Two more bad occurrences for Britney Spears. The Eagles' first new studio album in 28 years, "Long Road Out of Eden," prevented Spears' latest album, "Blackout," from debuting as No. 1 on the Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan national sales charts.
That's because Billboard and Nielsen revised their policy and will now allow album titles that are available through only one retailer to appear on the Billboard 200 and other charts, effective this week. The Eagles effort was available only at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. The actual count: The Eagles sold 711,000 units, Spears 290,000.
Then Spears was ordered to pay $120,000 in legal fees to her ex-husband Kevin Federline, who was awarded temporary custody of their young sons.
Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon made the decision after considering factors including "the notable disparity between the parties' income," the ruling said. Court papers released last week show that Spears makes roughly $737,000 per month and spends lavishly on clothes and entertainment. Meanwhile, Federline "indicates that he does not earn any income," the ruling said. Incidentally, Federline cleaned up really well for court, as the court drawing with this item shows.
Diddy picks Detroiter
Detroit lawyer Heather Thompson, 38, emerged victorious Tuesday on Oprah Winfrey's YouTube-themed show when music mogul Sean (Diddy) Combs selected her as his new personal assistant, concluding an online competition.
Said His Diddyness: "It was just a passion, it was the way she articulated herself. I think she understood what the job entailed. She had a background that was stellar. It was just the way she came across."
He's got another girl
Take that, Heather Mills! In the midst of that bitter divorce from his second wife, Paul McCartney was photographed kissing Nancy Shevell, a member of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, according to the Sun of London, which published the picture.
Shevell, estranged wife of prominent Nassau County lawyer Bruce A. Blakeman and a businesswoman in her own right, has a home on Long Island, as does the former Beatle.
A Nobel host
Dick Clark wasn't available, so the emcee for the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo Dec. 11 honoring winner Al Gore will be Ryan ... nope, just kidding.
It'll be actor Tommy Lee Jones, Gore's roommate at Harvard University. The concert lineup: Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox and Melissa Etheridge.
Crowe gets religion
Rough and rowdy actor Russell Crowe, 43, says he's planning to be baptized. The Oscar-winning actor tells Men's Journal: "My mom and dad decided to let my brother and me make our own decisions about God when we got to the right age. ... If I believe it is important to baptize my kids, why not me?"
BRIEFLY
Arrested: In Beverly Hills, Calif., actress Rebecca De Mornay, 45 or 48 depending on the source, for investigation of drunken driving in Beverly Hills, according to People magazine. Charges are pending.
Added: A second week of performances for "Walking with Dinosaurs" at Cobo Arena. The run dates are now Nov. 14-24.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Spears' sex to-do list
Britney Spears would love to have a lesbian affair with US socialite Kim Kardashian.
The troubled singer, who allegedly once tried to seduce her children's nanny and was photographed romping topless in a pool with former assistant Shannon Funk, revealed her lust for Kim during a tell-all game with friends.
When asked which celebrity she would most like to have sex with, Britney reportedly said, "I really love Kim's butt, skin and hair. Kim is a real woman. She is a real horny beast."
Kim, who caused uproar in the US after her homemade sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray-J was released, isn't the only brunette beauty admired by Britney.
The 'Gimme More' singer also revealed she lusts after stunning actresses Carmen Electra and Halle Berry, while Brad Pitt and George Clooney top her list of sexiest men.
A source said, "She was so graphic. It's funny to hear America's pop darling get so dirty."
Thursday, reports came that Britney allowed a stranger to snort cocaine off her chest during a wild party at her Hollywood mansion - just two days after she lost visiting rights to her children last month.
Guitarist Scott Kohler, who had met Britney earlier that night in Los Angeles club Hyde, claims one male member of the party offered Britney cocaine and "joked he wanted to do a line off her chest and she agreed."
Scott, 29, said Britney "seemed drunk" and alleged she also snorted the class-A drug, even though she passed a court ordered drug test the next day.
Earlier this week, a judge turned down Britney's plea for joint custody after a parenting coach said she "rarely" talked or played with two-year-old Sean Preston or 13-month-old Jayden James.
The troubled singer, who allegedly once tried to seduce her children's nanny and was photographed romping topless in a pool with former assistant Shannon Funk, revealed her lust for Kim during a tell-all game with friends.
