The Couch Potato Report - February 1st, 2005

In The Couch Potato Report this week, the legend, the man, the movie, RAY!

Oh, and there are two other films too.

In 1980 I went to see a movie called THE BLUES BROTHERS because it co-starred Carrie Fisher from STAR WARS and John Candy of SCTV fame.

I had no idea that The Blues Brothers - as played by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi - were popular characters from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, I went to hear Candy's classic line from the trailer ("We're in a truck") and because, like most young men of that time, I had a crush on Carrie Fisher.

In addition to Candy and the eye candy the movie was also full of some great musicians. Aretha Franklin! Cab Calloway! And Ray Charles!

I was unaware of who Aykroyd and Belushi were and I also didn't know who any of those singers were.

Yet when I went in to a record store not long after seeing the movie I bought the soundtrack album to THE BLUES BROTHERS because I wanted to hear the music again.

Over the years I have watched the movie a few dozen times, but I have listened to the soundtrack hundreds of times.

The movie served as my introduction to Ray Charles. I didn't know him then, but I know him now.

That fact that I know him, admire him, and love his music is what scared me when I sat down to watch RAY, the Hollywood film about Ray Charles life.

Even though the film's director - Taylor Hackford - had produced the great film LA BAMBA about the life of Richie Valens, and he had entertained me with his movies AGAINST ALL ODDS and WHITE NIGHTS, he was also the director who bored me with his recent films PROOF OF LIFE and THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE.

So that made me nervous.

Then there was Jamie Foxx, the man given the task of portraying the musical legend.

Foxx had delivered great dramatic turns in ALI, COLLATERAL and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, but I primarily knew him as a comedian from the TV show IN LIVING COLOUR.

As I sit here right now, I am pleased to tell you that all of my fears were unfounded!

Both Hackford and Foxx highly deserve the Academy Award nominations they received for their work in RAY.

The movie RAY is a warts-and-all look at the man, the musician and the businessman who was Ray Charles.

RAY does celebrate Ray Charles, but it doesn't shy away from his heroin addiction and frequent infidelities. It also doesn't waver in it's goal to detail the hostility that Brother Ray suffered due to the racism of 1950s and '60s in America.

RAY would have been a great film to see due to the man at it's core, but one other reason to watch it is so you can bear witness to the amazing performance of Jamie Foxx in the title role.

For once, all of the hype you are hearing about a performance is completely justified.

Foxx is absolutely amazing in the picture!

Wow! I've been praising RAY for a few minutes already, and I haven't even mentioned the music yet!

Hearing "I Got a Woman," "What'd I Say," "Georgia on My Mind," "Unchain My Heart" and "I Can't Stop Loving You" helped remind me why a movie about Ray Charles was a movie worth making and worth seeing in the first place.

The man had an unprecedented 50-year career, and when we lost him last year, we lost a powerful musician, and a great man.

It was my pleasure to watch it RAY, and I take pride in admitting to you that RAY is a fitting eulogy to a great man.

A man I discovered, when I went to laugh at John Candy and stare at Carrie Fisher.

Thanks for everything, Brother Ray!

I don't have any thanks to give to THE GRUDGE, our next new release this week.

As THE RING was in 2002, THE GRUDE is another Hollywood remake of a successful Japanese horror film. Unlike THE RING, THE GRUDGE won't duplicate the success of the original on this side of the world.

The film is set in Tokyo, where there is an house that looks ordinary enough, but something bad once happened there.

Unaware of the house's issues, people continue to enter, visit and live in the house. Invariably, they end up on the bad end of the house's "grudge."

Sarah Michelle Gellar from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER plays a social worker in this film, but she really isn't given much to do so her work doesn't really add up to much.

In the end THE GRUDGE is just a haunted house film that is full of horror movie clichés.

A cat jumps out at you, weird sounds abound, people go where they shouldn't, and there are more than a few "make you jump" moments.

If you are looking for a very entertaining Hollywood version of a Japanese horror film, just watch THE RING, in fact, the original version of THE RING is much better than the original version of THE GRUDGE as well.

For the record, THE RING TWO will open in theaters at the end of March.

Also at the end of March, major league baseball players will be at training camp getting ready for the 2005 Major League Baseball Season!

In fact, we are less than two weeks away from the opening of Spring Training!!

If you are like me, and you need a baseball fix now, our final new release this week should appease you.

Bernie Mac is the man known as MR. 3000 in the movie of the same name.

Mac plays an unlikable baseball star who is forced to come out of retirement at the age of forty-seven to get three hits in order to get in to the Hall Of Fame.

As he attempts to correct his record, his selfish past returns to haunt him, along with a former flame.

MR. 3000 isn't your basic, 100% predictable sports movie, but it isn't far off.

I liked it, but I wasn't expecting much.

RAY, THE GRUDGE and MR. 3000 are now available at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

The animated film SHARK TALE features Will Smith playing a young fish who lies about killing a shark to become a celebrity. Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese also lend their voices to this very entertaining film.

DeNiro and Scorsese didn't just lend their voices to the film RAGING BULL, they gave everything that had to this classic 1980 film. The 2 disc DVD set RAGING BULL - SPECIAL EDITION features a look at what they did, and more.

The three disc box set of MIAMI VICE - SEASON ONE includes all 22 episodes from the 1984-85 season, plus the two-hour pilot; a series introduction by creator Michael Mann and a wealth of features including the series' back story and a look at the music that was included in the show.

If you love TV on DVD, next week will also see the release of THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON and FULL HOUSE - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.

Our final new release next week is THE NOTEBOOK. In this touching love story a young couple in love is forced apart by World War II. Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands and James Garner star.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on THE NOTEBOOK, MIAMI VICE, RAGING BULL, and those other new 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!

Mariah Frees Herself

Pop diva Mariah Carey is set to return this spring with a dance-heavy R&B album, The Emancipation of Mimi. The record, which Carey calls "the real essence of who I am," was titled after the nickname used by those closest to her.

"'Mimi' is a nickname that my friends and loved ones call me, so I wanted to think about that and make it representative of where I'm at as an artist," explains Carey. "It was like, 'OK, this is the fun side, the real me, and not the image and the baggage that comes with the whole "Mariah Carey" thing.' It's a reflection of this being a celebratory moment in my life."

This optimism is in contrast to the drama the diva has experienced of late. While in the studio in November, Carey posted a note on her Web site, stating that for a period she had felt "imprisoned by my insecurities . . . For the first time in my life, I feel free and unashamed to be who I really am." When asked about these issues, Carey replies, "That's just how I've been since I was a child. I come from a bi-racial family, and I moved thirteen times when I was growing up. I had, you know, not the average childhood. Then certain relationships I was in were not that great for someone who does have insecurities . . . And it intensifies when you become famous and you're under a microscope."

The first, club-ready single off Emancipation, "It's Like That," was produced by longtime friend Jermaine Dupri. "I'm really excited about it -- Jermaine and I have such great chemistry in the studio," Carey says. "This song to me is a fun party record, like 'We're just going out, having a good time and not being stressed about anything.'"

The Neptunes' Pharrell Williams also helped set the upbeat tone. "It became like a party atmosphere: He was working with Snoop on his record in one room, and with Nelly in another, and then we all ended up collaborating together," says Carey. "I'd never worked with the Neptunes before, but I'd wanted to since they worked with Jay[-Z]. Then when other female artists worked with them, I was like, 'Now I won't be the first girl!' [laughs] It was a fun moment for us, to finally get in the studio and feel each others' vibe." Snoop and Carey were reunited for the first time since 1999's "Crybaby" (Rainbow), which the singer calls "one of my favorite songs."

In addition to the dance-friendly tracks, Emancipation brings the searching ballads that Carey is known for. "I love [the single] as a first look," she says, "but there are also songs with a little bit of meaning behind them." She dubs the "inspirational" record "Fly Like a Bird" the album's "most introspective moment, and the most powerful vocally and lyrically." The pastor from Carey's church, Pastor Clarence Keaton, actually speaks on the track. "So it's a really special song for me," she confesses. Carey also describes the process of recording these slower tracks as freer and "much more organic." "I went in with live musicians, and I sang the songs with the band: I would sing different guitar riffs with the guitar players," she explains, "and tell the horn players what I was hearing."

With more than a few young pop stars taking to lip-syncing these days, Carey's powerhouse voice puts all that "acid reflux" talk to shame. Performing regularly live, she claims, actually helped rather than hurt her vocals on the new record. "I went on tour [for 2002's Charmbracelet], and that got me in a great place vocally," Carey says. "I would do an entire show of my songs, which are really demanding, and then I would take two days off and sleep and rest and hang out -- that was excellent for my voice. So when I went back into the studio, I was able to experiment vocally and go back to singing in more of a belting register and a higher register -- and yet still do the breathy, soft things that I like."

A tour in support of Emancipation is in the works for this summer. But Carey worries about how to keep her fans happy. "I always want to make sure the fans are happy when they leave, and they've heard all their favorite songs," she admits. "And it's hard because I've had a lot of records! But I think once the fans get this album, they're going to want to hear the new songs."

Meanwhile, Carey is shooting the video for "It's Like That," directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Red Dragon), this week in Las Vegas. When asked if the honesty of Emancipation will call for more of a stripped-down look, Carey laughs. "I don't think people really want to watch a video of me looking how I look when I'm recording -- which is, like, boxer shorts, no makeup and a tank top," she says. "To me, videos are like dress-up moments. We all want to look good, you know."

The Projects That Time Forgot

In an era when just about every major artist has parallel movie and music careers alongside shoe deals, cosmetics and clothing lines, it's inevitable that a few projects will fall off the plate. Like that punk album from Beck, the rock-inspired solo debut from DMC (of Run-DMC), Joey Fatone's comedy album and "American Idol" reject Frenchie's debut, to name a few.

Then there are cases like Fiona Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, which is finished but in limbo because her label has reportedly refused to issue it. That project spawned a Web site (freefiona.com) dedicated to securing its release, which is still not scheduled. Fans haven't set up a site to push along the solo debut from former Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha, which has been more than three years in the making. A spokesperson said the untitled work, reportedly featuring contributions from DJ Shadow and Trent Reznor, does not have a release date.

Some projects, such as the long-rumored, mysterious Nine Inch Nails side band Tapeworm, attain a mythical quality, while others, like the decade-in-the-making Chinese Democracy from Guns N' Roses, are so long overdue that they've turned into punch lines.

On the heels of the recent release of what was the most legendary lost album of all time, Brian Wilson's Smile — which he finally completed, nearly 30 years after he and the Beach Boys started — we decided to check in on a few of the projects that haven't made it to the finish line ... yet.

Victoria Beckham
Project: Damon Dash-produced album
Status: Was it really just a year and a half ago that Roc-A-Fella boss Damon Dash was hyping the former Posh Spice as the new face of his music and fashion empire? Though tracks were laid down with such acts as M.O.P., the hip-hop-heavy album, executive produced by Dash, was shelved due to tensions between the Roc fella and Beckham's management, as well as a contractual disagreement with her U.K. label, according to sources

Beyoncé
Project: Dangerously in Love sequel
Status: In December 2003, Beyoncé told MTV News that she was planning to release the sequel to Dangerously in Love the following March. "I recorded about 45 songs for Dangerously in Love," the singer said at the time. "I love so many songs, and they are just kind of going to waste sitting there." With Destiny's Child currently promoting Destiny Fulfilled, a rep for Beyoncé said there is no update on when a second solo album might drop.

Dr. Dre, Timbaland
Project: Chairmen of the Boards
Status: More than three years ago, Timbaland spilled the beans that he and Dr. Dre were cooking up a supergroup called Chairmen of the Boards. "I want to do a Dr. Dre/ Timbaland album," he said. "We're trying to do something real crazy." The project was to feature artists from Tim's Beat Club roster and Dre's Aftermath posse. "We'll pick artists we feel like we should do the beats for and put it out and promote it," Tim said. Well, "we're still waiting for [Dre's] main project," said David Saslow from Dre's label, Interscope Records, of the rapper/producer's long-awaited Detox album. "There's no time for other projects."

Jonathan Davis, Korn
Project: Book with horrormeister Clive Barker, video game
Status: According to Davis' manager, Peter Katsis, funding for an interactive DVD/coffee table book featuring Barker's paintings and Davis' music fell through. And as for Davis' "Pop Scars" video game, "as he was developing it, he saw a bunch of other fighting games and it seemed like the idea should have come together quicker," Katsis said. Davis is still at work on some other games, details of which have not yet been announced.

P. Diddy
Project: Techno and gospel albums
Status: Shortly after his 2002 acquittal on bribery and gun-possession charges, Diddy announced that he was going to release an album of gospel songs called Thank You. The collaboration with Hezekiah Walker was to feature Faith Evans, Brandy and Carl Thomas alongside such gospel acts as Fred Hammond and Mary Mary. The album was never released, but Bad Boy's Carla Guerrero said it is "still in the works," although no release date has been set. The rap impresario also announced in 2003 that he was working on a techno-inspired dance album called Divided Soul. He previewed a collaboration with Kelis titled "Let's Get Ill" on the beach at the American Dance Music Awards in March 2003, but then the heat came off the project. He played to sold-out crowds at clubs in Ibiza last summer and has hooked up with such techno producers as Deep Dish, Felix Da Housecat and Erick Morillo for the album. "He's still working on it and there's just a couple more songs to finish," Guerrero said. "He's just waiting for the right time to release it," which she expects will be this summer. Mark your calendars.

Limp Bizkit's Extracurricular Activities
Projects: Fred Durst's directorial debut and electronica album; Wes Borland's Eat the Day
Status: For a minute, it looked like Fred Durst was going to parlay his experience at lensing videos for bands like Puddle of Mudd into a movie-directing career. Just two years ago, the Limp Bizkit frontman was attached to as many as four films, including "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of the 2001 documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys." That one was assigned to Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen") when co-producer David Fincher ("Fight Club") decided the movie had become too big a project to assign to a first-time director. At last count, the Bizkit singer was still involved in "Runt," about a high-school outcast, and the thriller "Life Without Joe," though neither has gone into production. Those two are "still being talked about, but new ideas are gaining more steam," said Peter Katsis (who manages Durst as well as Korn), without elaborating. And whatever became of Durst's '80s-inspired electronica side project, Pacifica? "We're not sure what name it will take," Katsis said, "but he's postponed working on solo stuff because of the new Limp Bizkit album."

Meanwhile, past and current Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland spent more than a year searching for a singer for his band Eat the Day. But after listening to more than 1,000 demos and announcing Adam Yas of the Oakland, California, band Stalking Tom as his singer, Borland pulled the plug on the project shortly before rejoining Bizkit. He briefly toyed with doing an album with Filter's Richard Patrick, but that too went up in smoke. Borland has shelved Eat the Day for now to concentrate on the new Bizkit album.

William Hung
Project: Movie debut
Status: The "American Idol" whipping boy's Cantonese-language action comedy, "Where Is Mama's Boy?," was just released in Singapore, but the singer's personal assistant said a release date for the movie in the U.S. has not yet been nailed down. Hung is also working on his English-language film debut, which also has not yet been scheduled for release.

R. Kelly, Baby
Project: Album, movie
Status: Kelly and Baby both hyped a sequel to the Pied Piper's hookup with Jay-Z, The Best of Both Worlds, but the record isn't on anyone's release schedule just yet (and they probably won't be using that comparison if and when it does materialize). The pair also teamed up to write a script for a movie titled "Eye Contact" that they planned to shoot in October 2004, followed by a joint Cash Money/ Kelly tour. However, when asked recently if the album was coming out, Baby said, "I don't think so. Kelly has got his situation going on and I am doing my thing right now. The album is done, but right now I'm focusing on my album and my [Cash Money] acts." Baby's spokesperson said that "Eye Contact" hasn't been shot yet.

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
Project: N.I.N.A. album
Status: The late rapper's debut solo effort, Supernova, was released overseas in 2001 but never made it to American shelves. Frustrated, Lopes signed with Tha Row under the name N.I.N.A. and recorded an album for the label shortly before her death in April 2002, which a spokesperson for Tha Row boss Marion "Suge" Knight told MTV News was slated for release in September of that year. More recently, a spokesperson for Tha Row did not return repeated calls for comment about the album's release.

The Matrix
Project: Debut album
Status: The debut album from super-producer trio the Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera) was slated for release in late 2004 but was quietly shelved, perhaps forever. "They finished it, did a video and it was amazing, but we decided not to go forward," said manager Sandy Roberton of the untitled album, for which the trio recruited a male and a female singer. "We realized that, because of all the activity they had as producers, trying to turn them into artists and touring and all that would be a nightmare." Singer Katy Perry has signed a solo deal with Columbia Records and is expected to use some of the songs on her upcoming debut; male singer Adam Longlands is signed to the Matrix's publishing company, but does not currently have an album slated for release. Meanwhile, the Matrix are working with Vanessa Carlton, Shakira, Ricky Martin and Barefoot, the first act signed to JT Records, the label recently formed by Jessica/ Ashlee manager/dad Joe Simpson.

Trent Reznor, Maynard James Keenan
Project: Tapeworm
Status: For more than four years, reports have circulated about this legendary hookup between Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and Tool/ A Perfect Circle singer Maynard James Keenan. Fans got a sneak preview of one song when APC performed "Vacant" at a 1999 concert, a move that reportedly irritated the notoriously secretive Reznor. At different points, Tapeworm also featured NIN guitarist Danny Lohner, 12 Rounds bassist/drummer Atticus Ross and former NIN keyboardist Charles Clouser. The group had reportedly booked time in Atlanta's Southern Tracks Studios to record the album in August of 2002, but a spokesperson for Reznor said recently that the band is "not a functioning project," and the music is not likely to be released.

3LW
Project: Sitcom, reality show
Status: In December of 2003, 3LW were reported to be planning to turn their Disney movie, "The Cheetah Girls," into an ABC sitcom. The group was also planning on turning the recording process of their next album into a reality show. The trio are just now starting work on the album with Jermaine Dupri and plans for the shows are on permanent hold, according to a spokesperson.

New Tunage

Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday, February 1st, 2005:

3rd Force Driving Force (Higher Octave)

Bonnie & Clyde Ness & Babs Double LP (Bad Boy)

Paul Brady Say What You Feel (guest Bonnie Raitt) (Compass)

Brazilian Girls Brazilian Girls (Verve Forecast)

Precious Bryant The Truth (Terminus)

Bobby Caldwell Perfect Island Nights (Music Force Media)

Caribbean Jazz Project Here and Now: Live in Concert (two CDs) (Concord)

Tommy Castro Soul Shaker (Blind Pig)

Chiara Civello Last Quarter Moon (w/song "Trouble" co-written by Burt Bacharach; guests Steve Gadd, Mike Mainieri, Daniel Jobim, others) (Verve)

Coachwhips Peanut Butter & Jelly Live at the Ginger Minge (Narnack)

Joe Cocker Heart & Soul (w/Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, others) (New Door/UME)

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet (Flecktones saxophonist) Bloom (guests Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, Kirk Whalum, DJ Logic and more) (Compass)

Bill Connors (ex-Return to Forever guitarist) Return (first album in 20 years) (Tone Center)

Lars Danielsson Libera Me (ACT/HighNote)

Downchild Come on in (Downchild Music)

Mannie Fresh The Mind of (Chopped and Screwed) (Universal)

Nanci Griffith Hearts in Mind (New Door/UME)

Rigmor Gustafsson with the Jack Terrasson Trio Close to You (ACT/HighNote)

Ed Harcourt Strangers (Astralwerks)

Scott Henderson Live! (two CDs) (Tone Center)

HIM Love Metal (Universal)

Roger Hoover & the Whiskeyhounds Panic Blues (new songs plus five bonus tracks from out of print CD "Golden Gloves") (Bandaloop)

The Impossible Shapes Horus (Secretly Canadian)

Johnny Boy Threat to Society (Thump)

Sonya Kitchell Cold Day (Velour)

Jess Klein Strawberry Lover (Rykodisc)

KOMA Sinonimo de Ofender (Locomotive)

Jack Logan and The Monday Night Recorders Nature's Assembly Line (Orange Twin)

Kevin Mahogany Big Band (Mahogany Jazz/Zebra)

Cass McCombs PREfection (Monitor)

Jason Moran Same Mother (ICE #215) (Blue Note)

Mr. Spade Real Talk (West Coast Mafia)

Kelly Joe Phelps Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind (Rykodisc)

Pilot Scott Tracy Any City (Alternative Tentacles)

Dafnis Prieto About the Monks (Zoho)

The Red Tops Left for Dead... (Universal Warning)

SNMNMNM As Best as We Can! (Unschooled)

Tierra Santa Apocalipsis (Locomotive)

Tishamingo Wear n' Tear (w/bonus audio & video material; includes cover of Lynyrd Synyrd's "Poison Whiskey") (Magnatude)

Unwritten Law Here's to the Mourning (guest Adrian Young of No Doubt) (Lava)

Leon Ware A Kiss in the Sand (guest James Ingram) (Kitchen)

Vanessa Williams Everlasting Love (covers album of ‘70s love songs; guest George Benson) (Lava)

The Yuppie Pricks Broker's Banquet (Alternative Tentacles)

VA Chillout 06 (Nettwerk)

VA Gangster Love Volume 2 (Thump)

VA Grammy Nominees 2005 (Capitol)

VA Tunnel Trance Force America (Varèse Sarabande)

OST Because of Winn-Dixie (Nettwerk)

OST Days of Our Lives: Love Songs (NBC soap opera; original songs w/vocals by cast members) (Varèse Sarabande)

OST Imaginary Heroes (Sigourney Weaver/Jeff Daniels film; score by Deborah Lurie) (Sony Classics/Milan)

OST Ray: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Vol. 2 (Charles' re-recorded versions of his classic tunes) (Rhino)

DVD Henry Rollins Shock & Awe: The Tour (spoken word performance) (Image Entertainment)

DVD The Roots A Sonic Event (guests Mobb Deep, Skillz, Jean Grae, Young Gunz and more) (Image Entertainment)

DVD VA The MC: Why We Do It (live performance and behind the scenes footage w/Jay-Z, KRS-One, Slick Rick, Common and more) (Image Entertainment)

Letterman Pays Special Tribute to Carson

NEW YORK - David Letterman paid tribute to Johnny Carson on Monday by telling his jokes. On his first "Late Show" since Carson's death on Jan. 23, Letterman's opening monologue was comprised entirely of jokes that Carson had quietly sent to him over the past few months from retirement in California.

Letterman didn't tell the audience until after the monologue was over who wrote the jokes. His guest on Monday's show, former Carson producer Peter Lassally, had revealed a few days before Carson had died that the retired "Tonight" show host missed his nightly monologue and had written jokes for Letterman.

"I moved to Los Angeles from Indianapolis in 1975, and the reason I moved is because of Johnny Carson and the `Tonight' show," Letterman said. "And I'm not the only one. I would guess that maybe three generations of comedians moved to be where Johnny was because if you thought you were funny and you wanted to find out if you could hit major league pitching, you had to be on the `Tonight' show."

Letterman said his first "Tonight" appearance led to his first NBC show.

"Truthfully, no stretch of the imagination, I owe everything in my professional career, whatever success we've attained, to Johnny Carson, because he was nice enough to give me the opportunity, and throughout my career, was always very supportive."

The entire show was devoted to Carson, filled with reminiscences from Lassally and Letterman.

At the end, Carson's old bandleader Doc Severinsen and his band — including put-upon sax player Tommy Newsome — performed one of Carson's favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day."

When Carson retired in May 1992, it set up a battle between Letterman and Jay Leno over who would succeed him. NBC chose Leno — but the joke pipeline was an indication that Carson privately considered Letterman the better host.

Letterman's CBS show was in reruns last week, allowing Leno the jump on a late-night Carson tribute. Leno's highly rated show last week included former Carson sidekick Ed McMahon and comics Bob Newhart and Don Rickles.

Letterman said everybody who's doing a talk show, himself included, is secretly doing Carson's "Tonight" show.

"The reason we're all doing Johnny's `Tonight' is because you think, `Well, if I do Johnny's "Tonight" show, maybe I'll be a little like Johnny and people will like me more,'" he said. "But it sadly doesn't work that way. It's just, if you're not Johnny, you're wasting your time."

Don't Take Off Yet ... Eh? SCTV Only Gets Funnier!

On SCTV: Volume 3 Martin Short Joins The Cast In This Third Volume Of Nine 90-Minute Episodes, also Starring John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara And Dave Thomas, Plus Bonus Material Galore!

IN STORES MARCH 1ST

"Now 'SCTV' has come to DVD. That is reason enough for the technology to exist." -- Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES, CA - Welcome back to Melonville as Shout! Factory announces the release of the final nine 90-minute episodes from "SCTV"'s acclaimed first season on NBC. Originally airing during the 1982-83 television season, the episodes in Volume 3 contain some of the funniest and most memorable "SCTV" skits and guest musical performances. "The self-contained comedy universe was, simply put, the most creative, surreal, and inspired TV comedy of its decade" (IMDB). With the addition of comic genius Martin Short to the last three shows, the five discs of Volume 3 showcase the star-studded cast -- Short, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara and Dave Thomas -- at the top of their game. SCTV: Volume 3 also includes an abundance of bonus material, with two new documentaries, two audio commentaries, an interview segment with John Candy, Museum of Television and Radio Festival cast interview, and more. SCTV: Volume 3 will be available on March 1st for $89.98 (suggested retail price).

Volume 3 features some of the most unforgettable SCTV programming: Bob & Doug McKenzie finally get their own television special, "The Great White North Palace," the station gives back to the community with a "Pre-Teen World Telethon," William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon are brought together in "The Adventures of Shake 'n' Bake," and the station debuts a new soap opera, "Days of the Week." Also in Volume 3 , Jimmy Buffet debuts as "The Fishin' Musician," Hall & Oates make an appearance on "The Sammy Maudlin Show," and the station includes "sports" programming with "Battle of the PBS Stars."

Cast members Short and O'Hara sat down recently to reminisce for "SCTV Remembers," and producers Andrew Alexander and Patrick Whitley share behind the scenes stories in "The Producers" - both documentaries created exclusively for this DVD set. In addition, SCTV: Volume 3 includes some rare footage of Candy at home with his young family, as well as a special photo gallery with rare and never-before-seen photos of the brilliant comedian taken by his wife, Rose. Bonus material also includes footage from an SCTV alumni panel which took place at the Museum of Television & Radio's William S. Paley Television Festival in 1997.

SCTV (an acronym for Second City Television), began in 1976 as a simple show featuring comedic performers from the famed, improv-oriented Second City Theatre in Toronto. Unbelievable as it seems today, SCTV was the first television show based entirely upon the concept of satirizing the medium of television itself, which enabled the writers and performers - whose on-screen ranks included at various points Harold Ramis, Robin Duke, Tony Rosato and Martin Short - to skewer everything from feature films, promos and commercials to such familiar local television staples as late-night horror movie hosts and the backstage goings-on at the fictional SCTV station itself. Originally created for syndication as a 30 minute show, SCTV was picked up five years later by NBC and ran for two seasons of 90 minute episodes, then moved to Cinemax for a last season of 45 minute episodes.

SCTV Network/90: Volume Three (1981)

For SCTV fanatics, the fun continues with this newest DVD release. As with the first two sets, this five-disc package focuses on the 90-minute NBC shows that initially aired in the early Eighties. Referred to as SCTV Network/90, we get nine of those programs from their third cycle.

DVD ONE:

When I mention SCTV to non-fans, the easiest way to get them to remember it is to mention Bob and Doug McKenzie. Those characters gave the show its greatest fame, a subject at the heart of Great White North Palace (aired October 11, 1981). Rather than simply exploit their popularity, SCTV chose to mock the phenomenon.

Many of the “Network/90” shows featured “runners”. These were ongoing themes or stories that were told sporadically throughout the episode. “Palace” presents possibly the most dominant of the runners, as very little addition material appears. We get a couple of advertisement spoofs plus hilarious episodes of “You! With Libby Wolfson” and “Nightline: Melonville”, but otherwise it’s all connected to the McKenzie craze.

That’s a daring choice, and one that succeeds terrifically in this fine episode. We get a deft look at the crass exploitation of a fad, and the use of the station regulars works well. I always like the episodes that focus on the alleged “behind the scenes” operations of SCTV, and this one fares particularly well as owner Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty) ruthlessly uses the McKenzies for all they’re worth. It’s a strong show and a good start to this cycle.

One reason SCTV worked so well was because its creators rarely pandered to the audience. They made shows that amused themselves; if anyone else liked it, that was gravy. Unfortunately, this led to a few examples of self-indulgent sketches, a problem that mars Pre-Teen World Telethon (aired April 23, 1982).

One of the more mediocre episodes, this one lacks any great pieces. Its runner offers some laughs, as we see the youngsters behind a kiddie show run the “First Annual Pre-Teen World Telethon For Pre-Teen World” when they lose government funding. I always liked “Pre-Teen World” concept, so although this one doesn’t ever soar, it presents a fair number of good moments.

However, it also demonstrates my idea that this episode suffers from self-indulgence. At one point, we get a musical performance from the “Recess Monkeys”, a band of alleged pre-teens played by Rick Moranis, John Candy and Eugene Levy. Though they sing in character and muck up the instrumentation a bit, they actually sound pretty decent – much better than we’d expect from kids, and the song itself is catchy. The sequence is cute but feels like an attempt by those involved to get themselves a spot in which to play.

Another sketch suffers from indulgence: Maudlin’s Eleven. This parody of the original Ocean’s Eleven is a fun concept, and it has some good moments. However, it goes on too long and is just too obscure for something this extended. (I will applaud the amazing production design. It’s amazing what the show did on a regular basis, and here we get cool elements like Bobby Bittman’s car and even a Hofner bass for a stripper’s band!)

Overall, “Pre-Teen” remains mediocre. “The Adventures of Shake ‘n’ Bake” exists mostly for its title, as the sketch mostly flops. A newscast that deals with Earl Camembert’s (Levy) hyping of a possible kidnapping is funny, and the trailer for “Prickley Heat” also works. It’s not a bad episode, but it fails to maintain any consistency.

DVD TWO:

In early 1982, unknown Pia Zadora won a Golden Globe award for “New Star in a Motion Picture” over talent like Kathleen Turner and Elizabeth McGovern. This bizarre choice caused an uproar; folks questioned the veracity of the awards as some thought the fix was in for Zadora. That incident allowed for the set-up to the runner in The People’s Global Golden Choice Awards (aired May 1, 1982). We watch SCTV’s inferior programming win scads of prizes over better choices It’s an inspired concept that fares nicely, partially because we get to see so many of the “station regulars” interact with each other and with impersonated celebrities like Bob Hope (Dave Thomas) and Elizabeth Taylor (Catherine O’Hara).

Much of the rest of the show rebounds from the mediocrity of “Telethon” with a number of good sketches. We get one of the better “Fishin’ Musician” sketches, as we meet Gil Fisher’s (Candy) wife Whitey (O’Hara) and they take reggae band Third World antique hunting. In a fun continuation of the cycle’s first episode, we see the fallout of the “GWN Palace” flop; here, the McKenzies get back their show, but with only half the airtime.

If forced to pick a dud, I’d go with “The Merv Griffin Show – the Extended Edition”. Reworked versions of films were a novelty in 1982, so this one makes fun of Spielberg’s longer cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Like the film’s reissue, this one goes on too long and beats a good concept into the ground. Despite that misfire, “Globe” stands as a solid show.

SCTV never emphasized topical humor, but it involved enough then-current subjects to mean that the comedy’s occasionally difficult to understand for anyone not around during its era. That problem affects 3D Stake From the Heart (aired May 14, 1982), a show that focuses on Francis Coppola’s largely-forgotten bomb One from the Heart. The program’s main sketch includes enough funny stuff with Dr. Tongue and Bruno to offer some entertainment, but it relies too much on Heart-related issues to become sufficiently universal.

”Stake” suffers from another negative distinction: it marks the debut of SCTV’s running soap opera, “The Days of the Week”. Had “Days” existed as a one-off sketch, it might have been a decent little spoof. However, it kept going… and going… and going. Granted, that became part of the gag; it acted as an ongoing parody of the genre. However, “Days” consistently provided little return for all the time invested into it. Don’t get me wrong - it did have its amusing moments, and I know it has some fans who adore it. Nonetheless, I’ve long considered “Days” to be SCTV’s biggest flop due to its over-extended run.

Possibly the oddest – and most entertaining – part of “Heart” comes from a sketch called “Just for Fun”. Its premise involves a talk show with many very notable names, but the host (Thomas) only wants to discuss babes. Here he chats with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Aaron Copland, and Betty Friedan. It’s a one-joke sketch, but it’s a good one.

We also see the end of the marriage between Tex (Thomas) and Edna Boil (Andrea Martin), as he leaves her in the middle of a commercial. This leads Edna to search for a replacement, with amusing results. Despite that winner, “Heart” is one of the less exciting episodes.

DVD THREE:

We can tell that no really prominent runner shows up in Pet Peeves/The Happy Wanderers (aired May 21, 1982) since it presents two titles. “Pet Peeves of the Stars” indeed acts as a runner in that those spots pop up occasionally throughout the show; we hear the petty annoyances of Morgan Fairchild, Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Hope, and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s a good bit but not anything amazing.

We do find the debut “The Happy Wanderers”, the polka show led by Yosh (Candy) and Stan Schmenge (Levy). It’s a funny concept brought out successfully.

Indeed, this episode comes chock full of good sketches, though not many great ones. On the negative side, we get more “Days of the Week”. Actually, that series will continue through the rest of the cycle, so I’ll stop griping now. Otherwise, we get a nice “Donahue” spoof in which he looks at porn, and the wonderful “Second Nose Job”. One of the better newscasts comes from a “Nightline: Melonville” in which a drunken Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty) angers Mayor Tommy Shanks (Candy). Outside of “Days”, nothing here flops.

Due to their usual refusal to license their songs, Led Zeppelin significantly mar this episode. It’s four or five minutes shorter than normal because some bits had to be removed. We lose the musical performance by Linsk Minyk (Rick Moranis) on the “Wanderers” since he played “Stairway to Heaven”, and an entire ad called “Stairways to Heaven” – in which many different acts play that classic – also gets the boot. It’s too bad the DVD can’t include this stuff, but if they don’t have the rights, there’s not much they can do.

Musical guest stars became a prominent part of SCTV when they moved to NBC, but none of their efforts ever worked as well as Chariots of Eggs (aired June 5, 1982). Hall and Oates show up here to play “Did It In a Minute” and also chat on “The Sammy Maudlin Show”. There they interact with director Bobby Bittman (Levy) as they promote their new flick, “Chariots of Eggs”. This leads to a deft parody of both Chariots of Fire and now-forgotten semi-lesbian movie Personal Best. It’s an inspired affair across the board.

On the negative side, we get one of the series’ odder – and more misbegotten – sketches with “Murder in the Cathedral”. This purports to be a NASA production of the TS Eliot work. I guess that’s an intriguing concept, but in reality, the sketch drags miserably and never goes anywhere.

The remaining aspects of “Eggs” all fall solidly in the “mediocre” category. The episode of “Mrs. Falbo’s Tiny Town” in prison is pretty decent, and the “Revenge” TV show gets some laughs. Otherwise, there’s not much that stands out here.

DVD FOUR:

Although SCTV went through a number of cast changes over the years, it stayed stable for its first 24 “Network/90” episodes. That’s no longer the case once we get to Battle of the PBS Stars (aired July 16, 1982), as it brings in Martin Short to the group. “Stars” finds Short tossed into the mix actively from the very start, as he pops up in many of the show’s sketches.

Rather than ease Short into the show, he gets a lead character for “I Was a Teenage Communist”. A wonderful spoof of both the Fifties’ Red Scare as well as the era’s cheesy horror flicks, this one neatly integrates musical guest Dave Edmunds. (Trivia: the song he plays doesn’t come from the Fifties, though it might sound like an oldie. It was a then-new composition from a Mr. B. Springsteen of New Jersey.) Short shows no signs of intimidation and blends with the cast immediately.

Unusually, “Stars” includes additional guests, as Pittsburgh Steelers Joe Greene and Rocky Bleier appear in a couple of sketches. First they spoof enormous meals with the “Big Dude TV Dinner” sketch; that’s an odd one since no SCTV cast members appear in it. Then we get “The Big Dude and the Kid”, a spoof of “The Pittsburgh Steeler and the Kid”, a TV movie spun off from Greene’s hit Coke commercial. Greene and Bleier couldn’t act well, but the regular cast – with Short in another prominent part – make it amusing.

Add “The Battle of the PBS Stars” to the list of successful sketches. Back in the Seventies, we got a series called “Battle of the Network Stars”; TV actors would compete in various fluffy activities. “PBS” deftly mocks that series and gives us indelible moments like a boxing match between Mr. Rogers and Julia Child.

It’s good stuff, and it illustrates the generally high quality of this episode. A couple of the sketches meander a bit; “Wok on the Wild Side” isn’t a classic by any stretch. Still, the show stays positive most of the time.

Unfortunately, we head back to self-indulgence with Rome, Italian Style (aired October 15, 1982). The title sketch is a lot like “Maudlin’s Eleven”: it offers a great concept but not much else. This parody of Italian flicks rambles badly and feels more like a triumph of production design than anything else. The participants make it look like an old Italian flick, but it usually ain’t funny.

A few elements elevate this episode, though. It’s a one-joke sketch, but “Mr. Know-It-All: The Life of Nostradamus” is consistently funny due to an obnoxious performance from Dave Thomas. It’s also amusingly self-referential, as it actually discusses its one-joke nature.

We get our first taste of Short’s Jerry Lewis in “Martin Scorsese’s Jerry Lewis Live on the Champs Elysees”. Slightly mean-spirited, it’s still damned funny, especially when Lewis berates his musical director (Thomas). Another slam of a personality comes via a look at photographer “Norton Sheeff”. This parodies Norman Seeff, a shutterbug who shot the cast for Life magazine – and apparently didn’t endear himself to them. This is an obscure reference, but it’ll make much more sense for fans who watched the extras from the Volume Two set of DVDs.

Overall, “Italian” is a spotty episode. The major elements like the title sketch are weak, and the smattering of successes aren’t quite enough to make it a good program. There’s some good stuff here, but not a lot. DVD FIVE:

Finally, we head to The Days of the Week/Street Beef (aired October 22, 1982). Unusually, this one includes no musical guest. However, we get a kindred spirit on board, as Bill Murray guests in many of the sketches. He starts with a winner via an ad for “DiMaggio’s on the Wharf”, a San Francisco restaurant run by Joltin’ Joe; strike him out and win a free dinner.

Murray also makes a Graduate-style turn in this episode’s “Days of the Week” and plays a major part in the show’s main runner: Caballero’s programming changes and the “Street Beef” program with Johnny LaRue (Candy). LaRue meets hoodlum Donny (Murray) at a bar and picks him up as a bodyguard. It’s fun to see LaRue finally turn the tables on Caballero, and it creates a true sense of continuity throughout the episode.

Otherwise, this is a pretty average show. On the positive side, there’s an ambitious and clever spoof of movie serials that takes some cues from Raiders of the Lost Ark but goes down strange alleys. “Carl’s Cuts” presents a great spoof of Deliverance, and “How Nosy the Short-Haired Terrier Dog Got His Name” is a weird but hilarious “Afterschool Special” parody. A couple of the sketches fall flat, and not much of it really soars, but it’s a generally decent show.

Fans didn’t know it at the time, but the end of Cycle Three would mark the end of an era. After “Days/Beef”, three cast members formally left: Moranis, O’Hara and Thomas. O’Hara did a couple of return appearances as a guest, but I don’t think Moranis or Thomas ever returned to the show in any capacity.

But all of that’s an issue for the next set of DVDs. Volume Three presents a high level of good comedy. I must admit it’s not quite up to the standards of the first two sets, as a few more duds creep into the mix here. Nonetheless, average SCTV beats the best work done by almost everybody else, and there’s a lot to enjoy in this package.

The DVD Grades: Picture C+/ Audio C-/ Bonus B-

SCTV Network/90 appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on these single-sided, double-layered DVDs; due to those dimensions, the image has not been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Don’t expect any revelations, as picture quality remained consistent with the prior two sets.

Consistently erratic, I should say. At times, the sketches could look absolutely terrific. Witness some of the bright and vibrant outdoors shots from the “Carl’s Cuts” Deliverance parody. On the other hand, matters occasionally became really fuzzy and muddy, such as during parts of “Maudlin’s Eleven”. Volume One was erratic partially because it includes a lot of older footage, but that’s not the case here. Variable production values caused the mix of problems.

For the most part, the shows remained somewhat loose and indistinct much of the time, especially in wider shots. They usually were acceptably defined, despite some really blurry moments like “Eleven”. Some moiré effects and jagged edges cropped up at times, and some edge enhancement marred parts of the production. Source flaws appeared as well, mainly through some occasional video interference and pixelization. A few examples of specks also popped up for filmed footage. However, these stayed minor and infrequent.

Colors varied but seemed fairly solid. At times the hues came across as surprisingly vibrant and dynamic, though these elements didn’t appear consistent. Sometimes the tones became a bit muddy and flat. Overall, though, the colors provided some of the transfer’s best elements. Black levels actually came across acceptably well, as they looked moderately deep, but shadow detail was somewhat thick and excessively opaque. Ultimately, SCTV provided a pretty spotty image, but given the source material, I thought the DVD replicated the show in an acceptable manner.

I felt the same about the monaural soundtrack of SCTV. Actually, the whole thing didn’t present single-channel audio, as some brief moments blossomed into stereo. This occurred for the music at the very end of “Fishin’ Musician” sketches. I believe this occurred due to rights issues; I think the stereo music represented pieces replaced from the original shows. Otherwise, I noticed no signs of sound from the side speakers.

Intentional sound, at least, as I sometimes heard bleed-through to the sides. Speech and other information occasionally spread unnaturally to the right or left speakers. This clearly wasn’t meant to work that way. In addition, some audio interference created a few pops and noises that appeared in the sides and created distractions.

Nonetheless, the audio remained acceptable for an older show like this. Dialogue appeared acceptably distinct and accurate; occasional examples of edginess occurred, but no problems related to intelligibility happened. Effects were similarly flat and insubstantial, but they didn’t suffer from any distortion and they appeared perfectly adequate.

The music offered erratic quality. The shows used a mix of cues that sometimes sounded pretty robust and lively, but on other occasions they came across as somewhat tinny and lackluster, but occasionally the tunes appeared more robust and full. Somewhat surprisingly, a few of the numbers from musical guests sounded blah. Prior discs presented reasonably dynamic tunes, but here they were a bit on the dull side. Some hiss appeared in addition to the various pops and interference I already mentioned. The audio was decent given its age and source, but I thought the distractions and weaker music meant Volume Three offered slightly inferior audio than on the prior set.

This package includes a mix of extras spread across its five platters. Two episodes present audio commentary. For “Pre-Teen World Telethon”, we hear from cast member Joe Flaherty plus writers Dick Blasucci and Paul Flaherty, while “Rome, Italian Style” includes remarks from Blasucci and writer Mike Short. For their respective pieces, the participants all sit together and provide running, screen-specific remarks.

The Flaherty/Blasucci/Flaherty conversation is a major disappointment. Very little information pops up along the way. The most interesting note connects to “Pre-Teen World”, which Joe states he didn’t like; he thought it was too weird to play young kids at their age. Otherwise, the useful material pops up exceedingly infrequently. Instead, mostly the track consists of dead air and laughter. It’s not a good commentary and is barely worth the effort even for die-hard fans like me.

In the Blasucci/Short chat, we don’t get a great discussion, but it’s easily the better of the pair. They provide general anecdotes about their experiences and also let us know a few details connected to this episode’s sketches. Mostly we hear non-specific remarks, though, as they talk about cast changes and working with the different participants. They repeat a fair amount of information that we’ve heard on previous sets, but they make this a reasonably useful piece.

The rest of the extras spread across the various discs. On DVD One, we find SCTV - The Producers, a 29-minute and nine-second featurette. It includes comments from executive producer Andrew Alexander and supervising producer Patrick Whitley, both of whom were interviewed separately. They discuss the series’ origins, early challenges and evolution of characters and situations, monetary problems and issues finding airtime, the show’s time in Edmonton, the eventual move to NBC and related concerns, difficulties holding things together with the changes, and various forms of politics. Inevitably, we hear material related elsewhere, but they present an alternate perspective. That makes the producers’ comments intriguing and informative.

Next we go to DVD Two’s That’s Life with John Candy. The six-minute and 36-second clip comes from the early Eighties and spotlights Candy’s career to that point. He chats with an interviewer about his success, his characters, and his family. We also get a look at Candy’s rural home and see him there. The piece doesn’t provide tons of information, but it’s a decent little archival slice.

DVD Three includes only a John Candy Photo Gallery. This presents 52 stills and combines shots from sketches with some behind the scenes snaps. At the end, it focuses on “Vikings and Beekeepers”; that area features shots without Candy in them, which makes them odd additions.

Over on DVD Four, we discover SCTV Remembers, a 24-minute and 57-second program. It includes comments from Catherine O’Hara and Martin Short as they sit and chat together with occasional prompting from an off-screen interviewer. They discuss their long history together as well as some of their work and characters. A good amount of information pops up, but even when we don’t learn anything, the pair have so much fun together that they make this piece a joy to watch. It’s consistently amusing and entertaining and stands as the highlight of the DVD’s extras.

Lastly, DVD Five includes a program called SCTV at the Museum of Television and Radio. An event that took place March 4, 1997, this 69-minute and 59-second piece collects a mix of show personnel for a panel. We see Alexander, Martin Short, O’Hara, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Robin Duke, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, and producers Del Close and Bernie Sahlins. They cover the usual mix of subjects like the show’s roots, characters, sketches, and general anecdotes. A lot of funny material pops up, but the main attraction comes simply from the presence of so many cast members all in one place. The show remains consistently fun to watch.

Volume Three of SCTV marked some personnel changes, but for the most part, the show still offered the same high-caliber of comedy. Inevitably, a few duds appeared, and the introduction of the much-maligned – by me, at least – “Days of the Week” causes problems, but we continue to find a lot of truly inspired material. The DVDs present picture and audio that can only be described as mediocre, but there’s little than could be done; the problems result from old, cheap source footage. We get a fairly good collection of extras despite one bad audio commentary. Ultimately, I think there’s a lot to love about Volume Three and I definitely recommend it.

LETTERMAN SAYS HIS GOOD-BYE TONIGHT

David Letterman, who was on vacation when Johnny Carson passed away on January 23rd, returns tonight with a Carson-appreciation show and a long look at the impact the late "Tonight Show" host had on his career.

Letterman has lined up former "Tonight Show" bandleader Doc Severinsen, who will perform, and Carson's former executive producer, Peter Lassally.

Letterman credits Carson, a fellow Midwesterner, with giving him his big break.

Dave guest-hosted for Carson on the "Tonight Show" before NBC — with a push from Johnny — named Letterman the host of "Late Night," which followed the "Tonight Show" at 12:30 a.m.

Carson appeared twice on "Late Show" after Letterman moved to CBS — but never appeared with Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show" after he retired in 1992.

Leno's tribute to Carson last Monday was a big ratings magnet, boosting the usual audience for the "Tonight Show" by more than 50 percent.

In fact, just about all the news and entertainment shows marking Johnny's passing — including Larry King's CNN talk show and a number of NBC specials — have been huge ratings getters.

Carson, 79, died from emphysema.

The 'Lost' episodes

A show-by-show guide to 'Lost'

Forget about Desperate Housewives: In our opinion, Lost is the new show to watch.

For those of you who have been trapped on an island somewhere, Lost is about, well, people trapped on an island somewhere. It's a high-concept series that follows the adventures of a band of plane-crash survivors, with intricate flashbacks into their troubled pasts. And there's definitely something weird afoot on the island, where an unseen monster makes its presence felt from time to time.

The show manages to juggle its huge cast -- 14 or so regulars, with lots of guest stars -- while deepening the mystery with each episode. Theories abound: Where are they, really? How could they have survived the crash? Why are dead people and polar bears suddenly appearing on the island? And why isn't the fat guy losing any weight?

Now, with the show in repeats until Feb. 9, we figure it's the perfect time to play catchup. Consider this a sort of Coles Notes to Lost. We give a rundown of every episode and tell you which theory we're leaning toward in each.

THEORIES
1. They're all dead and in Purgatory
2. They're part of a scientific experiment
3. They're hallucinating everything it's a dream
4. They're on a Forbidden Planet-like island, where their thoughts are physically manifested
5. They're being pitted in the ultimate battle of Good vs. Evil

SHOW-BY-SHOW GUIDE

1. PILOT (Part 1)
A plane flying from Australia crash lands, leaving 48 survivors trapped on a mysterious tropical island where bestial noises erupt from the jungle. Doctor Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and former rock star Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) find the plane's cockpit, where some unseen monster rips the pilot out and chews him up good.
FLASHBACK
The harrowing crash is recalled through Jack's eyes.
COMMENTS
When a man gets sucked into the plane's engine, causing it to explode, you know you're not watching the usual 8 p.m. network fare.
RATING: A
THEORY: 1

2. PILOT (Part 2)
When a small band of survivors go searching for the source of a signal picked up on their transceiver, they're attacked ... by a polar bear?! Also, our heroes find a gun, handcuffs and Vincent, the dog of young Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).
FLASHBACK
The crash through Charlie's eyes: He's revealed to be a drug addict, as he rushes into the plane's bathroom to get a fix.
COMMENTS
Former model Lilly shows off her lithe body with a gratuitous scene where she strips down to her bra and panties ... The creepy message on the transceiver -- in French, saying "They're all dead" -- has been repeating for 16 years ... Young Walt reads a comic book featuring a polar bear. Coincidence?
RATING: A
THEORY: 5

3. TABULA RASA
Jack and Hurley (Jorge Garcia), the tubby comic relief, discover that Kate is a Canadian criminal who was captured by a U.S. marshal (Fredric Lane) badly injured in the crash. In order to relieve his suffering -- a hunk of shrapnel lodged in your chest will do that to ya -- Jack shoots the marshal.
FLASHBACK
Kate's seedy past, where she's apparently in hiding in Australia and captured by the marshal.
COMMENTS
Kate as a canny international criminal? It's hard to suspend our disbelief -- Lilly's prettiness, and average acting ability, work against her on this one. Still, this is her first acting role, and she has shown lots of potential.
RATING: B-
THEORY: 1

4. WALKABOUT
The taciturn, mysterious Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Kate and single dad Michael (Harold Perrineau) go hunting for wild boar -- and instead run into the unseen monstrosity in the jungle. But Locke lives to tell about it and returns unscathed -- apparently deeply moved by the experience.
FLASHBACK
Locke's past as a shirt-and-tie-wearing drone at a box company. The episode's big twist reveals he's a paraplegic in a wheelchair, lending the climactic scenes of him rising to his feet a powerful emotional wallop.
COMMENTS
By far the series' best hour, featuring a superb performance by O'Quinn, who makes Locke more sympathetic than previous episodes let on ... His full name is John Locke, the same as the great 17th-century anti-authoritarian philosopher.
RATING: A+
THEORY: 4

5. WHITE RABBIT
Jack, suffering from insomnia, apparently sees his dead father walking around the island and goes in search of his coffin. He does find it -- but it's empty. He also discovers a valley that contains fresh water and more plane wreckage.
FLASHBACK
Jack again -- he travels to Australia to find his alcoholic dad, who has drunk himself to death. Mysterious Korean Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) appears briefly at the airport queue as Jack tries to get his father's coffin on board the plane.
COMMENTS
A big letdown from the previous episode, this one highlights Jack's blandness, a problem shared by the female lead, Kate ... The number of survivors is culled to 46 when a throwaway character drowns.
RATING: C-
THEORY: 4

6. HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
Michael is badly beaten by Jin, who thinks he's stolen a watch that has sentimental value to him. Afterward, Jin's wife Sun (Yunjin Kim) reveals to Michael that she can actually speak English. The camp splits up, with some heading for Jack's valley -- where two 40-year-old corpses are found in a cave -- and others staying on the beach.
FLASHBACK
Sun's turbulent history with her husband, who goes under her father's shady employ in order to win her hand in marriage. Sun has a chance to leave the emotionally distant Jin at the airport in Australia, but stays because she still loves him.
COMMENTS
You have to wonder how Sun's ability to speak English will play out -- maybe she'll be used as a spy of some sort if the rumoured split of the camp comes to pass.
RATING: A
THEORY: 5

7. THE MOTH
Locke offers to help Charlie beat his drug addiction -- and when the cave collapses, trapping Jack, Charlie goes to the rescue. His new sense of self-worth allows him to finally kick the habit.
FLASHBACK
Charlie's raucous past as a member of the rock band Driveshaft, his poor relationship with his brother and their drug addiction are highlighted.
COMMENTS
Actually features the painfully un-ironic line, "You used to be about the music!" ... Locke's motives for helping Charlie are a mystery -- Locke once again straddles the line of creepy manipulator and hard-love spiritual guru ... Somebody knocks out Sayid (Naveen Andrews) when he tries to find the source of the French transmission.
RATING: C+
THEORY: 5

8. CONFIDENCE MAN
After bitchy babe Shannon (Maggie Grace) suffers an asthma attack, Jack and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) suspect Sawyer (Josh Holloway) might be hoarding her medication. Sayid tortures Sawyer to get him to talk. As it turns out, he doesn't have the meds, but Shannon is saved by Sun's homeopathic remedy.
FLASHBACK
Sawyer turns out to be a con artist trying to bilk a couple out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He has a sudden change of heart when he sees their cute little son.
COMMENTS
And here we thought Sawyer was a one-note bad boy. The letter he's seen reading from time to time is revealed to be one he penned as a child to a con artist who destroyed his family ... How did the torture scene, involving splinters and fingernails, get past the censors? Not that we're complaining.
RATING: B+
THEORY: 5

9. SOLITARY
Feeling pangs of remorse for torturing Sawyer, Sayid exiles himself from the group and explores the island. He is captured by Danielle (Mira Furlan), the looney French woman who has been sending the signals. Sayid manages to escape, stealing maps and charts.
FLASHBACK
Sayid's history as an Iraqi Republican guard is explored, as he helps a female prisoner with whom he's fallen in love apparently escape execution.
COMMENTS
How much of what Danielle is saying is true and how much is just insane gibberish? She's been alone for years, her son Alex has disappeared and she says she murdered the other members of her team because they became "sick" ... Ethan (William Mapother, who is a cousin of Tom Cruise) makes his first appearance, hunting boar with Locke.
RATING: B
THEORY: 2

10. RAISED BY ANOTHER
Pregnant Claire (Emilie de Ravin) begins having nightmares of someone trying to kill her. When Hurley starts a census using the passenger manifest, the survivors realize Ethan, who claims he's from Ontario, couldn't have been on the plane. The very weird Ethan shows up at the end, menacing Claire and Charlie.
FLASHBACK
Claire's sorry past is revealed, where she's left by her deadbeat boyfriend and is told by a creepy psychic that it is imperative her unborn baby not fall into the wrong hands and that she raise the child.
COMMENTS
One of Claire's dreams features Locke with one white and one black eye -- harkening to his conversation with Walt in the Pilot about backgammon and how there are two sides, one good and one evil.
RATING: A-
THEORY: 5

11. ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE DADDY ISSUES
The survivors mount a search for the missing Claire and Charlie. Jack and Kate manage to track down Ethan, who beats Jack to a bloody pulp. They find Charlie hanging from a tree, but while Jack is able to revive him, Claire remains missing. Meanwhile, Locke and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) discover a metallic hatch hidden deep in the jungle.
FLASHBACK
We see more of Jack's arrogant, alcoholic father -- and how the son tattles on Dad when he causes the death of a patient.
COMMENTS
By now, the show's "Did they actually do that?" spell is so potent you're convinced that Charlie has been killed off ... Jack's backstory this time around is a vast improvement over the White Rabbit episode.
RATING: B+
THEORY: 5

12. WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE
Kate and Sawyer fight over a locked metal briefcase that belongs to her. Jack and Kate dig up the marshal's rotted corpse to get the key -- and inside the case are money, guns and a small toy airplane. Meanwhile, Sayid enlists the French-speaking Shannon's help to decipher his stolen maps and charts.
FLASHBACK
More Kate backstory -- now she's involved in a bank heist, where she manipulates her accomplices into helping her steal that toy airplane from the bank's vaults.
COMMENTS
Lilly's babe factor works against her being the potentially cold-blooded femme fatale the show wants her to be. Still, this enriches her mystery, as she reveals the toy belonged to the man she loved -- and killed ... The serene, matronly Rose (L. Scott Caldwell) -- not seen since Walkabout -- makes a return, as she consoles Charlie over the loss of Claire.
RATING: B-
THEORY: 1

13. HEARTS AND MINDS
When Boone wants to confess to his stepsister Shannon that he and Locke have found the hatch, Locke ties him up and leaves him in in an effort to teach him to "let go." Boone only frees himself when he fears the unseen monster has attacked and killed Shannon -- but it turns out this was only a hallucination.
FLASHBACK
The sickest yet, as Boone is revealed to have had the hots for his screwed-up sis for years -- and when he tries to collect her in Australia, they succumb to their desire in a hotel room. Ewwwww!
COMMENTS
The source of Boone's hallucination is the salve Locke rubbed on his head wound ... Boone's flashback also features Sawyer getting arrested at a police station ... Sayid's compass goes wonky, showing that North isn't really North on the island.
RATING: A-
THEORY: 3

14. SPECIAL
Michael becomes even more resentful of the bond Locke forms with his young son Walt. But when Walt's life is threatened by another polar bear, he and Locke team up to save him. Later, as Locke and Boone return to the jungle, they encounter a shaken Claire, apparently escaped from her captor.
FLASHBACK
We learn Michael is a struggling artist/contractor, who's shut out of his son's life by the boy's manipulative lawyer mom.
COMMENTS
The comic book makes another appearance, with that same shot of the polar bear ... It's clear Walt has powers of some kind that he can use to make things he desires appear.
RATING: B
THEORY: 4

Eastwood Becomes Oscar Favorite After DGA Win

Clint Eastwood has become the odds-on favorite to claim the Best Director Oscar next month after beating rival Martin Scorsese again at the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) on Saturday. Eastwood claimed the Best Picture prize over Scorsese, Taylor Hackford, Marc Forster and Alexander Payne for his acclaimed boxing movie Million Dollar Baby. Only six DGA winners in the past 57 years have failed to go on to win Oscar gold. Other directors who were recognized by the Guild jury at this year's awards ceremony were Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni, whose gripping Story Of The Weeping Camel earned them the Documentary prize; Walter Hill, who claimed the honor of Best Dramatic Series for TV western series Deadwood; and Tim Van Patten, who was honored in the Best Comedy Series category for Sex And The City. Meanwhile, longtime Oscars producer Gil Cates, a former DGA president, became only the third recipient of the DGA Presidents Award at the Beverly Hilton hotel gala.

'Happy Days' Gang Reunites for Special

You know the main reason for TV reunion specials. It's to let viewers get a look at the show's stars today and then react one of two ways: Either "Gosh, they look old," or "Gosh, they look REALLY old." Take a look at "The `Happy Days' 30th Anniversary Reunion," which ABC is airing 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST Thursday.

It brings back original cast members Scott Baio, Tom Bosley, Erin Moran, Don Most, Marion Ross, Anson Williams and Henry Winkler. Also Ron Howard, of course, who scarcely more than a year ago appeared on an "Andy Griffith Show" reunion special. Also: Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, who have done at least two reunion specials honoring their "Happy Days" spinoff, "Laverne & Shirley."

"Happy Days" began its run on Jan. 15, 1974 (which, by traditional, non-ABC math computes to 31, not 30, years ago). Set in Milwaukee in a problem-free version of the 1950s, this sitcom centered on high schooler Richie Cunningham (Howard, though he left the show in 1980), his family and friends, particularly charismatic dropout Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (Winkler).

Long before "Happy Days" left ABC's lineup in 1984, viewers could recite the show in their sleep, which was maybe part of its charm. Same with the "Happy Days" reunion special, with its reunion show essentials: cast recollection, clips, blooper reel and overall schmaltz.

'Hide and Seek' No. 1 at Box Office

LOS ANGELES - Robert De Niro's fright flick "Hide and Seek" had a strong debut in its opening weekend, taking in $22 million to become the top movie and fending off a rush of Academy Awards contenders.

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Ice Cube's road-trip comedy "Are We There Yet?", slipped to second place with $17 million, lifting its 10-day total to $39.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Director Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" led Oscar hopefuls with $11.8 million, coming in at No. 3 during its first weekend of wide release and raising its total domestic gross to $21.1 million.

Cashing in on its seven Oscar nominations last week, the boxing drama expanded to 2,010 theaters, up about 1,800 the previous weekend.

"Million Dollar Baby" is in a neck-and-neck race for best picture and director at the Oscars with Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," which was No. 6 for the weekend with $7.5 million, pushing its total to $68.2 million.

"The Aviator," a film biography of Howard Hughes that leads the Oscar field with 11 nominations, was in 2,503 cinemas, an increase of 242.

Eastwood won top honors over Scorsese Saturday from the Directors Guild of America. Eastwood also earned the Golden Globe directing prize, while "The Aviator" won for best dramatic film at the Globes.

In its 15th week of release, best-picture nominee "Sideways" broke into the top 10, coming in seventh with $6.3 million as it expanded to 1,694 theaters, up about 1,000. The road-trip comedy has taken in $40 million playing in relatively narrow release.

The weekend's only other new wide release, Tara Reid and Christian Slater's scary movie "Alone in the Dark," bombed with just $2.5 million, finishing well out of the top 10. Viciously trashed by critics, the movie stars Reid as an anthropologist and Slater as a paranormal investigator battling mutant monsters.

"Hide and Seek" also received harsh reviews, but like many other fright films, it drew the faithful horror crowd, which is rarely dissuaded by critics if a movie looks like it has some decent scares.

Horror films often nosedive in their second weekend, but De Niro's presence could give "Hide and Seek" more staying power, said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released the movie.

De Niro plays a father in the film coping with the potentially murderous "imaginary friend" of his daughter, played by Dakota Fanning.

"Because of the cache of De Niro, which makes it quite a bit above the normal things-that-go-bump-in-the-night movie, I think we'll fare well," Snyder said.

Among other key Oscar nominees:

- The J.M. Barrie tale, "Finding Neverland," which earned seven nominations including best picture, grossed $2.7 million to raise its total to $35.9 million. The film widened to 1,258 theaters, up 389.

- "Hotel Rwanda," with a best-actor nomination for Don Cheadle and supporting-actress nomination for Sophie Okonedo, took in $1.8 million in 417 theaters, 98 more locations than the previous weekend. The genocide drama lifted its total to $8.1 million.

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. "Hide and Seek," $22 million.
2. "Are We There Yet?", $17 million.
3. "Million Dollar Baby," $11.8 million.
4. "Coach Carter," $8 million.
5. "Meet the Fockers," $7.6 million.
6. "The Aviator," $7.5 million.
7. "Sideways," $6.3 million.
8. "In Good Company," $6.2 million.
9. "Racing Stripes," $6 million.
10. "Assault on Precinct 13," $4.2 million.

'The Incredibles' Sweeps Annie Awards

GLENDALE, Calif. - It was an incredible night for "The Incredibles." The Pixar Animation Studios film about a family of superheros who save the day swept the 32nd annual Annie Awards on Sunday, winning top honors for best animated feature, best directing and best voice acting for Brad Bird, the film's director who voiced the diminutive seamstress Edna Mode.

The Annie Awards are presented by the International Animated Film Society to honor outstanding animation in television and film. Winners, including last year's "Finding Nemo," have typically gone on to win the Academy Award for best animated feature. The film was distributed by The Walt Disney Co.

In the voice acting category, Bird beat Antonio Banderas, who provided the voice for Puss in Boots in the DreamWorks Animation film "Shrek 2." He also edged out Samuel L. Jackson, who was nominated for his voicing of the cool superhero Frozone in "The Incredibles."

The film also took awards for writing, production design and music for the throbbing score composed by Michael Giacchino.

Two of the Annie nominees for best theatrical feature — "The Incredibles" and "Shrek 2" — are nominated for an Oscar for best animated film at the Feb. 27 Academy Awards.

Among the other winners on Sunday were Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants" for best animated television production, and actress Brittany Murphy for giving voice to the character "Luane" in the Fox TV show "King of the Hill."

The awards were presented at the Alex Theater. Among the presenters were comic book legend Stan Lee and Debra Jo Rupp, co-star of the Fox sitcom "That 70's Show." The awards were hosted by Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Carson's Hometown Turns Out for Memorial

NORFOLK, Neb. - Johnny Carson didn't want a public memorial in Los Angeles, but people from the Nebraska town where the comedian was raised gathered Sunday at the high school auditorium that bears his name for a last chance to say goodbye.

Far from a somber tribute, the event was mostly high-spirited and included a monologue, a jazz ensemble playing the "Tonight Show" theme and stage props such as a desk and guest chairs where those who had known Carson talked about him.

Carson, host of "The Tonight Show" for 30 years, died last Sunday of emphysema at his Malibu, Calif., home. He was 79.

At Carson's request, there was no public memorial in Los Angeles. The king of late-night television was a fiercely private man who made few public appearances following his retirement from television in 1992.

But residents in Norfolk said they wanted a chance to say goodbye. Many had known the late-night comic from high school. The memorial drew more than 1,000 people to the high school theater named after Carson.

Lois Voecks said Carson sat behind her in homeroom and performed magic for students during Friday convocations.

"We used to see him later in the hallway, and we would look back at him and say, 'That's the same guy? He seems just like us,'" she said.

Jeff Burkink, who was principal of Norfolk High School in the 1980s when Carson gave $600,000 to the school to build a new performing arts center, said Carson never forgot his roots.

Burkink said he met Carson in 1976 when the comic came back to town to give the high school's commencement address.

"He was nervous," Burkink said. "He said he didn't want to be a flop in his hometown. But the minute he stood up there, he was humorous and relaxed. He was right at home with a microphone."

Former Norfolk Mayor Jim Miller recalled being with Carson as a crowd of townspeople cheered during a 1976 parade in Carson's honor.

"He turned to his wife and said, 'Honey, I really think they like me.' And he meant it. It was heartfelt," Miller said.

Born in Iowa, Carson was raised in Norfolk from the age of 8 until he left after high school to join the Navy and serve in World War II.

It was in Norfolk that Carson first showed a flair for show business, performing magic as the "Great Carsoni" in Elk's and Moose lodges starting when he was 14.

Fame did not diminish Carson's fondness for his hometown. His known donations to causes in the town amounted to more than $5 million, including $2.27 million for a regional cancer radiation center.

The entertainer also gave $100,000 to the Elkhorn Valley Museum in Norfolk and later donated 11 boxes of his personal items — including awards and his Presidential Medal of Freedom — to the museum for a permanent display.

HAWAII LOSING 'LOST'?

The producers of "Lost" are close to telling the state of Hawaii to take a hike.

The hit ABC drama, which is filmed entirely in the island state will likely relocate unless state and studio executives can find ways to offset the high cost of filming in Hawaii.

"Nobody wants to move, but this is a business, and we must consider options to cut expenses," producer Jean Higgins told a reporter.

The sentiment is shared by ABC/Touchstone executives, who say that the series is losing about $500,000 an episode, or $11 million for the season's 22 episodes. Season one filming ends in April.

Hawaii production costs can be as much as 35 percent higher than in Los Angeles. State officials are taking steps to try to keep the highly watched weekly drama.

'Traffic' Drummer Jim Capaldi Dies of Cancer

LONDON (Reuters) - Legendary rock drummer and Hall of Fame inductee Jim Capaldi died on Friday after a brief fight with stomach cancer, his publicist said.

The 60-year-old Capaldi, born in England of Italian immigrant parents, died in his sleep at the London Clinic in the early hours with his wife and family at his bedside.

Capaldi, whose driving rock rhythms and songwriting ability helped make groundbreaking band Traffic a household name in the 1960s and 70s with -- among others -- Steve Winwood and Dave Mason -- also had an illustrious solo career.

"Steve rang me when he heard this morning. He is very upset. They were very close and had plans to record and tour again. He was praying Jim would recover from his illness," Winwood's manager Mick Newton told Reuters.

Capaldi was inducted into the U.S. Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame in March 2004, just five months before being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

When Traffic finally broke up in 1974 after releasing 11 albums -- including the iconic songs 40,000 Headmen, Dear Mr Fantasy and Paper Sun -- Capaldi was already doing solo work.

He moved to solo success with the albums Fierce Heart and Some Come Running while touring with his own band The Contenders.

Capaldi was already working on his 12th solo album when Winwood -- who also scored major solo successes -- called him back to collaborate on a new album.

One thing led to another and Traffic reformed in 1993 followed by a major five-month tour of the United States in 1994, including appearing at Woodstock and playing alongside The Grateful Dead.

In 1998, Capaldi teamed up with fellow Traffic founder Mason to tour again.

Capaldi was five times winner of BMI or ASCAP awards for the most played songs in America and cooperated closely with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Marley, Carlos Santana and the Eagles among others.

In 1975 he married Brazilian-born Aninha and spent much time with her helping the street children of her native country.

Chris Rock Hip-Hops Into Oscar Gig

BURBANK, Calif. - Chris Rock's eyes darted around the room, studying the chattering group of international print journalists. He licked his lips, clasped his hands ... and only dropped one F-bomb as they questioned him in a variety of accents.

"I'm never proper or careful, but I never curse in front of my mother, either," Rock told the writers. So he's not worried about getting bleeped on worldwide TV when he hosts the Feb. 27 Oscar ceremony.

"I don't think people are nervous," Rock said later during an interview with The Associated Press. "I just came off tour in America, a million people came to see me. They weren't nervous."

Shooting a glance at Oscar show producer Gil Cates, he asked, "Are you, Gil?"

Cates didn't flinch.

Neither has the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, although having the acerbic Rock as host is certainly a change of pace. The academy is known for its sedate style and the predominantly older, white membership that fills the Oscar night audience.

Rock mimicked the typical question he gets these days: "Oh, a black comic, how are you going to make it whiter? I'm like, `Dude, look around, can you get any whiter?'"

He honed his off-the-cuff style during a three-year run on "Saturday Night Live," plus the club circuit and hit HBO specials.

"How do I say this without sounding like an egomaniac?" he said. "I don't know a comedian that sells more seats than me in the red states and blue states, so I don't see where I have to change that much."

At least some of Rock's cockiness stems from the positive response he received during his recent "Black Ambition" tour.

"When I'm in West Palm Beach, Fla., there are old Jewish people at the show," he said. "When I'm in New Mexico, it's Mexicans. Wherever I'm at, the people show up."

Hip-hopping into the traditional footsteps of such Oscar emcees as Billy Crystal and the late Johnny Carson appealed to Rock, although he revealed he turned down the chance to host the Oscarcast several times before, believing it was "an old man's gig."

But he's 39 now, and it feels right.

"I like the tradition of the Oscars," he said. "I like that some of the greatest comedians ever have hosted the show."

How did Cates choose Rock as host? "Billy is doing a show in New York," he said, "Steve Martin is doing a movie."

Rock cut him off. "Ellen DeGeneres has crabs. Jay Leno's got a gig. They got to the R's. Burt Reynolds said no."

Creating an immediate buzz on Oscar night is Rock's No. 1 challenge.

"A great monologue does it," he said. "The secret to hosting awards shows is like sports — get a big lead and run out the clock. Then kind of hand off the ball and assist the show."

As a kid in Brooklyn, N.Y., Rock tuned in the Oscar show for the host's monologue, then tuned out.

"Any black people nominated? No, oh, back to bed," he said.

Not the case this year. Jamie Foxx is a best actor nominee for "Ray" and a supporting actor nominee for "Collateral" — two of this year's record five acting nominations for black performers.

"If he doesn't win, I will steal the sound editing Oscar," Rock declared.

Cates reminded him that award usually has multiple winners.

"They're all punks," Rock shot back.

Rock isn't a member of the academy, despite acting in "Head of State," "Bad Company," "New Jack City," "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!" and, of course, "Pootie Tang."

Why not?

"If you're darker than a paper bag, you can't get in," he said.

Working a live audience is Rock's forte, a good thing since the Oscars are broadcast in real time around the world. ABC has not yet decided whether there will be a delay on the broadcast to protect against stray profanities, as there was in last year's post-Janet Jackson crackdown.

An Emmy-winning writer himself for his cable specials, Rock hired his own writing staff, and expects contributions from famous pals David Spade, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy.

"I've been kissing --- for years and now I'm going to reap the rewards," he said, cackling. "I've been paying for a lot of dinners and now I want jokes, damn it!"

How will Rock know if he's killing the Kodak Theatre audience on Oscar night?

"I'll probably pay more attention to the musicians in the pit than the stars because they're the closest you're going to get to normal people in the audience," he said.

"If I can get them laughing, I know I got the whole world laughing."

Lowdown: Andre 3000 helps out Esthero

The mystery man on Esthero's long-awaited follow-up to 1998's "Breath From Another" debut is Andre 3000 of Grammy-winning duo Outkast.

Up until recently, the identity of the big hip hop star on her song "Junglebook" has been under wraps. The album, "Wikked Lil' Grrls," is tentatively scheduled for a March 1 release in Canada.

The song, which has a light African pop feel, is a piece of escapism about living in the jungle. "I told him what it was about," says Esthero, whose album is a sexy, sophisticated blend of jazz, pop and urban musics. "It's basically a fantasy song of being tired of your surroundings and the idea of moving to the jungle and living in a tree fort, dancing with fireflies -- the desire for magic to be back in your life."

The Toronto-based singer envisioned Andre on the track, but wanted him to get a sense of the album. She gave him four songs from "Wikked," including the title track from her teaser EP, "We R in need of a musical ReVoLuTIoN!," plus "Every Day Is A Holiday (With You)," a song she co-penned with her friend, Sean Lennon.

"I wanted Andre to want to be a part of the record, not just part of a song," explains Esthero. "I thought it would be a big mistake to just send him the song because I don't know if he would've done it, but he called me a couple of days later and said., 'What are we doing and when?'"

Last July, she flew down to Atlanta's famed Stankonia Studios, where Andre laid down his vocal. After hanging out in the lounge as the singer created, he emerged with a cool part about making love like animals and feelin' cannibal. "I'll eat you alive," he sings on the otherwise tame song.

"When I heard the line, I thought he said, 'I'll eat you all night,' and I was laughing. I said to him, 'I don't think you can say that,' and he said, 'Noooooo, I'm saying, 'I'll eat you alive -- like a cannibal,'" she recounts. "He's so talented. It's so great to be around him, so humble, so fun. I'll remember the night in the studio with him forever."

Wikked also includes a plaintive gospel blues track called "Gone," with Cee-Lo Green of Goodie Mob. Esthero had worked with the group back in 1998 for a remix of Breath's "World I Know (Country Livin')" for the Slam soundtrack. On the other end of the spectrum is a pure happy pop track, "Everyday Is A Holiday (With You)," one of two songs co-written two years ago with Lennon at his New York home.

"The song was inspired by something Sean had already written, a song called "Happiness,' which we call The Muppet Song," says Esthero. "It had like that Henry Mancini (vibe), so I started writing something like that. The song was pretty much done. He helped me write the bridge and we sat there at the piano and just laid some background vocals and ideas, and that was that. He's got a beautiful left hand. He made the song come to life."

"Working with Esthero is like mainlining inspiration," says Lennon. "She's like inter-venus music. If songwriting is a highway, Esthero is a souped-up pink Lamborgini. If you don't wear a seat-belt, you get musical whiplash. 'Every Day...' was a garden already in bloom, she simply wanted someone to walk through it with. Lucky me."

Hollywood Braced for Closest Race in Years

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Academy members' eagerly awaited choices for best picture suggest a tight Oscar race rivaling the suspense of the 1999 derby, when "Shakespeare in Love" enjoyed a shock triumph over "Saving Private Ryan."

Tuesday's picks -- "The Aviator," "Sideways," "Finding Neverland," "Million Dollar Baby," and "Ray" -- turned out to be right in line with nominations and awards from a number of Oscar bellwethers, including the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards and the Producers Guild of America Awards.

Miramax and Warner Bros.' "The Aviator" had landed the Golden Globe for best picture (drama), was a Critics' Choice best picture nominee, won the PGA's best picture award, and will compete for a the best ensemble cast prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 5.

Fox Searchlight Pictures' "Sideways" went home from the Globes with a best picture (musical/comedy) win, was the Critics' Choice best picture winner and received a SAG best ensemble nomination.

Miramax's "Finding Neverland," Warner Bros.' "Million Dollar Baby," and Universal's "Ray" each received best picture nominations at the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards. They will also compete for SAG's ensemble cast prize.

The films come into the race with certain advantages, but also face some specific problems. The critically acclaimed "Sideways," for instance, must confront the Academy's historic tendency not to take comedy seriously. Since 1934, only nine films that can be described as comedies or dark comedies have won the best picture Oscar, including "American Beauty" (1999), "Shakespeare in Love" (1998) and "Forrest Gump" (1994).

"The Aviator" has an advantage in that it's the only epic film in this year's best picture race. Epics have been one of the Academy's favorite genres over the years. At the same time, there's speculation that this could be the year the Academy finally acknowledges director Martin Scorsese with a best director win.

Scorsese's record of having been overlooked by the Academy, by the way, can be documented all the way back to 1974 when "Mean Streets" received no Oscar nominations. In 1976, "Taxi Driver" was nominated for best picture, but lost to "Rocky." In 1980, "Raging Bull" received best picture and director nominations, but Scorsese lost to Robert Redford, whose "Ordinary People" also won best picture. In 1988 Scorsese was nominated for directing "The Last Temptation of Christ," but lost to Barry Levinson for "Rain Man." In 1990, "Goodfellas" received best picture and director nods. Scorsese lost to Kevin Costner, whose "Dances With Wolves" also won best picture. And in 2003, "Gangs of New York" was a best picture and director nominee. Roman Polanski won best director for "The Pianist" and "Chicago" captured best picture.

Immediately after the nominations were revealed, London odds makers Ladbrokes Limited cited "Aviator" as its favorite to win best picture with odds of 4-5 and Scorsese as the favorite to win best director with odds of 4-6.

Excitement over best actor or actress prospects can also create momentum for a best picture contender. In the case of "Aviator," there's Leonardo DiCaprio in the best actor race. "Baby" has Clint Eastwood. "Neverland" has Johnny Depp. "Ray" has Jamie Foxx, the favorite according to Ladbrokes with odds of 1-4.

"Sideways," however, isn't in the best actor race. That slot went to Don Cheadle for MGM/United Artists' "Hotel Rwanda." Paul Giamatti's not being nominated for "Sideways" stands as one of this year's major surprises given the critical acclaim he received throughout the awards season to date.

On the best actress front, there's only one match-up with the best picture nominations, and that's Hilary Swank for "Baby." Ladbrokes is quoting 1-1 odds for Swank and 2-1 odds for Annette Bening for Sony Pictures Classics' "Being Julia."

Swank won the Globe for best actress-drama and Bening won the best actress-musical or comedy Globe. They were competing head to head in the Critics Choice Awards, where Swank was victorious. The last time these two actresses slugged it out was in 2000 when Swank won the best actress Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry" and Bening lost for "American Beauty."

There's also a strong best actress candidate in Fine Line Features' "Vera Drake" star Imelda Staunton, who has done well with critics groups all season. The odds are longer for Catalina Sandino Moreno for Fine Line's "Maria Full of Grace" and Kate Winslet for Focus Features' "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

The predictability of the best picture Oscar nominations carried through to a large extent in other key categories, too, although there were a few surprises. In the best director race, for instance, Mike Leigh's nomination for "Vera Drake" came straight out of left field since none of the critics groups and other awards organizations had recognized him. But Academy members showed they understand the role a director plays in obtaining an awards worthy performance from his actors. Leigh was previously nominated in 1997 for writing and directing "Secrets & Lies" and in 2000 for writing "Topsy-Turvy."

There was, on the other hand, no directing nomination for Marc Forster for "Neverland." Although critics groups didn't embrace Forster, he did score key nominations in the Globes, Critics' Choice and Directors Guild of America races.

The Academy's final ballots go into the mail Feb. 3 and are due back by 5 p.m. Feb. 22. The 77th annual Academy Awards will take place Feb. 27.

Jay & Silent Bob do Degrassi and North of 60 returns on coming week's TV

(CP) - "I got to make out with Caitlin Ryan. . .for hours!"

So boasted indie filmmaker Kevin Smith about his featured guest role on CTV's Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Well, not quite hours but he does have one smooching scene with the dishy Stacie Mistysyn who plays Caitlin, but only because Caitlin was drunk and afterwards she. . .well, let's not spoil it for both Smith and Degrassi fans. The first of three episodes airs Monday night.

Smith has made no secret of his longstanding adulation for the Degrassi franchise and in particular of a crush on Mistysyn, and so agreed last year to come to Canada, with Jason Mewes - his "hetero life-mate" and co-star in the popular Jay and Silent Bob movies - to basically play himself (albeit an unmarried version of Smith). Before the kiss, Caitlin, who is in a relationship with Joey (Pat Mastroianni), admits she thought Smith was gay.

In the story arc, they're shooting a new film called Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh? on location at Degrassi High, using students as extras, and Smith becomes involved in Caitlin's personal relationship problems.

Smith was limited to acting. He offered to write and direct the episodes but he's not Canadian and that would have put the series' Telefilm funding at risk. Watch for another riotous cameo, though, by Alanis Morissette whose character makes out with Jay. Degrassi is the top-rated shows on Noggin, a U.S. cable channel aimed at the teen crowd.

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Following its debut at last fall's Toronto International Film Festival, Shake Hands With the Devil, filmmaker Peter Raymont's searing documentary about Romeo Dallaire and his return to the site of the 1994 Rwanda massacre, pops up commercial-free on CBC's The Passionate Eye next Monday night.

Lt.-Gen. Dallaire, as many viewers probably already know, was the first Canadian commander ever of a United Nations mission to Africa when he was sent to Rwanda in 1993. But the world body and its member nations left him twisting in the wind with no money, no military resources and no mandate with which to intervene in the looming tribal war between Hutus and Tutsis in which 800,000 people were slaughtered in a 100-day genocide.

As the hour-long film shows, blame was sprinkled around liberally, to include not just Dallaire but the Belgians, the Catholic Church and the West in general. The experience left Dallaire depressed, haunted and even suicidal but this film, based on his own bestselling book of the same title, takes him back to the site of his trauma to face his demons and hopefully lead to a catharsis.

Shake Hands With the Devil was on the playbill for this year's Sundance festival and is scheduled for a home video release March 1.

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North of 60 continues to do even better as an occasional TV movie-of-the-week than it did as a weekly series for six years.

The fifth movie in the franchise, airing on CBC on Sunday, is called Distant Drumming and has already gathered some honours at the American Indian Film Festival in California. Angry at the way "white justice" treated him in Calgary when he was falsely convicted of murder, Teevee (Dakota House) returns to Lynx River anxious to make some big changes in the law enforcement system.

But Michelle and Peter (Tina Keeper and Tom Jackson) are concerned: would a Dene police force be answerable to Canadian law or to Teevee as both the newly empowered chief and head of Lynx River Resources? Meanwhile, when an Edmonton tourist is murdered, Michelle gets some investigative competition when Teevee brings in another native officer and expert on aboriginal justice (Jennifer Podemski).

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The man with the beard and cigar is recognized worldwide, and has been for nearly a half-century. But Fidel Castro, who rose up to became dictator of Cuba in 1959 and remains so today, also remains an enigma to all but a few.

Through the decades, he has confounded American presidents from Eisenhower to Bush, while surviving a CIA-backed invasion, countless assassination plots, an economic Embargo - even the collapse of his benefactor, the Soviet Union.

How has he done it?

Through interviews with relatives, childhood friends, fellow rebel leaders, Bay of Pigs veterans, human rights activists and journalists, American Experience: Fidel Castro paints a revealing portrait of an enduring leader. Produced by veteran filmmaker (and Cuba native) Adriana Bosch, this fine PBS documentary airs 9 p.m. Monday (check local listings).

Snubs and Surprises of Nominees

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) -- "Kinsey" squeaked out only one nomination, "The Polar Express" didn't make it in animated feature and "House of Flying Daggers" didn't make it as a best foreign picture.

Those are some of the biggest surprises of the year, when looking to see what and who got snubbed in the 77th Academy Award nominations that were announced on Tuesday.

Obviously, the 5,808 members of the Academy didn't stomach the bisexual biopic of "Kinsey" very well because at one point it was considered a surefire nominee for best picture, and for star Liam Neeson and supporting actor Peter Sarsgaard. Director and writer Bill Condon won a writing Oscar for "Gods and Monsters" and was previously nominated for "Chicago," yet the only nomination for "Kinsey" went to Laura Linney for supporting actress, playing Alfred Kinsey's wife. She's a previous nominee for "You Can Count on Me" in 2000.

Two movies, "Closer" and "Hotel Rwanda," won two acting nominations each, but neither film made it on the best picture list. And "Closer" nominees didn't include superstars Julia Roberts or Jude Law, a previous winner and nominee, and instead picked supporting actors Clive Owen and Natalie Portman, both first-time nominees.

In the same way, "Sideways" earned supporting actor nods for Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen, but star Paul Giamatti was snubbed, like he was last year for "American Splendor."

"The Aviator" and "Million Dollar Baby" each earned three acting nominations, but that doesn't give either picture a lead because last year's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won best picture easily without a single acting nominee.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore may have shot himself in the foot for not competing in the best documentary category and instead shooting for best picture and screenplay. He didn't get into either category. Instead, the documentary category is between a personal story about a man who finds out that the priest who abused him as a boy has moved in next door, "Twist of Faith"; a guy who eats fast food and harms his health, "Super Size Me"; a film about children in brothels in India, "Born into Brothels"; the life and violent death of gangsta rap star Tupac Shakur, "Tupac: Resurrection" and a film about a camel and a nomadic family in Mongolia, "The Story of Weeping Camel."

Jim Carrey's two films of the year included the children's fantasy "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (four noms) and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (two noms), but none for Carrey.

Many past Oscar winners with showy roles were snubbed, such as Al Pacino for "The Merchant of Venice," Jeremy Irons for "Being Julia" or "The Merchant of Venice," Christopher Walken in "Around the Bend," Tom Hanks or Catherine Zeta-Jones for "The Terminal," Nicole Kidman for "Dogville" or "Birth," Cloris Leachman for "Spanglish," Kevin Kline for "De-Lovely," Renee Zellweger for "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," Meryl Streep or Denzel Washington for "Manchurian Candidate," Robin Williams in "The Final Cut" and Sean Penn for "The Assassination of Richard Nixon."

Past Oscar nominees who at one time were likely contenders for the list, but have been left off this year, include John Travolta for "A Love Song for Bobby Long," Tom Cruise in "Collateral," Sigourney Weaver for "Imaginary Heroes," Javier Bardem for "The Sea Inside," Gena Rowlands and James Garner for "The Notebook," Peter O'Toole for "Troy" and Billy Murray for "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." (No, no one thought that Julianne Moore would get a nomination for "The Forgotten.")

No movie about Hollywood history has ever won the top prize, so that may hurt the chances for "The Aviator" which is about billionaire Howard Hughes trying to make it as a director and dating movie starlets.

And Oscar history doesn't bode well for "Sideways," either, because the last best picture to win that was a comedy was "Annie Hall" in 1977.

Some critics thought "The Incredibles" would make it into the top five best picture contenders, rather than just be relegated to best animated feature. "Beauty and the Beast" made it in the top five one year, but that was before the animated feature category was created.

This year, "Team America: World Police" wasn't eligible for animated feature because it was all puppetry, and "Ghost in the Shell 2" and "Polar Express" seemed like they would make it in the list, but didn't. Disney's "Home of the Range" and the successful "SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" also didn't make on the list.

The popular "House of Flying Daggers" from China didn't make the best foreign language film list, but it did get a nomination for best cinematography. Korea's "Tae Guk Gi" and Lars von Trier's "Five Obstructions" from Denmark seemed to be easy nominees, but neither made the list.

Past musical nominees "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago" seemed to have paved the way for "The Phantom of the Opera," but it didn't translate to a best picture or acting performances and earned nominations only for art direction, song and cinematography.

Mel Gibson didn't lobby for his "The Passion of the Christ" and he didn't get a best director nomination, but earned three nominations for cinematography, musical score and makeup.

Oddly enough, once again it seems that a best picture nominee directed itself because the director and best picture categories don't match up. "Finding Neverland's" director Marc Forster didn't get a best director nod, while "Vera Drake's" Mike Leigh didn't get a best picture nomination but it's his fifth nomination. It's happened many times before, but it gives Leigh a major disadvantage.

Reynolds' Fiance To Appear In His Next Movie

Canadian singer Alanis Morissette is set to make a cameo in Ryan Reynolds', her fiance, next movie. Ryan Reynolds, who can currently be seen on screen in BLADE TRINITY, will start in the movie JUST FRIENDS, which started filiming this week. In the movie Reynolds play a record executive who comes face to face with an old crush from his home town.

Morissette's cameo would "have her beats the snot out of me," Reynolds says. Anna Faris and Amy Smart also star in JUST FRIENDS.

Sxrubs On DVD!!

Buena Vista has officially announced that Scrubs: The Complete First Season due on May 17th.

Look for the set to include 24 episodes, never-before-seen "dream sequences," a retrospective documentary and more on 4 discs.

Singer Lisa Brokop finds new groove, asks Hey, Do You Know Me? on CD

TORONTO (CP) - On her new record, Hey, Do You Know Me?, singer Lisa Brokop hopes to become reacquainted with country music fans who still think of her as that cutie teen who sang Take That or Give Me a Ring Sometime.

"People who would have remembered one of my first records, to compare that to now, I've grown so much and I'm a completely different person," the 32-year-old singer-guitarist said recently from Nashville where she was preparing for a tour of Western Canada, beginning Wednesday in her hometown of Vancouver.

Brokop got her start as a teenager, releasing her first album at age 17.

Shortly afterwards she landed a lucrative record deal with Capitol Records. Executives were impressed when they heard her play a few short gigs at a showcase in country heartland Nashville as well the lead in the film Harmony Cats.

The union led to two well-received CDs, Every Little Girl's Dream and a self-titled one with radio hits She Can't Save Him and Before He Kissed Me.

Brokop and Capitol then split. The young singer took some time off and tried her hand at songwriting.

"I didn't know that songwriting was going to be so important for me," she said. "It's really a huge part of my career now."

Fast forward to 2005 and Brokop has been through three record labels as well as a run at putting out a CD independently.

But now Brokop, who has won several Canadian Country Music Awards, seems to have found a new groove. She's signed to Curb Records, home to a slew of hot country artists such as LeAnne Rimes and Tim McGraw.

Two songs from her current CD, released in early January, have been burning up the radio waves. Wildflower and Hey, Do You Know Me? made it to the top 5 on Country Music Television Canada's popular weekly countdown show.

As well, Terri Clark is going to put one of Brokop's songs, Travelling Soul, on her next record due out in March. Reba McEntire put Brokop's Secret on her last disc.

"She's definitely made a huge comeback," says Dayna Bourgoin, music director for Country Music Television Canada, which plays and has helped fund Brokop's videos since the mid-1990s.

"She's always been there. She didn't completely disappear . . . but it really did take her quite a few years to break through."

Bourgoin suspects Brokop, like so many others, got stuck in line behind the Shania-train of the 1990s.

Luckily, adds Bourgoin, Brokop has kept honing her craft.

"She just sings so powerfully. It comes from her heart. Our viewers definitely respond to her."

Brokop, who has lived in Nashville for the past decade, admits she's needed to "hop around" a little bit to find her footing in a turbulent industry.

"You don't know everything at 16," she said of her early days. "I'm much more savvy now. I've learned a lot over the years. I'm getting better at spotting a fly in the ointment."

Now managed by her older brother Dean, Brokop is hoping fans are willing to "get to know" her adult self on the current CD.

"It's a little bit deeper then maybe some of my music in the past," she admits. "That just comes from the growth that I've had in the last few years as a songwriter and personally too . . . a little heartbreak here and there doesn't hurt when you're writing songs."

Here are Lisa Brokop's tour dates:

Jan. 26: Vancouver
Jan. 27: Kamloops, B.C.
Jan. 28: Calgary
Jan. 29: Edmonton
Feb. 1: Moose Jaw, Sask.
Feb. 2: Regina
Feb. 3: Yorkton, Sask.
Feb. 5: Winnipeg

Ray Charles Finally Gets His Due in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ray Charles was an international star for five decades, but in Hollywood the complicated piano man was long considered box-office poison.

When director Taylor Hackford started pitching a project about the "genius of soul" more than 15 years ago, no studios were interested. Music-themed pictures are a tough sell, especially when the subject is an old, blind, black man.

"Ray" eventually got made and received an official seal of approval on Tuesday with six Academy Award nominations, including best picture, director and actor.

Jamie Foxx's eerie lead performance made him an Oscar front-runner long before the film was released to commercial and critical acclaim in late October, a few months after Charles died of liver disease.

The film has otherwise been an underdog every step of the way, since 1987 when Hackford met Charles and eventually acquired the rights to his life.

"I must say there's a little bit of sweet revenge to all those people that turned us down," Hackford told Reuters after the nominations were announced.

He was far from resentful, recognizing that if the picture had been made a while ago, it would not have starred Foxx, "and no one could have played this role like that."

Hackford and fellow producer Stuart Benjamin spent more than a decade shopping the concept to uninterested Hollywood studios. Even though Hackford had produced the 1987 moneymaker "La Bamba," about the short life of Latino rocker Ritchie Valens, most music-based projects fall flat at the box office.

Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz eventually joined the project, with the intention of bringing a studio on board. There were still no bites. So Anschutz funded the production himself, with the budget coming in at about $35 million.

Charles cooperated with the project every step of the way, even as it touched on his drug abuse and womanizing, Hackford said. That was a pleasant change, he said, from Chuck Berry, "who did everything possible to inhibit us getting the real picture of the man" in the 1987 documentary "Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll."

"With Ray ... there wasn't anything that I couldn't delve into," Hackford said. "There were no limitations that he placed on me, which was an incredible gift."

Foxx, a classically trained pianist, said the most instructive experience in preparing for the role was in observing Charles during unguarded moments from a distance.

"It was watching him when he was talking to other people, watching his mannerisms, watching how he orders his food, how he talks to his kids, how he conducts business," Foxx said.

"He made me feel comfortable, but at the same time you feel anxious," Foxx recounted. "The minute we met each other and started playing the piano to each other, it was a given that he was giving his blessing."

It wasn't until after the movie was completed in the middle of 2003 that producers elicited some interest.

Ron Meyer, president of Universal Studios, a unit of General Electric Co.-controlled NBC Universal, said he used to hitchhike across Los Angeles as a young teen to sneak into Charles' concerts in Hollywood. As a studio boss, he snapped up the rights to the film early last year.

The film grossed $73 million at the North American box office and will come out on DVD on Tuesday.

"I can't tell you how many people said people will never buy tickets to see this movie, and they were wrong and the audience proved them wrong," Hackford said. "And now this, where your peers -- the people who actually make movies and understand what goes in to making movies -- recognize this, it's just another vindication."

Oscar Snubs Michael Moore, Mel Gibson

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Moore's attempt to turn voters against President Bush failed and on Tuesday he lost his gamble as well for a coveted best-picture Oscar nomination for his incendiary documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The omission from the coveted category marks a major misfire for the liberal firebrand who withdrew his anti-Bush polemic from contention in the documentary category, which he won two years ago with "Bowling for Columbine," in order to focus on the big prize. No documentary has ever won the best picture Oscar.

Conservative filmmaker Mel Gibson, who performed a miracle by turning an Aramaic-speaking Jesus into a worldwide box office star with "The Passion of the Christ," also was shut out of the major award categories.

The Biblical saga generated zero buzz among Oscar prognosticators, and Gibson declined to campaign for the film he directed and funded with his own money after all the studios passed. It did, however, land three minor Oscar nominations for makeup, cinematography and score.

Earlier this month, "Passion" won a lowly People's Choice Award for best film drama to go with the two Oscars Gibson won in 1996 for producing and directing "Braveheart."

