January 04, 2013

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi confirms that she's going to visit "30 Rock" on its special hour-long series finale. The politician is going to make an appearance on January 31, joining another guest Ice-T to help wrap the Tina Fey NBC comedy show.

"I would do almost anything Tina Fey asks me to do," she told the Washington Post, without divulging details of her role in the upcoming wrap-up episode. "I'm flattered that they asked me to make a cameo in the series finale. I had a lot of fun."

The 43-year-old all-around performer and actress Jennifer Lopez is raving about her 25-year-old dancer-choreographer boyfriend Casper Smart in the February issue of Harper's Bazaar. The superstar graces the cover of the famed lifestyle magazine as she talks openly about her boyfriend of one year, her ever-changing style choices, and her 4-year-old twins Max and Emme.

"He's fantastic; he's like my best friend. I can tell him everything, when I'm feeling down, when I'm feeling good. He gives moral support, endless love and support", the former "American Idol" judge gushes about her latest beau. Their whirlwind romance and still going-strong relationship came on the heels of Lopez's break-up with third husband Marc Anthony.

"Scandal" is going to feature a graphic torture scene in its upcoming episode, which is previewed in a new clip. In it, Guillermo Diaz's Huck is being interrogated after he's arrested under the Patriot Act in the last episode. Accused of attempting to assassinate President Grant (Tony Goldwyn), he's forced to admit the crime he didn't commit during the brutal interrogation.

"His past has prepared him for what's coming - but I can't say what is," Diaz previously teased about what's coming for him next. "It's not going to be good."

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler show how hilarious it will be when they host the upcoming 70th annual Golden Globe Awards. In a new promo for the event, both comedienne take turns making people laugh with their quips.

Explaining why she and Poehler decided to tackle the hosting duty, Fey says, "It [Golden Globes]'s a kind of very sloppy, loud party, and that seemed like our kind of thing." Her co-host, meanwhile, thinks what's so important of the show is that "television and film get to be together, so the beautiful people of film rub shoulders with the horrible, disgusting people of television."

Quentin Tarantino was irritated when some people blame the violence in movies for real-life shooting tragedy that happened in the U.S. recently. During an interview with NPR's Fresh Air, the "Django Unchained" helmer claimed that people who lay the blame in films over the school shooting in Newtown are "disrespectful."

During the chat, Tarantino was asked by host Terry Gross if he's still enjoying violent movies in the wake of the shooting tragedy in Connecticut. He responded, "Would I watch a kung fu movie three days after the Sandy Hook massacre? Would I watch a kung fu movie? Maybe, 'cause they have nothing to do with each other."

Legendary pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan has decided to move forward with the $100 million lawsuit he filed against entertainment news and gossip sheet Gawker for allegedly posting his sex tape online via their website. Hogan withdrew the case he filed with the federal courts last months, but has decided to pursue his charges against Gawker by refilling the lawsuit in a Florida state court.

The Hulkster is also currently suing his partner in the said sex tape, Heather Clem, ex-wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge. Hogan claims Clem had a hand in leaking the footage to the media.

Only 4 days to go before fans of One Direction get to see the full length music video of their single "Kiss You", the latest in a string of teasers is released by the boyband to build up anticipation for their upcoming video premiere. Dressed in sailor uniforms, the group gave Directioners a glimpse of the comedic nature of their soon-to-debut clip.

The latest teaser shows the boys, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, dressing up like Elvis Presley in his "Jailhouse Rock" hit back in the 50s. The short clip opens with the statement, "The music video blockbuster they couldn't keep behind bars," and ends with the reminder of the full video premiere on Vevo on January 7.

"The Bachelor" is taking a legal action yet again against "Reality" Steve Carbone, who runs a website dedicated to spill info on shows such as "Bachelor", "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor". Producers of the ABC reality series, NZK Productions and Horizon Alternative Television, filed the lawsuit California federal court in last December.

In the lawsuit, the producers say they believe that Steve continues "to seek confidential information from participants, cast, crew and other employees of the Bachelor series and, in the course of doing so, continue to solicit and induce participants and employees of the Bachelor series to breach their contractual obligations to Plaintiffs."

Just before the year ended, multi-media artist Beyonce Knowles posted on her Instagram two photos of hooped earrings engraved with the word "ratchet" that sparked rumors of a new single from her. She had posted a photo of herself wearing the earrings together with a Houston Rockets cap, representing her hometown, with a barely visible camera in the background that hints of a video shoot. A day before this came out, she had already posted a photo of the earrings beside a pair of printed purple flats.

