Happy New Year from all of us here at www.anythingbut.com!!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

To celebrate, here are Five Great Performances of Auld Lang Syne!!

Is 'Empire State of Mind' the new 'New York, New York'?

It has been nearly impossible lately to surf the radio without hearing Jay-Z rapping about his gritty-to-glamorous ascent in the big city as Alicia Keys swoons about the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of . . ."

The song "Empire State of Mind" was the biggest hit at Yankee Stadium this fall, and then, just days before Jay-Z turned 40, it gave the rap legend his first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 list. And if it wasn't already ubiquitous, its beat blaring from the radio in almost every corner store, last month Keys issued her own version on her new album and has been regularly performing this salute to the aspirations of native New Yorkers.

For the last three decades, Frank Sinatra's " New York, New York," from the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb, has ruled as the city's sentimental favorite -- in ballparks, at weddings and to signal determination. Over the same three decades, hip-hop grew to be the dominant force in pop music and culture and Jay-Z one of its leading citizens. Like any good New Yorker, he has made no secret of his ambition to topple what came before him; and since there are few left to take on, he's trying to elbow aside the Chairman of the Board with an anthem reflective of a new generation.

But can any hip-hop song prove as universal and enduring as Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" (written by Billy Strayhorn) or Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's " Manhattan"? Or, for that matter, that other easy-to-whistle "New York, New York," by Leonard Bernstein and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green,which explains, "the Bronx is up and the Battery down, the people ride in a hole in the ground"?

The answer is maybe, maybe not.

From the very start of "Empire State," Jay-Z's lyrics sum up his rise from street kid to celebrity as well as his vision of New York in line with anthems that precede him:

Yea I'm out that Brooklyn
Now I'm down in TriBeCa
Right next to DeNiro
But I'll be hood forever
I'm the new Sinatra and . . . since I made it here
I can make it anywhere.

Even the idea of a "new Sinatra" feels wrong to Jonathan Schwartz, a radio personality from New York with an encyclopedic knowledge of the singer. During a phone interview, Schwartz hums one of his favorite ballads of the city, the 1934 slow-tempo "Autumn in New York," by Vernon Duke, who composed "April in Paris."

"These songs are . . . for everyone, forever," he says, complaining that the street music of today "won't last because it has no melody and very little that even rhymes. Words like 'home' and 'alone' don't rhyme and yet that's what these rappers use. That never would have been with a Vernon Duke or Oscar Hammerstein . . ."

But composer John Kander, who with the late Fred Ebb wrote the musical "Cabaret" as well as Sinatra's enduring anthem, is intrigued by Jay-Z's ode to the big city.

"I thought it was kind of interesting because it juxtaposed totally different styles of music," says Kander, 82, explaining it was first brought to his attention by another musical theater star, 29-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, who mixed rap with other styles in the Broadway hit "In the Heights."

Other than suggesting that an anthem usually embodies some measure of hope, Kander could not -- and would not -- attempt to explain what makes a city connect with a certain song; he merely pointed out that "Empire State of Mind" has as much of a chance of enjoying another 30 years of popularity as his did 30 years ago. "It doesn't matter what I think or what the critics say," says Kander. "It's what people think and feel and hang on to."

Kander and Ebb wrote and then rewrote "New York, New York" for a 1977 Martin Scorsese movie of the same name. ( Robert De Niro, who costarred with Liza Minnelli, didn't think their first version was "strong enough," so out of sheer anger of being told what to do by an actor, they reworked it in 45 minutes.) But even that version didn't go anywhere until Sinatra remade it a few years later.

"He rearranged it for his more limited range and botched the lyrics," Kander recalls with a chuckle (there was no "A Number One" in Ebb's lyrics), "and when I first heard it, I thought, 'Oh gosh, shouldn't we fix it for Sinatra?' But it became huge without us. So who's to say?"

Sinatra first performed "New York, New York" at an October 1978 concert in Radio City Music Hall. He was 62 with a voice that wasn't what it once was. But he still had the timing and the feral excitement of the kid from the mobbed-up Hoboken waterfront you could just imagine looking across the river thinking, "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere."

There are generations of songs that capture New York's magic and allure, its extremes of wealth and poverty, of uptown and downtown, of private misery and public joy. Most date themselves by casting the city in a moment; others hang onto enduring ideals. Bob Dylan, in "Talking New York," reveals it through the eyes of an outsider; Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" is about a native coming home.

The songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart invented a tune for almost every New York: their classic references pushcarts at the same time it portrays a city as "a wondrous toy, just made for a girl and boy." But in "Give It Back to the Indians," they complain how New York has gone to hell: "We tried to run this city, but it ran away."

"It's classically New York that it would inspire a song for every mood and era," says Tony Fletcher, a music historian who recently published "All Hopped Up and Ready to Go" about the city's music scenes 1927 to 1977.

Growing up in Yorkshire, England, Fletcher, 45, got to know New York through the lyrics of the Ramones and Blondie, which romanticized (at least for him) the grimy Lower East Side and obscure areas in the boroughs.

"When I was coming in from JFK for the very first time, when I moved here, I was stunned to see a sign for 'Rockaway Beach,' " Fletcher says of the Queens area, also the name of a Ramones song. "It was a thrill to find out these places weren't fictional."

There are any number of hip-hop odes to specific neighborhoods, mostly in the spirit of yours-versus-mine, Queens vs. the Bronx vs. Brooklyn vs. the 212. On his albums, Jay-Z often returns to the Marcy Houses projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where he grew up. In "Where I'm From," he explains, it's "where the pimps, prostitutes, and the drug lords meet; we make a million off of beats, cause our stories is deep" and says you can forget about tomorrow "as long as the night before was sweet."

In "Empire State of Mind," however, he expands his community pride to cover the whole city and a wide spectrum of New Yorkers, including the late rap superstar Notorious B.I.G. and Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour. Jay-Z also samples broadly for this song -- for the title from Billy Joel, for the backing track from the 1970 hit "Love on a Two Way Street." Two lesser-known New Yorkers, Angela Hunt and Janet "Jnay" Sewell-Ulepic, wrote the lyrics for the chorus, or hook, which Keys, a New Yorker herself, reworked for a more introspective version on her new album, "The Element of Freedom," which was released on Dec. 15.

It's the hook that many see as Jay-Z's bid to make this The One -- that once-every-few-decades song about New York that catches on and becomes an anthem. "Empire State" pulls in a broader audience by tapping into classic mythologies with lines that revere a city where:

There's nothin' you can't do . . .
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York.

For now -- at least in New York -- this song has become something of a cultural phenomenon. The lyrics are mapped in the blogosphere and have been translated into a suburban boast by Stephen Colbert disguised in a hoodie. The local Madison Square Garden Networks re-aired Jay-Z debuting the song at the venue on Sept. 11 at a concert in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack back-to-back with a performance there by Sinatra in 1974; the concerts were promoted together as "Two Generations of Cool" or "Bada Bling!"

Not that any of this is a guarantee that Jay-Z's song of the city can live past its moment and beyond its generation the way Sinatra's did. But Al Shux, who created the backing track for "Empire State of Mind," will know when it has gone from a blip on the Billboard chart to a beloved entry in the American songbook.

"When someone says, 'Start spreadin' the news,' you know exactly what they're talking about and what comes next," says Shux, a British producer and a Sinatra fan even at the age of 27. "Someday I hope when someone anywhere in the world says 'I'm out of that Brooklyn,' the whole world will know what comes next."

Theater owners name Sandra Bullock 2009's top star

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – In the eyes of U.S. movie theater owners, Sandra Bullock shined as 2009's top Hollywood star at the box office, as the actress nicknamed "America's Sweetheart" scored with audiences after a two-year absence from screens.

Quigley Publishing Company's annual list released on Thursday of top money making stars, based on a poll of hundreds of theater executives, had Bullock beat out such stars as George Clooney and Denzel Washington, on the strength of her roles in "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side."

Romantic comedy "The Proposal" made $315 million at worldwide box offices following its June release, and football drama "The Blind Side" has made $193 million only in the U.S. and Canada since its November 20 release, with its roll-out in other countries still to come.

Bullock, who also starred in the 2009 comedy "All About Steve" with its $34 million take in the U.S. and Canada, is the eighth woman to top Quigley's list of top money making stars, which the company has put out each year since 1932.

Quigley Publishing said the list does not rank stars only on how much cash their films made, but on what theater owners say about who attracts audiences on their star power alone.

For instance, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was the top movie at U.S. and Canada box offices in 2009 with more than $400 million, but many in Hollywood attribute that to the appeal of the franchise itself and the toys it's based on.

The last woman to top Quigley's list was Julia Roberts in 1999. She failed to make Quigley's 2009 top 10 this year, after her turn in romantic comedy "Duplicity" bombed at the box office.

Bullock scored her first smash hit with 1994 action movie "Speed" and became one of Hollywood's biggest stars, but before "The Proposal" she had not starred in a film since 2007.

"Public Enemies" star Johnny Depp came in at No. 2 on Quigley's top 10 list, followed by Matt Damon, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf and Denzel Washington.

Marvel shareholders approve acquisition by Disney

NEW YORK – Shareholders of Marvel Entertainment Inc., home of Spider-Man and the Hulk, on Thursday approved the company's acquisition by The Walt Disney Co., as expected.

Marvel said the $4.3 billion acquisition will close at the end of the day, bringing Spider-Man, Iron Man, and 5,000 other comic-book characters under the same roof as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Approval of the deal was expected. Marvel Chief Executive Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, who owns 37 percent of Marvel stock, supported it. He will be overseeing the Marvel business after the acquisition.

Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. Disney shares traded midday Thursday at $32.53, up 25 cents on the day. That values Marvel shares at $54.25, just above their trading price of $54.23.

The deal is Disney's largest since it purchased Pixar Animation Studios Inc., the maker of "Up" and "Cars," for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.

Irish radio says Van Morrison denies baby report

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish state broadcaster RTE said on Thursday it had received a statement from Van Morrison denying widespread media reports that the singer had fathered a child with his manager.

The statement published on RTE's website www.rte.ie says that reports which said Morrison had fathered a child with Gigi Lee were the result of a "hacking attack" on the 64-year-old Belfast-born singer's website.

"The comments which appeared on my website did not come from me," said the statement that RTE published as signed by Van Morrison. "They are completely and utterly without foundation."

Van Morrison and his official representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The www.vanmorrison.com website on Thursday contained only links to his other sites on youtube.com, facebook.com and myspace.com and a note that a new website was coming soon.

Earlier on Thursday, John Saunders, a Dublin-based executive at public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard, told RTE radio and Reuters that Van Morrison had told him over the telephone the reports he had fathered a baby were false.

"He has said to me on the phone today, he has said it's not true," Saunders told Reuters. "He has never heard of this person Gigi, the name means nothing to him."

Saunders said that Van Morrison was a long-time friend but not a client of his agency.

Newspapers and agencies reported on Monday that Morrison had become a father for the fourth time after his manager gave birth to a son described as "the spitting image of his daddy."

"Gigi (Lee) and Van Morrison are proud to announce the birth of their first born son, George Ivan Morrison III," said reports sourced to the website www.vanmorrison.com.

Asked why Morrison had waited several days to deny the statement, Saunders said that the singer was not good at handling his public relations.

"Van is a mystery man in many ways, his fans will testify to that," Saunders told RTE.

Morrison, whose 45-year career spans soul, blues, jazz, R&B and country, has a 39-year-old daughter, singer-songwriter Shana Morrison, from his first marriage to Janet "Planet" Minto and two other children with Irish socialite Michelle Rocca.

"For the avoidance of all doubt and in the interests of clarity, I am very happily married to Michelle Morrison with whom I have two wonderful children," said the statement attributed to Morrison on the RTE website.

Famed for such tunes as "Gloria" and "Brown Eyed Girl," he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 but declined to attend the ceremony.

U2 tour tops annual rankings in North America

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U2 may have suffered disappointing sales for their new album, but the Irish rockers were easily the most popular draw on the North American concert circuit this year, according to data issued on Wednesday.

The band sold $123 million worth of tickets to its stadium tour, while Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band came in second with $94.5 million, said trade publication Pollstar.

Among all-time tours, the U2 trek ranks at No. 5, Pollstar said. The Rolling Stones hold the record with $162 million from their 2005 outing. U2's 2005 tour is No. 3 on the all-time list with $138.9 million.

Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni said the overall concert business bucked the recession, mirroring a similar phenomenon at movie theaters. He said most people go to only one or two shows a year, and are willing to pay a premium for good seats.

U2 hit the road to promote its latest album, "No Line on the Horizon," which failed to generate any hit singles and sold a relatively modest 1.06 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Pollstar said the band played to 1.3 million people at 20 shows on the North American leg of its world tour, and charged an average of $93.77. The average price on the band's 2003 tour, when it played 78 shows, was actually higher at $97.

Piano men Elton John and Billy Joel's latest co-headlining stint came in at No. 3 in 2009 with $88 million, followed by rehabbed pop princess Britney Spears at No. 4 with $82.5 million, and hard-rockers AC/DC at No. 5 with $77.9 million.

Country star Kenny Chesney made the top 10 for the sixth consecutive year, landing at No. 6 in 2009 with $71.1 million.

As in years past, veteran rockers dominated the rankings, in part because they are able to charge more than developing acts. But the fresh-faced Jonas Brothers made No. 7 after selling $69.8 million in tickets to their young fans.

Fellow Disney star Miley Cyrus was No. 13 with $45 million, and country-pop starlet Taylor Swift was No. 35 with $25.5 million. Bongiovanni said he expected Swift to make the top 10 next year on the heels of a three-month North American tour that kicks off on March 4.

The top 10 was rounded out by the Dave Matthews Band at No. 8 with $56.9 million, Fleetwood Mac at No. 9 with $54.5 million, and Metallica at No. 10 with $53.4 million.

Best New Year's Eve Scenes in Movies

Whether it's about fresh starts, uncertain futures or the end of an era -- or, more importantly, who's kissing who at midnight -- New Year's Eve is inherently cinematic with its showers of fireworks, confetti and balloons. No wonder so many films fade out with a countdown, a kiss and the implied "... and they lived happily ever." Of course, not all new years begin in a lip lock with the love of your life; sometimes all that merriment is just a set-up for epic-sized disaster.

So bring on the kazoos and pop that champagne: Just in time for 2010, Moviefone has rounded up 10 of the best New Year's Eve scenes in movie history.

Happy New Year!!

Fox named worst, sexiest actress

Movie fans have rated Megan Fox's sex appeal above her onscreen talents - she has been named worst actress of the year, but also the sexiest in a new poll.

Fox has topped the list of worst actresses by film website Moviefone.com for her role in action sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, narrowly beating out Beyonce Knowles for her performance in thriller Obsessed and Hilary Swank in Amelia.

But the 23 year old can console herself after landing the title of sexiest actress in the same poll, seeing off competition form Star Trek's Zoe Saldana and Sandra Bullock.

Fox's Transformers follow-up also divided voters, being named both worst movie of the year and best action movie.

Twilight's vampires and werewolves also proved popular, with British heart-throb Robert Pattinson scooping the title of sexiest male star and Taylor Lautner being named male breakout star of the year. The Twilight Saga: New Moon was named best film ahead of Avatar and The Hangover, and the bloodsucker movie was also crowned best chick flick.

'Thriller' to be preserved in US film registry

WASHINGTON – Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, with that unforgettable graveyard dance, will rest among the nation's treasures in the world's largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings.

The 1983 music video directed by John Landis, though still the subject of lawsuits over profits, was one of 25 films to be inducted Wednesday for preservation in the 2009 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

It's the first music video named to the registry. It had been considered in past years, but following Jackson's death, the time was right, said Steve Leggett, coordinator of the National Film Preservation Board.

"Because of the way the recording industry is evolving and changing, we thought it would be good to go back to the development of an earlier seismic shift, which was the development of the music video," he said.

Joining the King of Pop in the 2009 class will be the Muppets from 1979's "The Muppet Movie" — the first time on the big screen for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy — and the 1957 sci-fi classic "The Incredible Shrinking Man," among other titles.

The library works with film archives and movie studios to ensure original copies are kept safe. It also acquires a copy for preservation in its own vaults among millions of other recordings at the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in the hills near Culpeper, Va.

"By preserving the nation's films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural patrimony and history," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

Congress established the registry in 1989, which now totals 525 films. They are selected not as the "best" American films but instead for their enduring importance to U.S. culture.

The library selects films that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and consulting with the National Film Preservation Board.

In "The Muppet Movie," Kermit leads his fellow TV characters on a road trip to Hollywood where they meet Steve Martin, Mel Brooks and other actors with the magic of creators Jim Henson and Frank Oz.

Other notable titles include "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968), directed by Sergio Leone, representing the "spaghetti western" genre that helped propel such rising stars as Clint Eastwood. The list also includes Bette Davis' Oscar-winning performance in "Jezebel" from 1938.

The oldest film inducted was "Little Nemo" from 1911, a mix of live action and animation adapted from Winsor McCay's comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland." The film, highly advanced for its time, influenced future animators, including Walt Disney.

Regardless of ongoing legal disputes over rights to Jackson's "Thriller," the library holds a copy submitted in 1984 for copyright purposes and will seek to acquire another for preservation.

The top 10 sleeper movie hits of the decade

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Sleepers come seemingly out of nowhere. They are the little films that confound expectations, attracting enthusiastic audiences that happily spread the word.

Sometimes they come from the studio system, produced almost as an afterthought, but mostly they're produced well off the radar. On occasion, they upend the established order by opening at No. 1 at the box office.

But more typically they start small, building over time, hanging on in theaters as more heralded movies come and go. Often the filmmakers involved meet with initial rejection before wildly triumphing in the end. And in the process, they expose the limitations of Hollywood's conventional thinking about what makes a hit.

Sleepers, when everyone wakes up to their potential, tend to be wildly successful, resulting in box office returns that dwarf their modest budgets. And so, top sleepers of the past decade, take another bow.

10. "CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON" (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS, 2000)

Budget: $17 million

Domestic gross: $128 million

Except for a handful of martial arts fans, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was indeed hidden from sight during its production. Most Westerners weren't familiar with stars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh. Taiwanese director Ang Lee, coming off the commercial failure of "Ride With the Devil," wasn't exactly known for burning up the box office, either. Even its rollout was uneventful: "Tiger" was first shown out of competition at Cannes and made its U.S. premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival. But after an Oscar-qualifying run in December 2000, it opened wide January 12, 2001, to $8.6 million. And then, the subtitled movie became a sensation. While it never made more than $10.5 million during a single box office weekend, it clawed its way to a $128 million domestic cume. It became the highest-grossing foreign-language film in U.S. history, won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, made an international star of Zhang Ziyi and ushered in an Asian movie revival in the West.

9. "DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN" (LIONSGATE, 2005)

Budget: $5.5 million

Domestic gross: $50.4 million

"Tyler who?" most folks in Hollywood were asking each other the Monday morning after the Atlanta-based filmmaker's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" opened in first place to the tune of $21 million. The answer was Tyler Perry, and he was already well-known by the extensive black fan base he'd cultivated during his years writing and performing plays on the so-called Chitlin' Circuit. Several Hollywood studios gave him the cold shoulder before Lionsgate struck a deal for Perry's first feature, in which he also appears as his signature big mama character, Madea. The relationship has spawned a whole series of consistently profitable films, two TV series and a potential Oscar winner in "Precious," which Perry joined as executive producer after Lionsgate acquired it at this year's Sundance.

8. "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" (FOX SEARCHLIGHT, 2008)

Budget: $15 million

Domestic gross: $141.3 million

This could easily be at the top of the list when taken as a whole. Not just because it was very nearly buried by Warner Bros. before anyone ever had a chance to see it. Not just because it is essentially a foreign film with unknown actors and multiple languages. Not just because it's violently R-rated and yet went out into the world to gross $362 million worldwide. That certainly would have been enough. But it did all of this and then won eight Oscars, including best picture, for good measure. Jai ho!

7. MARCH OF THE PENGUINS (WARNER INDEPENDENT/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2005)

Budget: $8 million

Domestic gross: $77.4 million

Penguins sure are cute, but a whole movie about a bunch of birds who do nothing but march inland, canoodle, fish, lay eggs and huddle together for warmth among ferocious winter storms? After the French-made production played Sundance in 2005, new -- and ultimately short-lived -- Warner Independent, along with National Geographic, acquired U.S. rights for $1 million and released it in only four theaters in June. But it steadily warmed moviegoers' hearts, played all the way to November, won the documentary Oscar and became the top-grossing nature documentary ever.

6. JACKASS: THE MOVIE (PARAMOUNT, 2002)

Budget: $5 million

Domestic gross: $64.3 million

True, the TV series "Jackass" had run for two seasons on MTV before MTV Films, at the time something of a poor stepchild at Paramount Pictures, greenlighted a movie version starring Johnny Knoxville and his whacked-out crew and directed by Jeff Tremaine. Seemingly embarrassed to be stooping to a slapdash mix of skits involving urine-soaked snowballs, soiled trousers and unpixelated private parts, Paramount kept the movie away from the censorious eyes of critics. But the fans couldn't have cared less. Opening to a $22 million weekend, "Jackass" stunned Hollywood by arriving in first place, spawning a 2006 sequel and surely an even-grosser 3D version set to let it all hang out this coming October.

5. "JUNO" (FOX SEARCHLIGHT, 2007)

Budget: $7.5 million

Domestic gross: $143.5 million

Diablo Cody's quirky little gem about cinema's hippest accidentally pregnant teenager may feel like it's always been with us, but for a while it was just a buzzed-about script from an unknown writer with a titillating backstory. Director Jason Reitman, stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera and distributor Fox Searchlight then spun an early Toronto International Film Festival success into a cultural phenomenon, complete with its own striped color scheme, hit soundtrack and invented lexicon. Like its ballooning pint-sized protagonist, "Juno" eventually swelled to 19 times its original body weight in grosses (plus $83.5 million overseas).

4. "SAW" (LIONSGATE, 2004)

Budget: $1.2 million

Domestic gross: $55.2 million

Like its madman protagonist, "Saw" succeeded with an intricate, moralistic premise executed with precision and no small amount of blood. The low-budget horror film, co-written by director James Wan and actor Leigh Whannell, screened in a midnight slot at Sundance and then rode a slow burn to a surprise $20 million opening the weekend of Halloween. Thus, a franchise was born that has grossed more than $650 million worldwide in relentless yearly installments (No. 7 hits in 2010). It also birthed Jigsaw, the first new top-tier horror villain in more than a decade.

3. "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" (IFC, 2002)

Budget: $5 million

Domestic gross: $241.4 million

At first, Hollywood insiders referred to it simply as "the small comedy Tom Hanks produced with his wife," but it became one of the biggest independent movies of all time. An ethnic-flavored rom-com, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" began life as a one-woman stage show performed by Nia Vardalos, which Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson, discovered and championed. Adapted for the screen by Vardalos and director Joel Zwick for only $5 million, it opened in April 2002 bolstered by a carefully targeted campaign that resulted in unprecedented word-of-mouth. It stayed in theaters for almost a year, an unheard-of length of time in an era of wide releases when movies are in and out of theaters in a matter of weeks. It never made more than $15 million on any given weekend, and never reached No. 1 during the run, but it enjoyed a take of $241 million domestically and $127 million abroad. The movie's title became part of the lexicon, spawned a host of imitators, and made Vardalos an Oscar-nominated screenwriter.

2. "NAPOLEON DYNAMITE" (FOX SEARCHLIGHT/PARAMOUNT 2004)

Budget: $400,000

Domestic gross: $44.5 million

A geek comedy, directed by Jared Hess, that seemed to divide along generational lines, "Napoleon Dynamite" was made for only $400,000 and became the poster child of Sundance 2004 when it got picked up by Fox Searchlight for $3 million. With the help of a promotional push from partners Paramount and MTV Films, the distributor orchestrated a slow rollout over the summer and watched as the movie collected more than $44 million over the course of months, even though the movie never attracted more than $4 million on any weekend during its lengthy box-office dance-off. Audiences related to the title character and took to wearing "Vote for Pedro" T-shirts, inspired by the movie, just to prove their hip quotient.

1. "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" (PARAMOUNT, 2009)

Budget: $15,000

Domestic gross: $107.6 million

First-time director Oren Pali's homemade ghost story could have disappeared at any step along the way. Shot for only $15,000 on a camcorder over the course of seven days, it found no buyers after appearing at Screamfest in 2007 and then Slamdance in 2008. DreamWorks picked it up with plans to remake it rather than release it. Then it almost got lost amid the Paramount/DreamWorks divorce. Finally, Paramount released it at midnight screenings in only 12 theaters, supported by a stealth marketing campaign that convinced fans they were discovering the movie for themselves. It climbed the charts until, by its fifth weekend, it reigned at No. 1. What "The Blair Witch Project" was to the '90s, "Paranormal" was to '00s. The cheapie project became a gold-plated ghost(block)buster.

Report: David Letterman's alleged blackmailer wants a plea deal

The man accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman is seeking a plea deal that would have him spend only a year in jail.

Robert Halderman, the CBS News producer who was arrested in October, is reportedly talking to prosecutors about a deal in which he'd plead guilty in exchange for a one-year sentence -- way below the maximum 15 years he'd face if convicted by a jury.

That's the word, anyway, from the New York Post, which cites unnamed sources in its report on the plea offer. Halderman's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, denies it, saying, "There have been no plea negotiations. None whatsoever."

Shargel also tells the paper he's still pursuing a motion to have the case dismissed and will file more papers on the motion later this week.

If a deal is made, it won't be by current Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Incoming D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. takes office next month and will oversee the rest of the case.

Halderman was arrested Oct. 1 after allegedly telling Letterman he would blab about the "Late Show" host's affairs with staff members unless he received $2 million. "I have said, for a price, I will sign a confidentiality agreement and I will not make this information public. That's the deal," Halderman said, according to prosecutors.

Sheen's wife claims he held knife to her throat

ASPEN, Colo. – Charlie Sheen's wife has told Aspen police the actor pinned her on a bed, put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her after she said she wanted a divorce.

An arrest warrant affidavit released Monday quotes Brooke Mueller Sheen as saying the actor told her, "You better be in fear. If you tell anybody, I'll kill you."
The affidavit says Charlie Sheen denied threatening her with a knife.

Sheen was arrested Christmas Day on suspicion of menacing, second-degree assault and criminal mischief.

The 44-year-old Charlie Sheen is free on $8,500 bond. His lawyer and his agent didn't immediately return calls on Monday.

In a 911 call released Monday, a woman who identifies herself as Sheen's wife says she feared for her life.

The Couch Potato Report - December 27th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels the newest DVD and Blu-ray releases! This is no best of 2009 feature, it is all-new!!

I know it is the season of comfort and joy, peace on earth, and wishing good will to men and women, but I just can't.

Oh, sure...I am all over the comfort and joy and peace and love on earth stuff, but I can't wish good will to ALL men and women...I just can't.

Okay, to you...yes, to you...I have nothing but good wishes!!

To you, I wish tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.

To you, I possess a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.

To the TRAILER PARK BOYS...well, I just wish that they would go away...ESPECIALLY after sitting through their latest film COUNTDOWN TO LIQUOR DAY.

The Trailer Park Boys was a popular Canadian mockumentary television series that premiered in April of 2001 and focusses on the misadventures of Ricky, Julian, Bubbles and the other residents of the fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park, in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.

Filmed like a documentary, and seen from the camera person's point of view, the low-budget program has been very succesful, but as I have said before...I don't get it!

I personally know people who love this show and the characters...but I don't understand the appeal, I have never laughed, not even once at the TV series or the movie, and I don't like any of the characters.

However, since other people do...a lot of other people...the BOYS are still around.

In COUNTDOWN TO LIQUOR DAY the Boys get out of jail, and this time, Julian vows to go straight

But when they arrive back at the park, they find it's not the same old Sunnyvale - and it's not the same old Jim Lahey, Trailer Park Supervisor. Lahey's a new man, hasn't had a drink for two years. And he has plans - BIG PLANS - for Sunnyvale.

And...you know what...it doesn't matter what the film is about...if you like, love and are entertained by THE TRAILER PARK BOYS, then this is a must see, a must own even...and I hope that you enjoy it...I truly do.

But, if you are like me, and you don't get it, truly don't get it, then skip it...walk past it...this is not worthy of your time.

Let's move past that film now to a small movie that debuted back in January at the Sundance Film Festival and saw positive word of mouth allow it to open in more theatres than a small movie like this might have otherwise had the chance to.

This is (500) DAYS OF SUMMER...and it is one of my favourite movies of the year!

You know how, when you look back on a relationship - either an ongoing one or one that has ended - you arely look at it chronilogically? You - and I - we look at them through random events and dates, remembering the good and bad?

Well, that is what this film does too. It shows us the 500 days that Tom and Summer were together, but bounces from the good to the bad and back.

Easily explained, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER is an offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her.

And it is that, but it is so much more, and that is because the film was well-written, has a great cast with two leads who have great chemistry...during the good times...and look and act like real couples do when they are not getting along.

I not only enjoyed (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, I adored it. I think this film is destined to become a classic.

Just remember...it is NOT a love story!!

