Gaga on Gossip Girl

Lady Gaga will be on next week's episode of Gossip Girl, and The CW network is already broadcasting trailers for her appearance. Check it out!

Americans for the arts

Zac Efron, alongside Claire Danes and director Richard Linklater, made a visit to the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter of funding the arts in the country's public school system.

The trio, representing the Americans for the Arts organization, met with actor turned member of the Obama Administration, Kal Penn, to discuss the matter at hand.

"I admire anyone who has devoted their lives to public service," said Zac when asked about his visit to the White House.

Janet speaks

Janet Jackson has done an interview with ABC, talking, among other things, about her brother Michael Jackson. Check out a preview above.

2012 - my review

James Cameron's (Terminator, Titanic, Aliens) new movie 2012 premiered in the Netherlands tonight, so I went to go see it. Just one word: WOW! The is one of the most impressive movies I have ever seen. Not only are the special effects amazing, but the storyline just grabs you, and makes you not want to miss a thing for the next two and a half hours.

I was expecting this to be just another disaster movie, but it's so much more than that. The plot, as you probably know, is based upon a common story from the ancient Maya's, claiming the earth as we know it will come to an end on December 21 2012 (12-21-12, get it?). Clearly, judging by this movie, it will come to an end in a very violent (and graphically depicted) way, so this movie is not for the fainthearted. I was actually on the edge of my seat several times!

The movie will open all over the planet this week, so get your reservations and see it as soon as you can, you won't regret it!

2012 - the trailer

Anneke and I are going to see the new disaster movie 2012, which premieres today in the Netherlands, at the cinema tonight! Check out the trailer above, and expect a review later tonight!

Strictly business

Madonna has refuted reports she's jetted to Brazil to meet Jesus Luz's family and explained that her visit is strictly business.

Madonna landed in Luz's native country this week alongside her beau, but she is adamant she is only in South America for charity work - she plans to visit some of Rio de Janeiro's slums and to discuss setting up some social projects with the city's governor Sergio Cabral.

She tells New York Post gossip column PageSix, "I am going there strictly for fundraising and humanitarian purposes.”

The singer is also sponsoring a documentary on the children living in slums.

CW's tease deemed dangerous

It took them a little longer (I wrote about it a week ago), One"News"Now has finally caught up with the Parents Television Council's protests against this week's episode of Gossip Girl, featuring a threesome:

CW's 'tease' to teens deemed dangerous
The Parents Television Council is taking the CW Network to task for a recent promo for the series Gossip Girl.

Promos for the Monday night episode indicated that major characters would take part in an explicit sex act. Though there was no explicit sex scene on the show, PTC says the CW Network's behavior was irresponsible.

PTC spokeswoman Melissa Henson says the show's producers are sending a dangerous and faulty message.

"We are concerned about communicating to teenagers any kind of notion that this is normal or even appropriate sexual behavior," she explains.

"It's bad enough that in the past this series has depicted its teenage characters having promiscuous, consequence-free sex," says Henson. "But to now try to present as normative the idea that people routinely engage in three-way sexual encounters, I think is especially troubling and dangerous."

According to PTC, the network continues to "tease" next week's Gossip Girl episode, saying that this week's installment is not the end of the story. Henson is encouraging each CW affiliate to be more vigilant when it comes to serving the public -- and to evaluate program content, which is within the scope of their broadcast license.

How nice of them to let both parties have their say, that's really good journalism... Oh wait... they didn't.

No class

This is the official cover for Rihanna's upcoming single Hard...

Not classy at all, why does she insist on being photographed in such a trashy way?

The view

That stupid bitch Carrie Prejean is still unable to leave the spotlight, even though her 15 minutes of fame are way overdue. So what did she do? She became a guest at The View yesterday, November 10.

Oh well, she needs to promote her sex tape somewhere, doesn't she?

Highway robbery

If she would just give singing live as much effort as she does talking about not doing it, this problem wouldn't even exist... Britney Spears has talked again about the backlash following her through the Australian leg of The Circus Starring Britney Spears Tour:

"I hear there is a lot of controversy in the media about my show. Some reporters have said they love it and some don't. I came to Australia for my fans!"

Correction: she came to Australia to make shitloads of money by putting on a lame show. For the record, the Australians are not just complaining about the lipsyncing, but also about the fact Britney hardly dances, looks like she can't be bothered, and isn't visible on the big screens, causing a large part of the audience to not see Britney at all.

With tickets priced at $200, that seems like highway robbery!