The artist also known in the industry as Sasha Fierce got her followers wondering if "Ratchet" will be the title of the first track from her upcoming fifth album. The new mom got the fans thinking that she might be hooking-up with Lady GaGa and Azealia Banks. The controversial Lady GaGa had earlier told a fan via Twitter that there would be a sequel to "Telephone", the first collaboration between her and Beyonce.

While the leader of "Guardians of the Galaxy" has yet to be found, a new casting rumor emerges, revealing possible candidates to play Drax the Destroyer in the upcoming Marvel movie. Sharing the news is Comic Book Movie, which claims to have obtained some info that three buffed actors are in the running to play the alter ego of Arthur Douglas.

According to the site, Isaiah Mustafa, Brian Patrick Wade and Dave Bautista are all in negotiations with the studio to tackle the part of Drax. No official words have been released to confirm or clarify the report.

Pop diva Mariah Carey suffered an embarrassing technical trouble during a New Year's Eve performance in Australia a few nights ago. Onstage in the middle of a song, the diva's earpiece monitor suddenly went out, and after throwing a few instructions to her crew, Carey had no choice but to go on with the show and went on to adlib lyrics for about three minutes, as the technical difficulties were being ironed out.

"These might not be the best lyrics I ever wrote, but whatcha gonna do? I'm in a dress that's a little bit small and little bit big and my shoes my shoes my shoes..." sang the beleaguered performer. The adlib might explain why a musical star of her stature seldom goes on live concert tours.

Naomi Campbell got her leg injured after being mugged on a Paris street. The supermodel suffered from a torn ligament after being attacked by thugs when trying to hail a cab. She reportedly has been using a wheelchair and crutches to help her get around following the incident.

"It was terrifying. Naomi believes the assailant had been watching her, casing her out, and waited for a moment to strike when she was alone. She was attacked in the street as she hailed a cab, and robbed," a source testified to NYPost's Page Six. "She was understandably very upset and shaken up."

It's official - Adele's "21" is the 2012 best-selling album while Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" is the best-selling single for 2012. As early as July last year, both artists were looking to top the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts respectively, and the two have since managed to stay on top until the year's sales records closed last week.

Adele's "21", which was released last 2011 and sold almost 6 million copies, topped the Billboard 200 albums chart again in 2012 with an additional 4 million plus records sold. It bested Taylor Swift's "Red", which came in at the second spot with more than 3 million.

"Buckwild" stars find no reason why West Virginia citizens should be offended by their show. Sitting down with MTV News, Shae and Shain responded to Senator Joe Manchin III's call to cancel the reality series.

"I'm not representing anyone but myself," Shae, who is also known as "The Spicy Southern Belle", said. "Like even my best friends on the show, if they do something to embarrass themselves, I don't feel like they represent me."

Kanye West found himself in trouble for driving above speed limit. The G.O.O.D Music rap mogul was pulled over by West Hollywood police Wednesday night, December 3 outside celebrity hotspot, Chateau Marmont for speeding and having tinted windows.

The boyfriend of pregnant Kim Kardashian was pulled over by the patrol police officer while driving her Mercedes Benz G63 SUV, which she bought several months back. The father-to-be was lucky to have been let go with just a warning though.

"Evil Dead" has released its first full red band trailer, which is not meant for the faint-hearted audience. The trailer is packed with serious violent and extremely gory scenes, including an explicit scene of a girl splitting her own tongue with a blade. Staying true to the original Sam Raimi version, the footage showcases tons of bloody special effects that look horribly realistic.

A remake of Raimi's 1981 iconic horror film, "Evil Dead" tells the story of five young people who become holed up in a remote cabin where they discover a Book Of The Dead. They unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

Megan Fox has finally joined Twitterverse. The wife of Brian Austin Green created an account on the micro-blogging site, just hours coincidentally after "RIP Megan Fox" became one of the trending topics worldwide on the social network despite the inaccuracy of the report.

"Against my better judgment, I have finally joined Twitter. Every possible version of my name is already in use so for now my Twitter handle is @MeganFox516," she made an announcement on Facebook Thursday night, December 3. "See you there."

"The X Factor (US)" has become a big moneymaker for Simon Cowell. The FOX singing competition has helped boost the profits of his television company Simco last year.

Cowell's TV company made pre-tax profits of $52.4 million (32.6M pounds) in the 12 months to 31 March 2012. It's more than twice of the company's pre-tax profits in the year before ($22 million or 13.7M pounds) or increasing 138%, mainly due to the launch of the American version of "The X Factor".

Adam Lambert has broken silence to clarify his recent "Les Miserables" comment, in which he said that the actors in the musical movie are "pretending to be singers." The "American Idol" alum admitted he was surprised his comment went so viral that even Russell Crowe took time to react to it.

"My movie review has gone viral. U can spend a whole year praising artists for inspiring work, but one critique gets all the attention. Funny," Lambert wrote Wednesday, January 2. He went on explaining that he didn't mean to blast anyone, and insisted that he's just commenting on the actors' vocals during the live-singing scenes.

Words run rampant that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez's relationship is on the rocks once again. The young couple, who got lovey dovey in Utah for double date with Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, reportedly got into a huge fight while vacationing in Mexico for an intended New Year celebration together.

A source tells New York Daily News that the former "Wizards of Waverly Place" actress left Mexico on December 30 after the fallout, while the "One Less Lonely Girl" hitmaker flew out of the country the following day. They haven't met each other ever since.

Contrary to earlier pronouncements made by American hip-hop songwriter Elijah Blake that he would collaborate with Britney Spears for her "surprising" new album, the pop icon denied that she was working with Blake, as told by her representative in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Instead, she revealed that she's working with "new, inspiring producers" for her next album, particularly her longtime friend and collaborator will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, and rising producer Hit-Boy.

The new album will be the follow-up to her seventh studio outing "Femme Fatale", released back in 2011, where Spears and will.i.am first worked together for the "Big Fat Bass" track. Spears returned the favor by appearing on The Black Eyed Peas' frontman's "Scream & Shout" single.

The full trailer for "A Good Day to Die Hard" has just been dropped, unleashing tons of new high-octane scenes in Moscow. In it, Bruce Willis' John McClane and his son must face an enemy who "hates" America. Apart from the chemistry between John and his son, the new trailer also offers plenty of bombastic actions that take place on the Russian streets.

In "Die Hard 5", McClane finds himself on foreign soil for the first time after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack (Jai Courtney). McClane is unaware that his son is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the duo discover their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes.

Taylor Swift's "Red" continues to dominate the Billboard 200, according to figures tallied by Nielsen SoundScan for the final sales week of 2012 from December 24-30. With 241,000 records sold, it even exceeded earlier estimates made by industry sources that it would sell at least 225,000 copies.

It is the pop-country music sweetheart's seventh non-consecutive week at the top spot. Combined with the 11 weeks at no. 1 achievement of her previous album "Fearless" and 6 weeks by "Speak Now", it ties her with Adele for female artist with most weeks at no. 1 with 24 weeks, with the latter's 24 weeks no. 1 all coming from her "21" album. However, it seems that Swift will soon be edging out Adele as "Red" looks uncontested at the moment, with no new major albums to be released within the week.

Ryan Murphy has dropped some hints about "American Horror Story" season 3. After previously saying that the next chapter would be lighter than the second season, he explains, "I mean, I don't think anything could ever be as dark as the mental health care system in our country."

Sharing his idea for the third installment, he tells Entertainment Weekly, "I sorta feel like for the third version I want to do something that's a little bit more 'evil glamour.' Just something that's a little bit more...one of the things that I missed this season was I really loved having that Romeo & Juliet youth story with Violet and Tate. I want something like that again and we're doing something like that in the third season."

The controversy surrounding "Zero Dark Thirty (2012)" still hasn't stopped. Three U.S. senators continue their investigation toward CIA contacts who gave information to the filmmakers, accusing them of misleading the makers of the Osama bin Laden hunt film by allegedly telling those filmmakers that violent interrogation technique was used to obtain information about OBL's whereabouts.

On Thursday, January 3, senator head of the Intelligence Committee Dianne Feinstein sent a letter to the CIA, joined by Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Senator John McCain. According to Reuters, the trio asked the CIA for evidence that "enhanced interrogation techniques" led to information that helped U.S. authorities locate and kill the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.

In anticipation of "Killing Lincoln" premiere in February, National Geographic Channel has released its first trailer. Making its way out via Entertainment Weekly, the preview video features commentaries from producer Ridley Scott, narrator Tom Hanks as well as lead actors Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson.

"This is really the Lincoln story you've never seen before. Booth wanted to make his mark," Scott shares as Hanks calls the assassination of John F. Kennedy "the most resonant crime in the history of the nation."

Veteran actress Helen Mirren finally received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, January 3. The British star, who won an Oscar for her portrayal as Queen Elizabeth II in 2006's "The Queen", got her star paved next to fellow Briton Colin Firth in front of the Pig 'N Whistle, a historic Tinseltown pub on Hollywood Blvd.

