Here are some photos of Ashley Tisdale celebrating her 27th birthday by having a bikini beach party in Malibu and inviting the paparazzi. All our agencies have these photos so it’s pretty much guaranteed that they’re staged. We don’t normally talk about Ashley Tisdale, but she has the benefit of timing and a bikini here. Plus she’s got an adorable dog and Selena Gomez is there. So shrug, I guess. I had to search to remember if Ashley was in that Spring Breakers movie with Gomez, because I just assumed she was, but she’s not! Ashley Benson of “Pretty Little Liars” is in it, and so is Tisdale’s fellow “High School Musical” alum, Vanessa Hudgens, but not Ashley Tisdale. I can’t help but think she must feel left out somehow. Hence these photos.

I guess the news about Ashley is that she’s going to be on two episodes of “Sons of Anarchy.” I recently saw that over on Lainey Gossip along with photos of her on set. I really tried to like that show, but I picked it up in the second season with that weird baby-snatching plot and I just couldn’t get into it. So I can’t profess to have any knowledge of what’s going on with the plot at this point.

Ashley is shown here with her on-again boyfriend, video music director Scott Speer, 30. They’re cute together and she’s got an amazing figure. That’s about all I’ve got.

Also, she used to be BFF with Vanessa Hudgens. Why wasn’t she there? (Update: she was there, she just didn’t come out for this photo op. Thanks brin!)

Why is Selena Gomez wearing a blanket as a poncho? Will Justin Bieber be jealous of her horsing around with this other guy? How many tabloid stories will these photos spawn? What kind of dog is that, is it a puppy or full size and should I get one? (Update: it’s a Maltipoo and from what I’ve read they’re very popular!) It looks like a sweet little teddy bear. So many questions.

Photo credit: Miguel/FameFlynet Pictures and PacificCoastNews.com

Here are some photos of Selena Gomez promoting her role in Hotel Transylvania, in which she voices the character of 118-year-old Mavis. As you can see, Selena’s hair appears dramatically longer due to some new extensions, and it looks like she’s lightened up her locks as well. So how does it look now? Honestly, I liked her hair better with its natural color, and I’m not crazy in general about extensions, which seems like an easy (albeit expensive) way to cheat one’s way to instantly longer hair. The effect with Selena is dry-looking locks, but this is all in the name of a film role, as she explains below:

Selena Gomez loves her lengthy locks!

The 19-year-old Spring Breakers actress rejoined the Rapunzel-like hair club with the addition of long, ombre hair extensions, which she showed off during Hotel Transylvania‘s press day in Culver City, Calif. on Monday.

After taking out her waist-length extensions in early June, the starlet sported a shoulder-length style at several red carpet events, including the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto, Canada (her boyfriend’s, Justin Bieber, stomping grounds) on June 17.

“Spring Breakers is done now hair’s done for the next movie!” she posted to her Instagram account on April 2 after adding length to hair at West Hollywood’s Nine Zero One salon.

While Gomez has been going long, more than one Hollywood beauty has been going under the chopping block. Portia de Rossi debuted a chin-length crop in early June, Jennifer Lopez debuted a frizzy set of much-shorter curls last week and on Friday, Teri Hatcher showed off her new bob hairstyle at an event in L.A.

[From Us Weekly]

Presumably, Selena has undergone this relatively dramatic change for a new movie, and her IMDb page would point towards Getaway, which is an action/crime movie that just started filming and stars Ethan Hawke and Jon Voight. Strange, right? Well, Selena’s trying to change up her image, but considering that she plays the role of “The Kid,” we’ll see about that.

Photos courtesy of PR Photos

Here are some more photos from last night’s MuchMusic Awards – I already covered the Katy Perry situation in a separate post here. These are just some photos of the people I recognized, in no particular order. Selena Gomez was there… and while I think she’s a very pretty girl with a lovely, coltish figure, I wish she would stop with the minidresses and stuff. She can look “grown up” without showing off so much. But don’t ask me, obviously I’m a prude. I personally find Justin Bieber’s performance costume to be absolutely hysterical – it’s like he wanted a red leather suit like Michael Jackson (or even Eddie Murphy in the 1980s), but The Bieb has such screwed up taste that he made them design the pants so the crotch would be down by his knees. WHY THIS LOOK? Little boys and their pants that don’t fit.

