'I, Robot,' 'Mad Max' Set 2004 Release Dates

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Twentieth Century Fox has announced release dates for summer tentpoles "I, Robot" and "Mad Max: Fury Road" -- the cornerstones of the 2004 slate.

"Robot," starring Will Smith, will march out on July 2.

Meanwhile, the fourth installment in the "Mad Max" series, with Mel Gibson reprising the starring role, will roll into theaters nationwide on July 23.

In "Robot," based on the classic story collection by famed sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, Smith will play a detective investigating a crime by a robot. The crime is considered unthinkable, for as robots proliferated in the future, the Three Laws of Robotics allowed them to be completely trustworthy companions. (The first law states that a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.) Alex Proyas (news) ("Dark City") directs.

Fox is mum on the details of the new George Miller-penned "Max" picture, which had been previously set up at Warner Bros.

I'm Not Sure This Story Is Post Worthy, But I Really Liked This Picture:

Anyway, Claudia Schiffer gives birth to boy

LONDON (AP) -- German supermodel Claudia Schiffer gave birth to her first child Thursday -- a boy by Caesarean section at a London hospital.

Schiffer's husband, British film producer Matthew Vaughn, was by her side as she underwent the procedure.

"Both parents are utterly thrilled at the birth of their first child and both mother and baby are doing very well," a spokeswoman for Schiffer said on condition of anonymity.

The spokeswoman said the couple had not yet decided on a name for the baby, who weighed in at 7 lbs.

New White Stripes album due in April

The White Stripes will release their fourth studio album, "Elephant," on April 15, Billboard reports.

The follow up to the Detroit rockers' breakthrough record, "White Blood Cells," will be released on their imprint, "Third Man," through V2 Records.

The 14-track album will include "In Cold, Cold Night," a song showcasing Meg's vocal talents, and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," and a Burt Bacharach cover.

In a effort to curb Internet leaks, the media received double vinyl copies of "Elephant" instead of CDs. Vinyl copies of the album will be available publicly at the same time as the CD version.

The band is not expected to tour until the April. Whirlwind Heat, the first act signed to the "Third Man" imprint, will also release its debut album this spring.

New Beatles 'Let It Be' coming

The Beatles' Apple Records is releasing a new, stripped down version of the group's last record, "Let It Be" this fall, Rolling Stone reports.

While the track listing will stay true to the original 1970 record, the newer album will lack the orchestration added by legendary producer Phil Spector. A more bare bones sound will recapture the "back to basics" concept Paul McCartney originally intended for it.

"It's the de-Spectorized version," Ringo Starr told Rolling Stone. "I was listening to it recently, and it was really great. I've been away from it a long time too. It fills my heart with joy to hear that band that I was a member of. They were just great. And also, the quietness of the tracks: It's a beautiful CD," he said.

Most of the material for the album was recorded in early 1969 for the film eventually titled "Let It Be," but the sessions were turbulent and the album was temporarily abandoned. After the group had effectively disbanded, John Lennon brought Spector in to compile the album, a move that irritated McCartney.

"Paul was always totally opposed to Phil," said Starr. "I told him on the phone, "You're bloody right again: It sounds great without Phil.' Which it does. Now we'll have to put up with him telling us over and over, 'I told you.'"

Glyn Johns, who engineered the original sessions will also take part in the project. "My version of 'Get Back' actually was released fairly quickly as a single, and my version of 'Let it Be' was also released, before Phil Spector puked all over it," he said, and added: "And I hope you quote me on that. If you hear 'The Long and Winding Road' without all that schlock on it, it's fabulous just like it is."

The re-release project has been in the works for a least two years already -- George Harrison approved the idea before his death in 2001, and it prompted the investigation that led to the January recovery of the original session tapes stolen more than 30 years ago.

"Let It Be" the film, will also be released on DVD at the same time as the new CD, although details are forthcoming.

Streep SAG snub caused by error

Meryl Streep's acclaimed performances in both "Adaptation" and "The Hours" will go unrecognized by the Screen Actors Guild due to a mistake by Sony Pictures, reports the Los Angeles Times.

An unidentified Sony Pictures' employee erroneously placed Streep's name on the Best Actress ballot for what was in fact a supporting role in "Adaptation." The mistake meant her name appeared twice in the same category - a second time for her part in "The Hours" - on the ballots sent to SAG voters.

Sony contends vote-splitting occurred and Streep was subsequentially not nominated for her performance in either film.

The studio offered to pay for the printing and mailing of new ballots in order to correct their slip up, but SAG declined the appeal over fear that it would set a bad precedent for a situation that has occurred before.

Last year a Universal employee wrongfully placed Jennifer Connelly's name in the lead actress category for her supporting role in "A Beautiful Mind." Connelly still received a nomination, but did not win. Although, she took home both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for the same performance categorized correctly.

Streep won the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe earlier this month for "Adaptation", and was also nominated in the Best Dramatic Actress category for her role in "The Hours." The Academy Award ballots were due yesterday and it's likely she will receive a nomination in both categories.

The Oscar nominees will be announced on February 11. The SAG awards will be handed out on March 9.

Liz Phair To Release first album in five years this May

Liz Phair debuted three new tunes during a nine-song set at the Ray-Ban Visionary Awards party at the Sundance Film Festival last week. The new material was a preview for her upcoming album, Happy Tragic Thing, due May 20th on Capitol Records.

It had been nearly five years since Phair released an album, and about three since she'd played in public. Despite so much time out of the spotlight, Phair -- known for paralyzing stage fright in her early years -- was confident and warm in delivering six older songs along with the soothing, upbeat "Extraordinary," the acoustic love song "Why Can't I?" and the name-checking rocker "Rock Me."

Her recognizable, husky delivery, which previously seemed a lo-fi instrument of dissonance, has grown and changed into an almost girlish alto. "My voice is so much better because I'm not as self-conscious as I used to be," she said afterwards. "Somewhere along the way I got rid of a lot of my fear about singing, and I've really been working hard on developing my voice."

Phair has been writing and recording with producers including Walt Vincent, Michael Penn and pop production team the Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Nick Carter), and reports that theme-wise "a lot of the songs have to do with my own personal gender issues." Phair plans to release some alternate mixes of the Happy Tragic Thing tunes over the Internet, keeping the straight-ahead rockers for the album. "The songs that made it onto the album are the ones that rock," she says. "I wanna sell some records, goddammit!"

Jason Newsted & Metallica Settle Legal Issues

It's been a bit more than two years now since bassist Jason Newsted announced he was leaving Metallica. However, Newsted says that leaving and actually having left are two different things, and that the legal aspects of the separation have just now been fully resolved.

Nevertheless, Newsted adds that he wishes Metallica nothing but the best in the future. "We're just now actually coming to a resolution on all of our agreements for our business things and stuff," Newsted said. "It took awhile to pull all that together. Man, they sound strong, and I've heard, you know, reports from my little spies and stuff that everybody's kicking ass and they're doing some hours in the studio, so I hope that they can do it. I hope they can do what they say they can do, man. If (James) Hetfield's determined, it will happen."

Metallica is planning to release an album in the spring or summer--its first since Newsted's departure and Hetfield's stay in rehab. Newsted, meanwhile, has joined the Canadian heavy metal band Voivod, which will release a self-titled album in March.

CBS Plans Springsteen Concert Special

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Bruce Springsteen will appear in a concert special for CBS five days after he performs at the Grammy Awards.

The special, taped at one of the Boss' shows in Barcelona last year, will air with limited ad breaks. CBS is working with Springsteen and his management to sign an exclusive sponsor for the show.

"This is the guy who is one of the greatest live performers in the history of rock 'n' roll," Jack Sussman, who oversees specials for CBS, tells the New York Daily News. "This television show is an unbelievable translation of his live event."

HBO aired a Springsteen/E Street Band concert in 2001, but they've never done a special for a commercial network. The show will include songs from "The Rising," which is up for five Grammys, as well as some of the band's older material.

The special is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET Friday, Feb. 28.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL, HOMER!

HOMER Simpson is ready to answer your e-mails.

Honest.

Earlier this month, fans of the show began sending email to Homer at an on-line address - chunkylover53@aol.com - shown during the Jan. 12 epsiode.

In the episode, a private-eye hired by Homer to keep tabs on his daughter emailed him at that address.

After the episode, thousands of fans began sending e-mail to the address as a joke, but were surprised when Homer answered them.

Well, sort of.

It's actually "Simpsons" writer/producer, Matt Selman, who registered the e-mail address before the episode aired.

"He logged in the night that the episode aired and it was immediately filled with the maximum number of responses," "Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean told The Post yesterday.

"He's tried to answer every one of them and then as soon as he answers a hundred, a hundred more pop in - it's like Sisyphus."

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to an eternity of rolling a boulder uphill then watching it roll back down again.

"It's like letters to Santa Claus, he's trying to answer them as Homer and give advice," Jean says.

'8 Mile' DVD to Boast Exclusive Eminem Video

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The new Eminem music video "Superman" will be made available only on the "8 Mile" DVD, to be released March 18.

The move represents the latest precedent-setting strategy by a record company in an effort to encourage consumers to buy music once more rather than download it.

Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) chairman Jimmy Iovine said that not putting the video on MTV or anywhere else is just another step record companies are taking to bring added value to packaged material as the industry defines a new relationship among consumers, artists and record companies.

The album on which "Superman" appears, "The Eminem Show," was the top seller last year, and "8 Mile" was the top soundtrack. IGA and "8 Mile" movie distributor Universal Pictures are both units of Vivendi Universal.

The Universal Studios Home Video (USHV) release also will include about 25 minutes of deleted scenes featuring Eminem spontaneously rising to the challenge in five "rap battle" sequences filmed by director Curtis Hanson, who introduces and describes the scenes on the DVD.

USHV president Craig Kornblau said it was important to reignite the heat for the movie, which had an opening weekend of $51 million on its way to $116 million in domestic box office.

Although terms were not disclosed, Iovine said a mutually satisfying deal was struck with Universal for the exclusive "Superman" video. The clip for "Lose Yourself," the enormously popular Eminem song from the movie, will not be included on the DVD, however.

The multimillion-dollar national media promotion for the DVD will kick off during the broadcast of the Grammys on Feb. 23. Eminem is competing for five Grammys.

Schwarzenegger Undergoes Surgery for 'T3' Injury

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It appears The Terminator isn't as indestructible as he used to be.

Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger was released on Thursday from a Santa Monica hospital where he underwent surgery to repair a shoulder injury suffered while performing a stunt on the set of his upcoming film "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

The 55-year-old actor tore the rotator cuff in his left shoulder last fall but put off surgery at the time to avoid holding up production on the film, according to a statement from his publicist.

Schwarzenegger was admitted to St. John's Health Center for the operation on Wednesday and left the hospital "feeling great and in very good spirits," the statement said.

Although he will have to keep his shoulder immobilized in a tight sling for the next three to four weeks, he plans to go ahead with previously scheduled appearances, including a multi-state tour of his Inner-City Games Foundation next week.

