It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
Whomp, whomp.
Looks like the Queen of Soul might not have gotten her way this time!
Remember earlier this year when Aretha Franklin was just PINING to have Halle Berry portray her in an upcoming biopic???
Mz. Franklin was SO adamant about Halle playing her â€" insistent, really â€" even though Halle herself said she couldn’t even carry a tune! LOLz!
Well, now it sounds like Tony award-winner Audra McDonald has reportedly signed on to play young Aretha…not Halle!!
Seems to be a more appropriate choice, seeing as Audra can do more than just carry a tune â€" the singer-actress has won FOUR Tonys for her performances on Broadway, such as A Raisin In The Sun and Ragtime AND has won two Emmys for her role in ABC’s Private Practice!
Apparently, though, there have been no talks between Aretha and Audra just yet, with Franklin still in negotiations for the project all together.
Better luck…er…next time, Aretha?
Tags: abc, actress, aretha, aretha franklin, audra mcdonald, biopic, broadway, emmys, halle berry, negotiations, performance, singer, upcoming
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
The cable network announced that it is committing to 10-episode second seasons for new comedies Girls and Veep.
The news marks very quick victories for the shows, which premiered April 15 and April 22, respectively. Girls has grossed 3.8 million viewers (including repeats, on-demand and HBO Go audiences) during its two weeks on the air, while Veep has amassed 3.7 million.
Girls stars Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture) and Veep stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submission!!!
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
It's time for our latest "Can YOU Sing? competition!!!! Yay!!!
We look forward to this so much! And we are thrilled to reveal that the latest selection in our cover contest is Maroon 5's Payphone!
Check out all the details (above)!
Enter! Or tell your favorites to enter! Or BOTH!
We can't wait to watch all the submissions!!!
AP
Greg Mortenson, author of 'Three Cups of Tea' and 'Stones Into Schools,' was accused of lying in his books to raise money for the charity he co-founded, the Central Asia Institute. A federal judge dismissed claims against him.
Both live in California, but in different cities â€" Flajnik in San Francisco and Robertson in Santa Monica. They tell People that they each love the other's city, but that the discussion about where to settle down together has gone "back and forth" several times.
"We're trying to figure out how it's going to work and when it's going to happen," Flajnik says. "One thing we do really well is communicate. If something's bothering me or bothering her, we squash the bug really quick and move on."
Although they are engaged, but living in different cities, Flajnik says it's actually not so bad.
"It's not exactly long distance. We live in the same state. It's an hour flight," he says.
Gyllenhaal's rep confirmed to USA TODAY that little Gloria was born in New York earlier this month. The actress first confirmed her pregnancy to USA TODAY in March, saying it was a struggle to hide her burgeoning bump from the prying eyes of the public.
"I find it difficult to pretend you're not pregnant, which I had to do," she said. "I didn't let anyone know until three and a half months this time. I went to film festivals. I'm throwing up in the bathroom and having to keep pretzels in my purse, and having to fit into dresses."
Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard will celebrate their third wedding anniversary on Wednesday.
You don't get muscles through surgery!
Check out this video (above) of Perez's new body! Dancing around in a Speedo! Ha
Momma Perez joins in on the fun!
We can't help but laugh at all the recent speculation we've heard that we had surgery to lose weight.
No!
It's been hard work! VERY HARD work! Over a long period of time! We have done it the slow and painful way! Naturally!
We've really reprogrammed our brain and changed our whole life!
We truly are happier than ever! We just wanna dance! So that's what we did (above)!
:-)
You don't get muscles through surgery!
Check out this video (above) of Perez's new body! Dancing around in a Speedo! Ha
Momma Perez joins in on the fun!
We can't help but laugh at all the recent speculation we've heard that we had surgery to lose weight.
No!
It's been hard work! VERY HARD work! Over a long period of time! We have done it the slow and painful way! Naturally!
We've really reprogrammed our brain and changed our whole life!
We truly are happier than ever! We just wanna dance! So that's what we did (above)!
:-)
You don't get muscles through surgery!
Check out this video (above) of Perez's new body! Dancing around in a Speedo! Ha
Momma Perez joins in on the fun!
We can't help but laugh at all the recent speculation we've heard that we had surgery to lose weight.
No!
It's been hard work! VERY HARD work! Over a long period of time! We have done it the slow and painful way! Naturally!
We've really reprogrammed our brain and changed our whole life!
We truly are happier than ever! We just wanna dance! So that's what we did (above)!
:-)
You don't get muscles through surgery!
Check out this video (above) of Perez's new body! Dancing around in a Speedo! Ha
Momma Perez joins in on the fun!
We can't help but laugh at all the recent speculation we've heard that we had surgery to lose weight.
No!
It's been hard work! VERY HARD work! Over a long period of time! We have done it the slow and painful way! Naturally!
We've really reprogrammed our brain and changed our whole life!
We truly are happier than ever! We just wanna dance! So that's what we did (above)!
:-)
You don't get muscles through surgery!
Check out this video (above) of Perez's new body! Dancing around in a Speedo! Ha
Momma Perez joins in on the fun!
We can't help but laugh at all the recent speculation we've heard that we had surgery to lose weight.
No!
It's been hard work! VERY HARD work! Over a long period of time! We have done it the slow and painful way! Naturally!
We've really reprogrammed our brain and changed our whole life!
We truly are happier than ever! We just wanna dance! So that's what we did (above)!
