'Blade Runner' gets DVD makeover

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – How does Harrison Ford remember the making of Blade Runner?

“It was a bitch.”

That’s one of the observations fans can expect when Blade Runner: The Final Cut – including an exhaustive three-hour-plus documentary - arrives in December on DVD. Details of the project were revealed at this weekend’s Comic-Con entertainment expo.

Although it was a flop upon its release in 1982, the thriller, starring Ford as an executioner of next-gen androids called replicants, is now regarded as a pre-cyberpunk classic.

It’s also been revisited before.

In 1991, Scott issued a director’s cut that dropped the tacked-on voiceover narration and added a dream sequence that implies Ford’s hunter is himself a replicant.

By comparison, The Final Cut’s most significant changes are minor touch-ups – such as Joanna Cassidy re-shooting a few seconds of her death sequence because Scott felt it was too obviously a stunt double in the original version.

Did Scott ever consider going further, refurbishing his science-fiction masterpiece – much as George Lucas did with Star Wars - with digital effects?

“I don’t have that much money,” he laughs.

“But I wouldn’t dream of that.”

In geekspeak that means, yes, Deckard still shoots first.

The Final Cut will be available in three editions, including a five-disc set that comes in a futuristic briefcase and includes five different cuts of the movie (including a “work print” that’s become an online favourite of fans). There is also, as mentioned above, the documentary Dangerous Days, which recalls the film’s notoriously tumultuous production.

Given Blade Runner’s enduring popularity, though – and the fact Scott’s seemingly definitive cut is receiving a brief theatrical run in October in New York and Los Angeles - one assumes someone, somewhere, might be interested in revisiting the realm of the replicants.

Scott, surprisingly, says he’s not opposed to a Blade Runner 2, although he stresses nothing is planned.

“There could be a sequel, but I’m not going to say I’d do it.”

But if he did, how would it begin? Scott references one of the final lines in the movie, uttered by Edward James Olmos about the beautiful replicant (Sean Young) Ford has fallen for: “She won’t live, but who does?”

Furthermore, there is Scott’s conviction – although it’s not one shared by Ford – that Deckard is a replicant.

“So that’s a good place to start.”

New CD Releases, July 31: Korn, Common, Kidz Bop Kids

Korn "Untitled"

Having just launched the latest edition of the Family Values Tour, headliners Korn are now set to drop their eighth studio album, which they won't bother to name.

"We didn't want to label this album," Korn frontman Jonathan Davis said in a statement. "It has no boundaries; it has no limits and why not just let our fans call it whatever they wanna call it?"

Fans can do just that when Korn plays "Evolution" (the new album's first single) and other new tracks on the Family Values Tour. The tour, which was created by Korn and its management firm in 1998, returned to the stage last summer following a five-year hiatus. With a second stage added and more than 400,000 tickets sold, the tour's 2006 comeback marked its most successful run.

Besides Korn, this year's trek also features Evanescence, Atreyu, Flyleaf, Trivium and Hell Yeah, the new band comprising Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott and members of Mudvayne and Nothingface. Newcomers Nuerosonic and Droid will round out the bill. The tour kicked off last week in Maryland Heights, MO, and is currently set to conclude on Sept. 2 in Irvine, CA.

* * *
Common "Finding Forever"

The rap star, who is known for staying on the "positive tip" in his hip-hop music, returns with his seventh album. The multi-Grammy-nominated artist's last album was 2005's "Be," a Kanye West-produced set that delivered the hits "The Corner," "Go" and "Testify."

West once again lends his production talent to "Finding Forever," but there are also contributions in that realm from other superstars, notably Will.I.Am and the late J. Dilla. Musical guest stars on "Finding Forever" include vocalist D'Angelo.

* * *
Kidz Bop Kids "Kidz Bop, Vol. 12"

The popular children's music series turns 12. This time around, those wacky Kidz Bop Kids tackle 18 kid-friendly tunes, including "Makes Me Wonder" and "Girlfriend."

* * *
Sean Kingston "Sean Kingston"

This 17-year-old Jamaica native definitely has the right pedigree. His family roots include grandpa Jack Ruby (a great Jamaican producer) and uncle Buju Banton (Jamaican music star). Now, it's time to see just how closely Kingston follows in the family's footsteps as the singer delivers his self-titled full-length debut.

* * *
Puddle of Mudd "Famous"

After making fans wait, the heavy rockers are finally back with a follow-up to 2003's "Life on Display." "Famous" marks the band's debut on Geffen, having released its two previous albums--"Life on Display" and 2001's "Come Clean"--on Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's label, Flawless Records.

* * *
Other new releases:
David Bowie, "Glass Spider Tour" (Virgin)
Eric Dodge, "Why Not Today" (Racing Snail)
Five Finger Death Punch, "Way of the Fist" (Firm)
Mandisa, "True Beauty" (Sparrow)
Mario, "GO" (J-Records)
Jeff Kashiwa, "Play" (Native Language)
Elvis Presley, "Elvis: Viva Las Vegas" (RCA)
The Raspberries, "Live on Sunset Strip" (Rykodisc)
Josh Rouse, "Country Mouse City House" (Nettwerk)
The Starting Line, "Direction" (Virgin)
Al Stewart, "Live Indian Summer" (Collector's Choice)
Al Stewart, "24 Carrots" (Collector's Choice)
Al Stewart, "Love Chronicles" (Collector's Choice)
Various Artists, "Kneel at the Cross" (Sparrow)

Soundtracks and scores:
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Decca)
"Gears of War" (Sumthing Else)

Eagles Prepping New Studio Album, Tour

The Eagles are planning to take flight with a long-awaited new album and a tour. Guitarist Joe Walsh tells Billboard.com that the album -- the Eagles' first full-length studio set since "The Long Run" in 1979 -- is "almost out. We're just finishing vocals and mixing it. We're all finally signing off on it."

Walsh says that all of the band members -- himself, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Timothy B. Schmit -- wrote songs for the album, which he says "go in some really, really new, different directions. It's hard to compare to anything that I hear out there now." For his songs, however, Walsh "went rock'n’roll," including one "extended" track with "a middle full of guitar statement" and another that's "full-on rock'n'roll. I didn't want us to be too ballad-y here. We need some stuff we can play live, so I made sure there was that element in the record."

Walsh says the band, which took this year off the road to hunker down on the album, plans to tour extensively in 2008.

The guitarist is hardly sitting at home, however. Though he's put the James Gang on ice until he has more time to dedicate to it, he's playing 13 solo shows in the next month, beginning tonight (July 31) in Saratoga, Calif. Walsh has recruited a band of well-credentialed young players such as Gia Ciambotti (Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams) and Drew Hester (Lisa Marie Presley, Foo Fighters), who he says "are really kicking me in the pants."

"I love the energy and the attitude of a younger band, especially on stage," Walsh says. "I'm less cautious and less ... professional, I guess. I just like to rock'n'roll, and they're making me want to do it more."

Walsh adds that he's jonesing a bit to do some solo recording again but, not surprisingly, says, "I don't think I would cancel being an Eagle and resurface with a solo career. I love being in the Eagles, and we're not really done yet."

Broadcaster Tom Snyder dies at 71

SAN FRANCISCO - Tom Snyder, who pioneered the late-late network TV talk show with a personal yet abrasive style, robust laugh and trademark cloud of cigarette smoke billowing around his head, has died from complications associated with leukemia. He was 71.

Snyder died Sunday in San Francisco, his longtime producer and friend Mike Horowicz told The Associated Press on Monday.

"Tom was a fighter," Horowicz said. "I know he had tried many different treatments."

Prickly and ego-driven, Snyder conducted numerous memorable interviews as host of NBC's "Tomorrow," which followed Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show from 1973 to '82.

Snyder's style, his show's set and the show itself marked an abrupt change at 1 a.m. from Carson's program. Snyder might joke with the crew in the sparsely appointed studio, but he was more likely to joust with guests such as the irascible science fiction writer Harlan Ellison.

Snyder had John Lennon's final televised interview (April 1975) and U2's first U.S. television appearance in June 1981.

One of his most riveting interviews was with Charles Manson, who would go from a calm demeanor to acting like a wild-eyed, insanity-spouting mass murderer and back again.

Another wacky moment came when Plasmatics lead singer Wendy O. Williams blew up a TV in the studio; in another appearance she demolished a car. Yet another time, Johnny Rotten decided he really wasn't in the mood to be on a talk show, leading to an excruciating 12 minutes of airtime.

In 1982, the show was canceled after a messy attempt to reformat it into a talk-variety show called "Tomorrow Coast to Coast." It added a live audience and co-hostess Rona Barrett — all of which Snyder disdained.

The time slot was taken over by a hot young comedian named David Letterman.

Born in Milwaukee, Snyder began his career as a radio reporter in his home town in the 1960s, then moved into local television news, anchoring newscasts in Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles before moving to late night.

"He loved the broadcast business," said Marciarose Shestack, who co-anchored a noontime newscast with Snyder at KYW-TV in Philadelphia in the 1960s. "He was very surprising and very irreverent and not at all a typical newscaster."

Al Primo, a former TV news director who gave Snyder one of his first TV jobs, said Snyder was the "ultimate communicator," able to look directly into a camera and tell viewers a story without looking at notes.

As an interviewer, Snyder "always used to tell me, I listen to what they're saying and I ask the questions that the average guy would want to ask, not a formulated question," Primo said.

He returned to local anchoring in New York after "Tomorrow" left the air. He eventually hosted an ABC radio talk show before easing back into television on CNBC.

His catch phrase: "Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."

Letterman, a longtime Snyder admirer, brought him back to network television, creating "The Late Late Show" on CBS to follow his own program. (Subsequently, the format and hosts have changed, with Craig Kilborn and now Craig Ferguson.)

Snyder gained fame in his heyday when Dan Aykroyd spoofed him in the early days of "Saturday Night Live." His chain-smoking, black beetle brows (contrasting with his mostly gray hair), mercurial manner and self-indulgent, digressive way of asking questions as well as his clipped speech pattern made for a distinctive sendup.

Briefly in the late 1970s, Snyder was considered a potential successor to John Chancellor as anchor of the "NBC Nightly News." Tom Brokaw got the job instead, as some in NBC management were worried that Snyder's quick and occasionally sharp tongue would get them in trouble, said Joe Angotti, who produced NBC's weekend news then.

"There was a friendly but intense competition between the two of them," Angotti said.

Snyder announced on his Web site in 2005 that he had chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Filmmaker Ingmar Bergman dies at 89

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, an iconoclastic filmmaker widely regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema, died Monday, the president of his foundation said. He was 89.

"It's an unbelievable loss for Sweden, but even more so internationally," Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, which administers the directors' archives, told The Associated Press.

Bergman died at his home in Faro, Sweden, Swedish news agency TT said, citing his daughter Eva Bergman. A cause of death was not immediately available.

Through more than 50 films, Bergman's vision encompassed all the extremes of his beloved Sweden: the claustrophobic gloom of unending winter nights, the gentle merriment of glowing summer evenings and the bleak magnificence of the island where he spent his last years.

Bergman, who approached difficult subjects such as plague and madness with inventive technique and carefully honed writing, became one of the towering figures of serious filmmaking.

He was "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera," Woody Allen said in a 70th birthday tribute in 1988.

Bergman first gained international attention with 1955's "Smiles of a Summer Night," a romantic comedy that inspired the Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music."

"The Seventh Seal," released in 1957, riveted critics and audiences. An allegorical tale of the medieval Black Plague years, it contains one of cinema's most famous scenes — a knight playing chess with the shrouded figure of Death.

"I was terribly scared of death," Bergman said of his state of mind when making the film, which was nominated for an Academy Award in the best picture category.

The film distilled the essence of Bergman's work — high seriousness, flashes of unexpected humor and striking images.

In a 2004 interview with Swedish broadcaster SVT, the reclusive filmmaker acknowledged that he was reluctant to view his work.

"I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry ... and miserable. I think it's awful," Bergman said.

Though best known internationally for his films, Bergman also was a prominent stage director. He worked at several playhouses in Sweden from the mid-1940s, including the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm, which he headed from 1963 to 1966. He staged many plays by the Swedish author August Strindberg, whom he cited as an inspiration.

The influence of Strindberg's grueling and precise psychological dissections could be seen in the production that brought Bergman an even-wider audience: 1973's "Scenes From a Marriage." First produced as a six-part series for television, then released in a theater version, it is an intense detailing of the disintegration of a marriage.

Bergman showed his lighter side in the following year's "The Magic Flute," again first produced for TV. It is a fairly straight production of the Mozart opera, enlivened by touches such as repeatedly showing the face of a young girl watching the opera and comically clumsy props and costumes.

Bergman remained active later in life with stage productions and occasional TV shows. He said he still felt a need to direct, although he had no plans to make another feature film.

In the fall of 2002, Bergman, at age 84, started production on "Saraband," a 120-minute television movie based on the two main characters in "Scenes From a Marriage."

In a rare news conference, the reclusive director said he wrote the story after realizing he was "pregnant with a play."

"At first I felt sick, very sick. It was strange. Like Abraham and Sarah, who suddenly realized she was pregnant," he said, referring to biblical characters. "It was lots of fun, suddenly to feel this urge returning."

The son of a Lutheran clergyman and a housewife, Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala on July 14, 1918, and grew up with a brother and sister in a household of severe discipline that he described in painful detail in the autobiography "The Magic Lantern."

The title comes from his childhood, when his brother got a "magic lantern" — a precursor of the slide-projector — for Christmas. Ingmar was consumed with jealousy, and he managed to acquire the object of his desire by trading it for a hundred tin soldiers.

The apparatus was a spot of joy in an often-cruel young life. Bergman recounted the horror of being locked in a closet and the humiliation of being made to wear a skirt as punishment for wetting his pants.

He broke with his parents at 19 and remained aloof from them, but later in life sought to understand them. The story of their lives was told in the television film "Sunday's Child," directed by his own son Daniel.

Young Ingmar found his love for drama production early in life. The director said he had coped with the authoritarian environment of his childhood by living in a world of fantasies. When he first saw a movie he was greatly moved.

"Sixty years have passed, nothing has changed, it's still the same fever," he wrote of his passion for film in the 1987 autobiography.

But he said the escape into another world went so far that it took him years to tell reality from fantasy, and Bergman repeatedly described his life as a constant fight against demons, also reflected in his work.

The demons sometimes drove him to great art — as in "Cries and Whispers," the deathbed drama that climaxes when the dying woman cries "I am dead, but I can't leave you." Sometimes they drove him over the top, as in "Hour of the Wolf," where a nightmare-plagued artist meets real-life demons on a lonely island.

Bergman also waged a fight against real-life tormentors: Sweden's powerful tax authorities.

In 1976, during a rehearsal at the Royal Dramatic Theater, police came to take Bergman away for interrogation about tax evasion. The director, who had left all finances to be handled by a lawyer, was questioned for hours while his home was searched. When released, he was forbidden to leave the country.

The case caused an enormous uproar in the media and Bergman had a mental breakdown that sent him to hospital for over a month. He later was absolved of all accusations and in the end only had to pay some extra taxes.

In his autobiography he admitted to guilt in only one aspect: "I signed papers that I didn't read, even less understood."

The experience made him go into voluntary exile in Germany, to the embarrassment of the Swedish authorities. After nine years, he returned to Stockholm, his longtime base.

It was in the Swedish capital that Bergman broke into the world of drama, starting with a menial job at the Royal Opera House after dropping out of college.

Bergman was hired by the script department of Swedish Film Industry, the country's main production company, as an assistant script writer in 1942.

In 1944, his first original screenplay was filmed by Alf Sjoeberg, the dominant Swedish film director of the time. "Torment" won several awards including the Grand Prize of the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, and soon Bergman was directing an average of two films a year as well as working with stage production.

After the acclaimed "The Seventh Seal," he quickly came up with another success in "Wild Strawberries," in which an elderly professor's car trip to pick up an award is interspersed with dreams.

Other noted films include "Persona," about an actress and her nurse whose identities seem to merge, and "The Autumn Sonata," about a concert pianist and her two daughters, one severely handicapped and the other burdened by her child's drowning.

The date of the funeral has not yet been set, but will be attended by a close group of friends and family, the TT news agency reported.

Etheridge Sending A 'Message' On New Album

Melissa Etheridge's first album in more than three years will arrive in the fall. Due Sept. 25 via Island, "The Awakening" is led by the single Message to Myself," which goes to U.S. radio outlets on Monday (July 30).

Etheridge has conquered breast cancer since the release of 2004's "Lucky," an experience that has informed the lyrics for the new album.

"When I was on chemotherapy, I listened to all my albums back to back," she told Billboard earlier this year. "It was therapy for me. I realized what I had been saying to myself in my music -- the things that I would put down that I wouldn't think consciously, but I would think subconsciously. When I started creating this album I asked myself, 'What [would happen] if I create from a subconscious level consciously?' There are very personal things on the album, including one of the greatest love songs I have ever written. These songs are 100% truthful about me and how I am feeling."

Among the other tracks earmarked to appear are "Threesome," "The Universe Listened," "I've Loved You Before," "An Unexpected Rain" and "California."

"The Awakening" began taking shape around the time Etheridge won the best original song Oscar in February for "I Need To Wake Up," from Al Gore's environmental documentary "I Need To Wake Up."

"I was recording ... in between rehearsing for the Oscars. So I would record for seven hours, go and rehearse for the Oscars, and then come back and record," she said. "When I won the Oscar, it was a huge honor. It was like a sign saying, 'You're doing the right thing.'"

Actress McKellar: Smarts, looks add up

NEW YORK - Danica McKellar has a message for girls: Cute and smart is better than cute and dumb.

McKellar, who played Winnie on the 1990s television show "The Wonder Years," is coming out with a book, "Math Doesn't Suck," to encourage girls to get into math.

"When girls see the antics of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, they think that being fun and glamorous also means being dumb and irresponsible," the 32-year-old McKellar told Newsweek for editions to hit newsstands Monday.

"But I want to show them that being smart is cool," she said. "Being good at math is cool. And not only that, it can help them get what they want out of life."

McKellar should know. The actress once struggled with the subject around the seventh grade, but a teacher helped her through. McKellar eventually majored in math in college.

The book includes tips to avoid mistakes on homework, ways to overcome test-day anxiety and profiles of three beautiful mathematicians.

"I want to tell girls that cute and dumb isn't as good as cute and smart," she said.

'Colbert Report' to get best-of DVD

NEW YORK - Stephen Colbert's legacy has been preserved in self-portraits, a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor and an Ontario Hockey League mascot named Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle. Now, the satirist is getting a DVD.

Highlights from the first two years of "The Colbert Report" will be compiled for a single-disc DVD to be released Nov. 6, Comedy Central told The Associated Press. An official announcement of the DVD will be made Monday.

"The Best of 'The Colbert Report'" will include sketches from segments such as "The Word," "Better Know a District," "Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger" and "Threat Down." Celebrity interviews will also be featured.

"The Colbert Report," a spin-off of "The Daily Show," first aired in Oct. 2005. It was recently nominated for four Emmy Awards, including variety, music or comedy series, and individual performance in a variety or music program.

'The Simpsons Movie' earns big Doh!

LOS ANGELES - Woo Hoo! "The Simpsons Movie" turned doughnuts into dollars over the weekend, raking in $71.9 million to debut as the top movie this week.

The big screen tale of the lovable, if dysfunctional, family rolled over the competition, sending last week's top movie, Universal Studio's "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," into second place with $19 million, a 44 percent drop.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," from Warner Bros., fell to third place with $17.1 million, a 48 percent drop from last week. The film has grossed $242 million domestically after three weeks in theaters.

"Homer's odyssey paid off," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

The film, which featured the antics of yellow-hued Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and a host of motley characters, grossed an average of $18,320 on 3,922 screens across the country and also opened strongly in 70 foreign markets.

"We are ecstatic," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox. "It far exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations."

The hand-drawn movie had the fifth best opening weekend of the year, beating such notable contenders as "Transformers," from Paramount, "Ghost Rider," from Sony Pictures and the computer-animated "Ratatouille," from The Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios.

"It's unprecedented to have the longest-running sitcom of all time still on the air and have it also be the number one movie in theaters," Dergarabedian said.

Dergarabedian praised the film's marketing campaign, which included dressing a number of 7-Eleven stores around the country as Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores selling such Simpsons' favorites as Buzz Cola and Squishees.

The debut was good news for Fox, which also has done well this year with top-grossing films "Live Free or Die Hard" and "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."

The long-awaited film version of the Fox Television show played well across the country and with all age brackets, Fox said Sunday, giving the distributor hope that it will hold its own against next week's big opener, "The Bourne Ultimatum," from Universal.

The stellar debut of "The Simpsons Movie" helped propel the summer box office take. This week's top-12 films grossed $168.6 million, up a whopping 45 percent from the top 12 last year, which included "Miami Vice" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

The weekend's other debuts made the top 10, but lagged far behind "The Simpsons Movie."

"No Reservations," the Warner Bros. romantic comedy starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a gourmet chef, earned $11.8 million.

"I Know Who Killed Me," a Sony Pictures/Tri-Star thriller starring Lindsay Lohan, debuted in 9th place with a paltry $3.4 million.

"Who's Your Caddy," from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, grossed $2.9 million.

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 Monday.

1. "The Simpsons Movie," $71.9 million.
2. "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," $19.1 million.
3. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $17.1 million.
4. "Hairspray," $15.6 million.
5. "No Reservations," $11.8 million.
6. "Transformers," $11.5 million.
7. "Ratatouille," $7.2 million.
8. "Live Free or Die Hard," $5.4 million.
9. "I Know Who Killed Me," $3.4 million.
10. "Who's Your Caddy," $2.9 million.

The Couch Potato Report - July 28th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels a number and an underdog, plus we see Iraq…in fragments.

If there is a number that corresponds to someone or something meaningful in your life, you probably see it everywhere.

For instance...that number for me is 333.

In the early nineties I worked at a music store that was located at 333 Yonge Street and to this day I see that number everywhere - on licence plates, buildings, t-shirts...and I even somehow always seem to look at the clock at 3:33, both am and pm.

Luckily the number doesn't haunt me, follow me around, or show up right before bad things are going to happen...like the number 23 does to Jim Carrey in the film THE NUMBER 23.

And that number does haunt him in the film.

In this film Carrey plays a man named Walter Sparrow. Even though he might get bored with his life from time to time, he is a character who seems happy with his normal life with his wife and son.

And then...one night while she is waiting for him...his wife introduces him to a book called "The Number 23".

As he reads the book, he notices eerie resemblances to his own life, including similarities to his own family, and he becomes obsessed with the number 23.

As Carrey reads along, he goes deeper and deeper into madness as he thinks that he must solve a murder which can only be done by unlocking the secrets of the book.

THE NUMBER 23 is a film that has many interesting moments - specifically when it shows us how often the number 23 comes up in everyday life - but ultimately it just isn't worth your time.

The great Canadian Jim Carrey once again stars from the LIAR LIAR, BRUCE ALMIGHTY and ACE VENTURA comedic roles we all love him in to play the serious lead in the film.

And while his serious work in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and THE TRUMAN SHOW was superb, in THE NUMBER 23 he is just the wrong man for the job.

His performance isn't awful...but he just isn't believeable as this character.

THE NUMBER 23 isn't a complete waste of your time...but it is very, very close.

I also fear that a film opening in theatres on August 3rd will also be very, very close to being a waste of our time...but I remain optimistic.

That film?...a live action version of the classic cartoon - UNDERDOG!

Underdog was a cartoon that began in 1964 and ran throughout the seventies on Saturday mornings.

The premise is that the "humble and lovable" Shoeshine Boy is in truth the superhero Underdog, who ducks into a telephone booth when he needs to be transformed into the caped and costumed hero, not unlike a certain super man.

In THE UNDERDOG SHOW there is a great hero, plenty of nasty villains, and it is always engaging to the ear as Underdog almost always speaks in rhymes.

If you even needed to find me at this time on a Saturday morning, thirty-some-odd years ago, you could just look in front of the TV because that is where I was - with my bowl of cereal - enjoying UNDERDOG.

And now the classic cartoon UNDERDOG returns to DVD, in advance of the impending theatrical film, with three new releases...Volumes One, Two and Three of THE CLASSIC UNDERDOG COLLECTION!!

The difference between these UNDERDOG releases and some of the other ones that have come out over the years is the fact that these DVDs have the complete Underdog stories, AND the cartoon shorts that originally aired with them.

Yes, Tennessee Tuxedo, Klondike Kat, Go Go Gophers and The World of Commander McBragg and all of the other characters are all here too!!

It might be thirty-some-odd years since I first saw Underdog on TV...but I had a wonderful time watching the THE CLASSIC UNDERDOG COLLECTION this past week.

I even had a bowl of cereal...or two.

Good times, good memories, good good good!

Here's hoping the live-action theatrical movie - which I will see - is half as good!

Okay, finally this week, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues.

This summer, while the big summer blockbusters roll out in theatres, I am telling you about at least one foreign film each week, in case you'd like something less commercial to watch.

And there is nothing commercial about the documentary IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS.

This film introduces us to three different individuals - and the people around them - and it shows how their lives are now, after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Many of them can't understand why things aren't any better, and some of them would even prefer to have things the way they were.

The thing that IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS does best is provide us a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary Iraqis.

The people we meet talk at length about school, work, their families, their hobbies, and much more.

While some people might find the amount of details and stories irrelevant, I was engaged from start to finish during this 94 minute film.

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS is filled with unique faces and places, and for the first time we get to see extended stories about how the youth in Iraq is dealing with life there.

It is an exceptionally interesting documentary and this week's title in our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD.

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS, Volumes One to Three of the always entertaining CLASSIC UNDERDOG COLLECTION, and Canadian JIm Carrey's new film THE NUMBER 23 are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

JEAN-PHILIPPE is one of the best films I have seen this year, it is about Fabrice, a man who has to coinvince his favourite singer, a man who is running a bowling alley, that he is - in reality - a music superstar.

Also next week, I will talk about the hilarious British movie HOT FUZZ, from the makers of SHAUN OF THE DEAD; the epic action film 300 - based on Frank Miller's graphic novel; the classic MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA; and our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the animated action film RENAISSANCE from France.

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

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Sex Pistols' first album, classic singles to be rereleased

Virgin Records plans to mark the 30th anniversary of The Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks…Here's the Sex Pistols with a rerelease of the album and their four classic singles.

The British band helped shape the punk scene of the late 1970s with their then-shocking songs about anarchy, violence and apathy.

Both the album and their classic singles — Anarchy in the U.K., God Save the Queen, Pretty Vacant and Holidays in the Sun — will be rereleased on seven-inch vinyl.

The paper sleeves will have reproductions of Jamie Reid's original artwork and the album will include the same poster issued with the original Never Mind the Bollocks in 1977.

Never Mind the Bollocks will include Submission, a track left off the original album when it was mistakenly released a week earlier than planned.

God Save the Queen, with John Lydon, who would later perform under the name Johnny Rotten, on vocals, was banned by the BBC.

The band broke up after only two years.

The singles will be released throughout October and Never Mind the Bollocks on Oct. 29.

Fall Out Boy Keeping New Songs To Themselves

Though its latest album, "Infinity on High," is barely six months old, Fall Out Boy is already sitting on a batch of new songs. "I've got a bunch of songs written, but I think I'm going to wait a while before we release it, because I'm still really proud of this record and I want to kind of give it some space," lead singer Patrick Stump told Billboard.com yesterday (July 26) at a New York luncheon honoring industry legend Clive Davis.

Stump says Fall Out Boy will continue to push the envelope with its sound, a pursuit inspired by comments made by Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong years ago.

"He [said he] didn't want to play four-chord punk rock for the rest of his life," Stump recalls. "If anybody knows anything about punk rock more than Billie Joe from Green Day, I don't know who it is. So I looked at that and their growth, and I think about how honest that is. They're really just true to what they are, and so that's how we are. I think we'll change stylistically, but at the end of the day, that's just something you wear. You're still yourself."

Fall Out Boy just returned from playing its first show in South Africa, where it also shot a video for the new single "I'm Like a Lawyer With the Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)." In addition, Stump is producing the new album from Cobra Starship before Fall Out Boy returns to the road for shows in Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom and Russia.

"These are all our friends and that's why we do it," Stump says of collaborations with Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes. "There have definitely been opportunities for the [band's Fueled by Ramen] label to take on really big bands, but in general the cadence has been built on our friends."

Nimoy to reprise Spock role in Trek film!!

SAN DIEGO - Leonard Nimoy isn't through with Spock yet. The 76-year-old actor will don his famous pointy ears again to play the role in an upcoming "Star Trek" film due out Christmas 2008.

"This is really going to be a great movie. And I don't say things like that lightly," Nimoy told a gathering of 6,500 fans Thursday at Comic-Con, the nation's largest pop-culture convention.

He greeted the crowd with a Vulcan salute.

Nimoy was joined by the newly named young Spock, "Heroes" star Zachary Quinto, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nimoy.

Both Spocks were introduced by the film's director and co-producer, J.J. Abrams.

"This is a series I loved as a kid," Abrams said, acknowledging that he was "more of a 'Star Wars' kid than a 'Star Trek' kid."

"This matters so much to so many people," he said. "I'm honored to be here and do this."

While the character of Captain Kirk has yet to be cast, Abrams said that William Shatner, who played the role in the original TV series, would likely also have a part in the film.

"It has to be worthy, of him and of you," Abrams told fans, adding that production is slated to begin in November.

One fan asked Nimoy what he thought of his "replacement."

"It was logical," the actor said dryly. He then closed with Spock's classic line: "Live long and prosper."

'Watchmen' cast leaks out

An official announcement will come at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, but the cast for Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" film appears to be in place.

Confirming a slew of casting rumors that have been flooding the Internet for weeks, the industry trades are saying that the long-awaited adaptation of the DC Comics classic will star Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Malin Akerman.

The struggle to bring Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 1986-1987 limited run comic to the screen as been well documented. The story is set in an alternative version of 1985 in which the United States is on the verge of nuclear war with the Soviet Union and somebody is killing former costumed heroes, crimefighters forced underground by the fearful powers that be.

Haley, a recent Oscar nominee for "Little Children," plays Rorschach, a psychologically damaged, unhinged vigilante.

Wilson, Haley's "Little Children" co-star, plays the second Nite Owl, a bird expert and inventor.

Beloved as Denny from "Grey's Anatomy," Morgan will play the Comedian, a cynical vigilante who became a mercenary in Vietnam.

Crudup ("Almost Famous"), a recent Tony winner, is Dr. Manhattan, the only true superhero in the group, who becomes a nearly all-powerful blue being after a lab accident.

Ackerman ("Entourage") will be Laurie Juspeczyk, the second Silk Spectre. Stuck in an unfulfilling relationship with Dr. Manhattan, Laurie looks for love elsewhere.

Last, but not least, we have Goode ("The Lookout," "Match Point") as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, a fabulously wealthy former adventurer.

"Watchmen" has an undeniably epic scale, which may have led to some budget tightening on above-the-line talent. Higher priced and profile actors including Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves and Jude Law were linking to various roles, but only as rumors.

Snyder will begin production on "Watchmen" in Vancouver this fall.

The film will be featured as part of the Warner Bros. Friday Comic-Con presentation, with the cast possibly in attendance.

Mitchell partners with Starbucks

NEW YORK (AP) - Joni Mitchell is following the lead of Paul McCartney in joining with the coffee giant Starbucks to release her comeback album.

Hear Music, a record label formed in partnership with Starbucks Corp. and the Concord Music Group, said Wednesday that Mitchell is its second signing. "Shine," her first album of new compositions since 1998, will be released on Sept. 25.

McCartney's album "Memory Almost Full" came out last month and was played relentlessly at Starbucks franchises, where listeners could purchase it with their coffee. The disc has sold 447,000 copies, 45 per cent of them in Starbucks stores, the company said.

The new venture has attracted interest from veteran artists both because the music business is collapsing around them, and their fans are much more likely to be spending time in Starbucks these days than in music stores.

Mitchell worked with Hear Music two years ago as it released a disc of favourite Mitchell songs selected by various artists. She had essentially retired from making music and said this project was one of the things that rekindled her interest, said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment.

Mitchell wrote nine of the 10 songs on "Shine," the exception being an adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling poem "If."

She described it as "as serious a work as I've ever done" with some dark lyrics.

Earlier this year, Mitchell was co-director of "The Fiddle and the Drum," a ballet based on her music that debuted in Canada. She's also planning an exhibit of her paintings in New York this fall.

Hear Music expects to sign one more artist this year and eight in 2008, and is looking for a mixture of new and established artists, Lombard said.

One role model for a veteran artist adapting to rapidly changing times, Prince, recently gave away thousands of copies of his CD through a newspaper in England. Lombard said not to expect a Mitchell album offered for free to customers who buy a frozen latte.

Turncoat Michael returning to 'Lost'

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Turncoat Michael is making a "Lost" `comeback. Harold Perrineau, who plays the character last seen betraying his fellow crash survivors to save himself and his son, will return to the show next season.

ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson didn't offer any details Wednesday of what's in store for Michael. He also didn't say whether Walt, the son played by Malcolm David Kelley, will be seen again.

The pair fled the mysterious island where the crash victims were struggling to survive against the dangerous "Others," with desperate Michael turning over his friends in exchange for escape.

The network had planned to make the "Lost" announcement at Comic-Con International, the comic book and pop-culture show starting Thursday in San Diego. But McPherson, speaking to a meeting of the Television Critics Association, was pressed for the information.

McPherson initially balked at talking, instead joking about what the announcement might be.

"I've cast Don Imus on `Lost,'" McPherson quipped.

Earlier this year, ABC said will run for three more seasons, concluding in 2009-10. The series will return for its fourth season in January.

Singer Mindy McCready taken into custody

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Country singer Mindy McCready was taken into custody Wednesday at Nashville International Airport as she returned to Tennessee, accused of violating her probation, officials said.

McCready, 31, was arrested last week in Fort Myers, Fla., her hometown, on misdemeanor charges that she scratched her mother on the face during a scuffle and resisted sheriff's deputies.

Deputy District Attorney General Derek Smith told The Tennessean that she violated probation in three ways: by being charged in a new offense; not reporting those charges immediately to her probation officer; and by the nature of the new assault charges.

An official at the Williamson County sheriff's office just south of Nashville said McCready was being booked Wednesday night.

McCready's previous attorney, Lee Dryer, did not immediately return calls to his office on Wednesday after business hours, though information from the Williamson County Court Clerk showed Dryer had withdrawn as her lawyer. It was not yet known if she had a new attorney.

She was on probation for obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy in 2004. Still pending was another probation violation charge resulting from a drunken driving arrest in May 2005.

McCready had a hit in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time," but has struggled in recent years amid personal problems. Her album "Ten Thousand Angels" sold 2 million copies that year.

The singer was found not guilty of the DUI charge in July 2006 but guilty of driving on a suspended license. She then pleaded guilty to violating her probation but has petitioned to withdraw that plea.

"Chuck and Larry" overtakes "Potter" at box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Adam Sandler's faux gay comedy, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," charmed moviegoers, who spent $34.8 million at weekend movie box offices, sweeping "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" from the No. 1 spot, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

"Potter," the fifth film based on the blockbuster fantasy book series that saw its seventh and final novel debut this weekend, had a weekend box office sweep of $32.2 million.

"Hairspray," the movie musical starring a cross-dressing John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer as a racist and a chubby singer as its star, brought in $27.8 million to land at No. 3.

HOMER GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

To say that “The Simpsons Movie” has been a long time coming is like saying Homer is a bit full-figured or principal Skinner has a few mommy issues. Severe understatement.

In the years between when the film was first proposed and when it finally made it to the big screen, baby Maggie could have grown nearly old enough to get legally Duff-faced at Moe’s.

The film finally - finally - hits screens Friday, but its genesis actually goes back to the early days of the series, which enters its 19th season this fall and is celebrating 20 years since it debuted on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987.

“When I heard they were making a movie, I felt like a lot of people. I thought, what took them so long?” says Joe Mantegna, who voices gangster “Fat Tony” in the movie and TV series. “I was surprised they hadn’t done one sooner, because they’ve made movies of lesser things a lot sooner. I kept hearing, ‘It’s coming out next month, next week, next year.’ There’s been a buzz about it for a long time.”

Assembling the resources for a full-length feature proved to be the holdup.

“In the early years of the show, a movie was talked about in an offhand way. Really, we didn’t have enough writers and directors to do a show and the film simultaneously. We only had eight writers and five directors,” says Al Jean, one of the film’s writers, who’s been with the series since its beginning.

“We were all busy on the show,” says writer David Mirkin, who joined the show in its fifth season. “It takes a year and a half to do one season of the show. It takes nine months to do one episode. We’re literally working on two seasons at once, with no time off.

There always were just a handful of people who really knew how to write the show, and there were never enough of us to peel off and do the film.”

Then, six years ago, the pieces - and more important, the legal contracts - to get a movie made fell into place.

“We accumulated more [staff] over the years, and in 2001, when the cast signed a deal to do the new seasons, they also signed a deal to do a film,” Jean says.

With the cast in place, series executive producer and guiding force James L. Brooks - a veteran of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Taxi” - began assembling writers to hammer out the script. And those he picked have fans - even lapsed ones who haven’t watched the show in a few seasons - as excited as Ralph Wiggum after 11 Pixy Stix.

“When Jim finally decided [to move forward with the film], he chose the classic writers, the show runners, and that’s how the team came to be. It was Jim’s vision that it be this group who are considered the key Writers,” Mirkin says.

If you’ve been watching the show for any length of time, the names should be familiar. In addition to Jean and Mirkin, Brooks tapped John Swartzwelder (who holds the writing record for most episodes of the series at nearly 60), Ian Maxtone- Graham, George Meyer, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman and Jon Vitti.

The group commenced writing in November 2003 - and alarmingly enough, were making changes up until just a few weeks ago. The script went through at least 100 revisions over the years. Scenes, even those that had been fully animated, were cut and reworked, and Jean estimates that enough for an entire film was left on the cutting-room floor. Look for some of it on the DVD.

But the forces behind the film are adamant that you shouldn’t wait for the DVD. They insist “The Simpsons Movie” is a cinematic experience that differs from the TV show.

“We’re trying to tell a story that’s emotionally involving for 90 minutes, that compels you to not just sit there and laugh, but to care about what happens for the full length of a movie - as they do in a Pixar film or a great Disney film,” Jean says. “It’s also in wide-screen format. We tried to be more ambitious in the directing, in the use of color and shadow.”

Plus, you reportedly get to see Bart’s wee-wee. “I can’t confirm or deny that,” says Nancy Cartwright, who voices the oldest Simpson child.

There’s not much else anyone can confirm or deny about the movie, because the producers have been incredibly secretive about plot details, giving guest stars only their relevant script pages (with the star’s name plastered on every page, to prevent leaking) and booking recording sessions under a fake movie title.

What we do know is that the plot centers around Homer’s biggest d’oh moment yet. He poisons Springfield with a silo full of pig droppings, incurring the wrath of his family, the town - and president Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yep.

“I think the movie will be successful. It’ll be interesting to see,” says Albert Brooks, who has done frequent guest voices over the years and has a role in the movie. “I think if they can pull this off, it’ll be considered an amazing achievement. There’s all these people with preconceived notions of, oh, what’s it gonna be? Is it too late? Is it the right time? You’re getting a lot of people walking in with something they think they should be seeing.

“Listen, that’s one of the pitfalls of being the most successful animated series in the history of the world.”

Everyone's talking Potter; last book out

NEW YORK - The books are out; the word is spreading. "The last Potter is amazing. It has definitely gone way beyond what I expected," Deb Kiehlmeier, 16, of the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, N.J., says of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which was released Saturday to worldwide ecstasy.

"Harry Potter fans are always trying to predict what will happen next, and J.K. Rowling always gives them something different," Kiehlmeier, who had completed the book 759-page book by late Saturday afternoon, told The Associated Press.

On Day 1 of the A.H. (After Harry) Era, reviewers and readers mourned the end of a historic series that proved young people can still crave the written word like the crispiest French fry. It was a day for the sleepless and the sleepy to enjoy and to recall one last, fresh taste of Potter.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune were among those bowing before Rowling's achievement. She was compared to the greats of children's and fantasy authors — J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Roald Dahl — and held in awe for living up to the most intimidating standards.

"To create such an extraordinary world, fill it with complicated characters and convergent back stories is beyond the reach of most writers," wrote the Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara.

"To sustain that world and grow those characters over seven books filled with plot twists, folklore and even a magical curriculum and then bring it all to an articulate, emotionally wrenching conclusion — that is a truly epic quest."

The AP's Deepti Hajela called the seventh and final Potter a "classic," writing that Rowling "completes her entertaining, compulsively readable series with a book that is both heartbreaking and hopeful, one that left this reader sad to say goodbye to Harry but thoroughly satisfied at how it all went."

Some readers, ironically, were tougher than the critics, especially about the 759-page book's brief epilogue. One reader on the Potter fan site http://www.mugglenet.com even suggested skipping the last chapter, or at least getting to it later so the rest of the book could be thoroughly enjoyed first.

For those who can't wait to find out whether Harry lives, Potter fan Julie Neal advises patience. In a customer review on Amazon.com, she writes, "Regardless of the temptation, don't skip to the end. It doesn't work. The answers to all those key questions everyone wants to know unfold throughout the story."

Potter is a pastime and a business. Before the release date, booksellers competed worldwide to sell the $34.99 book, with some cutting the price by two-thirds. Now, the re-sales are starting. On Amazon.com, some individuals were hawking used copies, and some new ones, for as little as $16, $1.99 less than Amazon's price. On eBay, where just a few days ago a pre-release copy was worth $250, "Deathly Hallows" was offered Saturday for immediate purchase for $10.99.

The first six Potter books have sold more than 325 million copies, and in some places demand for "Deathly Hallows" is already exceeding supply. Taylor Books, an independent book store in Charleston, W.Va., quickly sold out of the 100 copies of the book it had put on sale.

Employee Dane Klingaman said Saturday that customers had been asking for the book all morning, but that only 12 copies that had been specially ordered remained.

"I've had to turn people away," he said.

Seven of the top 10 best sellers on Amazon.com were Potter books Saturday, including a box set of the whole series coming out in September with a list price of $195. The British retailer Asda Group Ltd., which discounted "Deathly Hallows" to $10, said Saturday it had sold 450,000 copies of the book between midnight and 4 p.m. and was selling it twice as fast as the previous Potter. Waterstone's, a British bookstore chain, said that at the height of the overnight sales frenzy, staff members were serving 20 customers a second.

Even people in war zones are reading Harry Potter. About 50 foreigners working in Afghanistan got their hands on a copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on its release date, beating many of their friends back home.

"I sent several text messages to friends and none of them had it yet, and they all said 'I can't believe you're in Kabul and you got the book before us,'" said U.N. worker Jayne Cravens, 41, of Henderson, Ky.

John Connolly, an executive with Paxton International, a logistics and moving company, bought 50 copies of the book in Dubai at 3:01 a.m. Saturday, the exact time of the book's release in London. He boarded a plane to Kabul a couple hours later with the books on board.

"Harry Potter is released worldwide at the same time. As a logistics company based in Afghanistan for five years, we saw every reason to include Afghanistan," said Connolly, who asked customers to donate a book to the American University in Kabul in exchange for the free shipping on the book. "It was not on the publisher's list, that's for sure."

The Couch Potato Report - July 21st, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels four films that might entertain you on a hot summer night and documentary about coffee.

As I am sure you know, it is summer.

This is the time of year when many of us spend most of our leisure time outside in the sun having fun.

The folks at most of the movie studios know this, and they are out doing the same.

That at being the case, there haven't been any huge new DVD releases of late.

The studios are saving those films for release at the end of the summer, just in
time for Back To School sales and the impending holiday buying season.

But there are still new movies being released each week on DVD, and I have four of them for you that you might mildly enjoy, even though none of them are what you might call "a great movie".

First up is a film called GRAY MATTERS.

In this film Canadian actor Tom Cavanagh from TV's ED and the beautiful Heather Graham from BOOGIE NIGHTS star as a brother and sister who both fall in love...with the same woman.

The two are so close that they live together and dance together and even finish each other's sentences, and after an incident at a party when they are thought to be a couple, they decide that they need to start looking for other people to love.

So Sam agrees to look for a guy for his sister and Gray, that is his sister's name, Gray says she'll look for a girl for her brother.

And Gray succeeds!

But once Gray realizes that she loves the woman too, she has to ask some serious questions...like, does she even like men.

GRAY MATTERS isn't great, and it has an awful ending, but it does have a good heart at it's core, and some nice characters.

So if you are looking for a light romantic comedy to watch on a summer evening, this one might do the trick.

Next up is FACTORY GIRL.

This movie tells a fictionalized story of mid-sixties socialite and Andy Warhol
superstar Edie Sedgwick.

Edith Minturn Sedgwick - better known as Edie - was an American model actress, and heiress who starred in many of Andy Warhol's short films in the 1960s.

I could sit here and give you multiple facts about Edie, but all of them would just
be things I found on Wikipedia.

No, prior to watching FACTORY GIRL the only reason I knew who she was came courtesy of a song.

The band The Cult wrote a song about her life called "Edie (Ciao Baby)" which was on their Sonic Temple album released in 1989.

Other than that...I only knew she was one of Andy Warhol's gang who all gathered and worked and hung out at a place in New York called The Factory.

But after watching this movie, I guess I know a little bit more...however, I am not really that curious about her.

I suspect the real Edie Sedgwick lead a very interesting life, but the movie about
her isn't very interesting at all.

The problem with this film has nothing to do with the cast - Sienna Miller is great
as Edie, Guy Pierce is spectacular as Andy Warhol, and Canadian actor Hayden
Christensen from the STAR WARS films does a good enough job Bob Dylan impersonation as a character who is, but isn't named Bob Dylan- but their movie is just too artsy fartsy.

The filmmaker uses multiple camera angles and technicques, shoots on video, digital and film, and is constantly changing from film mode to documentary mode to too many other modes to care about.

And I get it, Edie Sedgwick and the Andy Warhol gang were creative and artistic, so they want the film to be artistic...but it ends up being a movie that has too much style and not enough substance.

I like artistic films that take chances, but FACTORY GIRL is just too artistic...thus, it is too artsy fartsy for me.

And yes, that is the first time I have ever called any film that...and hopefully it
is the last!

If you want to see something that is a bit different than the mainstream films that are the norm, the FACTORY GIRL is for you.

If you don't...check out THE ASTRONAUT FARMER.

Billy Bob Thornton plays a former NASA astronaut who was forced to retire years earlier so he could save his family farm.

But he has never give up his dream of space travel, and he builds his own rocket in his barn and plans on going into space...despite the government's threats to stop him.

THE ASTRONAUT FARMER isn't a movie based in reality.

It is a story of a dreamers, and a movie for full of hope, and as such it requires
the viewer to take a huge leap of faith.

I was willing to do that, and I found it to be a good little film with some great
surprises, none of which I will spoil for you now.

So, if you suspend disbelief, and maybe dream just a little, you might enjoy THE
ASTRONAUT FARMER as well.

I mentioned that if you suspend disbelief, and maybe dream just a little, you might enjoy THE ASTRONAUT FARMER.

Well, if you have a kid who can do that, and that kid has never seen E.T. - THE
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, well then they might enjoy THE LAST MIMZY.

THE LAST MIMZY is a fantasy film for the whole family about a brother and a sister who discover a mysterious box while they are at the beach.

They open it and inside they find a magical stuffed rabbit who tells the girl that
it's name is Mimzy.

Also inside that box are other mystical toys, which give the children some unique
and exceptional powers.

Soon, the kids begin to attract the attention of their parents, teachers... and even the FBI.

The source material for THE LAST MIMZY pre-dates E.T. by nearly four decades, but that film is so iconic that this movie suffers by comparison.

It isn't a bad movie, in fact, it is a pretty good movie for kids, but as an adult,
all I kept thinking was: this would be a pretty good movie for kids.

So, if you have some young kids you need to entertain, or just need some grown-up time this summer, this might be the film for you...I mean them.

Finally this week, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the British
documentary BLACK GOLD about the international coffee trade and its ramifications for the farmers who grow coffee.

Around the world, more than two billion cups of coffee are drunk everyday and coffee is an eighty-billion-dollar-a-year business.

Personally, I have never had a cup of coffee in my life, so I sat down to watch this film with the eyes of an outsider.

However, if you do drink coffee, and you see this film, you may start to look
differently at your cups of java from now on.

