Organizers of the inaugural Vineland Festival have decided to postpone the New Jersey festival a year and won’t debut until 2009.  The move comes with the announcement that Coachella organizers were preparing a similar festival, All Points West, in New Jersey during the same weekend this year.

 ”We had to get our egos in check and say, let’s do the smart decision, get off these dates, and go for an isolated (date) so we can build this thing without having to look over our shoulders,” C3 partner Charles Attal tells Billboard.com. “We don’t want to be compared to all the other festivals and who’s playing where. We want to build this thing right, organically, from the ground up.”

So Coachella brought their big guns and organizers for Vineland blinked.  With the current glut of major European-style rock festivals happening in every region of the US, this is a smart move on the festival producers’s parts.  C3, the group organizing Vineland, also produce the very successful Lollipalooza in Chicago and Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, Texas.

So it’s not as if this is a first time festival producers, these guys also have some big guns.  Just seems like they’re being smart is all.

“For us to do well in the long term, the overall festival business has to do well, not just us,” says C3 partner Charlie Walker. “Going in with three festivals on the same weekend and all of us not doing as well as we could have if weren’t all there didn’t make sense for the business. We were willing to move to a date where we could get off by ourselves, and I think there’s enough population base up there for us all to succeed in a calendar year. We just can’t all be piled up.”

Here’s hoping they can get this right or figure out their niche market by 2009.  Because it seems like every music festival, no matter where it takes place, all have the same lineups, the same concessions, the same general vibe.   For music fans that’s both good and bad.  Good that you don’t have to travel far to see your favorite bands, bad that there’s no reason to travel and experience a festival on the other side of the country.

Quantum (n) - any of the very small increments or parcels into which many forms of energy are subdivided; portion or part.

Solace (n) - a source of relief or consolation; alleviation of grief or anxiety

On the surface, the new title for Bond 22 doesn’t have the same zing as Casino Royale did. However, Quantum of Solace sounds a little sci-fi, like Moonraker-era Bond, but in context it sounds like a pretty rad title. Sony held a press conference this morning to announce the title and pat itself on the back and have the cast dress up and look very sexy.

They were even kind of enough to supply an official plot synopsis.

Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (JUDI DENCH) interrogate Mr White (JESPER CHRISTENSEN) who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an Mi6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (OLGA KURYLENKO), a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene (MATHIEU AMALRIC), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organisation.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (JOAQUIN COSIO). Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.

In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop his organisation.

So, what is Bond’s quantum of solace for Vesper’s treachery at the end of Casino Royal? Sounds like a dish of cold vengeance. And lots of sex and probably a martini or two.

The title was taken from an already existing Ian Fleming short story and the producers are promising much more action than Daniel Craig’s first foray as Bond. Craig has his own thoughts on what the title means, according to an article by the BBC.

Craig said the cryptic title referenced how Bond’s heart had been broken at the end of Casino Royale. “Ian Fleming had written about relationships,” he explained. “When they go wrong, when there’s nothing left, when the spark has gone, when the fire’s gone out, there’s no quantum of solace. And at the end of the last movie, Bond has the love of his life taken away from him and he never got that quantum of solace.”

The article also goes into deets about the two lovely ladies who will vie for Craig’s affection and the old lady M, who tries to keep our boy in check.

Sometimes it’s the little things. When so much of the viral marketing for The Dark Knight hinged on Heath Ledger’s character The Joker and his website whysoserious.com, Warner Bros. made a small gesture, but a very fitting one. Draped on the website is a simple black ribbon.

Any doubts about the studio handling further marketing of the movie in the wake of this tragedy, as anything less than classy, should be put to rest.

Also: MTV has video of what could be Heath’s final performance. A spy shot some cellphone video of the late actor on the set of the now defunct Terry Gilliam movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Paramount Studios is trying to get the Jack Ryan franchise back up off the ground after the ill-received Sum of All Fears (not great but did anyone honestly see the nuclear explosion coming?).  The last Jack Ryan movie starred Ben Affleck and the apex of his nadir, but the series will always be known for the two mid-90s movies starring Harrison Ford.

For our money though, the series began and ended with Alec Baldwin in The Hunt For Red October.  However, that could all change with the news that Moviehole is reporting.

According to their sources, Paramount is in discussions with actor Ryan Gosling to step into the Jack Ryan role and they are also courting director Fernando Meirelles to helm the new picture, referred to as By Any Means Necessary.

