The US First Lady unfazed by Oscar backlash

Michelle Obama says it was “absolutely not surprising” to her that her satellite appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony provoked a national conversation about whether it was appropriate, after some conservative critics accused her of selfishly crashing the event in an attempt to upstage it.

She attributed the chatter to a culture shift that has spawned legions of bloggers, tweeters and others who talk about anything and everything all the time.

“Shoot, my bangs set off a national conversation. My shoes can set off a national conversation. That’s just sort of where we are. We’ve got a lot of talking going on,” the first lady said somewhat jokingly on Thursday before an appearance in Chicago, her hometown. “It’s like everybody’s kitchen-table conversation is now accessible to everybody else, so there’s a national conversation about anything.”

In what was not the first-ever Oscar appearance by a first lady, Mrs. Obama was beamed live from the White House into Sunday’s ceremony in Los Angeles to unseal the envelope and announce that the night’s final award, for Best Picture, would go to ‘Argo’. In 2002, Laura Bush appeared at the ceremony on videotape.

Americans have long been fascinated by their first ladies, scrutinising everything from their clothes and hair to the issues they promote and how they raise their children. Mrs. Obama acknowledged that she and President Barack Obama have added appeal, and perhaps sometimes are subject to extra scrutiny because they are the first black family in the White House but also a young couple with young children.

She said she doesn’t give a second thought to critical comments about what she does as first lady.

Kim Kardashian covers growing baby bump in lacy top.

Kim Kardashian flaunted her pregnant curves last night as she headed to an important LA meeting.

Kanye West's girlfriend covered her growing baby bump in a lacy satin camisole, pairing it with simple white jeans and a two-tone cardigan.The pregnant reality star - who's expecting her first child - finished off her casual but stunning look with a pair of black heels and a cute white clutch bag.

Kim was snapped earlier that day in a rather different outfit, hitting the gym in a turquoise flannel shirt, bright matching trainers with a black top and joggers.Dressing down, she covered her face with signature huge sunnies as she was papped looking a lot more casual than usual.

American singer Stevie Wonder at pre-Super Bowl concert

Applause and approval greeted Stevie Wonder as thousands stood for hours to hear his pre-Super Bowl concert that also featured guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

Escorted on stage late Saturday by his daughter and backup singer Aisha Morris, Wonder performed several of his hits, including his opening song, “How Sweet It Is.”

That was followed by “Master Blaster,” Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and Wonder’s own “Higher Ground.”

The 62-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member headlined the outdoor event held near the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel on the eve of Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.

Thousands packed a tent set up on a parking lot across the street from the hotel to hear Wonder, Clark, R&B artist Janelle Monae and DJ Martin Solveig.

Jennifer Hudson and Sandy Hook choir delight

The chorus from Sandy Hook Elementary School was joined by Jennifer Hudson at the Super Bowl in a stirring rendition of “America the Beautiful” on Sunday that had some players on the sideline on the verge of tears.

Sandy Hook is the school in Newton, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed in a December 14 shooting rampage.

Wearing white shirts that seemed to embody the innocence of youth, with green ribbons pinned on the right side of their shirts, the 26 children stood on the NFL’s red, white and blue shield-shape logo and many smiled excitedly as they sang the first verse before a silent yet packed Superdome crowd. Then Hudson, wearing a black blouse and long, white skirt, fronted them for a second verse that showcased her sterling voice.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh watched alongside his daughter, Alison.

Fans offered a rousing ovation at the finish, and the chorus then trotted to the 20-yard line and turned, with their hands on their hearts, to watch Alicia Keys sing the national anthem.

Kim Kardashian says it will be called Pure Honey

Socialite Kim Kardashian, who is expecting her first child with boyfriend Kanye West, is working on her sixth perfume called Pure Honey.She may launch it in September this year.Kim said that Pure Honey, which contains raw wild honeycomb and rose notes, represents pure femininity. She describes it as really warm and inviting.“I am super involved from start to finish — on bottle design to ad campaign. I had this really great honey idea, so we moved away from just florals,” digitalspy.co.uk quoted Kim as saying.

Lady Gaga ‘ordered assistant to sleep with her’

Jennifer O’Neill, who is suing Gaga for more than £225,000 in unpaid overtime, said the pop star did not like sleeping alone.The couple did not have sex but Gaga’s assistant felt she had no choice but to share her boss’s bed.She said: “Unlike anybody else on that tour, I did not have my own hotel room. I was not asked if I wanted my own hotel room. I had no privacy.”

Selena Gomez: Out For revenge Against Justin Bieber

Selena Gomez has made no secret that Taylor Swift is one of her very best friends.

Now, according to a new report, the artist may be taking a page from her BFF… which could mean BIG trouble for Justin Bieber.

 

“Justin was so mean to Selena that she can’t wait to spill all the sh-t about him in her new songs,” an insider tells Hollywood Life. “All his flirting and all his bullsh-t are on the table.”

Selena and Justin split right before New Year’s, after an argument in Mexico resulted in the stars flying back to Los Angeles separately.

Bieber, of course, has mostly enjoyed a sterling reputation in the eyes of fans, but various recent stories have called that into question; led, of course, by the Justin Bieber smoking pot incident.”

Concludes this Selena source of what the public may soon hear:

“Her fans will be shocked about how much of a badass she can be when she’s out for revenge.”

Dick Wagner Loses Career With 'Curable' Dementia

Dick Wagner had enjoyed a successful life on stage, playing lead guitar for bands like Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Kiss, when he had a stroke and a heart attack in 2007."I woke up from a coma after two weeks with a paralyzed left arm," said Wagner, now 70 and living in Arizona. "My profession as a guitarist, I thought was over."

He and Cooper co-wrote the majority of the band's top-selling songs, including the 1975 hit, "Welcome to My Nightmare."But Wagner's own personal horror show had just begun. He worked hard at rehabilitation, but new symptoms began to appear: mental fuzziness and an odd gait."I couldn't turn to the left as I walked, only to the right, and I would do a spiral and fall," he said. "I fell completely flat on my face in the driveway on the concrete. I didn't know what had happened to me."

Another fall by his swimming pool precipitated a blood clot and surgery. Wagner was convinced his career was over.But in 2011, Wagner was diagnosed with NPH, or normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition caused by a build-up of spinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain, which puts pressure on nerves that control the legs, bladder and cognitive function.

Doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix surgically placed a shunt in his head to redirect the fluid through a tube under the skin to his abdominal cavity. A small amount is drained every day for the rest of his life.

My first kiss with Selena Gomez was the best of my life: Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber has opened up about his love life and about his relationship with Disney starlet Selena Gomez.'My first kiss with Selena was the best of my life. It was in the car. It was scary and spontaneous and it was just awesome,' reveals Justin, 18.

‘What does love feel like? It feels good.'If you're really in love then you should get butterflies. Butterflies and happiness, that's how I feel anyway.'The Beauty And A Beat singer has tried to keep his relationship with Selena, 20, out of the spotlight - and from his legion of fans.

'I never like to throw it in my fans' faces. I love my fans and I'd never want to do that to them,' Justin tells Fabulous.'It's my private life and I like to keep that separate.'I don't have many things that I get to myself but that's one thing.'I'm very happy. And I know my fans just want to be happy for me.'

Beauty queens vie for Miss America title in Vegas

A parade of beauties from every state are primping and prepping to compete for the Miss America crown Saturday night.The show at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip is the culmination of a week of preliminary competitions and months of practice.Each of the beauty queens has already proven her poise, charm and volubility by winning her state crown.After an opening number, the judges will announce 16 finalists.The women will strut their stuff in swimsuit, evening gown, talent and interview competitions, with cuts after each round until a new Miss America is crowned.

Jennifer Aniston gives Kimmel haircut live on TV

Jennifer Aniston can be a lot of fun on late-night when she doesn’t have anything to promote.Free of the obligation to talk about any upcoming projects and appearing on ‘The Jimmy Kimmel Show’ purely “out of love”, as the host put it, Aniston helped her friend launch his show in its new 11.35pm time slot, wielding weapons including a sledgehammer, a pair of scissors and yes, embarrassing vacation photos.

She used the first to take out Kimmel’s new desk while declaring “out with the old, in with the new!” and noting the show’s time change.And how on Earth could that “mistake” happen? “You’d think that one of our staff members, seeing you with the sledgehammer, would have said something before you came out,” Kimmel said, deadpan. “This makes no sense at all.”

“It actually makes no sense at all,” Aniston agreed. “Like zero. Like a little bit less than zero sense, even. Well, what are ya gonna do,” he said.At least they started out with a bang, literally, before the vacation pictures came out. Kimmel and his wife were part of the group that hit Cabo recently with Aniston and her fiancee, Justin Theroux, and was captured via cellphone camera at the spa getting a manicure, pedicure and massage. He was also snapped while nauseated on a boat, but the pictures didn’t chronicle that adventure in detail.

24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala

The Award Season Express made its first stop of the new year in the middle of the desert a couple of hours east of Hollywood at the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival gala.A blast of Golden Globe nominees and Oscar hopefuls walked the press gauntlet on Saturday night, including Naomi Watts, Helen Hunt and John Hawkes, Ben Affleck and ‘Arbitrage’ star Richard Gere, who received the night’s so-called Chairman’s Award.

“Great,” Gere noted with more than a touch of sarcasm. “That’s better than the Governors Award?” he inquired, with a chuckle. “What’s the pecking order of these awards? I want to know. Am I getting the best award? I’m not going in unless I’m getting the best award!”Though Gere, 63, has never received an Oscar nomination, there were previous Academy Award winners aplenty at the Palm Springs gala. Among them was Sally Field, the night’s honoree for career achievement, including her hard-won role of Mary Todd in director Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’.“I still can’t believe I got the role,” Field replied, cracking a smile. “Did I get it?”

Turning serious, she told the black-tie audience she was proud to be part of the film and happy to still be working. “I’m very lucky... Next year it’ll be 50 years that I’ve been in the business as a professional. It’s been a wild ride,” she said.

Lindsay Lohan due back in court on Monday

Lindsay Lohan was due to appear in New York criminal court on Monday to hear if her alleged role in a fight at a Manhattan nightclub will go to trial.At least she’ll have money to pay her legal bills. The 26-year-old flew to London to attend the New Year’s Eve party at the Dorchester thrown by the billionaire Sultan of Brunei’s celebrity-mad son, Prince Azim, and was reported to have been paid $100,000 (Dh367,309) for her presence.Lohan is accused of hitting Tiffany Mitchell, 28, of Palm Beach, Florida, at the Avenue Lounge in Manhattan.

It will be her 19th court appearance since 2007.Her lawyer is optimistic she’ll get off, telling CNN in November: “Once again, Lindsay Lohan is a victim of someone trying to capture their 15 minutes of fame.”“From my initial investigation, I am completely confident that this case will be concluded favourably and that Lindsay will be totally exonerated,” Heller said of the New York incident.

But it’s not the end of her legal woes.

Lohan is scheduled to appear at a probation violation hearing on January 15 in California.

You’ll remember she was put on probation after being convicted of stealing a necklace in 2011. She’d avoid jail if she stayed out of trouble, something it seems she can’t do. In November 2012, four charges, including giving false information to a police officer, obstructing or resisting a police officer in performance of his duty and reckless driving, were filed following a car crash.