BLACK GOLD takes us from the first Starbucks in Seattle to the region in Ethiopia where they grow some of the beans the chain uses.

In moments, we go from excess to famine.

If you are a coffee drinker, you might want to avoid this movie or your cup of black gold may never taste the same!

BLACK GOLD is entertaining, interesting and very insightful. It is a superb
documentary and the latest entry in our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD!

The superb documentary BLACK GOLD, and the good but not great quartet of THE LAST MIMZY, THE ASTRONAUT FARMER, FACTORY GIRL and GRAY MATTERS are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Jim Carrey stars as a man who can't escape THE NUMBER 23 and the classic cartoon UNDERDOG returns to DVD

Plus, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the documentary IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS, featuring stories from modern day Iraq as told by Iraqis living in a time of war, occupation and ethnic tension.

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

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Emmy voters snub serial killer, teen athletes

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - While mob boss Tony Soprano was embraced once again by Emmy voters on Thursday, they apparently drew the line at serial killers.

Michael C. Hall is a critics' favorite for his title role on the Showtime network drama "Dexter," playing a charming forensics investigator who murders criminals by night. But he was one of several noteworthy Emmy prospects who failed to clinch a nomination.

Hall earned a nod in 2002 for his portrayal of the prodigal son who returns to run his family's funeral business on HBO's now-departed hit "Six Feet Under."

Many critics thought he was equally deserving of a mention for his chillingly nuanced role as Dexter Morgan.

Another glaring omission from this year's race, for some Emmy watchers, was the NBC football drama "Friday Night Lights." The freshman show, nearly canceled due to low ratings, was a leading critics' choice for best drama but failed to make the cut except in two minor categories.

Some popular past Emmy winners also failed to secure a spot in the leading categories this year.

Last year's big victor, the Fox espionage thriller "24," was shut out of the top drama contest, as was the 2005 champion, ABC's hit castaway thriller "Lost," which got snubbed for a second year in a row.

The lack of Emmy love for "Lost" was especially surprising in light of revised voting rules designed to address flaws blamed for the show being overlooked last year, said show-business awards pundit Tom O'Neil, host of the Los Angeles Times' Web site www.TheEnvelope.com.

Meanwhile, Fox's smash hit "American Idol" earned seven more nominations on Thursday, including a fifth bid for best reality competition program. It remains to be seen whether it will lose again to CBS rival "The Amazing Race."

O'Neil says "Idol,' whose Emmy tally now stands at zero wins for 22 total nominations, is just three losses away from tying the record held by Bob Newhart's second sitcom, "Newhart," as biggest series loser in Emmy history -- zero wins for 25 nominations.

Still, Hall's failure to land a nomination for "Dexter" was "the single biggest disappointment on the acting side" for many critics, he said.

Not that the voters of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences are unwilling to recognize the work of actors who play morally corrupt or emotionally damaged characters.

James Gandolfini has three best-actor Emmys, and was nominated again this year, for his role as conflicted New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano.

And all four of his latest rivals for best actor in a drama play checkered roles. James Spader stars as an ethically challenged lawyer on "Boston Legal," Hugh Laurie as a pill-popping, grouchy doctor on "House," Denis Leary as firefighter battling all manner of personal demons in "Rescue Me" and Kiefer Sutherland (last year's winner) as a secret agent who tortures people on "24."

'Bury My Heart,' 'Sopranos' top Emmy nods

LOS ANGELES - "The Sopranos," the mob series that went to its grave with a shockingly inconclusive finale, found a happy ending Thursday with 15 Emmy nominations including best drama. The made-for-TV movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" led all nominees with 17 bids.

James Gandolfini, who played the emotionally conflicted mob boss on HBO's "The Sopranos," and Edie Falco, who played his wife, both received top acting nominations.

The other best-drama series were "Boston Legal," "Grey's Anatomy," "House" and freshman sci-fi sensation "Heroes."

"The Sopranos" emerged with the most nominations for a series, followed by "Ugly Betty" with 11 and, with 10 each, sexy medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" and critical favorite "30 Rock."

"Grey's Anatomy," which came through a difficult year in which star Isaiah Washington was fired after twice using an anti-gay slur, wasn't hurt when it came to Emmy bids. Besides best drama series, there were nominations for four supporting cast members and two guest actors.

The miniseries "The Starter Wife" also was a top nominee with 10 bids.

The freshman hit, "Ugly Betty," based on a Colombian telenovela, made it into the ranks of best comedy series nominees. It's joined by "Entourage," "30 Rock," "Two and a Half Men" and last year's winner in the category, "The Office."

"Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera was recognized with a nod for her starring role.

Joining Gandolfini among lead drama series actor nominees were Hugh Laurie of "House," Denis Leary of "Rescue Me," James Spader of "Boston Legal" and last year's winner Kiefer Sutherland of "24." Last year's drama series winner was "24" but it was snubbed this time.

Falco will compete with Patricia Arquette of "Medium," Minnie Driver of "The Riches," Sally Field of "Brothers & Sisters," Kyra Sedgwick of "The Closer" and last year's winner, Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Sedgwick got the news immediately. She helped announce bids for the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in a brief ceremony at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre.

"Friday Night Lights," the critically acclaimed but low-rated high school football drama that needed an Emmy boost, failed to gain major nominations.

"The Sopranos," which premiered in January 1999 and had an on-and-off cable run, capped its final episode this year with an ambiguous ending that left fans in the dark about the fate of lead character Tony Soprano, last seen sitting in a diner with his wife and children. A suddenly black screen suggested sudden violence — or not.

The series' other nominees included Michael Imperioli, who received a bid for best supporting dramatic actor for his role as the ill-fated Christopher. Aida Turturro, who played Tony's tough sister Janice, and Lorraine Bracco, who co-starred as his conflicted psychiatrist Dr. Melfi, were nominated for supporting actress.

Along with Ferrera in the lead comedy actress category were Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives," Tina Fey of "30 Rock," Mary-Louise Parker of "Weeds" and last year's winner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Their actor counterparts included last year's winner, Tony Shalhoub of "Monk," Ricky Gervais of "Extras," Steve Carell of "The Office," Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men" and Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock."

Like "Grey's" Washington, Baldwin drew unflattering attention this year, in his case because of a leaked recording of an angry telephone call to his daughter, who is caught in a legal dispute with ex-wife Kim Basinger.

In June, judges screening potential nominees for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences made their picks from a list of 10 top contenders for the best drama and best comedy series categories.

The top 10 lists given to the judges were based on polling of the general academy membership. Five nominees in each category ultimately were to be chosen, based on a combination of the panelists' votes and the general polling.

The three-hour Emmy Awards ceremony will be broadcast Sept. 16 by Fox from the Shrine Auditorium.

Other Emmy honors, including those for technical achievement and guest actors and actresses in series, will be given at the creative arts ceremony on Sept. 8.

Students in 5 provinces awarded Hnatyshyn Foundation arts grants

Performing arts students from Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan are the latest recipients of $10,000 grants each from the Hnatyshyn Foundation, a charity founded by the former governor general.

Gerda Hnatyshyn, widow of the late Ramon John Hnatyshyn, announced from Ottawa on Wednesday the names of nine recipients of the developing artists grants for students enrolled in post-secondary education.

Instead of the originally planned eight grants, organizers decided to award nine because of two exceptional finalists in the classical orchestral instrument category.

The 2007 recipients are:

Victor Fournelle-Blain, 19, violinist from Sainte-Julienne, Que.

Keith Dyrda, 18, a trombonist from Oakbank, Man.

Devon Joiner, 18, a pianist from Nanaimo, B.C.

Eli Bennett, 18, a saxophonist from Vancouver.

Alyssa Stevens, 18, a ballet dancer from Surrey, B.C.

Megan Nadain, 20, a contemporary dancer from Vancouver.

Lindsey Angell, 23, a stage actress from High River, Alta.

Claudiane Ruelland, 23, a stage actress from Quebec City.

Allison Cecilia Arends, 24, a soprano from Regina.

The grants are to be used for the students' studies in September.

A devoted arts partron, Ray Hnatyshyn, as he was known, established the foundation in the mid-1990s, after completing his term as governor general. The goal was to promote and support the arts and arts education.

Since Hnatyshyn's death in 2002, his widow has served as the foundation's president and board chair.

D'oh! Massive Homer Simpson next to fertility symbol riles pagans

A massive chalk drawing of a nearly nude Homer Simpson, sitting in the English countryside next to an ancient fertility landmark, has raised the ire of a British group.

Created by artist Peter Stuart, the 70- by 50-metre portrait depicts the famous cartoon patriarch dressed only in a pair of briefs and hoisting a beloved doughnut.

The Homer drawing sits neighbouring the Cerne Abbas Giant, the famed British landmark featuring a nude, club-wielding male figure carved into the natural chalk ground (located underneath the topsoil) on the hill above Cerne Abbas in Dorset.

Dating from at least the 17th century, the Giant is revered by pagans as a symbol of fertility.

In ancient times, some travelled to the Cerne Abbas to view the figure and pray for a child. Over the years, couples struggling to conceive have also been rumoured to sneak up the hill — now a protected site that tourists must view from below — for a romantic liaison.

Stuart, a fan of the long running TV series The Simpsons, began working on the massive Homer portrait — which uses water-based, biodegradable paint — early Sunday morning. He was commissioned by the publicity team behind The Simpsons Movie, set for release July 27.

However, the Homer drawing, its location and the accompanying encouragement for young couples to "do it in the doughnut" have angered members of the Pagan Federation.

A spokeswoman for the group has denounced the Homer artwork as an eyesore, "very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing."

Ann Bryn-Evans, the foundation's joint Wessex district manager, has told various news outlets the group will attempt "some rain magic" in hopes it will soon wash the offending portrait away.

The team promoting the upcoming Simpsons movie have engaged in a headline-grabbing campaign in the lead-up to the film's release.

They transformed a number of 7-11 convenience stores in North America into the Kwik-E-Mart store depicted on the show, and they have run a contest to pick which U.S. town of Springfield — one of the country's most common town names and home to TV's Simpson family — would host the film's premiere.

New Mr. Bean film to be his last

MONTREAL (CP) - Better get your fill of Mr. Bean in his new movie because it's probably the last time you're going to see him.

Rowan Atkinson says that with the completion of "Mr. Bean's Holiday," his dim-witted character will probably fall silent for good. "I think it is true that it might be his last outing," Atkinson said as he arrived for the North American premiere of the movie on Tuesday. "I think it's unlikely that I will do any more Mr. Bean, highly unlikely.

"It's not impossible. You must never say never, so I'm never going to say never but I think it's unlikely."

If the character has run his course, as Atkinson suggests, he's had a full life. Mr. Bean has gone from sketch comedy on stage, to international stardom on TV, before making the jump to the big screen in two films, all without uttering a full sentence.

With his reliance on physical rather than verbal comedy, Mr. Bean has been catapulted to pop culture icon status. Atkinson has even been dubbed the modern Charlie Chaplin for his loopy exploits.

Appropriately, "Mr. Bean's Holiday" premiered at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival, the same place North Americans got their first look at Mr. Bean during an appearance by Atkinson in 1987.

Fans have gone without new Bean adventures for a few years, but Atkinson chuckles when it's suggested the character has been off the cultural radar.

"He tends to appear quite constantly on television repeats, but in filmic form we haven't seen him since 1997."

Atkinson says he decided to revisit the character for a movie because he wasn't completely happy with the 1997 film "Bean."

"We were determined that one day we would make another movie because I always felt that the first Mr. Bean movie lacked in certain areas," he said.

"It was very successful and I think it's quite a funny movie, but it was a very American style movie whereas I think this is a slightly more European style. I think it's still funny, but it's got quite a different tone to the first film."

In "Mr. Bean's Holiday," the hapless Bean wins a vacation trip to France as well as a video camera.

But it's not just the language barrier that Bean has to hurdle when he reaches France. Things as simple as carrying coffee on a train, tackling a seafood platter or driving - a Mr. Bean staple - throw him for a loop with chaotic results.

The plot thickens when he accidently separates a Russian film director and his son at a train station as they head for Cannes and then tries to reunite them, only to have the vacation footage from his video camera screened at the famous film festival.

Atkinson chuckles when he's asked if he or the ever-silent Mr. Bean picked up any French making the movie, which was shot in France. In it, Mr. Bean answers "Gracias" when he's complimented on his French, which seems to consist simply of "oui" and "non."

"Sadly despite the fact that "Mr. Bean's Holiday" was shot almost entirely in France and I was there for three months with an entirely French crew, I managed to advance my French-speaking almost not at all."

Crowds lined up for the premiere Tuesday as Atkinson fielded questions in a series of rapid-fire interviews. He said he's not surprised at Mr. Bean's popularity or longevity.

"If I had to be honest, no, it hasn't surprised me very much because in many ways that's why he was conceived. He was conceived to be a timeless, ageless character with international appeal.

"I always felt sort of deep inside me that it had the potential to have a global acceptance, you might say, and so it has turned out to be."

"Mr. Bean's Holiday" goes into wide release next month.

Vintage AC/DC, Nirvana still big-sellers

NEW YORK - Much of the rock 'n' roll and pop canon is well established.

Buying the albums of `60s and `70s acts like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley is akin to a rite of passage for any young music fan. These are the artists that baby boomers love to keep buying, and with whom seemingly every teenager at some point experiments. (Remember A.J. hearing Bob Dylan for the first time in the "Sopranos" finale?)

Now that the `80s and `90s are ancient history, what albums are people still buying from those decades? Do critical favorites like Radiohead and the Pixies grow more popular with time? Or do the Backstreet Boys and Madonna still rule the charts?

The short answer is that, above all, people are buying vintage Metallica, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Guns 'N Roses and, well, Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

AC/DC's "Back in Black" (1980) last year sold 440,000 copies and has thus far sold 156,000 this year, according to the Nielsen SoundScan catalog charts, which measure how well physical albums older than two years old are selling. (All figures for this article were provided by Nielsen SoundScan.)

Those "Back in Black" numbers would make most contemporary CDs a success. Metallica's self-titled 1991 album is altogether the second-biggest selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era, which began in 1991. "Metallica" sold 275,000 copies last year.

Bon Jovi's greatest hits collection "Cross Road" last year sold 324,000 copies, while Guns 'N Roses "Appetite for Destruction" (1987) sold 113,000. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" (1996) continues to be a holiday favorite; it was bought 289,000 times last year.

Greatest hits compilations are counted as catalog releases, and account for the majority of vintage best-sellers. Artists that commercially peaked in the `80s or `90s that have had lucrative best-of collections include Garth Brooks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tim McGraw, Creed, Queen, Tom Petty, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Def Leppard, Aerosmith and Lionel Richie.

U2, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Celine Dion, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Dave Matthews Band and the ever-touring Jimmy Buffett also all continue to sell large amounts of old records.

Michael Jackson, of course, still has one of the most desirable back catalogs. His best- selling "Thriller" moves over 60,000 copies a year and his "Number Ones" collection yielded 162,000 sales last year.

Avid fans may be buying everything their favorite artist puts out, but there's more than nostalgia fueling vintage sales.

"Young fans aren't excluded from catalog sales — especially the ones who really get interested in music, there's always that sense of discovery," says Geoff Mayfield, the director of charts at Billboard Magazine.

Not everything maintains long-term success. Asia's self-titled 1982 album was the biggest seller of 1982, but only sold 5,000 copies last year. Whitney Houston's 1985 debut, also self-titled, was 1986's top album, but now sells about 7,000 discs a year.

The same trajectory has befallen past mega-hits like Ace of Base's "The Sign," Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" and the Spice Girl's "Spice." Though one of the best selling artists of all time, Mariah Carey's self-titled debut sold a measly 5,000 copies last year. The Backstreet Boys' "Millennium" managed only 9,000 sales.

Alas, the turning wheel of fortune isn't always kind to boy bands.

"The only thing that kept coming to mind to me was that line in the Bruce Springsteen song: `Someday we'll look back at this and it will all seem funny,'" recalls Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke.

Now, some critical hits that were trounced on their initial release by the likes of 'N Sync can claim a measure of commercial superiority. The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin," often hailed as one of the best albums of the `90s by critics, sold a solid 38,000 copies last year.

Radiohead's legendary "OK Computer," currently celebrating its 10-year anniversary, last year sold 94,000 copies. Nirvana's "Nevermind" has done even better; it sold 143,000 copies in 2006.

Current events can alter the charts. When Ray Charles died, his older albums spiked for months, says Mayfield. A new album from Alanis Morissette would surely increase sales of her 1995 disc "Jagged Little Pill," one of the best selling albums of the past 20 years.

Likewise, recent reunions of the Police and Genesis can be expected to increase sales of their catalogs. The Police's 1986 compilation "Every Breath You Take" has already doubled its already strong 2006 sales by selling 107,000 copies so far this year.

Many well-regarded albums continue to do healthy business, including: U2's "Joshua Tree," Dr. Dre's "The Chronic," Beck's "Odelay," Wu-Tang Clan's "Enter the Wu-Tang," the Clash's "London Calling," Weezer's "Weezer," and the Pixies' "Doolittle." Each sold at least 20,000 copies last year.

Still, many albums that are consistently revered on critic top-ten lists of the `80s and `90s have not sold much. Joy Division's "Closer," the Smiths' "The Queen is Dead," My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," and REM's "Murmur" all sold 12,000 copies or less last year.

Labels often reissue classic releases to capitalize on the devotion of die-hard fans and to attract a new audience. In the past few years, revered indie label Matador Records has released Pavement's first three albums, including "Slanted and Enchanted," a disc frequently ranked among the best in the `90s.

"It's almost like a new release for us," says Matador founder Chris Lombardi. "We probably sold in a one-year period, pretty much what those records sold in their first year period when they were initially released."

Though hip-hop continues to rule today's charts, many of its most historic albums don't enjoy the catalog sales that those from rock's heyday do. Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" sold 15,000 copies last year; Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" sold 22,000; and Run DMC's "Raising Hell" sold far less than both.

So far this year, catalog sales are down 11.7 percent, but that's stronger than overall sales, which are down 14.7 percent, according to Billboard. It's a major portion of the music business. This year's total catalog sales of 95.6 million copies accounts for about 40 percent of all albums sold physically.

When people switched from cassette tapes to compact discs, catalog sales received a windfall as people re-bought their collections. The onset of digital downloading hasn't had that affect because CDs can easily be downloaded to your iPod, but digital stores do have the advantage of unlimited (virtual) store space to sell older music.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has pegged catalog downloads as 64 percent of all download sales in the U.S. (Apple declined to share its iTunes data on catalog sales.)

That still leaves illegal downloads unaccounted for, as well as a more important quantity: cultural impact. Though bands like Sonic Youth, the Ramones and Public Enemy may never sell as much as other acts, their influence remains immeasurable.

"Impact is not strictly about sales," says Fricke. "Otherwise everyone would be running around forming bands that sound exactly like Poison."

Raincoast pleads with Potter fans to keep final book a secret

TORONTO (CP) - Raincoast Books is pleading with Harry Potter fans to keep the boy wizard's final adventure a secret.

"We would want to make a public appeal for fans around the world to be patient until the end of this week when everybody will discover the secret together," Raincoast spokesman Jamie Broadhurst said from Vancouver.

The request came Monday after rumours that a Vancouver man had discovered the manuscript for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on a file-sharing website.

Broadhurst wouldn't comment on that specific case, but said that any potential breach of security surrounding the final Potter book - to be released Saturday at 12:01 a.m. - is being investigated.

"There will be lots and lots of speculation online. It happens every time," he said.

"There are many, many, many rumours. All those rumours do get explored."

Raincoast has gone to great lengths to keep a lid on Potter secrecy in the past. Measures have included legal action to prevent the contents of the books from being revealed before the official publication date.

New Releases, July 17: Suzanne Vega, 'Legally Blonde,' Garbage

Suzanne Vega "Beauty and Crime"

The singer/songwriter returns with her first new studio record in nearly six years. "Beauty & Crime," Vega's seventh album, follows 2001's "Songs in Red and Gray."

The new disc, which marks Vega's debut on prestigious jazz label Blue Note, was produced by Jimmy Hogarth (Sia, Corinne Bailey Rae) and features the leadoff single "Frank & Ava."

Vega will launch a tour in support of the new CD Sept. 15 in Poughkeepsie, NY.

* * *
Various Artists "Legally Blonde (2007 Original Broadway Cast)"

Most of us know the story of Elle Woods, the pretty-in-pink sorority gal who, on a whim, decides to give law school a try. Its first incarnation came as a popular Hollywood film that starred Reese Witherspoon. It later became a musical, which had its debut in San Francisco before moving on to much success on Broadway.

Fans can now enjoy Elle's adventures on their home stereos, thank to this 2007 original Broadway cast recording. The disc features all the fan favorites, including such fun ditties as "Omigod You Guys."

* * *
Garbage "Absolute Garbage"

The Grammy-nominated pop-rock band releases its first ever retrospective, a 17-song disc that features such well-known tracks as "Queer" and "Only Happy When It Rains." "Absolute Garbage" is also available as a limited-edition 2-CD set, which includes remixes by such big names as Massive Attack, Crystal Method and U.N.K.L.E.

* * *
Colbie Caillat "Coco"

The SoCal singer/songwriter made a name for herself thanks to the wonders of MySpace. Now, Caillat will attempt to jump from Internet celebrity to mainstream success story with the release of her full-length CD, "Coco."

* * *
The Chemical Brothers "We Are the Night"

The electronica pioneers crank up the samplers and keyboards once again for "We Are the Night." The band is looking to further solidify its status as one of the top electronica acts in the business, which the Chemical Brothers earned with the release of such acclaimed albums as 2005's "Push the Button" and 2002's "Come With Us."

* * *

Other new releases:
A Fine Frenzy, "One Cell In the Sea" (Virgin)
Behemoth, "The Apostasy" (Century Media)
Canibus, "For Whom the Beat Tolls" (Micclub)
Judy Collins, "Judy Collins Sings Lennon & McCartney" (Wildflower)
Minnie Driver, "Seastories" (Zoe)
Editors, "An End Has a Start" (Fader)
Emerson Hart, "Cigarettes and Gasoline" (Manhattan)
The Knife, "Silent Shout" (Mute)
Raul Malo, "After Hours" (New Door)
Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy, "Cornell 1964" (Blue Note)
Nile, "Ithyphallic" (Nuclear Blast)
Rooney, "Calling the World" (Geffen)
Teddy Thompson, "Up Front and Down Low" (Verve Forecast)
Various Artists, "Music From the Mound" (EMI)
Various Artists, "Now, Vol. 25" (UTV)
Yellowcard, "Paper Walls" (Capitol)

Seinfeld Gets Piece of the 'Rock'

Jerry Seinfeld hasn't done much prime-time TV since exiting his iconic NBC sitcom nine years ago -- a guest voice on "Dilbert" here, a "Seinfeld" special there.

And come October, a headline-grabbing (or so NBC hopes) appearance on "30 Rock."

Seinfeld, who's also doing a series of shorts about the making of his "Bee Movie" for NBC, will appear on the season premiere of "30 Rock" on Thursday, Oct. 4. He'll play himself and butt heads with NBC exec Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin).

"I was thrilled to be asked to guest star on NBC's hit comedy '30 Rock,'" Seinfeld says in a statement. "I think it's going to be so refreshing for me to be playing myself in a show that has nothing to do with neurotic, dysfunctional New York characters."

To hear NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman tell it, landing Seinfeld for the guest spot was a matter of timing.

"I reached out to Jerry and had such a fun conversation with him," Silverman said Monday at NBC's press tour sessions. As the two talked about his "Bee Movie" shorts, "I asked him if he'd be part of the show, and he said, 'You know what, I love that show. You hit me on the one thing I'm predisposed to, because I really like the show.' ... It was great. It couldn't have been more positive and exciting, and he also loves the show. I think it was the right call around the right show to the right guy."

Carrie Underwood's Fall Follow-Up

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Carrie Underwood doesn't want to spend her life jaded, waitin'—or just resting on her laurels.

Arista Records and 19 Recordings announced Monday that the follow-up to the country crossover star's mega-hit debut Some Hearts has been slated for an Oct. 23 release.

While it seems as if Underwood must be on her third or fourth album by now, that's only because the multiplatinum-selling Some Hearts took up residence at number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart back in 2005… and managed to return to that spot multiple times over the next two and half years.

