September 18, 2008

The concluding band of celebrities to handout kudos at the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards has been announced. Among the A-listers agreeing to join the festivities are "Grey's Anatomy" stars Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh, "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon, "30 Rock" lead man Alec Baldwin, and one of "Lipstick Jungle" principal cast Brooke Shields.

Other television thesps confirmed to present the winged-lady statuettes include Glenn Close, Craig Ferguson, Sally Field, Ricky Gervais, Martin Sheen, Kathryn Joosten and Glynn Turman. In addition, audience will be seeing the pairing-up appearances by comedians, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, and TV stars, Mary Tyler Moore and Betty White.

The new season of "Pushing Daisies" has been given a sneak peek through a clip of its first episode, "Bzzzzzzz!". The clip will see a spokesmodel for a cosmetic company stung to death with horrible spots all over her body.

Ned, who has the ability to resurrect the dead, wakes up the woman who is badly stung in the corpse room. Led by the incident, Chuck then goes on undercover to investigate the honey-based cosmetic company and discovers that there's more complicated politics inside the office, mainly concerning the relationship between the founder Betty Bee and the new owner, Woolsey Nicholls.

Rapper will.i.am is scheduled to team up with Scottish singer KT Tunstall and Guy Berryman of Coldplay in order to record a fund-raising album as a tribute to surviving indigenous people. Other musicians to contribute in the effort include Jason Mraz, Hot Chip, and English multi-instrumentalist musician Mike Oldfield.

Furthermore, in an attempt to support the album, the Coldplay bassists and a-ha have formed a new band called Apparatjik. Commenting on their offshoot new band, Guy says, "Everyone asks what inspired us, what we've been trying to steal and what we listened to as we were growing up. The first band I loved was a-ha."

Getting better with age, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson are two perfect choices to be featured on the cover of Playboy magazine, the men's magazine's boss Hugh Hefner reportedly said. He is setting his sights on both movie beauties, considering them to be fitting the bill perfectly to become its cover girls.

"We don't go for glamor - what we are looking for is a very natural girl-next-door look," Hugh told Pop Tarts on the criteria he's looking for in a lady in order to be featured on his magazine's cover. "I think that's what set things at the very beginning - what set the Playmate centrefolds apart."

Getting close to the release date of his sixth studio effort entitled "Paper Trail" which will be available in stores on September 30, two new songs from the forthcoming album are unveiled. One of the songs is called "Slide Show" and it is confirmed to feature John Legend. The other one is titled "On Top of the World", where he teams up with Ludacris.

Previously, the 28-year-old rapper was furious over the leak of his first single, "Swagger Like Us". He reveals his disappointment when saying, "That's some bullsh ... I'm beating down the Internet as we speak ... they leaked my record with me and The-Dream ["Like I Do"] too. Leakage is never a problem I have had. I'm not used to it."

A fresh supply of "The Spirit" images has been unraveled by Slash Film. Sent by the site's reader by the name of Christopher M, most of the pictures are a close-up look into individual character from The Spirit himself to Commissioner Dolan and female rookie cop Morgenstern. The collection of photos also let out for the first time a shot of what seems to be Plaster of Paris.

Apart from those characters, the pics also exhibit Octopus, Sand Saref and Dr. Ellen Dolan. Moreover, some of the pictures look like to be a cut from the film's scene, like the one in which Ellen and Spirit are buttoning up their clothes when the commissioner walks into the examination room, and the other one where Spirit is tied up in a chair while the scantily clad Paris is swinging her blade toward him with full force.

The first trailer to Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut "Synecdoche, New York" has been uncovered via Yahoo. Providing introduction to the characters, the footage focuses on Philip Seymour Hoffman's character Caden Cotard and the problems he is dealing with.

The drama film from Sony Pictures Classics follows Cotard, a theater director in Schenectady, New York, whose life seems to be dreary. Struggling with the women in his life and his mysterious condition which shuts down each of his autonomic functions, he buries himself in a new project, striving to create a theatrical masterpiece inside an enormous abandoned warehouse.

Danity Kane's singer Aubrey O'Day is taking her "bad girl" predicate a notch higher, baring her breasts for raunchy poses for the October issue of Complex magazine. Her cover shoot for the men's magazine sees her being photographed in a sexy black dress that almost exposes her left boob.

Also posing for several other pictures, Aubrey is seen inside the publication posing seductively in a stripper pole, sticking her tongue out to lick the iron while having one of her naked breasts pressed into it. Greater than both pics, the other pic even features her posing only in her knickers, covering her naked breasts with both of her hands.

A music video for R. Kelly's second single called "Skin" has just been dropped. Produced and penned by himself, the song will be listed in his forthcoming ninth major studio effort, "12 Play: Fourth Quarter", which will hit the stores later before the end of 2008 under the courtesy of Jive Records.

Most recently, the R&B singer reveals his plan to make a live appearance somewhere in Africa. "I've got a few tour offers to go to Africa. (My) management is trying to put it all together and make it right," he says.

A scene from the new season of "Private Practice" has been given. The drama series focusing on one of "Grey's Anatomy" alumni, Dr. Addison Montgomery, will open its second season with an episode called "A Family Thing" on Wednesday, October 1 on ABC.

The clip is taken from the part where Addison has a conversation with her love interest, Dr. Pete Wilder during a coffee break. The episode will also tell on how Addison is tested in her friendship to Naomi who conceals the practice's financial problems. Meanwhile, Violet wonders what secret Cooper is keeping from her, while Cooper himself has to decide whether or not to reveal a medical secret to a patient.

Lionsgate Films have premiered the full-length trailer of "Inkheart". Considerably longer than the first trailer, the brand new footage invites viewers to imagine the magical adventure awaiting, teasing with more glimpses into the adventure fantasy film before the movie itself makes its way to the theaters on January 1, 2009.

A timeless adventure tale of imagination, "Inkheart" centers its story on 12-year-old Meggie Folchart, a daughter of a gifted man named Mo. When Mo's ability to bring characters from books to life by reading the books aloud causes him to be kidnapped by a fable book's villain, it is left to Meggie to save him, putting her in a magical adventure that she has only read about in books.

Jay-Z is reportedly hooked up with Norwegian music production house StarGate, to form a new record label. Called StarRoc, the new label is said to mark Jay-Z's global power move in the music industry.

No statement is available to confirm the issue. However, the gossip continues floating in the media with a saying that duo powerhouse StarGate producers, Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen, have reportedly relocated their production studio to Jay-Z's Roc The Mic Studios as part of launching the new company.

It was revealed on Tuesday, September 16 episode of "90210" that the father of Kelly's four-year-old son Sammy is Dylan McKay and Kelly's depicter, Jennie Garth gave an interview to People, talking about what the future may hold for her character after the revelation. To the publication, Garth said that there may be "more surprises in store" awaiting in the coming episodes that have something to do with Dylan.

Asked about how the team came up with the choice of having Dylan as the father, Garth admitted that "it was very confusing" but thought that the reason was because "Kelly and Dylan had such a passionate relationship in the past. Their relationship was so heated. It was kind of undeniable." She added that there was also a 50 per cent chance initially that Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) could be the father.

Teen band sensation Jonas Brothers are featured in an outdoor billboard advertisement placed in New York's Time Square. Holding big yellow speaker in his hand, Joe Jonas together with his other brothers show their supports for the launch of MySpace joint venture with some major labels, including Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music Group.

Other big names to appear in the outdoor commercial ads are rapper Lil Wayne and M.I.A.. The British singer is shown drinking her soft drink from a plastic glass on the billboard campaign with a bold white statement saying, "Music that makes me move."

Going from 1.4 million in its first airing to 1.8 million in the second episode, "True Blood" will be renewed for a second season. The new HBO TV series about vampires living with human being, will get its second season production in 2009 in Los Angeles and its air date in summer that year.

President of Programming Group and West Coast Operations, Michael Lombardo said, "We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced TRUE BLOOD." He added a complimentary to the series' creator, saying "Alan Ball has done it again made an addictive series that is unlike any other."

Keeping his 16th birthday low key, Nick Jonas gets a pooch as a birthday present from his family and he names it Elvis. It is reported that he takes the name from his favorite musicians, Elvis Costello and Elvis Presley.

