The Weekly News Roundup - week of January 24 - 28

TV

- Justin Bieber surprised a fan on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and invited her to his concert in NYC. You know, I think the show "Extreme Makeover: Bieber Edition" would be a huge hit. (Cambio)

- Chloe Moretz will do a guest spot on "30 Rock" (JJJ)

- Not only will there be a special episode of Glee right after the Super Bowl ncalled "Sue Sylvester's Bowl Shuffle", but Lea Michele will also be part of the group of celebrities singing "America the Beautiful" during the Super Bowl Pre-Game Show. (Cambio)

- A week after Kim Kardashian said that "Teen Mom" is a bad influence because it glamorizesteen pregnancy, Rosie O'Donnell defended the series (which she watches with her 13-year-old daughter), saying it is an honest portrayal of the daily struggle of teenage single moms raising babies. (JSYK)

- Demi Lovato has returned home after a stay in a treatment center for emotional and physical issues. She will continue to work with doctors to keep her healthy and balanced. (Cambio)

- John Travolta turned down a guest appearance on "Glee" because they wouldn't give him as much time as he wanted to rehearse his sing & dance number. (Cambio)

Movies

- There are rumors that Kristin Stewart will be cast in the title role in the upcoming "Snow White and the Huntsman." Charlize Theron will play the Evil Queen. (JJJ)

- Now that the Twilight movies are just about done, the next series has been announced: Lionsgate will be producing the film adaptations of the "Hunger Games" series of books, with the first one coming out in March of 2012. (JSYK)

- Inspired by his costar's new haircut, Rupert Grint plans to do a big makeover once the Harry Potter films are completely wrapped. (Cambio)

- Mandy Moore is done with romantic comedies, saying she has "nothing to learn" from them. (Cambio)

Music

- Taylor Swift did a concert on board a Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship while it was docked in Cozumel, Mexico. Sounds like a good excuse for a vacation to me! (JSYK)

Ordinary Extraordinary Kids

- A baby grand piano appeared on a sand bar just off the Miami coast, and it turned out a teenage boy put it there as part of a ploy to make his college applications stand out more. Well, he's certainly gotten a lot of attention for it... (JSYK)

- A chronically ill teenager whose condition has left him with no immune system is attending high school... via robot. The robot goes to class for him, and is not only his eyes and ears in the room, but also allows him to interact with the teachers and students. Maybe the robot uprising won't be so awful after all... (JSYK)

- Connecticut teen Haley Copes designed the "Fight Back" bracelets, which have raised over $2500 in two months for the American Cancer Society. She was inspired to help make a difference after losing both parents to cancer within the space of two years. (JSYK)

Trends

- A high school in Lanaster, PA, is experimenting with segregation. Seriously. For 6 minutes per day, plus 20 minutes twice a month, black students are separated from white students, and they are then further divided by gender. These segregated classes are taught by teachers of the same race, in the thought that under-performing students will be more inspired if taught by teachers of the same race and gender. We shall see... (JSYK)

- Just as Facebook starts introducing the slightly-more-secure https security setting, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page got hacked. How awesome is that! The hacker was trying to get Facebook to allow users to invest in the site. (JSYK)

- American students are bad at science and math. So bad, in fact, that President Obama called for 10,000 additional math & science teachers in schools, so America stands half a chance of continuing to be a world leader. (JSYK)

- For the 20th year in a row, Labradors are the most popular dogs in America, according to the American Kennel Club. Let me know if you're in the market for a lab puppy - I know a guy. (JSYK)

Magazines

- Bailee Madison is on the cover of Dream Magazine (JJJ)

- Willow Smith will be in the February Vanity Fair (JJJ)

- Jamie Chung is on the cover of Crunch (JJJ)

- Leighton Meester is on the cover of Nylon (JJJ)

Box Office Top 10 for weekend of Jan 28-30 (imdb)

1. The Rite

2. No Strings Attached

3. The Mechanic

4. The King's Speech

5. True Grit

6. The Dilemma

7. Black Swan

8. The Fighter

9. Yogi Bear

10. TRON: Legacy

Oscar Nominees (full list at oscar.com)

Best Picture

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King's Speech

127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

Actor in a Lead Role

Javier Bardem (Biutiful)

Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)

Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

James Franco (127 Hours)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale (The Fighter)

John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

Jeremy Renner (The Town)

Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)

Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Actress in a Lead Role

Annette Benning (The Kids Are All Right)

Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)

Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams (The Fighter)

Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

The Weekly News Roundup - week of January 17 - 21

One Bieb To Rule Them All

- Justin Bieber's hair cuts cost $750. Each. And he gets it cut every couple of weeks. For that kind of money, you can get a really good helmet-shaped wig. (PopEater)

- JB will perform during this year's Grammys with Jaden Smith and Usher. I hope he does one of the songs from his movie! (JSYK)

- Also timed to correspond with the release of his movie in February, Justin's line of nail polishis expanding from 6 colors to 14 of them. Girls everywhere are already trying to grow more fingers and toes. (JJJ)

- Last week it was math, and this week Justin is throwing his endorsement in with reading, doing an online reading of The Cat In The Hat for Book-It. What's next? Science?? (JSYK)

- Bieber has hired songwriter Sean Garrett to help reshape his sound because he wants to beJustin Timberlake. I really hope this doesn't come down to a duel. (Cambio)

- Animals Can Make U Smile. Or so says Bieber's PETA ad. (JSYK)

- Two Bieber songs will be on an upcoming episode of "Glee," but the Bieb himself will not put in an appearance. (Cambio)

TV

- Taco Bell has pulled its ads from the broadcast of MTV's new show "Skins" because they didn't think the show was a good match for their brand. This may or may not have been influenced by rumors that parts of the show had to be re-shot because MTV was concerned that the original scenes could count as child pornography. Yes, you read that right: MTV is now airing almost-kiddie-porn, and Taco Bell wants nothing to do with it. (NYTimes)

- Glee's Matthew Morrison will do a free performance at the world-famous The Grove on January 29th at noon. All the cool kids will be there... will we? (Cambio)

- Ashton Kutcher told Leno (and the rest of America) on Wednesday that he's in talks to revive "Punk'd", but with Justin Bieber as the host this time. Turns out Ashton doesn't like having everyone start looking for the cameras every time he's around. (Cambio)

- The "Hannah Montana" finale was on Sunday, and it attracted 6.2 million viewers. Yeah, but can she do magic? (Cambio)

- Jane Lynch said that her Sue Sylvester is based on Simon Cowell. Now that she mentions it, the resemblance is uncanny. (Cambio)

- Regis Philbin is retiring this year. Proving once again that the world will end in 2012. (Cambio)

Music

- Katy Perry has announced dates for her California Dreams 2011 World Tour. She will start in Portugal in February, make her way through Europe, the UK, Australia, and Japan, and will reach the US in June. (Cambio)

- Drake's inspiration for his next album? Winnie the Pooh. On the serious. (Cambio)

Blatant Gossip

- Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal went out to dinner together on Wednesday, sparking rumors that their autumn romance might be back on. (Cambio)

Movies

- Casting was announced for 2 roles in the next Bale-Batman movie: Anne Hathaway will playCatwoman, and Inception's Tom Hardy will play another villain - Bane. (Cambio)

- There are now rumors that Hailee Steinfeld could star in the upcoming movie version of "The Hunger Games." Previous rumors have put Chloe Moretz in the starring role. It would be impossible to go wrong with either one. (MovieFone)

- Will Smith is in talks to produce a remake of "Annie" starring, of course, his daughterWillow. (Cambio)

- Booboo Stewart turned 17 this week, and Fivel threw him a surprise party because she's a good sister. (JSYK)

Trendz

- The Kardashians have recovered from their Kardashian-brand debit card fiasco, and are now introducing their own line of Silly Bandz. There's a pretty good chance that unlike the debit cards, the Silly Bandz won't come with exorbitant hidden fees, but who knows. (JSYK)

- T-Mobile has introduced an app upgrade called DriveSmart Plus. When your car is in motion, the app automatically sends all calls to voicemail, and auto-replies to texts with a message saying that you're currently driving. The app can be overridden in case of emergency, but concerned parents can opt to receive alerts whenever this happens. I this this is a brilliant idea. (Engadget)

- In March, Nintendo will start selling a version of their handheld Nintendo DS system with a3D screen that does not require special glasses. A steal at only $250 (the original price of the Wii), the Nintendo 3DS comes with multiple built-in cameras that can not only capture 3D photos, it can also create a mii avatar of exactly you. Sweeeeeeet. (TweenTribune)

- A new study conducted in Germany showed a very strong link between advertising andteen smoking. The article did not list the scientists who conducted the study, but one of them is believed to be Captain Obvious. (JSYK)

Doing Good

- After one of the characters came out on the show, the cast of Pretty Little Liars recorded a "It Gets Better" PSA. (JSYK)

- Britney Spears is auctioning off the dress she wore in her Radiance ads, and the funds raised will go to help a friend's infant son, who was born with a brain injury. (Cambio)

