February 13, 2008

The first single from Ashanti's upcoming album has premiered its music video. "The Way That I Love You" has been confirmed as the official lead single from the much-delayed album, "The Declaration".

The video was directed by Kevin Bray and was shot in Los Angeles back on February 7. The single itself is produced by L.T. Hutton and is scheduled to take impact on radios on February 19.

The co-star of Sean Penn in drama thriller "The Interpreter" Nicole Kidman has been said to be chosen to play in a biopic about the betrayed CIA agent "Untitled Valerie Plame/Ambassador Joseph Wilson Biopic". According to MTV News, the 40-year-old Academy Award-winning actress will be playing Valerie Plame, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson who used to serve as a federal agent.

The casting news has been leaked by director Doug Liman. To MTV, the "Jumper" helmer revealed the fact saying, "Nicole Kidman. She's perfect if you've ever met Valerie." He further said that he and the wife of Keith Urban was supposed to work together earlier saying, "Nicole was supposed to play Jane Smith in 'Mr and Mrs Smith'. We owe a movie together! That's an unrequited thing between me and an actor where I fell in love with them for a role and never get to consummate it."

Renowned young actress Dakota Fanning, who recently quit from New Line Cinema's upcoming drama project "My Sister's Keeper", may be replaced by Sofia Vassilieva. According to Variety, the co-star of Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" checked out from the project since she was requested to shave her head for the role.

Further, it was explained that Vassilieva who is expected to replace the 13-year-old movie star is in final talks with the studio. If indeed joining the cast, the "Medium" actress would fill in Fanning's role as Kate, a young girl fighting leukemia through the help of her little sister.

Is planning to celebrate her forthcoming 27th birthday with a huge burlesque show with The Pussycat Dolls in Las Vegas, Paris Hilton is getting all prepared for the big day, about to dress herself in sexy costume for the celebration.

The socialite, who's turning 27 on Sunday, February 17, reportedly has designed skimpy lingerie for she herself to wear for her birthday night performance with the all-girls music group slated to take place in the Pussycat Dolls Lounge at Caesar's Palace on Saturday night, February 16.

Enrique Iglesias will soon release a Spanish greatest hits album and the first single has been determined to be "Donde Estan Corazon". A music video which was directed by Paul Minor for the song has been premiered on Yahoo! Spanish.

The Spanish compilation album which is not-yet-titled is reportedly to be released on March 25 with two original materials that include "Donde Estan Corazon" and another one called "Lloro Por Ti". Other information regarding the album can be found on EnriqueIglesias.com.

The central character in the upcoming three "Terminator" film series has found its depicter. Variety reported that the Australian actor Sam Worthington will be starring in the action sci-fi pics, including the first film "Terminator Salvation", as Marcus.

Reportedly, the actor starring the forthcoming film "Avatar" was recommended by James Cameron to McG, the helmer of "Salvation". The recommendation was allegedly made when the two were talking on the phone since Cameron is still in New Zealand for his action thriller project for the 20th Century Fox.

Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell are dating, it has been confirmed.

Put an end to the months of chatter and speculation, the same-sex couple have finally come out of the closet and made it official that they're dating.

As first-time director David Hackl preparing for the start of "Saw V" production, he sat down to talk about the upcoming horror thriller. Bloody-disgusting reported that the former production designer for the "Saw" series revealed that he has planned to set a trap that literally may kill the actors involved.

To BD, the helmer confessed, "Today I am looking forward to making a phone call to one of our cast to ask him how he feels about getting into a trap that could potentially kill him. For real." Further, he said, "Of course we will make it as safe as we can and have paramedics standing by while we shoot. Its not like he really has an option and maybe it will make him appreciate his life. Ha!!"

It has now been confirmed that Kanye West will give the premiere of his highly-anticipated music video of "Flash Lights" to BET. The video which would be the fourth from West's "Graduation" is set for a release today (February 13).

As previously reported, the video is the joint direction of West himself and renown director Spike Jonez. Two frames of the video had been posted on his official blog and the full length had been played at a Grammy after party in front of a celebrity crowd.

