Taylor Hicks may have won American Idol, but he lost the Billboard battle between he and Young Jeezy. Not only did Taylor not debut at number one, he didn’t even beat the first week sales of 4th place finisher Chris Daughtry. Anyone smell a flop?

Michael C. Hall and his new hit Dexter have broken records for Showtime. Wow, looks like Showtime is kicking HBO’s ass lately.

Shia LaBeouf has a really cute butt. Oh yeah, he’s a damn good actor too. You know you’re good when you outshine Anthony Hopkins, Martin Sheen, and Harry Belafonte.

Ocean’s 13? For some reason Hollywood felt like we needed another dose of ensemble A-Listers pulling off a heist and looking pretty while doing so. Well…unless you count Al Pacino then it’s just pulling off a heist. Sheesh, buy some moisturizer.

Some dumbass tried suing Michael Moore for the footage he used in Fahrenheit 9/11. HA. He just lost. Case dismissed muthafucka!

When will David Beckham stop being so hot? A better question, when will Victoria Beckham stop being so fug? An even better question, when will David realize he’s gay and come make love to me?

Law & Order: SVU just announced their guest star line-up for next year, which includes Blair Underwood, Kal Penn, Brian Dennehy, and a directorial debut for ER’s Eriq LaSalle.

I’ve never gotten into The O.C. but some of my friends are obsessed with it. Could it be because some of the cast members run around in speedos? There’s probably more to it than that. I’ll just never get it.

Christina Aguilera partied like it was 1999 in Prague this past week as she celebrated her birthday. Win those Grammys girl! I’ll hold Justin’s arms behind his back, Beyonce will punch Mary J. Blige, go grab the trophy.

I’m crazily following the Hits Daily Double building album sales chart, and it looks like Chris Daughtry’s debut album may take number one. Mind you, he’s beating out Jay Z, RBD, The Beatles, U2, Now That’s What I Call Music, Il Divo, and Snoop Dogg.

The sales chart is only 22% in right now, but currently his sales are tallied at about 83,000. HDD predicts that he might sell upwards of 300,000 copies, which is about where Kelly Clarkson’s debut album was in its debut week.

And of course, he’s doing all this without a hit single. So imagine what his album can do if his debut single can make it into the top 10.

Don’t forget you can download his entire album here.

Come back tomorrow to see if Chris actually DID nab himself a number one debut album!

UPDATE: Sorry guys, Chris didn’t end up being number one. Jay Z had a huge surge at the end and ended up edging Chris out for the top spot. Nonetheless..he still sold 301,000 copies!!! Congrats my bald headed lover!

After weeks of being the most added song at radio in L.A. and New York, Justin Timberlake’s first song off his second album, “SexyBack” has reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. This can only mean good things for his first week sales.

The final title for the second Pirates of the Caribbean sequel has been revealed (even though we already knew that shit anyway).

Sarah Michelle Gellar is starring in yet another supernatural thriller, this time it’s called Addicted.

Donald Trump has fired Apprentice staple and employee Carolyn. Wtf, I loved that bitch!

Rising star Anna Faris is attached to a new comedy produced by Happy Madison and written by the screenwriters that brought us Legally Blonde.

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This week’s Video Clip of the Week is a performance by the Scissor Sisters of their track It Can’t Come Quickly Enough that was featured on the Party Monster soundtrack.

I’ve always loved the Scissor Sisters, but I’ve never heard this track. I watched the performance and I was like…mesmerized. Like it was almost a religous experience. Jake Shears is a God.

Our girl Christina Aguilera got her first number one debut in the U.K. this past week, and her junior effort Back to Basics debuted at the top spot in a multitude of countries, including here at home. She unwittingly flattened the competition selling over 350,000 copies in its first week, which is not only a few hundred thousand more than than the closest competition, but is the highest first week album sales number of her career to date.

Her first album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, her second album Stripped failed to (it was beat out by the 8 Mile Soundtrack) even though it sold more in its first week than her first album, so this would mark Christina’s second number one debut in the states and the highest first week sales for a female solo artist since Mary J. Blige’s whopping 750,000 for The Breakthrough.
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So it’s official. Johnny Depp will be teaming up with genius director Tim Burton yet again for a movie version of the ridiculously popular musical Sweeney Todd (which is currently on Broadway starring Patti Lupone).

