Ellen is a superfan of YouTube stars Sophia Grace and Rosie.
The dynamic duo from the UK has done everything from rap to tour of Disney Land and Ellen is still managing to surprise them.
Watch the exciting present she unveiled for the tiny stars in the video above.
From a "Jersey Shore" spinoff to an adaptation of a UK series, MTV has a diverse lineup in the works.
"Snooki & JWOWW" kicks off on Thursday, June 21 at 10 p.m. ET. The "Jersey Shore" spinoff, which shot in Jersey City after a series of production issues, will focus on the dramatic life and friendship of everyone's favorite Jersey girls.
"Awkward.'s" second season of Jenna Hamilton's (Ashley Rickards) high school struggles, is headed back to MTV on Thursday, June 23 at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The sophomore season of "Teen Wolf," featuring Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) as an outcast who tries to keep his werewolf-ness a secret, is set to premiere in two parts. The first airs on Sunday, June 3 at 11 p.m. ET, while the second will air in "Teen Wolf's" regular timeslot on Monday, June 4 at 10 p.m ET.
As for the rest of the network's 2012 slate, the series "Catfish," inspired by the controversial documentary film about a man who develops a relationship with a woman through Facebook, is on its way to MTV.
"Inbetweeners," which is based on the popular UK teen drama of the same name, is heading to MTV as is "Underemployed," "Wake Brothers" and "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous."
MTV also plans to launch an initiative on Monday, June 4 called "Storytelling Without Borders," which looks to engage audiences through Facebook and other social platforms to allow fans to "friend" and interact with its shows' characters in real time.
I woke up the other morning and the headlines read, "FIRED!!! Tyra Banks fires J. Manuel, Nigel Barker, and J. Alexander!" I, of course, immediately rushed to call my best friend of over 20 years and asked, "Jay, oh my God -- is it true?" This question was followed by a dramatic and pregnant pause -- and then we both began laughing hysterically...
Don't ask me why, but for as long as I can remember, we have always been able to laugh, joke, cry and eventually walk off the absolute worst problems or situations. And over the years, there have been many -- situations. One of the reasons I believe our friendship has lasted so long is the fact that our birthdays are a day apart and somehow this allows us to understand each other completely.
Alexander Jenkins, known to the world as Miss J., was born on April 12, 1958 and I on April 13, 19-not-on-your-life-will-I-ever-tell, under the astrological sign of Aries. I know some people don't put much stock into the hole astrology thing, but I am a firm believer it has been our Aries spirit, drive, passion and fire that has carried us both through the worst and best of times. So while the blogs and Internet were buzzing with the news of my dearest friends "firing", I had a pretty good idea that Jay would be tucked in his New York City hotel room going about his business as if nothing had happened. As we like to say to each other, It's an Aries thing...
But I also knew from a public relations standpoint that this perhaps was not a good time to be tucked away. Therefore, like any good friend would do, I suggested we get ourselves all dolled up and go to the one place that would make everything feel, or at least look better -- The Four Seasons.
You see in Hollywood when celebrities resurface from a highly publicized scandal or salacious affair, they carefully choose the L.A. hot-spot The Ivy to herald their return to the fold. But in New York City any self-respecting starlet, power-broker or fashionista knows that one must bravely and gracefully glide through those iconic glass doors, saunter up the shiny steel staircase, and enter the glorious Four Season's Pool Room and declare to the world, "Here I am! Still standing!" End scene...
Now this may have been the original plan/script... But I must admit, by the time Miss J. finished fielding telephone calls from CNN, US Weekly, production companies and network producers -- we found ourselves almost an hour and a half late for our prime 1 p.m. lunch reservation. However, this may have been a blessing in disguise. By the time we made it to the restaurant it appeared the Internet gossip had taken a bizarre turn towards the Macabre. Fanatics of ANTM were now calling for the heads of all persons responsible for this sudden change in their beloved cast.
Now I know there are many people who might doubt the fact that Miss J. has become a bona fide celebrity. But I challenge you to spend just five minutes walking down a city street with him either here in New York City or his adopted hometown of Paris, France. Over the years I've seen adult women tremble and cry, schoolgirls screech and shout, and full-grown heterosexual men giggle and swoon from sheer excitement at an in-the-flesh sighting of Miss J.
Over the nine years that Jay has been a part ANTM, we have learned how to protect the sanctity of our long city walks by cutting and weaving down empty side streets, navigating uncongested avenues and sashaying briskly in order to avoid prolonged gazes from his many admirers. And trust me, its not because he doesn't love his adoring fans. It's because it would take us two hours to walk 10 blocks if he stopped for every photo request or over zealous stranger trying to hold their mobile to his ear asking, "Can you say hello to my wife on the phone? She really loves you!"
But as the Law of Mr. Murphy would have it, we arrived at The Four Seasons at that weird restaurant hour when the kitchen is changing from their lunch to its early dinner menu. I immediately thought to myself, "We're too late... " However, the magic of the Pool Room was shining brighter than ever. It was as if someone had sprinkled the entire room with fairy dust to herald our arrival. And just like that co-owner Julian Niccolini appeared, as lively and filled with joy as ever, and made all of our dreams come true...
For the next few hours, Jay and I proceeded to talk about everything under the sun. We discussed future plans, current dilemmas as well as past triumphs. We even had a mini belated birthday celebration complete with cotton candy and ice cream. To be honest, I think we completely forgot to talk about the fact that his contract was not renewed, and instead found it a bit humorous how people were behaving as if the world were on fire. If this was the attitude and demeanor of a man that had just been publicly fired, I hope the next time someone tells me, "Your services are no longer needed," I can find the grace, clarity and humor to handle it in this same manner.
As we took the short walk back to Jay's hotel from the restaurant, for expediency sake we broke our cardinal rule and walked through the hustle and bustle of Fifth Avenue. At first there were the whispers of passing tourists, then the close trailing and shuffling of Japanese schoolgirls, followed by the shocked faces of pedestrians looking up at him like a New York City skyscraper... Then it happened -- a red light. For the next 10 to 15 minutes we were forced to stand on the corner of 57th Street where I became de-facto publicist, bodyguard and photographer as a stream of fans begged for photos, autographs and hugs from Miss J. formerly of America's Next Top Model. Finally there was a small pause of fans, a shift in the air and a change of the street light. In less than 10.2 seconds, as we began to glide and stride across the avenue, Miss J. quickly disappeared. By the time we were safely on the other side, my dearest friend Alexander Jenkins resurfaced and we proceeded about our business and on to our next adventure.
Photos courtesy of @miss_jalexander and photos courtesy of @fourseasonsrestaurant.com
In “The Raven,” which opens nationwide on April 27, John Cusack stars as a fictionalized version of Edgar Allan Poe. And in this big-screen extravaganza, directed by James McTeigue (“V for Vendetta”), Poe isn’t just the famous – and famously sozzled – author of “The Raven” and “The Telltale Heart”; he’s also a surprisingly spry action hero, recruited by the police to help solve a series of grisly murders based on his own stories.
Last weekend, Cusack, a newly minted Hollywood Walk of Famer, and his close friend Mark Leyner, author of "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack," appeared at the LA Times Festival of Books to talk about Poe, his legacy, the new movie, and the artistic imperative – felt by writers and actors alike – to brave the darkness in order to tell great stories. He also offers some insight into why he hasn't starred in a romantic comedy for a while. Here is an edited transcript of their conversation, with selections from the audience Q&A that followed.
(Earlier: "What John Cusack Is Currently Reading (VIDEO)")
Mark Leyner: John and I have known each other many years now, and spend a lot of time talking about everything, in every little way. But this seemed a little daunting…. And I was sitting on the plane next to a little girl who was maybe five or six at the most, and she asked me … to ask John, “To what degree do you think that the relationship between this movie, The Raven, and the literary-historical construct known as Edgar Allan Poe, is analogous in a Lévi-Straussian sense to the relationship between the movie and the sociocultural construct known as John Cusack?”
John Cusack: That’s an extraordinary five-year-old. I think she’s talking about the meta-Poe, the Poe within Poe, the dream within the dream.
ML: Well, I think when people heard you were doing this movie, the question comes up: What Poe are you talking about? Who are you enacting, and what is the movie about? Is it a kind of biographical movie? What sort of use does the movie make of a figure we all know something about?
JC: What we didn’t want to do is a straight biopic of Poe… This is a film where Poe becomes almost enrolled or enlisted into one of his own stories, and … gets almost captured by his own themes…. So we thought that was a much better way to get into all of his stories, to dramatize his stories, and to get inside of his imagination, because to me, his language as a writer is the sort of the language of the subconscious, and it’s dark, and it’s primal, and it’s perverse, and it’s shocking, it’s horrific….
Poe is a guy who created so many genres that we take for granted today…. Obviously, he’s the godfather of gothic horror, he created horror, but he also influenced science fiction … he invented the detective genre…. And he also was …very adept at tapping into the fears and neuroses and obsessions of the era. So while he was making intense, beautiful, esoteric poetry, and metaphysical philosophy papers, and social criticism, he was also writing pulp, shocking Saturday evening thrillers, where at the end of the stories orangutans were coming out of chimneys and cutting up women. So he was a master of high- and low-brow, he was esoteric and pulp. He was such a contradiction…. So by having a mixture of fantasy and fiction and legend, I felt like … it was a terrific device for the movie.
ML: What we think of as Poe-esque, or whatever the adjective would be, is about that moment where you sort of realize what’s about to happen to you.
JC: Yeah, yeah, he was the master of the jump-scare and the sudden ending, and all of his stories sort of ended in a way with a mystery, where they could never be contained or really understood or rationalized in some ways. But I think he also was, I think he was interested in death the way someone is interested in exploring…. He was an explorer into the underworld, into the unconscious.
ML: Is there something about our culture right now that creates a more urgent need … for darkness?
JC: Well, we were talking about maybe the need for some sort of authenticity, right? And in a culture that’s sort of denied a shadow and those types of things, there’s an authenticity in actually feeling all those emotions, and feeling and experiencing all those terrors and giving voice to them.
There is a certain kind of ferocity of mind that a writer like [Poe] had… [When] most people have a nightmare, they say, let me wake up as quickly as I can, but then there are a few writers who say, I’m going to have a nightmare, I want to go deeper in, and I want to ride that, I want to see what’s even farther down there…. I don’t even really have that in me, but I can certainly respect the … search for some sort of authentic experience.
ML: John, you just said something that I think gets to a question people might have on their minds, which is: This is not like you, so was this a more strenuous preparation outside of yourself than you’ve been accustomed to, playing someone like this?
JC: Yeah, it was…. If you get to do Shakespeare or some great writer, you get to immerse yourself in that writer’s mind. And Poe is not a mind that you want to stay in all year round, but it certainly is a nice place to visit…. I think everybody can relate to Poe and to horror and to gothic horror … but he was also a great poet and he loved, I think, very deeply. I think he was an incredibly complex person…. He wasn’t just one thing and … even though he is now the Halloween icon … if you read him again as an adult, you go, Oh wow, this was somebody who was sort of defying labels and convictions and mashing up genres and just exploring endlessly his own psyche.
ML: Well, I will never have the great fortune to play Edgar Allan Poe, as you have.
JC: But you did get to write a new Poe poem. Do you remember that?
ML: Yes…. There was a place in the script where we decided it required a little piece of Edgar Allan Poe poetry, and it just seemed…
JC: And I just, I looked at Mark and I went, “You’re on your own.”
ML: Well, it just seemed easier to just write it myself than look it up, you know…. But I did want to say that Poe, towards the end of his life, spent, I think, three or four days wandering drunk in Jersey City, and I can say that I have wandered drunk in Jersey City for several days, so in that sense there is a connection among the three of us.
JC: And strangely, I have wandered drunk in Jersey City as well.
ML: Anyway, as we said, we can talk for hours and hours and hours about this. I’m sure you have questions about this for John. I would love to answer any questions, so why don’t we turn this over to you guys for a while.
Audience question: How has this movie changed your perspective about death?
JC: The part of Poe’s writing I always responded to most was that sort of metaphysical sweet spot … between waking and dreaming, life and death, that sort of place. I like the horror, I like all of his writing, but that was the thing I’ve always been most keen on. I think by exploring that, I think that you look at it as just another frontier, but then again, I’m sure when the day comes, I’ll be full of terror.
Audience question: Hi. There’s a wonderful book that was made famous on the Oprah show called “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers,” and it illuminates the necessity and importance of working with our shadow side in order to become whole, and unless people are willing to face the shadow side, investigate it, and walk straight into the monster, they never will achieve that wholeness, by just trying to stay positive all the time. So I’m curious in terms of Poe, do you feel that he was investigating his shadow side in order to achieve that, and did it help him progress to a perhaps more enlightened or whole state of being?
JC: I think you’re, like, dead on in every way. I don’t know if as an artist he could have characterized it that way, just as an explorer, but I think that was, in essence, what he was doing…. That’s what actors do, too. What we do is we go to places that most people want to avoid, and we do it publicly….
ML: I also think there are writers who are sort of at war with themselves, and for whom writing represents a kind of struggle, a kind of guerilla war against oneself, and the idea is, in a way, to even assassinate oneself, that your book or your work represents a kind of liquidation of yourself.
Audience question: Hi, I think of you, John, as having kind of a sense of humor about yourself and about the world, and when you look at Poe’s writing, it’s horrific, but on the other hand it’s also kind of absurd, like “The Tell-Tale Heart.” And I wondered if you added humor?
JC: We did, but it was really something that we found in his writing…. He used to say his writing was “the ludicrous heightened into the grotesque.”
Audience question: I’m curious as to your take on the ideal that we have to be messed up to create good, messed-up art…. How much you feel that you have to actually experience that dark side?
JC: I think it gets back to that sort of shadow question, which is, those emotions, dealing with them, experiencing them, are the sort of portal to creativity, right? That’s the idea. I don’t think that necessarily means that you have to go drink yourself into DTs and do laudanum to know what that is like. Also, we all have muscle memory from our 20s. You have to sort of … graduate to a more sophisticated form of madness, but I think you definitely have to push yourself to the edge of it to where you’re frightened. But that’s kind of the job …. I’ll put it this way: to be an artist you have to have a problem, and to be a good artist, you have to start to deal with your problem in some way.
[Applause]
JC: Wow, I said something smart.
Audience question: What do you think is more difficult: playing Poe or being a long-suffering Cubs fan?
JC: That’s cruel. I’d say, without question, Cubs.
Audience question: I loved “Say Anything,” “Grosse Point Blank.” Don’t have a dog, but I absolutely loved “Must Have Dogs.” Wondering if you have any plans of doing any romantic comedies again?
JC: Mark and I wrote a script called “Pipe Dream.” We also adapted one of his novels, “Et Tu, Babe.” And “Pipe Dream” is a romantic story. It’s sort of a Montagues-Capulets story about an anarchist poet who falls in love with Rupert Murdoch’s daughter. It’s clearly a class issue. But that’s not romantic comedy, but it’s more in the “Grosse Point Blank” vein, I guess you’d call it. I’m open for anything … but they don’t really make kind of Preston Sturges comedies anymore, they sort of make, uh, I don’t know what they make in Hollywood, but they don’t really make good romantic comedies anymore, is what I’m saying.
Exciting news for Sarah Michelle Gellar! She and her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., are expecting their second child, Us Weekly reports.
While a rep for the "Ringer" star has yet to confirm the baby news, a source close to the couple told Us that they are "thrilled" about expanding their family. Gellar and Prinze are already parents to daughter, Charlotte Grace, 2.
"Becoming a parent is the most selfless act, and you need to be at a point in your life where you can give up anything and everything for a child," Gellar told People in 2009, shortly after giving birth.
Gellar and Prinze starred together in the 1997 thriller, "I Know What You Did Last Summer." They began dating in 2000 and married in 2002.
For more on Gellar's pregnancy, head over to Us Weekly.
Check out other celebrities who are expecting below:
Chloe Sevigny is reportedly in final negotiations to appear in Season 2 of "American Horror Story."
According to EW, Sevigny would play Shelly, a nymphomaniac who is one of Jessica Lange's character's mortal enemies.
The former "Big Love" star isn't the only new cast member headed to the FX drama. Maroon 5 frontman and "The Voice" coach Adam Levine is set to play himself on the series.
"It's going to be fun and I told [creator Ryan Murphy] I didn't really know what i was doing, but he didn't seem to care," Levine said in an interview with Ryan Seacrest. "So, I'm going to go and just try to be acting. I think I'm going to be playing myself, so hopefully it will be easy."
Sevigny, if she signs on, and Levine join confirmed returning cast members Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters and Lily Rabe. But in Season 2, these "American Horror Story" vets will apparently play completely new characters since the sophomore season will be drastically different from its first season, including an East Coast setting in another era.
"[Season 2] has nothing to do with Season 1; there's not a mention of Season 1," Murphy said. "The second season is set in a completely different time period."
Since the end of "Big Love," Sevigny has continued to appear on the small screen: She recently appeared on an episode of "Law & Order: SVU" and has an upcoming DirecTV miniseries called "Hit and Miss," which she opened up to HuffPost TV about.
What do you think of Chloe Sevigny appearing in Season 2 of "American Horror Story"? Let us know in the comments.
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- He came, he saw, he blustered.
Donald Trump on Wednesday swept into Scotland's parliament to demand the country end plans for an offshore wind farm he fears will spoil the view at his exclusive new $750-million-pound ($1.2-billion) golf resort.
In a typically blunt display, the New York property tycoon told an inquiry into renewable energy to stop the wind power efforts in the country's north.
"Scotland, if you pursue this policy of these monstrous turbines, Scotland will go broke," he said. "They are ugly, they are noisy and they are dangerous. If Scotland does this, Scotland will be in serious trouble and will lose tourism to places like Ireland, and they are laughing at us."
Members of the committee are looking at how achievable the Scottish government's green targets for 2020 are. The plans for 11 200-foot (60-meter) tall wind turbines are part of the government's goal of positioning itself as a leader in renewable energy.
When challenged to produce hard evidence about his claims on the negative impact of turbines, Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world class expert in tourism."
The public gallery burst into laughter.
Trump claimed Scottish leader Alex Salmond and his predecessor Jack McConnell gave him verbal assurances a wind farm would not be built off the coast of his resort.
"They wanted my money," Trump said. "I was lured into buying the site, after I had spent my money they came and announced the plan. At the time I bought the land I felt confident the wind farm was not going to happen."
The inquiry heard that Trump paid 4.5 million pounds ($7.2 million) for the majority of the land eight miles (12km) north of Aberdeen in January 2006. The resort is due to open on July 10.
There was an irony to Trump's complaints: When Salmond backed Trump's plans for the result, he was hailed a "great man" by the tycoon.
But Trump turned on the leader over plans to put the wind turbine farm off the coast and within view of the golf course. He claims the turbines will ruin the environment and will be bad for tourism.
The course was built on sand dunes despite protests from locals and environmentalists. The dunes, which were home to rare wading birds, were bulldozed to make way for the fairways in 2009 and 2010.
Scotland's tourism agency said its own research shows 83 percent of UK visitors will not be turned off by turbines.
"We are both reassured and encouraged by the findings of our survey which suggest that, at the current time, the overwhelming majority of consumers do not feel wind farms spoil the look of the countryside," said VisitScotland chief Malcolm Roughead.
HuffPost spoke with celebrities and political figures attending Saturday morning's Garden Brunch ahead of the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Watch the video above.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday night.
Jimmy Kimmel, who hosts ABC's late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will be the featured comedian at the association's 98th annual dinner at the Washington Hilton.
