February 21, 2008

Reporting about the video games business, the Wall Street Journal has recklessly let out the story of the upcoming animation "Toy Story 3". In the first paragraph of the newspaper's article entitled "Big Media Companies Want Back in the Game" posted on February 19, the film's story line has clearly been exposed.

It is explained that as the toys' owner has grown up and left for college, his once-beloved toys are being thrown away. The one-sentence paragraph read, "In Pixar's coming movie 'Toy Story 3,' Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college."

KISS guitarist and vocalist Gene Simmons is caught in a sex tape scandal. The rocker has been secretly videotaped having sex with someone other than his longtime partner Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed who also is the mother of his two children.

A sex tape featuring Simmons has leaked online and reportedly is available to buy on the Internet. The shocking video apparently shows Simmons and Austrian energy drink spokesmodel simply identified as Elsa engaged in various sexual positions on a bed.

"Blood Diamond" star Leonardo DiCaprio has been set to produce "Untitled Akira Project" an adaptation film from classic anime "Akira". According to Hollywood Reporter, the 33-year-old actor is going to produce the film through his production house, Appian Way.

Reportedly, the movie star will be teaming with Andrew Lazar from Mad Chance production house as well as Jennifer Davisson for the producer role. Whether he will only be the producer or going to be involved more in the Ruairi Robinson-directed film hasn't been confirmed yet as there are no news about the film's casting.

Grammy-nominated artist Tift Merritt has released the music video from her new album "Another Country". The folk singer releases the clip for the first single "Broken".

The video was directed by Martyn Atkins who had penned videos for Johnny Cash and Depeche Mode. "We wanted to make a little documentary, a small French film," Merritt told Spinner about the video. "This song is about how the smallest things have a way of finding you and setting you off again in the right direction. To capture that feeling, we wanted things to be very natural. And of course, we wanted to feature a cool stolen car."

Iconix Brand Group, Inc. announced Wednesday, February 20 the tapping of Hayden Panettiere as the new face of its junior brand Candie's. Due to her 'calling' the screen beauty will appear in the brand's spring 2008 multi-media advertising and marketing campaign for Kohl's Department Stores.

The print ads, which are said to have a classic Candie's flare, reportedly are sweet yet sexy and embody a bit of fantasy. The campaign was shot at New York's Serendipity 3, which has since been closed down by the Department of Health after failing its second health inspection in a month, by photographer Giuliano Bekor.

The blacksmith-turned-pirate in "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy Orlando Bloom has landed himself a role in drama film "An Education". According to Variety, the 31-year-old movie star will be joining the already star-studded cast, including Peter Sarsgaard, Rosamund Pike and Emma Thompson.

Though it still isn't clear which character he will be portraying, it is understood that he will act alongside recent casting members, Alfred Molina and Sally Hawkins, as well. In this coming-of-age film, the co-star of Kirsten Dunst in "Elizabethtown" will be acting under the direction of Denmark filmmaker Lone Scherfig.

Jennifer Lopez has reportedly checked into North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, New York and is said to have been preparing to give birth soon. Report on Lopez's birth check-in was first brought to public by Page Six.

While her spokespeople refuse to comment on that matter, sources say Lopez has been holding a private room at the hospital for nearly two weeks. A patient at the hospital, moreover, claims to have heard an employee at the hospital says, "J.Lo is here!"

The iconic Tony Manero of "Saturday Night Fever" John Travolta is said to be set to give a dancing surprise at the 80th Annual Academy Awards' ceremony on February 24 at the Kodak Theater. According to Planet Gossip at E! Online, the star of "Hairspray" has been asked by the show's director Gil Gates to do a waltz right before he presents the Best Original Song prize.

E! reported that Travolta is going to surprise the audience as he appears during singer Jon McLaughlin's "Enchanted" performance "So Close", takes one of the 30 dancers accompanying the singer and dances his way to the podium. Further, it was explained that the performance won't be an ordinary impromptu footwork as the movie star and the dancer will rehearse for a few hours on Saturday, February 23.

Four studio albums and several charting singles after, Kelis is ready to drop her greatest hits compilation. The R'n'B singer will release her first Greatest Hits package which will be titled "The Hits" on March 11, 2008.

It will consist of 14 tracks including her biggest hit to date, "Milkshake". The wife of rapper Nas have selected other singles from her four albums that mark her career staring from 1999 to 2006. Among others are, "Lil Star", "Bossy" and "In Public".