- New Jersey has named the 3rd week in January "Teen Cancer Awareness Week." No word yet on whether those "I <3 Boobies" bracelets will be mandatory during that week. (JSYK)

Extraordinary Ordinary Kids

- 24 students from Valley Christian High School in San Jose CA have created the first student-designed, self-contained science experiment deemed worthy of heading to the International Space Station. In space. The experiment, which will test whether plants can grow in zero-gravity (or near zero-gravity) is being escorted to the ISS by the Japanese equivalent of NASA, on a shuttle scheduled to take off this week. It will take a week to reach its destination, where it will stay for a month before being brought back down to Earth. What did you do in your science class? Nothing that cool, I bet. (JSYK)

Movies Opening This Weekend (imdb)

The Company Men (Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones)

No Strings Attached (Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher)

The Way Back (Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess)

Top 10 Movies Last Weekend (imdb)

1. The Green Hornet

2. The Dilemma

3. True Grit

4. The King's Speech

5. Black Swan

6. Little Fockers

7. TRON: Legacy

8. Yogi Bear

9. The Fighter

10. Season of the Witch

Side note - how often do you get three Best Picture contenders in the box office top 5 (or 4 in the top 10) at this time of year? Makes me happy.

JSYK = http://www.jsyk.com/

PopEater = http://www.popeater.com/

Engadget = http://www.engadget.com/

TweenTribune = http://tweentribune.com/

JJJ = http://justjaredjr.buzznet.com/

Cambio = http://www.cambio.com/news/

The Weekly News Roundup - week of January 10 - 14

It's All About the Bieb-World

- Justin Bieber did a special edition "bookazine" called "Justin Bieber: My Private World" with Us Weekly, including an interview and photo shoot. (JSYK)

- Bieber is also on the cover of Scholastic MATH magazine. In the interview, he talks about how math factors into wind chill, which is important when you love hockey as much as he does. I keep forgetting he's Canadian. (JJJ)

- Bieber is returning to CSI, reprising his role as "troubled teen Jason McCann", and this time he gets a black eye. (JJJ) While on set on Wednesday, Bieber had an allergic reaction and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was totally fine, and was released within an hour. (Yahoo)

- Not only is Bieber on the cover of Vanity Fair, he's also guest-editing their Facebook page. (JSYK)

- Although one of Bieber's songs will be featured in an upcoming episode, there will not be a wall-to-wall Bieber episode of "Glee," but only because he doesn't have a big enough catalog of work yet. (JJJ)

TV

- It doesn't premiere until Monday, but the Parents Television Council is already calling MTV's "Skins" the "most dangerous show for teens." There's no such thing as bad publicity? (JSYK)

- Selena Gomez's Twitter and Facebook accounts got hacked this week, and the hackers posted a bunch of hateful and profantity-laden messages. Selena has since deleted all the fake messages and changed her passwords. Just goes to show it pays not to use the password "password." (Cambio)

- ABC Family has renewed "Pretty Little Liars" and "Secret Life of the American Teenager." (Cambio)

- Lea Michele has publicly apologized for snubbing True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld when she asked Lea for an autograph. No word on whether she also sent that autograph... (JJJ)

Music

- Taylor Swift released the video for "Back to December," the second single off Speak Now. It's rumored to be an apology song to ex-bf Taylor Lautner. (JSYK)

- Billboard and Nielsen Soundscreen named Taylor Swift the top-selling artist of 2010 (for the 2nd time in 3 years) and the most-played artist of 2010 (for the 2nd year in a row). She is also the top-selling digital artist (most paid-for downloads) in history. (JSYK)

- Cody Simpson turned 14 this week. (JSYK)

- Timbaland wants to work with Joe Jonas. (Cambio)

Awards

- The 2011 NAACP Image Award nominations have been announced. The nominees for Best New Recording Artist are Willow Smith, Jason Derulo, B.o.B., Bruno Mars, and Nicki Minaj. Various acting nominations went out to Victoria Justice, Keke Palmer, Selena Gomez, and Jaden Smith. (JJJ)

- The nominees for the 2011 BAFTA Rising Stars Award are Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Gemma Arterton, Tom Hardy, and Aaron Johnson. (JJJ)

Trends

- We're not the only ones getting decimated by illness! A high school in Hudsonville, Michigan closed down for two days this week after almost 200 students (23% of the student body) had to stay home sick on Tuesday. That's just bananas. (JSYK)

- Just like in "A Christmas Story," an 8-year-old kid in Oklahoma got his tongue stuck to a metal pole after he licked it on a dare. No word whether it was a driple-dog-dare. (Tween Tribune)

