January 31, 2008

While his former fiancee Michelle Williams and his camp are busy refuting the much-talked video which is claimed to have allegedly shown him at a drug binge party at a Hollywood hotel, new details have just emerged on the burial of the late actor Heath Ledger.

Word has it that Heath will be put into his eternal rest at his hometown of Perth, Australia, with a burial may take place on Thursday, January 31 or Friday, February 1.

Confirmed headliner for this year's Glastonbury Festival is rock singer Neil Diamond. According to Q4music.com, Diamond will take the prestigious Pyramid stage on Sunday, June 29.

The site also revealed that duo Hot Chip will also be there to perform at the festival that takes place at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, again on June 27 to 29. Unconfirmed act which has been brought up are veteran singer Leonard Cohen and reggae artist Jimmy Cliff. The latter had listed his tour schedule, including a stop at the British festival.

Though earlier it was reported that Breck Eisner and Matt Reeves are the two strong candidates to replace Mark Romanek on "The Wolfman" director's seat, words are spreading that Brett Ratner is the one to nail the vacant position.

The news of the hiring of Ratner is broken by AICN.com. The site stated that the executive producer of television series "Prison Break" has been signed by Universal Pictures to do the horror thriller film.

Spice Girls experienced a stage mishap on Wednesday night (January 30) that turned out favorable for them. The audio blew up when they performed in the Boston concert but they kept singing, proving wrong long-time speculations that they lip-sync their songs.

The five-piece were singing 'Spice Up Your Life' as the last piece of that night. There was a confetti show throughout the second half of the song and at one point a confetti opened up with a blow, and the audio was suddenly gone. The girls professionally kept their poise and went on singing until the end of the song.

The helmer of "The Last King of Scotland" Kevin Macdonald is set to direct Universal Pictures' new drama project "Bobby Fischer Goes to War". According to Variety, Macdonald has been signed by Universal and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner to do the work.

Based on the book by David Edmonds and John Eidinow, the film tells the story about Fisher who at the age of 15 years old defeated Boris Spassky in the World Chess Championship in 1972 and became the only American to win that title. The biopic will be produced by Bevan and Fellner, and the filming will be done later this year.

The producer of "Seventeen" Adam Shankman revealed that his directing project "Bedtime Stories" will start production soon. To Comingsoon.com on the set of "Seventeen", he said he will begin the principal photography of the comedy film in three weeks.

Further, he also let out that the production is going to continue until June. He confessed that the quick turn-around is made to make sure that the film can be released in December stating, "Unbelievably fast, because I'm going till mid-June; it's a long schedule. Then, I have to be out in theaters December 25th. And there's a ton of CG, so I'm excited."

No joke, Blur and Oasis are mad about cheese. The two music groups that spent most of the 1990s feuding and battling for chart position are now teaming up to create their very own brand of cheese.

Apparently Blur bass player Alex James, who is now a dairy farmer and cheese maker, has invited band mate Damon Albarn to join Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher from the band Oasis to come into his Cotswolds cheese factory so they can start working on a special cheese.

Following the much reported rumors about the making of "Cloverfield" sequel, it was reported that Matt Reeves may be back for the second installment of the successful monster movie. According to Variety, the action sci-fi triller's director is in early talks with Paramount Pictures to helm "Cloverfield 2".

In its reports, Variety noted that though Reeves has signed a deal with GreeneStreet Films to direct "The Invisible Woman", his next project can be the film's sequel. However, it depends on how quick the studio can finish the discussions with Reeves, producer J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Drew Goddard.

Best known as the largest brand of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products in America, Victoria's Secret sure knows best what sexy is. And appears to be true, the company has just unveiled its 2008 What Is Sexy? list, which among others include R&B singer Rihanna, who's crowned as the Sexiest Female Musician, and Ryan Seacrest whose smile is claimed as the Sexiest ever.

Here's Victoria's Secret 2008 "What Is Sexy?" list comprised of:

• Rihanna - Sexiest Female Musician
• Ryan Seacrest - Sexiest Smile
• Eva Mendes - Sexiest Actress
• Josh Holloway - Sexiest Beach Body
• Victoria Adams - Sexiest Mom
• Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley - Sexiest Newlyweds
• Eric Bana - Sexiest Actor
• Chris Brown - Sexiest Male Musician
• Dane Cook - Sexiest Funnyman
• Tony Romo - Sexiest Male Athlete
• Justin Chambers - Sexiest Dad
• Blake Lively - Sexiest Newcomer
• Stacy Ferguson and Josh Duhamel - Sexiest Couple
• Scarlett Johansson - Sexiest Style
• Jessica Biel - Sexiest Lips
• Kate Bosworth - Sexiest Eyes
• Ali Larter - Sexiest Legs
• "Dirty Sexy Money" - Sexiest Cast

All those list-makers will be honored in a party, set to take place in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Saturday, February 2, which will be hosted by Victoria's Secret supermodel-spokeswomen, including Selita Ebanks, Adriana Lima and Karolina Kurkova among others.

Lil Mama's music video that was shot earlier this month in Miami, Florida has finally arrived. The clip is for the remix of her third single 'Shawty Get Loose', off 'VYP: Voice of the Young People' that features T-Pain and Chris Brown.

The futuristic clip, bears almost resemblance to Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's 'Scream' video, was directed by renown director R. Malcolm Jones. It was premiered on BET's Access Granted and will receive another premiere on Yahoo! Music today (January 31).

Promoting the Summit Entertainment's upcoming action film, a new "Never Back Down" webisode is available for viewing. The promo clip features the film's stunt coordinator and fight choreographer Damon Caro, who is also the choreographer of "Fight Club", "Mr and Mrs Smith", "300" and "The Bourne Supremacy".

The video footage starts with a fighter punching into the camera followed by appearing of the film's title. The 1:20 minutes clip gives out glimpses of the film's fighting scenes as well as the explanation from Caro about the fighting choreographing. In the video, Caro states that he compiled most of the existing martial arts for keeping the Mixed Marshall Arts or MMA in the movie as authentic as possible.

Apart from working on a new album with his band Queen + Paul Rodgers, Queen's guitarist Brian May is spending more time with Ben Elton to write the follow up to their already-running musical production, 'We Will Rock You'.

Elton who penned the original screenplay, will be back as the scriptwriter to the sequel of West End musical while May is supplying the musical scores. On his official website May wrote, "We have been talking about it for a long time, now Ben has supplied us with a fabulous script the train is rolling! Watch out!" No schedule yet on when the play will open.

Was back on the single saddle again following her break up with longtime boyfriend Justin Timberlake early last year, Cameron Diaz is now rumored to have had a new boyfriend. She's said to be dating Canadian actor Scott Speedman.

Diaz and Speedman have been spotted enjoying a vacation together in the Bahamas earlier this month. "He has a house down there, and they were frolicking on the beach. They were definitely smooching," an onlooker told the New York Daily News.

Lionsgate are having a charitable auctions on eBay for several exclusive "The Eye" poster signed by the two stars of the horror thriller, Jessica Alba and Alessandro Nivola. The proceeds of the auctions will go to The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation.

The winning bidders of the auctions will get the studio certified posters signed by the two cast along with a hand signed letter from a Lionsgate executive verifying the authenticity of the posters. The auction will be opened on Thursday, January 31, and will continue through the film's opening weekend.

Rihanna has become the latest celebrity after the likes of Hayden Panettiere and Mischa Barton who gets her hand on to promote the "Got Milk?" ad campaign.

The R&B singer dons the creamy "milk mustache" in "Got Milk?" new advertising campaign, which is accompanied with a tag line that reads "Drink it in. Pop star? Not exactly. Milk is more my move. Some studies suggest that teens who choose milk instead of sugary drinks tend to be leaner and the protein helps build muscle. So shut up and drink."

American Idol graduate Ruben Studdard has filed a lawsuit against a Dallas based concert promoter for breach of contract. Peachez Inc., the name of the marketing company, may have to pay the singer a $ 45,000 compensation should he wins the case.

Although details and comments from both camps have not yet been released, TMZ.com who was the first to report, have acquired the legal document. It was filed in New York Supreme Court on Monday January 28.

Following the report that Mark Romanek has quit from the Universal Pictures' "The Wolfman", rumors are surfacing that the studio already has two strong candidates to replace the director. According to AICN.com, the studio are thinking to bring in either Breck Eisner or Matt Reeves to the project.