Hopefully the title will change, because that just sounds like an awful 80’s high school football movie, starring a pre-balding Anthony Edwards as an awkward quarterback that’s only playing football to live up to his dad’s expectations.  We digress.  Meirelles is an unconventional choice, but an intriguing one.  He’s directed the somber The Constant Gardner and the sobering City of God.  Currently, he’s directing Blindness.  

Gosling seems a bit young to play Jack Ryan, but author Tom Clancy is involved with the movie studio.  It’s possible they are going for a Ryan just joining the CIA.

Hands down Feist owned 2007, so one would think she may want to chill out in 2008, but apparantly that’s not in her plans for utter world domination.

“I Feel It All” was easily our fav track from The Reminder.  And now it’s got a proper vid, directed by Patrick Daughters.  This time Leslie is standing in front of the camera, but the colorful whimsy is gone.  Instead we get her out in the backyard at night lighting fireworks.

Not exactly what I imagined, but what can you do.  I didn’t imagine blue sequined one-piece jumpsuits either.

Mp3: “I Feel it All”

And a much better performance on Jimmy Kimmel in the back of a bus after the jump.  MORE »

Man this just about made my day, which usually I can count on the boys from Hidden Track unearthing something like this. So someone took the time to sync The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” to the first five minutes or so of the Chuck Jones animated version of Horton Hears a Who.

We can just about guarantee that those five minutes are going to be better than spending two hours in a theater watching Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell in this summer’s lifeless version of Dr. Suess’s Horton Hears a Who. Don’t believe us? Well, don’t get us all all ornery, see for yourself and judge away. Go judge!

I’ll take Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry in a steel cage death match eight days a week over Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell. Unless of course, Brick Tamland brings his trident. Then again no one has as good a finishing move as Pete’s “Flying Windmill.” Owned!

In light of the recent and tragic passing of Heath Ledger, production has shut down after 20 days of filming in London on what would have been his next movie, director Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Ledger was the linchpin in the $30 million dollar project from the cursed director.

Okay, calling Gilliam cursed is a bit harsh, but let’s be real for a moment. This guy has had terrible luck. Whether it was studio interference on projects like Brazil or The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, or box-office bombs like Tideland and The Brothers Grimm (for which Ledger also starred) it’s been one thing or another. Which is a shame because he’s quite the filmmaker. There was even a documentary about Gilliam’s quixotic quest to bring The Man From La Mancha to the big screen, which was really one derailing problem after another.

While Ledger wasn’t the star in this movie, funding for the project depended solely on the actor. According to US Magazine:

“I just got the call [Tuesday] saying everyone was being let go,” the on-set source tells Usmagazine.com. “We were supposed to start this weekend, but obviously they fired everyone today.

“They don’t know yet what they are doing with the footage that was already shot,” the source adds.

Parnassus was supposed to follow an ancient traveling theater company which arrives in modern London with a magical mirror that can transport its audience into fantastical realms of the imagination. Christopher Plummer was supposed to play the Doctor and Ledger’s role was an outsider that fends off the devil, played by Tom Waits.

While conducting interviews with MTV about the Bob Dylan biopic and obviously his role as The Joker in Chris Nolans The Dark Knight, Ledger also talked a bit about his role in the now defunct Gilliam project. In that interview, Ledger said:

“That’s just going to be a hoot,” Ledger smiled. “It’s going to be fun! Terry couldn’t even tell you what the movie is about,” Ledger laughed. “It’s mind-bending. I really don’t know how to sum it up.”

Ledger went on to say that “I love Terry. I’d really do anything for him,” Ledger insisted. “I’d cut carrots and serve catering on his movies.”

Also: While we’d never attempt at churning out some kind of trite obituary or placing his acting career in context, what’s most sad about Ledger’s death is he never seemed like a bad guy.

He always came off as shy, a bit awkward and slightly uncomfortable in interviews, but intelligent. He supposedly loved playing chess and would often go to Washington Square Park and play with people. I don’t think anyone would call him vapid.

His death feels eerily similar to River Phoenix’s death a decade ago; the difference, however, was it was widely known Phoenix used illicit drugs very recreationally.
The thing that always impressed me about Ledger’s acting chops was his desire to not trade in on his obviously good looks. Almost charting the same path as Brad Pitt, it seemed as if Ledger was more interesting in being a part of interesting projects with good directors or good stories or other good actors. He seemed to hide on screen, even if his physicality as an actor wouldn’t let him.

