Entertainment on Parade

If you are hoping for a Michael Phelp’s hookup, you may be out of luck.  Phelps took his girlfriend of two months, Las Vegas cocktail waitress Caroline “Caz” Pal, to his family home in Baltimore for Thanksgiving.  The two met after his incredible Beijing Olympic run.

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Phelps seems to have turned his interests from swimming to poker.  He made the final table at the Caesars Palace Poker Classic and hopes to participate in next year’s World Series of Poker.  Since Pal is a waitress at Palm’s Casino Resort’s Moon Nightclub, it looks like Phelps will have plenty of opportunity to hone his poker skills in Vegas.

“Last Call” host Carson Daly is going to become a daddy.  He announced that he and girlfriend Siri Pinter are expecting a bundle of joy next spring.  Daly, 35, and Pinter, a NBC producer who has worked on Last Call, have been dating for a little over a year.  This will be the first child for the couple.

A rep for Daly said, “Carson is thrilled to be a father and they are looking forward to an extra-special Thanksgiving this year with family and friends.”  In the past, Daly has been linked to actresses Tara Reid and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight vampire series has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and been translated into 37 different languages.

Think young women cannot propel a movie to box office success?  Think again!  Twilight, the vampire romance aimed at young girls based on the Stephenie Meyer novel, brought in a whopping $70.6 million for its opening on Friday and Saturday.

Based on exit polls, 75% of the audience watching Twilight this weekend was female.  With the success of Sex & the City, this now solidifies the fact that females can make or break a movie.  Polls also showed that a little over half of those ticket purchasers were under the age of 25.  A soundtrack to accompany the movie was released on November 4, 2008.  It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies the first week.

Ashlee Simpson-Wentz’s first album “Autobiography” debuted at #1 in July 2004 and sold 398,000 copies the first week.

After what seems like a 3 year gestation period, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz has finally given birth to a son.  Ashlee and husband Pete Wentz welcomed 7 lb. 11 oz., 20 ½ inch son Bronx Mowgli last night at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

Ashlee announced her pregnant in May, only a few weeks after the two married.  Ashlee has said she wants more kids and Pete said he would like “a big soccer team or a band.”

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That’s all fine and dandy, but what is up with the name Bronx?  And, do you think the Ashlee and Pete realized their son’s initials are BMW?

Hugh Jackman was born the youngest of five children in Pymble, Sydney, New South Wales.

Australian hottie Hugh Jackman has been named as PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive.  The 40 year old actor has appeared in a number of films including X-Men (as Wolverine), Kat & Leopold (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe), Swordfish, Carousel (he sang!), Van Helsing (where he chased vampires), and The Prestige.  In between all those, Jackman starred on Broadway as Peter Allen in The Boys from Oz.  He won a Tony Award for that performance.  Serving as host of the Tony Awards in 2003, 2004, and 2005, Jackman won an Emmy in 2004 as Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical, or Comedy. 

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After voicing a penguin in Happy Feet and a rat in Flushed Away, Jackman appeared briefly on television in Viva Laughlin.  He is set to star as Wolverine again next year and can currently be seen in Australia along side fellow country woman Nicole Kidman.

Michael Jackson was only 11 years old when he began performing with his brothers as part of the
Jackson 5.

Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a son of the king of Bahrain, has filed a lawsuit saying Michael Jackson owes him $7 million dollars for backing out of a deal for an album, an autobiography, and a stage play.  Jackson was supposed to appear in London this week to testify, but his lawyer claims that he is too ill. 

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Robert Englehart would like Jackson to testify by video link, stating that “It would be unwise for him to travel, given what he’s got now.”  What?  Has his nose completely fallen off his face now?  Englehart declined to go into detail “for obvious reasons.”  He did say that Jackson is innocent of the charges and that the $7 million advance was a gift.

Al Khalifa’s attorney says the evidence of illness presented is “very unsatisfactory.”  Nigel Sweeney, the judge in the case, said he would make a decision of whether Jackson could appear via video after consulting with medical experts for both legal teams.