In Praise of a New Revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

"Wouldn't it be funny if that was true?" -- Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Great art has a boomerang effect that is hard to match in other disciplines of human endeavor. Once something of artistic density is created it permeates time, culture, and progress. There are the usual attempts by those whose foresight is driven by the wallet (and this does not necessarily preclude the artist, in fact, in most cases is highly motivated by him) to rearrange its brutality to create a more palatable or "sellable" franchise. Thus is the pedigree of Tennessee Williams' most accessible ensemble piece, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a Broadway revival of which now plays at the Richard Rogers Theater. Its eviscerating themes of casual mendacity, psycho-sexual anguish, overt greed and pomposity, and a crushing fear of mortality have swooped back to confront a 21st century audience with the subtlety of a jackhammer.

Truth be told, I had no desire to see it this time around. I had read it in college and found it to be no Glass Menagerie or certainly A Streetcar Named Desire, for my money, Williams' two true masterworks, but at the request of the wife to see Scarlett Johansson play Maggie the Cat, I would give the play and its gifted author its rightful due. Needless to say, Johansson, much like Elizabeth Taylor, who made the role famous in the film adaptation three generations removed, exudes a primal sexuality that has less to do with talent, training or guile, but pure biology. Her voluptuous draw had the theater packed with 20-somethings clamoring to share airspace with the star, and none seemed to be prepared to absorb Williams' cruel truths, a perfect blindside that any writer drools over. The poor bastards never knew what hit them.

Williams' best work, of which now after being thoroughly moved by this staging, I am fully willing to admit that Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is included, deals in his key central theme of living a lie in order to assimilate into an alien existence not of his characters making. This inevitably leads to Williams other pressing themes of violence due to either creeping madness brought on by this charade or alcoholism, which either expedites the madness or quells the rush of its inevitability. All insights into Williams' homosexuality in a mid-twentieth century southern milieu of intolerance, bigotry and machismo, along with the schizophrenia suffered by his beloved sister Rose, and the violent outbursts of an age when alcohol fueled the desires of a repressed nation are all on display with a relentless vigor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

The play's debut in 1955, the height of America's last purely conservative moral levee, hinted at Williams' original theme-scape, but failed to bellow it; as if the words only broached the subject like a slight tap on the shoulder instead of the swift punch to the jaw that unfurls now. The three-act version today is Williams' 1974 rewrite, which many of the freedoms the post-sixties cultural shift and the seventies' individuality explosion inspired. It bears only a minor resemblance to the famous film with Taylor and Paul Newman of 1958. Ironically, it was infamous director Elia Kazan who neutered its thematic force. Kazan had lived his own life of ignominious duality when informing on wrongly accused colleagues to the absurdly unconstitutional House Committee On Un-American Activities when he himself was a communist.

Having achieved enormous success with the quintessential film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire starring a young and sexually charged Marlon Brando in 1952, Kazan subjugated Williams' crucial expressions for a Hollywood squeezed by the strangely powerful Motion Picture Production Code, enacted in 1934 and later abandoned in 1968 at the dawn of the golden age of modern film. Kazan, also having directed the original Broadway staging, cajoled Williams into toning down the striking language of the play to avoid the obligatory blowback subjected to works of the time.

The fury of Williams' boomerang effect is palpable in this staging, as Johansson, feverishly bawdy, stomps around in nothing but a slip for half the performance, taught in sexual frustration and cunning manipulation, taunts her crippled husband (both physically with an ankle injury and mentally in the throes of an alcohol stupor) with wild abandon. She lends proper voice to Williams' incongruities of a dying post-war Southern motif filled with land barons, heirs, belles and debutantes trolling their children around like trophies. Her husband, ably but not strongly portrayed by a handsome Benjamin Walker, acts as Williams' whipping boy; both characters providing insight into the author's tortured psyche.

The play, however, is abducted by the work of veteran British actor, Ciarán Hinds, whose outstanding turn as Julius Caesar in HBO's Rome a few years back put him on the map. Hinds, as Big Daddy, the patriarch of a Tennessee Valley cotton empire, seethes with regret and disgust for his life, family and station. He is the play's philosophical weather vane -- vulgar and unwavering with nary a stitch of societal affectation brimming in every other character in the piece, pushing the others to confront their hypocrisy as he shouts "Liars! Liars!" at them all. Stricken with cancer, although he has been deceived by his doctor that he is safe to enjoy his 65th birthday, Hinds' Big Daddy tries in vain to save his son from the slow suicide of drink the young man believes he must pursue due to his pangs of guilt over the death of a close friend whose homosexual advances he had to refuse, which in the end led to his friend's death. It is a riveting performance.