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER is an original take on the romantic comedy genre and DISTRICT 9 is a unique take on the science fiction film.

This one is inspired by events that took place in District Six, Cape Town during the apartheid era.

DISTRICT 9 is a low budget film about a group of aliens who are forced to live in slum-like conditions in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the humans who are trying to relocate them.

DISTRICT 9 is - simply put - original. The story is well told, the cast of unknown actors are all perfect, the action and dramatic scenes all ring tue, and the special effects and aliens all look seemless.

When it all comes together, it makes for a fantasitic movie that is also one of my favourites from this year!!

I can't wait to see it again!!

In the past, I have also said "I can't wait to see it again!! " about the television show ROBOT CHICKEN. However, of late...the show is starting to get repetative and even boring at times.

What's worse...I didn't even find much of THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON of the show to be that funny.

And when a comedy show isn't funny...well...what else is on.

ROBOT CHICKEN is a stop motion animated series that parodies a number of pop culture figures, movies and events using toys, action figures, dolls, claymation and many other items.

ROBOT CHICKEN - THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON is more miss than hit, but when it is funny...it is very funny. However, much like the TRAILER PARK BOYS, you either like it or you don't.

If you do, enjoy!!

If you don't, then what you should do is elementary, my dear Watson.

Skip it.

And if that conclusion is where you arrive, and you enjoyed getting to that deduction, then perhaps you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes.

With the new SHERLOCK HOLMES film now open in theatres, there is a new set that has come out for those who feel Robert Downey, Jr. portrayal is a bit too modern.

This set has some old BBC episodes...in fact, this three-disc set has them all.

That is because only five episodes of the 1960s Sherlock Holmes series have survived the test of time.

All five star Peter Cushing as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective, with Nigel Stock as Dr. Watson.

The new film will bring a whole new generation of fans to Sherlock's door, but THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION is perfect for them, as well as those who have been there for many years already.

This is good stuff!!

If detectives aren't your cinematic or literary passion, maybe you like wizards and witches...specifically, once Master Harry Potter.

Well, the boy-wizard was back on screen this year in HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

This is the sixth film in the Harry Potter series, which is all based on the fantasy-adventure books by J. K. Rowling.

In this one, As Harry begins his 6th year at Hogwarts and discovers an old book that is mysteriously marked "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince".

He also begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is what it is...if you have seen and loved the other film films...even while admitting the books are better...then you will need to see this film.

And I am sure that you will love it!!

BUT, if you think you have seen everything that the first two films has to offer...well, in that thought, you will be mistaken...because there is now an ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION for HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE and HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.

These sets will allow you to see some unique stuff, for the first time ever!!

Go behind the scenes of the global search to cast Harry Potter and his friends, and find out how Rupert, Emma and Daniel got the news, and what they did.

There are also great new and old interviews with the main three.

These new, very insightful ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS also allow fans to look back on a decade's worth of movies and movie making with all of the people behind the scenes as well, including director Chris Columbus.

The ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION of HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE and HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS are must haves for anyone who loves these films. So, if you got money for Christmas, and need an idea of what to use it on...there you go!

Adults love the Harry Potter books, as well as kids. They are the great type of entertainment that can appeal to everyone.

This next release is only for adults...but not too many of them.

This is my review for THE OTHER MAN, a film that is not great in any way, but it is interesting enough to warrant a mention.

The film stars Liam Neeson as a husband who suspects his wife of adultery, and sets out to track down the other man in her life.

Antonio Banderas plays the other man.

Like I said, THE OTHER MAN is not great, but the acting is good, the Italian locations are beautiful, and there is enough here for me to suggest that it is a good rental to any adults looking for a movie to watch on a cold winter's night.

Just don't try and guess how it ends, because you may be fooled.

This is the time of year when many of us look back at the past twelve months and come to a conclusion about how good, or bad the year has been.

When Sandra Bullock looks at her professional 2009, she will see the huge box office successes of THE PROPOSAL and THE BLIND SIDE, and that latter film may even get har nominated for an Academy Award.

But she will - unfortunately - also have to look back and see a film she made called ALL ABOUT STEVE as well.

This film is a mess!!

In ALL ABOUT STEVE Bullock plays a ditsy slash eccentric crossword puzzle creator who is convinced that she and a television cameraman belong together.

After all, they met for about five minutes and he seemed to like her, so why wouldn't she trail him as he travels all over the country, hoping to convince him that they belong together?!?

Why wouldn't she?!?!

ALL ABOUT STEVE is all about being awful!! I had heard that it was bad, and it was worse than I even imagined.

Even if you love, and I mean LOVE Sandra Bullock and her movies, skip this one!!

Go and see THE PROPOSAL or THE BLIND SIDE again!

Yes, I knew going in that ALL ABOUT STEVE would be bad, and it was...and is...but going into the latest STAR WARS spoof from the folks at FAMILY GUY - a film called SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE - I was expecting something good.

But I didn't get something good, and that was a huge surprise to me as FAMILY GUY'S first STAR WARS parody - BLUE HARVEST - was so fun and entertaining!

This second one is their take on THE EMPIRE STRIKLES BACK and it isn't really fun nor entertaining. It isn't awful, but I expected it to be a lot better.

FAMILY GUY is a show that I think has been coasting on it's past success for a while now...and they definitely seem on auto pilot for most of DARK SIDE.

Yes, there are a few jokes that are funny, but most of them fall flat...plus, the STAR WARS stuff was done better in BLUE HARVEST.

If you love the show, you'll probably want to see this...otherwise, FAMILY GUY PRESENTS: SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE is as useless as a nerf hearder!

Yes, I expected better from FAMILY GUY, and I also thought that this next film would be better than it was...and then I watched it again, and I enjoyed it.

I still don't think that EXTRACT is as good as OFFICE SPACE, BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, or most of the other things that Mike Judge has created or been involved with over the years, but I did like it and it has some laughs.

In this film Jason Bateman from JUNO and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, is the owner of a plant that makes extract, and both his professional and personal lives need some sprucing up.

So he makes some decisions that he thinks will correct the situations...but they don't.

EXTRACT has a supporting cast that includes Ben Affleck, Kristin Wiig from Saturday Night Live and Mila Kunis from That 70s Show.

It is not a comedy for everyone, but I liked it. Yes, I did like it.

Finally this week is a warning...get ready...for the next couple of minutes...it might get loud!!

The superb film IT MIGHT GET LOUD is a documentary about the electric guitar and three musicians who have had some success using it: the Edge from U2, Jack White of the White Stripes, and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin.

IT MIGHT GET LOUD features the three guys talking and playing, and it also looks back at their careers. I enjoyed it the most when it was the three guys in a studio talking and playing...and the look on The Edge and Jack White's faces when Page starts playing "Whole Lotta Love" is priceless.

If you love to rock and or roll, check this one out!! I enjoyed it immensely!!

IT MIGHT GET LOUD, EXTRACT, FAMILY GUY PRESENTS: SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE, ALL ABOUT STEVE, the ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITIONs of HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE and HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, THE OTHER MAN, DISTRICT 9, TRAILER PARK BOYS - COUNTDOWN TO LIQUOR DAY and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER are all available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION and THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON of ROBOT CHICKEN are all available now only on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report…which will once again air on Sunday, since Stan Carew and his crew will be doing the show for you again next Saturday from Halifax.

I will have the fantastic animated film 9 and the very scary PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!

Plus, the mediocre film JENNIFER'S BODY starring Megan Fox, A PERFECT GETAWAY with Milla Jovovich and The BLU-RAY BEACON will shine on the third release of WATCHMEN so far this year...THE ULTIMATE CUT.

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

For now, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and that's this morning's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Michael Jackson's Spike Lee-directed 'This Is It' video

Michael Jackson’s posthumous single “This Is It” finally has a music video. Not just any video, either, but one helmed by acclaimed director Spike Lee.

Lee’s clip is a heartfelt tribute to the late megastar, with whom he previously collaborated on 1995’s “They Don’t Care About Us” video. The new video opens with shots of Jackson as a small child — is there anything more heartbreaking? — interspersed with vintage and contemporary images of his hometown of Gary, Indiana. Soon it’s whirling through Jackson’s peak years, with well-chosen performance and candid footage illustrating his worldwide fame. Jackson’s countless fans serve as the clip’s co-star, mourning his loss and celebrating his life. At last, the camera comes to rest on Jackson’s iconic hat and sparkling glove, resting alone on a stool.

Given that he likely had no footage of Jackson performing the song “This Is It” to work with, I’d say Lee’s done a very nice job with this video.

Tyra Banks Says Goodbye to Talk Show

After five seasons, two Daytime Emmy awards and too many girl-power episodes to count, Tyra Banks is announcing the end of The Tyra Show.

“This will be the last season of The Tyra Show,” Banks told PEOPLE magazine. "I've been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past 5 years.”

Wrapping at the end of its fifth season in the spring of 2010, it will be lights out for the show that brought viewers memorable weave-exposing, cellulite-revealing and tear-jerking moments.

Banks will focus on the launch of Bankable Studios, a N.Y.-based film production company currently reviewing possible projects. Sticking to her mission, Banks aims to bring “positive images of women to the big screen,” says an industry insider.

“My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are,” Banks says.

Adds the insider: “Tyra is sad because she’ll be missing so much of the daily connection to her viewers, but excited at the same time to be taking on a new challenge.”

With encouragement from filmmaker Tyler Perry and longtime mentor Oprah Winfrey, Banks is “redefining beauty for women in film,” adds the source. “With Oprah’s big announcement this year, I think that gave Tyra the confidence to get out there and follow her longtime dream of film producing.”

But fashion fiends worry not. America’s Next Top Model is slated to return for its 15th season in February along with Banks’s ABC show True Beauty.

“There’s a lot cooking right now and a lot of fire burning in my heart,” Banks writes in an open letter on her Web site. “And I salute you my amazing family of viewers; without you there never would have been a Tyra Show. I really love you all.”

Merry Christmas in Hollywood: Box-office record falls

NEW YORK – It was a memorable and merry Christmas in Hollywood as moviegoers shattered box-office records, responding in droves to a diverse array of high-profile releases over the holiday weekend.

The estimated $278 million in weekend box-office revenue broke the previous record of roughly $253 million set in July 2008, the weekend "The Dark Knight" was released.

A diverse group of films drew throngs to the multiplexes: James Cameron's "Avatar" pushed strongly into its second week while "Sherlock Holmes," "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" and "It's Complicated" all opened.

"Avatar," the 3-D epic, topped them all, earning $75 million for 20th Century Fox, according to studio estimates Sunday. Remarkably, that was only a 3 percent drop from its opening weekend total of $77.4 million. (Blockbusters typically drop 30-50 percent in the second weekend.) In its 10 days of release, "Avatar" has made $212 million domestically — and could be on its way to a worldwide gross of over $1 billion.

"This thing is going to be playing and playing, I can tell you that," said Bert Livingston, 20th Century Fox distribution executive. "There's a lot of business out there. Everybody's got good movies out."

In second was "Sherlock Holmes," Guy Ritchie's reboot of the franchise with Robert Downey Jr. starring as Arthur Conan Doyle's detective. The Warner Bros. film opened with a weekend total of $65.4 million, including a record Christmas Day debut of $24.9 million.

It was a start that seemed sure to pave the way for sequels. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., called the result "sensational."

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," which opened Wednesday, took in $50.2 million on the weekend and $77.1 million in its five days of release. The film, also from Fox, earned an impressive $18.8 million on Wednesday alone. The strong start suggested that "Squeakquel" was likely to surpass its 2007 original, which made $217 million.

Also opening was Nancy Meyer's "It's Complicated," the romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. With an audience 72 percent female, the Universal film took in $22.1 million, a solid debut.

The sparkling Christmas weekend results spelled good things for all the films in release in the coming week — one of the most lucrative of the year.

"We all know what next week means to the industry. This is ... huge," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "Christmas is past us. No more shopping, no more returning. College kids are home. ... I'm so optimistic about what the next weekend holds for us."

Said Livingston: "Starting this Monday, every day is a Saturday."

Two films with Oscar aspirations also released wide over the weekend: Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" (Paramount) and Rob Marshall's "Nine" (Weinstein Co.).
"Up in the Air," which has some of the best awards momentum, grossed $11.8 million, bringing its cumulative total to $24.5 million — already nearly earning back its production budget.

"For us, this movie was always the movie that we felt was going to be a real focus during the awards season," said Rob Moore, Paramount vice chairman. "It feels like this should have a long run as awards season continues."

"Nine," the adaptation of the Broadway musical (which itself was a riff of Federico Fellini's classic film "8 1/2") earned $5.5 million in 1408 theaters.

"It's an absolutely fitting end to the biggest box office year of all time," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It's just been a total roller coaster ride. It's like audience members are on board."

2009 still has several days to go, but the year is already a record for domestic ticket sales with more than $10 billion at the box office. That surpassed the $9.7 billion mark of 2007.

While some of the credit has to go the recession (movies historically do well in hard times when a trip to the movie theater is a relatively cheap form of entertainment and escapism), there was a feeling Sunday that Hollywood had put forth a better product this Christmas.

"People say it's the recession," said Dergarabedian. "It's the movies — it's really the movies. It seems like when people aren't at home, they're at the movies."

He added: "You're going to find a smile on the face of every studio chief out there today."

Hollywood also seemed to be offering good ol' spectacle to moviegoers. "Avatar" grossed $8.8 million in IMAX theaters, actually increasing from its opening weekend. IMAX chairman and president Greg Foster said they were operating essentially at capacity.

"There is no context," said Foster. "It's so far beyond where we've ever been. It's not eking past a record, it's shattering it."

Christmas weekend was also neatly organized around various demographics. There was science-fiction, romantic comedy, family fare, action-packed thriller and serious awards-contender.

"That's what fueled this Christmas, the diversity of the films," said Dergarabedian. "It was like a cinematic buffet line. If you can't find a movie that you like in the marketplace right now, you don't like movies."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Avatar," $75 million.
2. "Sherlock Holmes," $65.4 million.
3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," $50.2 million.
4. "It's Complicated," $22.1 million.
5. "Up in the Air," $11.8 million.
6. "The Blind Side," $11.7 million.
7. "The Princess and the Frog," $8.7 million.
8. "Nine," $5.5 million.
9. "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" $5 million.
10. "Invictus," $4.4 million.

Charlie Sheen arrested on Christmas

ASPEN, Colo. — Charlie Sheen was arrested Friday in the Colorado resort town of Aspen on charges related to domestic violence, police said.

The star of CBS’ “Two and a Half Men” was taken into custody on suspicion of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanour, Aspen police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.

Police arrested the 44-year-old actor after responding to a 911 call regarding a report of domestic violence at 8:34 a.m. at a historic house up for sale for $7.5 million. The alleged victim in the case, whose name was withheld, did not have to be taken to the hospital, police said.

Police said Sheen will be held without bond until his first court appearance in this ski resort town about 200 miles west of Denver. The court was closed for Christmas, and no date for his appearance has been set.

Jail officials said Sheen wasn’t available to comment. After-hours messages left for his managers weren’t immediately returned.

Dasaro said Sheen would be advised of any bond conditions when he appears in court. Colorado law requires protection orders between people arrested in domestic violence cases and their alleged victims.

Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen. He is married to Brooke Mueller Sheen, who gave birth to the couple’s first children, twin boys, in March. They married in May 2008 following Sheen’s bitter divorce from Denise Richards.

Charlie Sheen’s screen credits include “Platoon,” “Wall Street“ and the “Hot Shots!“ movies. He nearly died of a drug overdose in 1998 but received court-ordered rehabilitation.

Rihanna wants sex for Xmas

All Rihanna wants for Christmas is good food and a bit of naughty fun under the tree.

The Umbrella singer has had a tumultuous 12 months during which she was attacked by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, but she's hoping to end the year with a smile - she's asking Santa for a delicious homecooked meal and a bedroom romp.

When asked what's topping her wish list, Rihanna replied, "Some great food and some great sex. That's not too much to ask, right? The sex might be a little difficult but my mum is coming to cook me some food. She does spicy stew called pepper pot. It sounds strange but it's really, really good."

Rihanna admits she's never seen snow at Christmas - because she always returns to her native Barbados for the holidays: "We do the whole traditional tree thing, it's just not a white Christmas. I might be in Barbados (this year) but I'm thinking about spending it with my grandparents in New York."

Small, private funeral held for Brittany Murphy

LOS ANGELES – Brittany Murphy's family and friends celebrated her life at a private Christmas Eve funeral in Los Angeles.

Family spokesman Alex Ben Block says Murphy was buried Thursday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Block says the invitation-only gathering was "very nice, very respectful."

He says a Christian minister and a rabbi presided over the service, and guests sang "Amazing Grace" at the grave site.

The 32-year-old actress died after collapsing at her Hollywood Hills home on Sunday.

Authorities continue to investigate the death but do not suspect foul play. An autopsy performed Monday was inconclusive, and the coroner's office is awaiting results of toxicology and tissue tests before determining an official cause of death.

The Couch Potato Report - December 24th, 2009

Right now, The Couch Potato Report peels movies for the holidays…ho ho ho!!

I am going to tell you about some new Holiday and Christmas releases on Blu-ray and DVD, and jog your memory with clips from some everlasting favourites!!

Some Holiday Classics, if you will.

We begin with the great, modern day classic NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION.

This laugh-out-loud/still very funny and heartwarming 1989 film stars Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, a father who always hopes for the best...but never gets it easily.

If you love this film, there is now an ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION of it available, which comes with the film on Blu-ray and a wide array of goodies, all packed in a Christmas Tin.

The goodies include an adult-size Santa hat, four coasters with images from the film, an "I Survived a Griswold Family Christmas" button, and a mini "collectible Moose Mug figurine," from Wally World.

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION has been a great holiday treat for twenty years now, and the ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION is a nice way to keep it around for at least twenty more!

And who knows, maybe 43 years from now they will be celebrating the film's 63rd anniversary...of course, by then, they will be celebrating the 106th Anniversary of a long time Christmas classic...the 1946 film IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

Director Frank Capra's perennial Holiday Favourite stars James Stewart as a compassionate but hard luck businessman who gets to see what life would have been like if he never existed.

I have watched IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE every year for as long as I can remember, and I hope that is true for many more years to come.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is new on Blu-ray this year and it looks great in High Definition.

The same is true with MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, it too is new on Blu-ray and also looks great!!

Actually, both versions of this film are out no win the new format...the 1947 classic, and the 1994 remake.

The remake is not an awful film, the source material is too strong for that to be possible...but it was and remains absolutely unnecessary! The original is just so...well, original!!

MIRACLE ON 34th STREET is about a nice old man who claims to be Santa Claus. After that proclaomation he is institutionalized as insane.

But a young lawyer decides to defend him by arguing in court that he is the real thing.

Edmund Gwenn won an Academy Award for his performance as Kris Kringle, and the film - the original one - was also given Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and a young Natalie Wood also star, and each performance is timeless!

Among the bonus features on the 1947 version is a great retrospective look back.

The 1994 version of this film might be one that some people love, but for me the one and only version of MIRACLE ON 34th STREET is the one that came out in 1947.

It is a true Ho Ho Holiday classic!!

A more recent entry into the arsenal of Holiday Classics is the 1990 release HOME ALONE, about an eight year-old, who is accidentally left behind, and has to defend his home against idiotic burglars.

A very little Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister.

HOME ALONE is now available on Blu-ray in a FAMILY FUN EDITION that offers some great special features, including over 30 minutes of deleted scenes, on the set featurettes, new interviews, and a brand new commentary track featuring director Chris Columbus & Macaulay Culkin.

But primarily the disc features the fun film itself...a film that co-stars Canadians, and SCTV veterans Catherine O'Hara and the late, great John Candy!

There have now been four HOME ALONE movies, with the quality of each one dropping off with each one.

The only sequel that is worthy of re-watching is HOME ALONE 2 - LOST IN NEW YORK, and it too is now available on Blu-ray!

HOME ALONE 2 - LOST IN NEW YORK is basically a retread of the events of the original film, but this time they happen in New York City.

It isn't a bad film, but it is just nowhere near as good as the original.

A side note now, before I continue...I have told you about six films so far, and four of them were brought to us by a filmmaker we lost this year...John Hughes.

Hughes wrote and either produced or co-produced CHRISTMAS VACATION, the re-make of MIRACLE ON 34th STREET and the HOME ALONE films.

The Holidays are always a tough time when one of our loved ones can't be with us, whether this is the first year that they won't be there, or the 20th.

If that is true with you, as it will be in the Hughes and Reynish homes this holiday season...I hope these movies can bring you some much needed joy.

I honestly, truly do.

The Couch Potato Christmas Report continues now with a spanking brand new release, a special episode of the television show IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA...this is A VERY SUNNY CHRISTMAS.

I have only seen this show about four arrogant and egotistical friends who run a bar in Philadelphia a few times, and I'll be honest, I don't like it. I know people who swear by it, but I am not one of them.

That said, I always get a chuckle or two from it when I am forced to sit through it...and that is true about this Christmas episode as well.

If you are a fan of IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA, then A VERY SUNNY CHRISTMAS is a must see.

If you are not...why not go with something more traditional.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS was the first prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz.

The special debuted in 1965 and has aired every year since.

In fact, it now airs at least twice during the Christmas season.

If A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS is too nice for you, how about HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS?

Based on the book by Dr. Seuss, this show first aired on December 18th, 1966, and it has aired almost every year since as well, and even though I own the DVD, I still watch it at least once when it airs.

And I usually since along with it too.

Love that Grinch!! Bad people who change their ways because of Christmas and the events surrounding it is a long running theme in a lot of films and television specials made and written for the Season.

Including the one that was written by Mr. Charles Dickens.

"A Christmas Carol" is a novella by Charles Dickens about miserly, cold, unfeeling, old and curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge and his holiday conversion and redemption after being visited by four ghosts on Christmas Eve.

The book was first published on December 19th, 1843.

Over the years there have been many cinematic versions of it, but I think the best two are the 1988 version starring Bill Murray as a television executive who gets the ghostly visits.

And I am also partial to the 1992 version, called THE MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL

The story in both THE MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL and SCROOGED is the same, but the unique way the films are done have made them holiday classics in my homes since they first came out....and I am sure I will watch them every year as long as I can.

If you are looking for something to share with your family this Holiday Season, THE MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL and SCROOGED and available now only on DVD.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, the animated version of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: A VERY SUNNY CHRISTMAS, HOME ALONE and HOME ALONE 2 - LOST IN NEW YORK, MIRACLE ON 34th STREET - 1947 and 1994 VERSIONS, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION are all available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Coming up on on The Couch Potato Report.

The TRAILER PARK BOYS are back in COUNTDOWN TO LIQUOR DAY, the great sci-fi film DISTRICT 9 makes it's home debut, along with THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON of ROBOT CHICKEN, Mike Judge's EXTRACT, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, and a great little film called (500) DAYS OF SUMMER.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, soon!!

For now, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and that's THE COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Lennon's solo Walk of Fame star joins Harrison's

When fans recently noted John Lennon's Walk of Fame star had gone missing from Hollywood, nefarious motives were suggested, but a more sensible explanation for the displacement of the Beatles landmark has surfaced.

"The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce along with Capitol Records have moved the star of John Lennon next to the star of his friend George Harrison as a holiday gift to the community and fans of the Beatles," Ana Martinez, vice-president of media relations for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, told information website Examiner.com.

"And the star of Ringo Starr will also be at that same site [on] Feb. 8, the 50th anniversary of the Walk of Fame."

The band's group star will remain at its current location, she told Examiner.com's Beatles columnist, adding that Paul McCartney has yet to set a date for his solo star-dedication ceremony.

Martinez also confirmed the Lennon star-move via her Twitter account, wofstargirl: "Yes, as a gift to fans, we moved John Lennon's star next to George Harrison's and Ringo's will be there soon 2. Just waiting for Paul now!"

Lennon fans who recently visited the site in Hollywood noticed his star was missing and the location covered by a black plastic trash bag.

They promptly reported the disturbance to Beatles websites and popular local blogs such as LAist last weekend, with the news spreading across music and fan sites this week amid no comment from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins split after 23 years

LOS ANGELES – One of Hollywood's most enduring couples has separated.
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, partners for 23 years and parents of two sons, split up over the summer, publicist Teal Cannady said in a statement Wednesday. She did not elaborate.

Sarandon, 63, and Robbins, 51, met while shooting the 1988 film "Bull Durham." He played a hotshot pitcher, she was the passionate fan who simultaneously seduced him and prepared him for the big leagues.

Sarandon and Robbins never married. Instead, they have been compared to other longtime Hollywood pairs who remain committed despite never officially tying the knot, such as Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

Sarandon stars in "The Lovely Bones," opening worldwide next month. Robbins last appeared in 2008's "City of Ember."

Lennon walk of fame star missing

John Lennon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has disappeared.

The brass monument has been reported missing from the sidewalk where it was placed in tribute to the Beatles legend in 1988 - eight years after he was gunned down outside his home in New York City.

According to Los Angeles website LAist.com, the asphalt has just an "empty outline of a star", which has been covered up with a plastic bag and tape.

The site speculates the plaque may have been stolen, damaged or removed to accommodate the area for the addition of Lennon's bandmate Ringo Starr's dedication, set to be laid down in February.

The Fab Four have their own group star, but the Imagine hitmaker was the first of the band to have his own solo tribute, while his bandmate George Harrison received a posthumous honour in April.

Steven Tyler Enters Rehab for Painkiller Addiction

Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler has entered a rehab facility for pain management and an addiction to prescription painkillers resulting from 10 years of performance injuries, PEOPLE has learned.

"With the help of my family and team of medical professionals, I am taking responsibility for the management of my pain and am eager to be back on the stage and in the recording studio with my bandmates Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford," Tyler says in a statement released to PEOPLE.

"I love Aerosmith; I love performing as the lead singer in Aerosmith," he adds. "I am grateful for all of the support and love I am receiving and am committed to getting things taken care of."

His daughter, Liv Tyler says, "My family and I are in complete support of my dad's decision to seek treatment. He is a courageous man. We love him and are so proud that he is getting help to balance his pain management, not just for himself but for his family, friends and fans."

A Decade of Injuries

Tyler, 61, has suffered orthopedic injuries over the past decade that have left him with "severe chronic pain" and will require additional surgeries on his knees and feet, says his physician, Dr. Brian McKeon, Assistant Clinical Professor of Orthopedics at Tufts School of Medicine.

"Managing and controlling his pain has been challenging, and despite our use of alternative therapies and the creation of custom shoes built by a team of engineers from Timberland, Steven's pain has progressed," says McKeon, who also is team doctor for the Boston Celtics. "The balance between managing his pain and avoiding addiction is tenuous and difficult and his bravery in persevering through rigorous touring is admirable. As with many athletes, Steven put his performance first as he struggled with acute pain for years."

Tyler's bandmates candidly expressed concern for his well-being – and the future of Aerosmith – after he fell off a stage during a concert in August, breaking his shoulder.

"I think that he needs help and that attention needs to be put to his health," drummer Kramer told PEOPLE, adding the singer, who had battled drug addiction in the '70s and 80s, had "isolated himself."

Hollywood eyes first $10 billion box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Audiences have given Hollywood a big present in advance of Christmas, as U.S. and Canadian movie ticket sales for 2009 were expected to cross the $10 billion mark on Tuesday for the first time.

Through Sunday, the total U.S. and Canadian box office stood just $36 million short of crossing the $10 billion mark, said tracking firm Hollywood.com Box Office.

With Monday generating $29 million in ticket sales, led by strong results for "Avatar," the industry was expected to cross $10 billion on Tuesday.

"We're looking at some huge numbers for the next 10 days or so that will put us well over that $10 billion mark" for the full year, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box Office.

Dergarabedian said he expected the 2009 total to come to more than $10.4 billion.

Last year's total was $9.63 billion.

Christmas Day is among the busiest days of the year for box offices. Ticket sales on Christmas Day last year was $76 million, and Dergarabedian said he expects this year's total to surpass that, with "Sherlock Holmes," "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" and comedy "It's Complicated" hitting theaters.

Murphy’s final moments revealed

The details of Brittany Murphy’s last moments have been made public after notes written by an official at the Los Angeles County Coroner's office were released online.

The actress passed away following a suspected cardiac arrest at her Hollywood home on Sunday. She was found collapsed in the shower by her mother, Sharon, and paramedics transferred her to L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Now documents, obtained by celebrity website TMZ.com, reveal how the star's husband, Simon Monjack, and her mother made frantic efforts to revive her before the paramedics arrived.

The notes, allegedly written by an official named as Investigator Blacklock, also reveal the star "had been complaining of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pain" for seven to 10 days prior to her death. Details of the prescription medications found at the house are also listed.

The notes claim investigators found large amounts of prescription pills, including anti-seizure medication Topamax, Fluoxetine, which is used to treat depression, anti-anxiety medication Ativan, pain-reliever Vicoprofen and Propranolol, used to treat hypertension.

The cause of Murphy's death has been "deferred" pending toxicological results, although an autopsy on her body was completed on Monday. Officials previously stated they believe the star died from natural causes.

