Today's Pick

Marié Digby's brand new sophomore album "Breathing Underwater" comes out today, and available exclusively at Amazon MP3 for the low price of $2.99 today only! It was released in Japan on June 24, and will be released on September 15 everywhere. If you live in the Los Angeles area, there's her album release party/show at the Roxy on Sunset Boulevard on Sept 22nd. The new album includes 13 tracks and 4 bonus tracks for Japan. Its first single is "Avalanche" and was released in US on iTunes on April 28. Its second single is "Symphony" and was released in US on iTunes on June 2. A music video for "Feel" is being aired in Japan and was released by Hollywood Records Japanese distributer, Avex Trax. One critic in Japan said Digby's voice, "delivers the wind of the spring."
Marié Digby was born April 16, 1983, whose mother is Japanese and father is Irish American. She began writing songs during high school in Los Angeles. After completing her sophomore year as a philosophy major at the UC Berkeley, she came out into the public eye when she won the 2004 Pantene Pro-Voice competition with her song "Miss Invisible". She is perhaps best known for her acoustic cover version of Rihanna's No. 1 hit "Umbrella", which attracted attention on YouTube in 2007. The song was subsequently played on the radio station STAR 98.7, was featured on the third season opening episode of the MTV show The Hills. Digby has released three studio albums, including one Japanese cover album. These albums have spawned seven singles overall.
Digby is recognized on YouTube for her simple popular music covers, which include Linkin Park, The Game, Rihanna, Maroon 5, and Nelly Furtado, as well as her original compositions. She has over 170,000 subscribers and her channel has been viewed over 4 million times. As of May 2009, she is the 11th most subscribed musician on YouTube, ahead of names like Chris Brown, Taylor Swift and Tay Zonday.

Howie Day is out with the music video to his new single "Be There", the first release from singer’s third full length album "Sound the Alarm", will release in stores September 8th via Epic Records. Howie Day has released his "Be There" EP in May, introducing his new album, featuring 3 new songs: "Be There", "40 Hours", and "Counting On Me". These tracks are now available on iTunes. "Be There", produced by Kevin Griffin, Mike Flynn, and Warren Huart, will be serviced to radio as the first single from the album.
Howard Kern "Howie" Day was born January 15, 1981 and raised in Bangor, Maine. Beginning his career as a solo artist in the late 1990s, and became known for his extensive touring and in-concert use of samplers and effects pedals in order to accompany himself. The music genre of Pop self-financed and self-released his first album, "Australia" in 2000. The follow up album "Stop All The World Now" was certified gold in early 2005. His most successful to date, and the hit "She Says" became Epic Records’ first platinum single, eventually selling 1.5 million downloads.

After months of nightmares, arguments and chauffeured drives around Hollywood, Tokio Hotel, the German pop rock band, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing, finally gave fans a first full taste of the band's much-anticipated forthcoming LP, "Humanoid" album, the follow-up to their 2007 debut Scream, and premiering the video for the lead single, the soaring "Automatic," produced by David Josh, on their Website late Thursday, and will be released digitally on September 22, while the album “Humanoid” is scheduled to be released across the US on October 6, and understandably, the boys from the Germany’s hottest musical export are already preparing to take over the music scene here with their new tracks. Until that happens, though, fans here will have to make due with the new video for their first single "Automatic".
The music video was directed by Craig Wessels and filmed over three days in the desert of South Africa. The plot of brand-new sci-fi themed video is a simple legendary tale, all kinds of epic, featuring the band racing across windswept plains in classic muscle cars, just like the message of the song. It shows the band members driving cars and performing on a stage in the desert, while a sub-plot deals with with computer generated "Transformers 4" inspired robots. "Automatic" is the most moving robot story since Wall-E.

Labor Day weekend marks the end of the summer movie season. It's historically a sleepy time at the box office, that trend isn't likely to change this year. Hollywood does not save its best for last because that goes against the philosophy of what the summer is for studios. It’s now a few weeks yet until Oscar contenders hit theaters. So it's already off to a lukewarm start, but for those heading out to the theater this weekend, the Lionsgate's "Gamer", a movie abandoned on Labor Day weekend, hopes to break the losing streak of movies inspired by the gaming world. It should be the top draw I picked for you. However, "Gamer" is being launched in a less than advantageous release schedule, will open on Friday without benefit of press screenings with Labor Day releases usually struggling to gather audiences.
In the near future, you don't live to play... you'll play to live. “Gamer” is a high-concept futuristic action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid where human prisoners are forced into deadly combat through mind control. From the co-writers/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who gave us the "Crank" movies, succeeded in creating a kinetic brand of all sensation, all the time post narrative filmmaking, and make hyperactive cinematic freakouts that are both fun to watch and, on their own terms at least, logically cohesive. Gerard Butler stars as Kable, a real-life video game character and an unwilling participant in an online game and the star of a hot new videogame called "Slayers," a controversial form of entertainment that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies. Under the control of a young gamer, Kable tries to survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and save mankind.
Gerard Butler returns to this high-adrenaline action flick, mans up in the scary cyber reality of Gamer, still looks as ripped as when he starred in "300". And once again, Butler is looking seriously pumped up. The Scottish-born rising star is on top of his game, who have also cheered him in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla" and the 2001 TV series "Attila," his early breakthrough. But the 39-year-old actor has proven just as appealing to women. He has been labeled a full-fledged sex symbol after performances in the 2007 romance "P.S. I Love You" and this summer's romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth."
Non-stop action from the very start with awesome camera work and a unique story line. This movie takes video gaming to the extreme and makes you wonder if there are any boundaries to what man will do to amuse themselves! Also if you play video games you will enjoy the scenes in "Society" and the characters that are portrayed. This is without doubt a modern day action blockbuster with hints of the 80' and 90's classics. The Dread Central saying "Gamer is a top of the line action/terror trip with more exploding carcasses than the latest installment of Rambo." If you like action and something new go and see this you wont be disappointed! I don’t play video game. It’s not that I don’t enjoy video games, but they’ve just never really been something that was a big part of my life.

