Windows 8 : HIT OR MISS

Microsoft is o the verge of releasing its newest operating system, WINDOWS 8, following the success of its predecessor Windows 7 which was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 8 has already has three pre-release versions: 

• Developer Preview (September 13, 2011)
• Consumer Preview (February 29, 2012)
• Release Preview (May 31, 2012)

 Windows 8 is slated for a a final release on October 26, 2012 when it will become available to the general public for commercial purchase.
The Windows 8 OS has many new features and is quite different in terms of user graphical interface as well as the location and positioning of  common features such as the power button and menu.Windows 8 has its own antivirus so  no need to buy one as it works efficiently well.

As is the case with new tech many users may find it cumbersome to use for the first time especially if you don't have a touch screen. After a few days, using Windows 8 becomes more pleasant and the OS tends to grow on you with all its new features as well as the optimized ones of its predecessors. When judging Widows 8 it all boils down to user preference and taste as it is fast, reliable and stable.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES SEASON 4

On October 11th 2012 The Vampire Diaries fourth season will premier and fans are really eager to see the new developments as season 3 left a lot of questions pending with Elena dying with vampire blood in her system. There is also the impending graduation from high school that will see a totally different Mystic falls as guys prepare to go to college.

The new season is full of more originals and it is said that there will be a visit by the real original vampires before the Mikaelsons as well as the 1st person to use the vampire spell before Esther.

The original witches will also be in the mix and will be sure to provide a lot of super natural action and suspense in what seems to be a season of culminating events and characters. Lets all hope that Elena gets to remain her human sweet self or otherwise this will be her new look

GLEE SEASON 4

Glee returns to our screens/torrent sites on September 13th 2012 for its 4 successive season and it is sure set to shake things up a bit with majority of the senior class having graduated in the previous season. We can expect new faces in the New Directions glee club, not forgetting this years winner of The Glee Project Blake Jenner who has a recurring role in at least 7 episodes starting from the fifth one.

Some of the starts from the previous seasons will have less roles and will be appearing less regularly as the show takes a new direction with the new cast. As expected the trials and tribulations of the McKinley High Glee club as well as their triumphs and successes.
Fans of Glee have something to look forward to and they will not be disappointed especially with the new cast that is set to change things up a bit.

NAIROBI HALF LIFE Review

It goes without saying that this movie has caught the attention of Kenyans in a massive way. Its been shot, written and distributed by Kenyan's and this gives it a sense of authenticity as the Kenyan Film Industry grows a bit with each new release.

The Plot

Set in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi, Nairobi Half Life centres on Mwas who is a young man from upcountry who has travelled to the City to pursue a career in acting. His first encounter in the city is with thieves where he gets robbed of all his belongings and he gets a taste of the dread police station cells where he meets his 'mentor' Oti who takes him in and shows him how to survive in the city mostly through crime.



As the story develops Mwas gets to land a job as an actor and he tries to juggle his life in crime (reminiscent of John Kiriamiti's book and soon to be made movie) and his acting career.

Conclusion

The movie clearly identifies with Kenyan life especially the day to day struggles of your average Kenya a.k.a mwananchi (loosely translated means child of the nation/country)and its use of Kenyan slang known as sheng helps bring the movie closer to home.Such elements will make it a hit in Kenya where local films find it hard to thrive but in Nairobi Half Life there is hope of breaking this cycle of defeat.

The movie is premièred on 30th August 2012 at the WestGate cinema which was an invite only event. From Friday Aug 31 to September 6, the film will be screened twice daily and tickets cost Sh.450

Man Of Steel

Man of Steel

The next instalment from DC Comics, Man of Steel is set for release in 2013 starring Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent and Ammy Adams as Lois Lane. 
The new Superman movie directed by 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder has a tough task in presenting an entertaining account of one of the worlds most acclaimed heroes.
As far as super hero movies go, Superman movies have been performing under par when compared to the likes of Batman, Dark Knight,Spiderman and Iron Man.


Lets hope the DC Comics have gotten the formula right this time round. The wait is long till the release but we will come to see if it was worth it.

Here is the sneak peak trailer

Spartacus: War of the Damned

The final season of Spartacus  is currently in production. Spartacus War of the Damned will be the last installation of the thrilling epic Starz series. It first premiered on January 22,2010 and it has become a cult hit among viewers despite its graphic violence, strong sexual content, and coarse language.
The series has had 3 previous seasons leading up to its final installation.These are:

• Spartacus: Blood & Sand
• Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (prequel)
• Spartacus: Vengeance

The final season will be airing in January of 2013 and it is set to be epic if the snippet from the trailer below are anything to go by.

