The Zodiac: Director's Cut is closing in on you
From Paramount Home Entertainment finally comes full information on the release of the Zodiac: Director’s Cut scheduled for release in January on DVD and HD-DVD.
Based on the actual case files of one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in the nation’s history, “Zodiac” is a thriller from David Fincher, director of “Se7en” and “Panic Room.” As a serial killer terrifies the San Francisco Bay Area and taunts police with his ciphers and letters, investigators in four jurisdictions search for the murderer. The case will become an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.
The Director’s Cut of David Fincher’s thriller will comes as a 2-Disc set featuring the movie in anamorphic widescreen with 5 minutes of additional footage inserted back into the film. As extras the release will contain a Commentary Track by director David Fincher, as well as another Commentary Track featuring the cast and crew, including Jake Gyllenhall, Robert Downey Jr., Producer Brad Fischer, James Vanderbilt and James Ellroy.
A long string of Featurettes and Documentaries is included on the release, such as the multi-part documentary ”Zodiac Deciphered” covering aspects such as “The San Francisco Chronicle,” “Hall of Justice,” “Obsession,” “Blue Rock Springs,” “Presidio Heights,” and “Lake Berryessa.”
”The Visual Effects of Zodiac” is another multi-part documentary showing the “Digital Workflow,” and Sequence Breakdowns for “Blue Rock Springs,” “”Lake Berryessa” and “San Francisco.”
”This is the Zodiac Speaking” is a look at the facts behind the movie, covering “Lake Herman Road,” “Blue Rock Springs,” “Lake Berryessa” and “San Francisco.” Then in Prime Suspect we get to take a look at “His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen” and the “Linguistic Analysis.”
The release will also offer up Jeopardy Surface: Geographic Profiling a 6:30 minute video, the 5-minute video The Psychology of Aggression: Behavioral Profiling and the movie’s Theatrical Trailer
The HD-DVD version will feature a 1080p widescreen transfer complemented by a Dolby Digital Plus audio track. Also coming as a 2-Disc set, it will contain the same bonus materials, though all of them presented in full 1080p high definition, plus two additional text-based features, “Dr. Kim Rossmo's Geographic Profile of the Zodiac” and “Special Agent Sharon Pagaling-Hagan's Behavioral Profile of the Zodiac”.
The “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” will be in stores on January 8 and carries a $39.99 price tag.
Led Zeppelin mum on future
The three surviving members of Led Zeppelin are reuniting next month for their first full concert since disbanding 27 years ago.
What everyone wants to know, though, is this a precursor to a world concert tour? Or a new CD of original material? Or both?
Neither guitarist Jimmy Page nor bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones ruled out anything yesterday, in separate telephone interviews with Sun Media.
Page, Jones, singer Robert Plant and drummer Jason Bonham -- son of the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Bonham, who died in 1980 -- are playing a two-hour set Nov. 26 at the 02 Arena in London, England, as part of a tribute concert in aid of the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. Ertegun was the forward-thinking Atlantic Records executive who signed Zeppelin to a record deal in 1968.
So is this show actually a, well, trial zeppelin for a full-blown reunification?
"Basically, we are concentrating on this show," Jones, 61, said. "That's where all the energy is going. I mean, who knows, but one step at a time."
Page, 63, was much more circuitous in answering the tour question. He said that all three surviving band members, as well as Jason Bonham when he tours with Foreigner, always play Zep material whenever they perform live.
"So you've got the four individual members playing Led Zeppelin in four different capacities," Page said. "When they unite, you've got the key members. You can't play it any better, as they're the people who actually played it and wrote it in the first place ...
"(The Nov. 26 concert) is what we're working toward ... That's what we have on our horizon at this point. I know you want to hear other answers, but I'm afraid that's all I can give you."
Page, though, was less vague as to the prospects of new material.
"Look, I'd be really surprised if there wasn't -- you know, I mean I just know the way we are," the riffmaster said. "We're musicians ... as we're playing we'll probably be coming up with all manner of things. And that will be fun. I mean, that's what it's all about.
"Let's do the 02 show, shall we? And then we'll speak to you afterward."
It was at a jam session back in June -- yes, those reports back then were accurate after all -- that the four musicians gathered to see if they could make a go of it.
"We had a very, very secret tryout in June just to see if it was possible and if anyone wanted to do it, to see if the will was there," Jones said. "And it was pretty exciting. We made all the musical cues, and we were pretty hot."
Page said it was the crucial moment.
"The hardest step -- or the most tentative step -- was to actually be able to get together, the four of us, in a rehearsal room to actually play with the instruments ... and keep the whole damn thing under wraps.
"As it was, we did manage to pull it off, and we didn't have to shake hands and say, 'Well, at least we sort of know that it might not be a good idea.' It was quite the opposite."
New Zeppelin reissues will soon hit stores: A two-disc best-of CD titled Motherlode (Nov. 13), and bolstered CD and DVD reissues of their 1976 film The Song Remains the Same (Nov. 20). This week, the band also announced that its entire catalogue will be available for full-album or single-track download beginning Nov. 13.
Expect the songs to remain the same
So what songs will Led Zeppelin play at its reunion concert next month?
The usual standards Stairway to Heaven, Kashmir and Whole Lotta Love? What about some obscure gems?
Neither Jimmy Page nor John Paul Jones would divulge anything yesterday in interviews with Sun Media, but they did provide a few clues.
"You don't want to give it all away," Jones said. "We played kind of the normal songs at the rehearsal."
In confirming that they'd "more than likely" play an acoustic or off-the-beaten-path song or two, Page said the band already has a "blueprint" of a setlist heading into rehearsals next week.
"Now it's time to start constructing the architecture," Page said.
When Page and singer Robert Plant toured together twice in the '90s, they had backing musicians galore -- two orchestras, even, for one tour.
Will there be any backing musicians this time?
"No, you've got to be joking," Jones said. "We've never needed to do that."
Page agreed: "I never felt comfortable with people filling in ... We want to individually be heard as to what we're doing, but also individually within the context of the four of us singing and playing together. It's really important that you don't cloud the issue with other people."
There are no plans for either a telecast or webcast, live or delayed -- or even a DVD, Jones said.
Between 25 and 30 million online ticket applications were received from around the globe. Uh, that's about one in every 250 people on the planet!
"The response is staggering. It's quite overwhelming," Jones said. "Sorry they can't all be there."
Kravitz to headline Grey Cup halftime
Grammy-Award winning American rocker Lenny Kravitz will perform during the halftime show at the Grey Cup in Toronto next month, organizers of the Canadian Football League championship announced Wednesday.
Kravitz has recorded multiple hits over his music career including, Are You Gonna Go My Way, It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, Fly Away, Mama Said, and the remake of the Guess Who anthem, American Woman.
The 95th annual Grey Cup is Nov. 25 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. CBC will have the game live at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Kravitz, who has sold over 20 million records worldwide, will release his ninth studio album, Love Revolution, on Feb. 5, 2008.
The American rocker is the latest big act to perform at the Grey Cup, one of the oldest professional sports championships in North America.
Others include:
2006 in Winnipeg: Canadian pop songstress Nelly Furtado.
2005 in Vancouver: American hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas.
2004 in Ottawa: Tragically Hip.
2003 in Regina: Bryan Adams and Sam Roberts.
2002 in Edmonton: Country star Shania Twain.
Third 'Kissology' Due In Time For Christmas
The third release in Kiss' archival "Kissology" DVD series will arrive in time for Christmas. "Volume Three: 1992-2000" is due Dec. 18 via VH1 Classic and will feature four DVDs comprising nearly 10 hours of footage.
The first disc begins with a complete performance recorded at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit from November 1992. It also features the complete August 1995 "MTV Unplugged" set which found the original Kiss lineup of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss perform together on stage for the first time in nearly 16 years.
The second disc chronicles the original lineup's subsequent successful reunion tours of the late '90s, including the Detroit kickoff of the 1996 outing. Five tracks recorded near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York for the same year's MTV Video Music Awards round out the DVD.
Disc three boasts a performance from the August 1999 film premiere party for "Detroit Rock City" and a June 2000 concert at New Jersey's Continental Airlines Arena. The fourth disc eschews the chronological structure to offer a December 1973 set from New York, when Kiss performed the majority of its self-titled debut two months before its release.
Certain versions of "Kissology" will also include a fifth disc, which features the group's June 1996 performance at L.A. radio station KROQ's Weenie Roast.
In 2005, Stanley explained that the Kissology series was inspired by classic film by another renowned rock artist. "That Scorsese/Dylan piece ['No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'] was eye opening, at least to me, in terms of how you can be immersed in a time capsule, and not only see the music and be part of the crowd, but also get a sense of who Dylan was then," he said. "That set a really high bar, and I think that is more likely our approach at this point."
Poker game led to Pam's latest marriage
NEW YORK - Pamela Anderson says she and Rick Salomon took their 17-year friendship to the next level during a poker game.
"I left the table and Errol (Lyon, Anderson's driver) played in my place," the 40-year-old ex-"Baywatch" star tells OK! magazine. "I came back to find myself $250,000 in the hole to Rick!"
So Salomon — best known for making a sex tape with ex-girlfriend Paris Hilton — struck a flirty deal.
"Rick, being the gentleman, said he would wipe my debt if I gave him a kiss, so I have to thank Vegas for our relationship switching gears!" Anderson says in the magazine's latest issue, on newsstands Thursday. "It evolved into spending every day — and then nights — together."
Salomon weighs in, telling OK!: "I've been plotting and scheming for the past 15 years, and I finally got the girl."
The couple tied the knot Oct. 6 in a villa at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, squeezing in their vows between Anderson's performances as an assistant in Hans Klok's magic show at a nearby casino.
It was the third marriage for both Anderson and Salomon. The couple met when she was dating one of Salomon's friends.
Anderson was previously wed to Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. Salomon's ex-wives are actresses Shannen Doherty and E.G. Daily.
"There has always been chemistry, but mostly it's been camaraderie," Anderson says. "We have been there for each other through everything. We have seen each other through it all — that's tough to find."
She adds: "I don't just love him, I like him. We are an oddly good match."
Colbert announces presidential pursuit
NEW YORK - Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president on "The Colbert Report," tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.
"I shall seek the office of the president of the United States," Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.
Colbert, 43, had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting.
Shortly before making the announcement, Colbert appeared on "The Daily Show" (the show that spawned Colbert's spin-off) and played cagey, claiming he was only ready to consider a White House bid. He entered the studio set pulled by a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam and quickly pulled out a bale of hay and a bottle of beer to show that he was "an Average Joe."
Colbert said his final decision would be announced on a "more prestigious show," which turned out to be his own.
"After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call," said Colbert.
His recent best-seller, "I Am America (And So Can You!)," allowed him to mock the now-standard approach to a White House run, complete with a high-profile book tour.
Colbert said he planned to run in South Carolina, "and South Carolina alone." The state, one of the key early primaries, is also Colbert's native state. Earlier this week, South Carolina public television station ETV invited Colbert to announce his candidacy on its air.
Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn't clear. Colbert rarely breaks character on camera, including at his memorable speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last year.
The Comedy Central host has often mobilized his fans ("Colbert Nation"), encouraging them to vote to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, for example, or to vandalize Web site Wikipedia.com with his version of "truthiness" and "wikiality."
Colbert said he would run as both a Democrat and Republican. He earlier explained the strategy: "I can lose twice." He claimed three running mate possibilities: Colbert-Huckabee, Colbert-Putin or Colbert-Colbert.
Minutes after announcing his presidential pursuit, Colbert welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to ask how he had changed the race.
"This is going to be one for the books," said Greenfield.
A spokesman for Colbert said he would be unavailable for further comment Tuesday evening.
In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday's New York Times, Colbert wrote: "I am not ready to announce yet — even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."