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Lakers beat Celtics at star-studded Staples
Written by: Malia Brown
The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics, 87-81, as a celebrity crowd cheered them on.
Game three of the 2008 NBA Finals looked a little more like the Academy Awards than a basketball game.
Everyone from Hillary Duff to David Beckham showed up at the Staples Center Tuesday night to cheer on the home team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Number 1 Lakers fan Jack Nicholson enjoyed the game, as always, from his courtside seat, but was probably more than a little frustrated when Celtics coach, Doc Rivers, kept standing in his way.
American Idol winner David Cook sang the national anthem and shot a few free throws before the game.
Also in the crowd was Toby McQuire, Kristin Davis, Kanye West, Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia, David Arquette, Fergie, Dyan Cannon, Penny Marshall, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Clark Duncan, and soon-to-be Pixar superstar, Wall-E.
But the biggest star of the night was non-other than the Lakers own Kobe Bryant. This years MVP scored 36 points and lead the team to a 87-81 victory.
Game four will be played Thursday, and aired live from the Staples Center on ABC at 9 PM.

thecelebritycafe.com

Wikipedia tells us that show tunes are "frequently written for actors with limited vocal abilities," but Randy tells us tonight’s songs are all very difficult. Simon says the Andrew Lloyd Webber songs will challenge the "American Idol" singers to seem contemporary.
That’s probably the real challenge for listeners as well. This is a style of music that never really left the 1940s, despite the addition of electric guitar. I mentioned to a friend that Andrew Lloyd Webber would appear on the show tonight, and she said "he’s still alive?" Yes, and he’s Younger Than McCain.
To be honest, the only music that I find more irritating than showtunes is the undergrad a capella that seems to accompany it on otherwise decent college radio stations. But this evening isn’t about my dislike for showtunes. It’s about my disdain for the talents of "American Idol" contestants.
Let’s get started with Syesha’s rendition of "One Rock & Roll Too Many." She does it as a neo-soul cabaret kind of thing, and if it weren’t for the insipid lyrics I’d actually like to hear it again. I can only assume this means she’s getting voted off tomorrow.
The dreadlocks were a bit of a shock for our poor old coach, but that doesn’t stop "Memory" from being an adequate torch song in Jason Castro’s hands. Randy says it’s a "train wreck," but Paula thinks that’s just because a lot of people expect it to be sung by a woman with enormous pipes. Simon hates the choice and thinks it’s awful.
Brooke White, in the coaching session, has a hard time understanding the song, but as we’ve already reported, she comes through and becomes ALW’s favorite. She’s singing "You Must Love Me," which has a key advantage as a song selection: Because it was written for the "Evita" movie, rather than for a stage musical, it’s got the structure of a pop song. But she stumbles over the words at the beginning, and starts the song over. Then, during the first few phrases, her voice is weak and wavery. Once she gets going it’s OK, but the start was really subpar. Simon is moved to kindness, saying only that he thinks Brooke will be very disappointed when she sees the tape, but that she more or less did the right thing. It’s a real bummer: She’s a better singer than this.

blog.meevee.com

THAT'S inspirational. THAT'S real.
American Idol 's " Inspirational Music Night " was manufactured hokum — trumping up your emotions so you'll be all primed and ready to give to American Idol Gives Back, their big charity oozfest.
Now don't get me wrong. It's all for a good charity and it's commendable that they're doing it. But there's an element of inflated importance and grandstanding that just gives me the vibe that American Idol is doing this more for themselves and their image than for the charity itself.
I will not be watching the show this evening. I watched it last year. It was like freebasing the Jerry Lewis telethon .
Nor will I watch the results show. Last year they didn't eliminate anybody. How could they? What is American going to say — "Your song was the least inspirational. You've got to go"? Of course not. So now the show that is 90% filler normally will be 100% filler. There will be the zippy Ford commercial, the Up With People production number with the kids (probably singing "Climb Every Mountain" while Paula cries uncontrollably), probing questions from the viewers (" David Archuleta , I'm getting my braces off in a year. Will you wait for me?"), and finally the recaps — endless recaps (Tuesday's show, Wednesday's show, last year's show, the first half of this show).
But I did watch the Tuesday performance show. I'm not an overly sentimental slug as you know but I must admit I was moved to boredom.
I know I'm being snarky but does it seem to you that the performances are just not that good this year? There are always things to goof on but in the past those were mixed with some fantastic performances. Now the judges are fawning over Jason Castro. We've lowered the bar to the point where only a limbo champion could go under it.

news.yahoo.com