Showing Out

Good for BET. For once, the channel has managed to outshine every other network on television with Sunday’s broadcast of the 2009 BET Awards. In a press release issued this afternoon, BET announced that 10.65 million viewers tuned in to watch the awards, an almost 4-hour long event hosted by Jamie Foxx. This makes the 2009 BET Awards the most watched show in the history of the channel, no doubt due to their quick attempt to rearrange the whole event as an homage to Michael Jackson (they did a good job for the last minute, so for all you haters, keep that mind before you run at the mouth on your blog). Not only that, but the awards show became the number one award show to air on cable this year, earning them some serious cred in the scope of network television. In case you missed the awards, you’ll have a few more chances to watch the show when it’s re-aired on the channel (Tuesday, June 30 from 6:30-10:00 p.m., Thursday, July 2 from 8:00-11:30 p.m. and Monday, July 6 from 8:00-11:30 p.m.) so if you weren’t one of those 10.65 million to tune in, you’ll be able to see what all the fuss is about.

In the tradition of Alfred Hitchock’s Rear Window setup, the forthcoming suburban thriller The Stepfather, a remake of the 1987 original, follows the story of a young man (Penn Badgley) that returns from military school to find out his mom (Sela Ward) shacked up with a man (Dylan Walsh) that he suspects isn’t who he appears to be. On the surface, the stepfather seems to be a totally nice guy, someone that cherishes family values and even treats his newlywed’s children like his own. But soon, he turns into an abusive and confrontational control freak, bossing around his children and losing his temper over ridiculously small things. Slowly but surely, the truth behind the evil stepfather’s history is revealed, no doubt culminating in a showdown where - and we’re just guessing at this point - he gets murdered by either his son or current wife (she’ll turn on him too, at some point). The Stepfather isn’t out until October 16, and we already figured out the plot. Maybe it’s because it’s nearly the same structure as a movie like Disturbia? Hmm… Let’s see if they throw a wrench in the machine and we’re proven wrong when the film drops this fall.

With the sad news that Vibe magazine has gone under, Showing Out took some time to reflect on how much of an impact the magazine has had on hip-hop culture. An innumerable group of artists have graced the pages of Vibe since the magazine made its grand entrance into urban journalism in 1993, and an equal number of artists have paid their respect to the magazine by name-checking Vibe in their lyrics. In honor of the magazine and how much we’ve enjoyed reading the publication over the years, SO has gathered a collection of lyrics that rappers have spit that give verbal props to the magazine, forever immortalized by their words.

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Each week, Showing Out will give you the rundown on the hottest new hip-hop and R&B releases hitting stores. In the event that you don’t keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest releases, SO is here to be your hunter and gatherer so that you can feast on the information at hand. Without further ado, here’s a look at the new releases that are on our radar this week.

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Often times, horror films get remade when it feels too soon to give them an update (even with Friday the 13th, we’re still skeptical after having seen the damn thing). But if you’re easily turned off by opportunistic remakes, then read no further. Matt Reeves, director of the vom-inducing shake-fest Cloverfield, has signed on to direct the English version remake of last year’s cult Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. For those of you that aren’t in the know, Let the Right One In, adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Låt den rätte komma in, told the story of a young boy and vampire girl that meet each other and bond, forming a friendship that plays out like a roller coaster ride. This time around, the movie will be called Let Me In (the literal translation of Lindqvist’s original title), set in Colorado during the Reagan era. While this will allow American audiences the opportunity to feast their eyes on an English language version of the internationally heralded film (it’s won heaps of awards), a year between releases is entirely too risky (”I hope people give us a chance,” admits Reeves). But we might even go see it when it comes out next year, as long as it looks like it was done tastefully - but only if they promise that no shaky cams were involved in filming.

If you’ve ever wanted to chuck your computer out a three-story window because Firefox up and decided to freeze and close on you, then there’s a cure to calm your technological rage. Firefox has just released its newest upgrade to 3.5, which, for all you internet users out there, should come as a sigh of relief. The new browser includes upgrades in security, performance, password managing, bookmarking and “The Awesome Bar” - whatever that is. How much better is it, you ask? According to Mozilla, the security of 3.5 is impeccable. They claim that “[a]n independent study shows that, in 2006, IE users were vulnerable to online threats 78% of the time. Firefox users? Only 2%.” If this sounds like an outright lie, well, we’re right there with you, as we’ve been e-attacked so many times that our spirit has been damn near crushed. But they do promise that there’s faster script and page loading (which we trust is true), an address bar that learns what sites you visit most and suggests a link when you start typing in a URL, a one-click hot button that tells you whether or not a site is secure and other features that you’ll probably never use. Mozilla claims this is the best thing that ever happened to internet browserdom, but we’ll be frank with you: Google Chrome rocks our world. Still, it won’t hurt to give 3.5 a try - for at least a few minutes, anyway.

Sad news comes to us in the world of hip-hop journalism. Vibe Magazine, founded in 1993 by creator Quincy Jones, has bit the dust after months of constant scrutiny that the magazine might be in trouble. Back in February 2009, the magazine was forced to cut circulation and salaries in the face of a recession, and, like so many other publications in recent times (Paste, King, Blender), the operation is closing up shop. Confirmed on their Twitter page, Vibe has always been one of the more cultural hip-hop magazines, consistently pushing the journalistic envelope with excellent full-length features and finger-on-the-pulse reporting. It’s unclear if the website will still operate without the magazine component, as new material is still being posted today, but we’ll be on the lookout for an official statement from the magazine concerning its future plans. In the meantime, check out Questlove’s eulogy for the fallen mag here.

Update: Rap Radar has a bit more information on the subject, including a picture of the last cover Vibe (a provocative Christina Milian and The-Dream image) and a letter from former CEO Steve Aaron. Ironically, Vibe’s shutdown probably has to do something with the speed and voracity of internet journalism outpacing their content production, which clearly still dogs them as the internet is on fire with news of their demise before their official statement is released. R.I.P. Vibe.

Now, we know what you’re thinking. The thought of Eddie Murphy’s version of The Nutty Professor getting turned into a Broadway musical is enough to incite a Farenheit 451-style burning of any film he’s ever been featured in. So you can put your lighters down and relax, because it’s Jerry Lewis’ original version of the film that’s going to be hitting 42nd Street sometime in 2010 or 2011. According to the New York Times, Lewis, who last graced the stage in the 1995 production of Damn Yankees, is directing the musical adaptation of his classic film, with composer Marvin Hamlisch handling the music and Rupert Holmes taking on the lyrics and book. This follows in the tradition of other classic adaptations for Broadway like the hit musicals Shrek: The Musical and Little Shop of Horrors, and, if done right, could be just as big of a hit. The musical hasn’t yet been cast, but all we ask - or beg, really - is that Eddie Murphy isn’t allowed to touch this musical with a Sherman Klump-sized pole.

Let’s face the facts: child villains are terrifying. Just take a look at The Omen or even The Good Son (remember that one? That’s taking it back) - those kids scared the hell out of audiences. So in keeping with the tradition of child monsters set on wreaking havoc on everyone around him or her, Orphan, hitting theaters July 24, promises to unsettle viewers in the same freaky way. Starring Peter Sarsgaard, Vera Farigma and Isabelle Fuhrman as the hell-sent Esther, Orphan sees a couple that recently lost a child adopting a 9-year-old girl that looks to be a peach on the surface. But when people start pissing little Esther off, she forces them to pay the price, untangling a web of lies and deceit that Esther’s created to hide her troublesome past. Take a look at the trailer to see just how evil this bad little wench promises to be.

Following in the footsteps of similar piracy software like Napster and Muxtape, The Pirate Bay is forging ahead after its owners were shipped off to jail earlier this year. According to Variety, Global Gaming Factory X, a video game conglomerate based in Sweden, has acquired ownership the site with the intention to drastically alter the business model so that the service can avoid a watery grave. The Swedish company reportedly spent 60 million kroner ($7.7 million U.S.) for the site, which earned over a billion unique page hits per month on a regular basis. The new owners plan to relaunch the site as a legal downloading site in what appears to be a desperate attempt to salvage the impressive monthly traffic. While they seem to think this will actually work, just take one look at Kazaa or Napster and see where going “legal” got them. Yup, The Pirate Bay is doomed.