Pressure cooker

Susan Boyle, who we of course all still know from her notable appearance on Britain's Got Talent, has talked about the breakdown she experienced by her sudden fame:

“There were phone calls 24 hours a day. They kept me awake for three weeks, until I changed my number. It was constant."

“There were a lot of press people outside my door, a lot of television people, a lot of people who wanted a piece of me. It got to the stage where I couldn’t even go outside because the media — American television crews, too — surrounded the house. It was like being inside a giant pressure cooker, where the lid bubbles up and bubbles up and soon the pressure cooker goes. Everything had built up, and I was exhausted. You have to understand, my life ceased to be normal.”

Although I sympathise with her, this is the sort of life she needs to except if she wants to continue being famous. If she can't handle it, she should just step away from the spotlight.

Australia

My mother gave me the DVD of the fantastic movie Australia today! Well, actually, I haven't got it yet, but she bought it for me so I'm sure I will get it the next time I see her.

I've seen Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (and directed by Baz Luhrman, who also directed Romeo + Julliet and the wonderful Moulin Rouge) at the cinema, and adored it. It's such a great movie, so it will be fantastic to own this one myself, and being able to watch it whenever I want to.

Thanks, mom!

Back together

The rumours have been flying around the internet for weeks, but tomorrow, it will finally happen: Robbie Williams will be joining Take That for a one-off charity concert, for Children In Need. The show will take place at Royal Albert Hall in London, and will be broadcasted on British television on November 20.

The guys haven't decided which song they will sing together, but it will no doubt be great!

ID4-2

Yesterday Independence Day was on Dutch television, and now today I've read there have been talks with Will Smith to make a sequel. Apparently the studio was planning on making a sequel more than ten years ago, back when the first movie turned out to be a huge succes.

However, creative differences caused the idea to never work out, so it seemed unlikely for quite some time we would ever see another ID4 movie. These new talks with Will Smith could be the trigger to finally start working on the long awaited sequel!

Wouldn't that be cool? The first one was so good, and now with all the improved technology, they could make an even better second one!

Baby sharks

Visitors to a New Zealand tourist attraction Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World were given a treat on Tuesday - a fishy lesson on how to deliver babies via Caesarean section. Visitors to the Auckland attraction found baby sharks spilling from a large gaping wound in a female shark and told staff. A large shark had apparently taken a bite into the female shark's stomach to deliver the four babies, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

Kelly Tarlton's aquarist Fiona Davies said it was common for sharks to take chunks out of each other, even in the wild, but she had never heard of anything like this.

"It had to bite a certain part to let them out and do it without killing the babies or the mother."

She said the unusual delivery had probably saved the baby sharks' lives. If there had been a natural birth, the babies would have been eaten by adult sharks and stingrays before staff could rescue them. The young sharks have been put in a "nursery" before they were released into the wild. The mother shark was doing "surprising well" and was being monitored. She was now back in the main tank in the oceanarium, marketing manager Tessa Lawrence told NZPA.

Toy story 3 - the trailer

Check it out: the official trailer of Disney/Pixar upcoming movie Toy Story 3.

The holiday

Tonight on Dutch television: The Holiday, starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jude Law.

Midwinter showcase

Tori Amos will be playing a special one-off show at The Jazz Cafe in Camden on December 2nd. Entry to the concert will require a wristband that will be handed out at HMV at 150 Oxford Street starting at 8:00 AM on the day of the performance that reportedly will showcase songs from Midwinter Graces as well as some older songs.

Do you wanna vote tonight?

Thanks everyone for voting on my poll 'What's your favourite Lady Gaga single?'. Here are the results (a total of 24 votes):

Just Dance - 6 votes
Poker Face - 3 votes
Eh Eh - 1 vote
Paparazzi - 10 votes
Lovegame - 2 votes
Bad Romance - 2 votes

For my new poll, I would like to know if you're excited that the Scream franchise is coming back, with no less than three new movies! Voting's on!

Old faces

Jamie Kennedy has stated that Kevin Williamson and Bob Weinstein want him to reprise in Scream 4 as the fan-favorite movie geek Randy Meeks

"I actually had a conversation with somebody very big in the organization, and there's a way. I don't know what's going to happen, but they have plans for a lot of things. You can see new faces that you wouldn't expect and you can see old faces that you wouldn't believe. There's a way to bring a lot of things around. Bob (Weinstein) wants us all to return in another film, I don't know how I'd return, but he wants me back."

Randy Meeks died in Scream 2, so I wonder what kind of storyline they're going to use to bring him back. Perhaps he never really died and now returns as the killer to take revenge on Sidney?

Meet the parents

Madonna is in Brasil, where she will meet her boyfriend Jesus Luz' mother today. Never mind the fact his mother is actually 15 years younger than Madonna is.

How pathetic is that?!

Start singing live

A statement from Britney Spears, regarding the lipsync-drama in Australia:

"Britney is aware of all this and she’s extremely upset by it. She’s a human being. I’m embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting.”

Well then, if you're so upset, then perhaps you start singing live!

She's admitting it

Carrie Prejean, that stupid bitch who is milking her 15 minutes of fame as Miss California for what seems to be forever, has admitted there's a sex tape involving her, although she claims it's a video featuring only herself:

"I was all by myself. I was sending my boyfriend at the time, who I loved and cared about, a video of me. I was a teenager at the time and never did I ever think it would come out…When you're young, you think, This is the one. Never did I think it would come and just slap me right in the face."

Stupid bitch!

About the video

Lady Gaga about the concept of her new video Bad Romance:

"There's this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by supermodels. I'm washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia. I wanted to design a pair for some of the toughest chicks and some of my girlfriends — don't do this at home! — they used to keep razor blades in the side of their mouths. That tough female spirit is something that I want to project. It's meant to be, 'This is my shield, this is my weapon, this is my inner sense of fame, this is my monster.' "

We've seen the results, and they're amazing!

Fun and new things

She's unstoppable! Cher is coming back for another series of performances in Las Vegas, after a Farewell Tour that seemed to go on forever:

“We are so excited to return to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and have made wonderful, new changes to the show, including a number choreographed by my dear friend Tyce Diorio from So You Think You Can Dance. It pays homage to the great movie musicals, complete with incredible costumes by Bob Mackie. We are thrilled to be able to present some really fun and new things for the audiences to see.”

Actually, I would like to see her perform some day! Tickets go on sale this Saturday!

Give it up

In a move that can only be responded upon by screaming 'WHY?!', British boyband East 17 are doing another reunion, after they failed miserably back in 2007. They'll be performing at the Born Free charity event this weekend at the Royal Albert Hall in London, but one might wonder if there's a single person looking forward to their performance.

Give it up, guys. Take That is, and always will be, the ultimate British boyband.

Gaga oe lala!

The video for Lady Gaga's new single Bad Romance is out, and it kicks ass big time! This has number one hit single written all over it!

Just two weeks left, and The Fame Monster gets released. Can't wait!

Click here to watch Bad Romance!

Zac Efron in D.C.

Trying to keep hidden with a gray hoodie and shades on his head, Zac Efron gets caught walking through the airport as he arrives in Washington, D.C. on Monday evening (November 9).

Zac is in DC to promote his new movie Me And Orson Welles.

The pelican brief

And to make the choice even more difficult, also on Dutch television: The Pelican Brief, starring Julia Roberts.

Three great movies in one night, this is gonna be a hard choice!

Independence day

But also on Dutch television: Independence Day, starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum.

Ocean's eleven

Tonight on Dutch television: Ocean's Eleven, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.

Crazy mad tickets

P!nk's The Funhouse Summer Carnival Tour is a huge success in ticket sales, so she said something about it on Twitter:

So excited!!! The summer festivals are selling crazy mad tickets, yo!!! (Yep- I said that just now) its gonna be a fuunnnnn show.

Bring on a Dutch show for the Summer of 2010!

Win a meet and greet with Zac Efron

Isn't this everyone's dream? British newspaper News Of The World is having a contest, and the prize is not just any prize... it's a meet and greet with the one and only Zac Efron, during the November 18 premiere of his new movie Me And Orson Welles on Leicester Square in London.

All you have to do is answer a pretty easy question, so click here to participate in this once in a lifetime contest!

Live means live

The Sun posted an article on the Australian Britney Spears debacle as well, and lucky for us, they posted a Sky News video along with it! Click here to read the article and see the video!

(by the way, is it just me, or does Britney look like a common prostitute in the picture above, taken during her Circus show in Perth?)

Congratulations, Mark Owen

And speaking of Take That: a big CONGRATULATIONS to Mark Owen, who got married yesterday to his fiance Emma Ferguson.

Mark got married at Cawdor Church in the Scottish Highlands, and as you can see in the picture above, the rest of Take That were present to support their bandmate!