When asked which celebrity she would most like to have sex with, Britney reportedly said, "I really love Kim's butt, skin and hair. Kim is a real woman. She is a real horny beast."
Kim, who caused uproar in the US after her homemade sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray-J was released, isn't the only brunette beauty admired by Britney.
The 'Gimme More' singer also revealed she lusts after stunning actresses Carmen Electra and Halle Berry, while Brad Pitt and George Clooney top her list of sexiest men.
A source said, "She was so graphic. It's funny to hear America's pop darling get so dirty."
Thursday, reports came that Britney allowed a stranger to snort cocaine off her chest during a wild party at her Hollywood mansion - just two days after she lost visiting rights to her children last month.
Guitarist Scott Kohler, who had met Britney earlier that night in Los Angeles club Hyde, claims one male member of the party offered Britney cocaine and "joked he wanted to do a line off her chest and she agreed."
Scott, 29, said Britney "seemed drunk" and alleged she also snorted the class-A drug, even though she passed a court ordered drug test the next day.
Earlier this week, a judge turned down Britney's plea for joint custody after a parenting coach said she "rarely" talked or played with two-year-old Sean Preston or 13-month-old Jayden James.
She's bringing Britney back
Is the voice on this powerful and frankly AMAZING CD really from the same girl who has goes out in the Hollywood Hills without underwear, smashes umbrellas at the paparazzi, or who once sang "Baby One More Time"?
Yes, indeed it is the same girl who wore pigtales and made the belly button ring popular who sings on
"Blackout."
Britney Spears has finally made some progress in her life.
The first track on the album is "Gimme More," which in a previous article I bashed. I take everything back, including that I didn't want to hear Spears sing "gimme, gimme more."
Honestly, this tune is currently my ring tone. While it maybe a great track, its counterparts on the albums also shine.
"Piece of Me" tells the story of Spears. "I'm Miss American Dream since I was 17" is one lyric out of the song.
This song is more tame than the rest of the album, with a milder tone and beat. It's not the best track, but it works.
The vocals on "Radar" will shock you — because they are so good on this poppy, creative song. The beat instantly drags you in, and you can't help but sing along. It sounds similar to a previous Spears' song, "What It's Like to be Me," a duet with Justin Timberlake. Alas, you won't find any JT on this album.
Britney fans looking for an apology for the long delay between albums have it in a song titled "Break the Ice." With its techno-vibe, it is sure to be played in the clubs.
One of the racier songs is "Get Naked (I've got a Plan)." It has an intense rhythm, although the lyrics may surprise some: "My body is calling out for you bad boy. I get the feeling that I just want to be with ya. Baby, I'm a freak and I don't really give a damn."
My favorite song is "Toy Soldier." But instead of all the other songs, this song has military theme. At first it sounds a little like Missy Elliot, but then Britney pulls through with her own vocals. The chorus — "This time I need a soldier, a really bad (expletive) soldier. That know how to take, take care of me . . . " — is supported by lots of studio effects. This would have been the better single to showcase the album — it's definitely the next "Slave 4 U."
Overall, I am truly impressed with Britney. She has finally made an album in which there is not one weak song.
I can't believe I am saying this, but I am officially back to being Britney Spears' biggest fan.
Elizabeth Brennan, 16, is a junior.
Yes, indeed it is the same girl who wore pigtales and made the belly button ring popular who sings on
"Blackout."
Britney Spears has finally made some progress in her life.
The first track on the album is "Gimme More," which in a previous article I bashed. I take everything back, including that I didn't want to hear Spears sing "gimme, gimme more."
Honestly, this tune is currently my ring tone. While it maybe a great track, its counterparts on the albums also shine.
"Piece of Me" tells the story of Spears. "I'm Miss American Dream since I was 17" is one lyric out of the song.
This song is more tame than the rest of the album, with a milder tone and beat. It's not the best track, but it works.
The vocals on "Radar" will shock you — because they are so good on this poppy, creative song. The beat instantly drags you in, and you can't help but sing along. It sounds similar to a previous Spears' song, "What It's Like to be Me," a duet with Justin Timberlake. Alas, you won't find any JT on this album.
Britney fans looking for an apology for the long delay between albums have it in a song titled "Break the Ice." With its techno-vibe, it is sure to be played in the clubs.