Arnold Stang, actor known for nerdy roles, dies

NEWTON, Mass. – Arnold Stang, a radio, theater, film and television actor famous for his nerdy looks and demeanor, has died.

His son says Stang died of pneumonia Sunday at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts. He was 91.

The New York City native started his career on the radio as a teenager. He played alongside Milton Berle in the 1950s, starred as Frank Sinatra's sidekick in the 1955 movie "The Man with the Golden Arm," and was a member of the ensemble comedic cast of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in 1963.

He voiced the lead character in the 1960s cartoon "Top Cat," and continued comedy and drama roles into his 80s.

Stang, who had lived in the Boston suburb of Needham for the past decade, is survived by his wife of 60 years, JoAnne; son, David; and daughter, Deborah.

The London Film Critics' Circle Awards Quentin Tarantino Their Top Honor

Naturally, British Film Critic went nuts for An Education. Not only did Lone Scherfig’s coming-of-age drama nab nominations for five UK-only categories, but two international-friendly ones as well: Carey Mulligan for Actress of the Year and Nick Hornby for Screenwriter of the Year.

Funny thing is, An Education nabbed a nomination for The Attenborough Award: British Film of the Year, but not in the Film of the Year category. In fact, no British films were nominated. The list pits Avatar up against The Hurt Locker, A Prophet, The White Ribbon and Up in the Air. British critics not satisfied with domestic filmmaking this year? I thought this would have been Moon’s time to shine, but Duncan Jones and his film were relegated to the British Film of the Year, British Director of the Year and Breakthrough British Film-Maker categories. At least the film is still well represented.

Inglourious Basterds only received a nomination – and a well-deserved one – in the Actor of the Year category for Christoph Waltz’s performance. I’m sure that’s good enough for Quentin Tarantino because on top of that, he’ll be the recipient of The London Film Critics' Circle’s top honor, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema. He’ll be honored at the 30th Critic’s Circle Film Awards on February 18th, 2010.

Emily Blunt will get two chances at a win having been nominated for British Actress in a Supporting role for Sunshine Cleaning and British Actress of the Year for The Young Victoria. Peter Jackson was likely expecting far more notoriety, but should be pleased to see his young leading actress Saoirse Ronan get a nomination for The NSPCC Award: Young British Performer of the Year for her role in The Lovely Bones.

1979 may feel like ages ago, but Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now was fresh on the Critic’s Circle mind and named the best film of the last 30 years.

Take a look below to see the full list of nominees:

FILM OF THE YEAR
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
Up in the Air

THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Bright Star
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
The Class
Katyn
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank
Armando Iannucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones – Moon
Kevin Macdonald - State of Play
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique – Precious
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Tom Hardy – Bronson
Christian MacKay - Me and Orson Welles
Andy Serkis - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Kristin Scott Thomas - Nowhere Boy

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Michael Fassbender* - Fish Tank
John Hurt - 44 Inch Chest
Jason Isaacs – Good
Alfred Molina - An Education
Timothy Spall - The Damned United

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Emily Blunt - Sunshine Cleaning
Anne-Marie Duff - Nowhere Boy
Rosamund Pike - An Education
Kierston Wareing - Fish Tank
Olivia Williams - An Education

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche - In the Loop
Thomas Bidegain & Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Joel & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Nick Hornby - An Education

THE NSPCC AWARD: YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Aaron Johnson - Nowhere Boy and Dummy
George MacKay - The Boys Are Back
Bill Milner - Is Anybody There? and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Saoirse Ronan* - The Lovely Bones

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Daniel Barber - Harry Brown
Armando Ianucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones – Moon
Peter Strickland - Katalin Varga
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CINEMA
Quentin Tarantino

Stern's threat to quit Sirius could be empty talk

Howard Stern is threatening to leave Sirius XM Radio Inc. now that the shock jock and the satellite radio provider are getting set to enter contract talks in 2010.

That threat probably seems less daunting to Sirius than it once would have. Sirius originally wanted Stern so badly that it gave him the most lucrative radio contract ever, a five-year deal that started in 2006 and paid him $500 million in cash and stock.

Today, he doesn't have many places left to go — at least if he wants another huge payday.

Free radio stations are struggling with steep drops in advertising and high debt loads, and probably can't pay top dollar to get Stern back to the medium where he began. He also likely would chafe at being censored again after enjoying the freedom of satellite radio, where his racy banter hasn't been subject to federal restrictions on language and content.

He can't switch to another satellite radio provider — Sirius swallowed the only other one, XM, last year.

So if Stern, 55, does re-sign with Sirius, it's likely to be for less this time around.

Sirius nearly had to file for bankruptcy protection this year and is still trying to reduce costs. The company is feeling the brunt of weak auto sales, which deliver many of its new customers. And it faces new threats from emerging commercial-free rivals such as Internet radio.

For these reasons — and because Stern has warned other times that he might quit or retire — his latest threat rings hollow to some analysts.

"It's probably positioning for contract negotiations," said Brett Harriss, an analyst at Gabelli & Co., whose parent Gamco Investors Inc. owns 1.1 million shares of Sirius. "I don't think he would give up his bullhorn."

Sirius' chief executive, Mel Karmazin, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he will work hard to retain Stern, but the company would not offer more detailed comments. Stern's agent, Don Buchwald, did not respond to requests for comment.

Stern made his name on traditional or "terrestrial" radio. While Sirius mainly makes its money from selling subscriptions, the money that flowed to Stern on traditional radio came from syndication rights. In that setup, radio stations pay companies that distribute programs such as Stern's.

Many of those radio stations have struggled since Stern left the free airwaves, and the recession compounded the problems. In the first nine months of the year, radio advertising revenue fell by 21 percent to $11.8 billion, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau.

Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the nation's third-largest operator of radio stations, filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday. Other big station owners also are wrestling with debts, and the syndication division of the largest station owner, Clear Channel Communications Inc., already is believed to be paying Rush Limbaugh $400 million over an eight-year contract.

"Who else can afford Howard Stern?" Harriss said.

When Stern signed with Sirius, the company trailed XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. in the race for customers. It badly needed a marquee name to attract subscribers to its service, which delivers 130 radio channels anywhere in the country for $6.99 a month to $19.99 a month, depending on the package.

Now after buying XM for $3.3 billion, Sirius has 18.5 million subscribers, down slightly from a peak of 19 million at the end of last year. Sirius' radio lineup beyond Stern includes Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, NFL games and Major League Baseball. Half of its channels are music and free of commercials, while the rest air sports, talk shows, news, entertainment, traffic and weather.

The company still has never posted a net profit. Revenue was nearly flat in the last quarter, and Sirius remains pressured to cut costs. Sirius narrowly avoided bankruptcy protection 10 months ago by getting $530 million in financing from Liberty Media Corp. Sirius had to give a 40 percent ownership stake to Liberty, which is controlled by satellite mogul John Malone.

As Sirius tries to get its finances in order, it must cope with threats from emerging technologies, such as Internet radio services that also deliver radio programming without commercials.

The company has been trying to cut costs. Sirius' programming expenses in the past four quarters fell 18 percent from the total paid by Sirius and XM in the previous year, when they were still separate companies. Sirius has eliminated duplicative radio programs since it absorbed XM and found ways to reduce "on-air talent costs."

Given the climate, if Stern returns to Sirius, "he's not going to get $500 million again," said Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce. Robert Eatman, the agent for Sirius talents Opie & Anthony and rapper Nick Cannon, agreed that Stern is "probably not worth" $500 million to Sirius now.

But the question will be just how much less Sirius can pay and still keep Stern.
Stern accounts for about $80 million of Sirius' annual programming costs, which have totaled $365 million over the past four quarters. The $80 million covers Stern's salary, wages for his staff and production and operating expenses, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The remainder of the contract was paid in stock.

There are no independent ratings available to track the popularity of Stern's show, which airs Mondays through Thursdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. But he has been so important to Sirius that he was the sole radio talent mentioned in SEC filings from 2006 through 2009 as a party whose failure could hurt Sirius' business. (Automakers were also among the listed entities.) In his first year at Sirius, Stern received a stock bonus worth $82.9 million because Sirius' subscriber count exceeded an agreed-upon target by more than 2 million.

Stern could leave to start a new venture, perhaps a subscription service that sends his show to PCs and mobile devices. Sirius already streams Stern's shows online and through the iPhone. Or he could explore more options in cable TV, where his first pay-per-view special, "Howard Stern's Negligee and Underpants Party," was offered in 1988.

Stern also could retire.

"Howard has the creative and business freedom to do what he wants to. He can just about write his own ticket in a number of areas," said Tom Taylor, executive news editor of Radio-Info.com, which tracks the radio industry. "He doesn't need to do anything. He's going to pay the rent fine."

Leno loses affiliates

The news keeps getting worse for Jay Leno.

Now, it appears that NBC's affiliates, the local stations around the country that carry the network's programs, are ready to give up on the 10 o'clock experiment.

"The handwriting is on the wall," Alan Frank, who runs two NBC stations including the affiliate in Detroit, told the trade publication Broadcasting & Cable over the weekend.

"The only question is what [NBC] is going to do about it."

Other station managers told the magazine that they have seen ratings drop by nearly 50 percent since NBC decided to put Leno on every week night, right before the local late news.

"We'd sure like to have a few of those ratings points back," said the manager of the Las Vegas station.

The bad news comes just when Leno had hoped to improve his numbers -- in December, when the other networks were starting to air repeats of their 10 o'clock shows.

Rage Against the Machine Win U.K. Christmas Single Battle

In one of the most unexpected victories of this decade, Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” beat out The X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s “The Climb” to become the U.K.’s Christmas Number One single. The victory was aided by a grassroots Facebook campaign that chose Rage’s 1992 hit to halt a run of four consecutive wins for the Simon Cowell-produced reality competition show. According to the BBC, the final tally revealed Rage had beaten McElderry by around 50,000 downloads.

The race was at one point much closer than the 50K-gap outcome, but Rage’s announcement last week that they’d perform a free “thank you” gig in the U.K. led to a late frenzy of downloads before the December 19th deadline. “It will be the victory party to end all victory parties,” guitarist Tom Morello promised, adding that both McElderry and Cowell would be invited to MC the show. On his Twitter early this morning, Morello tweeted, “Quite a day! Thanks again for making Rage part of this historic campaign. Changing the charts or the world: together we can’t be stopped.” Rage has also vowed to give all the royalties from the “Killing” downloading spree to charity Shelter.

Despite previously criticizing the campaign, Cowell took the Christmas single loss admirably, saying he had already called Jon and Tracy Morter — the organizers of the Facebook effort — to congratulate them. “I called Jon on Saturday to congratulate the two of them that, win or lose, they turned this into a very exciting race for the Christmas Number One,” Cowell told the BBC. Even Paul McCartney, who appeared on the massively popular X Factor this season, spoke out in support of Rage’s campaign, saying a victory for the 1992 song would be “funny” and “prove a point.”

“The people in the U.K. are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another and they want to back their own charts, and we are honored that they have chosen our song to be the rebel anthem to try to topple The X Factor label,” Morello told the BBC5 moments before Rage performed “Killing in the Name” live over the airwaves. Rage’s performance was cut short after frontman Zack de la Rocha sang “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” four times over the air.

Peter Morgan Says Bond 23 Will Be Shocking

All's quiet on the Bond front for now, as Daniel Craig wraps up a run on Broadway, The Queen writer Peter Morgan taps away at the screenplay, and the producers hem and haw on picking a director. Bond fansite mi6.co.uk got a slight update from Morgan on the script's progress, in which he admitted "It's a shocking story," a revelation that could mean... well, pretty much anything.

He also confirmed that all production is pretty much on hold until someone buys MGM, the studio that owns the rights to the Bond franchise. Given that the series is such a guaranteed money-maker, a film is likely to get greenlit practically immediately, but until the expected sale happens in February, there won't be much movement. So there's your update, and may you enjoy what may be another year before any production actually gets started.

Radiohead Returning To Studio In January

Radiohead plans to return to the studio next month to continue work on its next album, which began over the summer.

"The vibe in the camp is fantastic at present," guitarist Ed O'Brien wrote over the weekend on Radiohead.com. "I am so genuinely excited about what we're doing, but for obvious reasons I can't divulge anything more."

Radiohead's last album, 2007's "In Rainbows," was initially released as a name-your-own-price download through the band's Web site before coming out on CD a few months later.

"Ten years ago we were all collectively (that's the band) in the land of 'Kid A,' and although hugely proud of that record, it wasn't a fun place to be," O'Brien wrote. "What's reassuring now, is that we are most definitely a different band, which should therefore mean that the music is different too and that is the aim of the game ... keep it moving."

Meanwhile, frontman Thom Yorke made a surprise appearance at last week's Copenhagen climate summit and was vocal in his criticism while writing on Radiohead's site. "We have no international agreement. This is all too, too late," he wrote. "I feel deeply traumatized by the whole experience. If you'd been there you would also have been."

Yorke played a handful of solo shows in October with a band featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and drummer Joey Waronker. He is expected to return to the stage for more dates in 2010, but details have yet to be announced.

Carrie Underwood engaged to NHL player Mike Fisher

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Carrie Underwood is engaged to Ottawa Senators hockey player Mike Fisher, her publicist said Monday.

No wedding date has been set for the couple, who have been dating for about a year.

"The couple couldn't be happier," said publicist Jessie Schmidt.

Fisher, 29, recorded his 300th career point for the Senators in their 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Fisher had an assist on Anton Volchenkov's goal in the first period.

Asked by The Associated Press last month what Underwood's family thought of Fisher, the 26-year-old singer said they were supportive.

"They love me and I would hope my parents would think we raised a good, smart girl, so she's going to do the right thing no matter what it is," she said.

Days before the CMA Awards in early November, Underwood did not know whether she would be spending the holidays with Fisher.

"Christmas, I don't know. We haven't really thought that far ahead. We kind of take it one week at a time," she said then.

Underwood has kept her relationship largely under wraps, but she gave Fisher a very public shout-out in the liner notes of her current album, "Play On," that was released Nov. 3. She wrote, "Thank you (No.) 12 (referring to his jersey number.) You are the most amazing addition to my life! You are such a wonderful person and have had such an amazing hand in the building of this album and in the growth of me as a person. I love you so much! You make my life better in every way!"

Big Sunday raises `Avatar' weekend to $77.35M

LOS ANGELES – James Cameron's "Avatar" has jumped out to a faster start than projected.

Distributor 20th Century Fox says Cameron's sci-fi saga did far more business Sunday than the studio had estimated, raising the film's domestic weekend total to $77.35 million. That's $4.35 million more than the studio first forecast.

That also should give a bump to the movie's worldwide total, which has topped $230 million.

Fox still is counting final numbers, but if the figure holds, "Avatar" will go in the record book for biggest December opening ever, a fraction ahead of the $77.2 million for Will Smith's "I Am Legend" two years ago.

But factoring in higher ticket prices today, "I Am Legend" sold more tickets than "Avatar" over opening weekend.

Family: Brittany Murphy was ill days before death

LOS ANGELES – Brittany Murphy was ill with flulike symptoms in the days before her death and prescription medications were taken from her home, the Los Angeles coroner's office said Monday.

The 32-year-old star of films such as "Clueless" and "8 Mile" died Sunday morning after collapsing at her Hollywood Hills home. Paramedics tried to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said they will conduct an autopsy Monday to try to determine what killed the actress, and said her death appeared to be from natural causes. He said the illness, reported to officials by her family, could have contributed to her death, but it will be weeks before a final determination is made.

Toxicology tests will be performed, and officials will contact her personal physician to get a better sense of Murphy's medical history, Winter said.
Neighbor Clare Staples said she saw firefighters working to resuscitate the actress Sunday morning. She said Murphy was on a stretcher.

Murphy's husband, wearing pajama bottoms and no shoes, appeared "dazed" as firefighters tried to save her, Staples said. "It's just tragic," she added.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

"The sudden loss of our beloved Brittany is a terrible tragedy," Murphy's husband and family wrote in a statement. "She was our daughter, our wife, our love, and a shining star. We ask you to respect our privacy at this difficult time."

Murphy's death put "Saturday Night Live" in an awkward spot. Two weeks ago, the NBC show aired a sketch during "Weekend Update" in which cast member Abby Elliott performed an impression of Murphy, who had recently been fired from a film project. The impression portrayed Murphy as spacey and living in the past.

After her death Sunday, the sketch disappeared from Hulu.com, the online video repository co-owned by NBC Universal.

The quiet removal prompted many bloggers and online viewers to question the sketch's tastefulness and the decision to erase it without notice. A publicist for "Saturday Night Live" didn't respond to requests for comment.

Murphy moved to Los Angeles with her mother, Sharon, in the early 1990s. Her career started with small roles in television series, commercials and movies, but her part in "Clueless" led to larger projects.

She is best known for parts in "Girl, Interrupted" and "8 Mile," and also voiced the character Luanne Platter for more 200 episodes on Fox's animated series "King of the Hill."

Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told AP in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said. "That was the difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."

She married British screenwriter Simon Monjack in 2007.

Murphy's father, Angelo Bertolotti, said he learned of her death from his son, the actress's brother, and was stunned.

"She was just an absolute doll since she was born," Bertolotti said from his Branford, Fla., home. "Her personality was always outward. Everybody loved her — people that made movies with her, people on a cruise — they all loved her. She was just a regular gal."

He said he hadn't heard much about the circumstances of Murphy's death. Bertolotti divorced her mother when Murphy was young and hadn't seen Murphy in the past few years.

"She was just talented," Bertolotti said. "And I loved her very much."

'A lot of prescriptions' found at Brittany Murphy's house

As more information surrounding the details of Brittany Murphy's death emerge the picture gets even scarier.

Murphy, who died Sunday morning after going into cardiac arrest had been vomiting and complaining that she felt very ill in the hours before she was discovered unconscious by her mother in the shower, reports TMZ.

According to sources, Brittany had been taking prescription medication for flu-like symptoms the past few days and that several prescriptions were found at the house in her name, as well as her mother's and her husband's.

"There were a lot ... a lot of prescriptions in the house," one source tells TMZ.

An autopsy will be performed on Monday or Tuesday to determine the exact cause of death, but it could take weeks to get back toxicology reports.

Jackson's death voted top 2009 entertainment story

Here are 2009's top entertainment stories as voted by U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors surveyed by The Associated Press.

1. MICHAEL JACKSON DIES: On June 25, Jackson was pronounced dead at the age of 50. One of the most momentous and shocking deaths in pop culture history, the event reverberated in many ways. There was the ongoing investigation: Jackson's death was ruled a homicide, and his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who says he's innocent of wrongdoing, is being investigated for manslaughter. There was the gigantic Los Angeles funeral. There was the documentary, "This Is It," of Jackson's preparations for a comeback concert series. But, perhaps most of all, there was the celebration of his music, on stages and sidewalks the world over.

2. SUSAN BOYLE BECOMES OVERNIGHT SENSATION: Two 21st-century powers — reality TV and the Web — combined to turn the humble, unknown Boyle into an international star. After Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" on "Britain's Got Talent" on April 11, the clip spread like wildfire online, totaling more than 120 million views on YouTube. Her album, released in November, had the best opening week sales of a female debut in decades.

3. LATE-NIGHT SWAP: On NBC, Conan O'Brien took over the "Tonight" show, and Jay Leno moved to 10 p.m. All the fanfare may have been overdone, though: At year's end, neither was receiving good ratings.

4. WALTER CRONKITE DIES: The passing on July 17 of Cronkite, a paragon of journalism and a father figure to a nation, was not only the sad loss of a universally acknowledged great man but was a reminder of a bygone era in broadcasting.

5. DAVID LETTERMAN AFFAIR: Letterman's Oct. 1 announcement on his "Late Show" carried two bombshells: He alleged that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt, and he confessed to having affairs with women on his staff. Letterman, who hasn't shied from the subject on air, saw some of his best ratings in years. The man accused of trying to blackmail Letterman, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, says he was just shopping a screenplay.

6. CHRIS BROWN ASSAULTS RIHANNA: The big story on Grammy night in 2009 didn't take place on stage but outside the ceremony. Chris Brown assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna, an altercation that led to Brown pleading guilty to felony assault in June. Both R&B stars were in comeback mode before the year was out, releasing new albums just weeks apart.

7. KANYE WEST ROBS TAYLOR SWIFT: Bad behavior, not awards, also ruled the story line at the MTV Video Music Awards. When a stage-crashing West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech for best female video, the rapper clearly underestimated the negative reaction he would inspire.

8. LIVE VIDEO EXPLODES ON THE WEB: One of the biggest trends in online video was the emergence of demand — and supply — for live video. Live online video particularly suited daytime news events (when people are at work in front of computers). Millions online watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the funeral of Michael Jackson.

9. KATE AND JON GOSSELIN BROADCAST SPLIT: One of reality TV's latest sensations fell apart just as it was reaching fruition. TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8" was winning its best ratings in its fifth season when the Gosselins — parents of eight children — announced their separation. With more than 10 million viewers, that episode earned the show its best ratings. Arguments in the divorce, which became final in December, have thus far prevented the show from continuing. TLC hopes to debut a show for Kate Gosselin in the spring.

10. HEATH LEDGER WINS POSTHUMOUS OSCAR: Ledger, whose death topped the poll of 2008's top entertainment stories, remained a presence in 2009, when he won an Oscar for best-supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight."

Taylor Swift voted AP entertainer of the year

NEW YORK – It's a love story, baby.

Taylor Swift sang those words about a young romance, but they apply just as well to America's feelings for the 20-year-old country singer. Swift, adding to the heap of awards already bestowed on her, has been voted The Associated Press entertainer of the year.

Swift was chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country in a survey of AP members. She follows last year's winner, Tina Fey, and 2007's pick, Stephen Colbert.

"I am so honored and so excited," Swift said in an interview by phone with the AP. "This was so unexpected, and I could not be more grateful."

Though her second album, "Fearless," came out in late 2008, Swift was ubiquitous in 2009.

She found critical acclaim for her autobiographical and infectious songwriting, exemplified in tunes such as "Love Story" and "White Horse." She led a sold-out tour across 52 cities in North America.

She won album of the year from the Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. She hosted "Saturday Night Live" and performed at the Grammys. She won five American Music Awards, including artist of the year.
At one point, she had eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Swift said that several nights of her year were "golden and shiny and I'll remember forever." Hosting "SNL" was one of those.

"That entire week was life-changing, honestly," said Swift. "It makes you feel so thankful to be a part of the music industry, but more than that, to me, 'SNL' is show business."

Another live show, the MTV Video Music Awards, was more of a mixed blessing for Swift. She was accepting the award for best female video (the first VMA to be given to a country act) when Kanye West stormed the stage and interrupted her speech. West's stunt set off a media storm that perhaps said as much about Swift's popularity (fans and musicians alike came to her defense) than it did about West's.

Among those who voted for Swift for entertainer of the year was Danielle L. Kiracofe, entertainment editor for the Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper.

"In a time of 'made' musicians, she writes her own songs and has her own sparkly style," said Kiracofe. "She's managed to do all of this with grace, class and poise — and without uttering a swear word, dancing on a pole or wearing next to nothing. At the age of 20."

Ellis Widner, style editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, applauded Swift for superseding generational boundaries.

"She defines crossover appeal and would seem to be a strong business model in a declining music business," Widner said. "And to her fans, she's the real deal. On MySpace and in her songs, she wrote what she felt and sang about her experiences."

At year's end, Swift's life is in flux. She'll soon move out from home with her family, making this Christmas an emotional one for her.

She may well have more trophies to haul in, too: In January, she'll be attending the Grammys, where she's nominated for eight awards. She's already begun to look beyond 2009.

"The second that I put out `Fearless,' the moment that album came out and I was done with it, I started writing for my next album," said Swift. "I love to plan 20 steps ahead of myself, and it's really fun competition game that I play with myself, trying to top what I've done last. For this next record, that's all that I've been thinking about, that's all that my mind has been fixated on for the last year, and it's all that I'm going to be thinking about for this next year."

Simpsons harming nuclear power?

SASKATOON - An American philosophy professor who has edited a series of books about how TV programs such as The Simpsons have affected popular culture says many people may be concerned about nuclear power from watching the animated cartoon show.

The debate over nuclear power has been raging in Saskatchewan and Alberta and both provinces have signalled that they would take a very cautious approach to any proposals for nuclear power plants.

Dr. Bill Irwin, a philosophy professor at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., says Homer - the bumbling main character in The Simpsons who works at a nuclear power plant - has perhaps helped to put a negative spin on nuclear power by doing such things on the show as trying to stop a meltdown by randomly pressing buttons on a console.

He also points out that the owner of the nuclear power plant in The Simpsons, Mr. Burns, is portrayed as a cold-hearted, greedy industrialist. But the show's most intelligent character, Homer's daughter, Lisa, is portrayed as a staunch environmental advocate.

"She's very eco-friendly and very much against nuclear power and the nuclear power plant run by Mr. Burns," Irwin said during a recent interview on a Saskatchewan radio talk show.

The editor of the book "The Simpsons and Philosophy" says television and movies about nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island have also added to negative publicity surrounding nuclear power.

With such shows as The Simpsons poking fun at the nuclear industry and movies that focus on disasters, Irwin says it's somewhat disappointing that there are so many negative stereotypes in the media about nuclear power.

The explosion at Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 on April 26, 1986 was the world's worst nuclear accident, spewing radiation over a large swath of the former Soviet Union and much of northern Europe. It directly contaminated an area roughly half the size of Italy, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

In the two months after the disaster, 31 people died of radioactivity, but the final toll is still debated with the World Health Organization estimating that about 9,300 will eventually die from cancers caused by Chernobyl's radiation.

A partial meltdown occurred in Three Mile Island's Unit 2 reactor near Middletown, Pa., on March 28, 1979 didn't cause any deaths or injuries. But it did lead to sweeping changes in the U.S. industry.

Saskatchewan Energy Minister Bill Boyd said Thursday that a proposal from Ontario-based Bruce Power for a large-scale power plant in the province will not move forward. But he said that type of power should still be in the province's "basket of options".

Opening the door to nuclear power was one of the recommendations made in April by a government-appointed panel, but public consultations found that most Saskatchewan residents oppose building such a plant.

Alberta Energy Minister Mel Knight said last Monday that the province would look at proposals for nuclear power plants on a case-by-case basis, but wouldn't fund them or promise to buy the energy they may generate.

Irwin has also edited a series of similar books, which look at the effect of such TV shows as The Sopranos and Seinfeld on popular culture and philosophy.

'Marvin the Martian' prepares for liftoff

The Na'vi may be protecting Pandora this weekend, but come Christmas 2011, Marvin the Martian will try to destroy things here on Earth.

The Looney Tunes character is getting his own movie -- and now that movie has a director and writers, and could soon even have a star to lend Marvin his voice.

Warner Bros. and producer Alcon Entertainment (the company behind the fall sensation "The Blind Side") are bringing aboard a director named Alex Zamm to oversee the misadventures of the cartoon alien. Zamm is an up-and-comer who is also signed on to direct "Hong Kong Phooey," the film version of the 1970s Hanna Barbera cartoon (that movie, from some of the same producers, could still happen, but probably not before the Marvin film).

The Marvin picture now also has writers -- Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove, two television veterans (they've written and.produced shows like "Spin City") who also are writing the upcoming "CHiPS" movie. Yes, it's a remake universe that we live in.

And the producers are talking to a number of stars. One name that's come up is Mike Myers, no stranger to voice roles given his work on the Shrek franchise.

The plot for "Marvin" will remain what it was when it was first announced in the summer of 2008: Marvin comes to Earth to try to destroy Christmas, but his plans are foiled when he gets trapped inside a gift box.

Filmmakers are aiming to get going on some of the visual work in 2010, with the idea to bring out the movie during the holiday season of 2011. Marvin will be a CG creation, surrounded by live-action actors in the manner of "Alvin & The Chipmunks," which this Christmas will again show why studios are going animal-crazy for this kind of hybrid.

Marvin the Martian was of course a nemesis of Bugs Bunny, often posing a real threat in contrast to Yosemite Sam's more bumbling one. No word on whether Bugs will make a cameo in the movie, but given the way library characters get recycled these days, it would be surprising if that were all, folks.

Newfoundland bluegrass legend Rex Yetman dies

Rex Yetman, a bluegrass pioneer and legend in Newfoundland and Labrador, has died. He was 76.

Yetman, who was born in Jamestown, N.L., was best known as the mandolinist from the York County Boys, Canada's first bluegrass group.

For nearly 60 years, he played and sang bluegrass music.

Yetman first heard bluegrass music as a child from the Grand Ole Opry on his family's radio, but it wasn't until he moved to Ontario that he started to play.

In 1953, Yetman met a fiddler named John McManaman and the two would sneak backstage and get musicians to teach them how to play.

Along with guitarist Mike Cameron, fiddler Brian Barron and bassist Fred "Dusty" Legere, they became known as The York County Boys.

The group appeared on shows like The Tommy Hunter Show and Carl Smith's Country Music Hall, and were once opening acts for Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

In 2006, Yetman won an East Coast Music Award for Bluegrass Recording of the year as part of the band, Crooked Stovepipe.

Yetman died Friday. His funeral will be held Monday at St. James Anglican Church in Jamestown.

