Habs to play Sens in pre-season game as part of Hockeyville grand prize
MONTREAL (CP) - The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators will face off in a pre-season game on Sept. 25 near a Nova Scotia town recently dubbed Hockeyville.
The NHL teams were announced Tuesday, several weeks after Salmon River, N.S., was awarded the grand prize of hosting an exhibition game and given the honourary title of being Canada's most passionate hockey community.
Salmon River was voted Kraft Hockeyville by viewers of the CBC reality TV show's season finale. The town also received prize money for rink repairs and hockey equipment.
"The entire Montreal Canadiens organization is excited to be part of the Kraft Hockeyville experience," GM Bob Gainey said in a release. "Many of our players grew up playing hockey in local community arenas and have fond childhood memories of places just like this."
Due to the limited number of seats in the local community rink, the game will be played in nearby Truro, N.S., allowing the maximum number of Salmon River residents to attend the game.
"It is a thrill to play in front of Canada's most passionate hockey community," said Senators president and CEO Roy Mlakar. "Salmon River demonstrated the spirit of what teamwork and the game of hockey is all about."
The seven-episode series debuted in March, looking at Canada's most hockey-mad regions. A panel of judges narrowed the field down to 25 communities, and then viewers voted on which towns or cities advanced.
Canadian film industry shrank in 2001-04: StatsCan
Is Hollywood North heading south?
The number of movies made in Canada was down and production revenue fell in the period from 2001 to 2004, according to a report from Statistics Canada.
In 2004, 688 films were made in Canada, down from 728 in 2001 and production revenue over the three years fell 10.6 per cent to $1.49 billion, the agency reported on Tuesday.
However, total revenue for film and video production rose 10.9 per cent to $2.9 billion because of growth in non-production activities such as broadcasting and film distribution.
The growth of low-cost reality programming has cut into the amount of film and video production, and there was a sharp decline in domestic demand for Canadian-made shows.
Film and video producers reported television sales valued at $1 billion in 2004, down 10 per cent from 2001.
Large production houses closed, consolidated and scaled back production during the year, Statistics Canada said.
Productions also seemed to be beginning a geographic shift in 2004, from Ontario and Quebec, where most of the production had been centred in the past — to British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
Film producers headquartered in British Columbia earned $268 million in 2004, a 29.4 per cent increase.
Saskatchewan, while still a small portion of overall filming in Canada, saw growth of 67.2 per cent in production revenues to $15 million in 2004.
Production was down 19 per cent in Ontario and 4.2 per cent in Quebec, however Ontario still accounted for half of all production in the country.
The statistics are based on a 2004 census of film, video and audio-visual producers in Canada.
Jessica Simpson Finally Goes 'Public' With Longoria, Seacrest In Ratner-Directed Video
Christina Applegate and Andy Dick also star in clip, which spoofs Simpson-obsessed paparazzi.
Jessica Simpson's making a public affair out of her new video — by inviting her famous friends to appear in her roller-skating-fantasy clip as a spoof on the paparazzi tracking her every move.
"The whole idea is that everybody's just so interested to know what's going on, and you can't really control that when you're a celebrity," Simpson said of the video for "A Public Affair," the debut single from her album of the same name, which is due August 29. "You can't stop it, so you just gotta think positively — just gather up all your girlfriends and go out and smile and look 100 percent."
While much has been made of how "A Public Affair" bears some resemblance to Madonna's "Holiday," Simpson's video is heavily influenced by Olivia Newton-John's 1980 film, "Xanadu," as well as several famous Material Girl moments — including videos like "Sorry" (with its choreographed roller-skating) and "Music" (with a celeb making a cameo as the star's chauffeur). Instead of Ali G, Simpson's got Ryan Seacrest in the driver's seat. "He doesn't like to be called the limo driver," Simpson said. "He's my 'Alfie,' that's what he likes to be called."
