“Dancing with the Stars” hottie, Karina Smirnoff is definitely getting hitched! She and her fiancé, Tiger’s pitcher, Brad Penny have chosen January 21, 2012 to be their wedding date. They have also chosen Cozumel, Mexico to be the venue of the wedding. Penny proposed to Smirnoff in October last year, just a year after Smirnoff broke off her engagement to Maksim Chmerkovskiy who’s also from “Dancing with the Stars”. Smirnoff had high-profile romances before ending up with Penny whom she began dating a month after she ended things with Chmerkovskiy. Smirnoff also dated Mario Lopez after their stint together on DWTS. Smirnoff is 32 while Brad Penny is 33 years old. If you care about this that much, I feel sorry for you.

It’s three years in prison for the “Blade” star, Wesley Snipes. His appeal was denied by the US Supreme Court on June 6, 2011. The actor who’s already serving time at the McKean Federal Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania is said to still be hoping for a “miracle.” This was the second time Snipes appealed for a review of his tax-related case. Snipes reportedly failed to file personal tax income returns for five years, from 1999 to 2004. During that time he’s supposed to have earned over $37 million. He started serving his sentence in November 2010.

The younger sister of the lovely Duchess of Cambridge is again creating buzz all over. Pippa Middleton is reportedly being sought by Hudson Jeans to become its main endorser. Pippa, who stunned everybody with her great style (and figure) as the maid of honor at the Royal Wedding has been getting a lot of interest from practically everybody. The younger Middleton who gained notoriety for her leaked racy photos has become the great object of interest of celebs and paparazzi. Recently seen in Paris for the French Open, she caught a lot of attention for her smart fashion sense. We still have to wait and see if Pippa will actually become a jeans model. In the meantime, we’ll be seeing more pictures of her, walking around and looking great in her carefully put together outfits. This is really important, so pay attention.

As far as gas prices are concerned, things can only go from bad to worse. Motorists now pay $4 for agallon and everybody is feeling the effects of it. Though there are some states where gas prices fell slightly below the $4 mark, consumers aren’t convinced that the price will continue to drop. The little changes feel like scraps from oil companies, or a joke. A couple of days of reasonably lower prices are normally followed by a steady raise. This unstable condition apparently reflects the present economic situation of the US, making citizens gravely concerned. This summer, families are reconsidering their vacation plans because of the price of gas, which means there won’t be a lot of traveling this year. In short, everything is tied to greed and money… if you follow history long enough, you’ll see this is the cause for pretty much everything.

Most women don’t look forward to their fifties because of the looming arrival of menopause. Menopause is the period when the ovaries cease to function the way they used to. It literally means in Greek, “the end of monthly cycles.” Production of female hormones decreases dramatically causing a lot of discomfort in women. The most common symptom has got to be frequent hot flashes. It doesn’t need to be hot for women to just suddenly feel hot all over the neck and face, which is often accompanied by dizziness and nausea among other things. Hot flashes however, usually end in chills which can be alarming for those who experienced them the first time. Yay to 50′s.

So the former queen of The Today Show, who moved on to be the queen of CBS Evening News is now angling to become the new queen of talk shows. Well, she couldn’t have picked a better time! Oprah’s out so she already has a fighting chance. Katie Couric signed a deal with ABC and she will be producing and hosting her own daytime talk show in September 2012. Couric, who’s considered to be “America’s Sweetheart” is looking forward to this gig for this will also reunite her with Jeff Zucker whom she worked with during her days on “Today.” Couric emphasizes often enough as well that she wants her talk show to be smart and fun…mind you, smart came first. She mentioned as well that she will not be relying on celebrities but will feature equally fascinating personalities instead. Aside from the talk show, Couric will also be very visible in the other news and public affairs programs of the network.

Perhaps one of the greatest fears of parents is the possibility of giving birth to a child with birth defects. Through prenatal screening, parents are informed if their child could be born with birth defects. In some countries, that’s already considered as a valid reason for abortion. However, contrary to popular beliefs, a lot of these birth defects can be treated before or after the baby is born. Birth defects still remain to be the main cause of death in the first year of life. They’re classified into structural or metabolic defects and defects caused by congenital infection. Birth defects are usually caused by environmental, genetic or a combination of both factors.

X-Men: First Class topped box office charts over the weekend at $56 million. It however failed to surpass the earnings of the previous X-Men offerings. Though the first X-Men movie only earned $54.5 millionon its opening weekend, that was in 2000 and that amount is definitely worth more now than $56million. Considering ticket price inflation X-Men’s earning of $54.5 million would equal to close to $70million now. After all the hype about X-Men: First Class, the movie didn’t really offer anything new to the audiences except for lingering on how everything began for the heroes which was already tapped in the other movies. Because of this, it’s not likely that most movie goers would watch it twice. The projected final gross income will definitely be lower than its predecessors. Either way, it’s all about making money.

Now why would anybody want to rent a grandma? Youngsters who are up to no good would probably think that this service would be great for deceiving people, but Rent-A-Grandma is actually an agency that provides families quality domestic assistance. Nowadays, most families have both parents working, but there’s no need to leave the children without adult supervision…this is where Rent-A-Grandma comes in. Needless to say, the aids are more or less as old as your grandmother. These grandmothers
have many years of experience in handling household concerns and childcare. Some are even trained for specialized services like elderly care and gourmet cooking. Instead of entrusting your children and your home to a teenage nanny, rent a grandma instead. The agency serves in Los Angeles County. I would still hide your valuables though.

Dallas fanatics got a treat when Larry Hagman, aka JR Ewing auctioned off memorabilia from both “Dallas” and “I Dream of Jeannie”. The event took place on Saturday, June 4th 2011 in Beverly Hills. Hagman rode horseback through Beverly Hills, very reminiscent of the role he last portrayed exactly twenty years ago. At the auction, Hagman encouraged bidders to “bid high and bid often.” The 79year old actor managed to raise $500K from his collection so his effort definitely worked. The highest bid went to the silver saddle which fetched $80K. Hagman, along with Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Charlene Tilto and Steve Kanaly will be reprising their roles in the new “Dallas” series.