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Sunday, 7 August 2011

Foo Fighters Tune Up For Lollapalooza With Epic Club Set

Band plays entire Wasting Light LP at intimate Chicago club just one night before headlining Sunday concert.
By Gil Kaufman

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl at Chicago's Metro club
Photo: Gil Kaufman/ MTV News

CHICAGO — What a difference 16 years makes. The first time the Foo Fighters played Chicago's legendary Metro club they were that new band formed by Nirvana's ex-drummer and not many people had heard their debut.

But late Saturday night, less than 24 hours before they were slated to headline the closing night of Lollapalooza, they packed their stadium-rocking show into the 1,150-capacity club for a torrid, wall-sweating, nearly two-and-a-half hour gift to some very lucky fans who got to witness one of those rare "I was there" moments in rock.

Tweet your pics from Lollapalooza to @mtvnews and they could be featured on MTV.com!

"We're going to do the whole new record and then a bunch of old sh--," Grohl explained to the crowd about the track order of the special night.

So, yeah, they got a ton of the hits ... but only after a run-through of Wasting Light, which seemed just fine with everyone packing the main floor and balcony. The opening salvo of "Bridge Burning" and recent single "Rope " ripped just a bit harder than usual, as did "Arlandia," and the shouted chorus of "These Days" had the explosive energy of a stadium rocker.

Foo fans are nothing if not loyal, and even on the deep cuts from the new one, like "A Matter of Time," they came in right on cue, singing the chorus refrain "before, before" unprompted, bringing a grin to Grohl's sweat-drenched face as he and the band went Wembley Stadium-intensity in a Metro side space.

And that, in a nutshell, is what rules about the Foo Fighters. They bring it with the same level of energy and fight every time, whether they have 60,000 Lollapalooza fans in front of them (as they're likely to Sunday night) or 1,500. The first set closed with the elegiac "I Should Have Known," which had an extra poignancy in the club where, in 1989, Grohl had played with the cathartic song's inspiration, late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. After a spirited rumble through "Walk," it was time to get down to business.

His black T-shirt soaked all the way through, Grohl cued up "All My Life," leading the ferocious three-guitar blitzkrieg with the floor shaking by bouncing as they yelled the refrain, "On to the next one!"

"My Hero" was practically a group hug, with fans breaking into a fast soccer stadium chant and gladly taking on the chorus as Grohl beamed at their robust effort. And while Dave said the next night's Lolla gig would be "super-duper fun," what he's really been looking forward to, he admitted, was this show.

And considering that the band had been on the road for five weeks, with the exception of drummer Taylor Hawkins' exhausted look at night's end, there was no rust at all in evidence. But, given their catalog of hits, Grohl said he'd have to shut up if they were to get to them all, and he wasn't kidding as the set barreled through an impressive catalog of radio staples, including "Learn to Fly," "The Pretender," "Cold Day in the Sun," "My Hero," "Best of You," "Everlong," Monkey Wrench," a sedate, partially solo "Times Like These" and a darkly intense and ominous "Stacked Actors."

During the latter, Grohl magically appeared in the venue's balcony to play a bluesy solo while hanging over the railing as fans snapped pictures and slapped his back to the amusement of the rest of the band. Mid-song, he lowered his guitar down into the crowd and made his way back to the stage only to scold a fan for knocking the instrument out of tune and stealing one of its knobs. "Who's got the f---ing knob for my guitar?" he yelled in mock anger before shaking his head and adding, "Keep it."

The show roared to a close with a call-and-response blues riff showdown between Grohl and lead guitarist Chris Shiflett on Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" (made famous by The Who).

Fittingly, one of the songs Grohl ended with was the band's first single, the still-scorching "This is a Call," which, after all these years, all these miles and all that history, sounded just as gut-punchingly fun and loose as that first time in 1995. (Yes, I was there.)

MTV News is in Chicago for Lollapalooza 2011! Stick with us all weekend as we cover the bands you love and the bands you will love soon.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1668599/foo-fighters-lollapalooza.jhtml

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British welterweight Che Mills makes UFC debut against Chris Cope at UFC 138 in November

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A welterweight bout between Chris Cope and Che Mills is headed to UFC 138 in England this November, according to multiple published reports.

Cope, a semifinalist on the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, makes his second appearance inside the Octagon after defeating Chuck O'Neil by decision. The win brought his career record to 5-1.

