?

AA: You cross the line because you wake up and you're disengaged with your friends and even your wife. You're depressed and you don't know it. Nobody talks about depression.

Somebody came along and offered me an escape. I didn't like tennis, and I liked myself even less. I just basically said, "Why not?" It was convenient, and I don't think you understand what you're doing. It takes along time to realize that you do have an addiction, so I can't speak to whether or not I had an addiction or not.

I did turn my back on it and walk toward a life I wanted a number of months later. I just think it's easy to underestimate the reality of how drugs tempt you. I think I wanted to deal with the truth that they do appear to offer you something. Depression is a serious thing. Two out of three people in this world have at least one bout of depression in their life.



JH: By the end of that year, your friend and coach at the time, Brad Gilbert, offered you a "quit or start over deal." Why did you make the choice to continue with tennis despite it being something that has pained you your entire life?

AA: I was at my lowest point, had never hated tennis more, and I thought I was about to walk away. It was something really strange that hit me like an epiphany. I'm looking out the window of my hotel, and I see all these people in traffic in Stuttgart, Germany, and I was wondering how many of them are going to a job they hate and have found reasons or need to find reasons.

I don't need to play tennis -- I have everything I need -- but what if for the first time in my life I actually chose it? What if I tried to find new meanings to old tasks and changed my attitude? If you change attitude and change meaning, you set powerful forces in motion.

Sure enough, I started to get traction in my life as a result of that. All of a sudden, tennis gave me my school, it gave me my wife [Steffi Graf]. I started to feel like the scales got balanced. But it was a fight every day from that epiphany.

JH: When you told people you hated tennis, they'd always respond, "You don't really hate it, hate it." The only person that seemed to understand how you felt right off the bat was your now-wife. What was it about her that pulled you in from the beginning?

AA: It was something from the outside -- I think it's one of the things people do. They gravitate toward people that have something they don't have. I've always gravitated toward people like that in my life. I looked at Stefanie and saw someone who dealt with the same pressures that I did in many respects from the outside, and she did it with an unspeakable grace.

She was so understated and seemed to be a lot better at life than I was. She seemed to be everything I wished that I was. When I told her I hated tennis she basically said, "Don't we all?" Of course there are things to hate. Somehow that wasn't the point. She found a way to push through, find the joy in it -- things that it can give and to find ways to connect to it. It inspired me. And there was no push back on I shouldn't, it was just: "Of course. Now let's talk about what really matters."

JH: What's your relationship with tennis now?

AA: I call it a hate-love relationship. I started with hate, but now, it's giving me my life. I made peace with it when I was 27 years old and every day thereafter. I think because of that, I have a real love for it.

JH: You've said the Andre Agassi College Prep Academy is your life's work. For someone that hated school about as much as he did tennis, how did you come to decide education was going to be your philanthropic focus?

AA: I felt the result of lack of education in my life. With no education, I had no choices. Without that, you find yourself in a life that's not yours. It felt like a crime to me -- to see these kids out there in a broken educational system.

These children without education have no hope or options. Without options, they have no hope -- that's a pretty horrifying thought as to where they would end up. My lack of education led to a lack of choices. I wanted to provide them with a life of their choosing.

JH: This past June, you had the first class graduate. What did that feel like? What is your hope for these kids?

AA: It feels better than anything I've ever accomplished on a tennis court. My hope is they go away to college and they find themselves in a life they want to be in and have committed to. I hope they come back to their community and give back to the next generation, connect, be grateful, have empathy and make a difference.

JH: You dedicate part of the book to your own children, Jaden and Jaz. When they're old enough, what do you hope they gain from reading Open?

AA: People make mistakes. The power of tomorrow is what I want them to feel. I want them to feel like they can take ownership of their life at any juncture in their life. I want them to feel that empowerment. I want them to know that any point in our life can be a turning point -- it can be our darkest or our finest. It's up to us to what we do with it.

JH: Now that you've gone through the process of looking back at your life, telling your story through Open, what do you know for sure?

AA: I know for sure that there's pain in life. We have to fight through our pain and find a way to get through it. Life is about fighting through that pain and, when you can, easing the pain of others.

A glow, and then smoke: Passengers help foil attempted terror attack on Detroit-bound flight

An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke — sending passengers scrambling to subdue a man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida, officials and travelers said.










The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man.




"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

Smith said one passenger, sitting opposite the man, climbed over passengers, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. The heroic passenger appeared to have been burned.