The hit-filled album, which dropped Nov. 15, 2005, has been certified six-times platinum in the U.S., is the best-selling country disc/download of 2007 so far, with nearly 1.1 million copies sold just this year.

After the American Idol-assisted success of the Grammy-winning "Jesus Take the Wheel," it was unsure whether Underwood would have mass-market appeal, but with spunky tunes such as "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted," she's become a powerhouse on the pop charts, as well. Some Hearts was named the best-selling album of all genres at the Billboard Music Awards in December, Underwood's eighth sales-fueled trophy in two years.

Two Grammys (Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Jesus Takes the Wheel"), five Academy of Country Music Awards, three CMT Music Awards, two CMA's and one American Music Award after coming out on top on the fourth season of Idol, Underwood's doing okay.

Some Hearts spawned seven singles, three of which went platinum, and Underwood also had a hit with her cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You," which she performed on the Idol Gives Back charity special in April.

The 24-year-old Oklahoman's as-yet untitled sophomore effort is being produced by Some Hearts collaborator Mark Bright and will feature some more songwriting by Underwood, who co-penned the tune "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore" on Some Hearts.

Before she repeats, however, Underwood can be heard on Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on the tune "Oh Love," and she's set to help kick off New York's Fall Fashion Week by performing Sept. 6 at the fourth annual Fashion Rocks! gala at Radio City Music Hall.

Also scheduled to perform at the event, to be hosted by Jeremy Piven and broadcast the following evening on CBS, are Aerosmith, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Usher, Fall Out Boy, Jennifer Hudson, Fergie, Jennifer Lopez, Ludacris, Martina McBride and Santana.

Alicia Witt cops `Law & Order: CI' role

NEW YORK - Add Alicia Witt to the "Law & Order" lineup.

The 31-year-old actress, whose previous TV credits include "Cybill," has joined the cast of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," it was announced Monday.

Witt will play police detective Nola Falacci, who will be partnered with detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth). She'll be a temporary replacement for Julianne Nicholson, who is on maternity leave.

Witt costarred with Cybill Shepherd on the CBS sitcom "Cybill" for three years. The series ended in 1998. Her films include "The Upside of Anger" and "Two Weeks Notice."

Original episodes of "Criminal Intent" this coming season will air first on cable's USA network and then later, with no date yet specified, on NBC. "CI" reruns have ranked among USA's most popular shows.

When it announced its fall schedule in the spring, NBC explained that it had room only for two of the three "Law & Order" series. It brought back the highest-rated, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and the original "Law & Order." The "CI" episodes that will run first on USA would be a midseason replacement, the network said.

Internet flooded with new Prince CD after giveaway

A day after it was distributed free inside a British newspaper, music icon Prince's latest album is widely accessible after countless fans posted it online.

An estimated three million copies of Planet Earth were packaged as a promotional "covermount," or giveaway, with the Mail on Sunday newspaper — a move that raised an uproar among U.K. record retailers and even caused Prince's British distributor to nix its own sales launch of the album.

As of Monday morning, the 10-track album could easily be downloaded from numerous file-sharing websites. The physical CD is also being offered for sale on auction website eBay.

The album is scheduled to begin selling in international markets on Monday, but the North American release is not until July 24.

Recently, when asked why he chose to give his latest CD away for free, the 49-year-old was unrepentant and called the move "direct marketing."

"I don't have to be in the speculation business of the record industry, which is going through a lot of tumultuous times right now," said the Minneapolis-born artist.

The eclectic, prolific artist has long fought against the traditional recording industry structure.

He once officially changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest a record contract and has also appeared in public with the word "slave" scrawled across his cheek as his comment on another recording industry battle.

More recently, he drew criticism from the industry for giving a copy of his 2004 album Musicology to each fan who attended one of his concerts.

For years, Prince, whose real name is Prince Rogers Nelson, has also explored distributing his music via his own website.

"Prince's only aim is to get music to those who want to hear it," according to a spokesman on the artist's official website.

The award-winning singer, songwriter and musician "feels that charts are just music industry constructions and have little or no relevance to fans or even artists today."

Prince's ample catalogue of diverse hits includes 1999, Kiss, Let's Go Crazy, Diamonds and Pearls, When Doves Cry and The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.

In August, he will give 21 concerts in London, at each of which he is also scheduled to hand out free copies of his latest album.

Second "X-Files" pic moving toward production

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The "X-Files" film sequel is heating up.

Co-star David Duchovny indicated Saturday during the Television Critics Association press tour that the film, which has been the subject of speculation for the past few years, is one step closer to becoming a reality.

"I'm supposed to see a script next week," Duchovny said at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, adding that creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz wrote the screenplay and that Carter is set to direct.

Duchovny also reiterated past remarks that he and "X-Files" co-star Gillian Anderson "are on board" the follow-up to the 1998 film and the series that ran on Fox from 1993 to 2002.

The film reportedly was delayed in part because of a now-settled lawsuit filed by Carter in late 2005 against 20th Century Fox Television alleging breach of contract, contractual interference and other claims over payments allegedly owed to him from the series.

Duchovny was at TCA promoting his upcoming Showtime comedy series "Californication," which debuts August 13.

'Potter' works magic in $77.4M debut

LOS ANGELES - Harry Potter remains a box-office charmer.

The Warner Bros. fantasy sequel "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" conjured up a $77.4 million debut to lead the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That raised the movie's total domestic gross to $140 million since opening Wednesday.

"Order of the Phoenix" also has taken in an additional $190.3 million in 44 other countries where it began rolling out Wednesday.

"Transformers," the DreamWorks-Paramount sci-fi tale that was the previous weekend's No. 1 movie, slipped to second place with $36 million, lifting its total to $223 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, grisly horror story "Captivity" from Lionsgate and After Dark Films, opened out of the top 10 with $1.55 million, coming in at No. 12. The movie stars Elisha Cuthbert as a model who is abducted and tortured.

"Order of the Phoenix" expanded overall business for Hollywood. The top 12 movies took in $171.1 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was No. 1 with $62.3 million.

The fifth chapter in the movie series based on J.K. Rowling's novels about the teen wizard, "Order of the Phoenix" has Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) leading a secret society of students to prepare for the coming showdown with the evil Lord Voldemort.

The previous four "Harry Potter" flicks all had bigger first weekends, ranging from $88.4 million to $102.7 million, but those all debuted Friday. "Order of the Phoenix" was the first to get a jump on the weekend with a Wednesday opening.

"We're in the middle of summer, and we just said why not, because kids are out of school," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. "It certainly turned out to be the right decision."

"Order of the Phoenix" did more business in five days than each of the first three "Harry Potter" movies did in their first full week, and it nearly matched the $146 million first week total of the fourth film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Fellman said.

Warner Bros. counts on the "Harry Potter" frenzy to persist with the publication next Saturday of the final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

"People are going to have Potter mania happening again when the book comes out," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "They'll be walking book in hand into the movie theater."

In limited release, Focus Features' film biography "Talk to Me" opened strongly with $390,754 in 33 theaters. The film stars Don Cheadle as an ex-con who becomes an outspoken social commentator on the radio in the 1960s.

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 Monday.

1. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $77.4 million.
2. "Transformers," $36 million.
3. "Ratatouille," $18 million.
4. "Live Free or Die Hard," $10.9 million.
5. "License to Wed," $7.4 million.
6. "1408," $5.01 million.
7. "Evan Almighty," $5 million.
8. "Knocked Up," $3.7 million.
9. "Sicko," $2.65 million.
10. "Ocean's Thirteen," $1.9 million.

The Couch Potato Report - July 14th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels two Canadian films and we learn Esma's secret.

On Friday in Chicago, a jury of nine women and three men found former Canadian media baron Conrad Black guilty of three counts of criminal fraud and the serious charge of obstruction of justice -- but cleared him of racketeering, wire fraud and tax evasion.

The convictions mean Black faces a maximum sentence of 35 years, if served consecutively, and $1 million US in fines.

Sentencing will take place at a later date and as expected, Black's attorneys announced they will appeal the guilty verdicts.

New on DVD this week is CITIZEN BLACK - a documentary that chronicles Conrad Black's downfall.

And this isn't one of those documentaries that only features interviews and comments friends, relatives, and former co-workers of Mr. Black's.

No, CITIZEN BLACK features the man himself.

Black didn't actually sit down for a one on one interview with filmmaker, and former CBC employee, Debbie Melnyk but she did correspond with him by email, and she did follow him around as he promoted his book about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States.

CITIZEN BLACK isn't a spectacular documentary as too often it tells Debbie Melnyk's story and not Conrad Black's, but it is very, very good.

It is a movie with a great sense of humour, and it also gives us a look at Mr. Black's personal life and some of the eccentricities that he and his wife posess.

Debbie Melnyk is no Michael Moore, but through all of her films flaws, I respect her tenacity in trying to get Mr. Black to sit down for an interview as she chases him from one book signing to another.

And the film was always interesting, so ultimately I think CITIZEN BLACK is a film that is worth your time.

Up next this week is the Canadian film PARTITION.

Generally, a partition is a splitting of something into parts.

The Partition of India led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on August 14th, 1947, and the Republic of India on August 15th, 1947, upon the granting of independence to British India from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The movie PARTITION is about these events, but it is primarily a love story played out against a backdrop of political and religious upheaval.

Determined to leave the ravages of war behind, a Sikh soldier resigns from the British Indian Army to a quiet life.

His world is soon thrown in turmoil, when he suddenly finds himself responsible for the life of a young Muslim woman, traumatized by the events that separated her from her family.

Slowly, resisting all the taboos, they fall in love.

Canadian actresses Kristin Kreuk (Kroook) from the televison series SMALLVILLE and Neve Campbell of the SCREAM films atar along with the Indo-British actor Jimi Mistry in PARTITION, and they all give great performances.

Plus, the locations in British Columbia and Northern India where the movie was made look incredible, but in the end the film just never caught my attention.

I am a huge fan of TITANIC and THE ENGLISH PATIENT, and several other films that use actual historical events as a background for a love story.

But as much as PARTITION strives to be a good as those films, it just isn't.

There are just too many side stories that ultimately have no relevance, and at one point a period of five years passes, and no one seems to change or age at all.

So, if you enjoy very romantic love stories set against turbulant times, perhaps you will enjoy PARTITION more than I did.

I didn't dislike it, but I can't fully recommend it either.

Finally this week, the action filled, very loud, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie season continued in theatres this week with HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

If you'd prefer an alternative, each week during the summer movie season I will tell you about at least one current release on DVD that you'll need your brain to enjoy.

This is the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL on DVD!

This week's entry is ESMA'S SECRET, a movie from Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany and Croatia.

ESMA'S SECRET focuses on the Balkan War's painful aftermath on a Bosnian woman named Esma and her daughter Sara who live in a quarter of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Esma works several jobs and does laundry and tailoring for her friends and neighbours to earn money and when Sara wants to go on a school trip, her mother struggles to find the money.

Esma has told her daughter that her father is a war hero, and even though a certificate proving that would allow her a discount for the trip, Esma tries to find a way to pay the full price.

The reason why, is Esma's secret.

ESMA'S SECRET doesn't show any scenes of the horrific war and genocide in the former Yugoslavia, but by the end of the movie you will know what the pain of war feels like.

It is a very interesting film that features people and locations that we don't normally get to see, either in films or in real life, and it all adds up to a movie that will get you thinking.

Like I said, you'll need your brain to enjoy the selections I have for you in this summer's FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL on DVD!

The very interesting ESMA'S SECRET, the Canadian film PARTITION and the documentary CITIZEN BLACK are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

GRAY MATTERS stars Tom Cavanagh and Heather Graham as a brother and sister who both fall in love with the same woman.

FACTORY GIRL tells a fictionalized story of mid-sixties socialite and Andy Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick; Billy Bob Thornton stars in THE ASTRONAUT FARMER as a farmer who builds his own rocket; and our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the British documentary BLACK GOLD about the international coffee trade and its ramifications for the farmers who grow coffee.

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

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Summer box office hits & misses

As clashes between titans go, the summer box office has been less Optimus Prime versus Megatron than drunk David Hasselhoff versus a cheeseburger.

That's a letdown for studio executives who were stoked for a record-scorching, sequel-stuffed season.

Instead, they'll have to make due with just doing fine. After all, while no film has dominated, no one is losing their shirt in the melee, either.

Which is more than we can say for The Hoff.

The following is a rundown of who hit, who missed and who surprised in the summer of 2007.

Like they say, success has many fathers, failure's an orphan and blame gets passed around like Paris Hilton at a convention of Greek shipping tycoons.

THE HITS

You didn't need tarot.com to tell you the triumvirate of Spider-Man 3, Shrek The Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End would reap a bounty worthy of Johnny Depp's slurring, swishy sea dog, Capt. Jack Sparrow.

But it might have informed you all three -- having each grossed more than $300 million US --would nevertheless fall short of their predecessors.

The massive opening of Transformers ($150 million in its first week) bodes well for its chances at dethroning Spider-Man 3 as the summer's top-earner, but to do so, the refugees of Cybertron will have to flex legs of iron.

It's premature to predict how Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will fare, but judging by its predecessors it will likely conjure up around $270 million in North America.

Among non-franchises, with $130 million, the charmingly-raucous Knocked Up out-performed The 40-Year-Old Virgin, securing Judd Apatow's anointment as Hollywood's prince of comedy.

Meanwhile, the summer's finest entertainment, Disney-Pixar's Ratatouille, has dug in and, buoyed by gushing reviews and word of mouth, should cook up $230 million -- finishing ahead of 2006's inert animated Cars.

THE MISSES

The Noah's ark-themed Evan Almighty stands as the costliest dud to float to the top, as it's expected to make back only half of its $175-million budget.

Also a flop? The Robin Williams-led License to Wed.

And while Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer rode the tasty waves to a $50 million-plus opening weekend, it quickly sank like a stoner, making a third film less than a certainty.

THE SURPRISES

Granted, Live Free and Die Hard hardly represented an artistic gamble, but many wondered if its aging star and analog appeal would be squashed by the synthesized mayhem of Transformers.

Turns out, no.

Instead, the Bruce Willis sequel has shown to be nearly as Teflon-coated as John McClane himself and should wind up with an admirable $140 million.

Even more unanticipated is the popularity of 1408, which attracted audiences seeking sophistication, not splatter, in their horror. The John Cusack thriller should scare up $80 million -- several times the gross of the torture-porn travesty Hostel Part II.

THE STARS

Actors may sell bundles of magazines, but their power to lure moviegoers is decidedly more dubious. Case in point: The just-okay-thanks haul of $100 million and change for Ocean's Thirteen.

That's more or less the same as the second instalment, but far less than the original's $180 million -- meaning George Clooney is going to have to find another cash-cow to offset the films he really cares about.

Meanwhile Angelina Jolie's A Mighty Heart, although mightily praised, collapsed. Look for her to keep adopting orphans until she has a fanbase.

THE OLD GUY

Every year, a studio drops an adult-geared film smack dab into the cinematic sugar rush, hoping grown-ups will seek out sophisticated material.

This time that chimp-in-a-space-capsule was Kevin Costner's Mr. Brooks.

Too bad it imploded on the launch pad.

Neither crew nor the myth of counter-programming survived.

Toronto Theatre Legend Ed Mirvish Gets a Salute from Broadway

Broadway theatres will dim their marquee lights July 13 for one minute in the memory of Ed Mirvish, the entrepreneur, theatrical impresario and Broadway producer who was known as "Honest Ed."

American-born Mirvish died in Canada July 11 of natural causes. He was 92.

He is best known in the theatrical world for restoring the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto in 1963, the Old Vic in London, England, and for building the award-winning Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto in 1993 with his son, David Mirvish. His Broadway credits include the award-winning productions Stones in His Pockets, Spoils of War and The Mikado.

He launched the Toronto theatre empire Mirvish Productions, run by his son, David.

Mirvish was a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a Member of the Order of Canada and the recipient of more than 250 awards.

Paul Shaffer working on his memoir

NEW YORK - David Letterman's longtime sidekick, Paul Shaffer, is stepping into the spotlight with a memoir about his show business career.

"These anecdotes have been accumulating in my mind for the past three-plus decades; it's been a nutty ride, and I felt it imperative to finally commit my reflections to the page ... at least Volume One," Shaffer, 57, said in a statement issued Wednesday by Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of Random House, Inc.'s Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.

The book, currently untitled, is scheduled to come out in 2009. Shaffer will work on it with David Ritz, who has collaborated on memoirs by Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles among others.

Shaffer was a musician and performer during the early years of "Saturday Night Live," perhaps best remembered as the piano playing foil for Bill Murray's Nick the Lounge Singer. He was musical director for John Belushi's and Dan Aykroyd's "Blues Brothers" act and is known to "Spinal Tap" fans as radio promoter Artie Fufkin.

Since 1982, Shaffer has worked alongside Letterman, heading up "The World's Most Dangerous Band." He has also played and recorded with countless musicians, including Bob Dylan, B.B. King and Warren Zevon, and co-wrote the 1980s dance classic, "It's Raining Men."

Media mogul Black guilty of fraud

CHICAGO - Former media mogul Conrad Black was convicted Friday of swindling the far-flung Hollinger International newspaper empire he once ran out of millions of dollars, becoming the latest in a wave of disgraced corporate executives to face prison time for financial fraud.

Black, 62, who once renounced his Canadian citizenship to become a member of the British House of Lords, was found guilty by a federal jury of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice for spiriting documents out of his Toronto office in defiance of a court order.

Black was acquitted of nine other counts ranging from tax fraud to the most serious charge — racketeering. He was also acquitted of fleecing Hollinger shareholders through such perks as taking the corporate jet on a two-week vacation to the island of Bora Bora.

The three-month trial drew international media attention, heightened by the silver-haired British lord's posh lifestyle and sometimes haughty comments. When shareholders grumbled about the cost of the Bora Bora trip, he wrote a memo saying: "I'm not prepared to re-enact the French revolutionary renunciation of the rights of the nobility."

Three other former Hollinger executives, John Boultbee, 65, of Victoria, British Columbia, Peter Y. Atkinson, 60, of Oakville, Ontario, and Mark Kipnis, 59, of Northbrook, Ill., were also convicted of fraud charges.

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to have Black jailed immediately, saying he could face approximately 15 years to nearly 20 years in federal prison for the conviction. But defense attorneys said the actual sentence was likely to be much less.

In contrast to the $84 million in fraud prosecutors blamed on Black when he was indicted two years ago, the jurors found him guilty of a fraction of that — defense attorneys put the amount at $3.5 million.

Still, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the government was "gratified" by the verdict.

"We think the verdict vindicates the serious public interest in making sure that when insiders in a corporation deal with money entrusted to them by the shareholders, that they not engage in self-dealing, that they not break the law to benefit themselves instead of the shareholders," Fitzgerald said.

St. Eve set a Nov. 30 sentencing date, confiscated Black's passport and ordered him to remain in the Chicago area while she considers the government's request that she revoke his $21 million bond, partly secured by a seaside estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A hearing on the bond issue is scheduled for Thursday.

Black defense attorney Edward M. Genson argued that Black had "wanted his day in court and now wants his day on appeal" and would not run away.

"He has had his day in court," countered prosecutor Eric H. Sussman, "and now the question is whether he will have his day of sentencing."

Black was stony faced as he handed over the passport. When St. Eve asked if he would appear for sentencing, he said: "Absolutely."

Black avoided reporters' questions as he left the courthouse Friday afternoon. Edward Greenspan, Black's Canadian defense attorney, promised an appeal on "viable legal issues."

"We came here to face 13 counts and an indictment. Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges. They have been dismissed," Greenspan said, reading from a statement and refusing to answer questions.

"We vehemently disagree with the government's position on sentencing," he said, but did not offer what he believes is a proper sentencing range.

Hollinger International, based in Chicago, was at one time one of the world's largest publisher of community newspapers as well as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London and Israel's Jerusalem Post.

At the core of the charges against Black was a strategy he arrived at starting in 1998 to sell off the bulk of the small community papers, which were published in smaller cities across the United States and Canada.

Black and other Hollinger executives received millions of dollars in payments from the companies that bought the community papers in return for promises that they would not return to compete with the new owners.

Prosecutors said the executives pocketed the money, which they said belonged to shareholders, without telling Hollinger's board of directors.

In the end, jurors convicted Black in connection with two sets of noncompete payments.

One involved $2.6 million in such payments he received in exchange for a noncompete pledge made to the American Publishing Co. The company was a Hollinger subsidiary and thus Black and executives who also got such payments were effectively getting money not to compete with themselves.

The other were "supplemental payments" made in April 2001 after Hollinger executives realized there had been no non-competition money in sales of community newspapers to Horizon Publications Inc. in March 1999 and to Forum Communications Inc. in September 2000.

Realizing that no such non-competition money for them had been included in the deals, the executives ordered up "supplemental payments." Black's share of that money came to $285,000.

The American Publishing money and supplemental payments were covered in three counts of the indictment. The fourth count Black was convicted of involved the removal of documents from his Toronto offices after a court had ordered them frozen unless otherwise permitted by a court monitor.

The government's star witness at the trial was F. David Radler, Black's partner in building the Hollinger empire over three decades. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and agreed to testify in exchange for a lenient 29-month sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Black had said that he was busy with newspaper interests in Britain and eastern Canada and left most of the sales of community newspapers and noncompete arrangements to Radler. But Radler said that Black was well aware of how and why the money was being paid.

___

Associated Press Writers Don Babwin, Carla K. Johnson, Dave Carpenter and Dan Strumpf in Chicago contributed to this report.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to have Black jailed immediately, saying he could face approximately 15 years to nearly 20 years in federal prison for the conviction. But defense attorneys said the actual sentence was likely to be much less.

In contrast to the $84 million in fraud prosecutors blamed on Black when he was indicted two years ago, the jurors found him guilty of a fraction of that — defense attorneys put the amount at $3.5 million.

Still, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the government was "gratified" by the verdict.

"We think the verdict vindicates the serious public interest in making sure that when insiders in a corporation deal with money entrusted to them by the shareholders, that they not engage in self-dealing, that they not break the law to benefit themselves instead of the shareholders," Fitzgerald said.

St. Eve set a Nov. 30 sentencing date, confiscated Black's passport and ordered him to remain in the Chicago area while she considers the government's request that she revoke his $21 million bond, partly secured by a seaside estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A hearing on the bond issue is scheduled for Thursday.

Black defense attorney Edward M. Genson argued that Black had "wanted his day in court and now wants his day on appeal" and would not run away.

"He has had his day in court," countered prosecutor Eric H. Sussman, "and now the question is whether he will have his day of sentencing."

Black was stony faced as he handed over the passport. When St. Eve asked if he would appear for sentencing, he said: "Absolutely."

Black avoided reporters' questions as he left the courthouse Friday afternoon. Edward Greenspan, Black's Canadian defense attorney, promised an appeal on "viable legal issues."

"We came here to face 13 counts and an indictment. Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges. They have been dismissed," Greenspan said, reading from a statement and refusing to answer questions.

"We vehemently disagree with the government's position on sentencing," he said, but did not offer what he believes is a proper sentencing range.

Hollinger International, based in Chicago, was at one time one of the world's largest publisher of community newspapers as well as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London and Israel's Jerusalem Post.

At the core of the charges against Black was a strategy he arrived at starting in 1998 to sell off the bulk of the small community papers, which were published in smaller cities across the United States and Canada.

Black and other Hollinger executives received millions of dollars in payments from the companies that bought the community papers in return for promises that they would not return to compete with the new owners.

Prosecutors said the executives pocketed the money, which they said belonged to shareholders, without telling Hollinger's board of directors.

In the end, jurors convicted Black in connection with two sets of noncompete payments.

One involved $2.6 million in such payments he received in exchange for a noncompete pledge made to the American Publishing Co. The company was a Hollinger subsidiary and thus Black and executives who also got such payments were effectively getting money not to compete with themselves.

The other were "supplemental payments" made in April 2001 after Hollinger executives realized there had been no non-competition money in sales of community newspapers to Horizon Publications Inc. in March 1999 and to Forum Communications Inc. in September 2000.

Realizing that no such non-competition money for them had been included in the deals, the executives ordered up "supplemental payments." Black's share of that money came to $285,000.

The American Publishing money and supplemental payments were covered in three counts of the indictment. The fourth count Black was convicted of involved the removal of documents from his Toronto offices after a court had ordered them frozen unless otherwise permitted by a court monitor.

