No, we haven't even seen "The Dark Knight Rises," this coming summer's epic finale of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, so we really should just be counting down to and getting excited over that film. But with Christian Bale's confirmation that the film will be his last as the Caped Crusader, we just can't help but start speculating as to who will be the next Bruce Wayne.

Bale's three film run -- the longest of the modern era -- brought a new darkness to the Dark Knight, teaming charm with intense brooding and rage. It was obviously a turn from George Clooney's regrettable one-time-only turn as Batman, in 1997, and a tougher version than Val Kilmer's "Batman Forever" from 1995. Most debates pit Bale's Batman against the version put forth by Michael Keaton, who kicked off the revamped franchise in 1989 in Tim Burton's "Batman" and then wore the cape again in the 1992 film, "Batman Returns."

Fans, then, seem to enjoy a darker Batman (with Adam West in his own campy category), and so when casting for a new star, the ability to go brooding and tough is an important attribute. As is the right age, fitness level and also ability to go debonaire in a tuxedo, Bruce Wayne's most frequent wardrobe choice.

Below, we've put together a list of some real possibilities and some longshots for the role, defending why any one of them could fit. Vote on your favorite, and debate -- or suggest your own candidate -- in the comments.

PHOTOS (All via Getty):

Prince William took part in a rescue mission after a cargo ship sank in the Irish Sea early Sunday morning, CNN reports.

Two of the crew were pulled to safety, however five still remain missing after one body was recovered, the British Coastguard confirmed to the BBC.

The two men were airlifted to safety by a four-man crew, which included the Duke of Cambridge -- second in line to the throne -- who is a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, Fox News explains.

The coastguard received a mayday call at 2 a.m. local time from the Swanland cargo carrier ship located 20 miles northwest of the Llyn Peninsula, North Wales, after its hull cracked.

The ship, carrying eight people and 3,000 tons of limestone, capsized before rescue forces arrived, notes MSNBC.

"We know that at least some of them are wearing immersion suits and have strobe lighting with them, however sea conditions are challenging at best," Jim Green, a coastguard spokesman told News.com.au.

The British RAF, the Irish Coastguard and an Irish Naval ship are continuing to search for the missing five people.

We were flipping through gorgeous photos of Taylor Swift from her recent Madison Square Garden concert in NYC when we spotted a GIANT word tattoo down her arm! Take a close look at the photo below:

We hear it's temporary -- and, apparently, she writes song lyrics down her arm for every show. Who knew? This particular lyric ("Bring on all the pretenders. One day we will be remembered.") is from the song "Long Live" off of "Speak Now," her most recent album.

What do you guys think of this TSwift tradition? What one-sentence song lyric do you think is most inspiring (off any album)? Speak now in the comments below.

Many brides just have wear one dress at their weddings, while some have a second dress for the reception. But Kim Zolciak, not unlike soon-to-be-divorced Kim Kardashian, wore not one but three different outfits on her wedding day.

We've already seen photos of the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star's two other wedding dresses, and Zolciak tweeted a photo of outfit No. 3 -- a lace jumpsuit -- on Friday.

"Love my 3rd wedding look!!" she wrote, adding that it was designed by Pnina Tornai. She also gave a shout-out to Kleinfeld Bridal.

According to Life & Style, Zolciak's three wedding outfits added up to roughly $92,000.

The reality star, who is headed for a Bravo spin-off show of her own, married NFL player Kroy Biermann in a special ceremony Nov. 11. The couple welcomed son, Kroy Jagger Jr., in May.

Take a look at Zolciak's unique wedding outfit below!

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Sir Paul McCartney is back to where he's always belonged: on the stage, rockin' it.

The former Beatle and Rock N' Roll Hall of Famer made the first stop on the European leg of his "On the Run" tour in Bologna, Italy on Saturday, thrilling fans with hits new and old. The tour was announced following his October marriage to Nancy Shevell; an 11-stop event, it follows his summer "On the Run" concerts at stadiums across America and a stop earlier in November to perform at the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.

The tour will continue on through most of December, touching down on Paris, Russia and London before finishing in his hometown of Liverpool.

There's no set list available for Saturday's gig in Bologna yet, but you can check out a review and recap of his show in Abu Dhabi by clicking here.

PHOTOS:

Romance is definitely in the air for Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes.

The actors, who have been quietly dating since September, were spotted taking a stroll through Paris' Pere Lachaise Cemetery and the historic Catacombs of Paris this weekend.

Mendes is Paris filming "Holly Motors," and it appears Gosling jetted across the pond to spend some time with his lady.

