McCartney: I didn't have angioplasty

NEW YORK - Paul McCartney says recent media reports that he had a heart procedure last year are "entirely untrue."

"People are ringing and texting me saying, `Are you OK?'" he writes in a posting on his newly redesigned Web site. "I hadn't seen the report so I was puzzled by so many enquiries about my health. So I think it's a good time to put this rumour to rest."

The 65-year-old ex-Beatle says that during a routine medical examination over a year ago, "there was a minor irregularity which I needed to have tests for and which I have now been assured is completely fine."

Recent media reports "completely distorted the story, calling it an angioplasty, which is entirely untrue, and this is why so many friends have been concerned about my health," he writes.

Angioplasty is a procedure to check and clear clogged arteries in the heart.

"I am happy to say that I feel great and I have passed my most recent medical with flying colours."

McCartney, who is nominated for a Grammy Award for his latest album, "Memory Almost Full," says he wants to assure friends and family that he's in good health.

He adds: "I have secretly been enjoying all the sympathy I've been getting!"

Bond to wed in new 007 film?

British actress Gemma Arterton has hinted that James Bond may get married in the upcoming 007 movie, "Quantum of Solace."

The 22-year-old star told a reporter that she and Daniel Craig had been filming scenes in a honeymoon suite for the film.

The surprised journalist asked: "Honeymoon suite?", prompting Arterton to reply: "I think I've said too much."

The actress plays an MI6 agent working at the British consulate in Bolivia in the new Bond film.

It would be the second marriage for Bond -- the spy got hitched in the 1969 movie "On Her Majesty's Service."

"Quantum of Solace" is scheduled to hit theatres in November.

Two Academy Awards shows in the works in case strike remains unresolved

LOS ANGELES - An Oscars contingency plan that would include history, film clips and out-of-the-ordinary concepts for the awards show is in the works, academy president Sid Ganis said Wednesday.

With the writers strike dragging dangerously close to the Feb. 24 telecast, the film academy is planning two Oscar shows: "The show we would love to do and . . . a show that we would prefer not to do," Ganis said.

The traditional, star-studded glamour-fest is in the works in case an agreement is reached. If not, organizers are working on a second show that will include "history and packages of film and concepts that are not normally ones that we would have for the show if we were moving straight ahead."

The show will go on regardless of talks status, he said.

"We have an obligation to the art form to present the Oscars, so we have to deal with the possibility of not being able to do the show because of pickets or agreements not being concluded," Ganis said.

Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is talking with striking writers, said spokeswoman Leslie Unger. She declined to provide details.

"We have made contact with the guild," Unger said. "We want to be able to do the kind of Oscar show that we always do, and we want to create the circumstances that will allow us to do that."

Whether or not the strike is resolved by showtime Feb. 24, producer Gil Cates hopes writers will decide not to picket the Academy Awards.

"This show, in my view, is really above politics," he said.

"It is wrong to treat the show as anything other than a gift from all the people who work in this business, really, to the exceptional talent and the community and the country."

He noted the writers guild has said its members will not picket next month's Grammy or Image awards.

"It's hard for me to believe that they would picket a show that really honours their own," Cates said.

Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards were announced last week. In past years, presenters were announced one-by-one before or shortly after the nominations, but none have been named so far this year.

Final ballots were mailed Wednesday to the 5,829 voting members of the academy. They are due back Feb. 19.

“Once” Again, a Legit Nominee

At the 11th hour, members of the executive committee of the music branch of the Academy met and decided that in spite of some questions about the validity of “Falling Slowly,” a nominee for best song from the movie “Once”, the song was eligible and would be on ballots that shipped tomorrow morning. Charles Bernstein, chairman of the music branch executive committee, speaking to the Bagger by phone, read part of the committee’s statement on the matter:

The Academy’s music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of “Falling Slowly” as a nominated achievement. The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of “Falling Slowly,” the writer-director of “Once” and Fox Searchlight.

The genesis of the picture was unusually protracted, but director John Carney and songwriter Glen Hansard were working closely together in 2002 when the project that became ‘Once’ was discussed. ‘Falling Slowly’ began to be composed, but the actual script and financing for the picture was delayed for several years, during which time Mr. Hansard and his collaborator Marketa Irglova played the song in some venues that were deemed inconsequential enough to not change the song’s eligibility.

Mr. Bernstein said he had called Mr. Hansard in Dublin with the news and described him as “delighted.” Mr. Bernstein said that various parties had raised questions about whether the song had been performed and/or recorded before it became part of the movie, but said that the committee was satisfied that it was written for the film and as such represented a song writing achievement worthy of inclusion in the nominees.

“We needed to address whether the song was written specifically for the film and the second issue was whether it had been played prior to the inclusion in the film — did this constitute a reason to ineligible-ize it,” said Mr. Bernstein. “The first issue was satisfied by a sworn statements attesting to the fact that it was written for the film along with a chronology, and the second issue was settled by the fact that it had only been performed in Europe and the Czech Republic and not in a way that would have given it advantage or influence here.”

Mr. Bernstein said he was happy the issue was resolved and that he was proud of the fact that the Academy and his committee were willing to work up to the last minute to see that any outstanding issues were addressed before the ballots were shipped.

Haggis takes Hwy61 to United Artists

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Filmmaker Paul Haggis has inked an overall deal with United Artists that will have the Oscar winner writing, producing and possibly directing projects with the studio through his newly created Hwy61 production shingle.

Under the terms of the pact, which is nonexclusive and leaves Haggis free to collaborate elsewhere, the "Crash" director is expected to produce two films a year with his producing partner Michael Nozik.

First up for Hwy61 -- the name is taken from the Bob Dylan song "Highway 61 Revisited" -- will be an adaptation of the children's literature series "Ranger's Apprentice," with Haggis writing the screenplay with his daughter Alissa and possibly directing. UA optioned the rights to the fantasy series by Australian author John Flanagan this month.

Also under the newly struck partnership, the Santa Monica-based Hwy61 and the Paula Wagner/Tom Cruise-helmed studio have optioned the rights to the Joseph Weisberg novel "An Ordinary Spy."

Haggis, who co-wrote and directed the Oscar-winning "Crash" and the recent Iraq War drama "In the Valley of Elah" and wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning "Million Dollar Baby," said he hopes to create a home for writers and directors.

This latest venture marks more movement for the independently run UA, which this month picked up the remake rights to the Spanish film "Los Cronocrimenes," to be produced by Steve Zaillian. That deal marked the first the studio has made since signing an interim agreement with the striking Writers Guild of America.

The Muppet Show Season 3 arrives May 20

It's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights. It's time to mark your calendars!

Buena Vista Home Entertainment has just announced the release of the highly anticipated "The Muppet Show: Season Three" DVD box set. The four-disc "special edition" set will include all 24 episodes from the third season of "The Muppet Show" along with an impressive collection of bonus features. The fully-loaded DVD box set of the complete third season is planned to hit store shelves on May 20, 2008. That's less than 117 days away.

Below is a full list of the DVD features which include the classic 1968 documentary "The Muppets on Puppets" (hosted by Jim Henson and Rowlf the Dog), plus a new documentary entitled "The Making of The Muppets". Disney has also released an early glimpse at the cover art for the set, featuring the face of Fozzie Bear. Like the first two seasons, the set will feature collectible fuzzy packaging.

Episode Listing:
• Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
• Leo Sayer
• Roy Clark
• Gilda Radner
• Pearl Bailey
• Jean Stapleton
• Alice Cooper
• Loretta Lynn
• Liberace
• Marisa Berenson
• Raquel Welch
• James Coco
• Helen Reddy
• Harry Belafonte
• Lesley Ann Warren
• Danny Kaye
• Spike Milligan
• Leslie Uggams
• Elke Sommer
• Sylvester Stallone
• Roger Miller
• Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
• Lynn Redgrave
• Cheryl Ladd

Bonus Features:
• "The Making of The Muppets" documentary
• "The Muppets on Puppets" vintage documentary
• ...and much more!

Retail Specifications:
• 4-disc DVD collection
• $39.99 suggested retail price, pre-order here for $27.99
• Release date: May 20, 2008

"Nightmare" to haunt big screen again

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Freddy's back. Again.

New Line is in talks with horror production company Platinum Dunes to re-launch the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie series, the franchise that helped establish the studio.

The first "Nightmare" movie was made by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The runaway success of the film spawned a slew of sequels and created one of the most popular villains in screen history, Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund.

The film centered on Krueger, a serial child killer murdered by angry parents, who returns with a burned face and a razor glove to terrorize teens in their dreams.

A screenwriter will be hired once the Writers Guild of America strike ends. The producers -- Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form -- are hoping to focus part of the new movie on Krueger's backstory.

Platinum Dunes is prepping another re-launch, "Friday the 13th," which will be directed by Marcus Nispel for New Line, for whom it remade "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and its sequel.

The company is remaking "Near Dark" for Rogue and "The Birds" for Universal. It is also prepping a non-remake project, an untitled David Goyer thriller.

CBS picking up CTV drama

TORONTO - American broadcaster CBS, apparently looking for options amid a prolonged Hollywood screenwriters strike, has picked up an original CTV show to be broadcast later this year in the United States.

"Flashpoint," a police drama with the working title "Sniper," is currently in pre-production. CTV says it will become the first Canadian series since "Due South" to air on both American and Canadian network TV.

CBS has picked up 13 episodes of the one-hour drama series, which was green-lit by CTV in December. Production begins in Toronto in April.

The show will star Enrico Colantoni of "Veronica Mars" fame, Hugh Dillon, the former punk rocker-turned-actor who starred in the gritty "Durham County" and David Paekau of CTV's "Whistler."

They play cops on a highly skilled tactical team.

"Today's announcement is a significant achievement for CTV's development team and Canada's independent production community," CTV's Susanne Boyce said in a statement.

Canada's oldest bookstore is closing in Halifax

Canada's oldest bookstore will close its doors for good at the end of March.

The Book Room on Barrington Street in Halifax opened for business in 1839 and survived two World Wars and the Great Depression, store president Charles Burchell said in a release.

But the retail store couldn't outlast big box bookstores, Burchell said, nor the ease of ordering books online, competition from book selling pharmacies and grocery stores or the pressure to lower prices to reflect a stronger Canadian dollar.

Burchell said The Book Room will begin "an orderly shutdown of its retail store and dispose of its inventory" over the next few weeks. The company's wholesale operation will continue.

"I am extremely disappointed to make this announcement as The Book Room has been an institution in Nova Scotia," he said. "The bookstore has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression and economic ups and downs over its 169 year history."

Burchell said that during his 42 years with the bookstore, he invited "hundreds and hundreds of local authors, authors from across Canada and around the world to come and meet their reading fans."

Before the advent of the computer, Burchell said the store received letters from "all over the world" requesting special books be sent to them.

"To fulfill their request was such a gratifying feeling for me as well as my staff," he said in the release.

BBC strategies focus on online content, adviser tells Heritage committee

The importance of making content widely available online was the frequent refrain in Ottawa Tuesday morning as the BBC's chief public policy adviser spoke at a hearing of the Canadian Heritage Committee.

"The impact of digital technology cannot be underestimated," the BBC's Wilf White, who was joined by his deputy, Daniel Wilson, told the committee at a session exploring the role of a public broadcaster.

Newer technologies such as the BBC's iPlayer — which offers web audiences the opportunity to watch its television or listen to its radio programming from the past seven days — "is radically transforming our business," White said.

Despite also struggling with problems like market fragmentation, funding constraints and increased competition from new broadcasters and other platforms facing North American counterparts, White said the BBC considers it a very exciting time and is focused on looking for new opportunities.

He praised 1990s-era BBC director-general John Birt for his foresight about the internet as an emerging technology and vision that there would one day be little distinction between radio, television and online.

Because of decisions the former chief made, "there was always a strong link between our television and radio services and our online services," White said.

"As soon as [audiences] realized there was content there … they started wanting to explore."

For instance, he said, the BBC's online service has transformed the broadcaster's ability to seek public opinion on many issues.

In the past, when trying to get the public to comment, "you'd end up with perhaps half a dozen letters," White said.

"Now we have several thousand people regularly e-mailing us, offering opinions on message boards. We are never short of comments from he public now ... Sometimes we can create so much feedback that it can become overwhelming."

Partnering with other sites

White and Wilson also spoke of deals with partners such as video-sharing site Youtube and social networking sites to show BBC content, in a no-ads environment conducive to its role as a public broadcaster.

While the broadcaster, which on average features 80 per cent European or U.K.-produced content across its services, doesn't gain revenue from these sorts of deals, savings can sometimes be found in terms of distribution, Wilson said.

"They want our content and we want their audience," White said, though he admitted that newer technologies aside, he felt there would always be a demand for live programming.

As part of this drive, the BBC chose to "pay a little bit extra" and strike "platform-neutral" rights deals with independent producers and other stakeholders in order to be able to distribute their productions by these newer methods, Wilson said.

"It was a matter of demonstrating how usage has changed, how on demand was very much more important to audiences."

Pursuing further international co-productions for pricier projects, such as its deal with the CBC for the TV show Doctor Who, and boosting coverage of and productions from its various regions — such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland — are also part of the BBC's plan going forward.

Nevertheless, despite a shifting focus on newer technologies or updating certain practices, "some things don't change" for audiences, White said, citing "quality, originality, trust.

Nintendo reveals its top selling Wii, DS games

On Monday Nintendo announced its platinum-selling first-party games, those with more than 1 million copies sold.

In their latest financial report, the company disclosed the following worldwide best-sellers in total units sold (including bundles):

Wii

Wii Sports - 17,850,000
Wii Play - 9,230,000
Super Mario Galaxy - 5,190,000
Mario Party 8 - 4,350,000
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - 4,300,000
Super Paper Mario - 2,160,000
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree - 2,000,000
Mario Strikers Charged - 1,650,000
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 1,140,000
Link's Crossbow Training - 1,070,000
Wii Fit - 1,050,000

Nintendo DS

Nintendogs - 17,790,000
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl - 14,170,000
New Super Mario Bros. - 13,140,000
Brain Age - 11,710,000
Brain Age 2 - 9,840,000
Mario Kart DS - 9,670,000
Animal Crossing Wild World - 9,200,000
Super Mario 64 DS - 5,780,000
Big Brain Academy - 4,610,000
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - 3,820,000
Pokemon Ranger - 2,610,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - 1,540,000

The report also quietly confirmed a 2008 release for Kirby and Animal Crossing on Wii. As always, Nintendo's first-party sales are impressive. The same cannot be said of third-party sales, however.

No Country For Old Men Misses Pre-Oscar DVD Release

I’ve been rather surprised at the amount of Oscar nominated films that will be hitting DVD in the next few weeks, giving the mass public a chance to take in the movies before the Oscar ceremony. This kind of approach may not help movies win Oscars, but it will make the ceremony potentially more interesting to more people. After all, it’s hard to get excited about a ceremony for movies nobody has seen.

Unfortunately, one of the big contenders this year, nominated for eight awards, won’t be taking that approach. While No Country For Old Men will be coming to DVD and Blu-ray soon, its March 11th release date won’t give you the chance to see the movie before the Oscar ceremony. If I had to guess, that release date gives them the chance to replace that quote you see at the top of the artwork on the right with “Winner of X-Number of Oscars” should the movie perform well at the Academy Awards.

Right now the announced extras seem a little thin, particularly for a Blu-ray release (which appears to have the exact same bonus materials as the standard DVD). Here’s a look at what you can expect to find on this March 11th release:

- Working with the Coens: Reflections of Cast and Crew - Learn more about Joel and Ethan Coen from the perspective of their collaborators, cast and crew.

- The Making of No Country For Old Men - Take a journey through the Coen Brothers’ process and back to their roots as storytellers with a unique voice and vision.

- Diary of a Country Sheriff - Explore the relationship between the compassion of Sheriff Bell and the brutality of Anton Chigurh.

Martie Maguire says she's pregnant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks and her husband, Gareth, are expecting a third daughter.

Maguire, 38, announced her pregnancy on the group's Web site Monday.

She wrote that her 3-year-old twin daughters, Eva and Katie, "are very excited to have a new baby sister."

"Three girls, what a magic number!" Maguire said.

She said the baby is due in late summer.

The report was confirmed by the Chicks' publicist.

Maguire plays fiddle and mandolin in the trio, which also includes Natalie Maines and Emily Robison. Hits by the Chicks include "Wide Open Spaces," "Without You," "Landslide" and "Travelin' Soldier."

Little buzz for top Oscar films

LOS ANGELES - One film has an oblique ending that's left some viewers dissatisfied and others floored by its profundity. The other features a slowly developing plot and a brutal, operatically violent finale.

"No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" are both gorgeous and bold, expertly crafted and intelligently acted. But most moviegoers have seen neither of them — and they never will — even though they're the two leading contenders for best picture at the Academy Awards.

Oscar-nominated films are often small, dark and unintended for mass audiences; they're about art, after all, not commerce. But that's especially true of this year's crop, which has little mainstream buzz and among the lowest box-office totals in recent years.

(The exception, of course, is the crowd-pleasing comedy "Juno," starring the hugely appealing Ellen Page as a quick-witted, pregnant teen. It had a budget of about $2.5 million and just crossed the $100 million mark at the box office. It is far and away the most financially successful of the five.)

Four of the movies nominated last week for best picture — "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" — got the so-called "Oscar bump" that comes from audiences checking them out the following weekend. (The sweeping romance "Atonement" dropped slightly.)

Still, they've only combined to make about $246.3 million domestically. In contrast, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" already had grossed about $364 million all by itself by the time it won best picture in 2004.

In terms of ticket sales, about 7.3 million people have seen "No Country" (from Miramax and Paramount Vantage, a division of Viacom Inc.) and 2 million have seen "There Will Be Blood" (also from Paramount Vantage), compared with the approximately 51 million who saw the third "Rings" picture in theaters by Oscar night.

"I had someone ask me the other day, `Are academy voters out of touch in honoring these films that aren't popular with audiences?'" said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracker Media By Numbers. "But they're not supposed to be popular. They're honoring the cinematic merit of these films. (Or else) `Spider-Man 3' would have the most nominations. ...

"I always say it's either cinematic fast food or cinematic fine dining — you pick what you want," Dergarabedian added. "And Oscar tends to honor the films that give a cinematic fine dining experience."

The 2006 nominees did a bit bitter with a cumulative gross of about $297 million, thanks largely to the winner, "The Departed," which ended up with more than $132 million. "The Departed" also had a revered director in Martin Scorsese and an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

The nominees from 2005 combined for about $245 million with the winner, the ensemble drama "Crash," making only about $55 million. But that year had huge buzz thanks to "Brokeback Mountain," the gay cowboy romance, which had America talking regardless of their interest in art-house films. The perceived front-runner until the moment the envelope was opened, it made $83 million.

But it's not just the contenders in the best picture category that are drawing specialized crowds. "Michael Clayton" is the only film with multiple acting nominations: for its star, George Clooney, and supporting actors Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. The suspenseful corporate thriller from first-time director Tony Gilroy has made a decent $41.5 million.

"Away From Her," which has made a best-actress front-runner of Julie Christie as a wife suffering from Alzheimer's disease, made just under $16 million in limited release last year. "La Vie en Rose," the Edith Piaf biopic, has grossed only about $10 million, despite a wildly heralded performance from best-actress nominee Marion Cotillard.

The languid Western "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," with its creepy, nuanced supporting turn from nominee Casey Affleck, hasn't even made $4 million. And the experimental "I'm Not There," which features six different people playing various incarnations of Bob Dylan — including supporting-actress nominee Cate Blanchett — made just about $3.5 million in its limited run.

"They're not simple fare," said Boo Allen, a Dallas-based film critic and historian.

"The average moviegoer might hear that Brad Pitt is playing Jesse James, then they hear from someone who's seen it that it's two and a half hours long and very slow, it's more of a character study than a shoot 'em up, and it just doesn't touch a nerve," said Allen, who chose "La Vie en Rose" as his favorite film this season. "Something like `Juno,' that touches a nerve. You hear people say it's funny, it's about a teenager who gets pregnant. Jennifer Garner's in it, Jason Bateman's in it, the little girl's really funny. That lends itself to word of mouth and draws people in."

While they haven't exactly been boffo in terms of box office, this year's awards contenders are undeniably strong in terms of art. Veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins, who's up for two Oscars for "No Country" and "Jesse James," compared the nominees to the kinds of films that pushed boundaries in the 1970s.

"It's one of the best years because there's so many intelligent films that are provocative. They're actually about something as well as being entertaining," said Deakins, the longtime Coen brothers collaborator, who's also been nominated for the more mainstream "The Shawshank Redemption."

"It really makes you feel part of a real cinema," he added. "There's brilliant, brilliant people out there."

New CD Releases, January 29: Willie Nelson, Hannah Montana, Andrea Bocelli

Willie Nelson "Moment of Forever"

The country music legend returns with a follow-up to 2007's "It's Magic," a collection that featured "What a Wonderful World" and 11 other classic compositions.

Produced by--and this is not a typo--country superstar Kenny Chesney, "Moment of Forever" features a few Nelson originals, along with covers of songs by Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman and others, as well as a pair of Chesney-penned tracks, "I'm Alive" and "Worry B Gone." The first single from the album is a rendition of Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger."

This tireless road warrior is, of course, supporting "Moment of Forever" on tour. His itinerary currently includes dates through the end of June.

* * *
Hannah Montana "Hannah Montana 2: Non-Stop Dance Party"

The kiddie-pop juggernaut keeps right on charging along. Having conquered the album charts, the TV ratings and the concert stage, the girl with the double life and dual career--she's also made a mark under her real name, Miley Cyrus--now returns with "Hannah Montana 2: Non-Stop Dance Party."

The disc includes newly remixed versions of 10 fan favorites (including "Nobody's Perfect," "Rock Star" and "We Got the Party") that are strung together in a continuous party mix. It's a tween's dream--or a parent's nightmare--as the listener gets non-stop Hannah. The set also includes a slide show, music video and printable party invitations.

* * *
Andrea Bocelli "Vivere: Live in Tuscany"

Having recently put out a greatest-hits package, "The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere," the multi-platinum pop-opera star is ready to tempt fans with a concert disc.

The 2-disc "Vivere: Live in Tuscany" features all of the crooner's best-known tunes, including "Time to Say Goodbye," as well as guest appearances by the likes of Kenny G, Chris Botti and Sarah Brightman. It's being offered both on CD and on DVD.

* * *
The Mars Volta "The Bedlam in Goliath"

The psychedelic prog-rockers return with their fourth studio album. "The Bedlam in Goliath" is a concept record that tells the tale of a Ouija board nicknamed "Soothsayer" owned by band member Cedric Bixler-Zavala, "and its mutation from a source of amusement during the tour supporting the band's 'Amputechture' album into a malevolent psycho-spiritual force that nearly tore the group apart, collectively and individually," according to a press release.

* * *
Sarah Brightman "Symphony"

The Broadway/pop diva--a woman still best known for originating the role of Christine Daaé in "The Phantom of the Opera" as well as for her marriage to the show's author, Andrew Lloyd Webber--continues to tinker with her musical image. Her new release, "Symphony," reportedly has a "goth metal" edge to it. We wonder what the Phantom would think about that.

* * *
More new releases:
Ayreon, "01011001" (Inside Out)
Bullet for My Valentine, "Scream Aim Fire" (Jive)
Dispatch, "Zimbabwe: Live at Madison Square Garden" (Republic)
Linda Eder, "Greatest Hits" (Rhino)
The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, "Down in New Orleans" (Time Life)
Joe Jackson, "Rain" (Rykodisc)
Al Jarreau, "Love Songs" (Rhino)
Shelby Lynne, "Just a Little Lovin'" (Lost Highway)
Idina Menzel, "I Stand" (Warner Bros.)
Pat Metheny Trio, "Day Trip" (Nonesuch)
Van Morrison, "It's Too Late To Stop Now" (Polydor)
Van Morrison, "Tupelo Honey" (Polydor)
Vampire Weekend, "Vampire Weekend" (Beggars XL)
Various Artists, "2008 Grammy Nominees" (Hip-O)

Grammy organizers reach deal with striking writers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's striking writers said on Monday they will grant an "interim agreement" to organizers of the Grammy awards allowing the ceremony honoring musicians to be written by union members.

Last week, the Writers Guild of America, which represents some 10,500 striking film and television writers, said it would not picket the music event, so Monday's announcement further ensures the show will continue in its traditional format of presenters giving awards and musicians performing hit songs.

"Professional musicians face many of the same issues that we do concerning fair compensation for the use of their work in new media," the Writers Guild said in a statement, adding that it made the decision "in the interest of advancing our goal of achieving a fair contract."

The Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammy Awards, responded by saying it was "gratified" to reach the deal.

"Having our talented writers on the team further ensures the highest level of creativity and innovation," said Neil Portnow, Recording Academy president and chief executive.

Writers launched their strike against major film and TV studios in November, and informal talks between the parties restarted only last week. The key dispute centers on pay for writers' work when it appears on the Internet.

The strike has caused several Hollywood awards shows, including the Golden Globes, to be canceled or changed because stars have refused to cross picket lines or work on shows that do not have an "interim agreement."

The Grammys, which are the top U.S. honors in the music industry, are scheduled to take place on February 10, in a program to be televised by CBS.

Cronenberg thriller, Dallaire drama vie for Genie Awards

Mafia thriller Eastern Promises and Shake Hands With the Devil, a dramatic adaptation of retired Canadian general Roméo Dallaire's experiences in Rwanda, lead a strong group of nominees for Canada's top film honour.

Organizers announced Monday the contenders for the 28th annual Genie Awards, organized each year by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises and Shake Hands With the Devil, directed by Roger Spottiswoode, tied with 12 Genie nods each, including for the coveted best motion picture trophy.

Also nominated for that top honour are L'Âge des ténèbres (Days of Darkness), Away From Her and Continental, un film sans fusil.

Cronenberg and Spottiswoode will also face off for the achievement in direction Genie against Quebec superstar Denys Arcand (L'Âge des ténèbres), Sarah Polley (Away From Her) and Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments).

British acting icon Julie Christie, who on Sunday night won best lead actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles for her turn in Away From Her, is up for the same honour at the Genies.

Ellen Page is also a nominee for her starring role in The Tracey Fragments. Rounding out the category are Molly Parker (Who Loves the Sun), Anne-Marie Cadieux (Toi) and Béatrice Picard (Ma tante Aline).

Vying for the best lead actor Genie are Roy Dupuis (Shake Hands With the Devil), Marc LaBrèche, (L'Âge des ténèbres), Claude Legault (Les 3 P'tits Cochons), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) and Gordon Pinsent (Away From Her).

The Genie Awards will be presented March 3 and here are all the nominees for the 2008 Genie Awards honouring the best in Canadian film:

BEST MOTION PICTURE

"L'Age des tenebres" ("Days of Darkness") - Denise Robert, Daniel Louis

"Away From Her" - Daniel Iron, Simone Urdl, Jennifer Weiss

"Continental, un film sans fusil" ("Continental, a Film Without Guns")-Luc Dery, Kim McCraw

"Eastern Promises" - Robert Lantos, Paul Webster

"Shake Hands With The Devil" - Laszlo Barna, Michael Donovan

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN

Andre Line Beauparlant, "Continental, un film sans fusil" ("Continental, a Film Without Guns")

Lindsey Hermer-Bell, Justin S.B. Craig, "Shake Hands With The Devil"

Rob Gray, James Willcock, "Fido"

Francois Seguin, "Silk"

Carol Spier, "Eastern Promises"

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

Dolly Ahluwallia, "Partition"

Denise Cronenberg, "Eastern Promises"

Carlo Poggioli, Kazuko Kurosawa, "Silk"

Mary E. McLeod, "Fido"

Joyce Schure, "Shake Hands With The Devil"

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Miroslaw Baszak, "Shake Hands With the Devil"

Bruce Chun, "Nitro"

Alain Dostie, "Silk"

Vic Sarin, "Partition"

Peter Suschitzky, "Eastern Promises"

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION

Denys Arcand, "Days of Darkness"

Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"

David Cronenberg, "Eastern Promises"

Roger Spottiswoode, "Shake Hands With the Devil"

Bruce McDonald, "The Tracey Fragments"

ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING

Jean-Francois Bergeron, "Les 3 P'tits Cochons" ("The 3 Little Pigs")

Susan Maggi, "Poor Boy's Game"

Jeremiah Munce, Gareth C. Scales, "The Tracey Fragments"

Ronald Sanders, "Eastern Promises"

David Wharnsby, "Away From Her"

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

David Hirschfelder, "Shake Hands With the Devil"

Steve London, "That Beautiful Somewhere"

Don MacDonald, "Fido"

Ryuichi Sakamoto, "Silk"

Howard Shore, "Eastern Promises"

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

Alan Doyle, "Young Triffie's Been Made Away With" - "Young Triffie's Been Made Away With"

Valanga Khoza, David Hirschfelder - "Shake Hands With the Devil" - "Kaya"

Byron Wong, Luke Nicholson - "Poor Boy's Game" - "Breathe"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Roy Dupuis, "Shake Hands With The Devil"

Marc LaBreche, "L'Age des tenebres" ("Days of Darkness") - Denise Robert, Daniel Louis

Claude Legault, "Les 3 P'tits Cochons" ("The 3 Little Pigs")

Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Gordon Pinsent, "Away From Her"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Danny Glover, "Poor Boy's Game"

Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, "Les 3 P'tits Cochons" ("The 3 Little Pigs")

Armin Mueller-Stahl, "Eastern Promises"

Michel Ange Nzojibwami, "Shake Hands With the Devil"

Gilbert Sicotte, "Continental, un film sans fusil" ("Continental, a Film Without Guns")

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Anne-Marie Cadieux, "Toi," ("You")

Julie Christie, "Away From Her"

Ellen Page, "The Tracey Fragments"

Molly Parker, "Who Loves the Sun"

Beatrice Picard, "Ma tante Aline" ("My Aunt Aline")

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Marie-Ginette Guay, "Continental, un film sans fusil" ("Continental, a Film Without Guns")

Veronique Le Flaguais, "Comment survivre a sa mere" ("Surviving My Mother")

Laurence LeBoeuf, "Ma fille mon ange"

Fanny Mallette, "Continental, un film sans fusil" ("Continental, a Film Without Guns")

Kristen Thompson, "Away From Her"

ACHIEVEMENT IN OVERALL SOUND

Claude La Haye, Olivier Calvert, Hans Peter Strobl, Bernard Gariepy Strob - "Silk"

Eric Fitz, Jo Caron, Gavin Fernandes, Benoit Leduc - "Shake Hands With the Devil"

John J. Thomson, Stephan Carrier, Martin Lee - "Citizen Duane"

John Hazen, Matt Chan, Brad Dawe - "The Tracey Fragments"

Stuart Wilson, Christian Cooke, Orest Sushko, Mark Zsifkovits - "Eastern Promises"

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

Martin Pinsonnault, Pierre-Jules Audet, Michelle Cloutier, Simon Meilleur, Louis Molinas - "Nitro"

Wayne Griffin, Robert Bertola, Tony Currie, Andy Malcolm, Michael O'Farrell - "Eastern Promises"

Marie-Claude Gagne, Diane Boucher, Guy Francoeur, Claire Pochon, Jean-Philippe Savard - "Romeo et Juliette"

Marcel Pothier, Guy Francoeur, Antoine Morin, Guy Pelletier, Francois Senneville - "Shake Hands With the Devil"

Steven Munro, John Sievert, David Drainie Taylor, "The Tracey Fragments"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Pierre Lamothe, Claude Lalonde, "Les 3 P'tits Cochons" ("The 3 Little Pigs")

Denys Arcand, "L'Age des tenebres" ("Days of Darkness")

Marc-Andre Lavoie, Simon Olivier Fecteau, David Gauthier, "Bluff"

Steve Knight, "Eastern Promises"

Douglas Coupland, "Everything's Gone Green"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"

Michael Donovan, "Shake Hands With the Devil"

Maureen Medved, "The Tracey Fragments"

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Panache/Antlers - Andre-Line Beauparlant, Danielle Leblanc

Radiant City - Gary Burns, Jim Brown, Bonnie Thompson, Shirley Vercruysse

Sharkwater - Robert Stewart

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT DRAMA

"Apres Tout," Alexis Fortier Gauthier, Elaine Hebert

"Faire Chaluim Mhic Leid" ("The Wake Of Calum Macleod") - Marc Almon, Nona MacDermid

"Regarding Sarah," Michelle Porter, Amy Belling

"Screening," Anthony Green, Philip Svoboda

"The Tragic Story Of Nling," Jeffrey St. Jules, Larissa Giroux

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

"Here And There," Diane Obomsawin, Marc Bertrand

"Jeu," Georges Schwizgebel, Michele Belanger, Marcel Jean

"Madame Tutli-Putli," Maciek Szczerbowski, Chris Lavis, Marcy Page

Van Halen keeps rolling with 2008 tour

After logging one of last year's most successful tours, classic rockers Van Halen are back on the road to tackle a new leg of shows.

The group, which returned to the tour trail with a Monday (1/22) concert in Oklahoma City, has dates lined up through early April. Since first unveiling the 2008 itinerary late last year, the band has tucked into its schedule stops in three additional cities: Des Moines, IA; Duluth, GA; and Dallas, TX. Details are shown below, and tickets for all shows are on sale now.

Last fall, Van Halen hit the road with original frontman David Lee Roth at the helm for the first time in 22 years. Despite Roth's return, the band's current roster falls short of being a full-fledged reunion of the original lineup; prior to the tour, co-founding Van Halen brothers Alex and Eddie sacked original bassist Michael Anthony and replaced him with Eddie's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang Van Halen. The father-and-son duo will appear on the cover of the April 2008 issue of Guitar World magazine.

Van Halen's 2007 tour comprised 39 shows, during which the band raked in $56.7 million. That number earned the group the No. 5 slot on concert-industry trade-magazine Pollstar's 2007 year-end list of top-grossing tours.

The tour's first leg was characterized by a number of sold-out shows and rave reviews from both fans and critics alike, who gave the group high marks for its delivery of a set list comprised entirely of songs that appeared on the band's 1978-1984 Roth-era catalog.

January 2008
22 - Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center
24 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
26 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
28 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
30 - Little Rock, AR - Alltel Arena (on sale to be announced)

February 2008
1 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
4 - Omaha, NE - Qwest Center
6 - Des Moines, IA - Wells Fargo Arena
8 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena
10 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
12 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - BankAtlantic Center
14 - Orlando, FL - Amway Arena
16 - Jacksonville, FL - Veterans Memorial Arena
18 - Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
20 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Bank Atlantic Center
22 - Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena
25 - Duluth, GA - Gwinnett Arena

March 2008
3 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
5 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena
7 - Raleigh, NC - RBC Center
9 - Baltimore, MD - 1st Mariner Arena
11 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena
13 - East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Arena
17 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
19 - Hershey, PA - Giant Center
21 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mellon Arena
24 - Providence, RI - Dunkin Donuts Center
26 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
28 - Atlantic City, NJ - Boardwalk Hall
30 - St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center

April 2008
1 - Columbus, OH - Value City Arena
3 - Rosemont, IL - Allstate Arena
5 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena
7 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center

'Toy Story' Films Going 3-D

The first two films will be rereleased in 2009 and 2010 before 'Toy Story 3'

In anticipation of the release of "Toy Story 3" in 2010, Pixar has announced plans to rerelease the franchise's first two films back into theaters.

With Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 3" being produced in 3-D under the direction of studio vet Lee Unkrich, "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" will be converted into 3-D as well.

"We are committed to bringing moviegoers the best and most exciting 3-D movie experience, and we think they're going to love seeing Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and all the wonderful 'Toy Story' cast of characters in an eye popping and dazzling way," says Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. "John Lasseter and the animation team are putting all their passion and hard work into making this the greatest 3-D experience yet, and we're excited to share their efforts with audiences everywhere."

The plan is to bring "Toy Story" out in Disney Digital 3-D on Oct. 2, 2009, followed by the Feb. 12, 2010 release of "Toy Story 3." The long-anticipated "Toy Story 3" will open on June 18, 2010.

"The 'Toy Story' films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we're so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way thanks to the latest in 3-D technology," says John Lasseter, director on the first two "Toy Story" films and chief creative officer for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. "I am sure that this is going to be nothing short of fantastic and people are going to be blown away by the experience.

With 'Toy Story 3' shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way. 3-D offers lots of great new possibilities for the art of animation and we will continue to use this new technology to tell our stories in the best possible way."

In order to release "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" in 3-D, the original technical elements on both films will be essentially rebuilt.

First released in 1995, "Toy Story" made more than $360 million worldwide (per BoxOfficeMojo). The 1999 sequel made more than $485 million worldwide.

Del Toro doubles up to direct big-screen "Hobbit"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Guillermo del Toro is in talks to direct back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," which is being co-financed by New Line and MGM.

Del Toro's name was on a short list of directors who could tackle the project, one of the most anticipated literary adaptations of the past decade. An ill-chosen director for "Hobbit" could put billions of dollars at stake for New Line and MGM and could turn off an audience that encompasses millions of passionate readers, Tolkien fans and obsessive geeks.

Few filmmakers have the cachet that del Toro has, as well as a deep love for the source material, an assured grasp of fantasy filmmaking and an understanding and command of geek culture as well as its respect. Del Toro has built that goodwill through such films as the Oscar-nominated "Pan's Labyrinth," "Hellboy," "Blade 2" (which was made by New Line) and "The Devil's Backbone."

For New Line, making "Hobbit" had become a priority in the wake of its billion-dollar success with the Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" movies, which were co-written and directed by Peter Jackson. Jackson wanted to adapt "Hobbit," but when he got into a dispute with the studio over profit participation, the project went into limbo; neither New Line nor MGM, both rights-holders to the film, wanted to risk alienating fans of the trilogy by making an adaptation that didn't have Jackson's involvement.

The December resolution of the Jackson suit, facilitated by MGM CEO Harry Sloan, paved the way for "Hobbit" to get back on the road to the screen. However, because of other commitments that included "The Lovely Bones" and "Tintin," Jackson could not take on writing and directing roles, opting instead to become an executive producer with approval over creative elements of the pair of films.

Because of the Writers Guild of America strike, no writer has been hired to adapt Tolkien's children's classic, though that process will be fast-tracked once the strike is resolved. Del Toro and Jackson will oversee "Hobbit's" writing.

Principal photography for the films, which will be shot simultaneously, is tentatively set for 2009. The production budget is estimated at $150 million per film. The release of the first film is slated for 2010 and the second for 2011.

"Hobbit," which Tolkien initially wrote for his children, was published in the U.K. in 1937 to wide acclaim. It centered on Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who joins a group of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf on a quest to find the treasure of a dragon named Smaug. Tolkien went on to write "The Lord of the Rings" 17 years later.

Del Toro is putting the finishing touches on Universal's summer release "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" and recently produced the critically acclaimed ghost story "The Orphanage."

New Kids: Back on the Block?

Los Angeles (E! Online) - They may no longer be new. They may no longer be kids. But NKOTB are out to prove they still have the right stuff.

The New Kids on the Block, the prototypical boy band of the 1980s and early '90s that preceded the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync on the pop charts and in the pages of Tiger Beat, are reportedly on track to reunite.

The band's official Website, www.nkotb.com, is, after a long period of dormancy, once again up and running and imploring fans to keep hanging tough for a forthcoming announcement. That announcement, per People, is that Jordan Knight, Joey McIntire, Donnie Wahlberg, Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood will be making like the Spice Girls and relaunching their once chart-dominating act.

