Here's the official story on Nick's dog

Since TMZ can't get every single fact straight, here's the scoop from the St. Pete Times:

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando County has a new celebrity in its midst: Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's dog, Layla.

And no, you can't go see her.

The pit bull mix was dropped off anonymously sometime between Thursday night and this morning at Hernando Animal Services.

The friendly light-brown and white pooch was found wagging her tail in one of the night drop cages the agency has for unwanted animals at its Oliver Street facility.

County Animal Services manager Liana Teauge said that a microchip in the dog's neck led them to a Los Angeles woman that Carter purchased Layla through. But that was as close to finding the owner as the Hernando crew could get.

So Teague went on the MJ Morning radio show, hoping to get a few leads.

"I guess it worked," she said.

While Carter's publicist Juliette Harris confirmed that the dog in Hernando is in fact Layla, Teague said she hadn't been able to confirm so as of Friday evening.

"We're working to confirm ownership, and we’ll keep her here until the proper owner comes to pick her up,” Teague said.

While the dog stays in Hernando for now, Teague said that the public would not be allowed to sneak a peek at Layla. (She received a number of calls Friday asking.)

"We have short hours and a short staff on Saturday and can't have that," she said.

--Chandra Broadwater, Times staff writer

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando County has a new celebrity in its midst: Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's dog, Layla.

And no, you can't go see her.

The pit bull mix was dropped off anonymously sometime between Thursday night and this morning at Hernando Animal Services.

The friendly light-brown and white pooch was found wagging her tail in one of the night drop cages the agency has for unwanted animals at its Oliver Street facility.

County Animal Services manager Liana Teauge said that a microchip in the dog's neck led them to a Los Angeles woman that Carter purchased Layla through. But that was as close to finding the owner as the Hernando crew could get.

So Teague went on the MJ Morning radio show, hoping to get a few leads.

"I guess it worked," she said.

While Carter's publicist Juliette Harris confirmed that the dog in Hernando is in fact Layla, Teague said she hadn't been able to confirm so as of Friday evening.

"We're working to confirm ownership, and we’ll keep her here until the proper owner comes to pick her up,” Teague said.

While the dog stays in Hernando for now, Teague said that the public would not be allowed to sneak a peek at Layla. (She received a number of calls Friday asking.)

"We have short hours and a short staff on Saturday and can't have that," she said.

--Chandra Broadwater, Times staff writer

Mariah carey's friends soak up new sounds

Hollywood Rag says Mariah Carey was nice enough to debut her new album — to some friends while they were soaking in a hot tub. And the follow-up to 2005’s The Emancipation Of Mimi is full of some man-hate, it sounds like. 

“I sat in the hot tub the other night playing some songs for some friends and one of them felt it was a very pro-woman kind of thing,” Carey said. “And I was like, ‘You know what, I didn’t do that intentionally.’ But she felt that it was a very empowered-woman moment.”

But the 39-year-old diva insists she’s not holding a grudge against Y chromosomes: “It’s not that the songs are male-bashing. It’s a fun record. I’m writing with a lot of different people, mainly rappers, and I bring something to the table they don’t and vice-versa.”  Soooo ... the producers you brought to the table hate men?

[Photo: Getty Images]

Man, who would pay to see Andy Dick?

You can tell things are slow when we’re writing about Andy Dick. David Stroupe told the AP that an appearance last weekend by Dick at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Columbus, Ohio, was marred by some pretty foul behavior.

How foul? Stroupe, the club’s managing partner, said the 41-year-old actor-comedian made inappropriate comments while on stage, groped patrons, took women into the men’s room and urinated on the floor and on at least one person. Andy then missed a flight to L.A. Monday morning because he was busy being cited for public urination.

He’s headed to Franklin County Municipal Court on Thursday (unless he pays $126 and court costs), but chances are he won’t be back at the Funny Bone.

[Photo: AP]

Whaddya think of Britney's new single?

It's a long weekend, so we'll bite and link you to Britney Spears' new single, Gimme More.

You know, it could be worse. And it's a heck of a lot better than the one leaked earlier this month.

And now, since this is a democracy, it's time for you to weigh in.

You wanna go see Amy, but they say no, no, no

Don’t expect to see rolling train wreck Amy Winehouse anywhere in the States anytime soon. The AP reports the Rehab singer has pulled out of a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 9 in Las Vegas, as well as all other U.S. appearances “in a continued effort to support Amy Winehouse’s well-being,” her record label says. If they wanted to support her well-being, they’d cram some macaroni and cheese down her throat, pronto.