Mills has a little Ultimate Fighter experience himself, though he never did make it to the house in Las Vegas. In the Team U.S. vs. Team U.K. ninth season, Mills was defeated by eventual season winner James Wilks in the preliminary round held in the U.K., and it's taken almost three years and eight fights for him to get another shot in the UFC. Since that loss, he's gone 6-2, and has posted a four fight winning streak into this bout.

UFC 138 takes place from the LG Arena in Birmingham, England on November 5, airing via same day delay in the U.S. on Spike TV.

Penick's Analysis: Cope's fight with O'Neil was one of the least enjoyable televised fights in the UFC in recent memory, but Cope did enough to win the decision and because of that he's getting another opportunity to make a better impression. Mills gets an opportunity to make his entrance into the UFC in front of a home country crowd, and it's going to be a huge fight for him on this preliminary card.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_10058.shtml

Ana Hickmann Ana Ivanovi Ana Paula Lemes Ananda Lewis

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Long Vers.)

Thriller (Long Vers.)

Artist: Michael Jackson
Label: Epic Records
Album: Thriller [Bonus Tracks]

Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1102&vid=26726

Genelle Frenoy Georgianna Robertson Georgina Grenville Gina Carano

Saturday, 6 August 2011

ducati 2011 motogp bike

images VALENTINO ROSSI - DUCATI valentino rossi ducati bike.maximus77708-17 02:38 PMWell said. On a lighter not, maybe he got flagged because his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders has so many Pak players in it, I wouldnt be surprised if someone mistook it for Karachi Knight Riders. :D wallpaper valentino rossi ducati bike. Ducati Desmosedici (Valentinotikka07-04 12:22 AMlets focus on this one..

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/sreHjnZg-K1/ducati+2011+motogp+bike

Amber Valletta America Ferrera Amerie Amy Cobb

How do you beat Vettel?

At Silverstone

Sebastian Vettel surveys Formula 1 serenely from a dominant position at the top of the world championship as he heads into this weekend's British Grand Prix, where the Red Bull driver is the hot favourite to win for what would be the seventh time in nine races.

The German's record has been rooted in the dominance of the Red Bull car and it is expected to be as tough to beat as ever at Silverstone, where the track layout could have been designed to suit its superb aerodynamics.

But Vettel is not unbeatable - as McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have already proved this year. If the German is going to be stopped this weekend, or at any other race this year, this is how it is likely to happen.

CHANGE THE RULES

Undoubtedly the biggest talking point ahead of the British Grand Prix is the decision to ban the use of off-throttle blowing of diffusers. This is a technology with which teams blow exhaust gases over the rear floor of their cars even when the driver is not pressing the accelerator, smoothing the airflow and increasing downforce and stability in corners.

This ruling will affect all the leading teams, and it remains to be seen whether it will change the pecking order. Intriguingly, though, it may also affect Vettel in comparison to to team-mate Mark Webber.

Red Bull and engine partner Renault were the pioneers of the technology last year, when they introduced it mid-season. But the run of form that put Webber top of the championship, including dominant back-to-back wins in Spain and Monaco, was achieved before it was introduced.

At that time, Red Bull were blowing their exhausts over the diffuser, but not when the driver was off the throttle, a practice that can lead to instability as the downforce comes off the car just when the driver needs it most - when he lifts off to enter the corner.

Webber found a driving style that minimised the effects of this more effectively than Vettel managed.

The Australian admitted to me that this "might have been a small part" of the reason why he was stronger than Vettel early last summer.

I asked him if he felt, therefore, that the new ruling could work in his favour in his attempt to beat Vettel for the first time this year.

"I don't think it can hurt," he said. "We're going to have a big change in how the cars are probably going to behave - I don't see that as a bad thing, mate."

Vettel adapted incredibly well to the new Pirelli tyres this season, while Webber has struggled to get on top of them - it is one of the reasons the German has dominated so far.

But as Webber says: "It's another start for both of us. You hope it's the other way around for me so I go, 'Bosh'. I might drop on to this a bit nicer than he might."

GET AHEAD OF HIM AT THE START

Vettel has based most of his wins this season on a simple strategy -put the car on pole, lead from the start and control the race.

The only way to stop him doing this is to either out-qualify him - as only Webber has managed to do this year, and then only once - or beat him off the start.

This was achieved by the McLarens in China - a race Hamilton went on to win - and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in Spain.

Do that, and Vettel is suddenly out of his comfort zone.

The limiting factor in races this season has been the sensitivity of the new Pirelli tyres - they lose grip quickly and if you abuse them, you are in trouble.