In the clip, Seacrest carts around Simpson's gaggle of gal pals, which includes Eva Longoria ("one of my best friends, we're both Texas girls"), Christina Applegate ("one of the funniest girls around, she has such a dry wit"), and Christina Milian, who was invited along not because she's a Simpson confidant, but because Simpson thinks she's "hot and beautiful and talented."
"I knew she was photographed a lot, so she'd understand the concept of it," the singer explained. "And thank God, she really jumped on it and wanted to do it, so now I have a new friend in Christina."
With "X-Men: The Last Stand" director Brett Ratner behind the camera, Simpson couldn't resist including a catfight, something Ratner mastered in Mariah Carey's "Heartbreaker" video, in which Carey wrecked a movie-theater bathroom as her alter ego, Bianca. This time, the fight is between Simpson and Maria Menounos, who gets upset when she sees her boyfriend making eyes at the blonde bombshell. This leads to two fantasy sequences: one where the boyfriend imagines what it would be like to be with Jessica, and one where Maria imagines what it would be like to tear Simpson's hair out. "I ended up pulling her extensions out, and she pulls my extensions out," Simpson laughed.
Andy Dick also gets a fantasy sequence of his own, thanks to shooting "Employee of the Month" recently with the singer/actress. "I called him up and asked him for a favor," Simpson said, "because he's one of the funniest guys you'll ever meet." Dick's dream scene involves Jessica and her girlfriends licking him while he's trying to give them their roller skates.
Simpson revealed that working with Ratner was rewarding, but demanding. "I know Brett's going to make everything right, but sometimes he makes it too right: take after take after take," Simpson said.
"Well, we had to get the lip synch, the performance ..." Ratner said in his own defense.
"It's not a movie, it's a music video!" Simpson countered.
"It's a mini-movie," Ratner concluded.
Yorke Vies With Monkeys For Mercury Prize
Only eight days after its release, Radiohead frontman Thom Yoke's solo debut "The Eraser" (XL) was installed today (July 18) as the bookmakers' joint favorite for the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize alongside alternative rock quartet the Arctic Monkeys' "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (Domino).
The two albums were named as 5/1 favorites by bookmaker chain William Hill when the shortlist for the annual British/Irish album of the year award was announced this morning at London's Commonwealth Club.
The 12 shortlisted albums were chosen by 12 judges from an entry of more than 200 albums submitted by labels. To qualify, an album had to be recorded by a British or Irish artist and released between July 25, 2005 and July 17, 2006.
This year's shortlist contains fewer long-shots than in previous years; odds vary from 5/1 to 10/1, according to William Hill. As always, the list includes artists covering a variety of genres, ranging from jazz pianist Zoe Rahman to electropop quintet Hot Chip or the Roy Orbison-styled stylings of U.K. critics' favorite Richard Hawley.
The winner will be announced in London on Sept. 5, with broadcast coverage being shared between BBC Radio 1, national TV network BBC 2 and digital TV channel BBC 4.
The 12 albums make up a "pretty classic Mercury nominees list," says HMV U.K. & Ireland head of music Gary Rolfe. "Two nominees that particularly stand out for me as seemingly ticking all the judges' boxes are Richard Hawley and the Guillemots, so I'd look out for these as potential winners come September."
The shortlist, with William Hill odds, is:
Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (Domino), 5/1
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, "Ballad of the Broken Seas" (V2), 10/1
Editors, "The Back Room" (Kitchenware), 6/1
Guillemots, "Through the Windowpane" (Polydor/Universal), 6/1
Richard Hawley, "Coles Corner" (Mute/EMI), 8/1
Hot Chip, "The Warning" (EMI), 8/1
Muse, "Black Holes & Revelations" (Helium 3/Warner), 8/1
Zoe Rahman, "Melting Pot" (Manu), 10/1
Lou Rhodes, "Beloved One" (Infinite Bloom), 10/1
Scritti Politti, "White Bread Black Beer" (Rough Trade), 10/1
Sway, "This Is My Demo" (Dcypha) 8/1
Thom Yorke, "The Eraser" (XL), 5/1
ABC Bisects "Lost," Mends "Housewives"
What to do when Lost goes missing for 13 weeks next season?
