'RV' Passes 'United 93' to Win Box Office

LOS ANGELES - Audiences hit the road with Robin Williams as his family-vacation romp "RV" opened at No. 1 with $16.4 million, while the acclaimed Sept. 11 drama "United 93" debuted with $11.6 million.

Studio estimates Sunday had Universal Pictures' "United 93" in second place, just ahead of Disney's sports comedy "Stick It," which premiered with $11.3 million. Those rankings could change once final numbers are released Monday.

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's spelling-bee drama "Akeelah and the Bee," was No. 8 with $6.25 million.

The 20th Century Fox release "RV" was expected to debut on top, but "United 93" had been an unknown quantity, with Hollywood analysts wondering whether movie-goers were ready to relive the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"It's not about the positioning of the film. It's about the fact that the American public spoke out," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal Pictures. "This is a wonderful result. What they said was that it wasn't too soon for a film about Sept. 11."

Married couples accounted for just over half the "United 93" audience, and 71 percent of viewers were 30 and older, according to Universal.

With painstaking authenticity, "United 93" recounts the horrific end of passengers who fought back against their hijackers aboard one of the commandeered planes, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Families of those killed aboard Flight 93 cooperated with director Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne Supremacy," "Bloody Sunday"), who re-creates the experiences of passengers and air-traffic controllers in a documentary-style drama. "United 93" earned widespread praise from critics.

Shot on a modest budget of $15 million, "United 93" should easily turn a profit once theatrical, television and DVD revenues are tallied. Universal said it will donate 10 percent of the first weekend's grosses to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

Playing in 1,795 theaters, about half as many as "RV," "United 93" averaged a solid $6,462 a cinema, the best results among the top-10 movies.

"We can now kind of put to bed any idea that people are not ready to see this type of movie. The numbers speak for themselves," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Coming this August is Hollywood's second Sept. 11 dramatization, Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," starring Nicolas Cage in the story of two Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the twin towers.

"RV," starring Williams as a dad taking his family on a slapstick-filled vacation, debuted in 3,639 theaters and averaged $4,507. The gymnastics tale "Stick It," starring Missy Peregrym and Jeff Bridges, averaged $5,523 in 2,038 theaters.

Overall business rose for the sixth-straight weekend, with the top-12 movies taking in $90.7 million, up 12 percent from the same weekend last year. After a big slump in 2005, attendance is running 4 percent ahead of last year's, with Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible III" opening Friday and kicking off what is expected to be a huge summer at the movies.

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

1. "RV," $16.4 million.
2. "United 93," $11.6 million.
3. "Stick It," $11.3 million.
4. "Silent Hill," $9.3 million.
5. "Scary Movie 4," $7.8 million.
6. "The Sentinel," $7.6 million.
7. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $7.05 million.
8. "Akeelah and the Bee," $6.25 million.
9. "The Wild," $4.7 million.
10. "The Benchwarmers," $4.4 million.

Jewel shines "Again & Again & Again"

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The last time we all saw Jewel, she was prancing in red vinyl shorts and a white tank top.

Her "I'm a naughty firefighter" look in the video for "Intuition," the hit from her last album, "0304," was a bit of a departure for Jewel, to say the least, and one that seemed to confuse her fans, who had come to associate the singer-songwriter with a more earthy-granola type of beauty.

In a career that her label, Atlantic Records, says has seen her sell more than 25 million albums worldwide, "0304" was her first release not to go platinum in the United States.

It's understandable, then, that fans, radio programmers, retailers and seemingly anyone else with an interest in Jewel's career are pleased to hear the first single from her new album, "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland," due May 2.

The song, "Again and Again," leaves behind the synth-driven dance-pop of "Intuition" in favor of the sincere ruminations and guitar licks that first put her on the map.

BACK TO BASICS

"Again and Again" is already climbing the charts on adult top 40 radio, where it is approaching the top 15. And the video is back-to-basics Jewel: a plain white shirt and a pretty, catchy, soul-searching tune.

But to really succeed -- to exceed expectations for this last album of her Atlantic contract -- she'll need more than a hit song. Every album Jewel has released since her debut, the seven-times platinum "Pieces of You," has sold roughly half as many copies as the one before it.

"Intuition" was a top five radio single, but it was a tough sell for fans.

"Once you're known as an authentic, earthy artist, the audience has a little bit of a lower threshold for reinvention," says Daniel Anstandig, vice president of adult formats at radio consultancy McVay Media. "A sudden change in character is a reinvention of a person (who) fans thought they knew."

To Jewel's credit, the "Intuition" video -- with made-up Jewel logos branding elaborately choreographed, everyday scenarios such as buying a hot dog or walking past some firemen -- was meant to mock the branding of pop stars. But when the single and video were launched simultaneously with a Jewel-branded Schick women's razor -- the product line was called "Intuition" and a commercial featured the song -- Jewel's "joke" became a little less funny.

"That probably threw the whole thing off," Jewel acknowledges. "But at the time, I didn't own the whole song and it was just beyond my control."

Not that she's apologizing: "S--- happens," she says of the whole affair. And "0304" remains one of her favorite recordings.

"Anyone that really listened heard a smart record with good storytelling," she says. "I didn't fluff out or compromise; if I was going, 'Ooh baby baby' or 'Come on, uh-huh, uh-huh,' we might all worry about me. But I was getting into electronic music and dance remixes. I can't believe people didn't get it."

'WILD JOURNEY'

The new album is a melodic goodbye -- to her 20s, to 10 years in the music business and to her first record label contract.

The 13 tracks chronologically survey the artist's journey from the plains of Alaska to the streets of Los Angeles and the complexities that have marked each step. Jewel says "Goodbye" is "the most autobiographical work I have made" since her first record.

"This record is a chronicle of my life, from being raised in isolation on a ranch to seeing Hollywood for the first time to the elixir of being signed to a label and going on a wild journey," she says. "Now, I'm looking at it full circle, living on a ranch in Stephenville, Texas." The singer says she spent a lot of time sequencing the album, "like a novel with a beginning, middle and end, so that it tells a story."

As always, her lyrics are awash with enough gray metaphors to question whether those life experiences have been largely pro or con. "People tell me it's either the happiest record I've ever made or the saddest," she says.

"I titled it 'Goodbye Alice in Wonderland' because a lot of the songs deal with letting go of fantasies or fairy tales and trying to see reality without becoming disillusioned or bitter," she explains. "The message is that I've been through some of my hardest times, but also some of the most rewarding."

As usual, Jewel didn't write on-demand for the album. She tapped into her catalog of some 500 songs to shape the direction of "Goodbye."

"I'm constantly writing, so I never have to actually sit down and write a record," she says. "If there is a tempo or a theme missing, I'll write to fill that spot, but generally, with all of my records, I go back to things I have written in the past."

AT THE CROSSROADS

Jewel seems to be taking the success of her new single and her career crossroads in stride. When she recorded "Pieces of You," she was just turning 20. Now, at 31, "there is an introspection taking place," she says. "These albums are like bookends."

So far, she has not signed another long-term record contract. And once her support of "Alice" is complete, she intends to apply gentle pressure to the brakes, and decide if the economics and necessary commitments make sense for her to sign another long-term contract.

"The game gets tiring for me," she says. "I am very committed to this record, but after that, I don't want to stay as visible. I'd like to put out some smaller records, maybe a jazz standard or a country record. I've been competitive my whole life, and now I'd like to work out of my house more. I might even start looking into having a family in a couple years."

Neil Young to Release "Living With War" as Digital Download Album on May 2nd; CD in Stores in Early May

BURBANK, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Apr 24, 2006 -- On May 2nd, Neil Young will release "Living With War" -- a 10-song collection that the artist describes as a "metal folk protest" -- as a digital download album. The full release will be made available for streaming at Young's website -- www.neilyoung.com -- on April 28th. In addition, the lyrics to a different song are being posted each day on the website through April 27th.

In an unprecedented release pattern, the compact disc will be sent to retail outlets as soon as copies can be manufactured in early May. Young feels the best way for this music to be understood is to be heard in its entirety.

"This album is about exchanging ideas," Young told CNN in a live interview last week on the steps of Warner Bros./Reprise Records in Burbank. "It's about getting a message out. It's about empowering people by giving them a voice. I know not everyone believes what I say is what they think, but red and blue is not black and white. We're all together. It's a record about unification."

"Living With War" has already set fans and the media abuzz over the Internet due to its reflections on the Iraqi war and the turmoil in this country. It was written and recorded in two weeks with Young on electric guitar, vocals and harmonica, Chad Cromwell on drums, Rick Rosas on bass, and Tommy Bray on trumpet, along with a 100-member choir. One choir member, speaking to a British newspaper, said the recording session was "like being at a 12-hour peace rally."

It is not the first time the 60-year-old Canadian has touched on current events in his songwriting. In 2002, Young released "Let's Roll," a tribute to the passengers who died taking down the hijackers on United Flight 93 over Pennsylvania on September 11, and in 1970 wrote and recorded with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young the song "Ohio," after four students were killed by the National Guard during a peace rally at Kent State University.

'NICE' GIRLS FINISH FIRST

The Dixie Chicks have their highest new entry on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to the first-week availability of "Not Ready to Make Nice" (Columbia) as a paid digital download. The song bows on the big chart at No. 28, surpassing the No. 40 debut of "Goodbye Earl" in March 2000.

"Not Ready to Make Nice" is the first Dixie Chicks song to appear on the Hot 100 since "Travelin' Soldier" marched to No. 25 in March 2003. The trio first appeared on this chart in 1998 (with "I Can Love You Better") and has had 15 chart entries between 1998-2003, never missing a year until lead singer Natalie Maines made a comment about President Bush that offended many country music fans.

In its first week on the Hot 100, "Not Ready to Make Nice" already ranks as the sixth highest-ranked song of the group's 16 chart entries. The five Dixie Chicks songs that have achieved a higher rank are:

"Cowboy Take Me Away," No. 27 (2000)
"Goodbye Earl," No. 19 (2000)
"Long Time Gone," No. 7 (2002)
"Landslide," No. 7 (2003)
"Travelin' Soldier," No. 25 (2003)

Favreau brings 'Iron Man' to life on big screen

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Actor-turned-director Jon Favreau ("Elf") will develop and direct a big-screen adaptation of "Iron Man," a Marvel Studios project based on the comic book about an armored hero with issues.

The project originally was set up at New Line with Nick Cassavetes directing.

In the comic, Iron Man's real identity is that of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who develops an armored suit that lets him fly and shoot "repulsor rays." The comic debuted in the 1960s, and Iron Man's origin involved Stark being a prisoner of the Viet Cong. The comic evolved into Stark fighting spies, both political and industrial, while also battling alcoholism.

Favreau, who appeared as "Foggy Nelson" in Marvel's 2003"Daredevil" movie, most recently directed the effects-heavy family adventure movie "Zathura: A Space Adventure." Notwithstanding that picture, his sensibilities have been to eschew computer-imaging in favor of an almost retro aesthetic, but "Iron Man" will see him changing his tune.

"I've always been very reticent to use CGI to the extent that it has been used by other filmmakers," Favreau said in an interview. "I think that now, through motion-capture and the integration of miniatures with CGI, like in 'King Kong,' I'm starting to be a lot more convinced by what the technology can do. But the idea of using CGI and relying solely on that to tell your story, those days are past. I think that integrating practical filmmaking and augmenting it with CGI is the key to making it an emotionally involved story."

"Iron Man" will be Favreau's next movie, and he hopes to go behind the camera early next year.

Williams set to drive "RV" to box office peak

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - On the last weekend before the first big guns of May reach the silver screen, led by "Mission: Impossible III," four new wide releases hope to pull in some respectable numbers.

The Robin Williams family comedy "RV" is the front-runner to take the top spot from reigning champ "Silent Hill," but it could be pipped by the September 11 drama "United 93."

Sony's PG-rated "RV," the widest release among the weekend's new contenders with 3,639 venues, stars Williams as a father who takes his dysfunctional family on a two-week vacation to the Colorado Rockies in the titular vehicle. Barry Sonnenfeld directed; Jeff Daniels and Cheryl Hines co-star.

Universal Pictures' "United 93" debuts in 1,795 locations -- the fewest theaters among the weekend's new wide openings. Paul Greengrass directed the R-rated film, which centers on the fourth plane hijacked on September 11, 2001, which didn't reach its intended target because of the courage of the passengers.

"United 93" is moviegoers' first choice among the new films this weekend, according to industry observers, but it remains to be seen whether that will translate into ticket sales. Most observers have the film finishing second, but a few said there was an outside chance it could pull a surprise upset.

Reviews for "United 93" have been overwhelmingly positive, and the picture is skewing slightly older, which is to be expected considering its rating and subject matter.

Another wild card is Lionsgate's "Akeelah and the Bee," an inspirational drama starring Keke Palmer as a precocious 11-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles who earns a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne also star. Early tracking has the film landing in the third slot.

The film also is the first out of the gate in Starbucks' national film promotion deal with Lionsgate. The coffee purveyor has been running an extensive marketing campaign in its 8,300 stores in North America, including sales of the film's soundtrack. "Akeelah" is bowing in 2,195 venues and carries a family-friendly PG rating. Doug Atchison wrote and directed the film.

Disney's "Stick It," starring Missy Peregrym as a troubled girl who imports the idea of rebellion into the regimented world of competitive gymnastics, is tracking poorly.

The PG-13 film, which is opening in 2,038 sites, is aimed primarily at young females. It was directed and written by Jessica Bendinger, who also wrote "Bring It On," the cheerleading comedy that turned into a sleeper hit with an opening of $17.4 million, finishing with $68.4 million.

Eastwood Finishing a Pair of War Films

TOKYO - As a kid, Clint Eastwood watched his share of war movies. Later on, he starred in them. But now, as he puts the finishing touches on a pair of films about the bloody World War II battle for Iwo Jima, he says he has a changed perspective.

"It was always one-sided. There were good guys on one side," the 75-year-old actor-director said in a news conference Friday. "Life isn't like that."

To get in both sides of the story, Eastwood has spent the past year working on two movies.

The first, "Flags of Our Fathers," follows the story of the U.S. troops famously photographed raising the flag at Iwo Jima. The second, in Japanese and with a predominantly Japanese cast, focuses on the general who lost the battle and the young soldiers who died following his orders.

"I think those soldiers deserve a certain amount of respect," Eastwood said. "I feel terrible for both sides in that war, and in all wars. A lot of innocent people get sacrificed."

"Flags of Our Fathers," based on the best-selling book by James Bradley, is set for release in August. "Red Sun, Black Sand," starring Ken Watanabe, comes out in December.

Eastwood traveled to the tiny, remote island last April to get a firsthand view of the former battle site. Sixty years after Japan's surrender, Iwo Jima remains uninhabited, except for a few scattered military bases.

Any activity on the island is potentially controversial because Iwo Jima is considered by many to be hallowed ground — nearly 7,000 American troops and more than 20,000 Japanese died in the battle from February to March 1945, and the bodies of thousands of soldiers remain unaccounted for.

But Eastwood's project got the blessing of veterans groups and the Tokyo government, which has jurisdiction of the island, located 700 miles south of Tokyo.

Eastwood stressed that his movies are about the people, not the battle.

"It's not about winning or losing, but mostly about the interrupted lives of young people, and losing their lives before their prime," he said. "These men deserve to be seen, and heard from."

Eastwood said he enjoyed working with the Japanese cast, who spoke virtually no English.

"It was a pleasure to do, even though I didn't understand a word they were saying," he said.

BNL, McLachlan, others form coalition

TORONTO (CP) - The Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Billy Talent and Broken Social Scene are among musicians who have banded together to form a new politically minded coalition.

The Canadian Music Creators Coalition said it wants to have its own voice on any proposals for music-related laws such as copyright reform.

In a joint statement, the coalition said some musicians are tired of having multinational record labels speak on their behalf about "what Canadian artists need out of copyright."

"Record companies and music publishers are not our enemies, but let's be clear: lobbyists for major labels are looking out for their shareholders and seldom speak for Canadian artists," the coalition's statement said.

Groups like the Canadian Recording Industry Association, which represents labels such as Sony-BMG and Warner, have been lobbying the federal government for years to change laws in order to curb the amount of music downloaded for free online. Some of the proposed changes could lead to lawsuits against music fans who take songs for free from peer-to-peer networks or burn CDs from friends.

"The labels have been suing our fans against our will, and laws enabling these suits cannot be justified in our names," the group wrote. "We oppose any copyright reforms that would make it easier for record companies to do this."

The coalition also spoke out against digital locks on CDs and digital songs that prevent fans from easily transferring the music to a host of players such as iPods.

Other members of the coalition include Chantal Kreviazuk, Sum 41, Stars, Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida, the Rheostatics' Dave Bidini, Sloane and Blue Rodeo co-founder Bob Wiseman.

O'Donnell to Replace Vieira on 'The View'

NEW YORK - Rosie O'Donnell is expected to make a surprise return to daytime television by taking over exiting Meredith Vieira's slot on the talk show "The View."

O'Donnell's appointment was reported Thursday by the newsmagazine "Extra." It was confirmed by a person close to the show who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because "The View" wanted to make the announcement on Friday's show.

ABC officials declined comment on the report on Thursday.

Dubbed "The Queen of Nice" when her syndicated talk show went on the air in 1996 and became an instant hit, O'Donnell won six Daytime Emmy Awards in six years as best talk-show host. She left the show to help raise four children with her partner, Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell.

It's an important appointment for "The View," which was created by Barbara Walters. Vieira's news background helped make her the solid center of the program on the days Walters didn't appear on air.

But Vieira joined the game of musical anchor chairs that began when Katie Couric chose to move to the "CBS Evening News." NBC quickly named Vieira as her replacement on the "Today" show, where she will begin work in September.

Joy Behar and Star Jones Reynolds, who have been bickering at each other lately, are also members of "The View" round-table, along with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. They're nominated together in the best talk-show host category at Friday's Daytime Emmy Awards.

"I think every agent in America is calling," Walters told The Associated Press shortly after Vieira's departure was announced on April 6.

O'Donnell has acted in a variety of movie, TV and stage shows, including the films "A League of Their Own" and "Sleepless in Seattle," and "Grease" on Broadway.

She should have no problem holding her own with the other ladies on "The View." Since leaving daytime television, O'Donnell has become a strong advocate of gay and lesbian marriage and adoption. With her partner, she operates a cruise line for gay and lesbian families that was recently featured in an HBO movie.

Finales, specials fill TV May Sweeps

May Sweeps in April? Starting tonight, the annual month-long orgy of originals begins with fresh and, in some cases, final episodes of your favourite series.

You'll notice the difference Sunday when top-rated shows like Desperate Housewives (Susan's ex, Karl, ditches Edie) and Grey's Anatomy (Chris O'Donnell returns as Meredith's pet vet) come roaring back with fresh storylines.

Once upon a time, sweeps was packed with big-budget TV movies. Not any more. Just a few are scheduled, including NBC's over-the-top 10.5: Apocalypse (starring Beau Bridges, Kim Delaney, David Cubitt), hyped as "the earth shakes like never before."

The big news this May is the many series that are ending, including former "Must See" shows The West Wing and Will & Grace. This May sweeps stands for sweeping out the past.

SERIES FINALES

* The West Wing (May 14, 9 p.m., NBC, SUN-TV). Preceded by a one-hour series retrospective on NBC at 8 p.m.

* Malcolm In The Middle (May 14, 8:30 p.m., Fox)

* Godiva's (May 16, 10 p.m., City-TV)

* That '70s Show (May 18, 8 p.m., CH, Fox). One hour.

* Will & Grace (May 18, 8 p.m., Global, NBC). One-hour retro followed by one hour finale.