"I couldn't be prouder and more happy that I'm actually going to finally lie next to Colin Firth, something I've been wanting to do for a very long time," she said on her speech at the ceremony, which was also attended by playwright David Mamet and director Jon Turteltaub. The 67-year-old actress got the 2,488th star since the Walk of Fame began in 1958.

J.J. Abrams showed that he's a generous person. Despite being notoriously known as a super-secretive filmmaker, Abrams decided to especially screen "Star Trek Into Darkness" for a dying Trekkie named Daniel. The die-hard fan was diagnosed with two forms of cancer and his doctors said he only had a few weeks left to live.

It began last week when a user called Ideeeyut on Reddit shared a story about Dan, who went to see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" with his wife, hoping to catch the 9-minute prolog of the "Star Trek" sequel. Unfortunately, it was not screened at the cinema they went to. The story then ran rampant and finally stole Abrams' attention.

George Lucas is taking another big step in his life just two months after selling Lucasfilm Ltd. to The Walt Disney Company. The filmmaker is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Mellody Hobson, a representative for Lucasfilm has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

There's no word on details of the proposal and their wedding plans. The couple has been together since 2006. It will be the second marriage for 68-year-old Lucas, but the first for 43-year-old Hobson.

It's just a few days into the new year of 2013, but already Frank Ocean has had trouble with the law. The Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All rap singer was pulled over by cops on January 3 at 4:30 P.M. while driving a black BMW on the highway 395 of Mono County, California.

He was stopped by a Mono County Deputy Sheriff with the help of a California Highway Patrol Officer for driving at a high rate of speed, "roughly 90 in a 65." The police smelled a strong odor of marijuana when approaching the car and found a small bag of marijuana during a search.

NeNe Leakes may have been engaged to her former husband Gregg Leakes. "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star tweets a series of pictures of romantic set-up created by her ex at their beach condo to ring in 2013 together. She follows up the photos with a note that says, "My answer was. Yes."

If the Twitter pictures indeed are proofs of their full-on romantic reconciliation, she may have been proposed on New Year's Eve. "Look @ our nite cap! #new beginnings," she wrote a caption in an image of champagne, strawberries and Hershey's Kisses forming a G and N.

Adam Levine has been tapped to host "Saturday Night Live" on January 26. The Maroon 5 frontman has come to the variety show with his band several times in the past, but the upcoming visit marks the first time ever he hosts the show.

During Levine's hosting gig, Kendrick Lamar will serve as a musical guest. The "good kid, m.A.A.d city" artist has also been on the comedy sketch show before, appearing in a digital short with Andy Samberg and Fred Armisen.

It's been a while since the OutKast fans hear new song from duo Big Boi and Andre Benjamin a.k.a Andre 3000, but the wait is finally over now. Big Boi just revealed on his social media that he will contribute to two songs that happen to feature his bandmate.

On Tumblr, Big Boi posted a picture of additional verses she wrote for a remix of Frank Ocean's song "Pink Matter" from his debut solo album "Channel Orange". On Twitter, he additionally shared that he's going to join the revamped version of T.I.'s song "Sorry".

It has been reported that Sofia Vergara suffered a major wardrobe malfunction during a New Year's Eve celebration with her fiance Nick Loeb at new Miami Beach club Story. A picture that captured the mishap has now surfaced, confirming the embarrassing story.

The "Modern Family" actress is pictured falling on the ground and a male clubber is seen holding her two hands in what looked like an attempt to help her up. Unfortunately for her, the strapless dress she wore slipped away, giving the crowd a full view of her breast.

Bristol Palin asks court to ban an obsessed stalker from coming near her and her family. TMZ reports that the daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin fears for her safety after receiving a wedding proposal and an engagement ring from the male stranger.

According to her filings, Michael Cummings of Texas sent the former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant the proposal and the ring along with an "I (heart) you" note. The man was also allegedly spotted at her mom's home on her son Tripp's 4th birthday, December 27.

Rumor has it, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana have split for a second time. The on-off couple, who quietly rekindled their romance in fall after first breaking up in March 2012, is rumored to call it quits just before the holiday sessions which they initially planned to spend together.

They celebrated New Year miles apart with him in Europe and her in Florida. "Zoe had planned to spend the holidays with Bradley and his family in Europe. They all were going to Paris, but things didn't work out between them. Zoe spent New Year's Eve with friends in Miami," a source told New York Post.