The Shins Change, Stay The Same On Port Of Morrow

Band may have changed labels — and members — but mastermind James Mercer insists to MTV News, 'It is still a band.'
By James Montgomery

James Mercer of The Shins
Photo: MTV News

Nearly two years ago, when James Mercer was doing press for Broken Bells, his collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, he told MTV News that he had no intention of abandoning his day job as frontman/songwriter for the Shins.

The problem was, Broken Bells ended up being bigger than either man could have expected, and that long-awaited fourth Shins album kept getting pushed back further and further. Though through it all, Mercer maintains he was always working on the record; he was just never quite sure when he was going to be able to finish it.

"It's been five years [since the Shins' Wincing the Night Away], but the Broken Bells kind of takes a two-year chunk out of that, and I've got two kids now, so it's really only been six months," he laughed. "The songs started to build up, so during times when I wasn't down working with Brian or doing other things, I was home, fiddling with the guitar like I always do, and the songs just sort of kept coming, and I realized I was definitely going to want to do another Shins record."

On March 20, that record — Port of Morrow — will finally see the light of day. But to say the Shins are the same band would be incorrect, to put it mildly. They've lost longtime members Marty Crandall and Jesse Sandoval and left Sub Pop and signed with Columbia, which will release the album through Mercer's own Aural Apothecary label. But to Mercer, really, nothing has changed — and the Shins are still very much the Shins.

"In theory, I could have named the first Shins record 'The James Mercer Record,' but I just don't like the sound of that. There was a time when I was wondering, 'Should I just start a new band?' and I pretty quickly realized that I've always had — especially in the recording process — people coming in and helping out, or sometimes I would do a whole lot of it myself," he explained. "And although that might be a difficult transition for people to make, out there listening, that's nevertheless the reality of it, so I need to do what will keep me going, and so wanting to work with new people and wanting to stay engaged in the whole exploration of music is sort of what I'm doing now."

The new incarnation of the band will be augmented (live at least) by Richard Swift on piano and organ, Jessica Dobson on lead guitar, Yuuki Matthews on bass and Joe Plummer on drums, and fans have already been given a taste of what to expect on Morrow in the form of first single "Simple Song," which, interestingly enough, isn't actually all that new.

"I wrote the majority of it in 10 to 15 minutes, sitting on the living-room floor with my wife, and then it sat like that. That was during Wincing the Night Away's production," Mercer said. "But I knew it was going to be something that was fun to get into. And, to be honest, the night before we let go of that song, I was really nervous about it. ... I was really anxious and wanted people to like it."

So far, the consensus seems to be that people do. Though it's been a long time coming, Mercer said he's been inspired by the response so far, and he can't wait for fans to hear the rest of Morrow. And while he's taken on the lion's share of the responsibilities this time out, he's not feeling any pressure to validate whether the Shins are still the band folks have celebrated — because no matter who's playing with him, the Shins are always going to be the Shins.

"Some don't [understand how this band works], but that's because I wanted it to be a band, the aesthetic of that, and when I'm working in the studio, people are helping me do this," he said. "So it is still a band; it's just not like 'We all met in grammar school and came up together.' But, like, Neutral Milk Hotel is not that, but they're allowed to do that, so I'm figuring, 'Why can't I?' "

What are you expecting from new Shins music? Let us know in the comments below!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677889/the-shins-port-of-morrow.jhtml

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Oscar nominations announced for supporting actor (AP)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. ? The 84th annual Academy Award nominations for supporting actor in a motion picture have been announced in Beverly Hills, Calif., by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The nominees announced Tuesday morning are: Kenneth Branagh, "My Week with Marilyn"; Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"; Nick Nolte, "Warrior"; Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"; Max von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

The Oscars will be presented Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_en_mo/us_oscar_nominations_supporting_actor

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'Citizen Kane' to be shown at Hearst Castle (AP)

SAN SIMEON, Calif. ? The 1941 film "Citizen Kane" will be shown at Hearst Castle, the elaborate California estate built by the newspaper magnate who inspired Orson Welles' cinema classic.

The Los Angeles Times says (http://lat.ms/wx3lpV) "Citizen Kane" will be shown March 9 at the visitor center theater as part of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, with the blessing of the late William Randolph Hearst's family.

Hearst sought to derail the movie, which portrayed the rise and fall of an obsessively controlling character, and festival director Wendy Eidson says it has probably never been seen at the estate, which is now a state park.

Great-grandson Steve Hearst says it will be presented as a work of fiction rather than as a documentary about the media tycoon.

___

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_mo/us_citizen_kane_hearst_castle

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Khaaaaaaaaan! [Lego]

There's a seemingly endless supply of Lego Star Wars sets, so Christer Nyberg took it upon himself to give Star Trek some brick love. But instead of building the Enterprise (clich?!), he chose the USS Reliant, best known as the hijacked spaceride of Khan Noonien Singh. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/7TRkjThCFOc/

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OnLive Desktop hits the iTunes app store

Not satisfied with iOS? No problem, OnLive has a hefty helping of Windows waiting for you in the iTunes app store. Palo Alto announced the streaming Office app earlier this week, touting it as a no-compromise enterprise experience. The free app is fairly basic, giving iPad users hungry for a dose of Microsoft Office limited access to Windows' premiere word processing, presentation and spreadsheet software -- though the outfit has said that it will intro "pro" and "enterprise" versions of the service with more features in the future. Go ahead, now you can be a Mac and a PC. We won't tell.

OnLive Desktop hits the iTunes app store originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Romney hopes to turn SC into rivals' last stand (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney braced for a brutal 10-day onslaught in South Carolina as he looks to turn the first-in-the-South primary into the last stand for his Republican rivals.

Coming off twin victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor was already trying Wednesday to lower expectations that he'll win in a state defined by notoriously nasty politics, conservative Christians and an active tea party ? elements his rivals hope they can use to slow what's beginning to look like a sprint to the nomination.

"Clearly I face more of an uphill battle in South Carolina than I have here in New Hampshire," Romney said as he boarded his campaign plane in Bedford, Mass., en route to Columbia. He lost in South Carolina in 2008.

"Last time I came in fourth," he said, "so, you know, our team recognizes this is going to be a challenge."

Among those challenges: fighting against attacks on his time at Bain Capital, keeping his campaign on message after verbal missteps about pink slips and liking to fire people, and staying vigilant for any whisper campaign about his Mormon religion.

Rivals Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were scrambling to break through and become a viable conservative alternative to Romney. The early contests scrambled the field, with Santorum nearly winning in Iowa but falling back in New Hampshire. Gingrich led polls in December but faded in the face of withering attacks from Romney's allies on the airwaves in Iowa.

"We have everybody now gunning with full-time desperation. For most all of them, there is no life after South Carolina," said Warren Tompkins, Romney's strategist in the state. "Desperate people do desperate things."

Most important, Romney aides say, is trying to ensure no single conservative opponent emerges so he can move into Florida from a position of strength. Romney is the only candidate with a full operation there, with calls, mail and TV ads ? and his top advisers now see it as the place where Romney can prove he's the only candidate able to go the distance.

Florida's sizable Hispanic population means it's also an opportunity for Romney to look ahead to the general election. He's now on the air with a Spanish-language ad featuring his son Craig, who speaks Spanish. And on the trail, Romney is dropping hints that he'll focus his general election efforts on Latino voters.

"I need to get 50.1 percent of Americans behind me," Romney said during a speech in Nashua, N.H. If he can win over Latino Americans, "I can do well pretty broadly."

First, he'll have to face down South Carolina ? and the millions in super PAC advertising that will be directed at him. Gingrich allies plan to spend millions on ads hitting Romney's record at Bain.

Romney advisers say they'll start to point out where profits from venture capital firms often go: charitable foundations, university endowments and pension and retirement funds.

More helpful may be a growing conservative backlash against what many on the right say is an anti-capitalist attitude. South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who backed Romney in 2008 but isn't endorsing any candidate this time, defended Romney's time at Bain during a radio interview. Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh also stood up for him.

Romney learned anew in New Hampshire how his rivals will use his own words against him. His reference to worrying about receiving a pink slip as a freshly minted Harvard MBA and his comments about liking to fire people gave his opponents an opening to claim he's out of touch with ordinary Americans and a cold-hearted businessman.

South Carolina's less visible politics are often darker than even the brutal attack ads that are running out in the open. Tompkins refused to address just what the campaign would do in the face of surreptitious attacks on Romney's Mormon faith. His team has already sent out mailers emphasizing that he's been steady in his faith. It's a contrast with Gingrich, who recently converted to Catholicism.

"We just have to be prepared for anything and everything and be disciplined with the message and how to cut through the misinformation," Tompkins said.

Asked if he was prepared for a whisper campaign about his Mormon religion or other aspects of his background, Romney said: "Politics ain't bean bags and I know it's going to get tough and no one's going to be happy if things are said that are untrue. But I know that is sometimes part of the underbelly of politics."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120112/ap_on_el_ge/us_romney

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Anthony says she became pregnant after passing out at party (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) ? Casey Anthony, the Florida mother acquitted last year in the death of her toddler daughter, told a psychologist she may have become pregnant with Caylee after she blacked out at a party in 2004, a deposition released on Wednesday showed.

The deposition showed Anthony made the remarks to William Weitz, a psychologist who interviewed her and administered mental health tests to determine her mental status at the behest of the defense while she was in jail awaiting trial.

"At the party, she felt that she may have been - that she blacked out," Weitz testified, according to the deposition. "She believes ... that she was impregnated during that time."

Weitz, who ultimately concluded that Anthony suffered from no mental disease or defect, said she claimed to have no memory of the sexual act, and that she said she believed her drink may have been spiked.

Anthony, 25, was acquitted in July in the death of 2-year-old Caylee but was found guilty of repeatedly lying to detectives trying to find out what happened to the toddler who was last seen alive in June 2008.

A nationwide search for Caylee ended six months later when her remains were found in woods near the Anthony home.

While she was awaiting trial, Anthony's defense team had her evaluated by two mental health experts. Their reports and sworn statements, which were never submitted as evidence, were sealed by the judge until the conclusion of the trial.

Several hundred pages of depositions released on Wednesday showed that mental evaluations of Anthony found her to be surprisingly cheerful and content.

EATING AND SLEEPING WELL

Psychiatrist Jeffrey Danziger testified in a deposition that Anthony's demeanor didn't fit the circumstances of a mother who had lost her daughter, was suspected and then accused of her murder and incarcerated in jail. Danziger said Anthony was eating and sleeping well and reading books.

Her attitude was "as if we were discussing someone who had a parking ticket," Danziger said. He also testified that he had never seen anyone facing murder charges or the loss of a child who showed such a lack of emotion.

But like Weitz, Danziger concluded that Anthony suffered from no mental disease or defect. Weitz testified that Anthony exhibited less stress on a mental health test than a normal person who had not experienced a trauma.

Both experts said Anthony had told each of them that her father, George Anthony, and brother had sexually molested her in the past, and that her father possibly drowned Caylee in the backyard pool and disposed of her remains.

The judge ruled at trial that no evidence of abuse was ever presented. George Anthony's lawyer, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said his client was aware of the statements and that no new information was disclosed on Wednesday.

"As he has repeatedly said prior to the trial, during the trial and after the trial, he never molested any member of his family including Casey Anthony and he had nothing to do with the death of Caylee Marie Anthony including what happened to her remains after she allegedly drowned," the lawyer, Mark Lippman, wrote.

Danziger, in his deposition, said he had lost sleep and lost weight knowing that he might have to testify about, and thus spread, Anthony's unsupported allegations.

Anthony currently is serving a one-year probation at an undisclosed location in Florida on check fraud charges.

(Editing By Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120112/us_nm/us_caseyanthony_evaluation

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Discovery Channel to air full 'Frozen Planet' series despite controversy

Discovery Channel announced its plans to air all seven episodes of their new documentary series?'Frozen Planet.' ?Before the announcement, rumors were circulating that the last episode would not be aired?because?it was about climate change.

Discovery?Channel's documentary series "Frozen Planet" will premiere March 18, and will encompass seven episodes including a program on climate change hosted by David Attenborough.

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On that seventh episode, the famed British naturalist will investigate what rising temperatures will mean for the planet and life on it.

The network made the announcement Tuesday.

"Frozen Planet" is described as "the ultimate portrait of our Earth's polar regions." A co-production of Discovery?Channel and BBC, it was four years in the making and comes from the team behind "Planet Earth," the acclaimed series that aired on?Discovery?in 2007.

The "Frozen Planet" team filmed in every nation inside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles during 2,356 days in the field, 1 1/2 years at sea, more than six months on the sea ice and 134 hours beneath that ice, according toDiscovery.

Among the sights: the birth of an iceberg bigger than the largest building on Earth, a caterpillar with antifreeze in its veins and tiny baby polar bears, which at birth are 25 percent smaller than human babies.

"Frozen Planet" will be narrated by Alec Baldwin.

Discovery?and TLC networks head Eileen O'Neill calls the series remarkable "because it's so surprising. You see sequences that have never been captured on film before ? a world you would expect to see in a 'Narnia' film, not on this planet."

She adds, "You see an environment that's changing, if not disappearing, in our generation."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/lMdAlipbc1g/Discovery-Channel-to-air-full-Frozen-Planet-series-despite-controversy

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November consumer credit up most since 2001 (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Consumer credit in November expanded by the most since 2001, rising $20.37 billion after increasing a revised $6.02 billion in October, a Federal Reserve report showed on Monday.

That was nearly three times the median forecast in a Reuters poll for a $7.0 billion gain in outstanding consumer credit.

Nonrevolving credit, which includes student and auto loans, rose $14.78 billion in November after a revised $5.34 billion increase in October.

Revolving credit, which mostly measures credit-card use, rose $5.60 billion, the third straight monthly increase.

(Reporting by Jason Lange, Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120109/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_consumercredit

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