Off The Record...

Nine Inch Nails

The Fragile

Trent Reznor is obviously a perfectionist, as Nine Inch Nails fans who have been waiting for five years since The Downward Spiral will tell you.  In his hands, guitars are brought to new and exciting levels, creating a lush deep feel that comes alive if you get too near it.  Almost every track has its own sonic fingerprint.  The Fragile is clearly meant to be a grand statement on the scale of Pink Floyd's The Wall, whose producer Bob Ezrin is credited with final continuity and flow.  An explosive, even classic album to be.

At The Movies...

Three Kings

Set at the end of the Gulf war, four GI's stumble upon a map indicating a stash of gold hidden by Hussein's troops, nearby their camp.  For their own various reasons they decide to claim the loot for themselves, but they find a situation that completely confronts their humanity and demands that they re-think what they're doing.   Something other than your generic wham-bam-kill-Saddam followed by swells of heroism.  Offsetting this is quirky humor, that compliments the action adventure  forum, Three Kings will stir controversy and maybe a little conscience too.  This movie already has Oscar talk about it.

On Video...

Doug's First Movie

Doug wants to take Patty Mayonnaise to the school dance, even though another, older student also has designs on her.  He’s also discovered that the legend about the monster in Lucky Duck Lake is true.  Bully, girl, and monster trouble, what more could you ask for in your first movie?   A sweet moral tale, that’s beautifully drawn, sure to keep the kids interested throughout.

The Buzz...

John Davidson was hired Tuesday as the studio analyst for ABC's NHL coverage.  Davidson, lead game analyst for Fox before the network's NHL package expired after last season, will work with John Saunders.

Forbes magazine has named the 400 richest Americans, and surprise, surprise, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates tops the list again, with an estimated $85 billion.  Only two directors made the list, George Lucas, ranked at No. 92 ($2.5 billion), and Steven Spielberg, who sits at No. 120 ($2 billion).  With an estimated $725 million fortune, Oprah Winfrey comes in at No. 348.  She's one of the few women on the Forbes 400 who didn't inherit her fortune.

Forty years' worth of Grammy winners will be featured in a new 4-CD set.  To be released Nov. 16, The Ultimate Grammy Box will comprise 73 musical performances and artists that have either won a Grammy Award or been voted into the Recording Academy's Hall Of Fame.

One page of Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the whimsical work I Am The Walrus, is to be auctioned at Christie's in London and is expected to fetch more than $115,300.

The Simpsons are back for their 11th season, and their fourth album.  Following the success of The Simpsons Sing The Blues, The Yellow Album and Songs In The Key Of Springfield, Rhino Records will release Go Simpsonic With the Simpsons on Nov. 2.  The disc will feature 56 tracks, including We Put the Spring in Springfield, the Mr. Sparkle Theme, and, of course, Cletus, the Slack-Jawed Yokel.

Tenor Placido Domingo sang his way into the record books at the Metropolitan Opera, opening the season for the 18th time with a stirring performance as the tragic clown Canio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

The ratings were mah-velous for the Saturday Night Live 25th anniversary special, with an estimated 22.4 million people tuning in for the reunion of comic actors once deemed not ready for prime-time.

The dramatic finish to the Ryder Cup in which the United States rallied to beat Europe drew the highest overnight ratings in the event's history.  The rating for Sunday's closing singles matches was 6.3 overnight with a 15 share. Saturday's overnight rating was 4.9 with a 14 share, the second-highest rating for a Ryder Cup telecast since NBC began televising the event in 1991.

The CEO of the Miss America Pageant has been fired, two weeks after the pageant revealed plans to drop its nearly 50-year ban on contestants who've been married or undergone abortions.  Robert L. Beck, who took over as head of the Miss America Organization last year, was released from his contract.

Two new dramas premiered in the week's top 10, ABC's critically-acclaimed Once and Again, about two recently-divorced parents fumbling through a romance, and NBC's Third Watch, about an emergency medical team.  NBC also had strong showings by West Wing, the White House drama with Martin Sheen as president, and the spinoff series, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

A woman who claims that flamboyant basketball star Dennis Rodman last year lured her into a Sunset Strip hotel suite and sexually assaulted her sued the former Los Angeles Lakers rebounder.
 

Percy Ross, the millionaire-turned-philanthropist who doled out cash to readers of his syndicated column for nearly 17 years, has closed his wallet after handing out as much as $30 million.

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