Saturday, March 05, 2011

Hello, everybody. We've got a ton of stuff to get to including the 120 vying for the Sexiest Woman of 2011 title, so let's get to it.

First up...Charlie Sheen's latest adventures may have cost "Two And A Half Men" the remainder of the season, but that didn't prevent him from shutting up. Earlier this week he launched his Twitter page which got 1 million followers after the first day, and the keyword for him may be "winning."

But it would later turn out that he would be losing custody of his children to ex-wife Brooke Mueller as they were snatched from Charlie's home in the middle of the night after going on a media blitz to prove his insanity. And now we're learning that secret talks have been in place to get Sheen back to work on "Two And A Half Men" as soon as possible. Somwhere, John Stamos and Ted McGinley are pissed.

Don't expect Charlie Sheen's career to be included in the "In Memoriam" piece during next year's Academy Awards, but as far ratings for the 83rd Annual extravaganza were concerned? Well, they were down 10 percent from last year, as hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway got mixed reviews for their hosting duties. But I think it's the telecast's writers to blame for the ratings drop, though Hathaway was really enjoying herself while Franco sort of pretended to be ignoring the spotlight.

Franco was on a plane back to the East Coast after the show, while a few hours and a turnaround later, Hathaway and Best Actor winner Colin Firth appeared on Oprah Winfrey's after-Oscar show. But where was Natalie Portman? After a good night's sleep following the biggest night of her life, she and fiance Benjamin Millepied were spotted getting breakfast at an L.A. area restaurant.

Now a lot of fans were cheering and shedding tears of joy over Natalie's much-deserved Best Actress win, but potential 2012 presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee wasn't one of them. In a radio interview with Michael Medved, Huckabee lashed out on Portman for glamorizing pregnancy, calling it "troubling." Hey, weren't Catherine Zeta-Jones and Rachel Weisz pregnant when they collected their Oscars years ago? If I was Natalie, I would fly to wherever he his and use that Oscar to pound him in the balls!

"The Social Network" picked up four awards including Adapted Screenplay, and last year, I brought up which Academy Award winners are on Twitter, from Kevin Spacey (still the most-followed with 1.8 million) to Tom Hanks (not far behind with 1.5 million) to the newest member of the Twitterverse, Marisa Tomei at a mere 1,000-plus followers.

(UPDATE (3/14): Just recently, Julia Roberts joined Twitter, though she hasn't tweeted yet. Maybe when it hits 100,000 followers, she will.)

But what about on Facebook? Well, Marisa has recently established a Facebook home on there as well, but Colin Firth's page has continually been getting congratulatory messages for his win though he has yet to post a "thank you" message.

Now unlike Twitter, celebrity Facebook pages don't have the "Verified Account" on there, simply because they change their wall photos occasionally. But when they get the chance, they do update their status. Most of them create an additional page themselves to keep away from "posers"; look at Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Eva Longoria, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna. You can see these and more on my Facebook, including Hilary Swank and Natalie Portman.

And speaking of Portman (once again)...I'm leaning toward the fact that even though she graduated from Harvard around the time Mark Zuckerberg started dreaming up Facebook, I am 95% certain that Natalie H. Portman (she doesn't have a middle name, by the way) is her official Facebook. The remaining five percent disagrees with me, and no, Natalie says she doesn't use Twitter.

(UPDATE (4/17): It turns out that Natalie H. Portman's Facebook was another of those "posers" and has been expunged; dunno about whether or not this is her Twitter. But at least she's keeping herself occupied until she gives birth later this year.)

Anyway...the roster for Season 12 of "Dancing With The Stars" has been released, and headlining that is Kirstie Alley. Also joining her: Talk show host Wendy Williams, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, musician and former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho, reality star Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett, radio personality Mike Catherwood, "The Karate Kid" himself Ralph Macchio, singer Romeo, Disney star Chelsea Kane (keeping up with the synergy), model Petra Nemcova, and Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward. All in all, this is shaping up to be the season to watch as "Dancing With The Stars" resumes their mission on March 21 to finally bring "American Idol's" six-year reign as TV's #1 show to an end.

This past week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs got out from his sick bed to unveil the iPad 2, which will be out next week. The iPad 2 will be thinner and lighter than the iPad 1, but with a few more amenities: longer battery life, HD video recording (yeah, good luck taking that to concerts!), FaceTime, and a "Smart Cover."

Last year I originally considered getting me an iPad, but I had to spend the $600 for a new computer to replace the one that finally crapped out on me. The iPad 2 is something I won't pass up on this time around.

And last but certainly not least...it's the moment you've waited several paragraphs for! That's right, it's that time of year again when we start asking the question: Who is the sexiest woman of 2011???

This year like I've done in 2009, the field has increased from 90 to 120 all itching to take the coveted title. So enough BS; in no particular order, here they are starting with the Juniors (ages 16-25):



Group A
AnnaLynne McCord
Leighton Meester
Hilary Duff
Emmy Rossum
Lacey Schwimmer
Brittany Snow
Ashley Tisdale
Miranda Cosgrove
Brooklyn Decker
Lea Michele

Group B
Victoria Justice
Emma Stone
Julianne Hough
Dianna Agron
Ashley Greene
Jessica Stroup
Vanessa Hudgens
Taylor Swift
Kristin Cavallari
Hayden Panettiere

Group C
Audrina Patridge
Emma Watson
Jessica Lowndes
Miley Cyrus
Blake Lively
Kristen Stewart
Camilla Belle
Megan Fox
Amanda Seyfried
Joanna "JoJo" Levesque

Group D
Emma Roberts
Selena Gomez
Taylor Momsen
AnnaSophia Robb
Alyson Michalka
Kaley Cuoco
Amanda Bynes
Michelle Trachtenberg
Maria Sharapova
Rihanna

And now, the Seniors:

Group A
Halle Berry
Scarlett Johansson
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jessica Alba (2000 and 2003 winner)
Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson
Denise Richards
Eva Longoria
Olivia Wilde
Christina Applegate
Gwyneth Paltrow

Group B
Natalie Portman (2002 runner-up)
Paula Abdul
Kylie Minogue
Stacy Keibler (2007 third-place finisher)
Sofia Vergara
Courteney Cox
Jennifer Lopez (2001 runner-up)
Shakira
Emily Blunt
Maria Menounos

Group C
Kristen Bell (2007 runner-up/2008 winner)
Jessica Biel
Kate Beckinsale
Mandy Moore
Nicole Kidman (2001 winner)
Sandra Bullock
Claire Danes
Christina Milian
Helen Mirren
Anna Paquin

Group D
Nicole Scherzinger
Heather Graham
Marisa Tomei
Carrie Underwood
Britney Spears (1999 winner/2001 third-place finisher)
Hilary Swank
Eva Mendes
Reese Witherspoon
Rachel Bilson
Heidi Klum

Finally, the Underdogs:

Group A
Karina Smirnoff
Jennifer Lawrence
Anna Kendrick
Kelly Brook
Kim Kardashian
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Erika Christensen
Jillian Michaels
Sarah Hyland
Jenny McCarthy

Group B
Olivia Munn
Anna Faris
Nancy O'Dell
Adriana Lima
Katy Perry
Cat Deeley
Alexa Vega
Minka Kelly
Alison Sweeney
Milla Jovovich

Group C
Malin Akerman
Melanie Brown
Miranda Kerr
Teresa Palmer
Brooke Burke
Sarah Shahi
Pauley Perrette
January Jones
Melissa Rycroft

Group D
Christina Hendricks
Michelle Rodriguez
Diane Kruger
LeAnn Rimes
Yvonne Stravhovski
Cheryl Cole
Chelsea Handler
Julianna Margulies
Erin Andrews
(NOTE: This field is not yet final and can change at any time)
Yeah, this is shaping up to quite a tournament like no other, and here's how things will go:

In the first half of Round 1, the field will decrease from 120 to 90 (30 Juniors, 30 Seniors, 30 Underdogs); in the second half, it'll be down to 60 (20 from each category). Then in Round 2 of course, we continue that process with 30 remaining.

But when we get to Round 3 after a summer break, the real battle begins when we remove the categories and last year's third-place finisher Cheryl Burke plus a surprise 31st entrant joins the party. 30 will become 20 for Round 4 with last year's runner-up Jennifer Aniston stepping in.

The top ten ladies after Round 4 (plus two more from the Second Chance Round) will go on to face last year's winner Kate Walsh in the final round for the title of Sexiest Woman of 2011; if everything goes according to plan, that will be around mid-November!!!

Rounds 1, 2, and the vote-offs (and I'm sure there'll be some) will be web votes only, while there will be both web and text votes in the remaining rounds plus Second Chance. And to make things a whole lot better, I'm increasing the web votes limit from one to FIVE, meaning you can max them all out for one person or split them for a few!

But by looking at the field, you can sure bet that Natalie Portman will be the heavy favorite; she lost to Sarah Michelle Gellar in 2002, by the way. Others to watch for are Miley Cyrus, Brooklyn Decker, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Sofia Vergara. And at 65 going on 66...could Helen Mirren go all the way to become the oldest Sexiest Woman winner ever???

These questions and more will be answered when Round 1 of Sexiest Woman of 2011 gets underway on Monday, March 28! So long and stay strong!

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