Eisner last worked with Matthew McConaughey on Paramount Pictures' action film "Sahara" in 2005. He is currently working for a horror sci-fi "Creature from the Black Lagoon" for Universal. Meanwhile, Matt Reeves' latest projects include J.J. Abrams produced-monster film "Cloverfield". It was said that he will next tackle "Cloverfield 2" and "The Invisible Woman".

Mary Lynn Rajskub is pregnant with her boyfriend Matthew Rolph's child.

The actress, best known for her portrayal as Chloe O'Brian in TV series "24", confirmed the good news to People, saying "With the strike going on, I had to keep busy! We are thrilled and couldn't be more excited."

Christina Applegate is at it again. The actress, who was reported to be seen getting cozy with her former husband Johnathon Schaech back in November last year, was spotted "canoodling" with actor Zachary Levi, thus prompted dating speculation.

Applegate and Levi, according to Metromix Los Angeles, have been spotted "canoodling" at Ye Coach & Horses in L.A. on Tuesday night, January 29. "She in a black dress and knee-high boots, he in an army green jacket," the site wrote on its Website.

Attending the prestigious SAG Awards on Sunday, January 27, the actress who plays the character of Sally Jupiter in "Watchmen", Carla Gugino let out details about the upcoming Warner Bros' superhero flick on the red carpet. On the occasion, the 36-year-old actress talked much about her character known also as 'The Silk Spectre'.

To MTV News, she confessed that in the film, her character will be portrayed in two different milestone. She revealed, "I start at 25 years old in the 1940s, and I age to 67 years old with full prosthetics in the 1980s." She further described her character saying, "It was really one of the craziest, most fun roles I've ever gotten to play. [Sally] is a larger-than-life character. She's a costumed crime fighter, but her idea of a costume is very Bettie Page-meets-[Alberto] Vargas."

Previously announced as taking only a break to "clean his act up", Papa Roach's drummer Dave Buckner officially leaves the band as revealed by frontman Jacoby Shaddix on the band's MySpace on Monday, January 28.

"We are going through a lot of changes right now... Change is good - it keeps things fresh," Shaddix wrote. "For y'all that don't know, we had to split with Dave, our drummer. It was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. He's taking this time to get his life together. We are still friends and still talk on a regular basis."

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony who are touring in support of their 2007 album, have been denied an entry to Canada because their music is deemed "too violent". And the rap group have responded to this, obviously confused of the incident.

They were set to leave for a number of sold out dates in Canada on Wednesday (January 30) morning when their tour promoters informed them that the custom officials won't allow them to enter the country.

Eva Longoria Parker is a "femme fatale" in a new H-E-B television commercial.

The "Desperate Housewives" star has agreed to star in a new H-E-B television ad that will run during the Super Bowl.

The Golden Globe-winning American actor Robert Downey Jr. will be honored with the kudo of Male Star of the Year. He is set to be presented with the award at the 2008 ShoWest's closing night ceremony on March 13.

On Downey's receiving the honor, ShoWest co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser reasoned that the former "Ally McBeal" star has been contributing a lot to the entertainment biz. Neuhauser stated, "For almost four decades, Robert Downey Jr. has been entertaining moviegoers with a resume of films that is as diverse and impressive as anyone could imagine."

Amy Winehouse, whose chance of getting a visa to America is quite slim, has been banned by her father to attend the 50th Grammy Awards which will be held in Los Angeles. The British singer who is the second big nominee in the prestigious music event, is thought "not ready".

Universal Music, Amy's label, have given their full support on the singer despite her stint in rehab earlier this month for her drug problems. She was also lauded to be the possible performer in the event that takes place on February 10.

Her recent visit to a lesbian night club has become major media attention while at the same time prompted speculation that she herself indeed was lesbian. Added fuel to the existing rumors, Paris Hilton was reported to be seen making out with actress Elisha Cuthbert.

Paris and Cuthbert were "all over each other and making out" at New York's Tenjune club on Tuesday night, January 29, US Weekly quoted a source as saying.

Tying a mutual deal, Pitbull and Baby Bash are slated to take the road together in an indoors tour that begins March 15 at Orlando's House of Blues.

"It's been long over due for me and Pit to hit the road together; finally our fans can see us both together for one ticket. You can¹t beat that with a whoopin' stick," Bash told HHNLive.com. "I can't wait to get out on the road with Baby Bash. I want to use this opportunity to connect with my all my fans and million plus Myspace friends," Pitbull added.