"I'm feeling great. I am very fortunate to have had such fantastic surgeons at St. John's work on my shoulder," the actor said in the statement.

The Austrian-born former body-builder reportedly earned $30 million to reprise his role as the unstoppable, lead-slinging, man-machine from the future in "Terminator 3," which is due for release next July.

It seems they don't make cyborgs like they used to. In December 2001, Schwarzenegger broke several ribs when he took a spill from his motorcycle.

Spears, Farrell officially an item?

By Cesar G. Soriano, USA TODAY

Holy hormones! Pop princess Britney Spears and Gaelic gigolo Colin Farrell are Hollywood's hottest new item.

And just when we were getting used to the idea of Britney and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst and Farrell and seductive older woman Demi Moore. But that was so yesterday.

Farrell, 26, and Spears, 21, made a grand red carpet entrance at Tuesday's Hollywood premiere of The Recruit, which stars Farrell and Al Pacino and opens Friday. They held hands for flashing cameras and TV crews.

After the screening, Spears, wearing what could best be described as a camisole, hooked up again with Farrell at Chateau Marmont, where they snuggled and kissed into the wee hours.

It wasn't their first date. On Saturday, the lip-locked lovers were seen at L.A.'s Troubadour nightclub, the New York Post reports. They met last week when Spears visited the set of Farrell's movie S.W.A.T.

But why, Britney, why? Colin has made it no secret he's a Tinseltown tomcat.

In the March issue of Playboy, Farrell says: "I've always been a firm believer that casual sex is a (expletive) good thing. Sometimes ... all I'm looking for is the simple act of sexual intimacy. It's like ordering a (expletive) pizza."

The foul-mouthed Irish actor also brags about his love for porn, beer, Ecstacy and prostitutes: "I have never been with a prostitute that I haven't been completely polite to and just treated like a (expletive) human being."

Farrell, who was married for four months in 2001 to British actress Amelia Warner and still has her nickname, "Millie," tattooed on his ring finger, says he has no interest in a serious relationship.

"Girl trouble, for me, is when you fall in love," he told Playboy.

Farrell has been linked to a laundry list of women, including model Josie Maran, Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain and actress Maeve Quinlan (Tom Sizemore's ex-wife).

"If I really slept with every woman they've said I've slept with, I'd be a happy man," Farrell recently told USA TODAY.

So, are Farrell and Spears officially dating?

"They're friends," says Spears' publicist Lisa Kasteler.

What about Durst? Or rumors that Britney was back with Justin Timberlake?

"That I can't tell you," Kasteler said. "She's young, she's single, she's beautiful. What guy in his right mind wouldn't want to date her?"

At Tuesday's premiere, Farrell echoed the party line. "She's just a mate," he told Entertainment Tonight. "Seriously, we just met a week ago, (we're) having a laugh."

Limp Bizkit's Durst Tries To One-Up Borland

Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit are finishing up their forthcoming album, Less Is More, with the first single "Crack Addict" slated to hit radio in the next few months. Durst is still looking to impress Wes Borland, his former mate, with the first complete original album since the guitarist's departure.

"Today I'm definitely gonna wrap up this last song," wrote Durst on the Limp Bizkit website. "It's a hard one to nail down. I wish I could have all of your ears in the studio with me to get your opinions. I've finished 18 songs and only 10 to 12 are going on the album. Its a doozy. There will be a lot of surprised people when they hear this, especially Mr. Borland. Aw yeah!! Just like [LL] Cool J said, 'don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years.'"

Less Is More is slated to be released April 1. It's the band's first album since 2000's multi-platinum release Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water.

Wanna Groove On My Hackey Sack Vibe?

Are you a hipster?

I Remember Her From The Movie "Zapped"

Ever wonder what Heather Thomas, the babe from "The Fall Guy", has been up to?

Fox Is No Alien To Milking A Cash Cow

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has just announced a new massive box set of all four Alien films in an incredible nine disc set!

No details have arrived on the oddly dubbed Alien Quadrilogy set, but all four films; Alien, Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection will be included with several hours of extras, (hopefully including the legendary lost footage from Alien3.

As soon as more information arrives, you'll see it here.

Seriously, do we really need this?

Former Beach Boy Can't Use Band's Name

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ruled that former Beach Boys singer-guitarist Al Jardine can't use the term "Beach Boys" in his touring band.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a federal judge who ruled two years ago that Jardine was infringing on the trademark of Brother Records Inc., which owns the rights of the Beach Boys works. The Beach Boys rode a wave of popularity from hits such as "Surfin' USA."

Brother Records is jointly held by Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson and the estate of Carl Wilson.

In 1998, Jardine, 60, began touring as "Beach Boys Family and Friends" and as other names that included "Beach Boys." Brother Records sued.

Web Site: 'Millionaire' Finalist Is Bondage Star

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One of three women finalists on the hit Fox reality show "Joe Millionaire" has starred under another name in dozens of bondage and fetish films, a Web site reported on Wednesday.

Sarah Kozer (pictured above) has appeared -- often bound and gagged but fully clothed -- in such movies as "Hogtied" and "Helpless Heroines" under the stage name "Cindy Schubert," according to The Smoking Gun.

In pictures on the Web site Kozer is seen bound and gagged in various poses, in some cases dressed as a cheerleader or nurse. In other photos she is seen tying up men.

Kozer, 29, could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for Fox, which describes her occupation as "sales and design" on the show's Web site, said only, "We do not comment on the personal lives of our reality show contestants."

In "Joe Millionaire," 20 women compete for the affections of a 28-year-old construction worker, Evan Marriott, who poses as the heir to a $50 million fortune. They learn of the dupe at the end of the show.

The program, which was secretly taped in France late last year, has drawn unexpectedly high ratings for Fox on Monday night.

While you are mulling this over, "bare" in mind that a former male porno star won the last edition of Survivor.

Actor Peter O'Toole Rebuffs Honorary Oscar

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For all the accolades handed out in Hollywood, it's rare to find a performer who is unwilling to accept one. But Peter O'Toole is no ordinary entertainer.

Academy Award organizers want to present the eccentric 70-year-old Irish actor with an honorary Oscar, but he says he won't be ready to accept such an award for at least another decade.

In a brief, hand-written open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, O'Toole politely suggested that receiving an honorary Oscar might preclude him from eventually winning a competitive statuette.

O'Toole has earned seven Oscar nominations as best actor, starting with his 1962 title role in "Lawrence of Arabia," but has never won.

Describing what he thought about an honorary Oscar being in the offing, he wrote: "I was enchanted but said that as I was still in the game and might yet win the lovely bugger outright, would the Academy please defer the honor until I am 80?"

Academy President Frank Pierson responded by saying the award was for "achievement and contribution to the art of the motion picture, not for retirement," and that the academy's Board of Governors had "unanimously and enthusiastically voted you the honorary because you've earned and deserve it."

"It will be there for you at the awards ceremony March 23, and we hope you'll be there with us," Pierson wrote. "If not, it will be at the academy for you to pick up when you're 80, or whenever you're ready."

Academy spokesman John Pavlik told Reuters on Thursday the academy chooses its award designees regardless of whether they plan to show up. And while winning actors such as Marlon Brando and George C. Scott have snubbed the Oscars, no one can remember an honorary recipient refusing to accept one.

Academy officials also noted that other movie greats, among them Henry Fonda and Paul Newman, have received an honorary award and gone on to win a statuette competitively.

"There's an inaccurate perception out there that if you get one of these things, that your career is over, and we don't feel that way at all," Pavlik said.

National Geographic Reveals Swimsuit Issue

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There are bare breasts, naked bottoms and a cover girl wearing three well-placed shells and a bit of sand, but this is no girlie magazine. It's historical. It's national. It's cultural. And it's definitely geographic.

It's National Geographic.

The venerable yellow-bordered magazine, long a repository of gorgeous family-friendly photography, is publishing its first swimsuit issue, on newsstands and online Saturday.

Timed to roughly coincide with the publication of a racy annual look at bathing beauties by Sports Illustrated, the National Geographic issue is meant to offer lighthearted diversion when that seems to be in distinctly short supply.

"We just wanted to have a little fun, especially when it's so cold in the winter," said Bill Allen, National Geographic's editor in chief. "And I think that this country could use a little bit of lightness and fun right now. We've had a pretty tough year and a half in this country."

So as the United States girds for war and weathers a shaky economy, here comes Hanna Hobensack, a fashion design student in Sydney, Australia, who posed for the cover shot in Hawaii wearing three scallop shells and partially submerged in slightly sandy water.

The cover is one of the few pictures specifically shot for the special large-format edition, Allen said. Most are from the magazine's archives, showing how people dressed for swimming over the last 100 years.

"We had looked at all of the pictures that were coming in for this out of the archives, literally tens of thousands ... none of us were really satisfied that it was bringing things up to date," Allen said in a telephone interview, explaining why they sought a new photo for the cover.

'CLOTHING OPTIONAL'

He sent veteran National Geographic photographer Susan Leen to Hawaii "to find something that would really show what the contemporary feeling of bathing suits and the whole enjoyment of fun in a natural setting would be, sort of bring us all the way from our history back in the 1900s to the present."

One of the earliest photographs is from 1900, showing a Red Cross swimming instructor demonstrating strokes while propped up on a stool, wearing the cover-up swimsuit of the day, with only her head and arms uncovered. When wet, such a costume would have weighed about 22 pounds (10 kg), the magazine said.

A pair of bare backsides from Cable Beach's "clothing optional" zone at Broome, Australia, is a more modern archival image, from 1988. Two more posteriors were shown in a 1908 shot of surveyors near a rocky pool along the Canada-Alaska border.

A photo from 1917 showed two bare-breasted women from the Marquesas Islands, "where women dressed simply for the Polynesian weather -- to the dismay of Western missionaries."

This is the sort of partial nudity that made National Geographic a must-read, or at least a must-ogle, for generations of curious adolescents, but Allen said he saw no problem with this image or any other in the collection.

Readers may be surprised that the 112-year-old magazine is making a seeming departure from such sober-sided topics as the outcast Nuba of Sudan and the environmental consequences of global warming -- two recent articles -- but Allen said a history of swimsuits is in line with National Geographic's mission.

"The whole issue is just a retrospective of how people have dressed to have fun in the water over the last century," he said. "If you look through the magazine, you'll see that there are people in all stages of dress and all kinds of bathing costumes, so it's very much in keeping with the whole cultural history of the world, which is what National Geographic portrays."

Sports Illustrated's Rick McCabe said he had not seen the special issue but graciously observed, "As the pioneers of the swimsuit genre, we welcome National Geographic into the fold."

'Matrix' Reloads For Rabbit Hole

Mum is generally the word on any details of the top-secret Matrix movies.

What can Laurence Fishburne say about this year's two highly anticipated sequels to the 1999 special-effects trailblazer?

