Tom Cruise has achieved a new first: getting an episode of South Park banned in the UK. The banned show depicts Tom Cruise in a closet, with several celebrities, including ex-wife Nicole Kidman and fellow Scientologist John Travolta, trying to get him to "come out of the closet," an obvious jab at Cruise's sexuality.

The episode also mocks Scientology for its cult-like rituals and ridiculous claims, another possible reason why Cruise might be trying to keep people from saying it. Several years ago, a South Park episode that mocked Mormon beliefs with some fairly accurate recreations of the events that occurred to the religion's founder, Joseph Smith, may have had an impact on young people's feelings about the Mormon religion.
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I reported earlier today about Richard Linklater's work on Fast Food Nation. My story was incomplete, in that I forgot to tell everyone that Linklater is also working on A Scanner Darkly, based on a Philip K. Dick novel, and that he is definately working on a Criterion Collection release of Dazed and Confused.

News of the Criterion release of Dazed has been rumored since the release of the Flashback Edition in November 2004. That edition disappointed many fans, who were hoping for more than 10 minutes of deleted scenes and absolutely no commentary tracks. Criterion said last month that they would love to do Dazed and Confused, but there were no plans at this time. Either a deal has been reached, or Linklater is doing the work anyway so that he'll be ahead of the game when a deal with Criterion is reached. Some bootleg Dazed and Confused tapes have been floating around for years, and they are rumored to have over 3 hours of footage, much of it without sound effects or background music, which of course means it was cut. As an official Dazed fanatic, I'm dying to see all that extra footage (ie - the subplot involving the stealing of the statues) along with commentary from Linklater and the cast. The Criterion Collection version of Linklater's film debut, Slacker, was one of the best the series has ever produced, so I know there is a ton of potential here.
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One of my favorite directors, Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Slacker, Tape) is working on a new film called Fast Food Nation.

Linklater has made several "Hollywood" films lately, such as The Bad News Bears and School of Rock, so hopefully he's earned enough to make something good again, even if it won't make a ton of money at the box office.

Ethan Hawke (a Linklater favorite), Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzman, and Avril Lavigne are all slated to star in the new Linklater flick. That's not a typo, Canadian posuer-rock singer Avril Lavigne has signed on for Fast Food Nation. She may not have the acting chops, but Linklater does have a way of making everyone look like they know what they are doing (look at all the stars he made from Dazed and Confused). Milla Jovovich is a horrible actress, but did anyone find anything wrong with her scenes in Dazed and Confused? Linklater knows how to limit the exposure of people that don't know what they're doing, and highlight the ones that do, even if they aren't the prettiest.
Graeme Watson: New Richard Linklatter film to feature Avril Lavigne