Britney Update

Look who's back on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone magazine; it's Britney. And even though she looks like a muppet, at least she is back in shape. The new album hits on Tuesday.

(Photo from rollingstone.com)

24: Redemption

The show 24 returned last night for a 2-hour movie and holy smokes it was great. If you missed it, try to catch a replay or you can buy it on DVD on Tuesday. Can't wait for the new season in January!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to one of my all-time favorite WWE Divas, Kristal Marshall, who won the Ms. Bikini America contest over 400 other contestants on Saturday in Las Vegas. Even more amazing, this woman just recently gave birth within the last couple of months. If you would like to know why she won the competition, check out the clip below (from a WWE show from last year) and scroll to the 2:00 mark. Mercy. Note to TNA Wrestling: Please sign this woman and put her with the Beautiful People. Pronto:

Celebrity Championship Wrestling

It was a wild week on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. First of all, for some reason, they let Danny Bonaduce come back even though he got cut last week. Screech took exception to it and they let them settle their feud in a scripted, pre-determined "hardcore" wrestling match. Insanity. Goldberg made a brief appearance this week also. I loved the part where Danny Bonaduce hit him with a trash can, Goldberg didn't move, then said "now hit me like a man". He was so great during his "streak" storyline in WCW and I miss seeing him in wrestling. Too bad WWE has shitheads running the ship and TNA would have him in climbing matches, because he could have a great last run in either league if they could get themselves together. But hey, what company these days wants to make money? The part of the show that I had a problem with was when the group practiced how to hit each other with chairs. The last remaining female, Trishelle (above), got hit hard in the back with a chairshot from Brian Knobbs of the Nasty Boys. I could not believe that they did it. Why would they strike a 100 pound woman with a steel chair right in the back? How about using some common sense? It was absurd (plus, if you just had to hit a woman with a steel chair, shouldn't they have chosen someone more deserving like Sarah Palin?). Anyway, she rightfully went directly to the medical staff and was hesitant to participate in some of the drills when she returned. In the end, the judges said that she "didn't give 100%" which led to her being cut this week. It was ridiculous. She seemed happy to leave though. Oh well. See ya on the next Real World/Road Rules Challenge, kid. Of course, now all the eye candy is gone and we're now stuck looking at a bunch of goofy guys. Do these people want ratings or what? Next week: more contrived madness!

(Photo from cmt.com)

"The Wrestler" Trailer

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a movie called The Wrestler and it has been receiving Oscar buzz. It is being touted as Mickey Rourke's big comeback role. It won awards at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. Bruce Springsteen has contributed to the soundtrack. Some of it was shot at Ring of Honor events. This will be my "Batman" movie for 2009. Should be good:

Disgraceful

I usually try to keep the tone of Hollywood Nation lighthearted with my usual player-hating and oogling of women, but I have to make an exception with this post. It has to do with the most lowlife and disgraceful company in this country-- World Wrestling Entertainment. This morning I woke up and checked a couple of wrestling sites. All were reporting that WWE's own website had posted an article that wrestler, I'm sorry, "entertainer" Jeff Hardy was found passed out in a Boston hotel stairway and rushed to the hospital. It was even posted in AOL's "Top Stories" section on its homepage. With Hardy's well-known substance abuse history and the fact that seemingly every few months a wrestler passes away, the natural inclination was to think that Jeff Hardy had either died or best case had some kind of drug overdose. Well, it turns out now that the story was part of a storyline for tonight's WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view show.

What kind of decent company pulls this kind of crap? The message boards were filled with posts from worried fans specualting on Hardy's health. I myself had that dreaded "here we go again" feeling. What kind of scumbags would do this to their own customers and fans? What goes through the minds of people like Vince and Stephanie McMahon, because surely one of them had to have signed off on this. Do they think even one step ahead before pulling a stunt like this? Does anyone at the top have any common sense, let alone common deceny? And then they sit and actually wonder why they can't attract high-brow advertisers. This is why! It's an utter disgrace and I'll remember this the next time I consider buying one of their overpriced pay-per-view events, souvenirs, video games, etc. They should be embarrassed but history shows us that I should know better than that.

The Beautiful People vs. Sojournor Bolt & Christy

From last night's Impact. Isn't Christy adorable? Someone wanna pull Billy Gunn off of this poor woman?

New Releases

This week in the new release bin:

Beyonce: I Am Sasha Fierce- I actually picked this up yesterday. It's eleven songs but they split it over two discs. The first one is all slow songs (I kind of skipped through those) and the second disc is the dance songs, which are actually really good. Expect lots of radio and video play. You'll like this one for the pictures alone. Available on sale this week at most of the usual outlets including for download and at Amazon, Target, etc.

Also this week: American Idol winner David Cook, Shontelle, and Nickelback plus Target has released exclusive Christmas CDs by Musiq Soulchild and Dancing with the Stars young thing, Julianne Hough. And don't forget that Q-Tip CD!

MVP!

On the heels of the Rams getting slaughtered once again, it was nice to get some good sports news here in St. Louis. Congratulations to Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, who won his second MLB MVP award yesterday. Second place was Ryan Howard of the Phillies, a St. Louis native, so we were covered either way. Since neither of these guys are busy right now and probably hanging around St. Louis doing nothing, can we can get them in the Rams backfield? Or in the secondary? I'm beggin' ya!

Rock of Love: Charm School

It would be great if VH-1 could give Brandi M. and Brandi C. a show together. That would have "Bobby and Whitney" trainwreck potential. We could see them go shopping together, getting hideous tattoos together, making brownies together and performing carnal knowledge together. I smell a hit. Until then, we will have the memories of the two Brandis teaming up on last week's show to do a public service announcement. It was nothing short of magic. Their PSA with the blow-up guys was sick genius. These two would make even the most mundane task seem amazing. We better enjoy Brandi C. while we can however because next week it looks like she spits in someone's face, so I can't imagine she will be long for this show. But there's always the potential "The Two Brandis" show. Someone point me to the VH-1 Suggestion Box. It's Money Time.

(Photo from vh1.com)

Celebrity Championship Wrestling

The Whole F'N Show, Rob Van Dam, was the special guest on this week's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. He was great, but then again, what did you expect? He was teaching the remaining five how to fall over the top rope. Danny Bonaduce immediately charged full force over the top and injured his back. Sucks to be him. The rest of the group did a battle royal for this week's match. It had it's moments. They put over Trishelle as the winner. In the end, they seemingly cut Danny Bonaduce, but then I noticed he was all over the previews for next week. Damn, they can't shake him. If this fool gets to come back, then so should Erin and Nikki. Next week: Hardcore action!

(Photo from cmt.com)

"Gettin' Up"

Have you bought the new Q-Tip CD "The Renaissance" yet? What are you waiting on? It debuted at #11 on last week's Billboard album chart and at #3 on the Hip Hop album chart. Still not sold? Check out the video for "Gettin' Up" below:

Brock Lesnar: UFC Heavyweight Champion

Congratulations to Brock Lesnar, who beat Randy Couture last night in Las Vegas to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion. Lesnar won in the second round after he knocked Couture down with a punch then swooped down on him like a pterodactyl and peppered him with about 20 punches before the referee stopped it. Lesnar becomes the first man to ever win both the WWE World Title and the UFC Heavyweight Title. He also becomes the first UFC Heavyweight Champion to have once been pinned by Eddie Guerrero's frog splash. Congrats on the victory!

New Release Tuesday

Only two days too late! It's that time of the year where record companies put out some of their biggest releases of the year to capatalize on the holiday buying season. Here is some music of interest that came out this week:

- Seal "Soul": Seal remade a bunch of classic soul songs such as "It's A Man's World" and "A Change Is Gonna Come". I picked this up on Tuesday. It's a hit. It's on sale at Target, Amazon, and it's surely available at whatever the hell I-Tunes is.

- Christina Aquilera "Keeps Gettin' Better": This is Christina's greatest hits package and it's available exclusively at Target. It includes all of her hits plus two new songs and two remixes. Spend the extra two bucks to get the version with the DVD of her greatest videos. You know you wanna see her in those assless chaps in the "Dirrty" video.

- Now That's What I Call Music 10th Anniversary: A pretty good collection of hits from the last ten years. For those people that never picked up "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys and "Get The Party Started" by Pink.

Also this week, American Idol loser David Archuleta, country sensation Taylor Swift, T-Pain, NOW 29 and the Best of Hilary Duff (is that a 3-disc set?)

Palin To TNA?

From the company that brought you Pacman Jones and Toby Keith in the ring, TNA Wrestling has unveiled it's latest publicity stunt:

"Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has announced that it is formally inviting Alaska governor and former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin to become an honorary member of “The Beautiful People,” the elite group of TNA Knockouts led by Angelina Love and Velvet Sky (above).

TNA officials said a “Sarah Palin Ceremony” is scheduled for December 7 at its “Final Resolution” pay-per-view as part of her “Honorary TNA Knockout” membership in The Beautiful People, and TNA President Dixie Carter will personally fly Gov. Palin and her husband, Todd, from their home in Anchorage to Orlando, Florida, for the December event.

TNA Wrestling will make the formal invitation to Gov. Palin Thursday, November 13, on “TNA iMPACT!” at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike. TNA will present Gov. Palin with a $50,000 check at “Final Resolution” made out to the charity of her choice, or will make the donation to the youth hockey association in her native Wasilla, Alaska."

Wow, and I thought it was bad when Billy Gunn joined the Beautiful People. That's all I need is this broad ruining their act. If she joins, is she going to get in the ring and wiggle her butt like the BP's? Now that would be funny. She's just a bad fit for the Beautiful People. Wouldn't she have been better in wrestling groups from the past? The (Washington) Outsiders? The JOB Squad? The West Texas Rednecks? The Filthy Animals? I could go on for days.

Dancing with the Stars

With Toni Braxton and Kim Kardashian gone, it was good to see Edyta (above) back on Dancing with the Stars. From my expert perspective, she was pretty much carrying the show on Monday. Too bad it's just temporary (she was subbing for Julianne Hough, who was out due to surgery). Olympian Maurice Green was cut this week, leaving a final four of Brooke Burke, Warren Sapp, Lance Bass and the guy from Hannah Montana (who Edyta carried to victory this week). I think Brooke will edge out Warren to be this season's winner. And with Edyta back, let's face it, we're all winners!

(Photo from abc.com)

Rock of Love Charm School

This week's episode of Charm School was decent. They brought in a fake royal from England and the girls had to try to act proper in front of her. The girls actually surprised me as they looked respectable when they are sober and not dressed in stripper clothing. In the end, it was Inna who got the boot this week. She was the only one who showed cleavage during the challenge (she just couldn't get rid of the trampy ways) which was reason enough to show her the door. The woman is a giant. She towered over Sharon Osborne when she hugged her on the way out and I thought she was going to give her the Black Hole Slam. Oh well, good luck in the clubs, toots.

(Photo from vh1.com)

Celebrity Championship Wrestling

It was the first post-Erin Murphy episode of the show and oddly enough, a lot of the show centered around Erin. Nikki had trouble learning the new moves and the team was growing frustrated with her. She walked out in a huff and suggested that they bring Erin back. Hulk showed up, consoled her and offered to give her some one-on-one training time. Isn't he a nice guy?

The group also learned how to cut promos/interviews this week. This led to an almost believable altercation between Screech and Danny Bonaduce. Screech continues to amaze me by being actually likeable on this show, as opposed to his time on Celebrity Fit Club. The matches were better this week, including Todd Bridges and his "Mr. Not-So-Perfect" persona, who is emerging as my favorite. In the end, it was Nikki who got the boot, leaving Trishelle and five guys (probably not the first time that's happened). Next week: ROB VAN DAM!

(Photo from cmt.com)

TNA Turning Point Results

Results from last night's TNA Turning Point PPV from the Impact Zone in Orlando, FL:

- Eric Young won an X-Division Rankings match. Typical X-Division stuff.

- Taylor Wilde and Roxxi beat Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. Where are the Beautiful People?

- Rhino beat Sheik Abdul Bashir. During this match, Scott Hall and the Insane Clown Posse arrived in the crowd and just happen to have seats in the front row right across from the hard camera. I hope this is not a new heel faction.

- Beer Money Inc. beat The Motor City Machine Guns

- Booker T beat Christian Cage, meaning Cage has to join the Main Event Mafia.

- Kurt Angle beat Abyss in the best match of the night. They brawled all over the arena.

- Kevin Nash beat Samoa Joe after a ton of cheating. I don't think this is really helping Joe.

- Sting beat A.J. Styles to retain the TNA World Title.

CD Review: Q-Tip "The Renaissance"

A Tribe Called Quest has always been one of my favorite rap groups so I had to pick up Q-Tip's new CD "The Renaissance" on Tuesday. I think this is his first official release since 1999's "Amplified". And it was damn near worth the wait. The CD is excellent from beginning to end. It's just great, laid back, Quest-style hip-hop that you don't hear much anymore. There are guest appearances by Raphael Saddiq, Norah Jones, and D'Angelo (which is my favorite cut). This is probably my choice for CD of the year. Don't sleep on this! Get it at cduniverse.com, Target, Amazon, itunes, or wherever the hell else music is sold. Just get it!

Flair Knows Best?

From wrestlingfigs.com:

"Pink Sneakers Productions the same company that produced the 'Hogan Knows Best' and 'Brooke Knows Best' Reality TV shows for VH1 are working on a pilot with WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair (Richard Morgan Fliehr) and his son Reid that will be pitched to networks in the next few weeks. Filming on the show began last week and it will follow Ric and Reid who are now living together as bachelors. If the series gets picked up by anyone the tentative date to start production is the beginning of 2009."

PLEASE, let this happen. This show has the potential to be better than Charm School.

Impact Preview

Tonight on Impact:

- A Ladder Match (with the winners earning a shot at the Tag Team title): Team 3D vs. The Latin American Xchange vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan vs. Tanahashi & Volador

- Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed vs. Taylor Wilde and Roxxi

- Sting, Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash vs. Jay Lethal, Eric Young and Consequences Creed

What, nothing from the Beautiful People? Do these people want ratings?

YES WE CAN!

Congratulations, President-Elect Obama!

Rock of Love: Charm School

The more this season of Charm School goes on, the more it reminds me of how the girls behaved when I was in third grade. But at least those broads could read. On Sunday's show, Megan absolutely lost her mind and kicked Brandi M. pretty hard in the midsection. Brandi M. must have really wanted to stay on the show badly because she didn't retaliate-- and she looks like she could probably beat up some men. This led to Megan getting the boot (her act was getting tired anyway) and also led to Brandi C. having the most ridiculous crying fit in the history of reality TV as her friend was being cut. They had to convince her not to walk off the show. Her makeup was running and she looked like Ronald McDonald after he fell out of a chimney on a cold December night. Pathetic. And to think that I thought this girl was adorable just weeks ago. Anyway, Megan is now gone, but we still have Lacey and Brandi C. to carry the heel drama side of the show. Fantastic season.

(Photo from vh1.com)

Britney's New CD Cover

Here's the cover for Britney's new CD, Circus, which will be released on December 2nd. It's already an improvement over the last one where she wore that black hat. Man, you could tell she didn't give a damn back then. This time around, the music could be atrocious but at least the cover art is competent.

Celebrity Championship Wrestling

It was another fun week of Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling-- until the end! This week, in addition to learning the three moves, each celebrity chose a wrestling character. For instance, Dennis Rodman was "Rodzilla", Trishelle was "The Red Hot Redneck", Screech was "The Winner", Nikki Ziering was "Candy Girl", and Erin Murphy was "Mistress of Mayhem" (M.O.M.). The matches were a little bit better this week. The judges decided that Team Brutus had the best match, so someone from Team Nasty was on the chopping block. It came down to Erin and Nikki. Nikki had the foresight to wear this amazingly tiny pair of shorts, which likely was the deciding factor. Smart move. So they sent Erin and her cute little M.O.M. outfit packing. Very disappointing-- Hollywood Nation's favorite contestant has been eliminated. Nikki better show up in a thong next week to make up for this.

(Photo from cmt.com)

Rams vs. Cardinals

I was actually live in the Edward Jones Dome for yesterday's game, as the Arizona Cardinals handed the St. Louis Rams their second loss in a row. It was a slaughter, but two things struck me as I sat through this debacle:

1. We have some really hot cheerleaders

2. At least we're not Detroit

Next week: the New York Jets!

Halloween with Kim K. and Mariah

How did two of Hollywood Nation's favorite celebs dress up for Halloween? Check out the pictures below. Kim Kardashian dressed up as a big bootied Wonder Woman and Mariah was a slutty fireman, uh, firewoman, whatever. There's a ho's/hose joke in here somewhere, but I'm too full of candy to make it. I'll give the edge to Kim on this one.

(Kim photo from kimkardashian.com and the Mimi photo is from mariahdaily.com)