Mostly, though, it is Tennessee Williams who breathes again in this loud, brash and concussive revival of a story best known for its wounding due to censorship, but spins back with ever-threatening speed to assail us once again.

Jennie Garth doesn't look a day over Kelly Taylor.

Garth looked gorgeous as ever without makeup while filming her new movie, "Home Again."

The former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star was photographed walking on the Toronto, Canada, set wearing no makeup, a Big Gigantic hoodie and black sweatpants, according to Us Weekly. The hoodie was a possible shout-out to Garth's rumored boyfriend, Jeremy Salken, who plays drums for the indie band.

With her blond hair clipped on top of her head, the actress looked like a starlet half her age.

The 40-year-old mother of three has certainly undergone a transformation since divorcing her husband of 11 years, actor Peter Facinelli. Her former "90210" co-star, Jason Priestley, called Garth's body makeover a result of the "heartbreak diet."

"You spend a little time in Heartbreak Hotel, that's what happens. Heartbreak Hotel diet is a good one," Priestley joked with People magazine on Monday.

These days, Garth is reportedly "smitten" with her new beau Salken, who is almost 10 years her junior. The couple, who spent New Year's together in Chicago, have been dating since October.

Not everyone has been happy with Garth's choice in men in the past.

Luke Perry, who played Kelly's boyfriend Dylan on the hit '90s series, has voiced some issues with Garth's significant others. “I had made some suggestions,” he told "Access Hollywood" on Jan. 25. “It’s just something Jennie and I always disagree about.”

PHOTO:

By Michael Lopez

It’s always great to hear about celebrities doing good deeds. And this week, Daddy Yankee has become our latest Agente de Cambio. El Big Boss just announced a major partnership with the Red Cross, which will help provide for Puerto Ricans in need.

DY held a press conference announcing the news and specifically called out to his younger fans, encouraging them to do charitable work.

“I’m part of the Red Cross, because I love service,” he said. “The message is simple: trying to raise awareness among the youth and have them be better acquainted with the Red Cross, and through the social networks I always try to (help) people know more.”

Yankee will be part of a new Red Cross “Unete” campaign specifically targeting Puerto Rico. And to help sweeten the deal, he kicked off a contest that will give one public school some VIP time with El Big Boss.

Originally published on Blogamole as Daddy Yankee Partners With The Red Cross

"Oh, you weak beautiful people, who give up with such grace..."

Those are Maggie the Cat's final lines in Tennessee Williams' classic stage tale of frustrated love, tortured lust, greed and mendacity.

Tennessee's three act epic about a Southern family falling apart is best known as a sanitized but still sizzling 1957 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor as the wife in heat and Paul Newman (Brick) as her inexplicably disinterested husband.

Onstage, Brick's motivations for not wishing to sleep with his luscious wife are somewhat clearer. But only somewhat. The implications that Brick and his "best friend" Skipper -- who committed suicide -- were "more than friends," are still shrouded in hysterical denial. Except, interestingly, from Brick's dying father, Big Daddy Pollock, who if not approving, at least seems to understand where some men's needs lead them.

Williams' play is having another revival at the Richard Rodgers Theater this season, starring Scarlett Johansson, the sexy movie star, as the frantic Maggie. Plus the mighty attractive Benjamin Walker (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) as the confused, bitter and temporarily crippled Brick. His character suffers a broken leg during an alcohol-fueled accident.

The problem? Well, even though the show is supposed to be about a lack of sex between the participants, neither Scarlett nor Benjamin appear to have ever been interested in the act. She is -- as Williams intended -- coarse and loud, but perhaps Scarlett overdoes does it. (As brilliant as Elizabeth Taylor was onscreen, she was, at that point, still a bit pristine and MGM-glossy to be entirely believable as a once-poor girl who used to wear "hand me down dresses from a snotty cousin I hated." She was, however, quite sympathetic in her efforts to lure her husband back to performing his marital duties.) Miss Johansson, on the other hand, is possibly too brash to elicit much sympathy.