:-)
According to Entertainment Weekly, Kevin Jonas, 24, and his wife of three years, Danielle Deleasa, will join the E! reality family in a new Ryan Seacrest-produced reality show, Married to Jonas.
"Our production team became curious about what life would be like for a young bride entering the excitement, and sometimes chaos, of a pop star's life," Seacrest says in a statement. "Looking through the lens of young love, the show will examine the ups and downs of Dani and Kevin's marriage, against the backdrop of their contrasting family cultures, traditions and individual careers."
Jonas married Deleasa, a former hairdresser, in 2009 after meeting her in 2007 while he vacationed in the Bahamas with his parents and brothers Joe, 22, and Nick, 19.
Married to Jonas is scheduled to premiere Aug. 19 on E!.
By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY
One reason to be glad it's Monday: That means Robert Bianco will be taking reader questions about TV at 2 p.m. ET.
This is absolutely EPIC NEWS!
During their livestreaming pay-per-view concert taking place at the O2 arena in London, the Backstreet Boys announced that former bandmember Kevin Richardson will be re-joining the group PERMANENTLY!
And not only THAT, but they
[Image via WENN.]
This is absolutely EPIC NEWS!
During their livestreaming pay-per-view concert taking place at the O2 arena in London, the Backstreet Boys announced that former bandmember Kevin Richardson will be re-joining the group PERMANENTLY!
And not only THAT, but they
[Image via WENN.]
This is absolutely EPIC NEWS!
During their livestreaming pay-per-view concert taking place at the O2 arena in London, the Backstreet Boys announced that former bandmember Kevin Richardson will be re-joining the group PERMANENTLY!
And not only THAT, but they
[Image via WENN.]
It just keeps getting worse and worse.
During the trial currently taking place against William Balfour, who is accused of murdering Jennifer Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, her brother, Jason Hudson, 29, and her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, the singer was shocked to discover that the murderer had been cheating on her sister, Julia, with a woman named Diana Grant, who apparently was just as shocked to discover that on the day of the horrible atrocities, he was hiding out with ANOTHER mistress - named Shonta Cathey!
However, SHE has now testified against him, and revealed in court Friday that he admitted to killing at least of two of them!
Check out news footage regarding the testimony (above).
Just disgusting. This man deserves everything this jury throws at him, any more.
Our thoughts continue to go out to Jennifer, her family, friends, and loved ones during this impossible time.
We can't imagine how awful it must be to have to re-live all of this tragedy, all the while facing the man responsible.
Tags: charges, darnell donerson, diana grant, jason hudson, julia hudson, julian king, mistress, murder, nephew, shonta cathey, testimony, trial, william balfour
This is absolutely EPIC NEWS!
During their livestreaming pay-per-view concert taking place at the O2 arena in London, the Backstreet Boys announced that former bandmember Kevin Richardson will be re-joining the group PERMANENTLY!
And not only THAT, but they
[Image via WENN.]
This is absolutely EPIC NEWS!
During their livestreaming pay-per-view concert taking place at the O2 arena in London, the Backstreet Boys announced that former bandmember Kevin Richardson will be re-joining the group PERMANENTLY!
And not only THAT, but they
[Image via WENN.]
This is absolutely EPIC NEWS!
During their livestreaming pay-per-view concert taking place at the O2 arena in London, the Backstreet Boys announced that former bandmember Kevin Richardson will be re-joining the group PERMANENTLY!
And not only THAT, but they
[Image via WENN.]
The prognosis, from the National Association of Theatre Owners, underscored a week-long homage to technology at the CinemaCon gathering of theater owners, the largest box-office conference in the country.
With digital, 3-D and IMAX films dominating the landscape, most studios will be out of the 35mm business by the end of 2013, says John Fithian, president of NATO.
Already, 20th Century Fox has stopped distributing film prints in Hong Kong. Developing and distributing a single print can cost up to $2,500, while digital films can be sent on $150 hard drives or over the Internet with no image degeneration.
"Last year, I … predicted that domestic distribution of movies in the format of celluloid film could cease by the end of 2013," Fithian says. "That prediction is becoming a reality."
That reality could threaten small theaters and chains that use the film format. Still, the theater owners association says, out of the nation's nearly 40,000 screens, more than 27,000 are digital, and about 1,000 a month are converted, a rate analysts expect to continue as box-office attendance and revenue climb.
Ang Lee, whose 3-D Life of Pi hits screens Dec. 21, says that while it's inevitab le, film's death need not be sad.
Since George Eastman began producing photographic paper in 1880, "we've done things in the same way," Lee says. "You still want to tell great stories, but we have a more immersive, emotional way to do it."
Also at last week's conference:
•Batman and Spider-Man. Superheroes made pronounced comebacks at CinemaCon as footage for The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3) and The Dark Knight Rises (July 20) had exhibitors buzzing.
•Ted. Think Teddy Ruxpin meets Judd Apatow. The star of this July 13 comedy, directed by Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane, had theater owners splitting their sides as a brought-to-life stuffed animal feasted on expletive s and sexual innuendo like Yogi Bear on a picnic basket.
•The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Footage from Peter Jackson's Dec. 14 film divided exhibitors, many of whom weren't sure what to make of its 48-frame-per-second projection rate, twice the typical speed. A faster frame rate removes any blur from the screen and can make images jarringly clear.
•Ticket prices. The cost of a movie this year dropped a penny, to an average of $7.92, compared with $7.93 in 2011. Analysts credit fewer 3-D films, which can drive up ticket costs.
