Participants for Best Picture includes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire.

Benjamin Button has a total of 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Director and Screenplay which made the film the Oscar leader in terms of nominations and followed by Slumdog Millionaire, with 10.

Brad Pitt received his second-ever nomination, Best Actor for Benjamin Button. He was previously cited for his supporting role in 1995′s Twelve Monkeys, but the Oscar went to Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects.
Other actors vying for the best actor role includes previous Oscar winner Sean Penn for Milk, and Golden Globe winner Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler). The Visitor‘s Richard Jenkins and Frost/Nixon‘s Frank Langella.

Here’s a complete list of these years Oscars Nominees as announced by actor Forest Whitaker:

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
David Hare, The Reader
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E
BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306
BEST FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
The Class, France
Departures, Japan
Revanche, Austria
Waltz with Bashir, Israel

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

BEST SONG
Down to Earth, WALL-E
Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire
O Saya, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)
BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

The shows number one pair for weeks now is Derek and Brooke, the hottest couple on the DWTS stage. Check out the more recent updates concerning the show Dancing With The Stars!

Gold medalists Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin, Kobe Bryant and 150 other U.S. Olympic team members join the queen of TV, Oprah Winfrey on the Sept. 8 23rd-season premiere of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which will be taped next Wednesday in Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Associated Press reports.

Winfrey’s company, Harpo Productions, calls the episode a combination “welcome-home celebration” and bid for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Games.

Also on the bill for the special show: beach volleyball gold medal team members Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh; gold medal basketball players Carmelo Anthony, Lisa Leslie and Dwyane Wade; and silver medal swimmer Dara Torres.

For those of you keeping track at home, that makes six gold medals – and six world records – in Beijing. (Phelps also scored six golds and two bronzes four years ago, in Athens.)

“I think if it were all over today, he’d be the greatest Olympian who ever lived,” said U.S. swimming coach Bob Bowman.

About his 200-meter IM swim, Phelps said, “I just wanted to step on it in the first 50 [meters] a little bit and try and get out to an early lead …. I knew in the first half, if I got a big enough lead, I thought I could hang on and that’s all I wanted to do.”

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary placed second to Phelps – for the third time in Beijing. “I tried to do a harder start in the first 100 meters but Michael’s breaststroke is awesome,” Cseh said. “Michael is unbeatable.”

The bronze went to Phelps’s teammate – and friend – Ryan Lochte, who won the gold medal in 200-meter backstroke earlier in the day. (Two races in a single day is a “double” in swimmer parlance.)

“The 200 back and IM is a hard double, if not the hardest,” Phelps said. “Ryan had an incredible swim today and I’m glad to see him get his first gold. I know he’s happy.”

Now Phelps is just two races away from smashing Mark Spitz’s seven-gold mark set in 1972.

Aware of his fans at home, Phelps added at a post-race press conference, “I heard the ratings are the highest ever back home. People are watching the Olympics and swimming. More and more people are getting interested – and hopefully involved.”

“There wasn’t a period in my life like Serena went through, where I was doing drugs and having sex with my best friend’s boyfriend,” Lively, 20, tells Cosmopolitan in its September issue. “I never went through that kind of crazy.”

In fact, the actress is steadily dating costar Penn Badgley.

“I’ve kissed just three people in my life, other than stuff that I’ve done for TV or movies,” she says. “I know – I’m weird!

“I hope Brad Pitt doesn’t hear this,” Lively says, teasing. “He’s never going to want to marry me!”

While her character attends New York prep school and leads a champagne-fueled life, Lively tells the magazine her high school experience was far more down to earth.

“I was class president, on the cheerleading squad, in a competitive show choir, and in, like, six different clubs,” she says.

“I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs,” she says, deadpanning, “But I do sleep around a lot.”

I think the glamorous cast of Sex and the City are happy due to the overwhelming response of their loyal and avid fans in the States and also worldwide.

Warner Bros.’ new flicked from a TV series Sex and the City showed no let-up in its midweek dominance at the box office Tuesday. According to box-office trackers Media by Numbers, the film earned $5.51 million Tuesday, about the same as it had earned the day before. Its total gross has now reached $68.06 million. Ticket sales for the film ran well above those for the previous week’s winner.

