NINESLASHES*

Ever since the news hit about the Terminator series continuing, it has been rather quiet. Finally an update today comes from James Middleton, a producer on the TV series “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, who is also overseeing the development of Terminator 4. Middleton confirms via IGN that T4 is still happening and aiming to be in pre-production by this October for a 2009 release. The script is being written by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, who co-wrote Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and that no director has been chosen yet.

The film will be titled just Terminator with a subtitle (like “Rise of the Machines”), not with the number 4. This isn’t that revealing, except that the marketing strategy they’re trying to go with is starting from complete scratch. Given that The Halcyon Company bought the rights entirely last year, it’s obvious their strategy is to start from scratch without really continuing what was essentially an unsuccessful Terminator 3.

The story in T4 follows the events of T3 and will be post-apocalyptic including the characters of John Connor and Kate Brewster, the two who survived at the end of the movie. As for whether Nick Stahl and Claire Danes will return, that is dependent on “many factors, including the thoughts of the eventual director and others involved.” Middleton also adds that T4 will feature a new hero, explaining “Ben-Hur was influenced by Jesus Christ, but it was his story. Much in that way, this character will be influenced by John Connor.” A Jesus Christ reference in the Terminator world? Is that good or bad, I don’t know.

The Halcyon Company is still going to produce a complete trilogy of new Terminator films. Right now I will say that I’m excited, but also a bit unsure. I know the general response to Terminator 3 was terrible. I remember going on opening day to a nearly empty 500-seat movie theater, it was a shame, although I ended up liking the movie. I’m curious to see how they bring back the franchise and whether it draws crowds. Are you excited for Terminator 4?

Swedish metallers IN FLAMES are currently at their own IF Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden working on the follow-up to last year’s “Come Clarity”. The band’s studio video diary is online now with Episode 2. Watch it below.

A new IN FLAMES track, entitled “Abnegation”, is featured on the “Viva La Bands, Vol. 2″ album, which was released on September 4 via Ferret Music and Filthy Note Records. The CD features exclusive tracks, written and recorded for the CD/DVD combo from some of Bam’s favorite acts like CLUTCH, CKY, CHILDREN OF BODOM, VIKING SKULL and VAINS OF JENNA. A U.S.-exclusive track from SHINY TOY GUNS and music from other faves like GWAR, THE SOUNDS, DIMMU BORGIR and KILL HANNAH also appears on the killer compilation.

Listen to the new IN FLAMES track “Abnegation” at this location.

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The Rasmus have started work on their new album, with a release date in March 2008. The title of the album is BLACK ROSES and recordings started in Helsinki on September 17, in The Rasmus’ own Dynasty Studio. This time the band are working together with Desmond Child, one of the most successful songwriters and producers in the world, known for his work with Kiss, Alice Cooper, Ricky Martin, The Scorpions and many others. The Rasmus teamed up with Desmond Child in Greece and LA during the summer to write the songs for the new album together. Apart from Helsinki, recordings will also take place in Nashville, USA. Michael Wagener, producer for Metallica, Alice Cooper, Ozzy and many others, will mix the album in his studio in Nashville. Desmond Child is co-producing BLACK ROSES together with Swedish hitmaker Harry Sommerdahl.

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I’ve been waiting for this. Bruce Springsteen’s “Long Walk Home,” the second video from his forthcoming Magic, finds a morose Springsteen singing alone in an empty studio, an empty warehouse and an empty diner. Various characters display the anguish of isolation in typical Middle America widescreen scenery. But then the drums kick in, the amusement park comes alive, Bruce cracks a smile, and everything’s going to be okay.

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Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, more also being considered for induction.

Take a bow, Madonna, and ch-ch-check it out, Beastie Boys — you’ve been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In addition to Madge and the Beasties, hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, veteran rocker John Mellencamp, disco queen Donna Summer, jazz/funk band Chic, English-beat group the Dave Clark Five, surf instrumentalists the Ventures and moody singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen are also up for the high honor, it was announced Thursday (September 27).

While nine artists are being considered for inclusion into the Hall, five will be honored at the induction ceremony, to be held March 10 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Around the same time this year, R.E.M., Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Jay-Z, Eddie Vedder and others helping do the honors.

To be eligible for nomination this year, an artist must have issued their first single or LP no later than 1982.

It was that year, in fact, that Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records and put out her first tune, “Everybody,” on April 24. Making a huge impact in the clubs as well as on MTV — which launched a year earlier — she became the top female performer of the ’80s — and eventually, according to Guinness World Records, the most successful female artist of all time.

While Madge was revving up her career in 1982, so were the Beasties Boys — although at the time, they were a hardcore-punk band (previously named the Young Aborigines), not a hip-hop troupe. The NYC act issued its punk EP, Polly Wog Stew, that year — but then, with the help of producer Rick Rubin, the Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence made the transition into a rap unit. And the rest, they say, is history.

For years, the Beasties have been fighting for their right to party — now they, Madonna and others are fighting for a chance to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Following the new iMac, Apple’s portable platform is probably next for a redesign, with 9to5mac pointing at the long-fabled ultra-slim MacBooks and now AppleInsider mumbling about the Son-of-Newton. According to them, it will be a 720×480-screen PDA 1.5 times the size of the iPhone, running an embedded version of Mac OS X. With the PDA industry dying and Apple focusing on current product lines, does it make sense to release such a product? We think it doesn’t. If anything, our guess is that Apple may choose to marry touch technology with down-to-Earth thinner notebooks for a better, far-reaching product: the MacBook touch.

The rumored Son-of-Newton and the always-coming MacTablet are projects that have been in prototype form around Cupertino for years. However, it hasn’t been until now that the iPhone has proven that the masses are ready for devices that use finger multi-touch as the main input device (as opposed to Microsoft stylus-based TabletPCs.)

AppleInsider says that this reduced Newton-inspired slate computer/PDA/multimedia thingamabob exists, running a special version of Mac OS X. We believe that there may be such a product in the lab. But then they go as far as predicting a possible first-half-of-2008 launch and a MacWorld San Francisco keynote introduction, and here’s where we have our doubts.

There are many things against this idea. Opening a new market segment, one with little differentiation to the failing UMPCs is a very difficult proposition, even if Apple manages to reinvent these devices again successfully. The problem with UMPCs, however, is that it may never be a product for the masses, exactly like the Newton. It was too small for notebook replacement, too big for true portability. And if Apple has shown anything lately it’s that their objective is the consumer market, either through music and telephony or through standard computer platforms.

Looking at the market, it seems that while people may be willing to sacrifice things like a full keyboard in the name of portability, like the case of the iPhone or the iPod touch, this will never happen in the notebook or sub-notebook space. That’s why Microsoft’s partners and Jack Bauer opt for hybrid notebook-tablet formats. Although not a resounding success, this concept is starting to gain traction. It may be Apple’s opportunity to re-invent the format and do a good implementation of such a compact device, now based in multi-touch technology.

There’s where the ultra-slim MacBook and the Son-of-Newton touch concept can make the difference.

The Newton brand will probably never make a comeback, though, as the public identify it with total failure (egg freckles anyone?) and PDAs. Also, with Apple centering its development efforts around Mac OS X in almost every device they produce, the Newton OS technology won’t see the light again in its previous form. If this rumor materializes in one form or another, most probably Apple will either create a new name or just capitalize in their current brands.

For sure, a ultra-thin MacBook touch running Leopard on Intel’s just announced ultra-low power Core processors, along with solid state storage and WiMax support, doesn’t sound bad to me.

Actually, it sounds just perfect. [Gizmodo]

 Finnish Rock Band’s Highest Debut to Date With More Than 40,000 Copies Sold

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire - September 26, 2007) - “Venus Doom,” the new album from Sire recording artists HIM, captured the No.12 spot this week on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart — the Finnish rock band’s highest debut to date. Released on September 18th “Venus Doom” was named one of Alternative Press’ “Most Anticipated Albums of 2007.” Spin gave it four stars in its review, while Blender called it “brutal. Ballsy. Extreme… you might even sneak in a sexy and still be on point.”

The band — singer Ville Valo, guitarist Linde, bassist Mige, keyboardist Burton, and drummer Gas — have been collaborating on the songs that appear on “Venus Doom” since last year when their previous release, “Dark Light,” went gold in the U.S., making HIM the first-ever band from Finland to go gold in America. The band recorded “Venus Doom” this past spring with noted producer Tim Palmer (Ozzy Osborne, U2 and Duran Duran) with the intention of recapturing the signature sound of their highly acclaimed 2003 album “Love Metal.”

