the scoop

the scoop

high honor for sandler

Adam Sandler became a box-office superstar by interpreting his favorite character: the repressed man-child. He soared to fame portraying short-tempered Peter Pans in the “Happy Gilmore,” “Billy Madison” and “Big Daddy” films, branding himself the poster boy for guys who don’t want to grow up.

Now the 41-year-old actor-comedian will be rewarded for his antics with the Generation Award at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, to be presented Sunday at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

He will receive the award for his “amazing contribution to Hollywood” and years of entertaining the network’s young viewers, MTV announced. The Generation Award is MTV Movie Awards’ highest honor.

make a muxtape

Before the rise of MP3s and file sharing, the best way to share music with your friends was to create a mixtape. The process of queuing up tunes on your stereo and recording them to cassette seems really old-fashioned now, especially with how easy it is to create playlists on the computer, but the nostalgia of the mixtape — choosing just the right songs to fit with the time-constraints of the cassette — holds a certain charm.

Muxtape (muxtape.com) extends the metaphor of the mixtape to the Internet, and is an interesting way to share your favorite songs with the world. As with the layout of the Web site, setting up an account on Muxtape is dead simple. You choose a name for your list, type in an account password and enter an e-mail address. That’s it. You don’t even have to submit your name.

Once established, you can begin uploading your unprotected MP3s to your account. To play the tune, just click on the song title. To share your mix with friends, just e-mail the URL to them. If they want the song for themselves, they can click on a link to purchase the track from Amazon MP3 that appears below the song title (Amazon may not carry all songs).

unfit to serve

Nintendo’s “Wii Fit” certainly got plenty of publicity during its launch last week, replacing the monthlong buzz over “Grand Theft Auto IV.” If you couldn’t find “Wii Fit” in stores near you, blame Ellen DeGeneres, who gave one to every member of the audience at one of her tapings.

If you did score a “Wii Fit,” you may be wondering what you’re going to do with that Balance Board once you let your workout program slide. The good news is that more publishers are announcing games that will use the board. Namco Bandai’s “We Ski” is already on the market. Electronic Arts has promised “Skate It” and “Boogie Superstar,” while THQ has “All-Star Cheer Squad” on its schedule. Best of all, it appears that Ubisoft’s “Rayman Raving Rabbids 3” will use the device.

song of the week

The timing couldn’t be better for the return of New Kids on the Block, as job insecurity and rising gas prices make lightweight pop seem like a necessary escape. The group’s comeback reunion single, “Summertime” (Interscope), is a bit of a hodgepodge — some squonky keyboards, a doo-wop bridge, a little of Take That’s “Back for Good” — but it’s likable enough to push aside any troubled thoughts for three minutes.

‘guitar hero’ revamp

“Guitar Hero” may have reinvented the rhythm game, but let’s face it: Over the last year, “Rock Band” has outperformed it in every regard except sales. No one’s been expecting “GH” publisher Activision and developer RedOctane to settle for second best, so it’s no surprise that this fall’s edition will add drums and vocals, just like the competition.

The most visible hardware addition to “Guitar Hero World Tour” is a fifth drum pad (the “Rock Band” kit has four). The most significant innovation, though, is the Music Studio software, which will let players compose, record, edit and upload their own tunes. Dusty Welch, RedOctane’s head of publishing, said it “has the potential to revolutionize consumer-generated music.”

“World Tour” also promises a robust solo tour as well as the ability to build a career with bandmates you’ve met online — two things “Rock Band” was missing. Acts making their first appearance in a “GH” game include Sublime and the Eagles, while Van Halen is finally forking over some master tracks.