There's no word yet, however, on whether the group's resurrection will include a tour, a greatest hits album or the release of any new material.

Their site simply teases that an undoubtedly earth-shattering development is in the works, with a fuzzy television set flickering on and off on different photos of the group in their heyday.

"They rose from the streets of Boston," the site touts. "To become the biggest band in the world. They influenced a generation. They sold over 70 million albums and grossed more than one billion dollars. Five multiplatinum albums, 10 Top 10 singles, five number one singles. Then they walked away from it all. Millions of fans around the world await their return. Are you ready?"

The group eventually called it quits in 1994, after logging megasuccess with hits like "Hangin' Tough," "Step by Step," "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" and the ever-lampooned "You Got It (The Right Stuff)."

Despite attempts by MTV to reunite the group in the past decade, the move has consistently been vetoed by one or more members of the quintet.

As it is, the "boy band" has almost certainly aged out of the High School Musical demographic t and will likely rely on the support of their former, now grown, fanbase (and their kids) to power the second coming of NKOTB.

Since splitting more than a decade ago, each member of the fivesome has achieved some degree of solo success, both inside and outside the world of entertainment.

The youngest and possibly most recognizable member of NKOTB, the perpetually fresh-faced Joey McIntyre, is now 35 years old and is best known these days for appearing on Dancing with the Stars as well as a brief stint in 2003 on Boston Public.

Donnie "brother of Mark" Wahlberg is 38 and has arguably been the most successful in Hollywood since the split, starring in HBO's Emmy-winning Band of Brothers and NBC's now defunct Boomtown and appearing in films such as The Sixth Sense and Saws II and IV.

Onetime frontman Jordan Knight, 37, continues to record solo, most notably the minor 1999 hit, "Give It To You," which was, briefly, a staple in the MTV rotation. His brother Jonathan, the oldest New Kid at nearly 40, is a real estate developer, while Donny Wood, 38, has bided his time as a music producer.

New season of `Lost' is found Thursday

NEW YORK - Are the island castaways of "Lost" mere hours from rescue? Or will their latest chance at freedom turn to dust, like all the others?

That's a no-brainer. The title of the ABC series isn't "Found." And as the long-awaited new season of "Lost" begins Thursday (9 p.m. EST), the first episode strongly suggests the castaways are about to lose again.

They're awaiting help from a rescue party from a freighter anchored offshore. But as they wait, the chilling likelihood takes hold that their potential saviors could instead spell their doom.

There are no shockers in the episode, the first of eight in the series' truncated fourth season. But this is a gripping hour involving all the principal characters that sets the stage for the season ahead. And after eight long months' absence, it's a welcome sight. (Relax: No spoilers ahead.)

From last season's finale, we already know that rock star Charlie (played by Dominic Monaghan) made a perilous quest to disable a jamming device that had prevented the group from summoning help from a just-acquired satellite telephone. He died carrying out his mission, but not before relaying a warning to his comrades to beware of the so-called freighter people.

The next step in the rescue plan was for the group to make a trek to the radio tower and shut off a tape-loop rescue plea that also was interfering with any other transmissions.

There Ben (Michael Emerson), the less-than-trustworthy overlord of the Others, implored Jack (Matthew Fox), the survivors' reluctant leader, not to place the call to the freighter people.

Jack sneered at Ben's words. The call was made, and the new episode begins, much as last season's finale did, with Jack somewhere in the future — drinking. With this recently added flash-forward storytelling feature, Jack is seen in his Los Angeles kitchen mixing a morning cocktail when his eye falls on TV coverage of police in hot pursuit of a speeding motorist.

The car crashes and the driver is arrested. Jack realizes it's one of his fellow former castaways, who is haunted by the past and sees visions of the dead. Jack, who himself is plagued by substance abuse,unrequited love for Kate (Evangeline Lily), and other demons, pays this person a visit. There is mention of a dreaded secret they share.

In a scene back on the island (and back in time), the portly Hurley (Jorge Garcia) runs into Locke (Terry O'Quinn), who long ago had "gone native" and has no desire to ever leave the island.

"It's gonna be hard to talk (Jack) into thinking they're not coming here to rescue us," says Hurley, who, with Locke, shares Ben's alarm for what the freighter people might do.

"We're just gonna have to try our best," says Locke, "because if we can't talk him out of it, then Charlie died for nothing."

By the end of the hour, the castaways are split into two factions — those aligned with Ben and Locke who believe the freighter people represent a mortal threat and Jack's group, still holding out hope for rescue, even as they start to fear the worst.

Thursday's new episode will be preceded by "`Lost': Past, Present & Future," a recap hour of the saga of the Oceanic flight 815 crash (8 p.m. EST). And Wednesday, last season's splendid two-hour finale will be repeated (9 p.m. EST) in "enhanced" form, with on-screen text containing commentary and clues.

In short, "Lost" fans should be rejoicing. And even with just eight episodes currently on tap thanks to the writers strike, ABC has promised another 40 will eventually follow, leading up to the series' finale in 2010.

Led Zeppelin guitarist wants world tour

TOKYO - Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page said Monday he was ready to take the iconic band on a world tour after burning up the stage at last month's reunion concert in London. But it probably won't be before September.

"The amount of work we put into O2 was what you would normally put into a world tour anyway," Page, 64, said of the intense rehearsing the band did for the Dec. 10 concert at London's O2 Arena.

The band's three surviving members — Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones — were joined at the sold-out benefit show by the late John Bonham's son Jason on drums.

Page, who was in Japan to promote the new Zeppelin release, "Mothership," said the two-hour-plus concert was proof that Led Zeppelin can still perform at its best.

He said the band, which formed in 1968, was ready musically to get back together and take it out on a wider run, but it was not clear when it would go on tour as the singer had other plans.

"Robert Plant has a parallel project and he is busy with that until September," Page said.

Plant and bluegrass star Alison Krauss will begin their world tour with a run of shows in the southern U.S. this spring. The two released an album in October called "Raising Sand" that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart in the U.S. The duo will tour Europe in May before returning for North American shows still to be announced for June and July.

Page said the band set their standards very high before agreeing to do the reunion, their first in 20 years. Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980 after the elder Bonham's death.

Page said they rehearsed for weeks, apprehensive that the cohesion they had in the 1970s when they were at their peak might be hard to rediscover.

"We wanted people who might not have even been alive in 1980 when we finished to understand what we were," he said.

Page said all went well until he broke a finger in three places, forcing the band to postpone the show for several weeks.

"But we did the show, and it was great," he said. "It was instant in terms of chemistry."

'No Country' wins key SAG prizes

LOS ANGELES - "No Country for Old Men" solidified its Academy Awards prospects Sunday by taking overall cast honors alongside Javier Bardem's supporting-actor prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which may stand as the highlight of Hollywood's film-honors season if the writers strike undermines the Oscars.

Past Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis of "There Will Be Blood" and Julie Christie of "Away From Her" won the lead-acting honors, also giving them a boost to win the same trophies at the Oscars. Day-Lewis dedicated his win to Heath Ledger, the 28-year-old Australian actor who was found dead in his Manhattan loft last week.

"In `Brokeback Mountain,' he was unique, he was perfect," said Day-Lewis, already an Oscar winner for "My Left Foot." "That scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything I think I've ever seen."

Actors bid fond farewell to one of TV's most-acclaimed series ever as "The Sopranos" swept the dramatic categories, grabbing the lead-acting honors for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco and, minutes later, the overall cast award.

The SAG show itself was generally free of labor talk, with only Christie addressing the matter openly among the winners.

"It's lovely to receive an award from your own union," she said, "especially at a time when we're being so forcefully reminded how important unions are."

Bardem had kind words for Joel and Ethan Coen, who directed "No Country" and adapted the screenplay from Cormac McCarthy's novel.

"Thank you, guys, for hiring me, and thank you for taking the hard work of choosing the good takes instead of the ones where I really sucked," said Bardem, who won for his chilling role as a relentless killer tracking a fortune in missing drug money.

Ruby Dee won supporting actress for "American Gangster." She shared fond thoughts of her late husband and frequent acting partner, Ossie Davis, who died in 2005.

"I accept it also for my husband Ossie," the 83-year-old Dee said, "because he's working on things up there."

Though its last episode aired several months ago, "The Sopranos" grabbed all three TV drama categories to open the ceremony.

"Ten years ... I wish for everybody in every walk of life, but particularly for actors, to have the opportunity to have a work experience like I have had with my family here," Falco said. "You're not supposed to get this attached because it's a transient business. I have fallen in love with these people and I don't know how you walk away from that."

Minutes before, Gandolfini took the first trophy of the night in a star-studded ceremony — something of an anomaly in this strike-hobbled awards season.

"This is our last official act as Sopranos together," Gandolfini said. "Here's to you guys. Thank you very much. It's been 10 years. It's been an honor. That's all I can say."

For comedy series, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey were the lead-acting winners for "30 Rock," while "The Office" won for best ensemble.

Normally a lesser cousin to the Golden Globes and Oscars, the SAG Awards could end up being the biggest celebration this time around: The swanky Globes were canceled because of a strike by the Writers Guild of America, which refused to let its members work on the show, and the fate of the Oscars on Feb. 24 is in question because of the same labor quarrel.

Not so for the SAG honors. The actors union has been steadfast in support of striking writers, who in turn gave their blessing to the SAG ceremony.

Instead of the debacle for the Globes, which were curtailed to a star-free news conference after actors and filmmakers made it clear they would not cross writers' picket lines, the SAG ceremony came off with a full complement of Hollywood A-listers.

"We're really proud of the solidarity we've built with the Writers Guild," said Alan Rosenberg, SAG president. "Our members have understood that and taken it to heart. I was really moved by their decision not to go to the Golden Globes, our nominees. It's tough times, but it's been gratifying, as well."

Backstage, Fey said the writers strike leaves "30 Rock" at risk since the show is a critical success but not necessarily a huge hit with viewers.

"We are exactly the kind of show that's put in jeopardy by the strike," Fey said.

The obligatory package of clips to honor stars who died in the past year took on more immediacy, ending with a moment from "Brokeback Mountain" featuring Ledger. The cause of his death had not yet been determined.

The guild presented its life-achievement award to Charles Durning, whose credits include "The Sting," "Tootsie" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

"There's nothing more gratifying than having an achievement award from one's peers," Durning said. "Over 50 years ago, I had the honor of working with some of the best actors, directors and writers in our industry. It's been a dream come true."

The guild's first-ever prizes for best stunt ensemble went to "The Bourne Ultimatum" for films and "24" for TV before the ceremony began.

On Saturday, "No Country" won top honors at the Directors Guild of America Awards for the Coen brothers; the winner there usually goes on to take home the directing Oscar.

As with the Golden Globes, the Writers Guild has made it clear that its members would not be allowed to work on the Oscars. While stars generally have said they would skip the show rather than cross picket lines, Oscar organizers insist their telecast will take place as scheduled.

Amy Ryan, a SAG and Oscar supporting-actress nominee for "Gone Baby Gone," said at the Directors Guild awards Saturday that she would not cross a picket line to attend the Oscars.

"I hope it ends but, more, I hope the writers get their due," Ryan said. "I think that, at the end of the day, is more important than a party. But I really hope it works out because I'd like to go to the party."

Complete list of SAG Award winners

Movies:

Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood."

Actress: Julie Christie, "Away From Her."

Supporting actor: Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men."

Supporting actress: Ruby Dee, "American Gangster."

Cast: "No Country for Old Men."

Stunt ensemble: "The Bourne Ultimatum."

___

Television:

Actor in a movie or miniseries: Kevin Kline, "As You Like It."

Actress in a movie or miniseries: Queen Latifah, "Life Support."

Actor in a drama series: James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos."

Actress in a drama series: Edie Falco, "The Sopranos."

Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock."

Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, "30 Rock."

Drama series cast: "The Sopranos."

Comedy series cast: "The Office."

Stunt ensemble: "24."

Jewel a "Woman" country radio can embrace

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Singer-songwriter Jewel, who is releasing a country album this summer on Nashville-based independent Valory Music, is finding early acceptance from country radio. Her single "Stronger Woman" is the Hot Shot Debut on Hot Country Songs this week, at No. 50.

It's Jewel's second appearance on the country chart: In 1999 she peaked at No. 56 as the duet partner of Merle Haggard when the pair reprised his 1984 No. 1 "That's the Way Love Goes."

The new song, written by Jewel and Marv Green, is a midtempo, banjo-laden testament to believing in one's self. "I like a beginning, middle and end to my songs," Jewel recently told Billboard in explaining her move to country. "That's pretty much just country radio right now."

Playing Jewel on a country station is not a stretch, according to KEGA Salt Lake City program director Cody Alan. "If you listen back to old Jewel music, you realize the rootsy feel of her songs are country in nature," he said. "Her relationship with (professional bull rider/cowboy) Ty Murray helps to give her some country cred. That, along with a great female lyric on 'Stronger Woman' seem like the makings of a country hit."

The song will be available exclusively at iTunes starting February 5. Jewel's album "Perfectly Clear," which was produced by Nashville heavyweight John Rich, is due June 3.

Coens win for 'No Country for Old Men'

LOS ANGELES - Joel and Ethan Coen won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America on Saturday for "No Country for Old Men," giving them the inside track for the same honor at the Academy Awards — assuming the Oscars go on amid the writers strike.

"Oh, we get two of them," Ethan Coen said when he and his brother were presented with their trophies.

The Coens were only the second two-person team to win the Directors Guild honor, following Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for 1961's "West Side Story."

"Ethan and I have a bookshelf in our office where we keep various plaques and such that we've gotten over the years that we call our ego corner," Joel Coen said.

When brother Ethan is having a bad day, he goes over with Windex and silver polish and "spit shines his medals for an hour or two," Joel Coen said. "It makes him feel better. This is a really big one, in every respect. It's going to keep him busy."

As with Martin Scorsese, who as last year's winner for "The Departed" presented the award to the Coens, the Directors Guild winner almost always goes on to win the same prize at the Oscars.

Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel, "No Country for Old Men" stars Josh Brolin as a good old Texan who makes off with loot from a drug deal gone bad, Javier Bardem as a ruthless killer on his trail, and Tommy Lee Jones as a sheriff tracking both men.

With the Directors Guild honor, "No Country" also may emerge as the favorite to win best picture at the Oscars.

The fate of the Oscars remains uncertain, though. Writers, who have been on strike for nearly three months, have refused to work on some major awards shows, among them the Golden Globes, whose ceremony was scrapped for lack of stars.

The Coens' former cinematographer, Barry Sonnenfeld, also was a guild winner. Sonnenfeld, whose films include the "Men in Black" series, won a small-screen prize, receiving the award for television comedy for directing an episode of "Pushing Daisies."

"Mad Men" earned the TV drama honor for Alan Taylor, while Yves Simoneau won the TV movie award for "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Other TV winners included Glenn P. Weiss for musical variety for "The 61st Annual Tony Awards"; Bertram Van Munster for reality programming for "The Amazing Race"; Paul Hoen for children's programs for "Jump In"; and Larry Carpenter for daytime serials for "One Life to Live."

Asger Leth won the documentary honor for "Ghosts of Cite Soleil," his portrait of two brothers who are gang leaders in a notorious Haitian slum.

Unlike other major honors, such as Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards, the DGA ceremony is untelevised, making it a more laid-back gathering of Hollywood's elite and shielding it from some of the attention the industry's labor strife has brought to other ceremonies.

The Golden Globes banquet was canceled after stars made clear they would stay away in support of the Writers Guild of America strike, and the Oscars may face the same dilemma come Feb. 24.

Still, the writers' strike did cast a pall over the directors' big night, even though their guild last week negotiated a new contract after just days of meetings with producers. A fair number of Directors Guild members also belong to the writers union, whose strike has shut down TV shows and postponed movies, throwing thousands in the entertainment industry out of work.

Hal Holbrook, nominated for the supporting-actor Oscar for Directors Guild nominee Sean Penn's "Into the Wild," said before the Directors Guild awards that the "strike is becoming really dangerous. They're losing their homes. ...

"All I can hope is since we all have to share in producing anything — from the studio to the actors to the camera person to the costume lady, whatever, the set dresser — we all share," Holbrook said.

Many in Hollywood hope the Directors Guild deal will help resuscitate talks between writers and producers, whose negotiations broke down Dec. 7, a month after guild members walked off the job.

Dan Glickman — who heads the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's top trade group — said before the directing awards that the union's new contract "offers a very good template for the other guilds," which could jump-start the labor impasse in time to let the Oscars go on.

"I sure hope so. The Oscars are kind of the link between the world of consumers and the world of entertainment," Glickman said. "I mean, a billion people or more watch the Oscars, and so it would be a real shame if we weren't able to keep that precedent, that history of this event going."

Winners, presenters and host Carl Reiner generally ignored Hollywood's labor problems during the Directors Guild ceremony, keeping the tone celebratory. There were only a few passing references to contract negotiations.

'Meet the Spartans' tops box office

LOS ANGELES - The epic spoof "Meet the Spartans" narrowly conquered "Rambo" to nab the top spot in the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The 20th Century Fox movie, which lampooned last year's epic blockbuster "300," took in an estimated $18.7 million in its weekend debut. It edged out "Rambo," a Lionsgate release starring and directed by Sylvester Stallone, which took in $18.2 million.

"This was a very tight race for the No. 1 spot," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "I think we tend to underestimate films like 'Meet the Spartans.' Fox has really locked onto something that's extremely popular."

"Spartans" tells the tale of hero Leonidas who leads a group of 13 Spartans to defend against the invading Persians — including Rocky Balboa, Paris Hilton and other pop culture icons. It was directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, who produced the parodies "Epic Movie" and "Date Movie."

"Spartans" was popular among teenagers and young adults, who made up about 75 percent of the audience. The film was rated PG-13, while R-rated "Rambo" was popular with older men.

"We are thrilled with the numbers," said Bert Livingston, senior vice president of distribution at Fox. "We made it for young people and they came."

Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., which co-distributed "Rambo," said he expected the film's mature audience to sustain its popularity at the box office.

"I think we'll have a great hold," Weinstein said.

"Rambo" is the fourth installment of the trademark franchise and stars Stallone as the eponymous Vietnam vet spending his retirement in Thailand when a group of missionaries enlists his help in aiding a village endangered by civil war in Myanmar.

The top 12 movies raked in $117.8 million, up 32 percent from the same weekend last year, when Fox's "Epic Movie" led the box office with $18.6 million.

Last weekend's monster hit, "Cloverfield," which set a January opening record with $41 million, was down steeply at No. 4 with $12.7 million, a 68 percent decline. "27 Dresses," starring Katherine Heigl as the perpetual bridesmaid was third with $13.6 million, and the new thriller "Untraceable," featuring Diane Lane as an FBI cybercrime investigator, rounded out the top five.

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. "Meet the Spartans," $18.7 million
2. "Rambo," $18.2 million
3. "27 Dresses," $13.6 million
4. "Cloverfield," $12.7 million
5. "Untraceable," $11.2 million
6. "Juno," $10.3 million
7. "The Bucket List," $10.2 million
8. "There Will be Blood," $4.9 million
9. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," $4.7 million
10. "Mad Money," $4.6 million

Companies banking on Super Bowl ads

NEW YORK (AP) — The story lines are unabashedly goofy. Cavemen invent the wheel to transport a beer cooler made of stone, and a car buyer enlists the help of a tribal warrior in case he needs some extra negotiating leverage at the dealership.

For most of us, Super Bowl ads make fine entertainment. But for the advertisers who make and buy them, Sunday is white-knuckle time.

The blogging boom has created crowds of armchair critics; the price for a 30-second spot is up again, to $2.7 million; and a writers strike has wiped out many other opportunities to reach mass audiences by putting scripted dramas like "Desperate Housewives" on hold.

Even against odds like these, many major marketing powers and even a few first-timers couldn't resist the opportunity of reaching more than 90 million people in a single shot — something that's increasingly hard to do in any medium.

Advertisers still love the Internet for its ability to deliver measured results from click-throughs and carve audiences into tiny segments. But only the largest of television's "events" — such as the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Oscars and the Grammys — have the muscle to pull in tens of millions of people in real time.

"There are so few media vehicles out there that reach that size audience that there's still a big value in not only reaching so many people but in such an engaging manner," said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast at Carat, a major buyer and planner of advertising.

Add the extra buzz created by the possibility of the New England Patriots making history with an undefeated season, and advertisers have a lot on the line. The placement is great if they have a winning ad, not so great if the ad tanks. Last year's viewership of 93.2 million was close to the all-time record of 94.1 million set in 1996, and many believe that record could be surpassed this year.

The results from online advertising often confirm the value of hitting big audiences with TV, Donchin said, because advertisers can measure the upswing in traffic to Web sites after an ad is broadcast.

The Super Bowl continues to draw new advertisers, including Planters packaged nut company, part of Kraft Foods Inc., as well as Cars.com, an online auto classified advertising company co-owned by the newspaper publishers Gannett Co., McClatchy Co., Tribune Co., Washington Post Co. and Belo Corp.

No neophyte in the advertising world, Kraft decided a Super Bowl spot was well worth the money last year as it began repositioning Planters beyond the $3 billion packaged nuts business to compete in the $20 billion market of salted snacks, which includes potato chips, pretzels and popcorn.

Those attract fairly different age and gender groups, says Allan Lindsay, senior director of marketing for salty snacks at Kraft. Nuts tend to be bought by adults 45 and older, while salty snacks tend to be bought by people ages 35-55, and men more than women — just the kind of people who watch the Super Bowl.

"If we really wanted to accelerate our growth, we needed to think bigger," Lindsay said. "We wanted the big platform to get our message out there ... and it's a natural venue to do that."

Lindsay, like many other advertisers, offered hints about his ad, but not the full story line. It will feature men being "drawn" to Planters' nuts, he said.

Tire maker Bridgestone Firestone North America, another first-timer, is jumping in with two spots and sponsorship of the halftime show. One ad features a car accelerating toward Richard Simmons as he dances on a road at night. In the other, a woman screams as the car she's riding in approaches a squirrel nibbling on an acorn.

Other big advertisers are venturing back to the Super Bowl after long absences. Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, is coming back to the game after nearly 20 years, with a Godfather-themed spot. And Coca-Cola Co., whose main brand was back in the game last year for the first time since 1998, will have three or four spots this year.

Katie Bayne, chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola Co. in North America, declined to divulge details but said the company is currently testing 11 ads with viewers and will pick a winner to run on game day — a strategy that's also used by Anheuser-Busch Inc., traditionally the biggest advertiser in the game.

Bayne said Coke viewed TV events like the Super Bowl, big NASCAR races and the NCAA college basketball tournament as "critical" for getting the company's marketing message out.

Another theme cropping up again this year is amateur talent. The NFL itself ran a contest among fans last year to come up with ad ideas, and this year solicited league players to pitch ideas for a spot based on how they got into the sport. Likewise Doritos, which charmed viewers last year with spots made by amateur filmmakers, is running a contest where undiscovered musicians submit video performances of original songs. And Pepsico used its own employees in its Super Bowl ad.

Ratings from the game, being broadcast from Phoenix, are sure to boost News Corp.'s Fox network, which is already well-positioned thanks to football and "American Idol," a ratings powerhouse unaffected by the writers strike because it's not scripted.

Fox is getting as much as $2.7 million for a 30-second a spot, up from the $2.6 million CBS Corp.'s CBS network got last year.

The Couch Potato Report - January 26th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels three TV shows on DVD and two very entertaining movies.

Even though Canadian television networks continue to produce shows, including CBC, who have given us some great new programs, including two new shows I really like - SOPHIE and JPOD - when people speak of television these days, they are usually referencing the 11-week-old strike by screenwriters against the major studios.

So, if you are missing your regular nightly or weekly television fix due to the strike, I have three TV shows that are now on DVD that I think you should use to entertain you.

And I'll start with this week's Hot Potato, SEASON TWO of the based in Vancouver series ROBSON ARMS

ROBSON ARMS is a Canadian anthology television series that takes place in and around the Robson Arms apartment building in Vancouver and each episode of the show focuses on a different tenant of the building, although we also see the other people who live in the building in the halls, or in the store that is located in the lobby.

The show also has lots of Canadian music and references and it features a large ensemble cast of well known Canadian actors that rotates from week to week as well, but when SEASON ONE was released on DVD last May, I didn't recommend it, in fact, I said:

"Unfortunately, while ROBSON ARMS is engaging at times, most of the episodes just aren't that interesting, in fact...some of the characters are exceptionally unlikeable, and...in the end, I just didn't find the show really isn't all that entertaining."

Happily, they got rid of most of the unlikeable characters, and added a few people you could actually care about, and while I didn't completely love SEASON TWO of the show, I really did enjoy watching it, and catching up with the folks who live in the building.

I especially enjoyed the scenes with Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen who joins the ensemple for a couple of episodes.

SEASON TWO of ROBSON ARMS is not going to make you forget the shows you love that you aren't getting to see right now, but it might just entertain you enough during the void that you don't have to start reading books, or anything like that.

Another show that is now out on DVD that will definately entertain you - both now, and when the writers end their strike - is the CBC co-production TORCHWOOD - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON about a covert agency called the Torchwood Institute which investigates extraterrestrial incidents.

TORCHWOOD is a great BBC Science Fiction Series from the makers of DOCTOR WHO, also a CBC co-production, and it features great writing and a great cast, lead by John Barrowman as the always engaging Captain Jack Harkness...a man who can not die.

Some have referred to TORCHWOOD as a grown-up DOCTOR WHO, others have called it a British X-FILES, and as much as I enjoy the show, and I do truly enjoy this show, I don't subscribe to either of those descriptions as TORCHWOOD just isn't as consistantly good as DOCTOR WHO or THE X-FILES.

There are too many extra plot points full of character development for Captain Jack's supporting players, and none of them are as interesting as the Captain, so when the show isn't about him, or the interesting aliens and villains the team meets each week, it tends to drag and thus, get a bit boring.

However, I am pleased to report that those boring scenes don't usually go on for very long, and then the show returns to it's engaging storylines and fast pace.

Now, you don't have to know that TORCHWOOD is an anagram of DOCTOR WHO to enjoy this show...but I think it helps.

However, if you enjoy science fiction shows, then I think you will enjoy TORCHWOOD.

So there are two mostly positive reviews this week, and get ready for a third, as I also high recommend our next release.

Yes, it is the 11-DVD Box Set WONDER WOMAN - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, featuring every episode from the television show's three year run.

Yes, if you need something to entertain you over the next few months, until summer arrives and we can go outside again, why not jump back to the 1970's television series based on the classic comic book, and starring the still gorgeous to this day - Lynda Carter - who is featured in some retrospective looks back and commentaries in this box set.

And yes, she does discuss the unforgettable Wonder Woman costume.

:)

No, WONDER WOMAN - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION isn't television's finest hour, but the show remains fun to this day, and it always has a postive attitude.

And did I mention the beautiful Lynda Carter?...I did...okay...just checking.

From the enjoyable cheese that is WONDER WOMAN, our next release is a little more serious fare, and THE HUNTING PARTY is also one of the most surprisingly entertaining films of last year.

THE HUNTING PARTY is the latest film from Richard Shepard, the writer and director who gave us the great film THE MATADOR in 2005.

This picture features Richard Gere as a discraced television reporter who goes on a quest with a young journalist and a cameraman to find "The Fox", the number one war criminal from the Bosnian conflict.

The trio find themselves in serious jeopardy when they are mistaken as a CIA hit squad and their target decides to come after them.

THE HUNTING PARTY is based on an article that originally appeared in Esquire magazine, and I really enjoyed it. For me, the film had just enough fact and fiction to entertain me, and to make me think.

If you like to see mature people in mature films, then do not miss THE HUNTING PARTY.

As I said, it is one of the most surprisingly entertaining films of last year.

Finally this week is 3:10 TO YUMA, a very interesting remake of the 1957 western classic starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

In this version Bale from BATMAN BEGINS plays a small-time rancher who is desperate for money after the bank threatens to foreclose.

So he agrees to help deliver a captured outlaw - played by Oscar winner Russell Crowe - across the plains and to the train station so Crowe can take that 3:10 train to Yuma and be tried in a court of law for his crimes.

While 3:10 TO YUMA is a tried an dtrue western, the story element that really connected with me is the battle of wills that ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.

3:10 TO YUMA is not an exceptional film, and it doesn't exactly reinvent the Western genre, but it is still very, very good, and if you would like to see it for yourself, it is available now on DVD, along side THE HUNTING PARTY, WONDER WOMAN - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, TORCHWOOD - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, and SEASON TWO of the television series ROBSON ARMS.

Oh, and don't miss Season Two of Torchwood, coming soon to CBC Television!!

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL is the Canadian feature film adapted from Roméo Dallaire's autobiographical book "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" starring Roy Dupuis as Roméo Dallaire.

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ is a 1974 Canadian comedy-drama film based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Mordecai Richler, and it is now available in a new Director's Cut.

And if after this week's recommendations, you still don't have enough to get you through the ongoing writer's strike, I will also tell you about THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON of Larry David's classic show CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, and VOLUME FIVE of the BBC Series MI:5.

And then there is A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS - THE KING OF KONG, a great documentary about the world's two best players - of Donkey Kong!

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!

Thumbs up for Roger Ebert after latest bout of surgery, lawyer reports

Venerable film critic Roger Ebert is recovering after another bout of surgery, his lawyer said on Friday.

The 65-year-old Chicago Sun-Times critic had surgery in Houston on Thursday to address complications from previous operations, lawyer Eliot Ephraim said.

"The surgery went well, and the Eberts look forward to giving you more good news about Roger's recovery in the days to come," Ephraim said.

"Chaz and Roger Ebert are grateful to everyone for the continued prayers and concern."

No further details were released.

Over the past few years, Ebert has undergone a series of cancer surgeries, most recently in June 2006, when doctors removed a growth on the his salivary gland as well as part of his right jaw.

Two weeks later, emergency surgery was required after a blood vessel burst near the site of the earlier operation.

A tracheostomy, which opens an airway through an incision in an individual's windpipe, left Ebert unable to speak. He has previously said this would be remedied by further surgery.

Despite his ongoing medical treatments, Ebert — the first arts critic to be honoured with the Pulitzer Prize for criticism — had been continuing his work, including attending major events like the Toronto International Film Festival and penning reviews for the Sun-Times, where he has been the film critic for more than 40 years.

Live 'Buffy' Reunion Set for March

David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
Expect the Hellmouth to reopen in Hollywood this March when the cast of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" gathers for a reunion.

The Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television & Radio) announced Wednesday (Jan. 23) that a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" reunion is one of the centerpieces for the PaleyFest08, an annual pop-culture event bringing fans together with the stars and creators of both new and classic TV shows.

This year's Paley event will run from March 14-27, with the venue shifting from the Directors Guild of America to the Cinerama Dome. Except long lines regardless of the location.

No cast members or producers have yet to be announced for the "Buffy" event, celebrating the cult favorite that ran on the now-deceased WB and UPN.

The Paley Center also announced panels for current network hits "Chuck," "Dancing with the Stars" and "Dirty Sexy Money," as well as AMC's Golden Globe-winning hit "Mad Men."

Previously revealed sessions include "Gossip Girl," "Pushing Daisies," "An Evening With Judd Apatow" and a night dedicated to the 40th anniversary salute to Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special with Priscilla Presley in attendance.

Tickets for the PaleyFest will go on sale in Premium Ticket Packages on Monday, Feb. 4. Paley Center members can start snagging tickets on Feb. 7 and if there are any ducats left, the general public can scoop them up starting Feb. 10.

R.E.M. Rocks Hard On New 'Accelerate'

After two consecutive albums dominated by mid-tempo fare, R.E.M. gets back to its stripped-down, fast-paced rock roots on "Accelerate," due April 1 via Warner Bros. The 11-track set, which gets in and out in a lightning-quick 34 minutes and change, is led by the single "Supernatural Superserious."

Opener "Living Well's the Best Revenge" sets the tone, with a prominent lead guitar figure from Peter Buck, thumping, melodic bass lines and backing vocals from Mike Mills and a rapid stream of lyrics from frontman Michael Stipe. The track almost seems like a musical cousin to "Just a Touch" from 1986's "Life's Rich Pageant."

The up-tempo approach extends to "Supernatural Superserious," a video for which was shot earlier this week on Manhattan's Lower East Side. "You realize your fantasies are dressed up in travesties / enjoy yourself with no regrets," Stipe instructs on the track, which should hit radio sometime next month.

Elsewhere, "Hollow Man" begins as a piano ballad but quickly morphs into a revved-up chorus, while "Horse To Water" is a noisy, angular rocker with the unmistakable stamp of R.E.M.'s pre-major label days.

Among the slower departures are "Houston," which is vaguely reminiscent of the vintage "Swan Swan H," and the politically charged "Until the Day Is Done" ("The verdict is dire / the country's in ruins," Stipe sings).

A number of the "Accelerate" tracks were premiered last summer during "working rehearsal" shows in Dublin. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee, best known for his work with Snow Patrol and U2.

Here is the track list for "Accelerate":

"Living Well's the Best Revenge"
"Mansized Wreath"
"Supernatural Superserious"
"Hollow Man"
"Houston"
"Accelerate"
"Until the Day Is Done"
"Mr. Richards"
"Sing for the Submarine"
"Horse To Water"
"I'm Gonna DJ"

Will eight be enough?

Viewers will have to decide whether Lost is half-empty or half-full when the ABC adventure-drama returns for its fourth season Thursday (9 ET/PT). Because of the Hollywood writers' strike, only eight of 16 planned episodes have been produced.

Cast members say that ABC's decision to provide some Lost rather than none is smart and that they are pleased with a quickened pace and more answers to Lost's mysteries.

"We're all going to be disappointed that there are only eight instead of 16, but the eight episodes are amazing, and I think fans will be very satisfied," says Yunjin Kim, who plays Sun, the pregnant wife of Jin (Daniel Dae Kim). "I feel like this season all the episodes are self-contained. The speed of the story is faster. Each episode contains a question and an answer, finally. So there's a lot of satisfaction."

That approach may be the result of the unusual decision to set an end date for a hit series, with 48 episodes over three seasons. Knowing when the story concludes (which may be reflected in the title of the one-hour season-opener, "The Beginning of the End") has helped writers map out a faster, more focused pace, says Matthew Fox, who plays Jack Shephard, the reluctant leader of the survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.

"Lost is a story with a beginning and an end. Knowing he's got 48, (co-creator Damon Lindelof) can make each installment move the narrative forward to that conclusion with momentum," Fox says.

Based on Lost's previous production schedule, five or six more episodes likely could be produced by the end of May if the writers' strike is settled by mid-February.

Lost ended last May with a jolt, opening the door to the castaways' possible rescue while adding a twist, a first flash-forward after three seasons of signature character flashbacks.

•The island update: Hurley (Hugo Reyes) saved three survivor colleagues from the Others, a mysterious island group at odds with the Oceanic passengers. Jack contacted an offshore freighter, and he and other stranded island dwellers were waiting for its crew to rescue them. And, just before drowning, another colleague, Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), passed on the message that the boat people weren't who the islanders thought.

That leads to a big season-opening question, one that will divide the islanders as four strangers arrive: Are they coming to hurt or to help?

•The future revelation: In a surprise directional change praised by cast and TV critics, Lost's May finale looked ahead to find that Jack and Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and possibly some others from the island, made it back to civilization.

The episode ended with a bearded, substance-abusing Jack raising more questions by imploring Kate: "We were not supposed to leave. … We have to go back, Kate."

Other questions hover: Who will leave the island, and who will stay? What will become of the pregnant Sun on an island where expectant mothers die? How will the romantic possibilities play out? Of course, Lost's big questions — what and where is the island, and why are these people there? — remain. (ABC will repeat the two-hour finale Wednesday at 9 ET/PT and air a series recap Thursday at 8.)

After averaging 15.9 million and 15.4 million viewers in its first two years, Lost fell to 13.8 million last season. (Lost is the top show in time-shifted viewing, ABC says.)

A complex, serialized show such as Lost loses some of its audience via attrition, but many viewers and critics blamed a six-episode fall 2006 arc they say had too much of the Others, not enough of the first-year regulars and too little in the way of action and answers.

A longer episode allotment in the spring received a much better critical response, and the season finale (13.9 million viewers) gave Lost its largest audience in more than three months. That led to the decision to run its 16 episodes consecutively this season.

But if this season also ends up divided, cast members say, the eight episodes will stand up better because they have lots of action and all the regulars are featured. (Lost's writers would not discuss the season because of the strike; ABC execs declined to be interviewed.)

Elizabeth Mitchell, who plays Juliet, one of the Others, likens the literature-referencing series to a novel. "I'm reading this book, Orley Farm. The first 150 pages are all setup. You're like, 'Where are the people I care about?' Then, all of a sudden, the book takes off. I feel that's what happened in Season 3. The writers laid their groundwork. And it hits the ground running" this season.

Lost could benefit from the strike, too, since there is less scripted competition. With time slots available because other shows have only reruns, it was moved from Wednesday, American Idol's regular night, to Thursday, and from 10 ET/PT to 9, an hour with more viewers.

In addition to new characters from the freighter, Michael (Harold Perrineau), who left the island with son Walt earlier, will return. Some on the island, most recently Locke (Terry O'Quinn) in the season finale, have seen a vision of Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).

Michael Emerson, who plays the spooky Others leader Ben, says that this season not only keeps up last season's momentum, but that the flash-forward opens great creative opportunities. "None of us knew what was going on until we saw the broadcast. I thought 'Hallelujah! This is going to make this show.' "

The future perspective is "how they're going to spin it out to be suspenseful and dramatic. Who has gotten off the island and at what price?" he says. "Now, there are these bittersweet notes of regret and missed opportunity that will come into play. To the extent the island was some crucible in which people could hope for redemption, maybe not everyone was redeemed, at least not happily."

Can the Simpsons rise above the haters?

NEW YORK - Between them, sisters Jessica and Ashlee Simpson have had one high-profile divorce, an embarrassing lip-synch scandal, plastic surgeries both obvious and subtle, blame for a Dallas Cowboys loss, and an impresario father looming over it all.

Each shot to prominence — and up the pop charts — by taking the primrose path of MTV reality shows.

Each has had shining success at selling records, followed by abject failure.

And that's just a sampling. If you're a celeb-watcher (or football bettor), it's juicy stuff.

If you're a Simpson sister, it's beginning to look like a critical mass of negativity.

Of late, Jessica, 27, and sister Ashlee, 23, are regularly slimed in the blogosphere, which becomes more and more vicious as public interest in celebrities reaches an all-time high. Trying to nurture a career — and stay in fans' good graces — amid gleefully ruthless tabloid scrutiny can't be an easy feat.

Especially for Jessica.

The singer/actress/shoe designer will likely avoid the Dallas Cowboys stadium after fans blamed her weekend trip to Mexico with quarterback Tony Romo for the Cowboys' defeat by the New York Giants.

Eva Longoria rallied to Simpson's defense, as did ex-boyfriend John Mayer. In a post on his blog, Mayer wrote: "I have never known anyone to have more pride in their home state and their upbringing in it than Jessica Simpson has in Texas. ... It's one of her most defining traits as a person. So please don't try and take that away from her."

For Simpson, who suffered a backlash of sorts after her marriage to Nick Lachey crumbled in 2005, bad press is apparently a side effect of living under the tabloid microscope.

"Jessica's actually quite realistic about it," publicist Elizabeth Wolfe told The Associated Press. "It's part of the price of being in the public eye. She doesn't like it. And if I were her mother, I would fight tooth and nail to protect her. But you can't. She's a grown-up woman, and she's on her own and she's doing the best she can."

Wolfe is the spokeswoman for Millennium Films, which released Simpson's new comedy, "Blonde Ambition," co-starring Luke Wilson, to eight Texas theaters in December. It's now available on DVD. Simpson's upcoming films include "Major Movie Star," in which she plays an actress-turned-Marine. These films follow her big-screen debut in "The Dukes of Hazzard."

Meanwhile, Simpson's little sister recently unleashed the video for her new single, "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)," to mixed reviews online. Ashlee's third solo album, "Bittersweet World," is expected to be released in the spring.

Ashlee, a media magnet for her romance with Fall Out Boy rocker Pete Wentz, positioned herself as the anti-Jessica in 2004 when she documented the making of her debut album, "Autobiography," on an MTV series. That album sold 2.9 million copies and spawned several radio-friendly hits despite the revelation that she lip-synched during a performance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Her 2005 disc, "I Am Me," failed to register a hit and only sold 942,000 copies — still, that was better than the end tally (297,000) for her sister's 2006 clunker, "A Public Affair."

These days, Jessica's gone country. She's been recording a new album in Nashville, Tenn., to be released sometime this year, her publicist, Lauren Auslander, said recently. In a recent interview with Billboard.com, Jessica explained her reason for trying out a new sound: "I am a country girl. ... I always wanted to make a country album, but I wanted to wait until the time was right."

Ian Drew, editor-at-large for Us Weekly magazine, said the siblings, who are managed by their domineering father, Joe Simpson, and reportedly haven't been shy about having cosmetic procedures, could certainly prove themselves again — all they need is a surefire single or some other success that would eclipse the drama surrounding their personal lives.

"My honest opinion is neither of them really have a great deal of talent," Drew remarked. "They're manufactured pop artists. So it comes down to: Could they buy the right song or not?"

Still, unlike an artist like Madonna, who has a weak voice yet a strong point of view, "these girls don't really have anything to say," Drew said. "They're not very intelligent. They're not very insightful. ... And you can only go so far that way in the entertainment world."

Publicist Howard Bragman said Jessica needs to stop juggling so many projects and "do fewer things better."

"She's still a very beautiful girl," Bragman said. "There's still a lot of media interest. She still has potential. ... Once you've been a star, you can be a star again. That's the beauty of America."

Sales spike for Heath Ledger films

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger's death has spiked sales and interest in the late actor's films.

As often happens after the death of a famous actor or musician, many have sought to revisit or simply discover his work. Three of Ledger's movies charted among the 25 best-selling DVDs on Amazon.com as of Friday afternoon.

Most have been purchasing copies of Ledger's 1999 comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" and his 2001 period action flick "A Knight's Tale." After those films, Ledger pursued more dramatic, challenging roles, with 2005's "Brokeback Mountain" — the third most popular of his DVDs on Amazon — being roundly considered his finest achievement.

The 28-year-old Australia native died Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment. Toxicology tests to determine the cause of death will not be completed for at least a week.

Ledger's latest film to be released, the multi-persona Bob Dylan film "I'm Not There," has mostly completed its theatrical run. It played in only 61 theaters last weekend.

The lone theater it remains playing at in New York is the Film Forum, an art house and repertory theater that has been screening "I'm Not There" since it was released in November.

"The film is doing very well and as long as it does well, we'll play it," said Film Forum first-run programmer Karen Cooper. "I don't imagine that it's going to do better because of his loss. I think it's doing as well as it is because it's a very strong and interesting and unusual film."

The impact of Ledger's death on his last completed project, "The Dark Knight," remains to be seen. The latest installment in the "Batman" series, Ledger plays the Joker, and his dark, twisted take on the villain had been a focal point in the film's advance promotion.

Since Ledger's death, over seven million have flocked to YouTube to watch trailers of "The Dark Knight." Over one million have watched a clip of an interview where Ledger discusses the Joker role.

Warner Bros., the studio distributing "The Dark Knight," has not yet announced any change in schedule for the film, which is planned for a blockbuster summer release on July 18.

"Certainly `The Dark Knight' is one of the most anticipated films of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "I think Warners is just going to stay the course and keep marketing the film."

As for its box office performance, Dergarabedian suspects the film is so big that it "kind of transcends almost anything like this that might happen." He adds that the film's release will to a certain degree honor Ledger, whose performance was already expected to impress moviegoers.

At the time of his death, Ledger was in the midst of shooting "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," a $30 million film directed by Terry Gilliam. The movie recently completed shooting scenes in London and was soon to resume production in Vancouver, British Columbia. Producers have not said whether the film will continue or not.

In the film, Ledger was to co-star with Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole and Tom Waits. Options open to producers — depending upon how many scenes Ledger had left to shoot — include recasting (and thus reshooting) his part, finishing it with the help of a body double (as was done after Brandon Lee died while making 1994's "The Crow") or simply canning production.

Ledger had also been preparing to make his feature directing debut by adapting Walter Tevis' novel "The Queen's Gambit."

In an interview last month with Variety, Gilliam told the trade paper: "Heath is extraordinary. He's just so good, and he's going to be a film director. He's watching everything, and he's going to be a much better director than I will ever be."

New Bond film titled `Quantum of Solace'

IVER HEATH, England - "Quantum of Solace" is the title of the new James Bond film, the 22nd Bond adventure.

The title was revealed to reporters Thursday at Pinewood Studios outside of London, where the movie is being filmed.

Daniel Craig is returning as Agent 007. He picks up where 2006's "Casino Royale" left off, with Bond contemplating revenge after his betrayal by his true love, Vesper Lynd.

Filming began at Pinewood Studios earlier this month. Location shooting is planned in Austria, Italy and Panama. Judi Dench returns as the MI-6 boss M and Mathieu Amalric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") plays the villain. Additions to the cast include Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko as mysterious Bond girl Camille.

"Quantum of Solace" is due to open in Britain and the United States on Nov. 7.

Heath Ledger autopsy inconclusive

NEW YORK - A makeshift memorial of flowers and candles grew Wednesday outside the apartment building of Heath Ledger, whose Oscar-winning director in "Brokeback Mountain" called his death a "heartbreaking" ending to a superb acting career and life.

An autopsy on the 28-year-old actor was inconclusive, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It will take about 10 days to complete the investigation, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office.

The Australian-born actor was found dead Tuesday by his housekeeper and masseuse — lying naked and face-down at the foot of his bed, police said.

Police on Wednesday said they found bottles of prescription sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication in his bedroom and in the bathroom; there were still pills in the bottles.

Earlier, police said the death was caused by a possible drug overdose and appeared to be accidental.

News of the death stunned family, fans and colleagues.

"Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life," said Ang Lee, who directed Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain."

"He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined — a thirst for life, for love and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking."

Speaking in Perth, Ledger's father called the death "tragic, untimely and accidental."

Kim Ledger called his son "down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving, unselfish" and "extremely inspirational to many."

"Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life," he said. "Please now respect our family's need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately."

Khaled Ali, 41, a stage manager for a Broadway show, dropped off a candle outside Ledger's building on his way to work Wednesday morning. He said he and his fellow cast members were devastated.

"I felt a connection with him as an actor, as a fellow in the theater community," he said. "With `Brokeback Mountain' he touched me personally in telling the story of my community. It was very touching."

Ledger was known for grueling, intense roles that became his trademark after he got his start in teen movies like "10 Things I Hate About You."

He avoided the safe path in favor of roles that forced him to bury his Australian accent and downplay his leading-man looks: the tormented gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," a drug addict in "Candy," an incarnation of Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There."

In what may be his final finished performance, he took a rare role in a guaranteed summer blockbuster, playing Batman's nemesis, the Joker, in the upcoming "The Dark Knight." But the role was nothing he could phone in; it forced him to rebrand a character last played on the big screen by Jack Nicholson.

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's father in "The Patriot." "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

Ledger split last year with Michelle Williams, who played his wife in "Brokeback." The two had a daughter, the now 2-year-old Matilda, and had lived together in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighborhood.

Early Wednesday, Williams and Matilda left Trollhattan, Sweden, where the 27-year-old actress had been shooting scenes for the upcoming film "Mammoth," said Martin Stromberg, a spokesman for film production company Memfis Film.

"She received the news at her hotel late last night," Stromberg said, adding he had not spoken to the actress after she learned of Ledger's death.

The actor's personal strife was accompanied by professional anxiety.

Ledger said in an interview in November that "Dark Knight" and last year's "I'm Not There," took a heavy toll. He said he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour.

News of Ledger's death spread quickly, from the crowd of 300 people that gathered Tuesday outside his Manhattan apartment to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where those with close ties to the actor included Naomi Watts, who dated him after they met on the set of "Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized story about the birth of modern skateboarding.

Ledger was born in 1979 in the western Australian city of Perth to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You," a reworking of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Offers for other teen flicks came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told The Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.'"

He began to gravitate toward more independent films after roles in "Monster's Ball," "The Patriot" and "A Knight's Tale." His work in 2005's "Brokeback Mountain" earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

In the 2006 film "Candy," Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend. Neil Armfield, who directed Ledger in the film, said the actor had "handled his career incredibly well," steering himself toward more challenging roles.

"He made a decision about four years ago to stop being led by producers and managers and to forge his own way," Armfield told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

He brought the same intensity to "Dark Knight." Glimpsed in early teaser trailers, Ledger is more depraved and dark than comical. The film's director, Christopher Nolan, said this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his SoHo neighborhood, where Michelle Vella said she frequently saw him carrying his 2-year-old daughter on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

"It's a shock; he's so young," said Taren Dolbashian, who also had seen Ledger with his daughter. "He always seems so happy."

Near the entrance to the building housing Ledger's loft, about two dozen bouquets and a dozen candles formed a memorial.

One note said, "I couldn't find anything bad about you."

Do your Oscar viewing at home on DVD

Several movies nominated for Oscars in the six major categories already are available on DVD. Others have been scheduled for release closer to the Feb. 24 ceremony, while still others have a way to go in their theatrical runs.

It's a volatile time of year for DVD scheduling, but here are release dates (subject to change) announced for films that received at least one nomination in the picture, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress or director categories:

- American Gangster (Feb. 19; $30 and $40 editions; HD DVD, $40)

- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Feb. 5, $28; Blu-ray and HD DVD, $36)

- Atonement (not yet announced)

- Away From Her (available, $20)

- Charlie Wilson's War (not yet announced)

- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (not yet announced)

- Eastern Promises (available; $30; HD DVD, $40)

- Elizabeth: the Golden Age (Feb. 5, $30; HD DVD, $40)

- Gone Baby Gone (Feb. 12, $30; Blu-ray, $35)

- I'm Not There (not yet announced)

- In the Valley of Elah (Feb. 19, $29; Blu-ray and HD DVD, $36)

- Into the Wild (March 14, $30 and $35 editions; HD DVD, $40)

- Juno (not yet announced)

- La Vie en Rose (available; $30)

- Michael Clayton (once announced for Feb. 19, but the release now appears to be in limbo, due to Friday's theatrical re-issue)

- No Country for Old Men (March 11, $30; Blu-ray, $35)

- The Savages (not yet announced)

- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (not yet announced)

- There Will Be Blood (not yet announced)

Guild says it won't picket Grammy Awards

LOS ANGELES - The striking Hollywood writers guild said Tuesday it will refrain from picketing the upcoming Grammy Awards, possibly allowing the music ceremony to escape the fate of the wrecked Golden Globes show.

The guild's board of directors has yet to grant the music industry show a waiver that would allow union writers to work on the ceremony, but the Grammys typically depend more on performances than scripted lines or comedy.

The guild previously said it was unlikely to grant the Recording Academy a waiver for the Feb. 10 show, the music industry's most important event, set to be broadcast live on CBS from Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The writers guild refused to grant a waiver for the Golden Globes and threatened to picket, and the Screen Actors Guild encouraged its stars to stay away as well. As a result, the typically lavish three-hour televised awards extravaganza was reduced to a half-hour, celebrity-free newscast on Jan. 13.

Its audience dropped by 70 percent compared to last year, NBC lost millions in ad revenue, and Globe organizers had to forgo a reported $6 million license fee.

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said his organization was pleased with the decision not to picket and added the awards "will focus solely on the great music, artists and charitable work resulting from our show."

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents actors, singers, dancers and others, also lauded the decision.

AFTRA President Roberta Reardon called the awards "a crucial platform for the Recording Academy's ongoing efforts to protect and advance the rights of musical artists."

Portnow had insisted the Grammys would continue no matter what — and Beyonce and the Foo Fighters announced they still plan to perform at the event. There had been speculation that some musicians would sit out a picketed broadcast, especially top-level pop superstars who are also actors.

The decision against picketing the Grammys was made during a union board meeting on Monday, guild spokesman Neal Sacharow told The Associated Press. He declined to comment on the reason for the decision.

The decision was disclosed on the same day nominees were announced for next month's Academy Awards, which also is threatened by the writers strike. The guild has said it would not grant a waiver for the Oscars, the film industry's biggest promotional showcase.

Guild waivers were granted for this Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, held earlier this month.

A guild official cited the historic role the civil rights group has played in labor struggles in explaining the reason for the Image Awards waiver.

Heath Ledger found dead in NYC

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger, the talented 28-year-old actor who gravitated toward dark, brooding roles that defied his leading-man looks, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, face-down and naked at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.

There was no obvious indication that the Australian-born Ledger had committed suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment that is believed to be the home of the "Brokeback Mountain" actor, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body in the bed at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

"We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident," Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement Tuesday night. "This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known."

Outside the building on an upscale street, paparazzi and gawkers gathered, and several police officers put up barricades to control the crowd of about 300. Onlookers craned their necks as officers brought out a black body bag on a gurney, took it across the sidewalk and put it into a white medical examiner's office van.

As the door opened, bystanders snapped pictures with camera phones, rolled video, and said, "He's coming out!"

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was an award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on big-money parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood's bright young stars. Though his leading man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale," his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001's "Monster's Ball."

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's vengeful father in "The Patriot," in a statement. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he was one of the borough's most famous residents. "Brokeback" would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation's finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.

Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova" and Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," both released in 2005. His 2006 film "Candy" now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

But Ledger's most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He costarred in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn't be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson's Joker. Ledger's version of the "Batman" villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.

Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour, the paper said.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children's store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter — carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

"It's so sad. They were really close," said Vella. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and costarred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You." Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.'"

Heath Ledger found dead in NYC at age 28

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, naked in bed with sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28. It wasn't immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide.

He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in the tony neighborhood of SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers gathered outside the building on an upscale block. Ledger's body was still inside, and several police officers guarded the door.

The medical examiner's office planned an autopsy Wednesday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

Ledger most recently appeared in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker this year in "The Dark Knight," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins."

He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball." He also played a heroin addict in the 2006 Australian film "Candy."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and co-starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew."

Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.'"

His movie career caught on anyway, culminating with his Academy Award nomination opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback."

"Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's performance as the Joker would be wildly different than Jack Nicholson's memorable turn in 1989's "Batman."

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Heath Ledger found dead in NYC

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in a possible drug-related death, police said. He was 28.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper who went to let Ledger know the masseuse was there found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

The Australian-born actor was an Oscar nominee for his role in "Brokeback Mountain" and has numerous other screen credits.

Leafs fire Fergy, hire Fletcher

TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to a face from their past to lead them into the future.

After weeks of speculation and rumours, the NHL club finally fired GM John Ferguson on Tuesday and hired Cliff Fletcher, whose years of front-office experience include a stint as GM of the Leafs in the 1990s.

"After full consideration of the Leafs' situation, it has become clear that change and a new direction is needed," Richard Peddie, president and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, said during a news conference at the Air Canada Centre. "Regrettably, we did not win enough games to reach our goal, winning the Stanley Cup.

"Our team performance has fallen short of what is to be expected. Today, we need to forge the start of a new beginning for (the) Toronto Maple Leafs. And we begin with the man seated next to me, a man with Hall of Fame credentials, who is highly regarded by Leafs fans and by hockey people around the globe. We have reached out to Cliff Fletcher and his 50-plus years of hockey management experience to serve as general manager of the Leafs on an interim basis."

Fletcher, 72, has been given a 19-month contract. He will initially work as interim GM until a full-time replacement is found. He will then serve as a consultant for the balance of the contract.

Fletcher first served as GM of the Maple Leafs from 1991 to 1997, twice leading the team to the Western Conference final.

But he has no interest in becoming the team's full-time GM this time, saying it's a job for a younger man.

Peddie says the length of Fletcher's contract will give the team plenty of time to find the right man for the job.

"It gives us the luxury of conducting an absolutely thorough search," said Peddie.

Peddie recently admitted that he may have made a mistake by hiring a GM as inexperienced as Ferguson to run a team in this hockey-mad market.

Ferguson, who was hired as Leafs' GM in August 2003, was informed of the news by Peddie on Tuesday morning.

When reached by e-mail Tuesday, Ferguson declined to comment.

He was scheduled to meet with the media later in the day.

Fletcher takes over a Leafs team that has missed the playoffs the past two years and is in 14th place in the NHL's Eastern Conference standings with a 19-22-5-3 record. But they have won three of their last four games.

"I know here in Toronto the expectations are high," Fletcher said. "I look forward to the challenge and a few tough months ahead.

"The key here is to initially start the process to move the club ahead to the next level so that it can compete with all the top teams in the league, which will eventually lead to the playoff success."

The MLSE board of directors met Monday and decided to make the change.

Fletcher said he couldn't offer an assessment of the Leafs. Instead, he will immediately begin consulting with the club's hockey operations officials and accumulating information on what path to take the struggling franchise.

"The first step will be to meet with all the people involved in the hockey department here," Fletcher said. "I'm looking forward to their input on how they see the internal operation of the hockey team here and how they see the club moving forward.

"Out of that, a plan will developed on how we're going to pursue the next few weeks. There are 35 days to the trade deadline and within two weeks we should be prepared to philosophically at least know what direction we've chosen to go."

Leafs head coach Paul Maurice left the ice during practice Tuesday morning and was seen huddling with Peddie before returning to practice.

He was also scheduled to talk to the media Tuesday afternoon.

"Right now he's our coach but Cliff and/or the new replacement will ultimately make that decision and Paul understands that," Peddie said of Maurice's status with the club.

Fletcher, though, said Maurice and his staff will remain with the club until season's end.

"Paul Maurice is the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs," he said. "He will be the coach for the balance of this year as will the assistant coaches that work with him."

Leafs forward Jason Blake said the players have to take some responsibility for Ferguson's firing.

"I've only been here for a few months and there are certain things you can't control," he said. "We weren't getting the job done.

"There's a change a made and I think it's the players that have to be accountable to make sure we're ready to play. We're trying to turn this thing around and move in the right direction. I guess as players you can't control it so you've got to make sure you're ready to play."

Speculation about Ferguson's future with the club has been swirling recently as the club has struggled in January.

It's been a tough year for the 40-year-old native of Montreal. Ferguson Jr. lost his father in July, when the former NHL player, coach and manager succumbed to cancer.

Ferguson and Maurice both stated during training camp in September that the Leafs would be a playoff team and contend for the Stanley Cup.

There were several questionable moves during the off-season. Critics turned thumbs down on the rationale of giving mistake-prone defenceman Bryan McCabe a long-term deal and making him the team's highest-paid player at US$7 million this season. Signing free-agent Blake was a gamble that hasn't reaped any dividends. Blake scored 40 goals for the New York Islanders last season but has only nine goals this year after signing a five-year, $20-million contract.

Blake divulged early in the season that he has a treatable form of leukemia.

Prior to becoming the 12th general manager in Leafs history, Ferguson Jr. had been vice-president and director of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues since February 2001. There he earned a reputation of being one of the brightest young executives in the sport.

Ferguson's first season at the controls in Toronto went well. With Pat Quinn behind the bench, the Leafs knocked off Ottawa in a seven-game first round before being ousted by Philadelphia in six in the second round.

The lost lockout season followed, and Quinn was let go when the Leafs failed to make the playoffs in the spring of 2006 despite finishing with a winning record and 90 points.

Ferguson hired Maurice to take over May 12, 2006, and the Leafs finished with a winning record again but their 91 points was one short of qualifying for the 2007 playoffs.

Ferguson was assistant GM of the Blues for five years before being promoted by the team. He was a member of the Ottawa Senators scouting staff from 1993 to 1996. He played in the AHL for four years, 1989 through 1993, in the Montreal and Ottawa organizations after playing U.S. college hockey at Providence.

'Torchwood' to return for new season

LOS ANGELES - Attention, fans of quick-witted, Brit-flavoured science fiction television: Capt. Jack is back.

"He's still the same Jack but he's a little more lighthearted," says John Barrowman, who plays cheeky charmer Capt. Jack Harkness on "Torchwood," the BBC's flirty, fast-paced series co-produced with the CBC, where it airs in Canada.

"He's resolved a lot of his issues," Barrowman says of his time-travelling, alien-hunting hero who wears Second World War-era togs and cannot die. "He's got a new sparkle in his eye."

Introduced in 2005 on the BBC series "Dr. Who," Jack is coy about his shadowy past as a Time Agent - akin to an intergalactic CIA operative - turned fast-talking con artist.

In the second season of "Torchwood," Jack returns to the clandestine Torchwood agency in Cardiff, Wales, where he watches over an alien-spewing rift in space and time beneath the city streets.

Together with his hip, young Torchwood team, Jack battles his old pal, the time-travelling psychopath Capt. John Hart (James Marsters of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer").

As always, Torchwood operates outside the law and the British government. It stands tall against all manner of monsters, including a recurring cast of nasty, sewer-dwelling weevils.

But Jack and crew still find time for office romance and ill-fated, inter-species love affairs - of the same-and opposite-sex sorts.

"Omnisexual is the science-fiction word we like to use," says Barrowman, who sounds very American, both on-and off-camera. Born in Scotland, he grew up in Illinois.

"In the sci-fi setting we can talk about things that you probably couldn't talk about on a regular nighttime drama," the 40-year-old Barrowman says.

"I think audiences just get Jack because he's honest," he says. "To finally see a character who doesn't care who he flirts with, I think is a bit refreshing."

The ace Torchwood team also includes steely Dr. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), techno-savvy Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), office administrator Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) and compassionate former cop Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), who is typically the conscience of the group.

All of Jack's cohorts are just as hormonal as he is.

"Yes, it is a science-fiction soap opera," says Myles, who is Welsh.

Last season Gwen hopped into Owen's bed despite her devotion to her clueless live-in lover, Rhys (Kai Owen).

"It was completely out of character for Gwen," Myles says. "But that's what good drama is all about. You don't want to spoon-feed a sci-fi audience. You want to challenge them. So none of these characters are safe."

In the future, Gwen "does the best she can" with monogamy, Myles says. "But it's a case of anything is possible with the Torchwood bunch."

That includes Gorman's bad-boy Owen, who mutinied on the job last season and killed Capt. Jack, albeit briefly.

"There's no question that Owen can go into morally grey areas," says Gorman, who was born in Los Angeles and considers himself a character actor.

"'Torchwood' is a very modern, Earth-based sci-fi show," he says. "Owen is very free and open with his sexuality."

"In season two Owen actually questions that kind of life," Gorman says. "There's an episode that explains why we all joined Torchwood. It explains, shall we say, Owen's emotional limits.

"But season two is also very much about the Torchwood team working cohesively," he says.

To executive producer Julie Gardner, "Torchwood" - an anagram for "Doctor Who" - is "warm science fiction."

"It's the type of science fiction that has a proper kind of human grounding," Gardner says.

"You will see relationships develop between two males," Barrowman says. "You will see them show affection for each other. You will see two women show affection for each other."

Before moving to England in 1989, Barrowman starred on the Fox series "Central Park West" and NBC's "Titans."

In Britain, his career soared with "Dr. Who" and "Torchwood," plus turns in West End musicals. He also is a judge on the musical-theatre contest series, "Any Dream Will Do."

"The thing about working in television in the U.K., it's about being me," says Barrowman, who is openly gay and in a longtime partnership with architect Scott Gill.

"I've been pretty much open and out since I started working over here," Barrowman says. "It's a great reflection on the TV industry here."

Barrowman reflects further in his autobiography, "Anything Goes," due for release this month in Britain and later in the U.S.

Meanwhile, "Torchwood" has been a blast for Barrowman and his co-stars.

"It's one of the best playpens ever," Barrowman says. "I get to go to work and play with gadgets and drive really big, fast cars. I get to shoot aliens and fly spaceships.

"And I get to kiss everybody."

Canadians among Oscar noms

TORONTO -- It was a joyous day for "Juno" on Tuesday as the teen pregnancy comedy snagged a handful of prestigious Oscar nominations, including best picture, best actress for Halifax's Ellen Page, best director for Montreal-born Jason Reitman and best original screenplay for first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody.

Toronto's Sarah Polley, who's won various film critics' association awards for her direction of the moving Alzheimer's drama "Away From Her," picked up a surprise best adapted screenplay nomination for her deft reworking of an Alice Munro short story.

The film's reclusive British star, Julie Christie -- who had to be cajoled by Polley for months before agreeing to play a woman stricken with Alzheimer's -- also got a best actress nod.

Proving itself the "Little Miss Sunshine" of 2007, "Juno" is the only comedy among the dark best picture offerings. It's competing against "No Country for Old Men," a crime saga about a drug deal gone bad, "There Will Be Blood," a historical epic set in California's oil boom years, the melancholy wartime romance "Atonement" and the legal drama "Michael Clayton."

Except for "There Will Be Blood," all of the best picture nominees had their North American premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. "Juno" had its world premiere at the festival and was a fan favourite.

The National Film Board of Canada's "Madame Tutli-Putli," which also screened at the festival, got a nod in the best animated short category, as did "I Met the Walrus," from Toronto animator Josh Raskin.

The 20-year-old Page, who lives in Halifax in a house she shares with friends, seemed stunned to hear of her nomination when she appeared on NBC's "The Today Show" early Tuesday.

"It's extremely humbling to be recognized with these other actresses, people I respect and admire -- it's crazy," said Page, who once had a role on the goofy Showcase hit "Trailer Park Boys."

"I just feel so grateful to be part of the film and I'm so happy that people have responded to it in the way that they have."

In addition to Christie, Page is up against Marion Cotillard for "La Vie en rose," Cate Blanchett for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and Laura Linney for "The Savages."

Page and other Canadians may not get their moment in the Hollywood spotlight, however -- the ongoing screenwriters strike could prevent the glitzy awards ceremony from being held on Feb. 24, despite the insistence from Oscar organizers that their show will go on, with or without writers.

"We're dealing with contingencies but we're thrusting ahead," Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told The Associated Press.

"The point is, we're going to have a show, and we're going to give these incredible artists what they're due. We're going to present the Oscars on Feb. 24, and that is the important thing."

But the stars were already saying Tuesday they would refuse to cross any picket lines set up by the Writers Guild of America, just as they did before the Jan. 13 Golden Globes. Their stance forced the cancellation of the Globes televised gala, and could spell the same fate for the Oscars, an annual movie-lovers' tradition that attracts a billion viewers worldwide.

"I wouldn't do that (cross a picket line). I couldn't. I come from a tradition of not crossing picket lines," Tom Wilkinson, a supporting-actor nominee for "Michael Clayton," told The Associated Press.

Tony Gilroy, a directing nominee for "Michael Clayton," echoed that sentiment.

"I would never cross a picket line ever. I couldn't," he said. "I'm a 20-year member of the Writers Guild. I think whatever they work out is going to be one way or the other but no, I could never cross a picket line. I think there's a lot of people who feel that way."

Viggo Mortensen -- up for best actor for his role as a Russian mobster in David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" -- said he was hoping for the best.

"I have a feeling they'll solve it," he said. "I hope they do. I'm sure my mom would like to see me on TV and so forth. But if there's a strike, I'm not crossing the line."

Daniel Day-Lewis, an Oscar winner for "My Left Foot," grabbed another best-actor nomination as a flamboyant oil baron in "There Will Be Blood."

Along with Day-Lewis and Mortensen, George Clooney is nominated for "Michael Clayton," Tommy Lee Jones for "In the Valley of Elah" and Johnny Depp for "Sweeney Todd."

In the best supporting actor category, Javier Bardem is nominated for his turn as a soulless serial killer in "No Country for Old Men." He's up against Casey Affleck for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Charlie Wilson's War," Hal Holbrook for "Into the Wild" and Wilkinson for "Michael Clayton."

In addition to her best actress nod, past Oscar winner Blanchett received a supporting actress nomination for the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There."

Other supporting actress nominees included Ruby Dee for "American Gangster," Saoirse Ronan for "Atonement," Amy Ryan for "Gone Baby Gone" and Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton."

Notable absentees from this year's list of nominees included Angelina Jolie and Keira Knightley, who had been considered shoo-ins in the best actress category for "A Mighty Heart" and "Atonement" respectively. James McAvoy, the male lead in "Atonement," and the film's director, Joe Wright, also failed to make the cut.

That doesn't bode well for a best picture win for "Atonement," despite its recent Golden Globe win for best drama.

Reitman and Gilroy were joined in the best director category by Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood," Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for "No Country for Old Men" and Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

"Into The Wild," the Sean Penn film that landed on many critics' Top 10 list last year, was snubbed, just as it was at the Golden Globes.

Michael Moore, who castigated President George W. Bush over the Iraq War in his best-documentary acceptance speech for "Bowling for Columbine" in 2003, is back in Oscar contention with his health-care documentary "Sicko."

War-on-terror documentaries dominated the category, with "Sicko" up against "No End in Sight," "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" and "Taxi to the Dark Side."

In the best foreign film category, Israel's "Beaufort" is facing "The Counterfeiters" from Austria, Poland's "Katyn," "Mongol" from Kazakhstan and Russia's "12."

New CD Releases, January 22: Cat Power, Doctor Who, Drive-By Truckers, North Mississippi Allstars

Cat Power "Jukebox"

The indie-music queen is back with her second all-covers album. The first was 2000's appropriately titled "The Covers Record." The vocalist's previous release was 2006's "The Greatest," which hit No. 34 on the US charts and was, by far, her most commercially successful album to date.

The new album features Cat Power's current group, the Dirty Delta Blues, as well as such guests as Spooner Oldham, Larry McDonald and Matt Sweeney. "Jukebox" includes renditions of songs written and/or popularized by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell.

* * *
Drive-By Truckers "Brighter Than Creation's Dark"

Having split with singer/guitarist Jason Isbell last spring, the Drive-By Truckers mark a fresh start with the 19-song "Brighter Than Creation's Dark." The album includes tunes from primary songwriters Patterson Hood and vocalist/guitarist Mike Cooley, as well as from bassist Shonna Tucker.

The alt-country/rock band--which also features guitarist John Neff and drummer Brad Morgan--will support "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" with a North American tour. The trek kicks off Feb. 11 in Anaheim, CA, and is currently scheduled to stretch through a March 29 date in Asheville, NC.

* * *
North Mississippi Allstars "Hernando"

The popular jam-band--which released its first concert DVD, "Keep On Marchin'," last year--is back with a new studio album. These tireless road warriors are, of course, supporting "Hernando" with a tour, and currently have dates announced through Feb. 24.

* * *
Patty Larkin "Watch the Sky"

The Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter found much success with her last album, 2007's "Children Running Through," a work that scored Griffin her highest ever first-week sales totals (27,000) and entered The Billboard 200 chart at No. 24. Now, the artist is hoping for more good fortune with "Watch the Sky," which is being released less than a year after "Children Running Through" came out.

* * *
Black Mountain "In the Future"

The psychedelic rock band from Vancouver finally returns with a follow-up to its popular eponymous debut of 2005. "In the Future" includes the song "Stay Free," which was originally featured on the soundtrack of the hit film "Spider-Man 3."

* * *
More new releases:
Eric Andersen, "Avalanche" (DBK)
Julie Andrews, "The Lass with the Delicate Air" (Flare)
The Backyardigans, "The Backyardigans: Born to Play" (Nick)
Natasha Bedingfield, "Pocketful of Sunshine" (Epic)
Matt Costa, "Unfamiliar Faces" (Brushfire)
The Feelies, "Crazy Rhythms" (Water)
Liam Finn, "I'll Be Lightning" (Yep Roc)
MGMT, "Oracular Spectacular" (Sony)
Various Artists, "Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 10" (Disney)
The Whigs, "Mission Control" (ATO)
Chuck Wicks, "Starting Now" (RCA)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Dr. Who: Series 3" (Silva)
"Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening 25th Anniversary Cast Recording" (DRG)
"Happy Days (2007 Original Cast Recording)" (P.S. Classics)

'No Country,' 'Blood' tie for Oscar lead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" led with eight Academy Awards nominations each Tuesday, among them best picture and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem — but whether any actors would show up was in doubt because of the writers strike.

"No Country for Old Men," a crime saga about a drug deal gone bad, "There Will Be Blood," and a historical epic set in California's oil boom years will compete for best picture against the melancholy romance "Atonement," the pregnancy comedy "Juno" and the legal drama "Michael Clayton."

"Atonement" and "Michael Clayton" trailed with seven nominations each, including best actor for George Clooney in the title role of "Clayton." The lead players in "Atonement," Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, were shut out on nominations, however, with teenager Saoirse Ronin the only performer nominated for that film, for supporting actress.

Past Oscar winner Cate Blanchett had two nominations as best actress for the historical pageant "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," and the Bob Dylan tale "I'm Not There."

The acting categories generally played out as expected — with a few surprises, including best actress nominee Laura Linney for "The Savages" and best-actor nominee Tommy Lee Jones for "In the Valley of Elah." Neither performance had been high on the awards radar so far this Oscar season.

Best actress looks like a two-person duel between Julie Christie, an Oscar winner for "Darling," as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in "Away From Her" and Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose." Both won Golden Globes, Christie for dramatic actress, Cotillard for musical or comedy actress. Yet they face strong competition from Blanchett, Linney and relative newcomer Ellen Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen in "Juno."

Day-Lewis, an Oscar winner for "My Left Foot," grabbed another best-actor nomination as a flamboyant oil baron in "There Will Be Blood," for which he could emerge as the favorite.

Along with Day-Lewis, Clooney and Jones, the other nominees were Johnny Depp, who won the Globe for musical or comedy actor as the vengeful barber in "Sweeney Todd," Viggo Mortensen as a Russian mob member in "Eastern Promises."

With a Golden Globe and universal acclaim for his performance as a relentless killer, Bardem looks like the closest thing to a front-runner this Oscar season, which is unusually wide open for best picture and other top categories.

Bardem is up against Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton."

Joining Blanchett and Ronin in the supporting actress category were Ruby Dee for "American Gangster," Amy Ryan for "Gone Baby Gone" and Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton."

List of 80th annual Oscar nominees

Complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday:

1. Best Picture: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

2. Actor: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"; Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"; Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises."

3. Actress: Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"; Julie Christie, "Away From Her"; Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"; Laura Linney, "The Savages"; Ellen Page, "Juno."

4. Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton."

5. Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"; Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"; Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"; Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"; Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton."

6. Director: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Jason Reitman, "Juno"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

7. Foreign Film: "Beaufort," Israel; "The Counterfeiters," Austria; "Katyn," Poland; "Mongol," Kazakhstan; "12," Russia.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"; Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"; Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

9. Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, "Juno"; Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"; Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages."

10. Animated Feature Film: "Persepolis"; "Ratatouille"; "Surf's Up."

11. Art Direction: "American Gangster," "Atonement," "The Golden Compass," "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "There Will Be Blood."

12. Cinematography: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

13. Sound Mixing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "3:10 to Yuma," "Transformers."

14. Sound Editing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "There Will Be Blood," "Transformers."

15. Original Score: "Atonement," Dario Marianelli; "The Kite Runner," Alberto Iglesias; "Michael Clayton," James Newton Howard; "Ratatouille," Michael Giacchino; "3:10 to Yuma," Marco Beltrami.

16. Original Song: "Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; "Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "Raise It Up" from "August Rush," Nominees to be determined; "So Close" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "That's How You Know" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

17. Costume: "Across the Universe," "Atonement," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "La Vie en Rose," "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

18. Documentary Feature: "No End in Sight," "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience," "Sicko," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "War/Dance."

19. Documentary (short subject): "Freeheld," "La Corona (The Crown)," "Salim Baba," "Sari's Mother."

20. Film Editing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Into the Wild," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

21. Makeup: "La Vie en Rose," "Norbit," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

22. Animated Short Film: "I Met the Walrus," "Madame Tutli-Putli," "Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)," "My Love (Moya Lyubov)," "Peter & the Wolf."

23. Live Action Short Film: "At Night," "Il Supplente (The Substitute)," "Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)," "Tanghi Argentini," "The Tonto Woman."

24. Visual Effects: "The Golden Compass," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Transformers."

____

Academy Award winners previously announced this year:

HONORARY AWARD (Oscar statuette): Robert Boyle

Rock band Triumph reunites

NEW YORK - The rock band Triumph is reuniting, but you'll have to go overseas to see them.

Rik Emmett, Mike Levine and Gil More will reunite for the first time in two decades at the Sweden Rock Festival outside Solvesborg, Sweden, in June.

An organizer of the festival says they jumped at getting Triumph to play at the festival after the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and some of the members mentioned they might enjoy doing something together someday.

Triumph was known for songs like "Magic Power," "A World of Fantasy" and "Somebody's Out There."

Nominees announced for new Canadian Indie Awards

David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises and Sarah Polley's Away from Her are competing for best feature film for the Canadian Indie Awards, a new award created by the Canadian Film and Television Production Association.

The CFTPA announced a list of nominees Monday in film, television and new media.

Organizers say the awards, scheduled for Feb. 20, are intended to recognize the talent of Canada's independent producers.

Robert Lantos is the producer for Eastern Promises and Daniel Iron, Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdl for Away from Her.

Luc Déry and Kim McCraw of Micro_Scope have earned two nominations in the feature film category for Congorama and Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil.

The Tracey Fragments, which Bruce McDonald directed and produced with Sarah Timmins and Paul Barkin, is also nominated for best film.

In the best mini-series category, Dragon Boys, St. Urbaine's Horseman and October 1970, all of which aired on CBC, are competing with Redemption SK and Above and Beyond.

The nominees for best TV movie were Luna: Spirit of the Whale, Abducted, A Life Interrupted, In God's Country and The Robber Bride.

CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie, produced by Michael Snook, Susan Flanders-Alexander, Clark Donnelly, Mary Darling and Zarqa Nawaz, is vying for best TV comedy with Corner Gas, produced by Virginia Thompson, Brent Butt and David Storey.

Other contenders are Rent-a-Goalie, The Jane Show and Moose TV.

Best drama nominees are:

Blood Ties.
Durham County.
Intelligence.
Race to Mars.
Regenisis III.

Best documentary are:

Jonestown: Paradise Lost.
Radiant City.
Flight from Darkness.
The Bodybuilder and I.
Saving Luna.

The CFTPA is an industry organization representing 400 companies engaged in the production and distribution of English language TV programs, films and new media.

"Ratatouille" scores Golden Tomato Award

NEW YORK - "Ratatouille" and "Once" warmed the hearts of moviegoers and critics alike — and now, they've taken top honors in the ninth annual Golden Tomato Awards.

The Golden Tomato Awards pay tribute to the best-reviewed films of the previous year as determined by the Web site RottenTomatoes.com, which compiles reviews from print, online and broadcast film critics to measure the percentage of favorable critiques.

"Ratatouille," the animated gem about a rat with unexpected culinary skills, earned a 96 percent ranking on the site's Tomatometer. The Irish romance "Once," which won for best limited release film and best musical, scored 98 percent.

"Atonement" scored the Golden Tomato for romance. "The Bourne Ultimatum" won in the action/adventure category, "Juno" was the best comedy and "No Country for Old Men" the best thriller.

"Away From Her" was named best drama, "Sicko" won best documentary and "Grindhouse" was the top horror flick. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" took a Tomato for science-fiction/fantasy and "Enchanted" won best family film. "The Lives of Others" was the top foreign film.

The Moldy Tomato — awarded to the worst-reviewed film of the year — was thrown at "Because I Said So."

Indiana Jones Will Be A Valentine's Day Tease

Nothing says romance and love like Indiana Jones. Actually, lots of things say romance more than Indy, but it looks like the lover’s holiday, Valentine’s Day, is when Indy will make his presence known with a long awaited trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

According to CHUD, the trailer for the upcoming Indiana Jones adventure will be teased on Entertainment Tonight on February 14th, as well as make its theatrical debut. Most likely the trailer will the be available on IndianaJones.com the next day, February 15th.

The Feburary 14th theatrical debuts include the romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe, Fox’s Jumper, Disney’s sequel Step Up 2 the Streets, and Paramount’s Spiderwick Chronicles. Looking at those, Indy’s trailer probably has the best chance of being attached to Spiderwick, since it is a Paramount vehicle. At the same time, Jumper might appeal more to that Indy-action crowd than the more fantastical Spiderwick Chronicles.

Plain White T's singer lands a date with Delilah

It took five years, one hit song and two Grammy nominations, but Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson finally got his date with Delilah.

Delilah DiCrescenzo, 24, the Olympic track hopeful who inspired song-of-the-year nominee Hey There Delilah, will accompany Higgenson, 28, to the Grammys.

She says Higgenson left a voice mail the day the Grammy nominations were announced. Then she read online that he planned to invite her to the Feb. 10 awards ceremony.

The singer finally asked her last week, just before the band left for a European tour.

The two met through a mutual friend. Higgenson wrote Delilah to impress his new crush, but she wasn't interested, and the long-distance romance depicted in the song is fiction. The single went to No. 1 in Billboard last summer. It's up for best pop performance by a duo/group and song of the year.

"It's kind of weird, because we still don't really know each other," Higgenson says. "I don't think it'll be awkward, but it'll be interesting. I've never been on a first date that has been this high-profile."

Oscar noms arrive, but will show go on?

LOS ANGELES - Film fans finally will soon learn who's competing for this season's Academy Awards. Now all we need to know is whether any nominees will turn up for the big show amid a writers strike that has thrown the awards season into turmoil.

The list of Oscar nominees Tuesday is expected to include such luminaries as Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis and Angelina Jolie.

That smattering of talent alone would ensure that a lot of people at home would tune in to the Feb. 24 ceremony. But without the cooperation of the striking Writers Guild of America, celebrities might honor the union's picket lines and stay away from the Oscars, leaving the show's planners to either scrap the telecast or come up with some new form of Oscar ceremony unlike anything audiences have seen before.

The word around Hollywood is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a backup plan to put on the show without the blessing of writers and stars, but they declined to disclose details.

Gil Cates, producer of the Oscar telecast, has vowed the show will come off no matter what, hinting the program could be padded with clips from 80 years of Oscar history if writers and stars do not cooperate.

Officially, the academy says it is moving ahead with the red carpet and awards ceremony as usual.

"We are planning to have our show on Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre with an audience of 3,300 people and a television audience significantly larger than that," said academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger.

Next to the Super Bowl, the Oscars are the most-watched annual broadcast in the United States. Last year, 40.2 million Americans tuned in to the Oscars.

The writers strike already took down Hollywood's second-biggest film honors, the Golden Globes. With the guild planning pickets outside and declining to let writers work on the show, stars fell in line and refused to attend.

The swanky, televised Globe banquet was scrapped and replaced with a news conference to announce winners. No one showed up to accept awards in person.

If the Oscars were forced to go ahead with a show boycotted by nominees, a winner's name may not be preceded with the traditional phrase, "And the Oscar goes to ...", but something more like, "And we'll be sending over a courier to leave the Oscar on the doorstep of ..."

Academy executives and ABC, which airs the Oscars, hold out hope the strike might be over before the awards. If not, guild leader Patric Verrone has said the union also will not allow writers to work on the Oscars.

Writers walked off the job Nov. 5 over their share of potential profits from programming on the Internet and other new media. Awards shows have become key ammunition for the guild to try to bring producers back to the table after negotiations broke down Dec. 7. Talks could resume as early as this week.

Yet the Academy Awards are a big step above the Golden Globes and other honors jeopardized by the writers strike, so some in Hollywood think the guild might relent and let the Oscars go on as planned if the strike lingers until then.

"It would be in the writers' best interests to come to some kind of resolution, if only temporary, so the awards could go on," said Richard Zanuck, producer of Oscar best-picture winner "Driving Miss Daisy" and the recent Golden Globe winner for musical or comedy, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

"Canceling the Academy Awards is something almost too big to contemplate. Any sympathy toward them in my estimation would evaporate."

Potential Oscar nominees include "Sweeney Todd" stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, along with the film's director, Tim Burton.

Among others in the running are Clooney for the legal drama "Michael Clayton," Day-Lewis for the oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood," Jolie for the terrorism saga "A Mighty Heart" and Blanchett for the Bob Dylan tale "I'm Not There" and possibly the historical pageant "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."

Javier Bardem is considered a potential supporting-actor front-runner for the crime saga "No Country for Old Men," which also is expected to earn a directing nomination for Ethan and Joel Coen.

Comparative unknowns also are likely to factor into the mix, including Ellen Page for the teen-pregnancy comedy "Juno," Nikki Blonsky for the musical "Hairspray" and Marion Cotillard for the Edith Piaf tale "La Vie En Rose."

While everyone finally will know who's nominated, it'll take awhile to get a sense of who might show up, both among contenders and other celebrities attending the show. The academy sometimes begins disclosing awards presenters well before the nominations come out, the deluge of announcements providing steady publicity as the show approaches.

A year ago, the academy did not begin making announcements on celebrity presenters until after the nominations. But two years ago, a handful of celebrity presenters were disclosed during the buildup to the nominations, among them Jamie Foxx, Hilary Swank, Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston.

Academy spokeswoman Unger said Oscar talent bookers are in talks with stars to appear on this year's show, but it was uncertain when any of that talent will be firmed up and announced.

Oscar historian Tom O'Neil is skeptical that the Oscars would get some last-minute deal from the guild so the show could go on.

The guild has signed agreements with smaller shows such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards or the Spirit Awards honoring independent film, but "they've gone after the biggies with ferocity and no mercy at all," said O'Neil, a columnist for the awards Web site theenvelope.com.

"It's clear that they have the Oscars in their sights next," he added. "Just because the Oscars feel they're special because they get treated like superstars doesn't mean anything. There's no star treatment here for the ultimate show in show business."

Lohan, Murphy lead Razzie worst-of noms

LOS ANGELES - Advice for actors looking to get nominated for worst performance: multiple roles help. Lindsay Lohan and Eddie Murphy scored multiple nominations Monday for the Razzies, which sort out the worst that Hollywood dredged up the previous year.

Lohan's thriller, "I Know Who Killed Me," in which she plays two characters who may or may not be the same person, received a leading nine Razzie nominations, among them worst picture of 2007.

Murphy's "Norbit," released amid a film-honors season that earned Murphy an Academy Awards nomination for "Dreamgirls" last year, received eight Razzie nominations, five of them for Murphy alone, more than anyone has ever gotten in a single year.

Besides worst picture, "Norbit" had nominations for Murphy as worst actor in the title role, supporting actress as Norbit's beefy wife, supporting actor as an Asian man and worst screen couple for Norbit opposite either of Murphy's other characters. Murphy also shared a screenplay nomination for co-writing "Norbit."

"We decided that each of his characters was so offensive that he deserved individual nominations," said Razzies founder John Wilson.

According to Wilson, Murphy's closest competition for worst screen couple is Lohan in "I Know Who Killed Me," in which she plays a small-town girl abducted by a psychopath and an alter-ego, a stripper who's missing body parts.

Lohan's movie played like a cross between the torture tale "Hostel" and "The Patty Duke Show," Wilson said.

For worst actress, Lohan polled more heavily than any actor since Sofia Coppola in "The Godfather Part III," Wilson said.

"`I Know Who Killed Me' is the most fabulously brainless movie since `Showgirls,'" which Razzie voters picked as the worst movie of the 1990s, Wilson said. "By the end of it, you still don't know what happened. Are they twins or aren't they? Did she imagine it? Can I please have my hour and 50 minutes back?"

The other worst-picture nominees were "Bratz," a live-action take on the cartoon about four chic young girls; "Daddy Day Camp," with Cuba Gooding Jr. starring in a sequel to Murphy's "Daddy Day Care"; and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," Adam Sandler and Kevin James' comedy about firefighters posing as a gay couple.

Sandler and Gooding joined Murphy in the worst-actor category, along with Nicolas Cage for "Ghost Rider" and Jim Carrey for "The Number 23."

Lohan was cited twice as worst actress for "I Know Who Killed Me," while the four "Bratz" stars — Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos and Skyler Shaye — shared a nomination. Also nominated were Jessica Alba for three films, "Awake," "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and "Good Luck Chuck"; Elisha Cuthbert for "Captivity"; and Diane Keaton for "Because I Said So."

Along with Murphy, supporting actor included Orlando Bloom for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," James and Rob Schneider for "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and Jon Voight for "Bratz," "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," "September Dawn" and "Transformers."

Besides Murphy, supporting actress nominees were Jessica Biel for "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and "Next," Carmen Electra for "Epic Movie," Julia Ormond for "I Know Who Killed Me" and Nicollette Sheridan for "Code Name: The Cleaner."

A spoof of Hollywood awards, the Razzies made their announcement the day before the Oscar nominations come out. Razzie "winners" will be announced Feb. 23, a day before the Oscars.

Rush extends world tour into summer

Having recently completed their highest-grossing tour to date, Canadian prog-rock vets Rush are preparing to hit the road hard again this spring.

The extended "Snakes & Arrows World Tour" will launch April 11 with Rush's first-ever appearance in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then trek through more than 45 cities across the US and Canada. The itinerary is listed below.

The outing will bring the band to a host of cities it hasn't played in more than a decade, including Winnipeg; New Orleans; Oklahoma City, OK; Reno, NV; Moline, IL; Boise, ID; Austin, TX; and Orlando and Jacksonville, FL

Fan-club presales begin Jan. 22 and American Express cardholders will have access to advance tickets in select cities beginning Jan. 26. Further information is available at Rush's website.

The band continues to support its May release, "Snakes & Arrows," which debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 and became Rush's 11th Top 10 album in the US. A track from the set, "Malignant Narcissism," is up for a Grammy Award in the "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" category.

The album is Rush's first collection of new material since 2002's "Vapor Trails." The rockers are planning to release a live version of "Snakes & Arrows" in April, according to a press release.

April 2008
11 - San Juan, Puerto Rico - Coliseo de Puerto Rico
13 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - BankAtlantic Center
15 - Orlando, FL - Amway Arena
17 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
19 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena
20 - Woodlands, TX - Woodlands Pavilion
23 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
25 - Dallas, TX - The Music Center at Fair Park
26 - Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center
29 - Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion

May 2008
1 - Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Wireless Pavilion
3 - Reno, NV - Reno Events Center
4 - Concord, CA - Sleep Train Pavilion
6 - Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre
10 - Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay Events Center
11 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
20 - Moline, IL - iWireless Center
22 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
24 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Center
25 - Regina, Saskatchewan - Brandt Center
27 - Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place
29 - Vancouver, British Columbia - GM Place
31 - George, WA - The Gorge Amphitheatre

June 2008
1 - Ridgefield, WA - Clark County Amphitheatre
3 - Nampa, ID, - Idaho Center
5 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
9 - Chicago, IL - United Center
10 - Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena
12 - Montreal, Quebec - Bell Center
14 - Philadelphia, PA- Wachovia Center
15 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center
25 - Indianapolis, IN - Verizon Amphitheatre
27 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
28 - Maryland Heights, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre St. Louis
30 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center

July 2008
2 - Burgettstown, PA - Post Gazette Amphitheatre
4 - Atlantic City, NJ - Marc Etess Arena
5 - Saratoga, NY - Saratoga PAC
7 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun
9 - Toronto, Ontario - The Molson Amphitheatre
11 - Manchester, MA - Verizon Wireless Arena
12 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
14 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
17 - Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Stadium
19 - Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion
20 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
22 - Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park

Mariah Rolls With T-Pain, Dupri On New Album

Mariah Carey has set an April 1 release date for the follow-up to her mega-selling album "The Emancipation of Mimi," which was the biggest selling album of 2005. Dubbed "That Chick," the set features production from Jermaine Dupri, will.i.am and Rodney Jerkins, plus collaborations with the likes of T-Pain and Damian Marley.

The album veers between breezy pop tunes like "Lovin' You Long Time" and the title track, ballads like "Love Story" and urban club bangers like the standout "Migrate."

The latter features T-Pain in a guest slot, providing the counterpoint to Carey's anthemic "single girls on the town" lyrics with the killer line: "Don't wait for me to buy drinks, or you're going to dehydrate."

Other highlights include the frisky R&B of "Touch My Body," with Carey cooing, "If there's a camera up in here then I best not catch this flick on YouTube," and the catchy "OOC" -- short for "out of control." There's also a new sound for Carey on "Cruise Control," which features Marley and sees the artist try her hand at Jamaican patois.

"It's kind of strange but I heard a lot of her records and it sound like the album is better than the last album," Dupri recently told Billboard.

Here is the track list for "That Chick":

"Lovin' You Long Time"
"Touch My Body"
"That Chick"
"Thanx for Nothin'"
"For the Record"
"Migrate"
"Cruise Control"
"Love Story"
"OOC"
"Bye Bye"

"Rock Band," "Guitar Hero" drive digital song sales

DENVER (Billboard) - In the two months since MTV Networks and Harmonix released the music-based videogame "Rock Band," players have purchased and downloaded more than 2.5 million additional songs made available after the game's initial distribution.

Activision, meanwhile, said it has sold more than 5 million new songs via download for "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" since it began adding downloadable content in early November.

By comparison, it took wireless operator Sprint four months to sell 1 million songs on its over-the-air full-song download service. While new digital music services competing with iTunes and free peer-to-peer services have struggled to convince music fans to pay $1 for a single, downloadable tracks for games like "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" are flying off the digital shelves.

"With such a low installation base, we didn't think that there'd be 2 million songs sold in eight weeks," MTVN Music Group/Logo/Films division president Van Toffler said. "We live in a rough time around music where our audience struggles to pay $20 for a CD but don't hesitate to pay $50 for a game. The notion to pay 99 cents or $1.99 to have a song and repeatedly play with it apparently isn't a big hurdle."

The original "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" games shipped with more than 50 licensed songs each, a mix of master recordings and covers. Since then, "Rock Band" has made new music available every week as either singles or in three-pack bundles that can be added as new playable levels for between 99 cents and $5.50. "Guitar Hero III" did the same, focusing on three-song bundles of new music and music featured in previous versions of the game.

Although MTV is not providing specific numbers, it did say that the majority of the downloaded songs were purchased by Xbox 360 as opposed to PlayStation 3 users. According to the NPD Group, "Rock Band" sold 775,000 copies for the Xbox 360 through the end of 2007, compared with 250,000 on the PS3.

METALLICA SHINES

The game's impact on song sales for participating artists, however, remains unclear. While not providing exact sales figures, MTV did say that the Metallica three-pack of "Ride the Lightning," "Blackened" and "And Justice for All" is the best-selling "Rock Band" download.

According to Nielsen SoundScan data, those same songs saw digital download sales spikes of 31 percent, 39 percent and 48 percent, respectively, for the month after they were featured as a "Rock Band" download, over the previous month.

But those increased sales numbered only in the hundreds, while the "Rock Band" downloads numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Still, label executives are thrilled with the results.

MTVN already has plans to expand its outreach to artists, creating additional game expansions -- as both physical products and downloadable content -- around specific music genres and even artists.

"We are talking to tons of bands, from indie to the most established ... to release not necessarily their entire catalog, but maybe some of their classic albums and do special packages around that," Toffler said.

What's more, there's no reason for "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" to be the only videogames that sell music. It's only a matter of time before other games begin offering new downloadable soundtracks as well.

Titles like the "Madden" football series, the Tony Hawk skateboarding franchise and the venerable "Grand Theft Auto" games are well known for their extensive soundtracks. Offering gamers the ability to replace their soundtracks every few months after the initial release is not only technically possible with today's new-generation consoles, but also on the horizon.

"That's certainly something we're interested in," Electronic Arts worldwide head of music Steve Schnur said earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show.

'Cloverfield' pulls down monster $41M

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The creature-feature "Cloverfield" became the first monster hit released in 2008, debuting with $41 million, a record opening for January, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Paramount's tale of a giant reptile causing chaos in New York City surpassed the $35.9 million premiere weekend of the "Star Wars" special edition in 1997, the previous best for January.

Opening in second-place was 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy "27 Dresses," starring Katherine Heigl as a perpetual bridesmaid. It pulled in $22.4 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, Overture Films' crime comedy "Mad Money," with Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes plotting a Federal Reserve Bank heist, opened at No. 7 with $7.7 million.

Overall business surged, with the top-12 movies taking in $135.3 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend last year.

Featuring a cast of unknowns, "Cloverfield" tells its monster story from the perspective of a partygoer's hand-held video camera, which captures the mayhem as the creature tears through the city.

The film benefited from cryptic marketing that sent young moviegoers on a scavenger hunt to decode clues about the movie's plot, images and even its title, which was not confirmed until shortly before its release.

"As we started it, we asked, how do we draw people in and have them say, `Hey, I want to know more about that. That looked cool, that looked intriguing,'" said Rob Moore, Paramount vice chairman. "Then fortunately, they delivered a movie that was as unique and engaging as people had hoped from the marketing campaign."

The big winners at the previous weekend's truncated Golden Globes had mixed results cashing in on their prizes.

Focus Features' gloomy romance "Atonement," the Globe winner for best drama, expanded into wider release and added $4.8 million to its haul, raising its total to $31.9 million. Business was up slightly from the previous weekend.

Yet the Globes' best musical or comedy winner, Paramount's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," also added theaters but took in just $2.6 million, down significantly from a weekend earlier. "Sweeney Todd" has taken in $48 million to date.

The televised Globes banquet was canceled because stars planned to boycott the show in support of a strike by the Writers Guild of America, which refused to let its members work on the ceremony. In place of the glitzy Globes show was a hasty news conference rattling off winners' names.

That deprived studios of much of the luster they count on to boost the box office of acclaimed films during awards season. Had the three-hour Globes show aired as usual on NBC, "Atonement," "Sweeney Todd" and other key winners might have done better business this weekend.

"I can only guess, but I think so," said Jack Foley, head of distribution for Focus Features. "I wish it was televised. It's one of the best commercials there is for film."

Following Heigl's success with last summer's hit "Knocked Up," "27 Dresses" solidifies the "Grey's Anatomy" co-star as a big-screen star.

While "Cloverfield" was more a movie for young males, "27 Dresses" sewed up the women's audience, the two films giving Hollywood a huge lift during what is normally a sleepy time for new releases.

"This is almost like a summer weekend," said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Chris Aronson. "It's almost a counter-programming move where you have two pictures aimed squarely, at least initially, at different audiences, and they both succeeded."

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 Tuesday.

1. "Cloverfield," $41 million.
2. "27 Dresses," $22.4 million.
3. "The Bucket List," $15.2 million.
4. "Juno," $10.3 million.
5. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," $8.1 million.
6. "First Sunday," $7.8 million.
7. "Mad Money," $7.7 million.
8. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $7 million.
9. "I Am Legend," $5.1 million.
10. "Atonement," $4.8 million.

CBC Sports' Don Wittman dies

Don Wittman, synonymous with CBC Sports for nearly a half-century, died early Saturday after a battle with cancer. He was 71.

Wittman passed away in a Winnipeg hospital surrounded by his family.

Don Wittman joined CBC Sports in 1961 and went on to call some of the most vicious, arresting and triumphant moments in Canadian sports history.
"The family wishes to acknowledge the tremendous outpouring of support Don received from friends, colleagues and fans. Thanks to everyone for respecting our privacy at this time," his son, David, said in a statement.

Wittman joined CBC Sports on the first day of 1961 and embarked on a career that saw him do the play-by-play for or report on Grey Cups, Stanley Cups, curling's Brier and Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian Open of golf and several exhilarating, disappointing and grave moments at 18 Summer and Winter Olympics.

"To suggest that Don was versatile does not begin to describe his ability, and his impressive accomplishments," CBC Sports executive director Scott Moore said on Saturday.

To his colleagues, Wittman maintained a balance, renowned for both his sense of humour and dedication.

"On the Saturday mornings of every telecast I worked with Don, I recall him spending a couple of hours talking to players, coaches, writers and broadcasters, gathering as much information as possible, far more than he could ever use on the air," Scott Oake of CBC Sports said. "But, in Don's mind, better that than being unprepared."

Wittman was born in Herbert, Sask., and attended the University of Saskatchewan. He began his broadcasting career in 1955 and worked as a radio news reporter and disc jockey at stations in Saskatoon and North Battleford.

That early background proved invaluable in being able to adjust to the unpredictable nature of live sports, he told the Winnipeg Free Press in 1977.

"I've been accused of having a photographic memory, but it's nothing I've ever been consciously aware of," he said. "I used to adlib a 10-minute sportscast. That was before the strong reliance on VTR [videotape recording] and film. I could give the runs batted in, runs scored, pitchers, the whole thing."

Olympic voice

Wittman would report on a litany of memorable Olympic moments, beginning with the 1964 Innsbruck Games. Wittman interviewed Canadian skier Nancy Greene after she won gold in the 1968 Olympics and said Sandra Schmirler's 1998 gold medal win in curling for Team Canada was one of his favourite moments.

His experiences at the Summer Olympics were undoubtedly characterized by a wider range of human emotion.

His voice appears on perhaps the most replayed sports clip in Canadian history, Ben Johnson's apparent win in the 100-metre sprint at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a result overturned days later after Johnson tested positive for a steroid. More recently, he expressed the shock so many viewers felt when favourite Perdita Felicien crashed into the first hurdle at the 2004 Athens Games.

Covering a calamity more sobering than any sporting event could ever be, Wittman was near the scene in Munich in 1972 after gunmen attacked and held hostage members of Israel's Olympic team, with 11 eventually killed.

During the standoff, Wittman and producer Bob Moir crawled under a fence to get into the Olympic Village and the evacuated Canadian quarters. They were positioned directly across a courtyard from the Israeli dormitory.

There were plenty of joyous Summer Olympic moments, of course, that Wittman left his indelible mark on. He deemed Donovan Bailey's gold medal in the 100m and the Canadian men's 4X100 sprint gold days later at the 1996 Atlanta Games as highlights of his career.

Part of Canadiana

Wittman played a huge part in broadcasting the most distinctly Canadian of sports.

He covered his first Grey Cup in 1961 alongside Steve Douglas and Ted Reynolds, and went on to call an amazing 36 more. Wittman ranked Winnipeg's 1961 overtime win and Saskatchewan ending its 23-year championship drought in 1989 atop his list.

He recalled the 1961 Brier in Calgary as the first national event he covered for CBC Sports, and he would be at 30 more by the time he was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 2003.

Wittman joined Hockey Night in Canada in 1979 and continued to work on the program into this season. Based in his hometown of Winnipeg, he came on board as the Jets entered the NHL and would report firsthand as the Battle of Alberta between the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames heated up.

He was also there as CBC Sports helped increase the profile of the world junior hockey championship, calling the infamous 1987 brawl between Canada and Russia, the 20th anniversary of which took place on Jan. 4.

Wittman would be best known late in his career for his work on track and field with colleagues such as Geoff Gowan and Michael Smith. He was present for all but one world track and field championships since 1983 and at numerous Commonwealth and Pan American Games.

Versatility unmatched

He was still up for new challenges, however, calling Canadian Open tennis for the first time in 2004. It joined a list of sports that also included baseball, basketball and even cricket, his versatility only rivalled by former CBC and CTV broadcaster Don Chevrier, who died at his Florida home on Dec. 17.

Wittman, a two-time ACTRA award winner, was also a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Manitoba’s provincial Hall of Fame.

Wittman was inducted into the new CBC Sports Hall of Fame on Jan. 9 in front of family, friends and colleagues in Winnipeg.

In addition to his son, Wittman is survived by his wife, Judy, and two daughters, Karen and Kristen.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

'Newhart' Actress Pleshette Has Died

LOS ANGELES - Suzanne Pleshette, the husky-voiced star best known for her role as Bob Newhart's sardonic wife on television's long-running "The Bob Newhart Show," has died at age 70.

Pleshette, whose career included roles in such films as Hitchcock's "The Birds" and in Broadway plays including "The Miracle Worker," died of respiratory failure Saturday evening at her Los Angeles home, said her attorney Robert Finkelstein, also a family friend.

Pleshette underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer in 2006.

"The Bob Newhart Show, a hit throughout its six-year run, starred comedian Newhart as a Chicago psychiatrist surrounded by eccentric patients. Pleshette provided the voice of reason.

Four years after the show ended in 1978, Newhart went on to the equally successful "Newhart" series in which he was the proprietor of a New England inn populated by more eccentrics. When that show ended in 1990, Pleshette reprised her role — from the first show — in one of the most clever final episodes in TV history.

It had Newhart waking up in the bedroom of his "The Bob Newhart Show" home with Pleshette at his side. He went on to tell her of the crazy dream he'd just had of running an inn filled with eccentrics.

"If I'm in Timbuktu, I'll fly home to do that," Pleshette said of her reaction when Newhart told her how he was thinking of ending the show.

Born Jan. 31, 1937, in New York City, Pleshette began her career as a stage actress after attending the city's High School of the Performing Arts and studying at its Neighborhood Playhouse. She was often picked for roles because of her beauty and her throaty voice.

"When I was 4," she told an interviewer in 1994, "I was answering the phone, and (the callers) thought I was my father. So I often got quirky roles because I was never the conventional ingenue."

She met her future husband, Tom Poston, when they appeared together in the 1959 Broadway comedy "The Golden Fleecing," but didn't marry him until more than 40 years later.

Although the two had a brief fling, they went on to marry others. By 2000 both were widowed and they got back together, marrying the following year.

"He was such a wonderful man. He had fun every day of his life," Pleshette said after Poston died in April 2007.

Among her other Broadway roles was replacing Anne Bancroft in "The Miracle Worker," the 1959 drama about Helen Keller, in New York and on the road.

Meanwhile, she had launched her film career with Jerry Lewis in 1958 in "The Geisha Boy." She went on to appear in numerous television shows, including "Have Gun, Will Travel," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Playhouse 90" and "Naked City."

By the early 1960s, Pleshette attracted a teenage following with her youthful roles in such films as "Rome Adventure," "Fate Is the Hunter," "Youngblood Hawke" and "A Distant Trumpet."

She married fellow teen favorite Troy Donahue, her co-star in "Rome Adventure," in 1964 but the union lasted less than a year. She was married to Texas oilman Tim Gallagher from 1968 until his death in 2000.

Pleshette matured in such films as Hitchcock's "The Birds" and the Disney comedies "The Ugly Dachshund," "Blackbeard's Ghost" and "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin." Over the years, she also had a busy career in TV movies, including playing the title role in 1990's "Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean."

More recently, she appeared in several episodes of the TV sitcoms "Will & Grace" and "8 Simple Rules ... For Dating My Teenage Daughter."

In a 1999 interview, Pleshette observed that being an actress was more important than being a star.

"I'm an actress, and that's why I'm still here," she said. "Anybody who has the illusion that you can have a career as long as I have and be a star is kidding themselves."

Eastwood sues Cdn. furniture firm

WINNIPEG - He's one of Hollywood's most rich and famous, but Clint Eastwood is taking Palliser Furniture to court -- for a few dollars more.

The actor has filed a lawsuit against the Winnipeg-based furniture manufacturing giant to strike back over The Eastwood, a line of home-theatre chairs he claims the company has produced, marketed and sold without his permission.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in United States District Court, comes as a similar lawsuit against Palliser from the estate of late actor Marlon Brando -- launched last March -- also heads to federal court in the Central District of California.

A lawyer representing Eastwood -- a heavyweight of Hollywood's A-list as well as a producer and director for a half-century -- confirmed both court actions are taking aim at Palliser's chairs for the same reason.

The Los Angeles lawyer, who asked not to be named, is also representing Brando's family and the Marlon Brando Living Trust in its court argument they hadn't been approached by Palliser Furniture before sales of the line of chairs called The Brando shortly after the star's death in 2004, and making millions of dollars from it.

"Our complaint speaks for itself. We really just don't comment on pending litigation," the lawyer said yesterday from L.A.

Eastwood's statement of claim argues Palliser's advertising and sales of the chairs bearing his name is "likely to confuse, mislead or deceive the consuming public" into believing the furniture is "in some way affiliated, connected or associated with" himself.

As well as Palliser's profits from the chairs, Eastwood is claiming unspecified punitive damages for "oppression, fraud and malice" in their sales.

Diane Dawiskiba, Palliser's manager of corporate services, did not return a call for comment. But in a letter last winter, before the filing of the Brando estate's lawsuit, she had stated Palliser's position that the chair The Brando is not based on the actor, but on a town of the same name on the French island of Corsica.

"Palliser is certainly not associating its use of the name with the Hollywood Brando name," the letter stated.

The lawyer representing Eastwood and Brando's family slammed that claim at the time, in light of Palliser's sales of other home-theatre chairs called The Bronson, The Connery, The Cooper and The Cagney.

Rebecca Brando, Marlon Brando's daughter, said she's pleased to hear Eastwood is taking a hard line like that of her family.

"I'm very happy for Clint. He's on board with us. He's joined the team," she told the Winnipeg Sun from L.A.

"This company cannot use our name for marketing purposes. I'm very happy we're going to federal court to set a precedent, so companies know they need permission from the estates -- from us, in order to use my father's name.

"He was a very private man, and it's not right for them to use his name and likeness in that way."

Joel Plaskett, Jimmy Rankin to take stage at East Coast awards gala

Halifax band Joel Plaskett Emergency will be among the acts set to rock the 20th annual East Coast Music Awards gala next month, organizers announced Thursday.

The rock outfit and lead ECMA nominee, which also scored nominations for the Junos and the Polaris Prize last year, will compete in seven categories, including entertainer of the year and recording of the year.

Other acts up for multiple awards heading into the gala include indie rockers Wintersleep and singer-songwriters Nathan Wiley of P.E.I. and Jimmy Rankin of Cape Breton.

Rankin and Wiley will also take the stage for the awards show, as will favourite performers such as The Trews and Lennie Gallant.

Also on the gala lineup are the Divorcees, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, the Lapointes, Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew, Shanneyganock, Samantha Robichaud, Thom Swift and members of Ode à l'Acadie.

Gallant, The Barra MacNeils and Damhnait Doyle were among the artists previously announced for gigs during the run-up to the awards ceremony.

The East Coast Music Awards, Festival and Conference begins Feb. 7, taking over various locations throughout Fredericton.

A special concert celebrating the event's 20th anniversary will take place Feb. 9.

The celebration ends with the awards gala at the Aitken Centre on Feb. 10.

CBC-TV, which usually airs the awards gala live across Canada, announced in November it would instead produce a one-hour special featuring performances drawn from the four days, slated for broadcast March 2.

However, several CBC Radio programs, including the arts and culture show Q, are planning broadcasts from the weekend event.

'X-Files' returns to theaters, minus alien mythology

LOS ANGELES — The sequel is out there.

The conspiracy theories will not be.

Ten years after the first film and six years after the show went off the air, The X-Files returns to theaters with Fox Mulder, Dana Scully — and a lot riding on the bet that fans want more of the FBI's paranormal-investigating agents.

The film, which remains without a formal title, will dump the long-running "mythology" plotline — that aliens live among us and are part of a colonizing effort — that made it one of the most popular television shows in the late 1990s but ultimately drove away some viewers who found it too complex and ambiguous.

"We spent a lot of time on (the mythology) and wrapped up a lot of threads" when the show went off the air in 2002, says Chris Carter, creator of the series and director of the new movie. "We want a stand-alone movie, not a mythology conspiracy one."

That will come as welcome news to fans of the show's stand-alone episodes, which included cults, ghosts, psychics and ancient curses.

Carter refuses to divulge any plot points of the movie, but says he wanted to make the film immediately after the show ended. A contractual dispute with 20th Century Fox kept it on the shelf until the case was settled out of court.

He says the delay may turn out to be a blessing.

"There's a whole audience I want to introduce X-Files to," Carter says. "There were kids who couldn't watch it on TV because it was too scary. Now they're in college. I wanted a movie that everyone could go to."

Whether they will could be a test of the show's legacy, says Blair Butler of the G4TV network, which caters to video-game enthusiasts and science-fiction fans.

"At its strongest, it had really creepy stand-alone episodes," she says. "They turned it into a great franchise. But a lot of years have passed. We'll see if it's fallen off the radar."

She says the film could benefit from an ironic twist: the Writers Guild strike.

"I think it could be a sort comfort food for the people who loved how original the show was and aren't seeing original TV now," she says.

But Carter believes they'll be drawn by something else: the show's stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

"For me, The X-Files has always been a romance," he says. "They had an intellectual romance that's very rare and restrained compared to so many relationships on TV. I think that's what appealed most to the fans. And they're back."

Leno maintains lead over Letterman

NEW YORK - If David Letterman hoped a deal with striking writers would help him in his battle for late-night supremacy with Jay Leno, it hasn't happened yet. Leno's NBC "Tonight" show averaged 5.17 million viewers last week, despite its writers being on strike and big-name celebrities being encouraged not to cross the picket line.

Letterman, who made a separate deal to bring writers back to his CBS "Late Show," had 4.08 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Leno has a 27 percent advantage over Letterman, compared to 33 percent prior to the writers going on strike.

Leno's victory margin of nearly 1 million viewers comes despite Letterman actually winning last Monday, when Tom Hanks visited to watch Letterman shave the beard he grew during two months off the air.

Besides Hanks, Letterman had Mike Huckabee, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Tom Brokaw, Howard Stern and Tracy Morgan as guests last week. Leno had Pamela Anderson, Ron Paul, Christopher Titus, reptile expert Jules Sylvester and fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel stop by.

Letterman is having another run of A-listers this week, including Katie Holmes, Denzel Washington, Don Rickles, Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone and Diane Keaton. National ratings for this week's shows were not immediately available.

CBS said one positive sign is that Letterman has beaten Leno in the New York market nine times in his first 11 shows back. In the 30 shows prior to the strike, Letterman won 12 times, Nielsen said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Writers Guild of America said Thursday the organization hasn't decided about whether to bring up Leno on disciplinary charges. The union contends that Leno is breaking their strike rules by writing his own nightly monologue. Leno said the union is wrong.

Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show," which shares Letterman's production company and also has its writers back, inched closer to NBC rival Conan O'Brien. O'Brien's NBC show averaged 2.07 million viewers before the strike, and 1.99 million last week. Ferguson was at 1.75 million before the strike, and 1.84 million last week.

Directors, Hollywood studios reach deal

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood directors reached a tentative contract deal Thursday with studios, a development that could turn up the pressure on striking writers to settle their 2-month-old walkout that has idled production on dozens of TV shows.

"Two words describe this agreement — groundbreaking and substantial," said Gil Cates, chairman of the Directors Guild of America's negotiations committee. "There are no rollbacks of any kind."

Among other things, the three-year agreement establishes key provisions involving compensation for programs offered on the Internet.

That issue has also been a key sticking point between striking writers and the studios, which broke off talks on Dec. 7.

In announcing the deal with directors, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, expressed hope that it would help end what it called an extremely difficult period for the industry.

It also called on the writers guild to engage in informal discussions to determine if there was a reasonable basis for returning to the bargaining table.

The Writers Guild of America said it would evaluate the terms of the directors' deal. It also reiterated that it has been calling on the studios to resume negotiations.

"We hope that the DGA's tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers," the writers guild said in a statement.

Writers previously said directors do not represent their interests.

The deal with directors gives their union jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet and sets a new residuals formula for some paid Internet downloads that essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers, the guild said.

In addition, it sets residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.

"Our industry's creative talent will now participate financially in every emerging area of new media," the studio alliance said in a statement.

The deal was welcomed by others in Hollywood.

"I'm very pleased with the new agreement and I hope it helps speed up the negotiations" with the writers guild, George Clooney said.

Clooney has often commented on the need to resolve the strike to put thousands of people back to work in Hollywood.

The directors guild was well-prepared when it started negotiations Jan. 12.

It had spent $2 million researching the potential value of new media over the next decade and held a series of meetings with key studio heads to establish a basis for the formal talks.

Cates, who's been involved in union contract negotiations for three decades, served as lead negotiator for directors.

He is also producing this year's Academy Awards program, which is imperiled by the writers standoff.

Sunday's Golden Globes were reduced to a news conference after actors refused to cross writers' threatened picket lines.

NBC lost millions of dollars in ad revenue, and award winners were deprived of instant publicity that could have provided a box-office bump.

New media issues also were expected to dominate negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract expires in June.

The directors guild said late last year that it would delay the start of talks to give writers a chance to come to an agreement with studios.

But the guild clearly lost patience after negotiations between the writers and studios broke off last month and the strike dragged on.

Among other things, the studios' deal with directors says:

• Programs produced for the Internet will be directed by guild members, with the exception of low-budget shows.

• Residuals for downloaded movies will be increased by 80 percent over the current rate paid by employers. Those payments will be based on a distributor's gross, which the guild said was a key point in negotiations. (Distributors' gross represents the amount received by the company responsible for distributing the film or TV program on the Internet.)

• Companies are contractually obligated to provide the guild "unfettered access to their deals and data," the guild said, calling that unprecedented transparency.

• For ad-supported streaming of Internet programs, an initial 17-day free window will be followed by a requirement that companies pay 3 percent of the residual base — about $600 for a network prime-time drama — for 26 weeks of streaming. Companies can continue to stream for another 26-week period by paying an additional 3 percent, or a total of $1,200 for one year's worth of streaming. During a program's first season, the 17-day window is expanded to 24 days to help build audience.

In their talks, the writers guild and studios have clashed over using a percentage of a distributor's gross receipts to determine Internet compensation.

The guild said it sought that approach but was told by the alliance it was an unworkable and unacceptable formula. Instead, the studios offered a flat $250 payment for a year's use of an hourlong TV show on the Web.

The guild balked, citing the $20,000-plus residual that writers now earn for a single network rerun of a TV episode.

Also at issue for the writers guild is unionization of reality and animation writers.

Talks broke down after the alliance demanded the guild take that and other issues off the table, claiming there had been an agreement to drop it.

The guild's next move may be influenced by history.

There's a lingering resentment among members over what they considered raw deals in the 1980s involving what eventually became lucrative home-video and DVD markets.

The writers guild home-video deal was shaped by a deal made previously by the directors guild, following an industry practice of pattern bargaining.

That created resentment among some writers guild members toward the directors.

Austin leaves Roughriders for Ole Miss

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will be defending their Grey Cup title without coach Kent Austin.

The 44-year-old announced Wednesday he is leaving to become offensive co-ordinator at Ole Miss, his alma mater.

"I struggled with this one pretty big time," Austin said at the news conference. "Having won the Grey Cup didn't make the decision any easier.

"I have a great love and affection for my university and it's not just the university, it's the people that I'll be working with."

From 1981 to 1985, he played quarterback at Ole Miss and grew up in nearby Nashville.

Austin is Ole Miss's second all-time passer and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.

Austin replaces David Lee, his former quarterback coach, who left the school recently to join Bill Parcells with the National Football League's Miami Dolphins.

Last week, Riders general manager Eric Tillman said he gave Ole Miss permission to talk to Austin, but he would do everything in his power to keep him in Saskatchewan.

"As I jokingly said a couple of days ago, this is certainly a circumstance in life where Kent wishes he was a twin," Tillman said in a statement. Our loss is Ole Miss' significant gain.

"For everyone who bleeds green and white, this is a painful day, personally and professionally. Not only is Kent an outstanding coach, he's an equally good human being."

Austin took over as Roughriders coach on Dec. 6, 2006, succeeding Danny Barrett after being fired as the Toronto Argonauts' offensive co-ordinator.

He was hailed as a hero across Saskatchewan on Nov. 25 when the Riders defeated Winnipeg 23-19 in the 95th Grey Cup in Toronto for just their third title in the team's 97-year history.

Austin guided the Roughriders to a 12-6 regular-season record — the most victories by a rookie coach in franchise history — and the team's first home playoff game since 1987.

Tillman said Austin's place in Riders history has been cemented with his role as quarterback in the 1989 Grey Cup victory over Hamilton and coach in 2007.

He leaves Regina with two years remaining on his contract.

"From Day 1, I felt honoured and priviliged to be here [coaching the Riders]. We accomplished what we came here to accomplish, and that is to be champions," said Austin, adding he would have stayed if money was the deciding factor.

The Regina Leader-Post reported Wednesday that Austin and Tillman were close to agreeing on a contract extension that would have made the former one of the highest-paid coaches in the CFL.

Austin and Tillman reportedly had begun preliminary discussions about a contract extension before he was contacted by Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt about the offensive co-ordinator's vacancy.

Tillman also told the Leader-Post a week ago that he had a plan should Austin choose to leave.

"If you're not planning for the future before it gets here in this business, then you're always reacting," Tillman said. "I'm always running through what-if scenarios whether it be for quarterbacks, co-ordinators or coaches."

Tillman added one would be naive to think Austin's services wouldn't be in demand, in Canada or in the United States.

"It's a remarkable accomplishment what our coaches and players did in one year," he said. "[But] if Kent should decide [going to Ole Miss] is what he wants to do, we'll go to training camp with the same goals — that's to win a championship."

Apple-Polishing Time for Studios

Each of the major studios has agreed to provide movies for Apple's iTunes movie rental service, Apple chief Steve Jobs announced at the MacWorld conference in San Francisco Tuesday.

The inclusion of Universal and Sony were major surprises since each had indicated it would launch a similar service.

Moreover, Jobs said, the films could be downloaded and viewed on ordinary or high-definition TV sets via Apple's settop box -- without the use of a computer.

They would rent for $2.99 for older titles, $3.99 for newer ones -- although "newer" is relative. Films will not become available on iTunes until at least 30 days after they are released on DVD.

HD movies will cost $1.00 more than conventional ones to rent.

Analysts pointed to other drawbacks: films can only be viewed for 24 hours -- fine for home viewing but annoying for those downloading them onto iPods and iPhones for viewing in increments during their commutes, lunch breaks, or work-outs.

Moreover, only about 1,000 movies will be available when Apple's video-rental store opens online in February.

Nevertheless, Apple's maneuver received mostly positive response from analysts and newspaper critics.

Commented the London Times: "Apple's move into video rentals, if successful, is likely to change fundamentally the economics of the film industry, and provoke yet more arguments over the way internet royalties are paid to writers."

Also on Tuesday, Jobs unveiled a new, thin laptop computer, the MacBook Air -- so thin that it does not sport a slot for playing DVDs.

Arcand film among 9 in running for foreign film Oscar

Quebec director Denys Arcand's latest film, L'Âge des ténèbres, has moved a step closer to an Oscar nomination after being chosen as one of nine foreign films left in the running for the best foreign-language film Academy Award.

The film, whose English title is Days of Darkness, is the story of an unhappy civil servant who deals with his mundane life by escaping into vivid, glamorous dream worlds. It was chosen as Canada's entry to the Academy Awards.

Arcand describes it as the lightest and most humorous film of his trilogy, which began with the Decline of the American Empire and included Oscar winner The Barbarian Invasions.

The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a list Tuesday of nine films left in the running for the best foreign-language film Oscar after whittling down the initial list from 63.

It will announce its five official nominees on Jan. 22.

The other films in contention:

- The Counterfeiters (Austria), directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, a Second World War story about a Jewish counterfeiter dragged into a German plan to destabilize the British economy with counterfeit bank notes.

- The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Brazil), directed by Cao Hamburger, about a young boy stranded without his family in 1970s Brazil.

- Beaufort (Israel), directed by Joseph Cedar, the story of a group of Israeli soldiers stationed at a remote outpost.

- The Unknown (Italy), directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, about a young Ukranian woman with a troubled past who takes a job as a housekeeper for an Italian family.

- Mongol (Kazakhstan), directed by Sergei Bodrov, about the early life of Gengis Khan, who was a slave before he conquered half the world.

- Katyn (Poland), directed by Andrzej Wajda, about post-war Polish deaths at Russian hands.

- 12 (Russia), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, a remake of Twelve Angry Men in a trial involving a Chechen boy accused of murder.

- The Trap (Serbia), directed by Srdjan Golubovic, a crime thriller set in contemporary Belgrade.

Roger Moore writing about Bond films

NEW YORK - Roger Moore, the handsome British actor known for playing James Bond in films such as "Live and Let Die" and "The Spy Who Loved Me," has a memoir coming out in the fall.

"The time is right to tell my story," the 80-year-old Moore, whose book is called "My Word Is My Bond," said in a statement released Tuesday by publisher HarperCollins.

Moore will not only write about his work on the Bond films, but his friendship with Audrey Hepburn, his encounters with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and other stars, and his health struggles.

"For the first time, he will share his recollections of playing some of the world's most famous roles, his fears of serious illness, including his own bout with prostate cancer (which he beat), and how his neighbor Audrey Hepburn got him involved in UNICEF, a charity he is still involved with today," according to HarperCollins.

Troubled actor Brad Renfro dies at 25

LOS ANGELES - Actor Brad Renfro, whose career began promisingly with a childhood role in "The Client" but rapidly faded as he struggled with drugs and alcohol, was found dead Tuesday in his home. He was 25.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at 9 a.m., said Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the Los Angeles County coroner's office. The cause of death was not immediately determined, Harvey said, but an autopsy could be conducted as early as Wednesday.

Renfro had reportedly been drinking with friends the evening before his death, Harvey said.

Renfro's lawyer, Richard Kaplan, said he did not know whether the death was connected to any problems with addiction.

"He was working hard on his sobriety," Kaplan said. "He was doing well. He was a nice person."

The actor served 10 days in jail in May 2006 after pleading no contest to driving while intoxicated and guilty to attempted possession of heroin.

The latter charge stemmed from his arrest in Los Angeles' Skid Row area, when he attempted to buy heroin from an undercover officer in 2005.

For several years he was better known for that drug bust and the resulting criminal case than for acting.

After one court appearance, he talked to reporters about drug rehabilitation, saying he was "tired of paying the consequences" for drinking and drug use and eager to get clean.

A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Renfro's film career began when he was 12, acting opposite Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in "The Client." His other credits included "Sleepers," "Deuces Wild," "Apt Pupil" and "The Jacket."

EMI faces 2,000 job cuts

LONDON (Reuters) - Guy Hands, the private equity owner of EMI, plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs at the ailing British music company, in a plan to rebuild the group which has sparked fury from some of its biggest acts.

Hands, previously best known for investment in waste management and pubs, on Tuesday unveiled his plan to make the home to The Beatles more artist-driven after it was hit by online piracy, falling CD sales and a poor release schedule.

In the list of Britain's biggest-selling albums in 2007, EMI's highest entry was Lily Allen's Alright, Still at 26.

The worldwide cuts will come at EMI's troubled recorded music division, which has some 4,500 staff of a group total of around 5,500. The shakeup, in which between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs will go, is designed to boost its roster of talent and increase Internet sales while reducing costs by 200 million pounds ($393 million) a year.

In a bid to allow EMI's labels such as Capitol and Parlophone to focus on finding new artists and promoting digital music, the company plans to bring its marketing, sales and distribution under a single division over the next six months.

But the plans have angered top-selling artists such as Robbie Williams, who questioned whether EMI would be able to devote enough time and money to promote his work.

"We have spent a long time looking intensely at EMI and the problems faced by its recorded music division which, like the rest of the music industry, has been struggling to respond to the challenges posed by a digital environment," Terra Firma boss Hands said.

"The changes we are announcing today will ensure that this iconic company will be creating wonderful music in a way that is profitable and sustainable."

UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The announcement follows a three-month review by Terra Firma which bought EMI last year for 2.4 billion pounds, or 3.2 billion pounds including debt, after years of speculation about the group's future.

At the time of the purchase, Hands said EMI would look to increase its digital sales, keep the company intact and securitize its more reliable music-publishing assets.

But that last proposal, which would have allowed it to borrow against revenue from the publishing division, has been put on hold due to the credit crunch. Terra Firm's management style has also drawn criticism from its artists and raised eyebrows within the industry.

British group Radiohead left last year, describing management as behaving like "confused bulls in a china shop," while Paul McCartney quit, saying the company was "really very boring."

And it has all been played out in the world's press, keen to see if Guy Hands and his "suits" can turn the company around. He had to be escorted by aides past a scrum of journalists on Tuesday morning as he went to meet staff in central London.

One employee of four a half years left the meeting saying it had been "inspiring" but the rest remained silent.

Most industry insiders and observers accept EMI has struggled more than other majors and that a new approach is needed. It has continually struggled in the United States, the world's largest music market, where it fell behind dominant Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group in album market share.

"Everything in the music business right now is potentially risky," Mark Sutherland, global editor of trade publication Billboard, told Reuters.

"The industry is changing incredibly fast. Certainly this plan acknowledges those changes and attempts to address them. Whether that will be enough to turn around their performance remains to be seen," Sutherland said.

"If they can get the artists to buy in then they've got a good shot for success.."

Report: Studios cancel writers contracts

LOS ANGELES - Four major studios have canceled dozens of writers contracts, effectively conceding that the current television season cannot be salvaged, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The move signals that development of next season's crop of new shows also could be in jeopardy because of the 2-month-old writers strike, the newspaper said.

January typically marks the start of pilot season, when networks order new comedies and dramas. But with writers not working, networks do not have a pool of scripts from which to choose.

20th Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount Network Television, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Television each confirmed to the Times that they terminated development and production agreements. Studios typically pay $500,000 to $2 million a year per writer for them to develop ideas for new TV shows.

"I didn't see it coming," Barbara Hall, a writer and producer whose credits include former CBS series "Joan of Arcadia" and "Judging Amy," told the Times, which said ABC executives gave her the news Friday. "I am not entirely sure what their strategy is, all I know was that I was a casualty of it."

Overall, more than 65 deals with writers have been eliminated since Friday, the newspaper said.

Timberlake appearing in Super Bowl ad

SEATTLE - Come Super Bowl Sunday, Amazon.com will get a leg up in the digital music race it's running against Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store. And not just any leg: Justin Timberlake's leg.

The boy band heartthrob turned Grammy-winning R&B singer will appear in a spot for Pepsi, kicking off a yearlong $1 billion giveaway of MP3s, CDs, videos, consumer electronics and other items on Amazon.

Back in 2004, PepsiCo Inc. and Apple forged a similar partnership, which started with an iTunes Super Bowl commercial promoting legal music downloads, to the tune of Green Day's version of "I Fought the Law." The companies gave away 100 million free iTunes downloads that, with rising iPod sales, helped push Apple to the forefront of the digital music industry.

Working with Amazon this year is big deal for Pepsi, which said it will spend more on its "Pepsi Stuff" advertising campaign than on any past marketing effort.

For Amazon.com Inc., the arrangement could mean even more.

In September 2007, Amazon launched a digital music store and committed to sell only MP3-format tunes, which can be copied to multiple computers, burned onto an unlimited number of CDs and played on most portable devices, including Apple's iPod and Microsoft Corp.'s Zune.

Thousands of independent music labels signed deals with Amazon, but EMI Music Group PLC, which already offered songs without digital rights management coding on iTunes, was the only major label to agree to DRM-free sales on Amazon.

But as a rise in sales of digital tracks in 2007 failed to offset the overall decline in album sales, the three big labels have rapidly begun retooling their digital strategies. When Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG signed on to sell DRM-free songs, they chose to do so on Amazon and not iTunes, where more than 70 percent of digital music is sold.

"The record labels are quite annoyed with Apple for the situation — CD sales are declining, and digital sales are not making up for it," said Philip Leigh, a senior analyst with the research group Inside Digital Media.

Leigh said the record companies want more flexibility in the way digital music prices are set. Amazon allows some flexibility, but Apple's 99-cents-a-song pricing still dominates the market. By working with Amazon, the labels are fostering competition and potentially gaining more control over how much a song is worth.

While the companies would not disclose financial terms of the deal, teaming up with Pepsi has the potential to transform Amazon from a niche seller to a major player. Leigh said music consumers who may not think about copy protection today will quickly embrace DRM-free music as they buy new computers and devices and face the hassle of moving libraries full of DRM-protected songs.

"The mass market consumer doesn't want these complications," he said.

Danny Socolof, president of Mega Inc., the Las Vegas marketing firm behind "Pepsi Stuff," said Amazon's decision to sell MP3s meshed nicely with one of Pepsi's brand values: choice.

"As we looked at the landscape of the music business, we realized, many other people realized that trying to lock up music with various different digital rights management schemes was failing miserably," he said, confusing consumers or driving them to music piracy.

The major music labels that will participate — EMI, Warner and Sony BMG, but not Universal — responded to the deal because Pepsi and Amazon could bring millions of new digital music shoppers online, he said.

Socolof, who helped Pepsi forge the music partnership with Apple several years ago, would not say whether he explored a new Apple deal this year.

"I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that it's important that this marketplace grow and that there be many players in it," Socolof said in an interview.

New CD Releases, January 15: Barry Manilow, Ringo Starr, Spice Girls

Barry Manilow "Beautiful Ballads and Love Songs"

The comeback just keeps on coming. Having resurrected his career by recording a trio of popular themed albums--focusing on well-known songs of, in order of release, the '50s, '60s and '70s--the man who writes the songs continues to look to cover material with "Beautiful Ballads and Love Songs."

The set includes new versions of past hits like "Unchained Melody," "Stardust," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Could It Be Magic."

Manilow is currently enjoying a residency in Vegas, a la Celine Dion and Elton John, but he will take time off for some road work this year. His North American tour, dubbed "Manilow: An Evening of Music and Passion," is currently set to stretch through a Feb. 24 date in Miami.

* * *
Ringo Starr "Liverpool 8"

Beatlemania lives! More than 40 years after the Fab Four invaded America, and changed the very face of pop music, there are still tons of reasons to get excited about Liverpool's finest. The latest--which follows in the success of Cirque Du Soleil's Beatles show, "Love," in Las Vegas--is a new studio album from Ringo Starr.

Having just released a greatest hits album in August, "Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr," the drummer/vocalist now returns with his 14th solo studio effort, which is his first batch of new songs since 2005's "Choose Love." "Liverpool 8" was co-produced by Starr, working alongside such talents as Dave Stewart.

* * *
Spice Girls "Greatest Hits"

Following a 7-year hiatus, the Spices--Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, Emma "Baby Spice" Burton, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chishollm and Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell--finally regrouped last year and embarked on what's turning out to be a phenomenally successful reunion tour.

To capitalize on all the excitement, the gals are releasing "Spice Girls: Greatest Hits," which features all the fan favorites as well as two new songs, "Voodoo" and the single "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)." The package is just being officially released, although it's been available for purchase at Victoria's Secret now for a couple of months.

* * *
Magnetic Fields "Distortion"

The indie synth-pop band returns with its first album in nearly four years. The Magnetic Fields will support "Distortion," the band's eighth record, with a tour that kicks off Feb. 11 in Northampton, MA. The trek features a series of multi-night stands, including Feb. 28-29 at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco.

* * *
Anne Murray "Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends"

The acclaimed vocalist is in impressive company on this album of duets. Lending a hand are such celebs as Celine Dion, Nelly Furtado, Oliva Newton-John and Carole King.

* * *
More new releases:
Raheem DeVaughn, "Love Behind the Melody" (Jive)
Eels, "Meet the Eels: Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1" (Geffen)
Eels, "Useless Trinkets: B Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996-2007" (Geffen)
Eliane Elias, "Something for You" (Blue Note)
Leon Fleisher, "The Essential Leon Fleisher" (Sony)
Jon Foreman, "Fall and Winter" (Credential)
Gamma Ray, "Land of the Free, Pt. 2" (Steamhammer)
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, "Setting Standards" (ECM)
Eric Lindell, "Low on Cash, Rich in Love" (Alligator)
Olivia Newton-John, "Olivia's Live Hits" (Capitol)
Pagan's Mind, "God's Equation" (Limb)
Roomful of Blues, "Raisin' A Ruckus" (Alligator)
Matthew West, "Something to Say" (Sparrow)

Soundtracks and scores:
"I Am Legend" (Varese)

Producers Guild Nominees Announced

Hot on the heels of the Golden Globe awards, the Producers Guild of America has announed its five contenders for its Best Picture award: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood.

Four of the five films also previously received Directors Guild nominations (Juno was passed over for Into the Wild by the DGA), and all films received multiple Golden Globe nods.

The last of the major guild awards, the PGA honors effectively put the kibosh on such hopeful Oscar contenders as Atonement, Charlie Wilson's War and Sweeney Todd, which received no love from the Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild or the Writers Guild.

While the nominations from the guild aren't exact precursors for the Academy Awards, a majority of guild members are also Academy voters.

Bee Movie, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie were nominated for the PGA's animated film award, while Body of War, Hear and Now, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, Sicko, and White Light/Black Rain are in competition for the documentary award.

Clooney's Bid To End Writers Strike

George Clooney has offered to act as a mediator between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) union members and Hollywood bosses in a bid to end the strikes.

The writers have been on picket lines since November, bringing production on Hollywood movies to a standstill and causing a number of TV networks to release staff and air repeat shows.

The strike also forced the organizers of Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony to cancel the event after actors threatened to boycott. But the Michael Clayton star has offered to set up a "mediation panel" to settle the WGA members' grievances - and plans to ask Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and ER producer John Wells to help him end the dispute, according to L.A. Weekly.

Speaking of the strikes earlier this week, he said, "When the strike happens, it's not just writers (affected)... Our hope is that all the players will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish. We want this to be done. That's the most important thing."

London, Ont., to vote on closing Guy Lombardo museum

It could be the swan song for a London, Ont., museum dedicated to native son and musical legend Guy Lombardo.

London's city councillors will vote Monday on a staff recommendation to close the 1,000-square-foot museum.

Called the Guy Lombardo Music Centre, it has been dogged by poor attendance, with only 400 visitors in 2007.

Lombardo, a violinist and bandleader of The Royal Canadians famous throughout the world, was born in the city. The Royal Canadians were noted for playing the traditional Auld Lang Syne as part of New Year's celebrations in New York.

Local heritage advocates said they're ready to fight the recommendation to close the museum.

The closure would be a "slap in the face to Lombardo's legacy," said Barry Wells, an advocate for heritage preservation.

The recommendation to close has not received public input or scrutiny, he told CBC News.

The current facility needs to be expanded, run professionally and better marketed, rather than shut down, he said.

The museum opened in 1983 and displays photographs, posters, video recordings, song sheets and the Tempo VII, an award-winning racing boat owned by Lombardo, who was a racing enthusiast.

The museum was run by a volunteer board until 2001, when the city took over after infighting and resignations at the board.

However, it costs taxpayers $27,500 annually to run the museum, according to Ross Fair, general manager of community services in London.

A city report recommends closing the museum permanently and turning artifacts over to Museum London.

It says Lombardo's birthplace should be marked by naming a pavilion and walking trail in a London park after him.

Details surface for new R.E.M. album

Alt-rock icons R.E.M. have unveiled the title and release date for their forthcoming studio album, which is the group's first new set since 2004.

Dubbed "Accelerate, the album is due in stores April 1, according to Warner Bros. Records, and the band is counting down the days to its release at NinetyNights.com. Launched Jan. 1, the site is updated daily with a high-definition video snippet of the band that can be "downloaded then edited, embedded or manipulated however the user wishes," according to a press release.

The video footage was shot by noted French filmmaker Vincent Moon, who has worked with Arcade Fire, The Shins and The National, among others.

"Accelerate" is R.E.M.'s 14th studio album, and first since 2004's "Around the Sun," which peaked at No. 13 on The Billboard 200 chart. Before the new album hits stores, the Athens, GA-based music vets will prime the pump with a March 8 headlining set at the Langerado Music Festival in South Florida, and will also give a March 12 performance in Austin, TX, as part of the annual SXSW Music Festival.

Last year, in addition to working on "Accelerate," the group stayed busy with its March induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the October release of "R.E.M. Live," the first concert CD/DVD of the group's 27-year career.

Smurfs mark 50th birthday in Belgium

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Smurfs — led by Papa Smurf and Smurfette — kicked off a year of 50th birthday celebrations Monday with Smurfberry cake and sasparilla juice.

The late cartoonist Pierre Culliford — best known by his pen name, "Peyo" — first introduced the tiny blue figures in a comic strip in October 1958. He called them Schtroumpf; they became known worldwide as the Smurfs.

The Smurfs, forest dwellers who live in little white-capped mushroom homes, developed their own "Smurf" language in which nouns and verbs were interchanged.

Their debut on U.S. television in 1981 launched their global rise to stardom and made the Smurfs a household name. A Smurf is a Pitufo in Spanish, a Schlumpf in German, Nam Ching Ling to the Chinese, a Sumafa in Japan and Dardassim in Hebrew.

"I think that if he could see all that has been done with his characters since his death and the success and interest that the Smurfs still attract, he would be very, very, very, very happy and very proud," said Peyo's son, Thierry Culliford.

To mark 50 years of Smurfdom, organizers are planning everything from a 3-D animation feature film expected to be released next year to new comic book collections and a remastered release of the popular 1980s television animated series, Peyo's family said.

Peyo's widow and two children will help kick off a European birthday tour in Brussels. The Smurfs celebration will continue in Paris and Berlin.

The Smurfs also will team up with the UNICEF to promote children's rights and education worldwide, said Yves Willemont of UNICEF Belgium.

"The Smurfs and UNICEF have a lot of values in common — values about joy, happiness and respect," Willemont said. "We also have in common the fact that we are dedicated to the cause of children and to the promotion of every child and the right of every child to survive."

UNICEF and the Smurfs joined forces two years ago to raise the plight of ex-child soldiers in Africa.

Born in Brussels, Peyo worked as a movie projectionist before entering the world of comic strip drawing.

The Smurfs appeared as a supporting cast of characters in Peyo's 1958 "Johan and Pirlouit" cartoon, which was set in the Middle Ages.

The Smurfs quickly grew in popularity and by 1960, the Smurfs had their own comic strip series and. With the help of the Hanna-Barbera Productions, the Smurfs became an animated cartoon in 1981.

Thierry Culliford said the Smurfs promote love and friendship. He said many who grew up watching the Smurfs on TV during the 1980s and 1990s now are parents and want to introduce the Smurfs to their children.

Demand for Smurf stories continues, said Hendrik Coysman, managing director of IMPS, which controls the rights of the Smurf brand worldwide.

"Thousands of fans are asking for more stories and these will be based of course on the fantastic asset that Peyo has left us," Coysman said.

Peyo, who died 15 years ago, "would be very happy if he were here today" to see Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Handy, Jokey and the troop of 96 others celebrate 50 years of Smurfmania, daughter Veronique Culliford said.

Buddy Holly widow threatens lawsuit against Peggy Sue

The widow of singer Buddy Holly has threatened to sue a woman, whose name was made famous by Holly's hit song Peggy Sue, who is planning to release a book about her friendship with Holly.

Peggy Sue Gerron, who married Holly's drummer Jerry Allison back in 1958, wrote a 283-page book — Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue? — to mark the 50th anniversary of the song's release.

Gerron says the book, to be released at the end of January, comes from 150 diary entries she wrote during the time she knew the singer.

"I wanted to give him his voice. It's my book, my memoirs," says Gerron. "We were very, very good friends."

The book has angered Maria Elena Holly, who married the rocker just months before he died Feb. 3, 1959 in a plane crash that also killed singers Ritchie Valens and J.P. (The Big Bopper) Richardson.

"He never, never considered Peggy Sue a friend," says Holly, who owns the rights to her husband's name, image, trademarks and other intellectual properties.

As a result, Holly has sent a cease-and-desist letter to TogiEntertainment, the book's Oklahoma City publisher, demanding it stop promoting the book. The letter also asks the publisher to cancel all book orders and to refund any deposits paid on the book.

According to Holly's widow, the book will harm her husband's name, her own reputation and that of her company, Holly Properties.

TogiEntertainment says it will not give in to the letter's demands.

"My feeling is that Maria Elena fears the truth will come out about Buddy Holly," said Mark Faulk, CEO of TogiEntertainment.

The song's original title was actually Cindy Lou, named after Buddy Holly's niece, but his drummer, Jerry Allison of the Crickets, requested that Holly change it because Allison was trying to woo Gerron at the time.

'Atonement' takes top Globe; 'Todd' wins

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The tragic romance "Atonement" was named best drama Sunday at a Golden Globes event that was deflated from star-studded revelry to dry, news conference-style awards announcement because of the Hollywood writers strike.

The bloody stage adaptation "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" was chosen as best musical or comedy. Its star, Johnny Depp, won for best actor in a musical or comedy for the title role, playing a vengeful barber who slits the throats of his customers in the adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's stage musical.

Also winning two awards was the crime saga "No Country for Old Men," which earned the screenplay Globe for writer-directors Ethan and Joel Coen and the supporting actor honor for Javier Bardem as a merciless killer tracking a fortune in crime cash poached by an innocent bystander who stumbles onto a drug deal gone bad.

"Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press!" said Bardem in a written statement after his win. "It is a great honor to have been recognized with this award in a time when there are so many outstanding performances in this category."

"Atonement," which led contenders with seven nominees, also won for best score. The film stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, both losers in the best dramatic acting categories, in a period drama that traces the dire consequences that follows a jealous teen's false criminal accusation against her sister's new lover.

Daniel-Day Lewis was named best dramatic actor for the historical epic "There Will Be Blood," in which he plays a baron of California's oil boom in the early 20th century whose commercial interests put him at odds with a young preacher.

Julie Christie won best dramatic actress for the gloomy drama "Away From Her," starring as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's who forms a new attachment to a fellow patient that causes heartache for her steadfast husband.

Cate Blanchett won the first award of the night, taking the supporting actress Globe for the Bob Dylan tale "I'm Not There." And like Blanchett, who took the honor for the gender-bending role as one of six actors playing incarnations of Dylan, no other winners were there, either.

Actors and filmmakers skipped the Golden Globes because of the two-month-old strike by the Writers Guild of America, which had planned pickets outside the show if organizers had tried to do their usual televised ceremony. Globe planners and NBC canceled the three-hour star-studded bash in favor of an hour-long news conference at which clips of film and TV nominees were shown and reporters from entertainment news shows announced winners.

Marion Cotillard won for best actress in a musical or comedy for a remarkable personification of singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose," playing the French icon from youth through middle age and into her ailing final years.

The rodent tale "Ratatouille" — directed by the Brad Bird, who made Academy Award winner "The Incredibles" — was named best animated film.

Among TV recipients, Jeremy Piven won for his supporting role as an acerbic agent in HBO's "Entourage," his first win after three previous nominations. Samantha Morton supporting actress for "Longford."

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder won the prize for best original song in a movie for "Guaranteed," featured in director Sean Penn's road drama "Into the Wild."

"We all hope that the writers strike will be over soon so that everyone can go back to making good movies and television programs which is what the Golden Globes were designed to celebrate," said Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that hands out the Globes, said at the start of the news conference.

"Rest assured that next year, the Golden Globe awards will be back bigger and better than ever," Camara said at the close of the news conference, which had been announced as an hour-long event but lasted just 30 minutes.

On strike since Nov. 5, the Writers Guild of America refused to let union members work on the star-studded banquet-style show, prompting actors to boycott the ceremony rather than cross picket lines.

Although the guild called off pickets it had planned outside the news conference, the strike left one of Hollywood's brightest and giddiest nights in shambles. Despite the gowns and formal wear, the Globes are known as a freewheeling cousin of the Academy Awards, a place where stars can have a few drinks and cut loose as they celebrate the year's achievements in film and television.

The Beverly Hilton hotel, normally awash with celebrities, was so barren of stars that "Entertainment Tonight" host Mary Hart was surrounded by photographers and TV cameras as she entered the ballroom where the Globes were announced.

The fate of Hollywood's biggest night, the Feb. 24 Oscars, remains uncertain. Guild leader Patric Verrone has said writers would not be allowed to work on that show, either, which could force stars to make an even tougher choice on whether to stay away or cross the picket line.

Oscar organizers insist their show will come off as planned, with or without the writers.

With two best-picture categories, drama and musical or comedy, the Globes traditionally have had a good shot for one of its movie winners to come away with the top prize at the Oscars. But the Globes have not correctly forecast an Oscar best-picture winner in four years, the last one being "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

Writers walked off the job over their share of potential profits from programming on the Internet and other new media.

As a result of their strike, films may not get quite the same box-office bounce they typically receive after winning high-profile prizes, which can add tens of millions of dollars to their haul during the long awards season. Yet actors and writers say tough action is needed to make sure creative people get their fair financial share for the long haul.

List of Golden Globe Award winners

Here is the complete list of winners of the 65th annual Golden Globes announced Sunday at a news conference held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Beverly Hills, California:

MOTION PICTURES:

Picture, Drama: "Atonement."

Actress, Drama: Julie Christie, "Away From Her."

Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood."

Picture, Musical or Comedy: "Sweeney Todd."

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Marion Cotillard, "La Vie En Rose."

Actor, Musical or Comedy: Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd."

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There."

Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men."

Director: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

Screenplay: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, "No Country for Old Men."

Foreign Language: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," France and U.S.

Animated Film: "Ratatouille."

Original Score: Dario Marianelli, "Atonement."

Original Song: "Guaranteed" from "Into the Wild."

TELEVISION:

Series, Drama: "Mad Men," AMC.

Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, "Damages."

Actor, Drama: Jon Hamm, "Mad Men."

Series, Musical or Comedy: "Extras," HBO.

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Tina Fey, "30 Rock"

Actor, Musical or Comedy: David Duchovny, "Californication."

Miniseries or Movie: "Longford," HBO.

Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Queen Latifah, "Life Support."

Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Jim Broadbent, "Longford."

Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Samantha Morton, "Longford."

Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jeremy Piven, "Entourage."

Jackson Pens 'Bullet-Proof' Tunes For New Album

Joe Jackson says that working in a trio format for his forthcoming album, "Rain," is part of a long-held desire "to see ... how big a sound can you get from the absolute minimum resources, and just how much can you do with that. It turns out to be quite a lot, actually."

"Rain" features 10 new songs, the oldest of which are "Too Tough" and "Citizen Sane," with Jackson on piano and the original Joe Jackson Band rhythm section of bassist Graham Maby and drummer Dave Houghton. He recorded it in Berlin, where Jackson now resides (with places in London and New York as well), and he tells Billboard.com that the smaller ensemble put more pressure on his songwriting.

"I felt like I had to write songs that are sort of bullet-proof in the sense you could play them with just a piano and they still work," explains Jackson, who recorded one of the "Rain" songs -- the aptly titled "Solo (So Low)" -- himself. "That's just become intriguing to me in the last few years. Working with three people, the arrangements were just as demanding if not moreso than when (he had more players). When you strip things down to, in this case, just three players, I think that space actually makes a bigger sound. I've started to really feel like this is a big band."

Fans will get a chance to hear that on the DVD that accompanies "Rain," which features live footage of the Jackson trio in Europe. He kicks off a tour to support the album on Feb. 27 in Cardiff, Scotland, and comes to North America for a 25-show run on April 1 in Toronto.

Meanwhile, Jackson is also continuing to work on "Stoker," a musical about "Dracula" author Bram Stoker that's being directed by Tony Award winner Judith Dolan and written by her husband, Raymond Hardie.

"It's a very cool piece," Jackson says of the production, which is currently being shopped for financing. "It's very unconventional. I always liked the idea of doing something in theater, but the kinds of things people approached me with in the past always made me cringe. This is really original. I'm very excited about it."

Janet Jackson hopes new album ends sales slide

NEW YORK (Billboard) - After failing to crack the million mark with her last two albums, Janet Jackson is wary of using the "c" word to describe her upcoming release, "Discipline," which hits stores on February 26.

"I think a comeback is when you leave and then you ... come back," Jackson said with a laugh during a recent interview. "People are always quick to use that word 'comeback,' but I never went anywhere, really."

"Discipline" marks her 10th studio disc, and her debut release for Island Def Jam after more than a decade at Virgin Records. Her last album, 2006's "20 Y.O.," stalled at 648,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while 2004's "Damita Jo" moved 999,000.

After a round of underwhelming singles from those albums, the lead single "Feedback" has been gaining momentum at urban and pop radio formats, thanks to its robotic bassline and voice-modulated effect tailor-made for the clubs. It jumped 32 places to No. 52 on the latest Billboard Hot 100.

"This song is definitely one of those feel-good, make-you-get-up-out-your-seat, maybe dance-on-the-table-a-little-bit type songs," said Deon Cole, music director of urban WPEG Charlotte, N.C.

If "Feedback" keeps rising, it could become Jackson's first top-10 hit since 2001's "Someone to Call My Lover," which peaked at No. 3.

CLASSIC JANET

Heavier on dance tracks than seductive jams (Jackson's other forte), "Discipline" is classic Janet. The title track is one of her typical frisky bedroom cuts, featuring lyrics like, "I need some discipline tonight/I've been very bad" and "Daddy, make me cry."

Yet, there is an air of newness to the album that is partly the result of Jackson creatively straying from her longtime go-to production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

"I was hoping we could do something together, but sometimes you have to explore and kind of kick yourself out of the nest," Jackson said of her decision to escape her production comfort zone. "It was something that I needed to do for myself, but I think (Jam and Lewis) felt it coming, too, 'cause I kept working with a different producer here or there."

In addition to production by Jackson's longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri, Island's head of urban music, "Discipline" also features tracks by newcomers the-Dream and Tricky Stewart ("Umbrella," "Bed"), Lil Jon, Stargate and songwriters Ne-Yo and Johnta Austin. Rodney Jerkins produced and wrote "Feedback" with Dernst Emile. The beats and lyrics that these contributors initially presented to Jackson were, serendipitously, true to her choreography-based roots.

"I never had to tell them, 'No, this is what it should be,"' said Jackson. "I felt like they really did their homework and whatever they felt a Janet song was -- rock, pop or urban -- they hit it right on the nose."

With "Discipline," the aim was to innovate without totally reinventing the wheel. "There are some things that maybe I'll try for right now and some things I'll wait later on to try. It's (about) sticking to who I am. Even lyrically, something that I've experienced or someone that I know has experienced, it has to relate to my life and myself."

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

Starting her musical career at age 16, Jackson released her first five albums through A&M, including her self-titled 1982 debut and her 1986 breakthrough "Control," on which she first started collaborating with Jam and Lewis. But it wasn't until 1989's "Rhythm Nation 1814" that multiplatinum sales started becoming a norm. For 1993's "janet.," which has sold more than 7 million copies, Jackson relocated to Virgin and revealed a sexier image, with more sensual music to boot. The reinvention yielded her most successful single, "That's the Way Love Goes."

Christina Aguilera gives birth to boy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop singer Christina Aguilera has given birth to a son in Los Angeles, her label said on Sunday.

Max Liron Bratman was born on Saturday night. He is the first-born for Aguilera, 27, and music executive Jordan Bratman, 30, who were married two years ago. RCA Records said mother and son were doing well.

Aguilera, a four-time Grammy winner famed for such tunes as "Beautiful" and "Ain't No Other Man," did not confirm growing speculation about her pregnancy until November. She was forced to cancel the last few shows of her "Back to Basics" world tour in Australia and New Zealand in August, blaming the flu.

'Bucket List' kicks off with $19.5M take

LOS ANGELES - Score one for the geezers. "The Bucket List," the tale of two cancer patients who decide to travel the world before they die, bested movies about treasure hunting, bumbling crooks and pirates to top the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"This was definitely a win for the older audience," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said of the movie, which stars 70-year-old actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. "The conventional wisdom is the younger audience drives the box office."

The Warner Bros. release directed by Rob Reiner "skews to older audiences, but I think the star power is what brought the audience," Dergarabedian said. "Never underestimate the clout of the older movie audience."

In its first week in national distribution, "The Bucket List" brought in $19.5 million at more than 2,900 theaters. It initially had opened on Christmas Day in limited release.

The film was closely followed by the comedy "First Sunday," featuring Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan as hapless petty criminals who scheme to rob a church but end up being rewarded with a lesson about second chances. The Sony Screen Gems film banked $19 million at 2,200 theaters.

"These two films appealed to different audiences and both did very well," Dergarabedian said. "January is not known as a hot month for box office."

The No. 1 box office draw for three consecutive weeks — Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" with Nicolas Cage — dropped to fourth place, with $11.5 million in tickets at 3,400 theaters. It has banked more than $187 million in domestic receipts.

The independent film "Juno," featuring Ellen Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen, locked up third position, continuing its commercial and critical run and building momentum as Hollywood's awards season progresses. The film had three nominations for Sunday's Golden Globes, among them best musical or comedy and an acting honor for Page.

With $71.2 million already in the bank, "Juno" is on its way to becoming Fox Searchlight's biggest hit ever, approaching "Sideways" at $71.5 million.

Paramount Vantage's "There Will Be Blood," starring Daniel Day-Lewis in a tale of greed and violence during California's oil boom in the early 20th century, continued to turn in impressive numbers in limited release. It took in nearly $2 million at 129 theaters, and its $15,000 per theater average easily outdistanced other movies in the marketplace.

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 Bucket List," $19.5 million.
2. "First Sunday," $19 million.
3. "Juno," $14 million.
4. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," $11.5 million.
5. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $9.1 million.
6. "I Am Legend," $8.1 million.
7. "One Missed Call," $6.1 million.
8. "P.S. I Love You," $5 million.
9. "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie," $4.4 million
10. "Atonement," $4.3 million.

Golden Globes glitz gone amid strike

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - In case anyone's still keeping count amid the writers strike that has hobbled Hollywood's awards season, the tragic romance "Atonement" led the pack for Sunday's Golden Globes with seven nominations.

Films and performances have taken a back seat to the business side of show business — intractable management and unyielding writers, the latter taking a hardball stance that forced Globe organizers to scrap their swanky telecast for a humdrum news conference to announce winners.

On strike since Nov. 5, the Writers Guild of America refused to let union members work on the star-studded banquet-style show, prompting actors to boycott the ceremony rather than cross picket lines.

Although the guild called off pickets it had planned outside the news conference, the strike left one of Hollywood's brightest and giddiest nights in shambles. Despite the gowns and formal wear, the Globes are known as a freewheeling cousin of the Academy Awards, a place where stars can have a few drinks and cut loose as they celebrate the year's achievements in film and television.

Sunday's event was recast as an hour-long announcement that would feature TV news personalities disclosing the winners in between clips of nominated movies and shows. The news conference format was a far cry from a ceremony whose star wattage would have been powered by the likes of Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, who all had acting nominations.

The nods for "Atonement" included best drama, plus honors for lead actors Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, director Joe Wright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton.

Some nominees were relieved at the thought of avoiding scrutiny by TV audiences.

"Frankly, for me, the prospect of being on television is what's so frightening about it," said Hampton, an Oscar winner for the screenplay of 1988's "Dangerous Liaisons." "It was terrifying, the Oscars, with 1 billion people watching them. I didn't want to think about that. It paralyzes you, sitting there for three hours terrified, waiting to find out whether you've won."

The fate of Hollywood's biggest night, the Feb. 24 Oscars, remains uncertain. Guild leader Patric Verrone has said writers would not be allowed to work on that show, either, which could force stars to make an even tougher choice on whether to stay away or cross the picket line.

Oscar organizers insist their show will come off as planned, with or without the writers.

With two best-picture categories, drama and musical or comedy, the Globes traditionally have had a good shot for one of its movie winners to come away with the top prize at the Oscars. But the Globes have not correctly forecast an Oscar best-picture winner in four years, the last one being "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

Writers walked off the job over their share of potential profits from programming on the Internet and other new media.

As a result of their strike, films may not get quite the same box-office bounce they typically receive after winning high-profile prizes, which can add tens of millions of dollars to their haul during the long awards season. Yet actors and writers say tough action is needed to make sure creative people get their fair financial share for the long haul.

"I feel bad for my friends who have movies that would get a lift from a Globe or an Oscar," said Don Cheadle, a past Globe winner and Oscar nominee. "But the Oscar ratings have gone down steadily for the last 10 years. Fewer and fewer people are interested in seeing Hollywood fete itself. For what we're fighting for and what we're trying to achieve, these are the necessary sacrifices."

The Couch Potato Report - January 12th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels Henry the VIII, eagles and sharks, the Cosbys, and a film about a man who lied about sailing around the world.

Henry VIII was King of England and Ireland, from April 21, 1509 until his death in 1547.

Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII, and the younger Henry is the main subject of this week's HOT POTATO, the 4-DVD Box Set for the television series THE TUDORS.

THE TUDORS - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is an Emmy Award-nominated CBC television series that is based upon the early reign and marriages of King Henry VIII.

Based upon...this is not a documentary series, it is a series meant to entertain.

And it does entertain.

The series has a good cast, an interesting script, incredible costumes,...and sword fighting!

If you are a historian, or study the British Monarchy as a hobby, this probably isn't the series for you, as some of the facts that are given are quite inaccurate - for instance King Henry VIII had two sisters, Mary and Margaret, THE TUDORS only gives him Margaret...and that is just one example, but there are many more.

However, if you are just looking for a 10 part series that is full of attractive actors and seasoned professionals to entertain you, something that isn't just a stuffy retelling of history, then this is the show for you.

I didn't love the THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of THE TUDORS, but I was entertained by it...and I am looking forward to the SECOND SEASON.

I am also looking forward to SEASON TWO of the hilarious television show FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, about a musical duo from New Zealand living and trying to succeed in New York starring Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement!

That show's second series is expected later this year.

For fans of the show in the meantime, there is EAGLE VS. SHARK is a quirky little film from New Zealand, starring Jemaine as a man on a mission.

Okay, to be clear, EAGLE VS. SHARK is not an action film, or a full-blown tale of revenge. It is a love story between two socially awkward misfits.

No, EAGLE VS. SHARK isn't a great film, but if you enjoy movies that are just a little bit different from what we usually see, then this is a great little romantic comedy for you!

I have seen it twice now, and each time I had fun, and laughed while I watched it.

Up next this week is DEEP WATER is a real life documentary about Donald Crowhurst, a man who lied about sailing around the world.

In 1968 the Sunday Times of London newspaper sponsored a race to see who could circle the globe, alone in a boat, without stopping.

Prizes were offered for the sailor who finished first and the one who finished fastest.

Nine sailors entered the race and DEEP WATER focuses on three of them, but primarily on an amateur sailor and eccentric inventor named Donald Crowhurst, a man who never should have entered the race.

It tells his story through photographs, archival film footage; news reels; audio tapes, 16mm film, ship logs, diaries and interviews with family members and friends.

Now I love the sea, and I enjoy any opportunity to watch films and documentaries about it, but DEEP WATER is one of the slowest films I have ever watched about a subject that I found to be so interesting, I mean, Crowhurst was wearing a tie and slacks as he set off on the race, that is hardly seafaring gear!

I wanted to know more about the man, the race he was in, and his fate, as I still find it all fascinating...but somehow the filmmakers didn't effectively succeed in telling his story, and the result is a documentary that I am glad I saw, but had higher hopes for.

DEEP WATER is not a complete failure, but it isn't a success either.

Finally this week, two DVD Box Sets that are a complete success!

VOLUME 5 AND 6 of THE COSBY SHOW!

SEASON FIVE is when Sondra had the twins, Denise was gone to Africa, and all eyes landed on Vanessa and Theo.

There were also some great special guests, like Sammy Davis, Jr.

In SEASON SIX of THE COSBY SHOW, future superstar-teen idol Raven Symone joined the cast, and after a few seasons away Lisa Bonet came back as a regular.

And of the many guest stars in this season, my two favourites were BB King and The Muppets!!

More than twenty-four years after they originally aired, SEASONS FIVE and SIX of THE COSBY SHOW are still entertaining, and funny, and still good for the whole family!!

In the year 2032, I wonder if anyone will say that about any of the shows that are on the air now?

I wonder.

VOLUME 5 AND 6 of THE COSBY SHOW, the not quite successful documentary DEEP WATER, the quirky New Zealand film EAGLE VS. SHARK and the entertaining, but not historically accurate THE TUDORS - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON are all available now on DVD.


Coming up in two weeks on the next Couch Potato Report

Regina born Leslie Nielsen joins the cast for SEASON TWO of the television series ROBSON ARMS; KENNY VS. SPENNY - SEASON THREE allows the guys to battle each other once again; THE HUNTING PARTY is one of the most surprisingly entertaining films of last year; 3:10 TO YUMA is an interesting remake of the western classic starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale; TORCHWOOD is a great British Science Fiction Series; and then there is WONDER WOMAN - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, an 11-Disc Box Set featuring every episode from the television show's three year run.

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

Letterman turns down N.S. hospitality

A fiddling demonstration from Premier Rodney MacDonald was not enough to lure David Letterman to Nova Scotia.

Nor were the dozens of top 10 reasons to visit the province delivered in response to a campaign by CBC Radio Halifax.

The invitations were sent after Letterman expressed a wish to see Nova Scotia during an appearance by Halifax actress Ellen Page on his late-night talk show.

A spokesman for Worldwide Pants, the production company behind the Late Show with David Letterman, turned down those invitations on Friday.

"We have seen it," Worldwide Pants spokesman Tom Keaney said, referring to MacDonald's video showing his top 10 reasons and demonstrating his fiddling prowess.

"We're honoured and flattered to be invited to Nova Scotia, but we have no travel plans for the show at this time."

Premier MacDonald's pitch included reasons such as "you can make a blueberry grunt" and "no matter where you are in Nova Scotia, you're within 30 minutes of the sea. Thirty-five if it's rush hour."

In his video submission, the premier plays a few bars on a fiddle as he gives his No. 1 reason why Letterman should come to the province.

'Top that, Mike Huckabee'

"Nova Scotia's political leader, yours truly, plays the fiddle," he said, before taking a playful jab at a Republican presidential candidate who plays bass guitar. "Top that, Mike Huckabee."

Information Morning had its own 10 reasons why he should visit, and encouraged listeners to send theirs so it could send them on to Letterman.

Several schools, an improv group and even a tourism management class at the Nova Scotia Community College got in on the campaign, which quickly turned into a contest.

Businesses joined in, too, with one lodge offering Letterman a free place to stay.

Page, who is winning acclaim for her role in Juno, wooed Letterman with her own tales of Nova Scotia during her appearance on his show.

She mentioned the 1917 Halifax Explosion and how her century-old home in Halifax used to be a whorehouse.

Letterman said he had never been to Nova Scotia but heard it was beautiful.

Letterman's spokesman did not rule out a personal visit by the funnyman.

"As far as Dave's private life goes, I cannot and do not comment," he said.

Information Morning show producer Susan Rogers said getting Letterman to Nova Scotia would be the "cherry on the sundae."

"But I think the coup is just the energy we've built around this," she said Friday.

We'd never get Monty Python onto television today: Jones

LISBON (Reuters) - Terry Jones says being funny as a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus was just a byproduct of the real aim: subversion.

The 64-year-old writer, director and actor told Reuters in Lisbon ahead of the world premiere of his new musical "Evil Machines" that he is still surprised by the popularity of the Monty Python series of television shows and films.

"I think one reason was that with Python we purely wrote for the six of us," he said. "Our message was: don't believe anything people say."

Jones, who co-wrote and performed in the British television series during the late 1960s and early 1970s alongside Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle said their absurd brand of humor would never make it past today's television programmers.

"Nowadays it would be impossible to do that. You really have to satisfy the needs of television stations which carry out audience surveys before they commission shows," he said.

Jones -- whose many madcap characters include the lynch-mob happy mother in "Life of Brian" and the obscenely obese diner Mr. Creosote who explodes after a touch too much supper in "The Meaning of Life" -- said he doesn't see himself as a comedian and would hate to do a stand-up routine.

"I'm not really that funny, but I do like to laugh."

Python's original name -- "Bun, Whackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot" -- was rejected by the BBC, which urged Jones and his friends to come up with an easier name for viewers to digest.

"We spent ages discussing names," he said, adding that other proposals included A Horse, a Spoon and A Basin, before the group eventually settled on Monty Python's Flying Circus.

EVIL MACHINES

Jones's new show, which features singing telephones, ovens and parking meters, may prove that he is still closely in touch with the innovative humor that has made the Pythons famous.

The show derides the modern world's disposable culture.

"We have come into an age of a throw-away culture and it has reached machines," he said. "Evil Machines is about machines realizing this and deciding to take matters into their own hands."

He hopes to take "Evil Machines" to London and New York, adding that a New York orchestra has shown interest.

"The music is great. The show is quite original and the sound is very particular," he said.

Jones recently underwent surgery for colon cancer but said he was now doing fine.

"Unfortunately, my illness is not nearly bad enough to sell many newspapers, and the prognosis is even more disappointing," he said in a message on his website www.terry-jones.net.

Not only is he in improving health, he also plans to carry on writing, directing and acting as long as he can.

"I hope I never retire. I hope to die in harness."

BLU-RAY SKIES ARE HERE

The fat lady hasn't sung yet, but for all intents and purposes, it looks like the next-generation DVD battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD is pretty much over.

The winner of the two-year battle - akin to the Betamax and VHS war of the '80s - seems to be Blu-ray, thanks largely to Warner Bros. Home Video's recent announcement that it'll be going all Blu-ray, all the time, after late May. (It had been the only movie studio that hadn't picked a side, releasing in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.)

Warner will be joining Blu-ray-only studios including Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, MGM and Lionsgate. This leaves Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks as the sole HD DVD supporters - although it's been reported that Paramount will be ditching its HD DVD support now that Warner Bros. has done it, thanks to a clause in Paramount's HD DVD-exclusivity contract.

What does this mean for you? Here are some answers to those burning questions you have about Blu-ray.

Q - Can you use a Blu-ray player if you don't have a high-def TV?

Yes, but unless you've got a TV producing 720p, 1080i or 1080p resolution, “there's no point in buying a Blu-ray player," says David Katzmaier, CNET.com senior editor. “You can hook it up with your S-video [connection], and you're going to see a darn good picture, but there's not going to be much difference between a [standard] DVD and a Blu-ray player. You really need a newer, preferably larger, HDTV to experience the difference."

Q - Does size matter when it comes to watching Blu-ray on an HDTV?

Yes. “The bigger the TV [40 inches and larger], the more it matters," says Consumer Reports senior project leader Maurice Wynn, especially when you're forced to sit closer to the TV than you'd like. “The closer you sit to your TV, the more you'd need to have high definition, like Blu-ray," he says.

Q - What do you need to get the most out of your Blu-ray?

Definitely an HDTV. Katzmaier also recommends HDMI cables, “if you're going to get a Blu-ray player, you might as well spend a little bit more and get a cable - we recommend monoprice.com." Meanwhile, Wynn says you won't go wrong with an audio system, because “Blu-ray discs can theoretically have better-quality sound since they have more [memory] capacity and studios can put higher data audio on the disc."

Q - Do you need to replace all your standard DVDs with Blu-rays?

No. All Blu-ray players will play standard DVDs, although some do a better job at it than others (check out sites like CNET.com's home video reviews for opinions on which ones do this the best).

Q - Should you rush out and buy a Blu-ray player now?

Probably not. They're still expensive - the cheapest one on the market is $300 - and there aren't that many Blu-ray discs out there yet. But if you're really desperate, Katzmaier suggests getting a PlayStation 3. “It's basically a Blu-ray player and a gaming console, without any compromises. There are no video or audio quality differences, and it does a great job playing [standard] DVDs. It's basically a little supercomputer [with built-in Web access], which allows you to do a lot of upgrades when Blu-ray requires it, making it the most future-ready Blu-ray player out there."

Comic fans fume as Marvel erases Spidey-MJ marriage

Those who know Spider-Man only from Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in the movies might be surprised to learn that in the comic book, the web-spinning hero has been married for almost 21 years.

That's why the comic world is in an uproar over Marvel Comics' decision to undo the marriage of Peter Parker and red-haired bombshell Mary Jane Watson, reversing two decades of storytelling.

In Amazing Spider-Man #545 last week, Peter and Mary Jane make a tearful deal with the devil-like character Mephisto: In exchange for saving Aunt May's life, Mephisto erases all traces of the Peter-Mary Jane marriage from memory.

In the issue out this week, subtitled Brand New Day, Peter Parker returns to his roots — young, nerdy and single. Aunt May is alive and well and Mary Jane is again just part of the cast. The marriage never happened.

"People are very upset. They erased a lot of stuff that had been set in stone," says John Newman, manager of Ultimate Comics in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Wednesday as customers came in to buy the opening chapter of Brand New Day. To help emphasize the new start, Amazing Spider-Man will go thrice-monthly.

"We knew it would be a very controversial thing to do," says Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor in chief, who believed so much in the project that he drew the crucial issues himself. "Looking into the future, this is really the right thing to do for the long-term health of the character."

Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962, was a hit, connecting with young readers because he was a geeky teenager, shy with girls and uncertain of how to use his powers. But in 1987, Peter and Mary Jane, by then a fashion model, got married. Marvel had instant regrets.

"I remember editors and editors in chief lamenting that a married Spider-Man was not where we want to be," Quesada says. "A married Peter Parker makes for a less interesting soap opera than a single Peter Parker going about his nerdy kind of life."

Writers tried everything: The couple separated for a while. She miscarried. And in a much-criticized story line, Marvel tried to convince readers that Peter Parker had not gotten married, but his clone. That didn't stick, either. Then Quesada took over and insisted the marriage just couldn't continue.

"Nobody wants to read about a married Spider-Man," says Craig Shutt, a columnist for Comics Buyers Guide. "But in the short run, it's a terrible idea. It disrespects the readers by saying everything they read is wrong."

At DC Comics, Superman is married to Lois Lane, disrupting that title's long-standing tensions. DC declined to comment for this story.

Quesada is steadfast that for Spider-Man, the move is the right one: "Ultimately we have to do this to keep this character fresh for this generation and generations to come."

HEROES CHANGE

How long-term heroes have been revised to keep up with the times:

Superman. Created in 1938, Superman was totally revamped in 1986. The current Man of Steel never had a career as Superboy, and as Clark Kent, he has been married to Lois Lane since 1996.

Batman. Created in 1939, Batman has mentored three Robins. The first, Dick Grayson, is now Nightwing. The third, Tim Drake, was introduced in 1989. The second Robin, Jason Todd, was killed by the Joker but has returned.

Iron Man. Created in 1963, Tony Stark built his armor after being injured in Vietnam, later updated to the Gulf War. Now he got his injuries in Afghanistan.

Apatow, Cody, Penn among WGA script noms

NEW YORK - While the Writers Guild of America continues its strike, throwing much of awards season into question, it still has some awards of its own to hand out.

The WGA on Thursday announced its nominees for the most outstanding achievements in writing for the screen in the past year. Among the nominees for best original screenplay were stripper-turned-scribe Diablo Cody for the teen pregnancy comedy "Juno," and Tony Gilroy, who wrote and directed "Michael Clayton," about a fixer at an upscale New York law firm.

Also nominated for best original screenplay were Judd Apatow for "Knocked Up," another comedy about an unplanned pregnancy; Tamara Jenkins for "The Savages," about adult siblings caring for their ailing father, and Nancy Oliver for "Lars and the Real Girl," in which a loner falls for a life-size doll.

Many of the year's most acclaimed films were based on books, making the adapted screenplay category especially competitive. The nominees include Joel and Ethan Coen's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Texas crime novel, "No Country for Old Men," and Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!" — which he turned into "There Will Be Blood."

Also nominated for best adapted screenplay were Sean Penn's script for "Into the Wild," based on Jon Krakauer's book, Ronald Harwood's adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," and James Vanderbilt's script for "Zodiac," adapted from Robert Graysmith's book about San Francisco's Zodiac killer.

Nominees for the third and final category, documentary screenplay, were Michael Moore's script for "Sicko," as well as those for "Nanking," "No End in Sight," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "The Rape of Europa" and "The Camden 28."

The Writers Guild Awards are set for Feb. 9 at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.

The guild's strike is causing considerable turmoil this awards season. On Monday, organizers facing the prospect of a Golden Globes ceremony without any celebrities — who said they wouldn't cross picket lines — reduced the event to a news conference.

Edmund Hillary, first atop Everest, dies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88.

The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called "Ed" and considering himself just an ordinary beekeeper.

"Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," Clark said in a statement.

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived," she said.

Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement — and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Tenzing Norgay.

He had pride in his feats. Returning to base camp as the man who took the first step onto the top of the world's highest peak, he declared: "We knocked the bastard off."

The accomplishment as part of a British climbing expedition even added luster to the coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II four days later, and she knighted Hillary as one of her first act.

But he was more proud of his decades-long campaign to set up schools and health clinics in Nepal, the homeland of Tenzing Norgay, the mountain guide with whom he stood arm in arm on the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953.

He wrote of the pair's final steps to the top of the world: "Another few weary steps and there was nothing above us but the sky. There was no false cornice, no final pinnacle. We were standing together on the summit. There was enough space for about six people. We had conquered Everest.

"Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation — these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first men to stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others had failed," Hillary noted.

"But my dominant reactions were relief and surprise. Relief because the long grind was over and the unattainable had been attained. And surprise, because it had happened to me, old Ed Hillary, the beekeeper, once the star pupil of the Tuakau District School, but no great shakes at Auckland Grammar (high school) and a no-hoper at university, first to the top of Everest. I just didn't believe it.

He said: "I removed my oxygen mask to take some pictures. It wasn't enough just to get to the top. We had to get back with the evidence. Fifteen minutes later we began the descent."

Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement — and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Norgay.

His philosophy of life was simple: "Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself," he said in a 1975 interview after writing his autobiography, "Nothing Venture, Nothing Win."

Close friends described him as having unbounded enthusiasm for both life and adventure.

"We all have dreams — but Ed has dreams, then he's got this incredible drive, and goes ahead and does it," long-time friend Jim Wilson said in 1993.

Hillary summarized it for schoolchildren in 1998, when he said one didn't have to be a genius to do well in life.

"I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it," he said before planting some endangered Himalayan oaks in the school grounds.

The planting was part of his program to reforest upland areas of Nepal.

Hillary remains the only non-political person outside Britain honored as a member of the Britain's Order of the Garter, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II on just 24 knights and ladies living worldwide at any time.

He reached the summit of Everest four days before Elizabeth was crowned Queen of Britain and the Empire on June 2, 1953. She immediately knighted the angular, self-deprecating Hillary, who was just 33.

Throughout his 88 years, he was always the atypical "typical New Zealander" who spoke his mind.

In his 1999 book "View from the Summit," Hillary finally broke his long public silence about whether it was he or Norgay who was the first man to step atop Everest.

"We drew closer together as Tenzing brought in the slack on the rope. I continued cutting a line of steps upwards. Next moment I had moved onto a flattish exposed area of snow with nothing by space in every direction," Hillary wrote.

"Tenzing quickly joined me and we looked round in wonder. To our immense satisfaction we realized with had reached the top of the world."

Before Norgay's death in 1986, Hillary consistently refused to confirm he was first, saying he and the Sherpa had climbed as a team to the top. It was a measure of his personal modesty, and of his commitment to his colleagues.

He later recalled his surprise at the huge international interest in their feat. "I was a bit taken aback to tell you the truth. I was absolutely astonished that everyone should be so interested in us just climbing a mountain."

Hillary never forgot the small mountainous country that propelled him to worldwide fame. He revisited Nepal constantly over the next 54 years.

Without fanfare and without compensation, Hillary spend decades pouring energy and resources from his own fund-raising efforts into Nepal through the Himalayan Trust he founded in 1962.

Known as "burra sahib" — "big man," for his 6 feet 2 inches — by the Nepalese, Hillary funded and helped build hospitals, health clinics, airfields and schools.

He raised funds for higher education for Sherpa families, and helped set up reforestation programs in the impoverished country. About $250,000 a year was raised by the charity for projects in Nepal.

A strong conservationist, he demanded that international mountaineers clean up thousands of tons of discarded oxygen bottles, food containers and other climbing debris that litter the lower slopes of Everest.

His commitment to Nepal took him back more than 120 times. His adventurer son Peter has described his father's humanitarian work there as "his duty" to those who had helped him.

It was on a visit to Nepal that his first wife, Louise, 43, and 16-year-old daughter Belinda died in a light plane crash March 31, 1975.

Hillary remarried in 1990, to June Mulgrew, former wife of adventurer colleague and close friend Peter Mulgrew, who died in a passenger plane crash in the Antarctic. He is survived by his wife and children Peter and Sarah.

His passport described Hillary as an "author-lecturer," and by age 40 his schedule of lecturing and writing meant he had to give up beekeeping "because I was too busy."

By that time he was touring, lecturing and fund-raising for the Himalayan Trust in the United States and Europe for three months at a time, speaking at more than 100 venues during a tour.

He was known as ready to take risks to achieve his goals, but always had control so that nobody ever died on a Hillary-led expedition.

He was at times controversial. He decried what he considered a lack of "honest-to-God morality" in New Zealand politics in the 1960s, and he refused to backtrack when the prime minister demanded he withdraw the comments. Ordinary New Zealanders applauded his integrity.

He got into hot water over what became known as his "dash to the Pole" in the 1957-58 Antarctic summer season aboard modified farm tractors while part of a joint British-New Zealand expedition.

Hillary disregarded instructions from the Briton leading the expedition and guided his tractor team up the then-untraversed Shelton Glacier, pioneering a new route to the polar plateau and the South Pole.

In 2006 he climbed into a row over the death of Everest climber David Sharp, stating it was "horrifying" that climbers could leave a dying man after an expedition left the Briton to die high on the upper slopes.

Hillary said he would have abandoned his own pioneering 1953 climb to save another life.

"It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say 'good morning' and pass on by," he said. "Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain."

Named New Zealand's ambassador to India in the mid-1980s, Hillary was the celebrity of the New Delhi cocktail circuit. He later said he found the job confining.

He introduced jetboats to many Ganges River dwellers a decade earlier, in 1977, when his "Ocean to the Sky" expedition traveled the Ganges by jetboat to within 130 miles of its source.

The last segment was by foot, and two mountain peaks near Badranath, where the Ganges rises, were also climbed. He sought adventure in places as distant from each other as the Arctic and Antarctic.

Hillary didn't place himself among top mountaineers. "I don't regard myself as a cracking good climber. I'm just strong in the back. I have a lot of enthusiasm and I'm good on ice," he said.

Despite his fame, he spoke of being "really embarrassed" even when introduced at a lecture.

"I really am an ordinary person with a few abilities which I've tried to use in the best way I can," he said.

The first living New Zealander to be featured on a banknote, he helped raise nearly $530,000 for the Himalayan Trust by signing 1,000 of the sparkling new five-dollar bills sold at a charity auction in 1982. They were snapped up by collectors round the world.

Honored by the United Nations as one of its Global 500 conservationists in 1987, he was also awarded numerous honorary doctorates from universities in several parts of the world.

One of his accolades was the Smithsonian Institution's James Smithson Bicentennial Medal for his "monumental explorations and humanitarian achievements," awarded in 1998.

Throughout his life Hillary remembered his first mountain he climbed, the 9,645-foot Mount Tapuaenuku — "Tappy" as he called it — in Marlborough on New Zealand's South Island. He scaled it solo over three days in 1944, while in training camp with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II. "Tapuaenuku" in Maori means "footsteps of the Rainbow God".

"I'd climbed a decent mountain at last," he said later.

Like all good mountaineers before him, Hillary had no special insight into that quintessential question: Why climb?

"I can't give you any fresh answers to why a man climbs mountains. The majority still go just to climb them."

Winslet subs for pregnant Kidman

If you need a pale, elegant actress over 30 who can mix strength and pathos, try Nicole Kidman. But what if she's not available?

The producers of "The Reader" turned to Kate Winslet, who will be stepping into the role vacated by Kidman because of her pregnancy, reports People.

It all works out since Winslet was originally offered the role, but scheduling conflicts prevented her from taking it. Now, the timing has worked out like a charm.

The celebrity magazine reports that some scenes with Ralph Fiennes have already been filmed with the intention that Kidman, now Winslet, shoot hers starting next month.

"Reader" is Bernhard Schlink's bestselling novel (and Oprah's Book Club selection) that revolves around an affair between a teenage boy and an older woman (supposedly Winslet) in Germany. At first physical, their relationship becomes something a bit more tender, and after lovemaking, he would often read to her from the German classics. One day, she disappears, and he doesn't see her until years later ... when she's on trial for Nazi war crimes.

Winslet, 32, has been nominated for her roles in "Little Children," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Iris," "Titanic" and "Sense & Sensibility." Her most recent films include "All the Kings Men," "The Holiday" and the upcoming "Revolutionary Road" opposite her "Titanic" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.

Oscar planning continues despite strike: organizers

Though the glitzy gala of its most prominent precursor — the Golden Globes — was scuttled this week, the Academy Awards show will go on, organizers insisted on Tuesday.

Both Gil Cates, longtime producer of the Oscars telecast, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis have stressed in interviews that preparations continue for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards show, despite the ongoing screenwriters strike.

"[The Oscar broadcast] has been on through wars and through presidential assassination attempts," Cates said.

"It would be shameful if the Oscars were in any way impacted."

On Monday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — the group behind the Golden Globes — announced the cancellation of this year's event after the Writers Guild of America refused a request to allow its members to work on the show and vowed to erect picket lines outside if it took place.

In solidarity, the Screen Actors Guild said its members would not cross picket lines to attend.

The HFPA said that this year's winners would be announced at an hour-long news conference on host network NBC. It also postponed a tribute to Steven Spielberg, who was set to receive a lifetime achievement honour, until next year.

The WGA also vowed to deny any similar request from Oscar organizers for writers to work on its broadcast.

Organizers of the People's Choice Awards decided to change their latest edition — which aired Tuesday night — from a live awards show to pre-taped clips of stars presented their trophies in different locations, some while they were doing other things.

The Screen Actors Guild Award show and the Film Independent Spirit Awards are so far only ones granted a waiver to use a striking writer to pen the script for their upcoming events.

Cates quiet on Oscar plans

Plans are still moving forward, Cates said, though he declined to reveal any details about how the Oscars would play out if the strike is still on by Feb. 24.

"I can't elaborate on how we're going to do it because I don't want anybody to deal with the elaboration in a way that might impact its success," he said.

Though viewership numbers have fallen in comparison with past decades, the annual Academy Awards telecast is one of the most watched television events in the world.

Like the writers strike itself, which has shuttered many TV and film productions, the cancellation of the Golden Globes is estimated to have had a significant financial ripple effect on related industries, including event planners, limousine companies, stylists, caterers, estheticians and similar workers.

The strike began Nov. 5 and talks broke off between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Dec. 7.

The guild has since reached independent deals with two independent production companies: David Letterman's Worldwide Pants and Tom Cruise's United Artists Films.

DGA is 'Wild' about Penn

LOS ANGELES - Sean Penn earned a nomination Tuesday as best filmmaker from the Directors Guild of America for his tragic road tale "Into the Wild," along with Joel and Ethan Coen for their bloody crime saga "No Country for Old Men."

Also nominated: Paul Thomas Anderson for his historical epic "There Will Be Blood," starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a baron of California's oil boom in the early 20th century; Tony Gilroy for his legal drama "Michael Clayton," featuring George Clooney as a conscience-torn attorney in a corporate lawsuit; and Julian Schnabel for his real-life memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," with Mathieu Amalric as French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was paralyzed by a stroke.

Penn's "Into the Wild" stars Emile Hirsch in the true-life story of Christopher McCandless, a young idealist whose two-year tramp around America ended in tragedy in the Alaska wilderness.

The Coens' "No Country for Old Men" features Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin in the tale of a sheriff and a vicious killer both on the trail of a good old Texan who makes off with a fortune left behind at a drug deal gone awry.

Except for Joel Coen, previously nominated for "Fargo," the guild choices all were first-time nominees.

Throughout the 60-year history of the guild honours, the winner almost always has gone on to win the best-directing prize at the Academy Awards, including last year's recipient, Martin Scorsese for "The Departed."

The guild will announce the winner at a dinner Jan. 26, four days after Oscar nominations come out. The Oscars are scheduled for Feb. 24.

Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman pregnant

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Oscar-winning Australian actress Nicole Kidman is pregnant and has pulled out of shooting her next film "The Reader" with her baby expected around mid-2008.

"Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban confirmed today that they are expecting a baby," Kidman publicist Wendy Day said in a statement released on Tuesday. "The couple are thrilled."

Kidman, 40, has been pregnant once before with then-husband Tom Cruise but suffered a miscarriage. Kidman and Cruise adopted two children, Isabella and Connor.

Leaving a Sydney restaurant with her husband Urban on Tuesday, Kidman said she felt "very excited." Asked if she was having a boy or a girl, the statuesque actress said "secret."

Rumors of Kidman's pregnancy have circulated for a few weeks, with reports she told her family over Christmas holidays in Australia that she was expecting.

"Very pleased, really pleased indeed, nothing else would make me come out straight from the pool onto the front door step," Kidman's mother Janelle told local television from the door of her Sydney home. "I think it's (expected) in July," she said.

Publicist Day, a close personal friend, said she had only learnt on Tuesday morning of the pregnancy.

"For years I've seen speculation and for years it's never been right, so I didn't think it was right this time," Day told local media. "And then she's just rung this morning."

"I personally didn't know, so I'm excited today, very excited," Day told Australian Associated Press.

Kidman married New Zealand-born country music singer Urban in Sydney in 2006.

SEEING HIM THROUGH

Grammy-winning Urban spent two months in a rehab centre after the wedding, but did not disclose the nature of his treatment. He has acknowledged an addiction to cocaine in the past and credits Kidman with seeing him through his crisis.

For most of 2007, Kidman was in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann's big-budget epic "Australia" with Hugh Jackman. She plays an English aristocrat who inherits a massive cattle station in outback Australia prior to World War Two.

In early 2008 Kidman was due to start filming the post-World War Two drama "The Reader," directed by Stephen Daldry who made "The Hours" which won Kidman her 2003 best actress Oscar.

She has withdrawn from "The Reader" due to her pregnancy.

"I understand she's had to withdraw from the film and therefore she's had to give them the reason, and therefore she's now able to confirm that she's pregnant," said Day.

"I don't know how far pregnant she is, or when the baby's due. She just simply rang me and said, 'Wendy I always told you I would tell you first, and I'd confirm it and you could make the appropriate announcement'," said Day.

"So I guess that statement ends all the Rumors and ... I guess the poor girl will be hounded by paparazzi and all that."

A pack of media was camped on Tuesday outside Kidman's Darling Point residence in Sydney's eastern suburbs, as flowers were delivered to the expectant parents.

Kidman's big-budget fantasy "The Golden Compass," now in cinemas, has been an international hit with worldwide sales to date of about $300 million.

Kidman is one of Hollywood's top actresses, but says for the moment her marriage to Urban takes priority over her career.

Kidman, who says she "spontaneously" chooses most of her roles, has had some recent high-profile flops, such as "The Stepford Wives" (2004) "Bewitched" (2005) and "The Invasion" (2007).

She says earning a high salary for a big film lets her pick smaller art house films that she wants to do such as "Margot at the Wedding," released in late 2007.

Golden Globes reduced to news conference

LOS ANGELES - The Golden Globes, the ceremony known for getting Hollywood's awards season off to a rollicking start, will be reduced to a news conference Sunday by the writers strike and will likely draw picket lines and lack star power.

Despite the revamped ceremony announced Monday by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Screen Actors Guild said it was encouraging its members to skip the show in support of the two-month walkout by the Writers Guild of America.

"The WGA informed us they will picket the event on Sunday," the actors guild said in a statement.

Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America West, said union leaders were uncertain if they still would picket outside the Golden Globes since they were unclear about what form the awards announcement would take.

"I would say an awards show in news conference clothing would still be picketed, but I just don't know if it's been definitively decided," Verrone said.

As he arrived at Monday's Critics' Choice Awards, George Clooney said he belongs to six unions and would not cross any picket lines.

Later, as he made a presentation, Clooney said, "Our hope is that all of the players involved will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish. We want this to be done."

Nikki Blonsky, also on the red carpet, said she was undecided about whether to attend the revised Golden Globes, where she is a nominee for "Hairspray."

"The writers are the backbone of the business, so we don't want to lose them in any way," she said.

The press association, which owns the Globes, issued a bleak statement about the ceremony that was to have showcased the likes of nominees Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington.

"We are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007's outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television," association president Jorge Camara said.

"We take some comfort, however, in knowing that this year's Golden Globe Award recipients will be announced on the date originally scheduled," he said in a statement.

Besides Jolie and Washington, this year's nominees include such other A-listers as Clooney, Tom Hanks, Daniel Day-Lewis, Keira Knightley, Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp. Among the nominated films are "There Will Be Blood," "American Gangster" and "Sweeney Todd." But faced with a potential celebrity vacuum because of the picket line, the association and NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker had to devise another approach for the Globes broadcast.

The association will forgo any network payment — reported to be $5 million — for the broadcast, said a person close to the show who was not authorized to comment and requested anonymity. But NBC will have exclusive electronic rights to the show and will be able to sell advertising for it, the person said.

Although other TV media won't be given access, print outlets will, according to the agreement between NBC and the association, the person said.

The developments stand as an ominous sign for the Academy Awards, which are scheduled to air Feb. 24 on ABC. The writers guild refused to grant waivers for its members to work on the Oscars or the Globes.

Disrupting the awards show season, a huge promotional showcase for the entertainment industry, is one way the guild can flex its power and attempt to bring producers back to the table to resume talks that collapsed Dec. 7.

Oscar broadcast producer Gil Cates has vowed there will be a televised show, one way or another.

The writers strike, which began Nov. 5, has broad implications for the way Hollywood does business. Whatever deal is struck by writers on the key issue of payment for projects offered on the Internet could affect talks with actors and directors, whose contracts expire in June.

Instead of the traditional Globes show featuring a boozy, glitzy dinner party and awards presentation, the winners will be announced in an hour-long news conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the press association said.

A Los Angeles Times report, citing an NBC memo e-mailed to movie studios, said there were plans for other Globe-related shows, including a "Dateline NBC" program with clips and interviews with nominees, and a show covering Globe parties.

NBC was also in talks with dick clark productions, which produces the ceremony, for an hourlong Globes retrospective.

There was no announcement by the association or NBC on regarding further programming.

The Globes have been on a ratings roll. The 2007 ceremony drew 20 million viewers and marked the second straight year the show drew a bigger audience than the year before. The show's biggest audience ever was in 1998, the year of the blockbuster film "Titanic," when 24.5 million people watched.

Compared with the more formal Oscars, the Globes are presented at a relaxed event that brings out the frisky side of stars. In 1998, for example, Jack Nicholson mimicked Jim Carrey's "butt-talking" routine in accepting his acting award for "As Good As It Gets."

When the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were on strike in 1980, only one winner — Powers Booth — showed up to collect his trophy.

Dick clark productions has lashed out at the guild, citing repeated efforts to reach an interim agreement akin to the union deal with another independent company, Worldwide Pants, which produces David Letterman's show. The writers guild announced Monday that it also reached a deal with Tom Cruise's production outfit, United Artists Films, to resume working while the strike continues against other studios.

The guild was accused by dick clark productions of failing to bargain in good faith.

Verrone, the writers guild president, has lauded the move by actors to boycott the Globes and said the awards show season is being jeopardized by the "intransigence" of media corporations.

For its own awards on Jan. 27, the actors guild has reached an interim agreement for a writers guild member to script the ceremony.

'Hairspray', Blonsky win Critics awards

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - "No Country for Old Men" was the big winner at Monday's Critics' Choice Awards, winning best picture, best director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem.

Bardem accepted for the absent Coens, saying, "I'm the third brother, the Spanish one."

Awards came in pairs for three other films: "Hairspray," "Juno" and "There Will Be Blood."

The cast of "Hairspray" was named best acting ensemble and its breakout star, Nikki Blonsky, won best young actress.

The 19-year-old thanked "my mommy who's sitting here crying and my other mommy who's at home, John Travolta." Travolta famously cross-dressed to play Edna Turnblad.

The teen-pregnancy film "Juno" collected trophies for best comedy and for screenwriter Diablo Cody.

"There Will Be Blood" earned the best actor honor for star Daniel Day-Lewis, and composer Jonny Greenwood won best composer for his haunting score of the film.

The Writers Guild of America strike, which began Nov. 5, has effectively shut down Hollywood and cast a pall over Tinseltown's awards season. But the Critics' Choice Awards, presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and broadcast live on VH1, wasn't covered by guild contracts.

Julie Christie won best actress for "Away From Her," but she wasn't on hand to accept her prize. Also absent was best young actor Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, star of "The Kite Runner," and supporting actress Amy Ryan, who co-starred opposite Casey Affleck in "Gone Baby Gone."

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who won best song for their work in "Once," also skipped the ceremony.

The cooking comedy "Ratatouille" won best animated film. Writer-director Brad Bird said before the ceremony that winning wasn't just for him.

"I look at it as a win for all the people who worked on the film. It was a film that was long in gestation," he said. "Animation is coming more and more to the forefront and it's great because people see that it's not an obscure art form, it's something accessible and fun."

"Enchanted" won best family film, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" was best made-for-TV movie and "Sicko" was best documentary feature.

The critics chose "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" as the best foreign film. Director Julian Schnabel was humbled by his win. Asked backstage how he felt, Schnabel said, "a little drunk and pleasantly surprised."

George Clooney, a nominee for his starring turn in "Michael Clayton," presented the inaugural Joel Siegel Award to Don Cheadle for his humanitarian work.

Before introducing his friend, Clooney noted the impact of the Hollywood writers' strike on the city.

"This is a one-industry town and when a strike happens it's not just writers or actors, it's restaurants and hotels and agencies," he said. "And our hope is that all of the players involved will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish."

Cheadle also acknowledged the strike, saying it kept him from writing an acceptance speech.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association, which represents more than 200 TV, radio and online critics from the United States and Canada, founded the Critics' Choice Awards in 1995.

"Into the Wild," written and directed by Sean Penn, had a leading seven nominations but didn't win any.

Gemma Arterton cast as new "Bond girl"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - British newcomer Gemma Arterton has been cast as the "Bond girl" for the latest installment of the 007 franchise, currently shooting in London, the film's producer said.

The movie, which has the working title of "Bond 22," marks Daniel Craig's second turn as James Bond. Swiss-raised filmmaker Marc Forster ("The Kite Runner") is directing the Columbia Pictures/MGM production.

Details of Arterton's character, known as Fields, were not available, but a representative for the film's Los Angeles-based producer, Danjaq Prods., said "it's a nice-sized role."

Talk of Arterton's casting had been swirling around the blogosphere and in British tabloids since mid-December. Arterton plays a schoolgirl in the comedy "St. Trinian's," which was recently released in Britain.

Duckman - Studio Exec VP Goes on Record: Duckman Coming to DVD! Date Not Yet Revealed, But It IS In The Works!

Our good friend Susanne Ault, of trade magazine Video Business, has put together a new story posted yesterday at VB's website, titled "CBS DVD to increase its release slate: Label plans to roll out 105 to 110 titles". In it, Susanne discusses how CBS DVD "now retains creative oversight over series from former sibling Paramount Television, including Beverly Hills 90210 and Twin Peaks, and Showtime, home of Dexter and The L Word...(and d)espite Viacom and CBS now being separate companies, Viacom's Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD work together, with Paramount handling sales and distribution and the two companies sharing marketing duties." This, by the way, is essentially why we here at TVShowsOnDVD tend to refer to releases as being from "CBS/Paramount", due to the shared nature of the production and distribution.

Susanne's article goes over how CBS DVD intends to release 13-18% more TV-DVD titles in 2008 - roughly 105-110 planned releases - as compared to their 2007 slate. In it, she covers three major pieces of news for fans. Two of them concern HD DVD-format releases, and we've posted about those separately. The DVD-specific news in Susanne's story, though, will bowl over fans who have been waiting for a release for a looong time of...Duckman!

Klasky-Csupo (Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys) produced this 1994 animated series, with a cast that includes the voices of Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Gregg Berger ("Grimlock" from Transformers), singer Dweezil Zappa, Nancy Travis (Becker) and Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show). It is currently the 83rd-most-wanted unreleased series among TVShowsOnDVD voters, and has massive support around the internet for a home video release. It looks like this is coming out at long last. Here is what Susanne's story says:

(CBS DVD Executive VP and General Manager Ken) Ross hopes to keep satisfying consumer demand through 2008 with the release of Duckman, a cult '90s animated program. An online petition for the series' DVD bow has garnered more than 7,000 signatures.

"There has been a level of fan demand for this show for a long time," said Ross, who declined to specify exact reasons for the DVD release hold-up. "We really had to wrap our brain around figuring a way to do it."

Exact street date or pricing has not yet been set for Duckman, but it's possible that multiple seasons will be released within one package next year.

"Our philosophy is that we are TV, so we are going to work harder than anybody to try to find a way to put a series out if there is a demand for it," said Ross. "We bring that same mentality to any and everything we can do."

I suspect Duckman fans are dancing around the room in celebration of this terrific news, but as stated we do not have a release date yet. It's safe to assume we'll see it in 2008, and we hope to break that news to you just as soon as we can. So stay tuned!

Stewart and Colbert return Monday night

NEW YORK - Not a moment too soon to help make sense of things, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will be back on duty Monday, ready to mock everything in sight.

The New Hampshire presidential primary scheduled for the next day? A likely topic!

The woes of Jamie Lynn and Britney Spears? Why the heck not?

And they'll surely make hay of the writers strike that has kept them off the air, and kept their viewers satire-starved, since Nov. 5.

But how will they carry out their mission without writers?

The returning "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert" face a challenge even greater than that of writer-deprived Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, late-night hosts with a shared task of injecting humor into what are basically interview shows.

"The Daily Show" and "Colbert," which air weeknights back-to-back on Comedy Central at 11 p.m. EST, are something else. Each is a topical half-hour that lampoons human foibles, as well as the excesses of TV journalism. They may find it far more demanding to adapt to the mandates of the striking Writers Guild of America.

Sidelined the past nine weeks, Stewart (in his role as fake-news anchorman) and Colbert (playing the blowhard pundit) have been conspicuous in their absence from the bubbling brew of cultural discourse. Meanwhile, because both series are so news-driven, their stretch of reruns has taken a cruel toll on viewership. "The Daily Show" (which, pre-strike, averaged 1.6 million viewers) and "Colbert" (1.3 million) have seen their audience shrink by as much as 50 percent.

What would have happened had America been forced to go any longer unreplenished by fresh doses of Stewart's arch "reporting" and Colbert's I-am-the-way "commentary"?

The answer became moot two weeks ago, when both shows announced their imminent return, then added, in typically ironic fashion: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

Ambivalence aside, one of the most popular features on both shows is conveniently unscripted: the interview segment. But this could present another set of problems (difficulties already being felt by Leno, O'Brien and Kimmel, in marked contrast to David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, who have an interim agreement with the guild). Among the favorite guests on "The Daily Show" and "Colbert" are politicians, some of whom, along with A-list celebrities, may refrain from crossing picket lines to appear.

It's unlikely the shows will be completely off-the-cuff. Performers who don't belong to the guild will be free to write material for themselves, although it's not clear who on either series that might include.

But WGA members Stewart and Colbert are barred from writing anything.

That is, unless they're not. At week's end, the guild and "Tonight Show" host Leno were locked in a dispute over just such an issue: whether he, as a guild member, is permitted to write his own monologue. Leno insisted he had gained approval from the guild. He continued to deliver nightly monologues he said he'd crafted himself. The guild, crying foul, vowed to take some form of action, as yet unspecified.

"Leno will not get a pass. The guild has told him he can't write his monologues," said Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America East.

Guild rules will surely result in a different "Daily Show" and "Colbert" than their fans are used to. But as viewers try to predict what the necessary changes will be, it's worth remembering that Colbert is an improv whiz who, script or no script, seems to channel his "Stephen Colbert" alter ego from some parallel world inspired by Bill O'Reilly. Stewart is witty and fast on his feet, befitting his background as a standup comic.

Will it suffice for this pair as the strike drags on? No one from either program was available Friday to respond to questions or offer a hint of what Colbert and Stewart have in mind for the audience.

Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said, "Stephen and Jon are still figuring out what they're going to do on Monday night's show."

Probably so. But the nation's ruling class, presidential hopefuls and others ripe for ridicule should be all too aware of what's going to happen. Their two-month respite is coming to an end. Stewart and Colbert are on their case again.

New 'Indy' tops '08 film preview

Crack wise all you want about curmudgeon Harrison Ford's creakiness as he takes one last crack at the bullwhip.

Fact is, for all the comic book adaptations, sequels and retreads storming theatres in 2008, it's the shadow of Ford's 65-year-old Indiana Jones that looms over them all.

And why not? Nineteen years after The Last Crusade, the Steven Spielberg-helmed, George Lucas-produced trilogy remains the standard by which cinematic thrill rides are measured.

This alone makes the character's return an event and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the year's front-runner for box-office fortune and glory.

Not that the makers of the other entries listed in our rundown of the 20 most-anticipated films of 2008 won't try to prove Ford's archeologist-adventurer, like the artifacts he pursues, is a dust-covered relic.

Note, though: All release dates are subject to change.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull May 22

The Pitch: In the 1950s, Jones races Soviet agents to an ancient -- and alien -- temple in South America.

The Upside: Ford back in the hat. The hummable theme song.

The Downside: Is Shia LaBeouf, as Indiana's son, this franchise's Jar-Jar Binks?

The Dark Knight July 18

The Pitch: The Caped Crusader (Christian Bale) confronts a red-lipped sociopath known only as The Joker (Heath Ledger).

The Upside: Bale, back for more. Ledger is more reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange than Jack Nicholson's mugging clown.

The Downside: We can't think of a thing. They even ditched Katie Holmes for Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian May 16

The Pitch: The Pevensie siblings venture back into Narnia, but find it a darker, more savage realm than they remember.

The Upside: Purportedly more action-packed than the original.

The Downside: Does the collapse of The Golden Compass indicate fantasy-film fatigue?

Wall-E June 27

The Pitch: A lonely robot tries to clean up Earth all by himself. No, it's not the Al Gore story. Set 700 years in the future, director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) has described it as R2-D2: The Movie.

The Upside: The unstoppable Pixar brand-name.

The Downside: Could it suffer from a case of the cutes?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Nov. 21

The Pitch: Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) explores Lord Voldemort's sinister past.

The Upside: Another year, another J.K. Rowling adventure off the well-oiled assembly line.

The Downside: That Order of the Phoenix's David Yates is back behind the camera underscores how workman-like these films have become.

Bond 22 November

The Pitch: Daniel Craig pursues the SPECTRE-esque organization responsible for the events of Casino Royale.

The Upside: Craig's the best Bond since Connery (and blasphemers might argue he's better). Rumour has it the sequel will simply be entitled 007.

The Downside: Can the Bond camp avoid falling back on the crutches of over-the-top stunt-work and gadgetry?

Hancock July 2

The Pitch: Will Smith yuks it up as an alcoholic superhero who gets a publicist (Jason Bateman) to overhaul his image, then starts an affair with the publicist's wife (Charlize Theron).

The Upside: Bateman. The superhero genre seems overdue for a sendup ...

The Downside: ... but wasn't that movie called My Super Ex-Girlfriend? And didn't it suck?

The Lovely Bones October

The Pitch: Oscar-winner Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) directs this adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel, which is told from the perspective of a murdered 14-year-old girl. Mark Wahlberg replaced Ryan Gosling at the last minute as the girl's father.

The Upside: Jackson returning to Heavenly Creatures territory.

The Downside: Jackson's pre-disposition for self-indulgence.

Pineapple Express August

The Pitch: A stoner (Seth Rogen) and his drug dealer (James Franco) go on the run from crooked cops. Producer Judd Apatow describes it as Superbad meets Bad Boys.

The Upside: The Apatow connection.

The Downside: As Walk Hard demonstrated, not everything Apatow touches turns to box-office gold.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button November

The Pitch: In this romantic fantasy, Brad Pitt plays a man who is born old and grows young. Cate Blanchett is the woman he loves.

The Upside: Director David Fincher is a master technician.

The Downside: The premise is easily botched.

Cloverfield Jan. 18

The Pitch: The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla.

The Upside: Ingenious premise -- and online marketing. Could be 2008's first through-the-roof blockbuster.

The Downside: Can the cool concept sustain an entire movie?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall May 30

The Pitch: Jason Segel winds up at the same resort as the ex-girlfriend he's desperate to get over (Kristen Bell).

The Upside: Yet another one from Judd Apatow. Is Segel this year's Seth Rogen?

The Downside: Sounds a little too much like a Ben Stiller movie.

The Happening June 13

The Pitch: Signs with plants. M. Night Shyamalan directs this end-of-world ecological thriller. Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel star.

The Upside: Shyamalan trying to scare us.

The Downside: Shyamalan's last two films, the products of an unchecked ego.

Star Trek Dec. 25

The Pitch: The early adventures of Kirk and Spock, now embodied by Chris Pine and Heroes villain Zachary Quinto.

The Upside: Director/producer J.J. Abrams charged with re-energizing the long-sagging space opera.

The Downside: Star Trek has been synonymous with nerd-dom for so long, can this reboot muster interest from the non-pointy-eared masses?

The Love Guru June 20

The Pitch: Mike Myers stars in this comedy as Pitka, an American raised in India, hired to solve the romantic woes of a Toronto Maple Leafs player whose professional performance has suffered since his wife left him for a rival (Justin Timberlake). Jessica Alba co-stars.

The Upside: Myers has been work-shopping his character for years.

The Downside: If he's so meticulous, why didn't he know how god-awful The Cat in the Hat was going to be?

Get Smart June 20

The Pitch: Adaptation of the spy spoof series with Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart.

The Upside: Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Carell can be hilarious, Evan Almighty notwithstanding.

The Downside: The director's credits include Tommy Boy.

The Incredible Hulk June 13

The Pitch: Marvel and Universal are starting from scratch again rather than make a sequel to Ang Lee's 2003 bomb.

The Upside: Edward Norton, perfectly cast as Bruce Banner.

The Downside: Will Norton's alter-ego be more convincing than the digital Gumby from Lee's film?

Changeling November

The Pitch: Angelina Jolie is a mother whose infant son is abducted in 1920s Los Angeles. When he's returned, she suspects the baby is not hers.

The Upside: Clint Eastwood. The last time he directed a movie with a strong female lead, everyone went home with Oscars.

The Downside: She doesn't box.

Australia Fall/Winter

The Pitch: Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann channels Lawrence of Arabia's David Lean for this epic set in Australia prior to the Second World War.

The Upside: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman paired in a big sweeping romance.

The Downside: Kidman is hit-starved.

Valkyrie October

The Pitch: A German colonel (Tom Cruise) plots to assassinate Adolph Hitler.

The Upside: Director Bryan Singer re-teaming with his Usual Suspects scribe.

The Downside: You can probably guess how the story ends.

Leno, Kimmel to go on each other's shows

NEW YORK (AP) — For one night, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel will solve the problem of booking guests during the writers' strike by appearing on each other's show.

The swap comes Thursday, with Kimmel traveling to Leno's studio in Burbank, Calif., and Leno returning the favor in Hollywood. Both shows are taped on the same day they air.

"There are only a few people in the world that know how tough this job is," Leno said Sunday. "Jimmy is one of them. It will be fun to discuss who's a good guest, who's a difficult guest and everything else that comes with sitting behind these desks."

Joked Kimmel: "If Jay and I can come together and guest on each other's shows, then surely there is hope for peace in the Middle East."

ABC's Kimmel came to Leno's defense on the air Wednesday, urging picketing writers to back off the "Tonight Show" host.

Both men's programs returned to the air last week without writers due to the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America. Their jobs were made even more difficult with the reluctance of stars to cross picket lines. The Screen Actors Guild has encouraged its members to appear on David Letterman's "Late Show" and Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show," where writers have gone back to work.

Leno's NBC "Tonight Show" featured comic Howie Mandel, host of NBC's "Deal or No Deal," on Thursday, with an animal expert and comedian on Friday.

Besides Kimmel, Leno's only other announced future guest is Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Monday night.

Kimmel's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Monday will feature Kathy Griffin and Scott Baio, two actors more popular recently on reality shows, and the rock band Velvet Revolver.

Without such booking problems, Letterman has lined up actors Tom Hanks, Lucy Liu and Morgan Freeman for shows this week.

Leno is involved in a separate dispute with the writers union. The guild contends Leno, who is a member, cannot write his own jokes and perform them in a monologue; Leno and NBC say the guild's own contract allows this. The writers have threatened disciplinary action against Leno, but a spokeswoman said Sunday no decision had been made on what to do.

'Treasure' digs up $20M more in gold

LOS ANGELES - Nicolas Cage may be running out of storage room for his loot. Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," with Cage as a history buff on the trail of a lost city of gold, was the No. 1 box office draw for the third straight weekend with $20.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Three other hits crowded behind: Will Smith's sci-fi smash for Warner Bros., "I Am Legend," with $16.4 million; Fox Searchlight's teen-pregnancy comedy "Juno" with $16.2 million; and 20th Century Fox's family tale "Alvin and the Chipmunks" with $16 million.

"Book of Secrets" raised its domestic total to $171 million in three weeks, putting it just $2 million shy of the total that 2004's "National Treasure" rang up during its entire run.

"I Am Legend" has grossed $228.7 million, while "Alvin and the Chipmunks" has taken in $176.7 million.

The weekend's only new wide release, the Warner Bros. fright flick "One Missed Call," managed to pull in the horror-movie crowd despite universal loathing by critics. Starring Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon in a tale of people whose gruesome deaths are preceded by cell phone messages recording their final moments, the movie debuted at No. 5 with $13.5 million.

The first weekend of 2008 was promising for Hollywood, continuing a holiday box office surge that followed a weak fall season. The top 12 movies took in $123.9 million, up 18.5 percent from the first weekend of 2007.

Featuring a star-making turn from Ellen Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen, "Juno" has emerged as an independent film sensation, grabbing critical praise and building momentum as Hollywood's awards season progresses.

"It's the coolest little success story coming out of 2007," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "It's playing like a mini-blockbuster right now."

The film has three nominations for Sunday's Golden Globes, among them best musical or comedy and an acting honor for Page.

With $52 million already in the bank, "Juno" is on its way to becoming Fox Searchlight's biggest hit ever, approaching "Little Miss Sunshine" at $59.9 million and "Sideways" at $71.5 million.

"Juno" started off in larger cities but now has caught fire in smaller towns such as Columbus, Ohio, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said Peter Rice, Fox Searchlight president.

"The middle of the country has really embraced the movie. And I think the time of year has had a magnifying effect. All the top 10 lists," Rice said. "When the press writes that it's one of the best movies of the year combined with a movie people love, I think those are the defining factors."

Breaking into the top 10 as it expanded to more theaters was Focus Features' tragic romance "Atonement," which came in at No. 10 with $5.1 million.

"Atonement" leads the Golden Globe field with seven nominations, among them best drama and acting honors for Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

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. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," $20.2 million.
2. "I Am Legend," $16.4 million.
3. "Juno," $16.2 million.
4. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $16 million.
5. "One Missed Call," $13.5 million.
6. "Charlie Wilson's War," $8.2 million.
7. "P.S. I Love You," $8 million.
8. "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep," $6.3 million.
9. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," $5.4 million.
10. "Atonement," $5.1 million.

THE COUCH POTATO REPORT - January 5th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels Canada, a film made in Canada, the work of a master filmmaker, and Gilligan's Island.

Well, here we are...only a few days into a whole new year.

Have you got all of your vacations for 2008 planned out yet?

If you haven't, our Hot Potato this week is full of ideas, and it will take you from coast to coast to coast.

It is a DVD called O CANADA - A HISTORIC AND MAJESTIC 3-PART JOURNEY ACROSS CANADA.

Narrated by the great Peter Gzowski the first part of O CANADA is called POSTCARDS FROM CANADA and it will take you on a truly breathtaking, fact-filled trip through our home and native land.

Including some destinations both unfamiliar, and very familiar.

With stunning footage, and insightful commentary, this National Film Board Of Canada movie is full of travel ideas for those of us who live in Canada, and those who might be thinking about coming for a visit.

There is also a feature called A CANADIAN SCARPBOOK with more than a hundred photographs and another named ULTIMATE CITY ARIEL ADVENTURES that shows you Vancouver, Quebec City, Niagara Falls, Toronto and some other cities from the air.

Yes, this is a great DVD to own, give, or use to make travel plans with.

Again, it is called O CANADA - A HISTORIC AND MAJESTIC 3-PART JOURNEY ACROSS CANADA.

Search it, you will not be disappointed!!

Now, had you been looking for Academy Award nominated actors Paul Giamati and Clive Owen earlier this year, you would have found them, and the beautiful actress Monica Belluci in Canada as well.

They were all there making the very energetic action film SHOOT EM UP.

Man, I enjoyed this film! It features cartoon violence at it's finest, and great actors just having fun!!

Owen, from CLOSER and INSIDE MAN stars as a mystery man with both an extensive military background and a fondness for carrots, not unlike a certain wascally wabbit.

Our man wants nothing more than to be left alone, but he soon finds himself embroiled in a complex political conspiracy once he aids a pregnant woman who is being chased by a hitman.

Paul Giamati from SIDEWAYS is that hitman and Monica Bellucci from MALENA and the final two MATRIX films is Owen's love interest.

They are all perfectly cast in a film that is loud, violent...and I loved it!

This is a movie that friends will recommend to each other, and it will be watched and enjoyed as a cult classic for years.

If loud and violent don't bother you, then check it out, and watch some serious actors letting loose and having fun!

SHOOT EM UP is one of my favourite films of the past year, I enjoyed it that much!

I can't say that any of the films in STANLEY KUBRICK - THE WARNER HOME VIDEO DIRECTORS SERIES 10-DVD BOX SET entertained me as much as SHOOT EM UP, but I still revere all of them as classics.

So, hoping they would all grow on me, I sat down again and rewatched the remastered special editions of 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut.

I also watched the feature length documentary about the director called "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures", which is also included in this set.

As I said, I revere all of these films, and consider them classics, and I think Kubrick is a master filmmaker, but I do not like all of these movies.

I can appreciate them, but I don't watch them with any sort of frequency.

My favourites are still THE SHINING and FULL METAL JACKET, but maybe you love 2001, as I know many people do, or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE...or maybe even EYES WIDE SHUT.

If you are a fan of films, and filmmakers, then STANLEY KUBRICK - THE WARNER HOME VIDEO DIRECTORS SERIES 10-DVD BOX SET is just the thing for you!

Up next this week, Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from a tropic port
Aboard a tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour.

A three hour tour.

Gilligan's Island aired for three seasons from September 26, 1964 to September 4, 1967, and now every episode of the show, including the rare pilot episode featuring two women not named Ginger or Mary Ann, and many other special features are all available in the 9-DVD Box Set GILLIGAN'S ISLAND - THE COMPLETE SERIES COLLECTION.

No, the show isn't Dostoyevsky, but it was never intended to be...it is was it always has been, just fun...and funny!

Finally this week are the the latest releases in the WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection - THE CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD: VOLUME 3, OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT and DISNEYLAND: SECRETS, STORIES AND MAGIC.

The WALT DISNEY TREASURES are two-disc DVD sets of classic Disney works, covering work from the studio's earliest days to more recent releases.

I was originally most excited about the third Donald Duck release, because I love his classic cartoons, until I started to watch the other two.

Yes, THE CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD: VOLUME 3 does feature 31 one-of-a-kind Donald Duck Cartoons, but DISNEYLAND: SECRETS, STORIES AND MAGIC takes us behind the scenes of the theme park when it was being built.

Among other things, it uses time lapse photography to show us how fields of Orange groves became "The Happiest Place On Earth."

And the insightful OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT set shows us the character who could have been Disney's main character, instead of Mickey Mouse, if Walt hadn't let the copyright expire.

Each of these three newest entries into the WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection have intereresting stores, and they are all included on the DVDs. They are great to watch, to study, and to enjoy!

WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection - THE CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD: VOLUME 3, OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT and DISNEYLAND: SECRETS, STORIES AND MAGIC, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND - THE COMPLETE SERIES, STANLEY KUBRICK - THE WARNER HOME VIDEO DIRECTORS SERIES 10-DVD BOX SET, the energetic and entertaining action film SHOOT EM UP, and the spectacular O CANADA - A HISTORIC AND MAJESTIC 3-PART JOURNEY ACROSS CANADA are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

THE TUDORS - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is an Emmy Award-nominated CBC television series that is based upon the early reign of Henry VIII; EAGLE VS. SHARK is a quirky little film from New Zealand, starring Jemaine from FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS.

DEEP WATER is a real life documentary about a man who lied about sailing around the world; 3:10 TO YUMA is an interesting remake of the western classic starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale; and THE COSBY SHOW - VOLUME 5 AND 6 feature more antics from the timeless Huxtable family.

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!

Flipper Drafts Novoselic For New Album

Fifteen years since its last studio album, influential punk outfit Flipper is up and running once more.

"I think that we're 99% there, if not done," drummer Steve DePace tells Billboard.com of a new, as-yet-untitled Flipper album. "We've got 10 songs, and we just did another round of mixing. The album sounds great -- I think it's some of our best work ever. That also is an indicator for more future songs to come. We know we can write songs with Krist now that sound just like Flipper."

The "Krist" that DePace mentions is none other than former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who has been a Flipper member since 2006 -- joining original members Bruce Loose (vocals), Ted Falconi (guitar), and DePace. After previous bassist Bruno DeSmartass gave notice in September 2006, Flipper needed a replacement in time to play an All Tomorrow's Parties show in London in December, curated by Thurtston Moore.

"I chatted with Thurston and told him that I had this idea to contact Krist Novoselic," DePace recalls. "Thurston called Krist, and he said, 'Absolutely, I'd be honored'."

With Novoselic on board, Flipper eventually got to work on a new album, with producer Jack Endino at the helm. "We started recording in August. We set up a makeshift studio at Krist Novoselic's place up in Washington. Krist said to us, 'Jack Endino is still a really good friend of mine. I can have him come down, we can set up a studio at my place, and record new songs'."

DePace is enthused about new songs like "Be a Good Child," "Night Falls Like Dirt Rocks," "Triple Mass Murder Suicide," which was inspired by the shootings at Virginia Tech University.

Despite singer Loose recuperating from recent back surgery, Flipper hopes to support the new release with live dates. "We're going to go back into rehearsals in February, and hopefully into the spring and summer, we're going to be out there touring." Updates can be found on the group's MySpace page.

Also on the horizon is a DVD of vintage Flipper performances, "Flipper Live: Target Video 1980-81," due Feb. 19 via Music Video Distributors. There are also plans to reissue the band's entire back catalog in 2008.

Canada's labels slam proposed digital 'tax'

TORONTO (Billboard) - A revolutionary plan that would effectively legitimize file-sharing here has been slammed as "a pipe dream" by Canadian labels.

The Songwriters Assn. of Canada proposes to allow domestic consumers access to all recorded music available online in return for adding a $5 Canadian ($4.96) monthly fee to every wireless and Internet account in the country.

The SAC claims that the proposal, which has been presented to labels' bodies the Canadian Record Industry Assn. (CRIA) and Canadian Independent Record Production Assn. as well as publishers' groups, would raise approximately $1 billion Canadian ($993 million) annually. Although the SAC does not detail how revenue would be collected and distributed, it says it would go to artists, labels and publishers.

The idea doesn't strike a chord with everyone. The SAC proposal "would signal the death of paid music services in Canada," said Alistair Mitchell, CEO of Canadian music service Puretracks. "It would be saying we're just giving up on developing new models. The concept is so flawed, I don't know where to start."

"This proposal is incredibly well thought out and well constructed," acting SAC president Eddie Schwartz said. Producer/songwriter Schwartz, whose songs have been performed by Joe Cocker, Pat Benatar and Donna Summer, says the scheme would "allow people to gain access to the entire repertoire of Western music" for only $60 Canadian per year.

That, he added, "amounts to $0.16 ($0.159) per day. (Which) seems like a pretty good deal." Schwartz said it's unlikely that users with both a wireless phone and an Internet account would have to pay twice for access.

MANY HURDLES TO CLEAR

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Assn. estimates that Canada had 18.5 million wireless phone users and 7 million residential Internet users at the end of 2006. In 2006, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the trade value of recorded music fell 9.1 percent to $598.7 million Canadian ($529.8 million); CDs accounted for 85 percent of that total.

CRIA president Graham Henderson said he has discussed the plan with Schwartz, but his organization is reluctant to become involved. "We don't want to pursue what amounts to a pipe dream that is presented as a quick fix," he said. "We'll lose focus on the real issues that will help us resolve the industry's problems."

Schwartz said he has received positive feedback from consumer groups. But he noted that the plan would require clearance from the Copyright Board of Canada, and the SAC has not yet taken the concept to the regulatory body.

The SAC also has yet to present its proposal to Canadian Internet service providers, although some are dismissive of the plan.

"It appears (the SAC) would ask wireless carriers and ISPs to collect this surcharge on their behalf," said a spokesman for Bell Canada, one of the country's largest telecommunications companies and the majority owner of Puretracks. "(That) would not go over well with our client base, especially with the large number already signed up for our (legal) mobile and online music services."

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2004 that ISPs are not responsible for the actions of clients using their Internet services. One senior source at a Canadian ISP said, "ISPs are not required to -- nor would they -- police this kind of usage. Nor would they charge, collect and remit what is in essence a tax."

However, the proposal has received support from the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, a group of 187 acts, including the Barenaked Ladies and Avril Lavigne.

Artist Andrew Cash described the SAC suggestion in a statement on behalf of the CMCC as "the first progressive proposal we've seen in Canada to address file-sharing."

'07 Box Office Bears Brand of Spidey

Los Angeles (E! Online) - If 2007 was any indication, Indiana Jones and Speed Racer are going to enjoy 2008.

Brand was king at last year's box office, as 7 out of 10 of the top-grossing movies were extensions of long-standing franchises.

"It does seem like movie stars can help, but it's more like the brand name really helps," says Chad Hartigan, a box-office analyst for the tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co.

Spider-Man 3, the latest big-screen adventure for the 45-year-old Marvel Comics star, led the way with $336.5 million, per final studio figures compiled this week by Exhibitor Relations.

It was joined in the top 10 by the familiar likes of Shrek the Third (second place, $321 million), Transformers (third place, $319.1 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (fourth place, $309.4 million), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (fifth place, $292 million), The Bourne Ultimatum (sixth place, $227.5 million) and The Simpsons Movie (10th place, $183.1 million).

If Pixar is considered its own brand, then the list grows to eight with the animation giant's Ratatouille (eighth place, $206.4 million).

300 (seventh place, $210.6 million) and I Am Legend (ninth place, $206.1 million) were the only top 10 entries that didn't come complete with a legacy of book, comic or toy lines, although even 300 was based on a historical battle, and I Am Legend was a remake of an iconic sci-fi novel.

Observes Box Office Mojo's Brandon Gray of Hollywood's 2007 game plan: "Very few risks were taken."

Not that playing it safe isn't its own reward. The movies combined to gross a record $9.6 billion, up 4 percent from 2006, thank you Spider-Man and ticket prices that were, coincidentally, up about 4 percent from 2006.

The majority of the money rolled in from March, when 300 began its onslaught, through the sequel-laden summer and then again in December, when I Am Legend, National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($142.9 million) and the surprisingly chipper Alvin and the Chipmunks ($153.6 million), all opened big. Elsewhere, Hartigan says, "everything else didn't cut the mustard."

In the end, actual attendance was flat, up less than 1 percent from 2006. The 1.4 billion tickets sold put moviegoing at 1997 levels, per Box Office Mojo.

"The audience did not grow," Gray says. "It doesn't mean the box office wasn't healthy. It means it was status quo at best.

"There need to be new movies and new franchises created."

So, is that what we'll be getting in 2008? Um, no, says Gray: "There isn't much new going on."

But there are more brand names on the way. The coming months will see: The latest James Bond, Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia movies; the return of Indiana Jones, via Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and the big-screen debuts for a cartoon king (Speed Racer), a comics favorite (Iron Man) and a beloved sitcom (Sex and the City).

Per usual, few introductions will be needed.

Here, meanwhile, are more tidbits from the '07 box office, per data from Exhibitor Relations and Box Office Mojo:

• Scads of movie stars, from George Clooney (Michael Clayton ) to Nicole Kidman (The Golden Compass, The Invasion), from Tom Cruise (Lions for Lambs) to Brad Pitt (The Assassination of Jesse James), from Ben Stiller (The Heartbreak Kid) to Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson's War), had trouble selling tickets; Will Smith (I Am Legend) didn't. He alone led a star-driven vehicle to the top 10. Says Gray: "Will Smith has cemented his status as the star of the moment." • Judd Apatow spawned two hit comedies (Knocked Up and Superbad), but nobody helmed a bigger live-action comedy hit than Walt Becker. He would be the director of the one, the only Wild Hogs ($168.3 million)—the biggest hit of John Travolta's career, the biggest non-CGI hit of Tim Allen's career, the biggest hit of Martin Lawrence's career and the biggest hit of William H. Macy's career. Muses Hartigan: "Four leads who probably couldn't buy a hit on their own, but put them together..." • Travolta actually starred in two '07 hits, albeit one, Hairspray ($118.9 million), in the guise of a plus-size woman. • All told, 27 films made at least $100 million; 12 movies made at least $150 million; nine films made at least $200 million; and four films surpassed $300 million. • Spider-Man 3 climbed to 15th place on the list of all-time top grossers, knocking 1994's Forrest Gump down a notch. But when the superhero movie's take is adjusted for inflation, it ranks 92nd—70 spots below the estimable Mr. Gump. • When is a hit not a hit? When Evan Almighty hangs in there to top $100 million—it crossed the finish line at $100.3 million—but doesn't make anybody forget that it cost $175 million to produce. Similarly, Bee Movie ($124.5 million) couldn't match its pricey budget. • More fun with movie math: Live Free or Die Hard ($134.5 million) made more money, but sold fewer tickets, than any of the previous three Bruce Willis action titles. • Among the sequels in the top 10, The Bourne Ultimatum was alone in doing more business than its previous installment. • Couple comedies were big, provided the couples were comprised of two men, à la Superbad ($121.5 million), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($119.7 million) and Blades of Glory ($118.6 million). • Among the movies in the $100 million club, only one, Enchanted ($113.9 million), was led by a female character. • What became of the other movies with female leads? Not much, as evidenced by the receipts of The Nanny Diaries ($25.9 million), Nancy Drew ($25.6 million) and Sydney White ($11.7 million). • What became of movies about our post-9/11 world? Even less, as evidenced by the takes of Reign Over Me ($19.7 million), Lions for Lambs ($14.9 million), Rendition ($9.7 million), In the Valley of Elah ($6.8 million), and Grace Is Gone ($36,613), • Jessica Simpson's probably gone on shopping sprees bigger than the year-end take of her comedy Blonde Ambition, which opened Dec. 21, and, through two sparsely attended weekends, "grossed" $5,561. • Compared to Simpson, fellow pop star Justin Timberlake was a box-office force with Alpha Dog ($15.3 million) and Black Snake Moan ($9.4 million). • Paula Abdul needn't have shed so many tears over Bratz ($10 million). • The Grindhouse ($25 million) rule: Two movies are not necessarily bigger than one. • The problem of enjoying a superbig hit, à la Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 ($119.2 million—the top-grossing documentary of all time), is that your pretty-big hits, à la Moore's Sicko ($24.5 million—the third-biggest documentary of all time), look small by comparison.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing 2007 films, through Dec. 31, as based on tallies compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Spider-Man 3, $336.5 million
2. Shrek the Third, $321 million
3. Transformers, $319.1 million
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, $309.4 million
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, $292 million
6. The Bourne Ultimatum, $227.5 million
7. 300, $210.6 million
8. Ratatouille, $206.4 million
9. I Am Legend, $206.1 million
10. The Simpsons Movie, $183.1 million

SAG: Actors won't cross lines at Globes

LOS ANGELES - Golden Globe-nominated actors are expected to snub the awards in support of striking Hollywood writers, the actors union said Friday.

After canvassing nominees over the past several weeks, Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg said in a statement, "there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross" the picket lines to present or accept an award.

It was unclear how the move might affect the awards set for broadcast on NBC on Jan. 13.

Michael Russell, a spokesman for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which stages the Golden Globes, did not immediately return telephone or e-mail requests for comment about the move by actors.

The Writers Guild of America had refused to grant a waiver to allow its members to work on the Globes, the People's Choice Awards and the prestigious Academy Awards.

A total of 72 actors are among this year's Golden Globe nominees. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has repeatedly tried to seek the blessing of the writers guild.

The actors' union said previously that the choice to attend or not was a personal one that its members would make for themselves.

In his statement Friday, Rosenberg referred to "considerable outreach" by the actors guild to nominees and their representatives in recent weeks.

The writers strike, which began Nov. 5, has broad implications for the way Hollywood does business, since whatever deal is struck by writers on payment for shows offered on the Internet could affect talks with actors and directors, whose contracts expire next June.

Rosenberg also weighed in on the late-night talks shows, which are back on the air. Some are working without writers after failing to strike deals with the writers guild.

Rosenberg stopped short of pressing actors to skip the picketed shows, like Jay Leno's "Tonight."

"We urge our members to appear on the two programs that have independent agreements with the WGA, `The Late Show with David Letterman' and `Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,'" he said.

Actors who appear on other shows have to cross picket lines, he said.

That creates "the same situation that has led to the consensus among actors to skip the Golden Globes," Rosenberg said.

No Sask stop for 'Canadian Idol'

REGINA - A move to drop Saskatchewan from the list of "Canadian Idol" audition locations has generated outrage in the Prairie province and even has the premier calling on fans to speak out.

The province of one million people has produced three top five performers in the first five seasons of the show, including Season 2 runner-up Theresa Sokyrka, but producers of the CTV hit say there wasn't room on the schedule this year for a Saskatchewan stop.

With the Juno Awards for the best in Canadian music being held in Calgary this year, supervising producer Mark Lysakowski said the show wanted to have auditions in that city as well as Edmonton.

Saskatchewan ended up on the bubble.

"We only have so much we can do in the allotted time from when we start our auditions and when we need to have the show on the air," Lysakowski said.

"We will be back. This is not to say that Saskatchewan has fallen off the 'Canadian Idol' radar forever. It's a place we want to come back to - we need to come back to."

It's the first time since Season 1 that an audition has not been held in either Regina or Saskatoon.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall was outraged when word of the change reached his office.

"I think it's more than a little bit ironic that we are apparently good enough for the Rolling Stones, but no longer good enough apparently for 'Canadian Idol,"' Wall said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press.

In the fall of 2006, the Stones played two sold-out shows in Regina, thrilling thousands of diehard fans who felt privileged that the iconic rock band would stop in such a small Prairie city.

Wall encouraged Saskatchewan fans of "Canadian Idol" to voice their displeasure through the show's website. He predicted they would turn out in the same numbers they do when someone from Saskatchewan is in the top 10.

Equally outraged was Jackie Rapley, mother of Regina's Matt Rapley, who made it to No. 5 on the show last season.

"Maybe that is not their intent, but my feeling on it is that they are saying there is no talent in Saskatchewan - that is how I am taking it," she said. "I personally consider it a bit of an insult."

It's unlikely Rapley's son - a shy 18-year-old who was encouraged to audition by his music teacher - would have vied for a spot on the show had there not been a tryout in Saskatoon last year, she said.

Rapley himself said he also considers the move an"insult."

"I do take it personally a little," Rapley said. "I know a lot of talent came out of Saskatchewan in the last five years."

Producers may have dropped Saskatchewan because, outside of people like Rapley, the talent pool in the province was rather shallow during last year's auditions, Sokyrka said.

"I know there are a lot of people that have an extreme amount of talent, but I do know that a lot of people that had the talent last year were pretty freaked out about going and trying it out," she said.

