SCTVers reunite for charity event

TORONTO - For some, it was Catherine O'Hara's unhinged Lola Heatherton, for others it was Eugene Levy's impersonation of a near-comatose Perry Como, for still others it was Tex and Edna Boyle and their bizarre organ emporium.

Almost every Canadian has a favourite SCTV character, moment or routine - and so, too, do a litany of comics who have been paying tribute to the zany and groundbreaking troupe as some of its most famous members prepare to reunite next week in Toronto for two shows.

"It's tremendously uplifting and one of the greatest rewards, to hear your peers, and these really great comic minds, saying they look up to us," the U.S.-born Joe Flaherty, 66, said Wednesday from his home in Toronto, where he's lived since the early 1970s.

"It's the best you can do, to get those kinds of accolades."

Dave Foley, currently touring North America with the Kids in the Hall as they enjoy a reunion of their own, says he was an insanely devoted fan of "SCTV" as soon as it started airing on the CBC in 1976.

"When I was a kid we lived in Creemore, which is about an hour out of Toronto, and we only got two TV channels clearly," Foley recalled in a recent interview from Boston.

"We had this old antenna lying on the floor in our attic and I'd have to go up for about two hours of fiddling with this antenna so that we could watch 'SCTV' each week. I would be up there ... shouting out the window to my brother downstairs: 'Can you see anything?' We had to do that every single week because we loved that show so much right from its first airing."

SCTV, in fact, had a huge impact on "The Kids in the Hall" as Foley and the four other Kids decided where to take their TV show a decade later.

"They were a big part of why we don't do any parodies - because of how much we loved 'SCTV,"' he said. "'SCTV' just did it way better than we could ever do it."

Foley counts the SCTV spoof "The Grapes of Mud," Levy's imitation of an Alex Trebek type on "Half Wits" and any time the late John Candy showed up as the smarmy Johnny LaRue as among his favourite SCTV moments, but was quick to add that it was almost impossible to name favourites.

British-born comic Tracey Ullman recalls moving to the U.S. more than 20 years ago and immediately becoming enthralled with "SCTV" and the hysterical goings-on at the local TV station in the fictional town of Melonville.

"It was so cutting edge compared to anything else they were doing in the U.S. at the time - it was brilliant and really, it still is brilliant," Ullman said recently in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

As a female comic, Ullman said she was particularly blown away by Catherine O'Hara - especially her portrayal of a kooky D-list entertainer who frequently appeared on the Sammy Maudlin talk show and shrieked: "I love you! I want to bear your children!"

"The impersonation of Lola Heatherton was just fabulous because Catherine O'Hara is such a great actress. It was more than an impersonation, it wasn't a surface impersonation - there was a lot of stuff underneath that was brilliant. She's the absolute funniest."

Brent Butt, star and creator of CTV's hit comedy "Corner Gas," said he still watches SCTV whenever he can and marvels at how sharp and funny the humour remains.

"It holds up better than a lot of shows and is still every bit as funny as it was then," Butt said from Vancouver.

"But the two who really stand out for me are Johnny LaRue and Bobby Bittman. Bobby Bittman because I always wanted to be a standup, and here was this guy who was this cartoonish stereotype of all the bad standups in the world - this guy was the guy not to be, but you were always pulling for him," he said. "Johnny LaRue was so pathetic, but so funny."

The jovial Flaherty, whose memorable "SCTV" characters included poker-faced news anchor Floyd Robertson and an alcoholic Hugh Beaumont in a "Leave It to Beaver" parody, said he's not nervous about taking to the stage next Monday and Tuesday nights in Toronto.

The shows - featuring him, O'Hara, Levy, Andrea Martin, Martin Short and Harold Ramis - are aimed at raising funds for veteran artistic and support personnel from "SCTV" and the Second City theatre troupe who are facing health or financial hardships.

No media have been accredited to cover the shows, and they were conceived simply as low-key affairs meant to raise charity money.

"We're only going to rehearse on Sunday," Flaherty said.

"We're doing some SCTV characters, we're doing some stage stuff that we all did on stage at Second City, and we're doing some improvisation. It should be interesting, that's for sure, but the best thing is that it's put us all in touch again."

Flaherty says age, however, has slowed everyone down slightly.

"Yes, we're all together and we're a lot older," he said with a laugh. "The more I look at it, the more I see why comedy works so well for the young."

Nine Inch Nails hammers scalpers with new policy

NEW YORK (Billboard) - In a move meant to get fans into premium seats and bypass ticket brokers and scalpers, industrial-rock band Nine Inch Nails has reserved tickets to each of its upcoming summer tour dates for registered users of its Web site, NIN.com.

The limited allotment of tickets will be made available through online pre-sales only to users registered under their legal names on NIN.com. Tickets acquired through these pre-sales will be marked with the purchaser's name and will have to be picked up at the appropriate venue on the date of the event. A valid government-issued ID matching the name printed on the ticket will be required for entrance.

The pre-sales will begin about 72 hours before general online ticket sales for each event.

Nine Inch Nails' summer tour kicks off July 25 at the Pemberton Festival in Pemberton, British Columbia, and continues through September 6.

Nine Inch Nails' new fan ticketing procedure follows similar strategies from bands like Pearl Jam and Maroon 5, who have also required fans who purchase tickets from their Web sites to pick up tickets with valid I.D. at the concert only.

MADD attacks 'Grand Theft Auto IV'

LOS ANGELES - Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants a stricter rating on "Grand Theft Auto IV."

The organization is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the independent organization that assigns video-game ratings, to reclassify "GTA IV" as an Adults Only game. The action-driving game, which includes the ability to drive while intoxicated, is currently rated Mature.

"Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke," MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. "Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable."

MADD is also calling on publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Rockstar Games to consider stopping distribution of the game — which analysts expect to sell 9 million copies and make over $400 million at launch — "out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving."

In the critically acclaimed open-world game, players have the choice of patronizing a bar and then attempting to drive drunk. While virtually under the influence, the screen becomes blurred and the controls are more difficult to use. Players also have the option of hailing a taxi or walking. The intoxication effects wear off after a few minutes in the game.

"We have a great deal of respect for MADD's mission, but we believe the mature audience for 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game's content," Rockstar Games said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday. "For the same reason that you can't judge an entire film or television program by a single scene, you can't judge 'Grand Theft Auto IV' by a small aspect of the game."

"GTA IV" follows the criminal exploits of protagonist Niko Bellic, an imigrant-turned-gangster who travels from Eastern Europe to Liberty City, the game's fictional locale based on New York City. As Bellic, players can hijack cars, earn cash for criminal activities, shoot innocent bystanders and visit strip clubs.

MADD declined to comment further about their statement.

McCready back to recording after Clemens report

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mindy McCready has "caught her breath" and gone back to work on a new album following her admission of a long-standing relationship with Roger Clemens, a representative for the country star said Wednesday.

"The first day was really difficult for her. She really has caught her breath," her management consultant, John Dotson, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "She did vocals yesterday and will do vocals today.

McCready told The New York Daily News on Monday that she "cannot refute anything" in the newspaper's original report posted Sunday night on its Web site. The story said Clemens and McCready met in a Florida karaoke bar when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and he was a 28-year-old pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a married father of two.

"This is Roger's situation to deal with and we've come back to work," Dotson said. "We didn't go looking for this. They called us. We have a record to make and are in the middle of negotiating a deal on a reality show."

Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper said McCready went with Clemens to his hotel room after their first meeting, but that they did not have sex. The relationship turned intimate after she later moved to Nashville and became a country star, the paper said.

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed that the pitcher and singer had known each other for a long time but told the newspaper that no sex was involved. At no time did Clemens engage in inappropriate or improper relationship with her, said Hardin, who described McCready as a longtime friend of Clemens and his family.

Still, the report could undermine Clemens' reputation, which is central to a defamation lawsuit he filed against former personal trainer Brian McNamee.

McNamee contends Clemens used performance-enhancing substances during his major league career.

The 32-year-old McCready came to Nashville in 1994 with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a contract with BNA Records. Two years later, her song "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1 on the country charts.

But her subsequent albums didn't sell as well, and she lost her record deal. Attempts to restart her career tanked.

McCready, who's currently signed to Denver-based Iconic Records, has had a string of legal and personal problems in recent years and was sentenced last September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest. She was released from jail Dec. 30.

The newspaper reported that Clemens sent cash to McCready to help her with legal issues and reached out to her when she was in jail.

Dotson said McCready will be meeting with a New York-based public relations firm this week to "see what to do next."

"We want to be sure we don't inadvertently do something wrong," he said.

The Kids in the Hall are back

Men dressed as women. Jokes that skewer religion. A sex-crazed chicken lady.

About 1,600 Kids in the Hall fans roared their approval in Winnipeg on Sunday night as the envelope-pushing comedy troupe made the first Canadian stop on its reunion tour.

Scott Thompson, reprising the flamboyant Buddy Cole character he made famous on the Kids' TV series, got some of the biggest laughs of the night when he tried to make the case that Jesus was gay.

"He's a 33-year-old unmarried man who wanders the desert with 12 other bachelors. They're drinking a lot of wine and scrubbing each other's feet," Thompson said.

It's the type of joke to be expected from a troupe that once re-enacted Christ's crucifixion to a Dr. Seuss-style rhyming narrative.

The Kids – Thompson, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald and Mark McKinney – scored a big hit with their TV show that ran on the CBC from 1989 to 1995 and continues to air in reruns. Their first reunion tour ended in 2002.

They had always planned to reunite again, and the recent writers' strike in Hollywood gave them some free time by putting some of their current projects on hiatus.

Having already played several American cities, the Kids in the Hall bring their show to Coquitlam, B.C., Calgary and Edmonton next month, and have two dates scheduled for Toronto in June.

New Releases, April 29: Madonna, Def Leppard, Steve Winwood

Madonna "Hard Candy"

The legendary "Material Girl" will look to add to her already substantial wealth with the release of her 11th studio record. This follow-up to 2005's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" includes the hit single "4 Minutes," which features guest stars Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

Madonna reportedly has stated in radio interviews that she intends to tour this year in support of "Hard Candy." Her last batch of road work came with 2006's "Confessions Tour," which was one of that year's top grossing tours.

The vocalist, who became one of the first of the new generation of MTV stars with 1984's "Like a Virgin," was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall's class of 2008 also included John Mellencamp and Leonard Cohen.

* * *
Def Leppard "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge"

The multi-platinum rock act, known for the '80s mega-hit albums "Pyromania" and "Hysteria," returns with its 14th studio record. "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge" follows 2006's all-covers release "Yeah!" and is the band's first set of newly written material since 2002's "X."

The 11-track offering includes the single "Nine Lives," which is a collaboration with country crooner Tim McGraw. The song has been selected as the featured track in a special opening segment recorded for NBA games airing on ABC television.

Def Leppard plans to support "Sparkle Lounge" on the road, yet it's had to cancel some shows recently while lead vocalist Joe Elliott recuperates from an upper respiratory tract infection, according to a statement on the band's website.

* * *
Steve Winwood "Nine Lives"

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, inducted in 2004 as a member of Traffic, is set to release his first studio album in five years. "Nine Lives" follows 2003's "About Time" and, indeed, consists of nine tracks, including the first single, "Dirty City," which features a guest appearance from Eric Clapton.

