It's less than three months until my most anticipated movie of the year finally hits the big screen. The third film in the Bourne trilogy - The Bourne Ultimatum - is due for release from August 3rd.


The first two films in the spy thriller trilogy, The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004), were big box office hits and this third film in the franchise is expected to be be just as successful.

Matt Damon is back as amnesia-suffering rogue agent Jason Bourne. Joining Damon for this sequel are Joan Allen (Pamela Landy), Paddy Considine (Sam Ross), Edgar Ramirez (Paz), Julia Stiles (Nicky Parsons), and David Strathairn (Noah Vosen).

Paul Greengrass (who directed Supremacy) is also back for this one. (Hopefully he'll tone down his over-the-top shaky camera style for The Bourne Ultimatum... the much-hyped car chase scene in the Moscow tunnel was almost impossible to follow with all his camera tricks.)

Like the previous Bourne films, the storyline only very loosely follows the original Robert Ludlum book by the same name. The script for The Bourne Ultimatum was written by Tony Gilroy, together with well known British playwright Tom Stoppard.

In this film, Bourne returns home to the US as he pieces together his former life, and his time as a super-assassin on the secret CIA Treadstone project.

Shooting has been taking place in Morocco, Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom, New York City, and other locations in the United States.



* AskMen.com: 5 Facts About The Bourne Ultimatum
* Official movie website: The Bourne Ultimatum

Russia have always done well at the Eurovision Song Contest when they send along good edgy pop songs... a technique they are trying again this year in Helsinki.

Last year Dima Bilan finished 2nd overall for Russia with Never Let You Go. The country also scored 3rd in 2003 with t.a.T.u. - Ne Ver', Ne Boysia, while Alsou scored them a 2nd placing in 2002 with Solo.


Russia's entry for 2007 is a female trio called Serebro, who will perform a modern pop-rock track with the very boring title of Song Number One (yes really!?).

Popbitch describes Russia's entry as "a trio of hot teen girls singing a hard-edged pop hybrid of Britney Spears and Madison Avenue". (And check out the Justin Timberlake-style dance routine in the middle!)
I pick Top 5 at least...

The London cast of the musical Monty Python's Spamalot joined with over five thousand of members of the public, to break the world record for the "largest coconut orchestra".

Two former Pythons - Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam - led the 5,567-strong coconut orchestra in London's Trafalgar Square last Monday night, singing and clopping their way through the Monty Python classic song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

Their effort smashed the previous record of 1,789 set in March 2006 outside Broadway's Schubert Theatre. (That performance celebrated the one year anniversary of the New York production of the hit musical Spamalot).

The West End cast of Spamalot, including Hannah Waddingham (Lady of the Lake) and Tim Goodman-Hill (Sir Lancelot), taught members of the public how to 'clip-clop' in time to the well-known song. In the show, King Arthur's servant Patsy (played by David Birrell) uses coconut shells to make the noise of horse hooves clip-clopping during the show.


Monty Python's Terry Jones explained to the crowd the idea of a coconut orchestra originally came about during the filming of Monty Python and the Holy Grail... "About halfway through filming we realised we couldn't afford horses and had to stick to coconuts".

The unusual achievement was recognised immediately after the performance by the people from Guinness World Records, for the "most people gathered in one location playing coconuts." ;-)





* Whatsonstage.com: Pythons & Spamalot Fans Smash Record
* Reuters: "Spamalots" smash world coconut orchestra record
* BroadwayWorld.com: UK Spamalot Breaks Coconut Orchestra Record

British group Scooch have released five special mixes of their 2007 Eurovision song, Flying the Flag (For You), the UK's entry in this year's Song Contest.

Scooch have enlisted the help of a bunch of friends, to re-record the 'flight attendant' segments of their catchy song into five different languages... French, German, Spanish, Danish, and Bulgarian.


The new mixes are part of a big promotional push by Scooch, who are aiming to build interest in the song outside of the UK, before the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. (Last year's UK entry, Daz Simpson - Teenage Life, finished in a disappointing 19th place in Athens.)

Interest in Scooch's efforts to achieve a solid Eurovision result is now building, both with the notoriously-difficult British Press and from the general public.

The new video for Flying the Flag has just been completed and released to music television channels. The physical single will be released in the UK on May 7th, featuring a Karaoke version of the song, along with remixes. A DVD release will also feature the video.

* esctoday.com: Scooch Language mixes online...
* The Sun: Eurosong contest is in Vision

Actor Alec Baldwin is expected to return to his NBC comedy show 30 Rock next year, despite announcing his intentions to leave television on daytime tv talkshow The View.


Baldwin's announcement followed a stream of negative publicity, after the actor was caught yelling at his eleven year old daughter on a voicemail message on her phone. He has apologised for leaving the "improper" answer machine message.

Baldwin says he asked NBC to let him out of his 30 Rock contract, to devote time to the issue of "parental alienation", but that request was turned down by the network. It's understood he's now comfortable with fulfilling his contractual obligations to the show.

The veteran actor stars alongside former Saturday Night Live alumni Tina Fey in the sitcom. Baldwin plays a sleazy but equally charming network executive, in charge of an SNL-style comedy/chat show based at New York City's 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

The first season finale of 30 Rock screened on NBC last night. Unfortunately, the show still hasn't made it "down under" for viewers like me.

The show has been acclaimed by the critics (The San Francisco Chronicle called it "the funniest sitcom of the new season... 30 Rock is not to be missed ... this could be the beginning of the next great sitcom."

While the show hasn't been a big breakout hit, it has had solid ratings amognst viewers with mo money, making it attractive to advertisers and encouraging NBC to renew it for a second season.

