Category: News (Page 364 of 401)

Is it wrong that I laughed…

…when I first got on Yahoo! this morning and saw that, directly underneath the Entertainment news box that boldly announced that Tom and Katie had their baby, the Buzz Log box posed the question, “How hard is it to fake a pregnancy?”

Mind you, they were talking about the Missouri couple who claimed they had sextuplets when, in fact, they had no babies at all…but, still, I laughed really hard.

HD-DVDs hitting stores

Universal released “Serenity” on HD-DVD today; it represents the studio’s first title in the new high-def format. The studio will release “Apollo 13” and “Doom” next week.

Warner Home Video released three HD-DVD titles as well, with “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “The Last Samurai” hitting shelves today. Warner plans to release a dozen more titles in May. The first titles in the format have a MSRP of $29-$35.

But before you rush out and buy one of the $500 HD-DVD players, be warned that there is a format battle brewing, and it’s not unlike the Beta/VHS war in the ’80s. Blu-ray is HD-DVD’s main competitor and it’s unclear which format will win out. Sony and Pioneer have backed Blu-ray, and once the Playstation 3 hits shelves, the format will get a big boost. The two formats are identical in picture quality, but Blu-ray boasts 67% more capacity and that may put the format over the top. If you remember, Beta actually had a better picture quality, but was limited to two hours of recording time. VHS tapes were capable of recording up to 6 hours, and the picture quality was “good enough” for consumers, allowing the format to ultimately win out.

One thing hindering Blu-ray’s progress is the lack of available players and the initial cost of those players once they are available. Toshiba has a HD-DVD player for $499 but the first Blu-ray player from Samsung will cost $1000. It is doubtful that the PS3, which will double as a Blu-ray player, will have a price tag this high. LG and Samsung each plan to release a player that will play both formats.

These HD discs will be an improvement over current DVDs, but with the uncertainty in the marketplace, I’m going to stick with my trusty progressive-scan DVD player for now.

Why not just call it “The David Blaine Project”?

The Sun newspaper in London is reporting that a new music reality show is in the works called “Band in a Bubble” where, well, a band is placed inside a bubble for one month while they write and record a new album. So far, The Darkness has been approached as the maiden band for the project, but nothing official has yet to be announced.

Is there a genuine audience for something like this, and if so, how much further can the reality show genre sink before television is destroyed forever?

Box Office Roundup: Boo

Based on Sunday’s estimates:

1) Scary Movie 4: $41 million (first week)
They were smart to include the scariest thing we saw in the last year: Tom Cruise on Oprah.
2) Ice Age: The Meltdown: $20 million ($147.1 million, third week)
In fairness to Denis Leary, the next installment should be “Ice Age: Diego Gets Peckish.”
3) The Benchwarmers: $10 million ($35.9 million, second week)
We’d take this moment to make fun of the ridiculous wig David Spade wears in this movie, but then we remember: he’s dating Heather Locklear. Damn.
4) The Wild: $9.5 million (first week)
When our guy was assigned to cover this, he said, “Just take my ‘Madagascar’ review and replace the title.”
5) Take the Lead: $6.7 million ($22.5 million, second week)
Never underestimate the power of dance. Or something.

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