Giving no comment on the much-talked rumors that she's dating Chris Brown, Rihanna has added fuel to the speculation after she was snapped getting close with the R&B singer at a post-Grammy party.

The two recording artists were seen "touching and whispering in each other's ears" at the EW post-Grammy party on Sunday, February 10, it has been reported.

Soul musician John Legend is joining the star-studded cast of drama comedy "Soul Men". According to Hollywood Reporter, the 29-year-old platinum-selling "Get Lifted" singer will be joining the earlier cast members, Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac.

In the Malcolm Lee latest directing project, the hitmaker of "Ordinary People" is set to portray Marcus Hook, the frontman of the 1970s' popular soul band The Read Deal whose death forces the two remaining members to reunite. Joining him in the casting are Jennifer Coolidge, Sean Hayes as well as musicians, Isaac Hayes, Affion Crockett, Adam Herschman, Fatso Fasano and Jackie Long.

The red band trailer of the new comedy movie "Pineapple Express" has hit the web. The 2:45 minutes video footage gives out glimpses of the unlikely pairing of Seth Rogen and James Franco as the two run for their lives after witnessing a murder.

Claiming that it captures the movie's tone, the trailer open with scenes introducing the two main characters, lazy stoner Dale Denton and lazy dealer Saul Silver. The two then seen meeting up at Silver's apartment where Silver offers a new kind of weed to Denton saying that the stuff is "like God's vagina". Following that, the drama begins as Denton accidentally watched a murder.

The long circulated break up rumors have come to fruition, Sophie Monk and Benji Madden have called it quits.

The celebrity couple were reported to have split up early last month. Speculation of their troubled relationship first arose when Monk canceled a scheduled appearance at Carols by Candlelight, citing "family reasons".

The feature trailer of "Kung Fu Panda" has been released online by DreamWorks Animation. Featuring the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan and Dustin Hoffman, the trailer that runs over two minutes showcases the comic act of the leading character, Po, as he tried his best to be one of the Kung Fu masters.

The animated video footage begins as the narrator speaks about the background of the Kung Fu master stating that despite successfully trained five legendary warriors, the master hasn't met his biggest challenge yet. As he says that, Po, the Kung Fu master-wanna-be came into the screen apparently exhausted after climbing the steep wall leading to the master's palace.

The Country Music hall of Fame have added a fresh batch of inductees that will be included as their members this year. Four musicians from the genre have been selected, including singer Emmylou Harris, singer/songwriter Tom T. Hall, country group The Statler Brothers and late singer/songwriter Ernest "Pop" Stoneman.

The line-up was announced on Tuesday, February 12 by Country Music Association and the four acts will be formally inducted at the annual medallion ceremony tentatively set for April 27. With their inclusion, the Hall of Fame is totaled to have 105 members.

Not wanting his upcoming action film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" to be affected by the writers' strike, director Michael Bay tackled the writing task himself. Rotten Tomatoes reported that the "Bad Boys" series helmer confessed that he has finished writing the sequel script of the blockbuster movie "Transformers".

At the Visual Effects Society awards, the 42-year-old filmmaker said, "I've been writing Transformers 2." He then stated, "We've got our characters all designed. I always write all my scripts, my movies anyway so at least I've got something to give the writers. It's like a template. We have a really good outline so I worked on that."

Emma Watson raised not only eyebrows but also concern when she was seen stepping out with notorious rocker Johnny Borrell at a London fashion party earlier this week.

The "Harry Potter" star reportedly met the Razorlight frontman at a London fashion party and both of them got on so well that they went on together to two further events.

Aretha Franklin was intimidated when Beyonce Knowles handed over her "Queen" title to Tina Turner. Knowles made an introduction to Turner who was making a stage comeback at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards by addressing her as "the queen", and Franklin who has long been known as the Queen of Soul is unhappy about that.

In a released statement through her publicist, Franklin stated "I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyonce. However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy."

