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Call the “12-12-12” benefit show “The Concert for New York City” 2.0. Eleven years after the benefit concert in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was held at Madison Square Garden, many of the same top musicians came together to raise money for those suffering from Superstorm Sandy, including Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, The Who, Eric Clapton and Bon Jovi.

Those singers set a serious tone Wednesday night, wearing mostly black and gray onstage as they encouraged people to call and donate money to those affected by the devastating storm that took place in late October, killing about 140 people and damaging millions of homes and properties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other areas.



Alicia Keys, who grew up in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, closed the night with her New York anthem “Empire State of Mind,” as doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers and others joined the piano-playing singer onstage. They ended the night chanting “U.S.A.”

Keys was one of two women who performed at “The Concert for Sandy Relief.” Diana Krall backed McCartney, who sang his solo songs, Beatles songs and played the role of Kurt Cobain with Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear during the nearly six-hour show.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off the night, performing songs like “My City of Ruins,” “Born to Run” with Bon Jovi and some of Tom Waits' “Jersey Girl.”

“I pray that that characteristic remains along the Jersey shore because that's what makes it special,” the New Jersey-born rocker said.

E Street band guitarist Steven Van Zandt said backstage that musicians and entertainers always show up when tragedy hits.

“It's more personal because literally the Jersey Shore is where we grew up … but we'd be here anyway,” he said. “You don't see oil companies here, you don't see insurance companies here, the Wall Street guys, with all due respect, they're not waiting in line to help anybody, so we're here.”

The sold-out show was televised live, streamed online, played on the radio and shown in theaters all over the world. Producers said up to 2 billion people were able to experience it live.

But the night wasn't all serious: Comedy helped break up the weightiness of Sandy's devastation, including jokes from Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Adam Sandler, who performed a hilarious parody of Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah.” Even Coldplay's Chris Martin brought on the jokes.

“I know you really wanted One Direction,” Martin said of the popular British boy band. “But it's way past their bedtime.”

Martin was joined onstage by Michael Stipe, as they sang R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” And there was another collaboration with Roger Waters and Eddie Vedder on “Comfortably Numb.”

The participants, many natives of the area and others who know it well, struck a defiant tone in asking for help to rebuild sections of the New York metropolitan area devastated by the storm. About half of the performers were British.

“This has got to be the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled in Madison Square Garden,” said Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, who performed two songs. “If it rains in London, you've got to come and help us.”

Waters, who has lived in New York for 11 years, said “there's a great feeling of camaraderie” backstage and that he's excited he could help those who are suffering.

Most of the acts performed about four tunes. McCartney performed for 40 minutes and The Who were onstage for 30. They weaved Sandy into their set, showing pictures of storm devastation on video screens during “Pinball Wizard.” Pete Townshend made a quick revision to the lyrics of “Baba O'Riley,” changing “teenage wasteland” to “Sandy wasteland.”

Joel performed one of the last century's favorites, “New York State of Mind.” Joel's “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” sounded prescient, with new Sandy-fueled lyrics smoothly fitting in. He was also the only artist to mark the season, working in a little of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Kanye West's performance gave the crowd a different sound, as the music lineup was heavily weighted toward classic rock, which has the type of fans able to afford a show for which ticket prices ranged from $150 to $2,500. Even with those prices, people with tickets have been offering them for more on broker sites such as StubHub, an attempt at profiteering that producers fumed was “despicable.”

To help with the fundraising, celebrities such as Kristen Stewart, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chelsea Clinton and Billy Crystal took part in a telethon during the concert.

Comedian Adam Sandler took the stage for a Sandy-themed spoof on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," rhyming the title with "Sandy, Screw Ya!"

Backstage, actress Susan Sarandon recounted losing power in her New York home but said that was a small hardship compared with the real victims who lost their homes.

Proceeds will go to the Robin Hood Foundation, which said it raised $30 million from ticket sales and sponsors ahead of the concert. The organization also stressed that the earnings will get to those who need assistance.

“We will make sure that that money goes out right away to the most affected (places) in New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut,” David Saltzman, the organization's executive director, said backstage. “The money that we raised from this concert will be distributed in the days, weeks and months, not years.”

The sold-out “12-12-12” concert was being shown on 37 television stations in the United States and more than 200 others worldwide. It was to be streamed on 30 websites, including YouTube and Yahoo. The theaters showing it included 27 in the New York region.
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I love Anne Hathaway. And it's not because she's a remarkably talented performer—though she is. It's because people like her could save Hollywood.

Hathaway has endured some of the worst impulses of the entertainment industry, and has flourished anyway. She's a solid actor and has a Metropolitan Opera-worthy voice. Still, Hollywood looked at the young and adorable Hathaway and decided she was most bankable as a Disney cutie. She did it—well, actually—but still managed to break out of the cute-girl mode and show her stuff as a well-rounded and nuanced performer. This is no small accomplishment, since Hollywood doesn't care if an actor grows professionally.

The town doesn't care about making art so much as it cares about making money, and keeping Hathaway in Disney sweetheart clothes until they replaced her with another pretty girl would be a predictable strategy. Hathaway smartly found ways to showcase the breadth of her talent before her princess expiration date.

Now, Hathaway is in the role of her career (so far), playing Fantine in the film Les Miserables. She had to diet her already small frame down to nothing for the role of a starving girl, and she refreshingly didn't tell magazines that gosh, she doesn't really like to diet and exercise, so she just gave up her daily In-and-Out burger and lo and behold, her weight got down to double digits. Hathaway lived off of unappetizing oat cakes to make weight, and she made no pretenses that it was easy.