More photos… Nelly Furtado looks pretty. I like her hair longer and I’ve always thought she was so pretty. Her outfit kind of sucks, but whatever. There’s Perez Hilton, looking like a jackass. Justin Bieber walked the red carpet with his protégé artist, Carly Rae Jepsen who… I mean, she’s a cute girl. I really want to style her differently, but I suspect that she and Taylor Swift share much of the same fan base, and I don’t want to mess with them. Oh, and Kelly Clarkson was there, and she’s changed her hair and now she looks really rough. Some people just need to stay brunette, you know?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

As I’ve mentioned so many times already, I actually read that awful book, 50 Shades of Grey. In case you’ve been living in a cave in which you do not have access to Twihard p0rn, 50 Shades is a disaster based on Twilight fan-fiction in which Bella-and-Edward surrogates named Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey get their kink on. Except not really. Christian is a spanker and whenever he does anything but the missionary position, Anastasia cries. Some people (idiots) hope that the film adaptation of the book will draw some talented actors – like, people keep saying that Michael Fassbender or Alexander Skarsgard should play Christian Grey. It’s not going to happen. My assumption is that producers will end up casting the film straight out of the CW – it will probably end up being Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev, or actors of that caliber (C-list).

I think people who haven’t read the book don’t realize how YOUNG these characters are supposed to be. Anastasia graduated from college within the first book – she’s only 21 years old (and a virgin). Christian is supposed to be about 27 years old I think. So stop suggesting actors with full-fledged careers, basically. Think younger. Think untested actors. Think about… Selena Gomez? Mother of GOD. Apparently, Selena has gotten some rumors that she should play Anastasia. Thankfully, Selena cut them off:

Selena Gomez’s Fifty Shades of Grey spoof (titled Fifty Shades of Blue) is about as involved as the former Disney star will get in regards to the best-selling erotic trilogy.

When asked by MTV News if she would ever play the series’ female protagonist Anastasia Steele, the Wizards of Waverly Place alum didn’t exactly jump on the possibility.

“I know I’m taking risks but I don’t think I could do that,” the 19-year-old Spring Breakers actress said. “That would be a little too much for me.”

Fifty Shades’ steamy, BDSM scenes and explicit plot lines has made it one of the best-selling books around the world, selling 10 million copies to date. This past March, Universal Pictures had secured the deal to adapt the trilogy for the big screen and immediately many actors expressed an interest in taking on the roles.

“I think every girl on the carpet wants to play [Anastasia Steele],” Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale told Celebuzz on June 3. “That would be freaking awesome. I’m really curious to see how they’re going to turn it into a film.”

In April, Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder addressed portraying the S&M loving, male protagonist, Christian Grey.

“I absolutely would be up for that. It could be very, very amazing,” the blue-eyed hunk told Ryan Seacrest. “I have the book and I just started reading it. That would be a pretty incredible thing, and hopefully that could pan out.”

[From Us Weekly]

It would be too much for Selena Gomez. With that face…? It would be so uncomfortable. She simply looks much, much too young. Plus, her image is still relatively wholesome and family-friendly. Selena hopes that her fans mature with her, and doing 50 Shades would torpedo that effort. Plus, I actually think Selena is too smart to get involved with what will surely be a critical trainwreck.

And personally… does anyone else think Ian Somerhalder has the sex appeal of a wet noodle? Sure, he’s pretty. But there’s absolutely NOTHING happening with him that would ever make me consider hittin’ that.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Over the weekend, Selena Gomez promoted her new “Mesmerize” fragrance in New York City, and she wore this little white number — a cropped blazer paired with a bandeau bra top and tiny hot pants. Her getup a little … risque, right? Particuarly because she’s looking really baby-faced in these photos. This is such a step back from her recent Elle shoot (which a lot of you didn’t like), and it makes me believe that Selena really wants to promote a trashy image like the one portrayed by her Spring Breakers character. Sigh.

Here’s something even skeevier. While at the perfume launch, Selena was approached by two very young boys wearing “Forget Justin & Marry Me” t-shirts:

It looks like some of Selena Gomez’s biggest fans don’t want her to marry her boyfriend Justin Bieber! Instead, they think she should marry them — just check out their shirts! Adorable!

Selena launched her self-titled fragrance at Macy’s in New York City today. Were you lucky enough to attend the event? Some of Selena’s fans even slept overnight on the sidewalk to make sure they got to meet her today!

