COUNTRY MUSIC
Favorite Male Artist
Jason Aldean
Darius Rucker
Keith Urban
Favorite Female Artist
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
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The ceremony will be broadcast live on Nov. 22. Here’s the complete list of nominees:
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Kings of Leon (alternative)
Taylor Swift (country)
Lady Gaga (pop/rock)
Eminem (rap/hip-hop)
Michael Jackson (soul/R&B)
POP/ ROCK
Favorite Male Artist
Eminem
Michael Jackson
T.I.
Favorite Female Artist
Beyoncé
Lady Gaga
Taylor Swift
Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Black Eyed Peas
Kings of Leon
Nickelback
Favorite Album
Fame, Lady Gaga
Number Ones, Michael Jackson
Fearless, Taylor Swift
Proving her crossover credentials, she also more or less swept the same pop/rock categories, battling Beyoncé and Lady Gaga as Favorite Female, and her Fearless is also up for Favorite Pop/Rock Album, competing against Lady Gaga’s Fame and Jackson’s Number Ones. And despite her unabashedly teen-tinged tunes, she also somehow wrangled her way into a nomination for Favorite Adult Contemporary Music Artist.
Is there nothing this girl can’t do? Other than finish an acceptance speech, that is.
As for rap/hip-hop, which would normally boost West’s name, the honors this year instead fell to Eminem, Jay-Z and T.I., who are the genre’s sole nominees. The trio compete for Favorite Male Artist (there is no Female category) and Favorite Album.
Among the more family-friendly awards, it’s shaping up to be a Miley vs. Miley showdown. Well, Miley vs. Miley vs. Twilight. Competing for Favorite Soundtrack this year are Hannah Montana: The Movie, Hannah Montana 3 and the Twilight Soundtrack.
Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez and Lambert were announced as the first batch of performers for the show, with the American Idol runner-up set to debut his solo music in advance of his forthcoming album.
As per usual, fans can vote for winners online starting today.
Taylor Swift just got six more potential chances to deliver an uninterrupted acceptance speech.
And, for the sake of the inevitable dead-horse-beating comparison: Kanye West scored a whopping zero chances to not let her finish. That’s right, kids. Cut off America’s sweetheart and you’re as good as sitting out the next awards season. Or at least the 2009 American Music Awards.
The random triumvirate of Paula Abdul, Adam Lambert and Snoop Dogg announced the nominees for the AMAs this morning, and the country cutie led the pack with six nominations, including a nod for the nightcapping Artist of the Year Award.
Joining Swift at the forefront of the nominations is Michael Jackson, who scored a posthumous five nods, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Male Artist in both the pop/rock and soul/R&B genres.
Rounding out the nominated pack are Eminem, who nabbed four honors, and Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Kings of Leon, T.I. and Lady Gaga, who took home three apiece.
Lady Gaga, Eminem and Kings of Leon will join Swift and Jackson as potential Artists of the Year.
In addition to the top nod, Swift swept the country categories, and will compete against Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts for Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Album, respectively.
We’ve covered your Twilight- and Robsten-lovin’ fanvids, though the jury’s still out whether they’re hot or creepy. But now the public’s love for the vamp series is getting more professional, and it’s nothing short of friggin’ hilarious.
Somebody actually wrote a four-part original Twilight musical, filmed it and put it online for our enjoyment. Totally funny, and the songs are pretty cool, too.
Good thing we’ve got a sense of humor or we might be offended that our fave bunch of babes is the butt of everyone’s joke. (Hope the Twi crew is able to laugh at themselves, too! They’re always so damn moody.)
And since there isn’t a Twilight-only version of Funny or Die (yet), we’ve gone ahead and rounded up the best Twi parodies on the Net. Are we missing any?
Cue the celebratory back flips: the man accused of stalking Shawn Johnson will stand trial. Just not for all of his alleged transgressions.
Robert O’Ryan, who last spring jumped the fence at the Dancing With the Stars studio in order to get close to the Olympic gymnast turned reality champ, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of stalking, gun possession and commercial burglary—but not attempted kidnapping, thanks to what the judge in the case deemed an insufficient amount of evidence to allege a planned abduction.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael D. Carter said prosecutors “met the burden of proof for the stalking charge” and that O’Ryan “did intend to stalk the victim and place the victim in fear.”
What he didn’t do, at least according to his public defender, was intend to harm the 17-year-old.
It’s not like the plastic zip ties, duct tape, knife, bulletproof vest and two loaded guns found in his vehicle could cause any harm, right?
“He was a fan inspired to come to Los Angeles with all of his possessions,” attorney Judith Greenberg said. “There is not a scintilla of evidence that he had any intention to kidnap Ms. Johnson or force her to be with him in any way. All my client’s actions have innocent interpretations.”
O’Ryan pleaded not guilty to stalking last spring. An arraignment hearing on the remaining charges has been set for Oct. 27. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years and four months in state prison. He remains in police custody.
Here’s hoping the prosecution can stick their landing.
