Star Wars: Episode II Casting
As Episode II enters its pre-production phase, fans are getting more and more excited about this new chapter of the Star Wars saga. As a result, Lucasfilm is being inundated by calls and mailings regarding casting for Episode II, both from people who want to know what actors have been considered for roles, and from people who want a role themselves. Please note that since George Lucas is not involved in the first stages of the casting process, no submissions should be sent to him. [MORE]

Music Newswire

MCY.com Logs Historic Hits On The Internet With Michael Jackson & Friends Concert
MUNICH, GERMANY -- The official tally is in and MCY.com, digital music and entertainment, made history in receiving over ten million hits in one day for it's live broadcast of June 27th's Michael Jackson and Friends benefit concert. Never before in the history of the Internet has a single broadcast received a response of this magnitude. In sharing this benefit concert with their online audience MCY.com provided further awareness and support to UNESCO, The Red Cross, and Nelson Mandela's Childrens Fund; the beneficiaries of the event. [MORE]

Final Exclusive Beastie Boys Track Available For Digital Download
SANTA MONICA, CA -- LAUNCH Media announced today that a previously unreleased version of Beastie Boys' "Body Movin'" (Shawn J. Period remix) along with "Intergalactic" (Colleone & Webb Remix) and "The Negotiation Limerick File" (DJ Design Remix), from the album "Hello Nasty", will now be available for secure digital download on LAUNCH.com.

Pacific Microsonics Opens Internet HDCD Music Store
UNION CITY, CA -- Pacific Microsonics, Inc. announced the opening of the HDCD Music Store, hdcd.com, the most comprehensive e-commerce site for buying CDs made with Pacific Microsonics' high resolution HDCD encoding technology. HDCD encoded CDs are compatible with all CD players and produce 20-bits of real musical information, as compared to 16-bits for conventional CDs, when played on a CD or DVD player equipped with HDCD decoding and HDCD filtering.

Television Newswire

MTV Premieres Beavis & Butt-Head Do America For The First Time On Basic Cable
August 7th At 4:00pm (ET/PT)
NEW YORK, NY -- MTV devotes the weekend of August 6th - 8th to the Infamous Duo with a Marathon of Beavis & Butt-Head Episodes and Encore Presentations of Beavis & Butt-head Do America: An MTV Movie Special and Beavis & Butt-head's Most Dangerous Episodes. To kick-off the movie premiere weekend on MTV, the channel will re-air classic episodes of the series that launched them into stardom, as well as "Beavis & Butt-head Do America: An MTV Movie Special" and "Beavis & Butt-head's Most Dangerous Episodes."

Game Newswire

Electronic Arts Ships NCAA FOOTBALL 2000 For Playstation
REDWOOD CITY, CA -- Electronic Arts™ announced the release of NCAA® Football 2000 for the PlayStation®. NCAA Football 2000 is the latest version of EA SPORTS'™ best-selling interactive college football game. It continues to raise the bar for college football gaming by delivering the deepest features, gameplay and graphics available.

The New Tetris™ Fits Perfectly on Nintendo® 64
REDMOND, WA -- Be prepared to get addicted all over again. Nintendo's The New Tetris gives a facelift to the game that defined the puzzle genre and enthralled the world with its innovative game play. The newest twist to the all-time favorite is the ability to reconstruct the world's seven "Wonders." As players clear lines, they accumulate blocks that are used to build one of these fantastic "Wonders," allowing players to unlock new music and backgrounds.

General Announcements

Hastings Entertainment Signs Agreement With Yahoo! To Deliver Live Entertainment Webcasts Through Yahoo! Broadcast Services
AMARILLO, TX -- Hastings will feature the live Internet broadcasts, which will highlight concerts, book signings and other live entertainment events, on its e-commerce Web site, gohastings.com. During each event, Web participants will be able to view personal interviews with the artist, purchase autographed copies of the artist’s product and submit on-line questions that will be personally answered by the artist following the performance.