Jennifer Hudson Engaged to Boyfriend David Otunga
Jennifer Hudson and boyfriend, David Otunga, have gotten engaged, her rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“I can confirm that Jennifer got engaged to her boyfriend David on Friday night in L.A.” says the rep.
Otunga, who is known as “Punk” from the reality show I Love New York 2, popped the question with a Neil Lane diamond ring on the Dreamgirls Oscar winner’s 27th birthday.
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
The Other Emmy Awards
There were a lot of Emmy Awards handed out Saturday night in Hollywood, what they call the Creative Arts Emmys (these are largely the categories we wish they would leave out of the Oscar broadcast every year), covering areas of expertise from hair and makeup to casting and costuming. My favorite category was “picture editing of clip packages.†The winner in this was the guy who worked on “David Cook Goes Home†for American Idol.
Underwood feels overwhelmed
Like the woman in the opening line of “Jesus Take the Wheel,” Carrie Underwood is on her way to Cincinnati.
Well, right across the river from it, anyway. The country hit maker, riding high since winning the 2005 “American Idol” competition, will headline the Bank of Kentucky Center’s grand opening Sept. 24 at Northern Kentucky University.
Also like the woman in the song, Underwood has a lot on her mind these days, as she continues adjusting to stardom she never expected.
“I don’t do anything on a whim,” she said. “I planned my life. You go to school, you graduate, you get a job. Something like ‘American Idol’ - that’s just not practical. Something like that isn’t really going to happen.”
Idol Chartwatch, September 15: Good Week for Idol Singles
There was lots of upward motion on the singles charts this week. David Cook’s “The Time of My Life,†moved to #1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. David becomes the second Idol winner to top that list, the first being Kelly Clarkson. Other non-winners who have held the number one spot on the A/C chart include Kimberley Locke and Chris Daughtry.
Monday Mouse Watch : The Adventurers Club gets ready for its exit while the American Idol Experience delays its entrance
Speaking of Imagineering … The guys from WDI quietly put out the word late last week that the opening date for Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ newest attraction — the “American Idol Experience” — has been pushed back from January of 2009 to the Spring of next year.
Why For the delay? Well … As I understand it, the retooling of the interior of the old “Superstar Television” Theater is taking far longer than Disney originally expected. Which — given how large & lavish the sets for the “American Idol Experience” are supposed to be — isn’t really all that much of a surprise.
I also hear that Disney Parks — working with 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia, the co-producers of the “American Idol” television series — has hatched this elaborate promotional plan for the “American Idol Experience.” Which involves this new DHS attraction being prominently displayed and/or mentioned as part of each episode of AI that airs on Fox in the coming season.
This promotional effort will culminate in late May of 2009 when the winner of next season’s “American Idol” is named. The very next day (or thereabouts), this individual will then be flown down to Walt Disney World so that they can then take part in the grand opening of the “American Idol Experience.” Which will (in theory, anyway) garner lots of free publicity for Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ newest attraction.
Emmys make curious choices for best TV moments
In honor of Emmy’s 60th birthday, its producers are asking viewers to vote for their favorite comic and dramatic moment since television’s inception. Since the JFK assassination, moon landing or 9/11 disaster would mostly likely win the dramatic moment, the news division was eliminated. So, evidently, were most cable shows.
What remains are 40 fairly predictable nominees, although clearly some choices may raise eyebrows. Surely, there was a clip from “MASH” that better fit the comedy category. Just how hilarious was the “American Idol I” finale, especially to Justin Guarini?
Women professionals on ‘Dancing’ make their celebrity partners shine
LOS ANGELES — It has been said of dancing icon Fred Astaire’s partner Ginger Rogers she had to do everything Astaire did while going backward and in high heels. In other words, men may lead in dancing, but it is the women who make the pairs win.
Need proof? Four of the six “Dancing With the Stars” celebrity winners have been men.
The seventh season starts at 8 p.m. next Monday. Female professional dancers Kym Johnson, Edyta Sliwinska and Karina Smirnoff will be under pressure to make their male partners look good. This year they will be paired with gridder Warren Sapp, comedian Jeff Ross and chef Rocco DiSpirito, respectively.
Miley Cyrus Takes Justin Gaston to Church
Miley Cyrus takes Nashville Star hunk Justin Gaston to Saturday morning church service in Pasadena, Calif.
The 15-year-old Hannah Montana starlet and her new tank top-clad man, who flipped through a pocket Bible while walking, grabbed lunch together with her momager Tish, country superstar father Billy Ray and younger sister Noah.
The Bible-believing bunch grabbed lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.
Jennifer’s engagement is a surprise to me. I thought that she was still with the guy she knew since high school. Guess not.
I think Carrie needs to do just one thing one time on a whim…
Me too! I feel like a big sister telling her to stay away from that guy! From I love NY? Jen, sweetie! LOL!
Box Office Mojo Studio estimates are in for Kat’s movie The House Bunny.
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Burn After Reading Focus $19,404,000 - 2,651 - $7,319 $19,404,000 $37 1
2 N Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys LGF $18,020,000 - 2,070 - $8,705 $18,020,000 - 1
3 N Righteous Kill Over. $16,500,000 - 3,152 - $5,234 $16,500,000 $60 1
4 N The Women (2008) PicH $10,088,000 - 2,962 - $3,405 $10,088,000 $16 1
5 4 The House Bunny Sony $4,300,000 -22.0% 2,763 27 $1,556 $42,154,000 $25 4
6 2 Tropic Thunder P/DW $4,180,000 -42.2% 2,927 -519 $1,428 $102,971,000 $92 5
7 3 The Dark Knight WB $4,015,000 -27.2% 2,191 -384 $1,832 $517,680,000 $185 9
8 1 Bangkok Dangerous LGF $2,400,000 -69.2% 2,654 4 $904 $12,531,000 $45 2
9 5 Traitor Over. $2,132,000 -50.1% 2,014 -94 $1,058 $20,735,000 $22 3
10 7 Death Race Uni. $2,017,000 -45.6% 2,007 -579 $1,004 $33,193,000 $45 4
Most predictions had it 7 or 8 this week and it outperforms again!! THB is the #1 returning film in its fourth weekend of release! Pretty incredible for a movie that wasn’t expected to do all that much. Over 42 million is incredible. I think that over 50 mill is certainly well within its grasp now and closing in on 60 mil domestically is not out of the question when all is said and done!
I thought she went on a whim when she didn’t wear pants on AI this year…
From Foxes on Idol.. Yea for George Huff making another album! Love that guy!
ETA: It’s a little freaky that we are now watching movie sales numbers along with album/song numbers from AI alums.
Ny post - Two Davids and a Dreamgirl
Snip about a little album info for Archie:
Apples and oranges people.. apples and oranges:
I had to click on the link to remember who Justin Gaston was on Nashville Star. Then, it all came back. He was the eye candy who couldn’t sing.
Hannah Montana and Justin Gaston going to church together.
I know there’s a joke in there somewhere, I just know it…
Is it just me? Does turning a trip to church into a photo op seem tacky to anybody else?
That’s a very nice article from the New York Post :)
It’s about as tacky as wearing a wife beater to church…I know God doesn’t care what you wear but ummm I sorta do.
That’s just weird.
Well, the way the papparazzi follow celebrities around these days, I’m not sure they have any say about when it is or isn’t time for photos to be taken.
Yep, tacky.
In many of these cases the poor celebrity gave the paparazzi the heads up on their location. I think this was one of those times.
Yeah, agreed. It’s pretty tacky. As are their outfits as Gingerly pointed out.
I’m not a big Miley fan but my daughter and granddaughter are. I personally think they look like a cute teenage couple. I can barely remember being 16 but I do remember my kids being teenagers and not always dressing like I thought they should. This was a very casual group I have to admit, grown ups included so I doubt if it was a pre-plan photo shoot. Like her or not the girls got charisma.
Here is the press release that came out today about the launching of the official site and the CD release date:
American Idol Winner David Cook Will Release Debut Album on November 18th, 2008
I agree. Somebody’s PR people were busy over the weekend… I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Miley and Justin share some of the same management/PR peeps.
OMG, thank you so much, RCA, for last week’s news! Eh, I guess the general public doesn’t know about the release date for the album or the web site, but I was really hoping the next press release would include some info on the single. This kind of diminishes my hopes that we’ll get any info in the next week or two. Hopefully the single will be pretty much mixed and ready to go when they finally decide which song to go with.
Taylor Hicks to Star in National Tour of ‘Grease’; Dates and Locations Announced
http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=32389
I wasn’t expecting single info in the press release since the deal with the newsletter is to sign up so you can be the first to hear the title, they aren’t going to reveal too much in a press release with that going on and it does mention that much in the PR. “In the coming weeks” fits with DC saying the single would be out mid-October. It may have originally been scheduled for the end of September but got delayed..wouldn’t be the first time. I don’t mind the info they put out there. A fan I know who doesn’t frequent all the boards didn’t even know his site launched until I told her the other day so this puts it, and the release date out there on a larger scale. It’s spread like wildfire too.
Kat’s movie is in more theaters than the George Clooney/Brad Pitt movie. WTF???!!!
I think it’s Anna Farris’ movie ;) and the Clooney/Pitt flix is the new Coen Brothers’ movie. Their movies don’t usually have blockbuster status. Taylor and Grease seem like a good match. I can’t believe JHud is marrying PUNK. That’s crazy man.
The fact that there even is a “Mouse Watch” and people who follow every change and tweak to Disney exhibits makes me relieved for David Cook that the whole DisneyIdol hoedown of weirdness will become the burden of the 2009 winner.
They’re probably crossing their fingers that they will end up with one of the wholesomey-type Idol stars like Archie, Jordin, or Carrie.
But it would be hilarious if that person could be one of Idol’s many one-of-a-kinds. Fantasia meets Pluto! Bo meets Minnie Mouse! Daughtry does benchpresses with Donald Duck!
Or best of all, if only there could be Disney!Taylor!. Animatronic Taylor to children: “Soooooooouuuuul Patrol!” Children: “Aaaaaiiiiiiieeeeeee!”
LOL….
At Miley is article´s… I don´t liked but lots of pilitician use Church as a way to promote themself…after some good exposure what is best that eat a delicious lunch in the Cheesecake factory… yummy
That’s a weird turn of events for Taylor. Hopefully he can finish his album before he starts the touring production. I was kind of hoping they had burned his sparkly jumpsuit.
I just realized how whiny I sounded about the RCA press release. I guess I’m just not that excited about David’s web site, lol. Maybe I’m a “bad” fan, but I personally don’t really want to have “his” phone number, or send him texts and e-mails, or create my very own fan page.
I’ve never seen Anna Farris in a movie, but apparently she’s an amazing and gifted comic actress who continually stars in vehicles that are beneath her. Many critics have said that she’s the only reason to see this movie. As far as Kat is concerned her role is small and not pivotal, her performance hasn’t been singled out much in the reviews I’ve read.
MJ does the heavy lifting so we don’t have to.
Speaking of Broadway:
http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2008/09/personality-parade-heroes-of-monday-night
Well you can spin it anyway you like but the fact is that Katharine is part of a very successful film for her first major release. A film that has out-performed all projections and is the surprise hit of the late summer. The reviews of Kat’s performance when she has been mentioned have all been positive. There have also been NO reviews that have singled Kat out for a poor performance. Not one. Yes it is not a lead role but it is a decent supporting role for her first Major film.
The success of this movie will be a great plus to her as she continues to grow her film career. She made a very wise first choice for a role and it has performed better than expected and she will be the beneficiary of that moving forward with bigger and more substantive roles.
“A He’s putting the finishing touches on his autobiography, set for publication this year. “I’m also working on a Broadway show about my life,†Anka, 67, tells us. “I’d like David Archuleta [17-year-old American Idol runner-up] for the lead, because he reminds me so much of myself as a young singer.â€
Well, Archuleta already has the right suit (hope he didn’t burn it when the tour ended).
I certainly hope he burned it… GAH.. lol
Ditto
McPhee is the singing sorority girl, correct? I have to say, in a film full of bouncing bosoms, she didn’t leave much of an impression on me.
It does look like a step up from her previous acting credits, which are listed by IMBD as
# Crazy (2007/I) …. “Paramount Girl”
# “Lonelygirl15″ …. “Random Girl”
I saw Kat’s (or Anna Faris’s) movie, and I can verify that Kat’s role is very small and pretty nondescript. She’s fine, she gets the song at the end, and she looks cute, but she is never — not for one minute — believable as a schlub stuck in Loserville. Kat is a very pretty girl, she has always been a very pretty girl, and she definitely didn’t fit as one more dirt-plain chick in desperate need of a makeover from a Playboy bunny (which would be Anna Faris). Kat’s character, the one who’s pregnant from the get-go, also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and they never spend any time to tell us who the babydaddy is or how or why she’s pregnant, when she lives in a low-rent sorority where the whole deal is that they can’t get guys. Clearly, she had a guy at some point. Or maybe not. Maybe she had a sperm donor. But they coulda told us so her character wasn’t such a cipher.
The movie is cute and fairly harmless as a whole, and it may translate to larger and better roles for her, but I certainly don’t think its current success has anything to do with her. Having seen it, I can’t imagine any reviewer singling her out at all, because the role just isn’t that memorable one way or the other.
A couple of fun bits on the Cook brothers’ national anthem:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/extramustard/09/15/thank-you-kirk-ferentz/index.html
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/796998.html
Not only that - who goes to church in a tank top?
I know some one mentioned it before but I had to second it!!!! LOL
For all you Elliott fans out there - I saw him Saturday night here in Colorado at the Last Blast Summer Dance or some name like that in Loveland. He was on the ticket with Josh Hoge, Secondhand Serenade and Jon McLaughlin. It was great to see Elliott again - he sounded awesome like only Elliott can and he looked great. The show was at a small ampitheatre and there were lots of kids there. Not a huge crowd. But what I love about Elliott is that he seemed just as excited to be there as he was on AI or his first solo tour. He is just a good guy. Josh Hoge was ok - Jon McLaughlin was awesome. He has a great voice and is very yummy looking. It was cold, windy and raining so we didn’t stay for Secondhand Serenade, but they seemed to be who the crowd was waiting for. never heard of them.
Elliott is working on his cd, just got back from Japan, will be doing a show in SF at the Brower Youth Awards on 10/1 and also doing a show for an Operation Smile gala on 9/18. He said last night that his new CD will drop at beginning of 2009 and a new single will be out in December, but in “Elliott time”, that could mean maybe Feb. or March. lol. He also has a holiday cd coming out in October.
http://www.operationsmile.org/
http://bapd.org/n0092.html
If Lu or someone has already posted this info, sorry for the repeat.
I will agree that the success of the film is mainly Anna Faris who gives a great performance in a script that isn’t perfect. But this is exactly what Kat was looking for. A vehicle that she did not have to carry herself but could make a modest splash in and open doors for other projects. Where she is cited, and there are some, it is always positive. And in that light THB has been a HUGE success for Katharine.
According to a bulletin from Archie, Crush is being released to iTunes tomorrow…
Thanks MJ
Hope this doesn’t get lost here… Part 2 of the very funny Audio Mash-up. Every bit as funny as the first one! A couple of the Jason bits are brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pJRpWWunhg
At this point Kat would never have gotten a lead in a major motion picture until she’s able to prove herself at the box office in smaller noticeable roles. I think it’s good that she is in this and get her name out associated with the big screen instead of Idol though most will know of her from Idol and that will make her stick out more with the public. If she’s smart with her choices and what she goes after she could do a few more noticeable things on television and film leading to the big screen. I always think of Actress like Christina Applegate who I never thought would have survived after Married with Children but made a lot of right moves and now gets first dib on any upcoming television show out there.
I saw the movie and I thought it was hysterical. I thought it was cute, it’s nothing that will get any award consideration from anything unless possibly a surprise Golden Globe nomination for Anna Faris but that’s it. It’s written by the people who did “Legally Blonde†and that’s what I thought for most of the movie. My partner though hated it. He want in thought not wanting to like it so I thought he was a little biased. I thought Katharine had a nothing type of part with an incredibly stupid ending but there was a scene after all the girls have been transformed that they are walking down the street and there were gasps in the audience because the girls looked amazing. She was also smart to sing badly in the movie with the other girls and then sing at the ending credits so people can think of her as an actress and separate the singer from her too.
I think this did exactly what she wanted it to. The film wasn’t horrible salvaged by the critics, it’s doing very well at the box-office, and it’s given her a bump to put on her resume to go for her next film. I’ve been hoping and hoping that when they decided to film the film version of “Wicked†she gets to play Elphaba so I hope these box office hits keep coming.
Also a few other things on Kat McPhee. I just read on Katharine’s site that she recorded a new song for the upcoming Disney movie “Tinker Bell.†The song is called “Let Your Heart Sing†and the soundtrack comes out on October 14 and include songs from Loreena McKennit, Selena Gomes, and more. Katharine’s sophomore album, which is headed for a spring release!
I’ve also found out that she is appearing with Chris Botti at two of his concerts at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on September 18 & 19. They’re filming both performances for his next PBS special and Live DVD. Other special guests include Stine, Josh Groban, and more with backing music to be provided by the Boston Pops.
Finally the new Idol judge Kara DioGuardi listed Katharine as one of her favorite contestants in recent years and also felt that she was one of the most underrated contestants.
Again I think it’s smart to branch out from Disney, Pop, Barbie, Movies, PBS Specials, DVD, and with working with Andrea Bocelli, Chris Botti, and David Foster she’s really expanding her fan base. I just wish she would consider possibly a jazz album with a little mix of Black Horse type of songs and soft ballads.
Stand Up 2 cancer posted Cookie’s message on their website
http://su2c.standup2cancer.org/sutv/show
for some reason i can’t watch this.
anyone know if this site is blocked for people outside the U.S?
if someone can see it, can you please tell me what DC is saying, or maybee someone can post it on youtube please.
Justic - he gives a short and heartfelt plea urging people to donate. He asks if people could save their family members from the anguish of cancer, how much would they give and how hard would they fight? He says he is there standing up for his brother, Adam and asks others to stand up for those they love by donating generously. That’s paraphrased, but basically his message.
justic thanks ill check it out. :)
Btw, the Crush Kids Cancer team is up to: Total: $38,043.00
thank you Bobbi!