The government's star witness at the trial was F. David Radler, Black's partner in building the Hollinger empire over three decades. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and agreed to testify in exchange for a lenient 29-month sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Black had said that he was busy with newspaper interests in Britain and eastern Canada and left most of the sales of community newspapers and noncompete arrangements to Radler. But Radler said that Black was well aware of how and why the money was being paid.

Sarah McLachlan has baby daughter

VANCOUVER (CP) - Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan has given birth to her second child.

McLachlan's publicist says the artist welcomed a baby girl on June 22. The child has been named Taa-Jah, the Hindi word for "crown." McLachlan and husband Ashwin Sood also have a five-year-old daughter named India Ann Sushil Sood.

Her Vancouver-based record label, Netterk Music Group, says "the family is overjoyed to welcome this newest edition to their family."

The celebrated singer-songwriter is known for hits including "I Will Remember You" and "Angel."

"Both mother and baby are happy and healthy," Nettwerk says in a release.

GEEKERCISE

Who says video games will make you fat? Nintendo's hoping to change the image of gamers as pasty, Cheetos-eating basement dwellers with "Wii Fit," a device for a wired workout.

Early next year, the company plans to release a "Balance Board" that connects to its popular Wii video-game console. When stepped on, the pressure-sensitive board will measure your weight and body mass index, or BMI, then tailor your virtual character - called a "Mii" - to look as thin or fat as you are.

Nintendo plans to incorporate the board into a variety of games, including yoga, step aerobics, dancing and soccer. In the future, it could be used for skateboarding, snowboarding and other sports where the flexible board can be used as a virtual stand-in. No price has been set yet.

Wii Fit was the standout of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, the annual video game conference staged this week in Los Angeles.

Nintendo went charmingly old school with its new toys, introducing console accessories that take advantage of its motion-sensitive Wii console.

With the Wii Zapper, the House that Mario Built is finally putting an end to fan-boy grumbling about why there isn't a Duck Hunt-like laser gun for the Wii.

The two-handed docking station for the Wii remote and nunchuk looks like something that would be at home in the hands of a "Star Wars" Imperial Storm Trooper (except in glossy white) and is destined to be the ultimate device for enhancing ever-popular first-person shooter games.

Due out later this year, it'll be packaged with a Nintendo-developed game that shows off what it can do, for a mere $20. The zapper will also be compatible with third-party games, including November's zombie extravaganza, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and the popular World War II Medal of Honor" franchise games.

Wii Wheel, a steering wheel you use to drive on-screen cars, will be packaged with "Mario Kart Wii" (out early next year), which will be one of the first games to use the console's built-in Wi-Fi connection to let you play online against people around the world.

While Nintendo's announcements at the expo might've been the most exciting, Sony and Microsoft did have some news of their own.

In addition to emphasizing the $100 price drop on the 60GB version of the PlayStation 3 (now $500, compared to $250 for the Wii and $400 for an Xbox 360), Sony unveiled its new and improved PlayStation Portable.

It's now 33 percent lighter and 19 percent slimmer than the original version (launched in 2004). Sony has also added a video-out port that will let you plug your PSP directly into the TV, so you can watch videos or play games on a big screen. And, taking a page out of Nintendo's book, it'll be available in three colors: piano black, ceramic white and ice silver.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, Microsoft avoided discussing the headaches it's having over customers' complaints about the Xbox 360's "red ring of death" - resulting in costly repairs and warranty extensions, leading some pundits to demand a total recall of the gaming console - choosing to play up the solidly selling Xbox 360's lineup of games, including "Halo 3," "Grand Theft Auto: IV" and "Madden NFL 2008."

It did, however, present "Rock Band," which lets up to four gamers master guitar, drums and vocals using instrument-shaped controllers. It'll be the first-ever video game to offer full-length albums as part of its game play. (The popular "Guitar Hero" franchise only does single songs.)

Gervais Plans 'Extras'-Special Conclusion

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are sticking to their plan of not filming a third season of "Extras." But the show isn't quite finished either.

The award-winning duo will close out the story of background actor-turned-sitcom star Andy Millman (Gervais) with a one-hour "Extras" special, HBO announced Thursday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. Gervais and Merchant did something similar with the original version of "The Office," finishing off two seasons with a one-shot special (which earned an Emmy nomination for writing in 2005).

"It's been an honor to present this hilarious series on HBO," says Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment. "I can't wait to see how Ricky and Stephen will wrap up the saga of Andy Millman."

The "Extras" special, a co-production of HBO and the BBC, is scheduled to shoot next month. An airdate hasn't been determined yet.

And as for its content? "Fame is a mask that eats into the face -- even a pug-nosed face," Gervais says. "Andy Millman is now a big star. He has a hit TV show, a brand new hot-shot agent and a multimillion-dollar mansion. But it's not enough."

Season two of "Extras" focused primarily on Andy selling his creative soul to get a sitcom on the air. Despite his show's poor quality, though, it became a hit and Andy became somewhat famous -- which only served to magnify his frequent insensitivity.

Despite all that, though, the season ended on a hopeful note with Andy and his friend Maggie ("Ugly Betty's" Ashley Jensen) on their way to a meeting with Robert De Niro that his heretofore incompetent agent Darren (Merchant) had arranged.

Genesis Sketching Out Live DVD, Autobiography

There's no new music in the offing, but that's not keeping the reunited Genesis from planning a parade of product in the fourth quarter of the year, including a book and a probably DVD and live album.

Guitarist Mike Rutherford tells Billboard.com that "a guy's filmed every breath I've taken since the first meeting in New York last October," and that Genesis will be filming its concert Saturday at the Circo Massimo in Rome, which closes out the European leg of the Turn It On Again Tour.

"We're gonna film that one for a DVD and probably have a live album out from the tour as well," Rutherford says, guessing that they'll probably come out "this year, I'm sure. It makes sense to have it this year." Genesis is also releasing soundboard CDs from each concert via the Encore Series at the web site themusic.com.

Also coming this fall is a new book, "Genesis Chapter and Verse," which will present the official biography of the band including interviews with Rutherford, Phil Collins and Tony Banks as well as Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, plus managers and others associated with the group. The late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun gave one of his final interviews for the tome.

"It's a nice book, actually," Rutherford reports. "My wife read it and couldn't put it down. It had an effect on me, too, reading all that stuff you say about each other. It kind of brought it to the front of your mind how kind of special the way we work is and has been -- the way we write, the way we get on so well, the way we've done things. I think it made us appreciate what a great journey it's been and what fun it still is."

Genesis continues the journey on Sept. 7, when the North American leg of the reunion tour begins. What will happen after those 20 shows, however, is anybody's guess, according to Rutherford.

"At the moment we're avoiding making long-term plans," he notes. A reunion that includes Gabriel and Hackett is still a possibility, but Rutherford says a full-scale reactivation of any form of Genesis is unlikely.

"It's not like we reformed the band and we're going to get back and do an album," he explains. "But that doesn't mean we can't do stuff together -- but in a slightly different way. We're having a very good time. We're enjoying ourselves, and so we'll talk when we get there about what else we might do rather than map this big, long plan out."

Oscar campaigns crop up in summer's heat

LOS ANGELES — Summer: It's not just for blockbusters anymore.

In the wake of the awards-season success of movies such as Crash and Little Miss Sunshine, studios are not only releasing fall-like fare in the summer, they're also hatching Academy Award campaigns.

With last week's release of the war film Rescue Dawn, at least a half-dozen movies have come out this year that studio execs consider Oscar bait. They include the dramas The Namesake, Away From Her, Once and the comedy Waitress. Most have received rave reviews if not big box-office returns.

And some analysts say favorites already have emerged in the documentary and animated categories in Michael Moore's Sicko and Disney's Ratatouille, which have earned recommendations from more than 90% of the nation's critics and enjoyed solid ticket sales.

"I think we've seen a sea change of when movies can come out," says Rick Sands, chief operating officer of MGM, which released Rescue. "After Crash, no one thought you had to wait until November and December to get the academy's attention."

So studios already are vying for that attention. Last month, Fox Searchlight began offering passes for academy and industry guild members to see Waitress and Once free in theaters, a privilege studios usually withhold until fall.

And Searchlight is holding on to its Indian drama The Namesake an extraordinary nine months before releasing it on DVD, hoping to flood voters with home videos — a tactic that helped Crash win the best-picture Oscar and Sunshine earn four nominations.

"The voters seem to have longer memories, and that's an encouraging trend," says Nancy Utley, Searchlight's co-chief operating officer. "It doesn't matter anymore when your film was released theatrically. The DVD gives them a reminder, and you get a second wave of publicity."

Tom O'Neil, the author of Movie Award and columnist for The Envelope awards website, says the early-release strategy is becoming more effective as voters become overwhelmed by the crush of films in fall.

"Oscar voters are essentially lazy," he says. "They spend their lives by a pool. So if you can get them a DVD that lets them stay at home and watch it on their home theater, all the better."

David Poland of MovieCityNews.com says the summer strategy will work only if the film has the goods.

"And they haven't, so far," he says. "The studios may start making an Oscar push earlier, but that doesn't mean it will work. None of these have taken off in theaters the way Crash did. You have to have more than strategy. You have to have the movie to go with it."

Looney Tunes adds 60 more shorts!!

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment is planning on releasing another volume of their top tier Looney Tunes Golden Collection. Volume 5 will add 60 more shorts, bringing the total on the sets to 296. That leaves about 150 still out there to be released in future sets.

Like previous sets, each disc will take some theme. In this case disc 1 celebrates team-ups with Bugs and Daffy. Disc 2 is Looney Fairy Tales. Disc 3 is Robert Clampett cartoons and disc 4 features more Porky Pig.

The discs will come with many features, but all that is known to be included now is the 2000 PBS documentary.

The set is set for an October 30th release with a suggested retail price of $64.92.

Sammy Hagar gets the party rollin'

The first round of dates have been announced for Sammy Hagar's upcoming US tour, which will take the Red Rocker well into next year.

Hagar has a couple of West Coast dates in September before officially kicking off the outing in October at his annual birthday bash in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The initial run of shows will stick close to the South and Midwest through mid-November. Two-night stands are booked in Dallas and St. Louis. Details are listed below.

The full tour is expected to hit 60 cities, with a finale July 12, 2008, in St. Louis, according to a press release.

The shows will open with former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony's band, Mad Anthony Express, performing early VH numbers and rock classics, followed by Hagar's Los Tres Gusanos playing his early songs. Hagar and Anthony will then take the stage together as The Other Half (of Van Halen), playing VH tunes from the Hagar era.

The singer/guitarist also plans to stuff his Cabo Wabo Village into the indoor venues on the trek. The Village--filled with bikini-clad girls, bodybuilders, mariachi bands, contests and other attractions--accompanied Hagar on last summer's outdoor Livin' It Up! Tour.

Hagar and the Wabos are supporting their latest set, last year's "Livin' It Up!," which comprises party covers like Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar," and Kenny Chesney's "One Sip," alongside originals including "Sam I Am" and "Living on a Coastline."

Last month, the band released "Livin' It Up! in St. Louis," a DVD that includes live footage from the 2006 show, plus interviews, tour footage and music videos. A song from the DVD is streaming at Hagar's MySpace page.

Last week, Hagar released his new single, "Open," to rock and classic-rock radio.

Between his solo career, his early stint with Ronnie Montrose and his 11 years with Van Halen, Hagar's record sales have exceeded 60 million, according to a press release. In March, he was inducted into the Rock and Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.

September 2007
15 - Phoenix, AZ - US Airways Center
29 - Novato, CA - Stafford Lake

October 2007
19 - Biloxi, MS - Beau Rivage Resort & Casino
20 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
23-24 - Dallas, TX - Lakewood Theatre
25 -Tulsa, OK - Brady Theatre
27 - Bloomington, IL - Theatre at US Cellular Coliseum
28 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
31 - South Bend, IN - Morris Performing Arts Center

November 2007
2 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre
4 - Grand Rapids, MI - Devos Hall
6 - Green Bay, WI - Oneida Casino
7 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre
10 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
11 - Joliet, IL - Rialto
13-14 - St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
16 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre

July 2008
12 - St. Louis, MO - Busch Stadium

Ed Mirvish dies at 92

TORONTO (CP) - A legendary figure in the Toronto retail and theatre business has died at the age of 92.

Ed Mirvish who died early Wednesday morning in a Toronto hospital was best known for his Honest Ed's discount store and his efforts to revitalize Toronto's theatre district.

The sprawling store in downtown Toronto sold just about everything - groceries, housewares, clothes and kitsch.

He entered the theatrical business when he purchased and saved from demolition the stately Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto in 1963. He also bought and restored the Old Vic in London, England, and with his son, David Mirvish, built the award-winning Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto in 1993.

His theatres introduced Toronto audiences to blockbusters like "The Lion King," "Mamma Mia" and "Miss Saigon."

Born July 24, 1914, in Colonial Beach, Va., Mirvish came to Toronto in 1923 where he and his family lived above their downtown Dundas Street grocery. He was 15 when his father died and he dropped out of school to support his family.

Over the years, Mirvish picked up a handful of honorary degrees and awards, including the Order of Canada and the Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

"It's wonderful to go from Dundas Street to Buckingham Palace, but what is really wonderful is to be lucky enough to live in a country where this is possible," Mirvish said in 1989 before he was presented the CBE by the Queen.

Mirvish married Anne Maklin of Hamilton in 1940.

Mirvish opened his discount emporium in 1948 at Bathurst and Bloor - the heart Toronto's immigrant district. His first newspaper ad read: "Our building is a dump! Our service is rotten! . . . But. . ..

! Our prices are the lowest in town!"

He once said he named his store Honest Ed's because "it was so ridiculous. As soon as you claim to be honest, everybody gets suspicious."

By the 1950s, the store, which sported 23,000 light bulbs and took up an entire city block, had become so successful that neighbours were complaining about noise and traffic.

In 1962, Mirvish, who admitted he knew nothing about theatre, bought the Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street and spent $500,000 restoring the 1907 theatre to its former glory.

Soon he added restaurateur to his expanding list of accomplishments with the opening of Ed's Warehouse on King, a 180-seat restaurant that only served roast beef. Eventually, his restaurant empire included 10 dining rooms.

In 2003, one of Mirvish's restaurants, Old Ed's, was transformed into the Toronto Antique Market.

Next Mirvish, and his only son David, who together formed Mirvish Productions, took the family Midas Touch to London, buying the Old Vic theatre for $1.23 million in 1982.

While the Times newspaper in London hailed Mirvish as a Toronto Medici, he was a puzzle to many Brits.

"We do not have characters like that in Britain," wrote Guardian drama critic Michael Billington. "He is a salesman - a fascinating, buccaneering tycoon."

Mirvish, who was distinguished by his flamboyance and shrewd business acumen, was also well-known for his generosity.

During the SARS outbreaks in Toronto in the spring, Mirvish and his son were instrumental in assembling a deep-discount package meant to revive the city's lagging tourism and economy. All 120,000 of the $125-or $85-packages sold out in 10 days.

At his annual birthday bash, to which everyone was welcome, there were free hotdogs, rides and cake. And each Christmas, people would line up overnight outside Honest Ed's for a free turkey and fruit cake. Sometimes they waited 24 hours.

Russell Lazar, Mirvish's assistant and manager of Honest Ed's for 45 years, said despite his wealth and fame, Mirvish always considered himself a shopkeeper.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Report: Pavarotti doing well 36 minutes ago

ROME - Luciano Pavarotti is "fighting like a lion" against his pancreatic cancer and is reacting well to radiotherapy, his wife told an Italian newspaper.

"I can now say he is doing well," Nicoletta Mantovani said in an interview published Wednesday in the Italian daily La Stampa.

The 71-year-old opera star underwent surgery after doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass last year.

"He's reacting well to a fifth cycle of radiotherapy. He's fighting like a lion and he has never lost his heart, also because a family he adores is by his side," Mantovani said.

"He's determined and results are encouraging," she said. "Despite the heavy treatment he has not lost weight — which by the way he would have liked — or his hair."

Mantovani spoke from the Italian resort island of Ischia, where she picked up a music award for her husband.

Earlier this month, Diva e Donna, an Italian women's magazine, quoted one of Pavarotti's daughters, Giuliana, as saying her father "knows he will die soon." Mantovani said the quotes were taken out of context.

Last week, Pavarotti's manager said the famed tenor was teaching and working on a recording of sacred music. According to Mantovani, he is also considering resuming the "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concert that used to take place annually in his hometown of Modena, Italy.

Timbaland says Furtado engaged

TORONTO (CP) - Canadian superstar Nelly Furtado is engaged, her friend and music producer Timbaland has told People magazine.

The celebrity magazine reports that the U.S. hitmaker gave a one-word reply when asked if rumours of an impending wedding were true: "Yes."

The Victoria-bred Furtado was spotted brandishing a diamond on her left ring finger at the Concert for Diana in London last week, fuelling speculation that she's planning to get hitched.

The 28-year-old has been linked to Demacio (Demo) Castellon, a sound engineer who worked with Timbaland on Furtado's hit album "Loose."

Furtado, who has a three-year-old daughter, has largely kept her personal life out of the spotlight.

Her publicist has refused to comment on the reports.

British novelist writes new James Bond book

British novelist Sebastian Faulks has written a new James Bond novel to mark the centenary of creator Ian Fleming's birth, Fleming's family announced Wednesday.

The new 007 adventure, Devil May Care, will be published May 28, 2008, on what would have been Fleming's 100th birthday. The Fleming estate said the novel is set during the Cold War and involves espionage across two continents in "several of the world's most thrilling cities."

The family announced last year that it had commissioned a "well known and highly respected" writer to create a new adventure for the suave superspy, but had kept the author's identity secret.

Speculation had centred on thriller writers including John LeCarre and Frederick Forsyth.

Faulks, 54, is best known for a trilogy of novels set in France — The Girl at the Lion d'Or, the First World War saga Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, a Second World War Resistance story that was made into a movie starring Cate Blanchett.

Faulks said he was surprised but flattered to have been chosen.

Rereading Fleming's novels, he said, "I was surprised by how well the books stood up."

"I put this down to three things: the sense of jeopardy Fleming creates about his solitary hero; a certain playfulness in the narrative details; and a crisp, journalistic style that hasn't dated," Faulks said.

Faulks said his book's style was "about 80 per cent Fleming."

"I didn't go the final distance for fear of straying into pastiche, but I strictly observed his rules of chapter and sentence construction. My novel is meant to stand in the line of Fleming's own books, where the story is everything.

"I hope people will enjoy reading it and that Ian Fleming would consider it to be in the cavalier spirit of his own novels and therefore an acceptable addition to the line," he added.

First introduced in 1953

Fleming, a journalist and wartime intelligence officer, introduced James Bond in Casino Royale in 1953.

The stylish, womanizing spy went on to appear in 13 more books, the last of which, Octopussy and the Living Daylights, was published in 1966, two years after Fleming's death.

Other writers have since written Bond books, including Kingsley Amis — who published Colonel Sun in 1968 under the pseudonym Robert Markham — and Charlie Higson, who imagines the spy as a teenager in his series of Young Bond novels.

Corinne Turner, managing director of the family-owned Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., said the family was delighted with Faulks's manuscript and that Barbara Broccoli, producer of the Bond films, had been impressed by its verisimilitude.

There was no word on whether Devil May Care would be filmed. All Fleming's original Bond novels have been turned into movies, most recently last year's Casino Royale.

Devil May Care will be published in Britain by Penguin and in the United States by Doubleday.

Kreviazuk sorry over Lavigne flap

VANCOUVER (CP) - Days after being threatened with legal action by pop star Avril Lavigne, singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk is apologizing for suggesting the chart-topper stole her song.

Kreviazuk said Tuesday she never intended to call Lavigne's songwriting ability or ethics into question when she spoke with Performing Songwriter Magazine last month. The Winnipeg songwriter retracted quotes that implied she wrote a song called "Contagious" on Lavigne's latest disc but was never credited.

"When I saw the track listing to Avril's new record, it caught my attention that she had the same title as a song I had sent her a while back," Kreviazuk says in a statement issued by her and Lavigne's record label, Nettwerk Music Group.

"When I heard it, I immediately realized it was a coincidence. The songs have nothing in common.... My statements and any inference from my statements, which call into question Avril's ethics or ability as a respected and acclaimed songwriter, should be disregarded and are retracted."

Last week, Lavigne said she was considering taking legal action over the comments, insisting that she wrote the track with songwriter Evan Taubenfeld.

The allegations came as Lavigne was targeted in a copyright suit by U.S. pop group The Rubinoos, who allege her song "Girlfriend" sounds suspiciously like their '70s single, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."

New CD Releases, July 10: Smashing Pumpkins, Crowded House, Interpol

The Smashing Pumpkins "Zeitgeist"

The influential alt-rockers return from a seven-year hiatus and finally deliver their sixth album. "Zeitgeist" is the band's first new full-length since 2000's "Machina/The Machines of God."

The re-tooled Pumpkins--which feature vocalist-guitarist Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, but not guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky--are busily supporting "Zeitgeist." Having recently completed a lengthy residency at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, and appeared at the mega Live Earth concert, the group will next conduct an 11-night stand at the famed Fillmore in San Francisco beginning July 15.

* * *
Crowded House "Time on Earth"

The band that once instructed fans "Don't Dream It's Over" is now telling us that, indeed, it's not over. The Australian group, which features Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Mark Hart, has reunited and will mount its first headlining tour in more than 10 years.

Crowded House will be supporting its new album, "Time on Earth," during a North American tour that begins Aug. 4 in Northampton, MA, and features singer/songwriter Pete Yorn on most dates.

Longtime Crowded House drummer Paul Hester committed suicide in 2005.

* * *
Interpol "Our Love to Admire"

The New York troupe is back with a follow-up to its critically acclaimed sophomore set, 2004's "Antics." The first single from "Our Love to Admire," titled "The Heinrich Maneuver," was released in early May.

Having completed a late-spring tour, these road warriors will again take to the highway to support "Our Love to Admire." The band kicks off its next headlining trek on July 19 in Rochester, NY. The outing will include an Aug. 4 appearance at Chicago's Lollapalooza Festival.

* * *
Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

The Austin, TX, quartet hopes that fans will indeed go "Ga Ga" over its sixth full-length release, which follows 2005's "Gimme Fiction." The indie-popsters will support "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" with a North American tour that includes a load of festival dates, such as Aug. 4 and 5 appearances at, respectively, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Virgin Festival in Baltimore, MD.

* * *
Various Artists "Hairspray"

Things have come full circle for "Hairspray." It was originally a movie that inspired a hit Broadway show, which, in turn, has now inspired another major motion picture. This movie soundtrack includes contributions from John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah and other stars who appear in the film.

* * *

Other new releases:
Aly and AJ, "Insomniatic" (Hollywood)
Bad Religion, "New Maps of Hell" (Epitaph)
Danzig, "The Lost Tracks of Danzig" (Megaforce)
Nick Drake, "Family Tree" (Tsunami)
Gogol Bordello, "Super Taranta" (Side One Dummy)
Jason Isbell, "Sirens of the Ditch" (New West)
Mike Jones, "The American Dream" (Ice Age)
Justice, "Cross" (Vice)
The Monkees, "Headquarters" (Rhino)
The Monkees, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones" (Rhino)
Patton Oswalt, "Werewolves and Lollipops" (Sub Pop)
Kim Richey, "Chinese Boxes" (Vanguard)
Ulrich Schnauss, "Goodbye" (Domino)
Stephen Stills, "Just Roll Tape: April 26th 1968" (Rhino)
They Might Be Giants, "The Else" (Idlewild)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (Warner Bros.)

Rowling on 8th Potter Book: "Never Say Never"

Author J.K. Rowling has apparently left the door ajar for an eighth Harry Potter novel.

Asked during a BBC interview Friday night about the possibility of reviving the series in the future, Rowling reiterated that her seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, to be published on July 21, will be the last, but she added that her motto has always been "never say never."

A spokesman for Rowling said Sunday: "It's not saying that she definitely is [going to write another Potter book], and it's not saying that she definitely isn't. I cannot comment further."

Meanwhile, the British bookstore chain Waterstone's launched an online petition Sunday that begins with the words, "We, the undersigned, petition J. K. Rowling to write more new adventures for Harry Potter and his friends no matter what happens at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

And what if Rowling kills off Harry in the final book?

