If you’re looking for a festival that’s a bit different this year, then look no further than Live and Unsigned. There might be are plenty of festivals you can visit to get knee deep in mud, check out all the latest chart music that’s been drummed out on the radio and wiggle your hips to popular guitar riffs.

But, for festival goers who want to hear fresh, new music then the L&U Festival has to be the definitive choice. It’s offering something unique this year, a chance to break away from the overplayed tunes of today, as it’s all about presenting and supporting unsigned, original music in the UK.

The Live and Unsigned Festival is an all day event, packed full of entertainment and will play host to an eclectic mix of artists – including Rock, Indie, Pop/Acoustic and Urban, so it’s packed with music for everyone!

Situated in the IndigO2 at the 02 Arena in London on 10th July 2010, it will bring together the cream of the crop of unsigned talent from across the UK – providing plenty of opportunities to dance your socks off to something other than the regurgitation of the top 40 chart.

There’ll also be a host of celebrity judges on hand to cast their eye over the bands, as the acts have all battled it out in Live Regional Heats to make it to the IndigO2 in London. I will even be heading down to the Essex heat in Basildon!

Celebs confirmed to be there on the day include the legendary Slade front man Noddy Holder, Radio 1's prime time presenter Greg James, Urban DJ and Radio 1's Ras Kwame, RnB mega star Shola Ama, TV star Gail Porter and many more!

A live crowd of over 2, 500 people and the celebrity judges will all be there to celebrate under the radar acts. And for those wanting to hear something familiar, there will also be performances from guest acts and DJ’s. Innovative, fresh and brimming with new music.

It promises to be a great day out and tickets are now on sale for the Live and Unsigned Festival and can be purchased via the website. Doors open at 1.30pm! http://www.liveandunsigned.uk.com/national_final

So whilst spending a week snowboarding a story caught my attention about a young guy who was doing something much more worhwhile than me bombing down a ski slope!

15 year-old Berkshire school boy Parker Liautaud set off on Friday 2nd April on an Arctic journey to become the youngest person in history to ski to the North Pole. He hoped his journey would inspire a new generation of environmentally aware young people to get their voice heard about their concern on global environmental issues.

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood is also supporting Parker in his quest and has designed a special flag to be planted when he reaches the North Pole. The expedition is being sponsored by GE. Parker approached the company because of is ecomagination initiative —which encourages global action to solve environmental challenges.

I've been following Parkers progress during my time off the slopes while I was in Austria. Take a look below at his on going accounts of his extraordinary experience...

Last week I was up to my knees in the white stuff shredding the powder at Snowbombing in Mayrhofen, Austria but my snowy adventures have got nothing on Parker Liautaud. 15 year old Parker from Berkshire was trekking across the Arctic wastes, aiming to become the youngest person ever to ski to the Northpole. Unfortunately due to "insurmountable conditions" Parker had to fly the last leg of his trip by helicopter but he deserves a high five anyway. Look at the pictures he must be nuts!

I was following him on twitter @parkerliautaud and he was trekking all day and then drifting back the way he'd come all night, which must be more frustrating than trying to ride switch. The adventurer undertook the chilling challenge to inspire a new generation (that's you lot) of environmentally aware young people and there's no doubt he's done that - and he got to plant his Vivienne Westwood designed flag at the pole! Get involved by finding him on twitter @parkerliautaud or on his Facebook Fan Page “The Last Degree”.

His next challenge is his GCSE's. Good luck with that.

Check out his new night at one of our favourite spots in London - The Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes. If you love your old skool hip hop mixed with breakers and beat boxers this is right up your alley(!).

After seeing MTV & Viva star Huey and his band the Fun Lovin' Criminals there recently, you can expect some celeb appearances too!- JB

Day 5 was another amazing day on the slopes. It just seems to keep getting hotter out herer every day. You'd never know we were on a snow holiday!

We managed to catch up with 2/3 of the indie band favourites - Doves. We've been trying to get hold of them for the whole day but because they wanted to test out the slopes for themselves earlier (and why the hell not!) we kept missing them earlier in the day. When we finally caught up with them, the guys disclosed that they're skiers rather than snowboarders which cut me deeply but I Let it slide due to their legendary status indie band status though.

Day 6 - After our exploits on the slopes, today I interviewed The Enemy. The boys were in good spirits ahead of their gig at the Racket Club later tonight. I then trekked back to the hotel we were staying in because Example had just touched down. I finally caught up with him and had a chat about his new single produced by Sub Focus called Kick Starts. He played me it on his ipod and it definitely sounds like another hit so hold tight for that one.

After Example - we were off up another mountain for snowbombings infamous Artic Disco. A party in a giant igloo at the top of a mountain with Fatboy slim providing the music! After a long climb to the top we managed to keep our MTV NEWS eqipment from freezing over and got an interview with mr Headlining act himself, Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim!!!

Keep an eye out on MTV NEWS to hear what all the artists and Djs had to say or go online and watch the bulletins at mtvnews.co.uk.

All in all Snowbombing 2010 for me has been the best one yet. I cant wait to do it all again next year!

Auf Wiedersehen

Ricks

I can't believe it's day 4 of our snowbombing adventure already! If you've been following me via twitter (twitter.com/rickieHW) you'd know that mine and Melvins journey started last Saturday morning where we, along with a precession of around 25 other cars left for our road trip to Mayrhofen, Austria.

Our first task was to get across the Channel which we did via ferry. We then drove through France, Belgium, Holland and stopped in Frankfurt, Germany for the night. While we were there we decided to check out some local club culture - so went to a super club called Cocoon owned by super star house DJ - Sven Vath. Great music and a great night!