* 7th Heaven (May 8, 8 p.m., A-Channel, The WB)

* Alias (May 28, 4 p.m., CTV). Two hours.

POSSIBLE SERIES FINALES

* According To Jim (May 2, 8 p.m., ABC)

* Hope & Faith (May 2, 9 p.m., City-TV)

* Crossing Jordan (May 7, 10 p.m., NBC, Global). 100th episode.

* Everwood (June 7, 8 p.m., A-Channel). Two hours.

SEASON FINALES

* The War At Home (April 30, 8:30 p.m., Global, Fox).

* Supernatural (May 4, 8 p.m., City-TV).

* Ghost Whisperer (May 5, 8 p.m., CTV, CBS).

* Gilmore Girls (May 9, 8 p.m., Global)

* Criminal Minds (May 9, 9 p.m., CTV; May 10, 9 p.m., CBS)

* My Name Is Earl (May 11, 8:40 p.m., NBC; Global TBA)

* The Office (May 11, 9:20 p.m., NBC; Global TBA)

* Smallville (May 11, 8 p.m., City-TV)

* Las Vegas (May 12, 9 p.m., NBC, Global)

* Everybody Hates Chris (May 14, 7 p.m., City-TV)

* Law & Order: Criminal Intent (May 14, 7 p.m. CTV; 9 p.m., NBC). Two hours.

* Grey's Anatomy (May 14, 10 p.m., CTV; May 15, 9 p.m., CTV). Three hours.

* Prison Break (May 15, 8 p.m., Global, Fox)

* NCIS (May 16, 8 p.m., CH, CBS).

* The Unit (May 16, 9 p.m., Global, CBS)

* Boston Legal (May 16, 9 p.m., ABC, CH). Two hours.

* Law & Order: SVU (May 16, 10 p.m., CTV, NBC)

* Law & Order (May 17, 10 p.m., NBC; May 19, 10 p.m., CTV)

* CSI: NY (May 17, 10 p.m., CTV, CBS)

* CSI (May 18, 9 p.m., CTV, CBS)

* The O.C. (May 18, 9 p.m., CTV, Fox)

* ER (May 18, 10 p.m., CTV, NBC)

* Without A Trace (May 18, 10 p.m., Global, CBS)

* Cold Case (May 21, 8 p.m., CTV, CBS).

* The Simpsons (May 21, 8 p.m., Global, Fox)

* Family Guy (90 minutes; May 21, 8:30 p.m., Global, Fox)

* Desperate Housewives (May 21, 9 p.m., CTV, ABC). Two hours.

* Two And A Half Men (May 22, 9 p.m., CBS; 9:30, CH)

* Medium (May 22, 9 p.m., CTV, NBC)

* CSI: Miami (May 22, 10 p.m., CTV, CBS)

* 24 (May 22, 8 p.m., Global, Fox). Two hours.

* House (May 23, 9 p.m., Global, Fox)

* Lost (May 24, 9 p.m., ABC; 10 p.m., CTV). Two hours.

REALITY FINALES

* Survivor Panama: Exile Island (May 14, 8 p.m., Global, CBS).

* The Amazing Race (May 17, 8 p.m., CTV, CBS).

* America's Next Top Model (May 17, 8 p.m., City-TV).

* American Idol (May 24, 8 p.m., CTV, Fox)

* The Apprentice (June 5, 8 p.m., Global). Two hours.

SPECIALS

* Billboard Latin Music Awards (tonight at 8 p.m. on TLN). Colombian cutie Shakira is up for eight awards.

* The Daytime Emmy Awards (tomorrow at 8 p.m. on CH and ABC). Tom Bergeron and Kelly Monaco host the annual snub Susan Lucci fest.

* Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar (May 2, 10 p.m., SUN-TV, CBS)

* David Blaine: Drowned Alive (May 8, 9 p.m., ABC). The crazy magician returns with underwater stunts.

* A Dr. Phil Primetime Special: Escaping (May 19, 8 p.m., CBS)

* The 41st Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards (May 23, 8 p.m., CBS)

TV-MOVIES

* Jesse Stone: Death In Paradise (Sunday, 9 p.m., CBS). Tom Selleck's first movie with a colon in the title!

* Stephen King's Desperation (May 18, 8 p.m., ABC and City-TV). Stars Tom Skerritt, Steven Weber.

* 10.5: Apocalypse (Part I, May 21, Part II, May 23, 9 p.m., NBC)

Mike Myers may take on robots

Canadian funnyman Mike Myers is in talks to star in the big screen adaptation of "How to Survive a Robot Uprising," Variety reports.

Myers would play a technical administrator who's job it is to sound warnings against the growing presence of robots and researching ways to keep those robots from taking over.

The film is based on the manual written by Daniel H. Wilson, a doctoral candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon U.

As reported last year here, the 42-year-old comedian is playing Keith Moon, drummer of the rock band the Who, in the biopic "See Me Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked For Your Pleasure," and will also lend his voice for "Shrek the Third" due in theatres next May.

Britney Spears to Be Mom Again

Pop princess Britney Spears is expecting a new edition to her family. US Weekly reports the singer is indeed pregnant again, ending public speculation after being spotted in Hawaii earlier this year with a conspicuous tummy. According to sources, Spears, 24, and husband Kevin Federline have known about the pregnancy since February, however only revealed the news to family over Easter. The couple married in September 2004 and had their first child together one year later. Spears showed no signs of hiding the fact she's expecting again, soaking up the sun in a red bikini while at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, over the weekend.

'Earl' Star Gives Voice to 'Underdog'

There's no need to fear -- Jason Lee is here

Jason Lee is set to voice the titular super-pup in the upcoming big screen incarnation of "Underdog."

Set up at Spyglass Entertainment and Disney, the "Underdog" pic will be mostly live-action, though the main character will be animated with the "My Name Is Earl" star lending his pipes.

Premiering on NBC in 1964, "Underdog" told the story of a canine-superhero with an occasionally annoying tendency to speak in rhyme. By day, he was just Shoeshine Boy, but he could become Underdog whenever Polly Purebred was in danger.

The character was originally voiced by Wally Cox.

The only other actor already cast in Fredrick Du Chau's film is Peter Dinklage ("The Station Agent"), who will play the evil Simon Bar Sinister.

Lee is no stranger to vocal work, having played Syndrome in the Pixar smash "The Incredibles." This summer he appears in motion-capture form in "Monster House" and drops by pal Kevin Smith's "Clerks II."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lee will also use part of his "Earl" hiatus to direct a short film starring Giovanni Ribisi and Beth Riesgraf.

'Galactica' Prequel on Tap at Sci Fi

The Sci Fi Channel will delve into the backstory of "Battlestar Galactica" with a new series that looks at the years leading up to humanity's devastation by the Cylons.

The prequel, called "Caprica," heads a list of development projects the cable network unveiled Wednesday. Also in the works are a miniseries based on the book "Chariots of the Gods" and series from Jesse Alexander ("Alias"), Christopher McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects"), Eric McCormack and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Additionally, legendary B-movie director Roger Corman will produce two films for Sci Fi's Saturday movie franchise: "Cyclops," about the mythical beast wreaking havoc on ancient Rome, and "Supergator," which pretty much explains itself.

"Caprica" will be set more than 50 years prior to the events of "Battlestar Galactica" and focus on the lives of two families -- the Adamas (ancestors of future Galactica commander William) and the Graystones. Humankind's Twelve Colonies are at peace and on the verge of a technological breakthrough: the first Cylon.

As "Battlestar Galactica" is about a lot more than space battles, "Caprica" will be as much family drama as sci-fi tale. Remi Aubuchon ("The Lyon's Den," "24") is writing the pilot script; "Galactica" veterans Ronald D. Moore and David Eick will executive produce it.

"Chariots of the Gods," Erich von Daniken's book purporting to offer evidence that aliens visited Earth several thousand years ago, is being turned into a six-hour miniseries by writer John Whelpley ("Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Andromeda"). The miniseries will center on a soldier whose souvenir from his tour of duty may hold evidence of alien interference with human life since ancient times.

Evanescence 'Opens' Up On New Album

Rock act Evanescence will release it second Wind-Up album, "The Open Door," on Oct. 3. The set was recorded in Los Angeles earlier this year and produced by Dave Fortman, who was behind the boards for Evanescence's 2003 breakthrough, "Fallen."

That set has sold more than 6.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spawned two top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "My Immortal" and "Bring Me To Life."

"The making of this record has been really intense, but I've come out feeling purified," frontwoman Amy Lee says in a statement. "I've grown so much since 'Fallen,' and [guitarist] Terry [Balsamo] is the perfect writing partner -- I feel like I've been lifted up to a whole new level of inspiration and possibilities.

'Rumor Has It' Makes DVD History

Rob Reiner's Rumor Has It went virtually unnoticed when it opened theatrically on Christmas Day last year (It earned just $7.5 million over the holiday weekend.) But it is going down in history as the first film to be released on DVD in high definition on one side of the disk and standard definition on the other. Warner Home Video plans to have it in stores on May 9 (along with the regular DVD version). In an interview with Home Media Retailing magazine, WHV exec Steve Nickerson said that the "hybrid" discs will give "consumers the greatest flexibility in viewing options: If they own an HD DVD player, they'll get all the benefits of HD DVD. ... If they're considering a future purchase of an HD DVD player, they can still enjoy the movie [on their existing DVD player] until they upgrade."

Abrams Slams 'Star Trek' Rumors

Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams is hitting back at unauthorized reports he is directing the next Star Trek movie. The Alias creator is furious the news was released prematurely and is also upset that key details regarding the storyline were incorrectly reported. He explains to Empire online, "The whole thing was reported entirely without our cooperation. People learned that I was producing a Star Trek film, that I had an option to direct it, they hear rumors of what the thing was going to be and ran with a story that is not entirely accurate." Last week, Hollywood trade paper Variety, reported Abrams was on board and that the film would center on the early days of Captain James T. Kirk and Spock and that Philip Seymour Hoffman was in talks to play the ship's doctor. Abrams won't reveal the true storyline, but hints that it won't feature characters Captain James T. Kirk or Mr. Spock at all, but doesn't rule out bringing some of the original characters back for the new film, adding, "Those characters are so spectacular. I just think that..you know, they could live again."

Ziggy Marley pledges "Love" on new album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Ziggy Marley has just finished work on his second solo record, "Love Is My Religion," a disc of groove-laden songs touching on the most universal of emotions.

"It's all about love and all aspects of love," the reggae scion told Billboard.com. "The title track is about love between a man and a woman. It just means, 'Hey baby, I'm all love."'

Marley's first album since his marriage about a year ago, "Love is My Religion" is also his second disc apart from longtime backing group the Melody Makers. He plays most of the instruments on the disc, most of which was recorded at his home studio in Jamaica.

As the eldest son of Bob Marley, he has been in the spotlight since he was a toddler, and he says the new album reflects his three decades in music. "It's my best, because I've taken all that experience and I've learned so much, and I kind of understand where I want the music to be," he said.

"Right now, I want to groove more. I want to be onstage and be able to groove throughout the whole album. In the past, I was very artsy, and I did a lot of artistic things, which was just for me. But that should have been just for me," he added, laughing. "Now, I'm grooving for everybody."

Marley says the record will most likely be released in July via his Tuff Gong Worldwide label. He's currently in negotiations for a distributor. "Nobody owns my stuff. I own it," he said. "So what I did was form a new Tuff Gong, which is like Tuff Gong without any attachments to any other labels."

Now 37, one year older than his father at the time of his death from cancer in 1981, Marley is excited to gain new footing in the business world. After recording for Virgin and Elektra with the Melody Makers, and releasing his 2003 solo debut via Private Music, he's now a free agent.

"This is the best time, in terms of owning your own masters," he said. "This was a dream of my father. I'm actually fulfilling what he wanted. Right now, I feel like I'm doing for him what he wanted to do. After 'Uprising,' his last album for Island Records, he was going to do his own thing."

In 2003, the Marley family discovered a box of Bob's previously unreleased recordings and may eventually release them on an album. The first unheard song, "Slogans," featured a guitar overdub from Eric Clapton, appeared on last year's singles collection "Africa Unite."

Marley says a second tune, "Real Good Time," will boast drumming from the Police's Stewart Copeland, but he did not reveal a planned release date. "We'll wait for the right time," he said.

Angelina Jolie Tops Most Beautiful List

NEW YORK - She's got that pregnant glow, but it is Angelina Jolie's humanitarian efforts that make her most radiant, according to People magazine.

The pillow-lipped actress graces the cover of People's "100 Most Beautiful People" issue, on newsstands Friday. It's her fourth time on the list, but first as cover girl.

"She looks the most beautiful when she's in the field — natural, no makeup, nothing," the magazine quotes musician Wyclef Jean, who worked with Jolie on a relief effort in Haiti. "Because you see Angelina, the angel. It doesn't get any better than that."

The magazine didn't forget her boyfriend Brad Pitt, or her two children, either. People named the globe-trotting Jolie-Pitt clan the "World's Most Beautiful Family."

The world may have to wait several more weeks for the arrival of the Brangelina offspring: Jolie told NBC News that she is shy of eight months pregnant, according to MSNBC's web site.

In the interview, which was set to air on Thursday's "Today" and on "Dateline" Sunday, Jolie also said she knows the baby's gender but did not disclose it, according to MSNBC. The actress, interviewed in Namibia, is awaiting the birth at an African resort.

Also making the "Beautiful People" list, which until this year was limited to 50: Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Kirstie Alley, Ryan Seacrest and University of Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart.

All 26 spokesmodels of the NBC game show "Deal or No Deal" were also chosen.

Report: Canadian Steve Nash to win NBA MVP for second straight year

PHOENIX, Ariz. (CP) - Canadian Steve Nash is headed for a second straight NBA MVP award, according to the Arizona Republic.

The newspaper, citing a league source familiar with the voting, said the Suns point guard will become the 10th player to repeat as MVP. Magic Johnson is currently the only point guard to have won the award twice.

The Republic said the official announcement may not come for two weeks. But the votes have been tabulated in what was expected to be a close race with Nash, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Chauncey Billups and Kobe Bryant.

Nash, who would be the first international and the first Suns player to capture the award twice, won the fourth-closest MVP vote last year when he edged Shaquille O'Neal.

The 32-year-old from Victoria posted career highs this season in scoring (18.8 points per game), rebounding (4.2 per game), field goal percentage (.512) and free-throw percentage (NBA-best .921). He led the league in assists again with 10.5 per game and finished sixth in three-point shooting (43.9 per cent).

Nash, winner of the Lionel Conacher Award as The Canadian Press male athlete of the year in 2005, led the 54-28 Suns to their first repeat division title.

A NEW POLL REVEALS WHAT TURNS YOU ON

Fake breasts are a turnoff, men say, and wrinkles beat Botox. Lumberjacks are hot, women believe, but men who cry at the movies are not. Cooking, meanwhile, is sexier than fixing a transmission. These are among the findings of a new poll by Zogby International, which asked 1,000 men and an equal number of women what they find sexy. The poll was commissioned by NBC's "Today" show, which will air the results tomorrow and Friday.

The news is bad for plastic surgeons - while Botox and silicone get pumped into female bodies by the tanker-load, it seems men prefer the natural look. Only 6 percent of men said they preferred Botox to wrinkles, while 69 percent deemed breast implants not sexy.

And only 30 percent of men prefer makeup on their mates; 50 percent would rather they ditch the lipstick and go unadorned.

The message for women: "From wearing makeup to Botox, it ain't what you think it is," said John Zogby, president of the polling firm.

Younger men are much more likely to find cosmetics a turn-off, and women who ask them out a turn-on - among a number of signs that definitions of what's sexy are steadily changing, said Zogby.

"What we see is a slow and steady redefinition" of what's sexy, he says. "The old stereotypes seem to be breaking down, and the definition of what guys look for is changing."

Women are clinging a little more tightly to stereotype, however. For instance, the new paradigm of the sensitive man aside, breaking down during "The English Patient" is more likely to do you harm than good - women find men who cry at the movies unsexy by a two-to-one margin.

And when it comes to lumberjacks vs. metrosexuals, the message is: Put down the hair gel and pick up a chainsaw. Forty-four percent of women find the former sexier; only 21 percent disagreed.

On the other hand, facial hair is out - 51 percent of women judge it a turnoff, so the Paul Bunyan look should be approached with caution.

Speaking of hair, while bald may not necessarily be beautiful, it beats a toupee by a landslide. Only 2 percent of women deem fake hair an improvement over no hair at all. By a similar margin women agree that pec implants, liposuction and other surgical procedures are as hot as an ice-water bath.

Again, there's an age divide among women that reveals a gradual shift in what's perceived as sexy, Zogby notes. For example, younger women are much less likely than their forebears to take a dim view of cinematic sobbing. And while overall women agree that fixing a meal is sexier than fixing a car by more than two to one, older women are more inclined to be impressed by a man who's handy with a spark-plug wrench.

Zogby's conclusion: "Guys, if you want to appeal to women under 30, cry like a baby at a movie, and learn to cook."

What is sexier ... a size 2 or size 10?

* 43 percent of Asian men prefer size 2 while 29 percent of African-American do.

* 44 percent of libertarians like little ladies versus 26 percent of progressives.

* 42 percent of single men skew small.

What is sexier on a woman ... great looks or a great personality?

* Asians were the group placing the most value on looks over personality, 34 percent.

* 26 percent of weekly Wal-Mart shoppers prefer a pretty face to personality.

* 67 percent of men who own a gun place a premium on personality, compared to 61 percent of gun-free men.

Do you find facial hair sexy?

* 41 percent of women under 30 liked a man with facial hair, while only 13 percent of 65-plus did.

* African-American women had the most facial hair fans, 50 percent.

* 39 percent of liberals like whiskers compared to 26 percent of conservatives.

Which outfit is sexier, a suit, a barely-there dress or jeans and a T-shirt?

* Asian men are most likely to prefer a barely there dress.

* Jeans and a T-shirt are sexiest among men who don't hold a passport, 48 percent.

* Suits are sexiest among African-American men, 19 percent of whom prefer an ensemble.

Which is sexier ... long hair or short hair?

* 53 percent of men over 65 like long locks compared to 66 percent of men under 30.

* 63 percent of men in the armed forces prefer long hair, while 60 percent of civilians do.

* 25 percent of Liberals say short hair is sexier, compared to 18 percent of Republicans.

Is wearing cologne sexy?

* 66 percent of mothers like a man to wear cologne, compared to 52 percent of childless women.

* 66 percent of women who shop at Wal-Mart are sweet on men with scent, versus 47 percent who never shop there.

* 67 percent of women NASCAR fans like perfumed men.

What is sexier on a man, a business suit, jeans and a T-shirt, or sweats and tank top?

* 33 percent of the highest and lowest earners think a suit is sexiest.

* 64 percent of women who never attend services prefer jeans and T-shirt, while just 40 percent of weekly worshipers do.

* The group with the greatest percentage rocking the sweat-and-tank outfit was NASCAR fans, 3.6 percent.

Which is sexier ... a metrosexual or a lumberjack?

* 31 percent of single women liked a metrosexual; only 18 percent of wives did.

* Women earning less than $15,000 preferred metrosexuals to lumberjacks, 38 to 30 percent.

* Only 23 percent of women earning $75,000 preferred metrosexuals, while 43 percent liked lumberjacks.

"What's Sexy Now" poll "Today," NBC, Thursday and Friday, 7-10 a.m.

'Lost' star chooses jail over service

HONOLULU (AP) - Lost actress Michelle Rodriguez pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of driving under the influence, choosing to pay a $500 fine and spend five days in jail, rather than do 240 hours of community service.