Frank Pierson, the president the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that awards the Oscars, declined to comment on what Moore's reaction would be, saying, "I'll have to call him and ask."

As for Gibson, Pierson noted that while the Australian-raised actor did not get nominated for a major prize he earned enough money from "Passion" to "set up his own studio."

The Moore snub does not mean that Hollywood has suddenly dumped its liberal orthodoxy, said conservative commentator Mark Smith.

"Perhaps Hollywood decided, 'We don't want to be reminded of our bitter defeat in November (in the presidential election), and the best way to forget it is not to talk about Michael Moore at this year's Oscars,"' said Smith, author of "The Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy."

Moore and Gibson were not the only notable omissions when the Academy Award contenders were announced at daybreak.

Golden Globe nominee Paul Giamatti was not nominated for his lead role as a grumpy oenophile in "Sideways," even though Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen were cited for their supporting roles in the comedy.

Both Church and Madsen said they were deeply disappointed as he was key to the film's success.

While "Finding Neverland" tied with "Ray" for second place among nominees with seven nods, its Swiss director, Marc Forster, did not make the cut. Forster and "Closer" Director Mike Nichols were the only Golden Globe nominees shut out of the Oscar race.

Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey had campaigned aggressively for his Bobby Darin movie, "Beyond the Sea," a labor of love he directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in. But Oscar was deaf to Spacey this time.

COMIC GUY NAMED

The elusive real name of Comic Book Guy will finally be revealed in "Simpsons" episode No. GABF02, Act 1.

The blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment airs in the show after the Super Bowl on Feb. 6.

In the episode, Homer inadvertently performs a wild, crowd-pleasing dance at a local carnival and is hired by several major sports figures to choreograph their victory dances.

He is so successful that he gets tapped to choreograph the Super Bowl halftime show.

Comic Book Guy, the snobbish know-it-all, pops up in the episode clad in a "Nerds do it Rarely" T-shirt. Since the series began in 1991, his real name has never been used, although in an interview a few years ago series creator Matt Groening joked that his name was "Louis Lane."

National Film Board leads Canadian trek to Oscars with two nominations

TORONTO (CP) - Canada is Oscar-bound this year, thanks to a pair of short films co-produced by the National Film Board.

Ryan is writer-director Chris Landreth's innovative use of digital animation to look at the career and tragic decline of Ryan Larkin, a brilliant former NFB animator who ended up a panhandler on the streets of Montreal. Landreth was also nominated in the animated short category in 1996 for The End.

"It is a great honour to be recognized for this film - it was a labour of love for almost four years," said Landreth. "An Oscar nomination is a wonderful validation - it was an incredible experience the first time and I look forward to returning."

Ryan has already won more than 30 international awards, from Cannes to Canada.

Hardwood, written and directed by Hubert Davis, was nominated in the documentary short category. Making his directorial debut, Davis, son of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, uses interviews, archival and home movies to explore his father's relationship with his family.

"A nomination for my first film - amazing," said Davis. "It is very gratifying to turn the camera onto my family, tell our Canadian story and then have it received so well."

The film board views the nominations as a special 65th anniversary gift, having won the first of 10 Oscars back in 1941 for Churchill's Island.

"All of Canada is going to the Oscars," boasted Jacques Bensimon, government film commissioner and NFB chairman, in a statement released only moments after the nominations were announced.

"The National Film Board is Canada's public film producer and we're proud to share our 66th and 67th Academy Award nominations with each and every Canadian."

Other Canadian connections to Oscar in 2005 include the Robert Lantos-produced Being Julia, for which Annette Bening nabbed a best actress nod. Also, Paul Haggis of London, Ont., made it into the best adapted screenplay category for his script for Million Dollar Baby.

And Canadian actress Sandra Oh has a role in Sideways, which was nominated for best picture. Her husband, Alexander Payne, is nominated for best director and best adapted screenplay for the film.

'Aviator' Gets 11 Academy Award Nods

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The Howard Hughes epic "The Aviator" led Academy Awards contenders with 11 nominations Tuesday, including best picture, plus acting honors for Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda and a directing slot for Martin Scorsese.

The boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby" and the J.M. Barrie tale "Finding Neverland" followed with seven nominations each, among them best picture and acting nominations for Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and Johnny Depp.

Eastwood also got a directing nomination for "Million Dollar Baby."

The other best-picture nominees were the Ray Charles portrait "Ray" and the buddy comedy "Sideways."

Along with Eastwood, Jamie Foxx also scored two nominations, as best actor for the title role in "Ray" and supporting actor as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man in "Collateral."

Foxx's dead-on emulation of Charles has made him the front-runner in the lead-actor category.

Starring as aviation trailblazer and Hollywood rebel Hughes, DiCaprio also was nominated for best actor. He and Foxx will compete against Depp as "Peter Pan" playwright Barrie in "Finding Neverland"; Eastwood as a cantankerous boxing trainer in "Million Dollar Baby"; and Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," starring as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered refugees from the Rwandan genocide.

The best-actress category presents a rematch of the 1999 showdown, when underdog Swank won the Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry" over Annette Bening, who had been the front-runner for "American Beauty."

This time, Swank was nominated as a bullheaded boxing champ whose life takes a cruel twist in "Million Dollar Baby." Bening was chosen for "Being Julia," in which she plays an aging 1930s stage diva exacting wickedly comic revenge on the men in her life and a young rival.

Both actresses won Golden Globes for the roles, Swank for best dramatic actress, Bening for actress in a musical or comedy.

Also nominated for the best-actress Oscar were Catalina Sandino Moreno as a Colombian woman imperiled when she signs on to smuggle heroin in "Maria Full of Grace"; Imelda Staunton as a saintly housekeeper in 1950s Britain who performs illegal abortions on the side in "Vera Drake"; and Kate Winslet as a woman who has had memories of her ex-boyfriend erased in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

Joining Eastwood and Scorsese among directing nominees are Taylor Hackford for "Ray"; Mike Leigh for "Vera Drake"; and Alexander Payne for "Sideways."

Scorsese, arguably the most prominent modern filmmaker who has never won an Oscar, also has never delivered a best-picture winner. Considered a nominal best-picture favorite, "The Aviator" offers him a shot to finally triumph on Oscar night, though Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" is a formidable competitor.

"The Aviator" won the Golden Globe for best-dramatic film, but Eastwood beat out Scorsese for the directing prize at the Globes. Eastwood is a past Oscar winner for best-picture and director with 1992's "Unforgiven."

Along with Foxx in "Collateral," Alda was nominated for supporting actor as a senator tussling with Hughes in "The Aviator" while Freeman was picked as a worldly-wise ex-boxer in "Million Dollar Baby." The other nominees: Thomas Haden Church as a bridegroom out for a final fling in "Sideways"; Clive Owen as a coarse lover in "Closer."

For supporting actress, academy voters picked Blanchett, who plays Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator"; Laura Linney as the title character's sexually adventurous wife in "Kinsey"; Virginia Madsen as a deceived lover in "Sideways"; Sophie Okonedo as innkeeper Rusesabagina's wife in "Hotel Rwanda"; Natalie Portman as a gutsy stripper in "Closer."

It was the best year ever for black performers, who had five of the 20 acting nominations. The most previously was three, including the 2001 Oscars when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington both won the lead acting prizes.

"Sideways" star Paul Giamatti was overlooked for a nomination, a surprise given that he had been a contender for most previous film honors. Liam Neeson, who had the title role in "Kinsey," also missed out, as did the movie, which had considered a best-picture contender.

Mel Gibson's religious blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ" missed out on main categories, but did pick up nominations for cinematography, makeup and original score.

Michael Moore's gamble to hold his hit film "Fahrenheit 9/11" out of the documentary category — to boost its best-picture prospects — backfired. The movie was shut out across the board.

Moore won the documentary prize two years ago for "Bowling for Columbine."

Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," which hilariously chronicles his monthlong feed frenzy on an all-McDonald's diet, was among the documentary nominees.

Also nominated was "Born into Brothels," "The Story of the Weeping Camel," "Tupac: Resurrection," and "Twist of Faith."

With its epic scope and dazzling re-creation of early Hollywood, Scorsese's "The Aviator" could claim the inside track as front-runner for best picture. The film won the Golden Globe for best dramatic picture.

Yet unlike last year, when "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" went in as the odds-on favorite and swept all 11 of its categories come Oscar night, the outcome is more uncertain this time.

"The Aviator" could finally bring Scorsese the best-picture and directing wins that have eluded him during his distinguished career. But Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" is a heavyweight opponent that could spoil Scorsese's chances.

The fairy-tale comedy "Shrek 2" and the superhero adventure "The Incredibles" will duke it out for the animated feature film Oscar, along with the undersea romp "Shark Tale."

Nominated for foreign-language film were Sweden's "As It Is in Heaven," France's "The Chorus," Germany's "Downfall," Spain's "The Sea Inside" and South Africa's "Yesterday."

Nominees in most categories are chosen by specific branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, such as directors, actors and writers. The full academy membership of about 5,800 is eligible to vote in all categories for the Oscars themselves.

ABC will broadcast the Oscars live Feb. 27 from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. Chris Rock is the show's host, the first time since 1996 that either Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg or Steve Martin has not been master of ceremonies.

Here is the complete list of nominees for the 77th Annual Academy Awards:

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA
Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND
Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Jamie Foxx - RAY

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR
Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL
Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Clive Owen - CLOSER

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening - BEING JULIA
Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE
Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR
Laura Linney - KINSEY
Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS
Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA
Natalie Portman - CLOSER

DIRECTING
Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Taylor Hackford - RAY
Alexander Payne - SIDEWAYS
Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE

BEST PICTURE
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
SIDEWAYS

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
THE INCREDIBLES
SHARK TALE
SHREK 2

ART DIRECTION
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE AVIATOR
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT

COSTUME DESIGN
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
RAY
TROY

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
BORN INTO BROTHELS
THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL
SUPER SIZE ME
TUPAC: RESURRECTION
TWIST OF FAITH

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
AUTISM IS A WORLD
THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY
HARDWOOD
MIGHTY TIMES: THE CHILDREN'S MARCH
SISTER ROSE'S PASSION

FILM EDITING
THE AVIATOR
COLLATERAL
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
THE CHORUS
DOWNFALL
THE SEA INSIDE
YESTERDAY

MAKEUP
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE SEA INSIDE

MUSIC (SCORE)
FINDING NEVERLAND
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE VILLAGE

MUSIC (SONG)
"Accidentally In Love" - SHREK 2
"Al Otro Lado Del Río" - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
"Believe" - THE POLAR EXPRESS
"Learn To Be Lonely" - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
"Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)" - THE CHORUS

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
BIRTHDAY BOY
GOPHER BROKE
GUARD DOG
LORENZO
RYAN

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY MUST
LITTLE TERRORIST
7:35 IN THE MORNING
TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT
WASP

SOUND EDITING
THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
SPIDER-MAN 2

SOUND MIXING
THE AVIATOR
THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
RAY
SPIDER-MAN 2

VISUAL EFFECTS
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
I, ROBOT
SPIDER-MAN 2

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
BEFORE SUNSET
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
SIDEWAYS

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
THE AVIATOR
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
HOTEL RWANDA
THE INCREDIBLES
VERA DRAKE

The Couch Potato Report - January 25th, 2005

There is a world of tomorrow in The Couch Potato Report this week, along with some kind of monster, white heat, and 6 people coupling.

No matter how old I am, I will always be fascinated by robots and the world of tomorrow.

Luckily I am not alone in that fascination. There are still many people around the world who would like to have a robot, drive a flying car, or travel to the moon.

For those who share my mindset, there is a new film for you to enjoy called SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. The film features Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Those three big Hollywood names are the stars of the film, but the real star of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW is writer-director Kerry Conran.

Even though movies are a visual medium, one of the things that's missing in movies today is vision. It is very rare in this day and age when a movie comes out that is unique, and unlike anything we've seen before.

There is just too much money to be made from sequels and movies based on old TV shows for people with vision to get their films made.

Happily, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW did get made and it is a technical marvel!

I can say that because there were no actual locations used to make this film. All of the actors did their work on a stage and the sets and events were all digitally created around them.

That is what allows the film to be unique, yet reminiscent of classic works like Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, the cliffhanger serials of the 30's and 40's, and the INDIANA JONES films. Even STAR WARS is referenced when a pilot is instructed to land on the air carrier's pad 327, the same number the Millennium Falcon lands on in Cloud City.

But I digress.

The story centers on ace pilot "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan and his daring reporter gal pal Polly Perkins as they attempt to save the world from a mad scientist.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW is a wonderfully interesting film to look at, and even though I loved it, that fact is also why I hesitate to recommend it.

There is only a small amount of character development in the movie, and all of it comes from dialogue. In the end no one grows, or changes, or even becomes deeper than a character you might see in a commercial.

But I loved the picture as there is just so much going on in visually and it gave me the chance to relive a world that I have dreamt about since I was a kid.

Yes, I loved SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, but unless you are exactly like me, you might want to skip it.

That statement is almost true for this week's next new release as well.

Unless you are exactly like me, you might want to skip METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER.

This movie is a documentary about Metallica, the most successful heavy metal band of all time. The band that gave us "Enter Sandman", "Nothing Else Matters" and "One."

SOME KIND OF MONSTER offers a revealing and exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the group as they find out that they have conflicts in their professional relationships. We also see them address some personal issues as they begin to record their - eventual Grammy winning - album "St. Anger."

The filmmakers spent two years with Metallica as the band was forced to deal with the departure of long-time bassist Jason Newsted, the struggle to record St. Anger, and they even filmed the group as they began seeing a psychiatrist, or "performance enhancement coach."

The main selling point of SOME KIND OF MONSTER is the fact that it is the ultimate backstage pass. If you've ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in a recording studio with a very successful band, this is your opportunity.

Now let me get to the "exactly like me" part of this review. I love the rock and roll music that Metallica produces.

Even though there is more documentary than music in the film, the music is still Metallica's when it exists.

But I don't think you should allow the music to stop you in this instance. There are just so many great moments, and so much interesting stuff about the music industry, that I hope you will watch it.

I also think you should watch WHITE HEAT, actually, I insist that you do!

WHITE HEAT is one of the best gangster films ever made and the James Cagney classic has finally debuting on DVD.

Cagney returned to the gangster film genre in this 1949 film as Cody Jarrett.

Cody Jarrett is a killer with a mother fixation to rival Oedipus Rex as he tries to get to the "top of the world".

The result is a classic slice of Hollywood at it 's best! If you only know the film and it's dialogue from the Madonna song of the same name, see WHITE HEAT for yourself.

It is top of the world. Top of the world!!

Our final new release this week is COUPLING - THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON.

On previous editions of THE COUCH POTATO REPORT you have heard me call this BBC sitcom a classic. I have also said that it is the funniest things I have seen in years.

Now, while those statements are true for the series' first three seasons, neither one of them is applicable to the fourth season.

COUPLING is a witty, instantly addictive series about the tangled sex lives of a close-knit group of six people that is made up of "exes and best friends."

The main supplier of comedy in the show is Jeff Murdoch, as played by Richard Coyle. Coyle said he'd had enough of the show after three seasons, and he didn't return for the fourth.

His absence looms over the entire season, and the producers seem to be aware of it as they added another nervy and nerdy character to replace him. But Oliver is no Jeff! Not even close!!

While the show's fresh and provocative takes on relationships still exist, the humour and life of the show left with Coyle.

Yet, even without him, COUPLING - THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON still has it's moments. In time I will probably learn to appreciate them almost as much as season's one through three. I just don't right now.

The first four seasons of the BBC sitcom COUPLING, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER and WHITE HEAT are now available at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

RAY is the true biographical account of Ray Charles' life. Oscar nominee Jamie Foxx gives the performance of a lifetime as the titular legend.

In THE GRUDGE a deadly curse is passed on between victims like a curse. Sarah Michelle Gellar is the curse slayer.

SHALL WE DANCE is the ill-advised Hollywood remake of a beautiful Japanese film of the same name. This version stars Richard Gere as a businessman takes who takes dancing lessons to impress a woman. Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon are the women in his life.

Bernie Mac is the man known as MR. 3000. He plays an unlikable baseball star who is forced to come out of retirement to get three hits in order to secure his entry into baseball's Hall Of Fame.

Also coming out next week is VANITY FAIR. Reese Witherspoon stars in the classic story as a woman who uses wit and sexuality to better herself socially.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on VANITY FAIR, RAY, and those other releases, in seven days.

That's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Apple iTunes sells 250 million songs

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - With its music downloads selling at a rate of more than a million per day, Apple Computer Inc. said Monday customers have purchased more than 250 million songs from its online iTunes Music Store.

The store, now available in 15 countries, is selling 1.25 million songs at 99 cents apiece per day, the computer and multimedia company said.

Apple helped invigorate the market for legal music downloads when it launched the iTunes store in April 2003. Its robust sales far outpace rival services.

The success is due in part to Apple's wildly popular IPod portable music players, which do not play songs purchased from competing online music stores.

The Cupertino-based company sold 4.5 million IPods in the fourth quarter and more than 10 million since its debut in October 2001.

Shares of Apple rose 65 cents to $71.14 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $21.70 to $74.42.

Journey Reunite in L.A.

Former Journey vocalist Steve Perry shocked his old bandmates and thousands of fans gathered in Los Angeles Friday when he showed up to the unveiling of the band's star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

"I knew nothing about it, and nobody else knew [anything] about it," says guitarist Neal Schon. "We walked from the back to the front, where all the people were, and there he was. That's the first time we've seen -- or spoken to -- each other in about seven years."

Formed in 1973, Journey achieved their greatest success after Perry joined in 1977, when his soaring voice helped push the group's power ballads like "Don't Stop Believing," "Open Arms" and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" up the charts, before the group disbanded in the mid-Eighties. Though Journey reunited in 1996, a corresponding tour became the source of controversy when Perry was diagnosed with a degenerative hip disease and the band replaced him with Steve Augeri.

Friday's reunion was spawned by Journey's Thursday morning appearance on L.A. radio station KLOS's Mark and Brian Show. "[The Djs asked], 'Is Steve gonna be there?' live on the radio," says Schon. "I said, 'You guys got his number? Let's call him and invite him!' So they proceeded to try and get through to him, which we were not able to do. In the end, Mark acted like he was Steve Perry, so I said, 'I'm personally inviting you. You need to be there. You had a lot to do with this.' And, apparently, Steve heard it when he was driving on the freeway."

Journey were also reunited with former vocalist Robert Fleischman, and ex-drummers Steve Smith and Aynsley Dunbar, who turned up for the ceremony and later jammed with the band at a House of Blues gig Friday night. Though Perry didn't make it to the performance, Schon hopes their brief reunion last Friday may have helped mend some fences. "I'm hoping everyone can put behind them all the ill feelings, for whatever reason, and just move on," he says. "Life is too short -- you need to get on with it. If you have problems, build a bridge and get over it. That's exactly where I'm at, and so I'm hoping this is the beginning of a better relationship between Perry and ourselves."

Journey are currently working on a new album with producers Kevin Elson and Mike Frasier. The band plan to give out the as-yet-untitled release to attendees of their upcoming summer tour, which will be billed as "An Evening with Journey" and sponsored by Clear Channel.

Friday's reunion may strengthen the lineup for the lengthy outing. "We're going to be able to play so much more material from the beginning, pre-Steve Perry days, and move on. We're probably going to end up doing a three-and-a-half-hour show, so I've invited all the past members to come and sit in -- including Steve Perry. We'll just have to wait and see if he shows."

Kanye West Collaborating With Lauryn Hill On New LP

More than six drama-filled years after the release of her Grammy-winning solo debut, it looks like Lauryn Hill's sophomore studio album is finally nearing fruition — with a little help from Kanye West, perhaps.

The pair have collaborated on at least two songs, and while it isn't certain that the collaborations will make the album's final track listing, given West's spiritual slant, the producer seems like a perfect fit for Hill, whose music has taken an ethereal turn in recent years.

Still, the pair's collaboration is somewhat ironic, considering that West sampled a Hill song for the original version of his track, "All Falls Down." The then-relatively unknown producer couldn't get clearance to use Hill's performance and re-recorded the song using singer Syleena Johnson.

Representatives for West and Hill could not be reached for comment.

Hill's last studio set, 1998's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, won five Grammy awards and turned her into a household name. However, rumored turbulence in the singer's personal life contributed to a long delay in the release of any new music.

The silence was finally broken in 2002 with MTV Unplugged 2.0, culled from an MTV special of the same name. The album featured Hill singing spiritually driven, acoustic songs while accompanying herself on acoustic guitar (which she'd only recently learned to play). The songs' lyrics reflected the religious and at times mystical bent that some of her comments to the media had taken. The singer's behavior has been unpredictable in recent years.

Recently, Hill has turned up to do a series of live performances and even reunited with the Fugees last year for Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which also featured West. While talk of a Fugees reunion album has been constant, fellow Fugee Wyclef Jean has often said that any group material would come only after Lauryn has finished this album.

West has had a remarkably busy schedule in recent months. The producer has worked with Mariah Carey, Common and Twista, among others, on their upcoming projects. He also tried his hand at directing John Legend's new video, "Ordinary People."

West has also been hard at work on his own sophomore release, Late Registration. He has already enlisted the help of John Mayer for the set, which is due this spring.

Scrubs News!

There's big news on Tuesday night on Scrubs (9 ET/PT), where Colin Farrell makes his U.S. series debut.

He plays a life-loving Irishman injured in a bar fight who teaches Turk and J.D. how to live, live, live — or some similar Auntie Mame-type lesson.

If he can teach a few more viewers how to find Scrubs on their dial, it will be a visit well spent.

New Tunage!

Here are the new CD Releases for Tuesday, January 25th, 2005:

4MULA 1 Let's Get It (Sobe)

7 Seconds Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over (SideOneDummy)

Agnostic Front Another Voice (Combat/Relativity)

Kelli Ali (ex-Sneaker Pimps) Psychic Cat (One Little Indian)

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Worlds Apart (deluxe edition w/DVD same day) (Interscope)

Aqueduct I Sold Gold (Barsuk)

Aura Noir The Merciless (Tyrant Syndicate/Peaceville)

Lou Barlow Emoh (Merge)

Adrian Belew Side One (w/Les Claypool of Primus and Tool's Danny Carey) (Sanctuary)

Shelly Berg Trio Blackbird (formerly titled "Questions and Answers") (Concord Jazz)

Bettie Serveert Atta Girl (w/two bonus tracks) (Minty Fresh)

Big Business (members of Murder City Devils and Karp) Head for the Shallow (Hydra Head)

Big Noyd On the Grind (guests Mobb Deep, Alchemist) (Monopolee)

The Black Maria Lead Us to Reason (Victory)

The Blasters Live: Going Home (final show of reunion tour) (DTS Entertainment)

Bleeding Through This Is Love, This Is Murder (w/enhanced bonus CD) (Trustkill)

The Bluerunners Honey Slides (Bayou Vista)

Tim Booth (ex-James frontman) Bone (Koch)

Bright Eyes Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek)

Buck 65 This Right Here Is (V2)

Michel Camilo Solo (SACD same day; ICE #214) (Telarc Jazz)

Dick Campbell Blue Winds Only Know (Sound City)

Cast Iron Filter Falls of Rough (CIF)

John Cena & Trademarc Underground (Columbia)

Jimmy Chamberlin Complex Life Begins Again (enhanced CD; guests Billy Corgan, Righteous Brother Bill Medley and ex-Catherine Wheel's Rob Dickinson) (Sanctuary)

Larry Chance and the Earls Moonlight Kiss (new recording from ‘60s Doo Wop group) (Collectables)

The Chemical Brothers Push the Button (guest Q-Tip) (Astralwerks)

Kenny Chesney Be as You Are: Songs from an Old Blue Chair (BNA)

Jesse Cook Montreal (Live) (Narada World)

Sean Costello Sean Costello (Artemis/Tone-Cool)

Graham Coxon (ex-Blur guitarist) Happiness in Magazines (Astralwerks)

Crash Kelly Penny Pills (Liquor and Poker Music)

Cursed II (Goodfellow)

Destroyer Notorious Lightning and Other Works EP (Merge)

The Devlins Waves (Nettwerk)

Stefano Di Battista Parker's Mood (Blue Note)

Ani DiFranco Knuckle Down (Righteous Babe)

Daz Dillinger The Dogg Pound Gangsta LP (Gangsta Advisory/Daz Dillinger Music)

Dog Fashion Disco The City Is Alive Tonight...Live in Baltimore (w/bonus DVD) (Artemis)

Dominator Love It or Hate It (Thump)

Dave Douglas & Nomad Mountain Passages (Greenleaf/Koch)

Dry Branch Fire Squad Live at the Newburyport Firehouse (two CDs) (Rounder)

Emma (Bunton, formerly of Spice Girls) Free Me (19 Recordings)

Erasure Nightbird (Mute)

Marianne Faithfull Before the Poison (w/tracks written by PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and Blur's Damon Albarn) (Anti/Epitaph)

Forever Einstein Racket Science (Cuneiform)

Tom Freund Copper Moon (guests D.J. Bonebrake of X and The Wallflowers' Ben Peeler) (Surf Road)

John Frusciante Curtains (Record Collection)

Inara George All Rise (features members of Greyboy All Stars and Action Figure Party) (Everloving)

God Dethroned Lair of the White Worm (Metal Blade)

Goodie Mob Presents the Lumberjacks (Khujo and T-Mo of Goodie Mob) Livin' Life Like Lumberjacks (guests Witchdoctor and Big Gipp) (Koch)

Rosco Gordon No Dark in America (DualTone)

The Gossip/Tracy and the Plastics Real Damage (split EP) (Dim Mak)

John Hammond In Your Arms Again (Back Porch)

Missy Higgins All for Believing EP (Warner Bros.)

Ray Wylie Hubbard Delirium Tremolos (Philo/Rounder)

I Am Kloot I Am Kloot (Echo)

Jennifer Gentle Valende (Sub Pop)

Jesu (w/Justin Broadrick of Godflesh) Jesu (Hydra Head)

Kill Your Idols From Companionship to Competition (SideOneDummy)

James King Bluegrass Storyteller (Rounder)

Klang (w/ex-Elastica guitarist Donna Matthews) No Sound Is Heard (Blast First/Petite)

Kyau Vs. Albert Here We Are Now (two CDs) (Varèse Sarabande)

Jake La Botz All Soul and No Money (guest members of the Chambers Brothers, Tom Waits' band and Flying Burrito Brothers) (Joseph Street)

Mike Ladd Negrophilia: The Album (w/Vijay Iyer, Guillermo E. Brown, Andrew Lamb and Roy Campbell) (Thirsty Ear)

Miranda Lambert Kerosene (Epic)

Sonny Landreth Grant Street (Sugar Hill)

Blaine Larsen Off to Join the World (re-release of indie album w/added tracks) (BNA)

Lemon Jelly ‘64-'95 (DVD and deluxe CD same day) (XL/Beggars Group)

Lil' Scrappy & Trillville The King of Crunk and BME Records Present: Chopped & Screwed (Reprise)

Kama Linden Uninhibited (Nuendo)

Louis XIV Illegal Tender EP (contains new and previously released material) (Atlantic)

Low The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop)

Sylvain Luc Ambre (Dreyfus)

Lucky Who Shot Me (Thump)

M83 Before the Dawn Heals Us (Mute)

Machine and the Synergetic Nuts Leap Second Neutral (Cuneiform)

Pat Metheny Group The Way Up (Nonesuch)

The Moaners Dark Snack (Yep Roc)

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult My Life Remixed (dance remixes of the band's classics) (Red Ant)

New Model Army Small Town England (Snapper)

Nillah The Sun Show (Two Sheds)

No-Man Together We're Stranger (Snapper)

Paul Oakenfold Perfecto Presents...The Club Mixed (rare remixes of The Doors, Madonna, Justin Timberlake and more) (Thrive)

The Octopus Project One Ten Hundred Thousand Million (Peek-a-Boo)

Jeff Parker (of Tortoise) The Relatives (w/cover of Marvin Gaye's "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You") (Thrill Jockey)

Parker and Lily The Low Lows (Warm Electronic)

The Pierces Light of the Moon (Universal)

Pitty Sing Pitty Sing (Or Music)

Matt Pond PA Winter Songs EP (limited edition) (Altitude)

Pony Up! Pony Up! EP (first band signed to Ben Lee's new label) (Ten Fingers/Dim Mak)

Archer Prewitt (of Sea and Cake) Wilderness (Thrill Jockey)

Alex K. Redfearn and the Eyesores The Quiet Room (Cuneiform)

Pete Rock Surviving Elements: From Soul Survivor II Sessions (BBE/Rapster)

Shorty Rogers & The Giants The Wizard of Oz & Other Harold Arlen Music (DRG/BMG)

Romanowski Party in My Pants (Future Primitive Sound)

Todd Rundgren Liars (DualDisc) (Silverline)

Mando Saenz Watertown (Emergent)

Slackjaw A Tourist in the Land of the Living (Post436)

Spindle Self Serve Surgery (Triple Crown)

The Chris Stamey Experience A Question of Temperature (w/ Yo La Tengo) (Yep Roc)

The Stands All Years Leaving (produced by Tom Rothrock) (Echo)

Stereo Total Do the Bambi (Kill Rock Stars)

Street Dogs (ex-Dropkick Murphys frontman Mike McColgan) Back to the World (Brass Tacks)

Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters guitarist) About Them Shoes (guests Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Levon Helm, James Cotton and David Johansen) (Tone-Cool/Artemis)

Supersuckers Live at the Tractor Travern (Mid-Fi)

Keni Thomas Flags of Our Fathers - A Soldier's Story (Moraine Music)

Viva Voce Lovers Lead the Way (reissue of recent record on new label) (Minty Fresh)

Martha Wainwright (sister of Rufus) Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole EP (Rounder)

We Versus the Shark Ruin Everything! (Hello Sir Records)

VA Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times (Rounder)

VA Elko! A Cowboy's Gathering (two CDs; songs and poetry from National Cowboy Poetry Gathering) (DualTone)

VA Hi Power 2005 (hip-hop comp.) (Thump)

VA Hotel D'Amour (dance comp.) (Varèse Sarabande)

VA MPS Jazz Reworks (Verve)

VA Smooth Jazz Plays Your Favorite Radio Hits (Shanachie)

OST Alone in the Dark (Christian Slater/Tara Reid horror film) (Nuclear Blast)

OST Assault on Precinct 13 (score by Graeme Revell) (Varèse Sarabande)

OST Elektra - The Album (Daredevil spin-off movie w/Jennifer Garner; score by Christophe Beck) (Wind-up)

OST Go Fish Memory (Tommy Boy)

OST Mulan II (Walt Disney)

OST One Tree Hill (WB TV series) (Warner Bros.)

DVD Beyond Warped: The Vans Warped Tour 04 (w/The Bouncing Souls, Bowling for Soup, Juliette and the Licks and more) (Trinidad/Aloha Films)

DVD Fear of a Satanic Planet (documentary on Marilyn Manson) (Chrome Dreams)

DVD Magic Weed (Snapper)

DVD The Adventures of Street Dogg Vol. 1 (w/50 Cent, P. Diddy and more) (Music Video Distributors)

DVD BeauSoleil Live from New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Shout! Factory)

DVD Rachel Brice Tribal Fusion Belly Dance (Ark 21)

DVD The Funky Meters Live from New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Shout! Factory)

DVD Kool Keith Global Enlightenment Part 1 (Music Video Distributors)

DVD Old 97's Live (New West)

DVD The Pietasters Live at the 9:30 Club (Music Video Distributors)

DVD VA Burn to Shine: Washington DC - 01.14.2004 (live performance w/Bob Mould, Q and Not U, and Ted Leo) (Trixie)

DVD VA Tension and Release: Springing the Blues 2003 (live festival performances from Otis Taylor, John Hammond, Deborah Coleman and more) (Music Video Distributors)

SACD Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith Yo Miles! - Upriver (two-disc hybrid; w/covers of Miles Davis tunes) (Cuneiform)

SACD VA Sampler No. 5 (w/McCoy Tyner, Tierney Sutton, Junior Brown, Spyro Gyra and more) (Telarc)

SACD OST The Great Train Robbery (score by Jerry Goldsmith) (Varèse Sarabande)

SACD OST Timeline (score by Jerry Goldsmith) (Varèse Sarabande)

"Yes, I rather like this God fellow. He's very theatrical, you know, a pestilence here, a plague there. Omnipotence. Gotta get me some of that."

— Stewie Griffin, from Fox's FAMILY GUY

Costner Finds New Ball Game in 'Anger'

PARK CITY, Utah - There are three notable differences in Kevin Costner's latest career move as a big-screen ballplayer:

- The star of the previous baseball flicks "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams" and "For Love of the Game" plays a retired ballplayer in the comic drama "The Upside of Anger," which premiered over the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival.

- Costner is a supporting performer to the film's central character, played by Joan Allen.

And

- The actor known for such sober dramas as "Dances With Wolves," "JFK" and "The Untouchables" is playing a good old goofball, a big-hearted meathead with a dopey laugh, a chronic marijuana buzz and a long-neck beer bottle perpetually in hand.

When writer-director Mike Binder's script for "The Upside of Anger" came his way, Costner had a moment's hesitation about doing another ballplayer.

"But listen, I'm not that timid about, `Ooh, what are people going to think?'" Costner said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I didn't think `Field of Dreams' had anything to do with `For Love of the Game.' I didn't think that `Love of the Game' had anything to do with `Bull Durham.' And I didn't do any of them because they were baseball.

"When I saw this, I thought the not-careful journalists will write, `Oh, another baseball movie.' But I did this because he was an interesting character."

Opening theatrically in March, "The Upside of Anger" stars Allen as a woman with four daughters (Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt) who turns boozy and caustically bitter after her husband pulls a vanishing act.

Costner plays Allen's laid-back neighbor, a former baseball star who becomes her drinking buddy and eventually tumbles into an uneasy relationship as her lover and referee for the woman's spats with her daughters.

Allen said it was refreshing for Costner to cut loose in a jollier role.

"I thought it would be fun to see him play something like that," Allen said. "We referred to him as a big teddy bear all the time. He was just really lovable and sweet and kind of goofy among all these women."

Binder, also co-starring as a lecherous pal who produces a radio talk show hosted by Costner's character, wrote the script with Allen in mind. The two had become chummy on the set of Allen's political drama "The Contender," in which Binder co-starred.

But it was Costner's star power that secured financing for the film. Costner, an Academy Award winner for best-picture and director on "Dances With Wolves," never tried to muscle in on the production, though, said Binder, who wrote and starred in the HBO series "The Mind of the Married Man."

"He was the driving force behind getting the movie greenlighted, but he never used that power, which I respected," Binder said. "He was always one of the ensemble, one of the players. Never pulled rank. He never came to my editing room, never wanted me to recut anything. He truly was just a player and a supportive guy."

One of Hollywood's biggest box-office draws in the late 1980s and early '90s with "Field of Dreams," "Dances With Wolves" and "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," Costner has had fitful results with his movies over the last 12 years.

Last summer's Western "Open Range," which Costner directed and starred in, and the golf romance "Tin Cup" were modest successes. But his acclaimed political drama "Thirteen Days" failed to find an audience, and he had flops with such movies as the supernatural thriller "Dragonfly" and the heist flick "3000 Miles to Graceland."

Costner, who turned 50 this month, said studio pressures to boost the films' commercial prospects undermined some of his big-budgeted movies.

"I think some of the movies haven't lived up to what they should have been," Costner said. "When they're not done for a lot of money, sometimes you get a clearer voice, one single voice, about what the movie's to be about. And some of the movies for me that have not performed as well as I thought they could have, I think was because too many voices enter into them."

Costner said he feels no career pressure to deliver another breakout hit, saying his films have been profitable enough between theatrical and home-video revenues.

"I know what my movies do economically. I like everybody else understand what they do on opening weekend," Costner said. "The economic life of my movies, I'm really comfortable with what happens to them when they go out there, and so are the studios."

'We Are the World' Re-Issue Set for 20th Birthday

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "We Are the World," the pioneering all-star charity anthem that generated millions of dollars for African famine relief 20 years ago, is returning to the world stage -- this time to raise money for AIDS and tsunami victims.

The group USA For Africa will reissue the Grammy-winning single recorded by more than 40 superstars -- among them Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder -- on Feb. 1 as part of a two-disc DVD set.

In addition, hundreds of radio stations around the globe are planning to broadcast the song on Friday at noon Eastern time to mark the 20th anniversary of the recording, organizers said on Monday.

The original single and accompanying album have raised more than $60 million since their 1985 release to help combat hunger in Africa. Proceeds from the upcoming reissue will again be earmarked for famine relief, as well as for AIDS treatment and prevention, plus disaster recovery in areas of East Africa devastated by the recent tsunamis, organizers said.

The double-disc set features four hours of footage from the landmark "We Are the World" recording session, which began late on Jan. 28, 1985 and lasted 12 hours.

Inspired in part by the success of Bob Geldof's Band Aid project, which produced the British charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" in 1984, "We Are the World" was the brainchild of American singer-activist Harry Belafonte.

After seeing news footage of Ethiopian famine victims, Belafonte contacted leading entertainment manager Ken Kragen for help enlisting stars to record a song whose royalties would go exclusively to relieve Africa's food crisis. There were no artist or agent fees.

The occasion brought together 45 of the biggest names in the U.S. music business to perform a seven-minute-plus ballad composed by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.

While participants were all admonished to "check their egos at the door," the recording session at A&M Studios in Hollywood was not without its tensions.

ROCKERS VS. NON-ROCKERS

A manager for one of the artists complained that "the rockers don't care for the song that much and they don't want to stand next to the non-rockers," co-organizer Kragen recounted. "They felt it was going to hurt their credibility."

But when Springsteen refused to join the dissidents' revolt, "the whole mutiny fell apart," Kragen said, recalling that the response of the Boss was: "I'm here to save lives and feed people, and I'm staying."

Otherwise, Kragen said, "Everybody was blown away by Ray Charles. And everybody was impressed that Bob Dylan was there, except Bob Dylan, who was scared to death that all these people were there."

Kragen said session producer Quincy Jones, Richie and Stevie Wonder all joined in cajoling a self-conscious Dylan into singing in his rough-hewn voice.

The single, released on March 7, 1985, sold 800,000 copies its first week and shot to No. 1 in three weeks, making it the fastest-rising U.S. chart-topper at the time. It went on to win Grammys for song of the year and record of the year.

The effort also helped pave the way for a string of superstar charity projects that followed, including Farm Aid and Dionne Warwick's "That's What Friends Are For."

'Alexander,' 'Catwoman' Lead Bad Pix Nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - This could be the year in which Alexander the Great conquers Catwoman and President Bush wins a prize as worst actor.

Nominations for the 25th annual Razzies, which honor the worst films of the year, were announced on Monday with "Catwoman," the Halle Berry box office bomb, besting "Alexander," Oliver Stone's much maligned tale of the bleached blond conqueror, by seven nominations to six.

In addition, the president made the list for worst actor for his film clip appearances in "Fahrenheit 9/11," a movie he might well consider the worst of the year. Also nominated for their appearances in the politically-charged film about the Iraq war were Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The Razzies are a traditional spoof award made at Oscar time by the non-profit Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. The group's prizes are given out on Feb. 26, the day before the Oscars. Never has one of its films gone on to win an Oscar.

"Catwoman" and "Alexander" were nominated for Worst Picture, a category which also drew "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2," Ben Affleck's career-eroding "Surviving Christmas," and "White Chicks," the Wayans brothers dress-up, gender-bending comedy that left critics cold.

Bush was nominated for worst actor along with Affleck for "Surviving Christmas" and "Jersey Girl," Vin Diesel for "Chronicles of Riddick," Colin Farrell for "Alexander." Ben Stiller was nominated for "Along Came Polly," "Anchorman," "Dodgeball," "Envy" and "Starsky & Hutch."

Halle Berry was nominated for worst actress for "Catwoman," Hilary Duff for "Cinderella Story" and "Raise Your Voice," Angelina Jolie for "Alexander" and "Taking Lives," Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for "New York Minute" and Shawn and Marlon Wayans in their incarnation as the Wayans sisters in "White Chicks."

The nominations for worst screen couple include: Ben Affleck and either Jennifer Lopez or Liv Tyler in "Jersey Girl," Halle Berry and either Benjamin Bratt or Sharon Stone in "Catwoman, George W. Bush and either Rice or his pet goat in "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Olsen twins in "New York Minute," the Wayans Brothers, in or out of drag, in "White Chicks."

Worst supporting actress were Carmen Electra for "Starsky & Hutch," Jennifer Lopez for "Jersey Girl," Rice for "Fahrenheit 9/11," Britney Spears for her cameo role in that same movie and Sharon Stone for "Catwoman."

Val Kilmer was nominated for worst supporting actor for "Alexander." Also nominated were California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for "Around The World in 80 Days," Rumsfeld for "Fahrenheit 9/11," Jon Voight for SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2" and Lambert Wilson for "Catwoman."

"Catwoman" led with seven nominations to six for Alexander, five for "Fahrenheit 9/11," five "White Chicks," and four for "SuperBabies."

'Tonight Show' Pays Tribute to Carson

BURBANK, Calif. - Johnny Carson was remembered Monday on "The Tonight Show" with an affectionate lookback at his nearly 30 years as host, including tributes by comedians and former guests that left many in the audience teary-eyed.

"As a performer, I never wanted to impress anyone more than Johnny Carson," said Jay Leno, the show's current host.

Carson died Sunday at 79 after nearly 13 years in retirement. NBC said he died of emphysema — a respiratory disease that can be attributed to smoking.

Leno's guests Monday included Carson favorites Bob Newhart and Don Rickles, as well as comedian Drew Carey, singer k.d. lang and Carson's former sidekick, Ed McMahon.

In an interview earlier Monday, McMahon said Carson never lost his edge. When he called Carson in October to wish him a happy birthday, the two started bantering like old times.

"We could have gone on (television) that night and done a 'Carnac' skit. We were that crisp and hot," McMahon told The Associated Press.

The tribute show contained an abundance of archival clips, including one of a dark-haired young Leno making his first appearance as a guest on the "Tonight Show." He would take over as host when Carson retired in 1992.

Others included Carson in one of his signature bits, the mind-reading "Carnac the Magnificent," a routine that David Letterman's band leader Paul Shaffer occasionally still borrows for the "Late Show."

Comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Roseanne, who made their starts on the show, also appeared in clips.

Missing from the show was Carson's longtime bandleader Doc Severinsen, but he made an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live," where he told King he was still grieving.

"I'm still having a problem with it, you know," he said. "I think 'I'm OK, now, OK, I've got everything under control,' and then bam, it hits again."

While the mood on the "Tonight Show" set was often celebratory, there was quiet reflection outside NBC's Burbank studios.

At Johnny Carson Park, adjacent to the studio, a vase of red roses and other flowers had been left at a plaque of the late-night host along with notes that said, "Goodnight Johnny, we'll miss you" and "Nobody did it better than Carson."

"He will be missed by a lot of people, especially his sidekick Ed McMahon," said Basha Kerbel, 73, of Toronto, who came with her husband and received standby tickets for the show. "It's a sad day for everybody. He was liked by so many people."

Debby Kulber, 50, of Cleveland, remembered Carson for his self-deprecating style.

"He was able to laugh at himself. And he made all the guests seem interesting," she said. "He was just very funny."

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, flowers were placed on Carson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"This is a very sad day in Hollywood and I could tell you that Hollywood hasn't been this shocked since the news flash of Marilyn Monroe's demise," said Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood. "I think we all figured that Johnny Carson would just live on forever."

Friends Remember Carson as Humble, Generous

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Johnny Carson was quick-witted; he was cool, and he was a master foil for some of the biggest names in show business.

Yet he was most remembered by his peers for humbly stepping aside and letting others be funny on his "The Tonight Show," a trait that helped launch scores of comedy careers, among them Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and George Carlin.

Comedian David Brenner, who tallied more than 150 appearances on "The Tonight Show," on NBC, recalled having just $3 to his name the night he debuted on Carson in 1971.

"The next day ... I had $10,000 worth of job offers," Brenner told Reuters. "I can't think of anything I've had in my career that didn't springboard from Johnny Carson, not a single thing."

Brenner also praised Carson as a performer of impeccable timing and a straight man of few words who knew how to let a fellow comedian shine.

"He always brought the best out of every guest. He put his ego in a drawer; he didn't try to top their jokes, make them look foolish, top their stories," Brenner said.

Carson's death on Sunday, at age 79 from emphysema triggered an outpouring of tributes from Hollywood to the White House.

GAVE JOAN RIVERS A CAREER

President Bush saluted Carson as a "steady and reassuring presence in homes across America for three decades."

Movie action hero turned California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recounted that Carson had "welcomed me on his show when no one knew who I was and helped promote the image of bodybuilding."

Bill Cosby, too, remembered Carson as a generous performer: "Johnny was responsible for the beginning and the rise of success for more performers than anybody. I doubt if those numbers will ever be surpassed."

Added Bob Newhart: "I guest hosted for Johnny many years ago ... and experienced first hand just how great he was, making it look so easy night after night. Once you sat in that chair, you knew there was nothing easy about it."

Comedian Joan Rivers called Carson "truly the best straight man ever. He fed you lines ... like nobody else ever did before or since."

"He gave me my career," Rivers told Reuters. "You never forget when you've been working as a waitress and an office temporary and you've been working strip joints at night, and then Carson says to you, 'You're going to be a star' on the air, and it happens."

LENO CAN'T COMPARE

"Nowadays, with all due respect, you can go on Leno a hundred times, and they still don't know who you are."

Brenner and Rivers both parlayed regular appearances on "The Tonight Show" into talk shows of their own, though Rivers' relationship with Carson was strained after she gave up her gig as Carson's permanent guest host to launch Fox television's first late-night show opposite his in 1986.

Carson never spoke to her again.

"He was very hurt," Rivers said, adding that when she tried to patch things up with her former mentor, he never responded.

"It's a small little business, and fewer and fewer of us that share the same memories," Rivers said. It's terribly, terribly sad."

Off screen, the Nebraska-raised Carson was remembered as humble and quiet, keeping company with a tight circle of friends and rarely making public appearances after retiring in 1992.

Even among close friends, few saw signs of the emphysema that ultimately took his life, said longtime pal and comic Don Rickles, who last saw Carson six months ago.

"He seemed fine at that time. I would never know he had that problem except word got out a little bit. He looked great. You would never know it," Rickles said.

"I feel like Johnny's up there now, delighted we'd be talking about him, but he wouldn't admit it," Rickles said. "He'd tell us: 'Stop making a fuss."

Nobody did it better: Canadian comics pay tribute to Johnny Carson

TORONTO (CP) - In so many ways, Johnny Carson was an original - one of the few show business personalities who played the showbiz game and won big, leaving at the top of his game.

Undefeated champion of late night. Never pushed out. And when he retired, barely another sign of him - no infomercials, no appearances at political conventions, just the odd joke sent to his friend David Letterman.

"He had the classiest exit ever," Canadian comedian Rick Mercer said Sunday. "He retired and he never looked back, and he was never really in the public eye again. It was very classy."

For 30 years, Carson ruled the TV talk-show world, spawning imitators and parodies, including a legendary re-working of the signature "Herrrre's Johnny!" line by Jack Nicholson in the 1970s horror movie The Shining.

Canadian comedy impressario Mark Breslin said he would always think of Carson as "a gleaming figure."

"They talk about how stars emit a kind of light and you saw that with him," Breslin said.

There were indelible on-air moments: Johnny quipping that he'd give up a month's salary for a peek beneath Dolly Parton's blouse (with his huge salary, not likely); Johnny giving that dead-pan Jack Benny look whenever one of those cute zoo animals crawled on top of his head; Johnny shamelessly, giddily ripping off Jonathan Winters (his Aunt Blabby was really Winters' Maude Frickert).

His impact on the TV talk-show format was enormous. When Carson took over The Tonight Show in 1964, he returned it to its lightweight populist routes, away from the more erudite conversation encouraged by Jack Parr during his term in office from 1957 to '62, and back to the fluffiness of originator Steve Allen.

Carson also humbly returned to Tonight's original title when he took over the show. NBC was so impressed by Paar that they briefly renamed the show the Jack Paar Show, but Carson would have none of it.

The quality of TV conversation might have taken a dip under Carson, arguably until Dick Cavett came along and gave it another try, but at the same time he created a virtual comedy empire that lasted three decades.

His influence was such that the career of any rising comic who got a crack at Johnny's show was launched into the stratosphere if he got the nod of approval or, even better, was invited to sit at the couch for awhile. When Canada's Jim Carrey didn't get asked onto the couch after an appearance, he feared his career was over.

"Certainly, being asked to come over and sit down next to Johnny was considered the great honour," Breslin said, adding that Canadians like Howie Mandel, Martin Short and a handful of the SCTV gang appeared on the Tonight Show - sometimes making it as far as the sofa.

Carson was also the first late-night personality to face serious competition with the proliferation of new channel options in the latter half of his era. He also made the groundbreaking move from New York to California in the early 1970s, a controversial decision that nevertheless put more superstars within the show's reach.

Is there anyone like him now?

"It's all broken down," says Breslin. "There's somebody doing a great part of each of the things he was able to do, but nobody who can synthesize it and put it all together."

Mercer agrees, saying Carson "set a gold standard" for monologues, in particular, that few can match with any consistency.

"I know that any comedian in any comedy room remembers Johnny's monologues - it's amazing that right now you still see people trying to match them."

Breslin summed it up this way:

"I think Letterman is a fabulous broadcaster, but ironic and he represents that ironic side of him, and then I think that Jon Stewart's show is amazing and Jon Stewart is incredible and that represents the political side of him ... but there's nobody who can put it all together like Johnny Carson did."

He will be missed. He is missed already.

Tautou May Decipher 'Da Vinci Code'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - French actress Audrey Tautou, who stars in the World War I drama "A Very Long Engagement," may have a chance to run around modern-day France for her next project.

The gamine actress will reportedly play opposite Tom Hanks in the film adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code," according to Le Parisien newspaper.

The project centers on symbologist Robert Langdon (Hanks), who must clear his name of murdering a museum curator by deciphering a series of codes left by the dead man that point to the location of the Holy Grail. Tautou will play Sophie Neveu, the curator's granddaughter who helps Langdon crack the code.

Tautou, 26, beat out Sophie Marceau, former Miss France Linda Hardy and Julie Delpy for the coveted role. Also recently cast is Jean Reno as Bezu Fache, the captain of the French Judicial Police.

Director Ron Howard will begin shooting this summer, aiming for a May 19, 2006 release date.

Tautou's other film credits include "Venus Beauty Institute," "Dirty Pretty Things" and her breakthrough film "Amelie."

'Are We There Yet' Arrives Atop Box Office

LOS ANGELES - The road trip comedy "Are We There Yet?" earned $18.5 million to quickly arrive at first place in the weekend box office.

The family picture starring rapper-actor Ice Cube in its opening weekend sent "Coach Carter" back to the bench when the basketball drama brought in $11 million for second place, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

"Assault on Precinct 13," a remake of the 1976 "cult classic" about cops and criminals joining forces against a jail siege by gang members, took in $7 million in its first weekend and finished sixth in the box office tally.

Final figures were to be released Monday.

"Are We There Yet?" follows Cube as he embarks on a road trip with two manipulative children who he tolerates only because he is trying to woo their attractive divorced mother.

Showing in wide release at 2,709 theaters, "Are We There Yet?" averaged $6,829 a cinema.

"It's a total family picture," said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures. "It's very funny and Ice Cube did a terrific job. He's just hysterical in it."

Cube, 35, next will be in "XXX: State of the Union," scheduled for release in April. The action film sequel also will feature Samuel L. Jackson, star of "Coach Carter."

The PG-rated comedy continued the trend of family films performing well at the box office, especially over the past six months, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"It's a very appealing genre. Families are always looking for entertainment, something that is suitable for the whole family," he said.

The comedy played well across demographics, with an audience breakdown of 43 percent white, 26 percent black and 18 Hispanic, Bruer said.

"Meet the Fockers," a PG-13-rated film, continued to do well and is marching toward becoming the highest grossing live-action comedy of all time. The in-law farce collected $10.2 million over the weekend to push its five week total to $247.7 million.

The blockbuster comedy moved into second place in the live-action comedy category behind record-holder "Home Alone," which earned $285.8 million. The God-comedy "Bruce Almighty" dropped to third place at $242.7 million.

The blizzard that swept across the Midwest and clobbered the Northeast kept many movie fans from the theaters, but the numbers remained slightly higher than the same weekend last year, Dergarabedian said.

Revenues from the top 12 movies were up 3.9 percent from last year.

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

1. "Are We There Yet?" $18.5 million.
2. "Coach Carter," $11 million.
3. "Meet the Fockers," $10.2 million.
4. "In Good Company," $8.5 million.
5. "Racing Stripes," $7.06 million.
6. "Assault on Precinct 13," $7.02 million.
7. "The Phantom of the Opera," $5.02 million.
8. "White Noise," $5 million.
9. "The Aviator," $4.8 million.
10. "Elektra," $3.8 million.

Oscar Nominations to Be Announced on Tuesday

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - And the nominees are ...

Hollywood is betting three films and one actor will dominate when the movie industry rises at dawn Tuesday to discover the players nominated to take the field in the 2005 battle for the Oscars.

In an annual ritual that has the media hordes descending bleary-eyed on the headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the names of the nominees are read out for television cameras at 5:30 a.m. local time so the news can catch commuters on the way out the door on the East Coast, where it is three hours later.

Jamie Foxx's electric performance as soul singer Ray Charles in "Ray" and films about an ambitious female boxer, two losers looking for love in California wine country and a billionaire aviation visionary with a passion for movie stars and washing his hands all loom large in Oscar nominations.

The guessing around town is that the Martin Scorsese epic biography about Howard Hughes, "The Aviator," Clint Eastwood's dark and tear-stained boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby" and Alexander Payne's heartbreaking comedy "Sideways" will lead the pack in nominations, with each expected to win six or more nominations in the major categories.

Saturday night, the Producers Guild of America named "The Aviator" its best picture of the year. In 11 of the past 15 years, Producers Guild of America members have honored films that went on to win the best-picture Oscar -- including last year with "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

Foxx may pull off an Oscar acting double if he gets nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Tom Cruise's taxi-driving captive in "Collateral" as well as for best actor in "Ray." Actors have been nominated in both categories before, but it is rare.

Some film experts dismissed 2004 as a poor year for films in general but an outstanding one for male actors.

Right now, the town is in love with Foxx. His heartfelt acceptance of a Golden Globe award for acting last Sunday had people cheering and giving him a standing ovation.

In an unusual tribute, Chris Rock, the comedian who will host the Oscars on Feb. 27, told a New York Times interviewer that if Foxx did not win, "I'm gonna talk about it on the show. ... Jamie Foxx is not going to walk out of that place without an Oscar."

COMPETITIVE RACE

While critics hail his performance as Ray Charles as nothing short of a cinematic transformation, no actor is an island and Foxx will have plenty of competition for the best acting Oscar.

Among the possible contenders are Spanish actor Javier Bardem for his performance as a man paralyzed from the neck down in "The Sea Inside," Don Cheadle as the hotel keeper out to save lives in an ethnic slaughter in "Hotel Rwanda," Johnny Depp as Peter Pan's creator in "Finding Neverland" and Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes in "The Aviator."

Also seen as possible nominees are Paul Giamatti as the wine-loving teacher in "Sideways," Clint Eastwood as the trainer in "Million Dollar Baby" and Liam Neeson as the pioneer sex expert Alfred Kinsey in "Kinsey."

The best picture and best director categories might end in a classic "High Noon" showdown between two of the town's major filmmakers, Eastwood, who directed "Million Dollar Baby" and at age 74 seems to be getting better with each film, and Martin Scorsese, creator of "Raging Bull," "Taxi Driver" and "Mean Streets."

While his works may be studied in film schools, Scorsese has never won a best director's Oscar or a best picture one.

The other films vying to be nominated for the best-picture Oscar are the year's most controversial political movie "Fahrenheit 9/11," drama "Finding Neverland," "Hotel Rwanda," "Sideways," "Ray," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Kinsey."

In the best actress category, it might again shape up as a battle between Annette Bening, for her performance as the actress with an ego and heart as big as Buckingham Palace in "Being Julia," and Hilary Swank, who plays the gritty boxer dangerously searching to "be someone" in "Million Dollar Baby."

The two faced off in the 2000 Oscars when Swank, in an upset, won for her portrayal of a woman living as a man in "Boys Don't Cry."

Other possible best actress nominees are British actress Imelda Staunton as the kindly abortionist in "Vera Drake," Kate Winslet as the disappearing love interest in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," Catalina Sandino Moreno as the drug mule in "Maria, Full of Grace" and Emmy Rossum as the love interest in "The Phantom of the Opera."

Carson's parting words on Tonight Show

(AP) - Some quotes from Johnny Carson on his final show, May 22, 1992: "I am taking the applause sign home, putting it in the bedroom." (On his sons in the audience and the death of another son, Rick, in a car crash): "It would have been a perfect evening if their brother Rick had been here with us. But I guess life does what it's supposed to do and you accept it and go on."

(On then-vice-president Dan Quayle, whose remarks on single mothers and the TV show Murphy Brown were making headlines): "I really want to thank him for making my final week so fruitful."

"And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

"You people watching, I can only tell you that it's been an honour and a privilege coming into your homes all these years to entertain you. And I hope when I find something I want to do and think you would like, I can come back and (you will be) as gracious in inviting me into your homes as you have been."

"I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

Johnny Carson, King of Late Night, Dies

LOS ANGELES - Johnny Carson, the "Tonight Show" TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years, has died. He was 79. Carson "passed away peacefully" early Sunday morning and was surrounded by his family, his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told The Associated Press.

Sotzing would not give further details, including the time of death or the location.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests — particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched — the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson's air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

"Heeeeere's Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent."

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

His personal life could not match the perfection of his career. Carson was married four times, divorced three. In 1991, one of his three sons, 39-year-old Ricky, was killed in a car accident.

Nearly all of Carson's professional life was spent in television, from his postwar start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."

Carson choose to let "Tonight" stand as his career zenith and his finale, withdrawing into a quiet retirement that suited his private nature and refusing involvement in other show business projects.

In 1993, he explained his absence from the limelight.

"I have an ego like anybody else," Carson told The Washington Post, "but I don't need to be stoked by going before the public all the time."

He was open to finding the right follow-up to "Tonight," he told friends. But his longtime producer, Fred de Cordova, said Carson didn't feel pressured — he could look back on his TV success and say "I did it."

"And that makes sense. He is one of a kind, was one of a kind," de Cordova said in 1995. "I don't think there's any reason for him to try something different."

Carson spent his retirement years sailing, traveling and socializing with a few close friends including media mogul Barry Diller and NBC executive Bob Wright. He simply refused to be wooed back on stage.

"The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself," he told Esquire magazine in 2002 in a rare interview.

The former talk show host did find an outlet for his creativity: He wrote short humor pieces for The New Yorker magazine, including "Recently Discovered Childhood Letters to Santa," which purported to give the youthful wish lists of William Buckley, Don Rickles and others.

Carson made his debut as "Tonight" host in October 1962. Audiences quickly grew fond of his boyish grin and easy wit. He even made headlines with such clever ploys as the 1969 on-show marriage of eccentric singer Tiny Tim to Miss Vicki, which won the show its biggest-ever ratings.

The wedding and other noteworthy moments from the show were collected into a yearly "Tonight" anniversary special.

In 1972, "Tonight" moved from New York to Burbank. Growing respect for Carson's consistency and staying power, along with four consecutive Emmy Awards, came his way in the late 1970s.

His quickness and his ability to handle an audience were impressive. When his jokes missed their target, the smooth Carson won over a groaning studio audience with a clever look or sly, self-deprecating remark.

Politics provided monologue fodder for him as he skewered lawmakers of every stripe, mirroring the mood of voters. His Watergate jabs at President Nixon were seen as cementing Nixon's fall from office in 1974.

He made presidential history again in July 1988 when he had then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton on his show a few days after Clinton came under widespread ridicule for a boring speech at the Democratic National Convention. Clinton traded quips with Carson and played "Summertime" on the saxophone. Four years later, Clinton won the presidency.

Carson dispatched would-be late-night competitors with aplomb. Competing networks tried a variety of formats and hosts but never managed to best "Tonight" and Carson.

There was the occasional battle with NBC: In 1967, for instance, Carson walked out for several weeks until the network managed to lure him back with a contract that reportedly gave him $1 million-plus yearly.

In 1980, after more walkout threats, the show was scaled back from 90 minutes to an hour. Carson also eased his schedule by cutting back on his work days; a number of substitute hosts filled in, including Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Jerry Lewis and Jay Leno, Carson's eventual successor.

Rivers was one of the countless comedians whose careers took off after they were on Carson's show. After she rocked the audience with her jokes in that 1965 appearance, he remarked, "God, you're funny. You're going to be a star."

"If Johnny hadn't made the choice to put me on his show, I might still be in Greenwich Village as the oldest living undiscovered female comic," she recalled in an Associated Press interview 20 years later. She tried her own talk show in 1986, quickly becoming one of the many challengers who could not budge Carson.

In the '80s, Carson was reportedly the highest-paid performer in television history with a $5 million "Tonight" show salary alone.

His Carson Productions created and sold pilots to NBC, including "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes." Carson himself made occasional cameo appearances on other TV series.

He also performed in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J., and was host of the Academy Awards five times in the '70s and '80s.

Carson's graceful exit from "Tonight" did not avoid a messy, bitter tug-of-war between Leno and fellow comedian David Letterman. Leno took over as "Tonight" host on May 25, 1992, becoming the fourth man to hold the job after founding host Steve Allen, Paar and Carson.

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, and raised in nearby Norfolk, Neb. He started his show business career at age 14 as the magician "The Great Carsoni."

After World War II service in the Navy, he took a series of jobs in local radio and TV in Nebraska before starting at KNXT-TV in Los Angeles in 1950.

There he started a sketch comedy show, "Carson's Cellar," which ran from 1951-53 and attracted attention from Hollywood. A staff writing job for "The Red Skelton Show" followed.

The program provided Carson with a lucky break: When Skelton was injured backstage, Carson took the comedian's place in front of the cameras.

Producers tried to find the right program for the up-and-coming comic, trying him out as host of the quiz show "Earn Your Vacation" (1954) and in the variety show "The Johnny Carson Show" (1955-56).

From 1957-62 he was host of the daytime game show "Who Do You Trust?" and, in 1958, was joined for the first time by McMahon, his durable "Tonight" buddy.

A few acting roles came Carson's way, including one on "Playhouse 90" in 1957, and he did a pilot in 1960 for a prime-time series, "Johnny Come Lately," that never made it onto a network schedule.

In 1958, Carson sat in for "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar. When Paar left the show four years later, Carson was NBC's choice as his replacement.

After his retirement, Carson took on the role of Malibu-based retiree with apparent ease. An avid tennis fan, he was still playing a vigorous game in his 70s.

He and his wife, Alexis, traveled frequently. The pair met on the Malibu beach in the early 1980s; he was 61 when they married in June 1987, she was in her 30s.

Carson's first wife was his childhood sweetheart, Jody, the mother of his three sons. They married in 1949 and split in 1963.

He married Joanne Copeland Carson in 1963; divorce came in 1972. His third marriage, to Joanna Holland Carson, took place in 1972. They separated in 1982 and reached a divorce settlement in 1985.

On the occasion of Carson's 70th birthday in 1995, former "Tonight" bandleader Doc Severinsen, who toured with musicians from the show, said he was constantly reminded of Carson's enduring popularity.

"Every place we go people ask `How is he? Where is he? What is he doing? Tell him how much we miss him.' It doesn't surprise me," Severinsen said.

The brisk sale of the video collection "Johnny Carson: His Favorite Moments From The Tonight Show," released in 1994, offered further proof of his appeal.

He won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1992, with the first President Bush saying, "With decency and style he's made America laugh and think." In 1993, he was celebrated by the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for career achievement.

Online Leak Won't Affect March Date for Beck Album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Beck's new studio album, "Guero," will be released as planned on March 29, despite an unmixed version of the set hitting the Internet last weekend.

The 13-track Geffen Records release was produced by the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer.

According to Beck's official Web site (http://www.beck.com), among the songs slated for inclusion are the quasi-title track "Que Onda Guero," "Black Tambourine," "Earthquake Weather," "Emergency Exit" and first single "E-Pro," which is tipped to arrive at radio in February.

"Guero" is predominantly more up-tempo than 2002's "Sea Change," but not as flamboyant as that set's predecessor, the neon-glossed party album "Midnite Vultures." Songs like "Que Onda Guero" and "Scarecrow" hint toward more of a cross between the Brazilian-tinged fare on 1999's "Mutations" and Beck's Dust Brothers-produced breakthrough "Odelay."

The White Stripes' Jack White plays bass on the track "Go It Alone." The song "Gospel," which was originally intended to be the first single, wound up not making the final cut.

"Sea Change" debuted at No. 8 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 595,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Beck joined Tenacious D, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and others for a benefit show Monday (Jan. 17) at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre to raise money for survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Four nights earlier, he premiered some of the new material, including "E-Pro" and "Hell Yes," during a secret show at L.A. club Spaceland.

U2 Tour Set to Begin March 28 in San Diego

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Irish rock band U2 is set to explode on the road at the end of March, just in time for a beleaguered concert industry desperate for a major buzz-generating tour.

The band will begin its worldwide Vertigo tour March 28 at the San Diego Sports Arena, Billboard has learned. Details will be provided in a Jan. 24 announcement. Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon will open the first leg.

Conservative estimates put the Vertigo tour's gross potential at $225 million-$250 million from as many as 110 shows. U2's Elevation tour in 2001 grossed $143 million from 113 shows worldwide, playing to more than 2.1 million fans.

The first U.S. leg will wrap in Boston in late May. The tour, in support of its latest release, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," is routed to accommodate multiple shows in many markets.

History suggests quick sellouts. In 2001, U2 rang up six sellouts at Chicago's United Center that grossed a combined $9.6 million. The band also notched four sellouts in 2001 at Boston's FleetCenter ($5.6 million) and at Earls Court in London ($4.5 million). Two sellouts at Dublin's Slane Castle drew 157,418 and took in $6.7 million.

Following two months of U.S. shows, the Vertigo tour will hit some 30 European stadiums, beginning June 10 in Brussels. The band will stay in Europe through mid-August, then return to North America for another run of 30 arena dates.

Ticket prices will average $90, with $49.50 at the low end and $165 at the high end. Last time out, the range was $45-$135.

As on the Elevation tour, the arena floor will be general admission for about 1,700 seats, depending on the building. And, again like Elevation, the tour will feature unique production elements.

"This tour will be not unlike the last production, in that the lowest- priced tickets will be on the floor," said U2 manager Paul McGuinness. "The best seats are the cheapest, and we want people to get excited."

STADIUMS VS. ARENAS

Stadium dates were not considered in the United States, partly because of higher U.S. ticket prices, said Arthur Fogel, president of the tour's Toronto-based promoter The Next Adventure, a unit of Clear Channel Entertainment.

McGuinness said another factor was the lack of state-of-the-art arenas in Europe. "The arenas in America are just absolutely ideal for rock'n'roll," he said. "I wish there was one in every city in Europe."

On-sales for North American shows will begin Jan. 29 and a day earlier in Europe. Rather than putting all dates up at once, on-sales will be rolled out over a three-week period.

The tour will carry about 150 crew members and 18-19 trucks on the arena leg, though McGuinness kept details of the show close to the vest.

"Production will be different (from Elevation), but I'd rather it be a surprise on opening night," McGuinness said. "We have always felt it was incumbent on the band to give value for money. We will have a very elaborate but seemingly simple and very stylish production, as before. Then when we go to Europe in the summer, the rules change completely, because what works in an arena doesn't necessarily work in a stadium, so we have to rethink it completely."

DOWNLOADS

It is possible some shows will be available as downloads. "We're exploring technology where it might be possible to download the show you've just seen," McGuinness said. "We've been talking to iTunes and the folks at Apple, with whom we have a great relationship, but it's not quite there yet. We're certainly looking at it."

A DVD is also likely, according to McGuinness. "We always do that, but that will come toward the latter end of the tour."

At one point the tour was scheduled to begin March 1 in Miami, but it flipped coasts and was pushed back three weeks. Despite published reports speculating that the tour might be severely delayed or even canceled because of a family illness, Fogel contended concerns were strictly related to routing.

"At a point in time we had to reorganize the tour, but we did it and now we're ready to go," Fogel said. "There were logistical issues to resolve."

Even though last year was brutal for some on the concert trail, McGuinness was confident in U2's ticket-selling ability.

"Nobody's bulletproof, but I'm not worried about the ticket sales at all," he says. "The U2 audience knows that we do great shows, and they are one of the greatest live acts in history. And they're touring on their biggest-ever album. Simply because of the size of the world and the number of places where they're popular, it's impossible not to underplay."

"How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," released in late November, has sold 2.26 million units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Aha Shake Heartbreak," the new set from Kings of Leon, already out in Europe, is due Feb. 22 in the United States.

'The Incredibles' to Make an Incredibly Fast Move to DVD

Marking the fastest move from screen to DVD ever for a Disney/Pixar movie, The Incredibles will make its debut in video stores on March 15, Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment announced Wednesday. As of last weekend, it was still playing in more than 1,000 theaters (and has grossed more than $257 million domestically.) Among a slew of extras, the video will sport a five-minute clip called Jack-Jack Attack featuring the youngest member of the Incredibles family, and a 20-minute alternate opening. In a statement, Gordon Ho, head of marketing for BVHE, said, "Our hope is to make this the biggest DVD release of the year."

De Niro and Scorsese Discuss 'Taxi Driver' Sequel

Screen legend Robert De Niro has reunited with iconic director Martin Scorsese to work on a sequel to their classic movie Taxi Driver. The Oscar-winning actor, who starred as disturbed Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle in the 1976 film, has confirmed the movie veterans are mulling over script ideas for a follow-up to the gritty original. Apart from his comedy turn in Meet The Parents and its recent sequel Meet The Fockers, De Niro has starred in a series of flop films - and critics are hoping Travis Bickle's resurrection will restore his reputation as one of the greatest dramatic actors of all time. De Niro, 61, says, "I was talking with Martin Scorsese about doing what I guess you'd call a sequel to Taxi Driver, where he is older."

Fincher eyes Zodiac killer film

"Seven" director David Fincher is in talks to direct the thriller "Zodiac," Variety reports.

The film is based on the obsessive efforts of three men who hunted Zodiac, the infamous serieal killer who terrorized San Francisco for 25 years.

The Zodiac killer was also the basis for Clint Eastwood's 1971 film, "Dirty Harry."

Fincher's other credits include "Fight Club," "Alien3" and "Panic Room."

Vader, Wonka lead 2005 hit film parade

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Steven Spielberg's tossing Tom Cruise to the Martians. Peter Jackson's handing Naomi Watts over to a 900-pound-plus gorilla. Tim Burton's turning Johnny Depp loose in Willy Wonka's candyland.

Yet in a year whose big Hollywood return engagements include the remakes War of the Worlds, King Kong and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, aren't we all really looking forward to one last outing with George Lucas and the Skywalker clan?

The Force will be with you again in May as Lucas unveils Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, the final chapter of his prequel series.

Fans grumbled over the first two prequels. They scoffed at starting Anakin Skywalker's journey toward evil in childhood and ridiculed the young Jedi's mushy romantic babble.

Still, it's hard to imagine fans will not turn out to see Anakin take his final turn to the dark side and become the malevolent Darth Vader.

The man pulling the galaxy's strings shrugs off the gripes. Lucas says he's making the movies his way, not the way fans want.

"The fan base basically wanted the first film to be this film, Revenge of the Sith, and have Darth Vader become Darth Vader in the first episode, then have the other ones with Darth Vader going around killing everybody," Lucas said in an interview. "But that's really not what the story is at all. And I knew it when I was going to go back and do it. I said, 'I'm going to tell the story of how he became that person, not the story of him being that person.' "

Along with Revenge of the Sith, studios continue their onslaught of sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes and big-screen adaptations of TV shows throughout 2005.

Before King Kong runs off with her, Watts delivers The Ring Two, her horror followup about a videotape whose viewers die within a week.

Other winter and spring followups include Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, with Sandra Bullock back as the stylish FBI agent; Beauty Shop, Queen Latifah's spinoff of the Barbershop flicks; Be Cool, John Travolta's sequel to the crime romp Get Shorty, reuniting him with Pulp Fiction co-star Uma Thurman; and XXX: State of the Union, with Ice Cube replacing Vin Diesel in the action franchise.

Ice Cube also softens his image with the family flick Are We There Yet, about a man trying to worm his way into the heart of a single mom (Nia Long) by taking her mischievous children on a road trip.

The PG-rated comedy was a logical progression after his R-rated Friday films and PG-13 Barbershop movies, Ice Cube said.

"Kids like those movies, but those movies aren't necessarily made for kids," Ice Cube said. "Since Barbershop got a wide mainstream response, this was the natural next step, to try to see how broad can we take it? I think a lot of people are typecast, and I'm trying to stay away from that, because that limits your opportunities to work."

On the remake lineup this winter and spring: Assault on Precinct 13, with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne in a jail-break thriller; The Amityville Horror, with Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George in a fright film about a cursed house; Guess Who, an update of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner starring Ashton Kutcher as an unwelcome prospective son-in-law and Bernie Mac as a disapproving father of the bride; and The Honeymooners, a big-screen take on Jackie Gleason's TV sitcom, with Cedric the Entertainer as loudmouth bus driver Ralph Kramden.

Intimidated by the role, Cedric?

"Indeed. He's such an iconic figure, and the comedy on the show was the first of its kind," Cedric said. "The timing of his delivery, the way he punctuated what he said. I didn't want to do a caricature or just try to outright emulate him, so I just tried to do my own thing. I mainly took the attitude that this guy was an everyman and took the attitude of doing it my way, but paying homage when I could."

Other early-year releases include Constantine, with Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz in a supernatural adventure based on DC Comics' Hellblazer series; the romantic comedy Hitch, starring Will Smith as a matchmaker pursuing his own dream date; The Interpreter, featuring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn in a thriller centred on an assassination plot at the United Nations; Hide and Seek, with Robert De Niro in the story of a girl (Dakota Fanning) with a menacing "imaginary friend"; and the animated tale Robots, about a young inventor who moves to the big city to make a name for himself in a world populated by mechanical beings.

Directed by Chris Wedge (Ice Age), Robots features voice work by Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, Drew Carey and Greg Kinnear.

While aimed at families, Robots touches on themes that adults without children can appreciate, including rampant consumerism, marketing blitzes that dictate the latest fashions and the plight of "outmodes," machines that have overstayed their welcome.

"I look at the machines in my life. That's what started the whole idea," Wedge said. "Some of the things are so endearing, you give them names. Everybody gives their first car a name. You get attached to gadgets, cellphones, stereos. You upgrade them, but after a while, it's just not worth it. The machines become obsolete.

"It's a metaphor for people growing old. Those are the issues the characters in the movie are dealing with."

Along with Revenge of the Sith, summer brings such sci-fi and action tales as War of the Worlds, with Cruise in Spielberg's update of the Martian-invasion classic; Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale in a look at the masked crime-fighter's early years; and Fantastic Four, with Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba in a big-screen adaptation of Marvel Comics' saga of a superhero family.

Other big summer-season releases include Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Depp in an update of 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; Adam Sandler and Chris Rock's The Longest Yard, a remake of the 1974 prison football tale; Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as husband-wife assassins; Madagascar, featuring the voices of Ben Stiller and Chris Rock in the story of zoo animals cut loose in the wild; and The Bad News Bears, a remake of the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears casting Billy Bob Thornton as an ex-ballplayer coaching misfit Little Leaguers.

Also, Fun With Dick and Jane, starring Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni in a new version of the 1977 romp about an upscale couple who take to robbery; Kingdom of Heaven, featuring Orlando Bloom in Ridley Scott's epic set in the Middle East during the Crusades era; Jennifer Lopez's Monster-in-Law, a comedy about a woman battling back against her fiance's scornful mom (Jane Fonda); The Dukes of Hazzard, with Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds in a big-screen take on TV's good old boys; and Kicking & Screaming, starring Will Ferrell as a father coaching his son's soccer team to a showdown against his own dad, Robert Duvall, an opposing coach with a win-at-any-cost mentality.

Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka co-stars as himself, playing a rival neighbour of Duvall who becomes a coaching mentor for Ferrell.

"I start coaching and don't really know what I'm doing and just want everybody to have a good time. Only it's not quite working, the kids are so bad, and they're not really having fun," Ferrell said. "So I kind of get the help of Mike Ditka, we build this team up from nothing, and along the way, I'm the casualty. I kind of develop the same bloodlust for winning that my dad has, so I become an even bigger maniac than my dad is."

Ferrell also joins Woody Allen's latest romantic ensemble in the spring release Melinda and Melinda; Nicole Kidman in the summer comedy Bewitched, adapted from the TV sitcom about a mortal man who marries a witch; and Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick for the holiday-season remake of Mel Brooks's theatrical farce The Producers.

Among other fall and holiday flicks: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, with Daniel Radcliffe returning for the fourth chapter in J.K. Rowling's saga of the boy wizard; Memoirs of a Geisha, with Rob Marshall (Chicago) directing Zhang Ziyi in an adaptation of the novel about a Japanese madam; Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, featuring Ben Kingsley as Fagin in a new take on Charles Dickens's adventure of the orphan boy; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on C.S. Lewis's fantasy classic of children whisked to an oppressed land; and The Pink Panther, with Steve Martin taking on Peter Sellers' role as bumbling Inspector Clouseau.

Also, Chicken Little, an animated tale about the poultry prankster who proclaimed the sky is falling; Walk the Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix as country-music legend Johnny Cash; Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger playing the 19th-century fairytale spinners as con men peddling their services as monster fighters; All the King's Men, starring Sean Penn in an update of Robert Penn Warren's novel about a political kingfish; Rent, adapted from the stage hit of artists struggling against poverty and AIDS; Wallace & Gromit, an animated comedy about the cheese-loving dweeb and his dog from the British short films; and of course, Jackson's take on King Kong.

Andy Serkis, who provided the voice and body for the computer-enhanced Gollum in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, is handling similar duties as Kong. Serkis's motions will be the basis for the computer-generated final images of the gigantic ape.

Having Serkis on set has been a great help for Watts as she recreates the role originated by Fay Wray as the object of King Kong's affections, the actress said.

"It's wonderful having a pair of eyes to look at," Watts said. "Andy Serkis is there, and they're filming him at exactly the same time as they're filming me, so everything is in sync in terms of our reactions and connections together.

"He's got a special suit on, not like a hairy gorilla suit, but it's a thing that pads out his body, gives him posture and big teeth, and he's hooked up an audio system so his voice carries around the whole stage. He's studied and prepared so well that I forget I'm actually looking at Andy Serkis. Other than the size, everything seems as it should be."

For One Week Only, It's 'Scrubs,' the Sitcom

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) NBC's "Scrubs" has never been accused of being a conventional sitcom, nor has it tried to be.

Not until this week, anyway.

On Friday (Jan. 21), "Scrubs" will film in front of an audience, using multiple cameras, for the first time. Fans of the show needn't worry: It's not a radical overhaul dictated by NBC to improve ratings.

Instead, an extended fantasy by J.D. (Zach Braff), who's treating a patient who's a TV writer, will play out on the show as a traditional sitcom, complete with a live audience and laugh track.

"Basically, it's tweaking sitcoms and an homage at the same time," says "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence, who's previously worked on traditional sitcoms like "Spin City" (which he co-created) and "Friends." "Zach and and Donald [Faison], on the show, love sitcoms; they're always goofing on 'Sanford and Son' or 'Friends' and all the shows they watch."

The idea came to the show's writers because over the four years of the series, they've come across a number of interesting stories, some based on fact, that for whatever reason "have no second act," Lawrence says. "There's nothing to do."

As a way around that, this episode, written by Deb Fordham, will introduce those stories in the first act -- which will look like any other episode of "Scrubs" -- then be resolved, in neat sitcom fashion, in J.D.'s fantasy.

Lawrence is looking forward to the experiment, but he says, not entirely jokingly, that "there's a high recipe for disaster," stemming mostly from the fact that aside from Faison ("Clueless") and Sarah Chalke ("Roseanne"), the other cast members have only limited experience acting on traditional sitcoms -- or none, in Braff's case.

"When we first cast this, I told everyone that it was a show built on pace," Lawrence says. "So even if you have a joke in the middle of a speech, John McGinley, I want you to -- people are gonna process that joke, but I want you to get through that speech the way people talk, and haul ass.

"And now John has a monologue in the sitcom with like four laughs in it, and he's going to have to, overnight, learn the skill of getting a laugh, holding, then continuing on with the speech as if that's the way somebody talks."

The audience for the show will be made up of "Scrubs" fans who bid on tickets (proceeds will go to tsunami relief efforts), so Lawrence isn't worried about people being unreceptive to jokes. He does, however, plan to ask the audience for a little something extra in a couple of archetypal sitcom scenes, including a "Whoooo!" when Turk (Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes) kiss.

"On 'Spin City' when I was there, we didn't really tweak the laughs," he says. "What we're gonna do here is if somebody does something and doesn't get a laugh, I wouldn't be surprised if I asked the actors to ... break the fourth wall and go, 'Well, that didn't work.'"

The sitcom episode of "Scrubs" is scheduled to air during February sweeps.

Brent Butt of Corner Gas hosts Winnipeg Junos; shift from usual musician host

WINNIPEG (CP) - The Barenaked Ladies. Shania Twain. Alanis Morissette. Brent Butt.

Think one of these people doesn't belong? Not anymore. The Juno folks have enlisted comedian Butt, of TV's Corner Gas, to host this year's festivities in Winnipeg. "It's high time the Junos were handed back over to someone who has no idea about music," said the popular joker, tongue presumably planted in cheek.

Selecting Butt as host is a bit of a departure for the show's producers, who've prided themselves on landing pop stars to host the evening ever since winning broadcast rights from CBC in 2002.

Insiders said producers tried again this year, but weren't able to book an internationally known star because of timing issues.

Even though he doesn't have his own CDs, Butt says he's not intimidated by the A-list music shoes he's going to be filling.

"How big are Alanis's feet?" he said Thursday, referring to last year's host. "I wear a 12 . . . Why not (a comedian?). It's just a matter of saying stuff. I can talk."

His plan is to keep the show moving with short bursts of comedy.

"Award shows, generally speaking, are long and as a result have the ability to be tedious. That's the thing to fight against," said Butt, whose hometown is Tisdale, Sask.

"I'm going to hearken back to Bob Hope doing the Academy Awards. A couple of gags and keep it moving."

The show airs April 3 on CTV. Nominations will be announced on Feb. 7.

Mr. Potato Head goes to the dark side

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — A spud on the dark side. That's how toy maker Hasbro Inc. is promoting its latest Mr. Potato Head figure, Darth Tater.

The toy spud will be available next month, ahead of the May release of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, the latest installment in that film series.

Darth Tater will come with a light saber, cape and helmet, in addition to the regular Mr. Potato Head accessories such as eyes, mouth and nose.

The Pawtucket-based toy maker says children will be able to "have all kinds of mix n' match, Mr. Potato Head fun with this wacky spud dressed as the infamous Star Wars villain, Darth Vader."

The toy will retail for $7.99.

Star Wars: Episode III, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, will open in theaters nationwide on May 19.

Stone Explains Dumb Damon Puppet

Matt Stone has finally explained why Matt Damon's puppet in recent marionette movie Team America: World Police looks "retarded" - it was accidental. Stone, who made the satirical film with his South Park partner Trey Parker, was surprised when Damon's puppet came out of the oven looking nothing like they were expecting him to. He says, "When we looked at the plans for his head he looked good, but when we came out of the oven he just looked retarded. I think it was well thought out. Honestly, I think Matt Damon is one of the better actors around. I think he's a pretty great actor. He's pretty talented. And for no real reason, he is retarded in this movie."

Jackman Favorite for Bond Role

Australian actor Hugh Jackman has emerged as favorite to become the next James Bond, with bookmakers tipping him to take over from departing 007 Pierce Brosnan. Leading British bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill are offering odds of 2/1 on the Swordfish star slipping into the superspy's famous tuxedo for his next big screen outing - ahead of Closer star Clive Owen and third favorite Ewan McGregor. A Ladbrokes spokesperson says, "Hugh Jackman certainly appears to be the punters choice but we've seen more twists than the average Bond movie. At one point or another, Colin Farrell, Colin Salmon, Dougray Scott, Eric Bana and Ewan McGregor have been subject to serious support for the role." A decision on who will replace Brosnan has been delayed while a power struggle wages between Bond movie makers the Broccoli family and MGM over who should be offered the role. The spokesperson adds, "Who takes on the role could well depend on who comes out top in the power struggle behind the scenes. If the Broccoli family win we could well see an unknown actor, while if the money men have their way we could see a top star in the role. Last year, a source told us that the producers had a list of ten actors that they were looking at."

Oscar Season Remains a Tight Race

LOS ANGELES - Academy Awards contenders demurely say it's nice just to be nominated. In this wide-open Oscar season, just about any nominee could end up winning.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces nominations for the 77th Oscars on Tuesday. While the likely field of contenders has been narrowed through previous Hollywood honors, a surprise or two could pop up, and few categories have clear-cut front-runners.

With its Golden Globe win for best drama and the potential to lead the way with the most Oscar nominations, Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes saga "The Aviator" probably will establish itself as the nominal early best-picture favorite.

Other film awards, including the Directors Guild of America prizes Jan. 29 and the Screen Actors Guild honors Feb. 5, will help sort out the leaders heading in to the Oscars on Feb. 27.

The uncertainty raises intriguing questions for movie fans who like to see Hollywood make a horse race of its awards season.

How will the probable Oscar rematch between Hilary Swank and Annette Bening play out? Will Jamie Foxx maintain the best-actor momentum he has had since the Ray Charles film biography "Ray" premiered last fall? What are the prospects for 2004's critical darling, the road-trip romance "Sideways," among academy voters, who tend to favor sober drama over comedy?

And most important, can the savvy awards-marketing machine at Miramax, which has produced the best-picture winners "Chicago," "Shakespeare in Love" and "The English Patient," finally secure an Oscar for Scorsese?

"It's been a weird practical joke that the man hasn't won," said Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," won the Golden Globe for dramatic actor as Hughes in "The Aviator" and is a likely best-actor nominee for the Oscars. "A cruel practical joke. It's like, you know, ridiculous. Enough said."

Scorsese, the man responsible for such films as "Raging Bull" and "GoodFellas," has been nominated for best director four times and best screenplay twice, while three of his films have scored best-picture nominations. But he and his films have never won. His most recent contender, "Gangs of New York," had 10 nominations but was shut out in every category.

While "The Aviator" took the top dramatic prize at the Golden Globes, Scorsese lost the directing category to Clint Eastwood (news) for the boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby." Yet Globe voters had just named Scorsese best director two years ago for "Gangs of New York," so they may have felt it was time for another nod to Eastwood, a previous Globe winner for "Unforgiven" and "Bird."

Eastwood and Scorsese both are nominated for the Directors Guild prize, which has a solid record at predicting what filmmaker will win the same honor come Oscar night. Only six times since 1949 has the guild winner failed to follow up with the best-director Oscar.

"Sideways" won Globes for best musical or comedy and for screenplay and is a likely contender in the best-picture race and other prominent Oscar categories. Though laced with dramatic moments, the film's comic tone will be a handicap at the Oscars, where lighter stories rarely prevail.

On the acting front, dramatic-actress Globe winner Swank for "Million Dollar Baby" faces another Oscar showdown with Bening, the Globe winner for musical or comedy for the show-business farce "Being Julia." Five years ago, underdog Swank in the low-budget "Boys Don't Cry" won the Globe dramatic honor and the best-actress Oscar over Bening, who had been the front-runner for "American Beauty."

Other potential nominees include Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen for "Sideways"; Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator"; Johnny Depp as playwright J.M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland"; Liam Neeson and Laura Linney for "Kinsey," the film biography of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey; Imelda Staunton for the abortion drama "Vera Drake"; and Javier Bardem for "The Sea Inside," based on the real-life story of euthanasia lobbyist Ramon Sampedro.

Foxx could snare two Oscar nominations, as lead actor for the title role in "Ray" and supporting actor for the hit-man thriller "Collateral." His eerie emulation of Charles' movements, vocal cadences and understated slyness have established Foxx as the man to beat in the best-actor category.

This could be a record year for black actors, who might grab four of the 20 acting nominations. Along with Foxx's prospective dual nominations, Don Cheadle is a likely nominee as lead actor in "Hotel Rwanda" and Morgan Freeman probably will be included in the supporting-actor field for "Million Dollar Baby."

Three times previously, black actors have earned three of the acting nominations, including the 2001 Oscars, when Denzel Washington of "Training Day" and Halle Berry of "Monster's Ball" won the lead-performer prizes.

Oscar analyst Tom O'Neil, author of the book "Movie Awards," said black actors have gradually gotten more opportunities to act in serious dramas.

"Morgan Freeman was amazing. Don Cheadle was amazing. Jamie Foxx had a breakout year with these two performances," O'Neil said. "It's not based on people saying, `Oh, we're overdue to acknowledge African-American artists.' These are really powerful, performance-driven surges we're seeing."

While ethnic diversity may be a healthy thing for the awards, the wide-open range of contenders is not necessarily a good thing for Oscar organizers, who have been troubled by a downward trend in the ceremony's TV ratings.

Recent history suggests that more people tune in to the Oscars when there is a box-office behemoth favored to win, such as with 1997's $600 million blockbuster "Titanic," the year the awards drew their biggest audience ever, 55.2 million viewers.

The Oscars reversed their ratings slide last year, when the $377 million smash "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" dominated. This time, all the likely best-picture nominees are well below the $100 million mark in domestic revenues.

"Yeah, I think we're a little concerned about it," said Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director. "I think that that `Titanic' year was a huge eye-opener for us. Before that, we always kind of assumed the best thing to have in terms of audience interest was a really close, hard-to-predict horse race.

"That year suggested very strongly that maybe a killer blockbuster everybody was pretty sure was going to win might not be the worst thing in the world to have."

CBS' 'Everybody Loves Raymond' Ends Run

LOS ANGELES - Don't look for a supersized, super-stuffed final episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond." Television's most popular sitcom will end its nine-year run on May 16 with — get this — a half-hour show, CBS said Tuesday.

"We didn't want to milk the story into an hour," series star Ray Romano said. "There's been enough of that," added Phil Rosenthal, executive producer.

Of course, CBS will precede that 30 minutes with an hourlong retrospective to make it an attractive event for advertisers. The cast is filming the finale this week and keeping tightlipped on whether the battling Barone family will exit arguing.

The actors and Rosenthal said it will be an emotional week, but that they are walking away without any sense of unfinished business.

"The reason we're stopping is that we've done every single thing that we can think of," Rosenthal said. "We are bone dry."

Comic Brad Garrett, who plays Romano's brother, Robert Barone, said he hasn't been approached about a potential spinoff. "I love the character," he said. "I'm open to it."

"Supposedly there is a group of people that are out there talking about it that aren't talking to me," he quipped. "I hear they're looking for a Brad Garrett type."

Monica Horan, who plays Garrett's wife, Amy, said her interest in a spinoff would probably hinge on what her real-life husband wants to do. She's married to Rosenthal.

Taking a cue from NBC's strategy for the last year of "Friends" in 2004, CBS said it is asking viewers to vote next month on their favorite episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond." The top five vote-getters will be shown each Monday from Feb. 28 to March 28.

Fans can vote online for their favorites among 15 episodes selected by Rosenthal, with highlight clips shown on the network's Web site.

Since the first season, Rosenthal was producing what he hoped would be a timeless sitcom in an old television tradition.

"We're doing the show for CBS, but in the back of my mind we're doing it for Nick at Nite," he said. "We wanted the show to have lasting value."

A BOOK FROM BILLY

Warner Books set to publish in November, 2005, 700 Sundays, a tome written by Billy Crystal inspired by his hit Broadway one-man play which offers up an entertaining look at his family history.

City of Halifax selected to host 2006 Juno Award celebrations

HALIFAX (CP) - The Juno Awards will continue their road trip next year with a jaunt to Halifax, the country's recording industry association announced Tuesday.

The 2006 showcase of Canadian musical talent will be held April 2 in the Nova Scotia capital. It will be the city's first time hosting the annual music bash, which always attracts the country's biggest stars. "It's great news," said Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly. "It will give us a chance to showcase our people and our talents and we look very much forward to showing Canada and the rest of the world a show they won't soon forget."

This year's ceremonies will be held in Winnipeg on April 3.

The move to Halifax follows a decision a few years ago to bring the awards show to cities across Canada.

"Halifax is home to many outstanding Canadian artists so we anticipate a warm Nova Scotia welcome next year," Melanie Berry, president of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said in a statement.

The show was staged in St. John's, Nfld., in 2002, Ottawa in 2003, and Edmonton last year.

"It provides a tremendous opportunity from an exposure point of view for our province," said Rodney MacDonald, Nova Scotia's tourism minister.

"These are the types of marketing opportunities you just can't go out and buy."

Kelly said negotiations to bring the show to Nova Scotia began more than a year ago.

The event is expected to bring $34 million in economic spinoffs to the city.

2004 CD shipments increase, first gain in six years for Canadian market

TORONTO (CP) - Calling it a "modest" improvement, stores stocked their shelves with more product last year indicating a return by consumers to buying music after six years of decline, the Canadian Recording Industry Association said.

The figures encompass CDs as well as music DVDs, singles and VHS tapes. The total dollar value of sales - what stores paid for the product - was up one per cent, according to numbers released Tuesday by the group. Meanwhile, the total, year-to-date number of shipped units rose five per cent.

The gap between shipments and sales values is attributed to a drop in CD prices last year.

Significant gains came from a 24-per-cent increase in the number of music DVDs shipped to stores. Not surprisingly, shipments of VHS tapes and singles suffered the most, dropping 45 and 40 per cent respectively.

The group, which represents 95 per cent all record labels in Canada, was quick to point out that the numbers are nowhere near levels in the pre-Napster days.

"All we've done is steady the ship," said Graham Henderson, who heads the industry association. "The future looks brighter than it's ever looked but we can't forget the cost."

A total retail market figure, which includes actual sales to consumers, won't be ready for a few weeks.

But Henderson is optimistic based on reports from stores which indicate people are steadily returning to the cash registers.

He said the increase is due to improved marketing campaigns and blockbuster releases by Usher, Shania Twain, Eminem, Gwen Stefani and U2.

"People are coming back into the stores because they want to support artists and want to buy music . . . but also that Canadians are slowly, but surely, getting the message that there needs to be some sort of sense of fair play," said Henderson.

Despite Tuesday's news, he said record labels aren't anywhere near ready to give people their jobs back or re-sign artists that were dropped because of poor sales.

The figures don't include online music sales from sites like ITunes and Puretracks. Those numbers haven't been made public in Canada.

Johnny Carson Writes Jokes for Letterman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman has a secret joke writer -- and it's none other than the retired king of all late-night television, Johnny Carson.

CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally, a onetime producer for both men, said on Tuesday that the 79-year-old former host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" occasionally sends Letterman new jokes he has written and that Letterman sometimes incorporates them into his nightly "Late Show" monologue.

Lassally, appearing at CBS's annual winter showcase for television critics, said that while Carson has remained out of the public eye since retiring, he keeps up with late-night TV, as well as with political news and other current events that were once fodder for his own "Tonight Show" monologue.

"I think the thing he misses the most is the monologue," Lassally said of his former boss. "He reads the newspaper every day and might think up five good jokes that he wishes he had an outlet for. Once in a while he sends jokes to Letterman and Letterman will use his jokes in the ('Late Show') monologue and he gets a big kick out of that."

Carson retired in 1992 after nearly 30 years as host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC and was replaced by Jay Leno. But Carson has always felt privately that Letterman, not Leno, was his rightful successor, Lassally said.

Letterman, who long hosted NBC's "Late Night" show immediately following Carson's program, jumped to CBS in 1993 in the flagship 11:30 p.m. time slot opposite Leno, setting up one of the most storied rivalries on U.S. television.