Dario Argento's English language thriller "Giallo" has been picked up by The Weinstein Company. According to Screen Daily, the film studio found by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein have signed the deal to distribute the thriller film in the U.S. and Latin American upon the film's completion.

"Giallo" is a serial killer film that centers around serial slashings of some very attractive women. The murder cases are investigated by a solitary cop who then got involved in a cat-and-mouse game with the psychopathic perpetrator. The movie stars Vincent Gallo, Asia Argento, Ray Liotta and Elsa Pataky.

On Wednesday, January 30, it was made official that Max Rafferty is no longer part of the rock band The Kooks anymore. The bassist who had left the band once due to "illness", is leaving for good this time.

The three remaining members of the band will go on with their new album release and a tour which will be supported by a member of their fellow Brighton musician. "Dan Logan, bassist with local Brighton band Cat the Dog will be filling in for the short term," the band said in a statement.

It's been sometimes since speculation on Angelina Jolie's pregnancy first hit the news media. Yet so far there has yet any confirmation nor denial from the actress' camp concerning that issue. Nevertheless, new rumor has just surfaced that Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt are planning to sell their confirmation to the highest bidder and donate the proceeds to charity.

A source close to the Hollywood power couple told US Weekly that Jolie indeed is pregnant. One attendee at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, January 27 in Los Angeles told the publication in its latest issue, "It was so obvious she was pregnant. You could clearly see the bump's outline."

Many Hollywood actors today are doing their own stunt works, but when Jim Carrey is the one to do the stunt, he would do it with a bang. On Monday, January 28, morning, the 46-year-old comedian jumped over an overpass locally known as "Suicide Bridge" for a bungee jump scene in his upcoming comedy project "Yes Man".

Replacing his stuntman, the Golden Globe Award-winning actor who wore a yellow jacket and blue jeans, yelled, "The first time in history that an actor stepped in for a stunt man." Then, while standing on the edge of the bridge and getting himself ready for the 150 feet plunge, the funnyman jokingly quoted Neil Amstrong's famous statement saying, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for comedy. I've never been so regular!"

Jason Biggs is now an engaged man. The actor, who obtained wide fame in 1999 for his role as Jim Levenstein in the "American Pie" series of teen films, is engaged to his actress girlfriend Jenny Mollen.

Confirmation of Biggs' engagement to Jenny first came from the actor himself who broke the news during the Los Angeles premiere of his new flick, "Over Her Dead Body," in which he stars opposite Eva Longoria Parker, on Tuesday night, January 29, telling US Weekly "It happened recently."

Rapper Fat Joe released the second music video from his upcoming album, 'The Elephant in the Room'. Although not yet confirmed as the second single, '300 Brolic' which is produced by P. Diddy's The Hitmen has received its music video premiere.

His friends at Terror Squad are featured on the clip that also inserts some frames on war and 'unclean' streets. '300 Brolic' has been deemed as one of the "gangster" tracks in Joe's album, in which he raps "I am a professional / I will cut your testicles".

"High School Musical 3: Senior Year" will be the last installment of the popular "Musical" franchise. MTV News reported that the prospect of making the third film as the last has been confirmed by one of the Disney's romantic musical's star, Zac Efron.

To the music television network, the 20-year-old actor revealed that the film will be the climax of the extremely successful series saying, "This is going to be the farewell to the East High Wildcats for a while. Senior year, graduation, this movie is the climax, it's the third act, this is the legacy that we leave on East High." He then stated, "I think it's going to be a good way to go out with a bang."

Ethan Hawke is about to become a father again, it has been reported.

The actor and his girlfriend, Ryan Shawhughes, are expecting their first child together. "I can confirm and they are thrilled," says Hawke's representative Mara Buxbaum. "No further details will be made available."

As the fateful night approaches, 50th Annual Grammy Awards have added more and more artists slated to take the stage. Alicia Keys, Feist, Brad Paisley and a number of other performers are lined up to highlight the February 10 event.

Cast of 'Across the Universe', a musical movie that incorporates 34 compositions written by members of The Beatles, and 'The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil' will also go up to the stage to give a special tribute to the Fab Four.