• Helio Castroneves’s lawyer claims that he is no tax cheat.
• Queen Latifah to portray Gwen Ifill on this weekend’s ep of Saturday Night Live.
• Mel C. appears uncomfortable with letting any of her Spice Girls cohorts babysit for her in the future.
• Britney Spears’s new album Circus is going to be “big”, so says Lil’ Jon.
• The Vice Presidential Debate scores huge TV ratings.
• Kid Rock shows his Detroit Pride in his new music video for Rock On.
• Fall Out Boy’s new album Folie A Deux will feature guest appearances by Debbie Harry, Pharrell and more.
• More babies for Brangelina?
• PETA continues to dislike the Olsen twins.
• Bottom line: Robert Buckley is too hot for words.
• John McCain pulls his campaign for the presidency out of Michigan.
• Folks who don’t like Jessica Alba’s Declare Yourself ads prolly won’t like Xtina Aguilera’s either.
• Jennifer Love Hewitt finds the color black slimming.
• Trubs in GyllenSpoon-land?
• Europeans have a hankering for High School Musical 3.
• Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is 24, Neve Campbell is 35, Gwen Stefani of No Doubt is 39 and Chubby Checker is 67 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• THIS guy is running across the country for a good cause. [thanks Georgette]
• Stuntmen beware when Jimmy Smits is around.
• Is Britney Spears planning a movie to NYC?
• Click HERE to watch the premiere episode of NBC’s Kath & Kim online now.

Beyoncé Knowles has updated her official website with a special message for loyal fans of her music. Unlike Jason Mraz’s latest political-minded online treatise (which we got to read earlier today), Beyoncé isn’t talking politics, she’s talking music (apparently, a whole lotta music). Here is the text of Beyoncé’s message in full:

I wanted to address my fans about my upcoming album.

I have worked on this album for close to one year. I have taken the time so I can create my sound. Something that says who I am at this stage in my life. I have poured my heart and soul into it. It is my baby. It is the most time I have spent on any project since my first records as a member of Destiny’s Child when I was 15 years old. I have recorded over 70 songs and have created a sound that reveals all of me. I am in a different place right now and I wanted people to see the many sides of me. The music is upbeat for the dance, fun side and it is reflective, passionate and serious for the personal side. I have taken risks here. I am not afraid and my music will explain it all. There is no label or tag on my sound. It’s me and I am so excited to share it with the world on November 18.

Love,

Beyoncé

Damn. 70 songs is a lotta songs. This album is either gonna be a doozy of a monster hit or it’s gonna be a jumble of incoherent mish-mash. You may recall that Beyoncé recently shot a music video for the first of two new singles set to hit the airwaves in a couple of weeks and will go on sale on November 4th. I like Beyoncé’s music, she generally turns it out when she puts out new stuff … I’m really looking forward to her new material. The album’s title has yet to be released, tho. Mebbe in B’s next letter to fans she can give us some more insight as to what we can expect from Mrs. Jay-Z in the weeks to come.

[Source]

Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie were spied doing a bit of shoe shopping together at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, CA this past Wednesday afternoon showing the world that it takes more than a commitment to love to keep a relationship going … sometimes it takes a little bit of retail therapy as well:

You may recall that Hilary was spotted with a new piece of bling on her ringfinger back in August and I wondered if she and Mike had gotten engaged — it would appear that they have not, in fact, gotten themselves engaged. The couple does manage to keep a relatively low profile (with only that nasty dad getting arrested thing coming to light to spoil their low profileness) which I think is part of their secret to success. I really like these two together … Mike looks like a sweetie and I bet he takes really good care of Hil D. The couple have been happily attached for some time now … as long as they keep shoe shoppin’ together like this, I think they’ll remain together happily ever after. How’s that for a Cinderella Story? ;)

[Photo credit: X17]