It appears that having twin babies has become a new trend among Hollywood celebrities. In addition to the likes of Julia Roberts, Marcia Cross, and Jennifer Lopez, it's been reported that pregnant actress Jessica Alba is having twins as well.

Friends say "Knowing that she's going to have twins has turned Jessica's life upside down. She and (fiance) Cash have had to scrap plans for a one-baby nursery and start all over again." Is said to feel thrilled with the news, Alba has already revealed to her closest friends that she's due to give birth on June 8 later this year.

Jack Black's upcoming comedy film "Be Kind Rewind" has been accused to steal idea from a television show. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton reported that there is a YouTube video that proves the film has copied the story from an episode of Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show" starring Amanda Bynes and Drake Bell.

Starting with the appearing of white words on the black screen stating that "Rewind" is "a great idea for a film", the video that last for a bit more than 2 minutes gives out evidence of the plagiarism done by the film. The video include a clip of the live-action comedy claimed to be air 8 years ago in which showcases a story about complaining video-rental customers who find out that the videos they had aren't what they rented. The video can be watched below.

Hollywood lovers Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo have been engaged, it has been reported. Rumor has it that Jessica "has never been happier" and is confident that her second marriage would work.

The engagement report has not yet been confirmed. A source in fact did reveal "Jessica has never been happier than she is when she's with Tony. She knows her first marriage didn't work out, but she has a really good feeling about this one, and wants to make her feels for Tony clear."

George Clooney is having his image immortalized by the Jelly Belly Gourmet Beans Company who has created a portrait of him using 10,000 sweets. Clooney's jelly bean likeness reportedly will be displayed at the company's suite at Beverly Hills' Luxe Hotel before it is donated later this week to a charity of the actor's choosing.

The mosaic masterpiece features Cotton Candy beans for Clooney's cheeks and Buttered Popcorn candy for his highlighted hair, it has been reported. See Clooney's jelly bean portrait after this news.

As the writers' strikes ended, Walt Disney Pictures announced that the big screen version of hit television series "Hannah Montana" is scheduled to hit theaters in early 2009. Variety reported that while announcing the studio's 2009 to 2010's calendar, it was revealed that the musical film starring Miley Cyrus is slated for May 1, 2009 release.

Scheduling "Montana" on the date means that the film about a teenage girl who lives a double life will be up against action fantasy film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" starring Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber. Further, for the slot, "Montana" has to push aside animated 3D movie "G-Force" which has been moved to July 24 release date to contest against New Line's animation "Planet 51" and The Weinstein Co's horror remake "Piranha".

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films has announced the nominations for the 34th Annual Saturn Awards. While the Greek epic "300" was the leading nominee in the film categories with 10 nods, drama TV series "Lost" was the leading nominee in the TV categories, nabbed 7 nominations all at once.

The nominations that "Lost" earned were Best Network Television Series, Best Actor on Television, Best Actress on Television, Best Supporting Actor on a Television, and Best Supporting Actress on a Television. Take a look at the complete award nominees, from the Film, TV, and DVD categories, at saturnawards.org.

The highly-anticipated music video from Jordin Sparks has found its way on-line. "No Air" the second single from her self-titled debut album, features Chris Brown not only in the single but also the music video.

It has been shot on January 23 with director Chris Robinson in New York City. Photos from the set including some stills were leaked to the Internet soon after that. The full music video was supposed to be premiered officially on Yahoo! Music on February 25 but it has leaked on Wednesday, February 20.

As the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films announced the nomination for the 34th Annual Saturn Awards, it was revealed that the Greek epic "300" was leading the pack by garnering 10 nods. The action adventure drama based on Frank Miller's graphic novel received gongs for almost all of the feature film categories, including for the action/adventure/thriller film.

In the action/adventure/thriller film's category, "300" will be contending against acclaimed crime dramas, "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" as well as other action films, "3:10 to Yuma", "The Bourne Ultimatum", "Live Free or Die Hard" and "Zodiac". For the directing category, the film's helmer Zack Snyder is going to be up against Tim Burton of "Sweeney Todd", Frank Darabont of "The Mist", Paul Greengrass of "Ultimatum", Sam Raimi of "Spider-Man 3" and David Yates of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".

More dates are lined up in Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige's joint tour. The jaunt that is dubbed Heart of the City was initially only scheduled for 10 dates but it has been stretched to 16 with new dates added in between.

