Britney Spears

"I made a mistake and so it is what it is, I guess." Britney Spears, who was photographed driving with her 4-month-old son on her lap. AP quoting "Access Hollywood"

Three weeks in and we're almost done with the auditions. We've seen it all -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's always been entertaining though. On this episode, we heard from two Maryland contestants. One made a lasting impression and the other ... not so much. More on that later.  We started off with Britney playing pranks on the assistant. She asked for a straw hat (for no reason) and a crown (for no reason.) She's so crazy! The auditions kicked of back in Providence, Rhode Island.

Three weeks in and we're almost done with the auditions. We've seen it all -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's always been entertaining though. On this episode, we heard from two Maryland contestants. One made a lasting impression and the other ... not so much. More on that later.  We started off with Britney playing pranks on the assistant. She asked for a straw hat (for no reason) and a crown (for no reason.) She's so crazy! The auditions kicked of back in Providence, Rhode Island.

Which songs are you dying to hear - and which are played out? Z104.3's Jackson Blue weighs in with his handy Heat Meter. Gettin' hot: “I Wanna Go,” Britney Spears Britney gave DJ Pauly D, who is now opening for her tour, a lap dance last Thursday night at her Montreal date. This song is on fire. Warming up: “Cheers,” Rihanna Last week, pictures surfaced of Rihanna giving a lap dance to a 60-year-old man while in concert in Barbados. This song is catching fire.

Pop fans, who are you going to see on Sunday, Britney Spears or Dolly Parton? The dueling concerts on Sunday - Dolly's at the Wolf Trap ; Britney's at the Verizon Center - are like a rare lunar event, a diva showtown that pits fans of both to pick one over the other. On one corner, you have Dolly, who's been wearing tacky, sequined gowns for four decades now. And on the other corner is Britney, an upstart in comparison who's only been wearing the (often medicated)

This space has been sorely missing pop posts, so let's start Wednesday with an Apocalypse-Fun face-melter — Britney Spears' new video, "Till the World Ends. " Spears' comeback hasn't been earth-shaking, but it has been sneakily effective, thanks to the surgeon-precise hands behind the boards (Dr. Luke and Max Martin did this song and the excellent, dubstep-informed "Hold It Against Me"). And "Till the World Ends" adds Ke$ha (as a songwriter) into the fold, a star whose sleazy persona chips away at good taste until you realize she's the reason the party feels so right.

It truly was a bizarre Saturday in college football. By now, you may have heard about ESPN announcer Mike Patrick's verbal meanderings about Britney Spears at a key juncture of the Georgia-Alabama game that went into overtime. Meanwhile, poor former Penn State quarterback Todd Blackledge, who was Patrick's broadcast partner, acted as if he were blindsided by the Michigan defense. "Who?" said a stunned Blackledge when Patrick brought up "Britney" out of the clear blue. As Patrick continued on the Spears tangent, Blackledge asked, "Is she here?"

And so, here we are, back at work, chopping through another year of insincerity and silliness. And I refer only to the political landscape of the next 12 months! This year began with the controversial and pathetic Britney Spears strapped onto a stretcher and put under lockdown in a mental-health facility - a boon to TMZ, Perez Hilton and gossip mongering everywhere. Already we've seen the sudden - perhaps temporary - setback of Hillary Rodham Clinton, her presidential campaign of experience and inevitability swept away by Barack Obama's youth, energy, his call for "change" and the promise of a truly transforming moment in America's history - a man of color leading our nation.

First lady Kendel S. Ehrlich says she "inadvertently" quipped during a speech that she would like to shoot pop diva Britney Spears, but is standing by her sentiment that the navel-baring temptress is a poor role model for children. Ehrlich singled out Spears during remarks Friday at a conference on preventing domestic violence sponsored by the Frederick County state's attorney's office. In her speech, Ehrlich said that some domestic violence could be prevented if women were able to shake their dependence on abusive men and were better prepared to care for themselves and their children on their own. The entertainment industry, she said, does a poor job of portraying women as independent figures.

Some subjects, simply, may not make a good movie. Auto racing may be one of them. Certainly there are many more flops than hits. Even the good ones aren't liked by everyone. But that didn't stop actor Tom Cruise from trying and failing. It didn't stop Sylvester Stallone last year. How many open wheel fans who saw Driven left the theater crying or laughing wildly? But now, apparently, the failure of others won't stop Britney Spears and NASCAR. Yes, Britney Spears. The pop star and the sanctioning body have signed an exclusive agreement to develop and produce a dramatic feature film to tell the fictional story of the daughter of a successful, modern day NASCAR team owner.

Pop fans, who are you going to see on Sunday, Britney Spears or Dolly Parton? The dueling concerts on Sunday - Dolly's at the Wolf Trap ; Britney's at the Verizon Center - are like a rare lunar event, a diva showtown that pits fans of both to pick one over the other. On one corner, you have Dolly, who's been wearing tacky, sequined gowns for four decades now. And on the other corner is Britney, an upstart in comparison who's only been wearing the (often medicated)

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation National • "Days, not weeks": U.S. drones now launching attacks in Libya . (CNN)  • An epic showdown: Jerry Seinfeld vs. Donald Trump . (NY Post)  • An epic showdown, Part II: Mike Huckabee  vs. Glenn Beck . (Mediaite)  • Now that's an interview: Donald Trumps seeks campaign advice during interview with John McCain's daughte r. (Daily Beast)

This space has been sorely missing pop posts, so let's start Wednesday with an Apocalypse-Fun face-melter — Britney Spears' new video, "Till the World Ends. " Spears' comeback hasn't been earth-shaking, but it has been sneakily effective, thanks to the surgeon-precise hands behind the boards (Dr. Luke and Max Martin did this song and the excellent, dubstep-informed "Hold It Against Me"). And "Till the World Ends" adds Ke$ha (as a songwriter) into the fold, a star whose sleazy persona chips away at good taste until you realize she's the reason the party feels so right.

Michael Jackson had it all as a pop star - catchy beats, an unmistakable voice, inimitable dance moves and a distinctive look. But he also had it all when it came to celebrity dysfunction. In his 50 years, he managed to embody virtually all the tropes of weird celebrity that dominate the tabloids. To wit: * Preternatural child stardom. You've got your demanding stage parents and a performer who is at once sweet and innocent and mature beyond his years. Think of him as an early JonBenet Ramsey.

Spears' 'Circus' tour may go Down Under Britney Spears might take her Circus act to Australia. Attorneys for the pop singer, 27, and her father and conservator, James Spears, discussed during a recent hearing expanding her current Circus tour to include dates in Australia and Europe. Another hearing was set for Tuesday. Arraignment delay A Los Angeles court official has delayed the arraignment of Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer-turned-boyfriend and a psychiatrist who treated the former model.

We're about to finish up a year that included a riveting and historic presidential election and the gravest economic crisis in decades. And the top search term on Yahoo for 2008: Britney Spears. Just like in 2007. And in 2006. And in 2005. If the year-end search list is a measure of our collective digital brain, what does it say that our MRI keeps reading "Britney"? During the past year, the 27-year-old tormented pop star was hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation, settled child custody with her ex-husband, made a documentary about herself and released a song that quickly became the most downloaded by a female artist.

First lady Kendel Ehrlich could eclipse the growing furor about a comment that she would like to "shoot" sexy pop idol Britney Spears with a happier pronouncement - that she is pregnant with the first family's second child. Speculation about Kendel Ehrlich's pregnancy coursed through the State House yesterday with almost as much vigor as the first lady's comments about Spears. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s staff put out word that a major announcement was expected tonight at a fashion show fund-raiser at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Can Britney Spears have her cheesecake and eat it, too? On Britney, her new album released yesterday, she takes a different, more mature tack from her first two blockbusters, which have sold a combined total of more than 20 million copies, largely to pop music's youngest fans. On it, she writes some of her first songs, documenting her transition from teen star to grown-up entertainer. "Actually, this album is the first album that I've ever really written on," Spears told reporters in a teleconference.

There's probably little Britney Spears can do to reverse the damage done to her image. The glorious, teasingly sexy bubble in which she floated a decade ago has long since burst. Her madhouse life, as covered by the ravenous pop press, has all but obliterated Spears' relevance as a recording star. Last year was especially rough for the former teen-pop phenom. Not long after her fumbling lip-sync performance of "Gimme More" on the MTV Video Music Awards, she was institutionalized and lost custody of her baby boys.