CABINET MINISTER PROF GEORGE SAITOTI DIES IN CHOPPER CRASH

In an unfortunate turn of events, a police helicopter carrying the internal security minister went down in Kibiku forest,Ngong. The crash victims include Prof. George Saitoti and his assistant Orwa Ojode who are among the 7 people killed in the helicopter crash.

EUROPA LEAGUE 2012 FINAL

After a pulsating 90 minutes of clinical football, Atlético Madrid emerged victors over Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League final at Bucharest which was an all Spanish affair. Football finals are sometimes notorious for their lack of competitive football but this was a match like no other. The first goal came in the 7th minute and it set up the momentum of the game with Athleic Madrid controlling the game.

 The Radamel Falcao goal was a superb beauty as he curled it it from the edge of the Bilbao box. The Bilbao players seemed shell shocked henceforth and they were completely overrun by their more illustrious counterparts for most of the first half. Athletic Bilbao begun to fight back towards the end of the first half but were again dealt a blow by the brilliant Falcao who sent two defenders the wrong way after collecting a cross in the 6 yard box slotted his second of the game in the 34th minute after a brilliant display of trickery and composure.
If not to make things worse for Athletic Bilbao,they had several close chances that were excellently saved by the inform Athletic Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois.

 The second half saw Athletic Bilbao start off fiery with Muniain missing out on an early chance to pull one back soon after the game had started. In a very entertaining 2nd half both teams came close to scoring but it was Athletic Madrid's tactical drilling that shone through as they managed to disorganize their opponents play several times and ward off their ever increasing attacks. After several failed attempts by Bilbao, a counter attack allowed Diego to score a well placed shot in the 85th minute that settled the game. Athletic Bilbao fought a bit but final score was 3-0 and Athletico Madrid were crowned Europa League champions .

Radamel Falcao stood out in the game with a marvelous display and he won the competitions golden boot with 12 goals and also made history by having won the cup twice in two consecutive seasons with different clubs.
This was a  brilliant final that will go down as one of  the favorites in the history of the competition.

BELIEBE! - BOYFRIEND by Justin Bieber

Yes, its finally out!The first single from his new album Believe (2012) set for release on June 19, 2012. With only 5 days past after the video release, it has already received over  23 million views on YouTube. Younger fans of Bieber are sure going to be surprised at the mature nature of the video which portrays a more grown up Justin as he sings in a new sort of rap/singing style that is more common with the likes of Drake and Nikki Minaj. 

This is an RnB song infused with some Hip Hop and its a good listen. Going by the massive popularity of Justin,the song is bound to wind up at the top of the charts soon and so is his eagerly awaited album. It seems the Bieber fever isn't going away soon and he is set for another record breaking year. You better believe he is here to stay and storm the airwaves with his talent.

TEEN WOLF SEASON 2

Its your favourite werewolf series back on the silver screen. With a new set of interesting characters as well as the older ones who we came to love in season 1. There is a war brewing between the werewolf hunters and the werewolves as another mystical creature keeps on killing people.

THe season 2 promo is out and its really exciting.
The new season is basically driven by Instinct...the instinct to love as outlined by the series promo. It looks like an entertaining season to look out for as it premiers on June 3rd 2012   

New video Release from Camp Mulla... Hold it Down

From the 254, Kenya's supremo hip hop group, Camp Mulla released their newest track 'hold it down' as well as the video. From their previous video's, Camp Mulla fans have come to expect nothing but quality and the 'holding down' video does not disappoint in this respect.
The good news is that they have plenty more tracks that haven't hit the airwaves yet so fans of their music can expect more hits to follow.


Mtaani254 has the exclusive video for you to enjoy, watch it below,

A Billion Reasons To Believe in Africa

The picture that has been painted of Africa on the global scene is that of a desolate land with starving people, wars, anarchy and all things wrong. This is however not the case in the Coca Cola ad that is set to capture the hearts of all Africans worldwide as it sets to show how Africa is the best place to be on earth with the current global problems being encountered in other continents.

This is sure set to be an epic advert for 2012 that is bound to raise eyebrows as well as increase Coca cola's fan base on the African continent which happens to be one of their largest markets.

We Found Oil in a Hopeless Place - Rihanna Spoof

Kenyan's innovative touch never ceases and this has been demonstrated in a spoof of Rihanna's ''we found love'' hit song featuring Calvin Harris to ''we found oil in a hopeless place.'' This was in reaction to the Governments announcement that Kenya had struck oil in country's arid north-western Turkana region. The clip by dilliemusic is quite hilarious and he has managed to capture the funny side of the oil discovery in one of Kenya's forgotten counties. This is certainly a clip Rihanna herself would be proud of and its an entertaining Kenyan spoof that is bound to inspire many more from our comical wananchi (citizens). Take a sneak peak at the video on the side

Learn More on Euro 2012 – Poland & Ukraine

Euro 2012 is the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship played by European teams sanctioned by UEFA, the Union of European Football Association. UEFA represents the national football associations of Europe as well as runs national and club competitions. One of these national competitions is the Euro 2012 whose final will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between June 8^th and July 1^st 2012. This will be the 14^th   edition of the tournament of which is held once every four years, since 1960, in the even numbered year between the World Cup tournaments. The final of the tournament will feature 16 nations all gunning to be crowned champions of European National football. The qualifications were contested by fifty one nations between the months of August 2010 and November 2011.The two host nations were automatically drafted into the finals of the tournament. The winner of the tournament also gains automatic entry for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup which will be hosted by Brazil.