Afterward, the suspect was taken to a front-row seat with his pants cut off and his legs burned. Multiple law enforcement officials also said the man appeared badly burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there. The components were apparently mixed in-flight and included a powdery substance, multiple law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said.





The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel. The incident was reminiscent of Richard Reid, who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes, but was subdued by other passengers.

Multiple law enforcement officials identified the suspect in Friday's attempted attack as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. He was described as a Nigerian who had originally flown from his home country.

One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, but other law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently — inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The man was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence official said he was being held and treated in an Ann Arbor, Mich., hospital. The hospital said one passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, but referred all inquiries to the FBI.

Melinda Dennis, who was seated in the front row of the plane, said the man involved was brought to the front row and seated near her. She said his legs appeared to be badly burned and his pants were cut off. She said he was taken off the plane handcuffed to a stretcher.






One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. intelligence database, but not to the extent that he was placed on a watch list or a no-fly list.

The flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Committee. A spokeswoman for police at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam declined comment about the case or about security procedures at the airport for Flight 253.

A spokesman for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Akin Olunkunle, said all passengers and their luggage are screened before boarding international flights. He also said the airport in Lagos cleared a U.S. Transportation Security Administration audit in November.

Delta Air Lines Inc., which acquired Northwest last year, said a passenger caused a disturbance, was subdued, and the crew requested that law enforcement officials meet the flight.

Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."

"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.

Federal officials said there would be heightened security for both domestic and international flights at airports across the country, but the intensified levels would likely be "layered," differing from location to location depending on alerts, security concerns and other factors.

Passengers can expect to see heightened screening, more bomb-sniffing dog and officer units and behavioral-detection specialists at some airports, but there will also be unspecified less visible precautions as well, officials said.

The FBI and the Homeland Security Department issued an intelligence note on Nov. 20 about the threat picture for the holiday season, which was obtained by The Associated Press. At the time, officials said they had no specific information about attack plans by al-Qaida or other terrorist groups.

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. Officials said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

Charlie Sheen arrested on domestic violence charges (VIDEO)

Pitkin County Sheriff arrested actor Charlie Sheen on charges of domestic violence.

Sheen is married to Brooke Mueller. They have twin boys less than a year old.

When Tiger Woods and Elin had their falling out a few weeks ago, I wrote a bit of unsolicited advice. You can read that article here. My suggestion to Elin was not to allow Tiger to prolong the marriage long enough to jockey into a better position to gain custody, like establishing residency in L.A..

Sheen makes his residence in Los Angeles. An L.A. residence means an L.A. jurisdiction, should Mrs. Sheen decide to get out of her marriage to an allegedly abusive man. Tough break for Brooke Mueller Sheen. Can you imagine how Judge Elizabeth Feffer would rule on this case? If the Naveen Andrews - Elena Eustache case is any indication, Sheen will have sole legal and physical custody of the children and the mother will get to visit them an hour a week at a "visitation center".




Or perhaps Presiding Family Law Judge Marjorie Steinberg can bring Commissioner Friedenthal back from doing arraignments for this one case. Then Commissioner Friedenthal can appoint his neighbor Michael Howard to monitor Mrs. Sheen and her children. At least Mrs. Sheen would need no fear if Charlie Sheen showed up in a rage. Mr. Howard told me he carries a concealed weapon.

There is no record of a permit for Michael Howard to carry a concealed weapon, but I digress...

Judging By The Cover: The Best Cover Songs Of 2009

Every time a popular book is adapted for film or a beloved movie is remade, the first thing fans ask is "how does it compare to the original?" Of course it's natural to want our favorite things -- be it a book, a movie, a television series -- to receive the love and careful hand they deserve. We want the new version to have something fresh to say, but we don't want it to detract from or adulterate the original in any way.
When it comes to music, the best cover songs are those that take an old gem and make the listener rethink it, or discover parts that might have been missed in the original. They can pay tribute to an icon, introduce an artist's own musical tastes or expose an unknown influence worth discovering and delving into further. Plus, there's nothing quite like that moment at a show when a band comes back on stage after a long applause and pulls out a surprising cover song for an encore.
So while every year, during "list-making" season, the focus is typically -- and rightfully -- focused around new, original works, think of this list as the equivalent to nominations for "Best Adapted Screenplay."
1) Beck -- "Sunday Morning" from Record Club on beck.com (Originally by The Velvet Underground)

