1. GLOW IN THE DARK

Kanye, Rihanna, N.E.R.D., ‘Lupe Fiasco + a whack sci-fi theme? What more could you ask for? Well, you could ask for tickets to be selling out a little slower…

2. ROCKSTAR/AP TOUR

Headlining are Rina’s List favorites The Rocket Summer and All Time Low, accompanied by none other than Forever the Sickest Kids (!!!) with The Matches and Sonny. Plus, tickets are cheap ($15) and you can get a free subscription to the Alternative Press magazine!

3. BAMBOOZLE

The biggest rock festival on the East Coast, NJ-based Bamboozle is playing host to some of alternative music’s heavy hitters this year – The Academy Is…, Simple Plan – along with Jack’s Mannequin, who toured with Panic in 2006, Gym Class Heroes, Pete Wentz’s foray into hiphop, and dozens of other bands (expected to be 100+!) One day for $50. Worth it? We think so.

4. JYP TOUR

JYP, head of massive Korean  entertainment group JYP Entertainment, is bringing over… well, JYP himself, the viral dancers the Wondergirls, as well as three lesser known stars: J Lim, G-Soul, and Min. (Lucky Popseoul even got an interview with the newbies G and Min!) It’s not much of a tour, hitting only three cities so far, but its certainly worth it for all you K-Pop fans out there who want to do the Tell Me dance with someone else for a change.

COMING UP: SUMMER SONIC

The 2008 edition of this Japanese rock festival promises not to disappoint. Last years performers included Western acts (Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavgine, Sum 41) and Japanese fan favorite ELLEGARDEN (we love them too!) The ELLE boys are expected to be back for another round, and we hope that they pick up our dear little BACK-ON and LAST ALLIANCE guys too.

In other news, our Lord of the Rings favorite Sean Bean just got married – for the fourth time, and Rina’s got a radtastic new haircut she’ll be sharing pictures of. Maybe. ;P

Sorry Daniel Radcliffe fans… it looks like the Harry Potter star may have gotten more out of filming seven movies than just friendship. Radcliffe and co-star Emma Watson were spotted on a Valentine’s Day, hmm, let’s call it an outing. Nothing connects them romantically yet, but there are only two reasons to go out on St. V’s with another unaffiliated star – publicity stunt, or something’s in the air.

Love to Perez.

THE BANDS: (click on images for samples)

Cobra Starship
Labelmates: Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is…
Rocks like: JT + Almost Here-era TAI with a little Latin flavor (lead Gabe Saporta is from Uruguay)

We the Kings
Labelmates: Fountains of Wayne, Joss Stone, Baha Men, Tom Jones
Rocks like: Boys Like Girls, Sing It Loud

Metro Station
Labelmates: ??? (signed to columbia/red ink. do you know how many bands are on columbia? yeah, exactly.)
Rocks like: Old music. But new. Please don’t ask us to describe it to you.

The Cab
Labelmates: See CS
Rocks like: Generic FBR stuff. Kind of like Paramore, but, of course, sans-girl. Definitely check out the video for I’ll Run anyways for CS screwing around at the beginning

I HIGHLY recommend trying to get last minute tickets for these shows – even the lineup tells you it’s going to be good! My show is in March, so I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

More random crap after the jump.

THE DATES:

Find out here if your town is on the list of stops. Hurry, most shows are already sold out!

THE PROMOTION:

So first, Metro Station’s Shake It pops up on the iTS free download as the first one even looking at in ages. Then the tour’s announced. And suddenly, Cobra, WTK, and Metro Station are EVERYWHERE. (in ur house, eating ur foodz!) We the Kings recently had their single Check Yes Juliet as a free download as well. Cobra’s getting all buddy buddy with MTV.

Go ahead, blame me for pimping them out even more, haha. But they are really worth it.

Sorry HSM fangirls, it’s obviously Nine in the Afternoon! Panic At The Disco (they dropped the “!”, which fellow labelmates Powerspace generously took) just dropped their latest single off their album Pretty.Odd, which comes out in March. Check out the Beatles-inspired video here!

MTV has a better-res version on Overdrive.

Hey Hollywood – you already gave us THREE Bourne movies. No more, kthxbai. And especially not more masquerading as Christensen sci-fi flicks!

Alternately, they need to hire MUCH better editors who didn’t learn English by reading movie posters. Bourne no equal Born!

We’ve been waiting for Hayden’s next action-flick role since we stopped stalking his work on Revenge of the Sith. Now he’s back with (another) sci-fi movie about a guy who can warp time and space. We just hope that this doesn’t another Hayden trend, since last time it was kind of creepy. Below the cut – pics from the premiere of Jumper.

And guess what washed up old pop darling showed up? No, it’s not Britney or Ashlee, it’s our Beautiful Soul boy Jesse McCartney. (Remember him?)

Or, rather, remember when you thought he was cute? (And what’s up with those super-clashing white sneakers?)

Our favorite smart-talking badass former Jedi Master Samuel L. Jackson was there too – he plays the antagonist to former Jedi badboy Hayden Christensen’s jump-y character. (Doesn’t that make you think kangaroo?)

Are you planning to see Jumper? Have you already? (maybe with your Valentine’s sweetie?) Throw a comment our way!

Director Terry Gilliam has been faced with the difficult situation of finishing his film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, which will be Heath Ledger‘s last movie, without him.

And, now, it seems that a solution has been reached that will allow the pic to be completed without its lead star.

Ledger’s character steps through a mirror three different times and into different worlds. So three different actors will now inhabit his character’s body in those segments of the film.

Those thesps are: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.

We’re really liking where the movie industry is going with this! First, I’m Not There, and now The Imaginarium? Yay for Hollywood actually being creative!

TYVM Star for the info. It’s fun when you actually come in handy instead of just blocking pictures of celebs I actually care about at the newsstand.

Sorry for the wait on this post guys, Rina’s got major coursework from Mr. N & Co.

One of our (only) favorite Gossip Girl stars and our least favorite faux-emo kid hang out at the Hyde Lounge.

♥ to Chace C Online & Getty Images for the pics.

1. The Jonas Brothers

Mediocre talent, average looks. And yet they’ve got every pre-teen girl screaming? We’ve surpassed “style over substance” here, since this group hasn’t got either.

Try instead: Metro Station

With Trace Cyrus singing, it’s surprising they haven’t garnered more fans. It’s not great techno, great lyrics, or great music even, but Metro Station has the talent that so many other teen-boy groups lack. Listen to California here, and check out their Purevolume and Myspace.

2. Zac Efron
We still don’t have a good answer to the obvious question: “What’s so great about him?” Average-bordering-on-creepy looks (though he does have a certain resemblance to Mark Hamill pre-car crash), not much of a singing voice, and a collection of fans who just graduated from their Barbie obsessions? Yeah. We don’t even care that he likes Death Note anymore. We just want him to shut up and go away.

Try instead: The Rocket Summer

Bryce Avary’s sunny pop-rock is a perfect transition for all those fans of HSM into, well, actual music. While we won’t argue about cuteness, we do say that in concert, he isn’t too shabby looking. Watch So Much Love for a taste of what TRS’s got.

3. Amy Winehouse
We’re just sick of her – stick of hearing about her alcoholism, her psycho boyfriend, her eyeliner issues, and especially her heinously horrible song “Rehab”. While the media goes after Britney and Lindsay, we want to know why people haven’t condemned Amy for promoting not getting treatment for a serious problem! Earth to Wino: YOU’VE GOT ISSUES.

Try instead: Paramore

Headed by feisty redhead/orangey Haley Williams, this band, signed to Pete Wentz’s home Fueled by Ramen, just got nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy for their album Riot. It’s definitely worth a listen as Haley pours out catchy tunes sure to interest any music fan. Check out Misery Business sooner rather than later so you don’t get caught behind the wave.

That’s the roundup for today… see you guys later.

Rina ♥