Categories
Movies

I like movies!!

ATTACK OF THE CLONES
Look out, movie fans, it’s “Wars” at the box office this year.
Hollywood hopes to have its biggest-grossing year ever in 2005 with the final installment in the “Star Wars” franchise ó “Star Wars: Episode III ó Revenge of the Sith” ó leading the pack.
“Everybody is looking at it as the year’s biggest surefire blockbuster,” said Gitesh Pandya, editor of boxofficeguru.com, which tracks ticket sales.
“It’s the final ‘Star Wars’ movie, so even people who didn’t like the last two will come out for this one. And it’s the closest to the original ‘Star Wars,’ the one that everybody loved.”
If that holds true, the sixth film in the famed sci-fi series could top 1999’s “Star Wars: Episode I ó The Phantom Menace,” which is the fifth top-grossing film of all time with $924.5 million worldwide.
In addition, the excitement generated by George Lucas’ last hurrah, to be released May 19, could spur film fans to go to the movies more often this summer, analysts believe.
And there plenty of high-profile sci-fi, action and superhero flicks to fill theater seats, leading off with “Batman Begins,” Warner Bros.’ big-budget bid in June to revive the Cape Crusader’s box-office magic.
“The ‘Batman’ franchise was run into the ground in 1997 when Arnold Schwarzenegger played Mr. Freeze,” Pandya told The Post, referring to “Batman and Robin,” which starred George Clooney.
“This new one [starring Christian Bale] will be a darker film. A lot of comic-book fans are really looking forward to it.”
In fact, sequels and remakes more than ever will play a huge part of the year’s box-office bravado as Hollywood plays it ultra-safe, relying on “comfort” movies and characters film fans are familiar with.
They include Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” with Tom Cruise; Tim Burton’s “Willy Wonka” remake, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”; “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”; and a remake of “The Bad News Bears.”
There’s also “The Producers,” with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick; “King Kong” from “Lord of the Rings” whiz Peter Jackson; “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo”; “Saw 2”; “The Amityville Horror”; and “The Longest Yard.”
“The Pink Panther” will get an update, courtesy of Steve Martin, who reprises Peter Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau.
Even Paris Hilton is involved in a remake ó she’s one of the stars of “House of Wax,” an update of the 1953 Vincent Price shocker.
“It’s going to be more of the same,” said Brandon Grey, president of boxofficemojo.com, which keeps tabs on the movie biz. “Lots of remakes ó especially horror remakes ó family films, computer animated films.”
Nor have the studios grown tired of revamping old TV favorites.
Nicole Kidman gets her shot as nose-twitching Samantha Stevens in “Bewitched”; Jessica Simpson will wiggle around at Daisy Duke in “The Dukes of Hazzard”; and Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps will try to do Jackie Gleason and Art Carney proud in “The Honeymooners.”

Categories
Television

Now that my vacation is over, I am staying home just to watch TV!!

