Cheech & Chong return to the stage

TORONTO - For a couple of laidback stoners, they sure know how to hold a grudge.

It has taken more than 25 years for Cheech & Chong to put aside their longstanding differences, with the comic pair apparently at loggerheads until just a few months ago.

But that's all behind them now, insist reunited comedians Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, who say they're excited to be resuming their beloved pot-loving alter-egos for a North American tour that kicks off Sept. 5 in Ottawa.

"There was always a great love there, as well as a bit of annoyance," Marin says by phone from Los Angeles of the duo's rocky relationship and how they managed to get beyond the bickering.

"It's like being married, you know, for that long, you just kind of get sick of the other person."

Edmonton-born Chong says the squabbling started back in the mid-1980s, when Marin decided to do the comedy film, "Born In East L.A.," without his longtime cohort.

"That was kind of tough," Chong says in a separate phone interview from Sydney, N.S., where he had a comedy show last week. "It's kind of tough being a partner when your partner does a movie without you."

"After that, he sort of went his way and I went my way."

Marin, who was born in Los Angeles, went on to a mainstream acting career, scoring recurring roles in TV shows including "Nash Bridges," "Judging Amy," and more recently, "Lost," as well as appearing in various films. He also became one of the foremost collectors of Mexican-American art, and says he made a point of distancing himself from his juvenile, pothead persona.

"It was very conscious," the 62-year-old says of forging a new identity.

"It's like turning an oil tanker around, you know. You don't stop on a dime and speed up 180 degrees in the other direction, you kind of start doing it one gig at a time."

Chong, meanwhile, appeared regularly on the TV sitcom "That '70s Show" and says they were in the midst of negotiating a new Cheech & Chong movie when he was jailed in 2003 for selling bongs over the Internet.

He chronicles the experience in the documentary "a/k/a Tommy Chong," recently released on DVD, and the book, "The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint," published in 2006.

"I'm actually just starting to get back into making money," Chong says of the ordeal, claiming it came with massive legal fees and cost him "a couple million" in income and revenue.

Today he can joke about nine months he spent in prison, where he says he was taken in by aboriginal inmates and invited into the "sweat lodge society."

But while his beloved stage character probably helped ingratiate him with other prisoners, he says it also made him a target for federal drug officers hoping to make an example of him.

"I would be offered (marijuana) by snitches and then I would be drug-tested an hour or two later," says Chong, 70. "It was that obvious. It happened more than once."

"When they arrested me, they thought for sure that I had a lot of prior arrests and they thought I was this pothead idiot, you know. They thought I was my character, basically."

These days, he's promoting another book, "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Biography." Marin had no part in the project and Chong doubts he's even read it.

"It's a taboo subject with us," Chong says.

Up until a few months ago, tensions were still high, he says, noting one meeting that devolved into a massive argument.

Marin says their troubles have always revolved around who would be in charge, but the time had come to let those grudges go.

"We're at the age that we just don't want to argue anymore," he says, noting recent warm-up shows for the upcoming tour were "amazing."

"So we decided not to have a personality conflict anymore."

Chong and Marin say their new concert will feature the "greatest hits" of their career - spanning seven albums and about 10 films - with standup from Chong.

Chong's wife, Shelby, will open the 90-minute show with her own comedy routine.

There are no plans to make another album, but Marin says there's talk of filming the concerts for a possible DVD release.

The "Cheech and Chong Light Up America and Canada" tour kicks off in Ottawa on Sept. 5, heads to Toronto on Sept. 6, and Vancouver on Dec. 5.

"Thunder" still No. 1 at North American box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Action film parody "Tropic Thunder" clung to the top spot at the North American box office for a third straight week as the summer moviegoing season sputtered to a lackluster close, Hollywood studios reported on Sunday.

Paramount Pictures' farcical combat movie within a comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, sold an estimated $11.5 million in U.S. and Canadian tickets Friday through Sunday to bring its three-week tally to $83.8 million.

While the final weekend heading into the U.S. Labor Day holiday is typically one of the slowest of the summer, the box office was especially lethargic despite five new films competing for attention in domestic theaters. None of those even managed to even crack the $10 million mark.

"It was an underwhelming end to a phenomenal summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, head of box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

Business also was likely dampened by the approach of Hurricane Gustav along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where many families were too busy boarding up their homes and fleeing to higher ground to go to the movies.

"Tropic Thunder," about a group of self-absorbed actors who get caught up in a real-life battle with narco-terrorists while filming a war movie in Southeast Asia, was the only film to post ticket sales in the double-digit millions.

Its biggest competition came from a real action flick, the sci-fi thriller "Babylon A.D." from 20th Century Fox starring Vin Diesel, which grossed an estimated $9.7 million in its first weekend to land at No. 2.

Blockbuster Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" climbed up a notch on the box office chart to No. 3 with weekend receipts of nearly $8.8 million, pushing its cumulative domestic haul to an estimated $502 million after 45 days in release.

"Dark Knight," a Warner Bros picture, becomes only the second film to cross the $500 million threshold. Two weeks ago, it surpassed "Star Wars" as the second highest grossing movie ever, behind only "Titanic" at $601 million.

Weekend ticket sales as a whole were sluggish, however, down 14 percent from the same period a year ago, as several new films failed to gain traction at the megaplex.

Two comedies opening on Friday, "Disaster Movie" and "College," plus Don Cheadle's thriller "Traitor," which debuted on Wednesday, and "Hamlet 2," a comedy that expanded nationally on Wednesday, grossed just $17.9 combined this weekend.

Together with "Babylon A.D." those films together accounted for $27.6 million in ticket sales, only about $1 million more than the top-grossing movie from last year's same weekend, "Halloween," managed all by itself.

The Labor Day holiday on Monday marks the official conclusion to the 18-week summer film season, which can account for as much as 40 percent of the movie industry's total business for the year.

When final studio figures come in later this week, Hollywood is expected to eke out roughly $4 billion in North American box office receipts, perhaps even slightly exceeding last summer's record $4.18 total.

But with the actual number of admissions down more than 3 percent from a year ago, the gain in revenues is fueled mostly by higher ticket prices.

'Dark Knight' swings past $500 million mark

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Batman's rich alter-ego Bruce Wayne has added half a billion dollars to his riches. "The Dark Knight" on Sunday became the second movie in Hollywood history to top $500 million at the domestic box office, raising its total to $502.4 million, according to estimates from distributor Warner Bros.

The film hit that mark in just over six weeks, half the time it took "Titanic," which reached $500 million in a little more than three months. "Titanic," the biggest modern blockbuster, remains No. 1 on the domestic charts with $600.8 million.

Despite its brisk pace, "The Dark Knight" is not expected to approach the total for "Titanic," which put up smaller numbers week after week but lingered at the top of the box office for months.

Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., said he expects "The Dark Knight" to finish at about $530 million, though it could reach $550 million if business persists as strongly as it has.

"I keep raising the number because it just keeps holding better than expected," Fellman said.

"The Dark Knight" will climb to about $505 million by Labor Day, the conclusion of Hollywood's busy summer season. That amounts to nearly one-eighth of Hollywood's overall summer revenue of $4.2 billion, which edges the previous summer record of $4.18 billion set last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Factoring in today's higher admission prices, "The Dark Knight" would need to take in about $900 million to match the number of tickets sold by "Titanic."

Labor Day weekend was generally sleepy at theaters, with a rush of new movies failing to find much favor with audiences. Through Sunday, Paramount's comedy "Tropic Thunder" remained No. 1 for the third straight weekend with $11.5 million.

The 20th Century Fox sci-fi thriller "Babylon A.D." with Vin Diesel debuted in second place with $9.7 million, while Overture Films' espionage drama "Traitor," starring Don Cheadle, opened at No. 5 with $7.9 million.

Premiering at No. 7 was Lionsgate's spoof flick "Disaster Movie" with $6.2 million. MGM's campus comedy "College" opened well outside the top 10 with $2.1 million.

The top 12 movies took in $75.2 million, down 23 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Halloween" opened with $26.4 million.

"This is kind of an inauspicious end to a really incredible summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "We limped past the finish line."

Springsteen Ends World Tour At Harley Celebration

MILWAUKEE - Bruce Springsteen ended his world tour over the weekend, toned down but revved up.

Springsteen played more than 30 songs over 3 1/2 hours Saturday night on Milwaukee's lakefront for Harley-Davidson's 105th anniversary celebration. He made few comments between songs.

Only for a few moments before "Livin' in the Future" did the rocker — who often brings his liberal-leaning political comments to the stage — stray into politics.

Springsteen performed to a crowd not unlike the one that gave Republican presidential candidate John McCain a warm welcome Aug. 4 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Many roared their motorcycles during McCain's speech.

Springsteen said "Livin' in the Future" was about what was happening now: cheese, Harley-Davidson motorcycles (tailoring it to his Wisconsin crowd), transfats, "500 channels of nothing on" and the Bill of Rights.

But he also mentioned wire tapping and rendition — the secret transport of terror suspects from one country to another.

"Things that basically at the heart are un-American," he said. The crowd gave spattered groans but mostly stayed silent.

He did not play "Born in the U.S.A," his anthem about the difficulties Vietnam war veterans faced, or the anti-war ballad "Devils and Dust" about Iraq.

Springsteen's Saturday performance was his last stop on his tour. His Web site said Springsteen and the E Street Band have performed 100 concerts for more than 2 million fans.

Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson expected more than 100,000 people from around the nation and world to participate in the four-day celebration that officially started Thursday in Milwaukee and its suburbs. It included a parade through the city, a party along the lake, activities at the new Harley-Davidson Museum, a special exhibit at Discovery World and other big-name bands.

The Couch Potato Report - August 30th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels everything from fine to confessions and summer rain.

Well, if is Day One of a Looooooooooong Summer Weekend, and if the weather forecast holds out, Sunday and Monday could be a bit cloudy and wet...perfect weather to sit indoors at your house, apartment or cottage and watch DVDs in...so I just happen to have 6 new releases for you this morning, starting with the made in Quebec film EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Imagine if you had four friends, and they all committed suicide, seemingly as part of a pact....but they left no notes, no description as to why they did it.

Sure, you would obviously grieve them, but wouldn't you also wonder why they did it, and why you weren't included?! Wouldn't you need to know that?!?

Well, that is the premise of EVERYTHING IS FINE, and I admit it, the thought of this happening with my friends really creeped me out!!

As the sole survivor, Josh is constantly asked by those around him, including the parents of his friends, if he knows why they did it.

His own parents are also worried about his increasingly fragile mental state as he becomes more and more distanced from the world around him.

The only person Josh seems to have any connection to in the film is his dead best friend's girlfriend, but even she can't get any answers from him...if he has any.

EVERYTHING IS FINE possesess an admittedly morbid premise, and while there are some moments of levity, it is obviously a seriously dramatic film.

It is also about 20 minutes too long, it takes it's time getting to the conclusion, and there is one other issue that I have with it that I can't tell you about without giving away the ending...so I won't do that, but I do recommend the film.

I also think you should see this week's next release, and there is no death in this one, but there is sadness....sadness that you may feel for - and toward - the real life people we meet in the documentary CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO.

This movie is about the some of the people who portray costumed superheroes on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, specifically Superman, Wonder Woman, The Hulk, and Batman.

All four are aspiring actors, they all have very different backgrounds, and different reasons for posing with tourists in Hollywood and working for tips.

As a fan of movies, and someone who always likes to see documentaries about people, especially people who may be flawed in one way or another, I really liked CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO and found it very interesting. At times I was fascinated by what was going on, at other times I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but during it all, I enjoyed it and think you will too.

Yes, at times I was fascinated by what was going on, in CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO, and at other times I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

And, now that I have said that out loud, that was exactly the same feeling I had while watching SEASON TWO of the television show HEROES...a show that had such a spectacular SEASON ONE...but started off it's sophomore campaign with several episodes that were almost unwatchable.

And now that SECOND SEASON is available on DVD...so we can fast froward through the unwatchable scenes and new, useless characters, and just enjoy the good...because after series creator Tim Kring apologized to fans last fall after the first few episodes aired, the show did get really good again!

HEROES is a show about real people, living their lives, who "thought they were like everyone else... until they realized they have incredible abilities."

HEROES tells it's story like a comic books with short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing storyline, and as the 11 episodes that made up SEASON TWO played out in front of me, I forgot how much I enjoyed the show...once it got better, that is.

If you like to wait for anthology shows like this to appear on DVD because you don't have the patience to watch them week to week on television, enjoy!!

Another TV show new on DVD this week is SEASON FOUR of HOUSE.

After four seasons, HOUSE - about a maverick medical genius who works with young diagnosticians at a Teaching Hospital set in New Jersey who go to extraordinary lengths to accomplish a common task: diagnosing and treating unusual ailments - after four seasons, the show is still very interesting, and very good.

If you enjoy unique medical shows with unique characters and situations, and you have never seen an episode of this show, then check out HOUSE.

It is a great show!

One movie that was not great this week, that really thought I would be, is the "documentary" WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? is the latest release from filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, the guy who gave us the fast food expose that was SUPER SIZE ME.

This release sees Spurlock searches for Osama bin Laden by visiting countries associated with the Al-Qaeda leader, as well as others affected by Al-Qaeda.

Along the way he interviews people individuals about their views of various related topis, and tries to find the man who has a bounty on his head of 25 million dollars.

His search is also taking place during the latter stages of his wife's pregnancy and most of Spurlock's commentary is actually based on the concerns of becoming a father.

Now, I liked SUPER SIZE ME, and I am a fan of his TV show 30 DAYS and his style of filmmaking, so I thought I would like this movie as well.

Unfortunately there is too much Morgan Spurlock in this film, and he just isn't as funny, or entertaining as HE thinks he is, and the movie suffers for that.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? isn't awful, but I would have liked to see more of the world, and less of Morgan Spurlock in it.

Oh, well, at least the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD is letting me see the world - if only cinematically - and this week, we are off to Spain to dance in the SUMMER RAIN.

As the summer comes to an end this Labour Day weekend, SUMMER RAIN is our film this week.

It is a coming-of-age story about first loves, lusts and obsessions of friends on vacation at the end of the 1970s.

Usually I love these types of films, ones about friends just hanging out and spending time together, but - unfortunately - SUMMER RAIN has way too many characters, too many storylines, and it is way too artistic for it's own good.

So, SUMMER RAIN is not a great film, but that said...foreign films always seem to intrigue me, usually right up until the end, so I have no regrets about sitting through it.

If you enjoy seeing movies made in other countries, or done in languages that you don't necessarily speak every day, or if you just enjoy movies about friends hanging out...then you should check it out.

SUMMER RAIN is now available on DVD, along with the wants-to-be funny documentary WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?, the television shows HOUSE - SEASON FOUR and HEROES - SEASON TWO, the very entertaining CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO and the made-in-Quebec film EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN is a Canadian made documentary about some of the 20 million widows from India who are abandoned by their families and literally turned out into the streets when their husbands died.

And, there is also a new 2 DISC COLLECTOR'S EDITION of Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS new on DVD, and even though the action filled, very loud, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie season technically ends this weekend, The FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD will continue next week - since I still have some great films to tell you about, starting with the Bralilian film THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION.

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!

Springsteen to play 'Harley' bash

MILWAUKEE - Bruce Springsteen has long written lyrics about the struggles of working-class Americans. Harley-Davidson motorcycles have traditionally attracted blue-collar riders.

Springsteen seems like a good fit for a headlining act at the Milwaukee-based company's 105th anniversary celebration, right? It might depend on what the liberal leaning Springsteen says to the crowd.

Springsteen, who often makes political statements during performances, endorsed Barack Obama for president this month. But he will be performing to a crowd like the one that gave Republican presidential candidate John McCain a warm welcome Aug. 4 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Many roared their motorcycles during his speech.

Martin Jack Rosenblum, author of 1989's "The Holy Ranger: Harley-Davidson Poems" and a featured poet in the new "Rubber Side Down: The Biker Poet Anthology," said he expected Springsteen's music to get a warm welcome, since he has successfully represented blue-collar workers over the years.

But when asked how the crowd might react to Springsteen's political statements, he said, "I have the same question, I don't know."

"You cannot find them easily on any kind of political spectrum," he said.

Springsteen's spokeswoman Marilyn Laverty said the longtime rocker from New Jersey wasn't giving interviews.

The Boss and the 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.

Bob Klein, Harley's director of corporate communications, said the anniversary is a nonpolitical event and the company does not endorse any candidate or party.

"The choice of entertainers, made many months ago, was based purely on entertainment value and on what would appeal to our customers," he said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "We're confident that our thousands of friends and family from Milwaukee and around the world will have a great time at our event."

But the company's political action committee has given 57 per cent to Republicans and 43 per cent to Democrats in the 2008 election cycle, according to www.opensecrets.org. So far, the PAC has given a total of $14,550 to federal candidates, according to the site.

Springsteen's Saturday performance will be his last stop on the "Magic" tour, which started in October. Klein wouldn't say how many tickets have been sold, but said he expects the audience to be at or near the 125,000 person capacity.

The Harley crowd gathered near the new Harley-Davidson Museum earlier in this week had mixed reactions to Springsteen.

Jim Jacobs, a conservative from Clearwater, Fla., said he was a Springsteen fan until about five or 10 years ago, when Springsteen started becoming more vocal about his political views. The 63-year-old retired businessman said he won't go to the show because he doesn't want to hear about politics when he's listening to music.

"If he wasn't so adamant, you could overlook it," he said.