"She used to come out here every night and take a picture at sunset," O'Neal says in a tone barely audible above the waves. "We have years worth of beautiful sunsets. They are some of our most peaceful times."
The 18 complicated and often turbulent years the two spent together were not always the stuff of peaceful sunsets before their relationship crashed and burned in 1997. But the love between the 1980s glamour couple â€" which captured the attention of a Farrah-mad nation and the tabloids alike â€" has stood the test of time.
It was great enough for O'Neal, 71, to be back in Fawcett's life when she battled and succumbed to cancer at age 62 in 2009. And strong enough for O'Neal, now facing prostate cancer himself, to pay tribute to their love affair in a new book, Both of Us: My Life With Farrah (Crown Archetype, $26).
"This has turned out to be a real Love Story," says O'Neal, who starred in the 1970 tear-jerker about a relationship doomed by cancer. "Love stories are good stories. And we had one."
Ryan O’Neal wants to make clear that he was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer â€" not the more serious stage 4 which was initially reported earlier this month.
“People were sending me flowers and wreaths,†says O’Neal. “They were writing me off.â€
Dr. Lawrence Piro, his personal physician and oncologist, says stage 2 means the cancer has not spread. “That’s a very positive sign,†says Piro. “We’re delighted it’s confined to the prostate right now. Things looks good.â€
O’Neal has battled chronic myelogenus leukemia, which has been in “excellent remission for 11 years,†says Piro. But the leukemia does give an increased risk of getting other cancers. In May, O’Neal will undergo cryosurgery which will freeze the prostate cancer (“It’s a horrible treatment,†says O’Neal) and his condition will be monitored. O’Neal, 71, also had skin cancer removed from his nose last week, requiring 22-stitches.
O’Neal has a great attitude going into another cancer battle. “He’s energized for treatment, he’s not morose or sad,†says Piro. Says son Patrick O’Neal: “He’s going to beat this like he beat leukemia.â€
Alana Stewart, the ex-wife of rocker Rod Stewart who was friends with the couple from the early days of the relationship all the way through Fawcett's death, says: "It wasn't idyllic. It was very volatile. They were dynamic, strong-willed people who often clashed. But they had this deep connection and a deep love."
O'Neal has worn many hats in a long, colorful Hollywood career that has taken him from Academy Award-nominated actor (Love Story) to tabloid lightning rod surrounding his tempestuous relationships with Fawcett and three of his children who have struggled with drugs and alcohol â€" daughter Tatum, 48, son Griffin, 47 (both with first wife Joanna Cook Moore), and son Redmond, 27 (with Fawcett).
His sportscaster son Patrick, 44, (with second wife Leigh Taylor-Young), is the one offspring who has stayed out of the tabloids. O'Neal even starred in a 2011 reality show, Ryan Tatum: The O'Neals, on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, about trying to repair his relationship with his daughter.
But he had never considered adding author to the list, despite being a prolific journal writer, until the concept of delving into his life with Fawcett intrigued him. "Maybe this was my way of trying to bring her back," he says. "At least it was a way to stay connected to her."
O'Neal insists that less emotional interests did not play a part, even if he confirms receiving a six-figure advance for the book. "I didn't do it for money or fame," he says. " I did it for her."
'Easy to start again'
Both of Us covers their early days in 1979. O'Neal was invited to the home of actor and friend Lee Majors, then married to Fawcett, who was at the height of her fame after her superstar-making turn on ABC's Charlie's Angelsâ€" and that sexy 1976 red bathing suit poster.
"I first saw her in their driveway, and she lit up the day," O'Neal says. "The sun came out. But I didn't see her as someone for me. She was married to a friend."
That didn't last long: Fawcett left Majors to be with O'Neal, and the new couple instantly became the prototype for Brangelina with photographers even dressing as room service staffers to snap pictures.
Fawcett and O'Neal never married. ("I wish we had, but we were rebels," he says.) They had Redmond in 1985, which O'Neal lists as a high point. "That brought a new level of the relationship, a new excitement. She was just blown away by this little redhead."
There were glamorous ups and increasingly more emotional downs, and in 1997, Fawcett walked in on him with a younger woman with whom he was having an affair. He says it was his only infidelity.
"Never before," he vows, "though she was suspicious of me since I had a reputation."
O'Neal says the relationship with Fawcett was coming apart for reasons from her menopause ("I'm not a doctor, but I know for a woman that's a part of their life when they have a struggle") to his own difficult demeanor ("I'm hard to live with").
"But she seemed to be mad at me all the time," he says, adding that the affair came as a result. "And then I met someone who wasn't mad at me all t he time. It's as simple as that.
"I thought it had played out," he says of his relationship with Fawcett. "But Farrah was always there in my mind. It was always comfortable to go back, very easy to start again."
Close until the end
The couple had reunited about a year before Fawcett received her diagnosis of anal cancer in 2006. Her battle was chronicled in a controversial, and Emmy-nominated, NBC documentary, Farrah's Story, with O'Neal very much in the frame. "She wanted him there in the last years of her life," Stewart says.
Says O'Neal: "I stayed as close to her as I could. And she needed me."
During her final moments in a Los Angeles hospital bed in June 2009, O'Neal says, he was filled with grief and remorse.
"I asked her to forgive me," he says. "Forgive me for everything. I still ask her that. I used to more. But I feel silly talking to a wall."