ON WITH THE SHOWS
January. The coldest month of the year. The holidays are over. It’s way too early to even think about spring.
But don’t despair.
January is a great time for watching TV. It’s what the networks call midseason, when an amazing 30 new or returning series will debut.
So grab the remote. These shows will keep you warm.
Alias
Wednesday, Jan. 5, 9 p.m., ABC
Poor “Alias” fans have waited eight months to find out what’s up with Jennifer Garner’s superspy character, Sydney Bristow. And on Wednesday, they’ll finally get their fix. This season, watch for Sydney to do some on-screen smooching with fellow spook Michael Vaughn, who’s played by Garner’s real-world ex, Michael Vartan – the guy she threw over for current flame Ben Affleck. Next week, you can check out Garner’s first action-movie star turn at the multiplex, in the superhero flick “Elektra” – although that would require going outside.
Wickedly Perfect
Thursday, Jan. 6, 8 p.m., CBS
Martha Stewart won’t be out of jail until March, and who knows when her planned reality show with “Survivor” whiz Mark Burnett will take off. In the meantime, we have “Wickedly Perfect,” in which 12 contestants move into an opulent Greenwich, Conn., mansion and compete in categories like party planning, cooking and flower arranging. For the first show, the contestants were given 24 hours to make a display out of 3,000 apples – and most didn’t sleep till they were done. “I think some of them forgot they were on camera,” recalls host Joan Lunden of “Good Morning America” fame. “The first night, they were hiding pots and pans from each other. I was watching them in the control room, and I was just amazed. The producer said, ‘Joan, the game has begun.'”
24
Sunday, Jan. 9, 8 p.m., Fox
You won’t see many familiar faces when the fourth season of “24” kicks off next Sunday. In fact, Kiefer Sutherland is the only major star who’s returning. The rest of the characters have been variously killed or arrested, making way for some impressive new faces, including Shohreh Aghdashloo, who got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for last year’s “House of Sand and Fog.” “For the first time in my career, I’m doing action scenes,”Aghdashloo tells the Post. “I’ve been jumping up and down like I’m in a James Bond movie.” Despite all these new characters, the format of the show hasn’t changed. As with the other seasons, each episode takes place over one hour of real time. This year, the adventure begins with the explosion of a commuter train.
The Surreal Life
Sunday, Jan. 9, 9 p.m., VH1
After putting Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis, Flavor Flav and Charo through the wringer in previous seasons, VH1 has put together a wacky new mix of C-list celebs for the third season of “Surreal Life.” This time, Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer, Christopher “Peter Brady” Knight and the pro wrestler Chyna are among the housemates. Rapper Da Brat was also there, and she got in a big fight with former Go-Go Jane Wiedlin toward the end. “Da Brat felt like Jane and Chris Knight were washed-up old people and she didn’t want to be associated with that,” says another houseguest, Swedish model (and Pam Anderson ex) Marcus Schenkenberg. “Jane was upset about that, and she wanted an apology. Which she didn’t get.”
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Monday, Jan. 17, 9 p.m., PBS
There’s no mistaking a Ken Burns documentary, with those mysterious old photographs and letters read by famous celebrity voices. His gripping programs on the Civil War, baseball and jazz all brought new viewers to PBS. Now Burns is back with a four-hour look at the first great African-American heavyweight boxer, who caused race riots when he knocked out the white champion in a 1910 bout. “This is a story about a black man who beat white men and also married a white woman, flaunting his race in a decade when things were worse than ever for black Americans,” Burns tells the Post. The New Hampshire filmmaker got Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Bob Thornton and Ed Harris to read for this documentary. Wynton Marsalis wrote original music as well.
The Apprentice
Thursday, Jan. 20, 10 p.m., NBC
Donald Trump says he can never tell which “Apprentice” characters are going to be popular – or unpopular. “I didn’t even know Omarosa was going to be such a great character until the audience started reacting to her,”Trump tells the Post. “You never know who people are going to love or hate.”That said, The Donald has some favorite contestants of his own for the show’s third season. Keep your eyes on Chris, a self-made real-estate investor from Las Vegas, and on Erin, a Villanova-educated lawyer from Philadelphia. “Erin is tough, abrasive, rude, nasty – and also really good-looking,”Trump says. And as for Chris, “he’s very dynamic – to the point that everyone else was like, ‘Give me a break!’ ”
The Simple Life 3: The Interns
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 8:30 p.m., Fox
Now that the ditzy debutantes Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have thoroughly offended everyone in the South and Midwest with the first two seasons of their reality show, the dynamic duo are set to do the same on the East Coast. For their third season, the girls boarded a Greyhound bus and traveled around the Eastern Seaboard, getting in trouble at a slew of unfortunate businesses, ranging from the airport to a small TV station where they take over as weather girls. Working indoors was something new for Hilton and Richie, who toiled on a farm in the first season. “I’m just over doing manual labor,” Richie told a reporter recently. “We don’t want to get dirty anymore.”

Categories
Movies

I saw “the Fockers.” I didn’t love it, but I laughed.

