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Off The Record...
Yaz
The Best Of Yaz
When listening to
classic oldies it's easy to forget how revolutionary the songs sounded when they
were first released. The Best of Yaz contains all the duo's great pop moments,
but it also has some of the bluesy ballads that seemed so daring at the time,
resulting in powerful listening at a time when many of Yaz' contemporaries have
been consigned to the bargain bins. These timeless qualities have ensured
periodical remixes over the years, and this compilation brings a fresh assault.
On The Air...
Stark Raving Mad
An ultra conservative
editor (Neil Patrick Harris) gets a tough assignment, to prod horror novelist
Ian Stark (Tony Shalhoub) into finishing his next book. Although their personal
styles clash, the mismatched pair reluctantly acknowledge that they need each
other professionally. But all work and no play makes Stark a dull boy, hence his
inclination for pranks. Great biting comedy, airs Thursday nights on NBC at
9:30.
On Video...
The
Thirteenth Floor
Sci-fi mystery
thriller about computer visionaries who create a living simulation of 1937 Los
Angeles on a computer located on the 13th floor of a downtown office building.
When one of the men turns up dead, the other is accused of the murder, and must
enter the computer and travel to the virtual world to solve the crime. Enough
twists and turns and plot convolutions to keep most sci-fi fans busily trying to
figure out the story, an effort amply rewarded with a true sci-fi ending.
The Buzz...
The DVD of The
Matrix reportedly has problems playing on some older DVD units. Problems
include video freezing, poor matchup between lips and words, and problems with
the navigation menu. This on the heels of it's first week sales surpassing that
of every other DVD released this year, even outstripping box office giant
Titanic.
That little show from
Japan
about those cute little monsters continues to dominate the Saturday morning
ratings. Pokémon gave the WB Network it’s third winning week in a row in
the highly competitive kid’s ratings race.
Bruce Campbell
confirmed he’d take the lead role in Jack of All Trades, a new action/adventure
series filling in the time slot left empty by Hercules.
A Jonah Hex TV
pilot is moving forward at Fox and a House of Secrets film proposal is in Warner
Brothers lap.
David Mamet’s
first draft of Hannibal, the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas
Harris, was strong enough to convince Universal to consider the summer of 2000
as a filming start date.
Buffy the Vampire
Slayer's Seth Green has taken a leave of absence from the series to
take a film role, and whether he'll return to the show is undecided.
Archie Comics
Publisher Michael Silberkleit faxed a sharply worded letter to Viacom
chairman Sumner Redstone demanding an apology from actress Melissa Joan Hart.
The letter was prompted by interviews and provocative photos of the 23-year-old
star of Sabrina the Teenage Witch appearing in upcoming issues of
Bikini and Maxim.
Neither James
Cameron nor Lightstorm are involved with Terminator 3 at this time.
Despite Internet talk that Cameron was on board for the movie, Lightstorm
president Rae Sanchini told Cinescape that was not the case.
The Poke-mania has
spawned a number of knock-offs and some highly illegal counterfeits. U.S.
Customs officials confiscated $50,000 worth of apparently counterfeit Charizard,
Jigglypuff, Diglett cards and other Pokemon merchandise being shipped
through O'Hare International Airport from Japan.
Walt Disney World’s
European cousin will soon get its own version of Disney-MGM Studios. Les
studios Disney will open in the spring of 2002 next to Disneyland Paris in
France.
During a BBC Radio
One interview, Anthony Daniels
(C3PO)
may have
dropped a hint as to when filming might begin on the next Star Wars
prequel. “I’m keeping the second week in April free for some shooting,” he
said.
According to Sega, over 514,000 Dreamcast units have been sold since its September 9th release, giving
the Dreamcast the top spot for a videogame console premiere. This easily beat
the record set in 1995 by the Playstation, which took four months to
reach sales of a half million, and the Nintendo64 in 1996, which took two
months.
Hundreds of Marilyn Monroe's
belongings have gone on display this week at Christie's auction house in Paris,
including the flesh-colored dress Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to U.S.
President John F. Kennedy.
TV Guide Inc. is being
purchased by videocassette programming pioneer Gemstar International Group Ltd.
in a $8.6 billion stock deal, the second time in less than a year it is has
changed hands. |
