The secrets of the 'Sisterhood'

By Stacy Curtin
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- CNN came to the junket for "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" to ask questions of stars Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively.

Sisterhood

From left to right, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn are bonded by "Sisterhood."

Tamblyn decided to turn the tables.

"What's it like to work with Sanjay Gupta?" she asked. "What's it like to work with Anderson Cooper?"

Well, the thing is, not everyone at CNN gets to work with Cooper and Dr. Gupta, so we couldn't give her colorful answers. But Tamblyn didn't mind. She just wanted to show she's a fan.

"CNN is my MTV," she said.

We appreciate the enthusiasm.

The four actresses are justifiably enthusiastic about their own careers. All four have starred in past or current TV shows: Tamblyn in "Joan of Arcadia," Ferrera in "Ugly Betty," Bledel in "Gilmore Girls" and Lively in "Gossip Girl." It's another bond between the women, who characterize each other as friends.

In two separate interviews -- one with Tamblyn and Ferrera, the other with Bledel and Lively -- the four answered questions about stardom at a young age, what they admire about "Traveling Pants" and each other's secrets. The following is a combined and edited version of the interviews.

Mother of five wins 'Nashville Star'

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A Texas mother of five is the new "Nashville Star."

Lawson

Melissa Lawson reacts to being named winner of "Nashville Star."

Melissa Lawson beat fellow finalist Gabe Garcia on Monday night for the title on the country music reality series. Shawn Mayer came in third.

The 32-year-old Lawson was overjoyed at winning, shouting "Oh my God!" She then performed her new single "What If It All Goes Right." The song is scheduled to be played on country radio Tuesday morning.

Lawson wins a record contract after performing in Nashville for 11 weeks.

The series has launched the careers of Miranda Lambert, Buddy Jewel and Chris Young. It switched to NBC this year after five seasons on cable's USA Network.

'American Idol' producer leaves show

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A key "American Idol" producer who's guided the top-rated TV show since its debut is leaving the job as the Fox juggernaut faces the challenge of staying on top in its eighth season.

Lythgoe

Nigel Lythgoe is leaving "American Idol" to devote more time to a new project.

Nigel Lythgoe is negotiating a joint-venture deal with "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller and 19 Entertainment, the company announced Monday.

The smiling, blond-haired Englishman, who could often be spotted on-camera sitting behind the "American Idol" judges' row, is familiar to viewers on "So You Think You Can Dance?", which he produces and helps judge.

"I will step back from my day-to-day producing work on 'American Idol' and will be devoting my time" to the new enterprise, Lythgoe said in a statement.

The change comes as "American Idol" jockeys to keep its hold on the No. 1 ratings spot, a rare feat for an aging show, and after last season's small ratings downturn and an unsettling audience shift.

The series averaged 28.4 million weekly viewers last season compared to the 30.8 million who watched during its highest-rated year, 2005-06.

Viewership for the May finale with winner David Cook and runner-up David Archuleta was the second-highest for the show in five years, but dropped slightly from last year among 18-to-49-year-old viewers -- an indication that the "American Idol" audience is aging.

Fox congratulated Lythgoe on his new venture but acknowledged it was "disappointed" that he would not be continuing as executive producer.

"He is an extraordinarily talented producer whose creative contributions to the No. 1 show on television have been immeasurable," the network said in a statement.

Wainwright woos Cambridge crowd

by Nic Rigby
BBC News, Cambridge Folk Festival

Singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright bounded onto the stage in a black dress and pink stockings to woo the crowd at the 2008 Cambridge Folk Festival.

The festival has been part of the Canadian-American singer's life since childhood, she told the BBC before her set.

Wainwright used to accompany her mother and aunt - internationally acclaimed folk singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle - to the event, while her father is comic songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.

Her brother is award-winning sing-songwriter Rufus Wainwright.

