Sad news this AM … People magazine is reporting that the presumed happily engaged couple made up of Desperate Housewives‘ Nicollette Sheridan and Light Rock crooner Michael Bolton have decided to amicably call off their engagement and end their seemingly endless relationship (the couple got the party started back in 1992) … they’re dunzo, y’all:

Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Bolton are again going their separate ways, a rep for the actress tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Bolton have amicably ended their engagement,” said Nicole Perna. “They appreciate your respect for their privacy in this matter.” The couple’s relationship originally started in 1992, and lasted for five years. The musician, now 55, and the Desperate Housewives star, 44, then resumed seeing one another in 2005 – and in March 2006 had announced their wedding engagement.

This is a bummer … not that I really thought about Sheridan and Bolton much as a couple (if at all) but when I did see them together, I thought they made a pretty great couple … but I guess no longer. Well, the couple managed to patch things up after their last break-up so it’s possible that they may find their way to one another again … I guess we’ll see. Sad, tho.

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

Earlier this week various castmembers (not including Blake Lively or the trio of hawtness Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick and Penn Badgley) of the hit CW series Gossip Girl came out for a season 2 premiere event (to celebrate the show and costume designer Eric Daman specifically) at Henri Bendel boutique in NYC. Here are a few pics from the red carpet arrivals:

On the plus side, Leighton Meester was lookin’ very glam, very sexy … on the not so plus side, Taylor Momsen was trying to pull off an edgier look without much success. The new season of GG is nearly upon us … I know that excitement for new eps has hit a fever pitch among eager Upper East Siders. After the jump, you can watch the first 5 minutes of the season 2 premiere of Gossip Girl (and find out which of the show’s hotties starts things off this season with an older woman on top of him) which will debut on The CW next Monday September 1 …

Kelly Osbourne was spotted out and about in Londontown sporting a pretty henious shiner over her left eye. Her official story is that something fell off the wall as she reached into the cupboard for a glass and smashed her in the face … leaving her looking like this:

Kelly Osbourne cut a miserable figure as she left her London home yesterday sporting a heavily bruised face. The 23-year-old singer-turned-radio DJ had a black eye and a bandaged temple as she left her flat to visit her doctor. While Kelly may have looked like she had been in a fight, her spokesman said the reality TV star had fallen prey to some bad DIY when the contents of a cupboard fell on top of her. Kelly had a low-key bank holiday weekend at home after suffering from a tummy bug. Her illness was made even worse when she reached to get a glass from a cupboard in her kitchen and the whole piece of furniture fell off the wall on on top of her, cutting her temple and hitting her in the left eye. Her spokesman Gary Farrow said: “She was suffering from a stomach upset all weekend, which meant she couldn’t go out anywhere, and then this happened. She is fine now, though.”

HMMMMM … this sounds very convoluted to me … is anyone else buying this tall tale?

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]

Have you ever wanted to beat the living daylights out of Heidi Montag? Have you ever wanted to punch Spencer Pratt in the face? Well … now is your chance … here are a few screencaps from a new boxing video game called Facebreaker wherein you can play as either Heidi Montag or Spencer Pratt (among other characters) and beat the hell out of your opponent … sound fun?

The hottest couple on “The Hills” can now face off in a video game boxing ring. Spotting a previously unknown overlap between fans of “The Hills” and fans of boxing video games, publisher Electronic Arts is letting a virtual Heidi Montag lace on some gloves and beat up Spencer Pratt. Or vice versa. The cartoonish, celebrity near-death match is just one possible matchup in “Facebreaker,” an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 boxing game that’s been designed for laughs. No, it’s not a serious boxing game, despite earlier reports that one of the other boxers in the game is none other than Kim Kardashian. Limbs contort. Faces stretch. And opponents go flying across the ring … There’s Heidi, Spencer and Kim boxing. There’s Fergie, Avril Lavigne and 10 other stars competitively canoeing and flying jet planes in EA’s Wii-only fall release “Celebrity Sports Showdown.” The “Facebreaker” games have a feature that allows any famous person to face off. Non-famous people can compete too. The games support camera attachments for the Xbox 360 and PS3 that can be used to capture a face and put it on an in-game boxer. So Heidi doesn’t have to beat up Spencer. She could beat up … you.

LOL! This actually sounds fun. After the jump, check out a short video that shows Heidi vs. Spencer in the boxing ring …

Brad Pitt and his eldest sons, Maddox and Pax, have made their way to Venice, Italy for the Venice Film Festival where Brad will be on hand to help promote his new movie Burn After Reading (which also stars Brad‘s BFF George Clooney). Here are pics of thePitt boys making their way thru the streets/canals of Venice earlier today:

Maddox was proudly showing off his new blue ‘do. That mohawk is his staple, he looks intent on rockin’ it hardcore. There’s no word yet if Angelina Jolie, the girls (Zahara and Shiloh) or the twins (Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Léon) have also made their way to Venice but if so, I’m sure they’ll show up sooner or later. I’m not sure how I feel about the blue hair, to be honest. Should kids that young be dying their hair already? Does it matter?

