George Washington Never Looked So Good

posted by: Scotty Trigg

from: http://www.icanhasinternets.com/

Granted not all of these are 1$ bills, but for the most part they are. For my buck these masked bills are worth much more than a single dollar. My favorite is probably the Ronald McDonald or the Howard Stern one. Who would you like to see George transformed into?

Click the gallery to view them all

That’s dirty, Sanchez – Jets QB Mark Sanchez picks nose and wipes it on Mark Brunell

During the first quarter of tonight’s Jets-Steelers AFC Championship game, Jets QB Mark Sanchez was caught on camera picking his nose and then unabashedly wiping it on the jersey of veteran QB Mark Burnell.
As our good friends @ticketradio tweeted: that’s dirty, Sanchez.


Video: Mark Sanchez picks nose and wipes it on Mark Brunell

Man's Wheelchair "Tank" Banned From Street in Britain

posted by: Robin Marty

from: http://www.care2.com/

 

 

It's a huge blow for a disabled man in Britain, who was hoping to enjoy the outdoors the way he used to -- his specialty wheelchair has been banned from public roads and sidewalks.

Apparently, it's technically a tank.

Via The Mercury:

"It is ridiculous that I should have found a chair that could help me do all that, then told I could use it, only for the authorities to turn around and say that if I used it on the roads I would be doing something illegal," he said.

Jim has used a wheelchair since 1999 due to chronic back and joint conditions, neurological problems and arthritis which leave him in constant pain.

He was given the chair for Christmas by a friend who had it made by US firm TC Mobility, for £15,000 ($24,000) after Jim found he was limited by his basic wheelchair.

"NHS wheelchairs are fine but when they get to anything other than a flat, even surface they are useless," he said.

"I used to be someone who was very into outdoor pursuits before I had to use a wheelchair and I had hoped the tracks would mean I could get back out and do the kinds of think I used to love doing."

Jim's new wheelchair, which weighs nearly twice as much as the standard approved chairs and scooters, and which comes with heavy threads rather than wheels, cannot be used on public streets and sidewalks due to possible damage to their surfaces, the vehicular department announced.  He is welcome to use it on private land, he's told, but "I have to cross roads and pavements to get to the areas where I can use it," Jim points out, leaving him basically trapped.

As Gizmodo puts it: "At a cost of $24,000, that's one helluva pricey toy to hoon around on in his backyard."

Keanu Reeves Reveals Plans For Matrix Four And Five

From:  http://www.contactmusic.com/
 
The fourth and fifth sequels to 'The Matrix' may be shot in 3D, with creators Andy and Larry Wachowski reportedly keen to ''truly revolutionise'' the action movie genre.
 

Keanu Reeves has revealed plans are underway for two more sequels to 'The Matrix'.
The actor - who appears as Neo in the first three movies of the sci-fi action drama - hinted he and the writers of the franchise, Andy and Larry Wachowski, have discussed the possibility of shooting the two new movies in 3D and are reportedly seeking further advice from 'Avatar' creator James Cameron.

However, the Wachowskis are said to be keen to deliver something which has "never been seen" in the movie world and would "truly transform" the action movie genre.

Hearing Keanu commenting during a key note speech at the London School of Performing Arts, a reporter for Ain't It Cool News said: "They have completed work on a two picture script treatment that would see him return to the world of 'The Matrix' as Neo.

"Keanu says the brothers have met with Jim Cameron to discuss the pros and cons of 3D and are looking to deliver something which has never been seen again. He stated that he still has an obligation to the fans to deliver a movie worthy of the title 'The Matrix' and he swears this time that the treatment will truly transform the action genre like the first movie."

However, according to the reporter, the Wachowskis are looking to complete their current work on new movie 'Cloud Atlas' before discussing the possibility of adding to 'The Matrix' series.

Solar power enters the plastic age

	By Matthew Knight From http://www.cnn.com/

 

London (CNN) -- Cheaper and lighter compared to its more expensive, cumbersome silicon cousin, plastic photovoltaics (PV) could herald a revolution in the solar power market, according to a UK solar panel expert.

"Plastics are much cheaper to process than silicon. In principle the devices we've been making might be very, very cheap and cover large areas," said David Lidzey from the UK's University of Sheffield.
Unlike rigid silicon panels, plastic (or organic) PV is far more flexible making it easier to install, which Lidzey says could hand it a huge advantage.

"If you've got panels that almost roll up like a big sheet of wallpaper then that might be a very good way of powering developing countries," he said

Polymer solar panels differ from most commercial plastics like polythene which are essentially insulators.
Turning them from a material that prevents conductivity into ones that promote it requires chemists to "tweak their molecular structure," says Lidzey.