The Matrix Reloaded arrives in theaters May 15; Revolutions is due in November.

"I can tell we're going to see how deep the rabbit hole goes," he says, referring to the origin of the Matrix world. "And I can tell the you the technology is as ground-breaking as the first time around. I can tell you there's going to be two animated shorts released on the Internet in February that explain some of the origins of the Matrix.

"I'm as excited as anybody else is to see it, because I have not."

Headed by writing/directing brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, filming in Sydney began in August 2001 for 10 months. But Fishburne had begun training with Keanu Reeves and other cast members in November 2000.

"It was a very long, very long time for the same character, very long to be away from home, to shave one's head every day. Most people don't remember I have hair.

"We lost people. We lost Aaliyah (who died in a plane crash), and Nona Gaye, Marvin Gaye's daughter, replaced her. Gloria Foster (who died of cancer), who is the Oracle, she's in Reloaded but not in Revolutions. So we lost our oldest, and we lost our youngest."

Did it feel as if the production had a Greek curse or something equally mythic?

"If you asked the Wachowskis, I'm sure they'd say it felt like a Greek thing. I don't know, man. I'm happy I'm a part of something that is cinematically historical. Again."

Eternal Youth Keeps 'The Simpsons' Fresh

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For more than a decade they have reigned as television's favorite dysfunctional family, and now "The Simpsons" will soon enter the record books as the longest-running sitcom in prime-time history.

Now in their 14th season of animated social satire on Fox television, that beer-guzzling, doughnut-scarfing family man Homer Simpson and all the good citizens of Springfield have shown no signs of aging as they near their 300th episode.

With its ratings on the rise, "The Simpsons" remains one of the most watched TV shows on Sunday night and was one of the rare bright spots on the Fox lineup during an overall slump in the News Corp.-owned network's viewership earlier this season.

It also remains a perennial favorite among critics and in December earned its first Golden Globe nomination in the race for best comedy series, a rare feat for a cartoon show, even though it didn't win.

Earlier this month, the network announced that it had renewed the series for two more years, through May 2005, meaning "The Simpsons" will stay on the air for at least 16 seasons. By then, they will have easily eclipsed the real-life Nelson family on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" as the longest-running weekly comedy series on TV. The Nelsons left ABC in 1966 after 14 seasons on the air.

But long before a very different Ozzy came to MTV as head of "The Osbournes" unruly household on MTV, "The Simpsons" had established itself as a worldwide pop culture phenomenon seen in more than 70 countries.

AGELESS CARTOON

And according to creator and executive producer Matt Groening, eternal youth is a key ingredient of the show's enduring success.

"I didn't expect to be on the air this long," Groening said at Fox's winter showcase for critics in California recently. "One of the great things about doing an animated show is your characters don't age. So your show stays fresh, and you keep the audience fresh. I love '60 Minutes,' but the people who make it are starting to look like the people who watch it."

For Harry Shearer, the voice of Homer's tyrannical boss, Mr. Burns, and the saccharin, Bible-thumping neighbor, Ned Flanders, the challenge of performing several characters is what keeps the show interesting.

"I would get enormously bored, even after seven years, just coming in and doing this one character every week," Shearer said. "For the actors, one of the great things about making this show fun after all these years is all the different characters we do."

One thing is certain. It isn't big bucks that keeps the ensemble coming back year after year.

"Altogether, we still don't make as much as one 'Friend,"' joked Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer, alluding to the reported $1 million per episode earned by each of the six principal members of NBC's hit comedy "Friends."

The actors clearly enjoy their work, even if they have to suffer silly questions from fans at public appearances.

"The strangest question I ever got is: Do I sound like Lisa Simpson when I'm having sex? And the answer is no," said voice actress Yeardley Smith.

D'OH!

Beginning as a string of cartoon shorts on the "Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987, "The Simpsons" debuted as a half-hour series on the then-fledgling Fox network in January 1990.

At the outset, the series centered on the hijinks of the wisecracking, underachieving 10-year-old Bart Simpson, a spike-haired misfit who darts around town on his skateboard and drives his fourth-grade teacher nuts.

But as the show evolved, its focus shifted to Bart's bone-headed father, Homer, who works at a nuclear power plant and punctuates his frequent mistakes with the anguished, half-syllable utterance "D'Oh!" Castellaneta said he adopted Homer's signature expletive from a character in an old Laurel and Hardy film. "I think it's a euphemism for 'damn."'

Rounding out the Simpsons clan are beehive-haired mother Marge, the sensible, good-natured anchor of the family, and Bart's two sisters -- pacifier-sucking baby Maggie, a silent observer of all, and second-grade prodigy Lisa, a baritone saxophone virtuoso and intellectual of the family.

Behind them is a huge cast of regulars who populate the fictional town of Springfield -- extended family members, neighbors, teachers, classmates, Homer's co-workers, his pals at Moe's Tavern, Apu the convenience store clerk, police chief Wiggum and even the Comic Book Guy.

The show derives much of its humor from sharp-edged social commentary, skewering authority figures and such hallowed institutions as public education, politics, the medical profession, law enforcement and the entertainment industry. The series also is known for the steady parade of guest celebrities who lend their voices, and in many cases their animated caricatures, to cameo appearances.

Actress Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle" will reprise her role as Judge Harm for the upcoming 300th episode of "The Simpsons," in which Bart goes to court to win emancipation from his parents after learning that he starred in a commercial as a baby and that Homer squandered all of his earnings. George Plimpton will appear as himself in a 301st original episode airing the same night.

Those two segments, and a rerun of an episode featuring guest stars Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz, Elvis Costello and Brian Setzer, will air in a 90-minute block on Feb. 16.

Long live The Simpsons!

Congratulations Are Due, And So Is Mags!

Two of the people I love most in this world told me on Tuesday that they are expecting their first child later this year. Dave and Margaret Chant (seen above) are family to me and I couldn't be happier for them.

I remain worried for the baby.

Congrats you guys, and remember that Daniel is a great name for a boy and Danielle is a beautiful name for a girl! I'm just saying, is all!

Make your mark!

More DIE HARD Britney Rumors

More details on Britney Spears' supposed role in the movie have emerged: "The movie is going to take place in the Caribbean, where John McClane accidently runs into his daughter, Lucy, who is a cabaret dancer. McClane has had very little contact with his daughter in the past 10 years. The movie will involve an villain of Japanese origin and an all-out rescue of Spears' character. (if she's confirmed to play the daughter). The surprising thing about the movie is that John McClane will use one gun in the movie and will fire itonly twice, the rest will be fist-fights".

UP IN SMOKE, OR STILL IN DEBT?

Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong reuniting for Cheech and Chong Get Blunt, a new movie in the famed stoner franchise. The flick, written and produced by Chong's daughter, actress Rae Dawn Chong, sees the pair performing community service as anti-drug preachers in a boys' home.

LEGAL EAGLE

Rob Lowe close to signing a deal to produce and star in Lyon's Den, a new NBC ensemble legal drama being readied for next fall. The former West Wing star would play an idealistic attorney trying to make a difference in the world while struggling to escape the shadow of his famous father, a state Senator.

'Batman' Captures Director

NEW YORK (Variety) - "Memento" director Chris Nolan has made a deal to revive the "Batman" franchise.

It was unclear whether he would write the script for the Warner Bros. project.

"All I can say is that I grew up with Batman, I've been fascinated by him and I'm excited to contribute to the lore surrounding the character," said Nolan, who last directed the studio's "Insomnia."

"He is the most credible and realistic of the superheroes, and has the most complex human psychology. His superhero qualities come from within. He's not a magical character. I had a fantastic experience with the studio on 'Insomnia,' and I'm keen to repeat that experience."

Nolan's emergence is an unexpected plot twist for the Caped Crusader, since it appeared that the superhero had flagged after four movies that grossed more than $1 billion. Warner Bros. has been trying to exploit the franchise through reinventions and spinoffs. They include "Batman Vs. Superman," "Batman: Year One" and "Catwoman."

"Batman Vs. Superman," nearly went into production with director Wolfgang Petersen and a script by Andrew Kevin Walker ("Seven") until Petersen instead moved to the Greek epic "Troy," set to star Brad Pitt and Eric Bana.

"Batman: Year One," a Gen-X version of the crimefighter, is being developed by Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream") and creator Frank Stack. "Catwoman," with Ashley Judd expected to play the title role, is a spinoff of the character introduced in the Tim Burton- directed "Batman Returns."

The WB superhero project closest to the starting line is "Superman," with Brett Ratner directing from a script by J.J. Abrams ("Alias") for producer Jon Peters. The film will reintroduce a franchise that sputtered after four Christopher Reeve films, and WB is currently testing actors for its Man of Steel, with Josh Hartnett (Boo!), Jude Law (Boo!), Ashton Kutcher (HUGE BOO!) and Brendan Fraser (Masked indifference) among those rumored as aspirants to be fitted in cape and spandex.

Nolan would not divulge the contents of his Batproject, but he'll undoubtedly bring the wildly inventive style that so quickly brought him to the directing A-list after "Insomnia" and "Memento," whose star Guy Pearce (Sweet!) is among the actors who might make an interesting Bruce Wayne.

Nolan recently turned in his script for a Howard Hughes film that he hopes to direct for Castle Rock, with Jim Carrey in the starring role. Timing of that film is unclear, since the Martin Scorsese- Leonardo DiCaprio Hughes rival pic "The Aviator" could be in production first. Nolan wouldn't say what his next feature would be.

SAG Gives 'Chicago' a Push in Oscar Race

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Looking more and more like the film to beat in this year's Oscar race, musical "Chicago" scored the most nominations -- five -- for the prestigious Screen Actors Guild awards on Tuesday, including the top honor for best performing cast.

It was followed by dark drama "The Hours," which also landed in the category for best performance by a cast and receiving four nominations overall, including one for its star Nicole Kidman in the best actress group.

The nominations come off big victories for both films at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month where "The Hours" was named best drama and "Chicago" was named the best movie among musicals and comedies.

But the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, nominations coupled with "Chicago" outpacing "The Hours" by far at U.S. box offices could just push the musical about a struggling actress who commits murder past the drama in the race for Oscars.

The Motion Picture Academy voting on the nominees ends on Wednesday, January 29.

Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger of "Chicago," were nominated for best actor and best actress, respectively. Co-stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah were nominated for best female actor in a supporting role.

Along with nominations for best cast and Kidman, "The Hours" scored nominations for Ed Harris as best actor in a supporting role and Julianne Moore as best actress in a supporting role.

Moore, too, was nominated for best actress in a lead role for her performance in the drama "Far From Heaven," in which she portrays a 1950's housewife who is forced to deal with her husband's homosexuality.

Joining Moore, Kidman and Zellweger as best actress nominees were Salma Hayek in "Frida" and Diane Lane in "Unfaithful.