Continuing to surprise box office analysts which predicted light business for it overseas, Sex and the City raked in an impressive $39.2 million during its opening in 13 countries ($18.3 million coming from the U.K.).

So this popular series is worth watching after all the negative publicities it received beforehand. Way to go Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Cythia Nixon and Kristin Davis!

“South Pacific” took 11 nominations. It is a lush, lavish revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s. It was followed by “Sunday in the Park With George” with nine. Three shows received seven nominations: “August: Osage County,” “Passing Strange” and the revival of “Gypsy.”

“Heights” was nominated for best musical along with “Passing Strange,” the story of one man’s journey through sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll; “Cry-Baby,” a raunchy ’50s teenage romance based on the John Waters film; and “Xanadu,” a spoof of the ’80s disco movie musical.

“August: Osage County,” already the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama, was nominated for best play along with Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer,” Tom Stoppard’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “The 39 Steps” by Patrick Barlow.

Here’s the complete Tony Nominees and award categories:

Best Play

August: Osage County
Author: Tracy Letts
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group, The Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Rock ‘n’ Roll
Author: Tom Stoppard
Producers: Bob Boyett & Sonia Friedman Productions, Ostar Productions, Roger Berlind, Tulchin/Bartner, Douglas G. Smith, Dancap Productions, Jam Theatricals, The Weinstein Company, Lincoln Center Theater, The Royal Court Theatre London

The Seafarer
Author: Conor McPherson
Producers: Ostar Productions, Bob Boyett, Roy Furman, Lawrence Horowitz, Jam Theatricals, Bill Rollnick/Nancy Ellison Rollnick, James D’Orta, Thomas S. Murphy, Ralph Guild/Jon Avnet, Philip Geier/Keough Partners, Eric Falkenstein/Max OnStage, The National Theatre of Great Britain

The 39 Steps
Author: Patrick Barlow
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Bob Boyett, Harriet Newman Leve/Ron Nicynski, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Manocherian Golden Prods., Olympus Theatricals/Douglas Denoff, Marek J. Cantor/Pat Addiss, Huntington Theatre Company/Nicholas Martin/Michael Maso, Edward Snape for Fiery Angel Ltd.
Best Musical

Cry-Baby
Producer: Adam Epstein, Allan S. Gordon, Élan V. McAllister, Brian Grazer, James P. MacGilvray, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Anne Caruso, Adam S. Gordon, Latitude Link, The Pelican Group, Philip Morgaman, Andrew Farber/Richard Mishaan

In The Heights
Producers: Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman, Sander Jacobs, Goodman/Grossman, Peter Fine, Everett/Skipper

Passing Strange
Producers: The Shubert Organization, Elizabeth Ireland McCann LLC, Bill Kenwright, Chase Mishkin, Barbara & Buddy Freitag, Broadway Across America, Emily Fisher Landau, Peter May, Boyett Ostar, Larry Hirschhorn, Janet Pailet/Steve Klein, Elie Hirschfeld/Jed Bernstein, Spring Sirkin/Ruth Hendel, Vasi Laurence/Pat Flicker Addiss, Wendy Federman/Jackie Barlia Florin, Joey Parnes, The Public Theater, The Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Xanadu
Producers: Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel, Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith
Best Book of a Musical

Cry-Baby
Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan

In The Heights
Quiara Alegría Hudes

Passing Strange
Stew

Xanadu
Douglas Carter Beane
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Cry-Baby
Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger

In The Heights
Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda

The Little Mermaid
Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater

Passing Strange
Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald
Lyrics: Stew
Best Revival of a Play

Boeing-Boeing
Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Bob Boyett, Act Productions, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert G. Bartner, The Weinstein Company, Susan Gallin/Mary Lu Roffe, Broadway Across America, Tulchin/Jenkins/DSM, The Araca Group

The Homecoming
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Ergo Entertainment, Barbara & Buddy Freitag, Michael Gardner, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Terry E. Schnuck, Harold Thau, Michael Filerman/Lynne Peyser, Ronald Frankel/David Jaroslawicz, Love Bunny Entertainment

Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy

Macbeth
Producers: Duncan C. Weldon & Paul Elliott, Jeffrey Archer, Bill Ballard, Terri & Timothy Childs, Rodger Hess, David Mirvish, Adriana Mnuchin, Emanuel Azenberg, BAM, The Chichester Festival Theatre
Best Revival of a Musical

Grease
Producers: Paul Nicholas and David Ian, Nederlander Presentations Inc., Terry Allen Kramer, Robert Stigwood

Gypsy
Producers: Roger Berlind, The Routh-Frankel-Baruch-Viertel Group, Roy Furman, Debra Black, Ted Hartley, Roger Horchow, David Ian, Scott Rudin, Jack Viertel

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Bob Boyett

Sunday in the Park with George
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Bob Boyett, Debra Black, Jam Theatricals, Stephanie P. McClelland, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Barbara Manocherian/Jennifer Manocherian, Ostar Productions, The Menier Chocolate Factory/David Babani
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Rufus Sewell, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Patrick Stewart, Macbeth
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Eve Best, The Homecoming
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth
S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba
Amy Morton, August: Osage County
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights
Stew, Passing Strange
Paulo Szot, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Kerry Butler, Xanadu
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O’Hara, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius
Raúl Esparza, The Homecoming
Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Jim Norton, The Seafarer
David Pittu, Is He Dead?
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Sinead Cusack, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing
Laurie Metcalf, November
Martha Plimpton, Top Girls
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
Danny Burstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Robin De Jesús, In The Heights
Christopher Fitzgerald, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

de’Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Andrea Martin, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Olga Merediz, In The Heights
Loretta Ables Sayre, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Scenic Design of a Play

Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County
Anthony Ward, Macbeth
Best Scenic Design of a Musical

David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Anna Louizos, In The Heights
Robin Wagner, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Michael Yeargan, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Costume Design of a Play

Gregory Gale, Cyrano de Bergerac
Rob Howell, Boeing-Boeing
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Best Costume Design of a Musical

David Farley, Sunday in the Park with George
Martin Pakledinaz, Gypsy
Paul Tazewell, In The Heights
Catherine Zuber, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Lighting Design of a Play

Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Howard Harrison, Macbeth
Donald Holder, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Ann G. Wrightson, August: Osage County
Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Howell Binkley, In The Heights
Donald Holder, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid
Best Sound Design of a Play

Simon Baker, Boeing-Boeing
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Ian Dickson, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps
Best Sound Design of a Musical

Acme Sound Partners, In The Heights
Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park with George
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Dan Moses Schreier, Gypsy
Best Direction of a Play

Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps
Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing
Best Direction of a Musical

Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
Thomas Kail, In The Heights
Arthur Laurents, Gypsy
Bartlett Sher, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby
Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights
Christopher Gattelli, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu
Best Orchestrations

Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman, In The Heights
Stew & Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Special Tony Award
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Stephen Sondheim

Tony Nominations by Production
In The Heights – 13
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific – 11
Sunday in the Park with George – 9
August: Osage County – 7
Gypsy – 7
Passing Strange – 7
Boeing-Boeing – 6
Macbeth – 6
The 39 Steps – 6
Les Liaisons Dangereuses – 5
Cry-Baby – 4
Rock ‘n’ Roll – 4
The Seafarer – 4
Xanadu – 4
A Catered Affair – 3
The Homecoming – 3
The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein – 3
The Little Mermaid – 2
Come Back, Little Sheba – 1
Cyrano de Bergerac – 1
Grease – 1
Is He Dead? – 1
Mauritius – 1
November – 1
Thurgood – 1
Top Girls – 1

He was born Gary Robert Dourdan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States last December 11, 1966. He is now 41 years old. He is better known for portraying Warrick Brown on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Dourdan is also a model for Marithe and Francois Girbaud. He has a small part in the 2007 film Perfect Stranger, starred in the film Alien: Resurrection, had a bit part in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and many more.

His contract with the TV Series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is set to expire this May and there are reports that his eight year acting in the series will not be renewed.

This week Carly Smithson performed the song “Superstar” from “Jesus Christ Superstar” from the 70s rock opera. It was composed by the renowned Andrew Lloyd Weber. Lots of Christians have criticize this song because its questioning the divinity of Jesus Christ. Christians also viewed the opera as blasphemy.

The New York Times suggested on their paper that the song Carly Smithson performed was the reason whe was voted out. Online sites especially on the American Idol websitem lots of fans predicted that Smithson will be voted out because of her choice of song which eventually came true.