IN BRIEF: Director Kevin Smith to appear on Degrassi; Canadian playwright nominated for U.K. crime-writing award; more
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 | 1:50 PM ET
CBC Arts
U.S. filmmaker Kevin Smith, best known for his "Jersey Trilogy" of Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy, will appear on teen TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation, broadcaster CTV announced Tuesday.
Smith, whose films also include Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma and Jersey Girl, will appear in the season's final three episodes, which will air in early 2005.
In a November 1996 article for Details magazine, Smith detailed how he became a fan: watching episodes of Degrassi Junior High during an early job at a convenience store. He eventually named a character in Clerks "Caitlin," after a leading Degrassi character, and included references to the series in that and other films.
Kevin Smith at his office in Los Angeles. (AP photo)
He recently praised the new Degrassi's storylines – which have included a 14-year-old's decision to have an abortion with no regrets and a recent school-shooting episode – in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
"When I heard some of the storylines they're doing, my head exploded," he told the magazine. "I'm known for frank subject matter and I wouldn't touch that stuff."
TORONTO - Playwright James W. Nichol up for U.K. Dagger Award
Canadian playwright James W. Nichol was named a finalist Monday for the 2004 Dagger Awards, the British literary prize honouring crime and thriller writing.
Nichol was nominated for his novel Midnight Cab, which won best first novel at the 2003 Arthur Ellis Awards for crime writing in Canada. The novel, which follows a 19-year-old cab driver's search for why he was abandoned as a child, was inspired by a popular CBC radio drama of the same name.
The gold and silver Dagger winners will be announced at an awards lunch on Nov. 9.
The Stratford, Ont.-based Nichol is best known for writing radio plays, most recently 2002's Peggy Delaney, and for his adaptation of Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel, which theatre troupes performed across Canada in the mid-1990s.
DETROIT - Motown's Martha Reeves sues eBay for posting her Social Security info
Attorneys for Martha Reeves announced Monday that the Motown singer is filing a lawsuit against internet auction site eBay over its posting of an old performance contract that shows her Social Security number and signature.
Reeves has also filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and, in an interview with the Detroit News Sunday, said she is worried about being open to identity theft.
According to eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy, the company cannot monitor the approximately 29 million listings on the site at any one time, but that it does follow up on complaints and would remove listings that showed private information, if employees see them.
According to Reeves, the president of her fan club alerted her that a 1975 performance contract she had signed was for sale on eBay this month. An enlarged photo displayed her Social Security number and a detailed look at her signature, Reeves said.
Durzy verified that a complaint had been filed about the item but only days after the eBay sale had been completed. The link to the image of the contract was also no longer active, he said, and had been taken down by the seller, listed as an autograph dealer in Colorado.
After a three-day auction that drew eight bids, the contract sold Thursday to a private buyer, of no listed address, for $33.22 US.
Reeves, 63, was the lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, which recorded hits like Dancing in the Street and Heat Wave.
