Fireworks worldwide ring in the new year

LONDON - The world welcomed 2007 with skyrockets and rock concerts but in some corners of the globe, the New Year was marked by saber-rattling and bombings.

Fireworks exploded over Sydney's Harbor Bridge as a million onlookers greeted the New Year. In London, thousands of revelers gathered to cheer as Big Ben rang in 2007. But the Thai capital of Bangkok canceled the main celebration after nine bombs exploded across the city, many in crowded tourist areas. Two people were killed and 34 were injured.

In the Australian capital — one of the world's first major cities to see the dawn of the new year — people crammed the harbor shore for a lavish fireworks display celebrating the 25th anniversary of its iconic bridge.

Thousands of would-be revelers who had gathered at Bangkok's Central World Plaza shopping mall complex for the event were sent home, officials said. Festivities continued in other parts of the city, though, including the famous Patpong Road red light district. Police and army troops with assault rifles, meanwhile, guarded some tourist sites, mass transit stations and traffic circles.

In India, police arrested two suspected Islamic militants about half a mile from the site of New Delhi's main public New Year's Eve celebrations, a report said, citing police.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed at a New Year's Eve service at the Vatican City in Rome that 2007 would bring the world "peace, comfort, justice." But he cast a cold eye on some secular New Year celebrations, saying such social "rites" are "often carried out as an escape from reality."

In London, Big Ben's chimes were relayed by sound systems along the banks of the great, gray River Thames. Crowds flocked to the banks near the Houses of Parliament to watch a light show countdown projected onto the 443-foot London Eye Ferris wheel, followed by a 10-minute fireworks display "big enough and loud enough to be seen ... all over the capital," Mayor Ken Livingstone said.

At least a million revelers were expected to pack Times Square in unseasonably warm New York City, to hear singers Christina Aguilera and Toni Braxton cheer and watch a 1,070-pound Waterford Crystal ball fall at midnight.

In North Korea, an editorial carried in all three state-controlled newspapers celebrated the new year by boasting that the country's possession of nuclear weapons "serves as a powerful force for defending peace and security ... and guaranteeing the victorious advance of the cause of independence."

The editorial exhorted North Koreans to "mercilessly defeat any invasion of the U.S. imperialists."

Meanwhile two former Communist Eastern bloc states, Romania and Bulgaria, took another step toward the West as they became the newest members of the European Union at midnight. Fireworks thundered through the sky in the Romanian capital.

"Citizens of Bucharest. Welcome to the EU," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said, standing on a stage with Romania's president and European foreign ministers. The ministers from Germany, Denmark, Austria and Hungary wished Romanians a Happy New Year, and planned to fly Monday to Bulgaria for celebrations there.

High winds and winter storms dampened celebrations in other parts of Europe. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, an outdoor concert that was to feature soul singer Beverley Knight and rock band The Thrills was called off due to the threat of gale-force winds.

Glasgow officials said high winds and rain had forced them to cancel Hogmanay, or traditional New Year's celebrations, in the Scottish city. Edinburgh at the last minute also canceled its Hogmanay party, which was to be headlined by the Pet Shop Boys.

In Belgium, several fireworks displays were canceled after two party tents set up for celebrations in northern Belgium blew away on Saturday.

No official celebrations were planned in Paris, but thousands were expected to congregate along the city's glittering Champs-Elysees to welcome 2007.

In the Philippines — where many believe noisy New Year celebrations drive away evil and misfortune — police threatened to arrest anyone setting off oversized firecrackers.

Despite the warning, 284 people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the two weeks before New Year's Day, a 75 percent rise from last year, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

"I have campaigned every day against firecrackers," Duque said. "But this has become a deeply rooted part of our culture."

In Japan, thousands climbed mountains, some scaling famed Mount Fuji, to greet the first dawn of the year. Police expected crowds on the peaks to reach 15,000.

Many Japanese — ranging from families with children to elderly couples — usually start climbing at night so they can reach the top in time for sunrise.

Police anticipated 95 million visitors to the country's major Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines over the first three days of the new year, as people offer prayers for peace, health and prosperity in one of the few religious rites in which most Japanese regularly take part.

The South African city of Cape Town prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve with a show by the Cape Minstrels.

'Museum' tops box office with $37.8M

LOS ANGELES - Ben Stiller's playful "Night at the Museum" was the top box office draw during the New Year's weekend with $37.8 million, a 24 percent jump over its debut the previous week, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

Uplifting movies dominated the Top 10 for the holiday weekend, a busy period at turnstiles.

Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" took second place with $19.3 million, up 30 percent, while the musical "Dreamgirls" finished third with $15.5 million.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" was expected to cross the $100 million threshold on New Year's Day.

No. 4 "Charlotte's Web" was up 59 percent with $12 million in its third week. "Rocky Balboa" was in fifth place with $11.4 million.

No new movies went into wide release.

"Dreamgirls" saw a major surge in business, averaging a whopping $18,192 per screen as Paramount rolled it out slowly with word-of-mouth creating a buzz. It was showing on just 852 screens, compared to 3,768 for "Night at the Museum."

"Dreamgirls," the first musical sensation since "Chicago" in 2002, will expand to about 1,800 screens on Jan. 12.

"We knew it was a movie that was a real crowd-pleaser," said Rob Moore, Paramount's president of marketing and distribution. "The amazing word of mouth is bringing it along. It's been a while since a musical really worked."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Wednesday.

1. "Night at the Museum," $37.8 million.
2. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $19.3 million.
3. "Dreamgirls," $15.5 million.
4. "Charlotte's Web," $12 million
5. "Rocky Balboa," $11.4 million.
6. "The Good Shepherd," $11.2 million.
7. "Eragon," $8.5 million.
8. "We Are Marshall," $8 million.
9. "Happy Feet," $7.8 million.
10. "The Holiday," $6.7 million.

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on the two most successful Canadian films of all-time!

Ladies and gentleman, it is my pleasure to inform you that our long lasting national nightmare is over!

For the past twenty-five years we Canucks had to live with the knowledge that PORKY'S - a teen sex comedy - was the most popular Canadian film at the Canadian box office.

But, as of November 23rd, we have a new champion! Now, our new national Champ is the half-English, half-French action film BON COP BAD COP.

BON COP BAD COP has now grossed $12.2 million, surpassing the long-standing record of PORKY'S $11.2 million.

In BON COP BAD COP English and French police officers are forced to work together when a body is found on the border of Quebec and Ontario.

As is the norm in buddy cop movies, the two men couldn't be more different.

In fact, the only thing they appear to have in common is that they are both cops, because each one has his own way of doing things.

But eventually - again as is the norm in buddy cop movies - they learn to put their differences aside to try and solve the case.

BON COP BAD COP is funny, has some great action and dialogue, is very entertaining, and I really liked it!...but truth be told, it is just a LETHAL WEAPON Hollywood-esque buddy cop action movie wannabe.

But what allows the film to rise above that formula is the fact that all of it is Canadian.

The two police officers are tracking down a person who is killing people who where involved in moving the Quebec Fleur De Lys hockey team from Quebec City to Colorado, and the representatives of the star player who was drafted by Quebec, but wouldn't play there, and instead he was traded to Philadelphia.

If that story sounds familiar, well it should. In addition to adapting the Eric Lindross saga into an action film, BON COP BAD COP also has some fun at the expense of our national pastime.

The league is called the CHL, the commisioner's name is Buttman, and the loud, opinioned television personality is Tom Berry.

BON COP BAD COP probably won't do as well outside of Canada as it has done inside our home and native land, as it is too Canadian for an international audience.

But since the majority of Canadian films usually gross less than one million dollars at our box offices, and many of them don't even get to play in more than a handful of theatres, I hope filmmakers look at the success of this film and try to capitalize on it.

Otherwise it could be another twenty-five years before PORKY'S is removed from it's position as the second most popular Canadian film at the Canadian box office.

For now, BON COP BAD COP is the Canadian champion and if you didn't see it in a theatre, you can now watch it at home.

As for PORKY'S it is also new on DVD.

Unfortunately, the new 2-disc COLLECTOR'S EDITION of PORKY'S - a set that includes all three films made in the series - looks awful!

When most films of a certain age are put on DVD the people resonsible take the time to remaster them, clean them up, and present the films in the best possible manner.

I am not sure if they didn't have the time, access to better prints of the film or what, but all three movies are presented in pan and scan instead of widescreen, and the picture looks like it was dubbed to DVD from an old video source.

They might not be the most pristine versions of the films that you will ever see, but if you want to have them in your library, they are still funny, even after all these years, especially the original - PORKY'S.

That film and it's not too bad sequel PORKY'S II - THE NEXT DAY and PORKY'S REVENGE are all included in the PORKY'S COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2-DVD set.

Plus, the original film is still the second most popular Canadian film at the Canadian box office.

Finally this week is a show called KENNY VS. SPENNY a show that I couldn't stop watching...even though I really, really wanted to.

KENNY VS. SPENNY is a Canadian comedy reality TV series that originally aired on CBC and the first two seasons of the show are available now on DVD.

In each episode the two best friends and roommates face each in different competitions, like drinking beer, kissing women and selling bibles, just to names three.

Some episodes and the competitions on the show are funny, others are interesting, and there are also several that are so childish or stupid that you want to just ignore.

But there is something about those shows that makes you keep watching, long after you want to, and if you are like me you will be constantly asking yourself, "Why am I watching this?!?!"

But I couldn't stop watching, and laughing, and being entertained!

Due to it's content, KENNY VS. SPENNY isn't a show for everyone, but if you are looking for something unique and fun, check it out!

SEASONs ONE & TWO of KENNY VS. SPENNY, the COLLECTOR'S EDITION of PORKY's and the most popular Canadian film at the Canadian box office of all time BON COP BAD COP are all available now on DVD.

Coming up in the next edition of The Couch Potato Report, I will have more information on some films that are new on DVD.

I'm Dan Reynish and that's this edition of THE COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

'Indiana Jones' to begin filming in 2007

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - George Lucas said Friday that filming of the long-awaited "Indiana Jones" movie will begin next year. Harrison Ford, who appeared in the three earlier flicks, the last one coming in 1989, is set to star again. Lucas said he and Steven Spielberg recently finalized the script for the film.

"It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be the best one yet," the 62-year-old filmmaker said during a break from preparing for his duties as grand marshal of Monday's Rose Parade.

Exact film locations have not been decided yet, but Lucas said part of the movie will be shot in Los Angeles.

The fourth chapter of the "Indiana Jones" saga, which will hit theaters in May 2008, has been in development for over a decade with several screenwriters taking a crack at the script, but it only recently gained momentum.

Lucas kept mum about the plot, but said that the latest action flick will be a "character piece" that will include "very interesting mysteries."

"I think it's going to be really cool," Lucas said.

At the inaugural Rome Film Festival in October, the 64-year-old Ford said he was excited to team up with Lucas and Spielberg again for the fourth "Indiana Jones" installment. Ford said he was "fit to continue" to play the title role despite his age.

Ford played Indiana Jones in 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1984's "Temple of Doom" and 1989's "The Last Crusade."

Lucas praised Ford for breathing life into his character.

"Mostly it's the charm of Harrison that makes it work," he said.

A special night at the movies

Movies are all about story arcs, and there's no better plot-propelling device than New Year's Eve, that champagne-and-confetti soiree when old gives way to new. But how well do Hollywood's Auld Lang Syne moments mirror real life?

Thus, we examine five film plots that unfold on the last day of the year for a read on whether life can imitate art.