Here are a few photos of Hugh Jackman lookin’ as dapper as can be for a new photoshoot he posed for in Sydney, Australia earlier today (yesterday, for us here on the US West Coast). It looks like David Beckham isn’t the only hottie that can fill out a slick suit very nicely:

While I find that Hugh Jackman doesn’t necessarily need clothing to look sexy, I find that he manages to look pretty damn good in whatever he wears. For men’s photoshoots, there really isn’t much that can be done stylewise … either the guy is dressed up (in a suit) or dressed down (in less than a suit) and mebbe you throw in a hat, umbrella, briefcase or (in many instances) a beautiful woman. With a hot piece like Hugh, it’s all about the man. Not only is his really, ridiculously good-looking but there is also an approachable appeal about him as well. I’m sure it won’t be long before we see these pics in a future issue of GQ, Esquire or other men’s magazine. I’ll deffo be on the lookout.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Alanis Morissette has released a new video from her latest album Flavors of Entanglement … Not As We is pretty plainly obvs a break-up song, most likely about her split from former fianceé Ryan Reynolds (who just married Scarlett Johansson last weekend in a secret ceremony in Canada). The song is beautifully sad and poignant … and now has a video to match:

Of the tracks on Flavors, I found this song and Torch were the only tracks that seemed to address specifically Alanis’s break-up with Ryan. Torch is the more heartbreaking, Not As We is the more beautiful. I think the video goes well with the song … surely, it was filmed well in advance of Ryan and Scarlett’s nuptials but the fact that its release comes after they tied the knot adds an extra bit of poignancy to the track … it prolly also twists the knife a little as well. It’s a great vid, I think … I totally <3 Alanis.

[Source, thanks Shavi]

Jason Mraz has updated his official My Space profile with a new politically-minded blogpost and a sexily-charged photo. In his post, Jason encourages “staunch Republicans” who may be thinking about supporting “the well-spoken and well-organized Democratic Nominee” to go ahead with that support and promises that by doing so “everything will be fine”. I must admit, I find great merit in Mr. Mraz’s plea … but I’m having a hard time focusing on anything other than the photo that accompanies his latest blogpot. The sexy pic of a mostly-nekkid Jason Mraz wearing only a pair of undies and a horse mask (tho, I suppose it could be a donkey mask) is pretty hawt and is sure to appeal to quite a few folks … including those of the equestrian persuasion. Here is the photo in question and the text of Jason’s latest blogpost in full:

Last year Bob Dylan compiled a song list for Starbucks’ Artist Choice Series. In addition to offering up a keen selection of country, blues, and jazz, he also supplied notes and commentary as to why he held the songs in such regard. BUT, the best part was the forward.

He wrote, “When I was asked to put together this collection of songs, I wasn’t sure what to do. So I just grabbed a bunch of things I was into recently. Some people have favorite songs, but I’ve got songs of the minute — songs that I’m listening to right now. And if you ask me about one of those songs a year from now, I might not even remember who did it, but at the moment it’s everything to me.”

I bring this up as today’s lesson: Nothing is final. One day you’re high. The next day you’re low. You might have a funky, expressive, or awful haircut today, but soon it will grow into something else, something new and random. Maybe you grew up liking pop music and boy bands, but now you like a specific mash up of Electronic & Classical. You might decide you don’t want to smoke cigarettes anymore; that it’s just not who you are. Maybe you were a staunch republican but now have curiosities about the well-spoken and well-organized Democratic Nominee. Perhaps you were madly in love last week, but woke up today feeling comfort in solitude, without a desire to be held.

Everything is fine. Not finAL.

We tend to instantly identify with “things.” And we believe in so much, when in fact, a belief isn’t known to be true. It’s a hope for the truth. We hold grudges because of what someone said when we were young. We store hurtful words and replay them in our minds until we think it to be true. And some of us believe a TV commercial and think we need a faster computer, a smarter phone, a stronger pill, a more relaxed-fit jean, etc. We think that certain things, thoughts, or actions make us who we are and sometimes we become addicted to those thoughts or behaviors and then become too afraid to let them go.

