plus 4, Britney Spears arrives for conservatorship hearing - News-Leader.com

Britney Spears arrives for conservatorship hearing - News-Leader.com
Heidi Montag's Album Flops - Are We Surprised? Really? - femalefirst.co.uk
Heidi Montag failed to be Britney - Entertainment and Showbiz!
Britney Spears 'Mini-Vacations' With Sons - Post Chronicle
Bollywood scores another hit with Davis-White's OD - YAHOO!

Britney Spears arrives for conservatorship hearing - News-Leader.com

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 09:14 PM PST

LOS ANGELES -- Britney Spears was meeting Friday with a judge overseeing her court conservatorship.

The pop singer arrived at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse for a closed hearing. It was Spears' first meeting with Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz since the singer concluded a world tour last year.

She smiled as she walked in through the back door of the courtroom and stood next to her father, Jamie, and an attorney.

Spears did not speak before Goetz closed the courtroom to the public and reporters, stating that medical and sensitive personal information would be discussed.

Spears' father, Jamie, and others have controlled the singer's personal and financial affairs for nearly two years.

The conservatorship was created in 2008 after a series of high-profile hospitalizations and incidents of erratic behavior by the "Womanizer" singer.

Britney Spears has since experienced a career resurgence and had substantial weekly visits with her sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James.

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Heidi Montag's Album Flops - Are We Surprised? Really? - femalefirst.co.uk

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 03:15 AM PST

Heidi Montag's Album Flops – Are We Surprised? Really? January 21, 2010

Posted by Ruth in : Music, Ruth's Ramblings , trackback

The Hills star Heidi Montag-Pratt's music career has taken an embarrassing hit after her debut album has sold just over 1,000 copies in the U.S – but come on, are any of us actually shocked?

The Hills star boasted about recouping the $2 million (£1.25 million) she spent making her record, Superficial, in a week – but it seems she'll have quite a wait as after the album was released on Tuesday (19Jan10), it sold less than 1,000 copies in its first day and only slipped past the mark on Wednesday. Ouch!

Promoting the album last week, Montag told Entertainment Weekly magazine, "I put every dollar I have into this. I've spent over $1 million, almost $2 million, on this album. It's cost as much or more than a Britney Spears album because I wanted it to be that quality… The songs will make an impact in pop history."

I'm sure Britney Spears will finally be able to rest easily… but did YOU buy it?

FemaleFirst – Ruth Harrison

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Heidi Montag failed to be Britney - Entertainment and Showbiz!

Posted: 20 Jan 2010 09:38 PM PST

The Hill's star Heidi Montag's music career might not take off since her debut album has only sold around 1000 copies in the US. The album was released on Tuesday selling less than 1000 copies and on the following day it just managed to pass the 1000 mark. Heidi has reportedly spent around 2 million creating the album, Superficial. Speaking about the expenses she told Entertainment Weekly "I put every dollar I have into this. I've spent over $1 million, almost $2 million, on this album. It's cost as much or more than a Britney Spears album because I wanted it to be that quality … (But) I think within the first week we will definitely make our money back. The songs will make an impact in pop history."

After being brought into the limelight by the Hills show, Heidi now wants fulfill long cherished dream of being a pop sensation like Britney Spears. "My ultimate dream is to be a pop star. I'm competing against the Britney Spearses of the world — and when she was in her prime, it was her sex appeal that sold" she told the People magazine. She is so desperate in her endeavor that she underwent 10 plastic surgeries in a single day apart from spending a fortune on producing her album.

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Britney Spears 'Mini-Vacations' With Sons - Post Chronicle

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:37 AM PST

Britney Spears takes regular vacations at a hotel close to her home.

Britney Spears, the '3' singer has amazed staff at Los Angeles' Mondrian Hotel by checking in with sons Sean Preston, four, and three-year-old Jayden James - her children with ex-husband Kevin Federline - for a few days every month, even though the building is just a few minutes away from her house.

A source at the hotel told The Sun newspaper: "She's no reason to be here. Last time she had staff running around after her kids as they had both caught flu and she had no medicine for them.

"She uses the gym, is waited on and she uses the babysitting service."

Britney - who is rumoured to have split from her boyfriend of 10 months, Jason Trawick - recently told how she has recently learned to relax more and is feeling much less stressed since her much-publicised breakdown in 2007.

She said: "I'm learning to take better care of myself and not get stressed or down about things. I'm taking my time and not letting myself get under any pressure other than to just feel happy about myself and to work on my music.

"I want to show people I am a strong woman. I have a lot of great things ahead of me that I want to accomplish." (c) BANG

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Bollywood scores another hit with Davis-White's OD - YAHOO!

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 08:46 PM PST

SPOKANE, Wash. – There's no arguing with Meryl Davis and Charlie White's lead. No questioning the authenticity of their Bollywood-style dance, either.

Davis and White won the original dance Friday night, extending their lead and moving one step closer to an upset victory over Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Davis and White are 1.62 points ahead going into Saturday's free dance, a margin that is difficult to make up in dance.

"It's a slight confidence boost, but nothing we're going to think about," White said. "We know what we have to do."

In original dance, couples can create any kind of dance that falls within an assigned theme. This year it's country/folk, and world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin have outraged some Australian aboriginal leaders, who claim their dance is offensive cultural theft, with inauthentic steps and gaudy costumes.

There are no such complaints about Davis and White, whose original dance has become a viral hit in India and among people with ties to South Asia. One video of their OD has been viewed almost 236,000 times on YouTube, astronomical numbers for a skating video, and it's gotten high praise on several Web sites celebrating Indian culture.

The idea for the dance came from coach-choreographer Marina Zoueva, who was inspired by an Hermes scarf with Indian dancers, and Davis and White took great pains to make sure their program was true to the culture and character. To learn how to move their arms and bodies in true Indian dance style, they spent months working with Anuja Rajendra, who once performed professionally and now combines Bollywood music and dance with exercise at her BollyFit studio in Ann Arbor, Mich.

They bought her red, turquoise and gold sari-like outfit and his long, beige-colored coat at an authentic Indian clothing store and had them remade to suit their needs.

"We can't speak for anyone else, but it was very important for us to do research and do the theme justice, so as not to offend anyone or do anything off-base," Davis said.

There certainly weren't any complaints Friday night.

Davis and White's performance was non-stop entertainment that masked their high technical difficulty. They flew across the ice and never slowed for a second, not even in their section of twizzles which they paired with arm and hand movements. You know how hard it is to pat your stomach and rub your head at the same time? It's like that — only on skates and about 10 times harder.

Their lifts were done with lots of ease and fluidity, and they had several changes of position on the final one.

But the best part of their dance is how much fun it was to watch. Their movements and playful facial expressions make it easy to visualize a wedding in Mumbai.

"We wanted to connect with the audience and the judges because that's such a big part of our dance," White said.

Their only flaw was a slight bobble in their last section of twizzles, traveling spins.

"We felt like it was a really good performance today. The elements were not the most solid they've ever been or as they will be in a few weeks," Davis said.

Still, they were good enough to hold their lead over Belbin and Agosto, no small thing in a discipline where upsets are as rare as tasteful costumes. Belbin and Agosto have long dominated U.S. dance, winning five straight titles and the silver medal at last year's worlds.

But Davis and White have steadily improved, winning their first U.S. title last year in the absence of Belbin and Agosto, who missed nationals because of his back injury. The couples, who once trained together, rarely compete head-to-head — this is only the second time since the 2008 worlds — and the "showdown" was much anticipated.

By the fans, at least.

"We feel this is our final practice before the Olympic Games," Belbin said. "We don't feel we have to come here and prove ourselves or that we must be U.S. champions to have confidence."

Belbin and Agosto's dance to traditional Moldovian folk music was nice, but it doesn't stand out. For those who don't understand the details, it could have been Russian, Ukranian or any other Slavic region.

It had great energy, surprising because the music started slow and sweet, like a first date. But as the seconds passed, they bumped up the tempo as if they'd just gotten a shot of espresso. It turned into a raucous, rousing dance that had fans clapping and smiling right along with them.

They had great unison and personality, and one section of really fun dance steps.

"We really did have fun," Belbin said. "It's the best feeling to be at nationals, with the crowd on its feet. That's what you live for as an athlete."

Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates, last year's silver medalists, jumped from fourth to third with a crowd-pleasing Dixie Chicks medley. That's a significant move because the United States has three spots at the Vancouver Games.

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