To A Warm Hip-Hop Winter

While winter has kicked us in our asses, it's finally warming up in hip-hop! Wu-Tang’s beefing; Jim Jones did to  Jay-Z what Jay-Z did to Ridley Scott (Jay released the "American Gangster" concept record inspired by the flick "American Gangster," so... Jimmy released the "Harlem’s American Gangsta" mixtape on Jay's Nov. 6 release date. Classic!); Cam'Ron, the self-proclaimed hip-hop "bigfoot," is back via Missinfo.tv (he's even got music swarming around the Internet); and Jay made a video we actually like! "Roc Boys" is amazing! Thanks Chris Robinson! The "Blue Magic" clip had us a tad bit worried.

And so Jaded Insider wanted to say thank you Hip-Hop! We were really worried this winter was going to suck. L'Chaim!

PS. Why wasn't Kanye in Jay's "Roc Boys" video? We heard he said because he was outta town. But everyone else was there... I mean... we're just saying.

PPS. How many times is Lil Wayne really going to push back his record? Do we believe him on this new February release or does he need more people? Please Wayne? Please!

Vedderology

So J.I. is trying to control how happy we are that Eddie Vedder is all up on the cover of Billboard this week (with his director buddy Sean Penn). We know we've got a pronounced affinity for all things Pearl Jam, we can admit it. Jonathan Cohen unpacked all the Vedder/"Into the Wild" interview goodness that would not fit in the magazine in the online version here. But the mag cover made us geek out all the more because EV's giving quiet props to a couple of things if you look closely enough at the buttons on his lapel...

The button on the left with a red star on it is Easy Street Records, an indie store in West Seattle where PJ did a live record a couple of years ago called, er, "Live at Easy Street." The button on the right says "77" and is a low-key nod at the Talking Heads: 77 album. But hey, we already knew he was a Heads fan. He covered "Love Goes to Buildings on Fire" way back in '99.

Right. Like we said. We're geeks.

Joy Of Film Division

Admittedly, we're not big Joy Division fans. It's nothing personal -- and we understand the band's influence, the New Order connection, etc. etc. -- but we've never poured over their (two) albums with any amount of teenage glee.

That being said, we were completely spellbound with the new Ian Curtis biopic "Control," which is already out in New York and goes wide to the top 10 U.S. markets tomorrow (Oct. 26).

Starting from when the future Joy Division frontman was a makeup-wielding adolescent to his gut-punching suicide at 23, the film follows Curtis' quiet, tormented state of mind and health as Joy Division's popularity grows. The debut of director Anton Corbijn (who is perhaps best known for his iconic photography of rock stars), the film is shot in black and white and features incredibly close imitations of JD songs. The movie was gorgeous and affecting, even more so when you realize his widow helped co-write and co-produce.

The film doesn't answer the mystery of why Curtis couldn't leave his wife or how much of his crippling depression was angled by anti-epilepsy drugs, but it's haunted comfort that Corbijin leaves some things a mystery.

We're not film critics here, but we'd be mistaken not recommending this amazing movie.

Preston On Haun

Actress Kelly Preston, a presenter on the April 10 CMT Music Awards in Nashville, talked backstage about co-starring with singer/actress Lindsey Haun in the upcoming film “Broken Bridges, which also stars Toby Keith. In the flick, Haun plays the daughter of Preston and Keith, and Keith signed her to his Show Dog Nashville label after the film wrapped.

Preston said the young singer “has got chops. She sings with Toby [in the film] and it will break your heart. She has a huge future.”