Poseidon (2006)

Tinseltown's take:
In this remake of 1972's The Poseidon Adventure, disaster strikes on New Year's Eve as a luxury liner is capsized by a rogue wave. Dressed in their now-soggy finest, a hearty band of survivors dig their way through the detritus of a massive party and their own insecurities in hope of making it safely into the next year.

Reality check:
Though giant waves could cripple a cruise ship, toppling one isn't that realistic. And neither is the notion of folks heading to the high seas just to ring in the new year, says Michael Driscoll, editor of Cruise Week. "What's great about New Year's on board is you can drink all you want and go to sleep, but in that sense it's also like many other nights on a cruise," he says. "I will say that there's no quieter place than Jan. 1 on a ship."

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Tinseltown's take:
The heroine of this book-turned-movie is fed up with her dowdy life and, on New Year's Eve, vows to lose weight, stop smoking and "find (a) nice, sensible boyfriend" who isn't an alcoholic, peeping Tom or megalomaniac. "Will especially stop fantasizing," she writes in her diary, "about a particular person who embodies all these things."

Reality check:
Dear Bridget is overreaching big time. The New Year's resolution is a powerful cultural touchstone that can spur us to greatness if we resolve in moderation, says Gary Ryan Blair, president of The GoalsGuy motivational workshops. "Resolutions will fail if you don't have real emotion behind them," he says. "Identify one thing you want to change, work on it and achieve it. This way, you start the year with a winning feeling."

Four Rooms (1995)

Tinseltown's take:
A bellhop starts a new job at an aging Hollywood hotel on New Year's Eve. In short order, he is sucked into the lives of a coven of witches, a couple engaged in a bizarre role-play game, two children he has been paid to babysit by their partying parents, and an oddball movie director who wants him to participate in a macabre bet.

Reality check:
The only spell anyone falls under at The Peninsula Beverly Hills is the influence of the 200 bottles of bubbly the hotel orders to help guests ring in the new. "We'll certainly do anything someone asks, from personal shopping to getting them an allergy-free room, but that's usually as crazy as things get," hotel spokeswoman Michelle Hodan says. "And we have 36 bellmen, not one."

Peter's Friends (1992)

Tinseltown's take:
On one hand, rounding up old college soul mates for New Year's Eve can make for great fun and fond reflections. On the other, as with this look at reunited pals gathering at a friend's newly inherited country house, the evening can devolve into some decidedly sobering revelations about life in the here and now.

Reality check:
Though New Year's Eve is "about reflection and therefore a perfect excuse for getting old friends together, it's also a very emotional time" and a magnet for weepy confessionals, says David Tutera, host of Discovery Home's Party Planner With David Tutera. The big window for such antics: "The last 15 minutes of the year." To keep your party in an upbeat mode, get the booze and tunes rolling right after the ball drops, he says.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Tinseltown's take:
After decades of friendship, Harry and Sally confront their true feelings at a ball-dropping bash in New York. Harry insists it isn't the rush of New Year's Eve motivating him, only his desire to see the rest of his life "start as soon as possible."

Reality check:
As wonderful as committing to your beloved on the eve of a new year might sound, "it really doesn't happen often," says Jen Schefft, former contestant on The Bachelor and the single at the center of The Bachelorette, whose new book, Better Single Than Sorry (William Morrow, $21.95), arrives in late January. "It's so easy to build up New Year's only to be let down." And guys, beware: "Don't invite someone to spend that night of the year with you if you're not serious."

Bono Itching To Take U2 To The 'Next Level'

With its monster-selling Vertigo tour complete, U2 is ready to reinvent itself, frontman Bono said during a BBC Radio interview earlier this week. "Our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums," he said. "I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that's what we've got to do."

Asked by interviewer Jo Whalley if that might mean a move away from rock'n'roll, Bono replied, "We're gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock will have to go; maybe the rock has to get a lot harder. But whatever it is, it's not gonna stay where it is."

He went on to reveal he'd like U2 to explore compositions featuring just voice and acoustic guitar. "I would like to do a couple of tunes in that direction, with just a lot of space around the voice," he said. "I'd like to strip things down; that's something I'd be very interested in at the moment."

U2 is expected to get busy in the studio after the New Year, with an eye on releasing a new album before the end of 2007. Bono said casual fans were the target for the recently released compilation "U218 Singles," which also includes two new songs.

"We've never been much of a singles band," he admitted. "But we did it because we have a very young audience coming through, and we wanted to, you know, just be very available for people who want to check us out, you know? We wanted to have something they could check us out very easy on."

Julia Roberts expecting her 3rd child

NEW YORK - Julia Roberts is expecting her third child with her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, her spokeswoman confirmed to People magazine Friday.

The baby is due this summer, Roberts' publicist, Marcy Engelman, said in a story posted on the magazine's Web site. News of the pregnancy first appeared in the New York Post's Page Six column.

A call to Engelman by The Associated Press wasn't immediately returned.

Roberts, 39, and Moder, 37, have 2-year-old twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus, who were born in November 2004. The couple were married in July 2002 at Roberts' home in Taos, N.M.

She won the best actress Oscar in 2001 for "Erin Brockovich." Her screen hits also include "Steel Magnolias" and "Pretty Woman."

Roberts is the voice of the wise spider in the film adaptation of "Charlotte's Web." She'll next be seen in the drama "Charlie Wilson's War," directed by Mike Nichols and also starring Tom Hanks, scheduled for release next year.

She made her Broadway debut this spring in a revival of Richard Greenberg's "Three Days of Rain."

Timbaland All Over The Map On Upcoming Album

After a banner 2006 which saw him nominated for multiple Grammys for his work with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, producer Timbaland is now turning his attentions to his own album. The as-yet-untitled set is expected in March; the first single will likely be "Give It To Me," which features Timberlake and Furtado.

"He ventures into the alternative world and the real pop world," Timbaland right-hand-man Nate "Danja" Hills tells Billboard.com. "He has so many different sounds from hip-hop, to pop, to rock on this album. And he pulls every single one of them off perfectly.

Timbaland has not released an album under his own name since 2003's "Under Construction II," a collaboration with longtime partner Magoo. Hills declined to reveal the guest artist lineup for the upcoming set, which is rumored to include Bjork, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott and 50 Cent, among many others.

For Timbaland, the coming year will provide the challenge trying to handle a heavy production load while simultaneously on tour with Timberlake, where "he will have his own spot in the show," according to Hills.

"There won't be a break [from producing] as long as I'm around," he says. "I'm not going to be on the road. I'll be in the studio and he'll be working from the bus doing projects that way. He'll still be active making records."

Asked why the Timbaland sound is suddenly back atop the charts after a hiatus in recent years, Hills observes, "His ear is more attuned to an international sound. Any type of music with a crazy melody, he is automatically attracted to. He knows how to transform those melodies to something urban. He knows how to put the oomph behind something pretty, or melodic and big. When you get the right vocals on it, it turns into something crazy international."

Thousands pay respects to James Brown

NEW YORK - Even in death, James Brown can move a crowd. Thousands of people danced and sang in the streets outside the Apollo Theater in a raucous celebration Thursday of the music legend's life as his body was displayed on the stage where he made his 1956 debut.

Music thumped from storefronts and portable stereos. Brown's wails and growls even blasted inside the auditorium as fans marched quietly, single-file past his open gold coffin.

Brown lay resplendent in a blue suit, white gloves and silver shoes. Flanking the casket were giant photographs of the singer performing. An arrangement of red flowers on a white background spelled out his nickname: Godfather.

It was maybe the first time the hardest-working man in show business graced a stage in stillness, but that didn't stop his fans from partying.

"This is a celebration of his life," said 41-year-old Bryant Preudhomme of suburban New York. "James Brown gave you heart. He lifted you up when you were down. He gave you hope."

Brown, who died of heart failure Christmas morning at 73, lay in repose in the theater that helped catapult him to fame and was the setting for a thrilling live album in 1962.

At an evening program for family and close friends, the Rev. Al Sharpton said it was difficult to believe that a man who was "so much alive" was dead.

"How could someone with such energy and life really ever be gone?" said Sharpton, a close friend of the Godfather of Soul for three decades.

Sharpton credited Brown with inspiring countless musicians in all genres and with refusing to become a conformist.

"He became a superstar on his own terms ... he never bent, buckled or bowed," Sharpton said. "James Brown wasn't just No. 1, he changed the beat of music all over the world."

Earlier, Brown's body was carried to the theater through the streets of Harlem on a majestic white carriage drawn by two white horses.

Hundreds of fans followed behind the caisson singing the chorus of Brown's anthem, "Say it Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud."

To many, Brown was more than just an energetic performer. As Norman Brand of Harlem waited for the procession to begin, the 55-year-old recalled hearing "Say it Loud" for the first time in his native Alabama.

"It really changed the attitude of most black people. It was like a wake-up call. Before that, if you were called black, it was like an insult," Brand said. "Just one song and one word can change a whole situation."

Mourners came from far and wide to attend the first in a trio of services that will keep Brown almost as busy in death as he was in life.

His casket left a Georgia funeral parlor Wednesday for an all-night drive to New York. It arrived at Sharpton's Harlem headquarters just before noon Thursday, and was quickly transferred to the carriage for a 20-block procession to the theater.

Sharpton accompanied the body from Georgia and walked behind the carriage Thursday. He stood at Brown's side for hours during the viewing.

On Friday, a private ceremony is planned at a church near Augusta, Ga. A second public viewing of the singer's body will be held Saturday at the James Brown Arena in Augusta.

Some fans arrived at the Apollo as early as midnight for a chance to pay their respects, and more than 100 were inline outside the theater by 8 a.m.

"He seemed like family, a friend of mine," said Brenda Harper, who was the first to arrive, shortly after midnight. Fourteen years ago, she said: "I jumped on the stage and he danced with me. I danced with the Godfather that day."

Musicians and celebrities slipped in to pay their respects throughout the day: boxer Joe Frazier, band members including bass player Fred Thomas, and Ali-Ollie Woodson, who was a singer with the Temptations in the 1980s and again in the early 1990s.

Relatives passed through, too, some wiping away tears.

"He was my uncle, but he acted like a big brother to me," said Brown's nephew Earl Swindell, 54, who acted as a pallbearer. "I loved him, though. I was right there with him till the end. He meant a lot to me."

Brown, who lived in Beech Island, S.C., continued to work to the end, dying less than a week before he was to perform New Year's Eve in Manhattan at B.B. King's blues club. Chaka Khan, the Grammy Award-winning rhythm and blues performer, will play instead.

He had also talked recently about returning to Harlem, friends said.

"He told me two weeks ago to book the Apollo for two days," said his friend and manager, Charles Bobbit. "He said, `Let's play two days at the Apollo, and we'll see the lines again around the block.'"

"The Apollo was always his home because that's where it all started," said his agent, Frank Copsidas, "and the people of Harlem were his family."

Casino Sets Worldwide Bond Record

Casino Royale has shot past the worldwide record for a James Bond movie, thanks mostly to a strong international performance over the Christmas holiday weekend, reports Variety.

The 21st 007 installment earned $14.5 million at 6,300 theaters overseas during the weekend through Sunday, lifting the foreign total to $304.4 million -- the 41st biggest international gross of all time. It's only the fourth 2006 movie to clear $300 million, joining Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Da Vinci Code and Ice Age: The Meltdown.

With domestic gross near $144 million, "Casino" has a worldwide total of $448 million -- $17 million better than Die Another Day, the previous best Bond performer.

