From USA Today:

Billy Joel fans can add a new item to their holiday-gift wish lists. On December 6th, 2005, the “Piano Man” will release “My Lives,” a box set consisting of four CDs and one DVD tracing Joel’s career from his salad days to his tenure as rock icon and budding classical composer.

The collection’s first disc will include some of Joel’s earliest recordings with Long Island-based bands such as the Lost Souls, the Hassles and Attila, plus demos and alternate takes of early hits such as “Piano Man” and “Only The Good Die Young.” The other CDs will mix more rare and unreleased tracks with live performances - including a duet version of “You May Be Right” with Elton John - and covers of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Duke Ellington, Brian Wilson, Leonard Cohen and others. The DVD portion, “Live From The River of Dreams,” features Joel performing his hits in Frankfurt, Germany.

I’m most looking forward to that DVD. It aired as a Disney Channel concert special nearly a decade ago, but home video plans were scrapped for it, presumably because Billy was not feeling too well at the end of the tour and didn’t look terribly good during the concert. That said, it was a great concert. It has my favorite version of “My Life” on it, and that VHS tape is worn out and ancient.

The Yankees may very well lose the next game and be out of the post-season. I dunno.

I can, however, take solace in one thing: they would still have lasted one game longer than the Red Sox, who blew their series in no small part due to a second baseman letting an inning-ending double play ground ball dribble through his legs.

I still chuckle when I think of it.

I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier in the week, so just to be sure:

The new software this blog is now running on has different spam controls from the old one. Your first post to this new software will automatically be sent to the moderation queue for my acceptance. Future posts should be automatically approved. There’s still always the chance, though, that you might hit a keyword that gets flagged for spam control that will also require my moderation to approve it.

So, if you comment on something and don’t see it show up right away, don’t worry. It’s sitting in my queue, most likely, and I’ll get to it next time I’m on-line.

* THE FLASH is coming to DVD, at last.

* JUST LEGAL and INCONCEIVABLE are done. Finito. Canceled. Quelle surprise.

* CELEBRITY you-know-what SHOWDOWN is expanding. They’re having an on-line tournament (winner might play on TV), and the new season begins next week (13 Oct) already with a $1,000,000 prize pool. This season’s celebrities include Dean Cain, Oksana Baiul, James Woods, Kevin Nealon, and the entire male cast of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.

* Can Carmine Gotti sing? It’s just another question VH1 wants to answer for us.

* Reality TV is forced. Clearly. Anyone who believes the stylists at AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL decided to cut off Cassandra’s hair for any reason other than the drama it would produce, is just kidding themselves. TV Without Pity has the tremendous writeup of last week’s episode, as always.

* What do you think? Is Coryn really a man? I love net rumors about reality contestants. . .

I freely admit to being one of the six people in the United States of America who watched FOX’s dance competition this summer, which just wrapped up this week. I’m also likely the only straight guy to do so.

Coming from the producers of American Idol, the show used many of the same tricks for a generally entertaining series. The show moved at a rapid clip, stuffing in as many relatively short dance performances as they could into each hour. The contestants’ personalities came out without overwhelming the show. It was enough to make sure contestants like Big Poppa and Ryan (arguably) got further than they should have, but not so far as to produce an undeserving winner. Tacking the eviction bit at the start of the next week’s show instead of stretching it out to a special extra episode each week was also a smart idea.

Some random notes:

Lauren Sanchez needs some more work. If she says “you guys” one more time, I’m going to scream. She danced well in the finale, though.

I thought they were being very generous towards themselves every time they referred to this as the “first season,” though. Does anyone really think there’s going to be a second?

Ashle had my vote to win, but Nigel nailed it when he said she was missing the “X Factor.” She wasn’t popular enough to get the votes.

The greatest tranformation of the season goes to the ballroom dance judge, Mary Murphy. She started out upright and up tight, and ended the series sounding and acting like a drunken loon.

Jamile was the most entertaining, but also the least likely to win. I always looked forward to his solo performances for the popping and locking, which I think is a large part of what kept him going from week to week. His ballroom technique — well practiced tho it might be by now — too often resembled a tired man dancing through mud.