At a premier recently, Hathaway fell victim to an unfortunate "wardrobe malfunction." She was wearing a close-fitting dress, apparently decided to forgo undergarments to keep from destroying the lines of the dress, and a photographer got a picture of her privates as she stepped out of a car.

The behavior of the photographer, who had no moral or ethical problem with selling the photo, is reprehensible. So it is even more impressive to note the response of Hathaway when she was on The Today Show:

It was obviously an unfortunate incident. It kind of made me sad that we live in an age when someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment and, rather than delete it, sells it. I'm sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies sexuality upon unwilling participants. Which brings us back to Les Mis because that's who my character is. She is someone who is forced to sell sex to benefit her child because she has nothing. So let's get back to Les Mis.

The fact that Hathaway was able to bring the question back to the reason she got up before the crack of dawn to begin with—to peddle the movie, as the studio expects her to do—was impressive. The fact that she drew attention to the boorishness of paparazzi—especially considering that they will be more predatory with uncooperative victims—is even more laudable.

Famous actors have always had to put up with a certain amount of unwanted attention (and some of it, of course, is indeed wanted). But the demand for embarrassing photos—and the high price paid for them—has turned photographers into professional harassers. It's not just the camera stuck directly into the face. It's the paparazzi who scream insults at a female actor, trying to provoke the man she is with, so they can get him on camera doing or saying something angry in response. It makes for a better photo and more money.

Hathaway was a money-maker for Hollywood as a Disney princess. Now that she's shown how much more she can do, she's a money-maker for the paparazzi hoping to get an embarrassing picture of her. The only people who should be embarrassed are those who feed off other people's celebrity. The rest of us should look forward to plunking down 12 bucks to hear Hathaway's captivating voice on screen.

Related searches: Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction, Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction Pics

Whoopsies!

Hollywood sweetheart Anne Hathaway could probably use some sympathy after her mortifying wardrobe malfunction earlier this week, but she wasn’t getting any from Matt Lauer during her Wednesday “Today” show appearance.

“We’ve seen a lot of you lately,” Lauer quipped as he opened the segment with the actress, who was there to talk about her performance in “Les Miserables.”

Lauer was referring to a moment on Monday night that Anne is likely trying to forget, when she hopped out of a car at the “Les Mis” premiere and flashed photographers sans underwear.

“I’d be happy to stay home,” an embarrassed Hathaway said. “But the film…

"It was obviously an unfortunate incident," she continued. "It kind of made me sad on two accounts. One was that I was very sad that we live in an age when someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment and rather than delete it--and do the decent thing--sells it. And I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies sexuality of unwilling participants, which brings us back to 'Les Mis,' that's what my character is, she is someone who is forced to sell sex to benefit her child because she has nothing and there's no social safety net.

“Yeah so let’s get back to ‘Les Mis,’” the actress concluded.

Hathaway’s creative turn of Lauer’s question didn’t go unnoticed, and though she seemed somewhat unfazed by the tough question, her fans immediately came to her defense. Viewers seemed to widely agree that Lauer took it too far both with his question and his joke.

“Props to Anne Hathaway for standing up to Matt Lauer and his inappropriate line of questioning,” one user wrote on Twitter.

“Who treats Anne Hathaway like that??? She’s a lady. She [should have] slapped Matt Lauer…” another fumed.

Related searches: Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction, Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction Pics

 A set of letters written by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to a secret lover in the late 1960s sold big at a London auction Wednesday, with a buyer dropping more than 187,250 pounds ($301,000) on the notes.
The collection of 10 letters, dated from the summer of 1969 (when Jagger was just 25), were on the auction block at Sotheby's in London.

Jagger’s love notes were written to the American-born singer Marsha Hunt while he was in Australia filming "Ned Kelly."

Hunt, believed to be the inspiration for the band's 1971 hit "Brown Sugar," put the notes -- which included song lyrics and a Rolling Stones playlist -- up for sale because “the passage of time has given these letters a place in our cultural history,” according to the Guardian newspaper. She also said she needed the cash to pay bills.

Jagger's relationship with Hunt was largely kept secret. In 1970, she gave birth to the rock star's first child, Karis Jagger Hunt.

As for the buyer? It’s reported to be a private collector.

Below, watch a clip of the band performing "Brown Sugar" in 1971

Mick Jagger has many Twitter users crying foul when he seemingly compared Hurricane Sandy to rain during the "12-12-12" Sandy benefit concert at Madison Square Garden Thursday.

Twitter users got no satisfaction from Mick Jagger Wednesday night after the Rolling Stones front man cracked a joke about Hurricane Sandy during the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief.

During the band’s two-song set, Jagger had many fans fuming when he seemingly compared the deadly storm to just a bit of bad weather, CBS New York reported.

“This has got to be the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled in Madison Square Garden,” he said. “But I’ve got to say, if it rains in London, you’ve got to come and help us, OK?”

Many shocked fans hit the 140-character platform to blast the British rocker’s poorly drawn comparison.

The Rolling Stone frontman and Keith Richards rock out on stage at Madison Square Garden. 
“He know it was more than rain, right?” @jimmyrooster tweeted.

“Not gonna lie when jagger said "better help us out if it ever rains in England" I got a little angry,” @mcavs wrote.

“did jagger just say if it rains in london we have to help them? we bailed them out in WW2. REMEMBER? You're welcome,” @naflotteron added.

But the Stones didn’t seem to notice the controversy.

A social media account for the famed band tweeted out the quote that evening – and even Jagger later tweeted about how well the concert went.