Carrie Underwood, the 4-time Grammy Award winner, ACM Entertainer of the Year, and reigning, 3-time CMA, ACM Female Vocalist winner, American Idol’s Season 4 winner turned platinum country cowgirl, has rush-released the title character and the feisty lead-off single "Cowboy Casanova" from her upcoming 3rd album entitled "Play On" to YouTube today, a day after an unfinished rendition leaked online. The single was originally slated to arrive at country radio on September 8th, the leak of a rough, unfinished version of the song prompted a "rushed-to-radio" delivery of the real single last evening, confirmed Underwood's publicist. As a result, the singer has given country radio stations permission to play the tune, "Cowboy Casanova" has become the "unofficial-official" first single from the highly anticipated album.
For this 3rd album "Play On," Underwood has also written material with R&B singer Ne-Yo, who broke the news to his Twitter followers last week. She`s also been writing with pop hitmakers Max Martin and Kara DioGuardi. "Play On" is one of the most anticipated country albums of the fall, which is due for release on November 3rd by Arista Nashville, a week before the country music diva co-hosts the Country Music Awards with Brad Paisley. So far, Underwood has notched sales of more than 10 million records between "Some Hearts" and "Carnival Ride." Along the way, she has consistently broken new ground and earlier this year became the first country artist in history and the only “American Idol” winner ever to achieve 10 #1 singles from their first two albums.
The leading track, "Cowboy Casanova" is a simple story that is expected from a country act. However, it's the deliverance that makes the artist stand out. The new single is traditional country with some heavier backing guitar tracks leading her through the verses. The surprisingly beat-heavy uptempo number is co-written by Underwood, Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Dr. Dre), and Brett James, who helped write her 2005 hit and Grammy-winning smash "Jesus, Take the Wheel", managed to give this song a very catchy upbeat sound even with its decidedly negative message warning women to stay away. The rocking track has Underwood belting out a cautionary tale about a bad boy cowboy "who looks like a cool drink of water, but he's candy-coated misery." The sure-to-be a crossover smash is just a small taste of what is to come. It's a good tune for Underwood to be able to showcase her endless range, and certain to be another hit for her, and will lead suburban country bumpkins onto the dance floor in flocks. It's pretty upbeat rather than the ballads she's so famous for, but she still has that strong voice and personality that come through every time. One of the biggest questions the song raises is whether Taylor Swift's phenomenal success in the last year crossing over from country to pop will enable Carrie Underwood to appeal directly to pop fans as well. The new song will be debuted live for the first time when Underwood returns to the Grand Ole Opry on October 2nd. The official version of the song can be heard on Underwood's website, where it's currently streaming.

As most of you have heard, the song "New Divide" from the rock band, Linkin Park is the theme song and lead single from Michael Bay's film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." which is now reached #1 for U.S. Billboard's Rock Songs, Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, and Alternative Songs. The song also reached #1 on the UK Rock Charts.
"New Divide" employs a verse-chorus-verse format, akin to the majority of their first two albums, plus a mechanically-themed breakdown halfway through the second chorus. The backdrop for the song is built on layered, heavy synths and a sharp performance by Rob Bourdon, the band's drummer. Michael Bay said "I love Linkin Park... they really delivered with "New Divide" — it's a great song that perfectly matches the film's intensity." It was featured in the end credits of the film, and released as a single on May 17.
The official music video for "New Divide" was directed by award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, and shot on location at Paramount Studios May 13 and 14. The video features scenes taken from the movie, along with shots of the band inside the Egyptian cave where the bodies of the Dynasty of the Primes, while performing the song. A lot of special effects are also seen and the video is heavily edited in places making use of thermal cameras and using flying food parts as texture around a lot of the thermal imagery. The video premiered on the band's Myspace site on June 11, and released on next day.

The film "State of Play" comes to us on DVD/Blu-Ray today. From director Kevin Macdonald of "The Last King of Scotland" and his committee of screenwriters have, like newsroom rewrite aces, based on the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries of the same name, "State of Play." The plot of the six-hour serial has been condensed to fit two hours, and shifting locales from London to U.S. capital. The film was released in North America on April 17.
Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast, including Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams & Helen Mirren in the blistering political thriller about deception, manipulation and corruption. When a street smart D.C. reporter Cal McCaffrey (Crowe), an old-school-style journalist is assigned to investigate the murder of an assistant to an up-and-coming U.S. Congressman (Affleck), who's also his best friend, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to bring down the nation's power structures. In a town of spin-doctors and wealthy power brokers, he will discover one truth: when fortunes are at stake, no one's integrity, love or life is safe.
Political thrillers are most effective when they deal with an issue that resonates with their audiences. It can be difficult to produce them in a timely matter because news happens constantly, and seemingly weekly, the world is on to the next story of corruption or injustice.
With this tense thriller "State of Play," the universal themes of greed and amoral politicians, it brings together gripping performances, riveting suspense and is "sophisticated, intelligent and powerful". It feels a little familiar as far as paranoid political thrillers go, but it's so nicely executed—well written, compelling and rich—with a stellar set of actors that it's easy to get engrossed in the story, and the current American political climate fits nicely with the story. The drama features terrific performances from its stars as well. The special extras for DVD include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes making-of featurette.