Father Geek here with our African team of reporters/editors/spies for another weekend edition of our Africa-AICN Column. Its an extra long one this week sooooo I'll jump to the side and let you get right into SOTHA's regular report...

My apologies to Fathergeek, Rigobert Song and AFRICA-AICN fans (okay my parents) for the lateness of this regular column. I’ve had computer problems (i.e. I don’t have one at the moment), and have been forced to use Head Nurse Hollis’s 286 machine that she uses for pac-man purposes. She’s not happy about it but I pointed her in the direction of a pretty decent arcade about a block from our wards.

Thus here is 2 weeks worth of news to catch up on, and my Rotterdam reports will start trickling in too... the first of these is included below...

Send me your top pac-man scores to africaaicn@hotmail.com

SOUTH AFRICA

* Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony produced by Desiree Markgraaff of SA company, Bomb with Kwela Films (LA) as co-producer and supported by SABC 2 as the local broadcaster won two prizes at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. The film won the documentary audience award as well as the event's Freedom of Expression Award. The film was directed by Lee Hirsch, a young American who approached Markgraaff eight years ago with his dream to make a movie about the power of song and its inspiration for liberation in South Africa. The Sundance awards should help secure the theatrical exposure the film deserves in key markets.

* Guy Stodel, son of Johannesburg-based producer John Stodel has been appointed the most senior acquisitions executive at Fine Line / New Line. Guy, who spent his formative years in South Africa, was previously Lions Gate head of acquisitions and co-production and also served as director of international sales for Santa Monica Pictures. Guy’s new job is said to signal a renewed shift for Fine Line in its acquisition and co-production sectors, Guy will be based in Los Angeles and report to Mark Ordesky of Fine Line Features. "Guy's outstanding instincts and experience make him the ideal quarterback for our worldwide acquisitions team," said Ordesky in a Variety interview. "He is incredibly smart and aggressive and knows how to make things happen." While at Lions Gate, Stodel was responsible for acquiring such films as Nicole Holofcener's Lovely and Amazing, Ray Lawrence's Lantana, Larry Clark's Another Day in Paradise and Catherine Breillat's Romance. Meanwhile Jasmine Stodel, Guy’s sister is working for Content Films a New York based firm focused on developing and acquiring digital projects started by revered producer Edward R Pressman and former October Films head John Schmidt. They most recently acquired North American theatrical rights to Larry Fessenden’s ‘Wendigo’.

* Cape Town- based production company Big World Cinema had a short film In Competition at the Sundance Festival 2002. The film, INJA, was directed by Steve Pasvolsky and co-produced with the Australian Film and Television School. The film stars Danny Keogh and Terry Norton. This month Big World also had films screening at the Rotterdam and Goteborg Film Festivals.

* Mr Bones, the latest film from South African comic Leon Schuster which has been blitzing the local box office, will be taken to the upcoming American Film Market (AFM) by producer Anant Singh of Videovision Entertainment. "I have already had audience screenings in London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong and all reactions have been very positive. Furthermore, we believe the film could work in international territories other than North America. I think that when you get comedy right, you have the potential of being able to travel with it. Let's hope that audiences around the world go for it," says Singh. Meanwhile, Mr Bones is closing in on the R32-million mark in terms of local box office takings. Singh points out that Mr Bones (which was released 30 November 2001) is presently outgrossing most of the new films that have opened recently. Training Day (starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawk) opened on 43 screens and grossed R670 000 while Mr Bones, in its eighth week, grosse! d over R1-million. Videovision Entertainment expects that the video revenues for Mr Bones in South Africa will be huge and believes it will end up being the biggest video / DVD title for the country this year.

* The organizers have announced that they will be featuring 58 "deliciously groovy movies" in the 8th Out In Africa Film Festival to take place in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban from 14 February to 17 March. Festival highlights include the presence of international guest filmmakers. Among them will be Riyad Vinci Wadia, the "Young Turk" of India’s independent cinema industry, French producer Christian Tiso, Frech actress Agathe de la Bulaye (star of The Girl), German documentary filmmaker Karin Jurschick, Italian director, Laura muscardin and Zimbabwean director Sue Maluwa Bruce who will introduce the African premiere of her short film, Forbidden Fruit.
South African documentary and fiction films will also feature prominently – Patient Abuse (Jack Lewis); Die Pienk Gevaar (Robert Sike & Andrew Michau); It’s Like That / Sweeper (Johann Maree); The Boys (Amy Allais); Rouelette (Dean Fourie); Love Story (Gerhard Gouws); A Virtual Affair (Justin Elgie).