Santiago said medications including methadone had been shipped to Smith’s P.O. box during her stay in the Bahamas and were sometimes picked up by Stern. During a search of Eroshevich’s home in October 2007, where Stern was present, he also admitted to procuring prescriptions in his name for Smith. Investigators believe the former Playmate used more than a dozen names of associates and aliases to obtain a five-page list of more than 40 medications over time.
Stern held his head in his hands during much of the testimony, especially as Santiago recounted Brighthaupt’s description of discovering Smith in bed with her lips blue and no pulse on the day of her death.
While cross-examining Santiago, Stern’s attorney, Stephen Sadow, read from a statement hotel employee Lisa Arredondo gave to the investigator, which said, “[Smith] was always the boss. She was in control of everything and everyone, everyone that traveled with her.”
Santiago said that he believed Arredondo’s statement included Stern.
To show that Smith’s episode in the hotel was not the first time she appeared under the influence in public, Sadow played a tape of the former model introducing Kanye West (and noticeably slurring) at the 2006 American Music Awards.
“Video is video,” Sadow told reporters after court today. “We’re not running from it. It’s what she was on that day. It just depends on the context of why she was that day. We all have bad days.”
“She had medical problems,” he added. “If she’s on medication for that, that would explain her activity.”
In the courtroom, Judge Robert J. Perry made sure to note that the three defendants are not being charged with Smith’s murder and that “the cause of death is not an issue.”
Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor have pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Stern told the officials that Anna Nicole had been complaining of flu-like symptoms since they arrived at the hotel. She had fallen down in the bathroom the night before, but didn’t appear to be seriously hurt. Stern said he knew she was taking Tamiflu and antidepression medication, but hadn’t seen her take anything that day.
Indeed, Santiago confirmed that detectives recounted the star’s state upon her arrival at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Feb. 5.
“[The detective] said she was being supported by Mr. Stern,” Santiago said. “He was holding her as they walked through the lobby. He said she wasn’t her usual vivacious self. She seemed down and was possibly ill…[She] was so weak she could not sit up to drink liquids.”
Instead, Stern served her children’s electrolyte formula Pedialyte in a baby bottle.
Santiago also shared what he learned from a hotel employee familiar with Smith.
According to the staffer, Eroshevich and Stern had asked to send a doctor to make a house call because Smith wasn’t feeling well, and because Eroshevich could not prescribe medicine in Florida. But shortly after, Stern asked that she cancel the doctor to avoid “leaks getting out about Anna’s condition.”
Tasma Brighthaupt, the wife of Smith’s bodyguard, told Santiago she was watching Smith on the morning of the 8th, but that it was only after one of Smith’s friends visiting from the Bahamas came in to look at the former model that they realized something was wrong.
Brighthaupt, a registered nurse, began CPR after discovering that Smith’s lips were blue and her skin was beginning to discolor.
The coroner determined that Smith’s cause of death was acute combined drug toxicity of chloral hydrate, with additional drugs contributing. Santiago said coroners also told him that Smith had an infected abscess on her buttock and that Eroshevich admitted that Smith had been taking medication via injection.
She may have posed for Guess? and Playboy, but make no mistake—Anna Nicole Smith’s death wasn’t pretty.
Revelations made in the first few hours of the preliminary hearing against the model’s lawyer/friend Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor—the trio facing a combined 23 felony charges relating to the star’s drug use that eventually led to her death—were downright ugly.
We’re talkin’ feces in the bed, infections in uncomfortable places, blue-lipped. Seriously. Disturbing. Ugliness.
Prosecutor Renee Rose called Special Agent Danny Santiago of the State Department of Justice to the stand as the first witness. He has been investigating the case since 2007 and painted a (rather disgusting) picture of the model’s drug use and last days of life.
When detectives from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office found the bed where a lifeless Smith was discovered on Feb. 8, 2007, it was covered with feces, Santiago explained.
Detectives also recovered nearly a dozen different prescription and illicit drugs from the hotel room, many of them prescribed by the hundreds. The drugs included chloral hydrate and soma, powerful sedatives and muscle relaxers.
Santiago recalled Stern telling detectives hours after Smith’s death that he helped her to the bathroom around 9 that morning. She then went back to sleep. The accused “principal enabler” claimed they were in Florida to buy a boat and that he left sometime after 11:20 a.m. to see it.
Here’s hoping Jeffrey Tambor’s twins are better behaved than George and Oscar Bluth.
The Emmy-nominated Arrested Development patriarch and his wife Kasia welcomed a pair of sons, Hugo Bernard and Eli Nicholas, on Oct. 4, People reports.
The newborns join 4 1/2-year-old brother Gabriel Kasper and 2 1/2-year-old sister Eve Julia in their parents’ brood.
Jeffrey and Kasia tied the knot in 2001. He also has an adult daughter, Molly, from his first marriage.
Even if the long-gestating Arrested Development movie never happens, Tambor shouldn’t have any trouble keeping the formula flowing: The always working character actor appeared this year in The Hangover and the just-released The Invention of Lying and has at least five other films in the pipeline.