A friend of mine said she saw Johnny Depp in the theater when her and her boyfriend went to see the show a while back, and this was before anyone really knew Tim and Johnny had planned on making a movie out it so I’m inclined to believe her. But she’s kind of a lying attention whore bitch, so maybe not.

Anywho, the movie’s release is slated for 2007. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with it–hopefully it’s not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory part 2.

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Scene stealer Emily Blunt who many of you may know from this summer’s breakout hit The Devil Wears Prada is set to star in The Girl in the Park with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon.

The movie is based on a play by David Auburn, the writer of Proof (also made into a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Anthony Hopkins). Auburn also will be writing the script as well as making his directorial debut with this film. The story is as follows:

Enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her 3-year-old daughter 15 years ago, Julia Sandburg (Sarandon) has cut herself off from anyone once near and dear to her, including her husband Doug and her son Chris, who tried for years to penetrate her wall of isolation and despair, without success.

But when Julia meets Louise (Blunt), a troubled young woman with a checkered past, all Julia’s old psychic wounds painfully resurface, as does her illogical and increasingly irrational hope that Louise may be the daughter she lost so long ago.

Auburn most recently wrote the screenplay for the Keanu Reeves-Sandra Bullock romance The Lake House.

“The USA Network, best known for hits Monk, The Dead Zone, The 4400, and most recently Psych, has just acquired the rights to air Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest on its network once the show comes to television. For those of you keeping up with TV, the network just aired the film’s predecessor, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl last weekend.

This is part of an increasing trend in television of acquiring film rights as early as when the movie comes to theaters. If you remember, pay cable network Showtime acquired the rights to Oscar winner Crash when it was still in theaters, and and TNT, famous for Into The West, and more recently Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes recently bought the rights to air mega box office hit The Da Vinci Code on its station.

Pirates 2 will begin airing on the network in 2008.

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Three-time Emmy nominee Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) is starring in a new cable show, this time on the Sci-Fi Channel called The Lost Room. Sci-Fi announced this Thursday at the TCA Press Tour. This from the channel:

The Lost Room centers on a detective (Krause) who comes into possession of a motel-room key that unlocks the door to a weird parallel world. The room contains a bunch of seemingly ordinary objects that each have a unique power — and the key is the most powerful object of all.

The detective also becomes a suspect when his daughter (Elle Fanning) disappears while in the motel room.

The mini-series starts filming next week, and will air on the Sci-Fi Channel in December.

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American Idol 4th place finisher Chris Daughtry has just signed a record deal. The early-ousted rocker has signed a deal with 19 Recordings/RCA Records, which is the same label runner-up Katharine McPhee signed with and the same label family as winner Taylor Hicks (J Records).

Daughtry’s debut album is due in late 2006, and he has already started recording it with some big name collaborators.

He is the first fourth place finisher since season one’s Tamyra Gray to land a record deal with a major label (she was later dropped for poor sales and creative conflict). His signing comes after his Bon Jovi cover Wanted Dead or Alive charted at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #16 on the Billboard Hot Digital Tracks–the highest charting of any Idol compilation track ever.

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Anyone else wondering why Grey’s Anatomy Star Katherine Heigl missed out an Emmy nomination? I’m sorry–Candice Bergen is all iconic and whatever, and Blythe Danner’s good on Huff, but I would’ve loved to see Heigl get a nomination for her charming and honest portrayal of Izzie on ABC’s hit drama–probably moreso than co-star Chandra Wilson. But hey–don’t get me started on the Emmys again.

Jokingly, in an interview with Zap2It Heigl says “Disappointment,” is her reaction to her snub. “What happened to mine? That’s what I want to know. What happened to my nomination?”

The blonde beauty who is also starring in the upcoming film Knocked Up (in which Anne Hathaway originally starred) also talks about her disapproval of Izzie’s choices at the end of Grey’s Anatomy’s killer second season. “People are angry and people are sympathetic,” she says. “It kind of runs the gamut.”