For US fans, and for tv addicts in other parts of the world who haven't yet seen this hilarious show, here's a compilation of moments from the very talented Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin...

Everybody's favourite animated tv family The Simpsons are heading to a Universal Theme Park near you... and we're not just talking about walking stuffed toys!


A new ride based on the hit 20th Century Fox cartoon The Simpsons will open in Spring 2008 (that's US Spring) at both Universal's Orlando Resort and at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Simpsons creator Matt Groening says the ride will aim to "duplicate the Simpsons home-viewing experience, only at high speed and with lots of screaming" ;-)

The ride will mix the elements of thrill rides, dark rides and live show in a new fantasy amusement park dreamed up by Krusty the Clown. Visitors to the theme parks will get to experience the world of the ever popular Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson.
The voices for the new attractions will be provided by the original vocal stars of the long running tv show, now into its 18th season. The 400th episode of The Simpsons is due to air in the United States next month, with the long awaited The Simpsons Movie due in theatres around the end of July.

Nathan Fillion (Serenity, Firefly, Buffy) takes the steering wheel in Fox TV's hot new mid-season drama series, Drive.

Fillion plays landscaper Alex Tully, who is persuaded to join an illegal underground race across America, after his wife is abducted. (Fillion replaces Ivan Sergei, who played the role in the show's pilot).

The high-octane show uses cutting-edge technology to create virtual environments as the cars race around around the United States. Drive incorporates both live-action vehicle work and green screen stage work, to create an exciting and addictive fast-paced show.

*** WATCH the first 4 1/2 minutes of Drive here on Yahoo! TV... ***

Drive premieres on Fox with a 2-hour opener on Sunday April 15th, with another episode on Monday 16th. The show comes from 20th Century Fox TV, under Executive Producers Tim Minear, Ben Queen and Greg Yaitanes.

* Movieweb: Drive Races Into High Gear on Fox

** UPDATE: After only three nights (totally four hours), Fox have put the brakes on Drive, before the May sweeps period. The remaining two episodes of Drive may be be slotted into a future Friday night timeslot, or may simply be put online on NBC's website.

After over 14 months in the studio, and a long absence from the airwaves, Linkin Park are preparing to release their third studio album, Minutes to Midnight on May 14th (or May 15th in the USA).


The long awaited album is produced by Rick Rubin with Mike Shinoda. The lead single What I've Done has just been released to radio and tv, and was apparently the last song the band wrote for the album.

It's a fairly traditional-sounding Linkin Park song, although lead vocals are sung entirely by Chester Bennington, with Mike Shinoda unfortunately only featuring on harmonies.

The band say this CD will be a lot different from the "rap/rock / nu-metal" sound of previous Linkin Park albums, mixing a wide range of musical styles including punk, classic rock, and hip-hop. Linkin Park have sold 40 million records worldwide since 2000.

The video for What I've Done was shot in the California desert, under the direction of band member/DJ Joseph Hahn. The band are in rehearsals for a major tour, starting with the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey in early May.

If you're a UK reader, you will have seen (and heard) this song a hundred times over the last month or so.

But for the rest of us, here's this year's big charity single for the UK's Comic Relief .

Peter Kay's Brian Potter and Little Britain Matt Lucas's Andy Pipkin join forces with unhip Scottish duo The Proclaimers, to butcher their big hit song 500 Miles....

(Watch out for the celebs in the audience, including Pop Music Producer Pete Waterman... who has recently reformed with fellow songwriter/producers Mike Stock and Matt Aitken.

AKA 'The Hit Factory', Stock/Aitken/Waterman were the guys behind Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Mel & Kim, Bananarama, and many of the biggest hits of the 80s. Expect some new releases penned and produced by the Hit-making trio to hit the UK music charts later this year...)

Popular UK teen soap Hollyoaks will soon be screening in the USA, after being bought by BBC America. The flagship Channel 4 show will screen during the week at 10pm, although an exact starting date hasn't been finalised.

Hollyoaks is one a number of new shows bought recently by BBC America, as the US channel looks to revamp and reinvent itself.

The channel is ditching "classic" comedies like Benny Hill and 'Allo 'Allo, in favour of more modern programming like Spooks, Life on Mars, and Hotel Babylon. BBC America will also feature more News coverage, and plans to launch 'themed evenings', including Murder Mondays and Crime Scene Fridays.

UK TV insiders claim David Tennant is preparing to sign up for a fourth season playing 'The Doctor', in the hit BBC sci-fi series.

There has been media speculation in the UK that Tennant was considering leaving the revamped show at the end of his third season. The Scottish actor took over the role from Christopher Eccleston, who regenerated into The Doctor for the new-generation version of the classic BBC show in 2005, but left after a single season.

The Sun newspaper had claimed actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) was being lined up to take over as the Time Lord halfway through the fourth season.

(The third season of Doctor Who has just been bought by Prime Television in New Zealand... while State Television (TVNZ) have already nabbed the rights to the spin-off show, Torchwood, starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. Both series have yet to be scheduled in New Zealand).

Forget The Wiggles... Hi-5... LazyTown... and all the rest of those kids tv shows....

Check out the crazy trio from AwesomeTown! The pilot for the Fox/MTV/Comedy Central show that never made it to your tv screens...

The Dudes (aka Akiva, Jorma, and Andy) however have since found fame, with their digital shorts being featured on shows like of Saturday Night Live.

Their SNL song-skit "A Special Christmas Box" featuring Justin Timberlake has been an online smash, after first featuring on the US tv show just before last Christmas... (Warning: Content may offend the easily offended)


* The Lonely Island (Official site for The Dudes)