The light you see at the end of that dark hatch is Day Break, the new detective drama ABC will air in Lost's place until the island mystery returns sometime in February for an uninterrupted run of fresh spring episodes.
Inquiring critics wanted to know why ABC decided to bring Lost back in the fall for six weeks (starting Oct. 4) and then erase it from the winter schedule, rather than air reruns (like chewing gum--you're still hungry but it provides a quick fix), and then dump the new 2007 installments right into American Idols' lap.
ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said that his networks' first priority is taking care of the viewers.
"We've just really…listened to the audience about the repeats, and it felt like this was really the best way to run the show," McPherson said Tuesday during ABC's presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. "It's a very, very difficult show to produce. You know, if we could run 22 straight in the fall, we probably would. But we just can't get the shows done in that amount of time.
"We've seen the shows survive against Idol and do well. We feel like when there are two good shows in a time period, they can both do business."
One is bound to do better business than the other, though. ABC has already taken a whopper of a calculated risk, moving Grey's Anatomy from its cushy post-Desperate Housewives spot on Sundays to Thursdays opposite the king of all crime procedurals, CSI. And although Lost has some of the most devoted fans out there, American Idol sucked in twice as many people on Wednesdays this year--an average of 30 million people tuned in for Idol's weekly elimination shows, while about 15.4 million kept up with Lost.
McPherson blamed the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' new voting system as the reason why Lost--last year's Outstanding Drama Series--was shut out of the major Emmy categories this year.
"Who wins the Emmys is one thing, but to have that kind of oversight to me is remarkable and it's sad for a show like that," McPherson said. "I hope the Academy will look at it and realize that maybe the changes they made aren't all good and they need to go back to the old system."
(Grey's Anatomy, however, pulled in 11 nominations, including top drama, so the new rules can't be all bad, right?)
But it's McPherson's job to appear nonplussed, and he stuck to his guns regarding Lost--"It's one of the best shows on the air, maybe one of the best shows of all time"--and Grey's Anatomy, calling it a definite "self-starter" that doesn't need Desperate Housewives' lead-in numbers (especially considering the McDreamy medical drama was starting to surpass Housewives both in viewership and in the eyes of critics--hence Grey's Emmy triumph and Housewives' disappearing act).
Speaking of Wisteria Lane, the notorious address is hopefully going to return to its darkly comedic roots in the fall now that executive producer Tom Spezialy has flown the coop, leaving creator Marc Cherry 100 percent in charge of running the show.
"The early scripts and the storylines and the arcs and the mystery, I think, are a lot stronger from the get-go" next season, McPherson said, rejecting one critic's notion that Housewives was suffering from "creative collapse." The episodes will all be "going through Marc's typewriter…I think it's going to get back a little bit more to the heart of it, which I think tonally was kind of a wicked comedy."
Despite the increasingly infuriating love triangles, convoluted plotlines, dialogue--well, everything, actually--that tended to characterize Desperate Housewives' second season, the dramedy finished fourth overall in the Nielsens this year, averaging more than 22 million viewers a week. So, at least from a business standpoint, season three will hit the ground running.
McPherson also remained optimistic about fellow Disney entity Touchstone Television losing J.J. Abrams' production company, Bad Robot TV, to Warner Bros. Although the Lost, Alias and What About Brian? creator is changing studio lots, he will remain devoted to his existing projects.
"He's going to be fulltime this year on the shows," including the upcoming Six Degrees, "so that will be a terrific asset for us," McPherson said. "It's a shame to lose him from the studio because obviously we have a special connection with in-house, but we have a lot of shows with Warner Bros…We look forward to the shows that we have on the air this year."
Apple Planning To "Rent" Movies Online
Apple has been quietly signing deals with the major studios in which they have agreed to allow their movies to be downloaded on computers or video iPods for one-time-only viewing, several online technology websites reported on Tuesday.