The pair looked cozy, and bundled up, as they strolled arm-in-arm through the historic resting place of famous figures such as Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison.

Check out the photos of Gosling and Mendes below!

PHOTOS:

Another day, another trivial Beatles artifact up for auction. We've had the tooth, the drummer letter and the cardboard sign. Now we add arguably the most revealing of items -- the to-do list, belonging to one John Lennon.

The list is up for auction on Gotta Have Rock and Roll, a site devoted to the sale of rock and roll memorabilia that previously sold Lennon's Talisman necklace for $528,000. The to-do list comes with a comparatively moderate price tag -- the minimum bid stands at $3,000, and it's estimated to go for $4,000 to $5,000 when the auction opens Wednesday.

So what did Lennon deem list-worthy? Number one on the list was letting the H.B.O. guy in between 3-5 -- this one has a star next to it so it must be important. Number two was getting his Thor Heyerdahl book back from Sam Green -- with an X next to it so it's safe to say Lennon and the book were reunited. It's also safe to say that Lennon was a diligent list-maker, considering he changed pens to write the X in a satisfying, bright red. He lists more books, presumably to buy, putting back Sean's mattress, marmalade, making sure both cars have full tanks of gas, and other wonderfully mundane items.

Connie Britton announced earlier this month that she adopted a baby boy from Ethiopia and now we get a first look at little Eyob!

The "American Horror Story" actress was spotted out with her son, who is nicknamed Yoby, having lunch at the Ivy Restaurant in Beverly Hills on Saturday, along with some other family members.

Britton recently shared details about the first time she met her baby with PEOPLE.

"It was such a wonderful moment of completion," she said about holding him for the first time. "I thought I was going to collapse into a puddle of tears. I was just grinning from ear to ear."

Check out a photo of Britton and Eyob below!

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Reese Witherspoon and her family decided to celebrate the holiday weekend with a trip to Disneyland, and according to the photos, it looks like everyone had a good time.

Witherspoon and her husband, Jim Toth, joined the actress' two children, Ava, 11, and Deacon, 8, on different rides at the Anaheim, Calif., park, including the always-fun Splash Mountain.

Witherspoon was even spotted snapping some photos of herself and Deacon with her phone while enjoying a ride.

Looks like a happy family to us!

Check out photos of Witherspoon and her family below, as well as other celebrities having fun at Disneyland!

PHOTOS:

The following is drawn from a speech given at TedxWomen this year:

THE FACTS:

1) Heart disease kills more women than ALL cancers combined.

2) 4 percent of women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, whereas 44 percent of women are diagnosed with heart disease.

3) Even though heart disease has been called a man's disease, since 1984, more women have died annually from heart disease than men.
4) In the United States, 39,520 women died of breast cancer last year but nearly 500,000 women died from heart disease. Put another way, in worldwide figures, 400,000 women die from breast cancer, but 8.6 MILLION women die from heart disease.

5) Given these statistics, only 24 percent of participants in all heart-related studies are women.

6) For 50 years, women have been treated based on diagnostics created for men.

7) And, surveys of available data show that a very small percentage of research dollars spent in the United States focus on the treatment of women with heart disease.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

What's wrong with this picture is the outrageous gender inequality that women face in the treatment of heart disease.

I consider myself a well-informed person, but when I heard these facts, I was stunned. Very few people know this. And until recently, almost no one talked about or paid attention to an epidemic that women are dying from throughout the world.

Women have made enormous strides. We've had women explore the depths of outer space, a woman has run for president of the United States, and a woman has served as speaker of the house. Yet a boys club still exists in the medical sciences. When I learned this, I knew I had to get involved and try to do something to change this picture.

I believe that those with a platform in the entertainment industry have the privilege of being able to speak out against inequality, discrimination and injustice. That's why I have chosen to speak on this issue. The number of women dying from breast cancer has significantly declined over the years because of people speaking out, sharing their stories, and the enormous amount of money that is raised for research and early detection efforts. Last year an estimated 1.7 billion dollars was raised for breast cancer alone. A small fraction of that amount was raised for women's heart disease. We desperately need the same kind of coordinated campaign.

And so, in 2008, I endowed a research and education program at Cedars-Sinai's Women's Heart Center, under the leadership of Dr. Noel Bairey Merz, who is doing lifesaving work in this field.

