Xbox 360 Integrates With Windows Live

Microsoft released its new Xbox 360 this past week, and the company's founder, Bill Gates, said that the product would be more than just an extremely expensive toy that will make him more money in one day than anyone buying it will make in a lifetime. "It will give 35-year-old males still living at home with their parents another rationale for just not having the time to meet the right girl," said Gates. "Hey, I just made $200 million in the time it took me to say that," added the beaming zillionaire. The battle between Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 (set to arrive next year) goes beyond gaming and into the heart of the living room. The technology under the hood of Microsoft and Sony's new consoles consists of always-on, broadband-enabled, complete entertainment centers, while the PC remains in the den. "Xbox 360 takes our customers' gaming experience to new levels," Best Buy vp games Jill Hamburger said. Play Xbox 360™ Games; Watch DVD movies and play music CDs; Connect an MP3 player and listen to music, Connect a Digital Camera and view pictures; Listen to music and view digital pictures from your Windows XP-based PC; Manage your family's entertainment choices with Family Settings. Xbox will tie into Windows Live - a new set of Internet software and services designed to put you in control of the information, relationships and interests you care about. It all goes toward creating a medium for spending hours playing the likes of "Halo 2" and "Project Gotham Racing 3." Executives at Microsoft see video games as just the beginning. Xbox 360 is at the center of a strategy that will also eventually tie in elements of Microsoft's new Windows Live (http://www.live.com/) online initiative. A melee erupted among a crowd of shoppers in the rush for the new Xbox 360 video game console at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in northeast Maryland. It took 10 police officers to restore order. A crowd of about 300 people waited as much as 12 hours for the game, considered a must-have item this holiday season, to go on sale at 12:01 a.m. the day of its unveiling.

"Sing For Cash", Hip-Hop Odyssey Fest, Country Music Association Awards, Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film & TV Music Conf, International Emmy Awards

"What Teens Want", the annual conference on marketing to teens using music, movies, gaming, entertainment, publishing, etc., will be conducted this year from the Westin Century Plaza in Los Angeles, opening November 1. Beginning November 2, American Film Market gathers acquisition and development executives, agents, attorneys, directors, financiers, film commissioners, producers and writers for its annual event in Santa Monica which this year features a new alliance with AFI FEST. The Sixth Annual Latin Grammy Awards features 43 categories and is set for November 3 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Latin Grammy Viewing Parties, set up by the Recording Academy that hosts the award, take place in Miami and New York City November 3. AFI Fest 2005 features international competitions of new films from emerging filmmakers, global showcases of the latest work from film masters, in addition to a November 11 tribute to Johnny Depp. ASCAP and MySpace.com host a new showcase series (visit the site to enter your band), and has featured performers on hand for a November 4 showcase at Local 506 in Chapel Hill. World Mythology, Fantasy, Mysticism, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Legend and Archetype, are essential elements covered by the Fantasy Worldwide International Film Festival through feature films, shorts, documentaries, animation, etc., running November 4-6 in Toronto. An educational seminar for aspiring filmmakers, actors, writers and producers takes shape in "A Conversation with Filmmaker Jean Claude LaMarre and Actor Gabriel Casseus" held in the Rosenthal Pavilion at Kimmel Center of NYU, November 5 in New York. Tools and exercises which deal with writer’s block in such areas as plot point, characters and scenes will be discussed by script consultant Pilar Alessandra in a talk she gives at the monthly Alameda Writers Group Meeting, November 5, in Glendale. The Irish Film and Television Awards, hosted at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, November 5, honors and celebrates all the talented people in Ireland and also open to Irish craftspeople who working in the international arena. In a "Sing For Cash" contest, the November 6 start of a new showcase in Lakeland, start with top studio performers and local groups, then moving onto an open vocal contest with amateurs welcome and Karaoke available. At the Tivoli Theater in St. Louis, The CinemaTech Directors Workshop a monthly forum in which local filmmakers will have the opportunity to see their feature-length narrative films screened before an appreciative audience, gets underway November 7. At the "Daytime Drama Forum," you can audition live and meet one-on-one with some of the industry players in daytime soap during a session in New York City on November 8. The California Lawyers for the Arts hold a media business seminar sponsored by ASCAP, November 12 in Los Angeles. BHERC African American Film Marketplace and Short Film Showcase, an annual event presenting African American filmmakers showcasing and networking opportunities, is held this year in Los Angeles, November 12 to 13. The businesss of Hip-Hop filmmaking and the evolution of Hip-Hop in the film industry will be captured at H2O IFF - Hip-Hop Odyssey International Film Festival - being held November 13-19 at various venues within New York City boroughs, and opening with a VIP gala at Brooklyn's BAM. Performers already announced for the 2005 Country Music Association Awards include Dierks Bentley, Big and Rich, Bon Jovi with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, CMA hosts Brooks and Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss + Union Station Featuring Jerry Douglas, and many more coming to the Garden, November 15. The Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film and TV Music Conference is a two-day seminar on the role of music in film and television with sessions and panels on music for film, TV, Internet, gaming, commercials and other industry related topics, for two day, November 15-16 in Beverly Hills. For the 33rd International Emmy Awards, Oprah Winfrey to receive Special International Emmy Founders Award from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, when the awards take place November 21 in New York City. Animation Festival "Animadrid", opening November 25 in Madrid, was organized with the purpose of fostering the film and audiovisual arts by promoting independent animation productions and providing an assembly point for artists and audiences in the international community.

The above events are only a sampling of what is listed. Many of the events above have a submission process for indie and/or performing artists to take part in. Complete details are on the "Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events" page at http://www.actorschecklist.com/news.html. Experience the newly relaunched picture and ecard gallery on The Actor's Checklist which you can find at http://actorschecklist.com/coppermine/.