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico 'Sunday Morning' from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.
For most artists, taking time away from touring or releasing an album is considered an "off-year." Not Beck, who has had one of the most productive years of his career, thanks to the generous creative output found on his newly revamped Web site. Frequent visitors to the site will know Beck has treated his fans with constant updates of archival music videos, offbeat interviews with Tom Waits, and a series of mixtape collages. What's generated the most interest is the ongoing collaboration project Record Club, a video series in which Beck invites his favorite musicians and friends over to record an entire album in a day with little-to-no rehearsing and no overdubs. So far, Beck has put out Leonard Cohen's Songs of Leonard Cohen with Devandra Banhart and MGMT and is currently unveiling Skip Spence's Oar with help from Wilco, Feist and Jamie Lidell. The first album he and his cohorts -- including producer Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and singer Thorunn Magnusdottir -- covered, was the classic The Velvet Underground And Nico. Because of the purposefully unrefined nature of the project, the results are often mixed and inconsistent. At its best, tracks like "Sunday Morning" capture the energy and beauty of the original.


2) The Flaming Lips -- "Borderline" from Covered, A Revolution in Sound: Warner Bros Records (Originally by Madonna)

2009 Flaming Lips & Stardeath and White Dwarfs - Borderline from George Salisbury on Vimeo.
When The Flaming Lips pulled out Madonna's "Borderline" this year in the band's live shows, it initially was seen as little more than a funny gimmick tune nestled between spirited "Yoshimi" singalongs. Yet even if their tongues are firmly planted in cheek, the band members definitely take the song seriously. The song was recorded with Stardeath and White Dwarfs -- the Oklahoma City band of Wayne Coyne's own nephew Dennis Coyne -- and is the highlight of this Warner Bros. compilation for its pitch-perfect re-imagining. "Borderline" opens with chiming tones and a glitching drum machine that ever-so-slightly hints at the pulse and gauzy sheen of Madonna's original single. But when it reaches its climax, with soaring guitar lines and thunderous drums, The Lips turn the song into an epic stadium anthem.
3) Thom Yorke -- "All For The Best" from Ciao My Shining Star: Songs of Mark Mulcahy (Originally by Mark Mulcahy/Miracle Legion)

There were a lot of compilations created this year for worthy causes, but the circumstances behind Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy are truly tragic: A year after former Miracle Legion front man Mark Mulcahy's wife suddenly died, an impressive group of artists -- The National, Michael Stipe, Vic Chesnutt and others -- contributed to help Mulcahy continue making music while raising his young twin daughters. Thom Yorke's rendition of Miracle Legion's "All For The Best" shifts the original from its college rock roots and rebuilds it as minimalist, polyrhythmic electronic music. As he sings Mulcahy's deeply personal lyrics "Waking up and the bed was made/No one looked me in the eye/More I try more I cry and it's all for the best," Yorke sounds utterly haunted.
4) The Books + Jose Gonzalez -- "Cello Song" from Dark Was the Night (Originally by Nick Drake)

While odd musician pairings can often have middling results, an all-star collaboration is one of the best parts of a compilation album. This year's Red Hot Organization release, Dark Was The Night, saw many dream collaborations, including Ben Gibbard and Feist covering Vashti Bunyen, Antony and The National's Aaron Dessner covering Bob Dylan, and Dirty Projectors and David Byrne, all performing originals and cover songs benefiting AIDS awareness. One of the best tracks is Nick Drake's "Cello Song," reworked by electronic sound artists The Books and Jose Gonzalez. Gonzalez's mellow voice and deft guitar work have always borrowed heavily from Drake's sound, making the song an obvious choice. But with The Books providing the plucky synth-driven rhythmic bed and recognizable overlapping string themes underneath, their "Cello Song" is inventive and fresh, sounding like it was always meant for them to perform.
5) The National + St. Vincent -- "Sleep All Summer" from SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS! (Originally by Crooked Fingers)

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Merge Records, the venerable independent label founded by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance (of Superchunk). During the course of this year the good folks at Merge looked back at their impressive legacy with a new book, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records and even their own concert festival, Merge XX. They also put together a few records celebrating their music, including a remix album and this record, Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers! which has top shelf artists such as Quasi, The Shins and Death Cab For Cutie paying tribute to well-known and obscure songs from the Merge back catalog. One of the highlights is this duet version of Crooked Fingers' "Sleep All Summer" performed by The National and St. Vincent. The intermingling of Annie Clarke's lovely voice and Matt Berninger's warm and groggy baritone makes this one of the most bittersweet love songs of the year.
6) TV on the Radio -- "Heroes" from War Child Presents Heroes (Originally by David Bowie)