Cat is a long play and the actress often rushes her lines and swallows Tennessee's dialogue. (Of course, if she spoke any slower we'd still be in the theater!) She is attractive, in and out of her slip, but hardly erotic. Strange, for a young woman so well-known for her allure. It is undeniably interesting to see this actress away from her usual quiescent roles, raising her voice and attempting to take charge, but her efforts seem self-consciously strenuous.

As for Walker, the role of Brick is difficult enough. He hobbles around in a cast, is mostly quietly drunk and seemingly uninterested in the chaos around him. Walker plays it as so laid back that he is practically not on stage. Even shirtless he has little charisma here. In Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, he was dynamic and just the opposite.

• IT IS impossible not to be fascinated by any work of Tennessee Williams. He's long-winded, but with gusts of heart-stopping beauty and perception.

  The set design by Christopher Oram is gorgeously gauzy, atmospheric and to the point. The bed that Maggie and Brick no longer share dominates the stage. This "Cat" is directed by Rob Ashford, who has suffered at the hands of many critics. (He has not had much experience presenting drama.)

  Each of the three acts actually stand on their own as complete works, and one might be satisfied with any of them as a night in the theater. Perhaps this is Ashford's problem -- less tableaux, more flow?

  The most complete performances are delivered by Ciaran Hinds as Big Daddy and Debra Monk as Big Mama -- he hates her, she loves him -- she even loves his hate. It is a far more complex and wrenching tale than the rantings of Maggie and the drunken indifference of Brick.

  I couldn't possibly NOT recommend Broadway's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The beauty of Tennessee's language is for the ages, and no actor can improve it or ruin it. That dialogue stands alone and it is worth sitting in a theater to hear.

  As for Scarlett, she has made a gritty effort to take herself out of her perceived screen image. If not entirely successful, it is noteworthy, applause worthy and (one hopes) just the beginning of new thresholds for this beauty, onstage and onscreen.

• AWARDS SHOWS have a problem. It's always the same old (or new and overexposed) faces at the podium. We are reduced to commenting on what they are wearing and if they have gained or -- much more likely -- lost weight since their last public appearance. And are they drunk or on drugs?

  So, after a 36-year absence from performing at the Oscars, I consider it great news that Barbra Streisand will sing on Oscar night. (Also appearing, is the wonderful Adele.)

  Barbra is a real star. The last great original star to spring from the dying days of the studio system. (The last great original star, period, in my opinion.) And, she was self-created, more or less.

  So now everybody's talking about Barbra and the Oscars. She has, in effect, hijacked the night. All to the good, I say.

  No word yet what she'll perform. Who cares? It'll be buttah, for sure.

As to be expected, the standards for Lady Mary Crawley's new suitor on "Downton Abbey" are very high.

According to The Daily Mail, actors everywhere have been vying for the role of Mary's (Michelle Dockery) Season 4 boyfriend, but not one has passed the test.

"Some were too dark, some too blond, some too bland -- though a couple have been put on a shortlist that the producers and creative people will discuss," a source reportedly said. "The main criteria for him is that he should be posh -- and pretty."

Mary's boyfriend won't necessarily be a permanent "Downton" fixture, however. A source told The Mail that if he "gels" he could stick around, but otherwise Mary will be on the lookout for a new man. An American, perhaps?!

Lady Mary's new love interest became a necessity when her on-screen husband Dan Stevens announced his departure in December.

"From a personal point of view, I wanted a chance to do other things," Stevens told The Telegraph.“It is a very monopolising job. So there is a strange sense of liberation at the same time as great sadness because I am very, very fond of the show and always will be.”

"Downton Abbey" airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on PBS.

The Super Bowl is the promised land for advertising agencies. More than 100 million engaged consumers, even those otherwise uninterested in football, will turn on their TVs Sunday night and watch the commercials and halftime extravaganza.

This year, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter will headline the halftime show as part of a $50 million contract with PepsiCo's Live for Now Campaign. The campaign's most prominent image -- scheduled to appear life-size in stores this year -- Beyoncé in a scant Pepsi-blue outfit, pushing a shopping cart filled with 12-packs of full-calorie Pepsi. While the public health community was outraged by Beyoncé's deal with Pepsi, American consumers didn't seem to mind. In fact, so many celebrities have done similar endorsements that, as the Atlantic's health editor notes, it would take "a lot of cultural unwinding" for soda endorsements to be frowned upon by the general public.

But should we be so blasé?