Spike Lee to direct James Brown biopic

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The late "Godfather of Soul" James Brown will rise again - on screen.

Spike Lee has signed on to direct a feature film about the singer produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment, Paramount Pictures announced Wednesday. "It's an authorized biography done with the co-operation of Mr. Brown before his passing," Paramount spokeswoman Nancy Kirkpatrick said without further comment.

Lee will rewrite a draft by Jezz and John Henry Butterworth, the trade paper Daily Variety reported on Wednesday. The script has been through several drafts since Steve Baigelman wrote the original. The movie could be in production by late 2007, Variety said.

"Having known him well, and after spending lots of time with him and researching his life, it's somehow not surprising that he died on Christmas Day. He was the ultimate showman, all the way to the end," Grazer told Variety on Tuesday.

Messages left Wednesday for Grazer at his Los Angeles office were not immediately returned.

Brown, whose legendary brand of soul and funk influenced hip-hop, disco and rap, died of congestive heart failure on Christmas morning in Atlanta at age 73.

Hitchcock, Rocky, Fargo Forever

The longest day of Bill Murray's celluloid life just got a little longer...as in forever.

Groundhog Day is among the latest eclectic slate of films tapped for the National Film Registry, joining the likes of Mel Brooks' 1974 comic opus Blazing Saddles, the Coen brothers' Fargo, John Carpenter's slasher classic Halloween, Sylvester Stallone's original Rocky and Alfred Hitchcock's romantic thriller Notorious.

The Library of Congress' motion picture division, along with the National Film Preservation Board, unveiled on Wednesday the newest batch of 25 films to be saved for posterity.

The films were selected from more than 1,000 candidates nominated by the movie-loving public and ultimately voted on by the Library of Congress staff and advisers from the Preservation Board.

Inclusion on the registry guarantees that each cinematic gem will be preserved by archivists, ensuring, among other things, that generations to come will not be denied a chance to hear Rocky Balboa's original "Yo, Adrian!" or Mongo's explosive campfire antics in Blazing Saddles.

"The registry should not be seen as 'the Kennedy Center Honors,' 'the Academy Awards' or even 'America's Most Beloved Films,' " Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said Wednesday, adding that the list is meant to "advance public awareness of the richness, creativity and variety of American film heritage."

Since its inception in 1989, the registry has guaranteed that 450 films, including this year's selections, would not rot away or sit neglected in a studio warehouse.

This year, the must-save flicks span the years from 1913 to 1996 and include indisputable favorites, like Notorious, headlined by the legendary Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, and those features that never quite made it to the mainstream, such as 1916's The Curse of Quon Gwon, the earliest Chinese-American feature, and Daughter of Shanghai, a thriller starring the first Asian-American movie star, Anna May Wong.

Among the more well-known films making the cut: 1930's The Big Trail, a western starring a then unknown John Wayne; Red Dust, the 1932 melodrama featuring the saucy pairing of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow; and sex, lies, and videotape, Steven Soderbergh's 1989 breakthrough relationship film that reinvigorated independent cinema.

Also on the list: Mary Pickford's big-screen debut in 1914's Tess of the Storm Country; Flesh and the Devil, one of the last great silent films and the first pairing between a sacrificial Greta Garbo and John Gilbert; The T.A.M.I. Show (standing for "Teen Age Music International"), a 1964 concert film featuring the Rolling Stones and James Brown, among other legendary performers; and the 1929 musical St. Louis Blues, containing the only film recording of blues legend Bessie Smith.

Proving that reality is just as worthy as the world of make-believe, six documentaries were chosen: 1988's Drums of Winter, chronicling the plight of the Eskimos; Harry Smith's decades-spanning Early Abstractions #1-5, 7, 10, a moving collage of art, color, shapes and imagery; 1948's In the Street, a children's documentary about life in East Harlem; 1971's Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania, an avant-garde feature following filmmaker Jonas Mekas' return to his birthplace; 1940's Siege, showcasing the German bombardment of Warsaw; and Think of Me As a Person, a nearly two-decade chronicle of the relationship between a father and his Down syndrome-suffering son.

Rounding out this year's registry selections: 1929's Applause, an early sound-era film about burlesque theater from stage director Rouben Mamoulian; 1928's The Last Command, which featured the Academy Award-winning performance of Emil Jannings as an exiled Russian general; and 1954's A Time Out of War, a student film set in the Civil War that took home the Oscar for Best Short.

"Museum," "Dreamgirls" stars of box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Night at the Museum" was the No. 1 exhibit at the Christmas box office in North America, earning $42.2 million during the four days beginning Friday, distributor 20th Century Fox said Tuesday.

But "Dreamgirls" also was a star performer, with a melodic one-day gross of $8.7 million Monday as it entered its first day of national release, good enough for a No. 7 weekend rank.

Among the crowded field of year-end offerings, the December 20 release"Rocky Balboa" continued its successful underdog saga, pulling in a surprisingly young audience for a third-place finish with $17 million for the four-day period. And the Matt Damon spy drama "The Good Shepherd" enjoyed a solid opening Friday, capturing fourth place with $13.9 million.

Another new wide release, "We Are Marshall," starring Matthew McConaughey, wasn't as successful. The inspirational sports story earned $8.6 million.

Meanwhile, holdovers from the previous weekend held on well. Incumbent champ "The Pursuit of Happyness" finished in second place, generating an estimated $23.1 million to hit $61.4 million in its sophomore frame. And despite a less-than-stellar debut, "Charlotte's Web" held strong in its second weekend, picking up $9.6 million for a two-week total of $28.4 million, good for the fifth spot overall.

"Eragon" suffered the steepest fall from the previous weekend -- 70% -- likely due to competition for the family audience with "Night at the Museum." The dragon fantasy's $9.3 million weekend took the total to $39.8 million.

The only other new wide release was "Black Christmas," an R-rated horror film starring Michelle Trachtenberg, which bowed on Christmas Day with just $3.3 million, No. 15 for the weekend.

"Museum," starring Ben Stiller, was the general-audience picture of the weekend. From director Shawn Levy, the PG film set at New York's Museum of Natural History scored with both families and adults without children.

"It was the all-purpose movie that resonated with all types of audiences," said Bruce Snyder, Fox's president of distribution. "Museum" scored an A- rating from exit pollster CinemaScore, with audiences evenly split between men and women. Its Imax runs contributed positively to the weekend's gross, with the 2-D display earning $2.3 million from 72 giant-screen theaters.

"Rocky," the sixth installment of the boxing franchise starring sexagenarian Sylvester Stallone, was far from a sure thing in the eyes of most industry observers. But audiences have welcomed back the former champ since its midweek opening. Surprisingly, according to distributor MGM, 70% of those moviegoers were younger than 34. With a total of $26.7 million, the PG film is well on its way to earning back its negative cost of $24 million, and MGM hopes that the average age of moviegoers will trend upward in coming weeks as old-time "Rocky" fans come out for the picture.

"Our hope is that what we have here is a new generation of 'Rocky' fans," said Clark Woods, MGM's president of distribution. "These are individuals who didn't see the originals in the movie theater. We're hoping they go home and tell their fathers, the original 'Rocky' fans, that they really liked the movie, and they come out in the following weeks." The film earned a B+ according to CinemaScore.

Although "Dreamgirls" bowed December 15 to sold-out shows in three theaters, its Monday number of $8.7 million from an additional 849 theaters represented the third-best Christmas Day opener of all time, behind only "Ali" (2001) and "Catch Me If You Can" (2002).

The Bill Condon-directed film featuring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy also generated the best single day ever for a musical. Adding in its sold-out roadshow from the previous weekend, when tickets were priced at $25, the PG-13 film has earned $9.6 million.

Buoyed by ecstatic reviews, particularly for newcomer Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls" is poised to dominate sales into January. Paramount intends to expand the film to about 2,000 theaters January 12 for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

"The exits were fantastic from a quantitative standpoint, and on an anecdotal basis, we're hearing about applause inside the movie theaters," said Rob Moore, Paramount's president of worldwide marketing and distribution. "It's playing amazingly well."

Meanwhile, Universal bowed "Shepherd" in 2,215 theaters. The R-rated, cerebral spy drama from director Robert De Niro picked up an estimated $13.9 million for the four-day frame. With a cast featuring Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin and others, the film opened to mixed reviews and a B- grade from CinemaScore. Still, the studio was happy with its opening, especially since it was not a family-friendly film that bowed during the ultimate family-friendly holiday.

"Marshall," on the other hand, generated more positive exit polls, with CinemaScore giving it an A-. Warner Bros. hoped the PG film, revolving around the efforts to rebuild the Marshall College football program after a devastating 1970 plane crash, would pick up some yardage during subsequent frames.

Said Jeff Goldstein, Warners' executive vp and general sales manager of domestic distribution: "People who see this movie really like it and recommend it. I think we generated the highest percentage increase from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. It's just that the market is really crowded, and we recognized that we had to get past Christmas Day to see the true playability of the film."

In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics unveiled "Curse of the Golden Flower," directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li, in 60 theaters. The sumptuous Chinese-language film grossed $712,760 for a per-screen average of $11,879.

Universal bowed "Children of Men" in 16 theaters. The Alfonso Cuaron-directed film grossed $180,000 for a per-theater average of $11,250. The film, starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, was almost universally well reviewed and will expand Friday.

Warners bowed "Letters From Iwo Jima," the Clint Eastwood-directed companion piece to his "Flags of Our Fathers," in five theaters. The R-rated Japanese-language film depicting Japan's side of the Battle of Iwo Jima also scored well with critics. It opened to $122,605 for a per-screen average of $24,521.

Warner Independent Pictures opened the Ed Norton starrer "The Painted Veil" in four theaters. Directed by John Curran, "Veil" opened strong to an estimated $71,813 for the four-day frame. The PG-13 film boasted a per-screen of $17,953.

New Releases, Dec. 26: Switchfoot, Matisyahu, 'Rocky Balboa'

Switchfoot "Oh! Gravity"

The San Diego rock band, which has made its mark in both the secular and nonsecular music worlds, returns with a follow-up to 2005's "Nothing is Sound." One of the album's tracks, "Awakening," was produced by Steve Lillywhite, a British mastermind who has worked with Phish, U2 and The Rolling Stones.

The group--which features bassist/vocalist Tim Foreman, singer Jon Foreman, guitarist/keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, guitarist Drew Shirley and drummer Chad Butler--will support the album with a lengthy North American tour that kicks off on Valentine's Day in San Francisco.

* * *
Matisyahu "No Place to Be"

The Hasidic reggae star returns with the CD/DVD offering "No Place to Be."

The CD portion features seven new songs recorded with reggae production team Sly & Robbie. It also features additional remixes produced by AdRock (Beastie Boys) and Bill Laswell, who produced the artist's March release, "Youth."

The DVD disc, "Live in Israel," was shot in Tel Aviv in December 2005. The concert footage is intercut with interviews and street performances from Jerusalem. It also includes the new music video for the single "Jerusalem."

The vocalist recently completed his first Festival of Light Hanukkah tour, which included a mid-December, three-night stand at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom.

* * *
"Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky"

This 17-track set, which is being released in conjunction with the latest "Rocky" film, collects all of the memorable songs featured in Sly Stallone's profitable film series. Included in the mix are James Brown's "Living in America," Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and, of course, the late Bill Conti (music)'s "Gonna Fly Now."