Rockers Def Leppard developing cartoon series

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British metal veterans Def Leppard are getting animated about their career.

The group has entered a wide-ranging deal with music publishing company Primary Wave, which is developing various marketing and branding opportunities.

Among them is a cartoon TV show, said Primary Wave CEO Larry Mestel. The project is still in the early stages, and has not been pitched to the networks, but it will depict the five members of the group in a fictional, adventurous setting, he said.

Primary Wave is also developing what Mestel called "unusual" videogame and cell phone applications.

Additionally, the company will administer Def Leppard's music publishing, a task previously performed by Sony/ATV. The copyrights will continue to be owned by the songs' various composers.

Def Leppard toured North America this past summer with Poison and Cheap Trick. There are no recording or touring plans in the works, a band spokesman said.

The group is now a free agent after fulfilling its contract with Universal Music. Its last album, "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge," debuted at No. 5 on the U.S. pop chart in May 2008 -- its best start since "Adrenalize" opened at No. 1 in 1992. In the U.K., it debuted at No. 10, its best showing for a studio album since "Slang" reached No. 6 in 1996.

Hospital: Actress Brittany Murphy dies at age 32

LOS ANGELES – Brittany Murphy, the actress who got her start in the sleeper hit "Clueless" and rose to stardom in "8 Mile," died Sunday in Los Angeles. She was 32.

Murphy was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sally Stewart said. Stewart would not provide a cause of death or any other information.

Murphy was transported to the hospital after the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. at the home she shared with her husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, in the Hollywood Hills.

Los Angeles police have opened an investigation into Murphy's death, Officer Norma Eisenman said. Detectives and coroner's officials were at her Murphy and Monjack's home Sunday afternoon but did not talk to reporters. Paparazzi were camped outside.

Messages left for Murphy's manager, agent and publicist by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

Neighbor Clare Staples said she saw firefighters working to resuscitate the actress Sunday morning. She said Murphy was on a stretcher and "looked as though she was dead at the scene."

Murphy's husband, wearing pajama bottoms and no shoes, appeared "dazed" as firefighters tried to save her, Staples said. "It's just tragic," she added.

TMZ.com first reported Murphy's death Sunday morning.

Murphy's father, Angelo Bertolotti, said he learned of her death from his son, the actress's brother, and was stunned.

"She was just an absolute doll since she was born," Bertolotti said from his Branford, Fla., home. "Her personality was always outward. Everybody loved her — people that made movies with her, people on a cruise — they all loved her. She was just a regular gal."

He said he hadn't heard much about the circumstances of Murphy's death. Bertolotti divorced her mother when Murphy was young and hadn't seen Murphy in the past few years. He said he used to be in the mob and served prison time on federal drug charges.

"She was just talented," Bertolotti said. "And I loved her very much."

Born Nov. 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Murphy grew up in New Jersey and later moved with her mother to Los Angeles to pursue acting.

Her career started in the early 1990s with small roles in television series, commercials and movies. She is best known for parts in "Girl, Interrupted," "Clueless" and "8 Mile."

Her on-screen roles declined in recent years, but Murphy's voice gave life to numerous animated characters, including Luanne Platter on more than 200 episodes of Fox's "King of the Hill" and Gloria the penguin in the 2006 feature "Happy Feet."

She is due to appear in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film, "The Expendables," set for release next year.

Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told AP in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said. "That was the difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."

Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.

"When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy said. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."

She dated Ashton Kutcher, who costarred with Murphy in 2003's romantic comedy "Just Married."

Kutcher sent a message on Twitter Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

"Avatar" earns $73 million in box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "Titanic" director James Cameron's "Avatar," a 3-D extravaganza hyped as a giant leap in cinematic prowess, earned an estimated $73 million during its first weekend at the North American box office, distributor 20th Century Fox said on Sunday.

The opening for the costly sci-fi film fell short of industry forecasts in the $85 million range. But the News Corp unit said the tally beat its internal projections, and noted that an enormous snow storm along the East Coast crippled business for all movies.

The weekend haul ranks as merely the sixth-biggest of the year in the United States and Canada. The 2009 record was set last month by "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," with $143 million. The all-time record of $158 million was set last year by "The Dark Knight."

On the other hand, ticket sales for "Avatar" were inflated by premium pricing for screenings in venues equipped with 3-D technology. Such venues accounted for 59 percent of the total cinema count and 71 percent of sales, Fox said.

The film also earned $159.2 million from 106 foreign markets. Individual-market tallies were not immediately available.

"Avatar" garnered almost as much attention for its reported budget of at least $300 million budget as for its eco-friendly tale of a soldier from Earth sent to infiltrate an alien race of 10-foot (3 meter)-tall blue people in order to save the polluted planet.

It marks Cameron's first dramatic feature since 1997's "Titanic," the biggest film of all time before accounting for inflation. He spent the intervening years waiting for moviemaking technology to catch up with his vision for the follow-up. Production took two years.

The film won breathless reviews from critics. "You've never experienced anything like it, and neither has anyone else," said the Los Angeles Times.

The Couch Potato Report - December 19th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels two of my favourite films of the year and when this report is done, we'll be gone with the wind.

Here, right now, this morning, we are having a heat wave, a movie from Quebec called HEAT WAVE!

HEAT WAVE is a movie about Gisele, a youth-center social-worker in her early fifties, who finds out after her husband's death, that he'd been having an affair for many years.

She them meets a 19 year-old kleptomaniac, who attempts to get to know her better...and despite the many obstacles their romance faces, they try to be together.

I don't think that HEAT WAVE is a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I like how the characters in the film are afraid, but they take chances anyway.

Sometimes, in life, and in the movies, taking chances works...just ask Quentin Tarantino.

This man has been taking those aforementioned chances pretty much since his first film - RESERVOIR DOGS - came out back in 1992, and now his most recent release has become his highest grossing film ever.

That film?

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

This spectacular movie picture takes place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II and is partially about a group of Jewish-American soldiers who are known as "The Basterds".

The film is also about a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris that will soon be hosting a movie screening that Hitler himself will be attending, and a detective who travels the countryside hunting Jewish people for the Third Reich.

His nickname is The Jew Hunter

I mentioned that I think INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is spectacular, and I do...it is unlike any World War II movie I have ever seen, and that is primarily due to Tranatino's affinity and passion for film, and his attention to detail.

For instance, in most War movies everyone speaks English. In this one, Germans speak German, French people speak French, and so on.

Plus, the film features Canada's own International Man Of Mystery, Mr. Mike Myers, in a small role.

Now, truth be told, history buffs might like this film as it does re-write how the war ended, and it will be a little graphic for some people, but I had no problems with it, and I still don't.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is one of my absolute favourite films of the year.

I am a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino and his work, and so I own all of his films, but if you are just starting to get into his work, you are in luck!! Alliance Films have just released a great Six Box Set called QUENTIN TARANTINO - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION.

In the set are RESERVOIR DOGS, PULP FICTION, JACKIE BROWN, KILL BILL - VOLUMES ONE AND TWO, and DEATH PROOF.

Now, with the exception of DEATH PROOF, all of these films are classic in my world, and even DEATH PROOF has enough cool moments to watch it again from time to time, so if you don't already own them, then QUENTIN TARANTINO - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION is something you should pick up.

If you do already own them, there is no need to buy them again as the set doesn't have any exclusive features. Still, it is pretty cool!

From my Tarantino worship, let me switch now to saying some very positive things about one of the funniest films of the year.

That film is THE HANGOVER

This is one of those great movies that comes out of nowhere and finds an audience. THE HANGOVER grossed almost $280 million at the Box Office and is the fourth most popular film of the year.

It is about four friends who head to La Vegas for a bachelor party, but when they wake up the next morning, the groom-to be-is gone, there is a tiger in their trashed hotel room, and they can't remember what happened the night before...including why they are in possession of a cop car.

THE HANGOVER is from Todd Phillips, the same guy who gave us OLD SCHOOL and it is another film that stays funny upon multiple viewings, but more importantly it is funny the first time.

THE HANGOVER has a great cast, lots of surprise comedic twiests and turns, and it offers plenty of laugh-out loud moments.

It is rated 18A, so some of the comedy is a bit out there, but if you like to laugh, here is a hangover that won't hurt the next morning.

I've had a lot of positive things to say so far this morning, but unfortunately that ends with this next film.

Because of the talent involved, and the subject matter, I wanted to see this movie, and I was looking forward to it, but what a letdown.

TAKING WOODSTOCK is the latest film from Ang Lee, who gave us THE ICE STORM, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, among others, and it is about Woodstock.

Specifically, it is about a man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills who steps in when the original site can't be used and inadvertently sets in motion the events that will allow the concert to take place in the summer of 1969.

And he does it much to the chagrin of some of the locals.

Yes, I was looking forward to TAKING WOODSTOCK, and then I watched it, and I was looking forward to it being over.

This is a movie that doesn't know if it want sto be a comedy with drama, or a dramatic film with comedic moments, and it doesn't work being both.

It isn't the worst film I have ever seen, but it just isn't very good.

If you have been craving a way to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of this great concert, check out the WOODSTOCK film itself.

Ignore TAKING WOODSTOCK, it is a misfire from a usually reliable team of filmmakers.

Woodstock brough three days of peace love and music to the world, and a couple of decades later, a man born Jason Mizell helped bring rap music to the masses.

Jason was better known as Jam Master Jay and he was a member of the influential rap group RUN-DMC, the first rap group to have a mainstream hit with WALK THIS WAY in 1986.

Sadly, on October 30th, 2002, Jay was killed while working at a recording studio in Queens, New York. It is a crime that remains unsolved.

The murder, and who Jay was are now profiled in a documentary called TWO TURNTABLES AND A MICROPHONE - THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JAM MASTER JAY.

That was Kid Rock, and in addition to him, the film features some of the biggest names in Hip Hop talking bout how Jay influenced them, and how his death was a tragedy. Those names include LL Cool Jay, 50 Cent, Jermaine Dupri, DJ Hurricane and many others, but infortunately the filmmakers - some of whom are related to Jam Master Jay - only got one half of RUN-DMC to participate and weren't able to license any of the band's music.

And so, instead of a tribute to a great man and musician, the film slowly becomes a diatribe againts the police for not solving the case, and calls out those who may have done it.

So ultimately, TWO TURNTABLES AND A MICROPHONE - THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JAM MASTER JAY is an insightful film, but it is not the definitive biography of a man who helped give the world some great music, but most importantly, never forgot where he came from.

Rest in Peace, Jay!! Rest in peace!!

I love his music!!

I also love TV shows that you just sit and watch...and don't really know why.

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS is one of those shows for me...I LOVE THIS SHOW!!

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS is about the people who have the treacherous job of driving trucks over frozen lakes, or ice roads...roads that at any minute could be covered with snow, in temperatures that could freeze up your brakes, and did I mention that the roads are made of ice...nothing but ice?!?!

The first two seasons of the show charted the lives of men who haul vital supplies to diamond mines and other remote locations over frozen lakes that double as roads.

And in SEASON THREE there was a woman driver too!!

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS - THE COMPLETE SEASON THREE is available now in a great four-disc box set, and if you love the show as I do, check it out.

If you have never heard of it before...enjoy!!

I mentioned how THE HANGOVER was rated 18A, and thus is not for kids...so how about one for the kids now?!

This one is only for the kids, it is G-FORCE!

G-FORCE is about a group of specially trained guinea pigs who work for a secret division of a government agency.

And as happens in movies like this, they are dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world.

G-FORCE is for kids, as I said, and it is a pretty good action film for them. There is some fun stuff here that will definitely entertain them.

And when the kids are watching their film, the adults can watch something on their TV as well...and I have two great suggestions now for adults inside The Blu-Ray Beacon.

The first one is the 9 disc box set THE MEL BROOKS COLLECTION.

I grew up on Mel Brooks' films, and so I highly recommend this great set that includes BLAZING SADDLES, HIGH ANXIETY, TWELVE CHAIRS, ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS, SPACEBALLS, SILENT MOVIE, TO BE OR NOT TO BE, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and who could forget HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART I?!?

THE MEL BROOKS COLLECTION is a fantastic box set that offers hundreds of laughs and some of the greatest comedies ever filmed, and they all look great in High Definition on Blu-ray.

However, the most impressive film that I watched this week in the format is a film that celebrated a momentus birthday this year, but still looks brand new!

I am talking about GONE WITH THE WIND and the new 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION

This true classic film is about a manipulative woman named Scarlett and a roguish man called Rhett who carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The new 70th Anniversary edition has the film looking better than ever on Blu-ray, and comes with a wealth of special features, including a commemorative 52-page photo and production art book, a bonus CD soundtrack sampler, over eight hours of extras, including more than three hours new to this collection, and much much more!

The GONE WITH THE WIND: 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION is fantastic!

Okay, if you need a stocking stuffer for the movie fan on your list, these four films are new on Blu-ray, and they might make an excellent present.

The first one could be for the person on your list who loves a good cry, and I'll admit it...I cried during MY SISTER'S KEEPER.

I did.

Based on the book by Jodi Piccoult, Abigail Breslin, Cameron Diaz, Jason Patric and Alec Baldwin star in this film about a teenager who wants medical emancipation from her parents, because they have been using her to help keep their leukemia-stricken daughter alive.

Yes, it is a bit unfocussed at times, there are too many montages and it is emotionally manipulative, but it is good for a cry.

And cry you will!!

You may also cry at Roland Emmerich's 1998 remake of GODZILLA, but not because it is emotionally manipulative, but because it wasn't very good...and still isn't.

I love the Godzilla character, and I also love Emmerich's brand of action films - like 2012 and INDEPENDANCE DAY - but this film was poorly cast and boring.

And sadly, on Blu-ray, even the special effects look uninspired.

If there is a Godzilla fan on your list, this is one of only a couple of the many films about him that is available on Blu-ray, so perhaps they will enjoy it.

Perhaps.

Two very good films for adults conclude The Report this week, and we'll start with a snatch and a film that takes place in London.

SNATCH is a fun film from director Guy Ritchie about unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers who are all trying to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

It is a great little movie!!

And finally this week, the great 1998 film THE MARK OF ZORRO starring Antonio Banderas as the sword wielding swashbuckler, Anthony Hopkins as the elder Zorro who is training him, and the great Catherine Zeta-Jones as the younger Zorro's love interest.

The cast of this film is superb, and the chemistry between the two leads is fantastic!!

This is a Blu-ray that would make a great gift, for someone else, or even yourself.

THE MARK OF ZORRO, SNATCH, GODZILLA, MY SISTER'S KEEPER, the 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION of GONE WITH THE WIND, THE MEL BROOKS COLLECTION, G-FORCE, TAKING WOODSTOCK, THE HANGOVER and the INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS are all available on Blu-ray and DVD.

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS - THE COMPLETE SEASON THREE, TWO TURNTABLES AND A MICROPHONE - THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JAM MASTER JAY, HEAT WAVE and QUENTIN TARANTINO - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION are all available now only on DVD.

Coming up soon, on a special edition of The Couch Potato Report

Ho Ho Ho!!! Since we are so close to Christmas, I will tell you about some Holiday films that are new on Blu-Ray...like NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION, MIRACLE ON 34th STREET and IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: A VERY SUNNY CHRISTMAS.

Plus, The Couch Potato Christmas Report will also include the classic films IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, A MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS and Bill Murray's SCROOGED.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, soon!

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

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

Weezer cancels remaining tour dates

Weezer has canceled all of the remaining tour dates on its schedule, including the band's planned shows next month, as singer Rivers Cuomo continues to recuperate from injuries suffered in a bus crash earlier this month.

The January dates, scrubbed "on doctor's orders," according to a press statement from the band's publicist, consist of shows in San Francisco (1/9); Irvine, CA (1/11); La Jolla, CA (1/13) and Phoenix (1/15). Refunds will be available at point of purchase for all canceled shows, including the previously canceled December dates. At present, none of the canceled shows have been rescheduled.

Cuomo was injured Dec. 6 when the tour bus carrying the singer, his family and his assistant, Sarah Kim, hit a patch of black ice about 40 miles west of Albany, NY, and careened off of Interstate 90, according to the band. Kim fractured two ribs and sustained back injuries, and is expected to need 3-4 weeks to recover, while Cuomo's wife and baby daughter, who were also on the bus at the time of the crash, were unharmed.

Cuomo was released from a New York hospital last weekend, according to Weezer's longtime webmaster, Karl Koch. The singer--who suffered three broken ribs in the crash, along with a small cut on his spleen and puncture in one lung--remains grounded from flying by his doctors, and had to climb on another bus for a 48-hour ride home to Los Angeles.

"Raditude," Weezer's seventh studio album, surfaced last month. The set boasts a slew of co-production credits, including Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M.) and Butch Walker (Saosin, Katy Perry), as well as Cuomo.

The album's first single, "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To," hit radio waves in August, debuting at No. 21 on both the Billboard Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts, and eventually peaking at No. 2 on the latter.

'Up in the Air,' 'Precious,' 'Basterds' lead SAG noms

If the Golden Globe nominees shook up award season two days ago, then the Screen Actors Guild provided a mild aftershock today.
While most of the contenders are the same, there are some notable exceptions.

Up in the Air, which led the Globe nominations with six, was among the top contenders for the SAG Awards, too. It tied with Inglourious Basterds and Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire with three each.

But while Basterds and Precious both received bids for best ensemble, the acting guild's version of best picture, Up in the Air was snubbed in that category.

The other contenders were the 1960s London coming-of-age story An Education, the musical romance Nine and the brutal Iraq war bomb-defuser saga The Hurt Locker.

With actors making up the largest voting bloc for Oscars, the Holy Grail of awards season, being left out of their guild's choice of best picture is a disappointment for Up in the Air. Nonetheless, writer-director Jason Reitman's story of a corporate downsizer trapped in a life of constant travel picked up more individual nominees than any other film.

A lead actor nomination went to star George Clooney, while supporting actress bids were given to co-stars Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga.

Precious, a drama directed by Lee Daniels about an overweight, abused black teenager trying to survive amid horrible circumstances, split its other two nominations between newcomer Gabourey Sidibe for lead actress and Mo'Nique, who played her psychotically abusive mother, for supporting.

Sidibe's competition for lead actress is Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, Helen Mirren for The Last Station, Carey Mulligan's independence-seeking teenager in An Education, and Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia.

All were nominated for Globes, except Streep was in that award's musical/comedy category for Julie & Julia.

Meanwhile, Clooney will face off for a lead-actor award with Jeff Bridges' alcoholic country singer in Crazy Heart, Colin Firth as a gay professor in A Single Man, Morgan Freeman's take on Nelson Mandela in Invictus, and Jeremy Renner as a bomb-squad technician on the edge in The Hurt Locker.

Those nominations were exactly the same as the Globe contenders for lead-drama actor, except for Renner. Instead, a Globes nomination went to Tobey Maguire in that category for Brothers.

Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's history-bending romp through World War II, collected a supporting-actress mention for Diane Kruger's German starlet working as an American double-agent, and Christoph Waltz's bon vivant villainous Nazi.

In addition to Kruger, Kendrick, Farmiga and Mo'Nique, Nine's Penelope Cruz is also in the supporting-actress race. The difference from the Globes was again only a single nominee — Kruger got the bid instead of Julianne Moore, who is up for a Globe for A Single Man.

In the supporting-actor race, the two award shows matched up precisely. Waltz's opponents in both are Matt Damon for Invictus, Woody Harrelson for The Messenger, Christopher Plummer for The Last Station, and Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones.

Directors Tarantino, Daniels and Reitman are not among the nominees, but it's not a snub. The Screen Actors Guild only recognizes performers, not the other contributors to the filmmaking process.

The 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be simulcast nationally on TNT and TBS on Jan. 23.

Dan O'Bannon 1946-2009

Dan O'Bannon, the sci-fi and horror screenwriter behind some of the genres' most recognisable titles, has died in Los Angeles following a short illness. He was 63.

A USC graduate in the same year as John Carpenter, O'Bannon was instrumental in Carpenter's cracking (and crackpot) first feature Dark Star, serving as co-writer, FX supervisor, production designer and editor, and playing Sgt Pinback (who turns out not to be Sgt Pinback at all). O'Bannon is the one who chases the beachball alien all over the spaceship; an idea that would sort of resurface later...

O'Bannon did some FX work on Star Wars in 1977, but is best known for kickstarting a different franchise. While authorship of Alien as we know it today is down to a number of people, there's no question that O'Bannon's Star Beast screenplay set the ball rolling, and he brought many of his colleagues from Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted Dune to the project. The rest is movie history.

He wrote Blue Thunder and Life Force, and had two cracks at Philip K Dick, adapting We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and Second Variety into Total Recall and Screamers. Some say his Moebius-illustrated Heavy Metal comic The Long Tomorrow was a big visual influence on Blade Runner.

His Soft Landing and B-17 segments of the 1981 Heavy Metal movie were well-received, And he directed twice, fronting the fondly-remembered George Romero knock-off/parody Return of the Living Dead in 1985, and The Resurrected in 1992: an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

His screenplays were often reworked, much to his chagrin (particularly Blue Thunder, which lost most of its politics) but his legacy is without doubt. Just like Pinback, he had something of value to contribute to this mission.

"Avatar" box office seen topping $75 million in debut

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Box office watchers expect widely-anticipated sci-fi movie "Avatar" to make more than $75 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters this coming weekend following its debut on Friday.

Industry analysts told Reuters that if the movie from "Titanic" director James Cameron sets cash registers ringing as much as they predict, it will be a victory for the movie and its studio 20th Century Fox, as well as for Hollywood in its latest push into 3D movies.

"For a lot of older people, it's going to be the first film that they see in 3D," said Jeff Bock, box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations Co.

"Don't be surprised if it hits that billion dollar mark (worldwide during its entire run) if it really takes off and becomes the event film of the season," he said.

But for "Avatar's" opening weekend, Bock expects the less astronomical figure of $75 million in the U.S. and Canada, although he said a $100 million opening is possible.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box Office, said the film, which will begin playing in midnight screenings Friday, could earn between $85 million and $100 million.

That would be far short of 2009's biggest three-day weekend debut, the $142.8 million raked in by vampire romance movie "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" last month.

Cameron's "Avatar" tells of a soldier from Earth sent to infiltrate members of an alien race and the bond he forms with them, including one attractive woman in particular.

Fox said this week that "Avatar" will open in more than 3,300 theaters domestically, including 2,100 3D locations.

Online ticket seller MovieTickets.com has said 78 percent of its advance ticket buyers for "Avatar" were male, while rival outlet Fandango.com said 68 percent of its "Avatar" customers were men.

Cameron's 1997 film "Titanic" made a record $1.8 billion worldwide, in large part by appealing to women who went more than once to see the film's emotional tale of ill-fated love.

While more has been made of "Avatar's" 3D look than its romance, Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan wrote that the film is "a boys' adventure with a major romantic element" and he predicted that people will see it more than once.

"Avatar" has received many positive reviews, and as of Thursday afternoon it had an 83 percent approval rating at critic aggregating website RottenTomatoes.com.

'80s stars Platinum Blonde to enter Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame

TORONTO - The '80s pop band Platinum Blonde is being inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.

Known for such melodic new wave hits as "Standing In The Dark," "Crying Over You" and "It Doesn't Really Matter," the band will be recognized at a luncheon March 12, 2010 in Toronto.

Vocalist Mark Holmes, drummer Chris Steffler and guitarist Sergio Galli broke onto the music scene in 1982 with catchy singles, big blond hair and glam-rock style.

Keyboardist Kenny MacLean joined the band in 1985, roughly four years before they would split up.

MacLean died in November 2008 at age 52 just as he was preparing to release his third solo CD and as the band was planning a long-awaited reunion gig.

The award will be handed out as part of festivities planned for Canadian Music Week, set for March 10-14, 2010.

Company: Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, dies

LOS ANGELES – Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney whose powerful behind-the-scenes influence on The Walt Disney Co. led to the departure of former chief Michael Eisner, has died. He was 79.

The company announced that Disney died Wednesday in Newport Beach, Calif., after a yearlong bout with stomach cancer.

Company president and chief executive Bob Iger said Disney was much more than a valued 56-year company veteran.

"Roy's commitment to the art of animation was unparalleled and will always remain his personal legacy and one of his greatest contributions to Disney's past, present and future," Iger said in a statement.

Although he generally stayed out of the spotlight, Roy Disney didn't hesitate to lead a successful campaign in 1984 to oust Walt Disney's son-in-law after concluding he was leading the company in the wrong direction.

Nearly 20 years later, he launched another successful shareholders revolt, this time against Eisner, the man he'd helped bring in after the previous ouster.

Eisner and his wife issued a statement expressing their sympathies over Disney's death.

Don Hahn, an executive producer at the Disney movie studio, credited Roy Disney with ushering in a new era after taking over the animation department in 1984. Together, they helped make such blockbusters as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King."

"He took it under his wing, was a cheerleader, a coach, therapist," Hahn said.

John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, also lauded Disney.

"He put his heart and soul into preserving Disney's legendary past, while helping to move the art of animation into the modern age by embracing new technology," Lasseter said.

Born in 1930, Roy Disney had practically grown up with the company. His uncle Walt Disney and his father, Roy O. Disney, had co-founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio seven years before, later renaming it The Walt Disney Co.

While Walt was the company's creative genius, his brother was the one in charge of the company's finances.

Starting in the 1950s, the younger Roy Disney worked for years in the family business as an editor, screenwriter and producer. Two short films he worked on were nominated for Academy Awards: the 1959 "Mysteries of the Deep," which he wrote, was nominated as best live action short, and the 2003 film "Destino," which he co-produced, was nominated as best animated short.

Despite his heritage, Roy Disney never got the chance to lead the company. But as an investor who grew his Disney stock into a billion-dollar fortune, he had a huge impact on the company's destiny.

In 1984, dissatisfied with the leadership Walt's son-in-law Ron Miller was providing, Disney resigned from the company's board of directors and sought investors to back a bid to install new management. (Miller was the husband of Diane Disney Miller, Roy's cousin.)

His efforts resulted in the hiring of Eisner and Frank Wells, who led the company as a team until Wells died in 1994.

During that time, Disney rejoined the board and rose to become the company's vice chairman and chairman of its animation division. He also became a savvy investor over the years, forming Shamrock Holdings with his friend and fellow Disney board member Stanley Gold in 1978.

The fund grew to become a major investor in California real estate, the state of Israel and other entertainment and media companies.

Gold, president of Shamrock Holdings and a friend of Disney for 35 years, described him as steadfastly loyal to his principles and his friends.

"He was a gracious, humble gentleman," Gold said in a statement.

After years of dissatisfaction with Eisner's leadership and the company's lagging stock price, Disney and Gold resigned their board seats in 2003 and launched a shareholder revolt.

In his resignation letter, Disney called for Eisner's ouster, complaining that on his watch the company's standards had declined, particularly at theme parks like California's Disneyland and Florida's Walt Disney World.

Initially rebuffed, Disney rallied small investors and enthusiasts who responded to his folksy complaints about peeling paint at the theme parks and his anger at being told he would have to leave the board because he was too old.

Shareholders eventually delivered an unprecedented rebuke to Eisner, withholding 45 percent of votes cast for his re-election to the board. The chief executive was later stripped of his role as board chairman and announced his retirement in 2005, a year before his contract was up.

Disney initially opposed Iger, Eisner's successor, but they reconciled and in 2005 Iger named Disney a board member emeritus and welcomed him back to company events. Disney didn't attend board meetings and at the time of his death was no longer a significant shareholder.

Born in Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 1930, Roy Edward Disney was Roy and Edna Disney's only child. As an adult, he bought a castle in Ireland and indulged his passion for yacht racing, setting several speed records.

He was also an active philanthropist, supporting the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, a school founded by his father and uncle.

"It's kind of hard to imagine us without him," said school president Steven D. Lavine, citing Disney's unflagging support.

In 1999, he matched a gift from The Walt Disney Co. to establish an experimental theater space as part of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. He named the theater for his parents.

In 2005, Disney pledged $10 million to establish the Roy and Patricia Disney Cancer Center at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

Nickelback named 'band of decade'

TORONTO — Bad news Nickelback haters: the rock band so many love to hate has been named the group of the decade by Billboard magazine.

Billboard has released a list of the top music stars of the 2000s based on chart success, and Canada’s Nickelback was the top group or duo, ranking No. 7 overall.

The list was compiled by tabulating the rankings on the Billboard top 200 albums and the Billboard Hot 100 songs lists from Dec. 4, 1999 to Nov. 28, 2009.

The list was topped by rapper Eminem, followed by Usher, Nelly, Beyonce and Alicia Keys.

Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” was also named the top rock song of the decade, and was No. 4 on the Top 10 songs of the 2000s list.

The much-maligned rock band also had five other Top 10 singles in the 2000s, and its last four albums all cracked the Top 10 of Billboard’s album charts.

The 2005 CD “All the Right Reasons,” with the hits “Rockstar“ and “Photograph,” spent 156 weeks on Billboard’s top-selling albums list.

DA: Letterman suspect sought to mask blackmail

NEW YORK — A TV producer accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million said he needed money to visit his son and would mask the transaction as a business deal, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Robert J. "Joe" Halderman also told the comedian's lawyer he would keep copies of his information on Letterman's personal life for "protection" and acknowledged misgivings about the scheme, Manhattan prosecutors said in court papers.

"The issue is your client does not want this information public," Halderman told Letterman's attorney in a secretly taped conversation, according to prosecutors. "I have said, for a price, I will sign a confidentiality agreement and I will not make this information public. That's, that's the deal."

Halderman wants a judge to dismiss the attempted grand larceny charge against him, saying he was just shopping a screenplay.

Prosecutors, in a court filing asking that the charges be upheld, said Halderman's comments make it "crystal clear" that his goal was extortion — not a screenplay sale. Halderman told Letterman's lawyer that he needed money to visit his son, who he said lived 2,000 miles away, prosecutors said.

A decision is expected next month on Halderman's bid to get the case dismissed. Halderman's lawyer had no immediate response to Tuesday's filing.

The case spurred Letterman to disclose on-air that he had affairs with staffers.

Prosecutors say Halderman demanded $2 million as hush money after contacting the talk-show host with a threat styled as an outline for a movie script.

A package given to Letterman's driver Sept. 9 included a letter saying Halderman needed to make "a large chunk of money" and a claim that the screenplay would depict Letterman's life unraveling after his personal life was exposed, authorities said.

The package included photos, personal correspondence and portions of a diary in which Halderman's ex-girlfriend described an affair with the comic, law enforcement officials have said.

Prosecutors said they recorded two meetings Halderman had with Letterman's lawyer, including one in which the attorney gave him a phony $2 million check.

Halderman has said he simply struck a screenplay deal. He said in court papers filed last month that he sketched out a backstage story of the "atmosphere and conduct" of Letterman and the Late Show— with the characters' names changed — and peddled it to Letterman. He warned of nothing more than a sale to someone else if the TV host rejected it, his court papers said.

Letterman's lawyer has said Halderman's message and tactics were pure extortion, noting that he delivered his package to the comic's car around 6 a.m. and demanded a response within two hours.

Halderman, a 52-year-old producer for CBS' 48 Hours Mystery, has pleaded not guilty. He could face five to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Who Was Snubbed by The Golden Globes?

Do you know who stars in Avatar? Do you know who directed Precious? Golden Globe voters apparently don't, either.

A bunch of blue-faced folk and Lee Daniels, the answers to the above questions, respectively, were among today's MIAs, as were Zooey Deschanel and every human (and animal) who appeared in The Hangover.

James Cameron's Avatar did well with four nods, but scored none for its actors, regardless of their hue.

Daniels was the only director with a film in the best drama race to not snag a Best Director nod. On the flip side, Clint Eastwood was the only Best Director nominee to not snag a best drama nom for his film, the sorta-snubbed Invictus.

Deschanel didn't make the cut in the comedy category, even though her film, (500) Days of Summer, and her peer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, did.

And while The Hangover made awards season safe for R-rated raunch, it didn't get Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms or any of its actors seats at the grown-up table.

More Star Trek snubs—and District 9 surprises:

• Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen made more money than any 2009 movie, period. Its reward? Um, did we mention it made a lot of money?

• The difference between this year and last is that Transformers wasn't expected to be a player, and The Dark Knight, which infamously came away with only one nod, was. If there was a big surprise today, it's that the nominations went pretty much exactly as expected.

• Star Trek, great reviews, great box office and all, got zip. Then again, it wasn't "supposed" to get anything. Please see above.

• New Moon, great, um, hair and all, got zip. Then again, it wasn't "supposed" to get anything, either. Please see above.

• Globe voters loved Borat. As for Brüno? Eh, not so much. (Zero nominations.)

• Globe voters love Peter Jackson. Even King Kong—King Kong!—scored him a Best Director nod. So, one can only presume they really didn't like The Lovely Bones, which did well for Stanley Tucci, but nobody else involved.

• District 9 qualifies as both a snub and a surprise. The little sci-fi movie that could was shut out of best drama but welcomed in Best Screenplay. (Hey, Globe voters got to show Jackson a little love, after all—he produced!)

• The Proposal's Ryan Reynolds can relate to the Deschanel dilemma. His romantic-comedy partner, Sandra Bullock, was nominated for the film; he wasn't.

• Mariah Carey will always have the good buzz of appearing, sans her diva hair, in Precious. She just won't have the long-shot Globe nomination to go with it.

• Avatar and Precious, both up for best drama, were both denied for Best Screenplay. If that happens at the Oscars, both films' Best Picture dreams presumably would be all but dashed.

• The Hurt Locker is Avatar, with soldiers instead of blue people: Not a single acting nod. (It did, however, get a screenplay nod.)

• Michael Jackson's This Is It wasn't snubbed; it wasn't eligible.

• Monsters vs. Aliens made more money than any 2009 big-screen 'toon, save Up. Its reward? The same as Transformers', Star Trek's and New Moon's.

Rock Hall takes a chance on ABBA, Genesis, Stooges

CLEVELAND – ABBA is dancing its way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies and The Stooges.

The list of the next class of inductees was released Tuesday by the Cleveland hall. ABBA and The Stooges made it in this time after being nominated previously but not making the cut.

ABBA, a Swedish pop group that became one of the most successful acts in pop history, continues to sell millions of records each year and has been finding new fans through the popularity of "Mamma Mia," a stage musical and film incorporating its songs, including "Dancing Queen," "Money, Money, Money" and "The Winner Takes It All."

ABBA's name is an acronym formed from the first names of band members Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Annifrid Lyngstad. They broke up in 1982 and have resisted reunion offers.

Genesis began in the late 1960s as an art-rock act fronted by Peter Gabriel and evolved after his 1975 departure into a more mainstream act, with drummer Phil Collins taking over as lead singer. Some of the band's more familiar songs include "Follow You, Follow Me," "Tonight Tonight Tonight" and "Invisible Touch."

Cliff, a Jamaican singer, is credited with introducing reggae music to a broader audience through his album "The Harder They Come" and the movie of the same name, in which he starred in the early 1970s.

Part of the British Invasion, the Hollies had a long string of pop hits in the 1960s characterized by the three-part harmonies of original members Allan Clarke, Graham Nash and Eric Haydock.

Led by the Iggy Pop, The Stooges came sneering out of Ann Arbor, Mich., in the late '60s with a primal, growling sound that paved the way for punk, new wave, grunge and other, edgier music genres.

The Rock Hall also announced that its Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers would go to music industry executive David Geffen, the songwriting teams of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, and individual songwriters Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell.

Ertegun, the founder and chairman of Atlantic Records, died in 2006.

The hall's 25th annual induction ceremony is scheduled for March 15 in New York City.

'Up in the Air' leads Golden Globes with 6 noms

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The recession-era tale "Up in the Air" led Golden Globe film contenders Tuesday with six nominations, among them best drama and acting honors for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Other drama picks were the space fantasy "Avatar," the Iraq War tale "The Hurt Locker," the World War II saga "Inglourious Basterds" and the Harlem drama "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire."

The musical "Nine" ran second with five nominations, including best musical or comedy and acting slots for Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard.

Also competing for musical or comedy are the romance "(500) Days of Summer," the bachelor-party bash "The Hangover" and two Meryl Streep films, "It's Complicated" and "Julie & Julia." Streep is competing against herself as best actress in the musical or comedy, as chef Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" and a woman in an affair with her ex-husband in "It's Complicated."

In TV categories, nominations for drama series went to HBO's "Big Love," Showtime's "Dexter," Fox's "House," AMC's "Mad Men" and HBO's "True Blood." Musical or comedy series bids went to NBC's "30 Rock," HBO's "Entourage," Fox's "Glee," ABC's "Modern Family" and NBC's "The Office."

Nominees in the miniseries or movie category went to Lifetime Television's "Georgia O'Keeffe," PBS' "Little Dorrit," and three HBO offerings, "Grey Gardens," "Into the Storm" and "Taking Chance."

"Up in the Air" generally has been considered a comedy, but its inclusion in the film drama category could give it more weight as a potential favorite for the Academy Awards, where dramatic films tend to dominate. The film also earned best-director and screenplay nominations for Jason Reitman.

"I can't put into words how exciting it is to feel and to know that I'll be going to the Golden Globes with everyone I worked with on this film," Reitman said. "This was one of those ensembles that we really enjoyed working together. We're a tight-knit family. The idea that we're going together is just wonderful."

The directing category pits "Avatar" filmmaker James Cameron against ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker." Other directing nominees were Clint Eastwood for the South African rugby drama "Invictus" and Quentin Tarantino for his World War II rewrite "Inglourious Basterds."

Playing a frequent-flyer junkie in "Up in the Air," Clooney had a nomination for best dramatic actor, along with Jeff Bridges as a boozy country singer in "Crazy Heart," Colin Firth as a grieving gay academic in "A Single Man," Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in "Invictus" and Tobey Maguire as a prisoner of war in "Brothers."

"I suspect we will do a little bit of celebration, not a whole lot, you know. But it's wonderful news," said Freeman, who got the nomination news in South Africa, where he is appearing for premieres of "Invictus."

With four nominations, Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" had a surprisingly strong showing. The film was a hit with audiences and critics, but it was considered a bit of an awards longshot beyond a performance by Christoph Waltz, a supporting-actor nominee as a gleefully savage Nazi.

Tarantino also was nominated for the screenplay, in which he changes the war's ending with a ferocious bloodbath at a Paris cinema.

"I'm extremely excited and overwhelmed," said "Inglourious Basterds" co-star Diane Kruger, who helped announce the nominations. "It's the first time I've been part of such a big movie that encountered so much success and love. I'm extremely happy for Quentin and Christoph. I think he gave one of those inspiring performances that only come around once in awhile."

Along with Streep, Sandra Bullock also had two nominations, as dramatic actress in the football story "The Blind Side" and as a dragon-lady boss forcing her assistant to pose as her fiance in "The Proposal."

Matt Damon picked up two nominations, as well, as musical or comedy actor playing a whistleblower spinning wild fabrications in "The Informant!" and as supporting actor playing a South African rugby star in "Invictus."

Other dramatic actress nominees were Emily Blunt as Britain's monarch in her early reign in "The Young Victoria," Helen Mirren as the imperious wife of Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station," Carey Mulligan as a 1960s British teen in an affair with an older man in "An Education" and Gabourey Sidibe as an illiterate, abused teen turning her life around in "Precious."

Julia Roberts was a surprise nominee for musical or comedy actress as a corporate spy in "Duplicity," a box-office underachiever that generally was not on the awards radar. Along with Roberts, Streep and Bullock, Cotillard rounded out the category as the wife of an unfaithful filmmaker in "Nine."

Day-Lewis as the "Nine" filmmaker scored a nomination for musical or comedy actor. Besides Damon, the category also includes Robert Downey Jr. as the London detective in "Sherlock Holmes," Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a lovesick man in "(500) Days of Summer" and Michael Stuhlbarg as a 1960s Jewish academic besieged by crises in "A Serious Man."

"Up in the Air" co-stars Farmiga, playing Clooney's frequent-flyer soul mate, and Anna Kendrick, playing a smart but inexperienced efficiency expert, are competing against each other for supporting actress. Also nominated are Cruz as the filmmaker's insecure mistress in "Nine," Mo'Nique as a hateful welfare mother in "Precious" and Julianne Moore as a grief-stricken professor's best pal in "A Single Man."

Damon and Waltz are joined in the supporting-actor category by Woody Harrelson as a military man delivering bad news to next of kin in "The Messenger," Christopher Plummer as aging author Tolstoy in "The Last Station" and Stanley Tucci as a serial killer in "The Lovely Bones."

Hollywood's second biggest film honors after the Academy Awards, the Globes are a key ceremony that sort out the prospects leading up to the Oscar nominations Feb. 2.

The 67th annual Globes will be handed out Jan. 17, six days before nomination voting closes for the Oscars. Globe winners can get a last-minute bump for an Oscar nomination, particularly on smaller films such as 1999's "Boys Don't Cry," whose Globe triumph for Hilary Swank helped put her on the map for a best-actress win at the Oscars.

Last year's best drama winner at the Globes, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to win best picture and dominate at the Oscars. Other Globe recipients who followed with Oscar wins included Heath Ledger as supporting actor for "The Dark Knight" and Kate Winslet, who won supporting actress at the Globes for "The Reader" and best actress for that film at the Oscars.

The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 critics and reporters for overseas outlets.

List of nominees for the Golden Globe Awards

Here are the nominees for the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards, announced Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Calif.:

MOTION PICTURES

_Picture, Drama: "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglorious Basterds," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "Up in the Air."

_Picture, Musical or Comedy: "(500) Days of Summer," "The Hangover," "It's Complicated," "Julie & Julia," "Nine."

_Actor, Drama: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"; George Clooney, "Up in the Air"; Colin Firth, "A Single Man"; Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"; Tobey Maguire, "Brothers."

_Actress, Drama: Emily Blunt, "The Young Victoria"; Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"; Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"; Carey Mulligan, "An Education"; Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

_Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"; James Cameron, "Avatar"; Clint Eastwood, "Invictus"; Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"; Quentin Tarantino, "Inglorious Basterds."

_Actor, Musical or Comedy: Matt Damon, "The Informant!"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "Nine"; Robert Downey Jr., "Sherlock Holmes"; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer"; Michael Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man."

_Actress, Musical or Comedy: Sandra Bullock, "The Proposal"; Marion Cotillard, "Nine"; Julia Roberts, "Duplicity"; Meryl Streep, "It's Complicated"; Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia."

_Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, "Invictus"; Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"; Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"; Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"; Christoph Waltz, "Inglorious Basterds."

_Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Nine"; Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"; Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"; Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"; Julianne Moore, "A Single Man."

_Foreign Language: "Baaria," "Broken Embraces," "The Maid (La Nana)," "A Prophet," "The White Ribbon."

_Animated Film: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," "Coraline," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "The Princess and the Frog," "Up."

_Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp, "District 9"; Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"; Nancy Meyers, "It's Complicated"; Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"; Quentin Tarantino, "Inglorious Basterds."

_Original Score: Michael Giacchino, "Up"; Marvin Hamlisch, "The Informant!"; James Horner, "Avatar"; Abel Korzeniowski, "A Single Man"; Karen O, Carter Burwell, "Where the Wild Things Are."

_Original Song: "Cinema Italiano" (written by Maury Yeston), "Nine"; "I Want to Come Home" (written by Paul McCartney); "Everybody's Fine"; "I Will See You" (written by James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell); "Avatar"; "The Weary Kind (Theme from 'Crazy Heart')" (written by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett); "Crazy Heart"; "Winter" (written by U2), "Brothers."

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin Scorsese.

Weezer's Rivers Cuomo released from hospital

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has been released from a New York State hospital, where he had been hospitalized since the tour bus he was riding in crashed earlier this month.

According to Weezer's longtime webmaster, Karl Koch, Cuomo--who suffered three broken ribs in the crash, along with a small cut on his spleen and puncture in one lung--was given the go-ahead to check himself out of the Albany, NY, hospital , where he planned to depart Saturday (12/12) on yet another bus for the long trip back to his home in Los Angeles. Cuomo's lung injury prevents him from traveling via airplane while he recovers, according to Koch.

"We're taking a warmer southerly route to avoid bad weather, and Rivers will be using a cozy lower bunk for sleeping," Koch wrote Friday on the band's website. "None of that back lounge bedroom stuff for him!"

Cuomo was injured Dec. 6 when the tour bus carrying the singer, his family and his assistant, Sarah Kim, hit a patch of black ice about 40 miles west of Albany, NY, and careened off of Interstate 90, according to the band. Kim fractured two ribs and sustained back injuries, and is expected to need 3-4 weeks to recover.

"We all wish her the speediest of healing. She's a very tough girl, we know she can do it," Koch wrote on the site. Cuomo's wife and baby daughter, who were also on the bus at the time of the crash, were unharmed.

The band's remaining shows this month were canceled in the wake of the accident, with no makeup dates currently set. Ticket-holders should check the band's website for additional information regarding refunds.

"Raditude," Weezer's seventh studio album, surfaced last month. The set boasts a slew of co-production credits, including Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M.) and Butch Walker (Saosin, Katy Perry), as well as Cuomo.

The album's first single, "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To," hit radio waves in August, debuting at No. 21 on both the Billboard Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts, eventually peaking at No. 2 on the latter.

Golden Globe Nominees to be Announced 12/15

173 live-action feature films (105 dramas and 68 comedies or musicals), 15 animated feature films, 133 television series (79 drama and 54 comedies), 33 mini-series or telefilms and a record 69 foreign language films have been qualified for "The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards" consideration honoring 2009 achievements, it was announced today by Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

In addition, a record 103 songs are eligible for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

Nominations for "The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards" will be announced at 5:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday, December 15.

"The 67th Annul Golden Globe Awards," hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17 on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from The Beverly Hilton.

"The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards" will be seen in more than 160 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements. The special will be produced by Dick Clark productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Philip Berk is President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Orly Adelson, president of Dick Clark productions, and Barry Adelman will executive produce the special. Chris Donovan is the director and Dick Clark productions' Bob Bardo is the executive in charge of production.

For more information, visit www.goldenglobes.org.

Coachella 2010 will be held April 16 to 18

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will be held April 16 to 18 on the green lawns of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, promoters have announced.

No word yet on the headliners, and the announcement of the festival dates was a bit of a surprise. Goldenvoice, the company that created the signature California music franchise, usually announces dates in January.

A three-day festival pass costs $269 (plus fees), and purchase information is at the festival's official website. You can buy your pass on layaway, but you must do so before Feb. 1.

The festival began in 1999 and has become a touchstone for music fans in Southern California and beyond. The event has been named the world’s premier outdoor festival five times in the last even years by Pollstar, the leading trade publication of the live-music industry.

New CD Releases, December 15th: Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke, Mudvayne, "Avatar" soundtrack, and more

Alicia Keys "The Element of Freedom" (J-Records)

The Grammy-winning R&B/soul star is set to drop her fourth studio album. "The Element of Freedom," which Keys co-produced alongside a bevy of well-known hit-makers, follows 2007's triple-platinum "As I Am."

"Doesn't Mean Anything," the first single from "The Element of Freedom," was released to radio in September. A second single, "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart," hit in November. The album also features a collaboration with Beyonce called "Put It In a Love Song."

Fans that loved Keys' work on Jay-Z's recent single "Empire State of Mind" can turn to this album to find a sequel of sorts; the track is titled "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down."

* * *
Mary J. Blige "Stronger with Each Tear" (Geffen)

The singer known as "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul," a title she's earned by selling nearly 50 million records worldwide, is set to unveil a follow-up to 2007's "Growing Pains." "Stronger with Each Tear" is Blige's ninth studio album. Blige served as executive producer on the disc, supervising an all-star production crew that also included Johnta Austin, Ryan Leslie, Darkchild and Bryan-Michael Cox.

Thus far, two singles have been released: "The One," featuring Canadian rapper Drake, and the recently released follow-up "I Am." Guest appearances include rapper T.I. on "Good Love" and Trey Songz on "We Got Hood Love."

* * *
Robin Thicke "Sex Therapy" (Interscope)

The R&B vocalist, son of Canadian actor Alan Thicke, returns with his fourth studio effort. "Sex Therapy" follows 2008's "Something Else," which peaked at No. 3 on The Billboard 200.

The first single from "Sex Therapy" is the title track, which was released back in October. The album features numerous guest stars, including Estelle, Snoop Dogg, Kid Cudi and Jazmine Sullivan.

* * *
Mudvayne "Mudvayne" (Epic)

These metal men hope to rock The Billboard 200 with the release of the band's self-titled fifth studio album. "Mudvayne," produced by Jeremy Parker, follows last year's "The New Game." The album's first single is the cut "Scream With Me."

* * *
Official Soundtrack "Avatar" (Atlantic)

For the soundtrack to his new big-budget epic film, director James Cameron returned to the scene of his greatest success and has once again joined forces with "Titanic" composer James Horner. The "Avatar" soundtrack features 14 tracks, including the film's main theme, "I See You," which was sung by soul/pop star Leona Lewis. The film opens Dec. 16.

* * *
More new releases:
Animal Collective, "Fall Be Kind" (Domino)
James Brown, "Singles 8: 1972-1973" (Hip-O)
Chicane, "The Best of Chicane" (Ultra)
Elis, "Catharsis" (Napalm)
Lady Gaga, "The Fame Monster (Special Edition)" (Streamline)
George Lopez, "Tall, Dark & Chicano" (Comedy Central)
Julian Lennon, James Scott Cook, "Lucy" (Therevolution)
George Michael, "December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)" (101)
Donny Osmond, "Definitive Collection" (Polydor)
Pet Shop Boys, "Christmas" (101)
Phil Vassar, "Traveling Circus" (Universal)T
The Who, "Greatest Hits" (Geffen)
Young Money, "We Are Young Money" (Cash Money)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Nine" (Geffen)

Green Day 'Rock Band' Video Game In The Works

Green Day is getting the full "Rock Band" treatment.

Videogame developer Harmonix announced at Sunday's (Dec. 13) Spike Video Game Awards that it will release an edition of "Rock Band" dedicated exclusively to the punk rock trio in 2010. Green Day will subsequently become just the second band to have a standalone "Rock Band" game, after "The Beatles: Rock Band" was released this past September.

According to a trailer premiered at the awards show, "Green Day: Rock Band" will feature the avatars of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool performing at key venues and shows from its nearly two-decade career, in addition to music and artwork from its extensive catalog.

"We've worked with the 'Rock Band' team in the past year to enable our fans to play tracks from '21st Century Breakdown,' and we're excited to now be working on a game, spanning our entire career," Armstrong said in a statement. "We want people to fire this up, choose their favorite Green Day tracks, and play along with us as 'Rock Band' avatars so they can feel what it's like to perform on stage as Green Day."

Green Day most recently earned three Grammy nominations for its new album "21st Century Breakdown," which has sold 864,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The band will release three more tracks from the album -- "Christian's Inferno," "Last of the American Girls," and "Viva La Gloria!" -- for download at the "Rock Band" music store on Dec. 15, adding to already-released songs "Know Your Enemy," "21 Guns" and "East Jesus Nowhere."

Meanwhile, the band can look forward to pulling in big sales numbers with its upcoming game. "The Beatles: Rock Band" has sold 800,000 units since September, according to data from the NPD Group.

Quentin Tarantino Is 'Very Proud' Of 'Inglourious Basterds' DVD

It was a Sunday morning in late August and Quentin Tarantino was hunkered down in his Hollywood Hills home, trying to shut out the world. His chillingly bloody Nazi revenge epic "Inglourious Basterds" had opened two days earlier and the writer/director was following his normal ritual of not hearing his film's total weekend box-office haul until Monday. Then his doorbell rang.

Star Eli Roth and producer Pilar Savone were standing outside holding bottles of champagne and wearing T-shirts that stated the film's weekend estimate: over $37 million, the 46-year-old director's biggest opening ever.

"I never knew I'd make a movie that would do that well on an opening weekend, so that was pretty groovy," Tarantino told MTV News.

Months later, Tarantino's "Basterds" arrives on DVD on December 15, which is — only coincidently, so it seems — the fifth day of Hanukkah. It's nonetheless apt that this tale of Brad Pitt and his band of revenge-seeking Jewish soldiers comes out on this day of lights. While Tarantino tweaks World War II history throughout the film — and then veers off into gloriously satisfying fictional territory at its conclusion — the version on the DVD is the exact same as the one moviegoers caught back in August.

"There won't be an extended version," he said. "I'm very proud of the fact that my director's cut has been seen in 3,000 theaters. I wasn't not going to do my best and say, 'Wait for the DVD, then you'll know what I really meant!' I want that playing in the theaters."

Among commentary tracks and bonus clips, what's also fresh on the disc is the full, black-and-white version of "Nation's Pride," the Nazi propaganda film within "Basterds" that plays a key role in propelling the narrative forward. There's also a faux "making of" documentary about the production of "Pride," starring Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

"Joseph Goebbels talks about how this was a passion project for him," Tarantino laughed.

The upcoming DVD release is likely only the beginning of renewed talk about "Basterds." From Christoph Waltz's performance as a crazily evil Nazi to Tarantino himself, awards-season chatter has surrounded the film since its debut in Cannes earlier this year. Tarantino welcomes such talk, but it's an awards show later in 2010 that has him truly pumped.

"I'm looking forward to Christoph Waltz winning Best Villain at the MTV Movie Awards!" he laughed.

'Basterds,' 'Nine' among top Critics' Choice picks

NEW YORK – "Inglourious Basterds" and "Nine" lead contenders for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards with 10 nominations each, including best picture, the Broadcast Film Critics Association announced Monday.

James Cameron's "Avatar" received nine nominations, including best picture.
Other best-picture nominees are "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Invictus," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "Up" and "Up in the Air."

Best-actor nominees are Jeff Bridges for "Crazy Heart," George Clooney for "Up in the Air," Colin Firth for "A Single Man," Morgan Freeman for "Invictus," Viggo Mortensen for "The Road" and Jeremy Renner for "The Hurt Locker."

Nominated for best actress: Emily Blunt for "The Young Victoria," Sandra Bullock for "The Blind Side," Carey Mulligan for "An Education," Saoirse Ronan for "The Lovely Bones," Gabourey Sidibe for "Precious" and Meryl Streep for "Julie & Julia."

The 15th annual awards will be presented Jan. 15 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The show, hosted by Kristin Chenoweth, will air on VH1.

L.A. critics honor Iraq war movie "Hurt Locker"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "The Hurt Locker," an independent movie about a team of American bomb-disposal experts serving in Iraq, was named the year's best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Sunday.

The movie also won the directing prize for Kathryn Bigelow, who ended a seven-year break from feature filmmaking with the acclaimed saga.

As with most other Iraq War-themed movies, "The Hurt Locker" failed to muster mainstream support. It grossed about $13 million at the North American box office.

The Los Angeles critics' top acting prizes went to Jeff Bridges for playing a bad-boy country singer in "Crazy Heart" and Belgian actress Yolande Moreau for her title role as a French painter in "Seraphine."

Austrian veteran Christoph Waltz was named best supporting actor for his chilling performance as a calculating Nazi with a disarming smile in Quentin Tarantino's revenge fantasy "Inglourious Basterds."

Comedienne Mo'Nique was honored for her supporting turn as the abusive mother of an overweight incest survivor in "Precious."

The Los Angeles critics are not normally considered an Oscar bellwether, although their best actor choices have gone on to win the Academy Award for the past four years. On the other hand, the last film to win best picture from both groups was 1993's "Schindler's List."

Separately on Sunday, "The Hurt Locker" was also named one of the year's 10 best movies by the American Film Institute, a Los Angeles-based group that promotes movie conservation and education.

Its annual list names the movies in alphabetical order. The others were "Coraline," "The Hangover," "The Messenger," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "A Single Man," "Sugar," "Up" and "Up in the Air."

The Couch Potato Report - December 13th, 2009

The Couch Potato Report is about to peel box sets, multiple disc sets, and offers some gift ideas!

The Holiday season is upon us, and so the studios have been releasing a wide array of gift boxes, series collections and celebratory sets in hopes that you'll decide they will make a great gift idea for someone you love, or to complete your own collection.

So, if you need some ideas, I have nine new releases to tell you about this morning, starting with the Canadian one, or the Canadiens one, if you will.

100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS is a four disc box set that has over four hours of stories, game action, and historical footage from the team that just celebrated it's centennial.

The centerpiece of the set is a feature length documentary called "100 Years Of Glory - The History Of The Montreal Canadianes 1909-2009" and it is narrated by Viggo Mortenson, from the LORD OF THE RINGS films.

The other three discs look at the Habs' "24 Stanley Cup Championships", the "Dynasties and Rivalries" and "The Immortals - The Greatest Players."

100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS is a must have for any fans of the Habs, but I can't recommend it otherwise, and that is not because I am a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs...it is because even though they had 100 Years of history to work with, this box set - and especially the documentary, leaves a lot of it out - good and bad.

There is no mention of the 1976-77 season when the team only lost 8 games all year, no mention of the game where Patrick Roy was shelled and said he'd never play for the team again, and if those omissions weresn't bad enough...the majority of the players who made up the legendary teams this set is celebrating, are absent!

Sure, a few of them are featured in the main documentary, but most of them are not. You have to go to the other discs to find Ken Dryden and Scotty Bowman for instance.

And Viggo Mortenson, who professes to be a huge and passionate fan of the team...offers boring, mundane narration.

All that stuff aside, like I said, 100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS is a must have for any fans of the Habs, however, with such a tremendous hockey legacy to commemorate and celebrate, it had been my hope that it was going to be a must have for any fans of hockey.

But it isn't...and that is my review.

Love that song, and if you were a fan of the television series Ally McBeal when it aired from 1997 to 2002, I bet you love that show's theme song.

It has taken a long time, but ALLY MCBEAL is finally available on DVD. The hold up was the music rights, for that song and the many others that were performed in the series over the years, a series about a woman named Ally McBeal that starred Calista Flockhart in the title role.

She was a lawyer working in a Boston law firm with people whose cases, lives and loves were eccentric, humorous and dramatic.

So if you have been waiting for this show to come out on DVD...here you go! ALLY MCBEAL - THE COMPLETE SERIES is a 32 disc Box Set that features every episode, with every joke, every dramatic twist and turn, and above all else...every Fish-ism.

There are also some great retrospective features, and unlike the Montreal Canadiens Box Set, the producers of this set brought back the principal players!!

I wasn't a regular viewer of ALLY McBEAL when it aired, but I did watch it from time to time, and it remains a very fun and entertaining show...this is a great Box Set!!

Another great DVD Box Set that might make a great gift is FUTURAMA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION...and in addition to the great episodes of the TV show I love, the discs come housed in a plastic Bender head...bender being the robot from the show...the 18 discs all come in a case that is his head.

I love the show even more for that!!

FUTURAMA was created by Matt Groening after the success of THE SIMPSONS and it is about Fry, a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, who is frozen for a thousand years and wakes up in the 31st century.

It aired from 1999 to 2003.

FUTURAMA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION - in addition to the Bender head packaging - includes all four volumes of Futurama, as well as the four feature-length films they made after the series ended.

As a fan of the show, I had all of the DVDs already, but when I heard about this set, this was the one I wanted to keep in my collection.

If you know someone who is a fan...you now have one left gift idea to come up with.

You're welcome!

From BIG, celebratory Box Sets, lets move now to single season sets that have recently been released...and we'll start with Royalty.

The King....no, not the television royalty from THE TUDORS, I'll get to them in a second, I meant the Queen!

Yes, Mary, Murray, Lou and Ted are all back in THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW!!

SEASON FIVE is the one where Mary Goes to Prison, Lou has to deal with Ted after Ted endorses a candidate during a broadcast, and Ted reacts when Lou gambles away their football pool winnings.

Its also the one that offers more huge laughs!

SEASON SIX of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW is coming out in January, but THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON is available now.

Okay, from TV's Queen, lets go to the King now.

Specifically, King Henry the 8th.

The Tudors envisions Henry VIII as a young man of both passion and ambition, driven by boundless sexual energy and the desire to establish a legacy early in his monarchy.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is back as The King in THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON and once again we are treated to a unique re-telling of history full of incredible costumes and period set pieces and storylines.

THE TUDORS remains a great guilty pleasure for me, and with only 8 episodes, this year went by too fast.

If you have seen the first two seasons - either on CBC Television or DVD - don't miss THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of THE TUDORS!!

THE TUDORS is a show that I do usually watch, because I enjoy it.

Admittedly, I do enjoy the series BONES as well, but it isn't one I watch on a regular basis. Some friends of mine and my sister watch it, so when I visit them, I see it, but otherwise I don't.

However, I sat down to look at the episodes of BONES - SEASON FOUR this week that I hadn't seen, and - like I said - I do enjoy it!

BONES is a procedural crime drama that is based on forensics, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind found human remains.

Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz head up a great ensemble cast, and if you - or someone you love has been looking for a new TV show to watch, how about BONES - SEASON FOUR?

Stewie from FAMILY GUY even makes a guest appearance this season.

Or, if you are looking for a fantastic new TV sho wto watch, and you have not seen the BBC show LIFE ON MARS, well...let me HIGHLY recommend LIFE ON MARS!!

LIFE ON MARS is about a Police Detective who is hit by a car in 2006, and wakes up in 1973.

In addition to solving the mystery of why he is now there, he also has to solve cases with his new unit as well.

There was only two seasons of LIFE ON MARS filmed by the BBC, and now the second one - SERIES TWO - is available as a tremendous 4 disc Box Set.

LIFE ON MARS mixes the genres of science fiction, police procedural, and time travel...and I think it is a spectacular show, and I highly recommend it!!

And make sure you get the original British version of the show...the American remake just wasn't as good.

Up next is a new Gift Set for the stop-motion animated film CORALINE.

CORALINE is a teenager who has just moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere with her writer parents.

When she finds an old hidden door, she convinces her mother to unlock it, only to find a wall of bricks.

But that night, the bricks magically disappear and she discovers a pathway to another world where everything is just what she wishes for.

But...be careful what you wish for!!

The director of CORALINE is Henry Selick, the man who gave us THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and he once again populates a film with unique, oddball characters and sets.

This is a fun, family film, and the new GIFT SET includes the 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD; Plus 4 pairs of 3-D glasses; and a book.

The box set for SEASON ONE of ELVIS COSTELLO'S SHOW SPECTACLE doesn't come with glasses or a book, it merely features the iconic performer in conversation with some other well-known musicians and people.

It also features the man singing as well, both his songs...and others.

The music in SPECTACLE is great, but it is the conversation - with the likes of Elton John, Lou Reed, Diana Krall, Rufus Wainwright, Smokey Robinson, Bill Clinton, and all three members of The Police - that had me tuning in week after week, and now that it is out in a Box Set, I will own it forever!!

ELVIS COSTELLO - SPECTACLE - SEASON ONE is a great gift for fans of music, great conversation, or both!!

ELVIS COSTELLO - SPECTACLE - SEASON ONE, the GIFT SET for CORALINE, THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of THE TUDORS and BONES - SEASON FOUR are available on Blu-ray and DVD.

LIFE ON MARS - SERIES 2 THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW - THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON FUTURAMA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION ALLY MCBEAL - THE COMPLETE SERIES 100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANDIENS are all available only on DVD.

Coming up on Saturday on the next Couch Potato Report.

The made-in-Quebec film HEAT WAVE, Ang Lee's TAKING WOODSTOCK, Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and the complete third season of the television show ICE ROAD TRUCKERS.

Plus, coming soon...the great non-love story (500) DAYS OF SUMMER.

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

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

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

'Princess and the Frog' hops to No. 1 with $25M

LOS ANGELES – "The Princess and the Frog" earned a big wet kiss from family audiences as the animated musical leaped to No. 1 with $25 million in its first weekend of nationwide release, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Disney musical is the studio's first hand-drawn animated tale in five years, a contrast to the computer-animated films that now dominate the cartoon world.
"I've always believed that when you start with great storytelling, then the format aside doesn't mean anything," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.

The movie also is a return to Disney's reinvention of classic fairy tales, offering a 1920s New Orleans twist on the Brothers Grimm story "The Frog Prince," following the adventures of a young woman turned into a frog by a kiss from an amphibian.

Despite its No. 1 finish, "The Princess and the Frog" drew modest crowds compared to many big animated tales, which can open with two or three times as much business. Those films typically open during the busy summer season, though, and Disney is counting on the long shelf life that many films manage during the holidays.

"The Princess and the Frog" took over at No. 1 from the inspiring sports tale "The Blind Side," which slipped to second-place with $15.5 million. Released by Warner Bros., "The Blind Side" raised its total to $150.2 million.

A surprise box-office sensation, "The Blind Side" is on its way to a domestic total of about $230 million, said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution.

"The Blind Side" chronicles the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens rookie lineman Michael Oher, who had been a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy couple (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw).

"It's the heartland that's pulling the strings of the movie," Fellman said. "While it's performing well everywhere, the response in smaller marketplaces and Christian communities has been outstanding."

The film opened the same weekend as "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," but with only a fraction of that movie's blockbuster business. Audience word-of-mouth has kept crowds coming for "The Blind Side," while "New Moon" has waned to the No. 4 spot with an $8 million weekend, raising its domestic haul to $267.4 million.

Warner Bros. also had the No. 3 film with a $9.1 million debut for another inspirational sports drama, Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela saga "Invictus," featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Freeman stars as the South African leader, who uses an underdog World Cup run by the country's rugby team to help unite the racially divided nation.

Though it had a modest start, "Invictus" debuted in the range of Eastwood's sober drama's "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby" in their first weekends of wide release. Eastwood's films draw older audiences and tend to have a long life at the box office, Fellman said.

"The Lord of the Rings" creator Peter Jackson had a strong opening in limited release for "The Lovely Bones," which pulled in $116,000 in three theaters.

The Paramount Pictures release features Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in an adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her grieving family from the afterlife.

The Weinstein Co. drama "A Single Man" also started well with $216,328 in nine theaters. The film stars Colin Firth as a gay academic in the early 1960s who's planning to end his life amid grief over his lover's death.

Hollywood is poised for a big finish to its record box-office year, with James Cameron's science-fiction epic "Avatar" opening Friday, followed Christmas week by the family comedy "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," Robert Downey Jr.'s action tale "Sherlock Holmes" and the nationwide expansion of George Clooney's comedy "Up in the Air."

With nearly three weeks left in the year, 2009 domestic revenues already have set a new record of $9.79 billion, surpassing the previous high of $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Paul Dergarabedian, Hollywood.com box-office analyst.

Domestic grosses should top $10 billion for the first time within the next 10 days or so. Dergarabedian estimates that Hollywood will finish the year with $10.5 billion domestically.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Princess and the Frog," $25 million.
2. "The Blind Side," $15.5 million.
3. "Invictus," $9.1 million.
4. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," $8 million.
5. "Disney's a Christmas Carol," $6.9 million.
6. "Brothers," $5 million.
7. "2012," $4.4 million.
8. "Old Dogs," $4.39 million.
9. "Armored," $3.5 million.
10. "Ninja Assassin," $2.7 million.

The Couch Potato Report - December 12th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels a television show about real people and some movies about people who are real.

For five years now, two guys from Toronto have been trying to outdo each other in some of the most innane challenges you'll ever hear of.

Challenges such as Who Can Wear a Gorilla Suit the Longest?, First Guy to Touch the Ground Loses, Who’s the Best Pro Wrestler?, Who’s the Best Soldier?, and those are just the ones I can say without getting fired.

But as odd as it might be to think of two friends trying to win those challenges, imagine it as a TV show.

Because it is a show...and now KENNY VS. SPENNY - SEASON FIVE is available in a 2 DVD set.

KENNY VS. SPENNY stars Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice and the loser of the episode must perform an act of humiliation, usually selected by the winner.

KENNY VS. SPENNY is one of those shows that I sit and watch and wonder, "Why am I watching this?!?!"

And as I laugh out loud at their idiocy, I wonder, "Why do I find this funny?!?!?"

I guess it is because KENNY VS. SPENNY is a guilty pleasure, so if you have laughed at them in the past, enjoy SEASON FIVE!

I did!!

I also enjoyed JULIE & JULIA...although for completely different reasons.

I enjoyed this one because it is a great movie!!

JULIE & JULIA stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and is about the life of chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, AND it is also about Julie Powell, a woman in New York who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" during a single year.

I found JULIE & JULIA very entertaining, and it is also very funny and sweet...plus, the movi emade me smile. There were scenes where I was just sitting there smiling at it.

Admittedly, Meryl Streeps scenes are stronger than Amy Adams, and they could actually have made a whole movie just about Julia Childs...but they didn't, and in the end, I liked what they did make, warts and all!

JULIE & JULIA is a great film, that I highly recommend, and when the Academy Award nominations are announced on Tuesday, February 2nd, you can expect to hear at least Meryl Streep's name announced for Best Actress!

Unlike JULIE AND JULIA, this next film has very little Oscar buzz, but I liked it as well.

Johnny Depp and Christian Bale star in director Michael Mann's PUBLIC ENEMIES

This film is set during the Great Depression and it is based on the true story of Bale's Bureau of Investigation agent Melvin Purvis' attempt to stop Depp's John Dillinger and other criminals.

PUBLIC ENEMIES is well written, acted and directed and like all Michael Mann's films - Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Ali and Collateral - it has a fantastic attention to detail.

Yes, truth be told, like most of Mann's films this one also takes a bit of time to get where it's going, and with a running time of two-hours and twenty minutes it may seem very long at times, but I completely enjoyed it.

PUBLIC ENEMIES is not perfect, but I think there is enough good stuff for me to recommend it.

Another one of Michael Mann's films that plays long is the 1995 film HEAT. It is almost three hours long, at 170 minutes, but it too EASILY features enough good to recommend it.

Namely two actors whose names are Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

HEAT is a crime and heist movie that takes place in Los Angeles and is about two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief.

HEAT is new on Blu-ray and in addition to the old school action and acting, the disc features some great special features.

I love this film, and even though it is long, I am always surprised at how fast the time goes by when you are watching a great movie.

There is another new heist movie that is available now, it is called THE MAIDEN HEIST, and while it isn't as good as HEAT it is quirky enough to get a mild recommendation from me.

I love the cast of this film, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden, and the men in the cast play museum security guards who put together a plan to steal the artworks they love, after they have been sold to another museum.

Yes, I love the cast of THE MAIDEN HEIST, but I didn't think the movie was as good as they are. It isn't a bad film, but I was hoping for better.

As I said, I watched it because of the cast, so if you like them too, give it a shot.

I have four foreign films for you now, three of them which I consider classics - so if you have never seen Krzysztof Kieślowski's THREE COLOURS TRILOGY, now is your chance as Alliance has released them in an inexpensive set.

Blue, white, and red are the colours of the French flag in left-to-right order, and the story of each film is loosely based on one of the three political ideals in the motto of the French Republic: liberty, equality, fraternity.

BLUE was released in 1993, and stars Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche, WHITE in 1994 and stars Julie Delpy from BEFORE SUNRISE, and RED came out later in 1994, remains my favourite of the three, and it stars Irène Jacob.

The THREE COLOURS TRILOGY is full of a wealth of interesting characters, operates on a multitude of layers, and all three are spectacular films!

If you have never seen them...go ahead!! I highly recommend them all!!

This other new foreign film release is one that I don't recommend. Sure, it is very interesting at times, and it is both horriffic and erotic, but ultimately I didn't care.

This film is called THIRST and it is a two-hour and fifteen minute South Korean film about a failed medical experiment that turns a priest into a vampire.

THIRST is one of the best made films I have ever seen, but the acting is stiff and the story is actually boring at times.

Vampire movies and stories are popular these days, and if you need to see them all, then you'll have to bite into this one, otherwise...ignore it.

It bites.

It is time to let the BLU RAY BEACON shine now on two new releases that look great in High Definition. If you enjoy these films, then this is definitely the way to see them.

Especially, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, Luc Besson's superb 1994 action film starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Danny Aiello and a young Natalie Portman about a professional assassin who reluctantly takes care of a 12-year-old girl.

In addition to the great film itself, the Blu-ray for LEON features the International and North American versions of the film, along with some great retrospective features.

The new Blu-ray for THE GREEN MILE also comes with a wealth of special features, and a book about the film, however this is a film that I have always thought was only pretty good.

I know others love this this Frank Darabont adaptaion of a Stephen King story as much as the other one the men did together - a little movie called THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - but I don't love it as much as that film, one that I consider a classic.

However, THE GREEN MILE is an interesting movie, and it certainly looks and sounds great on Blu-ray.

I was going to save this next film for last, so I could say: "last and certainly least this week...", but I have decided to make it second last so I could end this week's Report on a positive.

So, instead I will now say, "Second last and certainly least this week...SHORTS."

Actually, it's full name is "Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock" and this is the latest film from Robert Rodriguez, the man who gave us Desperado (1995), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Sin City (2005), Planet Terror (2007), and the SPY KIDS trilogy.

This film is another one for kids, starring some kids who find a magic rock that makes their dreams come true.

Simply put, SHORTS is for kids - boys mostly - under 10. No one else. Adults, you will not like this movie...I certainly didn't, even though I was once a kid - a boy in fact - under ten.

SHORTS bites too!!

Finally this week, last, but NOT least is the latest season of the television show LOST.

This FIFTH SEASON of LOST is when the show started getting good again, after it had slipped a little in quality, and when I say good, I mean good.

This was a great season of television, that now makes up a great 5 disc Box set!!

LOST gave us lots of twists, turns and time travel last year and now THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON is available on DVD and Blu-ray, along with the kids only film SHORTS - THE ADVENTURES OF THE WISHING ROCK, THE GREEN MILE, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, Michael Mann's film HEAT and PUBLIC ENEMIES, an dthe very entertaining JULIE & JULIA

THE MAIDEN HEIST, THIRST, the spectacular THREE COLOURS TRILOGY, and the guilty pleasure KENNY VS. SPENNY - SEASON FIVE are all available now only on DVD.

Coming up soon on a Special Edition of The Couch Potato Report

I'll tell you about some new DVD and Blu-ray box sets that are available now for gift giving, both to yourself, and others, including: the 32 disc set for ALLY MCBEAL - THE COMPLETE SERIES and the 4-disc set celebrating 100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS.

Also, FUTURAMA, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, BONES, THE TUDORS, LIFE ON MARS, and ELVIS COSTELLO - SPECTACLE.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, soon!!

For now, that's THE COUCH POTATO REPORT.

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

Classic 1978 Elvis Costello show headed to stores

Elvis Costello and The Attractions' legendary 1978 show at Hollywood High will surface on CD next month, marking the first time the performance has been available in its entirety.

Titled "Live at Hollywood High," the 20-song set is scheduled for a Jan. 12 release, and will include 11 previously unreleased recordings, according to Universal Music Enterprises.

The album features a then-23-year-old Costello performing in front of a sold-out crowd at Hollywood High School's auditorium on June 4, 1978. The set list includes tracks such as "Alison," "Mystery Dance," "Waiting for the End of the World," Miracle Man" and "Watching the Detectives," as well as previously unreleased renditions of "Lip Service," "The Beat," "Living in Paradise," "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," among others.

The White Stripes set to release limited-edition documentary box-set

The White Stripes are set to release a limited edition box-set of their Canadian tour documentary.

Called 'The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights', the box-set will include an extensive collection of DVDs, the band's first live album on CD and vinyl, a 208-page book and more.

Priced at $179 (£110) until the end of the year, the package will then go up to $229 (£140).

For more information or to pre-order the box-set please visit WhiteStripes.com.

Natalie Portman to slay zombies

Given Natalie Portman’s elegant demeanor, a turn in a period Jane Austen adaptation was inevitable.

Portman will star in and produce “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” a film that is based on the bestselling book written by Seth Grahame-Smith and Austen. Lionsgate will finance and distribute. Quirk Books published the tome.

Though Austen’s name is on the book, Grahame-Smith took the liberty of adding bloodthirsty flesh-eating zombies to the mix.

Portman will produce through her handsomecharlie shingle with Annette Savitch, plus Darko Films’ Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm.

Described as an expanded version of the Austen classic, the book tells the timeless story of a woman’s quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a deadly virus that turns the undead into vicious killers.

Portman will play feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, who is distracted from her quest to eradicate the zombie menace by the arrival of the arrogant Mr. Darcy. Darko just released “The Box,” “World’s Greatest Dad” and “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.”

Portman stars in the Jim Sheridan-directed drama “Brothers” for Relativity Media and Lionsgate. Her handsomecharlie banner recently set up “Booksmart” at Fox and is partnered with Plan B at Paramount on an adaptation of the Leanne Shapton book “Important Artifacts,” a potential screen vehicle for Portman and Brad Pitt.

Her shingle just wrapped production on “Hesher.”

“Natalie and I are longtime passionate fans of Jane Austen’s books and this a fresh, fun and thought-provoking way to approach her work,” Savitch said. “The idea of zombies running rampant in 19th Century England may sound odd, but it lends a modern sense of urgency to a well known love story.”

Tiger Woods to take 'indefinite' leave from golf

Tiger Woods said Friday he is taking an indefinite leave from golf to work on saving his marriage, using the word "infidelity" for the first time in a statement posted on his Web site.

"After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf," Woods said. "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."

Woods and his wife, Elin, have been married five years and have a 2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son.

The announcement came two weeks after a car accident set in motion a shocking downfall for the world's No. 1 player, and included sordid allegations of numerous extramarital affairs. One woman even shared a voice mail she said Woods left her two nights before his Nov. 27 accident.

Woods hasn't been seen in public since the accident.

"I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children," Woods said. "I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try."

The PGA Tour said it supported the decision by its biggest star.

"His priorities are where they need to be, and we will continue to respect and honor his family's request for privacy," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement, the tour's first public comment since Woods mentioned his "personal failings" on Dec. 2. "We look forward to Tiger's return to the PGA Tour when he determines the time is right for him."

The announcement by Woods raised the possibility, depending on how long he stays away from the game, that he could miss the Masters for the first time since he played as an amateur in 1995. The tournament is April 8-11.

One of Woods' favorite playing partners also said it was the right thing to do.
"I think it's great that he's going to put his family first and work things out," Steve Stricker said from Naples, Fla. "Golf will always be there. He wants to make sure his marriage is right and everything is good on the homefront. We'll sure miss him on tour until he gets things taken care of."

It will be the second straight season the PGA Tour begins without its No. 1 player, although this is different. A year ago, he was out of golf for eight months while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, and television ratings dropped 50 percent during his absence.

"We knew before he was coming back," Stricker said. "Now we're not sure when he's coming back. But this sounds good. I hope everything works out for him."

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, told The Associated Press that he supports Woods' decision to take time off for his family.

"The entirety of someone's life is more important than just a professional career," Steinberg said in an e-mail to the AP. "What matters most is a young family that is trying to cope with difficult life issues in a secluded and caring way.

Whenever Tiger may return to the game should be on the family's terms alone."
Addressing the subject of Woods' sponsors, Steinberg said that "it would be both premature and inappropriate to comment on the status of specific business relationships.

"Suffice it to say, we have had thoughtful conversations and his sponsors have been open to a solution-oriented dialogue," he said. "Of course, each sponsor has unique considerations and ultimately the decisions they make we would fully understand and accept."

Earlier this year, Woods became the world's first athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings, according to Forbes magazine. His sponsors include Nike, Gillette, AT&T, Accenture and Tag Heuer.

Crow, Blige announced for Lilith Fair

Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Sugarland and Erykah Badu are among the artists who will join Sarah McLachlan during her revived Lilith Fair tour in 2010.

A mix of veterans of the all-female tour with newcomers was announced Thursday by Lilith Fair organizers.

"Magic happens when you bring this many artistic women together," said Badu, who toured with Lilith Fair in 1998.

Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara, Toronto new-wave rockers Metric and Philadelphia soul singer and actress Jill Scott are also among the artists announced.

Other performers:

Emmylou Harris.
Chantal Kreviazuk.
Indigo Girls.
Corinne Bailey Rae.
Miranda Lambert.
Janelle Monáe.
Butterfly Boucher.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
Katzenjammer.
Serena Ryder.
Jill Hennesy.
Ximena Sarinana.

The festival drew more than 1.5 million fans between 1997 and 1999 in its original incarnation. Earlier this year, organizers announced that the festival would return next summer.

The first round of shows will include stops in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Cohen, Jackson to get Grammy lifetime awards

Canadian music icon Leonard Cohen, country legend Loretta Lynn and the late Michael Jackson will be honoured with lifetime achievement prizes at the coming Grammy Award celebrations, organizers announced Thursday.

Montreal-born Cohen, the King of Pop and Lynn, the beloved "Coal Miner's Daughter," will be joined on this year's roll call by classical pianist and composer André Previn, jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, Delta blues artist David (Honeyboy) Edwards and the late singer-songwriter Bobby Darin.

"This year's honourees are a prestigious group of diverse and prominent creators who have contributed some of the most distinguished and influential recordings," Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the U.S. Recording Academy, said in a statement.

"Their outstanding accomplishments and passion for their craft have created a timeless legacy that has positively affected multiple generations, and will continue to influence generations to come."

The lifetime achievement award celebrates performers for their valuable artistic contributions to the recording industry, while a corresponding prize — the trustee award — toasts the contributions of non-performers in the music industry.

The newest recipients of the latter honour include:

Country Music Hall of Fame member Harold Bradley, who built early Nashville recording studio the Quonset Hut.

Pioneering Scepter Records founder Florence Greenberg, the first woman to own and run a major record label.

Producer-director Walter C. Miller.

Organizers will also pay tribute to microphone and headphone designer AKG as well as Thomas Edison, whose many inventions included the phonograph.

This year's special Grammy Award laureates will be honoured during a gala on Jan. 30 in Los Angeles.

They will also be acknowledged the following evening during the live Grammy Award television broadcast on Jan. 31.

'Flight of the Conchords' is grounded

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, who starred in and co-created HBO's "Flight of the Conchords," say there won't be a third season of the show.

In a statement posted on the Conchords web site Thursday, McKenzie, Clement and co-creator James Bobin say they "like the way the show ended" and are leaving it at that. They've spoken in the past about the difficulty of writing songs to fit the show's episodes -- which contributed to the 16-month gap between the first and second season on HBO.

Here's the full statement from the Conchords site:

"We've noticed the less we say about the future of the show, the more people want to talk about it, so in an effort to reverse this trend we are today announcing that we won't be returning for a 3rd season. We're very proud of the two seasons we made and we like the way the show ended. We'd like to thank everyone who helped make the show and also everyone who watched it. While the characters Bret and Jemaine will no longer be around, the real Bret and Jemaine will continue to exist."

While I would have loved to see more of the Conchords on HBO, I have to respect the fact that Clement, McKenzie and Bobin are happy with how they went out and won't try to milk the show any further. And we'll always have "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros."

Cyrus to take music hiatus

Miley Cyrus is to take a hiatus from music - so she can drop her teen pop star image and concentrate on a rockier sound.

The 17-year-old Disney star is sick of clean-cut songs and is planning to give her music a drastic make-over.

And she's decided the best way to prepare her fans for an edgier sound is by taking a break from recording altogether.

She tells British TV show GMTV, "I want to do my last pop record, I'm working on a record right now. I kinda (sic) want this to be my last record for a little while and be able to take a break and just get all the types of music that I really love... you know my favourite styles. And be able have something edgier and not have to worry about people saying, 'Oh, this isn't what her fans want to listen to.' Because in a few years, as I grow up, so will my fans and I won't have to focus on that as much and I'll be able to have more of the sound of music that I'm into."

Hollywood eyes record $10 bln box office for 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Film box offices were poised on Wednesday to eclipse 2007's record $9.68 billion in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales with Hollywood eyeing more than $10 billion this year as audiences flocked to theaters during the recession.

Movie studios began the year with January crossing the $1 billion mark for the first time ever, and box offices this month are counting on help from highly anticipated films such as "Avatar," "Sherlock Holmes" and "It's Complicated."

So far, moviegoers had snapped up $9.67 billion worth of tickets at domestic -- U.S. and Canadian -- box offices through Tuesday, said tracking firm Hollywood.com Box Office.

The firm said 2007's record was expected to be surpassed on Wednesday, as Hollywood reaps returns during a recession that, as in past downturns, has seen consumers showing up in theaters for relatively cheap entertainment.

Last year's domestic box office came in at $9.63 billion.

"The global economy is taking a major hit, and when these conglomerates that own movie studios are having a tough time, it's at least one bright spot in the equation," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box Office.

"People are still, in 2009, going to the movies in big numbers."

For the entire year, Hollywood.com Box Office expects movie ticket spending in the United States and Canada to hit $10.6 billion.

The year has been helped by major releases such as "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," the year's biggest hit with $402 million in domestic ticket sales, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

At No. 2, so far, was "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which made $301 million. Also, vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" had the third biggest movie opening of all time for the United States and Canada.

Surprise hits have included Paramount Pictures' "Paranormal Activity" raking in $107 million. Warner Bros. put out two unexpected smashes, "The Hangover" ($277 million) and "The Blind Side" ($131 million and still counting.)

The 2009 total was aided by a 28 cent increase in ticket prices from the year before to an average $7.46.

The total number of tickets sold, or admissions, is expected to reach 1.4 billion, up from 1.34 billion in 2008. Still, that figure is not expected to break the record 1.6 billion tickets sold in 2002, said Hollywood.com Box Office.

The United States and Canada account for about 35 percent of the global box office total, making it the largest film market in the world, Hollywood.com Box Office said.

International figures were not available.

Canadian acts headline Olympic victory shows

Hedley, Nelly Furtado and Barenaked Ladies are among the headline artists — mostly Canadian — announced for a series of concerts to pay tribute to medal-winners at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The ceremonies will feature a concert every night for 12 days to celebrate as athletes receive their medals in speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle skiing and other winter sports.

Each evening will be devoted to one of Canada's provinces or territories.

VANOC chief executive John Furlong says British Columbia will be the focus of the first concert on Feb. 14, featuring Furtado, who grew up in Victoria.

"On each day ... you'll come to the stadium and the first 30 minutes will be very sort of local, cultural local to the area of the country," Furlong told CBC News.

"Then you'll have the celebration and the re-living of the moments of the day and the medals will be presented and then you'll have a show which is intended to cap it all off and give everybody a great experience. Most of these shows are ... we're expecting every one of them to be sold out."

Tickets for the events, at Vancouver's BC Place, range from $22 to $50.

Other artists scheduled to play:

Country singer Paul Brandt.

Vancouver's Theory of a Deadman.

Stereophonics.

Trooper and Loverboy.

Billy Talent.

INXS.

Burton Cummings.

Great Big Sea.

The concerts also will air nightly on MuchMusic. The victory parties will be held Feb. 14 to 26 during the Winter Games.

Another lineup of performers is planned for celebrations at Whistler, B.C.

Decade's best: Eminem tops in sales; Beatles get No. '1' album

The race to dominate the decade in music has come down to Eminem and The Beatles in the stretch. The winner?

Both. The rapper emerges as the top-selling artist of the past 10 years, and the Fab Four have bragging rights to the best-selling album.