While Letterman's New York-based CBS show initially drew bigger audiences than Leno, NBC's "Tonight Show" shot in Burbank, California, eventually settled in as No. 1 in viewership, although Letterman has enjoyed improved ratings this season.

CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said "Late Show" ratings are up 7 percent over last year, marking Letterman's most competitive position against Leno since 1994 and narrowing his audience gap to just 1 million viewers fewer than "The Tonight Show" versus 2 million a year ago.

Carson, who has lived in relative seclusion in Malibu, California for the past decade, has battled emphysema in recent years, but is "still interested in literature and politics and all the worldly things that he was always interested in," Lassally said.

The Couch Potato Report - January 18th, 2005

This week in The Couch Potato Report there are some Friday night lights, a movie that is called THE FORGOTTEN and a movie that should just be forgotten.

Winning, losing and the results of both are at the centre of this week's first new release, a based on a true story football movie called FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.

FRIDAY NIGHT's lights shine on high school football in Odessa, Texas, in the late 1980's.

To some people in the small West Texas town, the weekly game is the only game in town and every single game is a must win.

Can you imagine if - at the age of seventeen - everyone was always telling you that you had to win? That you had to be perfect?

These kids are told non-stop that they must be perfect. That they must win the state championship.

Do they? Don't they? I'll never tell.

I will tell you that director Peter Berg has given us an energetic film that will make you feel as if you are right on the field with the players.

But this isn't just a football movie. There are real people behind each player, and an abundance of great performances in FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, especially from Billy Bob Thornton.

Thornton, who has also starred in PUSHING TIN and BAD SANTA, is the team's coach. He is a man who knows when he has to speak and when he has to listen.

And he has to listen to everyone in the small town telling him what he should do and what he's done wrong.

Admittedly, if you don't like football, or sports movies, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS isn't going to convert you.

There is more on field action that off the field drama.

I liked FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and I don't hesitate to recommend it.

I do hesitate to recommend, or even suggest that I liked the psychological conspiracy movie THE FORGOTTEN, but since I am a huge fan of Julianne Moore, I must admit that even though I didn't really like it, it wasn't bad.

Yes, that is my statement about THE FORGOTTEN - it wasn't bad.

You might remember Julianne Moore from THE BIG LEBOWSKI or THE HOURS.

In THE FORGOTTEN she plays a grieving mother whose nine-year-old son was killed in a plane crash.

At least, that's what she thinks.

Everyone else - including her husband - is telling her she has never had a son.

She then finds a similarly traumatized father, and when they witness some very strange events as they try to figure out what is real and what isn't.

Things start to go wrong by about the middle of the film as things turn a bit preposterous, but as I said, THE FORGOTTEN isn't bad.

It is simply an entertaining trip into THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE X-FILES' territory. Since those shows aren't producing new episodes, THE FORGOTTEN is available, should you like that sort of shows.

That movie is called THE FORGOTTEN, while our final Couch Potato entry this week is CATWOMAN, a movie that should just be forgotten.

Oscar winner Halle Berry stars as a mousy graphic designer for a cosmetics company who is killed as a result of her overhearing details about her employer's new beauty cream.

A supernatural cat brings her back to life and brings up a new persona, and who cares?!?! This movie stinks, stinks, stinks!

The script is awful the acting is horrible and the movie will make you wish you were in the middle of an eight hour root canal with no anesthetic.

This movie does not offer a single worthwhile, interesting, or exciting scene. The action is dull, predictable, and repetitive.

Plain and simple, CATWOMAN is one of the worst films released in the last decade.

But, since I like the character of Catwoman - as seen in the BATMAN comics and portrayed on TV by Lee Meriwether, Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt, and in the film BATMAN RETURNS by Michelle Pfieffer - I feel I must say something positive about this film.

Okay, positive...well, for some people, the vision of Halle Berry in shredded skin-tight leather is positive, but no that's not it for me,...ummm, at 104 minutes it isn't that long, but that is still an hour and 44 minutes that I'll never get back,...geez, what can I say that is positive? What can I say?

Oh! I've got it!

The most positive thing I can say about CATWOMAN starring Halle Berry is that this review is over and I will never have to watch or talk about the movie ever again.

And that is very positive!

The catastrophic CATWOMAN, the recommendable FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, and the isn't bad THE FORGOTTEN are now available for your viewing decisions.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT...

...is the technical marvel SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. This old fashioned tale features a reporter and a pilot who save the world from evil madman. Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie all star.

The all-star music group Metallica can be seen in the insightful documentary METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER. It starts off as a film about the band making their new album, and becomes a look at how the band needs a therapist to avoid falling apart.

There isn't a part of the classic film WHITE HEAT that isn't great! It is one of the best gangster films ever made and this James Cagney classic is finally debuting on DVD.

The entire run of the BBC sitcom COUPLING can also be described using the word classic, but the episodes in COUPLING - THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON certainly lowers the bar.

Also coming out next week is the horror film ALIEN VS. PREDATOR. This film brings the two lead villains from the ALIEN and PREDATOR series together as they battle on Earth.

Good luck to us all!

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on it, and those other releases, in seven days.

And that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

'Survivor 10' cast, theme unveiled

The newest Survivors are about to get "Lost."

Continuing his friendly rivalry with the hit ABC adventure series, "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett told Variety the "Survivor Palau" contestants are going to be marooned -- for real.

"They're given very little instruction about what to do, and some of them are genuinely lost," Burnett said. "Two people don't make it to the first challenge. That's how tough it is. It's very emotional."

Debuting February 17th on CBS, the 10th installment of the popular reality show series is rumoured to feature a sweeping war theme to rival the pirate premise of the "Pearl Islands" edition complete with plenty of new twists. The Palau buffs even feature camouflage colours of green, blue and brown. Palau is located in the Pacific Ocean and was the location of many World War II battles. The area is home to all manner of historic ship and plane wrecks from the war's "Pacific Theater."

The producers have confirmed the players will start the game as one tribe, they will be given no assistance in surviving life on the island and three players "leave" on the first episode. Internet gossip suggests some of the twists will figure into the war theme with the tribes possibly capturing their foes as PoWs.

On "The Early Show" monday and the official "Survivor Palau" web site, CBS revealed the identities of the 20 new contestants, the largest number of players to ever start the game. Dominated by younger personalities, the new cast features a civil rights attorney, a dolphin trainer, a Vegas showgirl and a New York City firefighter.

The official "Survivor Palau" cast is:

COBY ARCHA: 32, Athens, Texas, Hairstylist.

ASHLEE ASHBY: 22, Easley, S.C., Student.

GREGG CAREY: 28, Chicago, Business Consultant

BOBBY JON DRINKARD, 27, Santa Monica, Calif., Waiter.

KATIE GALLAGHER: 29, Merced, Calif., Advertising Executive.

CARYN GROEDEL: 46, Solon, Ohio, Civil Rights Attorney.

ANGIE JAKUSZ: 24, New Orleans, Bartender.

JOLANDA JONES: 39, Houston, Lawyer.

STEPHENIE LaGROSSA: 25, Philadelphia, Pa., Pharmaceutical Sales Representative.

JONATHAN LIBBY: 23, Dallas, Sales and Marketing.

JENNIFER LYON: 32, Encino, Calif., Nanny.

JAMES MILLER: 33, Mobile, Ala., Steel Worker.

KIMBERLY MULLEN: 25, Huber Heights, Ohio, Graduate Student.

IBREHEM RAHMAN: 27, Birmingham, Ala., Waiter.

IAN ROSENBERGER: 23, Key Largo, Fla, Dolphin Trainer.

WANDA SHIRK: 55, Ulysses, Pa., English Teacher.

WILLIARD SMITH: 57, Bellevue, Wash., Lawyer.

JANU TORNELL: 39, Las Vegas, Vegas Showgirl.

TOM WESTMAN: 41, Sayville, N.Y., N.Y. City Firefighter.

JEFF WILSON: 21, Ventura, Calif., Personal Trainer.

FOX Issues May Day Call for 'Family Guy'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) "Family Guy" fans who have been clamoring for the show's resurrection will see their wish come true in May.

FOX announced Monday (Jan. 17) at the TV Critics Association winter press tour that the show will air its first new episode in more than three years on Sunday, May 1. The network has committed to a full season's worth of episodes, so it's likely that the show can run well into the summer without repeating.

Also that night, FOX will launch the series run of "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane's new show, "American Dad." It centers on Stan Smith, an excessively gung-ho CIA agent who tends to bring his work home with him.

Viewers will get a first look at "American Dad" on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, when the pilot will be paired with a sports-themed episode of "The Simpsons" after the game. Come May, the two shows will occupy the 9 p.m. Sunday hour; until then, FOX will program reruns of "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons."

"Family Guy" also received the coveted post-Super Bowl premiere spot in 1999, but the show never got much love from FOX after that. It bounced around the network's schedule for three-plus seasons before being pulled for good in February 2002.

The show's loyal cult following, however, made it a huge seller on DVD -- its compilations have sold a combined 3.5 million units -- and repeats on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim performed well, prompting FOX to commission new episodes.

FOX also announced Monday that its new comedy "Life on a Stick" will debut at 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, May 23, in the cushy spot following the "American Idol" results show. The series stars Amy Yasbeck ("Wings"), Zachary Knighton, Charlie Finn and Matthew Glave.

'Incredibles' DVD tells Jack-Jack's story

Super! The Incredibles arrives on DVD March 15 ($29.99, also on VHS) with an all-new animated short that reveals the latent powers of Jack-Jack, the baby of the animated superhero family.

Jack-Jack's Attack chronicles "what takes place at the house with (babysitter) Kari and Jack-Jack while the rest of the family is on the way to the island or on the island," Pixar DVD producer Ann Brilz says. As the story plays out, the toddler reveals his latent powers.

Other extras include an alternate opening, deleted scenes, bloopers and commentary from director Brad Bird, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). A making-of-the-film featurette began as soon as Bird came to Pixar to start work on the film. "When he walked in the first time, he carried a camera, and it was rolling the whole time," Brilz says. "We had this great body of footage to draw from."

New Tunage

Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday, January 18th, 2005:

Jason Anderson The Wreath (K)

The BellRays The Red, White and Black (Alternative Tentacles)

Citified Citified (Eskimo Kiss)

Four Volts Triple Your Work Force (Kanine)

The Game The Documentary (Interscope)

The Innocence Mission Now the Day Is Over (Badman)

Parchman Farm Parchman Farm EP (Jackpine Social Club)

Sloppy Meateaters Conditioned by the Laugh Track (Orange Peel)

T.H. White More Than Before (guests Howie Beno of Ministry and Steely Dan's Cornelius Bumpus) (Gammon)

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys Maximum (audio biography w/color picture disc) (Chrome Dreams)

Wires on Fire Homewrecker (Buddyhead)

VA Fried Glass Onions - Memphis Meets the Beatles (soul tribute) (Inside Sounds)

VA The Free Design ‘Redesigned' (Vol. 2) (ICE #213) (Light in the Attic)

DVD Kurt Cobain: The Early Life of a Legend (Chrome Dreams)

DVD VA Straight from the Heart -Volume 1 (live PBS special from 2003 w/Tony Orlando & Dawn, The 5th Dimension and Dionne Warwick) (Shout! Factory)

Golden Globes Leave Oscar Race Fuzzy

LOS ANGELES - This year, the Golden Globes have left the road to the Oscars a fuzzy one. Potential Oscar front-runners Hilary Swank of the boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby" and Jamie Foxx of the Ray Charles film biography "Ray" came away with lead-acting prizes at Sunday's Globes.

But the Globes were a split decision for perpetual Oscar also-ran Martin Scorsese, whose Howard Hughes epic "The Aviator" won for best drama, yet missed out on the directing honor, which went to Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby."

Globe wins for underdogs Clive Owen and Natalie Portman, co-stars of the sex drama "Closer," leave the supporting-actor Oscar categories wide open. Morgan Freeman of "Million Dollar Baby" and Cate Blanchett of "The Aviator" had been viewed as more likely favorites.

Add in lead-acting Globes for two other Hollywood veterans, Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes in "The Aviator" and Annette Bening in the theater farce "Being Julia," and the Feb. 27 Oscars could be an anything-goes scenario across-the-board.

The Oscars last year followed the Globes' lead to the letter. All four acting recipients preceded their Oscar triumphs with Globe wins, while "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" followed its dominant night at the Globes with a clean sweep of its 11 Oscar categories, including best picture and director.

Bening won the musical or comedy actress Globe for "Being Julia," playing a gleefully vengeful 1930s stage diva. It was the first awards-worthy role Bening has had since "American Beauty" five years ago, when she was the front-runner, but lost the Golden Globe dramatic prize and the best-actress Oscar to underdog Swank for "Boys Don't Cry."

Not wanting to jinx her Oscar chances, Bening sidestepped a question backstage at the Globes about what she would wear to the Oscars. "Trick question," Bening quipped.

Swank, playing a fighter whose life turns tragic, won the dramatic-actress Globe for "Million Dollar Baby." She downplayed the potential Oscar rematch with Bening.

"I don't really see it as competition," Swank said. "Annette's amazing, and she was so gracious to me five years ago when we were both nominated. She gave me good advice and she was gracious, and she's an inspiration.

"I think it's just unfortunate that things are seen as winners and losers, because in the end, the performances all speak for themselves and make everyone, I think, a winner. I'm just honored to have my name mentioned with her."

Like Swank and Bening, lead-actor winners Foxx and DiCaprio seem poised as chief Oscar contenders. DiCaprio, who won for dramatic actor, normally would have the inside track at the Oscars, which favors Globe drama winners.

But Foxx, the Globe winner for actor in a musical or comedy, probably will emerge as the Oscar favorite. His role as Charles goes head-to-head with DiCaprio's turn as Hughes for heavy-duty drama, and his portrayal was an uncannily spot-on emulation of the singer, who died last year.

"It's a beautiful thing for Ray and everything he leaves us," said Foxx, who had a record three Globe nominations but lost the other two, supporting movie actor for "Collateral" and TV movie or miniseries actor for "Redemption."

"The Aviator" was the top Globe winner with three trophies. With its grand scope, weighty drama and vibrant re-creation of early Hollywood, "The Aviator" now is positioned as a possible front-runner for the best-picture Oscar, an honor that has eluded Scorsese.

The filmmaker behind "Raging Bull," "GoodFellas" and "Gangs of New York" also has never won the directing Oscar, potentially giving him the sympathy vote among members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Yet best-picture and director honors often are divided at the Oscars. Scorsese could end up in such a split with Eastwood, a best-picture and directing Oscar winner for "Unforgiven."

A major production from perennial Oscar contender Miramax, "The Aviator" was on the awards radar for a year or more before its debut last December. "Million Dollar Baby" crept up quietly, coming just a year after Eastwood's acclaimed "Mystic River," which won acting Oscars for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins.

Like "Mystic River," "Million Dollar Baby" may have benefited from arriving without the fanfare that precedes many big Oscar hopefuls.

"This picture's the same way," Eastwood said. "Let people discover it for themselves and see if they like it, and if they do, then it builds its own life."

Jackson: Remaking 'King Kong' Is a Dream

LOS ANGELES - Director Peter Jackson's first attempt to remake "King Kong" featured an Empire State Building constructed out of cardboard and a Manhattan skyline painted on an old bedsheet. It was an amateur effort, but Jackson was only 13 at the time. He has a bigger budget now, at 43.

Jackson, who directed "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, said remaking "King Kong" has been a lifelong obsession.

The $150 million remake now in production is a respectful tribute to the 1933 original. Jackson approached Fay Wray, who played Ann in the first film, about making a cameo, but she died before it was possible.

"Obviously, there's a lot of criticism and apprehension about remaking any film, and it has the potential for pitfalls that are greater than 'The Lord of the Rings,'" he told the Los Angeles Times during a short break on the "King Kong" set. "But it's a dream come true. That's the reality of it."

The Sequel Strikes Again as Box Office Success

LONDON (Reuters) - Coming soon to a cinema near you: "Return of the Sequel."

The box office success of movie sequels over the past few years has Hollywood sticking to the formula and banking on a fresh wave of them for 2005, with new episodes in the "Star Wars," "Batman" and "Harry Potter" series on their way.

The relative financial success of sequels lately has had cinema owners reaching for the number "2" and the word "return" more often than ever for their marquees.

Of the $20 billion earned by films and their sequels at the U.S. box office from 1980, 38 percent came from the first in the series and 36 percent from the first sequel, indicating that sequels perform on a par at the box office with the original, according to research published Monday by Screen Digest.

Studios issued a record number of 15 sequels in 2002, and 14 each in 2003 and 2004, and they have been rushing the second and third installments to screens more quickly.

Screen Digest found that the average lag between sequels was three years between 1980 and 2004, but in more recent years the gap has fallen to about a year.

Though the research focuses on U.S. box office success, sequels dominated screens around the world last year as audiences turned to the comfort of their favorite characters.

In the UK alone, four sequels -- "Shrek 2," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Bridget Jones -- The Edge of Reason," and "Spider-Man 2" topped the list of the five highest-grossing films. Only "The Incredibles" at No. 4 was not part of a series.

"Movie sequels have been a key driver of recent sustained box office growth, with some of the highest grossing titles part of a franchise," Screen Digest analyst David Hancock said.

NOT MERELY COPIES

The success of recent sequels is owed to scripts that don't always simply retell the same story in the same way the original did, a common complaint among movie-goers.

"'Lord of the Rings,' 'Harry Potter,' 'Star Wars,' 'Spiderman' and 'Shrek' are all examples of how creatively strong a sequel can be, proving that it is no longer a cynical option but a clever marketing strategy to build on a good idea and an audience base rather than exploit it," Hannock said.

The highest-grossing series of films in the United States is "Star Wars," with the five films raking in $1.4 billion, according to Screen Digest, with the three-part "Lord of the Rings" the only other series to top the $1 billion mark.

The "Spider-Man" series, however, has earned the highest per film average on U.S. screens, $376 million for its two titles, and "Shrek" is second with an average of $351 million.

Action films dominate the world of sequels with 51 movies or nearly three out of every 10 over the last quarter century, Screen Digest found. Comedy (18 percent), horror (16 percent) and sci-fi (14 percent) are the next most popular genres.

The firm also found that May, June and July account for about half of all sequel releases.

The longest-running series, since 1980, is "Friday the 13th" with 11 installments, and $309 million of total gross proceeds.

Excluded from the study -- which only accounts for films first released in 1980 -- is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's James Bond and Pink Panther franchises, as well as such popular film series as "The Godfather," "Mad Max," "Jaws," "Halloween," "Airplane" and "Superman."

'Aviator' Leads British Film Award Nominations

LONDON (Reuters) - Kate Winslet will be competing with herself at Britain's film awards next month, winning two nominations for best actress, but Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" led the way with 14 nods in a pre-Oscar boost.

"Vera Drake," about a back-street abortionist in 1950s London, won 11 British Academy Film Awards nominations on Monday, matched by "Finding Neverland," a story of J.M. Barrie's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.

Once again the BAFTAs, moved in 2001 from April to February to fall between the U.S. Golden Globes and Oscars, are seeking to steal a little of Hollywood's limelight as the cinema awards season reaches its climax.

"There is a perception that the BAFTAs are now some sort of indicator en route to the Oscars," BAFTA chairman Duncan Kenworthy told Reuters.

"The bottom line is that we want to have all nominees in the room. If Americans stayed away it would be less exciting," added Kenworthy, producer of British cinema successes including "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Love Actually." Winslet has been short-listed for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Finding Neverland," and is up against Imelda Staunton for Vera Drake, Charlize Theron ("Monster") and Ziyi Zhang ("House of Flying Daggers") in the best actress category.

"Daggers," the martial arts extravaganza directed by Yimou Zhang, is up for nine BAFTA awards.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred alongside Winslet in the box office sensation "Titanic," was nominated as best actor for his portrayal of billionaire playboy and inventor Howard Hughes in The Aviator.

He is competing with Johnny Depp in "Finding Neverland," Jamie Foxx for "Ray," Jim Carrey for "Eternal Sunshine..." and Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal for "The Motorcycle Diaries."

Critics have bemoaned the lack of British films represented at the BAFTAs, noting that movies like "Shaun of the Dead," "My Summer of Love," "Vanity Fair" and "Phantom of the Opera" were not in the running for major gongs.

But Kenworthy said there was plenty of British talent on show in a year when predicting winners would be tough.

"British talent is global now and that is a new definition. Rather than being about British-financed films, it is British talent that's the criterion."

One notable absentee from the BAFTA ceremony on February 12 will be Clint Eastwood's acclaimed boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby," which won awards for best director and best dramatic actress at the Golden Globes.

Kenworthy said that the film's distributors decided not to send out "screeners," or DVD copies, to more than 6,000 voters because they were worried about copies changing hands and being pirated.

"The downside was that members can't vote for film they didn't see."

Actress Virginia Mayo Dead at 84 - Report

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Virginia Mayo, a 1940s screen siren who co-starred opposite such greats as Danny Kaye and James Cagney, died near Los Angeles on Monday of pneumonia and heart failure, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site. She was 84.

Mayo, whose films included "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "White Heat" and "The Best Years of Our Lives," died in a nursing home near her residence in Thousand Oaks, California, the newspaper quoted a family friend as saying.

Famed for her peaches-and-cream complexion and curvaceous figure, the St. Louis native appeared in more than 40 films during the 1940s and '50s, equally adept at comedies and dramas.

A former vaudeville performer, she made her Hollywood debut in the 1943 movie "Jack London," starring her future husband, Michael O'Shea.

She teamed with Kaye the following year in "Up in Arms," and they reunited over the next few years in "The Kid From Brooklyn," "A Song Is Born," and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

Perhaps her most memorable role was as the unscrupulous wife of Cagney's gangster character in the 1949 crime melodrama "White Heat."

"Jimmy was the master actor, the most dynamic star the screen ever had," Mayo told the Los Angeles Times in 1981. "His acting was so real that I was really scared half the time we were on the set."

Her other credits included "Captain Horatio Hornblower" with Gregory Peck; "The Silver Chalice" with Paul Newman; and "The Flame and the Arrow" with Burt Lancaster.

After her career faded in the early 1960s, she did stage and dinner theater work. She was married to O'Shea from 1947 until his death in 1973. She is survived by a daughter, Mary Johnston.

Two Newfies go camping and pack a cooler with sandwiches and beer. After three days of walking, they arrive at a great spot but realize they've forgotten a bottle opener.

The first Newfie turns to the second and says, "You've gotta go back and get the opener or else we have no beer."  

"No way," says the second. "By the time I get back, you will have eaten all the food."  

"I promise I won't," says the Newfie. "Just hurry!"

Nine full days pass and there's still no sign of the second Newfie.  Exasperated and starving, the first Newfie digs into the sandwiches.  Suddenly, the second Newfie pops out from behind a rock and yells, "I knew it! I'm not freaking going!"

UNLEASH YOUR INNER JOLIE

Angelina Jolie has been called many names recently - except for the obvious: America's ultimate sex goddess.

Her rep as being the kind of gal who'll steal your husband (and probably discard him the next morning) and the gossip linking her to Brad Pitt only adds to her bad-girl allure.

"Angelina represents everything I love about women - beauty, giving, power, strength and sensuality - and she can kick ass!" says feisty Italian designer Donatella Versace.

"It's not her eyes or curves or lips that are sexy - it's her brain - which is her sexiest muscle."

Donatella isn't the only one who thinks so.

"A lot of women have girl crushes on Angelina," says MaryEllen Gordon, deputy editor (Style) at Glamour magazine.

"It's not sexual, it's aspirational. She intrigues us. She's got so much going on, and seems to manage it all without having to play by the rules."

Isaac Mizrahi has another perspective on the twice-married, currently single 29-year-old mom who looks as comfortable traipsing through a jungle as the U.N.'s goodwill ambassador as she does swanning down the red carpet.

"She's like a truck driver trapped in a sex symbol's body, which is what makes her so astonishing," says Mizrahi.

"There's something gritty about her, and she does a great job at being a bad girl."

"It's the marriage of her intense beauty and her seeming not to care what people think of her," says Mizrahi. "She lives her own life, a private life that she refuses to qualify."

You may not have those lips, that body, or even that style - but there are a few tricks all of us could use to release that inner Angelina.

Read the following and find out how.

- Look like you just had a romp

Whether it's been six minutes or six weeks, every woman has the ability to fake that dewy, post-sex afterglow.

"Even if you don't wear color cosmetics," says celebrity make-up artist Scott Barnes, "you can do something to improve the condition of your skin. Too many women just don't bother."

Though tousled hair can look clich‚d if it's not your usual style, nearly everyone looks good in Angelina's no-fail staple: smoky eyes.

"Smudge gray powder over your eyelids," Barnes says, "then apply liner and finish with mascara. This combination of products makes your eyes look wider and bigger.

- Put your lips to work

"Men always focus on a woman's lips. We look at them when you're talking, when you're eating," says Barnes, who admits he's never come across another woman with lips as mesmerizing as Angelina's.

Resist the urge to sign up for emergency collagen injections, he says, insisting no amount of cosmetic surgery can replicate Angelina's pillowy pout.

Instead, follow her lead and never wear lipstick. "She always goes for a lightly colored balm or a nude gloss. It will give your lips that slippery look men find irresistible."

But, you also have to know how to work those liquid lips.

"And Angelina knows how to do that. I see it in the way she smiles and how she bites on her lip - it always makes me suspect that she's thinking about sex, which, of course, makes me start thinking about sex."

- Be a woman of action

And not just between the sheets.

Angelina's got a pilot's license. She collects knives. She did many of her own stunts in "Tomb Raider," and as a result, suffered several injuries from torn ligaments in her ankle and burns from a chandelier.

While plenty of stars write charity checks, she's a serious activist who's traveled to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Namibia and Chad as a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

- What she doesn't have is a diva attitude.

Marc Bouwer, who designed the white gown Angelina wore to the Oscars last year (without a date, by the way) says the star proved amazingly low-maintenance, especially by Hollywood standards.

"I was expecting the usual celebrity chaos," he says. "But there was no diva behavior - but the woman I meet was amazingly cool, calm and charming. She's so self-assured she doesn't even have handlers."

Fear stops people achieving most of the goals on their wish list, says self-help author Alison James. Before you can fly a plane, she says, you have to start by doing simple things outside your normal boundaries.

Learn to ride a motorcycle. Instead of a week at a Caribbean resort, go on a hiking, biking or camping trip in the mountains.

"Little things," James says, "will give you the confidence that you need to take bigger risks - the kind of risks that lead somewhere."

- Bone up on your flirting skills

Why do men seem to cling to Angelina? She lets them. Watch her body language. She's as easy about touching people as she is being touched and that's a turn-on.

Body language that even hints a woman is uncomfortable - with herself or the man she's accompanying - is a turn-off.

"That includes hunching your shoulders and covering up your body with your arms," says Barnes. "It's uninviting on every level, but it certainly doesn't make a man think he's with a woman who is at ease with him."

- Lob a subtle bomb

Angelina and Billy Bob had the walls of a room in their Los Angeles home padded, specifically so their lusty smackdowns wouldn't land them in the ER. Or did they?

All that really matters is that they said they did.

You don't have to create a sex asylum in your apartment, but as an aspiring goddess, you must realize how to enhance your appeal with the power of suggestion.

Maybe you had an affair with your female college roommate. Maybe you are a member of the Mile High Club. Maybe that bruise on your arm is from having "a little too much fun with a fireman last night."

Or maybe not. If you properly channel Angelina and think positively, by the time he finds out, he won't care.

- Get a 'disposable boyfriend'

Cancel the highlighting appointment and book a room in the Mercer instead.

"Meeting a man in a hotel room for a few hours, and then going back and putting my son to bed and not seeing that man again for a few months is about what I can handle now," Angelina recently told The Post.

It's a quote worth framing and mounting on the wall.

"It's sexy to know that she's the kind of girl who doesn't care about mussing her hair up in the middle of the afternoon," says Glamour's MaryEllen Gordon. "And her candor adds to her allure."

Instead of devoting so much of free time to self-enhancement, take a "disposable boyfriend." That's the term for a "guy you usually say you won't go out with - because you know he's not the one," explains Alison James, author of a new book, "The 10 Women You'll Be Before You're 35."

And don't underestimate the benefits of dating guys you're not planning to marry - Angelina, who says she doubts she'll ever remarrry, has a steady stream of them.

"You'll be amazed at how much fun you can have," James says.

- Ditch the Park Avenue princess look

Unlike most women in the 10021 zip code, Angelina never looks like she clocked too many hours at the Elizabeth Arden salon.

And let's be honest: That head-to-toe polish that's considered so chic on the Upper East Side can leave the impression you're a little chilly between the sheets.

Ditto, the contrived "I'm sexy," look of wearing a black lacy bra under a tight white shirt.

Instead of giving your look some unexpected edge, this combo has become such a popular date-night uniform, it's now an instant telltale sign that you're concerned you're a tad too uptight.

Wannabe-sex-goddesses who try too hard are setting themselves up for failure.

The trick, after all, is to look as if you didn't spend a ridiculous amount of time getting dressed.

If Angelina's penchant for the tattoos aren't your thing - but you still want that bisexual biker-girl vibe - try wearing leather pants.

But be sure to go for feather-light leather and not the cheaper, chunkier type that inevitably makes your butt look twice its natural size.

Quirky accessories are another option, but remember the floral brooch is passe.

Think more along the lines of a killer pair of stilettos, racy fishnets or a funky newsboy cap - but choose just one. Piling on too many accessories leaves you looking like a hooker. You're trying to give the impression that you can be playful and fun - not that you are a high-maintenance, obsessive-compulsive shop-a-holic with a Barneys dependency habit.

Hot new CD releases for spring

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the deep-freeze will continue with little relief in sight.

And we're not talking about the Farmers' Almanac's prediction that penguins will be carpooling their way up here in the coming weeks -- we're talking about the new releases in the music world.

By all accounts, we still have another couple of chilly months ahead of us, with only a handful of hot discs to help with the thaw in the next month.

Keep in mind, thanks to the production difficulties/the Internet/acts of God/etc. all dates are tentative, which may mean we'll have to wait even longer for some respite.

The first taste of sort-of big-name releases comes Jan. 25 when you can expect the Chemical Brothers' new disc Push the Button, as well as the latest studio release from all-growed-up country star LeAnn Rimes titled This Woman.

The following week, Motley Crue fans can come out of the closet and enjoy the band's two-disc retrospective Red, White and Crue.

On Feb. 8 some Cancon comes down the pipe -- crooner Michael Buble releases It's Time and Alberta-based cowboy legend Ian Tyson drops Songs from the Gravel Road.

Fans of new country might want to spend their money on Be As You Are, the hotly anticipated new album from Kenny Chesney, which also hits stores that day.

The mid part of the month proves relatively dry -- save. maybe for a new Goldfinger CD Feb. 15 -- with the next big name stepping out Feb. 22.

That's when Tori Amos returns with The Beekeeper. Southern alt rock darlings the Kings of Leon also release the followup to their critically salivated over debut Youth and Young Manhood with Aha Shake Heartbreak.

On the oh-so-incredibly tentative side of things, hip hop hotshot Kanye West is also listed as maybe having something new before February closes.

On March 1, the floodgates temporarily open for new albums from The Doves, Judas Priest, Mars Volta, Jack Johnson and the artist formerly known as J. Lo, Jennifer Lopez.

If that's not enough we're being teased with the possibility of another Black Eyed Peas effort that same day.

The following week sees the release of albums by two artists that could not be more disparate -- The Backstreet Boys and 50 Cent.

No word yet on what the Boys will be calling their next masterpiece, but Fitty's is titled, presumably, what he'd do to them if they were ever in the same room -- The Massacre.

Other than a new one from Moby, March 22 proves to be a great week for hard-rock music fans with System of a Down and Queens of the Stone Age both set to make some noise.

March 29 is a banner day for fans of Britpop old and new.

On the veteran side of things, New Order has an album ready, and for the newbies, Coldplay will look to lull the world into submission with the as-yet untitled followup to the 2002 phenom A Rush Of Blood To The Head.

Also look for new ones from Daft Punk, Faith Evans, Chingy and Trace Adkins that week.

Before the end of the month you may also expect a new studio album from Beck, Mariah Carey and a pair of hometown superstars -- Jann Arden and Terri Clark, who both have new discs ready for release.

And finally, taking us to spring -- when the real thaw, both musically and environmentally, should take place -- look for new April and May albums from OutKast, Sloan, Treble Charger, White Stripes, Sheryl Crow, Bon Jovi, Gorillaz and Garbage, to name but a few.

The Rest ... Here are some more artists releasing albums in the coming months: Vanessa Williams, Low, John Frusciante, Marianne Faithfull, Alex Lloyd, Erasure, The Devlins (Jan. 25); Ed Harcourt, Liam Titcomb, Youngbloodz, Los Lobos (Feb. 1); Brian McKnight, 3 Doors Down, Jamiroquai (Feb. 8); John Hammond, Al Green (Feb. 15); Iron & Wine, Jim White, (Feb. 22); Joshua Redman (March 1); Ash, Amanda Stott (March 8); The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Natalie Imbruglia, (March 15); Fat Joe, Tweet (March 22); Esthero, American Hi-Fi, New Order (March 29); Hot Hot Heat, Missy Elliot, Lisa Marie Presley, Shelby Lynn, Beth Orton, Babyface, Clay Aiken (April/May)

The Vinyl Countdown

By JOHN KRYK -- Toronto Sun

I miss the album-listening experience. If you're over age 30, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're under 30, you probably think I'm from another ice age. Or another planet.

This month marks the quarter-century passing of the heyday of the 12 1/4-inch x 12 1/4-inch vinyl album -- the '70s. (Cue: Funeral For A Friend.)

For me, and I suspect for tens of thousands of Sun readers, spinning a new album on the turntable and gawking at all corners of its dazzling, shiny, pristine, cardboard cover (and, if you were lucky, the paper sleeve, too) were inseparable experiences. Listening and looking. Couldn't do one without the other.

I understand and appreciate the advantages of compact discs: Better portability, better durability, no crackles and pops, and they take up less storage space.

But when I sit down to listen to a new CD, I get fidgety. I find it harder nowadays to concentrate on the music. I think it's because in order to read something about the album, or scan the lyrics (if they aren't redirecting me online to get them), I have to struggle to pull out (from the inside flap of the plastic, soon-to-crack-and-bust-at-the-hinges CD case) some 10-times-folded little accordion-like paper insert -- which I can never seem to fold properly again. And I have to squint to read or scan anything on it, even though I am not far-sighted. So I look around and get distracted.

You'd think that selling music in big honkin' packages would be in vogue today -- to placate the more visually dependent plasma/PS2 generation. But no.

With few exceptions, I stopped buying new albums in the mid-1980s. It was my way of mourning the demise of such wonderful things in music as the acoustic guitar. It's only now that I realize that the phasing out of the vinyl album itself played a large role in that decision, too.

Today's young music buyers don't know what they're missing. Maybe this will help. Here are 12 1/4 things we miss about vinyl records:

1. THE SMELL AND feel of a new LP. Pristine. Not a scratch on it. And, if it came in a plastic sleeve, static cling galore. Priceless.

2. TWO SIDES TO every record. Wasn't it cool the way Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery LP faded out at the end of Side 1, then once you flipped it over and dropped the needle back on, Side 2 began with the same music fading right back in with "Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends..."? Most bands in the '60s and '70s put a lot of thought into sequencing and double-grouping the songs on their albums. That art is long gone. Many bands began Side 2 with the second-best song on the album, but now it's just a middle-of-the-pack song on CD. Makes you wonder how drastically songlists on old albums would have changed if there were only one side back then, as now.

3. FOLDING OUT A double-album cover and staring at it for hours on end as you listened to the record. It was like opening up a pizza box on your lap, without the grease stain. But, oh, what a sight to devour. Some double albums folded out twice, such as Woodstock. How many albums did we buy as much for the album cover as for the music? And who ever does that with CDs?

4. ALBUM-COVER gimmicks. There was no end to the creative things bands and labels did with album covers. Led Zeppelin spent a small fortune on theirs. Physical Graffiti had mini album covers for its two LPs instead of paper sleeves; and In Through The Out Door came in a sealed brown paper bag so you wouldn't know which of the six versions of the bar-scene cover photo you got. The Stones even had a real working zipper sewed into their crotch-shot Sticky Fingers cover. Thank The Beatles for all that. Their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album (1967) was not only the first album to have lyrics printed on the back, but the first with gimmicky extras such as colour photos or paper cutouts.

5. ATTEMPTING TO unravel the deep mysteries contained in the artwork or lyrics. What messages were the bands trying to secretly pass along? Was it code for something? Was Paul really dead? Half the time, I felt like I must have been the only one who wasn't getting the point. Or the joke. Damn you, King Crimson!

6. THE ABILITY TO play a record backward. Try doing THAT on your CD player or iPod. If you couldn't decipher hidden messages from the artwork, surely there had to be something else imbedded in the music. Sometimes you'd swear there was. All would be revealed if you spun the record counter-clockwise on your turntable -- once you removed the elastic band from the around the drum, of course. The gibberish at the end of Glass Onion on The Beatles' White Album does indeed sound like Lennon is mumbling, "Paul is dead, man -- Miss him, Miss him, Miss him."

7. THE RIDDLE wrapped in a mystery inside in an enigma: How do you properly clean dust off an album? Do you press the brush harder, or does that scratch it? A friend once suggested that the best way was to spin the album on a pencil in a sink of soapy, warm water. Tried it. Big mistake. Ruined my Rolling Stones Hot Rocks best-of double album. I never figured this one out.

8. ARTISTS STANDING up for their art. Before the '80s, artists put as much thought into the artwork adorning their album covers as they do now on music videos. And they defended it vigorously, against critics and label bigwigs alike. The Stones delayed for almost five months the release of their 1968 killer album Beggars Banquet because their label, Decca, refused to release the album with the picture of a dirty old gas-station toilet on the front. Decca won that battle, issuing Beggars Banquet instead in all-white front and back, but the Stones won the war two years later, when they concluded the terms of their Decca contract by leaving the boss with one last single, the unreleasable C***sucker Blues.

9. RARE COLLECTIBLES. Rare versions and recalled pressings of LPs back in the '60s created the very bootleg market we know and love today. Famous ones include the original cover of The Beatles' Yesterday And Today album (1966), in which the Fab Four were adorned variously with chunks of raw butcher's meat and baby-doll body parts. Yes, that was quickly recalled and replaced.

10. GOD BLESS THE guy who discovered that plastic milk crates -- the ones in which you still find bagged milk at grocery stores -- were perfectly sized holding containers for LPs. Getting the stores to, uh, part with them was the difficult part. Sorry, Sealtest.

11. FLIPPING THROUGH records at the music store. I used to love just flipping records from the front of the bin to the back, row after row. Who does that now with CDs? What's more, when record stores made the transition from stocking vinyl to CDs, they somehow lost the ability to alphabetize them properly. It's a simple concept. A before B, etc., but I find it a lot harder nowadays to locate my favourite music.

12. THE SOUND OF unspoiled vinyl. It beats CD, period. I am one of those people, such as Neil Young and Lenny Kravitz, who swears he can hear more warmth, more depth -- more crispness -- from a song pressed on vinyl compared to that on digital compact disc, even a specially remastered CD. When I've got the headphones on, I love being able to "locate" the various instruments: The organ is up there to the left, the electric guitar's over there, the bass and drums are way down here, the piano is over there to the right, and the vocals pierce right through the middle. I find it harder to do that when listening to a CD. Everything sounds somehow muted and muddy (hello hello, U2). Maybe it's just the way they produce and mix albums now. I'm pretty sure that's why Kravitz always records his albums in old studios with vacuum-tube recording devices; he feels something sonically gets lost in the digital process.

1/4. SINGLES. DON'T forget that "45s" came in their own paper sleeves that sometimes were no less visually dazzling than the LP they came from.

Paul Giamatti will host ''SNL'' on Jan. 22.

Golden Globe nominee Paul Giamatti isn't exactly a household name, but the folks at NBC think he's famous enough to host Saturday Night Live. He'll emcee on January 22, when the musical guest will be Ludacris, backed by (of all people) pop-punkers Sum 41.

Giamatti has had starring roles in movies before (notably, 2003's indie hit American Splendor), but he's still probably best known for playing Howard Stern nemesis ''Pig Vomit'' eight years ago in Private Parts. That seems to be changing, however, with the growing popularity and awards-season kudos for Sideways. ''This movie has caught on way more than I expected. I'm comfortable in my life, and I'm just a little worried about not being comfortable anymore,'' Giamatti told England's Guardian this week. He says people come up to him now on the street and blurt out a signature line of his Sideways wine snob Miles: ''I am NOT drinkin' any f---in' MERLOT!''

''All of a sudden it's more intense on the press line and it kind of bums me out. It definitely seems like there's more crazy — crazier — people coming up to me and saying, 'My friend made a tape of his fish singing and, dude, you gotta listen to it.' Crazy f---er last night gave me his chatline number: 'You gotta call me, man!' Some woman came up to me after the Critics' Choice awards and gave me cookies, talking all this crazy s--- about birds and flowers, and it was creepy. And me, I like crazy people, but I like being able to study them from a distance.''

Garbage Survive "Bleed"

Early into Garbage's recording of their fourth album, Bleed Like Me, due April 12th, long-simmering tensions in the band got bad -- very bad.

"I would go to the studio with a sick feeling in my stomach," says drummer/producer Butch Vig. "And I could tell everybody was feeling that way."

But after quitting the band for almost four months, Vig returned to resurrect the project. "It's like we'd been married for ten years," he says, "and it was worth it to try one more time."

"It took us a while to all get on the same page," says singer Shirley Manson. "It's just the nature of human beings: You just want to do your own thing after a while, but you're bound together as a band -- sort of like Siamese twins."

The fruits of their labor are eleven tracks of raw, guitar-heavy pop with dark, biting lyrics, accented by Garbage's signature electronic effects. "Metal Heart," a political rant shrouded in layers of violin samples and techno beats, was inspired by the hype surrounding the war in Iraq. "You just start questioning everything after a while," Manson says. "You can't believe a fuckin' damn thing you see or hear. I got to the point where I felt like a real paranoid liberal."

Other highlights include "Run Baby Run," which has tender, dreamy verses that call to mind the Cure's "Just Like Heaven," and "Bad Boyfriend," featuring Foo Fighters frontman (and ex-Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl on the kit. "He was sitting there pounding the song out with a shit-eating grin on his face," says Vig, who famously produced Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough, Nevermind. "It was fuckin' great!"

'Sideways,' 'Aviator' Win Golden Globes

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The Howard Hughes epic "The Aviator" and the road-trip romp "Sideways" earned best-picture Golden Globes on Sunday, boosting their status as front-runners for the upcoming Academy Awards.

"The Aviator" won for best dramatic film, giving it an edge at the Oscars, which favor heavyweight drama. "Sideways" won for comedy film.

Jamie Foxx of the Ray Charles film biography "Ray," Hilary Swank of the boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby," Annette Bening of the showbiz comedy "Being Julia" and Leonardo DiCaprio of "The Aviator" also boosted their Oscar odds by winning the top acting Globes.

"Can I just tell you that I am having the ride of my life right now?" said Foxx, considered the favorite to win the best-actor Oscar for his uncanny emulation of Ray Charles, who died last year. "I wish I could take what I'm feeling right now and put it in the water system, and we would all love each other a whole lot more."

Earning a record three Globe nominations, Foxx lost in his other two categories, supporting movie actor for "Collateral" and actor in a TV movie or miniseries for "Redemption."

Bening won for best actress in a movie musical or comedy, playing an aging stage diva in 1930s London who plots gleeful revenge against the men in her life.

Backstage, Bening said that while Hollywood economics is geared toward roles for younger actresses, she said there are filmmakers eager to present tales of older women.

"I think there's no question that sexism exists, but I think that as long as people are willing to fight and create interesting stories that involve women of all different ages, then the movies will get made," Bening said.

Swank's and Bening's Golden Globe wins set up an Oscar rematch between the actresses, who competed against each other five years ago for best actress. Underdog Swank won the Golden Globe and Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry" over Bening, who had been considered the favorite for "American Beauty."

In "Million Dollar Baby," Swank plays a determined boxer whose life takes a tragic turn. Swank paid tribute to director and co-star Clint Eastwood.

"I don't want to ruin your `go ahead, make my day image,' but you have such a huge heart and you envelop all the people around you. ... You guided us so brilliantly, while you also, in my humble opinion, gave the performance of your career," Swank said.

As Hughes in "The Aviator," DiCaprio reunited with his "Gangs of New York" director Martin Scorsese." DiCaprio said that for all his good fortune in Hollywood, the "pinnacle of all that is to work alongside one of the greatest contributors to the world of cinema of all time, and that is the great Martin Scorsese."

Eastwood won the directing honor for "Million Dollar Baby," solidifying his chances to win the same honor at the Oscars. Eastwood, who previously won the directing Oscar for "Unforgiven," thanked the "great Hilary Swank and the world's greatest actor, Morgan Freeman," who co-starred with him in "Million Dollar Baby."

Natalie Portman and Clive Owen won supporting-actor honors for the sex drama "Closer," their wins coming as something of a surprise.

Both offered profuse thanks to "Closer" director Mike Nichols.

"Mike Nichols, I love you, you're the nicest, smartest, wisest daddy — friend, rock star," Portman said.

The oddball romance "Sideways" won the screenplay honor for Jim Taylor and director Alexander Payne, who thanked the cast for "servicing our screenplay so beautifully."

"The Aviator" earned composer Howard Shore the Globe for film score, while Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart won the song honor for "Old Habits Die Hard" from "Alfie."

"I'd like to thank Dave Stewart for getting me into this mess," Jagger said on stage alongside Stewart, formerly of the Eurythmics.

Spain's "The Sea Inside" — starring Javier Bardem in the real-life story of Ramon Sampedro, a paralyzed man who fought a decades-long battle for his right to die — was picked as best foreign-language film.

The Globes serve as the most prominent ceremony in Hollywood's pre-game show leading up to the Academy Awards on Feb. 27. The awards are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, whose small membership of about 90 people pales compared to the nearly 6,000 film professionals eligible to vote for the Oscars.

Yet the Globes historically serve as a solid forecast that helps set the odds for subsequent film honors.

Golden Globe winners gain attention that can put them on the inside track for prizes from acting, directing and other filmmaking guilds — momentum often sticks with them right through Oscar night.

In the TV categories, "Desperate Housewives" won for best musical or comedy series, while Teri Hatcher beat her show's co-stars Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman for best actress in a TV comedy. Hatcher thanked ABC for giving "me a second chance at a career when I couldn't have been a bigger has-been."

"Nip/Tuck" won for best dramatic TV series, while "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" took the Globe for best TV movie or miniseries and Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" was honored as best actor in a comedy series.

Other TV winners included Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as dramatic actress, Ian McShane as dramatic actor for "Deadwood," Anjelica Huston as supporting actress for the suffrage film "Iron Jawed Angels," and William Shatner as supporting actor for "Boston Legal."

"I really wanted to win," Shatner said afterward backstage, where he fielded questions about playing sinister attorney Denny Crane after decades of being typecast as space hero Capt. Kirk in "Star Trek." "It's all part of the fun of acting. Acting is like being in a sandbox and pretending, so this is part of the pretense."

Robin Williams, a five-time Globe winner for such films as "The Fisher King" and "Good Morning, Vietnam," received the Cecil B. DeMille award for career achievement. Williams dedicated his award to the late Christopher Reeve, who died last year.

Williams' manic acceptance speech included jibes at the foreign-press group's occasionally embarrassing history, such as presenting Pia Zadora with the best newcomer award for her movie flop "Butterfly" just two years after giving Williams the same honor for "Mork & Mindy."

But Williams praised the group for having a separate category for comedy, which often is overlooked in other Hollywood movie honors.

"You allow us to be in the room with the adults," Williams said.

Sexy 'Housewives' Rule Golden Globes

The stars pulled out their party clothes for the Golden Globes Sunday night, with on-screen boxer Hilary Swank looking like a bronze goddess in a simple-yet-slinky Calvin Klein gown, and all the "Desperate Housewives" in sexy dresses instead of twin sets and jeans.

