Big Stunt: Get Smart crashes in
Steve Carell takes his Sunbeam Tiger for a spin in Get Smart, out in the UK
on August 22. The film is based on the Sixties screwball TV comedy, with
Carell starring as Maxwell Smart, employee of top secret spy agency Control,
who battles crime syndicate Kaos with the help of Anne Hathaway’s glamorous
Agent 99. Co-created by Mel Brooks, the original show ran for five years and
138 episodes, picking up seven Emmys along the way. For more details on the
film go to www.warnerbros.co.uk/getsmart/
Big Drive: Lotus Eagle
The British sports car renaissance continues with the official unveiling of
the first new model from Lotus in 13 years, the 276bhp 3.5 litre Project
Eagle. The mid-engined roadster will have a top speed of 160mph and comes in
two and four-seat versions - assuming two of your four passengers are
children. Production begins in 2009, with Lotus building 2,000 cars a year.
The price will be in the Porsche league - in the region of £45,000, with
convertible and “ultra-high performance” variants to follow. www.grouplotus.com
Big Gig: Kylie Minogue on tour
It’s been an eventful year for the Australian pop pixie: she hit 40 in May,
collected her OBE medal “for services to music” from Prince Charles at
Buckingham Palace at the beginning of this month (she went with her parents
Ron and Carol) and is now on the road with a 53-date, £10m production.
Expect cheerleader outfits, kinky boots and Japanese-themed sets. The tour
reaches a climax this week with four nights at the Metro Radio arena in
Newcastle, followed by a sevennight run at the O2 arena, in southeast
London. Ticket prices start at £40. www.the02.co.uk
Big Download: Adeona laptop tracker
This free software sits on your laptop and sends the IP (internet protocol)
addresses you use to get onto the internet to a secure website only you can
access. If the machine is then stolen, perhaps after being left on a train
by a forgetful civil servant, those addresses will continue to be logged,
giving geographical information the police can use to track down the
culprit. Best of all, MacBook owners can instruct Adeona (named after a
Roman goddess who saw lost children safely home) to fire off the laptop’s
built-in webcam, snapping a picture of its light-fingered new owner. http://adeona.cs.washington.edu
Big Game: You’re in the Movies
You may soon have the chance to appear in your own B-movie, as Microsoft has
showcased a new Xbox 360 game that captures footage of you via the console’s
Live Vision webcam (pictured). You play mini-games in which your image is
superimposed on the screen character. Footage of your gameplay is
automatically compiled into a short, campy video - of, say, zombies or giant
lizards - to which you can then add sound and upload the finished piece to
YouTube. It works well but the movies look more Ed Wood than John Woo.
Released in December. tinyurl.com/5ckx76
Big Event: British International Motor Show
Cars, more cars, some bands and boats - that’s the agenda for the motor show
at ExCel in London from Wednesday until August 3. More than 20 world
premieres are promised - including the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed
and the Citroën C-Surf concept 4x4, pictured. There’s also the Ultimate
Collection, a Sunday Times-sponsored gathering of more than 20 supercars.
Live music comes from UB40, Blondie and Status Quo. Tickets start at £10. www.britishmotorshow.co.uk