"Nine Lives" is yet another milestone in what's already been a big year for Winwood. Most notably, the singer/songwriter made major headlines when he reunited with Clapton (his old bandmate in Blind Faith) for a three-show run at Madison Square Garden in New York City earlier this year.

He'll join up with another legendary rock act--Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers--for a massive tour that kicks off May 30 in Grand Rapids, MI. The trek will stop in roughly 40 cities and continues through August.

* * *
Mudcrutch "Mudcrutch"

Before there were the Heartbreakers, there was Mudcrutch. This band--featuring Tom Petty on vocals and bass, Mike Campbell on guitar, Benmont Tench on keyboards, Tom Leadon on guitar and vocals, and Randall Marsh on drums--only recorded one single and dissolved in 1975.

Gone, but Mudcrutch was not forgotten--at least not by Petty aficionados, who always wanted to get the chance to hear Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band. With the release of this eponymous debut, those fans will finally get to hear Mudcrutch perform its swamp-flavored country-rock tunes.

* * *
Portishead "Third"

The trip-hoppers are back with--you guessed it--their "Third" studio album. The new album follows the studio efforts "Dummy" and "Portishead" from, respectively, 1994 and 1997, as well as the 1998 concert disc "Roseland NYC Live." The band performed last weekend at Southern California's mammoth Coachella Valley music festival.

* * *
More new releases:
Augustana, "Can't Love, Can't Hurt" (Sony)
Mark Chesnutt, "Rollin' with the Flow" (Lofton Creek)
Brian Culbertson, "Bringing Back the Funk" (GRP)
Estelle, "Shine" (Atlantic)
Lyfe Jennings, "Lyfe Change" (Sony)
Mana, "Arde el Cielo" (Warner Bros.)
Martina McBride, "Live in Concert" (RCA)
Sarah McLachlan, "Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff, Volume 2" (Arista)
The Roots, "Rising Down" (Def Jam)
Santogold, "Santogold" (Downtown)
Carly Simon, "This Kind of Love" (Hear Music)
Phil Stacey, "Phil Stacey" (Lyric Street)
Testament, "The Formation of Damnation" (Nuclear Blast)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Lost: Season 3" (Varese)

Yorke: Radiohead's 'Rainbows' Strategy Was A 'One-Off'

It was a pivotal moment for the music industry which many thought sounded the death knell for recorded music sales, but Radiohead won't be repeating their decision to let fans choose what to pay for their downloads, frontman Thom Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.

"I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Yorke said of the band's decision last October to let viewers pay what they wanted for digital downloads of their album "In Rainbows."

"Yes. It was a one-off in terms of a story. It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don't think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time."

Radiohead's decision to allow fans to pay into the online equivalent of an honesty box for the album came shortly after they walked away from troubled record label EMI, sparking acres of comment about the future direction of the music industry and the dwindling revenue pot from CD sales.

The band has remained quiet about whether the experiment was a success, with many fans thought to have downloaded the album without paying anything at all. "In Rainbows" was later released conventionally as a CD.

But the groundbreaking move towards potentially free music has been adopted by a number of artists including Prince and Nine Inch Nails. Most recently Coldplay said Monday (April 28) that they would give away their new single "Violet Hill" free of charge, resulting in the site crashing due to demand.

Speaking as Radiohead were promoting their pro-social anti sex and labor trafficking initiative with MTV, Yorke said that successful bands had new ways to communicate directly with fans.

"We are about that direct relationship (now) because we are big enough to establish that."

Under the music broadcaster's EXIT (end exploitation and trafficking) campaign, MTV and Radiohead have jointly produced a video for "In Rainbows" track "All I Need" which will premiere on all MTV's channels and sites globally on May 1.

Yorke said the band had linked with MTV to highlight such issues as child slavery, enforced servitude and sex trafficking because it was "about exploiting a situation while you have the chance."

"All power to MTV for taking this on because its obviously going to be difficult for them in terms of the advertisers," he said. "If you talk about slave labour, then the issue of cheap goods from the East is all about that.

With the [All I Need] video their lawyers had to beg to make sure there wasn't a single white [sneaker] with a logo on it because the implication would be a little too close. But the implication is still there," he concluded.

"If [MTV] are able to break the taboo of enslavement and put it onto the agenda then its a good thing. If they get people to think in terms of the profits we make in the West because of cheap labor, then that's a good thing."

MTV vice chairman Bill Roedy said the initiative would raise awareness.

"Trafficking is a crime which violates the basic rights of its victims ... we endeavor to support and advocate these rights -- and empower our audience -- through initiatives like MTV EXIT and other MTV projects."

Label: Winehouse's 'Bond' Theme 'Speculation'

Amy Winehouse might well be working on the theme song to the next installment of the James Bond series, but her record company is downplaying the move.

Winehouse has been in the studio working with Mark Ronson, producer of her hit sophomore album "Back To Black," an Island Records spokesman confirms.

"She has been doing some work in the studio, but [the Bond theme] is speculation, basically."

Ronson told BBC 6Music that the pair had been working on a track for the upcoming Bond film "Quantum Of Solace." He told the digital station that there was no official guarantee that the fruits of their recording efforts would be included in the action movie, which is due for a theatrical release in November.

"It would be lovely," adds the Island spokesman, "but there's nothing to confirm at this stage."

'Scrubs' is sewn up -- quietly

Like a tipsy party guest, it's going to be pretty tough for "Scrubs" to gracefully exit NBC.

The network's final "Scrubs" episode airs next week, concluding its run with the network after seven seasons. But you'd never know it from watching NBC or perusing the entertainment media.

At the conclusion of what was the comedy's third-to-last episode on NBC on Thursday, viewers were simply urged to check out the show's interactive features on NBC.com. The usual array of creator and cast interviews that usually accompany the final episodes of a concluding series are likewise largely absent.

The super low-key exit for "Scrubs" is tied to what's become the worst-kept secret in Hollywood: that the veteran comedy is moving to ABC. The long-pending deal for ABC to pick up 18 episodes of "Scrubs" for next season is effectively, pretty much, essentially, done.

Production has been under way for weeks, while cast and crew have been encouraged to keep quiet. A television studio producing a comedy costing north of $1 million per episode without anybody saying who the episodes are for is considered highly unusual, if not a little weird.

ABC plans to confirm the acquisition at next month's upfront presentation.

Holding series pickup news until the upfronts is a typical network strategy this time of year. In the case of "Scrubs," ABC also is waiting for the show to end its Peacock run. NBC came out swinging when news of the series' move to ABC first leaked, accusing producer ABC Studios of violating NBC's right of first negotiation. The parties have since patched things up, but a premature celebration by ABC could inflame the situation.

That leaves NBC in the similarly odd position of promoting a farewell to a longtime series that's headed across the dial.

A network spokesperson said NBC will run promos for the final "Scrubs" episode and gamely bill it as "a season finale" rather than "a series finale." Back in 2001, WB Network called its last episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" the "WB series finale" rather than acknowledge the show had scored a second life on UPN.

In an interesting twist, "Scrubs' " stock has shown some life on NBC recently.

When paired with NBC's hit "The Office" since the conclusion of the strike, the medical comedy has outperformed its average last year by 17% with a 3.5 average rating among adults 18-49. But the show's real test will come when it moves to ABC, where it will likely have to help jump-start a freshman comedy.

The Couch Potato Report - April 26th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels a man and a mannequin, a boxer and a reporter and the made-in-Quebec film Summit Circle.

Had anyone...anyone else played the lead role in this week's Hot Potato, the film could have been dismissed as an interesting premise, poorly realized or a stupid high concept comedy.

But since the lead in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is played by Canadian Ryan Gosling, a tremendous actor who has played a drug addicted inner-city teacher in HALF NELSON, a Jewish man who develops a fiercely anti-Semitic worldview in THE BELIEVER, and a guy with a broken heart who hopes to win back the love of his life in THE NOTEBOOK, since Gosling is playing Lars, what could have come off as a lewd, crude or just disturbing film instead plays as one that is very believable, smart and thoughtful.

I really liked this movie!

So, all that said, let me tell you what LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is about.

Gosling plays Lars, a socially awkward man who spends his days working in a cubical and his nights alone in the garage-turned-apartment he lives in outside of his parents old house.

His brother Gus and sister-in-law Karin now live in that house, and he repeatedly turns down their invitations to eat with them.

But then, one night, Lars knocks on their door and announces that he has met someone, and when he asks Gus and Karen if she can stay in the extra room in the house they are overwhelmed...until they "meet" her.

You see, "Bianca" is actually a life-sized, anatomically correct doll - for adult use - one of the high priced ones, not the cheap blow-up models - and Lars talks to her and treats her as if she was real.

The local psychiatrist, believes that the best approach to Lars' delusion is to play along with it, so the entire town starts to treat Bianca with respect, and act as if she is real.

As I said, I really liked this movie, and if you can suspend your disbelief that everyone in the movie's small town would play along, then I think you will too.

Yes, it does get a little slow towards the end, but Gosling is so good that he pulls this premise off in a way that many actors could not.

Whether you watch it with friends, or with a "Bianca" of your own, I hope you enjoy LARS AND THE REAL GIRL as much as I did!

The made-in-Calgary film RESURRECTING THE CHAMP is our next challenger this morning.

This film, weighing in at 112 minutes, was inspired by a true story...or as the film's tagline reads: Based on a true story, that was based on a lie.

In this picture, an up-and-coming newspaper sports reporter rescues a homeless man from some teenagers who are beating him up, only to find out that the man may just be a former heavyweight boxing contender who is long believed to have passed away.

Josh Hartnett from SIN CITY and LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN plays the reporter, and Mr. Samuel L. Jackson is The Champ, but the newspaper story they tell - however compelling - just might not be true...and - if that is the case - they are both to blame for that

But, whether the story is or isn't true made the film compelling enough for me to want to stick around to see how it ended.

Sadly, the ending of RESURRECTING THE CHAMP is a bit too Hollywood perfect, and along the way it does drag at times, but I still found the film interesting and engaging.

While not a technical knock out, this film still wins by a split decision on my score card.

Finally this week is the made in Quebec film SUMMIT CIRCLE.

It focusses on Réjeanne - a long-time switchboard operator whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband Gilles suffers a debilitating stroke.

The movie takes place in both the past and in the present, with the latter revolving around a police lieutenant's attempts to solve Gilles' murder and the former storyline dealing dealing with Réjeanne and Gilles' crumbling relationship after his troke, and the eventual loss of their home on Summit Circle.

As the movie plays out, and Réjeanne's difficulties increase, it becomes increasingly difficult not to sympathize with her plight, and the time-shifting structure employed by the director is very effective...but unfortunately it all builds to an ending that isn't completely satisfying, and as such, I enjoyed SUMMIT CIRCLE, but I can't completely recommend it.

The made-in-Montreal, good but not great SUMMIT CIRCLE, the made-in-Calgary split decision RESURRECTING THE CHAMP and the filmed-in-Toronto LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, which I really enjoyed, are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

The Academy Award nominated foreign film THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY debuts on DVD along with the would-be fantasy epic THE GOLDEN COMPASS, Disney's CLASSIC CABALLEROS COLLECTION featuring SALUDOS AMIGOS and THREE CABALLEROS; and also next week is a Canadian Classic...the FIRST Canadian film with sound, in fact...the made in Newfoundland THE VIKING.

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!

Stores prepare for Grand Theft Auto

Retailers are planning for an onslaught of video game fans early Tuesday morning, when Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled for release, despite the fact that the video game was hacked and posted online earlier this week.

Retailers such as Best Buy and Future Shop are opening their doors 12:01am on April 29 to handle the crowds expected to snap up the game, produced by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s Rockstar Games.

Ironically, the game, as the name suggests, lets you carjack any vehicle in Liberty City, and challenges players to work their way up the criminal underworld by performing missions for seedy characters.

Savvy Xbox 360 gamers can now download this GTA sequel from Bit Torrent sites including the popular PirateBay.org, which has replaced is main logo with a large graphic of the game's protagonist, Niko, and the words "Liberty Bay."

But the number of hoops players will have to go through to steal a digital version of this "Mature"-rated game suggest that only a small percentage will likely try and succeed.

For one, you first need to download a 7 gigabyte file, which is more than 2,000 times the size of a typical MP3 song. Then you need to burn this file onto a dual-layer DVD – capable of storing up to 8.5GB of data, compared to a single-layer DVD's 4.7GB of space – with a compatible dual-layer DVD burner in your PC. Finally, the Xbox 360 has to be modified or "chipped" to play the downloaded and burned game, especially as there are both NTSC and PAL versions for different geographical regions.

Co-operative and competitive multiplayer modes, which are one of the key new features in this sequel, may also not work online since they're not official copies of the game, not to mention you might be missing some single-player missions or cut-scene story sequences.

Analysts said the pirated versions of Grand Theft Auto IV are unlikely to significantly affect Take-Two's sales of the game.

This is the latest release in a highly successful game franchise from Rockstar Games. According to Take Two Interactive, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold more than 70 million units world-wide.

The last release, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was mired in controversy when it was discovered that a patch (called Hot Coffee), made it possible for the main character to engage in explicit sex acts during game play.

The latest game will be released on the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox platforms. There is no date set for a PC release.

Austin Powers 4 Not Happening

Recent speculation that Gisele Bundchen might be in talks for Austin Powers 4 had everyone convinced that a fourth movie was already happening, but we should have been suspicious. Before the rumors of her possible involvement, the film was nowhere on the radar. Now it looks like despite those rumors, it still isn’t.

Austin Powers star Seth Green recently talked to MTV and told them that as far as he knows it’s not happening and there’s no script. He says, “Austin Powers 4 is nothing more than something Mike Myers talked about off-handedly during the ‘Shrek’ press.”

Sounds pretty definitive to me. I’ll take the son of Dr. Evil’s word for it. Besides, it never made any sense. Mike Myers has clearly moved on. He’s focused on his new Love Guru character, and the whole Austin Powers thing has long since run its course. No Austin Powers 4? Count me relieved!!!

'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Will Be Back

Judgment Day won't come for at least one more season.

FOX has picked up its freshman series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" for 2008-09. The show earned a 13-episode order for 2008-09, on the heels of its strike-shortened and reasonably successful nine-episode run earlier this year.

The pickup isn't a big surprise; FOX Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly said in an interview last week that the show was already hiring staff.

"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" enjoyed a big premiere in January following an NFL playoff game, drawing better than 18 million viewers. The show's ratings fell off in its regular home on Mondays, but it still averaged 10.8 million viewers and a 4.5 rating among adults 18-49. In the latter category it's the top-rated new scripted series this season.

The series stars Lena Headey as the title character, who's obsessed with protecting her son John ( Thomas Dekker), the future leader of the human resistance against the machines that will one day wipe out most humanity. Summer Glau and Richard T. Jones also star, and Brian Austin Green, who appeared in five episodes this season, will be a regular next year.

FOX has several shows in development that could form a sci fi-tinged block with "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," including Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" and "Fringe," from J.J. Abrams' company.

Snipes gets 3 years, apologizes for `costly mistakes'

OCALA, Fla. - After haggling with revenue agents, criminal investigators and eventually U.S. prosecutors for almost a decade, Wesley Snipes finally caught them by surprise.

Hours before he was to be sentenced Thursday for failing to file income taxes he insisted he never had to pay, the action star cut the federal government three checks for $5 million, delivered in court.

So taken aback were prosecutors that they first declined the cash. But by the end of the day, the government took the money and more — a maximum three-year sentence for its highest-profile criminal tax target in decades.

"The sentencing court sends the right message to the American taxpayer — you've got to pay your taxes," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill told reporters outside the usually quiet central Florida courthouse. "Rich, poor, it doesn't matter. We all pay our taxes."

Though Snipes was convicted of three counts of willfully failing to file returns, his trial was held by some as proof of victory for the tax protest movement. Snipes was acquitted of five other charges, including felony tax fraud and conspiracy, that would've exposed him to 13 more years in prison.

Criminal tax prosecutions are relatively rare — usually the cases are handled in civil court, where the government has a lower burden of proof.

Snipes' attorneys argued the sentence was too stiff for a first-time offender convicted of three misdemeanors, and recommended he be given home detention and ordered to make public service announcements.

But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time" for U.S. tax laws.

"In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors," Hodges said.

The action star of the "Blade" trilogy, "White Men Can't Jump," "Jungle Fever" and other films hasn't filed a tax return since 1998, the government alleged. Snipes and the IRS still must determine how much he owes, plus interest and penalties. The government alleged Snipes made at least $13.8 million for the three years in question, owing at least $2.7 million in back taxes on them alone.

Snipes read aloud from a prepared apology, calling his actions "costly mistakes" but never mentioning the word "taxes." He said he was the victim of crooked advisers, a liability of wealth and celebrity that attract "wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat."

"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance," Snipes said.

His lawyers said he was no threat to society, and offered three dozen letters from family members, friends and even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington attesting to his compassion, intelligence and value as a mentor. They called four character witnesses Thursday, including television's Judge Joe Brown, who incited applause from the gallery by suggesting Snipes was no different than "mega-corporate entities" that legally avoid taxes.

Hodges twice halted the proceedings to quiet the crowd, threatening to clear everyone out if they made another outburst.

Snipes' co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on both felony counts on which the actor was acquittal. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years, while Rosile received 4 1/2 years. Both will serve three years of supervised release.

Snipes and Rosile remain free and will be notified when they are to surrender to authorities. Defense attorney Carmen Hernandez signaled in court that Snipes would pursue an appeal.

Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries, that purported to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Snipes was a dues-paying member of the organization, and Rosile, a de-licensed accountant, prepared Snipes' paperwork.

The actor maintained in a yearslong battle with the IRS he did not have to pay taxes, using fringe arguments common to "tax protesters" who say the government has no legal right to collect. After joining Kahn's group, the government said, Snipes instructed his employees to stop paying their own taxes and sought $11 million in 1996 and 1997 taxes he legally paid.

Defense attorneys Hernandez and Daniel Meachum said Snipes was unfairly targeted because he's famous. Meachum called prosecutors "big game hunters," selectively prosecuting the actor while Kahn's some 4,000 other clients remained free.

Hodges was not swayed.

"One of the main purposes which drives selective prosecution in tax cases is deterrence," the judge said, while denying it had anything to do with his sentence. "In some instances, that means those of celebrity stand greater risk of prosecution. But there's nothing unusual about it, nor is there anything unlawful about it. It's the way the system works."

Guillermo del Toro to direct `The Hobbit' movies

LOS ANGELES - Guillermo del Toro is directing "The Hobbit" and its sequel, New Line Cinema announced Thursday.

The 43-year-old filmmaker will move to New Zealand for four years to make the films back-to-back with executive producer Peter Jackson.

Del Toro wrote and directed "Pan's Labyrinth," which earned six Oscar nominations in 2006 and won three awards. He is also the director of the upcoming sequel "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," whose monsters bear the unmistakable surreal vision of the Mexican-born filmmaker.

"I am indeed blessed to become a part of the filmmaking community that Peter, Fran and their extraordinary team of collaborators have created in New Zealand," del Toro said in a statement. "Contributing to the 'Lord of the Rings' legacy is an absolute dream come true."

Jackson and Walsh called del Toro "a cinematic magician who has never lost his childlike sense of wonder."

"We have long admired Guillermo's work and cannot think of a more inspired filmmaker to take the journey back to Middle-Earth," they said in a statement.

Jackson co-wrote, co-produced and directed the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which won 17 Oscar and 30 nominations.

Reports: Fallon to succeed Conan on 'Late Night'

NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Fallon appears to be inching closer to Conan O'Brien's "Late Night" chair. For months, Fallon has been widely considered the top choice to succeed O'Brien when he steps down next year. On Thursday, published reports said Fallon has signed, or soon will sign, a deal with NBC.

NBC had no comment Thursday on the stories by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The network had been expected to announce its choice of host within the next few weeks, possibly at its May 12 presentation for advertisers.

A former regular on "Saturday Night Live," Fallon, 33, would take over sometime next year as host of the 12:30 a.m. talk show. O'Brien is to replace Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight" show, aired at 11:30 p.m. each weeknight.

Fallon taking over "Late Night" is the only part of this talk-show turnover that remained in any doubt. The succession plan at the "Tonight" show, including Leno's departure, was announced by NBC in 2004.

But as long ago as last summer, NBC late-night boss Rick Ludwin was quoted as saying that Fallon "is at the top of our short list."

Latest from Egoyan, Eastwood, Soderbergh vie for Cannes top prize

New movies from Atom Egoyan, Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh and Wim Wenders will compete for the top prize at the upcoming Cannes International Film Festival, organizers announced in Paris Wednesday.

Canadian director Egoyan is also among the 19 directors who will vie for the Palme d'Or at the famed French festival in May.

The Toronto filmmaker's new title, Adoration, revolves around a teen who believes he is the offspring of a doomed historical couple. The film also deals with how today's youth define themselves through technology.

Eastwood will bring his 1920s-era thriller The Changeling to the 61st edition of the festival, while Soderbergh will present Che, his Che Guevara biopic starring Benicio Del Toro.

Other celebrated international filmmakers competing this year will include Germany's Wenders, with The Palermo Shooting, and Linha De Passe from Brazil's Walter Salles.

Rounding out the competition lineup are:

24 City, directed by Jia Zhangke (China).

A Christmas Story, directed by Arnaud Desplechin (France).

Delta, directed by Kornel Mondruczo (Hungary/Germany).

Gomorra, directed by Matteo Garrone (Italy).

Il Divo, directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy).

La Mujer Sin Cabeza, directed by Lucretia Martel (Argentina/Spain).

La Frontiere De L'Aube, directed by Philippe Garrel (France).

Le Silence De Lorna, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (France/Belgium).

Leonera, directed by Pablo Trapero (Argentina/South Korea).

My Magic, directed by Eric Khoo (Singapore).

Three Monkeys, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey/France/Italy).

Serbis, directed by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines).

Synecdoche, New York, directed by Charlie Kaufman (USA/France).

Waltz With Bashir, directed by Ari Folman (Israel).

Films to be screened out of competition include Steven Spielberg's eagerly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Woody Allen's latest, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and the animated comedy Kung-Fu Panda.

Screening in other programs are films from Emir Kusturica (Maradona), Terence Davies (Of Time and City), Wong Kar Wai (Ashes of Time Redux) and Marina Zenovich (Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired).

Oscar-winning U.S. actor and director Sean Penn will helm this year's jury.

His judging panel will also include U.S. actress Natalie Portman, German actress Alexandra Maria Lara and four filmmakers: Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron, France's Rachid Bouchareb, Italy's Sergio Castellitto and Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

The Cannes film festival runs May 14 to 25.

Megan Fox tops FHM's sexiest women list

LOS ANGELES - Megan Fox is the sexiest woman in the world — at least according to FHM magazine.

The "Transformers" co-star tops FHM's annual 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll of FHM readers. The 21-year-old model-actress beat out the likes of Angelina Jolie (No. 12), Rihanna (No. 14), Kim Kardashian (No. 17), Paris Hilton (No. 77) and last year's champion, Jessica Alba (No. 3).

Fox debuted on the annual list in 2006 at No. 68 and ranked at No. 65 in 2007. Joining her in the top 10 this year are — in descending order — Jessica Biel, Alba, Elisha Cuthbert, Scarlett Johansson, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Hilary Duff, Tricia Helfer, Blake Lively and Kate Beckinsale. Britney Spears came in last place at No. 100.

The women from MTV's "The Hills" duke it out on the list with Heidi Montag (No. 44) beating out Audrina Patridge (No. 80) and Lauren Conrad (No. 95). Current "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Shannon Elizabeth (No. 46) returned to the ranking after being absent last year, joining professional dancers Cheryl Burke (No. 40) and Karina Smirnoff (No. 78).

FHM said nearly 9 million votes were cast for the 14th edition of the annual poll.

New CD Releases, April 22: Ashlee Simpson, Flight of the Conchords, Lyrics Born

Ashlee Simpson "Bittersweet World"

Jessica's younger sister returns with her third album, which follows 2004's "Autobiography" and 2005's "I Am Me." "Bittersweet World" includes the single "Little Miss Obsessive," which features guest vocals from Tom Higgenson of the Plain White T's.

Simpson has been supporting "Bittersweet World" with a bevy of radio spots, Wal-Mart in-store appearances, midnight club gigs and TV appearances. Plans reportedly are also in the works for a summer tour.

* * *
Flight of the Conchords "Flight of the Conchords"

The self-titled, full-length debut from comedy/music act Flight of the Conchords is finally set to land in stores. "Flight of the Conchords" follows the group's 2007 EP, "The Distant Future," which won this year's Grammy for Best Comedy Album.

Comedians/musicians Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement have been flying high ever since their hit TV series "Flight of the Conchords" premiered on HBO last summer. The show follows the trials and tribulations of a digi-folk duo from New Zealand as they try to make a name for themselves in their adopted home of New York City. The series is expected to return for a second season next year.

The Conchords will support the new album with a 12-show, coast-to-coast trek that includes a two-night stand in New York City and a performance at George, WA's Sasquatch! Festival.

* * *
Lyrics Born "Everywhere at Once"

The San Francisco Bay Area rapper is back with a follow-up to his acclaimed concert disc, "Lyrics Born Live." The hip-hop star, whose real name is Tom Shimura, is best known for his popular single "Callin' Out," which also served as the soundtrack to a Diet Coke commercial that starred actor Adrien Brody.

* * *
Whitesnake "Good to be Bad"

The melodic heavy metal troupe is finally ready to break its silence and release its first album of new studio material since 1997's "Restless Heart." The group was last heard on its 2006 concert offering, "Live: In the Shadow of the Blues." All 11 tracks on "Good to be Bad" were written by Whitesnake's David Coverdale and Doug Aldrich.

* * *

Donny Osmond "From Donny With Love"

This new compilation focuses on the love songs from Osmond's lengthy catalog. The 18-track offering includes such fan favorites as "Puppy Love," "Let's Stay Together" and "Right Here Waiting."

* * *
More new releases:
Atmosphere, "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That (Expletive) Gold" (Rhymesayers)
Billy Bragg, "Mr. Love & Justice" (Anti)
Armin van Buuren, "Imagine" (Ultra)
Elbow, "The Seldom Seen Kid" (Geffen)
Carole King, "Tapestry-Legacy Edition" (Sony)
Love, "Forever Changes" (Rhino)
Replacements, "Hootenanny" (Rhino)
Replacements, "Let It Be" (Rhino)
Replacements, "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash" (Rhino)
Replacements, "Stink" (Rhino)
Tantric, "The End Begins" (Silent Majority)
Tokyo Police Club, "Elephant Shell" (Saddle Creek)
Phil Vassar, "Prayer of a Common Man" (Universal)
The Weepies, "Hideaway" (Nettwerk)

Soundtracks and scores:
"John Adams" (Varese)

Night Ranger tours behind new album

Veteran rockers Night Ranger are getting ready to release their first studio album in a decade and have launched a world tour to support it.

The band, which is currently in Japan, will return to North America in time to kick off its spring and summer jaunt May 11 in Oklahoma City, OK. The primarily US tour includes a June 14 stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and an Aug. 9 gig in Windsor, Ontario. On select shows, Night Ranger will team with REO Speedwagon; Foreigner; Styx and Boston; and Cinderella and Warrant.

So far, Night Ranger's schedule shows a steady string of dates through late August, with one-off gigs in September and October. Confirmed shows are listed below, and more performances are expected, according to a press release.

Night Ranger--which comprises original members Jack Blades (bass/vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums/vocals) and Brad Gillis (guitarist), along with guitarist Joel Hoekstra and keyboardist Christian Cullen--is commemorating its 25th anniversary with the July 1 US release of "Hole in the Sun." The self-produced set--Night Ranger's eighth studio album and first for VH1 Classic Records--is said to capture the vintage spirit of the '80s rockers.

"We wanted to sound new, but still keep our roots," Keagy said in a statement. "We grew up in the '70s, when pop music was really starting to thrive. Sometimes it drove you crazy because the songs were so poppy that you couldn't get them out of your head, but they were still amazing songs. We wanted to portray some of that on this album."

A couple of tracks from "Hole in the Sun" are streaming at Night Ranger's MySpace page.

The band has been supporting the new album with tour dates all over the world in the past few months, including a stop at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay to perform for US military personnel.

"Going to Guantanamo Bay Cuba to play for the troops is right up there as one of the wildest things Night Ranger has ever done," Blades said in a press release. "We've been all over the world, but never have we sung '(You Can Still) Rock in America' in a Communist country with armed Cubans watching us in guard towers just a few clicks away."

Night Ranger reached rock stardom with the 1982 release of its debut album, "Dawn Patrol," which spawned hits including "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" and "Sing Me Away." The following year's "Midnight Madness" garnered even more success with radio hits "Sister Christian" and "(You Can Still) Rock in America."

May 2008
11 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheatre (with REO Speedwagon)
22 - Trinidad, CA - Cher-Ae Heights Casino
25 - St. Louis, MO - Soldiers Memorial Park

June 2008
7 - West Wendover, NV - Montego Bay Casino & Resort
14 - San Juan, Puerto Rico - Anfiteatro Tito Puente
19 - Oshkosh, WI - Waterfest Concert Series
20 - Brookville, IN - Bicentennial Celebration
21 - Sioux City, IA - The Awesome Biker Rally
22 - The Woodlands, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (with Styx/Boston)
28 - Cheyenne, WY - William H. Brimmer Amphitheatre

July 2008
2 - Arlington Heights, IL - Frontier Days Festival
3 - Hays, KS - Frontier Park
4 - Glenview, IL - Great Lakes Naval Base
5 - Kettering, OH - Fraze Pavilion at Lincoln Park
6 - San Jose, CA - Discovery Meadow Park
11 - Pryor, OK - Rocklahoma
12 - Grapevine, TX - Glass Cactus at Gaylord Texan
19 - Fort Smith, AR - Harry E. Kelly Park
25 - St. Clair, MI - Palmer Park
26 - Maquoketa, IA - Jackson County Fair Iowa
27 - Lake Ozark, MO - Horny Toad Entertainment Complex

August 2008
2 - Rifle, CO - Garfield County Fair
9 - Windsor, Ontario - Lakeshore Soccer Park
10 - Des Moines, IA - Iowa State Fair/Grandstand (with Cinderella/Warrant)
17 - St. Joseph, MO - Trails West Festival
23 - Tower, MN - Fortune Bay Casino
30 - Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Field
31 - Sparks, NV - John Ascuaga's Nugget

September 2008
28 - Jackpot, NV - Cactus Petes Casino/Ameristar Amphitheater (with Foreigner)

October 2008
1 - Tulsa, OK - Tulsa State Fair

'30 Rock,' 'Scrubs' Swap Timeslots

It seems almost fitting that as its time on NBC winds down, "Scrubs" would have to deal with one more time-slot change.

The long-running comedy, whose NBC finale is coming in a few weeks, will move to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays starting this week. It's switching places with "30 Rock," which will move to the 9:30 p.m. spot following "The Office."

The switch gives "30 Rock" a stronger lead-in. Since its return on April 10, "The Office" has averaged about 9.5 million viewers and a 4.8 rating among adults 18-49, compared to 6.9 million and 2.8 for "My Name Is Earl," which previously served as "30 Rock's" lead-in.

Over the past couple of weeks, "Scrubs" has averaged just under 7 million viewers, compared to 6.1 million for "30 Rock." Its adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 ratings have also been significantly higher, thanks in part to airing after "The Office."

"Scrubs" has bounced around the NBC schedule throughout its seven-season run, undergoing more than 15 timeslot changes in that time. It may go through one more significant change once its time on NBC ends -- there's a good chance the Disney-produced show could end up on Disney-owned ABC next year.

Elvis Costello Reveals All About 'Momofuku'

Elvis Costello has taken to his Web site to reveal the story behind "Momofuku," his new album that was released exclusively on vinyl today (April 22).

The album includes a download card that can be activated on May 1; a CD release follows on May 6 via Lost Highway.

"The absence of much advance notice or information might seem a little strange and perverse but the record was made so quickly that I didn't even tell myself about it for a couple weeks," Costello says.

The sessions for "Momofuku" were inspired by work Costello did on Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis' forthcoming solo album, which featured Costello's Imposters bandmates Davey Faragher (bass) and Pete Thomas (drums).

Afterward, he booked a Los Angeles studio for six days in February to record eight newly written songs. One other song, "Song With Rose," sports lyrics co-written with Rosanne Cash, while "Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve" came out of a writing session with Loretta Lynn last year.

Thomas' daughter Tennessee, who plays drums in the Like, guests on "Stella Hurt," while Lewis and her beau Johnathan Rice contributed to a number of the tracks. As many as nine musicians played on "Turpentine" and "Song for Rose," which Costello calls "a fine old noise."

"Every record has its own method. This was the one for these songs," Costello says. As for the unusual name, it is not related to the hip New York restaurant Momofuku Noodle Bar, bur rather "a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water."

Alison Moyet fulfils wish with Yazoo reunion

LONDON (Billboard) - For Alison Moyet, the upcoming Yazoo reunion tour represents a chance to complete some unfinished business.

Although the British singer has carved out a hugely successful career as a solo artist since parting ways with her Yazoo protagonist Vince Clarke in the early 1980s, Moyet says she has always hankered to play the duo's electro-driven pop hits on stage.

"I wanted to do it, and never stopped wanting to do it," she tells Billboard. "If it had been one gig, it would have been good. I just wanted to do it."