A substantial body of research has emerged linking the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, even in moderate amounts, to obesity-related health conditions. For instance, people who consume just one or two sugar-sweetened drinks a day have a 26 percent greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who rarely drink these beverages. Men who average one sweetened beverage a day have a 20 percent higher risk of having a heart attack than men who rarely consume them.

As a result of these and other obesity-related conditions, life expectancy at birth may decrease in the United States for the first time since before the Civil War. These negative health consequences bear a financial burden: Obesity costs the U.S. an estimated $190 billion annually in health care expenditures.

Here's one of the most shocking findings: The health risks of obesity are actually worse than those of smoking.

As public health experts and advocates have been pointing out for years, obesity and tobacco use share many similarities. Both lead to devastating health consequences, gobbling up health care dollars in the process. Soda and cigarettes are associated with powerful industries with multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. And both soda and tobacco are used disproportionately by the poor.

Federal, state, and local governments have responded to tobacco and soda with similar measures.

In 1964, the U.S. surgeon general released a report on the health risks associated with smoking; 37 years later, the surgeon general did the same with obesity. In the 1990s, governing bodies across the country limited the sale of tobacco products in vending machines. More recently, school districts have forbidden schools to sell sugar-sweetened beverages in vending machines, and local governments are banning sales or marketing of soda on city property.

But the legislative and regulatory efforts have gone much further with tobacco. In 1965 Congress required that warning labels be displayed on all cigarette packages, and in 1971 cigarette advertising was banned from radio or television. States and the federal government regularly raise excise taxes on cigarettes, and more than half of all states ban smoking in public places.

Game-changing policy interventions like these have had a significant effect on smoking behavior. Smoking rates have dropped by nearly 50 percent since 1964, and lung cancer prevalence is steadily declining. And most Americans would undoubtedly take note if the packs of Pepsi in Beyoncé's shopping cart were swapped for packs of cigarettes or a tobacco company sponsored the halftime show.

To be sure, tobacco regulation has a three-decade head start on soda. But a myriad of promising interventions have been identified for decreasing soda consumption, particularly among children.

Experts have advocated for banning mass-media advertising and limiting the marketing of obesity-promoting foods; imposing a tax on sugary drinks; and putting simple labels on packaged foods, including soda, to show nutritional value in a form that consumers can easily understand (e.g., displaying "high sugar" on the front of the package).

Public opinion is one key trigger that can advance action. Today's public does not recognize the public health danger associated with sugar-sweetened soda. But with the advance of public awareness, it is possible that images of Beyoncé with the Pepsi logo painted on her lips might be reserved for history books.

Kristin Van Busum, MPA is a project associate and Lauren Hunter, MPH is a research assistant at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

The Super Bowl is on Sunday, and that is very important news for a certain type of organism I will never understand.

But the relevant story here is that Beyoncé, mother of all things glorious, including Blue Ivy, will perform a decadent halftime show, perhaps with the aid of her former Destiny's Child band members. What's the official setlist? What is her official plan? Not many know -- except me.

In this edition of Weeklings!, join me as I take you step by step through Beyonce's halftime show program. You'll be so enthralled that you may be mesmerized into thinking football is worth understanding.

WATCH:

You can find previous Weeklings! episodes here.

He pushed the elevator button in Speed and helped set the mood of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive over a decade ago, yet it's in the past few years that Patrick Fischler has truly ingrained himself in the on-screen landscape. You may know him as Jimmy Barrett, the loose-cannon insult comic on Mad Men who told Don Draper off for sleeping with his wife, or Phil, the overzealous security officer on Lost who fought to maintain order until his bitter end. He spent a season on Southland as Detective Kenny "No-Gun" and appeared on a recent Castle to help the crime-fighting lovebirds through a relationship crisis before revealing himself as the killer. As Fischler showed up on his first episode of Californication last year and was so creepily good that he was woven into this year's story arc, he continued to prove that the essential idiosyncratics of TV and film tend to find their groove when they're good and seasoned. "In your 20s, it's not so great to be a character actor," Fischler says during a recent chat with Iconic Interview on an early winter morning. "But that all shifts around the 30's. And now, forget it, my God. Any time you look at any parts that are great, there are always going to be good character actors playing them."

