Despite the fact that a horrid and unsettling photo of Rihanna is, unfortunately, making its way around the Internets and the television airwaves today, I want to take the opportunity to post a beautiful photo and send out all my birthday lurve to Rihanna who is celebrating her 21st birthday today:

While I cannot, for the life of me, understand what Ri Ri must be going thru at this time in her life, I truly hope she is able to find some way to celebrate her birthday today. Rihanna is one of my fave pop artists and she absolutely deserves all of our lurve and support … and, it’s her birthday so she should get an extra helping of love today. Stay strong, Rihanna … and enjoy YOUR day! I wish you much happiness and many, many happy birthdays to come!

Characters from the upcoming big screen adaptation of the critically-acclaimed graphic novel Watchmen are featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine. In fact, this week’s issue of the mag will have 6 different collectible covers, one for each of the 6 main Watchmen superheros — Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian and Ozymandias:

They have come to glimpse the miracle. They have come to witness the revolution. They have come for Watchmen — the allegedly unfilmable superhero movie, the long-awaited adaptation of the comic book that changed the face of comic books forever. On this warm July morning, over 5,000 fans attending the annual geek pop summit known as Comic-Con have assembled inside the San Diego Convention Center for a first look. Many spent the night on the sidewalk. Some have come in costumes — most modeled after Rorschach, a vigilante with an inkblot mask and a pitiless brand of justice that makes Batman look like Bambi. Behind the stage, indie-movie icon Kevin Smith, a.k.a. the Most Famous Fanboy in the World, parks himself in front of a closed-circuit TV, a happy grin on his bearded mug. ”You have to understand, I’ve been waiting for this moment for years,” says Smith. ”This is it, man. This is the pinnacle. You have no idea how f—ing pumped I am.”

Yes, yes … comic book fans the WORLD OVER have been waiting and praying for this movie to be made and, at long last, the time is nearly nigh. The EW coverstory can be read in full HERE and goes on to essentially hype the film to grandiose proportions … which I feel is kinda risky considering that A.) rabid fans of the comic book are notoriously the hardest people to please and B.) something hyped so much is bound to incur the wrath of haters who are licking their lips at the chance to tear it down. For me, Watchmen is a pop culture phenomenon and is absolutely worth talking about … in human terms, not necessarily godlike or divine platitudes. After the jump, check out a few really nice black and white portraits of some of the Watchmen superheros that will be featured in the new issue of EW magazine …

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Woot! Early last week we learned THE AMAZING NEWS that Britney Spears and her longtime, former assistant Felicia Culotta have decided to let bygones be bygones and work together once again … which fans of Britney from way back in the day can recognize is prolly the best news ever since Felicia was the closest thing to a second mother that Brit Brit ever had. Since that news came out, we also learned that Fe will be assisting Britney on her upcoming tour The Circus starring Britney Spears and has already started working in her employ. Today we get to see the first photos of Britters and Felicia TOGETHER again:

Aww … I am so happy to see these two together. It’s been so long … Felicia has been sorely missed. I thought it was such a shame that Fe got pushed out of Britney’s life right around the time that she hooked up with Kevin Federline cuz if Felicia had been able to offer her assistance and guidance to Britney in the last few years, I think things might’ve turned out very differently for Britney Spears. At this point, we know that Britney was NOT in a place to listen to anyone’s outside advice that conflicted with her new independence … and, well, look how things turned out. BUT, that is all water under the bridge … Britney is finally on the comeback trail, her life is back in order (for the most part), she has won back custody of her children, she is about to embark on a new concert tour AND she’s back with one of her dearest BFFs who, I believe, is only interested in Britney’s well-being and health. Soooooo great to see them together again. Take care of our dear Britney, Felicia … and welcome back :)

[Photo credit: X17]

People magazine scored an interview with supermodel and Project Runway host Heidi Klum on the current state of her wildly successful competitive reality TV show and got to scoop directly from her on what is going on. The sixth season, which was taped to air on its new network Lifetime but has been kept off the air by a lawsuit leveled by its former mother network NBC, filmed its season finale earlier today …. totally unpublicized with a group of 3 final designers whose names we don’t know. The entire season has been filmed and is ready for air but, due to the legal wrangling by the networks, Heidi tells us there is no way of knowing when we’ll be able to see the eps … or on which network:

With a protracted legal battle still raging, and no air date in sight, Project Runway filmed its season 6 finale Friday under the tents of Bryant Park, where three unknown designers sent collections down the runway during New York Fashion Week. “This year is going to be a little different,” Runway host Heidi Klum told the crowd. “This is [the designer's] moment and unfortunately nobody has seen the show yet. I’m a little bit sad for our designers that they don’t get that recognition today. We’re all in a bit of a limbo.” International Herald Tribune editor — and fashion industry veteran — Suzy Menkes acted as guest judge for the show. Runway sources tell PEOPLE that producers had been trying to nab Menkes as a guest judge in the past. Although reports that Lindsay Lohan would do the honor proved false, PEOPLE can also exclusively confirm that Christina Aguilera, Eva Longoria Parker and Rebecca Romijn did lend their star power as guest judges on several of the season’s challenges. Since the cast has not been announced, producers did not introduce the designers Friday. “We wish we could bring out the three designers but we can’t,” Tim Gunn said at the show. Sources tell PEOPLE that when Runway eventually airs, it still will not be clear which designer showed first, second and third. (Also for the first time, no decoys showed at Bryant Park since the collections were presented blindly.) Even though the finale took place at New York Fashion Week, the show did indeed relocate to Los Angeles for its sixth season. What does this mean exactly? Show sources tell PEOPLE that permanent judges Nina Garcia and Michael Kors weren’t able to judge every challenge each week. Instead, various editors from Marie Claire (where Garcia is now employed) have been tapped to fill in as needed. The season also relied more on “local resources” in the challenges, sources say. Translation: Think Hollywood.

Blah! This sucks … Project Runway is one of my FAVE shows and I hate that this legal fight is keeping the show off the air. Despite all the many changes that I’ve been hearing have been applied to the new season, I am still very curious to see the damn show. Legal battles like this can take years to get sorted out. My guess is that if a settlement isn’t reached soon, the show will eventually die a quiet death … off the air. Since the entire 6th season was filmed in its entirety, it should be ready to air once the court decides which network owns the show. I’m not holding my breath that a decision will come soon … which means that it could be months before we are able to watch season 6. It remains to be seen if season 7 will be cast and filmed to keep on schedule with the next NY Fashion Week to come next Fall. Boo. This is just a really crappy way for the show to lose all of its fun momentum :(

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Yesterday we saw the first photos from Justin Gaston’s new photospread in the new issue of VMan magazine … and it is my great pleasure to inform y’all that there is more than just protruding bulge to behold from this particular shoot. Here are a few more photos from Justin’s spread for VMan, courtesy of Vision Model Management, shot by photographer Doug Inglish:

The hair, the eyebrows, the pecs — OH MY! Honestly, I’m not really a fan of shredded jeans but … eh, I can deal this time around. After the jump, check out a few more photos of JG from this issue of VMan — a couple of them we’ve already seen before but why not take another gander, hmmmmm?

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Last week, at the Grammy Awards to be exact, punk popsters Blink-182 announced that they would be reuniting again in order to record a new album and possibly hit the road. It would seem that all the bad blood between the band members — Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker — that caused the break-up in the first place is all water under the bridge. This week, the band released new promo photos of the newly reunited Blink-182 (the first since their break-up a few years ago) shot by photographer Michael Muller that prove the band means bizznazz. Here is one of the new promo photos along with the official statement released by the band on the state of their reunification:

Hi. We’re blink-182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us.

Thanks and get ready…

I may not be a huge Blink-182 fan but I can appreciate that there are a lot of folks out there who are very excited by this news. The guys tend to make some pretty fun music so I’m looking forward to hearing what they’ve got up their collective sleeves. After the jump, check out one more promo photo of the Blink boys, one that is much better lit and shows their pretty faces better …

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Late yesterday evening, TMZ released a fairly graphic of Rihanna that shows the injuries she sustained in the alleged assault on her person by her boyfriend Chris Brown in the early morning hours of Sunday February 8. As soon as I saw the photo for myself, I was horrified by the injuries that are very evident in the photo … and immediately decided that I did not want to post the photo on my site. It turns out that the photo was released WITHOUT the consent of the LAPD, who has launched an official investigation to find out who leaked the photo to TMZ. Here is the official statement on the unauthorized release of this horrific phot and and the info that TMZ provided with the release of the photo:

TMZ has obtained a photo of Rihanna taken after Chris Brown allegedly beat her.

I am pretty disgusted that someone inside the LAPD apparently leaked this photo to TMZ … I cannot really see the merit to republish the photo on my site when it is already readily available elsewhere. I absolutely understand that this news is of interest to many people and I also understand that the release of a photo like this might speak to the many women out there who may suffer from domestic abuse and may prove a wake up call that they are not alone. I just cannot bring myself to feature the photo on my site. Interested people can head over to TMZ to see the photo if they so desire. I, personally, was so disturbed from seeing the photo that I just cannot republish the photo here. Rihanna’s injuries look serious, I just hope that if any crimes are proved from this case that due justice is duly served.

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