She continues, “I’m actually more angry than sympathetic. I can’t believe she threw her career away. I just can’t believe it.”

Grey’s Anatomy returns in the fall on Thursday nights at 9 instead of it’s coveted Sunday post-Housewives slot.

Law & Order: SVU star and Golden Globe winner Mariska Hargitay had her baby boy, People reports.

It’s the first baby for her and her husband Peter Hermann who married back in August of 2004.

Nelly Furtado continues her career best week with a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, her club track with Timbaland, “Promiscous” dethroned Taylor Hicks‘ “Do I Make You Proud“, which dropped to number 3 in its second week.

Just yesterday, the album on which the track is featured bowed at number one atop the Billboard 200 chart.

Bryan Singer’s love child “Superman Returns” returned a whopping 21 million dollars in it’s first day yesterday on its Wednesday opening.

The buzz on the film has been mostly positive, so the early screenings of the film should mean good word of mouth box office longevity through the weekend. I don’t see it breaking any records, but expect it to be number one through next weekend–don’t forget-4th of July.

Fergie, lead singer of Hip-Hop group Black Eyed Peas is poised for the release of her new solo album, and her first single “London Bridge (Oh Shit)” has been leaked. There’s pretty much no singing involved–it’s just Fergie talking through the whole tack–but it’s still pretty good. Catchy, good beat, and the chorus is great. London, London, La-hoo!

Is anyone else having trouble stomaching this photo of Star Jones?

Amy Sedaris‘ screen version of the comedy central cult classic “Strangers With Candy” is coming to theaters soon, and most of the reviews say the first half of the film is hilarious–then the guest stars arrive. Hmm..sounds a lot like Will & Grace.

Season five “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks‘ first single, “Do I Make You Proud,” debuts atop the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The silver-topped Alabama crooner moved 190,000 physical singles and another 38,000 digital downloads of the track, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Three of the prior four “Idol” winners have bowed atop the Hot 100 — Carrie Underwood (”Inside Your Heaven“), Fantasia (”I Believe“) and Kelly Clarkson (”A Moment Like This“).

“Do I Make You Proud” ends the two-week reign of Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” featuring Wyclef Jean, which falls to No. 2 on both the Hot 100 and Pop 100. The cut still leads the Hot Latin Songs chart for a sixth week and Hot Digital Songs for a third frame.

Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” featuring Timbaland shifts 2-3 on the Hot 100 but is the chart’s greatest airplay gainer for a second turn. Yung Joc’s “It’s Goin’ Down” slides 3-4 on the Hot 100 but maintains the pole position on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for a fifth week.

Elsewhere on the Hot 100, Chamillionaire’s “Ridin‘” featuring Krayzie Bone slips 4-5, Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” rockets 15-6 and Rascal Flatts‘ cover of Tom Cochrane’s “Life Is a Highway” from the “Cars” soundtrack makes a 25-7 leap into the top tier, earning the greatest sales gainer distinction.

Rihanna’s “Unfaithful” and Cassie’s “Me & U” each move one slot down, descending 7-8 and 8-9, respectively, while Lil Jon’s “Snap Yo Fingers” featuring E-40 and Sean Paul of the YoungBloodz falls 9-10 to round out the Hot 100 top tier.

Beyonce’s “Deja Vu” featuring Jay-Z debuts at No. 44 on the chart, a career best for the Destiny’s Child frontwoman as a solo artist. The track is the first single from her upcoming sophomore solo set “B’Day“. Also new to the Hot 100 are Chingy’s “Pullin’ Me Back” featuring Tyrese (No. 86), Cham’s “Ghetto Story” (No. 99) and Steve Holy’s “Brand New Girlfriend” (No. 100).

Koji Kondo’s “Super Mario Brothers Theme” notches a fourth week atop the Hot Ringtones track, while Kenny Chesney’s “Summertime” fronts the Hot Country Songs chart for a third week and Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” leads Hot Adult Contemporary for a ninth. Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ “Dani California” continues to rule both the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock tallies for a 10th and eighth week, respectively.

