Wednesday 3 September 2008

Govt.: Movies Really Do Get Teens Smoking


WASHINGTON -- A comprehensive report released today from the National Cancer Institute - the
leading federal federal agency on cancer research - provides the government's strongest conclusion to date on the media's powerful and causal effect on baccy use.
(Lisa Peardon/Digital Vision/Getty Images)


The report, Monograph 19 - The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, concluded what we in public health have known for many years: depictions of
smoking in movies and tobacco marketing advance youth smoking.These facts ar nonetheless illuminating because they are now
recognized for the number 1 time as fact by our federal government.


The story provides the ammunition to tobacco control advocates
around the world who are fighting to keep movies smoke-free. While
the entertainment industry has interpreted positive steps to respond to
the growing international Smoke-Free Movies movement, in that respect is
still some disbelief on the part of many influencers in the
entertainment diligence as to the magnitude of the effect picture
smoking has on early days smoking initiation.





The fact that the federal
government in this report is pointing out a causal connection should
provide impetus for decision-makers to take the bold step to remove
smoking from youth-rated films, once and for all.


The report as well lends further credibility to existing media
campaigns that have been proven to curb youth smoking, such as the
foundation's award-winning truth(R) hunting expedition. In its first deuce
years, truth(R) was credited with 22 percent of the refuse in
youth smoking, simply the annual budget for truth(R) is less than the
$36 million our competitors in the tobacco industry spend in barely
24 hours to securities industry their lethal products to consumers in the U.S.


Obviously, in a rapidly changing digital landscape,
understanding the role of media in reducing or promoting tobacco
use is critically important as we continue working to fight the
tobacco plant epidemic. With limited resources, the truth(R) campaign is
reaching teens from big cities to rural towns in ways we didn't
imagine 10 years ago.


Youth get a dose of truth(R) on social
networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, on the road at popular
teen concerts throughout the summer and through ads on television
and in theaters prior to movies.







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Sunday 24 August 2008

Australian Disease Research Boosted By National Alliance

�Nine of the nation's leading scientific research institutions have launched a new partnership to boost Australia's research capacity for tackling major wellness problems including cancer, diabetes, deafness, sterility, autoimmune disease and arthritis.



The Australian Phenomics Network (APN) is providing Australian and International researchers with the latest infrastructure for the study of human disease. The alliance brings together facilities, equipment and expertise to accelerate progress in the supplying of biological models for medical enquiry. This facilitates Australia making genuine inroads against all kinds of diseases.



"This is incredibly exciting science - frontier scientific discipline - and it's great to see Australian researchers leading the way," aforementioned Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.



APN Chief Scientific Officer Professor Chris Goodnow said: "Together we'll be able to access biological models that have been developed for specific inquiry projects. Combining our technological resources agency we can buoy spend more than time actually doing the research that will make a real difference in our efforts to combat diseases."



APN Convenor Associate Professor Moira O'Bryan from Monash University said the project is around combining efforts and load-bearing all Australian researchers. "Australia has a wealth of talent in medical research, spread across a number of institutions. Each governing body has its own strengths in dissimilar areas," she says. "The APN will allow our resources to be combined and greatly enhance Australia's research capacity."



The APN is also working with the Atlas of Living Australia project to develop a framework for building web resources that capture, gloss and circularize research data and will enable research outcomes to be translated to clinical outcomes more rapidly.



The APN is funded by the Australian Government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), contributions from state governments, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).



The mesh combines the resources of the Australian National University, Monash University, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, the University of Melbourne, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, Menzies Research Institute and the Animal Resource Centre.



The APN's expertness is complemented by national and outside partnerships with the Garvan Institute, the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, the National Institutes of Health (USA), the Wellcome Trust (UK) and the University of Manitoba (Canada).





Source: Simon Couper

Research Australia




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Thursday 14 August 2008

Fbn Takes Battle With Cnbc Onto Its Turf

The entrant Fox Business Network is taking its battle against the entrenched business channel CNBC to CNBC itself. In a kind of Trojan cavalry maneuver, the News Corp-owned channel is buying time on "station breaks" -- the sentence that CNBC allots to cable providers to sell to local advertisers -- to hammer CNBC for dropping commercial enterprise news reports between 5 00 p.m. and 8 00 p.m. during the Olympics in order to cover second-tier events at the Olympics. During commercials airing in major U.S. markets on Comcast and Time Warner Cable-owned systems, FBN anchor Liz Claman is seen saying, "When it comes to commercial enterprise, this city doesn't play games, and neither do you. In just a couple of minutes, CNBC is sledding to degenerate their business news scheduling. ... Switch to the Fox Business Network. ... Real patronage news and no games!"

12/08/2008





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Wednesday 6 August 2008

FDA Approves Expanded 510k Classification For Titan Spine's Endoskeleton(R) TA Anterior Interbody Fusion Device

�The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded Titan Spine's ENDOSKELTON� TA Vertebral Body Replacement Device (VBR) 510k to include an Interbody Fusion Device indicant.




Under its expanded 510K indication, the Endoskeleton� TA Interbody Fusion Device is approved for use in skeletally grow patients with Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) at 1 or two contiguous levels from L2-S1. Degenerative Disc Disease is defined as discogenic back up pain with degeneration of the phonograph record confirmed by patient history and radiographic studies. These DDD patients may also have up to Grade I spondylolisthesis or retrolisthesis at the involved level(s). Patients should cause received six months of non-operative treatment prior to treatment with the devices. The device may be used with supplemental fixing.




While degenerative disc disease is well-nigh often treated by more than conservative therapies, the condition can oft lead to more life-threatening disorders, such as lumbar spinal stricture (narrowing of the spinal canal) or spondylolistheses (disk slips onwards).




"This is an important step for Titan Spine as it gives the surgeon the ability to utilize the Endoskeleton� TA as an Interbody Device while taking off the VBR label, as comfortably as the ability to feel comfortable knowing that they now have the option to use the device in a stand-alone setting," said Steve Cichy, Vice President of Sales of Titan Spine.




Titan Spine expects that this new product indication will increase product adoption among a group of surgeons that ar focused both on proficiency proficiency and positive, predictable outcomes for their patients. Kevin Gemas, President of Titan Spine, underscored the importance of the expanded classification by adding "with an estimated 65

Friday 27 June 2008

Sacred Reich

Sacred Reich   
Artist: Sacred Reich

   Genre(s): 
Rock
   Rock: Thrash
   



Discography:


Still Ignorant (Live)   
 Still Ignorant (Live)

   Year: 1997   
Tracks: 13


Independent   
 Independent

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 11


The American Way   
 The American Way

   Year: 1990   
Tracks: 8


Surf Nicaragua   
 Surf Nicaragua

   Year: 1988   
Tracks: 6


Ignorance   
 Ignorance

   Year: 1987   
Tracks: 9




Led by bassist/vocalist Phil Rind, this Phoenix-based set also includes Wiley Arnett, Jason Rainey, and Greg Hall. Sacred Reich is noted for its extremely self-opinionated political lyrics, testing of personal politics, and soundly inflexible spirit, as well as an occasional satiric sense of mood, and its fortunes have continued to rise over the course of the band's life history.






Thursday 19 June 2008

Autophagia

Autophagia   
Artist: Autophagia

   Genre(s): 
Other
   



Discography:


Postmortem Human Offal   
 Postmortem Human Offal

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 27




 





'Permission' spec granted

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Franco: MTV gave us the bag of 'fake weed'

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. —

Like the stoners they play in the upcoming "Pineapple Express," Seth Rogen and James Franco stumbled unkowingly into trouble Sunday at the MTV Movie Awards.


And of course, the weed was someone else's.


Early on in the show, Rogen and Franco took the podium to present the award for best summer movie so far, joking that MTV chose them because only "two potheads like us" would be willing to announce such a strange category. Then they pulled out a bag of "fake weed" and a "huge fatty joint" - and proceeded to light it.


"Kids, don't really smoke fake weed like this," Rogen told the crowd at the Gibson Amphitheatre, with a degree of sarcasm to suggest that the only fake thing was the idea that it was fake.


But before TV audiences could see the "contraband," the cameras pulled to an extremely wide angle, and stayed that way until Rogen and Franco left the stage. The awkward moment made some in the audience laugh, but left Robert Downey Jr. - who accepted the award on behalf of "Iron Man" alongside director John Favreau - with a puzzled look.


Backstage, Franco told The Associated Press that MTV put them up to the joke, even supplying the script, the fake marijuana and the fake joint - then had a last-second change of heart about the bit.


"MTV wrote it! ... Then backstage there was this big commotion: 'You guys can't say that,'" Franco said. "It says right in the script: 'Lights fake joint.'"


He liked the bit, saying: "that was the joke, because the No. 1 question we get about 'Pineapple Express' is, 'What kind of research did you guys do?'"


Franco said he was disappointed that the cameras went wide.


"I think they killed the joke," he said.


So what was really in the bag?


"I don't know! MTV gave it to us."








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Thursday 5 June 2008

No Deal As Aftra Amptp Talk Over Weekend




The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers continued bargaining talks over the weekend but
were unable to resolve their differences by Sunday night. Although negotiators have
agreed to a news blackout, trade reporters said that the talks have stalled over
the issue of whether studios and networks should be required to seek permission from
actors before clips of their performances are posted on the Internet. Studios claim
that the cost of administering such permissions would be prohibitive and that the clips
would end up only being posted by pirates, thereby wiping out payments for anyone.
The AMPTP has indicated that it would like to wrap up negotiations with AFTRA by
Wednesday, when it is due to resume talks with the larger Screen Actors Guild.






26/05/2008




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Tuesday 3 June 2008

Lionsgate nabs 'Transporter 3'

Jason Statham returns in the action sequel





Lionsgate has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to "Transporter 3."


In the film, Jason Statham returns as Frank Martin, the ex-Special Forces operative who specializes in high-risk deliveries.


Lionsgate will release the film, now in postpoduction, on Nov. 26. The title will be distributed in Canada by Maple Pictures, in which Lionsgate holds a stake.


Olivier Megaton directs from a script written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. The movie is produced by EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Prods., Grive Prods. and Apipoulai Production, in association with Current Entertainment. Besson produces for EuropaCorp.


Said Jason Constantine, Lionsgate's head of acquisitions and co-productions: "We are delighted to add another film in the exciting 'Transporter' action franchise to stand alongside such other iconic Lionsgate franchises as 'Saw,' Tyler Perry and 'The Punisher.' "


The first two films in the "Transporter" series were distributed in North America by Fox.



See Also

Richard Durand

Richard Durand   
Artist: Richard Durand

   Genre(s): 
Trance
   



Discography:


For The Believers 2.0 EP Vinyl   
 For The Believers 2.0 EP Vinyl

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 4


A State Of Trance Classics The Full Unmixed Versions   
 A State Of Trance Classics The Full Unmixed Versions

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 1




 





Indie prison flicks are breakout trend

Dwight Yoakam

Dwight Yoakam   
Artist: Dwight Yoakam

   Genre(s): 
Country
   Other
   Soundtrack
   Pop
   



Discography:


Dwight Sings Buck   
 Dwight Sings Buck

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 15


Blame the Vain   
 Blame the Vain

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 12


The Best Of   
 The Best Of

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 20


Dwight's Used Records   
 Dwight's Used Records

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 14


Population Me   
 Population Me

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 10


In Others' Words   
 In Others' Words

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 10


Reprise Please Baby CD4   
 Reprise Please Baby CD4

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 21


Reprise Please Baby CD3   
 Reprise Please Baby CD3

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 22


Reprise Please Baby CD2   
 Reprise Please Baby CD2

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 20


Reprise Please Baby CD1   
 Reprise Please Baby CD1

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 24


South of Heaven West of Hell   
 South of Heaven West of Hell

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 20


Tomorrow's Sounds Today   
 Tomorrow's Sounds Today

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 14


Dwightyoakamacoustic.net   
 Dwightyoakamacoustic.net

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 25


A Long Way Home   
 A Long Way Home

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 13


Come on Christmas   
 Come on Christmas

   Year: 1997   
Tracks: 10


Gone   
 Gone

   Year: 1995   
Tracks: 10


Dwight Live   
 Dwight Live

   Year: 1995   
Tracks: 17


Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Greatest Hits from the 1990's   
 Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Greatest Hits from the 1990's

   Year: 1990   
Tracks: 14


If There Was a Way   
 If There Was a Way

   Year: 1990   
Tracks: 14


Hillbilly Deluxe   
 Hillbilly Deluxe

   Year: 1990   
Tracks: 10


Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room   
 Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room

   Year: 1990   
Tracks: 11


Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc , Etc   
 Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc , Etc

   Year: 1984   
Tracks: 1




With his stripped-down Bakersfield country, Dwight Yoakam helped rejoin land music to its roots in the late '80s. Like his idols Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Hank Williams, Yoakam never played by Nashville's rules; therefore, he never dominated the charts like his contemporaneous Randy Travis. Then once again, Travis never played around with the sound and style of land music like Yoakam. On each of his records, he twists about the form sufficiency to make it seem like he doesn't respect all of country's traditions. Appropriately, his cORE audience was composed in the main of roots stone and rock-and-roll & roll fans, not the mainstream commonwealth interview. Nevertheless, he was oft able to graph in the land Top Ten, and he remained 1 of the most respected and adventuresome recording land artists substantially into the '90s.


Born in Kentucky just raised in Ohio, Yoakam knowing how to fiddle guitar at the age of sextuplet. As a child, he listened to his mother's record collection, honing in on the traditional country of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, as well as the Bakersfield honkey tonk of Buck Owens. When he was in high school day, Yoakam played with a change of bands, playacting everything from area to rock & roll out. After complementary highschool school, Yoakam briefly tended to Ohio State University, simply he dropped out and stirred to Nashville in the late '70s with the purport of decorous a recording artist.


At the time he stirred to Nashville, the townspeople was in the throes of the pop-oriented urban cowhand movement and had no interest in his updated honkey tonk. While in Nashville, he met guitar player Pete Anderson, wHO shared out a like discernment in music. The couple touched out to Los Angeles, where they found a more appreciative interview than they did in Nashville. In L.A., Yoakam and Anderson didn't just play land clubs, they played the like nightclubs that toughie and post-punk rock bands like X, the Dead Kennedys, Los Lobos, the Blasters, and the Butthole Surfers did. What Yoakam had in unwashed with rock'n'roll bands like X, the Blasters, and Los Angeles was interchangeable melodic influences; they all drew from '50s rock & roll out and area. In comparability to the polished music sexual climax proscribed of Nashville, Yoakam's stripped-down, direct revivalism seemed radical. The cowpunks, as they were called, that tended to Yoakam's shows provided an priceless support for his newbie career.


Yoakam released an independent EP, A Town South of Bakersfield, in 1984, which received strong airplay on Los Angeles college and alternative radio stations. The EP too helped him din Land a record contract with Reprise Records. Dwight's uncut debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., was released in 1986 and was an crying sentiency. Rock and country critics praised it and it earned airplay on college stations across America. More importantly, it was a hit on the land charts, as its first base single, a cover of Johnny Horton's "Honkie Tonk Man," climbed to number three in the outflow, followed by the number quatern "Guitars, Cadillacs" in the summer. The album would eventually go atomic number 78.


Bushwhacker Deluxe, Dwight's 1987 follow-up, was equally successful, spawning four Top Ten hits: "Little Sister," "Little Ways," "Please, Please Baby," and "Always Late with Your Kisses." In 1988, Yoakam had his first number ane hit with "Streets of Bakersfield," a cover of a Buck Owens song recorded with Owens himself. It was the first single cancelled his third album, Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room, which continued his streak of Top Ten hits. "I Sang Dixie," the album's second single, went to figure one, and "I Got You" reached number fin. In 1989, Yoakam released a compilation album, Just Lookin' for a Hit, which went amber. "Long White Cadillac," interpreted from the compendium, stalled at figure 35 in the come of 1989.


Although his 1990 album If There Was a Way didn't cause as many Top Ten hits, it was a major success; it was his number one album since his debut to go atomic number 78. This Time, released in the spring of 1993, was an regular larger hit, spawning threesome number 2 singles -- "Ain't That Lonely Yet," "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere," and "Fast as You" -- and departure pt. After its button, Yoakam was silent for two geezerhood, reversive in the summer of 1995 with Dwight Live, which didn't set the charts on ardour. In the light of that year, he released his sixth album, Departed, which went gold by the saltation of 1996, although it didn't bring forth whatever major nation hits. After 1997's Under the Covers, a collecting of compensate songs, Yoakam returned with the all-new A Long Way Home in 1998. Another compiling, Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Greatest Hits from the '90s, was released in 1999; its freshly recorded version of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" became Yoakam's biggest hit in 6 geezerhood, regular hitting the depress reaches of the pop charts thanks to its exposure in a khakis commercial-grade. Two albums followed in 2000: dwightyoakamacoustic.net, a bare bones, all-acoustic revisitation of Yoakam's back catalog; and the more monetary standard studio visualise Tomorrow's Sounds Today, which featured farther collaborations with Buck Owens and a cover of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me."


In 2001, Yoakam debuted as a writer and film director, as well issuance the soundtrack South of Heaven, West of Hell to companion it. Two long time later, he debuted on a new judge (Audium) with Population Me, piece Reprise issued the compiling In Others' Words to compete with it. In 2004 he released Dwight's Used Records, a 14-track anthology of duets that appeared on former artists' albums, unreleased covers, and cuts Yoakam contributed to various protection compilations. An album of all new material, the self-generated Charge the Vain, followed in 2005 along with the live album, Live from Austin, TX. An album of Buck Owens covers, Dwight Sings Buck, appeared in 2007.






Friend testifies about girl in R. Kelly video

Says the alleged victim was 12 or 13 at the time





A family friend of the alleged victim in the sex tape at the center of R. Kelly's child pornography trial testified Tuesday that the young female in the videotape could have been about 12 or 13 years old at the time.
Tjada Burnett said she recognized the alleged victim by her "cheeks, her nose, her facial structure."
A childhood friend of the alleged victim also identified the young female as the person who prosecutors say was on the 27-minute tape, which they claim was made between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000. The say the young female in the tape was born in September 1984.
Kelly, 41, is charged with 14 counts of child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Kelly's attorneys have said he is not on the tape, even noting that the singer has a mole on his back and that the man on the tape does not. Also, the alleged victim, now 23, has denied she is on the tape.
Under cross-examination, a defense attorney asked Burnett whether the alleged victim had braces at the time the tape was said to have been made and showed the jury a photo that appeared to show her wearing braces. The young female in the videotape did not appear to be wearing braces.
Burnett testified that the alleged victim had braces sometime between 1997 and '99, but could not be more specific.
Kelly lawyers also accused Raven Gengler of lying to help the prosecution's case when she testified that she's certain the girl on the videotape was her friend. Gengler, 22, said she first saw the video after downloading it several years ago from an internet file-sharing site in 2001, after the tape had become the talk of her neighborhood.
"You know the difference between a truth and a lie. And you lied before, didn't you?" defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. said. "I'd never lie," Gengler replied, pulling nervously on her long hair.
The trial is in its second week of testimony. Within hours of their opening statements last week, prosecutors entered the black VHS tape into the record as "People's Exhibit No. 1" and played it in open court.
Last week, several witnesses, including a relative of the alleged victim, testified that they recognized her in the videotape.

Techno happy from Tijuana

When Nortec Collective emerged on the world stage seven years ago from its base in Tijuana, the group was hailed as a cutting-edge exponent of a dynamic border culture on the rise. Recently, however, the artistic promise of that teeming, edgy metropolis has been overshadowed by an outburst of shocking violence tied to turf wars between rival drug cartels. The talk of border culture as a harbinger of future trends has retreated, just as residents have curbed their lifestyles to avoid the city's wild shoot-outs in broad daylight.

Judging by Thursday's performance at the Glass House in Pomona featuring two leading Nortec members, Bostich and Fussible, the crisis in Tijuana hasn't deterred the band from its mission: finding value, even joy, in a kitschy, garish, mishmash culture. The two programmers also perform tonight at the Echo in Los Angeles as part of a tour for their new CD, "Nortec Collective Presents Bostich + Fussible: Tijuana Sound Machine," due in stores Tuesday.

Nortec is less a collective these days than a loose affiliation of projects. Two of the original six members have split, and the main songwriters, Bostich (Ramon Amezcua) and Fussible (Pepe Mogt), have released a separate CD.




















The new music remains true to the original Nortec concept, a fusion of Mexico's traditional norteño music with electronic sounds manipulated on computers. But the pair continues to enhance the music's acoustics with instruments played by actual human beings.

On stage Thursday, the programmers were backed by Martin Bernal and Adrian Rodriguez on trumpets, Erasmo Salazar on clarinet and Juan Tellez on accordion. On the album, the music features an even wider range of instruments, including the traditional bajo sexto, a 12-string guitar, even a clavichord adding a classical touch on one track.

For someone not familiar with electronica, it takes a while to appreciate what these musicians actually do on stage. They stand side by side at a table facing the audience, one bald (Bostich) and the other shaggy-haired (Fussible), leaning over and peering intently into laptops. They bounce to the beat but rarely look up. Occasionally, one of them will turn and smile in approval at one of their musicians.

The idea is to let yourself go with the sonic waves the pair produces by layering digital audio loops -- of timbales, sirens, disembodied vocal snippets and eerie tones from outer space. Or just get mesmerized with the animated visuals projected on a screen in unison with the sonic crescendo, all courtesy of Ernesto Aello.

It might be getting more difficult to live up to the message in the group's hit "Tijuana Makes Me Happy," from its 2005 release, "Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3." But being carried away in the live experience created by these two visionary border artists still makes it seem possible.

agustin.gurza@latimes.com

Amy Winehouse Bailed After Crack Arrest

Amy Winehouse has been released on bail after being arrested over alleged drug offences.



The singer was questioned by officers yesterday after voluntarily attending a police station in East London.



A Scotland Yard spokesperson said Winehouse was arrested in connection with a video that was passed to the Metropolitan Police in January.



In January this year The Sun published stills from a video that allegedly showed the singer smoking crack cocaine.



Winehouse’s arrest comes less than a month after she was arrested and cautioned by police for slapping a man with an open hand in North London.



The incident took place following a night out in the Camden area of the city.


See Also

Dr. Didg

Dr. Didg   
Artist: Dr. Didg

   Genre(s): 
New Age
   Rock
   Ethnic
   



Discography:


Dust Devils   
 Dust Devils

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 13


Serotonality   
 Serotonality

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 12


Out Of The Woods   
 Out Of The Woods

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 10




 






Michelle Williams - The Things They Say 8399

"(It's) something you can look back on at the end of your life and think, 'That was a cool thing I did when I was 27." Actress MICHELLE WILLIAMS was delighted to attend her first Cannes Film Festival in France on Thursday (22May08).




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