Videotapes

Tired of going for the burn with Jane Fonda? Now you can practice the intricacies of cerebral, non-linear, avant-garde modern dance in the privacy of your own living room. No traditional music or recognizable structure. Just pure modular movement. Relax. Leave it all to chance. Merce Cunningham certainly has, and now he's the first modern-dance choreographer to put his codified technique on videotape and offer it for sale.

It was always one of the great regrets of jazz musicians in the early years that self-instruction was virtually the only path toward education in this all but undocumented art form. Jazz education was nonexistent, a contradiction in terms. Even today, unless the young student's family can afford to send him to one of the institutes where jazz is the subject of formal learning (Berklee in Boston, Dick Grove's in Los Angeles, etc.

It's late at night. Your dog wants a walk. You're passing through the lobby of your apartment building when a voice calls out, "Psst, come over here. I wanna talk to you." Not to worry. It's only Vidi the robot. All he wants to do is rent you a video. To accomplish that, he'll dish out a little Hollywood gossip, crack a joke, show you a scene or two from a movie you're considering and maybe even tell you about the film maker. All this happens before you decide whether to rent the video, at the standard price of a dollar or two. Though the robot will tell you it likes to be called Vidi, its full name is Vidirobot 2001.

The British tabloid that printed images allegedly showing Kate Moss snorting cocaine has turned over the videotape to police, a senior staffer at the newspaper said Thursday. Moss lost contracts with H&M, Burberry and Chanel after the Daily Mirror published the pictures in September. The 31-year-old supermodel later apologized to "all the people I have let down" and checked into an Arizona rehabilitation clinic.

When it comes to interviewing his grandparents, 10-year-old Tyler Palacios, a fifth-grader at Valley Beth Shalom Day School, is a Mike Wallace in the making. "Probing, very probing," Tyler's grandfather Ronald Barrett said after he and his wife, Kathy, completed a 90-minute interview this week detailing their lives. The Barretts traveled from their home in New Orleans to participate.

Community Access Television-Channel 53 will videotape children as a public service for parents concerned about the rising number of children reported missing. The project is to give parents a video record of their children's likenesses, voices and vital statistics. Representatives of the Industry Sheriff's Station will be available to fingerprint the children. Those interested should bring a VHS tape to the station at 15255 Salt Lake Ave. from 1 to 5 p.m. Feb. 9. The taping is free.

In an unprecedented step aimed at reducing the backlog of asbestos-related lawsuits, Philadelphia lawyers and judges proposed that they be allowed to try entire cases on videotape. The system proposed by city Common Pleas Court judges and the Philadelphia Bar Assn. would allow a judge to oversee several cases at once while the juries watch prerecorded testimony and legal arguments on a TV monitor.

MPI Home Video of Chicago plans to release a videotape of excerpts of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North's testimony before the congressional committees investigating the Iran- contra affair, the company announced Monday. The 90-minute videotape, titled "Oliver North: Memo to History," will also include excerpts of testimony by other witnesses and background material about key figures and events, the company said.

Nearly 100 New Yorkers have eagerly sent $9.95 each to American Isuzu over the last few weeks. They weren't buying specialized windshield wiper blades--or Joe Isuzu-autographed litter bags. They were paying for advertisements. Specifically, they shelled out nearly 10 bucks each for detailed, videotaped advertisements about Isuzu's upscale car, Impulse. And similarly, about 300 people have sent $12 each to the Irish Tourist Board for a lengthy video ad on Ireland.

After the Bruins' disastrous Arizona trip last week, Coach Steve Lavin, who regularly edits tapes to show his team both good plays and bad ones, put together one featuring what he believes is the team's Achilles' heel--turnovers. The tape, 10 minutes from the Arizona game, was the first Lavin ever put together consisting solely of turnovers. "We're creating easy baskets in transition for our opponents," Lavin said. "Our offense creates offense for our opponents.