* The Apollo Film Festival (28 September to 5 October) which takes place in the Karoo town of Victoria West has positioned itself as an ideal event for the screening of independently made films and videos. If last year's festival programme is anything to go by, the second Apollo Film Festival will be a great event to discover what has been produced by filmmakers in South Africa. The festival has been inspired by America's Sundance Festival concept and as such will again pay tribute to independent filmmakers with an awards competition. The deadline for entries in the 2nd Apollo Film Awards is Friday, 2 August. The film award categories are: Feature film (any length); Documentary (any length); Short film (less than 30 minutes); Student project (less than 30 minutes). Length exceptions can be made on request. An additional award will be made at the adjudicators' discretion in any of the technical fields, directing, acting etc. Films will be accepted in any language, but if f! ilms are not in English they must have English subtitles to facilitate judging. Entry forms can be obtained from Xolo Yoyo at apollotheatre@intekom.co.za

* Not only has Anant Singh seen money flow in at the boxoffice for the Videovision backed Mr Bones starring no-holes barred Leon Schuster but he has scored further rewards with the multi-award winning film, Monsoon Wedding from acclaimed director Mira Nair which opened in South Africa last Friday, 11 January. The film, distributed by Anant Singh's Videovision Entertainment, is one of the top ten grossing films currently in release. Monsoon Wedding explores and celebrates the vibrant Punjabi culture with five interweaving stories which are told in the four days and nights leading up to an elaborate upper-class wedding.

* The drama, Dancing with the Dead written by James Whyle and with Richard E Grant in the lead will be broadcast by the BBC’s Radio 4 on Thursday, 14 February (Valentines Day) at 14:15. Those with DSTV should be able to hear it on the BBC Radio 4 channel. Grant was born in Swaziland. Dancing with the Dead was inspired by a series of letters written by Whyle’s father. The letters tell the story of his journey to South Africa in 1911 and his experiences in the trenches of the Somme during the World War I. These are interwoven with Whyle’s own army experiences. The ensuing Zulu-style dialogue with an ancestor creates an entertaining examination of what it means to be a white South African at the beginning of the third millenium. Besides Richard E Grant the play features Tom Smith and Peter Gevisser, brother of well know writer Mark Gevisser. It is produced and directed by Claire Grove of the BBC.

Special Rotterdam Film Festival Report

* The 31st Rotterdam Film Festival closed this weekend in The Netherlands with the announcement of various prizes and I, Dr, SOTHA was there for you. The fairly large contingent of South Africans who attend the Festival, among them Eddie Mbalo, CEO of the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the NFVF’s recently appointed marketing manager Jackie Motsepe should have been disappointed that South Africans did not feature in any of the prize announcements. The Prince Claus Fund Film Grant, a 15 000 euro prize allocated to a Cinemart project from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Caribbean, went to Nan T. Achnas for Trix Images Productions for The Photograph. The Rotterdam Film Festival jury honored three directors with Tiger Awards. Selected for the awards were Eugenie Jansen for Tussenland from The Netherlands, Bohdan Slama from The Czech Republic for Divoke Slama (Wild Bees) and Sinisa Dragin from Romania for In Fiecare Zi Dumnezeu Ne Saruta Pe Gura (Everyday God Kisses Us on the Mouth). Each Tiger ! carries a 10 000 euro prize and distribution options. Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land won the audience award which boasted 350 000 festival admissions. The Festival FIPRESCI film critics award went to Mein Bruder Der Vampir (Getting My Brother Laid) by German Gven Taddicken, while a special mention was given to Lisandro Alonso from Argentina for La Libertad.

Now a pause for SOTHA's Lament...

There is a fate so painful and terrible that I wish it upon no man or woman, or enemy. This fate has reared its ugly head time and again, and shows no sign of abating. Of-course I’m talking about a blown laptop. The kind that was struck by lightning with ‘extreme prejudice’. That’s right, I DR.SOTHA, am a helpless victim of this perilous fate. I’ve sat nights injecting myself with monkey glandular vessels just to stop the crying. I’ve had no access to a word processor for close to 2 weeks. My shrink tells me it is a direct result of internalizing loss, and externalizing manhood. Serves me right she tells me.

"Go to an internet café, use a friend’s computer, don’t waste my time with this shit. Even at $500 an hour it’s not worth my valuable time. Come back when you have a real problem", she shouts at me with indignation.

