A few weeks ago, while in Las Vegas on a business trip, I got roped into seeing the stage musical “Mamma Mia,” featuring the music of 70’s pop band ABBA, by some Indian businessmen with whom I was traveling. I was not expecting much. However, I admit that by the end of the production, I discovered that I had enjoyed myself. A few weeks later I learned that “Mamma Mia” is being made into a movie musical, starring none other than Meryl Streep. I never even knew she could sing! Early reports confirm that Streep, who just turned 58, gives a powerhouse performance in the film- complete with singing, dancing, and even full splits.

Filmed last summer in Pinewood Studios and on location on the picturesque island of Skopelos in Greece, the movie version is a glorious and deeply silly confection.

Reports from early test screenings are universally positive - the audiences who have seen it at a secret showing in San Diego came out raving about the transfer of the musical to the big screen.

The surprise?

That Meryl Streep, at 58, is athletic, has a big voice - clear, true and strong - and delivers the goods on Abba’s classics without a trace of embarrassment. It is, obviously, her first musical, and the deep thinkers in Hollywood are amazed by the way she is apparently happy to demolish her reputation as a serious-minded Oscar-winning grande dame.

And yet Streep, who is known for her hard-to-live-with perfectionism and love of tricky bits of acting technique and odd accents, emerges from this film as a woman who is accomplished at physical comedy and actually funny when the occasion demands.

‘Meryl is very good - it’s a revelation,’ says one who has seen the film, in which she plays Donna, the mother of a bride-to-be who is confronted by three potential fathers on the eve of her nuptials.

It transpires that Streep saw the stage show in New York with her daughter as a birthday treat and wrote a fan letter to the producers afterwards.

[From The Huffington Post]

I don’t know if “surprise” is really the right word to describe her work in this movie. After all, Streep is one of the finest actors of her generation. I think she could pretty much do anything she sets her mind to on film. In “Angels in America,” the HBO miniseries, Streep played everything from Ethel Rosenberg to a Jewish rabbi. She’s also playing Julia Child in the upcoming biopic. Hopefully people will give “Mamma Mia” a fair shot, even if it stars women over 35 and doesn’t feature CGI monsters. Hey, if “Sex and the City” can bring in audiences, maybe Meryl can too.

In more Gary Busey Oscars awesomeness, a video clip has surfaced of the actor being interviewed on the red carpet by an 11-year-old girl from the celebrity web site Starzlife. The young reporter has to ask her question a few times because Gary can’t hear her. But his response to her question about young stars getting in trouble with the law is extra-awesome.

“Guess what? They’re not celebrities. They’re idiots; they’re losers. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan–they are all children of God, but they need to wake up and understand that they have a responsibility to the people who admire them and look at them to be better behaved, and have better….feelings about life and those charities that Paris talked about? She’s done nothing. She’s a liar. She’s a pathological liar, in terms of what the heck she said on Larry King, and what she doesn’t do after she says it. That’s a shameful thing to do, and it’ll bite her in the butt when it comes around.”

[Transcribed from Gary Busey interview]

Gary surprised Jennifer Garner, Ryan Seacrest and Laura Linney with an unexpected accosting of Jen Garner’s neck during the red carpet walk on Sunday night. He then called into Ryan’s radio show the next morning, calling Seacrest the “innocent champion of honesty.”

While Gary has never been in trouble with the law– at least, there is no mugshot or police report anywhere– the actor did sustain massive head trauma after a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. Since that near death experience, the eccentric actor has become a born-again Christian and briefly was the star of his own, bizarre reality show, “I’m With Busey.”

Jimmy Kimmel somehow managed to outdo the hilarious video created by his wife girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, “I’m F’cking Matt Damon.”

In a star-studded video called “I’m F’ing Ben Affleck,” Affleck and Kimmel play gay lovers while a chorus of celebrities sings “Jimmy Kimmel is f’ing Ben Affleck” in “We are the world” style. There’s even a cameo from Bad Pitt as a delivery guy, although I was disappointed that there were no homosexual undertones to Pitts appearance. Harrison Ford blows a kiss and smiles at the camera suggestively, and Cameron Diaz makes the finger in the hole sign. The celebrities sing an uplifting chorus of Kimmel and Affleck’s newfound love as the two stars walk off into the sunset, Kimmel shirtless with moobs and Affleck in a shiny tight lamé top.

Thanks to Redlasso for sending this to us, and they also note the cameos by Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Don Cheadle, Pete Wentz, Perry Farrell, Macy Gray, The Madden Twins, Lance Bass, Huey Lewis, Josh Groban, Dominic Mognahan, McLovin from Superbad, Harrison Ford, and Cameron Diaz.

Here’s Silverman’s video “I’m f’ing Matt Damon” if you missed it

Shes Screwing Matt Damon - Watch more free videos

Three-year-old Cruz Beckham, the youngest son of Victoria and David Beckham, rocked the house at NYC’s Madison Square Garden last night. The toddler joined his mother and older brothers on stage during a Spice Girls concert, and busted a few breakdancing moves for the delighted crowd. During a song paying tribute to mothers, all the Spice Girls brought out their children, and little Cruz was more than happy to upstage his famous mommy and her friends:

They cancelled their tour supposedly to spend more time with their children.