But he says some everyday plastic products aren't a million miles away from the plastic PV he's researching.
"If you look at a (chip) packet, what you've got is a plastic film, a few layers of inks and a printed metal layer to keep the materials fresh. Rearrange the order of those layers and you get to a structure that's very similar to the PV devices we're looking at," Lidzey said.

On of the leading lights in developing plastic PV is U.S.-based tech company, Konarka who are already applying their "Power Plastic" technology to a wide range of products including luggage and parasols.
Larger arrays are also being fitted to street furniture, as can be seen with San Francisco's bus shelters.
Researchers are also hopeful that buildings could also get the plastic treatment in the future.

In 2009, Konarka installed a "curtain wall" to an outside section of its Florida offices as part of a pilot project.
Plastic PV, say the company, can absorb sunlight from "all sorts of ranges" allowing it to be installed onto vertical walls.

Founded in 2001, Konarka are one of many companies trying to perfect the technology. And the news is increasingly promising. But there are some issues to be resolved before plastic can truly find its place in the sun.

Whereas silicon has an efficiency of around 15-18%, plastic devices can only achieve 7-8% at best, currently.
Problems also remain with operational lifetime. Silicon devices will generally last around 20 years and are very stable, Lidzey says.

Organic-based (plastic) systems are less so, degrading much more quickly. But things are improving.
"There is a lot of activity to find out what the mechanisms are by which these materials degrade so we can produce better packaging materials to prevent this," Lidzey said.

He concedes there is some way to go before plastic PV catches up with silicon's superior efficiency and durability, but even that might not be an issue, he says.

"The idea is that you might not need to catch up provided you can make them cheap enough," he said.

"My guess is that it will be between five and ten years, and then we will see a significant volume of devices being made from plastic."

Why shoppers find it so hard to escape from Ikea: Flatpack furniture stores are 'designed just like a maze'

By James Tozer
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

If you've ever found yourself hopelessly lost in an Ikea store, you were probably not alone.

The home furnishing chain’s mazy layouts are a psychological weapon to part shoppers from their cash, an expert in store design claims.


The theory is that while following a zig-zag trail between displays of minimalist Swedish furniture, a disorientated Ikea customer feels ­compelled to pick up a few extra impulse purchases.

A-mazing: A route a customer took through a store. Professor Alan Penn said they are designed to stop customers leaving

According to Alan Penn, director of the Virtual Reality Centre for the Built Environment at University College London, Ikea's strategy is similar to that of out-of-town retail parks - keep customers inside for as long as they can.

'In Ikea's case, you have to follow a set path past what is effectively their catalogue in physical form, with furniture placed in different settings which is meant to show you how adaptable it is,' he said.

'By the time you get to the warehouse where you can actually buy the stool or whatever's caught your eye, you're so impressed by how cheap it is that you end up getting it.'

While its stores have short-cuts to meet fire regulations, shoppers find the exits hard to spot as they are navigating their way through displays of flat-pack furniture, he added.
'Also you're directed through their marketplace area where a staggering amount of purchases are impulse buys, things like lightbulbs or a cheap casserole that you weren't planning on getting.

'Here the trick is that because the lay-out is so confusing you know you won't be able to go back and get it later, so you pop it in your trolley as you go past.

Mesmerising: Ikea's store in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.The flatpack store is designed to make it difficult for us to escape

'It's not like somewhere like John Lewis where everything has a logical lay-out and you know you'll probably be able to navigate your way back to the same spot again.'

Alongside its reputation for good, cheap design, Ikea's distinctive labyrinth has been phenomenally successful with 283 stores in 26 countries and profits of £2.3 billion last year.

The sometimes gruelling strategy - dubbed 'more like S&M than M&S' by Prof Penn - is similar to that employed by out-of-town shopping centres to attract customers then keep them in side for hours on end, he added.

Studies at the Bluewater centre in Kent found that shoppers spent an average of just over three hours inside, with a significant number spending eight hours at a time there.
Malls are subtly designed to keep shoppers moving around the retail floor, rather than towards the exit, while the frequent need to drive to the middle of nowhere means visitors are encouraged to make a day of it.

Along with familiar cafes and play areas, a common design is the 'dog bone' mall, where a large store at either end - such as Marks & Spencer or Debenhams - is attracted at knock-down rent, while smaller stores like Next or Mothercare cluster in-between to take advantage of the custom they generate.

Supermarkets use similar tactics, according to Prof Penn.

'They couldn't get away with having shoppers going in one single route like Ikea, so what they do is put popular purchases like milk and bread at the far end of the store so you have to walk past shelves of other products on the way.'

