The Fallout... If you think Janet's assets were the biggest "falling out" this week, look at the repercussions. Just about every live telecast will be delayed from now on, including The Grammy's and The Oscars. While this isn't as bad as if live shows were pre-empted for days; what will a "live" editor deem worth editing, and by how much? We'll have to see how this pans out in the next month, and make judgments from there...

"Wardrobe Malfunction"...! Not to harp on one news item, but come on: when Justin Timberlake attempted to spin doctor the event as a "wardrobe malfunction," who wouldn't expect such a phrase to become Buzz Phrase Of The Week? The best retort could only have come from David Letterman, who quipped, "The last time I had a 'wardrobe malfunction' like that, I became a father!"

Vandross Won't Be At Grammys Luther Vandross, although nominated for five Grammys for his hit album Dance With My Father, will be unable to attend the Grammys this Sunday. Business manager Carmen Romano said in an official statement, "It would have been a tremendous moment for Luther to attend the Grammy Awards this year. But on the advice of his doctors, I regret to say that Luther won't be able to make this trip." The singer suffered a stroke last April. Luther will not be forgotten at the event, however, with a tribute in his honor scheduled to be performed by numerous singers.

The Last "Sex and The City" Has Been Filmed. Sources say that Sarah Jessica Parker, the lead actress of the HBO series, was in tears as she filmed the last scene. It may also be true that men will cry when the finale airs...though for other reasons. I'm just saying.

Helen Hunt Pregnant. In another fine case of Hollywood actresses wearing down the Snooze Button on their biological clocks, 40 year old Helen Hunt is pregnant with her first child. The father to be is her 42 year old boyfriend, Matthew Carnahan. They've been dating since 2001.

Superman Of The Caribbean...? Just to keep you up to date on the latest casting rumors of the upcoming Superman movie: Johnny Depp is slated as Lex Luthor, with Beyonce Knowles sought after, for the role of Lois Lane! The director will be McG, best known for Charlie's Angels and it's sequel, Charlies Angels: Full Throttle. As for the title role, Superman will likely be played by Henry Cavill, a British actor who starred in, among other films, The Count of Monte Cristo (2002).

Bewitched in Seattle. Similar casting/director news abounds for the upcoming remake of "Bewitched." It is confirmed that Nicole Kidman will be in the title role, as the bewitching good witch who marries a "mortal" husband. Said husband will be played by Will Ferrel. While this sounds like a comedy hit, what about the writer/director, Nora Ephron? She is more known for dramatic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally, not the sort of slapstick fare of the hit 1960's TV series. Once again, it seems like someone forgot what made the original concept a hit in the first place. So why make a "remake" at all...? 

Wonder Woman Always Had Charisma, so why not? In an interview with TV Guide, Charisma Carpenter revealed that she would really like to play Wonder Woman; a film project that has been rumored for decades, ever since Lynda Carter hung up her super-heroine tights in the 1970's. Says Charisma, "I am actively putting it out there that I want to do Lynda Carter. It's my mission to be Wonder Woman! My agent hasn't seen a script, but some studio needs to do it. She's beautiful, she fights, and I like the concept of an empowerment role. I've always been so passive on Angel, where they usually wouldn't let Cordelia do martial arts stunts. Charisma wants to kick ass and bust heads!"

Cold Mountain gets Cold Shoulders. It's already known that Cold Mountain lost 3 of its 4 major nominations at the Golden Globes this year, and as for the Oscars, it wasn't even nominated as Best Picture. This would be of no surprise, however, to at least two groups against the film. Hollywood workers, for one, were upset that a film about the American Civil War was filmed in Romania. In addition, an email campaign has criticized the film for its very obvious lack of any major African-American characters; this being a film set in North Carolina during the Civil War, a former slave state, where a large percentage of the population was black. The Oscars will be telecast live on February 29th.

Steve Jobs Seals The (Lack Of a) Deal With Eisner. In a Los Angeles Times interview, Pixar chairman Steve Jobs poked a few jabs at Disney's latest animated films, calling Peter Pan: Return to Never Land "pretty embarrassing," and films like Treasure Planet duds. Pixar is responsible for creating some of Disney's only successful (CGI) animated films in recent years, including last year's Finding Nemo and the Toy Story series. Negotiations for Disney to remain distributor of Pixar's films were broken off recently, with Jobs claiming to have heard from every major studio since. Don't burn too many bridges, though, Mr. Jobs; after sneaking a peek at your company's most recent effort, Boundin', Pixar is bound to make a stinker sooner or later. Only time will tell how this split up will affect either company.

No "Uru Live" for Myst Fans In the top of this week's game news: it has been decided that Uru --the 4th installment in the award-winning Myst series-- will not have an online service after all. Buyers of the game were offered an optional premium service which would allow them to play simultaneously via the internet, with added "worlds" to play in. Unfortunately, it was concluded as of this week that there weren't enough subscribers to meet expenses. To soften the news, it has been said that all the additional worlds promised via Uru Live will still be offered, though as expansion packs to the single-player game. Such expansions might be available as early as the next month.

No Indy Movie for 2005? If only the films were as easy to release as the games! Variety says production of a fourth Indy film is currently on hold, after executive producer George Lucas wasn't pleased with the most recent draft of the script. One can only wonder how commissioned script writer Frank Darabont (who wrote and directed films like The Shawshank Redemption) would've reacted, if given similar chance to critique Lucas' own script for The Phantom Menace, back in 1999. I'm just sayin'...

Fear Effect: The Movie...? Although the game has yet to see a single sequel in 3 years, Eidos gave producer and director Uwe Boll the right to make a theatrical film out of the popular Playstation game title, Fear Effect. Boll is said to want to "create an action film in the vein of Charlie's Angels but portray its sexy heroines in a much edgier fashion." That would sound a lot like Fear Effect; one of the few games to ever dare to incorporate strong sexual innuendo in its storyline, and even a scene of semi-nudity. Game players can see how well Boll translates games to film this summer, when Alone in the Dark is released in theaters. Alone in the Dark was one of Techtite.com's choices for 50 Best Game Classics Of All Time. The film version stars Christian Slater in the lead role.

Arx (Half Life) Fatalis. Arkane Studios, best known for making the under-appreciated PC fantasy game, Arx Fatalis (which was recently "ported" to the X-Box), has become the latest licensee of the Source Engine. Source is the same engine used to make the widely anticipated Half Life 2, and allows for very expressive actors and highly detailed worlds. It will be interesting to see what Arkane does with such an engine, when the lack of expressive characters was one of the few flaws worth mentioning in Arx Fatalis; an RPG whose world was so realistic a game character could even take the time to bake a pie. More news on the result of this license, when it's available.

Intel's New CPU (This Week). According to Reuters, Intel has just released word of their new line of "Prescott" chips. Intel also told Reuters that it would reduce the price of older desktop processors by up to 33%. Intel's vice president and general manager says that the Prescott is intended for the modern "Entertainment PC," which can connect directly to televisions and streams video and audio. The chip will initially be sold at speeds of up to 3.4 Ghz, with 4 Ghz Prescott CPU's by the end of 2004.

Prince of Persia "5" announced. Based on the rousing success of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in just a few weeks of release, Ubisoft has just announced its plans for a sequel. In just a few weeks, Sands of Time has sold over 2 million copies over all four major entertainment systems (X-Box, Game Cube, PS-2 and PC), and received rave reviews from several major game critics. Ubisoft also referred to Beyond Good & Evil and XIII as "new brands," implying sequels for those games were possible as well...though no other information is presently available.

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