STAYING UP LATE

Craig Ferguson will make his debut as new host of CBS' Late Late Show on Monday with David Duchonvy as his inaugural guest. Other first-week guests include Jason Alexander, Jon Cryer and Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon.

New "Law" Will Go On Sans Orbach

The show will go on.

That's the word from producers of NBC's Law & Order: Trial by Jury after the death of star Jerry Orbach, who played wisecracking NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe on the new cops-and-lawyers drama.

Orbach, 69, died Tuesday at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center after battling prostate cancer since last spring.

His illness wasn't disclosed until just this month, however, when his manager, Robert Malcolm, told the New York Daily News that the actor had been receiving treatment for the disease and that his prognosis was good.

Upon news of his passing Wednesday, a publicist for Trial by Jury confirmed that NBC would continue production on the series and will air episodes featuring Orbach. The actor appeared in three of the six episodes shot so far. The network has not announced an air date for the new show, but it is expected to debut in early 2005, most likely in late February or March.

The fourth edition of the Law & Order franchise, Trial by Jury costars Bebe Neuwirth, former Senator Fred Thompson (reprising his L&O role of D.A. Arthur Branch), Amy Carlson and Kirk Acevedo, and devotes many its ripped-from-the-headlines formula to the inner workings of the Big Apple's judicial system.

L&O mastermind Dick Wolf told the New York Times that Orbach's declining health was the main reason producers retired his tough-talking top cop from active duty on the original series after 12 seasons and transferred him to the new spinoff, where he would appear less frequently as an investigator for the district attorney's office.

Orbach agreed to the switch earlier this year to give him more time to focus on his recovery--the shooting schedule on Trial by Jury called for him to work the beat only two days a week. Wolf tapped Dennis Farina to replace Orbach on the original L&O this season.

NBC says it will soon begin the search for an actor to fill Orbach's slot on the new series.

Meanwhile, friends and former colleagues remembered the late TV star, who, before taking the L&O gig, was known for work on the big screen (Dirty Dancing, Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors) and stage, where he got his start as a song-and-dance man and eventually headlined hit musicals and won a Tony Award.

Chita Rivera, who costarred with him in the original Broadway production of Chicago, in which Orbach created the role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn, considered him one of her best musical partners.

"Jerry's strong spirit will be with me forever," she told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "He was an anchor who brought style, security and razzle-dazzle to our original Chicago company. He was a swell guy, and I'll sure miss him."

Wolf said Orbach's "loss is irreplaceable" and called the actor "a legendary figure of 20th century show business."

Former New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani also paid tribute to Orbach, hailing him a "friend to all New Yorkers" and a "devoted ambassador of the city."

And S. Epatha Merkerson, who acted alongside Orbach for years on Law & Order told USA Today, said, "He was always such a feisty and strong character and person. It never occurred to me [his cancer] would go this far."

Broadway marquee lights were dimmed for one minute Wednesday night in tribute to Orbach, who was survived by his second wife, Elaine, and two adult sons from his first marriage.

100 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS PARTY

When the first band of revelers gathered in Times Square to welcome in the New Year, there wasn’t even a ball — just firecrackers, homemade noisemakers, and the start of what would become the most famous First Night in the world. Believe it or not, that was 100 years ago. Indeed, what most of us don’t know about New Year’s Eve and Times Square could fill a book — or at least these pages. So here goes: one tidbit for every year we’ve celebrated in that heralded square.

1 Before Times Square, New Yorkers rang in the new year at Trinity Church by shaking tin cans with bricks inside them.

2 The tradition of dropping the ball began in 1906.

3 Until 1995, the ball was lowered manually, by six men and a guy with a stopwatch.

4 One year in the mid-’50s, the ball got stuck halfway down and took a while to untangle. The new year came anyway.

5 A worldwide audience of more than 1 billion watches the ball drop each year.

6 The first ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with 100 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet across and 700 pounds.

7 At the time, 25-watt bulbs were considered very high tech.

8 Some 20 to 30 tons of trash are left behind by New Year’scrowds each year.

9 At the first celebration in 1904, Times Tower, at Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, was, at 400 feet high, Manhattan's tallest building.

10 Back then, the subway cost a nickel.

11 Estimates of the 1904 Times Square crowd vary from 100,000 to 200,000.

12 Early revelers used homemade noisemakers and a bottle-shaped horn that sold for 10 cents.

13 In 1920, a 400-pound iron ball replaced the original.

14 When the first automated ball dropped, in 1995, it was two or three seconds late.

15 The Post's headline on Jan. 1, 1996: "First screw-up of 1996" — with a photo of the ball.

16 That day, Jeff Straus — president of Countdown Entertainment, which represents the ball — stopped telling people what he did for a living.

17 Straus spends all year planning the celebration.

18 In 1943 and '44, there was no ball, for fear it could prompt an enemy strike.

19 In 1955, the aluminum ball debuted.

20 The ball had a total of 180 lightbulbs.

21 The ball wasn't always a ball. For five years in the '80s — the height of the "I love NY" campaign — it was an apple.

22 It was the same ball — with a green stem pasted on the top. It turned back into a ball in 1987.

23 This New Year's Eve, ev eryone in Times Square can have a say in how the festivities unfold — thanks to cell-phone text messaging, by voting for their choice of song out of a selection of three. The one with the most votes will be played.

24 The actual symbol of a ball dropping to signal the passage of time dates back to 1833 when a time-ball was installed atop England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

25 Around 150 public time- balls were installed around the world thereafter, but few survive.

26 There have been six different balls since 1906.

27 In 1995, the aluminum ball got upgraded — with 10,000 rhinestones.

28 The current ball was first dropped on Dec. 31, 1999.

29 It's six feet across and some 1,070 pounds.

30 To celebrate the 100th anniversary, 100 "white comet" candles will be lit and will rocket into the sky shortly after 11 p.m.

31 In the late '90s, someone suggested the crowd dance to "YMCA" to entertain themselves. Police said no.

32 In the 1990s, various corporate logos were suggested in place of the ball.

33 They included a giant Bayer Aspirin bottle and a Pepsi can.

34 In "When Harry Met Sally . . ." (1989), a lonely Harry (Billy Crystal) watches Dick Clark emcee the ball drop.

35 These days, Billy Crystal's playing Broadway.

36 Woody Allen's "Radio Days" features a 1944 New Year's Eve party on a Times Square rooftop.

37 Dick Clark was 43 when he made his original New Year's Eve TV show from Times Square in 1972.

38 Clark has nothing on Guy Lombardo, the bandleader who presided over Times Square New Year's Eves from 1929 to 1972.

39 In 1931, the celebration was broadcast via radio around the world.

40 Times Square's most famous billboard — the Camel cigarette sign — was installed in 1941.

41 In 1946, Times Square got its famed Armed Forces Recruiting Station — nicknamed "The Booth."

42 In 1998, "The Booth" got its first bathroom.

43 Public drinking was prohibited at the celebration after Mayor Giuliani took office.

44 New Year's cleanups got easier after that.

45 Mayor Giuliani was the first mayor to officially join the celebration.

46 Contrary to some media reports at the time, Sarah Ferguson did not oversee the dropping of the ball.

47 In 1996, the first guest invited to flip the switch was Oseola McCarty, a poor, Mississippi laundress who donated her entire life savings — $150,000 — to a scholarship fund.

48 Before she flipped the switch, McCarty, 88, spent the night wrapped in a blanket, touring the square in a golf cart.

49 In 2002, Christopher Reeve had his hand on the button that signaled the ball drop.

50 Other honorees included Chinese gymnast Sang Lan (1998) and Muhammad Ali (2000).

51 In 1997, a monstrous Astro- Vision TV screen above 50th Street and Broadway gave crowds a clear view.

52 New Year's Eve '97 also marked the 100th anniversary of the unification of NYC's five boroughs.

53 The estimated revenue from that '97 bash? $57.7 million — including fines for ignoring the ban on drinking.

54 In 1949, a fuse on the roof of Times Tower blew at 10 minutes to midnight, and the side of the ball facing the crowd went dark. The crew turned off the ball, spun it around, and hoisted it back up. Nobody noticed the back wasn't lit.

55 In the mid-1950s, a windstorm caused the ball to be pushed back up the pole. An electrician leaped for a tag line and held on for dear life.

56 The exterior of the current ball ball is illuminated by 168 crystal bulbs.

57 The interior has 432 light bulbs and 96 high-intensity strobes.

58 The exterior features 90 rotating pyramid mirrors.

59 In 1980, the ball went dark from 11:58 to 11:59 p.m., tohonor hostages in Iran.

60 This year, more than 2,000 pounds of multicolored, fire-proof confetti will drop from six rooftops.

61 Confetti master Treb Heining supervises six volunteers to drop it.

62 The biggest problem? Avoiding clumping and ensuring even distribution.

63 Dick Clark hosted American Bandstand for 32 years before it went off air in 1989.

64 Regis Philbin will step in this year for Clark. The Bronx-born Philbin has never been to Times Square on New Year's.

65 This year's special guest: Secretary of State Colin Powell.

66 A seat for the 2000 Millennium drop was booked 15 years ahead of time. An Armonk, N.Y. man made a reservation at the Marriott Marquis in 1985, before the building was even built.

67 The confetti drop started in the early 1990s.

68 Zoning rules approved in 1987 create a new unit to measure the brightness of lights in Times Square.

69 Manhattan, Kansas, is having its second annual Little Apple New Year's Eve Celebration, for crowd of 5,000.

70 Times Square celebrated its 100th birthday last April 8.

71 Mylar streamers and giant balloons started in the 1990s, when the Times Square Alliance feared the festivities weren't festive enough.

72 Ten to 15 minutes after the ball drops, 38 sanitation workers start picking up every drop of confetti.

73 Beginning in 1996, televised feed of New Year's Eve in Times Square was distributed for free, worldwide.

74 Viewership seems to in crease during crisis.

75 In 1999, for fear of terrorism, there were 8,000 police officers and national guardsmen on duty.

76 The ball is raised at 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

77 It drops 77 feet in 60 seconds.

78 When the weather's good, revelers arrive at 4 p.m.

79 Area in question: 43rd to 47th streets.

80 This year's handouts include 25,000 hats, 150,000 pompoms, 9,000 pair of 2005 glasses, and 10,000 2012 Olympic flags.

81 Times Square isn't even square — it's a bowtie.

82 Before 1904, the area known as Times Square was Longacre Square.

83 After 9/11, Mayor Giuliani encouraged the celebration to continue.

84 The crowd at that first post-9/11 New Year's Eve was the most polite ever.

85 The most raucous revelers were in the early '70s.

86 This year's celebrants can practice the countdown, starting at 7 p.m.

87 All 696 lights and 90 rotating pyramid mirrors on the ball are computer controlled.

88 When the ball isn't being lowered, it rests in the "Ball Vault," feet below 1 Times Square.

89 Stored with it is the glitterball that was retired in '99, plastic rhinestones and all.

90 Covered with a total of 504 Waterford crystal triangles, the current ball cost more than $1 million.

91 From his hospital bed, Dick Clark told his wife, Kari, that he wanted Regis to host.

92 Ashlee Simpson will perform at this year's "Rockin Eve" special on ABC. She promises not to lip-sync.

93 Even the button that will be pushed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Secretary of State Colin Powell is made from Waterford crystal.

94 Recent celebrations generated about 57 tons of litter per night.

95 Some would-be ball- nap pers from New Jersey once tried to get their own ball from Artkraft Strauss.

96More than a million revelers welcomed in the new millennium on Jan. 1, 2000.

97 The sanitation department uses garden rakes.

98 Wet confetti is a lot harder to pick up than dry.

99 Also picked up, says a Sanitation spokesman: "The first kiss, a ton of broken resolutions, and a lot of personal effects."

100 After the millennium celebration, workers found two kilts, still unclaimed.

Jazz Giant Artie Shaw Dies at Age 94

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw, famed for classic recordings of "Begin the Beguine" and "Oh, Lady Be Good" as well as turbulent marriages to movie stars Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, died on Thursday at age 94, his manager Will Curtis said.

Shaw, who died at his Los Angeles-area home, had been in ill health for several years since he fell and broke a hip while walking his dog, Curtis said.

"He was in tremendous pain," he added.

Born Arnold Jacob Arshawsky to a seamstress mother and photographer father in New York City on May 23, 1910, Shaw was about as restless a jazz star as one could find.

He formed and reformed bands, married and divorced eight times, gave up music for more than 30 years and put down his clarinet in 1954 never to play it in public again, quitting at age 44.

Critics dismissed his work at first. But soon they hailed him as a unique voice in swing-era jazz, especially for his beautiful tone and control of his instrument's top register.

The Down Beat critic Howard Mandel once wrote: "In Shaw's lips and hands the clarinet bent as pliantly as a blade of grass; it thrilled him to make glissandi, fast or sad melodies, and wonderful virtuosic turns."

Among his famous songs were a 1938 rendition of "Begin the Beguine," which made him a national star and chief rival to legendary clarinetist Benny Goodman, "Oh, Lady Be Good," "Stardust," "Indian Love Call" and "Frenesi."

He once said the success of "Begin the Beguine" was like an anchor around his neck.

As smooth as his tone was, Shaw was a man at war with himself. A crusty, self-declared perfectionist, Shaw gave up the clarinet because he said could not reach the level of artistry he desired.

In 1981, he ended a long musical intermission by reorganizing a band that bore his name and played his music -- but with another clarinetist, Dick Johnson, leading the orchestra and playing the solos Shaw made famous.

Shaw traveled with the orchestra as a guest host and sometime conductor of the band's signature opening number, "Nightmare."

WHO'S WHO

Shaw's bands in the 1930s and 1940s featured a who's who of jazz greats including Billie Holiday, Buddy Rich, Roy Eldridge and "Hot Lips" Page. At the height of his popularity, he earned $30,000 a week, a huge sum for the Depression Era.

He was one of the few white bandleaders who sought out black talent. Decades after Billie Holiday sang with him, Shaw still marveled at the sound of her voice.

"When she sang something, it came alive. I mean that is what jazz is all about," he once said.

Shaw called himself a difficult man, a view his eight former wives, including novelist Kathleen Winsor and actresses Evelyn Keyes, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner might have agreed with. He recalled once almost erupting when a woman asked if he could play something with a Latin beat.

Of Shaw's string of former wives, manager Curtis recalled, "He said he never had to pay any alimony because they were all as rich as he was."

It was once a national joke to have as many wives as Artie Shaw had.

In a 1985 interview with Reuters, Shaw said he gave up playing when he decided he was aiming for a perfection that could kill him.

"I am compulsive. I sought perfection. I was constantly miserable. I was seeking a constantly receding horizon. So I quit," he said.

"It was like cutting off an arm that had gangrene. I had to cut it off to live. I'd be dead if I didn't stop. The better I got, the higher I aimed. People loved what I did, but I had grown past it. I got to the point where I was walking in my own footsteps," he said in that interview.

Shaw spent his time as a guest on television game shows, writing an autobiography and a novel, traveling and lecturing.

But starting in the 1980s, Shaw returned to the road with his revived band as its host and sometime conductor of its opening number before turning over to Johnson.

'Law & Order' Star Jerry Orbach Dies

NEW YORK - Actor Jerry Orbach, who played a sardonic, seen-it-all cop on TV's "Law & Order" and scored on Broadway as a song-and-dance man, has died of prostate cancer at 69, a representative of the show said Wednesday.

Orbach died Tuesday night in Manhattan after several weeks of treatment, Audrey Davis of the public relations agency Lippin Group said.

When his illness was diagnosed, he had begun production on NBC's upcoming spinoff "Law & Order: Trial By Jury," after 12 seasons playing Detective Lennie Briscoe in the original series. His return to the new show had been expected early next year.

On Broadway, the Bronx-born Orbach starred in hit musicals including "Carnival," "Promises, Promises" (for which he won a Tony Award), "Chicago" and "42nd Street."

Earlier, he was in the original cast of the off-off-Broadway hit "The Fantasticks," playing the narrator. The show went on to run for more than 40 years.

Among his film appearances were roles in "Dirty Dancing," "Prince of the City" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Orbach is expected to appear in early episodes of "Law & Order: Trial by Jury," for which he continued as Briscoe in a secondary role, when the series premieres later this season, Davis said.

"I'm immensely saddened by the passing of not only a friend and colleague, but a legendary figure of 20th Century show business," said Dick Wolf, creator and executive producer of the "Law & Order" series, in a statement. "He was one of the most honored performers of his generation. His loss is irreplaceable."

In a 2000 Associated Press interview, Orbach said the role in the acclaimed "Law & Order" brought him "wonderful security" rare in the life of an actor.

"All my life, since I was 16, I've been wondering where that next job was gonna come from," he explained. "Now I take the summer off, relax, and I know that at the end of July we're gonna start another season."

He said he didn't know "where I stop and Lennie starts, really. ... I know he's tougher than me and he carries a gun. And I'm not an alcoholic."

"I know I wouldn't want to be him," Orbach sums up. "I guess THAT'S where I stop and he starts."

In 1987-88, he starred in the series "The Law and Harry McGraw," a spinoff featuring a character he created in "Murder, She Wrote." In 1990, a shot on "The Golden Girls" brought him an Emmy nomination as best guest actor in a comedy series.

"There's a pace in TV I like," he said in a 1993 interview. "I like to work fast. I don't like to dwell all day over one scene as you do in a big feature. Big feature films are another world."

Jet Li Survives Tsunami

Jet Li just got through playing Hero on the big screen. Now, he's one for real.

The international action star managed to save his daughter--and himself--from the deadly tsunami that wreaked havoc on southern Asia and parts of Africa over the weekend, leaving more than 52,000 dead.

Li and his daughter were vacationing in a resort in the Maldives when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck near Sumatra early Sunday. The temblor generated waves up to 40 feet high which swamped coastal areas in nearly a dozen countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and as far away as Somalia and Tanzania.

According to Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper, which quoted an unnamed friend of Li's, the martial artist and his daughter were in their hotel lobby when a wall of water surged into the building. Li was dinged by a piece of floating furniture and sustained an foot injury, according to the Ming Pao Daily News, but managed to scoop up his daughter and escape relatively unharmed. After reaching higher ground, he was able to call his agent and let him know they were all right.

A rep for Li confirmed to E! on Monday that the actor was vacationing in the Maldives and had managed to avoid injury.

The Maldives are a chain of islands in the Indian Ocean about eight feet above sea level. The tidal waves, which were traveling at 500 miles per hour, engulfed the islands--some almost entirely--sweeping away whole towns and villages before finally receding.

Nearly 50 deaths have been reported in the Maldives, as of Tuesday, but as with most of the places ravaged by the tsunamis, the casualty numbers are expected to rise.

Li, one of Hong Kong's premiere action exports, played the villain in Lethal Weapon 4 before landing his first major American starring role in Romeo Must Die; his other Hollywood credits include Cradle 2 the Grave, Kiss of the Dragon and The One.

Li wasn't the only celeb caught up in the tsunami tragedy.

Czech supermodel and 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue covergirl Petra Nemcova was on holiday across the Indian Ocean in Phuket, Thailand, with her British photographer boyfriend, Simon Atlee, when the raging surf tore through their beachfront bungalow at the resort of Kaho Lak.

According to the New York Daily News, Nemcova was able to keep her head above water and grab a palm tree. She clung to the tree for eight hours while the water swept other victims out to sea. At sunset, the 25-year-old beauty was eventually discovered by rescuers and hospitalized for a broken pelvis and internal injuries.

Atlee, however, is still missing.

"This huge wave just pulled us out of the house," Nemcova recounted the Daily News from her hospital bed. "It was so powerful I couldn't get up. I couldn't get out of it. People were screaming, and kids were screaming all over the place, screaming, 'Help, help.' And after a few minutes, you didn't hear the kids anymore."

She was transported via stretcher to a local hospital and then airlifted to an inland hospital.

"I was so broken, I couldn't walk," Nemcova said. "There were so many people with horrible injuries, with blood everywhere. It was like a war movie."

The killer waves also beseiged Nate Berkus, a celebrity interior decorator and frequent guest of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Berkus and his companion, Fernando Bengoechea, were asleep in their hotel in Sri Lanka when the tsunamis hit.

The two got hold of a telephone pole, before another strong wave pulled them off. Berkus, 33, managed to climb up onto a rooftop, but the fate of his friend remains unclear. After reaching safety on Sunday, Berkus managed to call his family and alert them that he was alive.

"I'm sitting here with nothing--no passport, no money, no anything, in shorts that somebody gave me," he told CNN. "The bottom line is, we desperately need help here."

Meanwhile, from the film world, Oscar-winning British director Richard Attenborough is mourning the death of his 14-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, who was killed when the waves crashed into Phuket. Attenborough's daughter Jane and Jane's mother-in-law, Jane Holland, remained unaccounted for, according to a statement from family friend Diana Hawkins.

Another granddaughter, 17-year-old Alice, survived the tsunami along with her father, Michael, and her brother Sam. Alice was being treated at a local hospital. The Attenboroughs were staying at the Thai beach on a two-week holiday.

So far, more than 80 Westerners have been confirmed dead in the catastrophe, with many still missing.

Hoping to fend off a deepening crisis, aid workers are rushing to contain the outbreak of waterborne diseases and restore basic sanitation and running water to the tsunami-effected areas.

Susan Sontag, Writer and Critic, Dies at 71

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Author and social critic Susan Sontag, one of the most powerful thinkers of her generation and a leading voice of intellectual opposition to U.S. policy after the Sept. 11 attacks, died on Tuesday at a New York cancer hospital. She was 71.

Sontag, who had been suffering from cancer for some time, was known for interests that ranged from French existentialist writers to ballet, photography and politics. She once said a writer should be "someone who is interested in everything."

She was a lifelong human rights activist and the author of 17 books, including a novel, "In America," that won a U.S. National Book award.

Her work has been translated into more than 30 languages. Among her best known works was a 1964 study of homosexual aesthetics called "Notes on Camp."

Fellow author and friend Salman Rushdie described her as "a great literary artist, a fearless and original thinker, ever valiant for truth" who insisted "that with literary talent came an obligation to speak out on the great issues of the day."

Sontag was among the first to raise a dissenting voice after Sept. 11, 2001, in a controversial New Yorker magazine essay arguing that talk of an "attack on civilization" was "drivel."

A tall and imposing figure with white-streaked, long black hair and a severe demeanor, Sontag was a fixture on the New York intellectual scene. She played herself in Woody Allen's 1983 comedy "Zelig," and directed four films of her own.

She ignited a firestorm of criticism when she declared that the Sept. 11 attacks were not a "cowardly attack" on civilization but "an act undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions."

With much of America still too shocked to consider such views, she was vilified in some quarters. An op-ed piece in the Boston Globe contended the comments confirmed what many already thought about her: "high IQ, but a few quarts low on compassion and common sense."

Sontag has since been an outspoken critic of President Bush over his response to the Sept. 11 attacks and particularly the U.S. war in Iraq.

In May this year she wrote an essay in the New York Times about the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad, arguing that the shocking photographs of the abuse would likely becoming the defining images of the war.

The piece prompted an editorial writer at Britain's Financial Times newspaper to describe her as "the liberal lioness ... the pride of hand-wringing elitist liberalism."

Novelist E.L. Doctorow described her as "quite fearless."

"She was engaged as a writer. I remember she went to Sarajevo to do theater while the fighting was going on. She just marched right on in there," he said.

Born in New York in 1933, Sontag grew up in Arizona and Los Angeles before going to the University of Chicago, and later Harvard and Oxford. She wrote novels, non-fiction books, plays and film-scripts as well as essays for The New Yorker, Granta, the New York Review of Books and other literary titles.

"She was brilliant and put her brilliance to work on behalf of human rights and creativity for everybody else," said Victor Navasky, publisher of liberal weekly magazine The Nation.

Sontag was married at the age of 17 to Philip Rieff, an academic in Chicago, with whom she had a son in 1952.

A longtime opponent of war and a human rights activist, Sontag made several visits to Sarajevo and staged Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" there under siege in the summer of 1993.

From 1987 to 1989 she was president of the American Center of PEN, an international writers' organization dedicated to freedom of expression, where she led a number of campaigns on behalf of persecuted and imprisoned writers.

Rushdie, current PEN president, expressed his gratitude for her support over the fatwa issued against him in 1989 for his book "The Satanic Verses." "Her resolute support, at a time when some wavered, helped to turn the tide against what she called 'an act of terrorism against the life of the mind."'

FILLING OUT THE 'LOST' FAT KID

Despite all the beautiful people trapped on the mysterious island on ABC's hit drama, "Lost," fans are increasingly obsessed with the back story of the lovable fat kid, Hurley.

But they're probably going to be forced to wait until the end of the season to find out who he really is.

Web sites like Ain't It Cool News — typically a very reliable place for inside information about movies and TV shows — report that viewers probably won't learn Hurley's past until the end of the season.

Even Jorge Garcia, the actor who plays Hurley, doesn't know for sure, but thinks it could be as early as February.

Speculation on the 'Net about Hurley's past has ranged from him being a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing gamer to a deadly saboteur. A cryptic remark he made, "Back home, I'm a warrior myself," has kept fans guessing.

"I think I get to shoot it in January, and you all will see it in February," Garcia wrote on the cast and crew's official Web site, The Fuselage, about his episode.

But plans sometimes change, especially on "Lost," a hit show with a storyline so cloaked in secrecy, it rivals that of the "X-Files," in which producers distributed scripts to the actors on colored paper so it couldn't be photocopied.

Even the cast of "Lost" doesn't know in which direction the series is headed.

"We find out a few weeks earlier when we read the script [or if someone's really ambitious they sneak a peek at the treatment]," Garcia wrote. "We read it and get the new revelations, but then we can't wait to watch because little things get cut or changed from our draft.

"I assure you we are just as into it as you guys — we're just few chapters ahead," wrote the amicable actor, who has become known on the Web site for his frequent, friendly interaction with fans.

Jim Cuddy, Diana Krall say first concert can be a life-changing event

TORONTO (CP) - Do you remember the first concert you ever attended?

The crush of people, the bright lights and the ear-splitting sound? Many of us remember the night as vividly we do our first kiss. And when that first gig comes up in conversation with friends or co-workers, most of us eagerly contribute our own memory - whether it was a legendary band or the bubblegum pop act du jour.

It's because music defines our personalities, explains Jacqueline Warwick, assistant professor of music at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"It's such an important part of how we make ourselves up and how we present ourselves to the world," she said.

The inaugural concert typically represents a snapshot of yourself and who you considered to be part of your community at that time in your life, added Warwick.

"You've made this investment of time and energy and money. You think 'These people understand me somehow. They speak to me. They get me,' " she said. "All of that is heavily freighted and becomes incredibly significant . . . making up their identity and figuring out what kind of man or woman they're going to be."

The Canadian Press asked a few musicians about their first concert.

Billy Talent's Ben Kowalewicz:

It was John Denver with my mom (in Montreal). I fell asleep half way through because it was John Denver. I was just a little one, a wee lad. But the first concert that really resonated with me and meant something to me would be the '92 Lollapalooza (at Molson Park in Barrie, Ont.) with Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube and Soundgarden. I just remember thinking it was the greatest day of my life. I was probably 16 and I was stoned out of my gourd. I was walking around thinking "This is amazing. This is what I want to do."

Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy:

The Lovin' Spoonful at the Autostad at Expo 67 (in Montreal). I was in the very, very back row and I have never been so excited in my life. When they first started I thought I was going to scream. It was the first time I realized why people scream. Obviously I'd been listening to music for a while. I was a really huge Beatles fan and I saw all the screaming on Ed Sullivan but when I was in that concert, it was almost more than I could handle.

Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor:

Beach Boys in Montreal. I can't remember where. I was very young. Maybe '64. It was an outdoor thing.

Jazz singer Diana Krall:

Trooper was the first concert. I got gum thrown in my hair. That's when I said "No, I'm sticking with jazz." Then I went to Oscar Peterson with Ella Fitzgerald at the Orpheum (in Vancouver) when I was 16 years old. My mother made me a blue satin jacket. It was one of those life changing things. My cousin took me. I'll never forget it.

"Singer" Shawn Desman:

It's a little embarrassing but New Kids on the Block at the Exhibition (in Toronto). I was about nine years old. I loved New Kids. I'm being honest, I don't care, whatever ya'll think, I loved New Kids on the Block. It was surreal. I couldn't believe that the guys that I see on my TV everyday are actually there and I saw them in person. Hopefully my fans get that same kind of feeling. I didn't have the best seats but I could see the stage.

Singer Jann Arden:

It was Kiss, 1976. The opening act was Pat Benatar. It was in Calgary at the Corral. I went with my friend Patty. I was 14. Where I grew up, Springbank, there were 30 kids in my entire school. So you can imagine how naive we all were. My mom dropped us off. She had no idea what she was dropping us off to. I'm sure I had jeans with chicken shit on them and a T-shirt because we lived in the sticks and it was so loud I was kind of scared. People were drunk and smoking pot. Gene Simmons was drunk and would spit blood out at the crowd and there were all these pyrotechnics.

Actor and part-time singer William Shatner:

It was a Rolling Stones concert in Toronto. I was more a Frank Sinatra fan. I wasn't connected with rock and roll until much later.

Collective Soul's Ed Roland:

My dad took me to see Johnny Cash and I thought that was the coolest cat I ever saw in my life - all black, and that guitar. He was cool. I love Johnny. And then it was Liberace second. My dad took me to Liberace and then he took me to Elton John (news) and I'm like, "What is going on?" I was like, "Alright, this is what I want to do dad!"

Collective Soul's Joel Kosche:

It was Sammy Hagar on the I Can't Drive 55 tour. That was the first big rock show for me and I was already playing guitar and stuff by then. It was fun. It was an arena . . . where you get that real nervous feeling like, "Wow, something's gonna happen." Those were the good old days. A lot of shows used to give you that feeling.

Singer Leslie Feist:

Tina Turner at the Saddledome (in Calgary). I remember it exactly, the whole thing. It was the Private Dancer era. Her hair was enormous. I was a million metres away and her hair was still completely enormous.

When I played the Saddledome in 1999 with By Divine Right I was standing on the stage at the same spot. I was just looking left to right remembering exactly where I sat for Tina Turner and then Janet Jackson and Tiffany.

Singer Andy Kim:

I remember it because music was and still is my sanity. Having seen Roy Orbison play in Montreal was absolutely phenomenal. My older brother took me. I remember the first time I heard Only the Lonely. It was a moment. It was the first time you heard the moan of someone. It's like the first time you hear a bird sing. He was one of those remarkable musical spirits. He was almost operatic to me. I think I was about 12. I remember two things. The seats were not that great but it didn't matter. It was my first time in a crowd. Just to hear him, was, I can't explain it.

Man Auctions Water From Cup Elvis Used

BELMONT, N.C. - Wade Jones is a fan of Elvis Presley, but says he's not a fanatic. That's why — after a grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary sold on eBay for $28,000 — he decided to sell three tablespoons of water from a cup that Jones said was used by Presley during a 1977 concert.

"It's one thing to be an Elvis fan, but then you tell them you have this cup of water and they think you're a fanatic," he said. "I'm not like the people bidding on this water."

The water fetched $455 Saturday at the online auction.

Jones was 13 when he watched Presley perform in February 1977 at the Charlotte Coliseum, now the Cricket Arena. He says he watched Elvis drink from the cup while he introduced the band.

After the show, Jones went to the stage to snag a souvenir — perhaps a scarf that Presley would throw to his audience. When police wouldn't give him one, he asked for the cup and water. He stored the cup in a deep freezer for eight years, then melted the ice and transferred the water to a glass vial.

As proof of the water's authenticity, Jones provides photos of Presley during the concert in which several plastic foam cups can be seen on a stand behind him. Another photo shows Presley holding a cup.

"I'm kind of attached to the cup," Jones said. "I thought it was a little quirkier to sell the water."

Usher Leads 2004 Album Shipments

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - To his eight Grammy nominations and slew of No. 1 singles, R&B singer Usher has added the honor of most-shipped U.S. album of 2004 for "Confessions," according to year-end certifications from the Recording Industry Assn. of America.

With 8 million units shipped to retailers (but not necessarily sold through to consumers), the set is the highest-certified album in the star's catalog. His previous best was 1997's "My Way," which is six times platinum.

Usher also picked up three honors under the RIAA's new digital awards program. "Yeah!" featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, which spent 12 weeks atop the Hot 100 singles chart, was certified digital platinum for more than 200,000 downloads. The No. 1 singles "Burn" and "My Boo" with Alicia Keys went digital gold for more than 100,000 downloads.

George Strait earned this year's second-highest certified album, and top country album, for "50 Number Ones," which was certified five times platinum. Strait's career has yielded more than 60 million total U.S. shipments.

Norah Jones was the top female in 2004, with her sophomore effort, "Feels Like Home," shipping 4 million units. Her 2002 debut "Come Away With Me" is nine times platinum. Jones' "Sunrise" earned a digital gold award.

Top debut by a female artist went to Gretchen Wilson's "Here for the Party" and Ashlee Simpson's "Autobiography," both with 3 million shipments.

Kanye West was the year's leading male newcomer, with double-platinum honors for "The College Dropout."

In addition to earning the RIAA Diamond Award for 10 million shipments of last year's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," OutKast joined Usher with three digital awards. "Hey Ya!" grabbed the only multi-platinum award, while "Roses" and "The Way You Move" went platinum.

Another 2004 highlight was Ray Charles' posthumous "Genius Loves Company," which earned the artist his first platinum and multi-platinum honors.

Several other artists picked up their first multiplatinum awards in 2004, including Maroon 5, whose "Songs About Jane" went triple platinum. Earning their first double-platinum nods were Black Eyed Peas for "Elephunk"; Brad Paisley, "Mud on the Tires"; Jill Scott, "Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds, Volume 1"; Keith Urban, "Golden Road"; Pantera, "Vulgar Display of Power"; and Switchfoot, "Beautiful Letdown."

First-time platinum winners included Ciara, Five for Fighting, Anthony Hamilton, Jet, Josh Turner, Velvet Revolver, Michael McDonald, Yellowcard, Los Lonely Boys and JoJo.

Profile: Kate Bush: Can she pull off the big sway-back?

In the cluttered loft that houses the memory of the average middle-aged bloke, a video flickers dully. It displays a child-woman of ethereal yet sexual allure who sways with beguiling swimming motions as her voice leaps the octaves of her 1978 hit Wuthering Heights.

The news that Kate Bush is planning a comeback after 12 years has lit up the captured moment when she erupted on the music scene as a 19-year-old, tangle-haired gypsy with a dazzling talent and a totally original approach to pop.

So agonisingly have devotees awaited her return that the writer John Mendelssohn penned a novel entitled Waiting for Kate Bush, published last month, featuring a Bush obsessive who has sent her 2,000 unanswered e-mails and is tormented by self-loathing.

Nobody would believe that Bush’s long silence was about to end had she not posted these words on a fan club’s website: “The album is nearly finished and will be out next year.” In a rare burst of garrulousness she added: “I hope you will all feel it’s been worth the wait.”

Now 46, the elusive Bush spent the interval at her home near Reading making sculptures, planning films and enjoying the company of Bertie, her six-year-old son, and his father, the guitarist Danny McIntosh, who played on Bush’s last record The Red Shoes.

A little more light was thrown on her absence by Peter Gabriel, her friend and collaborator on the hit single Don’t Give Up, who recently told a Canadian interviewer: “She’s being a mum and loving it. So music’s gone from being full-time to part-time (and) that slows you down.”

The doctor’s daughter from the London suburb of Bexleyheath altered the chemistry of pop in a career that produced nine albums and 13 hit singles, including The Man with the Child in His Eyes, written when she was only 13. Her unique performances combined musical theatre, dance, poetry and rock, crowned with a voice that could scale the upper registers with what has been described as a captivating screech.

Nobody had seen or heard anything quite like her before. One reviewer wrote: “It beggars belief . . . a stunningly original stage performance . . . it is devastatingly effective . . . a dazzling testimony to a remarkable talent.”

Her success was all the more notable because she was one of the few women to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of pop, governed at the time by the aggressive sounds of punk. This 5ft 3in nip-waisted shy sprite not only composed and arranged her songs and produced her stage shows, but she also designed her costumes and was managing director of her management company.

Many female artists have claimed Bush as an inspiration, including Madonna, Björk, kd lang, PJ Harvey and Katie Melua. OutKast, the US hip-hop duo, want to do a song with her if they can track her down.

Male singers, too, owe a debt to Bush — perhaps none more so than Sir Cliff Richard. When he first saw her perform Wuthering Heights he was so impressed with her arm- flailing and gyratory motions that he incorporated them into his own static stage act. Like other Brontë aficionados, he probably imagined she had a detailed knowledge of the book, but it turned out she had not read it. The song was apparently based on her memory of the last moments of a television film.

In the studio, however, her perfectionism verged on control freakery. Recording the song Wow, she reportedly performed hundreds of vocals over several weeks, despite the producer’s insistence that he was perfectly content with the first take.

The experience led her to assume control of producing the album The Dreaming in 1982. Characterised by sound effects and animal cries, the record was not a success. Some blamed Rolf Harris’s contribution on the didgeridoo.

Catherine Bush was born in 1958, when British pop was waiting to be rescued by Elvis Presley. Her father was an English GP who played jazz piano, married to an Irishwoman who had been an accomplished folk dancer in Co Waterford. She was brought up in a comfortable home with two older brothers, John and Paddy. Both were fanatical about folk music and Kate imbibed their records of folk, sea shanties and Irish jigs.

She liked Buddy Holly and Presley, but her main inspiration was traditional music. “Irish airs, the uillean pipes — music like that affects me physically,” she said.

She also enjoyed hymns and took violin lessons at convent school, St Joseph’s at Abbey Wood, near Woolwich. “We lived in a farmhouse. I used to play hymns on an old organ in the barn till it was eaten out by mice,” she recalled.
By 11 she was writing poems; at 13 she was mixing music with the words. Her songs were intensely emotional, drawn from personal terrors and nightmares. “Horrible things fire my imagination,” she admitted. She had a particular fascination for films such as Don’t Look Now and The Cruel Sea, with “watery” themes.

Through her brothers, she joined a folk group called the KP Bush Band, playing pub gigs in the Lewisham area. When she was 15 she was introduced to Dave Gilmour, the lead guitarist with Pink Floyd, who encouraged young talent. “Absolutely terrified and trembling like a leaf, I sat down and played for him.” Gilmour liked her songs and put up some money for her to make three tracks.

The next year she was signed to Floyd’s record company, EMI, which was at first reluctant to let her record her preferred song, Wuthering Heights, until she felt ready to “handle the situation”.

She left school with a stack of O-levels, a recording contract and a windfall legacy from an aunt.

While getting more experience with the folk band, she started dance and mime classes. Emulating David Bowie, she studied with Lindsay Kemp, the mime artist and choreographer, and began to conceive of performing Wuthering Heights as a windblown figure with over-theatrical gestures.

The result was a sensation. On reflection, Bush said she was never too young to be a musician and her only ambition had been to get 10 songs onto a piece of plastic. “It couldn’t have happened fast enough. School inhibited me. It wasn’t until I left school that I found the real strength inside. All the rest was karma. It was meant to be.”

Ironically, the icon of Top of the Pops did not particularly like pop music, citing Chopin, Debussy, Sibelius and Erik Satie as her favourite listening. She also seemed oblivious to the effect her sultry performances had on audiences.

“I don’t deliberately try to be sexy when I perform,” she said. “I just concentrate on getting as much emotion and feeling into it as I can. I can feel myself switching on in front of an audience. It’s a very physical thing.”

The single’s success helped power her debut album, The Kick Inside, to the top of the charts and her sudden riches enabled her to set up home in south London with her cats Pywackit and Zoodle. In January 1979, accompanied by a troupe of dancers, jugglers and musicians, she set off on a scintillating tour. It was to be her last.

Instead she concentrated on studio work during the following decade and her hit albums included Never for Ever in 1980, the highly acclaimed Hounds of Love in 1985, and The Sensual World in 1989. There followed a four-year break until her collaboration with Eric Clapton on The Red Shoes in 1993, but the album was not well received and she vanished from view.

In recent years she has appeared in public a few times. She sang on stage with Gilmour at the Albert Hall in 2002 and appeared at the Q magazine awards. The industry tried to lure her back with the offer of a Brits lifetime achievement award but she turned it down because she would have had to have performed live.

Now she is ready to face the spotlight again. This, remember, is a female star whose versatility has perhaps never been surpassed, who pioneered the fusion of dance and circus entertainment in pop and conjured a new persona with each song. For fans, the anticipation is palpable.

SMALL TALK!

PIXIES are set to release a DVD while chronicles their sensational comeback year.

The band have completed an eight-month tour in New York on Saturday night (December 18), and during the jaunt they have been followed by a film crew. The footage will be used for a documentary on the band and possibly an in-concert DVD, according to Billboard.

The group's manager Ken Goes said: "I have collected film from about six or seven full concerts which we plan to edit for a compilation concert DVD.

"There is a possibility that these two DVDs will be combined into one double-disc set, but that is not yet confirmed."

Pixies reformed earlier this year, and the subsequent live shows were the band's first since 1992.

Director Michael Mann Talks Collateral

NEW YORK (CNN) -- "Collateral" has paid off.

The film, which starred Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, was both a critical favorite and box office success when it was released in August. Now the kudos are paying off in award nominations, including a recent best director award for the film's helmer, Michael Mann, from the National Board of Review, and a Golden Globe nomination for co-star Jamie Foxx.

"Collateral" was released on DVD December 14. CNN's Doug Ganley sat down with Mann to talk about the film and the extras on the DVD release.

CNN: What does it mean to you to get an award like the National Board of Review's?

MICHAEL MANN: I think ... it's very significant to be honored this way by the National Board of Review. Particularly ... because they've been around for a long time. It's a really responsive group and it's very significant.

CNN: What does an award mean to the movie nowadays?

MANN: It makes your day. ... If something truly moves me and I did my job and well enough, it moves other people too, and that's nice to know. ...

You have to have your eye on the ball and the eye on the ball is the work, so ultimately the validation must come from the work. You have to do the work for the work. But it's great, you know."

CNN: What does the DVD offer?

MANN: DVDs offer us this fabulous ability to get behind the experience of the film. [You] see some of the thinking that went behind some of the craft work and some of the dedication and all this. In a way, you could almost become part of the group that's making it.

I [wanted to] do a documentary that's really about [how a film is really made]: why I'm trying to make you feel a certain way without knowing you're feeling that way by manipulating the background that's going past Tom's head just before he dies ... or how we wanted to see in the dark in ways that motion picture film can't do and here's how we went about [it]. (Mann shot much of the film in digital video and wanted to give Los Angeles a particularly colorful neon look.) ...

And it's got a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff with Tom's training and Jaime's training so that he could get the sense of driving a cab for 14 years everyday of the week [and get a feel for the vehicle]. ... And then Tom gaining the physical skills ... a lot of the weapons training.

But the other skills are also in this too. ... We had exercises in which [Cruise] was a FedEx delivery man and we'd have hidden cameras and his mission was to pick something up, make a delivery to somebody in, say, a very crowded central market in downtown Los Angeles, without that person realizing he was Tom Cruise. All of that's in there.

CNN: So you're opening up the curtain and letting the audience see in the back. Do you enjoy that?

MANN: I do if it's interesting. If it's just "everybody's wonderful," no. But if it's substantial, yeah, I do. [And so we] try to make it substantial.

CNN: You're not afraid of exposing any trade secrets?

MANN: I don't think [they're] secrets as it is. [They're] a fascinating look into how people do this and what's on their mind and what they really care about and the frustrations of it and the difficulty of it. It's not easy. And I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about everybody, everybody working on the picture.

CNN: What was the biggest challenge for you as a director?

MANN: In this film there were three. One was how much could I get you to understand that you feel all the dimensions of the other person. ... How much can I manipulate this short, intense 10 hours to make you feel all the dimensions, all the history about Vincent without necessarily you knowing that you're doing it, but still you feel that you know. ...

Secondly was the change of registers. The film goes from pretty, I think pretty moving -- and it's in the screenplay this way -- pretty moving events like the death of Daniel. [But] when [Cruise's character] shoots him, and it goes from uh real pathetic tragedy to some outrageous comedy without any transition, and could I change registers without compromising either one.

And maybe the third challenge for me was evolving the hardware, the technology to be able to see into the night and I could get that on a video monitor.

CNN: Jamie Foxx is really coming into his own ...

MANN: This is Jamie's year. I mean, [Golden Globe nomination for] supporting actor in "Collateral," and his work in "Ray" is wonderful, it's just wonderful.

CNN: How good of a villain is Tom Cruise?

MANN: He's great. It's a great prescription to have an actor explore places he's not been, to be on a frontier because it just charges everything up, so Tom's work in "Magnolia," for example, is terrific, and I think his work in "Collateral" is just fabulous. It's way more dimensional than people realize. He's doing three things in some of these scenes at the same time. It's very, very complex and very difficult and I just think he did a spectacular job.

Contest searches for best resident DJ in Canada; winner to be crowned in May

TORONTO (CP) - Like mad scientists in dark laboratories, nightclub DJs across the country are experimenting with tunes to get the body moving as they take part in a Canada-wide competition.

"Hopefully it will expose Canadian talent internationally a bit more," Mark Oliver, a Toronto-based DJ, said of the contest.

"We're already doing well on the international scene but I think it can actually help Canadians appreciate what we have on our own doorstep."

The Smirnoff Vinyl Warriors showdown opened in October, inviting resident DJs - DJs who have contracts at clubs - to submit one original mix.

The tunes are played every Saturday night on the University of Toronto radio station CIUT and posted online at www.mysmirnoff.ca.

Listeners vote for their favourite mix online or through text messaging until Feb. 28. They must be of legal drinking age to do so.

The judges will ultimately narrow the top 10 vote-getters down to three finalists who will spin their stuff at a Toronto event in May.

"It's going to be tough," says Oliver, a contest judge. "A lot of these resident DJs have been playing for at least 10 years."

Oliver says selection of music, spinning style and stage presence will be considered in choosing a winner.

"I'll be looking at the crowd and if no one's dancing then obviously they're going to lose points," he explains.

"I'm sure if there are certain tracks that are played and the crowd starts screaming then that's going to be a big plus for that DJ."

Oliver looks forward to hearing the different spinning styles.

"You go to certain towns, say London, Ont., for example, and the clubs there might be more into break-beats and techno. And then you come to Toronto and those scenes aren't really as big on a whole," he explains.

Oliver says the U.K. dominates the electronic music scene but Canada isn't too far behind. He also says the industry itself has come a long way.

"For a long time DJ's were sort of frowned upon. When I started playing ... it was almost like DJ's were not viewed as real musicians."

A date and location for the final spinoff has yet to be determined.

TV QUIZ

1 What song was Janet Jackson singing when she had her infamous "wardrobe malfunction" during last year's Super Bowl? And who was she singing with?

2 How many people watched the finale of "Friends" on NBC?

3 Dan Rather announced last month that he's retiring from the "CBS Evening News" in March 2005. How many years will he have anchored the newscast by then?

4 Who was the runner-up to Fantasia Barrino on "American Idol 3"?

5 What's the name of the paper company in the British version of "The Office"?

6 What model car did Oprah Winfrey give away to each audience member on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last September?

7 Who was the only "Desperate Housewives" star not to earn a Golden Globe nomination?

8 Who was the first winner of "The Swan" on Fox?

9 Who was the first person to be "fired" from the first edition of "The Apprentice"?

10 What's the name of "Late Show" host David Letterman's child, who turned 1 this year?

11 Who replaced Pat O'Brien as co-host of "Access Hollywood"?

12 How many consecutive games did "Jeopardy!" whiz Ken Jennings win, and how much money did he earn before he finally lost?

13 What show finally knocked "ER" off its perch as the top-rated show at 10 p.m. on Thursdays?

14 How many editions of "Survivor" have now aired since the first show in 2000?

15 How much were the stars of "Friends" being paid, per episode, by the time the show went off the air?

16 Who was the singer accused of lip-synching on "Saturday Night Live"?

17 What's the name of the most recent cast member to leave "Law & Order"?

18 What well-known radio personality signed a deal to host a daytime talk show?

19 What former "Friends" cast member will star in a show for HBO?

20 What old-time comedian played Larry's nearly-blind father on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"?

21 What 1960s TV star will anchor a morning radio show here in New York?

22 What former "Apprentice" contestant now works on a morning TV show?

23 On "The Sopranos" this past season, what was Carmine doing when he suffered his fatal heart attack at the country club?

24 What World War II movie did many stations refuse to air because they considered it to be "indecent" in parts?

25 Which classic TV series was remade as a reality show?

ANSWERS

1. "Rock Your Body" with Justin Timberlake 2. 52.3 million 3. Twenty-four years. 4. Diana DeGarmo 5. Wernham-Hogg 6. Pontiac G6. 7. Eva Longoria, who plays Gabrielle Solis. 8. Rachel Love Frasier 9. David Gould, a doctor-turned-real estate developer. 10. Harry 11. Billy Bush, who's a first-cousin to President George W. Bush. 12. 74 games and a total of $2.5 million 13. "Without a Trace," CBS 14. Nine so far. 15. $1 million per episode each. 16. Ashlee Simpson, sister of Jessica Simpson. 17. Elisabeth Rohm 18. Robin Quivers from "The Howard Stern Show." 19. Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, will headline "Comeback" as a former sitcom star trying to revive her career. 20. Shelley Berman 21. Mickey Dolenz, who starred in "The Monkees," begins on WCBS-FM Jan. 10. 22. Ereka Vetrini on "The Tony Danza Show." 23. He was eating an egg-salad sandwich. 24. "Saving Private Ryan," ABC. 25. "Gilligan's Island" was transformed into "The Real Gilligan's Island" on TBS.

HOMER MEETS HIS MAKER

Homer is going to die.

"Simpsons" creator Matt Groening says he is going to kill off Daddy Simpson so that the star can go to heaven to argue with God.

Fear not.

Homer comes back at the end of the episode, he says, after deciding he misses wife Marge and kids Bart, Lisa and Maggie too much.

"Homer gets into an argument with God," Groening told reporters late last week at an award show in London.

"He tells God he should go back in time and change things that are wrong in the world.

"Homer says Superman could do it," the show's creator says.

This will not be Homer's first confrontation with the Almighty.

He has, in an earlier episode, argued with God about the relative merits of football and chuch ("Hey, what's the big deal about going to some building every Sunday? I mean, isn't God everywhere?")

But this will be the first time he dies in order to meet the Lord.

The creator of "The Simpsons" also said that he was excited that TV comic Ricky Gervais — the writer and star of "The Office" — had agreed to pen a "Simpsons" episode.

"It is the first time anyone has been given free rein to write an episode.

"We trust Ricky because we'll take his scripts and just rip it apart."

EYES ON THE PRIZE

Until this year, actor Zach Braff had never won any award. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

"Not even a Little League award," laughs the New Jersey native and star of NBC's "Scrubs."

"I joked when I got my first award of this year that I was going to glue a little guy playing baseball to the top of it," says Braff, "so I could have an award like my brothers."

He's going to need a steady supply of those little plastic guys in the future.

Braff scored a Humanitas Award nomination for the screenplay to "Garden State," his directorial debut, which comes out on DVD tomorrow.

It's a fitting place to start since the Humanitas is one of the few awards scored by the critically acclaimed "Scrubs" (Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m.) after four seasons of being mostly ignored by the Emmys.

But it's not the last award he's gotten.

"Garden State" — the story of a fitfully successful actor headed back to New Jersey to bury his mother, make peace with his estranged father, and make out with Natalie Portman (not in that order) — was also singled out by the National Board of Review, got two Independent Spirit Awards, and two People's Choice Awards.

And the soundtrack Braff oversaw (featuring everyone from critical faves The Shins to suicidally sad, cult-figure Nick Drake) just went gold and is nominated for a Grammy.

So maybe he should have sensed something was in the air this year come Golden Globes time?

"Yeah!" says Braff, who was nominated for Best Actor in a sitcom for "Scrubs." "But I didn't even wake up early this year. I wasn't expecting it."

Fans worry all the success will make Braff step away from the clever medical comedy that started it all.

But Braff is delighted that "Scrubs" is still on the air despite never scoring huge ratings. His co-star, Donald Faison, is one of his best friends in real life and he's in no mood to see it end.

"The show is so much fun to do," says the 29-year-old Braff. "We don't have a huge fan base but we have a really loyal one. It looks like we're going to be around a little while longer. I know it will go another year. I don't want it to be over. It's a job where you come to work and make your friends laugh a lot."

So despite some New Year's resolutions posted on his blog ("Forego all exercise — including walking" and "Learn to smoke — something thin like Capris"), Braff seems unlikely to let this sudden success change him.

Just ask who his date will be to the Golden Globes on Jan. 16.

"I'm bringing my mom," says Braff.

Subplots Abound for New Year's on TV

NEW YORK (AP) — Let the surfing begin. With an ailing king, two would-be successors and a ubiquitous substitute, New Year's Eve on television has more subplots than a party with three ex-girlfriends.

Dick Clark and his "New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC has been the go-to party for 32 years, but he'll be away from Times Square this Friday as he continues recovering from a stroke. Regis Philbin will fill in for him.

NBC is launching its own party show from Rockefeller Center with Carson Daly. Ryan Seacrest, in his third year for Fox, is bringing his show east to New York for the first time. Even gray-haired hipster Anderson Cooper will emcee a CNN New Year's show from Times Square with the rock band Green Day.

Both Daly and Seacrest were booked before Clark took ill, an indication of an approaching generational shift. Much like Clark took over from Guy Lombardo as television's most popular New Year's Eve host, Daly and Seacrest are jockeying to be the next in line.

"When it's time to say, `OK, here's the show and the guy that is going to be around on New Year's Eve for years to come,' I would definitely like to be the one that the baton gets passed to," Seacrest said.

Don't expect Clark, health permitting, and ABC to give it up easily. "New Year's Rockin' Eve" is annually ABC's second most popular entertainment special after the Oscars.

"There's never been anything to put a dent in it," said Andrea Wong, ABC's senior vice president for alternative series and specials. "There continues to be a huge appetite for the show."

Even in his mid-70s, as he introduces artists young enough to be his grandchildren, Clark's perpetual teenage image has kept the fogey factor at bay. In recent years, he's brought on a younger co-host from Hollywood, a role filled this week by Ashlee Simpson.

The ABC New Year's Eve special will run three and a half hours, starting at 10 p.m. EDT, breaking after an hour for local news and returning from 11:35 p.m. to 2:05 a.m. Besides Simpson, performers include Big & Rich; Ciara; Earth, Wind & Fire; Fabolous; Kenny G; Billy Idol; Los Lonely Boys and Simple Plan.

Philbin, who's yet to find a TV job he can't do, was Clark's choice, Wong said. Between that endorsement and Philbin's own popularity, ABC doesn't expect to relinquish its crown.

Daly and Seacrest are both big fans of Clark. They've used his career as a model, and speak of him ever-so-respectfully.

But is that the sound of a door creaking open?

"Things could perhaps be up in the air now in light of the recent circumstances, the unfortunate circumstances with Dick," Seacrest said. "They had to put Regis in at the last minute, and I'm not quite sure what that show will be like or feel like without Dick Clark. He certainly will be missed by America."

"It really won't feel the same without him in Times Square," he said.

Seacrest, now a radio host of "America's Top 40," will run his show (airing from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET) like a countdown. Not only will the year's best songs be played, he'll incorporate pop culture lists like the top five bitter breakups of the year. It's his first year as executive producer, and Seacrest is looking for ways to make the show distinctive.

Hoobastank and Evanescence will perform, and the show will include the world premiere of a 20-minute Usher video featuring four of his hits.

Usher fans may be delirious, but there's a danger others could see that time as a huge indulgence. But Seacrest points out it will happen after midnight, when many people stop paying attention to these shows or can't see straight anyway.

Daly spent five years as host of MTV's New Year's Eve party (which, by the way, has Lindsay Lohan as host this year) before taking last year off. He has re-emerged to inaugurate NBC's pre-party, which airs from 10 to 11 p.m. Jay Leno will have a live "Tonight" show when the Times Square ball drops.

If Daly is disappointed at leaving the air an hour before midnight, he's not letting on.

"I didn't really look past the fact that they said `you'll be on the air live from 10 to 11 and here's the money,'" he said. "Maybe next year."

He wants the chance to establish himself as a potential New Year's Eve franchise for NBC.

"This is not about me trying to steal something from Dick Clark," he said.

His show will feature performances by Avril Lavigne, Maroon 5 and Duran Duran. Ever the good corporate soldier, Daly will also include a guest shot by "The Apprentice" star Donald Trump via satellite from Trump's own New Year's party in Florida and an appearance by "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams.

CBS, by the way, is essentially punting on New Year's Eve, running a prime-time lineup of reruns and a repeat "Late Show" with David Letterman.

The closest Daly comes to trash talking with his rivals is calling Duran Duran a bigger act than "White Wedding" singer Idol, who's on ABC.

"There will be something younger and, in my opinion, a little cooler to watch that night," he said.

Cool. That's the territory that Fox and Seacrest is also trying to stake out.

Could a New Year's duel be far behind?

Since Seacrest will be in Times Square and Daly a few blocks away in Rockefeller Center, perhaps they could duke it out somewhere in the middle — say, Sixth Avenue.

"He's much taller and a little bit bigger than me," Seacrest said. "I think he'd probably be able to beat me up."

Letterman Tapes Christmas Eve Show in Iraq

David Letterman brought his late-night show to Marines serving in Iraq on Friday, loosening up the Camp Taqaddum crowd with the line, "Anybody here from out of town?"

Letterman brought along musical director Paul Shaffer, stage manager Biff Henderson, comedian Tom Dreesen and the band Off the Wall.

When hands flew in the air in response to requests for a volunteer to help deliver the opening monologue, he asked: "Isn't that how you got here?"

With the help of cue cards held by an Army soldier, Letterman ran off a series of crowd-pleasers:

"Iraqi elections are in January. Hurry up and pick somebody so we can get the hell out of here," he said.

And: "If I wanted to face insurgents I would've spent Christmas with my relatives."

Letterman has repeatedly featured Marines on "The Late Show."

"Paul and I were in Afghanistan three years ago, and last year we were in Baghdad," Letterman told the crowd. "We wouldn't want it any other way. We're sorry we keep having to come back. If you ever come to New York City, come see us and we'll treat you like big shots."

The Marines, most of who have been deployed since late summer, welcomed the visit.

"It was great, all of the Marines getting together having a good time," said Gunnery Sgt. Ronald Trignano, 32, a tech-controller with Communication Squadron 48. "It almost makes you forget where you are for a little while."

'Fockers' Sets Mark for Christmas Weekend

LOS ANGELES - Millions of Americans went shopping for comedy this weekend, giving the star-studded "Meet the Fockers" the record for the best Christmas weekend opening ever.

The sequel, reuniting Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro and adding Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand as Stiller's parents, earned $44.7 million over the holiday weekend, beating the previous record of $30 million, set in 2002 by "Catch Me if You Can." The movie's performance was even more impressive when measured against the overall weekend box office, which was down 26.5 percent from last year.

"When Christmas falls on a weekend, it's bad for business," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

This weekend's top 12 films grossed an estimated $121.9 million, compared to last year's $165.8 million when Christmas fell on a Thursday. Last year's figure was skewed a bit by the third "Lord of the Rings" movie, which earned $50.6 million in its second weekend last year.

"Meet the Fockers" knocked last week's top film — "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" — to third place, with $12.5 million. Second place was taken by the live-action version of "Fat Albert," which debuted Saturday with a two-day total of $12.7 million, according to studio estimates.

Final figures were to be released Monday.

"Meet the Fockers" succeeded in part because of an aggressive ad campaign, including the release of the DVD of the original "Meet the Parents" as well as the return of Streisand to the big screen after an eight-year absence.

It also captured the clash between families, which resonates at the holidays.

"It's a clash of cultures," said Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal Pictures. "It's about the coming together of completely different families, but that's exactly what the world is going through right now."

"Meet the Fockers" opened Wednesday, bringing its five-day total to $68.5 million.

"The Aviator," the epic tale of billionaire Howard Hughes, did well enough in limited release to take fourth place with $9.4 million. The movie, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, expanded from 40 theaters to 1,796 on Christmas Day.

The small budget horror flick "Darkness" went against the slew of family films on the market now and attracted $6.4 million in its opening weekend. The movie opened Saturday.

The lavish Andrew Lloyd Weber musical "The Phantom of the Opera" also debuted in limited release, bringing in $4.2 million from 622 theaters. It debuted Wednesday, bringing its five-day total to $6.5 million.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

1. "Meet the Fockers," $44.7 million
2. "Fat Albert," 12.7 million.
3. "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," $12.5 million
4. "The Aviator," $9.4 million.
5. "Ocean's Twelve," $8.6 million.
6. "Darkness," $6.4 million.
7. "The Polar Express," $6.3 million.
8. "Spanglish," $5 million
9. "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," $4.8 million.
10. "Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Phantom of the Opera," $4.2 million.

Ho Ho Ho!

All the best to you and yours this Holiday Season!

Party hard, hug snugly and stay alive!

Happy New Year and good wishes for 2005 as well!

Dave and Dan

Winnipeg Sun's top CDs of 2004

The Sun's Darryl Sterdan picks the best 75 albums of the year

Well, it's that time again -- time to look back at all the music of the past year. Despite our best efforts, we weren't able to listen to every album that came out in 2004. But we did manage to get through more than 1,000. Here are the ones we'll still be listening to next year. And the ones you might want to seek out at those Boxing Day sales.

1. Marah

20,000 STREETS UNDER THE SKY

YEP ROC / OUTSIDE

The boys are back in town. Singer-guitarists Dave and Serge Bielanko return to the streets of their beloved Philadelphia on this fourth album -- and it's a homecoming bash not to be missed. Like their 2000 masterpiece Kids in Philly, 20,000 Streets Under the Sky raises a Friday-night toast to the street-poet romance and wide-eyed exuberance of early Springsteen. And as usual, the eclectic Bielanko brothers can't resist spiking the punch with Philly soul, girl-group pop, Van Morrison troubadourism, Layla's instrumental grandeur, The Faces' scrappy folk-rock, Motown melodies, tenement-stoop doo-wop, plucky banjos, punky guitars, R&B grooves and even jump-rope rhymes. Equally intoxicating, though, are the tales told over this heady homebrew -- sad sagas of doomed love, cokehead trannies, drug-dealing pizzerias, gunshot children and undercover busts gone bad. So much for the City of Brotherly Love. But don't take this disc for some pity party. Even when the Bielankos are standing in the gutter, they're gazing at the stars, searching for the lost chord that will open the gates to the promised land. As they guide us through the backstreets and back alleys of their stomping grounds, spinning everyday moments of quiet perseverance into life-affirming epics of valiant struggle, it's impossible not to fall under their seductive spell -- and find your faith in rock renewed in the process.

2. Green Day

AMERICAN IDIOT

REPRISE / WARNER

These days, everyone has their own definition of punk. Who's right? Who knows? But here's what we do know: In an era when music is disposable, the album is becoming an antiquated curio and pop culture is under assault from the right, Billie Joe Armstrong and Green Day have unveiled the most unlikely work of their career -- a full-blown rock opera with nine-minute songs, a narrative arc, classic rock influences from Mott to Meat Loaf, and a political message worn boldly on its sleeve. And if that sort of individuality, originality and defiance isn't punk, maybe it's time to redefine the concept.

3. The Streets

A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE

LOCKED ON / WARNER

Even rap stars have bad days. And on this stellar sophomore set, Mike Skinner is having one from hell: He's got an overdue video, his cell phone has died, his TV is on the fritz, he's breaking up with his girlfriend -- and worst of all, he suspects a mate of swiping L1,000. Over the stumbling garage grooves and stark keyboards that are his trademark, we follow Skinner from his bedsit to the bar and back. And as his mundane misadventures become a life-changing journey, this disc emerges as one of the most creative, personal and fully realized records of the year -- and another smashing success for Mike.

4. Beastie Boys

TO THE 5 BOROUGHS

CAPITOL / EMI

"We're gonna party for the right to fight," says Mike D. on the sixth album from New York's Beastie Boys -- and we couldn't sum up their musical evolution and current state of mind any tidier than that. With this long-awaited comeback disc, the Beasties turn back the clock and kick it old-school, toning down their smartalec antics and sonic silliness in favour of basic beats, simple samples and plenty of pointedly political rhymes. But even if it's a political album, at least it's a political party album. And we'll fight for our right to that any day.

5. Steve Earle

THE REVOLUTION STARTS ... NOW

E-SQUARED / SONY

When Steve Earle says Now, he means N-O-W, now!, damnit. The idealistic and irascible roots-rock rabble-rouser has never sounded more urgent than on his latest politically charged manifesto. Picking up where he left off on 2002's Jerusalem, Earle interweaves his activist rhetoric with moving narratives, setting stories of individual heroism and sacrifice against a backdrop of political hypocrisy and economic exploitation. That is, when he isn't pitching woo to Condoleeza Rice on the reggaefied serenade of seduction Condi, Condi. Hey, even revolutionaries need a laugh.

6. Elvis Costello & The Imposters

THE DELIVERY MAN

LOST HIGHWAY / UNIVERSAL

Last year, he went North to croon piano ballads for his sweetie. This year, the unpredictable Costello makes another left turn, plugging in his axe and making a beeline for the Deep South (literally and musically). Recorded in the Mississippi Delta, Mr. E's 21st set is a narrative concept disc of romantic betrayal and Biblical overtones, set against a backdrop of rawboned juke joint blues, tearstained country waltzes, twangy honky-tonk, sweet Memphis soul, funky R&B and even bluegrass. Damned if it doesn't deliver the goods.

7. Modest Mouse

GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BAD NEWS

EPIC / SONY

Washington indie-rockers Modest Mouse finally broke through to the mainstream with this weird, wonderful jewel of a sixth album. Donning a banjo and cranking up the grooves, yawping singer-guitarist Isaac Brock and his mighty Mouse recall the disjointed white-boy funk of Talking Heads, the retro-swing of Squirrel Nut Zippers, the gothic Americana of Dock Boggs and even the distorted psychobilly of The Cramps. Good news for people who love great music.

8. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists

SHAKE THE SHEETS

LOOKOUT

Continuing to single-handedly raise the indie-rock bar, New Jersey singer-guitarist Leo fuses power trio guitar-rock, pop, punk, ska, soul and reggae into a dynamic hybrid. With his clanging guitar and high-register vocals, Leo sounds like the love child of Joe Jackson, Mick Jones and Paul Weller, with a dash of Dexy's on the side. Even better, he's a songwriter who can namedrop Joe Strummer, soundcheck Smoky Robinson and bash Bush -- all to a groove and a chorus that'll stick in your head for days.