TV PERFORMANCES ALSO SINGLED OUT

With Gere in the best actor group were Adrian Brody of "The Pianist," Nicolas Cage for "Adaptation," Daniel Day-Lewis in "Gangs of New York," and Jack Nicholson for "About Schmidt."

Rounding out the supporting actor group were Chris Cooper for "Adaptation," Alfred Molina in "Frida," Dennis Quaid in "Far From Heaven," and Christopher Walken for "Catch Me If You Can." Joining Zeta-Jones, Moore and Queen Latifah in the best supporting actress grouping were Kathy Bates in "About Schmidt," Michelle Pfeiffer for "White Oleander."

"Adaptation" scored three nominations overall to two apiece for "About Schmidt," "Far From Heaven" and "Frida."

SAG also singles out performances for television, and in that arena, the casts of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "24," "Six Feet Under," "The Sopranos" and "The West Wing" were nominated for top performers in a drama series.

The casts of "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Frasier," "Friends," "Sex and the City," and "Will & Grace" were nominated for best performances in a comedy series.

The 9th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will take place on March 9 and be broadcast by cable TV channel TNT starting at 8 p.m. EDT

Academy Award nominees will be named on Feb. 11 and the Oscar ceremony is set for March 23.

Springsteen, Jones to Goose Grammycast

NEW YORK (Variety) - The Recording Academy scored an early coup this week for its upcoming 45th annual Grammy broadcast by signing a group of big-name acts -- including Grammy nominees Bruce Springsteen and Norah Jones -- to perform at the kudofest.

Also scheduled to hit the stage during the Feb. 23 show at Madison Square Garden are Brit rockers Coldplay, country star Faith Hill and rapper Nelly (featuring Destiny's Child's Kelly Rowland). All five of the acts confirmed to date are Grammy nominees.

That star power should give ratings for the Grammy broadcast on CBS a healthy shot in the arm. Nelly's latest LP "Nellyville" (Universal) has sold more than 5 million units, while Jones' "Come Away With Me" (Blue Note) has moved 3 million and Springsteen's "The Rising" (Columbia) just under 2 million.

At the same time, an artist that puts on a good show at the Grammys will often see his or her sales numbers jump in the following week; a good live performance often has even more effect on sales than a victory at the podium.

Jones, Springsteen and Nelly have all received five nominations from the Academy, including one each for album of the year. Coldplay is up for two statuettes, while Hill got a nomination for female country vocal performance.

My Apologies!

Sorry, I forgot to mention yesterday that the 10th Anniversary Edition of "Free Willy" is now available.

"Free Willy": 10th Anniversary Edition

The story of a boy and his whale remains harmless fare for kids and the adults who have to sit through it (though the charm is long gone by the time you've watched both sequels). Still, they missed a great opportunity to tell the full, Dickensian adventures of the real Willy in a making-of documentary - a story about media obsession and how people who don't focus on large environmental issues can become passionately involved in the plight of one poor creature.

Can you spot where I became sarcastic?

'Alias' Becomes a Video Game

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Come fall, video gamers will have the chance to make Sydney Bristow do whatever they want.

Video-game maker Acclaim has reached an agreement with Disney Interactive to release a game based on ABC's spy thriller "Alias." The game will be released across all platforms.

Details of the "Alias" game are few at this point. Acclaim says players will be able to control Sydney (played by Jennifer Garner on the series) and attempt to complete a number of missions involving espionage, combat and stealth tactics.

Acclaim says the show, with its multiple locations and high levels of action, "lends itself perfectly to interactive entertainment."

The "Alias" game is scheduled for release in the fall.

Robbie Williams: Music piracy 'great'

CANNES, France (Variety) -- British pop star Robbie Williams shocked attendees Sunday at music industry confab Midem by declaring piracy a good idea.

"I think it's great, really I do," Williams, who recently signed a reported $120 million deal with EMI/Capitol, said at a press conference. "There's nothing anyone can do about it. I'm sure my record label would hate me saying it, and my management and accountants."

In the past, Williams has supported moves to prevent the illegal downloading of music. He signed a petition in July 2000 that called on the European Union Copyright Directive to allow artists to use technology to protect their work and to stop Net piracy.

Music execs infuriated

Williams' views infuriated music execs and his remarks drew a response from Jay Berman, chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, in his keynote speech.

Berman said it was a myth that the Internet would kill the music industry. "On the contrary, in 2003 we are going to be working the Internet much harder, to promote new legitimate services while at the same time actively targeting the sources of online piracy."

The Recording Industry Association of America, sister body of IFPI, released figures Sunday that claimed revenue lost to the music industry through CD and online piracy was up by 20 percent to more than $5 billion.

Marketing tool?

Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean told Daily Variety that while piracy was bad for the industry, he recognized its potential as a marketing tool. "It affects artists, but (downloading) still gives us the credibility factor. But they have got to find a way to control it, as it is killing the business."

Chris Schwartz, chief executive of Ruffhouse Nation, the Columbia-backed label responsible for the success of the Fugees, agreed with Jean. "Piracy is the quickest way to get a record out," he said. "There was a time early in my days with Columbia Records, when I was glad if my record got bootlegged."

Schwartz made it clear he was against mass copying or organized piracy: "I'm not condoning piracy in any way."

KaZaA fights back; files countersuit

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The owners of the KaZaA file-sharing network are suing the movie and recording industries, claiming that they don't understand the digital age and are monopolizing entertainment.

Sharman Networks Ltd. filed its counterclaim Monday in response to a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by several recording labels and movie studios. That lawsuit accuses Sharman of providing free access to copyright music and films to millions of Internet users in the United States.

The latest filing came two weeks after U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed Sharman's claim that it could not be sued in the United States because it is based in Australia and incorporated in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.

Monopolization?

Wilson had found Sharman subject to U.S. copyright laws because it has substantial usage by Californians and its actions are alleged to contribute to commercial piracy within the United States.

Sharman's counterclaim alleges copyright misuse, monopolization, and deceptive acts and practices.

"In seeking to simultaneously stop illegal copying and to maintain their dominant position in the distribution of musical and movie content, the industry plaintiffs have obscenely overreached," Sharman said.

It seeks a jury trial, damages, attorney fees and a permanent injunction against the entertainment industry so that it can't "enforce any of their United States copyrights against any person or entity."

Claims called 'laughable'

Sharman said the entertainment companies are behind the times and don't realize that consumers need not buy CDs, DVDs or videotapes to enjoy music or films.

Sharman also claimed that movie studios "dominate and, when they act in concert, have monopoly power" for the aftermarket distribution of first-run major motion pictures. Likewise, the company said, recording labels "when they act in concert, have monopoly power in the distribution of recorded music."

Movie studios involved in the lawsuit include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., Disney Enterprises Inc., Paramount Pictures Corp. The recording labels are BMG, EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner. (Warner Music is a division of AOL Time Warner, CNN's parent company.)

In a statement, the Recording Industry Association of America called Sharman's arguments "laughable."

"Sharman's claims are akin to the thief who plunders Fort Knox and then claims she's not responsible because Fort Knox declined to buy her second-rate security system," the RIAA said.

The case is one of the largest in the recent online copyright wars testing the international reach of U.S. courts.

Moby Horrified By Celine's Super Bowl Performance

Moby writes on his official website on Sunday, "So I actually did end up watching some of the Super Bowl... I know, I know, I'm a hypocrite. I ended up in an apartment with a bunch of people who were watching the Super Bowl, so I figured I'd give it a try. I only watched about 20 minutes of it, so I guess that I missed the exciting stuff. But the pre-show with Celine Dion made my skin crawl. Ugh. It was so creepy. I felt like I was livingin 'Starship Troopers' minus the giant bugs and cool uniforms. Not to be too much of a lefty loudmouth, but since when has patriotism come to only mean flags and songs and soldiers? Isn't that a bit worrisome and a bit redolent of the fascist regimes that we fought against 60 years ago? I like the U.S.A, but what I like about the U.S.A are the freedoms that are enshrined in the bill of rights." He added, "I guess I have this fantasy that at some big, corporate sporting event they'll have a reading of the Bill of Rights instead of Celine Dion butchering a song while zombified backing singers smile like poster children for Xanax with military jets flying overhead."

Ringo Album To Feature Guests & Harrison Tribute

Ringo Rama, the upcoming solo album from Ringo Starr, is due March 25 from Koch Records. The project features guest appearances from Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, Willie Nelson, Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit, Shawn Colvin, and others.

The album's first single will be "Never Without You," a tribute to Starr's late Beatles mate George Harrison that features a guitar solo by Clapton.

In a statement, Starr said the song is "my way...to say how much George meant to me and how much he will be remembered...I really wanted (Clapton) on this song because George loved Eric, and Eric loved George. I wanted Eric to come and play that solo because I only wanted people on the track who George knew and loved."

Written by Starr, Ringo Rama producer Mark Hudson, and Gary Nicholson, the song's chorus tells Harrison that "your song will play on/Without you/And this world/Won't forget/About you/Every part of you was in your song...'Here Comes The Sun' is about you."

Starr said he also tried to pay tribute to his other late bandmate, John Lennon, and good friend Harry Nilsson in the song, but that "it got too busy."

The song will be released to radio on February 17.

Ringo Rama was recorded mostly in England, although some work was done at Hudson's studio in Los Angeles. The first song, "Eye To Eye," makes a sonic reference to "It Don't Come Easy," Starr's first solo hit from 1971, while "Elizabeth Reigns" was inspired by Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee celebrations, which took place last June while Starr was recording the album.

Other songs on Ringo Rama include: "I Think Therefore I Rock & Roll" (with Gilmour), "Missouri Loves Company" (with Gilmour), "English Garden," "Write One For Me" (with Nelson), "Memphis In Your Mind," and "I Really Love Her," a short bonus track included on the end of the album.

Starr will tour this summer with a new edition of his All-Starr Band that includes 2001 All-Starr drummer Sheila E., Men At Work frontman Colin Hay on guitar, ex-Babys/Bad English frontman and solo star John Waite on bass, and Squeeze/Mike + the Mechanics keyboardist-vocalist Paul Carrack. More members of the band and tour dates are expected to be announced soon.

Today's New Music Releases

I am so excited! The Smashing Pumpkins are no more, but Billy Corgan is back with a band that sounds as great as The Pumpkins ever did! Enjoy!

ZWAN- MARY STAR OF THE SEA: Billy Corgan, the wonder boy of mid-'90s alternative rock, sounded bitter and spent after the disintegration of Smashing Pumpkins three years ago. He sounds positively reborn on this lovesick and faith-based revival. Corgan recruited Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and players from fringe bands Tortoise, Chavez and Slint to construct Zwan, a phoenix with less plumage and a simpler flight plan than its ambitious predecessor. While Corgan applies the Smashing formula of tension and catharsis to Zwan songs, the material delivers more zip and optimism, less sludge and bombast, and the taut nasal whine has been replaced by robust, relaxed vocals. Wistful ballad Of a Broken Heart and the grand hook-filled Endless Summer are radio-friendly triumphs, but the album's coup is Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea, an amazing 14-minute epic that sways from hypnotic hymn to cascades of guitar sizzle and starch before easing into the pretty harmonica-laced Come With Me — an irresistible invitation.