Nick, the youngest of the Jonas Brothers, turned 16 years old Tuesday, September 16. And instead of having a star-studded bash, he preferred to spend his big day happily walking around his neighborhood in Toluca Lake, California. He took Elvis along with him. He and the golden retriever were seen together again on Wednesday, September 17.

Two clips and one featurette from Howard Deutch's "My Best Friend's Girl" are coming out in support of the promotional effort for the romantic comedy. One of the clips entitled "Novelty Dildos" displays leading character Kate having a girl talk with her roommate, while the other one called "Dirty Houdini" focuses on Tank telling a bunch of boys about 'dirty houdini'.

Meanwhile, the featurette brings viewers deeper into the story. It plays out never before seen footage from the film as well as explains each character and the plotline from the point of view of the film's stars as well as its producer Josh Shader. It also shows behind-the-scene footage revealing the on-the-set filming of the romantic comedy.

Despite her representative and friend's denial, Miley Cyrus keeps adding fuel to the rumors that she's dating underwear model Justin Gaston. After two previous dates, the twosome were spotted together again, going on their alleged third date on Wednesday, September 17, visiting Universal CityWalk in Hollywood, L.A.

Miley and Justin weren't all alone. They were joined by her mother Leticia Cyrus, sister Brandi and her boyfriend. Happily posing for the cameras with some of her fans, Miley looked relax and seemed to be enjoying her time very much.

Punk rock band Rise Against are now in the middle of filming a music video in support of their first single called "Re-Education (Through Labor)". The song, which supposedly speaks of the human rights and labor violations occurring in modern day China, will appear in the band's upcoming fifth studio album, "Appeal to Reason", which is due for release on October 7.

The music video is confirmed to be directed by Kevin Kerslake, the same guy who helped Papa Roach making their "To Be Loved" music video. The preview of the video shows that the band's video will feature some dangerous stunts from several motocross racers.

A clip has been given by The CW for the next week's episode of "Privileged". The clip entitled "Breakfast Talk" is taken from the 1.03 episode called "All About What You Really, Really Want" which will air on the network on Tuesday, September 23.

When Rose is told that she will have to repeat her freshman year of high school at the exclusive prep school she and Sage attend, Megan requests a meeting with the headmaster, Jacob Cassidy (guest star David Giuntoli). Jacob turns out to be young and handsome, and Megan is temporarily thrown by the flirtatious vibe between them, but quickly regains her composure and convinces him to give Rose another chance to bring her grades up.

The possibility of "Watchmen" getting a sequel has apparently being discussed. Talking to MTV News about it recently was Patrick Wilson, the actor who portrays Nite Owl in the flick. "It's all been talked about," he revealed. "Financially, they like to do that. But all of us, [director] Zack [Snyder] included, all go, 'How on Earth could you do a sequel or prequel?'"

When asked further whether he is interested to reprise his role if the sequel is indeed developed, Wilson came out with a green light stating, "Certainly, artistically, I can't fathom how it would happen. But hey, if Alan Moore writes it, I'd love to read it." He also noted that he has a clause in his contract that allowed for sequels, but was quick to explain that such clause is fairly standard in superhero films' contracts nowadays.

Previously raising eyebrows after saying that he and longtime partner Angelina Jolie won't get married until everyone in the United States, including the gays, has the same right, Brad Pitt has made a donation to fight the ban of gay marriage in Massachusetts and California where gays have won the right to wed. He has on Wednesday, September 17 donated $100,000 to the "No on Prop 8" campaign to fight California's November ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which attempts to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision of legalizing same-sex marriage.

"Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," Pitt said in a statement about the donation he made. His political and philanthropic adviser, Trevor Neilson, told The Associated Press, the movie hunk was surprised that his celebrity pals had not donated more money to support the battle against Proposition 8.

"Quantum of Solace" has got two new television spots. Courtesy of The Movie Box, the pair of promotional videos present similar compilation of clips in different time limit. While the first one is shorter ending in 32 seconds, the second one takes more than a minute and provides deeper look into the "Casino Royale" sequel, letting out the discussion between villains Dominic Greene and Elvis over James Bond, the high-octane action sequences, the heart-to-heart conversation between Camille and Bond, and many others.