9. TV on the Radio

DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES

TOUCH & GO

If you think you've heard everything, you haven't heard this. One of the most exciting and adventurous bands to emerge this year, Brooklyn's TV on the Radio cross musical styles, generation gaps, cultural boundaries and racial lines with equal ease. The supple and mellifluous vocals are rooted in soul, gospel, blues and doo-wop. The noisy, fuzzy soundscapes recall everything from Sonic Youth and Suicide to No Wave and Brian Eno. Combine them with poetically political lyrics and what emerges is a mesmerizing hybrid that dares to be different and refuses to be ignored.

10. Loretta Lynn

VAN LEAR ROSE

INTERSCOPE / UNIVERSAL

Call it The Blue Kentucky Girl meets the White Stripe. Country legend Lynn pairs up with singer-guitarist Jack White on her first major disc in 15 years. And as Rick Rubin did for Johnny Cash, the young rocker helps a beloved country icon produce a career-revitalizing work. Loretta delivers the simple melodies and sassy lyrics. Jack sets them to immediate, earthy cuts that hew closer to rustic, ragged alt-country than Nashville syrup. Call it a match made in heaven.

11. Elliott Smith

FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL

ANTI / EPITAPH OCT 22

A year after he died from a pair of supposedly self-inflicted knife wounds to the chest, singer-songwriter Smith bequeathed us the sweetest, saddest gift possible: The transfixing From a Basement on the Hill, a haunting last will and testament of soaring beauty born of the depths of his bottomless despair.

12. Tom Waits

REAL GONE

ANTI- / EPITAPH

Human beatboxing? Turntable scratching? No piano? This is a Tom Waits CD? You better believe it, mac. And it's a monster. The aptly titled Real Gone finds the locomotive-breath genius welding hip-hop tools to his home-built thingamajig of rusted car parts, old bones and broken dreams.

13. The Hives

TYRANNOSAURUS HIVES

POLYDOR / UNIVERSAL

With this garage-rocking sequel to their breakthrough Veni Vidi Vicious, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist and The Hives prove they understand the Golden Rule of successful followups: They made the same album over again -- only better.

14. Drive-By Truckers

THE DIRTY SOUTH

NEW WEST / RED

"We ain't never gonna change," vows DBT singer-guitarist Patterson Hood. As long as Hood and his good ole boys keep writing gritty southern rockers like these two-fisted tales of killer tornadoes, moonshiners and Buford Pusser, that's just fine by us.

15. Gluecifer

AUTOMATIC THRILL

STEAMHAMMER / FUSION III

These Norwegian riffmeisters deliver the sonic equivalent of a dirty needle of adrenaline straight in the eyeball with this 36-minute pelvic thrust of sleazy sex, illegal drugs and unhinged rawk. Featuring the revolutionary anthem of the year: Here Come the Pigs.

16. Neil Young

GREENDALE

SANCTUARY / EMI

For years, people have accused Neil Young of living in a world of his own. With the ambitious and theatrical concept album Greendale -- an environmentally themed allegorical narrative set in a fictional coastal community -- the shape-shifting singer-guitarist makes it official.

17. The Libertines

THE LIBERTINES

ROUGH TRADE / EMI

Punchups, breakups, break-ins and breakdowns. Rehab, reformation, relapse and resurrection. It would be impossible for London's Libertines to write songs half as riveting as the endless slo-mo car wreck of their career. But damned if these trouble-plagued post-punks don't give it their best shot.

18. Zeke

'TIL THE LIVING END

RELAPSE

The reunited Seattle speed-punk sleazeballs embrace their metal roots on this seventh studio salvo, hotwiring classic rock licks and song titles into 15 grenades of turbocharged power-chord mayhem that are truly a blast from the past.

19. The Walkmen

BOWS & ARROWS

RECORD COLLECTION / WARNER

The choppy guitars, walkie-talkie vocals and angular retro grooves share common ground with The Strokes, but edgy, propulsive cuts like The Rat and keyboard dirges like No Christmas While I'm Talking confirm The Walkmen are their own men-- and uncommonly good.

20. U2

HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB

ISLAND / UNIVERSAL

Sticking to the game plan that worked so well on All That You Can't Leave Behind, Bono and the boys crank up the guitars, belt out the chorus and wave the giant white flag at the back of the stadium. Not their best, but even second-string U2 is a cut above most of the rest.

21. The Von Bondies

PAWN SHOPPE HEART

SIRE / WARNER

Jason Stollsteimer got more ink for being Jack White's punching bag. But anybody who can pen garage-punk fuzzbombs like C'Mon C'Mon and Broken Man can't be beat.

22. Eminem

ENCORE

AFTERMATH / UNIVERSAL

For his fourth CD, Marshall Mathers delivers more of the sex, scatology, silliness, satire and shock you'd expect, along with something you don't: Serious political content in the anti-Dubya Mosh. Looks like the real Slim Shady has finally stood up -- and taken a stand.

23. Morrissey

YOU ARE THE QUARRY

SANCTUARY / EMI

The velvet-voiced Pope of Mope returns with a vengeance, lobbing poisonous lyrical barbs at Jesus, love, his fans and humanity in general -- and taking the award for lyrical couplet of the year: "America, your head's too big / Because America, your belly's too big."

24. The Icarus Line

PENANCE SOIREE

V2 / BMG

These L.A. post-punk provocateurs weld the primal guitar-rock nihilism of The Stooges to the feedback-worshipping art-punk of Sonic Youth -- with dashes of Black Flag's complex intensity and Suicide's bleak synthcore tossed in for the hell of it. Be very afraid.

25. Nirvana

WITH THE LIGHTS OUT

GEFFEN / UNIVERSAL

OK, maybe it's not technically new material. But with three CDs and one DVD of unreleased tracks from Kurt Cobain and co., it's undeniably one of the most significant releases of the year.

Celebrities Talk About Christmas Memories

LOS ANGELES - It isn't the smell of a Douglas fir or baking cookies that reminds Renee Zellweger of Christmas; it's the smell of cigars. For Tom Hanks, it's the smell of banana bread. He says he always took the bus to visit his mom on Christmas, and if he was lucky, he'd sit next to an old lady who'd give him banana bread.

Several celebrities this holiday season spoke about what makes their Christmas past and present special.

"My godfather smoked cigars, and anytime I smell a cigar, it brings Christmas Eve right here," Zellweger told reporters at a recent news conference.

The holiday means Christmas carols for many, but for Hugh Grant, the memory was less than perfect.

"Each family in turn would sing their carol, and then it would get to the Grant boys, me and my brother, and us singing 'Good King Wenceslas' way out of key," Grant told reporters recently. "It was so bad that the pianist had to stop. That, to me, is a starring Christmas memory."

Then there are Christmas gifts.

Angelina Jolie's present to her son, Maddox, wouldn't fit into his Christmas stocking.

"I ended up deciding that I would show him the world every Christmas, and so I took him to see the Pyramids on Christmas Day. And I've decided every Christmas I will take him somewhere else," she told reporters.

Off-beat movie director John Waters dreams of a weird winter wonderland.

"My Christmas ornament I gave out last year had a dead roach in it, but it was fake. It was plastic," he told AP Radio in a recent interview. "I have weird Christmas bowls that people gave me. My mom gave me 'cereal killer' Christmas bowls. I have some odd things."

Despite his character's stalwart support of the holiday in his recent film "Christmas with the Kranks," Dan Aykroyd recently told reporters he is more of a procrastinator.

"I get really Grinchy right up until Christmas morning, when the fire's lit in the log cabin," he said. "Then I put on my cardigan and my sweater, and I put on the Frank Sinatra Christmas music, and yes, I get into it at the last second just like everybody else."

Joe Pantoliano, star of TV's "Dr. Vegas" and a cast member of "The Matrix," is quite the opposite.

"Christmas morning is always a drag for me. Leading up to the day, I love," he recently told AP Radio. "But Christmas morning, you have to open up the presents and it's just a mess."

For actress Nona Gaye ("The Polar Express," "The Matrix: Revolutions"), Christmas is forever linked with a compliment she heard when she was 7. She and her father, the late R&B legend Marvin Gaye, were outside their beachfront home in Belgium.

"It was snowing, so you couldn't see the sand. You could only see just this stark white over the ocean," she told reporters. "And I was standing outside with my father and he said, 'Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?' And I said, 'Yes, Daddy, it is.' And he said, 'It's almost the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.'"

'OFFICE' STAR GOING HOMER

Ricky Gervais, the mastermind behind the BBC's cult hit "The Office," will write an episode of "The Simpsons."

"I had lunch with [series creator] Matt Groening and we chatted over some bits and pieces," Gervais told The Post yesterday.

"I'd already been in talks with [executive producer] Al Jean about doing a voice for the show, and he said it might be a good idea for me to have a go," he said.

Gervais, who called "The Simpsons" "the greatest TV show of all time," also called the assignment "intimidating."

"It's like improving the Mona Lisa, you know, 'Give her a bigger smile,' " he said, adding that he's got some ideas for the episode.

"It's not so much a plot as a theme," said Gervais, who's also gearing up for his first post-"Office" series, "Extras."

"I got some sample bits and pieces that might happen; what I'm doing is banging it down as I go along and sending it to Al [Jean]," Gervais said.

Gervais said the show's writers will help whip his ideas into shape.

"Me banging down a couple of ideas is one thing, but it's not an episode of 'The Simpsons' until it's had the full treatment from the show's writers," he said.

"But whatever happens — if they look at it and say, 'Sorry, it's rubbish,' or if it gets on the air — they asked," he said.

"It's a pleasure for me to do things like this. The awards, money and fame are secondary — I still get to do exactly what I want and I get offers from people like Al Jean."

Gervais said he has "no idea" when his "Simpsons" episode will air on Fox.

"There are so many 'ifs' along the way," he said. "I could just burst into tears and have a breakdown and say I can't do it."

THANKS '04 THE SONGS

The year in music may have begun with that now infamous "wardrobe malfunc tion," but 2004 also brought countless more moments we'd rather remember — from concerts planned (Devo) and impromptu (U2) to welcome comebacks (Morrissey, Prince) and the long-awaited re-emergence of the master himself, Dylan.

* Devo and Suicide: When pop-punk band Devo reunited at Central Park SummerStage in its full glory of flowerpot hats/energy domes and yellow jumpsuits, the rains miraculously held out until after the evening's last note.

Ripping up guitars, the musicians of Devo ably displayed their relevance and their influence in today's rock world.

Flashback night continued with original synth-pop duo Suicide at the Knitting Factory.

* U2: All Manhattan was abuzz as the Irish rockers lit up Seventh Avenue on a flatbed truck, performing songs from their new album all the way to DUMBO, where they gave fans a free show — beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

* Morrissey at the Apollo: The middle-aged Brit pop diva poured out his latest tunes as well as the old crowd-pleasers.

And the so-called mope rocker was happy! Thus were we.

* "The Grey Album": Deejay/producer Danger Mouse mixed Jay-Z's "Black Album" with The Beatles' "White Album" to create an Internet phenomenon and let the world know just exactly what a "mash up" is.

* Dig! and Brian Jonestown Massacre:

Rock-umentary "Dig!" followed the rivalry between Brian Jonestown Massacre's fierce frontman, Anton Newcombe, and the Dandy Warhols' Courtney Taylor-Taylor.

With newly generated interest in the band, BJM performed several hypnotic New York shows to re-emphasize its brilliant psych-garage '60s rock and de-emphasize the violent, unstable images of the film.

* Guided by Voices at Irving Plaza:

The last GBV New York show ever was a mosh pit full of warm-hearted, 30-something indie rockers and the jovial, smashed Robert Pollard bashing Brian Wilson and singing his heart out.

* Prince comeback: Through his online fan club, his purple magistrate offered tix to a late-night show after his Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction as well as an intimate concert to celebrate the release of "Musicology."

Live, the funk-pop master delivered, wowing crowds at six sold-out New York area shows.

* Jay-Z's "99 Problems":

Mark Romanek (who shot Johnny Cash's poignant "Hurt" video) did the "99 Problems" video in gritty black and white for a reality tour of Brooklyn, Jigga's hometown.

City living catches up with Jay-Z at the end, when he gets shot — a chilling nod to his alleged retirement.

* Scotland, "the new Sweden": The success of Franz Ferdinand refocused the spotlight on bands from Glasgow. Such Scottish bands as Dogs Die in Hot Cars, the Delgados and Snow Patrol, have been breaking out. It's not all about Belle & Sebastian anymore.

* Bob Dylan: After years of the silent treatment, Dylan won't shut up — and we don't want him to.

The legendary songwriter, who dismisses the label the "voice of a generation," penned "Chronicles," the first installment of his autobiography, and appeared on "60 Minutes."

Despite Ed Bradley's lame questions, Dylan managed to come up with zany and fascinating answers.

Bill Murray Sports Tiny Trunks for Film

LOS ANGELES - Bill Murray's choice of swimwear in his new movie leaves little to the imagination. But the star of "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" says he wasn't embarrassed to be seen in a tiny bathing suit.

"Being in a Speedo with other men in Speedos is, you know, is like you're on a swimming team," he told reporters recently, according to AP Radio. "It's the other men that are not in Speedos that are the problem because they're kind of going like, `Can you get a load of the guy in the Speedo?'"

Wes Anderson's gleeful takeoff on undersea adventure movies stars Murray as the Jacques-Yves Cousteau-like explorer of the film's title.

The 54-year-old actor said he didn't see his character as being physically vain.

"I like to say I made the acting choice to have a little bit of a belly. I could've gotten really in shape, but I didn't think that Steve Zissou would be a guy who'd be like completely buff," he said. "I actually had to get a little bit out of shape."

Several Anderson regulars are back for the film, including Owen Wilson and Anjelica Huston.

SPRINGTIME FOR UMA?

Variety reporting that Uma Thurman is in talks to replace Nicole Kidman as bombshell Swedish secretary Ulla in Mel Brooks' movie version of his hit Broadway musical, The Producers.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO ON NEW YEAR'S?

Bill Murray: It used to be to find a girl, drink and hopefully get lucky. Those truly were the good old days. Wait a minute - maybe I'll try it again this New Year's Eve!

Minnie Driver: Any warm beach in the Caribbean will do, with a good book and a group of friends to catch up on old times.

Samuel L. Jackson: Go to church - there's no better place to be. I give thanks for all that I have been blessed with, which is a lot, over the year.

Ashanti: Perform onstage. When you love to sing, there's nothing more exciting than entertaining a crowd on New Year's Eve. The audiences are always great and up for a good time, and for me it's the ultimate party.

Kevin Bacon: I like to go somewhere exotic, but Kyra, my wife, usually convinces me to just hang out in New York. This year I won. We're all going to Costa Rica. Yes!

Owen Wilson: I love to get drunk by an ocean with my family. It's the best and only way for me to celebrate the coming year.

Emmy Rossum: Wherever I am working in the world, it's great to come home to New York, the best city in the world, and be with those I love the most.

Kate Bosworth: At home, being romantic with the one I love.

'Fockers' Gets Early Start at Christmas Box Office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - With the arrival of Christmas weekend, it's Hollywood's last chance to open a box office bonanza or two before the calendar year ends.

Universal Pictures' family comedy "Meet the Fockers," which opened Wednesday, already has staked its claim in hopes of attracting big audiences -- many of them presumably fleeing family gatherings.

On Christmas Day, 20th Century Fox will make a bid for younger audiences -- as well as nostalgia freaks -- when it bows its live-action comedy "Fat Albert."

Dimension Films, counterprograming against the seasonal merriment, is betting on the horror thriller "Darkness," while Warner Bros. Pictures unleashed the musical adaptation "Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera" in limited release Wednesday.

This is the first time since 2000 that holiday moviegoers haven't been abuzz about a "Lord of the Rings" movie. Back then, the big film was Jim Carrey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which ended up with $260 million.

This year, the best year-end performer has been Disney/Pixar's "The Incredibles," which opened Nov. 5 and has collected $238.5 million so far.

As moviegoers approach the year's final, 10-day moviegoing rush, there's still plenty of potential cash for the contenders to divvy among themselves. Yet, this year's particular calendar configuration is apt to make for an unpredictable frame: Many theaters close early Christmas Eve, and in many locations, audiences probably won't rebound until sometime late Saturday, with Sunday likely to play strongly.

"Meet the Fockers" is in position to better the opening of its predecessor "Meet the Parents," which bowed to $28.6 million in October 2000.

Directed by Jay Roach, who also shot the prequel, the PG-13 film adds Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand to the cast, which is headed by Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. As Streisand makes her first film appearance in eight years, even hard-edged critics appear to be extending her a warm welcome back, and that could help to pull in older as well as younger moviegoers.

Last year, Fox demonstrated a knack for luring in the family audience with its Christmas Day opening of "Cheaper by the Dozen," starring Steve Martin, which bowed to $27.5 million. This year, it's offering the PG-rated "Fat Albert," director Joel Zwick's ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") adaptation of the vintage animated series "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids."

"Fat Albert" lacks "Cheaper's" star appeal -- even though Cosby does make an appearance as himself -- and the fact that it doesn't open until Saturday will limit its grosses, at least on its first weekend.

"Albert" also will be squaring off for some of the family audience against reigning champ "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." Paramount's Jim Carrey vehicle, based on Daniel Handler's books, bowed to $30 million last weekend and easily maintained its No. 1 status Monday and Tuesday.

Dimension Films will make a bid for disaffected teens on Christmas Day with "Darkness," an R-rated terror tale filmed in Spain by Juame Balaguero ("The Nameless") and starring Anna Paquin and Lena Olin.

Meanwhile, Warners. is pumping up the volume on the sumptuous, PG-13-rated "Phantom," directed by Joel Schumacher.

Although it opened in just 622 theaters Wednesday, that should be enough to accommodate the first rush of the "Phantom" faithful; the true test of the movie's appeal won't take place until it expands during the new year.

This weekend, Miramax Films will open up the throttle on "The Aviator," Martin Scorsese's biopic of Howard Hughes starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Having opened Friday in just 40 theaters, the movie is expanding into 1,796 locations. Additionally, Disney will expand Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" into 1,105 theaters after two weekends playing in just New York and Los Angeles.

Among exclusive openers, two films with Oscar aspirations are arriving in Los Angeles and New York. United Artists opened Terry George's drama "Hotel Rwanda," starring Golden Globe nominee Don Cheadle, on Wednesday, and Newmarket Films will bow Nicole Kassell's "The Woodsman," starring Kevin Bacon as a pedophile, on Christmas Eve.

Hollywood '04 Box Office Take Poised to Hit Record

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's studios are expected to rake in a possibly record $9.4 billion at domestic box offices this year, but the lack of a Christmas season smash like last year's final "Lord of the Rings" film will crimp overall ticket sales.

The estimated box office figure for the United States and Canada should beat 2003's $9.27 billion by about 1.4 percent, and may squeak by 2002's record $9.3 billion, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., a box office tracking service.

But admissions, or the number of tickets actually sold, are seen falling to roughly 1.5 billion from 1.53 billion last year and 1.6 billion in 2002.

The higher box office take is being fueled by a rise in average ticket prices, which Exhibitor Relations President Paul Dergarabedian said may wind up between $6.10 and $6.25 per ticket in 2004, up from $6.03 in 2003 and $5.80 in 2002.

"Many of the films that did well (with audiences) are not necessarily the films that made a lot of money," said Dergarabedian, noting art-house fare like "Napoleon Dynamite" and the current critical hit "Sideways."

He added that two big hits, "The Passion of the Christ" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," were released outside the major studios, where the $100 million-plus blockbusters normally come from.

The holidays, in which 20 percent of total annual ticket sales are made, has many crowd pleasers but lacks a mega-movie like 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which went on to win an Oscar for best picture.

SONY NO. 1

Sony Pictures Entertainment, a unit of Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp., is on the way to ending the year at No. 1 in domestic market share with more than $1.3 billion at box offices. Next is Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. with $1.25 billion, according to studio estimates.

It is the second time in three years Sony has been No. 1 and the third straight year of a $1 billion-plus box office. It is Warner's fourth straight year of $1 billion-plus in sales.

Sony had a combination of big-budget hits like "Spider-Man 2" and low-budget stars such as horror flick "The Grudge," which cost Sony $10 million and racked up $11O million.

"We had a really diverse slate this year, and...certainly we pulled off one of the surprises with 'Grudge,"' said Jeff Blake, Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman.

Funding movies at the high and low ends of the cost range -- avoiding the middle -- marks a trend of recent years that studio executives expect will continue in 2005.

"Spider-Man 2" was the No. 2 U.S. film of 2004 with $373 million in domestic ticket sales, behind $436 million for DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek 2."

Rounding out the top five were "Passion" with $370 million, Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" with $249 million and Disney/Pixar's "The Incredibles" at $236 million and climbing.

After a tough start with "The Alamo," Disney will likely end at No. 3 in market share with $1.1 billion, crossing the $1 billion threshold for the ninth time in 11 years.

The year also was marked by production budgets for major films in the $150 million to $200 million range, and studio executives expect high costs to continue into 2005.

Other events to look for in 2005 will be a new studio chief at Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, a new film distribution partner for one-time Disney ally Pixar Animation Studios Inc., and the way in which a Sony-led investor group plans to run Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. .

Hollywood's other major studios include Universal Pictures, owned by General Electric Co. and France's Vivendi Universal, as well as Twentieth Century Fox, controlled by News Corp. Inc. . A major independent is Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

'SpongeBob' an absorbing role for Kenny

MONTREAL (CP) - Tom Kenny never expected to be soaking up the adulation of fans for so long as the voice of cartoon icon SpongeBob SquarePants.

He admits he didn't really expect the cheerful little yellow sponge be so successful he'd go from household item to household name. "No one did," Kenny said in a telephone interview as he battled gridlock on a freeway in Los Angeles. "That was a complete, flukish crazy happenstance.

"It definitely was not designed with that in mind and in fact Steve Hillenburg, the creator, is I think a little ambivalent about how huge it's become.

"Most people are waiting for that day where something they've created is on lunch boxes and sheets and he is flattered by it to some degree but feels a little bit like Dr. Frankenstein on the other hand."

SpongeBob, who has cleaned up with the cartoon set and a hefty number of adults and teens, jumped to the movie screen from the TV screen earlier this month.

In the big screen adventure, SpongeBob and his pal Patrick the starfish - "the time-honoured doofus," as Kenny describes him - set out to recover King Neptune's purloined crown and save the good folk of Bikini Bottom from the nefarious plans of the villanous Plankton.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie is an absorbing, goofy romp that boasts an impressive voice cast including Alec Baldwin and Scarlett Johansson and a hilarious send-up of Baywatch legend David Hasselhoff.

"It's definitely weird, strange, which is part of the goal," said Kenny of the movie with a laugh. "To make a kids movie that was as odd and crazy and stuff as Willy Wonka and stuff like that, that blew our minds when we were kids, that fascinated and somewhat traumatized us at the same time."

He acknowledged that SpongeBob's animation style is a nod to the surrealistic Fleischer cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s, which boasted such characters as Popeye, Betty Boop and an art-deco looking Superman.

"I think it has a lot of laughs in it," Kenny said of the SpongeBob movie, comparing SpongeBob and Patrick's adventure to the old road movies by comedians Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. "It really was fun to play something in that genre."

Kenny, an accomplished voice actor and standup comedian who has played at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival, was the immediate choice of creator Hillenburg to give SpongeBob his trademark voice.

"He heard me do this voice as the voice of a very obscure character in the background of a crowd scene on a different animated series and remembered it," Kenny said.

"I had totally forgotten the voice. It was something I did once and never really went back to it. I had to look at the show again."

Then came the tweaking to get the voice perfect.

"He was such a distinctive looking character and the character design was so evocative, we wanted a voice that did the drawing justice and seemed to believably come out of the mouth of this drawing."

He said he was also chosen because Hillenburg seemed to see "some SpongeBobian characteristics" in him - like being an enthusiastic, hyperactive, hard worker.

"I never complain," Kenny said. "I'm like SpongeBob. I'm just happy to have a job. SpongeBob and I have that in common. We can't believe we're actually employed doing something that we enjoy, which seems to be a rare situation these days for people."

Kenny said SpongeBob's success likely stems from the fact there's something in each character everyone can identify with. As well, there's SpongeBob's unbridled sunny disposition.

"He just has this incredible, deep beatific energy," Kenny said. "He's just raring to go all the time and life is great and he loves whatever the day throws at him for the most part.

"He wakes up every morning convinced that it's going to be the best morning ever and works hard despite the fact that he's underappreciated and underpaid, which I think is a situation most people can identify with."

Kenny, who like all the people on the show gets a certain amount of inspiration for plots from their own kids, said the show and movie were not crafted with any sort of particular message in mind, saying they'll leave that to PBS.

"I guess if SpongeBob has anything at all to offer children I think (it's) the message that it's OK to be a square peg, it's OK to not really fit the mould.

"SpongeBob is a complete oddball in his world but pretty much everyone likes him, he likes himself, he embraces his inner Goofy Goober.

"That's even underscored more in the movie, that 'OK, I'm a dork, so what? I like being a dork and being a dork is sort of fun and a lot of dorks wind up doing pretty well in life'."

TWO-HOUR 'BLUE' FINALE SET FOR MARCH

The date has been set for the final episode of "NYPD Blue" — March 1.

One of the most celebrated series of all time will go out after 12 years in a single, two-hour show without the hoopla that has surrounded other finales in recent years.

ABC said earlier this year that that this would be "Blue's" final season.

The network will also make good on the promise to broadcast all 22 episodes straight through without repeats.

The show has been careful to keep details of the final episode secret.

"NYPD Blue" debuted on ABC in 1993.

Bad boy Robbie Williams admits difficulty in staying away from drugs

LONDON (AP) - Pop singer Robbie Williams said he would still be taking drugs if they didn't make him fat.

"I'd still be doing it if I didn't blow up to the size of an aircraft hangar, you know, because it was a great time," the bad-boy British pop star told Real Radio.

"Some of the best times in my life happened under the influence of drugs ... and I'm not saying 'Go out and do drugs, kids' but I enjoyed them," Williams said in the interview to air on Christmas Day.

Williams first made a name for himself on the British pop scene as a member of Take That, one of the most successful boy bands of the '90s.

He reportedly fell into drugs after splitting from the group to launch a solo career. His addiction became so bad that fellow pop star Elton John intervened to send him to a rehabilitation clinic.

Asked whether he was confident about staying away from drugs and alcohol, Williams, now 30, replied: "No, I'm not confident at all."

J.K. Rowling Completes 6th Potter Novel

NEW YORK - Harry Potter readers, here's an extra special holiday gift: J.K. Rowling announced Monday that she has completed the sixth Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

"I know you all expected this to happen on Christmas Day, but I was sure that those of you who celebrate Christmas have better things to do on the day itself than fight your way into my study, whereas those of you who DON'T celebrate Christmas would definitely prefer not to wait until the 25th," the British author wrote in a message posted on her Web site.

Rowling noted that while she is pregnant with her third child, she has had the time "needed to tinker with the manuscript to my satisfaction and I am as happy as I have ever been with the end result. I only hope you feel it was worth the wait when you finally read it."

Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic Inc., said a release date would be announced Tuesday morning.

With the new Potter book almost certain to come out in 2005, fans should be spared the seemingly interminable three-year wait between Potter IV, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and Potter V, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which came out in the summer of 2003. Rowling did not say whether the new book's length would top the industrial-sized 870 pages of "Order of the Phoenix."

Rowling's announcement is also great news for booksellers, who have endured another year of slow sales. More than 100 million copies of the fantasy series, which debuted in 1997, are in print, and "Order of the Phoenix" sold an astonishing 5 million copies within 24 hours of publication. Sales have remained phenomenal even as Rowling's books have grown longer and darker, reflecting the boy wizard's maturation into adolescence.

Hollywood has benefited, too; the first three Potter books have been made into hit movies. The books have also inspired countless Potter paraphernalia, including candy, cakes, capes and toys.

Rowling has said that one of her characters will not survive her sixth book, but she refused to identify that character.

Potter himself is safe, at least for now. Rowling has said her teenage hero will survive until the seventh and final book in the series, but has refused to say whether he will reach adulthood.

Only recently, the book's completion seemed far away. In a message posted Dec. 10, Rowling said she had nothing "noteworthy to report, because I have been spending nearly all my time sitting in front of my computer writing, rewriting and taking the occasional break to bang my head off the desk in frustration or else rub my hands together in fiendish glee (I think the latter has happened once)."

'Lemony Snicket' Tops Box Office in Debut

LOS ANGELES - "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" brought in $30.2 million of good fortune to debut in first place at the weekend box office.

The film based on the first three children's books by Lemony Snicket, who is actually author Daniel Handler, knocked the star-driven sequel "Ocean's Twelve" to second place, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

"Spanglish," a new Sony film starring Tea Leoni, Adam Sandler and Spanish actress Paz Vega, made its debut at third with an estimated weekend haul of $9 million.

Final figures were to be released Monday.

"Lemony Snicket" tells the story of a trio of orphans who try to defend themselves from greedy Count Olaf, played by Jim Carrey, who pursues the children by concealing himself as a variety of thinly veiled characters.

Playing in wide release at 3,620 theaters, "Lemony Snicket" averaged $8,343 a cinema.

"Jim Carrey and the books are really the primary driving forces behind it and the marketing seems to have worked very well," said Wayne Lewellen, president of distribution for Paramount.

"The Aviator," starring Leonardo DiCaprio as eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, opened in 40 theaters in New York, Los Angeles and "resort towns" — near ski resorts and in Hawaii and Palm Springs — in an attempt to catch vacationing Academy Awards voters, said Mike Rudnitsky, head of domestic distribution at Miramax.

The film earned $831,124 with a per screen average of $20,778.

"The Aviator," which also features Cate Blanchett as Hughes' legendary love Katharine Hepburn, will expand to about 1,750 screens on Christmas Day.

Other films in limited release that have been receiving Oscar buzz include Bill Murray's quirky oceanography tale "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," and "Million Dollar Baby," with Hilary Swank portraying a woman who tries to improve her life of hard knocks by training as a boxer.

In its second week, "Life Aquatic" played on two screens in New York and Los Angeles and brought in $100,595, a drop of only 11 percent from its debut weekend. "Million Dollar Baby" has brought in $233,230 since its opening Wednesday with a per screen average of $29,153.

The success of "Lemony Snickets" continues a trend that has seen family oriented films scoring well at the box office, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"It just seems the family market is insatiable in their need for new entertainment options," Dergarabedian said.

"The Polar Express," in particular, has continued to draw in family audiences, earning $8.6 million to bring its cumulative total over six weeks to $123.6 million. "Polar Express" saw only an 11 percent drop in its audience from the week before, while other top films had steeper falls, including "Ocean's Twelve," which lost 53 percent, and "Blade: Trinity," which lost 59 percent and dropped from second to fifth.

Revenues from the top 12 movies were down 25 percent compared to last year, but the numbers were skewed because "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" made $72.6 million during its 2003 debut, Dergarabedian said.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

1. "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," $30.2 million
2. "Ocean's Twelve," $18.3 million.
3. "Spanglish," $9 million
4. "The Polar Express," $8.6 million.
5. "Blade: Trinity," $6.6 million.
6. "National Treasure," $6.1 million.
7. "Christmas With the Kranks," $5.7 million.
8. "The Flight of the Phoenix," $5.1 million.
9. "Closer," $3.5 million.
10. "The Incredibles," $3.3 million.

Band Aid Takes Christmas Top Spot on British Charts

LONDON (Reuters) - The reworked Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has clinched the coveted Christmas number one spot on the UK pop charts, the Official UK Charts Company said Sunday.

As expected, Band Aid 20, a nod to the two decades that have passed since Bob Geldof (news) assembled the leading pop stars for the 1984 smash hit record, clung on to the top spot beating off competition from Ronan Keating and pop queen Kylie Minogue.

Proceeds from the new Band Aid recording -- featuring vocals from stars such as Jamelia and Coldplay's Chris Martin and rap from Dizzee Rascal -- will go toward relief efforts in Ethiopia and Sudan.

Geldof welcomed the number one spot. "It's an excuse to think about someone else this Christmas," he told BBC radio. "Thank you very much everybody. What you have done is remarkable and important."

Bookmakers William Hill stopped taking bets on Band Aid taking the top Christmas spot two months ago and instead focused on the festive number two. The charity single has outsold Keating and Minogue by five to one, William Hill said.

Despite missing the number one spot, Christmas came early for Irish heartthrob Keating. His duet "Father and Son" with Yusuf Islam, who first recorded the song when he was known as Cat Stevens, went straight in at number two.

The melancholic remake pushed Minogue's typically upbeat "I Believe In You" down a spot to third.

Rapper Ice Cube's "You Can Do It," featuring Mack 10 and MS Toi, also moved down a spot to fourth place.

Bo Selecta's double comedy charity single "Soda Pop/I've Got You Babe," featuring Patsy Kensit and Davina McCall, was one of three new entries in the top 10, going straight to number five.

Music veteran Morrissey's "I Have Forgiven Jesus" was also new at number ten.

But the man who has become a perennial feature on the festive charts, Cliff Richard, stayed outside the top 10. His ballad "I Cannot Give You My Love," entered at number 13.