- A new study showed that drinking soda and other sugary drinks significantly raises teens' risk of heart disease when they get older. (JSYK)

- According to a recent study, 10% of abstinent teens contracted STDs last year, and that isn't even counting all the abstinent teens who got pregnant like Bristol Palin. (JSYK)

- I'm not sure how to classify this one, but Coca Cola has introduced a free app called "Crammer Keeper" to help kids study. Basically, you enter a list or notes you need to remember (like in biology Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, etc), and the app will put it to a catchy tune to help you remember it. As if caffeine wasn't addictive enough... (JSYK)

- The zodiac signs changed! Or they didn't, depending who you ask. But a lot of people are convinced the old calculations were wrong, so now we all have to change our personalities. (Cambio)

Cashing In

- "Teen Mom" star Gary (Amber's babydaddy) is starting his own line of daddy-daughter clothing called "Gary Time." It will feature clocks. Between this and all those birds dying, I'm pretty sure 2012 is arriving ahead of schedule. (JSYK)

- There's going to be a "Glee" line of nail polish. Because why not. (Teen)

Last Weekend's Box Office (imdb)

1. True Grit

2. Little Fockers

3. Season of the Witch

4. TRON: Legacy

5. Black Swan

6. Country Strong

7. The Fighter

8. Yogi Bear

9. The King's Speech

10. Tangled

Opening This Weekend

The Green Hornet

The Dilemma

Barney's Version

Ong Bak 3

A Somewhat Gentle Man

The Weekly News Roundup - week of January 3

Bieber

- After months of denying any romance between them, Bieber and Selena Gomez were photographed kissing and snuggling. Predictably, she was promptly issued death threats via Twitter. I really wish I were making that last part up. (JSYK)

- A British animator made a 46-second YouTube vid called "The Justin Bieber Show" which is one of the oddest and most disturbing things I've seen this week. Me, and 1.4 million other people, apparently. (JSYK)

OMG

- Newly-found bone fragments have been sent off for DNA testing to see if they belonged toAmelia Earhart. They were found on the same tiny South Pacific island where other artifacts have been found that may have belonged to Earhart. It could be months before the DNA test results come back, but it would be pretty cool if it were a match. (Tween Tribune)

- A flock of 4-5,000 birds fell out of the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, apparently from "massive trauma." In another part of the state, 100,000 fish washed up dead on the banks of the Arkansas River, although in that case disease is the suspected cause. The End Of Days conspiracy theories are fantastic! (CNN)

Movies

- Natalie Portman is pregnant and engaged. The mourning on Facebook and Twitter was astonishing. (Cambio)

Theater

- The actors in the Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" have been dropping like flies. After sustaining a concussion, the lead actress left the show at the end of December, and she was one of the lucky ones - the latest Spider-Man cracked ribs and had internal bleeding after a 20-foot fall during a performance, and two other Spider-Men before him were seriously injured by a sling-shot effect. Oh, and they're still in previews. The show officially opens February 7th. (NYTimes)

Sports (!!!)

- 14-year-old golfer Jim Liu became the youngest Junior Amateur Champion, beating Tiger Woods' record. He says that Tiger is one of his heroes, and that unlike Tiger, he plans to complete college before going pro. No word on whether he plans to beat more of Tiger's records in his personal life, too. (JSYK)

- And another teen golfer, 17-year-old Jessica Korda, completed the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament and announced she's going pro. (JSYK)

Trends

- Angry Birds was the top iTunes app of 2010, and it's now coming to PSP and Playstation3, starting this week. In unrelated news, America's productivity will drop to zero, starting this week. (JSYK)

- And now there's a Silly Bandz game for Nintendo DS. Something about shooting Silly Bandz at things and collecting stars. Or Silly Bandz. Does it matter? It'll make a bazillion dollars. (JSYK)

- According to a survey conducted by the British tabloid Daily Mail, 33% of British teens have faked a mental and/or physical illness in order to be more like their favorite celebrities, and a full 16% think celebrities make mental disorders "fashionable." Let's hope the same is not true here in the States. (JSYK)

- A new study showed that American teens smoke more pot than their predecessors, to the point that they're actually smoking more pot than cigarettes. But another survey showed thatteen pregnancy is at an all-time low. Feel free to draw your own conclusions there. (JSYK)

Top 10 Gifts for 2010 (JSYK)

1. iPod Touch
2. iPad
3. Xbox Kinect
4. iPhone
5. Kindle
6. MacBook
7. Playstation 3
8. Never Shout Never, 'Harmony'
9. Uggs
10. Digital Camera