Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes may have shocked the world by divorcing quickly and seemingly amicably just days ago but Katie is still nervous that her daughter, Suri Cruise, could be in jeopardy of being kidnapped by some of Tom’s disgruntled Scientology thugs who are not happy about all the Scientology bashing that has taken place over the past two weeks.
The Globe magazine features a story this week that Suri has been in the middle of a kidnapping and brainwashing scandal that has only been narrowly avoided by the new detente between Tom and Katie. It’s not like Katie was imagining things. Scary dudes were following her around all over NYC (although they naturally denied it) and most defectors of Scientology have said brainwashing is the name of the game in the church-affiliated school that Tom wanted to send Suri to.
Tom Cruise is a God in the Scientology world, and Suri, it’s little princess. I’m sure a lot of avid followers are having a tough time acknowledging that Katie won primary custody in the divorce settlement and would love some payback. It’s not like Scientologists are known for being warm and fuzzy when things don’t go their way. I’m telling you. Read the Paul Haggis Scientology article in The new York Times. It’s eye-opening! although the particulars are private, and we may never know for sure who was awarded what, rumors abound that Katie won the right to keep Suri in NYC and she will attend a normal primary school this Fall. no auditing for her! Also, I heard that Katie wants a full-time nanny that will accompany Suri when she visits her dad. She’s not there to spy but she is supposed to make sure the crazy talk is at a minimum. Tom apparently agreed to all of this while Suri remains young, however, the religion question is fair game when she gets older. That sounds fair. Hopefully, Suri is confident and smart enough to not fall for Scientology’s method of preying on the weak and confused and she can come to terms with her looney tunes father like the rest of us have.
What do you make of the Globe’s kidnapping story? do you think Suri is out of harm’s way or should Katie keep her guarded for awhile until the divorce calms down?
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A crowd of casual, nondescript white-shirted people hovered near the entrance of the dark-bricked Webster Hall on Tuesday afternoon, taking a break from this summer’s New Music Seminar. Leaning casually against the wrought-iron fence chatting were teenaged singers Christina Grimmie, her long brown hair dyed red, and Charity Vance, a classic Southern sweetheart with blonde hair and green eyes. the two have a combined 1.6 million fans on YouTube.
The New Music Seminar is a festival and conference celebrating new artists. the seminar portion of the event gives producers, writers and musicians including Sean Parker, Wyclef Jean and Andrew WK the opportunity to discuss and learn about the music making process. at night, the young and upcoming stars spread across the city to perform.
For its inaugural effort, the conference brought 150 artists to perform in 17 different venues. it also rounded up four YouTube stars for its main show on Monday night. the headliners were Ms. Grimmie; Ms. Vance; smiley heartthrob Tyler Ward; and the tall, surnameless singer-guitarist Noah.
So what’s it take to be YouTube-famous? Betabeat had the opportunity to chat with each of these four young stars.
Christina Grimmie, also known by her Youtube account name zeldaxlove64, rose to fame with her collaboration with fellow YouTube singer Sam Tsui on Nelly’s “Just a Dream.” Her star rose even further with her cover of “Party in the USA.” Ms. Grimmie, who was homeschooled, has already produced an album, find me. she is currently working on her second album. Last year, her fans voted her up to sing “Higher” with Taio Cruz at the Coca Cola Red Carpet Live. “I’ve never been to anywhere super official like this,” Ms. Grimmie told Betabeat. “And it’s a really big deal for me to be here and even asked to perform.”
On writing her own music:I’m gonna wean off of doing the covers, not to upset people, not to lose fans, but when you’re an artist and you know it, you don’t want to be known forever as “that cover girl on YouTube.”
On jamming with YouTubers IRL:me and Noah and Charity actually went up in this little hotel room and we were jamming for a while. You don’t know how good it feels to just jam with people that share the same passion that I do, so yeah we’ve been bonding and hanging out. They’re not intimidating people, they’re not ego-driven people. when I find people like that who share the same passion as me, they’re automatically my friends.
On hobbies:aside from gaming, I always kinda liked to draw, and I can only draw if I’m looking at something, but…what I would like to do—and it sounds really weird, and out there, and random—is I like to design video game maps, and not just because they’re video games, but because I have a weird thing with structures for maps, for games like, role playing games and things like that. (Giggles) so lame!
When I was young, I set up Beanie Babies. We had so many, me and my brother. I would set up the furniture, and one would be the castle and one day I’d be locked in a cage and you would have to go up to him and save him and that would be like a side quest for a game, I would love to build the maps around it and the shops and…I don’t know! It’s so random!
Not that kids don’t have that in them, but I still have that in me, like I will still do that, that’s still fun to me. Kinda like Barbies…I’m not gonna lie, me and my friends there we broke out the Barbies two years ago and played Barbies. I’m sorry. they were great.
You can’t get rid of [toys]. they have little faces, they’re like “No, Christina don’t leave me.”
On trolls and haters:I’m not gonna lie, it really, really upset me at one point. I was maybe a year into my videos. People would throw out the jokes and they would think it’s funny, whether it’s how I look or how I sound at this amount of seconds. It’s so stupid and cliché, but you’ve got to look past and
On the fans:I invited them a month, I think, in advance. Team Grimmie was really there [Monday] night. it was so amazing!
It’s funny how many people have my pouf haircut. I love seeing people like that. there was literally a mini-me last night. she was yea high (gestures around her shoulder) and she had my same old hair and Zelda shirt and my shoes that I always where. I’m like, “You are like me, it’s so funny!” I love how people really engage in my personal life. some people call that copying. I call that being a true fan.
It took some work, but we sussed out Noah’s last name: It’s Guthrie. the South Carolina crooner has over nine million views on YouTube for his bluesy cover of LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It.” Mr. Guthrie was in New York recently for a stint on the Today show, and but a few weeks later he was invited back to the city for the Gramercy Theater concert. He is currently working on a new album in Los Angeles.
On being from South Carolina:Everyone’s like, “So where are you from?” “South Carolina.” “Aw yeah that’s what I thought.” I was like, “What does that even mean?”
On his LMFAO cover:I did that cover to myself as a joke and thought people would like it, and apparently they did and it slingshot a bunch of stuff into motion. It’s been kind of a whirlwind. I’ve been getting calls for shows and executives and big wigs and whatnot (I just said what not), but it’s been crazy and I’ve got a lot of attention.
On fame:It’s been kinda weird. It’s funny though because in your hometown, no matter how big you are, more people know you there but less people know of you. I could walk into one room in my hometown and everybody’d just be like, “Oh man, hey what’s up, yeah you did this thing!” and then I walk into another room 10 minutes later and it’ll be like, “Uh, what are you doing? get out.”
I don’t know why but it’s always at the bank. I always go to the bank and they’re like, “Hey you’re that guy!” I’m like, “Well, you’ve been my teller for like a year.”
So now I matter. I don’t know. Gained some friends, lost a few, and it’s been interesting.
Tyler I just met last night. I used to—and I still do, kinda, just because it’s funny—I put out a new video…and he’s really good, and he’s very good at production, that’s kinda what I envy him for, and I’ll put out a video, and just be like, “All right, this is out…what’s Tyler doing? Where’s his new video, I wanna see it.” and it always just trumps mine. I met him and I was very happy to know that he’s a very nice person, he’s very humble and just an awesome, generous and genuine person.
I just met Charity. I’ve seen her on YouTube but I saw her perform last night for the first time and her songs are great, and she’s awesome. Really excited to maybe work with her in the future.
On going to college:I’m taking a year-ish off, maybe half a year. I’m really interested in Berkelee Boston and their online program, but there’s also the problem of getting into Berklee. I would really love to do their online program for music business or something and I could just take it on the road. But yeah, I definitely want the higher education.
Would you ever get plastic surgery to look better on a webcam? We heard that’s a thing now.Ooh that’s a little intense. the thing I do is dieting; it’s just my thing. It’s been a personal goal of mine since I was younger. I’ve struggled with it my whole life, but I would never go to that extreme [of plastic surgery].
YouTube followers: 3,638Age: 19Mistaken for a staff member by another reporter outside Webster Hall, Ms. Vance did not bother to correct the man and instead directed him inside to ask for passes. the Arkansas native was on Season nine of American Idol. she is prolific in her performances in Nashville, and has already come out with an album, titled Charity Vance. Her new EP, “Let’s Pretend,” came out on June 4.
On panels:I’ve been through a ton of panels. I’ve got to see and hear really, really incredible writers that I look up to talk about experiences, different ways they cowrite and just hear how they’ve made it and what their take is on the industry. I got to go to the YouTube panel and hear Noah speak.
On the fans and the haters:I do have a lot of love on YouTube and on the social networks, but there’s one comment I got in particular that really warmed me and was awesome. it said something like, “This girl’s got something great, even her haters know it.”
I read every single comment, I answer as many as I can. the tweets get sent to my phone as text messages. It’s an honor to talk to [the fans].
I just had a new EP come out, an acoustic EP (Let’s Pretend). I love these songs, they really mean a lot to me, and it’s acoustic, so it’s very intimate. I’ve been getting great reviews from the fans and some of the music blogs too.
On how to become a YouTube star:just let it be a fun thing, let it be a passion of yours. Don’t change yourself. We need to see people that are big being relatable. I look up to Christina—I’m a little bit older than Christina. I look up to Noah. it doesn’t matter—age—on YouTube, it doesn’t matter anything. just put it up if you like it. I really think it’s an awesome way to have fun, make friends and make fun videos that you love.
YouTube followers: 920, 211Age: Censored by publicist, but has graduated college.
Mr. Ward works with two producers—Michael Gene Binder, who has produced over 100 albums, and Jeremy McCoy, who toured with the Fray, OneRepublic and Kelly Clarkson. once a football player at the United States Air Force Academy, he now has a reputation as a prominent local artist in Colorado and a national one who has played with the Jonas Brothers, Augustana and others.
On fame:[Some people] come out and ask me for favors, and it gets really really old. My friends, though, have been really supportive, and that’s great.
[The ones that ask are] just being like, “Hey, can I have a sponsorship for these guitars?” or “Hey can you get me a guitar for free?” I’m like, “No.” It’s just really annoying.
On fans and trolls:This is crazy to think about, but I did not know I was playing a show at all. We actually had this gig, and I remembered that I had to go to New York to play it. I got in and just went on Facebook and was like, “Hey! There’s this show.” there weren’t many people there but there was just like a handful of fans that came out to say hi. within in a two-hour period [since the Facebook post], it was pretty cool.
People who are really negative, you just brush off your shoulder. they troll and then the true fans call back and then the person feels like an idiot afterwards. My fans take care of me.
On those muscles:I really love working out. There’s this program called Insanity, and it’s like really, really intense and I do that for fun. I know that it’s really hard. I was touring and I was kinda getting out of shape, and so I did it.
On collaborations:I worked with Cody Simpson recently. Mostly though I’m just planning to do my original album. There’s a guy on YouTube named Trafik, and we’re going get together and do something soon.
On Broadway:I wanted to see the Book of Mormon, but when I went it was sold out. I’m going to go again when I come back on my tour early in December.
On how to be big on YouTube:find something you’re really good at, and work hard at it, and be smart about it. That’s the best advice to give. I think.
On being a YouTube star:It’s a full time job, and supports your living, which is awesome. You have fans all over world that like what you do.
Kim Kardashian may not flex her Spanish skills often, but her famous curves have no problem translating across cultures!
On the cover of Esquire Latin America, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star shows off her flawless and bronzed body in a criss-cross black monokini that is so low-cut, she appears to be on the brink of a major nip slip.
To share her sexy men’s magazine cover with her fans, the 31-year-old wrote on her blog Friday, “Hey dolls!! I want to share my new Esquire Latin America cover, shot by the amazing John Russo, with you all! huge thanks to Charlene Roxbourough for styling, Richard Martin for creating my glam hair look and Lauren Anderson for the gorgeous makeup. I love this shoot and can’t wait for you guys to see the inside! Xo.”
The nipple-grazing swimsuit isn’t the only racy attire her fans have seen the E! star working this week. on Thursday, she posted a pic of her wearing a black thong, knee-high leather boots and a fringe jacket to her blog to celebrate reaching 2 million followers on Instagram.
“Thanks to all you 2 million sexy beasts out there for following me on Instagram! so here’s a little present of me in full on beast mode! LOL,” she wrote alongside the photo, in which she’s kneeling down on all fours.
A lot has been said lately about Facebook and how its stock has been a real dog. Perhaps that’s only fitting, given that Facebook has seemingly gone to the dogs because there are lots of pooches with pages. Facebook founder mark Zuckerberg’s dog has his own page, and a Pomeranian named Boo has 1.3 million followers. I am not one of them. however, through a friend of the family, I did become a Facebook follower of a dog.
Late in 2010, Jennifer began sharing the story of a soldier stationed in Afghanistan. during his deployment, the Army sergeant was befriended by a mangy but always friendly dog. the pup looked to be severely malnourished and sadly was missing most of his nose, apparently from abuse or as a product of the ongoing conflict.
The sergeant would hear the dog sneezing despite the absence of a nose. the soldier and the dog became quick friends, and the sergeant searched and hoped for a way to send the dog to the states for needed medical treatment and a life of love.
Jennifer took on Sgt. Sneezy — as he became known — as a personal mission and began telling his story through a Facebook page. stories of Sneezy’s plight spread, and donations began pouring into Puppy Rescue Mission, an organization that assists animal refugees of war.
Thanks to those donations, Sneezy received veterinary care in Kabul, gaining enough strength to travel to America. Jennifer agreed to care for Sneezy until the soldier’s deployment was over and arranged for the intense care he would need once in the states. Within months, the necessary money was donated; Sneezy arrived in Maine and began weeks of further medical procedures — including a sort of plastic surgery to rebuild his nose.
Sneezy became Americanized. he developed a taste for hot dogs and French fries and his own personality showed, especially on Facebook. he claimed he posted updates from his Barkberry phone, although I have a hunch Jennifer was behind it all. Sneezy would tell funny stories and comment (in true social media form) with LMTO (for laughing my tail off) and BOL (bark out loud, the canine equivalent of LOL).
He shared adventures, exploits and encounters, always bringing a laugh, a smile and making new friends. Isn’t that what dogs are supposed to do?
Recently, however, Jennifer, the sergeant and Sneezy reported that treatments to battle a persistent infection in Sneezy’s nose had taken their toll. Comparing the medicine’s strength to that of chemotherapy, they shared that the treatments were doing more harm than good, and Sgt. Sneezy was, in a word, suffering. he was put to sleep just a couple of weeks ago. the news brought a flood of comments and condolences from across the country. many followers, including this one, shed a tear or two.
Yet, his impact continues. his Facebook page still attracts visitors and a new page, “Sneezy’s Angels,” was established by a group of fans to assist other animals in need. he posthumously has been nominated for an American Kennel honor for life-changing dogs.
I know that some will say raising money to bring a dog “home” from Afghanistan, fixing his nose and putting him on Facebook was a waste of time and money. Yet I would point to the 4,300 people who were his Facebook friends and who were touched by his story as well as the attention he brought to animal cruelty prevention efforts and to all of us who learned from Sneezy that it is OK to look different and be different than those around us.
“we had to cancel the concert in Indonesia,” the 26-year-old pop diva tweeted to her followers Sunday night after promoters acknowledged concerns about her own safety and that of her “Little Monster” fans if the show went ahead.
“I’m so very sorry to the fans & just as devastated as you if not more,” she wrote. “you are everything to me.”
Indonesia, a secular nation of 240 million, is often held up by the U.S. and others an example of how democracy and Islam and can coexist. In many ways they are right. Since emerging from dictatorship just over a decade ago, sweeping reforms have resulted in direct elections, while vastly improving human rights and freeing up the media.
But a small extremist fringe has become more vocal — and violent — in recent years, attacking Christians and members of other religious minorities, transvestites, atheists and anyone else deemed immoral.
The most notorious, the Islamic Defenders Front, said Lady Gaga’s sexy clothes and provocative dance moves would corrupt the youth. they vowed to turn out at the airport by the thousands if Lady Gaga arrived. Others said they bought tickets so they could wreak havoc from inside the 52,000-seat stadium in the capital, Jakarta.
Police responded by denying the necessary permits. then, after public outcry, they said they’d reconsider — but only if Lady Gaga agreed to tone down her act.
Instead, she pulled the plug on what was supposed to be the biggest stop on her Asian tour.
Michael Rusli, head of Big Daddy, promised “Little Monster” fans full refunds.
But that provided little consolation to people like 25-year-old Johnny Purba.
“This only shows to the world how weak security forces are in this country, how police are afraid of a bunch of hard-liners,” he said.
“Gaga’s two-hour show will not hurt Indonesian Muslims. for God’s sake, she is not a terrorist!”
Hard-liners, however, were ecstatic.
“This is a victory for Indonesian Muslims,” said Salim Alatas, one of the leaders of the Islamic Defenders Front. “thanks to God for protecting us from a kind of devil.”
The Young Money first lady returns to Twitter just two weeks after giving her 11 million followers the deuces
“*salutes the nation of Pinkslam* *hugs the barbz* *kisses the barbz*,” Nicki Minaj sends out her first Tweet.
“State of the Union: dear Barbz, our nation will not be fully reinstated to 11 million for another few days as per @twitter. It takes time,” she added.
In a recent interview with the UK Guardian, Nicki Minaj was asked about the naturalness of her body parts, and that almost did not go well.
This is what the Guardian interviewer has to say:
“she refuses to talk about her body these days and looks aghast if it’s suggested anything might have been worked on.
“Your teeth are beautiful,” I say.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Are they natural?”
She gives me a ferocious stare “Are your teeth natural?” she replies.
“You can tell they are,” I say. “They’re disgusting.”
Jersey Shore‘s Deena Nicole Cortese debuted a new look at MTV’s Spring break party last week and the self-proclaimed “blast in a glass” have been facing rumors of undergoing plastic surgery ever since. Deena, who had a nose job years ago, took to Twitter to deny speculations of recently receiving more surgery, telling her Twitter followers that her new look is due to a combination of dieting and a new makeup regime.
Do you think Deena recent went under the knife? We took to our Facebook to hear what you had to say on the matter!
Many Celebuzz reader thought the Jersey Shore meatball received facial injections rather than actual surgery.
Delisa R. said: She looks like she got a lot of injectables.
Elizabeth S. said: its so obvious she did something (alot of something) she looks gross now
Barbara R. said: She looks like she as a mask on. She got work done you can tell. whoever did it isn’t that good.
Marisol M. said: she definetely got injectables on her face, cheeks & lips plus possible rhinoplasty…maybe even a forehead lift
Leighanne G. said: She got botox or something!
Amy Z. said: She definitely had work done…I’m not even going to get into her awful makeup!
Jeff L. said: I agree, she looks puffy.
Dominique V. said: yes and no…no surgery but mass botox and fillers!!!
Erika G. said: They don’t consider injectables “surgery” so she’s not lying! *wink*
However, a few readers also sided with Deena.
Tattiana W. said: its called makeup!!
Jennifer V. said: I think the only thing different is her hair color and makeup, she still looks the same to me.
Amanda Z. said: She just looks skinner
Lisa Y. said: it looks like a makeup change to me, and a weird expression.
Botox or not, there’s one addition to Deena that every one can agree on! On Thursday, the starlet showed off her new teeth to fans. She tweeted before and after photos, adding:
We know what you’re saying. what? Kim Kardashian plastic surgery? Ass implants!? yes, a Kardashian sister is getting plastic surgery, but it seems it’s not Kim.
One of the Kardashian sisters has claimed on micro-blogging website Twitter that she has purchased an ass for herself. no it’s not Kim we’re talking about, it’s the eldest and the shortest of the bunch Kourtney.
Maybe Kourtney has gotten jealous of all the attention that Kim’s plummy butt gets so she is thinking of getting an artificial one too. Afterall, It must not be easy getting overshadowed by a sister’s big booty.
Don’t worry though. if you thought a Kim Kardashian plastic surgery was obvious because of her too-good-to-be-true curves — you’re right. Actually, all the Kardashian sisters have had breast augmentation or implants so it shouldn’t be a complete shocker if Kourtney has actually went under the knife to enlarge her buttocks.
But then she could also be acting silly with her Twitter followers when she wrote: “I forgot to share some ultra exciting news!! I bought myself an ass! Its so wonderful and plump. My life is now complete!”
Let’s decipher that cryptic tweet of hers. The attention-deprived Kourtney could also be trying to create something controversial to get people to notice her or she may have discovered a new way to get your butt bigger without getting the implants. perhaps something like a clothed padding?
One of her followers misunderstood her tweet and commented that she already possess a good enough ass in her husband Scott Disick but he/she didn’t get a retweet or a reply from the celebutante.
Oh well, we know all you Kardashian fans may be fans of the Kim Kardashian plastic surgery as well as her two sisters. and let’s face it, if Kourtney wants a bigger butt, then whose to stop her?
Beauty is big business. Everyone wants to look their best and cosmetic companies and plastic surgeons are making billions of dollars each year off of consumers’ desire to look pretty, and thanks to social media the industry is bigger than ever. A new infographic from Schoenheitsklinik.de shows how social media is bringing money to the beauty industry like never before.the infographic, Social Media Beauty, reveals some interesting statistics about how social media has shaped (and continues to shape) the beauty industry. For instance, did you know that blogs are two times more likely to drive product purchases than magazine ads? Or that last year 42 percent of patients found information about plastic surgery from Facebook and Twitter?
The infographic also ranks the top names in the beauty industry on Facebook and Twitter. the top 5 beauty brands on Facebook (Dolce & Gabbana, MAC Cosmetics, Sephora, Maybelline, and L’Oreal Paris USA) all have over 1 million fans, beauty brands also have massive amounts of followers on Twitter and millions of views on YouTube.
Check out the infographic below to find out more and let us know what you think. have you turned to social media for information about beauty?
Megan O’Neill is the resident web video enthusiast here at Social Times. Megan covers everything from the latest viral videos to online video news and tips, and has a passion for bizarre, original and revolutionary content and ideas.
Beauty is big business. Everyone wants to look their best and cosmetic companies and plastic surgeons are making billions of dollars each year off of consumers’ desire to look pretty, and thanks to social media the industry is bigger than ever. A new infographic from 
Megan O’Neill