‘Fockers’ Meets $163 Million in 12 Days
LOS ANGELES – Moviegoers embraced the dysfunctional family comedy “Meet the Fockers” for a second straight week as the star-studded sequel earned $42.8 million to retain its No. 1 slot at the weekend box office.
The film, which teams Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, has grossed more than $163 million during its 12-day run, according to studio estimates.
The film’s success could help produce record box office revenue for 2004, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the industry’s tracker Exhibitor Relations.
“We’ve had a much stronger than anticipated final week of the year that helped the industry end on a high note,” Dergarabedian said.
Unofficial figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations showed overall revenue for 2004 topped $9.4 billion, up 1.4 percent from the 2003 total of $9.27 billion.
Official year-end figures, as well as three-day weekend totals, were scheduled to be released Monday.
“Meet the Fockers” set records for the biggest gross on New Year’s Eve, with $12.2 million, and on New Year’s Day, with $18 million. The previous New Year’s Eve record was set in 2000 by “Cast Away” with $8.5 million. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” had held the New Year’s Day mark with $12.8 million.
With no new major releases the final weekend of 2004, “Meet the Fockers” crushed the competition, including “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” which finished in second place with $14.7 million, and “The Aviator,” which earned $11.2 million for third place.
This weekend’s top 12 films grossed an estimated $125.4 million, a 4.3 percent increase compared to $120.1 million for the same weekend last year.
“Meet the Fockers” saw just a 7 percent decline at the box office from its opening week. The film has attracted an older audience interested in seeing De Niro, Hoffman and Streisand, as well as younger fans who like Stiller.
Several movies debuted in limited release, including “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” and “In Good Company,” starring Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson.
“Good Company” opened Wednesday and grossed $229,000 on three screens nationwide. It will expand to 1,600 theaters on Jan. 14.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” jumped one spot to ninth place, earning $4.8 million over the three-day period and $16.2 million to date.
Disney’s animated hit “The Incredibles” passed the $250 million mark Saturday. It was the fourth-highest grossing film of 2004, according to the studio.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:
1. “Meet the Fockers,” $42.8 million.
2. “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” $14.7 million.
3. “The Aviator,” $11.2 million.
4. “Fat Albert,” $10.7 million.
5. “Ocean’s Twelve,” $9.2 million.
6. “National Treasure,” $7 million.
7. “Spanglish,” $6.3 million.
8. “The Polar Express,” $5.7 million.
9. “The Phantom of the Opera,” $4.8 million.
10.”Darkness,” $4.5 million.

Categories
Quotes

We love quotes!!