ERASURE- OTHER PEOPLE'S SONGS: Can you get too much of a good thing? Yes, if the thing in question is this duo's bubbly, breezy electronic fare. Erasure is hardly the tinniest of techno-pop outfits, but this collection of cover tunes proves that, for all its imagination, its musical and emotional range is inherently limited. As on their previous Abba-esque EP, Andy Bell and Vince Clarke deliver some delightfully pop-savvy interpretations, especially of Peter Gabriel's wistful Solsbury Hill and Buddy Holly's pining True Love Ways. But after a while, all the carbonation begins to sound like too much cool air.

GROOVE ARMADA- LOVEBOX: The British duo's fourth full album is a heady tonic of dance-injected rock, hip-hop and funk. Zesty electronica and a beat-crazy undertow erase the iciness of Armada's sample fixation and machines. Neneh Cherry's warble adds warmth to piano ballad Think Twice. Elsewhere, uncorked energy takes charge in a stylistic free-for-all, yielding such winners as crackling thumper The Final Shakedown and retro-disco Easy.

So crank it up!

TOUCHDOWN!

ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXXVII drew some 138 million viewers--the second biggest audience ever for the NFL championship. About 17 million viewers stuck around for the post-game airing of Alias, the best numbers ever for the spy series.

Norah Jones Low-Key After Nominations

LOS ANGELES - Norah Jones' debut album picked up eight Grammy nominations, sold more than 6 million copies around the world and has been No. 1 in the U.S. for the last two weeks — but it's not thanks to self-promotion or publicity-seeking by the 23-year-old singer.

In an age of pop divas, Jones avoids flashy videos, doesn't pose for pinup photos to get better play in music magazines, prefers quiet neighborhood restaurants to celebrity hotspots and travels without an entourage.

"The record industry has gotten so into image that image becomes more important than the singer," she told the Los Angeles Times for an article published Sunday. "I don't know if there are any less good singers than ever, but most don't use their voices in ways that feel honest. Everyone just seems to go for the fast buck."

When her soulful, melancholy album, "Come Away With Me," reached the 1 million sales mark, Jones asked Bruce Lundvall, the head of jazz label Blue Note Records, if he could stop selling it.

"I know it was naive, but I was starting to panic," she said.

About the same time, Jones said, executives at Virgin Records took over radio promotion of the album and startled her with a remix of 'Don't Know Why.'

"I have no problem with techno music and remixes, but this one was horrible. They had drum machines on it and it was going, 'Don't know why ... why ... why.' It was the most absurd thing I've ever heard."

Lundvall supported Jones' decision to nix the remix.

Now her success is pushing record executives, always on the lookout for the next big thing, to search for singers again, not just hit formulas.

"One of my colleagues told me that Norah was so far from what his bosses were looking for last year that he would have been fired if he had signed her," said Arif Mardin, who was nominated for the producer of the year Grammy for his work on Jones' album. "Now, his bosses are saying, 'Go out and find me a Norah Jones.' "

Jude Law Is Film Fans' Pick for Next 007

LONDON (Reuters) - English actor Jude Law topped a poll of film fans Monday to find the next incarnation of suave secret agent James Bond.

The 30-year-old star took more than a quarter of votes in the Total Film magazine survey, finishing just ahead of Scottish "Star Wars" actor Ewan McGregor.

Total Film editor Matt Mueller felt Law had that "posh" edge over the competition.

"I think Jude Law has that upper class, debonair sophistication about him that people associate with James Bond," he said. "More so than Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale who came close."

But he said McGregor's close second place was interesting because, like Sean Connery, he is Scottish.

Current 007 actor Pierce Brosnan has committed himself to a fifth outing as Bond, but has said he may be too old for a sixth.

"It takes stamina to play this role. I would like to get off the stage with grace," he told a news conference last year.

The list of actors, and even pop stars, who have been linked with the role of Bond is a long one.

They range from Oscar winner Russell Crowe and English actor Clive Owen to cheeky British singer Robbie Williams.

Comedian Richard Blackwood is even reported to have offered his services as the first black Bond.

"American Psycho" star Christian Bale came in third in Monday's poll, followed by Owen. Hugh Grant, famous for playing a foppish Englishman in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," took just two percent of votes.

Supreme Court Rejects Mattel Appeal on Barbie Song

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an appeal by Mattel Inc. over its lawsuit against MCA Records Inc. claiming the 1997 pop hit "Barbie Girl" had infringed on the toy maker's doll trademark.

Without comment, the justices let stand a federal appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit on the ground the song by the Danish band "Aqua" was parody and social commentary covered by the U.S. Constitution's free-speech protections.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker which has made the doll since 1959, sued MCA Records, its parent and other units of Universal Music, a subsidiary of French media giant Vivendi Universal . MCA produced, marketed and sold "Barbie Girl."

The song featured a doll-like female voice impersonating Barbie, calling herself a "blonde bimbo girl" and saying "life in plastic, it's fantastic." A male singer, who called himself Ken, exhorted Barbie to "go party."

Mattel, based in El Segundo, California, argued the song, which sold more than 1.4 million copies in the United States, could confuse consumers and dilute the power of the Barbie brand.

MCA defended the song as "social commentary," saying the album "Aquarium" that included the song also featured a disclaimer noting the song was not sanctioned by the maker of Barbie dolls.

Mattel appealed to the Supreme Court. It said the appeals court cast aside the command of Congress in the Lanham Act to protect consumers against unauthorized use of trademarks in ways likely to cause confusion.

MCA replied that the appeal should be denied, saying it had "put out a classic form of parody in a light-hearted pop song that poked fun at one of the most famous and ubiquitous 'cultural icons' in the world."

The appeals court and a federal judge in California determined the song's title was not misleading and that consumers would not be confused, MCA told the justices.

He's Huge!

Here's the trailer for The Hulk

Jim Carrey plays "God" in 'Bruce Almighty.' (Please notice how I resisted the urge to put "Well allllllllll-mighty then!" in there!)

Jay Mohr, Amy Smart Check In with 'Scrubs'

NBC's hospital comedy "Scrubs" is admitting more guest stars for February sweeps and extending the run of a previously announced guest.

Jay Mohr ("Action," "Jerry Maguire" ) will play a doctor who studied under Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) in the Thursday, Feb. 13 episode. Mohr's character will help J.D. (Zach Braff) gain some insight into Cox's badly damaged psyche.

The following week, Amy Smart ("Felicity," "Road Trip" ) will begin a three-episode arc as the wife of a coma patient at the hospital. J.D. faces a moral dilemma when he finds himself falling for her.

The show will also keep Rick Schroder around for at least four episodes, up from the two shows on which he was originally slated to appear. His character, a male nurse, will be introduced in Thursday's (Jan. 30) 40-minute "super-sized" episode.

The character, Paul, becomes an object of infatuation for Elliot (Sarah Chalke) -- who at first thinks he's a doctor. Once she gets over the fact that he's not, they decide to go out.

Schroder says the decision to do more episodes came from a conversation he had with series creator Bill Lawrence.

"The decision was just a very hang-loose personal relationship where he just asked me if I was having fun," Schroder says. "And obviously they like what I'm doing to Sarah's character. She's so funny with the way she relates to me. It's just hysterical what it's done for her character."

Here's today's most fun time waster!

Why Is This Not A National Holiday?!?

Did you know that today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day?

Academy won't thank Oscar voters who sell DVDs on eBay

By Thomas K. Arnold, Special for USA TODAY

If Punch-Drunk Love isn't playing in your town, you can probably get a DVD copy on eBay, the online auction house.

One just sold for $122.

Antwone Fisher was up to $22.50 Sunday. Two weeks ago, a single copy of Gangs of New York fetched $150.

These films are still in theaters; none has been officially released on video or DVD. Bidders are vying for coveted "screeners," or advance DVD copies, sent out by the Hollywood movie studios to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the press in hopes a film will be nominated for Oscars.

Selling screeners is not something the studios condone. "They are on loan from the studio, so they cannot be sold," says Benjamin Feingold, president of Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment, which released Punch-Drunk Love.

Still, eBay won't do anything about screener sales unless the studio complains. Phone calls to eBay were not returned, but according to a statement on the auction site, "eBay policy does not specifically prohibit the listing of promotional items, but you should be aware that many rights owners take the position that the listing of such items is a copyright infringement. Listing such items could therefore result in the ending of your listing if the verified rights owner reports the items as infringing their rights."

Feingold says he plans to contact Columbia/TriStar's legal department. Columbia sent out more than 6,000 screeners.

"Screeners are for viewing by academy members only, and their right to view does not include the right to sell it," Feingold says. "Any sale or purchase is illegal."

An Oscar screener of DreamWorks' The Ring sold for $41, but the auction for Catch Me If You Can was shut down a day after USA TODAY contacted DreamWorks.

But new auctions keep popping up, including one from a seller of Gangs of New York: "Due to eBay shutting down auctions I am selling this NOT as a DVD but as a FRISBEE. You may use is it however you wish, BUT I AM SELLING IT AS A FRISBEE."

Though sellers contacted via e-mail did not respond, judging from item descriptions, they're aware of what they're doing.

"This special DVD is a collector's item," read the description for the copy of Catch Me If You Can that was shut down by eBay on Thursday. "Imagine watching the awards shows and knowing you actually watched a DVD that helped cast the vote."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences calls screener sales "problematic," says spokeswoman Leslie Unger. "That's why we don't send them out from here. The studios develop their own lists."

Motion Picture Association of America spokeswoman Marta Grutka says her organization is very concerned about the sale of illegal copies of movies online.

"If a movie has not been released on video or is still in theaters, and (consumers are) finding it for sale on an auction site, it's more than likely an illegal copy."

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS

Indie drama "American Splendor" about the life of comic artist Harvey Pekar, and the documentary "Capturing The Friedmans" scored best film honors at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday.

Also winning audience awards in the drama and documentary categories respectively was "The Station Agent" and "My Flesh and Blood."

Radio Station Guilty in Dry Ice Stunt

LONDON (Reuters) - A British radio station pleaded guilty Friday to injuring four listeners who suffered severe frostbite after sitting on dry ice for a competition.

After the "Coolest Seats In Town" challenge by BRMB radio in Birmingham, the participants -- aged between 15 and 30 -- had to be hospitalized and suffered scarring.

"We pleaded guilty and have been fined 15,000 pounds ($25,000)," a spokesman for BRMB told Reuters.

The Health and Safety Executive, the safety watchdog which brought the prosecution, said the temperature of the dry ice -- frozen carbon dioxide -- was minus 108.40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The prize for the contest held in August 2001 was tickets to a music festival called "Party in the Park."

The radio station said it was sorry about what had happened.

"We deeply regret the consequences," said Paul Davies, operations director for the Capital Radio Group.