[Photo: AP]

Don't feel bad, Miss Teen South Carolina

Apparently the French don't know basic kindergarten knowledge, either. No wonder there are so many fires in Paris -- they must still be burning people at the stake over there for believing the world is round.

Keep your kids out of Barnes & Noble

Now Barnes & Noble has done it. After initially saying it wouldn’t carry copies of the O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It, the bookseller has changed its tune and announced it would now carry the book.

“We’ve been monitoring the pre-orders and customer requests and have concluded that enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores,” spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating told the AP. “We do not intend to promote the book but we will stock it in our stores because our customers are asking for it.”

It’s good to know a national store chain will sell just any old hateful trash just because people ask for it. Next thing you know, they’ll be selling copies of wanton hatemongering like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and The Turner Diaries ... oh wait, they already do that.

The team should be happy they won, at least

Have you heard about how Kyle Garcher, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School in Hilliard, Ohio, tricked his rival school's fans into holding up cards that read "We Suck" at a football game? If not, read it here. Then watch the results below> He got in-school suspension for three days? They should be praising his ingenuity!

Just think of all the Menthols that would buy

When you’re rich and shameless, enough is never enough. Of course, it’s like that when you’re broke, too —just ask Kevin Federline, whose attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, has argued that Britney Spears should pay some of K-Fed’s legal expenses.

The AP reports that an Aug. 26 declaration says Federline has “no net income” after various expenses, and that since his $20,000 a month in spousal support ends in November, Brit should fork over $50,000 to pay for litigation costs. And while Spears is “clearly the ‘monied party’, ” according to Kaplan — she makes an average of $737,868 monthly — we can’t help but wonder what Fed-Ex blew 20 large on every month; surely it wasn’t on the kids.

A geektastic ABC song, via Capt. Picard

It's been a crazy week at The Juice*, so we're going to wind it down a little for Labor Day by geeking out with this video full of silly things: Shakesperean actor Patrick Stewart, playing the captain of a spaceship, singing his ABCs. Don't forget zed.

No O.D. for Owen, attorney says

An attorney for Owen Wilson told Access Hollywood that while police did respond to a suicide attempt by the actor, there was no drug overdose.

The lawyer says no stomach pumps were used and even though Wilson had been taking antidepressants, there was no indication there were other drugs in his system at the time of the incident. The Santa Monica City Attorney’s office has announced it will not be releasing the 911 call made regarding Wilson.

“In balancing the competing interests, the City agencies outweigh the public interest served by disclosure of the emergency 911 call,” the City Attorney’s office said in a press release. “In situation such as this, the City concludes that the public is best served if medical attention is promptly sought instead of being delayed because of a concern, real or imagined, of public attention, regardless of whether that publicity is sympathetic or not.”

Three generations of boisterous Brit stars

Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh and Jude Law portray the three stages of being a drunken, rabblerousing British actor Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. They were there promoting their new film Sleuth, which is about Law's character trying to determine exactly how he can develop Branagh's clout and Caine's longevity.

[Photo: AP]

Letterman, Winfrey ending feud no one recalls

Are Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman still feuding?  Not since the Hatfields and the McCoys has there been a more senseless battle over causes no one remembers. But after a Super Bowl commercial in which they made light of the situation, Variety says the pair are ready to bury  the hatchet. Letterman will appear on O’s show on Sept. 10, which is a nice gesture, since Oprah said she wouldn’t go on his back in 2003. Now if only we can get Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump together ...

Usher and Tameka are having a party, for real

Let’s call it a trifecta for Us magazine today: Their Web site says Usher and Tameka Foster are planning a big wedding ceremony in Atlanta this weekend for their friends to attend.

Apparently they plan it to be more like the bash they planned last month at the Hamptons home of L.A. Reid, not the courthouse matrimonial drama that unfolded Aug. 3. On the guest list are Jermaine Dupri, Janet Jackson, Ashanti and Diddy, Us says.

Even if we did get invites, you’d have to forgive us holding off on buying plane tickets just yet.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Japanese Transformers knew how to live

Look, The Juice* is not stupid. We realize wack Japanese cartoon versions of cartoons we watched as kids were waaaay crazier than what we saw. But this clip of Japanese Transformers from back in the day is so beyond our sphere of recognition, it blows our minds. You've got Wheelie getting plowed with human boy Daniel, Arcee playing the nagging mommy and getting hit on by Chromedome-san and a Blaster wannabe called Twincast playing karaoke for some dude named Hardhead -- and you could even sing along! Where were we when all this was happening?