Top 10: Take That

Tonight, I feel like doing a Top 10 list, and as I've just finished listening to a Take That album, I decided it would be fun to do a Top 10 of my all time favourite Take That songs:

1) Pray
2) It Only Takes A Minute
3) Beautiful World
4) Babe
5) How Did It Come To This
6) Never Forget
7) Back For Good
8) Give Good Feeling
9) The Garden
10) Shine

Matterhorn bobsleds

In my ongoing series of reasons why I want to visit the original Disneyland in Anaheim, CA so much, the Matterhorn Bobsleds are one of the top priorities. Matterhorn is a Disney rollercoaster, designed to look like the famous mountain, and can only be found at the original Disneyland.

In terms of rollercoasters, it's not that wild a ride, but, as usual when it comes to Disney rides, that's not what it's about. The beauty of the ride is its fantastic theming. It really looks like a snowy mountain, even though you know it's entirely man-made.

I guess the only bad thing is, it's so high you can see the horrendous traffic on nearby Katella Avenue while being on the ride, so that spoils the illusion just a little bit. Overall, this would be one of the first rides I would take on my day in Disneyland!

Twisted - live in Amsterdam

Not the best of quality, but it shows the moment when singer Skin climbs up the balcony during Twisted (Everyday Hurts) at the Skunk Anansie concert at Paradiso Amsterdam yesterday.

Really cool!

Weak - live in Amsterdam

Skunk Anansie singing crowd-favourite Weak, yeaterday at Paradiso Amsterdam.

Brazen - live in Amsterdam

Skunk Anansie at Paradiso Amsterdam yesterday, singing Brazen (Weep).

At Paradiso

Me and Sandra at the Skunk Anansie concert in Paradiso Amsterdam, yesterday, November 8.

At Ahoy

Me and Leendert at Ahoy Rotterdam, right before P!nk's Funhouse Tour concert, on February 28.

Secretly - live in Amsterdam

Skunk Anansie singing Secretly, yesterday at Paradiso Amsterdam.

Blame it on Rio

Madonna landed in Rio de Janeiro with a private flight from Sao Paulo and arrived at her hotel at around 12 noon today - surrounded by flocks of paparazzi who also had some (not only verbal) arguments with the security officers.

This is the beginning of Madonna's visit to Brazil which is supposed to be filled of meetings but did not capture the attention of the International press - so far - apart from some quite easy and obvious speculations about her meeting with Jesus Luz's family.

Second season

Good news for Jonas Brothers fans: the Walt Disney Company decided to film another season of their popular Disney Channel show J.O.N.A.S. Taping will begin in February, and the show will be braodcasted mid-2010. Also, Disney requested a reailty show, called Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream.

Seems like these guys aren't going anywhere anytime soon!

Tribute or money?

The four remaining members of Boyzone are honouring their late bandmate Stephen gately by releasing a single on which he is doing lead vocals. The song, written by Mika, was recorded before his death, and Ronan Keating predicts it will be the biggest hit of this year in the UK.

Honouring or golddigging... you be the judge.

Favourable review

If you happen to speak a little Dutch, Oor Magazine has published a very favourable review of yesterday's Skunk Anansie concert at Paradiso Amsterdam (where I was in the audience).

Click here to read it!

Very upset

After several Australian newspapers printed stories on how fans were walking out of The Circus Starring Britney Spears Tour at Burswood Dome in Perth, Britney's manager has now released a statement claiming Britney is very upset because of the backlash.

Well, too bad for her! Perhaps she should start singing live during her 'concerts', so that people would actually get their money's worth. As long as she is lipsyncing entire shows, she doesn't deserve to ask people their hard earned money for tickets.

It has been reported people are actually asking for a refund, claiming they paid for a live concert, and since none of it was live, they've been ripped off. Sounds like a decent claim to me!

Britney can be upset all she wants, fact is she's putting on a lousy show that cannot even begin to compete with shows by real artists, such as Kylie Minogue and P!nk.

Tear down this wall

Today, November 9, it's exactly 20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell down. Even though I was only 9 years old in 1989, I still remember it vividly, although of course at that age I didn't understand why there was a wall in the first place.

Congratulations to the Germans on this wonderful anniversary!

Skunk anansie

Sandra and I went to see Skunk Anansie in concert yesterday. I won the tickets through a radio contest, so we got in for free, which was a good reason to have a great night in the first place. The concert was held at Paradiso Amsterdam, a very small venue (it was totally sold out, but that still meant only about 1000 people).

It was a great show, full of nostalgia to the 90s. Skunk Anansie hadn't played in the Netherlands for ten years, so naturally the audience was very enthousiastic. Literally the entire hall was dancing and jumping during each and every song. The band themselves lost nothing of the energy they had in the 90s, so as you can imagine the show was one big party.

Favourite songs: Hedonism, Brazen Weep, Little Baby Swastika and Secretly. A great night!