Now in his early 40's, he's having a blast with the juicy roles landing in his lap. The Los Angeles native agreed to do Californication sight unseen out of love for the show. "And then I got that script," he grins, "and I kept reading and I saw, oh! Okay, so wait, what? Oookay!" And now David Duchovny's Hank Moody, who witnessed a certain bit of debauchery, is plenty perplexed to find that Fischler's Gabriel has followed him to Californication season six as group-therapy leader at rehab. "Hank's like, are you kidding me?" Fischler says. "This is the guy who's running this?"

Admitting that he's played some unlikable sorts, Fischler inhabits his characters as real people and lets the honesty get the audience in the gut. "Most of the characters that I've played that are dislikable," he explains, "I don't think of as dislikable; this being one of them. I think Gabriel is actually a good guy who's trying his best, and he's sober. I look at the humanity in everybody."

The actor, who's appeared on over 60 shows, sees Jimmy Barrett as the classic case in point, a guy with big ambitions and bigger obstacles who turned to insults-for-laughs as the only way to the top. "It all came from insecurity, any kind of negative stuff that Jimmy had," he offers. He's especially grateful to show creator, Matthew Weiner, who let Fischler know that the key to Barrett was that he would eventually look across the room at dapper Don and say, "I've been standing behind guys like that my whole life." "And that was in one of my last episodes," Fischler recalls. "So having that at the beginning of the character before I even started work, knowing that that was something I was going to say, really summed up who this guy was."

Fischler is married to Lauren Bowles, True Blood's blond Wiccan waitress (whose interview you can see here), and the two watch a lot of television. They were hugely into Lost, so it was especially exciting when he scored the role. "I was so thrilled and so excited to be part of the history of that show. Getting those scripts, there was nothing better than that. When you get scripts for a show that you watch, it's so exciting."

Director Michael Polish's adaptation of Jack Kerouac's 1962 novel, Big Sur, just debuted at Sundance and features Fischler as supporting character Lew Welch, a member of Kerouac's beatnik gang and unsung poet of the era. The real-life Welch, whose musician stepson took the stage name Huey Lewis in his honor, in the end committed suicide in the woods of the Sierra Nevada mountains. "We drove into places I couldn't believe," Fischler says of the shoot. "The cabin we used, we had to take these little buggies to get over rivers. It was the middle of nowhere, and it was beautiful." The performer talks of his character with a mixture of melancholy and excitement. "Playing someone who's so innately sad inside," he submits, "I love that, because there's so much you can plow for."

Also just debuted -- this one at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival -- is Fischler and Bowles' short film, The Test. It's their latest collaboration since they both appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2011, and the fun they had putting their new project together reminded Fischler of their time in the LA theater company Neurotic Young Urbanites, back in the day. He also enjoyed the unusual opportunity to play a regular guy. "She's a Southern witch and I'm, you know, playing a controlling, closeted rehab guy or a drunk poet," he says, "so it's nice to just be this couple who's dealing with issues."

What does he love about his work? "The fact that I get to do this and make a living at it makes me the happiest guy in the world," he replies. "What I love about acting is being able to take aspects of myself that are, maybe, buried deep inside me and that I don't get to put out into the world very often, and I love finding these characters where I can let a little of that loose."

For more on Fischler's work with David Lynch, Denzel Washington, and on the set of Lost, check out the full interview at IconicInterview.com.

The Super Bowl XLVII is this Sunday, which mean that television's most-watched event will yield a seriously emotional game for fans of the 49ers and the Ravens -- the first Super Bowl for Team Baltimore in 12 years. And while many celebrities have sounded off about the drama unfolding around Beyonce's highly anticipated halftime show, here are the celebrities who are looking forward to all the action that'll be playing out on the field.

THE RAVENS

Stacy Keibler

A Baltimore native, George Clooney's girlfriend got an early taste of fame when she became a cheerleader for the Ravens at age 18.

Josh Charles

The "Good Wife" actor -- a graduate of the Baltimore School of the Arts -- is such a fan of the Ravens, he's taken to hanging out at the team's training complex in advance of Sunday's game. About the above photo, Charles wrote on Twitter: "My great-uncle Hunky, who just turned 99 and has seen his share of Super Bowls, thinks the Ravens will win next week!"

Michael Phelps

There's good reason why Maryland native Michael Phelps is hugging it out with Ray Lewis. The 18-time Olympic gold medalist says the Ravens team captain provided personal motivation to him for the 2008 Beijing Games.