"Is it still anger-role therapy week", I ask her.

"Yeah you sorry excuse for a midget savage, how dare you come here with your trivial dilemmas".

"Shall I go now" I offer pensively.

"No you still have 5 minutes to go you lousy, debased human feces."

It is after this final consultation that I left for Rotterdam feeling utterly invigorated by another patient-therapist verbal spar. That woman is a miracle worker. For close on 3 days, I didn’t think about the inner turmoil of losing a close piece of me. A laptop brutally torn apart by volts of electricity. No, I would watch films instead. Lose myself in cinema. Surrender to the magic/poison of Spike Lee, Peter Bogdanovich, Henry Jaglom, Catherine Breillat, Fruit Chan, Larry Clark, Larry Fessenden, Mike Figgis et al.

Now before all you deranged talkbackers start moaning and grousing about this article being a week late, take a moment to remember how you felt about that crashed computer, virus meltdown, system error, frozen monitor. Helpless. Defenseless. Alone like Brando on Oscar night.

I will say that my report on Rotterdam will be dwarfed by the Lovely Elaine’s comprehensive day by day coverage that has already come before. I feel like that guy in a stand-up comedy audience who is chosen to fill the last ten minutes of the night with some inane humour. Many of these films have already been reviewed on the site, but I dare to review them anyway, in the name of self-healing. So without further adieu, witness my jokes/reviews fall embarrassingly flat, as I try to recount 5 days at Rotterdam:

Henry Jaglom’s FESTIVAL IN CANNES

Right off the bat I recommend watching this film on cable at 4 in the morning with huge doses of mescaline. Perhaps then you might find it entertaining, maybe even engaging. Unfortunately, I was not as lucky and caught this at 9:30 in the morning totally sober. Henry Jaglom and comeback should not be mistaken. This is a humdrum, inconsequential melodrama about trying to put a project together in Cannes. A lackluster, boringly mundane, tediously dull, mind-numbingly dreary look at a handful of film caricatures waltzing up and down the Riviera wallowing about their totally ridiculous film projects that won’t get off the ground. This is more Albert Brooks’ ‘The Muse’ then Robert Altman’s ‘The Player’. It tows the line between satire and drama rather shakily.

Greta Schacchi plays a well-regarded British actress who has come to Cannes to raise money for her personal film that she intends to ‘first-time’ direct. At her side are two annoying flunkies who are helping her write this abomination. While talking about the project at a quaint corner-side café on the Riviera, sleaze-ball independent producer Kaz Norman overhears the pitch and falls in love with the material (which is more an indication of his lack of taste then his eye as an associate producer.) Within one afternoon Mister Kaz manages to raise $3m on the condition that the famous French actress played by Anouk Aimee accept the lead role. Talk about a quick turnover. The dude hasn’t even seen a synopsis or treatment, let alone script, but has managed to raise money from some nebulous tax break. Nice one Kaz. I have a film idea heavy on CGI about this cigarette packet that develops a soul and convinces all the other cigarette packets in the world to turn against its owner! s. I’m wondering how much Kaz can raise on that goldmine.

Anouk Aimee is at a difficult stage in her career. She has to decide whether to do a big-budget studio movie opposite Tom Hanks or take directions for Schacchi’s little indie-gem (see sarcasm.) The big budget movie is being marshaled by an even sleazier Bruckheimer-esque creation played by the always reliably terrible Ron Silver. Hence a battle ensues between Schacchi and Silver’s character over who should land Aimee for their film. Maximillian Schell shows up as a past his prime l’auteur filmmaker, who is suddenly in contention to direct the big budget Tom Hanks film. Somebody tell him Orson Welles tragically past away in the 80’s, otherwise he’ll keep stealing his mannerisms. Last and certainly worst is a smug as you can get cameo from ego-man himself Peter Bogdanovich who is the hottest and most bankable director attending the festival. Do I really need to spell out the irony? I wonder if Peter has patented that pout.

Who cares?

Right you are…nobody.

I liked Greta Schacchi better when she was taking off her kit in films like ‘White Heat’, ‘Presumed Innocent’, and ‘The Red Violin’ (among others). Here she has her clothes on in this film the whole time, and doesn’t seem to adjust too well to this break in stereotype.

Ron Silver always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, mostly because he insists on playing Ron Silver in all of his films. Ron Silver gets into character by watching all his films back to back about 3 weeks before they start shooting. Of-course I’m hypothesizing. Perhaps it’s 4 weeks.

