Beyonce topped the list of nominees for the 52nd Grammy Awards on Wednesday, leading the way with 10 nods ahead of teenage country star Taylor Swift with eight.
R ’n’ B superstar Beyonce scooped nominations in the coveted record of the year and album of the year categories, for her single Halo and her chart-topping double-album I Am ... Sasha Fierce. The former Destiny’s Child singer also picked up a nod in the song of the year category.
But Beyonce is likely to face fierce competition in the major categories from Swift, eccentric songstress Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas, who all earned nominations in best album, record and song categories.
Trailing Beyonce and Swift in overall nominations were the Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West with six nods each.
This year’s nominations were announced at a star-studded concert performance in Los Angeles where Beatles legend Ringo Starr and Katy Perry were among the presenters.
Swift, 19, who has already enjoyed success this year at the American Music Awards and Country Music Awards, earned a nod for her
album Fearless.
Other nominees were the Black Eyed Peas for The E.N.D, Lady Gaga (The Fame) and Dave Matthews Band for Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King.
Grammy chief Neil Portnow praised Swift as a “phenomenon in entertainment.” “She crosses so many genres and generations. She’s really struck a chord with people because her music is so honest,” Portnow said.
The best rock album nominees meanwhile comprise AC/DC’s Black Ice, Live From Madison Square Garden by Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King by the Dave Matthews Band and No Line on the Horizon by U2.
The best new artist category saw nods for the Zac Brown Band, Keri Hilson, MGMT, Silversun Pickups and The Ting Tings.
Next year’s Grammy Awards will be presented on Jan. 31 at the Staples Center for Los Angeles.
Michael Jackson’s death put a sudden end to long-rumored plans for a Jackson 5 reunion, but brother Jermaine Jackson on Friday kept fans guessing about whether there might be a Jackson 4 concert next year. “Those plans are in the works but you have to wait and see where it goes,” Jermaine Jackson told reporters, referring to an upcoming reality TV show about the famous singing family.
Meanwhile, Sony Pictures on Thursday said global ticket sales for its movies have neared US$3.4 billion, beating a studio record with a range of films such as Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which raked in more than US$250 million worldwide. The Jackson film, which was put together from video footage of the late pop star rehearsing for a series of concerts that would have taken place had he not died in June, debuted in theaters in late October and ended its run outside the US this week with US$180 million internationally, Sony said.
Film star Nicolas Cage has won a UN award night for his humanitarian work and has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the actor and filmmaker with the UN Correspondents Association’s Global Citizen of the Year award for humanitarian endeavors.
Cage said his role will be “to shine a spotlight on the need for global justice.” The Amnesty International advocate has donated US$2 million to establish a fund to help former child soldiers and led a campaign around his film, Lord of War, to raise awareness about international arms control.
The secretary-general also presented a Global Citizen of the Year award to William Roedy, chairman of MTV Networks International, for his work to combat HIV and AIDS.
The UN tapped genre-defying music icon Stevie Wonder to become a “messenger for peace,” focusing on the battle for disabled rights.
Wonder vowed to “make the world more accessible.”
“I’ll sing songs. Speak on it and sing about it. I plan to do that,” he said.
Hollywood has finally realized that Tobey Maguire has grown up. The actor who gained fame as a teenager in the Spider-Man movies has embraced fatherhood and a new role as a soldier whose family is torn apart by war. The 34-year-old actor is now a married father of two and appearing in his first film in two years since Spider-Man 3, the adult drama Brothers, which debuts in major US cities on Friday and looks at soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist