FOXNews.com – Foxlife – TV Land to Air Alf Special

Ed McMahon has found the unlikeliest of talk-show hosts to replace Johnny Carson: Alf, the alien from the planet Melmac. McMahon will be announcing “Heeeere’s Alf!” on a half-hour special that will air July 7 on TV Land, the cable channel said.

There’s been talk of an Alf talk show for years now. I’m glad to see they finally found a taker. I hope it’s successful. I think a talk show hosted by a furry puppet could work.

And at least Paul Fusco won’t laugh at his own lines like Robert Smigel… ;-)

The latest edition of Pipeline Commentary and Review is a short one, reviewing two romance comics. The first, URSULA, isn’t due out until August. The second, TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD: 100 STORIES out now. It’s an excellent collection of humor strips and is a great book to get for that non-comic reading girlfriend/wife.

It’s about flipping time. One of the best animated features of the past decade — some might even say the best — is finally coming to DVD in a special edition. THE IRON GIANT SE DVD is due out in Setpember. The “regular” edition has been available for a long time, now, but this is a movie that truly deserves better treatment.

Director Brad Bird’s next feature, THE INVINCIBLES (at Pixar) is due out shortly afterwards. Coincidence? Probably not, but how geeky do you have to be to know that? I imagine Warner will put “From the Director Of” stickers on the packaging to make it more obvious.

According to Mark Evanier, Will Ferrell has signed on to play Franz Liebkind in the upcoming PRODUCERS movie remake.

Am I the only one who has no interest in this guy? Surely, someone else is sick of having Ferrell showing up in every other movie to play the same kooky and zany part? Ben Stiller has the same one note problem, but at least his characters aren’t aggressively trying too hard to be funny. UGH

Steve Jobs made some more announcements this week, including a high def 30 inch flat screen monitor, and yet another upgrade to OS X. It doesn’t bother me to upgrade an operating system frequently. I am, after all, a Linux nut. But if it costs the users another $100 per upgrade, I’ll be annoyed for them. It’s not due out until 2005 and won’t break pre-existing apps, so it’s not too bad.

Unlike its smaller siblings, the new screen will work only with Power Macs equipped with a new $600 GeForce video card from nVidia that features dual DVI outputs — one for each half of the 2,560 by 1,600, 4.1 million-pixel screen.

Well, it’ll be nice for upscale graphics companies, at least.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: FREE MP3 MUSIC, HUZZAH!

New Album “The Spine” out July 13 They Might Be Giants bring on the rock in a way they have NEVER brought in before with the release of their tenth full-length album, The Spine (Idlewild/Rounder/Universal). This is the Giants’ first rock and roll record since the theatrical release of the documentary “Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns,” and the enormous success of their recent children’s album, NO!. The singular sound of Linnell & Flansburgh’s work is back. The solid song-craft, lyrical curiosity, and hyper-inventive style expected from the Johns are elevated to new heights with edgy, tripped-out impulses. The Spine is testament to how much the band continues to evolve and flourish.

It’s a good documentary, too. The DVD is packed with lots of bonus goodies.

Now, excuse me while I go track down this fall release rumor for Meat Loaf’s BAT OUT OF HELL 3…

FOXNews.com – Foxlife – DeGarmo’s First Single Hitting Stores

“American Idol” finalist Diana DeGarmo’s first single, “Dreams,” will be released Tuesday by RCA Records, and the 17-year-old singer says she’s excited to hear it played on the radio. [...] The three-song CD single also contains DeGarmo’s version of “I Believe,” the single released by Fantasia, and “Don’t Cry Out Loud.”

Melissa Manchester was in the studio to help record “Don’t Cry Out Loud.” Pretty cool.

If I’m reading the story right, the CD hits stores today.

Also in the music world today, MAROON 5 releases a live EP.

Update: USA Today weighs in with more details on the single.

You know the drill. The full release list can be found at DVDJournal.com.

Blazing Saddles: 30th Anniversary Edition (1974) Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

DRACULA didn’t get too many good reviews, but it’s not a bad movie. And the blood-spraying incident is one of the biggest laughs I’ve ever had in a movie theater.