The White House Correspondents' Association dinner is traditionally attended by the president and first lady, along with various government officials and members of the press corps.
Proceeds from the event fund scholarships and awards to support and recognize excellence in journalism.
Juanes, Don Omar, Chino from Chino Y Nacho, Mun2 host Jenni Rivera, Akon, and many more partied the night away at Hennessy V.S and Universal Music's "Universal Affair" official afterparty for Thursday night's Billboard Latin Music Awards at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables. The stars celebrated until 3 a.m. at Gavanna in Miami -- with no word on where Don Omar stashed his whopping 8 Billboard Awards in order to free up his hands for some Henny.
Saturday night's White House Correspondents Dinner is one of the most anticipated events of the year for both journalists and celebrities alike. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, this year's dinner will invite a bevy of stars (including some of our fashion faves like Rachel Zoe and Ivanka Trump) to feast and laugh (politely?) at POTUS' jokes.
Tonight's dinner will also feature appearances by Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian, among others, so we can't wait to see what kinds of outfits everyone will be daring to wear in front of political royalty.
But in the meantime, from Salma Hayek to Donatella Versace, check out some celebrities and fashionistas who brought their glittery ensembles to the WHCD over the years.
PHOTOS:
LOS ANGELES — Ted Nugent said he was insulted by the cancellation of his planned concert at an Army post over his comments about President Obama.
Commanders at the Fort Knox, Ky., post nixed Nugent's segment of a June concert after the rocker and conservative activist said at a recent National Rifle Association meeting that he would be "dead or in jail by this time next year" if Obama is re-elected.
Nugent told The Associated Press this week that his words were not intended as a threat against the president.
"To think that there's a bureaucrat in the United States Army that would consider the use or abuse of First Amendment rights in determining who is going to perform at an Army base is an insult and defiles the sacrifices of those heroes who fought for the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights," Nugent said.
Nugent said he had received messages of support from troops and noted that the Secret Service had met with him and closed its case about the remarks.
"There is nothing in my spoken word or written word that could be even wildly considered by any stretch of the imagination to be a threat to anyone," Nugent said.
Asked to clarify the remarks at the NRA convention, Nugent said: "A whole bunch of us ... believe ... we are in danger of being improperly and criminally jailed – I mean criminally on the part of the government."
Earlier in the week, Nugent pleaded guilty to transporting a black bear he illegally killed in Alaska, saying he was sorry for unwittingly violating the law.
He told the AP that he advises fellow hunters, "even when you are aghast at a maniac, inexplicable, illogical law, please abide by those laws at all costs."
Nugent said the prosecution in U.S. District Court was the result of a "witch hunt" by federal officials over his activism.
"We the people are turning up the heat," he said. "And that's why I'm being singled out by certain fish and game agencies and certain U.S. attorneys."
An email sent to Karen Loeffler, the U.S. attorney for Alaska, and Jack Schmidt, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Nugent this week in Ketchikan, Alaska, was not immediately returned.
___
Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.
Comedian Jay Leno is 62!
Leno has been dominating late night television for two decades, In 1992, he became the host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” The show, originally hosted by Johnny Carson, featured Leno as a guest host from 1987 until 1992, the year he took over.
In the fall of 2009, Leno launched a talk show in primetime ("The Jay Leno Show"), which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. EST on NBC. It was canceled in January 2010, and Leno returned to host The Tonight Show shortly thereafter, resulting in the controversial ouster of Conan O'Brien.
Leno’s career began with stand-up comedy, making occasional appearances on television shows like “The Drew Carey Show” and movies like “American Hot Wax.” The comedian still performs standup comedy shows.
Aside from being a prominent face on late night television, Leno’s famous hobby is car collecting. The comedian/car aficionado has his own internet car show, “Jay Leno’s Garage” where he features various collectible cars.
The late night host isn’t concerned if anyone finds him funny or not.
“Some people think you’re funny; some people do not,” Leno told Forbes in 2012. “And you really can’t argue with the people who don’t; you just have to accept it.”