The famed British band played two songs, "You Got Me Rocking" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash." 
“#121212concert had a great time at#madisonsquare really good crowd and wonderful atmosphere now home watching #indiavsengland #testmatch,” @MickJagger wrote, referring to a cricket match between India and England.

Indeed, some fans simply laughed off the questionable remark.

“In Jagger's defense, doesn't it always rain in London? (or fog)... I think it was just a joke, relax, and focus on Kanye, LoL!” @JerseyJ0E wrote.

Jagger wasn’t in New York during the superstorm, which claimed at least 125 lives and left over $70 billion worth of damage in its wake.

However, he said in an interview before Wednesday’s show that his apartment was flooded with 2 feet of water.

Innocent Barbados man walks free after two women convinced that police had got the wrong man sprang to his defence

The "Sirvana" performance at the Hurricane Sandy benefit concert successfully trolled the internet—and then turned out to be a well-rehearsed show by seasoned performers.


In the hours before Wednesday's "12-12-12" Sandy benefit concert, a disproportionate amount of the internet's workday was spent devising portmanteaus for the announced collaboration between Paul McCartney and two-thirds of the classic Nirvana lineup: drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic. (Pat Smear, a onetime Germ—and sometime Nirvana and Foo Fighters touring guitarist—also rounded out the group.)


 McVana. Sirvana. You get the idea.

Part of the web-froth was no doubt due to a background suspicion or hope that these boldface names would somehow botch the job of tending to their respective legacies. Self-appointed Nirvana priests rended garments; how dare the bandmembers sully their legacy by ... collaborating with a Beatle? There were some LOLs over a weird-sounding bit of McCartney's promotional patter that made it sound as if he didn't know anything about Nirvana—as though Macca had been old and out-of-it for decades—mostly seized on by people you'd have to expect missed out on Sir Paul's last several strong recordings. (One of those, Electric Arguments, by his side project The Firemen, rocked harder than most of 2008's critical darlings).

As it happened, the mates didn't just happen to get together "to jam." They had already produced a new song, "Cut Me Some Slack," which (carelessly cliché title and all) was closer to the living solo-McCartney blueprint than Nirvana's impossible-to-recapture one. Outside of its potential charity-donation impact, you'd be hard pressed to call the track life-changing. But it was more than acceptable. Like many of McCartney's recent good-but-not great projects, there were minor delights to be found in it.

McCartney brought you your blues courtesy of an electric slide-guitar part, while Grohl pushed the medium-tempo groove with unflagging energy (and a particularly strong finish). Novoselic's bass part featured a stray figure that periodically moved away from Macca's line in a way that recalled Nirvana's adventurism in the search of new riffs, but it wasn't as though you could close your eyes and trick yourself into thinking it was the old band up there. How could it be so? The musicians knew this, and played their way around it, even as they talked of a "Nirvana reunion."

The Internet probably should have expected this modicum of competence from these artists. In recent years, Sir Paul has specialized in well-considered collaborations with his juniors that might at first blush have seemed ill-advised. The Electric Arguments record was his third in collaboration with the musician Youth. And when McCartney announced, in 2005, that he had been working with Radiohead and Beck producer Nigel Godrich, you could almost hear people whispering "stunt" along the sidelines. But rather than delivering some trend-chasing flop, McCartney gave us the modest accomplishments of Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, an album that recalled of the small-scale charms of his first solo outing more than it did any of Godrich's other recording clients.

Likewise, from the erstwhile-Nirvana camp, a presumption of sagacity might have easily applied in this case. (Whatever else you think of Foo Fighters, it's clear Grohl has been one of rock's most reliable pros.) Despite McCartney's on-stage patter about his jam-mates not having played together in oh-so-many seasons—"And in the middle of [jamming] these guys kept sayin', you know, well, 'we haven't played together for years, you know?'"—this was actually the second time so far this decade that Novoselic and Grohl collaborated on a new song.

All the way back in 2011, Novoselic appeared with Grohl's Foo Fighters on the song "I Should Have Known." The unveiling of his presence is (rightly) treated like a momentous occasion, appearing as it does after a couple verses and choruses of bland, modern-rock-radio moodiness. The moment of overdrive comes at the 2:53 mark, when Novoselic's part is highlighted with a dry layer of distortion that harkens back to the crisp aggression of '80s-era hardcore bands that Kurt Cobain and his bass player once bonded over. The song itself has proved less immediately memorable than their new McCartney-co-written number, but as far as shadows of the old Nirvana energy go, it's the more convincing ghost by far.

For all the "Nirvana reunion" buzz of the charity one-off promotion, the real story here might be how little this was about Nirvana. Afterward, Grohl confirmed that the WTF-generating quartet was not even a spontaneous, Sandy-reactive entity; they'd actually written and recorded this song in one studio rehearsal day about half a year ago, as part of a documentary Grohl has been working on.

That helped explain why the performance wasn't a disaster. While it would hardly have served the requirements of pre-game drama, it turns out "noted professionals to debut a well-workshopped number" would have been the more accurate news for the web to chew over during the day. But then, the web doesn't thrive on stories of basic workmanlike competence. The quality of a new song aside, it's better, if you can manage it, to stir up a culturally conservative backlash based on sacred-cow guarding and debates about the inviolability of the canon. That McCartney and the surviving members of Nirvana knew exactly how to do that just means that they've adapted to yet another era of pop.