Big success: The Ikea store in Wembley, north London. Last year the Swedish giants made a profit of £2.3bn

He has a 'nightmarish' vision of a clothing store like Primark directing shoppers on a single route through the store, passing displays of different styles of outfits en route, but questions whether the Ikea template would work on the high street.

'It would be interesting to have customers go past lots of mannequins showing different lifestyles the clothes were meant to inspire before they actually got to try them on, but so far no-one's tried it.'

However Prof Penn said the trend was towards more subtle techniques, with new city centre malls having better links to surrounding shops while supermarkets devised more sophisticated tactics for targeting their preferred customers.

Ikea denied that its store layouts were designed intentionally to bewilder customers.
'Our furniture showrooms are designed to give our customers lots of ideas for every area of the home including your kitchen, bedroom and living room,' said Carole Reddish, Ikea's deputy managing director for the UK and Ireland. 

'While some of our customers come to us for a day out to get inspiration for every room, we appreciate that others may have looked at the Ikea catalogue or online offer, have a specific shopping list in mind and would like to get in and out quickly.
'So to make it easier for those customers, we have created shortcuts.'

Food Freezing Technology Preserves Human Teeth. Organs Next?

by Constance J. Woodman

from http://singularityhub.com/

271Share

Chefs and scientists alike can use magnets to prevent the formation of ice crystals during freezing.

A technology used to freeze sushi is solving a dilemma for organ storage. By borrowing tech used to preserve high-end food delicacies, a Hiroshima University research group proved it possible to safely freeze whole teeth and their delicate attaching tissues. As long as the freezer stays cold, the folks at Hiroshima U. think your teeth could be stored for 40 years, no problem. But the sushi-storage system isn’t a one trick pony: internal organs could be next thanks to the magic of supercooling.  In typical cryo-storage, fast freezing of organs requires poisonous levels of anti-freeze, and let’s face it, no one wants a poisoned kidney transplanted into their body. But slower freezing causes cell popping ice crystals to form. So, what do you do to prevent ice crystals during slow freezing? Use magnets. ABI is the Japanese company producing the freezer system. ABI’s “Cells Alive System” (CAS) vibrates water with magnetic fields, preventing freezing, even at supercool temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius (According to the Patent.) When the field is turned off, the water in the food instantly freezes. No time for ice growth means no Freddy Krueger action on frozen organs. Watch some great demonstrations of the technology in the videos after the jump.

Interest in the CAS technology has spread all over the world. In the first video below, a bottle of water is super cooled below freezing in a CAS freezer. The bottle is slammed against the freezer door, inducing ice crystals to form. The bottle of water is instantly turned to solid ice. Supercooling water is a trick you can Try At Home but the CAS system is able to do more than supercool pure liquids. It can supercool, then freeze, meat and vegetables and anything else.  In the second video, CAS frozen flowers are dethawed and arranged in a vase.  The perfect preservation of the flowers is an enormous contrast to my painful childhood memories of sloppy, limp, dinnertime vegetables.  The frozen vegetables were train-wrecked by ice, while these flowers received much, much less damage during freezing.

The transition of this tech from food to longevity science is slowly evolving, but the steps forward are real. You can, right now, pay to store your teeth. Hiroshima University tested the cooling technology for teeth, and uses ABI CAS freezer tech at The Teeth Bank, the world’s first commercial tooth bank. Dr. Toshitsugu Kawata, a Hiroshima University professor who has done extensive research at the Teeth Bank, helped prove that CAS is a viable technology to preserve teeth. Spare teeth used to be worthless medical waste. Now, removed wisdom teeth aren’t garbage, they can be frozen and re-implanted at any point during your life. (The Teeth Bank’s re-implant success rate is 87% according to the Taipei Times. ) Thanks to scientific advances, surgeons can even alter your old teeth by sculpting them, transforming a molar into an incisor. To quote Dr. Kawata, “It’s like having a spare tire.”

In the journal Cryobiology in 2010, a research team including Dr. Kawata published the use of ABI’s CAS freezing technology on teeth. A very tricky part of tooth preservation is keeping tooth ligaments alive, or even some of the ligament cells.  Implanting ligaments is important.  We have ligaments attached to teeth because the force of chewing could grind our chompers out of our jaws.  When the research team tried slow freezing a whole fresh tooth without the CAS magnetic fields, the ligaments didn’t survive and were severely damaged. However, a CAS magnetically vibrated tooth’s ligaments survived. CAS frozen ligament cells grew as well as those from a fresh tooth, and showed only minor damage.

See the intact cell walls? This wasabi suffered very little damage due to ice.

The founder of the ABI Corporation and its CAS freezer, Norio Owada (known internationally as “Mr. Freeze,”) is actively pursuing medical advances.  There’s a hodgepodge of reports out there about what’s being done.  According to various sources, Mr. Freeze is collaborating with 40 researchers to translate their work with teeth and sushi to hearts, nerves, and other organs. Transplant medicine could benefit tremendously. With further research, this technology could supercool, or even freeze internal organs, putting an end to the dangerously brief time frame for organ transplants. In a 2008 Forbes article, Mr. Freeze speculated on where his technology may lead. “If you could preserve a heart for three days, you could fly it anywhere.” On the late-night Japanese TV show, World Business Satellite, there was discussion of research towards using ABI’s CAS freezers to store ovaries during cancer treatment, allowing women to keep their fertility. On the ABI company webpage, photos of a rat heart transplant and undamaged cell walls of frozen wasabi are a reminder of the unusual coupling of frozen food and medicine.

Rat heart transplant for ABI's research

Despite the very promising advances, and actual organ banking technology coming from ABI, information about the company hasn’t been too plentiful on the blog-o-sphere. One problem is that there have only been a couple English language scientific publishings that refer to ABI Corporation LTD or the CAS system. The next problem is that most of the TV and news media is in Japanese. And finally, since CAS freezers are sold internationally, videos and forum posts about people messing with the freezers aren’t always by English speakers. However, this technology could solve major problems associated with cryopreservation of body parts. Because as we’re learning to make organs, we need to learn how to store them.

Looking into the  future, imagine you have heart failure ten years from now. Rather than a frightening race against time to find a donor organ from a cadaver, a spare heart is thawed from a well stocked frozen organ bank.  Hell, you’ve got a CAS freezer full of replacement parts grown from your own cells. Humans are learning how to grow replacement organs through bio-scaffolds and printing (As reported in Singularity Hub.)  Combining organ printing and organ freezing may lead to growing and freezing our own spare parts, well beyond the extra teeth and perfectly preserved wasabi.

[Images, ABI incorporated, World Business Satellite]
[Sources: Journal of Cryobiology, Forbes Magazine, Journal of Biomedical Research]

Sundance: Kevin Smith debuts bloody 'Red State' and severs relations with Hollywood

by Anthony Breznican

from: http://insidemovies.ew.com/
 
Image Credit: Danny Moloshok/AP Images

Seventeen years ago at Sundance, a chubby New Jersey convenience store worker broke into Hollywood.
Sunday night, he broke out of it.

Kevin Smith, who became a hero to aspiring filmmakers everywhere by selling his comic book collection and maxing out credit cards to create 1994′s Clerks, premiered that film at Sundance and sold it to Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax, which turned it into a cult-hit that spoke to a generation.

“Cult” was the operative word Sunday as Smith premiered his latest movie, the bizzaro horror thriller Red State, about a gay-hating minister (Michael Parks) who goes on a blood-drenched rampage against an equally murderous squad of federal agents, with some sex-crazed teens stuck in the middle. In addition to Red State being a film about a cult, Smith also announced plans to leverage his own cult-fanbase to break out of the studio distribution system and put the film out there for audiences on his own.

Though Smith had promised via Twitter he would auction the film to a distributor live from the stage after the premiere, it turned out to be a joke. When the auction started, he immediately “bought” the $4 million movie himself for $20, and announced he would use Twitter (where he has 1.7 million followers), his popular comedy podcast, a 15-city roadshow tour, and word-of-mouth from fans to release the picture himself.
“What we want to do is, like, ‘Yes, anybody can make a movie,’” Smith said – at the tail end of a nearly half-hour long speech. ”We know that now. We know that because I’ve made ten, you know what I’m saying? That means anybody can make a f—ing movie. What we aim to prove is that anybody can release a movie now as well. It’s not enough to make it and sell it now, I’m sorry.”

He compared laboring to make a truly independent film and selling it to a studio distributor to having a child and giving it to someone else to raise.

Smith said the one thing he can’t do in-house is get the movie onto screens. So he put out the invitation for theater owners to cut a special deal with him, which he pledged would be better terms than what they get from studios. “We want to partner up, man,” he said, taking a shot at his last movie, the critically slammed Warner Bros. comedy Cop Out: “We won’t screw you over. We won’t be like, ‘You gotta f—ing take this piece of s—. If you want The Dark Knight, you better take this piece of s— Cop Out.”

His plan is to have the movie in theaters nationwide Oct. 19, the anniversary of the Clerks release. He didn’t make the project sound especially inviting to potential exhibitors, however, saying he would not do any advertising or interviews to promote the film, instead relying on his fanbase to spread the word. The ecclesiastical irony was not lost on many in the audience. “Kevin Smith intends to market Red State, a film about a church-cult, directly to his fans.The irony of ‘preaching to the choir’ is piquant,” tweeted James Rocchi of MSN Movies.

Smith apologized to studio scouts in the audience who may have thought he was sincere about selling the film. Then he joked: “I’m not that sorry. It’s a film festival — come see a movie…. I will say this in my own defense, a lot of you work for studios and s—. Studios make movies. Movies have trailers. So you guys make a lot of trailers; you’ve lied to me many times.”

His next project is the hockey film Hit Somebody, which he announced would be his last film as a director. After that, he said he wanted to focus on his fledgling distribution company, helping other indie filmmakers get their films to an audience without going through Hollywood.

Or would his becoming a successful distributor actually make him just another part of Hollywood?
To put it in one of Smith’s beloved geek-friendly Star Wars metaphors, is he defying the Darth Vader of studios — or simply joining them to help rule the indie movie galaxy?

Footnote: About six members of an anti-gay extremist church used as the model for the religious group in Red State showed up outside the theater to protest, but few festival-goers paid attention to them besides a few dozen counter-protesters carrying goofy signs. Smith marched over himself with one that read: “God Hates Fat.”

'Wonder Woman' project finds a home at NBC

by Lynette Rice

from http://insidetv.ew.com/

 
Image Credit: DC Comics

The ol’ girl may fly this fall after all: NBC has picked up the Wonder Woman pilot from David E. Kelley. Ironically, NBC was the final network to pass on bringing back the superhero over a week ago, but that was before the new regime was officially in place in light of the impending Comcast takeover. Robert Greenblatt is now spearheading primetime as chairman. (On Thursday, head of programming Angela Bromstad announced she was leaving).

The pilot’s cost may not be a concern to Greenblatt, the wunderkind who revitalized Showtime with critical faves like Dexter and Weeds. One factor that seemed to have sunk the Wonder Woman project the first time around was the price of rebooting the series, with the studio requiring a rich license fee to bring the iconic character back to life. But then, NBC has been down this road before: It rebooted Bionic Woman. Kelley’s take incorporated the superhero’s signature lasso, cuffs, and plane in the script, and insiders said it was a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character. For years, various writers and producers (including Joss Whedon) have tried to bring back Wonder Woman, but the character has proved difficult to resurrect.
Kelley is already executive producing Harry’s Law for NBC, the new drama starring Kathy Bates. The pilot, like all the others ordered by NBC during the current development season, will have to pass the final smell test this spring before its ordered to series in May.

In other business Friday, NBC also ordered a drama pilot from Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City), dubbed Mann’s World. It chronicles a celebrity hair stylist in Los Angeles.

Drew Barrymore to direct another Wizard of Oz film

Drew Barrymore has reportedly signed on to direct Surrender Dorothy, which joins at least five other Wizard of Oz films announced in recent weeks

• Ben Child
• guardian.co.uk 

 

Too old for the lead? ... Drew Barrymore. Photograph: Scott Legato/Getty Images Another day, another Wizard of Oz reimagining. Drew Barrymore looks set to become the latest member of the Hollywood glitterati to travel down the yellow brick road after signing on to direct Surrender Dorothy, pitched as a loose sequel to the 1939 musical. Barrymore, who recently made her debut as a feature film-maker with the well-received rollerderby movie Whip It, was originally tipped to star in the project when it was first proposed back in 2002. She would have played the great-great-granddaughter of Dorothy, a young woman who has to learn how to use the power of those famed ruby red slippers to keep the Wicked Witch of the West from taking control of the kingdoms of Earth and Oz. There's no word on whether Barrymore will still be taking the lead role, though at 35 she might be considered a little old for the part. The project has been resurrected due to the current proliferation of movies based on much-loved children's stories, following the enormous box-office success of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. At least five films based on the Wizard of Oz have been reported in recent weeks. Disney, which made Alice in Wonderland, is developing Oz the Great and Powerful, an origins tale revealing how L Frank Baum's wonderful wizard ended up at the Emerald City (and possibly featuring Sam Mendes directing Robert Downey Jr as the wizard). There are also two CGI versions, as well as another based on a comic-book series, and finally the bizarre-looking The Witches of Oz, featuring Lord of the Rings' Sean Astin, Christopher Lloyd (as the wizard) and Alien's Lance Henriksen. Though all 14 of Baum's Oz books are now out of copyright, and therefore freely available for anyone to plunder, it seems unlikely that all of the above will make it into cinemas: often in these cases, one or more of the films will fall at the wayside at the development stage. If not, there are going to be more wizards in multiplexes over the next few years than at a Harry Potter convention. The Wizard of Oz story has been adapted for the big screen on many occasions, with the most famous version being the 1939 musical starring Judy Garland. Disney itself brought Return to Oz, based on two of Baum's sequels, to cinemas in 1985. 

Here are all the novels:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oz_books

 

 

SPIN'S 30 Must-Hear Albums of 2011

Clockwise: The Strokes, The Kills, Beastie Boys, Drake

By William Goodman and Kevin O'Donnell 

From http://www.spin.com/

Already, 2011 is shaping up to be another big year in music. To see what's in store, check out the latest on upcoming albums from 30 SPIN artists that matter, including the Strokes, the Beastie Boys, the Kills, Drake, Lady Gaga, and more!

• PJ HARVEY
The English songstress teamed up with longtime collaborators John Parrish and U2 producer Flood for Let England Shake, a collection of melodic tunes that tackle the vagaries of war, past and present. The record was recorded live in a Dorset, England, church — and Harvey's songs have a stomping, rhythmic vitality that was missing in her more restrained recent releases. (Due Feb. 18)

• PATRICK STUMP
Since Fall Out Boy went on hiatus in 2009, the frontman has spent more than a year recording, then completely re-recording, his debut solo album, Soul Punk. What happened? "As for the delay of the album itself, I'd say it's been less about the music or recording and more about all the other things that finish the thought," he told MTV. "I just want to make sure I go to sleep at night knowing I'm not half-assing this." Stump recently released thealbum's first single, "Spotlight." Listen here! (February)

Beady Eye Click to enlarge

• BEADY EYE
The debut from Liam Gallagher's post-Oasis band, which also features ex-Oasis members Gem Archer and Andy Bell, dips into everything from Beatles-style psychedelia and classic arena rock to hummable Britpop. "It's proper rock'n'roll," Gallaghersaid in July. "Oasis was a pop band compared to what we're doing." Different Gear, Still Speeding was produced by Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, Morrissey). (March)

 

• LUPE FIASCO
Fans of the Chicago rapper can give themselves a pat on the back. After Lupe Tweeted that his follow-up to 2007's Lupe Fiasco's The Cool was done but not scheduled, fans circulated an online petition demandingLasers' release. Warner CEO Lyor Cohen ultimately gave in. In late October, "The Show Goes On," the album's first single, was released. The Neptunes, Kane Beatz, Alex Da Kid, Soundtrakk, and the Buchanans are confirmed producers; guests include Trey Songz and British-rapper Sway. (March 8)

• R.E.M.
R.E.M. cut their 15th album, Collapse Into Now, in New Orleans and Berlin, Germany, with producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol), and the 12-track set features some of their fiercest straight-up rock songs in years. Among the best are "Discoverer" and "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter," which finds frontman Michael Stipe spouting rapid-fire phrases with the dizzying pace of classic tunes like "It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." Other highlights include the title track, which has guest vocals from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. (March 8)

Kanye West / Jay-Z Click to enlarge

• KANYE WEST & JAY-Z
Even before he released SPIN's Album of the Year,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye was already working on this collabo with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne. The record was initially intended as an EP but ballooned into a full-length, with the rap titans laying down tracks all over the world, including the South of France and Australia. Listen to its first single "H.A.M.," which dropped in January, here.(March) 

• THE STROKES
The Fab Five's first release in as many years promises to be a "classic sounding" album in line with the group's groundbreaking sophomore LP, 2003's Room on Fire. And they've changed their creative process: Singer Julian Casablancas recorded his vocals separately from the band for the first time. "It's all a learning experience," bassist Nikolai Fraiture said recently. (March 22)

• PETER BJORN AND JOHN
After experimenting with artfully damaged electro sounds on 2009's Living Thing, the Swede trio recruited Cardigans producer Per Sunding and returned to the studio with a new plan: "This time around we had the clear idea of going back to basics -- guitar, bass, drums," singer-guitarist Peter Moren tells SPIN. Gimme Some is full of power-pop jams influenced by R.E.M., Stone Roses, Buzzcocks, and the Damned, as well as 1950s blues, soul, and rock'n'roll. "We wanted something peppy, poppy, positive," Moren says. (March 29)

• PANIC! AT THE DISCO
With Ryan Ross and Jon Walker out of the group (they left to form the Young Veins), singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith are soldering on for Panic!'s third album, Vices & Virtues. The emo-pop stars, who are getting production assistance from Butch Walker and John Feldmann, recently previewed the first track "The Ballad of Mona Lisa," which will be released officially on February 1. (March 29)

• THE KILLS
For the duo's fourth studio album, Blood Pressures, Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart wrote separately, an approach brought on by Mosshart's time on the road with the Dead Weather. "At the start, I was a bit sad about that," Hince tells SPIN. "But it really freed me up to try new things. She'd come back off tour with something she'd write on acoustic guitar. The process was a lot more exciting than ever before." Musically, Hince says the band stepped beyond their angular and minimal sound. "We didn't shy away from melody this time. This time around the songs took over." (April 5)

U2 Click to enlarge

• U2
The veteran rockers are busy working on three albums, and the first to arrive will be their collaboration with super producer Danger Mouse, tentatively titled Songs of Ascent. U2's manager Paul McGuinness told the Irish Times to expect an "early 2011" release. Bono told The Age, "We have about 12 songs with him [Danger Mouse]. At the moment that looks like the album we will put out next because it's just happening so easily."(Unscheduled 2011)

• FOO FIGHTERS
Expect a needle-in-the-red rock'n'roll revival for the Foo Fighters' first disc in five years. "There's 11 songs and front to back, there's not one sleepy ballad," Dave Grohl said of the untitled LP earlier this month, before the band teased a blistering new song. Which makes sense: The Foos' album finds Dave Grohl reuniting with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic and Butch Vig, who produced 1991's Nevermind. (Spring)

• BEASTIE BOYS
Now that Adam Yauch is recovering from cancer, the New York trio will release their first album in four years. The Boys originally intended to drop Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1 but opted to release Part 2 first, although it's more of a joke, really: Part 2 will feature the track list originally intended for Part 1. "Strange but true, the final sequence for Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2 works best with all its songs replaced by the 16 tracks we originally had lined up in pretty much the same order we had them in for Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1," Yauch said in October. "So we've come full circle." Follow that? (Spring)

Lady Gaga Click to enlarge

• LADY GAGA
It's the most anticipated pop record of the year — and Gaga won't let you forget it. For months, she's been teasing bits of info via Twitter and at her shows about Born This Way, calling it "almost perfect,"with "endless melodies, hooks + poetry sledge-hammering my skull." The wait is almost up: Gaga will drop album's first single, "Born This Way," on February 13. (May 23)

• DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
On their seventh album, the Seattle indie stalwarts are broadening their sound to include more vintage keyboards and other textures inspired by Brian Eno's Another Green World. Frontman Ben Gibbard told SPIN that early highlights included "Codes and Keys," the group's first song to feature strings in 12 years, and "Unobstructed Views," a seven-minute, mostly instrumental number. (May)

• FLEET FOXES
Washington State's bearded folkies were close to wrapping the follow-up to their self-titled debut last fall. But frontman Robin Pecknold scrapped much of the material to "return to the cave," as he called it, and start over. The record has since been mastered and is prepped for release. Expect it to be similar to their debut: bright, pastoral folk tunes, with richly layered vocals and harmonies that call to mind Crosby, Stills, and Nash during their late-'60s prime. (May)

BLACK LIPS
For their upcoming sixth studio album, Atlanta's garage rock bad boys teamed with super-producer Mark Ronson. "We're just spending a lot of time and making sure it's awesome," singer-guitarist Cole Alexandertold SPIN.com. "This album is going to be more commercial." Still, the band experimented with country sounds and even used a human skull as an instrument. (Early Summer)

• DRAKE
Drake is going all out on Take Care, the follow-up to the former teen soap star's smash debut Thank Me Later. "I really want to write great 'life' raps," he told Shade 45 radio. "I just want to write for the people and speak for my generation." The album will be sonically experimental, featuring interludes and transitions; Q-Tip is reportedly producing. In a December interview with SPIN, Drake said, "I'm working on myself, both mentally and physically, to come back stronger than ever." (Summer)

• STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Before Pavement's much-salivated-over reunion tour kicked off last spring, the Jicks recorded 90 percent of their new LP with Beck producing. In August, Beck told Pitchfork they planned to finish up once Malkmus was off the road. A publicist says the yet-to-be-titled release is expected this fall.

Radiohead Click to enlarge

• RADIOHEAD
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood said it would only be a "matter of weeks" before they finished their first album since 2007's In Rainbows -- and that was back in June. Since then, drummer Phil Selwayrevealed they've toyed with throwing out all the material they've worked on, so it's hard to say where they're at with the record, which will be produced by Nigel Godrich. Still, a rep for the band confirms a new record is due out sometime this year.(Unscheduled 2011)

• GYM CLASS HEROES
After releasing his solo album Lazarus last year, frontman Travie McCoy is getting back with his pop-punk crew for their fifth record, tentatively titled The Papercut Chronicles II. The band has roughly 18 songs sketched out and the final product is due out sometime this year. "Some [songs] are in the very, very embryonic stages, and some are more refined," McCoy said recently. (Unscheduled 2011)

• JANE'S ADDICTION
After Duff McKagan abruptly quit the band, Jane's Addiction hired TV on the Radio producer-instrumentalist Dave Sitek to take up bass duties (and contribute song ideas) for their new LP, tentatively titled The Great Escape Artist. Expect the record to marry Jane's L.A. punk roots with Sitek's talents for expansive, atmospheric sound collages. "They're songs that take you on a journey, songs that grow from soft to hard to tribal to psychedelic to metal in one song," said drummer Stephen Perkins. We're trying to explore that hybrid again."(Unscheduled 2011)

My Morning Jacket Click to enlarge

• MY MORNING JACKET
The Louisville, Kentucky, rockers are going back to basics on their sixth record, producing the set themselves in their own recording space -- a converted gymnasium. "This time it's just the five of us; the control room is only separated by a curtain," bassist Tommy Blankenship told SPIN in October. "We're going back to a similar vibe that we had on the first three records. It's definitely more laid back than it's been in a while. [The album has] got that vibe to it where it sounds likes everybody is in the same room. Even if someone is only playing on half of a song, you can still feel their presence."(Unscheduled 2011)

• RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
RCHP have roped in touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer to replace John Frusciante and their latest LP will include songs that were written by Flea on piano, as well as material inspired by Afro-beat music from Lagos, Nigeria. "There's crazy shit on that," drummer Chad Smith told SPIN last fall. "That music just moves to a different groove, it's not your typical Western four-four. The rhythms are so infectious."(Unscheduled 2011)

 WILCO
Jeff Tweedy and Co. will release their follow-up to 2009's Wilco (The Album) on their own label, after splitting from their longtime home Nonesuch last year. The band has been quiet about details of the new album -- which a rep confirms is due out sometime in 2011 -- although the group did hit up their Chicago studio to lay down tracks last October. (Unscheduled 2011)

Santigold Click to enlarge

• SANTIGOLD
After the release of her self-titled breakout debut and its blockbuster single "L.E.S. Artistes," the Philadelphia-bred New Wave singer underwent a name change, from Santogold to Santigold, a play on her birth name Santi White. She also collaborated with Christina Aguilera, DEVO, and Major Lazer, among others, and finally returned to the studio in late 2010. While little is known about her upcoming release, a publicist confirms that she's currently in the studio working on the effort.(Unscheduled 2011)

• LIL WAYNE
Since his release from prison in November, Weezy has been holed up in his Miami studio working on Tha Carter IV, his sequel to 2008's Tha Carter III. On Twitter, DJ Scoo Doo, Wayne's collaborator, compared the record -- which a publicist confirmed to drop in 2011 -- to Tha Carter III's lynchpin track "A Milli" -- "but on steroids!" Its first single, "6 Foot 7 Foot," featuring Cory Gunz, was released on last month. Reports say Wayne, who started working on the album before his prison sentence, started over from scratch and will use rhymes he penned behind bars. (Unscheduled 2011)

Blink-182 Click to enlarge

• BLINK-182
After drummer Travis Barker's brush with death in a fiery plane crash brought Blink back together in 2009, the trio has been slowly working on their yet-to-be-titled sixth studio album. Bassist Mark Hoppus told MTV, "We've gone through a lot of really heavy stuff over the past few years. There's plenty of heavy stuff to write about." This includes the deaths of longtime producer Jerry Finn and friend DJ AM. Musically, "it's really an expansive record," said Hoppus. "There's stuff that sounds like what we were doing on the last Blink record, and there's stuff that sounds like what we were doing 10 years ago and stuff that we've never done before." (Unscheduled 2011)

• OUTKAST
It's been four years since the Atlanta duo dropped Idelwild, but a publicist confirms that, yes, they're working on their long-awaited follow-up, which is expected this year. But according to Big Boi, whose Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty made SPIN's Best Albums of 2010 list, Andre 3000 needs to drop his solo effort first. "Right now, we're putting beats together for the OutKast album," he said. "When 'Dre finishes, we’ll commence and record." (Unscheduled 2011)

• DR. DRE
Though there's no official release date, Dre already seems to be in promo mode for his next album: The weed-tastic first single, "Kush," recently dropped (as did its video), and he appeared on the cover of XXL magazine. In the interview, Dre said the LP is expected in the "first quarter [of] 2011," and that it will be his last: "I don't ever see myself retiring totally from music, because I have a genuine love and passion for it. But as far as me going into the mic booth, that shit is over. I'm always going to talent scout and try to find new artists to work with. But, yeah, that's it. I don't see myself doing it the way I'm doing it now." (Unscheduled 2011)