Well, the bookstore observed, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes in 1893 in The Adventure of the Final Problem but brought him back to life after a public outcry.

Sony slashes Playstation price in Canada

Sony has slashed the price of its current PlayStation 3 by $100 in Canada and introduced a high-capacity model in an effort to spur sales of the struggling video game console.

Starting Monday, the current 60-gigabyte model will cost $549, down from $649. In the United States, the same model will be priced at $499 US, reduced from $599.

The Japanese electronics maker also said it is introducing a new version of the PlayStation 3 with a bigger hard drive for storing downloaded content such as video games and high-definition movies. The new PS3 increases the system's storage capacity to 80 GB from 60 GB and includes a retail copy of the online racing title MotorStorm, a company spokesman said. It will be priced at $659 in Canada, and $599 US in the United States.

The larger capacity machine won't be available in the United States and Canada until August.

It plays into the company's upcoming strategy of eventually offering downloaded high-definition movies, video games, movie trailers and demos, Sony spokesman David Karraker said.

Karraker said further details on high-definition movies for download would be released at a later date.

The announcement comes two days before the E3 Media & Business Summit in Santa Monica, Calif., where dozens of industry heavyweights including Sony rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. are expected to show off their latest games and related products.

Nintendo's Wii outpacing PS3

Sony has said it sold 3.6 million PS3s in the fiscal year ending March 31 and expects to sell another 11 million in the current fiscal year. Microsoft said in its most recent quarterly earnings report filed in April that it had shipped 11 million Xbox 360s.

Nintendo, meanwhile, claims it has sold nearly six million Wiis worldwide as of March 31 and more than 40 million Nintendo DS handhelds. The company has predicted it will sell another 14 million Wiis and 22 million additional DS systems by the end of the current fiscal year.

The Wii and PS3 were released within days of each other late last year. Microsoft had a head start in the current generation of consoles, having launched its Xbox 360 in 2005. Last week, the software company announced an extension of the warranty because of the high number of systems suffering from hardware failure, also called the "red ring of death."

In April, Microsoft began selling a version of its Xbox 360 with a 120-GB hard drive and a souped up high-definition video connection. Called Xbox 360 Elite, the black-coloured system sells for $479.99.

Xbox gamers who already own the $399.99 20-GB model can buy a snap-on 120-GB hard drive for $179.99.

Karraker said Sony would use the E3 show to focus on two areas: ways to increase the number of consumers who own PS3s and other products such as the PlayStation Portable handheld system and expanding the system's library of available games.

He said Sony would be releasing 100 new video games during the current fiscal year, including 15 titles that are exclusive to the PS3 such as the hack-and-slash action title Heavenly Sword.

Neil Finn reforms Crowded House

It has been 14 years between studio albums, but Australian pop rock darlings Crowded House are back with their fifth effort, Time On Earth.

Lead singer Neil Finn says reforming the band following its 1996 dissolution wasn't a snap decision.

"I gave it a lot of serious thought before I decided to ring Nick (bassist Nick Seymour) and suggest it to him," Finn says on the line prior to a London gig. "In some ways it had gotten to the point where I knew I wanted to be in a band, it was just deciding whether it was going to be Crowded House or not because I enjoyed the experience of working with Nick."

The rekindling of the pair's friendship and musical partnership was triggered in part by the tragedy surrounding former Crowded House drummer Paul Hester, who took his own life in March 2005 in a Melbourne park at age 46 .

"Events just happen in your life that lead you to other places," Finn says.

"There were a number of things that happened. I guess in some ways losing Paul brought Nick and I back together socially and as friends. Out of that grew the desire to play some music together. There was a feeling that something was there that was still precious and could be worth looking at."

Time On Earth, in stores Tuesday, features 14 tracks although Finn considered paring the album down to 12. While songs like Nobody Wants To, English Trees and She Called Up work well within the Crowded House repertoire, the tender and atmospheric A Sigh is a bit more adventurous.

"We had this beautiful discovery of this ambient guitar stuff that I had written with Jay Joyce a couple of years ago in my studio," Finn says. "It was supposed to be for a film but it didn't make the film. It wasn't any fault of the music. We laid it over the song and it fitted so absolutely perfectly, as if it was made for it."

The group also had to find a drummer for the album and upcoming tour, which hits six Canadian cities in August and September. After auditioning about 45 drummers in 10 days, the band decided on former Beck drummer Matt Sherrod.

"Matt is his own man," Finn says. "I think that was what we like about him and he actually didn't know a lot about Crowded House but he responded to the songs. And it felt very exciting for us. The choice was kind of obvious in the end."

While fans should be satisfied with Time On Earth, there are other releases in the planning stages. A box set featuring unreleased material and rarities is expected sometime in 2008.

"There's a guy in New Zealand who is really dedicated to it and thank Christ for that because none of us would get around to it," Finn says of the project.

"You're only going to do a box set once and asking the fans to shell out for a big set of stuff that they're interested in, you want it to be really good."

After wrapping up their world tour prior to Christmas, Crowded House is planning to return to the studio early in 2008 to work on another album.

"We're very keen to get the new band rocking on record," Finn says.

"We did a little bit of it on this record with the last four songs but it bodes well. I think there's a lot of good future in the band."

The road can be hazardous

Although Crowded House has a busy 2007 planned, the group's initial string of shows this year put it in some odd company and situations.

The band's appearance at California's Coachella festival earlier this year had it playing before a reunited Rage Against The Machine took to the stage. It's a combination that doesn't exactly seem to musically mesh.

"That was an inspired pairing, I thought," Neil Finn says about the show. "It was really great and we had a good time doing it, too. We chose to put ourselves in the belly of the beast and in the end we calmed the savage beast."

The performance, however, included a projectile tossed from the audience, fortunately only striking Finn's microphone stand and knocking it over.

"Really good shot, wasn't it?" he says regarding the incident. "That video on YouTube is really quite a good angle, you can really see the arc of the bottle."

The band's late-June performance at Hyde Park Calling in London also featured a downpour and Finn reportedly chastising a person on stage for making hand gestures.

Only midway through the set was Finn informed that the person was a sign language interpreter for the hearing impaired in the audience, resulting in a quick and humbling apology.

Avril Lavigne fires back

TORONTO (CP) - Avril Lavigne is fighting back against claims she's a songwriting plagiarist.

She takes particular aim at fellow Canadian songstress Chantal Kreviazuk's suggestion that the punk princess swiped one of her tunes for her new album, "The Best Damn Thing."

"Chantal's comments are damaging to my reputation and a clear defamation of my character and I am considering taking legal action," Lavigne wrote on her website (www.avrillavigne.com) late Friday.

Kreviazuk's recent claims to Performing Songwriter magazine are nothing more than sour grapes, Lavigne says, resulting from unsuccessful songwriting collaborations between the two.

"My decision to discontinue working with Chantal after co-writing together on my second record was simply based on the fact that we had no hits together. That is why her name is not on this record, despite her numerous attempts to be included, which were always denied. From my perspective, this is a clear case of bitterness."

Lavigne also alleges that Kreviazuk e-mailed her after the magazine hit the stands to apologize for her suggestion that the song "Contagious" on Lavigne's latest hit album was hers.

"I forgive her but I have to put the truth out there so my fans are not confused by these false accusations," Lavigne wrote.

Lavigne, repeatedly dogged by accusations she doesn't write her own songs, was equally miffed about being dragged into a legal battle to prove she wrote her chart-topping hit, "Girlfriend."

A pair of U.S. songwriters allege her catchy single sounds suspiciously like a song called "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," released by the Rubinoos in 1979.

The American song features the upbeat chorus: "Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your boyfriend," much like Lavigne's boppy refrain, which declares: "Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend."

"I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on five words," Lavigne wrote. "All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language . . . simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off."

Earlier this week, Lavigne's manager, Terry McBride, scoffed at the charges, calling the suit "baseless" and little more than a "case of legal blackmail."

"Avril's a great songwriter and she's proving it over and over and over again," McBride said from Vancouver, where he runs Nettwerk Music Group. "Avril's very, very sensible. She knows music well. If the chords had been similar, the melodies had been similar, lyrics had been similar . . . she would have gone, 'OK, I can see their point.' But nothing's similar."

Lavigne, who grew up in Napanee, Ont., has also had to deflect accusations from the Matrix, the production team behind hits "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm With You."

Songwriter Lauren Christie told Rolling Stone that Lavigne did little but "change a word here or there," but Lavigne has insisted they crafted the melodies and lyrics together.

"Let it be crystal clear that I have not ripped anyone off or done anything wrong," Lavigne wrote on her website Friday. "I do not deserve this negative press and attention. I take pride in the songs that I write and appreciate the opportunities to work with some great writers and musicians."

Live Earth rocks the globe

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — In a global series of concerts featuring aboriginal dancing, imitation chimpanzee cries and a lot of reunited rock bands, musicians and celebrities called for fans to take action against global warming.

A 24-hour music extravaganza stretching from Sydney, Australia, to New Jersey wrapped up Saturday at Giants Stadium with a performance by the newly reunited Police after a series of concerts spanning seven continents and showcasing more than 100 musical acts.

The concerts, with shows in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, were designed to raise awareness about global warming. Organizers described it as the biggest musical event ever staged, even larger than Live 8 or Live Aid.

The events were inspired and backed by Al Gore, who has made educating the world about global warming his main priority since leaving politics after his losing presidential run. Gore appeared at a number of the events — in one form or another.

In Sydney, he talked to the crowd by video. In Tokyo he appeared in a hologram. And in New Jersey, the former vice president took the stage in person.

Gore called on fans to adhere to a seven-point pledge to tackle global warming including demanding more renewable energy and helping to preserve forests.

“Put all of this energy in your heart and help us solve the climate crisis,” said the former vice president, appearing on stage at the end of the New Jersey concert with his wife Tipper.

The theme at many of the concerts seemed to be that fighting global warming was not about sacrifice as much as it was about making little changes such as buying low-energy light bulbs or unplugging electrical outlets when they are not in use.

The musical acts were interspersed with speakers such as actress Cameron Diaz who said the concert was not about “gloom and doom“ and primatologist Jane Goodall who greeted the crowd with an imitation chimpanzee cry.

Many at the New Jersey show seemed to focus mostly on the music.

The Police were joined by Kanye West and John Mayer for a rendition of “Message in a Bottle” to wrap up the concert. Except for a few words interspersed into an improvised rap section of the song, they stayed away from making any messages.

Hometown rockers Bon Jovi were introduced by Gore who said they were one of the first acts to volunteer when the concerts were announced. The closest that frontman Jon Bon Jovi got to making a statement was calling on fans to “Let them know what New Jersey is all about.” The Giants Stadium show had been billed by concert organizers as a New York event even though it took place in New Jersey.

Rocker Melissa Etheridge pounded out her song “I Need to Wake Up,” which was featured in Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” and won an Oscar for best song earlier this year.

At the London show, the stadium’s nonessential lights were turned off before the closing act — Madonna — came on stage, leaving the concert dark except for the glow of exit lights and the flashes of cameras.

“Let’s hope the concerts that are happening around the world are not just about entertainment, but about starting a revolution,” said Madonna, who sang a song she wrote for Live Earth called “Hey You.”

The Beastie Boys wore their feelings on their sleeves, performing a furious set of their hits in tailored green suits and shades when they took the stage at Wembley Stadium.

Besides The Police, the concerts also featured a reunited Genesis and the Smashing Pumpkins.

The concerts were billed as environmentally friendly with recycling containers dispersed around the stadium, generators running on biofuels and a stage made of recycled tires.

But that did not stop criticism of the event from many who asked why rock stars — with their jet-setting, high-consumption lifestyles — should be asking others to be more environmentally friendly. Others questioned how a concert without a clear-cut goal such as raising money could be effective.

Many of the musicians acknowledged that they were not rock stars when it came to the environment, but said it was important to start a discussion about climate change.

“If you want to peg me as not being entirely eco-friendly, you’ll win,” said John Mayer, speaking to reporters after his set. “We’re just getting together saying ‘We want to be healthier.”’

Rocker Dave Matthews said he tries to go green by driving a hybrid vehicle that uses less gasoline than other vehicles and uses cloth diapers for his new baby.

But Matthews admitted he wasn’t perfect.

“I’m flawed. Cows fart and so do I,” he said, referring to methane gas released by cows that also contributes to global warming.

At other venues around the globe, aboriginal dancers opened the first concert in Sydney, Latin artist Shakira shook her hips in front of a crowd at Hamburg, and Linkin Park entertained fans at a Tokyo concert.

On Rio’s Copacabana Beach, about 400,000 people gathered as the sun set to hear Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray, Pharrell Williams and Brazilian superstar Jorge Ben Jor. And in Johannesburg, the concert ended with the artists and audience clapping out SOS in morse code — a reference to the evening’s theme of answering the call to save the planet.

At the New Jersey concert, the crowd was dotted with people who heeded the call to wear green. Many said they were already taking steps at home to lead a little more green lifestyle, and felt the concert wasn’t just about music.

“It’s cool that whole continents are meeting up. We’re all tied to one another,” said Katie Juron, 24, of Warwick, N.Y. “Everyone is interconnected.”

Clay Aiken involved in airplane spat

TULSA, Okla. - Clay Aiken was involved in an airplane disturbance with another passenger Saturday while en route to Tulsa International Airport, a newspaper reported.

The dispute on a Continental Airlines flight took place between Aiken, who was traveling Saturday morning to a performance at the Brady Theater, and a woman, the Tulsa World reported for Sunday's editions.

Concertgoers who attended the ormer "American Idol" singer's show said afterward that Aiken joked on-stage about being beaten up by a girl earlier in the day.

FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson said there was a dispute between a male passenger and a woman on the flight but could not confirm the passenger was Aiken. He said the dispute was over the male passenger's foot resting on the woman's armrest. He said there was an allegation the woman gave the male passenger a "minor shove" during the argument.

"At that point the flight crew was able to resolve the situation," Johnson said.

Tulsa Airport Authority spokeswoman Alexis Higgins said the passengers were held until FBI agents arrived to interview them. No injuries were reported and no arrests were made.

Aiken was runner-up on the TV talent show "American Idol" in 2003.

Telephone calls and e-mails from The Associated Press to Aiken's publicist and manager in Los Angeles were not returned Sunday.

'Transformers' generates $67.6 million

LOS ANGELES - The shape-shifting robots of "Transformers" have taken on a new form: Huge piles of cash.

The sci-fi saga "Transformers," DreamWorks and Paramount's big-screen take on the Hasbro toys, debuted with $67.6 million in ticket sales in its first weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. That gave it $152.5 million since opening with preview screenings Monday night.

If the weekend figures hold when final numbers are released Monday, that would give "Transformers" the biggest first week revenues ever for a non-sequel, surpassing the $151.6 million of 2002's "Spider-Man." But factoring in today's higher ticket prices, "Spider-Man" drew more people in its first week, about 26.1 million, compared to 22.5 million for "Transformers."

"Transformers," was directed by Michael Bay and features a cast led by Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, who are among the humans hurled into the action when two races of warring robots bring their feud to Earth.

The movie's striking visual effects and the Transformers brand — which debuted in the 1980s with toys, a TV show and an animated movie — proved irresistible for audiences, said Rob Moore, Paramount's head of worldwide marketing and distribution.

"Michael Bay created something visually that people hadn't seen before," Moore said. "When you look at a jet plane flying under a bridge then flipping and turning into a robot, those kinds of images people found incredibly unique and compelling."

"Transformers" also took in $93.6 million in 23 other countries where it has opened since June 28.

However, the overall domestic box office plunged. The top 12 movies took in $161.5 million, down 23 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" opened with what was then a record weekend of $135.6 million.

"The good news is we've got another big one right around the corner with 'Harry Potter,'" said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "We should be looking at a strong midsummer boost that'll hopefully carry through to the end of summer."

The weekend's other new wide release, the Warner Bros. comedy "License to Wed," took fourth place with $10.4 million, raising its total since debuting Tuesday to $17.8 million. It stars Robin Williams as a minister who forces an engaged couple (Mandy Moore and John Krasinski) through a tortuous marital boot camp.

The previous weekend's No. 1 flick, Disney's animated "Ratatouille," dropped to second place with $29 million, raising its 10-day total to $109.5 million. "Ratatouille" held up well in its second weekend as revenues fell just 38 percent, compared to drops of 50 percent or more for many other big summer movies.

Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" took in $3 million to climb to $301.7 million domestically, following Sony's "Spider-Man 3" and DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" as $300 million hits this year.

In limited release, MGM's "Rescue Dawn" debuted strongly with $104,000 in six theaters. It stars Christian Bale in the real-life story of a U.S. pilot struggling to survive after he's shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War.

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

1. "Transformers," $67.6 million.
2. "Ratatouille," $29 million.
3. "Live Free or Die Hard," $17.4 million.
4. "License to Wed," $10.4 million.
5. "Evan Almighty," $8.1 million.
6. "1408," $7.1 million.
7. "Knocked Up," $5.2 million.
8. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," $4.15 million.
9. "Sicko," $3.65 million.
10. "Ocean's Thirteen," $3.5 million.

The Couch Potato Report - July 7th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels monkey warfare, Miss Potter, two "classic" TV shows and the dignity of the nobodies.

MONKEY WARFARE was named Best Canadian Feature Film and given a Special Jury Citation at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and it is about two ex-revolutionaries from Vancouver, with a less than law abiding past, who are now living underground and off the grid in Toronto.

Dan and Linda earn money by scavenging through the garbage and selling their discoveries on the internet.

And to them, they are living a happy, very satisfying life.

Then Dan befriends a young drug dealer named Susan, and her rebellious ambitions could expose the couple's troubled past.

While most films today shoot for months and have budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars, MONKEY WARFARE was shot in two weeks with the film's thirty thousand dollar budget borrowed from the director's line of credit.

That makes it very low budget.

It is also very Canadian, due to it's locations, dialogue and references, and, at times it is very good.

But for some reason, even though the movie is only seventy-five minutes long, it just can't sustain that good for very long before it gets slow, boring and uninteresting.

Luckily it only goes down that road a few times, and never for very long.

Okay, bottom line, I liked it.

I liked that it was low budget, and Canadian, and I was interested enough in the characters to hope that everything worked out for them in the end.

MONKEY WARFARE isn't a great movie, and due to it's drug references and language, it might not be for everyone, but if you see it in your local movie store, I say give it a shot.

If you see it there...most stores these days don't carry many low budget Canadian films...but that is a topic for another time.

Our next movie is one that is so cheery, so postivie, so polite, and so nice that I can't believe I liked it because I usually like films that have a bit of an edge to them.

But I did...I did like MISS POTTER.

MISS POTTER is "based-on-the-true-story" of Beatrix Potter, the author of the timeless, beloved and best-selling children's book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", and her struggle for love, happiness and success as she attempts to get her books published.

Ewan MacGregor is the book publisher and Renee Zellweger plays Beatrix Potter in this movie that is just delightful.

Potter's life wasn't all sunshine, roses and beautiful, and this film does show the lows as well as the highs, and those lows are heartbreaking and moving.

The actors all seem to really be enjoying themselves and as a result, I enjoyed myself too, and their film.

I wouldn't call MISS POTTER one of the best films of the year, but I did really enjoy it.

Okay, up next this week are two DVD box sets for two classic television shows.

The five-disc set for the last season of MIAMI VICE and the six-disc set for the first season of CHiPs.

CHiPs is a police drama about the adventures of Ponch and John, two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers.

It ran from September 15th, 1977, until July 17th, 1983, for a total of 6 seasons.

Unlike some other shows from the seventies that get released on DVD, CHiPs - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is very well done and it features the actual episodes as they first aired, with all of the original music and title sequences.

CHiPs is the final great tv show from the 1970s to make it to DVD, and I am glad that we now have it to add to our libraries...just as I continue to be glad the 1980s show MIAMI VICE is available on DVD.

In fact, MIAMI VICE: SEASON FIVE is the final DVD set for the series because after five trendsetting seasons the show went off the air with an exposive finale and this set allows us to have the complete series at our disposal to watch anytime we'd like.

For me, that is often.

I loved MIAMI VICE when it aired, and I love it now.

Finally this week, with the opening of the TRANSFORMERS movie in theatres this week, the action filled, very loud, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie season continues.

If you'd prefer an alternative, each week during the summer movie season I will tell you about at least one current release on DVD that you'll need your brain to enjoy.

Welcome back to our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL!

The FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the very moving film THE DIGNITY OF THE NOBODIES from Argentina.

This documentary introduces us to some of the poor and dispossessed people of Argentina and their recent increasingly successful battles against neo-liberalism and globalization.

We also see their ongoing problems due to repossessed farms, enormous poverty, widespread joblessness, and a socialized health care system in chaos.

THE DIGNITY OF THE NOBODIES goes all across Argentina to tell its story and it is presented as a series of specific portraits, or sketches of situations as seen through the experiences of individuals.

We meet a woman whose only wish in the world is that she could send her kids to school.

A doctor who can't understand why people can't get the medicine they need.

And a family who were forced to sell their farm for less than it was worth when they didn't get the help they needed after the Father had a stroke and couldn't work anymore.

But there are also some positive stories as well!

Toba is a teacher who runs a free food kitchen.

He saved the life of Martin, a delivery man who was shot by police at a 2001 police riot.

Postive stories...negative stories...human stories...they are all contained in this very interesting film.

THE DIGNITY OF THE NOBODIES, Season Five of MIAMI VICE, Season One of CHIPS, MISS POTTER and the Canadian film MONKEY WARFARE are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

At this point a jury of nine women and three men are still deliberating in the court case against former Canadian media baron Conrad Black and the film CITIZEN BLACK is a documentary that chronicles Black's downfall during the most tumultuous period of his life. A period that lead to the recent trial.

The Canadian film PARTITION is a love story played out against a backdrop of political and religious upheaval.

Billy Bob Thornton stars in THE ASTRONAUT FARMER as a farmer who builds his own rocket.

And our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with ESMA'S SECRET, a movie from Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany and Croatia.

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

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Foo Fighters Let It Rip On Sixth Album

"It has always been my dream to mix Steely Dan with No Means No," Dave Grohl tells Billboard of the eclectic sound of the sixth Foo Fighters album, tentatively titled "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace" and due Sept. 25 via RCA. "If anybody is going to do it, I'd love to be that guy."

Indeed, the 12-song set may throw some fans for a loop, as tracks like "Let It Die" and "Erase Replace" make drastic stylistic shifts in a matter of seconds. "There's four-piece rock band sh*t, but then there are songs where the middle sections turn into this mass orchestrated swarm and ridiculous time signatures," Grohl says of the new material.

Among the rockers sure to sizzle in arenas this fall are opener "The Pretender" ("It's a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song, with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it") and "Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup Is Running" ("That will make festival grounds stomp really hard").

At the other end of the spectrum, "The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" finds Grohl and guest guitarist Kaki King flexing their fingerpicking. "This song is almost banjo-picking style with hammer-ons and pull-offs," Grohl says. "I showed it to her once and she shredded it 10 times better than I've ever played it."

That song was inspired by two Tasmanian miners who were tapped underground for two weeks and, while awaiting rescue, requested an iPod with Foo Fighters music on it to help lift their spirits. Grohl was alerted of the situation by a staffer at the band's Australian record company and wrote a note to the two men.

"I was in tears, man," he recalls. "I said, 'Hey guys, it's Dave. You're in our thoughts and prayers. When you get out, there's two tickets and two cold beers waiting for you wherever you want to see the band.'"

The men were eventually brought to safety, and when one of them came to see the Foos play the Sydney Opera House, "I thought I'd write something for him," Grohl says. "I came up with this little instrumental thing. After the show, we went and got f*ckin' wasted in the hotel bar and I was like, 'Dude, I promise I'm going to put this on the record.'"

After some one-off shows this summer, the Foos will play U.S. gigs in September and October, followed by arenas in the United Kingdom in November and Australia in December. Another U.S. run is on tap for early spring. "The last American tour we did was the one with Weezer [in 2005]," Grohl says. "We need to get back to Fargo and Tulsa -- places like that. We need to bring it all back."

Here is the track list for "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace":

"The Pretender"
"Let It Die"
"Erase Replace"
"Long Road to Ruin"
"Come Alive"
"Stranger Things Have Happened"
"Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup Is Running"
"Summer's End"
"The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners"
"Statues"
"But Honestly"
"Home"

"Transformers" audiences get peek at new disaster pic

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While unleashing "Transformers" onscreen this week, Paramount also lifted the lid on a top-secret project in the form of a teaser trailer for a new film, "Cloverfield."

"Cloverfield," which revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people, is being produced by "Lost" co-creator J.J. Abrams. It is being directed by Matt Reeves, who co-created "Felicity" with Abrams, and is written by Drew Goddard, who has worked with Abrams on "Lost" and "Alias."

Paramount greenlighted the project under a veil of heavy secrecy in February, about the same time that Abrams agreed to take over the directing reins of the new "Star Trek" film.

The casting process was just as mysterious. No scripts or even scene pages were sent out; agents who were contacted were simply asked if their client wanted to be in the movie. Eventually a cast, made up mostly of relative unknowns, was put together; it includes Michael Stahl-David ("The Black Donnellys"), Odet Jasmin, Mike Vogel ("Supercross") and Lizzy Kaplan ("The Class").

The movie, which is believed to have a relatively modest budget of about $30 million, began shooting in mid-June in New York. With "Transformers" generating huge tracking numbers in the weeks before its release, the studio decided to put footage from "Cloverfield" in a teaser in front of "Transformers" to build buzz.

After presenting the Paramount and Bad Robot logos -- Bad Robot being Abrams' shingle -- the trailer opens with scenes from a surprise going-away party in a New York bar with a view of the city. Before long, a thundering roar is heard, and by the time guests run downstairs, pandemonium and flaming debris are hitting the streets. After a huge explosion at the lower end of Manhattan, what appears to be the head of the Statue of Liberty comes hurtling up the street like a giant projectile.

The trailer's footage is shot by a hand-held camera, home-movie style, giving it a sort of "Armageddon" meets "The Blair Witch Project" feel, though it is not clear if the entire movie follows that style. While the trailer does not reveal the name of the movie, it does announce a release date of January 18.

Several copies of the trailer, seemingly shot in theaters with a camcorder, were posted on YouTube by Thursday morning. But by Thursday afternoon, some of those links had been taken down, replaced by an advisory saying, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Paramount Pictures Corp."

Tony Parker and Eva Longoria get married

PARIS - Professional basketball star Tony Parker married "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria at a civil ceremony in Paris on Friday — a prelude to their expected star-studded weekend wedding bash at a lavish and storied chateau.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe officiated and gave a speech saying how happy he was that they were married in the City of Light, said the mayor of Paris' 4th District, Dominique Bertinotti.

Longoria, 32, showed up first in a white stretch limo, wearing a way-above-the-knee pink Chanel dress with striped black and white straps. She was accompanied by about eight guests in cream, pink and purple dresses. She turned, smiled and waved for the crowd of waiting photographers and reporters who were kept well back behind two rows of police barriers.

Longoria then changed into a short white dress for the ceremony, said Bertinotti — whose office acted as the dressing room.

Parker, the 25-year-old San Antonio Spurs star who was born in Belgium and grew up playing basketball in France, arrived about 10 minutes later in a gray minivan, wearing a dark suit. He went straight in without waving. French soccer star Thierry Henry was in his group.

In between, other guests arrived in a Humvee stretch limo.

The ceremony, in a room with blue-and-white trimmed walls, a French flag and a portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, lasted about 45 minutes. Bertinotti said there was a small reception afterward that also lasted about 45 minutes.

French law requires couples who marry to make their vows official at a city hall, even if they have a church wedding as well.

Parker translated Delanoe's speech into English for the guests, who numbered about 40.

"It was very joyous, very nice," Bertinotti said. "The atmosphere was very warm and very authentic."

The couple left in a black Mercedes sedan with tinted windows.

They were thought to be planning a second wedding ceremony Saturday at a Paris church that used to serve French royals. Then, they and their guests were to party at Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th century chateau 34 miles southeast of Paris.

In an interview with Le Parisien published Friday, Parker said he was eager to have kids.

"That would be even better than my NBA titles, even if I don't compare private life and sports," he told the newspaper. "Eva talks to me about it all the time. I'd like to have girls, because I come from a world of boys."

He also said he considers himself "the luckiest guy in the world."

Live Earth keeps spinning - adds 9th gig

SYDNEY, Australia - Like the planet, Live Earth keeps changing.

A ninth venue was added Friday to the global concert series whose worldwide lineup includes Madonna, Metallica, the Police and Kanye West.

Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will headline a show in Washington on the National Mall, about two blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The biggest names will appear at Live Earth concerts in London and the United States, with more modest lineups of mostly local and regional acts in Australia, Japan, China, South Africa, Brazil and Germany.

Live Earth was inspired and is backed by former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to force global warming onto the international political agenda by generating a groundswell of public concern.

But critics say that it lacks achievable goals, and that bringing in jet-setting rock stars in fuel-guzzling airliners to plug in to amplifier stacks and cranking up the sound may send mixed messages about energy conservation.

"The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert," The Who's singer Roger Daltrey recently told a British newspaper.

Organizers say the concerts will be as green as possible, with a tally of energy use being kept. Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient light bulbs and other measures that will offset the shows' greenhouse gas emissions, they say.

"This is going to be the greenest event of its kind, ever," Gore told The Associated Press recently. "The carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come."

More than 150 artists will perform at the eight concerts. Other venues are in Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg and Hamburg. The New York venue is actually being held in East Rutherford, N.J.

In Johannesburg, four-time Grammy nominee Angelique Kidjo offered a tart response to Daltrey's comment. "Criticism is easy," she said. "And there is a kind of fashion of cynical people around us. You are cynical — what the hell are you doing to change the world? Get your butt out there. Do something."

And it is beyond time to do so, she explained.

"Climate change is visible today, we can see that now. And if you can talk to farmers they will tell you that their crops that they are harvesting are not the same as before. That for me is a wake-up call because if we cannot eat, we cannot sustain ourselves. We don't eat cameras, we don't eat cars, we eat food."

Besides some criticism, Live Earth has run into some organizational hiccups. A judge canceled the Brazil concert because of security concerns before reversing the decision just two days before the event, and lukewarm public interest caused a planned show in Istanbul, Turkey to be called off.

Promoter Michael Chugg said on Friday there were still plenty of tickets available for the Sydney show.

But organizers were predicting live broadcasts on cable television and the Internet could reach up to 2 billion people. Scores of short films and public service announcements will be aired giving the audience tips about how to conserve energy and reduce their environmental impact.

Rob Hirst, drummer for Midnight Oil and performing at Live Earth in his new band the Ghostwriters, said at the launch of the Sydney concert lineup that the traditional rock star lifestyle was not eco-friendly.

"Any of the musicians here who've spent 24-to-30 years roaming the globe on planes, trains and automobiles should have a mighty guilt complex about what they've done to the environment," Hirst was quoted as saying by local media.

"But it's not too late to change."

Laid-back rocker Jack Johnson is the only international act in Sydney, which features the reformed 1980s pop group Crowded House as top billers.

The Tokyo concert, featuring artists including Ai Otsuka, Kumi Koda and Linkin Park, comes next, followed by the other cities. Madonna and the Black Eyed Peas topline London, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Alicia Keys are among the acts in the United States.

Networks go deep for Bonds' historic homer

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - When San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's career home-run record, ESPN and Fox Sports aim to bring the occasion to viewers live nationwide.

ESPN and Fox Sports said Thursday that they are negotiating with Major League Baseball for the rights to bring Bonds' at-bats -- and perhaps a game -- to a nationwide audience.

For Fox Sports, that could mean carrying an extra game beyond its Saturday afternoon exclusive package, as it did in September 1998, when it broadcast Mark McGwire's 62nd home run of the season to pass Roger Maris' long-standing record. For ESPN, it would mean carrying live Bonds' at-bats each game as he nears the record.

"Do we have an interest? Absolutely," Fox Sports president Ed Goren said Thursday.

Fox Sports has exclusive rights to the Giants' July 14 game against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. "It would be an appropriate game to set a record," Goren said.

Bonds hit his 751st career home run Tuesday (July 3) against the Cincinnati Reds, putting him four shy of Aaron's record.

ESPN already has the rights to break in to programming and cover historic events like this one if they happen during its regularly scheduled baseball programming -- the Sunday, Monday and Wednesday game windows or ESPN's "Baseball Tonight," which airs several times during the day. The only caveat would be that it couldn't break in and televise something that is exclusively on Fox or the other national TV partner, Turner. TBS will carry three Giants games with the Atlanta Braves July 24-26, but the network said it isn't in negotiations to carry any more.

But ESPN is, senior vp programming strategy Len DeLuca said.

"We are working with MLB, working out the details to be able to cover (Bonds' at-bats) from a certain point," DeLuca said. ESPN carried McGwire's 61st home run of the 1998 season on a Labor Day telecast that ranks as ESPN's highest-rated non-NFL telecast.

Box-office heavy hitters poised for strong weekend

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Transformers" triggered box-office fireworks during the Fourth of July holiday, "Ratatouille" successfully competed against family barbecues, and "Live Free or Die Hard" continued to wave its flag.

With no new wide releases scheduled to open on Friday, the weekend dynamics already are in gear, with the three dominant holiday players on track to extend their winning streaks.

On the Fourth, "Transformers," a DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures co-production, solidified its standing with an estimated $29.1 million gross for the day in 4,011 theaters.

The PG-13 demolition derby, directed by Michael Bay, roared out of the gate Monday with 8 p.m. screenings and grossed $8.8 million. On Tuesday, it pulled in $27.9 million and jumped another 4.3 percent on Wednesday. The domestic cume for "Transformers" now stands at an estimated $65.7 million.

Paramount, which is releasing the film, trumpeted the fact that "Transformers" racked up the biggest July 4 single-day gross in box-office history, beating the $21.95 million that "Spider-Man 2" claimed in 2004.

"Typically, when the Fourth falls on a Wednesday, business goes down," DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy said. "So the fact that it went up is a tremendous surprise to all of us. Certainly, it was a record-breaking Fourth of July."

COOKING UP BUSINESS

Buena Vista Pictures' release of Pixar Animation Studios' "Ratatouille," the G-rated toon directed by Brad Bird and set in a Parisian kitchen, built momentum of its own during the holiday.

The movie bowed the weekend of June 29 in first place with $47 million -- a low number for a Pixar title (last summer's "Cars" arrived to $60.1 million, and Bird's previous film, "The Incredibles," debuted at $70.5 million) -- but "Ratatouille" now appears to be picking up ground.

On Monday, it grossed $7.5 million, the best Monday performance ever for a Pixar movie, outdistancing the $6.95 million that "Finding Nemo" took in on its best Monday. On Tuesday, the food-intoxicated film collected $7.85 million, beating "Nemo's" best Tuesday number of $7.18 million. "Ratatouille" also registered a jump Wednesday and pulled in $10.2 million for the day, the best Wednesday performance for a Pixar movie, supplanting "Toy Story 2's" $9.5 million. As of Wednesday, the critically applauded film had collected an estimated $72.6 million.

After six days, "Ratatouille" was just a shade below the six-day, $73.3 million gross of "Monsters, Inc." and was chasing the six-day, $78 million gross of "Cars."

"When you go in the summer, the proportion of business that comes from weekend business changes," Buena Vista president of distribution Chuck Viane said. "In the fall, 70 percent of the total week's business comes out of the weekend, but in the summer, the weekend accounts for 55 percent to 60 percent of the week's business, with the rest moving to weekdays."

20th Century Fox's "Die Hard" also contributed to the holiday's explosion. The PG-13 actioner -- which opened June 27 -- rolled along, taking in an estimated $4.5 million Tuesday and an estimated $6.1 million Wednesday, bringing its estimated cume to more than $63 million.

NO ALTAR FOR 'WED'

Warner Bros. Pictures' romantic comedy "License to Wed" is heading into the weekend as an also-ran. The PG comedy directed by Ken Kwapis, in which Robin Williams plays a reverend who offers offbeat marital counseling to Mandy Moore and John Krasinski, was positioned as counterprogramming to attract female audiences. But it ran headlong into a slew of withering reviews and has grossed an estimated $5.2 million in 2,401 theaters since opening Tuesday.

For the upcoming three-day portion of what for many Americans is an extended holiday weekend, "Transformers"' haul should total about $60 million. While Paramount continues to downplay expectations -- which has the effect of making the resulting numbers even more impressive -- the movie is on track to coast beyond the $100 million mark and could even surmount the $125 million barrier.

While openings during the Fourth of July week make for inexact comparisons because the holiday falls on different weekdays, "Transformers"' 6 1/2-day gross is guaranteed to beat the $96.1 million that "Independence Day" earned in more than 5 1/2 days in 1996 and the $100.5 million that "War of the Worlds" took in over five days in 2005.

By the end of its first 10 days, "Ratatouille" should cross the $100 million mark with the help of a weekend in the $30 million range. "Die Hard" also should see a three-day gross in the high-teen-million range, which would see its cume rise to the low- to mid-$80 million range.

On the more limited front, Lionsgate Films' release of the Weinstein Co.'s "Sicko," from Michael Moore, added theaters Tuesday to increase its count to 626 locations and will up that to 703 on Friday. Its cumulative gross stands at an estimated $7.2 million.

MGM opened Werner Herzog's war drama "Rescue Dawn" on Wednesday in five theaters in Los Angeles and New York, grossing $37,878 for the day. It will add one theater Friday in Canada.

Warner Independent Pictures introduced the comedy "Introducing the Dwights," directed by Cherie Nowlan and starring Brenda Blethyn, in four theaters on Wednesday to the tune of $11,596.

Fox Searchlight will open the sinister family drama "Joshua," directed by George Ratliff, in six theaters on Friday.

'Sex and the City' movie in the works

NEW YORK - Are Carrie and Mr. Big still together? Did Charlotte adopt a baby from China? How is Miranda liking motherhood? Is Samantha still, uh, keeping things interesting?

Those questions, no doubt occupying the thoughts of many "Sex and the City" fans since the long-running HBO series ended in 2004, may finally be answered — in a much-talked-of but still unrealized feature film spun from the show.

New Line Cinema is close to inking a deal to finance and distribute the film in association with HBO, John Smith, a representative at New Line, confirmed Thursday. Daily Variety reported the news Wednesday. Smith said its report was accurate and did not provide further details.

The four principal actresses — Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon — will reprise their roles. Michael Patrick King, who executive-produced the series, is slated to direct.

The making of a "Sex and the City" movie has been bandied about since the show left the air. There have been reports that the delay was due in some part to Cattrall, who played the sex-obsessed Samantha Jones, asking for a higher salary and creative input.

'Transformers' sets box office record

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hollywood's box office record books have been transformed.

The sci-fi adventure "Transformers" had an unprecedented Tuesday haul of US$27.4 million in its official debut, beating a record of $15.7 million set last year by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"It's the biggest Tuesday ever," said Mike Vollman, spokesman for Paramount, which released "Transformers" along with fellow Viacom Inc. unit DreamWorks. "It's playing very broadly. It's the kind of summer movie that's drawing families and we're very excited for its progress going into the rest of the weekend."

Directed by Michael Bay and based on the Hasbro toys that debuted in the 1980s, "Transformers" chronicles a war between two factions of giant shape-shifting robots that bring their battle to Earth. The human cast co-starring alongside the computer-generated robots includes Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Josh Duhamel and John Turturro.

"Transformers" opened Tuesday in 4,011 theatres nationwide. It also played in preview screenings at 3,050 theatres starting at 8 p.m. Monday, bringing in $8.8 million.

"They had great preview numbers and it's an incredible total for a Tuesday, which is just not known as a big box office day," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The timing on this movie was perfect, with the holiday in the middle of the week. This film has six days plus a preview to stretch its legs."

"Transformers" is positioned to join the ranks of this summer's blockbusters, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Spider-Man 3" and "Shrek the Third," all of which have surpassed or are about to cross the $300 million mark domestically.

A brisk Fourth of July week would help Hollywood recover from a month-long downturn that followed a huge start to summer in May.

"This could be the movie that transforms the summer back into the blockbuster we were hoping it would be," said Dergarabedian.

Avril sued over 'Girlfriend'

TORONTO (CP) - Canadian faux-punk princess Avril Lavigne, repeatedly dogged by accusations she doesn't write her own songs, is now being dragged into a legal battle to prove she penned her chart-topping hit "Girlfriend."

A pair of U.S. songwriters allege her contagious single sounds suspiciously like a song called "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," released by the Rubinoos in 1979.

The American song features the upbeat chorus: "Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your boyfriend," much like Lavigne's boppy refrain, which declares: "Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend."

San Francisco lawyer Nicholas Carlin said Wednesday that the similarities are clear, and accused Lavigne of copying substantial chunks of the song from the one crafted by his client, Rubinoos founder and songwriter Tommy Dunbar.

"She's made a lot of money off of my client's song," Carlin said by phone from northern California, where the claim was filed.

"The entire song is not the same, they have different bridges, but the heart and soul of her song is directly taken from our client's song."

Lavigne's manager, Terry McBride, scoffed at the charges, calling the suit "baseless" and little more than a "case of legal blackmail."

"Avril's a great songwriter and she's proving it over and over and over again," McBride said from Vancouver, where he runs Nettwerk Music Group.

"Avril's very, very sensible. She knows music well. If the chords had been similar, the melodies had been similar, lyrics had been similar ... she would have gone, 'OK, I can see their point.' But nothing's similar."

McBride said the suit was filed July 2 but that he received a draft of the claim roughly six weeks ago.

It names as the plaintiffs songwriters Dunbar and James Gangwer and names Lavigne, Avril Lavigne Publishing, and the 22-year-old's songwriting partner Dr. Luke among the defendants.

While Carlin admitted that the lyrics and melodies differ, he insisted that the main hook of Dunbar's song was ripped off.

"You don't have to have the entire song to be similar to the original song for it to be an infringement. It just requires a certain, substantial similarity, meaning an important part of the song," he explained.

He went on to recite the lyrics to Lavigne's upbeat track, noting they morph from "I don't like your girlfriend" to "I want to be your girlfriend."

McBride said he hired a musicologist to study both tracks and the expert found no basis for the allegations.

"This one came back so solidly on our side it's just ridiculous," he said.

Still, McBride admitted he's considering settling the suit out of court if the costs of defending the case prove too high.

He noted that a similar claim against his client Sarah McLachlan about 10 years ago cost roughly $500,000 to defeat in court. When Nettwerk tried to recoup the costs from the plaintiffs, they declared bankruptcy, he said.

Veteran entertainment lawyer Paul Sanderson said copyright suits are common in the music business and are often settled out of court.

"There used to be a saying in the industry: 'Where there's a hit, there's a writ,' " said Sanderson, a Toronto lawyer who used to represent Lavigne and whose current clients include Chantal Kreviazuk and Ron Sexsmith.

"It really is about the money. If someone thinks that they have a possibility of making some money out of the claim and there's money in the pipeline that's been earned by a song ... there's money there to argue about."

McBride said his current legal battle is "an unfortunate part of this business."

"We will try and settle for costs that will be less than defending," he said. "Emotionally, it sucks. But at the end of the day you have to take that out of it."

The legal blow is just the latest in a series of jabs that question Lavigne's songwriting claims.

Last month, Kreviazuk suggested to Performing Songwriter magazine that Lavigne took credit for a song Kreviazuk wrote called "Contagious."

Kreviazuk told the publication she gave a song called "Contagious" to Lavigne two years ago and was surprised to see a track with the same name on Lavigne's current disc with a credit to Lavigne and songwriter Evan Taubenfeld.

McBride said Kreviazuk has never even heard the Lavigne track and has since retracted her statement.

"I know, personally, she regrets saying what she said," said McBride, adding the songs are nothing alike. "The interviewer obviously got Chantal on a bad day."

Lavigne, who grew up in Napanee, Ont., has also had to deflect accusations from the Matrix, the production team behind hits "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm With You."

Songwriter Lauren Christie told Rolling Stone that Lavigne did little but "change a word here or there," but Lavigne has insisted the pair crafted the melodies and lyrics together.

McBride said the barrage of criticism facing Lavigne is just part of life at the top of the charts.

"Everyone comes after the stars. If Avril was not successful, they wouldn't really care," he said.

Dana Delany Becomes Desperate

Wisteria Lane may be getting a China Beach-inspired makeover.

Two-time Emmy winner Dana Delany is in talks to join the cast of Desperate Housewives next season, playing a fellow wife who moves to the neighborhood with her daughter and much younger husband in tow.

Sounds like a recipe for a Tupperware-full of neighborhood drama.

Delany was reportedly Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry's first choice to play uptight perfectionist Bree Van De Kamp, who obviously has since been embodied by the impeccably tight-lipped Marcia Cross, but Delany, who most recently starred in the quickly canceled NBC serial drama Kidnapped, turned it down.

Cherry is said to be really championing the 51-year-old Delany's addition to the cast of the hit ABC show.

Delany, a native New Yorker, has also made guest appearances on Law & Order: SVU, The L-Word and Battlestar Galactica, and she starred as a high-powered family attorney whose own closet full of skeletons is blown open for all to see on the fleeting Fox drama Pasadena.

Heroes and Big Love actress Lyndsy Fonseca is being eyed to play Delany's daughter, while, according to the Hollywood Reporter, 36-year-old Nathan Fillion is the lucky guy that ABC Studios is trying to tap to play the newest Desperate hubby.

The Canadian-born Fillion has quietly become the leading man of the moment, having first made a name for himself as Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds in the Joss Whedon-created fan favorite Firefly and then reprising his role in the 2005 big-screen offshoot Serenity.

Fillion, who also starred in the short-lived series Miss Match and Drive (each lasting less than a season), is currently in theaters playing the loveably shaggy-haired, married obstetrician opposite Keri Russell's confused, pregnant and unhappily married pie-making expert in the indie dramedy Waitress.

Desperate Housewives, which could be without one of its boldfaced names come fall if the hanging of Nicollette Sheridan's Edie Britt in the recent finale proved successful, is heading into its fourth season.

Natalie MacMaster takes motherhood on the road

Motherhood is not slowing down Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster, who gave birth to a son last week and is scheduled to launch a North American tour in late August.

(By the way, Michael Joseph Alexander Leahy was born into the world on June 23 at 1:15 am and weighed 8 lbs and 2 oz. Michael and mom are both doing great!)

With the help of her mother, MacMaster has already been touring with her 19-month-old daughter. Now, two bundles of joy will get to see North America on a trek that takes the musician well into next year.

MacMaster is set to kick things off Aug. 31 in Charlestown, RI, and stop in cities primarily in the East, Midwest and Canada through early April. Details are listed below.

In October, the fiddle virtuoso released her 10th album, "Yours Truly," which she co-produced with her husband/fellow fiddler, Donnell Leahy, of Canadian band Leahy. The set features contemporary and traditional numbers, including a rendition of "Danny Boy" sung by Michael McDonald and the tune "Farewell to Peter," which MacMaster wrote to pay tribute to late newsman Peter Jennings. The set was nominated for a Juno in the Instrumental Album of the Year category.

MacMaster also has a PBS Special scheduled to air this fall. The program was recorded last October at the Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton, Canada, with Bela Fleck, Carlos Nunez and others.