Rodriguez, who portrays police officer Ana Lucia, and cast member Cynthia Watros were both charged with drunken driving after they were pulled over Dec. 1 in separate cars within 15 minutes of each other. On Tuesday, a judge gave Rodriguez the option of jail time or community service. She surrendered to authorities at Kaneohe District Court later in the day.

Choosing jail over community service was a "personal choice," said her lawyer, Steve Barta.

"I would suspect that because she has a hard time even going out for a meal without being intruded upon for an autograph or photograph, it's really difficult for her to do community service," he said.

Watros, who plays Libby on the ABC castaway drama, pleaded guilty to drunken driving in January and was fined $312, ordered to have an alcohol assessment and 14 hours of counselling. She also had her licence suspended for 90 days.

Both Rodriguez and Watros were spotted weaving on a road in Kailua, on the island Oahu, where Lost is filmed. Both failed field sobriety tests.

Rodriguez recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.17, more than twice the legal limit of .08. Watros had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10.

Soon after, Rodriguez spent two weeks in a rehab clinic, her lawyer said.

"She did recognize there was an issue to be dealt with. She on her own took care of it," he said.

In 2004, Rodriguez pleaded no-contest in Los Angeles to three traffic violations, including drunken driving. She completed a three-month alcohol program and is serving a three-year probation term.

"Law & Order" actress set to exit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Annie Parisse, who has played Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Borgia on NBC's "Law & Order" for just over a year, will leave the veteran crime drama at season's end, sources said.

A network spokesman declined comment, saying that "it is the producers' desire to keep the season finale of 'Law & Order' under wraps because of some surprising developments."

Cindy Margolis to pose for Playboy

(AP) - Cindy Margolis, known as the Most Downloaded Woman on the Internet, is following up her win on Celebrity Cooking Showdown with a career first - posing nude for Playboy.

The mother of three said in an interview that she finally agreed to pose for the magazine when they called on her 40th birthday.

"Thank goodness for Desperate Housewives. You're not dead just because you are married and have children," the actress and model said Monday, on the phone from her Los Angeles home.

After turning down offers to pose for the magazine in the past, Margolis said she accepted this time because she felt posing nude at the age of 40 is empowering.

"In the past it would have been for gratuitous reasons," she said.

Now, Margolis said, she is enjoying being the ultimate desperate housewife.

"It will be fun to go up against the 20-year-olds and show them that they don't have anything on me," she said.

Margolis has appeared in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and the annual Lingerie Bowl.

She has made headlines in recent years for her struggles with infertility. She is the national spokeswoman for Resolve: The National Infertility Association and is also writing a book about the subject.

"I just want to make it more mainstream for people to understand infertility, to understand surrogacy and adoption," she said.

Margolis, a former Price is Right model, gave birth to son Nicholas in 2002 after a high-risk pregnancy. The child was her first with husband, Guy Starkman. In 2005 Margolis and Starkman welcomed twins Sabrina and Sierra into the family. The twins were carried by a surrogate mother, and are biologically the couple's by in-vitro fertilization.

"It doesn't matter how you get your baby, even if it's via FedEx as long as you get to hold your precious baby in your arms. You can have your miracle child," Margolis said.

SIRIUS Canada and CFL Announce Exclusive Multi-Year North American Broadcast and Marketing Agreement

Toronto, April 24, 2006 — SIRIUS Canada Inc. and the Canadian Football League (CFL) today announced a national multi-year broadcast and marketing agreement which will see SIRIUS Canada become the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the CFL. Under the three-year agreement, SIRIUS Canada becomes the exclusive North American satellite radio broadcaster for CFL games and content, including the 94th annual Grey Cup to be held in Winnipeg on November 19, 2006. In addition, SIRIUS receives exclusive rights to use the CFL logo and collective CFL team trademarks in marketing and promotional activities across Canada.

As a result of this partnership, CFL fans across North America will be able to listen to live CFL game action on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, the country’s leading satellite radio provider with the best and most exclusive sports programming available. Kicking-off at the start of the 2006 season, CFL regular season games, the playoffs and the Grey Cup championship game will be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

“The CFL is one of Canada’s most popular and premier sports brands and we are thrilled to bring it to SIRIUS Satellite Radio,” said Mark Redmond, President and CEO, SIRIUS Canada Inc. “This agreement with the CFL further enhances SIRIUS Canada’s superior sports programming lineup and represents significant strategic value for the company. Sports fans throughout North America can now listen to the CFL on SIRIUS in addition to live play-by-play games of the NFL, NHL and NBA.”

“We are pleased to be working with SIRIUS Canada as a Canadian leader in sports-focused content for satellite radio,” said CFL Commissioner, Tom Wright. “Our partnership with SIRIUS Canada provides CFL fans across North America with yet another innovative way to get into the game and cheer on their favourite CFL team."

SIRIUS Satellite Radio is also the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the National Football League and broadcasts the entire NFL regular season, playoff games and the Super Bowl. SIRIUS’ NFL Radio channel offers exclusive NFL content with news, features, and a wide-range of other programming.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio - Canada’s Sports Leader

SIRIUS Canada is the country’s leading satellite radio provider and offers Canadian sports fans the most extensive lineup of exclusive sports programming. SIRIUS is the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the CFL, NHL, NFL and NBA and broadcasts live play-by-play games of the CFL, NHL, NBA and NFL. In addition, SIRIUS Satellite Radio is home to broadcasts of U.S. College Football, English Premier Soccer, Arena Football and coming in 2007 – NASCAR.
SIRIUS Canada’s premium 100 full-time channel satellite radio service features the most commercial-free music and the best news, sports and entertainment programming available. SIRIUS Canada offers Canadians the most full-time channels, the broadest Canadian offering and the highest quality of satellite coverage among all satellite radio providers in Canada.

About the Canadian Football League

Building on a strong past toward a stronger future, the Canadian Football League (CFL) celebrates the best of Canada's game with fans across the nation. The 94th Grey Cup will be played in Winnipeg, Manitoba on November 19, 2006. For additional information, visit www.cfl.ca.

About SIRIUS Canada

SIRIUS Canada delivers 100 full-time channels of the best programming in all of radio. SIRIUS is the original and only home of 100% commercial-free music channels in satellite radio, offering 62 music channels available throughout Canada. SIRIUS Canada features sports, news, talk and entertainment. SIRIUS is the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the CFL, NHL, NFL and NBA and broadcasts live play-by-play games of the CFL, NHL, NBA and NFL.

Mortensen, Cronenberg in 'Promises'

Actor Viggo Mortensen and Canadian director David Cronenberg are teaming up once again for the British thriller "Eastern Promises," Variety reports.

The film centres on a young midwife who is drawn into investigating the identity of a mysterious Russian girl who dies in childbirth on Christmas Eve.

Mortensen will play a man who is caught up with the Russian mob.

Shooting on the film should begin this fall depending on the status of Cronenberg's other project, "Maps to the Stars."

Cronenberg directed Mortensen in last year's "A History of Violence," which garnered two Oscar nominations.

His other directing credits include "Videodrome," "eXistenZ," "Crash," The Fly, "The Dead Zone" and the indie "Spider," starring Ralph Fiennes.

Mortensen recently wrapped up work on the action-adventure "Alatriste," which also stars Elena Ayalo ("Van Helsing," "Dead Fish").

Al Pacino joins 'Ocean's 13' cast

Al Pacino has signed on to star in "Ocean's Thirteen," the latest installment of the Steven Soderberg-directed heist film franchise, Variety reports.

Pacino joins a cast that features returning actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, as well as new leading lady Ellen Barkin.

Pacino is set to play Willie Banks, the owner of a major casino and hotel in Las Vegas.

The film, produced by Jewrry Weintraub, was scripted by "Rounders" penners Brian Koppelman and David Levien.

"Ocean's Thirteen" is due to begin shooting on July 21 in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with a June 2007 release date scheduled.

Pacino was last seen in theatres with Matthew McConaughey in last year's sports thriller, "Two For the Money."

BOSS NOD A TREAT FOR PETE

There won't be a Pete Seeger album called "The Bruce Springsteen Sessions."

"My voice is too far gone," Seeger says with a hearty laugh. It would be too embarrassing."

It could be a fun idea, he concedes, but "I'd have to listen to all those records."

Springsteen's tribute to the folk singer, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," is out today.

The New Jersey rocker first immersed himself in Seeger's songbook for a 1998 tribute album, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," on Appleseed Recordings, for which he contributed "We Shall Overcome."

But Seeger, who turns 87 on May 3, says he's "practically never" heard any of Springsteen's work. "I wouldn't recognize him if I heard him."

He did, however, hear The Boss singing "Born in the U.S.A." on TV.

After a phone call from Springsteen to tell him about the album, Seeger got a copy a little more than a week ago.

"I'm a very conservative person, and if I was a teacher, I would never hand out an A-plus. So I would give this 31/2 stars [out of four]. It's a very exciting album," Seeger says.

"He does some unusual things. He sings the old spiritual, 'O Mary Don't You Weep' " - Seeger sings a bit over the phone.

"But he does it at the top of his lungs, at the top of his range, in minor, not major. I never heard anybody do that.

"Bruce has a wonderful, powerful voice," Seeger says. "I think he made some good choices."

Seeger doesn't usually listen to records.

"I don't particularly enjoy it. I like making music, but I don't like listening to it," he says. "I'd rather chop trees or dig ditches or help my wife clean up the house."

But curiousity got him to listen to Springsteen's work - once.

"It's a very honest record. He did it like he felt, like he wanted to do it. Not like somebody told him to do it," he says.

On the lullaby "Froggie Went a-Courtin'," "he pounded it out, with drums and everything," Seeger, chuckles.

About the title track, the civil rights anthem that Seeger helped popularize, he pays Springsteen a high compliment:

"I think that some of the people who originally sang 'We Shall Overcome' would be very proud to hear his recording of that because it's a beautiful, beautiful recording."

John Lennon asks for peace, says pay TV seance

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Peace ... The Message is Peace."

That's what the producers of a pay-television seance to contact John Lennon claimed the former Beatle said when communicating with them from beyond the grave.

The show aired on Monday on pay-TV service In Demand and was organized by the producers of a failed 2003 attempt to channel the late Princess Diana's spirit, a show that earned scathing reviews but was estimated to have grossed close to $8 million.

People who paid $9.95 to watch the pay-per-view Lennon special from 9 p.m. (0100 GMT) to 10:30 p.m. (0230 GMT) saw audio crew members, a psychic and an expert in paranormal activity claim that the late Beatle's spirit made contact with them through what is described as an Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP).

The EVP was discovered during a taping of a seance at La Fortuna restaurant in New York, which Lennon frequented.

The show's organizers said psychic Joe Power's voice feed went dead for a few seconds and the message was found on it when the tape of the voice feed was played back.

EVP is based on a belief that spirit voices communicate through radio and TV broadcast signals.

On the television show, filming at La Fortuna suddenly stopped and a narrator said something odd has happened. Show participants said that a mysterious voice can be heard on Power's voice feed.

The producers called in "EVP specialist" Sandra Belanger to examine the voice and she proclaims it Lennon's.

Producer Paul Sharratt, who heads Starcast Productions and calls himself a skeptic, said hearing the voice has made him a believer.

The program was made without the knowledge or consent of Lennon's estate or his widow Yoko Ono, who declined comment.

Ono's long-time friend and spokesman Elliot Mintz has called the entire exercise "tacky, exploitative and far removed" from Lennon's way of life. "A pay-per-view seance was never his style," said Mintz.

Lennon was assassinated by a deranged fan in New York 25 years ago.

Canadian theaters ponder golf, fashion option

OTTAWA (Hollywood Reporter) - Canadian theater owners, facing the same challenges as their U.S. counterparts, need to reinvent themselves by offering more than just movies.

That's the word from Adina Lebo, executive director of the Motion Picture Theater Associations of Canada, as 800 theater owners prepare to meet in Victoria, B.C. Wednesday for their annual ShowCanada convention.

In an interview, Lebo offered such options as golf and bowling. Along those lines, Cineplex Entertainment vp business development Brad LaDouceur will be on hand at ShowCanada to discuss the merits of fashion shows and sporting-event screenings.

The need for such initiatives follows flaccid 2005 box office numbers that saw attendance drop by 7%.

Industry consultant Howard Lichtman said the top 10 Hollywood films in Canada are "dramatically different" from those in the United States, largely due to demographic differences. For example, he noted that family movies are less popular proportionately here since there are fewer younger people in Canada than in the States.

Lichtman added that the Thai action film "Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior" generated better box office sales here proportionately because Asians account for a larger percentage of the population in Canada than in the United States.

The Couch Potato Report - April 25th, 2006

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on another wide array of new releases, including the latest from Woody Allen and a documentary about fish.

Even people who have never seen one of his films know Woody Allen's on-screen persona: The comical and brainy New Yorker in nebbish glasses, who is nervous about sex, death and modern times.

Even when he doesn’t star in his films, his leading actors still usually play a variation of Woody’s persona.

Now I like Woody Allen, and I love his work. PLAY IT AGAIN SAM, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS and ANNIE HALL are three of my favourite films of all time.

However, I enjoyed the fact that the leading actor in Woody’s new film has no Woody-isms at all. Not one!

As usual, the film is well made and well written, but if no one told you it was a Woody Allen film, you might not even know.

No, MATCH POINT won’t have you thinking too much about Woody Allen, and it will only have you thinking a little bit about tennis.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers from BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM is Chris, a former tennis pro who finds work as an instructor. He then meets Tom and he falls in love with Tom’s sister Chloe.

Tom also introduces Chris to his fiancé Nola, and soon, they are having an affair.

Chris tries to juggle both women but at some point, he must choose between them.

Scarlett Johansson from LOST IN TRANSLATION plays Nola, and she does a wonderful job playing a woman who is originally chased, who then becomes the chaser.

If you think you know Woody Allen’s work, take the time to be surprised with MATCH POINT. Or if you have enjoyed him in the past, but haven’t bothered with his films since the 1990s began, well I recommend that you come back for more.

MATCH POINT is a great film, that is well cast and very well directed and written.

MATCH POINT is yet another one of last year's best films.

The documentary DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE wasn't one of 2005's best films, but it is still very good.

DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE takes a look at the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out all of the other fish in the local waters, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.

The trend in documentaries these days is for the filmmakers to give you their opinions, and subsequently, their own conclusions.

DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE just gives you the facts, with no opinions, and when it concludes, the only opinions you will have are your own.

DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE isn’t a perfect film, but it is interesting. In my opinion, that is all any documentary needs to be is interesting.

Let me also use the word “interesting” to describe Oscar winner Charlize Theron’s work in the film AEON FLUX.

This science fiction film is based on the animated MTV series and takes place 400 years in the future.

Disease has wiped out the majority of the earth's population except for one walled, protected city.

Theron plays Aeon Flux, the top operative in the underground rebellion. When she is sent on a mission to kill a government leader, she uncovers some secrets that lead her to question everything she believes to be reality.

Now, I use the word “interesting” here because the film is just that; interesting.

Not in the same way any documentary is, but I was interested in seeing how it ended, and what all the secrets lead to, so to me, it was interesting.

I also always enjoy watching Charlize Theron in a movie, so I found that interesting too.

AEON FLUX isn’t the best science fiction film of all time, but I liked it. It interested me, and it entertained me. It didn’t do that well when it played in theatres last December, but if you like these types of films, check out AEON FLUX.

And if you enjoy science fiction of any kind, I urge you to start watching the remake of the 1970’s TV series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

The old series was primarily made for kids, which is why I loved it when it was first on.

This new series is a drama for adults about the fight to save humanity, that just happens to take place in science-fiction setting.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 2.0 is a new 3 disc box set that is finally available for sale in Canada, after debuting in America in December. The set features the first ten episodes of Season 2 of one of the best shows that is currently on television.

There are three LAW & ORDER shows still actually on television, four of you count the semi-spinoff CONVICTION, but one LAW & ORDER series is no longer on TV.

LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY was the short-lived series showing the workings of the judicial system, beginning with the arraignment and continuing through the lawyers process of building a case, investigating leads and preparing witnesses and defendants for trial.

Jerry Orbach starred in the show as the familiar Detective Lennie Briscoe from the original LAW & ORDER, but when he died after the first few episodes, it never recovered.

Now, LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY- THE COMPLETE SERIES is available as three-disc set. It contains all 13 original episodes of the one LAW & ORDER series that has failed in the last sixteen years.

Admittedly, TRIAL BY JURY isn’t a bad series, but there isn’t anything special about it either.

And if you would like to own it, LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY- THE COMPLETE SERIES is now available at a store near you along with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 2.0, AEON FLUX, DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE, and MATCH POINT.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Steve Martin’s wonderful novella “Shopgirl” is now the wonderful little film SHOPGIRL; the classic nineties film DELICATESSEN debuts on DVD; and so do the TV shows DINOSAURS - THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS and LEAVE IT TO BEAVER - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.

I'm Dan Reynish. 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 time on The Couch!

OLN opts for a name change

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - The Outdoor Life Network is changing its name to Versus.

The new name will take effect in September, in time for the NHL season, OLN announced Monday. "Versus is a word that perfectly captures the essence of our brand. It is immediate shorthand for competition and has a range that can suit everything from stick and ball sports, to bull riding, to field sports," network President Gavin Harvey said. "We felt it was a slam dunk, and sports fans we talked to all agreed."

OLN, which began soliciting suggestions for a new name about a year ago, said Versus was chosen "not only for its bold nature, but because it universally evokes competition."

"Whether it is man versus man, man versus beast or team versus team, the channel will celebrate sports at its best, where athletes and sportsmen compete at their highest levels with the greatest passion," the network said in a statement.

Before acquiring the rights to the cable broadcasts of NHL games, OLN was best known for covering Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France.

'Big Brother' Picks All-Star Team

LOS ANGELES -- "Survivor" did it, with mixed results. "The Bachelor" has done it. And this summer, "Big Brother" will follow suit.

The CBS show, which will have its seventh incarnation this year, has decided to populate its house with past players this time around. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting "Big Brother: All-Stars."

The network is banking on familiar faces to boost interest in the show, which suffered a fairly sizable ratings decline last summer; the three weekly episodes averaged between 700,000 and 1.2 million fewer viewers than their 2004 counterparts.

In what CBS says is a first for any "Big Brother" franchise worldwide, the network will let fans pick who enters the house. Viewers will choose 12 people from a pool of 20 past contestants -- where have you gone, Chicken George, Marcellas and Nakomis? -- to enter the house and play the game.

The choice of host is not up for a vote: Julie Chen will be back in her familiar spot.

CBS hasn't announced the 20 potential All-Stars yet, nor has it said how voting will be done. As with past versions of the show, the winner will walk away with $500,000.

Forsythe rules his 'Dynasty'

WOODSIDE, Calif. — A limousine turns into the courtyard of Northern California's Filoli Mansion. It is just before 8 a.m., and actress Linda Evans steps out of the car. A greeter hurries down the steps with an umbrella to shield her from the light rain and escorts the still-elegant 63-year-old inside the familiar 43-room, 36,000-square-foot brick manor seen in the opening credits of ABC's Dynasty from 1981 to 1989.

She is soon followed by a stream of limos carrying Carrington cargo.

John Forsythe, who played the popular prime-time soap's debonair Denver oilman Blake Carrington, is flying in from his ranch near Santa Barbara to visit the mansion, 30 miles south of San Francisco, for a one-hour CBS retrospective, Dynasty Reunion: Catfights and Caviar (May 2, 10 p.m. ET/PT).

And many of his fellow Carringtons are not sure what to expect.