Ed Norton

The Baltimore-born actor has often been expressing Salty Balty pride by wearing Orioles or Ravens baseball caps.

Carmelo Anthony

He plays for the New York Knicks now, but Anthony will always be for the Baltimore Ravens in spirit, judging from the number of Ravens Nation tweets he's sent out over the years. The basketball player was raised in Baltimore and attended Towson Catholic High School.

THE 49ERS

Robin Williams

The funnyman's enthusiasm for the San Francisco Giants and 49ers just can't be tamed.

Jennifer Garner

While husband Ben Affleck roots for the Pats (sorry!), Jennifer Garner has cheered on the 49ers since she was a child.

Nancy Pelosi

"I'm rooting for the 49ers… I'm not rooting against Baltimore," Nancy Pelosi said recently about the upcoming Super Bowl, which felt like a bit of backstabbing for some Baltimore residents. The House Minority Leader was born in -- you guessed it -- Baltimore, with her late father serving as the city's mayor.

Huey Lewis

The musician has been singing the National Anthem for his home team since the '80s, when Joe Montana was in his hey day.

METARIE, La. — "American Idol" picked Nicki Minaj as a judge to draw in viewers, but she's actually discouraged at least one person from watching it – her mentor, Lil Wayne.

The rap star admitted Friday that he has yet to see "Idol" this season – or any other season.

"Actually, I've never watched it," he said, a bit sheepishly.

Part of the reason he hasn't tuned in to see Minaj is because she didn't exactly sell the show to Lil Wayne.

"When I talk to her she's always tells me, `You don't wanna watch that, you're not going to be into it,'" he said.

"She knows me. ... It's kind of like a catfight where they be going back and forth type of thing, I'm not into all that," he said of the judging panel, which includes Mariah Carey, with whom Minaj had a much-publicized argument.

"The talent on that is pretty good I heard, though," he said.

Lil Wayne spoke Friday after signing autographs for more than 100 fans who were at a suburban New Orleans Macy's to support his Trukfit clothing line; a couple hundred more waited outside for a glimpse of the star.

Wayne said he's hoping to soon make Trukfit for women and children. Now, it's just a men's line. Part of the problem is finding the right designer.

"They send everything, every design to me, and I approve or decline, and the designer is extremely OK (with that). ... That person may have designed something, and I may say I hate it. I get no flack about it, and women are different," he said, laughing. "So we're trying to find the perfect female designer who has no problem with me declining what I don't like."

Lil Wayne, of course, still has his day job: His new album, "I Am Not A Human Being II," is due out March 26. When asked what fans could expect, he said, laughing: "Never have expectations for me, like never, because I probably will not meet your expectations. ... Just enjoy what you get, hopefully."

___

Follow Nekesa Mumbi Moody at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

Justin Timberlake is reuniting with his "Social Network" director, David Fincher, for his "Suit & Tie" music video.

The Playlist reports that Fincher and Timberlake started production for "Suit & Tie" last week. Fincher's latest project, Netflix's "House of Cards" with Kevin Spacey, premiered on Feb. 1.

Timberlake's first new single since 2007, "Suit & Tie" has been a big success for the singer. The track gave JT the Billboard record for the highest-debuting song by a male artist.

It was announced this week that Timberlake will be performing at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, joining the laundry list of performers including Frank Ocean, Mumford & Sons, Jack White, Carrie Underwood, The Lumineers, and Taylor Swift.

"Suit & Tie" is the first single off of Timberlake's upcoming album "The 20/20 Experience," due out March 19.

For more, head over to The Playlist.

[via The Playlist]

Remember that reality show "The Swan"? Well if you don't, you're about to.

Fox has ordered a celebrity version of the 2004 controversial makeover reality series, Deadline.com is reporting. The network has greenlighted "Celebrity Swan," a two-hour special of the plastic surgery show that will air later this year.

The original show featured two "ugly ducklings" each episode and followed them as they experienced a physical and psychological transformation over a three-month period with the help of a coach, therapist, trainer, dentist and cosmetic surgeons. The woman who looked prettier at the end of the process would compete in a beauty pageant at the culmination of the season. Hence, controversial.

According to Deadline, the creators behind the original extreme makeover show -- Nely Galán, her company Galan Entertainment, FremantleMedia and producer Arthur Smith -- will be back for the special, which will feature female celebrities looking to reinvent themselves for a comeback. The show is currently casting and allegedly has its sights set on stars like former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and "Happy Days" alumna Erin Moran.

Production on "Celebrity Swan" will begin this spring. So ... get ready.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have released a new track and it is a doozy -- take a listen above.

Titled "In Love Dying," the eight-minute song premiered Feb. 1 on the band's website. "In Love Dying" is part of Red Hot Chili Peppers' series of songs that didn't make the cut for the band's 2011 album "I'm With You."

The track is funky and experimental with lyrics like, "In love dying / Does it go two ways / In love dying / This body I cannot detain."

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the headliners for this year's Coachella Music Festival. Other acts include Blur, The Stone Roses, and Phoenix.

Celebs and Real Housewives Support A N.J. Child With Cancer and Kim Granatell Films The New Jersey Socialites At The #ForNico Benefit Dinner.

The New Jersey Socialites, a new competition-based reality series, is a cross between Celebrity Apprentice and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Like, imagine if Donald Trump and Teresa Giudice made a baby -- on second thought -- let's pretend that thought never happened and move on.

The New Jersey Socialites features glamorous women of New Jersey competing to be the "queen of philanthropy" by organizing and promoting fundraising events and headed up by former Real Housewives Of N.J. pot stirrer Kim Granatell. Naturally, this show will be packed with delicious drama, as there can be only one charity queen of New Jersey.

Last Monday, while taping an episode of The New Jersey Socialites, Granatell and her crew attended the #ForNico benefit dinner at Seasons in Washington Township, N.J., and thankfully, that night was drama free. More importantly, these socialites helped raise awareness and generate donations for this very worthwhile charity. Other Real Housewives of New Jersey cast-members who were not in attendance that night, Teresa and Joe Giudice, along with Jacqueline and Chris Laurita, have also shown their support for Nico.

#ForNico benefits a little boy by the name of Nico Santoli.

Nico, 22 months, is fighting a battle that no child should ever have to fight. On September 14, 2012, Dominic Santoli and Christina Santoli were told that their baby has unilateral retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer of the eye, and their lives were forever changed.

Because this type of cancer is so rare, the invasive treatments are specialized and frightfully expensive.

In addition to a fun-filled night of delicious food and some serious dancing thanks to the Gotham City Cheerleaders, Nico's mom and dad designed and sold #ForNico t-shirts to raise funds as well as awareness. The Santolis' efforts have also caught the attention of several professional athletes and many A- list celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Jessica Simpson.

"Anybody I can ask a favor for to take a picture with a t-shirt, I've been asking," Dominic said. "If I can get that one parent to notice this earlier and save a baby from going through these intense, invasive, intra-arterial chemosurgeries, then you know what? My son saved somebody."

Click here to find out more about #ForNico.

Looks like Justin Bieber is opting for a new mode of transportation after his Ferarri's recent run-ins with the law.

The 18-year-old was seen horseback riding with his pals Lil' Twist and Lil Za on Feb. 1, hours after his car was pulled over for tinted windows in West Hollywood at 1:30 a.m. The boys looked to be having fun as they took in the sights on a trail in Burbank, Calif.

"Today's a horse riding day don't u think," Biebs posted on Instagram, along with this photo of the trio, according to X17online.com.

Although Bieber wasn't driving his Ferarri when it got pulled over yesterday, his friend Lil Za, who doesn't have a license, was behind the wheel. It looked like he was being arrested after cops put him in the back of their squad car, but as it turned out, authorities gave Za a break, and he was cited and released.

Still, let's not forget that Lil Twist was the one who took Bieber's car for a high-speed ride the night a paparazzo was struck and killed by another car while photographing his discussion with the cops.

gonna focus on the positive. i understand that rumors come with the territory but im gonna stay me.

— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) February 2, 2013

Maybe a horse is the best choice for the Biebs right now.

Forget the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, we've got celebrities on the field!

Stars from film and TV participated in the 2013 Celebrity Beach Bowl today (Feb. 2), while preparing for tomorrow's Super Bowl in New Orleans, La. "Vampire Diaries" actors Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev, as well as Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Hutcherson, Matt Bomer, Peter Facinelli, Maria Menounos and Lil Wayne were among some of the stars to battle it out in a flag football game at the DTV SuperFan Stadium at Mardi Gras World.

