All the Pretty People

People magazine will reveal its annual list of the 100 Most Beautiful in its issue hitting news stands on May 2.

Featuring Kate Hudson on its cover, the magazine also names, among others, Halle Berry, Patrick Dempsey, Salma Hayek, Julianne Moore, Mary J. Blige, Sarah Silverman, and the cast of Gossip Girl as this year’s genetically blessed.

Daniel Craig had better made the list, that’s all I have to say.

Congratulations to all – you couldn’t have done it without your publicist.

Surely you remember the magazine used to pick only 50 Most Beautiful. But then something changed, and for my money, the list lost its appeal.

How else could you explain the great travesty that is Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lauren Graham, Mandy Moore, and Madonna not being included year after year?

Photo: People.com.

Happy Birthday, Bugs Bunny

April 30, 1938.

It was 70 years ago that Ben “Bugs” Hardaway, looking for an antagonist for the animated short Porky’s Hare Hunt, first drew the humorous, provocative, and sassy white hare that would become Bugs Bunny.

A star was born, and kids all over the world would grow up spending many a day watching his adventures.

Alas, today, the zeitgeist desperately misses him, but some of us still remember and celebrate him.

What’s up, doc, indeed?

Photo: HeroicFineArt.com.

You “Hard” Yet?

If we have come to learn anything about Madonna it is that once she gets going she is gone, and the out-today Hard Candy is proof.

The Queen of Pop’s 11th album is daring, fun, and non-stop. You are sooo going to “get stupid” over it.

It takes a few licks to get to the sweetness that lies within – its busy cornucopia of flavors is the good kind of addictive – but it’s worth it.

Lead single “4 Minutes” already is an anthem, and next single “Give It 2 Me” promises to ignite dance floors all over the world.

If you ask me, though, Hard Candy’s standouts are “Heartbeat,” “Miles Away,” and “Incredible,” with “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” earning a well-deserved honorable mention.

And I must be in the minority, but I rather enjoy “Beat Goes On.”

Madonna will promote the album’s release with a hot-ticket performance at Roseland Ballroom in New York City on April 30 – to be broadcast live on MSN.com starting at 10 p.m. EST – and with another on May 6 in Paris.

Her “sugar is raw,” so go on…get a cavity, already.

Photo: BN.com.

Come to MIA

Estelle.

Remember that name.

This 28-year-old British Hip-Hop singer-producer is one of the next best things, and you definitely should become acquainted with her sound.

Her new single, “American Boy,” featuring Kanye West and production from will.i.am, off her new album, Shine, seduce-suggests to her intended to, “Take me on a trip, I’d like to go some day. / Take me to New York, I’d love to see L.A. / I really want to come kick it with you. / You’ll be my American Boy.”

She goes on to say, “And no I ain’t been to MIA.”

Well, hop on a plane, girl!

Photo: Amazon.com.

Treat You

Coldplay have announced they will give their fans a chance to see them perform, for free, when they hit the stage in London and New York City in June.

Details on how to win a pair of tickets will be available tomorrow on the band’s Web site. The shows are scheduled for June 16 and June 23, respectively.

The band’s new single, “Violet Hill,” also will be available to download for free on the site for one week.

Scoring tickets to the concerts might prove difficult, but you better get the single while it’s hot. According to Chris Martin’s wife, a Ms. Gwyneth Paltrow, Coldplay’s still-untitled new album is “brilliant.”

Photo: TimeInc.net.

She’s Having My Baby

This year’s unlikeliest movie star, Tina Fey (TV’s 30 Rock), stars in Baby Mama, a buddy comedy co-starring her fellow SNLer Amy Poehler.

Fey – seemingly everywhere these days, from her hit show to the covers of Entertainment Weekly and Marie Claire and Vanity Fair – breaks through playing Kate, a successful businesswoman in her mid-to-late-30s who really wants to have a baby.

When her doctor tells her he just doesn’t like her T-shaped uterus and has a million-to-one shot at getting pregnant, Kate decides to explore her options, including adoption (the wait is too long for a single woman) and surrogacy (it costs more than having someone killed, but hey…it’ll do!).

She ultimately is paired with South Philly working girl Angie (Poehler) who, after hearing her out, tells her, “Kate, I want you to put your baby inside me.”

But Type-A Kate’s well-though out strategy is turned upside down when needy Angie shows up at her doorstep with no place to live.

As their two rather different worlds collide, Kate and Angie will struggle their way to the finish line – hilarity ensues, natch – and learn that they share more similarities than differences.

I enjoyed Baby Mama very much because you just never see a buddy comedy starring two women – and this one stars not one but two of my all-time favorite funny ladies, so that was just swell.

The movie has a lot of heart, which is great, but it also has a no-holds barred sense of humor that keeps it from the Chick Flick storage box, you know.

And for that, this is one Baby Mama you needn’t try to avoid.

My Rating ***

Photo: Universal Pictures.

A Wife’s Word

At the London premiere of Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow told reporters the new Coldplay album is “brilliant.”

Paltrow is married to lead singer Chris Martin, so like, she would know.

“Don’t tell him I told you that,” she said. “I can’t talk about it. He gets furious!”

The actress is looking (and I bet, feeling) so good these days, I somehow doubt Martin could ever be crossed with her.

Having said that, I cannot wait to see Iron Man on Tuesday – after I get some Hard Candy, natch – or for Coldplay’s album.

It’s how much I’m into this couple. Like, if they called for a…situation, I’d totally answer.

Photo: People.com.

Would The Bard Approve?

Hamlet 2 had its world premiere and became the smash hit of this year’s Sundance Film Festival thanks to its irreverent comedy.

The indie stars Steve Coogan as a bad actor-cum-even worse-high-school-drama teacher who rallies his Tucson, Ariz., students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet 2 co-stars Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette, and Elisabeth Shue. It opens in limited release on Aug. 22.

Photo: Focus Features.

The Sound of Sex

The Sex and the City movie still is 37 days away, but Fergie’s contribution to the soundtrack, “Labels & Love,” which serves as the movie’s opening number, is here now.

Do we likey?

Photo: PJLightHouse.com.

Simply Irresistible, Pt. 30

He has been called the “Brazilian Tom Cruise,” but last night, Rodrigo Santoro was just a guy who’s an actor, taking a moment to talk to a guy who’s a fan.

Santoro, Jim Carrey, and Ewan McGregor are in Miami shooting I Love You Phillip Morris, a black comedy from the writers of Bad Santa.

The trio hit the Martini Tuesday party at Halo, which is the last place I would’ve anticipated to find them. The sighting made me think of the setup of a joke, you know – a Brazilian, a Canadian, and a Scot walk into a bar….

Anyway, perhaps they were doing research (the movie’s plot revolves around Carrey’s character falling in love with McGregor’s while in prison).

The point is I very much wanted to approach McGregor, and tell him he looked oh-so-handsome and was robbed of a nomination (at least) for Moulin Rouge!, but I ended chatting up Santoro instead.

Of all things, we talked about Lost.

I told him I thought he was underserved by the show, that it would’ve been cool if the writers had gotten the end date they wanted sooner so they could’ve mapped out his introduction, development, and contribution to the show better.

He seemed pleased by my comment but stopped short of agreeing with me, natch, and told me he’s still a fan and he’s always up for going back to the island, “if they need me for a flashback.”

By the end of our short talk, I was like, “Ewan who?”

Bite my tongue. I kid, I kid.

Photo: TimeInc.net.

Sticky and Sweet

I just listened to the entire Hard Candy album.

OMFG, Madonna – I feel it in my heartbeat...a good thing because “Heartbeat” is one of my favorite tracks.

I’m also loving “Incredible,” and Miles Away” (like I knew I would), and I’m confident the next single, “Give It 2 Me,” will grow on me when I blast it at home later this evening.