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

I’ve been meaning to do a little write-up on another of my fave artists, Juliana Hatfield, that I have been a fan of since the very early ’90s. I have followed her career over the years, have seen her in concert many times and have thoroughly enjoyed her music from the onset. I was very happy to learn that she is about to release her first book (a memoir) titled When I Grow Up and was thrilled to learn that she just released a new album titled How To Walk Away last week:

Her publisher sent me a preview copy of her book a couple of months ago but I just got around to finishing it this week. I’ve been reading a few books at the same time and this one was one that I simply had to finish. After reading this memoir, Juliana Hatfield makes so much more sense to me know. In her songs she always appeared very happy-go-lucky but in person she always seemed … well, not happy at all. In her bare bones tome, she explains why that is so. She is totally open to exposing all of her flaws, unabashedly writing about her feelings and insecurities despite the fact that she is an insecure person. She finds power in her pen, in her words and writes about how that power has kept her going all these years, even after her fame has diminished over time (many of you may not even know who she is at this point, which is a shame because she is a brilliant musician … I urge you to check her out). In her memoir, she talks specifically about 2 shows that I was at … litterally, I’m reading her words going “OMG, I was there!” It’s pretty neat.

Two of these photos are from the shows that she described in the book (Cleveland, OH and St. Louis, MO) and the other is from a show she did in Ann Arbor, MI. I can’t stress enough how much I really enjoy Juliana‘s work … she was selling her own music online way before Radiohead or NIN did (doing so by way of an honor system, trusting that fans would pay for songs they downloaded). She used some of that money to fund her newest album, How To Walk Away (which was just released last Tuesday).

Juliana enjoyed a pretty good run of success (appearing on My So-Called Life, on soundtracks to major motion pictures and having her videos labeled “buzz clips” on MTV back when MTV played videos often) and writes openly about how difficult it is to maintain a music career when that fame fades. I now have even more respect for the woman and her art. I really hope that those of you who are/were fans of hers will check out her new stuff … you’ll be happy to know she hasn’t lost a thing. If you’re not familiar with her work, check her out … you’ll be impressed, I promise.

There is something to be said about real talent and real dedication to one’s art. Juliana Hatfield deserves much for continuing to grace the world with her talents. I for one am very appreciative of her efforts.

Last night Sarah and I hightailed it down South to drive into Ohio to see Nine Inch Nails play the SeaGate Convention Center. Now, I new beforehand that the venue would be a small one but it was really pretty effing small. It wasn’t until Trent Reznor announced from the stage that the venue was too small to accommodate all of the stage equipment that I even knew we weren’t getting the “full show” (reading a few reviews on Echoing the Sound further alerted me to the fact that the Toledo show was “amended” a bit to accommodate the smaller venue) … to be honest, I thought the show was amazing so I didn’t miss a thing. That said, I’m very glad that I’m going to the Inglewood, CA show (the last of the US tour) next week cuz now I want to know what I missed last night.

Again, the show was pretty stunning nonetheless … here are a few of the pics that I snapped last night:

After about the 3rd song or so, Trent announced from the stage, “We’re happy to be playing the homecoming dance” referring to the tiny size of the venue. Man, it was just really great being able to see NIN in such an intimate space. After the jump, see the full show setlist, check out a short video that I shot of Trent Reznor talking to the crowd and a funny-ass video that I stumbled upon this morning that features Trent Reznor, has nothing at all to do with last night’s show but is simply NOT TO BE MISSED …

• Brad Pitt shoots a cover photo of his family for W magazine.
• Complication is over, Denise Richards‘s reality show is canceled.
• “My dad is not an idiot.” — Jack Osbourne
• Battlestar Galactica will find new life after it ends it’s 5-year run next year.
• Saw what? Buffy the Vampire Slayer is keeping women out of churches?!
• Justin Long already has a replacement for Drew Barrymore.
• Wear your whites while you still can, Labor Day is nearly upon us.
• Is CBS‘s Swingtown an endangered species?
• See, Sienna Miller can hang out on a yacht and still keep her top on.
• Pamela Anderson is a Girl on the Loose in Oz.
• Turquoise jewelry makes the transformation complete.
• Pants? Mary-Kate Olsen doesn’t need no pants.
• Cassie is 22, Macaulay Culkin is 28 and Shirley Manson of Garbage, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is 42 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• Jay-Z to help resurrect the Hollywood Palladium.
• Charlie Sheen to spawn again.
• Paula Abdul is both “uncertain” and “thrilled” about the new (female) 4th American Idol judge.

Oh lord … here comes the drama … again. Last night, in the second ep of the new season of The Hills, we got a heaping helping of D-R-A-M-A that altho felt a wee bit staged managed to still inspire all those feelings of Oh No She Didn’t! that tend to come in growing doses on this series:

Stephanie Pratt (the She-Spencer) hosted a little birthday soiree and managed to concoct a little fireworks show of her own … we got to see some new faces, some old faces and a particularly scary face that doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. After the jump, find out what happens when LC and Speidi come face to face in the ep titled Drama Follows Them …