Tooth-deficient Chicago cinefile Edward Brown got a little overenthused during a recent screening of odds-on Oscars favorite Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. According to police, Brown, 34, disrobed and "paraded in front of the audience at the North Riverside Park Mall's Classic Cinema."

It's the drug PSA that defined a generation. Enjoy the entire 27 minutes right here, and check out some other anti-drug moments from the wonderful world of animation... they're pretty trippy.

This year's record profits weren't enough: Hollywood wants the $20 grandma gave you for Christmas, too, with a raft of big films slated for Christmastime release. "Sherlock Holmes," "It's Complicated" and... uh "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel."

December 22, 1958 The Chipmunks Top the Charts. Way to go Alvin... Alvin? Alvin?! ALVIN!!!

While the hamster health advisory to which we alerted you yesterday remains in effect, chipmunks are still plenty safe to pet, hold and practice your screechy, overcranked rock vocals with. As luck would have it, the most influential chipmunk band in history is seeking a new singer since Alvin, its leader of 40+ years, reportedly fled the band in a carefully plotted publicity campaign drug- and ego-fueled solo bender on the eve of its new album. But the vacancy is a double-edged sword for the rest of us, an unwitting culture faced with the prospect of the record label's actual "Chipmunk Auditions":

In blast email about a lawsuit filed against Capitol Records by the family of Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdisarian, TMZ managing editor Harvey Levin has something he needs to say. "Full disclosure — TMZ's Harvey Levin went to summer camp with one of Ross' sons, but it was a long time ago." Wow, Harvey, was he totally in your bunk? [TMZ]

Courtesy of an executive still giddy from the staggering success of one of the box office's most critically reviled current releases, here's an insider's guide on How To Tell When You've Got A Monster Hit On Your Hands: "THE Nov. 11 test screening of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" was halfway over when the power in Westlake Village cut out. The emergency lights inside the Mann Village 8 came on, but most of preview guests still wouldn't leave their seats. After some 20 minutes in the near dark, 20th Century Fox canceled the screening — the last one possible before "Alvin" was locked and no more editing changes would be possible. As soon as the theater emptied, though, the power was restored, and the Fox executives were nearly trampled when the majority of the audience rushed back in. 'That was when I sort of said, "I think this movie is going to catch,"' said Elizabeth Gabler, whose Fox 2000 division joined with 20th Century Fox Animation to supervise production." [LAT]

With Father Time currently in lockdown after being picked up over the weekend for a parole-violating DUI, and the tragic discovery of the New Year's baby in a dumpster behind Bar Lubitsch (besides a crushed top hat and filthy sash, doing just fine), it seems as if the countdown to 2008 comes under less than ideal circumstances. Still, you can't stop the march of progress, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the weekend box office numbers:

Realizing that they probably squeezed every available box office dollar from moviegoing families during last weekend's surprising $45 million opening of Alvin and the Chipmunks, Fox has savvily released a new red-band trailer for the film, hoping to lure an adult audience into theaters over the upcoming holiday frame. [iKlipz]

As Live Free or Die Hard co-star Bruce Willis surely could have warned Justin Long, cashing the paycheck for a voiceover in a second-rate animated family film is the easy part of the gig; the hard part is the fulfilling the oft-humiliating promotional responsibilities to support the movie.