Source: The Tennessean

Less than two years ago, Carrie Underwood, a young shy Oklahoma blonde, took her first-ever flight, a trip to Hollywood to audition for ”American Idol.”

Just last month, Underwood flew three times in seven days, executing a superstar itinerary: to Las Vegas for the Academy of Country Music awards show, where she sang and won two ACMs; to Los Angeles to sing on the 2006 ”American Idol” finale in front of an estimated TV audience of 40 million; and to Nashville to get ready for her opening slot on Kenny Chesney’s stadium tour.

Underwood, scared to get on that first flight in 2004, now sounds like a world-weary traveler.

”We flew to Vegas from New York and the flight was really delayed,” she says, sarcasm creeping into her voice, ”and that was awesome, because I don’t need my sleep or anything.”

Underwood may be a bit agitated with the travel, but she couldn’t be more upbeat about her life since winning ”Idol” herself one year and 11 days ago.

Since then, Underwood has sold more than 3 million albums on the power of a No. 1 single; she has won Billboard, Dove and ACM awards; and she scored a performance slot at the National Basketball Association All-Star Game halftime show and sang the national anthem before the National Football Conference championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers.

Underwood goes into this year’s CMA Music Festival, which starts Thursday, as country’s ”it” girl.

And she does so drawing a crowd virtually everywhere she goes . . . or even when she stays in. Underwood reports that several little girls occasionally ring the doorbell at her new Williamson County house.

”It’s all great,” she says, smiling.

”I’d much rather people be excited and pay attention and stuff like that than not know who I am or what I do. So it’s all good. But you’ve got to keep that in mind all the time.”

Underwood, 23, says it’s still hard to get used to so much attention because she had such a humble, quiet life before ”Idol.”

She was the third daughter of a paper mill worker and an elementary school teacher in rural Checotah, Okla., just next to a town Merle Haggard made famous in ”Okie From Muskogee.”

Underwood started singing as a little girl in vacation Bible school at First Free Will Baptist Church in her town, which she describes as a ”real conservative, quiet church, where you’d listen a lot, sing a hymn and leave.”

Underwood’s only childhood conflict, as it were, would come from an occasional run-in with her mom at school when Mrs. Underwood was the substitute teacher for her class.

”I stuck my tongue out behind her back once,” Underwood said. ”I got told on.”

Music became fun for her when she met elementary and intermediate school teacher Cathy Cooper, who cast Underwood as Mother Nature singing to the animals in a fourth-grade production.

From there, Underwood began singing in talent contests locally and regionally, and she so impressed one woman at a show that the woman told her wealthy Arkansas boyfriend that he had to get Underwood to Music Row.

Underwood won’t reveal the man’s name or much about him, other than to say he had no music industry experience. But Underwood, at age 15, found herself with an artist development deal at Capitol Records, then home to Garth Brooks.

The deal quickly went away when there was a change at the helm of Capitol, and Underwood went back to Oklahoma with her tail between her legs.

”Dream shattered,” she said, then turned more pensive. ”I wasn’t ready anyway.”

Underwood did indeed shelve her singer dreams, instead enrolling at nearby Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., where she studied broadcast journalism and became part of a country music review show.

In fall 2004, her friends encouraged her to go to the ”American Idol” auditions, and her mom drove her and a friend to St. Louis.

Underwood’s adorable girl-next-door looks and kind disposition made her a natural for country music, but she stumbled a bit at first. Her first single, ”Inside Your Heaven,” released immediately after her May 25, 2005, win, reached No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart but got little country radio play.

Just a few months later, though, Underwood exploded at country radio with ”Jesus, Take the Wheel,” No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for six straight weeks and R&R’s country airplay chart for five straight weeks. Underwood set a record for most weeks at No. 1 for a single from a new artist’s debut album since those records were first kept in 1990.

Underwood kept up her firsts when, in November, she made CMA awards show history by becoming the first artist with only one country single out to get a performance slot.

Underwood went on to win several more awards, and she also went on to get involved in her first mini-controversy, at the CMT music awards in April.