One of the racier songs is "Get Naked (I've got a Plan)." It has an intense rhythm, although the lyrics may surprise some: "My body is calling out for you bad boy. I get the feeling that I just want to be with ya. Baby, I'm a freak and I don't really give a damn."
My favorite song is "Toy Soldier." But instead of all the other songs, this song has military theme. At first it sounds a little like Missy Elliot, but then Britney pulls through with her own vocals. The chorus — "This time I need a soldier, a really bad (expletive) soldier. That know how to take, take care of me . . . " — is supported by lots of studio effects. This would have been the better single to showcase the album — it's definitely the next "Slave 4 U."
Overall, I am truly impressed with Britney. She has finally made an album in which there is not one weak song.
I can't believe I am saying this, but I am officially back to being Britney Spears' biggest fan.
Elizabeth Brennan, 16, is a junior.
Sexing up opera
"Did you hear about Britney's performance on the VMAs? Did you see it?"
You wouldn't think a lackluster comeback performance by tarnished pop singer Britney Spears on the "MTV Video Music Awards" would concern an up-and-coming opera singer. But soprano Danielle de Niese proved me wrong when she asked.
De Niese was in Amsterdam performing "The Coronation of Poppea" for De Nederlandse Opera. Interviewed by phone just a day after the infamous awards show in September, De Niese genuinely wanted to know what happened.
Since I missed the show, I wasn't able to share details the way a witness would at the scene of an accident. Still, it seemed odd that 28-year-old de Niese would even care about Spears' tabloid exploits when she herself possesses even greater talents and performance abilities.
Consider this: De Niese sings with an operatically trained and un-amplified voice in the world's great opera houses (some with nearly 4,000 seats). Add to that de Niese's knowledge of multiple languages, great dancing skills and a commanding stage presence.
Oh yeah, de Niese is also a knockout in the looks department, bringing a sexiness that shatters the stereotype that only stationary obese people populate opera.
Once you see de Niese perform live, you'll wonder why the American public obsesses so much about someone like Spears, who couldn't even lip-sync in time to pre-recorded music.
Local audiences get to see de Niese's talents firsthand when she makes her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Cleopatra in David McVicar's critically acclaimed production of "Julius Caesar in Egypt" ("Giulio Cesare in Egitto," if you want to be accurately Italian). It's a role that skyrocketed de Niese to star status in Europe when she triumphed in the production's debut at Britain's Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2005 (the production was also recorded for DVD by Opus Arte).
"I'm really looking forward to getting back on stage and putting on this particular production," said de Niese, proud that her Lyric debut is in the American premiere of McVicar's production, which switches the Roman Empire for the age of the British Imperial Empire. Surprisingly, it's the first time the Lyric has ever staged Handel's 1724 masterpiece, but more significantly it marks French conductor Emmanuelle Haïm's debut -- the first time a woman has conducted at the Lyric.
But "Caesar" isn't de Niese's first Windy City foray. The smaller Chicago Opera Theater can boast about being the first to introduce de Niese locally in 2004 as the sexy title character in Monteverdi's "The Coronation of Poppea" -- the inaugural opera in Millennium Park's Harris Theater for Music and Dance. De Niese also returned to COT in 2005 as fairy queen Titania in Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
COT General Director Brian Dickie spotted de Niese when she was in the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist program almost a decade ago.
"I immediately felt at that time that here was an outstanding prospect," Dickie said, casting de Niese as the devious Poppea as soon as he could. "(De Niese has an) extraordinarily instinctive feeling for the stage, she's a knockout actress as well as an outstanding musician."
Director Diane Paulus, who staged that critically acclaimed Las Vegas-set "Poppea," agrees.
"She has it all -- incredible musicianship which is first and foremost," Paulus said. "She's unafraid to try anything physically. You ask her to lie down and sing upside down and she'll do it. For me, she's the epitome of the kind of singer that we all want to work with in the opera, since it's singers like Danielle who will keep the art form vibrant and alive for newer audiences."
Born in Australia to parents of Sri Lankan and Dutch heritage, de Niese started training in dance at age 6 and in classical music at age 8. When de Niese was 10, her family moved to Los Angeles in part to further her dance and singing training.
As a teenager, de Niese hosted a locally-produced TV show "L.A. Kids" and won an Emmy Award for a program dealing with HIV/AIDS. At age 18, de Niese was the youngest person ever to be admitted to the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist program, which led to her Met debut when she was 19 in the small role of Barbarina in "The Marriage of Figaro," appearing alongside such opera heavy-hitters as Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming.
Since her European debuts earlier this decade, de Niese has become a baroque opera specialist. She particularly relishes the music's freedom for singers to add on their own vocal ornaments to the repeating da capo aria structure.
But it was another kind of ornamentation that de Niese brought to the Glyndebourne "Caesar" that really raised the eyebrows of critics and audiences: her dancing. McVicar and choreographer Andrew George incorporated Bollywood and Broadway-style movements into Handel's baroque opera, making each of Cleopatra's arias into showstoppers.
"Everything is incredibly organic -- there was never a moment in the staging where I thought, 'David, what are you asking me to do?'" de Niese said.
It may look effortless on stage, but for de Niese it's a workout to coordinate between tightening her diaphragm for dancing and opening it up to get as much air needed to sing stratospheric trills.
"Having all that dancing to do is a challenge, but that's all part of making something great," de Niese said. "I was so happy that I was able to draw upon some of my training in dance and to be able to marry all of that on the stage."
Needless to say, de Niese pulls focus. Mostly her co-stars don't mind -- too much.
"It's always great to appear with another artist who really pushes you on stage dramatically," countertenor David Daniels recently told the Windy City Times. Daniels co-starred with de Niese for the 2006 Glyndebourne "Caesar" revival and now in Chicago.
"If you don't bring your A-game to the stage, you'll be eclipsed by Danielle, particularly in this production," Daniels said.
With her fashion model looks and her incredible charisma, de Niese has already been targeted by critics like Evan Eisenberg of Slate.com, who says she's the most promising ambassador of popularizing opera since the late Beverly Sills.
De Niese isn't sure she deserves that mantle, but she does make an effort to do youth outreach programs wherever she performs. Two Chicago student outreaches are already scheduled, plus an interviewing/autograph session at Schaumburg's Prairie Center for the Arts, which provides de Niese a golden opportunity to tout her critically acclaimed first CD, a collection of Handel arias on the Decca label.
De Niese may yet get younger audiences focused on opera instead of Britney Spears. At a recent variety and pop concert in London, de Niese sang Cleopatra's final solo aria "Da tempeste" from "Casear" and got a surprising response.
"I'll never believe what I saw," de Niese said. "There were people in the audience actually bopping their heads along like a rock concert."
You wouldn't think a lackluster comeback performance by tarnished pop singer Britney Spears on the "MTV Video Music Awards" would concern an up-and-coming opera singer. But soprano Danielle de Niese proved me wrong when she asked.
De Niese was in Amsterdam performing "The Coronation of Poppea" for De Nederlandse Opera. Interviewed by phone just a day after the infamous awards show in September, De Niese genuinely wanted to know what happened.
Since I missed the show, I wasn't able to share details the way a witness would at the scene of an accident. Still, it seemed odd that 28-year-old de Niese would even care about Spears' tabloid exploits when she herself possesses even greater talents and performance abilities.
Consider this: De Niese sings with an operatically trained and un-amplified voice in the world's great opera houses (some with nearly 4,000 seats). Add to that de Niese's knowledge of multiple languages, great dancing skills and a commanding stage presence.
Oh yeah, de Niese is also a knockout in the looks department, bringing a sexiness that shatters the stereotype that only stationary obese people populate opera.
Once you see de Niese perform live, you'll wonder why the American public obsesses so much about someone like Spears, who couldn't even lip-sync in time to pre-recorded music.
Local audiences get to see de Niese's talents firsthand when she makes her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Cleopatra in David McVicar's critically acclaimed production of "Julius Caesar in Egypt" ("Giulio Cesare in Egitto," if you want to be accurately Italian). It's a role that skyrocketed de Niese to star status in Europe when she triumphed in the production's debut at Britain's Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2005 (the production was also recorded for DVD by Opus Arte).
"I'm really looking forward to getting back on stage and putting on this particular production," said de Niese, proud that her Lyric debut is in the American premiere of McVicar's production, which switches the Roman Empire for the age of the British Imperial Empire. Surprisingly, it's the first time the Lyric has ever staged Handel's 1724 masterpiece, but more significantly it marks French conductor Emmanuelle Haïm's debut -- the first time a woman has conducted at the Lyric.
But "Caesar" isn't de Niese's first Windy City foray. The smaller Chicago Opera Theater can boast about being the first to introduce de Niese locally in 2004 as the sexy title character in Monteverdi's "The Coronation of Poppea" -- the inaugural opera in Millennium Park's Harris Theater for Music and Dance. De Niese also returned to COT in 2005 as fairy queen Titania in Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
COT General Director Brian Dickie spotted de Niese when she was in the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist program almost a decade ago.
"I immediately felt at that time that here was an outstanding prospect," Dickie said, casting de Niese as the devious Poppea as soon as he could. "(De Niese has an) extraordinarily instinctive feeling for the stage, she's a knockout actress as well as an outstanding musician."
Director Diane Paulus, who staged that critically acclaimed Las Vegas-set "Poppea," agrees.
"She has it all -- incredible musicianship which is first and foremost," Paulus said. "She's unafraid to try anything physically. You ask her to lie down and sing upside down and she'll do it. For me, she's the epitome of the kind of singer that we all want to work with in the opera, since it's singers like Danielle who will keep the art form vibrant and alive for newer audiences."
Born in Australia to parents of Sri Lankan and Dutch heritage, de Niese started training in dance at age 6 and in classical music at age 8. When de Niese was 10, her family moved to Los Angeles in part to further her dance and singing training.
As a teenager, de Niese hosted a locally-produced TV show "L.A. Kids" and won an Emmy Award for a program dealing with HIV/AIDS. At age 18, de Niese was the youngest person ever to be admitted to the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist program, which led to her Met debut when she was 19 in the small role of Barbarina in "The Marriage of Figaro," appearing alongside such opera heavy-hitters as Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming.
Since her European debuts earlier this decade, de Niese has become a baroque opera specialist. She particularly relishes the music's freedom for singers to add on their own vocal ornaments to the repeating da capo aria structure.
But it was another kind of ornamentation that de Niese brought to the Glyndebourne "Caesar" that really raised the eyebrows of critics and audiences: her dancing. McVicar and choreographer Andrew George incorporated Bollywood and Broadway-style movements into Handel's baroque opera, making each of Cleopatra's arias into showstoppers.
"Everything is incredibly organic -- there was never a moment in the staging where I thought, 'David, what are you asking me to do?'" de Niese said.
It may look effortless on stage, but for de Niese it's a workout to coordinate between tightening her diaphragm for dancing and opening it up to get as much air needed to sing stratospheric trills.
"Having all that dancing to do is a challenge, but that's all part of making something great," de Niese said. "I was so happy that I was able to draw upon some of my training in dance and to be able to marry all of that on the stage."
Needless to say, de Niese pulls focus. Mostly her co-stars don't mind -- too much.
"It's always great to appear with another artist who really pushes you on stage dramatically," countertenor David Daniels recently told the Windy City Times. Daniels co-starred with de Niese for the 2006 Glyndebourne "Caesar" revival and now in Chicago.
"If you don't bring your A-game to the stage, you'll be eclipsed by Danielle, particularly in this production," Daniels said.
With her fashion model looks and her incredible charisma, de Niese has already been targeted by critics like Evan Eisenberg of Slate.com, who says she's the most promising ambassador of popularizing opera since the late Beverly Sills.
De Niese isn't sure she deserves that mantle, but she does make an effort to do youth outreach programs wherever she performs. Two Chicago student outreaches are already scheduled, plus an interviewing/autograph session at Schaumburg's Prairie Center for the Arts, which provides de Niese a golden opportunity to tout her critically acclaimed first CD, a collection of Handel arias on the Decca label.
De Niese may yet get younger audiences focused on opera instead of Britney Spears. At a recent variety and pop concert in London, de Niese sang Cleopatra's final solo aria "Da tempeste" from "Casear" and got a surprising response.
"I'll never believe what I saw," de Niese said. "There were people in the audience actually bopping their heads along like a rock concert."
Eagles beat Britney to number one
Veteran rockers The Eagles have topped the UK album chart for the first time.
No band has ever taken longer to reach number one, with a 33-year gap between their debut UK hit, On the Border, and this release, Long Road Out of Eden.
The success of the US group's first full studio album since The Long Run in 1979 means Britney Spears has had to settle for second place with Blackout.
Leona Lewis remains number one in the singles countdown, selling more than the rest of the top five put together.
Her song Bleeding Love is in first place for a second week, with 158,370 sales, followed by Take That's Rule the World.
Westlife have gone in at number three with Home. Timbaland's track Apologize climbs three places to four and Valerie by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse remains at five.
Elsewhere in the singles chart, Ibiza floorfiller Heater by Samim - which features a sample of an accordion - jumps from 29 to 12.
Elvis Presley scores a re-entry at 15 with Viva Las Vegas, the latest of his hits to be re-released in the UK.
And Swedish star Robyn, whose last single went to number one, enters the top 40 at 17 with Handle Me.
On the album chart, last week's bestseller - The Trick to Life by guitar group The Hoosiers - falls to number three.
There is a high new entry - at number four - for Raising Sand, the collaboration between Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and singer-songwriter Alison Krauss.
Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection went in at five.
Irish country stars Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff are new at six with their collection of duets, Together Again.
And new albums by Queen and the Backstreet Boys enter at 20 and 21 respectively.
No band has ever taken longer to reach number one, with a 33-year gap between their debut UK hit, On the Border, and this release, Long Road Out of Eden.
The success of the US group's first full studio album since The Long Run in 1979 means Britney Spears has had to settle for second place with Blackout.
Leona Lewis remains number one in the singles countdown, selling more than the rest of the top five put together.
Her song Bleeding Love is in first place for a second week, with 158,370 sales, followed by Take That's Rule the World.
Westlife have gone in at number three with Home. Timbaland's track Apologize climbs three places to four and Valerie by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse remains at five.
Elsewhere in the singles chart, Ibiza floorfiller Heater by Samim - which features a sample of an accordion - jumps from 29 to 12.
Elvis Presley scores a re-entry at 15 with Viva Las Vegas, the latest of his hits to be re-released in the UK.
And Swedish star Robyn, whose last single went to number one, enters the top 40 at 17 with Handle Me.
On the album chart, last week's bestseller - The Trick to Life by guitar group The Hoosiers - falls to number three.
There is a high new entry - at number four - for Raising Sand, the collaboration between Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and singer-songwriter Alison Krauss.
Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection went in at five.
Irish country stars Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff are new at six with their collection of duets, Together Again.
And new albums by Queen and the Backstreet Boys enter at 20 and 21 respectively.
A.M. A&E: Frank Gehry sued, Sylvester Stallone has a Death Wish, John Mayer loves food
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is suing architect Frank Gehry. The university alleges that the Stata Center, which Gehry designed and which opened in 2004 features leaks, mold growing on its bricks, and snow and ice falling from its oddly shaped walls.
• Rocky Balboa himself might be stepping into Charles Bronson's shoes for a remake of the 1974 vigilante flick Death Wish.
• Singer Britney Spears has been ordered to pay ex-husband Kevin Federline's legal bill stemming from their divorce.
• It looks like Radiohead's new album wasn't as successful as previously thought. Reports indicate that three out of every five people who downloaded In Rainbows didn't pay a cent for it. Cheapskates.
• Pop troubadour John Mayer is considering a career change: from doe-eyed singer/songwriter to, er, food blogger.
• In today's National Post: Bob Thompson talks to the Coen Brothers.
• Rocky Balboa himself might be stepping into Charles Bronson's shoes for a remake of the 1974 vigilante flick Death Wish.
• Singer Britney Spears has been ordered to pay ex-husband Kevin Federline's legal bill stemming from their divorce.
• It looks like Radiohead's new album wasn't as successful as previously thought. Reports indicate that three out of every five people who downloaded In Rainbows didn't pay a cent for it. Cheapskates.
• Pop troubadour John Mayer is considering a career change: from doe-eyed singer/songwriter to, er, food blogger.
• In today's National Post: Bob Thompson talks to the Coen Brothers.
Against all odds, Spears drops a stunning new album
Just when it seemed safe to write off Britney Spears as a punch line only capable of entertaining people through tabloid escapades, she goes and gets all musically relevant on us. "Blackout," her first studio album in four years, is not only a very good album, it's her best work ever -- a triumph, with not a bad song to be found among the 12 tracks. Granted, a Spears rave should be put in its proper context -- it's not like we're talking Bob Dylan here. Spears is a lightweight singer w.
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