Let’s pull a Lost and flash-forward to next Tuesday, already.

Photo: BittersweetCovers.blogspot.com.

Update: Is M going to celebrate the big 5-0 with a big bash in New York City’s Central Park, after all? Jeez – that rumor’s persistent! It was put forth again in one of the sites that isn’t supposed to share the album yet. (Like I’m gonna tell you which one.)

The Simpson

Ashlee Simpson’s third album, Bittersweet World, hit shelves today.

I have long enjoyed Simpson’s oeuvre – don’t judge me – and so I totally leapt at the opportunity to interview her for Miami Living magazine’s May issue back in February.

The multi-hyphenate artist is back – and you better get used to it.

She’s followed up her 1980s-inspired club single “Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya),” produced by Timbaland, with “Little Miss Obsessive,” which she performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night.

It is what is (i.e., Who-cares! fun), so check it out.

Photo: Amazon.com.

A Fit for Life

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 opens on Aug. 8, and so you must know I’m kind of excited.

Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Blake Lively have reunited for part deux of the 2005 sleeper hit.

The original movie saw the friends form their sisterhood after finding a pair of all-fitting jeans that ultimately proved to be more than the perfect fit.

It also solidified then-Gilmore Girl Bledel and Tamblyn’s status as two to watch, gave then-indie player/future Ugly Betty Ferrera a mainstream audience, and introduced us to Lively, someone about whom Gossip Girl and Hollywood loves to buzz.

So you see…you, too, should be exciting the Pants are traveling again.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Have a Lick

Madonna’s Hard Candy doesn’t come out until April 29, but someone has gone out and posted a medley featuring the first 30 seconds of several of the album’s songs.

If you’re like me and cannot wait for the entire thing, click here – quickly, before the powers that be take down the clip.

What a treat. Hard Candy’s just one of those things. It really is going to be “Incredible.”

Photo: EW.com.

Wait a Minute Baby

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is an It-Funny-Guy-Judd Apatow-produced comedy written by and starring Jason Segel (TV’s How I Met Your Mother), about a dude who gets dumped by an up-and-coming Young Hollywood starlet, and the awkwardness that ensues when he runs into her and her new musician boyfriend while trying to get away from it all in Hawaii.

That’s the plot in a nutshell.

And here’s why I liked it:

Kristen Bell: I never thought I’d see the erstwhile Veronica Mars in any of the many wild positions her titular role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall required of her, but last night I did.

And although my mouth dropped, I admire her all the more for it.

There’s an irresistible twinkle in Bell’s eye that makes the most outrageous scene maintain an irreproachable classiness. That’s rare and quite special.

Jason Segel: He based the script partly on his own break-ups, and brought enough humility, humor, and gravitas to a role that called for full frontal male nudity –something that’s rather elusive in studio movies.

Courageously, he went there and beyond, showing us that yes, big boys cry.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

In spite of an inherently funny premise, Forgetting Sarah Marshall could’ve used a better running time-joke formula for success.

Some of the funniest, most quotable lines were said too quickly in a movie that unfortunately, ran too long.

Alright, so my worry that this wasn’t going to be a fun time at the movie theater was ultimately unwarranted, but this wasn’t a taut movie. It had enough charisma to make up for its unfunny bits, though.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Universal Pictures.

A Wave of Love

Jonah Markowitz makes his feature-film directorial debut with Shelter, a gay indie starring Trevor Wright and Brad Rowe (Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss).

Wright plays Zach, a young San Pedro graffiti artist who’s given up on art school to look after his nephew, Cody, and bail out his unsupportive, judgmental, flaky older sister, Jeanne (HBO’s Six Feet Under).

When his BFF’s older brother, Shaun (Rowe), comes home from Los Angeles looking to surf away a bad case of writer’s block, Shaun and Zach quickly develop a friendship that evolves into a true, intimate, yet hush-hush relationship.

Shaun pushes Zach to take control of his life, and encourages him not to put himself last anymore. Although they make him nervous, Zach eventually embraces the changes that Shaun is bringing about in him, and soon the two become a strong parental unit to Cody.

As time and the relationship progress, however, a new issue comes up: Zach – still struggling to balance his identity, his family, and his friendships – is confronted by Jeanne, who threatens to take Cody away because she disapproves of his lifestyle. Like hers is so much better.

In the end, the question the movie raises is whether Zach will play it safe again, or will he finally come into his own.

I was surprised by how much I liked Shelter.

I enjoyed that this wasn’t your average gay movie and that although it has been easily dubbed the “gay surfer movie,” it transcends that silly label and depicts a promising relationship in a realistic light.

It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s well-paced and -acted, rather moving, and really quite handsome.

Shelter premieres on here! TV tonight (check your local listing).

My Rating ***

Photo: LIGLFF.com.

Doing It Old School

The CW has announced that fans who “XOXO” Gossip Girl will be able to watch the show when it returns to the schedule on April 21 on the tube only.

That’s right – the freshman hit’s five remaining episodes this season will not be available for streaming on the network’s Web site (though the episodes will be up for sale via iTunes).

“Gossip Girl is an extremely important show for The CW and we feel it can be a signature breakout for its return,” said a CW spokesman.

Repeats will continue to air on Sundays at 6 p.m., though.

Spotted: You, coach-potatoing it come Monday night. Just like you should.

Photo: InStyle.com.

Dancing King

With his latest release, Last Night, Moby has proven that he shan’t be dismissed just yet – thank you very much.

And you know what, after listening to it, and especially loving “Disco Lies,” which he recently performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (that’s how I first found out he even had a new album), and “The Stars,” I don’t think I ever could.

I just want to dance.

Photo: BN.com.

The New American Idol

As I pointed out in the February-March-April issue of Miami Living magazine, every year, thousands of pop star wannabes try out to see if one of them will become the next American idol – after all, it’s an easy, relatively quick way for an up-and-comer to gain notoriety – but Miami’s own Alejandra Alberti is not interested in becoming another flavor of the season.

She’s in it for good.

Alberti, a Nashville, Tenn., native, launched her music career two years ago with the release of Alejandra Alberti, an indie pop-rock-R&B Spanish album.

On April 17, Alberti will kick off her “Dignidad Tour,” featuring special guest Carlos Bertonatti, at Studio A in Miami.

Alberti co-wrote seven of the deeply personal 10 tracks in her CD, including her first single, “Quiero,” a song spawned by a close relative’s experience with heartbreak.

It was on the strength of “Quiero” that she was nominated for a Best New Artist Latin Grammy last fall. Although she did not bring home the award – Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy did – Alberti says being invited to the party in Las Vegas was a win in of itself.

Today, armed with a new single, “Dignidad the Mujer,” she is just getting started. She says she still considers herself a new artist, and that she has learned to take people’s skepticism as an incentive rather than a deterrent. Her tour will take her to Orlando, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, New York, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, among others.

For tickets and more information on the “Dignidad Tour,” click here.

Photo: HolaMun2.com.

Hop to It

In The House Bunny, Anna Faris plays Shelley, a Playboy Bunny of nine years who is unceremoniously asked to leave the Playboy Mansion on her 27th birthday because you know...she’s old now.

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world. It’s hard to get by just upon a smile – or bleach blond hair and big boobs.

Homeless and without essential skills, she wanders around L.A. until she finds a new job...as a housemother at the most unpopular sorority on campus.

The movie (due out on Aug. 22) co-stars Katharine McPhee and Rumer Willis. It was scripted by the Legally Blonde writers, so expect big laughs and lots of heart (and pink outfits for Faris).

It looks really fun. Check out this preview if you don’t believe me. I’m thinking this is the movie that finally will propel Faris from Scary Movie star to super star.

Photo: EW.com.