Rumor has it, Britney Spears will once again blow our minds with a half-ass VMA performance. If we play our cards right, Ms. Spears will hopefully lip-synch her favorite song and awkwardly bumble across the stage.

Britney has also been nominated in the category of Best Female Video for her hit single “Piece of Me,” competing alongside some women who actually sing. Out loud. MTV’s full list of nominees in the category is scheduled for release on Friday.

Spears’ 2007 performance at the VMAs was the most-talked about performance off all-time — and not because she looked banging in her bra and panties outfit, or because of her stellar dance moves. What will happen this year

The lesbian love might just be over!

Gawker is reporting that Lindsay Lohan broke up with her girlfriend Samantha Ronson just before the two were popped by paparazzi leaving the Waverly Inn in New York City on Tuesday night.

I find that hard to believe since both Lindsay and Sam looked awfully happy in aforementioned photos, but you never can tell.

Here’s Gawker’s story:

“One of our inside New York sources, Guest of a Guest spotted the actress/deejay duo at the Waverly Inn last night, a Gotham hotspot frequented by all of the Big Apple’s most in-the-know glitterati. All seemed well enough as they dashed out of a sleek black SUV and past the usual swarm of paparazzi into the restaurant. But then things got ugly! Our source tells us:

“We really did not pay much attention to them once we were seated, except at the end of their meal when Lindsay stood up and stepped/stumbled on [my friend’s] foot. Without looking back or apologizing she headed straight out the door. We guess her exit was spontaneous as Samantha was behind her sputtering: ‘Are you leaving?’ ‘Lindsay are you leaving?’ ‘I guess she’s leaving.’ ‘She just left!’”

What do you think? Is the lesbian love between Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson over?!

Let’s forget for just a moment about all of the hallelujah reviews surrounding Heath Ledger’s performance in “The Dark Knight.” Can Heath Ledger win an Oscar just because he’s holding an I.O.U.?

Many stars win an Academy Award because they’re overdue. No one — not even Paul Newman — thinks that Newman gave the best performance of his career in the movie that earned him academy gold: “The Color of Money.” But he won merely because voters felt guilty that they stiffed him over seven previous nominations. Same thing for Al Pacino. What a pity that voters finally caved in and gave him an Oscar for his cornball attempt to pretend he’s blind in “Scent of a Woman.”

Considering that Heath Ledger didn’t finish shooting his role in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “The Dark Knight” is probably the last chance Oscar voters will get to catch up with Heath Ledger, who they stiffed in 2005. The New York Film Critics Circle got it right when it gave its best-actor laurels to Heath Ledger for “Brokeback Mountain.” Everybody else heaped overblown kudos that year upon Philip Seymour Hoffman for a lousy, historically dishonest portrayal of Truman Capote. As everyone knows, Capote was a flamboyant firecracker, not the quiet, mousy doormat Hoffman gave us while trying too hard to portray a cliché, angst-haunted artiste. But “Capote” had snooty, art-house pretense, so it swept the awards scene. Lucky for Hoffman, that movie came out a few months before the much-better, more accurate “Infamous,” which spotlighted the same period in the novelist’s life with a luminous, perfect-pitch performance by Toby Jones that reminds us how awful Hoffman was.

But I digress. Back to Heath Ledger, who clearly should’ve beaten Hoffman. He never got recognized at all for his many other socko roles in “Candy,” “I’m Not There,” “The Patriot,” “Ned Kelly,” “Two Hands,” “Cassanova.”

Now Heath Ledger really deserves it, if we believe the New York Times’ review of his Joker in “The Dark Knight”: ” He’s just a clown in black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece.”

“This is a career-making performance if ever there was one,” says USA Today about Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight.” “Too bad it was a career-ending one as well.”

“Not since Hannibal Lecter has a villain been so terrifying, so engaging and so memorable,” says E! Online. If that’s an apt analogy, then it’s good kudos news for Heath Ledger considering Anthony Hopkins won best actor.

A new rule requiring New York chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus took effect on Friday, marking a first for a U.S. city.Starting on Saturday, health inspectors can slap fines of up to $2,000 on fast-food and casual-dining chains if calorie counts are not displayed on their menus in the same font and format as the name or price of food items.

The move follows the city’s 2003 ban on public smoking and a ban on artery-clogging trans fats that began on July 1.

New Yorkers appeared unfazed by the rule, and some said they would not be dissuaded from ordering a 540-calorie Big Mac at McDonald’s or a 440-calorie Iced lemon Loaf at Starbucks.

“I’m going to eat whatever I’m going to eat,” said Erika Roberson, 19, leaving an Applebee’s restaurant in Brooklyn.

The rule affects such restaurants as McDonald’s; Burger King; Applebee’s, operated by DineEquity Inc; Dunkin Donuts; Starbucks and Subway.

“I’m for it. I don’t think the average person has any idea what they’re eating,” said Amanda Goodwin, 33, a school administrator.

Analysts said they did not expect the rule to have much impact on consumer habits.
New York Restaurants
new york restaurant guide

The new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight,” raked in $66.4 million (33.2 million pounds) in its opening day to set the single-day box office record, according to its distributor Warner Bros.The Friday tally bests the $59.8 million set by “Spider-Man 3″ at its opening last year.

The film will likely break the opening weekend record of $151.1 million set by the Spider-Man movie, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros.

“I don’t see any reason why we are going to slow down,” he said.

Fellman attributed the success to the unique vision of director Christopher Nolan and the “outstanding” performance of the late Australian actor Heath Ledger in what turned out to be his last completed screen role, as Batman’s arch nemesis, the Joker.

“The Dark Knight,” which cost about $180 million to produce, also picked up a record $18.5 million in sales of tickets for preview screenings ahead of its official opening.

The five previous Batman movies released by Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc, had an average opening gross of $47 million.

Those films collectively have amassed over $1.6 billion in ticket sales worldwide since 1989, according to box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

The last Batman movie, 2005’s “Batman Begins,” grossed nearly $49 million its first weekend in North America and went on to collect about $372 million worldwide.