Set tongues wagging at the 50th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night, February 10 when her dress appeared to show a baby bump thus prompted further speculation that she and fiance Josh Duhamel were expecting their first child together, Stacy Ferguson in fact is not pregnant.

While neither of them commented on the heavy pregnancy speculation, Fergie's mother Terri Gore insisted that her daughter was not expecting, telling Ryan Seacrest's KIIS FM radio show Tuesday, February 12, "Nope, not at all. Did you see her at the Grammys? (She's) skinny, skinny, skinny."

New details on Scarlett Johansson's debut album have been unveiled as the actress turned singer showcased it in front of journalists on Tuesday, February 12 at New York's Joe's Pub. "Anywhere I lay My Head", the title to the album, contains 10 Tom Waits covers that include David Bowie in two of the tracks and an original material titled "Song for Jo".

Bowie, who Johansson met during a party just before embarking on the project, contributes his vocal in the songs "Falling Down" and "Fannin' Street". Both songs also receive assistance from Yeah Yeah Yeahs' guitarist Nick Zinner and members of band Celebration. Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio who takes the major production, revealed that the sound will generally be "cough medicine/Tinker Bell", as quoted by Billboard.com.

Is a media darling with her countless bizarre behavior, Britney Spears surprisingly turned a dance guru to youngsters when she instructed a kid's dance lesson at the dance complex she frequented.

The pop star was at the Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood on Monday night, February 11 when she surprised everyone by taking over the class of six aspiring young dancers between ages 4 and 7, instructed them to dance to Madonna's classic songs.

Due to his hospitalization on Tuesday, February 12, Lenny Kravitz is forced to postpone all the arranged dates of his European tour. The singer was admitted to Miami's Mount Sinai Hospital due to bronchitis stemming from a flu and respiratory tract infection that he had gotten since mid-January.

His album "It Is Time for a Love Revolution" was released last week on February 5 and he was due to serve the first tour date in London next Monday, February 18. The jaunt was supposed to stretch through the end of March. His spokeswoman, Carleen Donovan announced that the dates will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

James Blunt has moved on with the third single from his sophomore effort, "All the Lost Souls". The British singer chose "Carry You Home" as the follow up to "1973" and "Same Mistake".

"Carry You Home" will be available for download on March 10 and can be purchased physically on March 17. Blunt has premiered its music video in advance, in black and white theme.

Was said to be "very upset and very disappointed" in his brother, Barron Nicholas Hilton, who was arrested for an alleged DUI, Paris Hilton finally broke her silence on the unfortunate.

Paris, who was on her way to Vegas when she found out about Barron's run in with the law, commented "I am sad for my little brother. I hear he is doing OK. I am there for him and will be speaking to him in an hour or so, hopefully, to lend my support."

Radiohead have begun mapping out plans to promote their latest release, "In Rainbows" by announcing a North American tour that will begin in May. The rock band will finally hit the road for the first time in two years on May 5 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

So far eight dates have been confirmed to include stops in Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. After that the band will head to Europe to play there for a month before coming back to the States for a number of performances in Los Angeles, New York, Boston and many more which dates are not yet announced.

Juvenile was busted for weed possession.

The rapper, a New Orleans native, was arrested in Meridian, Mississippi Tuesday, February 12 for possession of under an ounce of marijuana.

Another Hilton clan has landed in the gray-bar hotel. Paris Hilton's younger brother, Barron Nicholas Hilton, was arrested Tuesday morning, February 12 for allegedly driving under the influence.

The 18-years old Hilton was arrested at 8:04 A.M. after failing a field sobriety test and hit with the charges of driving under the influence and carrying a fake driver's license.

Mariah Carey has made some changes in her upcoming release. Instead of sticking with the old title, Carey has decided to change the eleventh album's name from "That Chick" to "E=MC²". She has also pushed the release date from April 1 to April 15.

The first single from the album, "Touch My Body" has been released on radio outlets yesterday (February 12) and has roamed on file sharing websites. The single which will be released physically on February 19 was produced by Tricky Stewart and The-Dream, the latter was responsible for Rihanna's Grammy-winning single "Umbrella".