That was what always impressed me the most - he was searching and prodding and trying to constantly find things that interested him even if they weren’t your “typical” Hollywood career choices. There’s almost nothing more enjoyable than watching a fearless performer and following them as their career evolves. Unfortunately, we won’t have that luxury now with Heath Ledger.

He will be missed. Enjoy this great interview from 2005 with Charlie Rose and director Ang Lee. It was during the time of Brokeback Mountain. Gay cowboy jokes aside, that was one ballsy fucking career move and an even ballsier performance of emotional restraint and quiet anger. Is it possible, in retrespect, that we underestimated just how profound that performance really was? Skip ahead about 30 mins to get to Heath.

Both ends of the Hollywood spectrum were celebrated late last night and early this morning. I can remember waking up in college to watch the official Oscar announcements, don’t know if they still do that. Especially this year with the strike and all. Without further ado here are your major category nominees for The Oscars.

•Best picture

Atonement. The sweeping saga of a World War II-era romance doomed by false accusations.

Juno. The story of a precocious, pregnant teen locks up the slot that voters seem to reserve each year for a low-budget comedy.

Michael Clayton. The George Clooney thriller that affirms audiences’ worst attitudes toward lawyers.

No Country for Old Men. Writers and directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s bloody, contemporary Western.

There Will Be Blood. A ruthless tycoon’s struggle with a small-town preacher over drilling for oil. A gusher for nominated lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

(I’d say this is a two horse race between There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, but don’t count out the dark horse love story in Atonement)

•Best actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

George Clooney, Michael Clayton

Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd

Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Julie Christie, Away From Her

Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Laura Linney, The Savages

Ellen Page, Juno

•Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War

Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild

Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

•Supporting actress

Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There

Ruby Dee,American Gangster

Saoirse Ronan, Atonement

Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

•Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton

Jason Reitman, Juno

Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Oscar Award Ceremony will take place on Feb. 24, with Jon Stewart as a host. For those who care There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men led the way with eight nominations each. However, one of those nominations wasn’t for Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood’s amazing score for There Will Be Blood. It was disqualified from competition because it contained previously composed material.

Also: Lindsay Lohan swept the nominees for The Razzies. Good for her!

We were gonna do something, but then we figured who can pay tribute to MLK on this holiday more appropriately than anyone else?  Oprah.  So without further ado take it away.

A while back a rumor was started, well let’s clarify. Not really a rumor so much as a hypothetical by the guys over at Collider. They bumped into director John Singleton and talk soon turned to Singleton’s involvement with the big screen adaptation of the 80’s action show The A-Team. At the time Singleton insisted the only thing he wanted was for Woody Harrelson to play the maniacal Murdoch.

Murdoch was the crazy one, who always seemed to outsmart people by playing crazy dumb. So naturally everyone was like “brilliant!” or “perfect” or some such words to those effects. It seemed like an almost orchestrated way for Singleton to find out if his casting choice would go over in the fanboy community.

The thing is Harrelson is perfect for the role of Murdoch. The other roles are a lot more difficult to cast. Especially given Ice Cube’s recent lobbying to play B.A. Baracus. Let’s hope not. Also can we start the George Clooney should be Hanibal train?

MTV caught up with Woodrow at Sundance where he was promoting the Brad Anderson picture Transsiberian. Straight from Woodrow’s mouth, he says the script for The A-Team is “surprisingly good.”

John Stewart, a musician and member of The Kingston Trio, will always be best remembered for writing the seminal 60’s Monkees hit “Daydream Believer.” He died over the weekend at San Diego Hospital after suffering a brain aneurism. He was 68.

“He was a lovely man and a very gentle soul and I guess the only thing you can say today is that the world is less one great songwriter,” the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Stewart left the Kingston Trio shortly before the Monkees released “Daydream Believer” in 1967, then went on to record nearly four dozen solo albums, including the critically acclaimed “California Bloodlines” and “Bombs Away Dream Babies.” The latter included the hit single “Gold,” in which he dueted with Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks.

Still, as with “Daydream Believer,” he was likely best known for writing songs for others, including Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, Roseanne Cash and Anne Murray.

“He was a cult hero, he never made it super huge,” said his manager, Dean Swett. “He was one of those outlaw rebels, one of the people who refused to conform to what the record labels expected him to be.”

Not a huge loss in music, but one nonetheless and for those closest to Stewart it sounds like this was a huge loss.

M4a: The Monkees - “Daydream Believer”