Jacobs said he thought most Harley riders leaned to the right.

But the more liberal Ray and Toni Kneen, from Denver, said they though the crowd was split down the middle. They plan to attend the concert.

"Everybody is entitled to their own opinion," said Ray Kneen, 55, a retired welder.

"I think they like his music, and that's why they are going to see him," said Toni Kneen, 52, who is retired from owning her own housekeeping business.

After McCain's stop at Sturgis this month, Obama invoked Harleys - the market-leading American motorcycle company - in a Wisconsin radio ad. It blasted the Arizona senator for his long opposition to provisions that require government agencies to buy goods made in the U.S.

Harley-Davidson expects more than 100,000 people from around the nation and world to participate in the four-day celebration that officially started Thursday in Milwaukee and its suburbs. It includes a parade through the city, a party along the lake, activities at the new Harley-Davidson Museum, a special exhibit at Discovery World and other big-name bands.

Kid Rock Living Large Without iTunes

Kid Rock's latest album "Rock'n'Roll Jesus" and its single "All Summer Long" have been two of the biggest hits of the summer. But it's happened without either being available for download via Apple's iTunes Music Store in the United States.

Rock has been an outspoken critic not only of track downloading but Internet piracy. In a "smartass" public service announcement he recently advised people to steal everything. Eschewing iTunes also proves a point, Rock adds.

"I tell people in my organization, 'Do not ever come up to me and say, "This is what everyone's doing and how they're doing it." Don't ever give me that lame-ass bullsh*t,'" he tells Billboard at a Nashville tequila bar. "As soon as someone says, 'You have to be on iTunes ... they're the No. 1 retailer' ... I don't have to. Because I remember being a kid when I heard a song that I liked, I would jump on the bus, ride to Detroit, get a $2.50 transfer and walk a mile to the hip-hop store to buy the new Eric B. & Rakim record. You're not going to stop people from obtaining what they want if it's available at some level."

However, Atlantic president Julie Greenwald says "Rock'N'Roll Jesus" will be available soon digitally in the States as an album via providers like Amazon, walmart.com, Rhapsody and bestbuy.com.

"We get so caught up in technology and ease [of downloading a single] ... there's nothing wrong with listening to a whole record from start to finish," Kid Rock co-manager Ken Levitan says.

In other news, Kid Rock and his Twisted Brown Trucker band recently cut a new song, "Warrior," for a National Guard commercial. It will be downloadable in its entirety on the National Guard's Web site once the commercial airs. He's also looking at launching signature beer and cigar products.

"I like [branding opportunities] when it's something I'm into, and I'm definitely into beer and cigars," Rock says. "You probably won't see me on the cover of a Wheaties box or selling Tide detergent, because it's irrelevant to me."

Michael Jackson at 50: `The best is yet to come'

NEW YORK - Michael Jackson marked a personal milestone Friday: his 50th birthday.

The 13-time Grammy winner, who has sold more than 750 million albums, told ABC News' "Good Morning America" that he's "looking forward to doing a lot of great things. ... I think the best is yet to come in my true humble opinion."

Jackson talked to ABC by phone Thursday.

"People see some of the things I do and they say, `Why don't you show this to the world? People don't know you do these things.' And maybe I will," he said.

Jackson said recording the blockbuster albums "Thriller" and "Off the Wall" were the happiest times of his life.

"That meant very much to me and seemed to be received so beautifully by the public and the world. You know, I enjoyed it very much," he said.

As for his birthday plans, "I'll just have a little cake with my children and we'll probably watch some cartoons," he said.

Jackson, a twice-divorced father of three, said he aims to provide a normal life for his children.

"I am letting them enjoy their childhood as much as possible. ... I let them go to the arcade and go to the movies and do things. I think that comes naturally. I want them to get to do things I didn't get to do," he said.

"I get pretty emotional when I see them having a wonderful time," he said.

Jackson was asked if he had received a membership card from AARP, which focuses on the needs and concerns of those 50 and older.

"Not that I know of!" he said, laughing.

Jennifer Aniston will make a return visit to NBC

NEW YORK - Jennifer Aniston will return home to NBC, the TV network where she became a breakout star on the hit sitcom "Friends."

She's currently filming a guest appearance on the network's "30 Rock," Aniston publicist Stephen Huvane confirmed Friday.

There were no immediate details on the role Aniston will play — as herself or a fictitious character — or the episode's planned air date.

The New York-based series, which begins its third season in October, stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin in a behind-the-scenes, sometimes self-directed spoof of a television network and the huge corporation that owns it. The show has won a modest but devoted following, and critical raves. Awards include Golden Globes, a Peabody and last year's Emmy for outstanding comedy series.

With its show-biz slant, it has become a haven for guest appearances by big names from entertainment — even politics, including Al Gore.

Another of the six-member "Friends" troupe, David Schwimmer, had a "30 Rock" guest shot last season.

Since "Friends" concluded its highly successful 10-year run in 2004, Aniston has concentrated on films, including "Friends with Money," "The Break-Up."

New AC/DC Single Hits Radio, Web

AC/DC's first new single in eight years, "Rock'n'Roll Train," hit the band's Web site and U.S. radio outlets today (Aug. 28). A video for the song was shot Aug. 15 in London and will premiere next month.

A few stations jumped the gun yesterday and spun the track, including KCBS and KLOS Los Angeles, according to Nielsen BDS.

"Rock'n'Roll Train" will be utilized in promo ads for the CBS show "Criminal Minds" beginning Sept. 1. It will also appear in the Oct. 22 installment of the series.

Verizon has the exclusive on the "Rock'n'Roll Train" ringtone via its online media store. AC/DC's music remains unavailable at Apple's iTunes Music Store.

"Rock'n'Roll Train" heralds the Oct. 20 U.S. release of "Black Ice," which will be sold exclusively via Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, as well as ACDC.com.

An extensive tour is due to begin in October, with dates to be announced.

Sean Connery's memoirs no "kiss and tell"

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - If you are looking for kiss-and-tell stories about the Bond girls or movie town gossip, Sean Connery's memoirs are not for you.

More of a coffee table book, the renowned Scottish actor's autobiography, "Being A Scot," is a heavyweight tome written in collaboration with Scottish film maker Murray Grigor.

The book, launched on Connery's 78th birthday this week at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, relates his 1930s childhood in the poor Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh.

He details his break into acting by way of milk delivery boy, the Royal Navy (invalided out with ulcers), art college model, bodybuilder, and -- almost -- professional footballer.

But the book is sparse on intimate detail, with Connery apparently shy of revealing too much of his inner self, or of any of the rumored liaisons he may have had.

A passionate Scot, he devotes much of the well-illustrated work to Scotland itself, its history, art, literature, architecture and poetry. He lives, however, in the Bahamas, having vowed not to reside in his homeland until it achieves independence.

The Bond films made him world famous. He is regarded as having defined the movie role of Ian Fleming's James Bond, following his initial appearance as British secret agent 007 in the first of the series, Dr No, in 1962.

He appeared in seven Bond films, the last of them, "Never Say Never Again" in 1983, regarded as an unofficial production outside the official franchise. In his memoirs, however, there are only half a dozen one-line references to Bond, although Connery does credit his passion for golf to the need to develop a convincing swing to outwit Goldfinger in the 1964 film of that name.

He was equally discreet at the book launch. Asked if he had a favorite leading lady, he replied, "Not really, no." The book is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson at 20 pounds.

The original idea was for the leading Edinburgh publisher Cannongate to publish, but the Scotsman newspaper reported Cannongate owner Jamie Byng had walked away from the deal due to irreconcilable differences over the book's contents.

Reviewers seem to have been caught off guard by the book. Only the Sunday Times, whose sister publication The Times had published extracts, gave it a lengthy review. But even reviewer Christopher Hart concedes the long-awaited autobiography turns out not to be an autobiography at all.

It is about Being A Scot, not being Sean Connery.

David Duchovny in rehab for sex addiction

LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation facility for sex addiction. In a statement released Thursday by his lawyer, Stanton Stein, the actor said he did so voluntarily, adding: "I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family."

The actor's publicist, Flo Grace, confirmed the rehab report, which first appeared on People.com.

She and Stein both declined to elaborate further.

Duchovny, 48, plays a sex-obsessed character on the Showtime series "Californication," which earned Emmy nominations for casting and cinematography. The show's second season begins Sept. 28. Showtime had no comment Thursday.

The actor appeared in the film "The X Files: I Want to Believe" earlier this summer. He has been married to actress Tea Leoni since 1997. They have two children.

Blogger arrested over leaked Chinese Democracy tracks

U.S. federal authorities have arrested a Los Angeles-area blogger accused of posting leaked tracks from the forthcoming Guns N' Roses album online.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said its agents arrested 27-year-old Kevin Cogill, operator of the Antiquiet blog, on Wednesday morning on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws.

Cogill posted nine tracks from the long-awaited Chinese Democracy album on his site in June, but removed them shortly afterward, according to an arrest affidavit.

The website received so many hits that it crashed.

In the past, the band's eccentric frontman Axl Rose has said that Chinese Democracy is complete. Its release is expected this fall, about 14 years since the last Guns N' Roses album.

In July, video game developers Harmonix and MTV Games announced that Shacklers' Revenge, a track from Chinese Democracy, would debut on its much-anticipated title Rock Band 2 this fall.

SNL Plucks Michael Phelps Out of the Hosting Pool

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Saturday Night Live is looking to make a splash this season.

The series has tapped Olympic golden boy Michael Phelps to host its 34th-season premiere Sept. 13 on NBC, which probably wouldn't mind basking in the glow from its history-making coverage of the Beijing Games a little longer.

Aside from all the commercials and inevitable talk-show spots, this will be the first "acting" role for Phelps, whose world-record-smashing, eight-gold-medal-winning performance at the Summer Olympics made him the poster boy of U.S. swimming for generations to come and won him the hearts of millions of admiring fans.

Lil Wayne, who, appropriately enough, has also had the most successful year of his career in 2008, will be the musical guest.

Meanwhile, the MTV Video Music Awards has also capitalized on (or is helping to wear out the welcome of) the Phelps juggernaut, securing an appearance by the 23-year-old Baltimore native at the Sept. 9 kudosfest.

But considering we already know that teenage girls dig him, it's the SNL gig that will be the gangly lad's chance to prove he's more than a superhuman swimming machine with abs on which he can wash his own Speedo.

Assuming, however, that he'll leave the LAZR Racer® at home (although, if they're smart, he'll be wearing it in at least one sketch), the question remains: Can Phelps duplicate his poolside appeal while wearing everyguy gear?

Peter Jackson in "Tintin" director's chair

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Hollywood Reporter) - The first of DreamWorks' Tintin movies will be directed by Peter Jackson, not Steven Spielberg, according to Herge Studios, which holds the rights to the vintage comic strip character.

Spielberg, who had been tabbed to direct the first installment of the would-be franchise, will now be only indirectly involved in the filming, the Brussels-based studio said.

The first film will be based on two of the books, "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure," written by Tintin creator Herge -- the pen name of Belgian artist Georges Remi -- between 1942 and 1944.

The film, scripted by Stephen Moffat, a writer on the British sci-fi series "Doctor Who," will be animated with motion-capture technology. It stars 18-year-old Thomas Sangster as the title character and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" triology, as Tintin's friend Captain Haddock.

'Murdoch Mysteries' leads Gemini noms

TORONTO - A pair of detective shows - one set in the 19th century and another that takes place in present-day suburbia - are this year's leading Gemini Award nominees.

"Murdoch Mysteries," which airs on Citytv and stars Yannick Bisson as a sleuth who solves crimes in Toronto in the late 1800s, is up for 14 of the prizes, which recognize excellence in Canadian television.

The show received nods for best dramatic series, writing, visual effects, photography, score and make-up. A host of guest stars who appeared on the program are also vying for awards.

"We're really, really excited...we're ordering quite a few bottles of champagne," said Christina Jennings, executive producer of 'Murdoch Mysteries.'

"Who would have thought a mystery series set in 1895 would capture both Canadian audiences and international audiences?"

"Durham County," in which Hugh Dillon plays a homicide detective who moves his family from Toronto to the suburbs only to discover that his neighbour may be a serial killer, nabbed 13 Gemini nominations.

Dillon is up for an acting prize, as are co-stars Helene Joy and Justin Louis. The program, which airs on The Movie Network and Movie Central, is also up for best dramatic series as well as for writing, directing, editing, sound and photography.

Jennings said that while TV audiences are well-versed in the crime genre these days, "Murdoch Mysteries" gives them some historical perspective.

"I think we all know about 'CSI,' and we've all seen these cop procedurals before," she said.

"This (show) is the beginnings of where forensics started, things that we take for granted like lie detectors...or infrared. I think the audience is interested in where all of that comes from."

In the best drama category, "Murdoch Mysteries" and "Durham County" will square off against the sexy Henry VIII drama "The Tudors," cop thriller "The Border and organized crime drama "Intelligence."

"The Tudors" received 12 nominations overall, as did "The Englishman's Boy," a miniseries based on a Guy Vanderhaeghe novel.

"The Fifth Estate" picked up 11 nods, while "The Border" and "CBC News: The National" tied with nine apiece.

The TV miniseries "Would Be Kings" picked up eight nominations and "Across the River to Motor City" and "Mayerthorpe" each collected seven.

"Marketplace," "ReGenesis," "Rent-A-Goalie" and "Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Revisited" amassed six.

Competing for best comedy will be: "Cock'd Gunns"; "Corner Gas"; "Kenny vs. Spenny"; "Odd Job Jack"; "Rent-A-Goalie"; and "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."

And, the reality show contenders are: "Canada's Next Top Model"; "Dragons' Den"; "Project Runway Canada"; "Triple Sensation"; and "The Week the Women Went."

Three nights of Gemini galas will be held on Oct. 20, 21 and 22 to hand out hardware for various categories including news, sports, documentaries and children's shows.

The main Gemini Awards show will take place in Toronto on Nov. 28.

The awards are administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

A brief list of nominees in major categories for the 23rd Gemini Awards

Best Comedy Program or Series:

"Cock'd Gunns," (Tricon Films & Television) Andrea Gorfolova, Brooks Gray, Andy King, Shaam Makan, Leo Scherman, Morgan Waters.

"Corner Gas," (Prairie Pants Productions Inc., Verite Films, 335 Productions) David Storey, Brent Butt, Mark Farrell, Virginia Thompson, Kevin White.

"Kenny vs. Spenny," (Breakthrough Films & Television, Blueprint Entertainment) Ira Levy, Abby Finer, Noreen Halpern, Kenny Hotz, Amy Marcella, John Morayniss, Trey Parker, Spencer Rice, Kirsten Scollie, Matt Stone, Peter Williamson.

"Odd Job Jack," (Smiley Guy Studios) Jonas Diamond, Adrian Carter, Jeremy Diamond, Denny Silverthorne.

"Rent-A-Goalie," (RAG-TV-2 Inc.) Chris Szarka, Christopher Bolton

"This Hour Has 22 Minutes," (Hour Productions XV Inc.) Michael Donovan, Geoff D'Eon, Mark Farrell, Jack Kellum, Susan MacDonald, Jenipher Ritchie.

Best Dramatic Series:

"The Border," (White Pine Pictures) Peter Raymont, David Barlow, Brian Dennis, Janet MacLean.

"Durham County," (Back Alley Film Productions Ltd. /Muse Entertainment Ent. Inc.) Janis Lundman, Adrienne Mitchell, Michael Prupas.

"Intelligence," (Watcher Films) Chris Haddock, Laura Lightbown, Arvi Liimatainen.

"Murdoch Mysteries," (Shaftesbury Films Inc.) Christina Jennings, Cal Coons, Scott Garvie, Noel Hedges, Jan Peter Meyboom.

"The Tudors ," (Peace Arch Television Ltd., PA Tudors Inc., TM Productions) Sheila Hockin, Morgan O'Sullivan.

Best Reality Program or Series:

"Canada's Next Top Model," (Temple Street Productions) Sheila Hockin, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg.

"Dragon's Den," (CBC) Stuart Coxe, Catherine Annau, Lisa Gabriele, Tracie Tighe.

"Project Runway Canada," (Insight Production Co. Ltd.) John Brunton, Barbara Bowlby, Andrea Webb.

"Triple Sensation," (Triple Sensation II Productions) Garth Drabinsky, Sandra Cunningham, Sari Friedland, Alex Ganetakos.

"The Week the Women Went," (Paperny Films Inc.) Cal Shumiatcher, Sally Aitken, Trevor Hodgson, David Paperny.

Best TV Movie:

"A Life Interrupted," (Incendo Smith Production Inc.) Jean Bureau, Serge Denis, Stephen Greenberg, Josee Mauffette.

"Luna: Spirit of the Whale," (Screen Siren Pictures) Trish Dolman.

"Mayerthorpe," (SEVEN24 Films, Slanted Wheel Entertainment) Jordy Randall, Tom Cox, Jon Slan.

"Sticks and Stones," (Productions Hockeyville Inc., Dream Street SS Pictures Inc.) Josee Vallee, Andre Beraud, Timothy M. Hogan, Rick LeGuerrier.

"Victor: The Victor Davis Story," (Victor Movie Productions Inc.) Bernard Zukerman.

Best Host or Interviewer in a General/Human Interest or Talk Program or Series:

Jeff Douglas, "Ancestors in the Attic - Ghost Ranch."

Jeff Douglas, "Working Over Time - Building Up."

Peter Mansbridge, "Mansbridge One on One."

Les Stroud -Survivorman - Kalahari

George Stroumboulopoulos, "The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos."

Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series:

Natalie Brown, "Sophie - Door Number Two."

Louis CK, "Just For Laughs Gala Series - Show 3."

Jon Dore, "The Jon Dore Television Show - Jon Gets Scared."

Jo Koy, "Just For Laughs Gala Series - Show 4."

Ian Sirota, "Comedy Inc. - Season 4 - Episode 4-03."

Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role:

Hugh Dillon, "Durham County - Life In The Dollhouse."

Justin Louis, "Durham County - What Lies Beneath."

James McGowan, "The Border - Blowback."

Peter Outerbridge, "ReGenesis - TB or not TB."

Ian Tracey, "Intelligence - A Dark Alliance."

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series:

Ben Bass, "Would Be Kings."

Nicholas Campbell, "The Englishman's Boy."

Henry Czerny, "Mayerthorpe."

Michael Eisner, "The Englishman's Boy."

David Fox, "Across the River to Motor City."

Brian Markinson, "Mayerthorpe."

Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role:

Kristin Booth, "MVP Secret Lives of Hockey Wives - Sudden Death."

Natalie Dormer, "The Tudors - Episode 110."

Helene Joy, "Durham County - Guys and Dolls."

Jewel Staite, "Stargate: Atlantis - Missing."

Camille Sullivan, "Intelligence - A Man is Framed."

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series:

Jordy Benattar, "Charlie & Me."

Erica Durance, "I Me Wed."

Megan Follows, "Booky and the Secret Santa."

Natasha Henstridge, "Would Be Kings."

Rachel Marcus, "Booky and the Secret Santa."

Best Newscast:

"CBC News: The National," (CBC) Jonathan Whitten, Terry Auciello, Mark Harrison, Fred Parker, Greg Reaume.

"Global National," (Global Television) Kenton Boston, Bryan Grahn, Jason Keel, Kevin Newman, Doriana Temolo.

"Global News Toronto," (Global Television Network) Ron Waksman

Best News Anchor:

Ian Hanomansing, "CBC News at Six - Vancouver."

Peter Mansbridge, "CBC News: The National."

Kevin Newman, "Global National."

CBS Pushes Back 'Survivor: Gabon' Premiere

Scrap those "Survivor" viewing parties for Thursday, Sept. 18, but get ready to schedule an extra-long gala for the following week.

CBS announced Monday (Aug. 25) that "Survivor: Gabon -- Earth's Last Eden" will now premiere on Thursday, Sept. 25 with what will be the first two-hour premiere in "Survivor" history.

As has been well-documented, the franchise's second trip to Africa will also be its first season broadcast in high definition.

The "Survivor" premiere will be followed by a rebroadcast of last season's cliffhanger finale to "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Fall Out Boy Sets 'Deux' For November

Fall Out Boy will release its fifth album, "Folie a Deux," Nov. 4 via Island, the same day as the U.S. presidential election. The project was heralded yesterday (Aug. 25) with the release of an online mixtape, "Welcome to the New Administration."

On it were five Fall Out Boy demos expected to appear on the album, including "Lake Effect Kid," "America's Sweethearts," "I Don't Care (27)," "ALPHAdog and OMEGAlomaniac" and "Catch Me if You Can/Proclamation of Emancipation," the latter featuring Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy.

The album's first single, which has yet to be named, will hit radio Sept. 15, sources tell Billboard.

"Folie a Deux" is the follow-up to 2007's "Infinity on High," which has sold 1.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

A fall TV season with questions in the air

NEW YORK - With fall in sight, ABC is inviting viewers to stay home and watch ABC as an energy-saving measure.

For this tongue-in-cheek promotion, National Stay at Home Week begins Sept. 21 — also the official start of the 2008-09 TV season.

If only sky-high gas prices would guarantee ABC a captive audience!

Alas, it's hard to make an argument that viewers are breathlessly awaiting ABC's fall season — or any other network's. Audience buzz remains at a hush.

With the networks still reeling from the disruption of last winter's strike by screenwriters, only 17 new series have been slotted for fall — about half the usual number.

And most of them have been unavailable for preview. As the networks continue to play catch-up, few new shows have been put in front of critics, who, in other years, would have been warming up the crowd.

Not that there isn't plenty going on. Broadcast networks were already dogged by audience erosion, growing competition from cable and the Internet, and TiVo-equipped viewers who blow off the commercials.

These challenges are only intensifying now. So whatever the programming networks air this fall, there is likely to be drama, suspense and pratfalls as the networks race to adapt to a medium in flux.

Beyond that near-certainty, mostly questions prevail.

• For starters: Will viewers surprise the networks (and themselves) by discovering a hit among the limited fall prospects?

The most eagerly awaited entry is "Fringe," Fox's paranormal thriller from J.J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias"). It also happens to be an exception to all the new shows no one's seen yet: Its 90-minute pilot was screened for critics way back in June and for fans at Comic-Con in July. For weeks, it could be downloaded by anybody else to sample from the Internet.

No one will be sampling "90210" beforehand — by design. The premiere will be kept under wraps until its Sept. 2 airing as a "strategic marketing decision," the CW network recently announced. Thanks to that strategy, any buzz about "90210" is free to dwell on the likelihood it will fall far short of "Beverly Hills, 90210," the 1990s cultural phenomenon that spawned it.

ABC is introducing just two new series. One, "Opportunity Knocks," is a trivia-based game show. The other, a cop drama with a time-travel twist called "Life on Mars," began life as a British series. But it's not the only transplant this fall.

• Will global imports tighten their grip on the networks?

CBS' wedding woes comedy, "Worst Week," and its sci-fi crime drama, "Eleventh Hour," also have been adapted from British TV. NBC's mother-daughter comedy, "Kath & Kim," sprang from an Australian hit. CBS' "The Ex List," a romantic comedy, was inspired by an Israeli series.

They will take their place with successful imports such as NBC's British-born "The Office" and ABC's "Ugly Betty," which originated as a Spanish-language telenovela.

It's worth remembering that last fall, CBS belly-flopped with its version of the British hit "Viva Blackpool," which, transformed into "Viva Laughlin," lasted two weeks.

But for a decade, the networks have been mining reality and game-show formats from around the world with spectacular success ("Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Survivor" and "Big Brother" are early examples). This fall, Fox is introducing a game show called "Hole in the Wall," from Japan.

If any of the networks were to strike gold this year with scripted imports, it would likely spur an even bigger global shopping spree.

• But will more imports, or anything else, do the trick for NBC and its entertainment czar, Ben Silverman?

A 36-year-old wunderkind producer when he came to NBC Universal 16 months ago, Silverman inherited a fourth-place network whose Fall 2007 schedule was already announced.

Today, NBC, thanks to the Beijing Olympics, has crept ahead of ABC to claim third place in total viewers. But the Olympics and their explosive ratings are just a beautiful memory as NBC heads into a brand-new season, its fall schedule crafted by Silverman's team.

Although he champions an inventive multimedia-platform approach to programming, his vision of what viewers want to see is oddly derivative: "Simple themes reinvented, accessible entry points, universality," he rhapsodized when pitching the schedule last April.

But it remains to be seen whether Silverman's stated mission — providing a video respite from the harsh modern world — will placate the restless channel surfer. Or whether other networks will convert to a similar gospel.

His new fall shows include "Kath & Kim"; a remake of the 1980s man-and-his-car hit "Knight Rider"; the self-explanatory "Crusoe"; and "My Own Worst Enemy," an action drama about a family man with a split personality.

At the same time NBC unveiled its fall schedule, it also presented a schedule for midseason, reinvigorated with more new and returning series.

Other networks are also adopting this strategy of prearranged replenishment. It's aimed at minimizing reruns and refreshing the lineup in an orderly way to keep viewers on board.

• But does alerting them this far ahead to all the shows awaiting them come winter undercut the effort to excite them about fall? Will the audience suspect the networks of holding out their best stuff for midseason, stuff like Fox's spinoff from "Family Guy," an NBC comedy starring "Saturday Night Live" alum Amy Poehler, and the return of ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "24"?

Long before then, the audience will be sizing up fall entries that also include a Fox comedy about a luxury Manhattan hotel, "Do Not Disturb," and "Gary Unmarried," a CBS comedy about a guy navigating his recent divorce. CBS' drama "The Mentalist" focuses on a consultant to the cops who has a keen eye for clues but a dubious past. CW weighs in with "Privileged," about a sexy live-in tutor in posh Palm Beach, and "Stylista," a reality show where competitors vie for a job at a fashion magazine.

Still, it won't be new shows that determine the outcome of the networks' ratings race. The pivotal factor: Which network has the strongest slate of veteran series.

Several proven hits — Fox's "House," NBC's "Heroes," ABC's "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" — are now awaited by viewers with eagerness that nothing new can match.

Whether returning shows like ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money," "Pushing Daisies" and "Samantha Who?" can reclaim their initial popularity after months on ice — that's less certain.

But is anything certain as ABC sets the stage for Stay at Home Week? Right now, the networks' biggest show is a guessing game, the one they're trying to win.

Kevin Smith makes a porno with `Zack and Miri'

LOS ANGELES - Kevin Smith likes to watch porn online, not to get his jollies but to marvel at how extreme the art of exhibitionist sex can be.

"I'm a morning porn peruser, and not for the titillation factor. I just find it interesting," said Smith, whose latest comedy is "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," the tale of best friends shooting their own skin flick to dig themselves out of debt. "I'll go read Google news, I'll go read Guardian UK, go read our Web site, and then if I've got nothing else, I will just peruse the porn sites, because it's an ever-expanding world."

"Just when you see the most outlandish clip you could ever see, somebody introduces something new. I just check in periodically just to see how far porn has gone in my absence," Smith said after screening "Zack and Miri" for The Associated Press at his Los Angeles home last week.

Debuting Oct. 31, "Zack and Miri" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as lifelong buddies who have shared an apartment for years but never considered each other as potential mates.

Writer-director Smith — whose films include "Clerks," "Dogma" and "Chasing Amy" — has taken two people who have yet to realize they're a couple and cast them into a sweet little romance — with a whole lot of sex and swearing.

Profanity is almost a given for Smith, whose characters barrage one another with four-letter words.

"It turns some people off but that's how mostly everybody I know speaks," Smith said. "It's kind of strange. Whenever somebody goes, `That offends me,' I'm like, wow, what kind of weird, opposite bizarro frame of mind do you live in? Cursing is just so second nature, you don't even think of it as cursing any more. It's just your lexicon."

At the outset of the new film, Rogen's Zack and Banks' Miri have known each other so long and so well that they're almost like siblings. The twenty-something slackers blissfully share a dumpy apartment on which they're far behind on the rent and utility bills. When the electricity is turned off in the middle of winter, they burn their unpaid bills in a garbage can for heat.

A chance encounter with a gay porn actor (Justin Long) gives Zack the notion that they could make their own sex flick to pay off their debts. When he and Miri add up how much money they could clear from one dirty movie, they wonder why everyone isn't busy making porn.

"Because other people have options and dignity," Zack concludes.

They recruit an amateur cast and crew to make their porno, among them "Clerks" co-star Jeff Anderson as "cinematographer" and Jason Mewes — Jay to Smith's Silent Bob, the pair of stoners in most of his movies — as a well-endowed "actor."

The cast also includes Craig Robinson as Zack's co-worker and producer, "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh as Long's lover, and former adult-film star Traci Lords and current porn queen Katie Morgan.

The porn shoot becomes something of a loving, though lewd, re-creation of how Smith made his debut film, "Clerks," at the New Jersey convenience store at which he worked.

"Basically, it's a dressed-up version of making your first film. It just happens to be a porn film," Smith said.

Just like "Clerks," "Zack and Miri" initially was hit with an NC-17 tag by the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America. That rating prohibits anyone younger than 17 from seeing a movie.

Smith nipped and tucked the key objectionable segment, a comically over-the-top sex scene between Mewes and Morgan. But the ratings board held to the NC-17 designation, which Smith later got knocked down to an R rating after stating his case to the MPAA appeals board.

With the exception of one tender, tame sex scene, the porn action in "Zack and Miri" was meant to be outrageous, a commentary on the impossibly silly deeds in real skin flicks, Smith said.

"It's not titillating in the least. It's comedic," Smith said. "If you're turned on by this, then we didn't do our job very well."

Hard Core Logo sequel films ready to rock

Hard Core Logo is set to become a movie franchise.

A sequel to the cult classic will begin shooting early next year with a third instalment to follow shortly thereafter, says director Bruce McDonald.

Plans are afoot for a fourth — maybe even a fifth — film inspired by a fake Canadian punk band called Hard Core Logo that implodes while on an ill-fated reunion tour in 1996.

Despite the dire ending that marks the original film, the possibilities for sequels are endless, McDonald insists.

"We've got a little juggernaut lined up," McDonald says from his downtown office while taking a break from editing his current project, Pontypool.

"You look at Planet of the Apes — they squeezed five (films) out of that. And Saw is up to five now and Rocky is probably up to seven, so we're thinking, 'Well, why not build our own little army?' "

McDonald isn't about to reveal how the film's hero, Joe Dick, played by Hugh Dillon, comes back from the dead, but says "it's quite cleverly worked out and it's very satisfying."

He says he wants shooting to take place in January and February for Hard Core Logo II: Still Hard. The story picks up about 10 years after the original left off, with the film sticking to a mockumentary style.

Part three — tentatively titled Hard Core Logo: 45s (as in the gun, someone's age and those vinyl records) — will be shot more in a straight-up feature style and picks up roughly six months later. It was written by Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor.

No. 4 centres on the 17-year-old daughters of Joe Dick and Billy Talent, who are in high school and have a band called Sex Chimes. This one is written by Fubar co-writer/star Paul Spence.

McDonald even muses about a fifth film, which he suggests could throw back to a 1981 version of the band, touring with the Dead Kennedys and X.

McDonald says shooting depends on when he can snag Dillon, now starring on the police series Flashpoint, which was picked up for a second season.

Meanwhile, Callum Keith Rennie, who played fame-hungry guitarist Billy Talent, has been busy shooting 10 episodes of the David Duchovny series, Californication.

"You just hope to God you can kind of secure everybody and everybody's available at the right time. This is probably the biggest challenge," McDonald says.

McDonald says the sequel also reunites John Pyper-Ferguson as bassist John Oxenberger, Bernie Coulson as drummer Pipefitter and Julian Richings as the band's mentor, Bucky Haight.

And like the original, some rock'n' roll cameos are planned. McDonald says they include punk veteran Henry Rollins, British DJ and musician Don Letts and Canadian rockers Billy Talent, who turn up as a band being managed by Rennie's character.

McDonald says the real-life Billy Talent were hard core fans of the film, and sent him backstage passes to an arena show last year as thanks for inspiring the group's name.

"It's a real kick, you know, when you kind of weirdly become a part of the zeitgeist or the things that you make are travelling on other roads and making other things click," he says.

It would seem the time is ripe for a sequel. Maybe even four.

Earlier this month at a revue theatre, fans held a Hard Core Logo tribute night featuring a screening, a Q&A with McDonald and others involved in the film, and a live cover band. Fans were invited to sing along to the soundtrack and McDonald says he was astounded by how many actually knew the words to songs like Son of a Bitch to the Core and Edmonton Block Heater.

"We were just kind of floored at the great embrace," he says of the film, which debuted as an underground indie but over the years has picked up a mountain of fans including director Quentin Tarantino, who picked up the U.S. distribution rights.

"It's been a slow rolling thunder from the premiere and because of the life on DVD and people passing it around amongst themselves and sending it to friends in Germany and Alabama," McDonald says.

"It's developed its own little mythologies and so we want to do the fans proud and make a kick-ass follow-up."

"We're very proud of the first movie and we want to do more than just exploit it, we want to kind of make something brand new that is sort of inspired by it. I have sort of mixed feelings sometimes, you're not quite sure if you should be digging up corpses and walking them around...but it's good. It feels like the right time."

New CD Releases, August 26: Slipknot, The Game, The Verve

Slipknot "All Hope is Gone"

The masked men of metal are back with their fourth studio album, and first batch of new material since 2004's "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)."

The band members have kept busy during this recording hiatus by focusing on various side projects, including lead singer Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root's participation in alt-metal act Stone Sour, and drummer Joey Jordison's stints with Korn and Ministry.

Slipknot spent the summer co-headlining the traveling, metal-oriented Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival with Disturbed.

* * *
The Game "LAX"

The Southern California rap star, who, indeed, came "straight outta Compton," flies back into view with "LAX." The disc, the rapper's third overall and what's rumored to be his last, features a bevy of guest stars, including Keisha Cole, Ludacris, Nas and Ice Cube.

* * *
The Verve "Forth"

The tuneful Brit-rock band returns with its fourth album, somewhat cleverly titled "Forth." It's The Verve's first release since reforming last year and it ranks as the band's first record of new material since 1997's "Urban Hymns." The first single from the album is the tune "Love is Noise."

* * *
Little Feat "Join the Band"

The classic American rock band, which originally formed back in 1969, has called upon many of its famous friends to help with this new all-star effort. "Join the Band" features contributions from such celebs as Jimmy Buffett, Dave Matthews, Bob Seger and Phish's Mike Gordon.

The ensemble tackles tunes from throughout Little Feet's 40-year recording career. Included in the mix are such fan favorites as "Dixie Chicken" and "Oh Atlanta."

