Earlier today we learned that Britney Spears is hard at work this week on the set of her new music video, presumably for the single If U Seek Amy, and now we get our first look at Britney on the set of that music video:

It looks as if Brit Brit dusted off the 1950’s wig that she used in that Pepsi commercial she did a few years ago:

You can also see that there are children in the video (presumably her own) and her daughter is dressed in her Baby … One More Time music video costume. HMMM. I can’t wait to see the final product. In the meantime, let’s look back that Pepsi commercial that featured Britney singing soda pop jingles from different eras of Pepsi:

I don’t necessarily think that Britney’s new video will be quite like her 1958 character in this Joy of Pepsi commercial but at least it gives us a good feel for what she looks like in that role. What do y’all think … will this video be better than Womanizer and/or Circus?

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Nadya Suleman, the single woman who just gave birth to 8 babies in addition to the 6 children she already has, has decided to launch an official website in order to solicit the public for donations to help her raise her 14 children. At first, Suleman was adamant that she didn’t need public assistance to help care for her children and that she would be able to “provide” for her family once she gets her degree and starts working (I understand that she is currently unemployed, living with her parents and has no real source of income at the moment). Now, visitors to thenadyasulemanfamily.com are asked to send donations to her (all major credit cards are accepted) in exchange for photos of her 8 newborn children — Noah, Maliah, Isaiah, Nariah, McCai, Josiah, Jeremiah and Jonah:

In addition to the solicitation for money, the site also offers a heartfelt thank you to all the folks who have been offering their support to the family:

“We thank you for the love and good wishes sent to us from around the world. The octuplets arrived on 1-26-09. They are all healthy and growing stronger by the day”

I, for one, think this is some shady biz goin’ on here. I personally would urge people to NOT send in money for the mere fact that there is no way of knowing how the money will be used by Nadya Suleman. In fact, we don’t even know WHO will get the monetary donations — the site does NOT clarify who exactly the money will go to and for what purpose. I find this manner of solicitation very suspicious. If folks want to offer help to the children themselves, I would suggest either making donations to the hospital that is caring for the babies or sending in baby products (diapers, food, etc.) in lieu of actual money. But yeah … this is some shady biz. I am not at all impressed … and I really feel bad for those 14 kids :(

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High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron has made his way back home to SoCal after a quick trip to South America with his ladyfriend Vanessa Hudgens and one of the first things that he did upon arrival was ditch her … then strip off most of his clothing and took to the hiking trails to give onlookers a pretty good view of his toned bod. Here are a few pics of the very shirtless Zac cooling down after his arduous hike yesterday afternoon:

While temps have been pretty chilly here in the LA area, the coldness seems to have no effect on someone as “hot” as Zac Efron. Shirt be damned, he needed to hike and hike he did. I can’t say that I personally mind (tho, I kinda hate myself for admitting so) and I don’t think that many of y’all mind either. Y? N?

[Photo credit: Limelight Pics]

First Lady Michelle Obama is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Vogue magazine, becoming only the second First Lady (after Hillary Clinton) to grace the cover. Here is Michelle’s very lovely magazine cover where she is rockin’ a hawt PINK dress designed by Jason Wu, the same designer who created her fabulous Inauguration dress:

Michelle Obama is in Vogue. Literally. As President Obama deals with crises on various fronts, the first lady follows tradition and steps into the March issue of Vogue, on stands in New York and Los Angeles Feb. 17. The magazine has photographed nearly every new first lady since Lou Hoover in 1929. Bess Truman is the only first lady since that has not appeared in Vogue, and Jackie Kennedy opted for a drawing by René Bouche. Only Hillary Clinton and Obama have made the cover. Wearing a magenta silk dress by inaugural gown designer Jason Wu on the cover, Michelle Obama’s image is captured by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who also shot inside photographs for the article by Andre Leon Talley, who discloses that he is a “passionate supporter” and “volunteered in the campaign trenches.” And while other friends and supporters emphasize Obama’s priorities as far as daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, and her desire to make the White House more inclusive, the first lady talks about those ideals when it comes to fashion. “First and foremost, I wear what I love,” she says. “That’s what women have to focus on: what makes them happy and what makes them feel comfortable and beautiful. If I can have any impact, I want women to feel good about themselves and have fun with fashion.” Vogue notes that Obama’s “lithe frame — an uncommon figure for an American First Lady” and her leanings toward new names in American design, such as Wu and Isabel Toledo, who created the lemongrass ensemble she wore at the swearing-in, have prompted some to dub her the “new Jackie Kennedy.” Vogue insists that Obama’s style is more “pragmatism, not glamour.” When she wore the black cardigan over the Narciso Rodriguez dress during the president’s Nov. 4 acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, she received some harsh criticism. “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about it,” she says. “But I also have to be very practical. In the end, someone will always not like what you wear. … I was cold; I needed that sweater!”