BLAZING SADDLES is, of course, a classic. Mel Brooks, in the same year, did both BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Can you imagine any filmmaker putting out two such memorable movies in the same year today? It just won’t happen.

Now, when will we see a special edition DVD release of ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS?

Dawson’s Creek: Season Three (4-disc set)

They’ve replaced the theme song with one by Jann Arden. I remember hearing reports after the second season that they were changing the theme song to something by a Canadian singer. There was even a news story to that effect on a Canadian website. But when the series returned that fall, Paula Cole’s memorable melody was still there on my TV set. As it turns out, the song was replaced by Arden’s for other countries, such as Canada. Partly as a financial concern, they’re going with that theme song for this release now.

It’s a big shame that these shows will never be seen again the way they were intended to be seen. Hopefully, all television shows today are signing better release forms with record companies so we won’t continue to have these hatchet jobs.

The English Patient: Collector’s Series (2-disc set) (1996)

I’ll never forget the SEINFELD episode…

The Land of the Lost: Season One (3-disc set)

I would be remiss in not mentioning this piece of my childhood.

Spider-Man: The 1967 Classic Collection (6-disc set) (1967) Wonder Woman: Season One (3-disc set)

I mention this only for all your comic fans out there. I’m not picking up either, but I know many of you are looking forward to one or the other.

Next week: BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES finally makes it out to DVD in a boxed set. Everything else pales by comparison, not that there’s much out there. It’s the following week that has more of Hollywood’s big releases.

Just watched Avril Lavigne’s latest video for “My Happy Ending” and the question becomes:

Separated at birth: Avril Lavigne and Sarah Michele Gellar?

I know the BUFFY people are going to give me crap on this one…

Music Article | Reuters.com

Instant Live, Clear Channel Entertainment’s live concert CD program, has signed its first major-label artist. Billboard has learned that Atlantic Records artist Jewel will sell live CDs at select dates on her summer tour.

Clear Channel is still evil for trying to patent this idea, but it is good news that it’s starting to break out to major label artists. There’s a list of other artists signed up for this service in the article, too.

It’s a horrible picture of Jewel with the article, though. Is she pregnant? Did I miss a gossip page? Or is it just a bad angle?

Hyundai plans release of hybrid car in 2005

Hyundai Motor Co. is planning to offer its first hybrid electric car next year, the company said yesterday. Korea’s largest automaker is developing a hybrid version of its Verna sub-compact car. The new model, tentatively called the MC, is expected to be out late next year.

The more, the merrier. No word if these will be available in the States, but if they are: The article indicates that only 5,000 to 10,000 vehicles will be made. And thus the production problems continue… I think the first car manufacturer to figure out a way to mass produce hybrid cars in multiple styles (SUV, compact, 4 door) and keep up with demand will be the one to change the world.

Is it just me, or does the new UPS logo look like it was pulled from a Mac or Linux desktop? It has a very similar style to the way icons are being designed today. I like it.

If you want to break into somebody’s computer at work and don’t know their password, go with a child’s first name.

I hear way too much stuff for my own good in this cube.

(If your mark doesn’t have children, go with their birthdate or “1234.” You may think the latter is a gag from SPACEBALLS, but we used it on someone’s voice mail in college on a lark and it worked.)

Virus Designed to Steal Windows Users’ Data (TechNews.com)

CERT recommends that Explorer users consider other browsers that are not affected by the attack, such as Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape and Opera. Mac, Linux and other non-Windows operating systems are immune from this attack. For people who continue to use the Internet Explorer, CERT and Microsoft recommend setting the browser’s security settings to “high,” but that can impair some browsing functions.

CERT is the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

I’ve heard reports this weekend that the latest DAWSON’S CREEK set (third season) has had the theme song replaced. Look, we’re all sick of “I Don’t Wanna Wait” and all, but isn’t this going a little too far? I guess either Paula Cole’s people wanted more money, or the DVD producers wanted to save a few sheckles. It’s a shame. I’m glad I only bought the first season now.