Hello, everybody. Well, all the flak surrounding it may have died down slowly, but I'm sure the world have waited a day or two now for my complete take on Miley Cyrus and the photo you see on your left not only raising eyebrows, but drawing firestorms as well.

Photographer Annie Leibovitz took this shot of the "Hannah Montana" star posing in nothing but a sheet for an article on her in the June issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine, out this week. At first she liked it ("I think it's really artsy...and you can't say no to Annie"), but now Miley took it back saying, "I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed."

Meanwhile, the Disney Channel ("Hannah Montana's" network) didn't like what they saw either, quoting "Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines." But as you can see in this video from the shoot, Miley and father Billy Ray were on hand for it, and only her grandmother and teacher were present for this last shot. And don't fret, folks: she was fully clothed wearing jeans.

Leibovitz has now said she's sorry that the portrait was "misinterpreted" and thought it was "very beautiful'; Cyrus issued an apology, stating "I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about." And right now, Miley and her family are at home in Nashville, where the teen star is doing pre-production work for her upcoming "Hannah Montana" movie.

Now that I have refreshed your memory...what do I make of all this???? Well, Miley is the mastermind behind the "Hannah Montana" craze, which along with "High School Musical" are huge cash cows for the Disney Channel; the show on occasion usually beats "WWE Raw" in the cable ratings and sales of merchandise has topped over $1 billion. All this brouhaha surrounding this one photo is not really going to hurt the franchise, but is going to help it a bit. And as far as the pic is concerned? Don't expect Chris Hansen to jump on me, but I see nothing wrong with it whatsoever and find it not only classy, but a bit sexy as well.

After all, Leibovitz shot a nude and pregnant Demi Moore for the cover of that very same magazine years ago, and it was artsy. And last week, the cast of the CW's hot "Gossip Girl" posed provocatively for the cover of "New York" magazine...the very same publication who two months ago made headlines around the world over Lindsay Lohan's re-creation of Marilyn Monroe's "The Last Sitting." Its website received over 60 million hits from those photos being on there; "Vanity Fair's" site got only 4 million over those Miley shots.

Just like "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens after some very personal shots of her were leaked onto the Internet last summer, Miley Cyrus will no doubt come out of this scandal unscathed. It's just that Annie Leibovitz might have went a bit too far into tricking Miley out of her clothes.

Now moving on to other matters...Cyrus' "Hannah Montana" tour packed venues all across America last year, and getting tickets for them was a huge challenge. And speaking of packing venues, one superstar will be doing just that in Alaska in late May, not only in Anchorage...but right here in Fairbanks as well!!!!

That's right! The AllenBlog learned yesterday that Elton John will be coming to Alaska during his latest tour with two shows here: May 28 at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, followed by the Carlson Center here in Fairbanks on the 29th!!!!! And you can damn well bet that with tickets costing up to $115 (ouch!), all of Alaska from the Interior to Juneau, Ketchikan, Kodiak, and Valdez, to the North Slope in Barrow to even the rural areas in Bethel, Kotzebue, and Nome...we're all going to be awaiting the Rocket Man's arrival.

For Fairbanks? They can forget all about John Leguizamo from two years ago. And me? Well, I've been to superstar concerts starring Britney Spears (in New Orleans and Los Angeles, both in 2000) and B.B. King; the latter was here in 2001 but Elton John setting foot in the Golden Heart City? I'm sure I'll be spending my hard-earned money to watch him shake the Carlson Center to its foundations on May 29 as only he can; and with that note, so long and stay strong!

Hello, everybody. It has been quite a while, but there's a whole lot of territory to cover as always so here we go!

First up...last week with the economy continuing to be in trouble, American Airlines grounded thousands of MD-80s in their fleet for inspections and canceling thousands of flights as a result; this comes just after Frontier Airlines and ATA both went under. Meanwhile, Delta, Midwest, and Alaska Airlines canceled their flights as well, but in way smaller numbers than American.

And now, with increasing gas prices putting serious crimps on the airline industry as we inch closer to summer, there is word that merger talks between Delta and Northwest have picked up again with an announcement to come this week. Around 2 1/2 years ago, both airlines -- which provide seasonal service to Fairbanks; Northwest took over from Pan Am in 1978 -- filed for bankruptcy protection; and now, things may come ahead for these two as the merger may or may not become a done deal.

Another major story from last week: the Olympic torch relays marred by protests aplenty, and for those who were expecting to see the torch in person on Tuesday when it made its way to San Francisco in its only North American stop, they were ultimately disappointed. With the games now four months away, it is unknown whether or not it could be like 1980 and Moscow all over again when numbers of countries including the United States boycotted those games.

Also last week, there were rumors swirling around Katie Couric, as a "Wall Street Journal" article reported that she may be out as "CBS Evening News" anchor because she was not pulling in the ratings as expected. But in true fashion, CBS and Couric herself downplayed those rumors saying that despite the slump, she's still doing her job. And even though I rarely watch the network news (CBS' and NBC's news come on at 6:30 opposite "Wheel of Fortune" here in Fairbanks), I do agree.

Now this reminds me of Walter Cronkite, when after he was sacked from the 1964 Democratic Convention for CBS (Robert Trout and Roger Mudd were in his place), there were rumors that he was heading to NBC, where Chet Huntley and David Brinkley had the dominant newscast on television. In the end, those rumors were denied, Trout and Mudd were a disaster, and Cronkite reclaimed his position at the anchor desk.

And last but not least...once upon a time, there was the paparazzi taking snaps of celebrities out and about, staked out in their own vehicles in the heat or in a nearby building waiting for the money shots. In the mid-'90s with the new generation of entertainment news shows like "Extra" and "Access Hollywood" as well as a fledging new medium called the Internet, video camcorders were added to the paparazzi's arsenal. And now with the explosion of YouTube, the demand for video footage of celebrities is greater than ever.

The two major players in the videorazzi game right now are TMZ and Hollywood.tv. TMZ started out as a website and doubles as a TV show; Hollywood.tv is already becoming the fastest-growing source for celebrity videos with not only a standalone site, but an additional home on YouTube as well.

But for the last few months I've been comparing the two, and make no mistake...they have different styles when it comes to covering the stars. TMZ, run by Harvey Levin, has a brashier attitude compared to the always tame Hollywood.tv...except that the latter's content are seen by major outlets like CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Associated Press, and BBC; print media including "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post"; all three U.S. morning news shows; and the big dog of entertainment news shows: "Entertainment Tonight."

It has been 4 1/2 years since my special "Safe Route, Sleazy Route" commentary, but when it comes to the videorazzi, Hollywood.tv seems to take the "Safe Route" while TMZ goes the "Sleazy Route" path. For example: the TMZ TV show usually calls Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband Freddy von Anhalt "Von A-Hole", while Hollywood.tv's video let it speak for itself with no narration or editing effects like TMZ's ruining the fun.

Of course, I've had my share of capturing celebrities twice; John O'Hurley at the 2002 Iditarod start in Anchorage and John Leguizamo here in Fairbanks four years later. But when it comes to doing the very same thing in Hollywood, it's more prudent to leave that job to the pros...unless of course you feel like putting up your video on YouTube.

And with all that said...so long and stay strong!