As it turns out, the public wanted more than one gig. The duo's Reconnected tour itinerary has grown significantly since it was first announced last year. It will now begin May 26 in Copenhagen and proceed to Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"I don't know how much of a window we'll be able to get in that kind of time," Moyet says of potential additional dates. "And I don't know how long that window's going to stay open for. We've had some really interesting things we've had to turn down just because of logistics. I like to not know things too far in advance because I get cabin fever."

Yazoo (or Yaz as they are known in the U.S.) enjoyed a brief, but fruitful recording career, which yielded just two albums. Both sets, "Upstairs at Eric's" and "You and Me Both," were commercial and critical successes, and generated a raft of hit singles including "Only You," "Don't Go" and "Nobody's Diary."

Next month, "In Your Room," a four-disc collection of remasters, remixes, B-sides, a DVD and the band's two studio albums will hit stores. Would Moyet consider recording new material?

"I hate the idea of just making a record because we can," she says. "It would have to be if when we were together and sparking creatively and we get some great ideas, we would consider it. There's absolutely no set-in-stone plan. But if we wrote a brilliant song while we were half-pissed after a gig, then that'd be fantastic. But if we don't, then f--k it."

Asbury Park's Stone Pony to host Federici memorial

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - Friends and fans of keyboardist Danny Federici will gather at the famous Stone Pony nightclub Wednesday evening to pay tribute to the original E Street Band member who died at 58 Thursday after a three-year battle with melanoma.

Federici had performed with Bruce Springsteen since the late 1960s and became a stalwart in the E Street Band as Springsteen emerged from the Jersey shore club scene to achieve international stardom.

Stone Pony house promoter Kyle Brendle said those attending would have the opportunity to share their memories of Danny and would be invited to contribute to a memorial fund set up in his memory at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

'Corner Gas' pumped for finale

Corner Gas has only two finales left, and one of them is tonight.

The popular Canadian sitcom will air its fifth-season finale this evening on CTV. This comes on the heels of the announcement that season No. 6 will be the last for the show.

Fans can expect something special tonight, as regularly has been the case with the previous season-finales of Corner Gas.

Remember last year when we all were set up to believe that massive changes had occurred? And then, well, nothing actually changed. It was all a dream, and life went on as usual in Dog River.

As things begin tonight, it's 30 minutes before midnight, at which point Brent -- played by series creator Brent Butt -- will turn 40.

As you would expect, the other seven main characters -- Lacey, Wanda, Hank, Oscar, Emma, Davis and Karen -- are planning a big bash. But as you equally would expect, those party plans go awry.

With the final season set to begin shooting next month in Saskatchewan, Butt said he has taken the time to appreciate what a unique endeavour Corner Gas has been. After all, Canadian sitcoms usually stink; and even when they're good, usually nobody watches; so to have one that doesn't stink and people actually watch it, too? Well, sound the trumpets.

"It was an anomaly and the likelihood of having a million and a half people watch whatever I do next is pretty slim," admitted Butt, who presumably will continue to develop other projects for CTV.

'SMELL THE AUTHENTICITY'

"So I am kind of intellectually aware of that aspect. But the idea isn't to create Corner Gas again. The idea is to do the same thing I did with Corner Gas, which is, not worry about what the response is or how many people watch. Just worry about doing a funny show, and then no matter what happens, you can walk away with your head held high."

Corner Gas also has benefited from the fact that it isn't directed at any specific portion of the TV audience.

"One of the things I was most appreciative of was that CTV never gave me a demographic to write to, or any type of agenda," Butt said. "And I think people smell the authenticity of that, or felt it, you know?

"They knew we weren't trying to be something we weren't. A lot of shows try to be hip and edgy and adult, and generally fail, right? I always have found it kind of ironic that shows that consider themselves 'adult' are often the same type of show somebody in Grade 7 would write. 'And then they jump into bed and have sex, and then they go skateboarding.' "

Hmmm ... have you copyrighted that one, Brent?

In any event, tonight isn't the end of Corner Gas, but merely the beginning of the end.

"It's one of those things, kind of a no-win situation in a way," Butt said of the decision to stamp an expiry date on his pride and joy. "But I have no doubt this was the right time.

"That's the rock I'm hanging onto through all this. Whenever I seriously ask myself, 'Was this the right time?' the answer always comes back, 'Yes.' "

AC/DC confirms new album in the works in Vancouver

Australian hard rockers AC/DC have announced they will be releasing their first album in eight years, to be launched in 2008.

"The waiting is almost over! AC/DC fans can expect the band's next album of new material sometime later this year," the band said in a posting on its website Friday.

"The band are currently recording in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien and long-time audio engineer Mike Fraser," they added.

It will be the band's first work of new material since the release of Stiff Upper Lip in 2000, which opened at No. 7 on the Billboard charts and sparked a year-long world tour.

O'Brien has worked with major bands including Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam and Velvet Revolver.

"He's a great guy," AC/DC singer Brian Johnson said about O'Brien in an interview with Los Angeles radio station KLSX Free FM on Friday.

"He knows exactly what we want, and so far, it sounds really good. I'm well pleased."

Johnson said he believes a tour will be in the offing but would not confirm it.

"Everybody's enjoying being back together again and the buzz is still there and the excitement."

Formed in 1973, AC/DC's list of rock anthems includes Thunderstruck, Let There Be Rock, You Shook Me All Night Long, Whole Lotta Rosie and Highway to Hell.

The band, whose only remaining original members are founding brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide.

AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003.

'Forbidden Kingdom' fights to top of box office with $20.9M

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A martial arts dream team — Jackie Chan and Jet Li — won the weekend as their movie matchup "The Forbidden Kingdom" debuted at No. 1 with $20.9 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The tale of a modern American teen hurtled back in time to a kung fu adventure in ancient China, "The Forbidden Kingdom" features Asian superstars Chan and Li in multiple roles and their first big-screen duel.

"I couldn't believe it had never been done before," said Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Co. released "The Forbidden Kingdom" along with partner Lionsgate.

Universal's romantic comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," starring Jason Segel as a nice guy who's dumped by his glamorous girlfriend (Kristen Bell), opened in second place with $17.3 million. It's the latest from producer Judd Apatow ("Knocked Up").

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, the slasher remake "Prom Night," fell to third with $9.1 million, raising its total to $32.6 million.

Al Pacino's serial killer thriller "88 Minutes," from Sony's TriStar Pictures, was a dud, premiering at No. 4 with $6.8 million. The movie stars Pacino as a crime profiler who receives a call telling him he has 88 minutes to live.

"Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," a rare documentary opening in wide release, debuted at No. 9 with $3.1 million. Released by Rocky Mountain Pictures, the film features Ben Stein as he challenges Darwinian theories that prevail in academic circles and suggests that life could have emerged through intelligent design.

In narrower release, the Weinstein Co. documentary "Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?" bombed with just $143,299 in 102 theaters, averaging a paltry $1,405 a cinema. "Forbidden Kingdom" averaged $6,623 in 3,151 theaters.

A globe-trotting hunt for the al-Qaida leader, "Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?" was directed by Morgan Spurlock, who made the hit documentary "Super Size Me."

With a PG-13 rating, "The Forbidden Kingdom" proved a family friendly film compared to more action-intense martial arts flicks. The movie is part of a new Asian line of films from the Weinstein Co., including an upcoming remake of "Seven Samurai."

"I have three daughters who have never seen a martial arts movie, and they loved this," Weinstein said. "A lot of females identify with it. That's the audience that's going to grow. I think we'll get young girls and moms next weekend."

Overall receipts were up for the first time in a month as Hollywood lumbers through a prolonged dry spell. The top 12 movies took in $82.1 million, up 12 percent from the same weekend last year.

"There is a collective sigh of relief in Hollywood," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "This is overdue and much needed as we head toward the beginning of the summer season."

Movie attendance is running 6.5 percent behind that of 2007, according to Media By Numbers.

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 Forbidden Kingdom," $20.9 million.
2. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $17.3 million.
3. "Prom Night," $9.1 million.
4. "88 Minutes," $6.8 million.
5. "Nim's Island," $5.7 million.
6. "21," $5.5 million.
7. "Street Kings," $4 million.
8. "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", $3.5 million.
9. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," $3.1 million.
10. "Leatherheads," $3 million.

The Couch Potato Report - April 19th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels one film that you have heard of, and three you might not have.

It is inevitable when a film does well at the box office, receives critical acclaim, AND garners multiple Academy Award nominations, that there will be at least one person who says they don't like it, or that they have problems with it.

Well, when it comes to this week's Hot Potato - the four-time Oscar nominated, $140 million box office success, made in British Columbia film JUNO - on this day, that one person is me.

Admittedly, I am a huge fan of the last 38 minutes of the movie…but with few exceptions, the first 58 minutes just didn't work for me.

And I attribute that to two things - the lead actress, Oscar nominee Ellen Page - and the majority of the dialogue, which even Diablo Cody won an Oscar for it, just seems fake.

Now I know that people who are very close friends sometimes talk to each other in shorthand,...we all use slang in our daily conversations, and that is true whether you are a teenager, or haven't been in years, so I could have been able to cut the film some slack for that, but that slack goes out the window when our lead character - a 16 year old who is faced with an unplanned pregnancy and decides to give it up for adoption - meets the people she is going to give the baby to, and their lawyer, and she talks to them the same way she talks to her friends.

It was at moments such as those that I actually found the lead character unlikeable.

No, the dialogue in the first 58 minutes of JUNO did not ring true, or appeal to me, even though it won an Oscar. It is self indulgent, not very witty, and I think it hurts the movie.

The other reason I had a problem with The first 58 minutes of JUNO, and I also just didn't care for the actress who plays Juno, Halifax's Ellen Page - who received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress for her work.

The problem that I have with Page is the fact that she plays the same character in every film....she always plays the "I'm smarter than you, know it all teen." She did it in this film, she did it in the film HARD CANDY in 2005, and if you go to see the film SMART PEOPLE, which is in theatres right now, she is playing the same character again!!

Alright, enough negativity...that is what I didn't like about JUNO...let me get to what I liked, because even with a self-indulgent first hour, there is a lot to like in this film...and it all starts when Juno runs into Jennifer Garner's Vanessa, the woman she is giving her baby to, in the mall and Vanessa puts her hands on Juno's very pregnant stomach.

That scene is magic, and at that point of the movie, even the filmmakers seem to realize that the forced and indulgent dialogue, and the fact that Page is playing Juno as the "I'm smarter than you, know it all teen." has to end, and it becomes a very entertaining film.

One with real people, in real situations, dealing with the problems they encounter - however unfortunate - the way that you and I might, and I think that is why it struck a chord with audiences the way it has.

I loved the last 38 minutes of JUNO...however, the film has to be looked at as an entire 96 minute piece...so would I recommend it to you?

I would...even with all of it's flaws in the first two-thirds, there are still some entertaining and funny moments, and the script allows Juno's parents to seem like real people, not movie people...so I happily tell you that this is a film that I think you should see.

And if you don't care for the film at the start, just know that it builds to a beautiful conclusion!


Okay, four other films to get to this week, and I will start with BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, the latest from the director who gave us TWELVE ANGRY MEN, SEPRICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK and THE VERDICT.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD is a great, tension filled heist picture about two down-on-their-luck brothers who organize the robbery of their parents' jewelery store, but the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that change the lives of everyone around them.

