At The Movies

Public Enemies
America is drowning in the dismal depths of the Great Depression, and all over the country, the common man is harboring a hatred for the Big Bad Banks. Enter charismatic bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), folk hero to the masses and the scourge of the FBI. The Bureau sends the debonair Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) after Dillinger and his gang in an effort to call a halt to the runaway crime spree, but in order to catch a notorious criminal, the lawmen must learn to think like criminals themselves.

Experience It

Taste Of Minnesota
The headlining musical acts for 2009’s Taste of Minnesota have been announced: On the first day of the event, Thursday July 2, Staind and Chevelle will play, Judas Priest & Whitesnake take the stage Friday July 3, Saturday July 4 has Elvis Costello in the headline slot and on Sunday July 5, Bret Michaels (of Poison) closes the event. There will, as always, be a fireworks extravaganza each evening at 10 pm. The traditionally free Taste of Minnesota will now charge a $10 entrance fee, but organizers say it will apply toward $10 in food & drink tickets. Festival goers arriving between noon and 3 pm daily will still be admitted for free, and children under 11, with paying adults, are always free. This year's Taste will again take place on St. Paul's Harriet Island.

The Buzz..

Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson walked down the aisle at her ex boyfriend's home. The former Girls Next Door star and her fiancee Hank Baskett tied the knot at Hugh Hefner's famed Playboy Mansion. Among the guests attending were Hef himself and Bridget Marquardt, another of Hefner's exes who had shared the residence and camera time with Wilkinson.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen took in $112 million in the sequel's first weekend and $201.2 million since opening Wednesday. It was a colossal start for the Transformers sequel, whose opening five days amounted to nearly two thirds of the $319 million domestic total the franchise's first movie did over its entire run in 2007.

Michael Jackson's death has led to skyrocketing sales of his music and videos, with major retailers like Amazon.com Inc. and Barnes and Noble Inc. selling out of products that have regained immense popularity overnight. Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president of music and video, says that once the world learned that the pop icon had died, the Web site sold out within minutes all CDs by Michael Jackson and by the Jackson 5. Sixty percent of Amazon's CD orders Thursday were for Michael Jackson music, something Carr called "stunning." He said he'd "never seen anything like this" before at Amazon after the death of a pop culture icon. As of Friday afternoon, Jackson's albums accounted for all 10 of Amazon's Bestsellers in Music list, with the 25th anniversary edition of the celebrated Thriller album taking the top spot.

Eminem, KISS, Jane's Addiction, Wolfmother and more have been added to the lineup for this year's Voodoo Music Experience. Organizers have already announced that Widespread Panic will play the show, which will return to New Orleans' City Park this Halloween weekend. The concert will run October 30th through November 1st.

KISS have nearly finished work on their new album. In a statement posted on the band's official website, Paul Stanley wrote that they were about four days away from completing what will be the band's first album of new material since 1998's Psycho Circus. He describes it as "Eleven tracks, and it is everything I've told you. It is classic. It is all written within the band. And it rocks big time!" Stanley also reports that both Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer contribute lead vocals.

Lamb Of God will provide direct support for Metallica on their upcoming North American tour.

Kid Rock has begun working with producer Rick Rubin on a new album, and he will be fleshing out the songs while he's on tour this summer with Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Kid says he has about 18 or 20 songs ready to choose from, and that he and Rubin will prioritize them during the coming week. Rock will bring a small recording rig on the road with him in order to tweak the existing songs or write new material.

Most guitarists would be perturbed to discover that their label was issuing their band's latest album with a bonus CD of the songs stripped of the guitar. But the guitarist with Canadian rock group Billy Talent looked at the bigger picture and realized the bonus disc, complete with chord chart, would allow bedroom dreamers raised on Guitar Hero to play along. "I'm pretty sure no one has done it before," Ian D'Sa says. "When I was a kid I would have killed to be able to play along with the vocals, bass and drums on 'Led Zeppelin IV.' I think this opens the boundaries between the band and our fans."

Hackers have broadcast bogus information about celebrities including Britney Spears and Ellen DeGeneres after breaking into their Twitpic accounts. The Internet messaging system shut down part of its service after the hacking was discovered because of what the Charleston, S.C. based company described as a "vulnerability" in the mobile posting system.

After months of speculation about the fate of the 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival, organizers have made an announcement that should please music fans who've felt the economic pinch of the recession: this year's event is free. With headliners Weezer and Blink-182, organizers say 35,000 free tickets will be given away to the newly branded Virgin Mobile FreeFest, to be held August 30 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. Other acts scheduled to perform on the festival's two main stages and dance tent include Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet, the National, Girl Talk, the Bravery, the Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, Taking Back Sunday, Holy F*ck, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge.

David Fincher is in talks to direct The Social Network, a true story picture that will chronicle the beginnings of the social network website Facebook. Variety reports that Aaron Sorkin penned the screenplay about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg's creation of the site in 2004 and how he developed it into an Internet phenomenon with 200 million members.

Twilight has finally been introduced to Barbie. It was only a matter of time before Stephenie Meyer’s characters became toys for 6 year olds, and soon you’ll be able to get your very own Edward and Bella Barbies. On October 20th, Mattel will release editions of the iconic Barbie doll with the brooding mugs of the Twilight darlings. As they say, "Who better to capture the young star-crossed love of these two characters than Barbie & Ken."

Have Fall Out Boy fallen out? Pete Wentz signed on to a brand new, temporary Twitter account this past Sunday to chat with fans. While he fielded many questions, the one that has everyone talking is the last one he addressed, "Can we expect a new FOB CD next year?" Wentz replied with "I'm not sure. This may be the swan song. But we might have another in us. We'll see." For now, though, it appears that the band will just enjoy their summer as they open up dates on Blink-182’s reunion tour.

The Jonas Brothers are returning to camp. The band will be shooting Camp Rock 2 in and around the 416 area. “It will be in Toronto and then about three hours outside of Toronto,” Joe continued. “That’s a hint.”