Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
HipHopDX	[2]
Lost in the Sound	(positive)[3]
musicOMH	[4]
RapReviews	(5.5/10)[5]

The Preview is an EP by American group, Chiddy Bang. It was released in early October, 2010. It will stand as a placeholder until their album Breakfast is released February 28th 2012 US and March 5th Worldwide. It did very well in sales and ranked #2 in iTunes sales for hip-hop/rap category.^[6] It also debuted at #76 on the Billboard 200 with 6,000 copies sold in the first week released.^[7]

Alongside positive sales figures, the EP received extremely positive reviews from both critics and fans alike, with some dubbing Chiddy Bang as "Philadelphia's Next Big Thing".

Singles[link]

• "Opposite of Adults" was released on 21 February 2010 as the lead single from the EP and samples "Kids" by MGMT. It became a top 10 hit in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand; and became a top 20 hit in Belgium and the UK, as well as a top 40 hit in Switzerland.^[8]

• "Truth" is the second single from the EP, released via digital download on 17 May 2010. Truth only managed to chart in the United Kingdom, however missed out on the top 40, only managing to peak at 50. However it became a top 20 hit on the UK R&B Chart.^[9]

• "The Good Life" is the third single from the EP, released via digital download 8 October 2010. This song was featured in a Taco Bell commercial in 2011.

• "Old Ways" was featured on the soundtrack of the EA Sports Fight Night Champion video game in 2011

• "Here We Go" was featured on the soundtrack for the 2k Sports video game NBA 2K12

Track listing[link]

1. "The Good Life" (co-produced and co-written by Pharrell)
2. "Truth"
3. "Opposite of Adults"
4. "Here We Go" (featuring Q-Tip)
5. "All Things Go"
6. "Nothing on We"
7. "Bad Day" (featuring Darwin Deez & Theodore Grams)
8. "Old Ways"
9. "Neighborhood" (featuring Mike Bigga) (iTunes bonus track)

Charts[link]

Personnel[link]

Main vocals

Guest Vocals

Technicians and musicians

References[link]

Look up preview or previews in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A preview is an advanced showing/viewing of something.

Preview(s) or The Preview may also refer to:

• Live preview, a feature that allows a digital camera's display screen to be used as a viewfinder

Comics[link]

• Preview (comics), Jessica Vale, a character in the Marvel Universe
• Previews, a comic book industry catalog published by Diamond Comic Distributors

Computing[link]

• Preview (computing), an on-screen view of content as it will look when finalized or printed
• Preview (Mac OS), a Mac OS X application for displaying images and PDF documents
• Technical preview, another name for the beta phase of the software release cycle

Film, television and theatre[link]

• Preview (subscription service), an early subscription television service in the United States
• Preview (theatre), a public performance of a theatrical show before the official opening
• The Preview Channel, a Canadian television network
• Preview screening or test screening, a showing of a film or TV show before general release in order to gauge audience reaction
• Sneak preview, an unannounced film screening before formal release and after a preview screening
• Trailer (film) or preview, an advertisement for a film that will be exhibited in the future at a motion picture theater

Music[link]

• The Preview (EP), an EP by Chiddy Bang
• DJ Drama Presents: The Preview, a mixtape by Ludacris and DJ Drama
• "Preview", a song by Built to Spill from There's Nothing Wrong with Love
• Preview (EP), the second EP by Australian singer-songwriter, Kym Campbell

See also[link]

• PREview
• All pages beginning with "Preview"
• All pages with titles containing "Preview"
• Foresight (disambiguation)
• Precognition/premonition

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

"Basketball Jones" is a 1974 animated short film based on the Cheech and Chong song "Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces", from their album Los Cochinos. The cartoon was created to promote the song's release in the United States. It is about a teenager named Tyrone Shoelaces and his love of basketball. It was rumoured for many years that Ralph Bakshi created the short, when in fact it was designed by animator Paul Gruwell. The song is a parody of the 1972 soul ballad "Love Jones" by the group The Brighter Side of Darkness.

In the animation, Shoelaces is shown from birth having a skill for "dribbling" (in which he is shown to be drooling), and as a result, his mother gives him a basketball for a gift. Shoelaces takes an immediate liking to the ball and takes it wherever he goes. This sets up a trip to the "basketball tournament," in which he begins preaching to potential teammates, coaches, cheerleaders (complete with "day of the week" panties visible) to "help him out." A gospel chorus begins singing, and slowly escalates. A few short shots of Shoelaces actually playing basketball, mostly dribbling downcourt on a breakaway, are visible, but the rest of the video is primarily devoted to shots of increasingly unusual and distant people in "the entire stadium" and "around the world" singing along to "Basketball Jones." At the end of the short, Shoelaces begins growing at a dramatic pace, breaking through the stadium roof and becoming big enough to use the moon as a basketball while Cheech and Chong, Viet Cong, King Kong, alley cats, men in business suits, a mountaintop guru, aides to recently "impeached" Richard Nixon (who himself just looks and stares), nuns, and all four members of The Beatles (with George Harrison on guitar, just as he played on the original track) sing along to "Basketball Jones."

"Basketball Jones" was originally seen in theaters in early 1974, accompanying showings of The Last Detail at select screens.^[1] It can be seen during the 1974 film California Split, directed by Robert Altman, although its use in the film prevented California Split from ever being released on VHS or Laserdisc due to Columbia Pictures' refusal to pay royalties for the song. Altman later removed the song (but not the cartoon) from the film so it could be released on DVD. A portion of the song also plays during a scene in the 1996 film Space Jam.

The cartoon had another theater run when it accompanied the 1976 film Tunnel Vision; it was presented on the first reel prior to the start of the feature. It is perhaps most well-known for being featured in the 1979 Hal Ashby film, Being There, where Peter Sellers' character watches the cartoon in a limousine.

A parody of the video appears in "A Midsummer's Nice Dream", a 2011 episode of the animated television series The Simpsons.

Credits[link]

• Cheech Marin - Tyrone Shoelaces (voice)
• Darlene Love - Cheerleader (voice)
• Michelle Phillips - Cheerleader (voice)
• Ronnie Spector - Cheerleader (voice)
• George Harrison - lead guitar
• Klaus Voormann - bass
• Jim Karstein (often misspelled as Carstein) - drums
• Jim Keltner - percussion
• Carole King - electric piano
• Nicky Hopkins - piano
• Tom Scott - saxophone
• Billy Preston - organ

References[link]

Cody Simpson
Simpson on Radio Disney in August 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Cody Robert Simpson
Born	(1997-01-11) 11 January 1997 (age 15) Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Origin	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Genres	Pop, R&B[1]
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician and dancer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar and piano
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records/Atlantic (2010–present)
Website	codysimpson.com

Cody Robert Simpson (born 11 January 1997) is an Australian pop singer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who is currently signed to US record label Atlantic Records.^[2]

Early life[link]

Simpson was born to Brad and Angie Simpson. He has two younger siblings, Tom and Alli.^[3] He is also a talented swimmer, winning two gold medals at the Queensland Swimming Championships.^[4] Simpson trained at the Miami Swimming Club under coach Ken Nixon.^[5] Simpson's mother Angie works as a volunteer at the club.^[6]

Simpson began to record songs in his bedroom during the summer of 2009 on YouTube, performing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz,^[7] "Cry Me a River"^[8] and "Señorita"^[9] by Justin Timberlake, "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5,^[10] and his own songs, "One"^[11] and "Perfect".^[12] He was subsequently discovered on YouTube by Shawn Campbell,^[13] a Grammy-nominated record producer who has produced for Jay-Z and other artists.

Career[link]

Simpson's rise to recognition was featured on The 7.30 Report in December 2009.^[14] He released his debut single, "iYiYi" (which features American rapper Flo Rida), on 15 May 2010. It was digitally released on 30 May 2010.^[15] The music video for "iYiYi" was released on 30 June 2010.

^[16] The music video for Simpson's second single, "Summertime", was released on 20 September 2010.^[17]

Simpson relocated to Los Angeles in June 2010 with his family to record his songs with Atlantic Records and his producer Shawn Campbell.^[18] His manager is Michael 'Blue' Williams. ^[19] That same month, Simpson appeared on Sunrise.^[20] On 22 June 2010, it was announced that Simpson would participate in the Camplified 2010 Tour, along with other artists, touring across the United States. The tour began on 5 July 2010 and ended on 14 August 2010. It was also Simpson's first public tour.^[21] While on tour, Simpson performed a song called "Love So Strong". In an interview with Popstar Magazine, Simpson stated that his inspiration for the song was "A girl, back home. That's all I can say."^[22]

On 4 December 2010, it was announced on Simpson's official website that an EP entitled 4 U would be released through iTunes on 21 December 2010. The EP includes five tracks in total, four of them being previously unreleased.^[23]

Simpson recorded a remake of the song "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves as the main theme song for the Easter-themed live-action/CGI-animated film Hop.

On 23 April 2011, Simpson released the single "On My Mind" through his website. It was released on iTunes on 23 May 2011 and the music video was released on 17 June 2011.

Simpson is currently working on tracks for an upcoming EP on Atlantic Records. It will be released on 20 September 2011. Simpson's best friend, Campbell Carsley announced the release date on twitter on 18 July 2011. It will be called Coast To Coast, the same name as his current mall tour. On 22 September, it was announced that Cody Simpson hired Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun as his manager.^[24][25]

In December 2011 The Wish Factory released a Cody Simpson doll in two formats.^[26]

Touring[link]

Simpson in concert at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell, Connecticut on 5 June 2011

Simpson has been on tour recently promoting his new EP, making stops at various locations in the United States. Most notably, Simpson participated in the "Camplified 2010" tour in June.^[27] Other tours include a middle school tour that took place from October–November 2010 and covered 9 U.S states.^[28]

In May 2011, Simpson was "egged" during a live performance at Miranda Fair in Sydney. Simpson told Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he wasn't in fact hit by the eggs and that he was upset on behalf of his fans because the remainder of his show was cancelled because of security concerns.^[29][30]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Paradise (2012)

Extended plays

• 4 U (2010)
• Coast to Coast (2011)

Tours[link]

• Waiting 4U Tour
• Coast to Coast Mall Tour
• Welcome to Paradise

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cody Simpson

• Official website
• Cody Simpson at the Internet Movie Database
• Cody Simpson on Twitter
• Cody Simpson's's channel on YouTube

Amber Benson
Benson at Midtown Comics in March, 2011
Born	Amber Nicole Benson (1977-01-08) January 8, 1977 (age 35) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.

Amber Nicole Benson (born January 8, 1977) is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance (2002) and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics (2006).^[1] She is also co-director with Adam Busch of Drones.^[2]

Early life[link]

Benson was born in Birmingham, Alabama to Edward Benson, a psychiatrist,^[3] and Diane Benson. She has a younger sister, Danielle, who is an artist. She had a mixed Christian and Jewish upbringing (her father was Jewish and her mother was Christian).^[4][5][6]

As a child, Benson studied music and dance, and performed in the Birmingham Children's Ballet, as well as in local theater. She attended high school (one of her classmates being Joey Fatone) in Orlando, Florida after her family moved there, in part to help Amber pursue acting opportunities, the most prominent of which was an unsold television series called Kids' News, in which Amber was to have been one of two main anchors. The Bensons then relocated to Los Angeles, and Amber began to very quickly land roles in films and on television.

Career[link]

Film, television and theater[link]

Benson at a 2005 Buffy the Vampire Slayer convention

Benson was 14 when she made her feature-film debut in the Steven Soderbergh-directed movie King of the Hill.^[7] While still working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Benson co-wrote the movie The Theory of the Leisure Class with director Gabriel Bologna, released in 2001,^[8] and directed, produced, edited, and acted in a digital video feature called Chance (2002) which also featured her Buffy co-star James Marsters. She also collaborated with director James Kerwin in 2003 to produce her play, Albert Hall, in Hollywood.

After her time on Buffy, Benson began production on a series of animation films for the BBC with co-creator Christopher Golden and animation studio Cosgrove Hall. Ghosts of Albion: Legacy (2003) and its sequels are available on the BBC Cult website. In 2006, Benson released her second independent feature film Lovers, Liars & Lunatics through her own production company, Benson Entertainment. The film was shot on film and was partly financed by the sale of limited edition "Triangle" Tara Buffyverse action figure. The project, initially called "The Dirty Script," was ultimately titled Lovers, Liars and Lunatics by producer Diane Benson, Amber's mother. In that same year, Benson portrayed the "vegetarian" vampiress Lenore on Supernatural.

Benson is the co-director with Adam Busch of the comedy film Drones.^[9]

Benson sang in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode "Once More, with Feeling". She provided vocals for the songs "I've Got a Theory / Bunnies / If We're Together", "Under Your Spell" (her solo), "Walk Through the Fire", "Standing/Under Your Spell (Reprise)" and "Where Do We Go from Here?" In 2002, she appeared in two songs on Buffy colleague Anthony Stewart Head's album Music for Elevators. She also sang "Toucha Toucha Touch Me" (aka "Creature of the Night") at VH-1's celebrity karaoke tribute to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Writing[link]

Benson and novelist Anton Strout during an appearance at Midtown Comics Downtown in Manhattan, March 5, 2011

Benson also writes novels and comic books mostly in collaboration with Christopher Golden. In 2001, Benson worked with Golden, Terry Moore, and Eric Powell of Dark Horse Comics to create the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow and Tara comic book titled "WannaBlessedBe". The following year (2002), she worked with Christopher Golden and AJ (Ajit Jothikaumar) of Dark Horse Comics to create the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow and Tara comic books titled Wilderness #1 and Wilderness #2. In 2005, Benson collaborated with artist Jamie McKelvie on a short story within the Image Comics collection Four Letter Worlds. In 2006, Benson collaborated with artist Ben Templesmith on Demon Father John's Pinwheel Blues published by IDW as a four-part split-book, Shadowplay (with work by Ashley Wood and Christina Z). Benson and Golden have also collaborated on two supernatural thrillers: Ghosts of Albion: Accursed and Ghosts of Albion: Witchery. These books follow the fortunes of Tamara and William Swift, who first appeared in the BBC computer animated web movie Ghosts of Albion: Legacy. In December 2006, Benson and Golden released yet another collaboration, the short novel The Seven Whistlers which is distributed through Subterranean Press in a limited number of signed copies. In September 2007, Benson signed a three-book deal with Ginjer Buchanan of Penguin Books. Death's Daughter, was released by Ace Books^[10] on February 24, 2009; Cat's Claw,^[11] on February 23, 2010; and Serpent's Storm, in February 2011. In an interview, Benson indicated there might be a fourth volume.^[6] On February 28, 2012, the fourth book in the series, How to Be Death was released.^[12]

Activism[link]

During the 2008 campaign season, Benson was featured in the MoveOn.org-sponsored pro-Barack Obama advertisement.^[13]

Personal life[link]

As of 2007, Benson resides in Los Angeles, California. She describes herself as a "lapsed vegetarian".^[14] As of March 2009, she was dating Adam Busch, who played Warren on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.^[15]

Filmography[link]

Books[link]

Ghosts of Albion

• Astray (with Christopher Golden) (Subterranean Press, 2004) ^[16]
• Legacy (with Christopher Golden) (Short story, available on BBC site)^[17]
• Accursed (with Christopher Golden) (Del Rey, 2005)
• Witchery (with Christopher Golden) (Del Rey, 2006)

Media

• Illusions (with Christopher Golden) (Animated feature, directed by Benson, available on BBC site) ^[18]
• The Ghosts of Albion Roleplaying Game (with Timothy S. Brannan and Christopher Golden) (Eden Studios, 2007)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• WannaBlessedBe (Willow & Tara (2003) with Christopher Golden)
• Wilderness, Part 1 (with Christopher Golden)
• Wilderness, Part 2 (with Christopher Golden)

Calliope Reaper-Jones

• Death's Daughter (February 24,2009)
• Cat's Claw (Feb 23, 2010)
• Serpent's Storm (February 22, 2011)
• How to be Death (February 28, 2012)

Other

• The Innocent in Tales of the Slayers
• Shadowplay #1–4 (with Ben Templesmith) (2005)
• The Seven Whistlers (with Christopher Golden) (2006)
• Among The Ghosts (children's, August 2010) ^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Amber Benson

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amber Benson

• Amber Benson at the Internet Movie Database
• Amber Benson on Twitter
• An interview with Amber Benson on the BookBanter podcast
• Interview at Flames Rising (October 2005)
• Interview at LesbiaNation.com (May 2007)
• Interview at SlayerLit
• "'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' star Amber Benson finds new life as a novelist" New York Daily News (June 29, 2009).
• Amber Benson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database