"It was never our intention to place anyone in jeopardy and we sincerely apologies to the participants and their families for their injuries and distress."

Davies said an internal investigation had been carried out to ensure a similar incident did not occur again.

Over the last few years the station has run several publicity stunts which have aroused controversy.

One promotion led to two strangers getting married, winning cash, an exotic honeymoon and the use of an luxury apartment. The competition prompted criticism from church groups which said it demeaned the dignity of marriage vows.

The couple separated after a few months.

Springsteen, Zeppelin Records Honored as Classics

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - From Bruce Springsteen's breakthrough "Born to Run" to Led Zeppelin's hit "Stairway to Heaven," some of the biggest classic-rock titles of the 1970s were inducted on Friday into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The 1975 album that launched Springsteen as a superstar and the 1971 Zeppelin ballad that became one of the most heavily played tracks of the rock era were among 21 recordings to gain Hall of Fame status this year.

The eight albums and 13 singles bring to 606 the number of titles recognized since 1973 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for their enduring artistic quality and cultural influence.

The lion's share of this year's entries -- 11 in all -- dominated record collections and radio airplay during the 1970s and endure on classic-rock stations today. Among the album selections were Elton John's double-set "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Fleetwood Mac's blockbuster "Rumors," the Eagles' smash release "Hotel California," Paul Simon's introspective "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Steely Dan's jazz-rock masterpiece "Aja."

Hit '70s singles making the list included one of the most popular songs of the decade, Carole King's "It's Too Late," along with Eric Clapton's cover of the Bob Marley classic "I Shot the Sheriff" and Ike & Tina Turner's take on the John Fogerty song "Proud Mary."

Six other entries hail from the 1960s, notably Peter, Paul & Mary's hit version of the Bob Dylan protest song "Blowin' in the Wind," Petula Clark's winsome 1964 single "Downtown," Judy Collins' generational touchstone "Both Sides Now" and "Up-UP And Away" by the 5th Dimension.

Jazz made the list with two titles -- Thelonious Monk's 1949 release "The Genius of Modern Music, Vols. 1 & 2," and the oldest entry from this year's crop, Ethel Waters' 1933 rendering of "Stormy Weather."

O'Toole to Get Honorary Academy Award

LOS ANGELES - Peter O'Toole, nominated seven times for an Oscar for films as diverse as the epic "Lawrence of Arabia" and the nostalgic comedy "My Favorite Year," will receive an honorary Academy Award this year.

"O'Toole's performances have ignited the screen for more than four decades," Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said Friday in announcing the award.

It will be presented during the 75th annual Oscars ceremony March 23 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Its citation will read: "Peter O'Toole — whose remarkable talents have provided cinema history with some of its most memorable characters."

O'Toole, 70, made his stage debut at 17 before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his film debut 10 years later with a bit part in the 1959 film "The Savage Innocents."

The Irish-born actor shot to international fame three years later, portraying legendary British adventurer T.E. Lawrence in David Lean's landmark film "Lawrence of Arabia." The performance brought him the first of his seven best actor Oscar nominations.

The others were for "Becket" (1964), "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), "The Ruling Class" (1972), "The Stunt Man" (1980) and "My Favorite Year" (1982).

"He's seven times been nominated as best actor, which puts him in extremely rarified air for a performer," Pierson said. "The Board of Governors felt it was time for him to hold his own Oscar in his hands."

'Darkness Falls' Rises To Number One At Weekend Box Office

LOS ANGELES - The horror flick "Darkness Falls," about a vengeful spirit tormenting the town that lynched her, scared up $12.5 million in its opening weekend to debut as the No. 1 movie.

Last weekend's top movie, the comedy "Kangaroo Jack," fell to second place with $11.9 million.

The musical "Chicago" continued to climb the charts in narrower release. It expanded to 616 theaters, an increase of 59, and took in $8.5 million to finish at No. 3, up from sixth place the previous weekend.

"Chicago" averaged an impressive $13,721 a theater, compared with $4,406 in 2,837 theaters for "Darkness Falls."

With $40.6 million already in the bank and solid Academy Awards prospects, "Chicago" is well poised to expand into wide release Feb. 7, four days before the Oscar nominations come out.

"It's a very enviable position to be in," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Musicals have been out of favor for so long, but `Chicago' is beating all the odds and performing better and better as it rolls out."

George Clooney's directing debut "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" broke into the top 10 in its first weekend of wide release after a limited debut in December to qualify for the Oscars. Starring Sam Rockwell as game-show host Chuck Barris in a fictionalized film biography, "Confessions" grossed $6 million and came in at No. 8.

Other awards contenders held well as they expanded to more theaters, including "About Schmidt," which came in at No. 9 with $5.5 million, and "The Hours," which was No. 10 with $4 million.

Overall, the box office dropped sharply compared to the same weekend last year, when "Black Hawk Down" was the No. 1 film. The top 12 movies grossed $82.9 million, down 25 percent from the same weekend in 2002.

Some of that decrease resulted from movie-goers staying home for the Super Bowl, which came a weekend later last year.

"Darkness Falls" benefited from a slow weekend in which it was the only wide-release debut. It stars Emma Caulfield of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as a woman battling a ghost-hag that's slicing and dicing people in her town.

Horror movies typically do well in their first weekend as fans of the genre turn out in big numbers, but business tends to drop off steeply in subsequent weeks. With a tight $11 million budget, though, "Darkness Falls" will turn a solid profit, said Tom Sherak, a partner at Revolution Studios, which produced the movie for distributor Sony.

Like last year's horror hit "The Ring," a PG-13 rating might give "Darkness Falls" more staying power than fright flicks with an R rating, Sherak said.

"PG-13 is a little bit broader than the hard Rs," said Sherak, whose son, William, made his debut as a producer on "Darkness Falls." "It's the kind of horror movie that people felt safe in bringing younger kids to."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Darkness Falls," $12.5 million.
2. "Kangaroo Jack," $11.9 million.
3. "Chicago," $8.5 million.
4. "Just Married," $7.5 million.
5. "National Security," $7.4 million.
6. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," $6.9 million.
7. "Catch Me If You Can," $6.6 million.
8. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," $6 million.
9. "About Schmidt," $5.5 million.
10. "The Hours," $4 million.

'Piano Man' Joel Released From Hospital

SAG HARBOR, New York - "Piano Man" Billy Joel was hospitalized for several hours early Sunday after smashing his car into a tree along a highway on far eastern Long Island.

A hospital spokesman confirmed that the singer was released Sunday morning but would not comment on Joel's injuries.

The 53-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had swerved into the tree as he was driving his Mercedes-Benz in Sag Harbor late Saturday, Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Thomas Fabiano said.

No charges were filed, police Officer Hugh Caulfield said Sunday. Joel wasn't given a Breathalyzer test, which measures blood alcohol levels, he said.

Joel was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where a hospital spokesman said he arrived around midnight and was released around 7:30 a.m.

Joel has had more than two dozen Top Ten hits in his career, including his signature 1974 song "Piano Man." His music, including the title song "Movin' Out," is currently the subject of a Broadway musical.

Last summer, he voluntarily checked into a substance abuse and psychiatric center at New Canaan, Connecticut, reportedly after becoming "very depressed" when a respiratory infection forced him to cut short a tour with fellow piano player Elton John.

He told People magazine in July that he had begun "what I ultimately realized was a prolonged period of overindulgence. I don't want to get any more specific."

Joel was also involved in a motorcycle accident on Long Island in 1983. He and model Christie Brinkley have one daughter, Alexa Ray. The couple divorced in 1994.

Super Bowl Advertisers Stick With Humor

NEW YORK - Advertising's auteurs kept it quirky on Super Bowl Sunday, with humor a prime ingredient in most commercials as Americans weary of war talk and a gloomy economy were given a chance to chuckle.

AT&T Wireless offered a parody of the PBS series, "Antiques Roadshow," with the traditional telephone ridiculed as a useless relic. "Do you know how much this is worth?" the host asks his guest. "Diddly-squat."

The game's biggest ad buyer, Anheuser-Busch Inc., tweaked pro football's review rule and the league's troubled officiating this season with a zebra pulling referee duty during a game between horses. (The ad aired, coincidentally, right before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sought a successful review of a turnover call.)

Super Bowl commercials are traditionally among the most coveted and prestigious in the advertising world, with a television audience topping 100 million people and few channel surfers. The night offers advertisers a forum for exhibiting their skills to a huge, diverse group of people — some of whom watch solely for the ads.

This year's 30-second slots sold for between $2.1 million and $2.2 million, about 10 percent more than last year. For the second consecutive year, Anheuser-Busch was the game's largest advertiser, with 11 spots.

Around the ads, Tampa Bay won its first Super Bowl, 48-21. The splashiest commercials typically air earlier in the game, which fit well with listless offense through much of the first half.

About 40 percent of the game's commercial spots were bought by four advertising behemoths: Anheuser-Busch, General Motors Corp., Sony Corp. and PepsiCo.

MasterCard used a trio of "dead presidents" to extol the convenience of its debit cards. Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Jackson wait impatiently at home as a man has a dinner-and-movie date, paid for with his debit card.

Michael Jordan showed up in two campaigns.

In Gatorade's Super Bowl debut, Jordan of today plays against his younger self, the No. 23 icon of the Chicago Bulls. In a spot for Hanes, Jordan smirks as actor Jackie Chan scratches at the shirt tag rubbing his neck. The ad shows off Hanes' new tagless T-shirts.

Pepsi hired Ozzy Osbourne's prominent clan to push Pepsi Twist, although none of the oft-deleted-expletive bunch was bleeped, even once, in the 45-second spot.

Big-budget movies played their usual role, with Arnold Schwarzenegger on hand to tout his summer action flick, "Terminator 3," and Warner Bros. offering many viewers their first peeks of the two new "Matrix" movies scheduled to be released this year.

McDonald's offered a humorous twist on the bad day of a bedraggled middle-aged Dad: his equally frazzled young son forced to contend with a flat tire on his bike and a surprise math quiz at school. Then Mom offers McDonald's, to which the precocious adolescent replies, "That's what I love about that woman."

In a spoof of his past tax problems, country crooner Willie Nelson decides to shoot a shaving cream commercial to help pay a $30 million tax bill. The ad was for H&R Block, the tax preparation company.

HotJobs.com, the job-search company that's part of Yahoo! Inc., bucked the trend with a somber commercial showing people at work singing about rainbows.

"We just feel that this year, given what's going on in the economy and in the environment in general, that a more respectful point of view and approach of job search is what's needed," said Marc Karasu, HotJobs' vice president of advertising.

Dodge offered perhaps the grossest commercial moment, using the power of its new truck engine and quick braking to help a choking man expel a hunk of beef jerky — directly onto the windshield, slime and all.

Gollum At The Golden Globes

Source: Ringer Spy Cat

Super 'Alias' will bowl you over

Here's an image that should grab a Super Bowl fan's attention: Jennifer Garner in black scanties.

