A week ago, a group of David Archuleta fans surprised me (and my co-workers) with a stream of goodies, from flowers to gourmet cupcakes to Kenny G Christmas albums.

Kris Allen fans decided to take a page from "Teen Witch" and play "Top That," metaphorically speaking. The result was a delicious early birthday cake that read "Happy Birthday Jim! #KrimForever."

Since Krim (the nickname Kris Allen gave our little tag team) was about to have another playdate in the form of an interview, I figured I should wait for Mr. Allen's arrival before I dug in. This caused a lot of angry sighs from my mooching co-workers (who now act way too entitled when it comes to tasty treats from "Idol" fans, if you ask me).

After Kris spoke about his fantastic new CD (in stores now), it was time to indulge! Now if only we had silverware.

Watch the video below to watch Krim devour the cakey goodness in a particularly animalistic way.

Thanks again Kris Allen fans! Archie fans need to step up their game if they want to be back in the running for the "Sweetest Ever" title! (Just kidding! You all win! Please stop sending gifts! Save your money for "Idol" CDs!)

This morning, I casually Tweeted that I'd be celebrating my birthday tonight. My actual birthday isn't until November 22 — the day Adam Lambert will be stealing the show at the American Music Awards — so I was a tad confused when the mailroom called me to say I had to sign for some flowers.

"Uh, you have the wrong number," I said.

"Are you the Jim Cantiello who sits on the 29th floor?" the mail room dude asked.

I slowly said, "Yes."

"Well, then come downstairs and pick up your flowers." Click.

During the elevator ride down to the lobby, I scanned through my mental Rolodex of people who would send me flowers two weeks before my birthday. "Hmm, Shakira seemed to really enjoy our interview together on Tuesday. Maybe she wanted to say thanks?" "I gave a cab driver a 40 percent tip the other day." "Perhaps my grandparents are losing it and forgot my date of birth?"

It turns out a group of David Archuleta fans had banded together and wanted to wish me a happy early birthday by sending me flowers and a giant balloon! The card read, "You made us happy with your support of our 'homey' @davidarchie!"

Wow! I knew the Christmas carol segment I did was popular with his fan base, but I never imagined it would inspire such thoughtfulness! They even quoted the "Archmas" joke, writing in the card, "Last part of your Archmas gift includes an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!"

How sweet is that? Although the "last part" reference confused me. Would there be more on its way?

As I was writing this very blog I got another phone call. "You have a delivery from a bakery downstairs."

Bwah?!

The same four fans had also sent me cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery! (Brooke White would be so jealous right now.) This time the card was a poem! "Another part of your Archmas treat. Thanks again, we'd love a Tweet!"

Another part? Is there going to be more? My head's going to explode!

So to @momJulee, @sofansmom, @ClaudiaNRR and @janey79: Thank you for the nicest early birthday gift ever. (My co-workers who helped me devour the delicious cupcakes also send you kisses.) I will definitely sing "Touch My Hand" at my karaoke party later tonight in your honor.

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.

Former "American Idol" contestant David Archuleta didn't win the season he competed (that honor went to erstwhile Our Lady Peace fan David Cook), but in many ways it's worked out better for Archie. He has never had to deal with the pressure or scrutiny of being the winner, but there is still plenty of enthusiasm surrounding everything he works on (including his recently-released Christmas album). Plus, he's not hounded by photographers all that often. Really, it's the best kind of fame. Still, it was nice to see him show up in the paparazzi viewfinders yesterday, as Archuleta was spotted leaving high-end Los Angeles eatery Il Pastaio with singer and songwriter Kina Grannis.

He wasn't the only star who rolled in public yesterday, as Leona Lewis paid a visit to Radio One in London and Robin Thicke dropped in on a radio station in Miami. Click here for these photos plus the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features over 350 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Lady Gaga, the Jonas Brothers, Adam Lambert, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Jay-Z and 50 Cent!

Even though we're just on the other side of Halloween, the public has already shifted its focus to Christmas. Store displays have shifted, Starbucks has drinks that are eggnog flavored and a handful of lunatics are already considering their Christmas trees. Today marks the first big film release of the holiday season in "A Christmas Carol," the Robert Zemeckis-directed animated feature that stars Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge. (For more on "A Christmas Carol," be sure to check out all the in-depth coverage over at MTV Movies.) There are plenty more holiday-themed platters on the way, but "A Christmas Carol" is the biggest Christmas-related film to hit theaters this season.