Throughout my life, gender inequality has always concerned me, whether it's making a movie about it or becoming involved in women's issues. And in this case, gender really DOES matter when it comes to medical science. How can you treat a woman for a life-threatening ailment based on research done on men? Especially when women's hearts are physiologically different than men's hearts. Women tend to have blockages not only in their main arteries, but also in the smaller arteries that supply blood to the heart -- a condition called microvascular disease.

Because of this, heart disease presents very differently in women than in men. 71 percent of women experience early warning signs of a heart attack with sudden onset of extreme weakness that feels like the flu -- often with no chest pain at all. Unlike the "Hollywood heart attack" we are all accustomed to seeing in movies and television where the man grips his chest and falls to the floor, most women who have a heart attack experience nausea and vomiting, sweating, and lightheadedness.

Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain. Most women do not know this and often times, by the time they enter the emergency room, their hearts have suffered substantial damage. Even if they go to their doctor, who is well intentioned, they are often misdiagnosed. I have met patients who have consulted 2 or 3 cardiologists and they are still misdiagnosed because many doctors are not given the proper training to know the warning signs in women.

Heart research done on women also helps men, as well. Take stem cell research, for example.

Recently, Dr. Merz and I were talking about the work of a colleague who is trying to grow the first human heart in a petri dish. She had a breakthrough in her study when she found out that using only female stem cells was the solution. She discovered that using male stem cells didn't work -- they got totally lost. And, as we know, men... even male stem cells... won't ask for directions.

Joking aside, the heart is an amazing organ, and first and foremost we need to focus on prevention. Women's lives are becoming increasingly demanding as they juggle the responsibilities of being wife, mother and helping to support the family. We need to take better care of ourselves. We need to slow down, reduce stress, eat better, make time to exercise... because the heart is a precious organ that needs to be protected.

Recently, I read an article authored by sociology professor, Mitch Hall. I found his insights, which are reinforced by various academic sources, really fascinating.

He wrote, "As we develop in utero, the human heart is the first organ to begin forming. In traditional Chinese medicine, the inner spiritual core of the self is deemed to reside, not in the head, but in the heart." He goes on to say, "The heart does not just pump -- what it does is listen." He suggests that the heart senses and integrates our thoughts, our emotions, and our will to carry out tasks. The heart actually is a sensitive integrator of all our experience.

Ancient cultures saw the heart as the seat of the soul. A human being has dual hearts -- the first a pulsating fist of muscle in the chest; the second, a precious cabal of communicating neurons that create feeling, longing, and love.

Many idioms attest to this 'second' heart, the social-emotional heart. For instance, sorrow is heartbreak. Sincere intentions are heartfelt. To be compassionate is to be openhearted, devoid of compassion -- heartless. To follow one's heart means to act on the basis of an intuitive sense of one's own most fulfilling option. He closes by saying, "to hearten is to encourage, and our English word courage is itself derived from the French word, coeur, meaning heart."

We can no longer afford to naively assume that heart disease is only a man's disease - because as I mentioned earlier, it's now an epidemic facing women. So I want to thank Dr. Merz for the work she is doing to help women live longer and healthier lives... women we love, our mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, wives and friends.

When Lea Michele and Ashton Kutcher raised eyebrows with their hands-on walk on the red carpet at the "New Year's Eve" premiere on Monday, it must have been a real relief for Michele. Rewind a little while back, and she wasn't even sure she could handle acting along side the "Two and a Half Men" star.

Speaking with New York Magazine, the "Glee" star recalled the casting process and a conversation she had with the film's director, Garry Marshall. He wanted to know who she was interested in having as her love interest, a question she could hardly answer at all.

"I didn't mention Ashton's name just because, I gotta say, I kinda felt like he was a little out of my league," she told the magazine. "You know, this guy's like, the hottest guy, and then when they called and said that Ashton was doing it, I was really freaked out. I thought I should have picked someone else and said, 'You have to use this person!' so I wouldn't have been nervous. But I'm so glad, because he challenged me, and it was a really great pairing, I think."

The nervousness was amplified because the pair didn't know each other beforehand, but that actually ended up being a good thing; the unfamiliarity, she told The Hollywood Reporter, is why they worked so well together.

"I think it was really good in this movie that Ashton and I didn't know each other because we were supposed to be strangers meeting in an elevator," she said. "I think if we were playing two people who have known each other their whole lives we would have definitely worked hard to create a certain rapport with each other, but not knowing each other really helped with this film."

In the weeks leading up to the "Hills" series finale, it seemed no man was man enough to tame the likes of Kristin Cavallari or her partner-in-crime, Stacie The Bartender. Now, not only are both engaged to be married, but K-Cav will actually act as a bridesmaid to the gal who once got hit on by (a very taken) Spencer Pratt.