* * *
Motorhead "Motorizer"

The legendary speed-metal trio is set to drop its 20th studio album. "Motorizer," recorded in Los Angeles with producer Cameron Webb, is the band's first offering since 2006's "Kiss of Death."

Motorhead is currently on the road as part of the gigantic Metal Masters Tour, which also includes Judas Priest and Heaven and Hell. After that winds up with an Aug. 31 date in Northern California, Motorhead will quickly launch its own headlining tour, beginning Sept. 2 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA.

* * *
More new releases:
Blues Traveler, "North Hollywood Shootout" (Verve)
Eva Cassidy, "Somewhere" (Blix Street)
Dragonforce, "Ultra Beatdown" (Roadrunner)
JJ Grey & Mofro, "Orange Blossoms" (Alligator)
Jan & Dean, "The Complete Liberty Singles" (Collector's Choice)
The Lost Trailers, "Holler Back" (BNA)
Jordan Pruitt, "Permission to Fly" (Hollywood)
Klaus Schulze, Lisa Gerrard, "Farscape" (SPV)
Solange, "Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams" (Geffen)
Matthew Sweet, "Sunshine Lies" (Shout Factory)
Thriving Ivory, "Thriving Ivory" (Wind-up)
Various artists, "Tropical Thunder" (Razor & Tie)
Jimmy Wayne, "Do You Believe Me Now" (Valory)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Gypsy: 2008 Original Broadway Cast" (Time Life)

Music fills Democratic National Convention

Is it the Democratic National Convention or a star-studded music festival? As planeloads of superstars--including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Kanye West and Rage Against the Machine--descend on Denver, it's kind of hard to tell.

Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles were on hand to sing at the DNC's kickoff concert last night (8/24) at Red Rocks Amphitheater, according to the Associated Press. The national convention officially starts today at the Pepsi Center.

Presumably, the youthful charisma of Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama is driving the excitement, creating an environment for celebrities to get their partisan and nonpartisan messages heard.

Many of the artists in town aren't a part of the official convention, but are instead trying to draw the attention of the media swarm at the event to their pet causes. West will be in Denver Wednesday (8/27) for a party promoting antipoverty campaign One, the Black Eyed Peas will perform that night for the Creative Coalition and Fall Out Boy will play for Rock the Vote, according to The New York Times. The Rage Against the Machine antiwar rally will be one of the biggest musical events, and various outdoor shows will align rock and hip-hop acts with on-the-ground activists, the paper said.

"People feel comfortable expressing themselves in an artistic way at this convention more than they ever have," Impact Film Festival founder Kimball Stroud, who is screening documentaries at both conventions, told the Times. "I don't recall another convention where hip-hop artists were embraced like they are."

Other acts scheduled to play during the week include Daughtry frontman Chris Daughtry, Cold War Kids, Grammy-winning rapper Nelly, and John Legend, who will premiere his new call-to-action song, "If You're Out There."

Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are expected to perform acoustic numbers at Invesco Field Thursday (8/28), when Obama is scheduled to give his acceptance speech, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

Unfortunately for fans, most of the concerts will be filled with political insiders, charity reps and the 15,000 expected members of the news media, the Times said.

Former Bond Sean Connery launches autobiography

EDINBURGH, Scotland - He's recognized around the world as the iconic face of James Bond. But in Britain, Sean Connery is also well known as a proud Scot, and on Monday he returns to his hometown to launch his autobiography.

"Being a Scot" looks at Connery's early life as a milkman in Edinburgh's Fountainbridge neighborhood, then delves into a wide-ranging look at Scottish culture including the work of poet Robert Burns, novelist Sir Walter Scott and Mary, Queen of Scots.

"It will illuminate what Fountainbridge's most famous former milkman thinks of many aspects of Scottish culture and life, including sport, architecture, and of course the gothic tendency in Scots literature," said Edinburgh International Book Festival director Catherine Lockerbie.

Connery is a vocal supporter of the pro-independence Scottish National Party. He lives in the Bahamas and has said he will not reside in Scotland until it gains independence from the United Kingdom.

He was the first — and, many say, the best — Bond. In a six-decade career, Connery also starred in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Untouchables," which earned him an Academy Award for best supporting actor.

The unveiling of "Being a Scot" coincides with Connery's 78th birthday. The actor is appearing at the book festival alongside his co-author, the filmmaker and writer Murray Grigor.

The Edinburgh event is one of Britain's leading literary gatherings, and runs alongside jazz, comedy and performing arts festivals in the Scottish capital each August.

Among the 800 authors appearing at the Aug. 9-25 festival are Salman Rushdie, Louis de Bernieres and Margaret Atwood.

Ladies frontman survives plane crash

BANCROFT - Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson and three others are "really lucky" to have survived a float-plane crash north of Bancroft Sunday, officials say.

Robertson's plane went down in the woods north of Bancroft early Sunday afternoon.

"Everyone is fine and that is the important thing," said Adam Smith, a spokesman for the band, said Sunday night in an e-mail to The Intelligencer. "That's all the comment we have at this time."

Sgt. Jeff MacKinnon of Bancroft OPP said the crash happened near Baptiste Lake, about 10 minutes north of Bancroft and one of the North Hastings district's most popular cottage areas.

"At 12:30 p.m. a Cessna 206 was taking off from Baptiste Lake, lost airspeed and entered a wooded area west of the lake," Sgt. Jeff MacKinnon of Bancroft OPP said in a telephone interview.

He said the plane was totaled but all four adults managed to walk out of the woods and soon reported the crash.

"They got out and then called it in," said MacKinnon.

MacKinnon said police aren't releasing any further details, including the names of the plane's occupants, because the investigation is now being headed by Canada's Transportation Safety Board.

Sources in the area, however, said Robertson was piloting his own plane.

"They're all really lucky to get out of there. I think there was somebody on their side," said Brian Sears, deputy fire chief for Herschel Ward of the Municipality of Hastings Highlands.

"They could smell the fuel, so they didn't waste any time getting out of it."

He said the crash happened about a kilometre from the nearest road, with the plane breaking trees on its way to the ground.

"He'd clipped one a bit farther back from there (the crash site). It hit some more maples, and the maples just leaned down and uprooted, and from the looks of it cushioned it from any real heavy blow," said Sears.

"She's on her nose up against the trees. One pontoon is split right back underneath it.

"I've left some guys there because there was quite a bit of fuel leaking," he said. "We plugged it up as much as we could."

Sears said Robertson appeared to be doing well, and visited the site at least once after the forced landing.

"He came over and brought some water and pop over for the guys," said Sears.

Robertson doubles as host of the Ed's Up television show on Outdoor Life Network Canada. He's a well-known, well-liked cottager in the area.

Nearby resident Gord Peel, who said he has known Robertson for about 10 years, said he arrived on the scene about 20 minutes after the crash. Peel said the passengers were Robertson's wife, Natalie, and their friends Julie and Jeff Jones.

"There was some gusting wind up here today," Peel told The Intelligencer. "He got up, and he got into a stall."

Following the stall, he said, Robertson managed to "set the plane straight down into the trees. It hung up into a large tree, nose down, and its nose is resting on the ground.

"The doors were jammed; they couldn't get out. They had to get out through a window. They didn't even have a scratch. They were just more in shock than anything."

He said he found the four friends walking on a road, somewhat shaken but unharmed.

Belleville's Shirley and Willard Wasson were surprised to receive a phone call from Peel Sunday.

Shirley Wasson said their acquaintance called at around 1:30 p.m. to report the plane had crashed on the Wassons' 80-acre property.

Her husband said he'd been told the plane could not be removed until authorities had investigated the crash.

Transportation Safety Board staff, meanwhile, had not returned phone calls by press time Sunday.

Deborah Baxter is a spokeswoman for Transport Canada, which also investigates aviation incidents.

"We have not received a report on this accident, so if it was a private plane and nobody was hurt ... we may not get a report until later," Baxter said Sunday evening.

THE AUTUMN OSCAR RACE IS NOW ON!! HERE IS A SNEAK PEEK AT THE SEASON'S BEST.

OSCAR BAIT

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Who's in it: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton

Why you'll see it: Director David Fincher's last film, "Zodiac," was one of the most criminally overlooked masterpieces in recent years. The presence of Brad Pitt should guarantee more eyeballs for his latest project. Based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Benjamin Button" is about a man who ages backwards. And through the magic of motion-capture (the same technology used in "Beowulf"), Pitt will play Button at every age, from a stooped senior citizen to a fresh-faced boy. We're curious already. (Dec. 19)

Revolutionary Road

Director Sam Mendes is joined by his wife, Kate Winslet, as well as "Titanic" boatmate Leonardo DiCaprio for the story of a suburban Connecticut couple in the 1950s whose marriage is dissolving. (Dec. 26)

The Road

If you've read Cormac McCarthy's brilliant but dispiriting novel about a father and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, you don't need much cajoling to see this one. Viggo Mortensen plays the dad, Kodi Smit-McPhee the son. (Nov. 26)

The Changeling

This period drama from director Clint Eastwood picked up major buzz after screening at Cannes earlier this year. A mother (Angelina Jolie) has her kidnapped son returned to her and begins to suspect that the boy is not hers. (Oct. 24)

Milk

Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and James Franco headline this drama from director Gus Van Sant about the life of Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official who ultimately got assassinated. (Nov. 26)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Australia

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star is this outback epic from director Baz Luhrmann. (Nov. 14)

The Duchess
Another year, another costume drama for Keira Knightley. She plays the fashionable Duchess of Devonshire. (Sept. 19)

ACTION

Quantum of Solace

Who's in it: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ukrainian model-actress Olga Kurylenko

Why you'll see it: Sorry, Sean Connery. 2006's "Casino Royale" was the best James Bond yet. And this 22nd installment in the franchise promises to continue with the gritty, realistic tone the last one established. Picking up one hour after "Casino Royale" left off, the film sends the British secret agent around the globe to stop a shadowy organization from taking control of South America's water supply. What's not to like? Well, except that title, which comes from an unrelated Bond story by creator Ian Fleming. Craig has said the title has grown on him and that it's a reference to Bond's search for a bit of peace - and closure - after his girlfriend Vesper was murdered in "Casino Royale." (Nov. 7)

Eagle Eye

From an idea by Steven Spielberg. Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan discover a mysterious woman has framed them as terrorists. D.J. Caruso, of "Disturbia," directs. (Sept. 26)

RocknRolla

Marital troubles or not, Guy Ritchie proves he can still craft a stylish British crime drama. Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson star. (Oct. 31)

Body of Lies

The film's pedigree alone - it was written by "The Departed" scribe William Monahan and directed by Ridley Scott - has us salivating. Leonardo DiCaprio is a covert Middle East operative and Russell Crowe is his handler. (Oct. 10)

Righteous Kill

The anticipation of seeing Robert De Niro and Al Pacino onscreen together for the first time since "Heat" is tempered somewhat by the knowledge that the director of this serial-killer thriller is the same who did Pacino's disastrous "88 Minutes." (Sept. 12)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Valkyrie

Tom Cruise's oft-delayed turn as a Nazi colonel who attempts to assassinate Hitler. (Dec. 26)

COMEDY

Burn After Reading

Who's in it: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, J.K. Simmons, Richard Jenkins

Why you'll see it: Following multiple Oscar wins for the bleak "No Country for Old Men," the Coen brothers regain their twisted sense of humor (see "Raising Arizona," "Fargo," "O Brother Where Art Thou" and, kind of, "Intolerable Cruelty") with this smaller-scale movie about a couple of dim-bulb gym employees (Pitt, McDormand) trying to make money off the found memoirs of a CIA agent (Malkovich). There are enough auspicious pairings here to make several quality films, actually: Clooney and Pitt ("Ocean's Eleven"); Clooney and the Coens ("O Brother"); McDormand and the Coens ("Raising Arizona," "Fargo"); Clooney and Swinton ("Michael Clayton"). Plus: Malkovich plays a scary bad guy! (Sept. 12)

The Women

A group of gossipy gals (Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing) bond when they discover the husband of their friend (Meg Ryan) is having an affair. "Sex and the City" lite. (Sept. 12)

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Kevin Smith has unfortunately confirmed you will once again see Seth Rogen's bare backside in this raunchy tale of two friends (Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who decide to earn some cash by making an amateur porno. (Oct. 31)

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Michael Cera brings some of his patented awkward goodness to the story of a loser who ends up spending the night with a girl (Kat Dennings) who poses as his girlfriend. (Oct. 3)

Role Models

Of all the Judd Apatow regulars, Paul Rudd could be the most underrated. The gifted comedian gets top billing (along with Seann William Scott) as an energy drink rep who's forced to mentor a kid in a charity program. (Nov. 14)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Four Christmases

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon struggle to visit all four of their divorced parents over the holidays. (Nov. 26)

Marley & Me

Based on the book, a family learns lessons from their dog. With Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. (Dec. 25)

Fall movie preview

Summer's movie superheroes give way to more intimate, prestige-minded films

After four months of spandex-and-iron-clad do-gooders, the capes are being mothballed, the batarangs holstered and the gamma-irradiated creatures caged. The summer of the superhero has come to a close, true believer, although one suspects Hollywood is sorry to see its costumed crime-fighters go, considering The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Hancock, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Wanted grossed more than $1 billion at the North American box office alone.

No one expects this fall's crop of more intimate, prestige-minded dramas, comedies and thrillers to perform as staggeringly -- how could they? -- but for the movie industry, old habits are hard to break and autumn has always been about stories for grown-ups that might lead to Oscar gold.

Still, after 2007's disastrous fall season -- in which audiences snubbed a horde of war-themed dramas -- executives are being nothing if not practical. So from now until mid-November, there is an abundance of escapist fare to distract from messy, unmarketable reality. And if something brilliant or provocative slips through the cracks, so be it. Here are 10 to watch:

Burn After Reading (Sept. 12)

After last year's savage No Country for Old Men, Oscar-winning siblings Ethan and Joel Coen veer into slapstick with this screwball farce about stolen CIA documents swiped by a dim personal trainer (Brad Pitt). George Clooney, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand co-star. That No Country for Old Men echoed such early Coen-made fare as Blood Simple makes us hopeful Burn After Reading is a lot more Raising Arizona or even O Brother Where Art Thou than Intolerable Cruelty, The Hudsucker Proxy or, gawd help us all, The Ladykillers.

Righteous Kill (Sept. 12)

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro partner up for the first time since Michael Mann's Heat -- and for only their third film together -- as gruff detectives investigating vigilante-style slayings. The pairing of the acting titans aside, there's reasonable cause for concern. First clue: The involvement of journeyman Jon Avnet, who last helmed Pacino's barely-releasable 88 Minutes and is far from the rareified leagues of a Mann or Francis Ford Coppola (who directed De Niro and Pacino separately in the second Godfather instalment).

Eagle Eye (Sept. 26)

Shia LaBeouf re-teams with his Disturbia director D.J. Caruso as a fugitive who finds himself manipulated by mysterious phone calls and on the run with a single mother (Michelle Monaghan). Apparently the hush-hush plot -- part-War Games, part-Alfred Hitchcock -- was conceived by Steven Spielberg, who undoubtedly approved of the casting of LaBeouf, his scruffy Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull star.

Body of Lies (Oct. 10)

Problem: You're releasing a war-on-terror thriller following a movie-going year in which audiences balked at nearly a dozen similarly-themed explorations of the malfeasance of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East (In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, Lions for Lambs, etc., etc.). Solution: Emphasize your movie's not-insignificant star wattage (Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe sparring as a CIA operative stationed in Jordan and his bloated, shifty agency boss) and Ridley Scott-directed action (think Syriana with shootouts). Will it work? The trailer is gangsters and the DiCaprio-Crowe pairing should prove irresistible. Just no one say "al-Qaeda" in the television ads.

W. (Oct. 17)

Josh Brolin stars as George W. Bush in this biographical tale -- the tagline "A Life Misunderestimated" is enough to make me smile -- that follows the U.S. president from his days as a perpetual underachieving drinker to the fella with his finger on the nuclear button. As terrifying a thought as that might be, director Oliver Stone promises 1) it's not a horror movie 2) it's not a hatchet job and 3) it's not terribly concerned with politics. Rather, he considers his film an honest character study. Surrounding Brolin is a fascinating cast: Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush, James Cromwell as George H.W. Bush, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice and Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush. Still, as irresistible as this sounds, will anyone pay to see it? Fact is, even those who would enjoy it most may simply be -- after eight long years -- nauseated at the thought of two more hours with W.

Changeling (Oct 24)

In Clint Eastwood's latest directorial outing, Angelina Jolie stars as a mother whose kidnapped child is returned home -- except she's convinced this boy isn't her son. Worse, everyone just thinks she's crazy, including the police. As preposterous as it sounds, the film is based on a true story that occurred in 1920s Los Angeles. Although last year's A Mighty Head met with mixed response and zero interest from the Academy, this film may give Jolie something small and bald to hoist that's not a baby, adopted or otherwise.

Quantum of Solace (Nov. 7)

Having resuscitated the 007 franchise so potently that some critics even blasphemously wondered aloud if he was superior to Sean Connery, Daniel Craig returns as Ian Fleming's super-spy. And to those who fretted that this sequel would mark a spiral into the Austin Powers-ready cheekiness and eye-rolling gadgetry that Casino Royale jettisoned, fear not. Oscar-winner Paul Haggis again performed surgery on the screenplay, behind the camera is the gifted director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) and Craig once more appears more severe than suave. But then that's to be expected given the plot hinges on a revenge-obsessed Bond out to destroy the organization that murdered the love of his life (Eva Green). One shouldn't brace for The Dark Knight-sized grosses, but we'd be stunned if Quantum didn't surpass Casino Royale (which, like Batman Begins, had to live down its jokey predecessor) to become one of the top-grossing Bonds, James Bonds, ever.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Nov. 7)

Considering 1) the original grossed $193 million and 2) filmgoers can't get enough of computer-rendered creatures (this summer's Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda both topped $210 million mark), a sequel to the 2005 toon was a given. Moreover the abrupt departure of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from its November slot to next July assures this animated follow-up will have even more of the family crowd to itself. This time out, Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and the penguins crash-land in the vast plains of Africa where they meet species of their own kind for the first time. Whatever happens, we're pretty sure no one gets eaten: The studio has already announced plans for Madagascar 3.

Australia (Nov. 14)

Reuniting with her Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann, Nicole Kidman stars as an English aristocrat forced to align herself with a rough-hewn local (Hugh Jackman, replacing Russell Crowe) as she faces cattle barons and the Japanese forces that bombed the city of Darwin following Pearl Harbor. Big, vivid, romantic, epic, Australia hearkens back to a species of cinema that's all but extinct. Why? Because to recoup your costs (Australia came with an estimated pricetag of $150 million), you need to woo multiplex mall rats who wouldn't know David Lean from Antoine Fuqua.

The Road (Nov. 14)

In this adaptation of the best-seller by Cormac McCarthy -- who also penned No Country for Old Men -- Viggo Mortensen stars as a man leading his young son through a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by war and populated by cannibals, thieves and gangs. John Hillcoat, who last helmed the sullen, superb western The Proposition, seems perfectly suited to McCarthy's dour but poetic material. Look for Charlize Theron in flashbacks as Mortensen's hope-starved wife.

'Thunder' reigns again with $16.1 million weekend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The action comedy "Tropic Thunder" weathered a rush of new movies to remain No. 1 for a second-straight weekend with $16.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Paramount-DreamWorks release — starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as actors caught up in real battle while shooting a war movie — raised its 12-day total to $65.7 million.

"Tropic Thunder" came in just ahead of Sony's campus comedy "The House Bunny," which debuted in second place with $15.1 million. "The House Bunny" stars Anna Faris as an ostracized Playboy bunny who becomes den mother to a sorority of campus misfits.

Universal's "Death Race" — an update of 1975's "Death Race 2000," with Jason Statham starring as a driver in a kill-or-be-killed auto race of the future — opened at No. 3 with $12.3 million.

The weekend's other new wide releases, Ice Cube's sports drama "The Longshots" and Rainn Wilson's music comedy "The Rocker," opened weakly.

"The Longshots" — an MGM-Weinstein Co. release starring Ice Cube as a former high school star coaching his niece, the first girl to play Pop Warner football — came in at No. 8 with $4.3 million.

20th Century Fox's "The Rocker," starring Wilson as an over-the-hill heavy-metal drummer who gets a chance at stardom with a high school band, took in $2.8 million to finish at No. 12.

After a run of blockbuster weekends, late summer was proving the usual dumping ground for modest movies as business slowed and audiences eased into back-to-school mode.

That opened the door for "Tropic Thunder" to repeat as the weekend's box-office leader.

"There isn't that divide where there's a couple of huge movies coming every week," said DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan.

Summer's biggest hit, "The Dark Knight," continued its climb up the box-office charts, placing fourth with $10.3 million. The Warner Bros. Batman sequel has taken in $489.2 million on its way to becoming the second film ever to top $500 million, after "Titanic" ($600.8 million).

Overall movie revenues of $3.9 billion are slightly ahead of last summer's record pace. But higher admission prices mean the actual number of tickets sold is down about 3 percent compared to summer 2007, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Still, Hollywood should finish with a box-office record and a second-straight summer topping the $4 billion mark.

"Thank you, `Dark Knight.' That's added close to half a billion dollars," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "One film like `The Dark Knight' can make a huge difference."

In limited release, Focus Features' comedy "Hamlet 2" pulled in $435,000. Starring Steve Coogan as a high school drama teacher staging a campy, irreverent musical sequel to Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet 2" expands into nationwide release Wednesday.

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. "Tropic Thunder," $16.1 million.
2. "The House Bunny," $15.1 million.
3. "Death Race," $12.3 million.
4. "The Dark Knight," $10.3 million.
5. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," $5.7 million.
6. "Pineapple Express," $5.6 million.
7. "Mirrors," $4.9 million.
8. "The Longshots," $4.304 million.
9. "Mamma Mia!", $4.303 million.
10. "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," $4.1 million.

The Couch Potato Report - August 23rd, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels some hockey wives, Miss Pettigrew and The Foreign Film Festival will take us to China.

The world's eyes - and maybe even your own - have been focussed on China over the past two weeks, due to the Olympic Games, and we have another Olympic Update coming up at 8:53 am, plus - since our eyes are there anyway - I have a Chinese movie called STILL LIFE to tell you about this morning.

But this week's HOT POTATO is the incredible guily pleasure that is MVP - THE SECRET LIVES OF HOCKEY WIVES.

MVP is about a professional hockey team, and the women who love the men who play on that team...both on and off the ice!

MVP debuted on CBC television back in January, and I saw a few episodes when it aired, but since I usually have other things to do on Friday nights and weekend, I stopped watching - and recording it after a few episodes, knowing that I would catch up with it when it came out on DVD.

And I am glad I did!

It is pure, over-the-top excitement, a true guilty pleasure, and I enjoyed every second of it!

If you enjoy pure soap opera writing, and shows where every woman is super-model gorgeous and every man is a hunk, then MVP - THE SECRET LIVES OF HOCKEY WIVES is a show for you!!

However, if you enjoy DVDs that are more prim and proper, then I would recommend MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY to you.

I also enjoyed every second of this film!

MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY is based on the 1938 novel by British author Winifred Watson.

Frances McDormand from FARGO stars as Miss Pettigrew, a starving governess who just can't seem to keep a job, until she meets Amy Adams from ENCHANTED.

Amy plays a young golddigging singer who is trying to have it all - including love - while she attempts to sleep her way to a potential starring role in a major theatre production in London, while keeping the man who is letting her stay in his apartment away, while being with her piano player, who just got out of jail.

MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY has a great pace, and it includes some vintage, screwball comedy energy, and I liked it. It isn't perfect, but I liked it.

What I did not like - in any way - was this year's remake of the classic horror film PROM NIGHT.

The thing is utterly pointless and is a complete waste of time!

In this remake of the 1980 Canadian film, a teenage girl is the sole survivor of her family's massacre at the hands of an obsessed teacher, who returns three years later to finish his campaign on the eve of her senior prom.

Let me reminise for a moment...in the old days, these horror films had a back story, one that made sense, and if someone's life was taken by an insane person or maniacal murderer, it was because they were violating one of the set rules of the horror genre.

The sadistic activities in PROM NIGHT happen just because someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to me, that just makes a film like this full of gratuitous violence and ultimately pointless.

Plus, all of the kids in this film - and the current generation of these horror films - are portrayed as entertainment lovers and pop-culture officianados...and so, wouldn't they have seen THE SCREAM TRILOGY of films?!?

The films from the nineties that exposed all of the cliches of the horror genre...wouldn't they have seen them, and avoided many of the predicaments that they find themselves in...ones like Neve Campbell described in the original 1996 SCREAM film.

The new version of PROM NIGHT is very insulting...it is a cliche filled mess that is a complete waste of your time.

THE SCREAM TRILOGY of films are all available on DVD now individually, and in a new inexpensive two-disc set that will be out on Tuesday.

Skip the remake, see the TRILOGY.

Finally this week, is the complete opposite of a horror film, it is the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD.

With the eyes of the sporting world on Beijing right now, please allow me to put your cinematic eyes on the Chinese film STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE is a slow moving, quiet and very engaging film that was shot in the old village of Fengjie, a small town on the Yangtze River which is slowly being destroyed by the building of a Dam, effecting the lives of everyone around it.

It tells the story of two people in search of their spouses, and it is fascinating as each story plays out.

STILL LIFE was a surprise winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and I really enjoyed it...but be warned, the description on the back of the case gets it wrong.

The case focusses on the story elements about the Dam, but it isn't about that. It is actually a love story featuring some barriers that devide people being together instead and STILL LIFE is the latest entry in The FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD, and it is available now on DVD, along with the pointless remake of PROM NIGHT, the fun MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY, and great guilty pleasure that is MVP - THE SECRET LIVES OF HOCKEY WIVES.

The new, 2-DVD set for THE SCREAM TRILOGY will be in stores on Tuesday.


Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

I will talk about the Quebec film EVERYTHING IS FINE; the unique documentary CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO; and SEASON TWO of the television show HEROES.

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!

Sarah McLachlan to release greatest hits set in October

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan is releasing her first best-of collection, titled Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan, on October 7.

Closer contains 14 tracks personally selected by the artist, as well as two newly recorded and previously unreleased songs, “U Want Me 2″ and “Don’t Give Up On Us,” working with her longtime producer Pierre Marchand. Additionally, a deluxe 2-CD version will be available, which will include the 16-song album plus a bonus disc of additional songs.

Since signing with Nettwerk nearly two decades ago, every one McLachlan’s studio and live albums and videos have been certified gold, platinum, multi-platinum, or diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA).

Here is the track listing for Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan:

1. Vox
2. The Path Of Thorns
3. Into The Fire
4. Possession
5. Hold On
6. Good Enough
7. Building A Mystery
8. Sweet Surrender
9. Adia
10. Angel
11. I Will Remember You (Live Mirrorball Version)
12. Fallen
13. Stupid
14. World On Fire
15. Don’t Give Up On Us (New Studio Track)
16. U Want Me 2 Don’t U? (New Studio Track)

Dido bringing it all "Home" in November

NEW YORK (Billboard) - British singer-songwriter Dido has slated a November 4 release date for her oft-delayed third album, "Safe Trip Home."

"Look No Further," a track from the RCA Label Group album, is being made available as a free download from DidoMusic.com as of Friday (August 22).

The first official single, "Don't Believe in Love," will be issued digitally and on CD on a date to be announced.

"Safe Trip Home" is the follow-up to 2003's "Life for Rent," which has sold more than 2.1 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The set was co-produced by Jon Brion and Dido and her brother Rollo Armstrong, working together under the moniker Ark. One track, "Grafton Street," was co-written with Brian Eno.

Rock Band releasing Rush album for download

With nearly 40 gold and platinum records on their walls, Rush have clearly conquered the world of music. Now the Toronto-based rock legends are looking to dominate another industry: video games.

Harmonix Music Systems announced on Thursday it will release Rush's 1981 classic album Moving Pictures for download to its popular Rock Band title, where gamers play plastic instruments in time with the songs on screen. The entire seven-track album will be available to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners on Tuesday for about $11, or 880 Microsoft Points, the currency used by Microsoft for its console. Gamers will also be able to download individual songs for about $2 each, or 160 points.

Harmonix has made dozens of songs available to download for Rock Band since the game's release in November, but Moving Pictures is just the fourth full album, following releases from Judas Priest, The Pixies and The Cars.

Moving Pictures is likely to sell better than previous album releases as Rock Band devotees, as well as the game's own designers, have shown a particular affinity for Rush. The game's online message boards have been flooded with demands for more material from the band since the title hit stores.

Rock Band was originally released with a cover of the band's biggest hit, Tom Sawyer, from Moving Pictures, with four more tracks — two versions of Working Man, Limelight (also from Moving Pictures) and Closer to the Heart — eventually made available for download.

Limelight and the first version of Working Man were released as covers, but the later version and Closer to the Heart were master tracks featuring the actual band, illustrating the clout Harmonix now has with the music industry. A few years ago, Harmonix had difficulty getting bands to license master tracks to its Guitar Hero series of games. But over the past year or so, the Guitar Hero franchise — now owned by Activision — and Rock Band have exploded in popularity, putting the game publishers firmly in the driving seat.

Bonanza for game publishers

All of the downloadable Moving Pictures songs will be master tracks, including Tom Sawyer and Limelight.

Sales of downloadable tracks have also proved to be a bonanza for the game publishers and bands alike — Harmonix says it has sold more than 20 million songs since Rock Band launched.

Andy Curran, artists and repertoire manager for Anthem Records, Rush's label, says there were also initially some security concerns over supplying game developers with master tracks. Some bands had seen their masters leaked out.

"There has been a large concern about letting the master tapes going out to anyone," he says. "When we passed that hurdle, and they could give us a guarantee that these wouldn't leak out … then we got the green light."

Curran says the band was an easy sell on the Guitar Hero and Rock Band as the games are turning a whole new generation on to their music.

"They thought it was fun and immediately embraced it," he says.

In a video interview on the game's website, the band members admitted to being rookies at Rock Band but said they were impressed by its popularity.

"I don't have a set-up at home," said singer and bassist Geddy Lee. "But my kids and my friends love it."

Guitarist Alex Lifeson joked that while playing the game might be the next best thing to actually being in Rush, there are still some aspects Rock Band can't duplicate.

"To simulate the feeling you need to get about two hours sleep for a week and a half," he said.

"Make sure you have some people in front of you that are male only," Lee added.

Sony finds "Solace" closer to Thanksgiving

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Harry split the scene, so 007 moved in for the kill.

Sony on Thursday moved its next James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," back one week to November 14. That move is closely tied to the departure of Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from the November 21 release berth.

Just last week, the sixth "Potter" film newly planted its domestic flag on July 17, as executives sought to fill a hole in Warners' summer 2009 slate. The most immediate response to that move was Summit Entertainment's decision to move its youth-targeted vampire film "Twilight" up three weeks into the vacated "Potter" slot.

Now Sony executives -- who had been wishing for a release date closer to Thanksgiving and the holiday boxoffice season for their next Bond release -- have taken "Solace" to a suddenly much more attractive slot. Bond's previous perch, on November 7, was intended to maximize pre-"Potter" playtime.

Scratch that worry.

"'Harry Potter' moving out gave us an opportunity to get a little closer to the holidays, which has always been the traditional Bond spot," Sony worldwide marketing and distribution chairman Jeff Blake said. "Bond has a really good history of not only playing through Thanksgiving but going deep into the Christmas holidays."

Sony unspooled the last Bond film, the Daniel Craig-starring "Casino Royale," on November 17, 2006, and it was still playing in about 1,100 theaters between Christmas and New Year's, Blake noted.

Sony holds worldwide theatrical rights to the Eon-produced Bond franchise, with longtime Bond distributor MGM controlling all post-theatrical windows.

Three other domestic wide releases are set for November 14 -- Fox's Baz Luhrmann-helmed adventure "Australia," starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman; the MGM comedy "Soul Men," toplined by Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac; and Overture's Freddy Rodriguez-starring "Nothing Like the Holidays."

Universal's comedy "Role Models," with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, also had been set for November 14. But just a few hours after word spread of Sony's move with its Bond film, Universal moved the comedy up one week to November 7, where the Paramount-distributed DreamWorks Animation sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" now represents its sole wide-release rival.

Besides "Twilight," two other domestic wide releases are set for November 21. Those include "Bolt" from Disney -- which always has a big release bowing over the Turkey Day play period -- and DreamWorks/Paramount's "The Soloist," a drama about the relationship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and a violin-playing homeless man (Jamie Foxx).

Bond films tend to get an earlier jump in the U.K., and "Solace" will receive its world premiere October 29 in London, two days before its U.K. opening.

"Prince William and Prince Harry will attend the world premiere," Sony said.

Weekend offers a "Race" to the summer finish line

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Box-office grosses will start to fade this weekend as inevitably as a summer tan.

The comparable period from 2007 rung up less than $109 million, the second-smallest tally of the box-office season. A similarly underwhelming industry performance is likely this weekend, even with four new titles hitting the marketplace in wide release.

Still, one of the market entrants is well positioned to capture the flag of the summer's penultimate box-office session, thanks to relatively weak competition from new releases and holdovers alike. "Death Race," Universal's remake of the 1975 thriller "Death Race 2000," will try to go for the gold -- supported primarily by young male moviegoers -- with a bow in the mid- to high-teen millions.

DreamWorks/Paramount's R-rated comedy "Tropic Thunder" could drop as much as 50 percent or so from its chart-topping opening session. That could find it fetching less than $13 million this weekend while still potentially competing for second place.

But Sony's PG-13 comedy "The House Bunny," starring Anna Faris ("Scary Movie"), also looks likely for the low-teen millions and could outpace "Tropic" if its grosses climb into the midteens, mostly on interest from young females.

Warner Bros.' box-office behemoth "The Dark Knight" likely will finish third or fourth during its sixth frame, with $10 million or so. But two additional wide openers look unlikely to make it out of the single-digit millions.

Rated PG, the Ice Cube/Keke Palmer-starring "The Longshots" -- a family football tale from MGM and Dimension directed by rocker-turned-helmer Fred Durst -- hasn't shown much strength in prerelease tracking. But the topliner usually can deliver at least middle-single-digit millions from his core fan base alone, so a late surge of interest in the film could see it climb just a bit higher during its opening frame.

Fox's PG-13 comedy "The Rocker" might need five days to reach a similar range. Having earned some positive early buzz, the Rainn Wilson-starring comedy unspooled Wednesday to stimulate additional word-of-mouth, but its first-day tally was just $600,000.

The R-rated "Death Race" stars Jason Statham, who tends to be popular with female filmgoers, and tracking also shows appeal among prospective urban moviegoers. Depending on how many females and older men join the film's young-male target group, "Death Race" could represent the weekend's best hope for a breakout performance.

Notable limited releases this weekend include exclusive engagements for Focus Features' comedy "Hamlet 2." The gambit aims to stimulate positive word-of-mouth before wide expansion of the Steve Coogan/Catherine Keener film over the long Labor Day frame.

Weekend offers a "Race" to the summer finish line

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Box-office grosses will start to fade this weekend as inevitably as a summer tan.

The comparable period from 2007 rung up less than $109 million, the second-smallest tally of the box-office season. A similarly underwhelming industry performance is likely this weekend, even with four new titles hitting the marketplace in wide release.

Still, one of the market entrants is well positioned to capture the flag of the summer's penultimate box-office session, thanks to relatively weak competition from new releases and holdovers alike. "Death Race," Universal's remake of the 1975 thriller "Death Race 2000," will try to go for the gold -- supported primarily by young male moviegoers -- with a bow in the mid- to high-teen millions.

DreamWorks/Paramount's R-rated comedy "Tropic Thunder" could drop as much as 50 percent or so from its chart-topping opening session. That could find it fetching less than $13 million this weekend while still potentially competing for second place.

But Sony's PG-13 comedy "The House Bunny," starring Anna Faris ("Scary Movie"), also looks likely for the low-teen millions and could outpace "Tropic" if its grosses climb into the midteens, mostly on interest from young females.

Warner Bros.' box-office behemoth "The Dark Knight" likely will finish third or fourth during its sixth frame, with $10 million or so. But two additional wide openers look unlikely to make it out of the single-digit millions.

Rated PG, the Ice Cube/Keke Palmer-starring "The Longshots" -- a family football tale from MGM and Dimension directed by rocker-turned-helmer Fred Durst -- hasn't shown much strength in prerelease tracking. But the topliner usually can deliver at least middle-single-digit millions from his core fan base alone, so a late surge of interest in the film could see it climb just a bit higher during its opening frame.

Fox's PG-13 comedy "The Rocker" might need five days to reach a similar range. Having earned some positive early buzz, the Rainn Wilson-starring comedy unspooled Wednesday to stimulate additional word-of-mouth, but its first-day tally was just $600,000.

The R-rated "Death Race" stars Jason Statham, who tends to be popular with female filmgoers, and tracking also shows appeal among prospective urban moviegoers. Depending on how many females and older men join the film's young-male target group, "Death Race" could represent the weekend's best hope for a breakout performance.

Notable limited releases this weekend include exclusive engagements for Focus Features' comedy "Hamlet 2." The gambit aims to stimulate positive word-of-mouth before wide expansion of the Steve Coogan/Catherine Keener film over the long Labor Day frame.

Seinfeld to be pitchman for Microsoft

NEW YORK - Junior Mints, Yoo-hoo, Drake's Coffee Cakes, puffy shirts: These are all things Jerry Seinfeld has endorsed — at least in his alter ego on his classic sitcom. Now, add Microsoft software.

Seinfeld will be a key pitchman in a planned $300 million fall advertising campaign for the software giant, a person familiar with the plans confirmed to The Associated Press on condition on anonymity because the deal has not been formally announced.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans. Citing people close to the situation, it reported the comedian will be paid $10 million for appearing in ads with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

It's Microsoft's latest move to try to capture some of the cool quotient that rival Apple has appeared to win so effortlessly.

But for younger consumers especially, can Seinfeld turn the image tide for Microsoft?

"Seinfeld does represent sort of a challenge," says Brian Steinberg, television editor for the weekly advertising magazine Ad Age. "He's not Dane Cook. He's got a more sophisticated everyday take on things. He often comes across as a questioner of conventional wisdom but also can be kind of a crank. It's a fine line to walk when you're dealing with a younger person."

Steinberg did point out that the firm producing the spots — Crispin Porter and Bogusky — is known for creating commercials that appeal to young males, particularly in its campaigns for Burger King.

Seinfeld has shown himself to be a superior promoter in the past, particularly for American Express (which also featured Patrick Warburton as Superman) and in selling his Dreamworks animated film "Bee Movie" last summer.

For "Bee Movie," which Seinfeld co-wrote, co-produced and voiced, he also created 20 "TV juniors," which seemed less like commercials than one-minute bite-sized bits of comedy. The extensive promotion of the film began with him dressing up as a giant bee at the Cannes Film Festival.

"You gotta sell it," Seinfeld told the AP last year. "I've never been uncomfortable with that aspect. I don't feel like it's beneath me to sell what I did."

But Seinfeld's greatest triumph — the nine seasons of "Seinfeld" — ended more than 10 years ago, which means that many young computer users were still watching cartoons during his pop culture dominance.

Of course, the show is still on nightly reruns and Seinfeld has been active on the standup circuit. There have even been efforts to bring "Seinfeld" to younger demographics. Sony Pictures Television, which distributes "Seinfeld" in U.S. syndication, is holding a 26-city promotion in a cross-country bus tour of colleges.

Calls to Seinfeld's agent and manager went unreturned Thursday.

Vista, Microsoft's latest operating system that launched with the slogan "The Wow starts now," has received mostly negative publicity since its release last year. But sales have been strong, since more than 90 percent of PCs sold worldwide run Windows.

Apple's ad campaign "Get a Mac" pits a coat-and-tie clad older guy (John Hodgman) representing a PC, against jeans and T-shirt-wearing Justin Long, who plays the Mac. The commercials have also poked fun at Vista.

Steinberg said this latest campaign by Microsoft shows that the rivalry between the software company and Apple is reaching the intensity of Coke and Pepsi's cola wars of years ago.

It's also possible Seinfeld seems more like a Mac guy, Steinberg said.

After all, it's a Macintosh that's seen in the background of his apartment on "Seinfeld."

CBC gets approval for new sports channel

Approval has been granted for a new digital sports channel, tentatively known as CBC Sports Plus, CBC Sports announced Wednesday.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved CBC's application for an all-sports licence for the channel, which will focus in large part on Canadian sporting events, stories and accomplishments.

"We feel this is great news for both CBC and the Canadian sports system," said Scott Moore, executive director for CBC Sports.

"For over 50 years, CBC has been Canada's pre-eminent broadcaster of Canadian sport. We feel with the addition of another platform, we will continue to be a great contributor to Canada's success in sports at all levels.

"Following on the success of our Beijing Olympic coverage, we feel CBC will now be able to make an even more significant contribution to the success of our Canadian athletes."

CBC Sports Plus, a Category 2 digital specialty channel, is expected to feature a mix of professional and amateur sports.

The CBC received the approval of its board of governors in January to submit an application for a proposed all-sports channel.

CBC Sports coverage for the remainder of 2008 includes:

The Beijing Olympics.

Paralympic Summer Games.

CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

BMO Toronto FC.

President’s Choice Raptors Basketball.

Rogers Blue Jays Baseball.

Comprehensive FIFA coverage.

Pontiac Alpine Ski Series.

Capital One Grand Slam of Curling.

Canadian and International Championship Figure Skating.

Golden League Track and Field.

Jackson, Del Toro Get Hobbit House in Order

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Peter Jackson just can't kick his Hobbit habit.

After a fruitless eight-month search for the perfect scribe, the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings overlord and his handpicked Hobbit helmer, Guillermo del Toro, have decided they're the best men for the job of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth prequel into two films.

The duo will get a big assist from Jackson's fellow LOTR Best Screenplay winners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Jackson and del Toro took over the writing chores after both of their schedules opened up. Because of their shared love and familiarity with the material, both agreed to pen the project rather than having a hired gun take a stab at it.

After settling a bigger lawsuit over LOTR profits, Jackson came aboard as an executive producer overseeing production on two features based on The Hobbit and other Tolken writings.

In April, he tapped del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, the Hell Boy films) to take over the directing chair. Del Toro is moving to New Zealand for five years to shoot both Hobbit movies back-to-back.

The first installment will follow a young Bilbo Baggins on a quest to find a treasure guarded by the evil dragon Smaug with the assistance of an itinerant wizard Gandalf and a party of 13 dwarves. The second installment will use storylines Tolkien suggested in The Hobbit that set up events in The Lord of the Rings and will take place during the 60 years between the two books.

Del Toro has also been in touch with LOTR principals Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Andy Serkis about reprising their roles as Gandalf, Aragorn and Gollum, respectively. The filmmakers have also talked to Ian Holm, who played the older Bilbo in LOTR, but the 76-year-old actor's participation depends largely on his health. Should he not be able to play the titular character, del Toro has reportedly been mulling the possibility of having him narrate the tale.

Production on the two-parter is slated to begin in late 2009, with the first Hobbit movie hitting theaters in 2011 and the sequel in 2012.

Oasis digs down to basics on new album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - British band Oasis gets back to its stripped-down rock roots on its upcoming album, "Dig Out Your Soul."

Due October 7 via Big Brother/Warner Bros., the 11-track set from the famously sparring Gallagher brothers is led by the strident rocker "The Shock of the Lightning," which is already racking up airplay well ahead of its late September release date.

The album begins with the two-chord dirge "Bag It Up," harking back to "Columbia," from the band's 1994 debut, "Definitely Maybe." It's followed by the insistent "The Turning," which winds its way down to "Blackbird"-style finger-picking and the sounds of passing traffic and car alarms.

The sludgy, Noel Gallagher sung-"Waiting for the Rapture" nods to the Beatles' "Come Together," while the clap-and-stomp blues rock of "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady" and the boogie vibe of "The Nature of Reality" extend the back-to-basics feel of the album.

Elsewhere, the Liam Gallagher-penned "I'm Outta Time" incorporates an audio excerpt of a John Lennon BBC Radio interview just days before his 1980 death, and the Noel-sung "Falling Down" nods to the beats from his collaboration with the Chemical Brothers, "Setting Sun." Fans who pre-order the new album on iTunes will receive this track as an immediate download.

Noel penned six of the first seven songs on "Dig Out Your Soul," with Liam responsible for three others and bassist Andy Bell and guitarist Gem Archer handling one each.

Oasis begins a short North American tour with Ryan Adams August 26 in Seattle.

Superhero summer heads for $4 billion box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood studios are nearing the end of their summer of superheroes with domestic box office receipts expected to roughly match last year's record $4.18 billion sum despite lower movie attendance.

Led by the blockbuster Batman sequel "The Dark Knight," U.S.-Canadian weekend ticket sales since May 2 are running just ahead of last summer, up 1.2 percent, according to box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

But with the number of actual admissions down nearly 3 percent from a year ago, the gain in revenues is fueled mostly by higher ticket prices.

With no other huge hits on the horizon before the U.S. Labor Day holiday on September 1, the 2008 vacation season will likely draw to a close at about the same level as last year's summer tally, which crossed the $4 billion threshold for the first time, box office analysts said.

Brandon Gray of the Web site Box Office Mojo said Hollywood suffered in the second half of summer from a mediocre film slate propped up almost entirely by the record-breaking strength of "The Dark Knight," now closing in on $500 million.

"If 'Dark Knight' failed to perform way above expectations, this would have been a decidedly down summer," Gray said.

Paul Dergarabedian of Media By Numbers agreed, saying Hollywood was hard-pressed to repeat the success of last year, which was anchored by "threequels" "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

GAMES AND GASOLINE

Dergarabedian said keen interest in the Beijing Olympics may also have dampened moviegoing in August.

Economic woes and high gas prices cut both ways at box offices as cash-strapped families sought relatively cheap entertainment in the form of movies, but were more choosy about which films to see.

"They may not hesitate for one second to spend 10 bucks on a movie ticket to go see 'The Dark Knight,' but some of these other films, they may say, 'Oh, I'm going to wait,' or 'I'm going to be a little bit more careful with my spending."'

Comic book adventures with a twist proved to be the hot ticket of summer 2008, accounting for at least three of the top four films and nearly $1.5 billion in revenues.

"The Dark Knight," gained much of its notice from the menacingly edgy performance of Heath Ledger as the villainous joker, his last completed film role before he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Likewise, "Iron Man" kicked off the summer season in robust fashion with Robert Downey Jr. winning praise for his role as a wealthy weapons executive and playboy going through a mid-life crisis as he invents a high-tech armor suit to fight bad guys.

Those films have been the two highest-grossing titles of the summer, amassing over $471 million and $317 million respectively in North American receipts so far.

Ranked fourth, with $225 million, was "Hancock," starring Will Smith as a hung-over, often reckless superhero.

Even the summer's No. 3 movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which grossed $315 million, could be classified as a superhero movie of sorts.

"The Incredible Hulk" was No. 10 with $134 million, while "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army," landed at No. 24 with nearly $75 million. Other bright spots included chick flick "Sex and the City" and the animated hits "Wall-E" and "Kung Fu Panda."

With the exception of "Dark Knight" and the musical "Mamma Mia!," the box office had cooled considerably by mid-July. Of the 16 summer weekends so far, nine were down year-to-year in overall ticket sales.

In 2007, Hollywood boasted 14 summer films grossing $100 million or more, compared with 12 this summer. Four films last summer cracked $300 million, versus three this season.

CBC Radio Two scales back on classical music

CBC Radio Two is scaling down its classical music programming and serving up more contemporary artists in a bid to reach a wider audience, a move that critics say is shutting out many listeners.

The public broadcaster unveiled plans Tuesday for its Radio Two fall relaunch, which includes four new programs, new hosts and a heavier emphasis on non-classical music genres such as pop, roots, urban and jazz.

The changes, beginning Sept. 2, will see the amount of classical music played every weekday shaved to five hours from the present average of 12 hours. Julie Nesrallah, a mezzo-soprano from Ottawa, will host a classical music show, called "Tempo," from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Programming director Chris Boyce said the move follows a CBC survey on Canadian arts and culture and radio listening habits.

"At the core of all of this is what it means to be a public broadcaster," he said. "And that is to provide programming for all Canadians and to reflect the arts and culture scene in Canada and to reflect Canada back to Canadians."

But research done by the Canadian content watchdog Friends of Canadian Broadcasting indicates that what CBC Radio Two's average 1.1 million listeners per week "like best about (the station) ... is the classical music," said the group's spokesman Ian Morrison.

"So CBC is greatly compressing that kind of music, which you could call serious music, into a listening ghetto of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.," he said.

"I say ghetto just because they know – anybody who looks at the numbers knows – that the available audience between 10 and 3 is very small compared with mornings or evenings or the drive home or drive-to-work period."

Morrison also said the move "puts down" younger audiences by assuming that "young people are not interested in classical culture."

This is the third phase in CBC Radio Two's makeover. In March 2007 it launched a new evening jazz show and last October it made changes to its weekend schedule.

The most recent changes will see host Tom Allen start weekday mornings with "a mix of contemporary artists and familiar favourites" on the show "Radio Two Morning," said a release.

The afternoon classical music show will air next, followed by ``Radio Two Drive," with Canadian funk/hip-hop artist Rich Terfry (a.k.a. Buck 65) serving up 75 per cent Canadian contemporary music.

On the weekends, jazz singer Molly Johnson will helm "Radio Two Morning" while CBC Radio Two personality Jurgen Gothe will follow with "Farrago," featuring music drawn primarily from his own collection.

CBC Radio Two is also launching four new online music channels, dedicated to classical, jazz, Canadian songwriters and Canadian composers.

Neil Young maps late-year North American tour

Fresh off a three-month European tour, where he paid visits to 14 cities, Neil Young has lined up a North American trek starting this fall.

The eight-week, 19-city outing kicks off Oct. 14 in St. Paul, MN, and includes several dates in Young's Canadian homeland, as well as stops in the Los Angeles area (10/30), Montreal (12/1) and New York City (12/15). All dates are included below.

The shows will feature the same band that backed Young on his recent overseas trek: Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young. Death Cab for Cutie and Everest will provide support from the tour's launch date to the Nov. 5 show in Omaha, NE; Wilco and Everest will open the remainder of the schedule, except for the Dec. 9 date in Chicago, which will not feature Wilco.

Details are below.

Young continues to support last year's "Chrome Dreams II." Clocking in at more than an hour, the set includes among its 10 tracks two epics: one 18 minutes long and another 13 minutes. Young and his "The Volume Dealers" partner Niko Bolas produced.

The original "Chrome Dreams" album was scheduled for release in 1977, but was shelved. "Unfortunately, all original documentation and art for this album was lost in a fire that destroyed Neil's Malibu home in early 1978," according to Young's website.

Young announced earlier this year that he was hooking up with Sun Microsystems to produce a series of career music/video hybrid anthologies on Blu-ray Discs. The first set, which will cover Young's career from 1963-1972, reportedly will be available later this year.

October 2008
14 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
16 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre
18 - Regina, Saskatchewan - Brandt Centre
19 - Calgary, Alberta - Pengrowth Saddledome
21 - Everett, WA - Comcast Arena at Everett
22 - Vancouver, British Columbia - GM Place
29 - San Diego, CA - Cox Arena
30 - Inglewood, CA - The Forum

November 2008
1 - Reno, NV - Events Center
4 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
5 - Omaha, NE - Qwest Center
29 - Halifax, Nova Scotia - Metro Centre

December 2008
1 - Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre
2 - Ottawa, Ontario - Scotia Bank Place
4 - Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
7 - Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills
9 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena
12 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Spectrum
15 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

Beach Boys' Brian Wilson sunny about new album

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Brian Wilson sits on a plush couch in his living room, smiling nervously.

On the Beach Boys visionary's back porch, his family's 15 pooches yip and scramble over each other. Inside, photos of his children with wife Melinda Ledbetter — 11-year-old Daria, 10-year-old Delanie and 4-year-old Dylan — lace the walls.

The two-story house, snuggled deep into a gated hillside community in Beverly Hills, is immaculately clean, with beige carpeting and marble floors. Housekeepers tidy up downstairs. A swimming pool overlooks the sun-drenched valley below. It all resembles a postcard.

"I'm happier now than I was a year ago," Wilson says in a recent interview. "I started exercising and I started eating more of the right food and I started feeling better. I just get up in the morning and say my prayers."

Gangly and tall in a pinstriped dress shirt, his graying hair swept back into waves, the wizard songwriter and composer behind such '60s Beach Boys hits as "Good Vibrations" and "California Girls" stares with sharp blue eyes, frequently fidgeting.

A lot has changed for the historically reclusive Southern California native, who speaks with a slight slur, a result of his drug-abuse past and medicated journey through mental illness.

He is a second-round father at the age of 66 (musician daughters Wendy, 38, and Carnie, 40, from his first marriage, tour as The Wilsons). Following 2004's long-awaited rock opera "Smile," and a 2005 Christmas release, he has a new, ambitious solo album, "That Lucky Old Sun," due out Sept. 2. He is touring behind the material, pushing through years of stage fright.

"I think the new album is just as good as anything the Beach Boys ever recorded," says Wilson. "Playing these songs live, I feel proud. You know that funny feeling you get in your stomach, like, 'Oh my God, this is sounding great!'"

Two years ago, he says, he recorded 18 songs then chose 10 last year for Capitol Records/EMI. He came up with the album's lush orchestration and music, while 43-year-old bandmate Scott Bennett scribed the lyrics, with colorful narrative interludes by Wilson's longtime collaborator Van Dyke Parks.

The outcome is a blend of uptempo pop and piano-based ballads. The title track, a cover of Louis Armstrong's "That Lucky Old Sun," flows into the bouncy anthem "Morning Beat," setting the album's tone.

"Van Dyke Parks, Brian and Melinda thought this should be a love letter to Los Angeles. At this point, Brian was 65-years-old and it just felt right to embrace his legend and be a bit nostalgic," Bennett says.

Songs such as "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" touch on Beach Boys melodies while "Mexican Girl" adds a dash of salsa flavor. "Midnight's Another Day" and "Oxygen to the Brain" reference Wilson's dark days in the '70s and '80s, when he receded from the spotlight into isolation, drugs and weight gain.

Wilson calls "Midnight's Another Day," which skirts on a solitary piano melody, his favorite song, "kind of introspective, kind of how I feel around people."

The album's last song, "Southern California," reminisces about co-founding the Beach Boys in 1961 with his late brothers Carl and Dennis, and ends the album on an uplifting note. Wilson sings, "It's magical/ Living your dream."

"Yes, Brian had a rough time of it, with his mental health, but I would kill to have the kind of catalog he does, and tour everywhere with his brothers like he did," says Bennett, who confirms that Wilson "is on a heavy dose of antidepressants."

Regardless, Wilson has hit a creative stride in his life.

Inspiration comes at night when he sits down alone at his Yamaha synthesizer and grand piano in his purple-curtained music room.

"When I go to the keyboard, I feel holy, like an angel over my head. I feel very holy. When we did (the Beach Boys hit) 'God Only Knows,' I felt holy about that too. A godly something comes through me," Wilson says, motioning with his hands. "I'm always thinking about melodies. The melodies come from my brain, and my keyboards. I play a really pleasant keyboard. It sounds so pleasant it makes me want to write melodies."

But life as a busy dad and touring musician can be overwhelming. Wilson describes a house full of kids and dogs as "very loud" and "a madhouse." He frequently goes to a nearby park and takes walks.

"The kids make me feel a little jumpy," he says. "Sometimes I want to get out of the house to get away from my kids but I love my kids a lot. I love my kids. ... Quiet time comes around 10 at night when I go to sleep. It's peace of mind. Things run smoothly at night. During the day, things are more rough."

Later on, when Ledbetter comes home with their small son Dylan — floppy-haired, barefoot and wearing a Hawaiian shirt — Wilson brightens. He's quieter when it comes to daughters Wendy and Carnie, who both live less than 10 miles away.

"I don't talk to them very much. I used to. I recorded with them at one time, but I don't talk to them a lot," he says, explaining that the women are "really busy."

Questions about the Beach Boys' current status get lukewarm response as well. Wilson, who also formed the band with cousin Mike Love and then-school friend Al Jardine, split with most of the group's surviving members years ago amid legal squabbles. Love and later Beach Boys bandmate Bruce Johnston tour as the Beach Boys Band, while Jardine has his own Endless Summer Band. Wilson stresses the subject's touchiness.

"We don't want any publicity about me getting back with the Beach Boys, cause I don't want to. They're not my group anymore. That's Mike and Bruce's group now. I'm on my own, and I would rather do that than go back to the Beach Boys," he says.

Wilson, though, clearly loves performing Beach Boys tunes as well as his own solo work, even with nightly stage fright, which he says he works through by getting neck and shoulder rubs, and praying.

At a taping days later for Yahoo! Music's Live Sets, Wilson is joined onstage by his nine-piece band, including Bennett and members of the Wondermints, who have played with him for 10 years.

Tentatively at first, Wilson claps his hands and directs the group in rousing, harmony-filled versions of such Beach Boys classics as "Help Me Rhonda" and "I Get Around." Wilson later sings from the new album.

When asked during a Q&A session his biggest regret, he doesn't mince words.

"The drugs I took which kind of messed up my mind. The LSD, the marijuana, the cocaine," he says, to audience laughter.

Wilson isn't letting his past stop him from throwing his ambitions forward.

After "That Lucky Old Sun," Wilson says the unreleased songs he recorded, including a slow, smooth version of "Proud Mary," will form another album. He gushes that "the only person I really want to work with is Paul McCartney." He would also like to record "a rock 'n' roll album inspired by Phil Spector's type records, a really hard rock album that really rocks, with big orchestration, the whole bit."

Yet, he also views his future gingerly, as day to day.

"I look forward to today," he tells The AP. "I never look forward to the future because I think to myself, 'What if there's an earthquake, what if I die or someone I love dies?' I get those kind of thoughts all the time. It's 'oof' to my head."

Lennon's killer told parole board he's ashamed

BUFFALO, N.Y. - John Lennon's killer told parole officials during his latest unsuccessful bid for release from prison that he is ashamed and sorry for gunning down the former Beatle nearly three decades ago.

Mark David Chapman was interviewed by the parole board for a fifth time Aug. 12 and was immediately denied release. A transcript of the hearing was made public Tuesday.

The 53-year-old Chapman told the parole panel that, over the years, he has come to realize the gravity of what he did, and how it affected not only Lennon, but his wife, children and anybody who knew him.

"I recognized that that 25-year-old man, I don't think he really appreciated the life that he was taking, that this was a human being," he said. "I feel now at 53 I have grown into a deeper understanding of what a human life is. I have changed a lot."

As he has in the past, he also told the parole board that he was seeking notoriety and fame to counter feelings of failure when he decided to kill Lennon.

"I would be something other than a nobody, and that was my reasoning at the time," Chapman said.

The former maintenance man from Hawaii has been in prison for nearly 28 years. He was sentenced to 20 years to life after pleading guilty to the murder. The parole board decision means he will remain in New York's Attica Correctional Facility for at least two more years.

In its brief decision, the two-member parole panel denied release "due to concern for the public safety and welfare."

Chapman fired five shots outside Lennon's Manhattan apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, hitting Lennon four times in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, and others.

Ono, who has previously written the parole board arguing against Chapman's release, did not offer any testimony in his latest hearing.

Fifty others did, however, and 1,100 people signed a petition opposing his release. Three people wrote urging that he be set free, Heather Groll, a state Parole Division spokeswoman, said last week.

Chapman's next appearance before the board is scheduled for August 2010.

Doomsday for The Watchmen?

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Who will watch The Watchmen? Nobody, if 20th Century Fox gets its way.

After a major court victory, the studio has announced a bid to block the release of Warner Bros.' anticipated adaptation of the seminal graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Fox originally tried to develop the project more than a decade ago, but didn't manage to get the film off the drawing board. The studio claims Warners never properly acquired the rights to The Watchmen, and, in a major twist, instead of seeking a share of the would-be blockbuster's box-office gross, Fox is seeking to kill the flick entirely before it unspools in theaters March 6.

Cue the agonized cries of fanboys everywhere.

A federal judge in Los Angeles agreed with Fox lawyers that there's enough evidence to keep the lawsuit going forward—and keep the film's release in limbo.

Directed by 300 helmer Zack Snyder, The Watchmen stars Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, Billy Crudup and Jackie Earle Haley as a band of former superheroes who find themselves reclassified as criminal vigilantes in an alternate universe circa 1985. As an unknown assassin begins to hunt them down, the heroes try to unravel a conspiracy and thwart a nuclear war.

The film's trailer wowed Comic-Con attendees last month, stirring big buzz for a film that many thought would never get made.

Per its complaint, Fox traces its distribution rights through a series of complex legal agreements that began in 1991, when the studio teamed up with veteran producer Larry Gordon to develop the DC Comics graphic novel.

The project stalled and Gordon went packing, leaving Fox, not Gordon, in control of the property, per the suit.

But Gordon resurfaced in 2006 and inked a deal with Warners to try to relaunch Watchmen.

In siding with Fox, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Fees said Warners' legal camp failed to show that Gordon still had a stake in the project.

"Warner Bros.' production and anticipated release of The Watchmen motion picture violates 20th Century Fox's long-standing motion picture rights in the Watchmen property," Fox says in a statement.

"We will be asking the court to enforce Fox's copyright interests in The Watchmen and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film and any related Watchmen media that violate our copyright interests in that property."

It's not clear exactly why Fox is asking for an injunction to block The Watchmen from coming out, especially since the film's already in the can, although it could simply be a ploy to gain a large portion of ticket sales. There's also no indication why Fox waited so long to bring its case.

Warners, meanwhile, tried to spin the ruling as favorably as possible.

"It is our company's policy not to comment on pending litigation, and thus will not comment on the specifics of this case," the studio's statement reads. "That said, the court's ruling simply means that the parties will engage in discovery and proceed with the litigation.

"We respectfully disagree with Fox's position and do not believe they have any rights in and to this project."

Fees has asked the studios to expedite the pretrial wrangling. After all, the film's release is apporaching and the Doomsday Clock is ticking

A Bronze Fonz Hits Brew Town

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Finally, a Fonzie that's incapable of jumping the shark. If only he existed 30 years ago.

A statue of Arthur Fonzarelli was unveiled to a Happy Days-loving crowd on Wisconsin's Milwaukee River today, commemorating the 10-year run of the classic sitcom and its most iconic character in the city where the series was set (but, alas, never shot).

Fonzie alter ego Henry Winkler was on hand for the invite-only occasion, as were show creator-director-producer Garry Marshall, stars Anson Williams (Potsie), Don Most (Ralph), Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham), Tom Bosley (Mr. Cunningham) and Erin Moran (Joanie), as well as Laverne & Shirley leads Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams. Ron Howard was on location and unable to make the unveiling.

Winkler took quite a liking to his life-size leather-jacketed likeness, giving it the ultimate seal of approval: two thumbs up.

"I hope that this statue really represents in the way that this city deserves," Winkler said.

"This is one of the great cities in the United States of America and everyone should actually come here to enjoy the theater, enjoy the good food, enjoy the warmth of the people and the Fonz!"

Applegate calls double mastectomy a 'tough' choice

NEW YORK - Christina Applegate is taking the long view of her battle with breast cancer — the really long view. Speaking on ABC News' "Good Morning America" in her first interview since announcing her diagnosis earlier this month, the "Samantha Who?" star said she had a double mastectomy three weeks ago. She'll undergo reconstructive surgery over the next eight months.

"I'm going to have cute boobs 'til I'm 90, so there's that," she joked in the interview, which aired Tuesday. "I'll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I'll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table."

The 36-year-old actress elected to remove both breasts even though the disease was contained in one breast. She said she is now cancer-free.

Applegate called the operation a logical decision. Her mother battled breast cancer, and she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

"I just wanted to kind of be rid of it," she said. "So this was the choice I made and it was a tough one."

The experience has been an emotional roller coaster, she said.

"Sometimes, you know, I cry and sometimes I scream and I get really angry and I get really like, you know, into wallowing in self-pity sometimes," she said. "And I think that's — it's all part of healing, and anyone who's going through it out there, it's OK to cry. It's OK to fall on the ground and just scream if you want to."

The Emmy-nominated "Samantha Who?" star has kept her sense of humor intact.

"I've laughed so much in the last three weeks," she said. "I love living, and I really love my life, and I knew that from this moment on it was only going to be good that was going to be coming. Yeah, I'll face challenges, but you can't get any darker than where I've been. So knowing that in my soul gave me the strength to just say, `I have to get out there and make this a positive.'"

Applegate's cancer was detected early through a doctor-ordered MRI. She said she's starting a program to help women at high risk for breast cancer to meet the costs of an MRI, which is not always covered by insurance.

Applegate is scheduled to appear on a one-hour TV special, "Stand Up to Cancer," to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5 to raise funds for cancer research.

She has been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the ABC show "Samantha Who?", in which she plays a woman who wakes from a coma with no memory of who she is.

New CD Releases, August 19: Ice Cube, Staind, The Dandy Warhols

Ice Cube "Raw Footage"

The gangsta-rap pioneer returns with a follow-up to 2006's "Laugh Now, Cry Later," a work that debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 chart. "Raw Footage" is Ice Cube's ninth solo effort and, according to the artist's

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Staind "The Illusion of Progress"

Staind hopes to make a mark with its new studio album. "The Illusion of Progress" is the Boston hard-rock band's first batch of all-new material since 2005's "Chapter V," and was recorded at frontman Aaron Lewis' home studio with producer Johnny K.

The group--Lewis, guitarist Mike Mushok, drummer Jon Wysocki and bassist Johnny April--is currently on the road. The trek continues through the end of this month and includes dates in Alberta, Minnesota and on the West Coast.

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The Dandy Warhols "Earth to the Dandy Warhols"

The Portland, OR-based alt-rock troupe is ready to drop its eighth studio album, "Earth to the Dandy Warhols," which follows 2005's "Odditorium or Warlords of Mars." Many of the band's fans already own "Earth," given that it was released as a digital download back in May.

"Earth to the Dandy Warhols" was produced by the band's frontman, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, and includes guest contributions from guitarists Mark Knopfler and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

The Dandy Warhols will support the new set with a 16-city outing that kicks off Sept. 9 in Minneapolis and is capped off with a hometown Oct. 5 show in Portland.

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Joe Bonamassa "Live from Nowhere in Particular"

The acclaimed blues-rock vocalist/guitarist returns with a two-disc concert album. "Live from Nowhere in Particular" follows Bonamassa's seventh solo album, "Sloe Gin," which surfaced last fall and snagged the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart.

For those who prefer to hear their live music "live" (as opposed to on disc), Bonamassa is currently on the concert trail. He has shows scheduled throughout August, September and October, including festival dates at Seattle's Bumbershoot (Aug. 30) and Austin, TX's Austin City Limits (Sept. 28).

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Amy Macdonald "This is the Life"

The young Scottish singer/songwriter, who will celebrate her 21st birthday later this month, is looking for love from US fans as her debut disc finally gets released Stateside. "This is the Life," featuring the single "Poison Prince," is already a major hit across the Atlantic, having sold more than a million units since being released in summer 2007.

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More new releases:
The Academy Is..., "Fast Times at Barrington High" (Fueled by Ramen)
Black Stone Cherry, "Folklore & Superstition" (Roadrunner)
Glen Campbell, "Meet Glen Campbell" (Capitol)
The Cheetah Girls, "One World" (Disney)
Donavon Frankenreiter, "Pass It Around" (Lost Highway)
Family Force 5, "Dance or Die" (Tooth and Nail)
The Goo Goo Dolls, "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" (Warner Bros.)
Juliana Hatfield, "How to Walk Away" (Ye Olde Records)
George Jones, "Burn Your Playhouse Down: The Unreleased Duets" (Bandit)
Chris Knight, "Heart of Stone" (Red)
John Pizzarelli, "With a Song in My Heart" (Telarc)
Crystal Shawanda, "Dawn of a New Day" (RCA)
Shwayze, "Shwayze" (Geffen)
Todd Snider, "Peace Queer" (MRI)
Stereolab, "Chemical Chords" (4AD)
Toadies, "No Deliverance" (Kirtland)

Malaysia scraps Avril Lavigne concert; show slammed as 'too sexy'

An Avril Lavigne concert scheduled for later this month in Malaysia has been cancelled amid complaints that the show by the Canadian rock singer is "too sexy."

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry says it had decided not to permit Lavigne's planned Aug. 29 performance because it is unsuitable for Malaysian culture.

The decision came after complaints by the youth wing of a fundamentalist opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party.

Kamarulzaman Mohamed, a party youth official, told the Associated Press on Monday that Lavigne's show was "considered too sexy for us" and would promote the wrong values just before independence day on Aug. 31.

Lavigne, who shot to fame with her 2002 debut album Let Go, had planned to launch her month-long Asia tour in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian officials say the show's promoter, Galaxy Group, can request a new date for the concert.

Galaxy began advertising the Grammy-nominated rock singer's concert this month even though it had yet to obtain a government permit, which is mandatory for all foreign music shows. It said Monday about half the concert tickets had been sold.

Last year, R&B singer Beyonce moved her show from Malaysia to Indonesia, and Christina Aguilera skipped the country on an Asian tour after a controversy erupted over a dress code for foreign artists.

Malaysia requires all performers to wear clothes without obscene or drug-related images and be covered from the chest to the knees. They must also refrain from jumping, shouting, hugging and kissing on stage.

Still, members of PAS and other conservative Muslims often protest against western and even Malaysian music shows that they deem to be inappropriate.

The local organizer of a Pussycat Dolls concert in 2006 was fined $2,857 after the U.S. girl group was accused of flouting decency regulations.

AC/DC to release "Black Ice" in October

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Rock band AC/DC's first studio album in eight years, "Black Ice," will be sold exclusively in the U.S. via Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and the band's Web site, beginning October 20. First single "Rock 'n' Roll Train" will hit U.S. radio on August 28.

In an unusual move, the exclusive release comes with the full cooperation of AC/DC's label home, Columbia, which says it is planning "multiple activities for fans" leading up to release date.

The 15-track "Black Ice" is the follow-up to 2000's "Stiff Upper Lip." An extensive world tour in support of the set will begin in late October.

In addition, on September 9 Columbia will release "No Bull: The Director's Cut," a newly edited DVD of AC/DC's July 1996 show at Madrid's Plaza De Toros De Las Ventas.

The Boss Bowl!!

The next Super Bowl is really going to rock!!

This year, Tom Petty rocked the halftime crowd at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

But Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1 in Tampa will feature Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, sources said.

"He was just confirmed," a spy added. "Little Stevie (Van Zandt) has already rented out the Hard Rock Café for a party."

A Boss rep didn't return calls or e-mails.

Northern Pikes frontman rebounds from addiction

TORONTO - The last time Northern Pikes frontman Jay Semko tried to break out with a solo album, it all went horribly wrong.

He had pulled together a disc called "Redberry" by reworking a collection of old song ideas he had socked away, and just as the album came out two years ago, found himself spiralling into the depths of alcoholism.

Semko says he checked into a treatment facility in rural Quebec, and from there, conducted a media interview by payphone, hoping to disguise how far he had fallen but soon found himself revealing all his secrets. After just a month in rehab, Semko hit the road on tour, eventually finding himself alone in Halifax with a bottle of vodka and on the precipice of what would be a hard fall off the wagon.

"There's about a three-month period there that was very blurry to me - where I had periods of being quite coherent and doing things and then I would lose it and take off on a bender for many days at a time," Semko says by phone from his home in Saskatoon as he prepares to release a new disc, this time sober.

"I became very negative and I really didn't (care) about anything. Towards the end, I just was this self-absorbed, negative individual."

By this point, Semko had lost his wife of 16 years, incurred stomach and liver problems, pawned his guitar and even began losing interest in the music he loved.

He says it took his family four interventions to get him to start seeing straight, and with the help of a tight support group and newfound spirituality, says he's been clean since March 26, 2007 and is ready for a new chapter in his life.

Semko's third disc, "International Superstar," is a country-tinged collection of bittersweet tunes outlining dark days and celebrating a healthier outlook on life. The catchy title track offers such evocative lyrics as: "Look at the international superstar, drunk as a skunk trying to smoke a cigar; He just dumped his wife and the bank took his car, he's an international superstar".

The album closes with the song "Jesus Is Gonna Help."

Semko credits a couple of fruitful trips to Nashville with reinvigorating his creative spirit and finding collaborators who could push him in positive directions.

"I really got out of the mode of trusting my instincts and I think a lot of that was because I was pretty messed up," says Semko, whose hits with the Pikes included "Things I Do For Money," "She Ain't Pretty," "Girl With a Problem," and "Teenland."

"It got to the point where I don't think I was dealing correctly with reality and not judging, not able to focus in on my instincts when it came to writing. Everything gets affected by that and sometimes in a positive way, and unfortunately most of the time in a negative way."

Although the Northern Pikes didn't quite reach the heights of international stardom, Semko points to the band's heyday in the early '90s as seeding a burgeoning addiction problem. He notes that their booking contracts often involved demands for large amounts of alcohol, and while his bandmates largely managed to keep things under control, he could not.

"Our (tour) rider was huge - a huge, huge rider of alcohol," says Semko, who still tours occasionally with the Pikes.

"We're talking, like, two large bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka and a bottle of schnapps and a bottle of scotch and 48 beer and anything else that you may want in there. And you know, if you're really smart about it, then you can do things in moderation and have no problem with it, but I'm not like that".

Despite his personal demons, Semko has maintained a steady work schedule since the Pikes temporarily broke up around 1993. Semko went on to score music for TV and film, including the Paul Gross vehicles "Due South" and "Men With Brooms." He'll be in Toronto next week (Aug. 15-17) for a "Due South" fan convention in which hundreds of devotees are expected to converge for panel discussions with the stars, play games and go tours of the series' shooting locations.

The appearance will coincide with the release of Semko's first solo single in more than 10 years, the wistful ballad, "She Won't Be Lonely Long."

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now because there's a good chance that I would not be here and not able to do what I'm doing," Semko says of his future.

"When I think of many of the situations that I put myself in through the years, it's a miracle that I'm here, it really is. And as a result of that, I feel obligated to be good now. To do good things to try and make the most of what I have now."

Reports: Christina Applegate has breast cancer

LOS ANGELES - Actress Christina Applegate reportedly is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Ame Van Iden, publicist for the 36-year-old actress, released the following statement late Saturday:

"Christina Applegate was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer. Benefiting from early detection through a doctor ordered MRI, the cancer is not life threatening. Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery."

Applegate has earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her starring role in ABC's comedy "Samantha Who?" Applegate plays the title character, a young career woman who awakens from an eight-day coma remembering nothing about her past.

The series debuted last October and marked the return to television of Applegate, who helped establish the upstart Fox network in 1987 as ditzy teenager Kelly Bundy on "Married ... with Children." The raunchy comedy ran 11 seasons and has been airing in syndication ever since.

She won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2003 for her portrayal of Amy Green, the younger sister of Jennifer Aniston's character on "Friends."

Applegate earned a 2005 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway role in "Sweet Charity."

"I'm really grateful that acting is the job that was chosen for me," Applegate told The Associated Press in April. "I get really lost when I'm not working. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself. Thank God for dance class and The New York Times crossword puzzle and `American Idol.' But acting is what I really have to do."

Applegate is among the celebrities scheduled to appear on the "Stand Up To Cancer" one-hour television special to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5 to raise funds for cancer research.

"The Dark Knight" leads box office for third weekend

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Batman narrowly fended off the new "Mummy" sequel to lead the weekend box office in North America for a third weekend, while moviegoers rejected Kevin Costner's new political comedy "Swing Vote."

"The Dark Knight" earned $43.8 million for the three days beginning Friday, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday. Universal's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" followed with $42.5 million.

Walt Disney Co's "Swing Vote" came in at No. 6 with just $6.3 million, the latest disappointment for Costner, who has not had a $100 million movie since 1992's "The Bodyguard."

The total for "The Dark Knight" rose to $394.9 million. Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, said it expects the film to add at least $100 million, likely becoming the No. 2 movie of all time in North America. "Titanic" holds the record with $601 million, ahead of 1977's "Star Wars" and its two reissues with $461 million.

"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" came in below pundits' forecasts of an opening in the $50 million range, bruised by the Batman juggernaut. The Brendan Fraser film actually beat "The Dark Knight" on Friday but the reigning champ bounced back on the next two days. (The Sunday component of the data is an estimate; final data will be issued on Monday.)

Universal, a unit of General Electric Co, said "The Mummy" was big internationally. The film, set in China and co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, opened to $59.5 million from 28 territories.

Fraser has had a low profile since appearing as part of the ensemble in the Oscar-winning 2004 movie "Crash." But he now has two movies in the top 5, with "Journey to the Center of the Earth" at No. 5 with a four-week total of $73.1 million.

The Couch Potato Report - August 2nd, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels some films that are interactive, and a five part biography of Earth.

Our first two films this week are being billed as INTERACTIVE. If you don't like what is happening on screen at certain times, you just push ENTER on your remote and the story line and scene changes.

Unfortunately this unique idea can't save either film, as no matter how many times you hit enter the end result is still a mediocre movie.

That is ceratinly the case with this week's HOT POTATO...the Canadian made, National Film Board release that is LATE FRAGMENT.

LATE FRAGMENT has several plots and due to the fact that it is non-linear - and interactive - it give you the choice to watch the stories of three strangers. Faye, Kevin and Théo.

They - and their stories - all come together in a restorative justice group therapy session, after each has become involved in a crime, either as perpetrator or victim or both.

In the sessions the victims and offenders share their stories in hopes of finding wholeness, balance, forgiveness, redemption and a sense of safety.

There are 380 available opportunities for you to hit the ENTER button, and for me the concept of an interactive movie just overshadowed the film itself.

I kept pressing ENTER, because you can't just sit and watch the film...you have to push ENTER in order to prevent the film from staying in a loop...and each time I pressed the button I hoped that the movie would engage me...but it didn't.

LATE FRAGMENT isn't a happy movie, and I wasn't interested in the characters, so even though I had several different choices literally at my fingertips...I just didn't care.

I am 100% sure that there will be people who will love this movie, and will watch it repeatedly, in order to see all of the different ways it can play out, but that person is not me.

After eventually getting to the film's conclusion, I just couldn't wait to press one more button...eject.

The interactive film LATE FRAGMENT is an interesting concept...but not an interesting movie.

And that is true with the other film featuring some interactivity that I have for you this week, the "comedy" HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE GUANTANAMO BAY

You know I liked the first HAROLD AND KUMAR film...2004's HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE. It was a fun little film about two stoner friends who just want to get some hamburgers, and the problems that prevented them from getting them. It was fun, stupid and an entertaining time at the movies.

This sequel is none of that. It is not funny, it is actually racist at times, always profane and even though I don't usually have a problem with those sort of things in an out and out comedy...I just hated this movie!

And like LATE FRAGMENT, HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE GUANTANAMO BAY has an interactive element to it.

Using the bonus feature "Dude, Change the Movie!," you can alter the direction of the film at various moments.

Some of the changes merely add a quick joke or two, while others send the film in a completely different direction, including drastically changing the ending, and one change even eliminates the plot of the film.

If the studio green lights a third HAROLD AND KUMAR film, I hope they remembered the low budget origins of the first movie, and skip the expensive high budget path that this second movie took.

It is just a bad movie, no matter what your frame of mind is at the time you press play.

Up next this week is the BBC series EARTH - THE BIOGRAPHY, from the same folks who gave us the PLANET EARTH and the BLUE PLANET series.

Yes, EARTH - THE BIOGRAPHY is a five-part series that look at how our our planet was formed, and how it is changing.

While not as completely compelling as the PLANET EARTH and BLUE PLANET series, EARTH THE BIOGRAPHY is still an exceptional series and very worthy of your time.

The made in Toronto movie HUSTLE - about baseball player Pete Rose and his gambling problems that lead to his banishment for life from the sport - is also worthy of your time...but only if you are a huge baseball fan, or fan of the history of the game.

The made-for-TV movie is not great by any stretch of the imagination...but the Special Features certainly are.

Those truly Special Features include that press conference where Rose's suspension was announced, interviews with the man during and after the scandal broke, and much more.

HUSTLE is good stuff for baseball fans like me.

Now, as you may know, due to the millions of dollars that has been spent to promote and advertise it, there is a new film in the MUMMY series that is now in theatres.

The latest one is called THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, and because there is a new one, Universal has released the two previous MUMMY MOVIES starring the Canadian raised Brendan Fraser in Two Disc Deluxe Editions.

The first Fraser MUMMY film is still a fun and entertaining movie, and THE MUMMY RETURNS - while not as great, is also still pretty good. Both of them are certainly better that THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR...but I will have more on that when the DVD comes out in December.

PLUS, also new on DVD, as a tie in to this new MUMMY movie is the very first movie starring a Mummy...the 1932 classic THE MUMMY starring Boris Karloff.

Now this DVD is the true discovery for fans of these types of films...it is truly a conematic classic, and it has never looked better in any home viewing medium!!

Pick it up and enjoy!!

Finally, it is time once again for THE FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD, this week starring CHAOTIC ANNA from Spain.

CHAOTIC ANA is about a woman named Ana and it tells the story of her life from the ages of 18 to 22.

But it might not necessarily be her life...her existence seems like a continuation of other lives of young women who all died in a tragic way, and we experience it all through through her hypnosis.

CHAOTIC ANA is a visually provacative and engaging film, that is exotic at times, erotic at others, and yet it is also horrific at times as well.

It is a very interesting picture that had me really wanting to find out what was really going on...and why....and because of that, and Manuela Vellés, the actress who plays Ana...I really enjoyed it.

The Spanish movie CHAOTIC ANA, the 1932 Boris Karloff classic THE MUMMY, Brendan Fraser's 1999 THE MUMMY and 2001's THE MUMMY RETURNS, the Pete Rose TV-Movie HUSTLE, the engaging EARTH THE BIOGRAPHY, the non-comedy HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE GUANTANAMO BAY and the failed Canadian interactive film LATE FRAGMENT are all available now on DVD.

Coming up in three weeks - on August 23rd - on the next Couch Potato Report

The CBC series MVP - THE SECRET LIVES OF HOCKEY WIVES will be out on DVD along with the action films DOOMSDAY, ROGUE and PROM NIGHT.

Plus, the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD will continue with the Chinese film STILL LIFE

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in twenty-one 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!

Favre could get paid to stay off the field

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Brett Favre's reinstatement to the NFL was held up again Friday as the three-time MVP mulled getting paid not to play through a marketing deal with the Green Bay Packers that could resolve the standoff over his retirement.

The potential agreement, worth a reported $20 million over 10 years, might end Favre's bid to return just months after retiring. It also would likely keep him from reporting to Packers training camp and a team that is not planning to start him at quarterback for the first time since 1992.

After talking to Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy about the marketing deal Wednesday, Favre confirmed he was considering it to ESPN on Thursday.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy made it clear Friday that, from the team's perspective, the agreement would be more than a buyout to make an awkward situation go away. In fact, it's been in the works for months. He first heard about it at Favre's retirement news conference in March.

"I know Mark Murphy talked to me about it in the past, how important it was for Brett to continue to be part of the organization after he was done playing," McCarthy said after practice Friday morning. "And frankly, it's good for Brett. Brett needs to stay a part of football, Obviously, he's a part of the Green Bay Packers."

Meanwhile, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sat on Favre's reinstatement letter for the fourth straight day, giving the two sides more time to resolve the situation.

"The commissioner will take no action today on Brett Favre's reinstatement request. Discussions are continuing between the Packers and Brett," league officials said in a statement issued by NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

Despite Favre's tearful farewell to football, he now is considering a comeback.

The problem is that Green Bay hasn't been eager to bring him back, with Aaron Rodgers taking over the starter's role. The Packers also don't want to release Favre, suspecting he would immediately sign with division rival Minnesota.

The Packers hold Favre's rights until his current contract expires after the 2010 season.

Tensions have built between Favre and the team over the past several weeks. Earlier this week, Favre sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell requesting to be reinstated from the team's reserve/retired list.

But Goodell has held off approving the request, hoping the two sides could resolve their differences. Murphy flew to Mississippi to meet with Favre and his agent, James "Bus" Cook, on Wednesday. That meeting apparently rekindled talks about the marketing agreement.

Favre said in a text message to ESPN reporter Ed Werder Thursday night that the marketing deal might be the best idea.

"There isn't a perfect solution to this, but Mark Murphy is at least trying," Favre told ESPN. "We know what they want and where I stand. His solution, although awkward and unsettling for most, may be the best in the end."

Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk chuckled at the thought of being paid $20 million not to play.

"You could hand me a billion dollars, and I'm still going to be on the field," Hawk said. "It doesn't matter to me. But everyone has different situations, has different views on money. Money is not more important than football to me right now."

But if the deal can't be worked out, Favre still could be reinstated and report to camp, presumably forcing the team to trade him or reconsider releasing him.

Cook told The Associated Press Thursday that Favre understands he would be walking into a media frenzy by showing up for camp, but he's willing to handle that it if that's the only way he can force his way back into football.

"He's prepared to deal with it," Cook said. "He's ready to go back, but he can't go back until the commissioner reinstates him."

McCarthy has said the team has a plan in place should Favre report to camp. He'd have to pass a physical exam and a conditioning test, then likely would be limited to individual drills at first.

"He's not a part of our 80-man roster right now," McCarthy said. "And if or when he is, we'll deal with that then. And I think our team has done a great job of just staying focused."

The Packers did not practice yesterday, but players did hear from a guest lecturer: former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

Fleischer's lecture on media relations was scheduled before the latest Favre controversy, but McCarthy said he took advantage of the opportunity to pick Fleischer's brain on how he might handle the team's current predicament.

McCarthy said Fleischer was "very encouraging" about the team's approach.

"As popular or unpopular as it is, for as tough or as difficult as it is, I think the organization has stood strong," McCarthy said. "They're decisive, and they're continuing to work through this. Everyone wants this resolved, don't get me wrong. No one thought it would get to this point, but this is where we are."