This film has a tremendous cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney and Marissa Tomei, and it is very well written, but it starts off so stong that just can't maintain it's frantic and unique pace for the entire film...in fact it really slows down toward the end, but it is still very interesting and engaging, and you will definitely want to see how it all wraps up.

That is not the case with RESERVATION ROAD, as tragic as the story is at the centre of this picture, you might not care how it ends.

One night, a family stops at a gas station and their young son Josh wanders off toward the road.

Dwight is driving past the same station with his son in the SUV when he accidentally swerves over to the other lane and hits Josh.

He knows he has hit a kid, he is the only witness, but he doesn't stop.

Haunted by the tragedy, both fathers - Dwight and Ethan - wrestle with their new lives and their new realities.

Will Dwight turn himself in?

Will Ethan find his son's killer before he goes insane?

RESERVATION ROAD features Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo as the fathers, and has Oscar winners Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino in supporting roles as their wives, but while the cast is great, and the script has a few unique twists and turns, ultimately this is not a film that I can recommend. It is just too slow, and takes waaay too long to get to it's conclusion.

Now, the suspence thriller P2 is a film that I recommend...especially if you you enjoy smart and interesting films with a horrific twist, no matter how uncomfortable they make you while you watch them!

Filmed in Toronto, P2 is about a businesswoman who is being pursued by a pursued by a psychopath after being locked in a parking garage on Christmas Eve.

Yes, there are some very predictable moments in this film, but there are also more than a few plot elements and twists that we haven't seen before, plus there are several horrific scenes that aren't for the faint of heart.

If you enjoy suspence thriller or horror films, then P2 is a must see!

And if you do enjoy those types of movies, then perhaps you were part of the audience that made the remake of the 1980 film PROM NIGHT number one at the Box Office last weekend.

The first PROM NIGHT film came out in 1980, and it was a very original horror film, in it's day, and a huge success, spawning three sequels, which each had less and less in common with the original, and each were less and less worthy of your time.

However, in the unique first one, a masked killer stalks four teens responsible for the accidential death of a child six years earlier at their high school's senior prom.

THE PROM NIGHT COLLECTION contains the original four films in the series, and if you are fans of them, then this box set is for you.

Plus, it contains one of the last serious roles that Saskatchewan's own Leslie Nielsen did before he became a comedic actor with the release of AIRPLANE!

THE PROM NIGHT COLLECTION, the interesting suspence thriller P2, the not great film RESERVATION ROAD, the tension filled BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, and JUNO - the Academy Award winning film that has a great final 38 minutes, but a not-as-great first hour - are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling stars as a man who falls in love with a life size mannequin in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL

And the made-in-Calgary film RESURRECTING THE CHAMP is about a reporter who meets a homeless man who may just be a former boxing champion.

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!

Bryan Adams gets intimate with US fans

Bryan Adams has booked a string of intimate, solo-acoustic shows across the US next month to promote his new album, "11."

The 16-date trek is scheduled to kick off May 3 in New York City and make its way to California by mid-month. Dates have already sold out in the Big Apple, Boston and the Baltimore area, according to Adams' website.

Following his solo run, the veteran Canadian rocker will head to Europe for six weeks and then return to the US for another round of dates in July and August. The summer tour, which launches July 15 in Augusta, ME, pairs Adams with Foreigner through July 26 and Rod Stewart thereafter. Adams will follow that with another European jaunt in the fall. American dates are detailed below and Adams' overseas shows are listed at his website.

The singer/songwriter's new album, "11," has already shot to No. 1 in Canada and will be released May 13 in the US exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, according to a press release. The set will also be available at walmart.com in CD and MP3 formats.

Appropriately enough, "11" is Adams' 11th album of original music and it features 11 songs that he recorded in hotel rooms and backstage areas of concert venues across Europe over the last two years. A couple of songs from the record are streaming at his MySpace page.

Adams' previous studio album, "Room Service," was released in the US in 2005 and marked his first set of new music in almost seven years, with the exception of the 2002 film soundtrack for "Spirit," which Adams composed and performed in English and French. A single from the soundtrack, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," scored a Grammy for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture.

Meanwhile, Adams continues to make a name for himself in the photography world, exhibiting his work all over the globe. The Canadian Music Hall of Famer recently shot the 2008 ad campaign for Guess, all the proceeds from which will be donated to his namesake charitable foundation, according to a statement.

May 2008
3 - New York, NY - The Concert Hall
4 - Towson, MD - Recher Theatre
5 - New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
6 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
7 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
8 - Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall
9 - Albany, NY - Lewis Swyer Theatre at The Egg
10 - Washington, DC - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
12 - Long Island, NY - YMCA Boulton Center
13 - Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theatre
14 - Orlando, FL - B.B. King's Blues Club
15 - Columbus, OH - Southern Theatre
16 - Minneapolis, MN - Pantages Theatre
17 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
18 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
19 - Hollywood, CA - Roxy Theatre

July 2008
15 - Augusta, ME - Augusta Civic Center*
16 - Mashantucket, CT - MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino*
18 - Portsmouth, VA - nTelos Wireless Pavilion*
19 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater*
20 - Alpharetta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater*
22 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena*
24 - Selma, TX - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater*
25 - Woodlands, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion*
26 - Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center*
30 - Paso Robles, CA - California Mid-State Fair**

August 2008
1 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater**
2 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand**
5 - Hoffman Estates, IL - Sears Center Arena**
6 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theater**
8 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center**
9 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center**

*Shows with Foreigner
**Shows with Rod Stewart

Jackie Chan, Jet Li set for box office supremacy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Action heroes Jackie Chan and Jet Li will grab the keys to the "Kingdom" at the North American box office this weekend.

"The Forbidden Kingdom," a martial arts fantasy that marks their first onscreen pairing, is likely to bow at No. 1 with up to $20 million during its first three days.

"We'll be very happy with a gross of $15 million or beyond, but tracking certainly indicates that we have a shot at doing in the high teens or better," said Steve Rothenberg, president of distribution at Lionsgate, which is partnered on the project with the Weinstein Co.

"Kingdom," directed by Rob Minkoff ("Stuart Little"), has earned mixed early reviews but should attract mostly younger moviegoers who eschew critics' brickbats.

Universal has mounted an edgy campaign for its R-rated comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," with billboard messages including "You suck, Sarah Marshall" getting lots of free ink.

"It's nice when people out there comment, almost completely positively, about a campaign," said Adam Fogelson, Universal's president of worldwide marketing and distribution. "But clever for the sake of clever doesn't win you anything."

Toss in solid reviews, and you might have something. Fortuitously, prerelease tracking on "Marshall" doesn't suck, so a bow in the mid-teen millions seems safely within reach.

If the tough-to-track college crowd comes out in big numbers for "Marshall" -- which counts comedy kingpin Judd Apatow among its producers -- something a bit more lucrative could be in the offing. Apatow's openings have proven hard to forecast, but the April slotting for "Marshall" suggests that it should bow somewhere between the $21.4 million rung up by "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" in August 2005 and last month's disappointing $10.3 million debut for "Drillbit Taylor."

Elsewhere, Sony's thriller "88 Minutes" has drawn tough reviews. Yet it appears that the Al Pacino starrer could fetch as much as $10 million, targeting older moviegoers.

Also this weekend, the creation-theory documentary "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" opens in 1,000-plus locations. It purports an establishment conspiracy to keep the "intelligent design" creation theory from being discussed in public schools, with actor-pundit Ben Stein serving as interviewer.

Advance ticket sales through church groups have been robust, and a bow in the single-digit millions seems likely.

E Street Band mamber Danny Federici dies at 58

NEW YORK (AP) — Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday. He was 58.

Federici, who had battled melanoma for three years, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. News of his death was posted late Thursday on Springsteen's official Web site.

According to published reports, Federici last performed with Springsteen and the band last month, appearing during portions of a March 20 show in Indianapolis.

Springsteen concerts scheduled for Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Saturday in Orlando were postponed after news of Federici's death.

He was born in Flemington, N.J., a long car ride from the Jersey shore haunts where he first met kindred musical spirit Springsteen in the late 1960s. The pair often jammed at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, N.J., a now-defunct after-hours club that hosted the best musicians in the state.

It was Federici, along with original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, who first invited Springsteen to join their band.

By 1969, the self-effacing Federici — often introduced in concert by Springsteen as "Phantom Dan" — was playing with the Boss in a band called Child. Over the years, Federici joined his friend in acclaimed shore bands Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom and the Bruce Springsteen Band.

Federici became a stalwart in the E Street Band as Springsteen rocketed from the boardwalk to international stardom. Springsteen split from the E Streeters in the late '80s, but they reunited for a hugely successful tour in 1999.

"Bruce has been supportive throughout my life," Federici said in a recent interview with Backstreets magazine. "I've had my ups and downs, and I've certainly given him a run for his money, and he's always been there for me."

Federici played accordion on the wistful "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" from Springsteen's second album, and his organ solo was a highlight of Springsteen's first top 10 hit, "Hungry Heart." His organ coda on the 9/11-inspired Springsteen song "You're Missing" provided one of the more heart-wrenching moments on "The Rising" in 2002.

In a band with larger-than-life characters such as saxophonist Clarence Clemons and bandana-wrapped guitarist "Little" Steven Van Zandt, Federici was content to play in his familiar position to the side of the stage. But his playing was as vital to Springsteen's live show as any instrument in the band.

Federici released a pair of solo albums that veered from the E Street sound and into soft jazz. Bandmates Nils Lofgren on guitar and Garry Tallent on bass joined Federici on his 1997 debut, "Flemington." In 2005, Federici released its follow-up, "Out of a Dream."

Federici had taken a leave of absence during the band's tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for melanoma, and was temporarily replaced by veteran musician Charles Giordano.

At the time, Springsteen described Federici as "one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return."

Besides his work with Springsteen, Federici played on albums by an impressive roster of other artists: Van Zandt, Joan Armatrading, Graham Parker, Gary U.S. Bonds and Garland Jeffreys.

Outraged, disrespected Canadians go on strike on 'South Park'

Canada-baiting has been a hilarious feature of the popular "South Park" animated show for years, and now Canadians on the weekly series are saying enough is enough.

In an episode airing Friday night entitled "Canada on Strike," outraged Canadians go on strike when "Canada Appreciation Day" in the U.S. does not bring their native land the respect they think it deserves.

With echoes of the recent Hollywood screenwriters' strike, the head of the World Canadian Bureau leads the country into the protracted strike. They're quickly replaced by Danes - calling themselves the "Canadians of Europe" - who show up to cross picket lines and take their place.

It's up to Cartman and the gang, longtime Canadian sympathizers, to negotiate a settlement for the long-suffering Canucks. In the meantime, flatulent Canadian duo Terrance and Phillip are conflicted about whether to join the strike, instead working to uncover the truth behind the cost of the walkout.

The show airs Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET on the Comedy Network.

Collection Of Early Beach Boys Hits Set For June Release

A new box set of Beach Boys' singles from their early days at Capitol Records will be released June 10 as a limited edition box set, as well as a digital download, according to a press release.

The 16-CD limited edition boxed set, "The Beach Boys: U.S. Singles Collection - The Capitol Years (1962-1965)," will feature original singles and their B-sides. The collection also will include additional versions of most tracks, ranging from mono and stereo mixes to live recordings. The collection's 66 tracks also include previously unreleased mixes.