The top spot on the Christmas album chart went to British crooner Robbie Williams whose "Greatest Hits" was followed by opera quartet Il Divo. Irish rockers U2 were third with their "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" album.

Costello Cooking Up New EP, DVDs, Tour

Never one to rest on his laurels, Elvis Costello has a variety of projects on the horizon, including a 10-inch vinyl EP of previously unreleased recordings, two DVDs and a 2005 itinerary packed with touring.

First up is the seven-song vinyl release "The Clarksdale Sessions," due Jan. 25 via Lost Highway. The set chronicles a rehearsal session for Costello's latest album with the Imposters, "The Delivery Man," captured on tape at a one-room recording studio in Clarksdale, Miss.

In addition to "The Delivery Man" tracks "The Monkey" (an alternate version of "Monkey to Man") "Country Darkness," "Needle Time," "The Scarlet Tide" and the title song, "Sessions" sports a cover of the Chips Moman/Dan Penn composition "Dark End of the Street" and the previously unreleased original "In Another Room."

Costello and the Imposters recently released five additional live-in-the-studio versions of tracks from the album exclusively via Apple's iTunes Music Store as "The Futurama Sessions."

A collection of music videos and TV performances, "The Right Spectacle," will arrive on DVD Jan. 17 in the U.K. via Demon, with release plans in other territories still being finalized.

And although details are still being nailed down, April 19 will bring the release of the concert DVD "Club Date: Live in Memphis" via Eagle Rock Entertainment, taped this summer at the city's 250-capacity Hi-Tone Lounge.

The artist already has a full slate of 2005 tour dates on tap, beginning Jan. 19 in Stockholm and wrapping Feb. 20 in Manchester, England. A two-month North American run is scheduled for March, but the only dates confirmed so far are three Florida engagements: March 2 in Orlando, March 4 in Miami and March 5 in Tampa.

Finally, Costello was nominated for three Grammys last week: best rock album for "The Delivery Man," best rock performance by a duo our group with vocal for "Monkey to Man" and best male pop vocal performance for "De-Lovely," from the film of the same name.

Here are Elvis Costello's tour dates:

Jan. 19: Stockholm (Concert House)
Jan. 21: Oslo (Rockefeller)
Jan. 22: Copenhagen (Vera)
Jan. 24: Utrecht, Holland (Music Centrum)
Jan. 26: Antwerp (Koningen Elizabeth Hall)
Jan. 28: Berlin (UDK)
Jan. 29: Hamburg (Kampnagel)
Jan. 30: Frankfurt (Mouson Turm)
Feb. 1: Murcia, Spain (Auditorio de Murcia)
Feb. 2: Valencia, Spain (Palau De La Musica)
Feb. 5: Milan (Auditorium Verdi)
Feb. 6: Rome (Parco Della Musica)
Feb. 9: Brighton, England (Brighton Dome)
Feb. 10: London (Hammersmith Apollo)
Feb. 12: Bristol, England (Colston Hall)
Feb. 13: Coventry, England (Warwick Arts Center)
Feb. 14: Edinburgh, England (Usher Hall)
Feb. 16: Liverpool, England (Royal Court)
Feb. 17: Sheffield, England (Octagon)
Feb. 18: Buxton, England (Opera House)
Feb. 20: Manchester, England (Bridgewater Hall)
March 2: Orlando, Fla. (House of Blues)
March 4: Miami (Jackie Gleason Theatre)
March 5: Tampa (Tampa Theatre)

Garner Sparks Pregnancy Questions

Alias star Jennifer Garner has sparked speculation she's pregnant with boyfriend Ben Affleck's baby, after being photographed with a plumper-than-usual stomach.

The brunette actress, who has been dating her Daredevil co-star since the summer, is shown in shots taken on December 11 looking more full around the middle than usual. And in another taken a day later, Garner covered her stomach as soon as she spotted a photographer, while a day later, she emerged on the streets of Los Angeles wearing a long, wide scarf covering her belly.

While Garner's representatives has refused to comment, Utah-based nutritional biochemist Dr. Shawn M. Talbott, who does not treat the actress, tells Star magazine, "It really does look like Jen is pregnant. Where she seems to be gaining weight - lower belly and hips - is a typical change in shape for a young, fit, pregnant woman. Jen could have started early eating for the holidays but I think she looks more like she has a baby on the way!"

Judging from the photographs, it is predicted that Garner is four to five months pregnant.

Eminem And U2 Can't Save 2004

Two new CDs cannot save a sinking holiday season. U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Eminem's Encore have sold a combined total of more than four million CDs since they came out in November, but the rest of the music market continues its dismal decline, with sales down for twelve weeks in a row compared with the same time last year.

Despite massive label layoffs and store closings, record executives had been optimistic for much of 2004 that a three-year slump was over. Sales rose about seven percent during the first half, and execs were upbeat about early smashes such as Norah Jones' Feels Like Home and Usher's Confessions. Many in the industry claimed that lawsuits against file-sharers had worked, driving music fans back to the record stores. But with just one big holiday-shopping week remaining, industry reps feared 2004 will end up with a disturbingly small one or two percent increase over last year.

So why did sales drop this fall despite the big business of U2, Eminem and other post-Thanksgiving blockbusters such as Clay Aiken's Merry Christmas With Love and Destiny's Child's Destiny Fulfilled?

"Although the big hits are bigger, there were fewer records released by superstars this Christmas than any Christmas in memory," says Jim Urie, president of Universal Music and Video Distribution. Many of the biggest discs came out on just two dates -- November 16th and November 23rd -- while 2003's top fall album, OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, came out in September and sold strongly through Christmas. Also, this year's dramatic Thanksgiving-week discounts at Target, Circuit City and Best Buy on Top Ten albums drew shoppers to buy $7.99 hits but left many scoffing at paying $14.99 for everything else.

During the past few weeks, according to a Rolling Stone analysis of Nielsen SoundScan CD-sales data, more people bought Top Ten albums than at this time last year, but fewer bought other discs. Sales for Top Ten albums jumped sixteen percent from a year ago in the week of November 16th and 6.8 percent in the week of November 23rd. But overall sales dropped during the same period by a total of 7.9 and 5 percent, respectively. "Music has just been a little bit too compacted into three weeks," says Dave Alder, chief marketing officer of the Virgin Entertainment Group. "Customers only have so much money in their pockets, so congestion in the release schedule tends to stifle sales."

JACK'S BACK

Fox planning to launch its fourth adrenaline-pumping season of 24 with a two-day, four-hour season premiere Sunday and Monday, Jan. 9 and 10, starting at 8 p.m.

Record companies sue 754 more computer users for swapping music

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Recording companies filed copyright infringement lawsuits against 754 computer users Thursday, the latest round of legal action in the industry's effort to squelch unauthorized swapping of music online.

Among the named defendants were 20 computer users suspected of swapping songs over university networks, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group for the largest music companies. Among the college and universities attended by students named in the lawsuits were University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in New York, Old Dominion University and State University of West Georgia.

The colleges and universities were not named as defendants.

As in previous cases, the new lawsuits were filed against "John Doe" defendants - identified only by their numeric Internet protocol addresses. Music company lawyers must obtain the identity of defendants by issuing subpoenas to Internet access providers.

In all, recording companies have sued 7,704 computer users since September 2003. To date, 1,475 defendants have settled their cases out of court, the RIAA said.

Settlements in previous cases have averaged $3,000 US each.

Jim Carrey Pic Set to Take Over at Box Office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Will the star power of Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler be enough to lure frenzied Christmas shoppers away from the mall this weekend?

That's the hope of Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures, which will release, respectively, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" and "Spanglish" Friday. And 20th Century Fox counters with its action-adventure remake "Flight of the Phoenix," starring Dennis Quaid.

Insiders predict "Lemony Snicket" will pull in $30 million-plus for the weekend, with "Spanglish" opening in the mid- to high-teen millions. "Phoenix" is looking more troubled, and observers aren't expecting it to reach into double-digit millions. Last weekend's champ, "Ocean's Twelve" bowed to $39.2 million, about $1 million more than its 2001 predecessor, which went on to dip 42 percent in its second weekend.

Set to open in 3,620 theaters, "Lemony Snicket," a co-production with DreamWorks Pictures, reimagines the first three books of the wildly popular series by Daniel Handler. The dark, fantastical adventure showcases Carrey as the evil Count Olaf, who is charged with the care of three children after their parents die in a fire.

The film from director Brad Silberling ("Moonlight Mile," "City of Angels") saw a slew of musical chairs before it was locked last year. Director Barry Sonnenfeld and producer Scott Rudin initially were on board but left because of budget cuts. DreamWorks then joined, bringing along Silberling. Co-starring Meryl Streep and Jude Law, the PG-rated "Lemony" should do a wide range of business, bringing in young children and their families.

Sony Pictures will open the James Brooks film "Spanglish" in 2,438 theaters. Starring Sandler, Tea Leoni and Cloris Leachman, the film has been gaining in awareness during the past week. The story revolves around the cultures that collide when a beautiful Mexican woman (Paz Vega) becomes the housekeeper for an affluent Los Angeles family.

Sandler's most recent turn in a dramatic role was Sony's 2002 black comedy "Punch-Drunk Love," which opened to a limited audience and wound up earning $17.8 million domestically.

Brooks' films are notorious for opening in the teen millions but going on to reap significant boxoffice dollars. "As Good as It Gets" bowed to $12 million in 1997 before going on to earn $148.4 million. Similarly, "Jerry Maguire," which Brooks produced, bowed to $17 million in 1996 on its way to $153.6 million.

"Flight of the Phoenix," a remake of the 1965 thriller starring James Stewart, boasts a striking initial crash scene but ultimately is a film that takes place in the desert. Unfortunately, that is not resonating well with audiences. What may help is that as the only action-adventure film of the season, "Phoenix" could hold on through the Christmas holidays, when moviegoers are apt to show up for more than one flick. Dennis Quaid and Giovanni Ribisi lead the ensemble cast. John Moore ("Behind Enemy Lines") directs.

Opening in limited release is the much-anticipated "The Aviator" from Martin Scorsese. Opening in 40 venues in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, the PG-13 biopic has received much advance kudos and got six Golden Globe nominations this week. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, "Aviator's" primary drawback is its nearly three-hour running time. Co-stars include Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale and Gwen Stefani.

On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Pictures bowed the widely praised "Million Dollar Baby" on eight screens in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto. "Baby" stars Hilary Swank as a boxer, with Clint Eastwood playing her manager. Eastwood also directs. The film received five Golden Globe nominations.

Lions Gate will open the Bobby Darin biopic "Beyond the Sea" from multihyphenate Kevin Spacey on six screens Friday in New York and Los Angeles. The film will expand Dec. 29.

"The Sea Inside," starring Javier Bardem, bows in Los Angeles and New York. The Spanish drama from Fine Line Features has received many kudos on the festival circuit and got Golden Globe nominations for Bardem and best foreign-language film. It expands early next month.

Expos' Move to D.C. on Verge of Collapse

NEW YORK - Washington's new baseball team shut down business and promotional operations indefinitely Wednesday as its move to the nation's capital teetered on the brink of collapse.

The decision by major league baseball followed the District of Columbia Council's decision Tuesday night to require private financing for at least half the cost of building a new stadium. The September agreement to move the Montreal Expos to Washington called for a ballpark fully financed by government money.

"Yes, I think baseball is now in jeopardy," Mayor Anthony A. Williams said.

A previously scheduled news conference to unveil new uniforms was called off and fans who bought tickets to watch the renamed Nationals next season at RFK Stadium can get refunds, said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

Baseball will not resume talks with other cities until after Dec. 31, the deadline in the agreement for Washington to put a ballpark financing law in place.

"In the meantime, the club's baseball operations will proceed, but its business and promotional activities will cease until further notice," DuPuy said.

He did not address where the team would play its 2005 home schedule if the deal with Washington falls through. It remains unclear whether baseball would move the franchise to RFK Stadium on a temporary basis, remain at Montreal's Olympic Stadium or go to another city.

Williams had signed the deal nearly three months ago, and publicly celebrated the return of major league baseball to Washington, which hasn't had a team since 1971.

"We had a deal. I believe the deal was broken, and the dream of 33 years is now once again close to dying. I would say close," Williams said at a news conference Wednesday.

Council Chair Linda W. Cropp proposed the amendment, which was approved 10-3 after she threatened to withhold support from the overall package, which then passed In a 7-6 vote.

"I am not trying to kill the deal," Cropp said. "I'm putting some teeth in it because I'm really disappointed with what I got from major league baseball."

The September agreement estimated the cost of building the ballpark and refurbishing RFK Stadium at $435 million, but critics claimed it would cost far more. The proposal, as initially approved by the council on Nov. 30, called for Washington to issue up to $531 million in bonds to cover the cost.

"I am very confident that we are going to be able to work through this and that we will have baseball here," said Councilman Jack Evans, who supported Williams on the original financing plan.

Bill Hall, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission's baseball committee, said, "We intend to deal with MLB's concerns and stadium cost issues in a way that keeps baseball in Washington, and do so over the next week or so."

Some of the communities that had lost out in the bidding for the team prepared to resume their efforts to lure the franchise.

"I don't think we've ever stopped," Norfolk group head Will Somerindyke Jr. said. "We always wanted to keep this area an option. If the opportunity arises for the Expos again, we are going to be standing there along with everyone else.

"Whether we could get something done by next year, I think that's a stretch," he added. "It would be very, very tough."

Somerindyke's organization has returned the deposits it collected on nearly 10,000 season tickets and almost 100 luxury boxes during its drive to get the Expos. He didn't think it would be difficult to get those deposits back.

Officials in Portland, Ore., were uncertain how to interpret the developments.

"We need to wait to see how Major League Baseball assesses this so we can respond," said Drew Mahalic of the Oregon Sports Authority.

Northern Virginia's group had hoped to build a ballpark near Dulles International Airport.

"We hope that the District of Columbia will be able to fulfill the terms of its agreement and succeed in bringing Major League Baseball back to this region," Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority spokesman Brian Hannigan said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman went to baseball's winter meetings last weekend trying to attract attention to his efforts to lure a team. But he could not offer a firm stadium plan.

"It's just a glint in my eye, at this point," he said.

Washington has lost teams twice before: The original Senators became the Minnesota Twins after the 1960 season and the expansion Senators transformed into the Texas Rangers following the 1971 season.

"Here we are back where we were five years ago — the nation's capital, the center of the world, a city of possibility, aspiration and ambition and opportunity, and a city that cannot do what it says it's going to do," Williams said. "I'm saddened that we can go so far in five years and step back so far in five minutes."

The Expos became the first major league team outside the United States when they started play in 1969, but attendance at Olympic Stadium slumped over the past decade and the franchise was bought by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season. In 2003 and 2004, some of the team's home games were moved to Puerto Rico to raise revenue.

The Couch Potato Report - December 14th, 2004

In The Couch Potato Report this week, since it is the week before Christmas, there are a lot of films to tell you about.

Since there are so many movies to get to, I'm just going to give you the basics this week.

Yes, just the basic information, even though there is nothing basic about the thriller COLLATERAL.

Tom Cruise strays away from a career of good guys to play a contract killer named Vincent who hires an unsuspecting cab driver to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles.

Not long into the film the audience, and the cab driver, learn that Vincent's plan is to execute five people in a 10-hour spree.

The film's director is Michael Mann, who in addition to creating the TV show MIAMI VICE, gave us the films HEAT and MANHUNTER. He is a director who knows how to craft a thriller.

Prior to his work playing the late Ray Charles in the film RAY triple Golden Globe nominee Jamie Foxx from ANY GIVEN SUNDAY gave the best performance of his career in COLLATERAL.

And Tom Cruise does a great job playing a sociopaththic killer.

COLLATERAL is just a tad shy of superb. It is an excellent movie.

If COLLATERAL is an excellent thriller, that would make I ROBOT the total opposite - a movie that is instantly forgettable.

Will Smith from MEN IN BLACK and INDEPENDENCE DAY plays a paranoid cop who suspects that the robots who perform the domestic tasks and minimum wage jobs of the near future are going to eventually turn on mankind.

When the creator of the robots dies suspiciously, he is given an opportunity to prove what he believes.

Isaac Asimov's classic book was the inspiration for I ROBOT, but don't look for much of a connection between the film and the book.

I ROBOT - the movie - is efficient enough, but it doesn't break any new ground and once it is over it is instantly forgettable.

Did I say that it was forgettable already? Wow, even this review is instantly forgettable.

The always radiant and never forgettable Anne Hathaway is the star of this week's next film.

Hathaway once again teams up with the legendary Julie Andrews in THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT.

In this sequel to the 2001 original, the American teenager who in the first film learned she was actually European royalty, finishes college and finds out she has to get married in 30 days or she will lose her crown.

THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT is geared toward young girls, but I watched it and it wasn't bad.

I'm not trying to make the case that all 36 year old men should watch the movie, but if you have to, for work, or if you have a teenage daughter, you probably won't mind it.

It isn't as charming as the original PRINCESS DIARIES, but it is an entertaining family film, especially for young girls.

Young boys, on the other hand, will most likely prefer THE LORD OF THE RINGS - THE RETURN OF THE KING - SPECIAL EXTENDED EDITION. This new version of the Best Picture Oscar winning third installment of the uber-succesful series includes 50 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film.

All of the new scenes are welcome, and the bonus features maintain the high bar set by the first two films, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS and THE TWO TOWERS.

And as soon as I can find 12 straight hours to sit and do so, I plan on watching all three extended editions of THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY. Let me know if you want to come over.

I didn't have 12 straight hours this week, but I was able to find two hours to watch MEET THE PARENTS again.

With the high profile sequel MEET THE FOCKERS hitting theatres on December 22nd, I wanted to spend time with the hilarious 2000 original.

Now, we can all spend more time with MEET THE PARENTS as a new BONUS EDITION DVD of the film is in stores.

This new edition gives you more of the work of Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro as there are never-before-seen extras including, over 35 never-before-seen outrageous outtakes and a deleted scene of Robert De Niro singing during the movie's wedding.

MEET THE PARENTS is one of the funniest films of the past few years and the new BONUS EDITION DVD will get you ready to MEET THE FOCKERS.

This week you can also meet, enjoy and own STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON.

This final eight disc box set features the final 24 episodes on eight discs, plus two versions of the never aired episode "The Cage" and many special features.

The best of the bonus material focuses on Canadian actor James Doohan.

In what is probably his last Star Trek appearance, Doohan, slowed by Alzheimer's but still with a twinkle in his eye, recalls his voiceover roles and his favorite episodes.

He might not be long for this world, but his work in STAR TREK will allow him to live forever.

The final new releases that I want to tell you about this week are the latest offerings in WAVE FOUR of THE DISNEY TREASURES COLLECTION, and we'll start with THE COMPLETE PLUTO - VOLUME ONE.

After Donald and Mickey, Pluto was the most prolific of the Disney characters and it was great to sit and watch the 28 classic animated shorts and the many bonus features on the two discs in this set.

For many years after school THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB entertained kids across North America. Now, this 2 DVD Set allows you to time with Jimmie, Roy, Darlene, Karen, Cubby, Nancy and all of the other Mousketeers. And no matter how old I am, I will always have a crush on Annette!

And MICKEY MOUSE IN BLACK AND WHITE - VOLUME 2 is a collection of 40 classic Mickey Mouse cartoons - in black and white no less - that will enable you to just sit back and enjoy the animation and the joy that is contained in every hand drawn frame.

I, ROBOT, COLLATERAL, THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT, MEET THE PARENTS - BONUS EDITION, STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON and WAVE FOUR of THE DISNEY TREASURES COLLECTION, specifically THE COMPLETE PLUTO - VOLUME ONE, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB and MICKEY MOUSE IN BLACK AND WHITE - VOLUME 2 are all available now at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP ON JANUARY 8th IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

In the second funniest film of 2004 Will Ferrell from ELF and OLD SCHOOL stars in ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY. Ferrell plays a 1970's era TV anchorman who is threatened when the station hires a woman. Man is this film funny!

OPEN WATER isn't funny, but it is one of the most suspenseful films of the year. In the movie two SCUBA divers are accidentally left behind in shark infested waters. It is a small movie, that succeeds on a huge level.

DE-LOVELY is a musical portrait of American composer Cole Porter. In the film Kevin Kline plays Porter as he looks back on his life as if it was one of his spectacular stage shows, with the people and events of his life becoming the actors and action onstage.

GARDEN STATE may be the smallest film of the year, but it is also one of my favourite films this year. Zach Braff from TV's SCRUBS is a man who decides to returns home for his mother's funeral. Natalie Portman from CLOSER and the new STAR WARS films plays the love interest, with a twist. Like I said, I loved GARDEN STATE.

I didn't love TROY, and I doubt you will either. But anyone who is a fan of hunky hunk actors Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom probably will enjoy staring at the guys in this cinematic telling of Homer's famous story of Achilles and ancient Greece.

The final new films I will tell you about in the next Couch Potato Report are the "comedies" LITTLE BLACK BOOK - with Brittany Murphy as a woman who digs into her boyfriend's past - and HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE - the latest film about two cinematic dumb guys.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases, on January 8th.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!

Hollywood targets downloading

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hollywood movie studios on Tuesday sued scores of operators of U.S.- and European-based computer servers that help relay digitized movie files across online file-sharing networks.

The copyright infringement suits expand on a new U.S. film industry initiative whose initial targets were individual file-swappers.

The defendants this time run servers that use BitTorrent, which has become the program of choice for online sharers of large files because of its immunity to industry attempts to confound file-swappers with bogus decoy files.

"Today's actions are aimed at individuals who deliberately set up and operate computer servers and websites that, by design, allow people to infringe copyrighted motion pictures," said John Malcolm, head of the Motion Picture Association of America's antipiracy unit.

Malcolm, speaking at a Washington news conference, declined to name defendants. He said the suits, filed in the United States and Britain, targeted more than 100 server operators.

"These actors are neither innovative nor innocent," Malcolm added. "These people are parasites, leeching off the creativity of others. Their illegal conduct is brazen and blatant."

The initial wave of lawsuits targets computer servers that index movies for BitTorrent users, but Malcolm said the trade group is eyeing similar action against servers that direct data for the DirectConnect and eDonkey file-swapping services.

Malcolm noted that neither the creator nor distributors of BitTorrent, whose architecture enables speedy downloads because users share received bits of a file as it is downloaded, were targeted in the suits.

"The target of our actions is not technology," Malcolm said. "There are many legal Torrent sites ... that are dedicated to the distribution of public domain work and we are taking no action against them whatsoever."

The three file-sharing aides work differently but enable computer users to share music, film, software and other files.

EDonkey and BitTorrent steadily gained in popularity after the recording industry began cracking down last year on users of Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster and other established file-sharing software.

The MPAA is focusing its litigation on servers that link individuals who seek movie files to those who make them available.

The lawsuits follow the same logic employed when the recording industry successfully sued the original Napster file-sharing network. The creators of that software used a central computer server to keep and update an index of what music files were being made available by computer users on the network.

"By bringing these suits, the MPAA runs the risk of pushing the tens of millions of file sharers to more decentralized technologies that will be harder to police," said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.

Mike Godwin, legal director for Washington-based Public Knowledge, a group that tracks copyright and technology policy, said the same legal arguments against Napster may not stick in this case.

"There may be a legal problem in that some Torrent sites don't really police what people use them for," Godwin said. "In those cases, I think it's hard to create traditional copyright infringement liability."

Another potential wrinkle is that many of the computer servers are offshore, outside the scope of U.S. copyright law.

"It adds a level of complexity that makes it more difficult for someone from the United States to go after a tracker site," Godwin said. "Tracker sites are often run by hobbyists. They go up, they go down. It's a moving target and not a particularly large one."

Hollywood movie studios contend that the unauthorized trading of films online has the potential to threaten their industry, particularly as increasing bandwidth makes the large movie files easier to download.

By comparison, music files are far smaller and swapped at greater volume.

Last month, the studios began suing computer users for swapping digitized films online for copyright infringement. The industry has also been a party to lawsuits against Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster.

The industry has failed to persuade U.S. federal courts to shut down the services, and is awaiting a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Queen Reunite for Spring

Queen is mounting their first tour since the death of frontman Freddie Mercury from AIDS in 1991 -- with former Bad Company and Free singer Paul Rodgers at the helm. The veteran hard rockers will be playing several European dates next spring, and the shows will feature both Queen and Rodgers material.

The inspiration came this September at the Fender fiftieth anniversary bash, where Queen guitarist Brian May and Rodgers -- who joined the Firm with Jimmy Page in the mid-Eighties and reunited with Bad Company in the late Nineties -- performed the classic Free song "All Right Now." "We were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on," May writes on his Web site, "that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was 'something happening here.'"

Queen and Rodgers also played together last month when Queen was inducted into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. According to May, the positive reaction from that performance led to more specific tour plans.

Queen's last shows with Mercury were in 1986; afterwards, the band stopped touring due to Mercury's illness. Since his death, the surviving band members have reunited for a handful of special occasions -- such as the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, their induction into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and most recently at the 46664 AIDS benefit concert in Cape Town, South Africa. May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor have also been busy as the musical directors of We Will Rock You, a musical featuring twenty-five Queen songs which has been a success in London and is currently playing at the Las Vegas theater, Paris Las Vegas.

About the idea of touring again after such a long hiatus, May writes, "It's very exciting . . . suddenly the Queen Phoenix is rising again from the ashes."

New Tina Turner best-of set features some new material

A new, two-CD Tina Turner anthology featuring 33 tracks--including three newly recorded songs--is due in stores on Feb. 1, according to Capitol Records.

Dubbed "All the Best," the collection features songs dating from the '60s through the present. "Open Arms," the album's first single, is expected to hit radio by mid-January.

In addition to the first single, produced by Jimmy Hogarth, new tracks include the Steve Robson-produced "Complicated Disaster" and the Trevor Horn-produced "Something Special."

The album also contains some material that should be of interest to collectors, including a live version of "Addicted to Love" and duets with David Bowie ("Tonight"), Bryan Adams ("It's Only Love") and Italian superstar Eros Ramazzotti ("Cose Della Vita").

The track listing for "All the Best" follows:

CD 1
1. Open Arms
2. Nutbush City Limits (Ike & Tina Turner)
3. What You Get is What You See
4. Missing You
5. The Best
6. River Deep Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner)
7. When the Heartache is Over
8. Let's Stay Together
9. I Don't Wanna Fight
10. Whatever You Need
11. I Can't Stand the Rain
12. Goldeneye
13. I Don't Wanna Lose You
14. Great Spirits
15. Proud Mary
16. Addicted to Love (Live)

CD 2
1. In Your Wildest Dreams
2. Private Dancer
3. Why Must We Wait Until Tonight
4. Typical Male
5. Tonight (David Bowie with Tina Turner)
6. Complicated Disaster
7. On Silent Wings
8. Something Special
9. We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
10. It's Only Love (Bryan Adams with Tina Turner)
11. Cose Della Vita (Eros Ramazzotti with Tina Turner)
12. Steamy Windows
13. Paradise is Here
14. What's Love Got to Do with It
15. Better Be Good to Me
16. Two People
17. Something Beautiful Remains

NEW CD RELEASES FOR DECEMBER 14, 2004

Ashanti Concrete Rose (Def Jam)
Cary Brothers All the Rage EP
Vic Mizzy Songs for the Jogging Crowd (Vicster)
VA Chicano Sounds Radio: The Mix Tape Vol. 1 (Thump)
OST The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Bill Murray film) (Hollywood)
DVD Phantom Planet Live in Chicago (Epic)
DVD Martin Sexton Live (Kitchen Table)
DVD Joss Stone Mind, Body & Soul Sessions Live in New York City (S-Curve)

DIAPER DUTY

Liv Tyler and rocker-hubby Royston Langdon welcoming a baby boy Tuesday in New York City, her publicist confirms. No word on the tyke's name, but he tipped the scales at 8 pounds, according to People magazine, and "has full lips."

ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL

Yes sir, the special extended edition four-disc DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King hitting stores Tuesday along with an extended trilogy box set as well.

Toronto film festival group announces annual list of top 10 Canadian films

TORONTO (CP) - The top 10 Canadian films of 2004, as chosen by an independent panel of 10 industry experts, is an eclectic list of titles from new and old filmmakers, in English and French, features and documentaries, animation and experimental.

As announced Tuesday night by the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the titles are:

Childstar: Don McKellar's bittersweet comedy about an American sitcom star who is shipped off to Canada to make a film.

Elles Etaient Cinq: Directed by Ghyslaine Cote. A woman is forced to confront long-buried memories when she sees a man who resembles someone from her past.

I, Claudia: Chris Abraham's film version of Kristen Thompson's play about a pre-teen dealing with her father's remarriage.

It's All Gone Pete Tong: Michael Dowse's comedy about a legendary and flamboyant DJ who disappears from the music scene after suffering a hearing disorder.

La Peau Blanche: Daniel Roby was producer and director of this story about a man who falls in love with a woman with extremely pale skin. Based on the Joel Champetier novel.

Ryan: Chris Landreth's digitally animated short for the National Film Board about troubled filmmaker colleague Ryan Larkin.

Saint Ralph: Michael McGowan's story of a boy who decides to run in the Boston Marathon in a quest on behalf of his dying mother.

ScaredSacred: A search for exceptional survivors, from the toxic wastelands of Bhopal to 9/11 ground zero in New York City. Directed by Velcrow Ripper.

Shake Hands With the Devil: Peter Raymont's documentary about Romeo Dallaire and the Canadian general's journey back to Rwanda and the source of his genocide trauma.

What Remains of Us: A documentary by Francois Prevost and Hugo Latulippe about a young refugee in Quebec who returns to her native Tibet with a message from the Dalai Lama.

"The spectrum and scope of films on the list shows a new energy and continued vibrance within the Canadian film industry," said Piers Handling, director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival Group. "Our established filmmakers on the list display an impressive range and cinematic vision in their work."

The list was unveiled at a Tuesday night reception hosted by director Guy Maddin and actor Arsinee Khanjian. All 10 titles will be screened at Cinematheque Ontario from Jan. 28 to Feb. 5, complete with panel discussions and Q-As.

Trews, Sampson top East Coast nominees

SYDNEY, N.S. (CP) -- Gordie Sampson, Great Big Sea, Shaye and the Trews top the list of multiple-award nominees for the 2005 East Coast Music Awards with five nods each.

In all, there were 125 nominations in 25 music categories announced by the East Coast Music Association at a news conference Tuesday.

"The diversity represented by our nominees this year is incredible," said Shelly Nordstrom, chairwoman of the ECMA board of directors.

"It shows just how much the East Coast music scene has developed and evolved over the years."

Country sensation George Canyon, fiddler Natalie MacMaster, Jimmy Rankin and Nathan Wiley each have four nominations, while Halifax rocker Joel Plaskett has three.

The entertainer of the year category, the only one voted on by the public, includes George Canyon, Crush, Natalie MacMaster, Jimmy Rankin and the Trews.

The ECMAs will be presented in Sydney, N.S., on February 20th. The show will be broadcast on CBC TV.

Here are the nominees for the 2005 East Coast Music Awards:

Album of Year: High Low, Nathan Wiley; House of Ill Fame, the Trews; Sunburn, Gordie Sampson; The Bridge, Shaye; Truthfully Truthfully, Joel Plaskett Emergency.

Female Artist of the Year: Jill Barber, Natalie MacMaster, Rita MacNeil, Susan Crowe, Teresa Doyle.

Male Artist of the Year: Dave Gunning, Gary Beals, George Canyon, Gordie Sampson, Nathan Wiley.

Group of the Year: Brothers In Stereo, Great Big Sea, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Shaye, the Trews.

Rising Star of the Year: Duane Andrews, Garrett Mason, Gary Beals, George Canyon, Madviolet.

Single of the Year: Bad Enough, Crush; Butterfly, Jimmy Rankin; Happy Baby, Shaye; Not Ready To Go, the Trews; Sunburn, Gordie Sampson; When I Am King, Great Big Sea.

SOCAN Songwriter of the Year: Alan Doyle, When I Am King; Gordie Sampson, Brian Daly; Troy Verges, Sunburn; Jimmy Rankin, Butterfly; Kim Stockwood, Damhnait Doyle, Tara MacLean, Jay Joyce, Happy Baby; Nathan Wiley, High Low.

Video of the Year: Butterfly, Jimmy Rankin; Not Ready To Go, the Trews; So Perfect, Mir; Way Back In the Day, Universal Soul; When I Am King, Great Big Sea.

Aboriginal Recording of the Year: Gary Sappier Experience, Gary Sappier; Iskueu Tipatshimu, Nitatshun; Something To Dream Of, Forever; Utaishimau, Meshikamau.

Alternative Recording of the Year: Goodnight Nobody, Julie Doiron; High Low, Nathan Wiley; Life Is Not That Hard, Vetch; Oxcart, Mars Hill; The Night And I Are Still So Young, the Heavy Blinkers.

Blues Recording of the Year: Half Ain't Been Told, Dutch Mason; I'm Just A Man, Garrett Mason; One Size Never Fits, Matt Andersen; Out Of Paradise, Frank Mackay; The Salty Sessions - Vol. II, Hot Toddy.

Bluegrass Recording of the Year: After All These Years, Bluegrass Diamonds; Christmas By The Fireside, Janet McGarry & Serge Bernard; First Impression, Bluestreak; One Mile Hill, One Mile Hill; X8a a mandolin collection, J.P. Cormier.

