Culturite

Malaysia’s Islamic opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, is trying to ban Avril Lavigne from playing a show in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur after deeming the singer’s stage moves “too sexy.” According to The Associated Press, the youth wing of the party said on Monday (August 18) that the skate rat turned glam-pop singer’s August 29 show would promote the wrong values ahead of Malaysia’s independence day on August 31.

“It is considered too sexy for us. … It’s not good for viewers in Malaysia,” party official Kamarulzaman Mohamed said. “We don’t want our people, our teenagers, influenced by their performance. We want clean artists, artists that are good role models.” Kamarulzaman sent protest letters to the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry and Kuala Lumpur’s mayor last week, calling for the concert to be canceled.

Fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online, but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to a survey released Sunday.

Not surprisingly, younger people tend to get more of their news on the Internet, while older folks use traditional media such as television and newspapers, the Pew Research Center’s biannual survey on news consumption habits said.

Pew said the results show an increasing shift toward online news consumption, but that there is now a sizable group of a more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use both traditional and online sources to get their news.

The Pew researchers referred to these people as “integrators,” and says they account for 23 percent of those surveyed, spending the most time with the news on a typical day.

“Like Web-oriented news consumers, integrators are affluent and highly educated. However they are older, on average, than those who consider the Internet their main source of news,” the survey said.

It is this group that advertisers typically like to target, which helps explain why newspaper publishers have seen sharp declines in ad revenues as spending shifts online.

Pew found that the largest group of news consumers – 46 percent of those polled – have a “heavy reliance” on television for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest, with a median age of 52, and least affluent, with 43 percent unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online for news.

30 Seconds To Mars frontman Jared Leto has responded to Virgin Records’ $30 million lawsuit for alleged breach of contract and damages, describing the legal action as “insane” but expressing his hope for “a resolution to this in as civil and kind a way as possible.”

Virgin is suing the band for alleged breach of contract and damages “in excess of $30,000,000″, according to paperwork filed Friday (Aug. 15) in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Virgin accuses Jared and Shannon Leto of not delivering three of the five albums under the band’s contract, which it entered into in 1999 with Immortal Records. Virgin took over the contract in 2004, according to the suit, which adds that the Letos “repudiated” the 1999 contract “and claimed that they were excused from such performance from and after July 4, 2008, pursuant to California Labor Code Sec. 2855(a).”

Leto makes various claims in his posting, stating that the band were unhappy that they had sold two million albums yet were “still $1.4 million in debt” and that the “next record we make will be used to pay off that old supposed debt.”

However, it is understood that EMI will cite its funding of 30 Seconds To Mars’ tours and videos, directed by Leto, as evidence of a major financial contribution to the band’s career.

US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has married her long-time partner, actress Portia de Rossi, according to the Associated Press news agency.

DeGeneres’ publicist confirmed reports that the couple tied the knot at their Beverly Hills home on Saturday.

The presenter, 50, and De Rossi, 35, exchanged handwritten vows in a private ceremony attended by 19 guests, reported People and US magazine.

The couple have been dating since December 2004.

DeGeneres announced plans to wed on her talk show in May after the California Supreme Court overturned a state ban on same-sex marriage.