War Child Presents Heroes is a benefit album produced by the War Child organization with proceeds devoted to the charity's aid efforts in war-stricken areas like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Uganda. Thematically the record features musical icons who selected one of their own songs and then nominated a new artist from the "next generation" to create a modern reworking. It's a smart concept that yielded Beck covering Bob Dylan, Yeah Yeah Yeahs covering The Ramones and TV On The Radio covering David Bowie's "Heroes." There is a strong connection between TV On The Radio and Bowie, considering he sang backup on Return To Cookie Mountain's song "Province," so it feels natural for them to tackle this classic anthem. Their use of fuzzy synths and blankets of washy guitar feedback give the song a jolt of energy, while the electronic beats feel like an homage to Bowie's late '70s and early '80s sound.
7) Yim Yames (Jim James) -- "Long Long Long" from Tribute To (Originally by The Beatles\George Harrison)
Hear this song was which was featured on NPR's Song Of The Day.
Tribute To finds My Morning Jacket singer Jim James -- recording as "Yim Yames" -- paying homage to the music of George Harrison. James recorded stripped-down versions of six classic Harrison songs in the months after the late Beatle's death in 2001, including "All Things Must Pass" and "My Sweet Lord." On this gorgeous and haunting version of "Long Long Long," James' spare guitar and echoing vocal harmonies bring out the full beauty and loneliness of the original.
8) The Bad Plus -- "Comfortably Numb" from For All I Care (Originally by Pink Floyd)

The addition of vocalist Wendy Lewis feels like a natural evolution for the Bad Plus, a jazz trio best known for deconstructing popular modern rock songs by Nirvana and Black Sabbath. Even now, years after the band's stellar debut These Are The Vistas, some jazz purists and staunch rock listeners don't know what to make of the music of Ethen Iverson, Reid Anderson and Dave King. So it was expected that the trio's latest album of covers, For All I Care, would be divisive. And yet, the choice of Lewis, with her plaintive, unadorned (and very un-jazz) voice, proves inspired on The Bad Plus' rendition of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb." The group adds plenty of surprises, such as Iverson's fluttering waterfall of piano arpeggios that shift further and futher out of rhythmic sync. The Bad Plus create such a dissonant tension against Lewis' chorus that when they finally realign near the end, jazz or not, it's as epic and revelatory a musical climax you'll hear in any song this year.
9) Taken By Trees -- "My Boys" from East Of Eden (Originally by Animal Collective)

While it's more common to cover older favorites, Swedish singer Victoria Bergsman chose to do a song for her East Of Eden album that was only a few months old: Animal Collective's "My Girls." Bergsman -- who records as Taken By Trees, and is best known for her work with The Concretes -- not only shifts the gender, renaming the song "My Boys," she also inverts the song sonically. Where the original is a pulsating electronic dance, awash in overlapping vocals and synthesizers, hers is inspired by Sufi music and was recorded in Pakistan with the assistance of producer-guitarist Andreas Soderstrom. Centered around a chirpy pop arrangement of plucked acoustic guitars, clacking percussion and hand claps, "My Boys" is a great introduction to Bergsman's exciting, innovative album.
10) Marianne Faithfull -- "The Crane Wife 3" from Easy Come Easy Go (Originally by The Decemberists)

Marianne Faithfull's brilliantly programmed covers set Easy Come Easy Go will likely earn comparisons to Johnny Cash's last recordings because it pairs the legendary singer with newer songs and inventive production. And, like Cash, hearing these many songs sung by Faithfull, in her superbly shot voice, adds extra weight and a sense of remorse. The arrangements are mostly jazzy, with a bit of cabaret and haunting country, especially on Neko Case's "Hold On Hold On" and Morrissey's "Dear God, Please Help Me." But her take on The Decemberists' "Crane Wife 3" is particularly poignant as she sings out "I will hang my head, hang my head low."

Pope Knocked Down [VIDEO] — Pope Benedict Falls During Christmas Eve Ambush

Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica got off to a tumultuous start Thursday after an apparently deranged woman jumped the barriers and knocked him down on his way to the altar.




In his homily, delivered unflappably after the incident, Benedict urged the world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs, and find time for God and spiritual matters.

The 82-year-old pope was unhurt after his fall, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini.

Earlier, in Bethlehem, thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on the traditional birthplace of Jesus, for the most upbeat Christmas celebrations the Palestinian town has seen in years.

While the Holy Land's top Roman Catholic clergyman reminded followers that peace remains elusive, while the threat of sectarian violence in the Islamic world and the lava spilling from a volcano in the Philippines clouded the celebrations for other Christian communities across the globe.

