The Replacements

Replacements were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979. The band was composed of guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars for most of their career.

Following two critically acclaimed albums, Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson was fired in 1986 and the band experienced several line-up changes; Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist and Steve Foley replaced Chris Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band’s career, Westerberg exerted more control over their creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members ultimately pursuing various projects. The Replacements never experienced any significant commercial success but have influenced a variety of alternative rock acts.

The Replacements’ music was influenced by classic rock artists such as Faces, Big Star, Badfinger,and The Beatles as well as punk rock bands such as The Clash and The Jam.

Unlike many of their underground contemporaries, the Replacements played “heart-on-the-sleeve” rock songs that combined Westerberg’s “raw-throated adolescent howl,” with self-deprecating lyrics. The Replacements were a notoriously wayward live act, often performing under the influence of alcohol and trashing their instruments. They credit the Twin Cities founding punk band The Suicide Commandos as being their inspiration to become rock musicians.

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Gorilla Reunion (VIDEO)

This just might be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen ... well, at least since Christian the Lion.

The Aspinall Foundation is a charity that promotes wildlife conservation and reintroduces captive gorillas back into the wild in West Africa. Five years ago, conservationist Damian Aspinall released a gorilla, Kwibi, into the jungles of Gabon. Aspinall returned recently to reunite with a now ten-year-old Kwibi.

How did the reunion go? Words fail me.

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Killzone 3

Killzone 3 details hit the net last night. Early readers of US mag GamePro's expose suggested that certain sections of the title - including jetpack areas - would resemble Uncharted. We were as confused as you.

Today, on further inspection, the full truth has been revealed: Uncharted developer Naughty Dog is involved in the creation of the title.

The studio has reportedly co-created the 'graphics engine' of KZ3 - suggesting it will be built on the same development blocks as multi-award winning Uncharted 2.

It has been working on the game in collaboration with long-term Killzone dev, Amsterdam's Guerilla Games.

The 3D, jetpack-boasting title will largely take place in snowy locales, according to last night's report.

New weapons will include a jetpack-mounted machine gun and The Wasp - which fires multiple rockets at once.

All eyes are on the official announcement at E3 next month. Sony's conference takes place on Tuesday, June 15th - and we'll be reporting live from the event.

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Pac Man 30th Anniversary

Pac-Man is back. And to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic video arcade game, Google has unveiled its first-ever interactive doodle – a Pac-Man game that Web users can play straight from Google's homepage.
PHOTO To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic video arcade game, Google unveiled its first-ever interactive doodle ? a playable Pac-Man

On May 22, 1980 the now-iconic Pac-Man game was released in Japan by Namco Bandai Games. Originally called Puck Man, Pac-Man launched in the U.S. in October 1980 and went on to sell more than 100,000 units in its first year of production.

The name of the game comes from the sound of eating, according to the official Pac-Man website. "Paku" is the Japanese sound for "chomp."

Now the game is listed by Guinness World Records as the world's most successful coin-operated game.

To help recognize the pop culture mainstay, at 11 a.m. ET today (midnight in Japan), Google turned its homepage over to a Pac-Man game that can be played for the next 48 hours.

Visitors can click on the "insert coin" button or wait 10 seconds to automatically start the game, which reaches 256 levels.

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