Following once again Daniel Craig as the superspy agent 007 in one of the most complex missions he has ever done, "Quantum of Solace" picks up literally hours after the end of "Royale". It tells Bond throwing himself to a mission to uncover the truth behind the betrayal of the woman he loved, Vesper Lynd, leading him to a mysterious organization led by Dominic Greene who strives to dominate one of the world's most important natural resources.

Jonas Brothers give fans a quick preview for the fourth episode of their video blog series, "Band in a Bus". This time, the thirty-second video is called "Going Crazy" and it reveals their journey on the road while dropping by in several places to do live performances.

The band say that they are actually quite bored with all the same activities that they do in the bus. However, the band who recently reveal their desire to work with Britney Spears for their next project, explain that fans are "the best energy drink" that keeps them alive.

Demi Lovato is the teen sensation dubbed the new 'it' girl of pop, and it's easy to see why. She has an album coming up shortly on September 23, a guest slot on Jonas Brothers' tour, and several TV movie projects under her belt.

AceShowbiz takes the honor of having her as the Artist of the Week and interviewing the starlet, peeling what she holds for the future, her experience as a teen idol as well as her relationship with the Jonas boys.

Lionsgate Films have presented horror fans with the first ever clip from "Saw V". The nearly four minutes red band clip features the Pit and the Pendulum-inspired sequence, which according to Shock Till You Drop has been presented to Comic-Con attendees in July. It focuses on a tattooed man strapped to a metal bed while a sharp knife pendulum is swinging closer and closer to cut him in half, and another trap is set to crush his bone.

A continuation of the popular "Saw" franchise, this fifth installment of the horror thriller about serial murderer with twisted motive will be following Hoffman, who is seemingly the last person alive to carry on Jigsaw legacy on making others grateful of their lives by putting them in lethal traps. But when his secret is threatened, Hoffman is forced to go on the hunt to eliminate all loose ends.

People magazine's annual list of Best Dressed Women of 2008 has been unveiled on Wednesday, September 17 and it sees Kate Hudson and Rihanna topping the first and second slots in succession. Seizing the No. 1 spot of the list, Hudson is praised for her "haute hippie taste" and adding into her look "a new touch of polished elegance." Rihanna, meanwhile, is selected for her "sugar and spice" style and her "sophisticated mix of glamorous gowns and funky dresses."

Joining them both on the list is Gwyneth Paltrow who's at No. 3. She's dubbed by People as "better than ever" and praised for "reviving up her classic look and shortening her famously long locks, as well as her hemlines."

A brand new single called "Another Way to Die", which is performed in duet between Jack White and R&B singer Alicia Keys, has been unveiled. Produced and written by Jack himself, the song will be the first duet in the soundtrack of 2008 James Bond movie sequel, "Quantum of Solace", which will come out in theater on November 14.

Commenting on his writing credit, Jack says that he is very excited about the challenge to make powerful sounds. "You're definitely taking on a responsibility ... there's a tradition of powerful music in all these films," he explains. "But that's why I'm involved creatively with music ... for challenges like this. That's what I live for."

Walmart has let out brand new official video from the set of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in support of the store's promo for the "Transformers" DVD. This time, the behind-the-scene footage is taken from the day 28 shooting and shows a scene shot by Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. The majority of the video takes place in the Witwicky family's backyard and also displays Fox being pampered by the crew while joking around with LaBeouf.

Aside from that video, Walmart also brings forward another new video. The fourth video on the list unveils the one and a half minutes of Fox's original audition tape for "Transformers". To watch the audition video, fans should head to the Walmart Transformers site and then enter the special code AllSpark62609.

Hilary Swank is back home and recovering following a brief hospitalization for what her manager, Jason Weinberg, cited as a minor medical procedure to remove a small growth. Breaking the news of her hospitalization to People magazine, Jason did not provide further details of the actress' exact illness and recent health progress.

Jason simply told the magazine, Swank was "experiencing some discomfort and went to see her doctor, who prescribed an immediate course of action that included a brief hospitalization to remove a small, benign growth." Jason went on revealing, "her condition has been resolved and there are no continuing health issues, with the exception of some short-term rest and recuperation."