4 New boxes for 007

As it seems to happen each time a Bond film comes out, a new series of box sets of the superspy are available. There is no exception for the upcoming release of Casino Royale this winter. The twenty current Bond titles will be released in four sets this fall and winter as new two-disc ultimate editions from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Volumes 1 and 2 will arrive on Nobember 7th.

Vol. 1 will contain Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, The Man With The Golden Gun and The World Is Not Enough.

Vol. 2 will include Die Another Day, License To Kill, The Spy Who Loved Me, Thunderball and A View To A Kill.

Volumes 3 and 4 arrive on Devember 12th and Vol. 3 includes Goldeneye, Live And Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Vol. 4 includes Dr. No, You Only Live Twice, Octopussy, Tomorrow Never Dies and Moonraker.

Again, no real order to the titles releases, so fans will likley rearrange them into whatever order they like, and for the pretty box lovers, there will be no room for Casino Royale.

Ah well. The supplements haven't been fully announced, but each title will be completely remastered and will be presented in anamorphic widescreen and DTS 5.1 sound.

Plenty of new supplements are available as well, but no word on how much of the extensive extras from the existnig sets will be available.

U.K. letter writers to get Beatles stamps

Beginning in January, letter writers in Britain will be able to send their missives with the stamp of the Beatles.

Britain's Royal Mail plans to salute the Fab Four with a set of six commemorative stamps to be released in January. It released images of the stamps on Tuesday.

The stamps, for 64 and 72 pence, have images of six album covers — the first being With the Beatles, their second album, released in 1963.

In North America, this album was called Meet the Beatles and was the first release.

Others in the series include 1965's Help, 1966's Revolver, 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and 1970's Let It Be.

But the stamp collectors' treasure will surely be the album cover of Abbey Road, with its distinctive zebra crossing, a place of pilgrimage for visitors to London.

The cover shows the Beatles walking across the street outside the Abbey Road studio, with Paul McCartney barefoot.

Alanis Morissette Guests on 'Nip/Tuck'

LOS ANGELES -- To the long list of high-profile guest stars on FX's "Nip/Tuck," you can now add Alanis Morissette.

The singer, who has a handful of acting credits to her name, will appear on three episodes of the provocative drama later this fall. She'll be playing a character named Poppy, a love interest for Liz Cruz (Roma Maffia), the anesthesiologist for plastic surgeons Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon).

Her first appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 31.

Morissette has won seven Grammys in her career, including album of the year in 1995 for the mega-selling "Jagged Little Pill." She's also been nominated for two Golden Globes for best song in a motion picture: "Uninvited" from "City of Angels" and "Wunderkind" from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

Her acting credits include the Kevin Smith movies "Dogma" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" -- in which she played God -- and guest appearances on "Sex and the City," "American Dreams" and "Degrassi: The Next Generation."

In addition to Morissette, "Nip/Tuck" will feature the likes of Brooke Shields, Peter Dinklage, Jacqueline Bisset, Sanaa Lathan, Larry Hagman and Rosie O'Donnell as guest stars this season.

Chill-y Finale for 'Big Brother'

LOS ANGELES -- The shomance was definitely over as former bedmates Mike "Boogie" Malin and Erika Landin went in front of a jury of their housemates on Tuesday night's finale of "Big Brother: All-Stars."

The show began with the last week's evictee Janelle Pierzina joining the other six jury members -- Marcellas Reynolds, Howie Gordon, Danielle Reyes, "Chicken" George Boswell, Will Kirby and James Rhine -- to hash out the actions of the final two.

Having only seen the nomination and veto ceremonies, competitions and evictions -- but none of the personal conversations or diary room interviews -- the group was then given an opportunity to ask both Mike and Erika a final question. The tone of the queries and and answers showed the tide definitely turning against Erika.

She stumbled around when "Chicken" George asked how she could vote him out after assuring him that he was safe, while Janelle asked if "kissing butt and throwing competitions" was part of her strategy. James also called Erika on using "flirting" and "hooking up" as part of her game play after putting down those tactics when used by another player.

In her final statements before the votes were cast, Erika spoke of coming into the house and her need to go after "the Puppetmaster" (Will, Mike's "Chilltown" partner and winner of Season Two), hanging her hat on manipulating how "his best friend put him up and his best girl vote him out."

Mike let the group in on the secret of the game, that they were all members of Chilltown who were eliminated when they started to figure things out. He then concluded by saying he was "motivated" by Marcellas, "entertained" by Howie, "challenged" by Janelle and James, "inspired" by Danielle and George and "all of the above" by Will.