The CD boxed set, featuring "lavish packaging, faithfully reproduced original single artwork and a 48-page hardbound photo book," will feature some of the band's best known hits including "Surfin' Safari," Help Me Rhonda," Surfin' USA," "Surfer Girl," and "Be True To Your School," among numerous others.

'X-Files' movie title is out there: `I Want to Believe'

LOS ANGELES - The truth is finally out there about the new "X-Files" movie title.

The second big-screen spinoff of the paranormal TV adventure will be called "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," Chris Carter, the series' creator and the movie's director and co-writer, told The Associated Press.

Distributor 20th Century Fox signed off on the title Wednesday.

The title is a familiar phrase for fans of the series that starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents chasing after aliens and supernatural happenings. "I Want to Believe" was the slogan on a poster Duchovny's UFO-obsessed agent Fox Mulder had hanging in the cluttered basement office where he and Anderson's Dana Scully worked.

"It's a natural title," Carter said in a telephone interview Tuesday during a break from editing the film. "It's a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. `I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith."

"I Want to Believe" comes 10 years after the first film and six years after the finale of the series, whose opening credits for much of its nine-year run featured the catch-phrase "the truth is out there."

Due in theaters July 25, the movie will not deal with aliens or the intricate mythology about interaction between humans and extraterrestrials that the show built up over the years, Carter said.

Instead, it casts Mulder and Scully into a stand-alone, earth-bound story aimed at both serious "X-Files" fans and newcomers, he said.

"It has struck me over the last several years talking to college-age kids that a lot of them really don't know the show or haven't seen it," Carter said. "If you're 20 years old now, the show started when you were 4. It was probably too scary for you or your parents wouldn't let you watch it. So there's a whole new audience that might have liked the show. This was made to, I would call it, satisfy everyone."

Hardcore fans need not worry that the movie will be going back to square one, though, Carter said. The movie will be true to the spirit of the show and everything Mulder and Scully went through, he said.

"The reason we're even making the movie is for the rabid fans, so we don't want to insult them by having to take them back through the concept again," Carter said.

Carter said he settled on "I Want to Believe" from the time he and co-writer Frank Spotnitz started on the screenplay. It took so long to go public with it because studio executives wanted to make sure it was a marketable title, he said.

The filmmakers have kept the story tightly under wraps to prevent plot spoilers from leaking on the Internet, a phenomenon that barely existed when the first movie came out in 1998.

"We went to almost comical lengths to keep the story a secret," Carter said. "That included allowing only the key crew members to read the script, and they had to read it in a room that had video cameras trained on them. It was a new experience."

Bruce Springsteen endorses Obama for president

WASHINGTON - Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday, saying "he speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years."

In a letter addressed to friends and fans posted his Web site, Springsteen said he believes Obama is the best candidate to undo "the terrible damage done over the past eight years."

"He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next president," the letter said. "He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.' "

The bard of New Jersey is known for his lyrics about the struggles of working-class Americans, particularly in the economically ravaged factory towns of the Northeast.

Springsteen and his E Street band were part of the Vote for Change tour, a coalition of musicians opposed to the re-election of President Bush in 2004. He wrote the anti-war ballad "Devils and Dust" about Iraq.

Springsteen did not directly mention Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, in his letter, but appeared to take issue with her recent criticisms of comments made by Obama about working-class voters in small towns in Pennsylvania and controversial statements by his pastor.

"Critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships," Springsteen wrote. "While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision ... often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment."

'Potter' fan weeps in court

NEW YORK - A Harry Potter fan who wants to publish an encyclopedic guide to the wildly popular fantasy novels broke down and cried on the witness stand Tuesday as he faced off in federal court against his idol J.K. Rowling.

The British author sued Steven Vander Ark's publisher RDR Books last year, claiming that their "Harry Potter Lexicon" - based on Vander Ark's fan website - infringed on her copyright.

Vander Ark wiped away tears when he was asked to reflect on what the case has done to his relationship with the community of Harry Potter fans. The former middle school librarian, who fell in love with the books in the late 1990s and has devoted years to studying them and indexing their content online, could barely speak.

"It's been . . . it's been," he stammered, choking on his words. "It's been difficult because there has been a lot of criticism, obviously, and that was never the intention. . . . This has been an important part of my life for the last nine years or so."

Vander Ark testified on the second day of a trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, pitting his publishing company, RDR Books, against Rowling and Warner Bros., the maker of the Harry Potter films and owner of all the intellectual property related to the Potter books and movies.

Rowling and the media company are trying to prevent publication of the "Harry Potter Lexicon," which Vander Ark and Michigan-based RDR had sought to publish last fall. Its release was delayed pending the outcome of the suit; Rowling has argued that the book borrows too heavily from her novels.

During his testimony on Tuesday, Vander Ark acknowledged that he, too, had substantial concerns all along about whether publishing an encyclopedia based on Rowling's Potter universe would constitute copyright infringement. He said he was talked into doing it by the publishing company.

Rowling, testified Monday that the Harry Potter characters she created are as dear as her children, too precious to allow an inferior Potter encyclopedia to be published without letting the world know the ordeal is draining her of her will to write.

"I believe that it is sloppy, lazy and that it takes my work wholesale, verbatim. This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work," she said of Vander Ark's effort.

She also said she recently started work on her own encyclopedia but does not expect to complete it for two to three years. If Vander Ark's lexicon is published, "I'm not at all convinced that I would have the will or the heart to continue with my encyclopedia," she said.

The case caused her to stop working on a new novel, as well, she told the packed courtroom.

"It's really decimated my creative work over the last month," she said. "Again, it's very hard to describe to someone who's not engaged in creative writing, but you lose the threads, you worry if you will be able to pick them up again in exactly the same way."

In his opening statement, RDR lawyer Anthony Falzone defended the lexicon as a reference guide, calling it a legitimate effort "to organize and discuss the complicated and very elaborate world of Harry Potter." The small publisher is not contesting that the lexicon infringes upon Rowling's copyright but argues that it is a fair use allowable by law for reference books.

The nonjury trial will be decided by U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson Jr., who must determine whether the use of the material is legal because Vander Ark added his own interpretation, creativity and analysis. The testimony and arguments could last most of the week.

The trial comes eight months after the publication of Rowling's final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The seven books have been published in 64 languages, sold more than 400 million copies and produced a film franchise that has pulled in US$4.5 billion at the worldwide box office.

Charlottetown has concert venue but still no band

The Eagles are coming to Moncton, Paul McCartney seems likely for Halifax, but so far all Charlottetown has confirmed is a place for a big-name artist to play.

At its council meeting Monday, Charlottetown approved the use of lands at Upton Farm, in the north of the city, as a concert venue. More than 12 hectares of land has been set aside, which should easily hold the 30,000 people organizers hope to attract.

But while rumours continue to fly about who might come, time to book an act is growing short. Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee, however, said he's confident Charlottetown will get a concert.

"We've been having off and on discussions with different promoters thinking we would have a site, those discussions could have only gone so far until a site was confirmed," said Lee.

"I feel fairly confident we'll have a concert this summer. Who it's going to be I don't know. Quite honestly, to find an acceptable location was the biggest challenge."

For the last two years the city has hosted major concerts at the Charlottetown Driving Park — the Black Eyed Peas in 2006 and Aerosmith in 2007 — but there were complaints from people living nearby that the concerts were too loud.

Foos, Plant/Krauss, Beck To Rock Austin City Limits

Foo Fighters, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Beck, Manu Chao, John Fogerty, David Byrne, the Raconteurs and the Mars Volta are among the top acts booked for this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival, set for the city's Zilker Park from Sept. 26-28.

The seventh ACL Fest, produced by Austin-based promoter/producer C3 Presents, will feature more than 125 acts over three days. Also on the bill are Gnarls Barkley, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, N.E.R.D., Tegan & Sara, Iron & Wine, G. Love & Special Sauce, Neko Case, Band Of Horses, the Swell Season, Silversun Pickups, Gogol Bordello, Gillian Welch, the Black Keys, Against Me!, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Hot Chip, Spiritualized, Drive-By Truckers, Vampire Weekend and Duffy.

The ACL lineup boasts several acts with a Texas connection, among them Erykah Badu, Robert Earl Keen, Patty Griffin, Eli Young Band, Kevin Fowler, Flyleaf, Roky Erickson, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears and White Denim.

Three-day passes are available for $170, including fees and a print-at-home option, at ACLfestival.com until sellout or show time. Sponsors are AT&T, AMD, Dell, Austin Ventures, WaMu, BMI, H-E-B, Heineken, Blackstone Winery and Sweet Leaf Tea.

The ACL festival was the fourth-ranked festival in the world in 2007, based on its gross of $11.3 million and attendance of 225,000 from three sold-out days, according to Billboard Boxscore.

Veteran Disney animator Ollie Johnston dies at 95

LOS ANGELES - Ollie Johnston, the last of the "Nine Old Men" who animated "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Bambi" and other classic Walt Disney films has died. He was 95.

Johnston died of natural causes Monday at a long-term care facility in Sequim, Wash., Walt Disney Studios Vice President Howard E. Green said Tuesday.

"Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today," Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt Disney and director emeritus of the Walt Disney Co., said in a statement.

Walt Disney lightheartedly dubbed his team of crack animators his "Nine Old Men," borrowing the phrase from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's description of the U.S. Supreme Court's members, who had angered the president by quashing many of his Depression-era New Deal programs.

Although most of Disney's men were in their 20s at the time, the name stuck with them for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps the two most accomplished of the nine were Johnston and his close friend Frank Thomas, who died in 2004 at age 92. The pair, who met as art students at Stanford University in the 1930s, were hired by Disney for $17 a week at a time when he was expanding the studio to produce full-length feature films. Both worked on the first of those features, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Johnston and Thomas and their families became next-door neighbors in the Los Angeles suburb of Flintridge, and during their 45-minute drive to the Disney Studios each day, they would devise fresh ideas for work.

Johnston worked as an assistant animator on "Snow White," became an animation supervisor on "Fantasia" and "Bambi" and animator on "Pinocchio."

He was especially proud of his work on "Bambi" and its classic scenes, including one depicting the heartbreaking death of Bambi's mother at the hands of a hunter. That scene has brought tears to the eyes of generations of young and old viewers.

"The mother's death showed how convincing we could be at presenting really strong emotion," he remarked in 1999.

Johnston's other credits included "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan" "Lady and the Tramp," "Sleeping Beauty," "101 Dalmatians," "Mary Poppins," "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocats," "Robin Hood" and "The Rescuers."

"(People) know his work. They know his characters. They've seen him act without realizing it," said film historian Leonard Maltin. "He was one of the pillars, one of the key contributors to the golden age of Disney animation."

After Johnston and Thomas retired in 1978, they lectured at schools and film festivals in the United States and Europe and co-authored the books "Bambi; the Story and the Film," "Too Funny for Words," "The Disney Villains" and the epic "Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life." They were also the subjects of the 1995 documentary "Frank and Ollie," produced by Thomas' son Ted.

The pair's guide to animation is considered "the bible" among animators, said John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar animation studios and Johnston's longtime friend.