Classical Recording of the Year: Beautiful Dreamer, Sung Ha Shin-Bouey; Canciones y Leyendas: Songs and Legends for Bassoon and Guitar, Yvonne Kershaw and Steven Peacock; Ocean Suite, Robert Drew; The Great Square of Pegasus, Jasper Wood; Wild Honey, Duo Concertante.

Country Recording of the Year: Don't Forget About The Rain, Shanklin Road; It's What I Do, Jason Williams; Message From Above, Brian Mallery; One Good Friend, George Canyon; The Struggle, Terry Penney.

Enregistrement francophone de l'annee: Coeur variable, Danny Boudreau; Derange, Grand Derangement; Kilogrammes, reason, sexe, taekwondo & amour, Luc Tardif; La route m'appelle, Daniel Leger; Vishten, Vishten.

Folk Recording of the Year: Always Home, Eric Angus Whyte; Miss Canada, Little Miss Moffat; Oh Heart, Jill Barber; Redhead, Isaac and Blewett; Two-bit world, Dave Gunning.

Gospel Recording of the Year: Bound For That City, Celebration; Calvary Answers For Me, Emmaus Road; On A Journey, The Ascensions; Orrachan, Teresa Doyle; This Christmas, The LaPointes.

Instrumental Recording of the Year: Blueprint, Natalie MacMaster; It's About Time, Allie Bennett; Variations, Beolach; Vivacious, Samantha Robichaud; X8a a mandolin collection, J.P. Cormier.

Jazz Recording of the Year: Duane Andrews, Duane Andrews; La Funk 6, Stephane Bouchard; Lucid Blue, Mike Cowie; These Days, Mary Barry; Two Days On The Floor, Steve Dooks.

Pop Recording of the Year: Last Man Standing, Barry Canning; Something Beautiful, Great Big Sea; Sunburn, Gordie Sampson; The Bridge, Shaye; Worry The Jury, Madviolet.

Rock Recording of the Year: -- 2 Days After Yesterday, Three Season Ant; 7 Directions, Mir; Bulletproof and Ignorant, The Danny Mainstreet Band; Something To Dream Of, Forever; Truthfully Truthfully, Joel Plaskett Emergency.

Roots/Traditional Solo Recording of the Year: Blueprint, Natalie MacMaster; Cuts, Andrea Beaton; It's About Time, Allie Bennett; Jenny Gear and The Whiskey Kittens, Jenny Gear; Vivacious, Samantha Robichaud.

Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year: A Clearer Path, Banshee; Blou, Blanc, Rouge, Blou; On Fire!, The Cottars; Variations, Beolach; Vishten, Vishten.

Urban Single Track Recording of the Year: Neucleus Remix Radio, Dion Todd; Never Surrender - 22 Green Remix, Dion Todd; P. Titty, Pimp Tea Featuring Mickey D and Bonshah; Shake Ya Caboose, Pimp Tea; Strugglin', The Chronicles.

Entertainer of the Year: Crush; George Canyon; Jimmy Rankin; Natalie MacMaster; The Trews.

'Mary Poppins' Gets a Makeover in New DVD

LOS ANGELES - Movie animation has come a long way since Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke frolicked with cartoon penguins, sheep and carousel ponies in "Mary Poppins." Yet fresh off her voice work in the cutting-edge cartoon sequel "Shrek 2," Andrews thinks the blend of live-action and animation holds up splendidly in the 1964 musical fantasy, which gets elaborate new DVD treatment in a 40th anniversary two-disc set out Tuesday.

"I looked at it again, and I'd just come off `Shrek,' and I know these days how animation has changed and how different it is, the tools they have today," Andrews told The Associated Press. "But you don't see a single crack in the work of `Poppins,' and they didn't have that technology in those days. It's brilliantly done."

For the new DVD edition, Andrews and Van Dyke teamed up with co-composer Richard Sherman for a reunion segment to reminisce about the film. The set also has an extensive making-of documentary and a new cartoon short featuring Andrews in an adaptation of one of P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" stories.

The Disney classic marked Andrews' film debut after a stage career that included originating the role of Eliza Doolittle in the London and Broadway productions of "My Fair Lady."

"Mary Poppins" stars Andrews as a practically perfect nanny who floats out of the London sky on her umbrella to become mother hen for the mischievous children of an aloof banker. The movie's memorable songs include "Chim-Chim-Cheree," "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

The role earned Andrews a best-actress Academy Award, ironic given she was passed over in favor of Audrey Hepburn for the lead in the movie version of "My Fair Lady" that same year. Hepburn was not even nominated, though her co-star Rex Harrison won the best-actor prize and supporting players Stanley Holloway and Gladys Cooper earned nominations, while "My Fair Lady" won best picture.

Andrews said she never took her Oscar win as a vindication after losing out on the lead in "My Fair Lady."

"In my acceptance speech, I remember saying how I know you Americans are famous for your hospitality, but this is ridiculous. What I really meant was that I think they were saying, `Welcome,'" Andrews said.

"People were saying welcome to the industry in some way. That may be because there was some sense that they felt unhappy I didn't do `Fair Lady,' but it wasn't my feeling at all. I wasn't anybody in those days. I didn't expect to get it. I'd hoped, but I didn't really expect it."

'Polar Express' Surpasses $100 Million

LOS ANGELES - After a slow start out of the station, "The Polar Express" just keeps chugging along. Taking in nearly $10 million over the weekend, the holiday tale lifted its domestic total to $110 million with plenty of steam left for Christmas and New Year's.

A month ago, "The Polar Express" looked like it could be a train wreck, debuting with $30.6 million in its first five days, an unremarkable start given the movie's $170 million production cost and the luster of star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis.

Yet the movie's Christmas theme has given it great staying power, with its three-day gross down just 9 percent this past weekend. Revenues fell far more sharply for other holdovers in the top 10, ranging from a 32 percent decline for "Christmas With the Kranks" to 70 percent for "Alexander."

"The Polar Express" opened amid a rush of family films, hitting theaters just five days after the blockbuster "The Incredibles" and a week before the action hit "National Treasure." Distributor Warner Bros. sought to build as big an audience as possible for "The Polar Express" early on to position it for a final Christmas rush.

"Our best play time is in front of us," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution. "We realized the advantage for us was to get as much play time as we could prior to Christmas, because we always felt our movie, which had fabulous word of mouth, would grow as we got closer to Christmas."

Adapted from Chris Van Allsburg's picture book, "The Polar Express" follows a doubting boy as he regains his faith in the spirit of Christmas during a magical train trip to the North Pole.

The movie was created through "performance-capture" technology, with Hanks and other actors going through the motions on a bare soundstage. Their movements were recorded by infrared sensors, then re-created in digital imagery that resembles the computer animation of "Shrek 2" or "The Incredibles."

The technology allowed for semi-realistic renderings of its human characters, which include Hanks in multiple roles, among them the boy, the train conductor and Santa Claus.

Reviews were wildly mixed on "The Polar Express," with some critics calling it an instant Christmas classic and others saying the human figures resembled lifeless zombies.

With overseas box-office potential and TV and home-video revenue — plus its prospects as a holiday perennial on television and video — "The Polar Express" now has a solid shot to earn back its enormous production and marketing costs.

"That film's been completely vindicated by its long-term box-office performance," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

BETAMAX-STYLE DEATH MATCH FOR DVD

A high-tech DVD format battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers is shaping up to be a 21st century version of the 1980s VHS/Betamax brawl.

Sometime around 2006, a new generation of DVD players made to work with High Definition television sets will land on store shelves. One group will only play a format of High Definition signals called Blu-ray, and the other something known as HD DVD.

Blu-ray is being championed by Sony (the loser in the Betamax wars) and supported by Dell, HP, Hitachi, Pioneer, Philips and Samsung. HD DVD has the backing of brands like Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo.

The new machines are expected to cost around $2,000 for a Blu-ray player and about $1,000 for a HD DVD box at first. But with the battle lines formally drawn, the war about to unfold will come despite the hard lessons learned from the Betamax/VHS conflict 20 years ago, which cost companies like Sony untold millions and left consumers fuming when the had to throw away their Betamax machines.

"The point is that consumers' memories don't stop each manufacturer's desire," says consumer electronics expert Peter King, of Strategy Analytics. "Each one has big investments in [their chosen technology], think that they've got a winning product, want it adopted as the industry standard, and will fight tooth-and-nail to do so."

Both formats hold much more information than conventional DVDs, which means the movies on them will look sharper and clearer on those high-tech rectangular High Definition TVs that are already beginning to replace the conventional tube sets that most consumers now own.

The technology on both machines is basically the same. They both use blue lasers, which have shorter wavelengths than conventional red lasers and allow the discs to save more data. The difference comes in the kind of electronic language each machine uses to encode data on the discs and the amount of data that can be stored.

Blu-ray discs can hold twice the information — at least an entire feature film and all the extras to go along with it — while HD DVDs can only hold one feature film. But Blu-ray discs will need all new equipment to be manufactured, so they are expected to cost more, while HD DVDs can be fashioned in the same factories where conventional DVDs are made, leading to lower prices on store shelves.

Years ago, the deciding factor in the VHS/Betamax fight was which format had more movies, and it may also ultimately decide which disc becomes the new industry standard.

Last week, Disney said it would release its movies on Blu-ray discs (and continue to release them on regular DVDs) but kept the door open just in case HD DVDs eventually win the battle. Disney's announcement came about two weeks after several studios — including Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Paramount and Universal — agreed to release their films on HD DVD.

U2, O'Jays Are Rock Hall of Fame Inductees

NEW YORK - Irish rockers U2, R&B singers The O'Jays and soul balladeer Percy Sledge are among five musical legends to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the foundation's 20th annual induction ceremony next year, the organization announced Monday.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation will hold its induction ceremony March 14 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.

U2, which became one of the planet's most popular bands in the 1980s with their megahit "The Joshua Tree," is still making the charts: Their November release, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," is the No. 2 album according to Billboard.

The O'Jays had eight No. 1 R&B hits during the 1970s and '80s, including "Love Train" and "Use Ta Be My Girl." Sledge will forever be associated with "When a Man Loves a Woman," one of the songs that made him a figure in deep Southern Soul in the late 1960s.

The Pretenders and blues guitarist Buddy Guy will also join the organization's Class of 2005.

The artists beat out an impressive list of nominees including Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, which would have been the first rap group to be inducted; "Centerfold" singers the J. Geils Band, and the late country singer Conway Twitty.

Also, Frank Barsalona and Seymour Stein will be inducted in the non-performer category.

Barsalona is credited with creating the first legitimate rock and roll booking agency. His roster included acts like Led Zepplin, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and The Who.

Stein, who is chairman and co-founder of Sire Records, is noted as one of the most successful executives in the recording industry. He is known for signing artists like Madonna, The Ramones and The Talking Heads.

Musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the nominations, which were announced in September. Artists are eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall after at least 25 years have passed since their first record was released.

Philbin to Sub for Clark on New Year's Eve

NEW YORK - Regis Philbin will fill in as host of ABC's "New Year's Rockin' Eve 2005" for Dick Clark, who suffered a mild stroke last week, the network announced Monday.

Philbin, co-host of the syndicated "Regis & Kelly," has made subbing for ailing entertainers something of a specialty, coming to David Letterman's aid when Letterman underwent heart bypass surgery in 2000 and recovered from an eye infection in 2003.

Clark remains hospitalized following his stroke, spokesman Paul Shefrin said, but is "getting better every day."

In a statement, Clark said his doctors advised against the New Year's Eve duties, saying it was too soon.

The 75-year-old Clark has been host of a New Year's Eve special for 32 years.

Philbin will be joined by singer Ashlee Simpson, who's hosting the West Coast part of the show. Besides Simpson, performers include Big & Rich, Ciara, Earth, Wind & Fire, Good Charlotte and Billy Idol.

"It's the greatest `temp job' in the world," Philbin said.

'Sideways' Leads Globes With 7 Nominations

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The road-trip flick "Sideways" led Golden Globe contenders Monday with seven nominations, including best musical or comedy film, three acting nominations and best director, while Jamie Foxx scored a record three nominations.

The Howard Hughes biography "The Aviator" landed six nominations including best dramatic feature and best director.

Other best drama nominees were the caustic sex tale "Closer"; "Finding Neverland," the story of "Peter Pan" creator J.M. Barrie; "Hotel Rwanda," a tale set against the genocide in that country; "Kinsey," a film biography of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, and the boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby."

Along with "Sideways," best musical or comedy nominees were the whimsical romance "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"; the animated superhero adventure "The Incredibles"; "The Phantom of the Opera," adapted from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and the Ray Charles film biography "Ray."

"Ray" star Foxx was nominated for best musical or comedy actor for that film, for supporting actor for "Collateral" as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man, and as best actor in a TV movie or miniseries for "Redemption."

Other stars have received two nominations in a single year, but Foxx was the first to receive three.

"The Aviator" star Leonardo DiCaprio earned a nomination as best dramatic actor for his role as Hughes. Other nominees were Javier Bardem as a paralyzed man seeking the right to die in "The Sea Inside"; Don Cheadle as a hotel manager sheltering refugees in "Hotel Rwanda"; Johnny Depp as playwright Barrie in "Finding Neverland" and Liam Neeson as the title character in "Kinsey."

Dramatic lead actress nominees were Scarlett Johansson in "A Love Song for Bobby Long," playing a teen who finds an unlikely extended family; Nicole Kidman as a woman visited by a boy claiming to be her dead husband in "Birth"; Imelda Staunton as the title character in the abortion drama "Vera Drake"; Hilary Swank as a boxer in "Million Dollar Baby" and Uma Thurman as a vengeful former assassin in "Kill Bill — Vol. 2."

Along with Foxx, "Sideways" star Paul Giamatti was nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy for his role as a loser in love on a road trip with a buddy.

Giamatti said the sad-sack character doesn't even like himself, which makes his appeal a mystery. "And he doesn't like many other people either," said the actor. "He's not particularly likeable. Maybe that's what people liked about him. You don't get to see many people like that in the central role of a film ... kind of misanthropic."

Other nominees were Jim Carrey as a man who pays to have memories of his ex-girlfriend erased in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"; Kevin Kline as composer Cole Porter in "De-Lovely" and Kevin Spacey as singer Bobby Darin in "Beyond the Sea."

Musical or comedy actress nominees included Annette Bening as a London stage diva in "Being Julia"; Ashley Judd as composer Porter's wife in "De-Lovely"; and Emmy Rossum as a musical stage ingenue in "The Phantom of the Opera."

"I got cast right before I was 17 and I'm now 18 and it's just really a thrill for me," said Rossum, who played the role of the manipulated young diva Christine. "I was thrilled to even get the part. I never thought I would and never even dreamed I would get this far with it."

Other nominees were Kate Winslet as Carrey's ex-girlfriend in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and Renee Zellweger as the title character in the romantic sequel "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason."

Contenders for best film director included Alexander Payne for "Sideways" and Martin Scorsese for "The Aviator."

"People tell me that they like the fact that the movie is just about people, that it's just a human film, a human comedy, and they find it refreshing," said Payne, director of the 2002's Golden Globe-winning "About Schmidt," who added that he's always surprised by award honors. "My filmmaking is always filled with hopefulness but certainly never certainty."

The remaining directing nominees: Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby," Marc Forster for "Finding Neverland" and Mike Nichols for "Closer."

Eastwood also was nominated for his musical score on "Million Dollar Baby," while his star in that film, Swank, received a second nomination for best actress in a TV miniseries or movie for "Iron Jawed Angels."

Also nominated for supporting actor were Morgan Freeman as an ex-boxer in "Million Dollar Baby," David Carradine as ringleader of a hit-man squad in "Kill Bill — Vol. 2," Thomas Haden Church as a bridegroom on a pre-wedding spree in "Sideways," and Clive Owen as a brutish lover in "Closer."

Supporting actress nominees were Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator," Meryl Streep as a scheming politician in "The Manchurian Candidate," Laura Linney as the wife of the title character in "Kinsey," Virginia Madsen as a deceived lover in "Sideways," and Natalie Portman as a stripper in "Closer."

Foreign language film nominees were France's "The Chorus" and "A Very Long Engagement," China's "House of Flying Daggers," Brazil's "The Motorcycle Diaries" and Spain's "The Sea Inside."

Three of the best actress nominees for TV musical or comedy series were co-stars of ABC's smash hit "Desperate Housewives": Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and and Felicity Huffman. The other nominees: Debra Messing of "Will & Grace" and Sarah Jessica Parker for "Sex and the City."

The best TV miniseries or movie nominees: "American Family: Journey of Dreams," Iron Jawed Angels," "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," "The Lion in Winter" and "Something the Lord Made."

Best TV drama series picks were "24," "Deadwood," "Lost," "Nip/Tuck" and "The Sopranos." Best comedy series nominees were "Arrested Development," "Desperate Housewives," "Entourage," "Sex and the City" and "Will & Grace."

Golden Globes are handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a comparatively small group of about 90 reporters for overseas news outlets. Yet with a nationally televised awards ceremony on NBC (set for Jan. 16) and a solid knack for picking eventual Academy Awards winners, the Globes wield a fair amount of sway among the 5,800 Oscar voters.

The Globes last January correctly predicted eventual Oscar winners in all key categories, including best-picture champ "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and actors Sean Penn, Charlize Theron, Tim Robbins and Renee Zellweger.

'Halifax Explosion' honoured at Geminis

TORONTO (CP) -- A miniseries on the Halifax Explosion took a number of honours at the Gemini Awards Sunday night.

Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion took awards for a number of technical categories including, costume design, sound, photography, visual effects.

The two-part miniseries, which aired on the CBC, dramatized the 1917 blast that killed about 2,000 people and injured thousands more when a Belgian relief ship collided with a munitions vessel in the city's harbour.

Some of the other winners included:

Best production design or art direction in a non-dramatic program or series: Astrid Janson, Shadow Pleasures.

Best production design or art direction in a dramatic program or series: Lawrence Collett, Human Cargo.

Best costume design: Trysha Bakker, Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (Part One)

Best achievement in make-up: Mary Monforte, Gerry Altenburg, Debra Johnson, Elizabeth Rex.

Best performance in a pre-school program or series: Jason Hopley, Jamie Shannon, Nanalan' Season 1 Free.

Best pre-school program or series: Poko.

Best animated program or series: Doodlez.

Best children's or youth fiction program or series: Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Best children's or youth non-fiction program or series: Swap TV.

Gemini Humanitarian Award: George R. Robertson.

Margaret Collier Award: Wayne Grigsby, for his work as a writer and contribution to Canadian television. Grigsby worked on anumber of award-winning shows including E.N.G., North of 60, Back Harbour and Trudeau.

Best performance by an actor in a guest role dramatic series: Richard Chevolleau, The Eleventh Hour.

Best performance by an actress in a guest role dramatic series: Nicky Guadagni, Blue Murder.

The awards were handed out during the Sunday Industry gala, the second in a three-day event celebrating the best in Canadian English-language television.

The CBC miniseries Human Cargo leads the pack going into the Monday night awards gala, with 17 nominations. Close behind with 15 nods is the CBC legal drama This Is Wonderland, followed by CTV's The Eleventh Hour with 12 and CBC's Da Vinci's Inquest with 10.

Like the film equivalents, the Genie Awards, the Geminis are overseen by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and are designed to honour the finest in home-grown TV production.

SPLITSVILLE

Ellen DeGeneres has separated from her girlfriend, photographer-director Alexandra Hedison, according to People magazine.

CHUM wins Gemini for best newscast at documentary, news, and sports gala

TORONTO (CP) - CHUM Television's CityPulse at Six won a Gemini Award for best newscast at a Saturday gala marking the first of a three-day event celebrating the best in Canadian television.

CityPulse at Six, the flagship newscast of Citytv Toronto, beat out CBC's The National and CTV News for the honour.

CBC programming won 12 of the 28 awards presented Saturday, including Sunday's Evan Solomon for best host or interviewer in a news program or series, The Fifth Estate for best news information series and The National for best reportage.

The CBC's The Nature of Things also won a Gemini for best documentary series, as did Hockey Day in Canada - a program showcasing hockey at the grassroots level - for best sports program or series. The Fifth Estate's Neil Docherty also received the Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism.

The first of the 19th annual Gemini Awards were handed out during Saturday's documentary, news and sports gala.

Among the other winners:

-Arctic Dreamer - The Lonely Quest of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, for best biography documentary program.

-Suzuki Speaks for best science, technology, nature, environment or adventure documentary program.

-Men of the Deeps for best performing arts program or series or arts documentary program or series.

-CBC's 2003 World Road Cycling Championships: Elite Men's Final, for best live sporting event.

-Jim Hughson, for best sports play-by-play or analyst.

The CBC miniseries Human Cargo leads the pack going into the Monday night awards gala, with 17 nominations. Close behind with 15 nods is the CBC legal drama This Is Wonderland, followed by CTV's The Eleventh Hour with 12 and CBC's Da Vinci's Inquest with 10.

Like the film equivalents, the Genie Awards, the Geminis are overseen by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and are designed to honour the finest in home-grown TV production.

'Ocean's Twelve' Bests 'Treasure' in Debut

LOS ANGELES - Movie audiences have gone from one robbery flick to another. "Ocean's Twelve," the star-driven sequel to the theft caper "Ocean's Eleven," debuted with $40.9 million, stealing the top box office slot from the heist hit "National Treasure," which slipped to third place with $10 million, studio estimates showed Sunday.

"National Treasure," which held the No. 1 spot the three previous weekends, lifted its domestic total to $124.2 million.

"Blade: Trinity," the third in Wesley Snipes' vampire series, opened at No. 2 with $16.1 million. The franchise had lost much of its bite since "Blade II," which debuted with more than twice the revenue, $32.5 million, and opened as the No. 1 movie in March 2002.

Playing in 3,290 theaters, "Ocean's Twelve" averaged a robust $12,426 per cinema, compared with $5,537 in 2,912 movie houses for "Blade: Trinity."

In limited release, Bill Murray's quirky oceanography tale "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" opened strongly, taking in $114,000 at just two theaters in New York City and Los Angeles. The film expands on Christmas Day.

Hollywood revenues rose solidly, with the top 12 movies taking in $102.8 million, up 28 percent from the same weekend in 2003, when "Something's Gotta Give" opened as the No. 1 movie with $16.1 million.

"Ocean's Twelve" reunites director Steven Soderbergh with a dream cast led by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia. Joining them this time was Catherine Zeta-Jones, adding to the sequel's star power.

"Movie-goers like their movie stars all in one place," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's like one-stop shopping for all the top stars in Hollywood."

The follow-up sends the gang to Europe, where they must pull off a virtually impossible heist to win a bet with a rival and pay off the Vegas casino owner they robbed in "Ocean's Eleven."

Given the movie's marquee-name roster and the success of the first movie, which grossed $183.4 million domestically, some industry analysts thought "Ocean's Twelve" might do even better than it did.

Still, its debut came in higher than the $38.1 million opening weekend of "Ocean's Eleven" in December 2001. Factoring in today's higher admission prices, "Ocean's Twelve" sold slightly fewer tickets than the original.

Distributor Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub already are mulling a second "Ocean's" sequel, said Dan Fellman, the studio's head of distribution.

"Blade: Trinity" features Snipes returning as the half-human, half-vampire action hero, this time battling the lord of the bloodsuckers, Dracula.

Distributor New Line hopes "Blade: Trinity" will hold up well during an onslaught of comedies, dramas and family flicks through year's end.

"Everybody always wants their numbers to be better," said David Tuckerman, head of distribution for New Line. "Still, we're basically the only movie like it. There's nothing else like it in the marketplace, a sci-fi, horror type of movie."

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. "Ocean's Twelve," $40.9 million.
2. "Blade: Trinity," $16.1 million.
3. "National Treasure," $10 million.
4. "The Polar Express," $9.8 million.
5. "Christmas With the Kranks," $7.6 million.
6. "The Incredibles," $5.05 million.
7. "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," $4.4 million.
8. "Closer," $3.75 million.
9. "Finding Neverland," $1.7 million.
10. "Alexander," $1.4 million.

Highway Worker Daugherty Wins 'Survivor'

NEW YORK - CBS's "Survivor: Vanuatu — Islands of Fire" came down to two highway workers, but only Chris Daugherty was able to drive home with the $1 million prize and a new car.

Daugherty, 33, outplayed, outlasted and outwitted Twila Tanner, 41, in the 39-day contest. Daugherty received five of the seven-person jury's votes.

At the start of the game, originally divided by gender, it seemed Daugherty would be the first player to go: His inability to cross a balance beam during an immunity challenge forced his tribe to vote out one of their own. Thirty-nine days and a powerful all-female alliance later, he somehow survived.

On the final episode, Daugherty won both immunity challenges. During the season's requisite final endurance challenge, Daugherty successfully held a warrior stance with a bow-and-arrow longer than Scout Cloud Lee, 59, and Tanner, giving him the power to take Tanner with him to the final two.

Daugherty, who lives in South Vienna, Ohio, works for the Ohio Department of Transportation. Tanner works for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Toward the end of the game, Tanner pledged an alliance allegiance to Ami Cusack and Leann Slaby by swearing on her son's life but later backed out, infuriating some survivors.

This ninth edition of "Survivor" has been the most watched reality show currently airing, beating competitors such as "The Apprentice" and "The Amazing Race," according to Nielsen Media Research. But that hasn't stopped some fans from calling the volcano-laden season humdrum because the tribes were gender-divided (a tactic previously seen in the "Amazon" season) and strong alliances predictably plucked off tribe members (older men sent a series of younger men home; women voted off a row of men).

Film Group Honors Box Office Hits, Arthouse Movies

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A group of film industry notables on Sunday declared such crowd-pleasers as "Spider-Man 2" and "The Incredibles" as the best movies of 2004, alongside smaller offerings like "Maria Full of Grace" and "Sideways."

The pictures were among the 10 selected for the American Film Institute's annual AFI Awards. They were listed alphabetically, rather than in order of merit.

Also cited were "The Aviator," "Collateral," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Friday Night Lights," "Kinsey" and "Million Dollar Baby."

Director Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, opens nationwide on Dec. 25. "Million Dollar Baby," which stars and was directed by Clint Eastwood, opens in limited release on Dec. 17.

The 13-person jury included actor James Cromwell, Chicago Tribune critic Roger Ebert and a few academics and producers.

The films will be honored during a ceremony in Beverly Hills on Jan. 14.

A separate jury also named the top 10 TV shows and films of 2004, with cable accounting for seven of them: the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Deadwood," "The Sopranos" and TV movie "Something the Lord Made," FX's "Nip/Tuck" and "The Shield," and Comedy Central's "South Park." Rounding out the list were Fox's Emmy-winning "Arrested Development" and the hit ABC newcomers "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost."

THE F BOMB STRIKES AGAIN

A Maryland man is suing Wal-Mart for selling his daughter an Evanescence CD that contains an obscenity. Wal-Mart has a policy of not carrying explicit music in its stores.

'BitTorrent' Gives Hollywood a Headache

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bram Cohen didn't set out to upset Hollywood movie studios. But his innovative online file-sharing software, BitTorrent, has grown into a piracy problem the film industry is struggling to handle.

As its name suggests, the software lets computer users share large chunks of data. But unlike other popular file-sharing programs, the more people swap data on BitTorrent, the quicker it flows — and that includes such large files as feature films and computer games.

Because of its speed and effectiveness, BitTorrent steadily gained in popularity after the recording industry began cracking down last year on users of Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster and other established file-sharing software.

The program now accounts for as much as half of all online file-sharing activity, says Andrew Parker, chief technology officer of Britain-based CacheLogic, which monitors such traffic.

"BitTorrent is more of a threat because it is probably the latest and best technological tool for transferring large files like movies," said John Malcolm, senior vice president of anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association of America. "It is unusual, perhaps unique, in that the moment you start downloading you are also uploading," he added. "It's what makes it so efficient."

Cohen created BitTorrent in 2001 as a hobby after the dot-com crash left him unemployed. He says the aim was to enable computer users to easily distribute content online — not specifically copyrighted content.

"It seems pretty clear that a lot of people are actively interested in engaging in wanton piracy," said Cohen, 29, of Bellevue, Wash. "As far as I'm concerned, they're just pushing around bits, and what bits it is they're pushing around is not really a concern of mine. There's not much I can do about it."

BitTorrent has proven to be resistant to some of the countermeasures the entertainment industry has taken to sabotage file-sharing, including a process known as file-spoofing in which incomplete or decoy versions of songs or other material are uploaded to discourage piracy.

"Spoofing is very difficult on BitTorrent, if at all possible," said Mark Ishikawa, chief executive of online tracking firm BayTSP Inc. "There's no defense for this one."

Programs such as Kazaa and Morpheus allow users to link their PCs to computer networks and then query a search engine for the file or title they're seeking. The software then churns out a list of other computers sharing the file.

The process is simple and straightforward, which makes it relatively easy to corrupt with spoofed files.

With BitTorrent, however, users don't find whole files. The program seeks out torrent files, also known as seed files, that are hosted by a number of Web sites.

The files on the Web sites are not songs or movies but serve as markers that point the way to other users sharing a given file. BitTorrent then assembles complete files from multiple chunks of data obtained from everyone who is sharing the file.

Attempts to upload bogus files to corrupt the process fail because the BitTorrent program follows a blueprint of the original file when piecing it together.

"It's very difficult for an interdiction company to get in the middle of that system," said Ishikawa, whose company combs file-sharing networks on behalf of Hollywood studios and alerts clients when their movies turn up on the Internet.

Some of the BitTorrent host sites, like SuprNova.org, generate a daily list of new seed files added by users. The site recently had listings for movies such as "Van Helsing" and "Wimbledon," which is not scheduled for release on DVD for another three weeks.

Some sites offer digitized broadcasts of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," computer games like "Star Trek: Klingon Academy" and "Half Life 2," e-books on the physics behind an atomic bomb, even footage of kidnap victims in the Middle East.

"A bunch of the different beheadings are online," Ishikawa said.

Downhill Battle, a Worcester, Mass.-based independent music group that has developed its own BitTorrent-based software called Blog Torrent, says the technology is much more than a tool for swapping copyright movies and software (a blog is a Web journal).

"What we're excited about as far as BitTorrent goes is the possibility for people to blog video and blog their own home movies (and) independent films and have a way to distribute them online without having to have a big budget for Web-hosting," said Nicholas Reville, one of the group's directors.

"Bandwidth has been a big barrier," he said. "BitTorrent solved that."

While some of the BitTorrent sites that host seed files have been forced to shut down, many others escape scrutiny because they're only hosting marker files, not copyrighted material.

Malcolm of the MPAA says his organization is not focusing any more or less on BitTorrent than other file-sharing system. He declined to say whether the trade group intends to sue Cohen and wouldn't name any BitTorrent users who may have been included in the entertainment industry's latest wave of lawsuits.

"Anyone who uses BitTorrent and is under the illusion that they are anonymous are sorely mistaken," Malcolm said. "There is no reason why those lawsuits wouldn't include BitTorrent" users.

So far, Cohen said, he has not become a target of the entertainment industry, which has aggressively pursued litigation against other file-sharing software distributors, with mixed success. On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) agreed to hear an appeal by movie studios and music labels of a ruling that found Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc., the firm behind the Morpheus software, to not be responsible for their customers' online swapping of copyright songs and movies.

For his part, Cohen said he has received just one legal warning, over a computer game that was being distributed using BitTorrent.

"Someone else was doing something with BitTorrent that I had no knowledge of," Cohen said. "It's not being done on any machines I have any control over ... what do you want me to do?"

'We Are the World' Turns 20 on DVD

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The 20th anniversary of the release of USA For Africa's charity single "We Are the World" will be marked Feb. 1 with the DVD "We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song."

The double-disc set, from Image Entertainment, boasts more than four hours of footage from the historic session, which featured some of the biggest names in music.

The announcement comes on the heels of the release of a 20th anniversary version of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," the British famine relief charity single that spurred both the USA for Africa tune and the Live Aid concert. A DVD featuring most of the Live Aid performances also hit stores recently.

Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Diana Ross were among the artists on hand for the original Jan. 28, 1985, session that birthed "We are the World." It went on to sell more than seven million copies worldwide and win the song and record of the year Grammys.

The single and accompanying album have raised more than $60 million for African famine relief. Proceeds from the upcoming DVD will benefit the same cause.

In addition to an expanded edition of the original "making of" special released on home video in 1985, "The Story Behind the Song" will include a 10th anniversary documentary about the song and two hours of rehearsal and recording footage.

Fans will also be able to use a newly created karaoke function to sing over the song's chorus and instrumental breaks. Additional clips include "We Are the World" performances at the Grammys, American Music Awards and Live Aid.

"I wish I could say that 'We Are The World' solved all the problems it highlighted," says Ken Kragen, one of the original recording session's co-organizers. "Nevertheless, it did shed incredible light on those problems, galvanized many into action and set an example of what people can accomplish when they come together in pursuit of helping others in need."

Godfather of Soul James Brown Has Prostate Cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Singer James Brown, the music pioneer known as The Godfather of Soul, has prostate cancer and will have surgery next week, his publicist said on Friday.

The 71-year-old Brown, who just finished a two-week Canadian tour, will have surgery at an undisclosed hospital in Georgia on Dec. 15, said publicist Simone Smalls.

Brown then plans to begin promoting his memoir, "I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul," to be published in January.

Brown has had 119 singles make the charts and made more than 50 albums since his debut record, "Please, Please, Please," was released in 1956.

Fans wanting to direct well-wishes to Brown can address him at JB@intriguemusic.com, Smalls said.

A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and honored with Lifetime Achievement Award by the Grammys, Brown was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors last year where presenter Secretary of State Colin Powell called him the "Secretary of Soul" and "Foreign Minister of Funk."

High Stakes for Star-Studded Caper 'Ocean's Twelve'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It sounds like an impossible heist: with the clock ticking and important people demanding payback, Danny Ocean and his eclectic crew of con men have to make off with millions under intense scrutiny.

Can "Ocean's Twelve" work their criminal magic again?

It's the high-stakes question that sets in motion the sequel to the 2001 hit "Ocean's Eleven," but an even more pressing issue for studio Warner Bros, which is counting on the caper to steal the box-office crown after a series of high-profile studio misfires.

The movie, the biggest debut at U.S. theaters on Friday, is expected to dominate the pre-Christmas weekend and top the $38.1 million opening by its predecessor, itself a sequel to the 1960 Rat Pack original headed by Frank Sinatra.

Heavily promoted by its ensemble cast, featuring George Clooney as Ocean, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Matt Damon, "Ocean's Twelve" cost an estimated $110 million to make after the high-powered principals signed on for a fraction of their usual paychecks.

To hear them tell it, they did it in part for the sheer fun of hanging out in Italy, drinking wine at Clooney's Lake Como villa and enjoying an exchange of escalating practical jokes.

"We're expecting 'Ocean's Twelve' to be one of the biggest movies of the holiday season," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking service Exhibitor Relations.

He notes that the spectacle of Hollywood's top talent so clearly enjoying themselves on screen "proved to be irresistible" for audiences three years ago.

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh said the idea for a sequel struck him while on the road promoting the first movie in Europe. Other cast members said they saw it as a way to get the party started again.

"When we were doing the press tour for 'Ocean's Eleven,' we were all very adamant about not doing a sequel," Pitt said at a news conference in Rome.

"We were having a beautiful dinner at 'La Bolognese' and a beautiful plate of buffalo mozzarella, and we all love Rome. Steven looked up and said 'I have an idea for the sequel,' and we all threw in our lots and agreed to do it, but it had to take place here."

It does -- as well as skipping through Amsterdam, Paris and Monte Carlo as Clooney's character leads his hastily reassembled cast in a match of wits with a European master thief played by French actor Vincent Cassel.

Along the way, they also have to dodge Zeta-Jones as the conflicted cop with a luscious wardrobe. ("It's good to know that Europol agents wear red leather to work," the actress joked.)

The North American box-office take for "Ocean's Eleven" was an impressive $184 million -- not far off the $160-million plus interest that the characters in the sequel must find a way to quickly steal.

And part of the intended fun of the movie is the way that the caper is held up as a kind of mirror to the bigger confidence game of making a film.

Damon's character, for instance, lobbies for a bigger role this time out. Clooney's Ocean frets over whether he looks 50, and Julia Roberts, who arrived on the set pregnant with twins, sets out to dupe everyone into believing that she is in fact "Julia Roberts" the pregnant actress.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., could use a breakout hit after a slow box-office start for "The Polar Express," its other major holiday release, and a mixed reception for "Alexander," Oliver Stone's three-hour epic.

So, if "Ocean's Twelve" pulls it off, could there be a Thirteen?

"I'm thinking musical," Pitt dead-panned when asked.

Stormtrooper Helmet Goes up for Auction

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Some lucky "Star Wars" fan will get an early Christmas present.

A rare helmet worn by stormtroopers, the film's armored soldiers loyal to the evil Emperor, will go under the hammer at Christie's auction house in London on Tuesday, Dec. 14, report British news sources.

The helmet is one of six that were custom made for "Star Wars" filmmaker George Lucas as a prop for his pitch of the original 1977 film to movie execs.

The armor piece was purchased 12 years ago for $13 (7 pounds UK) at a car boot sale -- the equivalent of the American flea market where second-hand items are sold out of the back of a car.

The helmet is expected to fetch a winning bid of approximately $13,300.

Other entertainment-themed items up for sale that day include: the original moon buggy from the 007 film "Diamonds Are Forever," Charlie Chaplin's false moustache from "The Great Dictator," his cane from "Modern Times" and "Ali G's" rhinestone-studded tracksuit and knuckle-duster ring.

VIDEO SUPREMACY

The Bourne Supremacy, starring Matt Damon, selling 2.5 million copies on DVD and VHS during its first day in stores Tuesday, according to industry analysts. Meanwhile, the Ben Stiller-Vince Vaughn comedy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, sold 2.1 million on its first day.

"Shrek 3" Swamped Until 2007

Bad news for Shrek fans--a certain green ogre will not be emerging from his swamp anytime in the near future.

On the heels of Pixar and Disney's decision to push back the release of Cars from November 2005 to June 2006, DreamWorks announced Wednesday that Shrek 3 would be postponed from a November 2006 opening to May 2007.

Both animation companies indicated that the changes in the release dates of the family-friendly flicks meshed better with the schedules of their target audiences--namely kiddies, who are out of school in the summer and therefore have more free time to take in a movie.

Rolling back the release date also means that the Shrek 3 DVD (complete with the inevitable added features) will come out right in time for holiday gift shopping.

It's a formula that's worked monstrously well in the past for DreamWorks--both previous Shrek films were released in May and went on to gross combined box office receipts of more than $708 million.

"The sheer magnitude of the Shrek franchise has led us to conclude that a May release date, with a DVD release around the holiday season, will enable us to best maximize performance and increase profitability, thereby generating enhanced asset value and better returns for our shareholders," DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement.

But before parents everywhere fret about what they're going to do come fall when there's nothing kid-oriented in theaters, DreamWorks already has plans for Shrek 3's vacated slot.

Flushed Away, the story of a rat who gets flushed down a toilet and has to learn a new way of life, will now bow in November 2006. Prior to that opening, DreamWorks will release Madagascar in May 2005, Wallace & Gromit: Tale of the Were Rabbit in October 2005 and Over the Hedge in May 2006.

Pixar, on the other hand, will not have a film in theaters for 18 months, as a result of parking Cars until 2006.

The studio's next project, currently untitled, is slated for a 2007 release date that will likely fall in the summer, which could put it into competition with Shrek 3; however, no release date has been finalized.

Shrek (Mike Myers), Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) may also find themselves waging box office battle against Spidey (Tobey Maguire)--Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man 3 is set for a May 4, 2007 release.

"We Are the World" Reloaded

With the 20th anniversary of "We Are the World," the all-American, all-star charity anthem of the charity-anthem era, looming, plans are underway to "recreate" the phenomenon that brought to together everyone from Bob Dylan to Ray Charles in song. Except this time, the lineup could be more like everyone from Usher to Kanye West.

"It's called 'We Are the Future,'" rap star/producer Jermaine Dupri said of the project to MTV this week. "We're gonna try to recreate, follow in the footsteps of those who made a big record before, like Michael [Jackson], Quincy [Jones] and Lionel Richie."

"We Are the Future," the working title, is a new song--not a remake or reworked version of "We Are the World." No word yet on who or whom penned it.

In the tradition of "We Are the World," a Jones-produced, Jackson/Richie composition, "We Are the Future" will help raise money for children in "embattled countries" all over the world, said Jones publicist Arnold Robinson. (The "We Are the World" effort concentrated on famine relief in Africa.)

Jones, who famously instructed the famous faces of the "We Are the World" chorus to "check your ego at the door," is spearheading the new campaign--it was his invite that brought Dupri aboard.

Dupri has floated names such as Usher, West and Jay-Z as possibles for the new recording. Dupri, who notched four Grammy nominations this week for production work on the Usher tracks "Burn" and "My Boo" (the hit duet with Alicia Keys), also has a presumed in with Janet Jackson--he's her boyfriend and sometimes-rumored fiancé.

"We Are the World" featured more than 40 performers--some forever icons (like Dylan, Charles and Bruce Springsteen), some only-in-the-'80s acts (like Kim Carnes, Sheila E. and Huey Lewis). Their band name for the night: USA for Africa.

The song was recorded on Jan. 28, 1985, following the American Music Awards. Now, as then, "We Are the Future" will try to corral its talent amid the afterglow of an awards ceremony. This time, the plan is to meet up on Feb. 13 in Los Angeles, right after the 47th annual Grammy Awards, Dupri told MTV.

Ken Kragen said he wishes the new project well. The personal manager knows how hard its kind is to pull off. He organized "We Are the World" at entertainer Harry Belafonte's behest.

"The key [to it being a success] really has not much to do with Quincy or the new song or anything--it has to do with finding something that will galvanize the public toward action," Kragen said Thursday. "And that's harder now than it was in 1985."

Twenty years ago, Kragen said images of starving children in Africa were shocking to Americans. Today, the problem of poverty, in Africa and elsewhere, doesn't seem as new--"We were inundated with it," Kragen said.

Still, Kragen said of his old friend as he gives it a go at engaging the 21st century audience, "if anybody can do it, Quincy can."

Matching the commercial success of "We Are the World" may be even harder. The song logged four weeks atop the singles chart, sold more than 7.3 million copies, spawned an album that sold more than 4.4 copies, and won four Grammys, including Song and Record of the Year. Combined, the song and album raised $64 million.

On Jan. 28--the 20th anniversary of its recording--Kragen is angling to get the cut and its indelible chorus ("We are the world/We are the children...") played simultaneously on radio stations across the world. A similar stunt launched the single the first time around, on April 5, 1985.

A 20th anniversary DVD is due out Feb. 1. Sales will benefit the still-around USA for Africa, headed up by Kragen. (This time out, the organization will focus on funding programs fighting AIDS in Africa, as well as hunger and homelessness in the United States.)

"We Are the Future" comes as a new generation is discovering Live Aid, the 1985 benefit mega-concert recently released on DVD, and a new generation of British artists--Coldplay's Chris Martin among them--are on the charts with a redo of the U.K.'s trailblazing contribution to the pantheon of 1980s anthems, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

The original "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and "We Are the World" recently were dismissed in a Time magazine essay as "the sing-along single" and the "even schmaltzier American effort," respectively.

Kragen said "We Are the World" can't be judged by today's popular standards, and shouldn't be judged as anything but a well-meaning undertaking.

"The merits of it were that it moved people," Kragen said.

Jones and Dupri may be about to find out if the people can be moved again.

Jagger, Richards Sizzling in Paris Studio

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Rolling Stones recently concluded recording sessions for a new album in Paris with producer Don Was, who worked with them on their two previous studio releases.

The band will reconvene in the New Year for additional sessions for an album tentatively due in summer 2005, Was told Billboard.com.

Was described the Stones' new music as considerably different from their recent releases, such as 1997's "Bridges to Babylon" and 1994's "Voodoo Lounge."

"Mick (Jagger) and Keith (Richards) are writing songs together in a collaborative fashion that probably hasn't been seen since the late '60s," he said. "I would say that longtime fans of the Rolling Stones will be thrilled with these results, and new fans will understand why they're the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world."

Was recalled sessions in which Jagger and Richards composed spontaneously, sometimes with Richards playing bass and Jagger on drums.

"He's a great drummer," Was confided. "He's also playing a lot of guitar, and he's a really good guitar player. He's been playing bass on some things, (and) Keith is playing bass on some things. They're just great -- there's a reason that they've been the Rolling Stones for so long.

"And they can do it four times a day, every day," Was said of the pair's writing sessions, "and they're really good songs. I've never seen anything like it."

Drummer Charlie Watts, who was recently treated for throat cancer, also attended the Paris sessions and is in excellent health, Was said. "And he's playing like a lion," he adds.

In 2002, the Stones recorded at Studios Guillaume Tell, also in Paris, with Was and engineer Ed Cherney. Four of the songs recorded there are featured on the 2-disc "40 Licks" compilation released in 2002. Additional material recorded at those sessions may appear on the Stones' next album, said Was, "but this all seems to be of a piece so far, and is substantially different than anything I've worked on with them. It's really collaborative.

"It's not done," Was added. "We can still f--- it up a thousand different ways, you know? But what I'm hearing now is very much in the great Stones tradition."

Was has been active throughout 2004, producing the Stones' two-disc "Live Licks" set released last month, as well as upcoming albums by Solomon Burke, Jessie Coulter and Kris Kristofferson, the latter recorded specifically for release in a surround-sound format.

Meanwhile Don has regrouped with David Was to lead their R&B project Was (Not Was) through a 12-city tour launching Dec. 27 at House of Blues in Anaheim, Calif. The tour will mark the first performance of the group in 13 years.

Seminal Guitarist, 4 Others Die in Ohio Shooting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - A man charged on stage and opened fire at a heavy metal band and fans at a crowded bar, killing four people and wounding two others before being killed by police, officials said on Thursday.

Among the dead was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, guitarist for the band Damageplan, who witnesses said appeared to have been singled out by the gunman and shot several times at close range.

Some witnesses told police the 25-year-old gunman, Nathan Gale of nearby Marysville, Ohio, shouted, "You broke up Pantera" before gunning down Abbott and firing at other band members and the crowd in the Wednesday night shooting.

Pantera was a hot Grammy-nominated 'thrash' metal band in the mid-1990s that Abbott, 38, and his brother, drummer Vinnie (Paul) Abbott, formed in the 1980s. The group, from Texas, had a bitter breakup after their last album in 2000, and the Abbotts formed Damageplan, which was on tour when the shooting happened.

"There was no connection between (Gale) and the band, at least formally. We do not know the motive and maybe never will. He is dead," Columbus Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mall told reporters outside the club, the Alrosa Villa.

Gale fired more than a dozen shots both at the band and the crowd of roughly 200 patrons, at one point stopping to reload his handgun with an ammunition clip, police said.

A police officer confronted Gale as he held a hostage in a headlock and was apparently attempting to flee, Mall said. The officer, James Niggemeyer, killed Gale as the hostage, who was not harmed, struggled to get out of the way.

POLICEMAN SAVED LIVES

"We believe he saved other lives" by shooting the gunman, he said.

Two people who were wounded were taken to a hospital.

The band was playing the first song of its set when the gunman, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, charged the stage and began shouting and shooting, witnesses said. Some members of the audience initially thought the intruder might have been part of the band's act.

Pantera topped the U.S. album charts with its 1994 release, "Far Beyond Driven," which also yielded a Grammy nomination.

"Dimebag" Abbott's guitar work made him a "seminal figure in modern speed metal," one who was influenced by the likes of Kiss' Ace Frehley and the late Randy Rhoads of Ozzy Osbourne's band, said Michael Molenda, editor-in-chief at Guitar Player magazine.

In the early 1980s, speed metal became the most popular form of heavy metal in the American underground. Crossing the New Wave of British heavy metal with hardcore U.S. punk, speed metal was extremely fast, abrasive and technically demanding.

Led by Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer, this new wave of metal bands stood in direct contrast with the pop-oriented "glam" metal that dominated the charts during the 1980s, and they cultivated dedicated followings, according to the Web site Allmusic.com.

Pantera's songs were played regularly at the arena of the National Hockey League Dallas Stars during the team's 1999 championship season, and the Abbott brothers were friends with several team members.

Former hockey player Guy Carbonneau, the Stars assistant general manager, issued a statement saying: "I was horrified to hear the news of last night's events and it never ceases to amaze me how hurtful and violent people can be. My condolences go out to the family and I wish all of those involved a speedy recovery."

After Pantera's break-up, the brothers formed Damageplan with singer Pat Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla. The band's debut album, "New Found Power" -- hailed for its "violent dissonance" by Blender magazine -- hit No. 38 on the U.S. charts earlier this year.

Jay-Z Takes Over

For most people, retirement means a chance to kick back and take it easy. For Jay-Z, it means picking up a brand-new career where the old one left off.

The rapper turned impresario was officially dubbed president and CEO of Def Jam Records Wednesday by Island Def Jams Music Group chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, will also continue to head up Roc-A-Fella Records, which he cofounded with Damon Dash in 1995.

Def Jam announced Wednesday that it had wholly acquired the label, which includes acts such as Grammy shoo-in Kanye West, Cam'ron and the recently jailed Beanie Sigel.

"After 10 years of successfully running Roc-A-Fella, Shawn has proven himself to be an astute businessman, in addition to the brilliant artistic talent that the world sees and hears," Reid said in a statement. "We are fortunate that he has agreed to take over as president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings.

"I can think of no one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon Def Jam's fantastic legacy and move the company into its next groundbreaking era."

Jay-Z, who is scheduled to take up the reins at Def Jam on Jan. 3, created shock waves when he announced that the Grammy-nominated The Black Album would be his final solo production.

The album debuted at the top of the charts, a feat Jigga made look easy during his tenure as a hip-hopster.

Jay-Z's ongoing musical acclaim didn't end with the success of The Black Album. Since cutting his solo career short, two of Jay-Z's collaborative efforts have debuted at number one--Best of Both Worlds: Unfinished Business, with sparring partner R. Kelly, and the current number-one album, Collision Course, with Linkin Park.

To complete Jay-Z's going-out-on-top extravaganza, he has been nominated for three Grammys--Best Rap Album for The Black Album and Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song for "99 Problems."

Beyoncé's beau was upbeat about the next stage in his career.

"I have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop, Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella," Jay-Z said in a statement.

"L.A. Reid and the Universal Music Group have given me the opportunity to manage the companies I have contributed to my whole career. I feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community."

Dick Clark of 'American Bandstand' Suffers Stroke

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Longtime "American Bandstand" host and rock music pioneer Dick Clark has suffered a stroke and is being treated at a Los Angeles area hospital, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

"He did have a minor stroke and he's in the hospital for that reason but he'll be fine," spokeswoman Amy Streibel told Reuters.

Often called "America's oldest teenager" because of his youthful appearance and dedication to rock music, Clark suffered the stroke earlier this week.

The 75-year-old, who has for three decades hosted "New Year's Rockin' Eve" from New York City each Dec. 31, said in a brief written statement that he planned to be back at work in time for this year's show.

"The doctors tell me I should be back in the swing of things before too long so I'm hopeful to be able to make it to Times Square to help lead the country in bringing in the New Year once again," he said.

Clark, who grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, got his start in show business working in the mailroom of a radio station partly run by his father and uncle.

He became a household name in the late 1950s after "Bandstand," the local Philadelphia dance program he hosted, went national, becoming the first network TV show devoted to rock music.

He had taken over the Philadelphia program after its original host was arrested for drunken driving.

The national show became hugely influential with American teens and, with Clark's insistence on a clean-cut look, made rock palatable to Middle America.

At the same time "Bandstand" gave a well-timed boost to the careers of Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker by giving them national television exposure.

Clark parlayed his success at "Bandstand" into a multifaceted career in music and television, launching a series of shows and the American Music Awards.

McLachlan, Nickelback, Rush make Grammy radar; Avril misses out

TORONTO (CP) - This year's crop of homegrown Grammy nominees runs the gamut from the usual suspects - Shania Twain, Sarah McLachlan and Nickelback - to pleasant surprises like Rush and jazz guitarist Benoit Charest.

Other Canuck-born nominees include polka king Walter Ostanek, producer David Foster and the orchestra of Tafelmusik.

Composer Howard Shore returns to the Grammys with two nominees for his famed Lord of the Rings score. He's already a favourite, after the scores for the first two Rings films won him Grammys in 2003 and 2002. He scored the Oscar last year too.

Shore will also compete in the best song from a film category for Annie Lennox's Into the West, a song he co-wrote.

He'll be up against Charest. The Montreal songwriter co-wrote the title tune of The Triplets of Belleville, an animated film made in Montreal. The song was also nominated for an Oscar last year.

Twain was a double nominee with nods for the song She's Not Just a Pretty Face in the female country vocal performance category and another for her Dolly Parton-tribute duet with Alison Kraus, Coat of Many Colors.

McLachlan will compete in the highly coveted category of best pop vocal album. She'll face fierce competition from Norah Jones, Ray Charles, Joss Stone and Brian Wilson.

Missing from this year's list are pop stars Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Alanis Morissette and jazz singer Diana Krall.

However, Krall's The Girl In the Other Room did garner recognition for producer Tommy LiPuma and sound engineer Al Schmitt. As well, Morrissette's So-Called Chaos producer John Shanks is up for the best producer trophy.

"Avril is the big one (missing)," agreed Aaron Brophy, managing editor at Chart, a national music magazine based in Toronto. "Next to Shania, she's probably our biggest music export right now."

Her record, Under My Skin, released last May, showed a shift from teen-friendly pop-rock hooks toward a moodier, heavier rock sound.

"It's probably going to make her look better for the next 20 years but it's not going to earn her nearly as many awards," said Brophy referring to her debut record Let Go, which earned five Grammy nominations in 2003. "It's pretty clear the Grammy people don't like the angry young girl routine."

The first reaction at MuchMusic, the nerve-centre for youth's musical taste in Canada, was of amazement.

"The talk around the office was 'Wow, look at all the hip hop' and secondly 'Wow no Canadians,' " said Hannah Sung, a VJ at MuchMusic. "That was something that really stood out to most people when they first heard of the nominations."

But she said explaining why isn't easy.

"Who really knows why that's happening? . . . I watch shows like the Grammys for entertainment value. I don't really think it judges the best artists out there. It judges the best of the most popular," she said.

One factor could be that Canadian talent isn't as strong in R&B and hip hop, arguably the hottest genres currently heard in the U.S.

Kanye West, Usher and Alicia Keys - all urban musicians - led the nominations' list.

"In Canada we're this isolated, throwback where we still have a lot more rock bands," said Chart's Brophy. "Urban music hasn't penetrated as thoroughly here. That also means that we don't have the same type of artists to compete in those genres."

The exception to the theory might be Prince, who received five nominations including best R&B album for Musicology. He has publicly credited Canada's diverse musical landscape, including "melting pot" inspired radio playlists, for helping him make the record.

"Musicology is the first record I've recorded in Toronto and I can really feel the difference," the musician said in an interview earlier this year. "It has a completely unique sound that came from the total disregard for what's happening in American music, and for the workings of the American music industry. It doesn't sound like anything else that's out there right now."

Rock veterans Rush was nominated for best rock instrumental performance for O Baterista, a track off the band's Rush In Rio live disc recorded from the band's Vapor Trails World Tour.

"We are exceedingly proud of Neil in particular for his outstanding virtuosity which is fully displayed in this drum solo piece," said Geddy Lee.

Rush will be up against The Allman Brothers Band, Los Lonely Boys, Steve Vai and Brian Wilson. It's the band's third run at a Grammy. The group was nominated in 1992 for Where's My Thing and in 1982 for YYZ.

Nickelback finds itself competing against metal bands Metallica, Incubus, Slipnot and Velvet Revolver in the best hard rock performance category.

Famed producer David Foster is up for an arranger's award for his work with teen jazz vocalist Renee Olstead on Summertime.

Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, conducted by violinist Jeanne Lamon, is up for best small ensemble performance.

In the best musical albums for children, one-time Montrealer Cathy Fink and partner Marcy Marxer got a nod for cELLAbration! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins.

The Feb. 13 awards will mark the end of Quebec-born Pierre Cossette's run as the show's executive producer. He's credited with bringing the awards ceremony to the TV masses since 1971.

Hundreds gather for celebration to remember prolific author Pierre Berton

TORONTO (CP) - The Governor General told some backstage tales. Publisher John Neale hawked some of Pierre Berton's books. And curmudgeonly columnist Allan Fotheringham wept.

It was the kind of night Berton would have loved, from the sentimental to the irreverent. Some 500 people - friends, family and just plain admirers - came in out of a mild autumn rain and crowded into the atrium of the CBC broadcasting centre Tuesday evening for a public celebration of the life of the broadcaster, journalist, author of more than 50 books and, all agreed, a one-of-a-kind nationalist who will be greatly missed.

Berton died of heart failure Nov. 30 in hospital at the age of 84, triggering a national outpouring in recent days that culminated in the event, A Celebration of Pierre Berton, with a who's who in Canada's cultural and literary establishment present. Speakers at the gathering included Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, Margaret Atwood, June Callwood, Lister Sinclair, Betty Kennedy, Rick Mercer, John Honderich as well as members of the immediate Berton family.

"You'll never die, Pierre," Callwood said in a voice that shook slightly with emotion. "You're gone, but you'll never die."

Fotheringham told a story of the night a teenage Berton got drunk, stole a car and got arrested in Dawson City, convinced his life was over, and how in later years one historian accused the writer of making Canadian history interesting just as a ploy to sell books. But as the laughter ebbed, Fotheringham began to choke up on his closing words.

"One of a kind, and there'll never be another Pierre Berton."

Back on the lighter side, Neale, chairman of Random House Canada, held up a copy of Berton's last book, Prisoners of the North.

"With the collective will of all of us in this room, I know this book will be back on the top of the (best-seller) list very soon," he said to laughter. "I'm a salesman. Crass commercialism, yes. Pierre would have wanted me to do this."

A giant black and white photo of the smiling man of honour, with arms crossed and trademark bow tie untied, served as a backdrop for the stage.

Clarkson shared personal stories of their friendship, talking about the time she was a guest panellist on Front Page Challenge, Berton's birthday party at Rideau Hall and get-togethers at his home in Kleinburg, Ont., where he barbecued "to a crisp all those sausages."

"He was really a remarkable person and I think of him always as a comrade, an ally, a friend and a colleague," Clarkson said.

"We were allied in all sorts of battles together, as many of you were, against capital punishment, against the libel laws, but the causes were always many and we were always, I'm happy to say, on the same side."

Berton's longtime manager Elsa Franklin took the stage wearing what she called a "silly" bow tie, and described him as a "dynamo."

"He wrote and he wrote and he wrote and he wrote," she said. "For Pierre, family and friends came first, after writing."

Author Margaret Atwood recalled a long-standing rumour in the literary community that Berton was the only writer in Canada who had his own "forger" - someone who supposedly sat in a back room in a Vancouver book store filled with Berton books and signed them.

Singer Dinah Christie played her guitar on stage, and sang what she said was the first folk song she ever learned - one Berton taught her.

But it wasn't all praise. His shortcomings as a singer, poet, artist and motorist were eagerly referenced, too.

Comic Rick Mercer got the final laughs, describing how he and a TV crew went to Berton's house in October to tape the now-famous sketch in which Berton taught a lesson in how to roll a marijuana joint.

He said Berton willingly agreed to the idea, adding only: "Bring the pot."

As they packed up to leave, Mercer thanked the family for their hospitality, and Berton's parting words were: "Leave the pot."

Mercer said Berton was not only a shit-disturber but "the Wayne Gretzky of shit-disturbers."

Berton's widow Janet, recovering from a broken hip, looked frail in a wheelchair but was smiling and serene as she spoke to VIP well-wishers paying their respects before the event began.

"This is overwhelming," she said. "It's so sweet and warm, and very difficult."

Berton's sons and grandsons all wore bow ties in honour of Berton's famous neck attire.

Here are some quotes from A Celebration of Pierre Berton, held Tuesday night:

"He just couldn't stop writing. It was compulsive, obviously. And he had, luckily for us, the talent to go with the compulsion." - Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson.

"Pierre was in fact a Peter Pan sort of person. He never grew up, he never lost his sense of wonder and curiosity and his love of adventures. It was what made him a great storyteller." - Berton's sister, Lucy Berton-Woodward.

"He had a great reverence for life. For his family, for begonias, for cats, for dogs, for rascals, losers and friends, often the same person." - June Callwood.

"Pierre was big. He was big in every way. He was big in physical stature and he had a heart to match the frame. We shall miss him dearly." - Betty Kennedy.

"As you can see, the banana is very odd and the grapes are questionable. And I'm very glad he stayed with the writing! It's of course worth a fortune." - Vicki Gabereau, holding up a painting Berton the amateur artist once gave her father.

Ferguson Named New Host 'Late Late Show'

NEW YORK - So much for being a TV hotshot: Craig Ferguson spent the first night after finding out he'd been selected as the new host of CBS' "The Late Late Show" sleeping in his car. After months of on-air tryouts for Craig Kilborn's replacement, CBS announced Tuesday the selection of Ferguson, the Scottish actor who portrayed boss Nigel Wick on "The Drew Carey Show" for eight years.

He'll start Jan. 3.

Ferguson was in Vancouver filming a movie when he got the word late Monday, and he immediately began driving toward his Los Angeles home. Near Grant's Pass in Oregon, he searched for a hotel room but couldn't find one. So he slept in a parking lot.

"It made me laugh," he said. "I should probably do that every now and again."

Ferguson, who wrote and starred in the films "Saving Grace" and "The Big Tease," passed through a gauntlet of on-air tryouts set up by Worldwide Pants, David Letterman's production company. He was one of four finalists with actor Michael Ian Black, comedian D.L. Hughley and MTV "Total Request Live" host Damien Fahey.

Kilborn announced in August he was leaving the 12:35 a.m. talk show after five years of fruitlessly chasing NBC's Conan O'Brien in the ratings.

With his Scottish burr, the 42-year-old Ferguson brings a different sound to the time slot.

He had no aspirations to be a talk show host when he was asked to try out, so he relaxed and tried to be himself.

Then after a few times on the air, he realized he really wanted the job.

"It was like show-business crack to me," he said. "Once I was in, I was totally addicted."

A top comedian in Britain before moving to Los Angeles in 1995, he studied tapes of Letterman, Johnny Carson and Regis Philbin for pointers. That was a savvy move: Worldwide Pants was responsible for picking the new host, Carson is Letterman's hero and Philbin one of his biggest show business pals.

"Once I sat in the chair, I thought, `I love this. This is great fun," he said. "You do comedy, you talk to people, you meet hot-looking women and movie stars. This is fantastic!"

Pixar, Disney Delay Release of 'Cars'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co and Pixar Animation Studios Inc on Tuesday said they would postpone the theatrical release of their animated feature "Cars" to June 2006 from November 2005.

Officials from both companies said the move was aimed at profiting from potentially stronger movie attendance by kids on summer break, but analysts said it may help buy Pixar more time to find a new distributor for its films.

"Cars," an animated road movie helmed by "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life" director John Lasseter, is the seventh and final film produced by the successful Disney-Pixar partnership.

Pixar Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Tuesday the schedule shift would also apply to films released after "Cars," meaning they will be released in theaters over the summer and on home video at the holidays.

Last month, Jobs said the company hoped to replicate its success with "Finding Nemo," a summer release that became the 12th highest grossing U.S. movie of all time.

Jobs' announcement in November that Pixar was considering the schedule change prompted Wall Street speculation that the company would postpone making a distribution deal planned for mid-2005.

Emeryville, California-based Pixar's distribution and production agreement with Disney is set to expire in 2005 with the delivery of "Cars."

Pixar now pays Disney 10 percent to 15 percent of revenues from the films, plus a 50-percent cut of profits. Jobs and outgoing Disney CEO Michael Eisner have publicly clashed over terms for a new deal.

Jobs admitted then that he wanted to see how the "musical chairs" affecting the heads of several major studios would turn out before committing to a new partner.

Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta said on Tuesday that the two studios were not in talks over a new distribution pact.

"This is about moving a summer movie to summer," she said.

Analyst David Miller of Sanders Morris Harris said the shift shows Pixar needs more time to find a new partner.

"They're going to sugar-coat it and say, 'Well, this is going to play better in the summer,' but that's only a quarter of the story," Miller said.

The schedule shift also will mean that Pixar will have only the DVD release of "The Incredibles" on which to peg its financial performance in 2005.

Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Richard Greenfield called the move "not terribly surprising" but predicted it would pressure Pixar's stock price.

"We are surprised that Disney was interested in pushing out a very important part of its fiscal '06 earnings," Greenfield said.

Rapper Kanye West Leads Grammy Nominees

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chicago rapper Kanye West, who survived a near-fatal car crash to score one of the biggest hits of the year with his debut album, led an eclectic field of commercially successful Grammy Award contenders with 10 nominations, organizers said on Tuesday.

R&B singers Alicia Keys and Usher picked up eight nominations each, followed by late "Genius of Soul" Ray Charles with seven, and punk rock band Green Day with six.

Jazz pianist Norah Jones, country veteran Loretta Lynn, funk musician Prince and engineer Al Schmitt each earned five.

West, whose nominations included the key categories of best new artist, album of the year and song of the year, told Reuters he was overwhelmed to receive so many nods.

"I won't even lie. It's really just as much scary as it makes you happy," he said.

Already a successful producer, West began recording his first album in 2001. But work was halted in October 2002 when he was involved in a car crash. Battered and bruised with his jaw wired shut, he returned to record the track "Through the Wire," which related his experience.

His debut album, "The College Dropout," a soulful mix of hip-hop and gangsta rap, has sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States since its February release.

It will compete for album of the year with Charles' posthumous duets album "Genius Loves Company," Green Day's "American Idiot," Keys' "The Diary of Alicia Keys" and Usher's "Confessions.

Green Day, which burst on the scene 10 years ago with its Grammy-winning major-label debut, becomes the first punk rock band to be nominated in this category, having topped the U.S. charts with its million-selling "American Idiot" in September.

"The older that you get and the longer that you've been around, for me, it's a lot sweeter," said Billie Joe Armstrong, the band's singer/guitarist and primary songwriter.

RAY VS. RAY

It was a bittersweet experience for Ray Charles' friends and collaborators. The soul icon, who won 12 Grammys during his career, died of liver disease in June, aged 73.

Charles will compete against himself in the pop collaboration with vocals category, with "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" (with Elton John) going up against "Here We Go Again" (with Norah Jones). Two other dead artists, punk rocker Joe Strummer and country outlaw Johnny Cash, were nominated for their cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."

There were few surprises among the main categories, although Irish rock band U2's new single "Vertigo" failed to make the key song and record of the year categories. The song landed three nominations in the rock and video categories.

Although the Grammys honor artistic excellence, most of the leading nominees have in fact sold millions. Usher's "Confessions" was the biggest seller in the United States this year with sales of 7 million copies.

Keys, who was the big star of the 2002 Grammys when she won five awards for her debut album, has sold 3.6 million copies of her follow-up, "The Diary of Alicia Keys." Jones has also sold 3.6 million copies of her second album, "Feels Like Home," having won five Grammys in 2003. Charles' album has sold 1.6 million copies, the biggest tally of his career.

Besides West, the other best new artist nominees were Texan rock trio Los Lonely Boys, country singer Gretchen Wilson, pop band Maroon 5, and young English soul singer Joss Stone.

Winners of the 47th annual Grammy Awards will be announced on Feb. 13 during ceremonies at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The Couch Potato Report - December 7th, 2004

In The Couch Potato Report this week, there are two movies and one TV show and all of them are actually worth watching.

When I tell you what this week's first new release is about, your first reaction will probably be to think that it sounds like a dumb idea for a movie.

And I agree, it does. A movie about the game of dodgeball that we all used to play in school and on playgrounds does sound like a dumb idea for a movie.

But the idea isn't what is available now on video and DVD, the movie they made is and DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY is one of the funniest and most entertaining films of the year.

Vince Vaughn from OLD SCHOOL and SWINGERS is the underdog owner of a gym that is home to a group of average Joe misfits called, appropriately enough, Average Joe's Gym. In what isn't an original movie premise, he faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days.

But what is original is the fact that his solution comes courtesy of a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas that offers $50,000 to the winners.

So Vaughn and his group of Joe's form a team to save their beloved gym.

Their nemesis, in life and in the tournament, is the vain, egotistical owner of Globo Gym, the company that is threatening to buy Average Joe's. Ben Stiller from ZOOLANDER and MEET THE PARENTS is the gym owner, and he is hilarious in every scene he is in!

That's it for the story in DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY.

The credit for what makes the movie great primarily goes to the cast. Vaughn and Stiller excel in their roles and the film is either funny or very funny for almost the entire 96 minutes running time.

Yes, DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY does sound like a dumb idea, but the movie will amuse you immensely.

Well, that is unless you have too many bad memories of being hit in the head during gym class with one of those round red balls. Then maybe you should stay away from DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY.

And if we are talking about reasons to stay away from a movie, you should probably stay away from this week's other major new movie release if you have a problem with constant motion.

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY is a superb film, but there are times during the picture where the action in the movie, and the way it is edited, may cause you some problems. That is due to the fact that the camera is right in the middle of the action and that action is non-stop.

But the motion of the camera and the amount of edits isn't a valid reason for me to not recommend THE BOURNE SUPREMACY.

In the literary world THE BOURNE SUPREMACY is the second of two books. In the movie world, here's hoping that this is merely the second in a long line of films!

This film picks up almost exactly where THE BOURNE IDENTITY left off. The action begins when former CIA assassin and partial amnesiac Jason Bourne is framed for a murder in Berlin, setting off a chain reaction of pursuits in motion from India to Berlin, Moscow, and Italy.

The action in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY is non-stop and director Paul Greengrass puts the camera right in the middle of it. As I mentioned, that causes things to be a bit disorienting at times, but the end result doesn't suffer too much for it.

Matt Damon from OCEANS ELEVEN returns as the title character and once again he is an interestingly unconventional action hero.

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY is a great thriller that has well-crafted suspense. I enjoyed every minute of it!

I also enjoy every minute, of every hour of the television show 24.

If you've never seen the show, it is a unique action series set in real-time. Each hour of the show represents an actual hour over the course of a day, and each episode usually ends with a cliffhanger ending.

That is why watching the show on DVD is the perfect situation because you don't have to wait a week to see what happens.

24: SEASON THREE is a new seven disc box set that features the complete third season of the series 24. Kiefer Sutherland, Elisha Cuthbert, Dennis Haysbert all star.

In the third season, our hero Jack - played by Tommy Douglas' Grandson Kiefer Sutherland - starts his day by attempting to find and then broker a deal for a deadly virus.

That sets the 24-hour clock ticking in a tight, taut, action-packed day.

Of course, what Jack is doing is just one story. The intricate subplots that take place during the day are 24's greatest strength.

If you have never seen an episode of the series 24, I would recommend you start with seasons ONE and TWO before moving on to SEASON THREE. You should be finished just in time for the show's fourth season premiere on Sunday, January 9th

DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and 24: SEASON THREE are all available at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

Isaac Asimov's classic book was the inspiration for Will Smith's new film I ROBOT. Smith plays a detective in the year 2035 who believes that a robot killed a scientist. Bridget Moynahan from THE SUM OF ALL FEARS and SERENDIPITY also stars.

In the incredible film COLLATERAL a cab driver is forced to spend a night driving a killer around Los Angeles. Tom Cruise is the killer and Jamie Foxx is the cabbie. This is neither your typical buddy movie, or your typical thriller. It is simply a great movie!

The always radiant and always lovely Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews team up once again for THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT. Although not as charming as the original PRINCESS DIARIES, it is an entertaining family film.

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON features the final 24 episodes on eight discs, plus two versions of the never aired episode "The Cage."

And the latest offerings in WAVE FOUR of THE DISNEY TREASURES COLLECTION are THE COMPLETE PLUTO - VOLUME ONE, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB and MICKEY MOUSE IN BLACK AND WHITE - VOLUME 2.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!

New Tunage!

Here are the new music releases for Tuesday, December 7th, 2004:

Avant Private Room (reissue w/bonus) (Geffen)
Bankie Banx Amazing Grace (Thump)
Andrea Bocelli Andrea (Philips/Sugar)
Cam'ron Purple Haze (guests Kanye West, Twista and Lil Flip) (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Eric Clapton Sessions for Robert J (CD/DVD combo) (Duck/Reprise)
Diana DeGarmo Diana DeGarmo (RCA)
DJ Lady Tribe Cholo Super Mix (w/bonus DVD) (Thump)
Los Downers Los Downers (Thump)
John Frusciante Curtains (Record Collection)
Geto Boys War & Peace (Hypnotize Minds)
Bugs Henderson Stormy Love (No Guru)
Hoodoo Gurus Mach Schau (Evangeline)
Lil' Scrappy & Trillville Chopped & Screwed (Reprise)
Lindsay Lohan Speak (Casablanca)
Ludacris The Red Light District (Def Jam)
Mario Turning Point (J)
Morrissey You Are the Quarry - Deluxe Edition (CD/DVD combo w/b-sides) (Sanctuary)
Mysterymen Everything but an Answer (Disko B)
Nas Street's Disciple (two CDs; Redman, P. Diddy and AZ guest) (Columbia)
Pernice Brothers Nobody's Watching/Nobody's Listening (CD/DVD combo) (Ashmont)
Bobby Seals Daddy's Home (Del-Fi/Keane)
Slim Thug Already Platinum (Geffen)
Snow Patrol Final Straw (DualDisc) (Interscope)
Soul Sirkus World Play (Soul Sirkus/Warner Bros.)
Xzibit Weapons of Mass Destruction (Columbia)
Yung Wun The Dirtiest, The Thirstiest (J)
VA DJ Negro Presents the Noise 10 (VI)
OST 24 (Fox TV drama score be Sean Callery) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST A Very Long Engagement (Angelo Badalamenti score) (Nonesuch)
OST Carnivàle (HBO series score by Jeff Beal) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Carrie (1976 Brian De Palma horror classic) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Earthsea (score by Jeff Rona) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Flight of the Phoenix (score by Marco Beltrani) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (video game soundtrack, 8-disc box set; 2-disc version same day) (Interscope)
OST Ocean's Twelve (Stephen Soderberg sequel to 2001 hit) (Warner Bros.)
OST Ray (original motion picture score) (Rhino)
OST Shrek 2 (score by Harry Gregson-Williams) (DreamWorks)
DVD Eminem Eminem AKA (Xenon)
DVD Wyclef Jean The All-Star Jam (Eagle Vision)
DVD Rod Stewart Live at the Royal Albert Hall (J)
DVD Westlife Unbreakable: The Greatest Hits (RCA)
DVD White Stripes Under Blackpool Lights (live U.K. performance) (Third Man/V2)
DVD Yes Songs from Tsongas: The 35th Anniversary Concert (Image)
DVD Audio Keane Hopes and Fears (DualDisc and SACD same day) (Interscope)
DVD Audio Mark Knopfler Shangri-La (Warner Bros.)

DAVE ON THE RISE

NEW YORK -- David Letterman is closing the gap with latenight rival Jay Leno, helped by a CBS primetime that dominated the November sweeps in key demos.

"Late Show With David Letterman" saw its best November sweep against NBC's "The Tonight Show" in total viewers since 1994 and since 2001 in the prized 18-49 demo.

With three days to go in the month of November, "Letterman" was up 9% in average total viewers (5 million), while "Leno" dropped off 6% (5.9 million).

"Letterman" was up 6% in adults 18-49 over the same frame last year and up an impressive 17% in 18-34.

"Leno" was down 13% in adults 18-49 and 11% in 18-34.

The "Letterman" show has improved its ratings for every night of the week and now occasionally beats "Leno" in total viewers on Monday nights, CBS said.

"David Letterman is benefiting from the fact that our promotional platform is stronger in the 10 to 11 o'clock hour," said David Poltrack, CBS exec veep of research.

CBS' primetime strength, driven by shows like "CSI: Miami" and "Without a Trace," are helping the Eye in latenight.

Also surging is the Eye's Sunday morning lineup: "Face the Nation" had its largest margin over ABC's "This Week" (338,000 more viewers) since the advent of People Meters in 1987.

ABC, like CBS up vs. last year in the November sweep, also boasts a revitalized primetime, but its hit shows are positioned in earlier timeslots that don't give much support to latenight programming.

"Desperate Housewives" airs on Sunday night, while "Lost" airs on Wednesdays but at 8.

LIZA, MARTIN GET “ARRESTED”

Nets are banking their guest stars for winter, as Liza Minnelli and Martin Short tape episodes of Fox's "Arrested Development," while Duff sisters Hilary and Haylie stop by "Joan of Arcadia."

Also, Eliza Dushku, whose "Tru Calling" was dropped by Fox, is already back at the net, guesting on "That '70s Show."

Minnelli will reprise her critically acclaimed turn as Lucille Austero, rival to Bluth matriarch Lucille (Jessica Walter) and love interest for Lucille's spacy son, Buster (Tony Hale).

Minnelli's on board for at least two episodes of "Arrested," although she may wind up guesting in more.

Meanwhile, Short will don heavy makeup to play a 70-year-old friend of the Bluth family -- and a potential love interest for Walter's character. On TV, Short most recently starred in and exec produced Comedy Central's "Primetime Glick" as befuddled Hollywood reporter Jiminy Glick, a role he's reviving in an upcoming feature.

"Arrested Development" has earned raves for its unique stunt castings, which have included unusual turns by thesps such as Minnelli, Henry Winkler, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Carl Weathers. Pop tart/thesp Hilary Duff will guest on the Feb. 4 seg of "Arcadia" as a popular girl whose life is saved by Joan (Amber Tamblyn). Sis Haylie will appear in the Feb. 11, 18 and 25 episodes as a student who befriends Joan and her pals.

Hilary Duff, who's best known on TV and in features as "Lizzie McGuire," recently starred with "Joan" castmember Jason Ritter in the feature "Raise Your Voice." Haylie Duff appeared in the feature "Napoleon Dynamite" and has guested on series such as "Third Watch."

As for Dushku, the actress will appear in a February episode of "That '70s Show" as Sarah, a hot girl who works at Donna's (Laura Prepon) radio station.

Besides "Tru Calling," Dushku's credits include "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," as well as the features "City by the Sea," "Bring It On" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

"I remember another gentle visitor from the heavens. Who came to earth... and then died... only to be brought back to life again. And his name was: E.T., the extra-terrestrial. I love that little guy."

— Rev. Lovejoy, Fox's The Simpsons

MORE REBEL YELLING?

Billy Idol set to release his first album featuring new songs in more than 10 years. The album, titled Devil's Playground, is due for release March 22, 2005.

'Titanic' Line Tops Cheesy Movie Survey

NEW YORK - Although "Titanic" soared at the box office in 1997, according to a recent survey, its most memorable line — "I'm the king of the world!" — sunk.

British baker Warburtons posed the question "What are your top three cheesiest moments in film?" to 2,000 U.K. moviegoers in celebration of the launch of their new cheese-flavored crumpets.

The line uttered by Leonardo DiCaprio was followed by Patrick Swayze's "Nobody puts baby in the corner" from 1987's "Dirty Dancing" and Andie McDowell's "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed," from the end of 1994's "Four Weddings and a Funeral."

Warburtons reports that surveyed women opted for romantic comedy moments from films such as "Notting Hill" and "Jerry Maguire" while men preferred silly scenes from action flicks like "Top Gun" and "Braveheart." Despite the gender divide, 33 percent of the overall vote unanimously agreed on the "Titanic" yell as the cheesiest moment.

The list of big cheese moments:

1. "Titanic": Leonardo DiCaprio's "I'm the king of the world!"

2. "Dirty Dancing": Patrick Swayze's "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

3. "Four Weddings And A Funeral": Andie McDowell's "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed."

3. "Ghost": Demi Moore's "Ditto," to Patrick Swayze's "I love you."

5. "Top Gun": Val Kilmer to Tom Cruise: "You can be my wingman anytime"

6. "Notting Hill": Julia Roberts' "I'm just a girl ... standing in front of a boy ... asking him to love her."

7. "Independence Day": Bill Pullman's "Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"

8. "Braveheart": Mel Gibson's "They may take our lives, but they will not take our freedom!"

9. "Jerry Maguire": Renee Zellweger to Tom Cruise: "You had me at hello."

10. "The Postman": A blind woman says to Kevin Costner: "You're a godsend, a savior." He replies: "No, I'm a postman."

Soul and Country Artists Vie for Grammys

NEW YORK - With the year's top album and single, Usher doesn't have to worry about getting left out when Grammy nominees are announced Tuesday. The question simply is how many nominations the R&B crooner will get.

His megahit "Yeah!" is likely to receive record and song of the year nominations, and "Confessions," which has sold more than 7 million copies and spawned four hit singles, seems a lock for album of the year.

But he's also likely to be nominated in the pop and R&B categories for his performances on songs such as "Confessions" and "Burn," and could get other nominations for his collaborations with Alicia Keys on "My Boo," his current big hit, and Ludacris and Lil Jon on "Yeah!"

"His music was everywhere this year, and he's having his fourth big record from the album this year," Rick Krim, executive vice president of talent and programming on VH1, said Monday. "He's the biggest artist of the year."

But it won't be a one-man show when the nominations are announced by The Recording Academy in Los Angeles.

Among others expected to get multiple nods: 2002's Grammy darling, Alicia Keys; rap innovator and newcomer Kanye West; country's self-proclaimed "redneck woman," Gretchen Wilson; and Ray Charles, who died in June.

His posthumous album, "Genius Loves Company," has become the biggest-selling record of his decades-long career, and he's the subject of the critically acclaimed movie "Ray."

"There's always the sentimental factor with the Grammys, and my guess this year is it will be Ray Charles," said Krim.

Keys' multiplatinum debut album, "Songs in A Minor," netted her five Grammys, including song of the year for "Fallin'." Keys has two songs from her follow-up, "The Diary of Alicia Keys," that could qualify for that honor this year: "You Don't Know My Name" and "If I Ain't Got You," both retro-soul ballads that were top 10 hits. The album might also make it for album of the year.

"When you have a history of having a successful Grammy run, it certainly helps your case. The same could probably be said for Norah Jones," said Krim.

Jones is a possibility for album of the year. Her debut disc, the phenomenally successful "Come Away With Me," won eight Grammys in 2003, and "Feels Like Home," released in February, has enjoyed commercial and critical success.

Another likely contender for album of the year is West's innovative debut, "The College Dropout." West became an unlikely rap superstar by eschewing typical rapspeak about sex, money and gangsta life and offering prose about atypical subjects ("Jesus Walks").

Other album of the year nominees could include Prince's "Musicology." If Prince is nominated, it would be fitting, since he kicked off his comeback year with an electrifying appearance on the Grammy telecast last February; after that, he embarked on a top-selling arena tour, his first in years, and released "Musicology," which went on to be his most successful album after years out of the spotlight.

Other artists who could hear their name called Tuesday include country legend Loretta Lynn for "Van Lear Rose," produced by the White Stripes' Jack White; Hoobastank for "The Reason," which became a huge rock anthem; Jay-Z, whose "Black Album" is supposedly his last; Brian Wilson for "Smile," his finally finished album from the 1960s; omnipresent rapper-producer Lil Jon, responsible for Usher's "Yeah!"; and the pop band Maroon 5.

One of the biggest questions will be whether Ashlee Simpson gets a nod; although her debut album, "Autobiography," was among the year's biggest hits, her lip-synching on "Saturday Night Live" may have left some Grammy voters wary.

The Grammys will be doled out Feb. 13 in Los Angeles, and telecast on CBS.

Emma Puts 'Baby Spice' Behind Her

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Emma Bunton was once known as Baby Spice; that is, when she was one-fifth of multi-million selling girl group the Spice Girls. These days, she is known as Emma. Period.

Her U.S. solo debut, "Free Me," is due Jan. 25 via 19 Recordings/Universal. Wildly buoyant, the album is equal parts Petula Clark, Motown and Burt Bacharach-with sun-bleached splashes of bossa nova.

In November, remixes of the title track went top 5 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music Club Play chart and top 10 on the Hot Dance Radio Airplay tally, and Emma couldn't be happier with that success.

"When I first heard that the dance remixes were on their way up the charts in the U.S., I was ecstatic," the 28-year-old told Billboard.com by phone from her home in London. "I couldn't wait to get there."

Which she did in September when she participated in the 11th annual Billboard Dance Music Summit in New York. She shared her experiences -- along with Martha Wash, DJ Rap, Ultra Nate and Esthero -- on the panel, On Your Knees: Hero Worship.

"It was amazing," she said of her trip to Gotham. "It gave me the feeling that things are really rolling (for me) in the U.S. I feel like it's happening quickly there."

Last month, Emma spent 10 days in India, where she was filming a "celebrity swap" documentary for the U.K.'s BBC2. Emma says she was filmed experiencing life as a Bollywood celebrity. "I was being filmed every day," she said. The documentary compares the Bollywood and British celebrity scenes.

On a purely celebrity front, a striking difference between the two countries is the paparazzi, she notes. "In India, you get out of a car and the press immediately approaches you. There is no red carpet. Nothing separates you from the camera." And since the Spice Girls were popular in India, Emma says she was constantly hearing shouts of, "Hey, Spice Girl!"

While filming the documentary, Emma was offered and accepted a small part in a Bollywood film. "I will never forget that experience," she said. "They work without schedules, which is very different from England where everything is perfectly scheduled. They thought nothing of ringing you up and saying, 'Let's do an interview.' They also don't believe in storyboards."

While such a working environment would be chaotic for some, Emma said it was all very relaxed, chilled and spiritual. "I felt very calm there."

These days, with the holiday season in full swing, she is likely feeling less calm. "I have lots of shopping to do," she acknowledged. "I'm like a big kid at this time of year. It's about being at home with my family -- in your pajamas, eating, catching up on TV and watching old films." (She admitted to having a soft spot in her heart for "Dirty Dancing" and "Mary Poppins" with Julie Andrews.)

After the holidays, Emma said she'll return to the United States for a promotional tour surrounding the album's release. "I may even celebrate my birthday (Jan. 21) there," she said.

Looking back at her days with the Spice Girls, Emma said they always received much support from U.S. fans. "They were always there for us -- which is why I always feel so at home there."

According to 19 Recordings/Universal, "Maybe" will be the next U.S. single from Emma's album. Remixes are forthcoming in the New Year.

Dodge Ball Easter Eggs

On 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s release of 'Dodge Ball' the studio has included some very interesting Easter Eggs in a very cool manner.

From the DVD’s Main Menu go to the 'Special Features' section and there use the directional keys on your remote control to highlight the Purple Cobra logo. Then press the 'Enter' key and you’ll see Ben Stiller in a fat suit congratulating you on being a loser and finding the Easter Egg.

He then goes on to tell you that during the movie, every time he snaps his fingers you can press the 'Enter' key on your remote control to see extra bloopers and other clips.

And lo and behold… if you press the 'enter' key during the movie every time he snaps his fingers, you really DO get access to additional clips, so check it out.

'LIFE' IS IN THE DETAILS

"We're still finishing the movie," director Wes Anderson says offhandedly, on the phone from his hotel room. "Just some last-minute stuff. Titles and things. Simple stuff." Simple? Don't bet on it. The 35-year-old director of "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" is famous - and beloved by his fans - for obsessing about every last detail. And his new movie, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" offers a much bigger scope of things to obsess about.

The $50 million seafaring adventure stars Bill Murray as Zissou, a past-his-prime, Jacques Cousteau-type oceanographer on a quest to kill the shark who ate his best friend.

The crew - "Team Zissou" - includes quirky Anderson regulars Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston and (briefly) Seymour Cassel, as well as Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett and Noah Taylor.

Unlike Anderson's previous indie movies, this one also boasts big-budget features: pirate attacks, dynamite explosions and bizarre animated sea creatures such as back-flipping frogs, sugar crabs and jaguar sharks.

These strange undersea things exist only in the Wes Anderson universe, brought to life by veteran stop-motion animator Henry Selick, director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach."

"I recommend seeing the movie twice if you want to catch it all," says Selick, explaining that the creatures are sprinkled sparingly throughout the movie "like a spice."

Keep your eyes peeled for fleeting glimpses of the "Hermes eel" - an eel patterned like an Hermes scarf - and Selick's favorite, the seahorse-like "crayon pony fish."

"People tell me it must have been CG [computer generated]. But every little ripply bit of its seaweeded mane is hand animated," Selick says proudly.

There was one fish that ended up on the cutting-room floor, to Selick's disappointment: the "hydronicus inverticus."

"It's this animal that can turn itself inside out," says Anderson. "It's based on something I saw in a documentary, but when we made it, it just seemed too unreal. Sounds crazy in this context, I know - but it seemed like something out of 'Men in Black.'"

"That's the one that hurts a little bit," admits Selick. "It took so long to do." But he says working with Anderson is worth the sacrifices.

"He's a very, very particular guy," Selick says. "He needs to see a lot of things, make a lot of changes.

"But it's not based on some crazy ego trip, trying to work people to death - he really has something in mind he's going for. That extreme."

The extreme, of course, is what's earned Anderson his cult following.

In each film, the Texas-born director creates a highly stylized fictional world - like the heavily stylized version of New York City in "Royal Tenenbaums," or the eccentric student's prep school in "Rushmore."

In "The Life Aquatic," that world exists primarily on Zissou's ship, the Belafonte - for which a 50-year-old minesweeper vessel was purchased and towed from South Africa to Rome for filming.

There, the crew painstakingly built another half-ship, creating a cross-sectional view of its rooms - all filled with the dollhouse-like detail at which Anderson excels.

Drawing on the colorful, clunky look of retro sci-fi films like 1961's "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," Anderson outfitted the ship with equipment that emphasized Zissou's fading glory.

"There's this one '60s prop I really like," he says. "I don't know when anyone ever had a speaker-phone where you put the receiver on top of it, but Bill Murray's is like that. His computer stuff is [old] like that too - while Jeff Goldblum has a flat-screen monitor."

Goldblum plays Hennessey, Zissou's foppish, wealthy and slightly ridiculous nemesis. He's the owner of a state-of-the-art ship - and, to Zissou's constant annoyance, the ex-husband of Eleanor.

A longtime fan of Anderson's, Goldblum says he found the director's attention to detail contagious. "Early on, we got together at the Chateau Marmont to talk about what I might wear," he says. "[Wes] had very specific ideas about it."

Despite the aesthetic similarities to Anderson's other work, there's one major difference: Owen Wilson didn't co-write the script.

For his three previous films, college friends Anderson and Wilson have shared the writing credit, but not this time.

Instead, Anderson collaborated with screenwriter Noah Baumbach, another long-time friend. "Noah and I got to work together every day until we got the script done," Anderson says. "That hasn't been possible with Owen for a while, since he's a big actor."

Still, there doesn't appear to be bad blood between the two: Anderson cast Wilson in a lead role as Ned Plimpton, an old-fashioned Southern gentleman who just may be Zissou's son.

What's more, Wilson still managed to get his two cents in on the script, as animator Selick observed. "When Owen showed up a week or two before shooting, he clearly went in and tweaked a few lines for his character," he says. "And, well, things just got a little funnier."

As for the film's minor characters, there's a story behind almost every one of them, too. Anderson tends to rely on the same character actors, and enjoys giving parts to non-actor friends and acquaintances who simply seem right.

This time around, there's Matthew Gubler, the most prominent of the Team Zissou interns - all of whom work slavishly for no pay aboard the Belafonte.

The striking 24-year-old got the job by being Anderson's actual intern, and has said that he was mostly in the office "for comic relief."

"The whole concept of having interns is such an odd thing," muses Anderson. "I feel like somebody like Zissou would really exploit the whole intern thing."

Both major and minor cast members seem to be in agreement that being part of an Anderson film is a life-changing experience.

"You feel like you're working for somebody really special," says Huston. "He's one of those people where you're really determined to make their vision come true."

Crue Team

Motley Crue will stage reunion tour in 2005. The band's manager says a tour, a new single, and a greatest-hits album is in the works.

The bad boys of metal Mötley Crüe will be shouting at the devil at a stadium near you some time in 2005, says the band's manager, but it's still in the works. ''We're holding buildings, sitting down and negotiating with everyone, but nothing is done,'' Mötley Crüe manager Allen Kovac reports to Billboard.

Kovac's announcement was prompted by a group of fans who mailed out what appears to be a press invitation to a band event for Dec. 6 in front of the Whisky Club in Hollywood. The invitation claims that Mötley Crüe is ''coming to a stadium near you,'' though closer examination reveals it will be no more than, as Kovac puts it ''a seance trying to will [a reunion] to happen.'' The band will not appear at the event.

Kovac also reports that the band will release Red, White & Crüe, a greatest-hits album, in Feburary, featuring a new single ''If I Die Tomorrow.'' Meanwhile, original Crüe member Tommy Lee has taped a reality show for NBC. The show follows Lee at the University of Nebraska, as he goes back to college, even joining the school marching band. I wonder if that means Crüe will be adding a brass section.

Eminem 'Went Crazy' With Tupac's A Cappellas For Loyal To The Game

Slim Shady says as longtime Tupac fan, he feels 'his music, his persona, his everything.'

Tupac Shakur has always meant different things to different people. But if you ask anyone who knew him personally or followed his career, they'll all agree he was compelling, if nothing else.

Eminem, for one, was so moved by Pac that he approached Shakur's mother, Afeni, and asked to work on the deceased icon's next posthumous album, Loyal to the Game.

"I wrote to Afeni and said, 'Please consider letting me produce this album,' " he told MTV News a few weeks ago in Detroit. "I just feel, as a longtime fan of Tupac ... his music, his persona, his everything. To be able to produce one or two tracks is a dream. So I just basically dropped a little note to her letting her know what her son meant to me as well as a lot of other people in the industry. She gave me the blessing, she gave me the green light and I was like, 'Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.' "

Eminem produced tracks for the "Tupac: Resurrection" soundtrack last year (most notably "Runnin' (Dying to Live)," which also featured the Notorious B.I.G.) and ended up providing beats for 13 tracks on Loyal to the Game. The first single is "Thugs Get Lonely Too," featuring Nate Dogg (see " 'Thugs Get Lonely Too,' Tupac Says On Eminem-Produced Track").

"I was given some Tupac a cappellas and just went crazy with them," Slim Shady said. "It's been a longtime dream for me to be able to get to a level of being able to produce not only other artists, but somebody that I looked up to in general. People will see when it comes out. It is what it is, I'm bumping it right now."

During recent weeks, more and more of the album — including the title track featuring the G-Unit, and "Po N---a Blues," which has a guest spot from Jadakiss — has leaked to the streets. Much to the chagrin of his mother's company, Amaru Entertainment, Tupac's entire LP was just illegally pirated and can now be found on the Internet.

Amaru released a statement admonishing the bootlegging with the hope of dissuading fans from downloading. "The reality of today's music industry is that Internet piracy and bootlegging run rampant like a plague," the statement read. "Tupac had always said that he could not do any of this without his fans and today is no different. It's your undying loyalty to Tupac and your undying devotion to carrying out his legacy in a respectful manner that gave us enough warning to take measures to ensure an early release of our album."

As of right now, Loyal to the Game still has a release date of December 14, according to Interscope. Afeni Shakur plans on using a portion of the proceeds to build a Tupac Amaru Shakur center for the arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Get Into The Movie

New Line Cinema has acquired the nonfiction best seller "He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth To Understanding Guys" by former "Sex and the City" writers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.

The writers also will adapt the book for New Line. Overseeing the project for the studio are execs Mark Ordesky, Kent Alterman, Swanna MacNair and Michele Weiss.

"Not That Into You" uses a comic question-and-answer format to teach women how to stop kidding themselves when men just aren't interested. The first chapter is titled "He's Just Not That Into You If He Isn't Asking You Out." The book goes through a list of excuses including "Maybe He Doesn't Want To Spoil Our Friendship" or "Maybe He's Intimidated by Me."

Toby Emmerich, president of New Line Prods., began pursuing the property before its publication on the strength of its title and concept. "The minute I heard the title, I thought it could be a great movie," he said.

The authors chose to develop a plot line for the film before selling the book rights and devised a scenario that will focus on a woman who hosts a talk show and a man she becomes involved with after he guests on the show. "It's a great idea with two very castable parts," Emmerich said, "and it's a movie I'd like to get into production next year."

The book launched publisher Simon & Schuster's new division, Simon Spotlight Entertainment, which targets the 18-34 demographic, in September. Its first print run was 30,000; the book has gone back to press 13 times, and 1.2 million copies are now in print. "Not That Into You" and its authors have been featured twice on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

"The moment we got the concept for this book, and we're talking over year ago, we knew it was going to be the poster child book for what our imprint was all about," SSE publisher Jen Bergstrom said. "It was hip, it was fresh, and it was funny, which meant it was going to speak to our target demo. ... The book is affordable advice. It costs less than a manicure and a pedicure, and it makes you feel so much better."

HOLIDAY TUNES:

"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire," written by Robert Wells and singer Mel Torme, topping the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' annual list of the Top 25 most-performed Holiday songs.

"I love the video. I'm not impressed with the music. Call me, Britney. We'll get together, and I'll show you how to really do it."

--Bobby Brown in Star, showing us he still thinks it's his prerogative

Star Trek makes First Contact

The eighth film from the Final Frontier will come in March when Paramount Home Entertainment releases Star Trek First Contact as a two disc special edition.

They call themselves the Borg - a half-organic, half-machine collective with a sole purpose: to conquer and assimilate all races. Led by their seductive and sadistic queen, the Borg are headed to Earth with a devious plan to alter history. Picard's last encounter with the Borg almost killed him. Now, he wants vengeance. But how far will he go to get it?

No info yet on special features, but the disc will likely mirror the features and specs of past sets. The set will replace the existing one-disc version of the film which was not only the first Star Trek DVD, but the first DVD available from Paramount back in 1998.

The DVD will arrive on March 1st.

'Treasure' Retains Box-Office Booty

LOS ANGELES - The Founding Fathers keep earning interest on their loot. Nicolas Cage's "National Treasure," about a race to find a fortune hidden by the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was the top movie for a third straight weekend with $17.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The action flick lifted its total to $110.2 million after 17 days in release, dominating a quiet post-Thanksgiving weekend with no new movies debuting in wide release.

Mike Nichols' caustic sex drama "Closer" — starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen — opened strongly in narrower release, taking in $7.7 million. Playing in 476 theaters, "Closer" had a healthy average of $16,176 a cinema, compared to a $5,286 average in 3,243 theaters for "National Treasure."

The martial-arts epic "House of Flying Daggers," a strong contender for the foreign-language Academy Award, premiered well in limited release. Directed by Zhang Yimou ("Hero"), the film grossed $417,020 in 15 theaters for a $27,801 average.

The overall box office declined after three straight weekends of rising revenue. The top 12 movies grossed $80.3 million, down 10 percent from the same weekend last year.

"National Treasure," a reunion between Cage and producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("The Rock"), surprised box-office analysts with its staying power.

"Nicolas Cage and Jerry Bruckheimer are always a force to be reckoned with, but to have this film at No. 1 for three weeks, I don't think anyone saw that coming," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The movie's box-office reign will end next weekend with the debut of the star-studded heist sequel "Ocean's Twelve," whose cast includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Roberts.

Distributor Sony is rolling "Closer" out slowly to build buzz through Hollywood's upcoming awards season. "Closer" placed third behind "Finding Neverland" and "The Aviator" on the National Board of Review's list released last week of best 2004 films, and the group honored the movie's cast for best ensemble performance.