Oh, there's much more to Sunday's fabulous post-Bowl episode of Alias than those opening shots of Garner, undercover and underdressed as CIA agent Sydney Bristow. But the scene, and the humorous twist it takes, is a prime example of how knowing and witty this show can be, and how eager it is to get the kind of ratings it has long deserved.

Besides, if there's a TV star who can carry off that opening (and that outfit) with more style than Garner, I don't know who she is. Garner is not just the sexiest spy since Emma Peel, she's one of the few actresses who can stand up to comparison with Diana Rigg.

Sunday, she has the kind of showcase that actors dream about: a heart-stopping, plot-packed adventure that lets her hit just about every emotional note. And the good news extends beyond Garner. Seldom has Alias produced a more exciting hour or one more user-friendly for newcomers to the show.

Conveniently enough, Sydney is introduced to a new class of CIA recruits, which allows Alias to reintroduce its premise: Sydney and her father, Jack (the invaluable Victor Garber), are double agents assigned to destroy SD-6, one of 12 cells that make up the criminal syndicate The Alliance. And they have just been handed a new tool: a secret computer that can reveal the location of all Alliance agents.

Naturally, there are complications. The Bristows have a new boss at SD-6 (played with cool authority by Rutger Hauer- who IS still alive), and he has questions about their job performance.

Revealing much more would spoil the fun.

What sets Alias apart? For one thing, there's writer J.J. Abrams (Felicity), who knows how to surprise you without making you feel as if you've been duped. He also has been smart enough to hire actors who are as talented as they are attractive and who are able to keep the often outrageous plots grounded. This week, watch Carl Lumbly as Sydney's partner and see if you don't believe every move he makes.

Action, suspense and a last-minute twist: Sunday's Alias provides everything you'd want from a show following the Super Bowl and, for that matter, from the Super Bowl itself. Whether the game will deliver, I can't say, but the postgame show is a champ.

Seriously!

If this is you, if you are Melody Lewis, I have a crush on you! Please email me!

Melody Lewis was on the Wednesday edition of Fox's "American Idol" dressed as Dorothy from "The Wizard Of Oz" and sang "Somewhere Overe The Rainbow." It wasn't her outfit, or the singing, that has me smitten, it was her.

She possesses the attributes preferred by the superficial male, of which I am one.

Melody, baby, email me! Seriously!

Your new friend,

Dan

TRAINSPOTTING Sequel Finds Trouble in Face Cream

According to director Danny Boyle, PORNO, the sequel to TRAINSPOTTING, is having problems because the original cast of Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller look too healthy; the film takes place ten years after the first film. "None of them look any different," Boyle said. "I need them to look like they've burned themselves out, but they have all been using face cream and Vitamin E lotion."

No Cypher For THE MATRIX: RELOADED

Actor Joe Pantoliano (THE SOPRANOS) talks about why he won't be returning as Cypher in the sequels to THE MATRIX.

Joe Pantoliano told SCI FI Wire that money wasn't the reason he won't reprise the role of Cypher in the upcoming sequel films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. "I wanted to come back," Pantoliano said in an interview. "You ain't kidding. The Wachowskis put a restraining order on me. It was never a money issue," he added, joking about directors Andy and Larry Wachowski.

Pantoliano added, "They never wanted me. I called them up and said, 'Listen, I'm going to make it sound like I turned down $6 million, because you don't want to pay me.' And they said, 'Hold out for $10 million, Joe. You're worth much more than that.' I love those guys. They're my favorite, favorite people in the world. It's not like I've been sitting around for two years waiting for them to make the sequels. In fact, they actually asked me to do a cameo in (Reloaded and Revolutions), but we couldn't work it out (because of scheduling conflicts)."

Pantoliano said that he's still eager to see the finished sequels. "I'm still so excited to see Reloaded and Revolutions," he said. "I think that group is so bright that everything you see after that is an imitation of what they invented. And I know the Wachowskis well enough to know they're probably going to invent themselves again (with the Matrix sequels)."

EPISODE III Name Hints

Details about what George Lucas might be thinking about for the title of STAR WARS EPISODE III, as well as a set that's being built for the film.

Appearantly TheForce.net received a tip a week ago about what word may be included in the official chapter title for Episode III. The site's source states that the current most popular working title for the film uses the word "circle", and it apparently has some direct connection to a line that Vader spoke in Episode IV: "The circle is now complete."

TheForce.net also has a recent report from an individual who claims to know that one of the sets Lucas wants built for the new Star Wars film is that of a lava planet.

See "This Is CNN...It's Me Simba.." post from January 23rd, 2003, for more details!

Steely Dan Embraces 'Everything'

Legendary jazz/rock act Steely Dan has put the finishing touches on a new studio album, "Everything Must Go," due May 6 via Reprise. The set is the follow-up to 2000's "Two Against Nature," which was the Donald Fagen/Walter Becker-led group's first album since 1980's "Gaucho." "Two Against Nature" went on to win the Grammy for album of the year and has sold 1 million copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In marked contrast to Fagen and Becker's notoriously methodical recording pace, "Everything Must Go" was wrapped up in about a year. "We went for live tracking this time and got great, in-the-pocket tracks," Becker said in a statement, adding that the album was recorded on analog tape. "It's mad: it's wiggy: I love it," Fagen concurred.

Fagen and Becker are backed on the new set by drummer Keith Carlock, keyboardists Ted Baker and Bill Charlap, and guitarists Jon Herrington and Hugh McCracken. Beyond his usual bass and guitar duties, Becker takes the mic on one as-yet-unnamed tune, marking his first lead vocal in Steely Dan's history.

Despite its critical acclaim, "Two Against Nature" didn't generate any hits along the lines of the "Gaucho" favorites "Hey Nineteen" (No. 10 on The Billboard Hot 100) and "Time Out of Mind" (No. 22). Indeed, backstage at the 2000 Grammys, Fagen told Billboard any new Steely Dan music wouldn't likely be influenced by any modern tunes. "I haven't listened to the radio for, like, 30 years," he admitted. "I still listen to the same jazz records I listened to in high school, basically."

The group is expected to tour in support of "Everything Must Go," but no dates have yet been unveiled.

New DVD Announcements

Boom!

Yep, yet another edition of Sam Raimi's cult classic Army of Darkness is on the way. On March 4th, the money grubbing bastards at Anchor Bay Home Entertainment will release The Boomstick Edition, a two-disc set that virtually replicates the two-disc set originally released a few years back (not to mention the myriad of single-disc permutations released since.) Featuring new packaging and an 8-page booklet, extras are plentiful. Disc one features anamorphic widescreen and full screen versions, the original ending presented as a supplement, the featurette "The Men Behind The Army" narrated by Bruce Campbell, talent bios and the trailer. Disc two features the extended cut of the film with 15 minutes of additional footage presented in anamorphic widescreen, an audio commentary by Raimi, Campbell and co-writer Ivan Raimi, and four deleted scenes. Retail is $29.95 but I don't care as I won't be buying it!

What About Miles One Through Seven?

Just in are the full specs for Eminem's smash motion picture debut 8 Mile, due March 18th from Universal Studios Home Video. Available in separate anamorphic widescreen and full screen versions, each will come with Dolby Digital English and French 5.1 surround tracks, an interview with Eminem, a tour of 8 Mile Road in Detroit with director Curtis Hanson, "The Music of 8 Mile" featurette, never-before-seen "rap battles," a new music video from "The Eminem Show," and trailers.

And Then...

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has finally announced the full specs and episode lists for Married...With Children - The Most Outrageous Episodes, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Each includes five episodes presented in full screen and English 2.0 Dolby stereo, plus the featurette "A Salute to Sinatra" (on both volumes) and bonus trailers. Episodes on Volume 1 include "A Dump of My Own," "You Better Shop Around (Parts 1 & 2)," "No Chicken, No Check," and the "I'll See You in Court (The Lost Episode)," while Volume 2 includes "A Man's Castle," "Raingirl," "Have You Driven a Ford Lately," "If Al Had a Hammer," and "Who'll Stop the Rain?" Retail is $19.95 each.

Seriously, they are money grubbing bastards!

Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst Defends Feelings For Britney Spears

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst is taking some heat for his relationship with pop star Britney Spears, both in the posts by fans in the band's web folders and by members of the media.

"Well I'm sure we've had it up to our necks with all the hype. Isn't it amazing how something very simple, pure, sweet, and innocent can be blown so far out of proportion?" wrote Durst in an online letter on the Limp Bizkit website. "Who really gives a sh-t that I wanna be with Britney Spears? It seems as if everyone does. The only person that should give a sh-t is Britney. I never meant to be in this situation. Sh-t happens. What's the big deal? Yeah, she is a big POP star and her last relationship with another big POP star was a big deal, but damn y'all need to chill. Do you think I should not like someone because you don't want me to? F--k that!! You people are my family and I respect you and as you should me. I never meant to fall into all of this."

Durst then blamed the media, "All the media is doing is trying to create a lot of controversy. To them its just more interesting to make up lies and crazy dramatic sh-t. I've heard and seen some unbelievable things since I've been liking her. Now all the media has done is twisted the whole thing around and made other people come back running. And I assure you that anything besides that fact that I definitely have feelings for Britney isn't true. It is simple, honest, and pure. That's that. I feel bad for Britney having to have her life put on blast and manipulated by the media like this. Now I've been brought into it. I don't give a f--k about anything anyone thinks and definitely the media. Let's just drop this right here in the Bizkit camp. Let's move on...We don't need to be wasting our time worrying about some birds and bees sh-t!! Next time I'll fall in love with a tree."

Tupperware Says the Party Is Over in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) - The party's over for a generation of housewives after Tupperware said on Thursday its army of sales agents will be scrapped.

For around half a century, British women used to hold get-togethers in their front rooms, so-called Tupperware parties, to sell the plastic food containers.

But 21st century life has sounded the death knell for one of the country's most enduring -- and mocked -- traditions.

"We needed to update our business model," said Jane Garrard, vice president for investor relations at Orlando-based Tupperware.

About 1,500 sales demonstrators in Britain will have their contracts ended on March 30.

Terence Cosgrave, editor of Retail Intelligence said he believed the waning popularity of Tupperware parties was due to changes in eating habits.

"Tupperware was primarily used for storing food. Nowadays more people buy convenience foods and have less use for containers," he told Reuters.

He added that Tupperware, which was seen as a revolution in food hygiene and kitchen style when it was introduced, had faced increasing competition from other manufacturers.

In recent years Tupperware parties have also had to compete with the glamour of lingerie and wrinkle-smoothing Botox parties.

Tupperware said it may focus on selling through retailers.

MOURNED BY SOME

Although the Tupperware party, a sign of sophistication in the 1960s and 1970s, had become a butt of satirists in later years, the end is still likely to be missed by some.

Helen Fairweather, 64, said she attended Tupperware parties in the 1960s.