In the end, the right person won. Almost. Fans at home didn’t like the idea of a professional winning, otherwise Blake would have walked away with it all. I can understand that, and think Nick was a wise choice otherwise.

Still, I very much doubt we’ll see the return of this series.

This is interesting enough to deserve an entry of its own, despite the relatively thin amount of information we can find on it:

They are, indeed, working on DVDs for ROCKSTAR: INXS.

And I hope all three versions of “Trees” show up on the thing.

* Lightning Break is your Flash game of the day. This one is less video game and purer pool play than my previous favorite, Lightning Pool. This is based on snooker.

* I just refilled a Poland Spring water bottle with Deer Park water. Somewhere, a yuppie screams.

* OVER THE HEDGE is your movie trailer du jour. Avril Lavigne and William Shatner in the same movie? How can you not like it?

* Time for a road trip to Vermont.

* How to do business with Google. I wish more companies — both inside of tech and outside — would follow his guidelines, starting with “voice mail is broken.”

I haven’t had one of these in a while. This is your chance to discuss LOST. I just ask for one bit of restraint: Please do not discuss the previews for next week’s episode. That way lies spoileriffic madness.

Everything up to and including last night’s episode, though, is fair game.

I contend that we learned a lot in last night’s episode, and that those who think we learned nothing are either (a) not paying attention or (b) never going to be satisfied no matter how much we learn. This is the nature of the beast. You’re never going to get it all at face value in one big info dump. This does not disappoint me. It’s what I watch the show for. I want the high wire act.

I will grant the nay-sayers this: There are an awful lot of commercial breaks. I don’t know how people watch this show ‘live’. I love my TiVo.

So, what did you think?

* Evolution of a family. Fascinating time lapse photography of a couple and their three kids. (Via)

* The Apple rumor mills are all abuzz again. Apple sure nows how to work the media when it comes to these launches, doesn’t it?

* It wouldn’t be right not to at least mention the passing of another childhood favorite, game show stalwart Nipsey Russell.

* Should a baseball team still pay a player who’s out for the post-season after breaking a rib celebrating a previous win? OK, so they don’t really get paid for post-season games, but it is enough to make you shake your head.

* Season Three of MI-5 is coming to DVD in Region One in January, as expected. I was just asking about this one the other day. Great timing.

* Yes, the link dumps are back! Enjoy.

* Hunh. I didn’t realize that Fantasia was illiterate. I guess you learn ways to work around that. And, hey, because there is a book deal on the line here, she also recounts the 9th grade trauma of being raped. I tell you, it’s almost cliche in Hollywood these days. . .

* INXS announced their new world tour. Tickets go on sale October 15th. I’m hoping for either the stop in Atlantic City or Mohegan Sun. Any excuse to hit a casino AND a concert is a good one for me. . .

* Interesting stuff on the upcoming 3-D mania Hollywood is promising. High def silver screens. Digital delivery. Fast digital projection at 144 fps. Interesting. Lucasfilm and James Cameron are itching for it, too.

* Interesting piece on Conan O’Brien. He’s more into self-deprecating humor than even I am. That’s impressive. (Via)

* Details on season three of TITUS on DVD.

It’s another very large release list this week. You can see the whole thing over here or view my shortened list right here:

For the animated Batman fans, we have some re-releases in nicer packaging:

Batman & Mr Freeze: Subzero
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

For those with long memories:

The Best of the Chris Rock Show: Vols. 1-2 (2-disc set)

Seriously, when was this on? What network? I don’t remember it at all.

(Wait, is this an HBO series? That would explain it.)

Cinderella: Platinum Edition (2-disc set) (1950)

This will be the best selling disc of the week. I know it’s bad and evil of me, but I have to admit that these Very Old Disney films just don’t excite me. I’m impressed by their craftsmanship, but that’s about it.

Count Duckula: Season One (3-disc set)

Speaking of classics, this one will be the cult classic release of the week for those of us who grew up watching Nickelodeon after school in the network’s formative years.

Drawn Together: Season One (2-disc set)

And then there’s the reality cartoon series, to complete the animated trilogy of releases this week that aren’t Batman-related.

The Fly: Collector’s Edition (2-disc set) (1986)
The Fly II: Collector’s Edition (2-disc set) (1989)
The Fog: Special Edition (remastered) (1980)

Live action Jeff Goldblum. Just what the world was crying out for.

The Interpreter (widescreen) (2005)

The mainstream big screen recent release of the week. There’s a full frame version out, also, so be careful when you pick it up off the shelves. Get the right one, if you’re so inclined to own it.

Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004)

A noted failure.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (3-disc set) (1974)

There must be a TV show to link this to or something. (Yes, I know - it’s on Thursday nights on ABC.)

The Man With the Screaming Brain (2005)

Bruce Campbell’s low budget B horror movie. Also a comic book mini-series. Originally aired on Sci Fi.

Star Trek: Nemesis: Special Edition (2-disc set) (2002)
Star Trek: The Motion Pictures Collections (20-disc set)

That’s an awful lot of TREK for one box. Wowzers.

William Shatner’s A Twist in the Tale

Can’t go wrong with The Shat, can you?

Next week: KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, VERONICA MARS (Season One), and an unfortunate amount of Martha Stewart on DVD.

Two CDs worthy of mention here:

Liz Phair’s new one, “Somebody’s Miracle,” is out today. Those of you who hated her last “sell out” album likely won’t like this one either. Those of us who enjoyed the poppiness of the last one but didn’t necessarily go for the “artistic” earlier albums, will want to try the new one. And so it goes. . .

And, perhaps more importantly, need I remind you that O.A.R.’s new album, “Stories of a Stranger,” is on sale today at last. Here’s that banner you all know and love so much by now:

I pre-ordered my copy through their on-line store to get the bonus material (including downloadable tracks recorded at the concert I attended this summer), so I won’t have my copy for a few days yet. Oh, the irony.

UPDATE:Or, I can just go to Best Buy:

Buy Stories of a Stranger at BEST BUY and receive the non-album studio track “Sometimes” plus “Heard The World”, “Lay Down” and “About Mr. Brown” recorded live at PNC Bank Arts Center on July 22, 2005. The CD is only $9.99 until October 8th.

That’s the same tracks that were available if you pre-ordered on-line. What a waste of money pre-ordering was this time around.

In the meantime, I’d recommend buying the disc at Best Buy. “Heard The Word” is a great live song.

You may notice that I haven’t started Various and Sundry Politics back up just yet.

I’m still pondering its future. Not sure how much time or energy I want to put into those fights right now. I do need to put a temp place holder page in its place, though. I’ll try to do that tonight.

If nothing else, I’ll bring it back up as an archive.

Sorry for the lost weekend, folks. Simply put, VariousAndSundry.com got hacked. It’s better now.

By the time you read this, I’ll have updated the software to prevent this sort of tomfoolery from happening in the same way again. (I leave open the possibility that the scumbuckets might find a new way in.)

The site might look different, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just means I’m too lazy to tweak all the values needed to make it look like it used to.

Thanks for your patience.

The DVD podcast will also be delayed due to the lack of a server over the weekend. I hope to have it up on Wednesday night for you. Sorry about that.

Update: Hmm, I really like the default template from WordPress. I like the blue. I like how organized everything looks, even with the chaos on the right column. . . I might just throw up the podcast links and the Google Ads and call it a day. . .

* Flash game of the day: Lightning Pool. Play pool for speed. Nice interface for a pool game. 3179 in my first game.

* Video of a bloke “squirrel fishing” in the park. (Via)

* THE SHIELD is not ending this season. Not yet, at least. Sure, there’s no contract in place for a sixth season, but nobody’s bailing on the show just yet, either.

* Constantine is signed for a sit-com. But will he sneer a lot? Kick his foot towards the camera? Open his jacket to show off his t-shirt? We’ll see.

* And in case you missed it during the week: THE OFFICE, 4400, AMERICAN DAD and PRISON BREAK were all picked up for a full season. In-trouble shows include BERNIE MAC, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART, and JOEY (although it did much better in its second week). Obviously, GHOST WHISPERER belongs on this list,too.