The one saving grace in this film is a delightful little performance by Jenny Gabrielle who plays a burgeoning actress, torn between the limelight and her personal life. It’s an affecting aside to all the other story-strand disasters that are interweaving around her.

To all those Henry Jaglom fanatics in South-East Congo without cable, I regret to inform you that ‘Festival in Cannes’ strikes all the wrong notes in all the wrong ways. In the words of one of the Rotterdam staffers, "Festival in Cannes woke me up to the mediocrity that cinema can sometimes reach and attain."

One review per day is the best I can do, so says my shrink. "I can’t believe they’d want to put up your putrid reviews you two-bit journo hack. Why waste everybody else’s time with this pseudo-intellectual bullshit you blatant masochist? I say send one a day, so you can piss more people off over a longer period…and don’t you ever bring me that shit to read again." Another vitalizing session with my shrink sees me out until the next review, i.e. Mike Figgis’s ‘HOTEL’.

Now back to our regular Africa-AICN Column...

NORTH AFRICA

* Although between 600 and 2,000 people died when a huge explosion hit the Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos, Nigeria on Jan. 27, the major U.S. networks all but ignored the disaster -- although the BBC has produced 75 stories about it, Newsday reported in an article suggesting that cutbacks at network news operations overseas have resulted in their being ill-prepared to cover major events around the globe. In an interview with the Long Island newspaper, NBC News vice president Bill Wheatley conceded: "It's a story that doubtlessly required more than we all had. We don't have a bureau in Nigeria, but we never have. ... I don't ascribe any shortfall in that area to financial issues." Paul Slavin, executive producer of ABC's World News Tonight told Newsday, "While we knew a lot of people had died [in Lagos], we had no sense of the scope of it for several days." By then, "it was almost as if the story had gotten beyond us." (Pathetic excuses if you ask me. This is a major fucking tragedy. Wake up and smell the detonator – DR.SOTHA)

* Time for Rigobert Song:

Hello Readers. Well DR.SOTHA’s little sojourn to the Rotterdam Film Festival gave me some time to recharge my batteries and watch some videos that have been lost in the shuffle that is my life. One of them was ‘Out of Obscurity’, which illustrates a powerful struggle against the system and one that contributed to freedom and equality. Inspiring and dazzling in equal measures I implore you all to seek it out on video. Remember to email me at rigobertsong@hotmail.com with your comments on African cinema.

OUT OF OBSCURITY

The Struggle to Desegregate America's Libraries Produced & Co-directed by Matt Spangler & Eddie Becker

Out of Obscurity details one of the many little known, but nonetheless important, episodes in civil rights history. In the 1930s public facilities were segregated throughout the South. There were separate schools and restaurants for blacks and whites. Blacks weren't even allowed to try on clothes in many department stores. Some places had three restrooms; one labeled "white ladies," another "colored women" and the third for "white men." Blacks were banned from using the libraries. Recognizing the importance of public libraries as centers of information and a place where poor people could educate themselves, a handful of brave youths decided to challenge this ban.

In 1939, just before World War II broke out, five young men staged a civil protest to open the Alexandria, Virginia public library to African Americans. One by one they walked into the library and asked for library cards. When they were refused, each sat down at a separate table with a book quietly reading. A library clerk who saw them panicked, yelling, "There are colored people all over the library." The police were summoned and the men were arrested. By the time the men left the library a crowd had gathered outside and a news reporter who had been tipped off to the protest snapped their picture. A few days later, their story was buried under the news by Hitler's invasion of Poland.

The mastermind behind the Alexandria library sit-in was Samuel Wilbert Tucker, a 26-year-old local lawyer who had learned about passive resistance from Howard University theology professor Howard Thurman. Tucker used the protest to file a lawsuit to end the exclusion of African Americans from the public library. The protestors were charged with trespassing, which was later changed to disorderly conduct. Ultimately, the case stalled when a local judge failed to make a final ruling. But the judge did find that no regulation limited the library's use to whites; it was open to Alexandria residents or taxpayers. However, this wasn't the victory that it seemed. Rather than endure black readers at the library, the city council appropriated funds to build a "colored branch" of the library. The colored branch had shorter hours and cast-off books. The library was finally actually integrated in the 1950s.

It was Tucker's first challenge to segregation. He went on to become one of the most celebrated civil rights attorneys in the state of Virginia, leading the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) ongoing legal challenge to segregation and helping litigate landmark cases that eventually broke the back of racial segregation in the nation's schools. He argued some 50 school desegregation cases within the state of Virginia.