Apple Chairman Steve Jobs is expected to announce the deals during a keynote address to the Worldwide Developers Conference next month.
According to ThinkSecret.com, a website that claims to provide inside information on Apple, the deal marks a rare setback for Jobs, who has battled the studios to allow cheap downloads of movies that consumers would own, not rent.
The website said that the movies will be coded with a date stamp that would either limit the number of playbacks or allow the movie to be viewed an unlimited number of times for a predetermined duration.
Critics To Miss 'Snakes' Sneaks
Part of the charm of the upcoming movie Snakes on a Plane is its inherent cheese factor. Therefore it came as little surprise when New Line announced Monday that it has decided not to schedule a press screening for the movie before its official opening on Aug. 17. "Understanding that they [the audience] would be the driving force behind the film, we decided early on they should be the first to see it," New Line said in a statement. "They will have the opportunity on Thursday evening, Aug. 17, at 10 p.m. shows across the country. We are not planning any advance media or promotional screenings prior to that." The film stars Samuel L. Jackson and Julianna Marguiles, and is directed by David R. Ell
McCready: Cops Give Me "Hard Time"
It took a while, but Mindy McCready finally showed up for the start of her DUI trial on Monday. On Tuesday, she took the stand and blamed her arrest on some overzealous cops.
McCready, whose once promising career has been derailed by a series of personal crises, is on trial in Nashville for drunken driving and driving with a suspended license stemming from an arrest in May 2005. The singer has pleaded not guilty to the charges that resulted in her spending a night in jail.
Per local reports, she testified Tuesday that she believed she was pulled over so cops could "give me a hard time."
"Way back when--when I used to have hit records 10 years ago--I would get pulled over a lot and had officers ask me to do the strangest things. Once an officer asked me to dance for his camera," she told the jury.
It will be day or so before we learn whether McCready swayed the jurors, but she's already on the judge's bad side.
The arrest-prone country singer was found in "willful contempt of the court" Monday, when she arrived 10 minutes late to for the start of her trial.
Judge Seth Norman blasted the songbird for her tardiness, but said he would not dole out a punishment until after her trial was complete.
While Norman gave no clues as to what penalty McCready could face, typical sentences range from a verbal warning up to 10 days in jail.
The 30-year-old gave no reason for her lack of punctuality, but the single mom did arrive in court toting her infant son.
McCready was pulled over by Nashville's finest around 3 a.m. May 6, 2005 after she was clocked doing 58 in a 40 mph zone, per the police report.
"Her eyes were bloodshot and watery," arresting officer Kenneth Dixon said on the stand Monday. "And there was a very strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle."
Dixon also said McCready had performed poorly on the administered field sobriety test, saying "she was a little unsteady on her feet and I believe she did not follow instructions a few times." After refusing to take a Breathalyzer, she was arrested and charged with the DUI.
While Assistant District Attorney Ben Winters claims the altercation is a simple case of "someone who broke the law and refuses to take responsibility for her actions," McCready yesterday took issue with the circumstances leading up to her arrest.
The singer claimed she was not drunk and that she was simply doing a favor by driving a "highly intoxicated" friend home, claiming the car's alcoholic smell was emanating from her passenger, not herself.
According to her lawyer, Lee Dryer, she was simply the victim of a "good deed."
Dryer further argued that the field sobriety test was improperly issued and that the officers on the scene failed to follow procedure by not ensuring the street was clear of debris or otherwise distracting materials and that no lights were shining in McCready's eyes during the exam.
"So if there were [any of those factors], there would be doubts about your conclusions, yes?" Dryer asked Dixon.
"That's correct."
Luckily, it shouldn't take too long to sort the stories out.
The sobriety test was recorded and the video is expected to be shown in court during the trial, which resumed Tuesday morning with the defense's case.
The DUI arrest is latest woe for the onetime rising star.