As previously reported, the Hip-Hop icons will kick off the tour on March 22 in Miami, Florida and the new schedule is now ending April 26 in Chicago. According to AllHipHop.com, the extension was because tickets to the announced show have been sold out just under minutes. Meanwhile, tickets for the new date will be sold this Friday (February 22) through LiveNation.com.

R&B/soul and hip hop singer Erykah Badu gets a fragrance deal with top fashion designer Tom Ford. The Grammy-award winning songstress has reportedly been tapped to be the new face of Tom's new yet-unnamed fragrance.

Little is still known about the twosome's collaboration. Meanwhile, it is also not yet known on when Erykah will start shooting the scent's ad campaign.

R'n'B singer Ciara has posted a video on YouTube to announce that she is looking for dancers. The "1,2 Step" singer wants a fresh, raw and unsigned talents to back her up on her upcoming tour.

In the video, Ciara also revealed that she is working on her third album and that there will be lots of promotions to be done, including finding dancers. The singer is searching for the right dancers to "rock the stage" with her.

Is single and available, Jennifer Aniston sparks rumors of a romance after she is reported to be inseparable from her "Traveling" co-star Aaron Eckhart. An on-the-set insider even described the duo as having great chemistry.

Jennifer and Aaron, as reported by the Daily Mail, have been "inseparable" on the set of "Traveling" in Vancouver, Canada. Added fuel to the dating rumors, Aaron was said to have personally suggested Jennifer for the part of his leading lady in the romantic drama yet his interest might not just be professional.

Was slammed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for her wardrobe choice at the recent Grammys, Aretha Franklin has been awarded with the title of Worst-Dressed Celebrity of 2008 by the animal rights organization. The so called queen of soul has been crowned the queen on PETA's 2008 Worst-Dressed Celebrities List.

PETA's vice president, Dan Matthews, lashed out at the legendary songstress after she was spotted sporting a fur coat at the Grammys back on February 10. "Music lovers may think of you as a 'queen,' but to animal lovers, you are a court jester," Matthews wrote in his letter to Aretha. "I'm sorry, Aretha, but your furs make you look like a clown."

The rumor mill is buzzing again. Avril Lavigne has sparked another pregnancy speculation, despite her prior denial of the same report, after she was spotted shopping for baby gear with husband Deryck Whibley.

Avril and Deryck were seen shopping at Los Angeles baby store Petit Tresor and then Lisa Kline Kids on Monday, February 18, where they spent about $500 on baby gear. Among the goods the celebrity couple purchased, including a cheetah diaper bag to baby AC/DC tees and a pacifier holder.

Paula Abdul's first music video in years has been premiered. "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" is ththe first single from "Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1" CD that Abdul contribute for producer Randy Jackson.

The compilation as well as the debut album from the Jackson who is also an American Idol judge, will be released on March 11. Beside featuring fellow Idol judge Abdul, the album also presents contributions from Katharine McPhee, Joss Stone, Elliott Yamin, Richie Sambora, Mariah Carey and many more. Complete tracklisting can be found at Jackson's MySpace.

The full line up for the new season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" has been unveiled. The new season of the hit TV show, which is the sixth, is set to begin on March 17 later this year with twelve celebrities, including sports champions, award-winning actors, and nationally-syndicated radio personalities among the contestants.

Listed among the 12 celebrity contenders on ABC's top-rated show is R&B artist Mario who's about to show the whole world he's more than just a voice. In addition to the young crooner, the show will also welcome actresses Priscilla Presley and Shannon Elizabeth among others.

Successfully gaining a number of awards Stateside through their latest effort "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace", Foo Fighters are taking home double from 2008 BRIT Awards. Not only was the album named Best International Album, but the band themselves were dubbed Best International Group.

Also nabbing two nods at the British music awards event, are Take That and Arctic Monkeys. The former took home British Single for "Shine" and British Live Act while the latter pocketed British Group and British Album for "Favourite Worst Nightmare". On their acceptance speech, frontman Alex Turner said, "We are the Arctic Monkeys. And we are the most fantastic." The Monkeys won the exact same categories at last year's event.

Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz are best friends and both are having their figures immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds in London. The "Charlie's Angels" stars got a touch-up at Madame Tussauds wax museum on Tuesday, February 19.

Drew's wax double is dressed in black top and gray skirt with her long dark hair has been let loose. Cameron's replica, which is also dressed in black top, is seen wearing a short pants and sporting pony tail.