So it was more than a little ironic that The Spice Girls were upstaged by an amazing display of breakdancing moves from little Cruz Beckham.

The youngest Beckham boy, who will be three tomorrow, charmed the notoriously tough crowd at Madison Square Garden with an amazing display of breakdancing, revealing a hidden talent for the crowd pleasing moves.

Even Spice Girl Melanie Brown, mother of Angel Iris and Phoenix Chi, was amazed at his spontaneous performance and she had to stop singing as she laughs out loud in amazement and says “that’s brilliant” as proud mother Victoria looks on smiling.

A lucky concertgoer who saw the three-year-old in action told PerezHilton.com: “All the girls had to stop singing because they were laughing so hard…He did a little head stand, then even spun on his head a little.

“They couldn’t get him off the stage when the song was over. It was the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen!!”

[From The Daily Mail]

Maybe Cruz has a future in show business like his parents. It sure looks like he loves the spotlight. I also think it’s funny that he never seems intimidated by the paparazzi when he goes out with his parents. He does seem a lot more mature than the average two-year-old– I’ve seen him in pictures before when traveling with Mommy handling his own luggage! He seems like a fun kid. All the Spice Girls’ children are adorable. I can see why they would rather end the whole Spice Girls thing to spend time with them. In the photographs from that show, it’s notable that Cruz’s older brother, Brooklyn, who is now 9, looks bored out of his mind. Oh, well– not everyone is born to be onstage.

Note by Celebitchy: Here’s the video. Little Cruz is shown breakdancing about about three minutes in. Cruise is officially just two, but he turns three on his birthday tomorrow.

The header image is of Cruz out with Posh on 2/9/08, thanks to WENN. (We don’t have the rights to the breakdancing or concert pics, but they’re on The Daily Mail if you’d like to see them.)

Say what? Jane Fonda and new BFF/”Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler appeared this morning on “The Today Show” with Meredith Vieira to promote V-Day, a global awareness campaign that happens every Valentine’s Day. V-Day is a worldwide project that includes readings/performances of “The Vagina Monologues” to build awareness of violence against women. Jane was talking about how she was reluctant to perform the play at first because she hadn’t seen it. “I was asked to do a scene called ‘Cu*t,” she told a shocked Meredith Vieira. “I don’t do cu*t!”

I was watching the broadcast, and let me tell you, I nearly choked on my morning coffee! At first, I thought I’d misheard. But after seeing the video, I can confirm that Jane Fonda dropped the C word on national television. I guess she didn’t want to be outdone by another older actress, Diane Keaton, who let an F-bomb slip on Good Morning America a few weeks ago.

Maybe the TV sensors were asleep this morning? At any rate, I have to admit, it was pretty awesome.

Note by Celebitchy: Thanks to Redlasso for the video clip above. It seems like it’s the hot older chicks who are swearing on the talk shows lately. They must not give a shit.

Do you ever sit around asking yourself, “What’s the greatest thing about 1986?” Well whatever your answer was, you’re completely wrong. The greatest thing about 1986 isn’t the Soviet Union launching the Mir space station, it isn’t the Chicago Bears winning the Super Bowl, and it definitely isn’t the treaty that ended the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly (yes I knew all of those things on my own and Wikipedia didn’t do a damn thing). It is Jermaine Stewart’s cautionary pop masterpiece, “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off (to Have a Good Time)” or “WDHTTOCOTHAGT” as I call it. I actually write that enough that spell check doesn’t notice it anymore. In case you missed this gem in the eighties, it gives us ladies the male perspective on dating, noting, “You just took for granted that I want to skinny dip” and “I’m not a piece of meat, stimulate my brain.” No I don’t have any idea how we females made it this far in our romantic lives without access to this knowledge. According to Jermaine Stewart, “A man wants to be approached cool and romantically.” And he definitely, definitely wants you to keep your clothes on.

Remember about ten years ago when Conan O’Brien randomly became obsessed with Dirty Dancing? He got so into it that the movie developed a brand new cult following and was eventually re-released all around the country. Now I don’t delude myself into thinking I have Conan’s following (it can’t be more than half, at the most). But I think we may have the power (and by power, I mean email forwarding en masse) to reinvigorate the greater North American population - screw that, the world as a whole - with this amazing song. So email this page to your friends, your family, your local radio station, and most importantly your congressperson… whoever it takes. I’m pretty sure both liberals and conservatives should love this song. It appeals to the cherry wine drinker in all of us. And frankly, I’m kind of surprised and fairly concerned that it’s not already part of George Bush’s “abstinence only” curriculum. Have you ever experienced anything that so made you want to put on a parka and not have sex?

Fair warning: listening to this song/watching the awesome choreography WILL make you want to have a dance party. There’s a chance I’m having one right now. There’s also a chance it involves a bright blue unitard originally worn in my 5th grade tap dancing class. Spandex is very forgiving. Don’t hate, I can whip out a buffalo faster than you can call me a loser. Now pass me some cherry wine.