Day 2 - It was my turn to drive on the final leg of our journey up to Mayrhofen in the Austrian mountains - and even though I'd only had a few hours sleep the journey was actually a lot of fun. Driving through Germany on there autobahn (motorways) there are many sections that don't have set speed limits so you can imagine how much fun that was to drive through ;-)

After a 5hour drive we finally made it to Mayrhofen, Austria. Being part of the massive precession of snowbombing branded Volvo cars that every one had been given was definitely an amazing sight as we all drove into the town and over the finish line. The streets were lined with loads of snowbombing enthusiasts cheering at us and people ready to party. The long drive was definitely worth the wait.

That night we went to a club called Arena which is actually underneath our hotel!!! It was a Drum N Bass night and the Urban Nerds rocked the place until the early hours.

Day 3 - First day on the slopes. It was all about getting my snow feet back today as I hadn't boarded since going to snowbombing a year earlier with MTV NEWS! Myself and Melvin hit the pistes. The weather was really full on. Low visibilty, heavy snow showers and absolutely FREEZING! We managed to get a good days boarding in though.

Later in the evening we were invited to something called the Back Country Party. The only way to describe it, is that it was in a valley about a half hour drive deeper into the mountains and we partied in a log cabin with a truck load of fellow snowbombers (including Gavin and Staceys - Matt Horne) into the early hours.

Day 4 - After a really REALLY late night - EVERYONE slept in today. We didn't make it to the slopes until midday! The weather was amazing today though. Blue skies, hot sunshine. It was at least 25oC up on the mountain and the snow conditions were amazing. So far snowbombing has been the ultimate snow trip. Tomorrow we're supposed to be interviewing Doves - cannot wait for that, I'll let you know how it goes.

So right now, I'm sitting in the sports lounge area of our hotel making use of the free wifi with my laptop. Sitting across the room from me at the bar - Tom from The Enemy! So, I'm off to go say hello. Speak to you guys later.

Keep track of all the fun we're getting up to out here via our twitter pages @RickieHW and @Melvinodoom and watch the footage next week on MTV NEWS and MTV Digs!

Ricks

Scouting for Girls are back with a brand spanking new album, and a few weeks ago the boys came into MTV to chat about their showbiz (or not so showbiz!) lifestyle there plans for this summer, hopes for their second album and to make a plea for Cheryl to call them!

With a few number 1 singles, a number 1 album and multiple award nominations under their belt, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the boys have been living the high life for the last year! But apparently not. They told us that they really just prefer a night down the pub with their mates, and are not even sure where the celeb hot spots are!

Roy said: “We’re really good at playing live shows…and making good pop songs… they’re the only things we’re really interested in.”

The band also mentioned that they are open to offers of collaboration with just about anyone… but were particularly keen on a duet with Cheryl Cole!

Scouting for Girls latest single ‘This Aint A Love Song is out now, their album will follow on later this year and don’t forget to check them out at V festival.

Good luck guys

x

Last Sunday I set up camp on the Empire Awards red Carpet to mingle and have a bit of a chin wag with some of Film's hottest stars including Patrick Stewart, Ray Winstone, Aaron Johnson and his pregnant fiance Sam Taylor Wood. A bit different than the Oscars, these awards are voted for by the readers of Empire. Avatar and Star trek were the big winners.

The 3D epic Avatar won Best Film, Best Director for James Cameron and Best Actress for Zoe Saldana. Also picking up gongs were Sherlock Holmes and Michael Caine movie Harry Brown.

Oscar winner Christoph Waltz bagged Best Actor for his role in Inglorious Basterds.
Jude Law was named Empire Hero while Sir Ian McKellen and Ray Winstone picked up lifetime achievement statues.

Aaron Johnson- star of Nowhere Boy and Kick Ass- was handed the Best Newcomer awar.

The untelevised awards is always a good party as follicly challenged Mark Strong told me, you can 'let your hair down' without worrying about the cameras. The party continued on to Soho House where I chatted to Harry Brown Star and musician Plan B who should be very happy with himself as his single 'She Said' currently sits at no. 2 in the midweeks behind Scouting for Girls.

L:)X

I'm just back from a crazy week at SXSW festival in Austin. By far the best festival in the world - a must for any music lover and a place where you can see great established bands and more importantly discover the next big thing...

Each evening at SXSW, from approx 5 30-7 30 pm to be exact, our humble abode (The Embassy Suite) would provide a backdrop (a.k.a FREE Happy Hour bar) where music men and women alike could 'network'.

This is where we met musician 'Hyperpotamus'... although I don't think I'll be joining the act full time...

Lx

"His influence on filmmakers throughout the entire world is so profound as to be almost incomparable" Martin Scorsese on Akira Kurosawa.

It's likely that the work of Akira Kurosawa has influenced the films you've seen even though you may not have heard of him. The Japanese director passed away in 1988, but today is the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Akira was born in Tokyo, the youngest of eight children, his family descended from a line of former samurai. Luckily for us, his father (Isamu) believed that films could provide a positive educational experience and encouraged his son to watch movies.

'Sanshiro Sugata' became his directorial debut in 1943 and the rest as they say is history. His most famous film 'Seven Samurai' was remade as 'The Magnificent Seven', 'Yojimbo' became 'A Fistfull of Dollars' and the narrative structure of 'Rashomon' had a massive influence on 'The Usual Suspects' as well as countless modern features. I could go on.

If you fancy a change from the latest 3D HD interactive online clip his films are definitely worth a watch.

Check out this video of new Artisit B.O.B and see what you think.

Keep an eye on MTV NEWS also to find put more about him...