In 2004, she was rung up on charges of prescription drug fraud after faking a doctor's signature to obtain the painkiller OxyContin. While McCready initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, she eventually copped to it, was fined and sentenced to three years' probation, which she was under at the time of her arrest last spring. Once the current trial is over, she will face a probation-violation hearing.
It's been a trying year for McCready, who admitted to two suicide attempts and also gave birth to a child with her ex-boyfriend, aspiring country singer William McKnight.
Just two days after her DUI arrest, McCready was hospitalized after being severely beaten by her former beau. Last month, she filed a $3 million lawsuit against him, claiming his vicious attack sent her career into a downward spiral and irreparably damaged her career.
Disney to cut 650 jobs, movie output
LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. is restructuring its studio division to emphasize blockbuster franchise films over more adult fare, a move that will mean slashing 650 jobs worldwide, the company announced Tuesday.
Among those who will lose their jobs is Disney's longtime head of live-action production, Nina Jacobsen.
The restructuring will cut Disney's output from about 18 films a year to about a dozen. Of those, about 10 will be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, a proven family-friendly brand that includes the successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.
Disney's Touchstone label, which is responsible for more esoteric fare by artists like Joel and Ethan Coen of "Fargo" fame, will be cut back to only two or three releases a year. Recent Touchstone films have included the box-office flops "The Alamo" and "The Ladykillers."
The shift, the company explained, will allow Disney films to bolster the resources of other divisions. A hit like "Pirates of the Caribbean," for example, can spawn video games, action figures, cable TV shows and, in the case of "Pirates," give new life to an old Disney theme park attraction.
"When we do it well, the lift it gives to the entire company is so significant," Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios told The Associated Press.
The shift to more Disney-branded films has been expected for some time, as have staff cutbacks resulting from a reduction in the total number of films.
Surprising, though, was the loss of Jacobsen, who has been head of live-action production for more than a decade.
"Sometimes these things just happen," Cook said. "She is a fantastic executive, very talented, great taste, very smart. She is so capable, she did so many wonderful things at Disney that will be legacies that will last for years to come."
Last year, Disney bought longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios to bolster its animated film offerings. That move led to the departure of the veteran executive in charge of Walt Disney Feature Animation.
The Couch Potato Report - July 22nd, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on some basic instincts, weeds, and a short lived TV show starring the one and only Bruce Campbell.
The original BASIC INSTINCT came out in 1992. In that movie Michael Douglas played a police detective who was in charge of a case involving the brutal murder of a rock star, who has been killed using an ice pick.
All the evidence pointed to a beautiful female novelist as the main suspect. Sharon Stone played that beautiful novelist and the role made her career.
Eventually Douglas' character fell for Stone and once they became lovers it threatened to hinder the investigation and even his life is put in danger.
One of the reasons the original BASIC INSTINCT was worth watching was because just as soon as you think you've figured the whole film out, you actually haven’t, but then again maybe you have.
The original BASIC INSTINCT is a pop culture staple and it will - sadly for some - stand the test of time.
It is a great example of what can be referred to as a good “Bad Movie.”
Now, fourteen years later, Sharon Stone is back in BASIC INSTINCT 2.
This sequel is a great example of what can be referred to as just a “Bad Movie.”
Michael Douglas wisely stayed away from this mess, as did Paul Verhoeven the original’s director, and Joe Eszterhas, the original’s writer,
With the absence of those three, instead of the edge and excitement of the original, we get a boring, slow moving film.
Sharon Stone’s novelist Catherine Tramell now lives in London and she is once again in trouble with the law after another suspicious death.
Scotland Yard appoints a psychiatrist - one Dr. Michael Glass - to evaluate her, and like Douglas’ Detective Nick Curran before him, Dr. Glass is entranced by Tramell and lured into a seductive game.
Sadly, David Morrissey - who plays Dr. Glass - doesn’t have the charm of Michael Douglas and there is never one second when you think that the character he has created could outwit Trammell.
But then again, since this is a BASIC INSTINCT film, maybe when you think you've figured it out, you actually haven’t, but then again maybe you have.
Either way, you won’t care. Morrissey is boring and new director Michael Caton-Jones can’t do edgy and excitement like Verhoeven did, so the result is a boring, slow moving movie.
The original BASIC INSTINCT is a good “Bad Movie!” It’s useless sequel is just a “Bad Movie.”
Now, if you choose to watch it, because you think you like “Bad Movies”, don’t say I didn’t warn you. This is a bad movie!!
So, enough about it then! Let’s get to this week’s good stuff, starting with the quirky and interesting TV series WEEDS.
WEEDS stars Mary-Louise Parker from THE WEST WING and FRIED GREEN TOMATOES as a suburban Mom of two kids.
After her husband's unexpected death, and her family’s subsequent financial woes, she embraces a new profession and becomes a pot dealer in the Los Angeles suburb of Agrestic.
During the course of the 10 episodes on the 2-DVD set WEEDS - SEASON ONE she is faced with keeping her family life in check and her business a secret from her best friend.
Now when I sat down and watched this show, I didn’t think about the moral issues of what would happen to her kids if she got caught, or any of the other legal issues the show’s premise might bring up.
Instead, I just watched the show. And I liked it!
Mary-Louise Parker is such a great actress that you can see the moral dilemmas that she is fighting with almost overwhelm her at times, but yet she fights on because she has too.
And former Saturday Night Live cast member Kevin Nealon is superb in the show as a city councilman who is one of Parker’s best customers.
WEEDS isn’t a perfect show, I personally hate the character of the brother-in-law, but it is exceptionally entertaining. If the premise doesn’t bother you, give it a shot.
No WEEDS is perfect, and neither is the TV show JACK OF ALL TRADES, but the star of that latter show is perfect, so that makes it worth watching.
Bruce Campbell from the EVIL DEAD films and BUBBA HO-TEP is that perfect star and I would watch him in anything, in fact, I have watched him in everything he's done.
Including the short-lived TV show JACK OF ALL TRADES from 2000. In this show Campbell is Jack Stiles, an American spy stationed on a Caribbean island in the early 19th century.
Stiles is sent to work with British spy Emilia Rothschild to stop the advances of the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, in his bid for world domination.
Now, JACK OF ALL TRADES is available to own as all 22 episodes are included in a new 3-DVD set.
JACK OF ALL TRADES blends Zorro, James Bond and Captain Blood all played for comic effect, and while it isn’t perfect, as I mentioned, it is entertaining to watch, especially if you are a fan of Bruce Campbell, which as I also mentioned, I am.
The show has lots of innuendo and double entendre humor, and it is fun and well written. I even like the opening theme song!
No, JACK OF ALL TRADES isn’t perfect, but it is fun!
Our ALFRED HITCHCOCK FILM this week is far from fun. I would also say that it is far from good.
Over the past few weeks as I have been talking about Hitchcock's film I have enjoyed them all. ROPE, THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY and SABOTEUR all had something I liked about them.
TOPAZ has nothing I liked. I found it completely boring and totally uninteresting. But I guess the man who gave us as many superb films as Hitchcock did is allowed to have at least one failure.
In TOPAZ a French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
There are several classic Hitchcockian touches scattered throughout the film, and those I liked.
However, at 2 hours and 23 minutes, and with little action to watch, this spy thriller was just too long and too full of dialogue for my taste.
There is no reason for me to think that I would ever watch TOPAZ again, and if you haven't ever seen it either, you might think about staying away from it too.
Even if it does co-star Zehner, Saskatchewan's own John Vernon, TOPAZ is about 30 minutes too long.
Alfred Hitchcock's TOPAZ is now available on DVD, and so is JACK OF ALL TRADES - THE COMPLETE SERIES, WEEDS - SEASON ONE and the awful BASIC INSTINCT 2.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report
In the BEASTIE BOYS - AWESOME...I SHOT THAT concert film 50 fans are given cameras to shoot the band in concert; AMAZING STORIES - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON will see Steven Spielberg’s classic 1980s TV series debut on DVD and in the 4-DVD set for THE INCREDIBLE HULK - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON you get all ten first season episodes, plus the two original feature-length films.
And I’ll also conclude our tribute to ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S FILMS with the director’s FRENZY.
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!
KAT-ASTROPHE?
So what's really up with Katharine McPhee?
The "American Idol" runner-up, who begged off the annual "Idol" concert tour because of laryngitis and bronchitis, is causing quite a bit of chatter because she's made several appearances since claiming to be ill.
All the talk, mostly on the Internet, forced McPhee to respond.
"I have heard a rumor that I will be missing the entire ['Idol'] tour. I can assure you that is completely false," McPhee wrote in an e-mail to a fan site, katharinefans.com.
"I am looking to join the tour around the 21st [of July]. That is the doctors [sic] orders, not mine."
McPhee, who finished second to "Soul Patrol" man Taylor Hicks in last May's "Idol" finale, was spotted at a Cosmo Girl photo shoot two weeks ago, the day after the "Idol" tour premiered in Manchester, N.H.
She says she was well enough to attend the photo shoot, but just couldn't talk while she was there.
McPhee's continued absence from the tour has spurred whispers that she pulled out completely after a disagreement with producers 19 Entertainment.
"I love you, and please know that I would never intentionally miss 'Idol' shows so I can work on my own individual career," McPhee wrote.
"I want people to know that I am not bedridden. I'm no longer contagious. I don't have to be a prisoner in my L.A. home," she wrote.
"My management company is still trying to utilize this down time."
McPhee, who was raised in Los Angeles, was criticized by some fans of "Idol" last season for what they perceived to be a lack of emotion.
Johansson to star in 'Boleyn Girl'
Scarlett Johansson is joining Natalie Portman and Eric Bana in the drama "The Other Boleyn Girl," Variety reports.
The film, based on Phillipa Gregory's historical novel, tells the story of sisters Mary (Johansson) and Anne Boleyn (Portman), who battle for the love of King Henry VIII (Bana).
"Boleyn Girl," directed by TV helmer Justin Chadwick ("Bleak House"), will begin shooting in London in the fall.
Johansson will next be seen in Woody Allen's "Scoop," which hits Canadian theatres on July 28.
Leafs agree to deal with Peca
TORONTO (CP) - The Toronto Maple Leafs had a tentative deal in place with centre Michael Peca after meeting with the unrestricted free agent and his camp Monday, a source told The Canadian Press.
An official announcement was expected Tuesday with Peca, an unrestricted free agent, agreeing to a $2.5-million US, one-year deal. The Leafs and Peca have been courting each other for well over a week with both camps agreeing Toronto is a good fit for the 11-year NHL centre.
The 32-year-old Toronto native, a two-time Selke Trophy winner as the NHL's top defensive forward, makes his off-season home in Buffalo, making Toronto an ideal geographical location.
Peca, who earned $3.99 million last season in Edmonton, rebounded with a strong second half and terrific playoff after a slow start to the regular season. He put up six goals, five assists and a plus-5 rating in 24 playoff games, winning key faceoffs and killing penalties while centring a line between Fernando Pisani and Raffi Torres that was instrumental in the Oilers' magical run. He had nine goals and 14 assists in 71 regular-season games.
In Toronto, Peca fills one of the voids left by centres Jason Allison and Eric Lindros, the latter signing with the Dallas Stars on Monday. Allison, also an unrestricted free agent, isn't expected back with the Leafs.
Peca, who has 394 career points (160-234) in 693 regular-season games with Vancouver, Buffalo, Long Island and Edmonton, was traded to Edmonton from the Islanders last Aug. 3 in exchange for forward Mike York and a fourth-round pick in last Saturday's entry draft.
Peca, a junior star with the Ottawa 67's, was also a member of Team Canada's 2002 Olympic champion team in Salt Lake City.