Martha Wainwright (Photo: Bob Carter)
Martha sang the 1930s classic Stormy Weather as an encore at Cambridge

And Wainwright has certainly lived her life in lyrics - in her own songs and her family's.

It is something, she insists, she has no regrets about.

"I think it's a privilege. It made me write songs in such a way that they are an extension of myself," she says.

Wainwright has always known her future lay in music. While she was good at mathematics at school, she never harboured ambitions of being an accountant.

When she was 14, she says, her maths teacher got a little angry with her for being lazy.

"She said to me 'What do you want to do? Do you want to sing and dance your whole life?' And I said: 'Yep'."

At Cambridge she gave a powerful, passionate performance, focusing on her acclaimed new album, You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too.

Amongst her own songs, the record includes a version of Pink Floyd's See Emily Play, written by Cambridge hero Syd Barrett, which the festival crowd lapped up.

Character building on Hollywood Boulevard

Hollywood is full of wannabes. The nearest most of them will get to fame is Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame, dressed as Superman or Wonder Woman. The characters are a big tourist attraction and are now the subject of a documentary. David Willis went to meet some of them.

Superman logo from a toy
Superman is one of about 80 characters who crowd the boulevard

Superman stubbed out a cigarette and started searching for his keys. Adjusting his blood-red cape, he flashed a final glance at a web camera pointed at Hollywood Boulevard.

It was a hot summer's day and tourists were spilling out of gaily painted buses and flooding the strip.

The superhero descended from his one-bedroomed apartment two stairs at a time, stopping briefly to banter with his Mexican neighbours before striding for the boulevard a block away.

Christopher Dennis was once an unemployed actor working at a hamburger joint across the street.

After several diners told him he looked like Christopher Reeve, he made himself a Superman costume and spent a day posing for pictures on the Walk of Fame.

That was 17 years ago. He earned $600 in tips that day alone and has not worked as a waiter since.

It was not long before Superman was joined by Elvis Presley and Charlie Chaplin, and nearly two decades later, the community that Chris founded has mushroomed to more than 80 characters.

BY-BBC NEWS

Angie Buys Designer Duds For Knox & Vivienne


(http://www.babble.com)

Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, on July 12 and the celebrity mom reportedly dropped a small fortune on designer duds for the babes! Nothing but the best for the Jolie-Pitt kiddies....

Megan Fox - Hottest Stepmom On Planet Earth


(http://www.babble.com)

Megan Fox - you know her, the chick who was voted the hottest chick ever, or something like that - is dating actor Brian Austin Green and since he's a dad, his son is part of the package. She was spotted spending some one on one time with Brian's boy, Kassius, 6. Not that many guys are noticing, but Kassius is one cute kid!

Casting Couch: Cage Scares Up Thriller; Consuelos Gets Ugly



Los Angeles (E! Online) - Nicolas Cage is returning to the scene of the crime for his latest would-be blockbuster.

The Oscar winner and everyman action star is in final negotiations with director John Carpenter to star in the prison thriller Scared Straight, per the Hollywood Reporter, revolving around the same-named crime-prevention program which temporarily imprisons delinquent youths in hopes of scaring them out of a life of crime.

By Gina Serpe

Street fair, kids' activities accompany music at Lollapalooza


The event/location: Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park/Friday-Sunday
Attendance: 75,000 per day

IN DEPTH: Read more of Whitney's Lollapalooza reports in Pop Candy
The lineup: Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West and Wilco were among the headliners. Other acts on eight stages included The Raconteurs, Cat Power, Gnarls Barkley and MGMT.

Musical highlights: Radiohead delivered a mix of new and old favorites, including House of Cards, Paranoid Android and Fake Plastic Trees on Friday. On Day 2, Lollapalooza organizer/musician Perry Farrell brought former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash onstage for a couple of songs, including a singalong rendition of Jane's Addiction's Jane Says. The crowd packed like sardines for Rage Against the Machine's frenetic set, which included Testify and Born of a Broken Man.
By Whitney Matheson, USA TODAY