"It is a very adult film, and it does seem that a slower rollout is the appropriate thing to do with it," said Rory Bruer, Sony head of distribution.

Oliver Stone's historical epic "Alexander," which opened to poor reviews, grossed $4.7 million, down 65 percent from its debut the previous weekend. "Alexander," which reportedly cost $150 million to make, took in just $29.7 million in its first 12 days.

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. "National Treasure," $17.1 million.
2. "Christmas With the Kranks," $11.7 million.
3. "The Polar Express," $11 million.
4. "The Incredibles," $9.2 million.
5. "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," $7.8 million.
6. "Closer," $7.7 million.
7. "Alexander," $4.7 million.
8. "Finding Neverland," $2.9 million.
9. "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," $2.8 million.
10. "Ray," $1.9 million.

Review: Crystal's 'Sundays' Hilarious

NEW YORK (AP) - "My first hero." That's what Billy Crystal calls his father, Jack, during "700 Sundays," the comedian's fond journey back to his boyhood that opened Sunday at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre.

And the show can probably remain there for as long as Crystal is willing to tell his frankly sentimental, yet very funny tale. The man may be talking about his own family, but Crystal's story is a universal one — of growing up, coming to terms with his parents (not to mention a carload of crazy relatives) and making his way in the world.

Crystal, an elfin man with an endless supply of energy, is a savvy storyteller. With the help of director Des McAnuff, he has put together an affecting memoir that is surprisingly theatrical, considering the comedian is the only performer on stage.

The man certainly has had a varied and successful showbiz career — from "Soap" to "Saturday Night Live," movies such as "Analyze This" and, of course, gigs as host of the Academy Awards.

But what he talks about here is more personal, so it's fitting that designer David F. Weiner's setting is the facade of the family home, a modest brick house in suburban Long Island. The time is post-World War II when Ed Sullivan was on television, automobiles sported big fins and Mickey Mantle was the star of the New York Yankees.

Crystal is the youngest son of Jack and Helen Crystal. Dad was a jazz musician and concert promoter who also ran the Commodore Music Shop, a legendary jazz record store in New York. Mom was a housewife. And there was a parade of colorful grandparents, uncles and aunts, "the Jewish Kennedys," according to Crystal, who would "sell you the shirt off their backs."

The performer, dressed in a casually expensive burgundy sweater and dark slacks, prowls the stage as he lovingly tells their stories. What emerges are vivid portraits of people and a time. He talks of his Uncle Milt, who founded Commodore Records and who, among other things, recorded Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit," when other record labels turned down the song about the lynching of a black man.

There are pictures, too, of those jazz and Dixieland musicians, garrulous, genial men who called the perpetually eager and always smiling Crystal "Face." He remembers going to the movies with Holiday and watching "Shane," which astonished him because it featured a little boy in a major role — child actor Brandon de Wilde.

There's Aunt Sheila and the story of her lesbian daughter's wedding in San Francisco as well as his family's encounter with a local Mafia kingpin who accidentally wrecks the family's new Plymouth, among others.

Home movies and old black-and-white photographs complement Crystal's monologue, and they show a peppy little boy, mugging for the camera and frantically tap-dancing, or adults doing the goofy things that always occur when the filming of home movies begins.

Yet the heart of Crystal's evening is Jack Crystal, a man who died too young (he had a heart attack in a bowling alley at the age of 54). His death jolts his 15-year-old son into a new appreciation of what the man accomplished and what his mother, Helen, then did to keep the family together.

The show's title, "700 Sundays," comes from a calculation by Crystal that father and son spent that many Sundays together before Jack Crystal died. Sunday was the one day of the week the two had to enjoy each other's company since Jack Crystal always held two or three jobs. Too short a time, of course, but they were enough to produce an affecting, hilarious evening of theater.

Net File-Sharing Doesn't Hurt Most Artists - Survey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most musicians and artists say the Internet has helped them make more money from their work despite online file-trading services that allow users to copy songs and other material for free, according to a study released on Sunday.

Recording labels and movie studios have hired phalanxes of lawyers to pursue "peer to peer" networks like Kazaa, and have sued thousands of individuals who distribute copyrighted material through such networks.

But most of the artists surveyed by the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project said online file sharing did not concern them much.

Artists were split on the merits of peer-to-peer networks, with 47 percent saying that they prevent artists from earning royalties for their work and another 43 percent saying they helped promote and distribute their material.

But two-thirds of those surveyed said file sharing posed little threat to them, and less than one-third of those surveyed said file sharing was a major threat to creative industries.

Only 3 percent said the Internet hurt their ability to protect their creative works.

"What we hear from a wide spectrum of artists is that, despite the real challenges of protecting work online, the Internet has opened new ways for them to exercise their imaginations and sell their creations," said report author Mary Madden, a research specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The nonprofit group based its report on a survey of 809 self-identified artists in December 2003. The survey has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Satirist Jon Stewart's Book Named Year's Best

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Political satirist Jon Stewart's mock look at a political science college textbook "America (the Book), a Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction," was named on Sunday the book of the year by Publishers Weekly, the trade publication of the book industry.

The magazine said, in its issue to be published on Monday, that, "in a year defined by political polemics, it seems fitting that PW's Book of the Year be one in which the authors survey the entire political system and laugh."

The book is written by Stewart, the host of the "The Daily Show" on comedy Central with colleagues Ben Karlin and David Javerbaum. It is currently number one on the New York Times best-seller list.

Publishers Weekly said, "'America (The Book)' offers more than just humor, however. Beneath the eye-catching and at times goofy graphics, the dirty jokes and the playful ingenuousness shines a serious critique of the two-party system, the corporations that finance it and the 'spineless cowards in the press' who 'aggressively print allegation and rumor independent of accuracy or fairness."'

The book is filled with satirical jabs, including tips for TV news reporters including mastering the "reporter reaction shot cutaway. You've got half a second tops to overshadow your subject. Make it count.

In its annual review of the year, Publishers Weekly listed notable books in other categories ranging from sex to politics to religion but did not give them in order of preference.

Christmas Charity Single Storms British Charts

LONDON (Reuters) - Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a re-recording by top British artists of the 1984 hit that raised millions for African famine relief, soared straight to number one on the UK pop charts Sunday.

The Bob Geldof-inspired song, which features a who's who of UK recording stars including Paul McCartney, U2's Bono and Coldplay's Chris Martin, has been tipped as the favorite to claim the coveted Christmas number one spot.

Early estimates indicated the single sold about 300,000 copies over it's first week on release -- shy of the 750,000 the 1984 original sold over its first week.

Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure created Band Aid, a supergroup of 40 artists, in 1984 and with the original hit single raised millions of pounds for famine relief in Ethiopia.

Proceeds from the new version will again go toward aid for Africa, particularly for Sudan's volatile Darfur region, where tens of thousands have died from disease and malnutrition.

Also new in the charts, compiled by the Official UK Charts Company, was U.S. rapper Ice Cube, who entered at number two with "You Can Do It" featuring Mack 10 and MS Toi.

Easing from two to three was "Lose My Breath" from Destiny's Child, while last week's number one, charity single "I'll Stand By You" from UK pop group Girls Aloud, dropped to number four.

Rounding out the top five was U.S. punk band Green Day with new entry "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Stevie Wonder Bashes Eminem for Jackson Criticism

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a rare public outburst, Stevie Wonder has blasted Eminem (news - web sites) for ridiculing Michael Jackson in a video, and suggested the rapper was hypocritical because he owed his success to poor and black people.

Jackson himself has already lambasted Eminem's video for the song "Just Lose It," which makes light of child molestation charges against the self-styled "King of Pop."

Wonder joined the fray by telling Billboard magazine that he was "really disappointed" in Eminem.

"Kicking someone when he's down is not a good thing," Wonder was quoted as telling the music industry trade publication. "I have much respect for his work, though I don't think he's as good as (late rapper) 2Pac. But I was disappointed that he would let himself go to such a level."

Added Wonder, "He has succeeded on the backs of people predominantly in that lower pay bracket, people of color. So for him to come out like that is bullshit."

A spokesman for Eminem was not available for comment. The song, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a "playful look at celebrity voyeurism," is expected to be among the nominees when contenders for the annual Grammy Awards are unveiled on Tuesday.

Little girl in It's a Wonderful Life now watches the movie for the little things

LANCASTER, N.Y. (AP) - Who hasn't spent part of a holiday season watching It's a Wonderful Life?

But even the most devoted fans of Frank Capra's 1946 classic film might find something new in its black-white images after listening to Karolyn Grimes. She played Zuzu Bailey, the little girl with the memorable movie-ending line: "Look, Daddy: Teacher says that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings."

Grimes, now 64, said she's seen the movie, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, so many times she's beyond paying attention to the story and acting and instead focuses on the subtleties others may overlook.

"Like for instance, there's a point where Mary and George are asked to go to Florida with Sam Wainwright and his wife. Very subtly, (Mary) rubs her tummy - and that night she tells him she's on the nest," Grimes said.

Grimes has a whole presentation about such moments, which she attributes to "the magic of Frank Capra."

"So many people love this film," she said during a stop in this Buffalo suburb, where she introduced the Lancaster Opera House's stage production of the story.

"It's such a part of the Christmas celebration nowadays that it's become part of our culture."

Investigators Search Jackson's Ranch

LOS OLIVOS, Calif. - Sheriff's investigators conducted a search of Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch on Friday, a department spokesman said.

Sgt. Chris Pappas confirmed that a warrant was served at the rural estate but he would not release any more information.

Jackson has already been charged with child molestation, and his Neverland ranch was searched previously in the case. He faces trial next year.

The search warrant was served at 9 a.m. and investigators remained there into the late morning, Pappas said.

Attorneys on both sides are barred from commenting on the case. A message seeking comment was left at the office of Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain.

Neverland, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, was first searched on Nov. 18, 2003.

At least 60 investigators from the Sheriff's Department and district attorney's office conducted that raid on the multimillion-dollar property.

The theme park-like estate has a mansion, zoo and amusement park with bumper cars, a merry-go-round and Ferris wheel. Jackson hosted many children's parties there.

Jackson was originally charged in December 2003 on allegations of molesting a boy. Prosecutors then took the case to the grand jury, which issued a superseding indictment in April.

The pop star has pleaded not guilty to child molestation, conspiracy and administering an intoxicating agent, alcohol, to the alleged victim. Jackson's trial is scheduled to start Jan. 31.

R.I.P. VCR

Digital video is killing the VCR, the home electronics star of the 1980s and '90s.

Video cassette recorders, the most successful consumer electronic devices ever besides TVs, are now an endangered species, selling for as little as $20 at some retailers - the same price as some low-end DVD players that have far, far better picture quality.

And that's if a retailer even still sells VCRs. Dixons, the largest home electronics chain in the U.K. stopped selling the devices this month, a move that signals the death knell for the gadget that has been a mainstay in our homes for more than 25 years.

"We're saying goodbye to one of the most important products in the history of consumer technology," Dixons marketing director John Mewett told a reporter.

No major U.S. retailer has pushed the stop button on VCRs yet - despite dropping sales world wide and the availability of better technology like recordable DVDs and digital video recorders, some stores say the demand for VCRs is still there.

"It's still a very healthy business for us,'' a spokesperson for Best Buy, the Minnesota-based chain of electronics stores. ''We'll will continue to sell them for the foreseeable future as long the market is there for them.''

But what's coming soon is a sad end for a machine, initially introduced by JVC in the 1970s that fought and won a pitched battle during the 1980s against Sony's Betamax. The two incompatible formats clashed for years with Sony conceding in 1988.

VCR sales have been on the decline for years. Since 2000 it is estimated that that sales of the devices have gone from $1.87 billion to just $144 million, according to statistics from the Consumer Electronics Association.

Next year, the CEA projects that only 2.8 million VCRs will be sold compared to the 23 million that people bought in 2000.

And even then, the VCR had begun to give way to DVD players. At its peak sometime between 1980 and 1990 it is estimated that about 200 million units were sold in one year.

Time for Jerry

Veteran actor Jerry Orbach has prostate cancer, according to a statement from his manager. Orbach played Det. Lennie Briscoe on the original Law & Order since 1992, but left at the end of last season to headline Law & Order: Trial by Jury, a new spinoff that debuts in January on NBC.

According to Trial by Jury producer Dick Wolf, Orbach's treatment thus far has not interrupted the new show's prodction schedule. ''We expect he'll be fine. He's been playing golf, shooting his episodes and doing real well,'' manager Robert Malcolm told the New York Daily News.

Nirvana collection shatters box-set sales record

The new Nirvana box set, "With the Lights Out," sold 105,760 copies during its first week in stores, more than doubling the previous SoundScan-era record for box sets sold in a single week, according to Geffen Records.

The three-CD/one-DVD compilation surpassed the mark set in 1998 by Bruce Springsteen's "Tracks," which sold 46,516 copies. SoundScan began tracking album purchases in 1991.

"With the Lights Out" also entered this week's Billboard 200 album chart at No. 19. The collection covers the Seattle band's entire history, from its 1987 inception to its 1994 demise in the wake of frontman/guitarist Kurt Cobain's suicide.

The collection sports 81 tracks, 68 of which were previously unreleased.

Image is everything

The Nirvana box illustrates the trend towards including more visuals in pricey music collections.

Already a common component of standard CD releases, the bonus DVD is gradually making its way into pop music's grand artifact, the elaborately packaged, multi-CD career retrospective.

By 21st-century digital standards, the box set is an old-fashioned touchy-feely relic, yet it's considered immune to the technological epidemic that many predict will devour little silver discs, cardboard packaging and brick-and-mortar stores.

Still, enhancements never hurt, and the DVD explosion means consumers already are comfortable with the format and eager to add eye candy to their listening experience.

"People just love DVD, and it's such a well-established format that it makes sense to start capitalizing on that," says Robin Hurley, senior vice president for artists and repertoire at Warner Strategic Marketing, which added DVDs to this year's box sets for Black Sabbath and Peter, Paul & Mary.

"Eventually, probably all music will be on DVD," he says. "I don't know how quickly, but maybe in the next few years. Adding DVDs to box sets is part of building the bridge toward listening to music on DVD. We're also taking short steps with dual discs. These days, everything has to have the feel of multimedia."

The DVD in the Black Sabbath box contains a concert, Live at the Beat Club. DVDs in boxes by Michael Jackson and Judas Priest also boast live performances. The Nirvana box DVD holds previously unreleased video of nine songs performed in 1988 at bassist Krist Novoselic's mother's house in Aberdeen, Wash., plus the In Bloom video and 10 live clips, including early footage of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Artists as disparate as Bon Jovi and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra also added DVDs to new box sets.

Though video stars Madonna and Duran Duran tend to release stand-alone DVD sets, less visually active artists "can collect rare clips and promo videos that can whet people's appetites," Hurley says. "You can flesh out a box with some interviews or electronic press kits that give true fans interesting insight."

When box sets began appearing in the 1980s, few artists being showcased had a rich video, or even photographic, archive. Consider the scarcity of Robert Johnson images. But now that the MTV generation is toasting itself with splashy box-set flashbacks, the video vaults are bursting.

Band Aid Stuck in U.K.?

Do they know it's Christmas? Maybe, maybe not. The bigger question is: Do Americans care?

Band Aid 20's new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is selling at a record pace--in England, anyway. The story, though, is different on the American side of the Pond.

The updated take on the 1984 Christmas charity smash features some of Britain's biggest names, including Dido, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Joss Stone, Paul McCartney and, for good measure, one Irish megastar in the form of U2's Bono. The performers, checking their egos at the door (in theory, anyway), gathered together to help victims in Sudan's Darfur region--much like the original single was used to raise cash for famine relief in Africa.

But while the newly assembled ensemble, dubbed Band Aid 20, is a smash hit in its opening days on the British charts, the track might not make it to U.S. record shops before Christmas, if at all, according to industry sources.

"The last we heard it is not coming out in the U.S.," says Jerry Suarez, Virgin Megastore's senior music product manager for North America. The chain is selling an import version of the CD single.

"Considering we only got it a few days ago it is doing especially well," says Suarez, especially in New York and Los Angeles.

Universal International is releasing the single overseas, but according to a rep for Universal in New York, there are no immediate plans to release the single in America.

"Historically, the American marketplace has proven averse to much of what has been incredibly successful in England," says HITS magazine editor and E! News Live correspondent David Adelson.

"Despite the success of the first Band Aid, as well as the noble cause behind this latest one, the chance of replicating the song's U.K. success Stateside is slim at best."

The first version of the Bob Geldolf/Midge Ure-penned "Do They Know It's Christmas?" brushed the upper echelons of U.S. charts when it was released 20 years ago, peaking at number 13 on Billboard's Top 100. It still pops up this time of year as radio stations shift to holiday music programs.

The updated tune sold nearly 100,000 copies Monday, its first day in stores, and was moving 2,500 copies an hour at Woolworth stores, according to Britain's Sun. The track is expected to bow at number one and stay at the top of the Brit pops until Christmas.

U.K. music magazine NME predicted that first-week sales of the song will hover near 500,000--which would make it the year's fastest-selling single after Eamon's "(F*** It) Don't Want You Back."

Perhaps Universal's apparent ambivalence at releasing the tune has something to do with the lukewarm critical reaction. British critics harshed on it ("Nobody's idea of a great record," opined the Guardian), and in New Zealand, one radio station has even banned the tune--calling it "rubbish."

One of the 40 artists on the new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"--Travis frontman Fran Healy--recently chided naysayers, hoping to put the focus back on the song's charitable goals. He told the BBC last week that the song is "not a big nostalgia trip to remember our childhoods in the '80s."

He called criticism of the single "disgraceful."

U.S. fans wanting to hear the new version can go to the official Website, BandAid20.com.

The latest version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is actually the third time the song has been worked over by an all-star lineup. In 1989, the song was remade with help from of-the-moment pop stars like Kylie Minogue and Wet Wet Wet to decidedly mixed reviews.

Music fans celebrate hotly anticipated Canadian launch of ITunes

TORONTO (CP) - ITunes finally launched in Canada on Thursday, bringing with it over 700,000 songs, exclusive tracks, celebrity playlists and multiple CD burning rights.

"I'm thrilled. There goes my day," said Kyle Moffat, a 29-year-old music enthusiast in Toronto who'd been checking the site twice weekly for a few months in anticipation of the opening. "It (about) time," said another downloading fanatic identified as FormatC2 on the AppleInsider.com forum, which was buzzing with activity Thursday.

Apple's paid downloading service, which offers all of its songs at 99 cents each or albums starting at $9.99, started accepting Canadian orders close to midnight EST on Wednesday night at www.apple.com/ca.

"The demand across Canada has been overwhelming," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice-president of applications. "We've had a lot of e-mail requests and calls looking for the ITunes store."

He added that Apple's IPod portable music player, which works jointly with the ITunes software, has been selling briskly across the country.

The launch was well received by music rights holders, who say ITunes's popularity has encouraged people to turn away from illegal downloading sites like Kazaa.

"Anything that expands the number of legitimate legal licensed options for people to get music online, help the fight against piracy and give Canadians far more choice . . . is great," said David Basskin of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, one of several groups that negotiated copyright issues with Apple.

The ITunes Music Store opened in April 2003 in the U.S., servicing only Mac computers. It expanded to the Windows platform a few months later. Since then, the company says more than one hundred million songs have been purchased through the Internet.

The Canadian version of ITunes can be used with Mac and Windows.

Apple has since opened online stores in Europe as well in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Once purchased, users can play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to the music on an unlimited number of IPods. The bilingual site, which will only accept orders from those with a valid credit card with a billing address in Canada, also offers more than 9,000 audio books.

ITunes joins several other legal download sites available in Canada such as Napster.ca, Puretracks.com and Quebec's Archambault.ca.

Music fan Moffat says the others can't beat Apple's convenience, ease of use and exclusive track offerings. For instance, ITunes was the first to sell U2's highly anticipated new record.

"I've gone through both Napster and Puretracks, I just find the selection isn't half as good as ITunes," said Moffat, who has 1,900 songs on his IPod. "ITunes has a lot of the old stuff . . . and it organizes music for you in a nice, clear way."

Rick Broadhead, a technology analyst and author, expects ITunes to "blow everyone out of the water."

"They are very quickly going to become the dominant player in online music downloading in Canada," he said, adding that he couldn't point to a single bad review of the service.

It's that kind of positive word of mouth that's helped make ITunes the market leader everywhere it's available, says Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto.

The fact that an American company could potentially swallow homegrown businesses doesn't really matter to consumers, he added.

"People don't buy on nationalism. People buy on what benefits something offers. What ITunes has done is create a tremendous buzz around their product. This is the product of choice."

Toronto-based Puretracks, which also boasts a 700,000-song catalogue, responded to ITunes's launch with an announcement that it has partnered with SaskTel and Aliant to open new online stores with the telecom companies. Puretracks prices start at 79 cents a song.

Puretracks says its local expertise, especially with the independent lables, will continue to appeal to Canadians.

"Canadians listen to Canadian music. Thirty per cent of what we here on the radio is Canadian and we tend to like it . . . in terms of Canadian content we far outstrip them," Puretracks co-founder Alistair Mitchell said of ITunes.

However, Mitchell said anything that helps turn consumers on to paid download services is good for the whole industry.

"Choice is good. By putting three grocery stores on the same intersection, everyone benefits," he said.

Apple-ITunes settles dispute over Do They Know It's Christmas?

LONDON (AP) - Apple Computer Inc. has settled a dispute that was keeping the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? off its ITunes music store in Britain.

The song, released Monday, hadn't been available as a download from ITunes, reportedly because Apple declined to sell the song for more than the service's $1.52 US base price. Rivals including HMV and Napster are selling the song for $2.86, the price requested by the Band Aid Trust.

Apple said Wednesday it would sell the single for $1.52 and donate the difference to the Band Aid famine-relief charity. It quickly became the best-selling ITunes download in Britain.

Apple's decision sparked criticism from its competitors. Napster said it was "disappointed they've chosen to use the biggest charity event of the year to undercut every other music retailer in the UK."

The original Band Aid single, released in 1984, raised millions of dollars for victims of starvation in Ethiopia. It featured artists including Boy George, Duran Duran and Phil Collins.

The new single, which was released Monday, features artists including Dido, Coldplay's Chris Marti, Paul McCartney, U2's Bono and members of The Darkness.

It will raise money for victims of strife in Sudan, where fighting has killed thousands of people and forced 1.8 million people to flee their homes.

Imperioli to Appear on 'Law & Order'

LOS ANGELES - A mobster will be taking over for a cop on "Law & Order." Michael Imperioli of "The Sopranos" will appear in the NBC drama while series star Jesse L. Martin, who plays New York police Detective Ed Green, films the musical "Rent," NBC said Thursday.

Imperioli will play a police detective who teams up with his uncle, Detective Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina), in the final episodes of this season.

"I'm glad to be on the right side of the law," Imperioli said in a statement. He won an Emmy this year for his portrayal of mob boss Tony Soprano's hard-luck nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, on HBO's "The Sopranos."

Martin, in his sixth season on "Law & Order," was an original cast member of the Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning "Rent," playing the role of Tom Collins.

He'll return to the TV series next season, Martin and "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf said in a statement.

Dylan Says 'I'm No Prophet' in TV Interview

NEW YORK (Reuters) - He spoke for a generation when he sang "The times they are a-changin"' in 1964 and it all came true. But Bob Dylan says he's no prophet.

In his first television interview in 19 years, the man whose song "Like a Rolling Stone" was recently named the greatest rock 'n' roll song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, said grandiose comparisons made him uncomfortable.

"It was like being in an Edgar Allan Poe story and you're just not that person everybody thinks you are, though they call you that all the time," Dylan says in an interview to be broadcast on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

"I never wanted to be a prophet or a savior," Dylan says, according to extracts of the interview released by CBS on Thursday. "Elvis maybe. I could see myself becoming him. But prophet? No."

Dylan, now 63 and publicizing his "Chronicles, Vol. 1" memoir, said he sometimes felt like an imposter when faced with awe-struck fans.

"My stuff -- (they) were songs, they weren't sermons," he tells 60 Minutes. "If you examine the songs I don't believe you're going to find anything in there that says that I'm a spokesman for anybody or anything really."

Dylan played down the importance of "Like a Rolling Stone" being named best ever rock song: "Oh, maybe this week (it's No. 1.) But you know, the list, they change names quite frequently, really. I don't pay much attention to that."

"Like a Rolling Stone," a scornful ode to a spoiled woman's reversal of fortune, established Dylan as a mainstream artist, marking his transformation from folk troubadour to rock sensation.

Interview: Art Alexakis of Everclear

Everclear frontman Art Alexakis has had an emotional year, separating from his longtime bandmates as well as his wife and his record label.

"Late last year I got separated from my third wife and we got divorced," Alexakis said during a phone interview from Salt Lake City. "We're still going through stuff. We're still trying to get closure, and it's very painful for me. It's just been a really, really tough year. It's been a hell of a year,"

Although difficult, the experiences have provided fodder for his next album, which--because he also recently split with Capitol Records--is for a label to be determined.

Writing songs for the new record has been cathartic, he admitted.

"I don't know how to do anything else at this point," Alexakis said. "… it's not just all about heartbreak. They're very personal songs, the songs on this next record.

"If I tried to write about something else, it would sound fake. It's just where I'm at. The great thing about not being on a label is I'm not trying to meet deadlines. I'm not trying to deliver a record by a certain date, you know?"

Most important to Alexakis--and Capitol--at the moment is promoting his last effort for the label, "Ten Years Gone: The Best of Everclear 1994-2004." Alexakis talked to liveDaily about his new band, a forthcoming change of sound for Everclear and his future.

liveDaily: How's the tour going so far?

Art Alexakis: It's going really good. I had six shows in a row, so my throat was hurting last night. The show before it was excellent. The four or five shows before it were pretty great. We're really hitting our stride. We're about two weeks through a six-week tour. We're starting to fire on all pistons. It feels good to be out on the road with these guys. But I'm kind of burnt with being on the road. It's not new and exciting like it used to be. I like playing the shows, but I want to record new songs and put out a new record. I'm a musician. My attention span is not that good. Artistic people are going to be flaky like that. [Laughs]

Who are you touring with these days?

On drums we have Brett Snyder, on bass guitar Sam Hudson, keyboard Josh Crawley. On lead guitar and background vocals is Davis French III. He's an amazing guitar player. I play more of a rhythm guitar, a lot of acoustic guitar. Even though they're older songs, things are a little bit more laid back. They still rock. I still get all excited, but it's not like the bombast it was. The next record's going to be more laid back. It's gonna definitely have a more rootsy-sounding influence, both from an old-fashioned R&B standpoint, and also an alternative country kind of feel on some songs.

What brought about the change?

I've been doing stuff like that for years. If you go back with my other bands I put out I've always been a big fan of country and alternative country. It's going to be interesting. It's kind of like Everclear-meets-Tom Petty-meets-indie rock-meets-Otis Redding. [Laughs] There's all sorts of stuff there.

Why was now the time for a greatest hits album?

Capitol decided it was time for a greatest hits record. We're off Capitol. It made sense to encapsulate the last 10 years we were on Capitol, and just kind of put a collection of radio hits, fan favorites, band favorites and some obscure songs--some new songs that people haven't heard. It kind of closes the chapter on that.

Your "Best of Everclear" album features hits such as "Everything to Everyone" and "AM Radio," and previously unreleased songs like "Sex with a Movie Star (The Good Witch Gone Bad)." Was it hard to choose the songs for the album?

Kind of. We had to leave some songs out. Some fans are like, "Why'd you do that?" Because I couldn't just pick all the songs from one record. I wanted to make it an album that flowed. It's got the best reviews of any record we've ever put out. So that's excellent and encouraging.

Have you started writing a new album yet?

Yes.

Tell me about your writing process. Do you write primarily on the road, at home, in the studio?

We write everywhere.

Do you have a new record deal yet?

No, I'm not even looking for one. I'm not even talking to anyone. I'm going to record a record on my own dime. Then I'll just shop the record. Or put it out on a big indie. I have a studio. The days of having to go to a major label are gone with the Internet. I don't think it's that important. I could go to a major label right now, but I don't want to. I want to do a record. I've got about 19 songs to pick 12 songs from and I'm still writing songs.

Where is the easiest place for you to work?

It's easier to write at home, [though] the isolation of a hotel room or a back of a bus sometimes helps the creative aspect come to life.

'Finding Neverland' Wins First Award in Oscar Race

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Finding Neverland," a fictionalized account of the creation of children's classic "Peter Pan," was named best film of 2004 by The National Board of Review on Wednesday in the first major award of the Oscar season.

Oscar hopeful Jamie Foxx was named best actor for "Ray," director Taylor Hackford's film about legendary singer Ray Charles, while Annette Bening won the best actress award for her role as a 1930s stage diva in "Being Julia."

The awards, voted on by about 150 members of a screening committee along with a 12-member awards panel, are sometimes an indicator of what to expect in the race for the Academy Awards in February, though frequently its choices are more esoteric than the Oscars.

"Finding Neverland" director Marc Forster, who was shopping in a supermarket store when he heard news of the award, said his film offered an optimistic tale of mortality and growing up.

"We live in very dark times right now," he said.

The film is a fantasy about Scottish author J.M. Barrie and his friendship with a family of children including Peter, who is the model for Peter Pan, in Edwardian London.

"Whatever happens from here on out I'm happy," Forster added, declining to speculate on the race for Oscars. "I learned not to have expectations because if you have expectations you can be disappointed."

'A LOT OF BIOPICS'

Michael Mann was named best director for his thriller "Collateral," starring Tom Cruise, while "The Incredibles," about a family of superheroes, won best animated feature, beating out big studio films "Shrek 2" and "Polar Express."

Alejandro Amenabar's "The Sea Inside" ("Mar adentro") won best foreign language film, a category dominated by Spanish language films. Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education" was second, "Maria Full of Grace" about a Colombian drugs courier was third, and "The Motorcycle Diaries," based on the journals of a young Che Guevara, came in fifth.

The board's list of top 10 films of the year had in second place "The Aviator," starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a young Howard Hughes, followed by Mike Nichols' "Closer," Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" and "Sideways."

Rounding out the top 10 were "Kinsey," the biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, in the sixth spot followed in order by abortionist drama "Vera Drake," "Ray," "Collateral" and genocide drama "Hotel Rwanda."

"What we noticed with our top 10 is there were a lot of biopics," said board spokeswoman Megan Henry Pilla. "The board was drawn to films about real people."

Two big names omitted from the main lists but picked out for "Special recognition of films that reflect the freedom of expression" were Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" and Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"Born into Brothels," a film about children of prostitutes in Calcutta, India, won in the documentary category.

The board, whose membership includes film professionals, educators, students and historians, gave a career achievement award to Jeff Bridges, and honored Clint Eastwood for special filmmaking achievement for producing, directing, acting and composing the score for "Million Dollar Baby."

The next date in the U.S. awards calendar is Dec. 13, when the New York Film Critics Circle names its selections and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces its Golden Globe nominations. All those help narrow the contestants for the Oscars, which will be awarded on Feb. 27.

Brokaw Steps Down After 21 Years as NBC Anchor

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Telling his audience "we've been through a lot together," Tom Brokaw bid farewell as anchor of the "NBC Nightly News" on Wednesday, becoming the first of the big three stars of U.S. network news for the last 20 years to retire.

In what media analysts saw as heralding the end of an era for the traditional news anchor, Dan Rather of the CBS "Evening News" has said he would step down next March, leaving Peter Jennings of ABC's "World News Tonight" as the last veteran anchorman.

"We've been through a lot together," Brokaw told viewers at the end of his final broadcast in the hot seat. "Through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy. Whatever the story I had only one objective -- to get it right."

"When I failed it was personally painful," he added.

"The enduring lessons through the decades are these: It's not the questions that get us in trouble, it's the answers. And just as important no one person has all the answers," he said.

Brokaw, 64, began his last day as anchor with an emotional appearance on the "Today" show which he once hosted, recalling his career from his first job on a local station in Nebraska to covering the White House during the Watergate scandal.

First as co-anchor in 1982 and then taking over as sole "Nightly News" anchor from John Chancellor in 1983, the no-nonsense South Dakotan with a flat accent won all of broadcast journalism's top awards including several Emmys.

But it was a work of history that Brokaw said he was most proud of: his book "The Greatest Generation," based on hundreds of letters and interviews with survivors of the D-Day landings in 1944 in northwest France.

Brokaw has signed a 10-year contract keeping him with the network as a documentary producer and host through 2014, but he said he expects to spend more time fishing and enjoying his grandchildren in the years ahead.

TEARS AND THANKS

At the end of his "Today" show appearance, colleagues toasted him with champagne and the silver-haired, soft-spoken newsman shed a tear. Signing off at the end of the evening news, he kept his composure: "You'll see Brian Williams here tomorrow night, and I'll see you along the way."

Paul Levinson, head of Fordham University's media department, said the rise of 24-hour cable news channels and news on the Internet from both bloggers and traditional media sources had changed the way people consume news.

"The news anchor spoke to a different kind of America than we are today," he said. "The evening TV newscast, in which the family gathers around, is becoming ... a piece of history."

Brokaw is credited by NBC with leading the network to the top of the news ratings since 1997, but ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., has made strides in closing the gap.

NBC News president Neal Shapiro acknowledged that "Nightly News" was likely to lose some viewers as Brokaw departs.

Shapiro dismissed the notion that Williams was a relative lightweight compared to Brokaw, calling him "a great reporter."