El DeBarge arrested in domestic violence call

The last time we heard about El DeBarge, Tutti and the gang from Facts of Life were trying to win a chance to record a song with him (anyone remember that? anyone?). But now Eldra DeBarge — that’s his real name — is back on the scene after being arrested in a domestic violence call in Lancaster, Calif., People reports.

Details were sparse, but L.A. County Sheriffs Dept. Sgt. John Coffeen tells the mag that DeBarge was “cooperative” and that “an arrest like this usually involves abuse of a spouse or significant other. I don’t know whose house it was.”

The 46-year-old was denied bail and is now at the downtown L.A. jail. Jo, Blair and Natalie should pay him a visit.

Keira tells knickerless starlets where to go

So yesterday we laid into Keira Knightley for showing up in Venice looking like a common scarecrow, but she redeems herself by telling Empire that the culture of celebrity is way overblown, and stars should try being a little more discreet.

“With acting the mystique is what’s amazing. I love that it’s magic, that’s the whole point. The whole celebrity thing is not magic. They’re real people proving they’re s-----r than everybody else because they don’t even wear knickers,” she says. “I’m not going to get blind drunk and then stumble out and fall over and puke up in front of people. I’m not saying I don’t do that on my own in private, but I try not to.”

While The Juice* is conflicted, since stumbling and puking are our bread and butter, we’re hip to her jive.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Sigh ... Jessica Alba probably back with Cash

Guys, you shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up over Jessica Alba’s breakup with Cash Warren. Not even a month after she dumped him via cell phone, the duo have been spotted all over the L.A. area, Us reports.

First they went to the beach on Aug. 22, then ate dinner at Malibu’s Taverna Tony last Saturday. “I said to them, ‘I’m so happy to see you here!’ according to Taverna Tony owner Tony Kousaris. “And they both said, ‘We’re happy to be here too!’ ” ZOMG! Exclamation points!!!

The next day they had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien in Beverly Hills (where she set the bar for class by sitting in his lap) and ate at Nobu in Malibu that night.

Want to hear the reason for the reunion, emphasized with such passion that it makes your heart flutter with the idea of the burning passion these two share? “Cash has been miserable since they broke up,” a friend tells Us. “And I guess she’s missing him.” Yeah, we guess, too.

[Photo: The lovebirds back in April. Getty Images]

Britney's ideas were real show-stoppers

Been wondering what Britney Spears is going to do for her act on the MTV Video Music Awards? Us says she wants to make the most of her collaboration with Criss Angel, and presented several ideas to network suits on Monday. “

She’s planning it to be a big comeback performance,” a source tells the glossy. The big idea is to make it “shocking,” the source says, and one scenario proved too shocking for execs to sign off on: performing My Prerogative along with a medley of hits, with giant images of Justin Timberlake, Kevin Federline and “gossip fodder” projected on a screen behind her.

Why would they not like that idea? Everybody loves huge, flashing reminders of exactly why a singer’s a fading star being played over and over again during a “comeback performance.”

Nick Carter’s mom abandons his dog

Backstreet Boy Nick Carter isn’t going to get back together with his mom Jane anytime soon. TMZ reports she dumped Nick’s beloved pit bull mix Layla at a North Tampa animal shelter earlier this week, and didn’t tell the singer!

The site says Ranelle Black, who rescued Layla from an L.A. shelter and signed her over to Nick in March 2006, got a call from the North Tampa shelter Monday after the dog was ID’d from her microchip.

“I called Nick and he had no idea that his mother had dumped Layla. He was very choked up,” Black said. Carter had apparently spent $7,000 to train the dog and left it in Jane’s care, even giving her money to help with the pup.

“Nick is devastated and frustrated and is doing everything he can to get Layla safely back,” publicist Juliette Harris said. Make fun of the music if you want, but messing with a man’s dog? Most uncool.

Leona Helmsley’s dog is a rich ... pooch

Real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley left $12-million in her will for her dog Trouble but cut out two of her four grandchildren entirely, Reuters reports.

The Queen of Mean’s 14-page will was made public Tuesday, but it took the media all of a day to point out that the white Maltese (who will be cared for by Leona’s brother Alvin Rosenthal, who will get $10-million) got much more than grandchildren David and Walter Panzirer, who have been bequeathed $5-million each — as long as they visit their father Jay’s grave once a year. 