[From Disney Dreaming]

You can see a picture of Selena (in this same white outfit) posing with these boys here. It’s kind of adorable but admittedly pretty gross to witness. In these photos, Selena does seem to be pretty uncomfortable in the outfit. It’s such a shame she feels a need to sex it up instead of just dressing like herself.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Selena Gomez covers the July issue of Elle and looks absolutely gorgeous in this Dolce & Gabbana corset dress. Honestly, this is the most grown up I’ve ever seen 19-year-old Selena look, and it’s a “mature” type of grown up rather than a “trashy” one, which is the vibe she’s (unfortunately) chosen to given out by appearing in the upcoming Harmony Korine movie. I mean, I get that she wants to shake her good girl image, but honestly, Spring Breakers is not the way to do it. Case in point — Selena’s butt in a bikini is perhaps the most wholesome butt that I’ve ever seen on a person. So if Selena wants to be perceived as more mature as she grows out of Disney, then she shouldn’t go for trashy, shock value movie roles but glamourous photoshoots like her recent Forbes shoot. Obviously, she also should do more stuff like this Elle shoot, which finally makes her look like a young woman instead of a bikini bandit. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

On Justin Bieber renting out the Staples Center to watch a movie: “He really is a hopeless romantic. I had just mentioned it in the car – all I said is that I really want to see Titanic again, and then…”

On growing up in poverty: “I can remember about seven times when our car got stuck on the highway because we’d run out of gas money… [but my mom still] saved up to take me to concerts. She took me to museums, aquariums, to teach me about the world, about what’s real.”

On working for Disney: “[It] is a machine, so people automatically assume that you can’t work for the channel unless you act and sing and dance and sign up for all that. That’s absolutely not true. I always did everything the way I wanted to do it.”

On selecting roles: “I get offered the teenybopper movies, and I’ve done that. I haven’t done a mega-hundred-billion-dollar Transformers movie, but that’s not what I want to do either.”

[From Elle]

Selena seems to be under the impression that having a ton of money and the ability to snap one’s fingers and rent out the Staples Center equates to being a “hopeless romantic.” Sure, Justin might have thought of the idea himself, but there are plenty of ways to be romantic without blowing a crapload of money. Like having a nice, impromptu picnic lunch on a beach perhaps, but Justin would probably charter a copter and fly Selena out to Catalina Island where he’d present a chef who’d whip up their lunches on the beach. Just saying.

Photos courtesy of Elle and The Fashion Spot

A few days ago, we reported how Justin Bieber was suspected of battery during a “physical altercation” with a pap, which still remains a mighty hilarious story because who would ever want to admit that they got their ass kicked by the Bieb? Sure enough, the photographer has filed a report with the police (naming Bieber as the ass kicker), and prosecutors are looking to officially question Bieber when he returns from business in Norway. If he’s found guilty of criminal battery, Biebs could spend six months in the slammer. Can you imagine?

Justin Bieber’s brawl with a photog over the weekend isn’t going to just disappear … TMZ has learned the case WILL be referred to the L.A. County D.A. for possible criminal prosecution.

We’re told cops have already decided to refer the case to prosecutors, even though the investigation is far from complete. They have requested to interview the Biebs, but he’s in Norway now. It’s pretty typical for police to refer high-profile cases to prosecutors.

TMZ broke the story … Bieber’s a suspect for allegedly committing criminal battery against a photog in Calabasas Sunday afternoon. The photog called 911 after the scuffle, but by the time cops arrived, the singer had split.

The pap was taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance. He then filed a police report naming Bieber as the culprit.

If Bieber is charged and convicted, he’d face 6 months in jail. But the photog faces an even worse fate — having to tell people Justin Bieber kicked his ass.

[From TMZ]

We all know Justin Bieber will never serve jail time for this alleged crime. Even if he’s guilty of serving a genuine beat down, Biebs will pay the photog off before any mention of legal proceedings. In related news, Lainey has a story about how Justin might have had a major fight with girlfriend Selena Gomez that soured his mood before the alleged pap-smackdown incident occurred. According to this take, Justin tweeted “thank you for the time i had with you but i have to move on now” a few days prior to the pap incident. If a breakup actually happened, then obviously Justin and Selena got back together. Ah, young love.

Photos courtesy Fame/Flynet

Is Justin Bieber finally cracking to the pressure of being a global superstar? I say “finally” as if he’s been around for decades, but he has thus far (in the past few years of his ubiquity) maintained a relatively squeaky image in spite of admitting to drinking a beer once in his life and being good friends with Chris Brown. Speaking of which, Justin may have one-upped Chris Brown’s little adventure of stealing an amateur pap’s phone when the Biebs literally “went bonkers” (according to Fame/Flynet) on a paparazzo while he was out on a date with Selena Gomez. Nobody knows for sure what happened, but TMZ reports that there was in fact a “physical altercation,” and it looks like Biebs lost a hat and shoe in the process. No word on whether his pants finally fell all the way off his body, but the police, fire department, and an ambulance all showed up for the party when the photog failed to lift himself from was the ground. Here are the details from TMZ:

Justin Bieber is a suspect in a criminal battery … law enforcement sources tell TMZ.

Justin was in Calabasas, where he lives, just after noon Sunday at a mall called The Commons. A paparazzo attempted to take Justin’s picture and, according to law enforcement, some sort of physical altercation erupted between Justin and the camera guy.

The photog called 911, and when cops arrived Justin and GF Selena Gomez had already split.

The photog complained of pain to his upper torso, an ambulance was summoned and he was taken to a local hospital where he was examined and released a short time later.

The photog filed a police report naming Justin as the culprit. Cops are investigating the incident as a misdemeanor battery.

Law enforcement tells us detectives want to speak with Justin, Selena and any other witnesses.

We placed a call to Justin’s rep … so far, no comment.

We’re told several witnesses at the scene say after the altercation, a lawyer walked up to the photog and said he could get a lot of money out of the incident and advised the dude to call for an ambulance and file a police report.

Witnesses also say the photog had been blocking Justin’s car as the singer was trying to leave. Justin got out of the car and asked the guy to move away but he wouldn’t, and a scuffle ensued.

[From TMZ]

Who knew that Bieber had it in him to actually get angry and lose his cool in public? Perhaps this is a sign that he’s been hanging around Chris Brown for far too long, but I hope that the reports are wrong and Biebs didn’t really physically hurt someone. But since the seed is planted and whether or not Biebs actually threw a punch, this photog is going to come looking for some money. I guess we’ll see what happens, but I’d expect a pay off to occur whether or not Biebs did anything wrong.

What a mess. If it’s any consolation to the Biebs, Bar Refaeli has been inexplicably going on about how she’ll marry Bieber some day. Selena, watch out.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet

Selena Gomez received a feature in the upcoming issue of Forbes magazine, and the subject matter of the interview itself isn’t entirely captivating stuff, but I wanted to cover it mainly because of the photoshoot. Doesn’t Selena look the very picture of polished, young-adult sophistication here? And she’s talking about her endeavors as a venture capitalist, which isn’t exactly standard fare for a 19-year-old girl. A move such as this is much better for her image than her claim of “taking myself seriously as an actress” by hanging around in a bikini for the latest disaster of a Harmony Korine film. Also, I’m reading a dire warning into part of this article that tells me that Justin Bieber is smarter than he appears at first. Yes, the world might soon be coming to a swift end:

Last fall, actress and singer Selena Gomez joined a $750,000 angel-investment round for photo-sharing app Postcards on The Run. The L.A. start-up, led by former MySpace exec Josh Brooks, lets mobile users snap pictures on their phones (both Android and ioS) and turn them into physical postcards at 99 cents a pop.

Since then Gomez has remained an active investor-she says she’s helped Brooks understand his app “from a 19-year-old’s perspective,” and encouraged him to add space on each card for messages. “I put my money into the project because I really felt like it had meaning,” she says, adding that she has over 700 photos in her iPhone. “I used to look through photo albums with my family and now I don’t anymore; I just scroll through my phone. There’s something really magical about holding a photo in your hands.”

And her commitment to the brand has showed real results. Founder and CEO Brooks revealed that just one post on her Facebook wall resulted in 20,000 downloads in just 24 hours.

As my colleague Zack Greenberg points out in his Celebrity 100 cover story, Gomez’s paramour Justin Bieber has also fashioned himself a venture capitalist in the past 12 months.

Like Bieber, Gomez is insistent that she’s got to be passionate about a project to get on-board. “The thing is,” she says, “Is that there are a lot of things that people want me to talk about or endorse and I don’t like to do that unless it’s something that I really think has value. I think this is a really special app. And that’s the real reason I wanted to put my money behind it. It has meaning for me and I think it will have meaning for others.”

[From Forbes]

I think it’s smart — especially for soon-to-be-former Disney kids — for actors and singers to branch out from the entertainment business by making shrewd investments such as the one Selena describes here. That way, when the acting dries up (like it does for the vast majority of child actors during the hopeful transition to adult movie star), they’ve still got money rolling in for years to come. Unfortunately, such venture capitalism efforts will only keep Justin Bieber rolling in dough forever as well. Ah well.

Photos courtesy of Forbes

The above photo arrives courtesy of the June issue of Interview Magazine and features (from left to right) Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine (wife of Harmony), and Vanessa Hudgens in their bikini uniforms for Spring Breakers. I’m going to be perfectly honest here and just say that this movie sounds like a terrible idea for most parties involved. Of course, it sounds like a great idea for the movie’s director and writer (or is it auteur?), Harmony Korine — who is best known for writing the controversial Kids and whose last feature film directorial effort was called Trash Humpers — because he got to spend spring break this year filming former Disney girls in bikinis while they frolicked alongside thousands of actual spring breakers in St. Petersburg, Florida. Likewise, this movie was an undoubtedly wonderful experience for James Franco, who got to dress up like K-Fed, hang out with Selena and Vanessa in bikinis, and call it AAART. Of course, I’m not concerned about Vanessa, who has plans of her own for surviving Hollywood.

Selena Gomez is another matter altogether. Other than dating Justin Bieber, the girl has a spotless record without a wisp of scandal. In fact, Selena herself is so aware of her own halo that she signed onto Spring Breakers in an effort to shed her Disney shell. Now she’s also told Interview that this movie — which includes Selena & Co. robbing a bank while wearing bikinis, getting bailed out of jail by K-Fed Franco, and doing lots of drugs in the aftermath — is part of her plan to become a serious actress. Here are some excerpts from Selena and the rest of the Spring Breakers cast and crew, which just happens to include …. Heidi Bivens? This is getting so weird:

Harmony Korine, director/writer: “When I wrote the script, I started thinking about girls in bikinis with guns, wearing ski masks. I was like, ‘Where would you see that?’ And the idea of spring break came to me. I just started imagining girls on spring break robbing places. I liked the idea of the film as a social experiment. It was like there were two movies–the actual movie, and then the one that the media, paparazzi, and the people tweeting photos were also creating.”

James Franco, K-Fed imitator: “When Harmony told me who he was going to cast, I thought it was perfect for so many reasons. The young actresses are so excited to do a movie like this with someone like Harmony. They were so eager and enthusiastic to be a part of it.”

Selena Gomez, Disney chick: “I was getting kind of repetitive in terms of the roles I was picking, and I really wanted to do something that was completely different. It was a mark thing for me–like, ‘This is what I want to be doing.’ I want to be taking myself seriously as an actress, and this was definitely a stretch. I mean, I’d never smoked a cigarette before in my entire life. It was really funny–they had to show me how to do it.”

Ashley Benson, actress: “Harmony wanted to break us all out of the good-girl mold. For Selena, Vanessa, and me, our audience is all in their teens or younger, so they’re not even going to be able to see this when it comes out–it’s not appropriate.”

Heidi Bivens, costume designer: “I had to keep in mind where these girls are from: a small town in the South. What they were wearing at school had to be stuff they could find where they were living. And then when they come to spring break, it changes, because they’re able to shop in St. Petersburg. The most challenging for me were the ski masks that the girls wear. They’re supposed to glow fluorescent, but there aren’t any ski masks I could find that were the color we needed in the daylight and that would glow under black light, so I had to start experimenting with dyes. I probably went through 20 different dyes to find the right one.”

[From Interview]

Should I be surprised that Heidi Bivens is the costume designer on this movie? I guess not because even cinematic bikinis don’t just appear out of nowhere. Bikinis and ski masks. Aces.

Back to Selena though and her desire to branch out from “The Wizards of Waverly Place,” Disney pop music, and her feature films thus far, Princess Protection Program and Monte Carlo, both of which were so sugar-coated that I spontaneously developed a few cavities while (unwillingly) watching them. If Selena really wanted to spread her proverbial wings as an actress, couldn’t she at least have gone for a gritty little indie drama that didn’t feature her boobs and butt ahead of her potential talent? Spring Breakers looks like many things, but it does not look like a means to becoming a “serious actress.” For what it’s worth, Selena has also accepted a cameo role in an upcoming Eli Roth-produced film (Aftershock) as well.

Photos courtesy of Interview Mag