Musicians’ best quotes of 2004
Here are some memorable quotes – for good and bad reasons – from musicians in 2004:
NO CRYSTAL BALL
“It would be nice to win one before I’m on the wrong side of the grass.”
— Rod Stewart on his Grammy hopes (Feb. 4)
“You never know truly how serious that support is until the s— hits the fan, really. And they’ve been there.”
— Janet Jackson on getting fan support following Nipple-gate (May 6)
“I assumed that they were a bunch of beer-swilling idiots who make loud noise.”
— Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster documentary director Joe Berlinger on his mindset before meeting the band (July 11)
“Am I just a guy with a beard now, and hair? Maybe I am that guy.”
— Scruffy but cute Sam Roberts on whether he’ll ever be clean- shaven again (Aug. 1)
“My life is so clearly not what I thought it was going to be. I just need to make that clear. I have no answers.”
— Gwen Stefani on not having yet procreated (Nov. 21)
HUH?
“I still have to go and pick my own melon. Or the art won’t come.”
— Jill Scott on staying down-to-earth for the sake of her music (Aug. 29)
“It just becomes excessive self-destruction, inhaling pain slowly, until it manifests in a waterfall of nosebleeds, self-mutilation, and three-way sex scenes with men … I know that sounds absurd — if I threw an elephant in, it would probably seem completely unbelievable.”
— Marilyn Manson on the unrated video for (s)Aint, off his greatest hits DVD collection (Sept. 26)
“I love you! God bless you! Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag! It’s A Man’s World! Get On The Good Foot, because I Feel Good!”
— James Brown’s parting words after a fairly coherent 30-minute phone interview (Nov. 28)
MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS
“He was just LSD’d out of his mind and reeling like a drunk, singing like Betty Boop, and refusing to be correct, basically. And I thought, ‘This is great.’ ”
— Iggy Pop on seeing Jim Morrison at a University Of Michigan homecoming dance when he was just 19 years old (Jan. 11)
“All my clothes smell like beer, so it went really well.”
— Sarah Harmer on her stint at South By Southwest in Texas (March 23)
“I was crapping myself for that one.”
— Sam Roberts on playing SARS-Stock in 2003 (Aug.1)
“Hollywood people are so retarded! They’re ridiculous! … Girls get jealous. And they’re mean.”
— Ashlee Simpson on the behind-the-scenes drama while attending the Teen Choice Awards (Aug. 13)
“He said, ‘Well, who do you want to play you?’ And I said, ‘I want Halle Berry.’ And Ray said, ‘I’m not that blind, Ruth!’ ”
— Blues legend Ruth Brown on Ray Charles talking to her about his upcoming bio-pic, Ray, before his death (Sept. 16)
“All I had to do was slap Jude Law around a little bit and get mad at him. It was fun.”
— Shania Twain on her cameo in I (Heart) Huckabees (Sept. 18)
“She said to me, ‘You remind me of my ex-boyfriend.’ And I said, ‘Is that good or bad?’ And she said, ‘He gave me VD.’ ”
— Marilyn Manson on recording an unreleased duet with Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson (Nov. 12)
NIPPLE-GATE
“The only thing I think that Janet did wrong was in only airing out one. It gets musty. The other one should have come out too.”
— Gene Simmons (March 24)
“If people accept me, great. And if they don’t, then that’s fine too. Not everybody is going to love me.”
— Janet Jackson on refusing record company requests to change some of her sexually explicit lyrics on her latest album (May 6)
SHOOTING FROM THE HIP
“We hate each other’s guts! No, we’re like the battling Bickersons. We would just bicker, bicker, bicker and nitpick, and pick each other to death.”
— Bette Midler on why she hadn’t worked with original piano accompanist Barry Manilow in 30 years until her latest album (Jan. 7)
“I think I’m probably a lot more relaxed. I don’t have to get s—faced drunk anymore, like we used to in The Faces.
— Rod Stewart on how his approach to performing has changed since the ’60s (Feb. 14)
“It’s just a record. It’s a bunch of songs. It’s me and my band. I’m not the second coming.”
— Norah Jones on her much anticipated sophomore album (Feb. 17)
“It’s funny how some things just vanish as part of your daily life — like hockey and balanced news.”
— Hip guitarist Rob Baker on recording their latest album in the U.S. (June 27)
“I gave this big power point presentation … I get this impression that not many artists bother with that kind of s—. They said if my CD didn’t go well, they’d offer me a position at Sony!”
— Newcomer Nellie McKay on convincing record label reps to release her debut as a double CD (March 25)
“I’m feeling great — just mean, a little ornery.”
— Loretta Lynn, dismissing tabloid reports she was on her death bed from her second bout with double pneumonia (Aug. 26)
“I thought I’d sound like Carol Channing, but I’m actually quite soft-spoken. ”
— Rufus Wainwright on seeing himself on screen playing himself opposite Glenn Close in the upcoming Merchant-Ivory film, Heights (Feb. 4)
“But a lot of people hate us up here too, okay? … They do. And it’s cool. We’re not for everyone you know.”
— Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie dismissing why questions linger about the band not making it in the U.S. after two decades (Nov. 24)
STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART
“If anything would stop our band now, it would be just us deciding that we don’t have anything else to say together, which I find highly unlikely, but you never know. If I’ve learned anything from that terrible period, it’s that you can’t assume anything. You never know what life is going to throw at you.”
— Rush singer-bassist Geddy Lee on the band almost breaking up during a five-year hiatus as drummer Neil Peart grieved the loss of his daughter in a car accident and his wife to cancer (Aug. 22)
“During the hardship of my childhood, Dolly Parton was such a staple of my life … And so to have her there, it was just really weird and it was very emotional. It was a personal moment, that’s what it was, and it was on TV.”
— Shania Twain on crying on Oprah during an appearance with Dolly Parton (Oct. 29)

Categories
People

R.I.P., one and all.