“I have not made any provisions in this will for my grandson Craig Panzirer or my granddaughter Meegan Panzirer for reasons which are known to them,” Helmsley wrote. That’s got to hurt; even the chaffeur got $100,000.

[Photo: AP]

Birthday breakdancing with Raymond

You know, as beleagured baseball fans we're usually  more concerned with how awful the Devil Rays are than what mascot Raymond is doing, but after watching a stadium full of 3-year-olds cackle with delight when that blue thing comes out just melts our hearts. So imagine how many children's tiny chests almost burst when Raymond and friends celebrated his (its?) 10th birthday on Sunday:

Disney's all thumbs handling Ebert

You may have heard that Roger Ebert isn’t allowing At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper to use the iconic thumbs up or down to rate movies due to a contract dispute, but the ailing movie critic says that’s simply not true.

“Contrary to Disney’s press release, I did not demand the removal of the Thumbs,” he wrote on his Web site, referring to his TV handlers, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, which issued a statement to the AP last week that said the critic had “exercised his right to withhold use of the ‘thumbs’ until a new contract is signed.”

Ebert disagrees: “They (Disney) made a first (contract) offer on Friday, which I considered offensively low. I responded with a counter-offer. They did not reply to this, and on Monday ordered the Thumbs removed from the show,” he wrote. “This is not something I expected after an association of over 22 years. I had made it clear the Thumbs could remain during good-faith negotiations.”

Disney had no comment, since they’re probably helping Gordon Ramsay dine on that foot sandwich.

[Photo: AP]

Where did Keira go?

Keira Knightley looks like she’s desperately in need of a sandwich at the 64th Annual Venice Film Festival in Italy, where she’s pimping Atonement. she’s looked pretty ripped in past pics, but now she looks like she’s taking a cue from the skeletal swashbucklers in Pirates of the Caribbean.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Sex, drugs and bloggin' LiLo

Rehab is such a burden to bear — not for the stars, but for The Juice*, since we have to wade through all the crazy stories. The latest blogtastic scrapple from Female First is that Lindsay Lohan was forced to take a drug test at Cirque Lodge and failed.

“Lindsay got called into the director’s office on August 15 and was questioned about drugs. When ordered to take a drug test, she reluctantly complied but screamed and cursed at the medical director before storming out the room,” they quote a source. “She was told that if she couldn’t conform to the program she’d have to leave.”

And all this was after ShowbizSpy says LiLo was caught doing the deed with some other inmate. “Staff were alerted to the bathroom because there were strange noises coming from inside and two voices could be heard,” a source says. “When they opened the door, Lindsay was in a compromising position with the guy — who’s also at Cirque for drug rehab.”

Heaven knows if these tales are true, but they’re more entertaining than constant reports of parents Dina and Michael constantly fighting (or Perez Hilton’s assertion that Shia LaBeouf and Rihanna are dating).

[Photo: Getty Images]

Gordon Ramsay needs a cup of shut yer mouth

Culinary cad Gordon Ramsay is speaking out about a lawsuit against him alleging he faked his reality show, but his mouth is only making things worse.

As reported earlier in The Juice*, Ramsay has been sued by Martin Hyde, the manager of a restaurant featured on his Kitchen Nightmares show, alleging the celeb chef hiring actors to pose as guests, planting spoiled meat and fixing a chair to fall apart, all of which Gordon denies.

“I would never-ever-ever dream of setting anything up,” Ramsay told Television Week. “I want to sleep at night. We were issued a writ because, God bless America, if the toilet paper is not thick enough and you come out with a rash on your arse (you’ll get sued).”

Then he added: “Trying to say I set up a wobbly chair — this is supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world, not the most pathetic.” Not so pathetic as to keep him from flying across the pond to suck up all our undervalued U.S. dollars though, huh? Bam!

[Photo: The angry Brit with wife Tana. Getty Images]

Today's movie biz roundup

• Bruce Willis has signed on for Pinkville, Oliver Stone’s drama about the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, E! Online reports. Willis will play the general investigating the incident, spending half the movie explaining to kids that a protracted land war in Asia started for dubious reasons is actually set in the past.

• 300 mastermind Zack Snyder is sharpening his pencil for The Illustrated Man, a project based on the Ray Bradbury collection of short stories, the Hollywood Reporter says. One of the unbelievable tales is about a movie director who hits the big time after making flicks about zombies and comic books.

• Quentin Tarantino, in a wheelchair from a back injury and accompanied by no-billing actress Tiffany Limos, caused a stir on a flight from the Philippines last week by making a flight attendant cry after insisting he be allowed to sit on the floor, the New York Post reports. We’re betting he also told that stewardess that he wanted her to be in his sequel to Grindhouse.

Imagine Russell Crowe preaching patience

We'd never peg Russell Crowe as one suited for the ministry, but this old commercial from the early 80s for Avondale College, a Seventh-day Adventist college in New South Wales, shows he may have had the stuff. Good thing he lost the leather vest.

Owen Wilson leaves flick, has bad friends

A day after DreamWorks said the shooting schedule for the Ben Stiller-directed comedy Tropic Thunder was still on track, both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter say Owen Wilson will not appear in the film.

Citing unnamed sources, the pubs say both Stiller and Wilson mutually agreed to the withdrawal, which doesn’t mean much since Owen only had a small part in the movie, which stars Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. The change amounts to a week of work for Wilson, who was hospitalized Sunday after an apparent suicide attempt (his people still haven’t confirmed the cause, though).

As far as gossipy news goes, the New York Post says the 38-year-old actor was so hooked on coke and smack that it caused his Memorial Day breakup with Kate Hudson, which apparently led to his recent downward spiral. His pals say Wilson’s friend, fellow actor Steve Coogan (pictured at right, from Night at the Museum and Hot Fuzz), is mostly to blame for the habit.

“I went through it with Steve,” former Coogan girlfriend Courtney Love told Us Weekly. “I was just out of rehab, and he was right there with the drugs. I tried to warn Owen. I tried to warn his friends. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Owen stays the hell away from that guy.” Don’t believe Mrs. Cobain? Fine, listen to people so close to Owen they won’t even give their names!

“Owen went to Maui, Hawaii, to kick his habit,” a friend said, referring to an intervention at Woody Harrelson’s house (you know times are tough when a weed-head like that runs your intervention). “He was like a baby on that couch.” The same unnamed source goes on to say that Wilson “disappeared off the face of the earth” when Hudson broke up with him.

“I thought, briefly, he might be back on heroin, but we all really felt he’d kicked that ages ago,” the friend said. Hudson had even apparently banned the dastardly Coogan from the house while she and Owen were dating, but it all proved to be too much for their relationship. Kate’s recent fling with Dax Shepard had apparently caused Wilson to go off the deep end.

“Seeing her happy with someone else partly made him happy that she’d found that, but made him hate himself so much more that he could never do it,” another friend of Owen’s told Us.

So today’s lesson is, stay away from British comedians!

[Photos: With brothers Andrew and Luke at top. Getty Images]

'Idol' finalist Jessica Sierra is in rehab

Former American Idol contestant Jessica Sierra has entered a rehab program in California, her lawyer said in court Wednesday.

A report from the St. Petersburg Times says Sierra did not attend a hearing in Hillsborough Circuit Court against the Tampa native, who is accused of battery and cocaine possession in connection with a confrontation with a patron in a South Tampa nightclub.

Attorney John Fitzgibbons told the judge she entered the rehab program in July, saying after court that it was a comprehensive program covering drug and alcohol abuse and other issues. He said she would probably be there several more months.

Judge Gregory Holder rescheduled Sierra’s October trial for November, just in time to serve as a warmup for a new season of Idol in January!

[Photos: AP]

The show always used the term 'Stars' loosely

All you Dancing With the Stars fanatics (you know who you are) have no doubt already set up betting pools on the contestants for next season, but for the rest of us the field announced Wednesday is a bit of a surprise.

Billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, welterweight boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Las Vegas headliner Wayne Newton (pictured) are among the 12 celebrities who will compete when the show returns to ABC Sept. 24, the AP reports.

The other hopefuls are “Scary Spice” Melanie Brown; Sabrina Bryan of Disney Channel’s Cheetah Girls; Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves; Beverly Hills 90210’s Jennie Garth; model-actress Josie Maran; All My Children’s Cameron Mathison; singer Marie Osmond; model Albert Reed; and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman herself, Jane Seymour. We’d give anything to see them go up against Emmitt Smith.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Kids learn how to get ahead early in life

In honor of the feel-good win for Warner Robins, Ga., in the Little League World Series, we bring you this clip that shows there's still no substitute for playing dirty to get you what you want.

Apparently Jessica Alba has a sexy walk

For the ultimate in journalistic integrity, we look across the pond, where the Daily Telegraph reports on a team of Cambridge math geeks who say Jessica Alba has the sexiest walk in the history of the universe, or something.

The mathematicians say that the ratio between the hips and the waist put a sexy sashay in a woman’s stride, and the ideal ration is 0.7. That means a woman with a 25-inch waist and 36-inch hips can sway at just the right angle to butter a man’s bread.

And while Kate Moss, Angelina Jolie and even Marilyn Monroe (with a 0.69 ratio) can’t pull off the right combo, pouty actress Alba does. Glad to see such an esteemed institution devotes itself to worthwhile pursuits.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Angie heads off to Iraq to lend a hand

We haven’t seen many paparazzi photos of Angelina Jolie lately, and with good reason: The goodwill ambassador for the United Nations has spent her summer vacation in Syria and Iraq to meet with refugees and U.S. troops.

The AP reports the actress met with displaced Iraqis in neighboring Syria on Monday before crossing into Iraq for a few hours Tuesday “to see firsthand the plight of hundreds of thousands of families uprooted by the ongoing conflict,” according to a statement from the U.N.

“I have come to Syria and Iraq to help draw attention to this humanitarian crisis and to urge governments to increase their support for UNHCR and its partners,” Jolie said. We don’t know if that’s going to change too many minds on Capitol Hill, but the soldiers probably dug it.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Owen Wilson is okay, but his movies ...

Credible news sources like the AP and Reuters are just now beginning to report what we all knew to be true: That greasy tabloids like the National Enquirer and Star were right to report Owen Wilson attempted suicide over the weekend.

The AP cites police logs as listing “attempt suicide” as the reason units were sent to his Santa Monica home on Sunday. His publicist, Ina Teciokas, still refuses to answer questions about the incident.

Meanwhile, Variety shows a tender heart by quickly delving into what this emotional breakdown means to four movie projects Wilson has in the works. DreamWorks confirms that filming on the Ben Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder — which was to begin in the next few weeks with Bill Hader and Jack Black in Hawaii — is still a go.

After that, the 20th Century Fox comedy Marley & Me, with Jennifer Aniston, was to begin production in January. Said a Fox spokesman about a possible delay: “It’s a totally inappropriate question at this time when all of our thoughts and concerns are with his health and well being.”

Want to read about crass? The trade paper reports two other flicks are worried about marketing Wilson after this sad event. Fox Searchlight is worried about opening Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited on Sept. 28, while Paramount wonders what it will do to the Judd Apatow-produced Drillbit Taylor, due in March. So it’s okay to worry about the actor before shooting starts, but after that it’s all about the bottom line ...

[Photo: With Kate Hudson in May. Getty Images]

Cameron Diaz seeing a new boy toy?

We have to speculate on who Cameron Diaz is spending time with now that Justin Timberlake is off apparently cheating on Jessica Biel. E!Online says she’s been flirting like crazy via text message with Bradley Cooper (you’d remember him as Will Tippin from Alias, or Sack from Wedding Crashers).

That makes some sense, since the Philly-born Cooper filed for divorce from wife Jennifer Esposito in May, but has been busy snagging roles in All About Steve with Sandra Bullock and He’s Just Not That Into You. Now with Cammy turning 35 on Thursday, we’ve just got to find some more dirt on her.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Save your money and skip 'Joust' movie

Hollywood comes up with some pretty dumb ideas these days, but none are so disheartening as a report from GameDaily.com that new production company CP Productions is planning on bringing the 1980s video game Joust to the big screen. That’s right, Joust — the one with knights astride flying ptero-ostriches battling each other with lances.

“Joust is an arcade game that’s as old as Pac-Man and has global awareness,” said co-producer Michael Cerenzie. “We took one element of the game and the brand itself and built a whole new world around it for the film.” Cerenzie described the script by Marc Gottlieb as “Gladiator meets Mad Max,” calling it a “tantalizing and filmic world based on the original game.”

Yeah, remember when the game was set 25 years in the future in a Las Vegas suspended in mid-air? Neither do we. Expect to not go to the theaters sometime in late 2008.

Miss South Carolina defends her idiocy

Lauren Caitlin Upton hit up the Today Show Tuesday to explain why she gave such a vacuous, meandering answer on Sunday's Miss Teen USA pageant. Thankfully Ann Curry and Matt Lauer are only slightly patronizing, but they are sure to explain at the end why NBC is so quick to respond to the most hilarious viral video of the week.

Scott Baio is 45 ... and a Daddy!

Are you still on the edge of your seat after Sunday’s finale of Scott Baio Is 45 ... and Single? (For those who missed it, Baio “graduated” from his life coaching program by asking girlfriend Renee Sloan to marry him. She said yes, and then revealed she was pregnant!)

Rest assured, VH1 has greenlighted six half-hour and three hourlong episodes of a second season, the Hollywood Reporter says, although they may have to change the title. Now Charles will be in charge of not only the woman having his baby, but Renee’s 18-year-old stepdaughter as well. Nice of VH1 to come up with a whole new set of issues Baio will have to work through.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Ice Cube is still a rapper? Whoa.

Forget all that family-friendly Are We There Yet? hype, Ice Cube has been busy keepin’ it real on stage, like he was Monday at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney. Since The Juice* dates back to when Cube was in N.W.A. and started doing solo work like AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, we somehow find it simultaneously refreshing and sad that he still holds on to the gangsta rapper image when he’s on the mic. That’s like finding out your prom date is a VP at a major corporation but still moonlights at Orange Julius.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Celebs associate yoga with global famine and war

Celebrities try every trick under the sun to bring attention to their causes, so why not try yoga? Model Christy Turlington, Russell Simmons and Ziggy Marley are taking part in the Global Mala Project, the AP reports. T

he project is an international effort that aims to use yoga-centered events to raise awareness and funds for global causes on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. Events will be held in 30 countries, including Israel, Africa, India, Australia and the United States, beginning Sept. 21.

“With so many people involved, the impact is going to be quite astounding as a collective consciousness,” Turlington said. “There will be an energetic charge.” Something tells us yoga practitioners aren’t exactly the group that really needs to be more informed about liberal-minded global causes.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Britney being investigated for child abuse

TMZ reports an unscheduled hearing was held Monday at L.A. County Superior Court with Britney Spears’ lawyer Dennis Wasser and Kevin Federline’s lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan to apparently discuss allegations that the popster is abusing tots Sean and Jayden.

Specifics weren’t releases, but the site reports the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services is investigating Spears ahead of a Sept. 4 custody hearing. This is the most shocking and unexpected news we’ve heard since water was declared wet.

It's Music Monday!: AM Syndicate

Who doesn't love animated videos? Especially this yarn called To the Peasants of the Emperor by AM Syndicate. Get it? Yarn? Hah!

Malawian official wants back in the news

Remember that Malawian official who accused of having “personalized the whole issue” of monitoring Madonna’s adoption of David Banda and was constrained from traveling to London to check on them? Well, forget all that.

Reuters reports Penstone Kilembe is now in the clear and free to visit the singer and Guy Ritchie to check on the child.

“There has been a change of mind by my government minister and she has allowed me to leave for the UK on September 4 and I am expected to spend two weeks,” Kilembe said. He must have promised to bring back a miniature Big Ben clock and a case of Bass Ale.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Starving pit bulls taken from DMX's house

These sure are the dog days of summer: the Phoenix-area home of rapper DMX was raided by sheriff’s deputies last week after authorities were tipped off that several dogs were being kept in inhumane conditions, the AP reports.

They seized 12 pit bulls and found the remains of three other dogs buried at the home, where a caretaker had not been giving the dogs food or water. They also found a bunch of guns, but needed to pursue new warrants to determine their legality.

The rapper was not at the residence at the time (he’s been away for a couple months) and was “extremely disturbed” at the news, attorney Murray Richman said. “He loves dogs — he loves these animals,” Richman said.

“Those dogs are practically his family.” Because we often burn out family members and bury them in the back yard after starving them to death.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Willa Ford marries hockey player

Dancing With the Stars contestant (and Anna Nicole Smith stand-in) Willa Ford married Dallas Stars hockey player Mike Modano over the weekend in Athens, Texas, People says. About 75 guests got to see Willa in a gown she designed herself at the ceremony on a private ranch.

If you’ll remember, Ford announced her engagement last year as speculation swirled she was seeing Maksim Chmerkovskiy, her partner on the dance competition. In the meantime she’s been filming movies no one will see and recording a second album no one will listen to.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Owen Wilson attempts suicide

Owen Wilson was hospitalized Sunday after allegedly attempting suicide at his Santa Monica home, Star reported over the weekend.

He “is here in good condition,” Cynthia Harding, a spokeswoman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Monday, the AP reports. Wilson had initially been taken to St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica.

"I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time," Wilson said in a statement released to Reuters.

A family member found him after he slashed his left wrist and took “an indeterminate number of pills,” Star said. The New York Post reports that Santa Monica police responded to the 900 block of 23rd Street (where Wilson lives) for a “medical assistance call” and that “a person was transported to a local hospital where they are being treated.” The National Enquirer says Wilson was sutured and detoxed before being moved from St. John’s.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Who says South Carolina's schools are bad?

Well, Miss South Carolina Lauren Caitlin sure makes a case at the Miss Teen USA Pageant. Kudos to Mario Lopez for not bursting out laughing.

Hulk Hogan's son injured in crash, released

By now you've seen the news about Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan's son. He was released from the hospital today, but here's the word about the accident from the St. Pete Times:

CLEARWATER -- Hulk Hogan’s son and another young man were seriously injured in a car crash Sunday evening in Clearwater.

Driver Nick Bollea, 17, also known as Nick Hogan, and passenger John J. Graziano, 22, had to be extracted from the crumpled Toyota Celica Supra.

Officials said both were taken by air to Bayfront Medical Center, where Graziano was reported in critical condition.  Family members gathered at the hospital late Sunday, but reporters were kept at a distance.

Nick Bollea’s injuries were described as non-life threatening, said Wayne Shelor, Clearwater Police Department spokesman.

The bright yellow car was traveling eastbound on Court St. around 7:30 p.m. when it hit the median, Shelor said.

Dennis Balila, who was in the yard of a nearby apartment complex, said he heard the loud screech and then saw the car flying backwards.

Bollea’s car skidded around 25 yards, spun around and crashed, trunk-first into a median palm tree, Shelor said.

Hulk Hogan arrived on the scene flanked by three Clearwater police officers, Balila said. For around 30 minutes, he went back and forth between the car and ambulance as the two young men were cut free, he said.

No charges have been filed as of early Monday.

Nick is an aspiring race-car driver (YouTube is full of video showing him drifting), but his driving skills are best remembered leaving his dad's yellow Lamborghini in ashes after it burst into flame while he was driving it through Bay Harbor Islands last September.

Rumor has it from Perez that he was racing a silver Dodge Viper at the time.

Mom Linda released this statement to the press:

"My son Nick and a friend were involved in a car accident last night. Nick suffered minor injuries and has been treated and released from the hospital. At this time, his friend, John Graziano remains hospitalized. Nick is currently at the hospital with John and his family. His sole concern is for the well being of his friend. On behalf of my family, we ask that your thoughts and prayers be with John and his loved ones."

[Photo: Luis Santana for The Juice*]

Nick Carter closes Clearwater's Flo Lounge

Late Thursday night (actually early Friday morning), Nick Carter was still hanging out at Flo Lounge in Clearwater for bandmate Howie Dorough's birthday party. (You can forgive Nick for looking tired -- it was nearing 2 a.m.) Stalwart tbt* paparazzo Luis Santana says Nick closed the club down before leaving with some friends and three ladies in a black BMW. Oh, the life of a Backstreet Boy.

[Photo: Luis Santana for The Juice*]

A 'Yo, Joe' or 'Say it ain't so' situation?

And speaking of 1980s cartoons, the Hollywood Reporter reveals that Paramount has finally greenlighted a live-action version of G.I. Joe. Thanks to the success of Transformers, the studio is looking to tap all sorts of thirtysomething geekocity by hiring director Stephen Sommers, the mastermind behind the tongue-in-cheek Mummy movies.

The film will reportedly retain the terrorist organization Cobra — led by Cobra Commander and employing classic villains the Baroness, Destro and Zartan — but will make the Joes an international strike force instead of the real American heroes the toy line was billed as. Globalization gets into every nook and cranny of pop culture, doesn’t it?

Legal briefs

• Austin Nichols (above), the titular John From Cincinnati, was arrested early Friday for alleged drunken driving near Detroit, the AP reports. He was likely drinking away his woes after the series was canceled by HBO.

• David Hasselhoff has accepted undisclosed libel damages from the U.K. and U.S. publishers of Ok! for printing that he was drunk and being abusive in an L.A. nightclub, Reuters says. Everyone knows the Hoff does that at home.

• Comedy writer-producer Morris Taylor “Buddy” Sheffield has sued the Walt Disney Co., claiming the network stole the idea of Hannah Montana (about a teen who moonlights as a rock star) from him, the AP says. The former In Living Color co-writer will soon be contacted by the creators of 1980s cartoon Jem.

[Photo: AP]

And the reception was in a high hide

We love our redneck brethren as much as any Floridian can, but sometimes things can go just a little too far. This overview of a Georgia wedding gets points for sticking to a theme, though. (Give the pdf a few seconds to download when you click.)

Thanks, H-Dawg.

Amy Winehouse's bawdy midnight brawl