Off The Record...

TLC

Fan Mail

After being absent for five years, Tionne (T-Boz) Watkins, Rozonda (Chili) Thomas, and Lisa (Left Eye) Lopes, are back, and the wait has been well worth it. TLC's vulnerable side is displayed on a series of gentle, low key mid-tempo ballads, while the gals strut with attitude on the other tracks. TLC adeptly layer their girl group harmonies over pop and rap backgrounds, pushing the sound of the new young America.

At The Movies...

Message In A Bottle

Kevin Costner leads this wonderful, romantic film about love and fate.  A divorced mother has been burned by love and has no intention of getting hurt again, until she finds a bottle holding a romantic letter from a man to his deceased wife.  Bursting with sentimentality, Paul Newman keeps things in perspective right up to the tearjerker ending.  Great date fodder.

On Video...

Ever After

This delightful updating of the Cinderella fairy tale packs a '90s sensibility into 16th century France. Pro-feminist Danielle (Drew Barrymore) is cast into the role of a servant who eventually meets her prince and is transformed into a princess, but not before setting him straight on human rights, freedom and the dignity of women. There's plenty of action and romance, too. This fabulous sleeper hit has all the right elements in all the right places.

The Buzz...

The Louvre museum in Paris, home to the Mona Lisa and one of the world's most popular arts museums, is upgrading its security system to the tune of $25 million following the theft of a painting last May in broad daylight.  The 800-year-old Louvre, divided into 400 halls of various shapes and sizes, receives between 5 and 6 million visitors each year, and is used as a display space for 32,000 works of art..

National Enquirer, a five-day-a-week half-hour magazine series will premiere in syndication next fall, and will be hosted by the newspaper's senior editor Mike Walker.

Randy Quaid, Jason Alexander, Robert De Niro, Rene Russo, Monica Porter and Janeane Garofalo have all signed onto the upcoming Rocky and Bullwinkle film, which will combine live action and animation.

Hasbro is completely dropping the Kenner brand name from its toys. It will take nearly a year to phase out the Kenner name, but all products released in 1999 will bear only the Hasbro label. There was no word on plans to drop the Galoob brand name.

20th Century Fox has licensed Flatt World Figures to produce poseable collectibles based on the 1975 cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Among the pilots ordered for the upcoming TV season so far: Fox's Party of Five spin-off, The Time of Your Life, following young Sarah (Jennifer Love Hewitt) as she moves to New York; the WB's Buffy spin-off, Angel, following Angel (David Boreanaz) as he moves to Los Angeles and Fox's TV Funhouse, an expanded version of the weekly cartoon segment from NBC's Saturday Night Live.

Actress Florence Henderson, forever immortalized as Carol Brady, is suing Serial Killer Inc., a company that is selling T-shirts with her likeness over the words Porn Queen.

Creed will begin recording the follow-up to My Own Prison in April. Expect the album this fall. Meanwhile, frontman Scott Stapp foresees Creed headlining a package tour with rock bands of the future, such as Fuel and Days of the New.

Bruce Springsteen has filed a $1 million countersuit against Pony Express Records, which is suing him for blocking the label's release of songs he recorded from 1972 to 1974. Springsteen claims Pony Express obtained fraudulent rights to the songs.

Magazine editors used to turn models into stars, but these days the same editors are turning stars into models instead. Fashion magazine editors, believing that people don't care so much about models anymore, are increasingly going after celebrities to don their covers.

The Smashing Pumpkins have reinstated drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who was fired after touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin's 1996 fatal drug overdose.

Marilyn Manson is engaged to actress Rose McGowan, who is now sporting an antique diamond ring on her finger. No date has been set for the nuptials, and no word on who will wear the dress.

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