WATCH OUT, MARTHA STEWART! One-woman multimedia industry Oprah Winfrey announces she will be launching a women's magazine in March Y2K.
COLD SHOWER: Theater owners shown a sneak of Eyes Wide Shut tell the New York Daily News that the Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman flick isn't as sex-crazed as the hype suggests.
KA-CHING! Jeffrey Katzenberg to pocket up to $275 million in his settlement with Disney, including the $117.5 mil he was awarded in 1997, various reports say.
F.Y.I.: Don McLean issuing a statement denying any involvement in teen sex romp American Pie--although he did let its makers borrow the title of his famous song.
AN OFFER HE CAN REFUSE: Francis Ford Coppola has "no immediate plans" to do The Godfather, Part IV--especially after writer Mario Puzo's death, the director's rep tells USA Today.
UPDATE: Blues Traveler postponing all band appearances for the next month as singer John Popper, 32, rehabs from an angioplasty to clear a clogged artery.
MURDER, SHE SAYS: Brian Jones' last gal-pal tells a book author the Rolling Stones guitarist's accidental drowning was no accident. The rocker died 30 years ago July 3.
DOWN UNDER: In Australia, Silverchair rocker Daniel Johns accussed of harassment by a 26-year-old law student. The band's manager calls the allegation bogus.
PLUGGED IN: Cyber notable Matt Drudge (The Drudge Report) to host a coast-to-coast, weekly radio show for the ABC Radio Networks, starting Sunday.
IN THE RINGS: Elijah Wood snagging the lead in the planned big-screen Lord of the Rings trilogy, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books, the Hollywood Reporter says. For more casting news, see Dotted Line.
CURTAIN UP? The Big Apple's mayor blasting a police plan that called on Broadway shows to go dark on December 31, but some productions may skip the Y2K madness anyway.
WHO WILL SELL HER SOUL? Folkie Jewel to do fall fashion ads for Tommy Hilfiger. In return, the designer will sponsor her upcoming tour.
GROOVY: An indie film festival now to be part of Woodstock '99, July 23-25 in Rome, New York. More than 40 flicks to be screened.
NAME GAME: Apparently confusing the beloved Cosby Show with the tolerated Cosby, Americans say they wish their own families were most like the one depicted on the current CBS sitcom, a new poll shows.
CODA: Torch singer Roberta Sherwood, who played the cool clubs of the cool 1950s, including New York's Copa Cabana, dead at age 86. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease.