BabeWatch: VMA Special Edition

Britney Spears

Zoe Saldana

Katie Holmes

Kelly Rowland

Beyonce with baby bump

Vanessa Hudgens

Selena Gomez

Demi Lovato

Victoria Justice

Katy Perry

And in the rear, Kim Kardashian...

We Got Your Crazy: The Wackiest VMA Moments Ever

Sat Aug 27, 2011
Lyndsey Parker
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/awards/47302/we-got-your-crazy-the-wackiest-vma-moments-ever

Let's be real: When it comes to the MTV Video Music Awards, it's never about who wins or loses. Everyone has long forgotten that the Cars' "You Might Think" took top honors at the first VMAs ceremony, or even that Beyonce's "Single Ladies" was the big winner in 2009, but no one will ever forget Madonna's career-making performance from 1984 or Kanye West's Taylor Swift bumrush from 2009.

MTV correspondent Sway promises that this year's show will offer plenty surprises as he anticipates viewers watching with their mouths agape. Considering Lady Gaga topped last year's event with the Video Of The Year win as well as the night's most edible fashion moment, we should expect her to uphold her rep when she opens the show. But you think Gaga can top these 16 craziest incidents in VMA history? Review them below and decide for yourself.

Lady Gaga Answers Age Old Question, "Where's The Beef?" (2010)
Only show-stealer Lady Gaga could upstage herself at the VMAs. You think it would be honor enough for Lady Gaga to take home the moonman for Video Of The Year. But no. She received her trophy wearing a dress literally made of raw meat. Viewers wondered if Kanye would apologize to Taylor for ruining her first VMA moment the year prior. And though he didn't, and instead lead the audience in a toast to his fellow jerks, no one really cared. Everyone wanted to know, however, who made Gaga's dress, and whether or not it needed to be refrigerated. This past June we learned that the beefy couture has been preserved by a taxidermist and will enjoy a stay at the Rock And Rock Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum.

Kanye West Doesn't Let Taylor Swift Finish (2009)
In a cruel move that's been likened to pig's blood being dumped on Carrie at the prom, in 2009 Kanye ruined America's sweetheart's big moment when he hopped onstage to protest her winning the Best Female Video moonman over "Single Ladies," aka the BEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME (capslock is Kanye's, not Yahoo!'s). It may have been the greatest thing that ever happened to Taylor's career, which took off as the entire world sympathetically rallied around her. But it was still mean. A year later, Kanye is profusely apologizing all over Twitter and Chelsea's hinting that there may be some sort of West/Swift reunion at this weekend's VMAs. If so, will Kanye really let Taylor finish this time?

Britney's "Gimme More" Performance: Gimme Less, Please (2007)
Don't call it a comeback. Because it wasn't. Yes, the big hype in '07 was the fact that Britney Spears--a woman who'd made VMA history in the past by performing with an albino snake--would be kicking off that year's Vegas ceremony with a performance of her supposed comeback single, "Gimme More." But with worse lip-synching than "SNL"-era Ashlee Simpson, clodfooted choreography that in no way reflected the hours of rehearsal time she'd reportedly logged at the Millennium Dance Studio, and utterly confused/disappointed expressions on the famous faces of spectators like 50 Cent and Chris Brown (too bad the cameras didn't cut to Justin Timberlake's surely priceless reaction)...seriously, Kevin Federline could have done a better job opening the VMAs. This performance was trainwrecky enough to make fans shave their own heads in protest, and at the time it seemed like Britney's career was finally kaput.

Tommy Lee & Kid Rock In The Battle For Pamela (2007)
Apparently Pamela Anderson is the Helen Of Troy of rock 'n' roll. In 2007, the "Baywatch" babe's two ex-husbands, Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, got into a brawl during, of all things, Alicia Keys's otherwise mellow VMA performance--resulting in both rockers being escorted out by security. Kid was for all purposes the winner of this fight, since he managed to a) land a punch on Tommy's face and b) keep his cigar in his mouth throughout the brawl. (Kid was cited for misdemeanor battery for his assault on Tommy.) Host Jamie Foxx lightened the mood by later jokingly asking the audience to "stop white-on-white crime."

Madonna, Britney & Xtina: The Kiss Heard Around The World (2003)
All anyone remembers about the 2003 VMAs is the opening number featuring Madonna and the two logical successors to her pop-starlet throne, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. We just think it's sad that people only remember Madge swapping spit with Britney--she kissed Christina too, you know! But somehow it's that Britney/Madonna smooch that remains ingrained in every VMA viewer's brain. Missy Elliott also rapped with the trio, by the way, and her video "Work It" won Video The Year, too. No one remembers that either.

Michael Jackson Wins Non-Existent "Artist Of Millennium" Award (2002)
The King Of Pop was once of the king of MTV. In fact, MTV probably wouldn't have become the empire it is now without his groundbreaking early videos. So it's understandable that when Michael appeared on the VMAs--with Britney Spears presenting him with his 44th birthday cake and saying he was the "artist of the millennium" in her eyes--he thought he was getting a well-deserved Artist Of Millennium Award. The truly embarrassing part was that he mistook a cheap Styrofoam cake decoration for a trophy, then delivered an emotional acceptance speech that namechecked David Blaine. Oh well. Maybe Michael will get a posthumous Artist Of Millennium Award this year...

Eminem Feuds With Moby, Puppet (2002)
Marshall Mathers really needs to pick on people his own size. While Kid Rock at least had the decency to brawl with an equal opponent, in 2002 Eminem flipped off bookish, bespectacled techno star Moby (whom he'd ridiculed in "Without Me"), then later called Moby a "little girl" in one of his acceptance speeches and warned, "I will hit a man with glasses." He also shoved Conan-affiliated canine hand puppet Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, when Triumph attempted to interview Eminem about the Moby incident. Despite being the big VMA winner that year, Shady's shady behavior elicited rounds of audience boos. Where was Kanye to interrupt Eminem's nasty speech, when Moby and Triumph needed him most?

Rage Against The Machine's Bassist Rages Against...Something, We're Just Not Sure What (2000)
Rage Against The Machine are known for their organized protests, but there was nothing organized about the 2000 VMAs, when RATM bass-slinger Tim Commerford (who was calling himself "Tim2K" at the time, in honor of the new millennium) climbed on top of some stage scaffolding during the broadcast and refused to come down. No one was really quite sure what he was protesting, either--although we're going to guess it was the fact that Limp Bizkit had just won an award. Regardless, it was later revealed that rabblerousing documentary director Michael Moore had encouraged Tim2K to "follow his heart" and go through with this stunt.

Diana Ross Gives Lil' Kim A Hand (1999)
When Motown legend Diana met queen bee Kim (when they presented an award together with Mary J. Blige), a simple handshake just wouldn't do. Dirty Diana instead took a very hands-on approach, and enthusiastically jiggled Kim's purple-pastie'd left bosom onstage. Talk about a boob-tube moment!

Fiona Is One Sour Apple (1997)
When waify songstress Fiona Apple was only 20 years old, she was presented with a Best New Artist moonman by none other than Elton John, beating out frontrunners like Hanson, the Wallflowers, and Jamiroquai, the latter of whom won a ton of VMAs for "Virtual Insanity" that year. This was every young artist's dream. But not for Fiona. Instead she took her time at the podium to denounce the entire awards show. "Everybody out there who is watching this world, this world is bulls**t," she babbled, adding a Maya Angelou quote just to keep things classy. Where was Kanye in '97, to interrupt this?

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love: Van Halen's Botched Reunion Attempt (1996)
The reunion between Van Halen and off/on original frontman David Lee Roth on the VMAs stage--their first appearance together in 10 years--was so exciting. For about 47 seconds. Because that's about how long this particular VH reunion lasted. Eddie Van Halen's icy body language at the VMAs made it clear that he still loathed Diamond Dave--at times he was standing so far away from Roth, he may as well have been on a different show on another network--and Dave's constant goofy quips about Eddie's hip surgery didn't help matters. Rumor has it they nearly got in a fistfight backstage. Now in 2010, Roth and VH are reunited once more and working on a comeback album. So, will they appear at this year's VMAs? We guess that if they do, they'll split up immediately afterwards, and their comeback album will never come out.

Courtney Love Doesn't Let Madonna & Kurt Loder Finish (1995)
The most exciting moment of the '95 VMAs actually took place offstage, once the show was over, when loose-cannon rock widow Courtney Love hijacked VJ Kurt Loder's perfectly civilized interview with elder stateswoman Madonna. (Courtney got Kurt's attention by tossing her powder compact into the press pit.) A lesser pop star may have been intimidated by Courtney's crazy antics. But Courtney was no match for Madge, who in a refreshing change of pace came across as classy and totally non-controversial, smiling benignly while Courtney struggled to remain upright and babbled about Michael Stipe and Birkenstocks. This was live television at its finest.

Michael Jackson Kisses His Bride (1994)
Amid rumors that their tabloid marriage was a sham, a ploy to clean up Michael's post-child-molestation-accusations image, the King Of Pop and the King's daughter canoodled openly onstage at the 1994 VMAs. They convinced precisely three people that they were really in love, while their sloppy smooch effectively grossed out the other 5 million or so people who were watching. Lisa Marie later told Rolling Stone: "That [kiss] was not my idea, by the way. I was terrified. It was [Michael's] manager's idea. I thought it was stupid. All of a sudden I became part of a public relations machine."

The Beasties Sabotage R.E.M.'s Speech (1994)
The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," one of the GREATEST MUSIC VIDEOS EVER (capslock is Yahoo!'s, not Kanye's), ridiculously lost out in all categories. This shutout so angered Beastie Adam Yauch's lederhosened alter ego, Nathaniel Hornblower, that Nathaniel famously bumrushed the stage during Michael Stipe's typically PC speech, yodeling, "This is an outrage! This is a farce!" (over the injustice that "Sabotage" mastermind Spike Jonze had lost the Best Direction award to R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts"). Stipe just looked confused. But we think it was the VMA judges who were most confused. Spike should have won. We bet even Kanye would agree.

Nirvana Perform At VMAs, Chaos Ensues (1992)
Kurt Cobain never seemed at ease with the whole MTV megafame thing, which was at its peak in 1992, one year after Nevermind came out and changed the music business in ways he probably never imagined or intended. So when Nirvana performed at that year's VMAs, Kurt was his typical rebellious self--starting their performance with a few un-PC bars of their unreleased and unrehearsed tune "Rape Me" (against VMA producers' wishes) in one of the most chaotic and punk-rock appearances in MTV history. At the performance's conclusion, bandmate Krist Novoselic hurled his bass guitar in the air and tried to catch it, but it wacked him in the face instead. Krist blogged years later that Queen's Brian May had nursed him backstage with a glass of champagne, indicating that Krist had adjusted to the swishy MTV lifestyle much more easily than Kurt ever did.

Madonna's Opening Number: A Video Star Is Born (1984)
Older generations vividly recall the exact moment when they first saw Elvis twitch his pelvis on TV or when the Beatles first performed on "Ed Sullivan." But for children of the '80s, one of the most defining televised music moments was when Madonna kicked off the first annual VMAs. Given the many outrageous antics she'd pull off later in her career, it's hard to fathom now that back then, viewers were genuinely shocked when Madonna rolled around onstage to "Like A Virgin" in a see-through wedding gown, granny panties, and pile of rosary beads. But no one had ever seen anything like it at the time. And come to think of it, no one's seen anything like it since.

BabeWatch

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Adrianne Palicki: The New Wonder Woman

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Sofia Vergara: Shape magazine cover

Gaga Vs. Britney: Pop Music Battle of the Year

"Born This Way"
Lady Gaga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4a8QtvOkBQ

Vs

"Hold It Against Me"
Britney Spears
http://www.mtv.com/videos/britney-spears/624145/hold-it-against-me.jhtml

BabeWatch

 

Highlights of Britney Spears on Glee

Full Story at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1316089/Britney-Spears-finally-debuts-Glee-Heather-Morris-shines-singers-sequin-bodysuit.html

Kim Kardashian in a leopard catsuit at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont

Shakira in an upcoming video

Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Oprah Top Forbes 2010 Celebrity Power List

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1642610/20100629/lady_gaga.jhtml

Jun 29 2010
Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Oprah Top Forbes 2010 Celebrity Power List
James Cameron, Sandra Bullock, Britney and Madonna also named most powerful celebs of 2010.
Gil Kaufman

Lady Gaga has won a lot of accolades during the past year and met some pretty impressive dignitaries, but crashing the Forbes magazine annual World's Most Powerful Celebrities list puts her in some truly rarified company.

The singer, who launched her latest iteration of her never-ending Monster Ball Tour in Montreal on Monday night, debuts on the list this year at #4. She landed there thanks to high marks for her Web visibility (#1 on the list) and a $62 million haul between June 2009 and June 2010, $31 million of which came from touring (after a gross of $95 million), with much of the rest courtesy of deals with Virgin Mobile, Polaroid, Monster Cable and MAC.

Gaga joins a top 10 that is dominated by women, including the once-again #1, Oprah Winfrey, who retook her top rank thanks to $315 million in earnings after ceding it last year to Angelina Jolie (now #18). The list ranks celebs based on earnings over the previous 12 months, as well as visibility in print, TV, radio, online and social media.

Beyoncé slipped up two spots to #2 this year, with $86 million in grosses thanks to a 93-date world tour, deals with Nintendo and L'Oreal and her House of Dereon fashion line. The still resurgent Britney Spears leaped from #13 to #6 this year, banking $64 million, most of it thanks to a world tour that grossed $130 million and deals with Elizabeth Arden and Candie's.

Madonna slipped seven spots down from last year's #3 ranking to #10, but at 52, she still had the fourth-highest-grossing tour of the year, which rolled up more than $138 million in gross receipts, as well as significant publishing royalties, including cash from an all-Madge episode of "Glee."

More than 30 years into their career, U2 went from zero to #7 on the list, mostly courtesy of a massive — currently mothballed — world tour that raked in more than $311 million in gross box office, as well as lucrative merchandise sales, copious radio play and a steady-selling back catalog that earned them more than $130 million.

With a $210 million payday from his #1 smash "Avatar," director James Cameron (#3) had a very good year, unlike disgraced golfer Tiger Woods, who hits #5 with $105 million in earnings amid high press rankings, mostly for his infidelity scandal. The top 10 is rounded out by Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock (#8, $56 million), who made headlines for having two hit movies, "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side," as well a divorce from ex-Jesse James. And at #9 is Johnny Depp, who banked $75 million, mostly due to his work in "Alice in Wonderland," which grossed $1 billion worldwide, making Depp the only actor to headline two billion-dollar films.

Taylor Swift made it onto the list for the first time, at #12, thanks to her status as the most-played artist on radio in 2009, multi-platinum album sales, and big endorsement deals with Sony and CoverGirl that netted her $45 million. She's just ahead of Miley Cyrus (#13), who took in a not-too-shabby $48 million. Beyoncé's other half, Jay-Z, also made a giant leap this year, jumping from #32 to #15 with a hit album, his investment in the 40/40 club chain and the Broadway show "Fela!," the New Jersey Nets, and the Blueprint 3 tour, which grossed more than $1 million per show.

Also new on the list this year are the Black Eyed Peas, who debuted at #16 thanks to a $48 million year pumped up by sponsorship deals with Target, Honda, Bacardi and Apple. Singer Pink crashed the party at #27 in her debut year, with $44 million, much of it courtesy of her smash international tour.

Other musicians on the list include: Bruce Springsteen (#17), Coldplay (#35), the Jonas Brothers (#40), Diddy (#68), Lil Wayne (#74) and Akon (#80).

"Twilight" star Robert Pattinson also makes his first appearance on the list, coming in at #50 with $17 million in earnings, followed by co-star Kristen Stewart at #66 with $12 million in earnings. The woman who started it all, "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer, hits the #59 spot with $40 million in pay thanks to the $1 billion in box office the movies have earned so far and continued strong sales of the books from the series.

Former "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell earned a spot behind Madonna at #11 with a hefty $80 million payday, while fellow "Idol" cohort Ellen DeGeneres (#23) earned $55 million from her stint on the reality show and her syndicated daily talker. "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest weighs in at #44 with $51 million from his variety of TV hosting gigs, radio show and producer credits on reality shows.

Can Lady Gaga Top These MTV Performances?

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1618580/20090812/lady_gaga.jhtml

Aug 12 2009
Can Lady Gaga Top These Iconic MTV VMA Performances?
From Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' to Rihanna's layer cake, Gaga's got plenty of pop diva inspiration for her VMA debut.
By Jocelyn Vena

Not only is Lady Gaga up for nine Moonmen at the VMAs this year as they embark on the singer's hometown of New York, but she's also just been tapped to perform at the live show on September 13 at 9 p.m. ET.

Gaga has yet to disappoint with her TV appearances on "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars" and even "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" this year, so for a show as big as the VMAs, the expectations are high. Not only will the fashion-forward star have to top herself, but also the divas and pop princesses who have left indelible marks on the ceremony over the years. Just last year, Rihanna emerged from a towering industrial layer cake, and Pink set off explosions and smashed windows. Clearly, the same old song-and-dance doesn't cut it anymore.

Britney Spears has hit the VMA stage with stripper poles, nearly naked and wrapped in snakes. She's graced the stage as a solo act and collaborated with 'NSYNC, as well as Christina Aguilera and Madonna. Sometimes, as was the case at the 2008 VMAs, Spears doesn't even have to perform to be the star of the show.

But there would be no Britney if Madonna hadn't been there first. There's no one who gets the magic of MTV's biggest spectacle more than the Material Girl, who has tried it all and worn it all. She's dressed in Marie Antoinette garb for her performance of "Vogue" in 1990. In 1993, she channeled Marlene Dietrich for her performance of "Bye Bye Baby." And then she went all Hindi-spiritual for her "Ray of Light" performance in 1998. We all know that Gaga appreciates a costume or two, so any one of those should provide her with inspiration.

Of course, the biggest performance to beat may be Madonna's 1984 VMA appearance. Clad in a wedding dress and lacy white gloves, Madonna officially became the reigning queen of pop when she rolled around on the stage at Radio City while singing, "Like a Virgin." The performance was anything but virginal. Madonna even paid tribute to it, along with Spears and Aguilera, in 2003.

Although there's no word yet on which hit Gaga will be performing come September 13, we're sure she'll go big.

The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards will take place September 13 at 9 p.m. ET. Additional celebrity presenters and performers will be announced in the coming weeks. To be the first to find out the inside scoop, follow the Inside MTV Twitter account at Twitter.com/InsideMTV.

Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears Score

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/04/beyonce-lady-gaga-and-britney-spears-score-most-vmas-nods/

Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears Score Most VMAs Nods
8/4/09

If MTV is trying to lure Britney Spears back onto the Video Music Awards stage — the site of so many of her triumphs, and one of her most visible crashes — they’re not being very coy about it. Ms. Spears received seven nominations for the 2009 VMAs this morning, second only to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, who will face off for the most Moonmen with nine nods apiece. Eminem, Coldplay and Kanye West are all up for four trophies, and Green Day — who have been confirmed as performers on the September 13th’s live broadcast — nabbed two.

In an attempt to rewrite history, MTV is also revisiting a few classic videos in a contest called Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman). U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” will go up against Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” David Lee Roth’s “California Girls” and Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” among others, in that category.

Beyoncé’s nominations are all for her carefully choreographed (and oft-imitated) blockbuster video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” while Lady Gaga’s are split between “Poker Face” and the lengthy “Paparazzi.” Spears’ nods come from her first video from Circus, “Womanizer,” and the clip for the title track. Kings of Leon, Drake and Asher Roth are all receiving their first-ever nods this year.

“I’ve been blessed this year to have ‘Single Ladies’ become a video people really connected with and responded to,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “I’ve spent so much time watching all the great versions people created all around the world. It’s beautiful to feel you touch people and bring a song to life with a video.” A montage of clips of amateurs (and some pros like Justin Timberlake) attempting the “Single Ladies” routine plays during Beyoncé’s I Am … Tour.

Anyone can vote for the general VMAs categories starting today at the VMAs’ official Website. Voting for Best New Artist — where Lady Gaga faces off against Drake, Kid Cudi, Asher Roth and 3OH!3 — will continue during the live show on the 13th.

Video of the Year
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Lady Gaga - “Poker Face”
Eminem - “We Made You”
Kanye West - “Love Lockdown”
Britney Spears - “Womanizer”

Best New Artist
Lady Gaga - “Poker Face”
Drake - “Best I Ever Had”
3OH!3 - “Don’t Trust Me”
Kid Cudi - “Day N’ Nite”
Asher Roth - “I Love College”

Best Male Video
Eminem - “We Made You”
Kanye West - “Love Lockdown”
Jay-Z - “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
T.I. feat. Rihanna - “Live Your Life”
Ne-Yo - “Miss Independent”

Best Female Video
Katy Perry - “Hot n Cold”
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Kelly Clarkson - “My Life Would Suck Without You”
Lady Gaga - “Poker Face”
Taylor Swift - “You Belong With Me”
Pink - “So What”

Best Hip-Hop Video
Eminem - “We Made You”
Kanye West - “Love Lockdown”
Jay-Z - “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
Asher Roth - “I Love College”
Flo Rida - “Right Round”

Best Pop Video
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Lady Gaga - “Poker Face”
Britney Spears - “Womanizer”
Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester - “Good Girls Go Bad”
Wisin y Yandel - “Abusadora”

Best Rock Video
Coldplay - “Viva la Vida”
Kings of Leon - “Use Somebody”
Green Day - “21 Guns”
Fall Out Boy - “I Don’t Care”
Paramore - “Decode”

Best Choreography
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Britney Spears - “Circus”
Ciara feat. Justin Timberlake - “Love Sex Magic”
AR Rahman & Pussy Cat Dolls feat. Nicole Scherzinger - “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)”
Kristinia DeBarge - “Goodbye”

Best Direction
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Lady Gaga - “Paparazzi”
Green Day - “21 Guns”
Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester - “Good Girls Go Bad”
Britney Spears - “Circus”

Best Editing
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Britney Spears - “Circus”
Miley Cyrus - “7 Things”
Coldplay - “Viva la Vida”
Lady Gaga - “Paparazzi”

Best Special Effects
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Gnarls Barkely - “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul”
Lady Gaga - “Paparazzi”
Eminem - “We Made You”
Kanye West feat. Mr Hudson - “Paranoid”

Best Cinematography
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Coldplay - “Viva la Vida”
Lady Gaga - “Paparazzi”
Green Day - “21 Guns”
Britney Spears - “Circus”

Best Art Direction
Beyoncé - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Britney Spears - “Circus”
Lady Gaga - “Paparazzi”
Gnarls Barkley - “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul”
Coldplay - “Viva la Vida”

Breakthrough Video
Death Cab for Cutie - “Grapevine Fires”
Gnarls Barkely - “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul”
Cold War Kids - “I’ve Seen Enough”
Anjulie - “Boom”
Chairlift - “Evident Utensil”
Bat for Lashes - “Daniel”
Major Lazer - “Hold the Line”
Passion Pit - “The Reeling”
Matt & Kim - “Lessons Learned”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Heads Will Roll”

Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman)
U2 - “Where the Streets Have No Name”
Dr. Dre - “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang”
Beastie Boys - “Sabotage”
Björk - “Human Behavior”
Radiohead - “Karma Police”
George Michael - “Freedom”
Foo Fighters - “Everlong”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - “Into the Great Wide Open”
OK Go - “Here It Goes Again”
David Lee Roth - “California Girls”

Topless Photos of Britney Spears

Britney may no longer be the Queen of Pop after a decade run, but any story involving her and her breasts will still be newsworthy in The Konformist book. The following pics are from TMZ.com, though they were originally found on Newsoftheworld.co.uk. The pictures were taken during the video shoot for Gimme More. Sadly, TMZ chose to star out her temporarily tattoed nipples and News of the World pulled the pics from their site, but no doubt any desperately horny guy with a connection to Google or Yahoo can pull up her boobs with a little creativity. Get to work, boys!!!

Gaga 4 Gaga

Robert Sterling, Konformist.com

I remember the first time I saw Britney Spears sing quite vividly. I was shopping for electronics with a pal of mine at a West L.A. Best Buy in October of 1998. And there I was, in front of a bunch of large screen televisions, when she appeared, shaking her nubile, flexible body to the beat of "Baby One More Time" while clad in a schoolgirl uniform. When the song was finished, I turned to my friend and gave this simple review: "You know what? I have a new favorite female singer."

Little did I know that three months later, little Brit would have the number one single and album on the Billboard Charts, and would be on her way to becoming the biggest pop star on the planet. To my credit, I grasped how a then only sixteen-year-old Spears (something I didn't realize at the time of viewing, but the later revelation of which strangely didn't detract from her appeal) had already mastered the manipulation of video for mass consumption like few others. (Indeed, the entire video concept for the song reputedly came from Spears alone.) But in many ways, I (and others) clearly underestimated her musical talents. True, she rarely has written her own songs, and her voice isn't the most dynamic, but even if you want to dismiss her as pure product, the product she has put out over the last ten years holds up amazingly well. (I would even argue her music has stood the test of time far better than Eminem, who never quite fulfilled the potential of his skills.) And nowhere does that become more evident than when listening to "Baby One More Time" again, as it is one of those perfectly crafted pop songs where the success seems almost obvious in retrospect.

Thinks about it: has anyone changed pop music like Britney did since she hit the scene? For better or for worse, she is the one artist who has defined this decade in pop music. And while some may snicker at that opinion, there's a reason why even after quickie Vegas weddings, Fahrenheit 9/11 cameos, K-Fed, limo beaver shots and VMA meltdowns, the public still forgives her and hungrily laps up every new album of hers like it's an event. The 2003 kiss she shared with Madonna on MTV became a sensation in part because it was the passing of the baton, with even Madonna symbolically acknowledging, after twenty years, she had lost the crown as the Queen of Pop. No artist, male or female, has yet to come even close to ending her royal reign.

Of course, to some degree, she has won the title be default. In rock music, for example, even if you're a fan of Coldplay or Nickleback (and I'm not) it's not like their music caused any shocking shift in the music landscape. There's been no Nirvana and grunge, nor even a Nine Inch Nails and industrial rock. Even a band like Radiohead, who probably would make the best alternative case to Ms. Spears for artist of the zeroes, is more a unique quirk in the machine rather than a gamechanger.

For most of the decade, hip hop picked up some of the slack. It's remarkable that the gangsta sound could, so improbably, become the definition of pop music ten years after Straight Outta Compton. Unfortunately, rap music has become lazy, self-satisfied and derivative, aided in no small part by the devolution from NWA's authentic nihilistic social commentary to shallow celebration of thuggery and crass commercialism. My general reaction to rap music in recent years: okay, so you're bad ass, drive a Bentley and drink Cristal, when you have something else to say, let me know. (Indeed, the main reason behind the popularity of Kanye West is, for all the jokes of his raging ego, he's still more interested in sonic experimentation than repetitive boasts.) The declining sales of hip hop the last five years indicate there are millions who apparently agree. Maybe rap won't face a cultural massacre like hair metal did in the early nineties, but it definitely deserves to.

Meanwhile, the one bright light over the past decade has been female pop, rock and soul: Beyonce (either solo or in Destiny's Child), Gwen Stefani (either solo or in No Doubt), Pink, Alicia Keys, Nelly Furtado, Christina Aguilera, M.I.A., Fiona Apple, Mariah Carey, Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, Rihanna, Katy Perry. I'm certainly forgetting deserved names here, and that's the point: females really have dominated the musical landscape. And though she's never been given the credit she deserves, Ms. Britney really is the key player in this battle of the sexes by making females the more marketable commodity.

Still, there appears to be a huge vacuum in the pop music landscape that needs to be filled, and I'm not the only one who's been grumbling about it. (I suspect the empty void in pop music is a large part of the YouTube craze caused by the UK's Susan Boyle, and yes, I admit it: I too sobbed like a little girl when I saw her sing.) Even if you give Britney her due, it still would be ten years since a real Next Big Thing has hit the musical scene. Napster didn't even exist back then. With no radical movement in rock or rap since, there's a real mass hunger for a new sound, and a new face, to change the face of pop.

At this point, Lady Gaga isn't exactly an obscure name in pop music: indeed, she already has two number one hits in "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" while her album The Fame has gone top five. Still, if you don't pay her too close attention, she could appear to be just another marketable pretty face, perhaps a bit more talented than average, and certainly a lot more attention-getting with her outrageous fashions, but nothing particularly remarkable.

To some degree, that's how I viewed her, at least at first. It didn't help that I usually caught her music in the background while doing something else, most often at my gym while working out. Despite this, I soon could tell she was fairly attractive and charismatic, had a good voice and had heard she was an amazing live performer. And while her musical style, usually described as elctropop or disco, may not be the favorite of an old hard rock fan like me, she certainly delivered it well, and I liked what I heard. All in all, she reminded me of Pink on her underrated first album, a promising talent who may just turn into something great with material that matched her gifts. Considering that I think Pink is one of the few real bright lights of the last decade, this was quite a positive assessment.

Cut to two weeks ago, and I'm driving around Las Vegas. A basketball game on ESPN AM radio is becoming a blowout, so I turn it to the FM, which I have set on a hard rock station. What I hear is a hard techno beat, and soon a sweet female voice cooing a quasi-rap. I have to admit, the song is a bit unusual for hard rock, but I like it. I mean, really like it. The closest thing I can compare it to is "Hella Good" by No Doubt, one of my favorite songs this decade. And as I continue listening, I get pissed that more rock bands don't try to do something a little more original like this one. And twenty-four seconds into it, that's when I hear it: "Can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read my poker face..."

As you can guess, the song was indeed "Poker Face" - a Grace Jones-esque number by Ms. Gaga. As it turns out, I picked up the song at the 2:18 mark of her video below, which is the only area of the hit I wouldn't immediately recognize. You can see and hear the whole video and song here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAoPJxTvZOQ

It also turns out I wasn't listening to a hard rock station: someone I had been driving with last had left it on a Top 40 station. But "Poker Face" booms so hard, I didn't even notice, and for twenty-four seconds, a disco queen rocked harder than Fall Out Boy, John Mayer and Maroon 5 ever have combined.

This shouldn't be too surprising in retrospect. Lady Gaga's stage name comes from the Queen song "Radio Gaga" and The Fame album title is clearly a nod to the classic David Bowie song. While her major influences include Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, you can also hear the sound of GNR, Motley Crue and Def Leppard in her work. Tellingly, her often partner in crime, Lady Starlight (named after the 70s glam rock song by Sweet) is a DJ who specializes in hard rock like AC/DC and Iron Maiden.

Intrigued, I decided to check out more of her work. And sure enough, she has one particularly tasty rock song on her album titled "Beautiful Dirty Rich". She has another great piano song, so far unreleased but easy to find on YouTube, titled "Honest Eyes" that is worthy of being a single in its own right. The rest of the stuff found on The Fame, however, though having rock influences, is pretty much a blend of Europop, disco and dance music with a few more conventional pop songs in the mix, a combination that isn't my usual tastes. Likewise, lyrically, The Fame is nearly a concept album about the celebrity lifestyle and the search for fame. Some may find it a celebration of the celebrity game, others a satirical critique: my guess is that she means it as both. In either case, though she is quite witty, the subject is not something I find particularly interesting.

So with these caveats indicating I may not be the best audience for her work, let me give my opinion of it: if The Fame isn't the best album at least since Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, and I think it is, it's definitely the most ambitious.

And really, wanting it is over half the battle in success. Take Alicia Keys, for example. Keys is a woman with a ridiculously amazing voice, jaw-dropping knockout looks, and an extremely gifted songwriter to top it off. In a more just universe, I suppose I would have written an article about her in 2007 when she released her last album, which was indeed incredible. But for all her gifts, there is nothing in her work that changes the face of pop music, it merely makes it better. Gaga, in contrast, wants to be the gamechanger, and she is.

The proof that she is a gamechanger is I don't even like her main musical style. I am not a fan of disco, dance or even what goes under the "electropop" label - a term you'll likely soon hear thrown around like "grunge", "alternative" and "gangsta" were in the nineties.

Of course, this reminds me of a funny story: one of my friends is a gay guy who enjoys having affairs with married straight men. (To each his own hobby.) At some point during these affairs, the other guy always tries to insist that he's not gay at all and is still straight. My friend always replies to this one with the same response: "Well, if you're not gay, why is my dick in your asshole?" The point here is I may continue to insist that I don't like electropop, but it's going to sound increasingly unconvincing with Gaga's musical dick up my ass.

I'm not going to pseudo-intellectualize why The Fame is a great album, I'm just going to say that since I listened to it, I can't get the addictively catchy tunes out of my head. That may be the simplest, and most honest, definition of what great music is, and in this case, it seems shrewdly by design. The album is almost as much "pop" as "electropop" in style, different enough to sound decidedly unique, yet familiar enough to be certified for mass appeal, and dabbling enough in as many genres to make everyone an eventual fan. The last time I heard an album so cynically crafted for blockbuster status was when Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones teamed up on Thriller. Frankly, if I didn't believe that Gaga really was the album's main songwriter, I'd suspect The Fame was cooked up in some secret laboratory by a group of evil scientists plotting to take over pop music.

Strangely, despite the obviously sinister plans behind the whole Lady Gaga scheme, others have been even slower than I to catch on. Her album has scored a 71 on Metacritic.com, an impressive number but nothing particularly amazing. Likewise, her album has done well, but has yet to sell a million copies after nine months. It isn't by a lack of effort by Interscope, which has already backed the disc with six videos. (They certainly believed in "Just Dance" enough to push it so the bubbly party tune turned into a deserved number one single.) It seems at this point, the only person who really believes that Gaga will be the biggest star on the planet is Gaga herself. You can see it in her confident strut as she strides through the "Poker Face" video like she's the hottest woman on the planet. (The last time I saw an outrageously dressed, leather-clad blonde prance through a video with such narcissistic arrogance was David Lee Roth in "Yankee Rose".) Living in Vegas, I see too many women walk with that same attitude, and find it to be totally unappealing. But in the case of Gaga, it works, because, by all evidence, she is the hottest woman on the planet.

And that's why, even if Gaga is the only one who believes she's the Next Big Thing, that's more than enough for me. So mark it down, I want to be on record so when it happens, I can smirk with the same self-satisfaction Jose Canseco gets every time one of his outrageous claims about steroids in baseball is found to be completely true. Here is my prediction: at some point before the end of the year, Gagamania is going to hit hyperspace, and she will become the biggest pop star on the planet. And by big, I don't mean merely the hottest pop star of the moment big, I mean so huge the entire music industry has to react to the phenomenon and transform.

This is a done deal. If Lady Gaga was a stock, I'd be raving like Jim Cramer in 2007 to buy. And I say this because I can see the dam is about to burst. Thanks to her over-the-top fashion sense (a bizarre combination of burlesque and tranny stylings, which have lead to opposing rumors that she's a former stripper and that she's actually a man) she's beginning to turn into a tabloid stable just over her outfits alone. Other musicians are dropping her name as the artist they admire (Madonna and Katy Perry are among her fans) and doing cover tributes to her work. (Kanye West and Common teamed up for an interesting rap version of "Poker Face" on YouTube.) Perhaps most important, she gave an audience of over 20 million American Idol viewers a taste of her Warholian live shows last month thanks to a stunning guest performance on the blockbuster bourgeois brain rot. She's just finished the first leg of her first solo tour, and no doubt by the end of the year, she will have seen a million faces and rocked them all. These are the kind of things that happen just as a pop culture hysteria blows up.

But the real reason I know it's going to happen is because I also know the only thing that has stopped her so far. Electropop, or whatever you want to call it, is basically disco, and while it is popular among women and gay males, heterosexual males are pretty resistant to it. An audience of women and homosexuals is enough to top the radio charts, but straight males still won't be buying the albums. Only a few artists (Madonna, Britney, Mariah Carey and the Pussycat Dolls come to mind) have managed to have disco hits popular among guys, and in those cases the women were sex symbols merely dabbling as part of a pop-music sampler plate. So it seems that Gaga's biggest roadblock right now is turning men into fans of her music.

That's why I suspect that once her latest single "LoveGame" begins dominating the radio waves, the battle will be over. The cut is even better than "Poker Face" and plays like it was ripped off the Midnight Express soundtrack. Gaga herself appears to know this is her home run, as in her opening verse, she boasts via lyrics that no doubt will soon be part of the pop culture lexicon: "Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

"LoveGame" is one of those rare sonic assaults that on first listening, it was though I had heard it both never before and a million times at once. I don't think I'm the only one who will react this way to it. Meanwhile, when it comes to figuring out what appeals to straight men in music, a few questions usually answer this question pretty conclusively:

1) Can you picture this song being played in a strip club as you are getting a lapdance?

2) Can you picture this song being played on ESPN in the background on a Sunday evening while NFL highlights are being shown?

3) Can you picture this song being played on the radio while in an awesome car chase with cops in any version of Grand Theft Auto?

Based on this simple acid test, "LoveGame" passes with flying colors, even more so than "Poker Face" or "Just Dance" does.

But as great as the song "LoveGame" is, the video may be even better. With everything from hot choreography to lesbian kissing, it's the kind of video they used to make back in the ancient days when MTV actually showed music videos rather than really bad reality shows. The YouTube link is below, and I think it speaks for itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5-ZiNwv6kI

But let me just add the obvious here: the video's greatest asset is Ms. Gaga herself. As I've noted before, she's an attractive woman, albeit there's an oddball charm to her. I suspect if I were a nitpicker, I wouldn't label her a natural beauty like Beyonce or Christina Aguilera. Then again, I'm not a nitpicker, but even if I was, I'd say she uses what she's got better than anyone else. In "LoveGame" she uses it better than ever, and gives a sensual video performance that can only be compared to, you guessed it, Madonna and Britney Spears at their peak. Lady Gaga in "LoveGame" is Jessica Alba on a stripper pole sexy, Ursula Andress rising from the ocean in a bikini sexy. Needless to say, once this video is unleashed on the masses, I don't think she's going to have any trouble converting heterosexual males into fans.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe the cheery pop ballad "Eh Eh" (with a title seemingly inspired by the unforgettable hook line to Rihanna's sultry hit "Umbrella") will do the trick, especially with her pinup girl charm in yet another great video. Maybe it'll come from another song that hasn't yet sucked me in yet, but eventually will. The point is, she's got so many weapons off this album at her disposal, it's only a matter of time, and it's gonna happen sooner rather than later.

So what do I think is going to happen by the end of the year? The same frenzy I have seen many times before. She will be the biggest pop star on the planet, with nobody even close. The days of albums selling 10 million copies or more appear to be over, but even that figure doesn't seem implausible. Meanwhile, every record label is going to be trying to copy the Lady Gaga sound, and Top 40 radio will become overloaded with electropop. Perhaps even more important, eventually there'll be some rock and rap artists so disgusted by the fad and their own irrelevance, they'll go out and record something really different in their own right. On this last count, I can only hope.

As for the future of Gaga, a quick fall is certainly a possibility. The rock era of music is notoriously ruthless for eating up its own, quickly chewing them up and spitting them out. Only the artist who can continuously reinvent themselves seem to last. But I wouldn't bet against her at this point. I suspect she may be holding the Queen of Pop title for quite awhile. This is why if I was to give her any unsolicited advice, I’d tell her to trust her instincts, because they clearly are working well for her. Oh, and one other thing, Gaga: buy some lipstick. You're gonna need it pretty soon when you get a big wet kiss from Britney...

On the Charts: Kanye Fights Off Axl

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/03/on-the-charts-kanye-fights-off-axl-taylor-swift-gets-black-friday-boost/

On the Charts: Kanye Fights Off Axl, Taylor Swift Gets Black Friday Boost
12/3/08

The Big News: 16 years of anticipation wasn’t enough to get Guns N’ Roses back atop the charts as Axl Rose’s opus Chinese Democracy disappointed the music industry with only 261,000 exclusive-to-Best Buy copies sold, good for third place in the most competitive sales week of 2008. Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak also came in below estimated sales figures, but his 450,000 in debut sales were enough to pry the top spot away from Beyoncé’s I Am…Sasha Fierce, which fell to four. Here’s where things get wacky: At number two, ahead of Chinese Democracy and new albums by the Killers and Ludacris, was Taylor Swift’s Fearless, which surged up from four last week thanks to a 23% sales increase. Fearless also crossed the platinum barrier after only three weeks.

Debuts: Ludacris’ Theater of the Mind grabbed number five, coming in ahead of the Killers’ Day & Age at six. Coldplay’s Prospekt’s March EP entered at 15, one slot behind Barry Manilow’s Greatest Songs of the 80s. Paul McCartney side project the Fireman’s Electric Arguments slotted at 67, Scott Weiland's Happy In Galoshes settled in at 96 and Rivers Cuomo’s Alone 2 bowed at 174.

Last Week’s Heroes: It’s no secret that this week’s slate of major releases disappointed at the cash register as Black Friday music sales were down substantially from last year. Among those who also under whelmed were Nickelback’s Dark Horse, which stumbled from two to seven in its second week, and David Cook, whose self-titled album fell from three down to ten. Next week, we’ll find out if Britney Spears’ Circus can muster up the sales to reclaim the apex of the charts.

Daniel Kreps

Britney Spears to play lesbian killer

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2509196/Britney-Spears-to-play-lesbian-killer-in-Quentin-Tarantino-film.html

Britney Spears to play lesbian killer in Quentin Tarantino film
By Sarah Knapton
06 Aug 2008

Britney Spears is being lined up to play a killer lesbian stripper in the Quentin Tarantino's next movie, it has been reported.

The singer was apparently chosen by the Pulp Fiction director to play dancer Varla in a remake of the 1965 cult film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

The movie sees three thrill-seeking strippers encountering a young couple in the desert.

Spears' character murders the boyfriend with her bare hands before taking the girlfriend hostage. The troubled singer will also have sex scenes with another girl before the drama ends in a blood-bath.

Tarantino is in discussions with other Hollywood stars to take the roles of the remaining two strippers.

A source said: "Quentin is convinced Britney will be brilliant. She's delighted. She thinks it could turn her career around.

"It is perfect Tarantino material. He wanted to get Britney first. She's playing the most important character."

Spears had her first starring role in the 2002 film Crossroads, portraying a high school graduate on a road-trip to find her mother. But despite grossing $60 million worldwide the movie, and Britney's performance, was panned and she received Razzie Awards for Worst Actress and for Worst Original Song.

Spears also made cameo appearances in Austin Powers: Goldmember and Longshot.

'Spamalot' musical changes Britney lyric

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_en_ce/theater_britney_lyric

'Spamalot' musical changes Britney lyric
Tue Feb 12, 2008

Britney Spears is out, Posh Spice is in — as a lyric for the Lady in the Lake in the Broadway musical "Monty Python's Spamalot." Asked why the lyric was changed in the song "Diva's Lament," "Spamalot" author Eric Idle said Tuesday in an e-mail:

"Because we don't laugh at sad people. Mike Nichols (the show's director) requested it and he's right. We changed the lyrics in London, on tour, on Broadway and in Las Vegas. We think that it's now too sad. Britney Spears is being tortured to death and we don't want to be on that side."

The changes went into the various companies last week.

What the Lady in the Lake (currently played on Broadway by Hannah Waddingham) once sang:

"I am sick of my career
Always stuck in second gear
Up to here with frustration and with fears
I've no Grammy no rewards
I've no Tony Awards
I'm constantly replaced by Britney Spears
Britney Spears!"

It's been replaced by:

"My love life is a mess
I've got constant PMS
My career is about as hot as ice
They hate me there backstage
They say I'm too old for my age
They're trying to replace me with Posh Spice
With Posh Spice!!"

The Tragedy of Britney Spears

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/18310562/the_tragedy_of_britney_spears

The Tragedy of Britney Spears
She was a pop princess. Now she's in and out of hospitals, rehab and court. How Britney lost it all.
VANESSA GRIGORIADIS
Posted Feb 21, 2008

A pop star at the mall is an eternal cause for happiness, especially on a Sunday afternoon in the Valley. One moment, shoppers in the Westfield Topanga mall are living in the real world, monotonously selecting a new shade of eye shadow or rubbing perfume on wrists, but upon the rapture of Britney Spears, they are giggling, laughing, orgasmic, already sharing their secret on cell phones. "Her legs are actually really skinny," an adolescent whispers into her Sidekick, as Britney beelines for the Betsey Johnson boutique, pseudo-punk designer of evening dresses and splashy heels worn to suburban high school proms. In person, Britney is shockingly beautiful — clear skin, ruby lips, a perfectly proportioned twenty-six-year-old porcelain doll with a nasty weave. She cuts through the crowd swiftly, the way she used to when 20,000 adoring fans mobbed her outside a concert, with her paparazzi boyfriend, Adnan Ghalib, trailing behind.

Only a few kids are in the store, a young girl with her brother and two blondes checking out fake-gold charm bracelets. Britney rifles the racks as the Cure's "Pictures of You" blasts into the airless pink boutique, grabbing a pink lace dress, a few tight black numbers and a frilly red crop top, the kind of shirt that Britney used to wear all the time at seventeen but isn't really appropriate for anyone over that age. Then she ducks into the dressing room with Ghalib. He emerges with her black Am Ex.

The card won't go through, but they keep trying it.

"Please," begs Ghalib, "get this done quickly."

One of the girls runs to Britney's dressing room, explaining the situation through a pink gauze curtain.

A wail emerges from the cubby — guttural, vile, the kind of base animalistic shriek only heard at a family member's deathbed. "Fuck these bitches," screams Britney, each word ringing out between sobs. "These idiots can't do anything right!"

Ghalib dashes over to console her, but she's already spitting, growling, throwing a big bottle of soda on the floor so that it begins to spill underneath the curtain, and then she's got a box of tissues and is throwing them on top of the wet floor along with piles of discarded merchandise. A new card finally goes through, but by then Britney is out the door, leaving her shirt on the ground and replacing it with the red top. "Fuck you, fuck people, fuck, fuck, fuck," she keeps screaming, her face splotchy and red as she crosses the interminable mall floor, the crowd behind her growing larger and larger. "Leave us alone!" yells Ghalib.

The siblings run after Britney to get a video to put up on YouTube, and some of the shopgirls run after her to hand off the merchandise she left behind, and there's an entire bridal party wearing yellow T-shirts who have pulled out camera phones too. A crush of managers in black shirts and gold name tags try to keep the peace, but the crowd running after Britney gets larger, and now the shopgirls have ­started to catch up to her, one of them slipping spectacularly in her platform shoes, grazing her elbow. She pulls herself up, mustering the strength to tap Britney's shoulder. "Um, I'm from the South too," she mumbles, "and I was wondering if I could get a picture with you for my little sister."

Britney turns to Ghalib and grabs his arm. "I don't want her talking to me!" she screams. She whirls around and stares the girl deep in the eyes, her lips almost vibrating with anger. "I don't know who you think I am, bitch," she snarls, "but I'm not that person."

Excerpt from Issue 1046

Spears Sidekick: Svengali or Savior?

Suddenly K-Fed doesn't seem so bad...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i9cXCPm3VgXBJsMi-rIPmprpCHsgD8UKJC000

Spears Sidekick: Svengali or Savior?
By SOLVEJ SCHOU
2-5-8

LOS ANGELES (AP) — He's been seen squiring around a dazed looking Britney Spears, at times acting as her spokesman, referring to himself as her manager and friend, and insisting all the while that her best interest is his only concern.

All the same, Sam Lutfi, the 33-year-old man in the baseball cap who's been behind the scenes throughout Britney's public downfall, has not been easy to define.

Then on Tuesday, accusations in a restraining order cutting him off from the troubled pop star would seem to support at least one theory: that he was a Svengali figure in her life, a shady hanger-on who controlled everything — from doling out her pills to holding the paparazzi's leash.

The day before the court documents were released, Lutfi told The Associated Press in a text message: "I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is." Lutfi did not immediately respond to further inquiry.

The restraining order, based on a statement from Spears' mother Lynne, was not the first against Lutfi, who is listed in legal documents as Osama Lutfi. Accusations in at least three prior orders range from obscene messages following a business deal to a neighbor who said he was hounded incessantly and threatened with bodily harm.

Spears remained hospitalized Monday for psychiatric evaluation after being committed last week. The order, which bars Lutfi from contacting her in any way, was granted the same day a court turned control of her affairs over to her father and a lawyer.

Though Lutfi had recently reached out to various magazines and media personalities with information on Spears' condition and state of mind, details on him have proved elusive.

Public records show he was born August 16, 1974 in Los Angeles. Music magazine Blender, in a March cover story on Spears, states that Lutfi grew up in Woodland Hills, where his mother reportedly owns several gas stations.

According to the movie database IMDb.com, Lutfi served as associate producer of 1998 film "Circles" (also known as "Crossing Paths") and 2001's "Crossing Cords." And a profile titled "Sam Lutfi" on the networking Web site LinkedIn lists him as an "Independent Media Production Professional" with education from the University of Southern California. The school's alumni Web site does not list Lutfi as a past student.

How Lutfi connected with Spears in the first place isn't clear.

Brandy Navarre, co-owner of celebrity photo agency and Web site X17, told the AP that Lutfi contacted the agency about nine or 10 months ago — after her head-shaving incident and others — about telling Spears' side of the story.

Since then, X17 photographers have cultivated a close relationship with both Spears and Lutfi, whom they have photographed together numerous times. Lutfi communicates with X17 by text messages, instant messages and e-mail regularly, and has had long conversations with Navarre, she said.

Navarre said she never asked him how he and Spears met. Still, "I think I've always had a positive feeling of him," Navarre said. "He seems to have Britney's best interest in mind."

In the order against Lutfi, Lynne Spears says her daughter met him in October 2007, and that he "essentially moved into Britney's home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances." She describes witnessing a situation of tight control and manipulation, with Lutfi calling the shots on her medications, cutting her phone lines, and deciding who's let in to see the pop star.

A court commissioner on Monday extended temporary conservatorship of Spears to her father, from whom she's been estranged, through Feb 14. Adam Streisand, an attorney who said he believed he had been authorized to represent Spears, argued Monday that James Spears should be removed because his role "is causing her more agitation and more distress."

"Her family hasn't been around," Navarre said. "(Lutfi) has kind of been filling that void. ... He's done everything from being a default manager and publicist to being a brother, a dad."

Navarre denied rumors that the agency was paying Lutfi for access.

"We have paid people for information, for pictures, but we've never paid Sam Lutfi and have never paid Britney Spears," Navarre said. "And he's never asked us for any money."

Last month, Barbara Walters said on ABC's "The View" that Lutfi had contacted her, telling her Spears "is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable." She also said Lutfi "seems to be enormously supportive" of Spears.

Court documents from previous cohorts of Lutfi present a darker picture.

In October 2005, businesswoman Jumana Issa filed a complaint in Los Angeles against Lutfi; it was dismissed in March 2006 because she failed to appear for a preliminary hearing. When contacted by phone, Issa refused to comment.

In court papers, the Westside Escrow Corporation owner claimed Lutfi started harassing her from the day of closing an escrow account for him after he demanded canceling an escrow check which she said she was unable to stop payment on.

Issa said Lutfi antagonized her repeatedly with obscene e-mails, offensive faxes and late-night voice mails, hanging up on her around 15-20 times a day, according to court documents. Issa described the ordeal as "an overwhelming nightmare."

Lutfi allegedly wrote in one fax provided by Issa, "Come on big lady, I know you are capable of responding. Put down the donuts and call me."

In October 2004, a restraining order was issued demanding Lutfi stay at least 100 yards away from Mark Douglas Snoland, a neighbor in Lutfi's condominium building, for three years. Snoland's attorney Ronald Ziff referred questions to Snoland, who did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

According to Snoland's petition for a restraining order, Lutfi began "pounding" on Snoland's front door on the night of Sept. 6, 2004 and tried to kick the door in while also pounding on a kitchen window and "yelling verbal threats of bodily harm" against Snoland and his mother, who lived in the unit.

Snoland claimed Lutfi returned 15 minutes later to continue to kick the door and yell threats. Snoland also alleged Lutfi buzzed him on an intercom "non stop" and, hours later, called his home phone number and hung up every few minutes.

Lutfi claimed in a response to the petition that Snoland only "knocked" on the door, and that Snoland "was never threatened," but actually "angry he was removed from the board of the condo complex."

In April 2007, an Orange County Superior Court granted a restraining order against Lutfi for 29-year-old Danny Haines, who told Blender he had been a close friend of Lutfi for two years and that Lutfi once told him he should kill himself. Attempts by the AP to reach Haines for comment were unsuccessful.

According to Blender, Haines said he and Lutfi met on Myspace.com in 2005 when Haines was struggling with relationships with his relatives and friends. The two became tight pals, Haines told the magazine, and Lutfi emphasized that he could be a mediator between Haines and his family.

Haines claims Lutfi showed a jealous side, leaving voicemails calling Haines "worthless," and then divulging, "I love you, man. I love you to death." Haines alleges Lutfi later suggested Haines take sleeping pills, "lots of them," following a dispute over money Lutfi allegedly borrowed from Haines, according to the magazine.

Haines claims when he stopped communicating with Lutfi, Lutfi retaliated by e-mailing naked photographs of Haines to his family, friends, colleagues and employer, and text messaged and called repeatedly.

Raquel Maria Dillon contributed to this story for The Associated Press.

Dr. Phil Apologizes For Britney Spears Visit

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1579896/20080118/spears_britney.jhtml

Jan 18 2008
Dr. Phil Apologizes For Britney Spears Visit
'Was it helpful to the situation? Regrettably, no,' TV personality tells audience in show airing Monday.
By Gil Kaufman

Dr. Phil is sorry. The TV physician has issued a statement apologizing for his controversial visit with Britney Spears while the singer was in the hospital on January 5, as well as a subsequent press release he issued about the incident.

"Was it helpful to the situation? Regrettably, no. It was not, and I have to acknowledge that, and I do," Phil McGraw told his audience Thursday during an episode of Dr. Phil that will run Monday, according to USA Today. "I definitely think if I had it to do over again, I probably wouldn't make any statement at all. Period."

McGraw said he issued an earlier statement about the visit to Entertainment Tonight because he knew the media would see him arriving at the hospital, and disputed criticism that he inappropriately discussed the troubled singer's condition in the release, in which he referred to her as being in "dire need of both medical and psychological intervention." Phil explained in the new statement that he "said that before I ever met her." Asked if he would make a similar visit at the request of concerned parents in the future, he said, "How do you not?"

A complaint was filed against McGraw earlier this week that accused him of violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The complaint alleges Dr. Phil practiced clinical psychology without a license and further violated doctor-patient privilege by discussing the pop star's case with the media. Although the California Board of Psychology is compelled to investigate all complaints, this one might not have much ground: According to state regulators, McGraw would have had to practice psychology in the legal sense, which is clearly defined in Section 2903 of the California Business and Professions Code, and he has stressed that he visited Spears as a family friend.

Colbert chosen AP Celebrity of the Year

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_en_ot/ye_celebrity_of_the_year

Colbert chosen AP Celebrity of the Year
By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer
Thu Dec 20, 2007

While most TV characters remain boxed inside the frames of our sets, Stephen Colbert has routinely injected his on-screen persona into everything from the presidential race to ice cream.

In 2007, the mock pundit on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" exceeded the influence of most real pundits, orchestrating an ill-fated (and Doritos-sponsored) run for president and topping the best-seller lists with his book "I Am America (And So Can You!)."

Colbert failed to get onto the primary ballot in his home state of South Carolina, dooming his hopes for the White House. And his show went 0-for-4 at the Emmy Awards, including an especially painful loss to Barry Manilow.

But Colbert did win one honor: He was voted AP Celebrity of the Year by newspaper editors and broadcast producers who said Colbert had the biggest impact on pop culture in 2007.

He finished just a nudge above J.K. Rowling, who authored the final book in her enormously popular "Harry Potter" series. Finishing third was Al Gore, whose year included an Oscar, an Emmy, a Nobel Peace Prize and the global concert Live Earth.

Voting was otherwise spread out across many entertainers, including pop star Britney Spears, "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus, rapper Kanye West, comedy director and producer Judd Apatow and country singer Kenny Chesney.

But it was the slight, bespectacled Colbert — his hair never ruffled, suits forever pressed — who dominated the year. Even from the relatively small stage of late-night cable TV, his satire spread into all corners of media and society — and for a few weeks made a mockery of the democratic system.

Colbert has declined interviews during the writers strike that has shuttered his show, but he told The Associated Press by e-mail:

"In receiving this award, I am pleased that I was chosen over two great spinners of fantasy — J.K. Rowling and Al Gore. It is truly an honor to be named the Associated Press' Celebrity of the Year. Best of all, this makes me the official front-runner for next year's Drug-Fueled Downward Spiral of the year. P.S. Look for my baby bump this spring!"

Julio Diaz, entertainment editor for the Pensacola News Journal, explained his vote for the faux newsman:

"Colbert is more than an entertainer, he's a force of nature," said Diaz. "He's influenced the way we look at the news and even the way we speak. Whenever a major news story breaks, one of my first thoughts is what Colbert's spin on the story will be."

Colbert began his year by facing off against his inspiration, Bill O'Reilly. In one afternoon, Colbert and the Fox News commentator traded guest appearances on each other's shows in an exchange Colbert called "a meeting of the guts."

The meeting had been anticipated since Colbert's 2005 debut of "The Report," a deadpan fun-house mirror held up to "The O'Reilly Factor" and other conservative news programs.

In early 2007, Colbert became the namesake of the new Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor "Americone Dream." This followed in a tradition of naming things after Colbert, like the mascot for the Saginaw Spirit, an Ontario Hockey League team, "Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle."

While taping an episode on June 27, Colbert fell and broke his wrist — a minor event for most, but weeks of fodder for Colbert. The following month, he unveiled a "wrist awareness" campaign in which he urged anyone famous to wear a "WristStrong" bracelet (similar to Lance Armstrong's "LiveStrong" bands).

Showcasing his extremely detail-centric sense of humor, Colbert said on a September show: "If (Alan) Greenspan can do for my bracelets what he did for secured short-term lending through federal repurchasing agreements — can you imagine how great that would be?"

But Colbert's main act would be the run-up to his White House campaign and his ensuing bid for the nation's highest office. While promoting his new book, Colbert appeared on news programs and wrote a guest column for The New York Times mocking the dance many candidates go through before officially declaring their candidacy.

Colbert eventually announced on his program on Oct. 16, where he made it clear he aimed to parody everything about image-sensitive political campaigns. He appeared beforehand on "The Daily Show" sitting on a bale of hay and drinking a beer to show that he was an Average Joe.

The 43-year-old comedian jokingly suggested his ticket could read "Colbert-Huckabee," referring to former Arkansas governor Republican Mike Huckabee. Huckabee had made several appearances on "The Report" (making him a "friend of the show"). Huckabee's candidacy was then something of a joke; now he has zoomed to the top of the polls.

Colbert's announcement set off dialogue across the political landscape about the legitimacy of his candidacy and how he might impact the primaries.

Wrote New York Times columnist David Carr: "It is Mr. Colbert's ability to both mimic and amplify the tics of political convention and play them back with just a little more topspin that makes his satire so discomfiting."

Colbert said he would run only in his native South Carolina, but after he applied to get his name on the state's Democratic primary ballot (the Republican fee was too high), party officials voted 13-3 to keep Colbert off, claiming he "serves to detract from the serious candidates."

Soon thereafter, Colbert announced that he was withdrawing: "Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history — only 10 votes — I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle. It is time for this nation to heal."

Colbert's withdrawal may have been hastened by the Hollywood writers strike, which shut down production on "The Report" in early November. Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom Inc., announced Thursday that both "The Report" and "The Daily Show" will return to the air on Jan. 7, with or without their writing staffs.

On his last episode of the year, Colbert said: "As you know, except for my 13 writers and production crew, I do this show single-handedly four nights a week. I'm also raising a family, promoting a book and, hey, two weeks ago I said, `Let's run for president.' I haven't gotten a wink since I blacked out talking to Tim Russert."