"You would get a group of friends together -- bit like an Ann Summers lingerie party -- and a person from Tupperware would come along to show their wares."

"You'd provide some nibbles and then, to lighten up the mood a bit, you used to have a little general knowledge quiz and the winner would get a piece of Tupperware," the London pensioner said.

But Fairweather said Tupperware was expensive and in time it discolored.

"You might as well buy the cheap ones and throw them away."

Geoff Jones, 72, a retired railway worker, from London, remembered his wife regularly hosted Tupperware parties.

"It used to be a social thing, something for the ladies to get together," he said, quickly adding he had never attended one himself.

Perhaps summing up the problem Tupperware faces was a comment from a member of the younger generation:

"Tupper-what party? Never heard of it. Sounds kinky," said 25-year-old office administrator Sally Wilkes from Croydon.

Fincher Boards 'Lords' Picture

NEW YORK (Variety) - It could be an endless summer for director David Fincher.

He's committed to shoot "The Lords of Dogtown," a film about the surf and skate culture that took root in a blighted area of Venice in the 1970s.

Sony Pictures has acquired the picture, which has a long development history. Fincher's shingle, Indelible Pictures, set up an earlier version at New Line, where it was to be the directorial debut of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. At the time, Fincher was on board only as a producer.

The acquisition by Sony puts it in the same family as "Dogtown and Z-Boys," a documentary directed by Stacy Peralta and released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2001. "Z-Boys" portrayed the Dogtown teenagers, including Peralta, who began skateboarding in empty swimming pools around Los Angeles, inventing the daredevil aerial style that prevails today.

Peralta wrote an earlier draft of Fincher's picture. Now Roger Avary ("The Rules of Attraction") is doing a rewrite, which is likely to be Fincher's next stint in the director's chair, beginning production in late 2003.

Fincher's picture will be a coming-of-age story -- a departure for the director of gritty thrillers like "The Panic Room" and "Seven." It's likely to treat '70s skateboarding as a cultural movement that helped usher in a revolution in fashion and music.

Fincher is also in line to direct "Mission: Impossible 3" for Paramount, but that's not likely to start production until 2004.

"Dogtown" is one of several skateboarding projects in development in Hollywood.

Warner Bros. plans to distribute Gaylord Films' "The Grind" later this year, featuring popular boarder Colin McKay.

Disney is prepping a biopic on skateboarding icon Tony Hawk -- a figure considered big enough to also have projects set up around him at Revolution Studios and Universal Pictures.

Jimmy Kimmel Premieres Sunday on ABC

NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel is live, devouring a burger at a Manhattan steakhouse and talking about his ABC late-night show.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" premieres with a special post-Super Bowl telecast Sunday night, then continues Mondays through Fridays in the time slot right after "Nightline," which in no way it resembles. (For starters, "Nightline" isn't always live and anchorman Ted Koppel doesn't fancy flannel shirts.)

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" will air from Hollywood's El Capitan Theater as "the first live nightly talk show in over 40 years," according to ABC publicity. (Which maybe it is, if you don't count Joan Rivers on Fox 16 years ago, for all of six months.)

The late-night failure rate is high. Think of Chevy Chase, canned after six miserable weeks in 1993.

"When he came on, a lot of people thought he was going to be really good," says Kimmel. "That's what worries me, about ME!"

But he doesn't look worried. As Kimmel speaks between bites, he seems relaxed, perhaps a little sleepy (jet lag). Even though just days remain before opening night.

And even though his specialty, up to now, has been bad-boy talk radio and, more recently on cable, playing guru to the guy brigade — most notably, as a creator and host of Comedy Central's "The Man Show," where he reveled in something he promises he won't bring to his new show: buxom girls on trampolines.

Despite this note of restraint, he aims to bring an unaccustomed bounce to late-night talk-variety. And he guarantees his studio audience an open bar.

The challenge: broadening his appeal beyond his guy laity and viewers who know him from Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money" and Fox's NFL pregame show — and maybe even holding on to "Nightline" nerds with his maverick style.

"I don't believe that lack of intelligence and appreciation for lowbrow comedy go hand-in-hand necessarily," he says.

Meanwhile, ABC is promoting Kimmel as "Late Night Fresh."

"Fresh?!" he groans. "There's nothing less fresh than the word `fresh.'"

Maybe he's just feeling a little pressure.

"I feel a lot," he says. "It's like when I was in college and I was a wedding DJ. Even though it was just a job for me, each time I knew if I screw it up, if my record skips or my equipment blows out, I've screwed up someone's wedding. The pressure was really intense."

Now 35, Kimmel is still a hard worker, a trait that contradicts the party-hardy image he took to cartoonish extremes on "The Man Show."

"You want to make it look easy and fun," he says. "The best time I had this year was my buddy's bachelor party. We went up to Lake Tahoe — 12 guys in a cabin for three days. I think that's what people imagine that I am, and it's what I like to be.

"But when I'm at work, there's stuff that has to be taken care of, and I'm involved in every little thing."

So maybe it's like Fred Astaire gliding across the floor with Ginger Rogers in all those movies — whereas, behind the scenes, he painstakingly choreographed every step.

"Yeah," says Kimmel gamely. "A hairy, fat Fred Astaire — that's a good analogy.

"But the only responsibility I feel is to try to be as original as possible, and not to ever steal anything. And that's been a challenge for me, through my whole career, to not be overly derivative of Letterman. I have to make sure that I don't. Because everybody that matters will know it."

Kimmel is an unabashed fan of David Letterman. But there are other broadcasters he admires — particularly Mike Douglas, a daytime TV talk pioneer whose guests ran the gamut and who, to keep things fresh, teamed up with a different celebrity co-host for a week at a time.

Kimmel, too, will book weeklong celebrity co-hosts. (First week: Snoop Dogg.)

Another policy he's borrowing: "No cards with questions on them! Mike Douglas just did the interview, just went with things. It's not like that on talk shows anymore. They're pretty regimented, very highly produced.

"He was real good," Kimmel affectionately says. "I remember pretending to be sick because Steve Garvey was gonna be on `Mike Douglas' and I wanted to see it. Staying home from school is a great association with Mike Douglas."

A Brooklyn native, Kimmel grew up in Las Vegas, where he and his pals "took advantage of everything the city has to offer. There was no rule that said you had to be a tourist to eat a $2 steak dinner at the Horseshoe — every night for like 35 nights in a row one summer. That's Vegas!"

Leap forward a few years and Kimmel is a rising TV star about to invade the late-night kingdom. But fame and fortune can't undo those formative years or compromise the inner guy that got him where he is. Not Kimmel, who savors memories of a $2 steak while feasting on a burger that costs 12 bucks.

Are TV Fans Sick of the Osbournes?

NEW YORK (AP) — There's some bleepin' bad news for the Osbourne family: Television viewers may be getting sick of them.

Ratings for MTV's hit reality sitcom have been tumbling in its second season, from a high of 6.6 million viewers for its Nov. 26 premiere, to 3.5 million on Jan. 14. This week's episode climbed back to 3.8 million.

Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly and Jack Osbourne were also hosts of last week's American Music Awards, which suffered its worst ratings ever.

Less than a year after "The Osbournes" began airing and the family became ubiquitous, are the Osbournes burning out?

"The people came in, they tried it and they just haven't gotten back on it," Harry Keeshan, senior vice president of broadcasting for the ad buying firm PHD, said on Thursday. "I don't think a lot of these people will return."

The show's tone is different this second season because the family's life is different. Instead of showing the eccentric home life of a marginal celebrity and his family, the latest episodes depict them coping with sudden fame, as well as Sharon's bout with cancer.

Brian Graden, chief programming executive at MTV, said he's not worried about the numbers. The first season started slow and built into a phenomenon while the second season started fast and faded, roughly even in viewers.

"The same number of eyeballs are seeing this season on both a premiere and repeat basis," Graden said. "If you're in my shoes, you're not complaining."

Although the show may not be as popular as it was last spring, MTV says it's still doing well among the 12-to-34-year-old viewership. Executives also privately say MTV's business model relies on quick sensations that burn out fast.

Keeshan also points out that his clients that bought advertising time on "The Osbournes" are still happy.

After the current 10-episode season ends, another set of shows are planned for this summer. After that, who knows?

MTV may be ready to move on to something new. Graden is touting a new series about life makeovers, "Made," that premiered strongly last week.

The Osbournes' heavily bleeped host stint on the American Music Awards was not only unpopular with viewers, it reportedly caused one celebrity, "Everybody Loves Raymond" actress Patricia Heaton, to walk out of the theater in disgust.

Don't blame the family for its ratings, suggested Jim Paratore, head of Telepictures Productions.

"The American Music Awards' problems are more indicative of where music is today than who the host of the show is," he said.

Paratore has reasons to hope that's true. Telepictures has signed Sharon Osbourne to be host of a new syndicated talk show set to premiere in the fall. He doubts viewers will be tired of her by the time the talk show premieres.

Telepictures' research shows that viewers feel warmly toward Sharon and appreciates what she's been through with a tumultuous marriage and substance abuse, he said.

"She has lived just about every topic that these shows cover," he said.

Stations representing about two-thirds of the country's population have agreed to air her talk show starting this fall, he said. By comparison, a new talk show by Ellen DeGeneres, also created by Telepictures, already has 78 percent clearance.

Super Halftime Show Lined Up

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The halftime entertainment for Super Bowl I was handled by the University of Michigan and Arizona marching bands and cost the NFL almost nothing.

Thirty-six Super Bowls later, this year's halftime show will require a budget in the millions, it's own title sponsor, an Emmy Award-winning producer, a production crew that numbers in the hundreds and some of the record industry's hottest acts.

Sultry Grammy-winning singer and country diva, Shania Twain, will front Sunday's extravaganza between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders.

The Canadian will add her name to a long list of Super Bowl halftime alumni that includes Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys, Cher, the Beach Boys, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and U2.

Over the years, former-presidents, astronauts, Olympic figure skaters and even OJ Simpson have played varying roles in Super Bowl halftime and pregame shows.

"We are connecting the music world with the world of sport," declared producer Joel Gallen.

As the Super Bowl has grown in stature, so have the halftime shows -- in many cases rivaling the game itself for the spotlight.

A media conference Thursday with this year's headliners attracted over 40 television crews, or about four times as many as those who attended the NFL's rookie of year announcement one day earlier.

In an adjoining room, a press briefing jointly held by Milt Ahlerich, NFL vice-president for security, and the San Diego police chief could attract only 15 reporters.

Twain will perform two songs and producers have assured that the singer would not lip synch her hits as she did last November during her performance at the Grey Cup -- Canada's version of the Super Bowl.

The Canadian diva will certainly have a tough act to follow when she steps on stage in front of a worldwide television audience that is expected to exceed 800 million.

International superstars Paul McCartney and U2 appeared at last year's halftime show to offer their support to the American public at the first Super Bowl to be staged after the September 11 attacks in 2001.