FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, January 3, 2003

VERY PHISH-Y: Publicists for Tom Hanks denying that the actor briefly appeared at a New Year's Eve Phish concert at Madison Square Garden. A clip of Cast Away was shown before a man looking like Hanks took the stage. News of the apparent hoax was first reported by Salon.com.

REST IN PEACE: Monty Python's Flying Circus director, Ian McNaughton, died December 10 in Munich of complications from an earlier car crash. He was 76.

CAUGHT ON TAPE: An Arizona judge temporarily preventing police officers from releasing a videotape starring Diana Ross during her drunk-driving arrest. According to the police report, Ross was so inebriated that she completely botched a simple sobriety test.

WHAT A SIN: Heath Ledger's latest movie, Sin Eaters, pulled from January 17 release after test audiences laughed at the supposedly spooky special effects. After toughening up the flick, it will be renamed The Order and released some time later this year, reports Variety.

SHORT CHANGED: Fox's Joe Millionaire caught dodging a toll booth in Orange County, California, according to the traffic ticket posted on The Smoking Gun Website. Skipping the $2.50 toll amounted to $104 in fines. The hard-up construction worker poses as a wealthy bachelor on the sneaky reality show debuting Monday.

A GOOD HAND: Las Vegas film critics awarding top honors to George Clooney for his directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Other Vegas winners include Nicole Kidman (Best Actress, The Hours) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor, Gangs of New York), while The Two Towers came away the house winner with four awards.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Nomination ballots for the 75th Academy Awards being sent out to members next week with 279 feature films eligible for Best Picture of 2002 consideration. Nominations will be announced February 11.

BUSTED! The FBI arresting a 19-year-old California college student yesterday for posting DirecTV's security system access codes on the Internet. The student was charged with industrial espionage.

HOLLYWOOD PEDIGREE: Sidney Poitier's youngest daughter, Sydney Poitier, starring on a new UPN series this month about twentysomething single life called Abby.

PASSING: Celebrity astrologer Sydney Omarr died Thursday in Santa Monica after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. Omarr had written several best-selling books on astrology and published a hugely popular syndicated newspaper column.

IN MEMORIAM: Character actor Royce Applegate, who appeared in such films as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Rain Man and Driving Miss Daisy, was killed on New Year's Day, the victim of a fire in his Hollywood Hills home. He was 63.

ARRESTED: Rapper 50 Cent (real name: Curtis Jackson) charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon after police find guns in his illegally parked SUV in New York City.

THE NEXT FRIENDS? The first season of the racy British sitcom Coupling, which NBC is Americanizing in hopes of turning it into a new Must-See show, making its home-video debut on DVD January 21 on BBC Video.