SkimIt
To paraphrase Heidi Klum: In the entertainment world, one day you're in, and the next, you're out. Most of the celebrities you'll see in this space each week (should) have the spoils of fame and fortune to show for the years that they were in, but may have found themselves closer to being out of the loop recently before climbing their way back toward the top.
With two babies at home and a husband (Nick Cannon) who seems to have his hands in about 65 percent of the entertainment industry, Mariah shouldn't feel any pressure to stay in the limelight even if it's been three years since her last studio album.
But money talks -- apparently even louder than two twin toddlers -- and the big pocketbooks behind the American Idol franchise are reportedly about to give Mariah more than $17 million per season to join their show as a judge. Scrambling to replace departed judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, Idol is said to be in the final stages of signing legendary songstress Carey to a deal.
As much as her loyal fans love Mariah's music and tend to act like crazed Michael Jackson fans in support of their girl, I can easily see this unfolding like Nicole Scherzinger's brief stint judging The X Factor. The more jaded crowd that isn't devoted to Mariah and takes their reality-talent shows seriously won't have much tolerance for over-dramatics and excessive look-at-me moments.
Just a few years ago Nash was arguably the most popular man in basketball, back when he was winning back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player awards and making things like passing the ball, skateboarding at 35 years old and being Canadian seem cool.
But then Nash's Phoenix Suns team fell off the map as far as competing for an NBA championship, Nash himself started to show signs of slowing down with age and injuries, and his mainstream popularity slowed down as well.
Earlier this month, however, Nash was traded from Phoenix to the L.A. Lakers, putting him (alongside Kobe Bryant) on the glitziest team in pro sports and in position to win his first NBA championship. Nash's game could be rejuvenated in L.A. since he no longer has to carry a team almost single-handedly as he'd done in Phoenix lately, and being a member of the Lakers means he'll be all over our TV screens again with increased endorsements and a ton of national TV games.
Batman
What was supposed to be a celebratory weekend for the Caped Crusader franchise turned into a national tragedy before it even got started.
In the aftermath of the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 injured during an opening-night screening of The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros. issued a statement saying they will not report the movie's box office earnings during the weekend out of respect for the victims and their families. The studio then said they would be releasing the numbers on Monday, which doesn't seem like a big difference to me, but whatever. I guess tragedy or not, this was still a multi-million dollar project and investors still want to see the returns.
Hartnett turned 34 years old this week and the former A-list (or at least upper B-list) movie star is as far removed from his 20s as he is removed from his time as a bankable commodity in Hollywood. Hartnett has starred in a few indie films here and there, but his last noticeable roles were way back in 2007 alongside Samuel L. Jackson in Resurrecting the Champ and then in the horror flick 30 Days of Night.
Hartnett headlines an upcoming project titled Singularity, which is described as "epic" and "sweeping," a time-travel romantic adventure where Hartnett plays a marine biologist (um, OK) who begins the film brain-dead (make your own joke here) and plays leading man opposite Neve Campbell, who is also climbing her way back toward the top of her game. Is Singularity the match that will spark a big comeback for Hartnett? Maybe. The film is expected to debut at Cannes.
Having been in the entertainment game since the mid-1990s, rapper Nas knows what sells. Four years since the release of his last studio album -- the controversial untitled project that he wanted to name after the n-word before that plan was scrapped -- Nas knows that sports is a good arena to generate sales.
A few months ago Nas' original mini-songs were prominently featured during ESPN's broadcast of the NFL Draft. Last week he performed at the network's ESPY Awards (it's like the Emmys for sports), stretching his new single "Life Is Good" out into three or four mini-performances during the show. The combination of appealing to millions of sports fans and catering to people with short attention spans appeared to work, as Nas' new album, Life Is Good, debuted at No. 1 this week on the Billboard 200 chart.