This was more than enough to sway everyone to vote for him, except for Marcellas who was the sole vote for Erika.

While Mike won the $500,000 grand prize, Erika took consolation with the $50,000 second place purse. Jury member Janelle also went home $25,000 richer, thanks to America's votes to award her with the Jury Prize.

James Cromwell & Eddie Izzard Clock-In On '24' (FOX)

Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor James Cromwell ("Babe," "Six Feet Under") and Emmy Award-winning actor Eddie Izzard ("Dress to Kill," "My Super Ex-Girlfriend") join the season six cast of 24, this year's most Emmy Award-winning television series, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kiefer Sutherland) and Outstanding Drama Series. The clock for "Day Six" will begin to tick in January, Mondays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

The highly respected Cromwell will recur this season as PHILLIP BAUER, the estranged father of JACK BAUER (Sutherland), while British actor/comedian Izzard will portray a villainous accomplice, DARREN McCARTHY. In addition to Cromwell and Izzard, newcomers joining the pulse-pounding thriller include Kal Penn ("Harold & Kumar"), Marisol Nichols ("In Justice"), Alexander Siddig ("Syriana") and Harry Lennix ("Commander in Chief"). Eric Balfour and Carlo Rota will reprise their respective roles as CTU contractors MILO PRESSMAN and MORRIS O'BRIAN.

Season five concluded with a battered and bloodied Bauer captured by Chinese government agents and headed for points unknown.

Season six picks up 20 months later. Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside), the strong-minded brother of the late President David Palmer, is now himself the President of the United States, while his sister, Sandra Palmer (Regina King), is a determined and powerful advocacy lawyer.

After a series of horrific terrorist attacks, Palmer and his team of advisors, KAREN Hayes (Jayne Atkinson) and THOMAS LENNOX (Peter MacNicol) – as well as CTU colleagues CHLOE O'BRIAN (Mary Lynn Rajskub), CURTIS MANNING (Roger Cross) and BILL BUCHANAN (James Morrison) – begin an unthinkable, nail-biting day.

Reports Britney Spears gives birth to second baby

And so, it has come to pass: Britney Spears has more babies than Grammys.

The onetime chart-topper gave birth to her second child, a boy, about 2 a.m. Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital, a source confirmed to E! News.

The newborn--name not yet known--weighed in at 6 pounds and 11 ounces, per the National Enquirer, which was first out with the nursery news.

Spears endured her labor day at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Us Weekly said.

Up until Tuesday, the singer's baby boy was a baby girl, at least according to stork watchers, who confidently predicted an XX-chromosomal bundle of joy named Jailynn for the performer.

The XY-equipped offspring is the second for Spears and husband Kevin Federline in the past 12 months. Their firstborn, Sean Preston, arrived last Sept. 14.

Reports of the latest Spears-Federline production were rampant Tuesday, fueled by Enquirer and Us Weekly Website postings. As of late Tuesday afternoon, the couple's camp still had not formally confirmed or denied the stories, although Spears' father, Jamie, was indirectly quoted as telling Access Hollywood that he'd seen the new baby.

An even more prolific procreator than Spears, Federline is now officially the father of four, including two from a previous relationship with former Moesha actress Shar Jackson.

On average, the 28-year-old Federline has fathered a baby every seven years. If one throws out his presumed prepuberty years, the aspiring rapper and penny proponent has averaged, from age 13 on, one child tax credit every 3.75 years.

Spears, 24, announced her latest pregnancy in May on the Late Show with David Letterman. In June, she showed off her pregnancy, bare stomach and all, on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.

Spears' first year as a mother was marked by paparazzi-driven controversy--and more than one visit from social workers.

In February, the "Oops" singer was scrutinized for driving an SUV with son Sean Preston on her lap. In April, she and Federline were quizzed about a reputed head injury to the baby. No formal investigation was opened, and Spears and Federline were not deemed responsible for the injury--said to have occurred in an accidental fall from a high chair.

"I can't go anywhere without someone judging me," Spears told NBC's Matt Lauer in June.

The baby-in-the-lap-while-driving thing, the Louisiana-born singer explained, was an old Spears family tradition: "We're country."

Spears, once a teen pop queen thanks to "...Baby One More Time," "Sometimes" and more hits, hasn't released an album of new material in nearly three years. She won her lone Grammy in 2004 for Best Dance Recording for "Toxic."

Apple's iTunes to start selling movies

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. said on Tuesday it will begin selling movie downloads from Walt Disney Co.'s film studios, aiming to turn its iTunes online music store into a one-stop shop for digital entertainment.

