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November 12th, 2009
03:12 PM ET
Levi Johnston's big night out testing captions Levi Johnston, the father of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s grandson and soon-to-be Playgirl model, received an award last night from Gawker Media’s adult website, Fleshbot, for his full-frontal contribution to pop culture. The Marquee blog caught up with Levi, escorted by a large bodyguard named Tank, before he took the stage at Manhattan nightclub, “The Box" to accept his trophy, an 11-inch custom-crafted sexual device. A man of few words, Levi shares his thoughts on cougars, dating and how he thinks he will measure up in Playgirl. CNN: When you were growing up did you think you think to yourself, “I want to be a sex symbol?” CNN: If you could do anything outside of entertainment when you grow up what would it be? CNN: Right, Tripp, are you going to let him see these photos of you that are going to run in Playgirl magazine? CNN: So what are you going to say to him about them? CNN: How do you psych yourself up for a nude photo shoot? Breathing exercises? CNN: So are you nervous about how you’re going to, and excuse the pun, stack up? There’s a lot of judgment out there. CNN: How do you feel about the fact that Playgirl has a mainly gay male audience? CNN: How do you feel about all the older women nationwide who refer to you as “sweet cheeks.” CNN: Interesting. So who are you looking to date? CNN: And what are the important things? CNN: Do you always travel with these gigantic men?
November 12th, 2009
12:38 PM ET
Your pop culture cheat sheetHere's what's happening in the world of entertainment: The Aerosmith saga continues: guitarist Joe Perry now tells People that Steven Tyler will be taking a break for two years, and in the meantime, the band's future is "up in the air." Harvey Keitel has joined the cast of "Little Fockers," a sequel to "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers," The Hollywood Reporter says. Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner and Owen Wilson will all return in their original roles. "Parents" and "Fockers" were huge hits in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Movie studio MGM will be auctioned off in the next few weeks, Variety reports. So far, the studio has only released the remake of "Fame" this year. ABC has canceled Kelsey Grammer's new sitcom "Hank," according to The Hollywood Reporter. It was the only one of the network's four Wednesday night comedies to under-perform in the ratings.
November 12th, 2009
12:09 PM ET
Britney Spears' Twitter account hacked testing captions Britney Spears and the devil? If you'd logged on to her Twitter account recently, that might have been the impression. Hackers appear to have struck the singer’s Twitter account on Thursday, altering her wallpaper and posting the following tweets: “I give myself to Lucifer every day for it to arrive as quickly as possible. Glory to Satan!” “i hope that the new world order will arrive as soon as possible! -Britney” The Illuminati wallpaper and offending tweets were quickly removed. #DontHackBritneySpears later appeared as a popular trending topic on Twitter. Such occurrences are not rare in the celebrity twitterverse and it’s not the first time @BritneySpears has been targeted by hackers. In June, a tweet was posted claiming that the pop star had died.
November 12th, 2009
11:51 AM ET
A Swift rise at the CMAsTaylor Swift says she was surprised to win Entertainer of the Year at Wednesday night's 53rd Annual CMA Awards - but apparently, she was the only one who had any doubt. On the red carpet heading into Nashville's Sommet Center, just about everyone we polled, from Reba McEntire to Kris Kristofferson, predicted the 19-year-old country phenom would walk away with the top prize - the youngest to do so, and the first female solo artist to be named Entertainer of the Year in a decade. Her win broke Kenny Chesney's four-year lock on the category, and right before Swift took the stage to accept the award, Chesney whispered something into her ear. Backstage after the show, Swift told us the two were just saying how much they loved each other. Journalists in the main press room prodded her about Kanye West, as well as her rumored beau, Taylor Lautner. She deflected the Kanye question by saying good-naturedly, "I'm so excited to be here. Aren't you excited to be here?" In response to the query about her love life, she simply said, "Huh? What?" and pretended she didn't understand the question. Swift has been impressive since she took the world by storm with her self-titled debut album three years ago, and even those she beat out for the crown had admiring words. Brad Paisley - who has yet to win the accolade despite being nominated five times - reminisced about how he'd taken her on the road as his opening act, and joked that he'd no longer be accepting opening acts. Interesting fly-on-the-wall moment ... witnessing a conversation between veteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer and Paisley, where they made plans for Schieffer to "come out to the farm." The CMA Awards are billed as "country music's biggest night" - and this year, it also officially signified a changing of the guard. Lady Antebellum scored an upset victory over Rascal Flatts, who've been unstoppable for six straight years as Group of the Year. Backstage, the young trio (Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood) talked about how they're taking home trophies before they deserve them (the group's sophomore album won't be released until January). There were plans to meet up at Charles' house for an after-party after the after-party, then have breakfast at Hillary's mom and dad's home. Charles also mentioned something about making a run to Krystal for a burger (for you West Coasters, the Nashville equivalent of driving through In-N-Out in your limo after winning a Grammy). At 43, Best New Artist Darius Rucker chuckled that he was the "oldest winner in that category of all time." He said he'd received congratulatory text messages from his Hootie and the Blowfish bandmates, but that his three young kids back in Charleston, South Carolina, were blissfully unaware he'd won. Rucker said he'd call them in the morning and break the news. "They had to go to bed ... that was the deal," he said. "This may change how the world perceives me, but at home, I'm just Dad."
November 12th, 2009
10:59 AM ET
'Dance' solos fail to impress
 testing captions Many of the couples on Tuesday night's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" didn't exactly have their best night with the judges, and things didn't get much better on Wednesday night's results show. Six seasons in, Nigel Lythgoe and crew expect a lot, especially when it comes time to "dance for your life," and they weren't terribly pleased with what they saw. After a group routine by Dave Scott got the show off to a rousing start, the couples in danger were somewhat of a surprise. I thought that Mollee and Nathan definitely deserved to be in the bottom three, but voters thought otherwise. Kudos to Nigel for pointing out the obvious, that Nathan has the teenage girl vote all wrapped up, but that's not exactly teaching him growth as a dancer. Instead, Kevin and Karen, a couple with some of the best chemistry this season (despite a hit-and-miss hustle this week), faced possible elimination. Joining them in the bottom were Peter and Pauline - proving that it's virtually impossible to draw the quickstep and not get the same result, and Ryan and Ellenore, two of the strongest dancers this season, who nevertheless faltered at hip-hop. When it came time for the solos, following an electrifying performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ryan and Ellenore were just as great as I remembered them from Vegas, while the rest were varying degrees of "meh" (Kevin, in particular, was a little too reminiscent of Twitch). After lecturing Nathan earlier in the show, Nigel had a lot to say about how weak he felt everyone's solos were, in comparison with some of the brilliance last season from Jeanine, Ade and Brandon. Last season had some unusually good solos, but if Ellenore's solo wasn't brilliant, I don't know what is. The judges did make the right call in eliminating Peter and Pauline, though it especially pained me to see another tapper go. It's true that both of them showed less versatility and personality than the rest thus far (and losing Karen, Ryan or Ellenore this early on would be a real travesty). Do you agree that the judges made the right choice? Should Nathan and Mollee have been in the bottom three? Share your thoughts on video or in the comments below.  |
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