Happy birthday, Jay Leno! For more on the comedian, check out our slideshow below!
The White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend has its share of signature events. Saturday afternoon's Garden Brunch -- hosted by Tammy Haddad, president and founder of Haddad Media -- is among those events, kicking off a day of activities where celebrities and political figures often mingle until the early hours of the morning.
According to HuffPost's Christina Wilkie, the brunch is "your best shot at actually having conversations with celebs." Wilkie, along with HuffPost's Zach Carter, are live at the event and looking to speak with any and all notable guests.
For a round-up of all the weekend's events from HuffPost's Christina Wilkie, click here.
Welcome to Weeklings, AfterElton.com's weekly video recap of pop culture, brought to you by me, Twitter pox Louis Virtel.
I've got a lot on its mind this week: Lindsay Lohan is playing Elizabeth Taylor? Crazy! Betsey Johnson is bankrupt? Absurd! Snooki and JWoww still matter? I die. Why can't the world concentrate on more important things than Jersey Shore, like the hotness of Harry Shum, Jr.?
I discuss all this and more in the latest Weeklings. Look out for a very special cameo by Tim Gunn, too. He and Betsey Johnson have an interesting past, apparently.
Also: Weeklings joins The Huffington Post's Gay Voices tally this week. I hope the HuffPost readership is into Cat on a Hot Tin Roof puns and limp-wristed insanity. That's what I'm serving. Probably forever.
WATCH:
The second annual Comedy Awards are taping tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, and HuffPost Comedy will be there covering the red carpet, watching the show and interviewing comedians backstage. All for you!
With some of comedy's biggest names nominated for awards at the Viacom-produced event, you can expect to see some genuinely funny speeches and bits when the show airs next Sunday. All of the presenters, including Chris Rock, Will Arnett, Tracy Morgan, Maya Rudolph, Adam Scott and Jon Stewart, wrote their own material for the show with the help of popular TV comedy writers. Although it won't have the extreme unpredictability of a live broadcast, last year there were more than a few unexpected moments.
Aside from the yet-to-be decided award categories, Don Rickles will receive an award for comedic excellence that David Letterman won in a surprise appearance last year. Similarly, Robin Williams will be given the "Stand-Up Icon” award that was presented to Eddie Murphy at the first ceremony.
We'll be updating here as well as tweeting photos and quotes from the via @HuffPostComedy all night (we'll try to avoid any spoilers) so follow along!
The Comedy Awards will premiere on Comedy Central on Sunday, May 6 at 9:00/8:00 Central.
What does ex-Mouseketeer J.C. Chasez think about his former "Mickey Mouse Club" co-stars Christina Aguilera & Tony Lucca continually sparring on "The Voice"?
"I respect her judgment, but I personally didn't think she was right to call him one-dimensional," J.C. said. "I'm biased, of course, but the one thing I can tell you -– from listening to his music and watching him perform -– is that he is anything but one dimensional."
And does J.C. think Britney Spears would make a good "X Factor" judge?
Serena said she’s had trouble sleeping for years because she’s “constantly on a natural high, high on life and happy, happy, happy and working.”
She said her sleep difficulty was so bad one year it affected her at the Australian Open.
"I would have gotten a boob job ten years ago," Charlize Theron deadpanned Thursday at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
When accepting the Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film Thursday, the stunning actress said she only had two regrets (head over to Us for her other mistake) over the course of her career. As for the need for a bob job? Theron says she never knew 3-D would be so popular. The actress, who recently adopted a baby named Jackson, is always game for some good jokes.
She recently released her "sex tape" on Funny or Die (of course, it's a parody) and said that she was "available to work with" Michael Fassbender's penis "at any time."
For more on Theron's speech, head over to Us Weekly.
Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law allegedly admitted to killing at least two members of the Oscar winner's family in 2008, the suspect's mistress testified during a Friday hearing.
William Balfour was married to Hudson's sister, Julia Hudson, when he began seeing Shonta Cathey in 2007, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Julia Hudson had asked for a divorce shortly before the murders occurred, and reportedly began seeing someone else as well.