The documentary features a dramatic reenactment of the sit-in with local actors at the original site of the protest. Through interviews with Tucker, one of the participants in the 1939 protest, local residents, and civil rights experts, and featuring striking photographs and archival footage, Out of Obscurity presents the tale of this quiet confrontation to break the chains of segregation. Dr. Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, who helped lead the student sit-in movement in the 1960s, which the library protest foreshadowed, narrates it.

Out of Obscurity is another reminder that the struggle for rights we have today wasn't easy and was pioneered by courageous ordinary and not-so-ordinary people who refused to go by the book.

* The release of the world-acclaimed African feature film Lumumba by Film Resource Unit (FRU) and Ster-Kinekor on 22 February is well timed. It was announced on Tuesday, 5 February, that Belgium formally apologised for its role in the 1961 assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba. It has long been suspected that the Belgium government ordered Lumumba's death, and its role during those troubled times has been recently highlighted in several publications. Raoul Peck's feature film also bears testimony and supports this allegation. The recent Belgium parliamentary report on which the apology is based failed to link the Belgium government directly to the killing. It found instead that ministers bore a "moral responsibility" by failing to act to prevent the assassination after Lumumba was captured by Congolese rivals. The film indicates that the intervention of General Mobutu within two months of Congolese independence and Lumumba’s arrest and murder seve! n months later were steps taken to ensure defence of western interests, the prime goal of this transition. The film Lumumba will be shown 5 times a day, 7 days a week and for 6 weeks at cinemas throughout South Africa and will be premiered at a major launch on 21 February at the Johannesburg Civic Centre.

* A Tanzanian film, Maagamizi, is a finalist for the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Feature category this year. The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) sees this as an opportunity to stimulate local production by promoting seminars and workshops in various aspects of filmmaking. Chicago Filmmaker Floyd Webb recently returned from Zanzibar, Tanzania in East Africa where he taught a class in low budget digital film production to a group of 25 broadcast and freelance media professionals from Tanzanian television and commercial production facilities. According to the email news letter from African Cinema, Webb was invited to Tanzania by Imruh Caesar, Director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF). With over 50 million Swahili speakers in the world, Maangamizi - The Ancient One represents the first feature film made for worldwide release in Swahili. The film centers around three women, a doctor, her patient and the mysterious ancestor who comes to take ! them on a journey into their past and inevitably delivers them to a place of healing. Among the film's executive producers are Oscar winning producer/director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) as well as Joan Cunning and Steven Shareshian. The film's two directors are Tanzanian veteran filmmaker Martin Mhando (Mama Tumaini, Yomba Yomba) and first time feature film director Ron Mulvihill.

* Ralph Stutchbury has made a fascinating 36-minute programme about the total eclipse that occurred over Southern Africa in June last year. Filmed and scripted by Stutchbury, the programme called Zuva Raora (the disappearing sun) is an exploration into the effect of a total eclipse on wild animals and was shot in Mana Pools National Park, (which was beneath the path of totality.) The programme was made with the co-operation of Wildlife Environment Zimbabwe and supported by experts, Dr Richard Estes, author of The Behaviour Guide to African Mammals; ecologist Dr Norman Monks; British astronomer, Dr Paul Murdin; and ornithologist, Peter Ginn.

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* In those far off days of apartheid, Sidney Poitier made an indelible impression on South Africans in the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner which portrayed love across the colour line and the reaction of the black and white parents most immediately involved. Now Sidney Poitier has been voted an Honorary Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award, an Oscar statuette, is being given to Poitier "for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen, and for representing the motion picture industry with dignity, style and intelligence throughout the world". In his 40-film career that has spanned more than 50 years, Poitier has been nominated for two leading actor Oscars, in 1958 for his role in "The Defiant Ones," and in 1963 for "Lilies of the Field," for which he won the statuette. Poitier's Honorary Award will be presented at the 74th Academy Awards Presentation on 24 March, 2002. Catch the Oscars live on M! ovie Magic (DStv channel 4), Monday, 25 March at 03H00, or watch the delayed broadcast the same day on M-Net starting at 19H05.