Notables who died in 2004 in the arts, pop culture
Marlon Brando screamed “Stella!” and set about bringing a new realism and machismo to the stage and screen. Ray Charles shouted “What’d I say” and began melding categories of music in ways no musician ever thought of.
Brando and Charles were twin revolutionaries in the arts, transforming their private conflicts into work that captured the hearts and minds of millions and – perhaps even more important – schooled innumerable artists who followed.
They are two of the brilliant figures in the arts and popular culture who died in 2004.
Jack Paar’s wit and intelligence made him the talk show host every entertainer who ever sat behind a desk hoped to emulate.
Bob Keeshan, as Captain Kangaroo, taught his millions of little TV viewers about the magic of life.
Christopher Reeve was a respected actor even beyond his Superman roles – but then an accident that left him paralysed pushed him onto an even larger stage, as a passionate advocate for spinal cord research.
Popular culture figures who died in 2004 include Canadian-born Fay Wray, the beauty clutched in King Kong’s hand; Julia Child, who taught public television viewers that there was a culinary world beyond Betty Crocker; Rodney Dangerfield, who summarized the plight of every put-upon comic who ever lived with his “I don’t get no respect”; and author Arthur Hailey, who began his career in Canada and whose novel Airport led to the string of all-star disaster movies in the 1970s.
Here’s a roll call of artists, performers and pop culture figures who died in 2004. (Cause of death of younger notables is given when available.)
JANUARY:
John Toland, 91. Won 1971 Pulitzer for non-fiction for The Rising Sun, on the Japanese empire during Second World War.
Spalding Gray, 62. Actor-writer who laid bare his life in acclaimed monologues like Swimming to Cambodia. Apparent suicide.
Alex Barris, 81. Hosted Barris Beat and was Front Page Challenge panellist.
Bob Keeshan, 76. He gently entertained generations of youngsters as TV’s moustached Captain Kangaroo and became an outspoken opponent of violence in children’s television.
Jack Paar, 85. Made The Tonight Show the talk show everybody talked about, setting the stage for Johnny Carson and others to follow.
M.M. Kaye, 95. British author of sumptuous bestseller The Far Pavilions.
Janet Frame, 79. Overcame mental illness to become one of New Zealand’s top authors.
FEBRUARY:
John Randolph, 88. Tony-winning character actor; Roseanne’s father in Roseanne.
Daniel J. Boorstin, 89. Former librarian of Congress; million-selling historian, social critic.
MARCH:
Nat Taylor, 98. Canadian-born film-industry pioneer who invented the modern cineplex.
Robert Pastorelli, 49. Played screwball house painter Eldin on Murphy Brown. Accidental drug overdose.
Genevieve, 83. French-born chanteuse whose mangled English was a running gag on Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show.
Jan Sterling, 82. Cool, conniving movie blond of 1940s and ’50s (The High and the Mighty).
Peter Ustinov, 82. Won two Oscars for an acting career that ranged from the evil emperor Nero in Quo Vadis to Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot.
Alistair Cooke, 95. Urbane host of television’s Masterpiece Theatre; interpreter of U.S. culture for decades on BBC’s Letter From America.
APRIL:
Norman Campbell, 80. Pioneering CBC television producer who co-wrote Anne of Green Gables: The Musical.
Micheline Charest, 51. Co-founder of children’s television producer Cinar Corp. in Montreal. Complications from cosmetic surgery.
Norris McWhirter, 78. Co-founder of Guinness Book of Records.
Estee Lauder, 97. Built multimillion-dollar cosmetics empire.
Hubert Selby Jr., 75. Wrote acclaimed 1964 novel Last Exit to Brooklyn.
MAY:
Gilbert Lani Kauhi, 66. Jack Lord’s burly sidekick on Hawaii Five-0.
Alan King, 76. Witty comedian known for tirades against everyday suburban life.
Anna Lee, 91. Film, television actress (How Green Was My Valley, General Hospital).
Tony Randall, 84. Comic actor; the fastidious Felix Unger in The Odd Couple and fuss-budget pal in several Rock Hudson-Doris Day movies.
Irene Manning, 81. Classically trained movie musical star (Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Desert Song).
JUNE:
Brian Linehan, 58. Canadian television personality and celebrity interviewer.
Jack McClelland. 81. Promoter of Canadian literature at McClelland and Stewart, one of Canada’s most influential publishing houses.
William Manchester, 82. Historian who brought novelist’s flair to biographies of such giants as Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy.
Ronald Reagan, 93. Before entering politics, a popular Hollywood actor (Knute Rockne: All-American, King’s Row). U.S. president from 1981 to ’89.
Barbara Whiting, 73. Actress in the 1940s and ’50s (Junior Miss, TV’s Those Whiting Girls).
Ray Charles, 73. Transcendent talent who erased musical boundaries with hits such as What’d I Say, Georgia on My Mind and I Can’t Stop Loving You.
JULY:
Frances Hyland, 77. Starred in and directed productions at the Stratford and Shaw festivals.
Betty Oliphant, 85. Renowned ballet tutor and founder of the National Ballet School.
Marlon Brando, 80. Revolutionized American acting with A Streetcar Named Desire; created the iconic character of Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
Isabel Sanford, 86. Weezie on The Jeffersons.
Joe Gold, 82. Founded original Gold’s Gym in Los Angeles in 1965.
Irvin Shortess (Shorty) Yeaworth Jr., 78. Directed 1958 cult movie The Blob.
Jerry Goldsmith, 75. Oscar-, Emmy-winning composer for shows ranging from Star Trek to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Sam Edwards, 89. The town banker in Little House on the Prairie.
Virginia Grey, 87. Actress from 1920s (Uncle Tom’s Cabin) to 1970s (Airport).
AUGUST:
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 95. Acclaimed French photographer whose pictures defined the mid-20th century and inspired generations.
Rick James, 56. Funk legend known for 1981 hit Super Freak.
Fay Wray, 96. The damsel held atop the Empire State Building by the ape in King Kong.
Julia Child, 91. She brought the intricacies of French cuisine to North Americans through television and books.
Czeslaw Milosz, 93. Polish poet and Nobel laureate known for his intellectual and emotional works about some of the worst cruelties of the 20th century.
Elmer Bernstein, 82. Oscar-winning composer, scored such classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Escape.
Al Dvorin, 81. Announcer who dispersed Presley fans with the phrase “Elvis has left the building.”
Laura Branigan, 47. Grammy-nominated pop singer known for 1982 platinum hit Gloria. Brain aneurysm.
SEPTEMBER:
Bill Glassco, 69. Theatre icon, co-founder of Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.
Walter Stewart, 73. Former managing editor of Maclean’s magazine, author of more than a dozen books.
Johnny Ramone, 55. Co-founded the influential punk band The Ramones. Prostate cancer.
Marvin Mitchelson, 76. Hollywood divorce lawyer; pioneered the “palimony” concept.
Russ Meyer, 82. Producer-director who helped spawn the “skin flick” – and later gained a measure of critical respect – for such films as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Francoise Sagan, 69. French author, became famous in her teens for the best-selling Bonjour Tristesse.
OCTOBER:
Janet Leigh, 77. Wholesome beauty whose shocking murder in Hitchcock thriller Psycho is a landmark of film.
Rodney Dangerfield, 82. The bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating “I don’t get no respect” brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies.
Jacques Derrida, 74. World-renowned thinker who founded the school of literary analysis known as deconstructionism.
Christopher Reeve, 52. Superman actor who became America’s most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research after a paralysing accident.
Peggy Ryan, 80. Teamed with Donald O’Connor in movie musicals such as When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
NOVEMBER:
John Morgan, 74. Played dim-witted Mike from Canmore on The Royal Canadian Air Farce.
Howard Keel, 85. Broad-shouldered baritone in glittery MGM musicals (Kiss Me Kate, Annie Get Your Gun); later on Dallas.
Iris Chang, 36. Best-selling author (The Rape of Nanking). Suicide.
Cy Coleman, 75. Composer of Broadway musicals (Sweet Charity, City of Angels); pop songs (The Best Is Yet to Come).
Arthur Hailey, 84. Best-selling author of big novels (Airport, Hotel).
John Drew Barrymore, 72. The troubled heir to an acting dynasty.
DECEMBER:
Pierre Berton, 84. Cultural icon and beloved writer, who had unique gift for bringing Canada’s past to life.
Serge Lavoie, 41. Former principal dancer with National Ballet of Canada and partner with some of world’s greatest ballerinas including Karen Kain.
Dame Alicia Markova, 94. One of the 20th century’s greatest ballerinas, co-founder of English National Ballet.
Jerry Scoggins, 93. He sang The Ballad of Jed Clampett, theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies.
Dimebag Darrell Abbott, 38. Guitarist with heavy-metal band Pantera, more recently Damageplan. Shot to death during a performance.
Agnes Martin, 92. Abstract artist born in Macklin, Sask., whose paintings combined spare simplicity with a subtle reflection of personality.
Renata Tebaldi, 82. Renowned Italian soprano hailed as having “the voice of an angel.”
Cyril Dolman, 91. Canadian country music pioneer, member of the band Slim Wilson and the Prairie Sons.
Susan Sontag, 71. Writer whose fame began with 1964 essay, Notes on Camp.
Jerry Orbach, 69. Longtime actor on Law & Order, also known for work on Broadway.
Artie Shaw, 94. Clarinetist and bandleader whose recording of Begin the Beguine epitomized the Big Band era.

