Sunday, September 30, 2012

Dave Stewart and friends in LA

Profiles

Music Hollywood Sydney Entertainment Australia

Dave Stewart called upon some Australian friends to help him out with a special one off, sold out show DAVE STEWART AND FRIENDS. Joining guests vocalists Colbie Caillat and Amy Keys, was Delta Goodrem, Orianthi and Vanessa Amorosi on stage at a packed Troubadour Theatre in LA last night. Dave was showcasing his latest album THE RINGMASTER GENERAL – the sequel to the highly acclaimed BLACKBIRD DIARIES. The packed theatre were treated with a selection of tracks from both albums along with some of his greatest hits including, Would I Lie To You, Missionary Man and Sweet Dreams. “It was such great fun to have all these amazing musicians and singers join me onstage at the Troubadour. Very surprising and coincidental that three of them were from Australia; Orianthi on guitar (I just produced her new album Heaven In This Hell), and we were also joined by Vanessa Amorosi who belted out "Would I Lie To You" like there was no tomorrow, and Delta Goodrem who sang along with me on acoustic guitar doing a really emotional rendition of "You Have Placed A Chill." I was also joined by Colbie Caillat to sing a duet, "Bulletproof Vest" from my album, The Blackbird Diaries. A very dapper looking John Mayer lept up for the encore to play an amazing blues guitar on "The Gypsy Girl and Me." The Ringmaster General is available at all JB HiFi stores.

Websites

Dave Stewart official website

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Music News Australia

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Melbourne Storm wins the NRL grand final - 30th September 2012

Profiles

Sport NRL Melbourne Storm Gambling Crown Melbourne Crown Perth Property Casinos

Melbourne Storm wins the NRL grand final...

Melbourne is celebrating its second NRL Premiership after beating the Bulldogs 14-4 in the NRL Grand Final at a packed ANZ Stadium.
In a fiery match that was marred by a biting allegation, the Storm held on with an impressive defensive performance to keep the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half.

Baccarat deals big profit for Crown...


James Packer's strategy to lure Asian high-rollers to his revamped Crown Perth entertainment complex appears to be paying off in spectacular style after the casino's gross gaming revenue leapt 25 per cent to a record $634 million last financial year.
And it was baccarat, a card game wildly popular with Asian gamblers and the game of choice for so-called "whales", or wealthy high-stakes punters, that was almost solely responsible for the bumper result. Figures contained in the Gaming and Wagering Commission's annual report, tabled in State Parliament this week, shed light on Mr Packer's Perth gambling operation that is not provided in Crown's reports to the Australian stock exchange. They showed that gross revenue from gaming machines, blackjack, roulette and other casino games was only marginally up in 2011-12 compared with the previous financial year. Attendance at the casino and the number of gaming machines and tables were virtually unchanged. But gross revenue from baccarat exploded, doubling to $245 million. The record gaming revenue delivered $106 million in gambling taxes to State Government coffers. Crown did not comment on the figures, but casino operators in Las Vegas and Macau have relied increasingly on baccarat, a game of chance, to land the "whales" that can make or break a casino gaming operation. The Gaming and Wagering Commission, which regulates the operation of Crown Perth, will soon be asked to decide on Crown's application for an extra 500 gaming machines and 130 gaming tables, an application the State Government has indicated it will not oppose as part of a deal for Crown to build a new 500-room, six-star hotel. (The West Australian)

More trouble for Star City Casino owners' board...


ALAN KOHLER, PRESENTER: More ructions at the Echo Entertainment company, the one that owns the Star City casino in Sydney. Another board member, Brett Paton, quit this week and CEO Larry Mullin will leave in January. It looks to be falling apart, that place. And James Packer mustn't be able to believe his luck. So why was - what happened with Larry Mullin? Got sacked? ADELE FERGUSON, COMMENTATOR, THE AGE AND SMH: Well it appears to be so, despite the spin around it. They had a meeting on the Tuesday and the decision was made with - it was unanimous except for one director that he should go and the one director that was backing him resigned on the Wednesday. ALAN KOHLER: So is it good for Packer or not? ADELE FERGUSON: I think it is good for Packer because he's been pushing the line that Echo isn’t run very well, it hasn't got control of its finances - they had to have a big equity raising recently. So, yes, it sort of plays into Packer's hands, disruption, board unstable. There was a piece in the newspapers saying dysfunctional board. ALAN KOHLER: Yes. But Packer's obviously playing a long game to become the casino operator in Sydney as well as in Melbourne, right? IVOR RIES, SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST, WILSOM HTM: Australia's casino king. ALAN KOHLER: Australia's casino king. He's patient. I mean, he could just launch a takeover offer for Echo, but he doesn't want to pay the money. ADELE FERGUSON: Well he’s - at the moment he's applied ... ALAN KOHLER: He’s applied, yes. ADELE FERGUSON: ... to go to 25 per cent. He has to get permission for that. So he’s not going to be screaming out, "I want to make a takeover bid" because the share price would go right up. So he's putting out that - a joint venture, and maybe that’s one of the options. If that doesn't work, then there possibly would be a takeover bid. IVOR RIES: And trying to go past 25 per cent, doesn't there have to be some sort of Government inquiry or something into whether he's allowed to do that or not? ADELE FERGUSON: Well, there’s already the Government inquiry into him going to 25 per cent. Any time they have to go above in 5 per cent increments ... IVOR RIES: So it’s not going to be resolved overnight. It’s going to take a - be a long, slow process. ADELE FERGUSON: That’s right. And he would not want the share price to be running away. (ABC)


Websites

Echo Entertainment

Melbourne Storm

Media Man Int

Website Network

Media Man International

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Casino News Media

Global Gaming Directory

Friday, September 28, 2012

PartyCasino Wins Media Man 'Online Casino Of The Month' Award; bwin.party digital BPTY Nordeus Social Gaming Partnership


Profiles

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PartyCasino.com PartyPoker.com

PartyCasino.com has been awarded the Media Man and Casino News Media "Online Casino Of The Month" award.

Bwin.Party's igaming suite has grown a custom to winning awards since they first opened for business in 1997.

The competition for the coveted award was intense again this month with massive bids from both Virgin Casino, PKR Casino and Captain Cooks Casino however there can only be one winner... ladies and gentlemen, that's PartyCasino.com

The award follows PartyPoker's EGR Poker Operator Of The Year and PartyGaming also made the shortlist for EGR Operator Of The Year. Recently PartyGaming's PartyPoker.com also won the Casino News Media "Online Poker Website Of The Month".

The Media Man - Casino News Media accolade is based on a combination of elements including user experience, innovation, trustworthiness, customer service, gameplay, affiliate program offerings, newsworthiness and company values.

PartyCasino.com is one of a number of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment brands.

The most popular PartyCasino.com games of late include Heist, Circus, Rambo, Palladium Slot, The Godfather, Sinatra, Slotbox, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mission: Impossible, The Terminator, Cleopatra, Sinatra, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, Monopoly, Resident Evil, Melon Madness, Wheel Of Fortune and Mega Fortune Wheel.

The PartyCasino.com jackpot is currently approaching the $6 million mark. Players can also compete for The Big One and Marvel Hero Jackpot, playing the Marvel super hero themed online slot games.

PartyCasino's most recent game releases include Shaaark! SuperBet, Crocodopolis, Alice's Wonderland, Glamour Puss, Super Cubes, Heist, Palladium Slot and Circus Slot.

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Co-CEO Jim Ryan has gone on record advising PartyCasinowill soon feature more Hollywood blockbuster themed slots. A few in the know journalists and media agents have been recently tipped off that an all time classic movie adaption will be showcased in the PartyCasino portfolio within 1 month. PartyCasino has the world's most impressive line up of Hollywood themed games, and more are just around the corner.

PartyCasino.com and PartyPoker.com customers can also benefit from rewards and bonuses via PartyPoints and the Palladium Lounge. Be certain to check out the PartyCasino exclusive "Cash Machine" that is being championed as one of the greatest online casino promos ever.

Media Man, Casino News Media and Global Gaming Directory do have a b2b relationship with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, as they do with dozens of other companies in the gaming, igaming, media and entertainment industry.

News

bwin.party digital BPTY Nordeus Social Gaming Partnership...

bwin.party digital entertainment plc ('bwin.party', or the 'Company')

Partnership formed with Nordeus to develop a social sports betting application

bwin.party has today announced a further step forward in the execution of our social gaming strategy with the signing of an agreement with Nordeus, the award-winning social gaming company, to develop initially a social sports betting application.

Having launched a new business unit called Win to drive our social gaming initiatives in May  2012, finding the right partner to help us exploit our strong presence in real money sports betting has been a key area of focus.

Founded in March 2010 by ex-Microsoft engineers Branko Milutinovic, Ivan Stojisavljevic and Milan Jovovic, Nordeus has established itself as the market leader in social sports games. The company's Top Eleven football management social game consistently features in the Top 25 list of games by daily average users on Facebook.

Top Eleven is the most-played online sports game in the World with more than 6 million monthly active users and 2 million daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices. In addition to  its popularity on Facebook, the Top Eleven game is available on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social  network with more than 100 million users.

Nordeus was voted The Best Gaming Startup at the Europas Awards 2011 and was chosen as one of  the 25 hi-tech European companies with 'most potential and successful outcome' by the European Tech Tour Association.

Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEO of bwin.party, said: "Nordeus has demonstrated that there is  great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game.  We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise.
Nordeus and bwin.party are two  European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming."

Branko Milutinovic, CEO of Nordeus, said: "Following the  successful release of Top Eleven, we  recognised a huge opportunity for social sports betting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers. Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with bwin.party, market leader in online sports betting and one of the most known brands in sports.

"With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our development experience in combination with bwin.party's expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming."

About bwin.party:

bwin.party digital entertainment plc (LSE:  BPTY) is a global online gaming company, formed from the  merger of bwin Interactive Entertainment AG and PartyGaming Plc on 31 March 2011. Incorporated, licensed  and regulated in Gibraltar, the Group also has licences in France, Italy, Spain and Denmark. With offices in Europe, India, Israel and the US, the Group generated  total pro forma revenue of €816.0m  and pro forma Clean EBITDA of €199.3m in 2011. bwin.party commands leading market positions in each of its four key  product verticals: online sports  betting, poker, casino and bingo with  some of the world's biggest online gaming brands including bwin, PartyPoker, PartyCasino and Foxy Bingo. The Group's scale, technology and strong portfolioof games collectively differentiate its customer offer from those of its competitors.  bwin.party is a constituent member of the FTSE 250 Index and the FTSE4 Good Index Series, which identifies companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards.

About Nordeus:

Nordeus, located in Belgrade in Serbia, is one of the leading and award winning European game development companies and officially the best European gaming startup of 2011. Its Top Eleven game, with more than 6 million monthly active users and 2 million daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices, is the most  played online sports game in the World. Nordeus' goal is  to provide a seamless  gaming experience to millions of people no matter what device they are using. Quite simply they make social games that are free and accessible to play on any device.  Every day its team in Belgrade puts all of its talent into making 5-star games. Every day millions of people enjoy what they have created.

News

Nordeus partnership for bwin.party...

The world’s largest listed online gambling operator, bwin.party digital entertainment, has signed a deal that will see it develop a social sportsbetting application in partnership with Serbian firm Nordeus.

Following the launch of its bespoke Win business unit in May, bwin.party stated that the agreement is a ‘further step forward’ in the execution of its ‘social gaming strategy’ as it looks to capitalise on its ‘strong presence in real-money sportsbetting’.

“Nordeus has demonstrated that there is great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game,” said Norbert Teufelberger, Co-Chief Executive Officer for bwin.party.

“We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise. Nordeus and bwin.party are two European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming.”

Based in Belgrade, Nordeus was established in March of 2010 by former Microsoft engineers Branko Milutinovic, Ivan Stojisavljevic and Milan Jovovic and concentrates on the development of social sports games. Its Top Eleven title is now one of the most-played games of its type in the world with in excess of six million monthly active users via the web and Android and iOS devices.

“Following the successful release of Top Eleven, we recognised a huge opportunity for social sportsbetting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers,” said Milutinovic, Chief Executive Officer for Nordeus.

“Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with bwin.party, a market-leader in online sportsbetting and one of the most known brands in sports.

"With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our development experience in combination with bwin.party’s expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming."

Websites

PartyCasino.com

PartyPoker.com

Profiles

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PartyCasino PartyPoker PartyBingo Circus PartyCasino Marvel Slots The Big One Melon Madness Casino World Poker Tour PartyCasino Promotions

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Australian bodyart, bodypainting and creative arts news; Human Statues and more

Australian and international bodyart, bodypainting and creative arts news; Human Statues and more; Australia, New Zealand, United States and online... Profiles

Human Statue Bodyart Hilton Hotel Sydney Entertainment Art Australia Property Promotions Publicity

Miss Zeta at Sydney Hilton Hotel; Recap from Hilton Hotel, Sydney, Australia...
The Hilton marquee Hilton reads: "Zeta`s "CONEY ISLAND" is our exciting new Friday Nights concept. Experience evenings of the unexpected, perfectly paradoxical and the weird and wonderful, with extravagant entertainment and a creative mix of classic cocktails with progressive and fun elements."

The Hilton Hotel franchise and our friends at the Zeta Bar were serious and they were back to the Coney Island theme last Friday night, with an 'Ms Zeta Bar Girl Girl' for the evening's entertainment.

The action was all mixed with a specially concocted range of classic cocktails with a twist, like Cosmopolitan Candy Floss, Toffee Apple Martinis and Long Island Iced Tea snow cones and much, much more, with with the 'Ms Zeta Bar Girl' adding addition excitement.

The team at Human Statue Bodyart created the 'Americana Girl', led by creative artist Eva Rinaldi, and assisted by bodyart and bodypaint veteran, Vince Cantali, who also shares a fetish for dressing models up and painting on human bodies.

The Coney Island theme was once again a huge hit and Human Statue talent will be continuing to entertain patrons at the Zeta on most Friday nights for another month we understand.

Very well done to everyone involved in the success of the Coney Island promotion and we're certain the titillating entertainment will keep patrons coming back for more.

It's all there for the taking at Hilton's little slice of paradise in Sydney's CBD and its you're big chance to see why 'Coney Island' is so popular the world over.


Promo...

Zeta Bar pushed the boundaries of cabaret, bringing the sexy mystique of 19th century underground back to life in Extreme Cabaret.

Extreme Cabaret was a delicious smorgasbord of fantasy and magic, wit and whimsy served with sides of lunacy and luxe, and very well lubricated with prohibition-style cocktails, mystifying molecular cocktails and delectable morsels.

About Zeta Bar...

As a progressive cocktail bar and exclusive escape in the Sydney CBD, Zeta changed the face of Sydney’s bar culture when it launched as part of Hilton Sydney in 2005. Today, Zeta has won multiple awards year on year for its bartenders, playful drinks, cocktail classics and seasonal, trend setting concepts; the latest of which being ‘Extreme Cabaret’.

Access to Zeta is via glass elevator at the Hilton Sydney entrance on George Street. Zeta boasts a chic, outdoor terrace overlooking the iconic Queen Victoria Building. A VIP lounge and selection of private booths and breakout areas in luxe purple and dark wood interiors underline Zeta as the CBD cocktail bar to be seen in and part of.

An exclusive escape for visiting international celebrities too, Jessica Simpson, Kimberley Stewart, James Blunt, Snoop Dogg and Nicole Ritchie have all partied at Zeta and regular Aussie A-listers include Jennifer Hawkins, Hugh Jackman, Ian Thorpe and Megan Gale.
Naked Body-paint Model Settles Lawsuit with New York City...
22-year-old model Zoe West, arrested last summer in New York City's Times Square during a body-painting expo, has been able to settle her lawsuit filed against the city, according to her legal eagle. The city wil be paying the risque model $15,000. Ron Kuby, West’s lawyer, stated that the model never should have been arrested in the first place; public nudity is not illegal in the city as long as it is a part of a show, exhibition, or performance. The Law Department of NYC could not (or would not) be reached for comment. West and her lawyer filed the lawsuit in Manhattan after West alleges she was arrested in violation of her rights; she argued that at the time of her arrest, she was being painted by controversial artist Andy Golub. The model, although inconvenienced by the episode, went on record having no regrets about the body-painting incident and her subsequent arrest. She has publicly stated that the entire situation has put her "on the map in a positive way." The public nudity law has critics and supporters; however some people in the general public felt that West should have had her nude body painted in a private residence before the photo shoot or should have had it done indoors rather than outdoors in full public view. Maybe that was by design to help garner extra attention. If that was the case, it worked a charm, with news all over the U.S, Australia and beyond. Artist Andy Golub has also had plenty of issues with law enforcement as he prefers to paint his nude models in public outdoor spaces. His latest arrest took place last year. Military Body Painting Calendar Popular...
The world's ongoing wars haven't hurt the sales of military body painting themed calendars, and in fact they look to have rocketed sales worldwide. Not exactly the Pirelli Calendar, but something different. Check Google for more details. Body Art Awards in New Zealand...
Being covered in body paint in the name of art is an increasingly popular trend in New Zealand, and international judges are impressed with how creative the Kiwi's are becoming. Some of the country's most imaginative artists showcased their talents last Sunday at the seventh annual Body Art Awards in Auckland. The event was extravagance personified. Designed around a futuristic theme, ethereal other-world beings came to life last night in Auckland. "What I've noticed is they're putting more into that art, covering more of the body, including the hair, adding on fancy fingernails, right down to the toes, and that has spread the art as a complete piece to give a greater impact," says international judge Elizabeth Osborn. Forty-nine contestants from as far as the United States worked with body paint, prosthetics, and wigs and more to showcase their best efforts. Auckland's Julian Bartram even used his two children to give an alien-like sensory overload, wowing the judges for a win in the mask category. But it was a bizarre foam and latex being by Sofia Beu-Pederson from Denmark that wowed the international judges. A stint studying here after winning her category last year was enough to sharpen her imagination and take out the grand prize. "She did a very good job of constructing the mask,” says Ms Osborn “The paint job was amazing right down to the toes." You can bet designers next year will take hair-raising to a whole new level. Body paint and body art business searches on Google...
Not to anyone's surprise, searches for bodypainting and bodyart are some of the most popular art and fashion searches performed on search engines such as Google. Google won't give exact numbers, but they are huge. This is part of the reasons bodypainting and bodyart creative arts companies strive to attain the highest Google ranking as possible, looking to snatch corporate and private bodypainting and bodyart clients and opportunities. In the meantime, the general public are enjoying a wonderful array of bodypainted models showcased online. Could a Google art or bodyart showcase or shop be next? Don't change your dial and be watching out for Google TV when it comes to your city.
Websites

Human Statue Bodyart

Hilton Hotel Sydney

Zeta Bar

Human Statue Bodyart Flickr

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Helpmann Awards 2012: Sydney, Australia - 25th September 2012

Profiles

Movies Hollywood Sydney Entertainment Theatre Music Australia



Australia's top female dramatic actors, Robyn Nevin and Cate Blanchett, won their categories in the national Helpmann Awards presented in Sydney last night, but unusually no single production dominated the ceremony. While Nevin won for Belvoir St Theatre's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Blanchett for Sydney Theatre Company's Gross und Klein, the award for best play went to Ganesh Versus the Third Reich by the Geelong company for intellectually impaired performers, Back to Back Theatre. This was the pattern for the night with glamour productions picking up individual awards but rarely clinching the top gong in their categories. The most successful production was Opera Australia's first Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, La Traviata, which won four awards, including best female singer for Emma Matthews. Best special event - Perth Festival's Place des Anges Meow Meow's Little Match Girl at the Malthouse Theatre won three awards, including best cabaret performer. Paul Capsis was best actor in a play for Angela's Kitchen. Also snatched the award for best new Australian work. Melbourne's Production Company won three musical awards for Grey Gardens, with Pamela Rabe winning for best female actor in a musical, Nancye Hayes for her supporting role and Roger Hodgman for direction. But the overall best musical award went to A Chorus Line. Stephen Page won best dance choreography for ID from Bangarra's Belong, which also earned the award for best score for his brother, David, and Steve Francis. English company DV8 won for best ballet or dance work for its verbatim theatre piece, Can We Talk About This? at the Opera House. Opera Australia won seven awards, with Anthony Dean Griffey best male performer in Of Mice and Men and Mitchell Butel best actor in a musical for The Mikado. But the best opera award went to the State Opera of South Australia's Moby Dick, which won three awards.

Background... The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006. The Helpmann Awards also incorporates the JC Williamson award (formerly the James Cassius Award) for outstanding contribution to the Australian entertainment industry. The award, named after Sir Robert Helpmann, was established by the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). It is similar to Broadway's Tony Awards and London's Laurence Olivier Awards. The awards inaugurated in 2001 and are presented annually in Sydney Australia. The official website lists the objectives of the awards 'to nationally and internationally serve and promote Australian live performing arts industry by recognising distinguished artistic achievement and excellence, ensuring the Awards are administered and made with integrity, ensuring the Awards are celebrated by the industry and the Australian community; and ensuring the Awards are the most prestigious awards in the industry and the highlight of each Season'. The full name of the Awards is the Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia. The trophy was designed by silversmith Hendrik Forster. The Helpmann Awards were hosted by Simon Burke from 2001-2006. Since 2010, the awards have been broadcast live on arts channel STVDIO. News Update... Hours before the Australian theatre industry celebrates its success with the Helpmann Awards at the Opera House tonight, 100 top actors and directors have launched a campaign against the use of more foreign performers on Australian stages. A long list of Helpmann award winners, including actors Richard Roxburgh, Rachel Griffiths and Geoffrey Rush, playwright David Williamson and director Neil Armfield, have signed an open letter to theatre and musical producers, calling on them to renegotiate a 20-year agreement on the use of foreign performers. For two decades, the number of foreign performers hired for Australian productions has been controlled via the agreement between the producers' association, Live Performance Australia, and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, in a bid to protect local jobs. Signatory against foreign performers ... actor Geoffrey Rush. Photo: Mick Tsikas LPA, which represents subsidised and commercial producers and organises the Helpmanns, abandoned the agreement in April and since then has, according to the union, refused to discuss the issue. (Fairfax Media) Arts Minister Simon Crean, who was not at the awards ceremony last night but sent an adviser, has said the NCP will appear by the end of the year. In LPA's submission to the discussion paper, Richardson spelled out the sector's need for policies that not only assist production of cultural events but also encourage demand. It also argued for funds to help develop new Australian work and for measures to promote private investment. A note of discord surrounding this year's Helpmanns concerns the vexed issue of foreign performers working in this country. Earlier this year LPA unilaterally broke its agreement with the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, ending an arrangement to consult the union when producers want to engage foreign artists. The MEAA yesterday published an open letter to LPA members -- among the signatories are Neil Armfield, Steven Heathcote, Emma Matthews and Rush -- warning that harmony between performers and producers is at risk over the issue.

Websites

Helpmann Awards official website

Sydney Opera House

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Music News Australia

MGM Publicity and Promotions

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Monday, September 24, 2012

Killing Then Softly movie premiere at Dendy Opera Quays - 24th September 2012

Profiles

Movies Hollywood Sydney Entertainment Poker Australia

'Killing Them Softly' enjoyed its Sydney, Australia movie premiere at Dendy Opera Quays this evening. Writer/ director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and star of the film Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises, Animal Kingdom) will attend the Australian premiere of KILLING THEM SOFTLY on Monday 24 September. Other guests attending include Bella Heathcote, Aaron Glenane, Brenna Harding, Elizabeth Blackmore, Felix Willamson, Gillian Armstrong, James Frecheville, John Jarratt Khan Chittenden, Krew Boylan, Leanna Walsman, Mary Coustas, Matthew Nable, Peter Phelps, Sacha Horler, Samara Weaving, Sarah Snook, Sean Keenan and Toby Schmitz. Adapted from George V. Higgins novel and set in New Orleans, Killing Them Softly follows professional enforcer, Jackie Cogan (Pitt), who investigates a heist that occurs during a high stakes, mob-protected poker game. Plot: Jackie Cogan is a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that went down during a mob-protected poker game. Director: Andrew Dominik Writers: Andrew Dominik (screenplay), George V. Higgins (novel) Stars: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta and Richard Jenkins IN CINEMAS 11 OCTOBER 2012 .

Websites

Killing Them Softly

Dendy Cinemas

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Music News Australia

Nixco

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Virgin Casino to Release Necker Island Slot Game

Profiles

Virgin Casino Virgin Games IGT Microgaming Casino Slots Richard Branson Necker Island

Virgin Casino have added a ton of new slot games over the past week.

News

Virgin Casino has announced that it is releasing a new slot game entitled Necker Island this week.

Necker Island is a new 5 reel, 50 pay-line slot game that is being developed by Genesis Gaming Inc. The game has a theme based on the private island hideaway owned by Virgin Casino founder Sir Richard Branson.

The game also includes an additional row of symbols that gives players a greater chance of winning. Players can win free spins and also have the chance to unlock a free wild game. The game will be released on Virgin Casino’s QuickFire platform.

Warren Eloff, Virgin Games Head of Products, said “We wanted to create a game exclusively for our Virgin Games players – something that only we could offer and that truly summed up being part of the Virgin community. As such, we thought it would be ideally fitting to have a game created by Genesis Gaming that was themed around Sir Richard Branson’s luxurious private island."

Eloff added “As an operator, offering our customers seamless game play is crucial, and as a Virgin company maintaining brand integrity is a must. Using Microgaming’s QuickFire platform has delivered on both counts - offering both easy integration and allowing us to give our players a unique Virgin Games experience.”

Steven Meisrich, CEO for Genesis Gaming Inc, stated "It was exciting for our team to build a customized and branded video slot game consistent with the quality and fun users expect from the Virgin brand. We are also pleased that Necker Island will be integrated to the Quickfire platform as we have a successful partnership already in place and are confident that it can maintain the optimal experience for Virgin players.”

QuickFire also released a statement saying “We’re delighted that Virgin Games have chosen the Quickfire platform to host this unique game. It’s always great to be involved in something a bit different, particularly as the involvement of Genesis Gaming Inc. has allowed us to work alongside a company with whom we already have a strong relationship. We’re confident that this exclusive product will please new and existing players alike.”


News...

Virgin Casino Releases Reely Poker Slot Game...


Virgin Casino announced the release of its latest slot game title called Reely Poker this week.
This new game is a 5 reel, 30 pay-line slot game and has a theme based on poker. In fact, the game incorporates both a slot game experience with the opportunity for players to play some poker as well.

The game begins in a slots format. The symbols are represented by the playing cards and the wild symbol is represented by the joker and the scatter symbol is represented by the ace. The maximum payout is 5,000 coins and this is offered by the joker wild symbol.

There is a bonus feature called the Multi-hand Infinite Hold’em Bonus. This is activated when the player hits three or more ace scatter symbols. The number of hands dealt to the player in this bonus depends on how many ace scatter symbols the player hit to activate the bonus. The player then wins a bonus depending on how strong the poker hands they receive are with a bonus of 2 coins being paid out for a pair and a bonus of 500 coins being paid out for a royal flush. The player keeps playing in this bonus round if they hit a two pair or higher.

Players can also activate the Slot Poker aspect of this game. For every spin, a side bet of 10 times the line bet will be automatically taken from the player. The player must then choose one of the horizontal rows. The cards that appear on that chosen row are the given hand for that spin. The player will then win if the hand on that chosen row is better than the hands on the other two rows. The Slot Poker part of the game will continue to function until the player de-activates it.

Reely Poker is available to play at Virgin Casino right now.

If you haven’t got an account at Virgin Casino, now is the time – they offer a 100% welcome bonus up to £100. This means that if you deposit anything up to £100, you will get the same value free. When registering, click on the ‘Select A Bonus’ button and select the ‘Casino’ option – simple.

*Virgin Casino does not accept Australian, U.S or Canadian players. See World Casino Directory.

Website Network

Media Man Int

Casino News Media

Global Gaming Directory

Media Man Entertainment

Friday, September 21, 2012

Zeta Bar Hilton Hotel presents Ms Zeta Bar - 21st September 2012

Profiles

Human Statue Bodyart Hilton Hotel Sydney Entertainment Australia Property Promotions Publicity

The Hilton marquee Hilton reads: "Zeta`s "CONEY ISLAND" is our exciting new Friday Nights concept. Experience evenings of the unexpected, perfectly paradoxical and the weird and wonderful, with extravagant entertainment and a creative mix of classic cocktails with progressive and fun elements."

The Hilton Hotel franchise and our friends at the Zeta Bar were deadly serious and they were back to the Coney Island theme again tonight, with an 'Ms Zeta Bar' (Anastasia) for the evening's entertainment.

The action was all mixed with a specially concocted range of classic cocktails with a twist, like Cosmopolitan Candy Floss, Toffee Apple Martinis and Long Island Iced Tea snow cones and much, much more, with with the 'Ms Zeta Bar' adding addition excitement.

The team at Human Statue Bodyart created the 'Ms Zeta Bar', led by creative artist Eva Rinaldi, and assisted again by bodyart and bodypaint veteran, Vince Cantali, who also shares a fetish for dressing models up and painting on human bodies.

The Coney Island theme was once again a huge hit and Human Statue talent will be continuing to entertain patrons at the Zeta on most Friday nights.

Very well done to everyone involved in the success of the Coney Island promotion and we're certain the titillating entertainment will keep patrons coming back for more.

It's all there for the taking at Hilton's little slice of paradise in Sydney's CBD and its you're big chance to see why 'Coney Island' is so popular the world over.

Promo...

Zeta Bar pushed the boundaries of cabaret, bringing the sexy mystique of 19th century underground back to life in Extreme Cabaret.

Extreme Cabaret was a delicious smorgasbord of fantasy and magic, wit and whimsy served with sides of lunacy and luxe, and very well lubricated with prohibition-style cocktails, mystifying molecular cocktails and delectable morsels.

About Zeta Bar...

As a progressive cocktail bar and exclusive escape in the Sydney CBD, Zeta changed the face of Sydney’s bar culture when it launched as part of Hilton Sydney in 2005. Today, Zeta has won multiple awards year on year for its bartenders, playful drinks, cocktail classics and seasonal, trend setting concepts; the latest of which being ‘Extreme Cabaret’.

Access to Zeta is via glass elevator at the Hilton Sydney entrance on George Street. Zeta boasts a chic, outdoor terrace overlooking the iconic Queen Victoria Building. A VIP lounge and selection of private booths and breakout areas in luxe purple and dark wood interiors underline Zeta as the CBD cocktail bar to be seen in and part of.

An exclusive escape for visiting international celebrities too, Jessica Simpson, Kimberley Stewart, James Blunt, Snoop Dogg and Nicole Ritchie have all partied at Zeta and regular Aussie A-listers include Jennifer Hawkins, Hugh Jackman, Ian Thorpe and Megan Gale.

Websites

Hilton Hotel Sydney

Zeta Bar

Human Statue Bodyart

Human Statue Bodyart Flickr

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Media Man International Blog: News, Affiliates, SEO, Content, Digital Business, Agencies, Media, News Media

Media Man International Blog

News, Affiliates, SEO, Content, Digital Business, Agencies, Media, News Media      

Affiliate Programs Directory












Kardashian in Sydney, Australia for E! News: Red carpet and dinner at Nield Ave - 19th September 2012

Profiles

Hollywood Television Celebrities Entertainment Australia


Kardashian mania has once again hit Sydney, Australia, for better or worse.

One has to ponder the question... what are they flogging this time?

We understand Kim and clan are promoting their new diet program (which has garnered less than stellar reviews on American soil). Maybe the strategy is to spread the seed far and wide and hope that some fertalize. If you belive the detractors, 'The Devil Wears Prada', and whisphers about about a "wolf in sheeps clothing".

Cosy Rushcutters Bay restaurant, Neild Avenue, was the venue to the red carpet, as media meladrama played out on the footpath as it was a battle between media with those who had media accreditation VS those without (which were the vast majority). A PR agency who will remain nameless for now handled the media relations (which we have been told by many was not well handled).

Leaving new boyfriend Kanye West at home and keeping most of the juicy details of their romance off limits, Kardashian advised she had set new boundaries in a bid to protect the relationship and herself from the close scrutiny which followed her divorce from basketballer Kris Humphries.

While West has appeared in the latest season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, his girlfriend has promised to keep private their intimate moments.

In Australia for Foxtel's E! Channel and diet supplement QuikTrim, the 32-year-old said her painful and public split had taught her to "hold back (sharing) a little bit with my new relationship."

"I don't share everything. Yes, Kanye has been in a few episodes, but that's only natural when he's in my life. He's around when I'm filming, but I don't think I'd really share our intimate dinner dates (on the show) which I would have so willingly done before."

Her latest 48-hour Australian publicity blitz reflects her rushed visit about 12 months ago, when she came under the gun for flying back to Los Angeles early amid international criticism and media accusations she had married Humphries for a huge TV pay day.

The fallout was filmed as part of the popular reality series, which has also documented - in brief - her romance with West, who had already been a friend for eight years.

A relaxed Kardashian said that "it was definitely a very difficult time".

"But I feel like I'm just in a better space now. I feel content with everything and where my life is. I feel happy and I have no regrets," she said.

"I'm a different person because of it. I've grown up, I've really grown up... that situation made me grow up. I just feel at a good place in my life right now."

Press Release...(U.S news release)...

E! News Welcomes Celebrity Guests and Guest Hosts.


E! News To Get Special Guest Hosts: Pop Star Carly Rae Jepsen And WWE Wrestler John Cena As Guests Plus E!’s Bruce Jenner, Singer/Songwriter Christina Milian and TV Host & Personality Melissa Rycroft As Celebrity Guest-Hosts...

E! News Welcomes Pop Star Carly Rae Jepsen And WWE Wrestler John Cena As Guests Plus E!’s Bruce Jenner, Singer/Songwriter Christina Milian and TV Host & Personality Melissa Rycroft As Celebrity Guest-Hosts

E! News, the destination for pop culture news and information, welcomes a slew of celebs to the set over the next few weeks. Bruce Jenner, Christina Milian and Melissa Rycroft will guest host while E! News anchor Giuliana Rancic is on leave with baby Duke. Plus, Carly Rae Jepsen stops by to discuss her new album and John Cena swings by to chat about his new initiative with the Susan G. Komen Foundation.


Mark your calendars:

September 18– Carly Rae Jepsen visits E! News to discuss her new album and upcoming duet with Justin Bieber, “Beautiful.”

September 19 – TV host and personality Melissa Rycroft guest hosts with Jason Kennedy.

September 21– Pop star Christina Milian guest hosts with Jason Kennedy.

October 8– Former E! News Correspondent for the Olympic Games and E! fan-favorite, Bruce Jenner, guest hosts with Catt Sadler.

October 9 - WWE Superstar John Cena visits E! to talk about his new initiative launching with the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Websites

Keeping Up With The Kardashians

E! News

Nield Ave Restaurant

Kim Kardashian official website

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Music News Australia

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

PartyCasino Wins Media Man 'Online Casino Of The Month' Award; bwin.party digital BPTY Nordeus Social Gaming Partnership

Profiles

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PartyCasino.com PartyPoker.com

PartyCasino.com has been awarded the Media Man and Casino News Media "Online Casino Of The Month" award.

Bwin.Party's igaming suite has grown a custom to winning awards since they first opened for business in 1997.

The competition for the coveted award was intense again this month with massive bids from both Virgin Casino, PKR Casino and Captain Cooks Casino however there can only be one winner... ladies and gentlemen, that's PartyCasino.com

The award follows PartyPoker's EGR Poker Operator Of The Year and PartyGaming also made the shortlist for EGR Operator Of The Year. Recently PartyGaming's PartyPoker.com also won the Casino News Media "Online Poker Website Of The Month".

The Media Man - Casino News Media accolade is based on a combination of elements including user experience, innovation, trustworthiness, customer service, gameplay, affiliate program offerings, newsworthiness and company values.

PartyCasino.com is one of a number of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment brands.

The most popular PartyCasino.com games of late include Heist, Circus, Rambo, Palladium Slot, The Godfather, Sinatra, Slotbox, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mission: Impossible, The Terminator, Cleopatra, Sinatra, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, Monopoly, Resident Evil, Melon Madness, Wheel Of Fortune and Mega Fortune Wheel.

The PartyCasino.com jackpot is currently approaching the $6 million mark. Players can also compete for The Big One and Marvel Hero Jackpot, playing the Marvel super hero themed online slot games.

PartyCasino's most recent game releases include Shaaark! SuperBet, Crocodopolis, Alice's Wonderland, Glamour Puss, Super Cubes, Heist, Palladium Slot and Circus Slot.

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Co-CEO Jim Ryan has gone on record advising PartyCasinowill soon feature more Hollywood blockbuster themed slots. A few in the know journalists and media agents have been recently tipped off that an all time classic movie adaption will be showcased in the PartyCasino portfolio within 1 month. PartyCasino has the world's most impressive line up of Hollywood themed games, and more are just around the corner.

PartyCasino.com and PartyPoker.com customers can also benefit from rewards and bonuses via PartyPoints and the Palladium Lounge. Be certain to check out the PartyCasino exclusive "Cash Machine" that is being championed as one of the greatest online casino promos ever.

Media Man, Casino News Media and Global Gaming Directory do have a b2b relationship with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, as they do with dozens of other companies in the gaming, igaming, media and entertainment industry.

News

bwin.party digital BPTY Nordeus Social Gaming Partnership...


bwin.party digital entertainment plc ('bwin.party', or the 'Company')

Partnership formed with Nordeus to develop a social sports betting application

bwin.party has today announced a further step forward in the execution of our social gaming strategy with the signing of an agreement with Nordeus, the award-winning social gaming company, to develop initially a social sports betting application.

Having launched a new business unit called Win to drive our social gaming initiatives in May 2012, finding the right partner to help us exploit our strong presence in real money sports betting has been a key area of focus.

Founded in March 2010 by ex-Microsoft engineers Branko Milutinovic, Ivan Stojisavljevic and Milan Jovovic, Nordeus has established itself as the market leader in social sports games. The company's Top Eleven football management social game consistently features in the Top 25 list of games by daily average users on Facebook.

Top Eleven is the most-played online sports game in the World with more than 6 million monthly active users and 2 million daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices. In addition to its popularity on Facebook, the Top Eleven game is available on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social network with more than 100 million users.

Nordeus was voted The Best Gaming Startup at the Europas Awards 2011 and was chosen as one of the 25 hi-tech European companies with 'most potential and successful outcome' by the European Tech Tour Association.

Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEO of bwin.party, said: "Nordeus has demonstrated that there is great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game. We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise.
Nordeus and bwin.party are two European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming."

Branko Milutinovic, CEO of Nordeus, said: "Following the successful release of Top Eleven, we recognised a huge opportunity for social sports betting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers. Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with bwin.party, market leader in online sports betting and one of the most known brands in sports.

"With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our development experience in combination with bwin.party's expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming."

About bwin.party:

bwin.party digital entertainment plc (LSE: BPTY) is a global online gaming company, formed from the merger of bwin Interactive Entertainment AG and PartyGaming Plc on 31 March 2011. Incorporated, licensed and regulated in Gibraltar, the Group also has licences in France, Italy, Spain and Denmark. With offices in Europe, India, Israel and the US, the Group generated total pro forma revenue of €816.0m and pro forma Clean EBITDA of €199.3m in 2011. bwin.party commands leading market positions in each of its four key product verticals: online sports betting, poker, casino and bingo with some of the world's biggest online gaming brands including bwin, PartyPoker, PartyCasino and Foxy Bingo. The Group's scale, technology and strong portfolioof games collectively differentiate its customer offer from those of its competitors. bwin.party is a constituent member of the FTSE 250 Index and the FTSE4 Good Index Series, which identifies companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards.

About Nordeus:

Nordeus, located in Belgrade in Serbia, is one of the leading and award winning European game development companies and officially the best European gaming startup of 2011. Its Top Eleven game, with more than 6 million monthly active users and 2 million daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices, is the most played online sports game in the World. Nordeus' goal is to provide a seamless gaming experience to millions of people no matter what device they are using. Quite simply they make social games that are free and accessible to play on any device. Every day its team in Belgrade puts all of its talent into making 5-star games. Every day millions of people enjoy what they have created.

News

Nordeus partnership for bwin.party...


The world’s largest listed online gambling operator, bwin.party digital entertainment, has signed a deal that will see it develop a social sportsbetting application in partnership with Serbian firm Nordeus.

Following the launch of its bespoke Win business unit in May, bwin.party stated that the agreement is a ‘further step forward’ in the execution of its ‘social gaming strategy’ as it looks to capitalise on its ‘strong presence in real-money sportsbetting’.

“Nordeus has demonstrated that there is great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game,” said Norbert Teufelberger, Co-Chief Executive Officer for bwin.party.

“We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise. Nordeus and bwin.party are two European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming.”

Based in Belgrade, Nordeus was established in March of 2010 by former Microsoft engineers Branko Milutinovic, Ivan Stojisavljevic and Milan Jovovic and concentrates on the development of social sports games. Its Top Eleven title is now one of the most-played games of its type in the world with in excess of six million monthly active users via the web and Android and iOS devices.

“Following the successful release of Top Eleven, we recognised a huge opportunity for social sportsbetting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers,” said Milutinovic, Chief Executive Officer for Nordeus.

“Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with bwin.party, a market-leader in online sportsbetting and one of the most known brands in sports.

"With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our development experience in combination with bwin.party’s expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming."

Websites

PartyCasino.com

PartyPoker.com

Profiles

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PartyCasino PartyPoker PartyBingo Circus PartyCasino Marvel Slots The Big One Melon Madness Casino World Poker Tour PartyCasino Promotions

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hanson performs Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia

Profiles

Music Sydney Entertainment Australia


Tonight Hanson performed to a packed house at the famous Enmore Theatre.

The boys are performing down under live for the their first tour in seven years.

Hanson started writing Shout It Out while touring their 2007 disc, The Walk, and lead vocalist Taylor says it’s the most “holistic” and the least interfered-with of their seven releases.

“There’s no co-writing with other collaborators as writers, no other producers, we produced the record [ourselves].”

“It feels great to know that you’re able to have some connection that is lasting,” he says. “There is something that goes on with music and with audiences that is so special. With us, a lot of the fans that have stuck around [we] really respect it and admire that dedication, especially Australian fans. They’ve always been amongst the most active and the most engaged.”

Australian fans can look forward to additional tour dates based on how quickly shows sell out in selective cities. “Every show is different,” Taylor says. “We change it up, it’s going to feature some new music and it’s going to also highlight some songs from albums past.”

Tonight all the fans got value for money and by the look of things the band will continue to enjoy strong touring and CD sales in Australia.

Set List:

Where’s The Love

Thinking Bout Something

A Minuet Without You

And I Waited

Crazy Beautiful

Strong Enough to Break

Madeline

Wish That I Was There

With You In Your Dreams

Oh Darling – Beatles Cover

Cant Stop

Thinking of You

Penny and Me

Give a Little

MMMbop

Hey

Lost Without Each Other

Encore:

If Only


Promo...

Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson are household names in Australia and it’s no surprise – in 1997 one in ten Australian households owned a copy of the band’s smash album Middle Of Nowhere and the nation’s airwaves, hearts and minds resonated to the infectious sound of the band’s smash hit MMMBop. Now, after a 7-year absence, HANSON are back with a brand new album and tour that is sure to capture the attention and imagination of a nation that has always embraced the band as their own.

HANSON have been making music together for two decades. Fifteen years ago, their out-of-the-blue, soul-inspired brand of American pop-rock‘n’roll was introduced to the world. Unaffected by charts or fads, they’ve spent more than a decade building a community of fans connected to one another and fuelled by the energy and craftsmanship of three brothers and their music, earning praise for their songwriting, musicianship and dynamic live performances, with New York‘s Village Voice calling them the “Finest Straight-Up Rock Band In America.”

Biography...

Native sons of Tulsa, Oklahoma, HANSON has been making music together for nearly two decades. Thirteen years ago, their out-of-the-blue, soul-inspired brand of American pop-rock‘n’roll was introduced to the world. Unaffected by charts or fads, they’ve spent more than a decade building a community of fans connected to one another and fueled by the energy and craftsmanship of three brothers and their music. Their fifth studio album, Shout It Out, was released on June 8th 2010 on their label 3CG Records. They deliver a powerful group of soulful, melodic tunes that will leave you with a contagious sense of optimism for the future and welcomed reminiscence for American rock ‘n’ roll.

Shout It Out is a collection of finely crafted, R&B-flavored pop-rock, a homage to the music that inspired HANSON when they started out. The album produced and written exclusively by the band is augmented with special guests: Funk Brothers bassist Bob Babbitt, who played on some of Motown’s greatest hits, and horn arranger Jerry Hey, who worked with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire and many more.

“The anatomy of our band is similar to a ‘70s rock band – white guys from the Midwest who grew up listening to ‘50s and ‘60s soul, who are mixing guitars, with vintage keys and melodic songs,” Taylor Hanson says. Adds Isaac, “We’ll always be a bit rootsy ‘cause it’s in the Oklahoma soil (the state is also home to artists like Bob Wills, Woody Guthrie and the versatile Leon Russell), but what we’ve never stopped aspiring to is the great songwriters and performers who struck a chord with us first, that early rock ‘n’ rock roll and soul music from Chuck Berry to Otis Redding. We’ve rediscovered that aspiration on this record. There’s a little more swing and a little more air.”

While Shout It Out looks back in time musically, it also represents forward movement for HANSON. “We love playing classic songs,” says Zac Hanson. “But we never sat down and wrote our version of what that sounds like until now.”

HANSON emotes such fresh energy on the new album that it’s easy to forget that this band has been around the block a few times. Multiple Grammy nominations (drummer Zac is the youngest nominated songwriter in history), years of headline shows everywhere from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl and world-records for the loudest concert audience in history.

They’ve sold millions of records and reached a level of adoration that few bands experience, and have also faced career obstacles that would have broken many artist’s resolve. They waded through four years of struggle with a new corporate label made up of inherited executives in discord with the band, which eventually lead the band to leave the label (chronicled in the documentary film Strong Enough To Break) and launch their own independent record company, 3CG Records, in 2003. Amidst a crumbling industry, they built their own infrastructure around a DIY attitude and their commitment to their music and their fans. Their independent moves paid off, building a brand that has grown with successful independent albums, singles and tours, during a decade when music sales plummeted. In addition, launching alongside their 2007 album The Walk, they championed calls for action on humanitarian efforts, galvanizing tens of thousands of people around the world to participate in barefoot one-mile walks to fight HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

Talking to the band about their forthcoming offering sheds light on how they find balance between these different elements and how they have emerged with this current direction. “The feeling I had when we were writing was that – as a band – you should be able to talk about serious subjects and share your passions [like fighting AIDS in Africa], but especially on this album, it was important to be able to share joy,” Taylor says. While The Walk carried a weighty message, in contrast the songs on Shout It Out, written mostly in hotel rooms and during soundchecks while touring The Walk were, according to Taylor, “A breath of fresh air during our hectic schedule”.

Shout It Out showcases not only the music of HANSON, but the many aspects that have allowed the band to survive and stay relevant. “The album is about being alive, and the contrasts we are faced with,” Taylor says. “We’ve come from a generation leaving the analog world and moving into an interconnected culture at risk of forgetting where it came from. This album tries to put together those pieces, but with a bit of melody to back it up.”

While the new album draws inspiration from the past, HANSON is looking to an exciting new era for the band. Their insatiable desire to innovate with technology - seen in their plans to incorporate mobile live streaming video both onstage and off - is building an even stronger fan connection. They’re committed to their live concert experience, with special events like their sold out five-night stand in NYC featuring each of their albums performed in their entirety, culminating with the debut of Shout It Out live. HANSON has established a reputation as successful independent artists who are comfortable at charting their own path, standing at the crossroads of the analog and digital worlds, and offering fans the best of both.

Websites

Hanson official website

Enmore Theatre

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Music News Australia

Media Man News

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Media Man Entertainment News: Casino, War and Royal Edition - Royal Family, Las Vegas, WWE...

Media wars hit royal family; Las Vegas, Australia, France, Afghanistan...; WWE's Military support, Sgt Slaughter, Randy Orton or The Miz in Marine 3?

Profiles

Las Vegas Entertainment Events WWE Wrestling Gaming Sports Promotions Publicity World Directory


Hey fans. Wrestling and gaming nuts, and patriots from Australia and the United States. Have we got a gun ho news report for you today. From WWE rings to the battle field in Afghanistan, to the south of France where royals were relaxing before being interrupted by paparazzi...Prince Harry runs amok on the Las Vegas strip - we've got it all for you today. Then there's the Andre The Giant slot game to check out at Virgin Games and plenty more scoops by the Media Man network at the official websites and blogs. What else to say but good hunting and good luck.

AFL player offered drugs before Las Vegas casino fatality - 12th September 2012...

AFL footballer John McCarthy was drinking heavily and offered drugs before probably jumping from the third storey of a Las Vegas casino to a palm tree and falling to an accidental death. Warning - drugs can make people do stupid things.

McCarthy died within minutes of telling a Port Adelaide teammate in Vegas he was okay and was on his way back to his hotel, about four kilometres from where his body was found.

McCarthy was with 10 other Port players on an end of season trip but became separated from his teammates at a nightclub where the sportsmen were offered drugs.

"A couple of the guys have said that the drugs were freely available in these casinos," Port Adelaide chief executive officer Keith Thomas told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.

" ... They said they were really mindful of it - they had been drinking - but they were surprised at the sort of stuff that was going on."

McCarthy's Port teammates returned to Adelaide earlier on Wednesday feeling guilty about what happened, Thomas said.

"I don't want the impression out there that these lads just left one of their mates to just roam around," he said.

"As soon as they became aware, they made contact with him. And unfortunately an accident happened."

Thomas declined to name the Port player telephoned by McCarthy's girlfriend in Adelaide, just moments after she'd spoken to the Victorian-born 22-year-old.

"Whilst she was concerned that he was on his own and he seemed a little bit disorientated and perhaps lost, he probably was (lost), she was comfortable with the call, she felt as if it went okay," Thomas said.

"She was, however, concerned enough because he was on his own to make contact with one of our other players to try and get him (McCarthy) back into the group.

"She did that. She made contact and that player made contact with John who suggested that he was on his way back to the hotel.

"And so at that point, the group felt as if he was okay and he's coming back."

Thomas believed McCarthy "shortly thereafter" fell nine metres to his death at the Flamingo casino and hotel complex, where his body was found about 5.40am on Sunday, Las Vegas time.

A group of Western Bulldogs AFL players were also in Las Vegas, chaperoned by club runner and Victorian policeman Stuart Bailey, believed to be the first Australian to view McCarthy's body.

"Everything is leading towards an accident at this point of time," Bailey told reporters in Las Vegas on Tuesday (Wednesday, Australian time).

Investigators believed McCarthy walked into the Flamingo casino and took a lift before arriving on a third-storey roof.

"He then walked to the edge," Bailey said.

"The evidence is suggesting that he has jumped off that wall to a palm tree, maybe been disorientated at how much the fall was, slipped and has fallen to the ground."

Port officials were awaiting clearance from the local coroner to repatriate McCarthy's body within two to three days, Thomas said.

An autopsy has been performed but toxicology results could take up to 12 weeks, after which McCarthy's family will decide whether or not to publicly release them.


Harry 'should stay in Afghanistan'...

Prince Harry should not be withdrawn from his military role in Afghanistan despite an attack on the Camp Bastion military compound, defence experts have said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday night's attack, saying it was carried out because Harry was on the base, and also as revenge for an anti-Islamic film.

The Prince was unharmed, but two US Marines were killed and several more wounded.

Harry, an Army captain, is based at Camp Bastion for his second tour of duty, due to last four months. The Prince was about two kilometres away with other crew members of the Apache attack helicopters, of which he is a co-pilot gunner, when the attack took place, sources said.

US officials said the attack on Camp Bastion was by heavily-armed insurgents and involved a range of weaponry, including mortars, rockets or rocket-propelled grenades, as well as small arms fire.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban, told The Associated Press: "We attacked that base because Prince Harry was also on it and so they can know our anger." He added: "Thousands more suicide attackers are ready to give up their lives for the sake of the Prophet."

Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart, a former commander of British troops in Bosnia, said he did not think the Prince should be pulled out of Afghanistan because of the attack by the Taliban. "To hell with them," he said. "Harry wants to go there and our soldiers want him there. He should stay." But Col Stewart added: "Capturing, killing or hurting Prince Harry would be a huge propaganda coup for the Taliban."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The threat to all our service personnel is continually assessed and all measures taken to mitigate it. As we stated last week, the deployment of Captain Wales has been long planned and the threat to him and others around him thoroughly assessed. We stated that any risk posed by his deployment, based on the capability, opportunity and intent of the insurgency, is continually reviewed."

Harry, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Saturday, arrived in Afghanistan on September 7. He has been undergoing training to fly operations in Apache attack helicopters and is expected to start flying missions this week as a co-pilot gunner.

Camp Bastion is a huge base in the middle of the desert and is shared with US, Estonian, Danish and Afghan troops. It is the logistics hub for operations in Helmand, with supply convoys and armoured patrols regularly leaving its heavily-defended gates, to support the military forward operating bases, patrol bases and checkpoints spread across the province.


Prince Harry unharmed in deadly Afghan attack - 14th September 2012...

Troops injured at Camp Bastion, Helmand

WASHINGTON — Heavily armed insurgents staged a deadly attack Friday on the British airbase in southern Afghanistan where Prince Harry is stationed.

Two U.S. Marines were killed, and several other troops were injured, U.S. officials said, adding that the attack at Camp Bastion in Helmand province involved a range of weaponry, possibly including mortars, rockets or rocket-propelled grenades, as well as small arms fire.

A spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said Harry was on the base at the time of the attack but was unharmed.

“Prince Harry was never in any danger,” spokesman Martyn Crighton said, adding that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would investigate whether his presence on the base had motivated the attack.

Lt. Col. Stewart Upton, a spokesman at Camp Leatherneck, a U.S. Marine based adjacent to the airbase, confirmed the attack and said two coalition service members had been killed.

Upton said coalition forces were assessing the extent of the damage and would provide more details later.

Camp Bastion is a British airbase and is used by the Marines at Leatherneck.

Crighton said the attack took place between 9 p.m. and midnight on Friday and that NATO-led forces were still securing the area in and around Camp Bastion.

A number of aircraft at the base also were hit by insurgent fire, a U.S. official said.

Capt. Harry Wales, as the prince is known in the military, is serving a four-month combat deployment as a gunner on an Apache helicopter. Harry, who turns 28 on Saturday, is expected to start flying Apache missions this week. This is his second tour in Afghanistan.

It also was not clear Friday whether the attack was connected at all to the protests and violence across the Muslim world this week that has been linked to an anti-Islamic film. Afghanistan’s southern region has been a hotbed of the insurgency and frequent attacks.

Earlier this week, the Afghan Taliban said they were doing everything in their power to either kill or kidnap Queen Elizabeth’s grandson in what they dubbed their “Harry Operations.”

Crighton said ISAF would investigate whether his presence on the base had motivated the attack.

Prince Harry had been in the news recently after nude pictures of him at a private party in a Vegas hotel room were published.


Friend of Princess Diana fears 'history repeating itself' with Kate...

'I saw what it did to Diana and it’s absolutely horrendous,' Rosa Monckton says about press intrusion following the publication of topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge

Rosa Monckton, a friend of the late Princess Diana, has told the U.K.’s ITV News of her fear that the press will hound the Duchess of Cambridge in the same way following the publication of photographs showing her topless.

“I think it’s history repeating itself,” Monckton told ITV News, which is a partner of NBC News. “It’s very damaging if you as an individual feel that you can never properly relax wherever you are. It gets to you in the end.”

She said she had decided to speak out in an attempt to dissuade the press from treating Kate the same way as Diana.

Monckton was on a private vacation with Diana in Greece shortly before Diana died and told about how they were constantly hunted by an army of about 250 journalists using boats and helicopters.
“I do not want that to happen to the Duchess of Cambridge. I saw what it did to Diana and it’s absolutely horrendous,” Monckton added.

Many blamed paparazzi photographers for following Diana’s car on the night she died in a crash in Paris in August 1997.

Kate and William have filed a lawsuit against French magazine Closer for printing photos of what appears to be Kate, sunbathing topless.

The suit alleges that Closer breached the couple's right to privacy, though the magazine insists it did not.

St. James Palace confirmed Friday that "legal proceedings for breach of privacy have been commenced today in France," reports the Associated Press.

Blurry, long-lens shots of Kate, taken while she and William were on vacation in Provence, in the south of France last week, were printed in the gossip magazine on Friday.

A statement from the palace said the pair were "hugely saddened" by the publication, adding that William and Kate "had every expectation of privacy in the remote house" where they were sunbathing at the time the pictures were taken.

According to a report in Reuters, Closer's editor-in-chief Laurence Pieau defended the "beautiful series" of photos.

"There's been an over-reaction to these photos. What we see is a young couple, who just got married, who are very much in love, who are splendid," Pieau told French BFM television, adding that the magazine had more "intimate" shots from the same series that it chose not to publish.

The news comes as the couple makes an official tour of Southeast Asia. Kate has been basking in the glow of rave reviews for her performing during her second overseas tour as a duchess — and just 24 hours after her heralded first public speech on the international stage.


Taliban Uses Former WWE Diva's Photos To Lure Aussie Troops Into Giving Away Military Secrets...

Taliban insurgents are posing as "attractive women" on Facebook to befriend Australian soldiers and gather intelligence about operations. There is a wrestling tie as one of the accounts the militant group created features photos of former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis.

PCWorld.com has posted an article on the matter, which features a screenshot of a phony Facebook profile with an image of Kanellis displayed.

The tech-savvy Taliban are using these fake profiles to befriend Australian soldiers and gather information based on their Facebook updates. The social networking website features a geo-tagging function, which logs the location from which posts are made. If a soldier posts something while they're in the field, their location is revealed.

Three Australian soldiers were murdered inside their base month, allegedly by an Afghan Army trainee.

Many soldiers did not realize that people using fake profiles can capture information and movements, according to the Australian Government's review of social media and defense. The review found an "overt reliance" on privacy settings had led to "a false sense of security" among troops.

Australian soldiers are being given pre-deployment briefings on the matter and the Australian Department of Defence is currently working on new social media guidelines.


WWE Military Outreach profile via WWE official website...

WWE Superstars and Divas regularly visit military bases and hospitals, including Walter Reed Army Medical Center (prior to closing its doors in 2011) and Bethesda Naval Hospital, to bolster the morale of our troops. Since 2002, WWE has produced WWE’s Holiday “Tribute to the Troops” with WWE Superstars and Divas performing before troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States. In addition, WWE offers all U.S. military personnel free tickets to all its live events in the United States.

WWE also is a proud supporter of the National Guard’s Youth ChalleNGe Program, which assists youths in obtaining their G.E.D. or becoming educated in technical trades. WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston serves as spokesperson for the program. (Credit: WWE)
http://corporate.wwe.com/community/troops.jsp


WWE The USA Guy...

- WWE's official Twitter account continues to promote The USA Guy - a character made up by WWE Superstar Derrick Bateman.

WWE tweeted a new video promo for “USA Guy,” which shows Derrick Bateman re-packaged as a pro-American wrestler fighting foreign and domestic heels. The promo concludes: “Hold on to your flag poles … America is coming.

YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkP5ibG9p7o&feature=player_embedded


Sgt Slaughter bio (credit: WWE)...

“Ten-hut!”

Boasting one of most recognizable names (and jaw lines) ever, Sgt. Slaughter is an instantly recognizable American icon to WWE fans and general pop culture enthusiasts alike. A former U.S. Marine who proudly served his country, “Sarge” burst onto the wrestling scene in 1974 using his real name, Robert Remus in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), working for and trained by WWE Hall of Famer Verne Gagne.

Four years later, Remus donned a mask as Super Destroyer Mark II, teaming with Super Destroyer Mark III managed by Lord Alfred Hayes. After a falling out with his partner, Super Destroyer Mark II took on WWE Hall of Famer, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan as his manager and began a series of ring wars with his former partner and Hayes.

It was not until six years after his professional debut that Remus decided to incorporate his status as a United States Marine Corps veteran and debut in WWE in 1980 as the brutal bullying drill instructor, Sgt. Slaughter who referred to his outmatched opponents as scum, slime and maggots. In less than one year with WWE, Slaughter was doing battle with legends like Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Pat Patterson and even Andre The Giant.

In 1981, Sgt Slaughter took his penchant for punishment to the NWA where he defeated Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the United States Championship. Sarge also proved he could still dominate tag team wrestling as well, teaming with Don Kernoodle to become NWA World Tag Team Champions.

Slaughter returned to WWE in 1983 and, still reviled by its fans, instantly main-evented against WWE Champion Bob Backlund but was unable to take the title from the All-American standard bearer. Almost a decade after his professional debut, Sgt. Slaughter had still not attained every competitor’s dream of being a World Champion.

In 1984, Sgt. Slaughter had heard enough of anti-America rhetoric from for WWE Champion, The Iron Sheik and decided to defend the honor of his country, instantly making him a fan favorite with the WWE Universe. For an entire year, Sgt. Slaughter battled The Iron Sheik in almost all of the 50 states in bloody Steel Cage Matches and Boot Camp Matches. Sgt. Slaughter finally silenced the Iranian aggressor and was second only to Hulk Hogan in terms of popularity with the WWE Universe. However, Slaughter was about to leave WWE right before the birth of WrestleMania in 1985 because of a dispute over action figures. Toy company Hasbro approached Sgt. Slaughter about becoming a character in their G.I. Joe franchise which included action figures. However, at the time, WWE had an exclusive agreement with rival toy company LJN, Sarge had to choose between WWE and G.I. Joe and chose to battle Cobra Commander and his evil forces as an action figure, a comic book hero and even on the G.I. Joe animated series.

