Britney sweeps at otherwise tame VMAs

By Kevork Djansezian (AP)

Russell Brand seemed a little out of place as the host at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Not because he\'s British or relatively unknown in America, as most of the chatter was about before Sunday night\'s show from Los Angeles.

It was because Brand injected the VMAs with blunt politics, self deprecation, unabashed sexuality, and, yes, plenty of off-color remarks.

Didn\'t he know where he was? The VMAs? In La-La Land?

No, this was no place to voice anything like an opinion on world affairs or joke about young Christian pop stars. This is a place to look cool and thank...

By Dan Steinberg (AP)

It took a year, but Britney Spears\' comeback on the MTV Video Music Awards is finally a reality.

Spears nabbed all three VMAs she was nominated for, including video of the year, and made triumphant appearance in an atttempt to erase the career-low of last year\'s ceremony.

Spears didn\'t perform. Still, just being there was enough for a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd long before she opened her mouth to get things rolling.

Maybe the audience was simply excited to see a glimpse of Britney looking fab once again. The rebounding pop queen wore a short silver...

By Dan Steinberg (AP)

Another year, another attempted comeback for Britney Spears at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The rebounding pop queen is hoping to complete a do-ever of sorts as she kicks off Sunday\'s awards ceremony, not with a performance, but with an appearance MTV Networks Music Group President Van Toffler has described as \"fun and unexpected.\"

If she manages to pull it off, Spears _ who is up for three awards, including video of the year for \"Piece of Me\" _ will come away with the most improved award after bombing in spectacular fashion at last year\'s festivities in Las Vegas....

By Kevork Djansezian (AP)

Chris Brown was tied to two of the hottest women at the MTV Video Music Awards: Rihanna and Britney Spears.

Brown, who won best male video for \"With You,\" wrote, \"Disturbia,\" the song his rumored girlfriend Rihanna performed to open Sunday\'s show. The 19-year-old singer-songwriter is also crafting tunes Spears may record, he said.

\"I actually wrote a couple songs for her now,\" Brown said, noting that Spears hadn\'t yet heard the new songs.

\"We\'re on the same label, so all the executives heard the records and they love the records, so hopefully she\'ll cut it,\"...

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody (AP)

Though the MTV Video Music Awards are the main event in town this weekend, some celebrities are satisfied enough with the side activities connected to the extravaganza.

\"I\'m not going to go to the awards, but I\'m going to some of the parties and stuff,\" said actress Taryn Manning as she picked up swag at the Verizon Wireless Samsung Style Villa, a gifting suite at the swank Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills Saturday. \"(There are) lot of creative people out, and lots of gifts, and all kinds of good stuff going on now.\"

Among those who turned out to get the good stuff were...

By Stephan Savoia (AP)

The banners, buttons and signs say McCain-Palin, but the crowds say something else.

\"Sa-rah! Pa-lin!\" came the chant at a Colorado Springs rally on Saturday moments before Republican nominee John McCain took the stage with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a woman who was virtually unknown to the nation just a week earlier. The day before, thousands screamed \"Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!\" at an amphitheater outside Detroit.

\"Real change with a real woman,\" read one sign at a Wisconsin rally. \"Hurricane Sarah leaves liberals spinning,\" cried another.

In the short time since...

By Mark Avery (AP)

Don\'t let the celebrities at a Jermaine Dupri party distract you from partying, or you might get an admonishment from the host himself.

\"At Jermaine Dupri parties, (people) don\'t stand around taking pictures,\" he said, in more colorful language, as some at his MTV Video Music Awards kickoff party focused their cameras on stars in the crowd Friday night. \"It\'s star-studded all around this (place).\"

The superproducer and sometime rapper threw the party, along with his Tag Records, to kick off the weekend of parties being held for Sunday\'s MTV VMAs and to promote the...

By Chris Pizzello (AP)

Britney Spears may not sing at MTV\'s Video Music Awards, but Christina Aguilera will.

Aguilera will join other top-name performers, including the Jonas Brothers, T.I., Pink, and Kid Rock, host Russell Brand announced Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on the backlot of the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Brand bantered with Aguilera, who emerged from a limousine, and rapper T.I., who shimmied down a fire escape on a street made to look like New York.

\"It\'s going to be, actually, bloody exciting,\" Brand said of the awards show, which will celebrate its 25th year on...

By Matt Sayles (AP)

America, meet Russell Brand.

In his native England, he\'s a comedy giant _ instantly identifiable by his Einstein-like tousle of black hair and formfitting, chest-baring, glam-rock clothes _ a television host and standup comic with his own radio show and weekly column in The Guardian. In the U.S., he\'s that British guy who was in the movie \"Forgetting Sarah Marshall.\"

But that all could change Sunday, when Brand hosts the MTV Video Music Awards _ the TV institution that lured millions of viewers with Britney Spears\' fumbled comeback last year and her fabled kiss with...

By Jae C. Hong (AP)

It\'s Britney, baby, one more time. Despite her train-wreck performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last year, the network confirms Spears will kick off the show once again. But it won\'t be a performance. Instead, MTV Networks Music Group President Van Toffler said Wednesday, it\'ll be something \"fun and unexpected\" on Sunday night\'s show.

Unexpected is probably the kindest way to describe Spears\' performance at last year\'s VMAs. In what was heavily promoted as the troubled singer\'s comeback, she instead gave an unfocused, almost unwatchable performance of \"Gimme More,\"...

By Jae C. Hong (AP)

A judge has refused to dismiss a misdemeanor driving-without-a-valid-license case against Britney Spears.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James A. Steele issued his ruling Wednesday after reviewing statutes cited by prosecutors and Spears\' attorney, J. Michael Flanagan.

The ruling means the singer may go on trial in October.

Flanagan argued Tuesday that prosecutors were targeting Spears because she\'s a celebrity. He said normally, people cited for similar offenses are ordered to pay a fine if they can produce a valid license.

The case is the last remnants of a...

By Jae C. Hong (AP)

It\'s Britney, baby, one more time.

Despite her train-wreck performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last year, the network confirms Spears will kick off the show once again.

But it won\'t be a performance. Instead, MTV Networks Music Group President Van Toffler said Wednesday, it\'ll be something \"fun and unexpected\" on Sunday night\'s show.

Unexpected is probably the kindest way to describe Spears\' performance at last year\'s VMAs. In what was heavily promoted as the troubled singer\'s comeback, she instead gave an unfocused, almost unwatchable performance of...

By Stephan Savoia (AP)

Rebecca Horvath was an undecided voter before the news broke about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her 17-year-old unmarried daughter\'s pregnancy.

The Tennessee mother of two is exactly the kind of voter who will decide this presidential election. And the news has not changed her views one iota.

\"This has nothing to do with the campaign,\" says Horvath, 32, who as both a woman and a self-described Reagan Democrat is in two groups being wooed in this fiercely contested race. \"That\'s been my thought from the beginning. Campaign issues are health care, education, the Iraq war _...