Chief Executive Steve Jobs also said Apple planned to ship a device in the first quarter of 2007 to let consumers stream movies, music, photos, podcasts and television shows to their home entertainment systems. Code-named iTV, it will cost $299.

Jobs said iTV and other new products will put Apple squarely in homes, cars and consumer pockets as it looks to stamp its mark on all aspects of the digital lifestyle.

"I hope this gives you a little bit of an idea of where we are going," Jobs said at an event in San Francisco, where he also unveiled new versions of the popular iPod media player.

Apple's eagerly anticipated movie service will sell new releases from the Disney, Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax studios for $12.99 if pre-ordered or bought during the first week available. Normally, new releases will cost $14.99 and other feature-length films will cost $9.99.

Jobs said about 75 films are now available on iTunes, and that they take about 30 minutes each to download for users with high-speed Internet connections. Consumers can view the movies on their iPods and computers, and eventually on televisions with the upcoming iTV player.

"In less than one year we've grown from offering just five TV shows to offering over 220 TV shows, and we hope to do the same with movies," Jobs said. "iTunes is selling over 1 million videos a week, and we hope to match that with movies in less than a year."

Jobs, a Disney director and one of the company's largest individual shareholders, also introduced new versions of the iPod with brighter screens and longer battery life as Apple looks to expand its dominant position in digital music.

Analysts have said it was only a matter of time before Apple started selling full-length movie downloads via iTunes, which has already sold 1.5 billion songs and more than 45 million TV shows.

If Apple's efforts are ultimately successful, the company could solve the entertainment industry's current dilemma: how to bridge the gap between the living room TV and the computer.

If Apple can do that, analysts have said, they can see the potential for another round of robust growth at a time when the company is facing a growing contingent of competitors in the digital music market, including from Microsoft Corp..

There are already competitors in the nascent movie download market, including CinemaNow, Movielink and Amazon.com Inc..

Other new devices unveiled on Tuesday include an iPod with the most capacity to date -- an 80 gigabyte player that would cost $349. Apple said new versions of the popular digital music players would sport video games such as Pac-Man and Tetris.

The company also introduced a thinner iPod Nano available in five colors with 24 hours' battery life. The new Nanos will sell for $149, $199 and $249.

Apple introduced a 1 gigabyte Shuffle that holds up to 240 songs and is nearly half the size of the original version. It will sell for $79.

Apple shares ended up 0.18 percent at $72.63 on Nasdaq.

All 48 original Simpsons shorts available for download

The Simpsons has been on for so long, that many people don't remember how they discovered the show. But if you scrunch your forehead and think hard, you'll probably remember that Matt Groening's signature creation did not start life as a half-hour cartoon sitcom in 1989. No, it started life in 1987 as a series of shorts that bracketed the commercial breaks on The Tracey Ullman Show, and it looked a whole lot different than it does today.

Until now, there was no easy way for a person to view those shorts in their entirety (well, I'm sure there were Torrents of the shorts, but those aren't that easy to find). The site Simpson Crazy has taken care of that, though; they have made all 48 shorts available for download. Just looking at the download page is a great illustration of how much the characters changed in the two years' worth of shorts, to the point where they look pretty much like the Simpsons that you saw during the half-hour show's first season.

Two caveats: The videos are in AVI format, and you need the DivX codec in order to play it in Windows Media Player. The site has the link.

Christopher Guest spoofs own biz

After spoofing smalltown theatre (Waiting For Guffman), dog shows (Best In Show) and folk music (A Mighty Wind), you'd expect a spoof of the Hollywood Oscar machinery to be less research-heavy for director Christopher Guest.

But the director of those hilarious rep company movies with the improvised dialogue is somewhat at sea talking showbiz. This despite the razor-sharp verisimilitude in the hilarious film For Your Consideration, which is playing at Toronto's filmfest, and is skedded to open in theatres in November.

"Who's Billy Bush?" Guest says, when I mention the "Billy Bush-haircut" Fred Willard has as the co-host of a show called "Entertainment Now." We're seated at a table with co-writer Eugene Levy and Guest collaborator Michael McKean.

Levy and I jointly explain that he's a relative of the president who's become a "name" in the entertainment-magazine biz. "There you go, never heard of him," Guest says. Later Levy refers to Access Hollywood's Pat O'Brien and Guest gives another blank look. In his house, he admits, it's his wife Jamie-Lee Curtis who reads "the showbusiness sections."

But as with dog shows, he poured himself into entertainment journalism, the better to frame his story of a small "prestige" film that falls prey to ego meltdown when an Internet rumour about "Oscar-calibre" performances causes the Hollywood machine to take notice. The aging diva (Catherine O'Hara), the ingenue (Parker Posey) and the veteran character actor (Harry Shearer) all get caught up in the gamesmanship and talk-show whirl.