In order to continue his wildly successful wrestling career while being G.I. Joe’s best selling action figure, Slaughter returned to the promotion where he began his career, Verne Gagne’s AWA where he defended America ideals against the Soviet Union’s Boris Zhukov and South Africa’s Colonel DeBeers and even The Iron Sheik who followed Sarge to the AWA looking for vengeance. While all of his opponents had the advantage of having Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey in their corner, Slaughter delighted wrestling fans by besting his opponents in bloody Boot Camp Matches. Sarge earned AWA World Title matches against Stan Hansen and then against Larry Zbyszko on ESPN but was still unable to win his first World Title.

In 1990 the AWA’s demise was imminent and Sgt. Slaughter returned to WWE and was part of one of the most infamous chapters in WWE history. Slaughter claimed America had gone soft as a result of the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and did the unthinkable by becoming an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War. Despite the distractions of death threats with enraged Americans, Slaughter finally won his first and only World Title when he defeated The Ultimate Warrior at Royal Rumble 1991 with the help of “Macho King” Randy Savage. At WrestleMania VII, Slaughter was defeated for The WWE Championship by the red, white and blue clad Hulk Hogan. Slaughter then found a way to sink even lower than he had by flanking himself with fellow Iraqi sympathizers General Adnan (formerly known as his nemesis, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey) and Colonel Mustafa (formerly known his most despised opponent, The Iron Sheik). At SummerSlam 1991, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior defeated the trio now known as The Triangle of Terror, Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa.

After The United States soundly defeated Iraq in the Gulf War and months of soul searching, Sgt. Slaughter pleaded with the WWE Universe to accept his apology and welcome him back as a champion for the American way pleading “I want my country back.” Cautiously, WWE fans gave Sarge a chance to prove himself and he did, teaming with the American flag waving “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan to take on all aggressors, foreign and domestic. Almost two decades after his professional debut, Sgt. Slaughter retired from full time competition in 1992 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by former foe turned long time friend, Pat Patterson in 1994.

In 1997, Slaughter returned as WWE Commissioner and did his best to control the chaos created by newly formed D-Generation X, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chyna. After a stint as one of Mr. McMahon’s evil lackeys in his war against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Slaughter largely disappeared from television and assumed a behind the scenes role with World Wrestling Entertainment. The beloved Sarge is now an Ambassador for WWE and busy as ever appearing at charity events all over America and as the only legend who is part The National Guard’s WWE “Big Guns” Team alongside the likes of John Cena, Beth Phoenix and others . Sgt. Slaughter remains one of the most recognizable WWE personalities of all time and recently appeared on Comedy Central’s top rated program Tosh.0, NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and most importantly, WWE’s annual Tribute to the Troops.

Looking as fit as he did when he first laced up his boots in 1974, Sgt. Slaughter always travels with his tights and boots and at a moment’s notice, will fight for truth, justice and the American way.

“Dismissed!”
(Credit: WWE)


Sgt Slaughter VS The Iron Sheik - 23rd April 1984 - Multimedia...

One of the most famous matches ever at Madison Square Garden

http://www.wwe.com/videos/sgt-slaughter-vs-the-iron-sheik-april-23-1984-25057299


The Iron Sheik bio...

Real Name: Hossein Khosrow Vaziri
Birthplace: Tehran, Iran
Current Home: Atlanta, GA
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 265lbs.
Birthday: March 15th
Pro Debut: 1973
Finishing Move: The Camel Clutch
Signature Moves: The master of the suplexe
Names Used: Great Ali Hussein Arab, Hussein Arab, Col. Mustafa and The Iron Sheik

Championships Held:

WWF World Heavyweight Champion
WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Nikolai Volkoff)
NWA Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion
NWA Canadian Tag Team Champion (with Texas Outlaw)
NWA PNW Tag Team Champion (with Bull Ramos)
NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion
CWA Heavyweight Champion
NWA National Television Champion
NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion\
Twin Wrestling Entertainment Champion

In The Beginning

- Khosrow Vaziri started out as an amature wrestler and even won a medel at the 1968 Olympic Games, representing Iran..
- Years later, this was proven to be a complete "work" just to enhance his gimmick wrestling in America..
- 1972: Khosrow Vaziri defected to the United States and became an assistant wrestling coach for the United States..
- Khosrow Vaziri was a two-time AAU Champion and also a United States Olympic Greco Wrestling Coach..
- 1972: Khosrow Vaziri caught the eye of Minnesota legend Verne Gagne at the Olympic Training sessions..
- 1972: Khosrow Vaziri began training with Verne Gagne and debuted in the AWA at the end of that year..
- 1979: Khosrow Vaziri signed with the World Wide Wrestling Federation, wrestling as "Hussein Arab", managed by Fred Blassie..
- June 4, 1979 - MSG: Hussein Arab won a Battle Royal to earn a title shot at WWF Champion Bob Backlund, in the main event..
- Hussein Arab departed the WWWF and toured the Southern territories..

Mid-South Wrestling

- Kosraw Vaziri went to work for Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling promotion and became known as The "Iron Sheik"..
- November 26, 1981--Superdome Extravaganza: The Iron Sheik defeated King Cobra..

World Wrestling Federation

- 1983: The Iron Sheik signed with the World Wrestling Federation when it was becoming a national promotion..
- The Iron Sheik gained a reputation of being the "master of the suplex" using many versions of the suplex..
- December 26, 1983 - MSG: The Iron Sheik beat Bob Backlund for the WWF World title when Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel..
- The Iron Sheik had title defenses against Chief Jay Strongbow, Pat Patterson, Bob Backlund, Salvatore Bellomo and Tito Santana..
- January 23, 1984 - MSG: Hulk Hogan defeated Iron Sheik for the WWF World title in one of the most famous matches of all time..
- Rumor has it, AWA promoter Verne Gagne offered Sheik $100,000 to break Hogans leg during the match..
- Luckily, Iron Sheik is a smart man, and did the job, and informed Hogan & McMahon of the offer after the match..
- July 23, 1984 - Brawl to End It All: The Iron Sheik defeated Tony Garea..
- 1984: The Iron Sheik & Sgt Slaughter engaged in a bloody and violent feud that spread throughout the entire country..
- June 16, 1984 - MSG: Sgt Slaughter defeated The Iron Sheik in a famous Boot Camp match..

World Wrestling Federation - The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

- 1984: The Iron Sheik formed a successful tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, managed by Fred Blassie..
- March 31, 1985 - WrestleMania: The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff beat Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham for the Tag Team titles..
- May 11, 1985 - SNME: The US Express & Ricky Steamboat defeated Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff & George Steele..
- July 8, 1985 - King of the Ring: The Iron Sheik made it all the way to the finals where he lost to Don Muraco..
- Iron Sheik b Jim Brunzell | Iron Sheik b Ricky Steamboat | Iron Sheik b Tito Santana | Don Muraco b Iron Sheik..
- November 7, 1985 - Wrestling Classic: The Junk Yard Dog defeated The Iron Sheik in the 1st Round of the Tournament..
- April 2, 1986 - Wrestlemania 2: The Iron Sheik participated in the Invitational Battle Royal - won by Andre The Giant..
- May 3, 1986 - SNME: The British Bulldogs defeated The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff in 2/3 Falls to retain the Tag Team titles..
- July 14, 1986 - King of the Ring: Billy Jack Haynes defeated The Iron Sheik in the 1st Round of the Tournament..
- March 14, 1987 - SNME: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat defeated The Iron Sheik..
- March 27, 1987 - WrestleMania III: The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff defeated the Killer Bees by DQ when Jim Duggan interfered..
- May 26, 1987: The Iron Sheik and Jim Duggan were arrested by New Jersey State Police..
- Duggan was charged with possession of marijuana and drinking alcohol while driving..
- Sheik was charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine..
- Duggan received a conditional discharge and Sheik received one year probation..
- What was so shocking about this was that they were feuding at the time, and the incident exposed the business..
- 1987: The Iron Sheik left the WWF soon after this incident..

World Class Championship Wrestling

- November 26, 1987 - Star Wars: Chris Adams & Matt Borne defeated The Iron Sheik & The Thing by DQ..
- December 25, 1987 - Star Wars: Matt Borne defeated The Iron Sheik to retain the Texas Heavyweight title..

American Wrestling Association

- Dec 13, 1988 - Superclash III: The Iron Sheik made a surprise appearance when he attacks Sgt Slaughter during a match vs Col. DeBeers..

National Wrestling Alliance

- May 7, 1989 - WrestleWar: Sting defeated The Iron Sheik to retain the NWA Television title..

World Wrestling Federation - Col Mustafa

- 1991: The Iron Sheik returned to the WWF, but this time wrestling as "Col Mustafa"..
- Col Mustafa aligned himself with Iraqi sympathizers Sgt Slaughter & General Adnan as the "Triangle of Terror"..
- SummerSlam 1991: Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior defeated the Triangle of Terror in a handicap match..
- After the match, Adnan & Mustafa turned on Sgt Slaughter, who became a born again american patriot..

World Wrestling Federation - Manager

- February 1997: The Iron Sheik returned to the WWF, as the co-manager for "The Sultan". (Credit: Sheik Show official website)


Where Are They Now? Corporal Kirchner...(Credit: WWE)

He’s remembered as a patriot, an all-American good guy who defended his country’s honor against loathed Russian villain Nikolai Volkoff at WrestleMania 2. But there’s a dark side to the career of the man known as Corporal Kirchner that many WWE fans don’t know — a decade spent in the vicious world of Japanese hardcore wrestling under the name Leatherface, brawling his way through the most brutal matches ever witnessed.

From a truck stop in Tennessee, Mike Kirchner reflected on each of his personas as if they were long lost friends.

“I loved both of them,” Kirchner told WWE.com during a lengthy phone conversation. “[Corporal Kirchner] was so much fun, because you’d learn from so many guys. But Leatherface was just hardcore joy.”

Different as they may be, Kirchner’s alter egos had one thing in common — toughness. It was a reputation he carried with him throughout his career and something that was ingrained in him since his schoolyard days. By his own account a rebellious kid, the Chicago native grew up a scrapper — the result of a childhood spent moving from town to town. His no-nonsense attitude could have sent him down a bad road, but at 17 he joined the military and learned discipline.

*Credit and full article at WWE official website http://www.wwe.com/classics/wherearetheynow/where-are-they-now-kirchner


The Iron Sheik On WWE Hall Of Fame website...

Website
http://www.wwe.com/superstars/theironsheik


WWE's Randy Orton to star in The Marine 3...

WWE are giving 'The Apex Preditor' another shot at the movie business, confirming Orton will star in 'The Marine 3'. This clearly shows commitment to sticking with the volatile pro wrestler.


Eve wins NBC's "Stars Earn Stripes"...

Congratulations are in order for former Divas Champion Eve, who won the season finale of NBC's "Stars Earn Stripes" and the USO a total of $150,000!

Eve joined four-time undefeated world boxing champion Laila Ali, actor Dean Cain (“Out of Time,” “Five Days of War”), actor and former National Football League player Terry Crews (“The Expendables 2,” “The Newsroom”), multi-platinum recording artist, actor, producer and television personality Nick Lachey (NBC's “The Sing-Off”), Alaska businessman Todd Palin, Olympic gold medalist Picabo Street and “The Biggest Loser” trainer Dolvett Quince in the competition.

Over the course of the show, Eve had already won the USO $50,000, utilizing the skillset from her WWE and MMA training and engineering degree from the University Southern California, USC. She impressed millions of fans across the world with her target shooting, physical prowess and dedication and respect for the men and women of our Armed Forces.

" 'Stars Earn Stripes' was one of the best experiences of my life," Eve told WWE.com in an exclusive interview. "I went in assuming I was the underdog because I didn't have the military experience. The USO is a really important organization, and I know that this win is really important to the troops."

But Eve said there was something she didn't expect about the competition.

"It was much more mental than I had expected," Eve said about the dangerous military missions she took part in. "So while I was trained physically for it — jumping out of helicopters — I wasn't fully prepared for the emotional and mental part; that focus," Eve explained. "It just taught me so much about what our military men and women go through."

On "Stars Earn Stripes," eight competitors gathered at a remote training facility where they tackled complicated and difficult missions inspired by real military exercises. Each was paired with an “operative” who is a member or a former member of our Armed Forces or law enforcement agencies. The operative coached and guided their celebrity teammate on their training and each of their missions and competed alongside them. From helicopter drops to long range weapons fire — the competitors were tested physically and emotionally as they played to win and to earn a cash prize for military, veterans and first-responder based charities. Each week, one of the teams was eliminated.

The Diva also noted that WWE played a large role in getting ready for the competition. Even before "Stars Earned Stripes," she had a deep-rooted dedication and respect for the military from WWE's Tribute to the Troops.

"WWE is a huge supporter of our troops," she said. "Part of my love and admiration for our men and women in the military has come from the tours we have done. That really opened up my eyes to what they go through."

And how did being a WWE Diva in the ring help prepare her for her big "Stars Earn Stripes" win?

"I think being a WWE Diva is a tough job; there's lots we do that's not seen on television, constantly working and trying to better ourselves," Eve said. "And I really think that hard work and dedication from being a WWE Diva is probably what set me apart from the other competitors."

Congratulations, Eve! (Credit: WWE)


JBL to climb Mount Kilimanjaro next week...

UPDATE: Sept. 14, 2012

JBL is one week away from beginning his Mount Kilimanjaro climb in Africa!

"I really believe unless I get altitude sickness (which I didn't have any problem last time) or I have an accident where I fall and break an ankle or something, I should make this mountain at 19,334 feet," he wrote.

Read more on JBL's Facebook blog. http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Layfield/194176253533

Credit:
http://www.wwe.com/inside/overtheropes/wweinyourcorner/jbl-seven-summits-kilimanjaro-aconcagua-26043451


2012 Sydney Islamic Riots...

The 2012 Sydney Islamic protest occurred on 15 September 2012 in response to the video Innocence of Muslims. Protestors had objected to the video's portrayal of Muhammad as a man who encouraged violence, and who had people who ridiculed him killed. The protest started at about midday when about 100 people - including women and babies - gathered at Town Hall, marched through Hyde Park and along to Phillip Street, chanting, "Down, down USA" for almost three hours.

As the crowd swelled to over 300 they started to leave Hyde Park towards St James station, riot police armed with batons and shields were waiting for them at the park exit. The crowd soon became agitated and began attacking police as they tried to storm the US Consulate. Islamist protestors continued to throw sticks and bottles at the police. Riot and mounted police pursued protesters down William Street towards Kings Cross as one protester was seen throwing a milk crate at a police car. The already splintered crowd then broke up further, running through the back streets of Darlinghurst where smaller fights occurred.

Protesters, including children, held signs saying, "Behead all those who insult the prophet" and "Obama Obama, we love Osama", and threw objects from construction sites and water bottles at police officers. Police responded by spraying capsicum spray into the crowd.

Several CBD streets, including the intersection of Martin Place and Castlereagh Street, parts of George Street and Market Street were shut down while protestors moved through the city, causing damage and traffic chaos. (Credit: Wikipedia)


Topless Kate pix published in Ireland, Italy next...

ROME (AP) — The British royal family faced a multinational battle to contain the spread of topless photos of Prince William's wife Kate, as an Irish tabloid published them Saturday and an Italian gossip magazine planned to do the same despite the threat of legal action.

The royal couple's St. James's Palace office condemned the moves as unjustifiable and evidence of pure greed, and said it was considering "all proportionate responses."

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sued French magazine Closer on Friday after it ran the photos, taken while Kate and William were on vacation at a relative's private estate in southern France last month.

The publication has been roundly condemned by British newspapers, which refrained from publishing them out of respect for the young couple's privacy, even though tabloids like The Sun run topless women every day on page 3 and ran pictures of Prince Harry naked in Las Vegas last month.

The British media, wary about an ongoing media ethics inquiry triggered by revelations of illegal phone hacking and other intrusive newspaper behavior, has generally respected palace guidelines stressing that William and Kate should not be photographed when they are not in public.

But across the Irish Sea, the Dublin-based Irish Daily Star ran a blurry reproduction of the pages from Closer over two inside pages Saturday.

Editor Mike O'Kane told the BBC the photos weren't included in the edition distributed in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. And the newspaper's website came up as "temporarily unavailable" Saturday.

O'Kane defended his newspaper, saying that Ireland did not view the royal family the same way as the British.

"She's not our future queen," he told the BBC. "The duchess would be no different to any other celeb pics we would get in, for example Rihanna or Lady Gaga."

Northern and Shell, the British company that co-owns the Irish Daily Star — and publishes its British sister tabloid, the Daily Star — said it was "profoundly dismayed" the Dublin newspaper had run the pictures. It said it had had no control over the decision.

Northern and Shell's chairman, Richard Desmond, said he was "taking immediate steps to close down the joint venture" that runs the tabloid.

In Italy, gossip magazine Chi, which is owned by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, said it planned to publish a 26-page spread with the photos on Monday, although it wasn't clear if the content was any different from what Closer ran.

Chi is part of Berlusconi's publishing empire Mondadori, which also owns Closer.

The Chi cover, featuring three pictures of a topless princess, was unveiled Saturday in Italian newspapers and television under the headline "Court Scandal: The Queen is Nude!"

In an interview Saturday with The Associated Press, Chi editor Alfonso Signorini said he didn't fear legal action since the photos were already in the public domain following Closer's publication.

"Closer's position is different, they were the first ones to publish," he said.

He defended the decision to publish them in Italy, saying the photos are tasteful and respect Kate's dignity.

"I don't see anything morbid or damaging in them," he said. "Chi pays attention to respecting people's dignity. I don't think they hurt Kate's image."

He added in a statement that the pictures actually were in line "with the modern concept of the monarchy."

"It shows in its total naturalness the daily life of a young, famous, modern couple in love," he said.

Citing that argument, Mondadori said Saturday it respected the editorial decisions of both Chi and Closer, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

A spokeswoman at St. James's Palace said royal officials were reviewing "all proportionate responses" to Chi's planned publication.

The spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with palace policy, said publication of the photos served no purpose "other than to cause further, entirely unjustifiable upset to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who were enjoying time alone together in the privacy of a relative's home."

The blurry photos, called a "grotesque" abuse of privacy by royal officials after they were published Friday by Closer, show Kate - the Duchess of Cambridge - wearing only a skimpy bikini bottom and sunglasses.

In one of the three on Chi's cover, she appears to be rubbing suntan lotion on William's shoulder.

Palace officials compared the intrusion on the young couple's privacy to the tragic paparazzi pursuit of William's mother Princess Diana, which many believe was a contributing factor to her early death in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.

That two magazines in Berlusconi's media empire were responsible for the distribution of the images of a topless Kate is remarkable, given the former premier's own problems with paparazzi and his privacy.

In 2009, he threatened legal action against the Spanish newspaper El Pais after it published photos of topless women and a naked man lounging at his Sardinian estate. Italian prosecutors seized the photos and placed the photographer under investigation for alleged violation of privacy.

The photos came to light at the start of Berlusconi's downfall: They were published amid a scandal involving Berlusconi and a Naples model, whose 18th birthday party the then-premier attended.

Berlusconi, who was forced from office in November after financial markets lost faith in his ability to steer Italy out of its debt crisis, is currently on trial in Milan on charges he paid for sex with an underage Moroccan girl and then used his office to try to cover it up. He denies wrongdoing, and both he and the girl say they didn't have sex.

Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.


Crown raises $532m in notes offer...

James Packer's Crown Casino has raised $532 million through its subordinated notes offer.

The amount exceeded the $400 million Crown in August said it was seeking to raise.

Crown said it had issued 5.3 million notes at an issue price of $100 each.

The notes are expected to commence trading on a deferred-settlement basis on Monday.

Crown has been undertaking a range of capital expenditure projects at its Crown Melbourne and Burswood hotel and casino complexes.


Banned punters from Crown casino turn to illegal gambling in Melbourne...

Some punters banned from Crown casino are among gamblers involved in illegal high-stakes games in Melbourne.

The secret table games - some run in the Chinatown precinct - attract punters unwilling to visit Crown and other legal outlets.


Wrestling Fans Slot Games: Sumo slot at PartyCasino; Andre The Giant slot at Virgin Casino...

Wrestling fans - if you didn't check them out already, check out Sumo at PartyCasino and Andre The Giant at Virgin Casino. You can play for free or play for money. Read the reviews on the Media Man website network. Not into wrestling? Perhaps Army is your thing? Check out the 'Call of Duty' online slot at both PartyCasino and Virgin Games. As always, bet with your head - not over it. Bombs away champions.

Websites

Casino News Media

Crown Melbourne

The Star

Sgt Slaughter official website

The Iron Sheik official website

Hulk Hogan official website

John Layfield official website - The Layfield Report

The USA Guy YouTube

Australian Army official website

United States Army official website

Stars Earn Stripes - NBC official website

WWE Studios

Media Man Int

Casino News Media

Australian Sports Entertainment

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment