I don’t know about you, but every year at Christmastime, I have that super distant relative that decides it would be a great idea to send me a 5-page letter with their Christmas cards to give me an update of their past year.  It’s such trivial stuff too, like “we just finished renovations to our basement!” or “So-and-so got into medical school!”  (Yes, that is trivial.  It wasn’t me who got in!).  Sometimes I wonder if celebrities did the same thing.  If Eddie Murphy just so happens to be your distant relative, his Christmas cards will come with a letter that says “I’m hosting the 2012 Oscars! Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!”

Eddie Murphy is no stranger to controversy, so hosting the Oscars should be a breeze for him. Unless he walks out again!

Yes that’s right: Eddie Murphy has been tapped to host the 2012 Oscars.  It seems like a logical choice.  Murphy’s background is in stand-up comedy, and I’m sure he won’t take himself too seriously, and won’t mind taking some shots at other celebrities.  I do find it surprising that Murphy agreed to do it, though.

Back in 2007, when Murphy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Dreamgirls, he was all but ready to walk to the podium, when out of left field, came Alan Arkin to win it for Little Miss Sunshine.  Murphy had won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors’ Guild awards for his James Brown-esque performance as Jimmy Early.  All eyes were on him to win.  Supposedly, when Murphy lost, he decided it was time to go home, and he left the awards, not staying until the very end.  (Jennifer Hudson won her Oscar that year, the only acting award the movie produced.)

I guess bygones are bygones, and Murphy is ready to come back to Oscar.  Producers probably want some hype after last year’s dismal broadcast hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, which was critically-panned and took a dip in the ratings.  Say what you will, but I am a huge Anne Hathaway fan, and I give her points for trying.  She went out there and gave it her all.  James Franco was dead-weight, and he looked bored and nervous all night long.

But I digress.

I’m excited to see what Murphy can do as host.  Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the news of his new hosting gig may bring some publicity to his new movie, Tower Heist, co-starring Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck.  What do you think?  Will you tune in to Hollywood’s big night?  Will Murphy do a good job?  Or are you more of a Billy Crystal fan?  Sound off below!

You may like spring, with flowers blooming and soft breezes blowing.  Or, you may long for autumn, the trees changing colors, the exaggerated use of pumpkin in everything imaginable.  But my favorite season?  New television season!  Having to wait all summer for my favorite shows to crank out new episodes is somewhat excruciating, which is why I love when the new TV season kicks off. It’s like early Christmas cards from my favorite celebs. Plus, it’s always fun to test drive new shows, see which ones will have a permanent place in my repertoire of weekly viewing.  With this year’s season in full swing, some shows are thriving, while others have already bid adieu.

FOX executives have reason to celebrate this year, perhaps with celebratory Christmas cards to one Ms. Zooey Deschanel.  The adorable star from such movies as Elf and (500) Days of Summer is a bona-fide television star with her new hit show, New Girl.  Deschanel stars as Jess, a socially-awkward, yet totally adorable, single girl who moves in with three male roommates.  Deschanel shines as Jess, infusing her with a sweet, bubbly charisma that you can’t help but root for.  Further bragging rights for FOX: New Girlwas the first new show of the season given a full-season pick-up.  Good news for me, because I am totally in love with this show, and can’t bear the thought of it being cancelled.

'New Girl' is a solid comedy hit for FOX. There are so many new shows this season, who knows where to start?

Speaking of cancelled, NBC continues its downward spiral, as two of its new shows have been axed.  The first new show to be yanked off air was the controversial The Playboy Club, based on the infamous Chicago club.  The show failed to capture an audience, especially with protesters lashing out against it before it even premiered.  Even Hugh Hefner commented on the demise of the show, stating that the show may have fared better on a premium network, as opposed to a major network.  I had full intention of checking this show out, going so far as to DVR the first episode.  But alas, I never got around to it; looks like I’ll never have to.

NBC’s other cancelled show was Free Agents, starring Hank Azaria (best known for his voice work on The Simpsons).  The show was about…ummm…secret agents…fighting robots….to free humanity?  Ok honestly I have no idea what this show was about, which goes to show why it was cancelled.  Stick to The Simpsons, Hank.  You guys will be on until the end of time anyway.

Other new shows have popped up with relative success, like CBS’s 2 Broke Girls and ABC’s Revenge (the former I haven’t seen, though I hear it is funny; the latter is my newest guilty pleasure).  I suggest you all stay in and enjoy my favorite season.  Sound off below if you have discovered some new shows worth watching (or rediscovered some old favorites!).

It seems as though Hollywood is built on rumors. The more scandalous the rumor, the more interested the public seems to be.  If the latest Hollywood rumor is true, then it seems Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore may not be sending out Christmas cards as a married couple soon.

Is Ashton Kutcher being a bad boy, or is he still faithful to America's #1 cougar, Demi Moore?

Word around town is that the hottest cougar in Tinseltown lost her man, as Kutcher is rumored to have strayed from the nest into the arms (and bed) of another woman.  Of course, the couple is doing their best to downplay the rumors, with Twitter updates, even pictures of them out and about in public (they were spotted at a Kabbalah ceremony recently).

Their marital bliss may be in discord because of Kutcher’s resurgence to television.  After Charlie Sheen’s highly publicized meltdown, which led to his being fired from Two & a Half Men, producers of the show were eager to keep viewers tuned in to TV’s number one sitcom.  Rumors (it’s always rumors!) swirled as to who would replace Sheen, and a host of men were poised to take Sheen’s place, most notably John Stamos.  But in the end, Kutcher was cast, marking his return to television after his breakout role in That 70s Show and Punk’d (a show of his own creation for MTV).  And it seems as though the producers’ decision worked wonders: the show debuted with 27 million viewers, and viewership for the show has not dropped significantly since Kutcher moved in.

To be honest, Demi Moore’s resume has been a little sparse since her marriage to Kutcher.  She showed off a trimmer, hotter physique in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and she has most recently teamed up with Lifetime for their “Five” campaign for breast cancer.  But since her marriage to Kutcher, Moore has been more of tabloid fodder than actual working actress.  Could her hubby’s newfound success in television be the cause of the strain in their marriage?

For my part, I don’t want to believe the rumors.  Sure, I was a little taken aback when the couple began dating, but I was impressed with how well they handled themselves, and it was sort of nice to see how Demi maintained a relationship with her ex Bruce Willis, who is the father of her children.  They all got along really well, like an unconventional, happy Hollywood family.  And for them, it seemed to work!  In the end, let’s just hope that these are nothing more than rumors.  Pesky, pesky rumors.

You know you’ve done it.  You’ve thought to yourself, “Which Hollywood celebrity would I want as a friend?  Who would I go to the exclusive parties with, send Christmas cards to, invite to my wedding?”  Well, you can deny it if you’d like, but I will admit that I’ve envisioned what the glamorous life of celebrity friendship could be.  And right now, there is no one else in Hollywood I’d rather rub elbows with than the uber-talented Emma Stone!

The lovely Emma Stone is poised for super-stardom. Let's hope she remembers her fans this year with Christmas cards!

Let’s face it:  Emma Stone is the new “It” girl in Hollywood, thanks in large part to her star-making turn in the hilarious teen comedy Easy A.  I know what you’re thinking.  You hear the phrase “teen comedy” and think raunchy, potty humor with a flimsy plot and so-so acting.  But this movie is smart and biting, satirizing the effects of high school gossip on reputations, as well as society’s obsession with scandals.  Stone stars as Olive, an “invisible” outcast who starts a rumor that skyrockets her into social visibility; unfortunately for Olive, it’s not the kind of rumor you’d like to be known for.  Stone is at her best, balancing Olive with sass and heart.  Her performance even earned Stone a Golden Globe nomination for Lead Actress in a Comedy.  Let’s hope that’s the first of many more to come.

But Stone’s star power in Hollywood has been cemented with The Help.  Based on the best-selling smash by Kathryn Stockett, The Help dominated the summer box office, standing out in a season with way more flops than hits.  Even more amazing is the word-of-mouth praise for the movie, which has garnered Oscar talks for some in the cast, especially Viola Davis.  Stone stars as Skeeter Phelan in this 1960s Civil Rights story.  Skeeter, along with Davis’s Aibilene, work together to document the stories of African-American maids working for their white employers, and the struggles they face.

Emma Stone is a force to be reckoned with (just ask Jim Carrey…he’s her biggest fan!).  With all of her previous box-office success and appeal, it was no wonder she was chosen as the female lead in next year’s Spider Man reboot.  I can’t wait to see more of her, and I truly hope she can go on to become one of our generation’s leading actresses.