Categories
Memorabilia

The year is over, Here’s to 2005!!!

2004 in Entertainment: Wacky and Tacky
2004 may go down in history as the year of the runaway breast. Yes, there was Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl flash, but don’t forget Tara Reid’s absent-minded red carpet dress-drop or the uproar over a sexy “Desperate Housewives” promo for Monday Night Football. Add in Colin Farrell’s missing manhood from the movie “A Home at the End of the World” and the curtailed puppet sex in “Team America: World Police,” and this was the year of nudity both seen and imagined.
MOST INFAMOUS WARDROBE MALFUNCTION: Janet is disqualified because nobody believes it was an accident. So the prize goes to “American Pie” actress Reid, who ó while entering a recent P. Diddy party ó flashed a big smile for paparazzi while the strap of her black gown hung at her hip, exposing a surgically enhanced left breast complete with black-and-blue scar.
WORST OVERREACTION: ABC flagellated itself over a saucy intro to “Monday Night Football” that featured a suddenly towel-less Nicollette Sheridan leaping into the arms of Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens. Some viewers complained, inducing a mea culpa from everybody but the football. Where’s the outrage over those Herbal Essence shampoo commercials?
WORST UNDERREACTION: Tara Reid’s red-carpet handler, who took about 10 seconds amid the snapping of flashbulbs to realize that Frankenboob had made an appearance. And even after she pulls the dress back on, a dazed Reid doesn’t appear to know it happened.
THE FALAFEL TRUTH: In a lawsuit accusing Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly of sexual harassment, a former employee recounted overtly sexual phone calls from “The No-Spin Zone” host in which he says he’d like to scrub her with a loofah in the shower, then later refers to the sponge as a “falafel.” Is it wrong to say you’ll rub fried chickpeas on a bathing underling? We’ll never know ó O’Reilly reached an undisclosed settlement.
BIGGEST LOSER: Whoopi Goldberg, who made a joke using President Bush’s last name as a sexual reference. Her remark, made at a campaign rally for Democratic challenger John Kerry, led the diet drink company Slim Fast to drop her like a few extra pounds.
WORST PRODUCT PLACEMENT: Star Jones’ promo-filled wedding. The sassy co-host of TV’s “The View” plugged companies and products that supplied her, her groom and the guests at her star-studded bash with freebies. As if people weren’t sick enough of hearing about her “fairy tale wedding” already. We await the arrival of her firstborn: Pampers Halliburton Fritos Jones.
MISSING MANHOOD: Wine-swigging, cigarette-puffing bad-boy thespian Colin Farrell lost his ballyhooed full-frontal shot in the drama “A Home at the End of the World,” reportedly because the filmmakers feared it would distract audiences. He later managed to slip a tiny reproductive glimpse into a sex scene from “Alexander.” Perhaps then audiences were too distracted by his bad dye job to notice.
ALL APOLOGIES: Maybe the broadcast networks should run a constant “apology crawl” under every telecast. Although “Saving Private Ryan” aired uncut ó including profanities and gory war violence ó on ABC twice before, when the network tried to show it again on Veterans Day, 66 affiliates covering roughly one-third of the country refused to air it.
MOST WOODEN SEX SCENE: “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had a surefire scene to steam up the ratings board in “Team America: World Police” ó puppet sex. Their political satire included an extended romp between two marionettes who try out a series of positions straight from the world of “Kinsey.” The ratings board balked at the overt ribaldry, even though the puppets had only hinges and joints where their naughty bits should be.
BEST SLAPDOWN: Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” appeared on CNN’s “Crossfire” and very calmly, very coolly whipped the two co-hosts ó lefty Paul Begala and righty Tucker Carlson ó into jelly without ever raising his voice or flailing his arms. Brutally uncomfortable, Stewart indicted them for bringing little more than PR spin to American voters. Stewart’s best retort (after a pummeled Carlson tells him “Come on, be funny!”): “No. No. I’m not going to be your monkey.”