He's getting married next week ... but Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean has blood on his mind -- sending out death-themed invitations that look like they were designed by Ed Hardy and Dracula ... and we got pics.

We bet you haven't seen this face in a while. Who's the pink eye-browed elf hawking phones for T-Mobile? It's Beans -- or rather Steven Anthony Lawrence -- from "Even Stevens," of course.

The child star who played the tiny troublemaker on the Disney show from 2001 to 2003 seems to be keeping the paychecks rolling in with his new holiday spot for the phone company. And we have a feeling that he's got to be earning a pretty penny in exchange for dyeing his eyebrows pink.

Check out Lawrence's holiday commercial gig below:

Check out these celebs who have similarly put their stamp on a product or two:

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — For the 20th consecutive year, Hollywood's most powerful women came together to break bread and celebrate their achievements in entertainment.

Jane Fonda and the late filmmaker Laura Ziskin were honored at the breakfast ceremony Wednesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel, held by the Hollywood Reporter in concert with its annual Power 100 ranking of the entertainment industry's most powerful women.

"This list matters," said Janice Min, the magazine's editorial director. "Acknowledging the achievements of women in a town where only 16 percent of all powerful, behind-the-scenes jobs are held by them – and that number is declining – is important."

Chelsea Handler, who ranked 97th on the list, welcomed guests including Nancy Grace (ranked 86th) and reality star Bethenny Frankel (No. 100 on the list), along with actresses Kate Bosworth and Emmy Rossum and the ubiquitous Kim Kardashian.

Actress Kirsten Dunst and Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal (No. 2 on the Power 100 list) presented a tribute to "Spider-Man" producer and Stand Up To Cancer founder Ziskin, who helped raise more than $180 million for cancer research before succumbing to the disease in June.

Former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing lauded her friend Fonda for her pioneering work in film, fitness, philanthropy and activism, presenting the 73-year-old actress with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.

Lansing said she idolized Fonda and credited the actress with teaching her to have faith in her ideas and stand up for herself. Lansing shared a story from early in her career when she worked with Fonda on "The China Syndrome."

Executives wanted to change the film's title, and rather than argue, Lansing dutifully passed word along to Fonda.

"She said to me, `Are you a corporate tool?'" Lansing recalled as the audience exploded in laughter. That exchange, Lansing said, taught her to "never let the numbers or the research cause me to go against my instincts ... that my instincts and my passion were more valuable than anything else."

Lansing went on to say that Fonda has "led us artistically and made us question our lives politically."

"I still idolize you, Jane, and you still inspire me," the former studio chief said.

"Did I really say corporate tool? No wonder people didn't like me," Fonda quipped as she accepted the crystal trophy, "which I guess is made out of a chunk of the glass ceiling that Sherry Lansing broke through."

Fonda said that while women have made strides in front of and behind the camera, the entertainment industry needs more female decision-makers.

"Until more women wield the power to decide what movies and TV shows get made, Hollywood culture won't really yield all the fascinating complexities that are the realities of women's lives," she said. "Until then, we're accepting supporting roles in an industry many of us have devoted our lives to."

The next generation of female leaders also participated in the annual Women in Entertainment breakfast. "The Help" author Kathryn Stockett and stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer introduced 12 Los Angeles-area high school juniors who will be mentored by female entertainment executives for the next year through a program launched in 2009 by the Hollywood Reporter and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

The full Power 100 list, which also includes the cast of "Bridesmaids" at No. 44, can be found online and in a special issue out this month. Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, tops the list.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at . www.twitter.com/APSandy

___

Online:

www.hollywoodreporter.com

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is heading towards disaster and it need not be the case.

The reasons for the impending disaster are all too apparent. Despite calls by many -- including Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI) in a paper published in the early fall -- Congolese authorities, supported by the UN and the U.S., rushed to hold an extraordinarily ill-prepared election.

Represented by Founding Member Cindy McCain and Founding Member and CEO Whitney Williams, ECI witnessed the elections first-hand in DRC's North Kivu province and observed the remarkable will of the Congolese people who participated by the millions. ECI agrees with the general conclusions reached by the Carter Center and others, that voters at roughly 15-20 percent of polling places encountered significant difficulties in casting their votes. Credible reports of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, lack of support for women and illiterate voters, lack of transparent reporting and other electoral violations also marred the election.