* Edward Norton and director Spike Lee are teaming up on a feature adaptation of David Benioff's novel THE 25TH HOUR for Disney. Shooting begins in May in New York. Benioff also adapted the screenplay, which chronicles the last day of freedom for a young man before he begins serving a seven-year jail term for drug dealing. He prowls through the city until dawn with his two close male friends and his girlfriend, re-examining his life and how he got himself into his predicament, which leads to a disturbing finale. (I cannot wait for this one, Norton and Spike Lee working together…could be gold – DR.SOTHA)

* Michael Clarke Duncan will join Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Garner in 20th Century Fox/Regency Enterprises' DAREDEVIL, a live-action adaptation of the Marvel comic book, for writer/director Mark Steven Johnson. Shooting starts March 25.

* Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Pollak and Zoe Warner will star in the indie family feature "Blizzard," which marks the directorial debut of actor LeVar Burton. Additionally, Brenda Blethyn is in talks to join the live-action/CGI project, which will shoot in Toronto and Quebec City beginning Feb. 18, with Canadian company Knightscove Entertainment producing with Ralph Winter Prods. No domestic distributor has yet been secured, though the filmmakers are planning for a Christmas release date. Written by Murray McRae, the project is a Christmas story about a young girl (Warner) and her relationship with Santa's most magical reindeer, Blizzard, voiced by Goldberg. When her heart is broken after her love of skating is taken away from her, Blizzard comes to help the girl find her way back to what she loves most. Along the way, Blizzard is in danger of being banished from Santa's kingdom by the chief elf (Pollak). The little girl must convince Santa (Plummer) other! wise.

* Halle Berry is attached to star in NAPPILY EVER AFTER, based on the Trisha Thomas novel, for Universal Pictures. Berry will play Venus Johnson, a beauty who grows impatient waiting for her dream man to marry her. They break up, but her resolve is tested when he falls for someone else.

* Jonny Lee Miller has replaced Gerard Butler in Dimension's MINDHUNTERS for director Renny Harlin and Intermedia Films. Christian Slater, Kathryn Morris, Patricia Velazquez, LL Cool J and Val Kilmer also star. Butler had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with Paramount's TIMELINE, which Richard Donner is helming.

* Comic Jamie Foxx is sizing up a part in the upcoming Charlie’s Angels movie – as Bill Murray’s replacement. Murray has chosen not to reprise his role of Angel's sidekick Bosley in the new film, despite the movie's three leading ladies, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Lui and Drew Barrymore, all signing up - and Foxx is ready to step in. However, Foxx will not portray Bosley, but as a 'go-between's' son - a character he attributes to, "a hot little night back in the 'hood.'"

* Cuba Gooding Jnr.’s Oscar-winning role in Jerry Maguire almost wrecked his career because casting directors were convinced his 'Show Me The Money' character was the only part he could play. The 34-year-old actor admits the years after his Best Supporting Actor win in 1997 were a lean time, until now. And Gooding Jr, who became only the sixth African-American to win an acting Oscar, admits his color didn't help. He says, "The hardest thing was for people to figure out where to put me as an actor. I met Oliver Stone and he said, 'You're Rod Tidwell, you're that character, ' and I realized that people didn't want the 'Show me the money' guy in a lot of the roles I was going for. It's sometimes a color thing too. No one ever tells me that to my face. They're doing this movie Daredevil and I really wanted it, I wanted to be this guy, but I didn't even get a meeting with the director." Ben Affleck will star in Daredevil.

* Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg has been reunited with her Academy Award after it was stolen while being sent for cleaning. Goldberg, who won the supporting-actress Oscar for Ghost in 1990, had returned the statue to the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, which then forwarded it to the manufacturer for cleaning and replating. The academy packed up the Oscar and shipped it out on Friday by United Parcel Service (UPS), but the box was empty when it arrived on Tuesday at R.S. Owens Co. of Chicago, the company that makes the figurines. The academy says the statue was stolen from a UPS shipping container - but, luckily, a security guard at an airport in California found the Oscar in a trash bin. UPS returned the Oscar to the Academy and it will now be sent back to Whoopi - who has shelved plans to have it cleaned. She says, "Oscar will never leave my house again." (Sounds like UPS had a sense of justice – DR.SOTHA)

* In a 4-1 vote, the Nevada State Athletic Commission Tuesday voted to deny Mike Tyson a license to box in Las Vegas, thereby effectively pulling the plug on an April 6 pay-per-view bout with Lennox Lewis that was due to air on both HBO and Showtime and could have produced the biggest take for a heavyweight title fight ever. While technically the fight can now be staged elsewhere, sports writers generally agreed that it was unlikely that any other boxing commission would grant a license to Tyson. (Don’t be pussies let them box, heck I’ll promote one here in Benoni – DR.SOTHA)

DR.SOTHA REVO & OUT