The Internet Is Killing Our Rock Stars

Ken Russell's wild films stirred 1970s controversy

(NEWSER) - The Oscar-nominated director of Women in Love and the Who’s Tommy has died at 84. Ken Russell’s often outrageous films provoked controversy into the 1970s; the former film, for instance, featured two male actors wrestling nude. Russell “pushed the barriers completely and got away with it sometimes and didn't others,” a fellow filmmaker tells the BBC . Russell's contribution to British filmmaking was “enormous,” the director adds, even if he didn’t get the attention some say he deserved. “It was almost as if he never existed—I find it utterly scandalous for someone who was so innovative,” said actress Glenda Jackson. More»

Salon offers up a mid-year list

(NEWSER) - Now that we're more than halfway through 2011, the Salon staff compiled the best books, movies, music, and TV of the year so far. Among its recommendations:

• Film: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life is quite good—but Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, about a 66-year-old woman who may have Alzheimer's, is a masterpiece. Another surprising inclusion: Matthew McConaughey-vehicle The Lincoln Lawyer, directed by Brad Furman.
• Books: You'd never know The Pale King, David Foster Wallace's third and last novel, was actually unfinished at the time of his death and pieced together by his longtime editor. Also worth checking out: novelist Andre Dubus III's memoir, Townie.

Female rockers don't get much action on tour, they say

(NEWSER) - Male rock stars are notorious for their groupie magnetism—but the same just isn’t true for female rockers, Salon finds. “Ladies in bands don’t get ANY action,” Neko Case tweeted last weekend, prompting a flurry of agreement from fellow women in rock. (Case made clear later she was not complaining, just stating a fact of the business.) “I have gotten laid exactly one time on tour, and it was an ex,” added a member of Crooked Fingers. So why the disparity? More»

Even so, his latest album is available on it

(NEWSER) - “The Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb,” according to rocker John Mellencamp. “It's destroyed the music business. It's going to destroy the movie business,” and it could lead “some smart people, the China-Russians or something,” to conquer us by hacking our power grid or financial system. He made the dire warnings while promoting his latest album…which was released in stores as well as, yes, on the Internet, Reuters reports . More»

Prince, Julie Andrews, Francis Ford Coppola deserve another chance

(NEWSER) - Whether they're clearly taking anything just for the money or out-and-out slumming, numerous pop culture icons are mired in a rut of underachievement. The Onion A.V. Club staff fields a question from a Sylvester Stallone loyalist and lists more artists deserving of a second chance:

• Sam Adams can't quit Nicolas Cage: "The near-unremitting river of shit that is his recent output would be disheartening even if it weren’t clear that the main source of his troubles is Cage himself."