Hollywood's Grand Dame of Gossip and Style
People magazine has announced this year’s ‘Most Beautiful Woman.’ The media outlet named Beyonce as their pick for 2012.
The ‘Run the World’ singer was thrilled to be picked as pretty, pretty princess for the year and owes it all to her new baby girl, Blue Ivy Carter…
Last night the Grammy Awards went on as planned, but included a few moments dedicated to Whitney Houston. The singer was found dead in her hotel room on Saturday morning.
Several moments were dedicated to the ‘Bodyguard’ star and powerhouse vocalist. LL Cool J opened the show with a prayer for Whitney and kept it upbeat before introducing Bruno Mars.
It looks like Jennifer Hudson may not be walking down the aisle any time soon. Rumors are circulating that Hudson and her fiance David Otunga have pulled the plug on their three year engagement.
The Academy Awards is the highlight of awards season. A celeb’s garb at the Oscars can make or break their fashion icon status in just one night. Sure, winning that naked gold little man is what the night’s supposed to be about, but even if you loose at least you look damn good. Here are the Fashion Winners for the night… (You can click HERE for the 2011 Oscars Winners List…)
Mila Kunis – She wore an airy lavender lace gown that hugged her body in all the right places. Elie Saa created this dress that was easily one of my favorites and will no doubt be on several best dressed lists.
Jennifer Hudson looked amazing in her Versace. Camera and tv hues affected just about every red color palate that walked the carpet. I believe Hudson’s gown was a tangerine masterpiece. I typically avoid any color in the orange family, but this was by far one of the best dresses on the red carpet. She will be fighting Kunis for the place as Best Dressed. It’s a tough call.
Gwyneth Paltrow – As much as the mere mention of GOOP sends my eyes rolling followed by exasperated sighs, Paltrow’s look was refreshing in the sea of Bumpit filled updos and gowns with trains. Her metallic Calvin Klein was modern. (The fact that her mother is Blythe Danner helped.)
Amy Adams will be present on most best dressed lists with her gorgeous L’Wren Scott dress. The navy blue against her hair made her pop on the carpet and drew your eyes.
Honorable Mentions…
Michelle Williams‘ pearly Chanel dress worked wonders with her platinum super short locks without washing her out.
Natalie Portman wore a purple/wine colored gown that downplayed her growing baby bump but still looked chic. The Rodarte creation will probably find it’s way to several best dressed lists.
Halle Berry chose a champagne toned Marchesa dress that will also make it’s way to many best dressed lists.
Sandra Bullock embraced the red dress trend that was a popular choice this year. Her Vera Wang gown was beautiful, but didn’t outshine her competition.
Penelope Cruz‘s dress put me on the fence. I love that she is proud of her post baby figure and went with such a bold choice, but this flaming red gown looks more like an ice dancer’s costume. Regardless, she still looked fantastic.
Reese Witherspoon was channeling Julia Roberts simple black Valentino number from a few years back, but her dress in comparison to the aforementioned eye-catching garbs looked boring.
On the Fence…
I had to add a place for Cate Blanchett. I adore her and her fearless sense of style, but this Givenchy gown has qualities I love and hate. The front has too much of a messy bib quality, but the back has playful and skin revealing structure. The pale pink/purple hue is a gorgeous color on her, but the fake sleeves are such a head smacker. You will find her on both best and worst dressed lists today as many others will be split between worshiping it’s risky integrity and hating on it due to the odd nature. Yet, there is still something about it I love.
Oh Honey, No…
Nicole Kidman is a statuesque beauty that towers over everyone on the carpet. So why she gave herself a kimono battleship hip look is beyond me. It covered her lovely figure and looked unpolished. Dior is typically one of my favorites and never as safe as say…Calvin Klein…but this had to send Tim Gunn’s tender fashion sense into fits.
Scarlett Johansson wore a carpet clashing red/magenta hue. First mistake. Pair that with the lace and the ill fit around her chest and we have a rejected Victoria Secret design.
Melissa Leo‘s Marc Bouwer gown will also be a repeat on the worst dressed. It was an Elvis meets Star Wars. Never a good fashion marriage.
Hollywood Dame’s Link Worthy
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As the debut of this years’ ‘American Idol‘ approaches (January 19th for those of you living under a rock), massive changes to the original format have been revealed! These changes are actually good news, though!
UPDATED SET: The set is undergoing substantial modification.
FASTER ELIMINATION: The elimination process is speeding up considerably. Instead of a three-week top 24 round in which America votes, the judges will narrow down the field to 10 or 12 finalists.
ONLINE VOTING: Despite persistent rumors that would lead us to believe otherwise, there will be no online voting.
NEW LIVING ARRANGEMENT: Finalists will all live in an Idol mansion. The show will have a “Big Brother” aspect to it.
ORIGINAL SONGS: Producer-songwriters will help them with song selection, then arrange and produce the musical accompaniment — for the first time ever, contestants won’t be limited solely to cover songs.
THEME WEEK MAKEOVERS: Theme weeks will also get a makeover. “We’re not going to ask a country singer to sing an R&B song, or an R&B singer to do Led Zeppelin,” Jimmy Iovine explains. “If the theme is ’80s or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, every song will be customized to that contestant.” What’s most important, he adds, is that the song suit the finalist’s voice.
Also, the Idol contestants will not be making music videos (except for maybe those awful Ford ones,) and there will be no appearance by “American Idol all-stars.” Ray Chew, formerly of the “Saturday Night Live” band, will also become the new music director. Also new: there will also be no gender parity.
Explains exec producer Ken Warwick: “If I’ve got six fantastic boys and four average girls, I’m certainly not going to throw out a fantastic boy to put in another average girl, or vice versa.”
And there’s great news for the show’s fans: No more months-long wait for music from their favorite singers – songs will be released as the season progresses. While many ideas were tossed up against the wall, one that was considered and abandoned was having past winners face off against former finalists who may have deserved another chance, such as Fantasia taking on Jennifer Hudson or David Cook taking on Adam Lambert. The idea didn’t get very far since few past winners and finalists were keen on it.
Will you be tuning in?
Click here to see which ‘American Idol’ favorite was married on New Years Day!
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Images Via: WENN.com
Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and nephew were brutally murdered back in 2008 and now she is opening up and speaking for the first time about the tragic events during a tearful interview on “VH1′s Behind the Music: Jennifer Hudson.”
Per MTV:
“It’s all a blur. It was surreal,” she said in the episode. “It was like I was outside of myself. For almost two weeks straight … [I was] inside one room with just family and friends coming in and out. I prayed when I’d get up in the morning and prayed before I laid down at night.”
Hudson barely addressed the murders until her first public appearance after the tragedy at the 2009 Grammys, where she thanked ‘my family in heaven, and those who are here today’ after earning Best R&B album and performed a moving rendition of “You Pulled Me Through.”
“I was definitely thinking of my family when I was singing that song,” she said. “I could hear my brother in my head, like, ‘Jennifer, you need to kill this, you need to get up and do it.’ I knew he would be disappointed if I didn’t do it justice.”
Every day, Hudson says, she gets a little stronger. Now her 10 month old son David Jr. with her fiance David Otunga is a driving force behind her emotional recovery. Little David, “reminds me of my nephew,” says Hudson, and he also helps her remember her mother.
“In so many ways I channel [my mother] because she was such a great mom.” She said her son “makes me feel like the most special person on earth. I want him to get the same love and the same upbringing my mother gave us.”
The bodies of her mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and older brother Jason Hudson were found inside Hudson’s childhood home on Chicago’s South Side in 2008. Her seven year old nephew Julian King was reported missing soon after and later found dead in an SUV on Chicago’s West Side. All three died from multiple gunshot wounds and charged with the murders was William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister Julia. Balfour was on parole at the time after serving almost seven years in jail for attempted murder, carjacking and the possession of a stolen vehicle. He’s now awaiting trial at the Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, Illinois.
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Images Via: WENN.com, VH1
Pink schooled every musical artist and ruled out any excuse for lip syncing after her performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards. She hung in the air hanging by a glorified sheet and sang her ballad, “Glitter in the Air” all while wet, spinning and belting out her song.
Most singers use a “back up” track and several have fallen victim to having their secret slip thanks to audio issues. Some are still closet lip sync-ers. So who are the biggest offenders?
Britney Spears – It’s no secret that Britney lip syncs more often than she sings. Any number involving dancing is synced. It’s been reported that she tries to sing her ballads at live concerts, but typically on tour, her vocals sit out for over half the show. She was caught red handed while trying to make her comeback after the back-up track skipped. Spears also suffered some embarrassment in Australia after disgruntled fans reamed her performance and even has started a new law in the country in which performers must disclose any lip syncing on their tickets.
Janet Jackson – She has been lip syncing since her entrance onto the showbiz scene and most of her gigs on “Dick Clark’s American Bandstand” were lip synced. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even dubbed her “most notorious onstage lip sync-ers.” Janet packs a huge amount of choreography into her shows and perhaps that’s what gets her a pass on the offense.
Watch Ashlee Simpson lip sync screw up on SNL in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Ashlee Simpson – No one missed her now infamous “Saturday Night Live” gig. The shamed starlet was caught faking it on the show after vocals from a previously preformed song began playing. Simpson just did a little jig and walked off, leaving her band to carry on without her.
Rihanna – Her most revealing vocal fakery came at the 2006 Teen Choice Awards. She did a horrible job hiding her lip sync and was blasted by fans and critics alike.
Kanye West – Here is a guy who should keep to his strengths behind the scenes in the production department. When it comes to vocals…he needs to sit down. Another SNL snafu outed him as a vocally cheating. Many cried lip sync after his 2008 performance of “Love Lockdown.” In truth his vocals were horrible and it wasn’t a back up track issue. It was a he-can’t-sing issue and his true lack of talent baffled many. The truth behind the matter is that Kayne, like many others, uses an Auto-Tune feature. (It basically ensures signers notes sound perfect when they aren’t.) After this debacle, West learned his lesson and lip synced his way through most his “American Idol” guest spot in March of 2009.
Click HERE to See What Other Star Singers are the Worst Lip Sync Offenders. Click “Read More…”
Jennifer Hudson – It was her first appearance since the tragedy that struck her family when her lip syncing secret was aired out. Producers asked her to pre-record the vocals and sync it. Hudson acquiesced and joined the many others who have vocally cheated. In all fairness, every artist has had to provide a back up track since 1993 thanks to a temper tantrum thrown by Garth Brooks. The country legend threatened to walk out minutes before his performance if his new video wasn’t shown.
Whitney Houston – Another vocal wonder who fell victim to the Super Bowl demands. She lip synced her way through the 1991 game in Tampa.
Faith Hill – Yet another Super Bowl Sync-er. She was also asked to fake the vocals at the 2009 football game.
We can’t judge too much. It really is true that at some point almost every artist has lip synced at some point. Even the Beatles synced their way through some TV appearances. Justin Timberlake slums it occasion and syncs along with Chris Brown (worst case was at an MTV VMA performance). 50 Cent has been busted faking his vocals during the BET Awards in 2007. Let’s not forget one of the pioneers vocal forgery…Milli Vanilli.
[Lady Gaga and Elton John Grammy's 2010 Opening Performance - Video]
Lady Gaga and Elton John delivered an opening performance that reminded us that even not-so-sexy people are suddenly desirable when they can sing. She was wearing another one of her signature swimsuits on steroids complete with a Kelly Kapowski above the hip cut. Elton had on his Sunday Tea glitter glasses and the two sang a mix of Gaga’s song “Speechless” and John’s “Your Song.”
The night was packed with performances by Black Eyed Peas, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and a slew of others. Pink was one performance that gave me a case of the holyshizs as she twirled around in the air on a giant pashmina while singing “Glitter in the Air.”
[Pink Grammy 2010 Performance "Glitter in the Air" - Video]
Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Smokey Robinson sang “Earth Song” (aka “What About Us”) along with the Michael Jackson recording in a 3D video for the song.
[Michael Jackson "Earth Song" Tribute Grammy Awards 2010 - Video]
-The Full 2010 Grammy Winners List is After the Cut. Plus Beyonce’s Grammy Performance “You Oughta Know” Cover. Click “Read More…” Below the Photos- Note: This will be updated after the show ends.
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As with all projects, if you attach Sparklepants’ name to it, it will instantly see an upsurge in interest. So is it a surprise that Robert Pattinson is rumored to be in the running for a part in ‘The Huger Games’ sequel? Well, its about as surprising as Britney Spears giving herself a break on [...]
The epitome of cute has a ring on it. Keira Knightley is engaged! The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star will marry her rocker boyfriend, James Righton. They have been dating for 15 months and started living together earlier this year. James proposed and Keira had no hesitation in accepting. A rep confirmed the news…
Here are your celebrity birthdays for May 25th… Cillian Murphy (36) Ethan Suplee (36) Lauryn Hill (37) Molly Sims (39) Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush (42) Jamie Kennedy (42) Octavia Spencer (42) Anne Heche (43) Stacy London (43) Mike Myers (49) Connie Sellecca (57) Eve Ensler (59) Jacki Weaver (65) Frank Oz (68) Leslie Uggams (69) [...]
Heidi Klum created a video for Hunger magazine. In the video she smokes, gets a tattoo and swings around a pole wearing nothing but a bunch of seat belts sewn together. (I am sure it was a Project Runway created garb. I can just picture Tim Gunn… “Everyone gather ‘round! Today you will be creating [...]