I write and post a lot therefore many people assume I have every self-published word memorized or that I live these shared thoughts constantly. This is not the case. My brain doesn’t reference myself very well actually, and I’m sure I contradict myself every other day in one way or another. One day I feel like I have all the wisdom of the world and the next day my soul wears thin and I stutter just ordering ice cream.

And everything is fine.

Because I trust in the ever-changing climate of the heart. (At least, today I feel that way.) I think it is necessary to have many experiences for the sake of feeling something; for the sake of being challenged, and for the sake of being expressive, to offer something to someone else, to learn what we are capable of. These meanderings, rants, and blogs for instance, provide a great deal of comfort just sharing it, even though i put a part of myself on the line to be criticized or considered an ass.
Oh well, Courage is triumph of the soul is guess. and an Ass can still be of great service.

So Remember, You have the right to change your mind.

About anything.

Anytime.

This is not the ending.

P.S. – No doesn’t mean forever. It simply means, “Not right now.”

And on the topic of Not right now, whatever happened to you in the past is not happening now.

You will be safe behind your honest decisions and mood swings.

I promise.

-mraz
Berlin

Oh yeah, this is deffo the kind of thing that I think Equus character Alan Strang would totes be into, don’t you think? I mean … it’s a nice pic. But, I gotta wonder if Jason was engaging in any of THIS activity when he posed for this lovely photo. HMMM. But, more importantly, the message … it should be all about the message, I think … which is … um, yeah, what he said up there. Yeah, sorry, I’m still pretty distracted by the pic … aren’t you?

[Source via Source]

Last Saturday we got to see a few amazing screencaps from the premiere episode of Survivor: Gabon that showed a flash of P33N (courtesy of contestant Marcus Lehman) which occurred during one of the episode challenges and was broadcast on national television. Today we learn that the Parents Television Council has lodged a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against CBS, claiming that the P33N flash was intentional … CBS, obvs, disagrees:

CBS, the network that gave us the Nipple That Knicker-Knotted a Nation, now brings us the Peekaboo Penis. The self-appointed watchdog group Parents Television Council has filed an indecency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over the season debut of “Survivor: Gabon” — ironically the first episode of this series to be broadcast in high-definition. If you look closely at participants in a race, you see Marcus Lehman’s little colonel “falling out” of his boxer shorts as he runs to the finish line, PTC reports. “The image was not obscured in any way,” PTC notes in disgust. In fairness, the episode had a lot of pixelation — just not of Lehman’s male pride. “Although this instance was brief, it was nonetheless shocking and purposeful,” PTC President Tim Winter said in a statement. CBS, in a statement, insisted it was “a completely unintentional, inadvertent and fleeting incident that was virtually undetectable when viewed in real time.” “Fleeting” was the word of choice when the Super Bowl Nipplegate story broke, too. “In the first 24 hours after the broadcast, before freeze-frame images were widely posted online, we received one viewer comment from the 13 million who watched the telecast,” the network said. PTC had this to say about that: “CBS’s decision to hide behind excuses that the incident was ‘fleeting’ and didn’t generate an immediate flood of complaints is the epitome of irresponsibility. The number of ‘fleeting’ penises we expect to see on broadcast television is zero.”

I mean … seriously. Some folks are so uptight, it’s ridiculous. Millions of folks had no idea that there was any P33N flashed on last Thursday night’s ep of Survivor and the P33N in question only came to light when studious and very observant folks slowed down the video (and screencapped it). I absolutely do not believe that it was intentional and find the entire matter wholly entertaining. It wasn’t a big deal (sorry, Marcus) and lodging a complaint like this is only going to turn it into a big deal. That being said, I think a look back that those hilarious screencaps (and that amazing animated gif) might be in order :) Do any of y’all think this is a legitimate complaint or is really much ado about nothing?

[Source]