Pick Hits

Off the Record

Simple Plan - No Pads, No Helmets…

Turning teenage angst into infectious pop-punk, Montreal's Simple Plan have hit the right chord with fans, landing them a spot on the Vans Warped Tour and several Hollywood soundtracks. The hook-filled single I'm Just a Kid appeared on three feature films (The New Guy, Bring It On and Road Trip) and their current release, I'd Do Anything is currently assaulting the top 20. Influences ranging from Green Day, Blink-182, the Clash and the Beach Boys may explain the bands knack for blending melodies with aggression. Taking their band name from the film of the same title, Simple Plan have fused Sum 41's riffs with tongue in cheek lyrics and a great live presence to become one of the bands to watch. If you are looking for an hard-hitting, witty, fun punk-pop album, this is it.

At The Movies

Trapped

The perfect crime just might be the crime that is never reported. Some criminals seize control of their environment so convincingly, and cover their tracks so effectively that they leave nothing but terrified victims so shocked that they retreat into silence. These are the unfortunate victims of Joe and Cheryl Hickey (Kevin Bacon and Courtney Love), who along with Joe's cousin Marvin have orchestrated and refined a foolproof plan to extort money from wealthy families. They've preyed upon helpless families with confidence, skill, and success. But this time, they picked the wrong family, a family that chooses to fight back and take control of a terrifying ordeal that is spiraling towards an unthinkable outcome. This is definitely a movie to check out, a thrilling action flick you should look forward to seeing.

On Video

Frailty

Matthew McConaughey plays Fenton Meeks, who approaches an FBI investigator claiming to know that the identity of a serial killer dubbed the God’s Hand Killer is his younger brother Adam. Fenton continues by recounting in a series of flashbacks how he and his brother had a normal upbringing, raised by their widowed father, until the night their Dad woke his kids in the middle of the night to inform them that he has had a vision that the Meeks family must act as God's hands to purge the world of the demons among them. As their father's visions become more frequent and disturbing, the paths of the brothers begin to diverge as the younger, more impressionable Adam aligns himself with their father and Fenton's questioning of God's will, as interpreted by his father, throws the family off on a wrenching course that will test their faith, challenge a son's courage and end a child's innocence.

The Buzz...

Kelly Osbourne is still dropping an album, but her Hollywood acting debut will have to wait. Ozzy's youngest daughter has dropped out of a remake of the 1977 Disney teen classic "Freaky Friday," currently in production. Osbourne pulled out of the picture due to scheduling conflicts surrounding the promotion cycle of her debut album ‘Buy Me’. The disc is due November 5.

No Doubt's Gwen Stefani and Bush's Gavin Rossdale were married Saturday in London. The couple of six years walked the aisle of St. Paul's Church before heading to Los Angeles for a second ceremony for their Stateside friends and family.

As their new album, Stanley Climbfall, hits stores this week, Lifehouse announced the addition of guitarist Sean Woolstenhulme to their lineup. Woolstenhulme, whose brother Rick drums for the onetime trio, quietly parted company with the Calling in June and has been serving as Lifehouse's touring member throughout the summer.

ABC and McDonald's have teamed up to try and fatten up some TV ratings. McDonald's will plug the network's 8-9 p.m. time slot, which ABC has billed as Happy Hour, on tray liners, bags, drive-through window signs and posters from September 20 to 29.

A former studio security guard and another man were charged with receiving Batman and Spider-Man costumes allegedly stolen off movie studio lots. Four custom Spider-Man suits were stolen from Sony Studios, and the Batman suit, and a mannequin were stolen from the Warner Bros. lot. They were worth an estimated value of $400,000.

Bids exceeding $40 million on ebay for a house where the late grunge rocker Kurt Cobain lived as a boy were not serious. The high offer from a serious bidder is $210,000, which is $10,000 over the minimum set by Ed and Jennifer McKee of Oregon City, Ore.

TLC is gearing up to release their first album since the death of member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. The CD will be called 3D, based on Lopes' suggestion that each of the members of TLC brought their own dimension to the group's music.

One of the Internet's leading pornography sites has offered to buy the namespace www.napster.com for nearly $3 million.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon are among the artists featured on A Tribute To The King, an Elvis Presley covers collection due out October 22.

Beck has inked the first 11 dates of his upcoming tour that will featuring the Flaming Lips as his backing band, kicking things off October 17 in Minneapolis.

Slash has confirmed that he and two fellow former Guns N' Roses members, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, have formed a new, as-yet-unnamed band. The guitarist adds that they're currently looking for a frontman and want someone who can rebel yell like Billy Idol.

Nick Carter will play the frontman of Jay & the Americans on NBC's new "American Dreams," a drama centering on the legendary music show "American Bandstand" in the late 1960s. Carter will sing Jay & the Americans' two biggest hits, "Come a Little Bit Closer" and "She Cried," according to an NBC spokesperson. He's currently filming the episode which will air November 3.

Warner Bros. is making a few dozen of its movies available for downloading through an online video-on-demand service. The deal with CinemaNow, has the downloads come with electronic locks designed to provide 24 hours of unlimited playback while also deterring users from copying or redistributing the files.

Cult singer Ian Astbury officially has been named the new singer of the re-formed Doors. Ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland also is part of the lineup of the group, which plans on recording a new album next year.

The 1961 pink Cadillac that Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson got engaged in can now be yours. The Caddy will be auctioned off on ebay, and will come with a bonus, two plastic Champagne glasses left in the car after Rock popped the question.

Electronic Arts Inc. has inked a deal with Intel and McDonald's to incorporate their products into its upcoming computer game, The Sims Online. The multimillion-dollar deal is a milestone for the game industry, which traditionally has paid to use other companies' logos in their games.

Marie Fredriksson of the Swedish pop duo Roxette has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Actress Kim Hunter, well known for her role as Zira in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes and two sequels has died at age 79.

Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti will perform at a charity concert in Monaco next month to help raise money for a U.N. anti-hunger program.

FX has decided not to order any more episodes of Howard Stern's Son of the Beach sitcom after a raunchy three-season run.

NBC has ordered a second season of Crime & Punishment, the Dick Wolf-produced documentary series that chronicles the work of real-life prosecutors. 

Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and former All Saints star Nicole Appleton have gotten engaged, the latter told Reuters on Friday. Gallagher was last married to actress Patsy Kensit, while Appleton is the former fiancée of Robbie Williams.