Aside from close friend Evans, who played Forsythe's devoted secretary-turned-wife, Krystle, no one has seen the cast's 88-year-old patriarch for more than a decade.

"We haven't all been together for a really long time," says Evans, who looks like classic Krystle in a draped black-and-white-striped chinchilla wrap over a periwinkle-blue gown designed by Dynasty wardrobe wizard Nolan Miller.

Wearing a camel-colored sweater jacket, Forsythe has been sneaked into the mansion by his protective daughter, Brooke, and wife of four years, Nicole, and brought to a guarded room posted with a sign: "Quiet Room. Shhhh." This only ups the anticipation and creates concern about what state the star is in.

"I haven't seen John since 1992, and I'd heard stories that maybe he wasn't too well," says Joan Collins, still sexy at 72. She is seated in the ballroom, dressed in an over-the-top style reminiscent of Blake's evil ex-wife, Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan, in a $12,000 white/silver gown draped in white fox.

"We're all waiting for him. He really was like a father to me," says Pamela Sue Martin, 53, who left Dynasty and acting when she felt her "glib" character — Blake and Alexis' bratty daughter, Fallon — had been reduced to "a victim."

"I asked John to walk me down the aisle when I got married in real life, but he said, 'I think maybe you should ask your real dad,' " Martin says. "I was just so attached to him."

Says Al Corley, 49, seated in the library where his character, Steven, engaged in so many ugly fights with his father, Blake, "I had heard John sometimes felt good and sometimes didn't, so you don't know what to expect." Corley quit the show after less than two seasons when he objected to producers caving in to network pressure to straighten out his gay character. "Seeing John was really the only reason I wanted to do this."

Gordon Thomson, 61, the former bad-seed son Adam, whose gray temples now make him look like Forsythe in his Dynasty prime, descends the grand staircase from the upper floor, where he chose to meditate during his lunch break.

"I am a year younger than John was when he began doing Dynasty," says the smoky-voiced Thomson, who was "dreading" this reunion because of the low pay he had been offered. But he worked out a deal and now says: "It's been so great to see everyone thriving. It is the last time, probably, most of us are going to see John."

But Collins already is making plans for the next reunion. She says Forsythe has accepted her invitation to attend a Los Angeles performance of Legends, the play she is producing with her fifth husband, 40-year-old stage manager Percy Gibson. (Cracks Thomson: "What better mate for Joan than a stage manager?")

The play, which opens in Toronto in September, reunites Collins and Evans (in her first play) as actresses who loathe each other. Though both have different demeanors, Collins and Evans share laughs between takes as they sip sparkling apple juice from champagne flutes. Dressed in snakeskin boots, Collins adjusts her wig in a mirror and asks, "Is my bra showing?" and "Can I ask someone to check if I have lipstick on my teeth?"

"I'll tell you, Joan," Evans assures.

Before they begin, Collins issues a stern warning: "Can I ask everyone behind the camera to be absolutely still?" Later, she scolds, "Even if someone puts their hand in their pocket, it distracts me."

As the women recall their characters' catfights — with pillows, mud and sequins — the Carrington children begin to emerge from hair and makeup. Missing from the reunion are Heather Locklear (Sammy Jo), John James (Jeff) and Diahann Carroll (Dominique), who were invited but declined.

In the ballroom, Martin is greeting her TV siblings. "You guys look exactly the same," she says. "It's like we're all in formaldehyde."

The last Carrington child to arrive is Catherine Oxenberg, 44, whose two-season run as Amanda was defined by the infamous 1985 Moldavian massacre cliffhanger, when the whole cast flew to another country for her wedding only to be gunned down by revolutionaries.

"We were all afraid it was going to be the end of the show because it was so over the top, but I think it's the show's best moment," she says.

Oxenberg says she owes a lot to Forsythe for offering personal guidance during a difficult time. "I was battling bulimia, and he had tried to do this little intervention on me," says the actress, who sought therapy after leaving the series when producers balked at raising her $7,500-a-week salary by $2,000. "John was very delicate, but I looked at him like any addict in denial. It broke my heart that I was never in a place to thank him."

It is early afternoon, and cast members — still minus Forsythe — have gathered around a table to reminisce, but they're finding it hard to fake spontaneous greetings after a get-together the night before at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel.

"So we're supposed to pretend like we didn't have that cocktail party last night?" Martin asks.

"Or even lunch today?" Evans adds.

But before long, they are all gossiping about their differing salaries and why each left the series.

When Collins, who remained with Dynasty throughout its run, announces that she quit as well, her castmates look at her dumbfounded. "Well, I wasn't going to come back," she explains, "so they canceled the show."

While the cast continues reminiscing, Miller helps Forsythe into his tuxedo as producer Henry Winkler assists Forsythe with his lines. There has been a great effort to shield him from media camera crews. But the concern is unwarranted. Finally revealing himself to the cast, Forsythe appears, as Oxenberg notes, "a little more slouched" but with "the same quick wit and sparkle in his eye." And the cast's greeting of Forsythe is authentic, as everyone leaps from their seats to embrace him.

Greeting his grown "children," Forsythe playfully asks Collins, "Can we make more of them?" The one-liner puts everyone at ease.

"John looks great — witty, charming and fun as he always was," says an uncharacteristically emotional Collins. "I have to say I got a bit of a lump in my throat."

Adds Thomson: "He has good days and bad days, and this was a good day. It's sad to see the simple process of aging, but he did extraordinarily well."

Forsythe says he'll cherish the experience. "Chatting and sharing stories with the old Carrington clan was heartwarming," he says. "I miss them all so much." And poking fun at his age, he describes 88 as "great ... much better than 87!"

As the sun starts to set over Filoli, Martin alerts Forsythe that his champagne is, in fact, juice, prompting him to wince.

Still, he plays along as the Carringtons raise their glasses, saluting in unison: "Twenty-five years of Dynasty."

"I'll drink to that," Forsythe says, clinking glasses with Evans and Martin. Then, after the cameras stop rolling, he adds, "I'll drink to anything." But ever the black sheep Carrington, Collins feels left out. "Hey," she pouts, "no one clinked with me."

New CD Releases For Tuesday April 25th, 2006

Natacha Atlas Mish Maoul (Mantra)

Bob Belden Three Days of Rain (Sunnyside)

Tab Benoit Brother to the Blues (w/Jim Lauderdale, Billy Joe Shaver and Louisiana LeRoux) (Telarc)

Richard Bona Tiki (Decca)

The Coup Pick a Bigger Weapon (w/Talib Kweli, Black Thought, dead prez, Tom Morello and Jello Biafra) (Epitaph)

Drive-By Truckers A Blessing and a Curse (New West)

Elf Power Back to the Web (Rykodisc)

Filastine Burn It (Soot)

Misha Michel Fitzgerald Encounter (Sunnyside)

Godsmack Four (Universal)

Gonzales Solo Piano (Sunnyside)

Groove Collective People People Music Music (Savoy)

Jeff Healy and the Jazz Wizards It's Tight Like That (Stony Plain)

Danielle Howle Thank You, Mark (guest Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish) (Valley Entertainment)

JazzReach Subway Songs (Sunnyside)

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris All the Roadrunning (Nonesuch/Warner Bros.)

Lil' Boosie Bad Azz (Asylum/Trill/Atlantic)

Metric Grow Up & Blow Away (Restless)

Christina Milian So Amazin' (Def Jam)

Mr. Anonymous (ex-Samples drummer Jeep MacNichol) Mr. Anonymous (w/Sly and Robbie, Bounty Killer, members of Black Uhuru, the English Beat and more) (KAB America)

The Rakes Capture/Release (V2)

Bobby Sharp The Fantasy Sessions (Poignant)

Shooting at Unarmed Men Yes Tinnitus (Too Pure)

Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet Husky (Hyena)

Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Sony BMG)

Stereo Fuse All That Remains (produced by Mark Slaughter) (Toucan Cove)

The Streets The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (Atlantic)

The Terms Small Town Computer Crash (Maple Jam/Icon Music)

Time Again The Stories Are True (Epitaph)

Nestor Torres Dances, Prayers and Meditations for Peace (Heads Up)

Tom Verlaine (ex-Television) Around and Songs and Other Things (w/members of Television) (Thrill Jockey)

The Waybacks From the Pasture to the Future (Compass)

VA Bay Area Funk 2 (Luv N' Haight/Ubiquity)

VA Healing the Divide (Epitaph)

VA La Perla: Noir (Milan)

DVD Refused Are Fucking Dead (documentary w/exclusive live footage) (Epitaph)

ABC Gives Fans a "Lost Experience"

You can be a winner at the game of Lost.

ABC has devised a way to keep fans of its hit show confused, guessing and on the edge of their seats during the lazy days of summer reruns. The network announced Monday the creation of an interactive multiplatform treasure hunt game called Lost Experience that will introduce a new story line but stay true to Lost's signature mix of supernatural and psychological mystery.

The Lost Experience will require players to trade e-mail messages and phone calls and check out billboards, TV commercials and websites to gather all the necessary clues.

The game's premise will be rooted in Lost history but ABC said that you don't need to have watched the show to get in on the game, which will feature new characters and delve deeper into the manipulative Hanso Foundation that was introduced in season two as the benefactor of the button-pushing Dharma Initiative. (Well, watching a few episodes beforehand couldn't hurt...)

There is no grand prize for those who manage to piece the puzzle together, but ABC promises that those who play will end up learning some of the island's better-kept secrets.

In a savvy stroke of synergy, the game's first clue, in the form of a toll-free number that you must call, will air during a May 3 Lost episode. The first clues for Others in the U.K. and Australia are being released May 2 and May 6, respectively.

One of the most exciting parts of the Lost Experience will be the interaction it fosters among people all over the world, according to Michael Benson, a senior VP at ABC. He said that Lost's writers, not ABC marketers, were responsible for plotting the game's course and that 19 other broadcasters in various areas of the globe would air the series of clues in different ways. ABC would like to see fans reaching out to each other to stay up to date on the latest Lost Experience info.

"We wanted to tell stories in a nontraditional way," Lost writer and executive producer Carlton Cuse told the New York Times, "and there were certain stories that Damon [Lindeloff] and I were interested in telling that don't exactly fit into the television show."

Luckily the worry that something might not fight hasn't stopped them from adding a host of complicated back stories, symbolism and numerical puzzles to the show for fans to writhe in exhilarated anticipation over.

"We purposely design the show with a big amount of ambiguity so people can theorize about what a certain scene means," Cuse said. "This allows the fans to participate in the process of discovery."

Cuse also offered viewers a tip for starting the Lost Experience off on the right foot:

"Watch the May 3 episode very carefully. You can TiVo it, but don't skip the commercials.

"You have to give the audience something to connect to," Benson told the New York Times. "I want to prove to the audience that this is something they will enjoy, that is organic to the show. I don't want the audience to feel like 'they are just selling to me or marketing to me.'"

This is not the first time that Lost has sent its faithful to other media platforms in search of answers. To up the eerie factor, the show's team created a website for Oceanic Airlines, whose doomed Flight 815 made our castaways Lost in the first place.

"What we discovered was that by creating additional content for this show, we could creative a marketing tool that would have fans more invested in the program, and if it was cool they'd share with their friends," Benson said.

ABC also announced earlier this month that it is making new episodes of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Alias and Commander in Chief, available in May for free online viewing, although fans will have to sit through ads that they can avoid if they download commercial-free shows for $1.99 per episode from Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Lost, which has averaged 15.4 million viewers this season and is one of iTune's most popular TV downloads to date, will leave viewers staring into the dark hatch of summer hiatus with a two-hour season finale May 24.

Comedies Dominate MTV Awards

NEW YORK - Comedies, frequently snubbed by award shows, will be front and center at this year's MTV Movie Awards.

"The 40-Year Old Virgin" and "Wedding Crashers" lead with five nominations each, MTV announced Monday. Both films will compete for best movie along with "Batman Begins," "King Kong" and "Sin City."

"Virgin" star Steve Carell is up for three awards, including best performance, best comedic performance and best on-screen team with Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Romany Malco.

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn will also vie for best on-screen team for "Wedding Crashers." Both actors received nominations for best comedic performance.

Nominees for best kiss include Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger for "Brokeback Mountain" and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

"Crash," the Academy Awards best-picture winner, didn't receive a nomination.

One of the more unlikely groups of nominees is for sexiest performance, a newly added category. Rob Schneider, star of "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo," competes with Beyonce Knowles, Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson and Ziyi Zhang.

MTV has also added a category for best hero and will present an mtvU Student Filmmaker Award. For the first time, acting awards won't be divided by gender, and instead will be grouped under best performance.

A host and performers will be announced later.

The 2006 MTV Movie Awards will take place June 3 at Sony Picture Studios in Culver City, Calif. The show will air June 8 on MTV (9 p.m. EDT).

Wow! YOUR 3rd Season Set May Be One of 100 With Cast-Autographed Lithographs!

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Offers Exclusive Premium Item Limited Edition "Scrub-ograph" Available In 100 "Scrubs: The Complete Third Season" DVDs

Limited Edition Lithographs Are Hand-Signed By The Cast

DVD Premieres May 9

BURBANK, Calif., April 24, 2006 - Buena Vista Home Entertainment will offer "Scrub-o- graphs" - lithographs of the principle 'Scrubs' cast - inside every SCRUBS: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON DVD, available on May 9. One hundred of these "Scrub-o-graphs" will be hand-signed by the cast, and embossed with a "Certified Scrubs Signatures" seal of authenticity. The 100 exclusive "Scrub-o-graphs" will be packaged separately in select DVDs, available day and date at random retailers. Signatures included on the "Scrub-o- graph are Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, and Judy Reyes.

SCRUBS: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON stars Zach Braff as J.D., a medical resident at Sacred Heart Hospital. The comedy received four Emmy nominations in 2005 including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor (Zach Braff) in a Comedy Series. "Scrubs" won the 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Multi-Camera Editing. Packed with non-stop hilarity and outrageous day dreams, the hysterical third season also features guest stars including Michael J. Fox and Tara Reid and exclusive bonus features only available on the DVD. SCRUBS: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON DVD box set is available for $39.99 (S.R.P.) from Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

Street Date: May 9, 2006
Suggested Retail Price: $39.99 (3-disc DVD)
Total Episode run time: Approximately 477 minutes
DVD aspect ratio: 1.33:1 formatted 4x3
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Language: English audio

SCRUBS is created by Bill Lawrence ("Spin City") and produced by Touchstone Television.

Touchstone Television has established itself as one of the television industry's leading providers of quality entertainment by developing and producing a diverse slate of popular, critically acclaimed and award-winning programming for broadcast and cable. The 2005-06 season became the most prolific in the studio's 20-year history with 20 new and returning projects receiving series orders including the Emmy award-winning drama "Lost," Best Comedy Golden Globe winner "Desperate Housewives," and the critical and consumer phenomenon "Grey's Anatomy."

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, an industry leader, is committed to showcasing great television on DVD. BVHE has responded to consumer demand by providing an ever-increasing amount of quality television entertainment in the collectible DVD format. BVHE's superbly mastered DVD box sets include "Alias," "Scrubs," "Tilt," "The Golden Girls," "Home Improvement," "Felicity," "Popular," "Boy Meets World," "Sports Night," "Once And Again," "Sweet Valley High," "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is a recognized industry leader. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax, Dimension and Buena Vista videocassettes and DVDs.

Young's 'War' Marching Online First

Neil Young's newly recorded protest album "Living With War," including a song calling for the impeachment of President Bush, will be posted for free Internet streaming next week. Starting April 28, fans can log onto Young's Web site and listen to the 10-track set, according to Reprise spokesperson Bill Bentley.

The album will first become commercially available as a digital download beginning May 2, "and we plan to get it into retail stores as soon after that as we can get them manufactured," Bentley said.

He said the label anticipates getting the album into retail outlets between May 5 and May 15. "Neil wants this album out there as soon as possible," Bentley added.

The Canadian-born Young, 60, who has tackled social and political themes through four decades as a singer/songwriter, wrote and recorded his latest studio offering over a two-week period this month, backed by a 100-member choir, according to his longtime manager, Elliot Roberts.

Much of the album conveys a sense of outrage, vowing repeatedly in the title track "to never kill again," mocking Bush's conduct of the Iraq war in "Shock and Awe" and calling for his removal from office in a provocative song titled "Let's Impeach the President."

The album also strikes a chord of empathy with soldiers separated from their families, and features lyrics ridiculing America's consumer culture, political corruption and religious fundamentalism.

Juxtaposed to "Let's Impeach the President" is one of the album's more hopeful selections, "Lookin' for a Leader," with such lyrics as: "Someone walks among us ... and I hope he hears the call. And maybe it's a woman, or a black man after all." The album closes with an a cappella version of "America the Beautiful."

"You're always going to rub someone the wrong way when you sing, 'Let's impeach the president,'" Young told the Los Angeles Times. "But that's what this country's all about -- being able to express your views."

Boss Gets Folkie With 'Seeger Sessions'

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - Bruce Springsteen, rock 'n' roll icon, stands on a cramped Jersey shore stage surrounded by 16 musicians. There's a fiddle, a banjo, a tuba, an accordion — and not a single electric guitar.

The music swells, a glorious noise, as Springsteen leans into the microphone and sings a familiar song: "He floats through the air with the greatest of ease, the daring young man on the flying trapeze."

The vintage tale of a high-flying, womanizing circus star is followed by "Poor Man," a reworking of a Blind Alfred Reed song from the 1920s. This is the music of the moment for Springsteen: folk songs from decades past as he releases an album of songs culled from the Pete Seeger catalogue.

Bob Dylan once went electric. This is Springsteen going eclectic.

"The songs have lasted 100 years, or hundreds of years, for a reason," Springsteen explains in a spartan dressing room after rehearsing with his new big band. "They were really, really well-written pieces of music.

"They have worlds in them. You just kind of go in — it's a playground. You go in, and you get to play around."

"We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" arrives Tuesday, with a tour to follow (including a trip to New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage Festival). Springsteen, still damp with perspiration from his rehearsal, sat backstage for a 40-minute interview with The Associated Press that covered his musical past, present and future.

The new album is Springsteen's most sonically surprising since the spare "Nebraska" in 1982. Springsteen compares its variety with his second album, "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle," where the music veered from straight rock ("Rosalita") to jazz ("New York City Serenade") to oompah ("Wild Billy's Circus Story").

Leaning back on a couch, Springsteen said he was intent on getting out more music, including a group of songs already written for the E Street Band and a follow-up to "Tracks," his collection of unreleased studio cuts. He was working on the latter before deciding to do the new record.

"After a long time, you get a lot more secure about what you're doing," Springsteen said between sips from a bottle of water. "I spend much less time making decisions. Incredibly less. It used to be, like, there's a line in a song that I sang a certain way.

"I might mull it over for three days. Maybe longer, right? Now, you know, it's very different. I realize it's not necessary. You know your craft better."

"The Seeger Sessions" featured Springsteen making an album in record time. The rock Hall of Famer, who in the past went years between releases, did the new album in three days. The 13 songs, plus two bonus tracks, were recorded inside the living room of a farm house at Springsteen's New Jersey home — with the horn section playing in the hall.

There were no rehearsals, no arrangements, no overdubs. Springsteen wasn't even sure if the results would become an album.

"It was just playing music," Springsteen said of the sessions. "I didn't have any intention for it. I knew that I enjoyed making this kind of music. ... It was really just purely for the joy of doing it. It was a lot of fun."

Springsteen, 56, is coming off a busy year when he toured extensively behind his Grammy-winning solo album "Devils & Dust." Last year also marked the 30th anniversary of "Born To Run," the classic album that turned the local hero into a worldwide star.

Springsteen first connected with the Seeger songboook in 1997, when he recorded "We Shall Overcome" for a tribute album. His interest grew as he delved into the material — sturdy songs like "John Henry," "Erie Canal" and "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep."

"I wasn't aware of the vast library of music that Pete helped create and also collected," said Springsteen, who was more familiar with the work of Woody Guthrie. "Just this whole wonderful world of songwriting with all these lost voices. Great stories. Great characters."

Like Seeger, Springsteen is well-known for his role as a social activist. In 2004, Springsteen campaigned for John Kerry and criticized the Bush administration for bringing the country to war in Iraq. He's been a longtime advocate for local food banks, and played benefits for union workers, flood victims and other causes.

Seeger paid a heavy price for his beliefs. During the McCarthy era, he was summoned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as it investigated supposed subversive influences in entertainment. He refused to cooperate and was blacklisted for the next decade.

So was releasing an album of Seeger's songs during President Bush's second term a political statement?

"I'll let somebody else sort that part of it, I guess," Springsteen said. "But a lot of 'em seem pretty applicable, you know? `Mrs. McGrath' is basically an Irish anti-war song, but it's ripped right out of the headlines everyday today."

The songs once sung by Seeger "shine a continuing light on a whole set of not just wonderful stories, but obviously a lot of social issues, the direction the country is going down," he continued. "There's still a place for a lot of that music."

Once Springsteen decided to forge ahead with the project, he called Seeger with the news. Seeger asked which songs would be on the record.

"He'd start giving me the history of each song," Springsteen said. "He actually knows about all those things. So it was an enjoyable conversation, and I hope he likes the record."

Springsteen had no concerns about audience reaction to his foray into a new musical landscape. He expects "the adventurous part of my fans" will enjoy the album. And he considers change a requirement for any successful musician.

"Your job as an artist is to build a box, and then let people watch you escape from it," Springsteen explained. "And then they follow you to the next box, and they watch you escape from that one. ... Escape artistry is part of the survival mechanism of the job.

"If you want to do the job well, you have got to be able to escape from what you've previously built."

There's one other major difference between "Seeger Sessions" and all of Springsteen's previous work: He didn't write a single song for this project.

"A real pleasure," he said of the break from writing. "Once we put it together, it was like, `Wow. I can make records and I don't have to write anything.' There are thousands of great songs sitting out there waiting to be heard, and I know a way to act as an interpreter on these things."

In between finishing up the album and preparing for the tour, Springsteen was inducted into another Hall of Fame — at his alma mater, Freehold High School. Springsteen, whose mother attended the ceremony, was bemused by the award.

"The high school hall of fame was, I suppose, less expected," Springsteen said between smiles. "I was at best a mediocre student, and I was an outcast. I didn't even attend my graduation. I went back in the middle of the summer and picked up my diploma across a desk and I went home.

"It's a little on the ironic side, I'd have to say. But it was nice."

'Silent Hill' Makes Noise at Box Office

LOS ANGELES - A real scary movie bumped off the spoof variety at the box office. Sony's fright flick "Silent Hill," set in an eerie ghost town, debuted with $20.2 million. It took over the top spot from the Weinstein Co. comedy "Scary Movie 4," which slipped to No. 2 with $17 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The White House assassination tale "The Sentinel," a 20th Century Fox thriller starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria, opened in third place with $14.65 million.

The weekend's other new major debut, Universal's George W. Bush-"American Idol" parody "American Dreamz" featuring Dennis Quaid and Hugh Grant, debuted a weak No. 8 with $3.7 million.

After two weekends in limited release, Jennifer Aniston's comic drama "Friends With Money" expanded nationwide and came in at No. 10 with $3.55 million. Aniston plays a down-on-her-luck housecleaner with three well-to-do pals (Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack).

Lifted by box-office leaders that included 20th Century Fox's animated hit "Ice Age: The Meltdown" at No. 4 with $12.8 million, Hollywood revenues rose for the fifth-straight weekend.

The top-12 movies took in $100.4 million, up 22 percent from the same weekend last year, when "The Interpreter" debuted at No. 1 with $22.8 million.

After a prolonged dry spell in 2005, when movie attendance fell 8 percent, Hollywood is on solid footing this year heading into a potentially big summer. A surge over the past month has attendance running 4 percent ahead of last year's, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"This is exactly where the industry wants to be as we approach the biggest moviegoing season of the year," Dergarabedian said. "It's night and day from where we were last year."

The industry has a stronger early-summer lineup this time compared to last year, when Hollywood got off to a slow start with "Kingdom of Heaven," "Kicking and Screaming" and "Monster-in-Law."

Coming over the first three weekends this May are Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible III," Tom Hanks and Ron Howard's "The Da Vinci Code," the animated comedy "Over the Hedge" and "Poseidon," a remake of "The Poseidon Adventure."

"Not only has the box office continued to be up, and up significantly the last several weeks, but we're headed into what looks to be a terrific May," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, which is releasing "The Da Vinci Code."

Sony scored its fourth No. 1 opening of the year with "Silent Hill," starring Radha Mitchell as a mom hunting for her ailing daughter in a mysterious town. Along with "Silent Hill," two of Sony's other top debuts were horror movies that were not shown to critics beforehand, part of a growing trend where studios skip critic screenings when they expect bad reviews.

Two-thirds of the audience for "Silent Hill" was under 25, an age group less likely to pay attention to reviews, and the horror genre tends to pull in fans over opening weekend no matter what the critics say.

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

1. "Silent Hill," $20.2 million.
2. "Scary Movie 4," $17 million.
3. "The Sentinel," $14.65 million.
4. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $12.8 million.
5. "The Wild," $8.05 million.
6. "The Benchwarmers," $7.3 million.
7. "Take the Lead," $4.25 million.
8 (tie). "American Dreamz," $3.7 million.
8 (tie). "Inside Man," $3.7 million.
10. "Friends With Money," $3.55 million.

David Lee Roth axed from radio gig

NEW YORK (AP) - Well, that didn't take long.

Rocker-turned-radio host David Lee Roth, who accepted the no-win task of replacing ratings king Howard Stern in January, was bounced from the airwaves Friday after barely three months on the air in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and four other markets.

"I was booted, tossed, and it's going to cost somebody," Roth said on his last show, intimating that his lawyers would go after CBS Radio for the full compensation due from his reported $4 million contract. The timing of the move was interesting: It arrived just days before the Roth show's first Arbitron numbers.

CBS Radio spokeswoman Shavonne Harding said the company would have an announcement soon on its plans. She declined any other comment, and would not say who will replace the former Van Halen front man on Monday's morning drive time shift.

Roth said he was only told about the syndicated show's demise while riding in a car to the WFNY-FM studios in Manhattan.

His replacements, in a hiring fraught with bizarre subplots, will be shock jocks Greg (Opie) Hughes and Anthony Cumia - currently available only to the 6.5 million listeners on XM satellite radio.

"Apparently we can talk about it now. So much for keeping a lid on this," the pair said Friday on their show's website. "The Opie and Anthony show will be replacing David Lee Roth in several markets on CBS Radio Free-FM stations."

Opie and Anthony's syndicated show was yanked from terrestrial radio in August 2002 after airing a live account of listeners having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral. The company that silenced the duo was the same one that just hired them back, CBS Radio.

It also puts the pair in the slot long dominated by Stern, who feuded with Opie and Anthony for years before leaving for Sirius Satellite Radio. And it reverses the trend of satellite looting traditional radio for talent. Instead, CBS Radio is reaching out to satellite radio for syndicated programming.

"What they're doing is switching to a proven act," said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. "This is a group with a pedigree. I would think the stations involved are very happy about this."

There is no word on when the Opie and Anthony show will debut on CBS Radio. The Associated Press was told the pair will do three hours on both XM and CBS, and two additional hours exclusively for the satellite audience.

In addition to New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Opie and Anthony will reportedly air in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Dallas.

Further proof of how strange the O&A move was: Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, who demanded the pair's dismissal after the St. Patrick's scandal, issued a statement wishing the pair well.

"(They've) made it clear they regretted the St. Patrick's stunt," said Donohue, who appeared as a guest on the pair's XM show. "In short, the Catholic League hopes Opie and Anthony have a great run on CBS Radio."

Waters Bringing 'Dark Side' To North America

As expected, Pink Floyd principal Roger Waters will tour North America this fall and will be performing the band's classic 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety. Beforehand, Waters will spend the summer touring Europe, beginning June 2 at the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon.

The North American tour, Waters' first since 2002, will get underway Sept. 6 in Holmdel, N.J., and hit arenas and outdoor amphitheatres. The band will include longtime sidemen Andy Fairweather Low and Snowy White on guitar, drummer Graham Broad and Waters' son Harry on Hammond organ.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason will make a guest appearance at Waters' July 14 show in Nevers, France, but at deadline is not confirmed to join the band at any additional shows.

Sans Waters, Pink Floyd performed "Dark Side of the Moon" in full for the first time during its 1994 tour in support of "The Division Bell." With Waters back in the fold, the band performed the "Dark Side" tracks "Breathe" and "Money" as part of its four-song set at Live 8 last summer.

Here are Roger Waters' North American tour dates:

Sept. 6: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)
Sept. 8: Mansfield, Mass. (Tweeter Center)
Sept. 12-13: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Sept. 15: Wantagh, N.Y. (Jones Beach)
Sept. 16: Camden, N.J. (Tweeter Center)
Sept. 18: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)
Sept. 20: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Sept. 21: Montreal (Bell Centre)
Sept. 24: Burgettstown, Pa. (Post Gazette Pavilion)
Sept. 27: Cleveland (Gund Arena)
Sept. 29: Chicago (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre)
Sept. 30: Noblesville, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
Oct. 3: Phoenix (Cricket Pavilion)
Oct. 5: Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl)
Oct. 8: Las Vegas (Theatre Under the Stars)
Oct. 10: Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheatre)
Oct. 12: Seattle (Key Arena)

Travolta, JLo to Star in 'Dallas' Movie

LONDON - British director Gurinder Chadha announced Friday that she would direct John Travolta and Jennifer Lopez in a big-screen version of 80s TV show "Dallas."

The "Bend it Like Beckham" director said she had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to direct the film, which will star Travolta as villainous oil magnate J.R. Ewing and Lopez as his wife Sue Ellen.

In a statement, Chadha said her appointment meant that the sort of South Asian-themed British films that made her name had "huge credibility and respect in Hollywood."

Chadha, who gave Jane Austen a Bollywood twist in last year's "Bride and Prejudice," is also involved with adapting another TV hit, 60s sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie." She said that film "is still in the pipeline, but there is still some way to go on the script."

Filming on "Dallas" is due to start in October, with the movie slated for a late 2007 release.

"Star Trek" franchise set for 2008 revival: report

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than three years after the last "Star Trek" movie crashed at the box office, the venerable sci-fi franchise is being revived by the director of the upcoming "Mission: Impossible" sequel, Daily Variety reported in its Friday edition.

The as-yet-untitled "Star Trek" feature, the 11th since 1979, is aiming for a fall 2008 release through Paramount Pictures, the Viacom Inc. unit looking to restore its box-office luster under new management, the trade paper said.

The project will be directed by J.J. Abrams, whose Tom Cruise vehicle "Mission: Impossible III" will be released by Paramount on May 5. Abrams, famed for producing the TV shows "Alias" and "Lost," will also help write and produce.

Daily Variety said the action would center on the early days of "Star Trek" characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer-space mission.

The paper described "Star Trek" as Hollywood's most durable performer after James Bond, spawning 10 features that have grossed more than $1 billion and 726 TV episodes from six series.

The 10th film, "Star Trek: Nemesis," bombed at the box office on its December 2002 release, earning just $43 million in North America. Last year, Viacom-owned broadcast network UPN pulled the plug on the low-rated series "Star Trek: Enterprise" following a four-season run.

CBC-TV Toronto laying off employees

TORONTO (CP) - Seventy-nine CBC employees - including workers who build sets, style hair and apply makeup - received layoff notices Thursday, a move critics called "the end of a television era" at the public broadcaster.

"CBC Television continues to face significant financial pressures and we must continue to reduce spending in order to fund programming priorities," said a memo from Fred Mattocks, executive director of regional programming and television production and Doug Broadfoot, director of the Toronto production centre.

"At the end of the day, we faced a tough business decision: not one we wanted to make, but one that was necessary."

The layoffs, planned for mid-August, will affect set design, set decoration, carpentry, paint shops, special effects, hair, costumes and props.

In addition, there were 20 "voluntary layoffs" and seven other vacant positions that will not be filled, says network spokeswoman Ruth-Ellen Soles. That brings the production centre's staff down to 432 from 538, she added.

Mattocks estimates the savings at a minimum of $1 million a year.

The memo noted that few major public broadcasters around the world - including the BBC - still maintain substantial in-house design teams. From now on, independent producers and co-producers will be required to handle all design needs, the memo added.

The Canadian Media Guild, which represents most of the affected employees, said the layoffs wipe out almost the entire TV design department, leaving only a few makeup people for news and current affairs.

"What it means is the CBC will no longer be able to fully produce its own shows inside," said Lise Lareau, the CMG's national president.

"It's the end of a television era at the CBC."

Lareau says producers of shows like the Royal Canadian Air Farce and even The National will have to outsource any new sets they want built.

"There's not going to be anybody who can do sets left, or do carpentry to create sets, or paint.

"The CBC is essentially announcing it will not do any other kind of production, other than news or current affairs, internally, ever again."

Air Farce cast member Don Ferguson characterized the move as "the end of a dream."

"They all got called to a meeting this morning at 9 o'clock and were told 'That's it', they're closing the whole operation down and they're all out of here by August the 11th."

Ferguson said the Farce gets scripts Monday morning, then the sets are designed Tuesday and delivered to the studio by Wednesday for rehearsals. The show is taped Thursday in front of a live audience.

He's not sure how things will work after the layoffs.

The latest cutbacks follow on the heels of a CBC move a year ago to drop more than 30 in-house publicists in favour of contracting out the work. The majority of those jobs lost were in Toronto and some of the people landed work with Media Profile, a public relations company hired to promote CBC programming.

Those layoffs came after CBC's communications department was asked to cut $1.7 million, to be funnelled back into programming.

At the time, savings from the outsourcing were expected to amount to $864,000, but Guild officials have disputed that claim.

The announcement also comes amid reports that the new Heritage Minister Bev Oda wants a thorough review of the public broadcaster's mandate.

'Snakes on a Plane' a Web Phenomenon

NEW YORK - The buzz — or hiss — began with the movie's title, a plot-spoiling punch line that rapidly evolved into an Internet phenomenon: Production stills were posted on the Web, followed by mock movie trailers and posters, R-rated audio clips, silly songs, poems, even a line of T-shirts.

"Snakes on a Plane" arrives in theaters Aug. 18, but is already a cult blockbuster for fans who snicker at its B-movie premise.

The thriller stars Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent protecting a witness on a jet full of lethal serpents unleashed by the mob.

Brian Finkelstein, the 26-year-old creator of the fan Web site Snakesonablog.com, said the daffy title is what galvanized people to spoof the movie even before the New Line Cinema production finished filming.

"It all came exclusively out of the title, and how honest and straightforward and clear the title was. There was no metaphor, no symbolism. Everything you needed to know about the movie was right there in the title," said Finkelstein, whose site has received an estimated 300,000 hits since its January debut.

The title made for an easy crossover into the pop-culture vernacular.

The slang Web site UrbanDictionary.com has eight ways to define the phrase, including: "A simple existential observation that has the same meaning as `Whaddya gonna do?' or `(Stuff) Happens.'"

But leave it to merry Internet pranksters to drop an unprintable profanity — twice. In a popular audio trailer crafted by 19-year-old Chris Rohan of Bethesda, Md., a smack-talking Jackson imitator yells: "I want these (expletive) snakes off the (expletive) plane!"

Rohan said the title "sounds stupid, but that's what makes it brilliant" — thus inspiring him to write and record the trailer while enlisting a friend to voice rough-and-tumble Jackson.

In another send-up, a video clip presents impersonations of Christopher Walken and Jack Nicholson.

"There are snakes," complains a faux Nicholson, with Joker-like exaggeration. "On the plane. And they're biting. And they're scaring people."

Yet another video follows a 4-year-old as he flies a paper airplane smothered with rubber snakes. Guided by the boy's hand, a plastic figurine kicks them off. In a making-of featurette, the boy says sound effects — "making loud noises" — were most challenging.

Posted on Finkelstein's site, a fan-made love duet titled "Two Snakes on a Plane" includes the lyrics: "We could spend our lives together like two snakes on a plane/Shed our skins and wrap each other in all that still remains."

The snake hoopla comes at a time where there's a vast audience downloading and sharing satirical spoofs of all genres, such as widely circulated mock trailers of "The Shining" and a "Titanic" sequel, titled "Titanic: Two the Surface."

New Line recently requested that the movie's PG-13 rating be switched to R and ordered the shooting of additional scenes, including one with Jackson spouting an expletive like in Rohan's trailer.

"More power to that," Rohan said. "I love just hearing Samuel L. Jackson blurt out the F-word every five seconds."

The Couch Potato Report - April 20th, 2006

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on ten releases that have been released over the past few weeks while I was on vacation.

Twenty-one days have passed since we got together on The Couch.

In that time there have been approximately 260 new DVD releases and re-releases.

Now, even if I had been here, I wouldn’t have been able to cover them all.

But there are ten that I feel I should mention, albeit in an abbreviated form, either because I liked them, because I feel you should stay away from them, or just because if I don’t tell you about them, you might now know they are available.

So let me get right to the first two releases that I want to cover: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA - THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding these two films so I will spare you a recap of their plots.

Each movie was a box office sensation for it’s own reason, I only wish there was something sensational about them so I could highly recommend them to you.

Both movies have a lot to offer, and I do mildly recommend both of them as I think they are worth seeing, but both NARNIA and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN are ultimately not as good as they should and could have been.

Luckily, neither NARNIA nor BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN are bad. Bad films aren’t worth your time.

They are worth seeing, FUN WITH DICK AND JANE is not. That is because FUN WITH DICK AND JANE is a bad movie.

Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni star as a married couple that turns to crime to pay the bills.

Usually a Jim Carrey film is good for a laugh or two, FUN WITH DICK AND JANE is not.

The original 1977 version of FUN WITH DICK AND JANE was funny, interesting and entertaining, this new version is not.

FUN WITH DICK AND JANE is not funny, not interesting, not entertaining, and not worth your time.

Unless you have lots of time to kill. Then maybe it is worth your time.

However, if you have lots of time to kill, please allow me to suggest fun time killers like 80s TV shows MAGNUM PI, KNIGHT RIDER and THE A-TEAM!

The fourth season of all of these films are each now available in 3-disc box sets.

And with the KNIGHT RIDER set, it all comes to an end, as this is the FOURTH AND FINAL SEASON Box set.

But KNIGHT RIDER, and MAGNUM PI, and THE A-TEAM can live forever in your DVD library, if you want them to.

And if you have have lots of time to kill.

Yes, those 80s TV shows will live as long as you want them to.

CAROLE LOMBARD, MAE WEST and MARLENE DIETRICH will live forever, whether you or I have even seen all of their films. They are legends, and legends never die.

And now several of each of those legends’ films are available in new multiple disc sets as a part of THE GLAMOUR COLLECTION.

Carole Lombard’s box contains her films HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE, LOVE BEFORE BREAKFAST, MAN OF THE WORLD, THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS, TRUE CONFESSION and WE’RE NOT DRESSING.

In the Marlene Dietrich set you get MOROCCO, BLONDE VENUS, THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN, FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS and GOLDEN EARRINGS.

Last, but not least, the Mae West package features GO WEST YOUNG MAN, GOIN’ TO TOWN, I’M NO ANGEL, MY LITTLE CHICKADEE and NIGHT AFTER NIGHT.

The CAROLE LOMBARD, MAE WEST and MARLENE DIETRICH sets THE GLAMOUR COLLECTION all come highly recommended, and if you have never seen any of these stars' films, these inexpensive sets are a great place to start.

The final title I want to tell you about this week is the 2-disc Director's Cut edition of the Academy Award winning film CRASH.

Back in February CRASH won the Oscar for BEST PICTURE over BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN at the Academy Awards.

A few moments ago, I said that I wished that there was something sensational about BROKEBACK so I could highly recommend it to you.

That said, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN should have won Best Picture over CRASH. I enjoyed CRASH more, but BROKEBACK will be the film that we will still talk about years from now.

That said, let me put the future on hold and talk more about CRASH right now.

The DIRECTOR’S CUT EDITION of CRASH features four additional minutes of footage and it extends several scenes.

The extra minutes don’t change the fact that CRASH is a superb film. The kind of film that you will discuss and think about from the minute it ends.

It just makes it different. Not better, not worse, just different.

That DIRECTOR’S CUT EDITION of CRASH is now available at a store near you, and so are THE GLAMOUR COLLECTION featuring CAROLE LOMBARD, MAE WEST and MARLENE DIETRICH; SEASON FOUR OF MAGNUM PI, KNIGHT RIDER and THE A-TEAM; FUN WITH DICK AND JANE - a movie that is no fun; THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA - THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.

And that is the last three weeks...recapped!

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Woody Allen’s MATCH POINT will have you thinking neither about Woody Allen or Tennis.

18 FINGERS OF DEATH is a “sockumentary" of the world of martial arts films and it will take you on the lowest possible journey of the making of these films.

DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE is an actual documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.

Oscar winner Charlize Theron stars in the box office failure AEON FLUX, but the film is actually pretty good.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 2.0 gives us the first ten episodes of Season 2 of the best science fiction show that is currently on television.

And LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY - THE COMPLETE SERIES is a three-disc set that contains all 13 original episodes of the one LAW & ORDER series that failed.

I'm Dan Reynish. 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 time on The Couch!

Neil Young the latest to join war protest

NEW YORK (AP) - If the snippets Neil Young is posting on his website are any indication, his upcoming album, Living With War, will be a serious musical broadside against the Bush administration and the Iraq war.

Young isn't alone in his feelings of discontent. Pink, known more for her slams against bubble-headed pop stars than political figures, assails President George W. Bush in the searing attack Dear Mr. President on her album I'm Not Dead Yet, released this month. And the new single from Pearl Jam - always politically minded - is titled World Wide Suicide, about a soldier's death.

All represent a steady, if not increasing antiwar sentiment since the war began in 2003. Whereas even superstar acts like the Dixie Chicks and Madonna faced backlash when they uttered opposition to the war in comments or song, more mainstream acts are more comfortable these days expressing critical thoughts.

"People were, certainly in the first couple of months, very cautious, and they are less so now," said Sean Ross at Edison Media Research, which conducts research for radio stations and others. "So it took people time to get past whether they were willing to say things."

After the 9-11 attacks, Young released the song Let's Roll, about the passengers who helped prevent United flight 93 from reaching its target that day. It was embraced as a patriotic message during a time of crisis.

The few songs that did touch the topic at that time were also patriotic - Toby Keith's Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American) and Paul McCartney's Freedom.

But Young was also an early opponent of the war. And on Living in War, the Toronto-born rock legend expresses his frustration in blunt songs such as Let's Impeach the President.

Justin Sane from the rock group Anti-Flag, which has been active in its opposition to the war and President Bush, said artists have always been at the forefront of social change, and expressing political views in song is a way to bring attention to issues being overlooked in the mainstream media.

"It's left to artists to make the statements that should be getting put into the public discourse that are not," he said.

If there's a growing number of artists expressing their opinions about the war, Sane said, it's because "people who may have ignored it before can no longer ignore it, and artists who ignored it before can no longer ignore it. ... It just becomes something that is this white elephant in the country and I don't think artists can ignore it any longer."

Still, songs with a political context remain in the minority, and there hasn't been an overwhelming indictment of the war or Bush in a multitude of songs.

"The acid test will be when there is some antiwar commentary on country radio," he said. "That hasn't happened yet."

"Lost" Star Finds New Show

And another one bites the dust?

Try as the Lost writers might to keep a lid on series-shifting spoilers, when one of its stars is tapped to join another TV show, it would seem that that person's fate on the island is pretty much sealed.

(SPOILER ALERT: If you aren't interested in hearing about a possible death on Lost, read no further. And avoid the Internet for the next four weeks.)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Cynthia Watros, who plays Hurley's love interest, Libby, has been cast in a CBS comedy pilot, calling into severe question her chances of making it out of Lost's second season alive.

Watros has signed on to star opposite Love Monkey's Tom Cavanagh in the sitcom My Ex-Life, centering on a divorced couple turned best buds who are sharing custody of their children. The show is aiming for a slot on CBS' fall schedule, which will be announced next month.

In what appears to be attempt to minimize revealing Lost plot points, the Reporter notes that Watros has committed to be a guest star and not a regular on the show. However, with her character being one of the two divorced parents in My Ex-Life, it seems that the guest star line is just a smoke screen.

Per usual, Lost producers aren't talking. They've already killed one regular this season--Shannon ( Maggie Grace) was mistakenly gunned down by Ana-Lucia ( Michelle Rodriguez)--but with tension mounting between the so-called Lostaways and the Others, it would be surprising if there wasn't at least one more grave to be dug on the island.

Watros is one of three full-time cast members to have joined Lost this season, along with Rodriguez and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko). The three were among the "Tailies," those who were in the rear of the plane and survived on the other side of the island.

Fans, for one, have long been speculating on who would be the next Tailie to go, with early rumor-mongering centering on Rodriguez as the marked woman. Rodriguez and Watros were both arrested on DUI charges last year. Watros copped a plea and lost her license, but Rodriguez, who faces potentially more serious legal trouble because she's on probation in another case, decided to fight the rap and is set to go to trial next week. Tabloid reports have suggested that Rodriguez is a disruptive force on the set, and her character has never endeared herself to Lost's die-hard fans after killing Shannon.

But producers sought to quell predictions of Ana-Lucia's demise--or at least create a misdirection--saying that her personal life would not affect her tenure on the show.

Further suggesting that Watros may be, well, lost forever, is the industry precedent of offing stars who land pilot gigs on other networks.

The most notable would be Drea de Matteo, who, despite proclamations to the contrary, met her demise on The Sopranos shortly after signing on to Joey. More recently, 24's Dennis Haysbert (President Palmer) announced last year he had joined the CBS drama The Unit. By the end of this season's first episode, President Palmer was dead.

Lost ends its second season with a special two-hour finale May 24. In the meantime, pray for Libby.

Post-Van Halen Hagar Is 'Livin' It Up'

Sammy Hagar is gearing up for summer with a new album and a tour about to begin. Two years removed from a Van Halen reunion tour, the Red Rocker says he realized the importance of performing the band's classic material, so he's bringing VH bassist Michael Anthony out on the road for a nightly mid-set digression, billed as "The Other Half," into all things Van Hagar.

"We're really having fun with stuff and after the last Van Halen reunion, it doesn't feel much like that may ever happen again for all kinds of reasons," Hagar says. "But I just think I need to play those songs, the fans need to hear those songs and it's just unfair to let it sit and die."

Current plans call for Anthony to arrive on stage about an hour into the Hagar and Wabos (recently shortened from Waboritas) set with his legendary bass solo extravaganza, before the two Van Halen members jam for 60 minutes in a retrospective filled with hits and even a few obscure tunes. Hagar says the idea for "The Other Half" stems from last year's annual Cabo Wabo Cantina birthday party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when Anthony showed up onstage unannounced.

As for his next studio album, dubbed "Livin' It Up," the 58-year-old artist says he's shopping it to labels. However, fans will hear about a half-dozen of the songs on the 36-date tour, which begins May 5 in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

"'Livin' it Up" is really a lifestyle record," Hagar says. "It's not a metal record at all. I would say it's more American country rock than heavy metal rock, which is the type of music I've always played from Montrose through Van Halen. My intention was to just make a real honest record."

Written over the past year at his home in Cabo San Lucas, the album features original songs such as "One Sip and You'll Surrender" and "The Way We Live," as well as a rocking honky-tonk cover of Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar" and his version of the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There."

While Hagar's solo prospects appear bright, that's not the case with Van Halen.

"There were some real problems in the band," Hagar says, referring to the reunion tour. "I have to tell you, there were nights I didn't know what song Eddie [Van Halen] was playing. There were times I wanted to kill that guy for what he was playing. I would have left that tour in the middle of it if it wasn't for the professional aspect. He's never going to see my ass again unless he goes and gets himself some help."

Hollywood's Academy Awards back to February

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Oscars are moving back to February.

The 79th annual Academy Awards will be held Feb. 25, 2007 — the last Sunday of the month — at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. It will be televised by ABC-TV.

This year's show was moved to the first Sunday in March to avoid going head-to-head against NBC's broadcast of the Winter Olympics' closing ceremonies.

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced the key Oscar dates on Monday, noting that the February show means nominations and the balloting process will take place earlier than they did this year.

Oscar nominees will be announced Jan. 23. Final ballots will be mailed Jan. 31 and will be due Feb. 20.

Rock Hall Opens Roy Orbison Exhibit

CLEVELAND - His was the voice of heartache and the lovelorn in the world of early rock'n'roll. Roy Orbison, who died in 1988 at age 52 of a heart attack, has been a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1987, a testament to his long popularity derived from his way of blending rock and country music.

An exhibit that opens to the public Wednesday called "Haunting & Yearning: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison" offers a glimpse into his rockabilly career and his personal struggles.

The exhibit is not traveling. It was put together for the Rock Hall, said Barbara Orbison, Roy Orbison's widow, who came to Cleveland from Nashville on Tuesday for the opening.

"I'm proud of it," she said. "It has a lot of private things. I think Roy's legacy is alive. He's so well known and respected. There's always a radio station somewhere playing him. And Roy was fond of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was Bruce Springsteen who inducted him. Roy said to me that was so wonderful."

The display coincides with what would have been Orbison's 70th birthday, April 23. Included are letters Orbison wrote to himself making vows to take better care of himself, committing to exercise and stopping smoking. There are model airplanes he built as his hobby. A poster for a 1963 show in England shows the Beatles were the warm-up band for Orbison.

"The Beatles had gotten so popular so fast that they demanded a switch and Roy went along," opening up for the Fab Four instead, said Howard Kramer, Rock Hall curator.

In 1990, Orbison posthumously won a Grammy for best male vocalist for his concert performance of "Oh, Pretty Woman" in 1988. But well before that, Orbison influenced a broad range of rock stars who were his contemporaries, such as Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and John Lennon.

"His one-of-a-kind voice and ethereal songs set him apart from all of his contemporaries and made for a diverse set of followers," Kramer said.

The exhibit runs until Oct. 29. It is small in comparison to the Rock Hall's ongoing salute to rock music icon Sam Cooke. An exhibit featuring a 10-year period of Bob Dylan's career is planned to open May 20.

A video screen in the exhibit shows Orbison performances. He usually wore big-framed glasses beneath thick, black hair.

From the release of "Only the Lonely" in 1960 to "Oh, Pretty Woman" four years later, he was often near the top in the pop music charts with his brooding songs lime "Crying" and "It's Over."

He later lived through personal crises. His first wife, Claudette, died in a motorcycle accident in 1966, and two of his three boys died in a house fire in 1968.

The exhibit also coincides with the release of Legacy Records' Roy Orbison Reissue Project. The first Legacy release is "Black & White Night," the 1987 Orbison concert originally aired on cable TV.

"What I hope young people get out of it is that Roy came from a small town in Texas against all odds and with a dream in his heart and a melody on his lips," Barbara Orbison said. "That's what it really is about, making your dream come true."

Cruise, Holmes Have Baby Girl Named Suri

LOS ANGELES - The Tomkitten has arrived. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the public lovebirds dubbed TomKat by the media, had a baby girl Tuesday, said Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson. The baby, named Suri, weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20 inches long, he said.

"Both mother and daughter are doing well," Robinson said in a prepared statement.

The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew, meaning "princess," or in Persian, meaning "red rose," the statement said.

The baby was born in Los Angeles but the exact location was not disclosed.

"Yay, yay, yay," said actress and fellow Scientologist Kirstie Alley. "Bring her over so I can meet her."

The news was announced just in time for Jay Leno to pass along word during taping of his "Tonight" show monologue.

"I just got a phone call that Tom Cruise had a baby girl about two minutes ago. No joke," Leno said.

It's the first child for Holmes, 27. Cruise, 43, has an adopted daughter and son from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.

Details surrounding the birth, which was planned under the tenets of the Church of Scientology as a silent procedure, weren't disclosed.

Scientologists believe words spoken during times of pain are recorded by the "reactive mind" and can potentially cause problems for mother and baby later in life.

A spokesman from the Church of Scientology International declined comment and referred inquiries to Cruise's publicist.

Ironically, Suri was born the same day as Brooke Shields' newborn daughter, Grier Hammond Henchy.

Shields and Cruise had a public spat last year after he criticized the actress for taking antidepressants following the birth of her first child.

Appearing on the "Today" show, Cruise said there was no such thing as chemical imbalances that need to be corrected with drugs, and that depression could be treated with exercise and vitamins.

About a dozen reporters and photographers stood by outside the Beverly Hills home where Cruise and Holmes live. Security officers inside the compound videotaped the journalists.

A publicity blitz for Cruise's new movie, "Mission: Impossible III," was set to begin Wednesday but the actor canceled all press appearances, a Paramount representative said.

It was just about a year ago that Cruise's romance with Holmes became a world sensation.

Cruise hopped up and down on a couch during an interview with Oprah Winfrey as he professed his love.

"I can't be cool. I can't be laid-back," Cruise declared at the time. "Something happened and I want to celebrate it."

The antics were widely mocked but Cruise was unfazed and continued to avow his affection for Holmes.

He and Holmes, a star of TV's "Dawson's Creek," had been first photographed together in Rome in April 2005.

She had previously been engaged to actor Chris Klein; Cruise had been married to Mimi Rogers as well as Kidman, and had dated Penelope Cruz for several years.

In June, Cruise announced to a Paris press conference that he had proposed to Holmes atop the Eiffel Tower.

"Today is a magnificent day for me, I'm engaged to a magnificent woman," he said.

No wedding date has been disclosed.

Dupuis captures hockey history

(CP) - Roy Dupuis wept and he didn't know why.

Like many people on the night of March 11, 1996, the Canadian actor was moved by the ceremony commemorating the last game at the Montreal Forum, and by the long and heartfelt ovation reserved for Maurice (Rocket) Richard.

"I was at home watching that, it still moves me," Dupuis, a lump in his throat, said in a recent interview.

"You're talking about a 16-minute ovation. On TV. No one cut it. I had never seen that. I didn't know the guy yet, didn't know the real story. I remember thinking after that ovation . . . what just happened? Why am I crying?

"It's what we call in French l'inconscient collectif (the collective unconscious). Three-quarters of the people that were there never saw him play."

But they knew of the man, and why he meant so much to Quebecers.

The Rocket, a film by director Charles Biname and distributed by Alliance Atlantis, does a remarkable job of telling that story. A hit in Quebec after being released last fall, the English-language version of the movie hits theatres in the rest of the country starting Friday.

"This movie is going out in 150 theatres across Canada, that's never happened for a Canadian movie, never, it's like Maurice has done it again," said Dupuis, who stars as the Rocket.

The fact the French-language version of the film was warmly embraced in Quebec is no shock. After all, it's the story of a blue-collar superstar hockey hero who helped carry an oppressed French-Canadian society on his shoulders. Before the Quiet Revolution, there was Rocket.

"This guy gave pride to his people," said Dupuis, who first played the role of Richard for a Heritage Canada TV vignette and a 1999 miniseries. "At the time we were second-class citizens, that's what we were, that's the reality.

"And then this guy, at the right time, happened. He became the greatest in something that was accessible to everybody - hockey. And all those people who thought they were second-class citizens thought: 'Geez, we can be somebody.' And that's where it all started."

There are reminders throughout the film that being French wasn't a cakewalk in those days, from the fence that separated the poor French-Canadian fans from the elite (mostly English) of Montreal at the Forum during games, to Richard's tormentors - first the English factory boss, to Habs head coach Dick Irvin, and of course league president Clarence Campbell.

And the feeling among the players that a French-Canadian skater had to be three times better than his English counterpart to make the Habs.

"One of the concerns that Ken Scott (the script's author) and I had, was that we didn't want to demonize the English," Biname said during a recent press stop in Toronto. "There were a certain number of things that were irritating and frustrating, a certain of number of events that happened, and we just put them together.

"The interesting thing is that Dick Irvin, who's supposed to be the real bad guy in the story, because he pushes Maurice to the end, insults him, uses whatever at hand to make him go crazy - he's the one who has the vision for the man. He's the one, you realize through the film, who believes in him in spite of everything else. So you have a great character opposing the hero which is actually the one that makes him the hero."

Irvin is played brilliantly by Nova Scotia actor Stephen McHattie (most recently in A History of Violence). McHattie studied for the part by phoning up Irvin's son Dick Irvin Jr., a longtime Hockey Night In Canada broadcaster, and by reading books Irvin had authored on his father.

"His son quotes him in a book saying the worst part of the job was having to hurt the guys that he really loved," McHattie said in an interview. "He knew right away that the Rocket played best when he was angry."

The Rocket's life was too eventful for two hours so Biname had to choose where to start and end it. He starts with a 17-year-old Richard, bent on making it big in hockey while also supporting his family while working as a machinist.

Nowhere in the film do we see Henri Richard, the Rocket's younger brother who goes on to win 11 Stanley Cups with the Habs.

"Such a huge age difference," said Biname. "Maurice had left the house and was almost finishing his career when Henri came in.

"We had Henri in there for a while (in the original script), we had a line in there for him, and then I thought: 'It's a plug, it's not right.' I don't like that. If it's not going to serve the story, why do that."

The film builds up to the famous Richard riots of 1955, when Campbell suspended the Rocket for the rest of the season - including the playoffs - for assaulting a linesman during a brawl in an incident that was sparked when Boston's Hal Laycoe two-handed Richard on the head with a vicious high stick.

What helps sell the film is that Dupuis is no slouch on skates. He played hockey growing up and plays his own scenes in the movie. No stunt actors needed. And Dupuis doesn't look out of place.

Another nice decision by Biname is letting the characters speak in their native tongue, Rocket in French, Irvin in English, and so on.

French subtitles in the Quebec release last fall translated the English characters. Now English subtitles tell us what Rocket is saying. It keeps the movie real, because that's exactly how it was then. Dubbing the actors would have taken away from the realism.

The real test for Dupuis was pulling off the Rocket both on and off the ice, a task he took extremely seriously.

"I met Maurice many times when I did the TV series at first. He became a friend, he opened up to me," Dupuis said of the Rocket. "Because of the kind of man that he was, that meant he agreed to the fact that I was playing him. What happens when you have access to the person you're going to play, you become very intimate with him, because you're trying to understand him and get inside of him. I think we became very close. And then he died (in May 2000).

"So when they came up with the idea of doing a movie about him, it's like they told me they wanted to do a story about my best friend and they wanted me to play him. I said yes but I needed to read the script first and agree, I needed to see in that script the man I know. And that's pretty much what I saw."