With 32.2 million copies sold, Eminem leads the pack in overall album sales, followed by The Beatles with 30 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which releases its decade tabulations today. Data were tallied through Nov. 1, and though figures could rise through Dec. 31, they won't alter the rankings.

The Beatles' hits compilation 1 sold 11.5 million, edging 'N Sync's No Strings Attached, with 11.1 million. Eminem has two titles among the top 10 albums, 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP at No. 4 with 10.2 million and 2002's The Eminem Show at No. 5 with 9.8 million.

An early and roaring start paid off for The Beatles and 'N Sync. Released Nov. 13, 2000, 1 sold 595,000 its first week, 662,000 the next and 1.3 million during Christmas week. It spent eight weeks atop the chart. No Strings, issued March 21, 2000, sold 2.4 million its first seven days, the biggest week in SoundScan history.

"When you get toward 11 million units, it has to be more than early momentum," says Eric Weinberg, president of Nielsen Entertainment. "It needs to be good. What's amazing about this industry is that we really never know what the numbers are going to be."

Case in point: the unexpected mainstream success of St. Louis rapper Nelly, whose hit-laden 2000 debut Country Grammar is the 10th best-selling album, with 8.5 million copies. Norah Jones' 2002 debut, Come Away With Me, was another surprise hit, boosted by five Grammys. It lands at No. 3 with 10.5 million.

'Family Ties' actor arrested after Colo. assault

BOULDER, Colo. – Police say a former cast member of the 1980s television show "Family Ties" has been arrested for investigation of assault in Colorado.

Police said Monday that 28-year-old Brian Bonsall got into a fight at an apartment on Saturday and hit a friend with part of a broken wooden stool.

Bonsall allegedly told officers he had been drinking and didn't remember what happened.

Bonsall played Michael J. Fox's little brother Andy Keaton on the sitcom.

He is being held in the Boulder County Jail and was due in court Wednesday. Jail records didn't indicate his lawyer's name.

Authorities say Bonsall was sentenced to probation in 2007 for assaulting his girlfriend. He was later accused of probation violations.

The former child actor lives in Westminster, Colo., about 20 miles south of Boulder.

CBS cancels another daytime drama

NEW YORK – CBS is canceling the soap opera "As the World Turns" after more than a half-century on the air.

CBS says the final episode will air next September, in its 54th year. Daytime dramas have been in a long-term ratings decline, and CBS ended the daytime soap "Guiding Light" earlier this year.

Through the years, actors Marisa Tomei, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey and James Earl Jones have appeared on the show.

The cancellation will leave CBS with only two daytime dramas: "The Young and the Restless" and "Bold and Beautiful."

Report: Beastie Boys consider Coachella for 2010

Adam Yauch recently said Beastie Boys were discussing the possibility of playing the 2010 Coachella Festival, according to MovieLine.com.

Yauch, who has been recovering from a recent cancer surgery, said he is feeling fine now and he and the band are in the process of figuring out when they will return to the road. When asked about a possible Coachella appearance, Yauch said, "Maybe so. ... Believe me, it would be fun if it does come together."

Yauch's independently financed movie-distribution company, Oscilloscope Laboratories, recently launched a movie-of-the month club called The Circle of Trust. For a $150 membership fee, members will receive the next 10 Oscilloscope films on DVD one week before their street date, according to the film company's website. Members also can purchase back-catalog films for half-price.

Wiig to host `SNL' Christmas special as Gilly

NEW YORK – Kristin Wiig's recurring character Gilly might not seemed filled with holiday cheer, yet NBC is turning to her to host a "Saturday Night Live" Christmas special.

"SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas" will air Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. The two-hour special, the first for "SNL" since 2002, will be led by Wiig's Gilly, an ever-smiling Annie-lookalike who delights in violent mischief.

The special will feature new sketches with Gilly and highlights of classic holiday "SNL" sketches.

Wiig, roundly considered a standout performer on the NBC sketch comedy show, has built Gilly into a popular character. In a phone interview Monday, she said part of the fun of Gilly hosting is in her slim vocabulary, which consists mainly of the simple catch-phrase "Sorry."

"That can be a tough one to work around," Wiig said. "There's going to be no long monologue. Maybe her five-word vocabulary will stretch to 10 or 11."

A Gilly sketch is a very structured thing. It's always set in a classroom where an uncertain teacher (Will Forte) questions his students (Kenan Thompson, Bobby Moynihan) on the source of some trouble making.

Wiig and Paula Pell, a writer on the show, came up with the sketch while writing something else, but the idea continued to stick.

"We just kept doing the smile and we did it for a couple weeks," said Wiig. "We were just like, `Let's write it.' Maybe she's this bad kid. We just started saying `Sorry,' and it came organically from there."

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will also make guest appearances on the special to help introduce clips they've appeared in as hosts, including Baldwin in "NPR's Delicious Dish and the Schweddy Balls" and Martin in "A Holiday Wish."

If pressed for a holiday favorite, Wiig cites John Malkovich's maniacal reading of "`Twas the Night Before Christmas" last year.

"Since `SNL' has been on for so long, it's 35 years of at least two or three shows a year kind of based on Christmas stuff," said Wiig. "There's a lot of good material there."

New CD Releases, December 8th: Jimmy Buffett, Snoop Dogg, Thirty Seconds to Mars and more!!

Jimmy Buffett "Buffet Hotel" (Mailboat)

Mr. "Margaritaville" doesn't have any more tour dates lined up this year, but his loyal legion of fans (a.k.a. Parrot Heads) still have something to look forward to this holiday season: a brand new record. "Buffet Hotel" (one "t") is Buffett's first studio album since 2006's "Take the Weather With You."

Produced by Michael Utley and Mac McAnally (two members of Buffett's Coral Reefer band), "Buffet Hotel" features three tunes that the singer/songwriter/guitarist has already introduced in concert: "Surfing in a Hurricane," "A Lot to Drink About" and "Summerzcool," the latter of which was used as the 2009 tour name.

In a statement, Buffett said he was inspired to write the music on "Buffet Hotel" during a recent trek to West Africa to attend the Festival in the Desert, an annual music fest that takes place near Timbuktu, Mali.

"I actually didn't go to the desert with the pre-conceived notion of returning with an album," Buffett said. "I went looking for stories. ... The story that sparked the song 'Buffet Hotel,' which eventually turned into the title track and name of this album, began the minute we set foot on the patio of the infamous Hotel De La Gare Buffet in the Bamako train station, better known as Le Buffet Hotel." The Buffet Hotel is a colonial-era train station/hotel where the music scene flourished in Mali after its independence in 1960.

* * *
Snoop Dogg "Malice N Wonderland" (Priority)

The hip-hop icon takes a break from making horror movies, appearing on sports-talk shows and inventing new urban slang (fo' shizzle!) to unveil his 10th studio album. The cleverly named "Malice N Wonderland" follows last year's "Ego Trippin'," which debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200, selling 137,000 copies in its first week of release.

"Malice N Wonderland" features production by Dr. Dre, The Neptunes and Pete Rock, among others, and guest appearances by R. Kelly, Ghostface Killah, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell and many others. Snoop is currently bringing "Wonderland" to venues across North America, with upcoming dates scheduled in San Francisco and Los Angeles, among other cities.

* * *
Thirty Seconds to Mars "This is War" (Virgin)

The popular alt-rock troupe jumps back into the fray with the release of its third studio set, which follows 2005's "A Beautiful Life." The Los Angeles act, led by actor/singer/guitarist Jared Leto, worked with producers Flood (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails) and Steve Lilywhite (The Rolling Stones, U2) on "This is War."

Thirty Seconds to Mars" is currently on the road showcasing the "This is War" material. The trek continues through a Dec. 19 date at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH.

* * *
Chris Brown "Graffiti" (Jive)

The troubled R&B star, who was convicted in September of assaulting fellow singer Rihanna, continues to try to get his career back on track with the release of his third studio effort.

Thus far, his efforts in that regard have paid dividends: the first "Graffiti" single, "I Can Transform Ya" (featuring Lil' Wayne and Swizz Beatz), proved popular, peaking at No. 18 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Brown is currently in the midst of his "Fan Appreciation" tour.

* * *
Timbaland "Shock Value 2" (Blackground)

The Grammy-winning producer--who has worked with such diverse talents as Justin Timberlake, Bjork, Ashlee Simpson and Coldplay--returns with his third solo outing, a follow-up/companion-piece to 2007's "Shock Value." "Shock Value II" finds Timbaland collaborating with Katy Perry, The Fray, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and many other big-name artists.

* * *
More new releases:
BG, "Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood" (Koch)
Clipse, "Til the Casket Drops" (Sony)
Bill Cosby, "Revenge" (Rhino)
Bill Cosby, "To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With" (Rhino)
Alejandro Fernández, "Dos Mundos--Tradicion" (Fonovisa)
Mantovani, "Christmas Carols" (Collector's Choice)
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, "John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (Deluxe Edition)" (Decca)
Elvis Presley, "Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight" (Sony)
Puddle of Mudd, "Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate" (Geffen)
Linda Ronstadt, "Don't Cry Now" (Rhino)
We the Kings, "Smile Kid" (S-Curve)
Neil Young, "Dreamin' Man Live '92" (Warner)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Glee: The Music, Volume 2" (Sony)
"Invictus" (Watertower)

Kennedy Center honors Springsteen, De Niro, others

WASHINGTON — President and Mrs. Obama marked another first as they celebrated a diverse group of Kennedy Center Honorees at the 32nd annual star-studded gala performance on Sunday.

This year, medals went to writer/producer Mel Brooks, 83, actor Robert De Niro, 66, opera singer Grace Bumbry, 72, pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, 89, and singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen, 60, for their contributions to American culture. And before joining honorees at the Kennedy Center, the Obamas played host at the White House for the first time to winners at a Sunday afternoon reception.

But the big party was the evening gala. While the event draws high-profile talent year after year, Obama's presence "created a lot of fresh energy," George Stevens, creator and longtime producer of the Kennedy Center Honors, said before the show.

And many guests were excited for the honorees. "The people who are selected really have contributed to American culture," said Katie Couric, who was accompanied by beau Brooks Perlin. "They're real treasures."

With the president in attendance, security was tight, especially after the scandal over White House party crashers Micheale and Tareq Salahi. "I was a little sick of the Salahis two weeks ago," said Couric.

Before the show, Melissa Etheridge talked about why she was there: The Boss. "He's the personification of rock 'n' roll," she said of Springsteen. "The parts that the world loves about America, he personifies."

Etheridge, who sang Born to Runin the Springsteen tribute, said she met him "in a restaurant in Beverly Hills and he recognized me. ... I nearly fainted!"

And while Springsteen was Etheridge's idol, De Niro was Meryl Streep's. "De Niro was it. Gold standard. He's the one we all went to school on, were inspired by, stole from," said Streep in a heartfelt tribute to the actor, whom she co-starred with in 1978's The Deer Hunter.

"Bob never judges his characters," said director Martin Scorsese, a 2007 honoree who collaborated with De Niro on films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). "He has compassion for them, so we can have compassion too."

Ben Stiller, who was in Meet the Parents (2000) and its sequel, Meet the Fockers (2004), with De Niro, said, "You'll always be my idol. You'll always be my favorite actor, and I'm pretty sure I'll always be your favorite Focker."

Then attention switched to Brubeck, who turned 89 on Sunday. Herbie Hancock remarked, "When he sits down to play, and he turns on that smile, he loses 40, 50 years." Hancock and Brubeck's four sons then performed a set which ended in a jazzy rendition of Happy Birthday to You.

The happy mood continued as director Carl Reiner honored Brooks. "Because of you, I got to walk on the same stage as Meryl Streep, the greatest actress in the world, bar none," Reiner said, adding, "I love you, Mel, and you know that."

Martin Short, Jack Black, Harry Connick Jr., Richard Kind, Jane Krakowski and Matthew Broderick performed in the Brooks tribute, which featured songs from Brooks' musical comedies, including The Producers, Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety.

After intermission, Aretha Franklin honored Bumbry. "Several young artists today know nothing about being a diva," said Franklin. "There was a time when you earned your diva-ness. You could do it by having a voice that started like a gift from God, then developed with the dedicated work of Man. You played all the great opera houses of the world, you broke new ground, you thrilled millions of people. Grace Bumbry has done all of that."

Springsteen's salute ended the night. In addition to Etheridge's number, John Mellencamp sang Born in the USA, and Sting performed The Rising. But first, Jon Stewart spoke: "I'm not a music critic. I cannot tell you where Bruce Springsteen falls in the pantheon of the American songbook, but I am from New Jersey. And I can tell you what I believe. I believe Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby ... that child is Bruce Springsteen." Stewart added, "He is The Boss. Or, in Washington parlance, I assume he is the music czar."

Sunday's tribute will air as a two-hour special at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Dec. 29 on CBS.

Weezer cancels tour after bus crash in upstate NY

ALBANY, N.Y. – Weezer has canceled the rest of its December tour after the lead singer was injured in a bus crash in New York.

Rivers Cuomo and band assistant Sarah Kim suffered minor injuries when the group's tour bus skidded on ice, struck a guide rail and slid into a ditch Sunday morning.

Cuomo and Kim were hospitalized after the accident in the upstate New York town of Glen. That's about 40 miles west of Albany. They were traveling to a show in Boston.

Cuomo's condition isn't clear.

A message on the band's Web site says Weezer is canceling the rest of its Raditude tour and will try to reschedule those dates.

Calls and e-mails to publicist Jim Merlis weren't immediately returned Monday.

The Couch Potato Report - December 5th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels thieves with sticky fingers, a man with great hands, and the girl from Monaco.

The Report begins this week with the Quebec made film STICKY FINGERS.

Roy Dupuis from THE ROCKET and the television series LA FEMME NIKITA stars in this film as a thief, who recruits his old gang to pull off the “crime of the century”.

Unfortunately, on the night of the robbery, the police show up, but there is a back-up plan – one of the robbers is chosen by the group to escape with the two million dollars.

However, after serving four years in prison, the other thieves learn upon their release that they will only get their share of the loot on two conditions - they have to walk a pilgrimage of 830 kilometres, and above all they must have changed their ways and become good people.

STICKY FINGERS features some twists and turns that you might not see coming, and it has a fun and interesting cast.

Unfortunately, it also features some very predictable scenes, and it moves very slow at times, and those facts prevent it from being a great movie. But, if you are looking for something a little different, this film is pretty good.

I liked it.

I especially liked the scene where the thieves take the names of famous Montreal Canadiens hockey players in order to get fake passports.

What was really enjoyable about that was that Roy Dupuis didn’t proclaim himself to be Maurice Richard, even though he played him in a film.

Now if you happen to be a fan of that superb 2005 film about Maurice Richard, called THE ROCKET, well there is a new 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION of it that is brand new on stores shelves this week as well.

It not only features the film, but this new version of THE ROCKET also has the great National Film Board documentary that was made about Maurice Richard 1998 and features archival footage of him on and off the ice from the early '40s, when only a few thousand people turned out for pro hockey games, to the 1950s, when the Montreal Forum was bursting with delirious fans.

The 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION of THE ROCKET is a must own for hockey fans, even those of us who love the Toronto Maple Leafs!!

There are critics who have stated that this next film is a must own or a must see, but it is my opinion that the movie is neither of those things.

I rarely say this about a movie…but HUMPDAY is just awful.

When you see this one on the shelf at the store, even the packaging wants you to think that it is something great. Right on the front of the box is the quote: “Phenomenally funny!”

But it isn’t funny, I didn’t laugh once.

My advice to you, no matter what you hear or read about this movie, is to ignore it. It is a complete waste of your time!!

In their attempt to be unique, HUMPDAY’s story is about two male, lifelong, heterosexual friends who decide, while partying one night, to make a movie about them having sex together to enter into a film festival.

When they sober up, the one who you think will change his mind doesn’t, and the one you think won’t does…but in the end, they decide to go through with it.

Now, I am not easily offended, so the thought of these two guys being together doesn’t bother me, but they don’t offer any legitimate reason to follow through with their drunken plan…and so the whole film came across to me as just a gimmick…an idea that a filmmaker had, but couldn’t justify in their final script.

If you enjoy watching art movies that push the envelope a little bit, then you might get some enjoyment out of HUMPDAY…and I usually do…but this time I did not.

This movie is just awful, it isn’t funny, it isn’t entertaining, it isn’t even that well made!! Stay as far away from it as you can!!

I have another art film for you now, this one isn’t the complete mess of HUMPDAY, but it isn’t much better, and that is too bad as it is the latest release from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, the man who gave us the interesting films Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and Broken Flowers.

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL is about a mysterious loner who is in the process of completing a criminal job.

But we don’t know what it is, and the film doesn’t have much dialogue. Not much is said, and even less is done.

If that is you, if you like your films full of silent moments where you can either ponder them, or think about what you need to get done after it is over, then THE LIMITS OF CONTROL is for you!!

I don’t personally think the film was very good, but I admit I was hooked right up until the very end to see what happened.

One film I did like, is the French film THE GIRL FROM MONACO.

This movie is about a prestigious lawyer and his serious security guard who meet a wild child weather girl in Monaco.

The lawyer is merely trying to work on his case, but she changes his life forever…in good and bad ways.

The main reason I enjoyed the film so much is that the actress who plays the woman - Louise Bourgoin – is beautiful, and her character is someone who is just trying to live life and have fun, and that comes across on screen.

THE GIRL FROM MONACO gets a little bit dark by the end, but along the way there are some very good lines, and the movie is fun.

I did, I liked it!!

I also liked the latest film from Woody Allen, but I think you have to really love and respect him to enjoy it like I did, or you just really have to love Larry David and the show CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM.

Yes, Woody and Larry have teamed up for the film WHATEVER WORKS.

WHATEVER WORKS is basically a love story between Larry David’s self-proclaimed genius Boris and a Southern beauty queen with a heart of gold and a brain of wide-open spaces, as played by Evan Rachel Wood from THE WRESTLER.

For me, the film works because of it’s humour, because of the unlikely chemistry between the two stars, and – not unlike his work on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM - because Larry David just goes for it. He is an actor who doesn’t care if you like him, he is just doing what he enjoys.

Hey, WHATEVER WORKS!

Hey, remember George W. Bush? He was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009?

Well, after Bush left office, the great Will Ferrell staged a one-man show on Broadway as a comedic farewell to him.

And now YOU’RE WELCOME AMERICA – A FINAL NIGHT WITH GEORGE W. BUSH is available on DVD.

In the show, Ferrell plays the ex-President as the same bumbling, falsely self-confident character that he did on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.

He doesn’t offer much political commentary, but instead he does an 80 minute show full of mostly true anecdotes and stories.

WILL FERRELL – YOU’RE WELCOME AMERICA – A FINAL NIGHT WITH GEORGE W. BUSH is a very entertaining show, and offers up some huge laughs…even though, as you are laughing, you may get caught up in the fact that it actually happened!!

I have two summer blockbusters for you now, two films that I actually sort of enjoyed the second time I saw them, but didn’t like them very much the first time.

The first one is the sequel to the 2006 hit film NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, where everything comes alive at night in New York City’s Museum Of Natural History.

In NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM – BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN the setting moves from New York to Washington.

Ben Stiller is back as Larry Daley and he infiltrates the Smithsonian in order to rescue his old friends Jedediah and Octavius.

Along the way, he meets some new exhibits that come to life…I mean people.

Amy Adams from ENCHANTED play Amelia Eirhardt, and she is great, the whole cast is great!

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM – BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN is a film that is good for the whole family, and even though I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first film, it is still fun.

The other summer blockbuster I have for you is the fourth film in the TERMINATOR series, and the second one to come out with no involvement from James Cameron, the Canadian filmmaker who originated the series back in 1984 with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the cyborg who comes back in time to try and prevent the eventual leader of the resistance forces from ever being born.

In TERMINATOR – SALVATION, it is now 2018 and John Connor is all grown up.

Christian Bale from THE DARK KNIGHT is now playing John Connor, and in this chapter, we are post JUDGEMENT DAY and the resistance is trying to prevent the machines from finishing their self-aware task of destroying all of humanity...and his own existence.

TERMINATOR – SALVATION is obviously not as good as TERMINATOR 2 – JUDGEMENT DAY, and not as original as the original TERMINATOR, but it does feature some very cool explosions and effects, and a very good cast. When I watched it again this week, I liked it.

If you enjoy seeing things blow up real good, then this is a good rental.

Sam Worthington from James Cameron’s upcoming film AVATAR and an actress named Moon Bloodgood also co-star in TERMINATOR – SALVATION and if you are a fan of her Blair Williams, then there is another release this week that you might want to watch.

Her character is the lead in TERMINATOR – SALVATION – THE MACHINIMA SERIES.

The story here takes place in 2016, two years before the events of SALVATION, and is uses animation from a video game to create it's landscape and characters.

This film introduces us to Blair Williams and her backstory, and and also clarifies some plot gaps in the TERMINATOR SALVATAION movie.

TERMINATOR – SALVATION – THE MACHINIMA SERIES is not anything special, but of you are a huge fan and completist when it comes to the TERMINATOR series, then it is a must see.

The Blu-Ray Beacon this week shines it’s spotlight on two new releases, and the first one takes us to the great state of New Jersey.

THE SOPRANOS is the multiple Emmy Award winning show about the Mob in New Jersey that ran from January 10th, 1999 to June 10th, 2007.

THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON debut on Blu-ray this week, and in High Definition, this show…fuggedaboutit!!! It looks amazing!!

The packaging of THE SOPRANOS – THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on Blu-ray is almost identical to the DVD, and there are no exclusive Special Features, but if you love this show, I highly recommend this new set as it looks amazing!! The show has always been spectacular, but now…even more son.

Fuggedaboutit!!!

Finally this week is a Blu-ray that I was very excited to watch – loving almost every space related release as I do – and I was not let down.

MOONSHOT is great!!

MOONSHOT uses original NASA footage that has been transferred to high definition, along with the re-enactments and dramatic scenes that Buzz spoke about to cover the Apollo 11 mission.

We go from the astronauts home life and families, to the argument over who would be the first to walk on the lunar surface, and I found all of it fascinating.

If you enjoy movies about the moon and the moon landing, I easily recommend this one. This is good stuff…and yes, I also say that, even if you don’t enjoy movies about the moon and the moon landing.

MOONSHOT, THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of THE SOPRANOS, TERMINATOR – SALVATION, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM – BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN, WHATEVER WORKS and the 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION of THE ROCKET are available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

TERMINATOR – SALVATION – THE MACHINIMA SERIES, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL, THE GIRL FROM MONACO, WILL FERRELL’s – YOU’RE WELCOME AMERICA – A FINAL NIGHT WITH GEORGE W. BUSH, the awful HUMPDAY and the Quebec film STICKY FINGERS are all available now only on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Some of Hollywood’s biggest names - Meryl Streep and Amy Adams star in JULIE & JULIA; Johnny Depp toplines PUBLIC ENEMIES; Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino appear in Michael Mann’s HEAT; and Tom Hanks walks THE GREEN MILE.

Also next week, THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of LOST, and LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL debuts on BLU RAY

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!

Costello makes 'Spectacle' of U2

Music fans fantasize that all the biggest rock stars know each other. And they live together in a big house.

"Like the Monkees," Elvis Costello said enthusiastically.

"Or Help!" added Costello, referring to the Beatles movie. "We live in a row of terrace houses, and they're connecting inside."

That Help! house was so damn cool, we always wanted to live there.

"Yeah, me too," Costello said. "With the sunken bed ... there are plenty of people who have lived that out."

The fact is, there are some fellow titans of rock that Elvis Costello knows very well, and others that are mere acquaintances, if that. Costello's experience hosting Spectacle -- the second season of which gets under way Friday on CTV, with Bono and the Edge from U2 -- has taught Costello that good friends don't automatically make good interviews.

"Only a couple of them are people I know really well," Costello said of the second-season guest list, which includes the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Nick Lowe, Sheryl Crow, Levon Helm and Ron Sexsmith.

CTV is airing the U2 episode of Spectacle -- which sees Costello talking to, and performing with, Bono and the Edge -- as a pre-Christmas treat. The rest of the second season will air sometime in 2010, although filming has been completed already.

"We did two in Toronto at the Masonic Temple (MTV headquarters) and the rest in New York at the Apollo again," Costello said. "This second season has a different personality in that it's based more on songs rather than on the careers of individuals. We concentrated on framing things very tightly in the musical fashion."

Costello introduces Bono and the Edge with a rap about how U2 has joined the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the Who and Led Zeppelin in the rock pantheon, as unlikely as that might have seemed when U2 formed in Ireland in the late 1970s.

"You have to be happy if you open the series with Bono and Edge," Costello said. "And they're coming along to the Masonic Temple -- it's hard to imagine Led Zeppelin ever played there (but they did, in 1969). When you've got television production in there, you've got 700 people, maybe less. And U2 is playing to 40,000 people the next day at the Rogers Centre.

"It came home to me halfway through the show, around the time Bono started thanking everybody on the show from the stage, I thought, 'What incredible generosity it was for them to let themselves take part in this.' They didn't know what I was going to ask them. It's not all scripted. There's no collusion."

We asked Costello if he'd ever fantasized about having Spectacle travel back in time so he could interview and jam with some of the dearly departed titans of rock -- people such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, John Lennon, etc.

"I haven't actually had that imagining," Costello said. "But now that you say it, you could go on forever."

And then you all could move in together. Like The Monkees. Or Help!

'Anvil!' captures top prize at International Documentary Assn. Awards

Underdog of the year Anvil continued its winning streak when the documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" took the top prize at the International Documentary Assn.'s 2009 Documentary Awards today.

Sacha Gervasi's film about the Canadian metal outfit won the Distinguished Feature award at a ceremony in Los Angeles; this was the second honor bestowed upon the film by the association, which presented Gervasi with the Music Award earlier in the week. Gervasi and Anvil frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner accepted the award.

The award is something of a vindication for "Anvil," which failed to secure a spot on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' shortlist for a best documentary Oscar. The decision was widely decried by fans and critics alike, who had praised the film as among the year's best.

Other awards presented at the ceremony were the Distinguished Short Film prize, which went to Michael Angus and Murray Fredericks' "Salt," about the arid landscape of Lake Eyre in South Australia. The Career Achievement Award was presented to legendary documentarian Errol Morris ("Fast, Cheap and Out of Control," "The Gates of Heaven," "The Fog of War") by his longtime collaborator, composer Philip Glass. Veteran director and producer Nicolas Noxon received the Pioneer Award. Independent film advocate and entertainment lawyer Michael Donaldson was given the Amicus Award, and "Al Otro Lado" director Natalia Almada took home the Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.

A tribute to journalists and documentary filmmakers who lost their lives this year was paid by Current Media's Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor by a North Korean court this year before international intervention secured their release.

"Blind Side" tackles top spot at movie box offices

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Football film "The Blind Side" tackled the top spot at North American box offices with $20.4 million in ticket sales for a rare climb up the charts in its third week, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" dropped one place from last weekend to No. 2 with $15.7 million in ticket sales, and new release "Brothers," about soldiers returning home from war, landed in third place with $9.7 million.

The rise of "The Blind Side" bucks the accepted Hollywood wisdom that a new film will claim the No. 1 spot in its first week, then drop down the charts in subsequent weeks.

But "Blind Side," starring Sandra Bullock in the feel-good movie based on a real-life story about a woman who takes a homeless boy and helps turn him into a football star, opened at No. 2 three weeks ago. Its cumulative ticket sales now stand at $129 million in the United States and Canada.

"Blind Side" was released by Time Warner studio Warner Bros. and made by privately held Alcon Entertainment.

"New Moon" pushed its North America ticket sales total to just over $255 million, and worldwide the movie has now raked in $570 million, according to tracker Hollywood.com Box Office. It was distributed by independent Summit Entertainment.

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" also rose up the charts one notch, landing at No. 4 and adding $7.5 million to its coffers. Its gross domestic ticket sales now stand at $115 million.

After five weeks in theaters "A Christmas Carol" swapped places over the weekend with another Walt Disney Co movie, comedy "Old Dogs," which fell one place to No. 5 with $6.9 million in ticket sales.

NEW RELEASES

Along with "Brothers," only two other new releases made the top 10. Action flick "Armored" tied for No. 6 spot with $6.6 million, and "Everybody's Fine," starring Robert De Niro and Drew Barrymore, was No. 10 showing $4 million in ticket sales.

Disaster movie "2012" also took in $6.6 million, and after four weeks in theaters has now collected $149 million in domestic theaters and $517 million internationally for a worldwide total of $666 million, its distributor said.

Martial arts flick "Ninja Assassin" and animated comedy "Planet 51," took in $5.0 and $4.3 million, respectively, to land in the No. 8 and No. 9 spots and round out the top 10.

Elsewhere, George Clooney movie "Up In the Air," about a man who fires people for a living, opened in 15 U.S. theaters this past weekend after being named the year's best film by the U.S.-based National Board of Review earlier this week.

It took in nearly $1.2 million for a per screen average of roughly $79,000, according to distributor Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.. It will expand broadly around the U.S. in coming weeks.