 Related searches: Nirvana, 121212concert

Paul McCartney, left, jams with drummer Dave Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear at "121212: The Concert for Sandy Relief" benefit in New York. (Dave Allocca / Associated Press-Starpix)

The reunion of the three surviving members of Nirvana with guest singer Paul McCartney for the “121212: The Concert for Sandy Relief” brought the first live performance of a new song they’d created together while jamming recently, the ex-Beatle said on introducing “Cut Me Some Slack” during their time together at Madison Square Garden.

“Recently, some guys asked me to go jam with them,” McCartney told the crowd. “So I showed up, like you do, ready to jam. And in the middle of it, these guys kept going, ‘We haven’t played together for years.’ So the penny finally dropped, I finally understood I was in the middle of a Nirvana reunion.”

The new song, not surprisingly, is a driving rock workout with a heavy backbeat full of distortion-drenched electric guitar work by Pat Smear in tandem with stinging slide guitar leads by McCartney, a sonic assault not far removed from one of the Beatles’ signature hard rockers, “Helter Skelter.”

A bit more surprisingly, McCartney’s instrumental contribution came on a humble cigar-box guitar he played with a slide. The guitar, as it happens, was made here in the Southland by cigar-box guitar aficionado Matty Baratto, whose Cigfiddle creations were featured in a story I wrote last year about a modern-day revival of interest in the homespun cigar-box guitar tradition.

Baratto’s instruments have made their way into other famous hands, including those of Keith Richards and Johnny Depp, and present-day cigar-box players also include ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and rocker Steve Miller.

After devoting himself on his recent “Kisses on the Bottom” album to songs largely drawn from the pre-rock era of classic pop, perhaps McCartney’s next project will be “The Cigar Box Collection.”
With his own  band, McCartney dipped into the Beatles' catalog for "Helter Skelter," "Blackbird" and "I've Got a Feeling" and turned to his solo repertoire for "Live and Let Die," "Let Me Roll It" and "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five." He also included "My Valentine," an original from the "Kisses" album that featured Diana Krall.

Related searches: Nirvana, 121212concert

Posted in Congress, D.C., funny, government, Humor, movie, news, politicians, Politics, slideshow, Tumblr, Washington
As much crap as I may get from my male friends, I think I’m finally comfortable with my own self-identity to finally announce to the online world that…YES, I am a huge fan of the movie Mean Girls. Hate it or love it, that movie is downright hilarious. Considering it came out right about the time I was finishing high school, the timing of the movie couldn’t be better and the fact it was written by the comedic genius that is Tina Fey only solidified the fact it would be a film that would always hold a special place in my heart.

My affinity for the movie and it’s memorable quotes is probably one of the driving forces as to why I fell in love with one of D.C.’s newest Tumblrs, “Mean Girls of Capitol Hill“. Like many “gov-related” Tumblrs, it combines the nerdiness of politics with components from current pop-culture zeitgeist to make both funny and relevant jokes about politicians. In the particular case of this Tumblr, it grabs some of my favorite quotes from the movie Mean Girls and combines it with pictures of politicians to make pithy, witty jokes that probably only people in my age demographic would laugh at. The Tumblr itself is the brainchild of Ellie Hall, a former NBC News staffer and prolific Tumblr user. Hall is slated to start working for BuzzFeed as a reporter in January, and judging by her other successful pop-culture mashup Tumblrs such as Arrested Decision 2012 and Barack the Legi-Slayer, it comes at no surprise she snagged a gig working for the funniest people online.

Since I’m sure all of you Mean Girls fans/politics nerds out there want to jump straight to the good stuff, I won’t hold you back: here are a few of my favorite memes from the Mean Girls of Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Rick Snyder (R) officially made Michigan a "right-to-work" state on Tuesday, signing into law two bills that significantly diminish the power of unions.

"I have signed these bills into law. ... We are moving forward on the topic of workplace fairness and equality," he said at a press conference on Tuesday evening, just hours after the state House passed the bills.
Right-to-work laws forbid contracts between companies and unions that require all workers to pay the union for bargaining on their behalf. Although business groups and conservatives cast the issue in terms of workplace freedom, unions note that the laws allow workers to opt out of supporting the union although they reap the benefits of the collective bargaining. Since the laws tend to weaken unions generally, unions, as well as President Barack Obama, call the legislation "right to work for less."

Snyder's move is a particular victory for right-to-work proponents. Most right-to-work states are solidly red and in the south. Michigan, however, has one of the highest rates of unionization in the country, is the birthplace of the modern automotive industry, and is consistently a swing state in elections and went for Obama in 2012.

Throughout the day, at least 12,500 protesters showed up at the Capitol in Lansing. The gathering occasionally turned ugly, with punches thrown and pepper spray dispersed.

The GOP-controlled state legislature had fast-tracked the two bills, which authorize right-to-work measures for public and private unions in the state, bypassing the normal committee process and public input period.

Even before Snyder signed the bills, labor unions were investigating ways to possibly repeal them. Labor officials were largely taken off-guard by the rapid push for right to work, believing that Snyder was sincere in his negotiations with them to keep it off his desk.

The governor repeatedly said he didn't want right to work on the agenda, arguing it would be incredibly divisive in the state. In his press conference on Tuesday, Snyder blamed unions' actions for the reason he signed the bill, pointing to their pushing of Proposal 2. The ballot measure, which would have enshrined collective bargaining rights in the state constitution, was rejected by voters in November.

"The timing of such is something I didn't seek out," he said. "But really what took place this summer with Proposal 2 triggered the dialogue and discussion on this. I asked labor leaders not to move forward with a ballot proposal because I knew it could trigger a discussion that could lead to right to work being a divisive issue. Unfortunately they moved forward, it became divisive, and it was time to step up and take a leadership position, which I believe I've done, with good teamwork in the legislature."

