Celebrity Chatters

Wow. Just. . .wow. The teaser trailer for the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is seriously spooky. In keeping with the tone of the later books, this movie looks way darker than any of the ones before it, as we get a glimpse at the young Tom Riddle. Sullen, dark little kids are always the creepiest.

To be honest, this trailer gave me chills. Especially toward the end. You’ll know what I mean if you

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Had you ever heard of this movie before right now? Me neither! But it looks weird and funny and stars an odd-but-promising assortment of people, like Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Babel’s Rinko Kikuchi. The plot follows a quirky group of people who plan a heist, but of course, things go haywire. I never would have thought to put Ruffalo and Brody together in a comedic film, but it really seems to work. Also, this same director, Rian Johnson, directed the strange little teen noir film Brick, which I liked.

Check out the trailer and tell me if I’m just a little tired and easily amused right now, or if you might also seek out The Brothers Bloom when it opens October 24. You can watch the trailer if you

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If you were one of the people who turned my Hey Dude recast into a lovefest for ’90s Nickelodeon, here’s a bit of good news: As of today, you can download episodes of the show on iTunes!

The show, along with Clarissa Explains It All, Rugrats, and Doug (the good one, not the weird ABC one where they changed Doug’s voice), is now available as part of Nick Rewind on iTunes, which exists specifically to feed our craving for nostalgia. No, really: “We hear from literally thousands of teens and young parents who say they want to see the shows that defined their childhood,” one Nickelodeon executive said in announcing the service.

There’s some slightly more recent fare in there, too (The Amanda Show, The Wild Thornberrys), but I’m most excited to go download some Clarissa. What about you? Will you be grabbing any of these episodes? And what shows do you hope Nick Rewind adds next? (My vote: Salute Your Shorts, then The Adventures of Pete and Pete.)

Tuesdays are big in entertainment-ville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week’s iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. Here are today’s selections:

Rock me: The buzzed-about upcoming comedy Hamlet 2, about a high school musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, has its soundtrack out today. It feels wrong to laugh at these song titles, but I can’t help it — and that might be a sign of how I’ll respond to the movie itself. Tracks include “Rock Me Sexy Jesus.” The rest, you’ll have to check out on your own, because I feel dirty typing some of them.

California folk: Tristan Prettyman is one of those relaxing, sunshiny singers who’s always good for chilling out (see also: Jack Johnson). Today iTunes has an exclusive live session full of lovely songs — including a surprising cover of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” and a great original song called “Madly.”

I’ve got a mellow lad up next, so

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• The TV Addict just found this 90210 iPod and is curious to know if it comes pre-loaded with Color Me Badd, among other things.
• Office Tally has video of the intro from The Office writers panel at Comic-Con, which recast the opening credits with writers in place of actors.
• MTV Movies Blog wonders what you would ask a Twilight star if one were standing right next to you.
• Citing a certain scene from this week’s Weeds, Popwatch asks about the TV sex scenes that left you breathless.
• Stereogum has video of Gnarls Barkley covering Radiohead’s “Reckoner.”
• TV With MeeVee watched all of The X-Files in about two months and has some thoughts on the end of the experiment.
• Cinematical has the seven most overly used lines in movie trailers (including “In a
  world. . .”).
• Who do you think should win Design Star? Head over to CasaSugar to vote.

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New mom-of-twins Jennifer Lopez is heading back to work in front of the cameras soon for yet another romantic comedy. Titled The Governess, the movie “centers on a professional thief who, in order to pull off a major bank heist, poses as a nanny to the three unruly children of a wealthy widower. When she starts to fall for the kids and their father, she must decide if she can give up her past for a chance to start over.”

I wonder. . . will she be able to give up her past for the wealth widower and the three scamps she’s come to love?!

Tell me: Do you think Jennifer Lopez is good at the romantic comedy thing? Do you like her performances in Maid in Manhattan and The Wedding Planner? Might this be a cute film?

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One of the things I like most about Dancing With the Stars is that it’s not quite as humiliating as certain other celebrity (or, “celebrity”) competition shows. It has a big audience, for one thing, and in general, it’s a light-hearted, good-humored kind of show, as opposed to being slightly sad and uncomfortable to watch.

Also, the show gets some pretty funny people to participate, and I’m always impressed with the celebs that are game for learning these dances and dressing in hilarious outfits. The latest rumored contestant from a definitively non-sequin-costumed world? Our former Vice President, Dan Quayle. He’s rumored to be one of the possible next contestants, but we won’t know for certain until the announcement on Good Morning America.

In the acting world, I think it would be very funny to see some dramatic actors take the DWTS stage, like Michael Emerson (a.k.a. the creeptastic Ben) from Lost, or perhaps the not totally dramatic James Spader. Some of the most interesting contestants to watch on the show have been athletes, like NFL’s Man of the Year Jason Taylor and, of course, Kristi Yamaguchi. The politician angle with Quayle brings the hilarity to a whole new level. What other politicos would you like to see bumble and two-step their way through a season of DWTS?

Photo copyright 2008 ABC, Inc.

As I mentioned in my writeup of the Pushing Daisies panel at Comic-Con, one of the greatest moments was getting to hear an impromptu song from Kristin Chenoweth upon the request of one very cute, very young fan.

I was able to pull the song off my recorder, and so now, you can check Chenoweth’s gorgeous rendition for yourself. The audio isn’t perfect — I wasn’t expecting to be recording a Tony winner (and Emmy nominee and onetime Miss Oklahoma runner-up!) when I woke up on Saturday — but even with some fuzz, you’ll get the idea.

The recording starts with the fan’s request — then you’ll hear some applause (which was even louder in the room!) and then the start of the song. To check it out, just

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