Edward Opinaldo

Ah, the lives and loves of Carrie Underwood are fascinating no? Well, though she does like to keep her personal life under wraps, one thing she is making very clear is that she is definitely a girl that goes for the athletic type. Her most recent public relationship was a brief tete a tete with hunky football player Tony Romo, and I do believe her manicure dried before that one went anywhere, at which point she passed off her leftovers to pop rival Jessica Simpson. This time however, Carrie has taken her affections to the ice rink, and getting to know an all new sport, and an all new pro-athlete. Carrie’s new squeeze is NHL’s Ottawa Senators player Mike Fisher, and though we aren’t sure how they met or how long this has been going on, they have definitely made this a public relationship at this point. Carrie was recently spotted enjoying some time in the Great White North of Canada in Ottawa to cheer on her Senators player. And yes, the meet the parents step has already been accomplished, so this is one relationship that has the ‘getting serious’ markers all over it. Carrie has been officially seen with Mike Fisher since January, but this is the first true big step in their relationship. Carrie spent the last weekend in Canada in Ottawa, where she went out to dinner with Mike and his parents at an upscale Italian restaurant in the Kanata area of Ottawa. After the dinner, Carrie went to the luxe box with his parents and some friends in the Scotiabank Center to watch her man strut his stuff on the ice. Sadly however, Carrie wasn’t exactly Mike’s rabbit foot as the Senators lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in an overtime game leading to a 4-3 loss. While in Ottawa, Carrie and Mike spent some time shopping at the elite Rideau Center, an upscale mall in downtown Ottawa. And Mike is not just a great athlete, looks like he is a great boyfriend as well, where he dutifully spent some time with Carrie at Sephora and BCBG. And the manager of BCBG, Paula Khoury was only too happy to report her honest opinion of the happy couple:

“They looked very in love. She’s very tiny and he’s very tall, but they looked good together and very smitten.”

Ah yes, once again, love is grand. And for this country sweetheart, we hope this one sticks, because who DOESN’T love to see Carrie Underwood smile?

Darla Khazei, PacificCoastNews.com

Britney’s long awaited comeback tour has finally kicked off in New Orleans the other night, and by all accounts, Britney delivered much more than many were expecting. Britney held a dress rehearsal at the New Orleans Arena on Monday night for a small group of 150 fans and all those in attendance were much more wowed than even they were hoping. Libby Davis, of Baton Rouge radio station WFMF who gave away tickets to the rehearsal said that even for a handful of fans Britney performed as if she were in front of a crowd of thousands. And for those that have been a little critical of her shape and figure, Britney has given no reason to continue the criticism as she showed off a body to die for. Davis reported that her arm and leg muscles even could be seen from where they were sitting, and that the scanty costumes designed for the show were enough to showcase just how sexy she is, while at the same time adding pomp and circumstance to the show’s entirety. The best descriptor of the show is ‘Cirque du Soleil Meets Moulin Rouge’ so for those of you with tickets to her Circus tour, know that you will be in for quite a showing. The dress rehearsal was intended for family and friends and a select few lucky fans that won tickets to the show, and the crowd was chanting loud and large to the tune of ‘Britney Britney Britney we support you!’ And Britney was all about being professional described Libby:

“She put on the entire show as if it were a full house. She catered to us. She even stopped during ‘Womanizer’ because she realized we couldn’t see her. She said, ‘Let’s do it over.’ ”

And, if you are acting as Britney’s manager these days, then you are sitting kinda pretty as she is returning back to her cash in the bank status. Britney’s manager, Larry Rudolph recently spoke with Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS FM Radio Show about the tour expectations, and he said that this will be a full out, full blown, Britney Spears show. He chalked all of Britney’s comeback success to her two children, Preston (3) and Jayden (2) who give her the strength and inspiration she needed to climb her way back up to the top of the charts. As far as her fans are concerned, it doesn’t seem to really matter what got her back there, the point being that she got back at all. This may go down as one of the biggest comebacks in American pop culture history, and well, if anybody is going to do that, it will be Britney.

Juan Soliz, PacificCoastNews.com

Well this is one that is definitely a shocker. But it sounds like Rihanna has given the nasty Chris Brown another chance. Could this mean another chance for him to beat her senseless? That seems to be the impression that the rest of the world is taking, and her parents, not so surprisingly, are not taking the news well. A source close to the couple are saying that yes, they are together again because they really care about each other. Chris has been ‘reflective’ and is really sad about what happened, but is happy to be back with the woman that he loves. The ‘happy reunion’ came last week when Chris called Rihanna on her 21st birthday to send his well wishes. And I guess old feelings die hard, because this led to their re-coupling and giving the relationship another kick at the can. Naturally, everyone in Rihanna’s corner wouldn’t mind it if a little more time passed before they took this leap, or if they just didn’t take the leap at all. But the couple seems to be doing what they want to do, rather than heeding too much to other people’s opinions. The hardest part about this for Rihanna’s family is that this highly publicized situation was not the first for Rihanna, and that Chris has a history of bullying her around a little bit. Like everyone, Rihanna’s family figured that this abuse situation would seal the deal permanently for the couple, but it doesn’t look like that is the case. Following Rihanna’s birthday, the two spent the weekend in Miami and hung out at the Star Island mansion of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and are clearly working on their reconciliation. But Rihanna’s family says they just don’t want her to have to go through this pain again. But they may not have a choice, if Chris Brown HASN’T changed, then we may be hearing about more allegations down the road. Unless of course they just work a little harder to keep the controlling personalities under wraps and we just don’t hear about it as publicly. OR, he has really changed, you know, because violent personalities can actually change overnight, right? Wrong. But let’s hope he is getting the help he says he is and that Rihanna is doing the right thing. Otherwise, they are both adults and there is not a whole lot that anyone can do but sit back and hope for the best.