Gottfried Tops List of Unsexiest Men

BOSTON - The voice of the AFLAC duck has been named the Unsexiest Man in the World.

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried tops the list compiled by the Boston Phoenix's website. The list is a mix of entertainers, sports stars, even terrorists. Osama bin Laden is number eight on the list.

Others on the unsexy list include Michael Jackson, Jerry Seinfeld, Ron Howard, Clay Aiken and Britney Spears' husband Kevin Federline. He ranks 99th.

Sneaking in at No. 100 is Brad Pitt. He made the list because of rumors about bad hygiene.

Heigl getting "Knocked Up" in Apatow comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl is set to get "Knocked Up" in writer/director Judd Apatow's follow-up to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."

The Universal Pictures project revolves around the unexpected pregnancy and other consequences of a man's (Seth Rogan) one-night stand.

Heigl steps into the role vacated by Anne Hathaway ("The Princess Diaries"), who left because of creative reasons.

Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann also have been cast. As with Rogan, they starred in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."

Heigl's feature film credits include "The Ringer" and "Bride of Chucky."

Cruise, `Da Vinci' Kick Off Summer Films

LOS ANGELES - There's something really wrong with Hollywood if it can't get off to a better start than it did during the dreary summer of 2005.

Last year's first big May releases: The historical snoozer "Kingdom of Heaven" and the forgettable comedies "Kicking and Screaming" and "Monster-in-Law."

This year's summer lead-ins: "Mission: Impossible III," pitting Tom Cruise against supervillain Philip Seymour Hoffman; "Poseidon," a remake of "The Poseidon Adventure" directed by Hollywood's king of the sea, Wolfgang Petersen ("The Perfect Storm," "Das Boot"); the animated "Over the Hedge," an animals-against-humans comedy from the makers of "Shrek"; and "The Da Vinci Code," reuniting Tom Hanks with director Ron Howard.

A globe-trotting mystery, the adaptation of Dan Brown's best-seller follows a symbologist (Hanks) and cryptographer ( Audrey Tautou) racing to uncover clues about the murder of a member of a shadowy society harboring deep secrets about Christianity.

The film was shot at churches, cathedrals and landmarks around the world, including the Louvre in Paris, where the story begins.

"It was an almost out-of-body experience filming there," director Howard said. "The building itself is a monument, and you're surrounded by the works of so many of the great masters. Being there at 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning to film eerie, suspenseful scenes in this environment, it was one part heaven and the other part kind of almost haunted house. You didn't want to wander away from the rest of the film crew, let me put it that way.

"I did have a moment all alone with the Mona Lisa in the wee hours, and that was pretty fantastic."

After stumbling out of the gate last year, when summer movie attendance fell 12 percent to its lowest level since 1997, Hollywood seems to have a more crowd-pleasing lineup to lure audiences back to theaters.

A look at key summer releases:

LOOKING FOR ACTION: Tom Cruise's first two "Mission: Impossible" capers were heavy on action and style. "Mission: Impossible III" director J.J. Abrams, creator of TV's "Lost" and "Alias," said he aimed to balance action with character interplay in the spirit of the television show on which the movies are based.

"The thing I loved about the show is watching these incredibly accomplished operatives seamlessly working together to pull off a very specific goal," Abrams said. "I honestly felt that as entertained as I was by the first two `Mission' films, they didn't embrace that aspect, which to me was the fundamental thing of the series."

Wolfgang Petersen is back on the water with "Poseidon," starring Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss and Josh Lucas in a remake of the 1970s disaster flick about a luxury liner overturned by a tidal wave.

"It was a chance to do a film reflecting our phobias today, our fear of terrorism or disaster, like 9/11 or whatever nature can do to us," Petersen said. "A natural disaster like this is sort of a metaphor for the impossible and most disastrous thing you can imagine, and what would we do when it hits?"

Also returning to the water: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and director Gore Verbinski with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," the follow-up to their 2003 blockbuster.

"Dead Man's Chest" has Depp's woozy pirate Jack Sparrow trying to weasel out of an old debt — his soul, which he owes to the sea devil Davy Jones.

Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell star in "Miami Vice," written and directed by Michael Mann, creator of the 1980s cop show and Foxx's director on "Collateral" and "Ali." Farrell and Foxx take on the roles originated by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, playing undercover cops who infiltrate a South Florida drug ring.

The TV show was known for glitzy fashion and hip music, but Mann's new take is a grittier glimpse of cops on the street, Foxx said.

"It's heavy," Foxx said. "Heavy in a way that there's a real sense of danger, a real sense of what these guys go through as undercover cops. Tempted either to work for the other side or get caught up in the different characters they create."

SUPERHEROES ON PARADE: Fighters for truth, justice and the rights of Mutant-Americans are back, led by "X-Men: The Last Stand," the third installment in the franchise about the gang of super freaks, and "Superman Returns," with the Man of Steel suiting up for his first big-screen adventure in almost 20 years.

Bryan Singer, who made the first two "X-Men" movies, directed "Superman Returns," which introduces Brandon Routh as Krypton's favorite flyboy.

Co-starring Kevin Spacey as villain Lex Luthor and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, the movie has Superman back on Earth after a prolonged absence. Though not a sequel to the Christopher Reeve "Superman" flicks, the film borrows from the look and mythology created in that series.

Routh said he fashioned his performance to match, injecting his own personality into the character while trying to stay true to Reeve's Superman.

"Chris did such an amazing job. You can change things, but if you do it could be horrible," Routh said. "When somebody does something so great, there's certain things you can tweak, but to change it just to change it sometimes is dangerous."

The "X-Men" sequel, directed by Brett Ratner (the "Rush Hour" movies), reunites all key cast members, including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen.

Driving the action this time is the discovery of a "cure" for mutancy. Jackman said the movie will wrap up the "X-Men" trilogy, though another film is in the works centered on his Wolverine character — the bushy-haired mystery man with metal claws and rapid healing powers.

"He's that reluctant hero, and he's a fairly classic version of it," Jackman said. "He reminds me of characters I always liked, Mad Max, Dirty Harry, Han Solo, where there's more going on than what they're letting on."

Summer also offers superhero comedies. Ivan Reitman's "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" stars Uma Thurman as the ultimate woman scorned, a superhero who uses her powers to exact revenge on the boyfriend ( Luke Wilson) who dumped her.

"Zoom" stars Tim Allen and Courteney Cox in an "Incredibles"-like tale of a former hero gone soft.

"Tim plays a retired superhero, and I play a kind of comic-book-obsessed, nerdy scientist. We're trying to find people to train kids to become the next round of superheroes," Cox said of her first big-screen leading role since she and her "Friends" gang called it quits.

SEPT. 11: Nearly five years after Sept. 11 comes the first major wave of big-screen films dealing with the terrorist attacks.

"United 93" mostly features a cast of unknowns in a gut-wrenching docudrama about the passengers who fought back and lost their lives during one of the Sept. 11 hijackings.

Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" stars Nicolas Cage in the story of two policemen trapped in the rubble of the collapsed towers.

On a smaller scale, "The Great New Wonderful" features Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tony Shalhoub and Olympia Dukakis in a sketch of five New Yorkers a year after the Sept. 11 attacks.

ANIMATION MANIA: Featuring the voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman and Bonnie Hunt, "Cars" is the latest from computer-animation pioneer John Lasseter, who directed the "Toy Story" movies. The film follows a haughty race car (Wilson) who learns to slow down and make time for friends after he's stranded in a sleepy town.

Summer's animated tales also include "Barnyard," a farm fable featuring the voices of Kevin James, Courteney Cox, Danny Glover and Andie MacDowell; the bug story "The Ant Bully," with Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep among the vocal cast; and the spooky-building adventure "Monster House," with Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon and Maggie Gyllenhaal providing voices.

Led by voice stars Bruce Willis as a rascally raccoon and Garry Shandling as a cautious turtle, "Over the Hedge" is the story of a family of critters coping with new neighbors — humans.

How did Willis find his inner raccoon?

"I found that a lot of David Addison bled into the character," Willis said, referring to the crafty private eye he played on TV's "Moonlighting." "Wily and intrepid and a loner and gets a pretty big kick out of life. It's only when in this particular film that he is confronted with a family situation that he starts to find himself on shaky ground."

JUST FOR LAUGHS: In the comedy "You, Me and Dupree," Owen Wilson's the house guest from hell, who takes up permanent residence with his newlywed pals ( Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson).

Vince Vaughn, Wilson's "Wedding Crashers" comrade, and Jennifer Aniston star as ex-lovers living in hostile territory when neither will move out of the condo they share in "The Break-Up."

"Click" features Adam Sandler as a family guy who finds the remote control of his dreams, giving him magical power over his work and home life — until the device starts acting up.

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly hit the NASCAR circuit in "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby," playing a duo that almost always finishes first and second in races until an upstart comes along.

"My character holds the record for most second-place finishes in the history of NASCAR," said Reilly, who also co-stars with Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan and Woody Harrelson in Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion," a fanciful look at Keillor's radio show.

CREEPY AND CRYPTIC: Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan has made late summer a Halloween prelude with such eerie hits as "The Sixth Sense," "Signs" and "The Village."

Shyamalan is back with "Lady in the Water," the tale of an apartment manager ( Paul Giamatti) who discovers a water nymph ("Village" star Bryce Dallas Howard) living beneath his complex's pool and trying to escape creatures preventing her return to her own world.

"Lady in the Water" began as a bedtime story Shyamalan made up for his children, but it grew to an epic that took a month to tell — and a year to retell as the kids asked to hear it again and again.

"That one was so vivid," Shyamalan said. "It became this kind of haunting story that stuck with us as a family. The movie is very original for the story being told, because it's so absurd and not like anything you've heard before."

Also on the fright front: "The Omen," with Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow and Liev Schreiber in an update of the 1970s Antichrist tale, and "An American Haunting," starring Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland in the story of a 19th century family tormented by a supernatural presence.

'Scary Movie 4' Opens With $41 Million

LOS ANGELES - Bob and Harvey Weinstein returned to the box-office lead as "Scary Movie 4" debuted with $41 million, the first No. 1 opening for the new company founded by the former Miramax bosses.

It was the best Easter weekend debut ever, beating the $30.1 million opening of "Panic Room" in 2002, according to studio estimates Sunday.

With the success of "Scary Movie 4," Bob Weinstein said he hopes to have a fifth film in the horror-spoof franchise in theaters over Easter weekend next year.

"I say the Weinsteins should be getting `Scary Movie' 5 through 10 ready right away," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Weinstein said director David Zucker and writer Jim Abrahams, collaborators on "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies, would reteam for the next sequel.

"Scary Movie 4" was released under the Weinstein Co.'s Dimension label, which the brothers brought with them after their departure from Disney-owned Miramax last year. Disney continues to share half the proceeds from the "Scary Movie" flicks and any future installments in pre-existing Dimension franchises, such as the "Scream" or "Spy Kids" series.

The Weinsteins will have sole control over any new franchises Dimension undertakes.

"We've got four or five new franchises in development, so it's not just like I'm going to go ad infinitum on the old stuff," Bob Weinstein said. "We've got other ideas that I'm really excited about starting."

The animated hit "Ice Age: The Meltdown," which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, slipped to second place with $20 million, raising its total to $147.2 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, Disney's animated tale "The Wild," debuted at No. 4 with $9.6 million.

Fox Searchlight's acclaimed satire "Thank You for Smoking," a hit in limited release, expanded nationwide and took in $4.45 million to come in at No. 8.

Hollywood's overall revenues rose for the fourth-straight weekend, with the top-12 movies grossing $110 million. That was up 23 percent from 2005's Easter weekend, which came three weeks earlier last year. It was up about 45 percent compared to the mid-April weekend last year.

The industry has pulled ahead slightly from its slow pace last year, when movie attendance fell 8 percent. The "Ice Age" and "Scary Movie" sequels have provided a solid lead-in to what analysts consider a strong early-summer lineup that launches next month with "Mission: Impossible III," "The Da Vinci Code," the animated tale "Over the Hedge" and "Poseidon," a remake of "The Poseidon Adventure."

"Scary Movie 4" continued the success of 2003's "Scary Movie 3," which had rejuvenated the fading franchise by softening the tone from the R ratings of the first two installments to PG-13. The first "Scary Movie" opened at No. 1 in 2000 with a $42 million take.

The latest version features longtime "Scary Movie" player Anna Faris and co-stars Leslie Nielsen, a Zucker and Abrahams favorite who starred in "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun" comedies.

Bob Weinstein said 40 to 50 percent of the audience was in the 12- to 17-year-old range. The movie also drew well among older audiences lured in by the Zucker-Abrahams brand of humor, Weinstein said.

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

1. "Scary Movie 4," $41 million.
2. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $20 million.
3. "The Benchwarmers," $10 million.
4. "The Wild," $9.6 million.
5. "Take the Lead," $6.7 million.
6. "Inside Man," $6.3 million.
7. "Lucky Number Slevin," $4.6 million.
8. "Thank You for Smoking," $4.45 million.
9. "Failure to Launch," $2.6 million.
10. "V for Vendetta," $2.2 million.

Hoppy Easter

Easter is the time of springtime festivals, a time to welcome back the Tulips, the Crocuses and the Daffodils. Its a time of new suits, new dresses and patent leather shoes. A time for Christians to celebrate the life and resurrection of Christ. And a time of chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks, and colored eggs!

Easter will be celebrated on Sunday April 16, 2006.

Greek/Orthodox Easter will be celebrated Sunday, April 23, 2006.

So have a great day, and enjoy the eggs!

"South Park" Censored

There was something missing in Wednesday night's South Park, as a title card explained: "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network."

It was not a joke.

The scene depicting the Islamic prophet handing a football helmet to a character from Family Guy (at least that's how another of the show's title cards put it) really was nixed by Comedy Central.

A source close to the show said safety concerns were behind the move. Earlier this year, Danish newspapers published cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, sparking deadly riots throughout many Muslim nations. Any rendering of the prophet, even a positive one, is considered blasphemous by Muslims.

"In light of recent events, we feel we made the right decision," Comedy Central said in a statement Thursday.

There was no public response from series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Wednesday's South Park, "Cartoon Wars, Part 2," was the concluding half of a story arc in which Family Guy, yes, the Fox animated series, causes international consternation when, in a familiar-sounding turn of events, it depicts Mohammed. (The story line is better understood if one accepts that, as The South Park Scriptorium explained, "Family Guy=South Park.")

In the South Park version of things, Family Guy makes it to air with the controversial scene, prompting an animated response (literally) from al Qaeda involving Jesus, President Bush, the U.S. flag and bowel movements.

In an interview with the Associated Press, William Donohue of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights attacked Parker and Stone, but not Comedy Central, for the Jesus bit making air. Of the show's creators, Donohue said, "[They're] like little whores...They'll sit there and they'll whine and they'll take their shot at Jesus."

South Park has been winning friends of late with its religious-themed episodes. Last year, Comedy Central ran, but later declined to rerun the episode "Bloody Mary" after Donohue's group took umbrage with a menstruating statue of the Virgin Mary. Last month, Isaac Hayes turned in his Chef's hat, saying the show's satire had gone too far. His departure was seen as a belated response to "Trapped in the Closet," a 2005 episode that focused on Scientology, Hayes' religion. Comedy Central pulled a rerun of that episode, too.

An avowed equal opportunity offender, South Park previously depicted Mohammed to little public outcry. In that case, timing might have been everything. The episode, "Super Best Friends," debuted in July 2001, or two months before the arrival of the post-9-11 world.

Beatles Coming Together Online

It's been a long and winding road, but the Beatles are finally getting online.

Apple Corps, the music company formed by the Fab Four to control their music and business empire, has confirmed plans to digitally remaster the band's entire catalog and, for the first time, make it available for download via online stores.

The news surfaced in testimony by Neil Aspinall, the Beatles' former road manager who's now managing director of Apple Corps, in the company's trademark lawsuit against Apple Computers in London.

In a written statement submitted earlier this month, Aspinall told the High Court that surviving members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the widows of John Lennon (Yoko Ono) and George Harrison (Olivia Harrison) had been taking a wait-and-see approach to Web-based distribution. They decided that before jumping on the online bandwagon--which accounted for a whopping $1.1 billion last year, they wanted to digitally polish the 40-year-old songs. (The Beatles have been famously technology-shy, having waited years after CDs were widely available to release their albums on disc.)

"We're remastering the whole Beatles catalog, just to make it sound brighter and better and getting proper booklets to go with each of the packages," Aspinall explained. "I think it would be wrong to offer downloads of the old masters when I am making new masters. It would be better to wait and try to do them both simultaneously so that you then get publicity of the new masters and the downloading, rather than just doing it ad hoc."

A rep for London-based Apple Corps has confirmed the company is in talks with various Internet music services, but said there was no firm timetable. There was no comment on whether one of those services would be Apple's iTunes Music Store--by far the most popular online service; but given the litigious history between the companies, such a deal might seem like a pipe dream at this point.

Apples Corps is claiming that Apple Computers' iTunes violates a 1991 settlement in which the computer company agreed not to go into the music business. Apple Corps claims Apple Computers' logo is too similar. Apple Computers, which was named in honor of the Beatles' company, asserts that the 1991 agreement only covered physical media--like CDs, tapes and records--and did not extend to digital delivery.

The trademark trial concluded on Apr. 6 and a ruling is expected later this month.

Meanwhile, Daily Variety reports that Apple Corps is working on remastering a batch of previously unreleased Beatles tunes to be used as background music for a new Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The launch of the show will reportedly be accompanied by the release of an album of "completely new music."

Famed Beatles producer George Martin told the trade that the recordings were made during the band's Abbey Road sessions and were relegated to the vaults before being unearthed for the circus project.

"I think we will achieve a real sense of drama with the music," Martin said. "The audience will feel as though they are actually in the room with the band."

The remastering is being supervised by McCartney and Starr, with Ono and Olivia Harrison ultimately having sign-off powers.

The Cirque du Soleil production is expected to debut this summer. No word when the purported album will hit stores.

The last time the Beatles reworked old tracks for release was in 1995, when "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" appeared as singles on the group's Anthology collection.

This week also saw the release of The Beatles: The Capitol Albums Vol. 2, a four-disc box set featuring the U.S. versions of four mid-1960s Beatles releases--The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help! and Rubber Soul.

Finally, in related news, Michael Jackson is close to selling off a portion of the Beatles' song catalog to stave off bankruptcy. (While Apple Corps oversees the band's business interests and controls release of Beatles music through EMI, Jackson owns the entire Lennon-McCartney Beatles songbook and oversees use of the actual songs.)

Per the New York Times, the erstwhile King of Pop would sell Sony the option to purchase half of his stake in the Beatles catalog in exchange for obtaining a loan that would help him remain solvent. Sony already has a 50 percent stake in the catalog through an earlier deal with Jackson, and if the company exercises its option, it would control 75 percent.

Jackson outbid McCartney in 1985 for the rights to the ATV catalog, which includes 251 Lennon-McCartney compositions, paying $48 million. Today, the same catalog is worth an estimated $1 billion.

Michael Buble shines at Junos with four wins; Nickelback, Young each get two

HALIFAX (CP) - The sugary vocals of Michael Buble dominated the Juno Awards in Halifax on Sunday night, as the fresh-faced crooner took home the evening's biggest awards.

Even the scantily clad Pamela Anderson, who hosted the show, couldn't upstage the Vancouver singer, who won a total of four Junos over the weekend including album of the year for It's Time.

"I don't know what to say. I feel like Kelly Clarkson a bit," said Buble on his last trip to the podium.

His haul included artist of the year, and his song Home, a soft-hearted track about feeling homesick, was named single of the year.

"This is a subjective business," Buble said backstage. "It's not necessarily true that the best guy or the best girl won tonight . . . but damn it, this feels really good."

As expected, Anderson's turn at hosting proved more memorable for her revealing outfits than her dialogue, although she did use the prime-time show to take a few digs at the East Coast seal hunt.

"I don't mind a little blood on the ice when it's a hockey rink, but I hate seeing blood on the ice when it's from baby seals," said the model and actor from Ladysmith, B.C., who's been lobbying Ottawa to end the annual hunt.

The 7,500 people gathered at the Halifax Metro Centre reacted with loud boos and just a few cheers.

"I can take it," she shot back. "I have high heels and they dig in deep."

With a leading six nominations, Nickelback wasn't entirely shut out of the Juno game. The rockers earned two trophies - including best group - the night earlier at a dinner celebration where the majority of the 39 awards were distributed.

With just seven awards handed out, Sunday's two-hour celebration was mostly about live music, featuring energetic performances by Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, Hedley and Ottawa's Massari.

The Junos paid some homage to the country's flourishing indie-rock community, rewarding Arcade Fire with best songwriter honours for the songs Wake Up, Rebellion (Lies) and Neighbourhood No. 3 (Power Out). The Montreal outfit beat out Neil Young, who had been favoured to win.

Toronto collective Broken Social Scene snagged the hotly contested best alternative album award, edging out Hot Hot Heat, Metric, Tegan & Sara, and the New Pornographers.

"Look at us all. We're an army, ladies and gentlemen," said Kevin Drew while accepting the trophy, as 16 of the group's members, including Feist, worked their way on stage.

"Is there going to be a change in Canadian music? I don't know."

Backstage, Drew explained he was referring to the instant star-making machine of Canadian Idol.

"It's going nowhere," he said, adding that the music scene has been "repetitive too long."

A 25-year veteran of the business, Bryan Adams was inducted into the Hall of Fame after an introduction by Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Born in Kingston, Ont., Adams launched his career in Vancouver in 1980 and quickly became a household name thanks to a slew of catchy, arena anthems like Straight for the Heart, Run to You and Summer of '69.

"Had I started anywhere else but Vancouver, I would not be here tonight," said Adams, wearing his trademark crisp white shirt.

Best new group honours went to Bedouin Soundclash, a reggae-rock outfit formed five years ago while its three members were attending Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. The group made a huge splash last year with the infectious ditty When The Night Feels My Song.

"It's been a long trip for us," said front man Jay Malinowski.

Bedouin's win shut out Canadian Idol finalist Jacob Hoggard's psuedo-punk band Hedley.

In fact, all four Canadian Idol alumni who'd been nominated this year - including Newfoundland's Rex Goudie - went home empty-handed.

Aside from Nickelback, Young, the Tragically Hip and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra were double Juno winners.

Superstars Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas tied for best international album, a category determined by both sales figures and votes.

Singer Diana Krall won best vocal jazz album for Christmas Songs. It was the only win for Krall, who'd been contending for five awards this year.

Jason McCoy's Road Hammers received the trophy for best country recording, while Winnipeg's The Duhks were honoured with best group roots album.

K'Naan's Dusty Foot Philosopher snagged best rap recording. Daniel Powter, of Vernon, B.C., was crowned best new artist.

More than 1,000 industry members descended on Halifax for a weekend of festivities.

The celebrations included a charity hockey game Friday night that featured Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and TV stars the Trailer Park Boys.

Nickelback, Jully Black and Hot Hot Heat were among the musicians who spent close to five hours signing autographs for several thousand fans on Saturday.

Next year's Juno Awards will be hosted by Saskatoon

-

The complete list of Juno Award winners:

Fan's Choice: Simple Plan.

Songwriter: Arcade Fire.

Single: Home, Michael Buble.

Album: It's Time, Michael Buble.

Artist: Michael Buble.

New group: Bedouin Soundclash.

Alternative album: Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene.

International album: Tied between X&Y, Coldplay and Monkey Business, Black Eyed Peas.

Group: Nickelback.

Instrumental album: Belladonna, Daniel Lanois.

Pop album: It's Time, Michael Buble.

Rock album: All the Right Reasons, Nickelback.

New artist: Daniel Powter.

Country recording: The Road Hammers, The Road Hammers.

Adult alternative album: Prairie Wind, Neil Young.

Rap recording: The Dusty Foot Philosopher, K'Naan.

Vocal jazz album: Christmas Songs, Diana Krall.

Contemporary jazz album: Radio Guantanamo, Jane Bunnett.

Traditional jazz album: Ask Me Later, Don Thompson Quartet.

Francophone album: Pages blanches, Jim Corcoran.

Children's album: Baroque Adventure: The Quest for Arundo Donax, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.

Classical album: solo or chamber ensemble: Albeniz: Iberia, Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Classical album: large ensemble or soloist with large ensemble accompaniment: Beethoven: Symphonies nos.5 et 6, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.

Classical album: vocal or choral performance: Viardot-Garcia: Lieder Chansons Canzoni Mazurkas, Isabel Bayrakdarian.

Classical composition: String Quartet No. 1 (The Awakening), Christos Hatzis.

Dance recording: Spanish Fly, Hatira & Macca featuring Shawna B.

R&B/soul recording: Back for More, Shawn Desman.

Reggae recording: Reggae Time, Blessed.

Aboriginal recording: Hometown, Burnt Project 1.

Roots and traditional album: solo: Hair in My Eyes Like A Highland Steer, Corb Lund.

Roots and traditional album: group: The Duhks, The Duhks.

Blues album: Let It Loose, Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne.

Contemporary Christian/gospel album: Amanda Falk, Amanda Falk.

World music album: Humo De Tabaco, Alex Cuba Band.

Producer: Neil Young, The Painter, Prairie Wind.

Recording engineer: Vic Florencia, Everyday is a Holiday/Melancholy Melody, Wikked Lil Grrrls, Esthero.

CD/DVD artwork design: Rob Baker, Garnet Armstrong, Susan Michalek, Will Ruocco for Hipeponymous, The Tragically Hip.

Video: Devil's Eye, Micah Meisner, Rich Terfry for Buck 65.

Music DVD: Hipeponymous, The Tragically Hip.

-

Some of the things heard on and off the stage at the Junos:

"This is a subjective business. . . . It's not necessarily true that the best guy or the best girl won tonight. It should be an honour just to be nominated, but damn it this feels really good." - Michael Buble on his four Juno wins.

-

"I love him very much. He just hugged me backstage, which to be honest was arousing." - Coldplay's Chris Martin introducing Hall of Fame inductee Bryan Adams.

-

"I don't mind a little blood on the ice when it's a hockey rink, but I hate seeing blood on the ice when it's from baby seals." - Host Pamela Anderson on the East Coast seal hunt.

-

"I feel really sorry for those kids in Canadian Idol cuz they're going absolutely nowhere. I think it's a trick." - Kevin Drew on Canadian Idols.

-

"Had I started anywhere else but Vancouver, I would not be here tonight." - Bryan Adams on his Hall of Fame induction.

-

"You can never silence the critics. You know who's even more jaded than critics? Your peers. And if your peers will vote for you, that's a pretty good sign. It's more flattering than most people know." - Chad Kroeger on Nickelback's two Juno wins including group of the year.

-

"Since when did Hugh Hefner start producing the Junos?" - Jason McCoy on Pamela Anderson hosting the show.

-

"My brassiere is entirely made of seal eyelids." - Singer Jann Arden.

-

"Canada's a great place. I wish America could learn from Canada." - the Black Eyed Peas's Will.i.am.

Winnipeg bids to host 'Late, Late Show'

WINNIPEG - Winnipeg could be on its way to a starring role on U.S. network television, if a prominent talk-show host brings his late, late night act here.

Mayor Sam Katz and city hall officials are trying to work out an agreement to bring The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson to Winnipeg with a week's worth of programs, the Sun has learned.

The nightly CBS program's stint in the 'Peg -- if the city is prepared to cough up cash to make it happen -- would give Manitoba a taste of the limelight that Toronto enjoyed when NBC's Conan O'Brien took his Late Night show to the Ontario capital's Elgin Theatre for four days in February 2004.

Katz is looking at bringing in Ferguson -- the Scottish actor and comedian who has mentioned Winnipeg on his program several times -- for what would likely be a four- or five-night run.

"He's been to Winnipeg. He likes the city. He refers to it all the time in his humourous way. And there might be some interest in having him come here and do four shows," Katz told the Sun yesterday.

"We're just going to start looking into it now."

The talks got rolling yesterday when Hart Berger, a Florida film and television writer, dropped into Katz's office to make the pitch on behalf of producers of the Los Angeles-based show -- which Ferguson took over last year from former host Craig Kilborn.

"This would be a tremendous benefit to the Winnipeg brand name and in marketing the city to the U.S.," said Berger, a former Winnipeg resident.

"It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

It's uncertain when any run here could happen, though Berger suggested a slate of dates coinciding with the Winnipeg Folk Festival -- an annual July event -- would help supply a stream of talent easily impressive enough for the show's U.S. audience.

The Late, Late Show and Worldwide Pants, the David Letterman-run production company that controls the show, are eyeing Winnipeg for Ferguson's first stint with the show outside L.A.

Berger didn't reveal details on financial "incentives" that would have to come from city hall, though he made clear a "hospitality offer" covering costs of meals and hotels for the show's staff is necessary.

Kenny Boyce, the city's film and culture manager, is to discuss possibilities with Berger in the coming week. Berger expects to be able to return Winnipeg's offer -- if there is one -- to Ferguson's producers next Friday.

"They've asked me in Los Angeles to bring back the kind of offer Winnipeg would make," Berger said. "They're taking Winnipeg as a serious possibility."

Ferguson's interest in Winnipeg stems partly from time he spent here acting in the film Niagara Motel, which was released a couple of weeks ago.

Berger sees a run in Manitoba's capital -- possibly at the Burton Cummings Theatre -- as a "good counter" to a recent Globe and Mail newspaper feature that criticized Winnipeg's downtown.

O'Brien's stint in Toronto came when officials anted up a rumoured total of between $1 million and $2 million as an incentive to the show's producers, to try to help their tourism industry fight the effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) after the disease killed 44 people there in 2003.

The NBC show "showed off a lot of the city and its lifestyle and culture" while attracting top Canadian and Hollywood celebrities, said Don Wanagas, spokesman for Toronto Mayor David Miller. That kind of attention, he said, is something Winnipeg shouldn't brush off quickly.

"It was well worth the money," Wanagas said.

"I wouldn't ignore it. It's good from the perspective of getting your municipality and province known outside the country."

Katz warned Winnipeggers against dreaming of TV Land too quickly.

"Would I like to see it? Absolutely," he said. "But we have all sorts of priorities that take money. I'm not interested in spending money on something that's not a priority.

"By the same token, if it could have a great economic impact at a minimal expense, that's a different story."

Nickelback, Young snag early Junos

HALIFAX -- Neil Young, Nickelback, The Tragically Hip and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra were early double winners at the non-telecast Juno Awards handed out last night during a gala dinner in this eastern Canadian city.

Young won adult alternative album and producer of the year for his Canadian childhood-inspired folk collection, Prairie Wind, which was released after he underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm last year. The operation prevented him from attending the 2005 Junos in Winnipeg, where he had been scheduled to play.

Young, who is currently in the recording studio and isn't attending Juno weekend, is still up for songwriter of the year tonight at the Juno Awards broadcast (7 p.m. on CTV), where a handful of remaining awards will be presented during an otherwise performance-heavy show.

VANCOUVER ROCKERS

Vancouver rockers Nickelback -- who had a leading six Juno nominations heading into the Junos -- landed best group and rock album of the year honours for All The Right Reasons but lost to Young for producer

However, they can still technically dominate the awards tonight as they compete for the Juno Fan Choice Award, single of the year for Photograph, and album of the year for All The Right Reasons. They are also scheduled to perform on the show being hosted by blond bombshell Pamela Anderson.

The Hip picked up a pair of Junos for music DVD and DVD artwork design for their greatest hits collection, Hipeponymous.

In total, 32 Junos were handed out last night at the World Trade And Convention Centre. Five-time nominees Michael Buble and Diana Krall won one each.

Buble's It's Time was recognized for pop album of the year while Krall's Christmas Songs won for vocal jazz album of year.

Vancouver crooner Buble could also dominate tonight as he's up for for best single for Home, album of the year for It's Time, artist, and the Juno Fan Choice Award.

Krall's Live at The Montreal Jazz Festival lost out to The Hip for best DVD but she's still in the running for album, artist and the Juno Fan Choice Award tonight.

Other early single winners included British pop-rock quartet Coldplay and L.A.- based hip-pop outfit Blackeyed Peas -- both slated to perform tonight -- who tied in a rare occurrence for international album of the year for X&Y and Monkey Business, respectively.

Pop newcomer Daniel Powter was awarded new artist of the year honors -- over the powerful likes of Martha Wainwright -- while Halifax avant-garde hip-hop performer Buck 65 won video of the year for Devil's Eyes over Montreal darling Arcade Fire, who will compete for songwriting honors tonight.

Daniel Lanois, who has worked with U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson among others, won instrumental album of the year for Belladonna.

Juno Awards a missed opportunity

By MARY DICKIE -- Toronto Sun

It's a great time for Canadian music, as everyone will tell you.

In the past couple of years, artists of many musical styles have emerged from thriving scenes across the country to make great records, and bask in an unprecedented amount of international support.

The indie boom is undoubtedly the story of the year, so tonight's Juno Awards will naturally celebrate those artists and their success. Right?

Not exactly.

Broken Social Scene may sell out in London, New York and Tokyo, but the Junos are more about celebrating TV karaoke contests and the priorities of major labels, which seem to be increasingly relying on Canadian Idol judges as their talent scouts.

The list of nominees for the major awards reveals a dependence on characterless, TV-polished material that could have (and in some cases did) come from elsewhere, rather than reflecting the flavour and variety of recent Canadian music.

What's up for album of the year, for instance? Surely The Arcade Fire's Funeral, which has sold half a million copies. No doubt Neil Young's Prairie Wind. Perhaps Jully Black's This Is Me, Blue Rodeo's Are You Ready, Stars' Set Yourself On Fire, K'naan's Dusty Foot Philosopher or The New Pornographers' Twin Cinema?

Oh, no. Those artists are lucky to get nominated for non-televised genre awards.

Instead, the nominees include a Christmas album, a collection of retro standards -- which contain exactly one Canadian song between them -- two forgettable releases by Canadian Idol contestants and Nickelback's All The Right Reasons.

Nearly the same bunch -- Diana Krall, Michael Buble, Kalan Porter and Rex Goudie, plus token francophone Boom Desjardins -- are up for artist of the year. (Rex Goudie for artist of the year? He didn't even win Canadian Idol! Hello?! Neil Young put out an album last year. It didn't have to be his best to top Diana Krall's Jingle Bells.)

The thing is, despite being named after Pierre Juneau -- the CRTC boss who helped give us Canadian content regulations in the '70s -- Juno submissions don't actually have to meet CanCon regulations. As long as the artist was born here, or is a landed immigrant, the album qualifies.

The lack of interest in actual Canadian music is reflected in the fact that no songwriter-of-the-year nominee was also nominated for best album, artist, single or group. How can the best songwriting not be part of the best albums? Only in Junoland.

As well, the Juno show producers felt they needed performances by Coldplay and The Black Eyed Peas to win their TV time slot -- despite a slew of Canadian performers, plus host Pamela Anderson.

It's sad that the folks who should be Canadian music's loudest cheerleaders actually have so little faith in it.

You could give yourself a headache trying to figure out how the Junos work. There are seven different ways to determine the winners: Various combinations of sales figures and voting by members of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), the public, and the CARAS board and "panels of experts."

Sales factor into album of the year, but not single. Artist and group are partly determined by sales, but new artist and new group are not -- and neither are they subject to the same eligibility period as everything else.

I guess that's why the Pocket Dwellers, now on their third album, were nominated for new group.

By the way, did you know that we had adult alternative radio in Canada? Neither did I. But we do have an adult alternative Juno -- a convenient place to put country-rock artists such as Kathleen Edwards, Blue Rodeo, Luke Doucet and Neil Young so that they're not completely ignored.

I could go on, but I'd just be banging my head against the wall of Juno complacency. I guess all we can do is hope that some Halifax flavour somehow sneaks into the show.

Good luck.

'Ice Age' Debut Nets $70.5M in Cold Cash

LOS ANGELES - "Ice Age: The Meltdown" heated up the box office with a mammoth $70.5 million weekend, while audiences gave the cold shoulder to Sharon Stone, whose "Basic Instinct 2" debuted with a paltry $3.2 million.

The "Ice Age" sequel, from 20th Century Fox, took over the top box office spot from Universal's "Inside Man," which slipped to No. 2 in its second weekend with $15.7 million, raising its 10-day total to $52.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Premiering in third place was the Warner Bros. roller-skating tale "ATL," starring rapper Tip Harris, which took in $12.5 million.

Universal's "Slither," starring Nathan Fillion in a horror comedy about killer slugs from outer space, flopped with $3.7 million, debuting at No. 8.

Sony's MGM release "Basic Instinct 2," the belated sequel to the 1992 sex thriller that made Stone a star, tied for the No. 10 spot with Lionsgate's "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," which took in $3.2 million in its second weekend.

The overall box office surged, with the top 12 movies grossing $136.5 million, up 40 percent from the same weekend last year. The upswing followed a stagnant first quarter after a prolonged drought last year, when attendance fell 8 percent compared to 2004.

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" reunites Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo, now joined by Queen Latifah, as voices of prehistoric animals migrating to safety when global warming threatens to flood their home.

The sequel easily surpassed the $46.3 million opening weekend of the original "Ice Age" and broke the record held by the first "Ice Age" for best March opening ever. If the numbers hold when final figures are released Monday, it would tie "The Incredibles" for second-best animated debut ever behind the $108 million first weekend of "Shrek 2."

"No one had any idea it would do this kind of business," said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations, who expected the "Ice Age" sequel to debut in the $55 million range.

"The notion that people don't want to go to the movies is dispelled by something like this," he said. "It proves people will line up for the right movie if given the motivation."

Opening in about half the overseas markets, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" also grossed $43.4 million internationally, though it has yet to debut in the biggest foreign markets, including Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

"Basic Instinct 2" features the sexual predator Stone played in the first movie in a new murder thriller in London as she plays mind games with her psychiatrist ( David Morrissey).

Sony opened "Basic Instinct 2" in just 1,453 theaters, a fairly small release for such a high-profile title. "Ice Age: The Meltdown" debuted in 3,964 theaters.

Critics savaged "Basic Instinct 2," many finding its tale of erotic intrigue both laughable and dull. Sony held out hopes the movie would find an audience on DVD.

"I think it's a very sexy film, and Sharon Stone looks great and really worked the film," said Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution "It's a movie that probably will have a very strong life in the home-video world."

The 2005 Sundance Film Festival hit "Brick," first-time filmmaker Rian Johnson's throwback to old-style film noir set among modern teens, opened strongly in limited release, with $87,524 in two theaters. Distributor Focus Features plans to expand "Brick" to more theaters this Friday.

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

1. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $70.5 million.
2. "Inside Man," $15.7 million.
3. "ATL," $12.5 million.
4. "Failure to Launch," $6.6 million.
5. "V for Vendetta," $6.5 million.
6. "Stay Alive," $4.58 million.
7. "She's the Man," $4.57 million.
8. "Slither," $3.7 million.
9. "The Shaggy Dog," $3.5 million.
10 (tie). "Basic Instinct 2," $3.2 million.
10 (tie). "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," $3.2 million.