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Pick Hits...
Play It...
WWF No Mercy
You start off with 65 playable characters that can wrestle in all the major
television and pay-per-view arenas with 6 separate areas outside of the ring
where you can fight. Plus, this game has new play modes such as the Guest
Referee feature that was in Smackdown! for Playstation and a Ladder Match
feature. The storylines themselves are hilarious and often mirror actual WWF
events. All the other major window-dressings are here. Characters have pyro,
Titantron videos, and theme music. The music is nothing to write home about
again, but that's to be expected with the Nintendo 64. However, the actual game
sounds are pretty cool. Now, when you slam guys on the ring steps or garbage
cans, they make a crashing noise. Did I also mention you get to break tables at
ringside as well? All in all, the game's good points outweigh the bad, and if
you already own Wrestlemania 2000, you ought to seriously consider trading up to
this year's model.
Read It...
Infinity Beach
Jack McDevitt
Scientists have been searching the universe for
signs of intelligent, extra-terrestrial life for several hundred years at the
opening of Jack McDevitt’s new novel. Having been unsuccessful in all that time,
a group of researchers has decided to take drastic, and controversial,
action-deliberately inducing several stars into supernovae in order to announce
the presence of the human race. McDevitt has written about intelligent alien
species in several of his other novels, although we rarely get to see anything
other than archeological evidence of their presence. Most of the time, the
characters are left with a frustrating inability to comprehend their finds. This
time, he’s taken both his characters’ and his reader’s Star Trek/Star Wars
preconceptions about aliens and given them a clever twist. As always, McDevitt’s
prose is well paced and easy to read, without being dumbed down in the
slightest. Go read it.
On Video...
Finding Forrester
An emotionally stirring drama about a reclusive,
white novelist who takes a black high school athlete under his wing. Sean
Connery plays the acclaimed writer with one great book under his belt that has
retired to seclusion for decades. Newcomer Rob Brown plays the
basketball-playing boy who has a talent for literature. The unorthodox union
brings the author out of his shell, as the boy leaves the courts of the Bronx
for a Manhattan prep school, along the way taking up with a white girl (Anna Paquin). Written with an intelligent script and dialogue as the two men fight
their respective demons.
The Buzz...
Cable network VH1 has announced that it plans
to debut a slate of original programming over the next year that includes
scripted series, reality shows and feature-length films.
Oddsmakers have installed Texas cowboy Colby
Donaldson as the favorite to win the $1 million grand prize on Survivor,
the CBS reality-based series.
Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson
says the Atlanta-based rock veterans feel revitalized by their forthcoming
Lions, their sixth album due May 8.
Pierce Brosnan is still contracted for at
least one more James Bond film, but that isn't stopping speculation about who
might replace the dashing Irishman as the next 007, with names both famous (Russell
Crowe) and obscure (Gerard Butler) being tossed about.
Tool is shooting a video for the new single
Schism with guitarist Adam Jones in the directors’ chair. In addition,
the band is scheduled to play the Edgefest in Toronto on July 1st.
The Walt Disney Co. is planning major
cutbacks in its feature animation unit, with dozens of jobs to be eliminated and
salaries to be slashed by 30 percent to 50 percent.
Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and DreamWorks SKG
announced Tuesday a broadcast licensing agreement allowing the cable network to
air such movies as Gladiator, American Beauty and Cast Away.
The Who is helping to organize a tribute
album to themselves called Substitute the Songs of the Who that will feature a
live Pearl Jam version of live version of The Kids Are Alright, among
others.
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METALLICA WORKING ON NEW ALBUM |
Metallica is beginning to write it’s next
album, sans a bass player. The band says they are starting to entertain the idea
of finding a new bassist.
Hasbro Inc., the nation's No. 2 toymaker, reported a
greater than expected first quarter loss Monday as the company was hurt by
declining revenues for its Furby and Pokemon products and the sale
of its interactive division.
Elisabeth Rohm will join NBC's Law & Order
next season as an ambitious assistant district attorney, replacing Angie
Harmon. Harmon, who played prosecutor Abbie Carmichael for three seasons,
asked to be released from her contract earlier this month to focus on her
personal life. She's marrying New York Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn in
June.
Ani DiFranco,
the Goo Goo Dolls, 10,000 Maniacs
and others appear on a new CD to benefit safe school and youth leadership
programs in New York state. |