In the press room, Wynonna was asked her opinion of Underwood, and she said she thought Underwood was solid but went on to say lots of country singing these days is vanilla. Underwood was nearby behind a curtain and her eyes welled with tears, and they did again when Wynonna later, with Underwood next to her, apologized in front of reporters.

The next night, Underwood’s publicist, Jessie Schmidt, told reporters at Underwood’s triple-platinum (3 million albums sold) party that the Wynonna comments stung.

”It hurt her feelings,” Schmidt said. ”Had she been in a room by herself, she probably would’ve cried.”

It wasn’t the last time Underwood would show an emotional side.

During last month’s ACM awards show, she performed ”Jesus” and her voice cracked afterward as she thanked the crowd for its rowdy response. Underwood then wiped away a tear.

Backstage, reporters asked Underwood about her reaction.

”I’m a big baby. That happens quite a bit,” she said. ”I just realized where I was and it made me a little teary-eyed.”

Despite her success so far as a country artist, many fans and reporters still tie her closely to ”American Idol,” and she got dozens of ”Idol” questions on the ACM orange carpet and backstage.

But Underwood says she doesn’t mind because ”Idol” is what brought her to a national stage. She said she feels it may have been her only way back to Nashville, because she feels the people representing her when she was 15 may have burned bridges on Music Row.

Sometimes, though, the ”Idol” connection can be a bit much, as it was when she was having lunch with her manager on Mother’s Day.

”We were in some kind of deli and this woman comes up to me and says, ‘My son and I were having a debate.’ I figured right then she knew who I was and she was going to ask me for an autograph, so I had this big stupid grin on my face,” Underwood said.

”And then she said, ‘Are you (fifth season Southern ‘Idol’ contestant) Kellie Pickler?’ And I said, ‘What? Noooooo.’ She was like, ‘You’re not?’ and she really wouldn’t believe me at all.

”And I said, ‘Ma’am, it’s Mother’s Day and I promise to you on my mother that I’m not Kellie Pickler.’ And I still don’t think she believed me. That was a first.”

Underwood laughs it off.

”If they think I’m Kellie, and they’re happy about it, that’s fine, I guess.”

Then there are the more fun parts of fame.

Underwood spent the better part of a day in Las Vegas last month trying on clothes for her back-to-back nights on the ACM awards show and the ”Idol” finale. She needed four outfits for the ACMs (orange carpet, performance, one to wear in the seats and one for the after-show party) and five for the ”Idol” appearance the next night (red carpet, three appearances and after-show party).

”We had about 50 dresses to try on. My room was a mess!” she said.

With the upcoming Kenny Chesney tour dates, CMA Music Festival and other TV and concert appearances, Underwood says she won’t put any serious thought into her next album until October.

Then she’ll try to further develop her songwriting.

2005 American Idol winner Carrie Underwood will perform her new single ‘Don’t Forget To Remember Me‘ during the 2006 ‘American Idol‘ finale show on Wednesday, May 24. Underwood, who will make her debut appearance on the Academy of Country Music Awards the night before, will fly into Los Angeles from Vegas for the American Idol appearance.

In the year since her win, Underwood has sold over 3 million copies of her debut album Some Hearts, placed her first single ‘Jesus, Take The Wheel‘ at No 1 for six weeks and has a current top 15 hit with new single ‘Don’t Forget To Remember Me.’ Also among her accolades are a Teen Choice Award, 3 Billboard Awards, 2 CMT Music Awards, a Gospel Music Association Award and four nominations at this year’s ACM Awards- Single of the Year and Song of The Year for ‘Jesus, Take The Wheel,’ and New Female and Female of the Year. The ACM Awards airs May 23 on CBS.

In other Underwood news, she was also named ‘Oklahoman of The Year’ and recently graduated from Northeastern State University Magna Cum Laude with a degree in mass communications with an emphasis in journalism.

American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is making history in America after scoring the fastest-selling country debut album for a female artist. The singer’s disc Some Hearts has been certified triple platinum (three million sales) after spending 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

According to her record label, it’s the fastest certification of its kind in history for a debut album by a female country artist. Some Hearts has spent a total of 15 weeks at the top of Billboard’s country album chart.