Among the ABC series' fashionable stars were Teri Hatcher in a multi-metallic stretch Donna Karan gown with a very low back, braid detailing and hand-cut embroidery, and Felicity Huffman in a formfitting, bronze-beaded gown with a deep V-neck.

Co-star Eva Longoria said she wanted to "do pretty" in a black, cocktail-length dress by Oscar de la Renta with the designer's signature pouffy skirt, since she spends so much time in "va va voom" outfits on her show. And Marcia Cross wore wore one of the night's biggest trends: a fishtail train.

Cate Blanchett kept the train of her lilac Jean-Paul Gaultier gown under control by holding the end in her hand. The dress, with its floral appliques and asymmetrical shape, fit the carefree mood of the Globes.

"This event is a lot more playful than a lot of the other awards. It's loose and lighthearted, and the dresses reflect that," said designer Monique Lhullier, who made Diane Lane's jade chiffon gown with jade organic stone clusters at the neckline.

Lhullier said silk chiffon, soft colors and metallics were popular.

Nicole Kidman, however, went bright in a Gucci dress with a blue peacock feather detail on her shoulder, and Charlize Theron wore a structured dark teal gown by John Galliano for Christian Dior that played up her new short dark hair.

"The dress is such an amazing color," said Shane Paish, makeup artist for Dior. "I didn't want to do anything too strong. I wanted to keep her looking like herself," he said, which was done with dewy skin and peachy colors.

Emmy Rossum, who plays Christine in "Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera," wore a sophisticated Ralph Lauren with tiers of tulle but also looked her age — 18 — thanks to loose hair, delicate Harry Winston drop earrings and the light color of the dress. Meanwhile, Natalie Portman picked up on one of spring's major fashion trends — bohemian chic — in a billowing tank dress with a black beaded cummerbund.

Jennifer Garner, with wavy hair held back with a 12-carat diamond crescent by Harry Winston, had on a siren-red, scoop-neck vintage Valentino that showed off her slim and well-toned back.

Many gowns had draping and delicate details that will translate well to clothes for average women, said Glamour editor in chief Cindi Leive.

Leive particularly liked Halle Berry's one-shoulder, nude-color gown. "She really looks great. That looks like a dress that'll be knocked off and in the mall in three and a half days."

Swank's gown came to a gathered V in the back. She wore a pony tail, simple Chopard conical diamond drop earrings and sheer makeup.

"We didn't go overboard. ... She looks like a bronze goddess who has the most beautiful skin and who just walked off the beach," described Dior makeup artist Pati Dubroff, who worked with Swank. The only strong makeup is her mascara, which is complemented by praline-colored lip gloss, Dubroff said.

Mariska Hargitay preferred pink. She wore an asymmetrical, dusty-rose satin gown by Vera Wang and soft rose makeup.

A good black dress always looks great, and among the standouts was Renee Zellweger in a strapless Carolina Herrera dress reminiscent of the 1950s.

Julianna Margulies wore a long, black skirt with a layer of beaded tulle and a white wrap top. "I saw the skirt and I fell in love with it," she said. "It was about trying to find the shirt. I feel glamorous."

Star Jones Reynolds used the word "glamazon" several times as she offered fashion commentary for E! on the red carpet. It's how she described Minnie Driver in a silver, V-neck gown with floral embroidery by Randolph Duke.

TV Guide Channel's Joan and Melissa Rivers, Jones Reynolds' on-air rivals, wore black. The elder Rivers' strapless gown featured fur around the bust and white embroidery on the bodice, while her daughter's gown had a bustier top and jeweled straps.

Most of the red carpet's bling came from dangling earrings, but Jones Reynolds wore a $7 million diamond brooch from Chopard that was sewn directly onto her sea-foam goddess gown by Kevan Hall.

For men, the most popular look was pairing a regular tie with a tux; it was worn by Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor and Denis Leary, whose purple Hugo Boss tie matched the purple gown worn by his wife, screenwriter Ann Lembeck. Jamie Foxx, meanwhile, skipped the tie altogether and wore his midnight-blue shirt open at the collar, and fashion rebel Johnny Depp wore a blue suit and pink tie.

"This is men saying, 'This isn't the Oscars, we're trying to keep this in perspective,'" said Glamour's Leive. "It's the evening version of men wearing their shirts untucked during the day."

Stars and Stories From Golden Globes

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - William Shatner will forever be Captain Kirk to most, or a bombastic lounge singer to a musical cult following. But it's Denny Crane that's winning him some hardware.

Shatner picked up a Golden Globe for his performance as boastful lawyer Crane on "Boston Legal," a few months after winning a guest actor Emmy for the same character in "The Practice" last year.

"I'm truly thrilled," he said. "I really wanted to win."

He wasn't buying any backstage talk of a comeback. "I don't feel I've ever left," he said. "I've been gainfully employed all these years."

It would be just like Crane to ask for a raise for his work.

"And so will William Shatner," he said.

___

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — "Wouldn't you like to know!" a saucy Anjelica Huston replied when asked backstage about what a woman over 40 knows that a woman under 40 doesn't.

She turned serious, however, when she talked about Hollywood life for a maturing actress. She picked up her first Golden Globe award after eight nominations for HBO's "Iron Jawed Angels."

"I spent a lot of my youth feeling insecure," said Huston, 53. "I look back at those pictures and think, `What was wrong with you?'"

Huston had been considering wearing a daring white dress designed by Stella McCartney, but figured it was a magnet for red wine. So she wore a simple black Calvin Klein.

"Maybe that's one of the things you learn after 40," she said. "You don't show too much skin."

___

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — First-time attendees trekked down the red carpet taking in the glamorous gowns, screaming fans, camera flashes and long line of journalists.

"It feels like we're going to somebody's wedding or a prom," said Denis Leary, nominated for best actor in a dramatic series for "Rescue Me."

Another rookie was Thomas Haden Church, nominated in a supporting movie role for playing Paul Giamatti's vain actor sidekick in "Sideways."

"I'm just moving along in a herd of famous people. Whenever they go to water, I'll go to water. When they go to feed, I'll go to feed," Church said.

Sharon Warren, who played the mother of a young Ray Charles in "Ray," worked the carpet on her own. Without a publicist hovering nearby, Warren introduced herself to reporters with a firm handshake.

"I'm from Alabama," she said. "The South is debutante balls, teas and luncheons. This is like debutante balls, teas and luncheons rolled into one with famous people."

___

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The storms that battered Southern California cleared out several days ago, but there was a flood on the red carpet.

A barrel containing bottled water fell over with a thud while being wheeled toward the end of the carpet near the entrance to the Beverly Hilton. Water from melted ice gushed out, creating a flood that workers feverishly tried to blot with white towels.

"This is what counts as a disaster in Hollywood," joked actor David Cross of Fox's "Arrested Development."

The Globes not only escaped the rain that has been the rule in Southern California lately, but with temperatures pushing toward 80, the day felt more like summer than midwinter.

___

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — "Desperate Housewives" co-stars Eva Longoria and Marcia Cross shared a true Hollywood moment, exchanging air kisses and compliments on their dresses as they passed each other heading in different directions.

Enjoying her first major success on the ABC series, Longoria said she knows why the show has been a breakout hit.

"People were tired of reality TV and crime dramas," she said. "It was something different and new and it was accurately what women go through today."

___

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Raquel Welch remembers when stars played it fast and loose with their outfits on the red carpet.

"In the '60s, people were not so careful. There were a lot of different faux pas," she said. "They dressed like they felt. They would do outrageous things. We never talked about the labels. It was considered gauche."

Welch said Hollywood's younger stars should take some fashion risks.

"I'm over-the-hill," she said, "but I'd like to see people be a little less conservative and let it hang loose. We're actors in Hollywood, not the first lady."

Welch, 64, won a Globe in 1975 as lead actress in a musical or comedy for "The Three Musketeers."

___

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — What was Kathy Griffin thinking?

The comedian, doing red-carpet reporting duty for E!, made repeated and apparently joking references to 10-year-old actress Dakota Fanning entering drug rehab. She even went so far as to ask Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat, teenage co-stars on Fox's "Arrested Development," if they had any words for Fanning as fellow young people.

Messages left for Fanning's representatives were not immediately returned.

Griffin co-starred with Brooke Shields in the '90s sitcom "Suddenly Susan. Her other credits include TV's "Celebrity Mole: Hawaii" and the role of "armed female" in the 1999 movie "Muppets From Space."

'Coach Carter' Wins Box-Office Tourney

LOS ANGELES - Samuel L. Jackson coached his latest movie to a box-office championship. "Coach Carter," stars Jackson as a real-life high-school basketball mentor who shuts down the program to focus on his players' lagging academic education. The film debuted as the top weekend movie with $23.6 million, studio estimates released Sunday show.

The blockbuster comedy "Meet the Fockers," which had been No. 1 for three straight weekends, slipped to second place with $19 million, lifting its total domestic gross to $230.8 million.

The family film "Racing Stripes," a live-action and computer-animation combo about a talking zebra that yearns to be a racehorse, opened at No. 3 with $14 million.

"In Good Company," a workplace comic drama starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson, had a strong nationwide debut after two weeks of limited release. The film expanded to 1,566 theaters and came in at No. 4 with $13.9 million, averaging a healthy $8,876 per cinema, compared to $9,350 in 2,524 theaters for "Coach Carter."

Jennifer Garner's action flick "Elektra," a spinoff of the Marvel Comics adaptation "Daredevil," finished fifth with $12.5 million. That was less than a third of the weekend haul for "Daredevil," which debuted as the No. 1 movie in February 2002.

The acclaimed martial-arts epic "House of Flying Daggers," from director Zhang Yimou, had a weak nationwide debut after six weeks in narrow release. The film managed just $1.8 million in 1,190 theaters, averaging $1,500.

Hollywood continued its robust start to 2005, with revenues rising for the third-straight weekend. The top 12 movies took in $115.7 million, up 23 percent from the same weekend last year.

"This is the right way to start the year, without question," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "These three weekends set the tone for what will hopefully be much improved box office for the year."

Movie theaters had record revenues of $9.4 billion in 2004, but only because of higher ticket prices. Factoring in the rise in admission prices, attendance last year was off slightly for the second straight year.

Produced by MTV Films, "Coach Carter" follows the company's "Varsity Blues" and "Save the Last Dance" as box-office successes for teen and twenty-something audiences early in the year, typically a quiet time at movie theaters.

Films competing for Sunday's Golden Globes and the upcoming Academy Awards nominations held up well as they continued their expansion to more theaters.

"The Aviator" was No. 7 with $4.8 million and "The Phantom of the Opera" came in ninth with $3.55 million. In narrower release, "Sideways" remained strong with $2.2 million, as did "Million Dollar Baby" at $1.7 million and "Hotel Rwanda" at $1.55 million.

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. "Coach Carter," $23.6 million.
2. "Meet the Fockers," $19 million.
3. "Racing Stripes," $14 million.
4. "In Good Company," $13.9 million.
5. "Elektra," $12.5 million.
6. "White Noise," 12.2 million.
7. "The Aviator," $4.8 million.
8. "Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events," $4 million.
9. "The Phantom of the Opera," $3.55 million.
10. "Ocean's Twelve," $2.9 million.

CBC's Canada for Asia benefit telecast raises $4 million so far

TORONTO (CP) - Canada for Asia, Thursday night's live, three-hour telecast that featured more than 150 Canadian artists and celebrities, has raised $4 million "and counting," says the CBC.

The total raised for tsunami disaster relief was as of 2 p.m. EST Friday, but calls were still coming in, the CBC said. More than 40,000 Canadians phoned to donate. The benefit concert aired on all CBC stations and on a special network of private radio and TV channels.

Last week, CHUM, owner of 65 radio and TV stations, held a daylong drive and says it has raised $4.5 million so far. Another concert, to be televised live from Vancouver by CTV, is scheduled for Jan. 29.

It has been agreed that donations to the CBC simulcast will be divided among a coalition of aid agencies, including World Vision, the Canadian Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam Canada, Care Canada, Save the Children Canada and Development and Peace.

'Coach' Ready to Play at Weekend Box Office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hollywood is taking advantage of the first holiday frame of 2005, offering four new wide releases to duke it out over what should be a competitive extended weekend.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday offers something for everyone, with fare ranging from a family title and a comic-book actioner to an urban drama and an adult romantic comedy.

Paramount Pictures' "Coach Carter" is looking like a big winner for the three-day period. If so, it would allow Paramount to continue a comeback streak that began in November with "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" and continued in December with "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."

"Carter" could open at numbers north of $20 million for the three-day frame, ahead of reigning champ "Meet the Fockers." Based on a true story, it stars Samuel L. Jackson as Ken Carter, the controversial high school basketball coach who benched his undefeated team because of their poor academic record. The PG-13 film comes from director Thomas Carter ("Save the Last Dance"). R&B singer Ashanti co-stars.

Warner Bros. Pictures is hoping to give "Carter" a run for the top spot by bowing "Racing Stripes," a film combining live action with computer animation for the family audience. From FedEx founder Fred Smith's production company Alcon Entertainment, "Stripes" features the voices of Frankie Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg and others. It follows the story of an abandoned zebra (Muniz) who grows up believing he is a racehorse. Frederik Du Chau ("Quest for Camelot") wrote and directed the film.

Rated PG, "Stripes" is bowing during the same holiday weekend as the 2003 Warners release "Kangaroo Jack." That film opened to $16.5 million over the frame and went on to be successful. Warners is hoping for a similar performance this holiday, which would put it behind "Carter" in the weekend tallies.

20th Century Fox will be out to reach young males this weekend with its comic-book adaptation "Elektra." Starring Jennifer Garner of "Alias" TV fame, "Elektra" is a spinoff of the 2003 comic-book actioner "Daredevil," which starred Garner's boyfriend, Ben Affleck. Co-produced by Marvel Studios, "Elektra" follows the adventures of a female assassin with special powers after she is brought back to life.

The hope is that a female comic-book hero can attract more business than history suggests. Last year, Warners' "Catwoman," starring Halle Berry, failed to connect with audiences. In the case of "Elektra," industry insiders put the PG-13 film from director Rob Bowman ("Reign of Fire") in the mid-teen-millions range for the three days.

Meanwhile, Universal expands "In Good Company" to 1,565 theaters Friday. The PG-13 film, from writer-director Paul Weitz ("About a Boy"), has been screening in three theaters since Dec. 29. With Dennis Quaid, Scarlett Johansson and Topher Grace on board, it has received positive reviews.

Sony Pictures Classics is expanding Zhang Yimou's martial-arts epic "House of Flying Daggers" to almost 1,200 theaters. Last weekend, Zhang was hailed as best director of 2004 by the National Society of Film Critics, which recognized him for both "Daggers" and "Hero."

Limited release "Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera" will add more than 250 runs to its current 622. Newmarket will expand "The Woodsman," and Warner Independent Pictures will add 250 theaters to its French film "A Very Long Engagement."

Miramax Films will open the French film "Les Choristes" (The Chorus) in New York and Los Angeles this weekend. The PG-13 film is France's official entry for Academy Award consideration. It centers on a professor of music who becomes the supervisor at a boarding school for troubled boys.

Canadian stars stage tsunami benefit

TORONTO (CP) - The cream of Canadian show business, the arts and sports assembled at the CBC broadcasting centre Thursday evening to take part in Canada For Asia, a three-hour, history-making live telecast in support of relief efforts for the tsunami victims of South Asia.

Only a week earlier the entertainment extravaganza, carried on all the CBC channels and a collection of private radio and TV stations, was just an idea in the heads of its organizers, including singer Tom Cochrane, MP Ruby Dhalla, Senator Jerry Grafstein and a coalition of major relief agencies.

Grafstein said that to be present at the creation of the event has been a shining moment and one of the great human experiences of his life.

"Tonight we're listening to the words and music of Canada and I think if you listen really carefully, we're really listening to the heartbeat of Canada."

Cochrane said he was so impressed with the energy backstage.

"We do have to make a stand as a community of celebrities, our small little niche of it anyways," Cochrane said. "In essence we have to be leaders. . .I'm very proud to be a Canadian and I'm proud about how generous you all are."

There were poignant moments, including on-the-scene reports from CBC correspondents in the disaster area. But it was all laced with humour. In one sketch, the Trailer Park Boys talked about the money they could raise by selling their home-grown pot to the celebrities backstage, suggesting that Don Cherry already bought $400 worth.

Opening the show, co-host Rick Mercer joked about how crowded it was backstage with all the celebrities present.

"Margaret Atwood is sharing a dressing room with Tie Domi tonight. The Kids in the Hall are actually out in the hall."

In a taped contribution, Prime Minister Paul Martin said all Canadians have been touched by the loss and devastation in South Asia and have demonstrated a remarkable generosity of spirit and solidarity over the past two weeks.

"I've spoken with the agencies on the ground, and with the leaders of some of the affected nations. They're grateful. They are moved."

Martin encouraged Canadians to continue to give because a long-term commitment to rebuilding in the devastated regions was required.

"We can't walk away from these people and we won't."

In another pre-recorded segment, Mike Myers introduced the rock band Rush.

"I just wanted to say how proud I am to be a part of this event," Myers said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "I also want to say how much of a Rush fan I am. . .they are an amazing band."

One of the evening's highlights occurred when the program switched to Las Vegas and a lavish production number from Celine Dion's stage show.

"Everyone here in Las Vegas is supporting us," Dion said as the camera switched to her applauding audience.

"Like everyone, my heart has been broken by the pain and by the loss and suffering of so many," she said with emotion. "But the world is answering the call. Everyone wants to help. And tonight is your chance."

She repeated her remarks in French.

Hilary Duff, the American teen sensation who is currently on a Canadian tour, also made a recorded contribution.

"Every time I've been in Canada, I've been knocked out by the kindness of the people from coast to coast," she said. "And tonight the world community is depending on that kindness to help rebuild the 12 countries devastated by the recent tragedy."

Writer June Callwood noted that there has been a lot to be upset about lately - including "slaughter in the Middle East," environmental troubles and millions dying of AIDS.

But the response to the tsunami has been encouraging, she said.

"We got something that touched us all, and we rose to the occasion."

While no one wanted to set a donation target, Grafstein said they would have a tally Friday. He said, too, that a CD and possibly a DVD of the benefit was planned to raise even more money, since all the contributing artists agreed to waive rights issues.

Viewer donations would be shared by such agencies as World Vision, the Canadian Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam, Care, Save the Children and various groups recognized by CIDA.

Some 1,800 volunteers agreed to staff 1-800 call centres. The number appeared at the bottom of the screen throughout the telecast along with the website www.Canadaforasia.ca.

The ‘Write’ Stuff

It was a good day for NBC stars who moonlight as screenwriters, as Saturday Night Live co-head writer/''Weekend Update'' co-anchor Tina Fey and Scrubs leading man Zach Braff scored Writers Guild of America nominations.

Fey’s script for Mean Girls scored a nod in the best adapted screenplay category; she’ll be up against Before Sunset, Million Dollar Baby, The Motorcycle Diaries and Sideways. Finding Neverland, an early Oscar favorite, was ineligible for a WGA, as it was not produced in accordance with Guild guidelines.

As for Braff, his Garden State was among the nominees for best original screenplay, alongside The Aviator, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hotel Rwanda, and Kinsey.

The 57th Annual WGAs will be handed out Feb. 19 in Los Angeles.

An Interview With John McCrea of Cake

Since 1994's "Motorcade of Generosity," and through songs like "The Distance" and "Short Skirt/Long Jacket," Sacramento's Cake has toed a fine line between smart, sardonic humor and blissfully infectious tunes.

The trend continues with their latest release, "Pressure Chief," which features the '80s-synth hit "No Phone," the funky "Wheels," and a deliciously peculiar cover of Bread's "The Guitar Man."

"Chief," while sharing the self-production ethics of its predecessors, marks the first time the band--vocalist/guitarist/songwriter John McCrea, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Gabe Nelson and trumpet player Vincent di Fiore--engineered an album on their own, resulting in some happy experimenting. "We didn't actually know what we were doing when we first started," McCrea explains. "We kind of learned as we went, and ended up making mistakes that are on the record that I think ended up sounding good."

The album was recorded in a Sacramento home studio in the summer of 2003, and the band will soon be hitting the road, with stops in Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on the calendar.

McCrea spoke with liveDaily about making "Pressure Chief," anti-gratuitous innovation and his prime directive.

liveDaily: How long did it take you to make "Pressure Chief?"

John McCrea: I'm writing all the time, so it's kind of hard to say how long that takes. It takes a while. Some songs come within five minutes, some songs take years. I just have to be there for that process. We spent about nine months on that last album, but not constantly recording; nine months working on stuff, then taking a short break, listening to it, and going back. Because we produced it ourselves, we have to allow a little bit more time for objectivity to creep in. With the luxury of an outside producer, that objectivity, I think, things can move more quickly than they do with us. But if I spend a lot of time and effort recording a certain guitar part, it's going to take me a while to come to the conclusion that we need to throw it out, and that the song sounds better without it. That's what a producer can do for you, is just say, "Nope. It doesn't work. It doesn't matter how long you spent. Let's move on."

Is this the first album you produced yourselves?

No, actually we've produced all of our albums ourselves, from the very first one. On this album, we not only produced it, but we engineered it ourselves. We got an old house, bought some microphones, tried to figure out how to place the microphones, tried to learn how to use the equipment. There's a learning curve that you can hear on this album. We decided to leave some of the imperfections in there. I think it's not really a matter of perfection; it's a matter of appropriateness. Like, whether or not a sound serves the overall song. I think a lot of times, engineers get caught up in the idea that things have to be perfect. I think what is perfect is what is appropriate for the song. So sometimes you really have to re-examine.

The video for "No Phone" is basically the same concept that you used for "Short Skirt/Long Jacket," turning the camera around.

Yeah, a lot of people said, "It's the same video as you did last time." We said, "Well, do you even get it? Do you even understand what this band is?" Look at our album covers. We're anti-gratuitous innovation. We think that's wasteful, and we're creating a set. We also believe in themes that carry through. When everything has to completely reinvent itself every couple of months, it's more a sign of low self-esteem than it is, I think, innovation. Dishwashing detergents are nervously scratching for new flavors.

It's "super extra new!"

Exactly. Cars trying to redesign themselves to create more demand. That stuff makes me barf. So the fact that it's incumbent upon a band to somehow do that every album just pisses me off infinitely. Because I think my prime directive is to be in service of the song, whichever song that is. Not some sort of conceptual idea about the evolution of a band, which to me is just senseless if it's not in service of the individual song. An overarching evolution of a band is inevitably going to violate the individual rights of a song. In other words, say you have 10 songs, and you say, "Oh, we're going to move it in this direction." Well inevitably four, five, or six of those songs don't want to move in that direction. It wants to move in the opposite direction. So everything has to be taken on a song-by-song basis. I think when bands let some sort of conceptual goal dictate aesthetic considerations, inevitably you're going to have compromises that are going to really hinder the full expression of individual songs.

The Nominees Will Be Announced on January 25th

Likely Best Actor nominees:

Jamie Foxx, Ray
Paul Giamatti, Sideways
Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda
Javier Bardem, The Sea Inside
Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland

Likely Best Actress nominees:

Annette Bening, Being Julia
Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake
Laura Linney, Kinsey
Emmy Rossum, The Phantom of the Opera

Likely Best Supporting Actress nominees:

Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
Laura Linney, Kinsey
Virginia Madsen, Sideways
Natalie Portman, Closer
Meryl Streep, The Manchurian Candidate

Likely Best Supporting actor nominees:

Jamie Foxx, Collateral
Clive Owen, Closer
Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
Alan Alda, The Aviator
James Garner, The Notebook

Who has Oscar aura?

And the Oscar goes to. . .

Ballots for the movie industry's annual pageant are due back for tallying Saturday. The nominees will be revealed Jan. 25 and the winners feted at the 77th annual Academy Awards show Feb. 27.

As usual, Hollywood's publicity machine has been drumming up support for potential winners. And the 5,808 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — as usual — will overlook some great performances.

"Often, the academy isn't voting for the best performance. It's the industry declaring who's in the club and who's a worthy successor," says Oscar prognosticator and Movie Awards author Tom O'Neil of goldderby.com.

The potential pool of 2005 nominees may be even more jumbled than in past years. "It's not one of the greatest for big quality movies, so small pictures are going to dominate thoroughly, and the odds-on candidates will come from these films," says Peter Herbst, editor in chief of Premiere magazine.

Second-tier industry and regional film society kudos have concentrated on a select batch of movies and actors, including critic favorites Ray, Sideways, Million Dollar Baby, Hotel Rwanda and The Aviator. Yet except for Baby, Aviator and Ray, most are relatively low-budget films seen by few moviegoers.

Muddling the selection process: Some acting categories appear overstocked with Oscar-worthy performances. "I wouldn't want to come up with five nominees for best actor this year," says People magazine film critic Leah Rozen. "This year, you could come up with 20 names. They're all that good. You can overdose on all the good male performances."

Surefire nominees are less certain for best actress and best supporting actress. "It wasn't a terribly strong year," says National Public Radio film critic Peter Rainer. "In general, better roles are written for men, so there are few standout roles for actresses and fewer standout performances."

So which actors and actresses are worthy of attention but long shots to be nominated? We asked several film critics and industry watchers for their favorite acting performances of the year that they hope won't be forgotten on nomination day.

For actor, don't forget

Kevin Bacon - The Woodsman, now in theaters

As an ex-con pedophile struggling to get on with life, Bacon pulls off a "finely tuned, bold performance," says Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly editor at large. The film's late December rollout will hurt Bacon's chances.

"You have to wonder if (distributor Newmarket Films) made a mistake opening it in such a crowded season," he says.

Gael García Bernal - Bad Education, in limited release, on DVD

Convincing in multiple roles, Bernal "was brilliant; one of the great acting performances of the year," says Premiere's Peter Herbst, who also cites Bernal's performance in 2004's The Motorcycle Diaries.

Bernal probably will be overshadowed by Spanish-speaking rival Javier Bardem. "It's a double tragedy because (Bernal) gave two showcase turns," Oscar watcher Tom O'Neil says. "But if any Spanish heartthrob is going to get it, it will be Javier, because he has the cool factor."

Jeff Bridges - The Door in the Floor, on DVD

Bridges' portrayal of a boozing, philandering children's book author "is one of the smart comedic performances of the year," People's Leah Rozen says. "He's a very long shot. The movie came out too early and didn't do well, so it's going to get lost."

Billy Crudup - Stage Beauty, on DVD March 8

His turn as Shakespearean-era actor Ned Kynaston was largely unnoticed and the film quickly forgotten. "He did an astonishing job in a very multi-dimensional role," says Stephen Farber, film critic for Movieline's Hollywood Life. "It's a shame he'll be overlooked."

Mark Wahlberg - I Heart Huckabees, on DVD Feb. 22

The oddball David O. Russell comedy was hurt by poor reviews and a paltry $12.6 million box office. But Wahlberg, cast as firefighter Tommy Corn, gives "the most unexpectedly terrific performance this year," GQ film critic Tom Carson says. "He's absolutely sharp and seems to know exactly what he's doing, which makes him the exception in this movie."

Actresses who are deserving

Lynn Collins - The Merchant of Venice, in theaters

In the latest adaptation of the Shakespeare play, Collins' portrayal of Portia "was striking and commanding," Farber says. "When she impersonates a male lawyer, she seemed to become a completely different character. You're seeing two performances by the same actress."

Julie Delpy - Before Sunset, on DVD

Although Delpy received a screenwriting credit, it's unclear how much of her monologues with Ethan Hawke were improvised and what was based on the script. "A pretty amazing performance that will likely be penalized because she made it look too easy," Harris says.

Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace, on DVD

Playing a desperate Colombian drug runner, Moreno delivers "a beautiful, radiant, heartbreaking performance," People's Rozen says. Says Us Weekly movie editor B.J. Sigesmund; "She's so good, you can't believe it's acting. She made you feel like you were watching a documentary."

Julia Roberts - Closer, in theaters

The Mike Nichols ensemble film about relationships and adultery showcased Roberts in "as strong a performance as she has ever given," Harris says. But he says Roberts will be overlooked: "There's a tendency on the part of voters to punish women who play cool-headed and own their sexuality."

Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, on DVD

Charlie Kaufman's comedy-drama showcased an underrated effort after her equally standout performance in Finding Neverland.

In Sunshine, "Winslet gives Jim Carrey so much stuff to react to," Carson says.

Worthy supporting actresses

Julie Christie - Finding Neverland, in theaters

Christie's appearance as Kate Winslet's mother may be too brief to muster Oscar consideration. But she's "awfully good," NPR's Peter Rainer says. "In a few deft strokes, she really brings a character to life — it's a marvelous piece of acting."

Regina King - Ray, in theaters, on DVD Feb. 1

As Ray Charles' girlfriend Margie Hendricks, King, perhaps best known for 1996's Jerry Maguire, "brought fired hurt to her role," Rozen says. "Any movie she's in, she just lights up the screen."

Sophie Okonedo - Hotel Rwanda, in theaters

Building upon 2003's Dirty Pretty Things, Okonedo shines as Cheadle's beleaguered wife, Tatiana. Okonedo showed "grace, courage and quiet determination," Puig says. "A great performance," Herbst says.

Lynn Redgrave - Kinsey, in theaters

Her appearance as a lesbian grateful for sexologist Alfred Kinsey's research lasts only about five minutes. Still, "It's a goose-bump scene that hits like a thunderbolt," O'Neil says.

Sharon Warren - Ray, in theaters, on DVD Feb. 1

Warren's turn as Ray Charles' mother "was awe-inspiring and gut-wrenching," says Larsuel of 3blackchicks.com. EW's Harris agrees but says Warren, in her first film, will be hurt because she's a Hollywood unknown: "To vote for her, academy members have to make the effort to find out who she is."

Supporting actors worth notice

Eric Bana - Troy, on DVD

Brad Pitt had a far higher profile, but Bana, perhaps best known as The Hulk, gave a moving performance as Hector. "He's been waiting to break out for about five years," Us Weekly movie editor B.J. Sigesmund says. "Pitt was ham-fisted, but Bana was fantastic."

David Carradine - Kill Bill: Vol. 2, on DVD

As Bill the Snake Charmer, Carradine, best known for '70s cult TV show Kung Fu, is perfectly cast by Quentin Tarantino. "This is a Tarantino specialty — find someone who hasn't done anything (big) in years," GQ's Carson says. "The problem is the idea that giving anyone from a Kill Bill movie a nomination is impossible."

Freddie Highmore - Finding Neverland, in theaters

As Johnny Depp's foil, the dimple-faced 12-year-old gives a charming, heartfelt performance, O'Neil says. Depp was so impressed that he asked director Tim Burton to cast Highmore in his next film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

John Lithgow - Kinsey, in theaters

As Alfred Kinsey's fanatical minister/father, Lithgow's revelations about his own sex life are powerful and revealing, but his appearance may be too brief for recognition. Says USA TODAY senior film critic Mike Clark: "There have been supporting performers who have won Oscars with amazingly small roles. But brevity can hurt, and I think that's the case here. If Lithgow had had just one or two more major scenes, it might have made the difference because he really humanizes the kind of rigid personality it's easy to caricature."

Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Hero, on DVD

As the protector of a warlord facing assassins in ninth-century China, Wai, a former TV comedy star in Hong Kong, is "absolutely amazing in a film completely underrated by American audiences," Kamal Larsuel of 3blackchicks.com says.

Grammys Fit for a Queen

Queen Latifah's the host with the most.

The rap pioneer turned Oscar-nominated actress turned jazz vocalist has been tapped to host the 47th annual Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy announced Thursday.

The 34-year-old multimedia star becomes the first solo Grammy host since Jon Stewart held down emcee duties at 2002's ceremony. The past two years have featured celebrity presenters and artists handing out trophies or throwing to perfomers.

Latifah, on the other hand, will be a one-woman band. Aside from hosting, she will also perform a selection from her latest release, The Dana Owens Album, which happens to be up for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

"Queen Latifah is an extraordinary Renaissance artist with unparalleled style and substance," says Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, "and her passion, talent and personality make her an excellent choice as host for our show. We are delighted to have [her]."

Latifah first garnered fame as hip-hop's leading female star on the strength of her 1989 debut, All Hail the Queen. She segued to movie-making in 1991 with a bit part in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, went on to headline two TV series (Living Single and The Queen Latifah Show) and racked up a solid movie résumé before becoming a full-fledged star in 2002 with back-to-back roles with her Oscar-nominated turn in Chicago and the smash comedy Bringing Down the House.

Her other big-screen credits include Set It Off, Sphere, Living Out Loud, in which she first showed off her vocal prowess as a torch singer, and Barbershop 2: Back in Business, the latter role setting up her own haircut-themed spinoff, Beauty Shop, due out March 30.

She has two other projects set for 2005: The Muppets Wizard of Oz TV movie, in which she plays Auntie Em, and the romantic comedy Last Holiday, a remake of the 1950 film costarring LL Cool J and currently shooting in Prague.

CBS has live coverage of the Grammys Feb. 13 at Los Angeles' Staples Center. Kanye West goes in as the preshow favorite with 10 nominations, followed by Usher and Alicia Keys with eight apiece, the late Ray Charles with seven and Green Day with six.

CBC preps for big tsunami benefit

TORONTO (CP) - Rehearsals and other feverish preparations continued Wednesday at the CBC broadcasting centre for Thursday night's live telecast of Canada For Asia, a three-hour national benefit special to support relief efforts for the South Asian tsunami victims.

"It's a madhouse and it's wonderful," said CBC spokeswoman Ruth-Ellen Soles. "It's been political mayhem getting it together but we got it together," added singer Tom Cochrane. "It's precedent-setting, so this is history in the making."

The CBC has assembled a who's who of Canadian talent and a vast radio and TV network, having invited any interested private broadcasters to simulcast free of charge the program that will air from 7 to 10 p.m. local times.

In addition to CBC radio and TV, Newsworld, Country Canada and online at CBC.ca, the show will be carried on MuchMoreMusic, MTV Canada, CMT, the I Channel, Rogers Television's 30 cable access outlets in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, Canadian Forces radio and television serving troops in Kabul, Bosnia, the Golan Heights and the Sinai, as well as some ethnic TV channels and private radio networks and stations. CTV and Global Television have turned down the CBC offer, however, citing their own benefit efforts, including CTV's concert telecast set for Jan. 29.

"It's too bad," said Cochrane, noting that the three major networks in Australia are co-operating on a similar undertaking. "But I understand. They have their own brand and this is a CBC-branded show and that's a reality."

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, who will also be part of the on-air talent, said "there are a lot of things going on," but declined to suggest there's any rivalry amongst the networks, noting he had also been interviewed on CTV.

"It's just an example of the kind of unity that everybody's felt in doing whatever they can," he said.

Lifeson and Cochrane conceded that donor fatigue will set in eventually.

"It's only natural that it will, there's some other thing that will come along that will take our attention away from this," said Lifeson.

But, he added, it will take a long time to reinstate stability in the disaster region and vast sums of money will still be needed.

CBC has devoted two of its large studios to the ambitious special and final rehearsals were under way Wednesday afternoon and were to continue Thursday morning. Lifeson said because of logistical problems, Rush and several of the other bands that will be seen Thursday night have had to pre-tape their musical segments.

Other scheduled musical guests include Celine Dion, The Tragically Hip, Anne Murray and Bryan Adams (who will perform a duo together), Blue Rodeo, Barenaked Ladies, Sam Roberts, Bruce Cockburn, David Usher and Chad Kroeger from Nickelback.

Cochrane said Shania Twain was in New Zealand and expressed her regrets but would be making a "sizeable" donation.

Non-musical celebrities to make appearances include Mike Myers, Wayne Gretzky, Eric McCormack, David Suzuki, Dave Thomas, Alex Trebek, members of the Kids in the Hall and Royal Canadian Air Farce comedy troupes and hurdler Perdita Felicien.

Suanne Kelman, acting chair of the school of journalism at Toronto's Ryerson University, admitted to being a little uncomfortable with the way broadcasters and pop entertainers are rushing to get competing benefit concerts on the air and wondered if some of them aren't just grandstanding.

"It's like a charity ball. I don't understand what you need the ball for."

She said the public has already been very good about responding to the disaster with generous donations and no one should be surprised if old media rivalries haven't been swept away by the common cause.

"Egos don't get parked at the door."

Kelman said there are two reasons why the public has been so taken with the tsunami disaster, apart from the obvious one that the TV news footage of the killer waves, garnered mostly from tourist camcorders, has been so dramatic. For one thing, she said, it is a natural event, with no one to blame, and secondly, unlike the Sudan, for example, a lot of Canadians have relatives in places like Sri Lanka and Somalia and many others have vacationed in the region's hard-hit tourist zones.

Also, she added, the event seems ready-made for an overall sense of unease and even doom that people feel today about the shape of their planet, as reflected in such Hollywood disaster-themed entertainment as The Day After Tomorrow.

"People are deeply worried about our relationship with the natural world," she said. "There's the global warming issue, there's fear of pandemics. This is the kind of thing we're already sort of geared up for."

She said many people seem poised almost fatalistically, waiting for for the great disaster that will punish us all.

"I'm not even sure for what, but there is this kind of fear that it's out to get us."

Proceeds collected from Canada For Asia will go to World Vision, the Canadian Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam Canada, Care Canada, Save the Children Canada and various community groups recognized by CIDA as bona fide recipients. Donors can call 1-866-334-ASIA or contribute online at www.Canadaforasia.ca.

Boo Who?

This time it wasn't the acid reflux. Reality TV star Ashlee Simpson says technical difficulties hindered her live performance at last week's Orange Bowl halftime show, leading to a chorus of boos from the crowd of more than 70,000.

''There were no ear monitors when we went onstage. No floor monitors,'' Simpson told MTV.com. ''And trying to sing in a stadium where you can't hear yourself is kinda hard.'' Still, she apologized to those in the audience that didn't enjoy her singing.

Of course, in Simpson's mind, her actual performance — a rendition of the single ''La La'' that devolved into an off-key screech in its closing moments — might not have been the real problem anyway.

''Maybe they were booing at me, maybe they were booing at the halftime show 'cause the whole thing sucked,'' she said. ''I was facing [the Oklahoma Sooners], and I was rooting for USC, and they played a clip of it, so maybe it was that those people didn't like me. You never know.''

Or perhaps the Orange Bowl audience had some leftover bad will toward Simpson dating back to last October, when the singer was caught using a pre-recorded vocal track during a Saturday Night Live gig. After she fled the stage, Simpson blamed her band, then switched stories and explained that a bout of acid reflux had left her without a singing voice that evening.

Still, if you’re holding your breath for a new and improved Simpson as 2005 progresses, it might be time to let out a cleansing sigh. ''I'm not perfect and I'm not going to be perfect,'' Simpson offered. ''And I look forward to continuing to not listen to what one person says and making good music.''

Baseball Players, Owners OK Steroid Tests

NEW YORK - Baseball players and owners have reached an agreement on a tougher steroid-testing program and plan to announce it Thursday, The Associated Press has learned.

The agreement will include penalties for first-time offenders, an AL player said on condition of anonymity. Other details, such as the frequency of tests, were not immediately available.

Commissioner Bud Selig, asked about a steroid agreement at the owners meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., declined comment but did say: "We'll have announcements to make tomorrow." Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer, also declined comment.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," said Chicago Cubs pitcher Mike Remlinger, who was briefed on the deal Wednesday. "It was the right thing to do. I think it was something that needed to be done, and I think players understand it needed to be addressed."

The sides spent the past month negotiating the deal after the union's executive board gave its staff approval to pursue an agreement on a more rigorous testing program. Some in Congress threatened to take action unless baseball reached an agreement on its own.

"I think it's going to entail more testing, some out-season testing, yes, more in-season random testing and stiffer penalties," said New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, a senior member of the union.

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said he anticipated confirmation of a deal by the end of the owners' meeting.

"It will be wonderful once it's done, but I don't want to pre-empt any announcement, and I certainly don't want to pre-empt all the work the commissioner has done on this, so I'll reserve my comments until after it's announced," he said.

Tony Clark, another senior union leader, said public questions about steroid use had caused players to think about a tougher agreement.

"The integrity of our game was beginning to come under fire, and there are too many great players, past and present, that deserve to be celebrated for their ability to play this game at a very high level," the free-agent first baseman said in an e-mail to the AP. "If a stricter drug policy brings that level of appreciation back, we felt that it was worth pursuing."

Players and owners agreed to a drug-testing plan in 2002 that called for survey-testing for steroids the following year. Because more than 5 percent of tests were positive, random testing with penalties began last year. Each player was tested for steroids twice over a single five- to seven-day period.

A first positive test resulted in treatment. If a player tested positive again, he would have been subject to a 15-day suspension.

No player was suspended for steroid use in 2004.

Since the 2002 agreement, baseball has come under increased scrutiny for steroid use. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield testified before a federal grand jury in December 2003. Giambi and Sheffield admitted using steroids, according to reports by the San Francisco Chronicle. Sheffield said he wasn't aware when he used the substances that they contained steroids.

Bonds, according to the paper, admitted using substances prosecutors say contained steroids.

"Everybody believed that the program we had in place was having an effect and definitely it was doing what it designed to do," Glavine said, "but having said that, with the stuff that was going on and whatnot, it forced us to take a look at revising it or making it a little tougher. It was not a question anymore if that agreement was going to be enough. It was a question to address some of the new issues that came to light and get our fans to believe we were doing everything we could to make the problem go away 100 percent."

Apple Enters Value Market with Cheap iPod, Mac

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday moved to make its products more affordable for the masses, unveiling its cheapest Macintosh computer ever and a version of its iPod digital music player for under $100.

Apple co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs, announcing the new products at the Macworld show in San Francisco, also said Apple had sold 4.5 million units of the various models of its blockbuster iPod in the 2004 holiday quarter.

Apple has traditionally aimed for high-end markets both for its Mac computers and the iPod, eschewing discount models. But the company reversed that course in one fell swoop Tuesday with the $99 "iPod shuffle" and the $499 "Mac mini."

The new products expand Apple's four-year-old "digital hub" and could broaden Apple's market considerably, analysts said.

But rumor sites had anticipated the new products, and Apple shares fell nearly 4 percent.

"I think that the expectations were about as high as they could get for it," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.

The iPod sales were also in the range of Wall Street expectations.

SMALLER THAN A PACK OF GUM

The "iPod shuffle," is shaped like a pack of gum with no display screen. The smaller one, with 512 megabyte of memory, holds about 120 songs and costs $99. The larger one holds 1 gigabyte, or about 240 songs, and costs $149.

The lack of a screen may discourage some consumers, but it is too soon to tell, said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies. "It's designed for use with the PC and the assumption that people will use their personal computer to manage their music anyway."

The new iPod falls into a category of music players that use "flash memory," chips like those found in digital cameras and some portable media players, rather than the hard drives used in current iPods.

Jobs said the iPod holds a 65 percent share of the entire market for portable digital music players, up from only 31 percent a year earlier.

Given that sort of consumer support, Jobs said a number of car companies like Mercedes-Benz USA, Volvo and Ferrari would integrate the iPod line into their car stereo systems.

DISCOUNT COMPUTER

The "Mac mini" will come in $499 and $599 models, depending on processor speed and hard-drive size. Weighing less than 3 pounds and under 2 inches tall, the mini connects to televisions as well as PC monitors.

Financial analysts, alerted to the mini by rumor sites now being sued by Apple, have said it would appeal to iPod users on the Windows operating system.

"It's very clear that these were designed to make the Mac platform more accessible to a broader audience," Bajarin said. "They want to entice more people either to switch, or, which is even more intriguing, to convince traditional PC users to make the Mac the center of their creative, digital work."

Some had doubted Apple, which has less than 5 percent of the worldwide PC market, would go the lower-end route.

"What we are doing is adding a product that reaches even more people," said Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide marketing. "Consideration of the Mac is a lot higher than it has been in some time."

Apple also unveiled iLife 05, its suite of software to manage music, create movies, DVDs and manage and edit digital photographs; and iWork, which contains an updated version of its Keynote presentation software; and a new word processing software program called Pages.

The news appeared to have gone over well, as Apple's online store was briefly unavailable after the news broke.

Shares of Apple fell $4.40, or 6.4 percent, to close at $64.56 on Nasdaq. The stock more than tripled in 2004.

Apple Profit Quadruples on iPods

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday posted a quarterly profit that blew past even the highest Wall Street forecasts on skyrocketing sales of its iPod digital music players and the highest number of Macintosh computers sold in more than four years.

Shares of Apple, which issued a forecast for the current quarter that was above consensus analyst expectations, jumped 13 percent in after-hours trading.

The rising iPod sales are now clearly translating into higher sales of the company's signature Macintosh computers, a trend that's been dubbed the "halo effect," analysts and Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said.

"In selling more than 1 million Macs, we're clearly seeing it," Jobs said in a telephone interview. "We're thrilled."

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, said net income for its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 25 nearly quintupled to $295 million, or 70 cents a share, from $63 million, or 17 cents a share, a year ago.

That sailed beyond the high end of analysts' expectations, 55 cents, by a wide margin, according to Reuters Estimates, and both net income and revenue set records.

"Apple is a name in technology that at least for the next couple of quarters will have the wind at its back," said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of the U.S. Equity Group for Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management.

Shares of Apple, which on Tuesday unveiled a smaller, cheaper iPod that starts at $99 and a slim Mac without a display starting at $499, more than tripled last year.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said the company sold 337,000 of its all-in-one iMac G5 computers in the quarter. Barry Jaruzelski, lead partner in Booz Allen Hamilton's global technology and electronics practice, said that the iMac's average selling price rose to $1,359 from $1,105 a year ago.

"The halo effect is real," Jaruzelski said.

Revenue rose 74 percent to $3.49 billion from $2.01 billion. Analysts had forecast revenue of $3.14 billion.

Apple said it shipped 4.58 million iPods in the holiday-sales-fueled quarter, compared with 2 million in the previous quarter.

Sales of iPod, songs from Apple's online music store and iPod accessories accounted for 40 percent of overall revenue.

Since their introduction in October 2001, Apple has sold more than 10 million iPods. "It took Sony six years to sell 6 million Walkmans," Jaruzelski said.

Apple's shares climbed to $74 in after-hours trade on the Inet electronic brokerage from their close of $65.46 on Nasdaq.

"There's no question that this was a positive report -- it shows the interest in the iPod -- in particular before the Christmas holiday season -- but going into 2005 and the latter half of '05 I don't know if that interest level will be sustained," said Kevin Beadles, managing director of institutional equity trading at Wedbush Morgan.

For its fiscal second quarter, the company forecast revenue of about $2.9 billion and earnings of about 40 cents a share. Analysts on average have expected earnings of 33 cents.

Oppenheimer said Apple retail stores had a good quarter and that the company plans to end 2005 with a total of 125 stores, up from 101 currently.

Analysts said that Apple is selling computers at twice the industry growth rate, countering long-held skepticism that Apple could gain market share.

"Between the announcements at Macworld yesterday and the results today, it's really about much more than just the iPod," said Darcy Travlos, an analyst with Caris & Co.

The Couch Potato Report - January 12th, 2005

In The Couch Potato Report this week there is a non thrilling thriller, an unfunny comedy, and the definition of the word "paparazzi."

Our first film this week is THE VILLAGE, the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan, the writer/director who thrilled us with THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS.

Now, before I continue, I won't be giving anything about the movie away, but I will be mentioning a few story points.

So if you would rather see this film without knowing anything at all about it, please cover your ears for the next few minutes

Starting...now.

Yes, M. Night Shyamalan thrilled us with THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS, but if you are expecting another great story with a twist close to the end, you will be bored by THE VILLAGE.

THE VILLAGE isn't a bad movie, but since it is the latest movie from the man who gave us the very successful THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS it has to be promoted to you by telling you that this is the latest movie from the man who gave us THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS

You see, THE VILLAGE isn't the same type of movie as those other M. Night Shyamalan movies.

THE VILLAGE is a drama, plain and simple. No thrills, no suspense, just a dramatic movie that is well told, well acted and well directed.

The village in THE VILLAGE is a place that is surrounded by woods and, according to a tombstone we see in the opening minutes, it takes place in 1897.

In those woods dwell "Those We Don't Speak Of, " creatures who - we're told - do not take kindly to intruders.

As long as the villagers don't attempt to enter the woods, they are safe.

That is, until "Those We Don't Speak Of" start to come within the village's boundaries.

