June 26, 2007

Eric Clapton's unmistakable guitar rendition of "Layla" has been voted as the worst cover song. "Layla" that was originally sung by Derek and the Dominos has topped the poll gathered by RetroCrush.com.

The website has commented upon the result, "It's the equivalent of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page doing a kazoo version of Stairway To Heaven."

The rumor mill keeps grinding on who will come up as the acting lead in "Fletch Won" despite previous talks saying "Dawson's Creek" star Joshua Jackson is up for the role, and the other name mentioned turns out to be John Krasinski, widely known for his role of Jim Halpert on NBC's sitcom "The Office."

Sure words on this matter do not come out without reason as Krasinski himself recently showed a positive response to MTV on his possibility to fill in the part.

Boy band Backstreet Boys is reported getting back together. The group that went popular in the '90s is heading back to the studio for a Halloween album.

The band will return to the music scene without Kevin Richardson who announced his departure last year. The sixth studio will be the follow up of "Never Gone" that went Platinum in U.S.

Managed to get "Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures" into production as scheduled on Monday, June 18, director Steven Spielberg has delightfully submitted a brief video from that day on IndianaJones.com.

Recently shown on "Entertainment Tonight", the clip can only be seen in QuickTime 6 format on the web. It provided a look on Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas standing behind a camera together, among others.

Freedom approached Paris Hilton early Tuesday morning June 26th as she walked out of the Century Regional Detention Facility after serving approximately half of her 45-day sentence for violating her probation in a drink-driving case.

Paris, who was released at reportedly 12:15 a.m. (0715 GMT), walked out of the all-women's jail in Lynwood all smiled and waved to awaiting paparazzi and TV networks while made no comment at all.

Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Tracey E. Edmonds enjoying single-hood in the eyes of the law after a judge proclaimed Friday June 22nd that their marriage was officially over.

Details of the divorce settlement were being kept under wrap, except that the couple will share custody of their sons, Brandon Edmons and Dylan Michael. Now that they're officially divorced, Babyface and Tracey insisted to still maintain their business relationship.

Paul McCartney will fly to Los Angeles to give a special performance in support of his new album "Memory Almost Full". The former Beatle will give a one-day concert on Wednesday, June 27 at Amoeba Records.

Through a spokeman, McCartney announced that he would be at the record store by 7:30 p.m. PDT. This comes on the heels of his intimate performance at New York's Highline Ballroom earlier this month. No further detail regarding the admission of the Amoeba gig has been announced.

Able to carry out the process smoothly, director Jon Favreau has informed through his MySpace group that principal photography on "Iron Man" has been finished with the filming on the final scenes in Caesar's Palace.

"After motoring through the delerium of a sleepless shooting marathon, I am proud to report that we have handily completed our movie on time and on budget," so he wrote. "What a great way to end."

Counting down her final hours before being released from the prison, Paris Hilton already has a very big plan on her mind. The socialite reportedly is planning to set up a home for newly released inmates and already spoke to jail doctors and officials about that.

The heiress, who's going to be set free from California's Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood Tuesday June 26th, explained to E! News's Ryan Seacrest, "I'm lucky enough that when I leave prison I have a home to go to and a family that loves me. A lot of girls in here don't have that option. They go back to the streets. I want to help build a transitional home so that when inmates leave here they have somewhere to go. These women just keep coming back because they have no home to go to."

Who will be Jordin Sparks' predecessor? Another wave of American Idol fever is back this year as the audition dates are revealed. Judges will stir some cities to find people standing the chance to be crowned "Idol" in the seventh season.

The quest will start at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA on July 30 and continue in other 6 cities all across America.

Drawing in the twosome to once again stay under its banner, DreamWorks Pictures has assigned its "Disturbia" star Shia LaBeouf and helmer D.J. Caruso to work together on a new thriller it is currently gearing up for production.

Titled "Eagle Eye", the picture centers on a young slacker whose overachieving twin brother has died mysteriously. Upon his return to home, he and a single mother surprisingly find themselves being framed as terrorists and forced to become members of a cell that has plans to carry out a political assassination, leading them to team up to extricate themselves from the situation.

New rumors surface by the hour that Katherine Heigl and her fiance Josh Kelley will walk down the aisle Dec 23rd later this year.

"She picked the date - Dec. 23, just two days before Christmas," an insider reveals to Life & Style Weekly. "It just works because she'll be in the middle of a holiday break for her show, and she'll still have enough time after for a short honeymoon!"

Coming to the end of her North American leg, Gwen Stefani decided to sweeten things up by presenting No Doubt in her Sweet Escape tour. Not only one, she gave two consecutive days for the rare scene.

It was during her Friday (06/22/2007) gig in hometown California that she was joined by other members of No Doubt - Tony Kanal, Adrian Young and Tom Dumont. Right at the end of her solo show, the boys suddenly jumped on the stage and played four hits as encore. The next day that was still held at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Irvine also saw the boys returning to the stage and played another four songs.

Courtney Love changes her mind concerning her late husband Kurt Cobain's license. Initially slammed shoe manufacturer Dr. Martens for using an image of Cobain to sell its boots in England, the troubled rocker surprisingly allowed the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) to print his pictures on their products.

Besides being made into toy dolls, Cobain's likeness also featured on a new line of lunch boxes and a key chain. No other details being released on the products.

Rock legend Led Zeppelin is reported having the third reunion. The band may reform for a one-off show in respect of the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ethergun.

Reported by World Entertainment News, the band has reached the agreement term but is still waiting for the exact date. A source said, "No one can quite believe it, but during discussions about the concert they all gave the green light to a tour if it all does well and they don't all fall out. It has been hoped for and denied for years."

The task to bring "Valkyrie" into production stage appears to be not that easy to carry out as the WWII thriller now is facing a refusal from Germany to film scenes at the country's military sites due to star Tom Cruise's status as a member of Church of Scientology which is not recognized there.

It has already been known that the project, based on true events, has got Cruise onboard to topline as Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the German officer who hatched the plot to assassinate Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at the height of World War II. Pic is slated to enter production next month, but with the ban, it is unclear now whether the shooting can really meet the schedule.

Despite scoring multiple #1 in many country charts and awarded Ivor Novello Awards, James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" is voted the most irritating song of all time. The song sits at #1 in the top 10 tally held by www.onepoll.com.

John Sewell, the market researcher for the website admitted that the poll showed a surprising result. He said, "James Blunt isn't the obvious choice, but any song that is at number one for so long does start to get annoying."

There he goes. After the many false publication concerning his love life, Tyrese Gibson steps up with confirmation concerning the much-talked engagement and baby shower.

On the engagement, the R&B singer put to rest rumors he's engaged to singer Brandy, officially confirmed that he indeed is engaged to his girlfriend, Norma. "There's no truth to the rumors Tyrese proposed to Brandy; he actually asked his girlfriend to marry him," a representative for Brandy confirmed in a statement.

Going pretty fast in recruiting talents for the flick's cast, filmmakers of "RocknRolla" have delightfully submitted well-known names of Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, and rapper Ludacris as the early lineup of the list.

A caper movie, the project is set in motion when a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal and millions of dollars are thrown up for grabs, with all of London's criminal underworld players wanting in on the action. Butler is said to play One Two, a street-smart mobster who has learned to play both sides of the fence while Elba will be his partner Mumbles.

The Woods family goes public. Tiger Woods posted the first photos of her newly born daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, on his official Website Monday June 25th, just one week after she was born.

There are four snapshots on the Website, one of which shows the avid golfer cuddles with his newborn and his wife Elin Nordegren. Also joining the happy family for the photo spread are their dogs Taz, a border collie, and Yogi, a labradoodle.

Not forgetting the meaning of friendship, Robert De Niro has offered himself to back up a big screen project coming from his longtime friend that is slated to enter production by late September this year in Los Angeles.

The acclaimed actor reportedly is poised to executive produce a dramatic feature entitled "20% Fiction" which pal Barry Primus is going to direct based on his own script. Story revolves around a respected acting coach dissatisfied with his superficial life in Los Angeles who finds love and self-fulfillment after moving to a small town and working with its quirky residents.

The bidding war is over and the winner is OK!. The celebrity magazine has reportedly won the rights to publish Eva Longoria and Tony Parker's wedding photos for a reported $2 million.

"These were obviously highly coveted photos, and we were thrilled to negotiate the exclusive rights. Covering great moments with the celebrities that we love is what the magazine's all about," OK! editor-in-chief Sara Ivens commented in a statement.

Playing Nintendo is Nicole Kidman's another hobby besides acting. The Oscar-winning actress has been booked to be the new face of Nintendo's advert campaign for its new video game.

The new game, called "More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?" reportedly is set to help keeping the user's brain stay active through a series of "exercises". And the promotion ads will feature Nicole in a home setting, relaxing and training her brain, speaking into the Nintendo DS console to complete the exercises and memorizing numbers.