Check out pictures from DirectTV's 7th Annual Beach Bowl event below:

NEW ORLEANS — CeeLo was looking for a little New Orleans action. David Gregory was taking the weekend off from "Meet the Press." And Paul McCartney was hanging out at a party that included Pitbull and Flo Rida.

It was a rich and eclectic mix of stars of all wattages on Friday night, as partying got under way in earnest before Sunday's big game.

CeeLo was the featured performer at ESPN Magazine's "Next" party, which had a guest list that included Michael Phelps, NASCAR driver Kyle Bush, Kelly Rowland, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Piven, Josh Hutcherson, and current and former football players like Emmitt Smith, Cris Carter, DeSean Jackson.

CeeLo performed with his old rap clique Goodie Mobb: The group, which was an offshoot of OutKast before CeeLo became a solo hit, is coming out with a new album later this year. Though the ESPN party was the main event of his night, he made it clear it would not be his only one: "New Orleans has got a lot to offer, I may get into a little trouble."

The stars were spread out across New Orleans: McCartney gave a rock royalty air to the Rolling Stone party, which featured performances by Flo Rida and Pitbull and guests that included Chace Crawford and Sofia Vergara.

At Audi's Super Bowl lounge, Will Ferrell, Jeremy Renner and Olivia Munn mingled, and Playboy attracted Neil Patrick Harris, David Arquette and others. Back at the ESPN party, Gregory, a Redskins fan, admitted to playing hooky from his weekly political show for the big game.

"To get a chance to come to New Orleans on top of it all, it doesn't get much better than this. I love sports, I love the Super Bowl, so this is a great opportunity," said Gregory, who was rooting for the Ravens.

Mackie, an actor and New Orleans native, was excited to have the Super Bowl in his hometown once again, though he's still smarting that the Saints aren't in it; the team fared poorly this season after being hit with significant sanctions by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over allegations of bounty hits on opposing players.

When asked what he would say to Goodell if he saw him, Mackie said: "I'd tell him congratulations. What he wanted to happen happened, so now the saints are going to come back twice as hard next season."

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Follow Nekesa Mumbi Moody on at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

It appears Frank Ocean is ready to forgive Chris Brown -- though we're not sure he'll ever forget what went down.

On Jan. 27, Brown, 23, allegedly assaulted Ocean over a parking space and it was reported that Ocean was ready to press charges.

But today (Feb. 2), the 25-year-old singer released a statement on his Tumblr page, announcing that all he wants is "peace."

AS A CHILD I THOUGHT IF SOMEONE JUMPED ME IT WOULD RESULT IN ME MURDERING OR MUTILATING A MAN. BUT AS A MAN I AM NOT A KILLER. I’M AN ARTIST AND A MODERN PERSON. I’LL CHOOSE SANITY. NO CRIMINAL CHARGES. NO CIVIL LAWSUIT. FORGIVENESS, ALBEIT DIFFICULT, IS WISDOM. PEACE, ALBEIT TRITE, IS WHAT I WANT IN MY SHORT LIFE. PEACE.

Ocean and Brown have been battling it out on Twitter for months now, with Brown even releasing what some thought was a homophobic statement after Ocean came out last year. Still, the singers both seem to be apologetic and ready to move on.

Let's hope Chris accepts Frank's view on the brawl.

Nina Dobrev shows off her #22 jersey while attending the 2013 Celebrity Beach Bowl held at DTV SuperFan Stadium at Mardi Gras World on Saturday (February 2) in New Orleans, La.

The 24-year-old actress was joined at the event by her boyfriend and Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder.

No, you're not dreaming, and it's not 1991. But the rumors are true: My Bloody Valentine has released their first album since "Loveless," which came out 22 years ago.

The band released the album on their website on Saturday night, and the site promptly crashed under the burden of what must be an impressive amount of traffic.

Bandleader Kevin Shields first announced the new album in a November 2012 interview with NME. The new disc was supposed to be out by the end of the year, but was since delayed until Feb. 2. Employing a bit of guerilla marketing, the band made a simple announcement on their Facebook page in advance of the album's release: "We are preparing to go live with the new album/website this evening. We will make an announcement as soon as its up."

My Bloody Valentine's music defined the shoegazing genre and set the tone for indie music in the '90s. (A re-issue of the album scored a lofty 93 percent rating on Metacritic.) A solid primer of the band's storied history -- they first formed in Dublin in 1983 -- is available on Buzzfeed.