"I had never seen an entertainment magazine show, and I needed to see one," says Guest. "I went on set to see what the physical set looked like. And someone taped for me one of those shows so I could see how they directed it. I was stunned."

Says Levy: "It's not as easy to spoof the business as you think just because you're in it. The business is a parody of itself already. The Oscars are in February, but they're doing Oscar picks already. They'll be doing them two years in advance soon."

"It's like Snakes On A Plane," adds McKean, "where people were literally writing the movie on their computers at home. A guy posts and says, 'I hope there's a scene where the guy ends up being bitten on the penis.' And the director is reading it and says 'This is good stuff. We're gonna reshoot.'"

"It's like we're mirroring a mirror of a mirror," Levy adds.

Guest's own inspiration for "the Oscar virus" goes back nearly 30 years. "It really came from my observing this behaviour over the years where people hear 'You're going to win an Academy Award,' and 100% of the time they aren't even nominated.

"I remember in 1979, I was doing a movie and we were three weeks into shooting. And somebody said to the director of photography 'You'd better get your tuxedo ready.' We were nowhere near finishing, and I could see a change in this guy, where he became even more pretentious. It really was interesting."

As with the earlier films, there's a stock repertory company entrusted to improvise lines within strictly defined scenes and character-outlines. People like Don Lake, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley Jr., McKean, etc., and director Guest himself (who plays the director of the film "Home For Purim" in the film).

"It's not arbitrary that these people are always in all these movies," Guest says. "They're all great (ad libbers)." And of course, they have their specialties. As with Willard's E-host, who hosts a nomination day segment on Oscar losers. "There's a meanness to it, a callousness to it, an insensitivity to it, and Fred Willard is the king of that world," Guest says, as Levy and McKean laugh. "He's great (playing characters) where he doesn't have a clue emotionally how he affects other people."

Not that it's all ad-libbed. "Occasionally there's a thing we write," Guest says. "As in Spinal Tap when we talked about the volume going to '11.' Obviously that was scripted because we had to have a knob made."

Barenaked Ladies growing up

People expect the Barenaked Ladies to be funny and goofy. But what if they don't always feel funny and goofy?

It's a psychological battle the veteran Canadian band has waged for the past decade and a half.

"It's still something I struggle with," singer Steven Page says.

"Because of the image we created for ourselves, which has been turned into a caricature by the audience and the media and everybody else around us, it has pushed away a lot of people who probably would like the music.

"I worry about that less than I used to. But it always was an issue for me. You're on stage singing a heartfelt song and some idiot is yelling, 'Smile, come on, smile.'"

The Barenaked Ladies' quirky side is entertaining, too, but they're middle-aged men with children now.

The group appears to have carved out a tuneful middle ground between frivolity and seriousness with its new CD, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, which hits stores today. But finding that balance hasn't always been easy.

"Even by the second album, we felt a little bit typecast," drummer Tyler Stewart said. "And also, we sometimes were our own worst enemies in that the persona we portrayed for a number of years was always the goofy guys in shorts -- but we really were those guys.

"The thing is, we also were serious songwriters and capable musicians. But we always have been addicted to applause, and we weren't willing to let a show go south. You know, we probably are best known for If I Had $1,000,000 or quirkier songs like that, but then again, they haven't been our biggest hits."

The Barenaked Ladies -- Page, Stewart, Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan and Kevin Hearn -- have been active as a band since the late 1980s. They have reached the stage in their professonal lives where they can dictate their own agendas now, but they still enjoy feeding off each other's energy.

"The title of the CD is a little ironic, because we finally are learning to not be so tied to our identity in the band," Page said. "We all understand that we could not do this and be okay.

"I used to always feel like, 'If this went away, what would I do?' But we can exist as people who have families, or people who have skills, so we choose to come together to make music.

"In a sense, Barenaked Ladies are me, but Barenaked Ladies aren't really me."

This is not to imply the band is eyeing retirement.

"Look at somebody like Woody Allen, who did those early screwball comedies," Stewart said, referring to the legendary movie-maker. "But you still can go to see a Woody Allen movie today and you laugh."

At this point Page interjected.

"I think we should stop this right now, because nobody laughs at (Allen's) movies anymore," Page said.

"I do," Stewart said.

"But I would be loath to say we're at that stage of our career," Page added. Allen is 70 years old, by the way.

"Anyway," Stewart concluded, "the point I'm making is that (Allen) evolved."