:: wikimiki.org ::

Jim Shearer

Jim Shearer

Jim Shearer is a MTV2 VJ who was hired in 2002 after catching the eye of the executive vice president of MTV with a homemade audition tape. Since then he has hosted the shows "Advance Warning," "120 Minutes," "Subterranean," "Video Mods," "Summer Gig," as well as other shows on both MTV and MTV2. It can be said that even though he works for MTV, he is not afraid of making harsh observations of the media giant. He is focused on the music while presenting, and reputedly looks up to Kurt Loder (MTV News). His musical interests include the Beastie Boys, Nirvana, and Radiohead. He is also known to be a generous man who is very grateful for the opportunity he has been given in life, having previously worked at a McDonald's for years in his home state of Pennsylvania. He tries to share his good fortune by volunteering his time with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club and is also a youth group leader. Shearer, Jim

MTV2

MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to basic cable lineups across the nation. It is also broadcast over-the-air in some markets where the former all-request music channel known as The Box was broadcast. A European counterpart broadcasts from London in the United Kingdom, as does a Canadian version on digital cable and satellite, with a German version being closed down in September 2005. MTV2 began broadcasting on August 1, 1996—MTV's fifteenth anniversary—with the first video Beck's Where It's At. The purpose of the channel was to give music fans a place to see constant, commercial-free music videos, once the original MTV had started concentrating on reality television and soap operas. MTV2 (originally known as just 'M2' until 2000) was created to show more alternative types of music and older music videos than regular MTV did in 1996. However, this did not mean that MTV2 never played anything current or mainstream. It prided itself on being a "diverse mix" of all types of music. The only problem was that MTV2 had very limited availability for its first couple of years, during a time when digital and satellite television were not at all mainstream. MTV2's biggest group of subscribers for the first year or so were college campuses that provided their students with satellite television. MTV2 also broadcast live over the Internet during its early years, but was similarly ahead of its time, in a period when few people had broadband Internet connections.

The beginning of M2 (1996–2000)

InternetDuring the early years of the channel, the music videos ran on 8-hour rotations, so that the same block of videos repeated three times every day: from 6 AM to 2 PM, 2 PM to 10 PM, and finally from 10 PM to 6 AM. A new block would then start again at 6 AM. During these years, MTV2 only had two VJ's, Jancee Dunn and Matt Pinfield. They were rarely seen on screen and they hand-picked all the music videos that were played for the eight hours every day. Pinfield eventually left to continue hosting shows on MTV, while Jancee remained at MTV2 through 2001. MTV2 was almost always just a random blend of music, though occasional themed specials were aired. One of the first ones was the "Smashing Pumpkins Videography," where all of the band's videos were played in chronological order. MTV2 would often invite musicians to hand pick blocks of videos or air hour-long blocks (which would eventually be known as "Artist Collections") of videos by one band or musician. In honor of the millennium, MTV2 attempted to play every music video in the MTV library starting on January 1, 2000, in alphabetical order. While a majority of videos were played, many were skipped over. The special ended in mid-April 2000. Partially through the special, MTV2 changed its scheduling from three 8-hour blocks a day to two 12-hour blocks a day, so that it would finish sooner and they would be able to get back to airing new videos again.

The first re-launch (2001)

2000In late 2000, Viacom, MTV and MTV2's parent company, bought out the independent, viewer-requested "jukebox" music video channel known as The Box. Starting on January 1, 2001, all households that had received The Box began to receive MTV2 in its place, putting the channel into millions of additional households. As part of the January 1, 2001 re-launch of the channel, MTV2 started to show commercials and began to separate the types of videos it played by genre. Hip hop and soul music (hosted by a new VJ, Steph Lova) was played for an hour every weekday at 10 AM and 10 PM. Rock music played every weekday at 9 AM and 9 PM (hosted by another new VJ and former K-ROQ radio DJ, Chris Booker). A new show hosted by Jancee Dunn called "MTV2 Request" aired every weekday between 11 AM and 12 PM, and again between 11 PM and midnight. All the videos played on "MTV2 Request" were selected by online viewer requests. Another new show called Control Freak began in 2001, airing weekdays from 8 to 9 PM. It used real-time viewer voting to select the next video to be played on the channel (out of three choices), while the current video was playing. The majority of the daytime schedule still featured a somewhat diverse mix of rap, rock, and pop, and new and old videos.

New VJs and programming (2002)

In late 2001, MTV2 held auditions for new VJ's. Steph Lova, Jancee Dunn, and Chris Booker all disappeared, replaced with Jim Shearer, who would go on to become the "main" VJ, in the heavily genre-segregated MTV2; Abby Gennet, who began to host "MTV2 Rock," which was now being played between 3 and 5 PM every weekday afternoon; Quddus, a regular MTV VJ, who would host "MTV2 Soul," which would air between 9 and 11 AM every weekday; and La La & DJ Clue (a well known hip-hop mix DJ), both of whom would host "MTV2 Hip-Hop," which would be played between 10 PM and midnight every weeknight. Around this time 120 Minutes, a long-running show which featured exclusively independent, new, and groundbreaking musicians who typically are not ever heard on mainstream radio in America, was moved from its weekly timeslot of Sunday nights between 8 and 10 PM to Sunday nights between 11 PM and 1 AM. Jim Shearer also took over hosting duty from Jancee Dunn. During the week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve of 2001, MTV2 promised to play every video that had debuted on the channel during the entire year of 2001, Monday through Saturday between 10 AM and 8 PM each day, alphabteically by video title. As had happened with their previous attempt to do something similar, several videos were skipped over as a result of bad scheduling and an overemphasis on fitting in commercials. With the start of 2002, MTV2's block of techno and dance music, Amp, which had aired Sunday nights between 10 PM and midnight, was replaced by a show called MTV2 Dance. This became a three-hour block of dance and techno, which featured some more obscure music by little-known techno DJ's, but also incorporated the videos for mainstream, popular dance songs, by artists such as Amber and Kylie Minogue. The show also was known for playing dance remixes of pop videos, such as the Hex Hector Remix of Jennifer Lopez' "Waiting For Tonight," the Metro Remix of Enrique Iglesias' "Hero," and the Thunderpuss Remix of Whitney Houston's "It's Not Right, But It's OK." MTV2 Dance originally aired every Sunday morning between 1 and 4 AM. In spring of 2002, MTV2 altered its format once again. New shows such as Chart2Chart (hosted by Jim Shearer), which aired the most popular videos from the pop, rap, rock, and dance, singles and albums charts, began. "Spankin' New" was a show that featured the newest videos of the week, and "Extreme Rock" began to air late nights on weekdays, showcasing hard rock and metal music, such as Godsmack, Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Guns N' Roses. "Riffs & Rhymes," appeared on the daily weekday schedule between 5 and 6 PM, and featured videos and bands that combined the sounds of rock and rap music, such as The Roots, Linkin Park, P.O.D., and Limp Bizkit. Chris Booker, after only a brief absence from the channel, was brought back in order to host the show. "Riffs & Rhymes" only lasted until the summer of 2002, but "Extreme Rock," "Spankin' New," and "Chart2Chart" have remained to the present (2003). In March of 2002, in order to complement the MTV News's version of the documentary on the 20 most controversial music videos ever made, which was TV-14, and lasted two hours on regular MTV, which was hosted and reported by Iann Robinson and SuChin Pak, both of which are MTV News reporters, although MTV News reporter Pak remains as an active reporter as of June 17th, 2005. MTV2 then aired the full-length videos, many of which were previously banned from American cable television, in a three hour, late-night TV-MA-rated special, hosted by Andrew WK. In addition to playing the top 20 that were discussed on MTV's special, which included The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up," Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," Eminem's "Stan," and Madonna's "Justify My Love," MTV2 played Björk's "Pagan Poetry," Metallica's "Turn The Page," Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker," The Cardigans' "My Favorite Game," and U.N.K.L.E.'s "Rabbit In Your Headlight" as 'bonus' controversial videos. During Memorial Day Weekend of 2002, MTV2 played a special called "Increase The Beat." Over 400 music videos, ranging from pop stars like Pink, Jennifer Lopez, Destiny's Child, and Brandy, hip-hoppers like P. Diddy, Ja Rule, Dr. Dre, Usher, Missy Elliott, and DMX, techno and dance acts, such as Cher, Whitney Houston, the Chemical Brothers, and IIO, to punk bands, such as No Doubt, the Ramones, Blondie, and the Offspring, to classic videos by some of MTV's biggest stars, such as the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael and Janet Jackson, Prince, and Madonna, to new videos by then-unknown musicians like Norah Jones, the Nappy Roots, were represented. The videos were arranged in order from slowest to fastest, based on the number of beats per minute of the song. The slowest video played was Maxwell's "This Woman's Work," which was 55 BPM, while the fastest, Nine Inch Nails' "March Of The Pigs" was 255 BPM. "Increase The Beat" aired all day Saturday and Sunday. On Memorial Day itself, the MTV2 VJ's and employees broadcast live from a barbeque in New York City, and grouped videos into categories, one for each letter of the alphabet. MTV2's next major special programming came during Fourth Of July Weekend. For the entire four-day extended holiday weekend, MTV2 did something called "Box Set Weekend." They played an artist's "Artist Collection" (by this time there were around 100 episodes of Artist Collection), and then followed it by other MTV programming that featured the artist, such as Making The Video, Ultrasound, and/or a live performance, depending on what was available in the MTV archives. Although it was not the first time that MTV2 played programming other than music videos, "Box Set Weekend" had the highest concentration of non-video programming to date on the channel. Prior to that weekend, non-video programming and specials were few and far between, and were never longer than a half hour at a time. "Box Set Weekend" began the trend for MTV2 to play fewer music videos and more archived MTV specials, which has annoyed and alienated many of MTV2's original viewers who had initially tuned in just to see the videos, without having to sit through documentaries and interviews, which can already be seen on MTV and VH1. On the other hand, MTV2's ratings have increased as a result of their incorporation of documentaries, interviews, and behind-the-scenes specials, along with music videos. During the summer of 2002, MTV2 also experimented with MTV2 Dance's timeslot, airing the block twice a week: in its usual early Sunday morning slot between 1 and 4 AM, but also early Saturday morning between midnight and 3 AM. This only lasted for a couple of weeks, however, and by the fall of 2002 MTV2 Dance was cancelled entirely. In the fall of 2002, amid complaints that the channel was slowly following the same path that regular MTV had taken, away from music videos—especially older and rarer ones—MTV2 debuted a new weekly show called The Definitive. Its purpose was to showcase videos, many of which might not have otherwise still been played on MTV2, in themed blocks. It began airing on Sunday nights between 10 and 11, and showcased an hour of videos grouped by a different theme every week. Its first episode played all animated music videos such as "Californication" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and "Do The Evolution" by Pearl Jam. To date, the show has had nearly 40 episodes. Some of the most recent themes have been videos featuring Snoop Dogg, videos featuring motorcycles, and videos by musicians who have famous fathers, in honor of Fathers Day 2003. Around the same time that Definitive debuted, MTV2 also began to play "Retro Videos" weekdays between 7 and 8 AM. This evolved into a show that is currently called "Back In Play," which airs weekdays between 7 and 8 AM, and 2 and 3 PM, each of the two hours each day being a completely different block of only older videos that are not currently on MTV or MTV2's playlist. In December of 2002, MTV2 once again tried to air every video that debuted on the channel in 2002. As happened in the past, several videos were not actually played.

Where the music's at (2003)

Through the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, MTV2 phased out the format of exclusively music videos, instead adopting a new slogan, "where the music's at," and featuring other music-related shows instead of 24/7 videos. Past "MTV Icon" specials, news documentaries, and countdowns are all as likely to be shown on MTV2 as videos. However, MTV2 still continues to show innovative and up-and-coming musicians and videos, as well as the mainstream ones. In 2003, MTV2 had a "Madonna Weekend" in order to commemorate her new album, American Life. They showed old MTV specials and interviews featuring Madonna, as well as a four hour collection of Madonna videos, called "Madonna A-Z". The weekend ended on Sunday April 20 with the premiere of the "Definitive: Madonna". It was the first episode of "Definitive" to be 2 hours, and completely determined by online viewer voting at www.mtv2.com. Madonna's controversial "Erotica" video was voted into the number one spot, and MTV2 played the video, which was originally banned on regular MTV, uncensored and in its entirety, demonstrating that MTV2 hasn't entirely lost its "alternative" and more risque edge. MTV2's 2003 schedule included some changes from 2002. Jesse Snider, son of Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, was selected as the host of MTV2 Rock, replacing Abby Gennet. In addition, MTV2 Rock was reduced to one hour per day, and Hip Hop was expanded to 5 hours per day. Much of the daily schedule is occupied by other music-related specials and documentaries, with random-rotation "Music Videos" occupying only the late-night hours. The long-running show 120 Minutes, which started on MTV in 1986 and was transferred to MTV2 in 2000, came to an end in May 2003 with a final show featuring current host Jim Shearer and former hosts Matt Pinfield and Dave Kendall. The show was renamed to "Subterranean," in a shorter 60-minute format. The show also moved from Sunday to Friday nights. Also in May 2003, MTV2 resurrected an old MTV show called Headbangers' Ball, which features a wide array of heavy metal and rock music videos. Metallica hosted the first episode, followed by Rob Zombie for the next few weeks. Jamey Jasta from the band Hatebreed has been selected as host of the show, though touring responsibilities have prevented Jasta from hosting on several occasions. The show is preceded on Saturdays by the MTV2 Rock Countdown with Jesse Snider and other rock-related music specials and documentaries. In June 2003, MTV2 began an 8-hour block of hip-hop programming on Sundays called "Sucker Free Sundays." Each week, a different guest host serves up Artist Collections, countdowns, and other hip-hop music specials.

Less variety, less music (2004)

During the fall of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, MTV2 once again updated its schedule to include more genre-separated blocks and less variety. The popular show Control Freak, which allowed viewers to vote for the next video they wanted to see, was cancelled from its daily 2-hour time slot from 7 PM to 9 PM, and moved to one half-hour seen only on Tuesday. Other daily shows like Back in Play and Latest & Greatest, which featured a mix of new and old videos, were also cancelled. As part of this transition, MTV2 Rock was moved to a half-hour at 8 PM, followed by a daily half-hour version of the Headbangers' Ball. MTV2's daily Hip Hop Show was expanded further, airing the newest hip-hop hits every day from 5 PM to 7 PM, with the same videos played again from 10 PM to midnight. A new show called "Greatest Hits" replaced Artist Collections, so MTV2 can play only the particular artist's best videos, instead of every video they ever made. The arrival of the new Greatest Hits show meant MTV2's popular "The Definitive" was cancelled as well. Around this time, MTV2's daytime schedule halted regular music video rotation. Since then, music-related specials and documentaries have been scheduled for daytime on MTV2. In the spring of 2004, MTV2 ended its contract with Jesse Snider and welcomed Amanda Diva as its new Hip Hop VJ. Jim Shearer remained with the channel and also picked up hosting duties for all Rock shows previously hosted by Jesse. Jamey Jasta remained the host of Headbangers' Ball. Also in the spring and summer of 2004, MTV2's daily schedule became almost completely occupied by repeats of MTV's documentaries, reality shows, and even some classics such as Beavis and Butt-head. Only some music video programming remained, including a daily Hip Hop hour at 6 PM and a Rock hour at 8 PM. However, MTV2's "freeform" music video format, which featured a diverse mix of new and old videos from all genres since the channel's beginning, completely ended. Even during MTV2's late night "Music Videos" rotation (4 AM to 7 AM), a programmed playlist determined the videos that will be played. As 2004 came to a close, MTV2 made very little changes to its programming, with random shows and documentaries continuing to occupy most of the daily schedule.

The two-headed dog (2005)

Beavis and Butt-head During the halftime of Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005, both MTV and MTV2 aired a 15-minute preview of MTV2's second re-launch, which took place at midnight on February 7, 2005. The purpose of this re-launch was to create a unique brand identity for MTV2, targeting 12-24 year old male viewers and separating the channel from being perceived as simply an MTV spin-off. The re-launch of the channel also brought the introduction of a completely new logo: a two-headed dog. The previous "boxes" and MTV's famous block logo have been eliminated from the new MTV2 logo, implying the new channel is nothing like the current MTV. It has also been rumored that the two heads of the dog represent Rock and Hip Hop, the two sides of MTV2. As an attempt to be more "edgy" and "cool" among its target audience, MTV2 added "sharts" (nonsensical video clips from old B-movies, as well as short clips collected from the Internet and others created in-house) in between normal video rotation, commercial breaks, and at the top of each hour. These clips serve as station IDs for the new MTV2 and are intended to present and random and "anything goes" attitude for the channel. Although Viacom, MTV2's parent company, denied any influence from competing music video channel Fuse, it is apparent that the attitude and identity associated with Fuse played a part in the decision to re-launch MTV2 and add these random clips. Fuse All original shows that were made after the re-launch were given new opening themes with "sharts" as well. Throughout each opening sequence, pieces of broken bars appear all around the screen and eventually, at the end of the random video clip, form into a bar in the center that reads the name of the show. The channel also introduced a new way to credit videos. At the beginning and end of each video, three colored bars appear in the middle of the screen which tell the video's information, rather than the traditional MTV style of white letters in the lower left corner. Also during each show, MTV2's two-headed dog logo starts to change colors and a bar appears in the middle of the screen to inform the viewer of what program is being shown. The new video credits and show information bars have been met with mixed reviews from viewers. MTV2's VJs remained the same after the re-launch, and there were only a few programming changes. The daily MTV2 Rock hour at 8 PM was eliminated, replaced with additional Hip Hop shows. Each of MTV2's regular shows received new opening themes, music, and transitions. Some new non-music video shows were also added to the schedule. Perhaps the most interesting programming change was the return of MTV2 Premiere, which aired a brand new music video at the top of every hour on Thursdays in 2001 and 2002. The new MTV2 Premiere has been named "Unleashed" and takes place on Tuesdays. Despite all of the hype surrounding the re-launch, not much else about MTV2 has changed. The original purpose of the channel, which was to be a continuous mix of music videos, was already long gone. As a result of the programming changes since 2002 and the latest re-launch in 2005, MTV2 has become totally unrecognizable from its 1996 debut.

External links

- [http://www.mtv2.com/ Official MTV2 Website]
- [http://www.mtv2europe.com/ Official MTV2 Europe website]
- [http://www.altmusictv.com/sub/ Unofficial MTV2 "Subterranean" site] Category:MTV Networks Category:United States television networks

VJ

:For V-J Day, see Victory over Japan Day. :Or you may have been looking for Vijay (Indian name). VJ or veejay (from Video Jockey, by analogy with disc jockey or DJ or "deejay") is a term coined in the early 1980s to describe the fresh faced youth who introduced the music videos on MTV. The word VJ is also used to represent video performance artists who create live visuals on all kind of music.

Live visual artists

Although less known by mainstream America, the word VJ is also used to represent video performance artists who create live visuals on all kind of music. It originates from a parallel with DJs, although most VJs nowadays have more to do with musicians than with DJs. Often using an analog vision mixer, VJs blend and superimpose various inputs over clips. In recent years, musical instrument makers have begun to make specialty equipment for VJing. The evolution of computers has allowed for VJ-specific programs to be produced and has allowed for easier accessibility to the art form.

VJ events

In recent years VJing's popularity has allowed for more Visual Art specific events to be organised.

AVIT

AVIT is one of the largest VJ events is [http://www.avit.info AVIT], now held approximately once a year in the UK, Germany and North America. There have also been smaller events held in Latin America. AVIT has 4 main purposes:
- To increase public participation in VJing
- To facilitate the development and skills base of existing VJ's
- To raise the profile of live video performance as an art form
- To capitalise on the networked community of [http://vjcentral.com VJCentral.com]

VAX12

Keywords : Parasite // Travelling // Experimental // AV Meetings of the audiovisual open creative community Telenoika.net // BCN //_ one meeting each month [http://www.telenoika.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=4&Itemid=38 VAX Sessions] in spanish & catalan

Optronica

Inaugurated in Summer 2005 at the National Film Theatre and London IMAX cinema, London, [http://www.optronica.co.uk/ Optronica]] is a high profile international event focussing on the VJ arts.

VJ Central

VJ Central organizes a calendar of events. [http://vjcentral.com VJCentral.com] is the internet's most popular VJ community and actively promotes the scene via its forums and community. With over 6700 members, it allows for an open content system similar to Wikipedia.

NYC VJ Forum

The New York City VJ Forum is a popular meeting point for the growing community of NY visual artist and real time video performers. [http://nyc-vj.com http://nyc-vj.com].

VJ Torrents

Examples of live VJ shows are available at [http://vjtorrents.com VJTorrents].

VJ resources

- [http://vjcentral.com VJCentral.com VJ Community]: articles, profiles, talk...
- [http://www.vjtv.net VJTV] - On-Line Series Featuring VJs & Visual Artists
- [http://www.nyc-vj.com New York City VJ Forum] - The New York City VJ Community
- [http://www.visualdivision.co.uk The Visual Division : NZ and UK VJ Community label] - VJ Forum and Artists
- [http://www.audiovisualizers.com AudioVisualizers.com] - Worldwide VJ Community, Loopserver, Resources, etc.
- [http://www.channel4.com/pixnmix PIXnMIX] - Channel4's VJ education project.
- [http://www.la-va.org la-va.org] - Los Angeles VJ network
- [http://envol.info/vj/ envol! VJ] - Japanese VJ blog
- [http://vjblog.prototypen.com Artificial Eye] - VJ videoblog
- [http://lecollagiste.over-blog.com/ LeCollagiste VJ] - French VJ blog
- [http://www.vjloops.tv VJ LOOPS.TV] - Commercial Resource for Royalty Free VJ Loops
- [http://www.vjspain.com VJ Spain] - Spanish VJ Community
- [http://www.vjnews.de vjnews.de] - German VJ News
- [http://www.resident-alien.co.uk Resident Alien] - Commercial Resource for Royalty Free Video Loops
- [http://www.vjcentral.it VJCentral.it ] - Italian VJ's Site
- [http://www.telenoika.net Telenoika] - AudioVisual Open Creative Community // Barcelona //
- [http://www.puta.it/vj Visual Hardcore] - A trip into music and visual art, clubbing and vjing.

VJ hardware

- [http://lividinstruments.com/instruments.php Livid Tactic and Viditar]
- [http://www.eyetrap.net/hardware/chromascope.html Chromascope Video Synthesiser]
- [http://www.edirol.com/products/info/v4.html Edirol V4]
- [http://www.vjcentral.com/hardware/view/id/fairlight_cvi Fairlight CVI]
- [http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=KPE1 Korg KPE1 Entrancer]
- [http://www.pioneer.co.jp/cdj/dvj/ Pioneer DVJ-X1]
- [http://www.xynth.net XYNth V1] Hypervisual Synthesizer - 2D/3D/AVI

VJ software

- Cross-platform:
- [http://www.troikatronix.com/isadora.html Isadora] Node-Based Visuals Creation
- [http://www.lividinstruments.com/ Livid Union 1.5] - Full VJ mixing performance instrument
- [http://www.widewhitevoid.com/ 3DJ 1.1] - Mac/Win32 Video Layering/Effects
- [http://www.arkaos.net/ Arkaos VJ] - Mac/Win32 Clip Triggering/Effects
- [http://draves.org/bomb Bomb] - Mac/Win/Linux Visual Musical Instrument
- [http://www.flxer.net FLxER] Freeware - Mac/Win/Linux Flash Video Mixer
- [http://www.robotfunk.com/flowmotion/ Flowmotion] - Mac/Win32 Video Mixing/Effects
- LiVES - Open Source Linux/Unix Video Editor and VJ tool
- FreeJ - Open Source Mac/Linux scriptable and remotely controlled vision mixer
- [http://www.freeframe.org FreeFrame] Open Source - Mac/PC/Linux crossplatform video effects
- [http://optickle.com/pages/en/newmedia.php Visulator 2.5] - Mac/Win32 Multi Layer Triggering/Effects
- [http://www.vidvox.net/grid2.html GRID] - Mac / Win XP Movie Triggering
- [http://www.videokonferenz-berlin.de/videokonferenz.php ES-X] - Mac OSX / Win XP video mixing live performance tool
- [http://artefacte.org/pd/ pidipVJ] Open Source - GNU-Linux / Mac OSX vj tool to make realtime visual art.
- [http://www.flashmixer.de Flashmixer] Freeware - Based on the Fileformat SWF (Shockwave Flash) Win/Mac/Linux
- [http://www.digitalstage.net/en/ Motion Dive] -Mac/Win32
- [http://www.neuromixer.com/ Neuromixer Pro] - Mac/Win32 Video Mixing
- [http://www.corebounce.org/wiki/Mainfloor/Soundium2/ Soundium] - Live Visual Performance Platform
- [http://www.mixnbrew.com/site/software.php?id_article=25 Symtonic Live !] Freeware - Based on the Fileformat SWF (Shockwave Flash) Win/Mac
- API
- [http://www.freeframe.org FreeFrame] Open Source - Mac/PC/Linux crossplatform video effects API designed for intergration into VJ Software
- [http://vsxu.com/ Vovoid VSX Ultra Developer] Open Source parameter-based API supporting bitmap & mesh creation, maths, rendering modules. Using [http://www.bloodshed.net/ DevC++] for development (free). Source code included for most modules.
- [http://www.gephex.org/ GePhex] - Linux/Win32 Open Source
- [http://www.rcfuse.com/ Rythmic Circle Fuse] -Mac/Win32
- [http://VLIGHT.TO/MXR/ VLIGHT.MXR] - Mac(beta)/Win32
- [http://www.cycling74.com/products/index.html MAX/MSP + Jitter] - Mac/Win32 Development Environment
- Win32
- [http://firefly.bounceme.net/firefly/ Firefly] Firefly visual performance environment
- [http://vsxu.com/ Vovoid VSX Ultra] Free visualization toolkit
- [http://www.mxwendler.net/ MXwendler] - hardware/pixelshader oriented
- [http://aestesis.org/ Aestesis] - modular (virtual hardware based) - more than 30 differents modules (2d/3d/audio/video/effects)
- [http://opentzt.sourceforge.net/ OpenTZT] - Open Source - See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenTZT OpenTZT] Reference here on the Wikipedia
- [http://www.neuromixer.com/ Neuromixer Vdrum] - Audio/Video Step Sequencer
- [http://www.loosegoose.nl/ Pilgrim]
- [http://www.resolume.com/ Resolume]
- [http://www.galago.fr/ Smode Studio]
- [http://www.visualjockey.com/ VisualJockey]
- [http://www.vjamm.com VJamm] - Audio Visual Live Performance VJ Software
- [http://jasondorie.com/midivid/ MidiVid GPU]
- [http://vvvv.meso.net vvvv] a multipurpose toolkit
- [http://www.slvtn.com Salvation] Modular (Node-based) Visuals Creation and Software Toolkit
- [http://TextMachine3D.com TextMachine 3D] Text Rendering, Dictionaries, User Input and Counters
- [http://www.vjcandyman.tk Sweetbox] Live performance application.
- Macintosh
- [http://www.sonoluca.com/ Klangfarben]
- [http://www.garagecube.com/modul8/ Modul8] Video Mixing/Effects
- [http://vjsputnik.com/soyuz.html SoYuZ] free open GL Jitter based vj software from VJ SPuTNiK
- [http://www.pixelshox.com Pixelshox] (now Quartz Composer in Tiger) Node-Based Visuals Creation
- [http://www.vidvox.net/vdmx.html VDMXX] Video MIxing/Effects
- [http://www.quartonian.net Quartonian] Creative commons licensed VJ mixer created in Quartz Composer
- Linux
- [http://effectv.sourceforge.net EffecTV] - Open Source
- [http://veejay.sourceforge.net/ Veejay] - Open Source
- [http://delcorp.org/delvj/index.php/Portada DELvj] - Open Source

VJ labels

- [http://ultrasine.com/?wikipedia&vj ultrasine.com]
- [http://www.vidauxs.net/ www.vidauxs.net] Vidauxs is a project, a space, a network, an indipendent netlabel
- [http://www.addictive.com/ www.addictive.com] Addictive TV VJ/DVD label
- [http://www.eye-con.tv www.eye-con.tv] EYE|CON Austrian VJ Label
- [http://www.eyetrap.net eyetrap.net] German VJ Network
- [http://www.visualberlin.org visualberlin.org] Berlin based VJ Network
- [http://www.lightrhythmvisuals.com www.lightrhythmvisuals.com] Lightrhythm Visuals
- [http://www.lucidhouse.com www.lucidhouse.com] Indipendent art-house Lable, Audio Visual albums, Ep's, Singles, Digital downloads, iPod & PSP media.
- [http://www.ibizuales.com www.ibizuales.com] Ibizuales
- [http://www.notv.com www.notv.com] NoTV Visual Music
- [http://www.dandelion.org/source SOURCE - pure visuals] DVD series including VJ clips
- [http://www.vjsputnik.com www.vjsputnik.com] SPuTNiK New York City VJ Label
- [http://www.effekts.dk www.effekts.dk] Effekt
- [http://www.impro.infini.fr/BUZZ.htm VJ BuzZ visuals] BuzZ
- [http://www.visualdivision.co.uk The Visual Division : UK VJ Label] - DVD Releases and Artists

MTV-type VJs

Originally hired to represent a wide array of musical tastes and personal ethnicities, eventually became famous in their own right. Essentially they were nothing more than on-air personalities, but as the popularity of MTV grew, they began to branch out past just introducing music clips. Soon they were considered by many to be full fledged music journalists, interviewing major music celebrities and hosting their own television shows on the network. As time progressed and MTV's format changed, VJs began to host game shows, talent contests and the like. Soon they were given their own shows based on the type of genre that their "demographic" was interested in. See also List of MTV VJs

2002

2002 (MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:
- International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains
- Year of the Outback in Australia
- National Science Year in the United Kingdom
- Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Overview of the year

In contrast to 2000 and 2001, which retained elements of the late 1990s, 2002 shifted into a new cultural decade. With the declining popularity of late 1990s and early 2000s acts like 'N Sync and The Backstreet Boys after band break-ups, rap acts like 50 Cent and Eminem rose in popularity. Pop-Punk acts like Good Charlotte and New Found Glory also appealed to adolescents. 2002 also marked the begining of the controversial Iraq War, which many say, along with 9/11, was the true generation definer of the 2000s.

Events

January

- January 1 - The Republic of China officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
- January 1 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters in to force.
- January 5 - Charles Bishop, a 15 year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
- January 9 - The United States Department of Justice announces it is going to pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
- January 10 - Enrique Bolaños began his five-year term as President of the Republic of Nicaragua.
- January 13 - President George W. Bush faints after choking on a pretzel.
- January 14 - The case of Adelaide Abankwah comes into trial in New York
- January 16 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law, killing three.
- January 16 - John Ashcroft announces that American Taliban member John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
- January 16 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban.
- January 17 - Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
- January 18 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one.
- January 22 - AOL Time Warner brings a federal suit against Microsoft seeking damages. The suit alleges that the market for AOL's Netscape Navigator Internet browser was harmed when Microsoft started to give away a competing browser.
- January 22 - Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in American history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- January 22 - Clyde Hood sentenced for 14 years in prison for Omega Trust fraud
- January 24 - Terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.
- January 27 - Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000.

February

- February 2 - Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands marries Máxima, Princess of Orange in Amsterdam.
- February 3 - Costa Rica: elections for President and Congress
- February 8-February 24 - 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah
- February 12 - The trial of former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague
- February 12 - Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
- February 13 - Queen Elizabeth II gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.
- February 16 - Rachel Thaler, aged 16, blown up at a pizzena in an Israeli shopping mall following a suicide bombing attack on a crowd of teenagers.
- February 19 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of using its thermal emission imaging system.
- February 20 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370
- February 20 - In most of the world, at 20:02 (8:02 PM) local time, date (written as day/month), time, and year are all 2002, making each of them alone, any two together, and the combination of all three, all palindromes.
- February 22 - Norwegian-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka
- February 23 - FARC kidnaps Ingrid Betancourt in Colombia when she campaigns for presidency
- February 27 - Ethnic conflict in India: 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim mob in Godhra, India, sparking a series of riots, leaving hundreds dead
- February 28 - The ex-currencies of all euro members officialy (at EU-level) cease to be legal tender.

March

- March 1 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
- March 1 - 28 people die in continuing violence in Ahmedabad. Police shoot and kill five while attempting to control rioters.
- March 1 - The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800km above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500kg.
- March 1 - Space Shuttle Columbia flies Hubble Space Telescope service mission (STS-109).
- March 1 - Peseta discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€)
- March 3 - São Tomé and Príncipe: elections for the legislature
- March 6 - France agrees to return the remains of Saartje Baartman to South Africa
- March 10 - Colombia: elections for the legislature; Togo: elections for the Parliament
- March 11 - BBC 6 Music, the first new BBC music radio station in decades, is launched
- March 12 - In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison
- March 17 - Portugal: elections for the Parliament
- March 19 - US Attack on Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities
- March 21 - In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
- March 27 - Netanya suicide attack: A suicide bomber kills 28 people in Netanya, Israel
- March 31 - Ukraine: elections for the Parliament

April

April
- April 2 - Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants take shelter there. A siege ensues.
- April 9- Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.
- April 15 - An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea, killing 128
- April 15 - The Alameda Corridor transportation project in Los Angeles, California opens to rail traffic, ceasing operations of through freight trains on the 120-year-old BNSF Harbor Subdivision.
- April 17 - Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S. F-16s.
- April 18 - New order of insects, Mantophasmatodea, announced.
- April 25 - South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome; he had paid £15 million for the trip.
- April 26 - Robert Steinhauser opens fire on his former teachers and other students in Erfurt, Germany and then kills himself: 16 dead.
- April 27 - Three people killed in Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot.
- April 30 - Pakistan: Pakistani voters approve a referendum granting a five-year term for Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.

May

May]
- May 4 - In Germany, BV Borussia Dortmund wins the Bundesliga title after a 2-1 victory over SV Werder Bremen.
- May 6 - In the Netherlands, politician Pim Fortuyn is killed by Volkert van der Graaf.
- May 7 - Gay Canadian teenager Marc Hall is granted a court injunction ordering that he be allowed to attend his high school prom with his boyfriend.
- May 9 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agreed to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries. The standoff started April 2.
- May 9 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade, killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
- May 10 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
- May 12 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
- May 15 - The Netherlands: elections for the Lower House.
- May 16 - Star Wars: Attack of the Clones is released in theaters.
- May 20 - Restoration of East Timor independence
- May 21 - US State Department releases report citing seven State-Sponsors of Terrorism;Iran,Iraq,Cuba,Libya,North Korea,Sudan,andSyria.
- May 22 - In Washington, DC, Chandra Levy's remains are found in Rock Creek Park.
- May 22 - American civil rights movement: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls.
- May 23 - Irish Football Captain, Roy Keane, Is sent home from the Training Camp in Saipan, by Manager Mick McCarthy after an Argument over Training arrangements. This cause a huge Media sensation in Ireland and Britain. Many people were split over two sides and some called it the Second Irish Civil War.
- May 23 - First Eurovision Song Contest in a former Soviet country: Estonia
- May 25 - The Boston Celtics come back from twenty-six points down to defeat the New Jersey Nets in Game 3 of the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference Finals.
- May 25 - China Airlines Flight 611 broke up near the Penghu Islands at Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
- May 26 - The Mars Odyssey finds signs of huge water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
- May 28 - Washington DC's medical examiner declares that Chandra Levy's death was the result of homicide.
- May 31 through June 30 - 17th Football World Cup in South Korea and Japan

June

June over London in a fly past for Queen Elizabeth II on her Golden Jubilee]]
- June 1 - The Los Angeles Lakers def the Sacramento Kings 112-106, to win Game 7 of the National Basketball Association's 2002 Western Conference Finals.
- June 3 - The "Party in the Palace" takes place at Buckingham Palace, London for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations.
- June 4 - Quaoar is discovered.
- June 4 - Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh ride in the gold state coach from Buckingham Palace to St Paul's Cathedral for a special service marking the Queen's 50 years on the throne. In New York, the Empire State Building is lit in purple for her honour.
- June 5 - Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her Salt Lake City, Utah home.
- June 5 - Mozilla 1.0, the first 'official' version, is released.
- June 6 - The United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee announces it is probing Martha Stewart's ImClone stock sales.
- June 8 - Serena Williams defeats her sister Venus Williams in straight sets to win the 2002 French Open.
- June 10 - Annular solar eclipse.
- June 11 - Antonio Meucci was recognised as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
- June 12 - The Los Angeles Lakers def the New Jersey Nets 4 games to 0 to win the 2002 NBA Finals.
- June 13 - The Detroit Red Wings def the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 1 in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 14 - In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. consulate kills twelve Pakistanis and injures fifty.
- June 18 - Arizona experiences its worst forest fire, burning 462,606 acres (1,872 km²) near the Mogollon Rim.
- June 30 - Brazil defeats Germany 2-0 to win the Football World Cup 2002.

July

- July 1 - Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Uberlingen in Southern Germany - 72 dead
- July 1 - Wendy J. Hamilton became president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
- July 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq once again rejects new U.N. weapons inspections proposals
- July 10 - At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson
- July 13 - A lighting strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which is left to burn 499,570 acres (2,022 km²) when finally contained on September 5.
- July 14 - During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed.
- July 15 - So-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each of the charges
- July 19 - K-19: The Widowmaker starring Harrison Ford is released.
- July 21 - Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history
- July 27 - Helen Clark leader of the Labour Party is historically re-elected in a landslide victory over the Right Wing in the New Zealand general election of 2002.
- July 27 - A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine killing 78 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.

August

- August 27 - Simon & Schuster sues Michael Pelligrino and Artist Management Group because Pelligrino had written a book claiming to be a son of late Mafioso Carlo Gambino

September

- September 2 - The opening of the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, successor of the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment, 1983 World Commission on Environment and Development, and the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development.
- September 3 - Consolidated Freightways files for bankruptcy
- September 5 - A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.
- September 5 - The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km²), is finally contained.
- September 8 - Typhoon Sinlaku causes huge waves on the Qiantangjiang River in Sheijang Province, China
- September 11 - The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes to a close.
- September 12 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush, addresses the U.N. and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.
- September 15 - The Swedish parliamentary election leaves Prime Minister Göran Persson and the Social Democrats in power.
- September 22 - The German federal election leaves Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, his Social Democrats and the Greens in power

October

- October 2 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.S. Congress passes a joint resolution which explicitly authorizes the President to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate.
- October 7 - Discovery of Quaoar is announced.
- October 11 - Lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland - casualties include himself. See Myyrmanni bombing.
- October 12 - Bali bombing: Terrorists detonate massive bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300.
- October 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: George W. Bush signs the Iraq war resolution.
- October 24 - The Beltway snipers are arrested.
- October 25 - U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family and staff, are killed by a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
- October 27 - The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series.

November

November.
- November 5 - U.S. Elections: The Republican Party maintains control of the House of Representatives and regains control of the Senate.
- November 7 - Iran bans advertising of US products.
- November 8 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
- November 9 - In Los Angeles, California, television and film actor Merlin Santana is shot to death while sitting in the passenger seat of a friend's car parked on the 3800 block of Victoria Avenue.
- November 13 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
- November 13 - The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast and causes a huge oil spill.
- November 14 - Argentina defaults on a US$805 million World Bank payment
- November 15 - Hu Jintao becomes general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
- November 16 - A Campaign Against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln's Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.
- November 18 - Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
- November 21 - NATO Summit in Prague - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia invited to become NATO members.
- November 22 - In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
- November 25 - US President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security in the largest US government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 (the Senate passed the bill 90-9 on November 19).

December

- December 4 - Total solar eclipse
- December 7 - Iraq disarmament crisis: As required by the recently passed U.N. resolution, Iraq files a 12,000 page weapons declaration with the U.N. Security Council. Although it is supposed to be a complete declaration, it is seen as incomplete by the Security Council and weapons inspectors.
- December 10 - High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
- December 18 - Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released into theaters.
- December 24 - Laci Peterson of Modesto, California is reported missing.
- December 27 - Suicide truck-bomb attack destroys headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people.
- December 29 – Communist New People's Army blows up a bust of Ferdinand Marcos in Benguet, Philippines.

Unknown Date

- Naruto (anime) is created by Studio Perriot.
- American Prohibition Foundation incorported.

Births

- August 2 - Kara Hoffman, American actress
- August 2 - Shelby Hoffman, American actress
- December 6 - Sophia Rosalinda Bratt, daughter of Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto

Deaths

For more deaths see: Deaths in 2002

January

- January 3 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch-born beer magnate (b. 1923)
- January 8 - Alexander Prochorow, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- January 8 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1932)
- January 12 - Stanley Unwin, South African comedian (b. 1911)
- January 12 - Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State (b. 1917)
- January 13 - Ted Demme, American film and television director (b. 1963)
- January 16 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
- January 16 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
- January 16 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
- January 17 - Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer (b. 1916)
- January 22 - Peggy Lee, American singer and actress (b. 1920)
- January 23 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
- January 23 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
- January 28 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
- January 28 - Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author (b. 1907)
- January 29 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)

February

- February 6 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1914)
- February 8 - Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (b. 1930)
- February 9 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b. 1930)
- February 14 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
- February 15 - Howard K. Smith, American television journalist (b. 1914)
- February 15 - Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
- February 16 - Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (b. 1913)
- February 19 - Virginia Hamilton, American writer
- February 21 - John Thaw, British actor (b. 1942)
- February 22 - Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
- February 22 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)
- February 24 - Leo Ornstein, American composer and pianist (b. 1912)
- February 26 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
- February 27 - Spike Milligan, British comedian, writer, and poet (b. 1918)
- February 27 - Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
- February 28 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)

March

- March 11 - James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- March 14 - Cherry Wilder, New Zealand author (b. 1930)
- March 24 - César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
- March 25 - Kenneth Wolstenholme, British football commentator (b. 1920)
- March 27 - Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
- March 27 - Dudley Moore, British pianist, comedian, and actor (b. 1935)
- March 27 - Billy Wilder, Austrian-born film screenwriter and director (b. 1906)
- March 30 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen of George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
- March 31 - Barry Took, British comedian and writer (b. 1928)

April

- April 5 - Layne Staley, American singer (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
- April 8 - Maria Felix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
- April 9 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
- April 15 - Byron White, American athlete and Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
- April 16 - Franz Krienbühl, Swiss speed skater (b. 1929)
- April 16 - Robert Urich, American actor (cancer) (b. 1946)
- April 18 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
- April 18 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
- April 25 - Indra Devi, yoga teacher (b. 1899)
- April 25 - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, American rapper (TLC) (b. 1971)
- April 27 - George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
- April 27 - Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Swiss industrialist and art collector (b. 1921)
- April 28 - Ruth Handler, American toy manufacturer (b. 1916)
- April 28 - Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (b. 1950)

May

- May 5 - Hugo Bánzer Suarez, President of Bolivia (b. 1926)
- May 6 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (assassi

MTV

MTV (abbreviation for Music Television) is a cable television network which was originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music. MTV later became an outlet for a variety of different material aimed at adolescents and young adults. The network was founded on August 1, 1981 as an operation of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, a joint venture of Warner Communications and American Express. In 1985, it was acquired by Viacom Inc., and was folded into MTV Networks, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. MTV's combination of music videos, youthful video jockeys, irreverent commentary, promotion of special rock concerts, and news and documentaries about bands and performers established the network's popularity with youthful viewers, and it became a leading promoter of new rock music and rock musicians. MTV is often considered a driving force in pop culture.

History

MTV's roots can be traced back to 1977, when Warner-Amex Cable (a joint venture between Warner Communications and American Express) launched the first two-way interactive cable TV system, Qube, in Columbus, Ohio. The Qube system offered many specialized channels, including a children's channel called Pinwheel which would later become Nickelodeon. One of these specialized channels was Sight On Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music oriented TV programs; with the interactive Qube service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs and artists. The popularity of the channel prompted Warner Amex to market the channel nationally to other cable services. At midnight on August 1, 1981, the format was changed to music video (using a concept originally devised and sold to Warner Amex by Michael Nesmith, previously a member of the hit pop band The Monkees) and the name was changed to "MTV—Music Television". MTV started in New York City but was available in most of the United States by the mid-1980s with the nationwide expansion of cable. Appropriately, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (with similar tongue-in-cheek humor, the first video shown on MTV Europe was "Money for Nothing," by Dire Straits, which starts (and finishes) with repetition of the line "I want my MTV," voiced by Sting; In MTV Latino, the first video shown was "We Are Southamerican Rockers" by the chilean band Los Prisioneros). The early format of the network was modeled after Top 40 radio. Fresh-faced young men and women were hired to host the show's programming, and to introduce videos that were being played. The term VJ (video jockey) was coined, a play on the term DJ (disc jockey.) Many VJs eventually became celebrities in their own right. The early music videos that made up the bulk of the network's programming in the '80s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever sources could be found; as the popularity of the network rose, and record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly elaborate clips specifically for the network. Several noted film directors got their start creating music videos, including Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and David Fincher. A large number of rock stars of the 1980s and 1990s were made into household names by MTV. 1980s bands immediately identifiable with MTV include Eurythmics, Duran Duran and Bon Jovi. Michael Jackson launched the second wave of his career as an MTV staple. Madonna rose to fame on MTV in the 1980s, and to this day continues to use the network to promote her music. In 1984 the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show. Seen as a fit of self-indulgence by a fledgling network at the time, the "VMAs" developed into a music-industry showcase marketed as a hip antidote to the Grammy awards. In 1992, the network would add a movie award show with similar success. After MTV's programming shifted towards heavy metal and rap music, MTV Networks launched a second network, Video Hits 1 (VH1), in 1985. VH1 featured more popular music than MTV. Today, MTV Networks also owns Nickelodeon, a cable channel airing children's and family programming. Nickelodeon MTV started off showing music videos nearly full-time, but as time passed they introduced a variety of other shows, including animated cartoons such as Beavis and Butt-head and Daria; "reality" shows such as The Real World and Road Rules; prank/comedic shows such as The Tom Green Show, Jackass, and Punk'd; and soap operas such as Undressed. By the second half of the 1990s, MTV programming consisted primarily of non-music programming. In 2000, MTV's Fear became the first 'scary' reality show where contestants filmed themselves. The show ran for three seasons and spawned numerous imitations, including the currently running Fear Factor on NBC. In 2002, MTV aired the first episode of another reality show, The Osbournes, based on the everyday life of former, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, and two of their children, Jack and Kelly. The show went on to become one of the network's biggest ever success stories and kick-started a musical career for Kelly Osbourne, while Sharon Osbourne went on to host a talk show on U.S. television. In 2003, Newlyweds, another popular reality TV show that follows the lives of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, a music celebrity couple, began. It has run for three seasons. The success of Newlyweds was followed in June 2004 by The Ashlee Simpson Show, which documented the beginnings of the music career of Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson's younger sister. In the fall of 2004, Ozzy Osbourne's reality show Battle for Ozzfest aired. In 2004, MTV's parent company Viacom bought Germany's largest provider for music television Viva Media AG, thereby creating the largest company for music on the European mainland. In November 2004, MTV announced it would begin airing in February 2005 MTV Base in Africa, [http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=6814113] thereby reaching the world's last major populated area previously not served by MTV. See also: List of MTV Shows

Diversification

The advent of digital satellite and cable has also brought greater diversity including channels such as MTV2, which features the slogan "Where The Music's At." In the U.S., MTV2 focuses on playing music videos and other music-related programming; in Europe, MTV2 plays specific genres of music (mainly alternative and rock). Viacom, parent company of the MTV Networks, is also behind VH1, which is aimed at the older market segments with more focus on music from the 1970s and 1980s; and CMT, which targets the country music market. MTV recently broadcast a new Indian Pop Culture channel called MTV Desi and University-oriented channel mtvU. See also: List of MTV diversification

Criticism

In its early years, MTV was criticized as racist, since the acts it featured were nearly exclusively white. MTV executives countered by claiming that there were few—if any—promotional videos available from black and other minority acts, although artists such as Diana Ross and The Jacksons had been making music videos before MTV existed. Shortly thereafter, the network began heavily featuring videos from Michael Jackson's album Thriller, in particular "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", which became two of the all-time most popular videos on the network. Subsequently, MTV would delve heavily into black musical acts, developing several hip-hop music-themed programs such as Yo! MTV Raps, and a digital cable channel called MTV Jams. MTV is showing many more rap videos today. Because of its visibility as a promotional tool for the recording industry, MTV has been criticized as overly commercial and accused of denigrating the importance of music in the music industry (replacing it with a purely visual aesthetic); this is an ongoing problem for punk and emo bands (example; Green Day, a popular punk band, is made mainstream and the mainstream system is what punk rock rebels against; are they still punk?). As early as 1985, some musicians were criticizing MTV for these reasons, perhaps most famously Dead Kennedys with "MTV Get Off The Air." MTV UK has recently been under fire as it no longer airs any daytime music videos, outside of parts of a few shows like Total Request Live and Making The Video, and focuses primarily on MTV produced reality shows such as The Osbournes and Punk'd. Many argue, however, that as MTV runs nine music channels in the UK, it has delegated music videos to its genre channels in a bid to differentiate itself from the competition of the fourteen other music video-oriented channels. Videos are also often played between other shows and at night. The same criticism has also been made of MTV in the USA, with its dearth of music videos, and its stronger focus on reality shows such as Road Rules, The Real World, and others as well. The primary U.S. MTV channel does occasionally play music videos (albeit rarely) instead of exclusively relegating them to their genre channels. MTV UK has also been attacked for over-use of on-screen graphics, such as logos, programme promotion and countdown timers, and its electronica-themed genre channel MTV Dance is often derided for playing a lack of dance music during the day, preferring a mix of pop-dance, pop, and R&B. Ironically, the channel has also been criticized for lacking programming. Critics also claim that bands sell well because they get a lot of exposure on MTV, rather than MTV picking the best bands to promote; and that MTV has too much influence in the music industry. Although it could be argued that MTV is simply giving airtime to the most popular acts in a given country, the counter-argument could also be made that these acts get popular simply because of the exposure that MTV gives them. There have also been some critics who have said that MTV promotes bad behavior (mainly premarital sex, zoophilia, war propaganda and even recreational drug use) to the youth of America by embracing the behaviors of certain celebrities who are not good role models. It was also said by someone that 'MTV was porn for children!' (later in the evening and during the night, MTV tend to show slightly more adult-themed programming). MTV (and its sister channel, VH1, which also broadcast the event) drew heavy criticism for its coverage of Live 8, the multinational concert of musical artists which raised awareness for African debt relief. The broadcast of the music was limited, as the network cut to its on-air personalities, celebrity interviews, and commercials in the middle of live acts. The epitome of this was the widely reported decision to cut to commercial during Pink Floyd's performance in London, which was bassist Roger Waters' first performance with the rest of the band since 1981. MTV VJ's came onscreen to talk during the first guitar solo in "Comfortably Num