At the Vatican, witness video obtained by The Associated Press showed a woman dressed in a red hooded sweat shirt vaulting over the wooden barriers that cordoned off the basilica's main aisle and rushing toward the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards. She grabbed the pope's vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seemingly falling on top of her.

The commotion happened as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the public that packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.





Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a check up.

"During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father," Benedettini told The Associated Press by telephone. "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession."

In Bethlehem, residents hemmed in by an Israeli security barrier and still recovering from years of violence, celebrated their town's annual day in the spotlight along with pilgrims and tourists. Visitors milled around Manger Square, mingling with clergymen, camera crews and locals hawking food and trinkets.

Christmas in Bethlehem has its incongruous elements _ the troops of Palestinian boy scouts who wear kilts and play bagpipes in one of the town's holiday traditions, for example, or the inflatable Santa Clauses hanging from church pillars and storefronts looking out of place and overdressed in this Middle Eastern town with not a snowflake in sight.




Jeffrey Lynch, 36, a sanitation worker from New York City, was taking a tour through the Church of the Nativity, the fourth-century Crusader era structure built atop the grottos that mark the spot believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.

"It's a miracle being here on Christmas Eve. It's a lifetime opportunity. I wish everybody could be here," he said.

But the Holy Land's top Roman Catholic cleric, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, reminded listeners in a holiday address that peace remains out of reach. "The wish that we most want, we most hope for, is not coming. We want peace," Twal said after he passed into Bethlehem in a traditional holiday procession from nearby Jerusalem.

Twal and his convoy of dozens of vehicles entered Palestinian-controlled territory through a massive steel gate in Israel's heavily guarded West Bank separation barrier, escorted by Israeli soldiers and police in jeeps.

The barrier and the heavy Israeli security presence served as reminders of the friction and hostilities that have thwarted peace efforts.

Only hours later, an Israeli man was shot and killed in the West Bank in an attack by Palestinian gunmen. Such attacks, once common, have become rare in recent years as the West Bank has regained a semblance of normalcy.

The Israeli military identified the man as a resident of a nearby settlement, and a little-known Palestinian faction took responsibility in an e-mail sent to journalists.

Some Christians in other far-flung parts of the world also saw gloom edge out the holiday cheer.

Baghdad's small remaining Christian minority was to celebrate midnight Mass in daylight for security reasons, and churches were under heavy guard. A bombing this week targeting a 1,200-year-old church in Mosul killed two passers-by, underscoring Iraqi Christians' concerns.

A marble palace once occupied by Saddam Hussein housed an impromptu Christmas celebration for U.S. soldiers and others far from home.

"I have mixed emotions," said Lt. Col Timothy Bedsole, 52, an Army chaplain from Alabama who was marking his second Christmas in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. "It's a very happy time for us as Christians and a very sad time to be away from our families."

Few were celebrating at a tent camp 220 miles southwest of Islamabad, Pakistan, erected to house Christians left homeless by a rampage of looting and arson by Muslims in August.

The Christians say they have received cell phone text messages warning them to expect a "special Christmas present." They're terrified their tents will be torched or their church services bombed.

"Last year I celebrated Christmas full of joy," said Irfan Masih, cradling his young son among the canvas shelters and open ditches of the camp. But now "the fear that we may again be attacked is in our hearts."

Far to the east, in the shadow of the erupting Mayon volcano in the Philippines, thousands of families were spending Christmas Eve in shelters as the volcano belched out 20 gray ash columns Thursday, some of them a mile (1.5 kilometers) high.

Government workers and volunteers tried to keep some 47,000 displaced residents entertained with games, movies and concerts, a heavy burden during the Christmas season in this majority Roman Catholic country.

Noodles, fruit and corned beef were distributed at the shelters for Christmas Eve dinner. Children in one evacuation center gleefully lined up for ice cream.

Brittany Murphy's funeral will be held on Christmas Eve (VIDEO)

Brittany Murphy has done so many beautiful films like: Across the Hall (2009), Deadline (2009), The Expendables (2010) and many more.

Footage has been released of Brittany Murphy's last film role before her untimely death on Dec. 20. In "Abandoned,"

Brittany is Mary, a woman whose husband Kevin (Dean Cain) goes into the hospital for surgery and never comes out. When the hospital has no record of her husband ever being there, she is caught up in a deadly conspiracy. "Abandoned" is listed as being released sometime in 2010. There is no word yet as to what the exact date might be.