In the Malibu house where he has lived for 40 years, Fawcett's presence is everywhere, from the marble bust of a woman she sculpted to the kitchen farmhouse table where O'Neal sits down to talk. ("Even this was a gift from her," he announces.) The walls are filled with pictures of Fawcett, especially in the photograph-covered bedroom. There is even the famous Andy Warhol portrait of Farrah hanging above his bed.
"I sleep below her every night," he says proudly. "You can imagine a woman coming in here and fleeing after looking at all of these pictures of Farrah."
O'Neal says he has never moved on to a new love; he says it's how Fawcett would want it.
"No, no, no," he says when asked whether she would want to him move on. He looks up at the sky. "We were tempestuous. And I don't want her up there with anyone. There are a lot of great people up there. Da Vinci's up there."
Fawcett's influenced on his life is clear. He lists the relationship as the main factor for the disintegration of his relationship with Tatum, who won an Oscar at age 10 for the movie they made together, 1973's Paper Moon. It's a dysfunction that continues today.
"It ended my relationship with Tatum," he says. "Tatum had known me with other women. But this (with Farrah) was forever."
O'Neal is critical of his daughter in the book, just as she made allegations including physical abuse against O'Neal in her 2004 memoir A Paper Life. But O'Neal insists Tatum texted her support of Both of Us.
"It was a four-word text saying it was a good book," he says. "I texted her back, 'So I don't have to call the attorneys?'
"I'm rough on her," he says of the way he describes Tatum. "Well, it happened. And she was rougher on me in her book. Not that I read it."
Tatum O'Neal says of her father's book: "It's his story. He's allowed to tell it. I respect my dad. It doesn't mean I agree with everything in the book."
She does appreciate the love story. "They did love each other," she says. "I have never been in love like that."
Fawcett and O'Neal's son, Redmond, is spending time in his 13th treatment center after a probation violation in 2011 in which a police officer stopped him for a traffic violation and discovered heroin in his car.
"Redmond is freed up in October, and we're going to take a road trip and talk about his mom," O'Neal says.
This is assuming that O'Neal's health allows it. The actor has kept leukemia in check since he was diagnosed 11 years ago, but he announced earlier this month that he had been diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. An d he has had skin cancer removed from his nose.
"So I have three separate cancers working on me," O'Neal says. "I'm inundated."
But "I'm not defeated," he says. "The cancer hasn't affected me. It hasn't taken me down. I feel fine."
O'Neal will have treatment for the prostate cancer next month after promoting his book, yet he does not feel that Fawcett is guiding him.
"I don't have a philosophy that way. I'm not religious. I'm a fallen Catholic," he says.
"Besides," O'Neal adds, comically looking to heaven, "maybe she's calling for me. It's lonely at the top."
But in the emotional swirl of Fawcett and O'Neal, anything is possible. He acknowledges a change when filming a scene for the Fox series Bones, on which he has a recurring role.
"We were filming this scene in a wonderful church in Hollywood," O'Neal says. "So I took some time to do some praying which I hadn't done in quite awhile.
"I prayed only to her," he says. "No middleman. I'm still asking for her forgiveness. But she is why I don't fear passing. I know she's waiting for me."
Bruce Springsteen and his new 17-piece E-Street Band â€" with added horns, backup singers and a fiddler â€" retook the stage at the New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival on its third day Sunday, six years after his emotionally searing 2006 show in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
That last appearance, with the then-new Seeger Sessions Band, was all about shared grief, healing and hope. B ut Sunday's performance celebrated the Gulf Coast's continuing recovery and â€" via his new Wrecking Ball material â€" decried the fractured state of the rest of the union.
Sue Tart, a New Orleans attorney, was at the earlier show and called it one of the most emotional performances she's ever seen. Sunday, she spent two hours in the punishing sun at the open fairgrounds, along with thousands of others, hoping to get a view of the stage. "Amazing," she said. "He did so much in 2006, touring the city. He really saw firsthand a lot of the destruction. It's very moving."
The Boss wasted no time in rewarding them for their long wait. He lit right into Badlands, as he and guitarist Steve Van Zandt shared a mike for the joyous line, "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive." The second song, the new We Take Care of Our Own, earned a roar from the crowd on the line, "From the shotgun shacks to the Superdome, we take care of our own."
A cathartic gospel rendition of My City in Ruins brought many in the crowd to tears. "This is a song about things you lose that never come back, and it's about things that never leave you," he said.
Overall, festivalgoers faced a recurring dilemma Sunday: How to choose between acts scheduled at the same time on different stages. Dr. John or Papa Grows Funk? Trombone Shorty or a jazzy tribute to Alex Chilton? Springsteen or the 18 other acts that tripped over his set, notably the Rev. Al Green and gospel great Yolanda Adams?
Earlier in the day, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews rocked the crowd with his typically sizzling trombone-led show. The festival's poster (literally â€" his likeness is emblazoned in this year's official festival poster), Andrews, 26, re-cemented his status as a Jazz Fest must-see with a typically blistering, brassy and sassy set at the Acura stage.
Tall, lean and wielding his namesake instrument like a bazooka, Andrews and his Orleans Avenue band peppered their set with tunes from their recent Backatown and For True albums. Their blend of brass-led jazz, hip-hop, rock and New Orleans-specific funk is custom-made for v ast outdoor festivals. Andrews sang, blew trombone and trumpet, rattled a tambourine, drummed and acted as indefatigable cheerleader for his group.
One highlight: a Latin-tinged rendition of St. James Infirmary Blues with guest saxophonist Dave Koz that brought rabid cheers from the crowd.
Sunday's set also showcased fluid guitar riffs, contemporized arrangements of standards like I Got a Woman, and his own smooth, sweet vocals on pop and RB tunes.
We have to give him a lot of credit here!
He gave Jimmy Kimmel a pretty solid run for his money!
Although the late night talk show host was on hand at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner to provide some HIGHlarious observations and commentary regarding the recent Secret Service Prostitution scandal, Fox News, and so forth, it was the President Barack Obama himself that showed off some impressive comedic chops during his speech!
For example, check out his opening remarks, during which one would ASSUME he starts off discussing the death of Osama Bin Liden, as well as Kimmel's roast (posted above)!
LOLz! Just AH-mazing!
He can sing, he can slow jam the news, and now, he's roasting away with Jimmy Kimmel!
All the while, of course, delivering one helluva impressive speech!
WERK, boy! What CAN'T he do?!
We have to give him a lot of credit here!
He gave Jimmy Kimmel a pretty solid run for his money!
Although the late night talk show host was on hand at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner to provide some HIGHlarious observations and commentary regarding the recent Secret Service Prostitution scandal, Fox News, and so forth, it was the President Barack Obama himself that showed off some impressive comedic chops during his speech!
For example, check out his opening remarks, during which one would ASSUME he starts off discussing the death of Osama Bin Liden, as well as Kimmel's roast (posted above)!
LOLz! Just AH-mazing!
He can sing, he can slow jam the news, and now, he's roasting away with Jimmy Kimmel!
All the while, of course, delivering one helluva impressive speech!
WERK, boy! What CAN'T he do?!
We have to give him a lot of credit here!
He gave Jimmy Kimmel a pretty solid run for his money!
Although the late night talk show host was on hand at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner to provide some HIGHlarious observations and commentary regarding the recent Secret Service Prostitution scandal, Fox News, and so forth, it was the President Barack Obama himself that showed off some impressive comedic chops during his speech!
For example, check out his opening remarks, during which one would ASSUME he starts off discussing the death of Osama Bin Liden, as well as Kimmel's roast (posted above)!
LOLz! Just AH-mazing!
He can sing, he can slow jam the news, and now, he's roasting away with Jimmy Kimmel!
All the while, of course, delivering one helluva impressive speech!
WERK, boy! What CAN'T he do?!
We have to give him a lot of credit here!
He gave Jimmy Kimmel a pretty solid run for his money!
Although the late night talk show host was on hand at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner to provide some HIGHlarious observations and commentary regarding the recent Secret Service Prostitution scandal, Fox News, and so forth, it was the President Barack Obama himself that showed off some impressive comedic chops during his speech!
For example, check out his opening remarks, during which one would ASSUME he starts off discussing the death of Osama Bin Liden, as well as Kimmel's roast (posted above)!
LOLz! Just AH-mazing!
He can sing, he can slow jam the news, and now, he's roasting away with Jimmy Kimmel!
All the while, of course, delivering one helluva impressive speech!
WERK, boy! What CAN'T he do?!
We have to give him a lot of credit here!
He gave Jimmy Kimmel a pretty solid run for his money!
Although the late night talk show host was on hand at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner to provide some HIGHlarious observations and commentary regarding the recent Secret Service Prostitution scandal, Fox News, and so forth, it was the President Barack Obama himself that showed off some impressive comedic chops during his speech!
For example, check out his opening remarks, during which one would ASSUME he starts off discussing the death of Osama Bin Liden, as well as Kimmel's roast (posted above)!
LOLz! Just AH-mazing!
He can sing, he can slow jam the news, and now, he's roasting away with Jimmy Kimmel!
All the while, of course, delivering one helluva impressive speech!
WERK, boy! What CAN'T he do?!
By Alan Markfield, Screen Gems
'Think Like a Man,' with Kevin Hart, was No. 1 again in its second week at the box office.
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
True, Kate did not immediately get pregnant. But they did get a puppy, a black cocker spaniel they named Lupo, or "wolf" in Italian.
Newlyweds Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton, who is now known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, have had a smashing first year, according to those who closely follow their every move (no small number) in the U.K., America and abroad.
"She has grown in stature and confidence â€" her behavior has been incredibly impressive over the last year," says Claudia Joseph, a British royals reporter and author of a biography, Kate Middleton: The Making of a Princess. "It's a tough time to be a royal in the middle of a recession, and they get the balance just right."
It's been a "hands-down great first year," says Nancy Jeffrey, an American senior editor in charge of royals coverage for People. "They've become the face of a new generation of British royals â€" fresh, down-to-earth, social-media savvy, in touch with the concerns of ordinary people."
The pictures appear to affirm they have not lost their bliss. "If you look at them, they're genuinely in love," says Joseph, correspondent for the Mail on Sunday. "William is very proud of her, he wants her to be popular, he's n ot jealous of her, and he doesn't mind if she gets the limelight. They are very much a team."
Even better, Duchess Kate, 30, has turned out to be everything the royals, the public and the news media had hoped: Beautiful, graceful and warm, the first middle-class commoner to marry a future king in three centuries "seems to have been born to the role," Joseph says.
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, William's uncle and Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son, was born to the role. He told British reporters recently that Kate is a natural. "She has taken to royal life like a duck to water," he said, as reported in the Daily Mirror. "She's very gracious, and the family is very proud of her."