Here are her scheduled concert dates:

August 2007
31 - Charlestown, RI - Rhythm & Roots Festival

September 2007
1 - Lowell, MA - Boarding House Park
2 - Freeport, ME - Discovery Park
3 - Caribou, ME - Caribou Performing Arts Centre
5 - Denver, CO - Denver Botanic Amphitheatre
6 - Denver, CO - Chautauqua Auditorium

October 2007
4 - Carbondale, IL - Shryok Auditorium
5 - Indianapolis, IN - Clowes Memorial Hall
6 - Toledo, OH - Toledo Cultural Arts Center
7, 9 - Granville, OH - Swasey Chapel
10 - Gettysburg, PA - Majestic Theater
11 - New Brunswick, NJ - State Theater Regional Arts Center
13 - Stony Brook, NY - Stellar Center for the Arts
14 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall
20 - Kill Devil Hills, NC - First Flight High School

November 2007
29-30 - Ottawa, Ontario - National Arts Centre

December 2007
1 - Ottawa, Ontario - National Arts Centre
17 - Victoria, British Columbia - Royal Theatre

January 2008
23 - Louisville, KY - Whitney Hall/Kentucky Center for the Arts
24 - Dayton, OH - Victoria Theatre
25 - Cleveland, OH - Gartner Auditorium
26 - Urbana, IL - Tryon Festival Theatre/Krannert Center
27 - Palos Hills, IL - Dorothy Menker Theater
29 - Wausau, WI - Grand Theater
30 - Madison, WI - Overture Center for the Arts
31 - Ames, IA - C.Y. Stephens Auditorium

February 2008
1 - Lincoln, NE - Lied Center for the Performing Arts
2 - Omaha, NE - Holland Performing Arts Center
4 - Columbia, MO - Jesse Auditorium
5 - St. Louis, MO - Sheldon Concert Hall
6 - Rolla, MO - Leach Theatre
7 - Springfield, MO - Juanita K. Hammons Hall for Performing Arts
8 - Wichita, KS - De Mattias Fine Arts Center
9 - Kearney, NE - Robert M. Merryman Performing Arts Center
15-17 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
26-27 - Randolph, VT - Chandler Music Hall And Cultural Center
28 - Orono, ME - Hutchins Hall/Maine Center for the Arts
29 - Keene, NH - Colonial Theatre

March 2008
1 - New Bedford, MA - Zeiterion Theatre
2 - Pittsfield, MA - The Colonial Theatre
4 - Newport News, VA - Ferguson Center for the Arts
5 - North Bethesda, MD - The Music Center at Strathmore
6 - Richmond, VA - Jepson Theatre
7-8 - Knoxville, TN - Civic Auditorium
9 - Charlotte, NC - North Carolina Blumenthal P.A.C. Theatre
12 - Beaufort, SC - USCB Performing Arts Center
13 - Lakeland, FL - The Lakeland Center Theatre
15 - Daytona Beach, FL - Josephine Field Davidson Theater
16 - Islamorada, FL - TIB Amphitheater
17 - Sarasota, FL - Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
18 - Melbourne, FL - Maxwell C. King Center
19-21 - Nashville, TN - Schermerhorn Symphony Center

April 2008
4-6 - Fort Worth, TX - Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Performance Hall

Reunited Van Halen Eyeing Fall Arena Run

A proposed summer amphitheater tour by a reunited Van Halen that was derailed when guitarist Eddie Van Halen checked into rehab now looks like it may be resurrected as a fall arena run. Several arena holds are in place in major markets for potential Van Halen dates, Billboard.com has learned.

The tour, negotiations for which were first tipped here on Jan. 24, would feature David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen's teenage son Wolfgang on bass.

Wheels had been in motion for a 40-date, Live Nation-produced amphitheater tour, with original frontman Roth back in the fold for the first time in more than 20 years. Van Halen last toured in 2004 with vocalist Sammy Hagar, grossing nearly $40 million, according to Billboard Boxscore.

But the reunion never got off the ground, and Eddie Van Halen entered a rehabilitation facility for undisclosed reasons in March. In the months since, the artist has been seen publicly looking healthy and fit.

The buzz surrounding the prospect of a Van Halen tour with Roth seems to point toward a successful trek. "I see it absolutely as an inevitability," Roth told Billboard.com more than a year ago regarding a tour with his ex-bandmates. "To me, it's not rocket surgery. It's very simple to put together. And as far as hurt feelings and water under the dam, like what's-her-name says to what's-her-name at the end of the movie 'Chicago' -- 'So what? It's showbiz!'"

Christina Xpecting

Christina Aguilera is once again singing "Come On Over Baby."

E! News confirmed Tuesday that the five-time Grammy winner and hubby Jordan Bratman are expecting their first child together. This will be baby number one for both.

There was no immediate comment from a publicist for the couple.

Deciding that there wasn't no other man for her after about three years of dating, Aguilera and her music-marketing exec other half swapped vows in November 2005 in Napa Valley, California.

The duo celebrated their first anniversary in Dublin in the midst of Aguilera's Back to Basics tour in support of her platinum-selling double-disc album of the same name.

Up next for the mommy-to-be is a jaunt through Asia and Australia, starting with a show tonight in Hong Kong. According to the soulful singer's Website, her last stop is an Aug. 3 date in Auckland, New Zealand.

Aguilera, 26, has also been tapped to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year.

Kylie Minogue in 2007 Christmas Special

Confirming long-standing rumors in the British tabloid press, Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue will join the Doctor in the 2007 Christmas Special, Voyage of the Damned, according to a press release issued this evening on Minogue's official website and now corroborated by the official Doctor Who website.

The 39-year-old actress and singer will have a "major lead role" in the hour-long special, says Minogue's website, which Tuesday morning's edition of The Sun identifies as a waitress aboard the RMS Titanic. Minogue's official site notes that "The production team has also confirmed that the storyline will follow on directly from the ending of series three where viewers witnessed The Titanic crash through the Tardis walls..."

Minogue has one of the longest and most successful careers as a performer in contemporary pop music, and in Europe and Australia she has become one of her generation's most recognisable celebrities and sex symbols. Says Minogue, "It is an incredible thrill to be joining David and the entire Dr Who production for this year's Christmas special. Dr Who enjoys a unique history and it is going to be very exciting to be a part of that."

The episode has been written by Doctor Who's executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies, who noted that "We are delighted and excited to announce that Kylie Minogue will be joining the Doctor. Doctor Who Christmas specials are always a joy and we feel very confident that this will be the most ambitious and best Christmas episode yet."

The news was originally embargoed by BBC press until midnight Monday night; such sites as Digital Spy and the Daily Mail reported the story before pulling it off their feeds later. Sites later began reprinting the article as of the embargo deadline.

Hollywood's big summer turns ho-hum

LOS ANGELES - Summertime in Hollywood is not as hot as it looked at the beginning.

While the three May blockbusters — Sony's "Spider-Man 3," DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" — have combined for nearly $1 billion in domestic revenue, overall business and movie attendance are well below the record pace many show business types had expected.

In fact, attendance is running behind last summer's and has even fallen below that of summer 2005, a year of box-office duds that had some analysts predicting audiences were abandoning movie houses in favor of home theaters and other entertainment options.

With studios offering a stronger late-season lineup than normal this year, attendance likely will pick up and lift Hollywood to a respectable summer. Still, early forecasts that Hollywood would have its first $4 billion summer now look like wishful thinking.

Through last Sunday, the industry had pulled in $1.9 billion since the first weekend in May, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. About half of that came from the third "Spider-Man," "Shrek" and "Pirates" flicks.

"You can't have a summer's fortunes riding on the backs of three films. I looked at these three films in May and said, `Oh, record summer,' like everyone else did," said Paul Dergarabedian, Media By Numbers president. "Three or four big movies does not make for a record summer. You have to have a solid bullpen or backfield to support the weight of those big blockbusters to build up the overall box office."

Modern Hollywood's best summer for revenues came in 2004, when the industry took in $3.95 billion domestically for the entire season. Based on admission prices, which rise every year, the best summer for actual movie attendance was 2002, with 653 million tickets sold.

The industry is well behind both those records this summer. Through Sunday, 279 million tickets had been sold, compared with 315 million in 2002, according to Media By Numbers. This summer's $1.9 billion in revenue is also shy of the record pace in 2004, when receipts were at $2.04 billion at this point.

While revenues this season are ahead of the $1.8 billion pace during the snoozy summer of 2005, attendance is down 4 million.

The slow summer has not been for lack of hits. Along with the big-three blockbusters, Universal's comedy "Knocked Up," the Warner Bros. casino caper "Ocean's Thirteen" and 20th Century Fox's superhero saga "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" all have topped $100 million.

Disney's animated "Ratatouille" and Fox's action tale "Live Free or Die Hard" both got off to solid starts this past weekend.

And while there have been some underachievers such as Universal's comedy "Evan Almighty," Sony's animated "Surf's Up" and the Warner Bros. mystery "Nancy Drew," Hollywood has yet to deliver an outright bomb this summer.

Part of the shortfall results from overly high expectations for sequels, none of which so far have approached the returns of their franchises' highest-grossing predecessors.

"Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third" and "At World's End" all will finish above $300 million but well below the $400 million-plus domestic gross of the best of their earlier installments.

To pessimists, that creates the two-sided perception of a $300 million blockbuster also being something of a disappointment.

"When we start snubbing our noses at $300 million, that's a problem," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution at Disney.

Overseas, big Hollywood franchises are more than making up for lower grosses at home. "Spider-Man 3" is Sony's biggest hit ever with nearly $900 million worldwide. "At World's End" has climbed beyond $900 million globally and will finish as No. 2 on Disney's all-time hit list, behind the $1.05 billion haul of last year's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"Shrek the Third" has rolled out more slowly overseas but is edging toward $600 million worldwide, with plenty of life left outside the United States.

Studio cheerleaders say there's also plenty of life left in the summer, starting with Paramount's newly released sci-fi epic "Transformers."

Still to come are the sequels "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Rush Hour 3," the Adam Sandler comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," the big-screen cartoon "The Simpsons Movie" and the musical "Hairspray."

That leaves Hollywood with at least one big new movie every weekend through mid-August, a time when theater business normally is petering out for the summer.

"I'm not trying to be Pollyannish, but I think the second beginning of summer is right around the corner," said Viane from Disney, which closes out its summer with the live-action and computer-animation adventure "Underdog" in August. "There's so many good movies coming. You've got to let summer run its course. We may just have loaded all the stuff the public wants in the back end."

After the record-breaking debut of "Spider-Man 3," which pulled in $151.1 million in its first three days, a record summer looked inevitable. "Shrek the Third" and "At World's End" followed with $100 million-plus opening weekends.

The industry and audiences nowadays are preoccupied with first weekends, when theaters are packed to the rafters for big releases. But few movies stick around in subsequent weeks the way they once did.

"We're all focused on the biggest opening you can get on these films. If you don't have a $100 million opening, there's a lot of negativity, which shouldn't really be," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution at Universal.

The studio delivered this summer's exception with "Knocked Up," which opened with a modest $30.7 million weekend but hung on through good audience buzz to reach $122 million and climbing.

With analysts and studio executives expecting a strong finish to summer 2007, the season still could go down as one of modern Hollywood's best.

"I was one of the people who figured on this being a record-breaking summer, no doubt about it," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "I'm a little surprised, but I do think that it's still going to be. Maybe not in the exact formula we thought. It's still going to be up. Just maybe not as up as most thought."

New CD Releases, July 3: Velvet Revolver, T.I., Kelly Rowland

Velvet Revolver "Libertad"

The hard-rocking supergroup returns with a follow-up to 2004's Grammy-winning "Contraband." "Libertad" was produced by Brendan O'Brien (Stone Temple Pilots) and has been said to be singer Scott Weiland's first album recorded clean of drugs. The set's first single is "She Builds Quick Machines."

The band--which comprises former Stone Temple Pilots singer Weiland; former Guns N' Roses members Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums); and former Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner--will support "Libertad" on tour with Alice in Chains. The outing will kick off Aug. 5 in Baltimore, MD.

* * *
T.I. "T.I. vs T.I.P."

The Grammy-winning rap artist is set to drop his fifth platter, "T.I. vs. T.I.P."

His previous outing, 2006's "King," was one of the few commercial highlights in a lackluster sales year for rap. "King" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts, having sold more than a half million copies during its first week on shelves.

The new album's lead single, "Big S--- Poppin," was released in April and turned out to be a radio hit. A second single, "You Know What It Is" featuring Wyclef Jean, was delivered to radio stations last month.

* * *
Kelly Rowland "Ms Kelly"

The former member of Destiny's Child returns with her second solo offering, which follows 2002's "Simply Deep."

That earlier CD has been certified gold, thanks in large part to the Grammy-winning hit single "Dilemma," a duet between Rowland and rapper Nelly. The new album already boasts one hit single to its credit: "Like This," which features vocals by Eve.

* * *
Various Artists "Transformers: The Album"

The soundtrack to the new Michael Bay-directed action flick features contributions from such big-name acts as Linkin Park, the Smashing Pumpkins, Disturbed, Taking Back Sunday and the Goo Goo Dolls.

* * *
Queensryche "Mindcrime at the Moore"

Recorded live at the Moore Theater in Seattle, this two-disc set features the hard-rock band performing both "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II."

More new releases:

Andre 3000, "Class of 3000: Music Volume One" (La Face)
Sara Bareilles, "Little Voice" (Epic)
Collie Buddz, "Collie Buddz" (Sony)
Circus Diablo, "Circus Diablo" (Koch)
Roy Clark, "American Profile Presents: Roy Clark's Heart to Heart" (Sheridan Square)
E-40, "Hyphy Movement" (Oarfin)
Face the Music, "Face the Music" (DRG)
Pastor Troy, "Tool Muziq" (SMC)
Marvin Sapp, "Thirsty" (Verity)
Silverstein, "Arrivals and Departures" (Victory)
Twiztid, "Independent's Day" (Psychopathic)
Various Artists, "Diana Ross and the Supremes Remixes" (Universal)
Widespread Panic, "Choice Cuts: The Capricorn Years 1991-1999" (Volcano)

Soundtracks and scores:

"Evan Almighty" (Curb)
"The Pirate Queen (2007 Original Broadway Cast)" (Sony)

Opera star Beverly Sills dies of cancer

NEW YORK (AP) — Beverly Sills, the Brooklyn-born opera diva who was a global icon of can-do American culture with her dazzling voice, bubbly personality and management moxie in the arts world, died Monday of cancer, her manager said. She was 78.

Weeks after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, Sills died Monday evening at her Manhattan home, her family and doctor at her side, said her manager, Edgar Vincent. She had never been a smoker.

Beyond the music world, Sills gained fans worldwide with a style that matched her childhood nickname, Bubbles. The relaxed, red-haired diva appeared frequently on "The Tonight Show," "The Muppet Show" and in televised performances with her friend Carol Burnett.

Together, they did a show from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera called "Sills and Burnett at the Met," singing rip-roaring duets with one-liners thrown in.

Long after the public stopped hearing her sing in 1980, Sills' rich, infectious laughter filled the nation's living rooms as she hosted live TV broadcasts, conducting backstage interviews for the Metropolitan Opera's high-definition movie theater performances as recently as last season.

Sills first gained fame with a career that helped put Americans on the international map of opera stars. She graced the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines.

Born Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn, she quickly became Bubbles, an endearment coined by the doctor who delivered her, noting that she was born blowing a bubble of spit from her little mouth.

In 1947, the same mouth produced vocal glory for her operatic stage debut in Philadelphia in a bit role in Bizet's "Carmen." Sills became a star with the New York City Opera, where she first performed in 1955 in Johann Strauss Jr.'s "Die Fledermaus."

"She was one great lady," New York City Opera chairwoman Susan Baker said. "She was just a life force — brilliant, witty and warm, funny, exquisitely talented. ... In addition to being an icon of the American opera world, she went on to become a great leader in the world of the arts."

But it was not until 1975, when she was already famous, that she made her Met debut in Rossini's "The Siege of Corinth." In her memoir, she said longtime Met general manager Rudolf Bing "had a thing about American singers, especially those who had not been trained abroad: He did not think very much of them."

Abroad, Sills sang at such famed opera houses as Milan's La Scala, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, The Royal Opera in London and the Deutsche Opera in Berlin.

She retired from the stage in 1980 at age 51 after a three-decade singing career and began a new life as an executive and leader of New York's performing arts community. First, she became general director of the New York City Opera.

Under her stewardship, the City Opera, known as the "people's opera company," became the first in the nation to use English supertitles, translating for the audience by projecting lyrics onto a screen above the stage.

In 1994, Sills became chairwoman of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She was the first woman and first former artist in that position.

After leading Lincoln Center through eight boom years and launching a redevelopment project, she retired in 2002, saying she wanted "to smell the flowers a little bit."

Six months later, she was back as chairwoman of the Met.

"So I smelled the roses and developed an allergy," she joked. "I need new mountains to climb."

As Met chairwoman, Sills was instrumental in proposing Peter Gelb, now general manager, for his position. He helped push up ticket sales and pull the Met into a larger spotlight.

Citing personal reasons, Sills bowed out as chairwoman in January 2005, saying, "I know that I have achieved what I set out to do." At the time, she had recently suffered a fall and was using a wheelchair.

Still, the word around New York was that if you needed to raise several million dollars in one night, you could turn to Sills, whose name drew donors in droves.

Described by former Mayor Ed Koch as "an empire unto herself," Sills sat on several corporate boards, including those of Macy's and American Express.

Sills raised money not only for Lincoln Center but also non-artistic causes such as the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the March of Dimes, a job she called "one of the most rewarding in my life."

She also lent her name and voice to the Multiple Sclerosis Society; her daughter, Meredith, has MS and was born deaf.

At a 2005 Manhattan benefit for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Sills told an audience that included her daughter: "One of the things that separates the two-legged creatures from the four-legged ones is compassion."

Added the host for that evening, Barbara Walters: "She can go from doing a duet with Placido Domingo to doing a duet with a Muppet."

Sills' nurturing extended to her autistic son and to her husband, Peter Greenough, a former journalist who lived with her at their home as his Alzheimer's disease progressed. He died last year.

For most of her life, she had balanced the challenges of her private life with the joy of singing, stepping onstage and transforming herself into characters that made her forget her troubles.

She was acclaimed for performances in such operas as Douglas Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe," Massenet's "Manon" and Handel's "Julius Ceasar."

Her 1958 appearances as Baby Doe would become among her best known, in a rags-to-riches tale of a silver-mine millionaire who leaves his wife for his sweetheart and eventually dies penniless.

"I loved the role," Sills wrote in her 1976 autobiography. "I absorbed her so completely in those five weeks of studying the opera that I knew her inside and out. I was Baby Doe."

But as a child star, she was not above singing radio commercials with lyrics such as: "Rinso White, Rinso Bright, happy little washday song."

A coloratura soprano, Sills was for years the prima donna of the New York City Opera, achieving stardom with critically acclaimed performances in Verdi's "La Traviata" and Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," among dozens of roles.

She is credited with reviving musical styles that had gathered dust, such as the Three Queens — the trio of heroines of Donizetti's "Anna Bolena," "Maria Stuarda" and "Roberto Devereaux" — in which she starred as Elizabeth, a role she called her greatest artistic achievement.

Stage fright was foreign to her. Before curtain time, she would make phone calls or munch on an apple, then sweep on to deliver her roles with exuberance.

She spoke like she sang: words poured out, sprinkled with good-humored gossip and insights, cheeky jokes and probing questions.

She grew up in a "typical middle-class American Jewish family," as she put it. As a child, she took voice, dance and elocution lessons and at 4 appeared on a local radio show called "Uncle Bob's Rainbow Hour."

When she was 7, her name was changed to Beverly Sills — a friend of her mother's thought it was a more suitable stage name — and she won first place in the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour," going on to sing on the radio, at ladies' luncheons and at bar mitzvahs. At 16, billed as "the youngest prima donna in captivity," she joined the touring J.J. Shubert operetta company, starring in Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

Her opera debut came in 1947, in the role of Frasquita in "Carmen" with the Philadelphia Civic Opera. She also performed in the Catskills and at a Manhattan after-hours club.

Sills' artistic pinnacle may well have been her 1966 City Opera performance as Cleopatra in Handel's "Julius Caesar."

"When the performance was over, I knew that something extraordinary had taken place," Sills wrote. "I knew that I had sung as I had never sung before, and I needed no newspapers the next day to reassure me."

Besides Greenough's three children from a previous marriage, the couple had two children of their own, Peter Jr., known as "Bucky", and Meredith, known as "Muffy."

Top Stars Salute Princess Diana At Tribute Concert

Waving their arms in the air and dancing with 70,000 fans at London's Wembley Stadium, princes William and Harry celebrated the life of their mother, Princess Diana, on what would have been her 46th birthday Sunday (July 1) at a concert they organized. William, 25, rocked his hips as Canadian pop star Nelly Furtado belted out her song "Man Eater" -- to the embarrassment of younger brother Harry, who shook his head and laughed.

Harry, 22, said they asked Elton John to play "Candle in the Wind," the song he sang at Diana's 1997 funeral in Westminster Abbey. Originally about Marilyn Monroe, its lyrics were reworked in tribute to Diana and it became a worldwide No. 1 hit that same year.

"This evening is about all that my mother loved in life: her music, her dance, her charities and her family and friends," William told the crowd, thanking them and millions more who watched the show on television.

Diana died Aug. 31, 1997, along with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their driver when their Mercedes crashed inside the Pont d'Alma tunnel in Paris with media photographers in hot pursuit.

The concert mixed rock, pop, hip-hop and classical ballet and featured some of Diana's favorite acts, including Duran Duran and Tom Jones. In honor of her love of dance and theater, there was a performance of an extract from "Swan Lake" by the English National Ballet and songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Among the 24 performances were songs by Rod Stewart, Kanye West, Joss Stone, Lily Allen and Sean "Diddy" Combs, who performed "Missing You," which prominently samples the Police's "Every Breath You Take."

Weeks of soggy weather lifted as the sun peeked out from behind gray clouds rolling over the newly built glass-and-steel stadium -- Britain's largest -- which usually hosts soccer games.

William said the concert was a chance for people to "remember all the good things about her because she's not here to defend herself when she gets criticized." A memorial service is also planned in London on Aug. 31, the anniversary of Diana's death.

"Ratatouille" cooks up lukewarm box office win

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A rat chased millions of moviegoers into theaters, but the furry star of "Ratatouille" also whipped up one of the worst openings in the history of Walt Disney Co's cartoon powerhouse Pixar Animation.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Ratatouille" about a rat who aspires to become a gourmet chef sold $47.2 million worth of tickets during its first three days. It took the No. 1 slot ahead of the new Bruce Willis movie "Live Free or Die Hard" with $33.2 million.

It was the lowest opening for a Pixar-produced release since the studio's second effort, "A Bug's Life," launched with $33.3 million in 1998 on its way to a $163 million total.

By contrast last year's Pixar entry, "Cars," drove off with $60.1 million -- a figure regarded as something of a disappointment -- and finished with $244 million.

If "Ratatouille" follows the same pattern as "Cars," it will gross about $189 million, becoming the third consecutive Pixar release to underperform its predecessor. But Disney was confident "Ratatouille" would easily pass $200 million.

Opening weekend predictions among financial analysts for "Ratatouille" had ranged from $50 million to $65 million. But movie industry polling had a more realistic target in the low $40 million range, according to Chuck Viane, Disney's president of domestic theatrical distribution.

TOUGH COMPETITION

Viane said the competition was unprecedented, with "Ratatouille" boxed in by "Live Free or Die Hard," which got a two-day head start by opening on Wednesday, and by the Monday night release of the hotly anticipated "Transformers."

Still, with a little help from the July 4 holiday, he predicted that "Ratatouille" would be "as successful, if not more successful, than most" Pixar films.

The most successful of Pixar's seven previous releases was 2003's "Finding Nemo," with sales of $340 million. It opened to $70.3 million. A year later, "The Incredibles" kicked off with $70.5 million, but lost steam and settled at $261 million.

Both "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles" were directed by Brad Bird. His latest effort revolves around a Parisian rat named Remy who dreams of gourmet stardom.

As usual with Pixar releases, critics heaped superlatives on the film. But it was no secret that Disney faced a marketing challenge with the movie: A rat in the kitchen raises hygiene concerns for some people.

Disney is still proving to investors that last year's acquisition of Pixar is worth its $7.4 billion price tag. "Ratatouille" is the first Pixar film to be released that was still in production when the Disney-Pixar deal was sealed.

Willis' "Live Free Or Die Hard" has earned $48.2 million in its first five days. The fourth episode of 20th Century Fox's action series, predictably skewed towards older males, the News Corp.-owned studio said. It enjoyed a 20 percent bump from Friday to Saturday, indicating strong word of mouth; "Ratatouille," by contrast, rose 3 percent.

Last weekend's champion "Evan Almighty," the first big disappointment of the summer box office, slipped to No. 3 with $15.1 million and a two-week total of $60.6 million.

With a reported budget of $175 million, the Steve Carell movie was the most expensive comedy ever made. It was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal Inc.

The top-10 contained two other new entries. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's "Sicko" opened at No. 9 with $4.5 million, in line with expectations. The follow-up to Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" played in just 441 theaters vs. 3,940 for "Ratatouille." It was fully financed by the closely held Weinstein Co. and released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

The drama "Evening," starring a slew of heavyweight actresses such as Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep opened at No. 10 with a modest $3.5 million from 977 theaters. It was released by NBC Universal's art house arm Focus Features.