Sokyrka is hopeful that anyone in Saskatchewan who thinks they can make will make the trek to one of the other cities. In Season 2, she said she was first turned down after going to Edmonton to audition and ended up making it when she came back to Saskatchewan.

"I know that even though they are not coming here, there will be someone in the top 10 from Saskatchewan. There is no question of it."

Without a Saskatchewan stop, hopefuls will have to make the trek to Edmonton, Calgary or Winnipeg to try out for the show. That means a day's travel each way.

Aside from Sokyrka and Rapley, Tyler Lewis of Rockglen, Sask., made it all the way to No. 3 on Season 4 of the show.

Peggy Pilsner runs a cafe in Rockglen and said the atmosphere in the town was electric when Lewis was making his run. You could buy buttons, window stickers, posters, T-shirts, mouse pads and pillow cases with Lewis's picture on them. Pilsner served up a hamburger in her cafe bearing his name.

"I don't really think it's fair," Pilsner said of the show's decision not to stop in Saskatchewan. "I'm sure they could make a stop somewhere in the province, especially when they are stopping on either side of us."

The 10-city audition tour begins Jan. 26 in Edmonton, and would-be stars are once again being invited to bring musical instruments.

Hamilton, Ont., the hometown of reigning Canadian Idol Brian Melo, will be among the stops.

It's the second year that performers can accompany themselves at the auditions. In 2007, almost half of the contestants who made it past the initial stage of competition chose to do so.

The show, which will return to the air in June, is hosted by Ben Mulroney, son of former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

CTV recently announced the younger Mulroney is engaged to Montreal clothing designer Jessica Brownstein.

Here are the cities, dates and locations, where available, of auditions:

-Edmonton, Jan. 26-27, West Edmonton Mall.

-Calgary, Feb 2-3, Sunridge Mall.

-Vancouver, Feb. 9-10, Metropolis at Metrotown.

-Winnipeg, Feb. 23-24, St. Vital Centre.

-Hamilton, March 1-2.

-Ottawa, March 8-9.

-Montreal, March 15-16.

-Halifax, March 29-30.

-St. John's, N.L., April 12.

-Toronto, April 19-20.

Auditions for "Canadian Idol" are open to all Canadians between the ages of 16 and 28 as of Jan. 25. For more information, registration forms, rules and regulations, visit idol.CTV.ca.

U2 headed to theaters in 3D

U2 fans will get a belated Christmas gift from the group this month in the form of "U23D," a concert film that creators are billing as "the first live-action movie shot and exhibited in breakthrough digital 3D."

Captured during the South American leg of U2's Vertigo Tour, the film will premiere Jan. 18 at Colorado's Sundance Film Festival, and then will hit theaters in select cities Jan. 23, according to the film's official website, which is hosted by National Geographic.

Culled from more than 100 hours of footage--shot with "the largest collection of 3D camera technology ever used on a single project," according to organizers--"U23D" features the band performing a set that includes hits such as "Pride," "New Year's Day," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Streets," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" and "Vertigo."

The film will screen "in many of the 1,200-plus theaters around the world equipped with digital 3D projection systems, and will also be seen in IMAX 3D cinemas, which are located in 38 countries," according to the site.

"Previous generations of 3D film relied heavily on gimmicks, and the limits of the technology resulted in eyestrain--diminishing the life-like qualities," according to production company 3ality Digital, which, in an overview posted at the film's website, said it was shot using "cutting-edge technologies ... from artificial intelligence that aligns 'eye position' of a stereoscopic camera in real time, to first-ever high-res 3D systems with zoom lenses, robotic control, and integrated digital processing."

"I saw 'U23D' and I thought that the 3D effects were not just remarkable, but historic," screenwriter Frank Miller ("Sin City," "300") was quoted as saying at the film's website. "The film has ushered in a new era for 3D."

In related news, U2 has sweetened the pot for paying members of its U2.com fan club by issuing a members-only, limited-edition, double-live CD. Titled "U2 Go Home," the collection houses 20 live tracks.

In November, U2 marked the 20th anniversary of its hugely successful 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree," by issuing an expanded, remastered edition of the set, details for which are available at the group's site.

Last month, U2 picked up a pair of Grammy nominations in the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals category for "Window in the Skies," a new song included on the best-of set "U218 Singles," and "Instant Karma," a cover song that appears on the Amnesty International Darfur benefit album of the same name.

U2's most recent studio album is 2004's "Vertigo." The group is currently working on a follow-up, the release date for which has not been announced.

DVD unit sales dropped 4.5 pct in '07, says data firm

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. DVD unit sales fell 4.5 percent in 2007, marking the first big year-over-year decline for the category since the disc format debuted in 1997, according to preliminary estimates released on Thursday.

After essentially flat trends for 2005 and 2006, sales of films and TV shows on DVDs fell from 1.144 billion units in 2006, to 1.092 billion units in 2007, said Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, a California-based entertainment data firm. The figures include next-generation DVD sales.

Unit sales in 2005 were down 0.3 percent from 2004, and inched up 0.2 percent in 2006 from 2005, Adams said.

According to Adams Media tallies, consumer spending on DVDs fell 4.8 percent to $15.7 billion in 2007 from $16.5 billion in 2006.

Adams noted that while unit sales were flat in 2005, spending also declined that year by about 1.5 percent.

Major studios had hoped for substantial sales gains in the fourth quarter of 2007 with the release of such hits as "Fantastic Four," "Ratatouille," and "Transformers."

But Adams said fourth quarter DVD sales essentially matched the fourth quarter of 2006.

"The main culprit has been the decaying sales of new releases," Adams said. "The average performance on new releases per box office dollar has been declining since 2003. And this year, sales of TV shows on DVD fell for the first time ever. Catalog sales also declined," he said.

Catalog sales are the sales of films that have been out on the market previously.

The DVD format was launched in 1997, when sales totaled about $6.2 billion.

The industry registered double digit sales growth each year for much of this decade, until sales hit about $16.6 billion in 2004.

Adams believes a combination of factors have contributed to the slowdown, including the fact that most households have slowed building their DVD collections after extremely aggressive pricing on catalog products drove huge gains over the past few years.

Adams believes the industry will likely suffer continued slowness in 2008 and 2009 as a format war for next-generation DVDs plays out and before next-generation DVD players become widespread. The industry will be back on a healthy growth track in 2010, as high-definition DVDs take off, according to Adams.

"High-definition is the ray of hope for the industry," he said.

Is Jay Leno subverting his union?

NEW YORK - The striking writers union told member Jay Leno on Thursday that he violated its rules by penning and delivering punch lines in his first "Tonight" show monologue in two months on NBC the night before.

The union did not immediately say what, if anything, it intended to do about it.

The scolding came despite Leno's own public support for the union, including delivering doughnuts to a picket line. Leno also paid his employees' salaries — except for the writers — while he was off the air and "Tonight" writers were pointedly absent from a picket line outside his studio Wednesday.

Leno is "busying himself with the show," his publicist, Dick Guttman, said Thursday when asked if the comedian had any comment.

Meanwhile, viewers thirsting for laughs welcomed their favorites back in their first shows since the strike took them off the air Nov. 5. Late-night leader Leno's "Tonight" show on NBC was seen by 7.2 million viewers while David Letterman had 5.5 million people watch the "Late Show" on CBS. For Letterman, the audience was 45 percent more than his pre-strike average this season; for Leno, it was a 43 percent bump and his biggest audience in two years, Nielsen Media Research said.

Much of Leno's first monologue discussed the strike that kept him absent, and he poked fun at NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker's "mansion." But there were also standard monologue jokes about Paul McCartney's divorce, the weather in Iowa and Britney Spears.

Leno said he wrote his own jokes and that he didn't turn to "outside guys."

"I'm doing what I did the day I started," he said. "I write jokes and wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, `Honey, is this funny?' So if this monologue doesn't work it's my wife's fault."

He maintained: "We are following the guild thing. We can write for ourselves."

The East and West Coast chapters of the Writers Guild adopted strike rules that prohibit guild members from "performing any writing services during a strike for any and all struck companies." Leno's 19 writers remain on strike.

"This prohibition includes all writing by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, including monologues, characters and featured appearances, if any portion of that written material is customarily written by striking writers," the rules state.

Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles and a former counsel to the writers' guild, said the guild's contract "is notoriously difficult to interpret."

For instance, past contracts have specifically allowed people to perform their own material, he said. He's unsure if the issue has been brought before a guild arbitration board, which could fine a member or throw the person out of the union.

It's doubtful that would happen to Leno, he said.

"That would probably be an outrage," he said. "It is not something as a matter of policy that you're going to want to do — throw one of the highest-profile guys out of the guild."

The union rules could present a host of issues: if a guild member is prohibited from performing in a character for which writers normally provide material, what to do about Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who performs his entire show in character? Colbert's program, and "The Daily Show," return to the air without writers on Monday.

Leno received support from fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who criticized WGA members for picketing Leno and NBC's Conan O'Brien. "I don't want to depart too much from the party line, but I think it's ridiculous," Kimmel said on Wednesday's show. "Jay Leno, he paid his staff while they were out. Conan did the same thing. I don't know. I just think at a certain point you back off a little bit."

While Leno's writers are on strike, Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company reached a separate deal to bring writers back. Through the deal, writers were also back at work at Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show" on CBS.

At least on opening night, viewers were more intrigued by O'Brien's attempt to navigate without writers than Ferguson's work with his full staff. O'Brien's "Late Night" had 2.8 million viewers, up 37 percent from his pre-strike average, Nielsen said. Ferguson was seen by 2.2 million people, up 28 percent.

The night was essentially a wash for Kimmel, who is working without writers. His ABC audience of 1.8 million was slightly down from his season average.

British boy pees on brother's Wii for spite

Four-year-old Ellis Emsley from Fleetwood, England desecrated his brother's newly gifted Wii with liquid discharge after the latter refused to play together.

"It seems Ellis got fed up with Danny being obsessed with the Wii and refusing to play with him," said Mrs. Emsley, courtesy of the Metro. "He was told it was his turn on the Wii next, but he took it a bit too literally and used his secret weapon to sabotage the machine."

Indeed, the humiliated Wii was left water-logged and out of order after the incident. Father Darren, who spent months procuring the highly sought-after console, is hoping the "accident" will be covered by his home owner's insurance.

"It must surely be counted as a leak," he said.

Styles Converge On new k.d. lang Album

k.d. lang hasn't treated her fans to new original material in eight years, but that'll change on Feb. 5th, when she releases "Watershed" (Nonesuch). The 11-song set was written and recorded over several years and is the first set of material to be produced by lang herself.

"I fell naturally into the production role, in the initial performances that went on tape ... I felt that's where the real creative essence lay, and I wanted to preserve those and bring those forward into a beautiful sounding record," lang tells Billboard.com.

"I think what was liberating is that it's really hard to translate your vision in audio to other people," she continues. "It gets interpreted in so many different ways. In some ways it can be enhancing, but [on 'Watershed'] there is sort of a convergence of all the different styles I have tackled and listened to. There's essence of country, there's essences of pop, there's essences of Brazillian."

lang describes the process as being very "mobile," from recording in her dining room, painting studio and also on the go, utilizing her laptop and Pro Tools. lang also cites her recent work with Tony Bennett and covering Canadian songwriters as helpful in creating "Watershed."

"The Tony record was rehearsed in his living room, overlooking Central Park. And it was actually recorded live off a stage, in a theatre," she recalls. "It was very much play the song and record it. But it made me very focused on the performance and not any overdubbing."

lang will be on tour for most of the spring, with dates covering most of the United States and Australia confirmed so far.

Here is the track list for "Watershed":

"I Dream of Spring"
"Coming Home"
"Once in a While"
"Thread"
"Close Your Eyes"
"Sunday"
"Flame of the Uninspired"
"Upstream"
"Shadow and the Frame"
"Jealous Dog"

Hathaway New Face of Lancome

Actress Anne Hathaway has reason to smile in 2008 - she's been announced as the new face of Lancome. The Devil Wears Prada beauty, 25, will front a new advertising campaign by the cosmetics giant for a new fragrance which will be launched later this year.

A spokesperson for Lancome says of her appointment, "Anne Hathaway is a radiant young woman who perfectly embodies modern femininity. We know she will portray all the passion and excitement of our new fragrance, to be launched throughout the world in September 2008."

Golden Globes at risk as strike heats up

LOS ANGELES - The Golden Globe Awards were thrust into deeper jeopardy Wednesday when the striking writers guild refused to negotiate with Globe organizers about staging a picket-free ceremony.

The actors union then said it would advise celebrity nominees and presenters to boycott the show, which is scheduled to be televised Jan. 13 on NBC. That would rob the boozy, informal affair of the star power that makes the Globes the official kickoff to Hollywood's awards season.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which stages the Globes, had hoped last-minute negotiations with the Writers Guild of America would allow the show to go on. But the guild said Wednesday afternoon that striking writers still intend to picket.

"The WGA has great respect and admiration for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but we are engaged in a crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come," it said in a statement. "We will continue to do everything in our power to bring industry negotiations to a fair conclusion."

Jorge Camara, president of the HFPA, said in a statement earlier Wednesday that the organization was negotiating with the guild to reach an "an interim agreement" that would "ultimately permit the Golden Globe Awards to be broadcast as scheduled, without picket lines."

Twenty million people watched last year's ceremony on NBC. The network had no comment Wednesday.

Some Hollywood observers have theorized that without scripts and celebrities, awards shows might have to return to the relatively private affairs they were before television rather than risk embarrassment. Yet the organizations behind the Oscars and Globes are heavily dependent on the tens of millions of dollars their broadcasts bring in from network licensing deals, which may force them to televise their shows anyway.

The Globes organizers sought an agreement similar to the one reached Friday by David Letterman's production company. It allows guild members to write for "The Late Show With David Letterman" despite the strike, which began Nov. 5. Letterman's show returned to the air Wednesday night.

"'The Late Show with David Letterman' and the 'Golden Globe Awards' are similar in structure and are administered in the same way" because each is produced by an independent company and neither is owned by the networks that broadcast them, Camara's statement continued.

Letterman's show is produced by Worldwide Pants. The Golden Globe Awards are produced by dick clark productions.

The guild statement said dick clark productions is among those that have been struck.

"As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globe Awards," it said.

Celebrity nominees and presenters are unlikely to attend the ceremony, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg.

"Unless and until there is an agreement between the WGA and HFPA, we will advise our members of their rights with respect to not crossing WGA picket lines and/or not appearing on programs using non-union writers," he said.

Rosenberg said a meeting with Golden Globe actor nominees was scheduled for later this week.

Rock Band Wii? EA says "no" (for now)

A Wii version is nothing more than wishful thinking at the moment.

Despite the release of a PS2 flavor and official comments suggesting otherwise, Electronic Arts has yet to confirm Rock Band for Wii.

"We have not announced any plans for a Wii version at this time," wrote EA's Bryce Baer on Wednesday in an email to GamePro.

In April 2007, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said "absolutely" when asked if there was a possibility of seeing the game on Wii.

"We will, at some time, bring Rock Band to every [important] platform," he said in the conference call. "I think the Wiimote is something that holds enormous promise."

Rock Band is currently available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PS2. The music simulator won several game of the year awards in 2007 including "best game that involves getting off the sofa" by the Associated Press.

Writers Refuse to Budge on Globes

It's a new year, but so much for resolution.

Just hours after producers of the upcoming Golden Globe Awards said Wednesday they were working to hammer out a deal to keep the Jan. 13 show on track, the guild announced it didn't have any intention of budging on its decision to withhold a waiver.

"Dick Clark Productions is a struck company. As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globes," the WGA said in a blunt statement responding to news of the latest round of negotiations.

"The WGA has great respect and admiration for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but we are engaged in a crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring industry negotiations to a fair conclusion. In the meantime, we are grateful for the ongoing support of the Hollywood talent community.”

The union's current position more or less echoes the one it took last month when the Globe nominations were announced. Soon after, the WGA rejected a waiver request from the HFPA to allow scribes to contribute quips to the ceremony. The union also shot down the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which had submitted its standard application for permission to use old film clips and tape from past Oscar ceremonies during the Feb. 24 broadcast.

The writers are allowing otherwise-striking scribblers to contribute to the Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit Awards.

In a lengthy statement earlier Wednesday, HFPA president Jorge Camara had said talks between his group and the WGA resumed Saturday, a day after David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, announced it had agreed on terms that would allow the late-night host to return to the air tonight with his writing staff intact.

"We are pleased that the WGA has made interim agreements available for independent production companies," Camara said in a statement. "The process established by the WGA permits writers to get back to work, grants the WGA the rights it is seeking on behalf of all writers, and allows certain shows to move forward.

"Much like the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Film Independent's Spirit Awards, we want to enter into an agreement with the WGA that will allow the entertainment industry to celebrate the outstanding work of creative individuals in addition to millions of fans nationwide," he said. "It is only fair that we be afforded the same opportunity as these other awards shows."

This latest blow to what in more upbeat times would be a much-hyped, glamorous precursor to next month's 80th Annual Academy Awards comes just as the Globes' organizers were looking to gain momentum for a show that could be considerably lacking in the star-power department.

NBC confirmed just this week that the prime-time telecast would, indeed, go on as scheduled. Whether there's a red carpet, swag bags or even a celebratory mood remains to be seen.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg said in a statement Wednesday that they will hold a meeting with actor nominees later in the week to discuss Globe protocol.

Late night TV hosts back after 2 months

NEW YORK - Late-night TV hosts returned to the air Wednesday after a two-month hiatus, showing support for their striking writers, plenty of creative stretch marks — and at least two scruffy beards.

David Letterman walked onstage amid dancing girls holding picket signs supporting striking writers. His writers are back on the job, but NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel returned without theirs.

Filler was immediately evident on the shows without writers. O'Brien, sporting facial growth to match his red hair, showed off Christmas cards, danced on his table as his band played the Clash's "The Magnificent Seven" and tried to see how long he could spin his wedding ring on his desk. Leno took questions from his audience.

"I want to make this clear. I support their cause," O'Brien said of the writers. "These are very talented, very creative people who work extremely hard. I believe what they're asking for is fair."

Letterman, who had grown a mostly white beard, brought writers on to recite a top 10 list of their strike demands. They included "complimentary tote bag with next insulting contract offer" and "Hazard pay for breaking up fights on `The View.'"

"You're watching the only show on the air that has jokes written by union writers," Letterman said. "I hear you at home thinking to yourself, `This crap is written?'"

Guest Robin Williams teased Letterman unmercifully about his beard, alternately comparing him to Gen. Robert E. Lee, a rabbi and an Iraqi mullah.

Presidential politics intruded on the eve of the Iowa caucus: Republican Mike Huckabee appeared on Leno despite his apparent confusion about the strike and a bid by picketers to keep him away, and Democrat Hillary Clinton taped a cameo introducing Letterman.

"Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks because of the writers strike," she said. "Tonight, he's back. Oh, well, all good things come to an end."

Huckabee said he supports the writers and did not think he would be crossing a picket line, because he believed the writers had made an agreement to allow late-night shows on the air. But that's not the case with Leno; "Huckabee is a scab," read one picket sign outside Leno's Burbank, Calif., studio.

The writers guild urged Huckabee not to cross their picket line after he flew out to California. But Huckabee appeared on Leno, even showing off his electric guitar playing with the band.

"Huckabee claims he didn't know," chief union negotiator John Bowman said. "I don't know what that means in terms of trusting him as a future president."

For fans of the late-night hosts, the controversy was secondary to seeing their favorites again. Chuck Gunther of Grand Junction, Colo., stood on a sidewalk outside of Letterman's New York studio on a frigid night hoping to get into the audience.

"When Dave is live, it's fresh and new every night — instead of watching reruns of `Seinfeld,'" he said.

Letterman had writers because his production company, Worldwide Pants, struck a separate deal with the guild. The deal also allowed writers to return to Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show" on CBS.

Picketing writers outside of O'Brien's studio in New York's Rockefeller Center said they were hoping to encourage people not to appear on the shows where writers weren't working. Michael Winship, president of the WGA East, said he expected Letterman's "Late Show" to be a "bully pulpit" for striking writers and their issues.

Leno's staff writers, who regularly picket at one of the gates to NBC studios, did not show up on Wednesday. Writers insist they're demonstrating against NBC, not Leno, who was supportive of his writers in the strike's early days.

"It must be difficult for them to picket their own boss," said Allan Katz, a veteran sitcom writer. "Probably Jay Leno understands."

Besides depriving the nation of punch lines, the two months of reruns have been devastating for the networks — particularly NBC.

Late-night leader Leno is averaging 4.4 million viewers this season, losing a quarter of his audience from last season. Before the strike, his audience was off 10 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Letterman's average of 3.6 million viewers is 15 percent off last season. Before the strike, his viewership was down 9 percent. Leno's audience was obviously far less interested in reruns or — even worse for NBC — decided to sample Letterman instead.

Kimmel's audience of 1.8 million viewers is slightly up from last season, because it follows "Nightline," which has been making fresh shows.

O'Brien's audience is down 29 percent from last season and he's been running virtually neck and neck with Ferguson: O'Brien has 1.8 million viewers, Ferguson 1.7 million. Now Ferguson returns with writers and O'Brien without.

How big the advantage might be for CBS likely depends on how long the strike lasts. At least at the beginning, the writer-less shows may draw viewers curious to see how the hosts respond.

The CBS programs will also probably have bigger-name guests. The Screen Actors Guild has urged its members to appear with Letterman and Ferguson. It's unclear whether Hollywood's glitterati will be willing to cross picket lines for face time on national television.

Besides being without writers, Leno, O'Brien and Kimmel will be unable to perform many familiar comic bits, including traditional monologues, because of strike rules.

Comedy Central's topical nightly comedies, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," will return Monday without striking writers.

Letterman poised to strike a blow

HOLLYWOOD -- It's the second day of the new year but, more to the point, it's the first day since the start of the writers strike that Jay Leno and David Letterman will have something new to talk about.

Tonight, both Leno and Letterman will be returning with fresh shows. But that's where the similarity ends.

While The Tonight Show host will be flying by the seat of his own pants since his writers will still be hoisting picket signs, the Late Show host will be back with his writing team intact.

During the final working hours of 2007, Dave's production company, WorldWide Pants, Auld-Lang-signed a separate contract with the Writers Guild of America, agreeing to the Guild's pay increase demands that have thus far been rejected by the producers alliance. Unfortunately for Jay, his show is owned by NBC, which means he didn't have the options of negotiating a similar deal with the WGA.

That means Letterman will be back with his Top 10 Lists, Viewer Mail and other popular segments, while Leno will have to rely solely on his wit.

But the ramifications go beyond how much Jaywalking Leno's viewers are able to tolerate in a given week. Because large numbers of big-name stars are refusing to cross those WGA picket lines in the name of solidarity (their Screen Actors Guild contract expires in June), that means Jay's guest list could be looking flimsy, while it will be business as usual for Dave.

Although he has traditionally outdrawn Letterman, Leno reruns since the strike started have seen an average 40% drop in viewers in the key 18-49 age demographic, compared to Letterman's 21% erosion.

So with a possible scenario that could see Dave partying with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts over on the East Coast as Jay chats up the oldest living cribbage player on the West Coast, the late-night landscape could undergo a significant shift.

R.E.M. Prepares To 'Accelerate'

Nobody would ever confuse R.E.M. for Metallica, but the guitars have definitely been turned up for the Georgia group's 14th studio album, "Accelerate," due April 1 via Warner Bros.

Nearly all the material was tested out during a summer run in Dublin, although manager Bertis Downs tells Billboard a few of those songs didn't make the cut, and that a couple of album tunes were held back from live airings.

Mostly gone is the drowsy vibe of 2004's "Around the Sun," with "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," "Horse to Water," "Aftermath" and "Until the Day Is Done" recapturing the old R.E.M. energy. "It's not like we're going to pretend these are ballads. These are rockers," Downs says.

"I feel like there's a confidence in the material, and a communication between the three of us that hasn't been there for some time," frontman Michael Stipe told Uncut. "We didn't talk to each other for a couple of records -- as friends or as bandmates. And we reached a point before this LP where we just sat down at a table and hashed it out."

R.E.M. will tour this spring; for now, the lone confirmed date is an appearance at the Langerado Festival, which runs March 6-9 in Big Cypress, Fla.

This year, there'll be fewer sequels at the movie theater

LOS ANGELES — They may be the bane of critics and a common complaint of moviegoers, but sequels have kept the film industry afloat for years.
So what happens when studios give people something original?

Hollywood is about to find out. This year, only 16 sequels are slated for the big screen, according to Nielsen EDI. Since 2003, the average has been 25.

"It's surprising to see how few are coming," says Disney distribution chief Chuck Viane. "It will be interesting to see how creativity sells."

Five of the six biggest movies of last year were sequels, helping propel 2007 to about $9.6 billion at the box office, a record — though attendance remained flat from last year, according to Media By Numbers.

Still, it was a weak year for movies not based on toys or cartoons. Among the small-studio films, only No Country for Old Men took in more than $40 million, though Juno probably will cross that mark. It has earned $31 million and is still expanding.

Not that Hollywood has lost its love for series and spinoffs. This year still has plenty of high-profile franchise wannabes and sequels, from Jan. 25's Rambo to May 2's Iron Man to May 22's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

"You're trying to think a year and a half or two years ahead when you start a movie," says Rob Moore, president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Paramount Pictures. "And I don't know what fewer sequels will do. But there are some things you can do to get people into a moviegoing rhythm."

Here are a few:

•Bigger-budget movies. Despite ballooning production costs and spiraling star salaries, most studios believe bigger is better. "We'll continue making big-budget movies, investing in big stars, big effects," says Jeff Goldstein of Warner Bros. "You have to give people things that home theater systems can't give audiences."

•More gimmicks. From better seats to 3-D glasses to the next generation of computer animation, studios and theaters are emptying their bag of tricks: About 80% of the nation's theaters have gone to stadium seating. U2 has a 3-D movie due Jan. 25, and next year's Final Destination 4 hopes to make you think the blood really is oozing on the screen. Hollywood is hoping James Cameron's computer-generated epic Avatar gets older moviegoers back into the seats. "The technology is getting so advanced," Viane says. "You've got to use everything you've got to compete."

•Happier movies. "There have got to be more uplifting movies than these overly violent movies," says Harvey Weinstein, whose feel-good The Great Debaters is getting a heavy Oscar push. "People want movies that aren't just reflections of our times."

Nintendo revives the light-gun game

Most gamers who grew up in the 1980s have fond memories of "Duck Hunt," one of the games that came with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Your controller was a plastic gun, the Zapper, that you used to shoot on-screen ducks; if you missed, your hunting dog would snicker.

Despite the ubiquity of the Zapper and "Duck Hunt," light-gun games for home consoles never really caught on. For the last decade, Namco Bandai's "Time Crisis" series has pretty much had the genre to itself, although if you visit an arcade you're likely to see a broader selection (with bigger weapons).

Nintendo's Zapper has a spiritual successor in the Wii console's remote control, which you operate by pointing directly at your TV screen. And Nintendo has acknowledged the connection by introducing a new version of the Zapper — essentially, a plastic doohickey that turns the Wii's remote-and-nunchaku combo into a two-handed firearm. It's not exactly state-of-the-art technology, but it does add something fresh to the first-person shooter.

_"Link's Crossbow Training" (Nintendo, $19.99 with the Wii Zapper): The game that's packaged with the Zapper isn't the deepest title in the Wii library, but it's a fast-paced challenge that just about anyone can enjoy. You are Link, the hero of Nintendo's "Legend of Zelda" series, and "Crossbow Training" takes you on a whirlwind tour of sites from 2006's "Twilight Princess."

There are three kinds of competition: target shooting, in which you have to fire at (mostly) stationary bull's-eyes; defender, in which enemies come at you from all sides; and ranger, in which you have to hunt down your foes. Accuracy pays off, because your score is multiplied by the number of consecutive targets you hit — but other people I played with had just as much fun shooting willy-nilly.

There are a few surprises. For example, if you shoot a glowing green monster you get rapid-fire powers for a brief period. The ranger levels are a little tougher because you have to move with the nunchaku while swiveling your weapon with the Zapper. And the game can get quite competitive when you have four players taking turns on the firing range. Overall, the simplicity of "Crossbow Training" makes it a lively party game. Two-and-a-half stars out of four.

_"Medal of Honor Heroes 2" (Electronic Arts, $49.99): EA's long-running World War II series has been eclipsed in recent years by "Call of Duty" and "Brothers in Arms," but there still may be some life in the old soldier yet. There's nothing original plot-wise — hey, welcome back to Omaha Beach! — but the savvy use of the Wii controller makes "Heroes 2" feel brand new.

An arcade mode, designed specifically for the Zapper, moves you across the terrain automatically and lets you focus on the fun part: shooting Nazis. It has the somewhat cartoonish feel of a classic light-gun game like "House of the Dead," but it's fast and accessible for players who have never tried a first-person shooter before.

More serious gamers will go right to the campaign mode. Aside from the usual running, shooting and hiding, you need to use the Wii remote to throw grenades, tune enemy radios or set explosives — actions that are easier to execute without the Zapper. Still, with its intuitive controls and precise gunplay, "Heroes 2" is one of the Wii's best shooters yet. Three stars.

_"Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles" (Capcom, $49.99): Like the arcade version of "Heroes 2," "Umbrella Chronicles" moves you along a predetermined path; your only job is to shoot the zombies and other monsters that want to eat you. It's not as satisfying as, say, 2005's "Resident Evil 4," but it's good, brainless fun.

"Chronicles" recreates classic scenarios from previous games in the series, and fans will enjoy the trip down memory lane. But a newcomer can have fun too, particularly when joining forces with a veteran in one of the cooperative levels.

The aiming isn't accurate enough, especially when you need to hit a small spot on a very large beast. And some of the boss fights seem unfair, with difficulty levels that are way out of whack with the rest of the game. Having a helper definitely makes the ordeal more manageable — and enjoyable. Two-and-a-half stars.

Stottlemyre makes Hall ballot debut

Todd Stottlemyre delivered when the Blue Jays were in need of a lift. On Aug. 26, 1992, Stottlemyre took the mound in Chicago, trying to point Toronto back in the right direction after the club had piled up six losses in its past seven games.

The White Sox were helpless. Stottlemyre methodically sliced through Chicago's lineup, holding the Sox without a hit until Dan Pasqua doubled with one out in the eighth inning. Toronto's starter finished the job, completing a one-hit shutout victory that ignited a late-season surge for the Blue Jays.

Toronto racked up 25 wins over its final 36 games during that magical '92 campaign, when the Jays cruised all the way to their first World Series title in franchise history. Stottlemyre played an important role in helping the Blue Jays reach that plateau, and now he's being honored with a place on the Baseball Writers' Association of America Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

Voting results for the Hall of Fame will be announced on Jan. 8, and candidates need to be named on five percent of the ballots to be considered again. Joining the hallowed halls in Cooperstown, N.Y., will be a tall task for Stottlemyre, but he enjoyed a memorable Major League career nonetheless.

Over 14 seasons in the big leagues, Stottlemyre compiled a 138-121 record, good enough for a .533 career winning percentage between stints with the Blue Jays, A's, Cardinals, Rangers and Diamondbacks. The 6-foot-3 right-hander spent seven of those seasons in Toronto, where he won World Series titles in 1992 over the Braves and in '93 against the Phillies.

Stottlemyre didn't retire without accumulating some hardware, either. In 2000, he was honored with both the Branch Rickey Award and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award -- accolades that recognize character and efforts off the field. Stottlemyre was involved in community initiatives with the Caring for Kids organization.

On the field, Stottlemyre -- the son of Mel Stottlemyre, who won 164 games with the Yankees from 1964-74 -- finished his career with 1,587 strikeouts and had eight seasons with 10 or more wins. The Blue Jays selected Stottlemyre in the first round (third overall) during the secondary phase of the 1985 First-Year Player Draft, and he moved into Toronto's rotation on a full-time basis four years later.

In his career with the Jays, Stottlemyre finished with a 69-70 record. The righty enjoyed his best season in 1991, when he went 15-8 with a 3.78 ERA and 116 strikeouts across 34 starts. Stottlemyre left Toronto via free agency in 1995, when he elected to sign with Oakland. In his first tour with the A's, Stottlemyre went 14-7 with a 4.55 ERA and finished second in the American League with 205 strikeouts.

Beyond the two World Series runs with the Blue Jays, Stottlemyre also made playoff appearances for the Cardinals, Rangers and Diamondbacks. In 15 career postseason games over 10 series, Stottlemyre posted a 3-5 record with a 5.91 ERA and 48 strikeouts over 53 1/3 innings.

On June 16, 1995, Stottlemyre recorded a career-best 15 strikeouts in a 10-inning performance against the Royals. But the signature moment in Stottlemyre's career might be during that late-August outing in 1992 at Comiskey Park, where he helped the Blue Jays to a much-needed win en route to the Fall Classic.

2008 Candidates

The 2008 ballot features 25 candidates, with 14 returnees and 11 newcomers.
• Brady Anderson
• Harold Baines
• Rod Beck
• Bert Blyleven
• Dave Concepcion
• Andre Dawson
• Shawon Dunston
• Chuck Finley
• Travis Fryman
• Rich Gossage
• Tommy John
• David Justice
• Chuck Knoblauch
• Don Mattingly
• Mark McGwire
• Jack Morris
• Dale Murphy
• Robb Nen
• Dave Parker
• Tim Raines
• Jim Rice
• Jose Rijo
• Lee Smith
• Todd Stottlemyre
• Alan Trammell

James Brown recordings locked in dispute

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The legal feud over the estate of James Brown is stalling the release of the soul legend's final recordings, his longtime adviser said.

Brown cut an album in Los Angeles the summer before he died in December 2006, but the songs are not being released because of courtroom disputes about who should benefit from his legacy and music royalties, said attorney Buddy Dallas. There are also between 50 and 60 other previously recorded songs in vaults, Dallas said.

Brown's fourth son, Daryl, is one of five heirs trying to have their father's will voided because they say his former advisers — including Dallas — used undue influence to get the singer to create charitable trusts from which the advisers would profit. The other advisers named in the lawsuit are Alford Bradley and David Cannon.

Dallas quit as an estate trustee in November but now is trying to retract his resignation.

Daryl Brown, who is lead guitarist for his father's backing band, the Soul Generals, says he is not aware of any recordings done in California in 2006. Brown and the Soul Generals were working on an album at a studio in Georgia, but they only finished two songs before the singer died, his son said.

But he said there are dozens of unreleased songs stored in vaults and on master tapes at Brown's Beech Island, S.C., estate.

Brown died on Christmas Day 2006 of heart failure. He was 73.

Actress Billie Piper marries actor Laurence Fox

LONDON (AFP) - Actress Billie Piper has tied the knot with fellow actor Laurence Fox in a Monday afternoon ceremony in a West Sussex village.

The 25-year old former Dr Who assistant and her new husband emerged from the Parish Church of St Mary's in Eastbourne after a 50-minute New Year's Eve ceremony.

Piper's ex-husband, radio presenter Chris Evans, and his new wife Natasha Shishmanian were among the wedding guests, as was Dr Who actor David Tennant.

It is believed that the wedding reception is being held at one of Evans's pubs.

At the age of 15, Piper became Britain's youngest female singer to have a number one single with 'Because we want to' in 1998.

She has since turned to acting and following a successful stint on Dr Who, Piper recently took up the role of Belle de Jour in the ITV2 series Secret Diary Of A Call Girl.

Fox, not quite as famous as his new wife, is best known for playing Kevin Whately's Lewis in the spin-off from Inspector Morse.

Mindy McCready is released from jail

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Mindy McCready, who was sentenced in September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest, has been released from jail.

The 32-year-old country singer was released Sunday morning, said a clerk at the Williamson County jail.

The violation occurred in July when McCready was accused of scuffling with her mother and resisting arrest at her mother's home in Fort Myers, Fla.

She still must serve two years' probation.

Her attorney, Lee Ofman, said McCready has learned her lesson and will stay out of trouble.

She had a No. 1 single in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time."

NBC: Golden Globes Still a Go

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Will the ongoing writers' strike take some of the glow off this year's Golden Globes? Not if NBC has anything to say about it.

The Peacock confirmed Monday it will proceed with airing the 65th annual installment of the pre-Oscar kudofest live from Los Angeles as planned on Jan. 13—despite the threat of picketing from the Writers Guild of America and fears that many of the nominated stars might not show up out of solidarity to striking scribes.

The latter possibility has sparked speculation that NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would scotch the ceremony to avoid damaging the show's credibility and the telecast's viability. The Globes' usual star-drawing power makes it a ratings success.

The WGA has refused to grant the Globes a strike waiver. Speaking to the New York Times over the weekend, WGA strike coordinator Jeff Hermanson said the guild would position strikers along the sidewalks around the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

"If the Globes is telecast and it is produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is a struck company, we will picket the show," Hermanson said.

Such actions, of course, would likely prevent A-listers from attending, concerned that an appearance might garner them negative publicity as strikebusters. Publicists for many stars say their clients have already signaled they wouldn't turn out for any struck productions.

Further complicating matters is the Screen Actors Guild's own potential work action against networks and studios. SAG's current deal expires in June, and actors have threatened to follow the WGA and strike if their demands for a larger share of payments related to new-media growth are not met.

The Times quoted several unnamed insiders saying the Foreign Press Association has begun exploring ways to ensure nominees such as Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Keira Knightley, Denzel Washington, Katherine Heigl and George Clooney make the scene without incurring any sort of public backlash or embarrassment.

Among the ideas bandied about: nixing the dinner and trophy fest in favor of a Webcast or a private affair, the organization's first since 1979.

Already, CBS and producers of the Jan. 8 People's Choice Awards have decided to tweak the format to avoid any hassles with picketing scribes

The network announced last week that instead of airing live this year, the People's Choice Awards will do away with the traditional red carpet and ceremony and instead tape segments ahead of time in a magazine format hosted by Queen Latifah.

But a rep for NBC told E! Online Monday that the Globes "show will go on" as scheduled and declined to talk contingency plans. The network continues to run promos for the event, touting the glittery nominee slate.

Jorge Camara, president of the HFPA, says there is no intention of canceling the event.

Globes organizers aren't the only ones with strike issues.

Producers for the late-night shows are scrambling to fill guest slots, as the shows are set to come back over the next few days.

NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, along with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live will air fresh episodes starting Wednesday without the benefit of their writers. That means each show will likely depend on its host's improvisational skills, pretaped bits from the field (generated by producers, not scribes), more musical guests and extended interviews.

The same will apply to Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who'll be returning to their respective anchor desks on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report Jan. 7 sans scribes.

"I expect these shows to have a much harder time booking guests," WGA East spokesman Sherry Goldman told USA Today. "We'd hope they'd honor the picket line and respect the fact that it's a struck show."

Leno's first guest Wednesday will be a political figure, Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. No word yet on guests for O'Brien and Kimmel's shows.

CBS will fare a bit better. Since David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Productions wholly owns The Late Show and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, he was able to strike a separate deal with the Writers Guild, allowing both of those programs to retain their writing staffs when they resume broadcasting this week.

Letterman not only gets to do a WGA-approved monologue Wednesday, he has lined up Robin Williams as well as country star Shooter Jennings. Bill Maher, Juno star Ellen Page and the cast of Broadway's Young Frankenstein will appear on Thursday's show, while Donald Trump and Lupe Fiasco will be the featured guests for Friday.