Balfour, who has been charged in the slayings of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, her brother, Jason Hudson, 29, and her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, allegedly told Cathey to lie to the police about his whereabouts on the day of the killings. At first, she did. But she then changed her tune.
The Sun-Times has more on Cathey's testimony:
“He said, ‘They got shot,’ and I said, ‘Who?’ He said, ‘Her mother and her brother,’ and I was looking at him crazy … like bug eyed, and just staring at him,” Shonta Cathey told jurors.“He say he went in and the brother rushed him, and he shot him, and the mother was coming down the stairs, calling his name, and he shot her.”
Cathey's testimony was not the only blow delivered to Balfour's defense team on Friday. A neighbor of the suspect's mistress reportedly told jurors he saw Balfour driving a white SUV on the day of the murders, which may have been stolen from Jason Hudson after he was killed, NBC Chicago reports.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Cathey told Balfour that police were looking for him in connection with the murders, but allowed him to stay in her house for the day -- until they tracked him down using cell phone signals.
“I was in love with William,” she told jurors. “And I didn’t want him to get in any trouble.”
When she asked the suspect about the whereabouts of 7-year-old Julian King, he reportedly told her the boy "was outside" at the time of the slayings. Julian was found dead in an SUV three days after the his uncle and grandmother were discovered dead.
With no surviving witnesses to the murders, prosecutors must offer overwhelming circumstantial evidence that Balfour committed the crime. One challenge will be tying Balfour to the alleged murder weapon, a silver and black .45-calibre handgun.
Prosecutors claim Balfour targeted the family in a horrific act of vindictiveness against his ex-wife. They believe he became enraged by balloons he saw at the home that he thought were from her new boyfriend.
Defense attorneys have said the killing could be connected to alleged drug dealing by Hudson's brother.
Prosecutors contend Balfour went inside the three-story house around 9 a.m. and shot Hudson's mother and brother. Investigators allege he then drove off in Jason Hudson's sport utility vehicle with 7-year-old Julian inside, and later shot the boy in the head as he lay behind a front seat.
Jennifer Hudson took the witness stand for about 30 minutes Monday in sometimes tearful testimony. Hudson, who was in Florida at the time of the shootings, testified that she was dismayed when she learned in 2006 that her sister was going to marry Balfour, whom she said she always disliked.
If convicted of at least two of the murder counts, Balfour would face a mandatory life sentence.
The 2012 White House Correspondents' dinner is upon us, which means media figures, celebrities, politicos and more are party-hopping all over the nation's capital.
Media figures kicked off the weekend by attending the People - TIME party at the St. Regis hotel in Washington D.C. Cable news broadcasters including Chris Matthews, Norah O'Donnell, Andrea Mitchell, Greta Van Susteren, Wolf Blitzer and Willie Geist got down with fellow journalists and celebrities. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sam Feist and Rashida Jones were in attendance, as were "CBS This Morning" hosts Gayle King and Erica Hill. CBS Chief Leslie Moonves attended with his wife and "The Talk" host, Julie Chen.
Over at The Hollywood Reporter bash, actor Woody Harrelson stopped for a photo on the red carpet with Steve Schmidt, the Republican political strategist Harrelson portrayed in HBO's "Game Change." Newsweek/The Daily Beast's Tina Brown and Howard Kurtz were also in attendance, as were Christiane Amanpour and BET founder Robert L. Johnson.
The New Yorker also threw its own shindig, with Sofia Vergara, Fred Armisen,and Jason Schwartzman in attendance, along with a swath of government bigwigs and the cream of the magazine's crop.
Take a look at the slideshow below to see how media figures and celebrities kicked off the White House Correspondents' Weekend.
Miss J. Alexander formerly of America's Next Top Model
Co-owner and maestro of The Four Seasons Restaurant -- Julian Niccolini, The Pool Room 
Miss J., Mister GoLightly & Miss J., Jay discovers he's been fired from Page Six (wink-wink)