"Brothers" was released by Lionsgate Entertainment. "Armored," "2012" and "Planet 51" were released by divisions of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a unit of Sony Corp.. "Everybody's Fine" was released by Disney's Miramax Films, and "Ninja Assassin" was distributed by Warner Bros.

Weezer singer hurt when bus skids off road in NY

GLEN, N.Y. – The lead singer of the rock band Weezer has suffered minor injuries after the group's tour bus hit some ice, skidded across the New York State Thruway and slid into a ditch.

Police say singer Rivers Cuomo and the band's assistant were taken to a local hospital following Sunday's early morning accident in upstate New York, about 40 miles west of Albany. The assistant also suffered minor injuries.

Cuomo's wife and 2-year-old daughter were also in the bus. They were not hurt.
State police say the group was driving to Boston when the vehicle struck ice and the driver lost control.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1992, Weezer had a handful of hits two years later with the songs "Undone — The Sweater Song," "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So."

Underwood aims for family fun with variety show

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The variety show was once a television staple, and Carrie Underwood thinks it might be time for a resurgence.

The country music star hosts Monday's "An All-Star Holiday Special" on Fox, and believes it's just the tonic for the regular TV lineup.

"I think it's really great they're making a comeback because I think it's really good family programming, and nowadays it seems like every show is about, like, murder or police and people shooting at each other," Underwood said.

The 26-year-old Oklahoma native was too young to catch the golden age of the variety show. It once was as common as the reality show with stars like Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell sisters, Sonny and Cher, and even The Muppets mixing music and comedy to draw in a family audience.

But Underwood did her research before shooting her show in Los Angeles earlier this fall.

"I remember a little bit of the Mandrell sisters and I have gone back and seen episodes of their show just to kind of, I don't know, get some ideas and kind of see how it's done from a master's perspective," she said.

She also had variety show veteran and country music star Dolly Parton on the set to lend advice. Underwood said she'd never met Parton until they did the show together, and the two hit it off right away — especially when they realized they lived close to each other.

"I told her and she was like, 'You don't live far from me, let's get together. Do you like Southern cooking? You don't look like you eat,'" Underwood said.
Brad Paisley, fellow "American Idol" winner David Cook, "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest and Neil Patrick Harris also appear in the special, along with Underwood's mother and sister.

The show caps quite the year for Underwood. She won the Academy of Country Music entertainer of the year award in the spring, and her new album, "Play On," debuted at No. 1. She also hosted the Country Music Association Awards for the second straight year.

After a quiet holiday with family, she'll turn her attention to touring in the new year, hitting the road next spring.

"I think my whole life next year will be revolving around touring," she said.

Kennedy Center honors Springsteen, De Niro, others

WASHINGTON – With a little help from Carol Burnett, a new star from the hit TV show "Glee" and other top entertainers, political Washington is saluting five of the nation's top artists with the Kennedy Center Honors this weekend.

A surprise list of star performers will honor Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro and comic genius Mel Brooks Sunday night during a show attended by President Barack Obama and other power players from Washington and Hollywood.

Also receiving the honors — which recognize individuals who have defined American culture through the arts as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy — are jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck and opera singer Grace Bumbry.

"It's different than everything else," Springsteen, 60, said of the award Saturday night at a State Department dinner honoring the group. "We worked really hard for our music to be part of American life and our fans' lives. So it's an acknowledgment that you've kind of threaded your way into the culture in a certain way. It's satisfying."

The show will air nationwide Dec. 29 on CBS.

State Department officials would not say whether security for Saturday's event had been heightened after a Virginia couple recently sneaked into a White House State dinner. The gala Sunday is Obama's first big event since Micheale and Tareq Salahi slipped past White House security Nov. 24.

The Secret Service runs security for Kennedy Center events the president attends, and everyone who enters must have a ticket that will be checked at the door.

Burnett led a series of toasts at a more private celebration for the honorees Saturday night after a dinner for about 200 hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Several of the honorees, Clinton said, have been at the forefront of cultural diplomacy. Brubeck, who turns 89 on Sunday, was sent abroad in the Cold War, she said, to serve as an ambassador with his music in countries teetering between democracy and communism.

And Springsteen played a rock concert in East Berlin for 160,000 people just 16 months before the Berlin Wall fell — a concert many Germans remember 20 years later, Clinton said.

"In every time and every culture, artists have lit the way toward progress," she said. "They've helped to provide a common language, a fabric that weaves us together as human beings."

Then there's the more irreverent arts. Even the mention of Brooks' number "Springtime for Hitler" from "The Producers" was enough to draw chuckles.

Brooks, 83, said it's special to receive the honor during the Obama administration. He said he'll whisper something in the president's ear about the need for more federal funding for the arts.

"I think when all my awards go to e-Bay, it will be the last," Brooks said of the Kennedy Center medallion. "That's how much I treasure it."

Many workers and guests were even more gaga Saturday night over seeing Matthew Morrison from TV's "Glee." They recognized him as Mr. Schuster, the high school teacher and glee club coach from the Fox show.

Morrison said he was elated to visit Washington to help honor Brooks.

"I like crossing the line every now and then, and he's kind of the master of crossing that line, being a little offensive at times," Morrison said. "The man is a living legend."

Other big names in town for the honors include Meryl Streep, Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone and others. Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was seated near Clinton, along with journalist Barbara Walters. She turned heads Saturday night, arriving as actor Frank Langella's date.

Jon Stewart was seated at Springsteen's table, along with Caroline Kennedy.

Former President Bill Clinton, a saxophone player, offered a moving toast for Brubeck. He said he first saw Brubeck's quartet in concert when he was about 15 years old and was "utterly captivated."

Later when Clinton invited Brubeck to the White House in 1994, the musician quizzed the president on what songs besides "Take Five" he liked from Brubeck's album, "Time Out," which was released 50 years ago this month. He even asked Clinton if he could hum the bridge to "Blue Rondo a la Turk." And Clinton passed the test.

A week later, Brubeck sent the president an autographed picture and chart from the song.

"It hangs in the music room of my home today," Clinton said. "It hung in the White House every single day I was there."

Irish balladeer Liam Clancy dies at 74

Irish ballad singer Liam Clancy — the last surviving member of the influential Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem folk singing troupe — has died at age 74.

Clancy died Friday at Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, Ireland, surrounded by his wife and two of his children, according to his manager.

The singer had suffered from fibrosis of the lungs, which also claimed the life of his brother, Bobby, in 2002.

Irish Arts Minister Martin Cullen was among those who offered a tribute to Clancy, hailing his "superb singing, warm voice and gift for communicating in a unique storytelling style."

Ireland has lost a brilliant musician, politician Enda Kenny said of Clancy's passing.

"His death really does mark the end of an era. Liam's contribution to Irish music and culture was simply outstanding," he said in a statement.

"As a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, [he] revolutionized ballad and hope music in Ireland and, later with Tommy Makem, Liam provided outstanding entertainment and promotion of his country."

Youngest brother

Born in Carrick-on-Suir, Liam Clancy was the youngest of 11 children. He began singing when American folk song collector Diane Hamilton Guggenheim visited his mother during a search for traditional Irish music, in 1955. It was through travels with Guggenheim that he would meet countryman Makem, his life-long friend and collaborator.

In his late teens, Clancy moved to New York to join two of his brothers, who were then working as actors in the city's theatre community. The siblings — Paddy, Tom and Liam — teamed with Makem, who had also moved to the U.S., and began putting on small concerts to raise money.

Their performances, which included folk adaptations of traditional Irish songs, eventually found a host of admirers on the pub circuit and in New York's famed Greenwich Village bohemian folk scene — including avid fan Bob Dylan, who cited the group as a major influence and called Liam Clancy "the best ballad singer I've ever heard."

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem shot to fame in 1961 when the Aran sweater-clad quartet was tapped as a last-minute substitution for a missing guest on The Ed Sullivan Show. They began recording albums and landed ever-more prestigious gigs, including at New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Royal Albert Hall.

Solo career in Canada

By the early 1970s, however, the troupe dissolved and Clancy pursued a solo career. Facing debts, he moved his family to Calgary, scored a hit with the song The Dutchman, hosted his own TV program and was featured on other music shows, including CBC's 1976 concert series Summer Evening.

He would later reunite with Makem, gaining renown as the duo Makem and Clancy. That eventually led to an expanded reunion of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

His brothers Tom and Paddy died in 1990 and 1998. Makem died in 2007.

Clancy published his autobiography, The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour, in 2001 and was profiled in an award-winning Irish TV documentary in 2006. This past September, The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy screened at the Dublin Film Festival.

Clancy is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.

Reitman's Up in the Air gets best film nod in NYC

Canadian director Jason Reitman's Up in the Air has been chosen best film of the year by the National Board of Review, an influential group of New York film enthusiasts.

Up in the Air stars George Clooney as a perpetual traveller who tries to develop a personal life after his company revokes his flying privileges.

Reitman, director of Thank You for Smoking and the Oscar-nominated teen pregnancy film Juno, adapted the screenplay for Up in the Air from a 2001 novel by Walter Kim.

Montreal-born Reitman is son of comedy director Ivan Reitman and began his career working in his father's films.

He began developing Up in the Air in 2002 before making Thank You for Smoking, but didn't finish it until six years later. The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, and goes into commercial release this week.

The nod from the National Board of Review is significant as it has a good track record in selecting Academy Award winners. It chose 2007's No Country for Old Men and 2008's Slumdog Millionaire as best picture winners.

It is one of the first U.S. groups to announce its award winners, which are selected by a group of knowledgeable film enthusiasts, academics, filmmakers and students in the New York metropolitan area.

Up in the Air earned a total of four trophies from the group on Thursday, including best actor for Clooney, who shared the award with Morgan Freeman of Invictus and best supporting actress for Anna Kendrick. Reitman and Sheldon Turner earned the award for best adapted screenplay.

Carey Mulligan, who played the British schoolgirl seduced by an older man in An Education, was named best actress.

The South African-set drama Invictus earned Clint Eastwood best director honours.

Woody Harrelson was named best supporting actor for his performance as a soldier charged with notifying families of their loved ones' deaths in The Messenger.

Breakthrough performance awards went to Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker and Gabourey Sidibe, the young star of Precious.

Beyonce leads Grammy nominations with 10

LOS ANGELES – Beyonce has enough Grammy nominations for her and Sasha Fierce.

The omnipresent diva garnered the most Grammy nominations on Thursday with 10 nods, including nominations for album of the year for "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," song of the year for her anthem "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" and record of the year for "Halo."

Country crossover sensation Taylor Swift_ the year's best-selling artist outside of the late Michael Jackson — wasn't far behind Beyonce. The 19-year-old got eight nominations, including album of the year for her multiplatinum sophomore disc "Fearless," as well as song and record of the year for her hit, "You Belong With Me."

Swift, who has won everything from American Music Awards to Country Music Association trophies to that now-infamous MTV Video Music Award moonman, said her Grammy nominations represented the apex for her.

"To be recognized by the Grammys is the ultimate honor," said Swift in a telephone call shortly after finding out about her nominations. "The last couple of months has been a nonstop dream come true."

Another diva was also nominated in all three categories: Lady Gaga. The eccentric entertainer, who had five nominations overall, garnered a best album mention for her debut CD, "The Fame," while her "Poker Face" got nominations for record and song of the year.

Other nominees for album of the year included the Black Eyed Peas "The E.N.D." and Dave Matthews Band's "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King."

The Black Eyed Peas were also nominated for record of the year for their feel-good song, "I Gotta Feeling," while the Kings of Leon were nominated for "Use Somebody."

The Kings of Leon hit was also nominated for song of the year, as well as Maxwell's comeback hit, "Pretty Wings."

The Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West got six nominations each, while Jay-Z and DJ David Guetta got five.

The country act the Zac Brown Band was nominated for best new artist, along with R&B siren Keri Hilson, rockers MGMT, the punk duo the Ting Tings and the rock group the Silversun Pickups. The year's most popular new artist, Lady Gaga, wasn't in the category because she wasn't eligible; her single "Just Dance" had been nominated last year, before she was a platinum-selling act; previous Grammy nominees can't be nominated in the category.

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said that scenario won't likely happen again: "There will be some changes so that that particular situation won't repeat itself."

The nominations for the Grammys, to be held Jan. 31, were unveiled as part of a prime-time CBS special. It was the second year in a row that the Recording Academy revealed a handful of its 109 nominees during a televised concert; in the past, they had been announced during a morning news conference.

But Wednesday's special gave nominees the chance to perform, such as the Black Eyed Peas, who sang their ubiquitous hit, "I Gotta Feeling," as well as provided face time for CBS' stars, like LL Cool J, the rapper-actor who is the star of "NCIS: Los Angeles."

Maxwell performed a tribute to Jackson during the special; for Maxwell, the night was a culmination of his comeback after an eight-year layoff.

"This is very surreal for me. I'm not used to this," said Maxwell. "I've been throwing out my trash, buying my milk, and living in basic obscurity ... To come back and make a record based on my own living experiences and not on my desire to be No. 1 ... I feel like I've already won. If nothing comes of it it's already like the cherry on the cake for me."

Several celebs were highlighted in nonmusical categories. Jimmy Carter and Michael J. Fox were among those recognized for their spoken word albums while David Hyde Pierce and Ed Asner were both nominated for their children's spoken word albums. "Weird Al" Yankovic, Stephen Colbert, Patton Oswalt, Kathy Griffin, George Lopez and faux rock band Spinal Tap will vie for best comedy album.

Was (Not Was) Turns 30 With Hits Collection

Was (Not Was) will trip through its past early next year with the Feb. 23 release of "Pick of the Litter (1980-2010)," a 19-song compilation which commemorates the 30th anniversary of the inventively warped dance/rock/soul/funk/jazz group's recording career.

"...Litter" spans the entire Was (Not Was) canon, from the 12-inch version of its firs single, "Wheel Me Out," to a pair of songs ("Semi-Interesting Week" and "From the Head to the Heart") from 2008's "Boo!" The set also includes the group's two Top 20 hits -- 1988's "Spy in the House of Love" and 1989's "Walk the Dinosaur" -- as well as an improvised live rehearsal take of "Hello Operator...I Mean Dad...I Can't Even Remember Who I Am;" the Steve "Silk" Hurley remix of "Shake Your Head" with Ozzy Osbourne and Kim Basinger; the single edit of the 1990 cover of the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone;" and collaborations with Leonard Cohen ("Elvis' Rolls Royce") and Mel Torme ("Zaz Turned Blue").

Don Was (ne Fagenson) and David Was (ne Weiss), who founded the group during the late '70s in their native Detroit (and subsequently relocated to Los Angeles), tell Billboard.com that the idea of a compilation "has been kicking around for as long as we can remember" and was even considered when Was (Not Was) signed with Shout! Factory for "Boo!" Don Was took the lead in choosing the material, saying that "I just picked the best ones, y'know? It was fun. I didn't expect it to be fun, but I remember every session, and certain things I thought were goofy I remember why we did it that way."

David Was recalls that the group's creative aim was, and continues to be, "to figure out what unlikely things could you put over a dance beat and still motivate people to move around and not freak 'em out. Whatever phantasmagoria or soloing or crazy words or whatever go in front of that beat, as long it's contemporary you can still make cool records. I still think that's a worthy ideal."

Don Was, meanwhile, feels that "...Litter" confirms that "there was a reason for us to exist. And mainly we had fun making all those records. It was never pull-your-hair-out labor. It was all laughs."

David Was says he hopes "...Litter's" release will "stir the waters enough to have an excuse to put out another record at some point," though nothing firm is planned at this point. But his partner concurs. "I think we just keep going," says Don Was, who's currently serving as a "production consultant" for Stone Temple Pilots next album and producing tracks for the Rolling Stones' upcoming "Exile on Main Street" reissue as well as albums by singers Sharon Little and Elizabeth Cool. "I anticipate doing this 'til we drop."

The track listing for Was (Not Was)'s "Pick of the Litter (1980-2010)" includes:

"Wheel Me Out"
"Out Come the Freaks"
"Tell Me What I'm Dreaming"
"The Sky's Ablaze"
"Should I Wait"
"Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball)"
"Walk the Dinosaur"
"Spy in the House of Love" (7-inch version)
"Dad I'm in Jail"
"Somewhere in America There's a Street Named After My Dad"
"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (promo edit single)
"I Feel Better Than James Brown"
"I Blew Up the United States"
"Semi-Interesting Week"
"From the Head to the Heart"
"Hello Operator . . . I Mean Dad . . .I Can't Even Remember Who I Am" (live rehearsal version)
"Shake Your Head" (Steve "Silk" Hurley remix featuring Kim Basinger and Ozzy Osbourne)
"Elvis' Rolls Royce" (featuring Leonard Cohen)
"Zaz Turned Blue" (featuring Mel Torme)

Christmas scheduling confirmed

The BBC Press Office has confirmed the scheduling of The End of Time, the two-part final adventure for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Part one will be shown from 6pm to 7pm on Christmas Day, Friday the 25th of December. Part two follows from 6.40-7.55pm the following Friday, 1st January 2010 - New Year's Day.

In other news, the latest edition of Radio Times has confirmed the casting of Claire Bloom and Brian Cox in The End of Time.

Claire Bloom's casting has been rumoured in many press reports over the last few months but this is the first official confirmation from the BBC that she is in the episode. She has a long career in film and Television appearing with Charlie Chaplin in the 1952 film Limelight for which she won the BAFTA for Best Newcomer. She later won the Best Actress BAFTA for the 1986 film Shadowlands. She is a renowned Shakespearian actress who received great acclaim for her portrayal of Ophelia in Hamlet when she was just seventeen.

Brian Cox provided the voice over for the Ood elder seen in the End of Time trail at the end of The Waters of Mars and was the mystery guest star refered to by Russell T Davies in his Production Notes in DWM. Cox is best known for his role as Hannibal Lecktor in the 1986 film Manhunter as well many Hollywood films and also for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Nuremberg in 2001.

David Tennant's starring role in Hamlet can be seen on BBC Two on Boxing Day, Saturday 26 December from 5.05-8.10pm. and the Catherine Tate special, Nan's Christmas Carol, can be seen on BBC One on Christmas Day at 10.30pm.

Muppets take the web: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' viral video leads online push

NEW YORK - Much like the Muppets took Manhattan, they have taken the web.

Since debuting last week, the Muppet parody of the classic music video of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been viewed more than 8.6 million times on YouTube. It's an exceptional hit for the first video posted on a new YouTube channel by the Muppets Studio, the Walt Disney Company subsidiary formed in 2004 after the Jim Henson Company sold the franchise.

A Twitter feed has also been launched. (It's mostly promotional; Kermit isn't blogging.) And a Facebook page has been started.

Muppets Studio general manager Lylle Breier said the online push for the Muppets was designed to help reboot the franchise and quickly get new content to fans.

"When the Muppets came into real popularity was the '70s. What was popular in the '70s? Variety shows - that's what 'The Muppet Show' was," said Breier. "What's the Web? It's a giant variety show. That's why the Muppets fit so perfectly. Parody has always been at the heart of what the Muppets do."

Breier said the Muppets singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" had long been an idea on the back burner, but the project only recently came together.

In it, just about every famous Muppet character makes a cameo: Gonzo and his chickens appear in silhouette; Ralph plays piano; Beaker supplies his normal "meep-meep-meep-meep"; Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem rock out.

Animal bangs on the drums and gets to channel Freddie Mercury, singing "Mama!" He repeats it instead of singing the full, child-unfriendly line "Mama just killed a man/ Put a gun against his head/ Pulled my trigger/ Now he's dead."

It's not the Muppets first foray into online video. Several videos were released last year, most notably including Beaker singing "Ode to Joy." More than seven million have since watched Beaker's rendition.

Breier says more web videos are on the way. A version of "Carol of the Bells" will be released for Christmas, and a handful of other videos will follow in 2010.

The purpose of the sudden Muppet expansion is partly promotional. The Muppets have also recently made appearances on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Last year's holiday special, "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" has recently been released on DVD and will air again Friday on NBC.

What is more important, a new, much-anticipated theatrical film is in the works. Jason Segel ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") and his writing partner Nicholas Stoller have been writing a new Muppets film expected to return the franchise to its more acclaimed past.

"It's all part of a plan for new creative content with online, television, a new theatrical movie," said Breier. "We're bringing the Muppets back."

Safe bets for Grammy nominations

It's the beginning of December, which can only mean one thing: It's time to start griping about the Grammys.

The annual awards race -- and the complaints -- officially begins tonight when major nominees for the 52nd Grammys are named during a one-hour special airing tonight on CBS.

The annoyingly titled Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! Countdown to Music's Biggest Night -- broadcast from Los Angeles and hosted by LL Cool J -- will also feature performances by Black Eyed Peas, Sugarland, Maxwell and Nick Jonas' new side project, The Administration.

The awards get handed out Jan. 31 at L.A.'s Staples Center. But you don't have to be The Mentalist to guess who's going to walk away with nominations tonight.

Here are some safe bets:

Lady Gaga: While ironically ineligible for best new artist (because she was nominated last year in the dance category), Gaga could easily be this year's Amy Winehouse, thanks to the runaway success of her album, The Fame Monster.

Taylor Swift: The cat-eyed country-pop cutie was shut out last year despite performing at the nominations concert -- perhaps because, near as anyone can tell, she simply cannot sing -- but the undeniable success of her latest CD, Fearless, should guarantee her a spot this time.

Beyonce: Last year's I Am ... Sasha Fierce might not snag a nod, but you can count on her single Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) to be in the running.

U2: Whether you liked No Line on the Horizon or not, they're the biggest band in music. And let's face it, the music biz needs all the help it can get these days.

Green Day: Their 21st Century Breakdown wasn't quite as groundbreaking as American Idiot, but it was ambitious enough to earn them some Grammy love.

Kanye West: His electronica-based album 808s and Heartbreak was artistically and commercially risky. Besides, what's an awards show without Kanye storming the stage?

Eminem: Expect the real Slim Shady to stand up and accept a nomination for Relapse, his first studio album in five years.

Black Eyed Peas: I gotta feeling tonight's going to be a good night for will.i.am, Fergie and whoever those other two guys are.

Maxwell: His latest CD, BLACKsummers'night, his first album in eight years, earned the R&B crooner rave reviews. Plus, he's playing the nominations concert. Duh.

Whitney Houston: Her Clive Davis-produced comeback, I Look to You, was released early to meet this year's Aug. 31 qualifying deadline. Everybody loves a comeback. And fears Davis.

Noms fete promises to be a superstar-studded affair

There are plenty of other big names to look for tonight at the Grammy nominations ceremony: The Pretenders, Fall Out Boy, Morrissey, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, Zac Brown, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dead Weather, Wilco, M.I.A., AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Nickelback, Owl City, Pink, Phoenix and, of course, Michael Jackson (if you don't think they'll find some trophy to give him, you're kidding yourself).

Meanwhile, the American Recording Academy has already announced the names of some guaranteed winners -- their songs and albums are being inducted into the Hall of Fame. They include The Beach Boys (California Girls), Bob Marley (Catch a Fire), George Carlin (Class Clown), James Brown (It's a Man's Man's Man's World), Janis Joplin (Pearl), The Doors (Riders on the Storm) and many more.

As well, Canadian-raised legend Neil Young has been selected as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year in recognition of both his artistic achievements and philanthropic work. He will be honoured at a Jan. 29 gala that will include performances by CSN, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, k.d. lang, Dave Matthews, Red Hot Chili Peppers, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Wilco, Jackson Browne and Josh Groban.

Bachman, Turner Reunite For New Music, Tour

The Bachman-Turner Overdrive principals Randy Bachman and Fred Turner have reunited to record the title track of Bachman's next album, "Rock 'n' Roll is the Only Way Out," which the guitarist describes to Billboard.com as "really rootsy, really AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, really fun, eager, hungry rock 'n' roll. It sounds like we're in our 20s again." Bachman and Turner plan to announce details of the album's release, which is expected next fall, as well as tour plans at a press conference Dec. 8 in Winnipeg, where both men reside.

They won't be joined by the rest of their bandmates, however; drummer Rob Bachman (Bachman's younger brother) and guitarist Blair Thornton have filed suit to prevent the duo from using the BTO name. But Bachman said that won't prevent he and Turner -- who are reportedly considering monikers such as Bachman-Turner or Bachman-Turner United -- from working together.

"We've been getting offers for the last five or six years," says Bachman, who served three separate tenures in BTO. "It started in 2000, with the reunion of the Guess Who. I went to see the Eagles, and the first thing Don Henley and Joe Walsh said was, 'How's Turner? Any chance you guys will do anything?' 'Why are you interested?' 'You're the last band of the '70s that hasn't gotten back together or put something out, that's why!' Mick Jagger said the same thing when we played the SARS show in Toronto (in 2003). So we'll see what happens when my CD comes out; the first cut people are gonna hear is this cut with me and Fred singing."

Bachman says he and Turner had been in contact for awhile before he presented the "Rock 'n' Roll is the Only Way Out" track to him. "I said, 'Fred, pick whatever vocal line you want and scream your head off, just like the old days...The guys recording it called me and said, 'We can't believe this. This is the greatest thing ever.' When I got the track and played it, i was like, 'Holy cow, no one has heard anything like this since the '70s. It's amazing."

Bachman -- whose album also includes appearances by Neil Young and the late Jeff Healey -- adds that since then Turner has given the guitarist a few of his songs to possibly work on as well.

During its run BTO sold an estimated 20 million albums worldwide, topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974 with "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and also scored Top 40 hits such as "Takin' Care of Business," "Roll On Down the Highway," "Hey You" and "Let It Ride."

Precious, Station & 500 Days Lead Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Precious, The Last Station and (500) Days Of Summer lead the Best Film nominations for the 25th Independent Spirit Awards. Amreeka and Sin Nombre also made the list, which was announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.

The Last Station, which chronicles the final days of Russian author Leo Tolstoy, and the acclaimed Precious scored the most nominations with five each.

Early Oscar favourite The Hurt Locker missed out on a nomination because it was selected last year.

To be eligible for an Independent Spirit nod, all films must have been made for less than $20 million (GBP12.5 million). Films must have either screened at a major film festival including Sundance, Toronto or Film Independent’s own Los Angeles Film Festival or had a one-week engagement at a commercial theatre.

The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles on 5 March.

Mellencamp to quit smoking if Facebook campaign hits one-million mark

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — John Mellencamp's 14-year-old son has started a social networking campaign on Facebook that he hopes will get his rocker dad to quit smoking.

The 58-year-old Mellencamp has said many times since his 1994 heart attack that he's failed in trying to kick his decades-old habit. Mellencamp's youngest son, Speck, says his dad has promised to quit if he gets 1 million people to join the Facebook group. More than 7,000 people had joined the group as of Tuesday afternoon.

Mellencamp publicist Bob Merlis told The Associated Press that the challenge is legitimate.

The Facebook group is called: "1,000,000 to join, my dad john mellencamp will quit smoking."

'Bourne' director confirms he won't do fourth film

Paul Greengrass, who directed the second and third installments of the $945 million grossing franchise — The Bourne Supermacy and The Bourne Ultimatum — has confirmed that he will not be making the fourth film. Greengrass, who also directed the controversial 9/11 drama, United 93, issued this statement: “You won’t find a more devoted supporter of the Bourne franchise than me. I will always be grateful to have been the caretaker to Jason Bourne over the course of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. I’m very proud of those films and feel they express everything I most passionately believe about the possibility of making quality movies in the mainstream. My decision to not return a third time as director is simply about feeling the call for a different challenge. There’s been no disagreement with Universal Pictures. The opportunity to work with the Bourne family again is a difficult thing to pass up, but we have discussed this together and they have been incredibly understanding and supportive. I’ve been lucky enough to have made four films for Universal, and our relationship continues. Jason Bourne existed before me and will continue, and I hope to remain involved in some capacity as the series moves on.”

The story, which originally broke earlier this week on the blog The Playlist, cited script challenges and Greengrass’s schedule as mitigating factors. (Greengrass has been busy making Green Zone, a big-budget Iraq-based thriller, with Bourne star Matt Damon.) Variety’s Michael Fleming reports today that Damon is not yet attached to make the fourth Bourne film, either, and posits that Tony Gilroy, who wrote all three previous Bourne films and recently directed Michael Clayton and Duplicity, could now possibly step in to write and direct. It’s also possible that Georg Nolfi –who co-wrote Ultimatum with Gilroy and is now making his directing debut, Adjustment Bureau (based on a Philip K. Dick short story) with Damon in the lead — might also consider stepping in as director. Nolfi has already written a version of the script for the fourth Bourne, but when he left to do Adjustment, the studio brought in writer Joshua Zetumer to script a different version. It remains to be seen which script, and which director (if any), will persuade Damon to sign his name on the dotted line.

'Simpsons' 20th anniversary special airing Jan. 10

LOS ANGELES – "The Simpsons" is going to wrap up its 20th anniversary year of celebration with the help of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

Fox announced Tuesday that Spurlock will present the hourlong special "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: in 3-D! on Ice" on Sunday, Jan. 10, at 8:30 p.m. EST. The animated television show debuted on Fox in 1989.

At 8 p.m. EST that night, the series will air its 450th episode, "Once Upon a Time in Springfield," with guest star Anne Hathaway.

Spurlock is best known for his documentary, "Super Size Me."