Also noteworthy is the band’s logo, which has been likened to the Rolling Stones’ Tongue, The Ramones’ Seal, and the Grateful Dead Skull. HIM’s symbol — the marriage of a heart and a pentagram called the Heart-a-Gram — has been glimpsed on “Jackass” (on star Bam Margera), Kat Von D’s “LA Ink,” and on countless fans across Europe and the U.S.

HIM’s first single “Kiss Of Dawn” has already been added to MTV2’s regular rotation on “You Rock The Deuce” and is currently being played on “Steven’s Untitled Rock Show” on Fuse. HIM have recently finished up a major tour with Linkin Park on the latter’s Projekt Revolution extravaganza, and will begin their own headlining tour in New York City in mid-October.

SAN FRANCISCO–Nearly two and a half years after Bill Gates almost casually revealed its existence, Halo 3 finally arrived in North American stores. Some analysts estimate that over 4.2 million copies of the game were shipped to retailers, and Microsoft claims over 1.6 million units have been preordered.

Given the staggering amount of hype, many felt they had little choice but to buy Halo 3. For weeks, gamers were beaten over the head by Microsoft’s $10 million marketing campaign, which promoted the game with cudgel-like subtlety. Even before launch day, Halo 3 achieved a level of media saturation typically reserved for Hollywood blockbusters, with the likeness of its hero, the Master Chief, appearing on everything from snack chips to NASCAR racers. To kick off Halo 3’s retail sojourn, Microsoft held four official launch events in Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City. But Microsoft’s PR blitzkrieg could be felt at most of the 10,000-plus midnight sales going on across the country. In San Francisco, the biggest such event was at the EB Games on Powell Street, a block away from the world-famous Union Square. Though the busy thoroughfare–the start of a cable car line–was not closed off, there were two police officers on hand to keep order.

“I have no idea what they’re selling in there, some sort of game, I guess,” said one San Francisco Police Department officer, keeping an eye on the crowd. “They just paid us to show up and work private security. We’re not here on city business or anything.”

As the hour of midnight approached, the least flustered of the four EB managers on hand began rolling out large boxes stamped “Made in China.” At about 11:50 p.m., the boxes were unsealed, and numerous copies of the regular and scratch-prone limited editions of Halo 3 piled up behind the counter. After the strategy guides were heaped on either side of the register, the legendary editions of the game were unpacked. As the clock struck midnight, the first of the huge black boxes containing a legendary edition was handed over the counter to Krug, who by this point was sporting a Game Fuel T-shirt and a dazed smile. “YEAAAAH!” he screamed, posing for press pictures, before running out through the swelling crowd, holding the game over his head. With his two friends in tow, he took off whooping, running toward Market Street. As Krug’s frame faded into the darkness, one bystander turned to another and caustically commented, “That guy is going to get so mugged tonight.”

We’re not sure how we missed this news when the latest Guinness Book of World Records came out in the U.S. in early August (it hits stores in the U.K. this Friday): The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour has broken the record for most successful music tour with two-year earnings of $437 million, a feat that also got Mick Jagger and Co. named Forbes‘ top-earning act of the year. Noteable live-show-related records were also bestowed upon Madonna (most successful female artist, with $200 million total for her sixty-date Confessions tour), Jamiroquai (highest concert, in a Boeing 737 at 35,000 feet) and British singer Katie Melua (lowest concert, on an oil rig 994 feet below sea level off the coast of Norway). Perhaps Amy Winehouse is making a bid for booziest tour rider … we’ll keep a closer eye on the Guinness book next year.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has spoken of his desire to play drums for the newly reformed Led Zeppelin.

The star explained to NME.COM that he is “at their beck and call”, should they want to get in touch about performing with him.

“Ah, if I got that call, what the fuck do you think I’d be saying?” Grohl said. “I’d say, ‘Hey [Foo Fighters bandmates] Chris and Taylor, let’s take a little break for a few days, I’ll see ya later!’ But I don’t expect that to happen.”

Grohl explained that, although getting to play with Led Zeppelin would be unlikely, he would at least be trying to get into the band’s forthcoming gig at London’s O2 Arena on November 26.

He also acknowledged the contribution of Jason Bonham, son of original Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, who would perform with the band at the gig.

“Jason should be the one,” he said. “Everyone knows that. He’s a fucking phenomenal drummer.”

Read full details of Led Zeppelin’s reunion on NME.COM now.