MTV Newsroom ›

Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Kelly Osbourne has been keeping herself pretty busy lately: She got engaged to fashion model Luke Worrall and has been pushing herself on the current season of "Dancing with the Stars." In fact, she's been pushing herself so hard that she managed to hurt herself during rehearsals for last week's show. But she managed to right herself on last night's show, where she danced with confidence and scored a 25 out of 40, which should keep her around for at least another week or two. That's good news for Osbourne, because it'd be a real bummer to get eliminated on her birthday (which is today). She celebrated turning 25 last night with Worrall and her "Dancing with the Stars" castmates.

She wasn't the only one partying last night, as Lindsay Lohan stepped out to Vibiana in Los Angeles for a festive evening and the Madden brothers from Good Charlotte celebrated at a BlackBerry event in Sydney, Australia. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features nearly 400 candid shots of Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Adam Lambert!

Tags dancing with the stars, kelly osbourne, photo, Spotted!

If you're a regular reader of this particular blog, you know that we strive to provide behind-the-scenes access to everybody here at MTV News, be they correspondents or superstars. But sometimes, Newsroom looks to the stars for inspiration. Past forays into space have included a playlist for the moon bombing, a tribute to a "Star Trek" actor, a tip of the hat to Galileo and a salute to Apollo 11. Today, the Internet was abuzz with excitement over NASA's launch of the new Ares I-X rocket, the largest unmanned device of its kind. It's part of a program called "Constellation," which is seeking to replace space shuttles (which NASA hopes to phase out by the end of 2010). Unfortunately, cloudy weather forced NASA to scrub today's launch; they'll attempt it again tomorrow.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it gives the crew on the ground more time to construct a perfect launch-day playlist for their NASA iPods. There are plenty of appropriate songs, including Smashing Pumpkins' "Rocket," Elton John's "Rocket Man," Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" or just about anything by the bands Space, the Rocket Summer or Spiritualized.

But at the top of that list should be "Surfing on a Rocket" by Air. The French duo construct a sleek, pulsating soundscape that appears to be constructed specifically to accompany trips to Venus. Plus, the video features a shark wearing a suit (perhaps a resident of Neptune). Tomorrow, another chapter in space exploration begins, but for now, we'll dream of the cosmos with the help of Air.

Tags Air, Ares Rocket, video

Michael Jackson died a little over four months ago, and though hardcore fans never got to see his "This Is It" concerts at London's O2 Arena, they will finally get the first big piece of Jackson's posthumous legacy tonight when "Michael Jackson's This Is It" premieres around the world. (MTV News will be there live tonight at 8:30 p.m. on MTV and VH1 for the "'Michael Jackson's This Is It' Premiere Special.") As director Kenny Ortega explains in the behind-the-scenes clip below, it's a "backstage pass" look at what the "This Is It" concerts could have been. "It's a private peek into the creative process of a great genius," says Ortega.

As other clips have proven, Jackson was an incredible work horse who knew exactly what he was looking for in all aspects of his presentation and performance. In the above clip, he knows exactly how something should be cued and isn't afraid to remind everybody how it is supposed to go.

Even more interesting is the proposed introduction for the "This Is It" shows. The prolonged sequence apparently was supposed to involved pyrotechnics, fireworks, a video package detailing the history of the 20th century called "Glimpses and Flashes" and Jackson's entrance via "Light Man," a robot that also served as a video monitor. Clearly, the "This Is It" concerts were going to be huge, sprawling, expensive affairs (complete with crystal-studded costumes designed by Christian Audigier) that would have been a fitting series of farewells for Jackson if he really did intend to retire following the shows. Tragically, we'll never know what those shows would be like or what would come next for Jackson, but "Michael Jackson's This Is It" promises to provide at least a glimpse of what might have been. Choreographer Travis Payne puts it best: "When the fans go see 'This Is It,' they're gonna have Michael back, just for a little while."

For more on "Michael Jackson's This Is It," stay tuned to MTV News.

Tags Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson's This Is It, video

Perhaps you're a fan of Lady Gaga. It wouldn't be unusual — after all, her debut album The Fame has sold over a million copies since its release last year. But now you're debating whether or not you're going to invest in The Fame: Monster, the new expanded edition of that record. Sure, it's got eight brand-new songs on it (including the just-released-on-iTunes single "Bad Romance"), but maybe you're thinking you'll just download the new songs from iTunes so as not to have two copies of the same album sitting on the shelf. But you still want some sort of memento of Gaga's upcoming tour! What to do?

Luckily, Gaga has thought out this scenario and totally has you covered. The "Super Deluxe" version of The Fame: Monster includes a number of collectible goodies from pop music's favorite fashion-forward muse. The package contains the new version of the album as well as the "Book of Gaga" (described as "highly stylized collector's edition art table book housed in a custom slipcase documenting Gaga's journey into pop superstardom"), which contains such treats as a puzzle (you can play with grandma!), behind-the-scenes photos, paper dolls, a pair of 3D glasses and, perhaps strangest of all, a lock of Lady Gaga's hair. Though the deluxe editions will be available in limited quantities, doesn't that seem like an awful lot of hair to sacrifice? Or are we to assume that it's a lock from one of the singer's many wigs?

In any event, the truly devoted can pre-order their package now (for the relatively reasonable price of $100) and look forward to Gaga's The Fame: Monster tour, which is scheduled to kick off on November 27 in Montreal, Canada.

Tags Lady Gaga

It's been 10 days since Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington disappeared during a Metallica concert at an arena at the University of Virginia. State police are still searching and following up on tips, and the FBI has also gotten involved. Even Metallica have lent a hand: The band posted a news story on their official Web site with Harrington's description, some photos and contact information for anybody who has a tip about her whereabouts. "We are deeply concerned about the disappearance of 20 year old Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington, who was last seen while attending our concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA, on Saturday night," the site says. According to WTTG, Metallica frontman James Hetfield has contacted Harrington's parents and has offered to add $50,000 to the $100,000 reward being offered for information the could lead to Morgan's return.

Morgan's parents were on "Today" this morning to talk about their daughter's disappearance, and they both assume that some kind of foul play is involved. "This is every parent's worst nightmare," her father said.

A few more details have emerged since Harrington's parents filed the initial missing persons report, and a narrative has been built around the incident. At some point during the show, Harrington got separated from a group of friends to go to the bathroom. Somehow, she ended up outside the venue and was not let back in (per the re-entry rules of the house). She called her friends to let them know she would find another way home — the last time anyone heard from her. Police found her purse and her cell phone on the ground between the arena and an adjacent athletic field (strangely, the battery for the phone was missing). Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Virginia State Police or the University of Virginia Police, and updated information can be found at FindMorgan.com.

Tags Metallica, Morgan Harrington

If you're like me, you woke up Tuesday morning (like, really, really early), stumbled down to your underground media bunker (not as sexy as it sounds) and did a triple take when you saw the phrase "Har Mar Superstar" at the very top of Google Trends. Like, above Rudolph Valentino and the hot Mormon muffins calendar.

But we were probably confused for different reasons. See, I know who Har Mar is. In fact, I'm a huge fan of the balding, tubby Minnesota hunk of white funk thunder who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jon Lovitz' character in "The Critic." The singer (who also records under the name Sean Na Na and whose given name is Sean Tillman) has been making waves the past few weeks thanks to the outrageously weird video for the first single, "Tall Boy," from his new album, Dark Touches. In case you haven't seen it, two words will suffice: Eva Mendes.

Har Mar, whom "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon referred to as "one of the most unique performers" to emerge over the past few years, likely got the Google bump after a bigger slice of America caught wind of his unique stylings on Fallon's Monday night show. Wearing an African-themed caftan, gold lamé cocktail gloves and red pants, the diminutive funkster shimmied across the stage, whipped his ape drape around and proved for the umpteenth time that you can't judge a book by its cover.

The slinky performance of the shimmery funk tune that appears to swing both ways and which allegedly was offered to Britney Spears first, prompted Fallon to refer to Har Mar as a "legend." It also drew praise from house band drummer ?uestlove of the Roots, who tweeted, "Hahahaha told my band they weren't ready for Har Mar Superstar," and Fallon himself, who added, "Har Mar Superstar done gone and did it on tonight's show."

Here's everything else you need to know about Har Mar: he often ends up nearly nude during his shows (trust me, he gave my friend a very sweaty, intimate hug at a club show a few years ago that she will never forget), his 2004 album, The Handler has at least four absolutely classic, very nasty electro funk tunes on it ("Body Request," "Cut Me Up," "Back the Camel Up" and "Bird in the Hand”) and he made a cameo in the 2004 movie "Starsky and Hutch" as "Dancin' Rick," a disco champ who takes on Ben Stiller's David Starsky.

Tags Har Mar Superstar, Jimmy Fallon, The-Roots, video

The World Series kicks off tomorrow night, with the New York Yankees squaring off against the Philadelphia Phillies. But today is an important day in baseball history, especially if you grew up rooting for Dwight Evans in a New England suburb. On October 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox finally snapped an eight decade run of futility and won their first World Series since 1918, finishing off the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight games. Though it was an emotional run for the Red Sox, the 2004 World Series may be one of the most anti-climatic of all time. In the four game sweep, the Cardinals were never really in any of the games, and the Red Sox had already overcome incredible odds during the American League Championship Series, where they won four straight games after sitting on the brink of elimination against the Yankees. The playoffs that year were full of extra-inning tilts, incredible comebacks, dramatic home runs and pitcher Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock. The Red Sox didn't have to wait another 86 years to bring home another championship, as they won again in 2007 (also via a four game sweep, against the Colorado Rockies).

One of the greatest moments from the 2004 World Series had very little to do with the games themselves, but rather with Fox, the network that broadcasts baseball's championship every year. After the final game ended (with pitcher Keith Foulke snagging an easy ground ball and flipping it to first baseman Doug Mientkeiwicz for an easy out), Fox put together a highlight package to commemorate Boston's miraculous run through the playoffs. The song they used to score that montage? Beck's "The Golden Age," from his moody 2002 breakup album Sea Change. The song was probably chosen because of one lyric — "Let the golden age begin" — but Fox should really pay attention to context, as "The Golden Age" is about escape and depression (the official chorus is "These days I barely get by/I don't even try"). Fox tends to do that a lot on their sports broadcasts — a few years back during one of their Sunday NFL shows, they aired a package about Eli Manning fumbling, and the song they used to underscore it was Good Charlotte's "Hold On," which as it turns out is not about clutching pigskin but rather about suicide.

Anyway, inappropriate context aside, "The Golden Age" remains a wonderful little sad-eyed ballad with a trippy video. Enjoy.

Tags baseball, Beck, Boston Red Sox, video, World Series

One question I get asked a lot is, "Who is the nicest celebrity you've ever interviewed?" It's a tough question to answer, but the very talented Alicia Keys is definitely up there.

I remember "falling" hard for Ms. Keys when I first saw her perform a small showcase in London back in 2001. She was all smiles then, and I remember thinking she might be one of the nicest girls I'd ever met. Eight years on, it seems nothing has changed.

There was an air of confidence surrounding Keys when she walked into the newsroom last week following her appearance on "It's On with Alexa Chung." She's graceful and elegant, but you'd be a fool to forget that Alicia Keys is a real New Yorker.

I'm not so up on female fashion, but it must be said she was wearing some very impressive boots — half black and half metallic. She looked, as they say, fierce.

We talked about her upcoming album The Element of Freedom, her next single "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart," her favourite songs from the album (including "Love is Blind"), her obvious musical evolution (there are lots of synths on The Element of Freedom), the hotly-anticipated video for the Jay-Z track "Empire State of Mind" (a real New York video for the new New York anthem) and working with Whitney Houston and Swizz Beatz.

Alicia spoke on what it's like working with uber-producer Swizz (a personal favourite of mine) and the admiration she has for him as a "musical genius" and a "mad scientist" behind the mixing desk. For the rest, you'll have to check out the interview.

Tags Alicia Keys

"A lot of our memories in the studio is a lot about work, because he was so focused on trying to get the right material out that we didn't really play around. Like, we talked, but we rarely joked, because at that moment, regardless of what we were doing it's like, 'Lets get serious and really do what we came here to do.' He was never satisfied. Like, we might have passed up ideas that I know for a fact were smashes. He'd be like, 'Nah, nah — we got to come up with something better.' We can never do better 'cause his expectation was so high."

-Singer, producer and songwriter Akon, on working with Michael Jackson in the studio. Akon spent a great deal of time in the studio with Jackson, working on both new songs and "Wanna Be Startin' Something' 2008" (which appeared on the reissue of the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller). Despite the fact that Akon was convinced that the pair had hits on their hands, nothing ever seemed to be good enough for Jackson, a notorious perfectionist. "It was almost to a point where we would have to get a record and I would believe in it and just put it out, 'cause it would never come out 'cause he always believed we could do better," Akon told MTV News. It remains unclear when (or even if) the music that Akon and Jackson created will ever see the light of day, but Akon is certainly proud of the work that he did. "It was all about the melody, because we're both melody guys," he said. "And no matter how incredible the record was, he believed that it could get more incredible."

Tags Akon, Michael Jackson, Quote

The World Series is set, and starting Wednesday night (October 28), the showdown will be on between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Though the storied Yankees have won a total of 26 championships, it's the Phillies who walk in as the defending champions. The Phils and the Yanks don't have a whole lot of history against one another (they've only played 25 games over the past 100 years, including a Yankees sweep of the Phillies in the 1950 World Series), there's still no love lost between Philadelphia and New York. After all, the Phillies do have a pretty cutthroat rivalry with the New York Mets, and there are also long-standing rivalries in hockey (Flyers and Rangers), football (Giants and Eagles) and basketball (76ers and Knicks).

Of course, the music world is choosing sides as well. It's already been announced that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys will be performing "Empire State of Mind" during the opening game on Wednesday night, and a mini-rivalry has already erupted on Twitter between Keys and Phillies fan Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots.

What other Phils fan is ready for the Series? Legendary Philadelphia turntable spinner and producer DJ Jazzy Jeff. He stopped by the office to talk about his new Michael Jackson-centric mixtape He's the King, I'm the DJ (a play on his famous album with Will Smith He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper), and he said that his team has the champion's advantage.

"The Yankees are going up against the defending world champions," Jeff told MTV News. "I don't think you can just walk in the door and give it to the Yankees. I think the Yankees might be nervous about the Phillies."

Memo to New York DJs and rappers: Them's fightin' words.

Tags baseball, DJ Jazzy Jeff, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, video