Oliver Martin Johnston Jr. was born on Oct. 31, 1912, in Palo Alto, Calif., where his father was a professor at Stanford. He once noted that he and Thomas "were bound to be thrown together" at the university, as they were two of only six students in its art department at the time. When not in class, they painted landscapes and sold them at a local speakeasy for meal money.

Johnston had planned on becoming a magazine illustrator but fell in love with animation.

"I wanted to paint pictures full of emotion that would make people want to read the stories," he once said. "But I found that here (in animation) was something that was full of life and movement and action, and it showed all those feelings."

Johnston was honored with a Disney Legends Award in 1989 and, in 2005, he was the first animator honored with the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony.

He was also a major train enthusiast. The backyard of his Flintridge home boasted a hand-built miniature railroad, and Johnston restored and ran a full-size antique locomotive at a former vacation home in Julian, Calif.

Johnston's wife of 63 years, Marie Worthey, died in 2005. Johnston is survived by sons Ken and Rick and daughters-in-law Carolyn Johnston and Teya Priest Johnston. The Walt Disney Studios is planning a life celebration for Johnston. Funeral services will be private.

'Lost,' 'Grey's Anatomy' Tack on Episodes

Fans of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" will get a little more of the shows they love this season. Eventually.

ABC announced Monday (April 14) that it's adding another episode to each show's season, allowing both to have two-hour season finales. That will make for 17 total episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" for the season and 14 of "Lost" (two short of the initially planned 16).

However, because ABC had scheduled its post-writers' strike episodes so tightly, the finale of "Grey's Anatomy" will force "Lost" off the air for a week in May.

Both shows had been scheduled to end their seasons on Thursday, May 22. Now, though, "Lost" will cede its place on the schedule that night to make room for the two-hour "Grey's Anatomy" finale. It will return on Thursday, May 29 for its own two-hour finale. (Both finales, incidentally, will fall outside Nielsen's May sweeps period, which ends Wednesday, May 21.)

ABC's other Thursday show, "Ugly Betty," will also have its season finale on May 22, as planned.

The network initially ordered five episodes of both series when the strike ended. Once the shows were up and running again, a combination of the ABC wanting the extra hours and the producers of the two shows believing they had more stories to tell resulted in the additional episodes.

Bill Cosby to release rap album in May

LOS ANGELES — Bill Cosby's path has taken him from pudding pops to hip hop.
The 70-year-old has recorded a hip-hop CD set for release next month. Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency blends the comedian's concepts and stories with a hip-hop, pop and jazz soundtrack.

"I do not rap on any of these things," Cosby told The Associated Press Monday. "I wouldn't know how to fix my mouth to say some of the words."

What Cosby does know, though, is that the hip-hop music he hears is profane and degrading. His album is "the opposite of what I think is the profanity for no particular reason, the misogyny for no particular reason. It really looks at the frustration and the anger that a young man may have," he said.

The album, assembled by Cosby's longtime musical collaborator Bill "Spaceman" Patterson, has guest rappers providing the rhymes. The subject matter? "The value of an education. The value of respecting one's self and ... giving (listeners) a chance to raise their self-esteem and confidence," Cosby said.

Patterson said he was surprised when Cosby first inquired about making a rap record — until the comedian revealed he wouldn't be the one doing the rapping.

"People started speculating — is he going to rap about Jell-O Pudding Pops or what?" Patterson said. "But he's always been involved in music and he was there for the first generation of spoken word ... He has always understood rap's potential, but he was appalled by the foul language and the misogyny — the way people used a medium that could be used to elevate people, to open their eyes and provoke thought."

Cosby made the album as a companion to his 2007 best-selling book, Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors. And though he doesn't expect the CD to be a huge hit, it won't be his last hip-hop venture.

"We can do even better," he said. "The next one will be even more cheerleading."

Inauguration alters 2009 Oscar calendar

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - What's more significant: the inauguration of a new U.S. president or the announcement of the year's Oscar nominees? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided politics takes precedence, announcing Monday that it has delayed the nominations announcement by two days.

Oscar nominees are usually revealed on a Tuesday about four weeks before the big show, which is typically held the last Sunday in February. For 2009, though, the targeted Tuesday — Jan. 20 — is Inauguration Day.

So the 81st annual Oscar nominees will be revealed Thursday, Jan. 22, and the Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, Feb. 22 — the earliest Oscars ever.

"It didn't make any sense for us to try to compete with (the inauguration) from a news point of view," academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson told The Associated Press.

But the change will put the squeeze on the rest of the calendar, Robertson said.

"Ballots are due Jan. 12, and nominations are announced 10 days later, so that's getting pretty close to the minimum," he said. "The most critical path is the balloting-voting process. Since we remain committed, for security reasons, to paper balloting, and all PricewaterhouseCoopers tabulating is done by hand, it's not done by computers. ... They can turn things around quickly but they still need time."

Delaying the nominations also tightens production time for the Oscar telecast, since the show's makeup depends largely on the nominees. Producers of the ceremony usually have four and a half weeks to prepare. In 2009, it will be one month to the day.

"I know that whoever produces the show would like to have more time," Robertson said, "and this will be two days less than they've had in past years."

The 2009 presidential inauguration isn't the first event that prompted the academy to alter its calendar. The Oscar show was moved from the last Sunday in February in 2006 so it wouldn't conflict with the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, Robertson said.

"We have to look at other major global events," he said.

The academy's board of governors decided in 2004 to move the Oscar show from late March to late February to combat "awards fatigue" and "to maintain a higher level of interest and excitement," Robertson said.

Key dates for the 2009 Academy Awards are:

• Dec. 26, 2008: Nominations ballots mailed.

• Jan. 12: Nominations ballots due.

• Jan. 22: Nominees announced.

• Jan. 28: Final ballots mailed.

• Feb. 17: Final ballots due.

• Feb. 22: 81st annual Academy Awards.

Swift, Pickler, win big at CMT awards

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Taylor Swift won video of the year and female video for her smash "Our Song" while newcomer Kellie Pickler took home three awards during Monday's Country Music Television awards. "I wrote that song in the 9th grade for a talent show," said the 18-year-old Swift, who won the night's top honor over Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Sugarland.

"I never thought it would be on an album, never thought I'd record it, never thought it would be a single, never thought it would be No. 1 and certainly never thought it would win video and female video of the year."

Pickler, 21, won breakthrough video, tearjerker video and performance of the year for "I Wonder," a song about a daughter's feelings for her mother that she says connects deeply with fans. Like Carrie Underwood, Pickler is a former "American Idol" contestant.

"Thank you 'American Idol,' you are the rocket that launched my career," Pickler said from Scottsdale, Ariz.

Paula Abdul, who introduced Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's performance of "I Need You," remarked, "There are so many 'American Idol' alum here that I feel this is a reunion and I'm a proud mom."

Trace Adkins won best male video for "I Got My Game On." Adkins was something of a surprise winner, topping videos by Chesney, Paisley, Toby Keith and Keith Urban.

"I'm having a good year. So far it's been great. I never felt the support from the fans like I do this year," said Adkins, who recently finished second on NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice."

LeAnn Rimes and Bon Jovi won best collaborative video for the steamy video "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore." Rimes, who accepted the award without Bon Jovi, cracked, "I had a lot of fun rolling around with Jon in bed." Then she looked over at her husband in the crowd and added, "Sorry, honey. I love you. You're hotter."

The show was hosted by "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus and her father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. The pair performed their duet "Ready, Set, Don't Go." During their opening segment, Billy Ray Cyrus joked about his daughter's popularity.

"I know what's going on here, OK. I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday ... it's pretty obvious what you're all doing. You're just using Miley to get to me."

Alison Krauss and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant won wide open video for their duet "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)."

"I'd like to say how peculiar it is to be here. It's a great honor to have made a record in Nashville that sounds so good. I'd like to thank Don and Phil Everly for getting me through my teenage years, and I'd like to thank Alison for helping me get through my late 50s."

Paisley's "Online" won comedy video, while Sugarland's "Stay" won duo video. The two were the most nominated artists of the night.

The show opened with a skit about Adkins trying to get tickets to the show and featured presidential candidates Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Urban opened the musical portion with "Raise the Barn" and was joined by Brooks & Dunn.

Sugarland, Little Big Town and Jake Owen performed the '80s hit "Life in a Northern Town" by the British folk rock group The Dream Academy.

Snoop Dog joined Jason Aldean to introduce Alan Jackson's performance of "Good Time." The rapper wore a black outfit and cowboy hat in honor of the late Johnny Cash, who he said was the inspiration for his single, "My Medicine."

The fan-voted awards show aired live on CMT from Belmont University in Nashville.

So I Married An Ax Murderer returns in June

So I Married An Ax Murderer has made its way onto Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s release schedule with a new Deluxe Edition DVD and a Blu-Ray Disc version in June.

Comedy sensation Mike Myers stars with Nancy Travis in this hatchet-driven romantic comedy about a wedlock-shy coffee house poet who finally meets the perfect woman. When it comes to love, Charlie Mackenzie has had his share of bad luck: Sherri was a klepto - Charlie still can't find his cat. Jill was unemployed - but Charlie knew she really worked for the Mafia. Pam smelled like soup - beef vegetable soup. Good thing for Charlie these shortcomings become apparent, if only to him. Good thing for Charlie he discovered the truth before things went too far - before he stumbled into MARRIAGE! Because to Charlie the "M" word is just one step away from the fate foretold in that chilling phrase: "Till death do us part." When Charlie meets Harriet Michaels everything changes. Harriet's not like the others. She's smart, sexy, and crazy about Charlie. This time Charlie is determined to overcome the fears that sabotaged his past relationships. This time, he's ready for some commitment. Sure, Harriet may have her shortcomings - but so what? After all those other women, what's the worst she could be? An axe murderer?

No exact details have been announced for this release but we will make sure to keep you posted as soon as exact specs and bonus materials come in.

“So I Married An Axe Murderer” will arrive in storeso n June 17 and will carry a $19.94 sticker price for the DVD version and a $28.95 price tag on the Blu-Ray version.

Lee still gets a Rush

You'd think, at this stage of his career, no performance could give Rush singer/bassist Geddy Lee the butterflies. But he gets them when he knows a show is being recorded for a live album.

"There's always a bit of nerves when you're recording, even though we played about six million shows and we've done so many live recordings that it's getting ridiculous," Lee tells Sun Media. "When you know that you're being recorded you want to put your best foot forward.

"Sometimes that translates into you rising to the occasion, and sometimes that translates into you tightening up a little bit. All you're really after is trying to get an honest impression of what it's like to be at one of our shows musically."

The two-disc, 27-track new album was recorded over two nights last October in Holland. It contains new songs off Snakes & Arrows as well as a bevy of staples such as Freewill, Tom Sawyer and The Spirit of Radio.

The live recording process also went a bit smoother than 2003's Rush In Rio, a one-shot affair that presented several logistical nightmares.

"That was basically cross-your-fingers," Lee says. "With this one, we recorded both nights and there are songs on there from both nights -- so it gives you a bit more comfort. You're a bit more relaxed about it knowing if you screw it up at night one, you can nail it on night two. All in all I think we played very well those two nights."

And unlike groups releasing a combined live CD/DVD package, Rush aren't rushing the DVD portion out until the fall. Lee says the DVD will have the obligatory bonus footage and extras.

"We filmed both n