She has helped invigorate an ancient, creaking monarchy: Since the engagement in 2010, the royal family's image has been burnished by the gushy all-Kate-all-the-time media coverage.
"They've done wonders for the monarchy as the queen prepares to celebrate (60 years on the throne)," Jeffrey says.
"Everyone thought she'd be a breath of fresh air, but no one could have predicted how seamlessly and naturally she has taken on her new role."
Welcomed into family
Jonathan Hayden, who wrote text for the photographic book William Kate: Celebrating a Royal Engagement and who is covering Kate as part of the queen's Diamond Jubilee year, said he watched her at a recent engagement where she met with young mothers and their children.
"I was within 2 feet of her, and these mums â€" well, they're from a social class a long way from where she is, and the connection was extraordinary. She's completely natural. There's not a hint of artificiality or patronizing about her. And these mums went completely gooey â€" you could see them falling in love with her."
Clearly, the royal family has learned lessons from the mournful past: William's mother, the late Princess Diana, did not have an easy first year thanks to traditional royal reserve; her own youth (she had just turned 20); and her emot ional fragility did not help. But now the queen, Prince Charles and the royal family are protective of Kate and eager to help her ease into royal life, Prince Edward says.
"We were all thrilled to welcome Catherine into the family because she's absolutely lovely â€" very charming indeed and a perfect companion for William," he said in the Daily Mirror.
The couple will not be celebrating their anniversary in public, according to the palace, and are expected to remain behind closed doors in the U.K.
Not a lot of alone time
Their first year has been crowded with events. Eleven days after their wedding in Westminster Abbey, w hich was watched by an estimated 3 billion people around the world, the couple slipped away to a honeymoon on a luxury island in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Then, they returned to their farmhouse in Wales near his RAF base (he's a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot) and settled in, while preparing to move into a new apartment next year in Kensington Palace for their London home.
They appeared, glamorous and glittering, at charity and social events in London. Her fashion sensibility, mixing high-gloss couture with High Street affordability, is widely applauded and imitated. They went on their first overseas tour, an 11-day twirl through Canada and Southern California that was a success.
And later this year, they will serve as Olympic ambassadors to the Summer Games in London and will travel to Commonwealth countries in the South Pacific to represent the queen at Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60 years on the throne.
When Flight Lt. Wales, 29, left for six weeks of RAF duty in the Falkland Islands in February and March, Kate told people she missed him terribly, but she did not come undone. Instead, she took on her first solo charity engagements. It was not easy, not with the whole world watching, Prince Edward said.
"She's dealt with it very well, though, and I think Catherine can only grow in confidence."
Anyway, Joseph says, it's not in Kate's personality to fall apart. "She's a military wife, she knows what's expected of her, and William has been away for periods before," she says.
'She still has this mystique'
On top of everything else, the duke and duchess have fully entered the pop-culture pantheon: Mattel is selling Barbie-doll versions of them on their wedding day. Madame Tussauds has unveiled their wax effigies in London and New York. And you can buy a version of the see-through dress that Kate wore at a fashion show in college to make her platonic pal William sit up and notice her.
"She's a b eacon of hope for women â€" she shows that you can get a prince of a fellow," says media psychiatrist Carole Lieberman, author of Bad Girls: Why Men Love Them How Good Girls Can Learn Their Secrets.
Lieberman, who bid on the original dress at auction but lost (it sold for more than $125,000), says the couple's marriage is strong, not because of a dress, but because they have built it on trust and the support of her close family.
"She still has this mystique. She keeps herself looking attractive. There is still flirtation and a sense of intrigue in their relationship. And he seems more in love with her than ever."
It's helpful that the press and paparazzi coverage of the couple has been positive. The only thing even remotely characterized as a "misstep" was the shortness of Kate's hem at a recent engagement with the queen, Hayden says.
"Apparently it was rather to o much for (the queen's) courtiers, so some of the tabloids started running commentary on her short skirts," he says. "It indicates that no matter what she does, she is going to be observed very closely, so some (in the press) will look for a negative angle to write about."
Still, because they have full-time security and live much of the time in far-away Wales, they are not subjected to the 24/7 stalking that Kate's sexy younger sister, Pippa Middleton, gets. That attention led last week to a photo of Pippa, 28, in a convertible in Paris with three French men, one of whom brandished a fake gun at pursuing paparazzi.
"But it has not impugned on Kate's standing with the public; they will draw a line and a distinction between the future queen and her sister," even as they gobble up every tidbit about Pippa, says Hayden.
Understanding fans
Is the public eager for a royal baby? Of course. By contrast, William's mother and grandmother were pregnant within six months of their weddings 30 and 64 years ago, respectively. But is the public holding the empty cradle against the couple? Not yet. (The baby, even if it's a girl, will be a future sovereign thanks to a change in the ancient rules of succession aimed at Will and Kate's children.)
"Baby fever is sweeping the U.K.," Jeffrey says. "People are hoping there will be happy news announced soon, but they also understand they are a modern couple, and if they want to take time before settling in to married life, that will not diminish them or her in any way in the public's eyes."
"They want to enjoy life," says Joseph. "They don't have a great deal of time together, so they want to enjoy it before moving on to the role of pare nt."
Not only did Mariah and Nick retie the knot, but so did LeAnn (Rimes) and Eddie (Cibrian).