While the reasons for potential disaster are apparent, the Congolese people deserve better and steps can be taken now to mitigate a downward spiral into violence and regional instability. All available information, including preliminary tallies provided by the Congolese Electoral Commission, show that, as expected, the race is between two men, the incumbent President Joseph Kabila, and longstanding Congolese opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi. The head of the Electoral Commission, Reverend Daniel Mulunda-Nyanga, was scheduled to announce the interim results on Tuesday; however, because of the continuing chaos surrounding the vote count, the Electoral Commission delayed Mulunda's announcement of interim results until Thursday. Taking a bit more time to try get things right is -- finally -- a small first step in the right direction.

The second important step is for the Congolese Electoral Commission to publish election results by polling place, as required by Congolese law. The Carter Center has called this "the single best means to ensure that the elections reflect the will of the people." The State Department endorsed this action in a statement released on Tuesday. When Reverend Mulunda announces the tentative results of the presidential election on Thursday, he must make public the data disaggregated by polling place to back up his totals.

The third important step is to verify the totals as announced by Reverend Mulunda. If the Electoral Commission makes any mistakes or miscalculations in its totals, these must be rapidly detected, corrected, accepted and announced by the Electoral Commission.

Once verified, the fourth crucial step is for credible outside groups such as the Carter Center to rapidly complete what we call a "fraud analysis." As they did for the 2006 elections in the Congo, independent observers need to rapidly assess whether the results remain valid when the myriad irregularities, including fraud, associated with the election are factored in. For example, if one candidate has a small, initial lead, it is plausible that once a fraud analysis is factored in, such a lead would be reduced or could even vanish.

With results provided by polling places and a fraud analysis to test the reliability of the reported results, it will be possible to determine whether there is a clear winner in the presidential race. Unfortunately, the election itself and post-election period have seen so many irregularities that another scenario must be considered: What if, after the analyses described above are completed and a clear winner does not emerge, the election is "too close to call." What should be done then? If this difficult situation arises, a credible mediation mission involving neutral arbiters from other African states is the best option to help the Congolese to find a reasonable resolution. The U.S. should also be prepared to play an active role. Whether it is the highest levels of our government, well-respected former U.S. Presidents, Members of Congress or civil society leaders, the U.S. would do well to flex our diplomatic muscle on behalf of these 70 million Congolese.

Something must be done beyond simply declaring the leader the winner, and some accommodation must be found between the two leading candidates. Regrettably, the Congolese Supreme Court, the supreme arbiter of the election under Congolese law, includes many Kabila loyalists and is not seen as a neutral party by many Congolese. A declaration by the Court by itself will be insufficient; any Court action must be bolstered by these additional recommended actions. The Court is scheduled to give its final ruling on the election outcome on December 17. It is imperative that all the actions recommended above be fully carried out before the Supreme Court rules.

In a statement released on November 29, the day after the election began, ECI recommended that the "core aspects of the democratic process, which require transparency and openness, (must be) adhered to by election officials." A credible outcome will greatly ease other efforts under way by the United States and others to help the Congolese avoid another period of destabilization and violence.

The Congolese people deserve a future where their basic rights are respected, including the right to know that their leaders reflect their electoral will. This right hangs in the balance. We hope that President Obama and Secretary Clinton will clearly state that the United States will not support a Congolese President who uses violence against civilians who seek only to exercise their voting rights. Ultimately, the U.S. must only support a Congolese President who enters office following a transparent and credible process that reflects the will of the Congolese people.

By Ben Affleck, Actor, Director and Founder of Eastern Congo Initiative; Cindy Hensley McCain, Philanthropist, Humanitarian, Founding Member of Eastern Congo Initiative and wife of U.S. Senator John McCain; and Anthony W. Gambino, Fellow, Eastern Congo Initiative.

Representatives for Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures vehemently rejected published reports that residents of Mumbai were paid to cheer and act excited for the cameras when the actor arrived in the Indian city on Saturday to promote his new movie.

"Tom Cruise is a massive star and attracts huge throngs of fans as he travels the world promoting 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,'" a spokesperson for Paramount said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "The only people paid were performers who danced outside the venue. The idea that fans were paid to cheer is completely ludicrous and entirely false."

A report in First Post Bollywood claimed that 200 or more extras were each given about 150 rupees -- the equivalent of $3 -- and a free lunch to mimic enthusiasm for Cruise's arrival in the city.

A source close to Cruise told The Huffington Post that confusion over payments made to dancers who performed at the event may have given rise to the false reports. The source called the charge of fan-planting "ludicrous" and "insulting" to the actor's Indian devotees, who greeted him for photos at every opportunity.