* * *
"Family Values Tour 2006"

This is the fourth release to document a Family Values Tour (the others came from tours in 1998, 1999 and 2001). This CD includes performances by such tour participants as Stone Sour, Flyleaf, Dir en Grey, 10 Years, Deadsy, Bury Your Dead, Bullets and Octane, and Walls of Jericho. There is also a companion DVD being released separately.

* * *
David Gilmour "Arnold Layne EP"

The Pink Floyd guitarist/vocalist pays his respect to the band's troubled visionary Syd Barrett, who died in July, with this recording of two memorable Barrett numbers. The first selection is the early Floyd tune "Arnold Layne." The second is "Dark Globe," which originally hails from Barrett's solo album "The Madcap Laughs." David Bowie and Floyd's Richard Wright are also featured on this work.

* * *
More new releases:
Chetes, "Blanco Facil" (EMI)
Earth, Wind & Fire, "Beautiful Ballads" (Sony)
Enigma, "LSD: Love, Sensuality and Devotion--The Remix Collection" (Virgin)
Gang Starr, "Mass Appeal: Best of Gang Starr" (Virgin)
Incognito, "Bees + Things + Flowers" (Universal)
Angela Lansbury, "Legends of Broadway" (Sony)
Bernadette Peters, "Legends of Broadway" (Sony)
Matt Redman, "Beautiful News" (Sparrow)
Chita Rivera, "Legends of Broadway" (Sony)

Former President Ford dead at 93

LOS ANGELES - Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon's scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America's history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93.

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," Mrs. Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband's office in Rancho Mirage. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

The statement did not say where Ford died or list a cause of death. Ford had battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments — including an angioplasty — in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.

Ford was an accidental president, Nixon's hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straight-forward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.

He took office minutes after Nixon flew off into exile and declared "our long national nightmare is over." But he revived the debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.

The Vietnam War ended in defeat for the U.S. during his presidency with the fall of Saigon in April 1975. In a speech as the end neared, Ford said: "Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned." Evoking Abraham Lincoln, he said it was time to "look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the nation's wounds."

Ford also earned a place in the history books as the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew who also was forced from office by scandal.

He was in the White House only 895 days, but changed it more than it changed him.

Even after two women tried separately to kill him, the presidency of Jerry Ford remained open and plain.

Not imperial. Not reclusive. And, of greatest satisfaction to a nation numbed by Watergate, not dishonest.

Even to millions of Americans who had voted two years earlier for Richard Nixon, the transition to Ford's leadership was one of the most welcomed in the history of the democratic process — despite the fact that it occurred without an election.

After the Watergate ordeal, Americans liked their new president — and first lady Betty, whose candor charmed the country.

They liked her for speaking openly about problems of young people, including her own daughter; they admired her for not hiding that she had a mastectomy — in fact, her example caused thousands of women to seek breast examinations.

And she remained one of the country's most admired women even after the Fords left the White House when she was hospitalized in 1978 and admitted to having become addicted to drugs and alcohol she took for painful arthritis and a pinched nerve in her neck. Four years later she founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, a substance abuse facility next to Eisenhower Medical Center.

Ford slowed down in recent years. He had been hospitalized in August 2000 when he suffered one or more small strokes while attending the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

The following year, he joined former presidents Carter, Bush and Clinton at a memorial service in Washington three days after the Sept. 11 attacks. In June 2004, the four men and their wives joined again at a funeral service in Washington for former President Reagan. But in November 2004, Ford was unable to join the other former presidents at the dedication of the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark.

In January, Ford was hospitalized with pneumonia for 12 days. He wasn't seen in public until April 23, when President Bush was in town and paid a visit to the Ford home. Bush, Ford and Betty posed for photographers outside the residence before going inside for a private get-together.

The intensely private couple declined reporter interview requests and were rarely seen outside their home in Rancho Mirage's gated Thunderbird Estates, other than to attend worship services at the nearby St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert.

Fans pay tribute to Brown; funeral set

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The James Brown statue on Broad Street, here in his hometown, was draped in an American flag and a red scarf as several dozen people gathered Tuesday to pay their respects to the late singer. Flowers were left at the base of the statue in tribute to Brown, who died Monday in Atlanta. He was 73.

One visitor to the statue, John Arthur Thomas, 73, of Daleville, Ala., said he stopped by because Brown was a legend and had "done a lot of things from the heart to help people."

"There were some troubled times in his life, like everybody else, but he meant well," Thomas said. "He is a legend. There will never be another James Brown."

Consuelo Miller, 32, of Syracuse, N.Y., whose husband, Rodney, is stationed at Fort Gordon with the U.S. Army, came to the statue with her son and stepdaughter so her children could say that they were there.

"I just wanted to bring the kids down here to let them see a great star," Miller said. "He is the `Godfather of Soul.'"

The Rev. Al Sharpton will officiate at Brown's funeral service, said Brown's agent, Frank Copsidas.

Sharpton and some of Brown's relatives spent Tuesday afternoon at an Augusta funeral home, where they were expected to view the singer's body and complete funeral arrangements.

The public funeral service will be held Saturday at James Brown Arena in Augusta, followed by burial later in the day, Copsidas said. Brown's body will lie in state at the Apollo Theater in New York on Thursday and again on Saturday at the Augusta arena. A private service for family and friends will be held Friday at an undisclosed location.

The singer died of heart failure less than two days after he had been hospitalized with pneumonia and only three days after leading his annual holiday toy giveaway in Augusta.

He also had diabetes and prostate cancer that was in remission. But he initially seemed fine at the hospital and talked about his New Year's Eve show at B.B. King Blues Club in New York, Copsidas said.

Rena Siwek, public relations director for the club, said an announcement would be made Wednesday on who would be filling Brown's spot.

"We're working furiously here," Siwek said.

The New York City club wasn't the only venue affected by Brown's death. Some 1,400 tickets had been sold as of late last week for a show Wednesday night at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Conn. The show was to kick off a national tour. The theater box office was issuing refunds.

Brown is survived by his partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, one of his backup singers, and at least four children — his two daughters, Deanna Brown Thomas and Yamma Brown Lumar, and sons Daryl and James Brown II, Copsidas said.

Brown, who lived in Beech Island, S.C., near the Georgia line, won a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for "Living in America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He had a brief but memorable role as a manic preacher in 1980's "The Blues Brothers," starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.

In a statement released Tuesday by his publicist, Aykroyd said, "No one has ever integrated music, musicianship, dance and showmanship so effectively as did J.B. Every rap, hip-hop, house, soul, R&B, rock and pop artist practicing today has been influenced compositionally and choreographically by Mr. Brown.

"Fortunate were those of us who were able to engage his talents and witness his latest shows. The greatest on-stage revue of music in the history of our planet."

Brown was himself to the end, at one point saying, "I'm going away tonight," said friend Charles Bobbit, who was with the singer when he died. "I didn't want to believe him," he said.

A short time later, Brown sighed quietly, closed his eyes and died, Bobbit said.

HDTV's sharp increase in popularity concerns TV stars fearful of such clarity

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Vanity, thy name is hi-def TV.

The holiday shopping season was expected to boost the number of U.S. homes with high-definition televisions to nearly 33 million. In the eyes of a growing number of image-obsessed on-air personalities, that's 33 million reasons to be concerned.

Besides spectacular vistas and shockingly real playing fields, hi-def clarity puts any and all wrinkles, pimples and pores on display in well-lit bathroom-mirror detail.

Some TV types say big-screen HDTV could lead to the end of the extreme close-up as we know it. Others predict hi-def fears could soon be reflected in artists' contracts.

When "Good Morning America" debuted in high-definition last year, host Diane Sawyer, 61, noted that viewers will now know when she's stayed up too late the night before. "They will see it right there," Sawyer said, indicating the puffiness under her eyes.

Dissolve to the TV industry's behind-the-scenes pros, who are developing new ways to help the talent keep up appearances in today's hi-def world.

"The grain structure of film allows a softness that HD video tends not to have, posing more challenges, especially when it comes to capturing female faces," says Stephen McNutt, director of photography for the Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica."

"We seem not to care about seeing men in a rougher, more edgier way," he explains, "whereas females, we're used to seeing them in a softer, more appealing way. So there's a little more filtration needed, and you have to approach it from a different standpoint."

While lighting techniques have been helpful, new advances in cosmetic applications have done wonders, too, says Patricia Murray, "Battlestar's" head of makeup. Murray uses foundation and makeup that is airbrushed onto the skin, rather than by sponge or fingertip.

"For me, air brushing is very helpful for high definition when you want an even coverage," says Murray. "However, it's not ideal for every situation."

Murray explains: "We have a show that's very raw, and it's not so glamorous, so the application needs to be a little lighter because we allow the shine of the skin to come through; we don't cover the dark patches under the eyes as much. However, with other shows, you have to watch the amount of shine you allow because high definition picks that up quite a bit."

Of course, makeup alone won't stave off the HD glare. "Regular facials and a really good skin care is key," Murray says of her advice to cast members. "Drinking lots of water, avoiding coffee and cigarettes, exercise, all those things help the skin's natural glow."

Being show business, Botox injections and facelifts also continue, even though HDTV reveals those tight lines and plumped puckers in extreme clarity.

"Just about everything is more obvious in hi-def," says Sheila McKenna, founder of New York-based Kett Cosmetics, an airbrushed, HDTV-friendly makeup line used by some on "The View," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Today," and all over CNN and ESPN.

McKenna notes that older news and entertainment personalities tend to be more concerned about how they look on HDTV, but younger celebrities don't always look so flattering in the format, either.

Some camera operators believe fears about HDTV exposure could bring an end to extreme close-ups on television shows.

"I think there's a danger area of saying the extreme close-up is not flattering - it's a part of the grammar of television to do that," says Tom Houghton, director of photography for "Rescue Me." The Sony TV-produced show is shot in HD, but appears on FX, which is among a number of cable networks that still airs in standard definition.

"Maybe we don't want to be quite so close, now that people have bigger screens," Houghton adds. "We're evolving from what was once a 12-inch screen in black and white in the living room to a huge 57-inch home-theatre screen, and that's a big difference in what you're going to see."

"Certainly in the very beginning, no one wanted to work in HD," notes Dan Dugan, producer of the CW network's HD comedies "Girlfriends" and "The Game." "Everybody felt safe with what film has given us, and to go to something new, people are always afraid. But I think you'll find less opposition among the creative community now than five years ago."

Broadcast networks in the United States now offer the bulk of their prime-time programming and major sports coverage in HD. Cable provides some HD content, with a few channels that are dedicated to HD.

And a handful of local stations offer their newscasts in hi-def.

With the U.S. Federal Communications Commission mandate that TV networks move from analog to digital by 2009, talent agent Harry Gold says that concerns over HD may factor into some artists' contracts.

"You take a show like 'Desperate Housewives,' which is in really glossy high-definition. In order for those women to look as glamorous as they want to look, they need to really pay attention to how they're made up and how they're lit, what kinds of lenses are being used and all that kind of stuff," says Gold, president of TalentWorks. "They do have to have some say about how they look on screen."

Actress Kat Foster of the Fox HD comedy "Til Death" sees things a bit differently, opting away from the newfangled airbrushed techniques for traditionally applied corrective foundations that, she says, give her a more natural look onscreen.

"It would behoove everyone to see the real celebrity, wrinkles and all," declares the 28-year-old Foster. "I think the more human we are, the more attractive we are to the people who watch us."

But will she feel the same way in 10 years?

James Brown's hometown fans pay respects

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The James Brown statue on Broad Street, his hometown, was draped in an American flag and a red scarf Tuesday as several dozen people gathered to pay their respects to the late singer.

Flowers were left at the base of the statue in tribute to Brown, who died Monday in Atlanta. He was 73.

One visitor to the statue, John Arthur Thomas, 73, of Daleville, Ala., said he stopped by because Brown was a legend and he had "done a lot of things from the heart to help people."

"There were some troubled times in his life, like everybody else, but he meant well," Thomas said. "He is a legend. There will never be another James Brown."

Consuelo Miller, 32, of Syracuse, N.Y., whose husband, Rodney, is stationed at Fort Gordon with the U.S. Army, came to the statue with her son and stepdaughter so her children could say that they were there.

"I just wanted to bring the kids down here to let them see a great star," Miller said. "He is the `Godfather of Soul.'"

The Rev. Al Sharpton will officiate at Brown's funeral service, details of which were still incomplete, said Brown's agent, Frank Copsidas.

Sharpton said he and Brown's two daughters planned to view the singer's body Tuesday afternoon at an Augusta funeral home and finalize funeral arrangements.

Brown's daughter-in-law Diane Dean Rouse said she hoped the funeral would be open to the people of Augusta.

The singer died of heart failure less than two days after he had been hospitalized with pneumonia and only three days after leading his annual holiday toy giveaway in Augusta.

He also had diabetes and prostate cancer that was in remission. But he initially seemed fine at the hospital and talked about his New Year's Eve show at B.B. King Blues Club in New York, Copsidas said.

The B.B. King club, which promised ticket holders a replacement show, will announce Wednesday who will be filling the spot, said public relations director Rena Siwek.

"We're working furiously here," Siwek said.

The New York City club wasn't the only venue affected by Brown's death. Some 1,400 tickets had been sold as of late last week for a show Wednesday night at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Conn. The show was to kick off a national tour. The theater box office was issuing refunds.

Brown is survived by his partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, one of his backup singers, and at least four children — his two daughters and sons Daryl and James Brown II, Copsidas said.

The singer was himself to the end, at one point saying, "I'm going away tonight," said friend Charles Bobbit, who was with Brown when he died.

"I didn't want to believe him," he said.

A short time later, Brown sighed quietly, closed his eyes and died, Bobbit said.

"His thing was `I never saw a person that I didn't love.' He was a true humanitarian who loved his country," Bobbit said.

Brown was born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, and abandoned as a 4-year-old to the care of relatives and friends. He grew up in Augusta in an "ill-repute area," as he once called it, learning how to hustle to survive.

By the eighth grade in 1949, he had served 3 1/2 years in reform school for breaking into cars. While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B.

Brown, who lived in Beech Island, S.C., near the Georgia line, won a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for "Living in America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He had a brief but memorable role as a manic preacher in the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers."

Legendary singer James Brown dies at 73

ATLANTA - James Brown, the undeniable "Godfather of Soul," told friends from his hospital bed that he was looking forward to performing on New Year's Eve, even though he was ill with pneumonia. His heart gave out a few hours later, on Christmas morning.

The pompadoured dynamo whose classic singles include "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" died Monday of heart failure, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music.

"People already know his history, but I would like for them to know he was a man who preached love from the stage," said friend Charles Bobbit, who was with Brown at the hospital. "His thing was 'I never saw a person that I didn't love.' He was a true humanitarian who loved his country."

The entertainer with the rough-edged voice and flashy footwork also had diabetes and prostate cancer that was in remission, Bobbit said. Brown initially seemed fine at the hospital, Copsidas said. Three days before his death, he had participated in his annual toy giveaway in Augusta, and he was looking forward to his New Year's Eve show.

"Last night, he said 'I'm going to be there. I'm the hardest working man in show business,'" Copsidas said Monday.

One of the major musical influences of the past 50 years, Brown was to rhythm and dance music what Bob Dylan was to lyrics. From Mick Jagger to Michael Jackson, David Bowie to Public Enemy, his rapid-footed dancing, hard-charging beats and heartfelt yet often unintelligible vocals changed the musical landscape.

He was one of the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.

"He was an innovator, he was an emancipator, he was an originator. Rap music, all that stuff came from James Brown," entertainer Little Richard, a longtime friend of Brown's, told MSNBC.

"James Brown changed music," said Rev. Al Sharpton, who toured with Brown in the 1970s and imitates his hairstyle to this day.

"He made soul music a world music," Sharpton said. "What James Brown was to music in terms of soul and hip-hop, rap, all of that, is what Bach was to classical music. This is a guy who literally changed the music industry. He put everybody on a different beat, a different style of music. He pioneered it."

Brown won a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for "Living In America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.)

He even had a brief but memorable role on the big screen as a manic preacher in the 1980's movie "The Blues Brothers."

Brown, who lived in Beech Island, S.C., near the Georgia line, had a turbulent personal life that included charges of abusing drugs and alcohol. After a widely publicized, drug-fueled confrontation with police in 1988 that ended in an interstate car chase, Brown spent 15 months in a South Carolina prison and 10 months in a work release program.

From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, "Please, Please, Please" in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" and often tried to prove it to his fans, said Jay Ross, his lawyer of 15 years.

Brown's stage act was as memorable, and as imitated, as his records, with his twirls and spins and flowing cape, his repeated faints to the floor at the end.

"He was dramatic to the end — dying on Christmas Day," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a friend of Brown's since 1955. "Almost a dramatic, poetic moment. He'll be all over the news all over the world today. He would have it no other way."

His "Live at The Apollo" in 1962 is widely considered one of the greatest concert records ever. He often talked of a 1964 concert in which organizers made the mistake of having the Rolling Stones, not him, close the bill, remembering Mick Jagger waiting offstage, nervously chain smoking, as he pulled off his matchless show.

"To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told the AP.

Brown routinely lost two or three pounds each time he performed and kept his furious concert schedule in his later years even as he fought prostate cancer, Ross said.

With his tight pants, eye makeup and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince. And the early rap generation overwhelmingly sampled his music and voice as they laid the foundation of hip-hop culture.

"Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I'm saying? You hear all the rappers, 90 percent of their music is me," Brown told The AP in 2003.

Born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, Brown was abandoned as a 4 year old to the care of relatives and friends. He grew up on the streets of Augusta, Ga., in an "ill-repute area," as he once called it, learning how to hustle to survive.

By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in reform school for breaking into cars. While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B.

In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later "Please, Please, Please" was in the R&B Top Ten.

Brown is survived by his fourth wife, Tomi Raye Hynie, one of his backup singers, and at least four children — two daughters and sons Daryl and James Brown III, Copsidas said.

Memorial plans were incomplete, Copsidas said.

'Museum' wins pre-Christmas box office

LOS ANGELES - Ben Stiller's "Night at the Museum" was the main exhibit at theaters, debuting with $30.8 million to lead a rush of new movies over the holiday weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Starring Stiller as a guard at a museum where exhibits come alive at night, the comedy exceeded expectations for 20th Century Fox, which had been counting on a bit more than $20 million, said head of distribution Bruce Snyder.

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Sony's "The Pursuit of Happyness," slipped to second with $15 million, raising its 10-day total to $53.3 million.

Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky Balboa" lived up to its underdog theme, overcoming geriatric-boxer jokes to debut at No. 3 with a solid $12.5 million over the weekend and a total of $22.1 million since opening Wednesday.

Released by MGM, "Rocky Balboa" is Stallone's sixth movie about the Philadelphia street bruiser who becomes a champion fighter, this one following the nearly 60-year-old Rocky in the ring against the reigning heavyweight king.

MGM anticipated the jeers of fans about Rocky stepping back in the ring, tailoring its earliest movie trailers to that idea, with "characters saying, `Why are you doing this? You gotta be kidding,'" said Clark Woods, the studio's head of distribution. "It made the audience comfortable with this concept right away. They were going to say it themselves, so we gave it to them."

Universal's "The Good Shepherd," a saga about the early days of the CIA directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, opened in fourth place with $10 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, the Warner Bros. football drama "We Are Marshall," opened weakly with $6.6 million to come in at No. 6. The movie stars Matthew McConaughey as a coach who rebuilds West Virginia's Marshall University team after the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 players, coaches and fans.

Christmas weekend always is crowded as studios cram in family flicks and films angling for awards attention. This holiday weekend seemed even more packed than usual, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

"I think the movies are beating up on each other a little bit because there's so many jockeying for position," Dergarabedian said. "I don't know how people find time to see all these films. I think it's probably overwhelming for a lot of movie-goers."

A flurry of movies opened well in limited release to qualify for Academy Awards consideration, including Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima," which took in $76,000 in five theaters. Released by Warner Bros., the film is Eastwood's companion piece to his earlier World War II epic "Flags of Our Fathers," the new movie telling the story of Iwo Jima from the perspective of Japanese soldiers.

Sony Pictures Classics' "Curse of the Golden Flower," director Zhang Yimou's action tale starring Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li in a story of bloody palace intrigue in ancient China, took in $489,000 in 60 theaters.

Warner Independent's "The Painted Veil," with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton in an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's romantic tragedy in 1920s China, premiered with $44,000 in four theaters.

"Venus," Miramax's comic drama starring Peter O'Toole as an elderly actor whose rusty libido is aroused by a saucy young woman, opened with $36,000 in three theaters.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Wednesday.

1. "Night at the Museum," $30.8 million.
2. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $15 million.
3. "Rocky Balboa," $12.5 million.
4. "The Good Shepherd," $10 million.
5. "Charlotte's Web," $8 million.
6. "Eragon," $7.15 million.
7. "We Are Marshall," $6.6 million.
8. "Happy Feet," $5.1 million.
9. "The Holiday," $5 million.
10. "The Nativity Story," $4.65 million.

The Couch Potato Report - December 24th 2006

This edition of The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on some box sets that are available for your holiday giving, or receiving.

More and more people are ignoring shows when they first play on television and instead they are picking them up once they are released on DVD instead.

This way - for episodic shows - they don't have to wait week after week to see what happens.

For the shows that people still watch on TV, since they are fans, they want to own what they enjoy.

There is now also the option to purchase a big huge box set that contains every episode of a series, once it has finished it's run.

If you have someone that you still need to get something for who falls into one of those categories, I have at least one show from each one to suggest.

And I will start with LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT.

There are now three seasons of CRIMINAL INTENT available on DVD.

The show centers on the New York Police Department's Major Case Squad and the very brilliant, offbeat Detective Robert Goren, as portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Of all the LAW & ORDER shows that have been on the air over the years, CRIMINAL INTENT is my favourite as it shows you the crimes as they are planned and committed, and then we also get to see the detectives solving them and putting a case together for the District Attorney.

Of the three Box Sets for LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT that are available, my favourite is the 2002-2003 set for THE SECOND YEAR. The writing is at it's best that season, and the cast is working really well together.

And even Detective Goren's partner - played by Kathryn Erbe - starts to have more to say and do.

LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT is still on the air, but the next box set I will mention is from a show that isn't.

ALIAS - THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON was the final season of that show.

In the show Jennifer Garner is Sydney Bristow, an international spy recruited out of college and trained for espionage and self-defense.

The fifth season of the show obviously started off where Season Four ended, and the cliffhanger from that year was one of the best ones ever on television.

I was a huge fan of ALIAS during it's run, but I began to not have time to watch it every week, so this was one show I stopped watching when it aired, and just waited for the DVDs.

And I am glad I did as in real life Jennifer Garner got pregnant and the series went off air for a few months so she could have her baby, before coming back and wrapping up the show's many loose ends.

They also made Sydney Bristow pregnant on the show and brought in some new people to fill the needs of the still-in-business spy agency.

The new cast wasn't and isn't bad, but it is the return of Sydney and Sark, and Irina, and Anna Espinosa, and maybe even the murdered Michael Vaughan, or whatever his name is, that will allow you to ride the fifth season of ALIAS to a very satisfying series conclusion.

Of course, now that the series is over, I want to go back again and watch it from the beginning.

Luckily I have the box sets for the five seasons, so I can do that.

If you don't have them, you can get them individually or pick up the 29 DVD set ALIAS - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION - which has Seasons one to five and is packaged in a Rambaldi artifact box.

Fans of the show SIX FEET UNDER who don't have the individual sets for the five seasons that that show was on, can also pick up one all-inclusive box set - the 25 disc set that is shaped like a grave for SIX FEET UNDER - THE COMPLETE SERIES GIFT SET.

SIX FEET UNDER is the superbly written and acted drama series that takes a very comical look at The Fisher Family and their associates.

All of the people we meet are quite dysfunctional, and most of them either work in or live at a funeral home.

In addition to every episode THE COMPLETE SERIES GIFT SET for SIX FEET UNDER also has a wide array of bonus features, two-bonus soundtrack CDs, and an exclusive illustrated booklet with character obituaries and memories from the show's creators.

I watched SIX FEET UNDER when it was on, but I never saw the first ten episodes, so this box set gave me the chance to go back, catch up on what I missed, and then keep watching.

And I will keep watching, as it is a superb show!

I will also keep watching THAT GIRL.

Before there was Mary Richards, Murphy Brown, or Ally McBeal there
was THAT GIRL.

The always-engaging Marlo Thomas starred in THAT GIRL as Ann Marie, a struggling actress living in New York City. In between trying to find jobs acting and modeling she spends time with her boyfriend, Don, and her parents.

THAT GIRL ran from 1966 to 1971 and history shows us that the title character was groundbreaking as an independent female forging her own way and forever changed the manner in which women were portrayed on TV.

Now you can relive history because the first two seasons of THAT GIRL are available on DVD.

And the thing I enjoyed about the show was the fact that it harkens back to a simpler time.

Seriously, when was the last time you saw gum used as a plot point on a TV show that wasn't called McGyver?

If you have someone on your list who loves old TV shows, or is a fan of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, MURPHY BROWN or ALLY McBEAL, THAT GIRL would make a great gift for them!

SEASONS ONE AND TWO of the show are now available on DVD, and so is SIX FEET UNDER - THE COMPLETE SERIES GIFT SET, SEASONS 1 through 5 of ALIAS and the first THREE SEASONS of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT.

They would also make great gifts!

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Almost every Canadian is aware of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia, but did you know we also played an eight game series against them in 1974?

Well, we did, and TEAM CANADA 1974: THE LOST SERIES is now available on DVD.

Also next week there are four new releases in the WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection, and a part time bartender gets a chance to play in the NFL in INVINCIBLE.

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

For now, that's THE COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Actress still thinks 'It's a Wonderful Life'

SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) - Zuzu has a cold again. She sniffles and sucks on a cold pill as she signs autographs for fans lined up to the door in a coffee shop.

Karolyn Grimes jokes that she left her coat open, like her character Zuzu Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life." But a more likely culprit is the holiday crunch of appearances by the former child actress - from a Victorian festival in Puyallup, Wash., to the Colorado Country Christmas Show and now to Seneca Falls, which claims to be the inspiration for director Frank Capra's mythical Bedford Falls.

Around Christmas, this Finger Lakes village is gussied up like the snowy movie town with white lights and wreaths strung across the main street. And the 66-year-old Grimes has come for a weekend celebration.

Everyone who saw the movie remembers Zuzu. She gets to say, "Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings." And the petals from Zuzu's rose - stuffed into a pants pocket by Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey as he comforts his sickly daughter - become a symbol of life.

Grimes laughs about the petals getting more screentime than she did. But she has parlayed her six minutes in the beloved 1946 film into a late-life career. After enduring heartaches that make George Bailey's troubles look small, she has become a feel-good ambassador for the film and one of its last living links.

"I'm that little girl and I stand for something those people love," she says. ". . . For some reason or other, that little girl embodies the image, or maybe the power to make them happy."

People tell her as much all afternoon at the Zuzu Cafe, where she sits with a Sharpie at a table laid out with "It's a Wonderful Life" stuff: DVDs, ceramic ornaments, memory books, her own "Zuzu Bailey's It's a Wonderful Life Cookbook" and scattered rose petals.

"Do you know what a thrill this is? "

"This is my favourite movie!"

"Thank you for giving us so much joy!"

For each person, Grimes neatly signs her name with "Zuzu" in quotes and a little doodle of a bell. She usually adds a message like, "Enjoy life, it's wonderful."

Grimes holds her smile for hours and laughs as she pops up for snapshots. She has a gold "Z" pinned to her blue velveteen jacket.

She lost her nest egg in the 2001 economic downturn and relies on these appearances. As she signs, her husband sits beside her and asks, "Cash or credit card?" It's a job, but she clearly loves being Zuzu. After signing autographs all afternoon, she bumps into a fan at a diner who talks on her cellphone to her father.

Grimes happily accepts the phone.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" she says to woman's father. "You're talking to Zuzu!"

Grimes had already worked with Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray when she appeared in "It's a Wonderful Life." She grew up in Hollywood and was nudged into the business by her mother. Capra picked her to play Zuzu.

Grimes retains kid-centric memories of the movie: Capra kindly squatted to give her directions. "Mr. Stewart" held her in his arms, take after take, for the end scene and always put her down gently. She loved the Baileys' big Christmas tree.

At the time though, even to a five-year-old, "it was just another job."

Grimes' movie career waned as her mother became ill. She lost her at age 14. Her father died in a car accident a year later. A court shipped the teenage orphan to Osceola, Mo., to live in a "bad home" with an aunt and uncle.

Still, she liked meeting people outside hyper-competitive Hollywood. She went to college, married, raised kids, became a medical technologist. Zuzu was the past. Her box of clips and pics stayed in the basement until 1980, when a reporter came to her door in Stilwell, Kan., and asked her a question:

"Did you play that little girl in the movie, 'It's a Wonderful Life?' "

Now Grimes stands watching herself on a big-screen TV as a curly-haired pixie from 60 years ago. The little girl asks her dad to fix her flower, and he sneaks the wilted petals into his pocket.

"What do you think? Did I see it?" she asks the audience. Grimes is giving a crowd at the community centre a tour of the movie with bits of trivia.

Zuzu's name was inspired by an old brand of ginger snaps, she says. The snow coating Bedford Falls was made of soap flakes and chemicals; that's why it looks sudsy sometimes. Reviewing the flower scene, she suggests Zuzu saw through her father's heartfelt ruse and loves him all the more for it.

"I think what Frank Capra is trying to say is she knows her father isn't perfect," she said.

The film about a suicidal, small-town money lender was a bit of a dud after its December 1946 release. "Wonderful Life" got a second life in the mid-'70s when a lapsed copyright allowed television stations to show the movie for free. The movie gathered iconic status through constant showings.

After the reporter's story, Grimes did local Zuzu events in the '80s and branched out by the '90s.

This was a difficult stretch personally; she knows angels don't always save people. Her 18-year-old son killed himself in 1989 and her second husband died of cancer in 1994 (her first husband was killed in a hunting accident). She kept on.

"You have a choice," she says. "You can drown in your sorrows, be the grumpy old Mr. Potter and be hurt and be in pain . . . but I think you need to put that behind you because, my gosh, life is a wonderful gift."

Grimes, one of about seven surviving actors from the movie, says she's had troubled souls approach her sobbing at her appearances. She inspires smiles when she passes out a rose petal.

"I really feel like Zuzu is kind of a mission maybe, I don't know," Grimes says. "I think that there is a higher power at work and that I had to go through a lot of adverse situations in my life to understand other people's pain."

If it sounds like a corny sentiment out of a Capra movie, consider that after a day of "It's a Wonderful Life" autographs and interviews she becomes excited - really excited - by a small cutout of a bell stuck to a linoleum floor by her chair.

It has meaning, she explains as she walks out to the snowy sidewalks of Seneca Falls, past the decorated windows, the old-fashioned street lights and the wreaths hanging overhead.

"I really feel at home here," she says.

People here argue about the Bedford Falls connection, though it's a circumstantial case. Both places have a "Falls" suffix, and characters in the film mention nearby cities like Rochester and Elmira. Both places have classic American main streets, and the bridge here resembles the one where George Bailey pondered his mortality.

Capra, whose movie village was a set built near Los Angeles, left no evidence to rule out other candidates, like Bedford, N.Y.

And yet the director could have passed through Seneca Falls while visiting an aunt in nearby Auburn. Retired local barber Tommy Bellissima even claims he cut Capra's hair before the movie came out. Bellissima recalls a friendly guy whose name stuck in his head: capra means goat in Italian.

"Sometimes Christmas is what you believe," says county tourism director Maureen Koch at the Zuzu Cafe, "and don't make me prove it."

Canadian blues pioneer Dutch Mason dies

Dutch Mason, the musician from Nova Scotia who was known as "prime minister of the blues," has died.

The singer and guitarist — one of the country's best-known blues artists and a pioneer for many of today's musicians — died Saturday in Truro, N.S.

In the past few years, Mason has battled poor health due to chronic arthritis, which forced him to stop a busy performance schedule he had maintained for decades.

Born Norman Mason in Lunenberg in 1938, Mason became interested in music early in his youth, learning to play several different instruments.

In the 1950s, he started forming a number of bands and musical groups, which largely played in the rockabilly style. However, his focus changed after he was introduced to the blues through the recordings of B. B. King, who soon became a major influence for Mason.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Mason built up his reputation and gained renown for his music, his colourful performances and relentless touring from coast to coast in order to build up a Canadian audience for the blues. Despite constant gigs in clubs from the West Coast to Toronto and Montreal, he always remained based in Nova Scotia.

It was King who eventually dubbed Mason "prime minister of the blues" to acknowledge his influence on the Canadian music scene.

Mason "puts out a certain vibe or energy or something. He just gives you that good feeling, the way he sings," his son, Juno Award-winning blues guitarist Garrett Mason said in an interview with CBC News.

Over the years, Mason released a host of albums, including Dutch Mason Trio at the Candlelight, Janitor of the Blues and Special Brew.

In 1998, the CBC recorded a live tribute album entitled Dutchie's 60th Birthday to honour the blues legend, who also had a eponymous summertime blues festival each year in Dartmouth, N.S.

Mason was also inducted into the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame and, in 2005, inducted into the Order of Canada.

PTC Puts NBC on Naughty List

If it was up to the Parents Television Council, NBC would be getting coal in its stocking this Christmas.

The conservative watchdog organization is calling on the network to rethink its decision to post an uncensored version of a Saturday Night Live skit on both its own Website and YouTube, in which the word dick is used multiple times.

The skit in question features host Justin Timberlake and cast member Andy Samberg singing a holiday tune about presenting their ladyfriends with the very special gift of their male members, wrapped up in a box with a bow on top.
"It's my dick in a box," the duo croon in the song's explanatory refrain.

When the skit aired on SNL, NBC bleeped out the word dick a total of 16 times. However, since the FCC has no jurisdiction over the Internet, the network was able to leave the online clip uncensored.

As of Friday, more than 4 million people had watched the clip on YouTube, with countless others taking it in through NBC's official site, much to the dismay of the PTC.

"This is a new low for NBC," PTC president Brent Bozell said in a statement. "Clearly, the network will stop at nothing to find loopholes for its indecent programming to reach the public."

In NBC's defense, the version airing on YouTube contains a cautionary warning, lest viewers are unclear as to what they are about to watch.

"The following sketch contains explicit lyrics that were not contained in the orignal [sic] broadcast," reads a message appearing before the video begins.

On NBC's site, both the censored and uncensored versions are available. Those who want to watch the unbleeped version must affirm that they are over 18 as of Dec. 15, 2007—a date that may have been a typo on the network's part.

"Moving objectionable content that would not meet FCC standards directly to the Internet is blatantly irresponsible and unacceptable," Bozell stated.

In an interview with the New York Times, SNL producer Lorne Michaels said that posting the equivalent of a "director's cut" of the show on the Internet "will be the exception" in the future.

However, he opined that other networks would be likely to follow NBC's lead in using the Web to broadcast material deemed inappropriate for the airwaves.

Despite its decision to put the clip online, NBC wasn't allowing just anyone to post the uncensored version of the skit. All unauthorized versions of "Dick in a Box" were being yanked from YouTube at the network's request.

The skit is something of a follow-up to NBC's last viral hit, "Lazy Sunday," which featured Samberg and former SNL cast member Chris Parnell rapping about topics such as eating cupcakes and taking in a matinee of Chronicles of Narnia.

After "Lazy Sunday" popped up on YouTube and became an instant Internet sensation, NBC ordered the site to remove it, later making the clip available for purchase through iTunes Music Store.

The network and YouTube have since reached an agreement where NBC allows certain programming to be posted to a dedicated network page.

Former Jeffersons actor dies

Actor Mike Evans, who played Lionel Jefferson in the television comedy series All in the Family and The Jeffersons, has died. He was 57.

Evans died of throat cancer Dec. 14 at his mother's home in California, according to his niece, Chrystal Evans.

Evans also co-created and helped write Good Times, one of the first TV comedy series to feature a primarily black cast.

Born in Salisbury, N.C., Evans and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child. After studying acting at Los Angeles City College, he landed the role of Lionel in the 1970s sitcom All in the Family.

Evans kept the role when The Jeffersons — an All in the Family spinoff — launched in 1975. The hit series centred on Archie's black neighbours from Queens, now living in a luxury apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Evans's Lionel was the college-student son of Louise and George Jefferson, the wealthy owner of a chain of dry-cleaning stores.

When Evans left the show to work on Good Times, he was replaced by Damon Evans (no relation). Following a four-year absence, Mike Evans returned to The Jeffersons from 1979 to 1981.

Evans also appeared in the 1976 TV miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, as well as in the TV series Love, American Style and The Streets of San Francisco.

His last role was in a 2000 episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.

"Museum" comedy set to rule Christmas box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hollywood is hanging out a number of stockings as Christmas weekend arrives. Among the new movies, broad appeal is the name of the game. Three of the five wide releases this frame carry a PG rating as studios look to lure nice audiences rather than naughty ones.

The Ben Stiller comedy "Night at the Museum," which has been generating positive buzz for some time, is likely to dominate the weekend. Insiders put the four-day haul for the Twentieth Century Fox effects extravaganza in the $35 million-$40 million range.

Two sports-themed movies -- MGM's "Rocky Balboa," which bowed Wednesday, and Warner Bros. Pictures' "We Are Marshall," based on the 1970 Marshall Universaity football team tragedy -- also are looking to claim their share of the till. "Rocky" already won its first round, grossing an estimated $6.2 million Wednesday to claim the title of top-grossing film for the day.

Universal Pictures' Robert De Niro-directed spy movie "The Good Shepherd" is courting the adult audience.

With Christmas Eve falling on Sunday, that night will be a quiet one at the box office, making weekend totals difficult to predict. On Christmas Day, there are two other developments that will further complicate holiday weekend estimates.

On that day, MGM will target disaffected teens and holiday scrooges as it opens "Black Christmas," a horror flick from the Weinstein Co. Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures will expand "Dreamgirls," which it co-produced with DreamWorks, to 852 theaters. The Bill Condon-directed musical performed strongly in special "roadshow" engagements that launched in Los Angeles and New York last weekend.

Still, it is shaping up to be a big weekend at the "Museum." The Shawn Levy-directed film features a slew of young and veteran comedians. The film stars Stiller as a hapless night watchman at the Museum of Natural History who must combat the creatures that come alive at night. Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Steve Coogan also are cast, along with Owen Wilson in an uncredited cameo. Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke co-star as two old-time watchmen.

"Rocky" is on track to generate close to $30 million for its six-day opening run. The $24 million film expands Friday to 3,017 theaters from 2,752. Although observers initially viewed it as a joke considering Sylvester Stallone's career downturn and the diminishing returns of its predecessors -- "Rocky" has turned into a comeback story in its own right.

Generating primarily positive reviews (it has earned a 75% positive rating on RottenTomatoes.com), the film was also written and directed by Stallone, whose character comes out of retirement for one last go-round. Burt Young plays his manager Paulie for the sixth time, and Milo Ventimiglia (NBC's "Heroes") co-stars as Rocky Jr.

Warners will bow the inspirational sports film "Marshall" from director McG ("Charlie's Angels"). The movie centers on the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed the entire Marshall University football team and its coach. Matthew McConaughey stars as the Huntington, W.Va., team's new coach who tries, along with the school's dean ( David Strathairn) and the surviving players, to keep the program going. Matthew Fox (ABC's "Lost") co-stars as his assistant coach.

Universal unveils De Niro's "Shepherd" in 2,218 theaters. Centering on the early history of the CIA, "Shepherd" stars Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin and De Niro. The film could be handicapped by its nearly three-hour running time, but the stellar cast could help it break through. Industry watchers expect the film to gross in the $10 million-$12 million range.

On Christmas Day, MGM will play against type with "Black Christmas," a remake of the 1974 horror picture, updated by writer-director Glen Morgan ("Willard"). "Christmas" revolves around a group of sorority sisters who are harassed by menacing phone calls and are killed one by one during their Christmas break. The film has religious groups protesting its Christmas Day release date, which, as most protests do, should add to the movie's profile as provocative counterprogramming.

A slew of limited releases also bow this weekend. Perhaps the highest-profile film is Warners' "Letters From Iwo Jima," the companion piece to Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," which disappointed at the box office two months ago. Depicting the same World War II battle shown in "Fathers," "Letters," also directed by Eastwood, tells the Japanese side of the story.

Receiving early accolades from various critics groups, "Iwo Jima" stars Ken Watanabe as the American-educated general who leads the Japanese resistance in the famous battle. It opened Wednesday on five screens in Los Angeles and New York.

Warner Independent Pictures also launched its limited bow of "The Painted Veil" on four screens Wednesday in Los Angeles and New York. A long-gestating adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, the film stars Edward Norton and Naomi Watts as an unhappy married couple who resurrect their relationship while living in China during a cholera epidemic.

Sony Pictures Classics is unveiling "Curse of the Golden Flower" in Los Angeles and San Francisco Friday, a day after the Chinese-language film from acclaimed director Zhang Yimou opened in New York.

Universal opens Alfonso Cuaron's R-rated "Children of Men" on Christmas Day in 16 theaters. The well-reviewed film stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine in a dystopian British future where women are unable to reproduce.

Miramax Films opened "Venus" on Thursday in Los Angeles and New York. The R-rated take on a May-December romance, directed by Roger Michell, stars Peter O'Toole in an Oscar-worthy role as an older man whose daily routine is altered when the grand niece (Jodie Whittaker) of his best friend comes to visit.

'Seinfeld' spurs Festivus pole sales

MILWAUKEE - Kevin Campanella hates buying and receiving Christmas presents that he says inevitably disappoint. This year, no such worries.

Campanella plans to seek "serenity now" by celebrating Festivus, a wacky holiday popularized in a 1997 "Seinfeld" episode. Billed as "Festivus for the rest of us," the holiday celebrated by the Costanza clan on Dec. 23 features an airing of grievances and feats of strength in which a guest must pin the host before the party ends.

In protest of Christmas' commercialism, character Frank Costanza puts up an unadorned aluminum pole instead of a tree. The metal, he says admiringly, has a "very high strength-to-weight ratio."

"I just always loved that episode," said Campanella, 28, a landscaper from Warwick, R.I. "But it's not so much about the show — I think the idea of Festivus is a good idea."

So does The Wagner Companies. The Milwaukee-based maker of hand-railing components is bringing back its line of Festivus poles for the holiday season. The company had plenty of metal rails on hand already and launched the product last year on a whim.

"We did it mainly as a lark. We never looked at it as a tremendous moneymaking scheme," said Tony Leto, the firm's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "But in many ways, Festivus is taking on a life of its own."

Wagner, which made $15 million last year from products including handrail brackets and pipe elbows, earned only a few thousand dollars from Festivus pole sales. Leto said the company received some media publicity upon launch of the poles but he credits bloggers with strong "Seinfeld" loyalties for spreading the news far and wide.

Wagner sold about 250 poles in 2005, with around 100 sales coming from the firm's 120 employees. This season, it sold about 300 poles by mid-December and was on pace to sell twice that number by Saturday, said Leto, whose claim to fame is that he shared a drama class with Jerry Seinfeld at Queens College in New York.

Wagner offers a 6-foot Festivus pole for $38 and a 2-foot-8-inch tabletop model for $30. The setup is simple: a hollow pipe, 1.9 inches in diameter, inserted into a collapsible aluminum base.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a "Seinfeld" fanatic who claims to have seen every episode eight times, proudly displayed one of the company's poles last year at the governor's mansion in Madison. But Doyle said he will donate the pole to the Wisconsin Historical Museum after reports that "Seinfeld" co-star Michael Richards used racial slurs during a standup comedy routine last month.

Leto said he hoped the Richards incident wouldn't affect his company's sales.

"Fans know it was a Costanza holiday, not a Kramer holiday," he said, referring to characters played by Jerry Stiller and Richards. "Anyway, Kramer eventually rejects the holiday at the end of the episode."

Gabriel Morales, 32, of Atlanta, said Richards' tirade didn't keep him from ordering a Festivus pole earlier this month.

"You know, people make mistakes, they say stupid things," said Morales, an information technology analyst who held his Festivus party early this year to coincide with a monthly dinner club. "No one at the party really cared about that either."

The "Seinfeld" Festivus episode developed from series writer Dan O'Keefe's childhood experiences. His father invented the holiday in the 1960s.

"As a kid, we'd come home and there'd be weird decorations," said the 30-something O'Keefe. "There was the playing of strange German and Italian pop music from the '50s. And the airing of grievances was a real thing."

Instead of a pole, his family celebration featured a clock and a bag. (O'Keefe said his father won't say what they symbolized.)

Wagner's Leto acknowledged the irony of making money off a holiday that celebrates anti-commercialism. But the company is having too much fun with the holiday to stop now, he said.

O'Keefe doesn't begrudge Wagner's commercial efforts.

"It sounds to me like they're making a good living — good for them," O'Keefe said. "It's just this joke holiday on a TV show. If they want to make a buck on it, go for it."

Or, as Seinfeld might say, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Canadian actors' contract talks break down

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Talks between North American producers and Canada's actors union have broken down, setting the stage for a strike in the new year.

The current impasse follows marathon negotiations that began November 23 and culminated Wednesday with the producers, including a host of Hollywood studio representatives, putting their first wage proposals for a new Independent Production Agreement, which governs wages and workplace conditions.