But those creatures and that story line is the lesser part of THE VILLAGE. The main tale of interest in the movie is the relationship between shy, verbally-challenged Lucius and a blind girl named Ivy

It is a classic tale of star-crossed lovers.

Bryce Dallas Howard makes he film debut as Ivy and she is wonderful in the movie.

But the movie around her lets her down. Well, actually the hype that has been created around the film lets her down.

So try not to think of THE VILLAGE as the latest movie from the director of THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS, otherwise you'll be disappointed.

Just think of it as a great dramatic film with a wonderful performance by Bryce Dallas Howard, and a supporting cast that includes Joaquim Phoenix, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody and William Hurt.

This way, you might enjoy the movie, because you won't be expecting anything other than what happens in the movie.

That is what I did when I first saw the film, and I enjoyed it. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it.

Yes, I enjoyed THE VILLAGE.

I didn't enjoy WITHOUT A PADDLE.

There is nothing I find more disappointing than a comedy that doesn't make you laugh.

I can take a horror film that isn't scary, a drama that isn't overly dramatic and an erotic thriller that is neither erotic nor thrilling, but if a movie is supposed to be a comedy and it isn't funny, that bothers me.

Paramount Pictures released this film and on the movie's official website - www.withoutapaddlemovie.com - it is described as "A high speed comedy adventure in which three friends go into the Oregon wilderness in search of treasure."

They used the word comedy, so the movie is supposed to be funny, right?

WITHOUT A PADDLE isn't funny. Not once!

Because it is supposed to be funny, unfortunate things happen to the trio as they stumble about in the woods.

Their goal is to either find the treasure or get out of the woods alive, but they are working from a bad script, so the results are just embarrassing on screen, and on your TV.

Seth Green from the AUSTIN POWERS films, Dax Shepard of TV's PUNK'D and Matthew Lillard - who plays Shaggy in the SCOOBY DOO movies - as the stars of this film and even though they are all talented, funny actors, they can't save this movie.

Even a wily-eyed Burt Reynolds in a small supporting role can't save this movie!

I know the film is supposed to be just a lightweight, enjoyable piece of fluff, that is a bit like THE GOONIES and a bit like DELIVERANCE, but it isn't anything like either of those movies.

In fact, it isn't anything that you need to see.

Especially if you think you are going to laugh.

You won't laugh at WITHOUT A PADDLE; in fact if you look in the dictionary under the word "unfunny" you might even see the film's movie poster.

While you are in the dictionary, you could also look up the word "paparazzi."

If you do, you'll see that a "paparazzi" is:

"A freelance photographer who doggedly pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and newspapers."

The paparazzi are at the core of the new video and DVD release PAPARAZZI.

PAPARAZZI wasn't one of the best films of last year, but it is a very satisfying thriller.

Little known in real life actor Cole Hauser stars in the movie as a huge star who gets revenge on the tabloid photographers who stalk him every day.

The paparazzi nearly kill his wife and young son and put his career in jeopardy, so he strikes back.

PAPARAZZI is the type of film that you would sit and watch if you caught it on TV. You won't love it, but it will entertain you.

THE VILLAGE, WITHOUT A PADDLE and PAPARAZZI are all available at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT...

...is the psychological conspiracy movie THE FORGOTTEN. Julianne Moore is a woman who thinks her son has been killed, even though everyone else is telling her she has never had a son.

Yes that movie is called THE FORGOTTEN, while CATWOMAN is a movie that should just be forgotten. Oscar winner Halle Berry stars in a movie that is one of the worst films released in the last decade.

Having said that, I will find something positive to say about CATWOMAN when I talk about it next week.

That could be hard.

Luckily I know I won't have to work too hard to find something positive to say about FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, another movie that is coming out next week.

Billy Bob Thornton stars in that film and I'll have more on it, and those 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!

Weezer announces new single details

Weezer has announced the first single from their forthcoming fifth studio album.

The band's website confirmed that the track "Beverly Hills," from their as-yet-untitled disc, will be released to radio on March 21.

Weezer also posted an update on the status of the new album, saying it "isn't entirely finished yet, as Rivers will be completing his work on several songs after his semester is over in late January."

"At this time, no album title is known and no release date is set. Touring is being talked about and definite plans are on the table, but again, no details are ready for the public yet."

Weezer's last album, "Maladroit," was released in May of 2002.

Dupri's "Future" Postponed

The future is temporarily on hold for Jermaine Dupri.

The star rapper-producer had been planning to record the charity single "We Are the Future," a 20th-anniversary sequel to the 1980s hit "We Are the World," on Feb. 14 at a star-studded after-party/recording session following the Grammy Awards.

The track was slated to benefit children in war-torn countries worldwide, but Dupri nixed the idea this week in the wake of the tsunami tragedy in Asia.

"The timing is not right for us to record a song about the future when so many people have lost their lives," the Atlanta-based artist said in a statement Tuesday.

Dupri, who had been working on "We Are the Future" with Quincy Jones, the man behind the original "We Are the World," said he hoped to reschedule the recording session sometime this year, with a new recording date to be announced in a few months.

The song was to have featured some big names from the world of hip-hop and R&B. Dupri told Rolling Stone magazine last month that he hoped to recruit Jay-Z, Usher and Kanye West for the track, which was to be a completely new song, not a remake.

Dupri and Jones have their work cut out for them if they want to match the success of their inspiration.

The original "We Are the World," written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and released in 1985, raised more than $64 million for famine-ravaged Africa. Aside from Jackson and Richie, the cut featured vocal turns from megastars like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.

"We Are the World" sold more than 7.3 million copies, spawned an album that sold more than 4.4 million copies, and won four Grammys, including Song and Record of the Year.

Other music acts have been trying to draw attention to the plight of some Africans, including a group of British rockers who just recorded a new version of "Do They Know Its Christmas?"

Meanwhile, other musicians continue to throw their support behind victims of the tsunami.

Elton John, Nelly and Annie Lennox are the latest top acts to join NBC's George Clooney-produced Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope. The two-hour event, airing on Saturday, will also include Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Gloria Estefan, Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz and Eric Clapton, who'll also lend his guitar to a Jan. 22 charity concert in Wales.

Also on Tuesday, organizers announced that Will Ferrell will host a Los Angeles benefit concert.

Dave Grohl, Beck, Tenacious D and Eddie Vedder are among the acts confirmed for the Jan. 17 event at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater.

The night is billed as a "special night of music and comedy to benefit Music for Relief."

SoCal rockers Linkin Park got the ball rolling for charity-minded U.S. music acts last month when they offered up $100,000 to the Red Cross and helped launch Music for Relief.

For more information on Music for Relief, go to musicforrelief.org.

O'Reilly Says Okay to Clooney

George Clooney can stop writing letters: He and Bill O'Reilly are finally on the same page.

The Fox News host has accepted Clooney's invite to appear on the Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope telethon, set to air Saturday on NBC and its cable networks.

O'Reilly made the announcement Tuesday morning on his radio show.

"NBC has faxed us over information that all of the money that you donate to the telethon on Saturday night is going to the American Red Cross--all of it," O'Reilly said. "I like that. So, I'm gonna go over and do it."

Per Clooney's rep Stan Rosenfield, "George was very pleased" with the decision by the object of his correspondence.

But due to crossed wires--Clooney's camp was unaware of the radio-issued acceptance--George, a volunteer talent wrangler for the event, initially sounded very perturbed.

One day after addressing a lengthy missive to O'Reilly, in which he accused the broadcaster of undermining the telethon with remarks on his cable show, and challenged him to appear at the fundraiser, Clooney dashed off another note.

"We're not playing games here, we're trying to save lives," Clooney wrote, reacting to O'Reilly's iffy-response to the invite on Monday's O'Reilly Factor. "It's as simple as this: you're either with this joint effort or against it."

In a bit of bad timing, Clooney's demand for an immediate "yes" or "no" was issued to reporters almost two hours after O'Reilly had accepted. NBC later confirmed the multi-media talker was on board for the benefit.

Although Clooney and O'Reilly are now comrades working toward a common goal, they still aren't close--geographically speaking. During Saturday's telethon, O'Reilly will make his appeal on behalf of those ravaged by the southern Asian tsunamis from a studio in New York; Clooney from a studio in Los Angeles.

In related news Tuesday, NBC revealed another batch of big names who, like O'Reilly, have agreed to go on telethon duty.

Clint Eastwood, Renée Zellweger, Ben Affleck, Meg Ryan, Morgan Freeman, Ray Romano and Robert Downey Jr. will join the likes of Matt Damon and Halle Berry as presenters.

Elton John, Annie Lennox and Nelly have been added to the cast of scheduled performers.

With A-listers in abundance, NBC has expanded the telethon to two hours. The show is set to kick off at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

Blackwell Says Sheridan Worst Dressed

NEW YORK - Nicollette Sheridan of TV's "Desperate Housewives" is the worst of the worst when it comes to wardrobe, according to Mr. Blackwell's annual list of fashion winners and losers.

"In barely-there bombs, she's a taste-free pain. Let's crown her the Tacky Temptress of Wisteria Lane," he wrote in a statement released Tuesday.

Lindsay Lohan was the next target of the acid-tongued critic, who called the starlet "over-hyped and under-dressed."

However, Blackwell gave kudos to "fabulous fashion independents" Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Barbara Walters, Kate Winslet, Annette Bening, Oprah Winfrey, Scarlett Johansson, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Garner and Sheridan's on-screen nemesis Teri Hatcher.

This is the 45th year that Blackwell, a former fashion designer, has offered his best- and worst-dressed women lists.

Last year's worst-dressed star, hotel heiress Paris Hilton, dropped to No. 5. "This is one Hilton that should be closed for renovation!" according to Blackwell.

Other fashion losers include Courtney Love, Serena Williams, Britney Spears, Paula Abdul, Meryl Streep and Anna Nicole Smith.

Sisters Jessica and Ashlee Simpson tied for third place. "These two prove that bad taste is positively genetic!" Blackwell said.

Blackwell said he couldn't wait to bid farewell to 2004, the year of many "wardrobe malfunctions."

He added: "Here's hoping 2005 takes the ultra-feminine look to new heights. Elegance, classicism and restraint are never out of style. Neither is a good 3-way mirror."

'Sideways' Leads SAG Awards Film Nominees

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Low-budget road comedy "Sideways," about two men looking for love in California's wine country, led nominees for Screen Actors Guild Awards on Tuesday with four nominations, making it a frontrunner in the race for Oscars.

The other nominees for best film cast, SAG's highest award, were Howard Hughes epic "The Aviator," African genocide drama "Hotel Rwanda," female boxing movie "Million Dollar Baby," "Finding Neverland," about how J.M. Barrie was inspired to write "Peter Pan," and "Ray," about soul singer Ray Charles.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 5 is a closely watched barometer for Oscars, the U.S. film industry's top honors, because actors make up the largest voting group at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars. Academy Award winners will be named on Feb. 27.

Jamie Foxx, who played Charles, was nominated in four SAG categories including best actor. The number was more than any performer and the first time an actor has received that many SAG nominations. It should also firm up his position as the frontrunner for the best actor Oscar.

He was also nominated for best supporting actor for his performance as an abducted taxi driver in "Collateral" and best actor in a television movie as a convicted murderer in "Redemption." He was also in the best cast category for "Ray."

"Ray" director Taylor Hackford said Foxx was operating "at a very high level," but added he was proud of the best cast nomination because several actors with Foxx were relatively unknown to mass audiences and deserved recognition.

"It's one of the high points of my day," Hackford said. "I wanted this film to have real people, real faces. We got incredibly talented people, but also real performances."

TILTING TOWARD "SIDEWAYS"

"Sideways" earned Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church nominations for best actor and supporting actor, respectively, and one for Virginia Madsen as best supporting actress.

The low-budget movie has been named as 2004's best movie by several critics' groups, and figures prominently at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards, where it is nominated for honors in seven categories, more than any other film.

Joining Giamatti and Foxx among best actor nominees were Don Cheadle as a heroic hotel manager in "Hotel Rwanda," Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes in "Aviator" and Johnny Depp as Barrie in "Neverland."

Best film actress nominees were Britain's Imelda Staunton playing an abortionist in "Vera Drake," Hilary Swank in "Million Dollar Baby," Annette Bening in comedy "Being Julia," Kate Winslet for romance, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno for her role as a cocaine smuggler in the drama "Maria Full of Grace."

That category sets up a rematch of 1999's best actress race in which Bening in "American Beauty" competed against Swank in "Boys Don't Cry." Bening won at SAG; Swank at Oscar.

Supporting actor nominees with Church and Foxx were Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar Baby," child actor Freddie Highmore in "Neverland" and James Garner for romance "The Notebook."

Garner will receive a lifetime achievement honor, marking the first time in the show's 11 years that an actor being given the achievement honor also has been nominated for an award.

Supporting actress nominees with Madsen were Cate Blanchett playing Katharine Hepburn in "Aviator," Cloris Leachman in comedy "Spanglish," Laura Linney in "Kinsey," about the life of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, and Sophie Okonedo in "Rwanda."

SAG also gives out awards for television, and in that arena the casts of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "24," "Six Feet Under," "The Sopranos" and "The West Wing," were nominated for best acting in a drama.

The casts of "Arrested Development," new show "Desperate Housewives," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Sex and the City," and "Will & Grace" were nominated for best acting in a TV comedy.

Rather Says Won't Duck Controversy Despite Scandal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anchor Dan Rather said on Tuesday he would learn the lessons from a report that slammed CBS for faulty reporting about President Bush's military record, but said it should not lead journalists to shy away from controversial stories.

CBS News ousted four employees on Monday after an independent report found "myopic zeal" led CBS to disregard basic journalism principles when it aired the story before last year's presidential election.

The panel was convened after a Sept. 8, 2004, report by Rather on the "60 Minutes II" program saying Bush got special treatment in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. It found CBS failed to determine the accuracy of key documents used in the report.

"Lest anyone have any doubt, I have read the report, I take it seriously, and I shall keep its lessons well in mind," Rather said in a memo to CBS news staff that was his first public reaction to the report.

Twelve days after the segment aired, CBS News retracted it and Rather apologized. CBS said it had been misled about the chain of custody and provenance of key documents in the segment and said it was unable to stand behind them.

The panel cast doubt on the documents but did not rule on their authenticity.

Rather, 73, later said he would step down as anchor on March 9, his 24th anniversary in the job. CBS said since Rather apologized and accepted some blame, "punitive action would be neither fair nor just."

In Tuesday's memo, Rather drew attention to a note in the 224-page report that said the panel hoped its criticism would not induce timidity at CBS.

"We should take seriously the admonition of the report's authors to do our job well and carefully, but also their parallel admonition not to be afraid to cover important and controversial issues," Rather said.

Rather said his strongest reaction to the report was of sadness and concern for the "four good people" who lost their jobs.

"It would be a shame if we let this matter, troubling as it is, obscure their dedication and good work over the years," he said.

The Couch Potato Report

Is coming tomorrow (Wednesday, January 12th, 2005)!

Eternally Grateful

Apparently, members of the the Online Film Critics Society have long memories. The group handed out five awards to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — including Best Picture — even though the film was released last March. The romantic tale of a man trying to erase any recollection of his ex-girlfriend also earned trophies for Kate Winslet (Best Actress), Michel Gondry (Best Director) and Valdís Óskarsdottir (Best Editing), plus a Best Original Screenplay award for Charlie Kaufman, Pierre Bismuth, and Gondry, according to Moviecitynews.com.

Sunshine didn’t make a clean sweep, however, as its leading man Jim Carrey lost out to Sideways’ Paul Giamatti in the Best Actor race. Giamatti’s costar Thomas Haden Church was named Best Supporting Actor, while The Aviator’s Cate Blanchett won Best Supporting Actress. Sideways also took home Best Adapted Screenplay honors.

The group also awarded prizes for Best Breakthrough Filmmaker and Best Breakthrough Performance: They went, respectively, to Zach Braff for Garden State and Catalina Sandrino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace.

Crank It Up!

Here are the new music releases for Tuesday, January 11th, 2005:

The Burning Season The Haze of Infatuation (Hand of Hope)

Downchild Come on in (Downchild Music)

Esthero We R in Need of a Musical Revolution EP (Reprise)

Every New Day The Shadows Cast (Hand of Hope)

Fast ‘n' Bulbous Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind (Gary Lucas, Phillip Johnston and band perform the music of Captain Beefheart (Cuneiform)

Felix da Housecat Playboy: The Mansion (Koch)

The Fiery Furnaces EP (Sanctuary/Rough Trade)

Vance Gilbert Unfamiliar Moon (Disismye)

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band Swingin' for the Fences (DualDisc) (Silverline)

Petra Haden and Bill Frisell Petra Haden and Bill Frisell (w/covers of Elliott Smith, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Tom Waits, Stevie Wonder and more) (Sovereign Artists)

The Hootz Too Hot to Handle (hip-hop for kids) (Koch)

Hot 8 Fire (Louisiana Red Hot)

The Jenkins The Jenkins (produced by Rodney Crowell) (Liberty/Capitol)

Randy Johnston Is It You? (HighNote)

The Kronos Quartet Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (Nonesuch)

The Libertines The Libertines (CD/DVD combo) (Rough Trade)

Kazu Matsui Stone Monkey (Narada)

Jason Miles Miles to Miles: In the Spirit of Miles Davis (Narada)

Motion Trio Pictures from the Street (Harmonia Mundi)

David "Fathead" Newman I Remember Brother Ray (HighNote)

Donny Osmond What I Meant to Say (Decca)

Paris Combo Motifs (Koch/DRG)

Prodigy Maximum (audio biography w/color picture disc) (Chrome Dreams)

Roomful of Blues Standing Room Only (Alligator)

David Sanborn Closer (Verve)

Shivaree Who's Got Trouble? (Zoë/Rounder)

Corky Siegel Traveling Chamber Blues Show (Alligator)

Silent Slippin Into Darkness (CD/DVD combo) (Thump)

Kinnie Starr Sun Again (Lakeshore)

Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights 2 (Victory)

Summer's End Summer's End (Hand of Hope)

Turpentine Brothers Turpentine Brothers (Bomp)

Dwight Twilley 47 Moons (Digital Musicworks)

The Vanished Favorite Scar (Kirtland Records/Red Ink)

Kanye West Maximum (audio biography w/color picture disc) (Chrome Dreams)

Wesla Whitfield In My Life (HighNote)

The Wiggles Live Hot Potatoes (Koch)

VA KCRW Sounds Eclectic 3 (w/Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand and more) (Palm Pictures)

VA NuJazz - Italia (dance compilation) (Varèse Sarabande)

VA Queer for the Ear - Volume II (disco remixes) (Empire Musicwerks/VI Music)

OCR Wonderful Town (w/Brooke Shields) (DRG/Koch)

OST A Love Song for Bobby Long (John Travolta/Scarlett Johansson drama; original songs by New Orleans soulman Grayson Capps) (Hyena)

OST Bride and Prejudice (Bollywood treatment of Jane Austen classic) (Casablanca)

OST Coach Carter (new songs from Twista, Faith Evans, Kanye West, Chingy and more) (Capitol)

OST In Good Company (Dennis Quaid/Scarlett Johansson comedy) (Hollywood)

OST Meet the Fockers (music and songs by Randy Newman) (Varèse Sarabande)

OST Racing Stripes (new songs from Sting and Bryan Adams, plus score by Mark Isham) (Varèse Sarabande)

OST Spanglish (Adam Sandler film; score by Hans Zimmer) (Varèse Sarabande)

OST The Aviator (Howard Hughes bio w/Leonardo DiCaprio) (Decca)

OST The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare adaptation w/Al Pacino; score by Jocelyn Pook) (Decca)

DVD The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story (rare early footage and new interviews) (Voiceprint)

DVD Peter Cetera Soundstage Presents (PBS special w/Amy Grant) (Koch Vision)

DVD Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band in St. Lucia (Image Entertainment)

DVD Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Soundstage Presents (PBS special) (Koch Vision)

DVD Scissor Sisters We Are Scissor Sisters... And So Are You (Universal) (Koch)

TALENT SET FOR TELETHON

Usher, Madonna, Stevie Wonder and Norah Jones are just a few of the musical acts joining actors Uma Thurman George Clooney, Tim Robbins and Michael Douglas, among others, for NBC's live tsunami benefit special airing this Saturday at 8 p.m.

CTV declines CBC offer to simulcast Thursday's prime-time tsunami benefit

TORONTO (CP) - While expressing appreciation to the CBC, CTV says it is turning down the public broadcaster's offer to simulcast Canada for Asia, the Thursday night prime-time fundraiser for tsunami victims.

"We must nonetheless decline the opportunity to be involved," said CTV president Rick Brace in an open letter to CBC-TV executive vice-president Richard Stursberg. "In part, our decision is based on the short notice."

CHUM Television initially said its stations had completed their own fundraising effort last week which raised nearly $4 million, and that they will lend editorial support and news coverage only. But in a decision late Monday, CHUM announced that its MuchMoreMusic and MTV Canada specialty channels would carry the feed. Corus Entertainment also said its country music station CMT will participate.

Global TV had no decision to announce.

The simulcast invitation was issued at a Friday afternoon news conference by Senator Jerry Grafstein, one of the organizers of Canada for Asia who said if private radio and TV broadcasters agreed to the simulcast, all Canadians would be reached in what he called "a golden and sterling moment."

The audio portion will be carried on CBC Radio 1 and the signal will reach Canadian troops in Kabul via Canadian Forces radio and TV.

But a CTV spokesman indicated that the complexities of carrying the CBC network feed were also a factor in their decision to decline. The CBC plans to air the three-hour special from Toronto live to the Maritimes from 6 to 9 p.m. ET, delaying it an hour for each subsequent time zone.

Brace also noted that CTV was "very active" in formulating its own plans, which include Canada Cares, a daylong initiative that will air across the various CTV Media platforms all day Tuesday, as well as The Concert for Tsunami Relief, live from Vancouver on Jan. 29 in collaboration with Nettwerk Productions. Some celebrities, including Rick Mercer and the Barenaked Ladies, will appear on both broadcast specials, although CTV emphasizes that unlike the CBC telecast, theirs is not a telethon but rather artists thanking Canadians for the generosity they've already demonstrated in donating to various relief agencies.

"We applaud the efforts of the entire broadcasting community for their contribution to this great cause," Brace added. "We wish you the very best in your efforts to make Canada for Asia the tremendous success we know it will be."

Fred Nicolaidis, the creative head of CBC-TV Variety, who is hastily assembling the Thursday extravaganza, said the network is devoting its cross-country facilities to the program and that a simulcast would be an opportunity to reach all Canadians from coast to coast to coast in prime time.

"It's going to be packed full of tremendous talent and tremendous statements and tremendous comments," he vowed about a lineup that is to include Tom Cochrane, Blue Rodeo, Rush, Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Jann Arden, Bruce Cockburn and even Celine Dion. Non musical personalities so far include Mike Myers, Kids in the Hall, Wayne Gretzky, Andrea Martin, David Suzuki and Alex Trebek.

Nicolaidis said there would be a minimum of pre-taped segments, indicating Dion's contribution from the stage of her Las Vegas show will likely have to be recorded for logistical reasons.

Meanwhile, CTV's Canada Cares plan Tuesday is designed to not only examine the tsunami disaster on air but to encourage more fundraising by relief agencies.

It begins on Canada AM, which will examine not only how donations are being used but what the long-term needs of the affected region will be. CTV News at Noon will offer in-depth correspondent reports including customized items on how each region in Canada has been affected.

In the afternoon, two back-to-back episodes of Vicki Gabereau will include interviews with Canadian tsunami survivors, a science expert from Simon Fraser University and with organizers of the planned telecast of the Vancouver concert.

In the evening, E-Talk Daily will look at celebrity involvement in relief efforts. On the Discovery Channel, The Daily Planet will explore the science behind the tsunami and its impact on drinkable water and on the local coral life.

Finally, Canada Cares will be wrapped up on regional supper-hour newscasts and on CTV News with Lloyd Robertson.

Also, Global's Hamilton-based CH Television plans a day-long fundraiser Tuesday, beginning with CH Morning and continuing through to the channel's 11 o'clock news.

Franz Ferdinand Lead Way in Brit Music Awards

LONDON (Reuters) - Franz Ferdinand led the way on Monday when nominations were announced for the Brit Awards, celebrating their 25th anniversary as the UK record industry Oscars.

The Scottish rockers were in line for five awards when nominations were announced, one ahead of Muse with four.

But the music industry's big night on Feb. 9 could still be dominated by two of the hottest new American bands of the past year -- flamboyant disco rockers Scissor Sisters and Maroon 5, who garnered three nominations apiece.

The international nominations also offered a fascinating clash of the generations -- Beach Boys veteran Brian Wilson against rapper Eminem in the male solo artist category.

Record executives will be reaching with relief for the champagne at the ceremony after a rollercoaster year for the world's third largest music market behind the U.S. and Japan.

UK album sales rose 2.3 percent in 2004 as Scissor Sisters, who made it big after signing with a UK record label, made an 11th-hour surge to finish as Britain's overall number one for the year.

With U.S. album sales also growing for the first time in four years, the music business is buoyant again after a lengthy downturn in sales, while illicit music downloads soared.

In a fast-changing musical scene transformed by new technology, U2's "Vertigo" was the top-selling UK download, boosted by a high-profile partnership with Apple Computer's iTunes.

The band, who will be performing live on the night, has been nominated for two awards.

The Brits have raised more than six million pounds ($11 million) over the past 25 years for UK musical charities.

This year the organizers have agreed to donate 500,000 pounds to the Save The Children charity to help youngsters affected by the Asian tsunami disaster.

This year's lifetime achievement award at the Brits is going to Bob Geldof, who led the Live Aid efforts to relieve famine in Africa in the 1980s.

The Irish rocker has appealed for people not to forget Africa's plight in the rush to help Asia.

As the rock 'n' roll industry's big night of the year, the Brit awards inevitably inspire excess.

In 1996, Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker was arrested after leaping on stage and making crude gestures while Michael Jackson was performing.

Two years later, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was targeted by a member of the anarchic band Chumbawamba who tipped a bucket of water over his head.

Garner returns for 'Elektra' premiere

LAS VEGAS - Call her a real-life superhero. Battling a painful injury that had sidelined her for more than a week, Jennifer Garner helped electrify Las Vegas Saturday at the world premiere of her new action movie "Elektra."

Walking the red carpet at The Palms Hotel and Casino, Garner told reporters: "I wasn't feeling well over Christmas. I didn't know why. I thought I had some kind of infection. It turned out that I had messed up my back a little bit."

The 32-year-old actress, dressed in a sleek, sleeveless black gown, added: "I did get a couple of extra days off on my Christmas break out of the bargain, so it has all turned out OK and I'm fit as a fiddle and ready to get back on the horse."

Garner first brought the comic-book character Elektra to the big screen in 2003's "Daredevil," which also starred Ben Affleck.

Affleck, who has been dating Garner, wasn't spotted on the red carpet.

Where was he?

Garner smiled and replied, "I don't know. That's a good question."

In "Elektra" Garner plays a superhero with lethal senses and the power to see into the future. She has cut all ties to the outside world and lives for her work.

Although Garner had a stunt double, she performed most of her own stunts in the film. The actress said she was physically prepared because of her demanding role on ABC's "Alias."

While the night belonged to Garner, the red carpet was abuzz with talk of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's separation.

"I can't speculate on what's happening with them," Garner said. "I think it's awful that people would be talking about their relationship at all."

Garner's co-star Goran Visnjic says Garner is as physically tough as she is nice.

"She's just amazing. She's an absolute professional. Is always in good spirits which is very important for everybody who works on the film because sometimes you work in difficult conditions."

At one point during the premiere, Garner helped to make "the city of lights" even brighter by lighting a giant "Elektra" sign in the movie's honor.

"Elektra" opens in theaters on Friday.

Celine, Rush in CBC tsunami benefit

TORONTO (CP) - In what organizers hope will be an unprecedented fundraising event that will make an international statement of generosity, CBC is assembling a live, three-hour broadcast to benefit the victims of the South Asian tsunami disaster.

Canada for Asia will air next Thursday night in prime time on CBC television and radio, and will feature an all-star Canadian entertainment lineup. Organizers have also issued a challenge to the country's private broadcasters to simulcast the show, which will originate at the network's broadcast centre in Toronto.

Performers will include Tom Cochrane, Blue Rodeo, Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Rush, Molly Johnson, Oscar Peterson, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Cockburn and, in a special segment direct from her Las Vegas stage venue, Celine Dion.

In addition, non-musical celebrities will range from author Margaret Atwood to sports commentator Don Cherry to Bubbles of the Trailer Park Boys. Ron MacLean and Rick Mercer will serve as co-hosts.

"I would hope private broadcasters like CHUM, CTV, Global will accept this," said Senator Jerry Grafstein at a Friday news conference. Grafstein was one of the organizers of last year's SARS benefit concert, Toronto Rocks.

"If we get them all on air at the same time we will reach not only all of Canada - and that's a goal - it will be a golden and sterling moment."

Graftstein said that even in the U.S. there's no such ambitious plan, and if all Media join in it will have a major impact as an international statement. Agencies standing to benefit include World Vision, the Canadian Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam Canada, Care Canada, Save the Children Canada, Development and Peace and Oxfam Quebec.

On Thursday, CTV announced plans for its own live, commercial-free telecast of the Concert for Tsunami Relief on Jan. 29, to feature such artists as Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk and the Barenaked Ladies. The two-hour special from Vancouver's GM Place is a collaboration between CTV and Nettwerk Productions.

Nettwerk is also producing a second benefit in Calgary two days later with many of the same performers. Benefiting charities are Oxfam Canada, Care Canada, Doctors Without Borders and War Child Canada.

Asked about the dangers of donor fatigue setting in, Linda Tripp of World Vision said their experience shows there's no such thing.

"Canadians step up to the plate," she said, conceding the non-governmental aid agencies have no idea what the tally will be from the CBC telecast but that any effort is appreciated.

Viewers will be asked to contribute by calling a toll-free number (1-866-334-ASIA) or online at www.Canadaforasia.ca.

Graftstein also dismissed the donor fatigue theory and said corporate Canada's full voice has not yet been heard.

"This event, I believe, presents a fabulous window of opportunity for corporate Canada to join the thousands and thousands of individual Canadians in this incredible community effort."

Rita Karakas of Save the Children Canada said many NGOs are making long-term plans to rebuild schools and train teachers and midwives, for example, in the years ahead.

"That will take money," she said. "We all understand that nation rebuilding and community rebuilding and life rebuilding takes time."

Tripp agreed that beyond the current emergency relief, there are longer-term plans under way and she hopes donors understand that.

Karakas also challenged the Media to keep checking six or 12 months from now to ensure that world governments live up to their pledges.

Meanwhile, CBC organizers promise "a very moving show" that will air live to Atlantic Canada from 6 to 9 p.m. ET Thursday and will be tape-delayed hourly to the rest of the time zones. It will be almost entirely live, although Dion's Vegas segment is expected to be prerecorded.

Other benefit concerts are planned for Halifax's Metro Centre on Jan. 11, Toronto's Opera House Jan. 20 and Ottawa's Capital Music Hall and Winnipeg's West End Cultural Centre, both on Saturday. On Sunday, Toronto's Omni ethnic TV channels will hold a two-hour on-air fundraising appeal in partnership with Canadians for Tsunami Relief. In addition, parent company Rogers Communications has announced a $150,000 donation to the relief efforts.

And all the major networks are planning coverage of Saturday's noon ET national commemoration ceremony from Ottawa's Civic Centre. Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson and Prime Minister Paul Martin will attend the interfaith prayer service.

In the U.S., plans are proceeding for a Jan. 15 live benefit to be carried on NBC and its cable outlets CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Bravo, Trio and the Sci-Fi Channel.

The daylong disaster relief effort on CHUM's 65 radio and TV stations on Wednesday has so far netted $3.6 million in donations.

Nine Inch Nails finish new album, begin prepping for tour

Trent Reznor has completed "With Teeth," the first new studio album from Nine Inch Nails in almost six years, and is gearing up for a tour behind the set.

"'With Teeth' is finished," Reznor said in a message posted at his website on New Year's Eve. "The band is rehearsing. I can't wait to present this music to you--on your stereo and in your town."

Reznor will soon announce his first round of U.S. tour dates, and registered members of the Nine Inch Nails mailing list will have access to ticket pre-sales, according to the website.

Expected to hit stores in March, "With Teeth" is Nine Inch Nails' first collection of all-new material since 1999's "The Fragile," a sprawling, two-disc set that clocked in at over 100 minutes and featured a number of instrumental pieces.

"This is a more lyric-based record than 'The Fragile,'" Reznor said of "With Teeth." So far, he has only revealed one song title from the new set: "Only."

Reznor mixed "With Teeth" in the traditional-stereo and 5.1 surround-sound formats, and hopes to release both versions simultaneously.

Late last year, Reznor issued a deluxe edition of NIN's 1994 album, "The Downward Spiral," remixed in 5.1 surround sound.

Garbage Prepares To 'Bleed'

Rock act Garbage will release its first album in more than three years, "Bleed Like Me," April 12 in North America via Geffen and a day earlier internationally via Warner Bros. The band was previously signed to Almo Sounds/Interscope, which released 2001's "beautifulgarbage."

As previously reported, the new set was produced by the Dust Brothers' John King and features drum work from the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl on the track "Bad Boyfriend."

According to Garbage's official Web site, the track list is rounded out by "Run Baby Run," "Right Between the Eyes," "Why Do You Love Me," "Bleed Like Me," "It's All Over but the Crying," "Boys Wanna Fight," "Sex Is Not the Enemy," "Metal Heart," "Why Don't You Come Over" and "Happy Home."

"This new CD will be released a whole 10 years after our debut," writes vocalist Shirley Manson. "Ten f***ing YEARS?!?!?!?!?!?! The very idea blows my brain because the actuality of being the lead singer in a rock band still seems so very brand new to me."

Manson adds Garbage is "giddy with relief, excitement and a great sense of accomplishment" now that the album is finally complete. "The record is done and not only is it done but it's pretty f***ing stellar."

As previously reported, Manson guests on the new Queens Of The Stone Age album, "Lullabies To Paralyze," due March 22 via Interscope.

New Order Sings For The 'Sirens'

Veteran British rock act New Order will return this spring with a new album, "Waiting for the Sirens Call," according to its official Web site. The set is due March 28 in the U.K. via Warner Music, with the single "Krafty" arriving two weeks earlier.

"Waiting for the Sirens" will be released in North America via Reprise on a date to be announced.

Produced by Tore Johansson and John Leckie, "Waiting for the Sirens Call" will also feature the tracks "Jetstream" and "Sugarcane." The new set heralds a personnel change in the New Order lineup, with guitarist Phil Cunningham stepping in as a full-time member and keyboardist Gillian Gilbert exiting.

Gilbert skipped the 2001 tour in support of New Order's last album, "Get Ready," to care for her daughter by drummer Stephen Morris. Cunningham was on hand for that trek and previously played with New Order frontman Bernard Sumner in Electronic.

As previously reported, Sumner and bassist Peter Hook guest on the track "Real Thing," from Gwen Stefani's recent Interscope solo debut, "Love, Angel, Music, Baby."

In related news, a film based on the life of late Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis will be directed by famed photographer Anton Corbijn, according to the BBC. "Touching From a Distance," which shares its name with a 1995 book written by Curtis' widow, will be executive produced by Factory Records founder Tony Wilson.

Curtis committed suicide in 1980 at the age of 23 prior to a planed American tour. His surviving bandmates went on to form New Order.

THE “HEAT” IS BACK ON

Heat -- written, directed and produced by Michael Mann (Collateral, Ali, The Insider) -- will celebrate its 10th anniversary on February 22, 2005 with the Warner Home Video (WHV) release of a Two-Disc Special Edition. This tale of big city crime and obsession marks the first time that legendary actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro starred together on the big screen. Heat also features Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Amy Brenneman and Natalie Portman.

Dive into five all-new documentaries exploring every angle of the movie; from the real life cops and robbers who inspired the film, the breathtaking bank shoot-out sequence, the 20 year history of the screenplay, the Los Angeles locations, and the historic on-screen showdown between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Eleven never-before-seen deleted scenes and an all-new commentary by director Michael Mann round out more than four hours of additional entertainment. The double-disc DVD will sell for $26.99 SRP.

The Two-Disc DVD Special Edition includes the following extras:

DISC ONE:
- Commentary by writer/director Michael Mann
- Three theatrical trailers

DISC TWO:
- 11 additional scenes
- Five new making-of documentaries featuring the cast and crew
- Return to the Scene of the Crime – Location Manager, Janice Polley, and Associate Producer, Gusmano Cesaretti, visit the real life LA locations used in the film
- Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation – Mann, cast and crew explore this historic on-screen showdown in the pivotal confrontation at Kate Mantellini's
- The Making of Heat: True Crime – Michael Mann and Chuck Adamson, Technical Advisor and real life inspiration for the Lt. Vincent Hanna character, discuss the Chicago crime scene and the events surrounding the real Neil McCauley (who Adamson took down in the late 60s) that inspired the film
- The Making of Heat: Crime Stories – Mann, cast and crew discuss the twenty year origin of the script, the film's genesis and the complexity of the characters portrayed on screen
- The Making of Heat: Into the Fire – Mann, cast and crew discuss training for their roles, filming in LA, shooting the climatic downtown heist and post production

The DVD will be available in widescreen format and will include English and French 5.1 sound and English, French and Spanish subtitles.

'Fockers' Beats Horror Flick at Box Office

LOS ANGELES - The horror of meeting the in-laws beat out the fright flick at theaters this weekend. "Meet the Fockers" took in $28.5 million to remain the top movie for the third straight weekend, holding off the horror newcomer "White Noise," which debuted a strong No. 2 with $24 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The two movies paced Hollywood to a healthy start for the year, with the top 12 films grossing $98.3 million, up 8 percent from the same weekend in 2004.

That comes after a holiday surge sparked by "Meet the Fockers" lifted Hollywood to a record $9.4 billion domestic haul in 2004. Though the year's revenues were up, higher admission prices mean movie attendance was off about 1.7 percent, so the solid beginning positions the industry for a healthier 2005.

"The end of the year was stronger than expected, so headed into the first of the year, we have some momentum going," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Studios just need to keep the momentum in the market place, because once you lose it, it takes a long time to get back."

Since opening just before Christmas, "Meet the Fockers" has taken in $204.3 million, topping the $166.2 million total of its predecessor, "Meet the Parents."

The comedy sequel reunites Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro as prospective in-laws with a shaky relationship, adding Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand to the cast as Stiller's zany parents.

The superstar cast and the movie's universal theme has made "Meet the Fockers" an easy sell to audiences.

"It hits home, doesn't it? Conflicts between in-laws, everybody's been there," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released "Meet the Fockers" and "White Noise."

Critics hated "White Noise," which stars Michael Keaton as a man convinced his dead wife is trying to communicate with him through his television. Yet scary movies tend to have a built-in audience of horror fans, who turn out in huge numbers over opening weekend.

The box office often plunges for fright flicks in their second weekend, though some manage stronger staying power, such as last year's $100 million hit "The Grudge," which most critics also panned.

"White Noise" producer Paul Brooks said he hopes his movie can defy the critics, too, and hold up well beyond opening weekend.

"It's always fascinated me, the way critics work," said Brooks, who also produced "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." "They have a particular view of a film which sometimes can be significantly at odds with what the man on the street and the lady on the street and the kid on the street want to see."

Two films embraced by critics, Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" and Terry George's "Hotel Rwanda," had strong showings as they expanded from limited release.

"Million Dollar Baby," starring Eastwood as mentor to a strong-willed boxer (Hilary Swank), took in $2 million in 109 theaters, up from nine theaters the previous weekend.

"Hotel Rwanda," featuring Don Cheadle as a real-life hotel manager who sheltered refugees during the 1990s Rwandan genocide, grossed $1.15 million in 105 theaters, up from seven the previous weekend.

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. "Meet the Fockers," $28.5 million.
2. "White Noise," $24 million.
3. "The Aviator," $7.6 million.
4. "Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events," $7.4 million.
5. "Fat Albert," $6 million.
6. "Ocean's Twelve," $5.4 million.
7. "National Treasure," $4.5 million.
8. "Spanglish," $4.4 million.
9. "The Phantom of the Opera," $3.4 million.
10. "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," $2.7 million.

'9/11,' 'Passion' Tops at People's Choice

PASADENA, Calif. - Two controversial films that defied the odds to earn millions at the box office joined a familiar green ogre to take top honors at the 31st Annual People's Choice Awards on Sunday.

The Michael Moore film "Fahrenheit 9/11," which took a critical look at President Bush's actions after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, won the favorite movie award, while Mel Gibson's explicit "The Passion of the Christ" won in the favorite drama category.

Moore dedicated his win to the U.S. troops fighting overseas and said he was "amazed" that people voted his film their favorite.

"I love making movies and I'll take this as an invitation to make more 'Fahrenheit 9/11s,'" Moore said.

Gibson echoed Moore's appreciation, saying the award "means a lot more to me this time than anything before."

"I depended on you and you were there," Gibson said. "If it wasn't for you guys, we would have been dead in the water."

The animated "Shrek 2" swept a number of categories, being named favorite comedy, favorite sequel and favorite animated movie.

The character of Donkey in "Shrek 2," voiced by Eddie Murphy, was named favorite animated movie star, while the Fairy Godmother, voiced by Jennifer Saunders, won in the favorite movie villain category.

Perennial favorites took many of the top awards, including many of this year's new categories. Julia Roberts and Johnny Depp won for favorite female and male movie star. Matt LeBlanc and Marg Helgenberger won for favorite male and female TV stars.

"Will & Grace," won for favorite TV comedy. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was named favorite TV drama.

After votes cast via the Internet during the first hour of the live telecast were counted, "Joey" was named favorite new TV comedy, while "Desperate Housewives" won for favorite new TV drama.

The People's Choice Awards, hosted by Jason Alexander and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, were presented at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and broadcast on CBS. The awards covered 38 film, television and music categories, including a number of new ones.

The nominations were determined by editors at Entertainment Weekly, the People's Choice production team and a panel of pop culture fans. Winners were determined by Internet voting.

The complete list of winners:

- Motion picture: "Fahrenheit 9/11"

- Drama motion picture: "The Passion of the Christ"

- Comedy motion picture: "Shrek 2"

- Animated motion picture: "Shrek 2"

- Favorite sequel: "Shrek 2"

- Animated movie star: Donkey in "Shrek 2" (voiced by Eddie Murphy)

- Movie villain: The Fairy Godmother in "Shrek 2" (voiced by Jennifer Saunders)

- Favorite on-screen chemistry: Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in "50 First Dates"

- Female movie star: Julia Roberts

- Male movie star: Johnny Depp

- Female action movie star: Angelina Jolie

- Male action movie star: Will Smith

- Leading lady: Renee Zellweger

- Leading man: Brad Pitt

- Funny female star: Ellen DeGeneres

- Funny male star: Jim Carrey

- Television drama series: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"

- Television comedy series: "Will & Grace"

- New television comedy series: "Joey"

- New television drama series: "Desperate Housewives"

- Female television star: Marg Helgenberger

- Male television star: Matt LeBlanc

- Late night talk show host: David Letterman

- Daytime talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres

- Reality show — competition: "American Idol"

- Reality show — makeover: "Extreme Makeover Home Edition"

- Reality show — 24/7: "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica"

- Crest fans favorite smile: Julia Roberts

- Pantene fans favorite hair: Jennifer Garner

- Cover Girl fans favorite look: Kate Hudson

- Favorite group: U2

- Female singer: Alicia Keys

- Male singer: Usher

- Favorite remake: "The First Cut is the Deepest" by Sheryl Crow

- Favorite combined forces: "Yeah" by Usher/Lil Jon/Ludacris

- Country group: Brooks & Dunn

- Country female singer: Shania Twain

- Country male singer: Tim McGraw

Critics Group Names Eastwood's 'Baby' Best Film

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A group of leading U.S. film critics named director Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" as the best film of 2004, and its star, Hilary Swank, shared best actress honors with Britain's Imelda Staunton in abortion drama "Vera Drake."

The National Society of film Critics picked "Sideways," about two middle-aged men looking for love on a wine-soaked holiday in California, as the runner-up for the year's best movie, and the film earned three top honors.

"Sideways" screenwriters Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor won the award for best screenplay, and co-stars Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen were best supporting actor and supporting actress, respectively.

The 56 members of the National Society of Film Critics gather annually at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City to discuss films and performances; then they vote. The critics work for major newspapers and magazines across the United States.

Early critical picks and other awards often help narrow the list of potential nominees for Oscars, the U.S. film industry's top awards, given out in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

So far, "Million Dollar Baby," "Sideways" and romance "Finding Neverland" have shared some critics' awards. Still to come before the Oscars are the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild awards and other competitions, where films like Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator" figure prominently.

In other categories, The National Society of Film Critics named Senegal's "Moolaade" from director Ousmane Sembene as the year's best foreign language movie, with "House of Flying Daggers" as runner-up and France's "Notre Musique," from director Jean-Luc Godard, as the No. 3 pick.

Payne, who also directed "Sideways," was the runner-up in the best director category to Chinese director Zhang Yimou for his martial arts film, "House of Flying Daggers." Eastwood was No. 3 in the category for best director.

Jamie Foxx was named best actor for two roles, soul singing legend Ray Charles in biopic "Ray," and a taxi driver who is held hostage by a murderer in "Collateral." Runner-up was Paul Giamatti for "Sideways" and No. 3 was Clint Eastwood as an aged trainer who teaches Swank's character to be a champion boxer.

The third spot in the best actress category belonged to Julie Delpy for romance "Before Sunset," which was the No. 3 movie of the year behind "Million Dollar Baby" and "Sideways."

The National Society of Film Critics named "Tarnation" as the year's best non-fiction film, and "House of Flying Daggers" was given the award for cinematography.

Winslet to Star in New Gervais Sitcom -Report

LONDON (Reuters) - "Titantic" star Kate Winslet is to appear in British comedian Ricky Gervais's follow-up to cult sitcom "The Office," The Sun newspaper reported on Saturday.

British actor Jude Law will also star in the sitcom "Extras," which is set in the world of bit-part movie players and sees Gervais playing aging film extra Andy Millman.

"It's great to have Kate Winslet and Jude Law on board as we have so few British people who have made it big in Hollywood, but these are two who have," Gervais told The Sun.

"In 'Extras' Jude and Kate play twisted versions of themselves," Gervais added.

Winslet, 29, has been nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in "Titanic," "Sense and Sensibility" and "Iris."

Last year "The Office" won two Golden Globe awards as well as dominating Britain's BAFTA television awards for a third consecutive year.

The Daily Mirror newspaper also reported Gervais had been offered a part in "Mission Impossible III" by director Jeffrey Abrams.

"I know the director well and he said: 'Do you want a part?' I just replied: 'Yeah, that will be great'," Gervais told the Daily Mirror.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston Separate

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Superstar Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have separated after 4 1/2 years of marriage, but they remain "committed and caring friends," they said on Friday.

The announcement of their split followed months of tabloid stories about spousal ups and downs, including reports that Pitt, 41, wanted to become a father but Aniston, 35, was reluctant to start a family.

Aniston had been photographed recently without her wedding ring, but just two days ago the New York Post splashed a picture of the couple on its front page with a circle around Aniston's hand and the headline: "The Ring's Back On!"

Pitt, one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men, and Aniston, who became a household name on the long-running NBC television comedy "Friends," met on a dinner date in 1998.

They were married in a lavish, celebrity-studded wedding in the seaside California resort of Malibu on July 29, 2000.

News of their breakup came in an understated announcement released late on Friday afternoon through People magazine.

"We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate," they said. "For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media.

"This decision is a result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another. We ask in advance for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months."

Aniston's spokesman said the pair spent the New Year's holiday weekend vacationing together in the Caribbean with her former "Friends" co-star Courteney Cox and her husband, David Arquette.

Pitt, currently starring in the crime caper "Ocean's Twelve," and Aniston, best known for her TV role as Rachel Green in "Friends," also are partners in film production company, Plan B, whose first movie, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," is due out later this year from Warner Bros.

Sixth Oasis Album Due In May

In an interview Friday morning with BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher revealed that May 16 will be the international release date of the band's sixth studio set, its first since 2002's "Heathen Chemistry." Gallagher said the Epic album is finished and has a title, but he declined to unveil it.

The album will feature 12 songs written by all four current members -- Noel, singer Liam Gallagher, bassist Andy Bell and guitarist Gem Archer. Among the tracks Noel said will appear on the album are "The Importance of Being Idle," "Guess God Thinks I'm Able" and "Part of the Queue."

"It's my favorite one of the last four," Gallagher said of the album, "Because we're all contributing to the songwriting now, there's a different feel to it. The only songs that actually sound like Oasis are Andy Bell's."

Gallagher added that the group hasn't yet decided on an initial single. "There was an obvious first single," he said, "but I was singing it. After 12 years of Oasis, Liam thought that might sound a bit odd; people might think he'd have left the band."

Oasis has already confirmed three outdoor stadium shows for this summer in the United Kingdom: June 29 in Glasgow, July 2 in Manchester, England, and July 9 in London. Additional tour plans have yet to be announced.

LORDS OF THE BUNGLE

Hollywood loves lists, especially in awards season - but there's one list it isn't going to be happy about: the Top 15 Biggest Movie Mistakes of 2004.

The British Web site moviemistakes.com, which delights in spotting continuity goofs, says the No. 1 mistake of the year came during the famous train scene in "Spider-Man 2":

At one point, Spidey's mask gets a dirty mark on it, but when the camera cuts away and returns, the spot is mysteriously gone.

You may have never noticed it, but the site's 25-year-old Web master, Jon Sandys, has been making note of such film flubs since he was 17.

He's even published a "Movie Mistakes" book, which includes classic big-screen glitches such as the gas tank that's visible in the back of one of the Roman chariots in "Gladiator."

Sandys' site gets more than 20,000 hits a day, he says, and as of yesterday, visitors had helped him identify 43,466 mistakes from 3,969 films.

They also helped compile the top 15 list by voting for their favorite mistakes, although Sandys admits that he fudged some of the voting, "so that 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' and 'Spider-Man 2' didn't fill the list themselves."

Here are some more of Sandys' favorite 2004 movie blunders:

* "Kill Bill, Vol 2." After The Bride arrives in Bill's house, there's a moment when he's cutting the crusts off a sandwich - at least at first. When the camera angle changes, he's cutting the sandwich in half.

* "Secret Window." When John Turturro pins Johnny Depp's character against a tree with a shovel, you can see that the shovel is made of rubber, because it's bending around Depp's neck.

* "Mean Girls." After a party scene, a character gets frightened and tosses all the popcorn out of a bowl. But in the next shot, the popcorn is back in the bowl.

* "Starsky & Hutch." During the disco scene, Hutch picks up Starsky's badge and waves it at the crowd, but the next moment, the badge is back on the floor.

* "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." When Harry's feet are getting chomped by the magical book with teeth ("The Monster Book of Monsters"), the room's proportions grow and shrink to accommodate the action.

* "Hellboy." At one point, Hellboy tosses Dr. Manning underneath a swiftly closing door that's open just enough for him to roll under. Then Hellboy does battle with a menacing pendulum for about 30 seconds and dives for the door himself, which is still open just as wide.

* "Along Came Polly." There's a miraculously mobile loofah sponge in the scene when Ben Stiller visits Jennifer Aniston's apartment for the first time. The sponge's handle wobbles back and forth in her purse from shot to shot.

CBC on-air personality Wendy Mesley undergoing treatment for breast cancer

TORONTO (CP) - Wendy Mesley, the Gemini-winning CBC journalist and host of the network's investigative consumer show Marketplace, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

"It sucks," Mesley said during an interview on CBC Radio on Friday morning.

"She's working in between her treatments," said CBC spokeswoman Ruth-Ellen Soles. "She's in great spirits and is handling it the way she handles everything else, with gusto and guts and energy and a very positive attitude."

Soles said Mesley learned the news a few months ago. While she has reduced her workload at the CBC, she will be doing Marketplace this week and continues as a backup news reader for The National.

Mesley began her broadcast career in 1976 as a radio reporter in Toronto. She moved to television in '79 with CTV Montreal affiliate CFCF, then to CBC-TV as a legislative reporter in Quebec City. In 1985 she moved to Ottawa as a parliamentary correspondent for The National and later became the anchor for Sunday Report. In 1994 she helped create and host CBC's Undercurrents, a series that looked at the Media and marketing worlds.

In 2001 she switched to CBC's new investigative program Disclosure and in 2002 to Marketplace.

Keaton Brings the 'Noise' at Weekend Box Office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The paranormal thriller "White Noise," which bows in theaters Friday, marks the first wide release to hit the marketplace in two weeks.

As such, the Universal Pictures release might provoke more interest from moviegoers than it normally would. In addition, the poor weather around the country that has been keeping people indoors might encourage some to seek a change of venue at the multiplex.

"White Noise," starring Michael Keaton and directed by British TV veteran Geoffrey Sax, centers on electronic voice phenomenon, a process whereby the dead communicate with the living through household recording devices.

Industry insiders are placing the film's reception in the $12 million-$14 million range, but many suggest that it could do better because it is the only new release in the market. Bowing in 2,258 theaters, it should arrive in either second or third place -- either ahead of or behind Paramount Pictures' "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Set to dominate the box office for a third weekend is Universal's "Meet the Fockers." The Ben Stiller-Robert De Niro comedy sequel has generated more than $170 million after only 14 days in release. The film is likely to drop 50% from the previous frame, putting its weekend gross somewhere in the $20 million range. "Fockers" already has outgrossed its predecessor, 2000's "Meet the Parents," which had a $166.2 million domestic tally, and is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2004.

Many limited releases again are expanding this frame to take advantage of the slowdown in the market.

New Line's "Birth," starring Nicole Kidman, will add 400 playdates to its release schedule. The film, which opened to 550 theaters but subsequently dropped to only five screens, has generated $4.7 million since it bowed Oct. 29. It now can boast of a Golden Globe nomination for Kidman's performance.

Warner Bros. Pictures' "Million Dollar Baby" broadens to 108 theaters from nine. The PG-13 film, from director Clint Eastwood and starring Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, has generated $1.1 million since its Dec. 15 release.

Fox Searchlight will add 500 runs to Bill Condon's "Kinsey," which has been playing most recently on 228 screens. Released Nov. 15, the biopic about the controversial sex researcher Alfred Kinsey has earned $6.8 million to date.

United Artists will expand "Hotel Rwanda" by about 100 screens. The film, which has screened in seven theaters since Dec. 22, has earned $465,832. Starring Don Cheadle, "Hotel Rwanda" follows the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed and protected more than 1,000 Tutsi refugees from the Hutu militia in Rwanda.

ThinkFilm will add screens to its indie release "The Assassination of Richard Nixon," starring Sean Penn. The film, released Dec. 29 in five theaters, has earned $55,255. Newmarket's Sundance acquisition "The Woodsman" expands as well. The R-rated drama starring Kevin Bacon has earned close to $200,000 since its Christmas Eve release.

Samuel Goldwyn Films/ Roadside Attractions will re-expand its cult hit "What the #$*! Do We Know!?" The film rang in the New Year by crossing the $10 million mark.

Also, three new films bow in limited release this weekend.

Zeitgeist opens "Travellers and Magicians" in San Francisco and New York before expanding to Los Angeles at the end of the month, Castle Hill bows the Canadian drama "Emile" in New York, and Indican Pictures opened the drama "Solitude" on Thursday in New York.

Sox First Baseman Won't Give Up Ball

BOSTON - Calling it "my retirement fund," Boston first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz stashed in his safe deposit box the ball used in the final out that sealed the Red Sox's first World Series championship in 86 years. Now, his boss wants it back.

"We want it to be part of Red Sox archives or museums so it can be shared with the fans," Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino told The Boston Globe on Thursday. "We would hope he would understand the historical nature of it."

Mientkiewicz seems to understand it very well, which is exactly why he held on to it.

Historic baseballs have recently fetched impressive sums. The baseball Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk banged off the foul pole in the 1975 World Series sold for $113,373. The ball Barry Bonds hit for his 73rd home run went for $450,000. The most expensive baseball of all time is Mark McGwire's 70th homer, which went for $3 million.

Mientkiewicz said he thinks the Boston's World Series ball has more value than a home run ball.

"Those are important and all, don't get me wrong, but there are always going to be more home runs," he said. "This is something that took 86 years, and 86 years is a long time. Personally, I went through hell and back this year. But winning the World Series is something I'm going to remember for a long time."

Mientkiewicz came to Boston from Minnesota in a three-team midseason deal that sent Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs.

Mientkiewicz, who batted .215 for Boston, was used primarily as a late innings defensive replacement, and has indicated his unhappiness with the role.

Boston broke its championship drought by beating the New York Yankees in seven games in the AL championship series, then sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the World Series.

After the game, Mientkiewicz said he put the ball in his locker, then gave it to his wife, Jodi, who put it in her purse. The next day, the ball was authenticated by Major League Baseball.

Carmine Tiso, spokesman for MLB, told the Globe that Mientkiewicz owns the baseball, though Joe Januszewski, Red Sox director of corporate partnerships, said he thinks the team owns it.

Mientkiewicz couldn't be reached for comment Thursday by the Globe after Lucchino said the club wanted the ball back. But on Wednesday, he left no doubt that he believes the ball belongs to him.

"I know this ball has a lot of sentimental value," Mientkiewicz said. "I hope I don't have to use it for the money. It would be cool if we have kids someday to have it stay in our family for a long time. But I can be bought. I'm thinking, there's four years at Florida State for one of my kids. At least."

Rob Thomas Solo Debut Due In May

Matchbox twenty frontman Rob Thomas will release his as-yet-untitled solo debut in May via Atlantic Records. The set features a guest spot by singer/songwriter John Mayer on guitar on an unnamed track, according to Thomas' spokesperson. Other songs tipped to make the cut are "Lonely No More" and "Ever the Same."

The process of writing for a solo project as opposed to a band has been a liberating one, Thomas told Billboard last March. "First of all, it doesn't have to have two guitars, a bass and a drum on every song," he said. "After a while you want to try something different. It's all about not having a framework that you have to fit into. It doesn't have to sound like a band."

The album will feature production by Virgin chairman/CEO Matt Serletic, who has worked regularly with matchbox twenty since its 1996 debut, "Yourself or Someone Like You."

The other members of matchbox have lately been busy with side projects, including guitarist Kyle Cook's the New Left, which self-released its debut EP, "Let Go," in late October.

Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood among nominees for Directors Guild

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Martin Scorsese, shut out five times previously for the top prize from his filmmaking peers, has earned another shot at the Directors Guild of America Awards.

Scorsese earned a nomination Thursday for the guild's best-director honour for his sprawling epic The Aviator, a film biography starring Leonardo DiCaprio as aviation pioneer and Hollywood rebel Howard Hughes.

Also nominated was Clint Eastwood for his boxing drama Million Dollar Baby; Marc Forster for Finding Neverland, a whimsical look at the inspirations behind J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan; Taylor Hackford for the Ray Charles film biography Ray; and Alexander Payne for the quirky road-trip flick Sideways.

The winner will be announced at the guild's 57th annual dinner Jan. 29, one of Hollywood's warmups for the Academy Awards on Feb. 27.

The guild honours have a good track record at predicting who will go home with the best-director Academy Award. Only six times since 1949 has the guild recipient failed to go on to win the Oscar.

Scorsese generally has been viewed as the front-runner to win both the guild prize and the best-directing Oscar. He has been nominated five times before by the guild and four times by academy voters, but he has never won either honour.

The guild honoured Scorsese with a lifetime-achievement award in 2003, when he also was nominated for Gangs of New York but lost to Rob Marshall for Chicago.

Eastwood, who also stars with Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby, earned his second-straight guild nomination following 2003's Mystic River. He won the guild prize and the best-director Oscar for 1992's Unforgiven.

Hackford, previously nominated for 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman, was a surprise nominee this time. While Ray star Jamie Foxx has received great awards buzz, Hackford generally has been overlooked at earlier Hollywood honours, including December's Golden Globe nominations.

Forster and Payne, both first-time guild nominees, also received best-director nominations for the Golden Globes, whose awards ceremony is Jan. 16.

'Anchorman' Takes Seat at Top of Video Charts

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," starring Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate, was the nation's best-renting DVD last week, according to data issued Wednesday.

DreamWorks' newsroom spoof generated about $10.3 million in consumer rental spending, during its first five days on shelves, according to Video Store magazine data for the week ended Jan. 2. It was also the nation's best-selling DVD, according to Nielsen VideoScan.

The No. 2 DVD seller was "Resident Evil: Apocalypse." The Sony actioner, starring Milla Jovovich, also generated about $7.9 million at the rental counter during its first five days in release, according to Video Store magazine.

"Garden State," starring Natalie Portman and Zach Braff, debuted at No. 4 on VideoScan's DVD sales chart, and generated about $4.1 million in rental spending, according to Video Store magazine.

The indie thriller "Open Water," from director Chris Kentis, was the fifth-best-selling DVD during its debut week in release.

In yet another demonstration of the popularity of TV-to-DVD product, HBO Home Video's "Sex and the City: Season Six, Part 2" was the nation's sixth-best-selling DVD its debut week on store shelves, according to VideoScan.

The Couch Potato Report - January 7th, 2005

In The Couch Potato Report this week there are 4 of my favourite films of last year, but this isn't a best of list!

No, it isn't a best of list as I am not a fan of best of lists. It is just a coincidence that between the last Couch Potato Report and this one four of my favourite films of 2004 have been released.

Now, if you have been spending time with loved ones and enjoying the holidays, as I have, think of this week as a look at some of the films you may have missed over the past fourteen days.

And you have missed some good movies. Four of my favourite films of last year in fact.

So lets get to those four, two other films that you might have missed, starting with ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY.

After DODGEBALL, ANCHORMAN was the funniest film of 2004.

Will Farrell from OLD SCHOOL and ELF is Ron Burgundy, a macho, self centered news anchor from the 1970s.

The fact that it is set in the 1970's provides some laughs, but it is the supporting cast, and their idiotic male chauvinist attitude that offers the majority of the films many humourous moments, especially when a woman arrives with ambitions to become an anchor herself, she threatens the male-dominated newsroom.

Remember it is the male chauvinistic 1970's here.

At times ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY is hit and miss with it's comedy, but it was more hit than miss for me.

As I said it was the second funniest film of 2004, and one of my favourites.

OPEN WATER isn't funny, but it is one of the most suspenseful films of
the year, and another one of my favourites.

If you have ever been looking for an excuse not to go Scuba diving, OPEN WATER is it!

In the film a young couple is accidentally abandoned during an open-sea diving excursion.

Eventually the couple realizes that they are in the midst of some unwanted company and they end up treading water for most of the film's brisk 79-minute running time.

It might not be as scary as JAWS was the first time you saw that classic shark film, but OPEN WATER has a few great scares all it's own.

OPEN WATER is a perfect excuse to stay on land.

DE-LOVELY, on the other hand, can't be described by using the word perfect in any context, but I still found myself thoroughly entertained by this musical portrait of American composer Cole Porter.

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.

The always radiant Ashley Judd shines as Linda Lee, one of the many loves of Cole Porter's life, and singers Elvis Costello, Alanis Morissette, Diana Krall and Robbie Williams appear in the film singing Porter's timeless songs.

No, DE-LOVELY isn't perfect, but does every good movie have to be?

So, you have now heard about three of my favourite films of 2004, so let me get to the movie that I enjoyed the most last year.

GARDEN STATE may be one of the smallest films of 2004, in terms of how much exposure it received, but I still loved it.

Zach Braff from TV's SCRUBS is an scarred young actor who travels back to New Jersey - the Garden State - after nine years away for his mother's funeral.

While there he avoids his bitter father, choosing instead to party with old friends.

Along the way he meets a woman with more than a few problems of her own and the two are able to provide each other with a little comfort.

Natalie Portman from CLOSER and BEAUTIFUL GIRLS is superb as the woman and, without trying to be cliche, I both laughed and cried at her performance, and the entire movie.

GARDEN STATE has tremendous visual images, realistic, lively dialogue, and a great cast. It is a fresh and funny movie that is my favourite film of 2004..

The fact that I have just highly recommended GARDEN STATE might cause you to have raised expectations when you see it. I hope it lives up to what you expect it to be.

Because as I've mentioned before, low expectations can sometimes make a movie seem better than it is.

That is certainly the case with WIMBLEDON, the new romantic comedy from the folks who gave us NOTTING HILL and BRIDGET JONES' DIARY.

My low expectations of the picture allowed me to enjoy it more than I ever thought I would, and subsequently, now allow me to recommend it to you.

In WIMBLEDON, Paul Bettany from A BEAUTIFUL MIND and KIRSTEN DUNST from the SPIDER-MAN movies are professional tennis players who fall in love at the All England Tennis Championships in Wimbledon.

Even though the film isn't as good as it could be, it has more laughs and more genuine suspense that you will ever expect, and you will find yourself enjoying it.

Yes, I liked WIMBLEDON.

But I didn't like TROY, and I doubt you will either.

TROY stars Hollywood's hunky hunks Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom and is based on Homer's The Iliad.

In the book, and the film, Trojan prince Paris makes off with Helen, the wife of a Spartan ruler. The ruler's brother Agamemnon then prods him into enraged retaliation.

But the actress they cast as Helen is so poorly underwritten that there is no reason to believe that anyone would want to take her away, or go to war to get her back.

So the movie stalls there, and Pitt does what he can as the warrior Achilles, but after many, many, many fight scenes the film just starts to drag.

And the last thing you want is to have a film that is almost three hours dragging.

But drag it does and the result is a film that is just a waste of time.

It might take a bit longer that three hours to read Homer's The Iliad, but the end result is something that isn't a waste of time.

I also don't feel that ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY, OPEN WATER, DE-LOVELY, GARDEN STATE and WIMBLEDON are a waste of your time. They are all available now, along with TROY at your local movie store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

The man who thrilled us with THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS bores us with
THE VILLAGE. In M. Night Shyamalan's latest a rural village is
attacked by potentially menacing creatures.

WITHOUT A PADDLE won't bore you, but this comedic story about three
friends who go on canoe trip to find a treasure won't make you laugh
either.

On the other hand, PAPARAZZI won't bore you or make you laugh, but it
might entertain you. In the movie some menacing paparazzi photographers
injure a movie star's wife and he takes revenge.

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!

'I'm Having The Time Of My Life Out Here'

SEATTLE - Are you ready for Star Wars: Episode Three? Don't get excited just yet, the new movie doesn't open until May.

But for one Seattle fan, it's never too early, or too cold, to start the wait.

Jeff Twieden doesn't care that it's freezing outside. He's camping out in front of the Cinerama Theater in downtown Seattle, waiting for Episode Three to open. It's only 22 weeks away.

"I've got another sleeping bag coming, so that's sleeping bag number three," he says. "It's better to be too hot than too cold."

In 1999, Twieden made international headlines when he and another fan camped out for months in this same spot to see the first of George Lucas' prequel trilogy.

"A lot of people say 'Get a life,' stuff like that. But I'm having the time of my life out here."

Twieden thinks prequel episodes one and two were a mixed bag, but he can sum up the potential of Episode Three in one word.

"Vader, baby. Vader."

In the film, the villainous Darth Vader makes his first onscreen appearance in over 20 years.

"We all want to see Vader kick some ass," he says.

There's a potential problem in the long wait. Twieden isn't even sure Episode Three will play the Cinerama.

"That's the assumption I'm going on," he says. "If it isn't, I'll be more than happy to move to a different theater. It's really about the wait."

Rain or shine, through sleet or snow, the wait will last another 134 days.

"Star Wars is about independence and freedom," Twieden says. "And that's really what this wait is about. That complete and utter independence."

DVD continues spinning success

LAS VEGAS — DVD may have driven the home video industry to a record year in 2004, but some industry observers see hurdles ahead in 2005.

Overall home video revenue rose to nearly $24.5 billion, up 9% from 2003. But prices continued to drop, reducing hit titles to commodities sold at supermarkets and truck stops.

An estimated 1.2 billion DVDs were sold last year, but no individual title could match the pace set in 2003 by Finding Nemo.

These trends have led some to question whether DVD has peaked. If so, that has ramifications for the studios, which rely on DVD to carry some movies to the break-even plateau or over it to profitability.

As DVD reaches new converts (about 70% of homes have players), those newcomers are expected to buy fewer DVDs than early adopters of the format. And those who have had DVD players for a while may be getting pickier about their purchases even as prices of some new releases drop below $15.

"In the past several years, you could just about throw out anything and everything, and it would sell," says Scott Hettrick, editor in chief of DVD Exclusive, a trade publication. "Now, I think it is going to require a lot more thought and careful strategy on the part of studio executives, because we're in a mature market that is saturated with DVD programming."

Has DVD peaked? That depends on your point of view. Based on numbers of homes with players and total number of DVDs and players sold, the format's popularity continues to rise.

But if you look at the average number of DVDs bought by the DVD homes, the peak of 25 was in 1998; the past few years it has been about 15. Annual sales growth in 2000 was 136%; last year's growth was about 23%.

And sales of the average new feature DVD dropped 6%, says Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research. Still, "DVD continues to grow at double-digit rates, and we see no reason to expect that there will be an actual decline in video sales in the foreseeable future."

With more than 20,000 DVD titles released in the past two years, "the glut of product not only created price erosion but also an issue of shelf space," Hettrick says. "If it's not selling in the first week, it's gone."

Bulky DVD sets of TV series added to crowding but were snatched up. That category's big hit of the holiday shopping season was the first Seinfeld DVDs. About 4 million copies of the first three seasons of the show were sold, making it the highest-grossing and fastest-selling TV DVD so far, says Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Benjamin Feingold.

"Seinfeld became a huge event as opposed to a normal TV DVD where you ship a couple of hundred thousand units," Feingold says. "And Dave Chappelle (Chappelle's Show Season One) did fantastic."

A problem is that "when you buy a six-disc set of a TV series, you have to spend a lot more time watching that before you are buying another one," Hettrick says. "It might be cutting into the business of selling other DVDs."

Studios could stoke revenue with new DVDs that deliver high-definition video that's crisper and more three-dimensional than current DVD. Early adopters might spring for expensive new disc players and, once again, buy new versions of their favorite films.

But there are plans for two different high-definition video disc formats, the Blu-Ray Disc championed by Sony, Disney, Panasonic and others, and the HD-DVD, supported by Warner Home Video, Universal, Paramount and Toshiba.

A format war probably will confuse consumers.

"I'm still hopeful that we are going to find a way to get to one format," says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "If not, it would be a real shame."

Top selling titles of 2004
1. Shrek 2
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3. The Passion of the Christ
4. Star Wars Trilogy
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban
6. Spider-Man 2
7. The Day After Tomorrow
8. Elf
9. Brother Bear
10. American Wedding

Top selling DVDs of all time
1. Finding Nemo, 2003, 28 million
2. Shrek 2, 2004, 4 million

Top-selling TV DVD
Seinfeld, 4 million

BIG GIG

Natalie Portman set to star in the Wachowski brothers' upcoming film, V Is for Vendetta. The film is expected to be released in fall 2005.

Album Sales Post First Yearly Gain in Four Years

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Led by Usher's blockbuster release "Confessions," U.S. album sales rose nearly 2 percent in 2004 -- posting their first gain in four years even as digital music downloads continued to explode, Nielsen SoundScan reported on Wednesday.

The upswing in sales of recorded music followed a three-year slump marked by costly litigation, rampant piracy and consolidation among the major labels.

The year's best-selling albums came from a diverse range of acts, led by pop singer Usher, whose album "Confessions" spent nine weeks at the top of the charts and sold nearly 8 million copies, according to the retail tracking service.

Rounding out the top five were jazz/pop vocalist Norah Jones, rap artist Eminem and country artists Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson. By comparison, the best-selling live music tours last year were by veteran performers like Prince, Madonna and Celine Dion.

U.S. album sales for the 52-week period ended Jan. 2, 2005, totaled 666.7 million units, up 1.6 percent from 656.2 million the year before, Nielsen SoundScan said. Sales of the CD format alone, accounting for 98 percent of the total, rose 2.3 percent compared to 2003.

Moreover, CD sales grew despite a quantum leap in sales of music downloaded from the Internet during the past year -- more than 140 million digital tracks in all -- a figure roughly equivalent to 14 million albums.

Downloads of whole albums in 2004 topped 5.5 million copies.

For the second half of the year alone, SoundScan reported downloads of 91.4 million singles, well over three times the 19.2 million digital tracks sold in the same period of 2003.

And for the final sales week of 2004, digital downloads hit a record 6.7 million tracks, a massive increase from the weekly average of 300,000 counted by SoundScan when it first began tracking Internet sales in mid-2003.

Rock band Hoobastank led the pack for online song sales, with nearly 380,000 downloads of its hit single "The Reason" last year, followed by Maroon 5's "This Love" and the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started.."

In terms of album sales, SoundScan said the musical genres showing the hottest year-to-year growth in 2004 were Latin and country, each posting double-digit increases.

Among the major record labels, Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal remained No. 1 in market share, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total album sales in 2004.

The growth in music sales contrasted with a lackluster year for the live touring industry, which saw a decline of nearly 3 percent in the number of tickets purchased in 2004 as the average price of concert seats rose 3.5 percent to top $52, according to trade publication Pollstar.

Canada wins first WJHC gold since 1997

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (CP) - The Canadian junior men's hockey team put on a dominating display to win the gold medal at the world junior championship Tuesday with a 6-1 win over Russia.

After finishing a heartbreaking second the last three years in this tournament, Canada left nothing in doubt by scoring four times in the second period for a five-goal lead heading into the final 20 minutes.

The sellout crowd of 11,862 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena - the majority of them Canadian - began singing goodbye to the Russian team midway through the third period.

They erupted at the final buzzer as the Canadian players mobbed goaltender Jeff Glass, hugging each other after throwing their sticks and gloves in the air while Queen's classic song We Are The Champions blared.

IIHF president Rene Fasel and Wayne Gretzky then presented captain Michael Richards with the championship trophy. Richards promptly skated it over to his teammates, who took turns thrusting it in the air.

Gretzky handed out the gold medals before players linked arms and sang O Canada in a tradition that began in 1982, when the Canadian team won in Minnesota, but had to sing the national anthem when it went missing.

''I'm so happy for the kids,'' coach Brent Sutter told TSN. ''They played a hell of a tournament right from the get go.''

Russia had no answer for a Canadian defence that gave up only 19 shots on Glass.

It was the first world junior title for Canada since 1997, when the country capped a run of five straight gold medals.

Canada scored three power-play goals and its penalty killers held the vaunted Russian power-play to one lone goal in the first period.

The Canadian team played with controlled emotion and relentless determination.

Ryan Getzlaf, Danny Syvret, Jeff Carter, Patrice Bergeron, Anthony Stewart and Dion Phaneuf scored for Canada, which lost the 2002 and 2003 championship games to Russia.

''It's an unbelievable feeling,'' Carter told TSN. ''This is what we were going for and we got it now.''

Getzlaf, who was a standout in the game for Canada, and Andrew Ladd each had two assists.

''It's amazing,'' Getzlaf told TSN. ''We were the team on the other side last year. This is our time now.''

Bergeron was named tournament MVP while Phaneuf was chosen the top defenceman. Both were named to the all-star team, too, along with Carter.

Russian defenceman Alexei Emelin scored a power-play goal for Russia in the first period.

Star Alexander Ovechkin was used sparingly in the second period and at the start of the third period, he was out of his skates and in his track pants on the Russian bench because of a right shoulder injury.

Canada put the game away in the second period with four unanswered goals - two of them on the power play - and chased Russian goaltender Anton Khudobin at 3:33 after the Minnesota Wild draft pick gave up three goals on 15 shots. He was replaced by Andrei Kuznetsov.

Phaneuf's shot from the blue-line beat Kuznetsov's outstretched glove at 13:19 to make it 6-1 for Canada. Stewart tipped in a Nigel Dawes pass at 8:54.

Kuznetsov gave up a long rebound on a Sidney Crosby blast and Corey Perry chipped it over to Bergeron who had an open net at 7:53.

Carter whipped a sharp-angled shot from the boards by Khudobin to spark Canada's outburst and send the Russian goaltender to the bench.

Canadian goaltender Jeff Glass didn't face a lot of shots again behind a formidable defence, but he did make a glove same from close range on Enver Lisin after Carter's goal.

Canada had a five-minute man advantage late in the second period after Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Dimitri Vorobiev put his stick in Dawes' face and was given a major and a game misconduct.

Emelin pulled Russia within a goal before the first period expired. His shot through traffic with 32 seconds remaining gave Russia a power-play goal.

Canada had taken a 2-0 lead on Syvret's power-play goal at eight minutes. Braydon Coburn's shot on net hit the end boards and Syvret collected it and banked it off Anton Khudobin.

Getzlaf scored 51 seconds into the game when he took a Carter drop pass and blasted it by Khudobin.

Canada killed off a 1:12 worth of a two-man Russian advantage early in the first period after Perry took an interference minor and Shea Weber hauled down Evgeni Malkin for a tripping penalty.

This Canadian junior team was the country's best in a long time and arguably the best ever. The NHL lockout combined with spike in talent in Canadian players born in 1985 made the 2005 team a formidable one. Players who might not have otherwise been available to the Canadian team from their NHL clubs were still playing in the junior ranks.

The closest team in depth and talent to this one may have been the team in 1995 - the last time there was an NHL labour disruption - and Canada dominated that tournament in Red Deer, Alta.

Canada outscored the opposition 32-5 during the round-robin portion of this tournament to finish first in Pool B. A 3-1 semifinal win over the Czech Republic, in which Glass faced only 11 shots and fewer quality scoring chances, sent Canada to the final of this tournament for the fourth straight year.

While the team's road to the final looked easy on paper, it wasn't without adversity as defence Cam Barker was sent home after three games with mononucleosis, forward Jeremy Colliton was able to play just over one period with a knee injury and defenceman Brent Seabrook played through a shoulder injury he suffered on the first day of selection camp.

Sutter, a Stanley Cup winner during his 18-year NHL career and a former international player for Canada, guided the team with a firm, but intelligent hand.

This was Canada's oldest team at the world juniors and with a record number of returning players from last year's tournament in Helsinki, they knew the drill and what was at stake.

A dozen players on this squad played for Canada last year and suffered the disappointment of wasting a two-goal lead in the third period. The U.S. scored three times in the period to win 4-3.

Attendance at the 2005 tournament was 195,771, which fell short of the record set by Halifax in 2003 at 242,173. The hundreds of Canadians who made the trek to Grand Forks, two hours south of the Manitoba border, swelled the number of spectators in the stands.

Tuesday's gold-medal game was as close to a home game for the Canadian team as it could be without actually being in the country.

The 2006 world junior hockey championship will be held in Vancouver, Kamloops and Kelowna, B.C.

'24' offers usual surprises

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Surprise is what makes 24 tick, and there should be plenty of it as Jack Bauer embarks on a fourth season of saving the world from terrorists.

Or maybe this time he won't. With Agent Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, you can never be sure.

"There's a sort of roiling internal conflict put into the body of a hero," says executive producer Evan Katz, describing Bauer's "dark corners" as being more traditional for a villain. "You're not sure what he will do, not sure how far he will go."

Last season, Bauer shot up heroin, cut off the arm of his Counter Terrorist Unit partner, shot a man in custody to get him to hand over information more quickly and threatened to expose a terrorist's daughter to a deadly virus, just to name a few. But he also saved the world from that killer virus.

This season, set 18 months later, Bauer has kicked his drug habit. Booted out of CTU, he has a new job working for Secretary of Defence James Heller, played by William Devane.

Most of the series' previous villains, including President David Palmer's scheming wife, Sherry, are no more. Gone too, at least for now, are cast members Dennis Haysbert, who portrayed Palmer for three seasons, and Elisha Cuthbert, who played Bauer's constantly imperilled daughter, Kim.

Palmer decided not to run for re-election after the death of his evil wife. Katz would not discuss where Kim went, although both characters are still alive and therefore could return at any time.

Fox is premiering the new season of 24 as a "2"-day, "4"-hour event. In Canada, the show airs Sunday, Jan. 9 on Global, and Monday, Jan. 10 on CH stations. Then, beginning Jan. 17, the remaining hour-long episodes - each consisting of an hour in the life of Bauer - will air Monday nights without repeats or pre-emptions.

New this season, along with veteran character actor Devane, are Kim Raver as Heller's daughter and Bauer's new love interest, Audrey, and Alberta Watson as CTU chief Erin Driscoll, who of course totally disapproves of Bauer.

There are also spanking new CTU headquarters and a whole slew of new villains, including Nestor Serrano and Shohreh Aghdashloo (Oscar-nominated for 2003's The House of Sand and Fog) as a Middle Eastern husband and wife plotting something dastardly.

"There's no question there are more wholesale changes than usual," Katz said.

He noted the story lines involving President Palmer and Kim Bauer had "run their course" and that "catching the audience by surprise" remains a critical element of the series.

Not wanting to give away those surprises, Katz can't offer much elaboration. He does say the new season - "Day 4" as it's called, because each season covers 24 hours - will be "big emotionally," but that it's important to avoid making the action too fanciful - like over-the-top James Bond-style thrillers.

It's vital for the tension of the series that "it stay true to the real-time format," Katz explains. Yet that can be a challenge to the show's authenticity, particularly because the action takes place in Los Angeles, where traffic can be snarled around the clock.

"We stretch things as much as we can. We have helicopters and, don't forget, we count the time in commercial breaks," laughs Katz, whose previous credits include the quirky monster-chasing series Special Unit 2, which aired on UPN several years ago.

The new CTU headquarters set - an elaborate, multistorey maze of steel, glass and concrete with splashes of peacock blue and ruby red brightening its sleek design - looks like something any Bond movie would be proud to feature.

On this day, Raver's Audrey was challenging the methods and motivations of the CTU staff, while Devane waited off-camera for a later scene.

Wry and tough, Devane has the perfect manner for someone who's not supposed to give too much away.

"I'm the kind of secretary of defence the country needs," is about all he'd say about his character.

Devane's take on the plot?

"Jack works for me. I have a daughter who's my aide, and son who's kind of a hippie guy. We came to L.A. for something - I forget what - and all hell breaks loose and Jack takes charge."

He grins. "That's the one thing I've learned: Jack takes charge and he gets it done!"

Jennifer Garner Ill With Viral Infection

NEW YORK - Actress Jennifer Garner is ill with a viral infection, forcing her to cancel TV appearances promoting her new film, "Elektra," according to reports.

Publicist Nicole King said she didn't know if Garner would attend the premiere of the film in Las Vegas Saturday, USA Today reported.

King said Garner, 32, was seeing a doctor Tuesday. The season premiere of her TV series "Alias" was set for 9 p.m. Wednesday on ABC.

Sheryl Crow Hatching Two Albums This Year

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Sheryl Crow is coming back with a vengeance. After sitting out much of 2004, she has not one, but two albums ready to go for 2005.

"I want to put out an artist record first and then a pop record in the fall," she says. "I'm going to hand both my records in (to Interscope) probably in the last bit of January."

So what makes an "artist" record different from a "pop" record? Crow laughs and says, "Probably the art record will never get any airplay. It's just a really heartfelt, stripped-down, no-bells-and-whistles record that lyrically probably has heavier content than maybe a pop record does."

She adds that she still loves writing pop songs, "but for me, just for a long time, I've been wanting to sit down and write songs that I feel compelled to write."

She figures that the success of 2003's "The Very Best of Sheryl Crow" (which has sold 3.2 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan) allows her "to put out a record that's maybe not as commercial."

Given her very public romantic relationship with cyclist Lance Armstrong, she says it is no surprise that her mood is upbeat these days -- and it shows in her music.

"I am writing a lot more love songs because I'm really happy in my life, and I'm in a really positive relationship, but there's also so much stuff to write about in the world. It's a really interesting time to be an artist."

She adds that any performer now has to guard against the cult of celebrity. "People are having such an adverse reaction to celebrities that to be a celebrity is a negative term, and to be an artist, you have to fight that part of it. For me, in order to find a way to reach people in a medium that's based on commerciality, but to also say something, is a real interesting question and really exciting."

Bill Murray Scoffs at 'Difficult' Label

NEW YORK - Bill Murray gets defensive when told he has a reputation for being difficult. "If it keeps obnoxious people away, that's fine," he tells Time magazine in its editions on sale Monday. "It makes me think of that line you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. People say this to you with a straight face, and I always say, 'Who. Wants. Flies?'"

Murray, the star of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," grew up in a blue-collar family and suggested his outbursts are generally spurred by an empathy for the underdog.

Recently on the set of his still-untitled film for director Jim Jarmusch, Murray got into a fracas with the location manager when he arrived at a rented house for a scene with child actors and discovered that there was no heat. When he started a fire in the fireplace, the location manager told him to stop.

"'Who are you?'" Murray told her. "She said, 'I'm locations.' I said, 'Well, if locations had done their job and made sure it was warm enough for these people, we wouldn't be lighting a fire in the fireplace.'"

But at the wrap party, Murray approached the woman again. "I said, 'You know, we had our moment, and I don't apologize for that for a second.'" But she had excelled at other aspects of her job, and Murray told her so. "I wanted to let her know I could see it both ways."

ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Look out, movie fans, it's "Wars" at the box office this year.

Hollywood hopes to have its biggest-grossing year ever in 2005 with the final installment in the "Star Wars" franchise — "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" — leading the pack.

"Everybody is looking at it as the year's biggest surefire blockbuster," said Gitesh Pandya, editor of boxofficeguru.com, which tracks ticket sales.

"It's the final 'Star Wars' movie, so even people who didn't like the last two will come out for this one. And it's the closest to the original 'Star Wars,' the one that everybody loved."

If that holds true, the sixth film in the famed sci-fi series could top 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," which is the fifth top-grossing film of all time with $924.5 million worldwide.

In addition, the excitement generated by George Lucas' last hurrah, to be released May 19, could spur film fans to go to the movies more often this summer, analysts believe.

And there plenty of high-profile sci-fi, action and superhero flicks to fill theater seats, leading off with "Batman Begins," Warner Bros.' big-budget bid in June to revive the Cape Crusader's box-office magic.

"The 'Batman' franchise was run into the ground in 1997 when Arnold Schwarzenegger played Mr. Freeze," Pandya told The Post, referring to "Batman and Robin," which starred George Clooney.

"This new one [starring Christian Bale] will be a darker film. A lot of comic-book fans are really looking forward to it."

In fact, sequels and remakes more than ever will play a huge part of the year's box-office bravado as Hollywood plays it ultra-safe, relying on "comfort" movies and characters film fans are familiar with.

They include Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise; Tim Burton's "Willy Wonka" remake, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"; and a remake of "The Bad News Bears."

There's also "The Producers," with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick; "King Kong" from "Lord of the Rings" whiz Peter Jackson; "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo"; "Saw 2"; "The Amityville Horror"; and "The Longest Yard."

"The Pink Panther" will get an update, courtesy of Steve Martin, who reprises Peter Sellers' bumbling Inspector Clouseau.

Even Paris Hilton is involved in a remake — she's one of the stars of "House of Wax," an update of the 1953 Vincent Price shocker.

"It's going to be more of the same," said Brandon Grey, president of boxofficemojo.com, which keeps tabs on the movie biz. "Lots of remakes — especially horror remakes — family films, computer animated films."

Nor have the studios grown tired of revamping old TV favorites.

Nicole Kidman gets her shot as nose-twitching Samantha Stevens in "Bewitched"; Jessica Simpson will wiggle around at Daisy Duke in "The Dukes of Hazzard"; and Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps will try to do Jackie Gleason and Art Carney proud in "The Honeymooners."

ON WITH THE SHOWS

January. The coldest month of the year. The holidays are over. It's way too early to even think about spring.

But don't despair.

January is a great time for watching TV. It's what the networks call midseason, when an amazing 30 new or returning series will debut.

So grab the remote. These shows will keep you warm.

Alias
Wednesday, Jan. 5, 9 p.m., ABC

Poor "Alias" fans have waited eight months to find out what's up with Jennifer Garner's superspy character, Sydney Bristow. And on Wednesday, they'll finally get their fix. This season, watch for Sydney to do some on-screen smooching with fellow spook Michael Vaughn, who's played by Garner's real-world ex, Michael Vartan - the guy she threw over for current flame Ben Affleck. Next week, you can check out Garner's first action-movie star turn at the multiplex, in the superhero flick "Elektra" - although that would require going outside.

Wickedly Perfect
Thursday, Jan. 6, 8 p.m., CBS

Martha Stewart won't be out of jail until March, and who knows when her planned reality show with "Survivor" whiz Mark Burnett will take off. In the meantime, we have "Wickedly Perfect," in which 12 contestants move into an opulent Greenwich, Conn., mansion and compete in categories like party planning, cooking and flower arranging. For the first show, the contestants were given 24 hours to make a display out of 3,000 apples - and most didn't sleep till they were done. "I think some of them forgot they were on camera," recalls host Joan Lunden of "Good Morning America" fame. "The first night, they were hiding pots and pans from each other. I was watching them in the control room, and I was just amazed. The producer said, 'Joan, the game has begun.'"

24
Sunday, Jan. 9, 8 p.m., Fox

You won't see many familiar faces when the fourth season of "24" kicks off next Sunday. In fact, Kiefer Sutherland is the only major star who's returning. The rest of the characters have been variously killed or arrested, making way for some impressive new faces, including Shohreh Aghdashloo, who got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for last year's "House of Sand and Fog." "For the first time in my career, I'm doing action scenes,"Aghdashloo tells the Post. "I've been jumping up and down like I'm in a James Bond movie." Despite all these new characters, the format of the show hasn't changed. As with the other seasons, each episode takes place over one hour of real time. This year, the adventure begins with the explosion of a commuter train.

The Surreal Life
Sunday, Jan. 9, 9 p.m., VH1

After putting Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis, Flavor Flav and Charo through the wringer in previous seasons, VH1 has put together a wacky new mix of C-list celebs for the third season of "Surreal Life." This time, Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer, Christopher "Peter Brady" Knight and the pro wrestler Chyna are among the housemates. Rapper Da Brat was also there, and she got in a big fight with former Go-Go Jane Wiedlin toward the end. "Da Brat felt like Jane and Chris Knight were washed-up old people and she didn't want to be associated with that," says another houseguest, Swedish model (and Pam Anderson ex) Marcus Schenkenberg. "Jane was upset about that, and she wanted an apology. Which she didn't get."

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Monday, Jan. 17, 9 p.m., PBS

There's no mistaking a Ken Burns documentary, with those mysterious old photographs and letters read by famous celebrity voices. His gripping programs on the Civil War, baseball and jazz all brought new viewers to PBS. Now Burns is back with a four-hour look at the first great African-American heavyweight boxer, who caused race riots when he knocked out the white champion in a 1910 bout. "This is a story about a black man who beat white men and also married a white woman, flaunting his race in a decade when things were worse than ever for black Americans," Burns tells the Post. The New Hampshire filmmaker got Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Bob Thornton and Ed Harris to read for this documentary. Wynton Marsalis wrote original music as well.

The Apprentice
Thursday, Jan. 20, 10 p.m., NBC

Donald Trump says he can never tell which "Apprentice" characters are going to be popular - or unpopular. "I didn't even know Omarosa was going to be such a great character until the audience started reacting to her,"Trump tells the Post. "You never know who people are going to love or hate."That said, The Donald has some favorite contestants of his own for the show's third season. Keep your eyes on Chris, a self-made real-estate investor from Las Vegas, and on Erin, a Villanova-educated lawyer from Philadelphia. "Erin is tough, abrasive, rude, nasty - and also really good-looking,"Trump says. And as for Chris, "he's very dynamic - to the point that everyone else was like, 'Give me a break!' "

The Simple Life 3: The Interns
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 8:30 p.m., Fox

Now that the ditzy debutantes Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have thoroughly offended everyone in the South and Midwest with the first two seasons of their reality show, the dynamic duo are set to do the same on the East Coast. For their third season, the girls boarded a Greyhound bus and traveled around the Eastern Seaboard, getting in trouble at a slew of unfortunate businesses, ranging from the airport to a small TV station where they take over as weather girls. Working indoors was something new for Hilton and Richie, who toiled on a farm in the first season. "I'm just over doing manual labor," Richie told a reporter recently. "We don't want to get dirty anymore."

'Fockers' Meets $163 Million in 12 Days

LOS ANGELES - Moviegoers embraced the dysfunctional family comedy "Meet the Fockers" for a second straight week as the star-studded sequel earned $42.8 million to retain its No. 1 slot at the weekend box office.

The film, which teams Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, has grossed more than $163 million during its 12-day run, according to studio estimates.

The film's success could help produce record box office revenue for 2004, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the industry's tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"We've had a much stronger than anticipated final week of the year that helped the industry end on a high note," Dergarabedian said.

Unofficial figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations showed overall revenue for 2004 topped $9.4 billion, up 1.4 percent from the 2003 total of $9.27 billion.

Official year-end figures, as well as three-day weekend totals, were scheduled to be released Monday.

"Meet the Fockers" set records for the biggest gross on New Year's Eve, with $12.2 million, and on New Year's Day, with $18 million. The previous New Year's Eve record was set in 2000 by "Cast Away" with $8.5 million. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" had held the New Year's Day mark with $12.8 million.

With no new major releases the final weekend of 2004, "Meet the Fockers" crushed the competition, including "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," which finished in second place with $14.7 million, and "The Aviator," which earned $11.2 million for third place.

This weekend's top 12 films grossed an estimated $125.4 million, a 4.3 percent increase compared to $120.1 million for the same weekend last year.

"Meet the Fockers" saw just a 7 percent decline at the box office from its opening week. The film has attracted an older audience interested in seeing De Niro, Hoffman and Streisand, as well as younger fans who like Stiller.

Several movies debuted in limited release, including "A Love Song for Bobby Long," "The Merchant of Venice," "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" and "In Good Company," starring Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson.

"Good Company" opened Wednesday and grossed $229,000 on three screens nationwide. It will expand to 1,600 theaters on Jan. 14.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" jumped one spot to ninth place, earning $4.8 million over the three-day period and $16.2 million to date.

Disney's animated hit "The Incredibles" passed the $250 million mark Saturday. It was the fourth-highest grossing film of 2004, according to the studio.

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

1. "Meet the Fockers," $42.8 million.
2. "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," $14.7 million.
3. "The Aviator," $11.2 million.
4. "Fat Albert," $10.7 million.
5. "Ocean's Twelve," $9.2 million.
6. "National Treasure," $7 million.
7. "Spanglish," $6.3 million.
8. "The Polar Express," $5.7 million.
9. "The Phantom of the Opera," $4.8 million.
10."Darkness," $4.5 million.

Musicians' best quotes of 2004

Here are some memorable quotes - for good and bad reasons - from musicians in 2004:

NO CRYSTAL BALL

"It would be nice to win one before I'm on the wrong side of the grass."

-- Rod Stewart on his Grammy hopes (Feb. 4)

"You never know truly how serious that support is until the s--- hits the fan, really. And they've been there."

-- Janet Jackson on getting fan support following Nipple-gate (May 6)

"I assumed that they were a bunch of beer-swilling idiots who make loud noise."

-- Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster documentary director Joe Berlinger on his mindset before meeting the band (July 11)

"Am I just a guy with a beard now, and hair? Maybe I am that guy."

-- Scruffy but cute Sam Roberts on whether he'll ever be clean- shaven again (Aug. 1)

"My life is so clearly not what I thought it was going to be. I just need to make that clear. I have no answers."

-- Gwen Stefani on not having yet procreated (Nov. 21)

HUH?

"I still have to go and pick my own melon. Or the art won't come."

-- Jill Scott on staying down-to-earth for the sake of her music (Aug. 29)

"It just becomes excessive self-destruction, inhaling pain slowly, until it manifests in a waterfall of nosebleeds, self-mutilation, and three-way sex scenes with men ... I know that sounds absurd -- if I threw an elephant in, it would probably seem completely unbelievable."

-- Marilyn Manson on the unrated video for (s)Aint, off his greatest hits DVD collection (Sept. 26)

"I love you! God bless you! Papa's Got A Brand New Bag! It's A Man's World! Get On The Good Foot