The host cities for the Euro 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine will be Wroclaw, Poznan, Kiev, Gdansk, Warsaw, Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv.  Since its inception, the competition has been won by 9 different national teams with Germany being the most successful team. They have won it thrice and have appeared in the final six times.

The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 took place on 7^th February 2010 in Warsaw where 51  national teams were entered to compete for the 14 remaining places in the finals with Poland and Ukraine being drafted in automatically since they were co-hosts. Of the 51 teams selected, the fourteen who qualified for Euro 2012 are Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Spain and Sweden. The 16 finalist for the tournament were seeded into four pots using UEFA’s national team coefficient ranking which were used in selecting the group members of the Euro 2012 tournament.

In pot 1, there was Ukraine (co-hosts), Poland (co-hosts), Netherlands and former 2008 champions Spain. In the 2^nd pot there was Germany, Italy, England and Russia. Pot 3 comprised of Croatia, Greece, Portugal and Sweden while pot four had Denmark, France, Czech Republic and Republic of Ireland. The final groups A-D each consisting of four teams were as follows: Group A has Poland, Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic. Group B comprises of Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Portugal. Group C members are Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland and Croatia while Group D has Ukraine, Sweden, France and England.

The competition is divided into the group knockout phase, the quarter finals, semi-finals and lastly the finals. The slogan for Euro 2012 is “creating history together.” It represents the fact that the two host countries were once united as a single country in the past and now they strive to make the best Euro tournament in the history of the championship as two independent countries. The logo is made out of a flower design. The two mascots for the competition are Slavek (Polish) and Slavko (Ukrainian) twins.

YVONNE MWALE: REFRESHING & ENTERTAINING

We getting connected to some of the most promising artists in East Africa whose potential is unmatched,get to learn more about Yvonne Mwale here http://www.yvonnemwale.com/ .Mtaani254 Entertainment will definitely be working with her soon. Her album dropped yesterday, Friday 2nd March at Trinity Bar in Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam. You can have a review on her site as well as reverbnation.com.

Yvonne Mwale, who begun singing on a professional level in 2001, was born in Zambia's Eastern Province in 1988. She is the daughter to MP Honorable Mr. Michael Mwale and former songstress Jelita Mwanza.
An orphan after both her parents passed away when she was 12, she was left with nothing but her talent after  family members took away her parents possessions. A true survivor,sh managed two years without a home on the streets of Lusaka.

Before going to Tanzania 2011, Yvonne had a successful stints in her native Zambia as well with the group Nyali with whom she even toured Europe. She signed for Caravan Records in 2012 which, her first record label deal. Caravan Records are an independent record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. They have a representative in East Africa. Caravan records specialize in contemporary African music with a focus on distribution, management and events.

Her first album is called "Kalamatila" published 2012 by Caravan Records.It is fused with an energetic blend of Reggae, Dance-hall but also some traditional and Fusion sounds.This is Yvonne Mwale's debut album and from the sound of it,it's gonna be big.

Big up to Caravan records for a job well done on the album which sure to be a hit. Looking forward to more great hits and albums from this talented songstress.

Take a peek at her video for the song ''Fight like a soldier''

2012 Oscar Winners

        Best Picture

War Horse

The Artist *WINNER

Moneyball

The Descendants

The Tree of Life

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Viola Davis, The Help

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady *WINNER

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Actor

Demian Bichir, A Better Life

George Clooney, The Descendants

Jean Dujardin, The Artist *WINNER

Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Director

Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist *WINNER

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Short Film (Animated)

Dimanche/Sunday

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore *WINNER

La Luna

A Morning Stroll

Wild Life

Documentary Short Subject

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God Is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face *WINNER

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost

Raju

The Shore *WINNER

Best Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris *WINNER

J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants *WINNER

John Logan, Hugo

George Clooney, Beau Willimon and Grant Heslov, The Ides of March

Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball

Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Music (Original Song)

"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie *WINNER

"Real in Rio" from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

Music (Original Score)

John Williams, The Adventures of Tintin

Ludovic Bource, The Artist *WINNER

Howard Shore, Hugo

Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

John Williams, War Horse

Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners *WINNER

Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo *WINNER

Real Steel

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango *WINNER

Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated *WINNER

Sound Mixing

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo *WINNER

Moneyball

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

War Horse

Sound Editing

Drive

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo *WINNER

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

War Horse

Film Editing

Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Kevin Tent, The Descendants

Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo *WINNER

Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo

Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball

Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help *WINNER

Best Foreign Feature

Bullhead

Footnote

In Darkness

Monsieur Lazhar

A Separation *WINNER

Makeup

Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs

Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady *WINNER

Costume Design

Anonymous

The Artist *WINNER

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

Art Direction

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo *WINNER

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

Cinematography

The Artist

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo *WINNER

The Tree of Life

War Horse

MADONNA:Give Me All Your Luvin' (Feat. M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj)

She is at it again,the 53 three year old Queen of pop has a new single out. Give me all your luvin which features M.I.A and Nicki Minaj has already been released and is receiving favorable reviews. The song written by the one and only Nicki Minaj features her as one of the cheerleaders in the video.
The success of Madonna over the decades is not a mean feat. She has sold over 300 million records and Cd's to  fans worldwide who madly love her.

The video starts with the words, '' the press can make you a superstar, but only luv can make you a player''
The video on YouTube has already received over 2 million and views since it was uploaded on Feb 2,2012.

Take a peak at it here:

REPORTS OF NJENGA KARUME'S DEATH

Unconfirmed reports say that veteran politician and business mogul Njenga Karume is dead. We will keep ypu posted on developing news as reports on the former cabinet minister keep coming.

SMASHING NEW - CAMP MULLA

They are at it again,Kenya's undoubtedly number 1 group,CampMulla,have released the video for their new single Fresh All day.This group of insanely talented young artists has shaken up the Kenyan music scene and given it new direction. from their crisp,clean and clear videos to smooth and onpoint lyrics,this group is the complete package. they are set for greatness and they are breaking through to the international arena with stints on MTV (Music Television)and more recently BET (Black Entertainment television).
Here is their new single  FRESH ALL DAY:

Great Remix :Peponi by thepianoguys

The Piano guys is a group which makes awesome remixes of songs using a piano and cello.Their remix of Coldplay's Paradise is great and inspirational,not to mention the really breathtaking video.Have a look at it below

Spartacus Vengeance

 

After the bloody escape from the House of Batiatus that concluded season two,"Spartacus: Blood and Sand", the gladiator rebellion continues and begins to strike fear into the heart of the Roman Empire. "Spartacus: Vengeance" tells the story of how the slaves rebelled against their masters in a bloody war that actually took place many centuries ago. The season 3 premier of the third installment of Spartacus will be on January 27th 2012 .

The short overview of the new season goes like this: ''Gaius Claudius Glaber and his Roman troops are sent to Capua to crush the growing band of freed slaves that Spartacus leads before it can inflict further damage. Spartacus is presented the choice of satisfying his personal need for vengeance against the man that condemned his wife to slavery and eventual death or making the larger sacrifices necessary to keep his budding army from breaking apart''

Here is a glimpse of the season 3 trailer

The series original main character actor,Andy Whitefield,died of cancer was replaced by Liam McIntyre who will now play Spartacus.

2012 Series & Movies

As we continue to keep you guys in the loop over upcoming movies and series don't tire of waiting for blockbusters that will blow you away.

Today we focus on 1 new movie that premiers today, Under world: Awakening where humans have discovered the existence of the Vampire & Lycan clans and are bent on exterminating them. well Underworld 1 and 2 was in the current future while 3 took us back to the past and now we are brought back to this new war in the present. The first three installments have not disappointed and I hope  the makers of the Underworld Series haven't bitten more than they can chew.
 Here is the the super exciting trailer:

 Another exciting series called Alcatraz is also airing this year. it centers on some prisoners who disappeared from a prison some years back without a trace and returned in the future as free men and they hadn't aged. its exciting,suspense filled and full of conspiracy.

Here is the awesome trailer:

New HBO Series: THE PACIFIC

HBO,Home Box Office, are at it again with a mini series for 2010 known as THE PACIFIC. It centers around three young soldiers during the World War and we see their various experiences during this hard times. With Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg as Executive Producers and an array of fine directors,it seems like this is another great series by HBO.Checkout the trailer below.

Mtaani254's 12 Must Watch for 2012

1.ACT OF VALOR

2.THE GREY

3.JOHN CARTER

4.RED TAILS

5.JACK THE GIANT KILLER

6.THE HOBBIT

7.THE DICTATOR

8.ROCK OF AGES

9.MEN IN BLACK 3

10.THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 2

11.21 JUMP STREET

12.THE EXPENDABLES 2