The actors were offered a one-percent wage increase in the first year, another two-percent increase in the second year and a one-percent increase in the third year of the proposed agreement. Representatives for ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists) promptly rejected the offer.

No new talks are scheduled before the current agreement expires December 31. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, ACTRA's members will be in a legal position to strike in early January.

"We're not going to give away the future for free. And we are not going to let our members' pay continue to erode compared to other performers in North America," said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director.

John Barrack, chief negotiator for the Canadian Film and Television Production Assn. (CFTPA), defended the wage increase proposal, insisting it was the same pay increase offered and agreed to by the Writers Guild of Canada last May.

...Rowling names last book in Potter saga

LONDON - J.K Rowling announced on Thursday that the seventh and final book in her teenage wizard saga will be called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

No publication date has yet been set.

The British author confessed on her website this week that Potter, the creation that has turned her into one of the world's most popular and successful authors, had now entered her dreams.

"For years now, people have asked me whether I ever dream that I am 'in' Harry's world," she wrote. "The answer was 'no' until a few nights ago when I had an epic dream in which I was, simultaneously, Harry and the narrator."
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By Nicole Sperling

MGM's "Rocky Balboa" proved no underdog at the boxoffice its opening day. The Sylvester Stallone-starrer reaped $6.2 million on 2,752 theaters. The PG-rated boxing tale generated a per-screen average of $2,267 for its first day in the theaters.

The film will expand to 3017 theaters on Friday. At that time competition will certainly have heated up as Twentieth Century Fox opens "Night at the Museum," Warner Bros. Pictures bows "We Are Marshall" and Universal Pictures unveils the R-rated spy thriller "The Good Shepard."

Bjork, Prince Lead Joni Mitchell Tribute Disc

Bjork, Prince, James Taylor and Elvis Costello are among the artists who have recorded covers for "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell," due in the spring via Nonesuch. The 11-track set also boasts contributions from Sarah McLachlan, k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris and Sufjan Stevens.

In related news, Billboard.com has learned that Mitchell has been recording original material at a Los Angeles studio in recent weeks. It is unknown in what form she plans to release the music; she angrily announced she was quitting the music business in 2002 after her last album, "Travelogue."

"A Tribute to Joni Mitchell" comes concurrently with 429 Records' "Endless Highway: A Tribute to the Band," due Jan. 30. That projects boasts covers from Death Cab For Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Jack Johnson and Widespread Panic, among others.

Here is the track list for "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell":

"Free Man in Paris," Sufjan Stevens
"Boho Dance," Bjork
"Dreamland," Caetano Veloso
"Don't Interrupt the Sorrow," Brad Mehldau
"For the Roses," Cassandra Wilson
"A Case of U," Prince
"Blue," Sarah McLachlan
"Ladies of the Canyon," Annie Lennox
"Magdalena Laundries," Emmylou Harris
"Edith and the Kingpin," Elvis Costello
"Help Me," k.d. lang
"River," James Taylor

CFL inks new deal with TSN

The Canadian Football League announced Wednesday it has signed a new television contract with TSN in a deal that leaves the CBC watching from the sidelines.

The new five-year contract, which includes an option year, begins in 2008 and will see TSN serve as the lone broadcaster of all regular-season and playoff games, including the Grey Cup.

Financial terms of the new contract were not released.

Under the terms of the deal, TSN has the broadcast rights to the CFL's annual 77-game package: 72 regular-season games, four playoff contests and the Grey Cup.

"This is a groundbreaking deal of enormous magnitude for TSN. The CFL has recognized TSN as a fitting home for all its games, and for the first time in history, the coveted Grey Cup will be produced and televised on TSN," said Phil King, president of TSN.

CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay expressed disappointment with the deal.

"Obviously we're very disappointed that after more than 50 seasons of football on CBC Television that the CFL has made this decision. The CBC has a long and proud tradition of making football available to Canadians across the country."

Keay said the CBC was not given an opportunity by the CFL to participate in the bidding process.

"We didn't get a chance to come to the table at all."

This new contract reflects a fundamental shift in the Canadian television industry. Under the past two TV deals, TSN sold rights to some regular-season games, all playoff contests and the Grey Cup to CBC for a fee.

However, TSN's sale to CTV in 1999 and their subsequent purchase by BCE, which rolled them into Bell Globemedia in 2000, allow TSN to hold onto the full rights package instead of selling off a portion of them.

NHL contract still on block

The new CFL deal is the latest setback for CBC Sports, which lost the rights to Canadian Curling Association properties, such as the Brier and Tournament of Hearts, to CTV-TSN earlier this year.

Last year, a Bell Globemedia-Rogers Communications consortium won the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. CBC had held Olympic broadcast rights since 1996.

CBC Sports responded to those losses by signing an eight-year agreement with FIFA that includes the rights to the next two World Cups, a four-year deal for Alpine skiing and an eight-year contract for the World Curling Tour's Grand Slam events.

The big prize still up for grabs is the rights to NHL games. The CBC's deal with the league expires after the 2007-08 season, and CTV-TSN is believed to be readying to table a serious bid for the rights.

Toronto Critics Hail the 'Queen'

It was a royal flush for "The Queen," which won five top honors from the Tornoto Film Critics Association.

Stephen Frears' examination of Her Majesty's reaction after Princess Di's untimely death won for best picture, best actress Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, best supporting actor Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair, best screenplay by Peter Morgan and best director Frears, who shares the honors with "L'Enfant" co-directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

Acting kudos went to Sacha Baron Cohen for his leading role in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and Cate Blanchett for her supporting role in "Notes on a Scandal."

The penguins once again proved their supremacy as they tapped off with the best animated feature award, while Jason Reitman's "Thank You for Smoking" snagged the first feature award. "L'Enfant" also took home the best foreign-language film award, while Jennifer Baichawal's "Manufactured Landscapes" -- which follows photographer Edward Burtynsky as he takes pictures of how the land has changed due to industrial work and manufacturing -- nabbed two awards, for best documentary film and best Canadian film.

"The Queen" is also nominated for four Golden Globe awards in the best dramatic picture, directing, screenplay and actress categories

Cast of "Grey's Anatomy" tops entertainer list

LOS ANGELES, Dec 20 (Reuters Life!) - The cast of the television hospital drama "Grey's Anatomy" tops Entertainment Weekly's list of the year's top entertainers because of their cultural impact, the magazine said.

Entertainment Weekly's year-end issue hits U.S. newsstands starting Friday with its widely watched lists of the year's top picks in movies, music, television, books and many other categories.

A video Web site, two fake journalists and a veteran actress also rated highly on the magazine's lists.

Entertainment Weekly said the cast of "Grey's" -- McDreamy, McSteamy and all the others -- led the chart of top entertainers because they had a cultural impact beyond their show's roughly 20 million weekly viewers. In addition, the episodes -- filled with sexual affairs and career problems -- sparked chatter around offices, schools and homes across the United States.

"'Grey's' isn't just a show, it's a phenomenon," said Entertainment Weekly Executive Editor Lori Majewski.

"Back in May when last season's final show aired, every place in New York City was empty. You could get a table at the best restaurants," she said.

YouTube, the wildly popular Web site where people post videos of anything from themselves singing to comedian Michael Richards shouting racial epithets, made the list because it too had a cultural impact beyond its cyberspace borders.

The Richards incident sparked discussions of when comics should and should not use the "N-word" when commenting on black Americans.

Likewise, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's character Borat Sagdiyev, a politically incorrect TV reporter from Kazakhstan, forced Americans to take a hard look at themselves -- warts and all -- in his hit film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

"He held up a mirror to America," Majewski said.

But not all the year's top entertainers had such a serious edge. Streep turned in strong performances in two very different movies -- the musical drama "The Prairie Home Companion" and the comedy "The Devil Wears Prada."

Other top entertainers included the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, singers Justin Timberlake and Beyonce, British actress Helen Mirren and Stephen Colbert, host of the television news spoof "The Colbert Report."

Entertainment Weekly reaches about 11.4 million readers each week.

Procol Harum organist wins court case

LONDON - A judge awarded a 40 percent share in the copyright of "A Whiter Shade of Pale," one of the most famous pop songs of all time, to a former organist for Procol Harum.

Lead singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid always claimed credit for the hit, which became part of the soundtrack for the hippy "summer of love" of 1967.

But in his ruling, the judge decided that organist Matthew Fisher was entitled to both credit and royalties.

"I have come to the view that Mr. Fisher's interest in the work should be reflected by according him a 40 percent share of the musical copyright," the written judgment said. "His contribution to the overall work was on any view substantial but not, in my judgment, as substantial as that of Mr. Brooker."

The judge said the song's organ solo "is a distinctive and significant contribution to the overall composition and quite obviously the product of skill and labor on the part of the person who created it."

The judge said Fisher, 60, was entitled to royalties from May 2005, when he began court proceedings.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale," famous for its cryptic lyrics — "We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels 'cross the floor" — topped the British charts for five weeks in 1967 and was a Top 5 hit in the U.S.

Rolling Stone magazine has ranked it 57th in a list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Brooker says he and Reid wrote the song before Fisher joined the band in March 1967. It was released in May.

Fisher, now a computer programmer living in south London, left the band in 1969. Brooker, 61, still tours with Procol Harum.

In a statement, Brooker and Reid said Fisher's court victory created a dangerous precedent because it meant any musician who had played on any recording in the past 40 years could claim joint authorship.

"It is effectively open season on the songwriter," they said. "It will mean that unless all musicians' parts are written for them, no publisher or songwriter will be able to risk making a recording for fear of a possible claim of songwriting credit."

They intend to file an appeal.

Grammys to honor Doors, Grateful Dead

NEW YORK - The Doors, the Grateful Dead and Joan Baez are among the recording artists who will receive lifetime achievement Grammy Awards next year.

Other honorees include Maria Callas, Ornette Coleman, Bob Wills and Booker T. & The MG's, The Recording Academy announced Tuesday. The awards are decided by a vote of the group's national board of trustees.

"This year's group of accomplished honorees are as diverse as they are influential as creators of the most renowned and prominent recordings in the world," Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said in a statement.

"Their contributions exemplify the highest artistic and technical standards that have positively affected the music industry and music fans."

The statuettes will be handed out during a ceremony before the main Grammys are handed out at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 11. The 49th annual awards will air live on CBS, a division of CBS Corp.

Stax Records co-founder Estelle Axton, Grammy-winning composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and recording engineer Cosimo Matassa will receive the Trustees Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing category.

Sask. native magazine launched to counter 'negative' press

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations will publish a magazine about aboriginal issues, saying it wants to counter the often negative coverage in the mainstream press.

On Monday, the FSIN unveiled Saskatchewan Indian, a magazine that the federation's leader, Chief Lawrence Joseph, said would tell positive stories about the province's aboriginal people.

"Not to slam dunk the regular news media, but usually it's negative stories, who got into trouble, who went to jail, that kind of thing, who killed who, that type of thing," Joseph said.

"Now we're trying to complement those stories with our own stories."

In recent months, the FSIN has been critical of the way the news media has covered such stories as the turmoil at First Nations University of Canada, which has campuses in three Saskatchewan communities — Prince Albert Regina and Saskatoon — and the controversy over the Oyate safe house for teenage prostitutes in Regina.

The FSIN started the magazine in the early 1970s, but it ceased publication about 10 years ago.

Joseph said he decided to revive the paper to communicate better with his member nations.

There are many positive First Na