Per the country singer's Friday night tweet: "Renewed our vows today....it's incredible to thank each other for the past year as husband and wife. Here's to another great year!"
Rimes, 29, and her actor husband, 38, said "I do" the first time on April 22, 2011, in Malibu. It's been a week-long anniversary celebration for the couple: They spent last weekend "at the house where we got hitched," Rimes tweeted on the 23rd.
No word yet if the Rimes-Cibrian vow renewal ceremony involved a white suit, a white gown and the top of the Eiffel Tower, a la Mariah and Nick's.
A sunny, breezy day Saturday drew thousands of festival goers for headliners Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Feist and Cee Lo Green, as well as local favorites Irvin Mayfield and Tab Benoit.
Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue kicked off an early set with their New Orleans-based style of tattooed rockabilly, sparking spontaneous fais do-do dancing in the audience with original songs like Don't Think Twice and a rollicking cover of Pat Benatar's Love Is a Battlefield.
In the audience was Eric and Dianne Mayer, who traveled from southern California for the seven-day festival. It was their first Jazz Fest. They said the HBO series Treme got them into New Orleans music - and the festival didn 't disappoint.
"There's no other place where jazz and blues and Cajun music all blends together like here," Dianne Mayer said. "It's so much more than jazz."
One of the day's highlights was local pianist Jon Cleary, backed on Saturday with the three-member Absolute Monster Gentlemen. It was fitting that Cleary played under a colorful mural of Professor Longhair, the legendary New Orleans piano virtuoso who died in 1980. Cleary, Bonnie Raitt's former touring pianist, channeled Professor Longhair on Saturday, pounding on the keyboard like it was on fire and running through songs like When You Get Back and Unnecessaril y Mercenary with revivalist fervor.
One of the most anticipated acts of the day was Cee Lo Green, the cat-stroking judge on The Voice reality TV show and former member of the Goodie Mob hip-hop group. Several thousand enthusiasts crowded around the smallish Congo Square tent for the show. But the expletive-laced performance mostly felt disjointed and overproduced, leaving the throngs to politely sway instead of bouncing or dancing to the music. At one point, during an awkward break in the music, Green turned to his band and yelled, "What are y'all standing around for? Play the (expletive) music!"
The crowd got moving during his hit songs Crazy and Forget You - but barely.
New Orleans club owner and impresario Irvin Mayfield blows a mean trumpet and is a fine musical arranger. Saturday in the Jazz Tent, the Grammy winner put the latter skills to use in directing the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (itself a Grammy winning outfit) in a dynamic program. Mayfield welcomed Mardi Gras Indian leader Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, clad in his spectacular beaded parade costume, and the local legend led the group in an opening chant. A gorgeous and respectful orchestrated version of the Star Spangled Banner followed, composed he said, for the 200th anniversary of its adoption as the national anthem. Other guests included Cyril Neville and Kermit Ruffins.
The advocacy/musical group Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, led by guitarist Tab Benoit, got right to their message, opening with Don't Let the Water Wash Us Away. Anders Osborne punctuated it with furious guitar runs and Jumpin' Johnny Sansone took it home with powerful harmonica riffs.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dr. John later took lead on local RB classic Ooh Poo Pah Doo and Neville summed up the prevailing sentiment of the afternoon - and perhaps the entire festival - by spitting out: "Ain't no funk like Louisiana funk!"
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers took the stage in front of thousands of enthusiasts - and delivered. The 61-year-old legendary rocker got the crowd singing along early with popular hits Here Comes My Girl and Free Fallin', as well as Handle With Care, a shout-out to his t ime with the Traveling Wilburys.
He wrapped up the show to a massive sing-along with Runnin' Down a Dream and, as a sizzling encore, American Girl.
Across the fairgrounds, fellow headliner Feist acknowledged the challenge of performing in the same time slot as Petty. "If we weren't playing, we'd be over there, too," she told her audience, several hundred strong. "Thank you for not abandoning us!"
They didn't. Those gathered stuck around to the end and clapped until Feist returned to the stage for a searing encore of Whe n I Was a Young Girl. "Now go get in some trouble!" she shouted.
By Theo Wargo, Getty Images
Comedian Don Rickles accepts an award at The Comedy Awards in New York.
He poked fun at some of Hollywood's top stars, including Kim Kardashian, the cast of Glee and Donald Trump, sending him up with a seemingly serious allusion to the attack on Osama bin Laden, which took place during last year's dinner.
"My fellow Americans, we gather during a historic anniversary. Last year at this time, in fact on this very weekend, we finally delivered justice to one of the world's most notorious individuals," Obama told the audience of journalists and celebs before showing an unflattering photo of Trump on t he big screens inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton.
The gag got huge laughs, as did a bit where Obama said he'd look like Morgan Freeman in a few years and poked fun at himself and Mitt Romney and their relationships with their respective dogs.
He ended his clever speech, by saying he had even more material to share, but there was just one catch. "I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew," he joked, referring to the agency's recent prostitution scandal.
Even the entrance to his speech was part of his schtick. The president walked off stage just before he took the podium with an alleged "hot mic," making fun of getting caught last month on an open microphone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"What am I doing here," he asks off stage. "I'm opening for Jimmy Kimmel and telling knock-knock jokes to Kim Kardashian."
The official comedian of the evening, Jimmy Kimmel, got plenty of big laughs of his own. He took a number of jabs at the president, opening with "Remember when the country rallied around you in the hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious," Kimmel said as Obama smiled on. "That was your best one yet."