Previewing the divisiveness that is likely to plague the state politically going forward, National Action Network Michigan civil rights leader Rev. Charles Williams III said in a statement sent out by SEIU, " Because good jobs and so much else is at stake, we will not rest until workers’ rights to a fair and decent wage are restored. Everything is on the table during the next two years.”

Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), a vocal opponent of right to work who met with the governor to urge him to veto the bills, quickly sent out a statement saying the push to repeal the law needed to begin immediately.

“The effort to reverse this wrong-headed action and restore a Michigan that encourages middle class jobs and race to the top for its workers -– not a crash to the bottom –- begins today," he said.

"Gov. Snyder showed his true colors today: He's a puppet of extreme donors, and he is willing to ignore and lie to his constituents," added AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka. "His action will undoubtedly please the Koch Brothers and corporate CEOs, but it will diminish the voice of every working man and woman in Michigan."

Related searches: Right To Work States

"Man Of Steel" is one of Warner Brothers' biggest 2013 releases, so it goes to reason that a new trailer for the film will come attached to prints of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." Not that you need to enter Middle-earth to see the latest teaser: The "Man of Steel" trailer is online and -- to quote Teri Hatcher -- it's spectacular.
Directed by Zack Snyder and produced by Christopher Nolan, "Man of Steel" recalls the oft-recounted origin story for Superman. As the first teasers hinted at, however, this isn't necessarily your pa's Man of Steel: Snyder's film appears to have the earthy look of a Terrence Malick feature mixed with the gravitas of Nolan's well-regarded Batman trilogy.

Henry Cavill stars as Superman, here presented with various stages of facial-hair growth. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play the Kents, Russell Crowe is Superman's alien father, Michael Shannon is General Zod (though Snyder won't confirm that) and Amy Adams appears as Lois Lane. All get glimpsed at in the "Man of Steel" trailer, which includes enough epic money shots to be worthy of what fans hope is a franchise saving reboot; "Superman Returns," the last Superman film, was rejected by both critics and audiences, despite earning nearly $400 million around the globe.

"My father believed that if the world found out who I really was, they would reject me," Cavill-as-Supes says at the crescendo of the trailer. "He was convinced that the world wasn't ready. What do you think?"
So, what do you think? Watch above and sound off in the comments section below.

Related searches: Man Of Steel Trailer

"Man Of Steel" is one of Warner Brothers' biggest 2013 releases, so it goes to reason that a new trailer for the film will come attached to prints of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." Not that you need to enter Middle-earth to see the latest teaser: The "Man of Steel" trailer is online and -- to quote Teri Hatcher -- it's spectacular.
Directed by Zack Snyder and produced by Christopher Nolan, "Man of Steel" recalls the oft-recounted origin story for Superman. As the first teasers hinted at, however, this isn't necessarily your pa's Man of Steel: Snyder's film appears to have the earthy look of a Terrence Malick feature mixed with the gravitas of Nolan's well-regarded Batman trilogy.

Henry Cavill stars as Superman, here presented with various stages of facial-hair growth. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play the Kents, Russell Crowe is Superman's alien father, Michael Shannon is General Zod (though Snyder won't confirm that) and Amy Adams appears as Lois Lane. All get glimpsed at in the "Man of Steel" trailer, which includes enough epic money shots to be worthy of what fans hope is a franchise saving reboot; "Superman Returns," the last Superman film, was rejected by both critics and audiences, despite earning nearly $400 million around the globe.

"My father believed that if the world found out who I really was, they would reject me," Cavill-as-Supes says at the crescendo of the trailer. "He was convinced that the world wasn't ready. What do you think?"
So, what do you think? Watch above and sound off in the comments section below.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – As has been his habit through the years, New England Patriots great Tom Brady punctuated a particularly satisfying play by punching his fist in the air. This bit of gesticulation came on the final play of the third quarter Monday night against the big, burly Houston Texans, a team that had cut a swath through the AFC to this point.

Brady, who last week welcomed the birth of his third child, was more like Juan Manuel Marquez landing the perfect punch on Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night. In fact, the Patriots (10-3) landed punch after punch against Houston as they walked away with a 42-14 win.

This is the kind of game that makes you wonder if Houston will be able to pick itself off the canvas. As impressive as Houston had generally been in piling up what is now an 11-2 record and control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC, there is an issue plaguing the Texans that's as open and obvious as Pacquiao's unguarded face at the moment Marquez struck.

The Texans can't defend the pass, especially when the passer is of Brady's ilk. In three games against Brady, Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay (another team that put up 42 on Houston) and Denver's Peyton Manning, the Texans have gotten lit up like a Christmas tree. They have allowed 12 touchdown passes and gotten zero interceptions in those three contests, two resulting in losses. In this game, Brady finished 21 of 35 for 296 yards and four TDs. Earlier this season, Rodgers was 24-of-37 for 338 yards and six TDs in a 42-24 win.


Even more, Detroit's Matthew Stafford and Jacksonville's Chad Henne threw a combined six TDs and no interceptions against Houston in back-to-back overtime games last month. Those numbers are going to radiate like a scarlet letter for the Texans until they can prove otherwise.

"No question, we're going to get asked that question," Houston safety Danieal Manning said. "We're going to get that about how they were able to tear through our defense until we do something about it. We all know that."

Linebacker Connor Barwin tried to downplay the issue, saying the Texans wouldn't "blow this one out of proportion."

The problem is, the media will.
"That's a good point and that's a fair question until we beat those guys," Barwin said.
Defensive tackle J.J. Watt summed it up best when he politely told a group of reporters in the hallway under Gillette Stadium, "Not now" as he didn't even break stride on the way to the team bus.

At this rate, the Texans will be lucky to avoid a one-and-done playoff appearance if they don't make fixes in a hurry. One silver lining is that they might not have to face New England or Denver again until the AFC championship game if Baltimore continues to fade and ends up with the No. 4 seed.
 But what happened to the Texans on Monday night goes way beyond playoff seeding and strategy. It's the kind of game that can gnaw at the confidence of the most proud team. By the early part of the second quarter, the Texans stood on the sidelines with the lifeless look of a team that didn't quite get what was happening.

Sure, the Texans created some of these problems with a rash of mistakes. From their opening play – a 5-yard penalty for illegal formation that negated a good run by Arian Foster – Houston played like a team out of sync.

"The first play of the game and you mess that up after practicing all week?" Houston head coach Gary Kubiak asked, rhetorically.

In a word, that's disconcerting. The Texans made it worse later on when they failed to recover a fumble on New England's first touchdown drive. Those early errors started a landslide that had the Texans down 21-0 by early in the second quarter.
"They make you look really bad … if you're not on top of your stuff," Kubiak said.


Barwin again tried to minimize the disastrous outing, saying, "We just weren't opportunistic." Yeah, as if a couple of plays might have changed everything. The reality was put better later on when Barwin was pushed about what the team could do differently.

"Well, we know we can … " Barwin stopped in mid-sentence, not exactly sure how to fill in the rest of that statement. Finally, he said simply, "We didn't play our best."
The deeper question with three weeks to play is whether Houston's best is good enough.

Tom Brady was all fired up during the Patriots' 42-14 win over the Texans on Monday night.(Photo: Steven Senne, AP)


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The stage was bright, the opponent tough, but the conclusion nearly forgone.

Tom Brady escaped the pocket anyway, abandoning his protection for an awkward third-down sprint of 6 yards at the end of the third quarter, with his New England Patriots already up 28-7 over the Houston Texans. New England would win 42-14 on Monday night.

Brady wanted to make a point, no matter the score, and he fired up a spoiled home crowd with an emphatic fist pump, eliciting chants of "M-V-P."

"I don't run too often, so I've got to show them that I can still do it a little bit," Brady said. "I was pretty fired up at that point. That was a big moment in the game."
And who is Brady is putting on notice?

"The opposing defenses that say I can't run and won't move out of the pocket," he said. "At least there's a little bit of a threat there. Not a big threat; I'm not like RGIII there or anything, but I can make a first down."
Soon after Brady earned a first down by a yard, taking a hit in the process, he was pulled for backup Ryan Mallett. No point in keeping the 35-year-old Brady on the field during a blowout, even if the opposing Texans brought a league-best 11-1 record into the game.

From the jump, those 11 wins didn't help the Texans at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots (10-3) scored on their first three possessions, including two touchdown passes to Hernandez, his first scores in almost two months. Brady wound up with 296 yards on 21 of 35 passing for four touchdowns with no interceptions.

The win marked the 10th season Brady has led the Patriots to at least 10 wins, and the scoring outburst puts New England on pace to finish eight points shy of the NFL record 589 they scored in 2007.

Monday's performance – against the NFL's sixth-ranked defense -- should lift Brady into the league MVP conversation, if he wasn't there already. His willingness to take a hit was reminiscent of a younger man, who won Super Bowls in 2002, '04 and '05.

Wide receiver Donte Stallworth joined the team two years after the last one, in 2007, and saw Brady win his first MVP award that season with an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes to just eight interceptions. Stallworth rejoined the team last week when injuries struck New England's receivers. He caught a 63-yard touchdown pass from Brady as the team's third receiver.

The difference between that Brady and the one we saw Monday night? Just a few more wrinkles in his face, Stallworth says.

"He's probably right," Brady says. "It's called kids, marriage, a few losses over the last five years. Those will add some grey hairs and some wrinkles."

No doubt the Patriots' early-season stumbles added new furrows in Brady's brow as well. These Patriots on Monday looked nothing like the crew which lost two in a row – once to Arizona (now 4-9) – in the season's first three games. The Patriots have rebounded with seven straight wins, taking their last four by a margin of 90 combined points. Only the Broncos, with their eight consecutive wins, are hotter.

"That's a good locker room in there right now," coach Bill Belichick said.

Somehow, the only constant has been Brady. He's got 29 passing touchdowns and four interceptions, which would tie the fewest in his career if he doesn't throw another. Tight ends Rob Gronkowski, Hernandez and go-to receiver Wes Welker have each dealt with injuries, along with several offensive linemen. Every week, the Patriots are tailoring their game plan around some absence. This time, Julian Edelman was lost to a season-ending foot injury. Enter Stallworth, add Brady, and you get immediate production.

Along with Stallworth and Hernandez, Brandon Lloyd caught a touchdown pass, and the Patriots managed 130 rushing yards. Plus, the offense allowed only one sack to a team boasting a defensive player of the year favorite in pass rusher J.J. Watt. Guard Logan Mankins, returning from injury, said the success in protection had something to do with Monday being Matt Light Night. The retired Patriots tackle was honored at halftime.

"I would say most of the night (the blocking) went pretty good," Mankins said. "It was like we had six guys out there so (Light) helped us a lot."

But all the night's successes weren't good enough for Brady, drafted a year before Light in 2000. Brady lamented the failure to put up touchdowns on the four possessions following the opening run. He saw room for improvement and a reason to prove a point that is, at this juncture, academic.

"Number 12," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said, "he's just a great player."

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Referee Kenny Bayless, left, calls the fight as Juan Manuel Marquez, from Mexico, right, rushes from his corner after knocking out Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, left, in the sixth round of their WBO world welterweight fight Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, in Las Vegas. Marquez won the fight by a knockout. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)

LAS VEGAS -- No need for Juan Manuel Marquez to impress the judges. No need for the referee to count to 10.

Marquez took care of all of his business Saturday night with a thunderous right hand that left Manny Pacquiao face first on the canvas with his remarkable career in question.

Unable to win a decision in their first three fights, Marquez won the old-fashioned way with a huge right hand that put Pacquiao down for the second time in the fight at 2:59 of the sixth round.

Referee Kenny Bayless never bothered to count as Marquez leaped into his handlers' arms in celebration and Pacquiao's wife broke into tears at ringside.

"I threw a perfect punch," Marquez said. "I knew Manny could knock me out at any time."
It was a stunning end to a thrilling fight, the fourth one in the last eight years between the two men. It could also be the end of the Filipino's career, though he said in the ring afterward he would like to fight Marquez for a fifth time.

"If you give us a chance, we'll fight again," Pacquiao said. "I was just starting to feel confident and then I got careless."

Pacquiao had been down in the third round but knocked Marquez down in the fifth and the two were exchanging heavy blows in the sixth round before Marquez threw a right hand that flattened Pacquiao face down on the canvas.

"I thought I was getting him in the last couple of rounds but I got hit by a strong punch," Pacquiao said. "I never expected that punch."

STORY CONTINUES BELOW


Pacquiao was down for about two minutes before his handlers managed to get him up as Marquez celebrated and the sold-out crowd at the MGM erupted.

After being helped to his corner, Pacquiao sat on a stool, blew his nose and stared vacantly ahead as his handlers cut his gloves off. It was a stunning end to a furious fight, and Pacquiao was later taken to a hospital for precautionary examination.

"We always worked on that punch," Marquez said. "We knew he was going to come out aggressive so we had a fight plan that was more technical. We were able to capitalize on it."
Marquez had vowed to finally beat Pacquiao after losing two close fights and settling for a draw in the first fight. But after Pacquiao knocked him down in the fifth round and was landing big left hands, it looked like it would be Pacquiao's night.

The two came out for the sixth round and the pace was just as relentless. Both were landing big punches and both were brawling when suddenly as the round came to close Marquez shot out a right hand that landed flush to the jaw of Pacquiao, who crumpled to the canvas in a heap.

"I felt he was coming to knock me out the last three rounds and I knew he was going to be wide open," Marquez said.

It was the second loss in a row for Pacquiao, who dropped a decision to Timothy Bradley in June and who had vowed to regain his prominence in the ring.

Pacquiao was aggressive from the opening bell, but paid the price in the third round when he got caught by a Marquez right hand that put him down. Pacquiao got back up and seemingly took control of the fight, dropping Marquez in the fifth round and landing the bigger punches until he was dropped.
"I got hit by a punch I didn't see," Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao, who earned more than $20 million for the fight, was ahead 47-46 on all three scorecards after the fifth round.

There was no title at stake in the 147-pound fight, but that didn't stop 16,348 fans from filling the MGM Grand Arena and roaring in unison from the opening bell as the two fighters went after each other.
Ringside punching stats underscored the ferocity of the bout, showing Pacquiao landing 94 of 256 punches to 52 of 246 for Marquez. But it was the one big right hand from Marquez that counted more than anything, knocking Pacquiao out for the first time in a career that goes back 17 years.

"He was in charge," Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach said. "He just got a little too careless and got hit with a punch he didn't see."
Promoter Bob Arum immediately said he could see a fifth fight between the two boxers, and a dazed Pacquiao seemed to agree.
"Why not?" he said.

Pacquiao weighed the class limit of 147 pounds, but it was Marquez who looked like the stronger fighter entering the ring after having bulked up with the help of a strength conditioner, though he weighed in at 143 pounds. In their earlier fights, Pacquiao had been the bigger puncher, knocking Marquez down a total of four times, but on this night it was Marquez who had the biggest punch.

The stunning knockout was the first real loss by Pacquiao in seven years. He lost a close decision to Bradley in his last fight, but most ringside observers believed he had won it fairly convincingly.
Marquez improved to 55-6-1 with 40 knockouts, while Pacquiao fell to 54-5-2.

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Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao sent shock waves through the MGM Grand on Saturday, justifying their fourth fight and, perhaps, setting the stage for a fifth matchup.

LAS VEGAS -- Juan Manuel Marquez finally got the victory he wanted over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night, and he achieved it in spectacular style. One of the most remarkable fight nights in recent history will be generating plenty of commentary and talking points for days and weeks to come. Here are five thoughts we have in the bout's warm afterglow.

1. Wow

OK, I'll grant you that "wow" isn't exactly a thing, or a lesson learned, or really any kind of statement at all. But still, wow. If Pacquiao-Marquez IV wasn't quite the best fight I've ever attended -- that honor still goes to, and likely always will go to, Corrales-Castillo I -- it was damn close. But there were maybe 4,000 people in the arena at the Mandalay Bay that epic night in 2005; by contrast, the MGM Grand Garden Arena was packed and jumping on Saturday, and the atmosphere was electric. Combine the quality of the boxing, the violent intensity of the exchanges, the backstory, the shocking ending and the insane energy in the building, and Marquez-Pacquiao IV was, in this writer's eyes, not only fight of the year but one of the best fights in recent years.

2. Didn't want No. 4, eh? How about No. 5?

The announcement of a fourth fight between these rivals was met with more than a smattering of yawns. But for all the grumbles of "We've seen it all before," in fact, each of the previous three contests had its own distinct personality as well as a lot of action and excitement. None of them, however, separated itself from the pack the way this one did. Despite the concerns that this might be Ali-Frazier II, it was in fact Ali-Frazier III, the best contest of the series. This was a skillful display of boxing punctuated by explosions of extreme violence, the entire mixture leavened by the fact that both men are now that much slower and more vulnerable than when they met the first, or even last, time. So much so that afterward there was indeed talk of the possibility of a fifth fight.

Will it happen? We shall see. Marquez may feel he has his vindication and has other worlds to conquer. But Pacquiao may believe he was on the verge of a stoppage victory himself and that, given one more chance, he might do to Marquez what Marquez did to him. However, if her heartbreaking reaction in the immediate aftermath of her husband's encounter with unconsciousness is anything to go by, Jinkee Pacquiao may prevail upon Manny to focus on his congressional career and leave boxing alone entirely. There is indeed a case to be made for that: Notwithstanding the fact that he had Marquez in real trouble and was arguably closing in on an inside-the-distance win, the ravages of age and a lengthy and glorious career have left the Filipino more vulnerable to concussive counterpunches of the kind he experienced Saturday night.

The suspicion here is that, if both men elect to fight on, their next bouts will be against other opponents. But should both prove victorious in those contests, who would bet against a fifth meeting in what is now clearly the greatest boxing rivalry of this era?

3. One punch cost a lot of people a lot of Money

This fight week was the first in many a long while in which Manny Pacquiao was barely asked about Floyd Mayweather Jr. and in which Mayweather-related conversation, inasmuch as it existed at all, centered on whether Money May would fight Robert Guerrero next or go straight to Canelo Alvarez. There was always the danger that the longer both sides postured and prevaricated, the more likely one or both would lose and the fight would become derailed. Already, what had once seemed the potential Megafight Of The Millennium was going rapidly off the boil. It could have survived Pacquiao's disputed loss to Timothy Bradley Jr., but it won't survive a comatose Pacquiao lying face-first in front of Mitt Romney.

Things may yet change -- boxing always has the capacity to surprise -- and there's an argument to be made that Pacquiao's negotiating power is now so diminished that Mayweather could demand and receive the kind of one-sided financial terms he would want. But barring an unforeseen sequence of events, Mayweather-Pacquiao will join Lennox Lewis-Riddick Bowe in the Nonexistent Fights Hall of Fame. And if Mayweather's partisans are crowing on this day, they shouldn't be. We'll never know whether Mayweather would have done the same thing to Pacquiao that Marquez did because Marquez took the fight and Mayweather didn't. Marquez is the one who will go down in history for his rivalry with Pacquiao and hopefully only for the right reasons. Which brings us to ...



4. The elephant in the room

Through 36 rounds, Marquez had landed an abundance of right hands on Pacquiao. Some of those right hands stunned and hurt him, particularly in the action-packed second fight. But none of them dumped him on his backside before Saturday night. And certainly none of them separated him from his senses and sent him crashing to the floor.

Some important caveats: That knockout punch was perfect. Pacquiao didn't even see it. He ran into it, face-first. He isn't the first person to be knocked out by a picture-perfect counterpunch any more than Marquez is the first person to have delivered such a punch. And although the power of the Mexican fighter's fists may very well have been accentuated by his newly found muscular bulk, it is by no means a given that said bulk was attained by nefarious means. Heck, if I worked out like a demon for a year with a strength and conditioning coach, I dare say my torso would look a lot more impressive, too. And Marquez, unlike me, is a gifted professional athlete.

However, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and bench-presses 450 pounds like a duck. ... The fact that this transformation in musculature, and the apparent increase in punching power that accompanies it, happened under the watch of admitted steroids dealer Memo Heredia/Angel Hernandez raises obvious flags -- flags that were raised repeatedly in the buildup to this fight. There's an element of sanctimony in all of this: Heredia is vilified despite his assertion that he's a changed man, while his nemesis Victor Conte is largely (although not universally) praised for his professed damascene conversion. Still, one of the fighters with whom Conte works, Nonito Donaire, has chosen to address concerns about his association with the man behind BALCO by voluntarily submitting himself to 24/7/365 drug testing. The chemists likely will always stay a step ahead of the cops, but if Marquez truly wants to assuage the doubts that were expressed online and in the media room in the aftermath of his defining victory -- doubts that will continue to follow him around for as long as he works with Heredia -- he should consider taking the same step as Donaire.

5. It's all about the fights

Rapper/promoter Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson promised a spectacular entrance for his fighter, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and he delivered, descending from the rafters and providing a jolt of energy that electrified the crowd. But although 50 Cent has an abundance of laudable ideas about how to make boxing cards more exciting and appealing, all the stagecraft in the world will mean nothing if it is a shiny Christmas wrap that, when stripped away, reveals yet another pair of tube socks. The fights are what matter, and the first two fights on Saturday's card were dreadful. Gamboa's battle with a tough-as-teak Michael Farenas was better but didn't quite live up to the standards that his promoter's entrance had set. Fortunately, the main event was so spectacular that all was forgiven and forgotten by night's end.

Packaging is important. Top Rank's production values and prefight videos help immensely in exciting and energizing the crowds in the arena. There's no doubt that Mr. Jackson can help take that to another level. But at the end of the day, good fighters and a good matchmaker remain far and away the most important elements in a promoter's tool kit.

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