“Tom kaun? [Tom who?] I don’t know who he is or what he does," an unnamed "artiste" told First Post Bollywood. "We were told to come here by 1pm today and wait for a foreign VIP to come out of the airport gate and scream and shout when he came. None of us know who Tom is. There was a buffet lunch also for us and we were paid Rs 150 for this job today. We do this for television shows and other such events where crowds are required."

The Mumbai Mirror reported that Wizcraft, the company that organized Cruise's trip to the country, had hired an outside agency to procure the fans to cheer at the airport. Wizcraft denied the claim, with one of the company's directors telling the Mirror, “We are not aware of this. Your information is incorrect."

Anil Kapoor, an Indian actor who co-stars alongside Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg in the film, released a statement saying, "Tom Cruise coming to my country for 'Mission Impossible' was an incredible event for the people of Mumbai. I've never seen that level of pure enthusiasm."

Cruise, now in Dubai, is in the midst of a 16-day promotional tour for the movie that has already hit Japan, Korea and India and will take him to Moscow, Germany, Madrid, London and Brazil.

First off, I would like to apologize to the other passengers onboard the American Airlines flight that I was thrown off of yesterday. It was never my intention to inconvenience anyone with my "issue" with a certain flight attendant.

I suppose a part of my frustration lay with the fact that I had flown American for over 20 years and was brand loyal, in the extreme. The ticketing agents and Admiral's Club staff have always been nothing but abundantly helpful to me, as I have flown hundreds of thousands of miles with the one carrier.

My confusion began when the flight, already a half hour behind schedule, boarded, the door closed, and we proceeded to sit at the gate for another fifteen minutes. I then did what I have nearly always done and that was to pull out my phone to complete any other messaging I had to do before take off. In nearly all other instances, the flight attendants seemed to be unbothered by and said nothing about such activity, by me or anyone else, until we actually were pulling away from the gate.

In this case, while other people were still manipulating their own phones, this one employee singled me out to put my phone away. Afterward, we still sat at the gate. I pulled out my phone again, while others did the same. Again, I was singled out by this woman in the most unpleasant of tones. I guess the fact that this woman, who had decided to make some example of me, while everyone else was left undisturbed, did get the better of me.

However, I have learned a valuable lesson. Airlines in the US are struggling with fuel costs, labor costs, bankruptcies, you name it. It's no secret that the level of service on US carriers has deteriorated to a point that would make Howard Hughes red-faced. Filthy planes, barely edible meals, cuts in jet service to less-traveled locations. One of the big changes, in my time, is in the increase of the post-9/11, paramilitary bearing of much of the air travel business. September 11th was a horrific day in the airline industry, yet in the wake of that event, I believe carriers and airports have used that as an excuse to make the air travel experience as inelegant as possible.

Most of the flight attendants I have ever encountered still have some remnant of the old idea of service. Add to that the notion that in this day and age, many people have a lot of important work to do, by phone, and would like to do so till the last possible minute. But there are many now who walk the aisles of an airplane with a whistle around their neck and a clipboard in their hands and they have made flying a Greyhound bus experience.

The lesson I've learned is to keep my phone off when the 1950's gym teacher is on duty. That was my fault there, even though this trip was quite a bit different from so many others. But it is sad, I think, that you've got to fly overseas today in order to bring back what has been thrown overboard by US carriers in terms of common sense, style, and service.

Again, my apology to my fellow travelers.

Seacrest in?

NBC is considering Ryan Seacrest as a potential successor to Matt Lauer on "The Today Show," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Wall Street Journal reports that several NBC executives met with the "American Idol" host earlier this week to discuss the possible new gig.

Lauer reportedly signaled that he will leave the show after his contract expires at the end of next year, according to an April report in the Los Angeles Times.

Mediate reported in August that Seacrest's name was being floated as a potential Lauer replacement.

Seacrest told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year that he was looking forward to the possibility of more "Today" appearances.

Lauer is almost inseparable from the identity of NBC's legendary morning show, having been a co-host on the program since 1997.

Talk about striking a pose. Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber soaked up the sun in Mexico -- they were in the country to attend a wedding -- and got quite cozy during some downtime on the beach.

Gomez rocked a tiny blue bikini while Bieber lounged shirtless, in denim shorts, snapping photos of his beautiful sunbathing girlfriend while she relaxed.

Summer love in December? These are two lucky kids.

Check out Selena and Justin's fellow beach-going celebrities below: