In the wake of Brett Ratner’s resignation from his producing role in next year’s Oscars, the show’s host, Eddie Murphy, has ALSO backed out! Ratner recruited Murphy to host the award show. Super producer Brian Grazer has been brought in as Ratner’s replacement, but right now as far as Eddie’s replacement goes, your guess is as good as mine!

It was only a matter of time before Bernie Madoff’s story got the Hollywood treatment. And since he ran the biggest scam in history, it makes sense that one of the biggest stars in the world would play him. Robert De Niro will be taking on the role of the infamous Ponzi schemer in HBO’s film adaptation of the book ‘Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family’.

The latest Call of Duty game – “Modern Warfare 3″ – went on sale at midnight, met by huge lineups everywhere. The last game in the series, “Black Ops”, generated a BILLION dollars in sales within the first 6 weeks of its release. It’s expected that Modern Warfare 3 will sell 20 million copies before year’s end.

No Fine For

It’s been seven years since nipplegate and I’m happy to report the matter has finally been closed. The FCC filed an appeal in 2008 to force CBS to pay a $550,000 fine for the incident that gave the largest audience in the US a brief glance of Janet Jackson’s nipple. The Supreme Court ruled CBS would not have to pay.

If you’re a record collector, this will make you drool. A rare Beatles sleeve, which features the faces of music executives in place of the band, has been named the world’s rarest. The adapted album cover was created in 1967 to celebrate the success of the record and has been valued at over $100,000.

Kim Kardashian wasn’t even married for as long as most people wait between teeth cleanings but she’s insisting that she married for love and that it was NOT one big PR stunt that many believe. In a blog post on her website, Kim explained, she said “I do” to Kris Humphries with the hope of building a future together. So much for that!

Rumblings of a biopic about adult film star Linda Lovelace have been circulating in Hollywood for years but it sounds like one version may be close to production. And the producers have found their star. Amanda Seyfried is being considered to replace Kate Hudson as the Deep Throat star opposite Peter Saarsgard who will play Lovelace’s abusive porn star husband Chuck Traynor.

Charlie Sheen has found a new TV home on FX! The cable channel has picked up Anger Management, a show based on the 2003 movie starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. Sheen will play Nicholson’s character. FX has ordered ten episodes of the new program, with an agreement for another NINETY if the first ten do well in the ratings.

After 2 days of talks in Geneva, the US and North Korea have been unable to come to an agreement on resuming stalled negotiations on the North’s nuclear program. Pyongyang has been pushing for six-party talks to resume with no pre-conditions. The US first wants North Korea to commit to disarm. Talks initially broke down two and a half years ago when North Korea walked out – shortly before testing their second nuclear weapon.

Will Ferrell has come a long way from banging a cowbell on Saturday Night Live. Ferrell put on a tux and his best George W. impression to accept the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The award is considered the highest honor in comedy and was given to Ferrell for co-founding popular website Funny or Die.

Lindsay Lohan has finally agreed to do Playboy! Hef’s people have been hounding Lindsay for years but apparently it was her people that approached him this time around. Lindsay demanded a million dollars to strip down for the magazine and Playboy agreed! Rumor has it the shoot already took place. We’ll let you know when it hits newsstands!k let