Next month, the 11th Annual International Fringe Festival will take over a ton of dingy theatre spaces to show over 200 plays, musicals and the like in the sultry heat with little to no air conditioning.  A few of the needles in the haystack have already started drumming up that “ohmygod-I-can’t-wait” buzz.  Among them is “Williamsburg! The Musical,” a brand spanking new pop/rock parody with apropo characters like a suicidal trust fund baby, a disenchanted Chasidic Jew, and of course, Hipsters.  Lots of Hipsters.  The writers even threw  a song in there called ‘Craigslist Hookup’ about that precious Missed Connections page. There will be a lot of crap at the fest, but we’re thinking this one is gonna be one of the hotties. Check out http://www.williamsburgthemusical.com/.

The trailer for Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution in now online. The film is described as “an erotic espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai.” Judging by the lack of dialog and the over use of orchestra, my keen sense of observation tells me this movie has subtitles.

The Darjeeling Limited trailer is online. Wes Anderson fans proceed with caution.

CBS’s search for their Bob Barker replacement has come to an end. It appears Drew Carey will be filling his shoes as the new host of The Price is Right. Carey will reportedly be earning a seven figure income teaching mid-west Hollywood sightseers how to play giant children’s games such as “Plinko” and guesstimate the price of Oreck vacumes.

In a recent article in Variety, NBC states that once Conan O’Brian takes over The Tonight Show in 2009, they are prepared to do anything short of housing his car collection to keep him at the peacock.

NBC has yet to present Leno with any alternatives, but among the options being floated are a primetime strip or variety show that would air once or multiple times a week, perhaps kicking off primetime at 8 p.m.; work on NBC U’s cable properties and specifically USA Network, which the net is hoping to build into the de-facto “fifth network”; Jay-on-demand through TiVo, cable, or online; or, the “Bob Hope deal,” where Leno does what he wants — just about anything but telling jokes at 11:35 pm.

Besides reading ‘Motor’ magazine and watching ‘Jay’s Garage’ online, I’m a big fan of almost anything Leno. Assuming he does get the “Bob Hope” deal he’s future work at NBC may finally just push the network above 4th place in the ratings. On the flip side, an entire primetime series devoted to “Headlines” may do just the opposite.

An 80’s style horror film that doesn’t look half bad; written and directed by Superman Returns writer, Michael Dougherty. Its got Brian Cox, Leslie Bibb, and Anna Paquin in it so at least worth $10.50.