Media outlets, including TMZ.com( the first source to break news of Brittany Murphy's shocking death), are reporting that her body will be laid to rest on Christmas Eve at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. Christmas Eve was Murphy's favorite time of the year and her family has decided to honor her favorite holiday by saying their farewell in a ceremony today. Her body arrived at the cemetery early yesterday afternoon to prepare for her burial.

The funeral itself will be "strictly private" restricted to only close family and friends, but there may be a more public remembrance ceremony later at a later date for those who want to pay respects to the actress's life.

"The working plan is to have a small private family service in the next few days and then a larger memorial service for a larger group early in the new year," a source said told People. One person who will not be attending the small funeral today is Murphy's biological father, Angelo Bertolotti. The two apparently had a very estranged relationship for the past eight years and he was not invited to the private ceremony.

Though there is still speculation involving Murphy's weight loss and state of health at the time of her death and the autopsy report was released, the toxicology results will not be available for several weeks. In the meantime the LAPD has their work cut out for them as they launch an investigation into how detailed and confidential information about Britany Murphy's death was leaked to the media.

Portia Bad Girls Club:The Bad Girls Club Season 4 Episode 4 Can’t Buy Me Love

Portia Bad Girls Club – The Bad Girls Club Season 4 Episode 4 called “Can’t Buy Me Love” aired this evening on Oxygen.The episode focused on the huge fight where Portia beat the crap out of Natalie who was talking nonsense about her kid.Here is what Portia had to say on her Oxygen blog about the drama:


It was hard for my boyfriend not being with me and having people telling him that I was in LA and probably “wilin” out there, getting drunk, and being promiscuous. So, he started to become really distant every time we talked and it felt like he was messing around on me.



Natalie is definitely a gold digger. Period.

I was embarrassed at speed dating when Natalie was being trashy because like the saying goes, “birds of a feather, flock together…” and I didn’t want to be generalized as that “type” of girl. I don’t think her actions with guys are cute. They are totally trashy! It’s embarrassing to be associated with that mess!

Here’s how the fight started between me and Natalie. She lied about me not knowing who my daughter’s father was and she tried to degrade me as a parent! I’m a tyrant when it comes to my daughter, I’m really protective over her! She is all that I have in this world and I cherish every moment I have with her so, Natalie even mentioning my daughter out of her filthy mouth set me off! I don’t regret my actions at all.

My time on the show was just another life experience for me and it opened my eyes a lot of what I want in life and the type of people I want to be associated with.

Brittany Murphy autopsy report leaked, coroner 'furious'

The Los Angeles Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter says he's "furious" that the initial Brittany Murphy autopsy report was leaked from his office. Murphy died last Sunday after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. She was 32 years old.



Details from the report were obtained by celebrity gossip website TMZ, which included notes written by an "Investigator Blacklock" and contained information that Murphy "had been complaining of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pain" for over a week before her death.

The notes also listed "large amounts of prescription medication" that was issued in Murphy's name, including the anti-migraine medication Topamax, anxiety medications Klonopin and Ativan, and pain relievers Vicoprofen and Hydrocodone. No illegal drugs were found. The lengthy list of pills is likely to have contributed to why the coroner's office needs 5 to 6 weeks to run toxicology tests before officially stating how Brittany Murphy died.

Winter says he's most irritated because it is office policy to never release partial information about a case. TMZ editor Harvey Levin told Winter that the report was not obtained directly from the investigator, but declined to disclose the actual source.

Brittany Murphy starred in a number of different movies, and her biggest success was as the voice of Luanne Platter on Fox's animated series King of the Hill for more than a decade.

Blackberry outage December 22 due to air travel delays-VIDEO

The blogs and newsites like The Globe and Mail UK are reporting a nationwide Blackberry outage. While I have a Blackberry and haven't experienced a phone or text message outage, I have had an email update delay of several hours to this point in time.





This has to be related to several developments: 1) the large use of Blackberry service during this Christmas week, 2) Research In Motion's obvious capacity-handling problems, and 3) a lack of planning to deal with this problem which has reportedly happened twice in December, the last time being the 17th of the month.

NBC Los Angeles reports that RIM has explained they're aware of the outage and are working to fix it, but did not give a timetable. The front page of the Blackberry website has no message about the problem.

I personally noticed a lot of dropped calls this afternoon while I was connecting flights at a crowded Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Another possible reason for this is the number of people using their Blackberry phones while traveling in this terrible winter weather blanketing the East Coast and causing air travel delays.