OMG, I love her. She deffo has the right kind of style and altho some of her outfits have drawn criticism, I think that she generally gets it right. While I contend that a woman as intelligent and as accomplished as Michelle Obama should FIRST be lauded for her talents, I absolutely understand why so many people are to taken with her sense of style as well. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a faboo First Lady in the White House like Michelle :) After the jump, check out a couple other photos of Michelle Obama from this new issue of Vogue magazine …

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In Touch Weekly magazine is reporting that Britney Spears has begun filming her new music video here in SoCal this week … altho they do not mention the music video by name, I think it’s safe to assume that Brit Brit is working on a video for her song If U Seek Amy, which has been reported as her next single from her album Circus. Here is a photo of Britney and her dancers workin’ up a sweat in rehearsals and some deets from the set of Brit’s new music video:

It’s all work and no play for Ms. Spears today as she shoots a new music video for a song off her hit album “Circus”. The shoot is taking place in a secret location in the Pacific Palisades, just outside Malibu, Calif. All of Britney’s dancers were instructed to be at the shoot very early, hours before Britney showed up. “The dancers are all dressed in metallic colors, and shiny tights. They look awesome, with sequins all over their outfits,” says a witness at the shoot. The shoot is said to last most of the day and into the night. “When she works, she is into it and gets it done,” an insider tells In Touch. “She looks great and is so fun to work with. She is funny and professional and has tons of energy today,” they added.

When world first came out that If U Seek Amy would be Britney’s next single, all sorts of crazy rumors began to circulate about the music video. My fave was that Madonna would be featured in the video as the character of Amy and Britney would be running around “seeking” her … or some such nonsense to that effect. Since Maddy is bizzy in NYC (most likely playing with her boytoy Jesus Luz), I don’t think she has time to fly out West to appear in Britney’s video … but, you never know, I guess. With Britney, anything is possible. If the music video is being filmed this week, then we’re still a while away from seeing any footage from the shoot. I suspect, tho, that the video may be ready to go by the time Britney kicks off her The Circus starring Britney Spears Tour in New Orleans, LA next month … which is coming up very soon. Wee! Britneymania is about to be unleashed in this beyotch! I can’t wait :)

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Oh snap! If you thought that Michael Phelps took a lot of heat for getting photographed tokin’ on that ginormous bong, wait ’til you hear what happened to 8 regular people who were at the party where that photo was snapped. It turns out that local area police, spurned into action by public pressure, began investigating that particular party and ended up arresting 8 people who where present at the party on various charges … including drug charges. So while Phelpsie only got slapped with a 3 month suspension from USA Swimming and suffered the loss of one endorsement deal, these 8 “real people” ended up getting arrested by the police:

New details have emerged about a party where Olympic champion Michael Phelps was spotted. On Feb. 2, a British tabloid published a picture of the 14-time Olympic gold medalist using a water pipe to smoke marijuana. The picture was taken at a party in Columbia back in November when Phelps was here for a visit. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has been taking a lot of heat from people in this country and all over the world. They want to know why Sheriff Leon Lott is going after Michael Phelps. Many are saying the sheriff should concentrate on more serious crimes, or at the very least, not focus solely on the Olympic champion when there were others at the party who were also breaking the law. Now it appears the case has expanded beyond Phelps’ activities. The party took place in November at a house on Blossom Street near Five Points. It was at that house where someone snapped the photo of Phelps taking a hit on a marijuana pipe called a bong. Lott says the picture indicated a law was being broken in his jurisdiction. He said he couldn’t ignore the violation just because Phelps is rich and famous. We’ve now learned that since investigators began trying to build a case, they’ve made eight arrests: seven for drug possession and one for distribution. These are arrests that resulted as the sheriff’s department served search warrants. We’ve also learned that the department has located and confiscated that bong. Sources say the owner of the bong was trying to sell it on eBay for as much as $100,000. The owner, who wasn’t even at the party, is one of the eight now charged. Phelps is not one of those charged at this point, but the sheriff’s department has strong evidence that matches the photo to the house on Blossom Street. That house is in the city, but the Columbia Police Department decided not to initiate or take an active role in the investigation. Governor Mark Sanford is also weighing in on the sheriff’s actions. On the FOX News Channel Sunday night, Geraldo Rivera asked Sanford whether Phelps should be prosecuted. “I don’t see what it gets at this point,” said Sanford. His spokesman told us Monday night Sanford is letting that quote stand.

Sooooo, letmegetthisstraight … the Sheriff’s Department, spurned on by public pressure, thought it would be wise to seek out and arrest 8 people who were at that party — and probably were NOT photographed engaging in drug use — and feels that it is unnecessary to seek out and arrest the ONE PERSON who WAS PHOTOGRAPHED engaging in drug use (or, at the very least, was photographed seeming to be engaged in drug use) … whose photo actually caused this illegal incident to come to light in the first place????? What complete and utter bullshizz! I, personally, do not think anyone needs to be arrested for anything involving this incident, let alone the 8 people including the house owner (who wasn’t even present when the party took place) who were arrested. BUT, for the Sheriff’s Department to arrest some people and PURPOSELY EXCLUDE arresting the sole celebrity in attendance WHO WAS PHOTOGRAPHED WITH THE DRUG PARAPHENALIA IN HAND seems awfully outrageous to me. If this isn’t the absolute definition of preferential treatment, then I don’t know what is. It sucks that 8 people have to pay for Michael Phelps’s mistake … but, apparently in Richland County, SC that’s the way they like their justice. I call bullshizz … what do y’all think?

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More information from “sources” concerning the alleged assault against Rihanna by Chris Brown has made its way to the Internets … and while I am not one to redistribute unsubstantiated information, especially in cases as serious as this one may be, some of the new info seems relevant to me to pass along. E! News is reporting that Rihanna has been actively cooperating with police as they continue to gather evidence against Chris Brown for his alleged physical attack on her person and cite sources close to the case that claim that she revealed to police that Brown “threatened to kill her”. I know quite a few people at E! News and I have to say that I trust their reporting and trust that they would not be reporting this sort of information if they weren’t confident in their sources. Again, none of the information that is making the rounds — not expressly released from the authorities — should be treated as fact and should be taken with a grain of salt, including the following report:

Earlier today, the Los Angeles district attorney asked police detectives to dig up more evidence for their case against Chris Brown. The police are getting cooperation from Rihanna, and what she has told them so far is chilling. A source close to the investigation tells E! News exclusively that Rihanna has alleged to police that Brown choked her while threatening to kill her and, subsequently, she lost consciousness. They began squabbling after leaving Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party late Saturday. Shortly after midnight, things blew up. Brown pulled his silver Lamborghini to the side of a street in L.A.’s Hancock Park neighborhood. That’s when, per the source, Rihanna grabbed the car keys and tossed them out the window, sending Brown into a rage. He tried in vain to find the keys, then came back to the car, put his hands around her neck and, according to the insider, said, “I’m going to kill you!” According to the source, the 20-year-old “Disturbia” singer told police that she lost consciousness, and when she awoke, Brown had fled. According to the source, her right eye was blackened and badly swollen and she had hand prints on her arms. The responding officers were so concerned about her, they drove Rihanna to the hospital in their squad car instead of waiting for an ambulance. Officers took two sets of photographs of the banged-up singer, one at the scene and the second after she was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment. Those photos were presumably among the evidence presented to the district attorney. After being treated for her injuries, police escorted her down a rear elevator and into a waiting Mercedes, the source says. Brown, 19, was subsequently booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. He was released after posting $50,000 bail. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the allegations. Brown’s publicist also has not commented. A spokeswoman for Rihanna declined to comment specifically on details of the fight and the arrest and stuck to her earlier statement from Sunday: “Rihanna is well. Thank you for concern and support.”

And so, another bunch of information that paints an even uglier picture than the last ugly picture we got before has been unleashed upon the world wide web. While I absolutely understand why both parties are being completely silent on the matter due to legal reasons, the silence is deafening … with no official word coming from either camp, the reports coming out from “sources close to the investigation” are left to do all of the talking. The only thing we know for sure is that some altercation took place between Rihanna and Chris Brown, that he has been arrested and released on bail and that they both plan to stay out of sight for the foreseeable future. I’m not sure when anything in an official capacity will be announced by the authorities or by either party but until then, I expect these sorts of reports to continue to come out. And, blah, I have to express my disgust for those people who are spreading the MOST unsavory rumors about this incident. They are so gross, in my opinion, that I will not even mention them here. Making ugly accusations about a seemingly heinous incident like this only makes the whole matter even sadder … but I guess people are going to say what they are going to say. I, for one, refuse to sink that low. This story is already so sad, why do people have to make it worse?

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