So leading at the start allows Vettel to treat the tyres gently while building up a small cushion.

He seeks to build a lead of about five seconds to enable him to respond to any attempts by rivals to use what is called "the undercut" - pass him by making an earlier pit stop and using the pace advantage of new tyres to get ahead.

This was demonstrated in Spain - where Vettel twice tried to undercut Alonso when running second to him in the early stages of the race. It failed at the first pit stops, but succeeded at the second, demonstrating the difficulty any driver in front of Vettel will have keeping him behind when he has a faster car.

But it doesn't always work like that.

In China, Vettel was beaten away by both McLaren drivers. He easily had the pace to stick with them during the first stint, but a decision to do a two-stop strategy rather than the three of McLaren backfired - the extra grip in Hamilton's tyres in the closing stages of the race made Vettel a sitting duck.

HOPE RED BULL MAKE A MISTAKE

As well as China, this also happened in Monaco, where a mix-up at his first pit-stop put Vettel on the wrong tyres and forced him into a strategy that would have lost him the race had it not been for a later safety car.

Without that, the advantageMcLaren's Jenson Button built from what would have been a better strategy would have seen him win the race.

Even in the situation that did unfold, Red Bull's strategy might not have paid off - Vettel headed into the closing stages of the race with Alonso and Button right behind him and pressuring him hard on much fresher tyres.

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McLaren believed Vettel's tyres would wear out to the point of him becoming defenceless before the end of the race, but then Vettel had what they call "the luck of champions". A late safety car led to a red flag and he was able to change to fresh tyres for the final eight laps.

DON'T MAKE MISTAKES YOURSELF

Leaving the Spanish Grand Prix in May, the chances of Vettel facing a challenge this year still looked pretty good.

Vettel had won in Barcelona, but only after fending off a clearly faster Hamilton in the closing laps - only the difficulty of overtaking at the Circuit de Catalunya had prevented the McLaren winning.

Coming up were two races on tracks where Hamilton fancied his chances - Monaco and Canada. But instead of beating Vettel, these events turned into a disaster for the Englishman.

A decision to do only one run in qualifying in Monaco led to him qualifying ninth when he had hopes of being on pole, and in the race he collided with two people on the way to sixth place.

In Canada, Hamilton's judgement seemed to have been clouded by qualifying only fifth. After making an impromptu visit to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to discuss his future that evening, he collided with two cars in the space of three racing laps on Sunday and retired. As Button later proved, it was a race Hamilton could have won.

So Hamilton could have been looking at a total of three - maybe four - wins instead of just the one, in which case Vettel would not be anything like as far ahead in the championship.

PRESSURE VETTEL - HE'S VULNERABLE

The vast majority of Vettel's F1 victories have come when he has dominated from the front, a situation in which he is supremely comfortable.

He is much less at ease having to make up positions or fending off pressure - as was proved in the thrilling climax to the Canadian Grand Prix this year.

After dominating in Montreal throughout, Vettel lost the win on the last lap, half-spinning while being pursued by the flying Button, who stormed through to a brilliant win.

This was not the first time he has made a mistake in a pressure situation, although in Vettel's defence, he was flawless under attack from Hamilton in the closing stages in Spain in May this year.

Nevertheless, Vettel - like anyone - can crack if pushed hard enough; it's getting into that situation that has been the difficulty for his rivals so often this season.

As Hamilton says: "You can push people into mistakes, and as long as you continue to apply pressure that's what you hope they're going to do. But for us to win this championship we have to be finishing ahead of them."

MAKE YOUR CAR FASTER

All of the above is all very well, but the reality is that Vettel's pursuers are fighting a losing battle as long as he has a fundamentally faster car.

"It is difficult to think about how to beat Vettel without a big improvement in our car or in McLaren's car for Jenson and Lewis," says Alonso, the man who was narrowly beaten to the title by Vettel last year.

"Their car so far is too dominant. It is a dominant position that maybe we don't remember since 2004 and Michael (Schumacher)'s time.

"Hopefully here in Silverstone we can see a turnaround of this situation in terms of performance. There is always the motivation to win a race but we need a step forward."

Alonso was not the only man at Silverstone on Thursday to liken Vettel's domination this year to Schumacher's seven years ago, when he won 13 races on the way to the most dominant of his seven championship victories.

So what does the great man himself think? Can Vettel be beaten this year?

"Difficult," Schumacher said.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/07/how_do_you_beat_vettel.html

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