Pop culture targets like Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Keith Olbermann and Rush Limbaugh were not spared in Kimmel's lengthy routine either, as he advised heroic airplane pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger to be careful when giving Lohan a ride home. "Make sure you don't run into a goose - a Grey Goose," he said.
Before the dinner, Kelly Ripa (one of USA TODAY's guests) said she was thrilled to be in D.C. and was surprised at the magnitude of the event. "It's much bigger than I anticipated it," the petite star, in Peter Som, said. "I thought we'd be in the Obamas' kitchen, sitting around with just a few USA TODAY reporters, and us, but it really is very glamorous."
Big Bang Theory star Johnny Galecki, another USA TODAY guest, said that his first time at the Correspondents Dinner was special because of his family history.
"It's absolutely surreal. For me, honestly, it's incredibly touching to call my mother in the car on the way here, and tell her, 'Mama, I'm going to the presidential dinner.' It's really amazing," said Galekci, who brought Pan Am actress girlfriend Kelli Garner along as his date. "My parents were very political and did a lot of protesting in Chicago and Detroit and raised me with an idea that dissent is not only your right, but your obligation when you're passionate about something. I hope I've done them proud."
An Yves Saint Laurent-clad Kris Jenner sat with daughter Kim Kardashian at the front of the ballroom and said she was having the time of her life at her first Correspondents Dinner, where she looked forward to rubbing elbows with plenty of Washington movers and shakers. "I would love to see Colin Powell; I think he was my dinner partner when Bruce (Jenner) and I came to the White House in the '90s."
The intersection of Washington and Hollywood comes into sharp focus, as members of Congress, governors and the president hobnob with stars such as Kerry Washington, Mary J. Blige, Reese Witherspoon, Claire Danes, Daniel Radcliffe, George Clooney and many more.
"It's very interesting; I like the mesh of people," said Alicia Keys, who stayed close to husband Swizz Beatz. "The convergence of all politics and entertainment, it's very interesting."
Proceeds from the dinner go toward scholarships for aspiring journalists and awards for distinction in the profession.
The White House Correspondents Association was formed in 1914 as a liaison between the press and the president. Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended the dinner.
Contributing: The Associated Press
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
AHHH!!! So freaking cute!!!!
Nick Cannon has endured a helluva year, so we're SUPER happy he got to marry his boo all over again!
We know how much he LOVES her!! And it's just so fun to watch too, LOL!!
As we've discussed before, Nick and Mariah Carey renew their vows every anniversary, but this one was extra special because
[Image via WENN.]
Mike Coppola, Getty Images for Hollywood Repor
Sofia Vergara attends a White House Correspondents' dinner pre-party hosted by Google and The Hollywood Reporter Friday.
The story itself, of course, recounts the collapse of King Arthur's idealistic reign, but it also is one of the last of the big-budget Hollywood musicals, and it was the last film produced by legendary mogul Jack Warner for Warner Bros., the company he founded with his three siblings in 1918.
Theatergoers had embraced the Tony Award-winning play starring Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet when it premiered in 1960. But the whimsical movie â€" released amid the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War protests â€" came at a time when audiences were attracted to gritty realism in films. Chivalry was indeed dead.
Still, the Joshua Logan-directed movie had its charms and is showcased in the new Blu-ray release Camelot 45th Anniversary (1967, Warner Bros., not rated, $36). The cash-strapped studio â€" which had had a huge musical hit three years earlier with My Fair Ladyâ€" spent an exorbitant $13 million on lavish sets, sumptuous costumes and stunning vistas of eight Spanish castles. Musical numbers like the upbeat theme song, libidinous The Lusty Month of May, yearning If Ever I Would Leave You and fanciful What Do the Simple Folk Do? made Camelot seem the perfect place for "happy ever-aftering." It won Academy Awards for best adaptation of musical scoring, art direction and costume design.
The new release comes in a 40-page hardcover book with photos, essays, bios and trivia. Extras include the feature, Camelot: Falling Kingdoms, footage from the world premiere in New York, commentary by film critic Stephen Farber and theatrical trailers.
The Arthurian legend has been told on film many times, but the tragic love triangle between the visionary Arthur, the radiant Guenevere and the gallant Lancelot du Lac as portrayed by Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero may be the m ost memorable.
It begins with Arthur, readying for his fateful battle with his former friend Lancelot, asking Merlin how all the good he had striven for had brought him to this point. Merlin advises him to just remember, and the story unfolds as a long flashback.
Arthur recalls how he unwittingly fell in love with the woman he was obliged to marry, his inspiration to unite a fractured England with the Knights of the Round Table, the arrival of the brave French knight Lancelot, and the disastrous affair between Lancelot and Guenevere that caused everything to unravel.
In the end, a despairing Arthur finds reason to hope in a young boy who believes in the tenets of honor and justice embodied by the Round Table. He wistfully sings in the last line in the closing musical number: "Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment/That was known as Camelot."
After President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, his administration came to be regarded as a "brief shining moment' in American history. That phrase came from an essay written by political journalist/historian Theodore H. White, who is best known for his The Making of the President series of books that analyzed the elections of 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972.
In an interview with White a week after the shooting, Jacqueline Kennedy suggested the parallel between Camelot and Kennedy's 1,000-day presidency. She pointed out that the soundtrack to the play was a favorite of her husband's. While the connection was more mythic than fact, the reference still endures.