But let's face it: Today is November 6, a full 49 days before Santa Claus comes down the chimney. There's no shame in not feeling any yuletide cheer yet, as we're still a few weeks from Thanksgiving. But maybe you never miss a Jim Carrey movie, or perhaps you want to support Zemeckis so that he has enough success to make a "Roger Rabbit" sequel. If that's the case, then we've got you covered, because there's plenty of Christmas music from some of your favorite stars.

Holiday music has crossed over into pop since the invention of radio, but now just about any pop star worth his or her salt puts out a holiday album at some point. This season, David Archuleta and Bob Dylan have both dropped Christmas albums, and there's a whole heaping back catalog of stuff you could work through no matter what your musical preference is. A fan of Beyoncé? Check out Destiny's Child's "8 Days of Christmas." Do you prefer psychedelic indie rock? The Flaming Lips' "Christmas at the Zoo" is probably for you. Want a little gallows humor with your gingerbread? Enjoy Weird Al" Yankovic's "Christmas at Ground Zero." Or if you just want to rock out, check out the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl blasting out "Fairytale of New York," probably the best Christmas song ever written.

But if you want to start simple, star with Mariah Carey, whose "All I Want for Christmas is You" has quickly become a holiday standard. Be sure to stay tuned for the rest of the video playlist for a treat at the end!

The David Archuleta outtake chronicles continue!

One of the fun things I learned about the "American Idol" star during our Christmas carol extravaganza is that he is ceaselessly curious. When he wasn't stopping to look at every single bulletin board or framed poster hanging on MTV's walls, he would turn the tables and casually interview me. "Know any good New York City restaurants? What music are you listening to these days? What kind of bird do you have?" (Long story.)

But this line of questioning was my favorite from the day, if only because it sparked us having a brief chat about recent "Idol" rocker, Allison Iraheta.

If you remember, Simon Cowell went out of his way to knock Allison's personality during her "Idol" journey. Despite the fiery-haired rocker delivering some of the best vocals of the season — and displaying more authenticity than any other teenage "Idol" contestant — the cranky Brit would go on and on about how he didn't think she was appearing particularly likable. This insane, illogical and frustratingly recurring talking point led to several angry fist pumps from my living room couch.

Clearly, David Archuleta is on Team Allison with me. His face lit up when he talked about how much "personality and spunk" she has. And when I brought up how adorable it was when she jumped out of her "bottom three" chair to give him a hug when he showed up during an episode, Archuleta smiled and — dare I say it? — blushed.

Cue the "Awwwwwws!"

Last week, David Archuleta and I serenaded MTV staffers with Christmas carols in celebration of his new holiday album Christmas from the Heart. Needless to say, Archuleta's fans were happier than Ryan Seacrest at a tanning salon. Aside from the expected flailing we received from the Archie-Angels, we got a lot of questions about the Christmas sweaters he and I donned during the shoot. Where did they come from? Is he going to wear that on his upcoming Christmas tour? Did you have to twist his arm to play dress up?

So, by popular demand, here's the sweater song. (Cue Weezer.)

As I mentioned in my recent blog, the "American Idol" runner-up was a sweetheart, but convincing him to wear that silly Christmas sweater involved a little bit of begging.

At the end of our sit-down interview — where we discussed both the Christmas record and his upcoming "more personal" pop album — it was time to get our yule on. Although David knew we were going caroling for the shoot, I'm not so sure he knew it involved props and a specific wardrobe. His defeated "Christmas ... sweaters ..." says it all. (Note the desperation in my voice mere nanoseconds after he sounded less-than-enthused.)

Being the gracious young man that he is, though, it didn't take too much cajoling to convince David to play along. He even added a scarf for flair! By the end of the shoot, Archuleta was so comfortable in the itchy old sweater that he almost left the building still wearing it, along with our microphone. Whoops! (Fun semi-related "Idol" journalist trivia: After a recent interview, Kris Allen left Z-100 wearing Entertainment Weekly's microphone, forcing EW.com's Michael Slezak to race out of the building and chase down Kris' car. Now that I think of it, I'm 99 percent sure Slezak did that on purpose to score an extra couple of seconds with the "Idol" winner. Sneaky!)

It pains me to admit it, but the red and green snowflake sweaters are all mine. Read more...

On the massive timeline that is the universe, five days doesn't seem like an awfully long time, but consider how different the world was on Monday morning: Soupy Sales was alive, Lil Wayne was a free man, people were still wondering what Rihanna's new single would sound like and the content of "Michael Jackson's This Is It" was still relatively mysterious. But now that we're five days older and that much wiser, it's time to take a look back at anything you might have missed in the Newsroom.

» Rihanna unveiled her new single "Russian Roulette," which also came with an edgy album cover that immediately put it in rare company.

» Adam Lambert also had a busy week of debuts, as his made its way to the Web, along with the epic video for that same song.

» Drake added "college basketball coach" to his ever-growing list of occupations.

» Whitney Houston performed on TV in the U.K., busted out of her dress and still managed to absolutely kill "Million Dollar Bill."
Read more...

They don't come sweeter than David Archuleta. I know Paula Abdul got a lot of flack for saying she wanted to decapitate the boy and dangle his head from her rearview mirror (as a compliment), but after spending time with him this week I know exactly where Paula is coming from. By the end of our hour together, I was looking all over MTV for a hacksaw.

David just released a (fantastic) new Christmas album, so I thought it would be fun to don a set of Holiday sweaters, load up a satchel with recycled promo CDs and go caroling around MTV with the "Idol" runner-up.

Who cares that it's only October?!

The mere fact that David and his team agreed to our silly idea shows what a cool guy he is. I can't think of many celebrities who would be willing to throw on an ugly, itchy sweater, walk into strangers' offices and belt out Christmas carols for fun. (Although I will admit that the wardrobe took a fair amount of cajoling on my part. I might have to leak the video of his reaction when I said the words "Christmas sweaters." Priceless.)

I took David around to Archie fans here at MTV. And, as I expected, they all turned to goo as soon as he appeared in their doorway, ready to serenade them with his angelic pipes. But his appeal spread over to innocent bystanders as well. Read more...

Filming on location can be difficult, even if you're hanging out with the Jonas Brothers. So while hanging around the Canadian set of "Camp Rock: The Final Jam" (the sequel to the hit Disney TV movie from 2008), Demi Lovato bonded with a barnyard animal and called her a pal. Lovato took to Twitter to announce "Made best friends with a chicken today. No lie. Pictures later!"

She delivered on her promise and posted two photos a few hours later. "She was falling asleep in my arms!" Lovato wrote about her fowl pal. "So cute. I was so close to taking it home with me." She also added, "I swear, it was love at first sight."

In addition to the bonding with animals, it sounds like the "Camp Rock" sequel experience is going well for her, as she also recently tweeted, "So thankful for the friendships I've made from both 'Camp Rock' and 'Camp Rock 2.'" It's been an excellent year for Lovato, who saw her most recent album Here We Go Again debut at the top of the Billboard albums chart back in July and went on a popular two month tour with David Archuleta. Once the movie — which also stars all three Jonas Brothers, reprising their roles from the first "Camp Rock" — wraps up filming in Ontario, Lovato will head back out on the road to cover a few more tour dates. Will she take the (apparently unnamed) chicken home with her? It's difficult to get livestock across the Canadian border, but if anybody can do it, Demi can.

The '90s were a great time to be in a band, especially in the post-grunge era. Since it took the rock world so long to figure out what to do with itself following the death of Kurt Cobain, just about anybody could get song on the radio with a slightly crunchy guitar riff and an earnest chorus. That's not to say that everything was hacky; in fact, some of the stuff that came from that era was great. One of those great things? Better Than Ezra, who first broke big with the single "Good," which owned modern rock radio in the summer of 1995. The band's videos also dominated MTV, especially "In the Blood" and "Desperately Wanting," that latter of which came from the group's 1996 record Friction, Baby.

Though Better Than Ezra remain an active band (they dropped their seventh album, Paper Empire, back in May), frontman Kevin Griffin has joined a surprisingly long line of hitmakers from the '90s who have parlayed their success into writing tunes for high-profile pop stars. Griffin has worked with a number stars, including Meat Loaf and Howie Day, as well as a number of stars from "American Idol," including David Archuleta, David Cook and Jason Castro and is currently working on tunes for both Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. He joins the club that includes Linda Perry (formerly of 4 Non Blondes, now a major songwriter for Christina Aguilera, Pink and Gwen Stefani) and Butch Walker (frontman of the Marvelous 3 who has worked with Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry).

Better Than Ezra were (and still remain) folk heroes in their hometown of New Orleans, and on Friction, Baby they dropped a tribute to the Big Easy with the single "King of New Orleans."